Show I t J aal Cinderella eind I lIa lIat j I t How a Boer Maid Took Part in iii the Trenches Against t 4 The British i t l 4 BY P Y BLACK I 7 1 1 f tt Boer Beer women have very verY often fought alongside longsIde a of their husbands and fathers and a nd brothers in the wars of the republics 1 ies l of South Africa Some of them are a re capital markswomen rn and nearly all aU have h ave the fanatical courage which is I noticeable n in religious enthusiasts of all aU a ll climes The TIle women who today are fighting fi In the trenches against the British Are df ing no new thing Their mothers and grandmothers assisted aIsted in inthe Inthe tt the he t defense delen of many a laager against the he t rush of Zulu ZUl u Far from de detracting detracting t from their womanly fascinations t the young men of the Transvaal look upon such masculine prowess as greatly enhancing them Rifle skill and Amazonian dash in time of war on the part of the maids compel the admi admiration a ml ration of the young men as witness the recent case of ot Marie Dutoit Marie was a little Cinderella of the veldt Not all the of could however have haye persuaded a prince that little Marie M rie was pretty She was ivan Indeed quite homely The child chUd was wa an orphan and lived with the Van Pelts her uncle and aunt and her elder cons cousins ins Hendrick a young man and Greta I and Anna Annn who ho may be said to have ta taken ken kel the place of Cinderella ill condi conditioned conditioned I sisters These latter were belles of and well w portioned but butI I Marie had been left a skinny babe without a penny penn This with her home homeliness liness lessened her chance of ever be being beIng beIng I ing nicely married for the shrewd Boer Boor has a careful eye on a girls dowry An Anold Anold Anold old maid or a bachelor is a byword and a thing of abhorrence in the Trans Transvaal Transvaal Transvaal vaal So Maries lot was sad Oom Kris Van Pelt was war not a bad badman badman badman man by any means He was WitS a typical farmer and hunter of ot the thc Transvaal a atall tall taU broad be grave religious 1 When Maries Marics parents died he gave the child a home more from duty than affection or pity and after that paid little heed to her hel Tante Anne his wife was another matter She Sh would never have turned away the little Ma Marie MarIe Mane rie ne partly from front a sense that such con conduct duct luct would scarcely have been Script Scriptural Scriptural I I ural but chiefly from a fear of whit whither whither her neighbors would say gay but she did I not conceal her opinion that the Du had sinned greatly gr In dying with without without without out leaving a provision for their child In the hard years nhen rhen the crop was burned by b the sun and the I oxen perished from lack of water Taste Tante Anne made things unpleasant for little Marie for she was a feverish complaining woman Another such year she would cry cr crand and we will be ruined mined The Good Lord knows best but there are so many mouths to feed so many mouths Such outcries were absurd for the theVan theVan theVan Van Pelts were better off than many burghers Her neighbors knew this and smiled at the worrying old woman but Marie ratie took toot it all aU very seriously and re redoubled redoubled redoubled doubled her hel labors From babyhood she worked until her hands were ere hard harda aa au a boys and anti her face was darkly tanned A hard hard childhood was that of Marie Dutoit whose older cousins cousins ins were In no wise distressed to see how ho she sh slaved There Is only one ca career calt carter reer lt er open to the th average Boer Beer girl and that Is marriage Marie was plain Ma Marie Mario rio rie was poor Greta and Anna compla complacently complacently complacently and leisurely looked forward to taking their choice of suitors but Ma Marie Mane ra rie ne could only sigh and be resigned and secretly dream of some impossible day when the prince would ride t berthe ver the veldt and sound his bugle horn She always roused herself sharply from such extremely foolish dreams and dashed more reluctantly reI uc tan tt than ever eer at atall atall all abi the drudgery of the farm Yet one great Ineat delight was hers and that was when Hendrick her big silent cousin took her out on the broad plain when he was shooting at the targets and taught her to handle a rifle Some Sometimes Sometimes times he be even took teok her on a hunt and so keen k en were her eyes e es and so firm her grip and so steady stead her train trained trained trained ed nerves that Marie rarie Dutoit when 16 years old was nigh as good a u shot as Hendrick himself When she was 16 the troubled days began and arid the Transvaal declared war against again t Great Britain Bli Veldt Cornet brought the news but It was not altogether news All AH night the beacon fires had been burning on the th higher kops All night Kaffir runners had bad been scouring the country with messages from the com corn I to the burghers mAU All night in inmany Inmany inmany many farm houses h women wom n had been en enat at work preparing th rations r of bil biltong biltong tong and cleaning tha the pat patriots patriots patriots riots All night through the length and breadth of the land prayers had gone up and the veldt had echoed the songs of David The cornet was a a close friend of Heu Het drick Van Pelt Pel t A rich man was ho he and Influential In u in so much that he was even in the councils of Paul Kruger I himself Very popular pop lar also was Rick Hausmann and so well looking oking l that I even without his wealth the maidens I I Iro would ro ld have been ben gracious gr lous to him It I i may be imagined that in some of ot the I little ittle l Maries day dreams the prince i who galloped so cavalierly over oyer the I veldt was not nat altogether unlike the young cornet i i j Its war he said gravely as he sat down in the farm farmhouse house I have come for Oom Oem Kris and Hendrick If they are ready we will join the com corn commando i mando together Yes thank you Greta cornI I thank you Anna I will take coffee i Marie had made the coffee but her cousins served the cornet Tante Anne and they hovered about him and chor chorused chorused chorused used denunciations of the and eulogies of or the Boer patriots Then first Rick Hausmann smiled on Greta and again he was cordial to Anna When Greta smiled Anna frowned and i when Anna beamed Greta tossed her I I handsome head and sniffed But Marie made coffee and hid her homely face lace I I and looked not at all at the prince printce of the t veldt When n the Van Pelts were I I I t c J H i i I i L j I Marie Was a 0 Little Cinderella of the Veldt ready the women hung about their horses delaying them to make sure I that nothing was forgotten the biltong the coffee the sugar the home grown L tobacco Tante Anne in tears caressed I her spouse pid nd son aon but ut the daughters I were w e more bout about the rich and I handsome veldt cornet They were t I quite cheery They T ey had no doubts of ot otI the outcome of the war Slay Stay them theta as the Philistines were t I slain they cried to Rick Drive the th t into the sea Oh how howl I I wish I was a nt man to go and fight them s sOh Oh yes er CS to be bea a man mant cried Greta Ito to be brave and strong str ng To be such a horseman cried crie Anna cutting out Greta r t To be a sharpshooter sh cried Greta rudely Interrupting int ig Anna We will wn e much of ot you when you come bade back victorious th they cried to together together together gether And Arid reward r ward me I hope said sald the handsome cornet nut but he looked at both and smiled at both bath so that the girls when they had bad smiled back at him frowned 03 ot oe each other Goodbye Marie said Hendrick Goodbye cousin cO said Marie Made I wish I was going with you Then they rode off to join the com corn commando mando and Rick only waved his bin hand to Marie and all the veldt for her grew chill and gray The prince was sa as gallop ing lug over the veldt but no glad bugle horn had sounded its call for tor her Tante Taste was more peevish than ever The girls were sulky Marie youve let bet the coffee get cold Tante Anne screeched Marie was at the open door staring i after the horsemen hors men and did not hear bear bearnot nor not answer Come in and attend to your work her aunt cried What are you about Do you think the cornet will kiss his bin hand to you The sisters laughed shrilly but Marie hung hun her ner head No she fhe thought he will never wave ave his hand to me m I am ana ugly and too poor but I should s like to take a rifle rUle 5 C L O OI Oj OI 1 I I j I I tT 2 l j J p 1 Iv I 1 71 I MARIES S STRENGTH WAS WASi EN HER HEB AW L BREAD Il VANISHED AT THE P PRINCES caYS ENTREATY and be beside him and fight the Eng and and watch over him II The fight had begun in a no series of skirmishes but when morning came carne the Boers Beers and British were in pitched battle The speaking of ot the great guns could be he heard at the farm Some times even the rattle of the rifle rUle fire reached across the plain pl in The women folk were terribly excited War was wan now very close to their doors and it was not so easy a thing to sneer at the courage of the Aunt Anne rocked in her great chair the girls girts were white and amI unnerved Marie was restless with great bright eyes All AU night long spider carts and wagons wagon and litters lItteri had been jolting across the veldt with burdens of dead and crippled ed men who were being carried by native ser servants servants trants and friends to nearby homes for burial or for tor nursing Suddenly before the glaring sun had yet reached its noontide height a ragged Kaffir came running and leap Ing from the distant kopjes where the battle raged and roared His eyes were protruding with fright and his dark face was now gray gr y it rt is Marie cried as he came and they all aU went out to meet Oom Kris servant who had followed his hig hI master to the war as in old times the henchmen followed the knights and squires The Kaffir ran up weary and exhausted A dirty rag bound his arm ann where a bullet had ha pierced the flesh 41 Why have bave you left your baas baits the women cried and Tante Anne shook her fist at the trembling boy You cowardly dog If you have run away I will use the on you myself Nil Ni Ni cried the servant No run Baas Hendrick him dead in trench Big baas bans him fight and shoot shoot shoot Big bass him say to get cart take baas Hendrick to Tante Anne Me come run all way There was wan a wailing then in the farm house and terrible cries for ven yen vengeance vengeance but the Van Pelts were were too to obey the poor stern fathers will On Marie fell the task aa an on Marie Matie usually fell the harder tasks She Site had loved Hendrick but she was Her face was still and stern Is Oom Kris hurt she asked the boy bo and he told her the old man was as safe as yet as they harnessed the horse Her back was turned to him Did you ou see the Veldt Cornet Haus Hausmann mann 1 she asked He shoot shoot shoot with big baas laas said the boy When the cart was ready Marie went Inside and filled a great canteen with coffee She took some biltong and bread tread also Then she got Hendricks old rifle which she had often used and went into the house for fora a belt of am Tante Anne she said I am going to the trenches with He says the battle is hard The com commandant commandant commandant mandant must neN every good shot he can find and I am a good shot Besides they have killed Hendrick and I loved him Tante Anne screeched again I need you here she screamed What can con my girls and I do broken down as we are Who viii ill help in the house Greta and Anna must do tb that un uzi less toss they will come with me meAt meAt meAt At that the girls cried out The trenches are no place for girls they said Oh said Marie Dutoit hotly There are women there the th r already help Ing the men A woman also has a aright aright right to defend the he fatherland My mother the Zulus with my JU y f fa ther in laager l ger and Tante Atm Anne herself when she was younger could hit a deer deers She s drove dro e off o with f the Kaffir sorrow ing much for Hendrick H drIck her childhoods friend but hot with bitter anger and vengeful wrath against the English Also there was w s 3 dread in hi her heart that arriving she slie should find fi d yet et an other lying dead In the trenches on the hillside No doubt this would seem scorn IX by conduct in the eyes of seminary girls but you OU see s Marie had never been to school She could only with difficulty spell out her Bible was quite uncultured and a very simple and na tural product of or the veldt possessed with all the primitive passions of love and hate and jealousy and revenge The trenches were reached from the rear of the army with only the rocky rock difficulties of the tt kopje to overcome When however hoever they th y came near to them th m the Kaffir shook with th fear fehr f ar as the great shells hells came shrieking from the British guns to plunge into the earthen breastworks or burst nearby scatter ing InS horror He cowered in the cart but Marie sat erect although her ber face was white and her lips Indrawn They halted some distance away in the shel ter tei of or a great rock and Oom Kris Ens him himself himsel self salt sel carried his dead boy to the cart Poor old patriot he was weeping but he could not leave his place to accompany accompany pany HendrickS remains anxious though he was that they should be buried burled at home near the old farm and not in the dreadful trenches perhaps by British hands He dispatched dispatch d the cart and expressed no sur surprise surprise surprise prise when Marie followed him on hands and knees creeping to Hen HendrIcks dricks place The old man like hike every old Boer Beer had been used in other days to see his womenfolk by his side de defending defending fending the wagons of the trek against savage foes It Is right light little Marie he said simply He Ha loved you ou my Hendrick Say a Do prayer and aim carefully On the Boer Beer girls other side lay the Held field i cornet He nodded to Marie and smiled approval Who shall conquer us he said when our girls are ready read to die to defend the theland land Why did not Greta and Anna come They are fair shots sh tS and Hendrick was their brother i Marie said nothing but color came r back to her cheek for it was wan the first time the prince of the veldt had spoken to her so cordially Then she listened to him as he be pointed out to her peep ing over the breastworks the position of ot the English and directed her fire She he grew warm with the fierce excite excitement excitement excitement ment of the thing but her aim was steady and her bullets b lIets sped truly Rick was earnest in his encouragement I did not know he said enthusiastically enthusiastically that you ou were such a a brave girl and capital shot You were al always always always ways so quiet Then Marie even ven in the middle of 01 horrors horrom was almost happy happ All AU the afternoon the shells came shrieking All the afternoon cries and groans and hoarse commands filed fi led her bei ears with the ceaseless crash of the rifles and the thunder of the big guns Other sounds than these th there were also when now from the right and t again from the tho left some patriot would begin to sing Then along the line of the trench the deep voices would rise to heaven now in inthe inthe 1 the heart melody of a yolks lied now chanting the solemn meas mess measures measures ures urea of a psalm Marie Mane sang too Her Hei 1 voice and those th of or a few other women and boys with the commando rose high higi above the mens Never before was wa seen so strange a congregation praising praisIng ing lag the Lord LordAt LordAt LordAt At last when the day da was far sr ent the enemy tried new ne tactics since their L artillery could not disperse the Boers |