How Boer Children are Brought Up.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XX, 15 November 1902, Page 1274

How Boer Children are Brought Up.

By

D. G. RICARD.

• pari->fa year on the farm vf which I -a rite was •wing to one - ar tim«-'* in rirn. «ody*s life. I had started, with two friends. ■ a -hoOfins’ trip into M a bona land. When e arrive*! at Rhodes* Drift, i was taken ill with my oh! enemy, malaria! fever. We pitched camp here, and I tr- : t» pull m»>elf with the -<< te: rs >f ■-mad medicine chest. ~ - ■ en < a Good Samaritan, in the rers.u of Jan Potgieter. a Transvaal - - homeward bound. Potgieter t “k in • ..s’" a “ion at a glance. “This man - ng to die up here.” he said: ““pat _ _ tai him ->aek with me.” The offer was - r--r-- with him to his farm. The change . a;.ii- '‘«>n made itself felt. an«i L de- - - - - - fe t sett ' - re~ ■ - ’ - retur - ■ - ‘ s far as la - - - ■ - the s far - sit - - - - P -hr-Mnrom to Klerksdorp. ■ as a tvph-al R**er farm, and rhe -- - respects t ... . ut-ars -it tw*> grirl- of four < respectively, and a bov of - - . ties of t ■ - e — _ . ghter. listed three K ffi r r ~ »i irir'.- attended to the • ;*e .-rtd kitchen. The Boet i- : e~ear aeiiewr >f. “hanlening” -.rvn. and a lk>er <didd is brought -h a rouarh and ready way a= . ~ accustomed t-« om

a . ~ r;e-ru a• ■■ ’ . - • .nt"’: ; 1 ■- !.:e-r htd’None •rf :hese ehildi air f .---* - the - rm. though later on. when the boy -- - - rthday. the ■ - - . - - - . store ' • ■ ■ *■ ' • irt At ’.!■> .'.-rh.r *-vrry eel-. the Kaffir girl went with a of milk -- - - - •. v-hildren slept. and then dressed _ - * ■ • ‘ • “clock t •reakfast. after which the eh i hirer* . - - - ----- r>?*Ei r-i mix so c.< r>eiy witn natives is -- - - - - .. - > - .-alie meal ■ ?::-!ge. Tiietr .- . .. • - -- aipkliis. br-wn vread and I the :i. ie- n-eaL This, with a bowl of s-vm. when rh»-y went ro 'r- va- their regular fare. e b e id renin the niominsr I Eised to taf<e the e-’ ier •*<* the httfe Lrrr !< and the ■ . * ' ’ ,j: ri enrs of into them. [r was at first heart-breaking- workBoth eoubij speak Kaffir fiaently—n -.re - renrly. in-ier-J, than ■’ <fs»-ak the Taalz but they 'I not - ■ at firs - r -. r . The other tirrh- ri wonld sii - - her feet in the strv.un. . laying witf - - r--A-*> «ietims. as they soon came t» . . |pr theinse -- -- were n mi «• Harare. r. e Be. risagr at Hiever in th. re-- :.ar •*e metli <n *- One of th* *»-wt prominent iu every conn <tnre is the met! cine shelves -a-ent medicines

t up in *a-t.y wrappers specially • re pare* I tor the P*er trade, are to m- <een. Every Saturday night the chikiren had to take their weekly lose. This consisted of a table...tiful of magnesia, with a dash of '■ me kind of patent medicine in it. Thi* c n?oction had been recommended t<; I* ’srieter by a ~travelling doe- - .y.~ a- he d. werioed some wandering tramp whom he had once aceommoiated with a ’"'•hakedown. ""What - it good f»r7*‘ I asked him on one o ca' n- “Oh. everything." he replied. vaguely. "Yes.’ said his wife. - - is eood for everything except the -mallpox: only rhe good Lord can • ire that." “But the children are all

right: there*- nothing the matter with them.” I protested. "That's because they take the medicine regularly said Si rs Potgieter. and I subsided. One of the most necessary health preservatives we know of is cieanline>i>: th<- Boer knows nothr of this. Every Sunday morning thKaffir girl washed the children*hand- and fa .-es. and combed th-ir hair. Then they went into the large room. Potgieter took his .-eat at rhe head of the table, and. with h s Bible before him. held "service.” Th*s lasted for about an hour. af;er the children were allowed to go €» rz into the “lands” again and set into their usual dishevelled condition.

The Boers—though the statement may be questioned by tho?e who do no« know them intimately — suiter terribly from nervousness. This is due to a number of causes, the principal of which are no doubt dyspepsia and monotony. The malady descends to the children, who exhibit it very early. The elder of th-* two little girls was already a vie- ; m. a».« Potgieter questioned me on the -'-b jeet. “What’s rhe best thing fur her?” ht asked. "Give her u.-»re nourishing food.” I sai I; “let Err have meat and eggs, and plenty of miik.” "Oh.” said his wife, “you do not understand children. If we gave her meat and eggs she would get the fever at once”; and then she went on to describe the case of a cousin of hers, which ended in this way. owing, as she supposed, to her having been treated in the manner I s.iggested. The duty of keeping the ehikLe.i clothed fell on the elder daugmer. who cut down her parents* clotaing for this purpose. Each of the Ett e girls had for everyday wear . blac-rv dress an*! a jacket made oct » f p. rt ‘►f one of their father’s coat . whicu had been first cut in half. : he. e jackets were sleeveless. i he had no hats, and I used to wonder ar rimes if the nervousness from wniea ■ fhe of them suffered was not - *ated by constant exposure to ththot sun. On Sundays the girls wor - their best clothes, also home-made, but composed of material ob.ained rrom the store specially for them. 1 he boy was always dressed in one i -f bis father’s cast-off suets of eo.curoy. cut down for him. Another illness to which Boer children are very subject is toothache. This, however, is not confined to the TransvaaL but is prevalent all over South Africa, and is supposed ti> bdue to the climate. The younge-r girl bad been suffering from, thi‘Hstressing pain for some time. One day Potgieter got out the cart and took her into Klerksdorp to have the:ooth extracted. The doctor wa.:sway at the time, and a nsaa employ- • d ar the local hotel, who said he v as an aslept at pulling teeth, undertook r 8 relieve the child. He broke the tcX'th. and. in proLinz for it with his knife, played havoc with th-- po r child s mouth. The little girl od it al! without- a mnrmnr. and her parents were immen-ely preud o this. The fact of the child's saving been cut abtut in -uc-h a wanr in manner did not seem to appe.J t-> them in rhe leas: though, they were in no sense heartless, but were r. ally deeply attached to their child ten. This ability to bear pain without exhibiting any emotion is one of the strangest of the B*<ers and seems to be bom in them. The eldest daughter, who had teen ►silicated in Pretoria, and was engaged to he married to a cousin, u-ed to complain bitterly of rhe monotony of her to rhe great annoyance of her mother, who couid tied so long as they had a good home. When the quarterly praj ings came round Mr and Mrs Potgierer and the eldest daughter would go into the village to attend service, and always brought back some simple presents for the children. I am afraid, however, that their pleasure at receiving these was tempered by noticing that the big blue medicine bottle, which was always taken into rhe dorp to be refilled, was invariably brought out ar the same time as the gifts, and put in its accustomed place the side-table. Had they been English chikiren. I wontier if they would have allowed this hated object to rest securely when they were alone with it? Once the children got over the fir-s start in their education they nude fair progress, and soon began to Io! F a conversation with me. My health had come ba k in the meantime, and in common with the young lady of howe. I I eg. n to wetry of th-R.:»-ro csky t>;‘ my dai y life: so one morning, nine after my first

arrival o« the farm. I took a most cordial leave of my host*, and set out to face the world once more. The children were al first brokenhearte ! at the thought of my leaving them, but I succeeded in assuaging their >rief bv promising to send them a box of English toys when I arrived in Natal, which promise I duly earried out.