Yet Mrs. Lewis finds it in her heart to laugh at him, a fact which is nowise to his discredit. For surely she never had a friend from whom her bright humorous spirit would not derive amusement as well as other and more momentous benefits. When the house was roof high, Kivitidi had to work at an unwonted elevation, and Mrs. Lewis gives a quaint account of his obvious tremors. But when Mr. Phillips was about to be married in San Salvador, some months later, Kivitidi once more suffered tremors. His own matrimonial projects were ripening, and he requested that the Christian marriage service should be explained to him. Mrs. Lewis complied with his request. Whereupon he owned himself appalled at the thought of having “to promise all that in the presence of all the people.” However, like many another of his sex, when the day came, he “screwed his courage to the sticking-point,” and promised “all that.”
Prior to his marriage, he built a house for himself, in the vicinity of his master’s, so fine a house that it excited the dangerous envy of the King; for was it not the finest native house in Congo? Within a year of the building of his own house, Kivitidi was engaged in erecting a temporary mission chapel in Etoto, and became the first teacher of the first sub-station of our Congo Mission. Later, a son was born to him, whom he named “John Hartland,” and it was one of the trials of the young mother, that she found her baby’s name exceedingly difficult to pronounce. Probably she quickly discovered a manageable working substitute.
The young interpreter referred to above was Nlekai, who was devoted to Mrs. Lewis, her instructor in the native language, and her indispensable attendant in her labours among the women. Confessing her profound obligations to him, she yet yearned for the time when she would be able to dispense with at least one important part of his service. This yearning is incidentally expressed in a letter written to Miss Hartland on January 25, 1888, a letter which exhibits her work among the women in process of evolution.
“The women’s meeting on Monday is not well attended except by the elder girls. I have usually an attendance of from thirty to forty, but not more than two or three of the town women. I long so to be able to talk to them in their own language, though Nlekai does his best, and really takes an interest in making them understand. But many matters come up from time to time which it is awkward to speak about through a boy. Not that these women are particular, but it is bad for the boy. I have another class now, which I think will become regular. A few Sundays ago three or four of the King’s wives, and several other women, came on Sunday afternoon, directly after dinner, saying, they wanted to hear more of God’s palaver. This is my resting-time, but, of course, I could not send them away. They said they would like to come every Sunday at the same hour, and they have come several times. Two or three of them are, I believe, earnestly seeking the way of salvation. It is very hard for them to understand even the simplest truths.... I do feel for them! They are so surrounded by filth of every kind.”
Kivitidi and Nlekai are spoken of as “boys.” In truth they were young men; and as early as October, 1887, Mrs. Lewis has occasion to correct the mistaken impression which the designation “boys” has made upon the minds of certain of her friends. They have sent out shirts which are pitifully scant, and are implored to remember that the “boy” Kivitidi is as big as Mr. Lewis. Three months later she has to plead for bigger dresses for the “girls.” Of the sixty “girls” in her school, two-and-twenty are married women, some of them with two or three children; and when the school examination is held the writing prize is taken by one of the King’s wives.
The sympathetic appreciation which the “boys” received from the woman whom they all revered is indicated in the following luminous and discerning passage, which occurs in a letter written in November, 1888, to Mrs. Hartland:—
“I will give the boys the things as you say. Thank you very much for putting in something for Nlekai. He has no one in England who sends him things, and he is such a good boy; a real earnest Christian worker, who has been my greatest help all round. He spends two evenings with me every week, one helping me with Kongo[2] translation, while on Saturday he receives a Bible-lesson. We are going through the Epistles together, and I am also teaching him English at odd times. He is so very anxious to learn. He goes with me when I visit in the town, and until just now has done all my interpreting. Since Kivitidi’s foot has been bad, Nlekai has been doing part of his work for him, and now that Kivitidi is resuming his work, I am going to take Elembe to translate for me on Sundays so as to set Nlekai free. During the last year and a half he has had a thorough drilling by means of interpreting and visiting, and we think he will make a first-rate evangelist, though of a kind greatly different from Kivitidi. They are not in the least alike. Kivitidi has not the slightest fear of man, and for speaking to chiefs and big men, or addressing a congregation, he is far the better of the two. But Nlekai is our ‘Barnabas,’ and goes so nicely in and out of the houses and among women and sick people. Mr. Phillips is going to spare him one day from school, and he is to have a district to work twice a week. We pray that these two may have a great blessing and do much good. Matata, I think you know, is helping Nlekai with day school, and Mrs. Phillips with the language. So we hope that in time both he and Elembe will be able to work on their own account. Helping us is a capital training for them.”
Though the work of Mrs. Lewis among the women of San Salvador prospered from the beginning, it was not without its vicissitudes, and she was not without her hours of depression. In a letter addressed to Mrs. J. Jenkyn Brown, dated May 15, 1888, she confesses that just before Christmas she was tempted to give up her Monday class for the town women, as on several occasions only one came. But at the time of writing she is able to report most encouraging progress. Her day school is increasing rapidly. From twenty to twenty-five of the town women attend the Monday class, besides a number of the schoolgirls who remain. “Then the women came of their own accord on Sunday afternoon to my house to hear more, and this has become a regular institution. On Fridays I have only the Church members, and on Saturdays any who are inquiring the way of salvation. There are now five of the King’s wives awaiting baptism, and several other women of whom I have great hopes. So you see we have much reason to rejoice in the blessing of God, and to take courage for the future. We might baptize many more, but we feel the need of great care. A little waiting will not hurt them, if they are sincere; and meanwhile we are able to watch their lives and instruct them further. It is so easy for these people to make a profession and to make long prayers. It is another thing for them to give up their bad country customs and to lead pure lives.”
This letter will probably raise a question in the mind of the reader, which was raised in the mind of Mrs. Lewis’s correspondent. Writing some months later to Mrs. Brown, she says, “I am not surprised that you should think it strange to hear of some of the wives of the King being baptized. But as far as the women are concerned, they cannot leave their husbands, if they would, and therefore this could hardly be made a condition of baptism or Church membership. As to the other side, it is a very vexed question, and I am not at all sure that the position we have taken up as a Mission is the best. But the matter was virtually settled before we came here. There are so many opinions upon the subject that it is difficult to say which is right, in the absence of any absolute command. Of course, we do not allow Church members to take any more wives than they have already, and those not married can only take one wife.”
Having attempted to give the reader some general idea of Mrs. Lewis’s work among women during the earlier period of her labours in San Salvador, I proceed to make some rapid notes of events in due sequence culled from diaries and letters. In June, 1887, the missionaries took their modest part in the Imperial Jubilee rejoicings, though they mistook the date, and on June 6th instead of June 22nd, Mr. Lewis dipped the flag, and in the absence of big guns Mr. Phillips fired salutes with his revolver.