Part 3 (1/2)

GENERAL J C sot this infor it out of ure it out and by that tiotten all about it”

And it was forgotten

smuts not only has a keen sense of hu at a party rally in his district not many years after the Boer War he was continually interrupted by an ex-soldier He stopped his speech and asked the rievance The heckler said:

”General de la Rey guaranteed the ”

Quick as a flash suaranteed you was certain death”

Like ets up early and has polished off a good day's work before the average businessdifference between his e The British Prioes to the House of Commons when he has to make a speech or when some important question is up for discussion smuts attends practically every session of Parliament, at least he did while I was in Capetown

One reason was that on account of the extraordinary position in which he found hi with it disastrous results for the Government The crisis demanded that he remain literally on the job all the time He left little to his lieutenants Confident of his ability in debate he was alilling to risk a shon but he had to be there when it came

I watched him as he sat in the House He occupied a front bench directly opposite Hertzog and where he could look his arch enemy squarely in the eyes all the time I have seen hi a muscle He has cultivated that rarest of arts which is to be a good listener He is one of the great concentrators In this genius, for it is little less, lies one of the secrets of his success

During a lull in legislative proceedings he has a habit of taking a solitary walk out in the lobby More than once I saw hi up and down, alith an ear cocked toward the asse on and rush to the rescue if necessary

In the afternoon he would so room and drink a cup of coffee, the popular drink in South Africa In the old Boer household the coffee pot is constantly boiling With a cup of coffee and a piece of ”biltong” inside hiht or trek all day Coffee bears the salisher quantities I ht add that smuts neither drinks liquor of any kind nor sly He ad

This coo on a farm in what is known as the Western Province in the Karoo country He did his share of the chores about the place until it was tirandfather were farmers Inbred in him, as in most Boers, is an ardent love of country life and especially an affection for the mountains On more than one occasion he has climbed to the top of Table Mountain, which is no inconsiderable feat

There are tays of appraising smuts One is to see him in action as I did at Capetohile Parliaround of his farm at Irene, a little way station about tenone-story house surrounded by orchards, pastures, and gardens, he lives the simple life In the western part of the Transvaal he owns a real farm He showed his shrewdness in the acquisition of this property because he bought it at a tiarden spot

Irene has various distinct advantages For one thing it is his permanent home _Groote Schuur_ is the property of the Government and he owes his tenancy of it entirely to the fortunes of politics At Irene is planted his hearthstone and around it is mobilized his considerable family

There are six little smutses smuts enial helpmate It was once said of her that she ”went about the house with a baby under one arm and a Greek dictionary under the other”

Most people do not realize that the Union of South Africa has two capitals Capetoith the House of Parliaislation, while Pretoria, the ancient Kruger stronghold, with itseminence, is the fountain-head of administration With Irene only ten miles away it is easy for smuts to live with his fao in to his office at Pretoria every day

I have already given you a hint of the sood look at hie You know that his blonde beard veils a strong jaw The eyes are reminiscent of those marvelousob of Marshal Foch only they are blue, haunting and at tiloith friendliness

smuts is essentially an out-of-doors person and his body is wiry and rangy He has the stride of amarch and who is equally at hoour and at times not without emotion The Boer is not a particularly demonstrative person and smuts has some of the racial reserve His personality betokens potential strength,--a suggestion of the unplu This applies to his mental as well as his physical capacity

Frankly cordial, he resents fa hi, ”hello, Jan” More than one blithe and buoyant person has been frozen into respectful silence in such a foolhardy undertaking

Hisphase of his character Without carrying his religious convictions on his coat-sleeve, he has nevertheless a fine spiritual strain in his make-up

He is an all-round dependable person, with an adaptability to environ

IV

Now let us turn to another and less conspicuous South African whose point of view, imperial, personal and patriotic, is the exact opposite of that of s, first the Boer General fighting gallantly in the field with smuts as youthful comrade; then the ent, and now the implacable foe of the order that he helped to establish What manner of man is he and what has he to say?

I talked to him one afternoon when he left the floor leadershi+p to his chief lieutenant, a son of the late President Steyn of the Orange Free State Like his father, who called hih his little republic had slipped away frolish rule