The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1914-04-10

High School Pupils SpeIbound as He
Spins True Stories of Animal life In
the "Middle of the Middle" of the
Dark ontinent-Nearest Store a
Thousand Miles Away.
Brimful of interest and deftly touch
ing on the many sides OF children's
fancy was an address delivered to pu-
pills of the Westport tKan) high school
by Dan Crawford. missionary to Afri-
ca author of Thinking Black" and.
as the Kansas City Star says, authen-
tic successor to Dr. Livingstone.
"When l stand here looking at you.
said Mr.. Crawford to his young hear
ers, land think how have boiled grass
for pOrridge. killed lions and crossed
the bamboo scrubs and elephant marsh
es | can hardly realize that l am the
same person. 1t is thousand miles
from my home to the nearest store. 1t
takes twenty-three days of tramping
to get out Of the jungles. When l
came out this time and the tall grass
parted in front of me like curtain
and | saw the steel ends of railway
track for the first time in twenty-three
years what do you suppose l did? l
blubbered like q baby.
Then / returned TO the cemeteries
of dead folks called literature. l be-
gan the disgusting habit of wearing
collar-my first collar in twenty-three
years. l knew how dog feels when
he wears his first collar"
The Elephants Saturday Night.
Mr.. Crawford said he wanted to give
one Of his first impressions of the mid
die OF the middle" of Africa. where he
lives.
1T is Il vast river, the Lupulu. on the
banks of which DR.. Livingstone died
Imagine it. Here in the foreground is
the river flowing through rapids. Just
beyond is the rim of the bank. Beyond
that in the middle distance. as an
artist would say, is IL crocodile marsh
and beyond that the black forest. The
sun goes down like n ball Of fire. and
the moon is rising like silver dollar.
The mosquitoes come out, singing their
tenor You laugh. but ! didn't.
"Out of that fringe of black forest
comes an army of huge elephants, 1870
of them. with fOcks of wrinkled baby
jumbos bringing up the rear. all pre-
posterously ponderous in the moon
light. They have come down to the
crocodile marsh forAtheir bath. You
see. it's their Saturday night.
1.-THE mothers are trying to get the
baby jumbos to battle themselves, and
they are having the trouble that all
this case know about the crocodiles
hidden there in the water. so the
mothers have to go in. fill their trunks
and squirt the water on the babies.
You never saw such a'hose party.
A Fight In the Jungle.
That's scene one Of the jungle PAN
tomime Scene two brings on the fight.
The crocOdiles resent the intrusion of
the elephants. They go into commit
tee and put, up their biggest man, a
twenty-three foot long crocodile, to
take up the matter with the bull ele-
plant at the head Of the herd. He APP
Droaches. The elephant is waiting for
him. He lowers his huge, tough trunk
in the water, and as the crocodile
comes up. feeling out for the trunk
with his great jaws the elephant seizes
him, jerks him out of the water. all
twenty-three feet of him. and hurls
him high in the air. 1t is the bull ele-
plants victory. and his herd resumes
its moonlight bathing in peace"
In his long residence on the banks
of Lake Mweru Mr.. Crawford has
built five schools. sixty miles of roads
and six miles of sanitary cottages, two
rooms and kitchen each. He has also
translated the Bible into the native
tongue.
1--WE built those roads because we
had to-" he said. ito save our people
from the lions. Until we had the roads
the children had to come to school
through the grass. The grass was vel
low. The lions were yellow. The pu.
pills were pounced upon and eaten he
fore they knew ii. One lion killed
sixty-five persons before we got him"
thinking Black"
Mr.. Crawford said it was DR.. Liv-
ingstone's last wish for a successor who
would go to the middle of the middle
Of Africa that sent him there. When
he went. boring I'm among the strange
--i.see nickng up their speech as best
he COLD. ne mnde I'D his r,:-5 ~
would learn how to "think black"
MANY a man." he said. has been In
Africa thirty years and is still mark
ing time. Africa hasn't taken hold on
him. 1t is like man and his job. II
q mans job hasn't got hold of him the
Lord help him and the job"
So Crawford labored to get the ne
gro point of view in order that. as
he says. he could look out through his
eyes as they look out through theirs.