TROOPERS' LETTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 294, 11 December 1900, Page 5

TROOPERS' LETTERS.

AN AUCKLANDER'S EXPERIENCES.

Trooper Daniel Foley, writingto his parents in Auckland, says: Pretoria is very bigoted, especially against the followers of the old faith. One would think in Pretoria that the Catholic Church would hold supreme sway. A large portion of the inhabitants of the town have crossed the seas' from France, Belgium, Austria, etc. Yet they are not of the true teaching, or else they have thrown their faith to the winds. There is a very small percentage of Catholics here. Tlie Dutch especially are very bitter. Paul Kruger tried hard to stamp out the Catholic faith, but he absolutely failed, as" he did in his threat to drive the Rooineks (English) into the sea. Very pleased was I one sunny afternoon as I cantered through the city with my regiment to find a little chapel nestling among a thick bushy enclosure. Adjoining was the convent grounds, where some of the holy sisters were taking their daily walk. W Tho would have thought to find a Catholic edifice in the heart of the bigoted Boer'dominions. We had just returned after a long chase after the famous De Wet, which was a fruitless one. Our appearance was anything but prepossessing. The kind sisters gazed on us with pity, and offered us biscuits and fruit, which we did not refuse, after a long march on an empty stomach. The little^ chapel, with'its cross at the top, brought back to my fond memory the old church that^stood in the top corner of Symonds-street cemetery, Auckland, where mass was celebrated year _n and year out, long before St Benedct's was ever thought of., I fancy I can see it now, standing like a grim sentinel guarding the faithful, who are sleeping their last long sleep in tbe SeS slopes below. The next day, being Sunday, I obtained leave from camf, and at 5.30 p.m. I found myself k3ng inside the sacred precincts &__s_iss_?e® every town and hamlet in the Transvaal.