New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-19
BISHOP COLENSO.
THE HERETO MlSSlONAhi
NAME is PRESERVED IN THE
NATAL. TOWN.


.., a : odvemith never were OF any spe-
Dial inheritance except locally. But CoiehSo'
Tho mann, Of one Of the most important posl'o"'
go ,bo line between Ladysmith and Fleter
;,,,,,ro &c associated with what the or'ho-
a., church rcople Of the English speaking "oiIu
,,l, hack upon as a grave scandal ana '"'
orl1linoe Of the British Government Offices re-
card nc q troublesome episode. Moreover the''
aro tens Of thousands of men now OF ha'uI'
years neither specially orthodox nor spec'a'iE
worldly. in whose minds "Colensos ArlthHe'lc
and "Coenso's Algebra have livery asSocl"
tiors with the toll and trouble OF schooi u"S''
MANY an officer now doing duty with 'he guns
at and about Ladysmth-the number perhaps
Including Sir George White hmself-is there
practically applying theoretical lessons laoo-
riousIv ACQUIRED from those two standard school
textbooks.
John w Colenso. the clergyman whose haihe
Is commemorated by the Natal town was Dorm
at St Anster Cornwall, England, in January
1914 He went to the University OF Cambridge
like many another young man. intending 10 take
Holy orders in the Established Church' ahd'
Ike only the favored few, succeeded in making
q high academcal reputation for himself as a
mathematical tutor. 1t was in this earlier part
of his career that he produced the textbooks al
country living in England in 1916 he was seven
wears later elected to the missionary bshopric
of Natal What distinguished him as a mission
arv from the very outset his unusual sym
pathv with the human interest in the Iulu
Kafirs whose conversion, and not the care OF
the white mans soul, he very logically consd-
cred his chief business.
Bishop Colenso held that it was not enough
FOR the white man to go to Natal ana INSIST
upon the Kanirs learning to speak English and
wear suspcnders This, or something very IKE
IT, had been the conventional notion Of mission
airy obligations until his time. He insisted that
the preacher Of the white mans God ought to be
able to talk to the Kanir in his own tongue or
tongues. The proposition was hard one for
the average missionary in those parts, because
the Zulu tongue is one Of the most eXtravaganuy
arduous OF attainment for any one but pure
bred Zulu. distinguished like Chinese and the
ancient spoken language Of Greece 10y the i'm
poItaHcc Of its tonic accents" and, further,
abaurdng in strange palatal clicks and
"cucks" the like II which are hardly TO be
found IN any other language under heaven. But
in spite Of these difficulties the new bishop, by
dint Of assocating with natives to an extent
almost unheard Of among white men before his
time, did succeed in Ear mastering their Ian
guaGe that Colensos Zulu Grammar" and
Zulu English Dictionary" are to this day
reckoned quite as valuable his mathematical
works by those competent to judge Of both,
though the number bc comparatively small
But the book which was TO make Bishop
Colcreo's name shares in the decade OF the
Civil War, the columns Of English newspapers
almost on equal terms with the names of Nc
Clellan, Lee, Grant and Lincoln, did not appear
until 1SG2. This was the first volume of The
Pentateuch."
1t was OF this book that a learned and rev