and took it to his house for
safe keeping.

To his surprise he was not asked at any time by the military what had
become of the Government flag, and he was able to keep it in safety
until his position on the Committee became precarious and made it
dangerous for him to preserve this precious relic of the past at his
own house any longer.

He therefore secretly conveyed it to the house of a friend, Mr. Isaac
Haarhoff, whose wife carefully concealed it until the war was over,
and then handed it to him again. He gave it to General Botha, who
presented it to the Pretoria Museum, where it is now preserved and
exhibited as a priceless national memento.

Mr. Hattingh took the oath of neutrality with the other burghers in
Pretoria and maintained his post in the Government Buildings for one
month after the occupation of the capital. He was then asked either to
take the oath of allegiance or resign from his post.

He chose the latter alternative, although he had a wife and family to
support and knew not how, in time of war, he would find the means to
do so.

After some deliberation he decided to begin a private bakery in a
small building behind his house, and then began what proved to be a
desperate struggle for existence.

With Boer meal at L8 per bag and flour at L5 per hundred pounds, the
unfortunate man tried to make a small profit on the tiny sixpenny
loaves. There was no question of engaging hired help, and he was
obliged to work almost day and night in order to make the business
pay. Sometimes he had neither sleep nor rest for thirty hours at a
stretch except while partaking of his frugal fare. When flour became
even more scarce he had to augment his supply by mixing it with
mealie meal, ground sweet-potatoes, and barley, until, in fact, only
sufficient flour was used to keep the loaves from falling to pieces.

By hard work he was not only able to pay his way, but assisted
relatives and friends in a similar predicament.

As one of the deacons of the church, he came into constant touch with
the wives and families of fighting burghers, brought into town from
their devastated homes, and it was a common sight to see a row of
these unfortunates standing in his back-yard, holding dishes and
buckets containing their rations of meal and flour, which they
implored him to take in exchange for his ready-baked loaves, because
there was a dearth of fuel.

Although their rations consisted of what had perhaps once been flour,