“March 15th was a memorable day with us, for it was the opening day of the first United Training College on the Congo. We had no great personage or any strangers to share in our festivities. My American colleague, the Rev. S. E. Moon, and Mrs. Lewis and myself had the students all to ourselves. The proceedings were very simple, and consisted only in an inaugural address from the Principal, in which he reviewed the work of the two Baptist societies on the Congo and the development of the native Churches and native workers. The importance of the College work was insisted upon for all the teachers and their wives, that they might be better equipped for the Master’s service in Congoland. Matters of conduct and discipline in the school were put before them and explained. Answering a question from one of the men, I told them that we were not going to make any rules or regulations, as we expected them in all things to conduct themselves as men of God, always mindful of the honour of the school. We started by trusting them, and we hoped there never would be any necessity to formulate rules and regulations for their personal conduct. At the same time we shall at the commencement of each session make it clear to all the students what is expected of them.
“We have now had seven weeks of uninterrupted study, and are most pleased with our first set of men and women. We have this session nineteen men and fourteen women, making the total number of students thirty-three. We consider this an excellent beginning, and next October we shall receive several fresh ones. There are a number of applicants, but at present we cannot say how many we can receive.
“I undertook the work of this United College with considerable reluctance and only under pressure from my brethren of the two Missions. It has meant a great deal of hardship to Mrs. Lewis and myself. At our age rough work and poor accommodation in a country like this are very trying, but we have been wonderfully preserved through it all. For some months we were not in good health, but since getting into our new permanent house we have been much better. The anxiety about the successful issue of the College work was also great, and it is no small satisfaction to know that not only has the class work been started, but that everything has gone on smoothly with the students. Indeed, we have succeeded far better than I anticipated and are all very happy in the work.
“Much is due to the manner in which brethren from other stations have supported us, and I wish to record my deep appreciation of the confidence they have given me in this undertaking and of their brotherly love and sympathy. Moreover, the trustees of the Institution have taken the deepest interest in all the work, and we greatly appreciate the complete confidence they have shown the staff.”
Two days after the opening Mrs. Lewis wrote to her niece stating that she was very well, notwithstanding the fact that the temperature nearly every afternoon exceeded 100°, sometimes reaching 103°, and this great heat a damp heat withal. Mr. Lewis has had another illness, not severe, and they are looking forward eagerly for the dry season, when life at Kimpese will be reasonably pleasant. In reply to congratulations upon the coming of many visitors she has to admit with regret that the joy of hospitality is sometimes a little burdensome, owing to imperfect domestic conditions and the press of constant work.
“April 6th.—I was glad to find from your letters that father [Mr. Hartland] was no worse and able to keep warm.... We have been sweltering here with the heat. I have been sitting in school with perspiration literally streaming from my face. We have been very busy, not only with our classes, which begin at 6.30 a.m. and go on all day, but in getting into our sitting-room and store. Hitherto we have only occupied dining-room and bedrooms. The sitting-room is painted with the pretty green enamel which Mr. Keep gave us, and when we get our pictures up and our curtains hung it will look very well. We have mosquito-netting for windows and door, so that we may sit there in the evening without being bitten all over.”
A tea-service, knocked about for months, has been unpacked with only one small plate broken. The use of it is a great luxury after the crude make-shifts of the building-time; and significant of the bigness of the Congo field is the following sentence, “We have met the William Forfeitts at last, after working twenty years together on the Congo. They were on their way down in the train, and as a truck got derailed they were detained, and we had nearly two hours of their company.”
“May 12th. (A circular letter.)—I am sending you a few lines with some photos to give you a little account of our work here.
“In one sense it is quite different to any we have been engaged in before, for except on Sundays all our teaching is for Christians and Christian workers. They are men and women who have a little knowledge—in most cases very little—but who wish to learn more that they may be fitted to help and teach their fellow-country-people. These students come from different parts of the Lower Congo, and have been sent here by the missionaries of the two Societies, our own and that of the American Baptists. They speak in various dialects, but are all able to understand us and one another, as the language is really one.
“In January the men came (nineteen of them), and soon a number of little two-roomed grass-houses could be seen springing up in the portion of ground set apart for them. They are arranged in three roads, and look quite a little town. When the houses were finished the men went back to their towns and in a fortnight returned with their wives and children. We have fourteen women here at present. Two or three of the men have not their wives with them this term, but hope to have them next, and one is a bachelor. Then there are about twenty-four children, some little ones, belonging to students; others the little nurses who take care of the babies while the mothers are in their classes. These children and our boys in the house have school each afternoon.