Husbands and
sons in the hill fighting. Homes in the valley blazing, and they sitting
and watching it all, almost always with the same fortitude, the same
patience, and the same resolve. I am impressed, for I have never seen
anything of the sort before. It is not often in these days that you see
one big, simple, primitive instinct, like love of country, acting on a
whole people at once. Many of our officers, the thoughtful and
candid-minded ones, do these people justice; but many don't. Many catch
at any explanation but the true one, and attribute every kind of motive
save the only one that will explain the facts. They refuse to call the
Boers patriots, but that the Boers are prepared to face a slow
extermination in defence of their country is now evident. It has become
more evident since the war has assumed its present character of
individual, personal effort. I much respect and admire them for it.
It is time to bring this long letter to an end. I wish I could see an
end to the campaign. When I come home "an old, old, aged and infirm old
man," I mean to pass the evening of my days in a quiet cottage with its
full allowance of honeysuckle and roses. There I shall grow sweet
williams and, if I can stand the extra excitement, perhaps keep a pig.
They tell me the _Times_ has pronounced the war over. I would be glad to
pay L5 out of my own pocket to have the man who wrote that out here on
the veldt with us for a week.
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