Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific Ocean — John Shaqi
Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific OceanBice, C. (Charles)
History
Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific Ocean
Bice, C. (Charles)
Missions -- Vanuatu
There is no face I miss here more than that of James, a true and
faithful friend to me, and I firmly believe, too, of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Arthur tells me his death was perfectly peaceful
and happy, and he desired at the last to depart and be with Christ which
was far better. His two children followed him, and the three lie side by
side in the quiet and rest of the grave. A reputed mother, but one who
is really an aunt, Amina, takes charge of Agnes until Tilegi or some one
else claims her as a bride, for in spite of her deformity I suppose she
will not eschew marriage herself, or be allowed to remain in single
blessedness by her friends, for here young ladies are not over
plentiful, and to judge by the appearance of some already married there
is no accounting for taste among the men of the place. Elizabeth, the
wife of James, has found solace in another partner, but she spoke of her
former husband with a due amount of grief and tears, and said to me,
pointing in the direction of his grave, “He lies asleep over there.”
Yet there are here those who are ‘widows indeed,’ and good old Dorcas is
one such. This old lady well deserves her name, for she is full of alms
deeds, and kindness to all, and I firmly believe is a true follower of
Jesus Christ. She lives alone with a little grandchild in her own hut
and trains up dutifully the child in the way she should go. Very seldom
is old Dorcas away from her seat in church, and she exercises a benign
and gentle influence over her own sex in the village. Anna, another good
old widow, has died in my absence, and the loss of such is much felt.
Among the younger women there is a perfect colony of children, and this
is most thankworthy as being a proof that infanticide has been quite
stamped out, and formerly it seemed to be a sort of religious duty here.
Children were looked upon as being uncanny as well as a nuisance, and if
the mother did not kill her offspring herself, she found plenty of
aiders and abettors in the old midwives who attended her. The father
seemed utterly impotent to prevent the evil. Now the fathers have turned
head nurses and are abundantly proud of their children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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