r - ...ARYOFPRINU . NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION. In preparing a new edition of these pages for the press, no better introduction can be found, than the following extract from a recent English magazine. It is Lom a paper on "Missionaries' sacrifices," written bj' the late Dr. Livingstone (and no man knew Africa better than he), and famished for pub- lication by his family since his death. The whole article would be well worth copying did space allow. " A monstrous idea once obtained among those from whose own education we might have hoped better things — ' that any pious man who could read his Bible and make a wheelbarrow was good enough to be a missionary ;' and the idea is not yet quite extinct, that more learning and ability are needed for the home pastorate than for the foreign field. " What kind of preaching has been the most suc- cessful at home? The faithful, earnest, affectionate exhibition of the Gospel. It is the same abroad. But the missionary has many more duties to perform than the pastor at home. He is expected to be a model of all the Christian virtues, and perhaps the iv NOTE TO TEE THIRD EDITION. only model his people may ever see. Tie has to adapt his thoughts to a new current, and his abili- ties must be equal to every emergency that may arise. In Africa he is a Jack-of-all-trades without and a maid-of-all-work within. The pastor at home has a whole congregation to keep him right ; he lias fi posi^e comifatus of enlightened deacons to put him right and hold him up when be takes a false step. Is he expected to be able to move with propriety in genteel company ? The missionary more. Even dealing with the rudest tribes in Africa, he finds tliat politeness and good manners go a great way. There is not a woman in the country w^ho will not hsfcen respectfully if you address her by the name mother (ma); and a courteous manner toward the different ranks and degrees of the aristocracy goes as far w^itli thorn as among the higher cu'cles at home. He must do all this in a foreign tongue. His teaching and arguments are all in the same language. It is easy to call the customs of the heathen foolish and be- nighted, and so forth, but to enlighten is quite a dif- ferent matter. We question if many of our home ministers would come off victorious in an argument about rain-making. A missionary has to originate many new ideas, and convey them to those who have not even the words in their lanf]fuaf):e. The idea of moral purity, for instance, or hohness, is derived from the Hebrew, and is found in no language, un- less taken from the Bible. Tliere is no such idea in the heathen mind, nor any phrase to express the full force of the thought. Ihit the home pastor has the whole sacred phraseology ready made. The ti-utli NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION. y seems to be, that the ministers of Christ ought all to be highly educated, whether for the home or foreign field ; and if high education can, in either case, be disjDensed with, it is not the foreign laborer who will miss it least." CHRIS T I AN WORK. ZULUS AS HEATHEN AND AS CHRISTIANS. If you were to come into our Sun day- school any Sunday afternoon, you would see among the infant scholars two little girls about six years of age, who would attract your attention by their bright faces and beautiful eyes. They are the children of one of the best and richest men at the station, and his his- tory is most wonderful and interesting. During the reign of Dingaan, the great and cruel chief of the Zulus, the natives were slaughtered, far and wide, at his will. So cruel w^as he, that every year having sent through the whole country and collected all the young girls, he selected a certain number of the prettiest for his wives. Having brought them to his kraals, he gave orders to his chiaf men, and they sent out and killed all those he had chosen the year before. So year by year great numbers of young Zulu girls perished. The father of Kalo, and grandfather of these two little girls in our infant-school, was one of Dingaan's head men. But one day suddenly he was charged with witchcraft and dragged away to be killed. His wife, fearing or rather knowing her fate Avould also be death, fled in the night from her kraal, with her a) 8 CHRISTIAN WORK baby-girl on her back and her little boy Kalo by her side. She traveled far, across plains and rivers, but having gone during two days without food, Avas ready to lie down and die. Then she remembered having heard there was a missionary, six miles off, who was a " man of mercy." Leaving her little boy in the bush, as he was too weak to travel further, she crept slowly on and finally reached the station. Going to Mr. G., she said, " I am starved and dying, but I give myself and my children to you to do as you please with us. They say you are merciful." Having taken food, she hastened back to the bush and found her boy. The tliree were then taken under the care of the missionary and are now all Christians. The old mother totters to church on Sunday, bringing with her the baby of her daughter, who is married to a young man, and they live iu a pretty little house up on the hill. Kalo lives across the river, and when I went over there the other day, I was struck with the exceeding neatness of every- thing and the air of prosperity on every side. He is zealous in his work for others, and gives abundantly of the money which he says God has given him. And so to each of these clothed and Christianized natives the missionary has proved " a man of mercy," and the Gospel of Jesus Christ a message of salva- tion, temporal as well as eternal. SUPERSTITIONS. Quite an important part of the Zulu community is the body of witcli-doctors and rain-doctors, who IJSr ZULU LAND. 9 are generally men, though occasionally a woman is considered " divinely called." They are very shrewd and sharp, and wonderful are the stories told of them, and of the ways in which they secure the faith of this people. They discover those who are be- witched, and the king causes them to be put to death. They detect those who steal and those who kill; they also bring rain and cure diseases by their medicines, their fires and incantations. At least ail these things they claim to do, and the means by which one of them here recently detected a thief shows no little shrewdness and ingenuity. The *' doctor" collected all the tribe, and having emptied a hut told the people it was a bewitched place, and the chicken which he placed in it would be the spirit of their fathers. Having taken a fowl he rubbed it all over with screase and then smeared it with red clay. One by one the men were ordered to go into the hut and place their hands upon the fowl, when it would speak and accuse the man who stole of being the thief. Each went in, and being conscious of his innocence did not fear to handle the chicken with confidence. The real thief, however, fearing to touch it, so superstitious was he, did not put his hands on the fowl. When all had been into the hut, the doctor pretended all were innocent, and then suddenly called upon them to raise their hands and cry to the spirits. Of course all their liands, save those of the thief, had some remains of the red clay from off the fowl ; and when the doctor spied his clean hands he rushed upon him, and the poor, frightened fellow confessed his guilt ; while all the 1* 10 OmilSTlAN WORK poo])le more than ever believed in the inspiration of the wondrous doctor. Thoiioh some few of them have become Christians, these doctors, as a chiss, are hard and wicked, and do more harm than can be imao-ined. One of them not long since destroyed a great tribe of people. The chief had a plan of attacking some kraals near by, and his people not entering into it, he applied to the doctor for the means to make them all unite zealously in the work of plunder and destruction. The doctor told them, without revealing his object, that the spirits ordered them to slay all their cattle and plant no grain that year. He told them also that the spirits said they would raise all their cattle to life again. The people doubted him somewhat, so in order to assure their faith, he determined to practise a deception upon them. His object in hav- ing them destroy their cattle and their fields was to make them hungry and desperate, and then they would be ready to join the king in his attack and Avork of devastation on the enemy. On a certain day be called them all to assemble at a large pond of water and reeds. Taking the heads and horns of many cattle, he placed them on men's shoulders among the reeds. He then found a girl who was a ventriloquist, and having hidden her, he muttered and burned incense, and then called out for the spirits to speak. The girl called out, " I am .the mighty spirits of the dead, I rest not, and at my bidding the cattle that are dead shall rise again." IMany more things she said while the doctor mut- tered and moaned and performed rites too numerous m ZULU T^ND. n to mention, and at last the voice of the spirits cried, "Come forth," and out rose from the water and the reeds the heads and horns of the cattle, and moved in various directions. The superstitious people were at once convinced ; they slew their oxen and cows by thousands, and when the time was past, they were without food. The witch-doctor was among the first to perish, for the people, instead of being desperate, were too weak to move, and so they died miserably. A few staggered ofl; hoping to reach a neighboring tribe and obtain food, so the road was strewn with the bodies of the dead as they fell by the way. A few, the chief among them, reached a place and were fed and cared for, but the whole tribe of the Am- axosa perished from the face of the earth. Some of the natives around, to whom the Gospel had been preached, cry out that God sent this as a judgment upon the tribe, because they had driven out and even killed missionaries who had been sent to them, and had clung to their wickedness and heathenism with determination, until they perished and fell by the way. Truly God " broke them in pieces like a potter's vessel." ZULUS AS CHRISTIANS. CONTRASTS. Formerly the Zulus wore no clothing ; now they dress well, comfortably, even handsomely when they can afford it. Formerly they lived in kraals^ 12 CHRISTIAN WORK or huts of wicker-work, like a large bee-hive, the door so small they were obliged to creep in on their bands and knees; now they have villages and settle- ments, comfortable houses, some woven and plas- tered with clay, others of brick, with thatched roofs, some of them containing several rooms, nicely fin- ished and furnished. They have also built churches, and one recently completed at Umvoti is of brick, with arched windows and an iron roof, for which the natives have paid $1,750, and promised a sum which will make their whole contribution for buildinjr it $2,922. Formerly the men spent their time in hunt- ing or fighting, engaging frequently in the most bloody and destructive wars, while their women were crushed to the earth with the burden of toil ; now the men w^ork, raising sugar-cane, corn, etc., wdiile they ask, "Are there no missionaries in Amer- ica to tell them not to fight and kill each other ? Since we became Christians, w^e have thought it wrong to fight and to make war." Churches are formed at the difterent stations, numbering from ten to one hundred members. They are examined for admission in the usual manner, and then at the last church meeting before the commun- ion Sabbath, the names are read, and those present are asked if they know anything against them. There is no hesitation, but if any one knows a foult, be it ever so slight, it is brought out ; so that those who are admitted to the church have need to bo blameless, if not perfect. Statements as to one station will serve, with some modification, for all IN ZULU LAND. 13 SUNDAYS. It is a most interesting sight to see the people coming to church on Sunday morning, tlie women and children so clean, and generally dressed in bright colors ; the men in clean clothes, the best they can procure. Beside the " station people," the heathen come in their native undress, rings on their heads and spears in hand. The people sing sweetly many of our tunes to native words. They have a prayer-meeting at sunrise, conducted entirely by themselves, and a large Sunday-school. Some half- dozen of the men go out to the kraals to preach every Sunday. MONTHLY CONCERT. Last week was monthly concert for missions. They sang " Greenland's Icy Mountains " in Zulu, prayed, and at the end each one brought something as a monthly offering. It was most touching to see many women and children, and even babies, put their mites down upon the pulpit. Sometimes a poor widow would ask change, as she could not afford to give all she brought, and out here it was impossible to get change. Altogether they gave, last Sunday, six dollars, and this is their average contribution. Be- side this they contribute funds to support one oi two native teachers, and pay a school-teacher twenty- five dollars a month. 14 CHRISTIAN WORK WEEK OF PRATER. Last week was the week of prayer, and beside the sunrise prayer-meeting which they always have, there was a daily prayer-meeting at 4 p.m., which was full, two or three getting up to speak or to prp- at a time. I could not help thinking they put to shame some Christians at home. Many of the na- tives are splendid orators, their gestures are so strik- ing, and their speeches are excellent. YEARLY MEETING 1863. The yearly meeting is just over. The Christian natives own wagons and oxen, and many make their money by carrying loads; so they have the means of coming quite in state. The evening before the meeting there was great cracking of whips and loud hallooing in every direction. They had meetings with the missionaries and alone, crowds of them, and such splendid-looking men. The chapel w^as crowded with the good people, and they had up for discussion various questions as to the laws by which they are governed, the selling women for cattle, and so on. They gave £72 for two home missionaries, and chose the place to send them. Then we went to the village and saw the people with their visitors, rooms with white curtains trim- med with red, matting on the floors, sometimes sofas and rocking-chairs. At breakfast, coffee and bread and meat. Sunday was the great day; the crowd greater m ZULU LAND. 15 than ever. They sang most sweetly, " Child of Sin and Sorrow," " Greenland," and the " Year of Jnbilee," and had commnnion in the afternoon, two hundred and fifty together. Some of them walked a hundred miles to the meeting, enjoyed it vastly, and returned home, and then we all subsided. 1864. The village rang this morning with the noise of the wagons, whips and voices, as the families went away to the yearly meeting, men, women and chil- dren. Some took their neighbors, who were too poor to hire oxen and wagons, or whose wagons were needed to carry sugar-cane to the mill. In the afternoon, those men who go alone set out on horse- back, all in high glee, and some went on foot. Those who are detained at home by business or illness in their families, meet daily,morning and evening for prayer, to unite in spirit, at least, with those who have gone. THE MEETING. The mission-house is in the centre, with the native houses on small hills around, some of them nearly two miles off. They are upright houses, some of brick, some of wattled sticks plastered with mud or clay. They have just finished a chapel of the same material, holding two hundred people, which is in- tended for a school-house, as the coming year they intend to build a good chapel of brick, to be boarded and seated. Timber is scarce and dear. 16 CHRISTIAN WORK There were six missionaries present. It was a pretty sight to see the '' amakolwa " (believers) arrive. From one direction were seen nine wairons filled with people, and a dozen horsemen. At the same time, on the opposite side, appeared four wag- ons and some forty horsemen. The whooping cough prevailed badly, and many women and children w^ere kept at home. This accounts for the many horsemen. The exercises commenced on Wednesday evening with a prayer meeting, and one was also held each morning at sunrise. Thursday morning one of the missionaries preached to a large congregation ; in the afternoon and evening there were prayer-meet- ings. Friday morning, the most able man among them, Nimbula, preached to them, and in the after- noon was held the examination of the two native Christians who had been sent out to preach the past year. Their names were Umbiyana and Benjamin. They were closely questioned, and gave good evi- dence that they had profited by their teaching in doctrine, etc., and also that they had been taught by the Spirit. They then received a license to preach, signed by all the missionaries. It was a most interesting service. '' What hath God wrought ?" In the evening they met by themselves to talk over raising the money to support these two men the coming year, seventy-two pounds being needed for both. Saturday morning we all met, and they were to hand in their money ; one after another came forward, till, at the close of the meeting, sixty- IN ZULU LAND. 17 eight pounds ten shillings had been put upon the table in gold and silver. In addition to this. twenty- one pounds were subscribed by those who had no money with them, making in all eighty-nine pounds ten shillings (where £72 were needed). Saturday afternoon one of the ladies held a meet- ing with the women, and in the evening all the un- converted were gathered together in one house, and the love of Christ was set before them, while, at the same time, all the " believers " were gathered in the chapel praying for them. Sabbath morning a ser- mon on the love of Christ was preached in Zulu, and in the afternoon about two hundred sat down at the Lord's Table. On Monday we separated. LIFE AMONG THE ZULUS. RANDOM EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. "I have just come in from the dining-room, where was an old woman who was kissing the baby's hand. She was in the Zulu country when old king Chaka's mother died, and a number of people had to be killed to satisfy the Amahlosi (spirits). She and her hus- band and children were among the victims. She ran away with her children just after her husband was taken, but all three of them died of starvation. She says she died too, but was brought to life again to hear the Gospel. At any rnte she survived the star- vation, and w\as found and aided, and brought here. She has a little hut near the Mission Station, and here she has lived for many years. She is very old, 18 CHRISTIAN WORK no one knows how old, and is a most earnest Chris-, tian. " She is very original and quaint in her ideas. The other day we were asking her if the women w^ho came fi-om church told her about the sermon. 'Oh, no,' she said, ' Satan threw his mantle over them, that they might not listen to God's word.' " Did you ever before think of sleep in church as Satan's mantle thrown over the eyes ? " Some of the people have become very intelligent, and are employed as interpreters and translators. One girl whom I have seen has just translated the ' Dairyman's Daughter ;' and ' Pilgrim's Progress ' is now partly finished. The natives are delighted with the last, as they are fond of allegory, and use it much in their own speeches and conversation." The rain-doctors are all powerful, very bad men, and their influence is one great drawback to success in teaching here. They array themselves peculiarly and wear their hair in hundreds of little ringlets, so they are easily distinguished. They pretend to bring rain, to cure sickness, to find stolon property. Their failure to bring rain destroyed all their power at one of the stations, and was a death blow to their influ- ence. After all their efforts had failed, the chief said he had lost all fiiith in them, and he sent to the Mis- sionary to ask him to pray for rain, and that very day the rain came. So one of the doctoi-s finding his occupation gone, goes regularly now to the Mission church, and seems to have given up his pretensions. The people often come to the uiissionaries to pray for rain, and because they wear black or dark clothes IN ZULU LAND. 19 in cool, cloudy weather, and black coats on Sunday, the poor, ignorant people fancy there is some connec- tion between their prayers on Sunday and the wished- for rain. * " Some of the men are very intelligent. I found one studying Barnes's Notes on the Revelations, for his Sunday-school class, and they read our paj^ers, the Observer and Independent^ and others, when they can get them." Not long since a boy came to Mr. , the mis- sionary, and said he wanted to live with him, and work for him. Mr. did not want him, but as the boy was so importunate, he asked him why he was so anxious to come. " Well," said the boy, " my mother lived on the hills over there, in the kraal, and she used to come to your church on Sun- days. When she was sick in her kraal, she called to me and said, ' Go, when I am dead, and live with the missionary ; tell him to teach you to be a Chris- tian. I know very little, but I have heard him tell of Jesus, and I am going to heaven, because I love Jesus Christ. Tell the missionary he sent me there by his teachings.' So," said the boy, " I have come to live with you and to be taught, as my mother wished me to do." There is much just now to encourage us, at several of the stations more seriousness and earnest prayer. At one place a chief and his tribe are begging to be taught and are praying : and here a chief has sent for teachers, and some of the Christian men are going in answer to the call. Though we have no revival, there are about twenty who are anxious to unite 20 CnmSTIAN WORK with the church, and this waking up at all the sta- tions makes us both happy and anxious. There have been some peculiar Providences. One man who was holding out against his conscience lost his child very suddenly, and another who was really an enemy and open opposer was struck dead, though the witch-doctor had told the lightning not to touch him. Chiefest of all, Kalo is dead. I wrote you of a woman who came here with her children for refuge, when she escaj^ed from her husband's murderers. Kalo was that little boy whom she brought on her back. He had become a very prosperous man, with a good house, horses, cattle and twenty acres of sugar cane. He w^as a prominent man, much beloved by the people, and leaves a wife and three children. Kalo was ill about a week, and suffered greatly, but at the last he roused himself and- said, " I so greatly rejoice to go to Jesus in heaven. I feel I am in the right way. Love Him, all of you. Wife, cling to your faith ; teach the children. Keep them as Christians shoidd be. Let us all meet in heaven ;" and as one of them prayed, he died. They dug his grave in the grave-yard, a pretty hill-side, and about noon they came over the river. One of the Amakolwa (chief men among the Chris- tians) led the oxen and anotber drove; an act mark- ing great respect, as such work is always left to boys. The fourteen oxen were all black, and in the wagon were his wife, sister, children and mother, the poor old woman who found a refuge here so many years ago. The "amakolwa" and station people, a hun- djed or more, followed, all the men w^ith black upon IN ZULU LAND. 21 their liats. They went up to the grave and a more impressive scene I never witnessed. In the absence of the Missi.onary the services were conducted by TJntaba, the first convert at that station, and all said as they looked at the coffin, " We cannot feel sad ; we were so glad of his Vv^ords,that he was glad to go to heaven." All these things are having a great influence. According to Zulu law, which the English have not changed, a man's property, including his wife and children, must all go to his relatives, the mother has no power over her own children. So Kalo's family and property would go to heathen relatives away ofi'in the kraals, but I believe in some way this is to be prevented. Such a law often falls with cruel weight upon Christian converts. One of our little scholars, eight years old, died a few days ago, but I think she was ready to die. Often you will see these little children praying in the bush as you pass along. How different this from the heathen. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS. LETTER TO THE ADVOCATE AND GUARDIAN. Natal, South Africa, March, 1864. Mt Dear Mrs. Bennett, — I have been this after noon reading the Advocate^ which is sent to me regu- larly here, and I could not help thinking, in the midst of your records in the city, you might be interested also, to hear of Industrial Schools and visiting among the neglected in this far-off land. 22 CHRISTIAN WORK At our Station here jou would have seen, on Christ- mas clay, as interesting a sight as any room in New York could have shown. First, I must tell you that when the heathen peo- ple leave their *' kraals," or huts, and their wild life, they build nice houses and wear good clothes, as tlieir circumstances will allow. Some, by degrees, become quite civilized and rich, others just live by daily toil and care. On Christmas day we determined to give to all the children of the Christian natives who live at the sta- tion, a 'tree and a festival. To be sure there were many difficulties to contend with — one hundred and thirty children — no nice shop to go to, where we could buy toys, candies and cakes by the quantity. The children and parents were greatly excited, know- ing that something was in progress, but unable even to guess what it might be. Then there was no suit- able tree to be found here, till after long search a bush was found that would answer the purpose, with some trimming and tying of branches. Then came the getting ready of little pin-cushions, and white pieces of cloth worked to represent handkerchiefg; a few toys were given, and some caps made for boys. Thus the one hundred and thirty articles were col- lected, and each marked for the boy or girl who was to have it. Then we prepared some papers with a little candy in them, faint imitations of the mottoes in Broadway windows, and lastly, each child was to have a ginger-snap, a small tray of which, with roses in and around them, made quite a show. So the tree was hung, with an American flag IN ZULU LAND. 23 twined in at the top, the bell rung, and the children and parents came to the chapel ; they were all clean and nicely dressed ; the young people sat on the front seats, and the parents behind. When the tree appeared, you should have heard their exclamations. I could not translate them, nor give you an idea, for the Zulu has his own way of expressing surprise, and so expressive is this, that when we are astonished, it is easier to exclaim in Zulu than in English. Tn their school, of which I will tell you soon, they had learned some of our songs, a translation of " If you don't at first succeed, Try, try again." One also of" Happy Land"— and in English, " Come, tell me how the bread is made," and " We are all noddin', nid, nid, noddin'," songs which I have often heard from the children at the Home. We had three or four of those toy snakes which so delight boys at home, and we had expected the same of the large boys here, whose names we had placed upon them. But these children hate and fear snakes above all things; they know how poisonous they are, how they abound, and how many die from their bites. Judge of our surprise when, as they espied the toys coiled in the tree, they screamed, even the babies, so that it was difficult to persuade them that these were only imitations of their hated inyoka. After the singing, and a speech to them in Zulu, each child's name was called, each received with real joy the present, cake and candy, and each returned to his place. I am sorry to say at all the festivals in America, I always saw boys and girls who were dis- 24 CHRISTIAN WORK contented with their gifts, but with us, on Christmas day, every little black flxce looked not only content- ed, but delighted. Presently a little boy held out his motto and said, " What are we to do with the books?" When they found there was something sweet inside, there was such a commotion and scram- bling ! Some of the little ones tried to eat paper and all, while others, having eaten the candy, tied the papers up and returned them to us. After singing again, home they went, their voices and penny whistles sounding over the hills, and we beard the latter for many weeks after. The parents stopped to thank us, and to say it was the nicest and happiest day they ever enjoyed, and that it was as much a treat to them as to their children. Thus there were some houses in Africa that had their " Merry Christmas." I am glad Christmas was such a happy day to all the schools in New York. Now for some history of our schools here. The children vary in number at the diiferent Stations ; in one of the schools there is a mixture of Kaffirs, Zulus, Hottentots and Bushmen, with an occasional child in whose veins runs some Dutch or English blood. The school-hours are much the same as with you, the children going home at noon to eat their corn-por- ridge or mush. Of course, food is very abundant for them here. As to clothing, the children in the kraals, or native villages, go quite naked until they are about ten years old, when they wear a simple band of skin or beads about the waist. When they come into the Stations the parents clothe them as well as their means will allow, and in general, we manage to have m ZULU LAND. 25 them quite neatly dressed, by giving them a dress or shirt, in exchange for chickens, corn, potatoes, pumpkins, etc., of which they raise an abundance. At nine the children come in as the bell calls them, each makes a bow and says, " Saka bona," and takes his seat. They then sing, for they know many songs in both Zulu a?nd English, then they repeat the Lord's Prayer and their lessons begin. I wish the good people in America, who think Afri- cans below white people in talent and quickness, would just take a Zulu school. Of course there are stupid ones, but in the experience I have had, as a whole, they are much quicker in learning than most white children. Those who have been regularly in school, can all read Zulu, down to children five years old ; and most of those over ten can read English also. All can write, better or worse, some of them very well. They can repeat the whole multiplication table, and do a sum in fractions or reduction as fast as their pencils can fly. They are taught marching, clapping hands, etc., and the discipline, as far as possible, is the same as in. our public schools at home ; they also study geography and Bible lessons. There are many of them who will repeat a hymn or psalm w^ithout a mistake, after hearing it once read, and they will even learn in that way a song in Eng- lish, although they do not understand the words. The other day I saw a girl about ten years old, take the book and learn the first seven Psalms in less than half an hour, repeating the w^iole without any prompting, as fast as she could speak. You can see then, that the difficulty in our Industrial Schools 2 26 CHRISTIAN WORK does not consist in the children being " poor stupid thini^s," as mnny suppose. They lead naturally such a wild life, that anything like system is very hard to submit to. They do not sing in their wild homes, and their first attempts at singing make you ready to stop your ears and flee ; but when they do learn, they sing well, and at all hours of the day and night you hear theii* voices ringing out, here and thei-e, until even the babies call out as you pass their houses, and by some imagi- nation you can fancy they are trying to sing the sonsfs their older brothers and sisters have brouo^ht from school. When I taught them the first songs with motions of the hands, songs which quiet many a restless little class at home, they were astonished beyond measure, looked, rolled their eyes, and finally a little boy turned to his next neighbor and exclaimed, " I won- der if the teacher thinks that we are deers, that we should do this !" So you can look in and see us in imagination at the daily school, Saturday singing-school, and Sun- day-school, and feel glad that these teachings have gotten a foot-hold in Africa. As a rule, the girls come to the school clean^ and the work is not assisted (!) by finding the hands well covered with taffy or mo- lasses candy, as I used to find in New York. I am glad there are no candy stalls to take the Sunday pennies, and produce the sick feelings and sticky hands, with the temptation to deny the candy when the unmistakable odor proclaims it. We all know how that is. IN ZULU LAND. 27 TWO AFTERNOO?^ WALKS 1^ ZULU LAND. TROTH THE MISSIOKART HERALD. HEATHEN KEAALS. I should like to tell you of two afternoon walks, to show you a few of the effects of Christianity in this land. Imagine a heathen kraal, composed of a circular inclosure for the cattle, with twenty low huts around it, having holes through which to crawl into them on hands and knees. Here we made our first afternoon's visit. This kraal is about half a mile from the chapel and our house. As we came near, we were greeted by numerous Zulu curs, the meanest of all mean animals. A small boy peered out, and seeing the missionaries, out of respect to us, he immediately began knocking the dogs with sticks, thereby much increasing the noise, of course. We made our way into the kraal. The father, an old gray-headed man, with a shaven head, and the usual black ring on the top of it, was squatted against the hut, doing nothing. His old wives were around a fire inside, on which was a pot, filling the hut with an odor anything but pleasant. The con- tents of this pot one of the wives was stirring with a stick. When the food is sufiiciently cooked, each will seize a stick, thrust it into the pot, and then lick off what has adhered to it, until the pot is empty. To the left, the men, from twenty to forty years of age, were sitting and standing. Some were drinking beer, some smoking, and some whittling pieces of wood. 28 CHRISTIAN WORK As "we entered the kraal, some twenty children of various aires, small ones on the backs of the laro-er ones, and all in want of clothing (in fact they have nothing on), came forward staring and wondering. Then up the hill came the women of the kraal, with babies tied on their backs by goat-skins, and hoes over their shoulders, talking as if they were trying to see which could speak the loudest. Indeed, all the inhabitants of the kj'aal were talking in their usual loud pitch of voice, of which you can form no idea. As soon as we could make ourselves heard, we began talking to the men, inquiring about the health of the people, their crops and cattle. Some were too tipsy to reply, but some spoke very well, and showed the respect wdiich is universally felt for the wives of missionaries, as well as for the mission- aries themselves. As I walked away, I said to the old man, " Do any of the children read ?" " Oh, no !" was his answer, "books .are bewitched, and we want our children to let them alone." " But don't you see how happy aud comfortable the people and children are who have books and read?" "Yes, they are well off, truly, but we want our children to let them alone." Just then came the cry, " A snake !" and a poison- ous serpent glided into the kraal. We jumped aside and cried, " Kill it !" " Oh, no !" said the old man, " It is the spirit of my father, we can't kill it. The spirit is angry, we must kill an ox for it." "And pray what do you do with the ox?" '^ Oh, we put a part of it in a hut, and the spirit goes at night and IJ!^ ZULU LAND. 29 eats all it wants and we eat the rest ;" which " rest " is the whole animal, of course. We noticed among the women a young, bright looking girl, whose freshly reddened top-hnot^ and bright brass buttons on the goat-skin hanging down in front, which forms the distingni'shing part of a bride's dress, showed her to be a bride. The chief man, or father, invited us to enter a hut and eat some sour curds, but as we looked in and saw calves there, we told hira we preferred to remain outside. The hut was filled with smoke, as there was no chimney, and the outer air was far more pleas- ant. These kraals and huts are full of cockroaches, to say nothing of many other disagreeable insects. The sour-milk pot, when the people have eaten, is hung on a peg in the hut, and in a few minutes myriads of roaches are in it. If you should say to tlie man, " Do look ! See these creatures !" his reply would be, " The poor little things are hungry, let them eat." When he next wishes for food, he will take the pot, and without washing it, will shake the creatures off, fill it and eat. This is a very little thing, for the dirt and practices of these kraals may not be told. If they might, there would be many a word of astonishment from you all. Nothing is too dirty for the people to handle, and if their hands feel dirty, rubbing them togetlier, or rubbing them on their bodies or heads, is all-sufficient to cleanse them. And the filth of their conversation, of their morals and souls, is worse than that of their bodies. Yet, with all this, there is a shrewdness and smartness very attractive — nothing slow or stupid. 30 CHRISTIAN WORK Their brown faces shine with smiles and intelligence, and their mouths are full of words of wit, and, I was about to say, of wisdom. It certainly is one kind of wisdom. I suj^pose the friends will not feel hurt if I say, that many a Zulu is the image of some American friend, save his black skin. Many times a month a stranger will appear, and one of us will cry out, " Who is it he looks so much like ?" Then, after a little thinking, " Oh, yes ! it is Mr. , of Boston, or Mrs. , of New York." A learned man has lately been here, making examinations of the heads of Zulus and of Coolies from India. In each case he found the Zulu skull contained the most brains. HOMES OF CHRISTIANIZED ZULUS. On the second afternoon we visited the homes of the Christian Zulus, which lie in all directions about us. The first thing we saw was a pretty, white cottage. Orange trees were planted in rows be- side it; and on the well-swept verandah stood the owner, a fine, tall man, in straw hat, blue shirt and black trowsers, just returned from his fields. He said, " Good afternoon," inviting us in ; but as his w^ife was away we did not enter. To the right, among the trees stood another house. On entering the dining-room, we found the mother in a calico dress and red turban, sewing, with her baby beside her. In the centre of the room was a table, and by it sat a girl sewing and a boy study- iuGf his book. Two little children were runnini; about the room. One of them came to my side and m ZULU LAND. 81 repeated the lesson lie had learned that day in school, Sf^eming very proud that he had remembered it. The room contained chairs, book-shelves with books, a sort of cupboard with cups and saucers, etc. In the bed-room I saw a bedstead, the bed was covered with a patch-work quilt, and had pillows and blankets. All this, together with the well- dressed children, gave the house an air of com^foit. The man and woman are both earnest and zealous Christians. A little beyond this we came to a brown cottage. In front of it a girl, about eight years of age, was teaching the baby to walk. In the parlor, on a sort of sofa, sat a girl, of perhaps nineteen, cutting and makinfy a dress. The father was readins: aloud, while his wife, fresh and pretty, was sitting near at work. The little children were playing with a rag doll — a very good article, made by the mother. The mother reported that " Jeremiah," a small boy of three summers, was trying hard to sing the song he heard me sing in school on Saturday. By the way, this mother is a genius in cutting and fitting, and making pretty things, and the young people resort to her to be taught this art. Beyond, we came to a red brick house, a flower garden in front, curtained windows and matted floor. In the parlor stood a table, with ink, pens, paper, books, etc., on it, and a clock ticked away merrily on the shelf. The table was set for tea in the back room, with cloth, plates, cups and saucers, spoons and forks, bread, butter and sugar, while hot coflee was ready, of which the cup we drank was very 32 CHRISTIAN WORK acceptable. This mother is a most excellent and AvcU taught house-keeper, and the whole family are always dressed neatly and prettily. I asked the father what he did evenings. " Oh," he said, " we light the candle, my wife sews, and I teach the chil- dren their lessons for school the next day. When that is done, we pray, sing a hymn, I read a chapter, and we go to bed." This man's family includes, be- sides his own children, some brothers, cousins and friends, young men and girls, who have broken away from heathenism and their kraals, clothed themselves, and now are civilized, and many of them Christians, members of the church here. The little two-year-old ling held up her foot as we came out, with the remark, so common in childhood at home, "See, I've got new shoes." Just as we passed out, two old women went by, with a greeting to us. They left heathenism when already old. Though ignorant, they are sincere followers of Christ. Many a poor old woman, cast off by her heathen husband, first learns here the sweet story of old, and "believes;" though, per- haps with too little eyesight to learn to read for her- self. But her grand-children will get the book of God and read to her, while she listens and wonders. As we came toward the next house, the other side of the orange trees, we heard a scream, and sudtlenly a dozen boys, of about ten years old, dashed out from behind and ran towards the river. Their blue and white shirts and caps showed plainly that they were the children of civilized parents. The head one struck up, " Pleasant is the Sabbath bell ;" to m ZULU LAND. 33 which the others added, " In the light of God ;" showing that they were the children also of Christian parents. Had we been a little earlier, we should l^ive met these and many other boys and girls, with bags of books on their shoulders, going home from school to the white houses, dotted here and there, all over the hills. These boys were going for their afternoon bath — for they have to give an account in school daily as to their washing. A dirty pair of hands is a disgrace not to be thought of. These mothers and fathers were once such as we saw in the afternoon visit to the kraal. Various influences, through God's ordering, brought them to the missionary families, where they were trained and taught. Their children and children's children will tell of the wonders of God's dealings. We should like to take with us, for one of these after- noon walks, some of those who say, " What is the use of missions?" "What can be done for such creatures as these black people ?" If they were not convinced and their questions answered by what they would see, we should have to conclude they were more deficient in mind than the black people whom they profess to despise. 2* 84 CHRISTIAN WORK THE TWO DEATH-BEDS. FROM THE CONGREGATIONALIST. Come with me near to that kraal. Within the hut to the left, on the ground lies a woman. The face is turned to the floor, and with a blanket about her she lies in silence. About her are a crowd of nearly na- ked women talkino; and lauo-hins;, and makius; noises which would seem sufiicient to kill a well person. If you approach the sick woman and speak to her, she makes no reply. She knows she is going to die, but all is dark, and the heathen custom is to turn the face away and not speak a word, and so in silence and horror to close the eyes in death. Comforts there are none, food there is none. All you see is the dark hut, the noisy women, and the speechless form of the dying woman. After your vain attempts to speak with her, you sit down. She dies. Then your ears are assailed Avith wails and cries, for all those noisy women hasten without the hut, and each seems to vie with the other in making a howling noise which sounds far off over the hills. The body is left alone in the hut. The men, her nearest relatives, dig a hole outside the kraal, hurry in. seize the body, and, head first or feet first, thrust it in. The hole is filled, the hut and clothes where she died burned up, and the name and face of that woman have passed from earth never to be mentioned or thought of again. Thus does the heathen die ; I have seen it ; and oh ! the horror, the darkness, no words can tell. JN ZULU LAND. 85 Up in that white cottage on the hillside, where that young man and his young wife live so happily, death is cominof, coming^ there ! In the little room, ou the bed, propped up with pillows, lies that wife. Beside her are some of the station women with sad hut quiet faces. One is holding her hand and talking with her of Heaven and her Saviour, Listen ! The sick woman opens her eyes and speaks. " I know I am dying, but why should I fear to ^o home ? I love my Saviour, I love my God, I have no fear, all is so bright." One of the women looking so sad, yet so peaceful, comes to the bedside, and kneeling there says, "Let us pray." As they all kneel, she asks God's presence there, his light in the dark valley, his heaven for the departing one; and as they rise, the dying woman murmurs, " Jesus, my Saviour," and she has gone from Africa's dark land to the land where there is no darkness nor gloom. They dress her in white, and as she lies in her coffin her face says, " Peace, peace." The coffin is carried, followed by many to the grave-yard. ^ A hymn, a prayer, a few words, and her body too is gone from sight ; but her name is on our lips, her life and death are to be in our hearts and on our tongues. Her husband is alone, but no superstition and darkness are there; he says God took her, and he cannot mourn or complain. " How could I mourn when she spoke such words ? when 1 know she is with Christ? Had she died in darkness, I could weep and complain, but to die in Christ, is to live." 36 CHRISTIAN WORK I would that those in America who say a mission- ary's life is vain, his work for naught, could witness these two scenes on the liillside in this African land. I would that the wide ocean did not prevent them from such a view. Full well do I believe each un- believing one, with upraised hands, would return to his Christian land and home, and if others said the work in Africa was vain, would cry out, " No, not in vain, for I have seen, yes, I have seen !" TISIT TO A KRAAL, yKOM THE BOSTON RECORDER. Umvoti, South Africa, May 27, 1865. Many a time, when I lived in my dear American home, have I heard business men say, when talking of their cares and daily life, " They separate us from God ;" and many housekeepers and mothers said, " It is hard for us to keep near God amidst our cares ;" and invalids, with pain and suffering for their earthly l^ortion, said, " These draw us from God." We, too, in our missionary life, find much to make us say, " How can we keep very near our God ?" Not many weeks ago a young man, lately from a heathen kraal, came to see me, and expressed a very strong desire to learn to read and write. Ilis face and manner were so interesting, that I inquired where his home and parents were. He said he lived with some of the Christian Zulus on the station, but his father, with his wives and children, lived in a kraal a mile or more distant. He spoke also of a m ZULU LAND. 37 brother, about bis own age, who was ill and unable to move. As I became more interested in the vounsr man, I wished much to see his brother v/ho was ill, thinking if nothing could be done for his health, per- haps he might learn, and find pleasure in books. The heathen natives are generally fearful that books will bewitch them, and I knew he was but a heathen. Putting a "Tract Primer" in my pocket one after- ternoon, I got on my horse to go to Mali's home, for such I learned was the invalid's name. The way was long, and through high African grass, with no good road, so I was glad of the horse's help in reaching there. But at the kraal entrance the father, a tall, fine-looking man, met me, and to my request that he would hold the horse for a few moments, replied he was afraid the horse would bite him ; and nothinof would induce him to touch it. These Zulu "kraals" are composed of a circle of huts, looking like bee- hives, with an entrance to each at the side about two feet high. Threading my way along, and leading the horse, I entered the enclosure. On the ground outside, by one of the huts, was seated the young man whom I had come to seek. His face and expression told of intelligence and a kind heart, but his words soon made me know that his body below the waist was useless, and he had no power to move, except his hands, arms and head. He seemed, though a mere heathen, to rejoice at the idea of learning to read, and I determined to give him his first lesson then and there. As there was no stick or stone on which to sit, I was obliged to use the ground for a seat, .38 cnRlSTIAN WORK which was not very easy to do, and hold a restless horse. But Mali began his lesson with such zeal, I soon forgot all else in wondering at the rapid way he learned the alphabet that short halt-hour. On leaving, I gave him the book, and charged him to study well and much. A few days after, I started on foot, and after rather a liard walk through grass and over brooks, Avas nearing the kraal, when in a narrow path I met two men driving a cow. Cattle are above price to a Zulu, and no sacrifice is too great to make for them. These men, therefore, had given the path to the cow, and were walking through the grass and bushes. I kept in the path, however, until when close to the cow's head one of the men drove it out of the way. At the same time, looking at me very indignantly, he remarked, " Don't you know enough yet to get out of the way and leave the path to a cowV" Certanly the rales in America and Zulu-land are different as to the politeness which is due to cattle from people ! On reaching the kraal I found Mali all delight at seeing me, and his flither said he had been made happy by the first visit. He had not only remem- bered all the letters perfectly, but had spelled out words and read in the book. And so it was that in a short time, with no help but such as my occasional visits afforded, he learned to read. His delight, as one new idea after another opened on his mind, was pleasant to see. He had heard but little of Christ, and everything he could read of his love for man seemed to touch him deeply. It was, then, hardly a surprise, yet a joy, when he one day said to me, " 1 m ZULU LAND. 39 pray to my Father in heaven now very ranch. I love my Saviour who died for me. I hope I am his child." lie told of the joy he found in loving Christ, of the lonely and unhappy days he had formerly had in the thoughts of his hopeless illness, and no bright spot to cheer those days. He contrasted with this his pres- ent delight in reading, the hours he spent in singing hymns from the little hymn-book, and the ever-con- tinuing joy of learning, and above all, spoke of the constant nearness of Christ. I looked around as he was speaking. There were the enclosure, the bare ground, the four low huts, with the holes to enter them, and within only dark- ness and cold, or a fire and smoke. The father and his wives and children were unclothed. Furniture and comforts of any kind were not to be seen. The day long, dogs barked, children cried, men scolded and quarreled, women talked at the highest pitch of their voices. Of what was good he heard nothing ; and yet as he sat in such a place, unable to move, in bodily pain and weakness, and his two books only to cheer him on in what was good, he did not say, " It is hard to keep near to God." And so the days and weeks pass away, and many a lesson can he teach of joy and peace in believing, even among the sur- roundings which would seem to separate him from his God. His brother is also a Christian now, and when he meets the brother who is ill*, they pray to- * This boy lias recovered. As tlie application of electricity was impossible, they tried washing with soap and water, with dry rubbing and rough friction, and he regained the use of hia limbs. 40 CHRISTIAN WORK gether for their parents and friends who have none of the joy and peace they have found. Their father now mourns because his sons have left their heathen home and ways ; yet he does not evince the violent opposition which some parents show. In a kraal near to us, one of the sons left his paren.^^ and came on to the station. His friends caught him, as he was passing their home one day, took off his clothes and burned them, obliging tlie young man to stay with them by force, and making him drink their native beer to intoxication. He at length succeeded in running from them and returning to the station. They made one other attempt to take him, and then decided to let him stay and be a Christian if he chose. He very eagerly began to learn, and made great pro- gress. At the time when some of his young friends were professing their faith in Christ, he decided to unite with them. And now he and many more such young men, who left their kraals amid persecution and unkiud treatment, are joining together to pray for their parents and brothers and sisters, and do all in their power to lead them to Christ. The parents often at last say, " It is good that our children be- lieve ; but we are too old." Though we are saddened by their refusal to hear with the heart, we rejoice to see their sons and daughters, one after another, com- ing, as they express it, "out of the darkness into the shining- lisjht." Nor do they think, among all their persecutions and temptations, that it is hard in this heathen land to keep near God. Perhaps they may teach us all a lesson in this thing ! m ZULU LAND. 41 ZULU CHRISTIANS. PEOM THE BOSTON BECOEDER. It seoms as if most of our good friends in America thought that a Znhi might be on one day running wild over the hills, heathen and heathenish, and the next day become a Christian suddenly, and change in every respect. I doubt, however, in all the his- tory of this mission, if such a case were ever known. It is slow and gradual, this change, and sometimes it is long before the bright, yet ever-hoped-for end appears. The stations are increased from year to year by the coming of young people from the kraals. Some come for a home among friends, some come for work and pay, and many young girls run for pro- tection against those whom they do not wish to marry. I suppose a few come to the station to be- come Christianized or civilized, but they do change a//, as time rolls on, and seeing the " more excellent way," choose it, and give us joy in our hearts. These " young people " are, perhaps as an average, about sixteen years of age. They come heathen and unclothed, but by degrees the clothing and teaching work in them changes in character and habits, and when God's Spirit comes to them they seem fitted to live as the disciples of Christ, and glorify Him. I have often looked at them, still young and strong and full of life, and thought how each could tell a tale of sorrow and sufferins; unlike those of us Avho ot(?w CD ^ up with good parents in our good land of America. 42 CHRISTIAN WORK Go into one of their schools, where, evening after evening, they write and read, and study many things. Go back into the liistory of each one, and your blood will almost run cold, and you will not wonder that they say they are blessed in their pres- ent life. Here is a young girl who had eight si:)ear- tiirust into her when she was escaping in war and crossing a river. Here is another who was found a child, fastened on the back of her mother, the mother dead, floating on the waters. Here is a girl whose friends sold her for cattle to an old polygamist, and she, in her heart loving a young man, yet sent to the old one because he could pay two more cows for her than he whom she loved. She ran to the station, and the father, partly from fear of the law, and partly by persuasion, has allowed her to remain, and thus will lose two cows. Look at the young men, and it is the same story, not of marriage, for in this they can do as they wish, but of persecution or danger. Among my scholars was a young man with such a fine f ice, so full of intelligence and strength. I noticed that part of the little finger of his left hand was gone, and one day I asked him how it was. " Oh," he replied, " that is my tribe. I am an Ixosa, ray tribe live manv hundred miles from here. In our tribe, when the children are a few weeks old, the little finger is cut oif to mark the tribe, and we none of us have little fingers to our left hands. Our tribe was great and powerful, ])ut the witch-doctors destroyed it. They killed cattle and put their heads on men's shoulders in a pool of water, and then after incanta* m ZULU LAND. 43 tioDS, etc., they made the animals call out and tell the people to slay all their cattle. The people sup- posing the cattle spoke by divine authority, did as they were told. Their food thus was gone, and as the people w^ent to neighboring tribes for food, hun- dreds fell down and died of starvation. I had left my friends and wandered far. Sinking on the ground exhausted, to die, one of the Christians from the Zulu stations found me. He brought me here with him. I am clothed and taught, and now I hope I love the Saviour, whom I should never have known but for God's care of me when near death." His friends are dead, or, if some are living, they are separated by a hostile tribe from here, and he could not go to see them if he would. This young Ixosa is black, but at his side sits a young man, light in complexion, and smiling and happy looking. Who was his father? A young man from one of Holland's first families, a poor lost son. And this father came to a place where no law could control his sins. Wild, he wandered among the Zulus ; like them, yet more low and de- graded. His two little children, with their Zulu mother, were tossed about here and there. The father perished in a Zulu war, and the children, more needy than any Zulu, w^ere without a place to call home. The mother afterward married a polygamist chief, and these two little* children were made as servants to the Zulus, who, low as they were, could not but despise their white father in his greater de- gradation. Thus they grew up, yet going down, down, and now the poor sister, after a life oi" evil, 44 CHRISTIAN WORK is God knows where. The son " Charlie," as we call liim, came to work for a Zulu at a station. This seemed the turning point in his lile. Though grown, he eagerly sought an education, and the inliuence of all around him has raised him up and up. At our last communion he joined himself with the Church of Christ. There, by the river, ia a girl neat and bright look- ing, with a pail of water on her head. We do not need to ask her history. Her kraal is ten miles in- land. She was soon to be sold to an evil old man, and one night she ran away. Her father and broth- ers followed her, and tried to take her back. She refused to go ; and more and more delighted with civilization and instruction, she told us she could not go back to her kraal. The father and brothers be- came determined, and armed with spears, their friends came to help them carry this poor girl off by force. They came nearer and she heard, and trem- blingly waited within a mile of our chapel. As the father walked, an adder bit his foot, and in a few short moments the wretched man was dead. Tiie brotliers and friends affrighted, declared this was sent by their sister's God, and home they went, nor will they dare again come to touch their sister. And thus if you go into our chapel on Sunday ; the pews are full quite back to tlie door. At the end of the pew sits the mother, her little ones by her side, and their father at the door of the pew. They all look happy, and not only clean but pretty. Quiet and devout, attentive and interested, they listen and right well do they sing those hymns and IN ZULU LAND. 45 tunes which in America you use each week. Ask them their early history. They were the " young people " of years ago, and they can tell their tale of suffering and escape, as those who are young now. But they thank their God, with earnest prayers, that their children were born in the light of God's truth, and their greatest desire is that their children be wise and good. You would not see a more quiet, well-behaved congregation anywhere. But I have heard these men, who now are so respect- able and worthy of respect, I have heard them tell of the time when they were little boys. The mis- sionaries had just come, and their parents from curiosity went to see and hear, taking them as chil- dren with them. They sat under a tree, the people " squatting " on the ground around them. Women with babies on their backs, men with dogs by their side, '* young men and maidens." Order there was none. In the midst of a prayer two men would begin to take snuff and sneeze, or a boy would pinch a child and make it cry, women would tickle each other and laugh, and all would beat or pinch the dogs, causing them to howl out loudly. This was the " order " of those days, such noises as you seldom hear in America. These were the heathen congregations of years ago, and there are such now, differing perhaps a very little, from the fact that the people all know now they are expected to be quiet and decent when with a missionary. And we have to feel that our hope of usefulness is in the young. The old men and women say they are too old to pray, too old to learn to love God, and 46 CHRISTIAN WORK with very few exceptions they die as they hare lived. But tlieir children do learn to pray, and see that the young people on the stations are happier and better off than they. There are some families where every child has left his father and come to the stations, and there are some fathei-s who are glad that their children can be tauffht and enlio-htened. There is an old witch- doctor near us, who spends his time deceiving people, boiling roots and old rubbish, and with all kinds of arts pretending to cure or to discover witches or thieves, etc. Yet this man, shrewd and smart, has seen the blessing of light and knowledge. At his desire therefore, all his children are sent to the station, are taught and clothed, and he hopes they will be Christians. Yet he knows his feet are going down to death, his soul doubly darkened with the sin of knowing he deceived the people. We have heard of deaths in the kraals, where the dying seemed, though in heathenism, to be the fol- lowers of Christ. And thus we hope and pray that far from our stations light may penetrate, and many enter heaven whom we know nothing of in this world. We cannot tell of these, but they belong to Kim. " I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep " these are a Saviour's words. IN ZULU LAND. 47 A STRANGE THING. FROM THE CONGBEGATIONAI.IST. Of course the people in America ought to be wiser than we, who are so much cut off from society and influences to make us wise ; but I want to speak of a strange thing which perhaps even their wisdom has not told them. When I first came to Africa, of course I did not understand the language ; and I often wondered, as the natives were speaking and praying, what their words meant. Well do I remember one Sunday ! It was "Monthly Concert," which, as' I was always told in America, is the time set apart to pray for the whole world, that God's " kingdom may come." So do our people regard it, and I suppose that at all the missions they have taught their people the same. On that Sunday which I remember, at the monthly concert one of the men made a prayer. He spoke so distinctly, that with my increasing knowledge of the language, I could understand nearly every word. First, he prayed a few words for themselves, but the prayer was chiefly for others. Yes, he remembered for wdiat the meeting was intended. He remembered that all the rest of the month they could pray for themselves, and the monthly concert he put to its real use, and prayed for the world. He was black, and a short time since, a few years at most, was a savage, wild among the hills. Yet he prayed for the white people over the sea, who were not Christians. He prayed for the Jews, the Mohammedans, the black 48 CHRISTIAN WORE people m Africa, the Chinese, and those who live on the isles of the ocean. Fervently he remembered them all, and for Christ's sake he asked blessings on them all, and that they might be taught and Chris- tianized. It seemed as if a new feeling rushed over rae that day. I was brought up to attend the monthly con- certs since I was a child, and I have attended them in America, in cities, towns and villages ; but because this man's prayer seemed strange, I began to think. I thought he certainly made a good prayer, I thought it was exactly suited to the occasion, and then it dawned on my mind why it seemed a strange prayer. It was because the man was not selfish ; he had a large heart, and once a month he was willing to forget himself and his friends a little, and to remember the world. Perhaps America is not now as it was. Let me re- member ! Brother A — used to pray ; he prayed long and loud for ?y comes twenty miles, and begs to stay and be taught. You can't turn him away; and so make him some clothes, and go without the things so much needed. Then as you hear him praying at nights, you sleep all the happier for the thought of him. I wish there were time to tell all tlie wonderful stories that come, and of so many deathbeds I see lighted with the hope of Heaven. The little hut m ZULU LAND. 87 and the darkness are forgotten, in the joy of these things. Wiil they not help us ? We can not turn people away. When our friends are building such houses and churches, and we only ask for the log of a tree to sit upon ? Now it is the day time, the time to work, and we do not know when we may be unable to do more. The Story of Jim was written for private circu- lation only, since it is always unwise to print any history which may in a \q\v mouths go back and be read by the subject of it. But as the story was printed by a person into whose hands a MS. copy fell, and who knew the expressed wishes of the writer, it was no longer possible to keep it out of circulation. A single word of explanation is needed. The term "Mother" is merely a title of respect, as Teacher or Madam would be. THE STORY OF JIM. T have written to you from time to time of Jim and his history ; but as to-day seems a marked day to me in the long- waited -for answe^^ to prayer in re- spect to him, I think I will write his history in one letter that you can show to others, and perhaps it may help them. The words which are in my heart to-day are these, '• that men ought always to pray and not to faint." While I have prayed and waited these long months I have sometimes nearly "fainted," and al- most thought it was in vain, but to-day 1 stand still 88 CnmSTIAN WORK and see the salvation of God. It was the first week after ^Ir. L died that in Sunday-school one afternoon, I was astonished at the magnificent voice of some one in chapel. It was a voice that carried me back to New York and the concerts in the Acad- emy of Music, when some great singer came from Europe. I listened in astonishment at such a voice there, and it almost made me fancy myself at home again. Looking to see whence it came, I saw a young man, perhaps twenty-five years old. His face was not as good-looking as those of many of our natives, but his forehead was so large and full, that a stranger would say he must have more brains than most people, and altogether there was some- thing striking in his appearance. When we came out I inquired who he was, and they told me he was called Jim, and was a very hard-hearted person ; or, as we should say in En- glish, a wild, hard man. The next day I called the young men to begin their school, and in the evening after nearly all the others had come in, the door opened and he ap- peared. I spoke to him and he seemed pleased, said he knew how to read and write, had taught him- self, but he was anxious to learn arithmetic and many things. His home was three miles away, but as school was in the evening, he would come over every day, and stay with a friend at night, so as to attend. So night after night he came and advanced rapidly in whatever they were all learning. I selected some of the best readers to form into a Bible class for Sabbath evenings, and when I was IN ZULU LAND. 89 talking to some of the young men I casually said, Jim was one of those st-lected for this class. They began to laugh and said, "He won't come. Why, he knows the Bible from beginning to end, and there is not a person, Christian or even missionary, who can reason with him ; he has too much brains to be good, and besides he does not think much of ivomen for teachers." Time passed on and I became more and more in- terested in my scholars, and saw them improve in every way. With Jim, however, I continued just in the place where I began, lie was always at school, always interested, bat I had no more influence over him than I have this moment over the Emperor of France. The universal opinion was that in religious matters he was as learned as any white man, and was an intelligent, thoroughly-studied, and open skep- tic, perhaps infidel. At this time the religious interest appeared amongst us, and you know a very large proportion of the young men became Christians ; al! of his class with- in a few weeks of each other. W^ith all my efforts to see him, I never could succeed in meeting him, excepting his regular attendance at school. I heard of his boasting to one of the people that if I were not a woman, he should like to reason with me, for he knew that he could prove to me from the Bible many things, and that if it were not for making me feel badly, he should like to try. One Sabbath evening in our Bible class the Spirit was very near us ; it was at these times when one and another had come forward to ask the way of 90 CHRISTIAN WORK salvation. Of the ten, I bacl hope of eight as being Christians. On this Sabbath evening Jim came in for the first time. After the lesson was o\er, they began talking among themselves. As they sat in a cii'cle the first spoke, and said, " This week I hope I am a Christian." The second also spoke, and so each in turn ; the class showed deep feeling and there were many tears. The ninth that night ex- pressed his love to Christ for the first time, and Jim was the tenth. When it came to Jim I was standing near him, and I turned and said, " Jim, what have yon to say, yon have heard the others speak?" lie did not an- swer, so I began talking to him, and long and ear- nestly I pleaded with him. All his reply was, " I •wish you would stop speaking, I do not love Christ nor believe in Him, and I do not want to hear any- thing more about it." He spoke so that I was un- able to keep my tears from flowing, and it was some time before I could become calm. Then once more I told him how he was doing, he who knew so per- fectly the plan of salvation, and how tlie Spirit would be grieved away. I can not tell all I said, but if I ever ])leaded with a sinner it was then, and every one in the room was weeping excej^t himself and me. I told him then I had said all that I could, all that there was to say, and that from that night, although he might see me daily, I never again should speak to him on this subject until he spoke first, that there was not anything to say, he knew it all, and he need not fear to meet me again, as these were my last words ; but if he died or I died, he was to remember IN ZULU LAND. 91 that I had been faithful with him, and in God's sight. He did not reply except by saying, "I am going home," and he rose and left the room. The remaining scholars seemed perfectly thunder- struck, and almost heart-broken that he should have grieved me so, and then we joined in prayer for him, and then separated. When I reached vay room I could not sleep, but after thinking of it I saw but one help, that was to pray for him, for except in God there was no power to turn him. Then and there I resolved to pray, and so prayed earnestly, and then I felt quiet, and could sleep. The next evening he was at the school as usual, and appeared as though noth- ing had happened. Still, as I watched him, it seemed as if he were becoming more and more hardened. During the chapel services he paid no attention in pra^-er, did not seem to listen to the services, and would not sing, unless at a time he particularly liked. To Sunday-school he would not come, but came sometimes to the vestibule and sat reading his Bible outside. In all the various interests of the young men he took no part, and kept as far from me as possible. He was constantly having discus- sions with the Christians at the station, and always defeated them, and from the Bible he could so rea- son against what the missionaries said, that if a man listened to him he could almost make him believe like himself. It was true what they said of him, that he knew the Bible in all parts, chapter and verse, and there was not a doctrine or a fact he had not read, and made up his mind what it meant. About this time one of the young men fell into 92 CHRISTIAN WORK great sin, and Jim led bim on deeper by bis power of reasoning and proving, till be well-nigb made sbipwreck of tbe man, wbose mind was less strong tban bis, so tbat be was unable to cope witb bim. ]My beart was very mucb discouraged for bim at tbis time, and my prayer was well-nigb " fainting." But a few weeks after I needed some one to build my scbool-bouse, and being away, I wrote to bim, asking bim to take cbarge of it. He wrote me sucb a pleas- ant letter in reply, tbat it seemed to encourage and help me. He seemed so unbke all tbe otbere in tbis one tbing, tbe caring for me ; all tbe otbers bad by degrees, some sooner, some later, come under my in- fluence. Tbey would Hsten to my sligbtest wish about eveiytbing, and all tbeir concerns were known to me. He laugbed at tbem for it, and wben tbey were kind to me, Or did as 1 said, or told me tbeir troubles, etc, it was sure to bring a word of irony or ridicule from bim. Many of tbem were very care- less at first regarding tbeir clotbes, as to cleanliness or rags, but soon tbis vanisbed. I could not bear to see Jim so, and did everything to persuade him to alter ; but said be, " Ob, it is good enough ; I like it, and tbat is enough ; mucb obliged to you, but I do not wish it otherwise.*' As I said, I asked lum to build, and on my return, as I w^as obliged to go to the place, I saw more of bim, and more and more was I impressed witb tbe wonderful power be might exert for good or evil. I found then for the first time that I was beginning to have tbe least bit of his regard. One day, when, in speaking of a verse, I took the Greek and referred IN ZULU LAND. 93 to it, he seemed to think if I was a icoman I knew something. All these months he had not been to Bible class, but continued regularly at evening school. When I found he was becoming less dis- tant, I suggested his learning to sing by note, as he had such a fine voice, and when he had learned, which was very soon, I gave him charge of the bass to teach the others at our evening singings. I think it was soon after this that he came again to Bible clasB one evening, but as he said something which offended one of the othei-s, he told me the next day he should never come again. It is not easy for me to tell how the change began, I think the first indications were more attention to his dress. I no longer had to feel sorry to see one who really was so superior, looking worse than those who were not fit to be his associates. As he did my work I kept throwing responsibility on him, and making him feel that I did not think him so hardened as others did, and I consulted hira a great deal about many thiiigs. He began to come regularly to the Bible class, and often when subjects came up he would come to me during the week and talk about them. I saw, too, by degrees his tone changed. He no longer tried to dispute everything, to argue that prayer was of no use, that everybody would be saved, and dozens of other such ideas. In our frequent talks on religious subjects, I never spoke to him of himself, and only from his general remarks could I see the change in his thoughts and feehngs. I heard also from a boy living in the same house that " Jim had prayers with them all every 94 CHRISTIAN WORK night," and I beard of his praying elsewhere. I saw his conduct in chapel so different, and his coming into Sunday-school and every other meeting, which before he never regarded. As these changes took place in his relations to others, with myself he became the most thoughtful and docile of all my pupils. I could not say " I wish " about anything, but it was done, and he never would do the smallest thing with- out asking me, beginning then to say "mother," which the others had called me for many months. I began to hear the people talk of " the great change in Jim." Now, if any one disputed a part of the Bible, he reasoned and convinced them, and now, any word against the Bible or in favor of evil was taken up by him, and the objector silenced. I asked him if he would take my Sunday noon Bible class of young men, and the next Sunday with his Bible he came, and since then I have no words to tell you all the good he has accomplished with that class. I began by degrees to depend on him to help me everywhere, and no one dared say anything out of the way when he was near. You may smile, but all this time he was- becoming the neatest person to be seen anywhere. In our talks of the Bible he never said " I am so," but in remarks such as, " we find when we pray," or other words, I could see his rapid growth in Christian life from week to week. About this time the girl to whom he was engaged, a noble Cliristian girl, came to me one day and in talking said, " You can not know the vrondevful change in Jim ; perhaps you remember the night at IN ZULU LAND. 95 Bible class so long ago, wlien yon spoke to him of himself. He came home early ; I was stopping at John's, where he lived. He came in and t'lrew himself down. We said, 'Where is John?' 'At school,' he an- swered. ' Why did you come home first ? ' ' Hush,' he called out, so we waited until John came. He said Jim had talked badly to yoii and broken your heart. The next day, Jim said, ' You had talked to him and he could overthrow your arguments, but he would not because you were a woman, and you asked him if he did not believe ; you spoke to him because you loved him and wanted him to be saved, and he said he would not be talked to so, he did not believe in Chnstian love at all.' " " To-day," added she, '' I was in my garden, and he came out, and sat down and said, ' Do you remember that night ? ' I said * Yes.' Then he added, ' Zita, to-day I am a little child. The first thing that conquered me was our mother's love. I learned to see her love in giving up her home to come to me ; from that I learned the love of Christ. God helping me, I am her child till death, and my Saviour's through etei-nity.' " The girl was speaking with tears when she said, "I always loved my husband for his greatness, but, thank God, through you now I can love him for everything." Since Jim began to teach, the people ask for him to teach them, as " he knows how so much better than others," and his time has been much occupied in such work. Last evening, Ilnbyana, one of our native missionaiies, came and preached from the text, " Come over and help us," a very powerfal 96 CURISTIAN WORK sermon and full of earnestness. Tliis morning I was "wriling in the school-house when Jim came in. It is such an every-day thing, his coming now to see if there is anything for him to do to help me, that I thought nothing of it. He sat down and we talked of one thing and another. He soon said, " What a splendid sermon we had last night; I could sit all day and listen, and it stirs me so." I said, half smil- ing, ''Why, Jim, why don't you go if you like such words?" He replied, " I shall if I live a few months longer." I looked up in surprise and said, "Are you in earnest V "Yes, mother." '* Bat I heard you say some time ago, nothing would induce you to be a missionary." " Yes, you have heard me say a good many other things. 1 speak first now, so you can not say you recalled your words of that Sunday night so long ago; I came to tell you of my heart, how it loves the Saviour." I said, "I have known that a long time. ' " Yes, but I speak first, and from to-day let us talk much, and as I said, I wait to prove myself, for my heart was very bad, and if God gives me power, before long I shall be far away among the heathen. I know I have power, I know I am wise in the Bible and in its truths, and if I have a gift from God I shall be able to bring many to love Him. And now while I live, I pray for power to work here, and that they may be fitted for great good in this world." It is useless to tell you all the words we spoke, or how when he sat down he began writing off the music of a chant, and asked me to try it with him; his voice was true and clear, while mine trembled with m ZULU LAND. 97 the great joy I had found this day. And now while he is doing his work among the sick and ignorant, who was aknost a Saul in evil, and will be a Paul to his nation in good, I thank my God for not having fainted, and if I could speak to those who pray long and almost faint I would say : " Men ought always to pray and not to faint." JAMES DUBE, THE CHIEF. It would seem almost an honor at the present day, to die unsung, to escape some form of eu- logy in print. So much is it the custom to praise the dead, that it hardly matters whether they are of evil or good report ; all are alike praised and glo- rified. And yet in some cases it is hardly possible to say too much. As in that of James Dube, the Zulu, whose history may now be told, as it could not in his life, and may help others to see that as in the time of Paul, so now : God rules and leads, and overturns in His own way. No good picture can ever be gotten of a Zulu, else it would be a pleasure to look upon the face of this noble man — his features and expression so grand and intelligent, his eyes dancing with fun, his teeth glistening as he smiled, always cheerful even in adversity; his fine figure, over six feet high, showing him to be a chief among his people, a veritable noble man. Born far off in the interior, in a little low hut, with a door through which even children can not go except by creeping, like other Zulu infants he ran 98 CHJRI8T1AN WORK about unclad, and as he grew older, was set to herd- ing cattle. His friends and relations so grew up, and are to this day in that land, where their laws forbid books or any teaching or preaching, and all is darkness and the shadow of death. The one business of the men is to fight, and if a man could learn or hear of God, it is but the signal to thrust him through with a spear and end his life and his inquiries together. But it chanced when James was a boy, that war broke out between the tribes and his mother, the wife of a chief; knowing her husband's family to be unpopular with the king, decided to flee and go into the land where she would be under the protection of the British Government. She therefore with her boy set off on foot and walked day after day, sleeping at night in the bush, and lighting fires to keep off wild animals, leopards and lions, who could have devoured them. She had some distant relatives near one of our missionary stations, and joining them, she placed her boy in the home of the missionary, she herself living in a little hut of her own. The first duty of the Zulu boy is to his mother, and James Dube cared for his faithfully. After a time the native tribe to which he belonged came to live near the same spot; for with their inces- sant wars, their liomes are ever changing. The tribe was a division of the Zulu tribe named the Ama- qadi, and their chief was James' uncle. James there- fore was, so to speak, of royal blood, and his friends set themselves at once to get him away frojn the IN ZULU LAND. 99 mission station, and make him assume his rights as chief. As he grew older, this would have secured him hundreds of cattle ; dozens of wives, if he chose ; a life of ease, eating and drinking, the highest glory and desire of the Zulu cliief. But James refused all these things, declined to take cattle gotten by the sale of his sisters (for a woman is valued by the number of cattle which her husband will pay for her), and when his people, who numbered forty kra- als, called him to take his place as their cliief, his answer was, " I want you to take Christ for youi' chief and I will gladly be your servant, and teach you about Him." So he refused all the honors of a chief, and set himself steadily to learning, at length acquir- ing a good education for the land in which he lived, at the same time working for the support of himself and his mother also. The British territory is full of English and Scotch colonists, a large proportion of whom care nothing for religion, and mauy or most of those who do care for religion, despise and hate the "Kaffirs." But it is a fact only to be appreciated by those who know the contempt heaped upon all Kaffirs, that in every part of the colony, by the most abandoned and vicious, as well as the '' Christian" European, James Dube was respected, and all were ready to say, '^He is a Christian gentleman, he shows what a Kaffir can be ; " no one had aught to say against him. After he had gained his education he was chosen as a teacher of his people, and lived on the small salary he received as a teacher, rather than to have the life of ease and the riches and glory of his hea- 100 CHRISTIAN WORK then clneftainsLip. He spent his time and strength day after day and year after year in teaching and preaching to his people, and with wonderful power and success. How many he led to the knowledge and love of the Saviour can never in this world be known. His p»i'eaching was magnificent ; his fine, tall figui'e, his graceful demeanor, his fervid elo- quence, the power and grandeur of his reasoning and argument, the assurance felt by all who heard him, that he acted all he professed — all these things none can know but those who understood his beauti- fully musical and expressive language, and the force Avitli which he compelled them to listen and to re- member his words. He believed what he taught, he did what he taught, and so his words were never lost. Had he been in England or America, and could his sermons have been printed^ his work would not have been ended with his life. But he died in his youth, or before even middle life; disease suddenly cut him off and he went to his rest and his reward. God only knows the self-denial, the liumility of such a life as that of James Dube. We can not appreciate what as a Zulu chief he resigned, in becoming simply a teacher to the com- mon people. He taught and preached far and wide, visited the sick, the fatherless, and the widow ; fed the hungry and preached Christ crucified, until he went home to the Saviour whom he had served. The attempt has been made to report in English some of his fervid appeals and eloquent reasonhig, IN ZULU LAND. 101 but much of their force seems to be lost. The mag- netism was in the man. Even when he spoke English, as in conversation, he won attention and even admiration from intelli- gent men. Is such a life ended for this world ? or does our Lord, when He so early calls His servants, appoint to them a better and more effectual ministry, with no human weakness to limit its power 1 11G54GH 937 rl 05-02-22 321 ffl MS ^ Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 01074 3781