Chapter XXIV: A Marriage and a Harvest Festival

A Christian wedding--Grateful offerings--Christianity a great boon to
the women--Reunion--Various meetings--Lady missionaries conduct
services--Auction sale of the gifts--Changed lives--Mikula instructs
a stranger in the way of salvation--Rules for candidates and for
Church fellowship.

A few days after Mikula’s return he was married to the young woman for whom he had built the brick house. In honour of the occasion the church was prettily decorated with flowers, long streamers of vine-like branches and palm-fronds. A bower was made by arching some palm-fronds, and beneath this were placed two chairs, tied together, symbolical of the future state of those who were to sit upon them.

The town was all agog with the excitement of the event, every seat and standing place was occupied, and the doors and windows were crowded with black but smiling faces.

This was the first time that a deacon-teacher had been married in their town, and as the bride-groom was much honoured by Christians and heathen alike for his happy, kindly, obliging disposition and straightforward, consistent life among them, they had come in large numbers to his wedding.

The bride was arrayed in a clean muslin dress of a bright but pretty pattern--the gift of her white lady teacher as a recognition of her helpful work among the girls during her stay upon the station. The bridegroom was dressed in a nice blue loin cloth and white jacket, the latter being the work of one of his neighbours who was expert with the needle.

A fellow deacon had come from a neighbouring town to perform the ceremony. A marriage hymn was sung and was followed by two teachers asking for God’s blessing on those about to be married; then the deacon read a translation of the marriage service, during which the bride and bridegroom took each other’s hand and solemnly pledged themselves to one another until death. Another hymn and prayer, and the benediction concluded the simple but impressive service.

No sooner did the newly wedded pair emerge from the church than they were greeted with cheers, shouts and a salvo of guns. Their progress home took the form of a triumphal procession, all the folk vying with each other in their expressions of pleasure, their exclamations of goodwill, and the guns banged with such tremendous reports of jubilation that it was a wonder they did not burst their sides.

Mikula invited his friends to a great feast of pig and cassava-flour puddings, washed down with copious draughts of water, tea and coffee. There was no wine, no drunkenness, and no debauchery; but a happy merry-making that left no bad “after palavers,” and no unpleasant headaches.

About three or four months after the marriage the native Christians in Mikula’s town and district were very busy in preparing their harvest thanksgiving offerings. Many of the women had hoed extra patches of peanuts and cassava gardens, the crops from which, when matured, they sold on the markets, and the proceeds were given to Mikula for the coming festival. Mats, baskets and saucepans were made and sold for the same purpose. The men also put by a certain portion of their “trade,” and devoted the result to the same object. Others laid aside pieces of cloth, hats, umbrellas and various other articles to take with them as their gifts.

Mikula carefully noted all the moneys he received, and everybody concerned was looking forward with eager interest to the arrival of the letter that would inform them of the date of the coming religious fête.

At last the messenger arrived, the day was proclaimed, and those members of the Church and their friends (for everybody--Christian and non-Christian--was welcome to this festival) prepared their baskets of food, their offerings, their children and their clothes for the great event. As they travelled up to the station they met other contingents coming from various districts, near and far. They chatted about the news, compared their gifts, and the teachers and deacons consulted and talked over the progress of “God’s palaver” at the different centres of work.

Oh! wonder of wonders; the men helped the women in carrying the babies and the loads of food, etc. A kindly service they never rendered in the old days, for then the men swaggered along unencumbered, left their women to trudge after them as best they could with all the impedimenta on their backs, heads and in their arms--poor beasts of burden.

This Christian religion had certainly wrought a great change for the better in the condition of the women. Instead of being treated with contempt as inferiors, they were respected as equals; instead of receiving the leavings of the men, they now sat at the same table to eat with them; instead of being regarded as mere chattels to be borrowed and loaned, ill-treated, cursed and killed, they were cherished as wives; and instead of being mere children-bearing, farm-making, food-cooking animals, they were now the companions of their husbands and the sharers of their sorrows and joys.

It was early on Saturday afternoon when we arrived on the station. There across the entrance to the ground was a red banner with these letters in white on it: “TUKAIYISI” (= Welcome); and that was not the only welcome our party received. The white men and their wives greeted us very heartily, and showed us houses, and loaned us mats for our use during our stay. The women quickly gathered about their lady teachers, and questions, kindly inquiries, and answers were the order of the day. My owner, Mikula, recognized, greeted and conversed with many of the young men who were lads at school with him in the old days.

What a happy reunion! How longingly anticipated, and how fully appreciated! Faces were missed there that were now present in the cool glades that border the River of Life; and some few were absent, because, through heinous sin, they had been cut off from the Church, and were ashamed to show themselves at this Christian festival of gladness and thanksgiving.

One white man had decorated the church with palm-fronds, plantain-trees, festoons of creepers, flowers and flags. The station had been thoroughly swept, the flags streamed from the apex of the church to the ground. Another white man was looking after the comfort of the numerous visitors, allotting to them their sleeping-places, mats, and utensils for fetching water and cooking food. A third was receiving the numerous gifts, noting the names of the donors and districts, and arranging the offerings in front and around the platform.

What a miscellaneous assortment of gifts was there! Heaps of pumpkin seeds and peanuts; numerous bunches of plantains and bananas; a pile of oranges; pieces of cloth of various colours and qualities; umbrellas, eggs, glasses, fowls, rabbits, parcels of native tobacco, mats--plain and ornamented, kwanga loaves of native bread, pumpkins, calabashes, bundles of native greens, tomatoes, garden eggs, boxes of gun-caps, tins of gunpowder, and bottles of kerosene. Those who could not give garden produce or pieces of cloth presented mugs, plates, wash-hand basins, saucepans of native make, and European enamel-ware; those who had come too far to carry their offerings in kind, had sold them on the local markets and brought the results of such sales in francs and brass rods. Native tailors, who had made jackets, dresses and cloths ready for wearing, presented them as their share.

_Photo_] CHURCH COLLECTION AT WATHEN. [_Rev. J. H. Weeks_
The Collection consists of:--Tin of gunpowder, calabash of gunpowder,
bottle of
kerosene, eggs, matches, gun caps, a plate, umbrella, mat,
cloth, francs, brass rods--in all worth about £3.
]

Nothing came amiss, no gift was too small and no article too mean to find its place among those free-will expressions of a people’s gratitude to God--for the poor gave to the point of self-sacrifice, and the comparatively rich gave in proportion to their wealth.

All through Saturday and Sunday every band of new arrivals gave in their offerings. Some had carried their heavy gifts--weighing from thirty to forty pounds--over hills, streams and swamps for three and four hours, and came up smilingly to unload themselves; and with shy, apologetic words they expressed themselves as sorry that the loads were not heavier, but that was all they had to bring.

Sunday with its various services passed all too quickly for those who had come such long distances to attend them. The early morning prayer-meeting was well supported. A native deacon conducted it, and very earnest were the prayers for a blessing on the missionary work that was so zealously maintained in all the districts, nor were other stations and missions forgotten before the throne of grace.

It was pathetic to hear their pleadings on behalf of relatives and friends still in the darkness of heathenism; and surely the heart of God has been very deeply moved by such prayers, for not a year passes without scores of conversions and additions to the Church.

The afternoon service was crowded, and although the building seated over seven hundred every place was occupied and the doors and windows were filled with eager listeners as a slim man of medium height, who had laboured among them for nearly fifteen years, preached freely and fluently on their privileges and duties as Christian men and women. In the evening a deacon-preacher took the service, and very eloquently did he enforce the lessons given in the afternoon that as redeemed men and women, ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, heirs of God’s eternal glory, it should be their gladsome duty to pass on the blessings they had received to those who were still ignorant of Christ’s salvation.

I ought not to forget the morning service that was conducted by a white lady--the wife of one of the missionaries, a woman of large experience in the work, of wide sympathies, and, from what I could hear among the natives, a woman much beloved by them all for her unstinted labours.

“Why does a white woman take a service every Sunday?” I once heard asked by a native in whose mental bank there were more sneers than kindly thoughts.

“Well,” replied a teacher who was sitting by, “the white men practise what they preach. They tell us to respect and reverence our wives, so they respect and reverence theirs; they teach us to treat our wives as equals, so they treat theirs as equals, hence they have arranged for a white woman to take one of the two principal services every Sunday. We have therefore always an example of what they inculcate that when God made woman He took a portion, not from the head of man to show that she should be over man, nor from the feet of man to show that she should be under man; but from the middle to teach that she should be equal to man--from near the heart to show that she should have his affection, and from under his arm to show she should have his protection. My white man told me that that was written by one of their famous teachers long ago. They would have that to be the keynote of our treatment of women as it is of theirs.”

Immediately after the service on Monday morning one of the white men mounted a table and began to sell the various gifts by auction to the highest bidders. The natives, both males and females, entered most heartily into the contest. The auctioneer knew the value of the different articles and was careful to let nothing go under price.

The bids were in brass rods, and the rivalry for possession of the different articles was very keen. Jokes were cracked, repartees were exchanged, innocent pleasantries were indulged in, and amid much laughter one lot after another was knocked down to the successful bidders. It was a vivacious scene composed of both sexes of all ages, dressed in variegated colours, topped by smiling, black faces, and white, gleaming teeth.

The white men took it in turns to act as auctioneers, and at the close of the sale it was found that the total sum received for the local missionary work, _i. e._ for the support of native teachers, amounted to 82,095 brass rods (= £34 3_s._ 6_d._). Everybody was pleased, and that night they sung most heartily, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.” And thus ended the _matondo_, or harvest thanksgiving festival.

Soon after the final service the natives were bidding each other “good-bye,” and on the road again, with their faces turned homeward. How safe the roads are compared with the bad, old days! Then natives went armed with guns and other weapons of defence, now they travel with nothing but their hymn-books and New Testaments for days without fear of molestation; woe then to the individual who left his party, for he (or she) was pounced upon by thievish rascals, and was never heard of again; then men and women, boys and girls were captured on the slightest pretext, and even for penny and two-penny debts, and were sold to end their days in distant, cruel and unremitting toil as slaves; now boys and girls take long journeys in unmolested safety. The Gospel has taught the people that God cares for them, hence they are caring more for each other; that He loves them, and thus they are coming to love one another.

How selfish they used to be! How they grabbed at everything that came in their way, and held fast to every article they could put their fingers upon! How generously they now gave out of their comparative poverty, that the message of God that had transformed their lives, given them peace now, and hope for the great hereafter, might be proclaimed to others, that they also might share the same peace and possess the same buoyant, eternal hope. Then their _neighbours_ were their own kith and kin only--members of their own families, and they did not hesitate to cheat, oppress, enslave or kill any one outside the family to benefit themselves; now they have discovered that their _neighbours_ are the members of all families, clans and tribes under the sun, and with all the energy of their renewed natures they are trying to put into daily practice the golden rule: Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Then they stole, lied, swindled and broke every law of man and God that they might die wealthy and have a grand funeral that should be the talk of the countryside; now they walk many a weary mile, cross many a difficult stream, wade many a nasty swamp, to preach the news of God’s great salvation, and give generously of their substance to support teachers. How marvellous are the workings of God’s grace in the hearts of whilom savages!

Mikula, my owner, and his party arrived home all the stronger in their Christian faith for the service they had attended; and more determined, by consecrated lives, by kindly actions, and by trying to live the life of Jesus Christ in word and daily deed, to win their heathen neighbours to the better life. At the station they had heard that there were more than fifteen hundred members belonging to their beloved Wathen Church. Fifteen hundred! a large number indeed! They would have sung the Hallelujah Chorus if they had known it. Yet how few fifteen hundred seemed among the thousands upon thousands in these large districts still outside the Church.

There was, however, a growing Christian sentiment, and a better-informed conscience manifesting themselves through the whole district, even among the heathen; and these are resulting in a keener perception of right and wrong. These are assets that should be placed to the credit of the Church, and promise well for its numerical and spiritual prosperity in the near future.

Had there been any laxity in receiving candidates into the Church the numbers could have easily been quadrupled; but the greatest care was exercised, and the strictest investigations made over every application for Church membership. It was quite possible to impose upon the white teachers, who could not possibly live in a hundred villages and towns at once; but the candidate could not deceive his Christian neighbours who are jealous of the honour of the Church, and who recognize that a pure Church of true men and women means a strong and an aggressive Church; whereas a membership of hypocrites would bring upon them the contemptuous scorn of their heathen neighbours, and would result in a weak, emasculated, stagnant Church worthy only of ridicule and extinction.

The natives live open lives in their villages, making their fires in the streets, cooking their food and eating it in the open, talking, working and living such unsecluded lives that in a village everybody knows everything about everybody else and a little more besides--there is no hiding any fact of life from one another, hence when the name of a candidate for Church fellowship is submitted there are sure to be present some who know the life the candidate is living in his or her town.

One evening, when my owner, Mikula, and his wife were sitting at their fire, a stranger from a distant village greeted them, and told the deacon that he had come to converse with him about “God’s palaver.” Continuing, he said: “I have heard the evangelists preach in the different villages I have been visiting, about the Saviour Jesus Christ; and I have listened to the white men more than once, and my heart is standing up with fear, because I have sinned greatly against God and broken all His commandments. When I think of my many sins and that God will surely punish me for them, I cannot sleep at night. Tell me more about Jesus, the Saviour.” And a look of intense longing came into the eyes of the inquirer.

Mikula unfolded to him clearly and fully God’s way of salvation. He read passage after passage from the New Testament to enforce every statement he made; and Mikula’s wife aided him by holding a candle in one hand and shading it with the other that the light might fall on the sacred page, and occasionally she recalled to her husband’s mind such scriptures as would help their visitor.

Long into the night they sat conversing, fire after fire along the street died down, and they had heard the good-night greetings of “sleep well” as their neighbours retired to rest; but they had again and again replenished their own fire, and had continued their earnest talk on the greatest of all themes--the way of salvation to a sin-stricken soul. At last their visitor said: “I see it--Christ died for me, the just for the unjust, the good one for the bad one, the Son of God in place of me--the sinner.” And there around the fire the three bowed their heads while Mikula lifted up his heart in prayer and praise.

The next evening the visitor again took his seat at Mikula’s fire, and after the usual greetings had been exchanged, said: “I want to join with you Christians and become a member of the Church. Can I join at once?”

“No,” replied Mikula, “you cannot. You must go back to your village, and live a Christian life there for many months, and prove by your words and actions that you are truly sorry for your former bad life, and are now a follower of Jesus Christ. You must be a total abstainer, and by this you will avoid the many temptations to drunkenness. If you like you can now enroll yourself as a member of the Blue Cross Temperance Society.”

“Very well, I will do so now,” assented the visitor. “It will be hard to give up palm-wine, gin and other drinks, especially at funerals, marriages and on the markets.”

“Yes, I know it will,” replied Mikula, as he went for the pledge book; “but there are more than two thousand members of this Temperance Society, and God will help you to live a sober life.” The visitor put his mark against his name in the pledge book, and I heard that his name was Tutula.

“The next thing that you must renounce is dancing,” continued my owner. "You know our dances lead to adultery, and from that to rows, fights and murder. Therefore it is a rule of the Church that its members should not take part in any of the country dances.

“Then again, you must not call in witch-doctors, nor may you employ them for any purpose whatever. Witchcraft and Christianity cannot mix together any more than you can mix palm-oil and water. And you must throw away or destroy all your fetishes and charms--a Christian man should trust in God, and not in the paltry, stupid messes prepared by witch-doctors.”

“Yes,” said Tutula, “I can understand that the temptations to a man or woman engaging in our country dances is very great; and to practise witchcraft and use fetishes and charms would dishonour God. When I return home I will destroy my fetishes.” And as he spoke he took from his neck and wrists some charms and handed them over to his new friend and teacher, who dropped them into the fire that was blazing between them.

“How many wives have you?” asked Mikula.

“I have seven,” replied Tutula, “two of them are old, three of them are young women, and two of them mere girls.”

“Perhaps you have heard,” said Mikula, “that the members of the Church have given up the practice of marrying many wives, and those who are married have been wedded to one wife only by holy matrimony. This is the law of God.” And he opened his New Testament and read the various places where this law is clearly stated.

“Yes, I know that is the practice of your Christians,” replied Tutula, "and it will cost me a great amount of money to follow it, for, being a man of importance in my district, I have had the pick of the females, and have given large sums in ‘marriage money’ for the women I have borrowed.[67] Cannot I retain three or four of them?"

Footnote 67:

See note 54, p. 358.

“No,” answered Mikula, “we deacons and Church members have studied this point very carefully, and the words of Christ are very strong and definite on the subject. Is it not better to go to heaven having only one wife, than to be cast into hell with many women?

“There is one other matter,” continued Mikula, “and I have done: As a Christian man who has received pardon for your many sins and a hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, you should pass these blessings on to others by giving freely according to your means, and regularly, for the support of native teachers to proclaim the love of God in Christ Jesus. I am a teacher, but I do my work as such without any pay, because I am living in my own town; but there are teachers who are working in towns and among peoples not their own, and they must be supported, and what they receive is very little.”

“I thank God in Jesus Christ for all that He has done for me!” fervently exclaimed Tutula. “And listen! if you will find a good teacher I will give him a house to live in, and pay half the cost of his support, for I want the people in my village and neighbourhood to know of God’s love and pardon.”

In due time a teacher was selected and sent to Tutula’s villages, and he taught Tutula, among others, to read God’s word for himself. Some months afterwards I was present with Mikula when Tutula and many of his neighbours were baptized and received into the Church; counting wine, women, witchcraft palavers, and native dances as mere dross that they might win Christ and be found in union with Him.