The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 168

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168

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

witch-doctor’s gruesome treatment — had no place
in her heart.*

One Sunday evening the neighbor’s wife was
called and watched all night and through the follow-
ing day. Neighbors shook their heads ominously as
the little one’s arrival was still delayed. “There he
sits,” they said, “and does not call in the witch-
doctor, when it is clear that his wife has not been
true to him. Those believers have funny notions.”

Through the second night and all the next day
the neighbor’s wife kept watch. They waited and
prayed, and towards the close of the second Pompi
and his wife had a consultation. Then Pompi was
seen putting on his hat and tramping hastily down
the narrow, snakelike trail leading towards the east.

“He has come to his senses at last,” gloried the
neighbors. “Should have done so two days ago. Per-
haps the nyanga (witch-doctor) will not come now.”

“Bnt he’s not going for the nyanga,” intervened
a woman arriving on the scene. “He is going to the
missionaries for help.”

“But the white doctor is not there. What do the
others know about it? He'd be wiser if he went to
the nyanga.”

“But they say there is no truth in what we say
about the woman having done wrong,” objected the
late arrival.

“Of course you’d say that, but I know there is.
Didn’t my wife admit her guilt? And didn’t she
have to pay for it with-her life? She died when
the rumano was removed from her head, and I got
my fine.”

When Pompi returned home two hours later, he
was greeted by the lusty wail of a son and heir.
Great was the joy of the parents.

* If a child’s arrival is delayed beyond two or three
hours, the mother is considered guilty of sin, and the
witch-doctor is called to make her confess. The mother’s
second finger is first securely tied and bent backwards
farther and farther till the excruciating pain oftentimes
makes her tell a heinous lie about herself in self-defense.
If this fails to hasten the child’s arrival, the witch-doctor
goes out into the near-by veldt, cuts down a strong limb
from a tree, cuts off a rumano, or stout piece, about three
or four fect in length and as thick as a man’s wrist. This
he carries into the hut and splits down the center about
a foot or more. Opening the cleft, he puts it over the
well-nigh frantic woman’s head, letting it snap with full
force across her “temples .and tying it securely behind.
Unless the victim faints, she usually invents another lie
to save her life. In this she sometimes succeeds — often-
times not, but the rumano is not taken off until the child
“arrives or the mother expires. When the new-born babe
“refuses to nurse, the same treatments are resorted to, and
the offender is made to pay a fine. ;

Two weeks later, as the darkness of night was
falling fast, a loud and prolonged rap was heard on
the back veranda of the mission-manse. “O teacher,
can you help us to save our baby? He’s very sick.”

The missionary went with the father and kept
watch all that night. All that man could do was
done to save the little life, and the next day the little
sufferer seemed better. For four days the fight was
kept up, but at last the little soul went home to be
with Jesus. But there was not the usual hopeless
wailing and violent pulling of hair. Both mother
and father knew Him in whom they believed, and
strength to bear the sorrow came from Him.

On a Sunday morning a few weeks later the be-
reaved mother, in conversation with friends, with
tears in her eyes and with trembling voice, thanked
God for the little one that had been entrusted to
their care for a little time. “And now I want you
to know,” she added, “that I do not believe one word
of all that the neighbors are saying about our child’s
having been bewitched. No one bewitched him. He
is not dead. He is living. He has just gone on
ahead and awaits us in heaven with Jesus. There
we shall meet him again.”

Buried Missionary Intentions.

A little girl heard the teacher speak of the sad
lot of heathen children, and as she listened to her
beloved teacher’s words, she resolved to save her
pennies and remember the poor pagan children in
her prayers. But when she spoke at home of what
her heart was full, she met with no response.
Father, mother, brothers, and sisters seemed not the
least bit interested, and so it was only natural
that the little girl’s enthusiasm was lost to the
mission-cause.

A young high school student chanced to read an
article on the crying need in some mission-field.
Right then and there the young lady resolved that
she would deny herself a new winter coat and send
the money thus saved to the missions. She saw
herself walking down the street in a coat that had
been in style a year ago, while her schoolmates were
garbed in the most up-to-date apparel. She could
hear herself explaining her strange appearance to
her friends and could even imagine them express
their regret that she had not told them of her
resolve, so that they might have done likewise.
Yes, the young lady’s heart for the moment was
overflowing with missionary enthusiasm. She was
even tempted to become a missionary worker herself.

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