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 S\ « . < L < C> ^ e - 
 
 Report of a Visit to 
 
 Sierra Leone, West Africa, 
 
 By Secretary S. S. Hough. 
 
 To the Bishops and Directors of the Foreign^Mission- 
 
 ary Society, United Brethren in Christ: 
 
 Dear Co-workers : In carrying out your instructions at 
 the last Board meeting to visit our mission in Africa as soon 
 as possible, I left New York City in company with Prof, and 
 Mrs. E. M. Hursh on the steamship “Celtic,” on November 
 7, 1912. We arrived in Freetown, West Africa, Sunday morn¬ 
 ing, December 1. 
 
 The Freetown harbor presented a fine view. There was 
 a combination of city, water and foot hills clothed with tropi¬ 
 cal verdure, and back of all, mountain peaks. Our rest cot¬ 
 tage on Mt. Leicester, the Albert Academy building and our 
 mission house came in clear view before the ship anchored. 
 It is impossible to describe one's feeling as he sets foot for 
 the first time on the soil of Africa, after having studied the 
 field for years, and after a sea voyage of twenty days. 
 
 Freetown, the big city for the black man on the West 
 Coast, has a‘ population of 34,000. It is without electricity 
 and has no sidewalks. There are no horses and wagons, and 
 only a few ox carts, so the pedestrians have the right of way 
 and thev all take to the middle of the streets with their loads 
 On their heads. 
 
 Our excellent mission house is centrally located in Free¬ 
 town but two squares from the wharf. Here we assembled 
 with our beloved missionaries who were in the city, Rev. and 
 Mrs. J. F. Musselman, Rev. and Mrs. R. P. Dougherty, Rev. 
 and Mrs. G. M. Richter, Rev. and Mrs. E. M. Hursh, and 
 Prof. D. E. Weidler. After refreshments and rest a prelimi- 
 narv conference w,as held and committees were appointed to 
 consider the work to be presented to- the annual conference 
 and the problems to be discussed in the mission council. 
 
 I preached to a large audience in our Freetown church, 
 visited the Albert Academy and addressed the student body 
 at chapel exercises. The splendid grounds and buildings 
 were inspected and I saw the professors, tutors and students 
 in actual class work. Later I had the privilege of sharing in 
 
4 
 
 their annual commencement which brought out a most rep¬ 
 resentative audience of British officials, missionaries, native 
 pastors and prominent laymen. Five excellent young men 
 received the diploma of the institution. If our people could 
 have witnessed this scene it would have sent a wave of en¬ 
 thusiasm throughout our whole denomination. Principal R. 
 P. Dougherty and Mrs. Dougherty have done a noble work 
 at the head of this school. Prof. D. E. Weidler has proven 
 himself a most excellent instructor. 
 
 Four hundred and twenty-one students have received in¬ 
 struction and training in the Albert Academy since it was 
 founded in 1904. I was especially impressed with the repre¬ 
 sentative character of the students. They come not only from 
 widely different sections of Sierra Leone, but bright boys are 
 here from the Gold Coast and Nigeria fourteen hundred miles 
 away. 
 
 After an interview with the governor of Sierra Leone 
 concerning mission and educational work, Rev. J. F. Mussel- 
 man, acting-superintendent, and the writer, accompanied part 
 of the way by Rev. E. M. Hursh, took a trip into the interior 
 to inspect our leading mission stations. 
 
 We traveled from Freetown to Moyamba, a distance of 
 seventy miles on the narrow-gauge railroad which makes 
 on an average ten miles an hour. Our mission at Moyamba 
 is well located. The mission house and church are perma¬ 
 nent buildings conveniently arranged. The school house, 
 however, is utterly unfit for its purpose. The mission’s ten 
 acre farm where cassada, ground nuts, mangoes and oranges 
 are growing, is in good condition. Our church and day-school 
 here are doing excellent work. Of chief importance are the 
 girls now in training in our Girls’ Boarding School at Mo¬ 
 yamba. These girls come from the various sections of Sierra 
 Leone and represent the highest grade of work we are doing 
 for girls in our mission in West Africa. Linder the direction 
 of Miss Odle and Miss Shanklin this school is in a flourishing 
 condition. The girls are taught to do all kinds of house work 
 and sewing in connection with their duties. 
 
 While at Moyamba we visited the jail where eighty-five 
 men were confined, nearly all of them charged Avith cannibal¬ 
 ism. I was granted the privilege of speaking to these prison¬ 
 ers, many of them chiefs and headmen. They all came out 
 into an open quadrangle and presented a most striking ap¬ 
 pearance. I preached through an interpreter using the text, 
 “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord.” God gave liberty, and the 
 truth seemed to take hold of the people in a wonderful way. 
 I never expect to witness another such scene. The depth of 
 
5 
 
 the mystery of iniquity, and the works of darkness in Africa 
 began to take hold of me with a firm grip. 
 
 Before leaving Moyamba we held a conference with eigh¬ 
 teen native pastors, teachers and other workers some of whom 
 had come in from adjacent territory. We were thus able to 
 get an account of the work at out-stations, and at the same 
 time prepare the minds and hearts of these workers for the 
 annual conference soon to be held. 
 
 Taiama was the second station visited. To reach this 
 place we traveled east on the railroad twenty-four miles to 
 Mano, and thence north through the bush fifteen miles by 
 hammock—our trunks, boxes and other articles being borne 
 by carriers on their heads during this journey of five hours 
 from Mano to Taiama. This was my first experience in travel¬ 
 ing by hammock and it was thoroughly enjoyed. Our part)) 
 made quite an imposing procession. We crossed a number 
 of streams of water on temporary bridges, and passed through 
 four of the ninety villages which belong to Taiama as a mis¬ 
 sion center. Night came on as we journeyed over the narrow 
 trail which Avas often completely arched over with Aunes 
 and branches. 
 
 On our arrival at Taiama we received a hearty welcome 
 from Miss Eaton and Miss Akin who for many years have 
 been the Lord’s apostles in this far up country. They are 
 surrounded an all sides by pagan towns and African bush in 
 which wild monkeys, leopards and deer abound. Here we 
 saw paganism as it has been for ages. On Sabbath a large 
 congregation filled our new church, the paramount chief and 
 head men from adjacent villages being present. ReA r . Mr. 
 Musselman baptized nine persons and received .three into 
 church membership, and aider a sermon by the writer the 
 Lord’s supper was celebrated. The Sunday school Avas held 
 at four o’clock in the afternoon. One hundred and five per¬ 
 sons were present. There were two star classes each with 
 a perfect attendance of tAventy-three. The conquest flag Avav- 
 ed OA^er the class which had the largest number present. They 
 were children from six to twelve years, half of whom Avere 
 Entirely nude. 
 
 While at Taiama we visited the place Avhere ReA^. and Mrs. 
 L. A. McGrew, of precious memory, laid down their lives as 
 martyrs for the gospel. We next spent one night at Mano 
 Adhere it seemed as though the whole town turned out to give 
 us an enthusiastic reception. 
 
 Retracing our course, we then traveled to Rotifunk. A 
 great congregation assembled to greet us. The heroic lives 
 laid down for Africa's redemption will forever make Rotifunk 
 a sacred place. Here are the tombs of ReA r . Ira E. Albert, 
 
 i 
 
Conference Quartet. 
 
 Patients in Line at the Dispensary, Rolifunk. 
 
 New Manual Training Building on the right), Shenge. 
 
 I 
 
7 
 
 Miss Frances Williams, Rev. R. N. West, Miss Elma Bit- 
 tie, Rev. E. E. Todd, and of our five sainted martyrs, Rev. 
 and Mrs. I. N. Cain, Dr. Mary C. Archer, Miss Ella Schenck 
 and Dr. Marietta Hatfield. Being dead they yet speak. 
 
 Rotifunk is beautifully situated and the entire mission 
 property is most substantial and admirably adapted for mis¬ 
 sion purposes. We found Prof. Wimmer, Dr. Griggs and 
 Miss Landis carrying forward the day school and medical 
 work with good success. 
 
 A LITTLE WOMAN DOING A BIG WORK. 
 
 I have alwavs believed in medical missions, but never 
 before was I so impressed with this work as during my stay 
 at Rotifunk. I found myself awake early one morning and 
 decided I would go out to the dispensary and await the ar¬ 
 rival of the first patient; but behold, I found nearly a score 
 there already before sunrise and others with bottles and cans 
 coming for medicine. At eight o’clock I returned and spoke 
 to the large crowd about Christ the Great Physician, after 
 which they took their turn for treatment, the women receiv¬ 
 ing first attention. Think of it! During 1901 when Dr. Griggs 
 began her work at Rotifunk, she treated but two hundred 
 patients and received only $85 for the medicine. Year by 
 year the work has grown in such wonderful favor that over 
 seven thousand different persons were treated during the 
 last twelve months and their voluntary payments more than 
 met the entire expense for salaries of missionaries, medicine 
 and the up-keep of the dispensary. From all parts of Sierra 
 Leone persons with various ailments including leprosy and 
 cancerous sores find their way to the dispensary, and to each 
 one the news of a Savior is preached. Dr. Griggs is splendid¬ 
 ly reinforced by Miss Landis and her native assistant, Miss 
 Sarah Cromanty, who is a graduate of our school at Roti¬ 
 funk. 
 
 The church at Rotifunk is well organized. Class and 
 prayer meetings are largely attended and the membership is 
 being well trained in giving toward self-support and for mis¬ 
 sions. 
 
 From Rotifunk we went to Shenge by row boat down the 
 Bompeh River. The distance is fifty-five miles. This is a 
 difficult and uncertain trip, requiring sometimes two full 
 days. One must wait for the proper hour to make the start 
 just as the tide is going out. We rowed with the tide for ten 
 miles, then anchored and slept for a few hours until the re¬ 
 ceding tide ceased flowing. About midnight we waked up 
 the boys who were asleep on their oars, and we started again 
 for the open sea which we reached just at daybreak. Fortu- 
 
8 
 
 nately a good breeze struck up at the right moment and our 
 boys exchanged the power of the oar for the wind on the sails 
 and we sped across the bay to Shenge, twenty miles away, 
 in a few hours. This boat trip was very different from the 
 hammock journey. Wild monkeys could be seen dangling 
 on the branches of the mangrove trees which line the banks 
 of the river, and alligators were heard in the water nearby. 
 
 We found Shenge to be a most charming place. Stately 
 palm trees and mango walks, and the bracing ocean breeze 
 combine to make this an ideal mission station. Here is locat¬ 
 ed the Rufus Clark and Wife Training School which has pre¬ 
 pared so many of our able native leaders. 
 
 Shenge is also noted as the first permanent place where 
 our Church opened mission work in West Africa. Rev. and 
 Mrs. H. T. Miller have been doing hard, faithful work here. 
 A new manual training building has just been completed. 
 The boys in school performed nearly all the work in erecting 
 this much needed building, in which rope making, carpentry 
 and other trades are taught. With proper equipment now in 
 sight from the Rufus Clark bequest, Shenge is destined to 
 become a mighty power in its school, manual training and in¬ 
 dustrial work. 
 
 Rev. Morris Goodrich and his boys who had brought us 
 from Rotifunk to Shenge in their splendid boat, the “Ivy,” took 
 us to Mofus on one tide, in seven hours. The plantation, and 
 the buildings at Mofus were much as we expected to find 
 them. Rev. E. Kingman has done a wonderful work. Thou¬ 
 sands of rubber and other trees are now growing though 
 many have been destroyed by ants and other insects. The 
 tests we are making at Mofus will prove of great value in the 
 future development of this whole section of Africa. 
 
 Fifteen miles by hammock and as many more on foot 
 brought us in one day from Mofus back to Rotifunk where 
 we took the train for Freetown. After reading and answer¬ 
 ing the mail from America and enjoying a rare Christmas 
 season with our missionaries we were off again, this time by 
 steamer, from Freetown to Bonthe, a distance of one hun¬ 
 dred miles to the southeast. Here we saw our excellent 
 church, erected through the heroic labors of Rev. R. Cookson 
 Taylor, of precious memory. We had the privilege of wor¬ 
 shiping twuce with our congregation at Bonthe, the last time 
 at a watch-night meeting of unusual interest. 
 
 After inspecting the work, we crossed from the Sherbro 
 Island by row boat to Bendu on the main land, to see the 
 chapel recently erected by the natives themselves in this new 
 territory, where four thousand persons are living who have 
 been without the gospel. This whole region east and south 
 
9 
 
 of Bendu to the Liberian boundary line is entirely destitute 
 of Christian work, and is the darkest of the dark places on the 
 West Coast. 
 
 Returning- to Freetown we spent three days on Mt. Lei¬ 
 cester in our Bethany Cottage. The atmosphere on the mount 
 was much lighter and cooler than we found elsewihere. The 
 view from this rest home is very fine. Right before us lay 
 the city of Freetown, the harbor with ships at anchor, and 
 the great ocean stretching out into the hazy distance. It 
 was a wise move on the part of the Church to build Bethany 
 Cottage on Mt. Leicester. 
 
 Following the visitation to our own stations, we inspect¬ 
 ed some mission work of other societies, and had numerous 
 conferences with leaders of other churches. The thirty-third 
 annual session of our West Africa Conference was held in 
 Freetown, January 8 to January 16. Then many days were 
 given to prayer, council and planning with our own mission¬ 
 aries. In all I spent eight and one-half weeks in Sierra Leone, 
 preached ten sermons, made fourteen addresses and had the 
 privilege of giving the commencement address at the Albert 
 Academy and the opening addresses for the new year at the 
 Fourah Bay College and at Albert Academy. 
 
 Every effort was made by our missionaries to make the 
 visit helpful to the mission. They put me in touch with ac¬ 
 tual conditions everywhere, and secured for me the latest 
 facts on all departments of mission work. 
 
 In order to get the most thorough .knowledge of the work 
 on the entire west coast, I visited London on the way to 
 Africa and interviewed the secretaries of the Church Mission¬ 
 ary Society and of the Wesleyan Missionary Society about 
 their work in Africa and their plans for the future. Much 
 valuable information was thus secured and our discussions 
 prepared the way for closer cooperation. While in London 
 I called on Honorable Whitelaw Reid, American Ambassador, 
 and had an extended and satisfactory interview with him 
 about important problems now pending in Sierra Leone. 
 
 As we journeyed from Liverpool to Freetown we found 
 on shipboard a dozen missionaries on their way to Nigeria, 
 the Gold Coast. Liberia and other places. An hour each day 
 was arranged for prayer, Bible study and the discussion of 
 the mission problem. This proved most helpful. We thus 
 obtained definite statements of the progress, aims, and meth¬ 
 ods of mission work in widely different sections of West 
 Africa. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS OF PAGAN AFRICA 
 
 As a result of the personal investigations, and the numer¬ 
 ous interviews, it is my conviction that the continent of Af- 
 
10 
 
 rica presents the most complex difficulties of any mission 
 field in the world. We have hardly begun to appreciate what 
 it means to begin at the bottom and lift millions of human 
 beings in a vast continent like Africa, where physical condi¬ 
 tions are so adverse to the life and working ability of the 
 Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 (1) . There are many hundreds of different tribes, each 
 with its own language and customs which must be mastered 
 before the messenger of Christ can get into contact with the 
 life of the people. Either the English, French and German 
 must become the official languages or the spoken languages 
 of the various tribes must be reduced to writing, dictionaries 
 formed, the Bible translated into 1 their own tongues, and a 
 literature created before the people can be enlightened and 
 educated. 
 
 (2) . Another difficulty is the form of tribal organiza¬ 
 tion, which gives the chief the entire control of the land, and 
 practically the control of the lives of many of his subjects. 
 
 (3) . Polygamy is an integral factor of society as it is 
 now constituted in Africa, and it is the greatest single ob¬ 
 stacle with which the Christian Church must grapple. A man 
 in pagan Africa is rated as well-to-do in propprtion to the 
 number of wives he has. The chief has anywhere from ten 
 to two hundred, a head man a less number, say from five to 
 twenty. The first wife often urges her husband to get other 
 wives. The burden of the work will then be distributed, and 
 the first wife will hold the place of honor. The children of a 
 man of many wives are practically certain of being able to 
 marry the son or daughter of a “big man,” no less famous than 
 their father. In some sections of Africa polygamy is obligatory. 
 “A man inherits his wives from his father or his uncle just 
 as he inherits other property.” There is no family life in 
 pagan Africa as we understand that term in America. Very 
 much more could be said about the evil of polygamy and the 
 obstacles to Christian work associated with it. 
 
 (4) . The native Africans are in a desperate state from 
 fear of evil spirits. They have been led captive by the pow¬ 
 ers of darkness and have organized societies with a view to 
 appeasing the devil and to destroy their enemies. Belief in 
 witchcraft and fetiches or charms is universal. There is one 
 charm to protect them from death by wild beasts, another to 
 keep strangers from killing them, and a great variety to keep 
 their property from being stolen. The charm or medicine is 
 used also in swearing a death curse on their enemies. Thou¬ 
 sands of persons die annually on account of these dark prac¬ 
 tices. 
 
11 
 
 I found pagan Africa instead of being passive to be in¬ 
 tensely active in the works of darkness. 
 
 Rightly understood this condition calls out one’s profound 
 pity, for the people are in darkness and blindly seeking for 
 the light. They feel that wrong has been done and some sacri¬ 
 fice must be made; and because they fear evil spirits the sacri¬ 
 fice is made to devils, and thus they fulfill Paul’s declaration 
 in I. Cor. 10:20, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they 
 sacrifice to devils and not to God.” 
 
 THE HUMAN LEOPARD SOCIETY. 
 
 Fanatical belief in charms or fetiches has grown to such 
 an extent in some sections of Africa as to lead to the sacri¬ 
 fice of human life, that the charms may be anointed with 
 human flesh, so as to give the one possessing the charm, 
 as the people blindly believe, power over his enemies and sure 
 prosperity. To obtain the human victims necessary to re¬ 
 plenish these charms from time to time the Human Leopard 
 Society was formed, each member of which is expected to 
 furnish a victim in turn. 
 
 In addition to anointing their charms with the blood 
 and fat, portions of the body are eaten. Many who are sup¬ 
 posed to be members of this Human Leopard Society have 
 been arrested in Sierra Leone and are now being tried at 
 Gbamghama by, three commissioners appointed by the Brit¬ 
 ish Government as a result of a special act of legislation. In 
 all, eighteen have been tried and sentenced thus far, eight to 
 be hanged, two to life imprisonment and eight to be deported. 
 The special act under which the trial is being conducted 
 grants the commissioners power to banish persons who may 
 be regarded as undesirable, even though there is no evidence 
 found that they were associated with this Human Leopard 
 Society, or its work. Doubtless many innocent will suffer 
 with the guilty for it is almost impossible to determine what 
 is true testimony and what is false in the up-country districts 
 of Africa. 
 
 Mr. Hursh and Mr. Weidler of our mission were present 
 for several days during the trial that is now in progress. 
 There are three classes of witnesses,—Christians, Mohamme¬ 
 dans, and Pagans. The following is the oath taken by the 
 Pagan witnesses: “I swear by this medicine that I will tell the 
 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Should 
 I tell a lie, if I go to my farm may a snake bite me, if I go 
 in a canoe on the river may the canoe sink; as I drink this 
 medicine may my belly swell. I swear by my liver, my 
 lungs, my kidneys, and my heart. If I should tell a lie, may I 
 
12 
 
 always be in danger and die suddenly.” (Here the witness 
 drinks the “medicine”.) 
 
 The mystery of iniquity connected,’ with all these prac¬ 
 tices mentioned cannot be understood until one is on the 
 ground and sees the conditions as they are. 
 
 And now consider that what has been *said in the fore¬ 
 going applies to a territory three thousand miles in width 
 from north to south, and which stretches from Freetown east¬ 
 ward across Africa a distance as great as from New York to 
 Freetown. In this vast area there are from eighty million to 
 one hundred million Africans living as they have been for 
 centuries. 
 
 THE MOHAMMEDAN ADVANCE 
 
 Into the midst of such a situation as I have described, 
 Mohammedanism has been advancing down over Africa from 
 the north for thirteen centuries. The Mohammedan priests 
 proffer to the pagan African a simple declaration that there 
 is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet. They allow 
 the black man four wives and they offer him powerful charms 
 to drive away evil spirits. Under these circumstances the 
 rapid advance of Islam in Africa is easily understood. Like 
 a blight the followers of the false prophet have been descend¬ 
 ing over the dark continent, and their line of advance is now 
 as far south as eight degrees north of the equator. It is 
 estimated that there are from forty million to fifty million 
 in Africa who now class themselves as Mohammedans. Sier¬ 
 ra Leone is on the advance line of Islam. The districts in 
 the northern part of Sierra Leone are now from fifty to sev¬ 
 enty per cent. Mohammedan, while in the southern part the 
 people are almost entirely pagan. In Freetown and the 
 colony adjacent the number of Mohammedans increased dur¬ 
 ing the last ten years from 7,666 to 11,451. 
 
 But Mohammedanism has received a desperate blow in 
 the victory of the Balkan States over the Turks about Con¬ 
 stantinople. The influence of this remarkable war will be 
 felt to the remotest part of the Mohammedan world. Not 
 during the last five hundred years 1 has Christianity had such 
 an opportunity to win Mohammedans to Christ, and to check 
 the advance of the false prophet in Africa as at the present 
 moment. 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST TO WEST AFRICA 
 
 The Church Missionary Society and the Wesleyan For¬ 
 eign Missionary Society of England began organized mission 
 work in Freetown about one hundred years ago. Sierra 
 Leone thus became the Jerusalem for the west coast of Africa. 
 From this protectorate converted slaves and others have been 
 
13 
 
 going- to the Gold Coast, Nigeria and other sections of Africa, 
 carrying the gospel message thousands of miles to these new 
 fields. 
 
 The missionary work during the first fifty years was 
 confined chiefly to the liberated slaves and to towns along 
 the coast. The hinterland with its great populations and 
 pagan difficulties was almost untouched when the United 
 Brethren Church in 1855 began work on the west coast. As 
 a denomination we have never fully appreciated the difficul¬ 
 ties connected with the task of establishing mission work in 
 the hinterland of Sierra Leone. The gospel banner set up by 
 our brave missionaries has never been taken down, and the 
 light of God has been dispelling darkness and bringing de¬ 
 liverance through Christian schools, the medical missionary, 
 and the gospel evangel. 
 
 During the past century messengers of God have kindled 
 gospel fires around the entire rim of Africa, and the morning 
 of a new day is dawning, but the vast interior is yet in mid¬ 
 night darkness save in little spots here and there where mis¬ 
 sionaries have started work. 
 
 The latest religious statistics for the continent give nine 
 millions as adherents to Christianity, forty, million Moham¬ 
 medans and eighty-one million pagans. If the entire popula¬ 
 tion were divided among the ordained missionaries now at 
 work, each would receive eighty-eight thousand persons as 
 a parish* 
 
 CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL MEETINGS 
 
 From the first day’s work in Africa we set the minds and 
 hearts of the missionaries and native pastors to praying and 
 working with a view to make the annual conference and the 
 council meetings most thorough and most powerful in spirit¬ 
 ual results. In no other foreign field did I find such a large 
 annual conference. Here for the first time I could speak 
 without an interpreter and all could understand. This not 
 only greatly facilitated the progress of the conference, but en¬ 
 abled one to create a much greater momentum in the ad¬ 
 dresses delivered. 
 
 We took time to consider thoroughly all the problems 
 pressing for solution. The work done by committees was of 
 the highest order. Bible study and prayer received great 
 emphasis, and the power of God was present in a remarkable 
 manner throughout the sessions of the conference and coun¬ 
 cil meetings. 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 In Africa one of the chief problems of mission work is 
 that of education. The British government has done but lit- 
 

 14 
 
 West Africa Mission Conference. 1913. 
 
15 
 
 tie to provide schools for the people. As a result the various 
 missions have had to establish primary and secondary schools. 
 The United Brethren Church has assumed its share of re¬ 
 sponsibility to bring to the people of the protectorate the 
 priceless privileges of a Christian education. 
 
 I found that our mission is conducting thirty-three dif¬ 
 ferent schools with an enrollment of 1,234, and that fifty-seven 
 teachers are employed. The natives are contributing more 
 and more largely toward the education of their own children. 
 
 The annual conference has appointed from time to time 
 a board of education to have supervision of the day and board¬ 
 ing schools. A comprehensive report was approved by the 
 conference, some articles of which follow: 
 
 1. That all our day schools shall be inspected quarterly 
 and that uniform examinations be held in all the schools an¬ 
 nually as a final test of the year’s work. 
 
 2. That industrial, agricultural and domestic science go 
 hand in hand with intellectual teaching, especially in our 
 boarding schools. 
 
 3. That all persons who are employed by the mission 
 as teachers hereafter shall be required to obtain a certificate 
 as the result of an examination on the subjects to be taught. 
 
 4. That Albert Academy graduates and graduates of 
 other secondary schools approved by the mission council 
 shall receive a three years’ certificate without examination, 
 and at its expiration if they have taught successfully for two 
 years and have completed a course of reading which shall be 
 prescribed for them, shall receive a five years’ certificate with¬ 
 out examination. 
 
 5. Tn** persons entering the Albert Academy as mis¬ 
 sion students, hereafter be required to take one year in the 
 Academy and then teach one year in the mission field, and 
 so on until they have finished the course. At the end of each 
 year of teaching they must be recommended anew before they 
 will be allowed to enter the Academy as mission students. 
 By special merit a student may be allowed to complete the 
 last two years of the course consecutively. This arrangement 
 will lead the boys in the Academy to become actively identi¬ 
 fied with the work of the mission before they complete their 
 course. 
 
 As a result of the manual training and other practical 
 features in our Albert Academy a new emphasis along lines 
 of applied Christianity has come to the other secondary 
 schools in the colonv. 
 
 j 
 
 Sierra Leone has a population of 1,400,000 and there are 
 probably from 250,000 to 300,000 persons of school age. There 
 are, all told, but 158 schools with an enrollment of 10,292. Of 
 
16 
 
 these 151 are mission or Christian schools with an enrollment 
 of 9,271; five are Mohammedan schools with an enrollment of 
 778; two are government schools with an enrollment of 243. 
 It will thus be seen that only one person in twenty-five of 
 school age in Sierra Leone has school privileges of any sort at 
 the present time. 
 
 EVANGELISM AND MORAL STANDARDS 
 
 The question of evangelism and well defined standards 
 of life for church membership received most thorough consid¬ 
 eration. After beholding the riches and glory of Jesus Christ 
 through Bible study and prayer the workers looked squarely 
 at the condition of the church and the needs of the unevangel¬ 
 ized multitudes. The questions of polygamy, intoxicating 
 liquors, illicit marriage relations, vicious superstitious prac¬ 
 tices and all works of the flesh which choke the Christian life, 
 and destroy the evangelistic power of Christian workers were 
 dealt with fearlessly and strongly. ^ While there was a net 
 gain of fourteen per cent, in communicant members the past 
 year, bringing the membership to 1,004, still there was a de¬ 
 cided dissatisfaction with this rate of increase, and the fol¬ 
 lowing were voted unanimously: 
 
 1. That we as a body of Christian workers gird our loins, 
 and putting on the whole armor of God accept anew the chal¬ 
 lenge of our Lord and go forth with such a faith and passion 
 for souls that we shall cause the very power of darkness to 
 fall at his feet. 
 
 2. That we will place no value upon any work we do 
 whether it be in the pulpit, school room, work shop, or dis¬ 
 pensary unless we do it in terms of evangelism. In other 
 words, that all our work of whatever kind, be done with a 
 view to the glory of God in up-lifting society through the sal¬ 
 vation of precious souls. 
 
 3. That we ask the Spirit of God to guide us in making 
 soul winners of every man, woman and child now within the 
 fold and that we so preach and teach that the Spirit of God 
 may impress upon them each that the true test of discipleship 
 is to be a soul-winner and that we grow in grace and in favor 
 with God and man only as we are faithful in so witnessing. 
 
 4. That those who seek admission into the church shall 
 be made to feel that a test of their sincerity in accepting Christ 
 is a passion on their part to make him known to others. 
 
 5. That to conserve results of our preaching, teaching 
 and itinerating work, and to create a deeper bond of union and 
 fellowship with the out-stations, we plan to have quarterly 
 ingatherings at the central stations at which time special serv¬ 
 ices should be held, including Bible study, special efforts 
 
17 
 
 lor soul winning, baptismal and communion services, etc., 
 covering as many days as may be consistent with local condi¬ 
 tions, 
 
 6. That there be appointed as soon as possible a travel¬ 
 ing evangelist for the conference, whose duty shall be to unify 
 the work, quicken the churches, inspect the schools and give 
 inspiration and guidance to all phases of the work. 
 
 CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP AND SELF-SUPPORT 
 
 Following the great interest created by the report on 
 evangelism and standards the conference took up with enthusi¬ 
 asm the question of Christian stewardship and self-support. 
 I found that Africa has been making excellent progress in 
 self-support. 
 
 During the conference it was clearly shown that the 
 strength of mission work does not consist alone in winning 
 large numbers to Christ but that each one won should be 
 trained to give and to work for the support of the church and 
 for the extension of the kingdom. Great emphasis was laid, 
 therefore, on the fact that each local church should feel re¬ 
 sponsible for the support of the gospel in its own community, 
 and also for giving to missions. 
 
 The conference approved the idea that each local church 
 should regard the money received from the mission as merely 
 a grant in aid to assist them until they themselves can sup¬ 
 port their own pastor and other workers. A church was de¬ 
 fined as self-supporting when it pays its pastor’s salary and 
 all its local expenses, and in addition contributes for the mis¬ 
 sionary work undertaken by the conference beyond its own 
 bounds. 
 
 A definite plan was agreed upon by which local churches 
 shall pay directly to the support of their own pastors. When a 
 local church is able to pay an amount above what their pastor 
 should receive, the same shall be deposited with the mission 
 superintendent to help in the support of other weak charges, 
 or the congregation may be granted the privilege of supporting 
 some out-station as their special object of support. 
 
 The following standard was unanimously adopted: “That 
 when a church has become fully self-supporting it should aim 
 to give as much for the extension of Christ’s kingdom in 
 other parts of Africa as it pays for local expenses and pastoral 
 support, and thus fulfill the law of Christ to dove thy neighbor 
 as thyself.’ ” 
 
 The conference voted that each circuit shall be entitled 
 to lay representation at the annual conference when its net 
 income amounts to sixty dollars annually. 
 
18 
 
 EQUIPMENT AND FULL OCCUPANCY 
 
 The chief need of our mission in Africa is not for new 
 buildings and equipments. The various stations of this mis¬ 
 sion have already been provided with substantial buildings. 
 Not taking into account the equipment to be provided for 
 Shenge through the Rufus Clark bequest, the need for the 
 other places for the next four years in the way of school 
 buildings, residences and chapels to be supplied by the mission 
 will not aggregate more than ten thousand dollars. Included 
 in this is a power house and printing establishment for the 
 Albert Academy, a mission residence at Mofus, a new church 
 at Mano, and school buildings at Bonthe, Jahama and Taiama. 
 Other needs will be supplied by the native church itself dur¬ 
 ing this time. 
 
 I was strongly impressed with the vast amount of work 
 yet to be done in Sierra Leone. Recent government statistics 
 show that in the Ronietta District ninety-four per cent, of the 
 Temni tribe are yet pagan, five per cent. Mohammedan and 
 but one per cent. Christian; and of the Mendi tribe ninety-six 
 per cent, are pagan, two per cent. Mohammedan, and two per 
 cent. Christian. Some of our strongest mission stations are 
 located in this district. We are working also among the 
 Sherbro and Ivono people which show even more need than 
 those mentioned. 
 
 After investigating the subject I found that no serious 
 attempt has been made to have Sierra Leone districted with 
 a view to its complete evangelization. Each missionary so¬ 
 ciety seems overwhelmed with the work in hand. To occupy 
 the field that is immediately adjacent to where we are now 
 at work we shall need to increase greatly our native leaders, 
 and to strengthen our missionary force in a way to give direc¬ 
 tion and vitalization to the entire mission. 
 
 The need in many districts might be shown by the situa¬ 
 tion I found at Taiama where our one church is in the center 
 of more than ninety villages in not one of which has there yet 
 been established a Christian church. We have a great open 
 door in the Kono Country where Rev. and Mrs. J. Hal Smith 
 have made a good beginning. We must evangelize the district 
 to the east and north of Shenge; and from almost every one 
 of our stations and out-stations the gospel must be sounded 
 forth into new territory with an evangelistic agency full of power 
 and wisdom from God, that shall challenge the powers of dark¬ 
 ness and lead the church of Christ triumphantly. 
 
Some Students of Girls’ Boarding School, Moyamba. 
 
 Graduating Class, 1913, Albert Academy. 
 
 In Training for Service. Boys’ School, Rotifunk. 
 Glimpses of Educatiorial Work. 
 
20 
 
 MAKING THE MISSIONARIES EFFICIENT 
 
 The most important factors in effective missionary work are 
 the missionaries themselves and the native leaders. Anything 
 that can be done to make these workers most efficient will tell 
 greatly on the uplift of the whole work. In no other mission 
 field are there more serious difficulties to be overcome by the 
 missionary than in Sierra Leone. The head must be protected 
 from the sun's rays by a cork helmet from 9 A. M. until 4 
 P. M. daily. Medical science has done much to remove condi¬ 
 tions which produce malarial germs and the mosquito netting 
 and five grains of quinine daily are great preventatives of Afri¬ 
 can fever. Yet, I found that most missionaries after eighteen 
 months' service find the lack of ozone in the atmosphere, plus 
 the ever present missionary problems and the downward pull 
 of paganism, to produce a tremendous strain on their nervous 
 energies. The British officials on the West Coast remain on 
 on the field but twelve months, and then they spend four 
 months in England. After eighteen years of service they are 
 granted a pension for life. 
 
 In a sympathetic conference with the missionaries on 
 their personal problems I asked them to write answers to 
 three questions without signing their names. To the first, 
 “What is your greatest joy?” eight replied, “My greatest 
 joy is being where Christ wants me to be.” Three answered, 
 “Helping others to find Christ.” One replied, “To suffer in 
 a small way for Jesus Christ,” another, “To see souls coming 
 into the kingdom and to help them) step by step onward.” 
 
 To the second question, “What is the chief hindrance on 
 the part of the mission which prevents the gospel from be¬ 
 ing triumphant?" six replied, “The missionaries overbur¬ 
 dened with material things in the home and in the stations.” 
 Five answered, “Lack of prayer and overcoming faith”; two, 
 “Failure to understand the mind of the black man and to 
 adapt ourselves to his situation.” 
 
 To the third question, “What difficulties do you find 
 against living a victorious Christian life?” three answered, 
 “Constant contact with heathenism with its downward pull 
 and the absence of Christian fellowship." Five replied, “Al¬ 
 lowing work to crowd out Bible meditation and prayer.” 
 
 To keep our missionaries from breaking prematurely we 
 should either shorten the term of service on the field or pro¬ 
 vide for longer periods of recuperation in rest places not far 
 away. Overworked, nervous missionaries cannot direct a 
 victorious campaign. The policy of the Board should be to 
 send missionaries to the field when possible in time to allow 
 them at least six months for the study of the languages and 
 customs of the people before they assume heavy work; and 
 
21 
 
 when the mastery of the native language is absolutely essen¬ 
 tial a much longer preliminary period should be granted for 
 language study. 
 
 I found in all the missions on the West Coast a tempta¬ 
 tion on the part of the missionaries to make too much of the 
 machinery of their stations to the neglect of the larger things, 
 the vitalization of the churches, and evangelism. Every sta¬ 
 tion should be the headquarters for the evangelization of the 
 whole region rather than the agency for the doing of local 
 work only. More and more missionaries should become sup¬ 
 erintendents of-the work in extended districts. 
 
 \ 
 
 MAKING STRONG THE NATIVE PASTOR AND THE 
 
 NATIVE CHURCH 
 
 The real goal in effective mission work is to vitalize 
 and direct the native church. The native leaders on the field 
 are the pivotal men, and with these native pastors the mis¬ 
 sionary must counsel, sympathize and impart his own victor¬ 
 ious spirit. If Christianity is to possess Africa it must do it 
 through a living and life-giving native church that shall 
 reach its highest efficiency under wise native leadership. Only 
 when the native church is aggressive in evangelism and 
 triumphant in spiritual life will there be forthcoming an 
 adequate supply of native leaders. 
 
 Stretching out eastward from our missionjnto the Soudan 
 for more than a thousand miles, there are villages, towns, 
 tribes and great districts without one ray of gospel light. 
 God-inspired, trained native evangelists and pastors must 
 make the advance into most of this new territory, and conquer 
 it for Jesus Christ. The chief work of the missionary and the 
 mission is to cooperate with our Lord in securing and train¬ 
 ing these native leaders, and in directing the campaign of ad¬ 
 vance. The loneliness of the native pastors and the native 
 Christians in Africa, surrounded by ninety-nine persons out 
 of every one hundred who are captured by Satan and are liv¬ 
 ing in pagan darkness, is simply indescribable. We must or¬ 
 ganize our work so as to bring strong, sympathetic mission¬ 
 aries from the outside to every station and out-station at least 
 quarterly. By personal sympathetic contact with the native 
 workers, and through Bible study, prayer and public preach¬ 
 ing the entire native congregation must be reached and Chris¬ 
 tian ideals and a spiritual atmosphere created, so as to enable 
 all these native workers and Christians to claim God’s power 
 for victorv. 
 
 I found the most desperate conflict raging between the 
 light and darkness. In many places the condition is such as 
 
22 
 
 to be dangerous to the spiritual life of tlje missionary. I was 
 simply appalled at the deadening, blighting influences of pag¬ 
 anism as it now surrounds many of our Christian workers. 
 We challenged the churches from place to place to prove 
 God and rely on his power, that Jesus Christ came to destroy 
 the works of the devil, and gave us the promise, “Behold I 
 g*ive unto you power . . . over all the power of the enemy.” 
 
 In order to meet the conditions for spiritual life and ag¬ 
 gressive work, by unanimous desire and appointment Rev. 
 and Mrs. E. M. Hursh were assigned to visit the various 
 stations and carry into effect the resolutions adopted on evan¬ 
 gelism, moral standards and self-support. 
 
 CO-OPERATION AND UNION WORK. 
 
 The official members of the Providence Christian Church 
 of Freetown, an independent congregation of about one hun¬ 
 dred members located near the Albert Academy, came to our 
 annual conference seeking to unite with our mission. The 
 conference looked with favor on their proposition and ap¬ 
 pointed Revs. J. F. Mussel-man, E. M. Hursh, and S. E. Bick- 
 ersteth to consider the conditions and details of this union 
 and to report a year hence. It is hoped that the Providence 
 congregation may be willing to merge their membership with 
 our church in Freetown and thus form one strong congrega¬ 
 tion, while the present site of the Providence Church may 
 be used for a mission Sunday school and a feeder for the main 
 congregation. 
 
 It is becoming more and more clear that we must make 
 provision for the higher education of young women in Africa. 
 These are greatly needed as teachers, Bible women and as 
 wives for the native pastors. The mission council recom¬ 
 mends if satisfactory arrangements can be made, that we co¬ 
 operate with one of the Christian girls’ schools in Freetown 
 for the higher education of girls who complete the course in 
 our girls’ boarding school. 
 
 The more I studied the problems of Sierra Feone the 
 stronger the conviction became that the greatest advance that 
 can be made in this field will come by* the formation of an 
 interdenominational missionary council that shall unify, vital¬ 
 ize and direct the entire Christian force, British and American, 
 for the complete evangelization of the protectorate. 
 
 Sierra Leone is far behind all the other fields I have visited 
 in the matter of cooperation between the Christian forces at 
 work. At the present time Freetown has a cpngestion of 
 native workers while the great up-country districts with forty 
 times its population are much neglected. The native pastors 
 
23 
 
 
 and churches near the coast are in need of a vision of the 
 whole field and a passion to do hard missionary work in the 
 hinterland. A great religious congress ought to be held to 
 lift up the proper standards and create an atmosphere that 
 will fire these native Christians to do their utmost for the 
 evangelization of their own country. 
 
 Our annual conference voted in favor of holding such a 
 general missionary congress, and I took the matter up earnest¬ 
 ly with the leaders of other societies and called their attention 
 to the importance of our planning for cooperative work in 
 education, Christian literature, uniform moral standards, the 
 complete occupation of the field with a Christian force, and 
 in the matter of dealing with the' government for the sup¬ 
 pression of the liquor traffic. 
 
 FACING ANOTHER YEAR’S WORK. 
 
 After the strenuous sessions of the annual conference the 
 missionaries assembled and organized the mission council ac¬ 
 cording to the new policy and principles recently approved 
 for the Board. The missionaries then considered their tasks 
 for another year. 
 
 They knew of the darkness and difficulties ahead. They 
 had been refreshed by each other's faith and fellowship, and 
 by an enlarged view of the riches of Christ through the study 
 of his Word and through prayer. 
 
 Recognizing as of first importance the necessity for united 
 prayer they covenanted together to pray for each other dur- 
 •ing some period between five and seven o’clock each morning. 
 Never have I been more certain of God’s guidance and power 
 in answer to the prayers of many than during the strenuous 
 experiences in Africa. May I plead therefore, that fervent, 
 continuous prayer be offered to God for our missionaries 
 in the dark continent, for whose sacrifices and devotion to 
 Jesus Christ I now have a much deeper appreciation. The 
 desire of each could be expressed in the motto of Rev. and 
 Mrs.. Richter for the year, “That T might know him and the 
 power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, 
 being made conformable unto his death.” 
 
 Upon Rev. and Mrs. Musselman fell a very heavy respon¬ 
 sibility to arrange for the itinerary and to look after the nu¬ 
 merous details for the annual conference and council meet¬ 
 ings. They did their work nobly. 
 
 I heard on every side the highest words of appreciation 
 from our own and other missionaries, and from British offici¬ 
 als, of the heroic labors of Dr. and Mrs. J. R. King. The 
 
24 
 
 Church will never know fully what these faithful missionaries 
 have endured in establishing our work in Africa. 
 
 The power of God began to fall on the workers at the 
 very beginning of the new year. A native pastor sent me 
 the following message: “I have received a new spiritual bur¬ 
 den for the salvation of souls. Nine persons have earnestly 
 asked for prayer since conference.” 
 
 Another wrote: ‘T feel there is nothing too hard to be at¬ 
 tempted in the name of Jesus Christ.” Six young men were 
 received into the church at Freetown one week after the con¬ 
 ference. Since returning to America I have received word from 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hursh after they had visited six of the stations 
 and out-stations where they gave much time to' prayer, Bible 
 study, Christian stewardship and evangelism. Everywhere in¬ 
 spiring results including conversions and greatly increased at¬ 
 tendance are reported. The six places visited agreed to in¬ 
 crease their gifts to self-support from $324, the amount given 
 last year, to $620 for this year. 
 
 A CLOSING WORD. 
 
 All Africa is now open. David Livingstone who said, 
 “I will open up a way or perish,” died not in vain. The na¬ 
 tions of Europe have rushed in for commercial purposes and 
 have divided up the great continent. They are now explor¬ 
 ing its resources for the material enrichment of the rest of the 
 world. Remarkable commercial developments are being made 
 year by year. 
 
 Shall the Christian Church allow the millions of neglected 
 black men in Africa to be left in their awful demon-possessed 
 condition, and to the vices and cruelty of the European 
 traders? Shall Christendom act the part of the priest who 
 came and saw the wounded man and then passed by on the 
 other side; or shall we be worthy successors of the good 
 Samaritan who, when he saw him, had compassion on him, 
 went to him and bound up his wounds and took care of him? 
 Which shall it be? 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 S. S. HOUGH. 
 
- Sfr if*