A GARDEN DIARY rag 
SURREY, FEBRUARY 26, 1900 
‘ee is a little tapestry fire-screen in 
my sitting-room here, which has been 
disturbing me quite seriously all this winter. 
It represents a group of Boers—when the 
tapestry was made I take it the word was 
spelt doovs—of various ages and sexes, but 
all equally convulsed with laughter. The 
central figure is a big, square-jawed, good- 
natured looking fellow, who holds aloft in his 
hands a tiny, red-coated toy manikin, which he 
is causing to perform ridiculous antics for the 
amusement of a solid infant of two or three 
years old, who is trying to reach it. At a 
table close by an old man sits eating, in a 
suit of what appears to be greasy grey corduroys. 
He also grins with satisfaction at the perform- 
ance. So does a woman—presumably the 
mother of the solid infant— who looks back 
laughingly from a doorway, over the dish which 
she carries in her hands. Other Boers, or boors, 
are to be seen in the background, all equally 
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