The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Page 54

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54 The Lutheran Pioneer.

governed byits chief; but many of them are idol-
aters, grossly superstitious, and lead immoral lives.
The chief of the village of Fallangia, however, had
been brought to England in his youth, had received
some Christian training, and learned to read and
write English. Returning to his native land,
though retaining the English name of Richard
Wilkinson, he fell back into practical heathenism,
until in 1835, at the age of forty, he was stricken
with a dangerous disease. His conscience then
awoke and accused him of many sins against God.
Forgotten truths crowded upon his mind, and he
longed for more instruction in the Christian re-
ligion. He vowed, if his life would be spared, to
pray daily that God would send a missionary to
him and his people. He recovered and kept his vow.

On the other side of the Atlantic there lived an
active, pious clergyman by the name of Leacock.
He was of the same age as Chief Richard Wilkinson
and had labored partly in America, partly in the
West Indies. In 1854 he was in his native land of
Barbados. He took a great interest in Western
Africa, the country that had supplied the West
Indies so long with slaves. While raising money
to support a mission there, the cholera broke out in
his parish. He and his wife devoted their time to
the sick and dying; then the disease attacked her,
and she was taken-from him. When the first sorrow
was over, the good man saw in the blow a call to
a yet more devoted life and then offered himself to
his bishop as the first missionary from the West
Indies to Western Africa. He was gladly accepted,
and with a young negro, Mr. Dupont, as his assis-
tant, he sailed to Africa the next year by way
of England.

He went in faith, doubtful on what part of the
vast coast-line of Africa to set up the standard of
the Cross. He did not know of Fallangia and its
chief. So he placed himself at the disposal of the
Bishop of Sierra Leone and helped him at Free-
town for a short time. There he heard of the
country of the Pongas as a country wholly given to
idolatry and grievously wronged by the slave-
traders. His heart burned to go there. The bishop
bade him Godspeed, the captain of a British man-
of-war offered to convey him to the very place, and
without delay he and Mr. Dupont set sail and landed
on the shores of the river Pongas, whence the
country takes its name.

In the presence of the English captain the mis-
sionaries were warmly welcomed by the king of the
Pongas, Matthias Katty, and Chief Kennyback Ali,

who promised them a house, a garden, and full
protection if they would remain and teach their
children. Accordingly they settled down in a hut
in the village of Tintama and prepared to open
a school.

But whep the captain had sailed, all was
changed; the children were not sent to school, and
the missionaries were neglected and even plundered
by the natives.

Though much dissappointed, Mr. Leacock was
still waiting and hoping, when one day he was sur-
prised by the visit of a young black man, who with
a respectful manner and in good English said, “Sir,
my name is Lewis Wilkinson, and I am the son of
Mr. Wilkinson, the chief of the Fallangia. I am
bringing an invitation from my father and an
apology for his failure to come to visit you before.
He is now very ill, but he wishes to know when it
will suit you to come to him so that he may send
for you.” Seeing, however, that Mr. Leacock was
suffering dreadfully from the wretchedness of his
accommodations, he went on, “My father had de-
sired a day or two ago to make preparations for
receiving you, but I cannot leave you in this state.
You must return with me to Fallangia in my boat
this evening.” :

Surprised, but full of thankfulness, Mr. Leacock
consented to go. At Fallangia he was warmly re-
ceived by the aged chief, who met him, saying,
“Welcome, dear sir, thou servant of the Most High!
Welcome to my humble roof!” and, then, other
words failing him to express what he felt at seeing
a Christian minister in his house, he broke out in
the Church’s great song of praise, the Te Deum,
and repeated it with much solemnity. A short
silence followed; then the chief gave a short sketch
of his life, ending with these words: “Your coming
to me, sir, is the answer to the prayers I have sent
up to the Lord for the last twenty years. Now
I know that God answers prayers, and that a bless-
ing has come to my house. You are welcome here.
There is much work to be done. In Fallangia there
are over thirty children who will be sent to your
school. You may use my house, and next fall
I shall assist in putting up a house for you and
achurch. In the mean time I will divide my house
with you. . You can have a private table if you
prefer it, and if you should get sick, I will help
nurse you.” Well might Mr. Leacock say to him-
self in joyful wonder, “Surely, the Lord must have
sent me here, and I have nothing to do but to
remain.”