The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-02-07
SURFACE CIVILIZATION.
A Young Zulu Girl Who Couldn't Re-
sist Her Natural Tendencies.

Lady Broomc in the Curnhill Magazine.
| think quite the most curious in
stance of the thinness of surface civil
ization among these Zulu people came
to meet i'm the case of "A young Zulu
girl who had been early left an orphan
and had been carefully trained in
clergyman's family. She was about 16
years old when she came as my nurse
maid, and was very plump and comely,
with a beaming countenance, and the
sweetest voice and the prettiest man.
ners possible. She had great love for
music, and performed harmoniously
enough on an accordion. as well as on
several queer little pipes and reeds
She could speak, read and write Dutch
perfectly, as well as Zulu and was
nearly as proficient in English She
carried a little Bible always in her
pocket, and often tried my gravity by
dropping on one knee by my side when
ever she caught me sitting down and
alone, and beginning to read aloud
from it,. 1t was quite new possession
and she had not gotten beyond the
opening chapters of Genesis, and de-
lighted in the story of Dam and Eva"
as she called our first parents.
She proved an excellent nurse and
thoroughly trustworthy; the children
were devoted to her, especially the
baby. who learned to speak Zulu be-
fore English, and to throw n reed as
| segal as soon as he could stand firmly
on his little fat legs. / brought her
to England with me, and she adapted
herself marvelously and unhesitatingly
TO the conditions of a civilization far
beyond what she had ever dreamed of.
4 friend Of mine CHANGED to
be returning to Natal and proposed
that / should spare my Zulu nurse to
her. Her husbands magistracy being
close TO where Maria's tribe dwelt it
seemed a good opportunity for Maria
to return to her Cwn country; so of
course ! let her go, begging my friend
to tell me how the girl got on. The
| parting from the little boys was Il
heart-breaking scene, nor was Mapia
at all comforted by the fine clothes all
my friends insisted on giving her. Not
| even a huge Gainsborough hat gar
nished with giant poppies could con-
| sole her for leaving her little chf-
| tain" but it was. at all events some-
thing to send her off so comfortably
provided for. and with two large
| boxes of good clothes.
In the course of a few months | re-
| ceived a letter from my friend, who
| was then settled In her up-cOuntry
home. but her story of Maria's doing
seemed well-nigh incredible, though
perfectly true. All had gone well on
the voyage. and so long as they re-
| manned at Durham and Martzburg; but
as soon as the distant settlement was
reached. Maria's kinsmen came around
| her and began to claim some share in
| her prosperity. Free fights were of
! constant occurrence, and in one of
! them Maria, using the skull of an OK
| as weapon, broke her sisters leg.
| Soon after that she returned to the
! savage life she had not known since
| her infancy, and took to it with de-
| light. don't know what became of
| her clothes, but she had presented her
| self before my friend clad in an old
| sack and with necklaces of wild ami
mails teeth, and proudly announced she
| had just been married with cows
| thus showing how completely her
/ Christianity had fallen away from her
and she had practically returned, on
| the first opportunity, to the depth OF
| that savagcry from which she had
been taken before she could even re-
member il, ! soon lost all trace of her
but Maria's story has always remained
in my mind as an amazing instance OF
| the strength of race instinct,