Conservative.
ably rainy season. Prices are lower
today than I have over kiiowu thorn iu
the Transvaal. When Jameson crossed
the border , four years ago , forage was
$32 50 per hundred bundles ; today it is
$6.25 per hundred bundles. Potatoes
have fallen from $11.25 to $0.75 the bag.
To its own astonishment the Transvaal
has emerged from the battle smoke an
agricultural country. In war time , in
the face of a possible siege , prices in
Pretoria are less than one-half of those
current in Buluwayo. Forage is $18.76
in Buluwayo , but only $0.25 in Pretoria ;
Boor meal is sold at $18.75 in Buluwayo ,
but fetches only $6.55 in Pretoria. I
saw bags of potatoes change hands today
at $3.75 the bag , when the price in
Buluwayo is $45. Whatever else may
fail them , the food supply is assured. "
The extraordinarily favorable season
which-has marked this year of war has
seemed to the Boer women a direct
evidence of the hand of God :
"They remember that the year of the
raid was the blackest in the country's
history , with its miserable tale of
drought , rinderpest , and locusts ; and
they joyously proclaim the difference
from this year of plenty. In every
phase of this struggle one nnist recog
nize the religious fervor of the people ,
and , without a full understanding of it ,
no one can realize the forces at work
within the republic. The Transvaalers
believe themselves engaged in a holy
war , and the fact is one which the
statesmen who arrange the final settle
ment may not neglect. Every night the
people meet in the big church on the
Kerk Square , a vast congregation of
women and children , with such of the
men as can be present there. Wounded
burghers from the front and those on
furlough sprinkle the audience. They
attend the service as they would a war-
council , and esteem their predikant as
they would a well-tried general. The
war seems to have burned out in great
part the influences of the gold rush , and
the people are become simple as in their
pastoral days. "
Meantime there is neither death nor
desolation iu the silent dorps and farm
houses :
"Boer women are carrying on the
work of their sons and husbands , direct
ing the Kaffir labor , and themselves
driving to market as goodly loads as
ever were seen there in peace times.
But it is quietly done. There are vacant
chairs and dusty , uuteuanted velsohoen
to still the heedless laugh and to set the
sad-eyed vrouw bustling about unneces
sary duties when the children grow
noisy or the Hottentot kitchen help
shouts across the yard. They are not
beautiful , these Boer women , nor
promising candidates for romantic treat
ment , but I have seen enough to know
their practical value in the land. On
them falls the slow sorrow of the times.
The politics of the war were in other
yaw
hands , but the prosecution of it rests in
great part with the women. Had they
not taken the direction of the farms into
their own hands famine would now be
staring the country in the face instead
of well-filled granaries and forage sheds.
While the ladies of England have been
employed devising comforts for the
troops the Boor women have busied
themselves with getting in the mealies
and digging up the potato crops. The
same woman's heart beats with the
same divine compassion under the Boer
vrouw's lyfje as under the daintiest
vestment from Worth. This is a war of
the Oromwellian period. The men at
the front may be degenerated Oalviuists ,
may have all the vices of the century-
end ; but the women are simple in the
faith , and their faith kept the men in
their trenches at Ooleuso and at Spiou
Kop. When the history of this war is writ
ten , the influence of Boer women will de
mand a special place. They have been
single-hearted in their determination to
maintain the independence , and have
not faltered in giving their dearest to its
defense. I saw one woman turn dry-
eyed from the train at Pretoria , with
the hoarse whisper : 'He is the fourth
son I have lost for Land en Volk since
Elandslaagte. God preserve the re
public ! ' "
"With such , " concludes Mr. Story ,
"lie the prosecution of the war and the
difficulty of settlement. Paul Krnger
has not only the back-country Boers to
wrestle with ; he has the women in and
around Pretoria , who dog his steps and
exhort him to remember the sacred cause
the people have sworn to defend. Their
influence ennobles patriotism , but it
makes policy vastly more difficult. "
The Argonaut.
LITERARY NOTE.
The title of Miss Johnston's romance
of early Virginia is one that readily
lends itself to popular paraphrase , and
the cartoonists of the daily newspapers ,
as well as some advertisement writers ,
have been quick to perceive its effective
ness in this direction and to make use of
it. The uses to which it has been put
have ranged from service as the title
line of a cartoon on the president down
to the "catch line" of a department
store advertisement. It is related that
a child entered the Providence Library
a few days ago and asked for a book for
her mother , preferably "that novel of
Mary Johnston's called 'To Get and To
Keep. ' "
THE BISHOP AND HIS SON.
New York , May 8. Bishop Potter ,
speaking last night at the annual dinner
of the New York commandery of the
Loyal Legion of the United States at
Delmonico's , said that his mind had not
undergone any radical change concern
ing the Philippines since his return to
the United States. Ho thus illustrated
his views :
"If my sou should come to me and say
he proposed to marry a young Tagal
woman with seven children , I should
all him a great big ass. But if he came
to me and said he had already contracted
such a marriage , I would still try to
sustain intimate relations with him.
"No , gentlemen , what we have done
has established just such a relation as
this , and it would be a source of national
mortification if we gave up our respon
sibilities because we find them difficult. "
Associated Press Dispatch.
Son "Dear papa , what would you
say if I told you that I was matrimon
ially engaged to a Tagal widow with
seven children ? "
The Bishop "My son , I should say
that you were an ass. "
Son "But , papa dear , I must , how
ever , regretfully tell you that I have
already married her. "
The Bishop "Well , then , my boy ,
the wisdom or unwisdom of your mar
riage is a purely academic question.
We must all make thobest of it. You
will do your duty as a man. You
surely would not mortify mo by giving
up your responsibilities because you
find them difficult. Your matrimonial
obligations will probably develop in
you what my friend Roosevelt calls 'the
strenuous life. ' "
Son "But , papa , I must unburden
the whole truth. I found the widow
most unwillingly married to a Spaniard.
I drove him away at the point of the
sword. The widow overflowed with
gratitude. She called me her 'redeemer. '
She frankly told me that for years and
years she had been iu love , and in love
unto death , with a man whose name has
a strangely familiar American sound.
It is Mr. Independence. None the less I
compelled her to marry me by force and
violence. Now she hates me. Her chil
dren hate me. They are all eager tote
to kill me on sight. In consequence , I
was forced to shoot some of the children
in self-defense. But , as you said , it is
only an academic question. I cannot
retreat. If I give her up some other
foreigner might force his attentions on
her. And besides I think she is rich. "
The Bishop "My son , my son , can
you not see what my friend McKinley
calls 'a plain duty ? ' Are not the divorce
courts open ? I would not perpetrate a
pun in such an hour , but have you for
gotten the scriptural verse : 'Hath not
the potter power over the clay of the
same lump to make one vessel unto
honor , and another unto dishonor , ' My
son , a moment ago I thought you a
great big ass. Now I am constrained to
call yon a revolting monster. "
Louis B. EnniOH.
Colorado Springs , Oolo. '
