Mary Slessor — Mother of all Peoples

Early Life
Working Life
Illness and Death
Books and Letters
Letters and Articles
Source Material

‘Mother of All the Peoples’

Wishart Arch

Mary Slessor was born on 2^nd December 1848 in Gilcomston, a suburb of Aberdeen, the second of seven children, only four of whom survived childhood. Her father, Robert Slessor, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker to trade. Her mother, from Oldmeldrum, was a deeply religious woman of sweet disposition, who had a keen interest in missionary work in the Calabar region of Nigeria.

In 1859, the family moved to Dundee in search of work. Mrs. Slessor became a member of the Wishart Church, named after the nearby Wishart Arch from which Protestant martyr George Wishart had reputedly preached to plague victims during the epidemic of 1544.

Baxter Brother’s Mill

Mary's father became an alcoholic and was unable to continue his shoemaking work. He finally took a job as a mill labourer. Mrs. Slessor was determined to see her children properly educated, and the young Mary not only attended Church but, at the age of eleven, began work as a “half timer” in the Baxter Brothers' Mill. Mary spent half of her arduous day at a school provided by the mill owners, and the other half in productive employment for the company. Thus began a harsh introduction to the work ethic which was to dominate her life.

By the age of fourteen, Mary had become a skilled jute worker. The life of a weaver, no longer with the benefit of company schooling, was daunting by modern standards. Up before 5 a.m. to do the housework, Mary worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with just an hour for breakfast and lunch. The photograph of a Dundee millgirl is not contemporary, but depicts a working life in which little had changed during the intervening years.

Wishart Church

Mill Girl in Dundee

Fortunately, Mary had benefited significantly from her rudimentary education. More importantly, she developed an intense interest in religion and, when a mission was instituted in Quarry Pend (close by the Wishart Church), Mary volunteered to become a teacher. Later, the mission moved to Wishart Pend, where the Church still stands, and so began a formative period in Mary's life during which she learned to cope with both physical and mental hardship.

The story is told of how she stood her ground against a local gang, who swung a metal weight on a string closer and closer to her face. This stalwart young woman defied the gang by obtaining their agreement that, should she not flinch, then all her tormentors would join the Sunday School class. Mary triumphed, and gained experience which she would later exploit in her contacts with even more threatening tribes in a distant land.

Mary Slessor’s house in Calabar

Working Life

Strangely, although entranced by the accounts of work in Nigeria outlined in the "Missionary Record", this courageous woman doubted her own ability to perform similar deeds, describing herself as "wee and thin and not very strong". Eventually, however, she applied to the Foreign Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church, effectively offering her life to the people of the Calabar region.

After a brief period of training in Edinburgh, Mary set sail in the S.S. Ethiopia on 5^th August 1876, and arrived at her destination in West Africa just over a month later. She was 28 years of age, red haired with bright blue eyes shining in enthusiasm for the daunting task ahead. Some of the old hands in Calabar might have been excused for questioning whether she would last her first full year.

Mary Slessor with her children

Portuguese mariners first visited the present day Nigeria in the 15^th century to pursue trade with the kingdom of Benin, which straddled the land between Lagos and the Niger delta. By the year 1811, Wilberforce's great anti-slavery reforms started to take effect, and so the slave trade, which had disrupted society and government, finally began to crumble.

In 1861, Britain seized Lagos in order to preserve her trading interests, the first of a series of colonial initiatives which led to the establishment of the Nigerian Protectorate in 1914. When Mary Slessor arrived, she was to witness one of the most turbulent periods in the history of this process.

Mary Slessor group photograph

The culture and customs of her new flock are well described in Charles Partridge's book, "Cross River Natives". Witchcraft and superstition were prevalent in a country whose traditional society had been torn apart by the slave trade. Human sacrifice routinely followed the death of a village dignitary, and the ritual murder of twins was viewed by the new missionary with particular abhorrence. Her dedicated efforts to forestall this irrational superstition were to prove a resounding success, as photographs of Mary with her beloved children testify.

In this primitive society, women were treated as lower than cattle, and Mary was so successful in raising their standing in society that she may be considered as one of the pioneers of women's rights in Africa. She also became fluent in the Efik language, so that she might use humour and sarcasm to reinforce her arguments. Her voice was recorded by Charles Partridge on his phonograph, and you can hear an extract of Mary Slessor speaking Efik below. Unlike most missionaries, she lived in native style and became thoroughly conversant with the language, the culture and customs, and the day-to-day lives of those she served so well.

Recording of Mary Slessor speaking Efik

Unfortunately it was dangers other than those from aggressive natives and wild animals that faced missionaries from a relatively healthy Western European environment. It was not until 1902 that Sir Ronald Ross was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the Anopheles mosquito and its role as a host for the deadly malarial parasite. This knowledge was too late for Mary Slessor and her colleagues. Like lambs to the slaughter, they came to a country with its river mists and overpowering heat, where diseases and infections were legion, and they succumbed in their hundreds to the very fevers from which the modern traveller is mercifully spared. Their average life expectancy was just a few years, and those who survived and returned home often endured recurring fevers and ill-health for the rest of their lives. In letters reproduced here, Mary bravely makes light of her experiences, but the horrors of forty years of debilitating suffering may be clearly discerned through the surface humour and stoicism. In the early years of the 20th century, some remedies and precautions were becoming available, and Mary provided vaccination against the dreaded smallpox, and set up mission hospitals for treating illnesses and injuries suffered by the native peoples.

Mary's dedicated work with the people and her almost total integration with them culminated in an official request by the Governor that she combine her missionary activities with an administrative position as a Member of the Itu Court. Her letters to Charles Partridge chronicle this period of colonial expansion. Roads were being driven into the interior, and military expeditions were starting to make use of motor vehicles. Untold dangers faced all those involved in these hazardous enterprises, and Mary Slessor, though ever keen to discount her own perilous situation, retained a pragmatic attitude to the dangers facing lesser mortals. In one letter she urges that the expedition should include a "Maxim" [machine gun].

She was constantly urging the Foreign Mission Board in Edinburgh to finance extensions of her work in the interior. The trading markets which she had enthusiastically encouraged attracted people from far afield, and her attempts to reach out to them were the natural consequences of these contacts. Gradually the money was forthcoming and, as new missionaries took over responsibility for the posts vacated by Mary, she was able to move ever further into the heartland. Her courage in braving the hostility provoked by these incursions is legendary.

Mary Slessor effigy
Akpap Okoyong, Nigeria

Illness and Death

Mary’s life between 1906 and 1912, was a struggle between ill-health, and her most strenuous duties – court sittings, teaching and preaching, palavers with native visitors. Once, after ten hours in court, she returned home to find fifty visitors waiting for advice and it took her till midnight 'to straighten out their troubles.'

When she became thoroughly ill, she consented to travel to the Canary Islands, and rest there as she could not rest where she was known. On her return, wonderfully restored, the doctor's report of her was: 'Good for many years—with care.' With the best possible will to take care of herself, however, old habits of entire selflessness could not be broken through.

She went on with most of her ordinary work—except that of the court, which she gave up—she visited the centre at Akpap, meeting crowds of her old friends of Okoyong—some of her rescued babies grown into healthy, happy young people—and she conducted a religious service with a congregation of four hundred.

For two more years she wrestled on and on, meeting the same old difficulties in her own original ways, still travelling up and down the rivers, still keeping a little home where her native 'children' were cared for—and then came a last shattering blow— the Great War of 1914.

Mary Slessor’s burial cairn

It was August—strange awful days in Europe, the first week after the Declaration of War—but it was not till August 13th that the news reached the Calabar Mission Field. It was the neighbourhood of the German territory of the Cameroons that brought fear to the European settlers there; fear for their settlements and work rather than for themselves. Miss Slessor's health suffered greatly from the strain of anxiety but her fighting spirit rose, 'Oh! if I were 30 years younger, and a man', she cried.

The recurring illnesses and general hardships which she faced as a matter of course all took their toll on this redoubtable woman. By 1915, her physical strength had greatly declined, and the woman who had once thought nothing of all-night treks through the rain forest was finally reduced to travelling in a hand-cart propelled by one of her assistants. On the 13^th January 1915, after an excruciating and prolonged bout of fever, Mary Slessor died aged 67. Five of her native girls were with her, and the mission workers nursed her by turns. She suffered intensely from thirst and utter weakness: 'O God, release me', she was heard to say. On January 12th her strength was swiftly ebbing, her breathing difficult; the end came gently in the very early dawn. In his biography of 1980, James Buchan described her as the "Expendable Mary Slessor". Expendable she may have been, but few have given so much of themselves to so many, and under such appalling conditions.

Mary Slessor burial sign

The grave of Mary Slessor, marked by an imposing cross of Scottish granite, is in the heart of the country she served so well. She was accorded a state funeral and, in 1953, the new head of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II, made her own pilgrimage to the graveside. Mary Slessor is still remembered in Dundee, as in her adopted homeland, and there is a growing world-wide interest in her work. The finest tribute was from those of her own who knew her best. To them she was "Mother of All The Peoples" or, more simply, "Ma".

There seems no need to try to sum up the results of her work; as we read of it we feel indeed that the best part of it could not be described or expressed in any way. Her amazingly wide and deep influence was revealed to some extent after her death by the mass of letters she had received. It seems as though none came into contact with her without a deep impression of her simple, joyous, loving humanity. She is a beautiful example of the beautiful saying, 'To have love is to work miracles.'

Celebrating Mary’s Life and Work

Stained Glass Window in
McManus Galleries

In 1923 a stained glass window was dedicated to Mary’s memory. This now resides in Dundee’s McManus Galleries. There is a also a stained glass window dedicated to Mary in All Saints Church, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. A photograph of the window is viewable on Flickr.

The current series of banknotes issued by the Clydesdale Bank features a different design for each denomination, each depicting a notable person from Scottish history.

The £10 features an illustration of Slessor's work in Calabar (Nigeria) including a map of the area and a lithographic vignette depicting her work with children.

The Mary Slessor Foundation aims to continue the work of Mary Slessor, albeit in modern form.

Books and Letters

The collection of Books and Letters and Slessor Source Material in Dundee Central Library's Local History Centre and the collection of letters and articles in the City Archives may be viewed during the normal opening hours of the Department. 24 hours notice is required, and readers must satisfy regulations governing conservation and security of these materials.

Suitable evidence of identity is required, and Dundee City Council reserves the right to refuse access to the materials, or to provide surrogates. Other letters and personalia concerning Mary Slessor, as well as a permanent display, can be seen at the Leisure & Arts Department, McManus Galleries, Albert Square, Dundee DD1 1DA.

Transcripts of the letters were prepared and edited by Leslie A. Mackenzie and Ruth E. Riding. Dundee City Council gratefully acknowledges the substantial contribution made by these volunteers.

Books

Bunyan, John

Ilo-siwaju ero-mimo lati aiye yi si eyi ti mbo ni ifiwe ala. (Pilgrim’s Progress). Egbe Church Missionary, 1911 [4]124pp, illus.

Note on flyleaf reads: “Charles Partridge/IKOT-EKPENE/ Given to Dundee/ in memory of/ Mary Slessor./C.P./ 23 Aug. 1950”.

Bunyan, John

Mbuk asana usun hevn. Obuk nte enye otode ke ererimbot emi asana aka hevn. Alexander Robb akabare ewet ke iko efik (translator?) Edinburgh: Messrs. Muir ye Paterson Efik, 1868 vii,207pp

Note on flyleaf reads: “Charles Partridge IKOT-EKPENE given to Dundee in memory of Mary Slessor. C.P. 23 Aug. 1950”.

Frazer, J. G. (later Sir James Frazer)

Questions on the manners, customs, religion, superstitions, &c., of uncivilized or semi-civilized peoples. answers to all or any of the following questions will be gratefully received by… n.d.

…J. G. Frazer, M.A., F.R.G.S., Trinity College, Cambridge, England. a stapled pamphlet comprising a t.p. and 16 p., with 1 unnumbered p., setting out numbered queries arranged according to theme, from “tribes” to “miscellaneous”. Pencilled “C. Partridge” at head of title page.

Goldie, Rev. Hugh

Dictionary of the Efik language in two parts. i. – Efik and English ii. – English and Efik. Edinburgh: United Presbyterian College Buildings, n.d.

Note on flyleaf [now loose] reads: 1) “C. Partridge 12 Feb. 1905” 2) “given to Dundee in memory of Mary Slessor c.p. 23 Aug 1950” . Both notes are in Charles Partridge’s handwriting – the former note in relatively faded ink. other loose inserts: 1) Letter dated 10^th july 1905 from Training Institute, Calabar, Southern Nigeria, signed by E. Mclachlan, Book Depot, accompanying delivery of books “Ikpat Ke Ikpat” and “Pilgrim’s Progress”; 2) Letter from Legion of Frontiersmen to Charles Partridge acknowledging receipt of subscription and commending Mr. Fred. Butt c/o Niger co. Ltd. this reads “ ; 3) “Questions on the manners…of …peoples” by J.G. Frazer (Sir James Frazer), catalogued elsewhere, signed “C.Partridge”. This is a list of questions drawn up by J.G. Frazer and addressed to people in contact with “Uncivilized or semi- civilized peoples”.

Ikpat ke ikpat me akpa nwed ndito-owon. akpa ubak. (“Step by step, first book for young children”). Old Calabar: United Free Church Mission Press Training Institution, 1904 32pp

Title page signed by Charles Partridge.
Conserved by Dunn and Wilson, 1962.

Mclachlan, E.

Letter 10^th February 1905

This letter was found in the “Dictionary of the Efik Language” donated by Charles Partridge in memory of Mary Slessor. It is therefore assumed that originally it had been sent to Charles Partridge at the time he was beginning to study the Efik language. it is included here as part of the history of the small book collection which he donated.

Training Institute,
Calabar,
Southern Nigeria

10^th feby. 1905

Dear Sir,

I send herewith books, etc. as requested. The Ikpat ke Ikpat & Pilgrim’s Progress are the first books used by beginners for reading, so have sent them.
Sorry we have no Grammers.

I am
Yours Sincerely
E. Mclachlan,
Book Depot

Obufa Testament. Abon ye andinyana nyin Jisus Krist, ke ika efik. [The New Testament in Efik] [4]403pages National Bible Society of Scotland, 1904.

Formerly property of Mary Slessor. Notes on flyleaf read: 1) “m m slessor Ikot Obon” (Slessor’s hand). 2) “C Partridge Esq Ikot Okpene* 1906” (in faded ink). 3) “[1906] (these square parentheses actually written, not biblio-graphic notation) Given to Dundee in memory of Mary Slessor. C.P. 23 Aug. 1950”.
Title page signed M M Slessor

The Letters to Charles Partridge

The letters reproduced here were donated by Charles Partridge Esq. of Stowmarket, Suffolk. Mr. Partridge was by profession a colonial administrator and sometime district commissioner of the area where Mary Slessor pursued her religious and civil calling.

Charles Partridge's letter of 1950 to Dundee's Chief Librarian (see below) bears remarkable testimony to the close friendship which had developed between himself and Miss Slessor. In the last paragraph, Partridge laments the loss of his colleague, friend and confidante, who had died 35 years previously.

Letter from Mr Charles Partridge to the City of Dundee

Stowmarket, Suffolk

24^th August 1950

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your letters of 14^th and 21^st August, and for this copy of The Review which at page 16 tells of the “Mary Slessor Memorial Window” and gives a full-page picture of it.

By registered post, I send for the acceptance of the City of Dundee 81 letters and postcards written to me by Miss Slessor 1905–1914, arranged in chronological order. Some I received during my “leaves” from Nigeria, and some were written during her leaves in Scotland. A few of them may have been addressed to my father – Charles Partridge senior of Stowmarket. All are sent “without prejudice”, as lawyers say. Matters which were then of a confidential nature are, presumably, no longer so.

It has occurred to me that, at some future date, some Society or person interested in Miss Slessor may like to publish these letters. If so, I should like to know of it, and to receive copies of such publication. Moreover, I could lend many photographs of the IKOT-EKPENE District. Should I then be dead, communication should be made to my kinsman and executor: Everett Partridge, West Sampsons Hall, Kersey, Hadleigh, Suffolk.

By ordinary parcels’ post, I send the four books specified in my first letter.

During my long life, I have had intercourse with many distinguished people, chiefly men. Of the women, I place first Mary Slessor, whom you call “the White Queen of Okoyong!” She was a very remarkable woman. I look back on her friendship with reverence – one of the greatest honours that have befallen me – and I had and still have a superstitious feeling that she has been and still is one of my Guardian Angels. (I have been twice seized by cannibals, thrice shipwrecked, etc., etc.!) This belief exists in spite of my being agnostic (non-knower) and non-religious, though, as we all are, thoroughly imbued with the ethics of Christianity. Excepting Miss Slessor, I thoroughly disapprove of all missionaries!

Should these additions to the archives of the City of Dundee be mentioned in any report or in any local newspaper, please be so kind as to send me a copy.

Later on, when I can find the box put away in the lumber-room, I will also send to Dundee the phonographic records of her voice.

Just now I have read Miss Slessors last letter to me, dated 24^th Dec. 1914, written three weeks before her death. I dare not read any other letter – it hurts!

Yours Sincerely

Charles Partridge

Charles Partridge died in 1955 and is still fondly remembered, particularly in his home county of Suffolk. Robert Partridge of West Sampson’s Hall has kindly lent his approval to the publication of these letters on the Internet.

Dundee City Council has waived copyright in respect of this edition of the letters, and associated text. Their reproduction in this format is intended to further the world-wide study and appreciation of Miss Slessor’s life and work. Researchers are, however, respectfully requested to acknowledge their provenance in the following terms:

“Dundee Central Library, Mary Slessor Collection”

The Letters

Transcriber’s Notes

We thought that a few comments would be useful on the difficulties faced, and decisions made, in transcribing Miss Slessor’s letters to Charles Partridge (and also a few to his parents).

These letters were written over the period from January 1905 (soon after Mr. Partridge had taken the new post of District Commissioner in Ikot Okpene, in the territory of the Ibibio people) to 24^th December 1914. In fact, the last letter was written less than three weeks before Miss Slessor’s death, and was received by Mr. Partridge after this sad event. Thus they cover the last ten years of her life.

Mary Slessor’s letters are immensely readable – her thoughts rush on to the paper as freely as in conversation. They are also surprisingly legible, given the difficult situations in which Mary was writing. It is obvious that she loved communication, particularly with her friends. She had frequently to overcome tiredness, even exhaustion, lack of time, severe ill-health and interruptions by children or visitors. It is, therefore, not surprising that there are areas of difficulty, with some letters proving more difficult to read than others.

The main difficulties for the transcriber are outlined below:

I) Word contractions: Mary used certain contractions as a matter of course. These include & [and]; wd. [would]; shd. [should]; cd. [could] etc. Such contractions are, we hope, universally understood, and have been transcribed exactly as written. Less familiar contractions, such as str. [steamer], CM [Court Messenger] etc., are explained in the footnotes.

II) Punctuation: It is frequently impossible to differentiate between a full stop and a comma, and it is possible that some of the marks were actually places where she had rested her pen while deciding on her next few words. The transcribers have tried to follow Mary's punctuation, but have used their discretion where it made sense to do so. Moreover, her contractions frequently omit the apostrophe and full stop. Capital letters have been reproduced according to Mary's usage.

III) Spelling: Mary’s spelling was generally very good, but some spelling mistakes are to be found. Usually the mis-spelt words can be clearly understood, and so have been left as written. Where there is room for doubt, the transcribers have tried to correct this in the footnotes.

IV) Underlining: Mary uses underlining to stress certain words or phrases. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to show this directly in the transcriptions, due to software limitations. Words underlined are enclosed by asterisks – thus, *very*. Double or occasionally treble underlinings are indicated by the same number of asterisks: thus **very**, or ***very***, which help the word or words to stand out as intended. More rarely, Mary uses capital letters or large lower case letters to indicate important words. These are both shown as capitals in the transcripts.

V) African words: Mary’s letters are full of references to the people and places of Calabar, and these have proved a great problem. Where her writing is not so clear, it is relatively easy to arrive at the correct English word but sometimes it has been very difficult even to guess at an African word. In particular, the capitals U and N can be indistinguishable from one another. The Efik alphabet uses English characters but often with diacritical marks (ignored in these transcriptions), which Mary uses from time to time. Charles Partridge’s copy of the “Dictionary of the Efik Language” has been consulted but, without knowledge of Efik grammar, is of limited value. It is hoped, however, that an Efik speaker will be found to help in this.

VI) Envelopes: Many envelopes still accompany their letters and, where they do, both address and postal information have been included, as it is felt that these give additional information and atmosphere.

VII Footnotes: Explanatory footnotes are appended to each letter to deal with unfamiliar concepts or words within that letter. This makes the letter as “self-contained” as possible, albeit at the cost of repetition of some footnotes from letter to letter. This scheme was considered to be more convenient to the reader than a separate collection of explanatory notes for all letters.

Ruth E. Riding and Leslie A. Mackenzie: November 1998

Letters 1–9

Letter No. 1

6^th January 1905

To her great delight Miss Slessor has just received a huge Christmas Pudding from Mr Partridge, and is promptly writing to give profuse thanks and appreciation. He is asked to let her know should he need anything that she might have, as she thinks of him as a neighbour. It appears he is to go to work among the Ibibio People, and Miss Slessor takes this opportunity of giving him some good advice and encouragement.

[The letter is written on paper headed “Okoyon, Old Calabar” with Okoyon deleted]

Itu
Old Calabar
6^th Jany 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

I can’t help it! I *must* write a “Thank You” for such a lovely Huge Pudding! I’m only afraid I shant get a chance to send part of it to the dear Sister at Okoyon & the bairns. We had nothing at all to differentiate last Xmas from other days, except that 5 days seat among the flies & dirt at Ikoneto Beach, and this will be such a treat. It is simply lovely! Surely it is a Home Made one Eh? & what about the basin? Am I to keep that too? for such a basin is in itself a big thing here.

I had a good shake of fever the night you left me. I had scubbed all the morning, having the rain water, & that was the price! So I refused to let the Children boil the Pudding till yesterday morning, & we had it for breakfast, tea, & dinner, & again to breakfast this morning. A Plum Pudding is my weakness, & it was always on the table on my birthdays [when I had a home & birthdays] which is in the far past now. All I want to make it perfect, is someone to share it with, who *UNDERSTANDS*.

This is not leap year is it? & I’m over 50 years old!! & probably you have a wife, so theres no manner of shadow of my being immodest. Eh? Well, I can keep a pudding for a week at least in good condition, so I don’t despair of getting a bit down to Okoyon before that.

Many many thanks! & for your visits as well, & I trust you will use the freedom of saying, or sending at any time, if you are out of any thing, or are in need of any thing I can get. I wd do the same to you as my neighbour, & I keep most of my stores here, so tho’ you would not think it, I have almost anything for ordinary use beside me.

I do trust you will enjoy your work among the Ibibios. If you can discriminate between fear & stubbornness, you have won half the battle. Lord Roseberry said the other day in regard to the [*Baltic*?] Fleet incident, – “If we oftener tried to put ourselves into the place of those who oppose us”, etc.etc.etc. If you try to put yourself into these ignorant, besotted, cowardly Ibibios shoes, You will see how much more likely they are to *fear* you than to give themselves over at once. Have patience. They are deceitful as a race, but I have many true & intelligent friends among them every where, *&* *so* *shall* *you*! *Trust* *them*, *&* *have* *patience*. May the wisdom & tact needed be abundantly given you. With thanks, & perhaps I may look you up some day, I am Yours very sincerely M M Slessor

“I dont know” said the Resident slowly. “We have sown a few lives like his up & down the Empire. They bring us a better harvest than Maxim bullets [Note 1], in the long run”, from a soldiers story I was reading last night. I’m sure your life & work will be like that, & I have *not* *a* *shadow* *of a fear*, but that you will be safe & successful.

MMS

Editorial Notes:

Maxim-gun – the first fully automatic water-cooled machine gun, designed in 1884 by Hiram Maxim.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 2

17^th January 1905

Miss Slessor explains the reasons for passing on a problem that has arisen in the case of people from Ibiaku Itam who in the past had been badly treated by the Calabar people and were now worried over a decision by the Administration to establish one Court to give justice to the people of both areas. Mary suggests a solution to this, and expresses a desire to assist in the consolidation of British Rule by going to live among the people while acknowledging that this is not feasible at the present time.

[Envelope is addressed to:]
– Partridge Esqr
Ikot Okpene
Ibibio

[No postmark – presumably delivered by hand]

Itu
Old Calabar
17^th Jany ’05

Dear Mr Partridge

Here I am already meddling with your affairs. Twenty free men & chiefs came here on Sunday from Ibiaku Itam. I met them, with the Itu Chief yesterday, & gave a hearing, & sympathy, & etc, to their story, & as the result, I found that the nearest way to help them was to send them to you, & ask you to take them under your wing & give them any guidance & help you think best.

Their story is briefly this. From five years or so ago, Calabar & Creek Town Section, sent & asked them to make market with them. After long parleying, in which all the work & clearing & etc. was to be done by the Ibibios several of them agreed, & opened trade. Very many feared Calabar, & were not willing to go with their produce, but some did – notably the man Udo Nsook. Things went on with palavers [Note 1] manifold, till the Aro Expedition set out, when Calabar called them to meet with the White Man – Major Sampson I’m sure, for he left my house in Creek Town then, to go to them. – Palavers which went the length of killing happened. Calabar were the Judges & the Rulers in every thing. However, all these were passed by & finished, & they are forgotten & no mention is to be made of them any more. But another section of Ibibio (I think across the Creek from them) from Ibiaku [Nduan?], made friends with Calabar, & told tales about them to the White Man, & they would not let them tell the White Man their story, with the result that the White Man fired their town & killed a number of people, notably their Head Chief, & took his body, & buried it instead of giving it to them for burial rites, so that they have no strength any more now without their head, to cope with any enemy. But this is also past, & they made no palaver, nor do they wish to hold any resentment in their hearts toward any one for any thing past. What brought them here, is that the other day, when the White Man came back, they too said “let bygones be bygones,” but they proposed *that* *they* *& those Ibibios* *who made friends with Calabar*, *& told lies*, *or tales on them,* *so* *that* *at* *their* *word* *their* *chief* *got* *his* *death*, **are** **to** **be** **in** **one** **Court**, & that, **till** the White Man, whom they promised should come & *live* at Ikpa or in their district came, they were at the mercy of those their enemies, & their enemies’ friends – the Calabar.

So, in order to meet their case, *if* *it* *commend itself to you*, could you not meet with Mr Maxwell & in order & gain the confidence & obedience of those people, & to make them our allies instead of our enemies, try to put it thus. If you cannot have separate Courts –––– of course that cd. only be till the arrival of the White Man ––– *give* *the* *two* *sections* **strong** *Mbiam* [Note 2], “that if the one side, went with deceit, & told lies on the other, to the White Man, or to Calabar Judges, let Mbiam treat with them,” etc. etc. “If one side or the other knew, or sent, or in any way sought the hurt of the other, or revenge for past palavers,” etc. etc.“let Mbiam judge between them” etc.etc. And then warn Ete Eka, & Makara Obon, or any other Efik Judge, that no favour is to be shown to either side because of past doings. That would let them know that a surveillance will be kept on their dealings. What do you think? It is the Conciliation of the peoples in a right & just way, which is my *only* motive, as you know, & by a patient hearing you will *win* them. After you hear, be as just as you like, & as severe, only *shew* *them* *the* *reason* *patiently*, & you have got the shortest cut to your destination.

I have heard from Mr Maxwell surely enough & strongly enough, that, that very Ibiaku Itam is the place he should choose in Ibibio for my farming project. If I could help towards a consolidation of British rule by living & mixing among them, I should like to try, but I dont see the way yet, & the boats go there from the Calabar side, not from this. Hence I may not get there till I have been at Aro Chuku. How I should like to go with these men to see you, & see your people & Country, but I darent, I dont feel fit for the long walk, & I have an engagement up the Creek on Thursday first.

I trust you are fit & liking your work. All success be with you in your undertaking.

With kindest regards I am

Yours sincerely

Mary M. Slessor

These men say they never had palaver with the White Man. They gave up their guns & they will hail the White Man’s coming to them, so that they may have peace & safety & justice. It is the Calabar they fear.

MMS

I had no fewer than 4 white visitors yest. in the morning & one in the afternoon. Quite gay Eh?

MMS

Editorial Notes:

palavers = this word seems to have a variety of meanings including talks, discussions, even Court Cases etc
Mbiam was “the liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely.” It can also mean “The oath so taken, & hence sometimes applied to any solemn oath”. from the “Dictionary of the Efik Language” by the Rev. Hugh Goldie.

a) “The liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely.”

b) Mbiam can also mean “the oath so taken: and hence sometimes applied to any solemn oath, whether mbiam has been used or not.” from Charles Partridge’s copy of the Rev Hugh Goldie’s “Dictionary of the Efik language”.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1998

Letter No. 3

23^rd April 1905

Miss Slessor is expecting a visit from Mr Partridge and asks him to avoid the times when she will be involved with church activities.

[Envelope is addressed to:]
C. Partridge Esq
Use
Enyion Creek
[no postmark; presumably delivered by hand]

[Note: across short side reads “Miss Slessor: 23^rd Ap.1905”]

Itu
Cross River
23^rd. April 1905

Dear Mr Partridge,

Had you only come just now, it would have been fine!! We are just from service & have a good bit of an interval, But from 3.30. to 5. o/c it is the service & Sunday School, & they are all on my hand, so I’m reluctantly obliged to say, will not another hour suit you? If I only were at home, I shd. at once say, Here is my chance, & put an extra bite in the pot, & lay an extra plate, & have the privilege of your company for the evening, but here are 3 infants, & a small crowd in my one shanty, & they are usually most musical in the evening, & we get dinner as best we can. Cant you come before the Service? Or would it be too late for your road after 5.o/c? Or are you to be here over tomorrow?

See if you can keep out those hours of service, & choose someone else.

Have you got my letter of belated thanks? If not, let me thank you now, & offer you my warmest congratulations. Trusting you are well, & with best regards

I am yours sincerely

M. M. Slessor

[on scrap of paper attached to letter by 3 stamp hinges]

Thanks very much.

The wind is on, & the boy must run.

MMS

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1998

Letter No. 4

4^th May 1905

Mr Partridge has sent Miss Slessor a copy of his book “The Cross River Natives” and she writes to congratulate him on an excellent piece of work. She commends his modesty and industry, and goes on to praise his fairness in describing every thing and person in the Protectorate, while wishing he had included descriptions of the beauties etc of nature. In closing she expresses her pride as well as gratitude in the gift.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C. Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene
Old Calabar

[Stamp torn off. However, Mr Partridge’s filing note reads “posted 4^th May 1905” and also “8^th May”]

Amasu

[Posted 4^th May 1905]

Dear Mr Partridge

What a fraud you are!! Here is you with a record like this of observation & research; & half the letters of the alphabet running after your name & you speaking as if you were the merest beginner, & the most common place of mortals in the protectorate!! Well, it is better to hear “Friend go up Higher” any day, than to begin to take the lowest room. I dont know whether to praise most your modesty or your industry. Fancy having a piece of work like this over & above doing a D Cs [Note 1] work! – & in a new District too. You have been so thorough too. It is not slip shod work, & it is so fair, without being fulsome, to every thing & person in the Protectorate. The natives have seldom had an interpreter so absolutely truthful, & free from prejudice.

It is so seldom that one sees anything from this Coast that is not embroidered. Your narrative from beginning to end is faithful to the life, minus the imagination which even the D.Cs love to weave around their yarns, and tell on the spot. I wish you had let your self go a little though in regard to nature, in vegetation etc.. Colouring, and the mystery, or mysticism or whatever you wd. call it, of the forest. I am sure you have had times when the bush with its myriad voices has called you, & you have not felt her monotonous, and tiresome. The spell of it is very strong on me sometimes, then there are the sunrises & sunsets, the face of the river & etc! Waiting you to give them voice for some of us in the next volume, when it will not only be the Govt. official, but the artist working.

Here is a new baby!!!! “Up like a rocket and down like a stick!

Duke Town 12^th April 1905

I had begun at Itu, then destroyed that & began again at Aro Chuku, here is the next installment in Calabar, to which I have come on account of Presbytery. I do not know what I had in mind to say here, but I see I have not yet thanked you for your very kind remembrance of me in sending me a copy of your book. I assure you I feel quite proud as well as grateful for this mark of your esteem, & I trust I shall be able to justify your good opinion of me thus so practically shewn. It is such a pleasure to meet a man who cares for more than the small talk & the inanities of conventional life out here, & specially to find one in sympathy with his surroundings, & I trust you will give me the pleasure of doing any thing I can do at any time to serve you. I seldom get any thing written without interruption, & at night when I cd. do it, there is no accomodation for any thing in our crowded domicile except to lie down & read in bed. However if I can get time to answer – or to *try* to answer your questions in a former letter, I shall do so. Meanwhile with many thanks & great appreciation I am, with all kind regards & congratulations

Yours most sincerely

Mary M. Slessor

Editorial Note:

D.C. = District Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1998

Letter No. 5

11^th May 1905

Miss Slessor writes informing Mr. Partridge of a “palaver“ or Court Case involving a witch doctor from Ibibio, a policeman, and a sick woman. A test by using a poison bean was involved. Miss Slessor had forbidden the policeman to take further action in the case unless he first obtained a warrant, from Mr Partridge, to arrest the witch doctor.

[Nrua?] Edik

Enyon Creek

11^th May 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

I ran over for an hour this morning, & have picked up a palaver. A witch doctor from Ibibio, called Nmo, was consulted by a woman here named Iquo as to what was making her sick. The Dr Nmo said, “nothing is doing you, but one woman, a fair woman mbufo – among you is making you ill, she has put medicine in your food.“ I said, “What shd. she do that for? I never had a palaver with her.” He said “If you do not take care, she will kill you”. “So I came home & told my husband, who is husband to us both, & he began on her, & she began on me, & so I was so vexed, I was to eat the Poison Bean [Note 1] & *prove* that I did not ask about the woman. I put my rods [Note 2] down & asked him what ailed me, & if he cd. give me medicine, & he answered “me so”.

So the policeman came with the woman & the bean, & wished to do something, I forbad him saying he wd. have to get a warrant from you to take the witch doctor.

Mr Darby says he has the Bean, & the Woman is his neighbour.

[The following is appended in a different hand]

Dr Sir

The village of Use [Uada?] have not been coming in very well, but have sent John Brown in today.

Yours

C. Darby

Editorial Notes:

Poison Bean – the Calabar Bean, used in a trial by ordeal when testing suspected witches
Rods – brass rods were a medium for barter; local currency

Transcription By: Lesie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 6

n.d. [June 1905?]

A note to Mr. Partridge acknowledging a note from him and telling him of the loss of an earlier note she sent him.

Just going off to service

Dear Mr Partridge

I am glad to have your note, & shall be here as far as I know, as it is the 2 days Court needs me. I’m sorry for you, for I dont know how you can do all this tramping.

I gave your boy a note, but while drinking he has let the wind or the stream take it away. He wd. be having a bath too I daresay. So if another book turns up you will know the reason. There was nothing it the note.

With kindest regards

Yours very sincerely

M. M. Slessor

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 7

18^th June 1905

Miss Slessor writes of the progress of her plans. As Itu is to be taken over by the Church and equipped as a Medical Station, she is now free to pursue her plans to move on. She reports on her researches to establish herself, if he approves, at Ikot Obon or Use.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C. Partridge Esqr.
District Commissioner
Ikot Okpene

Per favour Mr Smith

Itu
Cross River
18^th June 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

It seems like years since I saw you. You came through the town one day, & I ran out to give my Comps. etc, but you had turned the other way down the hill, so I stood rather stupid before the Crowd which were eagerly & noisily discussing the great event. You were no doubt travel stained & tired enough & you have had more bother I hear, & will be tired –E–R still. Well, well! its all in the days work I suppose, & calmer days will soon come.

I have been to Ikot Obon. I have had decided news since I wrote to you, or saw you, that Itu is taken over by our Church, & is to have a proper house & equipment as a medical Station. So I am quite free to turn my thoughts & time to another sphere into which they may enter by & bye. Hence at your recommendation I went to see the new route to Ibibio. Thanks to you the road is in very good order for the wet season, & the Old Man at Ikot Obon gave us a very hearty, indeed, an affectionate welcome. I said very little to them, told them I had long promised to go to Ntit Obio to begin work, but on your advice, & anticipating the developments of Govt. & commerce, I thought your advice was most practical, & meant to take it. They were very pleased, & said they wd. like nothing better than to know Gods words & have “Book” & etc.etc. & they gave me a dash [Note 1]. I told them the Ground & the place altogether was good, & they shewed me their water supply, which is the usual African thing.

So I said, I could not say any thing more definite than that, or tell them any plans till I saw you, as it was at your earnest desire to have them brought out of ignorance & lawlessness that I had thought of them. But when you came, I shd. hear your advice & then wd. come & close with choice of a place.

As to the Ground. [There wasnt a soul at Use. They were either at the farm or the road making,] & before reaching that village there were few places except with deep gulleys on either side, which never presuppose health. The mists rising are most unhealthy, & they breed mosquitoes. But right in the middle of the road to Ikot Obon, 15 minutes from Use, & 15 minutes from Ikot Obon, there is a lovely hill part, which had a good surface of high land, & the slope does not decend to a great depth, then again nearer Use a little, & back from the road on the left going towards the beach, there is a farmed knoll, a fine looking site for a farm school.

These two places impressed themselves on my mind. However there may be many more, or they might not like us to choose. They might want to shew us some places, but of course, all this is subject to what you think, & to where you intend to concentrate the work of your Court. I shd. not like to go far from the Court house, for the children in the wet season, & tho’ I wish to be near enough to keep into close touch with the inhabitants – do not wish a womans School to be right on the highway, or on their fence line. I wd. also try to make this the first of a chain of stations going further in, so that there could by & bye, be rest houses like yours, where a native boy cd stay & carry on small elementary schools. I have promised those Ikot Obon people a small boy, whom they promised to take care of, who shall be a sort of *test* for me, of their appreciation of schools. But I said I shd. see you first, to all of which they willingly agreed. So I shall wait for your coming, or to hear from you where I can meet you in order to developments.

I had a letter from the H.C.s [Note 2] Office asking if I shd. take the Vice Presidentship, & I answered in the affirmative. He also said, “It is proposed to transfer the Court to Ikot Obon,” & the old man tells me the Court house which you spoke to him of at Itu is countermanded so I expect you mean to transfer earlier. Well, all labour here, can be got with greater ease during the wet season, so before it is *too* wet, & the ground soft, I shd begin my building at Ikot Obon, as the Dr will be out in the autumn I expect, to take over Itu. & Mrs Wright only promised to hold Okoyon till next March. & I shd. like to have something definite to shew before then. I trust you are well, & not overtired.

With kindest regards,

I am Yours Sincerely

Mary M. Slessor

Excuse this scrawl. Ive been surrounded by the children at lessons all the time.

MMS

Editorial Notes:

Dash = a gift, tip or gratuity
H.C. = High Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 8

26^th June 1905

An explanatory note to Commissioner Partridge concerning two men she had thought lived under the jurisdiction of the Oyo Court, but in fact they lived in the Itu Court area.

[Addressed to] C Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene

Dear Mr Partridge,

Chief Ekpo Adiaha says that both of these men belong to the Itu Court, therefore they belong to you, & so I ask you to read the enclosed [Note1] which I had written to the D.C. [Note 2] at Oyo, thinking they were residing in his district.

With all excuses for transgressing on your time, I am Yours most faithfully,

M. M. Slessor

Editorial Notes:

“The enclosed note” see Letter No. 9
D.C. = District Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 9

26^th June 1905

A translation by Miss Slessor of a statement concerning a claim made for the return of marriage gifts after a man’s wife had died, written on behalf of the dead wife’s brother acting for his sick father. Addressed originally to the Consul at Oyo, but redirected to Charles Partridge.

[Address on envelope]
C Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene
Ibibio

[Address on letter]
To The Consul at
Oyo
Ibibio.

Itu The Cross River

26^th June 1905

My half sister was given by my father to Ndo Ekandem Esi Ifa to wife, say 10 years ago. She was perhaps over a year with him when she developed the “sleeping sickness”. Her husband not being able to get her cured, sent for us to take her home, & we took her & did all we could to get the sickness done, but could not. We took her to Oku, & when they failed, we took her to Ofot. When they failed, we cd. do no more, we took her home & she stayed there until she died of that sickness.

When she died her sister, with whom she died, sent to tell the husband to “Come & bury your wife, she is dead.” He neither came, nor did he send any thing to put in the grave, so her sister made the funeral.

Then when the white man began to come to our country, Ndo Ekandem began to ask me for his marriage dowry. We cried , Oh ! You come for the marriage portion of a dead woman ?? Did we kill her? or did we take her from you her husband? We never heard that a man came to get the gifts he gave his wife & her parents when she died. Had she died in your house, would you not have cried over her, & helped to bury her, even if she had no children for you? & you come for a dead woman’s Marriage Portion!! However as the dowry he gave was 7 goats, we gave the 7 goats, but told him that his gifts of chop [Note 1]or rum or other things ought not to be mentioned, they insulted our dead kinswoman.

Then he came back just now & said we must give him 3 goats more + 400 rods [Note 2], or 620 rods for his other gifts he gave for his wife. We never heard of giving such things for the dead, & we refused, so he took out a summons & the Police came with Ndo Ekandem & gave me the summons, & chained me & took me to the house of Ita Abasi the Interpreter at Oyo, who did not take my case to the Court, told me told me to go home & bring the 620 rods, or 400 rods & 3 goats, & I have got my palaver [Note 3] put into English at Itu, so that you the white man can hear it, & ask if ever any tribe gave the marriage gifts a husband gave to a dead wife. We never took her home. He sent her away, & we did all we knew for her but she never recovered nor did she ever get her intellectual faculties back, so that she cd go to anyone.

Will you hear and consider this our cry to you our Master, Nyun [Note 4] Oh I beg your pardon – and consider this our cry, for we do not hear what you say. I cannot hear your interpreter speak to you.

I am your humble servant

Ndo Ansa

The son of Ndo Ibok, who is a sick man and cannot therefore act for his late daughter.

A true translation.

M. M. Slessor

[The following is written in a different hand]
Ndaw – Ansa of Itamm – Ebokk or Itamm – Okritamm.

C.O.

1.7.5.

Editorial Notes:

Chop = food
rods = brass rods were a medium for barter; local currency
palaver = this word seems to have a variety of meanings including consultation, discussion, Court Case
Nyun. The Efik Dictionary indicates that this may be a name indicating “one who shifts his abode”

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letters 10–19

Letter No. 10

26^th June 1905

This letter consists of a petition [in English] written on behalf of the complainants concerning ownership of a piece of land. The argument appears to be between the towns of Itu and Use.

[No envelope. Address written on a back fold of the letter to:]
C. Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene
Ibibio

Itu
26^th June 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

Here is a palaver [Note 1] which I hate to write as a white man has already said what is, in his Court at least, the last word. Still as the Chief here reminds me, every body has a right of appeal, & their cry to me is, "Write to Ikot Okpene & ask for us advice. What he advises, we will hear **kop** [Note 2] understand & obey ---. So I shall do it in my own words, in order to let you get the whole story in a short way.

When Mr Russell spoke of building he asked for the owner of the land. Inua, the lad on the cliff, said he represented the owner. His father had owned the land. As he alone cd. not transact business, without consulting other members of the house, he went to one old man who is sick, & while he was away the White Man again asked the labourers, who owned the land? Use men said they owned it, so it was sent to Itu Court. Itu Court heard, & gave them, i.e. the representatives of Itu families who claimed the land against Use. The Mbian oath [Note 3], over & above the oath taken to speak the truth, the whole truth and etc. & they took the oath, & thought the palaver was done. Then came the new ADC [Note 4] from Aro Chuku, & - they say - without asking any old man or hearing the other side, he at once said the land belongs to Use.

Itu got angry over it, & old Ekpo came to me on Sat & asked if I wd. write his version of it in order to give to the White Man, so I wrote his words, which were to this effect. I Chief Ekpo - of Itu beg to tell you the begginnings of this matter. Long ago the people of Itu had a dispute which came to fighting. Three men - whose names were given - left Itu on this account & lived on this piece of land which they bought for 320 rods [Note 5] from the father of [Ekpo Enwe?] of Use. Those men lived there till the matter was softened & medicine & Ifot [Note 6] was all out of mind. When they went back to Itu, or stayed at their farms. Just as they pleased. These men are all dead, but Itu kept possssion of the ground & Itu opened that market, for oil, *not* *Use*. Inua as the son of his father, did not ask any one when he built his house whether he wd. do so, nor did Use, or any one ask him, so if the White Man asked any Chief what their tribes took as witness to ground having been bought or transferred, or set apart, they wd. say an Okono tree was planted, & he - Chief Ekpo - could shew them the Okono which was planted at the *latest* dividing of the ground." & etc.

Well I thought the Chief wd. go himself to the A.D.C. with the 'book', he made me write, but a big woman of his died the previous day, & he sent the 'book' by the man, Inua, who claims the ground.

When the D.C. [Note 7] got the book he said "Whom do you want to bring to palaver?" Inua said, "Ekpo who claims the land." & the D.C. said, "If you make any palaver more about this, I shall chain you up. I have settled the palaver."

This has set Itu by the ears, & they are all in arms that not a witness has been called to give the history of the ground, & that there can be no appeal. Ekpo Adiaha says. When Inua came from Calabar where he had been living, after his father's death, the Ibibios asked him "Why he built on their land." He said "It was his father's land." They said "It is Akibidis land." He said "I am Akibidi". They said "We dont know you." & they called Ekpenyon Ayi & asked him. Ekpenyon, who is also a descendant of the 3 men who bought the land - answered that this was Okon son, so they said. "O, all our fathers are dead, we know not the old landmarks, let us anew divide the land, so that we may not have palaver, & they divided & put boundaries. The Okono now standing being planted by them.

Again. When Inua went to build on the present site, Why did Use not ask him why he built there? No one ever hinted that the land was not his, till this White Man came just now.

"2nd. "When I found them taking Palm Nuts from my land, I took them from them. Why did they not resent it? Why did they not call me to palaver? They never excused themselves on the ground that the ground was theirs, but gave up the nuts".

"3rd. Please ask any tribe if *a* *tenant* ever made his sacrifices when planting or building, on the on the land of another man? No one but the *owner* of land can make a sacrifice thus, but I have sacrificed for my planting and building, & all my business arrangements myself, & no one ever asked why?".

(In ground lent or hired, the tenant calls the owner & they jointly sacrifice to the spirit of the land, & divide any part of the carcase of the victim between them. Else the landlord acts for himself & his land. M.M.S)

Inua and Itu state that as you have been the Master they have looked to during late months in connection with the side of the Creek at their back yards, they beg to ask your advice about this. Further, "Use chopped Mbian to the House of Eyo Ma - now the house of Eyo Egott of Creek Town, so that complicates for Itu the question of ownership, as Creek Town can do what they like on that land, if Use owns it. M M Slessor.

I need not say that I do not know the particular history of this place, so cant tell you what is true without witnesses.

MMSlessor

Editorial Notes:

This letter was enclosed with Letter No. 11

palaver = this word seems to have a variety of meanings including discussion, consultation, and Court Case
kop. Presumably an Efik word - meaning unknown
Mbian oath. An oath taken with the use of Mbiam, a "liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely". from Charles Partridge's copy of the Rev. Hugh Goldie's "Dictionary of the Efik language".
ADC/A.D.C. = aide-de-camp
rods = brass rods were a medium for barter; local currency
Ifot = witchcraft
DC = Dictrict Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 11

26^th June 1905

This is also a translation by Miss Slessor of a native's plea for help. In this case an old slave man has been told to pay back the marriage dowry which his dead master had received for one of his daughters who is also dead as is her husband. He is unable to do this, and protests that such was not the custom in the old days.

"Our Chief

"I beg to put before you my Complaint, for I belong to the Itu Court, & cannot be taken far away like this, so I beg of you to hear me with patience. Long, long, years ago, before we knew about White Man or Courts, my Master gave his daughter to a man of Ibiaku Nduen named Akpa Ekandem to be his wife. She was his wife for many many years, but had no children. Then one day he sent to my Masters house to say, "If your Child dies, do not ask me," Our Master said, "What word is this? What do you mean?" He said "I can see the person who will kill her!" Which meant as he told us, that she had been unfaithful with one of his own kinsmen. Then when she died not long after, we thought that we should ask the reason of her death, & ask for her "head" i.e. for her substitute - as we used to do, but we feared to go, & we feared to send any word good or bad, as these were days of war & ambush & slaving & killing. So my Master died, & all the people of our house are dead & now that I alone - a poor slave man am left alone, & the husband himself is dead, his son Umo Ede has sent me a summons from Oyo Court to give him the Marriage dowry of his father. I went to the Court at Oyo - though I knew you were our Master, as we belong to Itus hinterground. - because I feared palaver [Note 1], & they told that their father had paid the dowry for a wife from the house to which I belong, & they wanted it. I wished to tell them that I could not give them that, I was not able to pay that, that they shd. have come in my fathers lifetime & got it. But they wd. not let me speak. They said "Go & bring 7 goats, Go & bring 7 goats, & the interpreter pushed me, & the policeman pushed me, again & again, & told me to shut my mouth, I cd. not speak. The man who wrote book said, "Dont do that, let him speak," but they wd. not, & I was told to go home & bring 7 goats. Sir, I cannot give 7 goats. I have not anything to buy goats with. And we never heard in old days that people gave the dowry of a dead woman. She died with them, & if she erred, she erred with them, & we never asked for all her life long work which she worked for her husband, surely her work for him at farm & home & market, paid for her dowry. Surely I a slave am not to buy my dead Master's dead daughter back from her late husbands son. Please help me O Chief, for I know not what to do.

I am Your Obedient Servant
Akpan Akpa.

Akpan - Akpa lives at Obong - Itu (Miss Slessor's place].
C.P.
1.7.5

Editorial Note:

palaver = this word appears to have a variety of meanings including discussion, consultation, Court Case

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 12

28^th June 1904 [the year is incorrect and should read 1905]

Miss Slessor accepts Mr. Partridge's invitation to breakfast with him and to attend a local court hearing to assist him in making a judgement - probably the case relating to the statement in her Letter No. 10.

[Envelope addressed to]
C. Partridge Esq
Ikot Obon

Itu.
28^th June 1904 [Note 1]

Dear Mr Partridge

I'm glad to hear something definite from you at last. It seemed as if the earth had swallowed you up, so completely have you been hidden. Thank you for your very kind letter, and for your kind invitations, & etc. I shall certainly *make* *it* convenient to be there since you are so kind as to give me of your valuable time. I have sent to old Ekpo the Chief, who is again busy at the funeral of a young man who died here last night. It seems as if we did nothing else just now. He is greatly pleased at the offer to hear their side of the story, and has gone at once to send for any witnesses. I have told him the Clerk of the Court will not be required, as it will be an independent Court meeting with the Consul. I think he sees the hint, but I dont think the said Clerk will go with a company of mine, unless it be to call me to judgment before you. He tried Mr Lawson, and the latter told him to go to me himself, so he waylaid the new Aro Chuku man & gave me into his custody.

I shall meet you just where you have proposed, at Use. & I shall be delighted to take breakfast with you *wherever* & *under* *whatsoever* *circumstances* you take break fast yourself. The road will not be too far for me. If so, I shall bring a Hammock. Fancy you having walked that distance! & in this dirty weather too !! Don't *over*do it, for fear of a breakdown.

Yes, the Ibibios are troublesome! but it is greatly from fear and suspicion, & they are so ignorant too, & have had such a history of oppression from all around. They will come allright, but our European staff is far too small to cope with such a mass of disjointed demoralised humanity. I only wish I could be of any help to you. Only sickness, or rain which an umbrella wont shelter, will keep us from starting early tomorow morning, so we ought to be at Use by 10. o/c. a.m. With kindest regards,

I am yours sincerely,

M. M. Slessor.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 13

23^rd August 1905

Miss Slessor is doing some building and thanks the District Commissioner for his offer of an additional carpenter, and accepts it. She apologises for the bad pen she is using.

Ikot Obon
23^rd. Aug 1905.

Dear Mr Partridge

I got your note with my mails this morning on my way here. Thanks for your offer of a Carpenter, the one at the beach is so busy. It is to put in the windows & to help me to join the joists on the roof for an extension for a bedroom. He need not bring all his tools, only hammer, saw & screwdriver. I have just come from Ibiaku Itam, and from Okoyon, & now will work at this place till it is habitable. Give your orders & fix your dates & I shall do my best to fall in all your wishes. The Mission Str [Note 1] is to be up at Itu with Iron [Note 2] & stuff the end of this, or the beginning of next week. Except for that I shd. not care to leave place till finished.

This Pen is awful, so don't be making another 'Fetish' of this 'Billy Dux'.[Note 3]

Kindest regards

Yours sincerely,

M. M. Slessor.

Editorial Notes:

Str = steamer
iron = corrugated iron
Billy Dux. Assume Miss Slessor means "Billet-doux"

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Glad to hear of the Gentlemans Imprisonment. Dont give *Him* tobacco & 6d a day.

Letter No. 14

29^th August 1905

Miss Slessor explains to Commisssioner Partridge that her arrival at the Court may be delayed since the head of an important local house has died. In order to stop confusion and arguments over his possessions and slaves she must go and ensure that all the dead man's affairs are in good hands. Additionally, brief notes regarding two Cases are enclosed.

[Address on envelope to]
C. Partridge Esq
The Consulate
Ikot Okpene
Ibibio

Ikot Obon
Ibibio
29^th Aug 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

I got your kind letter with the Carpenter on Friday evening. Miss Wright was with me. She came up that day, so I went with her to Itu for the Sunday, & got our Str. [Note 1] as it came from Unwana to pick her up - to come back with me with a canoe load of stuff to our beach here on Monday, & I came away up, tired & wearied, but glad of the lift, & found the Carpenter still working away. He has put on the ridging, & a row of Iron sheets at one gable as a shelter. Has hung the two windows & made a door - less a half dozen inches of plank wch. I am to put on myself if you can supply it - & he has raised one board in a doorway, & lowered another. He has been most obliging, & pleasant to get on with, & I thank you very much indeed for the loan of him. As regards the dampness of the house, we are having big fires on, & that will soon mend the damp. So you need not let that delay your opening of the Court. Only I must rell you that there has been a big trouble in Okoyon, which will necessitate my running down there for 3 or 4 days. The most powerful man by far there has died suddenly, & the slaves are very numerous. His Mothers & brothers houses being large, as well as his own. When he took ill 3 years ago, there was Poison Bean [Note 2] [going/giving?] - & the same women & conditions are there now, - then Egbo [Note 3] will have to be held back, till I put the House under the Consul - as a Ward of his - as the Children are under age - this was his wish, & seeing things were in a very queer state, the Chiefs & the Heads of the house sent Ma to tell me to do, or come at once, that money & trade matters might not be disturbed, & that Egbo be told not to Kana [Note 4] him till the Consul spoke. Seeing I cd. not spare a whole week, & there was no chance to get back till Sat. I borrowed a Constable from Mr Smith, & sent him with a Proclamation to Okoyon, & a Book [Note 5] to the D.C. [Note 6] at Duke Town, telling him the cicumstances, & asking him to send him back here at once. Perhaps I ought to have told you first, but Miss Wright cd. not wait, & if you knew the Circumstances the menace to the peace of the District was very grave. If I have erred, I trust you will forgive me for taking a loan of your Policeman for 3 days. I did it for the general good. Whether the D.C. goes up or not, I must go. --- Dont laugh at the Egotism - in order to give the house work, the Farm work, & the Trade work, into competent hands, & see the whole house for myself. My place is different from any other as they have all put their affairs into my hands. Silly people you will say! But you can tell me your plans, & seeing I have sent my message to them they can wait till we have our first meeting, & I can run down with the midweek Str., & be back with the Saturdays one. The man who brings the board will bring your orders, & I shall try to meet them. I shall stay here till I hear from you any how. I had a visit from Old Imuk today. He is as glad as the others that their palavers [Note 7] are to be settled near their own borders, & that they have not to go before strangers & foreigners any more.

How are you in this mucky weather? I trust you are as fit as usual. I am. Kindest regards, & thanks many. I am

Yours Sincerely

M. M. Slessor

One of these women came to me before the Court was out of Aro Chuku's hands. I sent her to Aro Chuku & she was told *she* *must* *call* *her* *case* *to* Calabar*.

Here she is every day telling me she does not know the road to Calabar, or where to lodge & etc. perhaps if you tell her she will hear

NII is the woman who is "friend" to an Efik man, at Itu, & he says she owes him 100 tubs of nuts, & wants to forbid her taking oath as he will take oath himself. I think she is entitled to bring her case here, *as* *he* *is* *a* *resident* *most* *of* *the* *time* *trading*.

Excuse my troubling you.

M. M. Slessor

Editorial Notes:

Str. = Steamer
Poison Bean = the Calabar Bean. Used in trials by ordeal when testing suspected witches
Egbo = Efik secret society
Kana. "A certain ceremony observed by Egbo [secret society] at the grave of a deceased member before coming forth to make public intimation of his death". from the "Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie, once in the possession of Charles Partridge.
Book. Probably an official document or statement
D.C. = District Commissioner
palavers = consultations, discussions, Court Cases

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 15

4^th September 1905

Miss Slessor writes to Mr Partridge on behalf of a local Chief explaining the absence of two men he wanted to see.

[Addressed on back of writing paper to:]
C. Partridge Esq
District Commissioner at [Urua/Nrna?] Edik

Itu
Sep 4^th, 1905

Sir,

The Old Chief here, Ekpo Adiaha wishes me to state, that he has not changed his voice, or his word to you. He gave you one man, the other two, -one of whom was at his farm, was sent for, & was gone on business somewhere. The other has gone to Calabar on business. They will both go to you when ever they return. He did not know they were not at home, & as you gave no warning, he cd. not forbid them going, as he did not know you would want them.

Pro Ekpo Adiaha

M. M. Slessor

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 16

9^th September 1905

Miss Slessor writes to Mr. Partridge on behalf of some Mbak men explaining their absence. The postscript puts the point of view of the Chief, who was home alone at the time. Additionally Miss Slessor asks Mr. Partridge for the date on which he wishes to meet with the local chiefs.

[Addressed on back of letter to:]
C. Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene
Ibibio

Ikot Obon
9^th Sep 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

Here are some Mbak men, who were seeking me while I was laid aside with sick headache the other day at Itu.

They wish me to tell you that they had neither run away, nor did they know of your wanting them till you had gone. They were visiting a sick person, & were gone there. They do not wish to be "strong headed" or to refuse their share of the work you send them, & they were in "Nanenyon", sore trouble when you paid the visit to their town.

Pro Ndo Ndo
MMSlessor
For P.S. P.T.O.

Private
I’m here & ready when ever you have your day fixed for your meeting with your Chiefs. Just let me have the date when you have fixed. I trust you are well. With kind regards MMSlessor

P.S. *Added information*. *Have not paper here*
When the policemen came to call them, the Chief was afraid, & he said "I cannot go to the Consul alone, seeing my men are not at home. Let them come back first, & I shall go with them. Then the Policeman chained him & told you that he wd. not submit. It was not so. He cd. not move for the town alone."

9^thSep '05, 7.30 Have received with this paper 7 sheets Iron [Note 1]. As I dont know how to treat this formidable paper, I send it on to you as Consignee. Pardon if I have erred & shd. have sent it back. The men are on their way to you. Kind regards, MMSlessor

[another note]
Ekpo Adiaha sent his men to the Transport Agent. He bad me tell you. MMS

Editorial Note:

iron = corrugated iron

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 17

7^th October 1905

Miss Slessor tells of her reasons to delay returning to Ikot Obon until the following Monday, and goes over various arrangements to see through local business.

[The envelope is addressed to]
C. Partridge Esq
Nrna Edik
*Enyion*

Itu
7^th Oct. 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

When I meant to go back to Ikot Obon yesterday, I just thought how unfair it wd. be to Itu to leave a band of men working there, without any one to see whether they had food & whether they wd. behave them selves. - as Dr Robertson has gone up to Mivana on business with Dr Rattray. He will be back on Monday, so I shall come then & take over from you, unless you care to send the books to Itu, - which wd. be a pity - as it could not help any one, & wd. bother you.

Dr Robertson has left papers with me about the ground. They are to be signed & sealed by the Chiefs & - he said - myself, for the Mission, & then to be given to you. He will run down to Calabar to bring up any thing, & to get his boy, in the end of next week he will come for good & take up his work. You will be seeing him about it I've no doubt soon. He is as full of hope about it as possible. Tell me if Monday will suit, if you dont send an answer, I shall understand that it is so. If I ought to go up before that, let me know.`

I trust you are well. I am. & am

Yours Sincerely

Mary M. Slessor

[In a different hand]
Recd. 7.10.5.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 18

8^th October 1905

Miss Slessor explains a further delay and her arrangements to come with a local Chief, asking him to meet them at 12 the following day.

[Envelope addressed to]
C Partridge Esq
Itu

Itu
8^th Oct 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

Your note has come into Church, so please excuse a line only in reply.

I meant to go to Ikot Obon tomorrow by Jubilee [Note 1], as it wd. take a little of my "Flitting" with us, but if it be later than 11 o/c a.m. I shall bring the Chief in a canoe to Sawyers beach when I suppose we may find you. I've been bothered at having to stay, but these workmen of of the scalywag kind.

Please wait for us till 12 o/c tomorrow, & oblige yours sincerely

M. M. Slessor

Editorial Note:

Jubilee - presumably the name of a river launch

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letter No. 19

10^th October 1905

A note to settle whether Miss Slessor should visit the Commissioner, or vice versa.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C. Partridge Esq

Ikot Awbong.
10/10/5

Dear Mr Partridge

I was just getting the paper to write & ask whether I shd. come to you, or you to me. I'm sorry it is such a dirty morning. Come whenever you like, I'm ready. Or shall I come to you if you like it better.

Kind regards

M. M. Slessor

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998
Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letters 20–29

Letter no. 20

30^th October 1905

A brief note informing Mr Partridge of the arrest of two men implicated in the death of a local man. Miss Slessor thanks him for sending a carpenter to hang two doors for her.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene

Ikot Obong
30^th Oct 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

Your Messenger has brought up mails for me, & at the same moment they have brought two men implicated in the death of a man here. He has taken poison bean [Note 1], & then hung himself.

I shall keep them chained till Court day. After that they will likely reach you.

Thanks ever so much for the Carpenter. He has hung two doors for me today, so I feel at home & private now.

Your boy wants to push on, & my head is reeling with this gory story.

Kindest regards & thanks, for books & papers

Yours Sincerely

M MSlessor

[Note on corner of envelope]
Please thank the Dr for the medicine, baby is better for it. MMS

Editorial Note:

Poison bean = the Calabar Bean. Poisonous bean which was used in trials by ordeal when testing suspected witches, but may not be relevant in this case.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 21

3^rd November 1905

Miss Slessor here asks Commissioner Partridge to arbitrate in a dispute over which court a certain workman should be summoned to.

Ikot Obong
3^rd Novr 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

The Chiefs of Ikot Obong have brought bearer & his summons to me, clamouring that Oyo does not have Jurisdiction in this town of Aka Mbiakpan. This town is working on the road here, Ekandem P.C. corroborates this, that you have always sent to that town for the work men, & your police always go there with your orders.

So I send him on to you, with his "Book" [Note 1] that you may settle it.

Kind regards

M M Slessor

P.S.
The boy states that the reason he has not gone to the Court is He told them from the first he wd. go to Ikot Okpene or Itu, but not to Oyo. It was *not* a "Brushie" [Note 2] who delivered the summons. It was the Plaintiff in the summons. MMS

Editorial Note:

Book. Probably a local term for an official statement or document
Brushie. Probably someone living rough, in the bush, etc

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 22

26^th November 1905

A note enclosing a summons; about collection of her mail; and a complaint about farming land.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esqu
Itu

[Address on fold of the letter is to]
C Partridge Esq
Okop Edi

26^th Nov 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

Here with the summons you spoke of to Chas Coco. Is this right? The boy will bring my mail, if any, & save you trouble. I trust your home news is good.

Kind regards
M MSlessor

I forgot to say those men at the Okop Edi beach were here one day, saying, that the place Mr Russell asks them to go back to, is too near the boundary with *Use* for farming.

M MSlessor

11 o/c A.M. Mails received many thanks. I sent the boy early to the beach with enclosed but he did not find you.
Thanks again
MMSlessor

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 23

3^rdDecember 1905

Miss Slessor apologises for her absence from home when needed by the Court and regrets that Mr Partridge has to travel continuously around the country. She informs him of a private settlement of a dispute and tells of being chased from a village at gunpoint because the previous day she had accompanied a policeman there to make an arrest.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esqr.
Ikot Okpene

Ikot Obong
3^rd Dec. 05

Dear Mr Partridge

Your note from [Munefa?] to hand. Thanks for your trouble in letting me know that Mr Fosbery is to pass. I have no excuse whatever for being from home, specially as these are the two days the Court needs me. Im only sorry for your having to tramp about incessantly like this. How *can* you do your "scribing"?

Kindest regards,
Yours sincerely
M M Slessor

P.S. Your letter to Aro Chuku was not at its destination till the whole lot of men connected with the palaver came from Akain Obio - other side of the Creek - in order to get the palaver settled *informally* in my house, so Mytton wont be bothered after all, as the new husband - the owner of the girl asks me to give a decision & he will abide by it. *All* their people from Atan Cross River came, they are old friends. Of course it is *not* *Court* palaver. I'm glad for the sake of *both* husbands & for the girl.

MMSlessor

Akpan Akpa Uta Udo Ekon

We saw Udo Afia Umo Afia, who lifted a matcheat [Note 1] & said, "Oh, it was you who walked with a policeman yesterday to seek some one, & today you are here again. Are you walking to eat the ground?" & he called his people with the "Cooe" call of the Country. We ran at once, for he held his gun at us. We had answered, we are on the path, we are not in any body's house,". When he showed his gun at us, we ran.

[This note was included with the letter of 3/12/05]

Editorial Note:

Matcheat = machete/matchet, a broad heavy knife

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 24

10^th December 1905

Miss Slessor queries whether the bearer can take his case to his local court at Okpo, rather than to Aro Chuku.

[Back of envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esq
Ikot Okpene

[Letter written on front of envelope]
10^th Dec '05

On my way to Church

Sorry to trouble you, but must this man take his palaver to Aro Chuku, as he belongs to Okpo, & the woman who seeks Divorce belongs to himself?

It is an awful *Humbug* all for the want to *minding* a simple law.

M MSlessor

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 25

22^nd December 1905

Miss Slessor is expecting the arrival of Mr Partridge at the Court, but warns him to bring a well armed escort for there is no courthouse at Ikot Obon as yet.

Ikot Obon

22^nd Dec 1905

Dear Mr. Partridge

Your note of above date to hand. Thanks.

I shall be expecting you & shall try to have the names I know ready. I sent on 3 prisoners today, but kept back all papers, as I fancied you would make several detours on your way with your "Releif" .

I trust you are not too tired for the journey across after all the giving up, & packing.

You had better bring a "Maxim" [Note 1] & some blunderbusses, for there is no Court House yet.

I have declined to discuss the subject, or even give an answer on any allusion to it. They are exasperating, specially, as there is so much excuse over it.

Kind regards & thanks for all papers. Yours Sincerely

M M Slessor

Editorial Note:

Maxim-gun. The first fully automatic water-cooled machine gun, designed in 1844 by Hiram Maxim

Transcription By: Mrs. G. Mann, 1996.

Data Entered By: Mrs G. Mann, 1996

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 26

25^th December 1905

Miss Slessor wishes Mr. Partridge a Happy Christmas, a good voyage, and a glad time on leave with his folks. Her postscript tells of £30.0.0 deposited on behalf of the Ikot Obon people, and an appeal in court which she does not hold out much hope for. She looks forward to his return.

[Address on envelope to]
C Partridge Esqr.
District Commissioner
The Consulate
Duke Town
[Postmarked Calabar Dec. 28^th 1905]

Ikot Obon
25^th Decr. 1905

Dear Mr Partridge

I wish you a very very good time, with all the seasons greetings.

I sent down a note to the beach after you were gone, & am afraid Sawyer may not send it on before you go away. I wish the C.M. [Note 1] had brought it back. I had not thought of your going, & just turned it into an open envelope thinking you wd. get it at once. It was on the top of the plum pudding - which has turned out lovely.

I have no Xmas Card to send, but think you will like the Almanac I have sent on.
You might hang it in your Cabin

I thank you for all your kindness to me, & for the cheerful helpful friendship which has gladdened the last years journeys. God bless & guide & keep you through all the years on before. I hope you will have a good voyage, & a glad time with your home folks, & I do trust you will be back again to Ikot Obong & Ikot Okpene for next Xmas.

I am yours most sincerely
M M Slessor

Messrs Brooke & Mansfield came up this morning. I had a proper fight with the former, but we parted good friends. I gave £30 " " over to be deposited on behalf of Ikot Obong. Theres no more word of the appeal. It will not have a leg to stand on, as we hold him at *his* *own* *price*. He may get a fine now. It is a CoCo man, the CoCo man who was to get the flogging for the "sauce" he gave the Court, is grovelling on his hands & knees all the time, saying, "it is the house that makes him mad, as they throw every dirty thing on to him when they cant get a way out.

tata MMS

Editorial Note:

C.M. = Court Messenger

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 27

24^thFebruary 1906

In this long letter Miss Slessor explains why she has taken so long to reply to his last letter [she has been busy and suffered recurrent bouts of fever all through January] and, after joking with him about its contents, goes on to give a full report of Court Cases, the progress of road works, railway surveying, river and creek dredging, and the building of a new hopsital. There is much news of their many friends and acquaintances. The first baptismal service had been held at Itu, and the first twins had been born alive though living for only two days. She is delighted with two books she believes he has sent her ["Halbeck", by Mrs Henry Ward and "Mill on the Floss", by George Eliot], and is pleased at the Liberal victory in the general election.

Ikot Obon

24^th Feb. 1906

Dear Mr Partridge

Had anyone hinted that February wd almost have gone before I wrote to you, I should have said a few straight words, & yet!! here it is. My, but the days do fly! This Court *is* a shop, & not an hour of respite, not even on my way to service on Sundays. And yet, if it weren't I shd be sorry, for it is better they come direct to myself, even to ask about their summons, as to whether it has been delivered, or whether they should go & ask, & so make sure, & etc etc than that they went to policemen, or to any other body who might make mischief. But it is a silly people, & a trial to patience, & I'm so tired as a rule, that all my good resolutions, made daily, to write a lot at night are put one side at sight of my sofa & a book. I had fever right on 3 or 4 times a week, all through January, & I have only twice been able to walk to Church this year. But last Saturday I took quite a turn for the better, & am now just myself again.

I owe you many thanks for that kind - far too kind, letter you sent just at the time I needed it badly to cheer me up! Never mind though all you say in it misses the mark by a long way, for thats not Mary Slessor on the Pedestal you set up! its a creation of your own, never the less tho I cant lay claim to it, I can aspire to be the sort of being it pictures, & only wish I had a chance to try on yourself. Fancy *Me* helping **You**!! & fancy *my* temper & patience, put alongside of yours!! Still I *can* try, old as I am, & last Court day, I *did* try, & pray too, & I think I *was* more helpful & patient. Wait a bit, when you come back, I *will* try again, if I get the privilege, & perhaps you may then praise.

Mr Mansfield *is* kind, & "sane". I could not have got a better Chief among the lot. I see & hear little of him, as he is kept very busy. He has the "Justice" there just now, & perhaps Mr Fosbery. I am not sure whether the latter passed this week. Mr Brooks has gone, but I have never got that boundary yet, & there are still "Ructions" I had a sheet of paper the size of this one, from Etim Offion of Ikorofion this week anent, Ikot Ayan, from which you appointed a Chief to sit in this Court. I did not answer, but sent it right on to Ikot Okpene. Udo Antias Case made a flash in the pan for a little after you had gone. When the Rd. surveyors sent forward boys to ask for a shed for their forward step, they were held up. Just as the men from Imuks place I told you of were, only he gave them Mbian [Note 1]. They said they were from a distance, going to gather their debt. They lied so glibly, that they were taken to Udo himself in a hut on his land, & after the Mbian he threatened to do all sorts of things if they told of him. This brought the thing to a head. Just as Obori, the Okpo man, had found for me, Where he was living with a mother in law. So Capn Lloyd came, & burned his place & had loot of yams & goat & a cow the first day, without seeing him. Next day they went to a different place near his own, & just missed him, He ran into the bush. But he found it too hot I expect, & sent for the Interpreter, Esien, to come & bring him in. Meanwhile his mother came in, & she expecting they would shoot him, hung on to me, lay on me, hugged me for 4 long hours. I could not get out of her embraces till I was nearly fainting. "Take me, take him," "take me, take him", "We will be your slaves for ever" "[loky?] did he not listen to you long ago, when you called him," etc etc she wailed. He is all I have, *All*, *all* I have" --- till the Chiefs were shedding tears. It was a bad hour for me I tell you, for even Udo Antia is loved by a Mother. What a mighty, what a mysterious thing is mother love! She coveted the chance of dying for him, & she crouched where her eyes devoured him, all the time of the trial, till she was so overcome they had to remove her. The mob which came to the trial, made us defer the sentence till next morning for fear the mothers wailing might upset things. I asked after the crowds had gone, if they were at all hostile to us. No! said my children & my people, they were hungry to hear how the White Man would punish, & to gloat over him, & I think the disappointment at only 2 years, *after* *your* 2 years is general. Eniyon & Ibibio dont think he is punished enough. He was allowed an audience of his mother, daughter & a slave man, in my presence before he was removed, & they behaved well. I told the mother I should look after her & her affairs, as her son had asked me, & begged her to let him go quietly, her daughter then said to him, "Dont trouble about us. Keep to your work, & keep well, & then come home to us & live quietly & dont have any more crooked ways." So the old lady comes & embraces me, & gives me a few yams, & tells her troubles & cries, & goes again. His slaves have stolen every thing & run away, & Ibiaku went & burned the only hut the White Man left they say. The latter fact is not yet proved, as I gave it to Mr Mansfield. They brought from Udo's place 8 guns, & his own revolver. He lived in the bush all the time, & had the revolver under his arm sleeping & waking. I believe Mr Mansfields carriers were fired on, on the Oyo road the other day, & we have had two or 3 gun Cases, all however submitting at once. There are lots of guns all over the place. I wish you had been at Udos trial, if only to study Ibibio character. I had to dismiss Ekandem & Ete Eduku long ago they were too ------

I dont know what I was to say here. I was interrupted. The Road was all cut a month ago past here, & last time I was carried down to Itu - a fortnight ago, to the first Baptismal service at Itu, I had not to get up the hills at all. There are gangs at work every bit all along, & one could get along the whole way on the new road in various stages of completeness. The paid labour has transformed the thing & one can see now what is being done, & the surveyors are kept at it like navvies. A White foreman has come, & they have now a large compound on the top of the hill second from Ikot Obon, with office, a clerks house & all. A lovely house & a lovely site, so the old shed is bare & black, & Mr Rosario is away on beyond Udo Antias place, the road runs through his town. It is a big responsibility, the having of 600 men without wife or home on the road. Theres a big work on [E-nd?] from Itu, below the rest house the embankment is wonderful already, & the Railway surveyors are gone further up & further round. They purpose taking my old road by [---?] Obio going out at the Creek by the small oil market. Ikot Obon is its old prevaricating lazy self, but the Robing Room is there waiting for the Robes, & we are comfortably housed. The policemen & male prisoners are staying there. 2 rooms of the policemens houses are up, but we were helping with mats for the camp, & they payed us well. I'm through my second Summons Book & well on with my third, & my second evidence book is almost full. We have a good lot of money in hand, & I think we get along fairly well. They behave much better, & only one Chief - & he as goodlooking as most, & clean, - Udo Ekandem of Ntan, - has had to be expelled for bad conduct. Calabar is becoming more scarce as the old Itu Cases are disposed of, & I'm glad as they rile me. Charles CoCo seemed surprised at getting off with costs of 12/- [Note 2] only in the old ladys Case, he behaved admirably, & sent his respects. John sent a summons to a lad of their house in Duke Town, in a Case he had held over at Itu Court for 2 years, & the boy got into trouble for impertinence to the Court, & his lounging chair & patent leather foot gear & velvet suit gave way to a dirty cloth, & lying prone on the ground before me every day. Then the heads of the house Etim Offron from Itu came up, & the boy let it all out, that they made him the scapegoat, & he knew nothing of the matter, & the head of the house brought the two women with him before the Case was tried, & gave them up. I felt like taking John up for fraud & man snatching -!!! Well, let them go. I'm now trying to get in their debts from Ibibio & warning Ibibio not to receive any more trade goods from them, but to go straight to the shop at Okop Edi. They are doing well there. I cant tell you properly their returns, but he buys over 7 tons of kernels from women alone over the counter on a market morning. The Efiks are sitting in branches all up the road intercepting the market people but that will cease too in time I expect.

I have only sent 2 men from the road yet to Ikot Okpene. I keep as much in touch with all of them as I can & will try to visit their Camps on Sunday, & make friends with them. Mr Smith has gone home, Mr Darby is away seeking a site for a sanatarium in the Ekoi, among the [Bumby?] Hills, 2,000 feet high. My dear laddie Mr Maxwell is back, but not in good health Im sorry to say. He is doing office work, as he is not fit to rough it this term. I trust he will pull up soon & be about by next trip. Still, he is not an ideal administrator, as I have told you. He is like myself, to nervous, & impatient. But he is a good boy, & a clean, straight clever lad, a lad to *love* & cherish. I had a letter from Mr Dyer, who is not ill pleased with his post, but is longing for the old friends & people he did so much good work among. Mytton seems to do well, & he is a courteous correspondent. The Robertsons are getting a fine place. A new White Carpenter has come out to build the Hospital. He came up one day, but wont let his wife come till the roads are made. She is a nice woman, as quiet as he is loud, & as plodding as he is unreliable.

I do not know whether I shall stay here. Ive sent home word that Mr Rankin shd. take over the Station & work it properly, & I should move farther on. If so, wd. you advise me to go toward Ikot Okpene, or nearer the Inokon side. I wish you wd tell me, in case it happens I move. I have only got the sanction of the Preby. till April for this work. Im supposed to go back to Okoyon then I expect, which I shall simply refuse to do, as it wd. be unfair to Miss Wright, at least till her furlough is due in mid winter.

I had a visit on Court day from a Mr Wilson, who is dredging or cleaning the river & creek. He expects to be on that work for long. He wants prison made mats, & as I can sell them at a profit, I shall let him have as many as he wants. So they will be going to build largely, as he has got 1000 already from Ikoneto, & wants 1000 at least more. I hear Sir Walter Egerton is come to Calabar, but am not sure. He sent the railway men to call on me. His wife is with him, so it will be lively at the Consulate I dare say. Gaiety will be the order of the day now. All the Europeans are to have their wives now, which will be a good thing for them & for the country. There's your chance, I'll be an Aunty to you both shd. you be wise & fortunate enough to accept your privileges. I do trust you will come straight back to Ikot Okpene, & will say it any & every where. You have made & settled the District really, & why should you not complete it unless indeed you get something more enticing. I've never had a chance to speak to Esien since you left. Ive had his brothers wife threating [Note 3] to leave Ofon, this evening, & really she was entirely in the right. She is the elderly clearly intelligent mistress of the house you lived in always in Ikot Obon. He behaves abominably towards her, & she does for herself. She does not get one yam a year from him in return for her work to him. nor will he pay for what he takes from her out of what she trades for others. Such is marital bliss in Ibibio. We have substituted for giving over children to old husbands, giving 18 goats or a girl, & 9 goats to replace the mother & child by another wife, & it is working well, without the harrowing details of breaking up a family.

We have had our first twins saved here, but they were such tiny sickly things, they only lived 2 days. The father is your head man, at the back of our hill, so I was glad to see them go. The day after, a boy of 2 or 3 months old came from behind the brick field, its mother dead, so the twin mother took it when its people left, & she has helped with it ever since, & she is very quiet, & has another child, but they wont let it come for fear it dies beside her. They have given her 4 yams, which means they wont have her back.

Now what means the two books come by this mail? It is your handwriting, & I have been reading Halbeck during the nights. It is not the best of Mrs Wards. She has created a most original, & difficult heroine, & the evolution of her character under such strange & extreme circumstances & environment is an interesting study, but she can do better work in analasis than this. The workings & results of Christianity from the Roman Catholic point of view, are so unreal so laboured, so manifestly a working from the outward, that it grows grotesque, & instead of the exquisite & subtile charm of mysticism, there is a wearying almost sensuos piling up & on of the commonest gauds. It is all too tawdry to be associated with the sacred Name of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World. The very burden of the ritual, & the unloveliness of the characters, both Protestant & Catholic, make the whole system something above the level of the African Fetish & its Product. I trust Christ & Christianity will do more for the high spirited, finely strung, independant young woman of today than it did for poor Laura & her noble husband to be, & for the poor "starved soul" of the invalid stepmother. I have sent a reading round to Mrs Robertson today, & am anxious to renew my girlhoods friends of the "Mill on the Floss", those wholesome, natural sinners bred in our own homeland, who somehow are very dear because of their very faults & frailties. I thank you most sincerely for them, for I'm sure it is your gift, but cant make out the Post Mark. How are things at home? Im glad for Liberal victory all along the lines. Dont trouble to pity me, I'm glad of my Plebian tastes, & trust public money will be spent for public good. How goes it with Poor Russia? she is paying dearly for ----------!! I wont be drawn into it!!! but she will be born again & live out of the agony. The birth throes are always agony for body & spirit, for nature & nations, but who wd. choose death in preference? Well, Well! heres another sheet of Govt. paper. I have not a scrap of writing paper till the Str [Note 4] comes, but I have written my own for Government for years, so conscience does not prick. I dont know if you can wade through this. It has been a constant interruption. I trust you will enjoy your furlough, & be a comfort to your home circle. Whether you smile or not, I pray God to bless you & to *satisfy* you with *Himself*. *It* *is* a Grand *Reality* this *personal* relationship through Christ.
Byebye.
Yours most sincerely
Mary MSlessor

The £50 is all right. Mr Mansfield told me it is in the Safe. Thanks

Editorial Notes:

Mbiam.

"The liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely."
Mbiam can also mean "the oath so taken, & hence sometimes applied to any solemn oath, whether mbiam has been used or not." from Charles Partridge's copy of the Rev. Hugh Goldie's "Dictionary of the Efik language".

12/- = Twelve shillings [or 60 new pence]
Should surely read "threatening"
Str. = Steamer

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 28

30^th April 1906

Miss Slessor tells Mr Partridge of her latest bout of fever despite using filtered water. She thanks him for the gift of books which include a copy of Robert Burns's poems. This is put to good use for towards the end of the letter she uses a quotation from it. There is news of the Court and some cases, and she goes on to relate the events that have overtaken Udo Antia's family while he is in prison. Progress of the road building programme is related. The High Commissioner and Lady Egerton had paid a visit, during which she told him that the steady employment on road building was the best possible way to civilise the country. Lady Egerton comes in for praise as does Mr. Mansfield, who is acting District Commissioner during Mr. Partridge's leave. She concludes by hoping Mr. Partridge is having a pleasant leave, and wishing his speedy return to Calabar.

Ikot Obon
30^th April 1906

Dear Mr. Partridge

Your long, breezy letter came last night - shall I confess it? When I was struggling vainly to throw off a bit of fever, - But I *had* taken quinine & Miss Amess is with me I *have* been using filtered water so you Cant Crow over a victory.

What shall I say for all these books? What a lovely "Burns", Just a luxury to touch. O you dear old thing! Can I not invent a word or something to thank you properly! & I cant do a single thing to help you in return. I'm --- I dont know what I was to say here, as a small crowd came to the office, & now it is afternoon, & who do you think was in the forefront, and stayed longer than the others? Udo Antias daughter. She has not been to her Efik husband since the place was fired, as she declares some one has made witch for her & it has gone into her legs. She says she put all her things into a certain shed whch. was spared at the war, & Abiatuk fired the shed & burned every thing. She wants them to Court, but has not yet taken out a summons. I gave her a "book" [Note 1] to Mr Wilkie of Duke Town, so that he might - if it is not against the law - see Udo, & let his mother know how he is.

She says every one of the slaves & household servants & retainers have made off. The wives all but one have gone with their children from the first day. Not one has stayed to help with planting or building. I must ask Mr. Mansfield if these women, may make "friend" marriages till he Udo comes home, & then go back to him with his children, as women here cant live single for years. Yes Mr. Mansfield is a good man, & conscientious but I prefer the sweep & the personality of Mr. Partridge's methods. Detail & red tape is most obnoxious here at the beginnings of things. Still it is a great blessing to have a gentleman to work for, & with.

I had a most pleasant visit from the H.C.{Note 2] & Lady Edgerton. She is simply charming. A true, sweet womanly woman; *His* [lines?] fell in pleasant places when the [Note 3] fell on her. He is a fortunate man. I told him the place was your creation, & etc. He was speaking on the difference in it from his last visit. He thinks it is too civilized for me now. My books were made up last month & the income for the 5 + a 1/2 months is £164. 8. 6. & the expenditure - I cant find the sheet, - but thats not bad Eh? & for this month I have £25, in hand, & more summonses are being taken out than we can deal with. The C.B. house are not troubling me in the least except that big fellow from Obot Etim, Otu, who was to appeal you time, & didnt. He has taken a boy just now, after being summoned to appear. He took the summons - went into the house who are the [Plfs?] & took a boy off to Calabar, then wrote to me that he was ill at Calabar with Yellow Fever but trusts God will spare him to come back. Some body said he was in the Itu house. He has tried to bluff the house several times on Court day, but I put my foot down and he subsides. If only he could be got off that trade road it wd. be good for Ibibio. He comes up on market days & holds up the people passing before they reach the factory. If he does it on the Govt. road, we will prosecute. Their power is broken. Asan is beginning to find that Ikot Obong will not tolerate what Itu did, & they are bothering less, but Mr. Mansfield was threatning some of them the other day. The Ibibio chiefs are doing well. You would hardly believe how clean they are, & the old vacant stare, or the giggle & the interpolations, are all absent now & a certain amount of dignity reigns. But I must give most of the credit to Okpo & Itu, for they have helped immensely in training the Ibibios in cross examination & courage, & in self repression. I cannot tell you how much I owe to their steady support & scorn of meanness & greed among the chiefs, & also in averting anything unbecoming from me, as they understand something of Chivalry towards women from their contact with European Officers. Our old man here improves, & often asks for you, so does Imuk, & some others come in since you were here, who knew you well. Day by day we gain a little I think, some one comes in, or I get a case & send for them in private and try to shew them the lines on which we work & they give me some yams and a fowl, & then come as friends.

I told Udo's daughter your proposal about going to Ikot Aba, & she thought it was splendid, but wished it had been at the beginning. The new road has gone through their land & through Udo's Yard, & the only wife who has stayed built a house & had it finished, & they knocked it down saying, "If you dont knock it down *at* *once*, we will burn you". "Thats a lie" I said, the interpreter may have said that, the White Man did *not*. You can Bike up now from the beach to the front of our house, & we walk down on the new road by the side of the spring to the bridge at the foot. The road does not go at all that way now. It goes through Ikot Aba, & is a mile & a half north they say of Manya. You will not go near Manya, & a long loop in a certain river, which was as two rivers, is avoided. You will know these yourself. I do not.

Now about myself! I have not only got a Roving Commission from the Home Church & the Presby [Note 4] here, but have got a helper for the school & the women, in Miss Amess, who is out of Okoyon till they get some one from home to go up beside her. As my dear helper Miss Wright is going to marry Dr Rattray, our good doctor at Umvana, & has run home to see her Mother & get a rest before she takes up the strenuous life of a bush Drs wife. I dont therefore need to leave Ikot Obon, & the responsibility of supply for my own station is taken off! Now tell me where shall I buy land for an industrial school & refuge for women who need help? I have the money. Shall it be near Ikot Okpene? or Where? If it is to supply any kind of work for the European, it must be near some sort of transport, & it must be near a population which could be helped & taught. Must it be near the river???

I do not remember anything fresh. 600 or so of the boys have been taken off the road as the money is done. I told the High Cr [Note 1] that I was sorry for he would not get a cheaper or safer way of steadying & pacifying & civilizing the country. These Ekit & Aro men, Anan & etc have been utterly transformed by the steady discipline of hours & etc., & are my best friends, & they will go to their distant homes, exponents of the White Man, & thus open his way. I have tried to win them, by visiting & dressing their wounds, & acting as umpire & in their quarrels etc. The first iron bridge is getting up at the end of the road to Ekof Edi. But the Itu road is put off for a season. Im sorry, I think it is being "penny wise pound foolish" to let a long wet season destroy what is already so near being an accomplished fact. However, they know better than I do. Wilkinson does well in business. I think they are jusitified in their venture. I hear the Railway survey goes on, but it is distant a bit from us. They send their respects but I cant locate their camping place.

The twin Mothers from several districts have come at various times to me in order to get their lot made easier. I *forced* a number to come to Court, but they were in terror for the chiefs taking revenge. The Eniyon & Itu men spoke well to the Ibibios, & comforted the women greatly, & sent proclamations to all parts, that each man was to care for his wife, & get a suitable house built for them, also the markets which prohibited them from buying or selling were warned to change their laws. I have one twin mother here. They dont want her back, and she is planting here.

I have had a couple of rooms put up in the garden below, in which she & the female prisoners can stay. We have two houses - 5 rooms for policemen & prisoners behind the Court house. Our Church is also up, so there are a few civilizing agencies visible about. Brooks did not go away after all, & the boundary is more unsatisfactory than ever. You will get the settling of it yourself I expect for all the promises made. It is not only blacks who make promises & forget. Well, Well! there is such a constant strain on a D.C. [Note 5] I shd. be a street sweeper sooner I think, than a D.C. Ive filled all this paper and there is nothing in it after all. O, Mr Maxwell came up with the H.C. and was Lady Edgertons - I forget what you call it in English, supply the term yourself [Note 6]. - He can act the part to perfection, for he is nothing if not a ladys man. I was so pleased to see him. He looks well, & is as cheerful as ever. I shall be writing to him this week, & will give him your message.

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your stay in the Homeland. The cold will be gone before this reaches you. I trust it will be a pleasant time to the very end. I need not say I do not share your opinion about men marrying, who are engaged here. Women are as eager to share in all the work & sacrifice of the world as men, & it is their privilege to share it, & it is their mission to be the motive power & the steadying & inspiring power in a mans life, & so you are keeping some good woman out of her place of privilege & work, & are depriving yourself of God's greatest Gift, outside of the spiritual World in refusing to accept it.

What says Burns?
"The warlds wrack, we share o it
The warstle & the care o 't
Wi her I'll blythely bear it
And think my lot Divine" [Note 7]

Now, tata, Kindest regards, Miss Amess wd send her good wishes I know, for she knows about you, but she is at school. Hurry up, & come back to your work again, & be sure there will be some warm hearts waiting to give you welcome

Among them Yours most sincerely

Mary M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

"Book". Probably a local term for an official document, or statement
H. C. and High Cr. = abbreviations for "High Commissioner"
Presumably intended to be "they"
Presbytery (a local governing body of the Presbyterian churches, in this case in Calabar)
D.C. = District Commissioner
perhaps the French term "aide-de-camp"
From Burns song "My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing". It is the second verse of a two verse poem, with a chorus.

Warld = world; wrack = wreck; warstle = wrestle

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 16/11/96

Data Entered by: David Kett, 1996

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 29

2^nd October 1906

A short note to Mr. Partridge, now back from leave, informing him that Esien's brother has died. The main part of her letter concerns costs in court cases taken up by Miss Slessor in her Court, and the expenditure incurred. Finally she tells him that this morning she had ridden her bicycle to an early morning school without falling off!

Ikot Obon
2^nd Oct 1906

Dear Mr. Partridge

Your letter & the parcel of papers came yest. evening for which I thank you very much.

The boys - Esien - *brother* has been very very ill, & is at Itu. We heard yest. morning that he was dead, but the messenger from Ikot Obon had not returned.

Im sorry the money should be out of order. But I assure you no-one is hurt, and your scale is mine except "Witness" which I seldom use, sending instead an unofficial note to save the Clients. The only difference is, that we charge costs & without this, the court we [Note 1] be brought into contempt & *every* *one* *is* *quite* *able* *to* *pay* *it*. We can speak of that when you come.

I shall pile on as many charges as you like to increase the expenditure, but do not need to.

Our people are very well pleased I think, at our moderate charges, & many come from every where to try & get their Cases taken up. Is it not that we get through a good many cases, by sitting all day, that the money is rather much.

Last two sittings have not burdened me any how with cash. Ive not paid the days expenses, owing to Asan talking hours at their palavers.

I taught a small school at Use yest. & was home before 8 a.m. on my Bike. I did not once come off, & had only a small boy with me. Fancy that!! Am just off today, & will see about the market today.

Kindest regards

M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

"we". Surely intended to be "wd."

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1996

Data Entered By: David Kett, 1996

Letters 30–39

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 30

1906

Greetings postcard to Mr. Partridge at Ikot Okpene. The card, which is not stamped and has not been through the post, is of "Ben Venue from Loch Achray", produced by the Cynicus Publishing Co. Ltd., Tayport, Fife. The message reads: "With all the greetings of the season. M M Slessor".

Transcription By: David Kett, 1996

Data Entered By: David Kett, 1996

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 31

2^nd April 1907

Miss Slessor thanks Commissioner Partridge profusely for the surprise gift of a cloak on the eve of her return home on leave. She is anxious to discuss Court matters with him, and offers to stay a month longer to clear up affairs and render any necessary assistance. However, it does look as though this would be a good time for her trip.

To C.P.
Ikot Okpene

Use
2. 4. 7.

O Mr Partridge ! ! ! !

I'm just speechless ! ! I simply dont know what to say! & I have just been fairly crying because you went past & did not call. I threw myself on the bed, & then Mr Russell came, & he & I have been talking about you, & I have been telling him that I cant put off seeing you. I must get carriers & go to Ikot Okpene - for he was *quite* *sure* you wd not stop at Ikot Obon. Now you are, & if this lovely cloak would let me, I wd sleep. Im so glad that I can talk to you.

I've waited in the house for 5 days in order to talk about the Court, if I go home, & Mr Gray came up this afternoon & settled every thing about my going with Mr Middleton of Lagos who has offered to take me to Edinr. [Note 1] and he leaves in May. And now comes this Cloak, which says "Here your needs are all met." It is simply wonderful, all except for you! Im sure I *ought* to go, but if it adds to your burden? I wd. rather stay. Indeed, had Mr Dene not come, I shd. never have mooted it, but it seems as if he were sent to help you, & while he does So, I cd. perhaps get enough strength to come back & help you when you will be nearer going home. Fancy my thinking I can help a man like you! I mean in keeping back the detail which means nothing, & yet worries.

O my Cloak! O you dear!! It is so good of you & your family circle to care for me like this. To whom am I to write to to say a - miserably incompetent "thank you"! - Tell me truly, if you think I ought to stay a month later. If you have any suggestions that wd. help you, please let me know tomorrow. I know I wont sleep a wink this blessed night. O I wish the ladies were here, till I get some one to speak to. Good night the boy is hungry he says. Thanks beyond speech, & a good nights rest to you. I am Yours most sincerely

MMSlessor

P.S. "Our Father" will thank your friends *right* *of* *now*, just like the Telegraph. May He bless you too & be very near to you.
MMSlessor

Editorial Note:

Edinr. = Edinburgh, Scotland

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: David Kett, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 32

20^th May 1907

Written to Mr. Partridge from the steamer Orcades on her way home. While congratulating Mr Partridge on his promotion this letter expresses anxiety at his moving from the District. Although the fever has rendered her incapable of being moved around much, she is enjoying her voyage, and has hopes of a quick recovery. Some news of her travelling companions

To C.P.
Calabar

[Orcades?] [Note 1]

20. 5. 07.

Dear Mr Partridge

I did not answer your most welcome "book" [Note 2] when in Calabar, as I expected to see you there, for it was the first thing I heard of in Calabar, & I am proud & pleased at the preference given you; tho of course Im awfully sorry for the District, while the Court is so newly left, for the Chiefs will be afraid of a new man.

However I trust all will be well till Mr Bedwell comes back, & that you will enjoy the change & be the better for it, & it will mean for the future A STEP UP. We have fine company on board. Mr Gray did all he promised & more, & the Wilkies can never be thanked enough, & now Major Trenchard has taken charge of me & has been so helpful & kind that my every wish & want has been anticipated & I have not only been happy & comfortable, but well. I am leaning hard on my limbs, & after going up the stair can still fetch a bit of breath. Im hoping to be walking quite well in a week more.

The Judges on board, & I have talked a little. I made my confessions, & I think gave reasons for my decided & not over appreciative convictions regarding the office, but we are good friends & have some nice talks.

There is no news. We have lain here waiting for the Branch Boat, but it is slow in coming. We hope to be in Lagos tomorrow, & then there will be more company I expect, & perhaps a lady. As yet no other member of my sex has favoured us with her company. I wish you cd just have come up this estuary & lain with us this morning. The breeze has been delightful, & the water so calm & deep green & clear, & the lap, lap of the waves is most restful to wearied nerves. But your time is coming & we cant all be away at once. What awful rubbish you speak about *my work*. I wish I could see it, or that I could do one tenth of what I would fain do to help you. You dear dear friend. Instead of you speaking like this, it is for me to try to count up for tabulation all that you have helped me, & done for me. That I cant do, & am not to try. Im just taking it all & trust that *some* *how* & *some* *time* I may be able to repay. If Im not, my Father is, & He is quite Cogniscant of all you have done. O just look at your countermanding those C.Ms. [Note 3] as I said to Mrs Wilkie. You might have snubbed me & told me to mind my own business. Still I am sure you have done right. If you find it is not so, dont think of me. Do just what is best in your own eyes.

I shall write when I have any news. I have not seen Davidson yet. I am not yet able to walk about, thats the reason I expect, but I shall be sure to see him soon. Now dear old Chief of mine, Goodbye for a bit. I shall *expect* you to be blest. I am yours most affectionately & sincerely & gratefully

M M Slessor

Do go & call on the Wilkies. They are worth knowing & they appreciate you MMS

Editorial Note:

Presumably the P. & O. liner "Orcades".
"Book". Probably a local term signifying an official statement or document
C.Ms = Court Messengers

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: David Kett, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 33

27^th June 1907

Miss Slessor's letter on returning to Scotland begins with enquiries as to the state of things in Calabar, and goes on to describe her improved health. She now has the energy to go cycling but finds the traffic so alarming that she intends to go cycling in the early morning until she is more used to it. She gives much space to describing a novel she has been reading ["Fools Rush In"] and gives news of many friends. She expects to complete her physical recovery with a visit to a hydro for special treatment.

[At head of letter, but written after postscript is written "To C.P. Ikot Ekpene]

Kelton
Joppa
Midlothian
Scotland

27 . 6 . '7.

My dear kind patient old Chief

How are you? & are you still at Ikot - Okpene? It seems years since I said goodbye to you, & last mail did not bring a word from Ikot Obon, so Im feeling rather "out of it" and very *far* *far* away. Is Mr Bedwell back? & is he better? And are you having a wetting every day or two on your journeys?

We have only had one fair day from the day before we reached Plymouth till now, that was last Sunday. It is rain, & bitterly cold winds all the time. Winter could not be much worse, & where are the Roses & the strawberries & the beauty of the traditional June? I'm not feeling patriotic at all, but we expect a visit to Edinburgh from the Prince & Princess of Wales in a few days, & it may come then. I am very very well all the same, & as fat & hungry as ever I was in young days. I shall be out again in no time if this goes on. I can walk, & go up & down stairs, like anybody. but they were awfully shocked to see me at first. What would they have been to have seen me at Ikot Obon? We had a lovely voyage. & very good company, & glorious weather. I *never* *lost* *one* *meal* all the way. Mr Middleton took such care of me, & cut himself off from company & fun & everything to keep me company. He also sat with me at a back table, as I could not walk up the long saloon.

I do not think you had any idea of how queer I felt for 6 weeks before I left. I was sure it was paralisis. I could not walk a dozen steps, & if I did so, I nearly fainted after it. And here I am now only waiting for the rain to go off to get on my cycle & go anywhere.

We landed at Liverpool at Midnight, & got on to the hotel at 1.a.m. and my Bicycle was amissing from the luggage. Mr Middleton made enquiries & by & bye it was found & sent on, but was so long on the Railway that I had to write about it again. However, it is safe enough now in the Cycle House, & the friends here are only afraid for the wind & rain for me. I am only afraid of the traffic, & these awful motor cars, but I am to go out in the *early* morning among these country roads, till I get over the fear. I was up in Edinburgh for the first time last Monday, & after getting in *somehow* to an Electric Car, I nearly shreiked from the pain at my back, just from the fear, but I was more afraid of a carriage, & refused it, as a Judge here had his caught between 2 cars, & barely escaped with his life. It is an awful country for bustle & movement. It is a splendid country for all that, & the achievements of Man are marvellous. I will be going to a Hydro for special treatment in a week or two. It is in a highland district, & used to suit me well, but my wardrobe is not yet complete for visiting or going outside. This address however will always find me. The cloak you gave me has been such a blessing. I could never have got home without it, & ever since I came, it has been my comfort in every outing. It is a beauty & my sister['s?] friend here who was at a concert last night asked for it in preference to her falderal thing, as the wind was very keen. Of course she was made welcome to it. Now it is breakfast time. I have written since 4 o/c am as I cant sleep for the daylight. I have just answered one letter from Mrs Rattray, who has invited us to spend a week with her, & one to Miss Darby, whose brother is out with you, also one to him. He has lost a brother out east, & one brother died less than a year ago at home, the two youngest of their family. I'm awfully sorry for him out there alone.

27^th June 1907

I did not see Davidson at first, as I was not able to walk, & could not find the road to the back of the ship, but Dan & he got into company, so he came along & we had a chat several times. I bade him call here, if he was near Edinburgh, & he gave me his address, so that I might call on him if I were in Aberdeenshire. A Missionary going to be Principal in the Training School in Calabar, called here with his young wife, before they left with last steamer. She is a very sweet pretty girl, a daughter of Dr F. Fergusson of Glasgow. He is an M.A. or B.A. of a University & is a great improvement on Luke. He has been out twice before in Calabar. Dr Rattray has bought a practice in Huddersfield, & after the summer months, will go there.

I read the novel "Fools rush in", & was rather disappointed in it. It is rather thin I think. The characters on the Government side are fairly consistent, but not original or striking in any way. *Any* man with ordinary gumption, could have been as tactful & clever & brave as the "Resident"--Who by the way was a scotsman.

What is Brooke entitled to fame for?? Because with the help of Addie, & the man he so foully wronged, he went to the rescue of a couple of women in a native town? Bah!! Addie, poor gamin was worth a score of him in resource & in everything. Brooke said to Addie "Im going to hang up this man". Addie nodded, "By the living jingo I should think so. What were you going to do? Pension him"? That I think made Brooke a ninny, specially as his business was to have done the same act at first without waiting to talk it over, & then with the help of the [Hons - ?], he actually strung up a beast, who had murdered a white man, & meant to do more than murder to a poor woman. Pollard having throttled the man with whom he was in grips "looked up to see who had called, "Barbara!" -- His own promised wife -- "They" Brooke & the girl "were locked in each others arms". If that a West African Hero, I give it up. As to the women!!! One had been a wife for twelve years, & in less than 2 days after her husband had been murdered before her eyes, she was turning to another man with her eyes saying "Help me". & in 3 days she cd have put her head down & cried,. because it was for *her* safety & of *her* the Resident was thinking. "I love you, I love you she whispered, Don't send me away from you". "He crushed her fiercely to him. She slipped her arm about his neck & pressed her face to his." That's one heroine! The other, the girl who chose & gave her promise to a man, Left her home to go to him in a foreign land for the highest of services & ere 2 days in that land had gone, she had given her heart once again to another who simply did her an everyday service. She saw that man (ie her promised husband) suffer. Saw him do acts of bravery yet never once had the grace to shew him even a glance of pity. far less of apology, & in the midst of carnage & death & worse she cd play with her hair & her bath & her surroundings, and before many hours were over gave herself with extacy [Note 1] into the embraces of an almost utter stranger who was as void of one spark of honour, or pity for the brave silent fellow whose pledged wife he was taking, as she was herself. & that is a British soldier & gentleman!!!

As for Webley!!! There *may* be such duffers among missionaries, but they are *not* *in* *charge* of Missions or of men's lives. He is *too* *palpably* a Creation of the Author's. This novel may suit the tastes of a few who feed on garbage in West Africa. It will disgust the Honourable, & so defeat its own end. The other book "White Capital & Coloured Labour" is a gem. Thats a book, & a *Man* to write it, if you like. I shall send it about as I have tried to do already, & will induce some to buy it. But my time is up. I am reading (Ha - throne? ) here, & find him good and restful as ever. Time is up, So for a time Goodbye. Shall have better news next time when I get about: I am yours most sincerely M M Slessor

P.S
Mr Maxwell had a letter lying waiting for me at Plymouth. An uncle of his was a fellow passenger of yours from Canary. Will write to him soon, not the uncle you know, but Mr Maxwell MM

Editorial Note:

extacy, doubtless a mis-spelling of ecstasy (extasy being an accepted variant)

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 34

Kelton:

11^th July 1907

Miss Slessor is very anxious to return to Calabar, and inquires after those there. After paying her first "Call" she caught a chill which has kept her in bed several days with fires on day and night, but is feeling much better. There is news of friends, and she concludes by wishing him well on his trip home.

[At head of letter is written "To C.P. Ikot Ekpene"]

Kelton
Joppa
Midlothian
Scotland

11^th July 1907

Dear Mr Partridge

I havent a morsel of news, this is only to say "How do?" & that I hope you are well. It will be near your time to come home, & I am not yet able to come out, & I hear the Ladies at Ikot Obon are leaving too in August. What then about our home & bairns & people & Court? I wish I were able to come right away. Indeed I was intending to go off to Grand Canary & stay there for a month or two, & run back with any suitable steamer, for there has *not* *been* *one* summer day yet. Only one Sunday was dry, so I got a cold making my *first* Call; & have not been out of bed since till yesterday. I was in the Dining room for a little seeing an Aunt of Mrs Wilkies. I have fire on night & day, but there's no comfort, notwithstanding all this, they will not hear of my going anywhere till the weather changes, & then I shall go to the Highlands. I have *not* *once* had a run on my cycle. I never saw such miserable weather, but I can walk all right, that weakness has gone. My fur Cloak has been a great blessing to me I can tell you.

Are you back in Ikot Okpene? When do you leave? How is it with you? Are the people doing well? Miss Peacock wrote that there was a lot of firing somewhere near, but she could not learn what it was. Very likely it was a funeral or a feast.

I have been reading Mrs Humphrey Ward, & "N5, John St." I suppose you have read the latter. The book you gave me, "White Capital & Black Labour" has been constantly on loan since I came. I was to tell you what I thought of it, but have not been able to write the last 10 days. I hear Mr Watt is home, an Uncle of His, a clergyman was calling here. His brother has got a very good post in Edinburgh too just now, & a very intimate friend of his mother's lives near, & visits often here, so I'm sure to see him. Dr McDonald has not turned up yet. His home is in Edinh. The Prince & Princess of Wales were passing here 2 days ago, & again were opening an Art School or something yest, in the City, but they might have been in Africa for all I could go to see. There are not many tourists in the neighbourhood, the weather is so bad, but letters from far north say it is not so bad there. I do hope you will get something better than this. If August is not better sport will be poor.

I thank you for ordering off all male visitors from the Use house. The girls say no one bothers them, & that I am to thank you. Perhaps you will repeat the proclamation before you leave. Have not seen Mr Middleton yet, nor heard of Davidson, tho' he said he wd be coming to Edinh. He is hoping to get on to the Road works.

Now keep strong. Keep cheerful, & come home able to enjoy yourself & to give joy to your friends. When you come you will please let me know. Also your address. All good be with & about you. I am most sincerely Yours M M Slessor

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 35

Kelton:

21^st September, 3^rd October 1907

Miss Slessor is feeling very well. She has been out and about visiting, and shopping for clothes. However she expresses her fears at the thought of Mr. Partridge's leaving the Calabar District, and wishes to return there soon. She has managed to persuade the Mission Board to let her return, and has attended small meetings in the Border Country. She is distressed to learn that Mr Partridge is ill. She has been doing more reading, and gives news of many friends and acquaintances.

[At head of letter is written "To C.P.jr. Stowmt."]

Kelton
Joppa
Midlothian

21.9.07

Dear Old Chief
Your letter is a rare treat. But it makes me very Homesick, & the very idea of your going elsewhere, & a new thing, & a new person at the head, is alarming. I cant imagine it.

I have been visiting old friends, & am just overwhelmed with the love & kindness of *all*. It is just restful to be called by your Christian name, & to hear people say. "How like your mother you are." & etc - but it *is* *hard* on the dear old mater! - I *have* been revelling in "frocks & furbelows." It is simply lovely to see the shop windows, & to examine & very nearly *envy* the beautiful creations the girls wear, & to look at the "milk & roses" of complection, & the beauty & roundness of form they all possess. But of course this is most unbecoming in the senior member of a presbyterian Mission! & you must keep my weakness a secret, & I am trying to take the plainest & cheapest of frocks out with me. Only fancy them telling me that my costume is like a brides rigout!!!! Really the three junior mission ladies, Misses Bencock, Reid & Aimes told me so when we all met the other day in Glasgow, & I confess to feeling ashamed to be in grey & silk when they were so modestly & consistently garbed in Navy Blue & I could be the mother of the lot!! Well, it is my last shew off, so I may be pardoned. Anaemic & debilitated or not, I am *not* well pleased at their leaving the station, & I should like to see the man or the Church Council who could *make* me leave any place. But as you say "I get my own will with my usual skill." I do not for a moment beleive that you will leave your district for good, till "the approaching civilization" has *quite* arrived. It is far off yet I fear.

I am trying to get an industrial Home of some kind started for women in Ikibio. & my friends are willing to come to the rescue. I have the promise of £300. from 3 individuals, but only for the Home, not for ordinary Mission funds. I am hoping that *shoe* *making* be given them for an industry. as I beleive there wd be great demand for shoes, the Plant costs so little.

October 3^rd
Dear Old Ruler I *am* sorry that this was left by mistake when I went from home, & that the whirl & constant engagements did not allow me the time or the mood to write another, & then comes your last letter with its woeful tale of sickness. & I could hit myself for my silence, tho' I thought really that you would not be bothered with my effusions. You wd be so busy enjoying yourself. This is MY turn now. I ought to be preaching to you. & telling you "it serves you right" for you are such an agnostic. & etc. etc. but I am too sorry to indulge in this, & I shall sing the *Other side* & remember all your constant & uniform patience & kindness to me, through thick & thin, & shall say that you are just a dear good old man, & that I *can-not* *beleive* that you will not go back to your work. I too had a severe month of it from a chill when I came home, and thought I should never get over the discomfort & the pain & fever & weakness, but here I am cycling all over the country & behaving like a young lady. So you lay aside that groaning & just "hurry up" & get better, & what if the days *are* growing shorter!!! You have the comforts of your own home, & you have the dearest ties earth holds, drawn tighter for your very sickness, & you have the prospect of bracing from the coolness! and you have !!! __________________!! Fill in this space as you know I should , & "count your blessings one by one", & think of the blessings that "might be" & ought to be, yours, if you * wd* take them, & then see if you are not brighter & more hopeful.

Have you good reading? It is such a good help to keep off nervousness & weariness to have a good book, & someone to read with.

I am home from a round of visits, & of small meetings down on the borders. and I called the other day on Mr Middletons parents. They were away from home, but he himself was at home with a young sister, & we had a good old Confab on the "dark Continent." His parents, like your own are Christian people, & very much interested in all Foreign Missions, & as they belong to our own Church are specially interested in Calabar, & they invited me some ago to stay with them. I was not able to do this, & was much disappointed at not seeing them. Mr Kirk the Engineer has passed away he tells me. He was all right, for time & for Eternity in any Case, for he was a devoted follower of our lord & saviour for all the 11 years I have known him. There is not much from Calabar this time. Just a note from Mr Wilkie, which tells of going to see the Use & Ikot Obon houses, & of not finding Jean there, as she had gone to Okpo at the request of the Old Chief there for a day. He found (Albuie?), & took her to Itu, & he means to take Jean Okogru, but I'm sure Jean will not go. It *wd* be better for them to leave things alone I think, for Jean has her side of the story, but I am sorely perplexed about it all, & cannot sleep at nights because of it. I intend to leave for Calabar by the boat leaving on 19th. the Mission Board are willing, though I have had a hard fight to get away. They were persisting in making me stay all winter "to get quite strong" on one hand, & on the other "To go through the Churches telling about Calabar & its needs." as if I could at my age do the one & gain the other. They are all (so?) very good though. They overwhelm me with kindness & with their confidence, & only trust I shall be worthy of it. I have very little news which would interest you. Mr Darlys parents & sisters keep asking me to visit them. His father is a Clergyman, & they are all such nice good people. Mrs (de-Rozwind?) also gives me repeated invitations, & I shall try to run down there. They are R Cs but He is a good man, & has ever been kind to me, & if they dont mind being of a different faith, I am sure I dont, for they & we have one and the same master & saviour, & I should like to give them any pleasure. if only to help pay back my debt to them. Mr Watt has not been here again. His uncle who is our Church secretary asked me to dinner last week but I was from home. I know many of his home peole here. Dr McDonald, who was at Ikot Okpene called one day in my absence to take a run with our cycles. He has not come back. I hear he has got engaged to be married, so he will be busy with his fiancee. A Mr Aldridge from Sierra Leone is writing a book - a sequel to a previous one, & he asked me to give him something in regard to a limited emigration scheme for the 200 odd miles of Railway which they have into a comparatively healthy & high hinterland. I simply cant get it done, as I am deluged with correspondence, but I would like to say something on the subject. Mr Middleton is to leave I expect about the beginning of November. Miss Aimess on the 23, or 30th of that month of fogs so I cd have company if I waited, but I cant see my way to wait, because of the empty station, & my big girls.

I dont know Bedell, & dont know whether I should do anything in the way of working with him, & may go farther on to find new ground. & leave the old place with the ladies who have done so well there. The governor leaves I hear with an early boat, about the 14th, I do hope Lady Egerton is again with him. It is so good for the country to have such a wife at ones right hand in times of perplexity & worry.

I wish I had sent the P.P.Cs [Note 1] I gathered from place to place, but I thought you would think them puerile. Would you have thought so? Had I known you were ill, I should have done so. Well, will you take this scrawl for today, & with it my apologies, & a great lot of sympathy, & hosts of good wishes, & prayers too for your wellbeing in every sense. & hoping that you will let me know how you are *very* *very* *soon* & that your Bulletins will be all good

I am Yours most sincerely

Mary M Slessor

I shall maybe write a book when we get to the other side of this world where the wicked cease from troubling & the weary are at rest. Certainly I shall not do so here.

MMS

so you can just take the time & place ( - ?) Mokop? [Note 2]

Editorial Notes:

P.P.Cs = Picture Post Cards
Mokop. Presumably an Efik word – meaning unknown

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 36

Aberdeen:

13^th October 1907

In this postcard to Mr. Partridge on leave in England Miss Slessor asks how he is and whether he is better. She is worried as he does not write, and asks him to reply before she returns to Calabar.

[Postcard addressed to] Chs Partridge Esqr, (Junr)
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England

(Postcard post-marked "Aberdeen 11.20AM Oct 14 07)

Why do you not write? Are you better? Do let me know about it at once, as I shall be off. with the "Fantee" [Note 1] on sat, first 19th.

I have not been much at home since I wrote to you. Am today & tomorow in Aberdeen but hope to be at Kelton, Joppa, Edinburgh, on Tuesday. After that address c/o "Alexander & Christie," 64 South Castle Street. Liverpool. Can I do anything for you? shall write when-ever I hear from you. With kindest regards, & hoping to get better news from you this time.

I am very sincerly yours, M M Slessor

13.10.'7

Dr McDonald called on Friday. He leaves in a week

Editorial Note:

"Fantee". Name of ship.

Transcription By: Leslie Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered: Ruth Riding, 1997.

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 37

25^th & 29^th October 1907

The voyage back to Calabar proves monotonous as the company on board is not to her taste. However the weather is beautiful, and she is in excellent health. She describes something of her time in Scotland and gives a list of people expected to follow her out. She gives her friend, Mr Partridge, good advice for his recovery, recommending him to spend his time recuperating by writing about the many aspects of life in the Protectorate that he knows so well, but he is to leave religion severely alone! The bicycle and cloak which he gave her are both on the ship, and she would part with neither. Apart from the dull company, she is enjoying the voyage and her appetite remains good. She looks forward to her return to Calabar.

To C.P.Jun.
Stowmarket

S.S.Fantee
off somewhere 25.10.07

My dear old Chief and friend,

I *shall* pity you, because you are not on board this boat. - not because the boat is fine, or the company good, neither would be the truth, but the weather!! It is superb. The sea & the sky vie with each other as to which shade & depth of blue is finer. & I am at odds with myself as to which I should crown, till another gleam of sunshine comes & obliterates the former glory. We had it heavy on Sunday, but from monday on , it has been beyond expression lovely. The night being even lovelier than the day. We passed the Islands during the night & are now fairly started for Sierra Leone, which we hope to make by Thursday next. A certain man named [Pinnet?], a D.C.[Note 1] somewhere they say, is here, & a couple of Govt. doctors, elderly men, but with the exception of Lieut Meiklejohn, there is not a man I care to speak to. Indeed it is too tiring to listen to the empty froth, about sweepstake & Bridge and drink, & the noise is sometimes like what one would expect in a gang of Hooligans, or from a taproom in a [slum?]. It is degrading to a woman to have to bear it. Still we are being borne to home & bairns & work, & so it has its particular compensation. I am glad, not with standing the heartaches of parting, to be here again on my way out. Had you been out, I should possibly have stayed a steamer later, or even two steamers, but the fear for what may be is too strong. I shall go to Use first & see to the two houses. They will be sadly out of repair after the heavy rains. I have seen a little of both Miss Peacock & Miss Reid at home. The latter called on us in Edinr, [Note 2] the former travelled with me on a journey to Aberdeen, & once to Alloa. They both seem quite fit & will be out early in the year. All the friends as well as the church people tried to keep me at home for the winter, & when I would not stay, they tried to bind me to a 2 years term, but I hold that in my own option, & though it was good to be at home, & to enjoy many things, it is far too tame, & far too exacting, to be borne willingly. Life is so full of conventional duties, which are as hard in their way as the real things of life, but much less satisfactory. Still I have enjoyed it, the white washings & pullings about to get me into society shape, not with standing. & I hope I shall be more Civilised & Christian in my manner of life for it all.

The Wilkies are on their way home. I spent one day at Dr Robson's, Mrs Wilkies fathers', & they are looking for them early in Novr. I saw Dr McDonald, who comes by next boat, also Capn Grays people, & Mr Middleton's & Mr Watts, but have no news. Mr Maxwell says he is to come & meet me at Lagos. I shall give him your good wishes, for I know you like & appreciate him. I am not sure if I shall see Colonel Montanaro at Sierra Leone, but we have a Colonel & his wife on board going there, so I shall try to through them. They have kept to their Cabin most of the time, as she has been rather sick.

I have no other hope of a break in the monotony of the voyage till we reach Calabar. No one seems to know whether the Governor has sailed, tho it was reported he had early in the month. I shall let you know as I get on how I find things, but I do trust the doctors will prove false prophets, as they so aften are, & that you shall be back at your post with in the 6 months. Are you able to write? If so, you should make the short wintry days in your room memorable for more than the invalids fretful life. You have so much to write about. Write!!! It will only need a beginning. What has been done, What *may* be done, What should be done in the Protectorate, the native, His habits, Life & Laws, Etc the Country, its produce, its possibilities, etc. but please leave *religion* out this time, as I don't deem you fit to write on such a wide, & inward subject. I think one should be surer & more strictly *located*, if I may say so. Your ideas on that subject are too loose & disjointed, & take too little reck of such facts as Sin. You don't even put them scientifically, & though the science of God will evade definitions, as final. It should be scientifically studied before being written about. How do you like that for plain speaking? You are my Friend, so I *dare* do it. However no one who has been in the Protectorate can do better work for it than you can, & I trust your being laid aside will stimulate you in this direction. Perhaps the stimulus will react on the body, & give you power to subdue the illness to a great extent. I like your pluck, & determination to conquer & to do it gracefully. I wish you good speed, & if your past is any criterion for your perseverance I hope the best, & may welcome you at Use, or much further on before very long.

Now don't be angry when I call your attention to a way which I have *proved* *often* & which it is well worth your while trying. It is an old fact & promise given in the Old Book which professes to be more than a human document. It says "I am the Lord Who Healeth Thee", & centuries later, the "Son of Man" verified the same fact & promise, & has been doing it still every where & at every time, where & when He has found a believing heart. *Try* *it*. I am always asking Him to do this for you & more. This is of course between ourselves, but I'm serious.

You think I should take a Bicycle out with me! Do you think for a moment that I shall ever part with the Bike you gave me?? How dare you think so? I have been all over the country on it, & at the last I was taking the hills as well as other elderly ladies did, & my precious Bike is packed & in the hold of this ship & will be my companion as long as it will hold together. I took it by train wherever I went, & I love it, & could be on it all the time. I got a carpenter to pack it in the same case as it went home in. I only wish I could get you for a race. I think I shall be able now to keep step with you. O do hurry up & come out, & I shall accompany you to Ikot Ekpene any day.

Now I must stop, as there are so many interruptions, & it gets cooler, so I must obey your advice & get on a wrap. What a comfort that cloak has been!! *&* *is*.

29^th
We expect to make Sierra Leone tomorrow morning, so I just finish of [Note 4] this in a sweltering heat. It is simply unbearable down in the cabin. I have no news. I have been writing a lot, as I must make up arrears. They had games Yest., which took up all the time & the interest on board. I am rudely healthy. My appetite is the wonder of all who sit at my table I think. I wish I could give some of it to you. Now "Hurry up" & get well, for one at least will be watching & waiting for you at the old district. I shall send on all news when I arrive. Good bye. God bless you, & thus pay some of the debt I owe you. Remember me to your family circle.
I am yours very sincerely
Mary M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

D.C. = District Commissioner
Edinr. = Edinburgh
Colonel Montanaro, had headed the Aro Expedition of 1901, and during the aftermath had shared his launch with Mary on a visit up the Enyong Creek to Amasu, a major Aro town.
Presume she means "off"

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 38

23^rd November 1907

A letter to Mr. Partridge who was still in England recovering his health. It tells of clearing up operations ordered by Miss Slessor on her return to Calabar. She has a poor opinion of Mr. Biddell, the new District Commissioner, who had not sent her any message for the fortnight she had been there. She plans going to Ikpe to see if she can start work there. She relates the tale of a local man who, having got drunk, ran amok with a sword and narrowly missed killing the man who disarmed him.

To C.P.jr.
Stowmarket

Use
23.11.'07

Dear Old Man,

How are you? & Where are you today? I am sure you would enjoy this brilliant sunshine more than the grey misty bleakness of that far off land. But you may by this time have escaped from it all. Are you to winter in England? or do you go to some of those southern places where you will have the joy seeing invalids of all conditions, & of all stamps & types. That seems to be the role invalids at home have to play. I am sure it will be a very disagreeable one to you. If you saw how rudely healthy I am !! It would make you envious! I was amazed to find myself walking up & down that hill, & to go along to church, finding it quite easy, & wondering how I ever found it difficult. I got here on the Saturday before last.

A number of officials came on board, but I did not know their names. They said that Mr Beddell was expecting me to take up the work again. One man came round from (Fascados?), who said he was to releive Brooks. I saw a note to a "book" [Note 1] of Hallidays, from the Ikorofion Court, saying that Ikot Anye was his, so he must not yet be gone.

Mr Beddell passed up from Calabar on the Thursday before last , & went to the Court, where he evidently thought he would meet me. He asked them if they wanted me back, or some such thing to that effect. He said he thought I wd be here, & that he did not know Use. But he could have sent a note with a C.M.[Note 2] if he had not time to call. However, I have not heard of, or from him as yet, & it will be a fortnight on Monday since I came up. He may not be well, or he may be busy, but a note wd not take long to write, & I certainly will not take any notice of any thing till he does write or call. I could not fancy you in such a position that you wd not get a message sent. I went up to the Court, just to please them, they were all bothering so, but I sat at the back, & only listened. The children were meanwhile working at the House taking down the bush & putting on fire. I told Halliday to give two boys on the first day he had time, to put in a post that had fallen, inverting the roof of the back verandah, & also paid a visit to the school. There were only 20 scholars but it was a market, & a Court day, & the bell was but newly rung. The old Chief Udo Ekandem, is very poorly. His jaws are stiff, & he is worn to a shadow. His chief wife, the mother of Imana, died on Sabbath morning, but the town was quiet, & 300 people were at the service. It is worth going home, to get such a welcome. The chiefs were all down the morning after we arrived, & they cleaned all the bush & the road before the sun was high. The place is begun to be homelike & clean now. The main road would raise your ire, I had a proclamation made at Court, that it was to be cleaned at once, I am intending to go to Okpo this afternoon, as tomorrow is the Communion day there. Only my litle girlie has hot fever. They have built a new Church at Ikot Obon, a fine building, & have straightened all the road. They dont know how to express their admiration of the White Man's country, which could do for me what this visit has done. I purpose going up to Ikpe, to see if I can begin work there, in order to reach some of these incorrigibles behind. They always tie up my C.Ms. I shall probably go next week, but shall be tied to Ikot Obon till the ladies come back. I have no news. Things seem to Hmm at Lagos, & Railways form the subject of discourse. Northern Nigeria is to the fore, but all our men, Gray, Middleton, & Maxwell, etc. wish to come back to Calabar. There is great upturning among Political Agents, in Calabar, Daniel Henshaw is on bail for something like £250, & several others are up. Your own boy Esien is up, but his people do not know what the charge is, or whether he is convicted or not. My children saw him in Church at the first, but he was not there the last 2 Sabbaths before we came up.

I saw the Enyon men at Church that Sunday we came. They were down for Ekandem Nmo Akpans palaver [Note 3]. He has paid £200 to one lawyer I think he has had 3 employed in trying to get out of the finding of the Courts. They are waiting I hear for Coco Basseys finding which was given to you at Ikot Okpene. The dependents were down for a week & were told, that the Case was again put off. Ekandem says, he will spend his money fighting them rather than give them the money. He is a very obstinate man, & as proud as Lucifer, & he will accept no overture of reasoning to better issues. Everything seems quiet, even to stagnation. But there is plenty to do here. Mr Gray says we can develop the cocoa nut fibre for matting, also basket making in our women's industrial scheme & he will help us.

Dr R, was telling me he had been telling Beddell that so & so, an Itu man - was a brute, & etc. etc. Is that fair? though indeed the man is not good. Is it fair to the very worst, to (pregiduce?) [Note 4] them in the eyes of a Magistrate? He is an insufferable man. There was a narrow escape from a tragedy at "Russells" on Friday, or Thursday. A runaway, these (Bonry?) people, of Adelines, had been in the bush for some days, seeking to escape with a household, & goods etc. etc. He got mad drunk, & went into the shop & broke everything, & took to the drink, & flourished a sword to those who interfered. Everybody ran, & left Mr Underhill to tackle him alone. The man made to stab him in the body, but he put aside, & got only a wound in the hand or arm, in wrenching the sword from him, the man was then caught & taken to prison, where he died immediately from the drink presumably. Again, there was an Efik boy stabbed by his own boy that night, but the wounds - in the side, & arm are not very serious. It never rains but it pours.

Now my time is up, see that you get well quickly, & come out. Gentlemen are scarce here,

God bless you & heal you

I am very sincerely yours

M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

"Book". Probably a local term for an official document or statement
C.M. = Court Messenger
palaver = usually a discussion, consultation, Court Case
presumably "prejudice"

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 39

7^thDecember 1907

Miss Slessor gives details of a proposed move by her to another area, Ikpe, when the new ladies arrive from England. She has already been there and describes her visit, demonstrating her powers of diplomacy. She apologises for her hasty judgement of Mr Biddell, who was on patrol, and gives various general news.

To C.P. jr.

Stowmarket

Use

7^th Dec 1907

Dear Old Workfellow & Boss,

How are you on this bright morning? Im hoping to hear something from you by this mail, for truth to tell Im rather anxious. It seems a year already since I left Britain. Yet I have not done anything. The last week I set off by canoe from Okpo, for Ikpe, the big market town at the head of the Anyan Enen Creek. How I have wished that you were at hand, with all your knowledge of roads & places to help me. I mean to seek pastures new, when the ladies come, which will be before very long, & as Ikpe have come so often to beg for a teacher & a visit, I went before beginning the Court work. I found that it was a very large market. That it is a monopoly of Eniyon & Efik have been strictly kept out. That from Abiti Okpenyon's farm I can get a road to Ikot Obon, that from Asua Abasias farm I can get a short road to Ikpe which wd suit my cycle in the dry season. That the Nkana town was a little over an hours walk from Ikpe, & 3 hours faster than our canoe was, that from the latter 2 places & from Ikpe, one can make Ikot Okpene in one long days walk. That from Ikpe my policeman - whom I met there, had gone to Amamowo, - Aro - & walked over in the afternoon, & that six hours takes one to Bendi. While our bad & hostile members of Use & Aka & eversomany more, are all on its borders & attend its market. That there is a Church built, & 21 names of full grown men are to join as Xtians [Note 1], & 20 lads at least, with a sprinkling of women, who were not guaranteed as they may succumb to pressure. that they have advanced some distance in the knowledge of Xtianity, tho' no one can read, & that they regularly meet for worship, & keep the Sabbath. - This thro' the Eniyon Xtians, who wish the Sunday market stopped. The Chiefs were riled at the Xtians not hunting for, & offering sacrifices, lest they should all die thro' the neglect. But they were pleased that I gave command to obedience in all unessential matters. They gave me plenty of chop [Note 2] & fowls, a sheep & etc, & if all goes well, I shall stay in the vestry of the Church till I build a House, & make that my head quarters, when the ladies come. How will you like to meet me there?

I have not yet seen Mr Bedwell! He was on patrol so I was judging him hastily, still I think he might have written a note. He called while I was away, but left no note, & as he did not send to say he was coming, I was not to blame for being out. His A.D.C. [Note 3] came up one day. The day I came from Okpu service, & he saw my cycle. He had just come up at my back. I was not yet in the house. Sidney I think his name is. The men came - at this busy season from their farm work to attend the Court on Thursday but found Halliday was at Ikop Okpene, but no word had been sent. I'm glad I did not make a fool of myself by going to find no Court. In fact I had fever that day, so did not attempt it. I found Okono Nguo the C.M. [Note 4] at that distant market, & he said the Consul at Ikot Ekpene sent him. If he did, He did a greatly indiscreet thing. It is too big a temptation to the man, & it is an infliction on peoples who only partly belong to this Court, & it is besides too far away from supervision for a boy to have a roving Commission - with Blue Clothes and Brass Buttons.

I could not buy a penny worth with English money. They lied like Troopers. Every thing was either sold, or they had just bought them. However I did not say anything. The C.M. came to tell me some men called him "Dam fool" when he asked them what they did with a gun, & they threatened to kill him, which they cd. easily have done & escaped. I went to seek them, but they hid, & I told the boy to forgive because of the master of the house, as they only lodged their things in his house on market days for the few hours they were there, & I am sure they, the Culprits, were hearing me, so I did as diplomatically as I could, assuring the C.M. that when they knew us better, they wd. act differently. The Chiefs here said, the White Man had done a few good things, but had done many bad things to them. I met that too, as tactfully as I could, trying to let in light. Esien is to be tried at the Assizes I hear. For raping 14 young children, *for* *holding* *communication* *at* *least* - if nothing more, with Slaves & Murderers, & etc. It is a dreadful indictment.

I had to stop here as my provisions came up. Mr Rosario kindly sent to Itu for them, & then before I got them opened Fever was on again. Ive had a fine night of it, but it does not reduce me to the weakness it used to. I'm staying in bed tho' & am sending the Children to help in the service. However it has put an end to my writing, for the whole day was lost, & I'm afraid to attempt anything more. - Jean saw a White Man whom she did not know, go down the beach road yesterday. Mr Fosbery sent his kind regards up, saying he did not know I was coming else he wd. have come on board, but I have not had a chance yet to speak to him to convey your message. If I could get a way back, I wd. go to Duke Town on business, but there is only the weekly str. [Note 5] & that is a long time to wait. There is no news. Did I tell you of the mad man's attack on the store at Russells? & of Mr Underhill's personal bravery in tackling him? His wound is quite healed. He has turned out much *finer* than we thought. He is not a bad fellow, & is a prime favourite with the people, so very kind hearted, & loved by the poor. He has a young clerk named Jones, a fine lad, who has been having fever like myself lately. Robertson says he is going home by March boat. I wish March were tomorrow. Now. I must get my letter sent down to the beach. So say good day, with an apology for such a shabby letter. God bless you & supply your every need, as He *only* can. I am ever yours faithfully & sincerely

M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

Xtians = Christians
chop = food
A.D.C. = Aide-de-camp
C.M. = Court Messenger
str. = steamer

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1997

Letters 40–49

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 40.

1^stJanuary 1908

Mr. Biddell has still not written, so her original estimation may have been correct (letter no. 38). Most of the letter is general information but, in particular, Miss Slessor gives details of bridge building in preparation fo an 800 man punitive expedition into the upper part of the protectorate. She has a high opinion of Mr. Rosario, the engineer, who was very obliging to her, having brought up her supplies without being asked.

To C.P. jr.
Stowmt.

Use
1. 1. '08

Dear old friend,

The first letter of 1908 shall be to you. I am truly glad to hear at last that you are better & getting up a bit. I trust that by this time you are getting out for a little, & that the festive season has been a happy one. I had Miss Chalmers from Duke Town when the last mail went, & so could not get a bit written to you. She went the other day, & I am alone. Mr Rosario came up with his asst. engineer, & spent a couple of hours with me in the morning, which was exceedingly kind of them. Mr Underhill was to have come up last evening, but cd not get away, & the whole of the Europeans at the beach are dining tonight with the Robertsons at Itu. The Doc is so very much at that beach, that I suppose he is bound to give them a night in return. He will be going home in March. The Engineers have just been putting bridges all the way up the Creek side, for an expedition of 800 men who are going far up into the Aro Country, to a place where no European has yet been, & it is partly I hear to avenge the death of a man named Smith. I do hope & pray, that no harm or Killing may come of it. It is such a long & unknown road. The bridges are the palaver [Note 1] of our Court, are they not? There was some disturbance in the market a fortnight ago. A Major something from behind Bendi came & took rods [Note 2] from people in the market, & gave English money, & the Aro Policemen caught a number of our boys, & Enyon boys on the road to & from farms, & threw them into their steel canoe, our boys dont know how to paddle any small canoe, much less those great things, & some of them were hurt, & their clothes torn, & their things all scattered & lost, as were the goods of many women. So the next market was attended by about 50 women, & they wd. not accept rods, & all the villages are expecting to have the white man come & take their rods from them. The one cry I heard was for Udo Afia Ikot Okpene [Note 3], who flogged - this is a parabolic term in their tongue - them for dirty roads, but took care of them from strangers. I have been trying to conciliate them all round, but it is a pity it happened all the same, the market shd. be free from panic, if the country is to prosper. The Ikot Okpene folks have been out on patrol again I hear. Halliday has been on holiday since before Xmas & is not home yet. I have never heard a sound, or had a scrap of a pen from Beddell, so am snubbed for true, & the natives are wondering why I cant help them. However, I am not out of employment. The old Chiefs at Ikot Obon & at Use are always asking when you are coming, so are Itu & Eniyon. If you saw your road, I tell them, they would not like to see you. But they say, O we would soon clean it. It is harvest time, so they dont take any notice. I have no news. There is little trade doing at the beach. In fact, almost nothing, & 2 companies are begun at Itu with factories, or Houses of trade. Mr Underhill works out fairly well, & is very obliging. He kept my little thief boy well for me, but it is not a reformation yet. My girls are all at home, & all doing well, & have forgiven the slanders, & wilfull misrepresentations heaped on them. They are all cutting bush for farms. I will be going to Ikot Obon, this or next week to repair & prepare for the two ladies. Mr Rosario says there is a fine camp which they are done with with good clearings, & good water, if we want to open a school. It is 8 miles from Ikot Okpene, but I am to go up to Ikpe I think as soon as the ladies come out. There is nothing to hinder me seeing the Court is out of my hands. I shall go out on my cycle too to see this Camp, but not till the House is ready for the ladies, as they should be out in 2 steamers more. I am thinking of building more here, but cant get labour yet - & making this the Industrial home for women. Getting the artizan to live at Ikot Obon, & the two ladies who will take charge of the home, here, & let the teacher ladies go on to that Camp, or somewhere farther on. I have written this home, but it will take some time, even if it is recommended. I had a young lad in on his way to Ikot Okpene. He is for the telegraph. It was on Sunday, & he came to Church. He did not get much of a Xmas welcome from anyone in Calabar, nor an invitation to the sports or regatta or anything. He seemed a nice lad, & will be going out & in every month he says. I do not intend he shall lack a welcome at this side. I took Miss Chalmers round the Eniyon towns. We spent a night at Akani Obio. We got a great welcome every where. Aro Chuku has a fine fellow, according to the natives, in place of Mr Cotton. They are highly pleased, but the Interpreter will follow yours I fear. Esien has sent thro his lawyer letters to Eso, & Udo Ekandem, & Ofon Ikot, for £100, from each, for bail, but it is preposterous, they can no more give £300 than they can give the moon. His poor Mother is heartbroken, no one knows the charges made against him. Poor Esien!! They all say, "O if his master were here when he is tried!" but you cant be. Eh? The trial is to be at Ikot Okpene I hear, & by the Judge. I hear there are quite a crowd of ladies in Calabar. Mr Fosberry sent his Comps. & said had they known I was on the str,[ they wd have called on me. His wife is there, & very nice I hear. I have not heard from Lagos yet, but expect to by this mail. There has been some kind of a fight at Xmas in Calabar, between Kroo & Efik men, & 2 K Bs [Note 4] were killed. But I have no particulars. Nor have I news. A white man passed on Monday as I taught school at Use. I bowed, & He lifted his hat & walked on. Mr Rosario is my only friend here & the factory folk & they are most kind. Rosario cd. not be kinder if he was my brother. He brought up all my provisions, 19 boxes, without any asking, or giving me any trouble, & the roadway & every thing he has seen to. He came up on Xmas day & sent me a ham & Plum pudding, & here he is today again, lest I shd be lonely. But I'm wearying to see you again, for your place cant be filled by any of the others, good as they are.

Now let me thank you for the book you sent. I have not read it since I was a girl, & I have enjoyed the oldworld gentlewomen, who, after all are more to my taste than the new woman. Im too old for the new clever independent brand I fear. It is so --- no! I shall not enter on any dissertations, for the mosquitoes are really agravating even if they dont bite me. Now I'm off to bed. Wishing you the very best year that ever you have had. God be near to you, & reveal Himself to you in all His Fatherhood & love, & make you strong in body for farther & even better service than ever. My Best regards to your family circle, & believe me ever Yours Faithfully & sincerely
Mary M Slessor

Saturday, 4^th. Latest news. On their way down to Calabar from Ikot Okpene today, there passed, - & came in - Colonel MoorHouse, Major Trenchard - & a couple of Capns. who are engaged more or less if not actually going to the front, at this big Expedition. Middleton is gone to the East, & is therefore not of us any more. aurevoir

Yours truly

MMSlessor

Editorial Notes:

palaver = discussion, consultation, Court Case
rods = brass rods were a medium for barter; local currency
Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. Charles Partridge's local name
K Bs. = reference unknown. Possibly Kings Borderers in the West African Field Force. The nearest battalion was however in Cairo.

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 41.

20^th January 1908

Miss Slessor thanks Mr. Partridge for a plum pudding he has sent her, and hopes that he has recovered from his illness. He is still in England, but Miss Slessor hopes for his quick return. She has seen Mr. Biddell for the first time, and has agreed to take up the Court work again. The Road has been inspected for the expected visit of the Governor, and there is news of visitors and other people known to him. Her misgivings for the large Expedition are expressed, and she fervently hopes that there will be no bloodshed.

To C.P.jr.
Stowmt.

Use
20.1.'08

Dear Old Comrade in Arms.

How are you today? & Where? Your last letter gave hope that we might fight again side by side in this old district.

What a Plum Pudding that is? the *real* old fashioned thing. No trimming about this article. There was no word of mails till Tuesday morning when Dr Robertson came up, & he jumped on Lemon [Note 1] on his way home, & the pudding & the Xmas mails were sent up at once. It is far too kind of you, you dear old boy! I'm very grateful, but you do far too much all the time for me, & I can do nothing for you in return. Nothing but pray for you. but that will *not* be in vain, - I know. Well, did you have a good time at Xmas in the Old Homeland? I'm sure you would, at least you would give great pleasure to those who love you there, by being with them, & thats a great deal to do. We had it quiet here. Have you heard the awful news about that man Smith who worked on the Road here? Isn't it horrible for a man of education to fall so low? He has got 18 months imprisonment with H.L. [Note 2] His poor wife & baby!!! How are you keeping? Is the good progress toward recovery still going on? I do hope so! & that you will be back to your work again this season. I do hope so, very earnestly. I have at last seen your substitute! on Saturday last. He came in in the morning as he went to Itu, & stayed a couple of hours. He is an enlarged facsimile of Mr Maxwell. I told him I did not a bit mind the snub he had given me. Two months only & not even a note! He apologised, and spoke of the 2 patrols he had been on. & of having called, & I was not there. I listened & laughed & asked him if there were not a C M [Note 3] to spare to take a note, or if he cd. not get time to write a note? I kept it up, & he did not know what to say, but spoke of all he wished to do, & was anxious to do & etc. etc. & we made it all up. The Governor had written asking him to help me in any way he could, which was most kind. He asked me to take back the Court work, & I have promised to take the superintendence of it, with Halliday for Clerk. When I am away of course I shall not be there, but I shall keep my eye on things as best I can. The Ikot Obon ladies will be out next month, & then I shall be off to seek for pastures new. Keeping this as my home, till another is built, when it *may* be taken over by another lady as a womens industrial station. My new home will probably be Ikpe, the big Market Town behind Use & Aka, from where, I shall hope by teaching & personal influence to win those wild Ibibios, & perhaps touch Ibo people as well. If I cd. get a boy to take school there, to be there while I was down here. I shd. like it, but where's the trustworthy Xtian [Note 4] boy to be got? Mrs Fosbery spent 2 hours with me this morning. Mr F. & some other Europeans went on to see the Road, as they expect the Governor in a few weeks. Mr F may not have time to call on his way down, as they will have a fatiguing day, so I *may* *not* be able to convey your comps to him, but I told his wife. She is very nice & very much interested in the Country. she asked me up to breakfast with them at Ikot Obon but I had a small crowd waiting for palaver [Note 5], & I cd. not. Halliday had a big fall from his Bicycle at the Bridge at "Russells" a fortnight ago. He tried to run alongside a truck which was coming, with only a foot or two of space alongside, & he was thrown down some 20 feet. He was limp, & lay as dead for some time, but it was shock. The injuries were not so serious as was supposed, so after a week or more in the Itu Hospital he came back all right. I dont think he relishes the Censorship of this lady. He certainly will have to shed a few luxuries, & be more punctual at his work. He has had a splendid time, but I shall make it as easy for him as I can. He gets quite a small crowd of ladies always at his place all the time. The General, Colonel Moorhouse, Major Trenchard, Capn Moir & suite passed two weeks ago, from Ikot Okpene. They were full of this Expedition to whats the name of the place. 800 soldiers and hosts of white men have gone. They passed up the Creek Rd. on Wed., I think of last week. I do hope there will be no casualties to either side, I cant bear those dreadful Expeditions. The very sight of force raises their - the natives - apprehension, & goes to make Trouble. There is a mans life to avenge in the affair, but they are not keen on revenge. They want the good of the Country.

Since writing the above Mr & Mrs Fosbery have been in again. I gave your message. He told me he had had a letter from you. Mrs F. was very tired, they have had a long day of it. They are all very eager to know how they can help me. It is so good of them, but except in the way of finding new roads for me, there is nothing that any one can do to help me. Except to pray for me. All the surroundings & circumstances of the district are the same as of old. I hear no news. Your Interpreter is still waiting his trial. Mr Biddell has gone back to Itu with the secretary. I may see him as he comes back. All the down & up river folks seem well. A new man at Aro Chuku seems to catch on with the natives. Now my time is up. So Fare Ye Well. God bless & strengthen you for your work which waits for you. All the Chiefs ask about you, so does Yours ever sincerely
Mary M Slessor

Mr F is pleased with the state of the Road. The Govr. will have a motor when he comes. MM

Editorial Notes:

Lemon. This gentleman mentioned in Letter 57, perhaps connected with the Postal Services.
H.L. = Hard Labour
C.M. = Court Messenger
Xtian = Christian
palaver = usually a discussion, consultation or Court Case

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 42.

15^th February 1908

Written to Mr. Partridge, who is still in England, telling him of a visit to Calabar on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of the Goldie Memorial Hall. She finds Calabar a very clean and tidy place but the heat oppressive, causing her to have a feverish temperature twice. Some local men who went to collect debts in a distant village have been imprisoned there, and she is very worried about their safety. The road has been renovated for the Governor's visit, and she has been for a cycle run on it. General news.

To C.P.jr.
Stowmt.

Use
15.2.'08

Dear Old Governor
How are you now? Does the life & movement of the Spring awakenings stir in your blood?

I do hope by this time you are beginning to get warmth & sunshine, & that you are ready for the open air & the brightness of a different summer from the last one. I am so sorry to have missed the last mail. I went down to Calabar to the Presbytery. *Had* to go, to try to carry them with me in plans for work up here, & for Industrial work for women, & I meant to write to you there, when I had got all the news of the City, also a "Stone" I dont know if it is the foundation or what you call it, of the Goldie Memorial Hall was to be laid by the Hon - - -Fosbery. I was to give you all the news, but lo! I was laid down [Note 1] a very high Temperature twice over, & so all writing was knocked on the head, & I did not get to see a single Shop. The function was all right. Mrs Fosbery was there, very prettily dressed, & very gracious & beautiful. We had tea afterwards in the Principals House, & Mr Fosbery was exceedingly happy in the whole undertaking. I did not know the gentlemen who were there, but there were three ladies from the Consulate, & all were very nice indeed. Mrs Fosbery gave a garden party next day, but I was in bed. There was not much going on. I was in the Rickshaw all the time & had a good round of the whole place, but though everything looked trim & clean & nice, the heat was too intense & the ground too dry to be refreshing, & all was strangely quiet. Bennet died of black water last week. He is an old trader. But health is not bad. I have not seen Mr Biddell again. I hear he has gone round to Ikpe. Four men from Use went to a distant place called NKara to ask for debts due to them & they have been seized & kept, & it is now 5 days. There is a great mourning & weeping, & I am not easy in my mind about them. I shall send to Ikot Ekpene if other 2 days do not bring them. The Court is a great trial to me. It has got into a dirty irregular line of working. I shall turn over a new leaf next week, tho' I do not like to seem to reflect on Halliday. There is no word to be had about Esien. You would be sorry for his mother. I cant get your boy at the Rest House, but he is not gone home I hear. Etim is at home with his mother since before I came out. Miss Peacock will be out next boat I expect. I have been trying to get her house ready, putting new mats on. Things move on in the old way. There are great cryings out for Udo Afia Ikot Okpene [Note 2], whenever anything goes wrong. You will get a warm welcome back again. The value of the water is not realized till the well runs dry.

I wd. like to build here, but cant get the men as the farm season is at the busiest. The Road is in beautiful condition. The men have been all over it, & it is as good as any road at home. I ran down to the beach on my Cycle last evening to find some Calabar boys who have been breaking the peace. It was a fine run. I have *not* been to Ikot Okpene yet. Yes, *it* *is* Your Station, in the opinion of every body. I shd. like to see it, but I would not go under present conditions. Mr Rosario will be going home in a few weeks, so does Dr Robertson. Mr Underhill has had some fever & has boils. A new Engineer, Mr Hanson, is on the Road, a fine fellow. They are seeking a road to the back of the projected new factories at Itu, but cant find one except at 2 1/2 miles round. Do you remember how you tried all that long ago? & the latest comer is always the *first* to do it.

This is a miserable scrap, but I have to write to the Church this week, & I'm not *too* fit, tho' Im well. Hurry up & come home to your work. God bless you & yours, I am ever yours sincerely
MMSlessor

Editorial Notes:

There is a change of page here, and the word "with" appears to be omitted.
Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. Charles Partridge's local name

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 43.

5^th February 1908

Programme and hymn sheet, issued at the opening of the Goldie Memorial Hall (see letter no. 42).

This item consists of a folded sheet. The text is given below:

Front page The Goldie Hall

Laying of the Memorial Stone

The Hon. W.F.W.Fosbery, Esq., C.M.G.

Hope Waddell Institute
Calabar, 5^th Feb. 1908

Page 2. Hymn 469

In the name which earth and heaven
Ever worship, praise, and fear -
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -
Shall a house be builded here:
Here with prayer its deep founations
In the faith of Christ we lay,
Trusting by His help to crown it
With the top-stone in its day.

Here as in their due succession
Stone on stone the workmen place,
Thus, we pray, unseen but surely,
Jesus, build us up in grace,
Till, within these walls completed
We complete in Thee are found,
And to Thee, the one Foundation
Strong and living stones, are bound.

Fair shall be Thine earthly temple;
Here the careless passer-by
Shall bethink him, in its beauty
Of the holier house on high.
Weary hearts and troubled spirits
Here shall find a still retreat;
Sinful souls shall bring their burden
Here to the Absolver's feet.

Praise to Thee, O Master-builder,
Maker of the earth and skies;
Praise to Thee, in whom Thy temple
Fitly framed together lies:
Praise to Thee, Eternal Spirit,
Binding all that lives in one, -
Till our earthly praise be ended,
And the eternal song begun !

Page 3: Programme.

Scripture Lesson 1 Chronicles 29. 10-18
Prayer Rev. A. Cruickshank
Praise Hymn 469

Laying of the Memorial Stone

The Hon. W.F.W.Fosbery, Esq., C.M.G.
Provincial Commissioner E.P.

Prayer Rev. R. Collins
Anthem "O worship the Lord" T. Smith
Benediction

Page 4 [Text in a border]

The Rev. Hugh Goldie, to whose memory this Hall is being built, was one of the pioneers of the Calabar Mission. He took a deep interest in the education of the people and with the Rev. A.Robb D.D. made a thorough study of the Efik language. His chief work in Efik is his translation of the New Testament. He also wrote an Efik Grammar and numerous school books in Efik. The greatest monument to him is his "Dictionary of the Efik Language" which is remarkable for its completeness and is a perfect storehouse of information on native customs and idioms.[Note 1] As a pastor he was greatly loved by the people of Creek Town who called him affectionately "Etubom Akamba" - the great Master. On account of his interest in Education it is fitting that this Hall should be
Erected to his Memory

Editorial Note:

This book was given to the Dundee Public Libraries as part of the collection of material donated in memory of Mary Slessor. It is described elsewhere in this database.

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 44.

29^th February 1908

Another letter to Mr. Partridge in England in which Mr. Rosario (engineer) again receives high commendation, having built a path from Miss Slessor's back door to the road. She is planning her women's industrial centre, and a basket maker has been requested to come to advise and help train the women. Mr. Biddell has been rather muddled by a nearby market dispute, and Miss Slessor laid down the law on the matter, asking that she be asked to deal with it in future, along with any boundary matters.

Use - Ikot Oku
29. 2. '08

Dear Old Governor

How are you? There was no word last mail, & I'm rather anxious. I do hope it is better word this time, & that you will start with the Spring. I shall be glad when the mails come up. There is not anything in the shape of news. Mr Darly turned up last week as a great & most agreeable surprise. I have a very great regard for him, & was very glad indeed to see him, though he does not look any the better for his hard work, & long journeys. He was having fevers, but is better since he came. He & Mr Rosario went together to Ikot Okpene to see the Road.. It is in fine condition. Rosario is a man of action, & knows his work & is a splendid disciplinarian. They also ran up to Aro Chuku, & examined the embankment there. That all on their "Bikes", for the road at the side of Creek is fine. Mr Rosarios men made most of it this year, as the big expedition had to go up. What has come over this expedition I have never heard. Messrs Darly & Rosario brought their tools, & r formed a fine path for my Cycle & me out of my *back* *door*, not steep, & I can run on to the old road, & come out up beyond that bit of hill over which I had to lead my Cycle every day. It is quite tempting now to go out, & I can bring it up to the door without any trouble. O, *I* *love* that dear thing!! I spent an hour over it today. Cleaning it all over. I had a visit from Mr Biddle on Tuesday morning as he came up from Itu. The Fosberry (*Family*) were at Ikot Okpene last week, so Mr Biddell came back with them. They did not come in for it was almost dark. She is a dear lady, & quite as interested as Lady Edgerton is in every thing. Mr Biddell had another message from the Governor asking him to see how he could help me, & I have given in formal form, a statement that they can give us a basket maker from Duke Town to shew the girls the way to do the sand basket used on the road, & to tell us which of rattan plants in the bush is best & most durable, also, to get any road widened & cleaned for me to any town or district where he thinks I can have a good influence & do any work, or ditto to any road I can find out for myself. Also that I may take any men in Custody to work here instead of them sitting at Ikot Obon tending Halliday, as I think my influence has some effect in softening & etc, them. Dont smile an ironic smile here, for I'm speaking the truth though you may think Im an Egotist. To All of those requests he gave most gracious response, as far as he could. & he pressed me most earnestly to take my place in the Court as I used, & let Halliday be my servant: not to ask him to send me a C.M. [Note 1] or a prisoner, but just to send for them. He had also a story about that foreshore we got for Itu Embankment & Rest House. He cant find your papers, & he took Halliday to interpret, & Ibok Eyo Ma of Obok Etim - beast - forbids certain things, that the place belongs to him, & Mr B- is in a mist, that Ekandem of Ntiat subsequently sold it to Ibok after the Govt. had it: & ________ Rubbish I said Mr B- next time you go there call for me. The whole thing was done by the Whole Court, boundaries fixed, prices allocated, & etc. etc. all finished & Ibok Eyo Ma has simply nothing to do in the whole matter except that he has a house in Obot Etim, & they have only a few yards of land there. What a mares nest it all was!! Then comes poor old chief Ekandem of Ntiat to say, "Ma, were you not there when we fixed the boundaries & etc etc, the White Man Came & etc. etc. I said "go home & sit down my friend. Your very name is the proof that you own the soil. The name of Ibok is an alien. I told the White Man I wd. come when he next went to the palaver [Note 2], so dont worry." Poor old man. You should have seen the look of light & releif that broke over his face.

Mr Rosario goes home by this mail, so does Dr Robertson. The two ladies from Ikot Obon are out with this Str [Note 3] I expect, & will be up here on Monday. I shall stay here tomorrow & get the house nice. We have put new mats on, & cleared it all round. Here is the Catechism Class, so tata for a bit.

Sat - night The rain & thunder keeps threatning. While my class were scattering, *both* Mr Darly & Mr Rosario came in & stayed till it was almost dark. They have said good bye. & I feel so sorry & so lonely. There is really *no* *one* now left whom I know. It is prayer time so, as I see I have lifted a single sheet, I shall stop here. Mr Darly very particularly begged to be remembered to you. He heard that the governor was in O.C.[Note 4] but no boat was up till then. I wish you were back. & going about again. "All men seek for thee", natives I mean - so do I. Write soon. Kindest regards to all your family circle, & heaps for yourself. The bairns often wonder when you are coming. They all say "Kom Enge". [Note 5] No word about your boy yet, or Esien. I am dear old man Yours sincerely more than ever,
M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

C.M. = Court Messenger
palaver = usually denotes discussion, consultation, Court Case
Str = Steamer
O.C. = probably an abbreviation for "Old Calabar".
Kom Enge = Efik for compliments/greetings

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 45.

10^th March 1908

Mr Partridge has still not made a complete recovery, and Miss Slessor is unable to give him much news of his two workers Esien and Edu Mantu. She speaks of her annoyance at having a Court cancelled without her, or the peoples', knowledge. Although her Court papers had been removed by Halliday the clerk for auditing, [she thinks eleven days excessive for this purpose] she has held the Court without the books. At last the ladies have arrived to take over, and she may move to a new district. She is doing some building and a carpenter comes in for sharp criticism. She tells Mr. Partridge of a 14 year old girl who has been bought and sold in a manner akin to slavery, and of her efforts to trace the girl and return her to her father. In the postscript she complains of Mr. Biddell's negligence at having sent only one note and one telegram to her since his visit.

To C.P.jr.
Stowmt.

Use Ikot Oku
10.3.'08

Dear Old Man

Your last letter is not very satisfactory yet. When are we to hear that you are in the garden, or having a drive or feeling the spring pulsing through your veins in newness of life again, Eh? Hurry up !! I'm very wearied waiting for you, & the surveyors were also longing for some definite news, for the old adage holds good in this District, "the value of the water is only known when the well is dry." Im sorry not to be able to tell you about your boy Idu Mantu, but I shall send a C.M. [Note 1] back to Itu Rest House to try again. You see I do not know anyone there, & I dont know the folks at the beach now, & Etim has been with his mother since I went home. Not a word can I hear about Esien. His poor mother is distraught, & does not know any thing about the charges made against him either. His brother is angry with him, for the sorrow he causes his Mother. I will ask about the men you mention, when I see Halliday, but he went at the end of the month, with his books to make up - to Ikot Okpene, & has not come back. This makes 11 days he has been absent, with all the books. Im glad I took a few summons & warrant forms before he went, else things wd. be at a standstill. He sent a note last *Wed*, saying "I am instructed by DC [Note 2} to *tell* the *Court* that there will be *no* *Court* *next* *Thursday*. no date. I sent to D.C. as a C.M. was passing, & he said by Telegram same night, that it was so, as the books were all there being audited.

When I saw over 200 people! & Jury Men from far & near, & this their busy season, I felt the injustice of it, & just held the Court, using papers, & we did a good days work too, but I think it will be as easy & much more satisfactory, to let Mr Biddell dispense with Halliday, as he is inclined, for I found one or two suspicious things on Thursday last. If his books are all right, what does he need to wait 11 days for? over a months work. He is a great bother to Mr B - I have no doubt. I am going to dispense with 2 or 3 Itam chiefs. I shall take at least one Warrant this week. He is a beast, & a disgrace to the Court. He came Himself, neither you no I elected him, Akpa Nya, of Ikot Anye. There is no word of the Governor coming yet. The Ivy [Note 3] came in to Calabar last week, & there was a false alarm. He comes *this* month they say. Our road is beautiful. He will surely be pleased with it. Rosario is a fine workman, & good disciplinarian. We shall miss him. The Ladies came to Ikot Obon last week. They are both well, & very happy at resuming work. They have Bicycles with them, so there will be some running about. Miss Peacock & I went to the Beach together last Sat. morning on business, on ours, i.e. our Bikes. I can do very well I am quite sure, & my Bike is a darling. I wd. not change it with any one, or anything.

I am building here. I got a Carpenter, but O, he is a beauty! You remember trying him for a very unsavoury & very common sin here. Wilson is his name. He loafs still in Itu, they wd. do any thing to get rid of him. A woman had him up last month for assault. The foreman of the Rds Dep [Note 4] sent up his Carpenter this morning to help him, as he was idle. I met him on the road & we were talking, so he thought he wd. help me, & I got 6 men on hire to work to their hands. Net result of the work of 2 carpenters, each at 3/- [Note 5] per diem, & 2 apprentice lads, with six labourers to their call. The sawing of a piece of board four feet in length into 2 pieces, the nailing of same into place. railing of 3 pieces of wood from one side of the house to the other, 8 feet wide. & nailing on of 19 sheets of Corr. Iron.[Note 6]

They went off together at 7.A.M. came back at 11.A.M. Kept the labourers from their meal & rest till 12; holding said pieces of wood for them, then began to put on Iron [Note 6] at 4.P.M. while I sat over them. Knocked off at 5.P.M. & had the *cheek* to come & say to me "Good Night". Have I been a sweet- tempered, sweet tongued Xtian [Note 7] lady today??? I *was* to the 6 labourers for they did splendidly, so did my own old C.Ms who have both been here all day. Ekpenyon, & Okono Nguo. But those _______!!! Mr Rosario said one day before he left, "We have a thing there calling himself Carpenter, *but*, I could not send him to you Ma!" This is the "Thing*. He heard a few plain truths today. I have not got the time fixed yet for going to Ikpe because of this work lying - men are not to be got for hire just now, & partly because the ladies overstayed their time & put me in a fix. When ever this is done, I shall go off. The rains are floating about, but are not on yet. The heat is something intense during the day. The last 3 days have held hours in which one simply wilted, It is dreadful. Planting goes on apace. I went to Ididep last Sunday, & round those farms, as Ikot Obon is supplied, & it *was* *hot*, but I was none the worse, & the people turned out splendidly, & were a very appreciative people indeed at every halting place. If only I cd. use my Cycle more, but that Ikot Obobo road, with its stones & hills knock me to pieces.

The ladies beg to be remembered very kindly to you. They have a lively sense of your kindness to them all the way home, & are so sorry you have not had so good a time as they had. Did I tell you of the Use men who went to Nkara nearly a month ago, & were caught & held up? Mr Biddell told us they were at Oyo, & he wd. have them brought from there to Ikot Okpene to be tried at once as to the reason of their detention. There is not a word since. I have sent back a note to Him to ask the reason they are not coming home. There has been great mourning & every thing standing still here, as they are all people of standing. Rather a suspicious case came up too 3 weeks ago, like slave dealing. A man of Ikot Edok, long ago sold a bad slave who came into his hands in the old questionable way. John Coco had the case tried & the man was sent to find the slave. He got him back, but as he had only the price of one man in hand, & the Inokon dealer wanted four - It is 2 persons to redeem one in the old law, the Dealer said Give me your daughter as security. He gave her food, & gave the dealer Mibiam [Note 8], but he got 9 months from John for selling the slave. When the 9 months were over he went for his daughter, that is between 2 & 3 years ago. I was at Ikot Obon. The girl was gone - sold to Calabar. He mourned for her, but could not trace her. 3 months ago, she turned up, ran away & came up in the Govt. Str.[Note 9] A Calabar man went to Ikot Okpene with - Halliday wrote to me - a *note* from Chief Justice to D.C. - which was sent to him, so that she shd. be arrested & given to her owner, *Who* *had* *bought* *her* *14* years ago. Where was John 14 years ago. Who forbad Inokon to sell, or went to see 14 years ago? & the girl is not much over 14 years old. Halliday arrested her *without* a *warrant*, & without shewing me the "note" & gave her to the Calabar man. Mr Biddell was to have her sent on to me, but she has doubtless been carried farther on , & he has not found her. I have sent her father to Ikot Okpene after her once again. Mr B will bless me for a Blister to him, when he is so busy, but what can I do? There are the same number of wives who will not "Do" their husbands any more, & there are the same number chasing imaginery wives & Dowries of the long past. a good number of assault cases, which I dont like, & quite the usual number of young men, specially at these beaches, who - trusting to the [leniency?] of Consular days, take quite a comprehensive interest in the womenkind of all & sundry. The young people here, as in Britain are going the Pace in the freedom of their own wills.

Now, all the bairns are gone to bed, & I have had a long hot tiring day doing the "Headman" over these workmen. So I am off to bed. I shall add any thing, if any thing turns up later on. Meanwhile I am dear old fellow worker Ever Yours Very Sincerely,
M M Slessor

Sunday - & posting time. Have been to Ididep & etc etc etc & had good meetings. The girl in the slave palaver came yest. with her fond father, she is not 14 years old. Biddell sent her home to her people. Use men not home yet. That Iron those carpenters put on had all to come off next day. It is all nail holed in a starry pattern now. I sent them off till I cd. rest & get my Bile down. Halliday was back Wed. evening for Court, but I brought down his books & entered my own work & cash, myself. It was more trouble than to do all the work were it not that the prison & court house is so far away I shd. take over the whole thing. Biddell has been ill Hy [Note 10] says. I have had *one* note from him since he came, & one Telegram so we dont make much headway. I have not got my mails so have no news. I shall send the girls with this, to go in the morning. Mr Underhill came up on Friday afternoon. He has done fairly well for Russel. Goodbye once again Yours sincerely
M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

C.M. = Court Messenger
D.C./DC = District Commissioner
The Ivy = a Steam Ship
Rds Dep = Roads Department
3/- = three shillings [or 15 new pence]
Corr. Iron = Corrugated Iron
Xtian = Christian
Mibiam. "The liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely." Mbiam can also mean "The oath so taken, & hence sometimes applied to any solemn oath, whether mbian has been used or not." from Charles Partridge's copy of the Rev. Hugh Goldie's "Dictionary of the Efik language".
Govt.Str. = Government Steamer
Hy = assume this is a reference to Halliday

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 46.

29^th March 1908

Miss Slessor responds to Mt Partridge's complaint of lack of details etc in her letters. The Governor is expected this week, and gangs are kept on the road to clean it. She reviews her contacts with Mr. Biddell. Government soldiers and officials have been ransacking villages, and one soldier has been found murdered. The chiefs long for Mr. Partridge to return. One bright part in this letter to Mr. Partridge is the good work done by Jean, her adopted daughter.

Use Ikot Oku
29. 3. 8,

Dear Old Man

I feel quite hopeful over the last letter. It is just as cantankerous as the proverbial convalescent could make it, so I hope for you at last.

I'm so sorry that my epistles are so impractical, & so tantalizing, just coming to the point & stopping. Well it is good for boys to have their desires curbed some times & I hope the result of these draw backs will be to keep you humble. Your boy is quite beyond my ken. Underhill does not go out much, & I seldom see him. Mr Hanson the new Engineer on the Rd. does not know any one, & I have only seen Mr Biddell once for a minute since he brought Mrs Fosberry. *She* was here for a few hours, but He, Fosbery, only looked in, & all he said, was, I had a letter from Mr Partridge. Im so sorry he has had such a long hard time. That is all that passed about the District, as they were very tired & the evening was coming on. Then at Calabar. It was a public function, & during the reception afterward, I was held by the ladies, & had to leave before the thing broke up so we spoke nothing of shop, or of people. The Governor is not up yet, so I have neither seen nor heard from him. He is expected this week. Lady Egerton had an At Home last week, or the previous week, but that is all Ive heard except that Mr Hanson has been told they come this week, & he has companies of boys on the Road. So I *may* see him, & shall report. Try to put on patience for news till next mail, & I shall be the truest & most explicit of gossips. I have as I say never seen Biddell, except on the occasion he called because of the Governors request to help me. Then his convoy of Mrs Fosbery. Then we met on the road, & he was feeling so slack after fever that it was the merest chit chat on the Rd. I have had occasion to write to him half a score of times at least. I have one note, & one Telegram, & a question at the end of a natives appeal to him from a fine of 15/- [Note 1] by the Court. The question fills 2 lines. So you see I have simply nothing to tell you, as we, & our district are left severely Alone by Europeans.

Esien!! If I cd. get a scrap of news, I shd. tell his poor Mother, who is a pitiable object in her solicitude. They know only what I know as to charges & trial & etc, which is Nothing. He is not tried yet as far as we know. Halliday says that 11 of the men were caught, but the head man is still at large, tho' a price is on his head. I'm so sorry I cannot enlighten you on one of your questions. The men who were caught at Nkara - from Use, are not home yet. They have been weeks & weeks at Ikot Okpene & the answer their people got last , was the White man is sick & cant judge. A party of soldiers passed to day going up, & they attacked a woman with 16 yams [Note 2] on her head, & took them all, striking her with a gun. Okon Antias people. Last week, a party of Govt. Men of some kind came down, & 3 villages have been with the same complaint that they kicked up a row & scattered all the villagers pillaging the plantains & taking seed yams from the stack. etc. While one man & his wife ran up here panting, saying a soldier?? took his wife as they walked up & when he tried to help his wife, the Govt. Man made to stab him. Eventually the woman got free, & they ran in here. A soldier was found dead, murdered or shot or something near Ntan, on the Ikot Okpene road. The Head Man of Ntan is in custody over it, but there is no clue to the murderer, I myself beleive it was done by a pedestrian who ran for it, & doubtless the soldier was guilty of meddling with him. All this last week a procession of Chiefs from everywhere ______ *Ikot* *Aba* among them, have been here to plead with me to save them from the White Man, as they have no connection with the other villages, & know nothing of the murder etc.

The Court goes on as usual. The one cry is, O that Udo Afia Ikot Okpene were home again. Amen! Halliday is a great amusement & a great trial. If I were to stay, & if it were you, I shd. find it easier to do the whole thing alone. I shall be going to Ikpe, & etc, so cant take it, & wont serve under present regime. I mean *fully* serve. The Bridges are up all the way to your station long ago, but I have been little further than Ikot Obon. The ladies & I are to cycle out 8 or 10 miles one of these days, but the rains are heavy. Now you will think this is a shabby letter, as I do. I sat 8 hours on Thursday, from 6 o/c till night I was occupied on Friday & all night I was out at Ikot Obon with a woman in trouble, got home at dawn & was at it yest. till late, was up at midnight with a twin mother who died overnight after a week of severe suffering leaving her babies with us. Ive had a hard mornings work getting the body buried & Jeans room cleaned, where she lay. Jean is treasure. I cd. not do without her, she has nursed that woman, & had those babies - with a motherless boy she has had since its birth 9 weeks ago, & she never ties her face. She has not let me have a baby over night at all since I came out. So my nights are unbroken, tho I hardly think she can manage 7 of them. The children are gone to Ididep to hold service, my service has been here & of a queer kind today, & now the letters must go down. I have had a dozen men working, building all last fortnight & Im tired out, but it is getting cooler, & Im strong, & the Halo is far off.

This is an unsatisfactory epistle, but my home mail has been a heavy - official- one this time, so you must e'en take this, & kick it when you are finished, if you like. Where ignorance is bliss - It wont hurt me, & it may ease you. Hurry up, & get well & come home to your work, & if I dont get news by next mail for you, I shall *invent* some? Eh?
Yours most sincerely
M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

15/- = fifteen shillings [or 75 new pence]
yam. a potato-like tuber, and a staple food
Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. Charles Partridge's local name

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 47.

15^th April 1908

Miss Slessor tells Mr. Partridge of everybody's desire to see him back in control again. The governor has been up into the colony, but did not pass Use, his car having done no damage to the new road. The large expedition seems to have been a success, and only two or three soldiers were killed. Cadbury's, the chocolate and cocoa manufacturers, had a man there at the time investigating the possibility of commercial planting. The remainder of the letter is general comment on gardening, planting, summonses in the district, and a humorous description of her hair, both when young and now she is older, occasioned by some comments of Mr Partridge's.

Use Ikot Oku
15. 4. '08

Dear Old Man

How good it is to hear you joke once more, & to know of a truth that you are really on the way to recovery & that you hope to be ready for another fight by July. May God grant it be so.

From ever your letter came, things seem at last to be happening. Halliday sent to Aro Chuku to attend the Assizes & next sending word by a C.M. [Note 1] to tell Esiens brother at Ikot Obon to go to Ikot Okpene to gather Esiens things - which of course I forbade - a *verbal* message from Halliday, big man as he is, is not sufficient for this - but it seems to indicate that Esien is tried, &??? His poor mother has never been informed about the Charge yet, You wd. be sorry for the poor old thing. Mr Russell is come, & has called & been as usual, a big friend to all the bairns. He with everyone else, is wishing you were back again. "Wull ye no come back again? Better lo'ed ye canna be, Wull ye no come back again?" I think we must all keep on singing this, & if theres any thing in the new fangled notions of Telepathy & etc, we may draw you. The Dr - Leonard - or something, has come. He called on his way to Ikot Okpene. He is direct from the "seat of war". The Governor went up as I think I told you and instead of returning this way passed round by Bendi, & so to the place where the Expedition were working - or operating isnt it.? & he will come out up the Cross river or somewhere. Hanson, the new Engineer was with him as far as this road went. & he kindly came in as he came back. He is a rarely nice lad. He answers your question as to the road & bridges, better & later than Mr Fosbery. He never left the saddle of his Bike till he reached Ikot Okpene, from Okopedi. The motor did not hurt the Road one single bit. I would tell you that last week.
Eh?

Biddwell is gone to Calabar sick, some one said. he wd. likely be sent home, He was so unwell. One person said, I fear he takes Cock Tails. - of course this must be for yourself alone, for I've been sad & rather uneasy about that idea. I do not like his rule, frankly, but He is such a handsome fellow, & he has sisters, which means he is some womans love & hope, & he is a British officer, & I'm sure you as well as I, will hope that that is not true. The Use people are not home yet. Their people have been to see them again last Monday, & I gave them a small book [Note 2] asking if over 2 months were not too long a time to keep the heads of families without trial, specially as it was the months of farm & produce, by which their families were kept all the year. A verbal answer to the effect that they cannot be judged till the assizes are over at Aro Chuku was all we got. I am completely at the mercy of Halliday for any Message or Command, all verbally given by him. Several of these reputed Messages or Commands have been flatly refused & nullified by myself. He ordered the C.Ms. to go to Edem Inyan, with only the name of a woman & bring her as a witness for - ?? - the Chief Justices Court. I simply dared them twice over, to go to any ones house without a warrant, or at least a book, & specially did I forbid their going to another district, as my honour as well as Hallidays was bound up in the conduct of the Court. Halliday said, they will not obey me if you say so. All right, I said, I shall sacrifice Law & everything to the pride of my Clerk. & I gave him a small book to Aro Chuku D.C.[Note 3] asking them to send a C.M. from that side if they wanted a witness for their own Court. It is a funny business all of it, but for the sake of the people, I am holding on.

Mr Russell is to see after your boy Idu Mantu, as he has an access I have not to that side. I'm so sorry I have not been able to trace him yet , probably he has been there all the time. The Expedition seems to have been satisfactory. An officer got sunstroke & died at Calabar. Two native soldiers were killed, something like a dozen wounded, & 2 or 3 deaths from Pneumonia from a Tornado over night. Not a bad record. It is a *Grass* Country, not bush, & they have good cattle & seem very well off.

Cadbury of Cocoa Fame, has a man here seeing about the capabilities of the land in their direction, & I am thinking we might do something on this bit of land. There is an Epidemic of twins, we have two pairs, the poor mother of one pair died with us, & Jean has her hands full. Now for my crack news. *Udo Antie* is Home, at least he is at Obot Etim from which he was a Cats paw. He was brought up by Str [Note 4] last Saturday, & it was the Market day in the Creek. Surely the White people shd. do things with some prudence. Curiosity led crowds to look at him & see what they cd. learn for scandal. He came up here Monday to give me Compliments. He had previously sent for Imana Udo Ekandem, but I forbad him to go, or to have any truck with him. He wore shoes & stockings & a shirt & hat, & the same Loin Cloth they brought to him when he was taken away. I dont know if it is "Ticket of leave" [Note 5] or what, But the White Man breaks his own law too often, & makes it ridiculous in native eyes, & they undermine their own footing making heros of criminals. Udo is doleful over his Mothers death. He says "I cant go back Ma, Every body seems to be dead, or gone away, & my Mother gone, & I have no wish now to go." I gave him yards of scolding interspersed with Advice, but as he is still in the hands of that scoundrel Etim Walker, there is little hope for a straight forward policy. The latter gets the Credit of getting Udo off.

There are 2 or 3 murmurs of coming claims on him for past misdeeds. Tomorrow is Court day. I have done all the work since the 3rd of this month, & still Halliday is absent at Aro. Before I went back to Court, the Chiefs & people went up like that to Court any day, & found "No Court," - & whatever happened in the District got leave to happen, no one cared. However it is less trouble without him. I hold 2 summons forms for which 10/- [Note 6] each was charged, & 5/- [Note 7] entered on the summons as prepaid. He does not know how to get over this. Both were revealed during his absence. He has 1 or 2 C.Ms. always with him as his attendants, but I have more than hinted that I wanted them for work, so he has but one this time.

If he acts for Judge at Aro, Judges Court, shd give him a C.M. I have my Cycle to tidy up for tomorrow & as the flies are a pest I shall stop this tirade of scandal & do that other duty. O, I was to get the Akani Obio Chief & his Canoe for my [entry?] on Ikpe during the first days of this moon, but he too has been summoned to the Chief Justice' Court as he is one of Aros big men., so I'm still here, but as busy as busy can be. We have got a room finished this week except for the sand on the floor, & the girls are planting & gardening very busily. The Use lads get on very well with their books too. Now good night God bless you

Sat 17^th
Yesterday morning I went out to the Crowd & the previous days' Court books, & did not get in till 3 o/c, & today I'm washed out, & as slack as can be, & as I have a few letters to write for home I shall close this. What a horrid letter it is. Im ashamed to send it, but I cant write another. A young Engineer named Beattie has gone on to Ikot Okpene to open the road the Governor went by the other day. Messers Hanson & Underhill were up last night, they told me. Hanson spelt the name of the place he, the new man, was going to open the road to as [Uturu?], an unknown country. Underhill says the market & the district are not what they were last year, & he attributes it, as I do, to the want of the *personal* supervision, & the want of that quick *sympathetic* *pushing*, which the natives need, & you know how to do it. The presence of their White Father coming & going over their districts gives the feeling of security & endeavour to all & sundry. Yes! you are a very modest man! I have no doubt. "*I* did half of it." *I!* who have never been 10 miles along the road yet. Who have never even seen Manya!! Yes, I have done half - I have no doubt. I have done the *Whole* O & more than that. What I have admired both in your book, & in all your subsequent writing & talking has been your contempt of all kinds of embroidery. Your illness will not have developed the talent I hope. It is so very prevalent in literature, & in all public & social life at home. Let me give you good advice dear boy. speak the TRUTH, & nothing but the truth in days to come. AND AGAIN Do not let your imagination get the upper hand while you are - [APART?] -, it is one of Gods greatest gifts to man, but unless it is in a world of facts & forces, & has to play the game of give & take to the full, it will lead you to be a dreamer of dreams & & a "se'er" of visions. & a D.C.- there is no pun meant - must be made of sterner stuff than mystics are fashioned from, so keep your inner optics in good order & training, for out of your dreams has come the best Joke of the season. "You have very pretty hair," "It looks best uncovered" & etc, etc, O my heart!! A good many have shared the joke, & it isnt finished yet. I was "Carrots" - & "Fire" to my brothers & sisters, & my poor hair was the bane of my girl hood, so much did I dread the "Carrots" part of it, & now in my old age it has "Gold Glints" in the sun. Yes, *in* *the* *sun*!! The poor half dozen white threads that barely covered the scalp during the last 2 or 3 years, have multiplied exceedingly from my trip to Bonnie Scotland, but alas! that the "Carrots" should have developed into a baser metal than gold, with which even the sun cannot conjure!! So my dear boy, prepare for disillusionments, & if I take your advice - as I did last sunday after reading your epistle. Know for a truth, that it is not for health reasons that I wear a hat, but because there is nothing now on my pate to "Glint".

Yes! I took your advice, I never once removed my hat all day from 7.a.m. till 8.p.m. & before I was at Use, I had fever. It is the first time in my experience I have been able to keep on my hat so long. & the woeful result was quite the unexpected. I am sleeping - sometimes when it is not too hot - under a net. I *have* several times during this term taken quinine, I am drinking from a [Prana?] sparket - the Filter I may indulge in soon, & I WORE MY HAT, will that satisfy you? The rains have come, & I feel much stronger since. I *am* careful, but I shd. like more cycle exercise, & as I am working round by Ididep & the back of Use, there is not any chance of a run. I have not time for daily rides, as I am building, & the people crowd around so with their palavers [Note 8], & the girls at Ikot Obon are so busy out of doors at their school & their house work that I dont like to go there. I have not once cycled up the Creek side & now the mud is begun. The Nkura is near Ikot Okpene. Nkana *is* filthy. I slept - or tried to - there. Tata, the Children say Kom Etubom [ Note 9] O! they asked to whom I was writing

Trusting this epistle will not tantalize you, I am Yours very faithfully
M M Slessor
The ladies never fail to ask for you,
MMS

Editorial Notes:

C.M. = Court Messenger
Book = Probably a local term for an official document or statement
D.C. = Dictrict Commissioner
Str = Steamer
Ticket-of-leave. Licence for leave granted to a prisoner or convict before the end of his sentence
10/- = ten shillings [or 50 new pence]
5/- = five shillings [or 25 new pence]
palavers = usually discussions, consultations, or Court Cases
Kom Etubom. To give thanks to, to salute or give compliments to. "Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 48.

9^th May 1908

Mr. Partridge is still in England, but recovering well, and all Miss Slessor's friends hope he will soon return. Mr. Biddell however is still unwell, but has been communicating better with Miss Slessor. There is news of Esien Mr Partridge's former interpreter who is in Calabar Prison. She gives news of the work of the Court which is busy, and she thinks the area is now more lawless instead of improving. She closes by thanking Mr. Partridge for the papers, etc. he sent.

Use Ikot Oku
9. 5. '08

Dear Etubom [Note 1]

Your last is such a lift from the former letters. You have been down stairs & out in the garden! O I *am* glad, & the ladies at Ikot Obon, & all the native friends are so pleased to hear the good news, & we are all again beginning to measure the time when you will be back with us.

Mr Biddell is out of the Hospital & back at Ikot Okpene but he says he is far from well yet - He came up last Saturday & looked in at my window & handed the girls a tin of Beef Essence & some Quinine for me, but I could not even turn to look at him, as I had a sick headache with my fever, & was fairly floored. I was all right in a day or two again, & am as fit as possible now, but I was off duty on the Sunday. The girls went to the farms & held the services & I crawled to Use in the evening. Mr Biddell sent me a note - the first - by Halliday when he came back from his monthly trip with the Books, & He was to send another with answers to several queries & with two policemen to effect apprehensions too dangerous for our unarmed & simple C.M.s [Note 2] They have not yet come, but doubtless will soon, so at last I have a sort of hold, & have regained my faith in the fact of a real person at Ikot Okpene. He was not pleased at Halliday going & staying at Aro Chuku. He says it was not he who sent him. Who did? Halliday says the ADC. [Note 3] is coming to inaugurate the new coin this week. We shall see! The Governor gave me a handful when he was up, they look fine. The Gov- was back at Itu, for Mr Russell saw him, after he was up here, but I saw nothing & heard nothing further than that short talk on the way with the motor car in the midst of the admiring crowd. We are quite in the back wash now. We know not any one, & no one comes here at all. Mr Russell will have written to you. He went to Calabar a week ago, & is not yet returned. He is a fine man, & he appreciates your work & your character. I have not heard if he saw your boy. He will tell you himself. I had a letter from Esien last boat, in which he presses the question of bail on the Ikot Obon Chiefs again & begs them to go down, but as they know nothing about his affairs, they refuse to interfere. Certainly they cannot look at £300. So he cant be tried, as he writes from Calabar prison, & says nothing of Aro Chuku. So Hallidays story is all a lie. Ofon Ikot is to send him £9 at once, & to bring his boy to see him, but Ofon Ikot says, he has hardly money to keep & take care of the family with his Mother & all, & tells Esien to get his money from where he put it, as he never gave him or his mother either any help. So I must blight all Esiens hopes I fear when I write tonight. He is certainly a selfish beggar, for he has never a word of pity for his Mother. We have been having quite a crop of Telegraph men & their matrimonial & domestic troubles in Court lately. What a place that Okof Eni is! As bad as Asan I think. We are kept busy at Court. The palavers [Note 4] never have a slack season. I think the District is more lawless instead of being better as the days pass. I have no news, have seen no one since I wrote last, & have heard nothing. I have not yet been back to Ikpe, but that district comes a deal to me.

I have no news, & am ashamed to send this silly scrawl. I'm trying to pull up Use a bit, & some of the lads are begun to read & write. We hold worship in the little Church every evening. Ekpo is blind nearly. They always speak of you. The ladies ask to be remembered to you, so does the Court, so do my girls, so do I. With thanks for letters, papers, as for scores of other things & for your self & with best regards, & hopes that you will grow stronger daily now with the good weather. I am Yours most sincerely
M M Slessor

Have letters from Mr Middleton He rather likes the new place.

Editorial Notes:

Etubom. An Efik word, meaning unknown
C.M.s = Court Messengers
ADC = Aide-de-camp
palavers = usually discussions, consultations, Court Cases

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 49.

30^th May 1908

Miss Slessor's district has been plagued by illegal arrests without warrants, to such an extent that people are afraid to venture out, and formerly prosperous markets are coming to a standstill. Udo Antia is again involved. Her rounds take up to 8 hours each Sunday, but she is now able to do this which she says is a great difference from the previous year when she was not fit enough. She and the rest of the staff wish Mr. Partridge a speedy return, perhaps in July.

Use
30. 5. '8

Dear Mr Partridge

How glad I am for the continued good news of your recovery, & for the definite statement made by your Dr that July may see you quite fit for your post. You must take a lesson from other D.C.s [ Note 1] & take a little more care next time, for the way you worked was, to say the least of it - suicidal. But it was or *is* fully appreciated [eg?] by most people, for if you heard them when things do not come to pass, and things are coming to pass! When Udo Antie came home, I told you of his coming to call. Then I told you last time I think of our going out, "The Ladies" & I, to Itu Udo to see the old Rd Dept [Note 2] shed. Mr Hanson sent a dozen boys to get it repaired & sliding Bamboo doors put on, but the people refused the money I sent them.

[ start of page 2 - Miss Slessor appears to have omitted a word or words}

would not allow the boys to go to their Edefs [Note 3] to get either Mats or Bamboos. The boys begged them & told them it was not the Consil,[Note 4] but "the ladies" who wanted to come & teach you & your children, etc. They said - they swept the Manya Market, & had done their duty by the Govt. & had been burnt - & all the old story, & that now their chief was dead & they were reduced in circumstances & etc etc they only wanted to be quiet, & let the boys go away. They all had matcheats [Note 5], but they did nothing. only they did not let them go to their Edefs for stuff. Ibiaku ran away from us also.

However the sequel proved that their fears had some ground. Ibiaku has done some thing & Udo Antias boys while he has been away, & he summoned them, & they took their summons to Imuk, who told them he cd not enter the palaver [Note 6], sent them off. This was done because Imuk was a member of Court. Then the Akpun [Note 7] of the Udo Antia house who has defied the Court for 2 years, & has eaten the summons & warrants of the Court for all that time, who refused to come in to Mr Mansfield, Who waited two days for him, was apprehended by Halliday for "Contempt" - & Udo came back to me, with his old palavers with Ntit Obio all written out, as if they were new, & that a few days ago his brother had been apprehended by Imuk, & tied up, & etc from Imuks house. I said it was a regular warrant that took his brother, & he was brought in the usual way, & asked him to come to Court & hear the charges, or charge. He passed by the Court, but his brother pointed to Imuk in Court & said, that was the man who had brought him here, & etc. He was answered of course by the Court, but was remanded for a week till Halliday cd get all the charges tabulated to shew him. Meanwhile Imuk was sent for by Udo Antia, & the poor fool went, Udo tied him up, delivered him to his boys, who again delivered him to one C.M. [Note 8] to take to Ikot Okpene on a charge of murdering 2 boys. I sent to Biddell, as I cannot have any person in this district apprehend any other person without a warrant from this Court, & by its officers. Biddell wrote in the "Yellow" style [Note 9] of this sensational murder *by* the *Ibiaku*, & I think hushed it, & *went* *to try & bribe Udo Antia* to Hush it. It is too funny to think of Imuk on such an errand. "That Udo" took out 2 summons & etc. My reply is, if Ibiaku did take the summons to any one to plead for them to help it is only Native fashion, & Imuk cd. have been *summoned* to this Court. It is quite competent to deal with "Hush up". Halliday says Udo took 2 summonses for household stuff destroyed by Ibiaku, belonging to his boys, & never followed up the action by appearing. Biddell is to let me know How this White Elephant develops, & poor Imuk is in prison, & all Ibibio is in the same old state of fear for Udo Antia, & the Markets which have been going down steadily, are now "nil" as far as Anan is concerned. No one will walk on the government road out more than 2 miles beyond Ikot Obon, & poor Mr Underhill is frantic, & all the native traders are crying out for Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. [Note 10]

If you heard the Jurymen about you as they heard Udo, & Biddells letters on this affair read. One man - an old Itu Court man, said please Ma, tell the Consul if he is to go into these palavers, he should call all old members of Itu Court to hear. They will give him the key to this, & also produce evidence." I claim too with the Chiefs, that Imuk be tried at Ikot Obon, as there is only some witch medicine in the murder palaver, & Imuk has nothing to do with it. I have also said that if Udo Antia acts with other Courts in defiance of this one, or if he can do any thing in the way of arresting the people, my connection with the District ceases at once. So thats the secret of Abiaku & Itu Udos failure to meet us, O Udo is again King in Charge

I'm sorry not to be able to tell you about your boy, but really I cant find him. Esiens mother stopped me last evening to ask again to gain some news of her son, but I am as helpless as she is. The A.D.C. [Note 11] passed on Saturday & will call probably on his way back from Itu. He is a nice lad & works well. I have not time for more. I have a sick baby who will not stop crying if I lay him down. I had 2 girlies very ill - a remarkable thing for this healthy hungry household, all the last fortnight they kept me night & day, but they are better & I am very well. I manage 8 hours on end trudging & talking every Sabbath. I go round Ididep & Ntan & Ikot Etim & back to Ukobo & Use, & am never the worse. Thats a difference from last year.

The ladies beg to be remembered to you. They too are well & busy.

Why are you so sarcastic over the Road surveyors & their greetings to you? If you want to know their names, they are Messers Darly & Rosario, Who are gone home now, but have a very high opinion of you & your work here. The latter before he went away said, they only now knew what the District owed you, & At Russells it is the same story. An old friend of yours whom you put on the Court was here the other day. His son had been killed, & the man with the "smooth head," - not the Efik for baldness, gave a verdict for 20 goats & let the man go free. "O Ma, Where is Udo Afia? Tell him to come back!" etc. Baby will not be quiet so must stop. The flies are so annoying.

Thank you for all books & papers & letters & everything, & Hurry up & come home to your people.

God bless & heal you completely to this end. With all kind regards
I am Yours most sincerely
M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

D.C.s = District Commissioners
Rd Dep = Roads Department
Edef = appears to be an Efik word, meaning unknown, - but perhaps "stores"?
Consil = Consul
matcheats = machetes/matchets, broad heavy knives
palaver = usually discussion, consultation. Court Case
Akpun. Perhaps "first-born son". There are a number of meanings to this term in the Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie.
C.M. = Court Messengers
"Yellow" style. A reference to the yellow press, meaning exaggerated or sensational.
Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. Charles Partridge's local name
ADC = Aide-de-camp

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Letters 50–59

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 50

20^th June 1908

Miss Slessor apologises for not having written to Mr. Partridge. She had been visiting the Presbytery in Duke Town and had been much occupied there. A large boil was also causing her great discomfort. While at Calabar she had made a disressing visit to Esien, Mr Partridge's former interpreter, in prison there awaiting trial. Various news of friends and neighbours.

Use Ikot Oku

20^th June 1908

Dear Mr Partridge

You did not get a letter last Mail, for which I am sorry. I was at the Presbytery meeting in Duke Town for a week & was so much taken up with visitors, & visiting & running out on my Cycle with the Mission Groups, & etc, that I cd not get other than the official Mission letters written for that mail. Then I had a boil, a huge thing like that I had when I went to the Govt. Rest House to [Note 1] you about Dr Robertsons Ground Plan, Do you remember being so angry at my attempt to climb the hill in the heat? Well the thing has kept me for a week, almost lying on my back with applications on it & now it has broken I cant well sit up or raise my arm to write. But I cant let another week pass. I have been 2 weeks in continuation absent from Court, a thing I never was guilty of before.

I met Mr Biddell on my return, at Okopedi beach. He looked much better in health than he was before. He did not call on his way back.

Mrs Fosbery kindly sent a Hammock for me while I was down at Calabar, so I had a very nice little time at Govt House, but the Gentlemen were on duty, so I saw little of them, & have no news to give you.

I went to see Esien in Prison. The Superintendant was most kind. Esien did not know all the charges against him more than we do. He owned to an ugly one, but not to having helped or hidden murderers etc, nor to the abstraction of the "White Girl" you spoke once of to me. He cried very very bitterly, when I touched him, & when I was on my way out of the Court, I heard an outbreak that cut me to the heart after the doors were locked. I cd. not sleep that night. I told him you had never once failed to ask for him & he broke down then, & said "Will he never come back?" "It seems so long", & groaned. I dare not tell his mother all. I have not told her that he is in a cell by himself, among dangerous characters. I cant trust myself to speak to her to tell her his message, so sent Jean, & then his brother Ofon to tell her. Mr Fosbery leaves in a week. His brave bonny wife has enjoyed her stay, & has endeared herself to many. The ladies in the Mission all like her. - Trade is looking up a wee bit, but for 2 months it was nill. I have not got more about Udo Antia. Mr B- has not mentioned him, but Imuk is at liberty, so Halliday tells me. You say, the latter cd. give me news. Perhaps! I have asked him about some things you have asked, but he knows little. He is most courteous, & never once has been other than obliging, but I cant bring my pride down to seek any news directly from him. Indeed, there is a whole continent - nay a whole sphere, between Ikot Okpene & this station.

I hear Sir Walter leaves next year, & Col. Moorhouse takes rank. That is surely not correct? I'm longing for you to be at the head of things again, & so are many, Halliday among them. The A.D.C. [Note 2] Mr Sydenham is removed again I hear, & Mr B. is alone. He is not strong, & it is a heavy work, as every District is, but his time is nearly done, & O I do hope you will be in time to take your own place for you made the District & its yours. "The ladies" are always asking about you, & never forget that you were such a perfect gentleman in all your help to them on board, as well as when they were here. You will be warmly welcomed by them & by Mr Hanson of the Rds Dept [Note 3]- who has high opinions of you gathered from the others. He left the Okopedi Camp last week for the 4 mile one at Ikot Obon, & he works on to Ikot Okpene repairing the ravages of a very wet season. Mr Underhill will miss Him as also Johns, the assist. at "Russells".

Now I have a lot of news away back in my mind, for I met a number of people at Calabar, but I cant get it written. Ekpo Nive, & Ekpo Adiaha of Itu, & many others send request that you do not forget to come back, & so does your most humble & obedient & expectant Friend

M M Slessor

of course if the Heiress comes in, I utterly absolve, tho' I wont forgive you. Bring her with you, & bring a motor car & such luxuries for her & for you. Eh?

The few silver & gold threads which tried to reflect the sun, & to cover my scalp at the same time are going so fast, I fear you will not be in time to meet many of them. It is not trouble, or affliction, but age - dreadful truth, *AGE*. Yours notwithstanding in hope to be able for some work yet. MMS

Editorial Notes:

it seems that a word is missing here, suggest "see"
ADC = Aide-de-camp
Rds Dep = Roads Department

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 51

21^st June 1908

Enclosed in her last letter, a jubilant note on hearing Mr. Partridge is about to return to Calabar.

Mail Come
21. 6. 8

Glorious news! You are to leave in the end or beginning or middle of this or next month. Hurrah! Two letters too, & you say I missed another mail! I dont think so. A lady at home in Scotland says she was missed & I dont think so! Have my letters been left at the beach till too late?

This may not find you at home!!! Hurrah Again. Come on old man, with or without the Heiress! It is all one, so be you come, no new news.

M M Slessor

Transcription By : Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 52

14^th July 1908

The buoyancy of letter 51 is gone. Mr. Partridge is to serve in Lagos on his return to Calabar. Again she is angry with Halliday, the clerk, who has been issuing instructions without her authority which have brought about the death of her Court Messenger Ekpenyon. She waits for the new ladies to arrive from Calabar, so that she can move to Ikpe, a new location.

Use Ikot Oku
14. 7. '8

Dear Mr Partridge

Your letter has quite upset me! What a sell! What a dead down dump!! Of course it means promotion to be called to the Lagos side, but waes me [Note 1] for those left here! & when we were resting on the assurance that we were just out of the wood & that all was to be well once more. Things have been so unsatisfactory somehow, & no one seems to see, or know where to put in one's hand, & the feeling of - oh never mind, bear on for a few weeks more & it will be all right was stiffening us, & here comes this!

Well I hope it will work on in Compound Interest for you, thats the main thing, & you would have got a jumble here, I fear, only you *understand* & things would have fallen right back into place. Udo Antias reappearance has brought such an element of discord, & disappointment into the district, & you would have known his position & his lying, & cd. have made the Court a paramount influence & set him down.

While I was up at Ikpe - which made me miss a mail - he went to Court & asked for a C M [Note 2] to go to Anan to work a proclamation of some kind at the Obo Market, & Halliday gave my poor old C M Ekpenyon the job, & the boy was shot dead while at it. Im so mad, I cant yet feel sure enough of myself to go into it all, but Halliday equivocates in such a hopeless way when I demand who gave him authority to do such a thing & everybody is blaming another & the D.C.[Note 3] getting his interpretation from H [Note 4], & others of course can only believe that Ekpenyon must have done something to provoke it. I shall sift the whole matter to the bottom this week. The murderer is not caught, of course not,

When I came from Ikpe, Mr Underhill & others met us at the beach, & his first words were "Hurrah, guess my news! Mr Partridge will be here in another mail." I dont think he knows yet.

I've not begun to wonder yet whom we shall have for Boss! It will be all the same who comes now it is not you.

Esien is being tried I hear this week at *Duke* *Town* at the Assizes. He has sent up a request per the Sup [Note 5] of Prisons for me to be there, but I have just written that it wd. do no good, as I dont even know his alleged crime. It has been a long time to keep him untried, & now to judge him so far from the scene of his work & fault.

Your boy has not come yet, but I shall see Mr Rankin this week I hope, & as he is settled in Aro Chuku & is great friends with the DC there, I hope to find the boy, & shall do my best to get any kind of good for him. I shall attend to the 5/- [Note 6] being given him. I have a fine young fellow Mr McGregor & his pretty wife, with me just now for a 10 days, & we expect to have a lady or perhaps 2 in another day.

It is the Holiday season for Schools in Calabar so the teachers are all spread abroad. Mr McGregor is Principal of the Training College at Duke Town. You wd. enjoy his company I know tho' he is a Sky Pilot [Note 7]. He is a ***fine***, broad one, & cultured & literary.

We all dine at Miss Peacocks on Thursday after Court. Miss Reid leaves us for the Girls School at Creek Town, till the new Matron there learns & then she will be married to an Artizan Missionary in Calabar. So Miss P- will be alone, & I have promised to go to Ikpe for good whenever the 4 new ladies appointed for Calabar come out, & given one to this, - This to be made a station for women, & with some industrial work. The first start to be in basket making, for the Rd Dept [Note 8]. I am awfully, rudely well, only a couple of boils have been humbugging me the last month. I was out round Ntan & Ididep 9 hours on sabbath. Let me know *at* *once* how & where you are settled. I do hope it is not in Lagos Town. I beleive it is hateful in every sense.

Now tata for a time, as I'm at my small siesta & must get tea for our friends. With every good kind wish I am as ever Yours most sincerel

Mary M Slessor. shall write next boat.

Remember me to Mr Maxwell

My visitors & I are reading your book. When does the next one come? Mr McG- is writing on the Nsibidi,- the [H...?] & glyphics of the people around. He has sent some things home I think. Yours again

MMS

Editorial Notes:

waes me = sad am I [Scots]
C M = Court Messenger
D.C. = District Commissioner
H. = Halliday
Sup = Superintendant
5/- = five shillings [or 25 new pence]
Sky Pilot = slang term for a Minister of Religion
Rd Dep = Roads Department

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 53

14^th August 1908

Miss Slessor still bemoans the fact that Mr. Partridge is to go to Lagos, but tells him that it is perhaps better since life there may be less strenuous than Calabar. A further report on the extraordinary happenings leading to wrongful arrests and the murder of the C.M. Ekpenyon, leading to turmoil in the whole District. Once more Mr Biddell & Halliday are under fire. An enquiry has been held, however, by Mr Hargrove the new District Commissioner and the results related. Mr Hargrove is approved of. Mr. Partridge's old houseboy visited Miss Slessor and received his "dash" of 5/- at Court. Advises Mr Partridge of the importance of prayer & supplication.

Use Ikot Oku
14. 8. '08

My dear old Boss

My heart is very sore over this "displacement". I feel quite soft over it, & Im disappointed that you cant see me as I am, rejuvenated, & with teeth, -i.e. when I dont forget to put them in - & with my "Pretty Hair" as thick, tho' more silvern, than ever it was, & I'm quite affronted that you cant see how I run on my Bike like a youngster; & I'm sorry you cant see our lovely road, In some places 3 carriages cd run abreast. &____! O, I cd. go on, but I wont!! For you wont want rain seeing the dry season is not quite come in yet. But I do hope you are fit, & that the voyage has done you good, & that the new place will not be quite so strenuous as the old one is.

I sometimes feel that it is perhaps better that you have been spared all the trouble you wd see here, tho' on the other hand, you are the fittest to put things right again. This is no more like the District you left a year ago than the one you go to now is like it. Neither road nor market has been safe or prosperous, & the whole way - from Oko Ita to away beyond Manya has been as sulky & sullen as possible. When Udo Antia came home, as he did before his time, the first thing he did was to catch Imuk, & tie him up & take him to Ikot Okpene, where he was kept on the most ridiculous charges, & he is lame & sick from it till now. His shirt lost, & his boys insulted, & etc. You, who know the past, & the district can imagine how the news spread like wild fire, & as D.C. [Note 1] kept Imuk for a time. Took no notice of how the arrest of a citizen without warrant. Tying him up & abusing on his own account in his private house, was a most flagrant breach of law. Rather stood with the false accuser. The whole place rang with execrations & threats of the old time came back again.

Well, while I was at Ikpe, Mr Udo sent to Eso Okpo to bring a Police & come & "wuk" [Note 2] certain things in the market at Obo; Eso went to Halliday, who on the recept of 4/- [Note 3] sent Ekpenyon off with those 2 swells, without any authorization from Ikot Okpene - whose district it is - or from our Court. When the proclamation was made, instead of Eso coming off home with the C.M. [Note 4] he went off to drink with the Chiefs & private friends of Udo Antias. I sent Ekpenyon on a private Errand to a man, where Udo Antias slave, Udo Niva fired a gun & shot Ekpenyon, dead. The D.C. gave Udo Antia the charge of 7 policemen with a corporal, to go & find the murderer, & was to pay £10 [Note 5] to the person who brought him to the station, & so these dogs of war were let loose with all Udo boys on these poor villages with the result, that there has been a reign of Terror, every Chief insulted chained & tied up, beaten, women & men haled to Udo Antias place & beaten & kept in Hunger & fear, the villages plundered clean of every thing, & all the time I had to sit & bear it. Knowing that the DC had given the order. When Mr Bedwell came up, I did not hide the state the place was in, & he sent word & had it stopped, but I had a row with Biddell about it, because he pooh poohed the whole thing, & was angry no doubt of my telling it to the P.C. [Note 6] However, we have got a man after your own kind, & he held a regular investigation yesterday, & he saw whether it was a myth or a Panic. They were not slow to shew their temper over it, & on the D.C. asking them to let byegones be byegones they sulkily refused, & said, "It is not the first time." Which is a good deal for an Ibibio Audience to shew to a big officer. However, our hands are so tied by the fact, that Udo was sent with this horde without any head or restraint, by the administrator; & it is so difficult to bring the guilt home to *any* *individual* where so many were at it, that Udo has his own, or the D's luck [Note 7] once more, & he is only *threatened*, which hurts all these old Chiefs sorely. However He *is* threatened with banishment - permanent & entire - from the Ibibio Country if he ever again breaks the peace. He, & *they* *all* understand that, & they are to be compensated for the "looting" from Court funds - tho' they wont know it is not from the offenders.

It is a most delicate situation for Mr Hargrove, who *must* blame his predecessor, & yet shrinks from it, & from putting it on paper. All I hope is, that we shall never see the like of that fellow again. How often have we said, , "All Udo Afia's [Note 8] work spoiled!" But it isnt, & this man is to get rest houses put up as you had, all over, so that confidence be restored & the markets be revived. There is a good solid substratum underneath, & this muck will dry up again.

A good many things have been proved against Halliday too, but I think he has got a lesson, & while I think we ought to punish him, I shd. never think of giving him up. With guidance & supervision he will do good work yet. Esien Ndo has got 5 years. His poor mother is in dispair. Your old boy, came to the house & as he was going on to pay a call at Ikot Okpene, He left his "dash" [Note 9] with me till he came back, which happened on Court day, so he got his 5/- [Note 10] in Court, & was very proud. How his face opened when he smiled & said "tell him thank you" & tell him "I dont know that far country, but I shall always work for him when he comes near." & everybody in Court echoed his sigh when I said, When shall that be? Mr Bedwell is up the Cross River I hear, & will be down tomorrow, so Mr Hargrove is to go to see him, & tell him of this bungled business of Bid.s - as it is easier than writing it.

Mr Hargrove has a great respect for you, says, I cant say more than he is prepared to say regarding your worth, so you see there is a bond of union between us already. Miss Peacock is quite disappointed that you are not coming, she never fails to ask when mails come, how you are, & all about you.

Take great Care this term & dont repeat that giving of yourself up to doing record work. It wont pay, & then you dont profess to have a Halo waiting, so please, dont try the break neck pace this time, & if you buckle on your work with its perplexities & worries to the Throne of God & by "prayer & supplication with thanks-giving make your requests known to Him He will keep your Heart & mind in perfect peace, & unravel lots of things that are tangled, & so the body will share in the salvation. *I've* *tried* it for as long as you have lived, so *I* *know*. It is 32 years last Wednesday since I sailed for Calabar. Best regards to Mr Maxwell, & all you can wish for yourself. I wish & pray, for you, & beleive me to be yours Yours ever sincerely

Mary M Slessor

I shall send you my Photo, Eh?

Poor Mr Biddell I feel quite guilty at saying these hard things, for he is very kindhearted & was good to me when I was sick, but you will understand, & it is only for yourself. MMS

Editorial Notes:

= District Commissioner
"wuk". Efik term meaning "to proclaim as a law" from "Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie.
4/- = four shillings [or 20 new pence]
C.M. = Court Messenger
£10 = ten pounds
P.C. = Provincial Commissioner
D's luck = Devil's luck
Udo Afia. Charles Partridge, whose local name was Udo Afia Ikot Okpene
"dash". A gratuity, tip or gift
5/- = five shillings [or 25 new pence]

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 54

29^thAugust 1908

Miss Slessor hopes that Mr. Partridge has settled in at his new post, and has not been badly hit by the heat after so long in England. Mr. Hargrove, the new District Commissioner, is thoroughly approved of. There is a great deal for him to do as the district becomes daily more lawless. The bulk of the remainder of the letter is concerned with the affairs of Esien, Mr Partridge's former interpreter, who had at last been tried and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Use Ikot Oku
29^th Aug. 1908.

Dear Old friend

I am wearying to hear how you have felt on seeing your new domicile! & whether you are likely to like the people. I do hope it will not be too hard on you, & that you will take care of yourself, & not over do the thing till you are quite settled down & your system has got over the shock of its hot bath in the tropics after such a long stay in the cold of the Homeland. Sometimes I feel a bit glad that you have not come here after your severe illness, for this district is in a sad state. One year of this slackness & -------- has had an effect that break your heart. This District which was so perfectly known by you & so well under control, to get all out of hand, & to have their confidence in the White Man so rudely shaken. so that it seems as if all were to be done over again. We have got as good a man as I believe the protectorate could produce for the situation. A Mr Hargrove. He is just after your own heart, & if any one will pull up things he will. He has a young lad for A.D.C. [Note 1] & he has got a fine Kettle of fish to begin with. I'm praying all the time that he may have sabi [Note 2] & coolheadedness for it. Mr Hargrove had to start off at once on a tour of ???? The whole place is new to him & a miserable Interpreter - Dibue - He had just started when Udo Antias slave who shot the C.M. Ekpenyon - & who had been secured, & the witnesses called for the prosecution - escaped, after the manner of his Illustrious Master. Biddell was wound round the Bush Kings Finger, & I fear his accomplices from Calabar are too many yet for Justice. Messengers were sent at once to call the big Chief Udo - & "he was not well, but if he was better when he took some medicine, he wd. go." Fancy that for cheek!!!

I sent Halliday off on his Cycle with the message that "if his leg was so bad he cd. not walk, he had better get the mob who looted all last month for him, to carry him, else some one wd. help him to walk." What was the answer I do not know, but I told Halliday to stay on, & see if he cd help in the capture, if he were needed. The young A.D.C. has no decent interpreter & they are not to be trusted Yonder, Udo is old fashioned enough to keep himself out of the *direct* agency. He is as cunning as a certain old Gent noted for that quality besides being quite as qualified as the Father of lies himself on that other special calling.

Mr Underhill went round for a few days last week by Ikot Okpene & the Ino Ibo river, seeking some outlet for his energies in developing trade, but there was not any thing much to report. He is to meet the D.C. [Note 3] at Ikpe one of these days, to see if he can get a footing there. I cant get up yet, as the Court is not in a state to be left, & the market is not law abiding. All the up river tribes come down, & as it is the famine season, the New Yams feast, not being made yet, they are all trying to sell & out sell, & there are frequent brawls, & then Hallidays palaver has not been gone into yet. The D.C. has not had time. Also the First Baptisms are to be observed this month - no, next sunday week. Cruickshank from Ikot Offion is coming, & I am anxious to be here till these are all settled.

There are none whom you know, except Ofon Ikot & his Mother *may* be admitted to the Church, & his 2 wives, but I do not think so, as their future relations are not quite settled. The women must be provided for. They 3 and the Mother are agreed as to what they shall do, but Mr C may not be satisfied. I dont know. It is a great trial to the native giving up what they gloried in, their Egbo [Note 4] & its drinkings & orgies & the glory thereof, & all that differentiates a big man from a nobody. & it curtails their liberties as heathens to live as they used to, but it is the usual outcome of the Gospel & the compensations are evidently sufficient, as there are no inducements other than the moral & spiritual ones. Can you explain why the Gospel should always have this effect, as I never asked any one to be Baptized or to put his house in order. I only gave the Gospel, & over a score of our best young lads & some women are thus working the old sequel.

Esien your old interpreter is begun to beg for my interference, as is the rule with the man who is sorry for the punishment, but fails to see the sin. I never answer his letters in the direct way, Else it wd. be simply a "No", but I have asked Mr McGregor of the Institute, who is a very nice lad, & has plenty head to do the *right* thing, to look after him. He wishes his boy & girl to get the best education possible in Calabar, at the expense of the Mission, & I am to get Coin & send to him. I am also "to look after his house & his affairs." Rather a tall order, Eh? His fathers in law have already been to see what about Dowries & daughters, & he has not left a single penny to settle them, except a couple of pounds with one of his fathers people. I shall however do my best to keep his affairs in solvency, & to get his wives put back to their peoples hands, as his brother Ofon refuses to have any thing to do with them, & his mother is not able to fight them. Poor Old thing! she is a pathetic figure, & she lives on the Hope of my being able to get her a sight of him one day. He petitions to be set apart to work alone, & not to be with the Herd. He remembers the days when he was a man apart with such company as the DC etc. Eh? I have no news. We get new men on the Rd - & I see them as the gangs are on our side, but dont know them. My Cycle is still my best friend. I have been running up & down getting the Rest House prepared, as this man means to do as you did, & look after the roads & the people.

Let me know how you are & how you get on, & if I can do any thing here for you. Did I tell you, we were to compensate those who were looted; by the Court money? Mr Bedwell concurs in this, but Halliday forgot to send for the Claimants. It will be merely a fraction they will get. It is raining like mad, so this will not get down tonight, as the Clerk being absent, I must send down the CMs [Note 5] early with their one prisoner, but I hope it will go in some way before the mail leaves. I am adding to the old place, & as it will be given to two ladies, it is getting more like a dwelling place. Miss Peacock is well & busy & making her way among the people. Dr McDonald vaccinated successfully a score of the small fry of Ikot Obon. Ekpo Nive is very far gone poor man. He asks for you constantly, so do all the Chiefs. My best regards, & all the etctras, & etc, Yours ever sincerely

M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

A.D.C. = Aide-de-camp
sabi. Meaning unclear, but possibly savvy - common sense, shrewdness, understanding
DC = District Commissioner
Egbo = Efik secret society
CMs = Court Messengers

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 55

13^th September 1908

The first letter after Mr. Partridge had settled into his new job. The conditions there are so good that Miss Slessor likens it to the "Land of Corn & Wine". He has a dairyman and, in contrast, she goes on to relate the purchase of a cow, and the trouble entailed in taming the animal. She brings him up to date with affairs regarding Udo Antia. Halliday, the recalcitrant clerk, has finally been told to go, and there is still a need for interpreters. Miss Slessor, however, is well and still enjoying her bicycle.

Use Ikot Oku
13^th Sep 1908

My dear Old Boss

Youve "reached the Land of Corn & wine" surely! Your description makes ones teeth water

I'm sorry I wasted so much pity & sympathy on the benighted stranger in a dreadful Waste Howling desert!! Long may the conditions remain as favourable as they seem to be. "No Worries!" [Iuai?] [Note 1] !!! I'll be over by first Excursion Boat! Aro *Railway* Station!!! Our Motor visit & our Telegraph line, are not much after that!!! send round your Poulterer Please, & your Dairy Man!! I'm quite in an envious mood!! And really I must try to have an aeroplane or something constructed in order to link this benighted place with Neko. I've done my best here, for I've bought a cow. A man in trouble in Ikot Obon was to give it to Halliday for 50/- [Note 2] which was shamefully low, & H--- has no place for a cow, without becoming a nuisance to the gardens around, so I gave 70/- [ Note 3] & the cow has been added to the menagerie. She took us all in tow the first week, every night & morning, & gave us a run through bush & every thing till of course we had to let go, & then we had wild excursions all over the bush with an occasionall race after her again, till again she took the rope, & thus we played in the moonlight till I was at my wits end, & every thing was broken to peices. My hands are wounded still. One night she took the young men of Use for a run, & had them up well on the road to Ikot Obon, but at length she did arrive dragging four or 5 of them, & she was kept a prisoner with grass & water in her room. Speak of milking this creature! But she lets me scratch her nose now, & she came home with Jean tonight quite quietly, so I shall try to tame & pet her, & perhaps in the future, we too, may have Fresh Milk, *not* *necessarily* out of Whisky bottles, well, well! I'm very thankful that you have got such a decent place & so very High up ought to have a beneficial effect, in *every* sense. But remember the old injunction "Be not High Minded" etc. Could you take over your old friend Udo Antia to these decent people? I'm sorry I have *not* been "able to counteract" & etc, Udo's man has been recaptured, & the DC [Note 2] is asking for witnesses. The boy he murdered was alone poor fellow, so there are no witnesses. However we shall see how the Case develops & how Udo comes out. Five Chiefs all as mad on revenge, came to the Court on Thursday to take oath on what the "Raid" had taken from their places, in order to get compensation. Udo is certainly not beloved by his neighbours. I too, have wondered **why** he got off before his time? Was it through that scoundrel Etim Walker His Son in Law?? Why??? Ah!!! The clemency is not appreciated here, & he had better walk softly now.

Halliday has been abusing his wife (sic) & she has taken a summons out against him. He hired her to cook the chop [Note 4] for all Ikot Okpenes prisoners at 12/- [Note 5] per month, & he has never paid it. Who paid him the cooks salary? Who hired him? She cooked for 10 months & 15 days for nothing. Did he get a salary for it? Ive had to write in his Cash Book this month about his charges for Prisoners rations here. It is preposterous what he charges, & I am paying the men all the time out of my purse. Also many other things for which he has been rebuked again & again. I have told him I cannot keep him longer as he is neither truthful nor honest. It has been very disagreeable, but it had to be done. I told him last week, it was wrong on me to hold my peace longer. They are sorely needing some good interpreters for Dibue is very poor, poor also is the Sierra Leone man, as he has not a word of Ibibio & he needs an interpreter. I have a long letter from Major Colburn at Bendi re- a transport service by Creek to Bendi, via Ikpe Ikot Nkon He expects me as his neighbour, & is trying to get a Court up there which will include Ikpe. It will be a great mistake & the Ikpe people are wild, as they cannot hear what goes on in Aro language. I have not got up yet, owing to the state of the district since the Kingly Udo came home, & now I am not willing to leave till Mr Hargrove gets settled & his young man Mr Fabor gets also settled. They are both in dead earnest to work back the district to its old solid footing. The DC has been on tour, & has come for Udo's slave who has been recaptured, to be examined. Mr Fabor is also going round this side all the time & getting the Rest Houses all put up again.

Miss Peacock was down for an hour yest she is quite well & very happy. Miss Reid is still at Creek Town, but we hope to get a new lady soon to stay at Ikot Obon as Miss Peacock looks rather tired. All the Chiefs send greetings, they are glad to hear that you like your new place but grumphed at the changing. I have been out in the bush, round by Ntan & Ididep all day long, & so am feeling a wee bit tired, & it is late. Old Ekpo Nive today looks up a little, but is very feeble. He is with a daughter in Ikot Okobo, for nursing & change. I havent any news! O yes, Russells man has got a site for a shop at Ikpe but Eniyon dont like it. Russell is a fine man himself, & deserves to succeed. Now, please, dont get mis-anthropic, seeing your nearest white neighbour is far off, & dont write too much. Let the new things simmer on your mind & when you have strength & time, work them out. "Physician heal thyself," *I'm* *fit* [so is my Bike, & I love it more than ever] *& I am yours most* sincerely M M Slessor

Editorial Notes: Letter no. 56, although undated by Mary, appears to be a Postscript to this letter

Iuai. Presumably an Efik word, meaning unknown.
DC = District Commissioner
70/- = Seventy shillings, or three pounds and ten shillings (or £3.50 pence in current coinage)
Chop = food
12/- = Twelve shillings (or 60pence in current coinage)

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 56

13^th September 1908

Note requesting instructions as to how she might take out money she deposited in Mr. Partridge's safe before he went to England. Most probably a postscript to Letter no. 55

P.S.

O do you remember my depositing a Bank Order for £50 " " in your safe, at Ikot Okpene? Did you leave it there? & if so, How can I get it?? Do you remember writing to me that Mr Mansfield owed both you & me an apology for not giving a Receipt or something? I asked Biddell of Mr Sydenham about it, & they treated the thing as a joke, as I could not find the Receipt. I gave my Desk to Halliday when I left, & tied up my papers, & I was too ill & feeble to do more, & cant find them now. But dont bother, only if you remember about it, tell me how to do to get it. If you dont, or if it were removed, never mind,

Yours again
MMSlessor

Editorial Note: Although this note is not dated in Mary's hand it would appear to accompany Letter no. 55 (R.Riding)

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 57

28^th November 1908

Mr. Partridge is informed of the work of his successor as Commissioner, and of a change of doctor. The road building goes on apace, and new ones are being asked for by the District Commissioner, whose influence has brought back law and order to the area. A round-up of news of various people, and activities. Miss Slessor is amazed at the developments in Europe involving Russia and Austria. She sends her Xmas greetings.

Use Ikot Oku
28.11.8.

My dear Old Governor,

Is there anything wrong, I have not heard for the last two mails, & Im very uneasy. Are you quite well? & are things going well with you? If you cant get a wee scrap written you might just send a card. It will let me know that at least there is not anything wrong. Is this a bother? & am I a pest to you? Well, never mind if I am, it is the penalty you have to pay, for having been so good to me for so long, & I cant afford the loss of your respect & friendship. Your character stands for a great deal to me in this land of queer people, & I should be greatly distressed if I lost your good opinion. Now *I* *must* *write*, though it seems like humbugging, but I dont want to be a bother to you, just to know that you are well, & that you work prospers, & any how it is near Xmas, & if I dont get a letter of some kind at that season, then I shall think I'm cast off indeed.

You write about Halliday! Dont you bother about him. He is not worth it. I did for him & hid for him, & got all my thanks in the end. He is utterly worthless, & I'm almost sure he will not shew face here again. So much liberty was too much for him. They all need good sharp looking after. A new boy comes from The Institute I believe as clerk. Mr Hargrove is just such a man as yourself, & having said this, I shall leave it. He has put the District all right again, & I think I have made *a* *friend*. I shall be extremely sorry when he goes. We have a very nice boy with us as A.D.C [Note 1] Had they only given *you* that, you might have been saved a lot of sickness & worry.

Mr Bedwell & Mr Knox Crawford are very good heads to the show, & we are well off, while the Telegraph, makes things so much easier. All the time, I hear Mr Hargrove is out on tramp just as you were & so's the young man on this side. Lemon is off. He drank heavily they say. I dont know who is at Transport, Sierra Leone I hear, but they ought really to have a White Man. We are changing doctors. McDonald brought his relief, Dr Adam, in yesterday. The Road work goes merrily on, & they come from Bendi [-all?] round on cycles every week now. Mr Rosario is far on past Ikot Okpene, & we have a Scotsman McDonald here as foreman. Dr Robertson is out I hear & has brought his little 3 years old daughter with him. I do hope he has not cause to rue the day he did it. It is a sin against the child I think, physically & morally. There is a new man at Russells, Mr Marson. They are sending up to open a depot at Ikpe Ikot Nkon at once. Johns the Clerk goes up. I am not there yet, as I have no one to take my place here yet, but I hope to be there soon.

The two new factories from Calabar are in full swing at Itu, & all do a good trade, but I wish I saw Mr Russell himself to tell him a few things about his retail trade. For all that, & all White officers go to the Calabar Houses.

That wretched [Plauge?] [Note 2], & Adelaide have [be gun?] again, & if you saw the Hideous lies they have written about those Ikabo people. Fancy Itu men keeping them in chains of slavery!! all as free as you & I am, & a deal better off. But of course the DC [Note 3] will find all that out for himself. & they were in irons in Madam Slessors Lock up at Ikot Obon. What a monster Madam Slessor must be!! We got a twin mother with one baby this week & the mother has made an awful mess of the childs neck & shoulder. If I cd. be a monster, I should be so now. Im so angry with her.

We have got a new girl up to Ikot Obon, Miss McMinn, she is very nice & very quiet, but forceful & full of enthusiasm for her work. She helps mostly in the school & Dispensary. They do a great deal of Dispensing, the two of them. Miss Reid will be married in March & I beleive, foolish girl! she is throwing herself away on that muddlehead of a printer. But she is not quite First Class herself, so she may shine as a housewife, while she can only glimmer as a [genon?] agent.

Isnt it wonderful this Kaleidoscope of affairs in the near East? Could you have beleived it of Turkey?? & it is to stay too. It has every element of permanancy in it. Isnt Russia behaving finely too? She has been renewed through her reverses & her internal upheaval, & the Young Element & the liberal Element will mingle with the abiding elements in the others. If Austria would play up, we will have an amended Europe for True! America seems to me always at her worst at Election time, & Im glad we are a Constitutional Shop. Dirty linen can be most offensive, tho it is good for the linen to be exposed. I cant ever get up sympathy with these Excitements. "Long live the King" becomes more & more as the days go bye, the sentiment of every peace & purity lovers Heart.

How goes your Kingdom? Do you ever get the creeps over the old stories of that terrible [Dahomerys?] land? It was such a Horror at one time.

I'm just waiting for this clerk to come, to go down to Calabar with 2 of the girls to learn basket making at the prison. I hope to see Esien there, & will probably take his mother with me, or his children.

I expect the McGregors from the Institute to spend Xmas here, & we mean to go up D V [Note 4] to Ikot Nkon to see Ikpe Church then. The D C sent to have a Road made past Nkoot from Ikot Okpene, & Im wondering if that will be a new road towards Ikpe, overland. I wish I were independent of the canoe, & cd. live on my cycle, besides being more enjoyable it lets one see the people & their whereabouts better.

All men here keep asking about you. Their respect for the White Man has had a revisal since Mr Hargrove came. Old Ekpo Nive is as frail as can be, creeps about the fire & is more like a shadow than ever. He never forgets you.

Udo Antia has tried on every trick of guile but cant get in, & he has a case against him going on in which Im sure He lies like a Dragoon. He is trying to bring in Use, & has only put his foot deeper in the mire. one of his boys was hung - or to be hung - for the murder of our C M [Note 5] Ekpenyon. Another bailed himself off from 3 months by paying 60/- [Note 6] last week, but with his shoes & socks & a khaki shirt, he tries to be a Chief, tho he grovels in his talk & evidence. He offered to bring a Decision last week, written by his Co-ravager Effim Okon, tho' there is not a vestige of his Case in Itu Books, & the [pf?] declare & Ikot Obon Declares, he tried it at Ikot Obon, never in a Court. He has fallen on evil days & I hope will never get leave to have anything else.

Now ta ta! It is time for my household duties. Ive had a bit of fever, but so has every one else as the smokes are heavy. I am able to go up hills on my cycle now I never took before, so that tells its own tale. & I came down in the dark twice over from Ikot Obon So!!! I ***love*** my cycle, & cd live on it. If only it cd take me thro bush roads, I shd never be at home.

Now dear Old Man, May your Xmas be a very bright one! Good outwardly & inwardly. Good every day & every Hour, & may Your never failing Companion be "One like unto the Son of Man".

Miss Peacock, & my own children, & many others wd. from me did they know I was writing, I am

Ever sincerely yours
Mary M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

ADC = Aide-de-camp
plauge: probably plague is intended
DC = District Commissioner
D V = God willing [Deo Volente]
C M = Court Messenger
60/- = Sixty shillings (Three pounds in modern coinage)

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 58

Sunday 9^th [early 1909]

A short note to Mr. Partridge thanking him for a letter and apologising for not having written more because of the pressure of her work.

Sunday
9^th

How funny this is!! Your letter came last night, & I have opened mine again, at the risk of not getting it posted this mail, just to thank you. I was up at Ikot Obon this morning holding a service in the Court House with the 100 prisoners there, & found Miss Peacock in bed with a little fever. I cant get written to thank you for your long letter full of news & "golden glamour" but shall try to write soon. The Mail that brought yours says that the Signor Commissioner is coming & Im booked for a "Heckling" along with Mr Cruickshank, this month - also, there are 2 special Courts with Mr D- this month, so I *may* *not* get written at once, but I'm quite full of gratitude for your most *instructive* - as well as - the other thing - letter. May you be kept in health & optimism, & in Gods Keeping! You renegade!
[T** *** O! ?]

Yours in old friends bonds

M M Slessor

Ive only had 2 letters 6 Dec 08, & 23 Feb -09 & I wrote about the Xmas box which came in lovely condition & with all the Honours of the Hon - name & style.

Yours again
MMS

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 59

17^th February 1909

Mr Partridge had been expected to replace Mr Hargrove as District Commissioner, but although this was based on an official Telegram it had proved untrue, to the regret of many. She explains why she had not been able to write and asks why he had not written either. Overworked and understaffed, the district is becoming harder to run, and there has been an increase in violent crimes. However a new District Commissioner has just been appointed. Progress is continuing on the road. There is the usual roundup of of news; she has had a visit from Udo Antia, and we hear that Miss Reid will soon be married. Dr. Robertson has begun a vaccination scheme with the co-operation of the villagers. A baby girl is crying, and she ends her letter.

Use Ikot Oku
17.2.'09

Dear Old Chief & friend

Our hopes are all blasted, our dreams all Exploded! No less a personage than Mr Hargrove, our good & able D.C. [Note 1] gave us to beleive that you were coming to us again, & while I was up at Ikpe the story was afloat that you had passed bye, Then, silence! & now, the definite word that we are to get another A.D.C [Note 2] to help the laddie who sits here just now, & that an A.D.C. to help Aro Chuku is to sit at Itu, & so take some of this Districts work off. & lo! we are left to look at each other, & wonder what the future will bring, not caring too much, some of us, as it seems rather tame, & certainly does not lend itself to an optimistic look out. Perhaps it is the rebound from our too brilliant hopes. I did not write, thinking at first, it might miss you. Then I thought, it was *surer* to miss you, as you would have without doubt have given over. O come off, & then a pause, wondering if you were in Calabar, & now !!! such is life! I said to Mr Hargrove - It was as he was going down, going off for home, that he told us - Would it not be a coming down instead of a going up? - But he said, you see, It is not easy always to fill in, & it wd. certainly not be permanent coming down, & we judged it was want of a suitable man, as we have only that young boy till now, & the District is a large & difficult one - However, with all my selfishness, I do *not* want to bring you from the Metropolis to the bush without something better as reward & I just, figuratively, like the Chiefs, throw out my arms, top my shoulders, & say - "one more disappointment." but really there was such assurance in the fact that a Telegram had come saying that Mr Partridge was coming, that we may be excused for counting our chickens before they were hatched. So here's back to the post as the next best thing! & I must tell you, that Esiens old mother was here before 6 o/c one morning to say, was it true that Esien's Father had passed in the evening before? & if so, How could she send her comps. to him as she could not walk to Ikot Okpene? Poor old thing! I felt sorry to spoil her dream. Why have you not written? Is it tit for tat? you are not mean enough to get down to that? Eh? not not half, not even to think it.

Dear old man. Here's a new month & I have never been able to put a line to the small complaint on the foregoing page. I have not been *ill* but I have been unwell, & Janie has been very ill, & Annie is gone to her husband, & Mary is away at Okoyon, on the same errand, as her young man lives there, so she is gone to Miss Amess to stay a bit, in order to let her get full knowledge of the man & his surroundings before her final answer be given for life long. So I have been left with the little ones, & I have two babies without Mothers, & they are in my hands night & day, so I have just lain down every time I have had a spare bit of time, for the reason that my poor back will not sit up. & two mails have passed & not a line has been written to anywhere. We have not been well suited of late at the station, & I was contemplating giving up the place altogether. In fact had told Mr Tabor that I had sat for the last time last week, but since then, we have got a D.C. a Capn. Warrey. You will know him as he has been long on the Coast & has come from Lagos, & he came in & asked me so nicely not to think of it, that I was at once ready - with a capable man & go on as usual. It is twice a week & is rather heavy, but the Jury men have asked if they may go back to one day as it is work time, & I am only too glad as I am so worn out. Why have you not written? Im wearied to hear from you, but you will be as tired & overwrought as I am.

I have never yet got to Ikpe to stay! There is no one to come & take this place. There was a vacancy also in Calabar, so they filled it from Ikot Obon, & that is a very important place now as the school is large & there are several bush schools taught by boys, & the people crowd the Church till they will soon need an addition, & the Dispensary is a big work. They come from far & near. Miss McMinn knew a little about medicine & Miss Peacock works up the thing for all it is worth, & all accidents as well as sickness go there, while I take the baby cases. The Church here is growing, & several of the best of the householders are Candidates for membership. You wd. hardly recognize the Use people now, they are so changed even in appearance. Old Ekpo Nive is still alive, but it can not be called anything more, for he is blind, & frail & stupid & just sits in the door way, or over the hot ashes of a fire. Poor old man! Old age is a dreadful thing to a savage.

There has been quite an epidemic of crime here of late. A woman has had her head taken off at Itam. She is the mother of the oldest daughter of the Ikot Edok carpenter boy, & the mother of His Elder brothers daughter. No trace of the Head, or the murderer can be found. He is a travelling doctor from Aro Chuku, & evidently mad. An Aro woman was beheaded also last week by an Ndot man at Ikpe, & we have had 2 very severe cases of assault. The Ikot Okpene doctor had to be called, as we cd. not sew the wounds. But things move fairly smoothly. I had Udo Antia here Yest - in sackcloth & ashes. Every time he comes, he begins at the beginning again, till I cut him short, & yest. he was groaning & sighing that his boys were doing all they could to kill him, & they had taken his wives & goods, & one boy leading the others, made him take mbiam [Note 3] at their dictation. So the Whirlie-gig goes round. It is their turn today. I have told him to call them by summons.

There has been a Motor in the shed at the beach for some time I hear, they are looking for stone, to put in & the Motor will pull the rollers over it to make it like Home roads. The several officers look in as they pass, & I hear a scrap of news thus now & then. I am to get a drive on the Motor which I fear I am not brave enough to accept. The Itu prisoners have been working on the surface of the road up to the first days march & it is in lovely condition. I do enjoy my cycle on it to the full. If I had the time I should never be off the saddle. Mr Rosario is here. He too was disappointed you did not come. The new man at Russells you will not know, Mr Mann, & he is a good man. Quite a different type from the last, & brings up the business at bit, but theres some hitch with the Ikot Okpene DC, & Mr Russell going up to Ikpe. I dont understand it yet, but I shall try my best to help them, for the place *will* be opened. Ive told [them?] Ikpe they cant put back the clock, & they had better take a respectable firm in preference to some rifraff unknown. A man from the Methodist Church has gone to Ikot Okpene. That place was my objective, & it rather touches on the laws of comity, but I bid him Godspeed, for he seems a good man & very eager to work, & they need it in there. Dr Robertson is doing a lot of surgery this term at Itu & the Hospital is not an empty name any more, the Govt [Note 4] Dr & he work together well. Our villagers are taking vaccination very well. They are even anxious for it some of them. Changed days surely.

Miss Reid will be married this month. Miss Peacock is to be bridesmaid, but I'm not much interested in Him. She has made a miserable choice. She will live after that at the Institute on the Consular Hill. We have a couple of Deputies from the Church coming this month. Two are clergymen, one I dandled almost on my knee. The other has his wife with him. We expect to have a good time with them & they are coming up here. Here is the baby yelling for all she is worth, so I suppose I'll have to go to her. When shall I get more written? The wind blew all my papers off the table in a tornado last week, & the first sheet of this is much soiled. Will you pardon it? Will you also give me a small bit of a letter? even if Im not worth it, I'm too old to be able to lose a friend. Do it of your grace & your youth & your kindness, & it will be greatly valued. I am dear old friend & fellow helper, Yours every time in sincerer friendship. M M Slessor.

Editorial Notes:

DC = District Commissioner
ADC = Aide-de-camp
Mbiam. "The liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking a solemn oath. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely." Mbiam can also mean "The oath so taken, & hence sometimes applied to any solemn oath whether mbian had been used or not." from Charles Partridge's copy of the "Dictionary of the Efik language" by the Rev. Hugh Goldie.
Govt. = Government

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Letters 60–69

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 60

12^th April 1909

Miss Slessor has not been well but is feeling much better. She tells of the excellent progress being made by one of her young workers, Miss Peacock. Work still goes ahead on the road, but parts have been rutted by overloaded motor transport. She has been called to a conference with representatives of other Missions regarding division of lands in which to work & unfortunately this co-incides with a special discussion being held in the local Court House with the DC and ADC which she will not be attending. The girls have started on the basket making project, having received some instructionat the prison. She hopes Mr. Partridge will benefit from a change of scenery and agrees that European dress in Africa is inappropriate. She ends with a plea to know how he is.

Use Ikot Oku
12.4.09

My dear old friend,

Wasnt I glad to get your letter? My scrap to you wd. cross it, & we are quits. I have been so very feeble & frail, that last week I had almost made up my mind to take a sea trip & if it was not of sufficient good to encourage me to hoping to be better, I was just to go straight home. But I have rallied again a little & today the weakness & the pains in my limbs are ever & ever so much better. I only feel that I have broken faith with Ikpe Ikot Nkon, & Nkara in not having gone to them. I expect a lady here in Autumn. that seems so far off -! When she comes I cd. go to them.

Miss Peacock is still here, & is growing a fine woman. The old stiffness is greatly gone, & she is most successful in her work both in the schools & in the villages. She is as kind to me as if she were my own born sister, & her sane ways of looking at things & of doing things, now she has got the right clue, are a great strength to me. She has a very much finer girl in Miss McMinn than she had in Miss Reid, - who was married last week - & so the profit is mine as well. I have not any news. The "Motor" has been taking too heavy loads, & the rains have made some ugly ruts here & there on the Rd in the low-lying places, but hosts of prisoners from Ikot Okpene & Itu are working on the various places when gravel & stone is found & are mending. Quite a host are at Ikot Obon Court buildings & Rest House & as they were making baskets for the sand carriers, I took up the girls & we had a couple of days lessons in basket making - -- Do you remember the desire for it when you were here? - so they are all busy with their first lot today & are doing not so bad, myself among them. I went up & held a service among them Yest - with the wardens permission, & it was very encouraging. I think our presence has not broken the discipline but rather broken the monotony & the sulkiness of the gatherings.

Dan pushes my Cycle up the hills as I have not been able to pedal a step - but I can always be sure of being better of the outing, & I just run down all the way. I'm quite sure I could pedal all the levels today, I feel so well.

I go to Calabar tomorrow to attend a conference ordered from Home by the two small societies (English) & our own Scotch Missions, in regard to locations & division of lands in which to work. Oron has some small society who find they want outlet, & they have sent a man to Ikot Okpene, which lies right in our objective, & then too lies across the boundary the Ino Iboe Mission - largely supported by our Church - & we! had made a score of years ago. Ino Iboe, wants to meet Nyo, i.e. Ikorofion stations, on one side & us on your side, but there is so much room for all, we want to help each other regarding transport & etc, & I have been commanded to attend. And as ill luck has it, Here has come a letter from the newly appointed A.D.C. {Note 1] Mr Dickson at Itu to say He, & the D.C. [Note 2] Ikot Okpene, Capn Warrey, are to meet me at Court on Thursday to "revise" some former decisions some appeals, & neither of them (Two) have a grain of either interest or importance, so I shall have to seem very inhospitable & careless. However it will give them greater freedom in revising a judgement of mine.

I do not yet know my place or the meaning of the "supervision" of the Ikot Obon court, & I shall lose the opportunity of asking, but both gentlemen are most punctilious & gentlemanly in their conduct to me, & in all their correspondence. Halliday is installed as Interpreter at Itu, & Dibue at I' Okpene. The latters vocabulary is very circumscribed.

I have no visitors, tho' the I' Okpene Dr. is now installed at Itu - & comes in as he passes now & again, but there is not any one here we care to make friends with at present. Mr Underhill is back at "Russells". I dont know if the very fine man who came to releive him has gone. Dr Robertson comes & goes & is the same as of old. My men never cease to ask about you, & to say "When you write send comps.

I think I feel glad that you are away to a station. I quite agree with you as to the absurdity of the metropolitan styles. Give me Home, or Africa, not a caricature of one under the disabilities of the other. I hope you will like the freedom & the movement & the living interest in men & things, even if only native men & things, & your brain will be clearer for some literary work, which I hope you are still keeping up.

Is Mr Maxwell near you? If so, remember me to him, & do send me a line now & then to say how you do. You dont say whether your health is good or bad, or indifferent. Cd. you not ignore my weakness for airing my aches, & dont be afraid that hearing of yours will confirm in me the evil habit. It wont, & I shd like to know that you keep fairly well.

Now this is just a *wee* *wee* - that [scotive?] - bit of scribble to let you know you are not forgotten. God bless & keep you, accept warmest regards
from yours affectionately,
Mary M Slessor

I hope you will be able to decipher it. Im not very Fit.
*Ta ta*

Editorial Notes:

ADC = Aide-de-camp
DC = District Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Robertson, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 61

8^th May 1909

Miss Slessor is worried not to have had news from Mr Partridge, and begs for "a wee wordie". A visit is expected from the Governor and much work is being carried out on the Road and Telegraph in readiness for this. However his timing is unfortunate as the people wish to concentrate on bringing in their harvest, which this year is a good one. She gives news of the latest wrongdoings and of the Courts, including Udo Antia. Itu now has a District Commissioner and Court of its own. She reports on a visit to a new type of house made of bamboo.

Use Ikot Oku
8. 5. '9.

Very dear & valued friend,

What is the matter? Did you not get my note which crossed yours? or are you ill again? I have been both busy & unwell, & have allowed the mails to slip past, till I'm getting to think something is wrong. Please send if only one side of a sheet of paper, just to say, "Well" & "How Do?" It will keep the feeling of uncertainty away.

I have not any news tho' Im sending this. I hear the governor is coming soon; & so they are making great to do about getting the Rd. right, & the Telegraph lines cleared. Thats the only news I have. It is produce & Farm time, & this is a splendid produce season - so the people will not take it with good nature I fear. As it is so untimely. The new D.C. [Note 1] Court is a fact now at Itu, & Mr Dickson is kept busy, while we are the usual 100 - or so cases behind & are sitting twice a week. If they sent 20 D.C.s they would still have crowded offices. I need hardly say that many at Itu are little asides from Ikot Obon. They dont get any encouragement however, for Mr D. is most loyal to us. We have a recrudescence of the old thing I came here to stop. Attempts to claim people & land etc. by Calabar & the Coco House. The latter have a claim for a whole house 8 persons, & lands & whole possession of an Itu House refuted by a book produced as Cocos own, of having sold himself by Mbian oath [Note 2] to Coco.

Another is a boy claimed by Eyo House, who is also claimed by Udo Antia. Neither of the Efiks have a shadow of right on their side, but it is Mr D.s palaver, not mine. Udo Antia, has learned at last I think his proper place, & comes now in sackcloth & ashes, no more shoes & socks. His boys have all been in revolt, since the raid, & his wives, are *all* scattered after having been spoiled by the boys, 4 of the lads got 6 months H.L. [Note 3] a fortnight ago, & after giving Udo a punishment for his brutality to a wife with 4 fine children she has brought up for him, she was given up to him, & he has duk donam [Note 4] to take medical treatment for the witch & Ibok of his people. He tried to bluff, till he found it was no good, so he has at last sat down after many of his old sins have chased him into Court. Ofon Ikot was here & asking about you last week, with Compts [Note 5] from his old Mother. He wondered if they might see Esien. I'm to ask if his mother may, when Im in Calabar 3 weeks hence, D.V. [Note 6] Ninety [90] prisoners are on the Rd here, from Ikot Okpene. The motor carries gravel & red sand, & the natives are taking out all the stones they can, *&* *they* *are* *getting* *such* heaps all along the route - & the prisoners are laying a layer of large stones, then the gravel, so they are making a fair bottom I think, but the Motor tyres still make a small rut if there is a shower. The 4 mile camp have got a new house built up there, & on a new plan. All the partitions are bamboo, like a Huge Organ, all pipes. It is very cool. 2 men are in it, & they asked the 2 ladies from I'Obon & myself to afternoon tea to see the house, so we went & spent a quiet nice hour with them. One is a Mr Rising. I dont know the others name, but he used to be at Itu. Whether in Rds Depot. Mfiokke, the old trick of catching produce on the rd. has been revived at Okopedi. Mr Underhill is on the watch & we have had several prosecutions, but they are all given by Mr Dickson as yet. I have not any news as I said, so I shall just let this scrap go to shew that you are still cared for & thought of in this old place, which is very new in its personel & ways. Write a wee, *wee* wordie, & take care of yourself, & may God have you in His special & Holy Keeping. I am your sincere old friend

Mary M Slessor

Miss Peacock wd send a message if she knew I was writing MMS I'm awfully well now.

Editorial Notes:

DC = District Commissioner
Mbian oath. A solemn oath involving the use of mbiam, a "liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body". "It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely", from "Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie.
H.L. = Hard Labour
Duk donam. Meaning unclear, perhaps Latin?
Compts. = Compliments
D V = God willing [Deo Volente]

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 62

7^th July 1909

Here she explains why it took so long for a Telegram from Mr Partidge to reach her and she describes an agonising illsness, blood poisoning, which produced hundreds of painful boils all over her head rendering her partly bald. As a result, she has been unable to attend the court for almost 5 weeks on end. There is more news of the Coco House claim against Itu, and of the local ude of lawyers to argue Court decisions. Mr. Partridge is about to go on leave again, and she hopes the weather keeps fair for him. Towards the close of her letter she tells him of her conviction that, without Christian teaching, the white man will never hold what he has in Africa, citing the Indian Mutiny as an example of what happens when this is ignored.

Use Ikot Oku
7. 7. '9

Very Dear Old Friend,

I only got your Telegram last week. I went to the "Commission" & went very ill, with at least 100 boils over my head! But that was not nearly enough! I lay down, or *stretched* *accross*, is nearer the thing - Mrs Wilkies bed, & for a whole month I was in one prolonged agony of pain. Then the boils came in shoals, over my face, till you wd. not have recognized me, all over my neck & ears, & whenever I got rested long enough from one operation of having the cores pressed out, another began & I cried like a child. When I was not shrieking all the long weeks, no sleeping draught cd keep out the pain, & I am a very shakey bundle of nerves down to this hour. I could not see to read, if I had been able, for my very eyelids were full, so my letters & all lay unopened. The Telegram was not delivered till I was gone from Ikot Obon & it was sent up to Court - from there to Miss Peacock, who opened it to see if it needed an immediate answer or what, & she sent it back to the office, where it seems to have lain ------ When will they put a white officer on at Itu Post Office??? I have often written to & joked with you in my own mind tho' about the "Pretty Hair" & the halo. Poor hair!! Poor head!! It is as bald as a sixpence now all over the back, & I wear a H.K.F [Note 1] knotted at the four corners! as we did in school days. How long this will continue I know not - for the few hairs left on the front are like those of a dolls head put on with bad glue. Every time I put in the brush, it comes off in heaps. I dont think it can last many days more, & it is so very painful still to brush my hair that I dread the process. The Dr never saw anything like it, & said it was blood poisoning, which I beleive is right, as one day 3 weeks or so before it came on, while teaching a fly got on my head, & a girl said "sit still Ma" & clapped the thing which was so full of blood that it splashed all over us, & the cloth I was sewing was soiled. Next day it itched, & I scraped it with my comb - I have worn combs since I was at home of course ----- & I scraped it so very fiercely every day after that, when the itch came back, till 3 small boils came, which was the awful beginning. So nervous am I, that Yest was the first day I dared ride over the tracks of the motor in the mud. I have had to come off, but yest. I came on very well, which gives me hope that I am on the road to betterness. I was absent from Court 4 or 5 weeks, 10 Court days. But as I told you, they superseeded me by putting an A.D.C. [Note 2] at Itu, who is President of Ikot Obon Court, so he often goes ill & it is not of much matter. He is a **very** **very** nice fellow though, & never does a thing without me. He is just as a "Chum", so it has been easy, & he does not bring Halliday to interpret, but we do the thing together, & it is very helpful, but poor fellow, It is a hard seat. The Lawyers , have their tools all up this creek, & Eniyon & Aro Chuku never get a summons but they go to a Lawyer, & get a bigger summons or they take the Courts finding, & appeal to a Lawyer so that our Findings have no finality or even meaning. At this rate the Court will soon be a sham & a joke.

I think I told you the Coco House [Note 3] brought a claim for a whole house with all their lands & etc against Itu. They did not think it wd. be brought up here, & when he made his first statement, & was so severely questioned, as to the secrecy of the transaction with Coco, not a Cheif from Itu; etc, & was told that a Jury wd. be brought from Eniyon & Ibibio who were entirely neutral, & who wd be larger & perhaps more unbiased than we wd. be alone. He transferred his case to a Lawyer, or says so, & so on, so on & so on! Had he wanted to go to the Judge, or to Calabar, why wait 5 years, for it is that time since the man died, & the man told me in his life time that they wanted his coco farm, but never said they wanted himself. The proof is an entry in a book, purporting to be in Cocos handwriting, without a witness. It is the boy at the Okopedi beach, "Inna" with whom you kpe-d [Note 4] the ground for Russels that he wants.

Did you know the Signor Comr [Note 3] men? They were very kind to me. I was far from well, & they were most courteous. I do wish I had known, to have asked about you, for you seem so far off some how, & the idea of your going home seems to put you farther off still. But it will be good for you to get a voyage & a sight of the Homeland, & you will have the lovely autumn weather which is even better & bonnier than summer. I hope it will be a good time for you & yours. Our folks at home are all telling me I must not on any account stay more than 2 years, but that is nonsense. I have never got to redeem my promise to Ikpe Ikot Nkon yet. A lady - a Miss Turner comes out to me in August, so I am hoping to leave her here a week at a time, or more if the two ladies at Ikot Obon will share their nights with her, & so get some more of this doubtful mission work spread. I know this more & more from all I see, & hear, that without the Gospel, the White Man will never *keep* or *rule* what he is trying to snatch. The very men you are educating with gun & motor & Telegraph will turn you all out & keep Africa for the Africans. Only Xtianity [Note 4] will give them a motive for loyalty, & good living, & obedience to law. The Indian Mutiny & Sierra Leone can be redone on other conditions. This is not pessimism. I *Know* the Gospel wd hold them, & *all* Xtians are not of the evil order. We have loads & loads of good Xtian people, who are the producers & real citizens of Calabar & neighbouring districts, but they dont appear at the Courts. Now hit back hard, but dont hit my head! It is pitted all over, & *soft* - **soft** ***soft***, which you will take for the reason of the foregoing. All right!! Im not near!! I had a plea for a reading of your "Cross River Natives", last week from Itu trading houses. I dont know the houses or the agents, but he hoped "He was not too cheeky," as he was very anxious to have a reading of it. Capn Werrey has got an A.D.C. as well as the one at Itu so they are beginning to learn what your old district means. Our good Mr Hargrove has gone to Nyo. Im so sorry. He is just a man after your type & your heart, & when I say that, Ive said all I can say. But this must go as it is without any news, as I have none, but it goes with a very warm heartful of love & good wishes. Do let me have a line & let me know your whereabouts, & may God bless you & keep you, & give you every good, I am Yours affcetly M M Slessor

not a boil came below my neck.
Thats the *first* Telegram Ive had in Africa
MMS

Editorial Notes:

H.K.F. = Handkerchief
A.D.C. = Aide-de-camp
Comr = Commissioner
Xtianity = Christianity

Transcribed By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 63

15^th October 1909

Mary has been very busy and had to leave several letters unanswered. However she now gives a report of a marriage in her household, but also sad news of the deaths of old Ekpo Nive, Captain Werrey and Mr Wessels. Also problems with certain unprincipled Calabar people. The cloak that he had given her is about to be pressed into service again for a friend, but the precious Bike has suffered harm and she is waiting for it to be returned mended. Comments on modern exploration and travel.

[Envelope addressed to:]
Chas Partridge Junr. Esq.
Stowmarket,
Suffolk,
England

Re-addressed to [Baelore?] Herefordshire

Postmarks show it was sent from Stowmarket by the 9.30 post on 10^th November 1909, and received in Hereford the same day.

Use Ikot Oku
15^th Oct. 1909

My Dear Old Boss,

Your very welcome letters came all right, & tho all are unanswered by pen they have been answered often in my own mind. The photo too, is just simply splendid. It is perfectly life like & everyone thinks you look well. I do hope you have got some strength after your illness, & that the bracing weather of the Autumn will clear off West Africa from your system entirely, body & brain.

I have had a good deal of fever, but not too severe, & I can keep on my work - but with nothing to spare. We have been to Creek Town for Presby. [Note 1] for one week & I have had visitors, & have also had a marriage in the house. Mary has been married to the motor driver here, & there has been a very quiet wedding, but it made a deal of work too, to get her off nicely & to clear up after it. She did a deal of the heavy work of the house too before she went. Wedding & building & so we were kept at it.

He is a steady lad, & his mother has written from Lagos, & his brother who holds evidently a good post, so I am pleased, & it is her own choice tho' 2 other men, one Ibibio & one Okoyong man were waiting for her consent. Dont be sarcastic now over this! Annie was there with her husband and baby, & they seem to do well & have a decent home; so tho' I'm short handed - for the babies come all the time - Im glad to see them settled. Poor old Ekpo Nive died this last week. He was blind & very stupid, so it was a happy release for him. There was no drinking or rowdyism at all, only the mourning women, & the Egbo [Note 2] drum during the first night were heard. All the males of his house are church folks, & his wife is a candidate for baptism, & the funeral was quiet & orderly, & very decent in regard to the appointments of the grave & the body. Next day most people from the village were at the fishing, & the school has not been interfered with at all. What a change from say 2 years ago! Now, again! dont be sarcastic!! I'm not to say one word in answer to all you say about Ikpe, & the poor bit of work I do, & the Gospel I preach & the - Big D. - you speak of, and I am not to pose as a Martyr for "*I* *love* My Master & I will not go out from Him". & I do beleive that I am doing Ikpe & Use good, by giving them that which takes away the hunger of the Spirit, & gives them a definite "tangible" Helper & hope & life. So there!!! As long as I can nurse a motherless bairn, or help to keep peace in a home or town; or be a mother to my own bairns, I'm to stick to my post, & you wd. be the first to cry shame if I turned tail for a bit of fever, or even a bald head. My hair is growing in nicely, & I hope it will be quite covering the scalp before you come out to see me.

Now I've not good news this week from Ikot Okpene. Poor Capn. Werry is dead. Died very suddenly. Went into the new bungalow on the Saturday, & was in his usual, only had lumbago & sciatica, but wd. not go home as he had only a month to do. He took a fit of coughing next morning, & Dr Foran went over with a temperature of 105: to him, stopped the cough, which came back during the day, & in the evening he was dead from swelling in the Throat. Foran too has gone down, was carried past last Sunday in a hammock very ill. Now all this week Mr Wessels has been lying with Blackwater [Note 3], the Dr from [Bomy?] has been there, & I asked for a Hammock to go & stay but Mr & Mrs Moffat from Calabar were staying with Miss Peacock & they went over & are not back yet. I expect a Dr will have come to help last night with the mail boat. So you see we have had an anxious week, but I am hoping that as he has kept on so long, he will get over it. Mr Dickson, the ADC [Note 4] at Itu too has had boils for a long time & needs his releif badly, tho' I am sorry to lose him as he is a perfect gentleman, & so easy to work with. I shall feel releived if he can go tomorrow.

Those Calabars! The Coco house & others, & the Lawyers & Eniyon worry his life out. The former came back again like bees when he came, seeking to take whole houses from him, but when they saw that he only heard these Cases at Ikot Obon, they have all, without exception, backed out & fled. The Lawyers are bleeding Eniyon to the tune of from £40 " " for small things, to £350 all paid down for those fellows Ekanden Nmo Akpan, & Ishi, & all those you & Mr Mansfield settled. The best is, the Lawyers never appear. The Assizes are on now at Aro, & all the cases from this Court for malcontents are in this fix. After lying for months, Halliday still works for Mr Dickson, Clerk & Interpreter. Mr Underhill for Russell & all the usual people, Jury Men included, & all keep you in their Kindest membrances. You are preEminently, their father now. I must stop, as I have a lot of Church folks to write to. I have only one copy of my Photo taken at home. If I could make it up I should post it for you. I shall get some one to do it soon, tho' Im sure you don't want to have an old fad of a woman like me in your Album. I'm just to close this & get out my fur Cloak to give to Miss Amess to go home with. It went with Miss McKinney & has come back without a spot, or a moth bite, so Mina shall get it, & it will bring out some other one before I require it, so you see it is in harness. My Bike was left at Russell's & they put it against the Iron, & blistered & tore all my tyres, & it is in Calabar to see if ladies size can be got there. I'm so anxious for Monday to see if it comes, for it is as the loss of my right hand, & the Court road is long without it.

Thank you so much for Shackleton! Isnt it a wonderful time, South & North poles, & the air so far conquered! surely you will not be so foolish as to try the dirigibles or the aeroplanes. Better cross the Chanell by boat, or even by Tube! Eh?

Dear boy, good bye. I cd yarn all day if duties manifold did not call me. If you dont get books, beleive me to be ever the same, & to have you in remembrance before my Fathers throne. May your stay at home be happy & health-full & if I may, may I wish for you a help mate or, meet, or both to make your life full & complete.

All good be yours. I am ever
Yours Affectionately
Mary M Slessor

Dont pay me out by failing to write.
Mokop? [Note 5]

[Written halfway down on the blank page opposing page 5] "Word just come that Mr Wessells is dead."

Editorial Notes:

Presby. The Meeting of the Presbytery
Egbo = Efik secret society
Blackwater = Blackwater Fever: a severe infectious disease, a complication of Malaria
ADC = Aide-de-camp
Mokop. An Efik word, meaning unknown

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 64

9^th December 1909

Miss Slessor apologises for her previous un-stamped letter and then goes on to relate in detail the circumstances under which she felt it necessary to resign from her Court work. New government administrators have taken office who are not known personally to her, and a short letter of acceptance had been received. She had had some interesting visitors, and the ladies at Ikot Obon Mission had been sent a bicycle by Mr Fosbery. The Road is in fine condition, and she goes on to give some household news. She finishes on a plea for news and to know when he will be returning to Nigeria.

[Envelope addressed to]
C Partridge Esqr
Stowmarket
Sussex
[This addressed erased in a different hand and re-addressed to]
District Commissioner
Lagos
Southern Nigeria
[Post marked: Calabar Dec 10^th 1909; Stowmarket Jan 3^rd 1910; Lagos Jan 22^nd 1910]

Use Ikot Oku
9. 12. 09

My dear Old Governor

If you only knew the shame & mortification I have writhed under you would pity me rather than blame me for the *UN*-stamped card you got by last mail. I could not get a messenger, & so sent the girls & told them to tell MacCauley to weigh & stamp them & see the girl stamp the letters. The Str [Note 1] was lading, & he wd. be worried, & he took them all, impatient of her talk, & put them all in the bag, giving her [1/3?] [Note 2] worth of stamps back with her. When I saw them, you may guess how I felt, & as the truth dawned on me more & more it was horrid for days. Please *do* forgive me, or rather the Clerk & the girls. It was entirely a mistake, due to the pride of our ancestors who tried to build a Tower which wd make them independent. Alas! For the descendents of those proud men! Is the race extinct think you?

Well, I have not written; partly because I waited for the "Convenient" time & *more* *partly*, because I wanted my news to be definite & my pride to go down lest I shd. be unjust to any one. For a few months back, the *new* road men, *not* big offficers, have resented their boys coming to me with any complaint. Later the bigger officers have made it plain that they beleive themselves to be the only persons responsible or competent to judge anything for their boys. *I* hold that at work & under limits they have a right to settle all disputes; but outside the days work; or if discipline as administered by an Efik scamp who has picked up a little English at the beaches be to the Effusion of blood, or be given *out* *side* the work hours & place, the rights of citizenship have been invaded, & every boy has a right to take out a summons & be heard in open Court. This **may** have something to do with developments, but I'm only *supposing* it has. I dont know. It is the *first* time we have had any trouble with work men . Messers Darly, Rosario & Hanson, got every thing explained here; & were always satisfied & even grateful. Now it is not so. Well, you know the sad sad time we had at Ikot Okpene. Good Capn Werry, & then in a week or two, Mr Wessells both died, & they sent a man named Hodgeson as A.D.C. I heard that he too had been sent down sick, & as they carried a White Man in a hammock lying down, towards Itu while we were in Church that week, I beleived it. Any how I did not then know his name, & I thought there was no White Officer at the Station. Meanwhile Ibianan came one morning very early with a broken demijohn & telling that a woman had fallen out in the bush at the edge of the town, had cut an artery & bled to death, & as they had got her from another village, they were afraid there wd be trouble with her people "What shd they do?" "Wd. we send to see the body" I sent at once to the Clerk to send on the oldest C.M. [Note 3] to see the body & report on Mbian oath [Note 4], also Okodi to go at once to the womans relatives & ask them to go & see the body, & get it buried decently & if there was to be palaver [Note 5], we wd make the strictest enquiry. Meanwhile a messenger came from the Rds Dept [Note 6] to say there had been, what they feared was a murder, the noise attracted them & the blood. I explained that we had done what was necessary, & as the C.M.s had their orders, it wd. be well that no outsider interfered. - A day or two later Itu Ndem sent Chiefs & lads to say that 2 White Men had come to their town & taken 9 or 10 people to Ikot Okpene, & their followers had wrecked a lot of property. Would I send to Ikot Okpene & ask what the palaver was, as they did not know. I wrote on one side of a sheet of paper & did not enclose it a query to that effect, adding nothing, as I did not know if a White Man was there. Two large sheets of Rhodomontade [Note 6] came back type written, with such an impossible story, & with what I can only call insult to me. I wrote at once - again on half a sheet of paper, - "Sir, as I have yet to learn when & where I ever interfered with "a case being handled by a D C [Note 8]," as I have also to learn how & when I "shewed active sympathy" or passive sympathy either for that part, "with *those* *people*", I fail to see the point of this communication, & of course it is impossible for me to serve any longer under your rule, in any form, so I resign all connection with Ikot Obon Court. In a P.S. I added " an M.P. sent by you last week to Mr Dickson, regarding a case judged first while I was in Britain, & again for contempt of that judgement, judged & sentenced by A.D.C. [Note 9] impugned the probity & ability of the Ikot Obon Court & made them guilty of ------ Hence I told Mr Dickson at that time that I cd not serve under the writer of *such* a letter.

Brooks came up at that time to take charge, & after he was 3 or 4 days set down he sent a *most* *official* note accepting my resignation & *thanked* *me* *in* *the* *name* *of* *the* *Govr.* *for* *all* *my* *work*. The Ludicrous side then dawned on me, & I laughed & despised the height of the man more than ever. That was three weeks ago. Last boat brought a very nice friendly note from Mr Fosberry regretting that I had found it necessary to resign, & with a *gentlemans* thanks, for service rendered, & wishing me all good. So thats the position! & I'm dismissed & that by utter strangers. The Chiefs & people, & even the Clerk, cant understand, & the people *will* come, & the Clerk asks about things I know of & he doesnt as they were before his time, & how can I act? To let them see my rift within the Lute, wd give the show away. It wd. be fatal, as there wd be 2 parties, & yet I dare not interfere or write a note for any one. If it were not that the down river ladies may come up for the Xmas holidays - they all break up on 16 or 17 ult, I wd. go up to Ikpe & stay till every body fell off. But they will always come, as they have always come before there were Courts, & how am I to meet it, unless God takes me Home out of the way.

Now I have not told a soul but you, so you will respect my confidence & keep it closely in your own heart. Never speak of it. It is an *individual* palaver, & no one outside that is to blame, besides perhaps it is the only way to bring home to me the fact that I'm growing too old to be trusted with the affairs of a people. A new A D C came to Itu at the same time. He was to get any advice as to the laws etc, & was to come up, but I have neither seen him, nor have I had an answer verbal or written to the various things I have been forced to write & send to him since then. Even when I apologised for not having caught his name & had sent all the letters & books & people - to the D C at Itu. He never even enlightened me. I have since heard he is called Hopkinson, so you see Im a social leper.

But I have more pleasant news than this, this is to be forgotten, but I *had* to tell *you* as you made me take up the work. Mr George Gray & another Mr Grey going to Ikot Okpene in some capacity, called early on Sabbath morning. Scarcely had they gone, after a most pleasant talk, when Lady Edgerton called. She had only come the night before to meet him as he came round from I'Ekpene & they wd be going off next day. I think it was so kind of her to come when her time was so limited. She is an example to all ladies in the Protectorate & Mission, by her quiet unassuming behaviour & manner, her pure womanliness, & the plainness & yet elegance of her dress & tastes. His Excellency passed down on a motor cycle as we were in Church at midday, so I have not got a glimpse of him. Then too, one of those days when I was dismissed with Brooks Ironical thanks, Miss Peacock came down & she shewed me an official envelope & a formal note from this new ADC of Itu, saying that the Provincial Comner.[Note 10] had sent up a ladys Bicycle to the ladies at Ikot Obon for their use. It is a fine Bike with the speed thing & all new things, but it is not new, so we think it has been Miss Boggs or Mrs Fosbery's & that they have gone home. However we dont know. The A D C sent it to "Miss Peacock Principal lady at Ikot Obon", & she wrote back a Formal note of receipt & thanks. Now was not that a kind thought of Mr Fosbery's tho' I dont beleive he knows there is such a person as Miss Peacock. It was a kind thing for the Station seeing the road is good for so far. So there is sunlight in the world yet. I think the Governor will be pleased with the road. It has been metalled all over. Huge stones laid down under the sand, & the motor which runs all the time makes little impression on it now. The driver of the motor, a Lagos boy, came for my Mary, & they seem very happy & he has been very generous to us all, & is a good quiet Xtian [Note 11] lad. His mother & brother wrote to me from Lagos before I agreed to the marriage, but I am pleased with it, more than I shd have been with those who were seeking her from Ibibio & Okoyon & Ikpe, tho' all were good enough & well to do. His house & manner of life & food & etc are more like what she has been brought up to, & their small house *is* *not* in a compound, thats to me the ugly part of our native life, the publicity of it all. Annie has a fine baby boy & her husband - a school lad of Use - is kind to us all, & helpful to me, & a good boy. Only Jean & the younger ones are at home. Dan & Asogud are gone to the Institute. It wd make them such ninnies to be always among girls even if they had good schooling. I have two baby girls talking, one lies on my knee asleep now, & a wee ricketty boy whose mother died, & his father works on the road & he has no one to look after him. He has just got over that fearful scab - the Yaws [Note 12] - & has swollen feet & hands often, but with codliver oil & milk he puts on flesh apace. Now Bye bye. *Do* *let* *me* *have* *if only a line*. Im wearied to know how you are, & when you mean to be back. God bless you & guide you is the prayer of Yours Affectionately

Mary M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

Str = Steamer
one shilling and three pence (or 6 and a half new pence)
C.M. = Court Messenger
Mbian oath. A solemn oath taken with the use of Mbiam which is a "liquid substance which is tasted, & sometimes put on various parts of the body. It is supposed to cause dropsy, & so destroy any individual swearing falsely." from Charles Partridge's copy of "Dictionary of the Efik Language" by the Rev. Hugh Goldie.
palaver = usually denotes a discussion, consultation, or Court Case
Rds Dept = Roads Department
Rhodomontade. Extravagant boasting.
D C = District Commissioner
ADC = Aide-de-camp
Comner. = Commissioner
Xtian = Christian
Yaws. A contagious disease of the skin.

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1997

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 65

22^nd December 1909

Mary writes to Mr Partridge, Senior, to apologize for the unstamped letter [mentioned in letter 64] which would have been received by him after the departure of his son for Lagos. She goes on to congratulate him on having such an excellent person as his son.

[Envelope addressed to:]
Chas Partridge Esqr -senr.
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England

[Postmarked Calabar Dec 23^rd 1909; further postmarked, Stowmarket 5.30pm Jan 15^th 1910.]

Calabar
22^nd Decr 1909

Dear Sir,

My name is Miss Slessor & I had the great pleasure of working under, & I think I *dare* say that I made, & keep the privilege of friendship with your son Mr C Partridge, during that time of co-operation. Well, I sent him a Photograph of myself, as the only Xmas card I had within reach, & to my shame & mortification, the man at the Transport, either too busy, or not able to understand the language of the messenger, threw my heap of mails, several *un*stamped, into the bag, & sent the stamps for the money that was to get stamps for the letters. The Card to Mr Partridge was among them, & when last mail his letter told me he wd have left home by time it was due, I was simply overwhelmed with shame at the fact of the card going *un*paid to *you*. I sent a letter by the next mail apologizing, but you wont see it, so I send this to you to apologise, & trust it has not vexed or shamed you, for I have the very highest regard for Mr Partridge, & only wish I knew how I could serve him to purpose.

I know from him that you are a Xtian [Note 1], & I am a missionary - have been for 33 years - in the Scots Presbyterian Mission here, so I hope you will accept my apology. Also accept my congratu;ations on the possession of such a son as Mr Partridge is. He not only lives a White life out here, but his upright & sympathetic tactfulness as an administrator have endeared him to our people, [who long all the time that he be sent back to this province], but raise their conceptions of what a White Man & a Christian is. Hence he not only serves & adorns & extends the British Empire, but he is a tower of strength to all, who like myself, work against the dreadful odds of heathenism.

Please excuse my forwardness in addressing you, also accept my apologies for the affront given without intent & through the crudeness of our Postal arrangements

I am Yours faithfully

Mary M Slessor

Editorial Note:

Xtian = Christian

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 66

23^rd December 1909

Mary explains that she has written to Mr Partridge's father to apologise and explain the unstamped letter. She is glad he is returning to Nigeria, but sad that he is not to return to Calabar.

Use Ikot Oku
23^rd Decr 1909

My Dear Old Chief

I got up at first cock-crow, in order to write an apology to your father for an unstamped card I had sent, & which will reach your home *after* you have left. O, if I was ashamed before, I have been simply overwhelmed since with mortification at giving them this affront, & at Xmas time time too!!! I do hope they will not misunderstand, or think that it is disrespect to you, for whom I have a pardonable affection & respect. I had also sent an apology to you the following mail, & you will very much wonder at the other news that letter will give.

I was in the bush yest. & they got a boy to post any letters I had ready, but I cd not get this done then & am hoping that at daybreak, I shall see some of the road workers going to Okopedi who can take this in time to catch the boat this morning.

I cant write a letter, nor thank you for yours, nor touch on the wonderful news that a Xmas present of such magnitude should be given me, all this will go by next week. This will meet you on your arrival at Lagos, & will let you know that your return causes joy to me heart at least.

O I wish you were coming here! shall I ever see you again? I hope you will keep well, & that this Year may bring you every Good that even our God can bestow.

With ever & ever so much of the greetings & good wishes & tender regards associated with the season, I am ever your affectionate friend

M M Slessor

I was 60 years old last week. Fancy that! I cant realize it.

MMS

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, May

Letter no. 67

3^rd February 1910

Mary writes of her excitement over Mr Partridge's gift of a new bicycle. As she has been attending the Presbytery meeting she has not yet been able to try it!. She cannot write much as her thumb has swollen painfully but promises a letter the next week.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esqr.
Badagry,
So. Nigeria
[c/o Consulate Lagos]

[Postmarks show that it was received in Lagos on February 9^th 1910 and arrived in Badagry on February 15^th 1910]

at The Manse Duke Town
3. 2. '10

O You dear!!

I have been so excited for over a week about my cycle. I only *saw* it for the first time the day before I came down here for Presbytery. Mr Fosbery wrote to me that he had sent it up, & sent me a nice letter, but the A.D.C. [Note 1] to whom it was consigned was, I think, at Ikot Okpene & I was just crazy for a week waiting to see it, then Marys husband told the Chaufeur, & they brought it up, & took it right up to the garage at the Ikot Obon Camp to put it in riding order, & they wanted to bring it down the morning they left, but I said "no, keep it till I come back", so I have not yet got a trial of it. I feel as eager to get to it, as to get to the bairns. But my dear old Rudge [Note 2] is my bosom friend & I'm jealous for the dear Bike that has carried me so long, & given me such pleasure & healthful exercise.

I have still this gouty Calabar swelling & cant hold the pen. My thumb is so sore. So I cant write to you today, & we leave tomorrow. I go to tea with the nurses this after-noon, & to Dinner with the McGregors at the Institute. I brought Dan down after holiday & must see to his clothes too this evening.

Please dont be vexed with this scribble. I have crops of boils again on my head, but am otherwise well, & I shall be quite able to write to you next week when my hand is better. Mr Child has been up, shall you see him. Im lost about your new place, but shall find out. I do hope you will like it & keep well. Thanks for word of Essien, shall write to him. Ever & ever so much of grateful thanks, & shall tell you all about the station and Bike next time

With affectionate greetings & wishes I am ever your old Friend M M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

ADC = Aide-de-camp
Rudge. The manufacturer and trade name of Miss Slessor's first bicycle.

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 68

3^rd March 1910

The boils mentioned in her last letter have multiplied and caused Mary severe pain and even blindness for a time. Dr Thompson has brought about a great improvement enabling her to reply ["by groping over the paper by instinct"] at last to Mr Partridge's letter, and she is looking forward to trying out her new Bike in a couple of days! She expresses her delight at receiving letters from both his parents and hopes to be able to see well enough to write replies in a week's time.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esq
Badagry
via Lagos
Nigeria

["Badagry" struck out by another hand & re-addressed to Igbeni Hill.

Postmarks show it left Itu on March 3rd; then Calabar on March 14th, and arrived at Igbein Hill, Abeokuta on March 14th 1910]

Use Ikot Oku
3rd March 1910

My very dear friend

I thank you ever so much for your cheerful letter which has helped me not a little, & I am sure you are quite right in *all* you say. I cant write a letter, as Im almost blind. Ive had that head & neck of boils again, but Dr Thompson from Ikot Okpene came up with the A D C [Note 1] from Itu & said "Im simply come to take care of you, & youve got to do what I tell you." & he did work a miracle of healing. He said one of the oldest Drs on the Coast had the same thing last year, & I was to take his drastic measures, & when I think of how he has healed me in such a short time, & quite killed the hundreds of things, & made life quite bearable again, I feel mad at the month of agony I suffered last year, & the 3 weeks of the same this year. I was quite blind for a time. Then only yesterday, have been able to read or write again for a week, but it is all right today, & tho Im groping over the paper by instinct there is not any pain in the eye, & in a couple of days, I shall be on my cycle again. Will you beleive me that I've never tried my new one yet! Ive not got my head down so the want of sleep made me so nervous again that I dare not ride or even hear the bairns crying or making a noise. A new baby [nearly died yest] from Nyo has come today but Jean is always pleased & never thinks a baby a trouble so she is keeping it. Mr Gray has been offering me his escort home, as he thought it was time I was going, he leaves this month. Mr Maxwell has written a nice brotherly breezy letter letter. Isnt it good of them? & Dr Thompson I shall never thank him enough for his goodness & skill I hear Mr Bedwell takes Mr Fosberys place here. Im so glad for he is a good man, I understand him, & he me.

Now for my news!! And O you dear boy, I love you better & better for it!! I have had the joy of letters from your dear parents. The dear sweet Mother heart!! I cant speak of her letter, but it makes life richer, & the Father too. I quite *UNDERSTAND* all about it. In Scotland we say "The Rose of Sharon has a smell of its ain." & John Bunyan says "They spoke the language of Canaan," & so we do! & so shall **you** one day, & thats my prayer for you constantly. I shall write if I can see next week to them, & mind this always. You must not fix the faults of Xtians [Note 2]. or their particular or narrow schools, on to the tender perfect Master of us all. Now dear laddie, good life. for a week, God bless you, & keep & company with you. I am ever yours affectionately,

Mary M Slessor

I hope you can read this. Mr Darby is gone back to the [East?]. He wont come back here. His sister [wat--?] this [-?] Our Rd staff are all new. MMSlessor

Editorial Note:

As the letter makes clear this letter was written while Mary was unable to see due to the boils that infested her head. As a result this letter has been very hard to read – the ink is very black [coming through the paper] and the writing is unclear, though an excellent effort considering her difficulty.

More Notes:

ADC = Aide -de-camp
Xtians = Christians

Transcription By: Leslie A Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 69

10^th March 1910

Miss Slessor is writing to Mr Partridge's parents. Most of the letter is on Christian subjects, eg. the value of prayer [asking particularly for prayers on behalf of her children], the certainty of God's presence in her work, the value of the Keswick School, etc. with reference to her early life. She gives a short appreciation of their son, touching delightfully on her relationship with him.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esqr
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England
[Postmarked Itu March 9^th 1910]

Use Ikot Oku
Near Itu
Calabar
10^th March 1910

Dear Mr & Mrs Partridge

It is my turn now to be glad that something went wrong, in order to get such letters as you have kindly sent me. I have always known that you were Christians. Mr Partridge told me too that you were *evangelical* Christians. Which made me understand more, so that I am not surprised at your letters, & so much have I been told of the dear Mother that I would not be surprised at any attainment on her part. I do thank you so much for taking me so under your circle of friends for we serve One Royal Master, & I shall be glad if you give me a share of your prayers, & if you specially pray for my *dear* Children, that they may be saved & be made saviours of others. I feel so frail sometimes now a days that I feel as if the work must be left to them & while they are all good & affectionate & obedient there is a lack of spiritual life, & the lack of that passion for the saving of others, that I long for in them, & in myself. There is great deadness here, as in the Church at home, an indifference to spiritual things, tho God does not leave himself with [Note 1] a witness, for our catechism class mostly made up of elderly people, & many of them women, which is most hopeful seems to grow in numbers in steadfastness, & we have 4 baptized members. Two & a half years ago the villagers were steeped in degradation & vice, so I am grateful for so much, but oh! for an awakening & a conviction of sin, which will drive them to the Saviour!

Thank you for the booklets!! Do you go to Keswick at all? I am sure you will be thorough in sympathy with that school & all it stands for. Long before I knew about that, in the days of [Parsale?] Smith, & Boardmans Higher life, when I was a young girl, I entered in Gods Great Grace, on the experience of His Keeping sanctifying power & excepting for a very little while when Cheyne & Driver were at their worst in their destructive Criticism, that Perfect Peace & faith has never wavered, & if any one may testify as to the reality of His Presence & power, it is surely this unworthy servant, who has lived & worked *alone* for the long space of 20 years, & in the darkest place of our Field. *He* & *His* *Word* are a living bright reality for sure, & the fact, that I meet my congregation, knowing that it is not me, nor my message, but just that I am in the Hand of the Spirit as the Channel of Communication, & that my part is to see that the Channel is open & clean. This fact I say keeps away the fear & the worry, & the nervousness of being conscious that all their impressions come thro me - which is a tremendous responsibility. This keeps me in quietness of soul, that keeps me in health of body. But what am I writing all this about myself for? I mean to Glorify Him, & to magnify His Grace in me.

I am so sorry Mr Partridge is again settled outside our District! It meant such a lot to me, & to my people too, when he left Ikot Okpene. But it is such a blessing for others to have his just, patient, tactful rule that I try to be glad for their sakes. Foolish & superficial & *hireling* administrators are not wanting among us, tho one British rule is far & away the best thing for Africa & for all subject races, that the World Powers know. He never fails to write to me, & always in the most cheerful manner. *Every* place is *good*. He never has a complaint! He acts out the Hymn sentiment, "Go bury thy sorrow"," "Go give them the sunshine" & I am sure, tho' John Bull will never profess any thing lest it be called Cant, that he "Tells Jesus the rest." For all we bicker, & he bothers me & teases me, I know that he worships & tries to serve My Lord. & he knows that my earnest prayer for him. Do you think we thank God enough for, & use enough the ministry of privilege in intercession? I think not. Open your circle to me, & I shall more definitely than ever to you & yours.

A very young boy, whose parents & sisters are Christian, called on me, as he passed up a stranger towards Bendi last week. He is Scots, & of course a Presbyterian, so was in some measure aware of our Mission here. We parted with full hearts. May God bless & Guide & Keep him. I met Mrs Pen Lewis in Scotland some 14 or 15 years ago at the house of mutual friends in Edinburgh. Mr Wilson, the late Chairperson of Keswick was there too. It was a fine time, & ever since I have followed the career of Mrs Pen Lewis with great interest. "She Overcomes", was sent to me a short time ago by some friend unknown, so it is not altogether a stranger. What a Grand Number this is! Those Calvary Papers of Mr Gordon are so intensely searching & uplifting. I feel so far short of any thing on meditating thus on the theme of all themes, The Cross. You are well off at Home with all the privileges of Reading & Conference & Communion of saints. But I wd. *not* change with you, For he is *all* *sufficient* here, & there many souls to be won, & much land to be possessed.

I am under the doctors care ---- Here he comes ----- & have had a weary month of pain from a crop of boils all over my head, then my eyes got bad & this is the first of my using them for writing or reading, so I can not make a decent letter to you, & it is such a selfish letter too, for I think being in the house so much is making me feel morbid, but it goes with a full heart & with much Xtian affection.

Here are the boys to take the letters to the Post. The Dr has sat with me for an hour, so this must go as it is.

With thanks for Your Kindness & with Kindest regards

I am Yours Sincerely
Mary MSlessor

Editorial Notes:

Surely intended to be "without".

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letters 70–79

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 70

27^th April 1910

Altough Miss Slessor is worried that she has not heard from Mr Partridge recently, her main reason for writing is to ask him to bear witness in the case of Ekpe Ita, who is being asked to pay "that young scamp" Udo Antia £20 or to become, with his household, Udo's slaves. The whole case seems to hinge on actions taken 11 years earlier, with Mr Partridge the only possible witness for the defence.

[Envelope addressed to]
C Partridge Esq
Badagri,[deleted] Abeokuta
via Lagos,
So Nigeria.

Use Ikot Oku
27^th April 1910

Dear Mr Partridge

If word does not come from you this mail, I shall try to write to someone who will know about you from Lagos. Are you well enough? I'm more than anxious.

But I am not to write about myself in this note. It is written in favour of one of the best & most respectable citizens of Ntit Obio. At Ikot Inyan - Imuk's village. Since I have left the Court Udo Antia is at it again, calling people from here & there, with claims for women & etc, & he seems to have got the right side of a boy whom I put in "Interem" for a sick member for Itu. The fellow hasn't even a Warrant to sit, so I made a visit last week & spoke to the Jury about it, & told them that fellow cant be foreman of Jury.

Udo Antia calls Ekpo Ita of Ikot Imien claiming him & all his House, as his slaves. One part of the Claim rests on an act of 11 years ago, in which he invocked Udo's help with his women. By the brother & other Chiefs this was revocked by the sacrifice of a fowl etc. that part is easily disposed of. But he says he has paid to Udo Afia Ikot Okpene [Note 1], - that is Mr Partridge, the sum of £20 " " for redemption money for Ekpo Ita. in other words *he* *bought* *him* *by* *paying this sum to you*. No one knows for what he paid this. Ekpo Ita never had a palaver with you. You never told him, & you never told me, & he does not know from what he redeemed him at your hands. So he told the Court that he had no witness but you, & he asks me to write & ask if you will tell the Court what he did that you took this money from Udo Antia. As one A.D.C. [Note 2] is gone to Calabar sick, I have taken it on me to forbid the Case going on till his, or a substitute returns, & untill Ekpo Itas question to you, be answered. Will you tell him? It means his very life to him.

Now here is his, & Imuks statement about the £20. It may help your memory! Udo Antia held a stubborn wife of Ekpo Ita's, one man seduced her. Udo took 60 rods [Note 3] from that man, & you fined him, Udo Antia, for taking the 60 rods - *i.e. He lost 60 rods of the womans a/c.*

You see I am not doing what I shd. do, were I taking up this Case i.e. writing to Brooks. But the Dept. asks me to write *for* **him** direct to you, as he knows nothing of any transaction on his behalf, between you & Udo Antia. & that young scamp sitting in the foremans Chair without even a Warrant, said a week or more ago, "You must either find £20, or be Udo Antias slave. We know nothing of having a White Man for Witness". *He* *has* *got* *his* *Answer* beleive me for that, & they will not think again of transferring a house & a White Man never called. The Eniyon men were attending the Assizes at Aro Chuku when this was spoken. Thats my burden, & if you can help this man, as his Witness, please do so, in the fashion which is to your orderly & official soul, the best one. Of course it shd. go from you pro the D.C. [Note 4] but our swells from Itu seem to be able to do without a D.C. Hence the [Defts?], fear & dread.

With every kind wish & regard I am
Yours Sincerely
M MSlessor

Editorial Notes:

Udo Afia Ikot Okpene. Charles Partridge's local name
ADC = Aide-de-camp
rods = brass rods were a medium for barter; local currency
DC = District Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 71

23^rd June 1910

Miss Slessor has had a long letter from Mr Partridge in which he would appear to have thought that her earlier letter [No 70] was not so friendly. This Mary takes seriously! He has also enclosed a statement which will resolve Ekpo Ita's problem. Mary goes on to relate the circumstances under which she fell seriously ill, of the love and care she has received from her friends, and of how she will soon be back at Use. She has been impressed by the gardens at Itu, and has resolved to establish a garden for herself on her return. While away Mr Dickson has repaired her house, and established a system for collecting rain water. She upbraids Mr Partridge for keeping secret the fact that he is author of another book "King Edward's Ring", which she has just discovered, and asks to know more of it before she reads it again in order to discuss it with him later.

C Partridge Esqr
The Residency
Abeokuta
*Nigeria* *W.P.*

[Postmarks show the letter left Calabar on June 25^th 1910, arrived in Lagos on June 29^th, and was received at Igbein Hill Abeokuta on June 30^th 1910]

Training Institute
Duke Town
23^rd June 1910

O You Dear Duffer – will that do???

I never thought you could be so dense! Did you never hear that "absence makes", etc & you never saw that I was writing for Ekpo Ita, & that the letter might have to be shewn to some Magistrate you were to take oath before? If I could not call you "Dear Mr" - & give *respectful* salaams, I would not care so much when you were long silent, & you would have another letter between or before that one which was not "Just like a woman". Did you not get that?? Well, Well! I'm properly glad to see the marks of your "fist" again anyhow, tho. it *is* driven home with some force, but I am not so well pleased with your new abode. Thousands of a population in one locality, does not meet my approval under tropical African conditions, & I do hope your residence is far apart from the madding crowd, - tho I dont know what "madding" means? [Note 1]-

You dont say one word about your health. I wish you had, but I take it for the best as you say nothing to the contrary. Only you would not do that for anything, if you were ever so uncomfortable or ill. You are a personification of John Bull in this respect. I suppose I could put it in a finer way than that, but this will do. It is time now I thanked you I think for your long letter, & for the releif to that poor mans feelings, & to the deadlock in the Court in his Case, which your paper brought. I sent it to the A.D.C.s [Note 2] Office at Itu, but have never seen him, or our people. And that brings me to the reason I am here.

It will be five weeks tomorrow since I was away down the road on some business about tree cutting, as the motor cd not pass, & I came home as well as ever I was in my life. I had settled a palaver [Note 3] on the road, & so had a long seat in the middle of my walk, & was reading after breakfast, when such a vomiting which cd not stop came on, & the children got so frightened when I cd. not speak any more that they told David, who got on his Cycle & off to Ikot Okpene for the Dr., as we thought Dr Robertson was in Calabar at the Kings Memorial service. At once Jean ran to Itu, & David had told his Master, so before long 3 White Men, & then Dr Robertson were there with the motor, & they lifted me in & took me to Itu, where Dr Robertson & his wife nursed me with such tender care & affection & with such skill that in 3 weeks I could go out my self to the verandah & sit about. The very day after the news got down here, my dear old friend & Chief, Mr Bedwell, sent up a launch with ice & chickens, & from then the brother & sister here who are among my most intimate & loved friends from long ago, kept sending up such delicacies, & then Mr Bedwell sent the *Maple* *Leaf* [Note 4] for me fancy that! While two A.D.C.s one of them sick, went down in a small launch at the same time, & he wanted me to live at the Hospital for a month, for rest & change, [ - ?]!!! This child & her friends prevailed, so I have been spoiled here, with affectionate nursing & am feeding up for the slaughter of all those dear innocents at Use & neighbourhood, when I get back on Saturday. Mr Bedwell has gone for a tour somewhere, but another old & valued friend, Mr Child came, & he is to send me home in another launch on Sat. so I can have Sabbath with my people. Now there's another episode!

I'm so sorry at causing such trouble to every body, but I have learned a great many valuable lessons, & I have seen many "tips" for the material side, which will maybe make the little bit in front more effecient [sic] in my small service. O I've forgotten to say, that by Mr Bedwells orders, my house has been all repaired & rematted, & a spout put up to the roof to catch rain water & the Mission sent a huge tank long ago , so now the connection is made: life will be considerably less strenuous for the children, who had so much water to carry, & better for me with the purer water. I *have* a filter mind, so dont preach! & I was going on all the proper lines when this happened. Well now this is enough, or, nearly so, about my precious self, and the 5 *teething* *Infants* - if they are all spared, to whom I go, D.V. [Note 5] in a couple of days, will bring me to Terra Firma [Note 6] again. I have not any news tho' I have been out to tea at the Drs. His wife, a handsome & very pretty woman came out a few weeks ago, & was very kind & gracious to us, a charming manner she has. She has three lovely children at home, which added to her charm & winsomeness, as her mothers-love was manifest in her conversation & manner. Mr Child is to come up for a cup of tea this afternoon. There have been 2 or 3 deaths of a rather sudden kind here among white men, but they are not among your acquaintance or mine. A number of deaths have occurred also among my people since I left. A letter has just come in from David, & he tells me Mary & all the children are well, & that Use are repairing the Twin Mothers house & several other places in the grounds. So I feel quite glad. This is a very lovely place! I have been able to take a walk this week, every day, & am charmed with the whole thing. The Drs garden, & all the gardens here, as well as that at Itu Hospital, are lovely, & I am determined to have a garden the first thing I do.

I am not at all in love with either side of our Political District. We have got such an ------------------------! of a man at Itu. I'm glad he was in a separate launch, for there would have been a sparring match, & I'm not physically fit yet for it, but it *will* *come*, if he is long enough there. The average length of the A.D.Cs time there since Mr Dickson left, is about 3 weeks, &, "I am glad". Thats from a Hymn refrain, but it is not meant to be irreverent, for it just came to the pen point before I thought. Dont you think for a moment you are to "Pawn my halo," My hair is growing in again, & I'm determined I shant give you any opportunity.

There is a semi European Church at Ikot Obon now, & there is a surplus of £20 " " after paying about £60 for it. They got help however from other Congregations, Duke & Creek Towns. Itu is putting up a fine new Church, a small tower, or whatever you call it, will be seen from far & near. It, the Church, will cost about £400. & it is almost subscribed already by the *natives* *themselves* who have a few boys out teaching in the bush districts, All at Native Expence. So you can hardly call us heathen now. Trade is developing wonderfully. There are Three factories at Itu, with seven white men in them. Then Russell does well in kernells. I hear 100 puncheons are lying at Miller Bros for shipment up there.

But I must come to my crack shot. Why did you never tell me that you were the Author of "King Edward's Ring?" I found the book at Itu, & it had - that copy - been read so widely that the Covers were torn off, & no one now can learn the publishers name. You are a fine one! To have kept your secret so well! & never to give one a chance of getting the book. Come now, 'fess up!! & this time it will be my chance to "Pawn a halo". They say it is at Lowestoft the publishing firm live. Let me know for I have no way of knowing. If you dont tell me, dont look for grace any more. Did you do it while you were so long an invalid? After you tell me, & I have another reading of it, we shall discuss it.

But here is the breakfast bell, so I shall stop. If I hear any news I may add it, but we have to shop a little, & we have a visitor tonight, & I may not get time tomorrow, as I am to get cuttings & flowers for taking up on Saturday. If there is no more added, you will know I have not had time. If you are near Mr Fred Darby, give him my best regards.

Bybye! dear old man! Keep well, & take care of yourself, & if it be only a line let me hear now & then from you, I am Your affectionate friend,
Mary MSlessor

Editorial Notes:

Madding. Acting madly, or distractedly
A.D.C. = Aide-de-camp
palaver = usually denotes a discussion, consultation or Court Case
"Maple Leaf": probably a river launch
D V = God willing [Deo Volente]
Terra Firma - latin for "Firm Ground"

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 72

5^th October 1910

A short note in which Miss Slessor anxiously enquires why she has not heard from Mr Partridge lately – has she upset him, or is he ill?

[Address on envelope]
C. Partridge Esqr
Abeokuta
c/o Secretariat
Lagos *Nigeria*

[Postmarks show it was received in Calabar on October 8^th, 1910; Lagos on October 11^th, and Igbein Hill Abeokuta on October 12^th, 1910]

Industrial Institute
Duke Town
5^th Oct 1910.

Dear Old Friend

If I have grieved you in any way: surely it is not beyond forgiveness, & surely you will let me know, so that I can explain it, or try to. I cant afford to lose your regard & respect, without making some effort to avoid such a sorry debock - & I cant spell the word!! Guess it. Please! dear old Comrade! Give me, if only a P.C. [Note 1] to say, "All right", & if it has been sickness which has caused the silence.

Im here attending Presbytery, & am well. Tho' I was rather broken when I came, as Mary - who was married last October to the Govt. Chauffeur ffrom Lagos, got a baby girl on the day previous to our coming down. I shall not give you any more personal news, as I fear you may not care for it, but I shall await a reply of some kind with a little anxiety

I am your old friend
Mary MSlessor

Editorial Note:

P.C. = Post-card

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 73

1^st December 1910

Christmas greetings on a postcard of Town & Church, Calabar

[Postcard addressed to]
C. Partridge Esqr
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England

[Post marked 1^st Dec 1910; then Calabar 3^rdDec 1910]

"To Thank you & wish you a Holy Happy Xmas & growth in grace & the Highest prosperity in the New Year. Yours gratefully & sincerely M MSlessor"

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 74

22^nd December 1910

Miss Slessor explains all the delays that have prevented her replying to his last letter. She is at Ikpe supervising the building of her house there. Meanwhile they are in rooms at the Church. She describes the town, and her plans for the future supervision of Use and Ikpe. Word has spread that Mr Partridge is to return to the area, and she recounts the resulting excitement and interest. Small Pox has hit the district, and the people have agreed to be vaccinated, but only if Mary or a white man carries it out as they distrust their own people in such matters. A bell has been hung in Use Church, and the new Church at Itu has been opened with no difficulty in meeting its costs. She refers again to the book she discovered he had written, with more encouragement to continue his writing. She gives news of her household, and concludes with her Christmas wishes to him.

[Envelope addressed to:]
C Partridge Esqr.
District Commissioner,
Ibadan
Lagos, Nigeria

[This envelope was rubber-stamped on the back "Received at Okopedi 21^st Dec. 1910". Postmarked Itu 22^nd Dec, 1910, it was further postmarked Calabar December 23^rd and Lagos December 29^th 1910]

Ikpe Ikot Nkon

My Dear Old Chief

I know you will not keep your threat. You will write to me sometimes when you have got home & had a rest. I was so glad to hear from you for I often feared you had had to go home, or that something had turned you from me. I meant to write by return, but I began to take frequent fevers, which did not take me from my work, but made me unable in the mornings to get up to write. Then I came up to Ikpe, & as there is no post up here, I got careless of writing in proportion to the pressure of work, & there was a whole week between at Use, when wrote Xmas letters every day, & because you were nearer hand, I let yours stand. I am at Ikpe again. We are building at last, & only that my Carpenter has gone somewhere for medicine, the roof would have been on my house today. However the walls will be finished to day I hope, except for mudding, as all the work for the roof, which is to be of Iron, is done. How these people have worked! & never did I have such material for building provided before, not one single inferior stick in the lot, & there are loads of stuff left over for out houses. We have got a hill about 7 minutes from the Market Place, away from the dirt & noise, & we have a spring of good water inside the grounds. We will land at the upper beach. It is always free from mud that road, but is a bit farther on the river. I dont know whether I can get anyone to take over Use. I rather think, I shall have to divide the time between the two places. A new person could hardly take up this town, they are so heathenish, so brutish even, a novice wd. find it more than he cd hold onto, besides, he wd never get to know things under the suface. & then there is a Church & a hungry clamourous people at Nkana, & ever so many other places want supply. So I must get the roads cleaned & use my cycle among them till the spade work is done, when some one can take it up. They were rejoiced to hear that [B - k? e?] had gone, & O how every one was rejoicing up here & all Ikot Obon side when we heard that you were coming back to us. I was inundated with visitors from every where, to ask if it were true, & to tell you to come quick & not go away again to any other place, etc.etc. My first informant was Mr Rosario, who came in one day saying, "Ma what will you give me for my news? I know you will pay highly for it. It is rare news today." & he kept me on tenter hooks till then he said "Mr Partridge is coming to Ikot Okpene. The Native Clerks all knew it at Ikot Okpene & were scattering the news broadcast. The thing called A.D.C. [Note 1] at Itu, was wondering then where he wd. be, as *we* wd. run the show. I wish we had got the chance. The District groans. Im never done up here finding Blackmailers. The traffic is transferred from Aro Chuku to this Creek now, & there is a rather nice old man from New Calabar at the Rest House here on the Creek as Transport Clerk, & the Steel Canoe runs up & down, as the whole site & buildings at Bendi are being changed to a better place. It seems the old site is unhealthy. So this p - dont know what I was to say here. Folks came with palavers [Note 2], & then I had to get on to the work place before the sun got too hot. So I'm sitting under the palm branches they have rigged up looking after things & the bairns are playing at my feet, while the bigger girls are washing as they can spread their clothes out here on the bush. We live meanwhile at the Church. There are two small rooms built on to the gable, & a small bit of the market place is fenced in for a yard. So we are very comfortable, but rather cramped, & there is no space for bairns. What a teeming crowd pass & repass all the day long, & on market day it is simply sickening in the heat. The noise & the smells are about enough to turn one over. But it is wonderfully quiet at night. Small Pox is all over the place I hear, & we got a motherless baby, whose Father has just got over it, but the mother & others have died at one of the Ebariba Towns. S00000o the Drs are busy trying to overcome the predguices [Note 3] of the superstitious frightened people & trying to get them to submit to vaccination. I have just had a letter here from Mr Chamly, the D.C. [Note 4] at Aro Chuku. He kindly invites me to spend a day or two with him on my downward journey. It has made sunshine this cheery letter. The people here are willing to be vaccinated if Ma, or a White Man will do it, but they will not have it from these black boys, as they are full of mischief i.e. sorcery & witch. The *Black* Man has no faith in his fellow black man, never seems to beleive good of him, & he can hear evil. I have heard from Marys husband at Ikot Obon Camp that my room window has been broken Use ran up & told him, but I dont know whether the house is robbed. if it is, it is the first time I have had that experience in all my life among black folks. That Government Road is a pest House. All sorts of scoundrels from everywhere skulk on it, & nothing is safe. I have sent down Annie's husband, who is up here with me, to see, & to tell Use to live there till I come back.

Messrs Russells agent has sent up some boards, & a present of biscuits & a cake. Isn't it good of him? Nobody I think gets so much love & service as I do all the time. I just wonder at it. I think Mr Mann may come up & try to gain a place for trade, while I am here. They have tried it for 3 years now but the people wont hear of it. They dont want the white man at any price. I expect they want to monopolise the market, at least Eniyon does. They are mad at my coming, but eventually, they will have to give in, for it is coming fast. The Old Chief at Itu is dead, & several others of some weight there, so I feared for the money due on the new Church Itu has had put up. It has cost over £300 & as the funeral rites & mourning & etc has cost so much I thought the £151 not gathered might make Trouble, but I have a note from Dr Robertson saying the collection at the opening was £113 - - . What do you think? All the Creek Congregations & others were there & have done well. Asan, Akani Obio, & several others have Ballances for building in 3 figures, Our own little Church at Use had a new Bell out from Home costing over £8 - - & they have paid it from their offerings. It is heard all over the farms and at Ididep. Mr Stephens & Dr Roach heard of our not being able to hang it, as it has a pully and wheel, & they came up & with the villagers hung it for us. So you see things are moving here. You wd. not know Itu now. Factories all along the length of the beach, the Bungalow & Hospital on the Hill. All the forest cut down, & the slope beautifully laid out. Alas! a number of grave stones are there too, as the Xtians [Note 5] have a cemetery & now the beautiful Church is up, with a tower & bell, & it is all like a picture. What a land site it is for a Home? Where is the copy of the Book you found for me? If I knew the Publisher I shd. get it for myself, but the copy I had was so well read & lent that the Covers were gone, & I was charged not to let any leaves be lost. Why dont you go on? It is perhaps that sickening hatred of the pen that keeps you from doing it? Or is it too much to do? & your brain is fagged? It is a pity any how that you dont go in more for literary work, for you have the power to do it. However, you *may* be doing, for ought one knows, or maybe better still, you are gathering material for days of leisure. Any how I shall hope to see some more of your work before I go to the "Halo Brigade". My! but this is a grand name!! Struck me as quite distinguished! & I shall do my utmost to qualify for it.

This has been quite a series of interruptions Interviews, Palavers, advice, complaints etc. & the last is the Head Man of the Town who has been giving me a long list of the honours of his father, & his power, & of the determination of the people to have himself succeed, of how he fought against the honour as he was too young, & how he had fought but they thrust it on him, & now *his* *Mother* has come to make things better for them than ever! He hopes she will be his friend & tell him when he is wrong, & etc. & will she tell the young men when they have done my house to carry sticks for him, so that he may have a house worthy of the White Woman in his Town & high up in the roof like this, & blarney without measure! now I'm hungry & am sending for Jean to get my chop [Note 6] brought here, & as she is going to Nkana to open a school, I expect there will be little time for writing as have only Maggie & Whitie with me! There is a brace of big baby boys who are far too heavy for me. Annies boy died not long ago. He was running about, & began to speak. Mary has a fine little girl, & is immensely proud of it: David has been a good son in law, so has Akpa Inyan. Jean is still the House Mother. The Dr has told her she cant marry, & she is fain [Note 7] to keep the kids here. She may take the English Class in school here. We shall see. As they scatter, I miss them for they did my hard work. Dan will D.V.[Note 8] be home for Holiday from Duke Town Institute, one of these days. He is not clever, but is thus far, a good boy, & obedient & cleanly in all his habits & ways. Asogno, the little Adam, who wd not wear his clothes, is at school there too, but is not at all satisfactory. He is a young tatterdemalion & a regular man of CHOP.

This is tomorrow. I was not able to stay & tho' I had fever on me had to go out & judge between some Uneme women & Ibibio men. This morning I have just answered a very prudish epistle from a black clerk, asking me "to tell my Church member women to cover their nakedness when they pass here, else I shall make the boys *drive* them away". Rather a tall order, seeing Govt. has planted its shed at the ford where the women cross the Creek to their farms, & which takes a woman up to the arm pits. *Ive* *answered* *him*. Besides I have no Church members yet up here. They are creeping up, but certainly this is not the way to help them. The Chief called saying he had ordered all the men to make mats & put up a cooking shed at once, thats more than I bargained for. I meant to do this myself slowly. So thats an offset to the Govts. super refined chastity & effort to shew off his power. But I know you will make capital of this, & laugh at our work as providing these objects, & of course you know, that if you were at Close Quarters I should shew you that these are not fair specimens, as we have very sane & clean men men & women, who never come to the front & who are thus unknown to officials. Miss Peacock & Miss [McM- ?] are still at home, but I have two dear girls in their place at Ikot Obon, who are such a help & comfort to me. Miss Amess & Miss Annie McMinn. Now I must stop this rambling rubbishy talk. You will never have time to decipher it. Anyhow one comfort is, your own calligraphy is about equal to it as an enigma. I do wish you a very very Happy Xmas, & the best New Year you have ever had, & with it every good & perfect gift. I never forget to ask Our Father for this, & I trust you have the results of these whisperings in His Ear, in your experience many a time. You will be going home into the cold, but I trust it will brace you, & that your stay at home may be as pleasant & profitable in every sense as is possible, to you & yours. I'm telling the girls round me that you are to get this & they all send their Ekom [Note 9] to you. So do I, & so would many if they knew I was writing.

I am dear old friend,
Yours affectionately
Mary MSlessor

Editorial Notes:

A.D.C. = Aide-de-camp
palavers = usually denotes discussions, conversations, or Court Cases
Surely "Prejudices"
DC District Commissioner
Xtians = Christians
chop = food. "man of chop" = editor suggests "a person who eats a lot, enjoys his food."
fain = glad or joyful; eager
D.V. = God Willing [Deo Volente]
Ekom. Efik word, probably meaning "compliments, salutations of respect" from "Dictionary of Efik" by Rev. Hugh Goldie.

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 75

10^th January 1911

This letter is in response to one from Mr Partridge's father. Miss Slessor tells of her current situation - waiting excitedly, but nervously, with her family for a canoe to come and take them to their new home in Ikpe. She relates something of her early life when she first knew she wished to become a missionary. She thanks Mr & Mrs Partridge for their kind thoughts and after relating the circumstances of the arrival of a box containing a Christmas Pudding from their son asks them to express her gratitude to him on his arrival. She discusses current Christian life and goes on to describe how much life in her area has changed for the better since the coming of Christianity. She closes on good wishes for the New Year.

[Addressed on the envelope to Mr Partridge's father at:]
Chs. Partridge Esqr - senior
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England

[Post-marked Calabar January 14^th, 1911 and Stowmarket February 6^th, 1911]
Ikot Okio
10^th January 1911

Dear Mr Partridge

I did not mean to write to you today, for I feel unsettled, as I'm just expecting a canoe any hour with boys to take us up to our new station, & somehow, it makes me a wee bit excited as to how we will get the babies down, & how we will do for a covering in the canoe, & we have to get a warm meal ready in a few minutes, for our journey means sleeping a night somewhere by the river side. So I'm not in a writing mood, & feel better when going about getting every thing cleaned up outside & in. In one - the main sense - I have not a grain of anxiety, that is regarding the work itself, & the getting of it done. It is just old age making me feel that I cant push up for the comfort of my little ones now, & I am frightened that the milk & bottles & water & etc will be forgotten or some thing. Then if I sit down under these circumstances I am apt to get irritable with the bairns, which is not only unfair to them, but puts myself out of touch with the Lord, & unhappiness is the result all round. I know that God is able to give victory over nerves too, but somehow I take always the line of least resistance & never put Him to the Test, as there is always plenty to do which does not bother. Well, Im to put the test now & try to get one or two letters done to leave for postage, & this is the first, & it is almost easy to write it, because only an hour or two ago, we were all excited, & crammed into this room opening a box with a Xmas Pudding from dear Mr Partridge, who is as one of ourselves in this house, & all the talk since has been of him & I have had to read your letter to the oldest girl as a result of rhe conversation. Then Dan is home from school at Duke Town, & he has had a deal to ask as he has been away from us for a year & a half, except at Holidays. So you see It is, as I said easy to write to you today, for I want to thank you & Mrs Partridge too for the kind thought, as well as for the gift from your son. How good of him, a young, clever man, thinking of an old lady like me, & sending at such trouble to himself such a seasonable gift. I do not know if he will be gone home, as his time is up - for there is no letter yet, & he is so busy all the time, he may not get written till he is on board, but if he is at home when this reaches you, will you give him our very warm thanks, & return his wishes for the season, with compound interest. I have been hearing a palaver by Proxy, all this time & ballancing a baby on my foot. He is just begun to stand with a hold, & now I'm to shut the room door & answer your letter to the best of my ability.

And it takes me back to old days. When I was a girl; I had a friend who, much older than myself, nevertheless was a very intimate friend, & was my first confidant regarding my desire to be a missionary. He was Manager in a Bank in our Town, & he used to shew me the beauties of literature & etc, & when I wrote papers for our Fellowship society, He criticised mine & read them in the meeting, as ladies did not do these things in our stern Presbyterian Church meetings. Well He & I were reading Dante & Milton together, He pointing out all that I ought to know & etc, & one night he gave me Boardmans Higher Life asking if I knew about Sanctification by Faith. The Term, staggered me, & I said, no. Well read this he said, & etc & next time we met he asked what I thought of it. My answer was "It is splendid, but there is nothing *new* to me in it." He replied, "I was sure you knew," & that was the beginning of my search after all the works on Sanctification, etc & the Higher Life as it was then called. I never was sure of Pearsall Smith. We are great Heresy Hunters , we Presbyterians, & Mother like most of those old Calvanistic Xtians [Note 1] was afraid of anything like presumption: & felt surer of a Xtian who was *very* conscious of sin, but all the names you mention are as fresh in my memory today, & represent more to me, than those I heard of yesterday. Yes! Noise, & fuss, & sensation, & a craving for something new, seems to mark all Church life, as well in conferences, as in private meetings today, & the old meditative spirit, & the old sense of sin, seems to be sadly lacking. But then the unrest in the world no doubt helps to paralize the Church, & to keep God's People from seeing "Jesus Only." "The Lord Reigneth", always stills the tumult to me; & I feel always like adding, "Let the Earth be glad." The Pessimism is not so great here, for God *does* work among us. Mr Partridge would tell you what a miserable, dark ignorant little place this was first when he brought me up to it. And now we have boys educated as far as the ordinary artizans child at home, a reverent assembly worshipping regularly, & intelligently every Sabbath, paying its own expenses, & living Xtian lives. The old drinking habits are gone, & men are married, & men are buried, & are as sober & well behaved as they are in your own neighbourhood. They do not shirk the Govts. work nor need to be asked to do mine, & we have now a cemetery & our first Baptized Christian woman is laid in it with Xtian burial, & this means a lot to them to leave their dead in the bush, & the message I got from her family on arriving at the beach was, "Our Mother has fallen asleep". Surely a change from old times. So does Christ change by His own Personality the very thoughts & language of a people. Several of our best middle aged men & women will be Baptized 2 months hence. There is no need for further probation. I am sure the great saving change has been undergone. But here is a call, so I shall stop. I'm sorry Mrs Partridge has not been well, & your climate is hard & cold. I hope you will have a very happy time while your son is at home. I thank you for all the papers. I have been sending them farther on to native clerks, & to my son in law, who reads a good bit of English. With every good wish for the New Year for all your family circle I am yours very sincerely M M Slessor

This is really not worth sending, I am ashamed of it, but it carries a warm heart mesage if the diction is poor. I shall tell you of the new Station later on.
MMS

Editorial Note:

Xtians = Christians

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 76

12^th April 1911

It is April and this is the first letter Mary has been able to write to Mr Partridge to thank him for his gifts of the Christmas pudding and book. She has spent most of the time in Ikpe where her house is nearly completed, her Missionary work is already showing fruits, and where small pox has been a worrying factor, but is now declining. A Court has also been started there. Udo Antia has been up to mischief again, and there is news of friends, including an old girl friend who will be coming out in the Autumn, presumably to assist her. Unfortunately Mary's return to Use was marred by the necessity to clear up after a tornado had ripped the iron sheeting from the roof, and caused other problems. She insists she is well despite the Ikpe Fatigue.

[The envelope is address to]
Chas Partridge Esqr - Junr
Stowmarket
Suffolk
*England*

[This address has been scored out and letter readdressed to "At Blo' Norton Hall, Thetford *Norfolk*"]

[Post-marked for Calabar April 15^th, 1911; Stowmarket May 9^th; re-posted at Stowmarket on 10^th May, arriving at Thetford on the same day]

Use Ikot Oku
12.4.11

Dear Old Friend

You will be thinking Im a fine friend grateful woman, never thanking you for my Xmas Pudding nor for the book you so kindly sent me. The fact is, I've been at Ikpe most of the time, & building, & school & 4 evening meetings a week, with the Sabbath School & Services, Visitors, Palavers, & a Panic Stricken people with Small Pox taking its toll, & its numerous patients, & the babies the dead mothers babies & vaccinations, all made my first visit in this year a very hard time, & I came down broken in mind & body. This last month's stay has been as busy, as every Minute came fill in, but the Pox is a bit slacker. I have got well on with my new House. Two bedrooms *upstairs*, are ready for a visitor, & the Hall on the ground floor is almost ready, over 2/3 of the floor cemented. It is hard to get stones up there & the girls had a deal else to do. This time we have never got to Nkana at all, but the lads held Services there on Sunday last, & at other villages as the time allowed. There has been a Court started, since I went up, but Ive never heard or seen an Ikot Okpene D.C. [Note 1] not even the mark of a pen. I'm thoroughly discredited since Brooks thanked me in the name of the Govt. [Note 2] for my services. The People are hard at work at farms, & the new Road to the Court House has been a big work between times. It is making a new & fine Road. The Court is at Itu Ikpe, & clerks & C.Ms [Note 3] from Ikot Okpene work it. They are very respectful, & have a wholesome fear of my overlooking. The people are greatly pleased at being releived from the long journey to I- Okpene. But Eniyon dont like the opening of Ibibio. Major Cockburn, has been to Calabar sick ever since he came out till last week, he passed up again. Mr Rising going to releive Chamley at Aro Chuku. How few gentlemen there are nowadays among these. The Governor & Lady Egerton were here when I went up. But they were to call I beleive on the morning after I left. So I did not see them. I hear it is his last visit. Who will be next? I hope the next will be as good as they have been. I got a real surprise, & a lot of anxiety on coming down to find that David & Mary had been sent on to Ibadan, as the motor is to be off all this wet season. I'm hoping the rumour is right that they are still in Calabar. Fancy her going to a strange land alone with a tiny baby. She is only 18, & was never out in the world before. David is careful & kindly, but I shd. have liked to see them, & have given her things, & a letter to the Missionary where she is gone. All the others are well. Dan & Asogno still at school at Duke Town Institute. Dan brought the 1st prize in his Division at Xmas. I have not seen a White Officer here for ever so long. Mr Mann at "Russells" is very kind, & far above the average merchant in manners & culture. He goes this month. Dr Robertson is going by this mail. A lad from Edinr. [Note 4] has come to fill his place, a fine fellow. Miss Peacock came out 2 months ago, & is well. She is a good woman & a good neighbour. We had an awful thing in uniform at Itu. A German named Falk. The people wd. not have borne him much longer. I dont know who is there now, he went this month. Udo Antia has again been the pet of Ikot Okpene under Brooks, who wont hear that his record is bad, & he has been [chasing?] the Old Chiefs & etc, till they went to Duke Town about it. I dont know the upshot, I only came down night before last. He is the Head of that side & keeps a Clerk. The tornados have been specially heavy, & I got wreckage everywhere to come to. All the town houses and Church have suffered. The Iron [Note 5] from my verandah was blown down the hill, & the boxes on the verandah were blown into the bush. I was on the roof all day yest., & today have been vomiting Bile, so am sitting quiet, for Ive not slept the last 2 nights, & the Ikpe Fatigue is not gone yet. But I'm very, very fit. I do hope they will make roads up yonder which can be cycled on. As yet, it is not possible. I'm expecting a dear girl friend to come to me this Autumn. She is a fine woman, & not merely ornamental in her qualifications either. Ikpe cd not be properly worked by one person, the school is large, & the Xtian [Note 6] lads are insatiable in their desire for meetings & classes. I got 19 names of candidates for Baptism, & a number of women & girls are attending, tho' I wont put their names down till I see their parents. Some of them are betrothed to the boys in Church. It is a hopeful place for work, & the Chiefs are old friends & very good tho' heathen.

I hope you have had a good time at home, but it has not been a very healthy winter I fear. You will soon be coming out again! How the time flies! I wonder if I shall ever see you again! O how splendid it wd be for us, if you came here, but *you* might not like it. I saw Mr Maxwell when I was down at Presby.[Note 7], no one else. He is the same old cheery lad he ever was. Did you know Mr Wordsworth? You wd hear of his death in India & his leaving a young wife & a baby a few days old there!! It is particularly sad. I had a great opinion of him. He was a good man, from a good home. I have a long letter from Mr [Darby?] of the Rd's Dept - He & his wife & two boys are in India, but he has taken the Nigerian Malaria with him. Mr Rosario has gone home, & I dont know anyone else. Have you been writing that you have never sent me a line? or are you paying me out? You wd not do that! Do send me a wee bit just to say how you have been & if you know where you are to be stationed next term. Now I must close, as the day wears on, & the children are fretty. I thank you for your goodness to me, & tho' Jean ran of with the King's Ring, & I got it only second hand, I got it & will treasure it. When is the next one coming? Do something about the Country & its peoples. You know enough now to take any tack, only dont meddle with Xtianity. You've no experience there. My halo gets grayer & grayer, but no boils live this year on my head. I'm renewing my youth, working like a navvy. God bless you. Will you convey to your parents my best regards? I get papers by mail from Mr Partridge. It is so kind of him to remember me.

All the bairns wd send Comps. [Note 8[ were they at hand, for they often ask if Mr Partridge is never coming back. SO DO I! I am Yours ever affectionately
Mary M Slessor

Editorial Notes:

D.C. = District Commissioner
Govt. = Government
C.Ms = Court Messengers
Edinr = Edinburgh, Scotland
Iron. Corrugated iron, used on roof
Xtian = Christian
Presby. = Presbytery Meeting
Comps. = Compliments

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 77

4^th September 1911

Miss Slessor explains why she is writing from Itu - not because she is ill [although she has suffered heart trouble and has been forbidden to ride her cycle until fully recovered!] but because she was needed there. She gives her usual news of her family and friends. She is particularly excited to tell of a new friend, Dr Hitchcock, who actually comes from Mr Partridge's part of the country, has read his letters etc in the local newspapers, and has gained a great respect for him. He is young, very enthusiastic and hard working and has gained the confidence of all, as well Miss Slessor's high approval. The situation at Itu, arising from the behaviour of Udo Antia, and the Court Messengers is not a happy one; and it seems the former German A.D.C. at Itu, Mr Falk, who has earned her thorough disapproval, is to return. She wishes Mr Partridge well in his new post.

[Envelope addressed to}
Chas Partridge Esqr
District Commissioner
Jebn Ode
Via Lagos
S. Nigeria

[Postmarked Calabar September 8^th, 1911 and received in [Lagos?] on September 14^th 1911]

Itu
4^th Sep. 1911

My Dear Old Friend.

Your letter was a great joy to me, for I was very wearied to hear from you. Im glad you have got a place you like, & among nice people. I dont know that it is best for you to be so alone, although I enjoy it myself. I hope you will not be shifted about any more. It is more satisfactory to be a whole term in one place, if the place is good at all. You will wonder at the heading of this. I came from Ikpe very tired, & found the Use House spoiled by the tornados, & had to begin work on it at once. Then - after all, David & Mary were stayed at Calabar, & the White Chauffeur was sent to Lagos, & Mary came up to see me. When she was going back, with her baby, I was so frightened about them not getting a place & shelter in the always crowded launch - that I went down to Kings Beach with her, & that was the last straw. I had an over strain of the heart, & was forbidden to go to Ikpe; then I had to come over here to be with the Dr for a bit, as the anaemia was so pronounced, & I was having fever every day. I got perfectly well, & went back to Use, but as Mr & Mrs Wilkie were passing last week in the Str.,[Note 1] & had to stay & see the D.C.[ Note 2] here about the Boundary of this land - save the mark since you were here - !!! I came down at the Dr's invitation to meet them, & he cd. see how my heart was, & at the same time I cd be here with Mrs Wilkie, as Dr Robson, her father has died, & she was having her letters about the passing: by this mail here; the word having come at first by cable. I stayed over yesterday to let the Dr go up to see Miss Peacock, as she has not been very well lately, & he has a couple of very serious cases in the Hospital. I took the Service here, & was in the house if any thing were needed. Now why I am telling you this is not only to let you know that it is not sickness which keeps me, but because I have found out that Dr Hitchcock, our New Dr here is very specially glad that I know you, & that you are my friend, for he hails from about your side! He knows about your name from long & has always read with much interest any thing you have written in your local Newspapers. He heard me speak of you, & started! & asked, thats not Mr Partridge of Stowmarket is it? "Yes, I said, Do you know him? & then he told me of his connection with that district, that his grandfather was preacher there in the Baptist Church, & that he had an uncle there still - perhaps not in Stowmarket - but in the neighbourhood, & etc etc, & he loves that whole countryside, & when Mr Partridge Senr., sent my papers last time, I was here, & sent the packet asking him to read the postmark, & he said, from the hall where he was sitting, "O that warms my heart!" Well, in him, we have a man of culture, of fine calibre, & one of the most excellent & enthusiastic Surgeons & Physicians I have ever met, or any one else here. The Hospital is always full & from everywhere. He works all day long, & often in the night too, & has cases to be operated upon, which counting 3 a week, will