C.M. van den Heever, Afrikaanse skrywer en digter

Christiaan Maurits van den Heever

(27 februari 1902 - Johannesburg, 7 juli 1957)
Christiaan Maurits van den Heever is gebore in 'n konsentrasiekamp in die Oranje Vrystaat tydens die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog. Te midde van 'n felle stryd is hy in die wêreld gekom en dwars deur sy lewe was daar strydende elemente in sy gemoed en in sy omgewing. ‘Uit teenoorgestelde spanninge’ sê Herakleitos, ‘kom die skoonste harmonie’; en dit is iets wat ons ook van die kunstenaar Van den Heever kan sê.
Van sy vroegste dae af was hy 'n natuurkind. Hy het sy kinderdae op 'n plaas in die Vrystaat deurgebring en diepe omgang gehad met veld en met dier. Hierdie invloed het hem nooit verlaat nie, selfs al was hy die meeste van sy latere jare in stede woonagtig. Hy was in die stad, maar nie van die stad nie. Altyd het hy teruggegaan na die Natuur vir die diepere gedagtes van sy filosofie en ek voel oortuig (ons het gesprekke daaroor gehad) dat dit die landelike element in Stijn Streuvels was wat vir hom aangetrek het. Hy het dan ook dikwels oor Stijn Streuvels gepraat en daar is beskrywings in Somer en in Droogte wat vergelyk kan word met soortgelyke beskrywings in die Vlaamse skrywer. Besonder aantreklik vir hom was die bekende verse van Guido Gezelle, van wie hy 'n Bloemlesing uitgegee het, veral t Ruischen van 't ranke riet, met sy Homeriese opskrif.

Dit was dan ook die kontras tussen stad en platteland wat hom veral geboei het. In sy eerste romans skilder hy die degenerasie van die boer wat na die stad trek. Ons vind it in werke soos Op die plaas, Langs die grootpad, Droogte en Groei.

Later word hy minder eensydig en toon aan dat die twee tipes mekaar kan aanvul; en tog bly sy hart steeds in die natuur van die plaaslewe. Soos Vergilius, verstaan hy die natuur as digter. Die herhaalde en fynbeskrewe natuurtonele in sy romans, wys waar sy belangstelling lê. ‘Somer’, wat ek in Engels vertaal het, tril met die skoonheid van die plaaslewe. D.F. Malherbe - een van die leermeesters wat hom seker die diepste beïnvloed het - noem dit sy beste werk. Ook oorsee is die Engelse vertaling goed ontvang, asook die vertalings in Vlaams en Duits. Insig in die menslike gemoed teen die agtergrond van die natuur, is die sterkte van hierdie idille. Die roman Laat vrugte, staan, saam met Somer aan die spits van C.M. van den Heever se prosa. Oom Sybrand het die oordrewe trots (hubris) gevolg deur blindheid (ate) van 'n Griekse tragiese held. Ook hierdie figuur word gesien in verhouding tot die Natuur. Op sy ou dag besef hy ‘dat die grootste misstap begaan is as jy wil ingryp in die onversetlike gang van die natuur’. En die natuur is meedoënloos. Lewe en dood volg mekaar op: ‘so gaan dit aan, mens na mens, geslag na geslag, en God alleen weet wat die sin van die ewige, vreeslike herhaling is’.

Die digter en die filosoof in van den Heever soek na 'n oplossing en tas soms verbyster en onseker rond. Maar daar groei in hom 'n geloof wat veral in die poesie van sy later jare weerspieël word. Daar is baie stemminge in sy vers, skerpe waarneming, pragtige en melodieuse beskrywing. Die verganklikheidsgedagte kom dikwels voor, soos in sy Bloedrooi Papawer. Tog vind ons die filosofie (wat ons meermale bespreek het) van die Anima mundi, die wêreldgees wat die universele basis van lewe is en 'n ewige agtergrond vorm vir die wisselende verskynsels van die Natuur. Meermale vind ons hierdie filosofie in die verse van ‘C.M.’ en veral in sy rypste werk, Honderd Sonnette, geskryf twee jaar voor sy dood. Hier het ons nie net die Stoicynse Anima mundi nie, maar ook 'n Platoniese houding teenoor die onsterflikheid. In hierdie rigting, meen ek, is hy indirek beinvloed deur die manne van Tagtig. Perk het eenmaal aan Vosmaer geskryf: ‘Koos zit tegenwoordig zoo hoog bij Plato, dat hij voor 't oogenblik niets anders begeert te doen dan te luisteren naar diens dichters wijsheid’. Maar ook in die Skrywerskring, wat ons saam gestig het en wat later geaffilieër is met die internasionale PEN-organisasie, het ons oor Plato se leer gepraat. Meer en meer tree die gedagte aan 'n ander wêreld te voorskyn, wat ewig is en volmaak. In sonnet XXX praat hy oor droomvisioene:

Deur slaap se sagte weg bereik die gees
'n helderheid in drome nooit geken......
as uit die slaap ons laaste droom ontwaak

   (d.w.s. die visioen waardeur die ander wêreld werklikheid word)<br/>

as ons dan moeg-verward van alle swerwe
uiteindelik volmaaktheid kan genaak
deur op te staan uit wat ons lank verblind
en deur die dood ons ware self te vind.

Somtyds, dis maar menslik, vervaag die visioen, en vrees en weemoed en onsekerheid kom terug:

Een mens is maar die mensheid, en sy dood
wek by ons almaal wilde skrik en nood

so skrywe hy by die afsterve van sy vader.

En weer:

Want diep in my voel ek die fluistering aan:
was al ons wense dan maar net 'n waan?

Maar hy sluit af met 'n sonnet wat geloof aandui:

Geboorte bring 'n skok en tog 'n wonder,
so klein en skreeuend word ons ingedra
en hierdie wêreld; uit die dieptes onder
van ewige slaap is ons gewek. Ons dra
geheimenis daarvan in ons gesluit
deur net 'n skeiding, net 'n nag-dun wand.

('n Platoniese gedagtegang wat ons ook in Wordsworth terugvind en in die Tagtigers)...
.......en in ons skyn

die ingeslote droom, ons eerste wese.
Van dag tot dag net afskeid en dan pyn,
tot ons deur sterwe ontwaak, vir goed herrese.

C.M. van den Heever was een van ons vrugbaarste skrywers. Sy gesamelte werke - bestaande uit meer as 30 titels - word tans voorberei. Maar hy was ook besonder aktief in die maatskaplike lewe. Hy het die volk gedien nie alleen deur sy geskrifte nie, maar deur aktief op te tree en aanknopingspunte te vind met sy medeburgers. Kom daar 'n man van betekenis vir die letterkunde in Johannesburg aan, dan reël C.M. dadelik 'n dinee of 'n vergadering om nader kennis te maak. By sulke geleenthede was sy humorsin en sy vriendelikheid altyd op die voorgrond. Op dié manier het hy ook 'n soortgelyke vriendelikheid by ander uitgelok en is hy genooi om verskeie male na Europa te gaan en ook na Israel. So het hy dan gedien op die Hospitaalraad van Johannesburg, op die Radioraad, op die Matrikulasieraad en op ettelike Afrikaanse liggaame soos die Skakelkomitie en die Werkgemeenskap van die S.A. Akademie van Kuns en Lettere en Wetenskappe. Dikwels is hy uitgenooi om by stigtings- en herdenkingsfeeste as redenaar op te tree, en meermale het ek hom vergesêl. Altyd is hy met geesdrif ontvang, altyd het hy vriende gemaak vir die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Hy was breed in sy simpatie, 'n man wat die ware humanitas geken het en uiterstes in die kuns en in die lewe vermy het. Die eintlike boodskap van sy werk word nog nie ten volle waardeer nie; maar sy stem sal nog aanhoudend weerklink in die suilegange van die tyd, en die toekoms sal die innerlike waarde van sy woorde leer begryp.

T.J. HAARHOFF

Bron:

Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, 1958

Christiaan Maurits van den Heever

(*Concentration Camp, Norvalspont, 27.2.1902 - †Johannesburg, 8.7.1957), author of novels and short stories, poet, essayist, journalist, cultural protagonist, and academic, was fourth of the eight children of Christiaan Maurits van den Heever and his wife, Maria Elizabeth Oberholzer. After the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) the family was reunited on the farm Poortjie in the Trompsburg district. Van den H.'s youth, spent in this lonely, undulating area with its established farming community and pastoral way of life, was to be reflected in his work throughout, particularly when, in course of time, he could recreate it, dreamily and nostalgically from a distance when he was living in the city. His father, a respected church member, also had a great influence on his outlook on life, as did his grandfather, in whose company the young man regularly rode to prayer meetings and funerals in the district. His early schooling took place on the farm school at Krugerspoor and according to his own testimony this was the only time he spent indoors during the day, since he was usually out in the veld looking after the sheep. When he was almost thirteen he went to Grey College in Bloemfontein, where he matriculated (1920); after that he worked as a teacher and civil servant for a short time before enrolling as a B.A. student at Grey University College in 1922, an opportunity he owed to the Thomas Robertson Bursary.

At the university he met Professor D.F. Malherbe who from the start acted as tutor and mentor to the sensitive and talented young student; it was to Malherbe he showed his first attempts at writing, particularly poems. But it was only during his third year, in 1924, that he began seriously to concentrate on writing, since his interest in history had been uppermost until then. His earliest published work appeared in university newspapers, as well as in De Goede Hoop, Die Huisgenoot, and Die Boervrou. Immediately after obtaining his degree (with distinctions inAfrikaans/Nederlands and history) in 1924, Van den H. was appointed to the editorial staff of Die Landbouweekblad, and from 1925 onwards he also wrote a regular literary and recreational column for Die Volksblad. Mostly through the encouragement of A. Francken, professor of Dutch, Van den H. enrolled for an M.A.degree, which he gained at the end of 1926. At that stage his interest in literature was largely determined by his preference for the Flemish writers, Stijn Streuvels and Cyriel Buysse, but he also greatly admired the Russians, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the stylistic mastery of Gustave Flaubert, and in course of time the great Scandinavian regional novelists, Hamsun and Undset in particular. As regards poetry he was inspired by the evocative writing of the Tagtigers, while in existing Afrikaans literature he was strongly drawn to Totius.

Shortly after completing his M.A. Van den H. married a fellow-student, Martie Klopper; they eventually had three children. He was awarded a Porter Bursary for overseas study, the foundation for his later career as a writer having already been laid by the time he left for Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1928. The rather insipid volume of poetry of 1926, Stemmingsure, had been followed by Die nuwe boord which won him the Hertzog Prize in 1928. Despite its youthful over-sensitivity and exaggerated imitation of older poets, this second volume has far more merit, particularly perceptible in a sturdier philosophical grounding and a purer feeling for words. He had also made a preliminary foray into prose with his novelette Op die plaas (1927) and the more extensive novel Langs die grootpad (1928). In both of these Van den H. prefigures the characteristics of his later mature works, particularly in depicting individuals pitted against the more powerful course of nature, controlled by a cosmic force of destiny; however, both were marred by digression, particularly in his verbose descriptions of nature.

Van den H.'s overseas study culminated in the doctoral examination at the University of Utrecht in 1929. During his stay he also satisfied a continual thirst for knowledge by reading widely in the field of philosophy. After this both his life and his work were to be characterized by a tension between accepting and complying with the religion inculcated in him from childhood, and the more sombre ponderousness of Schopenhauer or the mystique of Spinoza. In later years this was followed by a search for peace in Brahman philosophy. Just after his return from the Netherlands in 1931 he was appointed a lecturer in Afrikaans/Nederlands at Grey University College; a year later he obtained his doctorate at the University of South Africa on a thesis entitled Die digter Totius, sy betekenis vir the Afrikaanse letterkunde, and in 1933 he was appointed Professor of Afrikaans and Nederlands at the University of the Witwatersrand. The decade which followed was by far his most important as a writer and protagonist of culture. As a countryman in the metropolis, but particularly as an Afrikaner in a predominantly English-speaking environment, he was particularly sensitive to the political tension of the thirties, ushered in by the great schism of 1933. He became a champion of Die Afrikaanse Gedagte' ('The Afrikaans idea'). (This was also the title of one of his important cultural writings in 1935, followed by Die stryd om ewewig in 1941). To him it was a broad cultural concept which transcended political division. Of the three possibilities he outlined - surrender of one group to another; racial hatred, or co-operation - he chose co-operation. He became a protagonist of the 'dual stream policy' which was also to characterize General J.B.M. Hertzog's political ideology, a natural sympathy which was to result in Van den H.'s biography of Hertzog; this aroused great interest but unfortunately lacked the unifying vision which makes a life more than the sum of its parts.

Among his wider cultural activities Van den H. founded Die Afrikaanse Skrywerskring, which established branches outside Johannesburg as well, and of which he was to remain national chairman until his death. He was largely responsible for the preliminary work that led to the affiliation of this body with the international PEN during the forties. He combined these interests with a wholehearted encouragement of the work of younger writers like Uys Krige and Elisabeth Eybers. (In later years he encouraged young people by inviting them to contribute to a volume such as My jeugland.) He served on the editorial staff of the Jaarboek van die Afrikaanse Skrywerskring and when this came to an end in 1951 he was one of the founders of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, of which he was to remain editor-in-chief until his death. In addition he was appointed to the Council of the SABC, the Hospital Board, and various other organizations in the broader cultural sphere. At the same time he strove to strengthen ties with the Low Countries.

However, it was as a writer and poet that Van den H. made his most enduring contribution, particularly in the very active decade which followed his appointment as professor. In his literary work he could express his concern about the political and cultural events of the time; but above all his writing became a refuge in which he could express his life-long yearning for the idealized rural existence of his youth: (He satisfied this need at a more mundane level by in 1940 buying a farm on the bank of the Vaal River near Parys, to which he and his family could retreat whenever the city became too much for him.) His novel, Droogte, appeared in 1930 and, according to Kannemeyer (infra), was 'a first attempt in Afrikaans fiction to imbue the realistic depiction of nature with a certain symbolic significance'. Unfortunately his characters were not sufficiently convincing to carry the cosmic vision, and the blend of lyricism (inspired by his tutor Malherbe) and realism (probably influenced by Jochem van Bruggen) lacked the synthesis to give them meaning. With the somewhat uneven volume Simson (1932) Van den H. was one of the first to exploit the artistic short story in Afrikaans. It still had the same primeval premise: the individual in a moment of crisis that shows up his struggle against an incomprehensible destiny, often embodied in the past. In spite of their dramatic intensity these stories were on the whole not successful (the same applies to later ones in Vuurvlieg in sterre (1934), Kruispad (1938), and Nooit! (1942), since overstatement turned sensitive moods into melodrama.

It was as a poet that Van den H. first received acclaim, with the publication of Deining in 1932 (augmented in 1935), described by D.J. Opperman as 'the first volume of the thirties'. Its success was due to its awareness of craftsmanship sensory grasp, verse, and remarkable expressiveness. An almost ultra-sensitive insight, which raises impressionism to inward perception, very delicately expressed, makes him the forerunner of the brothers Louw. At his best Van den H. creates moods in the musicality of his verse which give substance to the ineffable; but the danger of vagueness which was to mar the value of some of his later work was already present here. His success with Deining was followed in 1935 by the novelette Somer, possibly the most satisfying of his prose works. It was translated into Dutch, German, and English and also made into a film in 1974. Somer portrays man's dual role in relation to nature: his harmonious co-existence with the seasons, as well as his utter insignificance when faced by the incomprehensible forces of earth and the cosmos, a premise which is somewhat spoiled by adding an unconvincing social dimension. In Laat vrugte (1939) after the unsuccessful Kromburg (1937), the design is still more ambitious and reveals points of similarity to Streuvels' Vlaschaard (as Somer finds an echo in Streuvels' De Oogst). Here the writer goes beyond mortality, farewell, insignificance, and reciprocation, in that the conflict between the generations and the succession of these generations is drawn in and the entire design given substance by some of Van den H.'s most powerful fictional characters (particularly Oom Sybrand). The book is marred by fragmentation and an inability truly to capture man's mythical co-existence with the earth as the greatest rural novels from other literatures do, but it deserved the Hertzog Prize which was awarded it in 1942.

Just before the appearance of Laat vrugte, Van den H. also produced his finest poetry in Aardse vlam (1938). Here philosophical insight (even though philosophy was mainly limited to reverie) comes to the aid of the premise in the struggle to transcend the individual and ephemeral to what is complete and eternal. Poems such as 'Die vertrekkende wildeganse' and 'Die gevalle Zoeloe-indoena' represent the zenith of Van den H.'s poetic works. His oeuvre revealed a downward trend and an erratic nature during the forties and fifties and his most important work of this period was probably the trilogy Kultuurgeskiedenis van die Afrikaner (in collaboration with P. de V. Pienaar, 1945). The prematurely published Versamelde gedigte (1945) was followed in 1950 by Verhalende gedigte, in which the vagueness of his poetry so often pointed out by critics reached its nadir. Honderd sonnette (1955) reveals a few pleasant surprises, particularly in the inevitably more compact verse pattern but, as Ernst van Heerden put it: 'Vagueness surrounds and shrouds everything'. His prose works began to acquire a pseudo-psychological trend, particularly those set in an urban environment, such as Gister (1941), Vannag kom die ryp (1952), Dirk se oorwinning (1952) etc. Die held (1948), where the single figure in the city nevertheless implies something of a national 'stroke of destiny', was more meritorious; so too was the ambitious historical novel Anderkant die berge (1944) with its gripping treatment of protagonists and antagonists. Some of Van den H.'s novelettes of this period reveal an occasional spark, as in Kringloop van die winde (1945) or Woestynsand dek die spore (1946), and fine sketches appear in Jeug (1951) (The Gedenkboek C.M. van den Heever contains a complete account of all Van den H.'s publications). Throughout his life Van den H. was obsessed with writing. In 1942, when D.F. Malherbe warned him to write less, he replied: 'I do not have the time'. And his daughter confirms that he continued to write assiduously every day between lectures and meetings. It was probably precisely this frenzied activity that caused him gradually to withdraw from the world of experience into a 'world of words', even though the gift of the clear, direct word often evaded him, despite his admiration for Flaubert's mastery of this art. He was often plagued by illness during his last years of life and his relatively early death, at the age of fifty-five, followed a long period of suffering."

Source:

Dictionary of South African Biography

Aanvullende Bronne:

• Huweliksregister

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/DGS-004763130_00530?cc=191084...

• Ligging van die plaas Poortje

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=-29.892448,26.035538&num=1&t=m&z=11

• Van den Heevers word steeds onthou. Artikel, Die Burger 4 Maart 2002

C.M. van den Heever is op 27 Februarie 100 jaar gelede in 'n konsentrasiekemp te Norvalspont gebore. Sy enigste oorlewende kind, Salome Herbst, gee 'n oorsig van sy lewe, veral die rol wat hy en sy vrou Martie in die Johannesburgse kultuurlewe gespeel het.
CHRISTIAAN MAURITS VAN DEN HEEVER, wat in Julie 1957 in die ouderdom van 55 oorlede is, is hoofsaaklik bekend om sy romans (veral die plaasromans, waarvan Laat Vrugte in 1942 met die Hertzogprys bekroon is) en sy poësie. Nog 'n groot bydrae uit sy pen is die biografie van genl. J.B.M. Hertzog, vir wie hy as Boeregeneraal, staatsman en kampvegter vir die Afrikaner se belange die hoogste agting gehad het. Hy het altesame agt jaar gewerk aan die biografie wat in 1943 verskyn het.
Terwyl hy nooit by die partypolitiek betrokke geraak het nie, het Van den Heever altyd die belange van sy mede-Afrikaner op die hart gedra. Nadat hy hom in die vroeë dertigerjare in Johannesburg gevestig het as die eerste bekleër van die leerstoel in Afrikaans en Nederlands aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand, was dit sy strewe dat die Afrikaanssprekende sy regmatige plek in die kultuurlewe van die Goudstad moes inneem. Met kenmerkende takt het hy sy invloed laat geld, onder meer as voorsitter van die Afrikaanse Kunsvereniging en as lid van die destydse Radioraad.
Ook deur uit te reik na ander taal- en kultuurgroepe het Van den Heever die saak van Afrikaans bevorder. Onder sy anderstalige kollegas en studente aan die universiteit was hy hoog in aansien met sy vriendelike en taktvolle optrede. Hy het ook onder die Joodse gemeenskap aansien geniet, en bydraes van hom het in Jewish Affairs en die Zionist Record verskyn. In 1953 het hy Israel op uitnodiging van hul regering besoek, en het daar onder meer weer in aanraking gekom met een van sy oudstudente, die digter Olga Kirsch.
Bande met die stamlande was vir hom veral belangrik, en hy het kontak behou met individue en organisasies in Nederland (waar hy in die laat twintigerjare met doktorale studie besig was) en België. Hy het uitnodigings uit dié lande ontvang, en van hul literêre figure het deur sy toedoen ons land besoek.
C.M. van den Heever se eggenote, Martie (geb. Klopper), het in eie reg bydraes op kultuurgebied gelewer. In haar strewe om die Afrikaanssprekende vrou in die Goudstad op maatskaplike en kulturele gebied te mobiliseer, het sy die Afrikaanse Dameskring en die Maria van Riebeeck-klub in die laat dertigerjare gestig. Aangesien daar destyds in die ná-depressiejare baie hulpbehoewende Afrikanergesinne in die stad was, het laasgenoemde vereniging ook steun verleen deur sy Help die Kind-fonds, 'n fonds wat mettertyd in 'n volwaardige liefdadigheidsaksie ontwikkel het.
In 1939 het Martie van den Heever 'n tydskrif met die titel Die moderne vrou tot stand gebring, en sy was die redaktrise daarvan totdat Elisabeth Eybers by haar oorgeneem het.
Uit haar pen het daar onder die skuilnaam Annette Terblanche 'n kinderboek, Kinders van Bergkom, 'n biografie van Emily Hobhouse, asook 'n handleiding oor etiket, Beskaafde maniere, verskyn. Sy is in Desember 1960 in die ouderdom van 56 oorlede.

• Kort biografie op Sprinbok Boeke

Christiaan Maurits van den Heever, was wêreldwyd beter bekend as C. M. van den Heever was gebore op 27 Februarie 1902 in ‘n konsentrasiekamp, by Norvalspont op die grens van die Noord Kaap- en Vrystaat provinsies, naby die Gariepdam (Suid-Afrika). Hy het sy kinderdae op 'n plaas in die Vrystaat deurgebring en diepe omgang gehad met veld en dier. Hierdie invloed het hom nooit verlaat nie, selfs al was hy die meeste van sy latere jare in stede woonagtig, kan daar van hom gesê word dat hy was in die stad, maar nie van die stad nie. Dit was dan ook die kontras tussen stad en platteland wat hom veral geboei het. In sy eerste romans skilder hy die degenerasie van die boer wat na die stad trek - ons vind dit in werke soos Op die plaas, Droogte, Langs die grootpad en Groei.
Hy het gestudeer aan die Universiteit van Vrystaat, asook aan die Universiteit van Utrecht in Nederland. Na sy terugkeer het hy weer ‘n pos by die Vrystaatse Universiteit, in Bloemfontein, gekry. Na die voltooiing van verhandeling, oor die digter Totius, het hy ‘n pos by die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand aanvaar.
Hy was die eerste Afrikaanse professor in Afrikaans en Nederlands aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand. Gedurende die duur van sy aanstelling (1933-1957) het hy 'n belangrike rol in die ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse kultuurlewe in Johannesburg en in die vertolking van gebeure en ontwikkelinge in die literatuur en in die kultuurpolitiek gespeel. Hy was 'n toegewyde ondersteuner van noue kultuurbande tussen Nederland, Vlaandere en die Afrikaanse wêreld. Hy was 'n sterk ondersteuner van generaal J.B.M. Hertzog se beleid van versoening tussen Afrikaans- en Engelssprekendes en 'n kritikus van die kultuurpolitiek van sommige leidende Suid-Afrikaners van sy tyd, Afrikaans- én Engelssprekend. Hy word oor die algemeen as die eerste Dertiger beskou, hoewel sy latere ontwikkeling nie tipies van die Dertigers is nie. In sommige van sy kultuurbeskouinge was hy 'n voorloper van N.P. van Wyk Louw, veral oor die rol van Afrikaanse intellektueles, oor die belangrikheid van kritiese denke en ten opsigte van sy pleidooie vir 'n liberale Afrikanernasionalisme.
Hy het veral bekendheid verwerf vir sy verhale Somer (in Engels, Vlaams en Duits vertaal) en Laat vrugte. In 1942 is Die Hertzogprys dan ook vir Laat vrugte aan hom toegeken.
Hy sterf op 8 julie 1957.

• Boodskap op SA Genealogie Forum

Boodskap 4d. Re: Trekboere
Posted by: "Elizabeth Oberholster" aperico@mweb.co.za lizoberholster Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:19 pm (PDT)
Daniel
Christiaan next married Maria Elisabeth OBERHOLZER, daughter of Guillaume Johannes OBERHOLZER and Anna Maria Elizabeth VILJOEN, on 23 Aug 1893 in Edenburg. (Maria Elisabeth OBERHOLZER was born on 16 Nov 1870, christened on 12 Feb 1871 in Edenburg and died on 10 Nov 1918 in farm "Poortje", Edenburg.)
Hierdie volgens Cornel Viljoen se "My People Puzzle" te http://www.mypeoplepuzzle.co.za/cornel_viljoen_research/index.htm.
Jy sal heelwat meer oor hulle daar kry. Groetnis
Liz

Bronne:

1. Huweliksregister - https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/DGS-004763130_00530?cc=1910846

My gunsteling gedig wat n baie groot indruk op my gemoed as 13 jarige seun in standerd vvyf gemaak het:

"Waar Ruwe Rotse", wat handel oor die ware gebeure van 'n seun wat in 'n klipskeur vasgeval het en dan, nadat daar dae lank vergeefs geswoeg is om hom uit te kry, sy pa smeek om hom te skiet.

Waar ruwe rotse teen die hemel klim,
waar morerooi se eerste traanglans glim,
waar aasvoëls hoog in sirkelbane sweef,
hul rou gekras in afgronde laat leef;
waar grou-wit kranse na die klowe val,
gekeep-hou tot spelonke bo 'n dal;
waar oopgeskeurde klippekake wag
met draketande wat daar grynsend lag –
daar knal opeens geweerskoot bo die kruin
en eggo’s antwoord hard met skelbasuin.
Die dassies wip verskrik oor gladde krans,
patryse saai vlerktrillend uit hul skans.
Skuins glip 'n voet en drillend val 'n roer …
'n skerp geskuur – 'n pad wat afwaarts voer.
Twee hande gryp 'n bos, die angs oorstelp,
benoud klink uit die diepte: “Here, help!”
Twee vader-oë kyk verward … sy seun,
die afgrond lag oor wilde skuurgedreun.
Die kruit en stof vlek oor die lug se blou,
die vader bly sy hand oor sy oë hou.
En dan gewaar hy in die skemering
sy kind, deur rotseskouers vasgedring.
'n Riem rol na die seun daaronder neer,
“Bind vas, my kind...en Pa die sal probeer.”
Maar dis vergeefs...die kransedraak hou vas,
die riem bly stukkend breek, kry las op las.
En hulp snel by … die rotsetande gryns,
hier moet die mensverstand terug voor deins.
Dan klaag daar uit die diepte, sag en flou:
“Ek smeek dat Pa my skiet … en nou …”
'n Roer die bewe in die growwe hand,
sag sif in skemerafgrond korrels sand.
Vas lê die kolf teen vaderskouer aan,
en langs die sneller glans 'n afloop-traan.
“Vergeef my, God!” … ’n skoot gedemp en dof …
en bo die bergegraf styg kruit en stof.
Nog skuur iets rog’lend in die diepte daar,
dis stil … die aasvoëls kras … ’n vader staar.