The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 122

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122

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

was now too weak to ride a bicycle, her friends in
Scotland sent out to her a Cape cart (a basket chair
on wheels), which two boys could easily push
through the forest paths. She had completed thirty-
six years as missionary in the most difficult field in
the world and was almost worn out, but her spirit
remained unquenched, and she worked on amid dif-
ficulties which would have appalled any less stout-
hearted woman.

There was something pathetic in her ecstasy of
enjoyment of the simple pleasures which came to
her. The voyage, the food, the climate, and the rest
for two months worked a miracle for her and she
returned to Calabar very much stronger than she
had been for years. She was very lonely at her sta-
tion in Use and complained that once for seven
weeks she had received no message from the outside

world. She had nothing to read except old news-
papers. Wild beasts abounded in the district, and

Yenomous snakes were often near her home. Gov-
ernment officials continued to be friendly, and Sir
Frederick Lugard and Lord Egerton added their
testimony to her wonderful power of control over
the savage natives.

“The power which enables Mary Slessor to live
so intensely, to triumph over physical weakness, to
face the dangers of the bush, and that gave her the
magnetic personality which captivated the hearts of
white and black alike, was derived from her inti-
mate and constant contact with the unseen, and the
means of that contact were prayer and the Bible.”
She wrote to a friend: “My life is one long daily,
hourly record of answered prayer: for physical
strength, for mental overstrain, for guidance given,
for dangers averted, for food provided, for every-
thing that goes to make up life and my poor ser-
vice. I can testify, with wonder-stricken awe, that
I believe God answers prayer. I know that God
answers prayer.”

Her self-sacrificing efforts for the good of others
brought. royal recognition from England, and the
king had the pleasure of conferring upon her the
Order for Meritorious Services from the Hospital of
St. John in Jerusalem.

Increasing weakness now appeared, and after
many days of fever and suffering the tired heart
ceased to beat, and Mary Slessor went to her rest
and her reward on January 13, 1915. All classes
united to do her honor in death and her funeral at
Duketown was attended by government officials,
missionaries, and natives. All were bowed with
grief and realized what a friend they had lost.

This truly pioneer missionary had exceptional
talents, untiring energy, wonderful courage, and
childlike faith. She had doubtless also many ec-
centricities; but as Mr. Livingstone says in a
preface: “When her life is viewed as a whole and
in the light of what she achieved, all these angles
and oddities fall away, and she stands out a woman
of unique and inspiring personality, one of the most
heroic figures of the age.” E.C.S.

Conflicting Forces in Papua.

Thirty years of Christian mission-work in New
Guinea has produced marked results upon the
aborigenes, who have thus been brought into con-
tact with Western civilization. ‘The savage can-
nibal tribes, who at first sight might have been
considered almost hopeless, have in a remarkable
way responded to the appeal of the Gospel. As new
districts have been opened up to the east and to
the west, missionaries have undertaken a seemingly
impossible task and after a few years have proved
the power of Christ to transform the most degraded
men. An important part of the evangelistic work
in the island is now being conducted by Papuan
converts who were formerly degraded savages.
Along hundreds of miles of the coast simple, but
sincere Christians, scattered in scores of heathen
villages, make up the membership of the young
Church.

The triumphs of grace amongst these backward
people make an inspiring story. But unfortunately
this is only one aspect of the case. While multitudes
of this barbarous: people have been brought to
Christ, other forces have been at work which, if
not controlled, must lead to their extinction.
Not many years ago there were only a few white
men in the southeastern part of New Guinea, and
they were not all permanent residents. In those
days the few whites lived among a strange ab-
original race, on whom Western civilization had
made no impression. One had only to penetrate
a few miles into the interior to discover that no
white man had ever been there. The savage and
untutored natives were not merely curious to catch
a glimpse of the strange foreigner, but they were
bewildered by the spectacle. When the novelty wore
off, the whites were still conscious of being odd
persons, who did not fit in with the prevailing con-
ditions. The feeling of isolation was sometimes
almost as acute. as if they had been living on an
uninhabited island.