Page 299 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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1910 – 1926
Bethanie where I was restricted to the fenced-in area around the house down to the stream. Here in Wilhelmsruh I was the only boss to all sides. If I stood in front of my house in the morning at sunrise I heard many different birds tweeting and chirping, the pheasants calling and quails and turtle doves etc. From the house I could see the ostriches walking, the antelope, hares, guinea fowls grazing and walking. I could see my cattle, horses, goats and donkeys until I harnessed them and drove
to Bethanie to do my day’s work in the congregation. I got there in half an hour and arrived back home at sunset, unless I stayed in Bethanie for a couple of consecutive days.
Lissy had a small shop for herself in one of the outrooms of the house and when she married Franz Roos in 1919 he took over the cultivation of the land that had been done for me by blacks until then. During the big World War Theodor bred chickens on Waaikraal for a few years. During the time of the maize harvest when the loose maize heads were spread out on the southern side of the house, I could shoot at buck and hares that came to the maize during the