n the struggle.

The enemy, on observing the attitude of the women, determined to strike
a blow at them. They, so reasoned the enemy, had to be removed and
gathered into concentration camps, if there ever was to come an end to
the war. Not so much the men as the women were blamed for the
prolongation of the war. The women first had to be subdued; the flames
of freedom burning in their bosoms had to be extinguished. Hence the sad
story of a war in which the weak and defenceless were made to suffer and
endure so much.

When they were roughly handled and transported in ox-waggons, exposed
for days to wind, sun, and rain, and were piled up in disease-stricken
camps, did they flinch? When they and their children were dying in
scores in these camps, did they beseech the burghers to relinquish the
struggle, or petition the Boer Governments to yield? Verily not. On the
contrary, in spite of their intense sufferings and of the appalling rate
of mortality among them, they continually encouraged the burghers by
sending out messages to them to this effect: "Fight on, don't yield; we
would rather all die in the camp than see you surrender" "Go and fight,"
said one to her husband; "I would rather see you dead, and all my
children dead, than that you burghers should cease the struggle."
Another woman was so disappointed and disgusted at the surrender of her
husband, that when he arrived at the concentration camp where she was
confined she would have none of him, and quitted the camp the same
night, making her escape to the Boer lines. Such women are the mothers
of the next generation. Was it quite prudent on the part of the British
to tempt them to rear their children in bitter hatred of the English
race?

This liberty-loving feature in the Boer character has been beautifully
described in the _Leek Times_:--

"The old man, the youth and the stripling, are offering their
hearts' blood as a sacrifice; nor do they think the sacrifice too
great, strengthened and urged on by all they believe to be the
highest and holiest in religion and principle. The Boer will fight
on, giving his last drop of blood and his last breath for his
freedom. And the women-folk of his land are bearing their share of
this task; they do not shrink; they are helping their fathers,
brothers, and sons in this fight. They think no distance too great
to travel, no burden too heavy to carry. The wife, with her little