BRITISH PRO-BOER CONCERT

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 60

BRITISH PRO-BOER CONCERT

HOW ENGLISH PRISONERS' SANG THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. A f£ smoke night-,’ 7 at which British soldiers as prisoners contributed the songs with their Boer captors, rides in. hand, showing visible appreciation, is capitally described in a YeomanN letter to the ‘•'Standard 1 / 7 Be, with several others, •had? been.-captured in the I .Orange State,£Ol the chilly long., winter •eyenings- were found very depressing until the happy thought struck one of the prisoners that they should give a smoking concert ",o relieve the dullness. “Captain Grant, cf the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, threw himself into the project with who 1 e-h ear ted zeal. Everything was quickly arranged, likely ‘artists' canvassed, their songs jotted down, and a regular programme fixed up ‘in drill time. 7 “See'us, then, shortly after dark on thd following evening, gathered around the appointed place. We formed a ring, many deep, around a huge fire, with which the veldt-cornet had graciously permitted us to be provided. The lire was situated half-way up the slope of a rock kopje, beneath which nestled our camp, now quiet and dark, save where the dying embers of a fire broke bright and reel through the surrounding gloom. Above us loomed, black and sharp against the sky, the summit of the kopje below the open plain, bounded by the interminable and t — to us prisoners heartwearying—series of hill upon hill. “Inside the magic circle were several

-Boers, merely on harmony bent, while outside it, but hovering near to listen, weire two or three, rifle in hand, as if to remind us that we - were only permitted t-o have an hour or. two’s- recreation on sufferance. ' ' MADE THE BOERS. LAUGH. “There was a man of the Derbyshire Militia, with quite a superior tenor voice, who gave us “The Star of Bethlehem’ and ’Queen of the Earth,’ and was listened to with rapt silence, roll owing him came a gentleman of the same regiment, but whose performance was quite of another order. He sang two or three comic songs, with a rich Midland accent, and reduced us all, including the Boers, to an almost hysterical condition of laughter.- We were not lacking in serious and sentimental singers, who received a due meed of appreciation, but, -without a doubt, the. humourous folk bore away the palm. “A patriotic song, ‘Who Carries the Gun ?’ sung by one of the Imperial Yeomanry- with a- good -deal of nerve ami go, was well received, but it was-nothing i © the storm of wild applause which greeted Captain Grant when, with Irish accent, voice and gesture hill template,’ a© gave us ‘Phil the Piper’s Ball’ and ‘Mulrooney’s Dog.’ . -■ “Everyone composed themselves to-lis-ten to a Dutch duet by two of cur captors. Mcsfc cf us understood not a word of what they were singing, but their facial play and gesture’ were highly diverting. Shortly after came a highly comic episode; One of the-.artists Was •singing ‘For Old Times’ Sake/’ the chorus of which goes : d For old times’ sake Don’t let this- enmity live. For old times’ sake,. ' Say you’ll forget and forgive. Life’s too short to quarrel!, Hearts too precious .to break. ■ Shake hands and let- us'.'be friends. For old times’ sake*. BOERS* SILENCE AND RESPECT. “One of the Boers,, sitting in the- inner ring, understood English well. At- tne first line of the chorus he pricked up his ears; at the second" looked quizzically amused, and 1 as the chorus proceeded expanded into a brqad/smile, , whispering to his friend,- wheat ’once Was Similarly” affected. “As for us, the humour—t-li© unconscious 'humour—of tire thing struck us : simultaneously; the whole crowd was' rippling with' merriment, which turned into a roar as, at the conclusion, the first Boer gravely extended his hand rathe singer, who, with equal gravity and theatrical empressement, shook it heartily. “The time came to finish, and we finished as Englishmen invariably do wind up, no matter in " what quarter of the globe they may' be, or in what circumstances they may '’'find' 'themselves. ‘We will sing the first verse of “God Save the Queen” ’ —thus Captain Grant,- standing up in his place. “A momentary pause—a mellow baritone rang out, for a bar or two-, alone, then the air was taken up by the crowd and by those, who had remained in the camp, and sung as the blase conceit habitue rarely hears it by us prisoners m a- far distant land. Every -man stood to attention as .lie sang,/and either saluted in regulation fashion or removed his head-dress.

* “It must have awakene dst-range emotions in the breasts of -those--into -whose hands we had fallen, but- they listened, not without interest, silently and respectfully.” ' '