The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 102

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102 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

Mackay’s life and gave orders to seize and burn the
Christians. Forty-six men and boys were gathered,
their arms slashed from their bodies by sharp
knives that they might not struggle, after which
they were placed on frames above a roaring fire and
so consumed. Yet we read that the number of
Christians grew at this time of terror.

Mackay, expelled from the capital by the king,
quietly locked up the mission premises and crossed
to the other end of the lake. Thence he issued a
circular letter to his scattered converts, printed on
his own little hand-press.

“In days of old,’ he wrote, “Christians were
hated, were hunted, were driven out, and were per-
secuted for Jesus’ sake, and thus it is to-day. Our
beloved brothers, do not deny our Lord Jesus.”

When from England came the proposal to give
up the mission, Mackay wrote back “Never!” When
the society begged him to come home for a fur-
lough, he replied: ‘Send us our first twenty men,
and J may be tempted to come and find the second
twenty.” His term of service in Africa was cut
short, for he died of fever in 1890.

Lord Rosebury said of Uganda: “TI, for one, as
a Scotchman, can never be indifferent to a land
which witnessed the heroic exploits of Alexander
Mackay, that Christian Bayard.”

Stanley, between whom and Mackay there ex-
isted a firm comradeship, voiced his reverent ad-
miration for his friend before his death in these
words : —

“To see one man of this kind, working day after
day for twelve years, bravely and without a syllable
of complaint, amid the wildernesses, and to hear
him lead his little flock to show forth God’s loving-
' kindness in the morning and his faithfulness every
night, is worth going a long journey for the moral
courage and contentment that one derives from it.”

Again, in 1897, in the Atlantic Monthly, writ-
ing of Uganda as a smiling missionary oasis in the
deep recesses of Central Africa, Mr. Stanley speaks
of its Christian conquest as “an epic poem,” “few
secular enterprises, military or otherwise, deserving
of greater praise.”

At another time, Stanley expresses his opinion
that, “had the society (Church Mission Society)
yielded to the almost universal desire that the_mis-

sionaries should give up the effort, Uganda would
_ by this time have been one of the darkest regions
_ of Africa. Faith and perseverance, however, have

_ made it one of the brightest, thereby more than
fulfilling my brightest hopes.”

Mission-Work among Women in India.

One day four women on our mission compound
came to me with the request to take their picture
before the impending close of the school-year.
These women are married to four of the students
in our present catechist class, have lived very close
to each other during the past year, and wished to
have the picture as a remembrance. Naturally
I was glad to grant their request. I am enclosing
a copy of the picture so that you may get acquainted
with them. An interesting little story is connected
with each of the women.

When the women in the picture first came to
our mission compound with their husbands, they
knew little or nothing of the Christian religion.
They came to us because their husbands were called
in for training in our teacher and catechist classes.
Although the women had been pledged to take part
in certain class work also, they shirked it. Occa-
sionally they would attend divine services, and then
they would absent themselves again. When I saw
this, it pained me, and I immediately set to work
and encouraged the men to send their wives to the
classes. I also visited the women in their homes
and spoke to them -about their own salvation and
in this way got them interested in our Christian
faith. Now they have already been under instruc-
tion for a whole year. By the gracious blessing of
God they seem to have a real desire to be baptized
and later to be confirmed.

But now let me tell you a little about each one.
Looking at the picture, we will begin with the one
at the extreme right, and then will proceed one by
one to the left.

The woman at the right is the second wife of
a man who is considerably older than she. Her
name is Agnes, and she is now twenty years of age.
According to Indian standards she is pretty. How-
ever, what in our estimation mars, but in Indian
estimation enhances her beauty, is that her ear-
lobes have been extended artificially until they now
reach down to within two inches of her shoulders.
In these extensions she carries ear rings and jewels.
Frequently she also wears a brass belt around her
waist as an ornament. Unfortunately she has no
children of her own, but mothers a child of her
husband by his first marriage. Her parents became
Christians, but she never before had any instruc-
tion for baptism. As she and her husband will be
here at Trivandrum for several years more, we hope
and pray that she also will be won for Christ and