Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian IslandsYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Religion
Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Missions -- Melanesia; Patteson, John Coleridge, 1827-1871
'The Bishop had not lost his Eton tastes, and only liked to see them
play games, and the little fat merry-faced lads were always on the
look-out for a bit of fun with him. One evening a tea-drinking was given
in the hall in honour of us. The Mota boys sung in twilight the story of
the first arrival of the Mission vessel and of their wonder at it. The
air, with a monotonous, not unpleasing refrain, reminded us of some old
French Canadian ditties. I remember well the excitement when the Bishop
sent up a fire balloon. It sailed slowly towards the sea, and down
rushed the whole Melanesian party, shrieking with delight after it. Our
dear friend's own quarters were very tiny, and a great contrast to
his large airy room at St. John's. He occupied a corner house in the
quadrangle, to be close to the boys. Neither bedroom nor sitting-room
was more than ten feet square. Everything was orderly, as was his wont.
Photographs of the faces and places he loved best hung on the walls.
Just by the door was his standing desk, with folios and lexicons. A
table, covered with books and papers in divers languages, and a chair or
two, completed his stock of furniture. The door stood open all day long
in fine weather, and the Bishop was seldom alone. One or other of
the boys would steal quietly in and sit down. They did not need to be
amused, nor did they interrupt his work. They were quite content to be
near him, and to get now and then a kind word or a pleasant smile. It
was the habitual gentle sympathy and friendliness on his part that won
the confidence of the wild timid people who had been brought up in an
element of mistrust, and which enabled them after a while to come and
open their hearts to him.
'How vividly the whole scene comes back to me as I write! The Bishop's
calm thoughtful face, the dusky lads, the white-shelled square in front,
relieved by a mass of bright geraniums or gay creepers, the little
bed-room with its camp bed, and medicine bottles and good books, and,
too often, in spite of our loving remonstrances, an invalid shivering
with ague, or influenza, in possession. We knew that this involved
broken nights for him, and a soft board and a rug for a couch. He was
overtasking his powers during those years. He was at work generally from
five A.M. to eleven P.M., and this in a close atmosphere; for both the
schoolroom and his own house were ill-ventilated. He would not spare
time enough either for regular exercise. He had a horse and enjoyed
riding, but he grudged the time except when he had to come up to town on
business or to take Sunday services for the English in the country. It
was very natural, as he had all a student's taste for quiet study, yet
could only indulge it by cutting off his own hours for relaxation. He
was constantly called off during the day to attend to practical work,
teaching in school, prescribing for and waiting on the sick, weighing
out medicines, keeping the farm accounts, besides the night classes in
several languages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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