NEBRASKANS TO JOIN BOERS.
Lincoln, Neb stpcclal.)-A thousand
wen to aid the Boer. Men who are
it home on the prairies, in forest or
oeky wllils, who can sleep in the open
with one eye open, shoot o that every
u!!ct counts and ride the ugliest horse
:hat ever showed temper. This was
:he kind of band that Colonel John U.
Maher of this city undertook to get
logether after he had thoroughly stud
ed the causes that led to the Boer war
nd had decided that the burghers
needed his help. The thousand men
nave volunteered three time over and,
:ould the stretch of water guarded
By England huge navy be safely got-
b-n over, the little army under Colonel
Maher would be in the Transvaal by
now. How to get over this ship-policed
bstac!e, and how best to show practical
help for the lioers Is the problem that
now confronts Colonel Maher, but let
aim tell his own story.
Should I go to the Transvaal with a
regiment of men," legan the Colonel
when asked to state the case fur our
readers, "we all will go as private citi
zens In order not to violate any neu
trality laws, and when we get there It
Is our own business what we engage In.
My Judgment i.i that there Is a good
opening for young, enterprising and en
ergetic Americans in South Africa.
"The sentiment of this state is over
whelmingly in favor of the lioers In
their heroic struggle for the right to
govern themselves. Numerous letters
are from women who wish to go as
nurses, and from veterans of the late
war who wore the blue and gray. Many
of the latter regret that they are too
old, but assure me that they are with
the lioers in spirit. The cause which
these people are fight for Is, in my
Judgment, one that should Inspire the
noblest and loftiest passions of the hu
man heart. It Is the same cause for
which our forefathers fought In '78. and
this, coupled with the patriotic senti
ments contained in so many of the let
ters I receive from the noble men and
women in all walks of life, nerves the
heart and hand to undertake the most
hazardous and difficult undertaking in
their behalf. i
"It is impossible for me to person
ally answer alt the communications 1
receive, but I am placing the names
upon the roll of honor, and In the fu
ture should a move be made they will
receive proper notice, and should noth
ing further bo done, they will be buoy,
ed up and made happy in after years
by the thought that they (lid all they
could to aid a struggling sister repub
lic to sustain herself against the most
cruel, inhuman and tyrannical of gov
ernments on earth, the robber of all
weak nations England. "
This raising of men to help win bat
tles Is no new thing with Mr. Maher.
Imring the war with Spain, as soon as
the president called for volunteers, he
MONEY KING
Honolulu, Feb. 10 my Mall.)-Slxteen
years ago John C. Whey landed at Hon- j
olulu from a sailing vessel, young,
strong and ambitious. He settled In
the prosperous Island community to
make his fortune, and for years worked
hard at his trade as a carpenter. He
became a prosperous contractor. Now,
with an Income of over JfiOO a month,
he Is a money-king of a leper settle
ment, only living out the days that
must elapse before the most dreadful
of known diseases shall end his w recked
rarecr.
Whey went to Pan Francisco In IaM.
It was In that year that he began to
suspect that he had fallen a victim to
the malady once so prevalent In the
Hawaiian Islands, but now, thanks to
Anglo-Saxon methods of quarantine. but
very seldom seen away from the Island
Dt Molokal.
One night Whey lifted a hot lnmp
giass In his home, where he was enter
taining a fiiend. The glass was m
hot that smoke rose from his scoiched
fingers, and the friend uttered, an ex
rlaination of horror, but Whey 'showed
no signs of having felt the pain. lie
nw the smoke. It was a grim con
firmation of his worst suspicions. The
thickening skin that comes with the
list advance of leprosy could not have
iecn shown In a more startling manner.
The friend thought nothing of It at the
time, but John Whey knew what It
neant.
After the night Whey shunned his
friends. He was m en w alking along the
water front of San Francisco, with his
hat pulled over his eyes, burled in
thought. He avoided speaking to any
tine. A close obseiver might have seen,
perhaps, that his eyelids were thicker
than they should have been, and that
liis fingers were thick and shiny. Whey
was contemplating the step he finally
took of placing hlm:clf under the
guards that hern in the thousand or
amre lepers of Moiokal.
It was a terrible step to consider. Jn
ill the world there is probably no more
lorrible place to live than In a leper
lettlemenl, where among a thousand
TALK ABOUT WOMEN.
Miss Mary Jiuchniinn Randolph, who
tvas burled at Mip.ewond, ii'iir i'i:nr
lottevllie, Va.. recently, was a ureal-Kreni-gi.imldaughter
of Thomas Jef
letson. Maty Anderson was ie''ici!Iy the vic
tim of robbers at her hotel In a Rivl
ra resort. Her trunks wire thoroughly
filled and a number of Jewels of value
taken. Many tourists on the French
md Italian Itlvieras have suffered
from the ibprediitlons of the gentle
manly "crook" during the piesenl s
on.
Miss Matld Gonne, the Irish agitator,
now in this country, Is remarkably tall
for a womnn, being six feet high and
well proportion. She has regular fea
tures, bright" black eyes and a delicate
complexion. Her sister, Mrs. I'llcher, Is
the wife of a Hrltish ofllcer.
Mrs Frank K. Buttle off em to slve to
Ihe New York public library a thou
land menus of rnenls that have actual
y bcn served to her In nearly all the
countries of the world, on condition that
the gift be sealed and stowed away for
fifty years from the date of Us receipt,
tills Hultle Is enjoying excellent health,
Hesplte her gastronomic; adventures.
The admission to practice In the Mln
iiesota supreme court of Miss Kate II.
I'ler and Miss Harriet If. I'ler, on mo
Hon of Mrs. K. N. I'ler, make up a
auartct of Minneapolis women lawyers,
the fourth being Mrs. Caroline H. Pier
Hoemer, a sister of the Ilrst two named
.hove, and herself married to a lawyer.
fflnce Mrs. George Howe of Hartford.
?onn., wa foolish enougth about a
tendered his services and at owe or
ganized a company, but not having
any (treat military experience he en
listed ana private, although at the time
he was a colonel on the staff of the then
governor, Silas A. Holcomb of Nebras
ka. Maher served with his company
until they were mustered out of serv
ice. His regiment was the Second Ne
braska volunteers, and he was a mem
ber of company H. He was well liked
and very popular with the privates of
the regiment. He It was who had trou
ble over a type-writing machine. Gen
eral Fred Grant ordered Maher to sur
render It. Maher refused to give It up
unless the request was made In dlffer-
cut terms. This was not done and Ma-
her, declining to surrender the machine,
was placed under arrest. A trial re
culted in the whole proceedings being
dismissed for irregularity.
When the war In the Transvaal
broke out Maher at once began to or
ganize those who were willing to aid
the Boers. When it became known
that he was taking names he very soon
had no less than 2.5'jO names of young
and old men of all nationalities, all !
anxious to go to the Transvaal and help
the men who are lighting for the right
of self-government. These letters came
from men In ail walks of life, but most
ly of German and Irish descent.
What Maher and his men will do
when they get to the Transvaal of
course depends on circumstances, but
it is presumed they will work the lleius
and mines while the lioers fight, and
some may enter the Boer army.
Maher started, as he himself said, "to
ascertain whether or not it was possible
to secure the names of 1,000 Nebraskans
who were willing to go to South Afrba
to aid the lioers." He did not say In
what way.
Jt costs about S1S.0 per man to get
transportation from America to Dela
goa Bay, so that It will not do to lie
precipitate in arranging for the re
cruits reaching their destination when
once they have started. It can be seen
that the capture by Hrltish ships of a
regiment of rough riders intended for
the Boer army would mean not the loss
of the men's services alone, although
that, of course, would be the heaviest
loss, but a waste of good money pay
ing the passage half around the world
of recruits who would only be turned
back to this country. Colonel Maher Is
therefore proceeding very slowly about
the shipment of the men, and it is
nrobable that they will be sent out In
ones and twos and threes, ostensibly to
Join the Boer ambulance coips. -None
but those whose good faith Is beyond
ouestlon will be sent out. Every man
who gets through, therefore, will be a
most valuable addition to the Hoer
army. These recruits for Com Paul are
not soldiers of fortune, but good Amer
leans who desire to help the cause of
freedom In South Africa.
IS A LEPER.
companions there Is not one with the
liope that belongs to the average man
as no man likes to think of.
Many have committed suicide rather
than go to Molokal. Others have risked
death to escape from there. In the
wilds of Hawaii there Is a canyon in
which live a few lepers, who guard the
approach to their resort with guns, lest
they be arrested and moved to the set
tlemeiit. Hut for Its horrible popula
tion. Kaannpall. the Molokal leper set
tlement, is one of the most lovely spots
In the world. Its climate is unsur
passed. Kb scenery grand. But these
beauties are lost In contemplation of
the horror of the place.
The lepers live and love, marry and
raise children like human beings in the
outside world. They even have their
entertainments and their Industries, but
the pall Is never absent. The old cry
"Hoom for the leper! Itoom!" has not
been given up yet, though now civil
ized man provides the room and tries
to alelviate the suffering rather than
run from It.
Whey knew when he set foot on Mol
okal that he had not the slightest
chance of leaving the place again. No
earthly circumstances can be conceived
under which he could ever expect to
tread any other soil than that of the
leper colony. He built a home there,
ami with the courage of a man who
refuses to yield to anything but death
Itself he took up again his old occu
pation of contractor.
. He is ifl Molokal yet. He has a home,
with servants, lepers all, but Is still a
properly owner in Honolulu. He will
never see any of his relatives of friends
again. As far as they are concerned
he Is dead. liut In fai t he is living on,
with a noble courage that defies nil the
world can do to down a man. .
One of his workmen's tools Is suppos
ed to have carried the germs of leprosy
to Whey. He was In the habit of work
ing In his own shop, and frequently
used the same tools as the other men.
A case of leprosy developed among his
employees, and the man wa. sent to
Molokal. followed later by his employer.
month ago to tell her neighbors she ex.
pei ted boom to tecclve a h'gacy of $t;i,.
she has been overwhelmed wilh In
vitations for subscriptions, to charities
and begging b'tteis of all descriptions.
.'o'.v Mi'.?. Howe has disappeared and
her husband declares sh- has hit'it driv
en crazy by the flood of Icilcis,
After nearly half a century of news
paper rind literary work In this coun
try, Mrs. Jennie June Croly will si in
leavu for Kiiglaiid, the land of her
birth, where she Intends to puii the
remaining years of her llf Miss Croly
began her newspaper work in New
York In lV.'.a, was one of the founders
of Porosis in 1 vi;s. whs twice elected
president of that organization and In
1XS9 founded and became president of
the Women's Press club.
The New York Times Is authority for
the assertion that "one young man led
woman In town won JI.WO at progres
sive euchre In a three days' session In
the parlors of one of the most exclu
sive houses In the city, whose mistress
Is a fashlonnble lender, with n couple
of unmarried daughters who are hard
ly 'out' In social life, and both of
whom lost their money to this young
matron."
Itresthlnc In rough water Is made
easy by a new life preserver, which has
a vertical tubs secured to the front of
the olr chamber, with a mouthpiece
through which air Is drawn from the
top of the tube, which extends obov
tr.e bead.
THE IBOB OF BEMOESE.
w
A Klory of Ibe Trail.
It is never well to lie loo sure what
you would do under given circum
t aiiccs, until you have tried and
found out. A course of action which,
you Know to be absolutely foreign
to every instinct within you when
you sit down to reason about il. after
tiie manner of the age may be the
very one you will follow when there is
no "time for reason. If anyone had
told Muckworth that under lire he
would lie a coward, Muikvvuiili would
have knocked the informant down
then and there, and liave reflected
Uoii the danger to his commission
afterward.
Muckworth had been graduated too,
but, being- a right-minded boy, lie re
membereil that it was to Horalius that
the molten image was made, and not
to the fellow who built the bridge;
so lie very properly chose the cavalry,
and heaven rewarded him by sending
him straight to ihe frontier. And this
was in the days when there was u
frontier; when men endured discom
forts that they sigh to know again, as
none ever sighs for the luxuries, of the
past; when the Apache and the
Cliiriciihiia were in the land, and still
struggling- to be masters of it; and
when a woman was truly a blessing
of the gods, and might, even under
disadvantages, have her pick of the
department. J!ut, as there is no wo
man in all 1his, that is irrelevant.
Jixcept after the manner of cadets
which is not to be taken seriously
Muckworth hud not let women enter
into his scheme of existence. His
ideals were of another sort, just then.
He was young mid full of belief and
things, and he thought, that the way
to win approval of the War Depart
ment and the gratitude of his coun
try was to avoid wirepulling and to
kill Indians. Therefore, he rejoiced
greatly when, after only six weeks of
bis thoroughly undesirablex garrison,
Clint ta took the Chiricuhiias on the
warpath, and he was ordered out in
the field. He had had his kit all roll
ed in n rubber poncho, and-' his mess
chest pretty well stocked for the
whole of the six weeks. Jle believed
that a soldier should be always in
readiness. He believed so many things
thcn-t-tliough before long the bottom
fell out of his universe, and he was
filled with an enduring skepticism.
And this was how it cume about;
The first time he was under fire whs
when they were caught at rather a
disadvantage among the pines in the
Mogollons. The tight began about
dusk and lusted well into the night.
It may have been the result of some
bugaboo stories of his babyhood,
which had fostered an unconquerable
fear of the dark; it may have been
some lurking instinct, or it may have
been just blue funk which overcame
him. Anyway, lie hid behind a bowl
der, crouched and cowed there, trem
bling so that his carbine, fell from his
bauds.
And Morley, his captain, found him
so. "What are you doing?" hi: de
manded. Jfe was an Irishman and a
soldier of the old school, but he did
not sivcnr, Mackworth knew, from
that, how bad it was. He scrambled
up and babbled, "(let out of there"'
the Captain said. Jle would have used
a better tone to one of the troop curs.
Mack worth felt for his carbine, and
got out, staggering, but no longer
afraid, only nsliamcd siekeningly
ashamed-- beyond all endurance. He
tried hard to get himself killed after
that. Hi; walked up and down in front
of his men, giving orders and smoking
cigarettes, and doing his best to serve
as a target. The Captain watched
liiin and began to understand. His
frown relaxed. "You'd better get un
der vover," lie suggested; "you are
taking needless risks," Mackworth
looked ut him with wide, blank eyes,
and did not answer. His face was
hot only white now; it was gray and
set, like the face of a corpse.
Morlcy's heart softened. "It's only
a babv, anyway, lie said to himself,
"and it is unhappy, out o all propor
tion." And presently he went to him
again. Will you get tinder cover,
Mackworth'.'" he insisted.
'".No," said the lieutenant, "I won't."
The Captain swore now, fierce oaths,
unci loud. "1 order you back under
cover, sir!"
Mackworth retired with a look tit
his sujicrior for which lie should have
been court-martialed. After that the
scout went the way of most scouts,
being a chase of the intangible up
mountain ranges, when you pulled
your horse after you; down them,
when he slid tit op of vou; across iiial-
pais and desert, from the level of (lie
inesipiite and the grensevvood to that
of the pine and the manxnnitii.
( bulla's band was tit the north, to
the south, to the east nod west; but
when the troops got to the spot, after
Jorccd marching, there was nothing.
It went on for two months, and nil
flu: while Mriokwortli's despondency
grew. The weight of years was upon
Jet barely-squared shoulders, the
troubles of a lifetime were written
upon his face. And if. whs a pit ibly
J tiling fnce, despite the growth of yel
low beard. He would not be com
forted. He was silent and morose.
He would not lift up his beautiful
barytone in song, be the. camp ever
so dull. Only his captain knew why,
of course - mid he didn't fell. Neither
did lie attempt consolation. lie
thought the remorse healthful, and
lie knew, besides, that in such cases
a urn ij has to work out his own con
clusions mid salvation. This is the
way .Mackworth eventually fried to
work out his;
There came one day a runner from
t he hnsfilcs n dish raced, strnight
iocked creature of sinews who spoke
through the While Mountain Interpre
ter of the troops and said flint his
chief was ready to go buck to the res
(nation, but tlint, he must go upon
his own terms. And the chief stipu
lated, moreover, that one white man
otic, nlonc mid unguarded -should go
to the hostile camp and discuss those
terms. If a force ntlempled to come
he would refrent with the braves timl
stay nut all winter,
Morley made uniwer that be hud
no fear of the chief staying out all
winter among the innuiitaiiis when the
agency was so comfortable, but tlwt
if he did the white man eould stand
it as long as he could. . Moreover, he
said that none of bis soldiers had any
intention whatever of walking into a
death trap of the sort.
Then -Mackworth si)ke up. "X
have," he said.
"(Jet out," said the captain, incredu
lously., "I mean what 1 say," said Mack
worth, "and I shall consider your per
mbsion to go 1 lie greatest and onlj'
favor you can do me. Something may
be effected by it."
"Your death, that's all; and a little
pre I i m i 1 1 a ry torture."
The lieutenant shrugged his shoul
ders. "Will you let me go?" he in
sisted. "Not by a long sight."
"I wish to go, Capt. Morley."
Morley considered, and he decided
that it might not be wise to refuse.
There was no knowing just what the
bet-faced boy might do. So they par
leyed together for a time, then Mack
wort h mounted his horse and went,
lie, did not expect to come back, and
the officers and men did not expect to
see him again. .They watched him go
off into the distance of the plain,
toward the mountains, following the
hostile, who swung on at the long,
untiring dog-trot.
After four hours they came to the
mouth of a narrow canyon. The run
ner had given no sign of sound, and
the fixed look had not gone frott:
Maekworth's face. Well within the
canyon the hostiles -were in camp.
They had hobbled their lean JittLe
ponies, the stpiaws were, gathering
wood, and the bucks were squatting
upon the ground or playing monte
with curds of painted hide around a
sowskin spread upon a cedar tree.
Four of them rode and slouched for
ward. There was a prolonged scrutiny
upon both sides.
The chief waited for Mackworth to
begin, but the white man's instincts
were. good. He beat the sullenly-silent
redskin at. his own game, and in the
end (he chief spoke. The runner dis
played for the first time his under
standing, mid interpreted. Mackworth
made answer with decision, offsetting
lus own terms. The bucks scowled
and the chief began to argue. The
while man, with the unflinching eye,
would not coniprouii.se. "Tell him
Mackworth said, "that this is my will.
Jf he do not this I go back to the
soldicrti, and we follow you and kill
yon all, man and woman." The face
of the chief grew black, a growl rose
from the crowding bucks, and the
wiitcliifig srpiaws began to chatter in
voices sweet as 1hc tinkle of glass
bells.
The chief stepped suddenly forward
and caught the r.ridlc above the curb
shanks. Not so much as an eyelash of
the stern, white, young face quivered,
and the heart of the red man was
filled with admiration. One movement
of fear would have cost Mackworth
his life fhen, but he was not afraid,
not though he knew that torture
might, await him. He sat looking
coolly down at the lowering, cruel
faces. The chief turned and spoke to
the bucks, mid there was a growl of
protest; the squaws joined with a
shrill little chorus scream. But the
chief flung away the bridle, with a
force which made the horse back.
"Jle do same you say. Jle go back
to reservation today. Jle say you
itkishee quick," said the interpreter.
Mackworth turned deliberately and
ukisheed with no show of haste and
without, a backward look.
lie reported his success and went to
his tent. His look of stolid wretched
ness was unchanged. Morley began
to be nervous. He went to the tent
himself and found the lieutenant writ
ing a letter by lantern light. It was
not a normal opportunity to fake for
that, so the captain, being filled with
misgivings, trumped up an errand and
sent him oil' on it. Then he looked at
the letfer. It. was to Maekworth's
mother. Morley did not read it, but
ho guessed Ihe whole thing in a flash.
lie took up Maekworth's carbine and
slid it under the tent flags into the
outer darkness. Also, he broke the
Colt's, which had been thrown down
upon fhe bedding, and put the car
tridges in his pocket. Then he re
placed it in fhe holster, and going out,
jiickcd up the carbine and hid it in
the brush.
After the camp was all asleep and
Morley snoring loudly act'o:-s the tent,
Mackworth groped under his pillow
and brought out the revolver. He
cocked it mid waited for a moment;
then he placed the barrel well in his
moulh mid pulled the trigger once
and then again mid again.
At first call for reveille Morley
invoke. Mack wort Ii wns already up,
m.ii turning he studied his captain's
f;:ce with the faintest and most un
willing of smiles twitching the corners
of his month under the beard. Jt was
the most natural mid healthy look his I
face had worn in weeks.
"Well?" s;:i Morley.
"Well?" answered Mackworth, "I
should like my carbine and the loads
of my Colt's, please,"
Morlcy's face broke into a broad
grin. Vill you be good if I let you
have them?" he risked.
"I'll be good," promised the lien-tenant.-
(iwendolen Overton, in the
Argonaut.
' Tides of Ihe ltnr tlf l lllnl.
The tides of the liny of Furidy ore
generally supposed (o be the greatest
in the world, mid h:ne been stated to
have a, range ns great as 120 feet.
Measurements taken fit different lo
calities have been lately given by W.
Hell Dawson. From ids figures it ap
pears that the highest, recorded tide
was VIM feet, this having been noted
in lS(i9 in Cumberland liny, where the
ordinary spring tide range is 4."' feet.
The range is S0 feet nt Noel bay, HI
feet nt Digby mid St. John, 1tl feet
nt Yarmouth, -mid 0 or 7 feci, in the
Atlantic outside. W, II. Wheeler
points out. Hint these tides are equalled
In the Itrisfol channel, where nt Chep
stow nil extreme range of 5P, feel hiu
been known. In both the liritish and
the Cniiridimi localities fhe highest rise
nbove the nienn level of the sea in from
VI to C3 Uhm
: OLIVE SCHREINER'S LOVE STORY i
Olive Schrelner loved Cecil Rhodes:
now she hates him. He has been shut
up In Kirnberley, his dreams of empire
crumbled at his feet; she Is in Caie
town working with pen and voice for
the lioers, his enemies and her aveng
ers. At length, from the bloody drama
that is being enacted in South Africa,
emerges a figure of romance, and from
the tales of slaughter one turns to the
sorrows of that stormy heart winch
throbs through the "Story of a South
African Farm."
All the world has known of the hat
red, but not of the love, out of which
it grew. In "Trooper Feter JJaiKel
Miss Schfeiner's second novel, Oi il
Rhodes was held up by name to the
obloquy of civilization. This generation
has not witnessed a more tavage liter
ary crucifixion. And that was long tie
fore the present war was talked of. Th
book was published, aptly enougn. just
when the Napoleon of South Africa was
trying to whitewash himself before tht
commission which investigated the
Jameson raid.
People said that Olive Hchreiner was
a bitter partisan. They called her a
fanatic, unglophobe, champion of the
lioers.
They did not call her a Jilted woman.
because no one knew that, save the
members of her own family. The story
has only Just come out an exhalation
from the seething cauldron of human
passions which South. Africa presents
to the world today.
What will prove the historical value
of the romance la that it involves a
man and woman of genius. Cecil
Rhodes is a genius of affairs, Olive
Schrelner Is a genius of the pen.
His achievements are the molding- of
men and parties, the amassing of a
fortune, the development of. a country
the upbuilding of a nation. Hers are
the searching of human hearts, the pf,r
trayal of human passions, the exploit
ins of a wild, rebellious woman's phil
osophy.
Cecil Rhodes is all iron; while Olive
Kchreiner is all fire. Liut the iron did
not melt.
It was a singular infatuation, wor
thy of being enshrined by some great
master of psychology. JLove reveis ;n
such contrasts. Perhaps it was the
commanding imagination of Rhodes, so
utterly unlike her own, that captivated
the author. In him she saw one whose
lodestar was ambition, whose will was
adamant, whose dreams were of em
pire. Of human sympathy, of regard
for human life and happiness, he had
not a spark and he was proud of it.
And she, who was all sentiment, all
sympathy, whose great, warm heart,
wrought to the acme of sensitiveness m
the solitude of the veldt, bled tor every
sorrow of another she adored him.
He came to her country an alien; she
was of the first generation ,of Af
rikanders. Cecil Rhodes was the son
of an Knglish clergyman, a delicate boy,
who was sent to Cape Colony in the
hope that the climate would prolong his
life to manhood. It was his genius
alone that enabled him to become the
commanding individuality of a conti
nent. It was inevitable that the two should
meet, for her family is conspicuous In
the public affairs of the colony. Her
fatiier, a German, was a remarkable
character, resembling in some respects
ihe father of Charlotte Bronte, with
whom literary critics are fond of com-
narine- Olive Schreiner. He was an
evangelist an emotional, extravagant
wanderer, with doubtless a toucli of
genius, which failed to find expression
in a way to command respectful atten
tion. That he had a commanding per
sonality is proved by the circumstances
under which he won his wife.
Traveling through Germany, in the
double character of peddler and ex
horter, he found shelter one night in
the home of a farmer who had a young
daughter. .Next morning the peddler
preacher proposed to his host for the
girl's hand, and more amazing still
the girl herself was his advocate. Thy
were married three days later and
started for South Africa.
While the evangelist lived, his wife
and her augmenting brood shared his
nomad life. On his death they settled
in Grahamfitown, and there the children
received from their mother a rudiment
ary education as extraordinary as their
antecedents. Finding that the schools
were as void of Latin as she was her
self, she undertook to teach her chil
dren the language by herself, studying
it with them in text books. The result
was that, when :n after years they en
countered people, they had a good
working knowledge of Latin, but em
ployed a pronunciation entirely orig
inal. Olive was the genius of the family.
Again, like Charlotte Bronte, she be
gan life as a governess, anil il was dur
ing the most stormy period of its his
torythe present showed early a talent
HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES.
If II be true that there is a "little
cherub who sits up aloft" with the ben
eficent object of taking care of "poor
Jack," it must be equally true that
conic other cherub Is chnigcd wilh the
care of Tommy Atkins when the bul
lets are raining on him thick as nan
Tummv'ii cuiirdiaii cherub must have
been especially ulert and busy when he
w-ns cnarceu wilh ine ii'iiniiwii
Corporal Laurie, of the healortli llisn
landers, In the Kgyptlan campaign of a
year or two ago. Probably no soldier
who faced an enemy lias ever uhmi
wade the target of so many bullets as
t his gallant corporal, and ceriaini
ihere is no record of any man escaping
so much peril unscathed.
In one engagement. Corporal Laurie
was struck in one part or other of his
rlothlng mid accoutrements by no fewer
limn 162 bullets, and enl. rgd from the
light literally in "rag and tatters,"
without losing a drop of the blood he
'mis ready to shed for his country.
On d n rlblng Ida experience, the cor
poral wrote: "1 went through the bail'e
Mlh my clothes riddled with bullets.
Hcith of my shoes were torn to pieces
iiy builds; almost nt the same moment
i bullet smashed the wooden stock ol
my gun; the thongs of my bag were cut
'n two; my water gourd, containing my
'es, had been drilled, my sleeves wen
in holes, anil 1 heard on my helmet
omethlng like a hail storm. Sword li
-innd. I foilowed my ' imirades, and was
julckly engaged wilh two hideous 'nlg
r;ers,' who finished my undressing hi
illi iiig mv Jacket with their lances; ami
a bullet tlikled the top nf my hand
nnugh to bruise It. In short, when we
rcfo! met! companies It was discovered
Lhat my uniform, Including shoes, hd
net ami accoutrement, had received
I (12 wounds. I was naked and marched
along, diagslt.g tatters with me."
At the battle of Modder river Ser
jeant Pcnderend was struck by three
bullets In lers than as many minutes,
for public affairs, whi h earned for him
the thankless distinction of becoming
the political bulwark between the Ertt
on' and the Hoer. Theophilus, another
brother, inherit.-d hts Cither's zeal ani
eloquence and became a temp-ti anee lec
turer. He is assisted uy one oi me
married sisters. Mrs. Stewart, while the
other, Mrs. evvls. manages a home far
incapable, and ranks high as a phi
lanthropist. Rut Olive was the genius' or tne iam-
liy. Again, use inariui.i.e oiuuir,
began I if as a governess, and it was
during this period that she wrote the
"Story of an African Farm." Her siuuy
was a room in a rude Hoer homestead.
The floor was earth, not even glaxe
with bullock's blood, the custom of
the more luxurious Boers. She was a
wirp of a woman then, all eyes and
imagination, w ith the fairest hands and
fppi Now she is so plump that the
eyes open less widely and the hands and
feet look too small to be usetui.
brother Cecil was a close friend of
Cecil Rhodes at one time. They were
associated in politics. The Schreinet
family were rising in the world. Olive
was already famous. Rhodes was ris
ing, too, and he had no warmer ad
mirers than the German evangelist's
widow and her sons and daughters.
They believed in his integrity and In
the great destiny before him. And of
them all Olive was the most zealous.
She and Cecil Rhodes spnt much of
their time together. The diamond king
exhibited every token of esteem of
love, the Schreiner family thought.
Perhaps, after all, it was an Intel
lectual attraction on his side. Perhaps
he was interested only in the mind of
this strange, brilliant woman, whosa
book was being talked about all over
the Knglish-speaking world. She was
so earnest, so clear sighted, so well In
formed on South African affairs, that
doubtless the coldly ambitious states
man found it a recreation to draw out
her views. '
Olive Schreiner had no social gifts. In
dress, she had not reached her present
stage of a perpetual Mother Hubbard,
but there was no time at which she
might not have been described as "dow
dy." She could not play, nor sing, nor
manufacture small talk. .But she could
talk men's talk, from a gifted wo
man's point or view and Cecil Rhodes
passed many an evening with, her, con
tent only to listen.
She did more than talk, bne leu in
love. And she believed that she was
loved in return.
Whether Cecil Rhodes spoke of mar
riage, or even thought of it, cannot be
recorded. It is clear that the Schreiner
family believed he meant it, for all ex-
cept the motner now aonor mm aim u
i ins wores.
The old woman's loyalty was never
shaken. Her friends amuse one another
with the story that when Olive sent her
a present of $100 out of the proceeds of
"Trooper I'eter Halket," she sent the
money, as a contribution, to the fund
for erecting a statue of Rhodes in
Rhodesia.
However cruelly Olive Schreiner may
have suffered from the discovery thai
Cecil Rhodes was not a marrying man
and to this day he has the reputation
of a woman -hater she did not, on his
account, condemn herself to single
blessedness. Cron Wright, a young
Cape Colony farmer of Knglish family,
wooed her and was acceptea. in aeier-
ence to her literary reputation he god-
natureaiy eonsenteu iu auuyi um imim.,
with the aid of a couple of hyphens;
hence he figures in Capetown society as
Mr. Cron-Wright-Schieiner.
Olive Schreiner gave birth to one
child, which died in infancy. She caus
ed it to be photographed after death,
and treasures the picture so fondly that
her acquaintances accuse her of beiag
morbid. In this connection she wrote
of motherhood in "The Story of a South
African. Farm:"
"It's a strange thing, but you can t
love a man till you've had a baby by
him. Now, there's that boy there
when we were first married, if he only
sneezed in the night I boxed his ears;
now If he letsj his pipe-ash come on
my milkeloths I don't think of laying
a finger on him. There's nothing like
being married," said Tant Sannie, a9
she puffed toward the door. "If a wo
man's got a baby and a husband she's
got the best thing the ord can give
her, if only the baby doesn't have con
vulsions. As for a husband, it's very
much the same who one has. Some men
are fat and some men are thin; some
drink brandy, and some men drink gin;
but it all comes to the same thing in
the end, it's all one. A man's a man,
you know."
But motherhood and bereavement
have not softened Olive Schrelner's
heart toward Cecil Rhodes, even though
his star be setting, and it is doubtful
that the Boers have damaged his causs
more than the pen of the woman who
once loved him, Z'l-
and escaped practically unharmed.
"First," he -says, "a shot glanced off
the side of my boot and struck my
rifle Just in front of mv face, filling my
cye3 with dust and splinters. I rose up
a little, when another shot struck tha
middle finger of my left hund. I got
, on my knees w hen a bullet struck me
fair in the chest on the buckle of my
it through the
...
center and causing a slight puncture ot
the skin and bruising my chest. I have
been congratulated on being the luck
iest beggar In my battalion."
One of the American soldiers in the
trenches before Manila had a still more
astonishing escape from sudden extinc
tion. One bullet grazed the top of his
right ear, a few seconds later another
took a microscopic slice from the lobe
of the left ear, while a third bullet
llashed plong the top of his head, re
moving the hair in a perfectly straight,
narrow line. As the soldier put it in a
letter to his parents: "it was very kind
of them to part my hair so beautifully,
and It will save me a lot of trouble for
some time to come."
One of the most remarkable of re
ititdcd experiences was that of a cor
poral In the lale fronller campaign In
India. After several hours ot fighting,
during which the bullets hud been fly
ing thickly around him, he was con
giatuliitlng himself Hint he had not
even been touched, when on- removln
his helmet he saw a small perforation
in front which could only have been
made by a bullet. On turning the hel
met around to look for the point ofcxll
of the bullet, he found not one but
two holes, mid could only urrlve at
the ncemingly Incredible conclusion that
two separate bullets must have struck
hts helmet lit exactly the same polnl
and made two sepmiiln opening fol
their exit. Kuch bullet In Its passug
through the helmet must have gon,
literally, almost within a hair's breadth
of the top of hi head.
