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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66071

djb Topic Author Offline Administrator Posts: 32596 Thank you received: 4948	A snap shot in Pretoria Dr David Biggins Attachments:
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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66072

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Thank you received: 4948

Jess' Cottage, Pretoria, immortalised by Rider Haggard in Jess

This may be the relevant section from Jess:

It was after they had been incarcerated in Pretoria for a month that
a bright idea occurred to John. About a quarter of a mile from the
outskirts of the camp stood a little house known, probably on account of
its diminutive size, as "The Palatial." This cottage, like almost every
other house in Pretoria, had been abandoned to its fate, its owner, as
it happened, being away from the town. One day, in the course of a walk,
John and Jess crossed the little bridge that spanned the sluit and
went in to inspect the place. Passing down a path lined on either side
with young blue gums, they reached the little tin-roofed cottage. It
consisted of two rooms--a bedroom and a good-sized sitting-room, in
which still stood a table and a few chairs, with a stable and a kitchen
at the back. They went in, sat down by the open door and looked out. The
garden of the cottage sloped down towards a valley, on the farther side
of which rose a wooded hill. To the right, too, was a hill clothed in
deep green bush. The grounds themselves were planted with vines,
just now loaded with bunches of ripening grapes, and surrounded by a
beautiful hedge of monthly roses that formed a blaze of bloom. Near the
house, too, was a bed of double roses, some of them exceedingly lovely,
and all flowering with a profusion unknown in this country. Altogether
it was a delightful spot, and, after the noise and glare of the camp,
seemed a perfect heaven. So they sat there and talked a great deal about
the farm and old Silas Croft and a little about Bessie.

"This is nice," said Jess presently, putting her hands behind her head
and looking out at the bush beyond.

"Yes," said John. "I say, I've got a notion. I vote we take up our
quarters here--during the day, I mean. Of course we shall have to sleep
in camp, but we might eat here, you know, and you could sit here all
day; it would be as safe as a church, for those Boers will never try to
storm the town, I am sure of that."

Jess reflected, and soon came to the conclusion that it would be a
charming plan. Accordingly, next day she set to work and made the place
as clean and tidy as circumstances would allow, and they commenced
house-keeping.

Dr David Biggins

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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66073

djb Topic Author Offline Administrator Posts: 32596 Thank you received: 4948	Kitchener's House, Pretoria Army Head Quarters Dr David Biggins Attachments:
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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66074

djb Topic Author Offline Administrator Posts: 32596 Thank you received: 4948	The road? to Rietfontein, Transvaal Dr David Biggins Attachments:
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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66075

djb Topic Author Offline Administrator Posts: 32596 Thank you received: 4948	A ruined farmhouse on the road to Rietfontein Dr David Biggins Attachments:
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Photo album from someone in the APOC 5 years 2 months ago #66076

djb Topic Author Offline Administrator Posts: 32596 Thank you received: 4948	Crossing 'Kammel Drift' on road to Rietfontein Dr David Biggins Attachments:
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