The following 1899 newspaper clipping tumbled out of an 1898 edition of "More Tramps Abroad". Other than the fact that it seems to be a snippet of an interview with Mark Twain, I doubt it's anything too remarkable. However, I thought members of the list might find it of interest -- or perhaps know more about the providence of this particular passage, which was marked "Daily Mail, 11 November 1899." I'm not sure which "Daily Mail" this refers to. It might be the London paper or one of several such mastheads in the antipodes. I trust the less-than-flattering remarks about the 'Boer' will not offend any reader. I offer this text merely as a historical curiosity as I know little or nothing of the subjects mentioned herein (all errors in transcribing the text are mine). I also note that no such interview is mentioned in Louis Budd's 1977 edition of "Interviews with Samuel L. Clemens 1874-1910". Perhaps this bit of editorialising is what we would call an "opinion piece" today? Regards Ron Hohenhaus Australian Mark Twain Society The Boer in Peace Time. Mark Twain's Analysis of the Burgher of To-day. Mark Twain has met the Boer, and this is what he says of him: -- "He is deeply religious; profoundly ignorant; dull, obstinate, bigoted; uncleanly in his habits; hospitable, honest in his dealings with the whites, a hard master to his black servant, lazy, a good shot, good horseman, addicted to the chase; a lover of political independence, a good husband and father; not fond of herding together in towns, but liking the seclusion and remoteness and solitude and empty vastness and silence of the veldt; a man of mighty appetite, and not delicate about what he appeases it with -- well satisfied with pork, and Indian corn and biltong, requiring only that the quantity shall not be stinted; willing to ride a long journey to take a hand in a rude all-night dance interspaced with vigorous feeding and boisterous jollity, but ready to ride twice as far for a prayer meeting; proud of his Dutch and Huguenot origin and its religious and military history; proud of his race achievements in South Africa -- its bold plunges into hostile and uncharted deserts in search of free solitudes unvexed by the pestering and detested English, also its victories over the natives and the British; proudest of all, of the direct and effusive personal interest which the Deity has always taken in its affairs. "He cannot read he cannot write; he has one or two newspapers; but he is apparently not aware of it, until latterly, he had no schools, and taught his children nothing; news is a term which has no meaning to him, and the thing itself he cares nothing about. He hates to be taxed, and resents it. He has stood stock still in South Africa for two centuries and a half, and would like to stand still till the end of time, for he has no sympathy with uitlander notions of progress. "He is hungry to be rich and wishes that he had never been discovered."