hat the British soldier
is gentle and generous, and that his women-folk at home are ready to do
all in their power to alleviate the sufferings of the innocent victims of
the war. I know it will be said, 'Let us attend to the suffering loyalists
first.' It is a very proper sentiment, and if British generosity were
limited to the gift of a certain definite amount in money or in kind, I
would be the first to say, 'Charity begins at home, and our people must
come first.' But British generosity is not of this strictly measured kind.
By all means let us help the loyal sufferers by the war; but let us also
help the women and children of those who have fought against us, not with
any ulterior political motive, but simply because they have suffered and
are bound to suffer much, and wounded hearts are soothed and healed by
kindness.

"Mr. Rowntree has spoken quite publicly of the deep impression made on the
Boer women by the kindness shown them by our men. One said she would be
always glad to shake hands with a British soldier; it was because of the
kindly devices they had invented to make over their own rations to the
women and children during the long journey when all were suffering from
severe privations. Another Boer girl, referring to an act of kindness
shown her by a British officer, remarked quietly: 'When there is so much
to make the heart ache it is well to remember deeds of kindness.' The more
we multiply deeds of kindness between Boer and Briton in South Africa, the
better for the future of the two races, who, we hope, will one day fuse
into a united nation under the British flag."

I hope the reader will forgive me for having quoted in such abundance from
Mrs. Fawcett's letter, but it has seemed to me that this plain,
unprejudiced and unsophisticated report, on a subject which could not but
have been viewed with deep sorrow by every enlightened person in England,
goes far to remove the doubts that might still linger in the minds of
certain people ignorant of the real conditions of existence in South
Africa.

A point insufficiently realised in regard to South African affairs is the
manner in which individuals comparatively devoid of education, and with
only a hazy notion of politics, contrived to be taken into serious
consideration not only by those who visited South Africa, but by a certain
section of English society at home, and also in a more restricted measure
by people at the Cape and in the Transvaal who had ri