Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-07-11
Jack, the Boy Missionary.

The other day q tablet to the memory
Of Little Jack, the Boy Missionary, as
he was called, erected by Sunday-school
children, was unveiled over his grave
in London, says the New York Sun.
Little Jack was only Z years old when
he died last year. Though he was born
in England nearly all his brief life was
spent in Central Africa. He was fam
GUS as the only white baby ever Eel in
the region of the great lakes, and after
passing unscathed through all the dan
gers of equatorial Africa he fell q victim
at last to measles in his native land.
Jack was the son of the well-known
missionary, Capt. Hore, who has given
us the best map Of Lake Tanganyika
that has yet been made. He started
for Africa with his parents when he was
only II weeks old, and the story of the
baby's trip to Lake T%anganyika, which
was written by his mother two years
ago, made Jack very we'll known. When
the party started inland from Zanzibar
they trundled Jack in a wheelbarrow.
The softest possible bed was made for
him in a wicker basket, whose sides
We're padded Sc that he could not hurt
himself. The basket was placed in a
steel wheelbarrow frame, and in this
conveyance Jack made o very comfort
able journey to Mamboia, a hundred
miles inland. There we're reasons, how
ever, why it was not thought best for
Jack and his mother to go any further
that year, and SO the baby was wheeled
back to the coast again, and he re-
turned to England none the worse for
his novel journey.
The year following Jack and his
mother started for Africa once more.
and his father rugged up another sort of
conveyance for the baby passenger.
This time bamboo poles we're fastened
to the sides of the basket, and four por-
tiers were detailed to carry Jack. AS
they swung along the path the supple
poles gave to the basket a springy
motion which was very pleasing to the
little fellow. Along the bamboos was
stretched q canvas awning, i%mpervious
alike to sun or rain, with movable sides
that could be fastened up or down ut
pleasure. His mother was carried in
a bath-chair rugged up in q similar
fashion.
After Jack had been carried far in
land African fever tackled the little
fellow and then he insisted much of the
time upon being carried in his mothers
lap, but happily he did not suffer long
from the formidable foe of white men
in Africa. When the caravan halted
for the monday lunch the first duty of
the men was to pitch a tent to shelter
Jack and his mother from the searching
SUI. One day a porter ran away with a
canvas bag containing nearly all of
Jacks wardrobe. The calamity, how
ever, was easily remedied, for Mr.. Hore
had a lot of cotton cloth to pay his way
through the country, and Jack soon had
a new wardrobe. Many Of the marches
were very wearisome, and Mrs. Hore
wrote that she andJack often presented
a very draggled appearance when the
halt was made for the day.
The journey lasted ninety days. At
last Jack and his parents embarked on
the beautiful waters of Lake Tangan-
yika, and negro boatmen, singing at their
paddles, took them to the Island of
Kayala, which was Jacks home during
all his babyhood in Central Africa.
Friends in England sent him many
presents, which he shared with his
Waguha playmates, and he never knew
that equatorial Africa was not the
pleasantest place in the world for q
white boy to grow up in.