THIS evening, as you want to hear about negro children, Archie, I think our talk may as well begin by my telling you something about the country in which so many of them live.
“I remember looking, when I was quite a little girl, at a map of Africa in which the whole or almost the whole of that great continent was painted black, with only a few light spots marking places quite near the sea.
“I was much interested, and wished to have the map explained. I was then told it was 'a missionary map of Africa,' and by far the greater part of it had been left black to show that the people living there prayed to idols and had no knowledge of the true God.
“I felt very sorry even then for the poor people and their dark land, though I do not think I really understood much about it; for I did not then know for myself the joy and blessedness of being saved, and I am sure no one can truly pity and pray for those who are still in darkness, until they themselves are in the light.
“It is only quite lately that much has been known about Central Africa, for though a very old map, printed in the year 1665, has several rivers and large lakes marked upon it, what little was then known about the interior of the country seems to have been forgotten, and the few travelers who visited it returned with much to tell of the dangers and sufferings they had passed through in crossing the heated sands of the desert. It was thought that the whole of Central Africa was a vast sea of sand, where hardly a tree or even a blade of grass could grow except on the shores of the one or two lakes known to be there.
“But we know better now. Strange news has been brought of the wonders of the far-off land, and we who stay quietly at home may read books written by, or even hear for ourselves the voices of, those who have sailed upon the great rivers or forced their way through the pathless forests of Central Africa.
“Stanley, the African explorer, of whom we have heard so often and so much lately, tells us of a forest so large that it took 160 days to cross it with a party of natives, and so thick that during the whole of that journey they hardly ever saw the sun.
Tall trees were on every side, and the climbing stems of flowering creepers, such as are only to be seen in hothouses in England, twisted in and out among the trunks of the trees till the whole looked like one great network.
“A mighty river, too, the Congo, flows through Central Africa for quite 7,000 miles through a well-peopled country, a great number of towns and villages being on its banks.
“But I must not talk any more about the country, or you will think I am giving you a lesson in geography, and forgetting all about the children.
Crocodiles are often found in the rivers and streams of Africa, and though my first story of child-life in that country is rather a sad one, it will help you to understand some of the dangers to which African children are exposed.
“I think it is about ten years since a missionary, writing from Africa to his young friends in Scotland, gave an account of a crocodile hunt at which he had been present.
“Going one day to pay a visit to an African chief who lived at some distance from his mission station, he found the village in a state of excitement: crowds of people were running along the banks of the river. Very soon he learned what all the confusion was about.
“A boy, a bright, merry little fellow, not more than nine or ten years old, while amusing himself by wading in the shallow pools near the river's brink, had been seized and dragged into deep water by a very large crocodile.
“Mr. R. went at once to the place, and found a party of men armed with clubs and long spears doing all in their power to make the crocodile give up his prey.
“At last the enormous creature was wounded and let the boy go. Two men quickly jumped into the stream, and laid the body gently on the bank. The flesh on one shoulder, though bearing marks of crocodile teeth, was not torn, and at first the kind missionary, who was somewhat of a doctor as well, hoped the poor boy was not really dead, but had only fainted from fright and being too long in the water, and so did all in his power to restore him by rubbing and other ways.
“After half an hour spent thus Mr. R. found all his efforts in vain, the boy was dead. His mother seemed almost brokenhearted, and had to be held back by several people from throwing herself into the water in pursuit of the crocodile. Towards evening the monster was caught and killed. It was very large, being quite fourteen feet in length, and so heavy that ten or twelve men were needed to drag it, by means of ropes, through the village to the tent of the chief.
“But crocodiles are not the only foes African children have to fear. Numbers of them are every year stolen from their homes and sold as slaves. Sometimes a party of slave dealers will carry off children who have wandered too far from the hut of their parents; at others they will surround a village, set it on fire, make prisoners of the negroes as they try to escape from their burning homes, and, after loading them with chains, drive them to the coast, where they are sold to Portuguese or Arab masters.
“Much has been done of late years by England and America to put a stop to this cruel trade, but it is still carried on, though not so openly as it once was.
“Great numbers of boys and men are employed in the diamond mines recently opened up in Africa. Some very large and valuable diamonds have been found in these mines. One called the De Beers Diamond, from the name of the place where it was picked up, is said to be the largest diamond in the world.
“Another, the great Pam Diamond, though not quite so large, is brighter and more beautiful, and said to be worth more than twenty thousand pounds.
“Does it not surprise you to hear of any one being willing to pay so much money for a single stone? Diamond mining is very dangerous work. Sometimes a miner will lose his footing, and fall from a great height down the steep slippery sides of the mine; such a fall being nearly always fatal, or a quantity of earth will fall in and bury a whole party of workers under it.
“Can we think of the dangers these poor Africans are willing to brave in the hope of getting a little pay, and not remember with thankful hearts the love of the Lord Jesus, who came from heaven to seek and to save the lost?
“And if in any little measure we know at what a cost we have been redeemed we shall long for the time when the dark places of the earth shall rejoice in the light of the Lord.
“But I must not forget to tell you about an African boy I really knew. He was the son of a Zulu chief, who, having himself been turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:9, 109For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9‑10)), was quite willing that his son Joseph should be educated in a christian school. The little fellow got on so well with his lessons, and showed such quickness and willingness to learn, that when he was about twelve years of age it was decided, with the consent of his parents, to send him for a few years to England, where he would have an opportunity of learning many things he could not be taught in his native land.
“Joseph had a good memory and could repeat quite a number of psalms and chapters from the Bible. But it was only a few weeks before the time fixed for his leaving Africa that the light of the gospel shone into the boy's soul. He felt and owned himself to be a sinner. His Sunday school teacher, who had long prayed for his conversion, told him he must simply trust himself to the Lord Jesus, and take salvation as a free gift.
“Before long the black boy was able to sing with a happy heart:
“‘I do believe, I can believe,
That Jesus died for me.'
“When parting with his friends he said, England is very far from Africa, but Joseph knows the One who will never leave him, and if he never returns to Africa, do not be sorry, for if his body dies in England his soul will be safe with his Savior.'
“What are you saying, Archie? Will I tell you a story about lions? It must be a short one. For a long journey lies before us from the sunny land of Africa, with its thick forests and dark-skinned people, far over the ice-fields, to visit the boys and girls who live in the cold countries near the North Pole.
“You know, I think, that Asia and Africa are the only countries where the lion is really to be seen ‘at home.' The African lion is larger and stronger than his Asiatic brother, though both are distantly related to our household pet, the cat. I see you are smiling at the idea of pussy having such grand relations.
“The African youth, of whose escape from a lion I am going to tell you, lived in a village not far from the banks of a river, from which all the water needed for drinking and cooking purposes had to be fetched daily. I do not know if he had been at work in the field or how it was, but on entering his hut he found there was no water, so taking up his jar he set out at once for the river. It was getting late, almost sunset, and as there is no pleasant twilight time in countries very near the equator, he knew it would soon be quite dark.
“He had filled his jar, and was about to turn his steps homewards, when his ear caught a low rustling sound among the tall grass and rushes on the river's bank. Could it be the wind? No, the evening was so calm and still that not even a leaf moved.
“He heard the sound again, and looking through the gathering darkness saw on the opposite bank the glittering eyes of a lion just ready to spring upon him. In his excitement and fear the poor boy fell down, and the lion, missing his footing, rolled into the water. The proud monarch of the forest is not by any means good at swimming, and it took him some time to scramble out again. This gave the boy an opportunity (whose name I believe was Hugo), of running some distance. But soon he heard the lion in full pursuit, gaining upon him every moment, and knew it was no use to think of seeking safety in flight. What was to be done? Seeing a tall tree at no great distance, Hugo made an effort to reach it. He did so, and had just climbed into its topmost branches, when the lion with a loud roar reached its foot.
“But Hugo knew that his great danger was over. The lion cannot climb a tree, and though he would most likely remain near all night, thus keeping Hugo a guarded prisoner in its branches, when the sun rose he would return to his lair.
“I don't think Hugo will ever forget the night he passed in the tree. But this story may remind us of a verse in the first epistle of Peter: Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.' (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8).)
“The lion is mentioned 120 times in the Old and New Testaments. But we must not stop to look at any of the references now, or we shall not have time to talk about 'Greenland's icy mountains.'”