DE VOLKSVRIEND
"THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND"

    DE VOLKSVRIEND has fought for and struggled with the colonists. In the three years 1877, 1878 and 1879, when the grasshoppers ate all that grew, it was indeed a difficult time for her to pull through, as it was for the farmers and the tradesmen. The whole publication was virtually paid for by Mr. Hospers; because our people were not able to pay for their subscriptions on time, and the faithful typesetter, the late W. A. Van Steenwijk, with some other helpers, had to be paid. Many would have given up such a work, but not Hospers. He saw that the closing of the Dutch weekly would do more harm to the colony than another three years of crop failure would have wrought. And therefore the paper stayed in existence, and contributed mightily to the fact that the courage did not sink completely, and that energy did not stupefy (dull).