The Georgia record. (Atlanta, GA.) 1899-19??, November 18, 1899, Image 3
I THE REAL BOERS AT HOME J
0 Simple, Primitive Ways of the People
gj of the Transvaal.
You will hear divers answers as to
what kind of people the Boers are.
The more short-sighted and intolerant
travelers may say that the Boers are a
dirty lot who don’t use table napkins,
an illiterate set of brutes who never
heard of Kipling, an utterly unrefined
people whose knowledge of art is nil;
in short, a backward, stupid, unpro
gressive, half civilized set who are too
thick-headed to know they are stand
ing in the path of that Juggernaut car,
civilization, and must in the end be
crushed beneath its wheels.
It is a mistake to take Paul Kruger
and his surrounding politicians as
types of the Boer. Also it is a mis
take to take the dweller in the towns
as typical. To unearth the real Boer
one must seek the wide and solitary
veldt, the hidden valleys, the distant
hills, and there, on his farm, draw him
out and study him. Your true "Boer
despises the town. He is essentially
an agriculturist and a hunter. He is
extremely conservative, and with
strangers brusque and taciturn, but if
he finds you are harmless he can be
very hospitable. He does not drink
deep. He is religious,with a gloomy,
stern religion which makes him be
lieve, as did the Covenanters, as much
in the Old Testament as in the New.
He is moral. He does not believe in
divorce laws. He marries early in
life, and is convinced the highest
blessing is an abundance of children.
He is sturdily built, as a rule, thanks
to his way of life, which is the same
as that of his father and his ancestors
for many generations—an open-air
life, with lots of beef and cabbage and
1 b- VA pi blue * V
MWIRW
I -r-Ae
' I Trans t/fl 0J
Ullk. Xie Is a good horseman, and a
remarkable marksman. He under
stands that the man who can shoot
Straight and without excitement
makes, nowadays, the best soldier.
He fears God and loves his country,
but cannot understand the need of a
taxgatherer. He is, in fact, the back
woodsman of last century in the
United States, come to life again in
Africa.
At the first hint of gray in the East
ern sky, at the first crow of the cock,
the farm household is up and stirring,
and breakfast, with the usual strong
coffee the Boer loves, is over by the
time the sun rises. The men are out
and about at once, looking after just
the same chores as on an American
farm in the West, save those who are
• off to replenish the larder by shooting
a springbok,a hartebeest or some such
species of deer. The women have
plenty of work about the house. The
genuine old Boer farm furnishes it
self every necessary to its occupants.
The furniture is often made by the
farmer, or he has great, unwieldy,
carved chests and bureaus which have
come to him from his ancestors. He
canmake his own shoes. His women
dress and weave his own sheep’s wool
and make their and his clothes from
it. Thera is almost nothing he needs
to buy. He does not care a rap for
neckties or collars or store clothes,
and a full beard is fashionable.- All
he really has to buy is farming imple-
' •/
KRAAL 3 OF KAFFIR HELP OX A BOER FARM.
ments, and of these be prefers the .
primitive sort, though enterprising j
agents have introduced such things as
mowing and other machinery.
During the day he works leisurely,
content to make a living out of the
ground. He dines heartily at noon
and sups heartily at evening. His day
hardly differs from that of any farmer
in any country, only, if he sings at
hia work, it is likely to be a psalm
that he flings. He smokes a great
deal while he goes about—a habit de
rived from his forebears in Holland.
He is fortunate in having no winter
no frost, no snow, only the dry sea
son, when his cattle suffer, and the
rainy season, when the rivers and
ponds are flooded.
His house and barns are low and
roomy—simply furnished as to the
house rooms. The great featherbed
is usually the most noticeable feature,
unless, perhaps, he glories in a little
harmonium for his daughter to pick
out hymn tunes on of a Sunday. Just
Ch —,i.i *,!_->i r»i f. I _!■<mn I ZrT- *\
BOERS GATHERED FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER, PIETERSBURG.
before the sun goes down, at a time
which varies very little all the year
round, the Boer calls his family to
gether, and they have household
prayers and pious singing. No lights
are needed, or if one is, it is an old
fashioned lauthorn, or, more likely, a
rush dip, floating in a cup of home
made tallow. Ere the daylight has
fairly gone the farmer has bolted the
door and everybody is in bed.
He has no amusements, according
to European or American lights.
Knowing nothing of theatres or pic
ture galleries, he does not want thepn.
He hardly ever reads anything save
the Bible, and that is a sacred duty,
and with stammering and difficulty.
The hunt is his chief sport, for big or
little game, and there is keen rivalry
in the display of trophies. Also he
has one favorite sport of much the
same kind—the shooting matches.
...
I 17"
“OUTSPANNING.” A BOER FAMILY REST
ING AT THE CLOSE OF A DAY’S TREK.
Three or four times a day he goes
to Nachtmaal, which is equivalent to
the Scotch Fast Day or Lord’s Supper.
In the little market square of the
nearest little burg there will stand a
modest whitewashed building like a
barn. This is the church for the dis
trict, and here at stated periods the
farmers gather from all about. They
don’t take their families to hotels,
though some may stay with friends,
bnt drive the two or three days’ jour
ney in the big white-canvassed wagon,
drawn by from twelve to sixteen fat,
white-horned oxen. They make camp
near the town in a meadow probably
by the stream, and live in and under
the wagon during the Nachtmaal,
cooking for themselves the food they
! have brought along. The congrega
tion gathers, daring this time, day
and evening. Their neighbors meet
between whiles and gossip and per
haps transact a little business. They
would not belong to the human family
if, of course, the lads and lasses did
not walk and talk and court and ex
change vows. These are the great
outinga, the picnics, of the year, and
small tradesmen and peddlers are on
hand with knickknacke and trumpery
to sell to the young folks, so that,
CHURCH AND PARSONAGE TYPICAL OP
THE TRANSVAAL.
outside the services, the meeting is a
kind of fair. Sometimes also there
may be a wrestling match or jumping
match between young men, in which
all, old and young, will take a deep
interest.
So the Boer farmer and hunter pur
sues his even way, as his people have
ever done, and if what he considers
the accursed gold had never been
found in his land, he might so pursue
it to the end of the chapter. It is to
be feared, however, that foreign
capital and railroads and telegraphs
and lightning-rod agents have broken
up his idyllic life forever, or, rather,
will soon do so. It was not, however,
all peace. As the American back
woodsman was continually on his guard
against Indians, so the Boer is ever
ready to take the field against a kaffir
tribe or the British.
Then the plough and the hoe are
laid aside, and the rifle is cleaned
carefully, but not now for a pleasant
hunt after game. The cadi to arms is
simple; mobilization is primitive.
There is no squabbling about volun
teering, or enlisting, or drafting. Ex
cept the women, the very old and the
very young, everybody responds, even
boys of thirteen and fourteen—but
the average Boer boy is a pretty stout
and healthy lad, and has been taught
to shoot since he was ten or eleven.
Each man takes his horse and his rifle
and proceeds to the rendezvous of his
district. The pastors are with them,
and with prayer and psalms the
farmer-soldiers march out to defend
their country.
A Bushranger’s Armor.
The accompanying illustration is a
photograph of the armor used by Ned
Kelly, the notorious Australian bush
ranger. Kelly, having been in his
more peaceful days a blacksmith, says
the London Strand, manufactured
armor for himself and comrades from
old boiler-plates, and to such good
purpose did these protective coverings
serve them that for two years the gang
defied all the efforts of the police of
iHSt
li P J W '>
AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGER’S ARMOR.
Victoria to capture them. They were
at last surprised, and many of them
shot whilst drinking at a hotel; not,
however, until $400,000 had been
spent by the Government in its en
deavors to stamp out the gang. Ned
Kelly was tried and executed in Mel
bourne jail, and his armor, which
shows many marks of police bullets, is
at present in possession of the Vic
torian Government.
Pay of a Prison Warden.
Kansas pays the warden of her peni
tentiary $2500 per annum, out of which
comes his living expenses, and her
penitentiary contains 940 convicts.
Illinois pays the warden of the Joliet
penitentiary, with 1300 prisoners in
his keeping, $3500 and provides hie
living. Minnesota, with 529 convicts,
gives the warden of the Stillwatei
prison a salary of SSOOO.
HOUSE SESSIONS
VERY EXCITING.
Effort Made to Secure Final Consider
ation of Prohibition Bill.
SOME MEASURES PASSED.
One of Them Related to New
Plan of Oil Inspection.
A very small minority succeeded in
preventing a large majority from
bringing the Willingham prohibition
b ill to a vote in the house Tuesday.
The session developed two distinct
sensations. Mr. Price, of Oconee, cre
ated the first stir by the announce
ment that he believed the clerks had
made a miscount on the vote, and
there was another exciting occurrence
when Mr. McGehee, of Harris, intro
duced a resolution denouncing the
members who were trying to prevent
action on the prohibition bill and de
manding that their names be publish
ed. This brought forth a storm of in
dignant protest. Later in the session
the same member offered another res
olution providing for the adjournment
of the house sine die. Neither of
these resolutions were entertained by
the house, but the fact that they were
offered shows how bitter the fight be
came.
The session of the legislature last
Monday was a busy one, both houses
acting favorably on measures of the
greatest importance, and in both
branches a large number of new bills
were read for the first time.
In the senate the house bill by Mr.
Duncan, of Houston, providing for
the reduction of the deposit of insur
ance companies from $25,000 to $5,000
was passed with an amendment by
Senator Clifton, of the second, includ
ing in the reduction all fidelity and
surety companies. Before going to
the governor the Duncan bill must go
back to the house for its action on the
amendment.
The house discussed freely the bill
by Dr. Watkins, of Gilmer, asking
that solicitors general in the state be
paid a fixed salary of $2 000 out of the
treasury of the state, but with the re
port of the committee against it the
measure failed to receive the constitu
tional two-thirds vote, and was lost.
Dr. Watkins strongly urged his bill
on the ground that the present meth
od of paying solicitors was in many
instances undignified and unpleasant
to the official himself. The point was
raised in the debate that the passage
of the bill would increase the rate of
taxation, as it provided for an annual
expenditure of something like $48,000.
which the state had no means of get
ting back from the county.
Mr. Brandon, of Fulton, introduced
a bill of great interest to Atlanta, as it
authorizes the city to issue and sell
bonds to the extent of $350,000 to be
used in the extension of water mains
and the erection of a lighting plant
under municipal control. The bill
was referred to a committee and Mr.
Brandon hopes to get it before the
house favorably recommended in the
next few days.
The house indorsed the temporary
rules established by the commissioner
of agriculture for the better inspection
of illuminating oils and adopted the
Naw York state test in the place of
the old Tagliabua tester. Under this
new method, which the commissioner
found himself forced to adopt tenta
tively during the past summer, every
sample of oil that flashes at 100 de
grees Fahrenheit is to be condemned
by the inspector who makes the test.
To better enforce the rigid rules the
house passed the bill by Mr. Paik, of
Greene, providing for the appointment
of a state inspector of oils with a sal
ary of SIOO a month. There was op
position in the house to the measure
from those members who thought the
state had enough inspectors already,
but the leading members of the body
urged its passage as an absolute neces
sity under the law now in force.
The senate passed the Duncan house
bill reducing the state deposits of in
surance companies from $25,000 to
$5,000, and investing authority in the
comptroller general of the state to de
termine, without resource to the courts,
the solvency of companies seeking to
enter the insurance field in Georgia.
The bill, as originally passed in the
house, affected only insurance compa
nies, but by an amendment offered by
Senator Clifton,of the second district,
and adopted by the senate, fidelity
and surety companies will hereafter
only be required to make the same de
posit as is demanded of .insurance
companies.
dairyhen in conference.
Meeting Held in Griffin, Ga., With
Large Attendance.
The Central Georgia Dairy associa
tion met in Griffin Tuesday four
hundred strong to inspect the new
Dixie creamery, just completed by
John Wallace, H. J. Wing and others,
and afterward the enthusiastic crowd
proceeded to the opera house, where
the exercises of the session were held.
Real Estate For Sale
The tracts, lots, and parcels of lands
as stated below are for sale, cheap sot
cash, or will exchange for availabta
merchandise at reasonable prices.
The land lots indicated will be sold
with special warranty of title, with
plat and grant, with the original
“beeswax” seal:
No. Dist. Sec. Acres. County.
942 2 3 40 Paulding.
124 7 2 40 Fannin.
90 1 81 Rabun.
118 26 2 40 Gilmer.
57 11 1 40 Union.
137 19 3 40 Paulding
308 10 1 160 Union.
650 16 2 40 Cobb.
718 16 2 40 Cobb.
719 16 2 40 Cobb.
885 16 2 40 Cobb.
887 16 2 40 Cobb.
915 16 2 40 Cobb.
958 16 2 40 Cobb.
843 16 2 40 Cobb.
646 17 2 40 Cobb.
16 17 2 40 Cobb.
17 17 2 40 Cobb.
86 17 2 40 Cobb.
1090 17 2 40 Cobb.
267 20 2 40 Cobb.
1006 16 2 40 Cobb.
514 15 2 40 Cobb.
567 15 2 40 Cherokee.
584 15 2 40 Cherokee.
585 15 2 40 Cherokee.
638 15 2 40 Cherokee.
639 15 2 40 Cherokee.
640 15 2 40 Cherokee,
641 15 2 40 Cherokee.
642 15 2 40 Cherokee.
255 13 2 160 Cherokee.
102 21 2 40 Cherokee.
101 1 2021 Troiip.
731 19 3 40 Paulding
72 3 3 40 Paulding
501 3 3 40 Paulding.
880 2 3 40 Paulding.
1175 18 3 40 Paulding.
13 13 1 160 Pickens.
246 6 1 160 Chattooga.
708 18 2 40 Polk.
981 21 3 40 Polk.
7 26 3 160 Murray.
1012 12 1 40 Lumpkin.
314 11 1 40 Lumpkin.
697 11 1 40 Lumpkin.
573 5 1 40 Lumpkin.
830 11 1 40 Lumpkin.
148 8 2 160 Fannin.
629 3 4 40 Floyd.
643 18 2 40 Douglass.
8 3 490 Wayne.
95 3 490 Wayne.
96 3 490 Wayne.
151 3 490 Wayne.
200 3 490 Wayne.
} 173 3 245 Wayne.
160 2 490 Wayne.
| 75 2 245 Charlton.
ixj17516 25J Upson,
ixi 111 12 25i Taylor,
i 368 28 125 Early.
} 113 16 1 80 Union,
i 175 16 1 80 Union.
815 14 1- 40 Forsyth.
398 5 1 40 Dawson.
157 11 202 J Henry.
104 19 2 40 Cobb.
901 21 2 74 Cherokee
Three lots, 50x150 feet each, alto
gether being Nos. 14, 15 and 16, on
Mt. Zion avenue, in the village of Mt.
Zion, Carroll county, Ga.
One lot, No, 114, in block 17, is
Montrose Park, Montrose county Col
orado.
Six acres on Satterfield Ford road,
5 miles from Gr enville, in Greenville
county, S. C.
Three lots a Montreal, on G. C< k
N. railroad, DeKalb county, Ga.
1,100 acres; 700 hammock, 400 up
land, in Screven county, Ga. This is
a fine place, divided by the Georgia
Central railroad. 50 miles from Savan
nah. Railroad station on the place; good
location for country store. Splendid
situation for factory for staves and
cooperage works. Enough good tim
ber on the hammock land to pay for
the place three or four times over.
Investors are invited to examine this
place.
1.149 acres on west bank of Savan
nah river, in Effingham county, Ga.,
grant of 1784, and descent of title to
present owner.
1.150 acres on Satilla river, in Cam
dem county, Ga., grant from state,
and deeds on record for 100 years
back. Good title, by descent to pres
ent owner.
1,150 acres on St. Mary’s river, in
Camden county, Ga. Grant and deeds
on record 100 years back. Good title,
by descent to present owner.
430 acres on west bank of Savannah
river, in Screven county, Ga. Deeds
on record since 1827. Good title, by
descent to present owner.
I desire to sell these lands as sooa
as possible, and they must go at low
prices, very low for cash, or on easy
terms and long time with 5 per cent
interest, as purchasers may desire and
prefer. Persons desirous of investing
money for future profits by enhance
ments should examine these offers at
once. I have other lands, which I
will sell on gooQ terms and low prices.
In writing for information about any
of these lands, refer to them by the
number, district, section and county,
and enclose two stamps, 4 cents, for
reply. Robert L. Rodgers,
ts Attornev at Law. Atlanta. Gi