Good Measure

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Excerpt from Good Measure: A Novel of S. African InterestIN giving my book Good Measure to the world, I should like to explain how it came to be written, and that if, as I have been so frequently asked, it can be depended upon for portraying a true picture of modern life in Zululand, more especially as it concerns the natives. The key to the native question will be found in Zululand, the stronghold of their ancient traditions and superstitions. Many people go into Zululand for sport or pleasure, or it may be to trade there, but to comparatively few is the native character revealed, and experts tell us that there is a wall which divides the black and white, and, after knowing a native very well for many years, it will be discovered by some act or thought of his that one scarcely knows him at all. Yet, it is these occasional ¿ashes of revelation which show us where he is and in what atmosphere his life is enveloped. They are scarcely ever given to people who employ natives in towns. The house-boy, or store-boy, goes about his work in a stolid, mechanical fashion, he comes and goes home to his kraal again, slips in and out of civilisation, but what he is him self, and how he thinks and feels, is almost always hidden from those associated with him. I went to Kwamagwaza in December, 1909, for several months' visit to a friend at a mission station. I revelled in the new aspects of life pre sented to me there, and the ¿ashes of revelation about the natives that came my way. The position was an unique one, because it was not my business to exercise authority over the black neighbours, it was left to me to accept their compli ments and expressions of goodwill, and to enter into their feelings as far as I was able by the divination of character that is an additional sense to a novelist You have seen far more than I, who have lived here all my life! One resident of Zululand said. It is quite true, but I had never noticed it before, she added laughingly.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.