MODERN POLITICIANS. 283 



I stole to the edge of an adjoining kloof, passed 

 down its near side, and ascended the opposite. 

 Long I lay and scanned the russet-brown, igneous- 

 looking stones, but not a sign of the animals I sought 

 for, could I see. It was a land of desolation, without 

 inhabitants I commenced to conclude, and so inclined 

 to give up the search. To do so mattered little, for 

 I was out on my own resources, and no human eye 

 was present to make public my failure. Like the 

 rest of my race, I love laudation for my success ; 

 like the rest of my race, I hate censure or condem- 

 nation when defeated. To gain the first I would 

 do much ; to avoid the latter, much more. Do none 

 of our politicians suffer in a like manner ? Aye, they 

 do, and often, I fear in modern times would sacri- 

 fice country, nation, all, in preference to sustaining 

 a defeat. In acknowledging my weakness, I deem, 

 though possibly erroneously, that I have a right to 

 castigate others. But, I would ask, is what is par- 

 donable in the sportsman, pardonable in the politician ? 

 Decidedly not ; for the first acts for himself only, the 

 latter for his constituents and country. Politicians of 

 the present day are, at their best, but place-hunters ; 

 patriotism, in its proper sense, is almost unknown 



