“Madeira, 1.55, July 4th. Received here 4.11 p.m.
“Baynes, Baptist Missionary Society, London.
“Hartland dead, dysentery. Break news gently.
“Dixon (Congo).”
In the evening Mr. Baynes broke the news to Mrs. Hartland, and his colleague, the Rev. J. B. Myers, to Miss Thomas. Mr. Myers has given me an account of the well-remembered interview. Upon receiving him Miss Thomas took her seat upon a couch. When he had communicated his heavy tidings her features became rigid, but she gave no other sign of emotion. He spoke gently, and prayed with her, “Yet she neither moved nor wept,” and when he left her she remained silent and still as one in a trance.
When the mail came it was pitiful to learn that the man she had loved had been lying in his grave five weeks before the first intimation of his illness had been received at home. Here I take leave to reproduce the brief account of John Hartland’s death, given in “The Life of George Grenfell”:—
“The timely arrival of Mr. Dixon at Underhill, and his willingness to take charge while Grenfell got away, made the desired journey possible. The ‘run-up-country’ was a figure of speech, for he was so weak that he had to be carried in a hammock.
“Prior to starting he had written cheerily of his hope of soon meeting his friend, John Hartland, who, while willing to stay, was to be constrained to take furlough in July or August. This hope was fulfilled earlier than he had forecast, but under conditions which made the fulfilment a heart-breaking disappointment.
“At Manyanga, in the middle of April, Hartland found himself so weakened by fever that he took boat and came down river to Bayneston, arriving on April 21st. Hughes, who was in charge of the station at Bayneston, overborne by the heavy nursing which Hartland’s serious condition entailed, wrote to Butcher, who was at the camp on the Luvu River, beseeching him to hurry on to Bayneston. With fever upon him, Butcher started immediately, and by dint of hard walking arrived at Bayneston the next day, having previously despatched a message to Grenfell, who had left Underhill on the 27th. The message reached him on the second day of his journey, and though ill himself, he pushed on with forced marches arriving at Bayneston on May 1st. It was at once apparent to him that Hartland, whom Hughes and Butcher had ‘carefully nursed through ten days of the severest form of dysentery,’ was in a dangerous condition. But abatement of the worst symptoms gave hope, which again was subdued to fear.
“After further fluctuations, hope was abandoned on May 10th, and it was Grenfell’s duty to inform his friend that his day’s work was done. ‘I shan’t easily forget,’ he writes, ‘his look, as he gazed at us and said, ‘Well, I am not afraid to die. My trust is in Jesus. Whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life!’ A little while later he said, ‘After four years’ preparation, and just as I am about to enter upon mission work proper, it seems strange for me to realise that my work is done: but He knows best.’