Native Life in South Africa [82]
e'en toil to please; These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed, These were thy charms -- but all these charms are fled.
Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen And desolation saddens all thy green:
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away, thy children leave the land. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
The Cape Native can thoroughly endorse these sentiments of Oliver Goldsmith, which, however, compared with his own present lot, are mild in the extreme; for it could not have been amid scenes of this description, and with an outlook half as bad as ours, that the same author further sings:
A time there was e'er England's grief began, When every rood of ground maintain'd its man; But times are alter'd: Trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land and dispossess the swain.
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, Those calm desires that ask'd but little room, Those graceful sports that grac'd the peaceful scene, Liv'd in each look and brighten'd all the green, These far departing seek a kinder shore, And rural mirth and manners are no more.
In all my wand'rings round this world of care, In all my griefs -- and God has giv'n my share -- I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down.
Chapter XIII Mr. Tengo-Jabavu, the Pioneer Native Pressman
Egotists cannot converse; they talk to themselves only. Alcott.
There is issued in King Williamstown (Cape) `Imvo', the second oldest newspaper published in any one of the South African native languages. This paper formerly had a kind of monopoly in the field of native journalism, and it deserved a wide reputation. In later years the `Izwi', another native journal, appeared on the scene; and then the King Williamstown pioneer could hardly hold its ground against the new rival. The `Izwi', though somewhat too pronounced against the traditional policy of the Dutch, appealed to a large section mainly by reason of its Imperial sentiment. The result was that Mr. Tengo-Jabavu's paper began to sink into difficulties and had to cast about for a financial rescuer. Prominent supporters of the present Ministry came to the rescue; three out of the ten members of the first Union Cabinet became shareholders in the sinking `Imvo', so that the editor, in a sense, cannot very well be blamed because his paper is native only in language. However, we do not think that he does full justice to his ministerial employers.
God forbid that we should ever find that our mind had become the property of some one other than ourselves; but should such a misfortune ever overtake us, we should at least strive to serve our new proprietor diligently, and whenever our people are unanimously opposed to a policy, we should consider it a part of our duty to tell him so; but that is not Mr. Jabavu's way of serving a master. Throughout the course of a general election, we have known him to feed his masters (the S.A. party), upon flapdoodle, fabricating the mess out of imaginary native votes of confidence for his masters' delectation, and leaving them to discover the real ingredients of the dish, at the bottom of the poll, when the result has been declared.
He did the same thing in the case of the Natives' Land Bill. Thus when he found that the trouble was organizing the Natives on an unprecedented scale, and that the Native Press and the Native Congress were unanimous in denouncing the Grobler-Sauer Bill, a Reuter's telegram appeared in the newspapers purporting to give the proceedings of a meeting of the Natives of King Williamstown, who, it was alleged, approved of the Bill. When the author reached King Williamstown, during this visit, he found the King Williamstown Natives disgusted with what they said was Reuter's speculation
Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen And desolation saddens all thy green:
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away, thy children leave the land. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
The Cape Native can thoroughly endorse these sentiments of Oliver Goldsmith, which, however, compared with his own present lot, are mild in the extreme; for it could not have been amid scenes of this description, and with an outlook half as bad as ours, that the same author further sings:
A time there was e'er England's grief began, When every rood of ground maintain'd its man; But times are alter'd: Trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land and dispossess the swain.
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, Those calm desires that ask'd but little room, Those graceful sports that grac'd the peaceful scene, Liv'd in each look and brighten'd all the green, These far departing seek a kinder shore, And rural mirth and manners are no more.
In all my wand'rings round this world of care, In all my griefs -- and God has giv'n my share -- I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down.
Chapter XIII Mr. Tengo-Jabavu, the Pioneer Native Pressman
Egotists cannot converse; they talk to themselves only. Alcott.
There is issued in King Williamstown (Cape) `Imvo', the second oldest newspaper published in any one of the South African native languages. This paper formerly had a kind of monopoly in the field of native journalism, and it deserved a wide reputation. In later years the `Izwi', another native journal, appeared on the scene; and then the King Williamstown pioneer could hardly hold its ground against the new rival. The `Izwi', though somewhat too pronounced against the traditional policy of the Dutch, appealed to a large section mainly by reason of its Imperial sentiment. The result was that Mr. Tengo-Jabavu's paper began to sink into difficulties and had to cast about for a financial rescuer. Prominent supporters of the present Ministry came to the rescue; three out of the ten members of the first Union Cabinet became shareholders in the sinking `Imvo', so that the editor, in a sense, cannot very well be blamed because his paper is native only in language. However, we do not think that he does full justice to his ministerial employers.
God forbid that we should ever find that our mind had become the property of some one other than ourselves; but should such a misfortune ever overtake us, we should at least strive to serve our new proprietor diligently, and whenever our people are unanimously opposed to a policy, we should consider it a part of our duty to tell him so; but that is not Mr. Jabavu's way of serving a master. Throughout the course of a general election, we have known him to feed his masters (the S.A. party), upon flapdoodle, fabricating the mess out of imaginary native votes of confidence for his masters' delectation, and leaving them to discover the real ingredients of the dish, at the bottom of the poll, when the result has been declared.
He did the same thing in the case of the Natives' Land Bill. Thus when he found that the trouble was organizing the Natives on an unprecedented scale, and that the Native Press and the Native Congress were unanimous in denouncing the Grobler-Sauer Bill, a Reuter's telegram appeared in the newspapers purporting to give the proceedings of a meeting of the Natives of King Williamstown, who, it was alleged, approved of the Bill. When the author reached King Williamstown, during this visit, he found the King Williamstown Natives disgusted with what they said was Reuter's speculation