00.01 Preface
PREFACE IN July, 1910, I was requested by the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society to write the life of Mrs. Thomas Lewis of the Congo. I had shortly before arranged with Mr. Lewis to undertake the work independently; but it accorded well with his feelings and my own that it should be done under the direction of the Society which Mrs. Lewis had served for five-and-twenty years. Unfortunately the final decision was not arrived at until Mr. Lewis was on the point of returning to Africa, having already sent forward his wife’s journals and papers. Consequently, in executing my task, I have missed the great advantage of consultation with him. Chapters 3 - 6 only have received his revision. When I asked him about materials, he replied: " If you can get hold of the Hartland letters, you will have almost all you need. Gwen wrote to one or other member of the family by every mail during all her missionary life, and told them everything about her work which was worth the telling." The Misses Lily and Alice Hartland were kind enough to place " the Hartland Letters " in my hands. The series was not complete, some letters having been destroyed, and a few lost. But the remainder constituted a great mass of most vahiable material, and this book is largely based upon it. On September 12th I received from Kimpese a small trunk filled with Mrs. Lewis’s journals and papers; and meanwhile important parcels of letters were entrusted to me by the Misses Percival, Mrs. John Jenkyn Brown, and Miss Taylor. I am also specially indebted to Mrs. Percival, the Misses Hartland, and Mrs. W. C. Parkinson, for personal recollections, and for many suggestions and corrections. The Rev. C. E. Wilson, B.A., General Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, has given me the freedom of the Mission House for the consultation of books and papers; and the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt has helped me in many ways especially in arranging the illustrations, and in reading the proofs. To these, and other friends whose names are mentioned in the text, I acknowledge my obligations with warmest thanks. In the numerous passages selected from Mrs. Lewis’s letters, the reader will observe that the name of the correspondent is sometimes given. When no name appears it must be understood that the citation is from " the Hartland Letters." As my task neared completion I realised that I had been guilty of one grave omission. During more than twenty years of her missionary life Mrs. Lewis was in frequent communication with Mr. Baynes, her official director, whom she regarded also as a most dear and honoured friend. Yet so far as I remember, there occurs in this book but one incidental and oblique reference to Mr. Baynes’s esteem for her. Observing this I wrote to him, expressing regret for my default, and begging him to send me a few lines of appreciation of his friend. With prompt kindness he wrote the following letter, which contains what I wanted, with some embarrassing additions. My respect for him prevents me from cutting up what he has been good enough to write; and if I incur reproach for printing appreciation of myself, I must bear it meekly for his sake.
"MY DEAR MR. HAWKER, — I am indeed most thankful to learn that you have undertaken to write a Memorial of the life and labours of my intimate and much valued friend Mrs. Thomas Lewis, who gave herself with such whole-hearted consecration to the uplifting and enlightenment of the native peoples of the vast Congo Region of Central Africa, and whose name and labours will live for long years to come in the hearts and memories of those on whose behalf she toiled so lovingly and so cheerfully, and bravely endured such hardships and privations.
" I cannot help saying I know of no one who can tell the story of her consecrated life and labours so sympathetically as yourself, her beloved Pastor and her valued friend and adviser. Her name will ever be associated with your Church at Camden Road, from which have gone forth so many heroic missionaries and martyrs whose one desire it was to bear to the benighted peoples of Central Africa ’The Light of Life,’ counting it highest privilege to tell out the Story of His Love, Who though He was rich for our sakes became poor,"
"For many years I had the joy of intimate friendship with Mrs. Lewis, and a more devoted, consecrated missionary I have never met. It is a great satisfaction to me that you have undertaken to write the story of her life and labours, and I trust that as the result many may be led to follow in her footsteps, who shall realise in doing so a joy akin to that which inspired her to the end, and described in her own words: —
" ’ No toil so sweet, no joy so deep as following in His footsteps who gave Himself for us.’
" ’ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.’
"With sincere regard, "Yours as ever, "Alfred H. Baynes.’ May the good wish of one who has been a great helper of the cause of Foreign Missions be graciously fulfilled.
GEORGE HAWKER.
Anson Road, N.
1911.