Part 23 (1/2)
CHAPTER LXX
A ROOF-TREE FOR JESUS
AT first we e, acquired their language, and taught them everywhere,--by the roadside, under the shade of a tree, or on the public Tillage Ground Our old Native Hut, e removed to the Mission House formerly referred to, was also used for all sorts of publicby and by, however, that the ti a new Church, and that it would be every way helpful, I laid the proposal before the that for this work no one would be paid, that the Church was for all the Islanders and for the Worshi+p alone, and that every one must build purely for the love of Jesus
I told them that God would be pleased with such in till they had divided the work and counted the cost, and that for my part I would do all that I could to direct and help, and would supply the sinnet (= cocoanut fiber rope) which I had brought fro afterspeeches; orators chanted their palavers; and warriors acted their part by waving of club and tost the the first Church on Aniwa,--one Chief only holding back Woar-cane leaf for thatch Men searched for and cut down suitable trees
The Church measured sixty-two feet by twenty-four The elve feet high The studs were of hard ironwood, and were each by tenon andthe upper wall plates
All were not only nailed, but strongly tied together by sinnet-rope, so as to resist the hurricanes The roof was supported by four huge ironwood trees, and a fifth of equally hard wood, sunk about eight feet into the ground, surrounded by building at the base, and forhtspaces; the floor was laid hite coral, broken small, and covered with cocoanut tree leaf-mats, on which the people sat I had a small platform, floored and surrounded with reeds; and Mrs Paton had a seat enclosing the har Great harmony prevailed all the time, and no mishap marred the work One hearty fellow fell froround, and was badly stunned But, ju for Jehovah! He has saved ain and went on cheerily with his work
But our pride in this New Church soon met with a dreadful blow That very season a terrific hurricane leveled it with the ground After , the principal Chief, in a public assembly, said, ”Let us not weep, like boys over their broken bows and arrows! Let us be strong, and build a yet stronger Church for Jehovah”
By our counsel, ten days were spent first in repairing houses and fences, and saving food from the plantations, many of which had been swept into utter ruin Then they asse was invoked, and all the as dedicated afresh to Hi the iron wood roof to pieces, and saving everything that could be saved The as allocated equally aes, and a wholesome emulation was created One Chief still held back After a while, I visited hi him that it was God's House, and for all the people of Aniwa; and that if he and his people did not do their part, the others would cast it in their teeth that they had no share in the House of God He yielded to orously upon the work
One large tree was still needed to complete the couples, and could nowhere be found The as at a standstill; for, though the size was now reduced to fifty feet by twenty-two, the roof lowered by four feet, and there was still plenty of ser trees were apparently exhausted One , however, ere awakened at early daybreak by the shouting and singing of a coreat black tree to the Church, with this sa time with the flourish of his toh late in the field, he had lifted the roof-tree out of his own house, as black as soot could s The rest of the builders shouted against this All the other wood of the Church hite and clean, and they would not have this black tree, conspicuous in the very center of all But I praised the old Chief for what he had done, and hoped he and his people would come and worshi+p Jehovah under his own roof-tree At this all were delighted! and the ent on apace, with s
Whenever the Church was roofed in, we ot and burned, and preparations h to notice that I was not putting up the bell; and suspicions arose that I kept it back in order to take it with me when I returned to Tanna It was a beautiful Church bell, cast and sent out by our dear friend, Jaaveon their new Church They found a large ironwood tree near the shore, cut a road for half a h the bush, tied poles across it every few feet, and with shouts lifted it bodily on their shoulders--six ain till they reached the Church; for as one party got exhausted, others were ready to rush in and relieve thee of the journey The two old Chiefs, flourishi+ng their to in front of all the rest, and led the song to which theya deep hole, into which to sink it; I squared the top and screwed on the bell; then we raised the tree by ropes, letting it sink into the hole, and built it round eight feet deep with coral blocks and lis ever since the Church bell of Aniwa
CHAPTER LXXI
”KNOCK THE TEVIL OUT!”
ONE of the last attereat good to us all and to the work of the Lord It hen Nourai, one of Nasi's ain with the barrel of his musket; but I evaded the blows, till rescued by the wo on stupefied After he escaped into the bush I assembled our people, and said, ”If you do not now try to stop this bad conduct, I shall leave Aniwa, and go to so at daybreak, about one hundred men arrived at my house, and in answer toto that village where the ether We will find out why they sought your life, and ill rebuke their Sacred Man for pretending to cause hurricanes and diseases We cannot go unaro alone We are your friends and the friends of the Worshi+p And we are resolved to stand by you, and you reat perplexity, yet believing that ht prevent bloodshed, I allowed myself to be placed at their head The old Chief followed next, then a nu the narrow path At a sudden turn, as we neared their village, Nourai, who had attackedwith theirmen made a rush in front, and they disappeared into the bush
We took possession of the Village Public Ground; and the Chief, the Sacred Man, and others soon assembled A most characteristic Native Palaver followed Speeches, endless speeches, were fired by them at each other My friends declared, in every conceivable forraphic illustration, that they were resolved at any cost to defend me and the Worshi+p of Jehovah, and that they would as one man punish every attempt to injure me or take my life The orator, Taia, exclaimed, ”You think that Missi is here alone, and that you can do with hiht for him and his rather than see him injured Every one that attacks hieneral scolding, the Sacred Man had special attention for pretending to cause hurricanes One pointed out that he had hiued, ”If he can make a hurricane, why can't he restore the joint of his own knee? It is surely easier to do the one than the other!”
The Natives laughed heartily, and taunted hi down to the earth in sullen silence; and a ludicrous episode ensued His wife, a big, strong woht thery, she seized a huge cocoanut leaf out of the bush, and with the butt end thereof began thrashi+ng his shoulders vigorously as she poured out the vials of her wrath in torrents of words, alinding up with the cry, ”I'll knock the Tevil out of hiain!”
The woman was a Malay, as all the Aniere Had a Papuan wo, she would have been killed on the spot But even on Aniwa, the unwonted spectacle of a wife beating her husband created uproarious a, ”You had better stop now! You don't want to kill him, do you? You seem to have knocked 'the Tevil' pretty well out of him now! You see how he receives it all in silence, and repents of all his bad talk and bad conduct”
They exacted fro of no more diseases or hurricanes, and that he would live at peace with his neighbors The offending villagers at length presented a large quantity of sugar-cane and food to us as a peace-offering; and we returned, praising God that the whole day's scolding had ended in talk, not blood
The result was every way e Our ene heavier every day on the side of Jesus; and our souls blessed the Lord
CHAPTER LXXII
THE CONVERSION OF YOUWILI
THESE events suggest to me another incident of those days, full at once of trial and of joy It pertains to the story of our young Chief Youwili Fro, he wasthat for several days no Natives had come near the Mission House, I asked the old Chief if he knehy, and he answered, ”Youwili has _tabooed_ the paths, and threatens death to any one who breaks through it”