“OLD HUNDRED” IN “DARKEST AFRICA.”
On the borders of Mashonaland, Central Africa, recently, a missionary was resting in his wagon after a wearisome march. Suddenly he heard a woman’s voice singing the well-known tune “Old Hundred.” He said, “I hastened to unravel the mystery, and found the singer was apparently a ‘raw’ Kaffir, and there was nothing to indicate that she had been to a Christian service. But I soon learned her simple story. A good many years ago she had lived in the capital of Matabeleland, and there she heard of the story of the cross. Little by little she had gained hold of the truth, until she had become one of the most promising scholars in the mission school. But the king heard of the progress, and, not wishing to put her to death, he banished her from the country. She had then travelled hundreds of weary miles, always with her face to the north, and away from the place where she had found the Gospel. At length she came to the village near which we were outspanned. Ever since her banishment she had been trying to keep her faith alive in the midst of dense heathenism, and now she met again with those who would teach her the right way.”—Gospel in All Lands.