Under the Southern Cross: Or, a Woman's Life Work for AfricaThe special work to which I had been appointed at Fair View was the school work; although my instructions given by Superintendent Roberts on the eve of my departure for Africa gave full liberty to evangelize as well as to teach. My manual read something like this: "Do not be satisfied to be merely a school teacher. Be an evangelist. Go out to the kraals, preaching as you go. Make the salvation of souls your one and only business." -from "Chapter XIII: My School" The missionary work of Westerners in Africa is long and storied-here's another tale of the long-term attempts to convert a continent. Privately published, this is one woman's account of her Christian work in Zulu country, from her childhood-she was born in 1863-on farms in Iowa and Kansas, where she had a youthful brush with death that led to her conversion to an active Christianity, to her return home after long years doing the Lord's work. The time in between is fraught with culture shock: her difficulties in learning the Zulu language, her disdain for Zulu tradition and mythology, even a particular scorn for the food she found unpalatable. Stolid and unbending, this is a curious document of a less enlightened time, a firsthand look at the mindset of a bygone time. |
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Page 10
... hope must have expired . Truly I have spent years in my " Desert of Waiting , " and meekly learned my lessons of patience , and to spell my disappointments as " His appointments . " Yes , I had almost become reconciled to live , and die ...
... hope must have expired . Truly I have spent years in my " Desert of Waiting , " and meekly learned my lessons of patience , and to spell my disappointments as " His appointments . " Yes , I had almost become reconciled to live , and die ...
Page 15
... hope of raising me , and would not have been greatly surprised had I dropped off at almost any time . No attempt to send me to school was made until I was past eight years of age . When I was ten my father took up a homestead in Western ...
... hope of raising me , and would not have been greatly surprised had I dropped off at almost any time . No attempt to send me to school was made until I was past eight years of age . When I was ten my father took up a homestead in Western ...
Page 19
... hope was entertained for my life by my parents and friends . Only an inferior quality of medical help was at first obtainable , and when abler help was secured and an exam- ination made , it was found that my middle finger was in- deed ...
... hope was entertained for my life by my parents and friends . Only an inferior quality of medical help was at first obtainable , and when abler help was secured and an exam- ination made , it was found that my middle finger was in- deed ...
Page 23
... hope never to lose . Long ago the " If " was dropped from the last line of the chorus , and as I now sing it , " For " has been substituted . " All hail reproach and sorrow , For Jesus leads me there . " In actual experience there is no ...
... hope never to lose . Long ago the " If " was dropped from the last line of the chorus , and as I now sing it , " For " has been substituted . " All hail reproach and sorrow , For Jesus leads me there . " In actual experience there is no ...
Page 26
... hope that it would lead to his conversion . The following year , I entered upon my college course , under the able tuition of Prof. Clark Jones , being alone in nearly all my classes . At the end of this year , Professor Jones and the ...
... hope that it would lead to his conversion . The following year , I entered upon my college course , under the able tuition of Prof. Clark Jones , being alone in nearly all my classes . At the end of this year , Professor Jones and the ...
Contents
15 | |
20 | |
25 | |
Getting at My Life Work | 30 |
The Voyage and Landing | 39 |
First Experience | 53 |
Our African Neighbors | 64 |
NatalThe Land | 79 |
Spying Out the Land and Settling | 271 |
Again at Work | 280 |
Progressing Slowly | 288 |
Itinerating | 294 |
A Study of Inhambane Natives | 300 |
A Further Study of Inhambane Natives | 316 |
Day by Day | 325 |
Life and Death | 337 |
HistoricalChalka | 89 |
Customs Superstitions and Beliefs | 99 |
Pouring on Cold Water | 123 |
Varied Experiences | 132 |
My School | 149 |
Two Weddings | 168 |
Our Work at Bethany | 176 |
Incidentals | 186 |
Further Developments | 199 |
A Zulu Wedding | 217 |
Summary of One Years Work at Bethany | 229 |
Clouds and Sunshine | 241 |
CHAPTER PAGE XXI A Trip to Zululand | 250 |
Strange Providences | 264 |
Resignation | 348 |
In the Highways and Hedges | 353 |
Thinning Out the Ranks | 370 |
Looking Toward Home | 377 |
My Final Tour | 385 |
Man Proposes God Disposes | 397 |
Sweeping Through the Gates | 401 |
Farewell to Inhambane | 408 |
Retrospective and Prospective | 413 |
Haviland Memorial Mission | 425 |
Readjustment | 433 |
Olivet Mission | 446 |
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Common terms and phrases
Africa asked B. T. Roberts Batonga beer believe bemba Bethany blessing Board boys Brother Agnew called carriers carry cashew cattle chapel CHAPTER Christ Christian church clothes dance dark death Dingiswayo door dress drink Durban Emma H Estcourt Fair View father feel fever field Free Methodist Church friends girls Gitonga give God's Gospel grass Gungunyana hand Haviland head heard heart heathen hematuria hope horse induna Inhambane intulo Jesus journey kolwas kraal labor land language leave living Lord meeting miles mission missionary Mlibaziso months morning mother Natal natives never night pray prayer reached seemed shapaus sick Sister Agnew soul South Africa spirit station steamer Sunday things thou tisolo took tree Umzinto Violet walk wedding weeks wife woman women words young Zulu Zulu language Zululand
Popular passages
Page 24 - For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake ; 30 Having the same conflict "which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.