MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

Waiapu Church Times, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 August 1907, Page 11

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

(By Rev. G. E. FOX.)

Melanesian Mission;

By the April steamer we said good-bye to Mr Howard, who is returning, to England. . The . state of his health made it impossible for him to continue his work m the Islands. We were very sorry to say good-bye, but the 'best of friends must sometimes part. He was very much missed by the boys whose affections be had won completely and a cricket blazer he had bequested to one of his Melanesian clams was worn m turns by the principal mourners. He took a keen interest m the history ol the Melaneeians, especially the Solomon Islanders, their manners, customs, and folklore, and their curious way of looking at things and we can ill afford to lose such men from our staff. May Ist, the opening of the shooting season, was, us usual, a whole holiday, and a party from the staff perambulated the mission property firing ' vigorously (some seventy shots, it, is said), and returning with one pheasant, two pigeons and a parrot. The usual meeting was held m the Big Hall to elect a captain for the football season. The election is by ballot and is entered into with great zeal by all the boys. A timehonored joke is always perpetrated' by two or three wits, who write down the name of the smallest boy m the school, a joke which never fails to cause great amusement. This time it was a little Santa Cruzian, not much biffffer than a good-sized football, and it was thought such a capital joke that when the committee came to be elected the small Santa Cruzian had ouite a number of followers. A small Guadalcanar boy told a white friend of his that until lately he had always supposed the Holy Land to be a land midway 'between earth and heaven where all the " holy acts " were done and the " holy people " lived from time to time. He never grasped the fact that it was a real country you could sail to. Chatting with the boys as one works with them m the fields, one bears all sorts of yarns from the Islands. One of the boys from Mala was telling us the other day about the first piece of soap that reached his part of the world. The proud possessor supposed it to be a large kind of seed and planted it with care, and a good heavy rain fell to water it. He waited patiently some time for. the soap tree to appear, but at last determined (like many a young gardener) to dig up his seed and see how it was getting on. One canimagine his disappointment.

When the first umbrella reached these parts there was great exaltation. One day the owner, who- had left the umbrella- in his hut, was asked by a friend for the loan of it. Consent was given and * the Mend proceeded to the hut, but here a difficulty confronted him ; the umbrella was 'open and would not go through the narrow door. Nothing daunted, the friend removed part of the thatched roof and went off with the umbrella. But the problem puzzled him and he proceeded to the owner telling him how he had broken through the roof. The owner's remarks may be guessed at.