our general is a man who does not
throw men's lives away. He believes in brains before bayonets, and England
may be thankful for the possession of General Rundle. Had he been a madcap
general, there would have been a few thousand more widows in the old
country to-day than there are. At the same time, he is a man of immense
personality. Should he ever get a chance to engage the enemy in a pitched
battle, he will prove to the world that he is capable of great things.
There will be no half-hearted work in such an hour. If he has to sacrifice
men on the altar of war, he will surely sacrifice them, but not until he is
compelled to do so. Brabant is a wild daredevil, who rushes on like a
mountain torrent Boyes is brainy; careful, and yet dashing.

I want to state here that I have never lost a single opportunity, whilst
travelling through the enemy's country, of looking at the "home" life of
the people--and I may say that I have been in a few back-country homes in
America, in Australia, and in other parts of the world--and I want to place
it on record that in my opinion the Boer farmer is as clean in his home
life, as loving in his domestic arrangements, as pure in his morals, as any
class of people I have ever met. Filth may abound, but I have seen nothing
of it. Immorality may be the common everyday occurrence I have seen it
depicted in some British journals, but I have failed to find trace of it.
Ignorance as black as the inside of a dog may be the prevailing state of
affairs; if so, I have been one of the lucky few who have found just the
reverse in whichsoever direction I have turned. After six months', or
nearly six months', close and careful observation of their habits, I have
arrived at the conclusion that the Boer farmer, and his son and daughter,
will compare very favourably with the farming folk of Australia, America,
and Great Britain. What he may be in the Transvaal I know not, because I
have not yet been there; but in Cape Colony and in the Free State he is
much as I have depicted him, no better, no worse, than Americans and
Australians, and as good a fighting man as either--which is tantamount to
saying that he is as good as anything on God's green earth, if he only had
military training.

Ask "Tommy" privately, when he comes home, if this is not so--not "Thomas,"
who has been on lines of communication all the time--but "Tommy," who has
fought him, and measured heart and hand with him. I think he will tell you
m