05 A Rising Tide on the Ogowe 1886-1887

Chapter 5 A RISING TIDE ON THE OGOWE

1886—1887

NOTWITHSTANDING attacks upon it, the Word of God became precious in those days. A spirit of inquiry arose in the Ogowe concerning things of the soul. In March, 1886, the class of inquirers was swelled to over thirty members. Swifter and swifter flew the Montclair down the great river for a week at a time, in all weathers, putting in to shore wherever a group of banana-leaved roofs showed above the tall grass; and people listened to the "words of God" in direct, well-mastered Mpongwe. In June twenty-three were added to the inquiry class. "I was counting on from three to five."

Referring to this time, Mr. Good wrote to his secretary, several months after: "I thought of announcing the good news then, but hesitated. I doubted the motives of so many in coming. There is nothing I so much dislike as writing good news and afterwards being compelled to take it back." A large caution in making deductions and statements was one of Mr. Good’s missionary qualifications. His conclusions were reached with deliberation and then held positively and it was humiliating to retract them. A characteristic instance was the case of a Congo woman who, he judged, could be of use in the mission. A trial of her proved otherwise, and he acknowledged his "chagrin ": "I never was so deceived in a person, and, thinking over the whole matter, cannot help feeling a little ashamed that, after forming SO good an opinion of one, I should so soon be seeking to get rid of her." He adds that her wages have not been taken out of mission money, and here another characteristic is touched.

Strict uprightness in the use of money, economy of mission funds as a sacred trust, marked Mr. Good’s course. Four years out of his first five in Africa, he returned an annual balance to the mission. When about to take a voyage on mission business, he would exert himself to investigate passage rates and choose the route by which he could " save eight days’ time and five pounds sterling." While on furlough in America, a gentleman, from whom he had expected assistance for the mission, surprised him with a personal gift of two hundred dollars. Instead of putting it into his pocket for a visit to his brothers in Nebraska, he writes like an embarrassed school-boy to ask his secretary, " What shall I do with it? " Finding a satisfactory answer was more trouble to him than to wade through a mangrove swamp. Not because he was niggardly with his own money. " The grand balance," he writes to his wife, enclosing an order for every cent left to his account at the end of a year. And again; " You do not need to account to me for your expenditures. If you spend all the money you can get, you will not be extravagant." This was while Mrs. Good was in America, ill health having compelled her return in the summer of 1886. They had determined upon the sacrifice of separation; and, putting wife and boy on board ship at Gaboon, he went back alone to the great, lonely Ogowe, his nearest missionary associate being seventy-five miles above Kangwe.

Now again, day after day, rain or shine, Galwa, Nkami, Akele, Ivile, Syeki, Orungu, and Fang, all, in their low brown towns, descry the tireless Montclair headed for their landings, the well-known white helmet in its stern. At least four towns in a day are visited, sometimes fourteen. Up the Ogowe and down flies the Montclair and by the " small river," by Degele Creek, and in high water by the big lakes to the south. More often yet it is seen tied to the clay bank, and the missionary is tramping mile after mile in the bush, through its twilight, among colossal forest trees with their endless festoonery of vines, lush swamps, naked mangrove banks decorated with crocodiles; in the bush, dark with foliage above, terrible below with giant wrecks of lightning-struck cottonwoods, redwoods, or palms, slippery vines to trap the foot, entangled bush-rope as strong as a cable, and, hiding under the leaves, vipers, lizards, snakes, for each variety of which the African has a separate charm. Of what Mr. Good ever ate on these innumerable bush journeys, or how he slept, no one at the mission rooms ever saw a line from his pen; but once, when Mrs. Good accompanied him, she wrote upon these points to a friend:

"Passed on into the large lake Onanga. Two small islands came in sight, and the trees looked from the distance as if covered with white blossoms; but as we drew near we discovered they were blossoming with hundreds of large white birds. Ate our lunch on one of the islands, and went on to Ngewa, qnite a large town. Held a meeting, and crossed to the other end of the lake to Okonjo. Arrived at dark, wet and tired. Did not find royal accommodations. After some talk we were allowed the use of a room in a house minus windows or doors, having a mud floor, with a pile of leaves and ferns for a bed. A bed of ferns ’ may sound luxurious, but my experience was otherwise. Spent the Sabbath in this place; thirty-five present at morning service. Next day up and away for Lake Ogemwe, far eastward. Visited three towns. Ate lunch in the forest, and then the boat-boys pulled hard till dark. Slept at Aningwa-revo, in a native house as uncomfortable and dirty as usual, but were tired enough to be thankful for even that."

Bible-readers, here, there. Every one who is capable of imparting an elementary gospel message is set to teaching his people, but is not left to himself. The man can never conjecture whether it will be on Tuesday or Saturday, but his missionary’s visit of inspection is sure to take him by surprise; then, whatever he has tried to do will not escape that keen eye, neither what he has neglected; and laziness is the one thing that will never be spared. But these workers must be paid; appropriations have been " reduced," and " the school will eat up all the money left" — that is, the school which is to be, if only the Board allows French teachers. There are always resources to him who can do without. Every workman is dismissed at Kangwe who can possibly be spared, even the boat crew, and what is saved on their wages is paid out from the missionary’s own vital energy in annoyance and watchfulness with temporary paddlers who must be summoned and coaxed an hour before each trip. In the summer of 1886 the telegraph came to Gaboon and a sub-commandant to the Ogowe. For some months the same fencing had to go on with this official as with the Jesuit mission. The same tactics won the day. At first hostile and surly, he "soon backed down on every charge." Then, yes, he would give permission for " a school," but Bible-readers he would have to see for himself. " All a game to stop my work." Where should that French teacher come from? No one sent from New York; no promise of one. No French teacher, no school. It would be unendurable to lose the advantage that had been wrenched from the commandant. It was not lost. A young African was secured who had learned French at the Jesuit mission. " This I do with the knowledge and approval of all my brethren." No fear of a traitor in camp, because there was " not enough religion there of any sort " to have been absorbed. A school was opened, the young man put in charge, and the event justified the measure. No earthly commandant could stop the current which had begun to move in men’s hearts on the Ogowe. The Spirit of God was in it.

Every year in October, in that equatorial region, the skies open and tropical rains pour down. They last for weeks; and what began, like the tuning of an orchestra, with an ominous drum, drumming, upon countless green leaves, swells to a wild, pauseless symphony, reverberating through the whole vast, shadowy forest. All the streams hear it — some of them mentionable rivers themselves — and they forget their old banks, they spread out in lakes, and with accelerated heart-beat rush forward to bury themselves in the bosom of the mighty Ogowe. She hears them coming, and, always rapid, as broad at two hundred miles from sea as the Delaware is at Philadelphia, she welcomes them with a quickened pulsation. Her current strengthens to fully five miles an hour. Low sand-banks, patches of papyrus, and small islands are drowned out of view. Vines wont to swing far up on palm-stem and redwood branch now dip and trail in the water’s edge, and floating islands glide down-stream. The bush is alive with vivified ants, and lizards, and glistening snakes swinging from boughs overhead, while hippopotamuses troop away to find shallow lagoons. And in the heart of the human dweller along its banks, who, perhaps, distrusting his house foundations, has climbed to a perch in a tree to sleep, the dread of the Ogowe grows night by night as he harks to the roar of the forest wind, the crashing of some giant tree or a boat-house swept away, or a startling shriek, warning him that another canoe has been engulfed. Morning by morning he looks out on an awesome sight, for the Ogowe covers a vast area. By the tenth day it has risen twenty feet in front of his door. You cannot legislate the rise of the Ogowe in the rains. At the beginning of 1886 thirty-eight souls, gathered out of paganism, constituted the church of Jesus Christ on the Ogowe. But the tide was rising; ten years after there were six hundred Christians there.

All 1886 each quarterly communion was a high-day and a holiday at Kangwe. One is reminded of the old observance of sacraments in the Highlands of Scotland. Canoes came flocking from every waterside for fifty miles around. They came on Wednesday or Thursday before communion Sunday, and the people lived on the mission premises five, six, seven days together. Every one brought the inevitable mosquito net of strong cloth; and when they had been hung over stakes driven into the ground, there was presented an encampment of multicolored tents, which surrounded the church, overflowed the mission yard, and made points where light played in the shade of the plantain grove, under the oil palm and mango trees. In true African style, they all had brought cooking utensils and provisions; and when the sudden tropical night fell, and the pale equatorial moonlight spangled the Ogowe, only fifty yards from their feet, picturesque cooking fires shone here and there, and the people sat around them in homelike fashion, eating a supper of cassava, roasted plantains, and dried elephant meat. The echo of tom-toms across the river easily located some heathen dance; but the loudest sound on Kangwe Hill was the chorus of voices singing the beautiful new Mpongwe hymns, and singing them well. But what was to the people a joyous Feast of Tabernacles was a week of strain and care to the missionary in charge and any associate who might come to his help for the occasion. There was the direction of preaching services every afternoon and three times on Sunday, besides those which the people held themselves every evening. There were the offerings of consecration: a fowl or a basket of eggs, a few fish or a bunch of plantains. These must all be examined and a proper due-bill given to each individual, which he places in the collection in lieu of currency. Bible-readers must render reports, receive their wages and instructions. Long hours were consumed in examining applicants for inquiry class; longer, intense hours were spent with church session at every available time of day, and far into the nights, in careful examination of candidates for baptism. Mr. Good once compared Kangwe communions to calling the roll of divisions of an army after battle. Christians had come by twos and threes and tens from scattered villages in each district, and calling the roll was sometimes glad, often sad, work. "From some villages comes news of victory and new recruits; from others sad stories of defeat and loss." The missionary had at once to discharge the duties of host, mission agent, and bishop of souls. Such responsibility, dread of being deceived by flattering appearances, contact with hundreds of human beings crowded about him, even into his private apartments, all wore upon brain and spirit. "I do not pretend to sleep more than a few hours each night during communion." In September: " It was the busy season, and we expected to add only eight or ten to the roll of inquirers. After a great deal of sifting we added forty-three, making the whole number about ninety. Of course these figures must not be taken for their full face value. Not all of these ninety persons will finally become baptized members of the Ogowe Church, but a large part of them will. There is enough to convince us that the Spirit of God is at work mightily here.

" We see a marked increase of spirituality within the church, a disposition to call offenders to account instead of shielding them, as was too common formerly. Christians are beginning to realize their duty to preach Christ; in some quarters they begin to give to his cause. God was at work when we had least reason, apparently, to expect it, and now, having seen his power, we realize what we might accomplish by his power. Pray with us that his hand be not stayed till he work a great change in this river region." From Longwe and Nenge they brought over ten dollars in fish to the collection. " Nenge is a town I had given up. The last time I passed, the people were so drunk that I passed without preaching; now six or eight men at one time gathered their fetishes and threw them into the Ogowe. Women are beginning to come." Of December communion he reports to his wife: "More than two hundred stayed somewhere about the houses. They put boards under the big house and stayed there. Unprotected women were admitted to the dining-room, and twelve mosquito nets were put up there. Boat-house crowded. The collection about twenty dollars. Baptized eight. Received eighty-one new inquirers; total, one hundred and sixty-three, of whom forty are women — the most encouraging feature, for at the beginning of the year there were only three or four women in the church. The change is like a waking from the dead.

" I wish I had a good man here on whom to roll a part of this responsibility." As the year closes there is an urgent voice at the secretary’s door in New York: " What we need now is help. Already I have had the most dangerous form of fever twice. The doctor says I ought to go home now — not that I have any notion of acting on this advice; but should I break down without another man here, it would be disastrous. More now depends on constant, careful supervision than anything else except the presence of the Holy Spirit."

He begs that an assistant be sent in time to learn the language and gain the confidence of the people, especially to learn how to take care of his health in the African climate, before he should be left alone. " To begin alone would be almost certain death." In connection with his annual report, January, 1887, Mr. Good repeats his earnest request:

" I beg to remind the Board of the necessity of at once sending us assistance. We must acknowledge that God has been far more faithful in blessing the gospel than we have been in preaching it. The work done by myself has been little enough — nothing compared with what ought to be done. The main part was done by five Bible-readers. My field is so extensive, all I could attempt was to inspect their work occasionally. It is these men who have brought the gospel weekly to scores of villages scattered up and down the Ogowe for a hundred miles. Each is provided with a small canoe and two or three boys to help handle it; thus fitted out, he is expected to visit as often as possible all the towns in his district. It is to the efforts of these men, more than all other influences combined, that we are to ascribe, under God, this awakening we have enjoyed. But it will not do to overestimate their efficiency and neglect to provide anything better.

" If each of these men were educated, or being educated, so that, when in a few years each of these Bible-reading stations has become a church, he could be licensed to preach, and when his church had grown strong to support him could be ordained its pastor, then the plan would be perfect. But I am sorry to say these men are utterly unfit for such a work. They are only useful because the mass of the people are so ignorant. Some of them can barely read their own language, none read well; and they write a little in characters that are fearfully and wonderfully made. When their modicum of knowledge becomes the property of the many their usefulness will be past, unless they can be educated so as to keep in advance of the people." This awakening was connected with no prospect of gaining worldly advancement. Few converts could be employed by the mission, and conversion would require many, by refusing to deal in rum and by honoring the Sabbath, to lose positions in trade. All who had more than one wife were bound to incur loss of dowries. Still, one hundred and sixty men and women this year decided for Christ in the Ogowe. "If the Holy Ghost has not done it, what has? " But the missionary’s ideal was not to be blurred by a measured success. The converts and inquirers were from several different tribes, but so far there was not one Fang. One Bible-reader spoke Fang fluently, and was so located as to visit frequently fifteen or twenty Fang towns. " The only one for twenty or thirty thousand Fang within easy reach of Kangwe! What is one among so many? "

Still the tide was rising on the Ogowe. There were more troubled consciences than ever in 1887. At March communion extra benches filled every available space on Sunday. Scarcely any were mere spectators; almost all were members or inquirers. Only six were baptized, for inquirers were obliged to complete a year in the class before baptism. There were now two hundred and forty-nine inquirers from five different tribes, speaking languages as different as German and English.

Spiritual earnestness was the token on every hand. Church members in general held daily prayer and Sabbath services wherever they were, and inquirers went long distances to be present.

Two problems now confront the missionary:

1. "How are all these inquirers to be instructed?" Answered, by increasing the efficiency of Bible-readers. They and other picked young men, a normal class of twelve, are brought to Kangwe for a month of hard study and again sent forth.

2. Books were required. "I could have sold a hundred primers communion week. At the rate they are called for, a year will exhaust all the Mpongwe books we have in print, except hymn-books." This problem is solved by two Mpongwe manuscripts, which spring up like Jonah’s gourd, and are promptly mailed to America to be printed while Mrs. Good is there to read proofs. As for money to pay the printer, his butterfly net has provided for "the tract," and he " would rather foot the bill " for five hundred primers also "than not to have them right away." The church in America was poor, and the missionary paid for the primers!

Difficulty with the colonial government had never ceased. There were constant opportunities for sub-officials, clothed with a brief authority and backed by a Mohammedan soldiery and police from Senegal, to be exasperating towards Americans. One fact only prevented rupture: a modus vivendi had been established by opening the French school at Kangwe, and by the promise of the missionaries to do all in their power to secure French teachers. In view of the situation, the mission, in January, 1887, passed the following resolution:

" Whereas, In view of the settled educational policy of the French rulers of this colony, it is, and in our opinion always will be, impossible for us to carry on our work here, except under most crippling and vexatious restraints; therefore,

" Be solved, That we strongly urge upon the Board the advisability of transferring to a French Protestant society the whole of our Gaboon and Ogowe work." A committee of the mission also reported that should the mission continue to hold the Gaboon and Ogowe districts, "we have no hope of making further advance therein," and requested the Board " as soon as possible to take steps with the German government " in the north to extend efforts in that direction. " We are under the impression that, Germany being a Protestant power, we would be free from the seizure and burning of our people’s Bibles by Romish priests, at present unchecked by our French rulers." A few months later, a new secretary having been placed in charge of the Africa mission, Mr. Good sent him greeting:

" I cannot say that I congratulate you on the task you have undertaken. Missionaries in Africa are apt to be bilious, and a bilious man is proverbially hard to please. The climate is at times terribly depressing, and when everything looks blue we are apt to blame the Board with it all, just as foolish people at home blame the government for poor crops. That Dr. Lowrie has lived to his age with this incubus on him is little less than a miracle.... You have taken up this work at a trying time. Great changes must be made in the near future, and only divine guidance can keep us short-sighted mortals from mistakes." On the subject of the proposed transfer, this letter advocates the measure, largely on the ground that arrest of educational work will in the end defeat the very object of the mission.

"You will say, Why not go on as you have done, without schools, devoting all your time to preaching?’ Because no mission can he permanently successful in such a country as Africa without education. What can I do with three hundred and fifty inquirers scattered over a breadth of fifty and a length of one hundred miles? The one Ogowe church must soon become four. Who is to take charge of them? If we go on organizing churches without a native ministry, what can it ever amount to? In Africa, not only the vast multitudes to be reached, but the deadly climate, forbid the thought that white men can ever be more than beginners and leaders in giving the gospel to her people.... I would not under rate God’s power or resources, but he uses means. Men who do not sow cannot harvest. We have one licensed preacher in the Ogowe field, and after that nothing. It will take years to prepare men who are needed here, and this educational work cannot be done in either English or the vernacular."