Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-29
Mistellansuus 8sadins.
A NEGRO MISSIONARY.
Tells of His Trying Experiences In
Africa.

II. Sheppard, the colored missionary
Of the Southern Presbyterian church
to Africa, spoke In the First Presby-
terian church of this city Wednesday
evening The church was filled to
overfiowing, the lecture room and
the aisles being seated and the ves-
tibules filled with people who stood
to hear him. A more interesting ad-
dress has never been heard here.
Sheppard is gifted as an orator and
in addition to that his story Is an
earnest personal one. For an hour
or more he held his audience hang
ing upon his words as he told OF
some of the trials and hardships he
and the lamented Lapsley had under
gone in their efforts to reach the In
terror Of the dark continent and
carry the Gospel Of Christ. He was
very interesting. in his touching ref
erences to Mr.. Lapsley, the son OF
Judge Lapsley of Alabama, with
whom he was intimately associated,
and quoted the very last words that
reached his ears as their steamer
left the dock at New York, they were
those of Mr.. Lapsley's mother, as she
held out her hands and shouted:
Sheppard, take good care Of Sam"
Although he did not dwell upon the
terrible African fever transmitted
through the bite Of the mosquito, he
gave an interesting account OF the
very effective three days" treatment
which usually brought a robust pa
tient around. Sheppard himself had
suffered sixty-six attacks. Mr. Laps
ley, electromagnetic" the path
finder" as he was called by the ma
tives after they learned to love him,
died Of the fever while away from
their station. The natives of their
station would never believe that Laps
ley was dead, but said: "He is gone
on a journey; he will come again."
Barely Escaped From savases.
The speaker told of their trip from
Stanley Pool up the river into the
Kings Land, and mentioned the
many times they were beset by the
cannibal savages. One Of those ex-
periences was when the natives were
coming in their canoes with the war
whoop sounding. Mr.. Lapsley was
lying Ill of the fever, too III to at
tempt an escape. When hope had
gone and they were resigned to wait
the inevitable, hippopotamus arose
in the shallow water nearby Shep-
pard was In a moment inspired, and
seizing his rife shot the animal dead.
Then waving his arms in welcome,
he called to the savages to come on.
Come on, all Of you" though they
were coming already as fast as they
could, and presented the carcass to
them, thus gaining their friendship,
instead of DEATH
Heard But One Homelike Sound.
He spoke of the loneliness Of the
missionaries there upon. the river at
| night a thousand miles from the
nearest white neighbors, and sur
rounded by cannibal savages, not
word of whose language they could
understand. The friendliest, most
homelike sound that greeted their
ears was when along about o'clock
in the morning when the roesters,
who spoke the English language, be-
gan to crow for daylight. The dogs
over there, Of which each native has
numerous array, never less than
five, do not bark at all. When they
| hunt, a curious kind of bell which
the missionary exhibited, was tied
around them and their owners know
the sound just as other hunters rec
ogniZe the voice of a dog. Upon
reaching Luebo, that point on the
Kassai river where they had deter
mined to make a start, the mission
aries found themselves 1,200 miles
from the coast. The demonstrations
were at first warlike, but through
| the interpreter they were made to
understand that they had come to
live with and teach them, and not to
buy rubber or steal away their chill
dren. After that the natives became
friendly and Wed with each other in
showing kindnesses to the visitors.
The people were Of the Baketti,
and lived in tribes Of from $4,000 to
$4,000 and in villages from 1000 to
aries did was to bargain for house.
In the heart of Africa this, bargain
ing was the same as horse trading In
the back lots on sales day or court
week. Seller starts high, bidder low.
The former comes down, the latter
goes up until the happy medium Is
found. When this was reached the
missionaries found that the house
had cost them the magnificent sum
of fifty cents. Then they bought an
other.
How They Learned the Language.
Mr.. Sheppard gave an interesting
account of how they set about to
learn the language. With book and
pencil they went about seeking OBJ
jects which the natives would name.
This name was jotted down phonet-
ically and so they got their vocaou-
larry.
That was fifteen or sixteen years
ago. Now those natives, who had
never till then seen a book, many or
them can read the Gospel and the
catechism and some OF them, from
memory, can both ask and answer
questions of the latter from cover to
cover.
A Picture of Today.
In that far away land these peo-
ple, who had never seen book, now
sit upon high stools before print
er's case and set the type-English
type-for the making Of books. Mr..
Lapsleys prayer for some visible
signs Of Gods favor Is thus answered.
1t was answered by conversions even
before he died. Then came Mr.. Laps
ley's trip to the coast and his death
there. Some of the results now ap-
parent were told of. Ten years ago
beautiful church, capable OF seat
ing 600 people, was erected. This
church has a steeple and bell and
when the bell Is rung everything Is
dropped where the natives happen to
be and to the church they rush as
II to a fire or fight.
A more spacious building Is the
last one erected and known as the
"Slaymaker Memorial Tabernacle"
Another self-sustaining station,
with a thousand members, has been
established forty miles further on.
There are fifty native evangelists and
teachers from the Luebo station.
There are twenty-five more from an
other church.
When the missionaries went there
the giving of poison to supposed
witches was a daily occurrence. The
Sabbath and week days were all the
same. The sacredness Of the mar