HUMOR IN LADYSMITH.

Evening Star, Volume 11221, Issue 11221, 21 April 1900, Page 7

HUMOR IN LADYSMITH.

Light humor (writes the ‘ Argus ’ correspondent, Donald Macdonald) does not .flourish freely under shell Are, and many attempts to propagate it are an ohvii us failure. Still the Aldershot of South Africa keeps its spirits fairly well. During the siege Mr 6. W, Lines, the town clerk, published the first newspaper ever issued in Ladysmith. ' Its title is ‘The Ladysmith Bomb’—circulating thronghtout the town of Ladysmith and the adjacent contained rather more comment than news, and I make one quotation only, from the "Poet’s Corner.” It is entitled * Long Tom o’ Pepworth’s Hill.’ He doth not speak in parable, Or whisper soft and low. So all the folk of Ladysmith His every accent know. For he can bend the stoutest back, And mould the strongest will; lie’s quite a little autocrat, Long Tom o’ Pepworth’s Hill, We hearken when he speaks in wrath; We’re braver whilo he cools ; Yet is he very kind to men, If somewhat rough on mules. He brings us bounding outof bed When we would fain lie still; We grumble—but we all obey Long Tom o’ Pepworth’s Hill. He visits every humble home; He enters unaware. Sometimes he seeks the osllsr cool, Sometimes an easy chair. Sometimes he comes iu by the roof, Anon the window-sill. ’Tis vain to say you’re not at.home To Tom o’ Pepworth’a Hill. The serial story is brief, and the title ‘ Jeerusalem 1 I—or tho Unexpected Shell.’ One of the most amusing of the practical jokes played in camp was connected with the dyeing of grey bones to render them less conspicuous. One’ trooper declined to discolor his horse by painting him with permanganate of potaeh, so his comrades, with the help of a well-known war artist, have produced upon the grey’s flanks the familiar features of the President of the South African Republic, with Kruger boldly written underneath.