The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 02, February, 1889 — John Shaqi
The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 02, February, 1889Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 02, February, 1889
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
The condition of the natives in this vicinity is very sad. Their
ignorance and pride coupled make it almost impossible to do anything for
them. The rough roads over the rocks and mountains make it a dangerous
undertaking for them to attend church in the evenings. Several of us
started for a meeting among them on a recent Saturday afternoon, with
rubbers, umbrellas and waterproofs, prepared for mud and rain. We
crossed a rickety old wooden bridge that had been nearly washed away by
the floods, and commenced to climb the mountain side by a road that was
nearly as steep as a steeple and which wended around to nearly every
point of the compass, ever going up, over ruts and rocks, roots and
trunks of trees, now jumping across a ravine, and next climbing a fence.
At last among the thickets and brush there were some signs of life, and
we came to an opening among the trees where we saw a miserable-looking
old shanty. The first thought was, can it be possible that human beings
live in a shed like this? We drew near and saw two women sitting with
their knees up to the open fire on the hearth. They looked much
surprised to see us. We told them that we were going to hold a meeting
at a house a little farther on; will they go? No, they don't care to go,
expectorating the tobacco juice from their mouths into the fire at the
same time. We replied, "You would better go; it may be you will never
have a chance to hear an Englishman again;" to which we got a reply,
"Hear a w-h-a-a-t?" Whether they knew what an Englishman was, or not, or
even if they ever heard there was such a country as England I cannot
say; but I understand there are thousands of these people who know
nothing of the outside world, and many who were never five miles away
from their own door-step in their life. With a patch of ground for corn,
another for tobacco, with wood for the fire, they are as contented as
the President; alas, too contented!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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