In the Land of Livingstone
By MRS. T. H. BRANCH
THIS is Friday at the mission. Certainly every day has its blessings and perplexities, such as are common to a mission in Africa, but Friday has all of these, and more. It is the end of the week, and there are duties that belong to none of the other busy days. All are to be supplied with food for the coming week, and there is the settling of difficulties so common to the natives; then the cleaning of the houses and the grounds around the mission, and the schoolhouse to be put in order for the Sabbath services; the washing and dressing of the wounds of those who are afflicted, and attending to the needs of the sick. Afterward, all who are able to do so go to the stream to wash their clothes and bodies. The station then looks much like a laundry in high operation. The day is full of interest. On this day one can not help thinking of the very end of time in which we are now living. It is a day of inspiration, every one getting ready to meet the blessed Saviour, who is soon to come in the clouds of heaven. It is obvious, too, that all are in earnest, each one working with a will. We allow some of the village girls and boys, who attend school, but are too young to earn a few pennies to buy soap, to come and wash their clothes here, and we teach the girls to iron. The native is not very quickly converted to the Word of God. He is a creature of long investigation. But since he has begun to look into this truth, he is asking questions like these: “Well, Bambo, are there others in America who know and preach these same things that you tell and read to us from the Bible? How long have you known these things? Why have you not come over to us before this? Many of our relatives have died without ever hearing of these things, and what are we to do about it?” and many other like queries that are hard for us to answer. They tell us that the Scottish Church has been here for twenty-five years, and other missions quite as long, and it is hard for them to understand why we, who have the giving of this closing message, have waited so long. We must confess that our hearts are much stirred over these things, for we are unable to answer or make plain this long delay. These 'Man'ganja people believe their chief to be a prophet. They are constant and earnest in upholding the things he teaches them. When he calls them to come to offer sacrifices, you may be sure every man, woman, and child is on hand and on time. A strange thing happened to this chief last year. The rains failed to come in their season, so he called all together to offer sacrifice to the Great Spirit. They came, and offered sacrifice for several days, and waited for the Great Spirit to answer by sending the rain. But the rain did not come. They offered again ufa (corn-meal) and moa (beer), but still no sign of rain. They determined something must be wrong with the chief or some of the head men, of whom there are large numbers. So they cast lots, and to their great surprise, the lot fell on their chief. Generally such a one is termed a witch, and the punishment is death, by making him drink poison. But this being his royal highness, other means were resorted to. They pronounced him unclean and afraid of water, and the Great Spirit refused to send rain, as he would not bathe often; for frequent bathing is much practised by the native, but, strange to say, this chief was an exception to the rule. A delegation of head men was appointed to take him daily to the stream and give him a bath. In case he refused, death was to be the penalty. The old chief took to the water in good earnest. Soon after this he sent for Mr. Branch to come to preach the Word of God to him and his people. He asked many questions about the written Word. It is obvious, as we five [Brother and Sister Branch, Miss Branch, and the two boys] are the only witnesses for the commandments of God in all these 340,000 square miles, with nearly a million natives and four hundred and fifty Europeans, that we are as a guide-post with its two arms outstretched. With one arm we beckon, as Paul did, to get the attention of the people, and with the other we point them to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. Brethren, we need your prayers. Sisters, we need your anxious, earnest wrestlings in prayer to God for wayward, wandering sons and daughters of Africa. These have lost their way in the gross darkness of the catalogued sins of this generation; for the condition of the women—the wife, the mother, the daughter, and the sister—is pitiable and deplorable—yes, I can say from observation, most loathsome. Truly, indeed, it is written, 'As is the mother, so is her daughter.' We earnestly desire that the people of God, who are interested in giving this last message of mercy to all people of this generation, will lift up their voices in earnest prayer to God that his truth may work effectually in the hearts of this people, and from these many jewels may be gathered. While it is true that we are of the advance guard, we feel we must listen for the words of those at the head of the work. We are always glad to get the papers, and read the cheering messages of the onward march of the army of God. We are watching with deep interest the movement of our people, and the onward march of the message in that great city at the very head of the nation. MRS. T. H. BRANCH