To my utter surprise found Mrs. Fourie in hospital; ailing lately; sure this is much best for her. (The Van As’s and Mr. and Mrs. F. form one family circle here.)

Anyhow, this afternoon simply “dead off”; lay on bed till 3 p.m.; and yet one always feels uncomfortable to be idle one hour; it feels like neglect of duty.  What one longs for is possibility to have one day or afternoon off regularly; something to look forward to; some time when one can sit still.

Funerals four (Mr. N., Mr. B., Mrs. De W., and girlie); “Dood, waar is uw prikkel?” (Death, where is thy sting?).

Felt unhappy and uneasy all through address, for B. had requested me to leave him alone.  Well, anyway my address was directly for the living and not about the dead.

Girl at door this afternoon; “Minheer, het min nie vir mij een Wonderboek?” (Sir, havn’t you got a Wonderbook for me?) “Hoe’n soort boek?” (What kind of book?) “Een Wonderboek” (A Wonderbook).  “Een Wonderboek!” (head scratchings) “Nee, dit het ik tog glad nie.  Maar hoe’n soort boek is dit?” (A Wonderbook!  No, I havn’t that at all; but what kind of book is it?) “Minheer, daar is tekste in om te leer” (Sir, there are verses in it to learn).  “Maar is dit dan nie een Bijbel wat jij wil he?” (But isn’t it a Bible you want?) “Ja, minheer, dit is een Bijbel wat ik wil he” (Yes, sir, it is a Bible).  New name for Bible—­Wonderboek.  Not bad!

After tea called to visit very sick old man; long talk; no assurance of forgiveness of sins.  Spoke earnestly on Reconciliation with God as first step; am afraid old man disappointed in me; fear he wanted me to recite beautiful Psalms and so forth.

Now for line re house; walls nearly done; two windows; to-morrow roof; edifice stands “met ‘n oprechte boog’ ’(with great show); talk of day; Pastorie.

Just returned from hospital; fear Mrs. Engelbrecht won’t last through night.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 27:  Condensed milk.]

[Footnote 28:  I had in my innocence written to Mr. Robertson to enlist his sympathy on behalf of some people who wished to be removed to other Camps where their families were.  In this letter I casually mentioned the meat affair.  In the second letter, to my mother (who was collecting to send me a fresh small supply of invalid food), I stated that she was on no account to send such things unless it could be guaranteed that I should have the sole right to distribute.  I adopted this precaution because I found that the authorities reserved for themselves the right of distributing all goods (foodstuffs) sent by private Relief Committees, doing with such as they chose.  Needless to say, both letters were destroyed.]

[Footnote 29:  This can be altogether misconstrued.  The “reasonable” was only in comparison with the stormy interview of the day before, when the Superintendent attacked me most fiercely.  When I began the second interview by saying I wished to resign, he changed front altogether.  It had been purely a game of bluff on his part.