Long into the night they sat conversing, fire after fire along the street died down, and they had heard the good-night greetings of “sleep well” as their neighbours retired to rest; but they had again and again replenished their own fire, and had continued their earnest talk on the greatest of all themes--the way of salvation to a sin-stricken soul. At last their visitor said: “I see it--Christ died for me, the just for the unjust, the good one for the bad one, the Son of God in place of me--the sinner.” And there around the fire the three bowed their heads while Mikula lifted up his heart in prayer and praise.
The next evening the visitor again took his seat at Mikula’s fire, and after the usual greetings had been exchanged, said: “I want to join with you Christians and become a member of the Church. Can I join at once?”
“No,” replied Mikula, “you cannot. You must go back to your village, and live a Christian life there for many months, and prove by your words and actions that you are truly sorry for your former bad life, and are now a follower of Jesus Christ. You must be a total abstainer, and by this you will avoid the many temptations to drunkenness. If you like you can now enroll yourself as a member of the Blue Cross Temperance Society.”
“Very well, I will do so now,” assented the visitor. “It will be hard to give up palm-wine, gin and other drinks, especially at funerals, marriages and on the markets.”
“Yes, I know it will,” replied Mikula, as he went for the pledge book; “but there are more than two thousand members of this Temperance Society, and God will help you to live a sober life.” The visitor put his mark against his name in the pledge book, and I heard that his name was Tutula.
“The next thing that you must renounce is dancing,” continued my owner. "You know our dances lead to adultery, and from that to rows, fights and murder. Therefore it is a rule of the Church that its members should not take part in any of the country dances.
“Then again, you must not call in witch-doctors, nor may you employ them for any purpose whatever. Witchcraft and Christianity cannot mix together any more than you can mix palm-oil and water. And you must throw away or destroy all your fetishes and charms--a Christian man should trust in God, and not in the paltry, stupid messes prepared by witch-doctors.”
“Yes,” said Tutula, “I can understand that the temptations to a man or woman engaging in our country dances is very great; and to practise witchcraft and use fetishes and charms would dishonour God. When I return home I will destroy my fetishes.” And as he spoke he took from his neck and wrists some charms and handed them over to his new friend and teacher, who dropped them into the fire that was blazing between them.
“How many wives have you?” asked Mikula.
“I have seven,” replied Tutula, “two of them are old, three of them are young women, and two of them mere girls.”