Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900): Letters from the FrontHales, A. G. (Alfred Greenwood)
History
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900): Letters from the Front
Hales, A. G. (Alfred Greenwood)
South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives
He dodged around my question like a
fox terrier round a fence, until I gave him up in despair. But, for all
that, I rather fancy they have found diamonds round that way, only they
don't want the British to know anything about it.
RED WAR WITH RUNDLE.
NEAR SENEKAL.
In our rear lies the little village of Senekal, a shy little place,
seemingly too modest to lift itself out of the miniature basin caused by
the circumambient hills. Khaki-clad figures, gaunt, hungry, and dirty,
patrol the streets; the few stores are almost denuded of things saleable,
for friend and foe have swept through the place again and again, and both
Boer and Briton have paid the shops a visit. At the hotel I managed to get
a dinner of bread and dripping, washed down with a cup of coffee, guiltless
of both milk and sugar. But, if the bill of fare was meagre, the bill of
costs made up for it in its wealth of luxuriousness. If I rose from the
table almost as hollow as when I sat down, I only had to look at the
landlord's charges to fancy I had dined like one of the blood royal.
Opposite the hotel stands the church, a dainty piece of architecture, fit
for a more pretentious town than Senekal. It is fashioned out of white
stone, and stands in its own grounds, looking calm and peaceful amidst all
the bustle and blaze of war. Someone has turned all the seats out of the
sacred edifice, preparatory to converting it into a hospital. The seats are
not destroyed; they are not damaged; they are stacked away under a
neighbouring verandah.
I do not think it wrong so to utilise a church. It is the only place fit to
put the wounded men in in all the town. The great Nazarene in whose name
the church was erected would not have allowed the sick to wither by the
wayside in the days when the Judean hills rang to the echo of His magnetic
voice, nor do I think it wrongful to His memory to convert His shrine into
an abiding place for the sick and suffering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account