War's Brighter Side: The Story of The Friend Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's Forces, March-April, 1900Ralph, Julian
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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
In this day's paper there were seventeen notices of horses
lost--presumably stolen, but a close scrutiny of all horseflesh was in
progress, and in the same column with the wails of the robbed was a
notice of the recovery of twenty-one horses--none of them being the
same as any of the lost that were advertised for. The Provost-Marshal,
Major R. M. Poore, on this day announced that every native with a
horse must carry a certificate proving that the animal was his own. He
also declared that every person possessing any property of the Orange
Free State Government--horses, mules, oxen, or anything else--must
quickly hand it up.
Lord Roberts reviewed the Naval Brigade on the preceding day, and we
had a report of it showing how splendidly Captain Bearcroft's command
appeared. The late Admiral Maxse, out there on a visit, witnessed the
review, and said that it was the first one he had attended since the
Crimea, when he acted as naval A.D.C. to Lord Raglan. This review gave
us all one of our rare chances of seeing Lord Roberts, for he went out
but little, and even at such times hurried directly to his
destination, returning with as little loss of time. Every man, of
every rank, saluted him, and he was scrupulously careful to return the
salute even of the bugler boys. It was said to be surprising to note
how many men he knew of all ranks, and how watchful and observant he
was. "You managed that very cleverly," he would say to a man in
conflict with unruly horses; or he would reprove a soldier for
untidiness in dress. Nothing escaped his restless eyes.
He wore no decorations of any kind, and I have even heard it said that
not every coat of his was decked with gilt buttons--though this I
repeat only upon hearsay. I can testify, however, that no man more
modest and making less of his rank was in his army. I always saw him
in plain khaki with that badge of mourning upon one sleeve which gave
us all a keener thrust in our emotions than even the hardest felt
losses of comrades and acquaintances which befell us all so
frequently.
* * * * *
THE FRIEND.
(_Edited by the War Correspondents with Lord Roberts' Force._)
BLOEMFONTEIN, MARCH 21, 1900.
RUDYARD KIPLING.
EDITORIAL BY H. A. GWYNNE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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