Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1909-01-30

children, is no puzzle at all to them. 1t
was thus their own kings lived when
they were in their glory. In the same
way the agricultural figures of speech
in the parallels of Christ fit right into
their own speech. Their favorite books
in the Bible are those that abound in
a picturesque imagery such as the
Apocalypse, the Book of Job and
best of all-The Song of Solomon.
1t is a very different thing when it
comes to learning a foreign language
and mastering the intricacies of gram
mar, arithmetic and geography. Gram
mar might as well be relegated to the
outer darkness at once. When you
have taught an African native the diff
ference between a verb and a noun
you have taught him about as much as
his mind can grasp. On the other
hand, the children learn easily foreign
words and expressions in a parrot-like
way. A young native who has worked
for a white man for a month or two
has no difficulty in calling his breth-
rem black devil and damn niger"
Harsh Language an Obstacle.
AS for arithmetic, it is not easy to
learn the multiplication table, when to
say nine times eight you have to
let out the following mouthful of
sound: '-Tata isishiyangalo1onye pinda
nge sishangalombi1i." But the natives
have an adjunct to difficult enuncia-
ton, sort of first aid, in the language
of the fingers. Beginning from right to
left, the little finger means one, the
left thumb means six, the left forefin-
ger seven, and so on. If time or energy
Fns civ 2
the number goes into the tens, you
wag two fingers, and the deed is done.
Your breath is saved
The white woman teacher in
school of eighty or a hundred natives
is likely to find, even if she has one Or
two native assistants, that her position
as the motor nerve of this too, too
solid mass of African flesh is wearing,
to say the least. The Industrial part
of the work is not so difficult as the
purely intellectual. 1t is not so hope
less task to make the African native
fashion something with his hands as
to make him grasp anything with his
brain The women have learned in
their native handicrafts such as straw
plating a dizziness of touch that make
them fairly apt in the acquisition of
the domestic arts of sewing, cooking,
baking, washing, ironing and cleaning.
Missionary's Garden Necessary.
Meantime the boys are engaged in
the work of the farm or in building or
carpentry. The pastor of the station
is fortunate if he has white man to
assist him in experimenting these
branches of the work. More likely he
in addition to his cares as pastor, is
physician and magistrate, his own
farmer, gardener, builder, architect
and furniture maker. The farm must
provide food for the boys and girls of
the school The garden must supply
fruit and vegetables for the mission
ary's table, for he soon learns that he
cannot keep his strength long if he at
tempts to live a native. He must
have a variety of food and, incidental
~, tablecloths and napkins A noted
African traveller has said that white
men die in the tropics not for want
of the necessities of life but for want
of the luxuries- Besides, his house and
garden must be an object lesson in
civilized living quite as important as
his preaching