The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-03-16

leans than soldiers and nurses. Be
fore we had been in the Transvaal
very long nearly all our money was
swept away, but we gave gladly, for
we knew that when peace was re-
stored the honest burghers would re-
turn whatever we had given.
My husband became IL captain and
followed his command as a nurse I'M
til we became separated after the fall
of Ladysmith. l have not seen nor
heard of him since, and the uncertain
ty Of the fate that may have befallen
him fills me with grave fears. He may
still be afield, or he may be prisoner
and confined on the island of st. Hele-
ma, or-but shudder to think that he
may be dead.
One of the most remarkable things
that observed about this war is that
there are only two days Il week on
which battles are ever fought BY
mutual consent Of Beers and British,
Tuesdays and Thursdays have been
set aside for this purpose, and the COM
pact, as far as was able to learn, has
been kept faithfully.
| The other days of the week are not
spent in idleness, either, and between
foraging expeditions and taking pris-
oners, the Beers are kept pretty busy
One of the pictures I have brought
with me shows group of British pris-
,, oners taken during one of these days
of peace" The women in the picture
are nurses.
On the battle days, when the enc
mics meet, it always looks as if both
sides were trying to make up for lost
time. The heavens become black with
smoke and flying sand and dust, and
the roar of the artillery is awful.
! In the matter of musketry the Brit
ish are greatly at disadvantage.
They waste a great deal of powder,
not one out of 100 shots going true.
The Beers never waste cartridge
Each shot is messenger of death to
an Englishman. From their twelfth
year on the Beers have been taught to
shoot, and the boy who can't snipe off
the beak Of flying bird is held in
contempt.
While we were in camp near Lady
| 1ie1, e.to oh
but finding that we were all surgeons
and nurses they soon desisted and
never annoyed us again. This be-
speaks noble trait which 1 found,
however, to be characteristic only of
the British officers.
The Tommy Atkinses are not so gen
erous. They treat the Boer prisoners
like cattle and all that sick prisoners
| get from them is bareback and water
much greater kindness. Only on one
The Beers treat the prisoners with
occasion, after capturing thirty Eng
lishmen, General Botha ordered them
to be stripped and their clothing dis
tributed among his own men.
"Their friends are close by" he said.
''Let them go back for fresh clothing"
And he allowed the stripped prisoners
to go back to their own camp.
| 1t was a very warm day and conse-
quently the men did not suffer phys
ically, although they were furious at
the humiliation put upon them.
AS a rule, found the Beers to be as
innocent of guile as little children.
When a British captive pledges his
word not to take up arms again he is
allowed to go. And it is said that only
a very small percentage of these re-
leased captives keep faith. The Beers,
on the other hand, if they promise not
to fight, live up to it and would no
more think Of fighting the British
again than of turning their guns
against their own brethren.
was at the fall of Bloemfontein and
at the battles Of Bramfort, Kronstadt,
Klaedorf and Porchestroem. And in
all these and, in fact, in all the bat
ties and skirmishes that I witnessed,
noticed that the Beers fought like
men who had settled their accounts
for this life and were prepared to go
cheerfully to the next. Death has no
terrors for them.
The British are brave, too, but the
difference is great. The bravery of
one is that of the hireling; that of the
other is of the father and husband
fighting for wife and children and
home.
When the British army approached
Johannesburg the English residents
cleared the streets by shooting down
from the windows every Boer who
happened to be abroad. It was a mes.
cruel and bloodthirsty thing to do.
When the British began sending all
who were pro.Boer, or even neutral,
away from the Transvaal was one Of
the victims. I was sent from Pretoria
to East London and thence by ship to
Holland, and thence to Genoa, Italy.
My protests and entreaties were I'M
needed. begged to be allowed to go
to Cape Town to my son.
'"The government says there must be
no exceptions made" was the reply.
At Genoa the British consul treated
us all very we'll. and / was given