War's Brighter Side: The Story of The Friend Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's Forces, March-April, 1900Ralph, Julian
History
War's Brighter Side: The Story of The Friend Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's Forces, March-April, 1900
Ralph, Julian
Friend (Bloemfontein, South Africa); South African War, 1899-1902 -- Periodicals
The most coveted war trophies were: first, the Transvaal and Free
State flags; second, the extraordinary waistcoats worn by a few Boers,
and covered all over with cartridge slits or pockets made especially
to hold the Mauser "clips" of five cartridges each; third, old Dutch
Bibles illustrated by quaint woodcuts, and fourth, Boer rifles.
However, even the war trophies were few and hard to get, and the
singular energy of collectors expended itself in the gathering of new
and old postage stamps, at which generals, colonels, and Tommies
busied themselves, and a well-known London man of my acquaintance
cleared a profit of L300, still reserving for himself a handsome
collection.
The name of Prince Francis of Teck no longer appeared in THE FRIEND
beneath the demand he had been making for horses. I remember that the
circus-ground he had pre-empted for the safe-keeping of his stock was
now full of animals one day, half-empty the next day, and full again
on the third, as he bought and distributed his live stock. I want,
before I forget it, to tell how some of us editors entertained him
without having the vaguest idea who he was.
He was invited to dinner at the Free State Hotel by Mr. Landon, who
saw him seated and then introduced him to the rest of us, but in so
indistinct a manner that we did not catch his name. We simply saw in
our company a handsome and stalwart young officer of imposing stature,
and evidently profound good-nature. We all conversed upon the current
topics of the day and place, and one of us, I remember, had occasion
to differ with our guest, diametrically, upon some point--doing so as
bluntly, though not at all rudely, as men were apt to do in such a
place and at such a time--when the extra and more elaborate
formalities are apt to be laid aside for future use at the Mount
Nelson Hotel, and later in the routine of life at home.
After dinner our guest suggested that he should enjoy a chat and smoke
in our company elsewhere than in the noisy dining-room, so we invited
him to Mr. Kipling's bedroom, which was larger than Mr. Landon's or
Mr. Gwynne's or mine. We spent a very pleasant hour in freest
converse, one of us being prone upon one bed and rolling around on it
pipe in mouth, while our guest lolled upon a cot beside the chest of
drawers, and the others held down two chairs and looked after the
distribution of the cigarettes and the less dry refreshments at our
command.
We were not able, by any means, to agree with some of the propositions
of our guest, but he accepted our views in a spirit of good-humour, or
of a desire to learn what we had seen and studied. He talked a great
deal about horses, and about the fertile ingenuity of the native horse
trader, as well as of his own ability to defeat him at his wiles--but
we took no hint from this. When he had gone we asked Mr. Landon, "Who
was that? We did not catch his name."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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