family. 2. 1913. 1. fmurray contents.€¦ · 2013-08-11  · party its increased. short is where...

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CHRONICLEOF THE FAMILY. NO 2. AUGUST 1913. VOL. 1. CO-EDITORS fMAY MURRAY 1EFFIE ANDERSON. CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE EDITORIAL ... 23 ITALIAN SKETCHES (T. J ANDERSON) ... 34 GENERAL NEWS 23 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM BRITISH HOME RULE (P. A. MOLTENO) 26 EAST AFRICA (JARVIS MURRAY) ... 36 CHILDREN'S PAGE ... 30 IN MEMORIAM 40 JANET (LIL MOLTENO) 32 EDITORIAL. -- As no suggestions have been received for the cover of the Chronicle, it will remain as it is until something more suitable is decided upon. Subscribers may obtain extra copies of the Magazine at 2/6 each. *As will be seen there is only one contri- bution to the Childrens' Page for this number. It is to be hoped there will be more contributed next time. The Editors are glad to receive contri- butions as early as possible. It may be noticed that the style of the paper of the Chronicle has been changed, the reason of this being that it was not found durable enough. Contributions must reach the Editors not later than the beginning of the first weeks in March, July and November. Matter to be written in clear handwriting on one side of the page only, leaving a small *We have since received one more space at the top of each page, and a margin at the left hand side. Pages to be numbered in small numbers in the left hand corner. Subscriptions to the Magazine to be sent to Effie Anderson, Tressilian, Kenilworth. Literary Contributions to be sent to May Murray, Kenilworth House Cottage, Kenil- worth. GENERAL NEWS. -- Since our last number appeared, we have not been able to welcome any members of the family back from England, the party over there, on the other hand, has had its numbers considerably increased. On May 12th, Nellie Bisset left for a short visit, taking Gwen with her. The latter is to be left at school at Berkhamsted, where Islay and Ursula have been for some time happily established. Before the autumn term begins they are all to pay a visit to Glen Lyon, where Percy and Bessie are to have a large house party.

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Page 1: FAMILY. 2. 1913. 1. fMURRAY CONTENTS.€¦ · 2013-08-11  · party its increased. short is where time autumn to to party. ... Somerville who is an old acquaintance of their family

CHRONICLEOF THE FAMILY.

NO 2. AUGUST 1913. VOL. 1.

CO-EDITORS fMAY MURRAY1EFFIE ANDERSON.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

PAGE

EDITORIAL ... 23 ITALIAN SKETCHES (T. J ANDERSON) ... 34

GENERAL NEWS 23 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM BRITISH

HOME RULE (P. A. MOLTENO) 26 EAST AFRICA (JARVIS MURRAY) ... 36

CHILDREN'S PAGE ... 30 IN MEMORIAM 40

JANET (LIL MOLTENO) 32

EDITORIAL. --

As no suggestions have been received forthe cover of the Chronicle, it will remain asit is until something more suitable is decidedupon.

Subscribers may obtain extra copies ofthe Magazine at 2/6 each.

*As will be seen there is only one contri-bution to the Childrens' Page for thisnumber. It is to be hoped there will bemore contributed next time.

The Editors are glad to receive contri-butions as early as possible.

It may be noticed that the style of thepaper of the Chronicle has been changed, thereason of this being that it was not founddurable enough.

Contributions must reach the Editorsnot later than the beginning of the firstweeks in March, July and November.Matter to be written in clear handwritingon one side of the page only, leaving a small

*We have since received one more

space at the top of each page, and a marginat the left hand side. Pages to be numberedin small numbers in the left hand corner.

Subscriptions to the Magazine to be sentto Effie Anderson, Tressilian, Kenilworth.

Literary Contributions to be sent to MayMurray, Kenilworth House Cottage, Kenil-worth.

GENERAL NEWS. --

Since our last number appeared, we havenot been able to welcome any members ofthe family back from England, the partyover there, on the other hand, has had itsnumbers considerably increased.

On May 12th, Nellie Bisset left for a shortvisit, taking Gwen with her. The latter isto be left at school at Berkhamsted, whereIslay and Ursula have been for some timehappily established. Before the autumnterm begins they are all to pay a visit toGlen Lyon, where Percy and Bessie are tohave a large house party.

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24 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

Col. Sandeman returned to England inMarch. We chronicle his departure as weshould that of the swallow awaiting hisreturn with the first hydrangeas.

The news from Charlie and Lucy has beengood : they are both enjoying their holiday,and after a pleasant time spent in Switzer-land they have gone on to Italy. Insteadof returning in July they aro waiting untilSeptember, and Betty Molteno and MissGreene continue to tali charge of the child-ren at Sandown.

Gladys and Murray Bisset have latelyspent ten days at Kamfers Kraal and werevery charmed withal they saw.

We have to congratulate Wallace on thesuccess of his ostriches this 'year. At PortElizabeth his feathers were much admired,and a bunch of primes sold on the PortElizabeth market for L'125 a pound, whichis the highest price paid for feathers sincethe 'eighties.

Willie Anderson has returned to Englandand is staying at present at Burton Hill,Petworth, where Father MacAlear is pleasedwith the progress he is making. Before heleft South Africa he paid a visit to HaroldAnderson on his new farm Rietfontein.

Much good work has been done by Haroldalready and both Willie Anderson andArthur Bisset, who recently paid h im a visit,anticipate a great future for the farmwhen once the Tangye engine gets to work.This engine, Harold hopes, will be workingtowards the end of July.

The baby has now been christened, hisname being Thomas Harold.

Arthur Bisset's engagement to MissHutton has been announced.

Kenilworth House has been let for a yearand Caroline and Dr. Murray left for Eng-land on July 9. They hope to be away untilthe end of December. In the meantimeMay and Kathleen have moved into thecottage which used to be the old schoolroom,and which is to be their head-quarters

until they go down to Millar's Point inSeptember. They have made the little placemost artistic and homelike. They hope topay a visit to Johannesburg next monthbut cannot remain away long as Kathleenhas started what we hope may prove asuccessful and profitable bee farm. She hasher hives at Elgin, and in addition to thisshe is taking charge of bees for variouspeople in the country. Bee stings are anantidote for rheumatism : judg in g byKathleen's appearance a few days ago sheought never to be a sufferer in that direction.We wish her every success in her newundertakin g

We hear good accounts of the farming atGlen Elgin. The grapes at the end of thesummer were delicious, and Ted aud Harrykept us well supplied with cases of themlong after the vineyards down here were bare.

At present Aunt Minnie and Minnie arestaying at Gordon's Bay where they havetaken a house.

On June 13th Frank and Ella Moltenocelebrated their Silver Wedding. Theyreceived their friends at Claremont Housein the afternoon and a large number werepresent to offer their congratulations.Some beautiful presents were arranged intlie drawing room, including a silver teaservice subscribed for by some members ofthe family, the idea being that of ClarissaMolteno.

Ernest Anderson had been only a fewdays in London on his return from Turkey,when he was requested by the British RedCross Society to leave immediately forMontenegro, where the need for surgeonswas very great. We do not give extractsfrom his letters in this number as we hopeto publish a full account of his experiencesat Xmas.

He returned to England after the fall ofScutari and has been appointed doctor tothe 1st Life Guards. We offer him ourcongratulations on this interesting appoint-ment.

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August, 1913. CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY 25

A happy party consisting 6f Brenda*. Monica, Mary and John Molteno and Jack

Murray have gone to Kamfer's Kraal tospend the holidays with Lil ankWallace.We all of us have recollections of delightfulholidays spent at Nels Poort and the Karoostill retains its popularity especially for theJune holidays.

A very pleasant evening was recentlyspent at Claremont House when a numberof friends went to hear Miss Greene speakupon the franchises of the four provinces ofthe -Union, out of which arose a discussionupon the Native land bill and the presentattitude, of the government towards Nativelegislation in South Africa. Her subjectwas naturally one which interested us alland her clear account was much appreciated.

Kenah Murray has imported a cycle carwhich is proving a great success and Hildais rapidly becoming an expert driver.

Our hearty congratulations to WillieBlenkins upon the honour of the ImperialService Order recently conferred upon him.

" Mr. W. B. G. Blenkins, lately Residen tMagistrate of Kingwilliamstown, is giventhe Imperial Service Order. Mr. Blenkinswas born in Bombay in 1852, was educatedat the South African College, and en teredthe Civil Service in 1871. In 1880 he wasappointed Resident Magistrate at MountFrere. Since then he has field manymagisterial appointments, at Kimberley,Murraysburg, Hay, Herschel, Cradock, andKingwilliamstown, to which Court he wasappointed in 1900. Ho was Secretary to theSpecial Commissioner with the Transkeiantribes in 1875, was Special Commissioneron Agricultural Distress in the NorthernDistricts in 1899,Sub-Commissioner on theWar Losses Compensation Board in 1902,and Commissioner in 1903."—South Africa.

Ernest Anderson has written an interest-ing account of the banquet at Windsor givenby the King to the officers of the 1st and 2rdLife Guards and the Blues. The followingis an extract from his letter :—

I met Cowrie at Pare's house and we allthree changed there and taxied up to the

castle together. Here we met all the otherfellows of the 1st and 2rd Life Guard andthe Blues. We met in tho Waterloo Cham-ber and then passed into a second roomwhere we shook hands with the King andQueen and then went into the St. George's

This was really a most gorgeous sight—along table covered with" masses of goldstretched down the hall—our red and golduniforms set it off well. About HO of uscollected here, and then with a fanfare oftrumpets the King and Queen and fourother ladies came in. The King and Queen.sat opposite each other at the middle of the -table. The dinner was excellent. There mustbe an extraordinary amount of gold plate,as there were many courses. The platesare very heavy pieces of gold with designsround the edge. All the knives,.forks etc.were gold also. Life Guards and Blues(troopers) stood round with drawn swordsand the Blues' band played in the galleryall through dinner. I suppose it was oneof the most gorgeous sights ever seen inWindsor Castle as it is the very first occa-sion on which the regiments have dinedtogether, and I suppose the uniform is themost gorgeous in the world. The King andthe ladies then went out and we followed.We went into the Waterloo Chamber andwere given smokes. The King was here andafter a few minutes Colonel Cook came upand told me the King wished to speak to me.Soon after Cook fetched me and took me up.He seemed very interested about the warand I had about 10 minutes to a quarter ofan hour's talk with him. As I moved awayhe said he was very pleased to have met me.Cowrie seemed very tickled about it as ofcourse most of the men did not know whoI was, being a new arrival. Cook of courseloft me and as I was in the middle of theroom alone with the King it was ratherconspicuous. We then moved into the roomwhere the ladies were. We all congregatedat one end and several people spoke to theQueen. We left at about 10.45 and Imanaged to catch the 11.5 backto town.

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26 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913'

We have just heard of the approachingmarriage of Colonel Sandeman to MissSomerville who is an old acquaintance oftheir family.

Ted Molteno left for a visit to Europe -inthe Dover Castle on July 21st. He welldeserves his holiday, having done splendidwork on their farm at Elgin for some years.

HOME RULE.

Percy Molteno became a member of theEnglish house of Commons in 1906. Hehas always had the most enthusiasticsupport from his constituents of Dumfries-shire. He has taken part in many of thedebates on great questions. The followingis his speach on Home Rule in the debateof 1912 :—

Mr Molteno : The right hon. Gentleman*who has just sat down has dealt withthis matter in the serious way in which healways approaches this question, and I hopein any words of mine I shall treat the sub-ject as one of serious and grave importance.The right hon. Gentleman has not on thisoccasion gone into any very detailed argu-ments, but he has endeavoured to rouse ourfears in order to prevent us doing thatwhich we consider to be our duty in thismatter. One thing the right hon. Gentle-man said shows the great difference betweenhim and the party of which he is a leaderand those who sit on this side of the House.He said that he was opposed to Home Rulein any form whatever. I would remind theright hon. Gentleman that his party havealways been opposed to Home Rule in everypart of the Empire. No system of self-government which exists in any Colony isdue to the right hon. Gentleman orhis party.They have consistently and throughoutopposed Home Rule whenever and whereverit has been proposed at any period of ourhistory and in any part of our Empire.They are the lineal descendants of thosewho refused Home Rule to the American

*Mr. Long.

colonies. The senior Member for the City ofLondon (Mr. Balfour), in his very interest-ing speech to-day, spoke of the very difficultsituation in which lie found himself. Onwhat ground could he get up in this Houseand say that a measure constitutionallyplaced before the people of this country andconstitutionnally passed could be the subjectof resistance ? This is a very serious anddifficult subject, and I think we ought totbrow as much light as we can upon it fromhistory, and particularly from our ownhistory during the last hundred years. Theright hon. Gentleman finds himself in avery awkward position, not only because thispolicy has been endorsed by Great Britainand by the majority in Ireland, but becauseit has the unanimous support of the wholeEmpire. There is only one small portionof the whole of the British Dominions inwhich there is any resistance to it, and thatis in Ulster. Ulster, indeed, has also constit-utionally declared in favour of this policy.We cannot forget that when this HomeRule Bill was being considered and wason the point of being rejected by the Houseof Lords an election took place in Ulster.It was fought in an orderly manner and wasa perfectly quiet and peaceful election,resulting, not in an extreme opponent ofHome Rule being returned to tell us thatwe were wrong, and to warn us of the greatdangers that we were incurring, but my hon.Friend beside me coming to this Houseauthorised by the people of Derry (Dr. DavidHogg) to tell us that we were quite right,that we were doing the proper thing, andthat we should be supported certainly byDerry and by the majority in Ulster.

If that is the constitutional position andif the whole of the Empire supports thispolicy, what possible j ustification can theright hon. Gentleman suggest—and I wasglad to note that he did not suggest it—foractual opposition to this by physical force.He did say that in his view it was not reallyquite constitutional, but when he came tothat point, he left it, and never made it.clear,and certainly never attempted to prove

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August, 1913. CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY 27

that statement. He said that it was uncon-stitutional because it placed a portion of theUnited Kingdom in a position of inequality.That is a very general term. He did notcondescend to give us any explanation whatthat inequality was, or why it was so greatthat it would justify anybody resisting itby force. This is not the first occasion onwhich the Empire has had to face a problemof this kind. In every Colony to which self-government has been granted there existsan Ulster of the same kind. There was aportion of each Colony and a section of itspeople who opposed the grant of self-govern-ment in the most determined manner, and,if we had listened to them, there is not aColony which would have self-governmentto-day. There was the very strongest oppo-sition from one portion of Canada. Thelanguage of protest then used was almostidentical with the language of protest ofUlster to-day. If hon. Members will lookup the language of protest in the LegislativeCouncil of Upper Canada, they will see thatin substance it is identically the same as thelanguage of protest we have had from timeto time in recent years from Ulster.

Take another Colony, take the CapeColony, the first Colony to receive self-government in South Africa. We hadidentically the same problem tbere.. Wehad one province putting itself forward, asUlster does as the most enterprising, themost energetic, the most wealthy, and atthe same time, the most loyal and Britishsection of that Colony, and we had the verystrongest, gravest, and determined proteston the part of men who really believedwhat they said, and who really did possessthe fears they professed, that they would notreceive proper treatment from a local Legis-lature, and that their interests and indus-tries would all be injured and damaged.What was the result ? When a local Parlia-ment was established, that portion of CapeColony discovered exactly what that sectionof Canada which opposed Home Rulediscovered, namely, that being fairly repre-sented and being men of ability and intelli-

gence and of large interests, when theycame to address the local Parliament it wasperfectly easy to get proper and adequateconsideration and protection for all theirinterests, and those men, be it said to theircredit, were the first to admit that theirfears were really groundless and mistakenand that they and their country were muchbetter off for having the right to managetheir own affairs. If that be the positionin Canada and South Africa—and it is thesame in Australia—are we to ignore all ourexperience during the last fifty years ofwhat self-government does in matters ofthis kind, namely, that notwi th standi ng theprotests of certain portions of the countriesto which we have granted self-government,that self-govern inent has been entirelysuccessful in every part of the world wher-ever we have had the wisdom and theconfidence to accord i t.

I know the right hon. Gentleman theMember for the Strand Division sees thecogency of some of these arguments andrealises, as the country realises, what thegrant of self-government has done in SouthAfrica. That was a remarkable triumphfresh in all memories. " But," he said," that is not a precedent." Why ? " SouthAfrica," he said " is not a precedent, becauseno sooner had the two Colonies got self-government than they actually gave upthat self-government and joined in formingthe Union and a common Government forSouth Africa." He said that is the reversalof what we are doing here. So far fromSouth Africa being no precedent, it is onoof the most valuable we could possibly have.Self-government was given to those twoColonies. They prized that self-govern-ment more than anything else ; they valuedit enormously. It actually gave the Du tcha majority in those Parliaments. Theytherefore, as it were, almost received thatcountry back into the management of theirown hands. You would have thought theywould have been very loth to part with thatGovernment so recently accorded to them,but they were quite ready, in their own

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28 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

interests and in the common interests ofSouth Africa, to join with the other Colon-ies in the Union. Before that attemptshad been made to bring about that verysame Union by force. What was theresult ? No Union was effected, thougha great deal of bloodshed took place. An-attempt was made to unite South Africaafter the war. It was quite unsuccessful.It was only when the absolutely vital con-dition, namely, self-government, to eachColony by which it was able to secure itsown interests had been granted that it waspossible to bring about the Union. Is notthat a very good precedent for us here? Ire-land is united to us in a Union, not by con-sent but by force. Let Ireland have its ownGovernment and let that Government be ina position to secure its interests, and thenwe shall have a real union of hearts, becauseit will be by the consent of both parties tothat Union. South Africa is one of the mostvaluable precedents we could wish inencouraging us on the course mapped outby this Bill. We have had a very long andbitter controversy over this Bill ; we havediscussed all its details, and what do wefind? What did the senior Member for the

t: City of London say to-day ? He admits' that so far as the United Kingdom is con-

cerned it has no feeling on the subjectwhatever. All hon. Members know thatyou cannot get up any enthusiasm on thequestion of opposing Home Rule. Greatnumbers of emissaries were sent fromIreland to Scotland to appeal to theirco-religionists and relatives. What was theresult ? The whole thing was an absoluteand complete failure. They were unable topersuade the people of Scotland away fromtheir common idea that Home Rule is a goodthing for Ireland.

This is a very serious and very difficultproblem. It is the same serious and diffi-cult situation which in the case of Canadawas settled by these very same means. Youhad, indeed, in Canada actual rebellion.Responsible government followed, and youhad order out ef chaos and loyalty produced

from disorder and rebellion. Again, inSouth Africa you had a very difficult situa-tion, but with the Liberal principles ofliberty, freedom, and self-governmentapplied, what a wonderful change and whata marvellous scene we have in South Africato-day! Peace and concord prevail whorerecently there was strife. Why not go for-ward on the Colonial plan ? Why not takea lesson from history and apply it to Ire-land ? I can perfect] y well unders tan d h on .Members opposite not doing it, because therigh t hon. Gentleman the senior Member forthe city of London., the right hon. Gentle-man the Member for St. George's (Mr. A.Lyttleton) and the right hon. Gentlemanwho has just spoken (Mr. Long) have allgiven tangible proof and evidence that theyhave no appreciation of the value of self-government in the Empire. They give lip-service to it, but they never understand itor intend to apply it. They speak and actas if wo still lived in 1837, before self-governmen t had ever been introduced in theEmpire. When they had the opportunityof settling the Constitution for the newColony of South Africa so late as 1905, didthey go to Colonial self-government for apreceedent ? No. They went to the Consti-tution of Canada, which led to the rebellionof 1837.. They proposed a nominative Execu-tive and Council. I know that this nomin-ated Executive and nominated Council wereregarded as essential by them. A protestwas raised from Canada, and Lord JohnRussel quoted that protest in this Housewith approval. He said, when it was pro-posed to give responsible government," What are you doing ? You are abandoningthe nominated Executive and the nomin-ated Council," and he added that we werethrowing the shields of our authorityaway. That expresses exactly the opinionof right hon. Gentleman opposite. I makebold to say that if their new Constitutionhad been put in operation in South Africa,we would have had a similar result toin that Canada.

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August, 1913. CHRONICLE OF THE l'AMILY 29

We cannot, therefore, wonder that righthon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite have nofaith in this policy of Home Rule. Theynever have had. They never could have,and if they could have helped it, they wouldnever have conceded self-government to onesingle Colony. They oppose it wheneverand wherever they can, and at all times.We cannot be surprised there should bethis great difference between that greatLiberal policy which has given us that loyaland united Empire of whieh we are all soproud, and their policy which would havecurtailed freedom and would have led to theresults which have occurred elsewhere. Inthat connection I would just like to read aquestion put by the right lion. Gentlemanthe member for the City of London, when hespoke on the Second Reading of this Billlast Session. He put the question to theForeign Secretary in words which bring outthe point I should like to emphasise. Thosewords were : " Does he know of any casewhere a centralised and unified Governmenthas been broken up in obedience to a de-mand for national self-governinent in whicha stable community has been the result "Is hould like to answer the question in thisway. If you: want an example, take Canada.Upper an dLower Canada were united in 1837.They were separated in 1867, yet the Domi-nion of Canada is a perfectly stable com-munity. But I do not wish to confine myselfto such a very small example. I will takethe record of this Empire. What has beenthat record? When it refused to break up itscentrslised Government, as i t did when theAmerican Colonies demanded self-govern-ment, it lost those Colonies ; it lost the NewWorld, and the Empire was broken up tothat extent. But when it gave Canada self-government, it built a prop •and gave afoundation to our Empire. In the sameway, when giving Australia self-governmentit provided another prop and anotherfoundation, and so, with South Africa, itagain strengthened and added to the secur-ity and stability of this great BritishEmpire.

I would ask right hon. and hon. Gentle-men what is there in our history whichgives such val uable lessons ? If they willonly look at it closely they must conic to aright conclusion. Let them observe whatoccurred to those Empires which refusedself-government to outlying portions.What happened to the Roman Empire ? Noself-government was developed, and as soonas the central authority was withdrawneverything collapsed. Wbat happened inthe case of the British Islands when theRoman commanders went from the South-East Coast of these shores ? The wholecivilised society collapsed under tbe attacksof the Normans because we were notorganised for self-government in those days.What happened in the case of a more recentEmpire—the Colonial Empire of France ?Why has that disappeared ? Because itwas managed entirely from one centre—inFrance. What happened to the SpanishEmpire ? Did it remain a solid stable com-munity ? No, the Colonies broke away andgained independence for themselves. Noneof them remained with the Mother countrybecause they were all managed and con-trolled from a central, undivided, unifiedGovernment, and that was the result.Again, take the Colonial Empire of Portu-gal. We have identically the same courseof events there ; the management of theEmpire from a centre, a centralised andunified Government, and that centralisedand unified Government battered to atomsbecause it developed. no self-government,and placed no reliance on the people on thespot who knew far better what was in theirown interests than anybody at the centrecould know. I say the answer to the righthon. Gentleman's question is absolute andcomplete, not only from our own records,but from the history of other Empires, ifhe will only take the trouble to look at it.

But let us regard the development of ourown Empire. If we look into the matter,we shall see that Ireland is the only case inwhich we have met with failure—in whichwe have failed to get the assent of the great

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30 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

majority of the people of a particular placeto their government. It is one of thefailures which still stands to our discredit.We propose to take that remedy which hasbeen applied in every other part of the world,and under every clime, with succeSs. Wewant to do for Ireland what we have doneelsewhere. Why are our Colonies so unani-mous in support of tins policy of HomeRule for Ireland ? It is because tbeyunderstand it. They have it in their everyday life. There is no one who does notknow and feel it is the best thing that couldbe given to Ireland. What is the positionthere ? You have a nominated executive,and a nominative Lord Lieutenant. They,therefore, say to us, " Why not give to Ire-land what you have given us—that giftwhich has made us what we are, an inde-pendent, self-reliant community, absolutelyloyal and united."

Is not the philosophical summing up ofthe Irish question to be found in the fewhomely words that anyone worth his saltis able to manage his own affairs for him-self better than anyone else. There is thewhole philosophy in that sentence. Let uslook at it from another point of view.Autocratic Government, however able andhowever benevolent, is a machine, but self-government has the power of assimilationand growth. It may start as a small thing,but, having that power of assimilation andgrowth, it has great possibilities. It isf ull of interest. It is full of suggestivepossibilities for the future. That is thedifference between a machine and a livingorganism. From my Colonial experience,I entirely support the principles embodiedin this Home Rule Bill. I do not desire todispute the seriousness of the problem wehave to deal with, neither do I dispute thefears which legitimately exist in theminds of the people of Ulster. But I askhon. Members opposite to look at the pre-cedents of their own history, and they willrealise that, with free and equal represen-tation in the Irish Parliament, with theirabilities and their energies, it is ridiculous

to suppose that their interests are likely tosuffer, or that they will be unable to protectwhat they consider most vital and essential.I would, therefore, in the strongest manner,support this measure. It is the last andultimate solution of the problem of gettingthe assent of every part of this Empire tothe Government, which is placed over them.

CHILDREN'S PAGE.Contributions from children 17 years old and under

" The Review of the Household Troops at Windsor."

This is an extract taken from a letterfrom Ursula Bisset.

. Imagine my surprise and joy when I camedown to breakfast and Cousin Bessie toldme I was to be ready to start at 9 o'clockfor the Review; I had had no notion that Iwas to go. I was so delighted. MissCowan and J sat in the back seat of the RollsRoyce, Margaret on one of the small seatsin front of us and Vincent in front. Wehad a lovely drive to Windsor and we passedthe river where people were punting andskulling. Margaret and I went to theCavalry stand and Vincent and Miss Cowanto the M. P's stand.

At first we two went and sat in the samerow with Mrs. and Miss Wiseley, a friendof theirs, and Ernest Anderson. Soon how-ever, Ernest, Margaret and I moved higherup the stand to get a better view and laterMiss Wiseley joined us. It was hot, oh sohot, but all the same it was lovely. Peopleall looked very fine and fashionable. Wehad to wait for nearly half an hour beforethe King and Queen arrived. Before theycame an airship fiew over the great greenspace in front of us and we had a nice viewof it. I was delighted having the chance ofseeing one again. At 11 o'clock the Kingarrived. He looked very nice indeed androde a beautiful little horse. After himcame the Duke of Connaught and Prince

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Arthur side by side, then three others,one being Lord Roberts. Later on camethe carriage with the Queen and PrincessMary, both looking so nice. The troops orrather squadrons were of course all standingon the grass and bad been there for an hour.How they ever stood it in all-that heat Idon't know. The horses were wonderfullypatient. Oh, it was a grand sight. I wishI could explain it to you. First came theKing's inspection and he rode all round thevarious divisions. Then they all walkedpast and we had a fine view, next they allcantered past and the noise of the breastplates and swords was splendid, oh it was agrand sight. After that came the galloping,and that was the best. Oh how the horseswent, I got quite excited. I do wish youhad been there. When that was over therewas the cantering past of the regiments,that meant that three squadrons joined upto make one regiment. That was followedby galloping again. There was only onecavalry regiment there and all the horsesbelonging to the divisions were pitch black.It was just fine to see them wheeling roundat the corners ; and the horses kept wonder-fully in line. The band too was a greatsight and the horses there were beautiful.In the galloping one rider came off. I wasvery sorry for him, it must have been sohumiliating. He was not hurt however butgalloped back to his place soon after. TheKing made a speech and he was answered bythe commander of the forces. The Kingwhen reviewing the cavalry as it passed, wasnot far from our stand and he sat, thereon his horse just in front of the Duke ofConnaught and Prince Arthur. There weretwo Indians following him too. The Royalcarriage was quite close also. I did enjoyit all. It was a sight to make the King feelproud. I have found it difficult to describeit at all well.

Harold Murray is now with his regimentstationed in India and writes very happilyfrom there.

Oak LodgeGrabouw,

March 13th, 1913.Darling Mum,

I am going to write you a little letterabout what we are doing. A woman hascome to pluck the geese and they are veryangry and don't like it. There are a greatmany little pigs, they are so funny, andsleep in the sun on top of each other, andwhen you go near they run away. Whenthe dogs lie down, the pigs come and sniffthem and wake them up. The dam is driedup and everything is very dry. Please givemy love to Elizaebth, and tell her that Iwish she was up here with me, and tellMonica that I am soon going to write to her.

Mary and Dr. Murray have gone over toAunt Minnie to take a cake, the men uphere are ploughing. Mary and I went up onthe hill this morning before breakfast.

Very best love fromYour loving little Kin.

Oak LodgeGrabouw,

March 26th, 1913.Darl ing Dad,

I hope tbe ducks are quite well. Thecamp-out party come to-day. The muleand horse that are here went to help todraw a waggon which went to fetch theparty. There are a great many little pigs,and two little ones that were only born justbefore we came, their mother is very smalland quite fat. Last Sunday we went over toMrs. Viljoen's for tea. I have had a goodman y bathes in the river and I tried to swimbut c'Juld not. I think I am going to havea bathe to-day but I am not quite sure.

Very best love to all at home from yourloving little daughter,

Audrey.

Alex, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. StanleyMurray was married on July 24th in Londonto Mr. W. W. Inglis. She and her husbandhope to visit South Africa in the spring.

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" JANET".

A SKETCH.

I have been asked to write an account ofJanet's farewell party to the coloured people,but as there must be members of the familywho have never heard of "Janet", our charm-ing Scotch housemaid, I think it would bebetter to write a short sketch of the sixyears she spent at Kamfers Kraal, whereshe reigned, an empress in her own right,among the coloured people on this littlecorner of the veld. We have heard muchof Mabargoes of late, so why should I notfollow the example of our revered legisla-tors though I only chant the praises of ahumble Scottish serving maid !

Janet had been many years in the serviceof my parents when I was married, and sheresponded to my invitation to come to mein South Africa by return of post. It wasa broiling February afternoon when shearrived at Nelspoort Station with the otherScotch maid who accompanied her, and Ishall never forget her happy beaming faceas she jumped out of the train, holding outboth hands and saying " Why, ye've nochanged a wee bittie, Miss Lii ", or herapproval of Wallace, when seeing him forthe first time, she murmured in anecstatic aside " Eh, but you've got a bonnieman." I felt I need no longer yearn formy native land, as Scotland had come to me.

She walked into this house as if it stoodin Fifeshire and took up her duties in themost matter of fact manner. When I askedher if she felt homesick she always repl ied"1 canna think I'm no in Scotland " andfor six years she showed an example ofuntiring energy, of unfailing cheerfulnessand unremitting hard work, and every one,from the Baas to the smallest coloured childfelt the influence of her charming person-ality. Before a month had passed she knewevery man and woman on the farm and allabout them, the names and probable age ofevery child. ( The ages of the Hottentot

babies are generally reckoned from " theyear the weir broke " " the drought beforelast " or " the cold rain.that killed the goats ",etc. etc. ). I don't think in any part of SouthAfrica there can be a more idle set of women(with a few bright exceptions) than theHottentot women of the Karoo. Their idea"of misery a day's work, their idea of blissto sleep in the sun, they will see theirflaistress slave from morning till night at

sorts of menial tasks and not raise a'finger to help her unless compelled to do so.It came as a revelation to them to see two

/ neat, nice-looking English girls at work frommorning till night,' cooking, sweeping,dusting, washing, or ironing, and singingat their work. By degrees they drew nearto the kitchen door with voluntary offers ofassistance, and after the first few monthsthere was no longer any dearth of femalelabour, they competed for the honour ofhelping in the kitchen, while the garden" boy " or the groom would be found scrub-bing a floor or doing anything he could tohelp " Miss Janie " instead of attendng tohis own duties. It was to " Miss Janie "they brought their cut fingers to be dressed,their sick babies to be doctored and theirj oys and sorrows to be shared and sympathis-ed with.

But it was not only the human populationthat had Janet's love and care. It was shewho looked after the poultry, who supportedand adored a whole regiment of cats, and whohad various pets of her own from puppies tomeerkats. One cold morning in AprilWallace brought her a little half dead lambfrom the kraals, telling her that if she couldrear it, she could keep it. And Janet tendedit with the greatest love, feeding it from abottle, until in a surprisingly short time itgrew into a sheep of vast proportions. Itled a glorious life, grazing about near thehouse, nibbhng pepper trees and geran ium sand anything i t particular] y should not haveeaten, and following its mistress about likea pet dog, as well as always accompanyingthe procession of babies and prams on theirdaily walk. It is all very well to rhapsodise

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about a pet lamb, but when the lamb be-comes an enormous merino sheep, it has itsdrawbacks. Awful crashes were often heardas the lamb wrecked the kitchen in its play-ful gambols, but the crisis was reached whenone afternoon Janet brought in the tea andleft the door open behind her. In amoment the lamb bounded into the drawingroam upsetting chairs, photographs andtables and breaking up the happy home.The 0 u' Baas arose in wrath and condemnedthe unluckly lamb to eternal banishmentwith one of the flocks.

Then followed several strenuous morningsspent in trying to chase the lamb away withany flock of sheep that happened to beleaving the kraals for the veld. The lambrefused to leave its mistress and tired outits pursuers.

Finally it bad to be conveyed in a scotchcart and deposited with a flock five milesfrom the house. Terrible rumours reachedJanet that her lamb was becoming pale andemaciated, refusing to graze with the sheepand pining for its mistress, and one Sundaya cart was inspanned and Janet driven instate to visit her lamb. She returnedhappier in her mind, having arranged withthe shepherd to board the lamb in his housetogether with his six children, some scraggyfowls and a mongrel dog. There the lamblived happily enough, apparently grazingon soap, candles and boxes of matches, tojudge by the shepherd's bill brought month-ly to Janet for settlement, to replace hisdestroyed property.

How can I write of the ultimate fate ofthis pampered pet ? Words fail me ! WhenJanet left for Scotland she said nothingabout her lamb and we supposed she hadgiven i t away, until the day after she saileda skirmish was heard and round the housebounded " Janet's lamb ". It had come tothe house with the flock and was searchingfor its mistress. Then the Baas utteredawful imprecations and swore that there bean end to sentiment. The purchase moneywas despatched by cheque to Janet and noone asked any more questions, and forebare

to remark on the ultra excellence of themutton for several days to come ! !

I wish I could say that Janet's only sorrowwas the homesickness of her lamb, duringher six years here. But alas ! it was in-evitable that such a domestio treasure shouldnot lie hid, even in the Great Karoo, and agallant police trooper rode up one day withflashing buttons and jingling spurs andlaid siege to the heart of Janet. He wat sentaway almost immediately after their engage-ment, to Mafeking, and they kept up acorrespondence for nearly three years. Thenshe heard from another that he was payingattentions elsewhere and realized that hehad loved and ridden away. She wrote andbroke off her engagement. She was neverquite the same again though she stoutlydeclared " I'll no break my heart for a man,"her health broke down, her spirits wanedan d longing for her native heath assailed her.And so it was arranged that she shouldreturn to Scotland.

She asked my permission to give a. fare-well party to her friends the coloured peopleand I was only too glad she should do so, andto provide the ingredients for a feast. Withher own hands she baked all the bread andfive hundred cakes and with her own moneybought oranges and quantities of sweets.The word was sent round that Janet wouldgive a ball in the new wagon shed on theevening before she left, and the news spreadfar and wide, so that when the evening camea hundred and twenty adults appeared andcountless children ; although there are onlyforty grown up men and women on this farmand seventy children.

It was altogether a very grand party, theyoung men resplendent in fancy ties andnew felt hats rakishly cocked, the belles incoloured print skirts and blouses and newstriped " doeks " round their heads, mostof the young women dancing with babiessecurely tied on their backs, their woollyblack little heads wobbling in the mostalarming manner in time to the music.There were two bands consisting of banjosand concertinas, and the gramophone played

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34 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

at intervals, and a magic lantern entertain-ment (notable chiefly for its smell of paraffin)in a corner of the shed for the children.The tea was a great success, coffee beingserved in bed room jugs and trays heapedhigh with cakes, bread and jam. There wasno silly bashfulness about Janet's guests,they ate until everything was finished,tying up what they absolutely couldn'tconsume in coloured handkerchiefs.

It was really touching to see the people'sdevotion to Janet and the farewell they tookof her. Nearly everyone had a present ofsome sort for her : one woman brought hera dozen eggs, another a fowl cooked for thejourney, a young girl gave hor a rhubarbtart (" And please Miss Janie must give meback the dish "), and a shepherd contributeda live goat, a somewhat embarrassingattention ! However the Baas with a ruefulcountenance, as he detests Boer goats,bought it from the shepherd who gave Janetall the purchase money, thus solving theproblem. At 12 p.m. Janet took her leaveand left her guests to dance till daybreak.People are apt to say that these Hottentotsare hopelessly ungrateful and callous, butno one witnessing their farewell of theirbeloved. "Miss Janie" could call them callous;it was with tears, with hearty handshakes,with blessings and with ringing cheers thatthey said goodbye to this simple-heartedkindly girl who had been their guide,philosopher and friend for the six years shehad lived. among them. And so she has gonefrom among us, away from the sunshine, thegreat wild veld to the grey stone villages,the cold dour climate of her native land,and the karoo knows her no moro ; but thecoloured. population at least, will never for-get their dear " Miss Janie ".

ITALIAN SKETCHES.

After a pleasant voyage via the East Coast,Red Sea, and Suez Canal, we found ourselvesnegociating the Mediterranean, with Naplesas our destination.

The day prior to our landing on Italiansoil we met the Royal yacht having onboard Her Majesty Queen Alexandra andPrincess Victoria, escorted by two Britishmen of war. The Royal squadron presentedan exceedingly graceful sight proceedingthrough a somewhat heavy sea on its cruiseto Corfu and other points of interest inthese historic waters.

Yes, bound again for Italy, a country whichhas for me, as for so many; an extraordinarycharm and fascination. We landed at Naples12 April 1911 on a glorious spring morning,the streets thronged with gay and cheerycrowds. How the Italians love an out-doorlife ! The Neapolitan Johns cracked theirwhips, and shouted to pedestrians to clearthe way, driving recklessly through thecongested thoroughfares to the imminentdanger of the unwary.

Bright and animated Naples, how myheart rejoices to be amid its attractivescenes. I listened attentively to the cheerfulchatter, proceeding on all sides—for I main-tain akeen interest and pleasure in the studyof the language—the Neapolitan accenthowever and provincial dialect alwaysconfuse me. As on previous visits wetook up our quarters at Hotel Britannique,picturesquely situated on the heights over-looking the city and its glorious bay, whichthat morning lay placid and radiant in itsethereal blue,flanked byVesuvins—omin ous,mysterious, inconstant sentinel of this fairland--its cone even then ejecting densevol umes of sinoke,testimony ab undant to theturmoil and commotion occurring within.I noticed that the summit had materiallychanged in formation since the last violenteruption.

Although generally conceded that the cityproper can lay small claim to the beautiful,the surrounding heights and subtirbs and

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•environs are of surpassing beauty, and thepanorama as displayed from them—glorious.Here indeed nature has with a lavish handpainted of her best, and as I again took inthe enchanting scene, I observed that wher-ever possible for colour to lend its charm,there were to be seen trellises, terracedgardens, and artistic pottery all exhibitinga perfect wealth of flowers, in strikingcontrast to the harmonious tints of villasand residences. And then a glance across thewater !—there at the end of the peninsulawhich encircles the south side of the Bay,gleamed in the beauteous sunlight the townof Sorrento where we passed six delightfulweeks on a former v is it, whilst protecting, asit were, the base, and still more clearly out-lined, lay Castellammare. Separated fromthe peninsula by a very expansive channel—the highway to and from the South—risesthe island of Capri, while away to the right,filling in the panorama, clear and conspicuousas if on guard duty, are the isles Ischia,

. Procida and Nisida, with Pozzuoli and Baianestling on the mainland foreshore.

" Vedi Napoli e poi mori " so runs anItalian pmverb—the force Of which howeveralways fails to come home to me. Ratherwould I exclaim—standing here in the midstof such enchanting loveliness : Vedi Napolie poi assapora la gran gioia di dimorare inun paese cosi incantevole.

How we enjoyed our rambles and drivesin and around the beautiful environs, andwith what pleasure we revisited manypoints of interest in the town, none moreattractiv;, than the Museo Nazionale towhich one could retrace his steps a score oftimes with increasing interest. Its mostfascinating acquisition, as perhaps all willadmit, is the very extensive and beautifulcollection of treasures and antiquitiesexcavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum.These are unrivalled—superbly beautiful—as are also the Grecian marble sculptures.We revisited Pompeii of course. To view thehistoric and tragic scene to advantage theservices of a guide are quite essential—wewere fortunate in securing the services of an

excellent fellow—Genaro,by name. He spokeEnglish well, and it was a question whetherwe would hear him in his native tongue(Italian) or in our own, eventually decidingfor the latter. He was quite unlike most of hisclass, who parrot-like roll off by rote descrip-tions of the scenes of byegone days. He tooka keen interest in us, and was very entertain-ing. Before starting he suggested takingus over the chief points only, and even so, ourvis it, we afterwards found, had extended overfour hours. Four hours of fascinatinginterest in the historic and buried pastoblivious of the flight of time! And in lendingimagination to our vision as we inspectedthose artistic villas, homes of the light andleading of that day—as we made our waythrough the temples, the Forum, theluxurious public baths, the theatres, andeven the quaint taverns,—as we traversedthe streets showing to-day the wheel marksand the ruts of the Ancients' traffic indeliblycrystallised as it were in the soil—as we didall this, we pictured vividly the busy andfestive scenes enacted here 1800 years ago;and awaked as from a dream to theconsciousness of this matter-of-fact twen-tieth century.

In some cases the mural paintings stillremain, but the best of them and the superbmosaics, statuary and antiquities generallyhave been transferred to the Museo Nazionalein Naples. All for the most part has thusbeen withdrawn from the characteristicsurroundings, at which many expressregret—obviously there were difficulties inallowing them to remain where discovered.It was however with a degree of satisfactionthat we heard the authorities contemplatednew arrangements whereby in future thediscoveries made would remain in theoriginal setting.

Although the work of excavation has beenproceeding more or less systematically for50 years, only one half of the buried city, soit is estimated, has been brought to light.A large number of official guards al med, arein constant attendance, and the scene isregularly patrolled at all points day andnight.

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The four hours spent in the inspectionof these remarkable and interesting sceneshad brought something like exhaustion on theladies,and to effect recovery from the ordeal,and maintain in tune the sensitive cordsof their imagination, we administered toeach a " wee drappie ". to very good effect.

Before leaving Pompeii we were informedthat during the process of sinking certainshafts for some domestic purpose or other,on a property in the immediate neighbour-hood of the buried city, and owned by anItalian lady, the workmen so engaged cameupon certain submerged villas, and it wasreported that the Italian governmenthad opened negociations with the ladyforthe acquisition of her property. I sincere-ly hope sbe will fully reap the benefit ofher discovery, and that whatever is done,her interests will in no way be allowedto suffer.

I regretted afterwards not to havemade enquiries in available quarters, so asto have learned something authoritative asto this very interesting discovery.

T. J. A.(To be continued.)

Extracts from Letters from British East Africa.

Nov. 22th 1911—Kijabe.Since Lenox left (for Cape Town) I have

been very busy. The Government havegiven me a survey between ffijabe andNaivasha stations which, I expect, will takeme about 2 months. After Lenox left Iattended the Government sale of stock atNaivasha and bought 10 thorouglibredmerino rams and a thoroughbred Short-hornbull. At a sale at the village of Naivasha,where a partnership was being dissolved Ibought 500 Masai ewes dry and 590 to lamb,2 thoroughbred Merino rams, at the end of

this month. I am camped at this place andhave my sheep running at Mr. Bowker's, helives about 6 miles from here. All thesehighlands are splendid farming areas butthe best of the lot are the Western Keniafarms where we hope to get Governmentground. It is a most beautiful country andanything seems to grow. Just around herethe country is very volcanic and full ofcraters. One of my trigonometrical stationsis on the top of a big crater, about 1000 feetdeep, on the one side and not far from hereis a crater about 15 miles across with anothersmall crater inside the large one. In someplaces steam still issues from the cracks inthe ground. If you look at the map of theseparts you will see a chain of lakes runningfrom lakes Rudolf, Iugota, Baringo, Nakuro,Elementita, Naivasha, Magadi, Natron etc,into lake Nyassa, although, in Germanterritory, not half of the existing lakes aremarked. These lakes form the Rift valleywhich is a volcanic depression running fromfrom the Red Sea into Nyassa lake. Mostof them have craters in them and nonehave any fish. I did not realize till theother day, that the scenes in " KingSoloman's Mines" and "Allen Quartermain,"are laid in this country. Tell Uncle Victhat this is the country to come to if hewants really good sport. If we get farms inWest Kenia, we will be about 2 days jour-ney from the best shooting in the country,along the Northern Uaso Nyiro River.The forests are very fine, containing somegood timber and quite a good thingalready being done in timber sawing. Alake of pure soda has been found, calledLake Magadi, on the German border Southof Nairobi, and a railway is being startedto tap it. It is said that there is enoughsoda to supply the world. Just across theGerman border is another soda lake, quitenear to Magadi and the Germans are build-ing a railway from their side, to tap it.The light rains are on during this monthafter which practi cally no rain falls till Aprilwhen the heavy rains commence and con-tinue till June.

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Naivasha. Jan. 26th 1912.I am in rather a tough piece of country

for surveying, but hope soon to finish it off.I have had quite an interesting fortnightwith the lions. They kept mostly alongthe lake, but 5 have come up and been inthis thick bush for the last fortnight. Thefirst 3 nights here I heard them regularlyabout 2 miles away and determined to tryand turn them out, so got my head boy tobuild a sort of couch between two trees inthe neighbourhood of where I heard themroaring and he made an excellent placein the trees. It was on the side of a kopjeand about '200 yds from the edge of a smallplain which was the hunting ground for thelions, all around elsewhere is thick bush.My couch was about 10 feet above theground on the top side and about 30 feet onthe lower. My idea was to put a good baitwhich would keep them till morning andget an easy chance as they were eating earlyin the morning. I had my kaross andblankets sent with a friend, I could sleep inthe tree as comfortably as in my tent andit was nearer my work. I slept each nightin the tree from Monday till the followingSunday, having two large Kongoni (harte-beest) as a bait under me. Two or threetimes I heard the lions, but they never camenear me. On the Thursday, when going toplace a flag in an open patch in the bush, Icame on very fresh spoors of three lionswhich bad killed and eaten an impalla.When it came to Sunday and they had stillnot been near me, I thought I was out oftheir beat, and as the Kongonis were smell-ing very unpleasant I slept in my tent onSunday night. You may imagine mydisgust, 'when I awoke about 4 o'clock, withthe lions roaring just in the direction of mytree. I went over early on Monday, with alot of boys and found the greater part of thetwo Kongonis eaten up. I knew theywould come back again the next night, tofinish the remains, so went off with a boyto shoot two more Kongoni, to keep themgoing till daylight. I was skirting alongthe edge of the bush to get a shot at some

Kongoni I had seen on the plain, when Isaw something sitting up against a tree,about 700 yds away. On looking with myglass, I saw 4 lions sitting on their haunch-es looking at me. There was a bit of a dipbetween me and them and I determined toget within about 100 yards and shoot froma tree. I stalked up to about 100 yards fromthe spot and then climbed a small tree tolook for them. It was an awkward tree toclimb having no branches ; however, Iscrambled up just high enough to look overthe bush, the boy holding my gun below.On turning round to look, I saw a great bigfellow calmly watching me, about 150 ydsaway. The tree was too awkward to shootfrom so I slipped down again and stalkedcarefully up to the spot ; but they hadcleared and there was no sign of them. Itake it that they had been watching thehill under my tree, as, from wherethey sat, they had a good view of it.I went on after that and got two Kon-goni which the boys dragged up to thetree. That night I again slept in thetree with one of my boys. There was nomoon but the night was quite clear. It hadhardly got dark before the lions startedroaring at my camp where they hadapparently gone for water. They remainedthere about half an hour occasionally roar-ing and I then expected them to comestraight for the tree, but instead theyhunted the two miles, slowly, through thebush. It was most interesting hearingthem come. One fellow, with an immensevoice, kept roaring every 10 minutes or so,while one kept well out on the flank givinga low answering purr every now and then.Apparently the big roar was to frightenthe game over to the one on the flank whowas simply keeping in touch with themain lot, where, sometimes, two would roartogether. They came on slowly in thisway till about 700 yds. from the tree whenthere was dead silence for about 20 minutes,then I heard them chewing away at theKongonis, but it was too dark to see them.They did not make a sound until midnight

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except once, when one made a snarl and rush at another who, apparently tried to get a bit away from him. They fed for about

of an hour and then lay in a bush andsnored. After an hour or so, they fell toagain. About 2 o'clock they began to roar.One big one, in particular, would go a fewyards from the hill and begin low downending with a tremendous roar whichwould die away with a few sighs. I thinkthere were only three that night. At about5 o'clock, much to my disgust they madeoff. It is impossible to shoot till about5.30. They left quite a good deal of meatso I felt sure that it must be their rule toleave before daylight. Feb. 3rd. The lionshave entirely disappeared from these parts.Three or four days ago a man gave me 3more dogs which I am very glad to have.One is a young collie, quite a puppy, a verypretty animal. Another is a black dogwith a good deal of pointer blood and be isreally very good. I shot a large bush buckrain yesterday and hit him a little too low.He might have got off in the thick bush,but the black dog pulled him down in finestyle holding on to the nose, in fact I hadgreat difficulty in getting him off. Thismorning I shot a fine water buck rain.Three days ago a bush buek ram rushedthrough the middle of my camp. I wascalculating in my tent and saw him passabout 10 yards off followed by my campfollowers and dogs but he was too quick forthem and got away. I have just been overto Mr. Bowker's and made all arrangementsfor Lenox to bring his stock there. Mr.Bowker has a little stone cottage at one endof his farm with kraals and huts and a largeshed which will suit us admirably for thepresent. You will be interested to bearthat an heiress is living in the cottage nowwith her mother, they are a Mrs. and MissFarly and will be there till the middle ofMarch. They seem nice people aud are outon a visit. They don't like the hotels so Mr.Bowker let them take this cottage. Ibelieve Mrs. Farley is a great yachting lady,the daughter is 19 and very keen on shooting.

Lenox will therefore have quite pleasantcompany for a couple of weeks. I havearranged that we will occupy a house alsoempty about 10 minutes walk away althoughMrs. Farly wanted Lenox to stay with them.

The following is the latest news fromJarvis.

Address P.O. Nairobi NakuruJune 8th 1913.

I enjoyed the trip to Kenia very much andfound Lenox just preparing to go over to aplace called Rumruti about 60 miles awayto fetch some cattle which had arrived at thegovernment quarantine camp there, havingcome down from Abyssinia. I was very gladto have come in time to join him, as we hadquite an adventurous trip. We startedaway from his farm about midday andcamped the night on the far side of a rivercalled the Guaso Nyiro, about 7 miles away.The next morning, while haying breakfastLenox knee-haltered his horse to get a feed,and when the boy went to catch him he haddisappeared. We spent the whole day look-ing for him but could find no trace ofhim, and a boy whom we sent to the farmreturned saying he had not gone back ; as itafterwards turned out he must have gotback just after the boy left, as we found himsafe on our return. We camped that nightagain at the same river and continuedour journey on foot the next morning. Wewere taking a short cut and were not quitesure how far the road was, and had a verylong day's walk before we reached it andcamped at dusk on a very nice river in themiddle of the Laikipia plains. We had tenporters with us to carry our things and helpdrive back the cows. The next day wepushed on to Rumruti which we reachedearly in the afternoon. I should have saidthat a great trade is done between Abyssiniaand the Protectorate, in cattle, and it is atpresent the only stock route open for trade.The Somalis do the trading and all cattleare passed through a quarantine at Rumrutibefore being allowed into the occupied areasof the Protectorate. It is a very out of the

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way place, being 3 days' march from every-where, and we were very disgusted to findthat a little lot of Masai had come in fromtheLambunicountry and raided on one night80 cows and a week after 63 ; in the latterbunch were 12 of ours and 15 belonging totheSomali who brought our cattle down. Wealso found that the lions were very much inevidence. All the Masai proper have beenshifted to the Southern Reserve on theGerman border, so that there is not a nativein Laikipia. The lions therefore are star-ving at Rumruti, as there is not much game,owing to the country having been so heavilyoccupied by the Masai previous to theirbeing moved. The night before we got toRurnruti, a lion got into the booma andsprang on one of our cows, but was so weakfrom hunger that he could not kill it. TheVeterinary officer, who is the only whiteman at Rumruti, came out on hearing therow, the kraal being only 100 yards from hishouse, and found the Somalis hitting at thelion with fire sticks while the cow wasdragging it round and round the kraal. Hegot up close and shot it. When it was cutopen it was found to have nothing in itsstomach. The cow was none the worseexcept for two or three deep claw marks onits nose. We took back our stock, amount-ing to 33 cows and 12 calves, and got themsafely back to the farm. The only otheradventure we had was the night before wegot back to the farm, where we had to campat a river with dense scrub all about it'sneighbourhood. We had 2 lamps in thecattle booma and one tied to the tent pole.Lenox had brought 5 dogs with him andthey were very foot-sore that night with thelong grass we had passed tbrough, and musthave been sleeping heavily in front of thetent door. We woke suddenly in the nightwith yells from the dogs and found that twoleopards had slipped in among them andseized two of them ; one an irish terrier, weheard give a second yell a 100 yards awayin the bush before we could reach the tentdoor, and that was the last of her. The otherdog was a very nice wolf hound bitch ofLenox's, and although only a pup, quite a

big dog; she must have struggled loose as wegot her back with a rather nasty bite in theside, which however did not seem to worryher much. I consider dogs are invaluablein this country and Lenox will soon have asplendid pack. I am sending him 17 halfbred bloodhounds which were given me apresent. I spent several days with Lenoxon the farm, and went over it well. It iswithout doubt the best piece of stock land Ihave so far seen. The two rivers are about3 miles apart and separated by a ridgerunning the whole length of the farm.With one's boomas on the ridge it is veryeasy to feed down either slope to the water.Except for a piece of forest in one corner thecountry is quite open, and both rivers arevery strong, in fact they are the two bestrivers in Western Kenia. By gravitatingthe water down the middle ridge the wholecould be irrigated. We have quite a strongspring on the top farm, but of course forstock, owing to the two rivers running thewhole length of the farm, one does not needto spend a penny on developing water. Be-low where Lenox's house is, there is avery valuable piece of vlei in which he canrun his cattle in dry season. The veld overthe farm looks very good, and what I likeabout the farm is that the land all lies high.Lenox's cattle all look tip top and I did notrecognize the young heifers he brought upfrom Kyjabe, they have grown so much.Lenox's neighbour, Cole has now a telegraphpost office and shop which are within sixmiles ofLenox's house. The idea is that therewill be a village in the near future either onCole's farm or ours. Cole is putting all hisenergy into timber business, and we sawsome awfully nice furniture he had madeout of olive wood. It has been and is stillraining a good deal but I have been fortun-ate in getting into an empty house, so thatthe rain does not worry one much. Iinterviewed the governor over the cattleraiding. He was very nice about it and hassent out a military expedition to recover thestock. As they were taken from a govern-ment quarantine and we shall get compen-sation if they are not recovered. Since I have

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40 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913'

come back the buffalo have moved into theedge of the forests and about ten days ago Icame on about a dozen of them in the longgrass but did not shoot as I was a long wayfrom camp. About six days ago I saw 7 atmidday feeding in the open. The elephantsare also about, a troop of 31 came on to theadjoining farm. The rain seems to bringbig game out of the bush.

Lenox has some nice neighbours. Paice isabout 5 miles off and is a hard-workingfellow and very handy in the building line,and makes quite nice furniture etc. out ofhis own wood. Then Kenealy and Cole areonly 2 miles away from the top corner of thefarm, but about six miles from Lenox'shouse. I think Cole will make things movein the neighbourhood. He is making quitea big business of his timber concessions. Ibelieve he and Lord Cranworth are workingtogether. He turns out anything in thewood line, making excellent furniture. Itonly wants government to give out moreland in the neighbourhood and things willgo ahead very quickly. Lenox will be ableto make a very pretty place of his farm soon.We are putting in some trees near thehouse and he and Bastard are getting upsome fruit trees from Pickstone. He hasCape gooseberries and Cape tomatoes bear-ing. As soon as his cows are in milk he willbe able to sell butter in Nyieri, and eggs.His fowls lay very well. There is a man inNyieri who would take 30 lbs of butter aweek from him. Through Cole's push thegovernment have now bridged the threerivers near Nyieri and as soon as the roadis made up between tbe bridges Lenox willhave a very good road to his farm.

I had a most interesting talk to a manwho had just returned from the Abyssinianborder having gone up and returned throughKenia. About half way from Kenia to theborder is a government station calledMarsabit, which he describes as the mostbeautiful spot he has ever seen. It consistsof a crater inside of which is a fresh waterlake about three quarters of a mile across.The government buildings are situated on

the rim and along the edge of the lake, andthe gradient from the plain below is so easythat a Dutch transport rider takes hiswaggons right into the crater and camps onthe edge of the lake. This extinct volcanois about 6500 ft above sea level and issurrounded by magnificent forests whichthis man reckons are quite as extensive asKenia's. He says the soil there is wonder-fully rich. Between this volcano and theUaso Nyeri river, bounding Kenia districtis a waterless track of country which how-ever has numberless dry sandy rivers in thebeds of which water is easily obtained byscratching a foot or two under the surface.Much of the veld there seems to be coveredby Karroo bush, and supports large herdsof cattle and flocks of sheep, mostly ownedby wandering tribes of Somalis who havelarge herds of camels.

Lenox writes from their farm NarroNioru River. P.O. Nyeri on June 22nd.He says : We are building a house, it isbuilt entirely of Cedar wood and has ashingle roof and verandah. We expect it tobe completed about the end of July. I willsend you a plan of it. They make furni-ture up here at the saw mills. The districtis at present alive with stock thieves. DidI tell you a Rhino chased me for about twomiles right up to Bastard's house withth100 yards. I was in no danger as I wasmounted and in the open, although wewounded him badly, he got away.

NOTICE.

The yearly subscription for the magazine is at present

15/-. It is requested that subscriptions be paid in during the

first three months of the year. As soon as the list of annual

subscribers reaches 50 the subscription will be reduced

to 12/-, as soon as it reaches 70 to 9/-.

The list of annual subscribers will he published in

each Christmas number. The above subscriptions include

postage.

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August, 1913 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY 41

IN MEMORIAM.

The 7th of Sept. will be theannivisary of the day thatdear Mary passed away fromus. It will always be a dayof sacred memories to someof us who were privileged tobe near her during those lastsolemn hours. It had beendifficult to realize, even to thelast, that her life hung on sofrail a thread that the endwas inevitably near. Duringthose last four months thatshe spent amongst us therehad been nothing of sadnessabout her, one could onlywonder at and admire the un-failing brightness, keennessof interest and charm whichnever left her. It was easyto understand the love anddevotion of her numberlessfriends all over the CapeProvince. She was excep-tionally gifted to be a socialleader, which was her role asthe wife of a Civil Cora-oissioner and wherever shewent, she brought life andsunshine and new energy.But the special value of hergifts was, that they shone asbrightly in her home as inthe wider social circle andwere the simple expression ofher natural character, in-herited, perhaps, from herfine missionary parents. Itseemed as if the love and service of theirlives were repaid, in her life, by the willingand devoted service which was so freelygiven to her by all those about her. Withher splendid physique and her powers ofmind and character, refined by the experienceofa full and varied life, still almost at theirbest, it seemed as if she had still so m uch

to give that it was ltarA indeed to yield herup, but Cie unquestioning courage withwhich she accepted the decree and bravelyprepared for it, made one feel that,though life was so dear, yet deathwas, to her, only a passing on to afuller life. Even at that last service in thebeautiful " God's Acre " at Maitland there

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August, 1913 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY 41

IN MEMORIAM.

The 7th of Sept. will be theannivisary of the day thatdear Mary passed away fromus. It will always be a dayof sacred memories to someof us who were privileged tobe near her during those lastsolemn hours. It had beendifficult to realize, even to thelast, that her life hung on sofrail a thread that the endwas inevitably near. Duringthose last four months thatshe spent amongst us therehad been nothing of sadnessabout her, one could, onlywonder at and admire the un-failing brightness, keennessof interest and charm whichnever left her. It was easyto understand the love anddevotion of her numberlessfriends all over the CapeProvince. She was excep-tionally gifted to be a socialleader, which was her role asthe wife of a Civil Com-Vissioner and wherever shewent, she brought life andsunshine and new energy.But the special value of hergifts was, that they shone asbrightly in her home as inthe •wider social circle andwere the simple expression ofher natural character, in-herited, perhaps, from herfine missionary parents. Itseemed as if the love and service of theirlives were repaid, in her life, by the willingand devoted service which was so freelygiven to her by all those about her. Withher splendid physique and her powers ofmind and character, refin ed by the experienceofa full and varied life, still almost at theirbest, it seemed as if she had still so much

to give that it was hard indeed to yield herup, but the unquestioning courage withwhich she accepted the decree and bravelyprepared for it, made one feel that,though life was so dear, yet deathwas, to her, only a passing on to afuller life. Even at that last service in thebeautiful " God's Acre " at Maitland there

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August, 1913 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY 41

IN MEMORIAM.

The 7th of Sept. will be theannivisary of the day thatdear Mary passed away fromus. It will always be a dayof sacred memories to someof us who were privileged tobe near her during those lastsolemn hours. It had beendifficult to realize, even to thelast, that her life hung on sofrail a thread that the endwas inevitably near. Duringthose last four months thatshe spent amongst us therehad been nothing of sadnessabout her, one could onlywonder at and admire the un-failing brightness, keennessof interest and charm whichnever left her. It was easyto understand the love anddevotion of her numberlessfriends all over the CapeProvince. She was excep-tionally gifted to be a socialleader, which was her role asthe wife of a Civil Cora-xliissioner and wherever shewent, she brought life andsunshine and new energy.But the special value of hergifts was, that they shone asbrightly in her home as inthe wider social circle andwere the simple expression ofher natural character, in-herited, perhaps, from herfine missionary parents. Itseemed as if the love and. service of theirlives were repaid, in her life, by the willingand devoted service which was so freelygiven to her by all those about her. Withher splendid physique and her powers ofmindand character, refin ed by the experienceofa full and varied life, still almost at theirbest, it seemed as if she had still so much

to give that it was hard indeed to yield herup, but the unquestioning courage withwhich she accepted the decree and bravelyprepared for it, made one feel that,though life was so dear, yet deathwas, to her, only a passing on to afuller life. Even at that last service in thebeautiful " God's Acre " at Maitland there

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42 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

seemed to be no gloom of Death but rathera wonderful sense of beauty, peace and hopewhich all the glorious Nature around wascombining to express. The following areextracts from some of the newspaper obit-uary notices.

Sept. 9th. 1912. From the Cape Mercury—The lateMrs. Blenkins was a notable personality, keenly interestedin all public affairs, she brought a sound practical intelligenceto bear upon the many works she engaged in and she reignedat the Residency with a charm and graciousness that en-deared her to all who visited the historic house. Duringher residence here Mrs. Blenkins was actively associatedwith many organizations and on her departure, was Presi-dent of the Guild of Loyal Women, Trinity Church LadiesWork Association, and the Victoria Temperance Association.It is only a few weeks ago that the ladies of the town for-warded her a beautifully illuminated address as a token ofappreciation of her life and work in Kingwilliamstown. InHoly Trinity Church last evening, at the close of his sermon,the Ven. Archdeacon Holmes made fitting reference to herlife, her work and character. After the benediction, theorganist played the Dead March from " Saul."

From the Midland News loth, 1912. " Mrs. Blenkins,by her gracious manner and tact, pr,ved in those troubloustimes, to be an ideal Magistrate's wife, throwing herselfactively into all work for the good of the community andwas deservedly popular with all classes. When the warbroke out and the train loads of refugees were passingthrough Cradock, she took a leading part in organizing thedistribution of refreshments at the station, and when thetroops were stationed here, she was President of the Com-mittee of the Soldiers' Home and an earnest worker in it.She was also a very successful collector towards the buildingfund of the Queen's Central Hospital and when it was open-ed, a frequent visitor to the patients therein. We are surewe are only voicing the feelings of all who knew her duringher residence in Cradock, in tendering to her bereavedhusband their heartfelt sympathy in his irreparable loss.

It is not possible, yet, to write of thecircumstances connected with that tragicallysudden close of dear Vyvyan's earthly life.The pain of it is still too fresh. But thememory of his short, happy life, is a constantjoy. Up to the time that he left for Eng-land, after taking his B.A. degree here, hisinterest seemed wholly absorbed by hisCollege life and his immediate home circleincluding the home of his grandparents,which was near. It was only when we metin England, at Parklands, that I learnt toknow him and that we became real friends.We were drawn together by our mutualstrong love for our dear South Africa butthat love did not obscure his keen apprecia-tion of the wider world, so full of freshinterosts, into which he found himselfplunged. It was most interesting to watchl,ow freely he responded to the appeal of all

this new and larger life. I think it was hissimple sincere character, as well as hisintelligence and judgment that so stronglyattracted all who met him and inspired afeeling of trust.

It was a delightful party of young peoplegathered together, in that dear home atParklands, that last Xmas time—Jarvis,Margaret, May, Kathleen, Vyvyan, Vincent,and George. I think of them all in theirhappy amusements and occupations, alwayssuch good friends with Vyovan, the ideal,elder brother to them all. I think of him inthe long talks we used to have about politics,the newspapers and speeches we used toread aloud in the evenings and bow full offresh, intelligent interest he was, wonderinghow it was that politics had never interestedhim before. Then there was the cricketmatch in the village where the playing wasfar from brilliant until he went in and wecame down there to find quite a stir sincehe had made 100 runs and was not yet out,to the surprised delight of his side. HisOxford years were passing all too quickly, hesaid, and there seemed to be no cloud in thebright sky of his life, so full of promise. Hehas left us a memory of pure sunshine andin the light of Eternity, the promise surelywill not be unf

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42 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

seemed to be no gloom of Death but rathera wonderful sense of beauty, peace and hopewhich all the glorious Nature around wascombining to express. The following areextracts from some of the newspaper obit-uary notices.

Sept. 9th. 1912. From the Cape Mercury—The lateMrs. Blenkins was a notable personality, keenly interestedin all public affairs, she brought a sound practical intelligenceto bear upon the many works she engaged in and she reignedat the Residency with a charm and graciousness that en-deared her to all who visited the historic house. Duringher residence here Mrs. Blenkins was actively associatedwith many organizations and on her departure, was Presi-dent of the Guild of Loyal Women, Trinity Church LadiesWork Association, and the Victoria Temperance Association.It is only a few weeks ago that the ladies of the town for-warded her a beautifully illuminated address as a token ofappreciation of her life and work in Kingwilliamstown. InHoly Trinity Church last evening, at the close of his sermon,the Ven. Archdeacon Holmes made fitting reference to herlife, her work and character. After the benediction, theorganist played the Dead March from " Saul."

From the Midland News loth, 1912. " Mrs. Blenkins,by her gracious manner and tact, pruved in those troubloustimes, to be an ideal Magistrate's wife, throwing herselfactively into all work for the good of the community andwas deservedly popular with all classes. When the warbroke out and the train loads of refugees were passingthrough Cradock, she took a leading part in organizing thedistribution of refreshments at the station, and when thetroops were stationed here, she was President of the Com-mittee of the Soldiers' Home and an earnest worker in it.She was also a very successful collector towards the buildingfund of the Queen's Central Hospital and when it was open-ed, a frequent visitor to the patients therein. We are surewe are only voicing the feelings of all who knew her duringher residence in Cradock, in tendering to her bereavedhusband their heartfelt sympathy in his irreparable loss.

It is not possible, yet, to write of thecircumstances connected with that tragicallysudden close of dear Vyvyan's earthly life.The pain of it is still too fresh. But thememory of his short, happy life, is a constantjoy. Up to the time that he left for Eng-land, after taking his B.A. degree here, hisinterest seemed wholly absorbed by hisCollege life and his immediate home circleincluding the home of his grandparents,which was near. It was only when we metin England, at Parklands, that I learnt toknow him and that we became real friends.We were drawn together by our mutualstrong love for our dear South Africa butthat love did not obscure his keen apprecia-tion of the wider world, so full of freshinterosts, into which he found himselfplunged. It was most interesting to watchl,ow freely he responded to the appeal of all

this new and larger life. I think it was hissimple sincere character, as well as hisintelligence and judgment that so stronglyattracted all who met him and inspired afeeling of trust.

It was a delightful party of young peoplegathered together, in that dear home atParklands, that last Xmas time—Jarvis,Margaret, May, Kathleen, Vyvyan, Vincent,and George. I think of them all in theirhappy amusements and occupations, alwayssuch good friends with Vyovan, the ideal,elder brother to them all. I think of him inthe long talks we used to have about politics,the newspapers and speeches we used toread aloud in the evenings and bow full offresh, intelligent interest he was, wonderinghow it was that politics had never interestedhim before. Then there was the cricketmatch in the village where the playing wasfar from brilliant until he went in and wecame down there to find quite a stir sincehe had made 100 runs and was not yet out,to the surprised delight of his side. HisOxford years were passing all too quickly, hesaid, and there seemed to be no cloud in thebright sky of his life, so full of promise. Hehas left us a memory of pure sunshine andin the light of Eternity, the promise surelywill not be unf

Page 24: FAMILY. 2. 1913. 1. fMURRAY CONTENTS.€¦ · 2013-08-11  · party its increased. short is where time autumn to to party. ... Somerville who is an old acquaintance of their family

42 CHRONICLE OF THE FAMILY August, 1913.

seemed to be no gloom of Death but rathera wonderful sense of beauty, peace and hopewhich all the glorious Nature around wascombining to express. The following areextracts from some of the newspaper obit-uary notices.

Sept. gth. 1912. From the Cape Mercury—The lateMrs. Blenkins was a notable personality, keenly interestedin all public affairs, she brought a sound practical intelligenceto bear upon the many works she engaged in and she reignedat the Residency with a charm and graciousness that en-deared her to all who visited the historic house. Duringher residence here Mrs. Blenkins was actively associatedwith many organizations and on her departure, was Presi-dent of the Gudd of Loyal Women, Trinity Church LadiesWork Association, and the Victoria Temperance Association.

It is only a few weeks ago that the ladies of the town for-warded her a beautifully illuminated address as a token ofappreciation of her life and work in Kingwilliamstown. InHoly Trinity Church last evening, at the close of his sermon,the Ven. Archdeacon Holmes made fitting reference to herlife, her work and character. After the benediction, theorganist played the Dead March from " Saul."

From the Midland News loth, 1912. " Mrs. I3lenkins,by her gracious manner and tact, proved in those troubloustimes, to be an ideal Magistrate's wife, throwing herselfactively into all work for the good of the community andwas deservedly popular with all classes. When the warbroke out and the train loads of refugees were passingthrough Cradock, she took a leading part in organizing thedistribution of refreshments at the station, and when thetroops were stationed here, she was President of the Com-mittee of the Soldiers' Home and an earnest worker in it.She was also a very successful collector towards the buildingfund of the Queen's Central Hospital and when it was open-ed, a frequent visitor to the patients therein. We are surewe are only voicing the feelings of all who knew her duringher residence in Cradock, in tendering to her bereavedhusband their heartfelt sympathy in his irreparable loss.

It is not possible, yet, to write of thecircumstances connected with that tragicallysudden close of dear Vyvyan's earthly life.The pain of it is still too fresh. But thememory of his short, happy life, is a constantjoy. Up to the time that he left for Eng-land, after taking his B.A. degree here, hisinterest seemed wholly absorbed by hisCollege life and his immediate home circleincluding the home of his grandparents,which was near. It was only when we metin England, at Parklands, that I learnt toknow him and that we became real friends.We were drawn together by our mutualstrong love for our dear South Africa butthat love did not obscure his keen apprecia-tion of the wider world, so full of freshinterests, into which he found himselfplunged. It was most interesting to watchLow freely he responded to the appeal of all

this new arid larger life. I think it was hissimple sincere character, as well as hisintelligence and judgment that so stronglyattracted all who met him and inspired afeeling of trust.

It was a delightful party of young peoplegathered together, in that dear home atParklands, that last Xmas time—Jarvis,Margaret, May, Kathleen, Vyvyan, Vincent,and George. I think of them all in theirhappy amusements and occupations, alwayssuch good friends with Vyovan, the ideal,elder brother to them all. I think of him inthe long talks we used to have about politics,the newspapers and speeches we used toread aloud in the evenings and bow full offresh, intelligent interest he was, wonderinghow it was that politics had never interestedhim before. Then there was the cricketmatch in the village where the playing wasfar from brilliant until he went in and wecame down there to find quite a stir sincehe had made 100 runs and was not yet out,to the surprised delight of his side. HisOxford years were passing all too quickly, hesaid, and there seemed to be no cloud in thebright sky of his life, so full of promise. Hehas left us a memory of pure sunshine andin the light of Eternity, the promise surelywill not be unfulfilled.