“It is skilfully placed before the audience, much better than could be done by a white man. The people are interested; they understand, and they KNOW that Bernard’s way is the right one. You can read it on their faces. Old customs and superstitions, however, die hard, and to-morrow, perhaps, even to-day many of those eager listeners will be the same careless indifferent lot they were yesterday. But the seed is not falling only in stony places; customs and superstitions cannot always choke it. By and by will come the harvest and the triumph of the Word.
“While Bernard is speaking let us look around. That we are in the school is evident, for there is the blackboard and there the easel. Over on the other side hangs a syllable card. But on Sunday, it is the ‘Nyumba ya Mulungu’ (House of God), and here we are surrounded by such a crowd as never enters school.
“Men, women, and children of all ages are sitting upon the poles which do duty for seats. But when we run our eyes over the crowd we find that the majority are women and children. Of grown men there are few. Where may they be? They may, perhaps, be out of the district, on plantations, at the railway, or down to the river for loads, but they may also be somewhere not so far away, beer-drinking. There is, however, quite a goodly number of youths among our hearers.
“The audience is happy, noisily so. There is no such quiet here as is given to a home preacher. The little fat, brown, shining babies will not be still; they insist upon making themselves heard all through the address, and it is only when one has become most outrageous in his conduct, that his mother thinks it necessary to let him see the trees outside.
“But when the white man gets up to begin to speak, all these tiny brown mortals seem by instinct to plot against him. No doubt his white face is the cause of it, for he is always greeted as only black babies can welcome a white speaker. Bernard however goes calmly on. He is used to this kind of thing and he does not suffer from nerves. So, too with his audience, not a word is lost.
“Crash! down goes a seat broken in two by the weight of some half-dozen ponderous dames. But this is quietly ignored by the rest of the audience, and the heavy ones proceed to accommodate themselves to a seat on the floor, as if nothing out of the way had happened. Then two dogs have disagreed and become unpleasant to one another, till a few vigorous cuffs and a blow from a stick convince our canine friends that to-day they must be on their best behaviour, fit and proper for dogs admitted to such an assembly. But the babies have their own way and perform an involuntary accompaniment all the time of the service.
“Bernard has finished now. He has urged the people to come to a decision to-day, not to put off till the to-morrow which never comes. Now is the time to take a stand on the side of truth and righteousness. Who will take his stand now? And so he leaves his audience to answer his final appeal.
“A hymn, one of the few which the school children have learned, has been given out by Bernard. He reads the first verse:—
‘Mwamva mau a Mulungu