1899] Kruger's Dinner Party 339 



and so is now our nearest neighbour. When we said good-bye on my 

 leaving Egypt last I little thought we should meet again. 



" 6th Dec. — Coming back here is like rising again from the dead. 

 Everybody connected with the place clearly took it for granted I should 

 be seen in it no more, and acted on the supposition. Nothing very bad 

 has been done, and some changes are for the better, but still they have 

 been made. My gazelles have been sent to the Zoological Garden, 

 some of the horses have been sold, the house has been re-arranged. 

 I feel like a guest in it — the revenant — the ghost who has returned. 

 Perhaps it is all the more delightful, for the garden is in splendid leaf, 

 and the trees never had a thicker shade in a more brilliant sunshine. 

 Encroachments in the way of new wells and cultivated fields have been 

 made all round us in the desert, and we are already almost completely 

 cut off from the open plain. But it is the least of the evils that threat- 

 ened us four years ago. First the sewage farm, and then the building 

 operations. So that the new corn fields may be looked upon as a com- 

 parative blessing in an age of unscrupulous progress. 



"15^ Dec. — Two new Boer victories, or rather British defeats. 

 One at Stormberg, the other at Spytfontein. People will soon be get- 

 ting angry in London, and perhaps leave off some of their music hall 

 songs. There is a ridiculous swaggering one in the papers, promising 

 Uncle Paul to dine with him on Christmas Day. It reminds me of the 

 Paris cry, ' a Berlin,' which became historic. 



THE NEW PATRIOTIC SONG 



Now Sung at the Music Halls and Theatres with immense success. 



KRUGER'S DINNER PARTY; Dec. 7, 1899 



or, 

 We'll be There. 

 Written by Fred C. Smale. Composed by Geo. Le Brunn. 



Oh, Uncle's giving a party and he's asked us all to come, 



We'll be there ! 

 We're marching up from Durban town, behind the fife and drum 



And we'll be there ! 

 There's some from Dublin City, there's some from out the West, 

 The Devon lads " be vitty," there's Gordons with the rest ; 

 Oh, Uncle, don't you trouble, there is time enough to spare — 



We'll be there ! 



(Chorus) So please you, Uncle Paul, light the Lantern in the Hall 



(We know we're welcome as the flow'rs in May), 

 Just keep the pudding hot for the lively little lot 



Who are coming up to dinner Christmas Day. 



