A Wife in LondonThomas Hardy (1840 – 1928)

Watch• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yjD8ofAfd4

The Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one in 1880-81 and the second in 1899-1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put an end to the two independent republics that the settlers had founded.

The conflict was over the huge gold reserves in The Transvaal.

The Second Boer War The British eventually had over 400,000 men in South Africa. The Boers, at their peak had 52,000, using boys as young as 9. In addition, the Boers were mostly untrained farmers, fighting what was perhaps the greatest power in the world. So the match was uneven from the start.

The Second Boer War The war eventually ended in May 1902 when the

last of the Boers surrendered. 22,000 British troops and over 25,000 Boer civilians had died in

the conflict.

My Darling WifeIt is spring once more and my heart longs to return home and be with you. We are assured that there is success and an end in sight so I feel hopeful that I will be with you soon. The details of battles here are too gruesome to relate. I am spurred on by thoughts of summer picnics on the Heath at Hampstead and long days wandering through the woods at Highgate. My mind is full of plans for the summer, in the hope and certainty that I will return soon to be with you. It seems like we were so young when I left for this dreadful war and I sometimes wonder if you could still love the man who was the boy you married. But I am certain we will soon learn to love each other anew on my return.I long for that day my love and pray that it will be soon.Your Loving Albert

I ~ The Tragedy

She sits in the tawny vapourThat the City lanes have uprolled,Behind whose webby fold on foldLike a waning taperThe street-lamp glimmers cold.

A messenger's knock cracks smartly,Flashed news is in her handOf meaning it dazes to understandThough shaped so shortly:

II ~ The Irony

'Tis the morrow; the fog hangs thicker,The postman nears and goes:A letter is brought whose lines discloseBy the firelight flickerHis hand, whom the worm now knows:

Fresh ~ firm ~ penned in highest feather -Page-full of his hoped return,And of home-planned jaunts by brake and burnIn the summer weather,And of new love that they would learn.