“Our visitors and Vessel left us in the afternoon, and on my return from seeing them off (John was too exhausted to go), I met a very nice man, one of the Church members, who stopped me and said,—‘Missi, I’ve given my boy up to you and Missi the man, and you’re to feed and clothe and teach him, as you do the other children.’ I could hardly believe my ears, and you would need to know how boys are prized here to appreciate as we did the sacrifice made,—at least as John did, for I must confess that the thought of their bodily sustenance comes between me and the fervent thanksgiving of my earnest little man for ‘another soul being added to our care!’ We’ve got ten of these souls, with bodies attached, at the present time, besides several outsiders who come during the day, and it taxes all my ingenuity to keep them in work and ‘Kai-Kai,’—their capacity for the latter being of no mean order. Their clothes are no concern beyond the making of them, and that they soon learn to do for themselves; for we have always been abundantly supplied from kind Mission friends.... Although I _do_ sometimes think how nice it would be to be in Civilization with a small house of our own and with the care of only one or two servants at most, yet we are more than re-paid for all our love to these dear Darkies. They are just like our very children, and such we always call them, and they are so confiding and loving with us and tell us everything, especially the elder girls, who have lived with us now for more than five years. “By the way, we have just had an _affaire de cœur_ amongst them, and as Hutshi is the young lady, you will be interested to hear. You know she was given away, when an infant, by her parents, to Nelwang, another infant about the same age, but who is now one of the best and most intelligent boys on the Island,—the only drawback being that his limbs are rather diseased, and he is so fearfully timid that he won’t let John apply anything to cure them. Well, when we were in Sydney, a middle-aged man, a returned labourer, whose betrothed wife is yet a baby, came trying to curry favour with Hutshi’s guardians (her parents are dead long ago) by bringing them large presents, and finally got them talked over to give him Hutshi when she returned with us,—so it was settled, only awaiting her and our consent. Now, her guardian has always been most honourable with us. He gave up Hutshi to us, when she was of the greatest use in his village (but I took care to let her go and help them pretty often), and when we asked if she might go with us to the Colonies, he and his wife said,—‘She is more your child than ours, Missi; do as you like.’ So, when they explained matters to John one evening in the study, and said that both Hutshi and Nelwang were agreeable to the change, he felt he could not interfere much, but warned them not to be too rash and to ask God about it.