Northwest Rhodesia, Africa
By W. H. ANDERSON
I HAVE not sent a report for the REVIEW for some time. I know from reports from the camp-meetings that our people are waking up to their responsibilities in the mission work. There is nothing that cheers the heart of the lonely worker out at the front like the messages that have come from the camp-meetings this year. Let the good work go on. Three years ago to-day our ox-wagon drove up to this place. Then it was bare veldt. Some of the settlers in the West know what it means to arrive for the first time on a claim on the open prairie, and make a start. That is what we had to do here. We were one hundred miles from the post-office, and two hundred miles from the nearest railroad station. We received our mail once a month, and then a boy went to the office for it. It usually took him ten days to make the journey. We were five hundred miles from the nearest grocery store, and had our provisions once a year. All this is now changed. The railroad is two miles from our door. The post and telegraph office is only eighty-eight miles away. The mail comes every week. In five days we can go to Cape Town. God is working here to open the country for the gospel. Five years ago it was not safe to travel in parts of this field. Where I now have an out-station, a man was murdered by the natives only four years ago. Quiet and peace now reign where once were raid, war, and murder. On the farm we have made changes also. A comfortable brick house has taken the place of the mud one we first occupied. It is made of burned bricks, with iron roof, and a cement, ant-proof floor. We now hold school in a brick schoolhouse, with iron roof and cement foundation. This was a donation from my wife just before she died. The cost of the material was five hundred dollars. We made the bricks and did the mason work. There are ten huts for the boys' bedrooms, and a brick and iron building for a dining-room. We are now making bricks for another building. We have over four hundred fruit-trees and vines growing on the station. They are of the following varieties: Plums, apples, guavas, persimmons, papaws, lemons, oranges, bananas, granadillas, pineapples, pears, grapes, and apricots. We have had fruit from some of these, and shall have some from all of them this year if no accident comes to them. There is a good garden at the spring, where we have plenty of water for irrigation. At present there are vegetables for table use, and soon there will be some for the market. We raise cabbages, beets, radishes, lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes, beans, peas, melons, cucumbers, turnips, carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, and parsley. These can be grown all the year round here by planting for succession of crops. This makes us a good living. In addition to the garden, one hundred acres were under cultivation last year. From this land the school was supplied with food, and there was over three hundred dollars' excess for the market. All the work on the farm, buildings, and garden is done by the students in the school. I have never hired any help since I came here, except a mason to help on the buildings. I must not forget that, through the kindness of Brother J. V. Willson, our conference secretary, we have been able to beautify the place to some extent. There are over seventy ornamental trees growing near the house. In the yard and in pots there are over thirty kinds of flowers in blossom. These add much to the beauty of the mission, and the pleasure of the workers and students. Since coming here, I have devoted most of my time and energy to teaching. I have eight boys who will pass a fourth-grade examination in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, and Bible. Others are in the third and second grades, besides beginners. There are now forty-one in the boarding-school, and this number is on the increase. It is my purpose to train and educate workers here to give the gospel to the people of this country. I have boys from the Zambesi valley, three hundred miles to the west; from Lake Tanganyika, four hundred miles north; from the Zambesi, one hundred miles south; and from the Batoka plateau, and the Kafui valley. I long for the time to come when I can send them home to tell their people what God has done for them. They have already begun to go out, as we have now three out-stations. The two in operation have a daily attendance of fourteen to eighteen in each school. At the other one the boys have been busy building, and will not open their school until next month. I expect a better attendance there, as the influence of our workers over the people seems to be stronger than at the other places. At one of the out-stations we have one hundred acres of land, and the teachers have erected four huts, and set out twenty fruit-trees. I had planned for them to build a schoolhouse this year, but the teacher in charge asked to wait until next year, when he would have time to make and burn bricks, and so build a permanent schoolhouse of brick. At another station we have a few fruit-trees in bearing. A schoolhouse fourteen by twenty-six feet has just been completed. It has mud walls, grass roof, and an earth floor. They have finished three huts, and are now working on another. The ground is prepared for sixty more fruit-trees at this place. They are troubled frequently with lions here, and the cattle are in constant danger. I had permission from the government to open two more stations, and had them started, but had to abandon them because I did not have the men to carry them on properly. The government officials are watching our work closely, and thus far have been very friendly to us. I want to keep them friendly as long as possible. The gospel has found lodgment in some hearts, and some have expressed a desire to serve the Lord. We organized a church one year ago, and admitted six by letter from the mission at Solusi. Since that time we have added eleven by baptism as the first-fruits from this field. There are others who desire to be baptized, but we have to make haste slowly in these matters. I hope that the time may come when I can give more attention to this branch of the work, and build up a strong church here, from which we can send out missionaries to all this field. I was greatly rejoiced in June to welcome Brother and Sister J. F. Olmstead to this field, but my joy was soon turned to mourning. A few days after his arrival, Brother Olmstead was taken with fever. Repeated attacks soon began to tell on his strength. I advised that he go south, and they left here after a stay of about two months. This leaves me alone again, but for the pleasant companionship of my little girl. It is lonely here. When I am out about my work, I do not feel it so much; but when I come to my meals, and come home at night, the house seems so desolate and empty. My dear companion is resting. There is laid up for her a crown of life. Yet many times a day my heart cries out, 'Come back to me; I am so lonely.' I thank the many friends in the home land for the letters of sympathy and consolation that they have sent. I have not had time to reply to all of them, but I do appreciate them. Pray for me, that I may have grace to stand at my post of duty. As I look at the work around me, I can but say, 'So much to do, so little done!'