Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876Various
Science
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The Kafirs are very fond of attending their own schools and church
services, of which there are several in the town; and I find one of my
greatest difficulties in living out here consists in getting Kafirs to
come out of town, for by doing so they miss their regular attendance at
chapel and school. A few Sundays ago I went to one of these Kafir
schools, and was much struck by the intently-absorbed air of the pupils,
almost all of whom were youths about twenty years of age. They were
learning to read the Bible in Kafir during my visit, sitting in couples,
and helping each other on with immense diligence and earnestness. No
looking about, no wandering, inattentive glances, did I see. I might as
well have "had the receipt of fern-seed and walked invisible" for all
the attention I excited. Presently the pupil-teacher, a young black man,
who had charge of this class, asked me if I would like to hear them sing
a hymn, and on my assenting he read out a verse of "Hold the Fort," and
they all stood up and sang it, or rather its Kafir translation, lustily
and with good courage, though without much tune. The chorus was
especially fine, the words "Inkanye kanye" ringing through the room with
great fervor. This is not a literal translation of the words "Hold the
Fort," but it is difficult, as the teacher explained to me, for the
translator to avail himself of the usual word for "hold," as it conveys
more the idea of "take hold," "seize," and the young Kafir missionary
thoroughly understood all the nicety of the idiom. There was another
class for women and children, but it was a small one. Certainly, the
young men seemed much in earnest, and the rapt expression of their faces
was most striking, especially during the short prayer which followed the
hymn and ended the school for the afternoon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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