General Chat

Mrs. Cameron lives at Fair View. ................................................................................................................ After the mill had been sold, Mrs. Cameron, having bought a light wagon and a span of oxen, hired a European youth as touleier and a native boy as driver, as she intended going to her brother, Harry, and her sister, Ellen, who then lived at Barberton. The touleier turned back when they reached Heidelberg so she and the children continued the journey with only the native driver to help them. When they reached Middelburg, where many people were engaged in digging coal, she sent Rod to buy bread at a homestead some little distance away from the spot where they had outspanned. He returned with two beautiful, fresh loaves and a large quantity of beskuit, and informed his mother that the lady who had given him these had refused to take any money in payment but had said that she would be very glad if his mother could let her have a few books to read. Mrs. Cameron thought she would go along and thank the generous giver personally. She had a plentiful supply of reading-matter in the wagon so she sorted out a number of books to take with her. When she knocked at the door, the summons was answered by a small woman to whom she extended a friendly greeting, but, to her amazement, she got the astounding reply: "Good---hee-haw---morning." Hiding her surprise as best she could, she introduced herself by saying, "I am Mrs. Cameron." "I am ---hee-haw---Mrs. Lloyd," was the response. Greatly puzzled and ill at ease, Mrs. Cameron did not know what to make of the situation and proceeded to say: "I am on my way to my brother at Barberton." "Oh---hee-haw---yes," said Mrs. Lloyd interestedly and added: "I---hee-haw---live here and---hee-haw---I find it---hee-haw---very lonely. I am always---hee-haw---glad---hee-haw---to get books to read. My husband---hee-haw--- works in a ---hee-haw---coal mine ---hee-haw---here." It was a most ghastly, ridiculous and painful impediment in her speech. Mrs. Cameron remained chatting for some time. She felt dreadfully sorry for the little woman because of her terrible affliction. If it had not been so utterly heart-rending to hear her, it would have been almost impossible not to laugh, it sounded so absurd. After the oxen had rested the usual length of time, the travellers resumed their journey and all went well until they outspanned again when the kaffir driver disappeared and they had to go on without him, so Mrs. Cameron took the whip and drove, while Rod, then a lad of nine, acted as touleier. They had not been over the road to Barberton before so did not know when they would reach the next farm-house. They went on and on but no dwelling came into sight. After travelling for what seemed to them an interminable time, they met a small party of natives, one of whom, on payment of a warm coat, agreed to guide them to the nearest homestead. This house was owned by a Boer farmer named Engelbrecht. When he opened the door he stared so intently at Mrs. Cameron that she began to feel quite uncomfortable, and then he exclaimed: "Aren't you a daughter of old Russell of Pretoria?" It turned out that her father and this farmer had been great friends so, needless to say, the latter and his wife were very good and kind to her and the children. On hearing of the difficulties she had had with her touleier and driver, they wanted her to stay at the farm for several days so as to enable them to get her two trustworthy boys. She, however, was in too great a hurry to continue her journey so she hired a couple of natives who were newcomers to the farm. Her host was very worried about the matter, as he did not deem it safe for her, a woman, to travel along the lonely road through practically wild country with these unknown boys. About four miles away from the farm, one of the new hands informed her that he wanted a blanket that he had forgotten at home and went off back along the road. She decided to go on without him but the other boy refused to continue the journey before his mate returned. Feeling intensely annoyed, she snatched up the whip and called to the oxen to start, while Rod acted as voorloper again. When the boy saw this he decamped. After proceeding in this way for a long distance they reached another house, the owner of which recognized Mrs. Cameron as he had known her in her girlhood. She and the children stayed here for a day or two. The farmer and his wife were truly hospitable. The former provided her with two reliable boys and advised her to make a very early start so that she need not outspan at a certain store as the owners were rather questionable characters. She followed his advice and went to Klipstapel where she outspanned at the wayside hotel. From here the two natives were to return to the farm. At the hotel she found out that a Mr. Behrens, accompanied by his two sons aged fourteen and sixteen, was going to Barberton by wagon. She travelled along in their company, with Rod holding the tou and she herself doing the driving. From Klipstapel she wrote to her brother, Harry, and explained the state of affairs. On receipt of this letter he sent two trustworthy boys to her aid. They joined the wagons at the Komati Baths. He also sent letters to people he knew at intervals along the way, asking them to help her as she passed. In this way she met with much friendliness and hospitality during the rest of her journey. Shortly after the party left the Komati Baths, they were going downhill when her wagon ran into a huge boulder and the disselboom, as well as other parts, was broken. While they stood examining the damage and wondering, what to do, some wagons with loads of hides from Harry, who did a brisk trade in these, came up to them. The man in charge cut up one of the skins into riems with which he fixed up the damaged vehicle so that it was possible for the travellers to continue their journey. On account of this accident they had to travel very slowly lest the patched up wagon should come to grief. Next day they arrived at Barberton, which had been named after two brothers called Barber who had gone there prospecting and had discovered the reef up in Reimer's Creek. Some time later on Mrs. Cameron met one of them. Ellen (Mrs. Crawford), who had no children and Harry were delighted with their little nephews and nieces. This was the first time that they had seen them. After staying with the Crawfords for a few weeks Mrs. Cameron went to Sheba and Eureka to look for a suitable plot or a small farm so that she could earn a living for herself and her children. She reckoned that poultry and dairy farming near these gold mines would bring in a sufficient income to keep her home going, so she decided to live at Fair View. This was a little hamlet not far from the mines and from which Barberton could been seen. The road to the latter place, however, followed such a roundabout course on account of the mountains that it took about eight days to complete the journey by wagon, while by taking a short cut on horseback over the mountains the dorp could be reached in a few hours. There was only a small number of European families at Fair View. Mr. Pitt, a Justice of the Peace, had a large store, another man had a mineral water factory, Mr. Marais owned a butchery - these with a few other families made up the entire population. She invested in a wood-and-iron house and had it erected at the foot of a mountain, some little distance away from the other houses in the hamlet. Her brother, who owned a large herd of cattle in Swaziland, sent her twenty milch cows at a time, and when these started to dry up they were exchanged for others. She supplied from sixty to seventy bottles of milk, at sixpence each, per day to the miners. This was done only in the mornings as the distance was t

Alas Lindy, The best laid plans of mice and men...............didn't get around to my 'read' yesterday. Busy in the garden and unexpected guests!!! So as it's a busy day today and off to Nottm. tomorrow, will delay reading it until I return, when no doubt there will be further instalments. Many thanks Norah x

Hi LInndzy. I am still looking and reading. cheers! Terri xx