Several months went by. The mail came. Mary opened the newspaper. There she read the headlines: Russia declares war! France declares war! England declares war! Mary fainted. The trouble and excitement were too much for her. For two weeks more she carried on her work but it was too much for her. She became weaker and weaker. On Sunday, January 10, 1915, she held her usual church service. After the church meeting she fainted. Dr. Robertson arrived from the Slessor Hospital at Itu. He was able to bring her to, but on January 12 she found it almost impossible to talk. Her last words were a prayer in the African language called Efik. "O Abasi, sana mi yok," said Mary. "O God, release me!" Janie, the first twin Mary had saved, was now a beautiful black woman. She and other children Mary had saved and adopted were watching beside Mary's bed through the night. A rooster crowed. "Day must be dawning," said one of the girls. Day was dawning for Mary, God's eternal day. She slipped away from the earth to be with her Saviour in Heaven. "Our Mother is dead, and we shall be slaves now that our Mother is dead," cried the natives. The news that the white Ma was dead spread rapidly. Natives came from all over the country to see the woman they loved. Mary's body was taken to Itu where services were held. Then it was taken to Duke Town. Here another service was held. Then the coffin was carried to the beautiful cemetery on Mission Hill. From this place could be seen a large part of the city where Mary had begun her faithful missionary work in Africa. Around her grave the grateful natives gathered and wept for her who had wept and prayed over them. "Do not cry, do not cry," said old Ma Fuller, Mary's native friend through the years. "Praise God for His blessings. Ma was a great blessing." First the Africans called her "the white Ma who lives alone." Then they called her "the Ma who loves babies." But lastly they called her "#eka kpukpru owo#," "everybody's Mother." THE END Books on Women Missionaries * * * * * WHITE QUEEN OF THE CANNIBALS The Story of Mary Slessor By A.J. Bueltmann When Mary was young, she heard her mother read about the dangers and rewards of missionary work in Calabar, Africa. This challenged Mary Slessor's young heart and she determined to serve her Lord there. _White Queen of the Cannibals_ records her courage as a missionary to the worst of pagans. The story is simply told that it might inspire children to Christian service. NOT ALONE By Eunice V. Pike Many hundreds of languages in the world today have never been reduced to writing. Uncounted thousands of people cannot read God's Word. The work of Wycliffe Bible Translators is to master the language of a tribe, reduce it to writing, and then teach the people to read the Scriptures--in their own tongue. Eunice Pike recounts her years spent with the Mazatec Indians in Mexico, giving them God's Word. CLIMBING By Rosalind Goforth