The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-04-14

l ! died. Quanah has vast herds of cattle
 and horses, many of them of the best breed. He is idolized by the 1,600 Com- anches who look to him as their chief. ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS USELESS? |?
 Contrary to nearly all travellers and traders in Africa, I have nothing but good to say of missionaries and their work. I have tlready mentioned the Order of the Holy Spirit and their great mission at Caconda. The same order has two other stations in South Angola and a smaller station among the mountains of Bailundu, about two hours distance from the fort and the American mission there. Its works is marked by the same dignity and quiet devotion as marks the work of all ord- CTS wherever I have come across their outposts and places of danger through the world. It is constantly objected that the Portuguese have possessed the country for over four centuries, and have done nothing for the improvement or conversion of the natives, and bear in mind those bishops of Loanda who sat on marble thrones upon the quay, christening the slaves in patches as they were packed off by thousands to their misery in Cuba and Brazil. Both thing are perfectly true The Portuguese are not a missionary people. have not met any but French, Alsa- tians, and Germans in the missions of the order out here. But that need not in the least diminish our admiration of the missions as they now are. Nor should we be too careful to remember the errors and cruelties of any people or church in the past, especially when We reflect that England, which till quite lately was regarded as the great foe of slavery all over the world. was also the originator of the slave export, and the supreme head of the Anglican Church was one of the greatest slave traders ever known.
 As to natives, it is much harder to judge their attitude. Their name for missionary is "afoola," and though, I believe, the word only means man of learning, it naturally suggests an inno- cent simplicity a bit soft. 2 as we say, At first that probably was the general idea, as was see when M. Coillard, the great French missionary of Barotzeland, had big wash in the yard one fatrnoon, and next Sunday preached to an enthusiastic congrega- tion, all dressed in scraps of his own linen And to some extent the feeling. still exists. The are natives who go to mission village for what they can get, or simply for a sheltered existence and kindly treatment. There are prob ably good many who experience re- ligious convictions in order to please, like the followers of any popular prea- cher at home. But, as rule it is not comfort or gain, it is not persuasive eloquence or religious conviction, that draws the native. It is the two charm of entire honesty and of inward peace. Tn country where the natives are ha- bitually regarded as fair game for every kind of swindle and deceit, where bargains with them are binding, and where penalties are multiplied over and over again by legal or illegal trickery, we cannot overestin1atee the influence of men who do what they say, who pay what they agree, and never go back on their word From end to end of Africa common honesty Is so rare that 1t gives it's possessor ad istinction beyond intellect, and far beyond gold. On Afri- ca any honest man wins a conspicuous and isolated greatness. In 25 years, the natives of Angola have learned that the honesty of the missionaries is above suspicion. It is a great achieve ment. It is worth all the teaching of the alphabet, addition, and Old Testa- ment history no matter how successful and it is hardly necessary to search out any other cause for the influence which the missionaries possess.
 | All these methods of instruction and guidance are pursued in the permanent daily medical service of healing and surgery, which spreads the fame of the missions from village to village Many out-stations, conducted by the natives themselves, have been formed, though | it is naturally tempting to keep the sheep safe within the mission fold. If the missionaries were suddenly re- moved in a body, 1t is hard to say how Hong their teaching or influence would survive. My own opinion is that every trace fit would be gone in 50 or per- haps in 20 years. The Catholic forms Iwould probably last longest, because greater use Is made of beautiful sym
 bolism. But in half century, rum, slavery, and the oppression of the
 traders would have, wiped out all, and
 the natives would sink into a far worse state than their original savagery.- Henry w. Nevinson, in Harper's Weekly.