THE CITY OF CRAPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12071, 15 September 1902, Page 3

THE CITY OF CRAPE.

PRETORIA'S MK.MORV OF THE FAf.LRV pRKTORI /V< ;,T,- in l.iiolli 11111;* for tile falleu. far] every hat- has its zone of crape, and the black m memorii'm baud encircles nearly, every sleeve. Stroll across Church Square or through the broad avenues, and one s eve catches the sable emblem of a strife that 'rioted in the land for two years and eight months. Here is an exlbuiyi;cr who lias just conic in front the veldt, having .stirrer his riiie and shoe fed " <»>id Save the King." if is browis crowned with a. battered and begrimed hat, but there is the hoop of crape around it —file sign oi a brother or a father or a son fallen by t he war-wav. Here is a fashion"b!y-drested Dutchman; he is evidently well favoured with the -roods or tin's world. He, too, carries the silent, but significant:, tribute to mortality. Then there are ague Dutch girls, tailor-costumed ladies and venerable vrows, hearing the crape for some lamented soldier of the superseded .Republics. he entire Dutch population is in mourning- The fact confronts one everywhere, and there is no escape from crape.* I got in conversation with a Boer of tv\ -two. Me told me that he was one of I eleven sons. Due day. in December, 1399, i they joined,, with the father, the s;iiae iomJ mando—a contribution of a, dozen to the | cMuse. The father was fifty-five, and theJ sons ages ranged from twelve to thirty-four. I Only three fobs remain of that family of fighters. Pretoria is essentially a Dutch city today, as it was a Dutch city in the days when Kruger was supreme. The Dutch are returning to it. and the Britisher is still kept; well on the coast. This is, no doubt, why. the wearing of the crape is so conspicuous. It is very noticeable that the few Britons in the city" are not in mourning. The Mauser, evidently, did not deal out death sua destruction to their relatives.