THE JEALOUS BOER AND THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS. 215 



amusing circumstance arising out of these marriages is 

 said lately to have occurred here. The truth of it was 

 vouched for, and believing it myself, I retail it. 



An aspiring young politician, who possessed the 

 " gift of the gab " in much greater proportion than 

 common sense, had at one time been a suitor for the 

 hand of one of the ladies in question ; for a long time 

 his suit progressed favourably, when in an unlucky 

 moment one of these Englishmen arrived. He, in 

 course of time, was introduced to the fair one, wooed 

 and won her. The disappointed lover was irate ; but 

 how could he show his indignation ? By rising at the 

 first meeting of the guardians of the community, and 

 proposing the introduction of a law to forbid Boer 

 women marrying Englishmen ! One older than he 

 added an addendum to it that before it became law 

 it should be submitted to the female portion of the 

 inhabitants. It is unnecessary to add thafc it did not 

 gain their approval. 



Behind where I am outspanned is a humble, unpre- 

 tending little Episcopalian church, of Gothic architecture, 

 no*doubt the nearest to the heart of Africa that exists. 

 Is there any man living who has not experienced a feeling 

 of betterness on entering a place of worship or a grave- 

 yard ? The wild, most froward, and reckless have all 

 their better moments, and few places are so likely to 

 produce them. Childhood, that period of our existence 

 without care or sorrow, when parents, relatives, and 

 friends surround us, is always associated with the village 

 church. Years may pass by, we may go through 

 foreign lands, sickness, and trial ; but the village church, 

 its quiet green, the sheltering trees, are never forgotten ; 

 memory will glide back to it and its associations some- 



