CHAPTER XXIX
ADIEU TO "THE FRIEND"
_We made a money profit as well as a good newspaper--but the entire experience thus quickly passed into history._
Thus ends the history of this new departure in war and in journalism. Of it Mr. Kipling wrote afterwards, "Never again will there be such a paper! Never again such a staff! Never such fine larks." It has been impossible, after all my good intentions, to tell of scores of the peculiarities of the paper, and its editors' experiences. Sometimes copies of THE FRIEND did not look twice alike for days at a time, as we strove to make it more and more workmanlike, and more and more original and attractive.
We began, as I have said, with advertisement "ear-tabs" on either side of the heading. Then we put the Royal coat-of-arms in their places. Next we put the arms in the middle of the title space and published mottoes and notices in new "ear-tabs." At first we put double leads only between the lines of the leading article each day, but presently we dignified the cable news and Mr. Kipling's contributions in that way. We once put some editorial notices in rhyme, and set them up in black job type--when we changed the price of the paper to one penny for everybody.
We knew that our money returns were in confusion, but because we had taken over a business manager from one of the two commandeered newspapers, whom we could hardly expect to be in sympathy with us, and because we had established two prices for the paper and were being victimised by some of our customers, we could not see how the finance of our venture was likely to come out.
A practised man of affairs, from the City Imperial Volunteer Mounted Force, Mr. Siegfried Blumfeld, most kindly took the trouble to look into our accounts, and we learned from his report that we were making money, but not nearly enough to satisfy our pride and hopes. However, as events proved, we gained a splendid profit, and were able to make Tommy Atkins's newspaper pay a handsome sum toward "Tommy's" relief. All that any of us have even thus far learned of the profits is to be found in the following formal letter I received from Lord Stanley:--
ARMY HEADQUARTERS, PRETORIA, _3rd October, 1900_.
SIR,--I have been asked by Major-General Pretyman, C.B., to forward you a copy of a letter which he has received bearing reference to the use made of the profits of THE FRIEND newspaper.
General Pretyman adds that there will be a further cheque, which he proposes to send to some other charity, but which he does not specify to me.
Yours sincerely, STANLEY. Julian Ralph, Esq.,
(_Enclosure._) STELLENBERG, KENILWORTH, CAPE COLONY, 20/8/00.
SIR,--As Honorary Treasurer of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association, I enclose a formal acknowledgment of the cheques for £136 17s. 3d. so kindly sent to our Association by the War Correspondents. Should you have an opportunity of doing so, I should be very glad if you would convey to Lord Stanley and the other gentlemen our great appreciation of this kind and thoughtful gift.
Yours very truly, (_Signed_) W. L. Sclater.
Had we been able to "inspan" a proof-reader with a Lee-Metford rifle and a determination to use it to enforce his "corrections," we should not have announced the Queen's reception in Dublin as a great tribute by London, neither should we have made Mr. Kipling speak of a "shixlvl" when he wrote a "shovelful." Four of us had to fill a great chasm nine columns long and wide every day, and to do proof-reading as well. We produced the nine columns incidentally as a thing done with our left hands, the while that our minds and souls and master-hands were devoted to correcting proofs. Bravely as we battled with them, they kept coming like a swift tide, until, in a reckless way of putting it, they were heaped on our table as high as the top button on each of our coats. When it came to time to go to press we regularly and daily observed that we had not only overlooked errors enough to wreck our reputations, but that the compositors had failed to correct many of those which we had marked. Gravely, in a body, we used to march to the printing-office and threaten to send the guiltiest culprits as prisoners to Simonstown, charged with being hostile to the blessings of enlightened government. Then we would go to lunch and the paper would come out--so full of mistakes that there was clearly nothing to do but to allow the humour of the situation to have its way, and to laugh until we almost cried at the extravagance of the offences we were committing against journalism and "the art preservative of arts."
Despite its whimsicalities, THE FRIEND was a dignified newspaper, and very nearly a complete one. The largest daily circulation of any Bloemfontein newspaper had been 400 copies, but we regularly sold from 5,000 to 5,500 copies. We published Reuter's telegrams from all over the world (semi-occasionally when military messages did not block the wires), and the _Capetown Argus's_ tidings of what went on in South Africa.
As I have written elsewhere, "its unique origin and purpose, and its eccentricities, combined to make it the basis of a collecting mania." Copies with a mistake in a date line, corrected after one hundred papers had been struck off, brought five shillings on the date of issue, and ten shillings two days later, and the price had risen to a guinea by the time the newspaper was turned over to the managers of the _Johannesburg Star_ and _Capetown Argus_. This took place when it was apparent to all of us that two or three of us were not in the physical trim to serve THE FRIEND and our distant employers without causing one or the other to suffer great neglect.
The competition for complete sets of the newspaper ran the price up to £10, and this strife ran neck and neck with the rivalry to obtain sets of Free State postage stamps made British by the letters V.R.I. on an overline of printing. One of these stamps was quoted at £10 while the army lingered in Bloemfontein, but I have my own reason for thinking that THE FRIEND will receive a higher valuation than any "pink sixpenny stamp" or any set of stamps, for it fell to the lot of that journal to emphasise the present power and usefulness of the press as no other journal has ever done.
A single copy of this newspaper is reported to have fetched £25 at a London charity bazaar.
* * * * *
Since the return to England of three of the editors we have decided to perpetuate the little organisation in a fraternal "Order of Friendlies," and Rudyard Kipling has designed a badge which Messrs. Tiffany & Co., jewellers, of Regent Street, have most ably and artistically executed in gold and enamel. Facsimiles of it adorn the cover of this book. It is of the size of a two-guinea coin. On its obverse side are the colours of the old Free State and Transvaal, upon which is imposed the red cross of Saint George. In the ends of the cross are the initials of the four editors in Greek capitals. Lord Roberts's badge has his initials in the centre of the cross in green under a golden coronet, and where the ring is, on top of our badges, his has a green enamel shamrock leaf. On the reverse side are four pens crossed and surrounded by a motto, "Inter Prælia Prelum," "In the Midst of War the Printing Press," here couched in monkish Latin. Lord Roberts's badge has a drawn sword of gold on top of the crossed pens. Only seven men in all the world belong to this order: Lord Roberts, Lord Stanley, Messrs. Gwynne, Kipling, Landon, Buxton, and myself. All others are eligible, however, who have dedicated themselves to "telling the truth at all costs and all hazards," so that the mind fails to grasp the future possibilities of its membership.
THE END.
INDEX
Barnes, James-- Anecdotes by, 223 Edits the thirteenth No. of THE FRIEND, 221
Battersby, Prevost, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 132
Bloemfontein-- Concert in, 227 Cronje warned that we should march to, 2 Evening Concert in Aid of the Widow' and Orphans' Fund, 408 Fooled by the Boers in, 283 "Free State Hospital" and Staff, 207 Settles down under Lord Roberts' Rule, 115 State of the Army on arrival at, 1 The Boer women in, 350 The Club at, 48 War Trophy Mania in, 318 Women of, The, 353
Burleigh, Bennet, Experience of, 35
Buxton, F. W., Facts about, 10
Canadians on Majuba Day, Description of, 22
Christian, Pt. Ewan, Story of a Colonial Hero, 39
Colvile, Gen. Sir Henry, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 131
Conan Doyle, Dr. A.-- Arrival of in Bloemfontein, 305 Contributor to THE FRIEND, 312
Enteric and its Ravages in Bloemfontein, 275
Eyre, Fred, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 292
Faulkner, Chaplain T. E., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 295
Gatacre and Clements join hands, Account of how, 76
Guards, The, Splendid characteristics of, 249
Guthrie, M.P., Mr. Murray, And the soldiers' comforts, 346
Gwynne, Mr. H. A., Facts about, 9
Hospitals and supplies from civilians, 260
I (Julian Ralph)-- Get ill and dispirited, 362 Replenish the Mess, 184 Visit Miss Bloemfontein, 160
James, Mr. Lionel, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 132, 301
Jenkins, J. W., Reporter to THE FRIEND, 395
Kellner, Dr., Tribute to, 362
Kipling, Rudyard-- And myself lunch with Lord Roberts, 113 And the Tommies in hospital, 259 And Tommy's poetry, 83 As Associate Editor, 99 At work for THE FRIEND, 133 Birthday Greeting by, 226 Departure of from Bloemfontein, 258 Editorial on, 86 Enthusiasm of, 132 "Fables for the Staff" by, 134, 167, 211, 225, 242, 250 "General Joubert" by, 241 I toast, 205 "Kopje-Book Maxims" by, 168, 251 Pen portrait of, 113 "St. Patrick's Day" by, 31, 116 Sends his first contribution to THE FRIEND, 28 "Song of the White Men, A," by, 262
Landon, Perceval, Facts about, 9
Langman Hospital, The, Facts about, 306
Love Letter, to Miss Bloemfontein, 32
Lowther, Capt. Cecil, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 392
Menpes, Mortimer, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 381
Milner, Sir Alfred, Speech by, at our Dinner, 204
Newman, R.N., Lieut. E. J. K., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 141
Nicholson, K.C.B., Sir William, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 131
Order of the Friendlies, The, Seven members of, 414
Paterson, A. B., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 92, 309, 376
Poems-- "Advice to an Officer on going to the War," 180 "Ballade of Ten-a-Penny, A," 324 "Barrack-Room Ballads," 342 "Birthday Greeting, A," 226 "Commandeering," 134 "Driving the Ox," 210 "Empire's Defenders, The," 244 "Fed up," 92 "For Freedom's Cause," 267 "General Joubert," 241 "Grumbles from the Ranks," 246 "Moderate Drinker's Lament, The," 315 "My Comrades' Conversation," 389 "Old Friends," 347 "'Orse or Fut?" 328 "Poor Old Cronje," 271 "Prices in Bloemfontein," 252 "Quartermaster's Yarn, The," 141 "St. Patrick's Day," 31, 116 "Silent Army, The," 245 "Smart," 368 "Socialism in Verse," 366 "Soldiers of the Queen," 292 "Song of the White Men, A," 262 "Sons of Britain," 254 "That V.C.," 309 "The N.C.O.," 233 "The Weary Trek," 110 "To the Soldiers' Poet," 59 "United we Stand," 215 "Voices from over the Sea," 299
Pole-Carew, General-- Headquarters of, 248 In War, 248
Press Censors, Examples of, 4
Prince Francis of Teck, H.H.-- And the Artist, 101 Duties of, The, 100 Our guest at dinner, 319
Ralph, Lester, Ill with enteric, 207
Roberts, V.C., Field-Marshal Lord-- And THE FRIEND, 84 Communication to Kruger from, 387 Dines with the Staff of THE FRIEND, 202 I am introduced to, 114 Speech of, at our Dinner, 205 Telegram of sympathy on General Joubert's Death from, 240
Scott, H. Owen, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 357
Shelley, H. C., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 401
Simes, Tr. George, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 215, 267, 299
Smith-Dorrien, Maj.-Gen., Letter from, 37
Stanley, Lord-- Contributor to THE FRIEND, 269 Daily visits of, to THE FRIEND Office, 164 Office of, at Bloemfontein, 5 Tribute to, as Press Censor, 3
THE FRIEND, and its Contents-- "Absent-bodied Burgher, The," 376 Advertisement in, 14 "Advice to an Officer on going to the War," 180 All Ranks contribute to, 131 "Anecdotes," 8, 66, 380 "Another Letter Home," 392 "Army Orders," 15, 49, 50, 108, 295 "As to the Future," 222 "Australian Correspondent, The," 67 "Ballade of Ten-a-Penny, The" (Poem), 324 "Barrack-room Ballads" (Poem), 342 "Birthday Greeting, A" (Poem), 226 "Boer Plans and Views," 333 "Brave Canadian, A," 242 "Brave young Highlanders," 349 "British Leniency," 290 "Canadians on Majuba Day," 22 "Caught by the Boers," 278 Christening Competition in, 274 Circulation of, 413 "Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil," 322 "Colonial Hero, A," 39 "Commandeering" (Poem), 134 Concerning Acrostics, 188 "Confession of a Horse-stealer," 46, 53 "Corne Drift," 339 Correspondence, 37, 90, 111, 188, 406 "Death of General Joubert," 241 "Don't" (Advice to Looters), 197 "Dots or no Dots" (Stamps), 381 "Driving the Ox" (Poem), 210 Editorial Announcements in, 17 "Empire's Defenders, The" (Poem), 244 "Enteric Fever," 281 "Fables for the Staff," 134, 167, 211, 225, 242, 250 "Facts and Otherwise," 22, 120 "Fed up" (Poem), 92 "First Impression, A," 312 First Issue of, 14 "For Freedom's Cause" (Poem), 267 From Enslin to Bobsfontein, 153 Gatacre and Clements join Hands, 76 "General Joubert" (Poem), 241 "Gleanings from Great Minds," 391 "Grumbles from the Ranks" (Poem), 246 "G. W. Steevens," 155 "How the Calf was Avenged," 325 "Humorous Side of the Campaign Recorded," 20 "Hungry Bloemfontein," 395 "Is the Art of War Revolutionised?"-- Artillery, 172 Cavalry, 234 Infantry, 148 Its Infancy, 12 "Jokes to Burn," 294 "Karree Siding," 195 "Kopje-Book Maxims," 168, 251 "Lesson Learned, A," 269 "Love Letter to Miss Bloemfontein," 29, 32 "Military Law," 118 "Military Letter Writer, The," 212 "Miss Bloemfontein's Answer," 70 "Miss Uitlander replies to Miss Bloemfontein," 169 "Moderate Drinker's Lament, The" (Poem), 315 Money Profit on, handed over, 412 "My Comrades' Conversation" (Poem), 389 Names sent in for the New Colony, 330 "New Machine Gun, The," 179 Offices of, 12 Official Dinner at Government House, 129 "Old Friends" (Poem), 347 "Orange Peel," 255 "'Orse or Fut?" (Poem) 328 "Our Friend" no longer, 399 "Our Portrait Gallery," 370, 375, 392, 401 "Our Reply to Miss Bloemfontein," 74 Parodies, 65 Peculiarities of, 410 "Pont filled with Bullion," 218 "Poor Old Cronje" (Poem), 271 Price of, The, 85 "Prices in Bloemfontein" (Poem), 252 Printing Machines used for, 44 "Proclamations" in, 25, 45, 62, 107, 208, 272, 276, 291, 374 Queen's English and Dutch Compositors, 83 "Ration Scale," 394 "Realistic Comedy, A," 227 "Recent Engagements," 301 "Recent Experience of Mr. Bennet Burleigh," 35 Rights of Purchased for £200, 8 "Rudyard Kipling" (Welcome and Farewell to), 86, 263 "St. Patrick's Day" (Poem), 31, 116 Second Issue of, 28 "Second Relief of Kimberley," 142 "Serious Matter, A," 60 "Should Beards be worn in War?" 157 "Silent Army, The," 104, 245 "Sir Alfred Milner," 209 "Sir William Lockhart," 136 "Smart" (Poem), 368 "Socialism in Verse" (Poem), 366 "Society's Doings," 364 "Soldiers' Battles and Generals' Campaigns," 125 "Soldiers of the Queen" (Poem), 292 "Song of the White Men, A" (Poem), 262 "Sons of Britain" (Poem), 254 Strange Editorial Adventure, 42 "Sulk or Duty," 18 "Ten-a-Penny's," 216 "That V.C." (Poem), 309 "The Bravest Deed," 256 "The Down-trodden (?) Negro," 63 "The Great Ride," 94 "The late Colonel the Hon. G. Gough," 265 "The N.C.O." (Poem), 233 "The Quartermaster's Yarn," (Poem), 141 "The Russians Capture London!" 277 "The Soberest Army in the World," 88 "The Steynless City" (Loot News), 31 "The Weary Trek" (Poem), 110 "They Want More of Tommy," 343 "To the People of the Free State," 311 "To the Soldiers' Poet" (Poem), 59 "Tommy in a Lady's Eyes," 182 "Towards War," 189 "United we Stand" (Poem), 215 "Voices from over the Sea" (Poem), 299 We begin to feel at Home, 41 We Retire from, 398 Working Staff of, 12 "War Artist of To-day, The," 357, 379, 401
Thyme, Mark, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 315, 328, 342, 366, 368
"Tommy"-- As a Poet, 82 In Bloemfontein, 184
Tucker, Charles, Contributor to THE FRIEND, 59, 244
Villebois-Mareuil, Colonel de, Facts about his Death, 321
War Correspondents-- Battersby, Prevost, 132 Burleigh, Bennet, 35 Buxton, F. W., 6, 10 James, Lionel, 132, 301 Gwynne, H. A., 6, 9 Landon, Perceval, 6, 9 We Four-- Asked to undertake the bringing out of a Paper, 6 Grand Dinner-party given by, 202 Leave THE FRIEND to see a Fight, 221 Sent for by Lord Stanley, 3
Wilkinson, F., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 67
Wollen, R.I., Mr. W. B., Contributor to THE FRIEND, 379
_The Gresham Press_, UNWIN BROTHERS, WOKING AND LONDON.
_Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson's List of Announcements_
SPRING 1901
=THE SIEGE OF KUMASSI=
By LADY HODGSON, wife of Sir FREDERICK M. HODGSON, Governor of the Gold Coast. Demy 8vo. Profusely Illustrated. Price 21s.
Lady HODGSON has in a high degree the gift of vivid and realistic description. The reader shares with her the privations of the siege, the tense excitement of her marvellous escape, and the peril of the bush. The account is written with an unusual power of description and facility of style.
=ABYSSINIA=
Through the Lion Land to the Court of the Lion of Judah.
By HERBERT VIVIAN, Author of "Tunisia," "Servia." Demy 8vo. With 2 Maps and 80 Illustrations. Price 15s.
The Land of the Lion offers much that is of great interest to the student of ethnology and geography. Mr. VIVIAN has made a valuable addition to the library of travel. His observations show a keen appreciation of surroundings, whether social, religious, or political. His style is bright, and holds the reader's interest to the last page.
=CYPRUS TO ZANZIBAR BY THE EGYPTIAN DELTA.=
The Adventures of a Journalist in the Isle of Love, the Home of Miracles, and the Land of Cloves.
By EDWARD VIZETELLY. With many Illustrations. Demy 8vo. Price 15s.
Few have had better opportunities of studying the vicissitudes through which the little island of Cyprus has passed than Mr. VIZETELLY. From Cyprus he leads the reader through the stirring times of the occupation of Egypt, and thence to Zanzibar. He has clothed the dry bones of political history with the living flesh of graphic description and humorous incident.
=AT PRETORIA=
The Capture of the Boer Capitals, and the Hoisting of the Flag at Pretoria. A Companion Volume to "Towards Pretoria."
By JULIAN RALPH, Author of "Towards Pretoria." Extra crown 8vo. Price 6s.
=A SACK OF SHAKINGS=: Essays from _The Spectator_, &c.
By FRANK T. BULLEN, Author of "The Cruise of the 'Cachalot,'" &c. &c. Extra crown 8vo. Price 6s.
Mr. FRANK BULLEN has taken advantage to the full of the opportunities which are granted only to those who go down to the deep waters, and has embodied his experiences in a collection of delightful essays. These show the writer to be possessed of deep sympathies, quick perception, and vivid power of narration. The style shows distinction of thought and expression, and the book may be summed up as "fascinating."
=THE SPANISH PEOPLE=
By MARTIN A. S. HUME, Author of "The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth," &c. Vol. I. THE GREAT PEOPLES SERIES. Edited by F. YORK POWELL, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. Crown 8vo. Price 6s.
=THE GAME OF BILLIARDS AND HOW TO PLAY IT=
By JOHN ROBERTS. With about 400 Diagrams, including complete sets of some famous breaks. Demy 8vo. Price 6s.
The latest book on the game, and one for novice and skilled player alike. Almost every imaginable stroke on the table is explained in the clearest possible manner, and the explanation is assisted by well-drawn diagrams.
=WAR'S BRIGHTER SIDE=
By JULIAN RALPH. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 6s.
This consists of the History and Contents of the Unique Newspaper published at Bloemfontein at the special request of Lord ROBERTS, and during his occupation.
It contains many contributions by RUDYARD KIPLING, Dr. CONAN DOYLE, Lord STANLEY, and many Officers and other eminent men, and was edited by RUDYARD KIPLING, JULIAN RALPH (Special War Correspondent to the _Daily Mail_), Mr. LANDON (Special War Correspondent to _The Times_), Mr. GWYNNE (Reuter's Special War Correspondent).
Most of RUDYARD KIPLING'S contributions to this paper are now published in this country for the first time, and the contents of the book make one of the most interesting and entertaining books of the war.