The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-05-13
THE BoER WOMEN. en-;
BRAVE AND srEApFAsT IN OPPOSING
,eRlTisH FORCES

gpur Husbands, Brothers and Sons - Re-
sistencs and ueath--i3ittcr in Denuncia-
lion of Their Foes, They are Mcrciful to
Wounded Prisoners.
None but the elderly women among
the Transvaal Beers can remember the
great trek Of 1886, when their fathers
and grandfathers abandoned the
homes they had made in Natal and
toiled up the passes to the lofty plat
eau where they founded their repub-
lie. Those days were more trying
than any the Transvaal women ever
saw until the present war. They
we're still living in their tent wagons
when the terrible wars with the Ma
tabele branch of the Zulu tribe began
and no women could show more won
derful spirit and constancy than these
wives and mothers of the Boer pion-
eers In the midst of appalling dangers
and hardships which did not end until
the Matabeles had been driven north
of the Crocodile river. Not a few Of
those women, and their children with
them, perished by the assegais of saw
ages; but not one of them would have
dreamed of returning to the peaceful
homes and gardens in Natal which
they had left behind. The British had
proclaimed that country their own,
their colonists were pouring In and
the Beers would die before they would
come again under British rule.
The wives and mothers Of the SOL
diers who now confront the British
are the descendants of those stout
hearted women who loaded the guns
of their husbands and boys while saw
ages rushed upon the brush heaps that
were the sole protection around their
laagers. Perhaps no women In the
world have changed so little in two
generations. The women Of the Boer
farmsteads now are just what their
grandmothers were when the Mata-
beles sought their lives. The Bible is
still their only book, they prefer a
quiet, sedentary life and the simple
duties Of their modest homes, and
they have scarcely risen in any respect
above the plane Of intellectual culti-
gation which their grapdmothers occu-
pied; and they are like their grand
mothers, too, in the courage, con-
stancy, and sublime devotion with
which they are facing the awful trials
Of another crucial period in the his
tory Of their people.
report sent by the french consul
1T Pretoria to his government, though
brief. is perhaps the best statement yet
received Of the part the women of the
Beers are taking in the present war.
He says that they are doing everything
they can to aid the soldiers in the
held. Indeed hundreds of them are in
the field and form the majority of the
working force In the ambulance and
hospital service.
In their denunciation of the British
they are far more bitter and outspok-
en- than the men themselves, but In
their mission Of mercy they know no
enemies. All the wounded British SOL
diers who have fallen into their hands
have been treated as brothers and
friends. The Boer nurses extend to
them the same care that they give to
their own stricken soldiers. We all
know that dispatches from the British
army have often referred to the kind
treatment received by their wounded
who are prisoners in the Boer camps.
The French consul adds that the
"ohhCu thiou6hout tuC IWO TcDuDIIC6
exerted powerful influence in kind
ling enthusiastic support for the war
when 1t became certain that the con-
hict could not be averted. They sent
many Of their sons into the comman-
dos or militia organizations, even
though the striplings had not reached
the age of sixteen when they are Ii
Able to military duty. One day q
crowd at the railroad station in Pre-
toria was cheering q commando that
was going to join Joubert's army
around Ladysmith. A mother in the
crowd saw her young son with a gun
over his shoulder and wearing a cart
ridge belt, Just as he was entering a
car. She followed him to his seat, and
laying her hand on his shoulder, said:
my boy. why did you not tell me
Of this?"
Mother" he answered, perhaps I
was wrong, but l could not bear to
bid you good-by. You were to be told
Just as soon as we left. You see.
mother. 1t was my duty to go sooner
or later, and thought the sooner the
better. Forgive Inc II have done
wrong"
"You are right, my son." the moth
er replied. "It is your duty to 60, and
I am willing you should 60, though I
thought It might be better to wait a
few months. Go, you have my bless
Ing, but you should have told me-"
She kissed him farewell, and there
was smile on her face as she left the
car. though tears stood In her eyes,
The women of Bloemfontein are
said to have been especially enthusI-
hstic in cheering on the soldiers, doing
everything In their power for their
comfort and filing the ranks as full
as possible. BY every means in their
power the women OF the two republics
are working night and day to promote
tho interests OF their cause, and II
their good. honest hatred of the enemy
might sap his strength and paralyze
his arms, there would certainly be no