We 'ave read your latest rimin' in the "Friend,"
But it's finished up too soon toward the end;
But the paper's raither small,
Sure it's 'ardly none at all,
If 'twere larger now 'twould be the bigger friend.
Now I arsks yer, Mister Kiplin', ain't yer proud
Of the "absent-minded beggars," how they've ploughed
Through 'ard ground to "Bobsfontein,"
Dorp of late departed Steyn,
Ain't yer proud of this great ragged Kharki crowd?
Glad to see yer, Mister Kiplin' and the "boys."
Old Bloemfontein never knew such times—and noise,
There's paradin', drillin'—and
Every night we gets the band,
And there's nothin' now our 'appiness alloys.
A SERIOUS MATTER.
BY PERCEVAL LANDON.
Horse-stealing is becoming a grave scandal. It constitutes the one blemish upon the otherwise excellent military régime that has been firmly but unobtrusively imposed. From their grazing grounds, from the rail in front of the Club, from the actual hands of Cape boys leading them to or from their lines, horses have been stolen with as little compunction as though they had been found grazing on the veldt.
In some cases marks have been obliterated and manes and tails cropped by the thieves in the endeavour to conceal the identity of the animal, and it is our duty to ask that an example shall be made of any person found in the possession of a horse not his own, or from which such marks or brands have been recently obliterated, or upon which others have been recently imposed.
It must be apparent to any man of sense that a horse which is offered to him by any person, white or coloured, for a nominal sum, is a horse which that boy or person has no right whatever to possess or attempt to sell, and any man purchasing under these circumstances must be held to be an accomplice in the theft.
It is earnestly to be hoped that, in felling necessary timber for the use of the troops, all particularly fine or ornamental trees will be spared. This district is sufficiently well wooded to supply otherwise all requirements, and depends largely upon its timber for its attractiveness.