ccidents; and
4300 of wounds. But this Pretoria cemetery like that at Bloemfontein,
where 1500 interments took place in less than fifteen months, affords
striking testimony to the common loyalty of all classes throughout the
empire. Volunteers belonging to the Imperial Light Horse, raised
exclusively in South Africa here lie, side by side, with volunteers
belonging to the Imperial Yeomanry, raised exclusively in England.
Sons of the empire, from Canadian Vancouver and Australian Victoria,
here find a common sepulchre. The soldier prince whose dwelling was in
king's palaces here becomes, as in the conflict of the battlefield so
in the quiet of a hero's grave, a comrade of the private soldier whose
dwelling was a cottage; and be it noted, the death of the lowliest may
involve quite as much of heartbreak as the lordliest.

[Sidenote: _A touching story._]

At the close of a simple military funeral in this same cemetery, the
orderly in charge came to me and said, "I never felt so much over any
case. This grave means four orphans left to the care of an invalid
mother. I knew the man well, and he was always scheming what to do for
his family when he got back: but _this_ is the end of it!" That dead
soldier was merely a private. Not one of his own particular comrades
was present, but only the necessary fatigue party. No flag was flung
over his coffin, no bugle sounded "the last post." No tear was shed.
It was only a commonplace "casualty," one among thousands. But it was
a tragedy all the same. These tragedies in humble life seldom find a
trumpeter; but they are none the less terrible on that account; and if
half the truth were known and realised concerning the horrors and
heartbreak caused by war, all Christendom would clamour for its speedy
superseding by honest Courts of Arbitration.

[Illustration: _From a photograph by Mr Jones_

Wesleyan Church and Manse, Pretoria.]

[Sidenote: _The death of the Queen._]

I was still in Pretoria when tidings arrived concerning the illness
and death of the Queen; and was present in that same Kirk Square when
King Edward VII. was proclaimed "Overlord of the Transvaal." In
connection with the former event a memorial service, at which the
military were largely represented, was held in Wesley Church on
Sunday, January 27th. The Rev. Geo. Weavind, as well as Rev. H. W.
Goodwin, took part in the proceedings, and I was privileged to deliver
the following address which may serve to illustra