THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1824, 9 August 1913, Page 9

THE PETTICOAT COMMANDO.

Another South. African Ixrok which is' iWorth reading is "The Petticoat Commando," by Johanna Brandt (Mills and Boon; per Whitcombe and Tombs), Miss Brandt's book, which has for its secondary title,- "Boer "Women in Secret Ser- ' vice," is a remarkable human document, and throws many interesting and historically' valuable sidelights upon the South African war, especially' upon the perils an<l hardships which woro undergone by many-Boer women, ladies of good breeding and education, who devoted themselves to the task of gathering and conveying to the various ooinmandos information. as.-to ; tho dispositi6n and probable movements of the .British -'troops.' The heroine of the book, is a young Boer lady, Miss Hansie Van Warmelo, . who, with her mother, lived- in. a _subur}> of Pretoria, tittn of Kriiger's capital by Lord Roberts, bejng surrounded by Bfitish-ttwpw-KFho Van Warmelo homestead became the quarters -. of| : .tho Boer Secret Service "'Comiriittee. l ' Spies, regu-. larly made their ... way- .to ( , it,, and went out again to tho various' Boer camps, the Van Warmelos hot boing suspected until: tho; war . was nearly.. . over. Miss Brandt describes in great detail tho tricks, soma of which were very clover, others so transparent that, it is difficult to understand how the British officers could have been so 'easily deceived by tliem by' which intelligencs was convoyed to the Boers in the field. All through the two vtars of anxiety and troublo which succeeded the British occupation of Pretoria, Hansie Van 'Warmelo kept a secret diary, and it is 'mainly upon- this : that Miss Bnindfa.bbok is'based. Tho book has its pathetic side, in its description of th-e sofrow -and l 'misery'; which many very worthy people had. to suffer, through loss of fathers; and 'sons in- the war, but considering its authorship -tho narrative is singularly free from bitterness,, with the exception, perhaps, of the chapters in which the sufferings of tho Boer women" and children in the "concentration camps".are dealt with. Tho book, which contains- several; interesting illustrations; appeared originally in a Dutch edition. The English .version has a preface, by Mr. Patrick Duncan, a prominent member of-the Opposition to General Botha's Government, a fact which in it-olf affords a pleasant indication of the botter. feeling which is now noticeable in South Africa J twixt the old combatants of a few years ago. As a'record of woman's pluck and wit .and resourcefulness "The Petticoat Commando" is well worth reading. .