“I wish you could see my convolvuli, they are so lovely, and the French and African marigolds do splendidly. Uncle, too, has a lot of flowers coming on. I only wish his health was better.”
“January 28th. (To Miss Taylor.)—I know you will be sorry to hear that I have had two fevers since the one at Boma, and that Tom is only just recovering from a nasty fever and gastric attack; so you can imagine things do not go on very fast. The students (some of them) arrived last week and are busy building their houses; fortunately Mr. Moon is well. He is a very hard-working, earnest man. The wives and children are not to come until March. I do hope we shall be having better health by that time. We expect to be in our house in a few weeks now. We should have been there long ago but for these illnesses. We had Mr. Thomas with us for a week from Wathen. He came to sit for his exam, in the language, and has come off splendidly. We like him very much. He seems the right sort of man.... The day after we returned from Matadi we made a sort of Christmas for the children, and when they were all here inspecting their presents, with a lot of the workmen and other people looking on, I brought out Bella.[7] You should have seen them. The girl who was with Mrs. Pinnock rushed at her as an old friend, and the others were lost in astonishment. They are all delighted to have her, though two of them are rather old for dolls.”
“February 24th. (To Miss Ethel Percival.)—We are in our new house, or at least part of it, two rooms and the office, and are enjoying the boarded floors and the advantage of being able to get to the kitchen without going out of doors. Of course there is one drawback. The house not being finished the workmen are busy and the noise is awful. Fortunately I do not suffer with my head as I used to do, but it rubs up my spine and is not conducive to comfort. Still, things are getting on, so we are very glad. The house will be lovely when finished. I have not attempted to beautify yet. That is to come. The men are here getting their houses ready. Next week the women and children come, and on the 8th we begin the real work of the College. Then I shall be very busy, as besides what I have to do at present I shall have about three hours’ teaching every day except Saturday. I shall be able to tell you more about that later on.
“Concerning the monkeys! they have mostly gone to another part of our grounds, and have not troubled us lately. The snakes come after the fowls and eggs, and that is a real trouble. We are not afraid of them. It is a strange fact (which Sir H. Johnston mentions in his book, I see) that one rarely hears of accidents from snake-bites either to the natives or white people. I don’t know how it is except that one does not go out much at night when the snakes are most abroad.”
CHAPTER XVII
THE FIRST SESSION AND THE LAST VOYAGE 1909
The United Training Institute, the evolution of which has been rather indicated than described in the previous chapter, was formally opened on March 15th. It is almost certain that Mrs. Lewis wrote to some of her friends an account of this interesting function, which marked at once the attainment of a goal and the starting of a new race; or perhaps it would be more fitting to say, the beginning of the last lap of a long race, run throughout in the spirit of St. Paul. But such account has not come to my hand, so I fall back upon that written by her husband, and printed in the Missionary Herald.
“When we arrived here in July last we had only one small grass-house for our shelter. The ground had to be cleared and laid out, dwelling-houses and stores as well as lecture-halls had to be erected, and before the work of teaching could be commenced nineteen two-roomed grass-houses had to be built for the accommodation of the students. This was a great work, and we are grateful to God for the strength given us to enable us to open the College for actual teaching within nine months of our arrival on the ground.
KIMPESE: KONGO TRAINING INSTITUTION—PART OF STUDENTS’ QUARTERS.