THE FIRST SESSION AND THE LAST VOYAGE 1909
The United Training Institute, the evolution of which has been rather
indicated than described in the previous chapter, was formally opened on
March 15th. It is almost certain that Mrs. Lewis wrote to some of her
friends an account of this interesting function, which marked at once the
attainment of a goal and the starting of a new race; or perhaps it would
be more fitting to say, the beginning of the last lap of a long race, run
throughout in the spirit of St. Paul. But such account has not come to my
hand, so I fall back upon that written by her husband, and printed in the
_Missionary Herald_.
“When we arrived here in July last we had only one small grass-house for
our shelter. The ground had to be cleared and laid out, dwelling-houses
and stores as well as lecture-halls had to be erected, and before the
work of teaching could be commenced nineteen two-roomed grass-houses had
to be built for the accommodation of the students. This was a great work,
and we are grateful to God for the strength given us to enable us to
open the College for actual teaching within nine months of our arrival
on the ground.
[Illustration: KIMPESE: KONGO TRAINING INSTITUTION—PART OF STUDENTS’
QUARTERS.]
“March 15th was a memorable day with us, for it was the opening day of
the first United Training College on the Congo. We had no great personage
or any strangers to share in our festivities. My American colleague,
the Rev. S. E. Moon, and Mrs. Lewis and myself had the students all to
ourselves. The proceedings were very simple, and consisted only in an
inaugural address from the Principal, in which he reviewed the work
of the two Baptist societies on the Congo and the development of the
native Churches and native workers. The importance of the College work
was insisted upon for all the teachers and their wives, that they might
be better equipped for the Master’s service in Congoland. Matters of
conduct and discipline in the school were put before them and explained.
Answering a question from one of the men, I told them that we were not
going to make any rules or regulations, as we expected them in all things
to conduct themselves as men of God, always mindful of the honour of
the school. We started by trusting them, and we hoped there never would
be any necessity to formulate rules and regulations for their personal
conduct. At the same time we shall at the commencement of each session
make it clear to all the students what is expected of them.
“We have now had seven weeks of uninterrupted study, and are most pleased
with our first set of men and women. We have this session nineteen men
and fourteen women, making the total number of students thirty-three. We
consider this an excellent beginning, and next October we shall receive
several fresh ones. There are a number of applicants, but at present we
cannot say how many we can receive.
“I undertook the work of this United College with considerable reluctance
and only under pressure from my brethren of the two Missions. It has
meant a great deal of hardship to Mrs. Lewis and myself. At our age rough
work and poor accommodation in a country like this are very trying, but
we have been wonderfully preserved through it all. For some months we
were not in good health, but since getting into our new permanent house
we have been much better. The anxiety about the successful issue of the
College work was also great, and it is no small satisfaction to know that
not only has the class work been started, but that everything has gone on
smoothly with the students. Indeed, we have succeeded far better than I
anticipated and are all very happy in the work.
“Much is due to the manner in which brethren from other stations have
supported us, and I wish to record my deep appreciation of the confidence
they have given me in this undertaking and of their brotherly love and
sympathy. Moreover, the trustees of the Institution have taken the
deepest interest in all the work, and we greatly appreciate the complete
confidence they have shown the staff.”
* * * * *
Two days after the opening Mrs. Lewis wrote to her niece stating that she
was very well, notwithstanding the fact that the temperature nearly every
afternoon exceeded 100°, sometimes reaching 103°, and this great heat a
damp heat withal. Mr. Lewis has had another illness, not severe, and they
are looking forward eagerly for the dry season, when life at Kimpese will
be reasonably pleasant. In reply to congratulations upon the coming of
many visitors she has to admit with regret that the joy of hospitality is
sometimes a little burdensome, owing to imperfect domestic conditions and
the press of constant work.
“April 6th.—I was glad to find from your letters that father [Mr.
Hartland] was no worse and able to keep warm.... We have been sweltering
here with the heat. I have been sitting in school with perspiration
literally streaming from my face. We have been very busy, not only
with our classes, which begin at 6.30 a.m. and go on all day, but in
getting into our sitting-room and store. Hitherto we have only occupied
dining-room and bedrooms. The sitting-room is painted with the pretty
green enamel which Mr. Keep gave us, and when we get our pictures up and
our curtains hung it will look very well. We have mosquito-netting for
windows and door, so that we may sit there in the evening without being
bitten all over.”
A tea-service, knocked about for months, has been unpacked with only
one small plate broken. The use of it is a great luxury after the crude
make-shifts of the building-time; and significant of the bigness of the
Congo field is the following sentence, “We have met the William Forfeitts
_at last_, after working twenty years _together_ on the Congo. They were
on their way down in the train, and as a truck got derailed they were
detained, and we had nearly two hours of their company.”
“May 12th. (A circular letter.)—I am sending you a few lines with some
photos to give you a little account of our work here.
“In one sense it is quite different to any we have been engaged in
before, for except on Sundays all our teaching is for Christians and
Christian workers. They are men and women who have a little knowledge—in
most cases _very little_—but who wish to learn more that they may be
fitted to help and teach their fellow-country-people. These students
come from different parts of the Lower Congo, and have been sent here by
the missionaries of the two Societies, our own and that of the American
Baptists. They speak in various dialects, but are all able to understand
us and one another, as the language is really one.
“In January the men came (nineteen of them), and soon a number of little
two-roomed grass-houses could be seen springing up in the portion of
ground set apart for them. They are arranged in three roads, and look
quite a little town. When the houses were finished the men went back to
their towns and in a fortnight returned with their wives and children.
We have fourteen women here at present. Two or three of the men have not
their wives with them this term, but hope to have them next, and one is
a bachelor. Then there are about twenty-four children, some little ones,
belonging to students; others the little nurses who take care of the
babies while the mothers are in their classes. These children and our
boys in the house have school each afternoon.
“The days are all very busy, and go too quickly. The school bell rings
at half-past six in the morning, when Mr. Lewis has the men to begin the
day. After breakfast the men’s classes, taught by Mr. Lewis and Mr. Moon,
proceed till noon, in which they study many subjects, such as Old and New
Testament, Geography, Astronomy, Arithmetic, and Homiletics; also French
and Portuguese languages.
“The men we have here seem very nice and intelligent, and all have been
engaged in teaching at the various stations of the two Missions. The
women, two or three of whom are old friends of mine, cannot give so much
time to school as their husbands, as they have their children to look
after; but we have three hours every day, one and a half hours in the
morning, and the same again in the afternoon. This kind of teaching is
quite new to them, but they seem really to enjoy it, and it is quite
interesting to see how their minds begin to open to ideas that have never
entered them before. Many could not even read when they came, and never
tried to sew or write. But sewing they take to easily, and they are
getting on very quickly with their reading. The writing they find more
difficult, but that will come in time. Some can read and write well, and
can cut out and sew both with hand and machine, but these are the women
who as girls were on one of the Mission stations. We have these subjects
in the afternoon, when my four girls join us. Also in Geography and
Arithmetic they are most interested. On Fridays while they sew I read to
them from ‘The Holy War,’ which has been translated by Mr. Phillips.
“In the morning we have two classes each day. Three mornings weekly we
give to the study of the Old and New Testament; on one I am telling them
_how_ we got the Bible; and on Fridays we have prayer, and a talk about
Christian living. Beside that they are learning a little about Natural
History: our bodies, health, &c., and also how different things are made.
By all these means we are trying to teach them to see God’s finger in all
His wonderful works, and to enlarge their thoughts. We finish the week’s
work as far as teaching is concerned by a singing class, which I hold on
Friday evening. All the men and as many of the women as can crowd into
our dining-room, sing hymns for an hour. That is a hot hour, and you
might see the perspiration pouring off my face as I play the American
organ.
“On Sundays we all meet together—teachers, students, workmen, and
children—for our morning service, which is conducted alternately by Mr.
Lewis and Mr. Moon. In the afternoon the students have a service, which
any one who likes can attend, and at the same time I have a class of all
the girls on the Station. There are only eight of them, but with pictures
and hymns and Bible stories we have a good time. After teaching the women
all the week I am glad to have the children on Sundays.
“I have not mentioned the industrial classes which the men attend in the
afternoons, or the gardens in which both men and women work. Each couple
has a piece of land, which they cultivate for food, and it is a pleasant
sight to see husband and wife working together in these plantations.
“To us who can remember the conditions which obtained here when we came
to Congo twenty-two years ago, it is indeed a source of encouragement and
thankfulness to look at the faces of these young men and women, and to
see that they are the fruit of the toil of the last thirty years. Many of
the labourers have passed away to their rest, but their works do follow
them. Just now we are at the beginning, and the Institute will grow both
in the number of students and in their attainments. We are now anxious to
lay good and firm foundations upon which others may build in the days to
come.”
“May 21st.—There has been great excitement here to-day, we have been
terribly busy and are very tired this evening. The Belgian Colonial
Minister has come out to Congo, and is going to look at things in
general. Yesterday he sent up a message saying that he was coming here
to see us, so we had to fly round. We had already heard that he purposed
staying at the Catholic Mission, and Tom had sent a note to say he would
like to have a share in welcoming him. The head priest, who speaks
English, wrote a very pleasant reply. So we had our road from the station
cleaned, the Catholics had theirs cleaned, and each Mission erected a
triumphal arch. Last night Tom and I were up quite late finishing a
motto: ‘Congo Training College welcomes Colonial Minister.’ Of course
to-day everything had to be swept and garnished, and after dinner Tom
and Mr. Moon went down to the station followed by all the students,
workmen, and children, bearing a banner with ‘Vive le Ministre!’
inscribed. I did not see all this as I had to stay at home to receive the
great man. The priests were there also with their contingent. We lent
them our rickshaws to convey the Minister (Mons. Renkin) and his wife.
They went straight to the Catholic Mission, and then came on here; not
the lady, for which I was sorry, but the Minister and his Secretary, the
Secretary-General of the Congo State, the attendant Doctor, and a priest.
They came and had a cup of tea first. Of course I got out all my pretty
things for them; then they went and saw everything. They were especially
pleased and evidently impressed by the students’ quarters, and I hope
this and other things M. Renkin may see will give him a good idea of
Protestant missions. He seemed quite inclined to be friendly with the
natives, and we hear that his sympathies are with reform, so we trust
good may come of his visit. Prince Albert has gone through Katanga, and
M. Renkin is going to meet him and bring him down the Congo home. He
had seen Mr. Phillips and Dr. Sims at Matadi. To-morrow he will have a
send-off from the station.”
“May 25th. (To Mrs. Gamble, San Salvador.)—You asked about the lemon
grass at San Salvador. We brought it from Matadi, and I suppose it
came originally from Jamaica, but we do not know; neither do we know
its proper name. I learned from an article by Winston Churchill in
the _Strand_ that it is extensively planted in Uganda and keeps off
mosquitoes. We have some growing here, and if only it would render this
service it would indeed be a blessing. But I doubt if anything will rid
us of mosquitoes unless we could alter the whole place. We are longing
for the complete cessation of the rains that we may have a few months’
respite from these plagues.”
“June 10th. (To Miss Ethel Percival).—Since Monday—this is Thursday—I
have been in bed with a nasty liver attack, severe headache, and a little
temperature. I am better to-day, and we hope to go out this evening for
a ride in our rickshaws. It will do Uncle good, too, to have a blow. My
being in bed is very worrying for him with all his other work, and he has
not been at all fit. Happily he is better to-day, and we hope that now
the dry season has really set in we shall keep well. We have been much
better lately, but the mosquitoes here are really dreadful.”
The next day, June 11th, Mrs. Lewis wrote to me, sending her own and her
husband’s congratulations upon the completion and publication of “The
Life of George Grenfell.” The _British Weekly_ was the most prized by
her of all the papers which came from England, and its Editor was one
of her oracles. She had received the issue containing Claudius Clear’s
appreciative review, and told of her joy and pride in reading it,
regretting that expanse of land and sea prevented her from dropping in
to say what she felt with her own lips. She also wrote in affectionate
terms of her gladness in the recovery of my little daughter Phyllis, who
had lain for weeks in the valley of the shadow of death. It was my last
letter, and abides a cherished possession.
“June 17th.—Next week we expect Mrs. Moon out.... Mr. and Mrs. Bowskill
from San Salvador are coming to spend a week, and all the Trustees are
coming for two nights. This will make a party of ten or eleven to provide
for. In the middle of July the Institute breaks up for two months’
vacation, during which many things will have to be done which hitherto
have been left undone.”
This meeting of the Trustees was much upon Mrs. Lewis’s mind from the
date of the Colonial Minister’s visit. The instinct of the hostess
was strong in her, and she must needs do all within her power for the
comfort and good entertainment of so large a company of friends. When one
remembers the exacting and incessant calls of every day, following the
hardships and long strain of previous months, it is a matter of regret
that this additional stress could not be avoided. Every week-end she was
completely spent, but resting as much as possible on Saturday and Sunday
she commenced again on Monday, kept the pace and would not be restrained.
On June 30th, she wrote the following report of her work to be read at
the Trustees’ meeting held the next day:—
“This session has been very encouraging, and gives good promise
for the future; the women have attended the classes regularly,
and shown much interest in their work.
“Of the fourteen women who came into the Institute, only five
could read, write, or sew. The others, with two exceptions,
have made good progress in these subjects, and from among
these, two have done so well that they should be reading in
their New Testaments in a few weeks’ time.
“It is of the utmost importance that teachers’ wives should
be able to read, and I would like to suggest that in stations
where the men are receiving preparatory training some
arrangement should be made whereby their wives should at least
be taught to read.
“Four of the women are so far beyond the others that they ought
to have been taught separately, but that has been impossible,
owing to my being single-handed. I feel, however, that they are
all benefiting more or less, and some seven or eight bid fair
to make useful teachers when their term of training is over.
“One hour and a half in the afternoons has been occupied with
ordinary school subjects—reading, writing, arithmetic, elements
of geography, including the compass and maps of Palestine and
Congo, and sewing, during which I am reading aloud from ‘The
Holy War.’
“In the mornings we have had two classes a day, in which we
have studied the following subjects: Old Testament: first
fifteen chapters Genesis. New Testament: first three chapters
Luke, and life of John the Baptist. History of the Bible—till
time of Wycliffe. Natural history of trees and flowers. Simple
hygiene and physiology: cleanliness, prevention of disease,
structure of the eye. Object-lesson: paper, cloth, slates,
glass. These last three subjects, which were almost entirely
new to them, have excited much interest, and I trust have been
and will still more in the future be the means of opening their
eyes and minds to the wonders of God’s universe.
“On Friday mornings I have given them a series of talks on the
Christian life, taking as my subjects love, truth, purity,
thankfulness, joy, peace, temperance, prayer. After which a
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes have been spent in prayer,
led by the women themselves; and it has been good to listen
as they voiced their thankfulness to God for giving them this
opportunity of learning more of His works and will, and asked
for more grace and wisdom in the various relationships of life.
“In conclusion, I can only express my joy in the work, which
has been a great pleasure to me personally, and my gratitude
to God for health and strength, so that I have only missed one
week’s teaching during the term.
“GWEN E. LEWIS.
“_June 30, 1909._”
The much anticipated meeting was duly held, and all passed off well. The
cares of entertainment were rather lightened than increased for Mrs.
Lewis by the presence of one of her visitors, Mrs. Bowskill from San
Salvador, for whom she had conceived a warm affection. More than once
she had written expressing earnest desire that her friend might be able
to come, and though grief-stricken by recent news of the death of her
father, Mrs. Bowskill came, finding solace in sympathy and relief in
service.
[Illustration: KIMPESE: KONGO TRAINING INSTITUTION. THE REV. THOMAS
LEWIS (PRINCIPAL), MRS. LEWIS, THE REV. S. E. MOON (A.B.M.U. TUTOR), AND
STUDENTS, 1909.]
All passed off well, but the long tension proved to be too severe. The
dauntless spirit was finally overborne by the now frail and exhausted
body. A week after the meeting of the Trustees Mrs. Lewis collapsed, and
in the four following letters, which contain all matters of moment, she
brings her life-story to the verge of conclusion.
When the fever struck her down she had just finished reading “The Life
of George Grenfell,” and when hæmaturic symptoms appeared she quietly
remarked to her husband: “Hæmaturia killed Grenfell and it is going to
kill me.”
“KIMPESE,
“_July 22, 1909_.
“MY DEAREST LILY AND ALICE,—I know you won’t mind another joint
letter when you hear the reason. Thank you so much for your
kind letters telling us all the sad details of dear father’s
last days and funeral. You know how we loved him, and I cannot
think of that armchair without him and the outstretched hands
and kind smile with which he always greeted us. It is well with
him! May you two dear ones be kept and comforted!
“Well, two weeks ago to-night I went to bed with fever, and
yesterday I got into the sitting-room for the first time. I
am reclining on the couch writing this, so you must not mind
pencil. On the Sunday hæmaturia appeared, and all Sunday and
Monday I was very seriously ill. On Sunday morning, as soon as
was possible, Dr. Sims arrived, but I had just taken a turn for
the better. He said the treatment was quite satisfactory, but
gave me some fresh medicine and watched me carefully. The next
morning he pronounced me out of danger, so was able to return
to Matadi, leaving all directions with Tom. Since then I have
been gradually but surely getting better. The kindness of every
one has been beyond words, and indeed I cannot but feel that my
life has been spared in answer to prayer, though, under God, I
owe it to the careful and skilful nursing of my dear husband.
He has been my only nurse night and day and has had strength
sufficient. The Moons, Mr. Phillips, and Dr. Sims have done
all they could in every way. Mr. P. sent up by the mail to San
Salvador. Yesterday two men arrived post haste with letters so
full of kindness and love that they nearly upset me. When the
natives heard of my illness they arranged to send, and pay, a
messenger with a loving letter of sympathy—had done it, indeed,
before the missionaries were aware. Dr. Gamble wrote to say
he was ready to come at once if Dr. Sims could not stay, and
Mrs. Bowskill wanted to come and nurse me. Mr. B. said she was
‘pining to be with me.’ Mr. P. sent to them a special messenger
with the Doctor’s report that I was better, and part of the
morning service was given up to prayer for us. I think it was
lovely of them, now that we have been away for so long, and
very encouraging; so I tell it you. I cannot write all these
details over again, so read to Mrs. P. what I have written. I
am so glad you were having a change, and trust you are getting
over the strain a bit now. I am being fed up, only I don’t want
to eat. This afternoon I had a ride round the piazza.
“Ever yours lovingly,
“GWEN.”
“KIMPESE,
“_August 13, 1909_.
“MY DEAREST FANNY.—Many thanks for your long newsy letter. I am
sorry I cannot send you one ditto. Possibly you may have heard
of my serious illness—hæmaturic fever. It is five weeks since I
went down, and here I am still in bed with temperature 100°·5.
Tom had one of his gastric and fever attacks in the middle
of it, so we had to nurse each other. Now he is up and about
again. And if all goes well we hope to travel to England some
time next month with Dr. and Mrs. Gamble. Of course we can only
make provisional plans, and leave our future in God’s hands.
But it seems the only thing to do. Please tell Mr. Hawker and
any other friends. You will, I know, pray for us that we may
reach England in safety. Love to all dear friends, especially
your dear self.
“Yours lovingly,
“GWEN.”
“KIMPESE,
“_August 16, 1909_.
“MY DEAREST BEE,—Your letters came on Saturday just as ours
had gone. We hope to send this by French mail, and you will
get it in the middle of September. I am afraid I have treated
you badly without meaning to do so. Never mind, dear old Bee,
we will make it up when we meet. On Saturday came very kind
letters from San Salvador, and one from Dr. Gamble, in which
he said the only thing to be done for us folks was that he and
his wife should come to look after us, so they were packing
up to go by the next mail, and would be with us next week to
help us to pack, and then take us home with them. I suppose,
therefore, it is pretty certain that we shall start by boat on
September 5th, and arrive about the end of the month. There is
no knowing where we land. We shall wire when we get somewhere.
I am in bed now, but yesterday made some headway and was lifted
on to a couch and hope to be again to-day. My temperature was
normal, or below, this morning, but it rises a little daily.
It is a relief to know the Gambles are coming. I am especially
glad for Uncle’s sake, for although about he is not fit to
do everything. Don’t try to get rooms: I like to see to that
myself. We shall probably be at 66 again.
“Your ever loving Aunt,
“GWEN.”
PS.—Heaps of love to you all. I hope you will have a nice
holiday.
“KIMPESE,
“_August 26, 1909_.
“MY DEAR MRS. HOWELL,—I have wanted to write to thank you so
much for your kind letters and for the lovely eggs, which I
have greatly enjoyed. Your letter to-day is very kind, for I am
sure you will have a busy time preparing for the Conference. I
am thankful to say I am very much better. I have walked into
the bedroom for the first time with my husband’s assistance.
I daresay you have heard that both Dr. Sims and Dr. Gamble
have ordered us home. Dr. and Mrs. G. have been here now a
week, helping to nurse and pack, and we hope to go down next
Tuesday to Matadi and home with them. They have hastened their
homegoing by one mail so as to take us with them, and have been
most kind, as indeed has every one. Mr. Thomas from Wathen was
here for a week giving a hand all round. As probably you heard,
Mr. Lewis was down for nine or ten days with fever and gastric
attack, so we were both in bed together. Our children have been
most good, indeed I don’t know what we should have done without
them, especially two. Mr. Frame has kindly consented to take
Mr. Lewis’s place while we are away. He has just been here for
two nights arranging things, and left us this morning. You can
understand how loath we were to go, but it seems the only thing
to do, as we are neither of us fit to face another session’s
work. Mrs. Moon will do her best for the women, but she is not
free with the language. Still they will be able to join some of
the men’s classes.
“I am writing this on the couch, so please excuse pencil. This
must be to say goodbye. May you all be kept in health. We are
so sorry to hear of the bad colds. God bless and keep you in
all your goings and comings. Kindest regards to your husband
and Mr. and Mrs. Stonelake, and love to yourself, from
“Yours affectionately,
“GWEN E. LEWIS.”
This was the last letter Mrs. Lewis ever wrote.
The rest may be told in a few words. The railway journey was accomplished
with comparative comfort. The authorities reserved a compartment for
her and she travelled in bed. On September 5th the party sailed from
Matadi. The unremitting and skilled attention of Dr. and Mrs. Gamble was
of greatest comfort to the patient and her husband, and during five days
there was hopeful improvement, and happy intercourse was enjoyed. Then
hæmaturia suddenly returned and hope was relinquished. She said quietly
to her husband: “Tom, we know as much about this as the doctors; I think
I am dying, don’t you?” And he had to reply, “Yes, my darling, I do.”
Then she concerned herself with messages to her friends, some of whom
she saw with the clearness of vision, and much was said of Camden Road
Church, and even of its Sale of Work, which she had hoped to attend. She
was especially concerned for her sister and her nieces, saying simply,
“They will be grieved”; and begged that Mr. Myers, who, five-and-twenty
years before, had brought her news of John Hartland’s death, might bear
the heavy tidings to them. The words “They will be grieved,” became a
kind of refrain which she repeated after naming her friends. She could
not bear gloom, and smilingly rebuked her doctors for looking grave,
saying, “One would think it was a terrible thing to die.” The Mission was
more to her than life, and she said to her husband, “It is well that I am
going. The doctors would never allow me to return, and that would block
your work; now you will be free to go on with it.” She lingered for
days, calm and bright, often murmurously singing hymns, the tunes only
when the words no longer came at call; and on September 17th passed away,
holding tightly the hand of the man to whom she had been gentle wife, and
gallant comrade, and perennial inspiration, for three-and-twenty years.
“Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us in a death so noble.”
Every one on board had exhibited the kindliest concern during her
illness. The captain and the stewards could not do enough for her; and
the sorrow occasioned by her death was shared by all. Her funeral was
reverently ordered. The officers attended in full uniform, and all the
stewards and passengers were present. M. Renkin, the Belgian Colonial
Minister, who had so recently been her guest, for whom she had set out
all her pretty things, and from whom she hoped good service for Congo,
walked in the procession to the main deck, immediately behind the chief
mourner. The captain read the burial service, and as the day was dying
her body was committed to the deep, off Cape Blanco.
* * * * *
When Mr. Lewis arrived in this country he received nearly a hundred
letters expressing sympathy with him in his great bereavement and
appreciation of his wife. The following typical quotations are taken from
letters written by four friends of Mrs. Lewis whose names are mentioned
in this book.
From Mrs. Edward Robinson, Bristol: “My thoughts go back to the time when
she stayed with us before she was married, and I always retained such a
loving regard for her, and thought her one of the finest women I knew.
The loss to the Mission will be almost irreparable.”
From the Rev. William Brock, London: “I knew your dear wife when she was
still Miss Thomas, and used to come over to Heath Street from the West
Heath. How keenly was she then looking forward to work in Africa! Yours
was an ideal union: both of you such ardent and far-seeing missionaries,
and each so fitted to the other, as by the very hand of God. The new
sphere, too, seemed made for you both, and you for it. Well, she must be
wanted for some heavenly ministry.”
From Mrs. Jenkyn Brown, Birmingham: “It is little to say we all loved
her—every one must—but we had the privilege of knowing her better than
many, and I almost inherited love for her before we met, from my husband,
who had known her longest.”
From Mrs. Hooper, of Kibokolo: “To me Mrs. Lewis has ever been a dear
elder sister, honoured and loved unspeakably. My sorrow is too deep for
words.”