Treinryers was 'vijan den van Christendom'

http://152.111.1.87/argief/berigte/dieburger/1987/03/07/9/19.html

FOTO: S/W HET VERSKYN IS daar iemand wat nie die afdrukke van die ``Breë en die Smalle Weg'' ken nie? Dié ``boerekitsch'', soos W.A. de Klerk dit noem, beeld die steil, moeilike, smal pad na die Paradys uit, en langsaan, die breë, lekker pad na die Verdoemenis. ``Die smal weg is deksels oninteressant,'' sê prof. Bun Booyens. Daar is onder meer 'n weeshuis, 'n Sondagskool, 'n hospitaal en 'n kerk. Tussen die twee paaie is 'n diep afgrond met bruggies. Heelparty mense stap van die oninteressante, smal weg na die breë oor. Dít is 'n lekker pad. Daar is wyn- en dobbeltafels, 'n ``ontughuis'', 'n danssaal, 'n bank van lening (om geld te skuld is mos sonde). Daar is selfs 'n dief wat 'n man se geld uit sy agtersak steel. By die Hel se poort staan, van alle dinge, 'n trein, net voordat die breë pad die Verdoemenis ingaan. Hier slaan 'n duiwel plesierig bollemakiesie. Die oudste Breë en Smal Weg-afdrukke was in Hollands. Later het dit Afrikaans geword, sê prof. Booyens. Die trein verskyn net op die latere Afrikaanse afdrukke. Daardie trein by die Hel se poort het sy oorsprong in die Paarl gehad, nogal by 'n predikant. En baie Paarliete het saam met hul leraar geglo treine is werktuie van die Antichris. Die lokomotief is selfs ``de duivels kruijwagen'' genoem! Dit het by ds. Gottlieb Antony van der Lingen begin. Hy was 'n merkwaardige, geleerde man met 'n sterk persoonlikheid en sterk oordele en vooroordele. Hy het diep spore in die kerk en die Paarl getrap. Die Pinksterdienste het by hom begin en hy was die stigter van die Paarlse Gimnasium. Maar hy het ook eienaardige metodes gevolg om werktuie van die sonde te beveg. Treine wat op Sondae loop, was een hiervan. STEEN DES AANSTOOTS In 1862 was die treinspoor van die Kaap na Wellington in aanbou. Dit was reeds tot by die D'Urbanweg-stasie (vandag Bellville-stasie aan die onderent van Durbanweg) voltooi en die trein het tot hier geloop. Aan die oorblywende deel oor Eersterivier, Stellenbosch en die Paarl tot by Wellington is druk gewoel en gewerk. Die trein het vanselfsprekend ook op Sondae geloop, en dít was 'n steen des aanstoots. Hierdie bose verskynsel het heftige reaksies uitgelok van die Calvinistiese kerkvaders op Stellenbosch én die Paarl. Die Paarlse leraar, ds. Van der Lingen, was die groot aanstigter. Voor die koms van die treinspoor het mense selde die stoep verlaat. Nou het almal trein gery. En watter dag leen hom die beste hiervoor as Sondag? Ds. Van der Lingen het die trein as 'n ontsettende bedreiging vir die rusdag gesien. Hy het 'n groot boikotaksie teen die treindiens aan die gang gesit. Totdat alle Sondagtreine afgeskaf is, moet niemand treinry nie, het hy gesê. Op Stellenbosch is gevra dat gemeentelede moet bid vir die verwydering van die Sondagtreine. In die Paarl, onder leiding van die leraar, is 'n verbondskrif (dit is 'n ``pledge'' genoem) gedateer 22 April 1862 rondgestuur waarin ondertekenaars onderneem om ``van nu af geen gebruik, hoe ook genaamd, zoo min op werkdagen als op Zondagen, zoo min voor onze goederen als voor onze personen, te zullen maken van dat vervoermiddel''. Nogtans het die meeste Paarliete verkies om trein te ry, al was dit net van Bellville na die Kaap. Prof. Hofmeyr van Stellenbosch het op 'n vergadering op Wellington gesê dat ``slechts zeer weinigen gewillig zijn de gemakken en voordeelen op te offeren die de spoorweg aanbiedt. De meesten, verreweg, verlaten de bus bij de spoorwegstatie aan den twaalfden mijlsteen (D'Urbanweg)''. Dit was Bellville. HOM TE BUITE GEGAAN Paarliete het dus met die perdebus (hulle het dit 'n omnibus genoem) tot in Bellville gery. Hier is oorgestap om verder per trein tot in die Kaap te ry. Op 16 Mei 1862 is 'n vergadering in die Paarl gehou waar ds. Van der Lingen hom heeltemal te buite gegaan het. Volgens Het Volksblad ``verloor hij alle gematigdheid zoowel wat den geest als de bewoordingen zijner rede betrof''. Hy noem die treinryers ``vijanden van het Christendom'' en ``verraders''. Hy het gepreek dat die Sondagtreine net nog 'n bewys is dat die profesieë oor die verval in die laaste dae en die komende beproewinge vir die kerk besig is om in vervulling te gaan. Daar is selfs beweer dat hy sou gesê het dat diegene wat met die trein ry, al is dit net op weekdae, reeds die teken van die dier op die voorkop het. Hy het die treindiens ``de gruwel dezer eeuw'' genoem. Het Volksblad skryf verder dat sy uitsprake ``aan het godslasterlijke grensden'' en ``zoo grof waren dat het smartelijk is dat een Christen leeraar zoo van anderen spreken kan. . .'' Nogtans, ``door den verbazenden invloed van dezen (die leraar) werd Paarl de wakkerste bestrijdster van de Zondagtreinen.'' Pogings is aangewend om die eienaars van die busdiens van die Paarl na Kaapstad daarvan te laat afsien om D'Urbanweg aan te doen. Hierin is nie geslaag nie. Onder aanstigting van ds. Van der Lingen het die Paarlse ``pledge''-ondertekenaars hul eie busdiens gestig, die Paarlsche Omnibus Maatschappij. Onenigheid in die direksie van die ou, bestaande busdiens het tot sy ontbinding gelei. Die Spoorweë het dadelik sy eie busdiens tussen die Paarl en ``D'Urbanweg'' ingestel. Ds. Van der Lingen en sy elf mededirekteure se ``omnibusdiens'' was die spot van die nie-boikotters. Dit is die ``pontificale bus'' genoem. Daagliks (behalwe Sondae!) het die omnibus om 7 vm. van die Paarl vertrek en minder as ses uur later op die Kaapse parade aangekom. Op Hardekraaltjie is perde omgeruil. Van die stad af het 'n ander omnibus sy reis na die Paarl begin. HAAR SONDE BELY Deur die ``pontificale bus'' kon aan die ``pledge'' praktiese uitvoereing gegee word. Sowat 250 boere en handelaars het hulself verbind om nie die spoorwegmaatskappy se bus- en treindiens te gebruik nie. Die ``Kaapsche weg'' was vol waens wat wyn en ander produkte vervoer het. Volgens Het Volksblad van 11 September 1862 het heelwat mense wat nogal naby aan die ``paus'' staan, die ``pledge'' verbreek. Een van die ``opgewekten'' wat die ``malle railway pledge'' onderteken en toe tog trein gery het, sou by die biduur haar sonde bely het. Daar is selfs gesê dat die ``paus'' se eie skoonseun trein gery het! Ernstige verdeeldheid het in die Paarl geheers. Die ``dolle onderneming'', soos dit genoem is, die ``pontificale busmaatschappij'', het verliese gely. Direkteure, insluitende die predikant, het baie geld gestort om dit aan die gang te hou. Maar die boikotbeweging het ook die Sondagtreine verliese laat ly. 'n Jaar nadat die trein tussen Kaapstad en Eersterivier begin loop het, is die Sondagtreine afgeskaf. Die nuus is met vreugde in die Paarl ontvang. Het Volksblad skryf: Zij roepen nu hiep, hiep, hiep, hoera, wij hebben het overwonnen.'' 'n Dankdiens is gehou. Ds. Van der Lingen het gesê dit is ``zoo aandoenlijk, zoo plegtig, zoo heerlik''. Die Paarliete kon nou weer van die ``ijzeren paard'' gebruik maak. Op 18 Maart 1863, drie dae nadat die Sondagtreine afgeskaf is, is die spoorweg na die Paarl feestelik geopen. Meer as 5 000 mense het dit bygewoon, in hul Sondagklere uitgedos. Ook ``de groote wagen van den Eerw. Heer van der lingen, met talrijke huisgenooten, de panaten der pastorie en zijne schoonzoons gevuld, was bijzonder zogtbaar in die menigte van rijtuigen'', berig Het Volksblad. Die ``pontificale omnimusdiens'' kon nou afgeskaf word. 'n Vendusie is gehou waarop onder meer twee omnibusse, 36 trekperde, bybehore, en 'n trompet(!) opgeveil is. HEWIGE VERKOUE Twee jaar ná die afskaffing van Sondagtreine het sewehonderd inwoners van Kaapstad, Mowbray en Rondebosch die spoorwegmaatskappy versoek om 'n Sondagtreindiens op die nuwe spoorlyn tussen Kaapstad en Wynberg in te stel. Hulle het gesê dit sou kerkgangers die geleentheid gee om dienste in die stad by te woon. Aan die versoek is voldoen. Sondagtreine het gekom om te bly. Daar was weer proteste, maar ds. Van der Lingen was nou stil. Of hy ooit trein gery het? Inderdaad. In 1866 het hy gedurende 'n treinrit na Stellenbosch so 'n hewige verkoue opgedoen dat hy nie die ringsitting kon bywoon nie. In sy doktorale proefskrif Gottlieb Antony van der Lingen, Kaapse predikant uit die negentiende eeu, waaruit die stof vir hierdie artikel gehaal is, skryf dr. M.C. Kitshoff dat ds. Van der Lingen dit nie as verkeerd beskou het om in Europa die spoorweg te gebruik nie, maar hy het die gebruik daarvan in Suid-Afrika as sonde aangemerk. Hoewel hy die trein 'n instrument van die duiwel en die gruwel van die eeu genoem het, het hy later self trein gery. Miskien het hy ontdek dat dit nie altyd so maklik is om die grens tussen die breë en die smal weg te onderskei nie.

Photo taken at Paarl Museum July 2009 

Paarl Museum Old Dutch Reformed Church Parsonage

Paarl Museum is situated in the old parsonage of the Strooidak Church  "Our collections are displayed in a Cape-Dutch home with a U shaped floor plan dating from the 18 century. The museum is situated on farm that was allocated in 1699 by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel to Pieter Janz van Marseveen. The present building has over the years been used as a parsonage for the Strooidak Church, a home for the Thom family and a boys hostel for Paarl Gimnasium High School. In 1939 the building was restored and fitted out as a museum." Paarl Museum information pamphlet 2009

MINISTERS OF THIS PARSONAGE

Eleven ministers from the Strooidak Congregation lived in the original and present building (Paarl Museum). They were as follow:

Rev. Petrus van Aken	(1715 - 1724)
Rev. Lambertus Slicher	(1725 - 1730)
Rev. W. van Hertzogenraedt	(1731 - 1736)
Rev. Salomon van Echten	(1738 - 1753)
Rev. Petrus van der Spuy	(1753 - 1781)
Rev. Robert N. Aling	(1784 - 1800)
Rev. Petrus van der Spuy (Nephew of the former Rev. van der Spuy)	(1806 - 1807)
Rev. J.G.L. Gebhart	(1810 - 1823)
Rev. T.J. Herold (He let the parsonage while lived at Simonsvlei farm)	(1823 - 1831)
Rev. G.W.A. van der Lingen	(1831 - 1869)
Rev. Gilles van de Wall	(1870 - 1872)

One of the ministers was Rev. Petrus van der Spuy (1753 - 1781), who was the first South African born minister. The renowned Rev. G.W.A. van der Lingen played a fundamental role in the cultural as well as the educational development of Paarl.

[photo]

The museum contains various items that belonged to Rev. van der Lingen such as his bookcase modelled after the Bible's description of King Solomon's Temple and is about seven feet high. The bookcase was the gift from the congregation upon his completion of 25 years of service. Some additional items such as his Psalm book and personal items of furniture are also contained within the museum.

The Children's Friend Society, Early Child Migrants

http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100:the-childrens-friend-society-early-child-migrants&catid=16:bhc-history&Itemid=2

Written by Norah Dennis    

Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:44 

This wonderful information was posted in the South Africa Immigration Mailing List on Rootsweb.  I place it here retaining copyright to the original poster, R. Wat -- rowwat@hotmail.com.

In 1840 a report was made for the House of Commons by the Governor of the Cape on the Condition and Treatment of the Children sent out by the Childrens Friend Society. During the preparation of the report the children were interviewed, as were their masters. Included in the report are the childrens, masters and magistrates comments. (The magistrates were responsible for gathering the information) I have noted below the details of the children included in the report. A copy of the full report can be viewed at the National Archives, Kew reference CO 48/207.

The investigations were conducted by Majors LONGMORE, PIERS, BARNES and Captain HILL. At the time of the report there were 434 apprentices under 232 masters. (359 were males and 75 females.) One concern addressed by the report was whether the children had become a replacement after the abolition of slavery in 1838, especially as a number were carrying out tasks such as herding which was usually reserved for the coloured population. The report concluded that only one such complaint was made, but was frivolous. The comment was that the abolition may have been beneficial to the children as their conditions had improved since the abolition. Another concern was that many children were not learning a trade, so would be unable to sufficiently support themselves after their apprentice.

The report seems to have been instigated due to the supposed treatment of Mr  Gerrit H. DE WETs treatment of his apprentices notably TRUBSHAW (who had been sent from England due to theft and had deserted his master.) A visit to his farm had found his apprentices happy and no reason for concern could be seen.

Children interviewed or commented in report:

George PLATT:
About 16 years old. Parents are dead. Can read & write. Corresponds with elder brother in England. Attends church every Sunday, but receives no education. Receives sufficient food and clothes. Employed digging in vineyard and herding cattle. Wishes to return to England as learning no skills other than that of a farm labourer. Master Reverend G W A Vander LINGEN, Paarl had no complaints of child. George is healthy and well grown.

Die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners

AGTERGRONDARTIKEL

Die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners

Deur Amanda Kreitzer


DIE regstreekse oorsaak van die stigting van die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners was te danke aan een man, Arnoldus Pannevis -- taalkenner, leermeester, primêre grondlegger van Afrikaans as kultuurtaal. Profeet van buite wat aan die Afrikaner in sy stomheid 'n geestelike tong wou gee.
 
Op 'n onverklaarbare wyse het hy hom diep aangetrokke gevoel tot Suid-Afrika en sy Hollandssprekende bevolking. Hier aangekom, kon hy onmiddellik raaksien wat die Afrikaners in daardie stadium nog net nie te mooi van geweet het nie. Díe taal, so maklik op die oor, besluit hy, het feitlik al die sier van sewentiende-eeuse Nederlands waaruit dit gekom het, afgeskud. Sy siening, gerugsteun deur intelligente geesdrif, het hy gou oorgedra aan individue in 'n gemeenskap waarin hy hom meer as tuis gevoel het: díe van Drakenstein, veral Dal Josafat. Hy het by sy vriend, ds. GWA van der Lingen, tuisgegaan. Daar in die studeerkamer met sy baie boeke moes hierdie twee, albei met hulle eie Nederlandse erfenis, lang ure gesels het oor hierdie vreemdste en verste van die Dietse tale.
 
Dit was tydens Pannevis se onderrigjare aan die Gimnasium dat hy die jong boereseun SJ du Toit uit Dal Josafat as iemand met uitsonderlike begaafdheid herken het. Du Toit se lesse by Pannevis ter voorbereiding vir Teologiese Kweekskool was 'n beslissende oomblik vir sy lewe en sienswyse. En die dag toe hierdie vurige en geniale kop die argumente en gesonde taalinsigte van Pannevis vat en in sy hart opneem, was dit die begin van die Eerste Afrikaanse Taalbeweging. Van Arnoldus Pannevis het SJ du Toit self later getuig: "En hier kan ons nie nalaat om 'n man te noem wat werklik die eerste met erns die gedagte uitgespreek en ons o'ertuig het, dat ons 'n eie taal het, en wel 'n voortreklike taal, wat ons moet erken en beoefen. Die man is oþerlede mnr. Pannevis, molik die grootste taalgeleerde wat ons ooit in ons land hat."
 
Nêrens blyk Pannevis se intelligente, ewewigtige siening van die saak van die Afrikaanse taal so duidelik nie soos in sy ekende bydrae tot Die Patriot in 1882: Gesprek over het Kaaps- Hollands;
 
"Oom" en "Neef" voer 'n debat. "Neef" is gretig maar huiwerig. "Oom" se argumente is egter so rustig oortuigend dat "Neef" gaandeweg sy onsekerheid in vreugde voel verander... vreugde by die ontdekking van 'n bate waarvan hy nie bewus was nie. þNeefþ leer ook van "Oom" (Arnoldus Pannevis) dat Afrikaans sy eintlike beslag gekry het toe die Hollandse gesag in Afrika opgehou het, toe die spreektaal van die Kaapse bevolking, blank en bruin, te staan gekom het voor die oorheersende feit van die wêreldtaal, Engels. Wat die hele saak vir "Neef" beklink, is "Oom" se versekering: "Een naauwgezette studie en beoefening onzer taal zal http://www.roepstem.net/patriot.htmlhaar eigenaardige kracht en biezondere schoonheid aan het daglicht brengen, en men zal zich nog eendag over dat verachte Afrikaans verwonderen..."
 
Waar tevore het ooit so iets plaasgevind? Dat 'n immigrant 'n nuwe land betree, en plotseling iets van oorheersende belang in die kultuurbesit raaksien op 'n wyse wat die inheemse bevolking nog die heeltyd onwyk het? En dit teen die agtergrond van 'n Engelsman, -Lord Charles Somerst, se besieling met die idee van 'n "Empire". Dit was Engels in die howe, Engels in die skole, verkieslik ook Engels in die kerk.
 
Stel jou voor: mense met 'n eie spreektaal wat hulle nie eens kon lees of skryf nie. Want daar is niks om te lees, en hulle het ook nie eens die woorde, die taalmeganiek waarmee hulle kon skryf nie. Hulle staan met 'n stukkie van 'n taal wat swaar dra aan die dooie hand van die VOC-verlede, opnuut verkneg deur 'n nog vreemder idioom -- 'n doofstom volk.
 
Arnoldus Pannevis sien dit raak met die vars blik van 'n fyn, onafhanklike gees van buite. In 'n privaat brief op 7 November 1874 aan die Britse en Buitelandse Bybelgenootskap (BBBG) in London, pleit hy dat hul die Bybel in Afrikaans moet vertaal en uitgee. Dit moes gedoen word met die oog op die Blankes en Kleurlinge wat dit beter sou begryp in Afrikaans as in Hollands of Engels. Hy doen dan ook iemand aan die hand wat volgens hom uitmuntend bevoeg sou wees om so 'n vertaling te onderneem te wete SJ du Toit. Die BBBG verwys die brief na hul plaaslike verteenwoordiger in die Kaap, ds. George Morgan. Ds. Morgan skakel toe met SJ du Toit maar hy wou eers die saak met 'n paar voorstaanders van Afrikaans bespreek alvorens hy antwoord gee. So word 'n byeenkoms gereel vir Saterdag 14 Augustus 1875 in Gideon Malherbe se huis in Pastorielaan Paarl.
 
Die vergadering is deur die volgende agt persone bygewoon in volgorde van ouderdom: Gideon Malherbe, CP Hoogenhout, DF du toit (bynaam "Dokter"), DF du Toit (oom Lokomotief), sy broer SJ du Toit, August Ahrbeck en Petrus Malherbe en SG du Toit. JPJ Dempers, 'n godsdiensonderwyser van Wellington is ook verwag, maar hy het nie opgedaag nie. Almal behalwe Hoogenhout en Arbeck was familie. Maar die agt jollie kêrels het nie net vir 'n geselsie bymekaargekom nie; hulle het formeel vergadering gehou. Hulle noem dit "een voorlopige vergadering van Afrikaanders". Bybelvertaling is bespreek, maar die kar kon tog nie voor die donkies ingespan word nie. Die taal moes eers 'n vaste skryfvorm kry. 'n Kommissie word dus benoem en Die Genootskap se konstitusie ("naam en reþels") sou ogestel en by 'n volgende vergadering voorgelê word.
 
Vyf maande nadat hulle die eerste keer vergader het, verskyn Die Patriot waarin "ieder Regte Afrikaander" (met Afrikaanse en nie Hollandse of Engelse harte nie) opgeroep word "om te staan ver ons Taal, ons Nasie en ons Land".
 
Met reg kan gesê word dat die hele heroiese era van die Afrikanervolk deur die enkelvoudige taalaanvoeling van 'n beskeie maar diep sensitiewe mens in sy spesifieke koers en vorm geplaas is: Arnoldus Pannevis. En net so onopgemerk as wat hy gekom het is hy weer weg. Nadat hy by die Gimnasium bedank, gaan bly hy op Dal Josafat en gee daar onderwys aan 'n privaat skooltjie wat die "Gedenkschool der Hugenoten" sou word, opgerig deur die Genootskappers as 'n "lewende monument", om die twee eeue van hulle Hugenoteskap in Suid-Afrika te onthou. Sy gesondheid was altoos swak en ten tye van sy dood op die betreklike jong ouderdom van 46 het hy by WP du Plessis op die plaas Groenrivier, in Wellington gewoon.
 
Vir hierdie taalbesieldes het dit gegaan oor lewenstyl, wat onafhanklikheid van gees is. 'n Bloedlyn wat ver terug loop in die verlede, van 'n lang geskiedenis van verset teen dwingelandy. Na GWA van der Lingen, Estienne Barbier, die Franse vlugtelinge en hul Vryburgergeesgenote, die slag van Majuba wat ses jaar na die stigting van die GRA plaasvind, bereik dit sy hoogtepunt met die uitbreek van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog. Dit het gegaan oor die 2waarde van 'n vry mens wat op sy eie voete loop en tegelyk sy nederigheid voor sy Skepper en sy eie waarde as skepsel herontdek en daarop aandring.
 
Dis karakter, -idioom van 'n besondere skeppende persoonlikheid. Dit is die betekenis van die kunstenaar of kultuurleier, om die ontwikkeling van die volk te lei deur te bepaal wat waardervol en sterk is en hom te laat lei deur sy geloof in die suiwere, en sy liefde vir die skone.
 
Wanneer ons ons taalhelde eer, eer ons die geestelike dinge wat juis aan die stoflike dieper betekenis en sin gee. 'n Volk se waarde word daarom nie geskat op grond van aardse besittings of magsprestige nie, maar word gemeet aan die waarde van sy letterkunde, musiek, beeldende kunste en sy waardering vir wat goed, mooi en ewig in die alledaagse lewe is. Die aansien wat Afrikaanse taal- en letterkunde in 'n eeu verwerf het, is 'n geringe tydperk in vergeleke met die letterkundige ontwikkeling van groot kultuurvolke.
 
Die Latynse skrywer Seneca het gese: "Die mens word groter na mate hy sy doel hoër stel". Mag daar in 'n tyd waar lewenstyl in die vergetelheid van middelmatigheid verdwyn het, die stryd weer aangesê word deur die volk wat Afrikaans as sy erfenis verkry het, teen die hol, vlak en onbeskaamde woord wat nie meer verhef of inspireer nie, maar soos 'n bril is wat met wasem beslaan is.

http://www.roepstem.net/patriot.html

Ds. S.J du Toit

Gymnasium Primary School

http://www.kontrei.co.za/paarl-walkabout.php

On 5 July 1831 the Rev Gottlieb Wilhelm Antonie van der Lingen was confirmed as minister in Paarl. After it was finally decided in 1857 to establish the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch, the Reverend decided in 1857 to found a church school where boys could be prepared for the Theological Seminary or for further study in Europe. Instruction was to be in Dutch. On 12 January 1858 the school was opened. The Egyptian-style architecture and decorations were intended to be symbolic. One of the appointed teachers was Arnoldis Pannevis, who arrived in South Africa from Holland in 1866 and played an important part in the First Language Monument. After the founding of the Noorder-Paarl congregation in 1875, with the Rev SJ du Toit as minister, church services of the new congregation were held in the Gymnasium. The left wing of the school was used as parsonage. Gymnasium produced several well-known South Africans, amongst them the first professor of Afrikaans in South Africa, Prof DF Malherbe, who taught at the University College of the OFS, and Prof JJ Smith, the first professor in Afrikaans at the University of Stellenbosch. The Gymnasium was declared a national monument in 1968 and still serves as a school.

Arnoldus Pannevis – Champion of Afrikaans

http://ancestry24.com/arnoldus-pannevis/

Arnoldus Pannevis was born at Oudekerk aan de Ijssel, Netherlands on 16^th February 1838 and died at Paarl on the 14^th August 1884. He was a school-master and champion of Afrikaans and came from a leading burgher family. His father and his grandfather had been doctors, and he, too, studied medicine at Utrecht for some years. On 1.8.1859 he became a medical officer in the Dutch navy, but because of poor health he was honourably discharged on 31.10.1861. He studied literature under the most accomplished men of his time, among them being Dr J. W. G. van Oordt, who subsequently came to Cape Town. P. acquired a sound knowledge of Greek and Latin, mastered French, German and English, and also had some knowledge of Spanish. He sat for his degree on 13.1.1864.

You can also find out more about the Afrikaanse Taalbeweging at Myfundi

Political developments in Trans-Orangia from 1848 to 1854, when the Orange Free State was established, had fired Pannevis’s imagination, and as a schoolboy he had been eager to visit South Africa. His wish was fulfilled when he arrived in Cape Town on the mail ship on 11.7.1866. He stayed at Du Toit’s boarding-house in Strand Street and it was here that, dining with Afrikanders, he noticed that in South Africa a language very different from Dutch had developed. Because of his linguistic training, Pannevis realized at once that he had encountered a new language. This discovery was to be of great importance to the history of Afrikaans, for P. was to do much to achieve the recognition of Afrikaans both as a written and as a Biblical language.

He went to Paarl where he met the Rev. G. W. A. van der Lingen. As they had many interests in common, they soon became firm friends, and P. later accepted a post as a classics master at the Paarl Gymnasium, established by Van der Lingen in 1859. On one of his pupils in particular, later the Rev. S. J. du Toit, Pannevis had a profound influence, opening his eyes to the claim Afrikaans had to recognition as a language in its own right. Du Toit later said that his teacher may have been the greatest philologist South Africa had produced (J. D. du Toit, infra).

In private conversation, in public and in the press he strove tirelessly to convince others of the value of Afrikaans as a written language. A profoundly religious man, he was concerned about those (particularly the Coloureds) who could understand neither the Dutch nor the English Bible. The solution he proposed was to translate it into Afrikaans. For this reason he wrote a letter ‘De Bijbel in het Afrikaans’ in De Zuid-Afrikaan of 7.9.1872, advocating an Afrikaans translation for the sake of the Coloureds.

This letter evoked considerable discussion in the press in Dutch, but the idea of a translation was unanimously rejected as rash and unnecessary; Afrikaans was, as yet, no more than kitchen Dutch (plat-Hollands), it was contended, and the sublimity of God’s Word could not be slighted by translation into such a dialect.
P. himself, in an article in De Hollandsche Afrikaan (22.8.1883), called the date on which his letter had appeared in De Zuid-Afrikaan the day on which the Eerste Afrikaanse Taalbeweging (‘First Afrikaans language movement’) was born. ‘The affair,’ he wrote, ‘attracted much interest, and soon there were many champions of Afrikaans …  A powerful chord had been struck, and its vibrations slowly filled the country. Gradually the Taalbeweging penetrated the entire nation’.

Meanwhile C. P. Hoogenhout and the Rev. S. J. du Toit also discussed in De Zuid-Afrikaan a translation of the Bible and Afrikaans as a separate language, and gave considerable impetus to the movement in favour of Afrikaans. But Arnoldus was the first to think of an association for the promotion of Afrikaans. Under the pseudonym ‘O.’ he wrote an article in De Zuid-Afrikaan of 4.11.1874: ‘Is die Afferkaans wesenlijk een taal?’ Maintaining that Afrikaans was a language in its own right, he advocated its recognition. The fluidity of its spelling was hardly an obstacle. Once it had been established, a society for the advancement of Afrikaans could immediately publish a grammar and a dictionary. In these two books it would be evident that Afrikaans was an independent language, which anyone, even an Englishman, might speak.

Three days after the appearance of this article, Pannevis wrote to the British and Foreign Bible society, asking it to have the Bible translated into Afrikaans. This letter was to result in the establishment, on 14.8.1875, of the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (G.R.A.). Unfortunately he called Afrikaans ‘a kind of corrupted Dutch’ in his letter, and in its reply the association refused to perpetuate a pidgin language through a translation of the Bible.

Arnoldus was too idealistic to become a great leader of his crusade. His pupil, the Rev. S. J. du Toit, took charge. He suffered from a nervous complaint, and it seems as if his instability and fanaticism led to his being overshadowed by G.R.A. members who were alarmed by his impetuosity.

The foundation meeting of the G.R.A. decided that a translation of the Bible would be premature. They considered P. too hasty: first the nation had to be brought to realize that it had a language of its own, to respect its language, and then the demand for an Afrikaans Bible would follow naturally.

Arnoldus did not join the G.R.A. until its third meeting, although the Taalbeweging was a direct result of his letter to the British and Foreign Bible society. Not only did he gain supporters for Afrikaans; he also persuaded them to write and, as a society, to pursue their aims and convince Afrikanders that they did, in fact, have a language of their own. In this sense Pannevis can rightly be called the father of the Afrikaanse Taalbeweging.
He also strove for the preservation of Dutch culture. He wrote articles and letters to news-papers and periodicals. Very soon after his arrival he noticed that the country was threatened by British influences. In a letter to Het Volksblad (30.4.1870) he was particularly passionate in his condemnation of English church services in the N.G. Kerk, as this did much to advance anglicization. Pannevis made the hostility of many ministers towards Afrikaans the butt of a humorous article in Die Afrikaanse Patriot (17.12.1880). In an unpublished essay on school education he strongly criticized the way English history was being taught to Afrikaans children. In an article called ‘Mr., Miss, Mrs.’ (Die Afrikaanse Patriot, February 1883) he sharply attacked Afrikanders who spoke English. Condemning the British annexation of the Transvaal, he wrote ‘t Misdadig Engeland: tot troos ver ons landgenote in Transvaal, bij die aanhegting deur die Engelse (Paarl, 1877); only three copies of this book are known to exist. In his ‘Gesprek over het Kaaps-Hollands’ written in 1875 and published in the Patriot in 1882 (cf. J. D. du Toit, infra), he used philological arguments to prove the right to existence of Afrikaans and to refute the contention that Afrikaans was a Hottentot language. This article shows that he  had a clear grasp of philological principles and was far ahead of his times in his ideas on the ‘foreign influences’ on Afrikaans and its origin. ‘Close study and correct use of Afrikaans will reveal its peculiar force and extreme beauty, and one day people will be amazed at this much despised language … The future of South Africa depends on the recognition of Afrikaans’.

Although Pannevis was a strong advocate of Afrikaans, he usually wrote in Dutch, as he did in his regular contributions to Het Zuid-Afrikaansche Tijdschrift. Among the items he left are a large number of essays and poems, almost all written in Dutch. These poems follow the nineteenth-century traditions of pious Dutch poetry. Nor are his Afrikaans poems much more than doggerel. Most of them are of a religious nature, acknowledging guilt and repentance. In almost all of his poems P. is strongly didactic. In his poems on Afrikaans he is astringent and bitter, as in ‘Rasende afgodery’. He translated several French poems into Afrikaans, and was also one of the four authors of Die Afrikaanse Volkslied (”n Ider nasie het syn land’), the first work published by the G.R.A.

He compiled a vocabulary of Afrikaans which he gave to Prof. N. Mansvelt for his Proeve van een Kaapsch-Hollandsch idioticon (1884). The Rev. S. J. du Toit also used this list for his Afrikaanse taalskat’ in Ons Taal.

Arnoldus Pannevis was a bachelor and a Freemason, but later condemned this movement and withdrew from it. On 12.9.1877 he resigned his lectureship at the Paarl Gymnasium, explaining that, because of ill-health, he could not satisfactorily perform the duties which had, through a reorganization of the school, devolved on him. Three days later he resigned his membership of the G.R.A. (in a letter which was read to the association) ‘although my attitude to the Afrikaans cause has not changed in the slightest and, I trust, never shall’. Of this period C. P. Hoogenhout wrote: ‘Soon afterwards his sufferings began. Strained, tense and writing incessantly, he had weakened his nervous system, and often became exceedingly depressed. But, periodically, there would be a respite – when he avoided exertion. That rarely happened, however. He was happiest of all on some quiet farm, where in his last years we saw him teach small children the elements of education, as though that were his true vocation’ (Het Zuid-Afrikaansche Tijdschrift, November 1881).

On 14.8.1884 he died of failure of a cardiac artery at Groenberg, Wellington, and was buried the next day in the family tomb of the Rev. G. W. A. van der Lingen, next to the N.G. Kerk in Paarl.



Grave G.W.A. van der Lingen



Franschhoek - Church Dedicated by the Rev G W A van der Lingen

To the Huguenots their religion and religious practices were of great importance. It was because they could not freely practice their religion that thousands of them fled their country.

Chapel. For a period of 150 years there was only one congregation and church building in the Drakenstein valley. The first church was situated near the present Simondium and was used until 1717. Then a larger church was erected in Paarl and remained in use from 2nd June, 1720 until 25th/28th April, 1805 when the Strooidakkerk (Thatched Roof Church) was completed. Wellington seceded on the 19th June, 1840 followed by Franschhoek on 21st February, 1845 being the 28th congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony.

The total community of Franschhoek found it very difficult to attend church services in Paarl. There was a dire need for both a church and a school and in 1833 a chapel was built to fulfil both needs. It was a primitive building without benches or a ceiling and it is not clear to us how the original seating was organised. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the aisle with whites at the front and coloureds at the back.

After the church was built and taken into use in 1847 the chapel became a school and was used as such until August 1899 when a new school building was inaugurated. Afterwards it was used as the first library in the village until 1962 when it was demolished.

Church. The church council made application to the government on 7th June, 1845 for the acquisition of 2 acres of the outspan to be used for the building of a church. Their request for the ground was granted but not that of financial aid.

The building was to be 84 feet in length, 36 feet in width, and 17 feet in height. Collection lists were sent all over the country to assist with the fundraising, and in 1846 the Neo-Gothic type building was erected by Joseph James Turpin. The foundation was of stone while the walls were built of kilnbricks, and the gable is copied from the Episcopal Church in Harrington Street, Cape Town. The turrets, peak-arched windows and doors, and lobateornamentation was, at the time, a very popular style for church buildings. Initially it was a rectangular building without wings. It was dedicated on Sunday 18th April, 1847 by the Rev G W A van der Lingen of Paarl.

The church building soon proved too small, and on 13th September, 1875, plans to enlarge it were discussed by the council. Two wings, one on the north and one on the south side were built on in 1882 and the thatched roof was replaced with corrugated iron. The work was completed on 3rd August, 1883 and gave the church its present-day shape of a Greek cross. When it was restored in 1968, thatch once more replaced the corrugated iron roof.

On 24th November, 1972 the building, bell-tower, ring-wall and all the ground contained therein was declared a National Monument.



Huguenot Memorial Museum :: Farms & Development
http://www.museum.co.za/religion.html