hristian nations.

Concentration Camps were formed in every part of the country, and the
women and children placed in tents on the open veld, near the railway
lines where possible, or in close proximity to the towns.

The work of devastation, carried out by some British officers with
loathing and distaste, and by others with fiendish exultation, was not
completed in a few weeks or months. It was carried on right through
from the time when the policy was decided on until peace was declared,
and in the end nothing was left but the blackened ruins of once
prosperous homes.

* * * * *

If ever there was a war of surprises, it was the Anglo-Boer war.

* * * * *

Instead of hostilities being brought to a speedy termination by the
demolition of the farms, the Boer forces gathered and increased in
strength and numbers by the addition to their ranks of men who had
left the commandos and were again living on their farms.

Wives and children gone, homes devastated, there was nothing left for
the men to live for.

Instead of being brought to submission by the drastic measures taken
to compel them to surrender, they were transformed into raging lions,
with but one object in view, the expulsion of their enemy from the
land of their birth.

Not alone in the towns did the secret service do its work. As the
camps grew in size and close supervision became more difficult, the
spies crept in and out, bearing with them the information wanted by
the Boer leaders, concerning the condition of the inmates.

In nine cases out of ten the earnest request of the women to their men
was to fight to the bitter end--not to surrender on their account, but
to let them die in captivity sooner than yield for the sake of them
and their children.

Perhaps I may be allowed to say here that when Hansie was in the Irene
Camp as volunteer nurse she knew nothing of the work of the spies.

Love and pity drew her to the scene of suffering.

* * * * *

The British did not count the cost when they began the system of
gathering in the Boer families, any more than they did when they began
their "walk over" to Pretoria.

Not only had they to support women and children for an indefinite
period after the devastation of the farms, but the entire maintenance
of the scattered Boer forces fell to their lot. During nearly two
years the Boers lived on the enemy, took