John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
“Poor Yawaci was our chief care after that. It seemed strange that
Litsi, who so longed for death, should survive so much ill usage,
for I could not pen a fiftieth part of the cruelty—the refinement of
cruelty—with which he treated her. One instance will suffice. We missed
him from Church one Sabbath, and found that he had spent the time
_skinning_ the lower part of her face and _pinching_ little bits of
flesh out of her chest from shoulder to shoulder, threatening her with
his club if she dared to cry out. You will wonder that the Natives did
not interfere. We began to lose all patience with them. I remember Mr.
Inglis once saying, ‘It was worth living twenty years on the Islands
just to know what we owed to Christianity,’ and how I thought they were
stupid who did not find out all that in six months or less! I myself
have had to live twelve years on Aniwa, however, to know what we owe to
Lunatic Asylums, and also to learn how _exclusively_ a man’s wife is
regarded as his own peculiar property—that is, to be used exactly as
he likes. They would as soon think of interfering with a man’s conduct
to his wife, as we would if in civilization a man chose to burn his
own carpet or smash his own timepiece. They would break out into the
most amused smile, when John was begging them to protect her, and
say, ‘But, Missi, it’s his own wife!’ Of course, they were mad enough
at him, Litsi being a general favourite, but could not well see their
right to interfere.
“Yawaci’s breathing was rather easier; and about eight o’clock, after
getting all she could want for the night, we were so thankful to see
her lie down for the first time, and fondly hoped she was beginning to
recover. She called the girls round her, telling them to sing; and,
after beginning the translation of ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee,’ I slipped
away leaving them singing it, and got to my bed thoroughly exhausted.
Through the night, her husband knocked at our bedroom window, saying
she was dying. John sprang up and went to her side, offering a short
prayer, but her spirit fled before he had done, and she was buried amid
heart-felt lamentations before Church Service on Sabbath, 3rd February.
Our hearts were like to break, for she had been a faithful attached
servant—_daughter_, rather—to us for ten years; a sweet little thing
about eight or nine when she first came, and every year we liked her
better. She had a great lump of _heart_, and I can never forget her
devoted care of us all at that time when we were both laid up and our
precious baby died. It was she I trusted to put the little form in
its last resting-place, myself too weak to move! It was so sad to see
her friends going about the next few days, their eyes red and swollen
with weeping. Weeks after, on putting her Photo. into the hands of one
of the sewing women, her head sank lower over it till the heavy sobs
welled up; and as it was passed from one to another, there was hardly a
dry eye—so generally was she beloved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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