The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-07-05
A NOVEL
JOURNEY.
EXTRACT FROM A MISSIONARIES
LETTER.
A Wellington Woman in India.-Florence
WoOlley Sharp Writes an interesting
Letter of Experiences.

Letter of Experiences.
The following is an extract from a
private letter from Florence Woolley
Sharp, who is with her husband in
Burmah, under appointment of the
American Baptist Missionary Union,
and for some time stationed at Toun-
goo. Mrs. Sharp had been up in the
mountains for month with her little
daughter, who had been ill, and de-
scribes her trip homeward, May OF
this summer:
"Our trip down the hill was made on
an elephant, my first experience OF
travel in that manner. We used one
elephant to carry our baggage and
another for the passengers. | did not
want to ride all the way, so l set out
walking soon after 8 a. m. with Ma
Toke, and left Minnie to ride with her
papa as soon as the elephants were
loaded. l walked four miles nearly
half way down-then got on the ele
phant with Ma Toke and Minnie, while
Mr.. Sharp walked. was little ner-
vous just at first, for they are such big
creatures, and ] was a little fearful
they might start off into the jungle
helter-skelter, as | saw one Of them do
few days before, when it saw pony
by the roadside, But I soon became
accustomed to the motion, which is
very gentle, and enjoyed the ride
very much I soon gained confidence
in the big, ungainly creature. 1t
stepped so carefully you were sure it
would make no misstep. Sometimes,
when it descended very steep place,
or ascended, we clung to the hondah
with might, but there was very little
danger.
"We had, however, one experience |
do not care to repeat, though nothing
serious came of it, Some bullocks
were on the road ahead of us with big
loads on their backs. As the elephant
driver said, these great creatures were
afraid of those small animals, tiny in
comparison with their size. Mr.. Sharp
walked on ahead and asked the bullock
driver to go off from the road. Just at
that point there was high bank on one
side Of the road and a steep descent on
the other. They went down the steep
place, but the bulls were alarmed at
the elephants and made commotion,
r@me of them plunging furiously. That
u ,ghtened the elephants, of course.
=. one our goods was on was ahead,
- was also the most frightened. 1t
rnVe an awful, deafening roar, and
ri ned. At this, our elephant tried to
f"-n also. They made some desperate
cfprts to run back, but the drivers kept
--t-' m faced pretty well. Finally, Mr..
harp stood at the head of the first one,
'i,tween it and the bulls. The driver
gave the elephant a desperate blow,
and it rushed ahead with another ter
rifle roar, and ours followed. They ran
so fast we could hardly escape the
limbs of the trees which hung over the
road. Ma Toke screamed several times
and turned pale under her brown skin,
and I clung to Minnie and the hondah,
not knowing but the elephant might
tear up the bank and through the thick
Jungle. We had carts waiting for us at
the foot of the hill and reached home
at $50. did not feel stiff or sore after
my trip, but Mr.. Sharp, who had not
been well all that day had fever when
we reached home, and continued i'll for
some days with high fever and de-
lrium.
"0ur carload of goods is on the way
to Rangoon, and we start tomorrow
evening. 1t is exceedingly hot temper
perature, 94 degrees in the shade. We
received our box from Montgomery,
Ward & Co., and were much pleased
with the filling of our order, Minnie
rides her tricycle. all about the house,
and her dolly pleases her very much,
as it is a sleeping dolly. They sent
wrong number of shoes, but it is so
hard to get comfortable and we'll
fitting English shoe, even at cost
double what we pay at home, that /
can easily dispose of them, as they are
sure to fit some of the missionaries
My hat suits me as well as if had or
dered every detail.
'In the month l was in the noun
tains, besides nursing Minnie through
the measles, l made ten dresses, two
wrappers, one blouse waist, two sheets
and one pillow case (hemstitched), be-
sides doing some memding. The
greater part Of that was Methodist
mission work. You can imagine the
amount of sewing and mending for a
family of twenty-six school children,
with two women to do it who teach five
days in the week.