New-York tribune., 1902-02-12
CECIL RHODES.
A PAINTERS PORTRAIT OF THE FAMOUS
SOUTH AFRICAN INIPERIALIST

More than one book has been written about
Cecil Rhodes More than one portrait OF MIN
has been drawn or painted. But most men
dealing with his personality find 1t hard 10
shake off a consciousness of his polltlcal sig
nifcance Mr. Mortimer Menpes the aruS''
has come in contact with the great South AI'l-
can imperialist and he has not been lnseHsILl'e
to the imperiaIism in his friend NeVerthelesS
he has managed TO get at something else III
this interesting character. and the result Is al
extremely suggestive chapter in his " ar III
nressions." recently published by the Macmii-
Ian Company We take from this part OF the
book the following striking passages:
There never was a man so full of violent con-
trast. He is the toughest man PossiIle, az, az
amazingly animal, yet as delicate ana SeHsII''e
as schoolgirl and strongly spiritual. ! haHe
never seen a man look more angry uldH NJ
Rhodes. and almost at the same mofhelll I ia eT
seen tears shining in his eyes. To know the reaI
Rhodes. your thoughts must run paralel Win
his: otherwise he will close like an oyster; /
have spent many days with him in Kimberley
l have seen him in all his many mooos, t hdNe
learnt to know the man himself, not the rouSn
exterior that he presents TO the world anu
have learnt to like him He is a giant dwarf
ing the strongest manageable Of almost any
emotion-capable of any mortal thing.
Mr. Rhodes is a very busy man: yet he touno
time 10 give me many sittings, both in the gar
den and in his study. He will never be painted
other than fu-faCe. He considers that man
looks you straight in the face; therefore pant
him so-no profles for him. He is palpitating
with sympathy loves Nature and naturalness,
loathes hypocrisy. and will never stand aftecta-
tion in any one Yet he is a man OF many
moods, and at times be almost brutal.
We were both talking Of growing old.
AS I sat by this great man and heard him talk.
I realized the horror he had Of it. l thought or
the work he had set himself to do; l realized
that he certainly was not getting younger; the
pathos of the thing almost oyerrowered me;
and I burst out with: Rhodes you'll never be
old Won ind &c lT1R
you must always be a boy. | felt must say
so, and felt l must think so: and l believe |
did al the time. Rhodes loved me for II, and
kept repeating in an eXultant way: i am d
boy. ] a boy! OF course l shall never grow
old" He drew himself up, this huge body of
his. and said Il never felt younger
Then 1 talked of the romance of his life, and
at that moment l felt ! could talk of my work
as a painter; and Rhodes listened delightfully."-,
his. Good Heavens! If they hadn't he wouldn't
have listened for a second. "Of course. 1 am
romantic" he said. Why do love my garden?
Because l love to dream there. Why not come
and dream with me in my garden at Kenil-
worth? Come tomorrow morning. ! went in
the morning, and did dream with Rhodes for
hours. Yes; certainly II was for hours, for we
had no breakfast that morning, l remember
That day no trace Of the harsh. imperial Rhodes
showed itself, but only the artistic and sympa-
thetic and here this greaA financier. dream
ing and loving his garden as only an artist
could.
1t was then that he talked Of that plan Of his
10 pant an avenue, called SleRe-aVe., TeInern-
brance Of the siege Of Kimberley. 1t is to be a
mile in length, for coaches -and-four to drive
through abreast-an avenue OF vines covering
treIiises grown so as to form an arch. On
either side Of the vines are to be planted pepper
trees for the sake Of their beautiful berries
orange trees and eucalyptus-this last to protect
the orange and pepper. What do you think OF
that" asked Mr.. Rhodes. Superb l ex-
claimed. "Gorgeous" Then in the midst OF all
this beauty monument is to be erected in
memory Of the men who fell in the defence OF
Kimberley, a monument Of marble which Mr.
Rhodes described in this way: 1T Is to be white
marble-brlliant white l thought Of using the
lion as a scheme Of decoraton-perhaps lions
supporting pillars Should we have a roof or
Just group, cluster Of pllars?" Before we
talk Of the roof, Mr.. Rhodes, let US talk of the
phlars, said. You don't seriously intend
using the lion a scheme of decoration. You
spring this animal upon to draw out my
opinion as a painter. No: you mean the
Sphinx. That creature. with the clear cut sim
PIE INES suggests the great Rhodes far more
than the curly lion" Yes you're quite right"
said RncGes. 1T must be the Sphinx" short
ly aftetward, when 1 arrived at Cape Town l
learnt that Mr. Rhodes had sent his architect
Mr. Herbert Baker, to Egypt to study the
oPnlnX; and realized that he had not lost time
We were sitting in his garden that morning
Rhodes and l, drinking in the beauty of the
scene before u.s. when he suddenly said: ..Why
DO you like my garden much? Why does il
appeal to you?" I said that 1t was the contrast
that appealed to me-the contrast between the
VIVID green OF the garden and the khaki VeIdt
aIt .ndL acLea as a background. l said to him:
, rake that garden, beautiful as il is, and plank
II down In Surrey; ii would lose half its charm
love II because 1t is a bit of artistic placing
Now, you, Mr.. Rhodes. understand the yaIne
or placing and contrast" Yes; you're right
he exclaimed That's the word; It's CONTRAST
ana ne kept repeating. Contrast; yes, of course
the contrast" until, by the end of the morning
ne mad said contrast" at least a dozen times
Next day a friend of mine in Kimberley told me
mat Mr. Rhodes had got word, contrast"
oh, yes" said. II know" .
delightful little story of Mr. Rhodes was
one told me by one of his managers-a story
that love TO tell, because it shows the gentle
and kindly side of Mr.. Rhodes. the side of the
dreamer and not the morose imperial man that
ne is so generally depicted. For ne Is very
Ioueh man, yet tender, sensitive and Jealous.
for example he Will never enter the house of
one OF ms farm iaborers without being invited
petorehand. All his dependents love him. and all
nave some story to tell of his kindness. He once
visited poor man, during the siege of Kimber-
ley, VINO was down with enteric fever and
asked II there was anything he could do. The
Invalid wearilY shook his head and said: NO
don't care for anything, sir. except drOD OF
mix put know can't get that; and indeed
milk was an unheard-of luxury in Kimberley
Just then Mr.. Rhodes said nothing but carna
again next day and talked to the man for some
time Just as he was leaving he cast a furtive
look round the room. and blushing like a
schooiboy, took from his pocket a little medicine
bottle filled with milk. dropped ii on a chair bv
the bed. and bclted.
He was continually doing this kind of thing
and all over Kimberley you heard of the kind
ness ana generosity of Mr.. Rhodes. But, un-
fortunately, he Is not always this delightful man
At times he is terribly hard, almost cruel: now
and then II is hard TO believe that there Is
any constituencies or kindness in his COMPOST
ton
Mr.. Rhodes talked in very big way about
his animals at Rondelbosch and the way they
should be seen. He said: II must have my lions
and tigers roaming about in their natural state:
I'll wall in acre or two. and build a marble
platform TO view them from" He thinks of