As we (missionaries) talk in the street, or in chapels, we
begin to gesture. Remember that many gestures have well-known
and disreputable meanings. For instance, I have been holding my
hand behind my back as I have been speaking to you. It is a most
offensive thing in some countries to hold your hand behind your
back. An African missionary was just about concluding difficult
negotiations with a chief, when he closed his eyes and placed
his hands over them. Instantly chief and subjects alike arose
in wrath and nothing further could be done with them. That use
of the hand had lost the missionary all that he had gained. The
Westerner, in Kipling’s phrase, is always hustling. He must get
to a place just as quickly as possible, but in getting there he
offends propriety. He ought not to walk rapidly; he is not a
letter-carrier nor a coolie. Why does he not walk as a gentleman
should?--H. P. BEACH, “Student Volunteer Movement,”
1906.
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