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
You have all the same likeness,
a true one, taken in Melbourne. Mungaw’s was not so good—at least it
did not do him justice in his best days; but it is charming to what he
looked like in his last few months—his face was so wild and ghastly.
“Poor fellow, I would fain pass over his sad end; but I must hasten on
and have done with him, as I daresay you are as tired of the subject as
I. The last open break out with his wife was on the day that her baby
was three weeks old. He was in a very excited state in the morning,
threw off his clothing, stuck on paint (he supplied himself with balls
of blue from our washing-house!), and seizing his musket, said he was
going to shoot some one ere he returned. The alarm spread, and John
came to me at the sewing class to warn the women; but he soon came
back, and I dismissed the School, feeling anxious to get the children
into the house (John would not budge from his usual work, but he had
always Natives with him), and get doors and windows shut. They had
hardly gone when terrible screams came from his house, and I flew to
implore our cooks to protect Litsi. Just then John rushed past me,
telling me I must not hinder him, as he could not hear that poor girl
being killed. Our boys ran with him, and met Litsi running from her
house covered with blood streaming from the back of her head. John
caught her as she fell forward in a fainting fit, and a woman caught up
her baby; they were carried to the Imrai, where John bound up her head
and revived her with brandy and water. I sent her some fresh clothes,
as John would not let me see her till she was revived and doctored, and
I followed with some dinner. Her tormentor was coming too, but John
gave him a look which made him disappear into the bush in quick style.
He re-appeared with the utmost coolness in a nice clean shirt about
half an hour afterwards, and walked right into the Mission Premises,
helping about a score of men to carry a huge log of wood which John
had asked them to bring for some purpose.—I forget what. During the
afternoon School he sat eyeing Litsi and grinning from the opposite
side of the Imrai, and chatting with the passers-by, as if he had done
no wrong!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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