Cecil Rhodes. At the moment of which I write the house itself
was only approaching completion, and I must now record a few
particulars of our introduction to this great Englishman and his
world-famed home. We drove to Groot Schuurr, or "Great Barn," one
afternoon with Mr. Beit. The house is approached by a long avenue of
enormously high Scotch firs, which almost meet aloft, and remind one of
the nave of some mighty cathedral, such is the subdued effect produced
by the sunlight even on the brightest summer day. A slight rise in the
road, a serpentine sweep, and the house itself comes into view, white,
low, and rambling, with many gables and a thatched roof. The right wing
was then hidden by scaffolding, and workmen were also busy putting in a
new front-door, of which more anon; for a tall, burly gentleman in a
homely costume of flannels and a slouch hat emerged from the unfinished
room, where he would seem to have been directing the workmen, and we
were introduced to Cecil John Rhodes, the Prime Minister of Cape Colony.
I looked at the man, of whom I had heard so much, with a great deal of
curiosity. Shy and diffident with strangers, his manner even somewhat
abrupt, one could not fail to be impressed with the expression of power,
resolution, and kindness, on the rugged countenance, and with the keen,
piercing glance of the blue eyes, which seemed to read one through in an
instant.
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