For the proper explanation of that surprise I must turn aside for a little.
A mission started in the year 1860 for the Zambesi, where it was met, and for a time joined, by the great Dr Livingstone. Its leader, Bishop4 Mackenzie, who laid down his life in the cause, was a man as well as a missionary5. By that I mean that he was manly,—a quality which is not sufficiently6 appreciated, in some quarters, as being a most important element in the missionary character.
While on his way up to the selected sphere of labour in Central Africa, the Bishop and his party, with Dr Livingstone, got into the region of the accursed slave-trade, and one day came unexpectedly on a band of slaves. They were chiefly women and children, bound together with sticks and chains, and herded7 by a few armed slave-dealers, who, having murdered their male defenders8 and burned their villages, were driving them to the coast for shipment to eastern lands—largely, it is said, to the land of the amiable9 Turk.
With characteristic zeal10 and energy Dr Livingstone advanced with a few men to set these poor wretches11 free. The slave-catchers did not await the onset12: they bravely fired a shot or two and fled. To set the slaves free was naturally a most congenial work for the good Bishop who had gone there to free the black man from the slavery of sin. The sticks were cut, the bonds were unloosed, and the people were told that they were free to go back to their homes. Homes! Their homes were in ashes, and the brave hearts and stout13 arms that might have reared new homes were cold and powerless in death, while armed Arab and Portuguese14 bands were prowling about the land gathering15 together more victims. To send these unfortunates away would have been to insure their death or recapture. There was no alternative left but to keep and guard them.
Thus the Bishop suddenly found himself in possession of a small flock with which to begin his mission.
He accepted the charge, conducted them to the region where the mission was to be established, and finally settled down with them there.
Some time after this there came a rumour16 that a large and powerful band of slavers was approaching the settlement with many slaves in possession, and with the intention of attacking the tribe among whom the missionaries17 were located. What was now to be done? To have remained inactive until the slavers marched up to their huts would have been equivalent to suicide. It would have been worse, for it would have insured the putting to flight of the few men of the tribe—who it seems were not celebrated18 for courage—and the result would have been the overthrow19 of the mission and the recapture of the women and children who had already been delivered.
In these trying circumstances Bishop Mackenzie and his people came to the conclusion that self-defence called for vigorous action, and, with musket20 and rifle, sallied forth21 to meet the men-stealers, with the Bishop at their head.
On reaching the position of the enemy they paused at a distance of above six hundred yards. A group of Arab slavers were standing22 on a hill together. One of the mission party kneeled, and with an Enfield rifle sent a bullet over their heads. The effect was powerful! The slavers, accustomed to the smooth-bore musket, had thought themselves quite safe at such a distance. They were panic-stricken: perhaps the unexpected sight of white men aided the effect. At all events, when another bullet was dropped into the midst of them, they took to flight. The missionaries, like good generals, seized their opportunity, charged home, and chased the scoundrels into the woods. Thus, with little fighting, they gained an important victory, and became possessed23 of a second large band of slaves—chiefly women and children—who had been forsaken24 by their terrified captors.
These the Bishop resolved to add to his settlement. Indeed, as in the previous case, he had no alternative. They were at once liberated25 and conducted to the station, and one of the poor black children—a little girl named Dauma—was carried home by Mackenzie on his own shoulders.
Soon afterwards the mission failed in that quarter. Among other misfortunes disease attacked and carried off several of the chief Europeans of the party. The earnest enthusiastic Bishop himself died there in his Master’s cause, and left his bones in the swamps of the Shire River.
All this, and a great deal more, had I read with profound interest, many years before my visit to the Cape2, and the whole subject had made a deep impression on my memory—especially the figure of the gallant26 Bishop returning from his raid on the men-stealers with the little wearied Dauma on his shoulders!
Well, one day I went to visit the “Saint George’s Orphanage27 for Girls,” in Capetown. I was conducted over the dormitories and schools, etcetera, and at last came to a class-room in which were assembled some hundred or so of black orphans—infants almost, most of them, and irresistibly29 comic in their little looks and actions.
It was here that I received the agreeable surprise before referred to. The teacher of this class was as black as her pupils.
“She is herself an orphan28, one of the best girls in our school,” said Miss Arthur, referring to her. “She was saved from the slavers in Central Africa many years ago.”
“What!” I exclaimed, “the little girl who was saved by the missionaries of the Shire River?”
“The same.”
“And who was carried home on the shoulders of Bishop Mackenzie?”
“Yes; her name is Dauma.”
I shook hands with Dauma immediately, and claimed old acquaintance on the spot!
Chief among the many interesting visits which I paid while at Capetown was one to the beautiful towns of Stellenbosch and Wellington. Both are but a short distance from the capital, and connected with it by rail. The former is one of the oldest towns of the colony. Many of the French refugees settled there in 1685.
When, in 1684, Governor Van der Stell founded the lovely town of Stellenbosch, and led out the sparkling waters of its river to irrigate30 trees which afterwards became very giants of the forest, little did he, or his oppressive and tyrannical son and successor, imagine that they had sown the seed of that which was destined31 to become an academic grove32, in the pleasant retirement33 of which lads and men should study the universal laws of matter and of mind.
That, however, which made the deepest impression on me during this visit was the manner in which the work of training the young is conducted. Everything seemed to be done with an amount of wisdom and vigour34 which cannot fail to tell most beneficially and extensively on future generations.
Well do I remember in days gone by, how, with my juvenile35 mind addled36 and my juvenile fingers tingling37 after an application of the “tawse,” I have stared at my arithmetic book in despair—hopelessly ignorant of the meaning of words and terms, utterly38 incapable39 of comprehending explanatory “rules,” passionately40 averse41 to learning in every form, and longingly42 anxious for the period of emancipation43 to arrive, when I should be old and big enough to thrash my master! No such feelings, sentiments, or difficulties can ever find a place in the breasts of those fortunate pupils whose happy lot has been cast in the Seminaries of Stellenbosch and Wellington.
Periwinkle, my friend, farewell.
The End
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1
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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3
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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4
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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9
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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12
onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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14
Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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15
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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16
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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17
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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18
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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19
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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orphanage
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| n.孤儿院 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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irrigate
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| vt.灌溉，修水利，冲洗伤口，使潮湿 | |
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31
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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32
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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33
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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34
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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addled
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| adj.（头脑）糊涂的，愚蠢的；（指蛋类）变坏v.使糊涂( addle的过去式和过去分词 )；使混乱；使腐臭；使变质 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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43
emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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