BLOEMFONTEIN


'Look, father, the sky is English,' said a little girl as they drove
home to Bloemfontein in the glowing sunset.

'English, my dear,' said her father, 'what do you mean?'

'Why,' replied the little one, 'it is all red, white, and blue.'

And in truth, red, white, and blue was everywhere. The inhabitants of
Bloemfontein must have exhausted the stock of every shop. They must have
ransacked old stores, and patched together material never intended for
bunting. Wherever you looked, there were the English colours. No wonder
to the imagination of the little one even the sun was greeting the
victorious English, and painting the western sky red, white, and blue.

We cannot, of course, suppose that all these people who greeted the
victorious British army enthusiastically were really so enthusiastic as
they appeared. But 'nothing succeeds like success,' and those who had
cursed us yesterday, blessed us to-day.


=The Advantages of Bloemfontein.=

It is a matter for thankfulness that the town was spared the horrors of
a bombardment. It was far too beautiful to destroy. Of late years, as
money had poured into the treasury, much had been expended upon public
buildings. The Parliament Hall, for instance, had been erected at a cost