White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar Part 11

Chief Edem had promised Mary a house, and the people of the village had said they would build it. But whenever Mary wanted to start, they would say, "Tomorrow, we will start, Ma." But tomorrow just did not come.

At last Mary and the children she had adopted and the native children cleared the ground. They stuck sticks in the ground for the wall. They began to make the roof. Then some of the lazy people of the village began to help, and at last the house was built.

Mary also wanted to build a church and school at Ifako. The chief there had promised to help. But the people of that village were lazy, too. They were always putting off doing the building. One morning a man came from Ifako.

"My master wants you," he said.

Mary went to Ifako. The chiefs were together at a cleared piece of ground.

"See, Ma, here is your ground. Here are the sticks, and mud, and palm leaves and other things we need to build. Shall we build the church today?"

It did not take long for Mary to say yes. The people of the village forgot to be lazy. They were having fun building the church. When it was finally finished it was twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet long. We would not think that was a very big building, but it was the biggest in the village.

"See," said the Chief of Ifako, "it is much better than the house at Ekenge."

"It is a fine church," said Mary. "Now we must keep it clean and nice. There should be no dirty things in or around G.o.d's house."

We would not think it was such a fine church. The walls were made of dry mud and sticks. The roof was made of palm-leaf mats. The floors were made of mud and so were the seats. But everything was polished and rubbed as smooth as possible. There were no windows or doors in the building. There were just holes in the wall to let in the light for windows and a larger hole to serve as an entrance. But Mary thought it was a fine church because it was the best in that part of the country and because it was a place where people could hear about the Saviour and learn "book."

"We will hold our first service in the new church next Sunday," said Mary. "I want you all to come."

"We will come, Ma," promised the natives.

8

_The Poison Test_

"Tomorrow we will have our first service in our new church. You must dress right for it," said Mary.

She took out of her mission boxes clothes of all kinds and colors which the people in the homeland had sent to her.

"You must wear these to church tomorrow," said Mary. "In G.o.d's house you must be clean. You must be dressed. You must not bring your spears into church."

"Can we come?" asked the children.

"Indeed you can," said Mary. "The children can come and the slaves can come. G.o.d's house is open to everyone."

The next day was indeed a happy day for Mary. The church was filled with people. Many of them came just out of curiosity, but there were many who had learned to know and love and trust in Jesus.

Mary now started day cla.s.ses and these too were crowded because many wanted to learn "book." They wanted to learn about Ma's G.o.d and about the Saviour who took away sins. It was not long before a change could be seen in many of these people. They had become Christians. The look of fear was gone from their eyes. They no longer feared the demons because they had a Saviour who loved them and took care of them. They did not do the wicked things they had done before. They tried to live as G.o.d wanted them to live.

Mary was happy. Now she wanted to build a larger and better mission house in Ekenge. Chief Edem wanted that too. He felt that the church schoolhouse in Ifako quite outshone the little two-room house in Ekenge. Mary wanted doors and windows in the new house. She could not make them. The natives could not. They had never seen any.

Mary wrote to the Mission Board about it. The Mission Board put a notice in the magazine they published asking for a practical carpenter who was willing to go to Calabar. Mr. Charles Ovens saw the notice.

"This is G.o.d's call to me," he said. "I have wanted to be a missionary ever since I was a little boy. I could not study to be a minister. I learned to be a carpenter. Now I can be a carpenter for G.o.d. I can build mission houses and churches and while I build I can tell the people about my Saviour."

It was in May, 1889, that Mr. Ovens started for Calabar. In Duke Town he found a native helper and the two of them went to Ekenge. Mary was very glad to have him come. He was a very jolly man. He sang at his work. Everyone liked him and the natives gladly helped him in building the houses.

For a long time Mary had been trying to get the chiefs of Okoyong to trade with the traders on the coast. They would not listen. Now she invited them to her new house. She showed them the things she had and how useful they were. The chiefs looked at the door and windows. They liked them. The women looked at the clothes and at the sewing machine. They liked them. They looked at the clock on the mantel. They liked it, too.

"We will trade with coast people," said Chief Edem.

Mary wrote to the traders and invited them to Okoyong. She told them to bring dishes, dress goods, mirrors, clocks, and the like to trade for ivory, oil, and bananas and other things in the jungle.

"It is too dangerous to come up-country," answered the traders. "We are afraid the native guards on the jungle paths will kill us."

Mary wrote to good King Eyo, of Duke Town. She asked him to invite the Okoyong chiefs for a conference. She promised they would bring jungle goods to trade.

King Eyo invited the chiefs. They did not want to go. Mary told them of the interesting things they would see on the coast. She told them of the good things they could get by trading. At last they agreed to go. They collected two canoeloads of bananas, barrels of oil and other jungle crops. Then the chiefs and warriors came marching down to the river to go to the coast.

"Wait," said Mary. "You cannot take those spears and swords and guns along. You will only get into trouble. You must leave your swords and spears, your guns and knives at home."

When Mary said this, many of the natives disappeared into the jungle. They would not go without their weapons.

"Ma, you make women of us," argued those who remained. "Would a man go among strangers without arms?"

"You may not take arms," said Mary. "You are not going to war. You are going for a friendly visit."

"If we cannot take our swords and guns we will not go. We will stay home."

"But you promised and I promised King Eyo that you would come. Will you go back on your word and make me a liar?"

For two hours they argued with Mary. The beach filled with natives from the village who wanted to see the chiefs start on their trip. The chiefs did not want to look like cowards to the people of the village. At last they took off their swords and gave their guns to their white Ma. Those who had run away to the jungle came back and decided to go along.

"We do not like this," said the chiefs, "but we will go. We will not make you a liar, Ma."

They got off into their boats. As one of the boats rowed off, one of the bags s.h.i.+fted. Mary saw the gleam of flas.h.i.+ng swords.

"Stop!" cried Mary. The rowers stopped. Mary took the swords and threw them into the river.

"Shame on you," said Mary. "I did not think you would try to fool me like that." The chiefs said nothing. They just rowed down the river.

The chiefs who went to Duke Town had a wonderful time. They went to the church services. King Eyo Honesty talked with them about the Gospel and what it meant for their lives. He took them to his house and had a big dinner for them. They traded the bananas, oil, and other things which they had brought for things to take home like mirrors, clocks, and white people's clothes. Then the next day they rowed back to Ekenge.

The village people were all gathered down at the landing place to welcome the chiefs home. They watched patiently for the boats. When the boats came the people shouted for joy.

"Welcome home, Chief Edem," said Mary. "How was your trip? Did you enjoy your visit at Duke Town?"

"The trip was fine, Ma," said Chief Edem. "Duke Town is a big village. They have a big churchhouse. We saw many things."

"Did you need your guns and swords?" asked Mary.

"No, Ma, you were right. We did not need guns or swords. King Eyo was good to us. We have many fine things."