Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-11-05

generals include many who
have had exciting experiences
during the war. In talking to them
you realize that 1t has been quite as
much woman's war as u mems on
the side of the Beers. Perhaps, indeed,
the most permanent fact that will sur
vive in history will be the part that has
been played by the women. Take the
case of Mrs. De La Rey. She has been
actually lin the field" for eighteen
months. She does not look like it. She
just looks a kindly middle-aged mother
Of family who has lived quiet all her
life.
1t all arose in this way. In the
course of guerrilla" war General De
La Rey would occasionally come and
visit his wife in manner that per-
picked and annoyed General Methuen
perhaps more than anything else hap
pening i'll the war. 1t certainly must
have been annoying, but perhaps the
best plan would have been to have
grinned and borne 1t. Unhappily, this
was not the rule with the British gen.
eral when he found himself crossed by
Boer women. 1t was intimated to Mrs.
De La Rey that she must pledge her.
self not to give lodgings to her hus-
band. Now, Mrs. De La Rey is a
plucky woman and a devoted WIFE
She refused. "As long as 1 live" she
replied, Il shall give lodgings to my
husband when he comes to me-"
Every well, then" Lord Methuen init
mated, "you must so into camp" But
Mrs. De La Rey refused to so into the
camp. "Glve me wagon" she said,
land 1 viii go and shift for myself"
So they gave her a wagon, and they
asked her where she was going. Unto
the wide world" she said, and she
went.
That was at the end of the year 1900,
and from that time until the end of
the war Mrs. De La Rey wandered
about the veldt, now sleeping in one
place, now in another, always on the
eve of being captured, sometimes es-
Gaping by the barest interval of time
from the pursuing columns. She car
ried her children with her In the wagon
and cooking utensils sufficient to live a
tolerable life. The plucky lady occa-
sionally found a house where she could
spend night or two, but for the most
part she was perpetually on the move,
and perpetually keeping her weather
eye open for the pursuing columns.
Every now and then General De La
Rey would visit her, and on one occa-
sion he came to her sick, and she
nursed him. But while he was lying
sick in the farmhouse the columns
came upon them. General De La Rey
leaped out of bed, and, with the help OF
a small command OF men with him,
fought off the attack and succeeded in
escaping. On another occasion Mrs.
De La Rey proved more clever than
her husband. He was proposing to rest
a night in a farmhouse, but she did not
like the look Of 1t. Her military eye
seemed to see danger. SO she per-
suaded her husband to move. 1t was
fortunate that she did So as the enemy
came to that farmhouse Immediately
when they had left. Mrs. De La Rey
was wandering in this manner when
she heard that her husband had cap
tured Lord Methuen. At first she
would not believe 1t, but when she
found 1t was true she made her way to
her husbands laager. She said she
wanted to see Lord Methuen and have
a talk with him. She took with her
fowl and some provisions as present.
Lord Methuen consented to see her,
and was Obliged to tell her that he had
destroyed her house. Mrs. De La Rey
must have got some Christian consola-
tion after presenting him with the
fowl and helping to nurse him.
Then came the question what De La
hey should do with his prisoner. The
young Boers were all against giving
him up, because he had treated Mrs.
De La Rey in a manner they did not
approve Of. But General De La Rev
and his wife took a larger view.
What can we do with him." they
asked, "if We keep him? If he goes
with US he will probably die on one of
our treks, and then his blood will be
put to our charge. Better be generous
and hand him back" The general had
some difficulty with his men, but at last
persuaded them. And so General and
Mrs. De La Rey performed an act of
high generosity, which was probably
the strongest influence in bringing the
war to an end. But it seems to us that
the generosity of Mrs. De La Rev was
even greater than that of the general
Certainly in her eighteen months cam
paign she showed quite as much STRAIT
egy as any of the Boer generals in es-
Gaping, What pity it is that this tale
OF woman's heroism cannot be fully
told, and that we cannot place it in his
tory as a pendant to the wanderings of
De Wet-London Daily News.
"Gurdie" Got the Guns.
"Gurdie" has not been quite fairly
dealt with by history. The nama ;s col