On January 16, 1895, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis left San Salvador, and after a tedious voyage reached Grand Canary on March 20. There they were compelled to wait eight days, and the subsequent passage to Madeira proved frightfully rough and perilous. They arrived much knocked about, but not permanently damaged by the buffeting. Their friend Mr. Parkinson, who had called upon them at Grand Canary in the previous year, dropped in again at Funchal, and remained with them a week, to the great augmentation of their pleasure and their cheer, but whether or not to the advantage of their projected study of the Portuguese language I cannot say.
Early in May they were in London, and found a temporary home in the near vicinity of the church which Mr. Lewis had come to regard with affection akin to that long cherished by his wife.
In the following month, Mrs. Lewis had an important interview with Mr. Baynes respecting the work of women missionaries on the Congo, and the advisability of allowing unmarried women to join the staff. She was of opinion that this should be done when the Committee had been educated to adopt right lines in the matter, concerning which her judgments were very definitely formulated. Suffice it here to say that ultimately her recommendations have been almost exactly embodied in practice.
At the end of July, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, accompanied by their niece, Miss Eva Percival, joined Mr. and the Misses Hartland at Penmaenmawr, and began a holiday in North Wales which was ever remembered with enthusiasm. Among the pious pilgrimages of this sojourn in the hill country was one to the inn at which Mrs. Lewis’s father and mother spent their honeymoon, and another to the churchyard at Maentwrog where her grandparents and one of her uncles were buried.
As the year drew to its close, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were both in the full swing of deputation work, and in a letter dated December 16th, Mrs. Lewis states that she and her husband have each had fourteen meetings at Loughborough within one week. Their programme included a five weeks’ working tour in Scotland, in the interests of the Mission; and after many labours there came a spell of strenuous rest in Switzerland, of which no other record has reached my hand than the following enthusiastic picture-postcard communication, addressed to Miss Ethel Percival:—
“Chamonix, June 9th.—Here we are in the midst of glories too big for words. Mont Blanc showed us his head yesterday. Such a sight! This morning we walked over the Glacier du Borson. Had to start by climbing a long ladder, then steps cut in the ice just big enough for one foot—woollen socks over our boots. Splendid walk there and back through pine woods smelling deliciously! Waterfalls, mountains, streams, and flowers in abundance. Love to all. Tell Eva I have got my mountain spirits on.... To-morrow we go to see another glacier, bigger and farther off. I go on a dear beast.”
The furlough with its manifold labours and spells of recreation which constitute the “rest and change” which missionaries come home to enjoy, wore to its close. Public and private farewells were spoken, and on Saturday, July 4th, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. White, Mr. Wherrett, and Mr. Gardiner of another mission, left London for Antwerp. Mr. Parkinson accompanied them upon this first stage of their journey. Sunday was spent in Antwerp, where they attended services at the Seamen’s Church and visited St. Paul’s and the Cathedral. On Monday Mr. Parkinson took the whole party to Brussels for the day, but on returning to Antwerp had to say “goodbye” without waiting to see them off. They were sorry at the leave-taking, and would fain have had his company all the way, as I, who have had the privilege of travelling with him more than once, can well believe.
But if Mr. Parkinson did not see them off a good many other people did. Their ship was a new one, named Albertville, after the Crown Prince. When she loosed from the quay flags were flying, bells ringing, bands playing, all the craft in the river ablaze with bunting, and “all Antwerp” at the riverside to see the spectacle; for the Crown Prince himself had come aboard, and ten nuns and two priests bound for Africa had embarked in procession, led by two dignitaries of the Church wearing gorgeous apparel. As the Albertville dropped down the Scheldt “music played while His Serene Highness was pleased to eat his victuals.” At Flushing the Crown Prince and the bishops left the ship with ceremonious adieux and episcopal benedictions. It was all glorious and affecting, but left somewhat to be desired. The music which cheered the Prince at his banquet failed to satisfy the cravings of hungry English missionaries, and Mrs. Lewis ruefully records in her journal that they did not get their lunch until four o’clock.