White Queen of the Cannibals: the Story of Mary Slessor of Calabar Part 21

The Christians at Ikpe sent some men to see Mary to ask her when she would be back. "Seven weeks," said Dr. Hitchc.o.c.k.

"I may run up sooner than that," said Mary. "I'm very well if the doctor would only believe it."

Near the end of 1911 Mary was allowed to leave the hospital. She hurried to her friends at Ikpe. But Mary still was not very strong. Her friends in Calabar and in Scotland urged her to take a long-earned furlough. While thinking about this, Mary decided to have a box on wheels made so that she could get around since the doctor would not let her use her bicycle. Some friends heard about this and they sent her a light cart which could be wheeled by two boys or girls.

"Now I don't need a furlough," said Mary. "Instead of going home as I had planned, I shall stay here and enjoy going over ground in my cart that I couldn't get over otherwise."

A new government road was being built between Ikpe and Ikot Expene. Mary wanted to start schools and churches all along this road. But she was not strong enough to carry out her idea. Her heart was very weak now and she had to rest often. If there had been someone to take her place, she would have gone home for a rest. Mary wrote to a friend:

We were never so shorthanded, and I can do what others cannot, what indeed, doctors would not allow them to try. No one meddles with me and I slip along and do my work using less strength than many would have to use.

Mary knew if she took a furlough her work at Ikpe and the other stations would stop because there was no one to take her place. This she did not want to happen. She worked on through the summer of 1912. In September she completed thirty-six years as a missionary in Africa.

"I'm lame and feeble and foolish," said Mary, "but I grip on well."

Her friends were very much worried about her health. It was suggested that she be sent on an expense-paid trip to the Canary Islands. There the climate was milder than it would have been in Scotland during the winter. She was glad to go. Mary wrote:

What love is wrapped around me! It is simply wonderful. I can't say anything else. Oh, if I only get another day to work. I hope it will be fuller of earnestness and blessing than the past.

This vacation was a real blessing to Mary. The fevers left her. With no committee meetings, no court cases or other problems to worry about, she grew stronger very quickly. It was not many months before she was back at Duke Town. The doctor gave her an examination.

"You're as sound as an elephant's ivory tusk," said the doctor. "You are good for many years, if you will only take care."

Mary did not like that. She had never been willing to sit and twiddle her thumbs. Now her mind was full of new plans for more work. She wanted to get busy with her work for the Lord.

For the next two years Mary worked hard at Use and Ikpe. She traveled between these two places, sometimes in a canoe, sometimes in the government boat, but mostly in her two-wheeled cart. There was still much to do. She was still fighting the juju wors.h.i.+p, the sinful practice of eating people and the murdering of twins.

Eight years had gone by since Mary had left Akpap. A new church was being finished and the missionaries who now worked there invited Mary to attend the dedication service. Mary wanted to see the dear friends she had loved for years. She decided to go and take her adopted children with her.

From all over Okoyong the people had come to see their Ma, their White Queen. Ma Eme, the missionary's old friend, was there. When they met tears filled their eyes, they were so happy to see one another again. But Mary was sad, too, because Ma Eme had never openly accepted Christianity.

Speaking of Ma Eme, Mary said, "My dear and old friend and almost sister, she made the saving of life so often possible in the early days. It is sad that she would not come out for Christ. She could have been the honored leader of G.o.d's work. Hers is a foolish choice. And yet G.o.d cannot forget all she was to me and how she helped me in those dark and b.l.o.o.d.y days."

Hundreds of people crowded into the new church at Akpap. Mary remembered the wild parties and drunken fights of the first days of her work among the people. How they were changed! How G.o.d had changed them through His Gospel!

It was wonderful! Mary thanked G.o.d for His wonderful blessings.

Shortly after her trip to Akpap, Mary was honored by the king of Great Britain. She was chosen by him to be a member of the order of St. John of Jerusalem. This was an honor given only to English Christians who had done great things for G.o.d. The government people of Calabar decided that they must have a public celebration of this great honor. They sent the government boat for Mary. The little old missionary, now nearly sixty-five, was brought to Duke Town. Here a great crowd filled the biggest hall in town.

The governor made a speech and pinned the cross on Mary's left shoulder. During the speech Mary sat with her head in her hands. When it came time for her to speak, she found it hard to talk. Turning to the boys and girls who were in the hall she said, "Be faithful to the government. Be Christians. Be friends of the mission and be followers of Jesus."

Later she wrote to her friends in Scotland:

Don't think there is any change in me because I received this honor. I am Mary Slessor, nothing more and none other than the unworthy, unprofitable but most willing servant of the King of kings.

The only change the honor made in Mary was that she worked harder than ever. A government road was opened to Odoro Ikpe. Mary at once started a mission there and reached out into the small jungle settlements. There she talked with the chiefs and the natives. At last she won their consent to build schools and churches. They gave her the land to do this. Now she was beginning all over in a new territory. She had the same hard work, the same troubles, the same heathen customs to fight. But Mary was glad to do it.

She thanked G.o.d for the chance to bring the Gospel to people who had never heard about it.

Mary saw to it that a house was built and then began teaching in the school, holding services, settling quarrels, winning souls for Jesus. In August, 1914, rumors reached her that Europe was rus.h.i.+ng into war. This made her feel sick. She knew that this war would not only bring suffering, horror, and death to many of her dear friends, but it would also hinder the work in Calabar.

Several months went by. The mail came. Mary opened the newspaper. There she read the headlines: Russia declares war! France declares war! England declares war! Mary fainted. The trouble and excitement were too much for her. For two weeks more she carried on her work but it was too much for her. She became weaker and weaker. On Sunday, January 10, 1915, she held her usual church service. After the church meeting she fainted.

Dr. Robertson arrived from the Slessor Hospital at Itu. He was able to bring her to, but on January 12 she found it almost impossible to talk.

Her last words were a prayer in the African language called Efik.

"O Abasi, sana mi yok," said Mary. "O G.o.d, release me!"

Janie, the first twin Mary had saved, was now a beautiful black woman. She and other children Mary had saved and adopted were watching beside Mary's bed through the night. A rooster crowed.

"Day must be dawning," said one of the girls.

Day was dawning for Mary, G.o.d's eternal day. She slipped away from the earth to be with her Saviour in Heaven.

"Our Mother is dead, and we shall be slaves now that our Mother is dead,"

cried the natives. The news that the white Ma was dead spread rapidly. Natives came from all over the country to see the woman they loved.

Mary's body was taken to Itu where services were held. Then it was taken to Duke Town. Here another service was held. Then the coffin was carried to the beautiful cemetery on Mission Hill. From this place could be seen a large part of the city where Mary had begun her faithful missionary work in Africa. Around her grave the grateful natives gathered and wept for her who had wept and prayed over them.

"Do not cry, do not cry," said old Ma Fuller, Mary's native friend through the years. "Praise G.o.d for His blessings. Ma was a great blessing."

First the Africans called her "the white Ma who lives alone." Then they called her "the Ma who loves babies." But lastly they called her "eka kpukpru owo," "everybody's Mother."

THE END

Books on Women Missionaries

WHITE QUEEN OF THE CANNIBALS

The Story of Mary Slessor By A.J. Bueltmann

When Mary was young, she heard her mother read about the dangers and rewards of missionary work in Calabar, Africa. This challenged Mary Slessor's young heart and she determined to serve her Lord there. _White Queen of the Cannibals_ records her courage as a missionary to the worst of pagans. The story is simply told that it might inspire children to Christian service.

NOT ALONE By Eunice V. Pike

Many hundreds of languages in the world today have never been reduced to writing. Uncounted thousands of people cannot read G.o.d's Word. The work of Wycliffe Bible Translators is to master the language of a tribe, reduce it to writing, and then teach the people to read the Scriptures--in their own tongue. Eunice Pike recounts her years spent with the Mazatec Indians in Mexico, giving them G.o.d's Word.

CLIMBING By Rosalind Goforth

After returning home from many years of missionary service in China, Rosalind Goforth reflects on those incidents that most affected her life for Christ. Written to display the mercy of the Lord and "to help others face life's hard problems," the author recalls her experiences from childhood to retirement--a life of constant _climbing_.