By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti WarHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Ashanti war, 1873-1874 -- Juvenile fiction
“I find de slave trade now all at an end, and dat de people not fight
often now. Still, de twenty muskets dat I bring make de people of oder
villages respec' us very much. Dey come ober to see de village. Dey see
dat de houses are comfortable, dat de gardens are bery well cultivated,
dat de people are well dressed, not like common nigger, dat dey are
happy and contented. Dey see dat dey no believe in fetish any more, but
dat ebery ebening when de work is ober, dey gadder under de big tree and
listen for half an hour while I read to dem and den sing a hymn. Once
a year I send down to de coast and get up plenty cloth, and hoes for
de gardens, and eberyting dey want. When I land here ten year ago I hab
eight hundred pound. I got five hundred ob him left here still. Dat more
dan enuf to last Sam if he libe to be bery, bery ole man. Dar are some
good men in de village who, when I am gone, will carry on de work ob de
Lord and dat's all, sar, dat I hab to tell you about Sam, and I am sure
dat you must be very tired and want to go to bed.”
The hour was, indeed, for Africa, extremely late, but the time had
passed unheeded, so interested were the listeners in the narrative of
the fine old negro. They remained at the village for a week, and were
greatly pleased with the industrious habits and happy appearance of the
people, and with the earnestness and fervor in which every evening, and
twice on Sunday, they joined in devotions under the great tree. At the
end of that time they said goodbye to their kind host, giving him a
large amount of cloth for distribution among his people. He was unable
to furnish them with bearers, as a considerable tract of uninhabited
country extended beyond his village, and the people on the other side
were on bad terms with his villagers, on account of an outstanding feud
which had existed long before his return from America, and which he
had in vain attempted to settle since he assumed the headship of the
village.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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