The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-03
KITCHENER, THE HERO
And Sphinx Of the British Army

He was reported here one day and there
the next. and no one saw him, but his
influence was felt none the less, and the
army moved at last The man who had
spent seven years in preparation for the
march up the Nile was called upon to
make arrangements for the prolonged IN
vasion of an enemys country, for the
feeding of a huge army miles from its
base, and with the probability of contin-
ned interruption of the lines of commu-
nication. 1t was a task never before at
tempted on so grand scale.
His Respect for De Wet.
Kitchener has great respect for the
prowess of General De Wet *. OF h.
Is reported to have said: Give me one
man like De Wet and / viii send home
one-third of the army" And De Wet Is
quoted as having spoken as follows: i
will give Lord Roberts three years to
catch me- / will give Kitchener three
months, and Lord Methuen all his life.
An associate Of Kitchener thus charac-
terizes the rmearkable man;
He is very brave and very strong, ana
he fights the struggles OF his life quite
alone He is careless of his personal APP
pearance, as are those who do not come
into daily contact with women; ana De-
lieve that the untruthful, boastfui words
which the Emperor Napoleon once USED
in speaking OF himself are really true OF
Kitchener: Not all the fairest women In
the world could combine to. make me sac
rifice one hour of the work have at
heart
The Secret Spring Of His Life.
All manner of speculations have been
induIsed in concerning X. OF, ks silent
and reticent manner his .unbending stern
ness that frequently amounts to positive
barshness and his obvious dislike of the
society of women. Many assert that ne
was disappointed in love when young
and. probably being at that time man
of very affectionate nature, the anair
turned the entire course of his life into
, channels which gradually nodded him a
stern being almost without the ordinary
characteristics and feelings OF the men
| about him.
But what the real secret of this strange
| mans life-and there surely must be a
| secret back of his unbending manner and
| immovable countenance. with its piercing
eyes-really is, probably no one this side
/ of the grave but Kitchener himself can
| tell And it is hardly probable that ne
win ever care to share 1t with the world.
Now comes the question. How will the
bronzed hero bear the honors bestowed
upon him? Will he rest content In the
bosom of peace, or long again for ths
sterner life of the warrior-the life that
| finds its only solace by the light of the
| twinklng camp fire? 1t is certainly one
| of those decisions which time alone can
| render.
The Typical Soldier.
| The typical soldier in characteristic
| typical soldier in appearance. is Kitchen
| err His fifty years have passed lightly
| over his iron frame. Mark him as he
pursues his campaign in his cold, bust
| ness-like way. 1t is always the same.
| The walls and distrust from the unsol-
| dierly-the silence of the soldier. Then,
| the business done. and well done, the exI
travagant plaudits of all.
4 Like Lord Roberts, Kitchener is an
Irishman, having been born in County
Kerry of that country half century ago
| His father was an Englishman from Suf.
folk. and attained the grade of lieutenant
colonel in the army.
The boy grew up like all English boys
of his class. One day he was sent away
j from home to learn to be royal engi'
neer. And an engineer ne became ano
an engineer he remained and an engineer
he is. A great. steady, unfaltering- pistof
/ rod OF a man this-driving along in abso
lutte consonance with the throbbing o.
the vast machine of fate. What is there
fighting men? We have had them here
and England is full of them.
Certainly there was little in Kitchener'f
early surroundings to provoke fighting
blood. As a royal engineer he was trot
| ted around to various unendingly peace
able lands to view them through the glass
| in his theodolite and measure them witt
| a steel tape and otherwise disport him
self So we see him doing in the foul
l
ceive now that much of the biographies
knowledge of the Holy Land that !:
| possessed by the world today is owing
to the work of the man who since ther
has been depicted in European prints a:
| a hanger of men, a slayer Of babes and 6
scourger Of women.
In 1878 England, in the methodica
movement of her red tape machine, sen
him to Cyprus, where he did something
or another about the organization of tho
land courts.
Then things began to happen fast and
furious in Egypt And then did. Ger
tain brick red. bony and almost unpleas
antly silent youth rage in high quarters
against law courts and civil organizations
and office work in Cyprus. where a maj
had to wear a dress suit at dinner ever!
night. and do other things equally futile
Dress suits thereupon became things o
the past with Kitchener. After Telel
Kebir saw the breaking of Arabfs MAJ
} might. England had to take in hand tn
reorganization of the Egyptian army, s.
called by courtesy. Sir Evelyn Wood wa
appointed sirdar (commander). He de
manded twenty-five British officers TO
the work Being about as hopeless AM
unpleasant and Improbable and unprom
Using Job as ever faced white men, ther
was a rush of young Britons Kitchene
was among them. He became an ONCE
in the glorious army of the Khedive.
In 1887 they made him commander !
Suakin, and there are remnants of deser
; | hordes vet who remember certain ensuin
lean years. They remember yet how tn
| gaunt man stepped calmly into thel
camp one night, unarmed and alone an
cheerfully fiicked their sacred chief int
the face with a riding whip in the mids
of his spear bearers and gun carriers, be
cause that sacred chief was just prepar
ing to execute a British soldier who ma
been caught that afternoon.
Osman Dignas men who still are aliv
remember him. for he took his Egyptia
levies into HANDFUL one day. The greet
bearded Emirs and the savage hair.
fighting men laughed through their teet
when they saw him come. They ha
made the poor rice eaters of Egypt I'll
too often to dream Of anything else el
cept an easy slaughter. But this tin
the men whom Kitchener had found
the fallahesn were behind those brow
skins. in which once there had been roo
for nothing but quaking hearts. And II