Atle-irt, r. (2. 
 
 a c 
 
 Fair View Mission Station 
 
 By F. G race Allen ^ 
 
 BANANA GARDEN ON MISSION FARM 
 Price, 5 cents 
 Published by 
 
 THE WOMANS FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 FREE METHODIST CHURCH 
 1134 Washington Boulevard 
 Chicago, Illinois 
 
Fair View Mission Station 
 
 A mission station in Natal, South Africa, is 
 usually a portion of land set apart for mission pur¬ 
 poses. where native Christians can live and enjoy 
 the privileges of church and school. 
 
 Fair View Mission Station is in the southern 
 part of the British province of Natal, which has 
 the Indian Ocean for its eastern boundary. The 
 station land extends to within half a mile of the 
 sea. It is sixty miles south of Durban, the prin¬ 
 cipal seaport and largest city of Natal, and about 
 four hundred miles southeast of Johannesburg, the 
 metropolis of South Africa. 
 
 The surface of Natal, rising gradually from the 
 sea, is divided into three terraces: the coast ter¬ 
 race. at sea level; the midland terrace, 2.500 feet 
 above; and the upland terrace, which includes the 
 Ilrakensburg Mountains, on the western border, 
 with snow-capped peaks over ten thousand feet, 
 above the sea. Fair View is in the coast terrace. 
 It is about thirty degrees south latitude. The cli¬ 
 mate is semi-tropical. 
 
 The mission farm contains 2,300 acres of land, 
 covering over three and onedialf square miles. 
 This land belongs to the Missionary Board of the 
 Free Methodist Church of North America, and is 
 used exclusively for missionary work. One fair¬ 
 sized river and a smaller stream water the farm. 
 
 2 
 
(lie I’nmunbi (Bad City) flowing through tho 
 northern part of the farm, and the Njainbili (Two 
 Dogs) through the southern part. The surface is 
 hilly. Bishop Sellew described it as a “series of 
 sugar loaves.” A missionary living near wrote 
 that "it is hills rolling into each other, and out of 
 each other, just a wild tumble of hills.” There 
 are beautiful, picturesque spots on the station, 
 where blue sea, and deeper blue skies, waving 
 palms, chattering monkeys, and birds of brilliant 
 plumage charm the eye and please the fancy. 
 
 Mr. W. S. Woods, the business manager of the 
 farm, is a regularly appointed missionary of the 
 Board. He was for years a successful farmer in 
 the United States, and the knowledge and experi¬ 
 ence thus gained have been very useful to him on 
 the mission field. In addition to the superintend¬ 
 ing of the farm work, he acts as landlord to the 
 seventy or more tenants on tho farm; an unenvi¬ 
 able task, which he lias performed for the last 
 fourteen years with such skill and success as lias 
 proven that the Missionary Board made no mis¬ 
 take in choosing him for this responsible position. 
 
 The seventy odd tenants, over five hundred 
 souls, counting the women and children, who re¬ 
 side on the farm, belong to the Zulu tribe, and 
 were all heathen when the farm was purchased 
 twenty-five years ago. Quite a number of the orig¬ 
 inal tenants have left for one reason or another, 
 and their places have 1 een taken by others. At 
 present the majority of them are either Christians 
 or nominal Christians. Each tenant has a portion 
 of land allotted to him for which he pays an an¬ 
 nual rent of one pound sterling without reference 
 
 S 
 
■■zm»*** 
 
 
 I 
 
 to tlie number of acres. lie is only allowed to 
 build one bouse for this amount. If he builds two 
 houses his reut is doubled. The people all work 
 in the gardens, the men and boys usually doing the 
 clearing and ploughing, and the women and girls 
 the planting and weeding. They grow corn, beaus, 
 sweet potatoes, pumpkins, kafflr corn, peanuts, 
 and a variety of native foods. Each family has 
 a few fowls, and many of them have cattle, pigs 
 and goats. They are not allowed to make or drink 
 beer on the farm, and the banishing of this enemy 
 has made them much more thrifty than their 
 neighbors who live outside of the mission station, 
 and who spend a good portion of their ■ time in 
 brewing and drinking native beer. 
 
 Most of the tenants live in wattle and daub 
 houses, that is, houses with square walls made of 
 sticks woven togther, and plastered on the outside 
 and inside with mud. They are thatched with 
 grass. A few are still living in round native huts, 
 resides the native homes on the station, there are 
 three iron houses occupied by missionaries. There 
 is also a church built of brick with a seating ca¬ 
 pacity of three hundred, a brick school building of 
 three rooms which accomodates the day school, a 
 brick cottage for native teachers, and a brick 
 building with some iron additions, for the girls’ 
 home. The church has over one hundred members. 
 'Two preaching services are held each Sabbath. A 
 Sunday-school of over two hundred members is 
 maintained, and weekly prayer and class meetings. 
 Fair View church supports its native pastor, and 
 sends an offering to other foreign fields yearly. 
 
 Fair View Home is a boarding school for Zulu 
 
 4 
 
Kiris. It has eight grades, two of which are in the 
 vernacular. There are two departments, a pri¬ 
 mary and an upper department. The girls are 
 taught housework, garden work and needle work 
 in addition to the ordinary branches of study. The 
 school gets a grant in aid from the government, 
 based on the efficiency of the work done, and the 
 average attendance. 
 
 The day school is aided by the government to 
 the extent of paying the salaries of its native 
 teachers. It is a graded school, having six grades, 
 two of which are in the vernacular, and the re¬ 
 mainder in English. Both boys and girls attend. 
 The boys are taught gardening, and the girls nee¬ 
 dle work in addition to the regular school work. 
 The school is in session nine months of the year. 
 Attendance is compulsory under the apparent age 
 of sixteen. Upon completion of the course, if they 
 wish to continue their studies, the boys go to Ed- 
 waleni Training School, and the girls to Fair 
 View Home. 
 
 The main problem facing us to-day is how to 
 save the rising generation to the church and the 
 mission. They have been to school and learned 
 many things that their parents and their ancestors 
 knew nothing about. They are not content to live 
 the simple life of the home, nor to submit to paren¬ 
 tal authority. Their many wants require more 
 money to supply them than they or their parents 
 can earn at home, so many of them go away to 
 the cities. This means certain ruin to the girls, 
 and almost as certain to the boys. Many are em¬ 
 ployed by surrounding farmers, or in small towns. 
 This takes them away from Christian influences, 
 
and they often return from sueli employment, 
 moral wrecks. If we had an industry of some 
 kind on the station that would provide employ¬ 
 ment for all who wished it, at a wage sufficient to 
 enable them to live comfortably and educate their 
 children, it would be an inducement for them to 
 stay. With plenty of land at our disposal, and 
 with fair market and railroad facilities, such a 
 plant should be self-supporting in a short time. 
 It would take labor and money to launch it, but 
 the returns in the salvation and elevation of this 
 colony of people for whom we are directly respon¬ 
 sible would amply repay any effort of the kind 
 that should be made. Fair View is only one of our 
 stations. The Free Methodist church has two 
 others in Natal, at Itemba and Edwaleni, where 
 practically the same conditions obtain as at Fair 
 View. These people are under our control. A 
 great responsibility and a great opportunity are 
 before us. Will the church at home not come to 
 our aid in this important work? 
 
 July. lf>20. 
 
 G