THE FIRST BOOK AND THE NEW EYES.
THE printing of my first Aniwan book was a great event, not so much for
the toil and worry which it cost me, though that was enough to have
broken the heart of many a compositor, as rather for the joy it gave to
the old Chief Namakei.
The break-up at Tanna had robbed me of my own neat little
printing-press. I had since obtained at Aneityum the remains of one from
Erromanga, that had belonged to the murdered Gordon. But the supply of
letters, in some cases, was so deficient that I could print only four
pages at a time; and, besides, bits of the press were wanting, and I had
first to manufacture substitutes from scraps of iron and wood. I
managed, however, to make it go, and by and by it did good service. By
it I printed our Aniwan Hymn-Book, a portion of Genesis in Aniwan, a
small book in Erromangan for the second Gordon, and some other little
things.
The old Chief had eagerly helped me in translating and preparing this
first book. He had a great desire "to hear it speak," as he graphically
expressed it. It was made up chiefly of short passages from the
Scriptures that might help me to introduce them to the treasures of
Divine truth and love. Namakei came to me, morning after morning,
saying, "Missi, is it done? Can it speak?"
At last I was able to answer, "Yes!"
The old Chief eagerly responded, "Does it speak my words?"
I said, "It does."
With rising interest, Namakei exclaimed, "Make it speak to me, Missi!
Let me hear it speak."
I read to him a part of the book, and the old man fairly shouted in an
ecstasy of joy, "It does speak! It speaks my own language, too! Oh, give
it to me!"
He grasped it hurriedly, turned it all round every way, pressed it to
his bosom, and then, closing it with a look of great disappointment,
handed it back to me, saying, "Missi, I cannot make it speak! It will
never speak to me."
"No," said I; "you don't know how to read it yet, how to make it speak
to you; but I will teach you to read, and then it will speak to you as
it does to me."
"O Missi, dear Missi, show me how to make it speak!" persisted the
bewildered Chief. He was straining his eyes so, that I suspected they
were dim with age, and could not see the letters. I looked out for him a
pair of spectacles, and managed to fit him well. He was much afraid of
putting them on at first, manifestly in dread of some sort of sorcery.
At last, when they were properly placed, he saw the letters and
everything so clearly that he exclaimed in great excitement and joy--
"I see it all now! This is what you told us about Jesus. He opened the
eyes of a blind man. The word of Jesus has just come to Aniwa. He has
sent me these glass eyes. I have gotten back again the sight that I had
when a boy. O Missi, make the book speak to me now!"
I walked out with him to the public Village Ground. There I drew A B C
in large characters upon the dust, showed him the same letters in the
book, and left him to compare them, and find out how many occurred on
the first page. Fixing these in his mind, he came running to me, and
said, "I have lifted up A B C. They are here in my head and I will hold
them fast. Give me other three."
This was repeated time after time. He mastered the whole Alphabet, and
soon began to spell out the smaller words. Indeed, he came so often,
getting me to read it over and over, that before he himself could read
it freely, he had it word for word committed to memory. When strangers
passed him, or young people came around, he would get out the little
book, and say, "Come, and I will let you hear how the book speaks our
own Aniwan words. You say, it is hard to learn to read and make it
speak. But be strong to try! If an old man like me has done it, it ought
to be much easier for you."
One day I heard him read to a company with wonderful fluency. Taking the
book, I asked him to show me how he had learned to read so quickly.
Immediately I perceived that he could recite the whole from memory! He
became our right-hand helper in the Conversion of Aniwa.
Next after God's own Word, perhaps the power of Music was most amazingly
blessed in opening up our way. Amongst many other illustrations, I may
mention how Namakei's wife was won. The old lady positively shuddered at
coming near the Mission House, and dreaded being taught anything. One
day she was induced to draw near the door, and fixing a hand on either
post, and gazing inwards, she exclaimed, "Awái, Missi! Kái, Missi!"--the
Native cry for unspeakable wonder. Mrs. Paton began to play on the
harmonium, and sang a simple hymn in the old woman's language.
Manifestly charmed, she drew nearer and nearer, and drank in the music,
as it were, at every pore of her being. At last she ran off, and we
thought it was with fright, but it was to call together all the women
and girls from her village "to hear the _bokis_ sing!" (Having no _x_,
the word _box_ is pronounced thus.) She returned with them all at her
heels. They listened with dancing eyes. And ever after the sound of a
hymn, and the song of the _bokis_, made them flock freely to class or
meeting.
Being myself as nearly as possible destitute of the power of singing,
all my work would have been impaired and sadly hindered, and the joyous
side of the Worship and Service of Jehovah could not have been presented
to the Natives, but for the gift bestowed by the Lord on my dear wife.
She led our songs of praise, both in the Family and in the Church, and
that was the first avenue by which the New Religion winged its way into
the heart of Cannibal and Savage.
The old Chief was particularly eager that this same aged lady, his wife
Yauwaki, should be taught to read. But her sight was far gone. So, one
day, he brought her to me, saying, "Missi, can you give my wife also a
pair of new glass eyes like mine? She tries to learn, but she cannot see
the letters. She tries to sew, but she pricks her finger, and throws
away the needle, saying, 'The ways of the white people are not good!' If
she could get a pair of glass eyes, she would be in a new world like
Namakei." In my bundle I found a pair that suited her. She was in
positive terror about putting them on her face, but at last she cried
with delight, "Oh, my new eyes! my new eyes! I have the sight of a
little girl. Oh, my new eyes!"