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h” SEELIGHTS or THEWAR-lm EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF THE SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT. , Touching Little Storyâ€"He Refused to Snr. renderâ€"[lean.Slckenlng Slghtâ€"llow Ambufluncc ilen “’urk. . BEER. TWO SHILLINGS A PINT. l One soldier ‘writing from Estcourt, 1 makes a cemplwint concerning the ‘ price of beer in that town. He says: "We went into the town, and were paying two hub for a pint of beer,‘ but ' there is not any to be got now. Had a bah-holiday yesterday, and went out . into the town again, but could not get l anything to drinkâ€"only ginger-beer at a tanner a bottle, and lags the same price. What he! Roll out the time when we can get them cheaper.” ‘ TOUCHING LITTLE STORY. I went into one house, writes acorâ€" , poral withl the Northamptons at Mod- ' der River, and found a nice,-‘ comfort- able house completely shattered. Evi- dently wellâ€"to-do people had lived ‘ here. One room in particular took ; my eye, and that was what had evx- dently been a little child’s room. There were a lot of toys and small cups and saucers, dolls, etc., and I found an en- velope with) this on itâ€""This is my : dear grandmamma’s hair," and inside there was a lock of hair. now trodden under foot. All these things, I 1 thought. Were a trifle touching. In‘ the front room was a dead Boer stretched out on the table. 1 "A PARADISE FOR WASHERINOâ€"E MEN." : Sergt .Wilson, of the Howitzer Bat- tery, writes from Modder River to his parents at Northampton: “We bathe now every day and wash our own clothes. Like the poor lod-ger Dick- ens Wrote about, we go half naked while we swill our shirts. This would , be a paradise for \Vasherwomen with the sun shining and wind blowing nearly every day. Our things are dry to put on a Jew minutes after they 1 are washed. That is the one remark; a‘ble thing about the climate. You; may get soaked to the skin and go to 1 sleep in the open air all night, but in the morning you may wake up as fresh: as a daisy.” , HE REFUSED TO SURRENDER. Corpl. S. Miller, 2nd Devons, writing ; to friends in the Isle of Wight after i x l I . . . . Nobody has any idea of a battltivtield, only those who go through t is something awlul to see the dead and wounded. You might not credit it, but it’s as true' as I’m: alive that at Modder River I saw. men fall asleep in the firing line, fairly Worn out. We were lying in the hot sand for twelve hours without drink or food and the heat was unbearable. My company got lost at night, and We had to sleep in laager among rocks and stones, and amongst the dead till morning. I olten thought of home and the children.” IHOVV AMBULANCE MEN WORK. Mr. Charles Boson Caple, late of Card-iii, now of the Volunteer Ambuâ€" lance Corps, serving in Natal, writes to his brother of Tar-gels. and after. He says: “The hosp: tents were soon up ready 101‘ the wounded. By. this time-the, battle of Ttu-gela had com- menced. It was not long be-ore the ambulance wagons started, and in two and a hal- or three hours they returned loaded with wounded, lOllOW- ed by men who were able‘ to come in by themselves, as they were wounded only SnghLljn Other wounded were brought in on stretchers, and more were earned .in on the clasped hands and arms or two comrades. These bearers were done up, but they kept on, bravely; they were helping their comrades. Amer a wh.le about a dozâ€" en 01. us started out and went to the top ortne h.ll. The.Boers opened a terrLble ri la fire upon them then, and the men beg-an rall.ng by the dozen. In the midst of this my section was call- ed‘ upon. We started to go forward, and soon came across lots of wounded. Some who were so badly hit that they could hardly stand were help.ng oth- ers, and when we otfered to help, re~ plLed, 'No, no, my lads. Lower down you’ll find hundreds who cannot move.”l __._._.__ KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. .The desire to make the best appear- ance possible does not always come from an undue amount of pride, but often because it pays financially to appear prosperous. It is the way of the world that nothing succeeds like success. For instance, a young doctor, lawyer or merchant is more likely to be successful if he lives in good style, than if every one knows that he finds it hard to meet his bills. His house must be a good one, elegantly furnish- LADYSMITH‘S GM . SCENES AND INCIDENTS WHEN THE RELIEF CAME. Correspondent Tell-i About the Great Ex- cllcincnt In the Town When the "I'Illsll Force Arrlvcd. Joseph H. Dunn, in acable to the New York-Journal, gives the lollowmg account. of the relief of Lady‘s-mumâ€" The relief of Ladysmith was Vir- tually accomplished on. ’Wednesday, February :18, when we knew that: Gen. Buller had driven the enemy '1rom Pieter’s Hill. Amid- scenes of tumult- ous enthusiasm General \Vhite' pre- pared for what we all felt would be the final attack. Half-starved,fever- stricken though we were, every bodily1 ill was forgotten in the almost cer- tainty of immediate relief. Hundreds: climbed: Observation Hill to watch for the: first Sight of' the: men; in khaki, The advance posts reported that the Boers were making active prepura- trons to remove their "Long. Tom” from Bulwana Hill. TUGGING' AT, “LONG TOM.” Aderrlck erected became plainly Visible, and quick the open . first of every gun. was in order. In a. moment the big naval guns in the Cove, redoubt and at Caesar's Camp, got- to work. Fast as 'they could be served they rarned projectiles on Bulwana,'-and in five minutes the derrick was smashed by awell directed shell. How we _ che'eredl Then the Boers. dodged along the ridge, trying to «drag .thelr "Long Tom," but the' naval gunners followed them, planting their shells With deadly precision. Our guns worked with almost calaslesst roar while we watched and cheered every shot. ‘ Suddenly, the dazzling sun, was, ob- scure-d. by heavy black clouds-which broke loose in. atremendpus thunder storm. Torrents of Iraun, thunder and vivid. lightning broke over thewhole region, checking the opera-l tion of our guns. Half anhour later ed, while he and his wife are dressed the Storm Passed a‘n’d- our m1";- [guns the mugeia battle, says: "our regFinicely at all times, and how to do! ment went down close to the river, but E this without going in debt becomes it was impossible to get across under 2 an imPOi'tant que’Stion' The Strictest . such a heavy fire. The bullets were ‘ falling around us. like a hailstorm, and , it is miraculous how a man of us lived ; to tell the tale. There was a batâ€"l tery believe nearly every man and horse were shot. They had to leave thel guns to which we were the support. Our colonel, Col. Bullock, a major, and about 20 of our men were made pris- and the Boers hit the colonel- down with a ri la because he refused I to surrender. \Ve did not get the or- i der to retire too soon, as our men] were falling fast. Our casualties inE killed, wounded and missing numberl 113, and there were some other regi-' meets with heavier losses, especially the Du‘blins.” , PLAYING ’POSSUM WITH THE BOERS. Surgeonâ€"Dieut. lBriscoe. describing .his experience at: the battle of Coleu- so, when attached to a mounted regi- ment formed of Imperial Light Horse, Natal Carbiniers, King's Royal Ritles, and Natal Police, says: "We were told off to take a kopje held by the Boers on this side of the river. a mile or two below Colenso. I had no business in the firing line, but I thought I l could drop back at any time, if ne- cessary. We got a heavy valley from 1). rise to the right, and another imme- diately from the top 500 yards off, and from the slopes. We all dropped flat. Well, no one gave us orders, and we lay on. Byâ€"and-by Capt. Bottomley, I. L. 3., passed the word, 'How are Thwneycroft’s getting on on the , right ?’ - I tried to pass it along, but I could get no answer. I didn’t realize! for the moment why; I hadn’t heard groans- Then a man in the rear said, 'Doc, you’re wanted. There’s a man hit on your right.’. I rose up to move and looked around; but whiz, whiz, whizlâ€"now by my head, now all round, one almost grazing mmy left calf and plunging into the groundâ€"- and I saw I could do nothing. So i flung myself forward, and ‘playedl possum,’ so successiully that the Boers left. me alone, and some of our own men reported me hit." BOEltS DON’T LIKE LANCES. One of the 12th Lancers, writing from Modder an'er. Says: "The Boers won’t give us a chance to get a pro- per scrape with them; directly they see us they get on their horses._ We caught some the other day, and one said: 'lt is not fair to fight with lung sticks with steel on the end!’ " "‘HEARTSICKENING SIG '1‘." "It .was a heart-sickening sight." continues Miller. "to See them carry- ing away the wounded, some minus arms, others legs; and the Boers even fired shells at our ambulance and Wounded some of the. poor fellows a second time. Our naval guns blew up the T.ugela bridge, so that: the enemy cannot got away those guns we were obliged to leave on the field on Fri- day." i FALLING ASLEEP UNDER FIRE. Writing home from Modder River. a private in the 2nd Coldstreaun Guards “yinâ€""I have been through three bat- tles up in now without' a scratch. department. It is necessary while providing the table with good food to see that nothing is wasted. The best care in order to make them look like new and prolong their usefulness. There is no part of the housework, however, where so much can be accom- plished by good management, ‘ buying and making the family ward- 1 behind Buwmna't r obe. The remnant counters and spe- cial sales at the large dry goods houses give one an excellent opportunity to lay in a supply of the best material at greatly reduced prices. There has nev- er been a time when so many women were dispensing with the help of the dressmaker and learning to make their dresses themselves. which saves many dollars every year. The excellent paâ€" per patterns which we can buy so cheaply, are a great help, and wo- men succeed wonderfully well in pro- ducing costumes which in fit and genâ€" eral appearance are equal to those made by the best modiste. Fashions change so quickly that it is impossible to wear a dress out be- fore it becomes a "back number," hence it becomes necessary to make them over. Even in the best regulat- ed households, there are always some cast-off garments, which may housed in this way. In these days of com- binations and varieties there are few things that cannot be made service- able as trimmings or to assist in com- posing costumes which handy women now develop out of two or three dif- ferent materials. If it cannot be used in its present guise, one 'or two pack- ages of dye vvill change it to any color you wish, and it will .begin a new era of usefulness. The dye should be dis- solved in soft water and a porcelain kettle used in dcing thework, which if given time and attention, cannot fail to be satisfactory.- Get agood quality of lining, new stiffening and binding, and pay as much attention to the details of. the work as if the goods were new. Making a skirt over was a. difficult problem a few years ago, but it has become comparatively simple now, although they are worn much longer than formerly. Fortun- ately flounces and ruffles are popular, for with their aid, the skirt may be made the regulation length. A very handsome skirt of cadet blue clnth was lengthened by piecing out the lining and the outside material and neatly pressing the seams. Black braid was put on the bottom in a pret- ty pattern, with two straight rows above it. This made a handsome fin- ish, and effectually covered all the piecing. The tunic or overskirt is the latest style, and one of the best. for made-over skirts. They are usually made with very little if. any fulncss in the back, and pointed or scalloped at the bottom, which falls over a skirt of velvet, satin or heavy woolen ma- terial, quite plain, or over one or more silk or woolen flounces. Handsome .ef- facts are often produced by using the best parts of two old skirts which harmonize in color. . __+___ STRANGE INDEED. Mchggerâ€"That's a funny thing. Thingumbobâ€"VVha-t is? Mchg-gere-Miss Passey was an old maid before she married, and now that her husband is dead she has be- come myoung widow. . l 'coming from: the south!" broke out again, sweeping the ridge between Bulwacna. and Caesar’s Camp, where the Boers were still struggling Eeconomy must be exercised in every 1 With the” Long Tom' TEN ANXIOUS MINUTES. By this time our cavalry scouts brought- im the news that (the: Boers of artillery on our right, and 1 Furniture and carpets mu“ have the were in full retreat in all .‘directlons. Buller also heliographed the news, With the first glint of tsu-nlightafter the storm, that they were retreatmg north along the Colenso road, p-assmg where great numâ€" bers. of waggons were seemsome con- veying' their cannon. Long, columns were also visible on. the other side of j the town, movuug rapidly over_ the plain toward the Drake'ns'bery passes] as the afternoon waned.~ ‘ .Then- we knew we were free at last. But wait a Vmomentl “A, cry comes from, Caesar’s ,Cam‘p': “Cavalry :5 Is it friend of foe? At once the town is in a terrific hu‘btbub. Troops, hastily gather; guns train to fight till the last man drops, if it proves to be the enemy. It is an auxrous ten minutes. As the column gallops nearer over the flats, straight toward the fort at Caesar‘s Hill, every field, glass as stramed to make them out. They reach the river. Our guns are ready, infantry, and cavalry waiting, too.1 They plunge into the river, and inn couple of minutes are up the bank on this sfile. Now we see the kli'ziki.1They l are oursl Saved. at last, thank God! ' SAVED AT LAST. Out of the trenches, over, the plain we rush, soldiers, sailors, ' correspon- ' dents, citizens, women and children to’ welcome our delivercrs. Cheering,‘ crying, waving their hats, guns and swords, om came the men- 'ln dihakl, galloping their foaming horses at lull: speed. .011 they rush. toward! us, 1 covered wrth dust and tired with tiled]? dashing ride, but the‘, hoofs of their horses boat. the plain like a reveillo' of victory. The Natal Carbine“ . are m the lead. wrth Major Gough at their headrnext some Natal Mounted Police. They are l only 301),. but they seemed thousands to us. They slackened the pace of thch tircd horses, while crowds, of the besieged ran alongside, cheering, shaking hands indiscriminately andl ' lower Egypt. abrleff speech in a- voice full of emotion. He thanked all in ’Lndys'mith, civilians as, well as military, for who fortitude they had displayed during the, pro- longed siege, also for the sup-port‘af- forded‘ him in bearing! their’ priva- tions Without. amurmur, never thinkâ€" mg: of surrender. CHEERING AND SINGING. Then, with atouch of that 'humour which’ had often served to‘ keepl up our spirits, White added that he 'had been obliged to cut; down our lratlons Lu. the. past, but. he promised not to do so any more. T’nen raising 1118 bat am his hound, the general, called for three cheers for the Queen, and. the lungs of all Ladysmi‘t'h: rogired ~three as heartfelt cheers for her Gracious Majesty as ever br.to~‘..s u-ttfred. Then we cheered Wales, Butler, W hite, Lady \the, the garrison, not forgetting the Slick and. wounded 11] our rejouzâ€" rn‘g. During all this brasve White, worn and Weary with days and, nights ol'ceaseless v1gila:.1.ce, joined wit-n! us When he spoke he was. much moved by, emotion, and though there was a smile on his face his voice was broken, and tears gliste-‘ned in his eyes, as we gave him cheer afrer cheer. Then, loll‘owrng his lead with every headl uncovered, we suing "God Slave the Queen." To close we sang “Hes: a Jolly Good Fellow,” 'to which, White i laughrngly acknowledged his thtlnks.| TH EN ENTER DUNDONALD. ' It was then 7 o’clock in the even- Lug. The sky was rap-idly overcast; and another thunderstorm with ter- rulc ram broke, lastinghalf the night. In the midst of this Lord Dundonald With alarge force of cavalry enter- ed the town. , i R The whole night was spent in re- Jorcmg. Our limited stores were open- ed freely and we ate our fill, while our rescuers divided flasks and tobac- co generously. -The retreating Boers. must have suffered much during that I tel'l‘LflC night, dragging their gunsl and waggous toward the mountain! passes. ' Early on Thursday‘ morning 45,020! men of all arms started ,in pursuit to the northward. .Adetach-ment of Imperial Light Horse occupied But-i wana, but then "Long Tom”, was gone, and all the sick and wounded in: Ndomba. Camp were brought into} town. Major Crawford arrived during the volleys bf- morning' with awa-ggon train of s-urp- llflV‘d tlowed from lp-lles, including Lady \Vhite’s Christ-' mas; presents to the troops. By noon! General Bullet rode in with his staff and was given arousing reception. i And. thus ended the great siege of ' Ladysmith. , ’ W WIRING T0 VICTORIA NYANZA. The Second of the African Great Lakes to Be Joined to Europe by Telegraph. The completion of the telegraph - from the Indian Ocean to Victoria Nye I auza puts the world in communication : with the sources of the Nile. The tale-l lgraph has boon completed to Ripon Falls, which is the exact point where the White Nile leaves the lake. One, of the most useful results of. this on-! terprise will be that the people of low- or Egypt will be able. to tell what the 1 water conditions of the lower Nile will be for months in advance. This infer- motion will give most desirable guid- ance in regulating the quantity to be taken from the Nile for irrigation purposes. Many occasions have arisen when information as to the stage of.! the water in the upper Nile would have i been worth millions of dollars to i The cable does not yet touch at Mombasa. which is the sea end of this - land line. Despatchos from Victoria Nysinza (must therefore be sent byl steamer, to be put on the cable at i Zanzibar, which will delay forwarding messages for several days. Thus it; happens that‘ the news of the comple-l tion of the line to the lake wast not rc- I ceived in this city for a week after it I occurred. Five years ago, when the; building of this line and the railroad! alongside of it was begun, the short~‘ est time in which news from the lake i could reach Europe was about four months. The report of Sir Guilford Moles- worth, the consulting engineer, pub- lished in July last, showed that the survey of the route finally adopted for the railroad had been completed clear l to the lake. The railroad was built and. in operation from the sea to Kio. a" distance of 270 miles inland, and ‘be- i tween that point and Angata-el-geik, 399 miles in the interior, the road was i in course of construction. The rail-s road is to terminate at Port Florence, i at the extreme northeast corner ofE Victoria Nyanza instead of being ex-l tended ntbo-utsixtyo miles farther west to Port’ Victoria, as was at first con- templated. Probably three years will 5 yet elapse before the completion of the 5 railroad. A The first: telegraph‘ completed to the Central African lakes was that to Blantyre, in the Nyassa highlands, and as it is connected with the cable on the Portuguese coast communications smgmg- Thus the 111911937 Processmu _' between Lake Nyassa and Europe are marched into town. GOUGII'S DASH INTO TOWN. On the way Major Gough toldlus, he had been scouting ahead of Butler's army, and finding no opposition they made: adash toward Ladysm’ithz and had come through without- gettlng; a. single shot. 3 In- the main street: Generall \Vhite and staff awaited the approach of the cheering crowd which led the hors- es of ihe rescurers by their bridles,to where the brave general stood. Gough and McKenzie jumped out‘ of their saddles) and saluted and then wrung the hands of White, Hunter. and others of the staff, while. the rthrong cheered itself hoarse. White raised his hand; imploredt silence. amd mode promptly .dclivercd except when the land line is out of order, as occasion- ally happens. â€"â€"--, m _.._._.._.. MEMORY GONE. ’ , \Vifeâ€"Vtht do you mean by comingl home in this condition? Have you any excuse to offer? Husbandâ€"I had one. M'ria a blame good one, too, but Icrin't 'member it now. . , unreadâ€"Es MEET. Johnnyâ€"I was next to the head of my class tc-day. ‘ Fatherâ€"Good. How did it happen? Johnnyâ€"We was standina 'in a circle. Iever. dug by man. ERLEY Humans. AFTER CRONJE’S SURRENDER THE SUPPLY IS AGAIN SAFE. .n-g The Star of South Al‘rlcaâ€"Vaslncse of the l’rcclous Stone l‘lls Which (’chI Rhodes Controls. With Kimberley relieved. Cronje sur- rendered, and Cecil Rhodes once more at liberty. the resumption of the in- dustry of diamond digging in South‘ A-rica is likely to be even| now under way. For Kimberley has the great- est known diamond deposit of the world, and its hidden wealth is too precious to be allowed to remainL long unepr oi ted. Up to the beginning of the present century nearly all diamonds came from India. Then great numbers were found in Brazil, but not until af- ter the discovery of diamonds in South; Alrica, in 1887, were the. stones found in vast quantities. That year a Dutch‘ farmer. who lived near what are now, known as the great diamond lields, got noun a nauive a .bright stone that his chldren were using as a plaything, The stone was sent to Cape Town and was there recognized as a diamond of exceptional value. It was forwarded to the Paris Exposition and there sold for $2,500. From that time on the diamond fever swept through South A;rica. Two years later a beautiful stone was found which weighed eigh- ty-three carats. It was called the “Star of South Africa,” and sold for $56,000. . , , I 5 Up to this time the diamonds had been found in the‘sand near the Or- sage and W101 rivers. In 1870, how. ever, it was suddenly reported that great pockets o.’ hard earth failed with diamonds had been. found on a plateau north ()1. the 0ranger.ver. The dia- mond hunters .lecked to the new field: and found that m that region of the plateau, uncer its layer 0-. red sand, were great ‘ p pas" or tunnels through which. at Sonic ancient time, boiling the heart; of the earth. TheSe p.pes were .illed with a hard rehash deposit, called "blue ground,” that evidently had been torc- ed to the surlace by volcan.o action and from a great uepth. In other words, these ones were craters 0. ex- tinct volcanoes. THE FAMOUS GEM PITS, , The vast diamond pits at Kimberv ley are in the largest anal most. valuâ€" able Ol. the craters. The larger of lthese pits is probably the greatest hole It IS mo feet deep and has an area 0: thricen acres. Numbers or diagonal shahs lead from the surface to the bottom! of the pit, and up and down these shalts are passing continually trwm-oars. "-he business-of these cars is to’ carry the- blue ground up to the "floors," where it is dumped“ and let to soften in the sun and rain, 1.0}- the blue ground is al- most as hard as sandstone when tak- en out. By. the comb.ned affect of water and sunlight it gradually salt. ens. The floors are nothing more than great tracts of land that have been cleared of. vegetation and have been then rolled to make themes hard and smooth. as possible. Each 0. these floors is 030 acres in extent. After one or them has been covered to a depth of a foot With- blue ground. ; Now the diamonds have become gems that may be exposed lor sale, so they are taken into the salesroom and spread out on sheets or white paper. heaps and heaps or them, of all s.zcs, colors and shapes. The diamonds are all careiully valued, according to weight and purity and are sold. Next they go to the duamond cutters, who work on them 101‘ days and days, cutting various sides on them. and pol- ishing them until they look like stars. In th-S cutting process it o-ten hap- pens that a diamond will be reduced to lral; its original weight. ' _In the diamond mines proper all pos.,, sx‘ble precautions are taken to keep tho' lworknlen from sterling the gems. The laborers are comatantly watched by trustworthy oversecrs, and at night they are stripped or their clothes and TII-IEIR BODIES SEARCHED. A Then they are sent naked to their sleeping rooms, where blankets are allowed them. Of course this applies to the natives, as the only; white men employed in handling the blue ground are in the asserting room. It is said that some fifteen" tons of precious stones have been taken from the Kimberley district since 1870. In comluctmg the business of tho Kim'- berley mine 1,300 Europeans and 5,700 natives are employed. The workmen are paid high wages and every laborâ€" or on the “floors” is paid a percentage on all the diamonds be rinds while hare rowing the blue ground. . Diamond cutting and polishing is a very difficult process, which is done almost cut‘l'cly‘ by hand. The stones are pubshed by rubbing two, each on the other, or by rubbing them‘ witha polishing Milne] that is covered with. diamond powder; it is a case of "diaâ€" mond cut. diamond." VVh-en it is neces» sary to cut: a valuable piece lrom’ a stone, iron wires cow-red with diamond powder are used. The facets, on dit- mrcnt sides are formed by this rub~ biog process, which is a very slow. and- laborious one. A stone weighing, say; twenty carats, will require at least four or five months of constant work to’reduce it to the proper form. A! diamond about the size of a small pea . will weigh over a carat. .___¢5_- DEFINED. Teacherâ€"Lewis, can'you define poll.- tics? Lewis, at elevenâ€"Yes, m'am. Poll.» tics is the art of spendin' taxes. . WA...â€" ” . who...“ a... .w. . ..»,......u...;~..- ..u.mx unnuu'. ,.a‘.~.rr- zeaubuzwamu. ' . «I, -.,..':L“ m;u.v..-_- -m-.u-w--m.._wmm_ua “a, R _ ks.â€" -‘-b;«nu.'b«"3,1 hr.'.L‘;v’-:; t l i i i i l l l '1 t