Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-15
CECIL RHODES
As Seen By a Young Woman
in Africa.
A New View of the Late Builder
Of Empires.
His Mode Of Life While the Cape
Parliament Met.

notwithstanding the many public
tributes recently borne to Mr.. Rhodes
transcendent genius. it has occurred to
me that some impressions of the quiet
or ana SUMMER side Of his life may be
interesting 10 those TO whom this as
meet Of his character is little known.
Having lived for nearly six years in
the home of ono who was not only ms
near ncighbor, but also his close per-
sonal friend. ] have had many oppor-
tunities Of seeing him in his home sur
roundings and everyday social life,
ana perhaps caught glimpscs Of that
which the world that idoliZed or de-
nnunccd him did not always perceive.
How We'll | remember the first time
saw him. 1t was one bright Sunday
afternoon in March, towards the end
of a Cape summer. My uncle, in whose
house I was then living. had gone out,
leaving me on the stoop reading. and
as he passed me he called out from the
garden to tell me that If Mr.. Rhodes
came, as he often did on Sunday after
Moons, he hoped he would wait, as ne
would be back almost directly.
! remember / had that day for the
first time come across Walter Pater's
"Maurius the Epicurean," and was 50
fascinated with the book that | very
soon forgot even the possibility OF a
visit from the great statesman, and
half an hour later did not even hear
his horses footsteps on the gravel, and
when | looked up it was TO find myself
face to face with the great man.
/ ran down the steps and gave him
my uncle's message, and then. feeling,
as was natural enough, little shy and
nervous, stood strOking his horse $
head while he chatted pleasantly about
his ride along the mountain. apparent
~ a little undecided as to whether he
would 90 or stay. But presently he
caught sight Of the book under my
arm, and this, I think, decided him.
AT all events, he swung his great fig
IRE leisurely off his horse, slipped the
bride over his arm, and began at once.
"Ah, you've been reading that book
'Marius' Well, you like it, don't you?
/ like it. ! had a copy Of it once, but
it was burnt when my house caught
fire the other day. must get anoth-
err" And then he began to talk in his
happiest vein, simply and directly Civ
ing his thoughts about the book, ana
when my uncle returned some ten min
tltee later. felt as completely at ease
aa if we had been old friends.
The incident is small in itself but it
SENS to mo very characteristic. The
charm of the book had gone home to
him, and happening to chance on some
one to whom it had also appealed, he
at once showed that almost impulsive
| responsiveness to 4 bit of idealism
which was perhaps his greatest charm.
After that I saw him often and in
many varied surroundings. Some
times on early summer mornings he
! would ride over before breakfast and
capture my uncle for n chat in the gar
,1aIl, and in the winter he would often
cCme in on Sunday mornings and sit in
the great armchair by the fire. Very
often also my sister and would spend
long afternoons in the Speakers Gal
lery in the House of Assembly; and,
although in late years Mr.. Rhodes sell
dom spoke ut any length, vet one
never forgot that. politics apart, he
was the greatest living force in the
country. and merely to watch him come
and go, and to note the effect of his
strong personality on the various men,
bers of the House, had an intense fas-
cination for It's. Sometimes also he
would invite US to spend evenings at
his beautiful home mile away from
our own, and these were red-letter
days. for wherever he was, interests
and human beings, not mere society
Gevotees. gathered round him.
Although in one sense Mr.. Rhodes
could not be said to entertain much
during the three winter months when
the Cape Parliament was sitting, and
which he always spent at Groote
Schuur. Yet in another sense he never
ceased to do so. Every meal found
him at the head of q table at which
there was rarely a vacant seat. and
every day brought it's stream of in
Vulnerable callers who came to seek
him for business or pleasure. All
sorts and conditions of men-Dutchmen
and Englishmen, working men, SOL
diers from all countries, hunters
bronzed from the interior-hocked to
the grand mountain home, and lounged
on the marble stoop. and. when night
came. the Nicodemuses would creep
out from the shadows for a private
talk with the man whose mesmeric
power over other men never failed.
That it was at home and at his own
table that Mr. Rhodes was at his best,
any one who has been at one of the lit
tie impromptu lunch and dinner parties
which he was in the habit of giving al
most daily knows well to be the truth.
Even in ordinary conversation. he was
fascinating taIker, because he was
perfectly independent thinker, and,
whatever the subject. one was always
sure of hearing something fresh and
original regarding it. Though brimful
of information on almost every subject.
vet he never talked above the heads of
his guests. and was full of the little
everyday events of life which go to
make up the sum of most peoples ex-
perience.
Every now and again, however, a
half-finished sentence or sudden word
would reveal the man as he was, and
one realized how completely he was
ruled by the great dominating idea of
his life and how. day by day and hour
by hour. he dreamed his dream:
BY heath. and cliff and pine,