‘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.

This text will be replaced

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".

2. 12/- = Twelve shillings [or 60 new pence] Should surely read "threatening" Str. = Steamer

3. Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1998

4. 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 keep him going to the end of the year. & the Dispensary fills up from 7.15a.m. till 11.30 then from that he reads & rests, when they dont bring things between, & visitors, till 1P.M. when he is off again till 3P.M., when he comes -*sometimes*- for tea, then the Hospital till *Dark*. Do you wonder that 5 months has nearly killed him, & we are all glad that a wound on his hand has given him a rest from the operating table. He is one of the best of Edinburgh's best students for his year, & tingling to the tips of his fingers with enthusiasm for his profession. He is young, & was ready to go to Manchuria, when friends at home begged him to come to the Mission during Robertsons furlough, & he came, & he has conquered, & from far beyond Bendi, from all parts of Aro Chuku men & *women* crowd, & Calabar swells are here galore, with the north country people. Dont write me a sentimental Enthusiast, there are deputations always here begging me to beg the Mission to send the other one somewhere else, when he comes, & let this one stay. He has not as yet lost a patient, & I'm glad for the "Slessor Hospital" that it has at last come into its own. Well Im going home tomorrow D.V.[Note 3] One of the 4 boys who should have been back from Aro today & who is a Hammock boy has not turned up, & the rain has been persistent, so I waited, & am writing this to leave here for Postage. I thank you for all your news. I had an hour or two chatting with Mr Maxwell just before he left. I also saw Mr George Grey, & put him up one night, a Tornado came on & the dark as he passed by. Im glad to hear once more of Mr Fitzpatrick. He was a kind friend always to me. You would not beleive such a lot of hard good work had ever been done in this district. Last week I lost 3 nights sleep, Just through Court Messengers, & their little ways in our village. We have had a year & a half of it, & we hear that Falk the German who strained the loyalty of the villagers his last term, is due here again this mail. Pity Me!! Unless things better themselves, I shall have to *stay* at Ikpe or elsewhere, as it takes my sleep. Do you know that Udo Antia rules in the Court, - Brooks created - from the Ntit Obio beginning till past Itu Ndo. Ntit Obio Chiefs have gone to Calabar, & spent money on Str for passage, & lodging & helpers[?] & Books, & have stayed weeks & weeks there, but with no result, except it be a letter to the D.C. Udo is a hero to some White Men, who utterly deny his record. It is most distressing. I met Brooks leading his Cycle, & walking with Russells clerk, as I was coming here. He bowed very politely, but I answered & passed on in the Hammock. My girls said they saw him on market day, so expect he is on special business. I think the Judge is here. Mr Bedwell passed up in the Jackdaw [Note 4] the other day. I have not seen him this term yet. We have also Mr C- Crawford, so we have splendid men at the Top here. I am not to get to Ikpe for 7 weeks yet, so the Dr told the boys who were sent to ask when the canoe wd come for me. Thats because of the *mud* I think. I have no news. One of our Old Chiefs "Obon" has been here in the Hospital for a long time. His was a marvellous cure, & 3 other patients from Eniyon, these too send their best Compliments to you, & then the talk was WHY you did not come back & save them from this sort of thing, the reign of the C.M.[Note 5] The Two Itu Chiefs also who came in to see Obon were talking of it, & they too, said our rule was bad. They black men had a continuous, consistent Policy, bad tho it might be, but the White Man changed constantly, as witness now, & then, & then, things were new to them & hard to us, & now it was all smooth & confidence complete, White Man went back to confusion. Well, I'll try to stop grumbling. The kids were all proud to be remembered. Jean is at home. Mary & David are at Ikot Ekpene for some reason, the work motor has not been here all the wet season, & they want the road rested & bottomed. O the loads of metal laid on, but the undersoil still sinks with the transport motor. The small motor carried passengers & mails but is Hors decombat [Note 6] just now. Annie is with her husband at Use, Alice & Maggie & Whitie are here with me. The boys at the Institute, Dan had almost the full 100 o/o for all his classes except writing, that was low, but he brought the first prize in his division last year, & [this?] Principal says his conduct is good. But the light is going, & I must get ready for dinner. This pen does not spell well, but I have not had over an hours rest today from visitors & palavers, so I suppose Im tired a bit. Do send me a line now & then -O Im forbidden my cycle in the meantime, & I'm *MAD* over it, but he says it is only for a time. I must not walk either, or *motor*, as I'm so frightened in the motor. Now Good by dear old boy whom I revere & value as a friend, very much. God bless & keep you in that strange place, & be your environment in every sense. I am ever

Yours Very affectionately

Mary MSlessor

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 78

1^stJanuary 1912

Miss Slessor writes after a very successful service at Ikpe, and gives various news of Church activities. She tells of her first European visitors there - three in one day. Amazingly one of these is Mr Brooks, the District Commissioner, and after a long discussion they put all differences behind them, to Mary's great relief, and Mr Brooks demonstrates his helpfulness. Mr Partridge's kindness and thoughtfulness in sending her Xmas puddings and chocolates is warmly and thoroughly appreciated. News of her household is given, including two offers of marriage for Alice. There is news of other people, and the delivery of a staircase for the new house at Ikpe, which means she will no longer have to climb a ladder to bed. Mr Partridge is again encouraged to continue with his writing.

[Envelope addressed to]
Chs Partridge Esqr
District Commissioner
IJBU ODE
Via Lagos
Nigeria
[Postmarked Ikot Ekpene 4^th Jan; Calabar 6^th Jan;]

Ikpe Ikot Obon
1^st January 1912

My Dear Old Friend

At last I have got a quiet moment for the Church people are having chop [Note 1] prepared for the many visitors who honoured our Service today, a big crowd of well - *not* *over*dressed men & women from Iwere, Abam, & the villages round, who, not having service or teachers themselves came to begin the year at ours, & as our school has a holiday, & the Xtian [Note 2] portion of the town are keeping holiday too, they invited those from across the Creek to wait & have chop, & then the sun would be gone down. Jean & her scholars, & several of her congregation were here too, but she did not wait. I think you know she is teaching at Nkana as I have no boys, & they have been clamorous for a teacher for years. She was once there before, & as Eniyon from the upper part of the Creek go to her on Sabbath, I'm glad the people asked for her, as she is a *very*, good, smooth intelligent reader, & will not murder the Scriptures as half, or imperfectly taught boys do.

You would not know Ikpe now. Tho' the Chiefs dont ask for the Gospel personally, they dont hinder their Households from coming, & the boys from the headmen's yards are among the most diligent scholars. But there is a great difference in their manners & behaviour, & they are much more sober, & less quarrellsome, & the market does not now have bigger or more frequent brawls than that of Itu or Ntan. The town is very much cleaner & they have brought quite a half of it out of yon pit of black mud, & made big compounds on the higher land at the beach road. They are going in more for farming too, & the produce is not now sold by them to traders, the canoes are going down every day in the week with produce to the firms at Itu. Every young man buys a canoe now, & all the boys are being taught to punt & to steer. They got a minor Court up at [to?] Nudu Ikpe, 5 miles or so from here, & all the Chiefs round are members, & this has had a very steadying effect too on the district. From all the towns & villages round, they have come with their presents when I got better & was able to come up, & not only do palavers & sickness come now, but they visit me from friendship & seeking advice. I need not say they are all wanting teachers, & it makes my heart ache because I cant give them even one. Dont you bother to moralise here. I know what you would say, but they need teachers all the same.

I have sent home for a small carriage of some kind, which can take me over bits of the road on which I cant cycle so that I can cover a larger area, & in a small carriage I shall only want 2 boys & I can take my lunch, & a baby or two inside with me. The Dr has not said no to my getting my cycle again, only I must not try hills. I am so thankful, for it is not only a pleasure but a means of health to me whatever he says, & I'm not a fool to try a hill that wd. hurt my heart, though Im quite sure Ive got over that bit of overstrain, & my heart is as good as ever it was. I still love my old cycle best, & no lady on the road can keep up with me on it. It just runs itself. It is a dear companion & friend to me. But in the dry season, the sand is very loose on some of the levels here, & I fear skidding in it, because I once saw a lady fall in it on the Ikot Ekpene Rd.

Now I come to my news! I shall want it put in Capitals. You wont be able to take it in, in its simplicity & breadth. A fortnight ago when I had come from school & was getting my breakfast, the girls called out "Ma here is a White Man" & sure enough coming over the hill were 2 White Men, the first visitors Ive ever had here, except when an officer passed in March, & I've sent after him. They turned out to be Dr Hitchcock & a Mission Man from Aro Chuku. The Dr was afraid about me, & came to see! What do you think of that? Well they brought heaps of mails which had been accumulating, & among them your parcel, which was exclaimed over & more than that -- for you know Dr Hitchcock is from your part of England & has read your letters & articles from of old & etc, & he thinks of you as a hero. Well, then, that was laid over, & we had got breakfast & they were making for going off again, when the cry got up again, "A White Man!" It never rains but it pours, & here running up the hill to the door was ------------------Mr Brooks!!!!!!!! Had I been alone , I should have done, or said - What?? surely something!! But with introductions & the whirl of talk & the guests who know of no disagreeables, Well! he was a - success! & the Dr begged him to try to help him with Miss Slessors Mails & etc. etc. etc.& it was all promised & offered & done in a perfect torrent of pleasure & desire to do more than all that. Then there were offers of Carpenter - your old one, Diabolos or something like that, & then they all went off. Mr Brooks to the Creek Rest House to meet Major Cockburn - from whom I had forwarded a letter that morning to the Court! The others to walk to Aro Chuku. Well on his way back Mr Brooks came in again, & we had a long talk trying to disentangle several things which are "on" in the district & he offered to send me fowls from the Court here at Court price, & to get & take my mails from Itu, & to help me in any & every way, & I was to go & occupy the Rest House which is on high land at 4 or 5 miles distance, if I wished for a change at any time, as he says it is a good house. Since then he has sent me mails, 3 fowls for Xmas, & a letter which is better than all, as it speaks well of some of my friends, & is desirous of making all things straight & good in the District. & I'm just expecting Mails again over land from him at any hour. I may say that for long David & Mary have been staying at Ikot Ekpene with the small motor, & David was, & is, a great favourite of his, & he has been very good to Mary & her baby. So it may not have been a sudden impulse on his part, to come as he passed, seeing we were both strangers here - It may have been waiting for a chance to speak. I am mean enough, or you may call it presumptuous & egotistical enough, to sometimes connect it with a recent tour made by an old DC of mine, who is now at the top of the tree, & who never forgets me. But that just proves the doctrine of our original depravity - which - whatever you say - explains a lot, & as the negro said, "is a good doctrine if only we could walk up to it." Well, now, What do you think of that, after over 2 years utter silence & SNUB -?? I can hardly call it less than that, tho' once or twice when Governor or Act Govr. were visiting me, He gave Comps [Note 3] when I went out side, & once or twice on the road he lifted his hat. Well, it came with Xmas, the season of peace, & I am glad that the ugly hateful thing is out of the way, for nothing hurts me like faction, or a feeling of estrangement even from an outsider. I'm not to say what it would be from a *friend*: for my friends are all too good to me to make any estrangements. There have been few in my life I am thankful to say.

Now do you think there is room for any one else in West Africa than Miss Slessor, & herself, & her own affairs? I wonder if she will ever even have time to say "Thank you" when she gets a Xmas Box, thought over so long before the time, & planned for so that it comes at the very nick of time? You dear old boy, to think of me so, while your work is so wide, & your world so young & modern. Have you got a glow of feeling that you have done a kind thing? More than kind, a beautiful thing! & a thing which will I am sure make our Heavenly Father well pleased, for He does care a bit for this old worn out thing. My birthday was in Decr., & do you know, I'm now travelling between 60 & 70? & yet a Xmas Box comes from the heart of the African bush, where a brave young cultured Englishman is spending his festive season alone, except with the visions & the dreams of Home & achievement which are his real world & life. God bless you! You constant & UNDERSTANDING Friend, & give you back again into your own life a thousand fold.

I have sent your kind message on to Ikot Obon. Those ladies never forget to ask for you, & Miss Peacock takes a great pleasure in reading the Papers Mr Partridge sends me, as she is a disciple of the Keswick School & she is a helpful kind neighbour to me. She is very sane in her dealings with the natives, & she has a wide influence on the boys of her district, as she has bush schools with about 200 scholars in all in them, sending pupil teachers out. She has a big Church now at Ikot Obon, & it is crowded at afternoon service from the bush schools. A lady who was here, & left for a few years, has come out again, & we are trying to get a house built for her near 12 miles, in order to get hold of the Ibianang people, as we wd then build a semi European house midway between Itu & Ikot Ekpene, & get a clergyman to take all those stations over seeing there are many baptized Xtian members now in the Churches. But between you & me, *no* *man* will work them better than these mere women have done. The ladie's name is Welsh. Miss Annie McMinn has gone up there for the Dispensary last month. My Use house is empty. The Church people are looking after it. They are keeping on their schools & services themselves.

David, Mary's husband, was called to Duke Town some time ago. They are soon going back to Itu or Ikot Ekpene. I have 2 proposals for Alice, of marriage, last month. One from the Bendi interpreter. The other from one of Mr Russell's clerks, a Gold Coast man. Neither are to my mind. The interpreter she will not have. The other she does not yet know of till I see Mr Russell or Underhill to see about his antecedents. Janie wont hear of it, as she wd. be lost to us if she went to Gold Coast. David - is from Lagos, so that is nearer, tho' it was far enough when they were called to go. I hope Annie has another baby by this time. I'm longing for news. Her husband is a fine lad in the Church at Use. So they are all going out into the World. Dan does well enough at school. His last report in Novr. was, "Passed Govt. Inspector with flying colours." He is quiet & grows apace.

Mrs Wilkie lost her Father lately, Dr Robson - now Mrs McGregor has got the same news from her home. Dr F Fergusson has passed away. Our dear Miss Young has word of the sudden death of her Mother while Miss McKinney's father is just in life but no more. So there is a lot of mourning this Xmas in our midst now may every good thing be yours today & all through this Year & that it may be the best you ever have known in every sense is the prayer, often, & often uttered from this place, by Yours very affectionately

M MSlessor

I hurried up with this thinking I wd get a messenger, but it is past time now. So this mail will be lost I expect. I could not get written sooner, as I got a bilious attack, & school twice a day takes up some time, but one of the Plum Puddings was opened almost at once, as it seemed to appeal to me, having no sweet thing left up here, & you may be sure it did not last long, nor did the chocolates, for by the time every one gets one, there's a hole in the pan. Ive kept one pudding in the hope that some one might come up, but as yet, Alas! No. Miss Peacock meant to, but got some ailment or another, & the Dr made her go & stay at Itu instead, as he cant go up to Itu & run the Hospital - which is always full now. Dr Robertson is expected at end of this month, but every body dreads the change from this man. His year of service is almost up, & we hope he may come back, but he is promised to Manchuria I fear.

Here are the girls back from seeing the playing of the scholars in town so I must bestir myself for dinner. All of them say Kom Etubom O! Kom Enye O! Ma Kom Enye for us O! [Note 4] & I want you to take it all, with a heap from myself of warm gratitude
I am again
Yours M.M.S

2^nd January

Here early morning is a stair from Ikot Ekpene. The Carpenter has not come yet, nor "a book" [Note 5] but when Mr Brooks was here, he & the others wondered at my going up a ladder. The reason was that the Russells people had failed to send up the material to make the Stair - for you must understand that my bedrooms here are up stairs, & the ladder was a real trial to me & not very safe, so here comes a stair of 11 steps made & ready to put on. I expect the mails will come with the Carpenter, so Im to shut up this at once lest the school be there to hinder me getting it sent if a chance comes. Again I wish you every joy & good for the New Year
& am Yours Affectly
M MSlessor

Miss Welsh has your book as a help to her in her entrance on the Anan District. You have a most minute knowledge of details of the trees & their names etc. & *NO EMBROIDERY.* Almost a miracle for a W. African writer. Come on with the next book. It will do *yourself* a world of good to write. When do you go home? Surely it is not long now till your time is up.
Yours again
MMS

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 79

26^thDecember 1912

Once again Mr Partridge has sent Miss Slessor plum puddings at Christmas, and she thanks him for them particularly as she has not heard from him for a long time, and they tell her that she is not forgotten. She has been to Ikot Ekpene [where she is stayed with Mary and her husband] and describes the scene as it now is while recalling all the work he put into the area when he worked there. Udo Antia is in prison at last. Various bits of news.

[Address on envelope reads]
Chs Partridge Esqr
Ijebu Ode
Via Lagos
Nigeria
[Post-marked Itu December 27^th, 1912; Calabar Dec 27^th; and Lagos 2^nd Jan]

Use Ikot Oku
26^th Decr. 1912

Dear Old Friend

Your gifts of Xmas Card & Plum Pudding are safely come, & have been a great joy to me. I have been very sore about your long & complete silence, & have often wondered if I had hurt or offended you in any way. I have not many real friends on the Coast. I think I can nearly count them on the fingers of one hand. And when of these withdraws his countenance, my heart is sorely troubled. There are not so many of this kind that I can afford to lose one. *You* especially. This kindly thought at the Festive Season lets me know you have not forgotten. I am just back from a months holiday at Gr- Canary [Note 1], & you passed in the boat before me. Had I known I should have met you somehow, whether you should have liked it or not. I thank you for this message, & return all your kind wishes a hundred fold. I often remember you in my prayers, & tho' you may laugh, **I** **beleive** in it.

I have been for my first visit to Ikot Ekpene yest-. Mary - is married to the Motor Driver & lives there, & she was ill last week. Mr Brooks had to get the Dr for her, so I was anxious, & when I was at Calabar I was told that I cd. have the Motor at any time, & must just ask for it, so as it passed with a passenger, I got a drive out, & came back in my wheel chair yest, stopping at Ibiaku at Miss Welsh's for an appointment for a Service (Xmas) there for the Chiefs of the district & the school boys. What a big station Ikot Ekpene is! Brick buildings & offices of all kinds, motors & motor bicycles. If they could have taken my Bike I shd have ridden back, the officer's luggage took up all the room however, so it was left here. I thought a lot about you, & of those lonely strenuous journeys & labours, when there were not even roads, & of all the work & workers which went to the making of this. The Motor went off to Odot Ikpe after we got to Ikot Ekpene, about 3 o/c P.M. & David was back home by 6 o/c for his dinner. So now I can get the Motor from Use to Odot Ikpe, & there are only 5 miles then to to Ikpe. I have not gone up yet, as there is a lot to do here, and our new Church is ready for opening here. They have paid all material up to now. There is a Mission from England at Ikot Ekpene, & there were 2 ladies from James Town there for Xmas. I called on them, & am invited to go back. Mr Brooks pressed hospitality on me also, but he had 4 white men for Xmas, & I went to stay with my Children for the night, & cd not disappoint them if I would. There is one lady of our Church at Itu Ndo, or Ibiaku she prefers to call it, & a big Court & station place, & they begin where Miss Peacock's Bush schools end at Ikot Nsen. So things move quickly, but the old days were charged with a different type of work & association & I like to keep that as a precious memory. Pluck & patient perseverance & tactful administration laid these picnic possibilities, & God does not forget.

Udo Antia has been in prison for months & months at Ikot Ekpene - the scene of his exploits. Their eyes are opened at last, & he gets his deserts & the land which groaned, rests. I had a big welcome from the Chiefs - your old friends.

Imuk has slackened in prosperity, & drinks far too much. The Itu Court holds now the district out to Ntre Obio, on this side the Ikot Obon Court judges, but O, what a travesty!! The D.C. [Note 2] has never been there yet since he came - 3 months past - & you can guess the kind of work done. Now the Post will be gone if I dont hurry up, so this must go as it is. I shall probably be here for a week or so, then on to Ikpe by motor, & farewell to Hippos & Mosquitoes & flies in the Creek. Now dear old friend, dont feel as if you must answer this. If you have time & feel inclined to send a note, I shall be very happy indeed. I wish you all joy & blessing for the New Year, & that it be the best year you have ever have had is the prayer

of Yours affectionately
M MSlessor

Editorial Notes:

Enclosed with this letter is a photograph of Mary Slessor, the back of which is inscribed "A snap shot taken at Canary [--?] Have no Xmas Cards

Gran Canaria, one of the largest of the Canary Islands off the N.W. coast of Africa
D.C. = District Commissioner

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letters 80–84

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 80

7^th June 1913

This is a letter to Charles Partridge, senior, expressing her gratitude for the Newspapers he has been sending her, and how well they are appreciated.. Mary comments on them at length, and gives much news relating to the development of the Church in Calabar and the country's more material progress. There is news of her family. Several children will soon be back from school for the holidays, and they nearly all will be attending the opening of a new Church in Okoyon, her old Station, where most of her children were born as "twin or outcast children".

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

[the post marks indicate that this letter was posted in Itu on July 9th; left Calabar on July 11^th; and arrived in Stowmarket on August 5th]

Use Ikot Oku
via Itu
7^th June 1913

Dear Mr Partridge,

Nearly every time the papers come, I write to you in my own mind, & feel so ashamed of my not having written sooner, but I'm so easily knocked up, that I dare not sit late, & so the days go past. I had to go to Grand Canary last Autumn, & was there for a month, & so correspondence got into arrears, & though I came back full of health & strength I had heaps of arrears in work too, & then 3 months ago, I had a small accident to my eye, & that sent me back again into debt with everything, so you must not think that lack of gratitude & appreciation has kept me from writing my thanks to you. The papers are a great comfort & uplift. I am specially interested in the Bible Study, & am following it closely along side of my own portions for the Morning Watch. I give away "The Xtian" [Note 1] & the other papers I take, to the English speaking clerks & employees of the Government. But I'm keeping up the Life of Faith for further use in the Classes for Teachers & etc., as well as for my own use personally. It is so good to have as unequivocal a Testimony to Divine Truth as the "Life of Faith" gives. I prize it & the Christian for their uniform faithfulness to the pure Gospel. I suppose the "Overcomer" is given up! It could never have been a popular paper, & there is no Capital in L.S.D. [Note 2] behind the Editors. It upheld some aspects of the Xtian Life, but to the rank & file of Xtians it was too polemical & too accademic in its style. I shall not say too doctrinal, for want of that is the fault & lack of the present day preaching & teaching I think. Doctrine is deprecated, but I'm Scotch, you see, & have had it in my blood to be doctrinal as a foundation for practice. But I have felt of late that the Overcomer was making the Xtian life too complicated & difficult, & putting "Means of Grace" & fighting, in the Place of the Saviour Himself, & of the work of the spirit. For my own work, It was too fatiguing, & too complicated, & I could not give it to the clerks. What a lot of indifference there seems to be in the Church! & yet how intense is the interest & prayer among living Xtians. What a world of unrest & doubt & pessimism you seem to live in at home. In every sense & sphere: Ecclesiastically, Socially, Nationally. There seems to be no solid foundation for Mankind to rest on, & to form ground for acheivement. Does it point to our Lord's near approach in the Parousia? [Note 3] I think so & I hope so! My only draw back, is, that I fear my bairns are not *all* ready, & what if we were seperated! But they are His, & He surely has infinitely more interest & love, in & for them than I have, so He will do *all* *things* well, for us all. He will not throw back the children given Him, in loving trust. A Gentleman of the World would not do that. I have had a rebuke this morning from 1st John 4.18, the last clause. "He that Feareth is not made perfect in Love." How dishonouring to our Father to keep misunderstanding Him, & imputing any thing unworthy to Him. I have been humbled this morning over this, for after knowing Him so long. It is shameful that Faith should be so small & so mean in its judgment. Things here go on smoothly, too smoothly I sometimes think, for being healthy, but we thank God for a Willing People, & for the adherence of the young. We had only 3 adult baptisms last communion time, but those were Good Material, & the number of candidates keeps growing here. At Ikpe Ikot Nkon, it is a hard fight with heathenism. They all want their children educated, but they *dont* want them to serve Christ. Whenever the Xtian & heathen practices clash, they are fiercely on the heathen side, & few of the women are moving Xt-ward, though they are friendly & kind to us personally. The boys are all with us, but not a girl comes to school, not even a baby girl. Yet "Who art Thou, O Great Mountain? Before "Our" Zerubbabel - Thou shalt become a Plain!" [Note 4] "He is able" - heaps of Promises come after this Formula, for the individual soul & for the Church & the Churches work. Zeceriah holds a very hopeful note all through for the Xtian. I have been "browsing" in it, & its fine food.

I hope, D.V.[Note 5] to go to my old station Okoyon, on Friday for the opening of their new Church. It is a semi European Church, as native material is not durable, & they have raised all the money themselves. The two ladies who hold the Fort there are having great encouragement there, & souls are being born into the Kingdom. Most of my children were twin or outcast children there, so they are *all* going except perhaps two of the married girls who I fear wont be able to go. These will be an object lesson to them, & I hope there will be an ingathering & an awakening all over.

Our own village here has a new Church built, & only a few of the seats are to be put in, in order to be ready for opening, but we are not to dedicate a thing in debt, so we are buying wood & having the seats put in as we are able. They have raised it all among own selves too. Ikpe intend to try to build this year, for the place, as well as the building is bad. I shall go up there D.V. when I return from Okoyon. The children at school in Duke Town. Two boys at the Institute of our Church, & two girls getting training in the Girls High School, will be all coming for a fortnights holiday. They close on Friday First, so we shall have a buzy & happy time I hope. I have not heard from Mr Partridge for a long time. I wish he were back here again! The D.C.[Note 6] at Ikot Ekpene is very unwell just now. He is extremely kind to us missionaries personally, but he does not care for our work or our Lord. Only it is good to have a kind helpful friend, even if he does not understand us, & we can pray, & thats a deal isnt it? & try to commend Xt [Note 7] to them by our lives. Mr Partridge *made* this District, & right welcome he would be if he came back, & the hardships he had to endure are mostly removed. At least are greatly modified now a days. The D.C. has an assistant, a Dr, a hospital, a motor car for his journeys & several native courts, which releive the strain a bit. Also good buildings, & Telegraphic & Postal Offices, etc.etc. He did more than any 2 mens work in his day, besides the roughing of it. He has so much to do where he is that I dont like to bother him by writing, as that makes him feel he must answer, but I hear of his welfare often. We have a D.C. at Itu now - a further dividing of his old duty - who comes from Lagos, & he gets news from there often.

Now dont think you must answer this. It is only a belated "Thank You", for the papers, & to let you know how they are appreciated. May our Lord Himself give you your reward in His Own Royal Manner, - a thousand fold -. With kindest regards & trusting you are well & that Mrs Partridge is also well - I am Yours Gratefully & Sincerely
Mary M Slessor

P.S

Do you know that we have a Medical Missionary here from your quarter? Dr Hitchcock? A Fine Xtian, a fine man! & a Fine Surgeon Physician. He saw the Post Mark on your Papers one day, & exclaimed, & felt rather Home sick I think while he talked of his old home.

MMS

Editorial Notes:

"The Xtian" = "The Christian", a periodical
L.S.D. = Pounds, shillings and pence
Parousia. The second coming of Christ
Quotation referred to is from Zechariah, 4:7
D.V. - God Willing [Deo Volente]
D.C. = District Commissioner
Xt = Christianity

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 81

10^th August 1913

Miss Slessor has been awarded an Honorary Associate of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which was bestowed on her at a special gathering in Duke Town. Many old friends had gathered there, and her thoughts had turned to Mr Partridge. She therefore writes to tell him of it, and to ask for news of him. She approves of the new D.C. at Itu and is very appreciative of his work there. She stresses the improvements in the life of the village in the six years she has been there, and the advances being made by the missionaries in their schools and Church work. She closes with many good wishes.

[Address on envelope reads]
C. Partridge Esqr
District Commissioner
Ijebu Ode
Lagos
Nigeria
[Ijebu Ode deleted & re-addressed in another hand to Idah]
[Post-marked Calabar Aug 15^th; Lagos Sep 12^th; presumably re-posted at Lagos on September 21^st; and arrived in Idah on Sep 13^th]

Use
Sunday Evening 10. 8. '13

My Dear Old Friend

I have been reading the papers your Father so kindly sends me every week, & it makes me think of how much I wished you had been here last week when I saw so many old friends. I missed you & Mr Child, & thought how nice it would have been to have seen you there. So many were new people, & I am not good at making up with new people. You would no doubt hear of the honour done me by the Government making me an Hon Associate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, & of how they would not hear of sending it, the Badge up quietly to me, but told me a few old friends wd. meet in the Mission House at the Institute. & Behold, they made quite a public thing of it. Mr & Mrs Bedwell & Mr & Mrs Harcourt were there, & altogether it was quite imposing. We spoke of you during that week of frivolity, & of Mr Child & those who were so near, & yet so far & inaccessible. But that did not bring you, or any news of you. How are you? & Where are you? & do you keep well? & is your work & environment to your taste? & - & - & O, so many things I shd. like to know. I note your excuse for not writing, that writing fills all yr. time & is nauseating. Yes! but it limps a good deal that excuse. Seek a better one next time! Have I disappointed you? or vexed you? I shouldnt like to do so, for my old fashioned kind of affectionate respect, is of a sticky order, & I dont readily forget. Besides I have many things tangible & real to keep me in mind, *if* *I* *did* forget. But I often remember you where it is best to be remembered, & pray God to be your environment & your guard & guide.

Mr Brooks is gone home rather ill with gastritis which would not be overcome. We have a very fine gentlemanly, sympathetic & fair-minded man as D.C. [Note 1] at Itu at present. What a releif it is to have such! & how proud it makes me when the natives see our men at their best. Those round here are rejoicing in every bit of his work, but they always say, O, I hope he will not be taken away. Thats the weak spot in our Service, the lack of continuity in the expression of our Laws & rule. This gentleman is named Mr Porter. You may know him, as he has been a long time on the Lagos side. Ikot Obon Court is an awful sham now a days, & Udo Antia gets on his high Horse & invents his lies occasionally when he is out of prison. He has supplied the Clerk of their Court with a wife as usual & so gains power & prestige.

Our bairns are all growing up. In fact are big lads & women now. Annie presented us with a fine baby girl 3 weeks ago. They are very proud of it. She took the baby to Church today, & at the close of the forenoon Service she went home to her own house.

Monday Morning

The light went away last night & I cant write by lamplight now a days. You would know such a difference here now. The village has larger houses, open yards, & spaces. A new Church with the village square in front, where the lads play foorball, & the Chiefs sit in the evenings. All are nicely - not grandly - clothed. Every house has its readers. No more witch doctors, no drinking. A new Church semi European to stand the Tornados. Paid every penny themselves, the old Church as school. All fronting the Road. A burying ground, instead of the old Burial in the House, & many another thing which has worked out in a very natural way. Following on their being told of the Governments giving of honour, they have brought a load of yams, & a goat as their congratulation. When I went to the opening of the Okoyon new Church the other day, they sent a nice brotherly note with 20/- of a subscription, all unknown to me. So you see they pay for better things than the old folks cared for, & they are a most intelligent congregation to work on on Sabbath days. You need not jump to the conclusion that I'm making them perfect. Thats not in sight yet. Only when I'm at Ikpe, I can judge better the distance they have come in 6 years. I have not any news. I'm only writing because, I felt how far away you are when I was in Duke Town last week, & I wanted to send a Handshake over to you. I never felt more unworthy, or more small in my own respect than when I was singled out from others who are, & have been working with far better results than mine. & I thought of all that you did & suffered in making the foundations here firm & sure & stable. "God is not unrighteous to forget" - that's the reward worth having, & the consciousness of having done what one could. Now Good bye, God be with you & bless you,
I am as ever Yours Affectionately
M M Slessor

P.S. I have sold 4 New Testaments at 1/6 [Note 2] each - to lads out between Use Ndon, & Itu Udo this morning. That will shew you how the light is spreading. A lady - Miss Welsh is at Itu Ndo living in a Native House, & doing a fine work from the boundary of Miss Peacock's parish on to near Ikot Ekpene. Miss Peacock has schools at Ikot Ebom, Ikot Nsen, Ntre Obio, & on this side, all self supporting & taught by lads from the district, also 300 people mostly every Sabbath Afternoon at Ikot Obon, from all the surrounding district. MMS

Editorial Notes:

D.C. = District Commissioner
One shilling and six pence (or 7 and a half new pence)

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 82

16^th October 1913

Miss Slessor welcomes Mr Partridge's letter to her and comments on its contents. With it was a news cutting which appears to relate to another Mary Slessor! She thereupon gives the background to her own family, and says she is the last of her line. Again she wishes he were back in Calabar, but is happy with the presence of Mr Porter the current D.C. at Itu. She has thoughts of moving on could she find someone else to take over her place. A second twin has been saved in Ikpe "but it is slow work". Annie and baby are with her until a small pox vaccination can be given it, and Mary is expecting another child.

[Address on envelope read]
C. Partridge Esqr
District Commissioner
Idah
va FORCADOS
So. Nigeria C.P.
[Post-marks include: Ikot Ekpene October 23^rd 1913; Calabar Oct 24^th; and Idah Nov ^6th]

Ikpe Ikot Nkon
16^th Oct 1913

My Dear Old Boss

It *was* a pleasure to see your handwriting once more! I had given up all hope of hearing again, & often & often wondered how I had disappointed you. It is good indeed to have you writing in the Old Way. What do you mean by not having obeyed the Authorities? It was a queer Authority, or a queer Order! I am quite confident of that; & I think I can quite congratulate you too, As to your independence of mind & spirit; Well, it does not "matter a button" to me where you are, & why you are there! for I am perfectly satisfied that you are at your duty. I am glad you like your Station! Thats a weakness of yours, by the way. If you have the Apostles "Godliness", certainly the Great "Contentment" is never lacking, & it is a gift which one thanks God for. Never a Whine have I heard in all your experiences, & it brightens up ones own outlook immensely to have such optimism always in the forefront. I wish you had only been "banished" to this province! You will know that Mr Brooks was sent home ill with Gastritis which refused to yield to treatment. So things have gone in rather an irresponsible way up here. But we have had a rarely good man in Mr Porter at Itu, who is the first Gentleman we have had for years. You, Mansfield, Hargrove, Porter, thats how I count them.

This is the 20th, I never get long at a time to sit, to write or sew or read! I have not had a mail for some time. I used to get it regularly, but I have only had 3 in over 6 weeks, so I shall send this on at first chance whenever that may come, in order to catch you before you go home. You will be going into the winter, & I do not envy you that experience, but I hope it will be a good time for you & that you may get a good stock of health & strength, of every kind, & a rest from strain & [brain?] fag. I have been going over to Ndot, & Ekpri Abam of late & we get some Xtian [Note 1] lads from the former town to our Sabbath services. A good distance to come, isnt it? I wish I could get any one to take this place, I should like then to build over there. The people are so numerous & the land lies so high, it ought to be healthy. "Will ye no come back again?" You know all the places better than anyone else even down to the present, & your personality has been stamped on them. They dont want White Man's rule, or his God, but one or two individuals represent to them the best & highest they have known.

Thank you for the newspaper cutting. What a romantic history that namesake of mine had. I have no doubt we are of the same stock, for all are from the North of Scotland, & came across the North sea I beleive. but I have never heard of this branch. Our lot came from inland a bit, not from the Coast, & are farther north than Peterhead. My Father was also a "Robert", & was from Buchan, & his branch are New Deer & Glenlivet & Cabrach, etc Farmers, One family Millers, from generations. Then last time I was there, 40 years ago, two sons were at Cambridge; who have gone South. I saw Rev Alex Slessor of Aberdeen time before last I was at home. His sons were at the University then in Aberdeen, & one at least, is a Clergyman now, but I have never kept correspondence with any of them, & my own family are all gone long ago. Mother & Janie - the last of us - died in Exeter nearly 25 years ago. A Soldier branch is in the North of England. Capn Slessor came to Sierra Leone a long time ago with his regiment, & we had some correspondence, but I let it drop. So I am a lonely creature, but I am human enough to like to see that there is some virility in our blood after all. Well again I thank you for your thought of me. What a "screed" this is all about myself, but I have no news at all. Miss Peacock will be landing at Calabar today I hope. I long to see her, but Mary expects an *event* in her family soon, so I shall not leave this side till it is over. Annie & her husband with their baby are only 5 miles from us. They hold the Nkana Station as Teachers family. Small pox has again broken out here & there, so I have Annie & baby here till I get the latter vaccinated. I am asking for Lymph from Ikot Ekpene. We have a fine twin boy & his mother in the yard. He is a month old. They are to get a house in town ready for them this week, so the twin will be the 2nd to have lived in Ikpe Town. but it is slow work. Now it is school time, so ta ta, May your Furlough be a happy one. God bless you & be ever your environment, actively & consciously wherever you are, I am as ever

Yours Affectionately
Mary M Slessor

Editorial Note:

Xtian = Christian

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 83

24^th December 1914

Miss Slessor has [and is] not keeping too well and has suffered much distress from the loss of two old friends, the advent of the First World War, and because she thought she had been forgotten by Mr Partridge. However, here are his Christmas Puddings to prove that is not so, and the household makes merry. Her letter tells of her joy at hearing from him [while asking for more news of him], and goes on to describe her health, her family, the Mission work, and the village of Use, among many topics.

[Envelope addressed to]
Chas Partridge Esqr
Awka
Via Onitsha
Nigeria
[Date stamps read: Calabar Jan 2^nd; Onitsha Jan 16^th]

[Note: This envelope bears several additions in Charles Partridge's handwriting, including the usual filing information giving the date it was written ie. "Miss Slessor: 24^th Dec.1914". On other occasions he has written the poignant note "Miss S. died 13^thJan. 1915" and "Recd. 17^th Jan. 1915"]

Use Ikot Oku
24. 12 '14

My Dear Old Friend

The Plum Puddings have just come in, & as this is Xmas Eve, I have ordered one to be opened & the whole lot of us are to have it tonight, which has caused great Excitement & all are jumping about like Crazy things. Whitie is away to the village to tell Annie, so that she may come for her share.

But, dear friend, it is not the Puddings but the dear old Handwriting & remembrance that gives me a full heart, & I must confess to you that by this weeks launch I was telling Mr Maxwell - who is up the Cross River with troops, having volunteered for the Nigerian Territorial Service - that the depression caused by the death of two old friends such as Mr Child & Mr Grey, & *YOUR* *DEFECTION*, has taken a very great part of the rest of life away, & made me feel that I do not care very much whether I get over this long illness or not. Please to forgive me for my want of Faith, but I thought you had let me drop out of your regard & memory, & it pained me exceedingly. Specially since this terrible trouble of German Hatred & *jealousy* has come to involve our Empire, & threaten our Home life with unspeakable gloom. So my joy & comfort is profoundly deep, & it is better than the medicine I am forced to take now a days in order to help the old machine to run on, till warm weather, & Rest comes to the Home land. O I have missed you, & I have had to tear up & burn so many of your letters since I was able to get about a little, that it ached more, only I had to clear out my desk, as one never knows how soon an attack may pick me off, & I dont want to leave anything of personalities lying about for prying eyes.

Now here is a sheet of paper filled with my precious self! What about you? Where are you? What are you doing? How do things go with you? O you old dear, I *am* overjoyed to know you have thought of me. I felt almost ashamed the other day, when Obon Asogni Amban came from Itu to see me & asked about you, & I could give him no answer. We went over so many things that happened in the Old days! days which were so different, & also so difficult, compared with these days when things slip & slide along well defined lines, & the old things are dear to both Native & European. During late months Use have had trouble from Ikot Obon. The outsider says most of it arises from your Old Interpreters ambition & domineering fashions. For he is an awful scamp! When he is out of prison, there is not much Peace or Rest about, but whether it is the superior "Kultur" of the Upper town, or his spite because Use refuses to give him a site at their beach to build trade on. There is often talk about you & they wish that you who ["Fioho-d"?] - Found them, & knew all the old relations, were back again. When Udo Antia breaks out too, in the district, as he can when the D.O. [Note 1] is changed, or a man who does not know him comes on, there is many a cry for "Our Udo Afia Ikot Ekpene" [Note 2] to be here to understand. & Perhaps one of God's reasons for keeping me here so long, is the keeping of such miserable characters in subjection & silence to a certain extent. The fact is that when I go to Ikpe, or to Odoro Ikpe, these, & other scally wags jump up & do all they can to Feather their nests, & to trimph over the weaklings. Shall you ever come round this way again to work? I hope against hope often that it may be so. Calabar is only 3rd rate now, & very few Europeans come this way on any errand. We seldom see a White face other than the missionaries, but in those we are most fortunate. Dear Miss Peacock is still my neighbour at Ikot Obon, & Miss Coupar, a new, & very young girl is with her, & is a comfort to her & to me. I think you knew Miss Welsh. She used to be in Creek Town. She has a native house at Ibiaku, Itu Udo & this is her 2nd term there. She gets on wonderfully, & the lads are all at school. Indeed the bush schools are very numerous all the way out to Ikot Ekpene. Miss Peacock herself is responsible for 7 of them all taught by the natives of this district. We here in this place have a neat Church fenced in, & all cleaned, & a big common for the boys of the school & town to play Football -

he light failed here for we had our party & our Pudding, & tea, & the House cups & saucers & tea pot, & a fine bit of bread, & it was lovely!! Only I got too tired of the noise, & Annies baby, & retreated to do a bit of writing. Well I was to say that you would not beleive this the same place as when you were here. Nice houses, Flower gardens, wide paths in the village. The houses built up the hills both sides of the road, & the bush all cleared. The doors of the houses painted, windows, & seats in front of the Common, the Church with its small belfry. Everything is beautiful, & they have cleared my Cycle road for a new school, so as to let me have less fatigue. We have a small burying ground now, & it tells its own tale of civilized life. Our old Chief Ekpo Nive died long ago. Last week, another feeble old man who held his place died, & I do not know who shall succeed. But this is Xmas Morning, & I must wish you - out loud with my voice - a very happy Xmas & a very Good New Year. God can carry it all to you, & give you all I wish, without any interval for Telegraph or Post, *& He Will.* May 1915 be the best year you have yet known. I have a house now in Odoro Ikpe, that high hill land 5 miles from Ikpe Ikot Nkon. & the people do very well by me. I was there for 8 months, this Church carrying on its own work. When the first serious *reverses * in Flanders & France came, it shook me so, I thought it was a shock, & for long was so ill, that when they carried me to Ikpe, & then brought me here, I was almost unconscious, & 3 months have made little way towards recovery. But I can hold out till March, & things are not worse at home I shall probably then take a trip to Scotland, or at least to Canary. The two young women at the marriageable age, are such a drag on my fears in leaving them. The Grandchildren are coming now, & Mary & David & their 2 kiddies are now in Lagos I expect, as he got a months leave. I find this is a half sheet of paper. I'm sorry it is so untidy, but it carries much loving grateful regard all the same, & the whole household joins me in it. Hoping you will soon write if only a scrap to say how you are, & where, & etc I am dear Old Boss

Yours ever Affectionately
M M Slessor

Editorial Note:

D.O. Probably "District Officer"
Udo Afia Ikot Ekpene. Charles Partridge's local name

Transcription By: Leslie A. Mackenzie, 1997

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Slessor, Mary

Letter no. 84

n.d.[5^th Dec 1914?]

This item comprises a Christmas Card in an envelope.

The envelope is addressed to:
C. Partridge Esqr.
Stowmarket
Suffolk
England

It is date stamped Dec.5^th, 1914, and carries a note in Charles Partridge's handwriting "Sent to my Father C.P."

The internal leaf of the Card is printed
"Greetings and all Good Wishes from Calabar
Use Ikot Oku, Calabar
Xmas, 1914"

The card is inscribed "To thank you for Continued Kindness in sending me the Precious Messengers from Week to Week, & to wish you & your family every blessing for all the years to come
Yours most gratefully
Mary M Slessor"

Transcription By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Data Entered By: Ruth E. Riding, 1998

Letters and Articles

The small but rich collection of Slessor correspondence in Dundee City Archives, consisting mainly of Mary’s warm communication with Miss Crawford, (an administrator and friend in the Free Church of Scotland), complements the larger collection held in Dundee Central Library of her letters to Partridge, a colonial administrator. A descendant of Miss Crawford’s family in Aberdeen generously decided to place the letters in Dundee City Archives for safe keeping in 1993 but their comparatively recent discovery means that their existence is not widely known.

Mar’s humour is evident from her first manuscript letter of 1901, in which, having been asked for her date of birth for annuity purposes, she states that the document giving the year has been eaten by ants, but that she hopes to escape all obligations to any annuity fund by being able to “hold her small fort to the last stage of the Pilgrimage”. These were prophetic words, for Mary’s unfailingly cheerful correspondence with both Crawford and Partridge were to continue, despite illness, delay and frustrations, until shortly before her death in harness in 1915. Her last letter, in December 1914, to Miss Crawford – by then her ‘very dear friend’ – is littered with scriptural references, and combines testimony to her faith with concern about conditions in the trenches in Europe, references to the war in Cameroon, and the statement that she is sending her requests via the ‘heavenly wireless’.

Another complementary factor in Mary’s two series of correspondence with the two administrators – one colonial, one ecclesiastical – shows the ease with which she dealt with all levels of people, and the eye that she had for detail. Her writing might be hurried and her expression hampered by a lack of formal education, but she consistently shows herself to be a highly competent and intelligent administrator with clear objectives. The Crawford collection is rounded off by a number of miscellaneous prints of articles which clearly indicate contemporary interest in her activities, trials and successes.

Amess, Mina

Article: From Miss Mina Amess, Akpap, Calabar.
Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [April 1914] [April 1914]

GD.X.260.19xxii b
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xxii b

Letter from Miss Mina Amess, Akpap, Calabar, describing the work at her mission. As this letter is included with the preceding item [GD.X.260.19xxii a] it was decided to reproduce it here. Miss Amess was a fellow worker of Miss Slessor's and often mentioned in her letters.

________________________________________________________

From the Women's Missionary Magazine of April 1914?

Mrs McGregor came over for our Communion, and also for the formal opening of the new church. That ceremony took place on the Friday. We had a good turn-out, and a liberal collection – £6, 3s. 3d. Then, on the Sabbath morning we had about 450 people at the service, even a larger attendance than we had when Ma was here. Several couples have renounced polygamy, and are now married properly. We are glad that at last a stand has been taken against this old custom.

We are now free of debt, and have £18 in hand for complete lining for the roof, paint, and cement for the floor. This building is now quite nice and serviceable as it is, so none of these extras will be done until the people themselves, at the ordinary church collections, give the amount that will be required. The people at Ifakko, Usun-Eauk, and Obio-aka-nkpa are all paying for their own teachers, and also gave money to buy a table and chair for each of the schools.

The progress of the past months has cheered us greatly, but while we rejoice in good church attendances and liberal collections, we want far more than these, we want a band of real Christian natives who will be a power for good amongst their own people. The Church members and catechumen members are beginning to realise their responsibilities more.

Anon
[untitled and unsigned. One page of four paragraphs written in the style of Mary Slessor] [undated]
GD.X.260.17
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.17

This item consists of one manuscript page in an unidentified hand, but similar script, to that of Miss Slessor. As two passages have been found to be from Miss Slessor's letters to Miss Crawford, it is possible that all these passages represent part of a collection of extracts from Miss Slessor's writings made by some person unknown.

________________________________________________________

were I to record some of the manifestations of God's power & guidance & loving patience to myself through times of loneliness & stress, it would doubtless strengthen the faith of His people.

It is so sweet when Christ rules in a home to see the love & loyalty to Him in the giving up of one another for His sake. [from Miss Slessor's letter to Miss Crawford, dated 6th September 1907: see GD.X.260.03]

Thank God for His restraining grace as well as for His electing grace. [from Miss Slessor's letter to Miss Crawford, dated 6th November 1907: see GD.X.260.05

May God get His proper place as the Chosen & then all will be well for He is able to [?] [?] we sometimes make the [Choos – ?] & the doing our business too much & then we get trouble.

Anonymous
Article: A private letter of 16th August gives a glimpse of Miss Slessor's work. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [December 1902] 16th August [1902]
GD.X.260.19ii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19ii

The author gives us a picture of a typical day in the life of Miss Slessor at the time of her visit, and goes on to list the major changes that have occurred in Okoyon since she took up residence there.

________________________________________________________

Presumed source Women's Missionary Magazine of December 1902

A private letter of 16th August ?1902 gives a glimpse of Miss Slessor's work. [Author unknown]

I came to Akpap on 22 July and found Miss Slessor well and busy amongst her children. There are six little boys, only two of them can walk; four little girls and two big ones. Miss Slessor goes out at 6 A.M. to a village about three miles off to hold a school. She comes home at 10, when there is always someone waiting for a palaver with her. In the afternoon she has school in the house here, when a good many lads come, all very anxious to learn. After tea, she attends the sick. Every fourth day is market day, on which she has a lot of visitors. They come to her with their troubles, big and little, and her word is law. On Sabbath mornings at 6, she goes to the village where she has the school, and holds a short service. Some of the boys who attend the school, go with her to a still more distant place. When she comes home she has two meetings in different villages, and in the evening she goes to some big yard and has a service for children.

There is a great change on the people of Okoyon since I first saw them, thirteen years ago. At that time fourteen persons were caught to be put to death because the chief's son had died. We had much ado to save them – but there is nothing like that now. Formerly no husband would live with his wife, if she became the mother of twins, nor were the twins allowed to live. The other day I saw a mother quite happy with a pretty little twin child.

There are other changes. When the market-day falls on our Sabbath, no market is held. One needs to know the people and live among them to see what the Gospel has done for them.

Anonymous
Article: Miss Slessor, whose furlough now falls due, ….. Published [it is presumed] in the Women's Missionary Magazine [March 1904] [March 1904]
GD.X.260.19iii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19iii

Presumed to be from the Womens Missionary Magazine of March 1904?

Miss Slessor, whose furlough now falls due, has chosen to spend it in Old Calabar, rather than return to the homeland. She intends to enter the Inokon country by way of Itu and the Enyon Creek, with the hope of extending mission operations in that direction.

Anonymous
Article: Miss Slessor, who, ….. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [January 1913]. [Includes a passage from a letter written by Miss Slessor] [January 1913]
GD.X.260.19xx
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xx

A report on Miss Slessor's stay in the Canary Islands and her improved health on her return to Calabar. Letter No. GD.X.260.12, dated October 1912 to Miss Crawford, written while at Grand Canary, describes this trip in more detail.

________________________________________________________

From the Women's Missionary Magazine of January 1913?

MISS SLESSOR, who, as many of our readers know, was far from well for some time, went recently to Grand Canary for greatly needed rest and change. We rejoice to report that she has received much benefit. We have pleasure in passing on the following extract from a private letter, written on board ship on her return voyage to Calabar,as a proof of this. Referring to the time spent in the Islands, Miss Slessor writes:– “It was worth waiting a lifetime for, so perfect was it all. It will ever be a dream of beauty and joy to hold in memory. Well, it has come to a close in one sense, but I am so well, so changed altogether that of course it is *not* done, and I trust it will be like Elijah's meal in its results. Thank God with me for all the goodness and tender mercy. He has made to pass before me these last two months.”

Anonymous
Article: Extension work in Calabar. Published [it is presumed] in the Women's Missionary Magazine [January 1911] [Includes a quote from a letter of Miss Slessor's] [January 1911]
GD.X.260.19xvii
Dundee City Archives
GD.X.260.19xvii

Miss Slessor announces her commitment to moving to Ikpe.

________________________________________________________

Presumed to be an article from the Women's Missionary Magazine of January 1911?

Extension work in Calabar – As many of our readers know, Miss Slessor has long had a desire to open new ground up the Enyong Creek, among a people who have given strong proofs that they are stretching out their hands to God. News has come that she has visited Ikpe, a day and a-half's journey from Use, to make arrangements for opening work there. Writing to a friend, Miss Slessor says: “Do pray that I may be helped, for the need of these poor people is great and infinite. I have done the thing now and am committed to it. The site is cleared for the Ikpe Mission House, and the first fifty sheets of corrugated iron have gone up. I am in the dark on many points, but my mind is in perfect peace, that God will work and carry it through, for the Pillar leads.”

Anonymous
Article: Miss Slessor's Return to Darkest Africa. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [November 1907] [November 1907]
GD.X.260.19xi
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xi

An account of a meeting held in the Assembly Hall, ? Edinburgh prior to Miss Slessor's return to Calabar. A plea for more personnel to help with the mission work in Calabar, and for prayer, is made by Miss Slessor, together with Miss Peacock and Miss Reid.

________________________________________________________

From the Women's Missionary Magazine of November 1907?

Miss Slessor's Return to Darkest Africa.

A farewell meeting to Miss Slessor was held in the Assembly Hall on the evening of 7th October, presided over by Dr.Robson, Miss Peacock and Miss Reid being also present.

Miss Peacock told how the burden of the unreached parts of Calabar had weighed upon her and her colleagues. As the home Church held out no hope of support, Miss Slessor had offered a native house at Ikotobon, and she and Miss Reid went there last March to work among the Ibibio people, who are a race very far down, physically, morally, and spiritually. They started a school for the men and boys. One lad, Efiong, has become a new creature in Christ Jesus. On being asked how it was that he became a Christian, he replied, “I don't know, but I heard the gospel, and God just showed me and I believed.”

Miss Reid described the sad down-trodden look in the faces of the women, and recalled to us the fact that these are our sisters. One woman, who had been helped with medicine, clasped her hand and said, “The God of Efiong bless you.” She knew nothing about the God of Abraham, but knew that the God who had changed the life of that lad must be good.

On rising to speak Miss Slessor met with a very hearty reception. She began by saying it was not a weak cause that they had come to plead. There have been sixty years of work in Old Calabar. The second chapter of the history of the Mission is to be written now. God has had to employ the British Government to do what we could not do; and the British soldiers have been humane. patient, and tactful with the natives. Had it not been for the work of the Church, they could not have done what they have; and they will never hold the country without gospel light. Itu was the slave-market and was kept by the north-country people. The soldiers penetrated beyond. All honour to our soldiers; they deserve our prayers as well as our criticism. The Governor had asked again and again, “Why don't you move in?”

Miss Slessor went on to tell how a deputation of the natives waited upon her and said, “We are going to sit down till you come with us; we have money laid aside, and you must come.” She engaged a boy and went up to Itu. The women especially came crowding in to the worship. These women became Christians and have been true missionaries; outspoken in their devotion to Christ. There is now a congregation testifying for Christ. Miss Slessor then told of the call to Arochuku. Two missionaries went up to a village and took a boy with them. He is now the head of the Church there. From this work in Arochuku six congregations have sprung, five of them have Christian men and women, the sixth has been taken up by Miss Reid and Miss Peacock. In a country like that, women must go first, not men. Wherever a punitive expedition has been, the natives will not believe in men, they plead for women.

Miss Slessor told of a Christian man who had presented twenty-seven children of his own for baptism the day he was baptised himself. Another man came up once to Arochuku asking Miss Slessor to follow him to his home. She went up with Mr Wilkie. He took them into his semi-European house with a court, in which stood a table and chairs. They sat down, and a box was brought forward in which were some books, a Bible, catechism, an ink bottle, etc. They asked whose box it was. “My boy's,” was the reply. “Where is your boy?” “My boy is dead. I had a son, and I thought he would bury me when I was dead. There is nothing I have left undone. I got Christian traders to come in and teach him, and I got another boy taught with him to keep him company. *I want God*” the man continued fiercly, “and you won't leave me till I find Him.” Miss Slessor said, “Oh, father, God is here! He is waiting for you.” Half-an-hour later a silent company went away, but the man got God: of couse he did. Now he is a Christian. He has twins living there that he has taken in from Ibibio. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.

We hold the money and the power, and we hold everything, and what are we going to do with that great land? It is not twenty men or a score of women that we want; it is a *host* to take possession of it for Christ. This is a new opportunity. Something more than money is wanted, and a kneeling prayer of a few monutes twice daily. We have not learned to pray yet. If we had a praying people we would have a missionary Church and a victorious Church. The Church will have to set times apart just for praying, and keep on. The command is, “Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Teach them by prayer and by the power of the Holy Ghost. If we are in living union with Christ, the men and women and money will come. May it be that Calabar will be marvellously helped by the faith and love of the Church.

Mrs. Duncan M'Laren said Miss Slessor's dauntless spirit was clamouring to be back in Africa. Africa claimed her, and for Africa she was eager to labour on to the end. We were there not to praise her, but to praise her Lord, the Lord who has guided her, and whose gift she is to our Church, and who has kept her through manifold dangers safe to this hour. There are times when the beckoning hand is seen, when the voice is heard distinctly, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” There are also times when it needs the God-given vision to see the guiding hand. We feel that our friend has this vision, and she at least has not been disobedient to the heavenly vision. We all feel humbled when we hear what she and her brave colleagues have done. Do we not feel that we must make a great change in our policy after this night?

We say farewell to Miss Slessor, praying to God that it may indeed be a “faring well” with her to the end of the journey. May we so hold the ropes that when she comes again bringing her sheaves with her, we may in a humble measure rejoice with her. In God's keeping we may safely leave her, praying that the Lord may preserve her going out from this time “even for evermore.”

Enthusiastic meetings in connection with Miss Slessor's return to West Africa, and the forward movement there, have also been held in Glasgow and in Aberdeen.

Anonymous
Article: The Passing of Miss Slessor. Published in the Record of the Home and Foreign Mission Work of the UF Church of Scotland. [February 1915] [February 1915]
GD.X.260.22iii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.22iii

An article in the Record of the Home and Foreign Mission Work of the United Free Church of Scotland, of February 1915.

Miss Slessor's passing is announced and some extracts from her last letter are shared with the readers.

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The Passing of Miss Slessor

As these pages are passing through the press we learn from the newspapers of the death of Miss Mary M. Slessor in Calabar. The announcement will cause the keenest regret throughout the Church. “Few women or men have served God and man better than Miss Slessor has”, said the Rev. J. K. MacGregor, who so graphically told the story of her career in the 'Record' in August 1913. We refer readers meanwhile to that article for an admirable appreciation of her remarkable personality. We hope that an adequate record of her life and labours will be undertaken by some competent pen: it would prove one of the most interesting biographies of women ever published, and would stimulate missionary enthusiasm in the Church, especially among young people, as few books have done.

One could only know Miss Slessor's fine character by coming into personal contact with her. Something of her rare spirit breathes through her letters, and we venture to print a few extracts from a communication we recently received from her which now bears a pathetic interest. It was in answer to a request we made for a contribution on some aspect of her work. She first referred humorously to the article about her in the 'Record', which had sent her flying into the bush to a remote out-station where “she could blush unseen”, and remain hidden until the episode had been forgotten.

“Isaac did not feel more dazed when he turned down that hillside than I did after I had grasped the full meaning and possible outreach of that 'Record'. I left it behind me and came to this heathenish locality, which always keeps me lowly in the fight with naked, unashamed heathenism. For it is borne in upon me here that 'not by might nor by power, but by Thy Spirit' is the only leverage. Man and Mary Slessor are simply nothing. I can get obedience and respect, and gifts and heaps of things, but not one soul can I move to its own salvation. A fine corrective to blarney!”

As to the proposed article, she wrote:

“For one thing, I haven't the time; and for another, I haven't the strength, either physical or mental. When one gets into the sixth decade one is on the wrong side of the line, and the pace does not slacken on the mission field. It needs husbanding of odd moments to get the tale put in at all. If I were sitting down in Edinburgh and a kindred spirit asked me questions, I might recall the dear fellow-labourers and the days in Calabar when it wasn't a picnic. White and black, there were giants in those days, and were I to record some of the manifestation of God's power and guidance and loving patience to myself through times of loneliness and stress, it would doubtless strengthen the faith of His people; but to sit down and conjure it all up and then write it out, makes me feel faint. One cannot do much amidst schoolboys and visitors, and sick folk and a household, and through the long sleepless nights which are now my portion. It would be too strenuous, and as the shadows lengthen and no sound of a fellow-traveller's voice comes up behind, and so much lies to be sorted out before the sun goes down, one's energies are watched like a miser's hoard. If I tell you that I am pledged to two towns, close on ten miles of hill road away, and that this parish is absolutely beyond me, and that villages all around are crying out for help, not to speak of a congregation unshepherded at Use, you will understand how chary I am of writing even a letter that takes the nervous strength out of me. …. So I think I shall just have to write you a small friendly letter now and then to prove that I am not too soured and cynical……Mr Macgregor and his dear wife are so good to me, and it is my greatest rest-time and enjoyment to be with them. They are fine gold through and through. Cannot you send some more? – we sadly need it.”

At the end she whimsically excuses the “apparent slovenliness” of her letter: “I've had a fractious, newly vaccinated baby on my knee under the pad, and she doesn't like it any more than I do.” A modest and gallant spirit!

Anonymous
Article: The Slessor Mission Hospital. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine, [December 1905] [December 1905]
GD.X.260.19vi
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19vi

Extract presumed to be from the “Women's Missionary Magazine”, dated Dec. 1905?

The Slessor Mission Hospital

While not a branch of our women's work, it is interesting to record that the hospital, which is to be erected at Itu in the Ibo country, is to be called the Slessor Mission Hospital. The advance into this district is largely owing to the initiative given by Miss Slessor, who, it will be remembered, elected to devote the furlough to which she was entitled to exploring the regions beyond Old Calabar.

Anonymous
Article: The Order of St John…. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine, August 1913 August 1913
GD.X.260.19xxi
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xxi

A description of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem with which Miss Slessor has been invested. She describes the occasion on which it was given to her in a letter to Mr Charles Partridge [See Letter no. 81, 10th August 1913]

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine of August 1913

The Order of St. John had origin in Jerusalem and Acre as an international lay confraternity for the relief of the Crusaders. The Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England was dissolved at the same time as the monasteries, but was reconstituted in 1827, and was granted a Royal Charter in 1888. The Badge of the Order is a Maltese Cross of white enamel, with a lion and unicorn in alternate angles. King George V. is the Sovereign Head and Patron of the British Order; H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught is the Grand Prior.

Of this ancient and honourable Order, whose present work is entirely devoted to the relief of the sick and suffering, Miss M. M. Slessor, our veteran missionary in Calabar, has been enrolled an Honorary Associate. It is a unique honour to a missionary, but none could have better deserved such recognition. Her long, noble, self-sacrificing service was brought to the notice of the Grand Prior of the Order by His Excellency the Governor of Southern Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard, through the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is unnecessary here to tell at length the story of her work; it is well known to all our readers. (An account of some aspects of the earlier years appears in the current number of the “Missionary Record”.[Note])

We all unite in offering to Miss Slessor hearty congratulations on receiving this decoration, and we pray that she may be long spared not only to wear the badge of the Order, but to continue that work for the relief of suffering (of which the badge is the symbol), to which she has already given so nobly thirty-six years of her life.

EDITORIAL NOTE: This article is included here as “item GD.X.260.22i”

CROMARTY, Deas
Mary Mitchell Slessor. Article from the “British Weekly”. [1913]
GD.X.260.20
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.20

An undated article on Mary Slessor from the “British Weekly”. It appears to have been written soon after the appearance of the article in the “Record” August 1913 [see item GD.X.260.22ii]

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MARY MITCHELL SLESSOR

Until now I have never dared to put my honoured friend's name at the head of an article. Knowing the depth and reality of her puritanism, I was pretty certain that she would dislike any notice of herself; and not even to make the world aware of her original character and remarkable work should one give a moment's uneasiness to that valiant soul away in the shadows of Calabar:– shadows which her faith and sincerity, her courage and love have done so much to lighten. But the “U.F.Missionary Record” for this month has broken in upon her severe modesty with the chief facts of a life which is without parallel amongst women, and I may venture to add a few words of my own. I met her when she was home for her first furlough: a quiet, self contained, firm young woman, who left a mark of her own, so that through all the following years the portrait remained: that of a worker for whom the chosen task is everything; a servant of humanity for whom difficulties and dangers hardly exist. Her infrequent visits to Scotland deepened the impression of a singularly concentrated nature fixed on the Christian ideal that man, anywhere and everywhere, is a salvable creature; that the “savage” is a child, but not a brute beast; that “missionary work” means getting at the heart of this child and teaching it to live, bit by bit, as wise mothers teach. This radically simple faith, united to as simple a courage, took Mary Slessor to Calabar thirty-six years ago and has kept her there, living right amongst the natives, always more and more “up-country”; at their service, one might say their mercy, day and night, save for one jealously guarded hour on Sunday afternoon, when “Ma's” curtain is drawn and her bairns, bigger or smaller, must leave her alone with her Master:– the invisible, compelling Master who sent to Calabar the Andersons, the Goldies, and Euphemia Sutherland, and others of a kind and sturdy band whose health proved miraculously superior to malaria, and whose work laid the foundation for the South Nigerian Protectorate. Of that Protectorate the real founders are the missionaries; and Mary Slessor is now receiving from the British Government some of the tribute due. For some years she has been an appointed magistrate to hold courts and decide cases. She had been doing so informally, on her own personal authority, long before. She is now made an Associate of the Order of St. John, revived from Crusading times, and certainly, never did knight go forth to succour the crusaders with an outfit so unassuming or a spirit so humane. The little medal is quite in place on the Scottish woman's plain gown; but I know how Miss Slessor will regard it. She forgets the great world, except when a British officer passes her way and her girls make tea for him, or a few books and papers arrive, and something stirs and aches a little, and “Ma” feels the weight of all her dark family resting on soul and body. “An uncrowned queen”? Yes, by deep, pitiful love and service; by strenuous oversight and teaching and homely toil; by intimate knowledge of a people's ways and language such as a scholar might covet; by the “dash” and coolness that win through dangers and mesmerise the barbarian; by the fixed purpose that has become life itself and cannot cease. By all these Mary Slessor, to those who personally know her, stands a genius among women because she has “consecrated” a good Scots head and a vigorous Scots will to the redemption of a people with an absolute contempt for convention and the un-needful. There have been days of criticism; but I expect they are over. They ought to be. When she stands up – unwillingly – to speak of her work, the effect cannot be rendered in any words at my command. The remembrance of a meeting in Aberdeen, during her last furlough, will never leave me. The steady control of the face, the calm intensity of the words, few, yet out of a storehouse and charged with all the force of human need, human desire to meet that need. She told three little stories. A fourth, and some of us would have sobbed aloud. The air was tense with spiritual drama like that of the early Christian days.

In a recent letter Miss Slessor speaks of the gaps in the stations. One missionary is “alone” here, another “alone” there, and “other doors are locked”…. “Oh that the scores of unattached women at home would come for six months at a time! Our girls could attend them as interpreters.”

Women are going everywhere and doing incredible things. Will some not set out to open those locked doors?

DEAS CROMARTY

Johnston, James
Pictorial Tract. Mary M. Slessor, the “Uncrowned Queen” of Old Calabar. 4 pages Scottish Temperence League [1914?]
GD.X.260.21
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.21

“Pictorial Tract” of four pages– undated, but probably 1914– with a picture of Miss Slessor on the front page. It incorporates a blank pledge proforma. Published by The Scottish Temperance League.

It comprises a historical review of Miss Slessor's work, and unusually emphasises her temperence work.

The author would appear to have used the article on Miss Slessor by the Rev. J.K.MacGregor published in the “Record”, August 1913, [See GD.X.260.22i] as one of his sources.

________________________________________________________

MARY M. SLESSOR The “Uncrowned Queen” of Old Calabar by James Johnston, F.R.Hist.S., Author of “Grenfell of Labrador,” etc.

Scotia has no greater living heroine than Miss Mary M. Slessor, whose record of achievement forms a romantic story in the annals of Old Calabar missions, on West African shores. Entering in 1914, on her 38th year of service under the banner of the United Free Church of Scotland, she has shown to the world what a “woman of action” can do in the warfare against suffering, cruelty, degradation, and heathenism in one of the darkest lands on the face of the earth.

Essentially energetic, resolute, businesslike, supremely courageous, and not in the least sentimental, Mary Slessor has been eminently endowed with the true heroic quality – an immense spiritual enthusiasm sternly directed to practical issues.

Of humble stock, born considerably over sixty years ago in the granite city of Aberdeen, Mary Slessor later accompanied her parents to Dundee, where her life's battle began in childhood as an obscure power-loom weaver. Her Christian zeal blossomed early by the endeavours which she made for the social and spiritual uplift of a shockingly degraded area in that city. Even in those far past days Miss Slessor displayed the qualities which, developed under the storm and stress of circumstances in Calabar, have made her such a force for righteousness amid savage tribes.

A staunch abstainer and born evangelist, Mary Slessor faced with composure the worst of roughs in Dundee, and won respect for her message.

To this day, it is said, Miss Slessor remembers these lads- grandfathers some of them now are - and she delights to tell of those who have done well in life.

But her passion travelled beyond the limits of the Tay city. Arrested by the needs of the heathen world, Mary Slessor equipped herself for the call, and was accepted by the United Presbyterian Church as a lady missionary, sailing in 1876 for Duke Town, in Calabar territory, Southern Nigeria, to embark on a career which has shed lustre on all engaged in the cause of humanity the world o'er.

There for nigh forty years, neither faltering nor slackening, with the will and energy to spend herself in work at the call of the Spirit, she has played a noble part in leading out a nation on the highway of civilisation.

Than the mission at Old Calabar, both on the seaboard and hinterland, few enterprises for humanity's sake have had more stirring, tragical, and fruitful issues. Courageous deeds mark every stage of its progress, the outcome of which are visible to-day in the successive stations of light which shine on the lower and upper reaches of the Cross and Calabar waterings, where dense mangrove swamps, rich tropical forest verdure, and savage beast, challenge the white man's foot and coming.

Labouring for a while at Duke Town, Miss Slessor then went inland to Old Town, to live right in the midst of a race where every village had a feud with its neighbours, and life was cheap. A man scarce ventured alone through the bush, and women going for water to the springs took their lives in their hands. Meanwhile the missionary toiler entered into their thoughts, learned their family relationships and acquainted herself with the cross currents of native opinion; in a word, practised the art of “thinking black,” by which Miss Slessor gained unrivalled knowledge and influence. Her mastery of the Efik language is reputed unequalled by that possessed by any other European. Not satisfied with her role in the coast region, Miss Slessor obtained permission at the end of twelve years, to penetrate the regions beyond, and settled at Okoyong, lying between the Cross and the Old Calabar rivers, and there, almost single-handed, essayed the redemption of one of the most savage and blood-thirsty tribes in Equatorial Western Africa. She had to live close to God if she were to live at all, surrounded by the wild, and at that time cannibal tribe of the Okoyong. Daily, terrible crimes met her gaze - the horrors of witchcraft, the poison-bean ordeal, murder of twin children, sacrifice of slaves, trial by burning oil, and like cruelties. Not repelled by these inhumanities, this heroic woman, when the Okoyongs continued their wanderings to Akpap, went with them, and erected her thatched abode adjoining their huts.

Than in the case of Miss Slessor, a woman's sainthood, determination, courage, and tact, exhibited under the most trying conditions, never had more conspicuous reward. As the first, and for several years, the sole European who resided among them, her influence over this fighting race was extraordinary. By a strong will and fearless spirit, under God, Mary Slessor, the once plain factory girl, wrought gloriously in checking the savagery of lawless combatants, shielding the helpless and young, making peace terms in periods of war, and pleading, not in vain, for the freedom of condemned slaves.

The lone white pioneer woman became a power in the land, which Sir Claude Macdonald, then British Governor, recognised by appointing her British Consul for the Okoyong province. Strange were the scenes afterwards witnessed when fierce chiefs appeared at the missionary heroine's Native Court and “palavers”, and bowed to her judgments and counsels. Miss Slessor's sphere of operations gradually extended, and all over the country, as she moved from village to village, the people flocked to her for medicine, protection, and aid. Nothing came amiss to her who was known as “Queen,” and showed herself just as ready to take to her arms the castaway child in the bush, as she was energetic in persuading a belligerent chief that “Ma's” law was just and good.

Remarkable as the triumphs of her work have been in promoting race pacification, raising the status of native women, establishing schools for children, etc., Miss Slessor's mind was far too broad to be confined to any specified line of activities. Her recognition of the value of skilled manual toil for the natives was seen in founding the Hope-Waddell Industrial Training Institution in 1895, while the help that she has given in opening up the country to trade has been enormous.

Noticeable, too, is the fight which Miss Slessor has made against the abominations of the gin traffic. No one in Southern Nigeria knows better than she, the havoc wrought by the gin trader upon the hapless natives. Pathetic to relate, it has been this pioneer's lot, after combating cannibalism and slavery, to be engaged in resisting the sale of gin and other spirituous liquors which, far and wide, have imposed another slavery on the land. All friends of temperance are grateful to Miss Slessor's witness to this great cause on African shores.

Frequently she has received thanks from state officials and others for services to her adopted land, and quite recently was enrolled as an Honorary Associate of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, of which the king is Sovereign Head and Patron, the only form of official honour conferred on women in Great Britain.

The foremost crusading missionary that the Calabar Mission has had, Miss Slessor has finally made Itu[Note] her mission home, originally the site of the greatest slave-markets on the Cross River, and there in the sunset of life nobly spent, she still labours for the cause she loves.

Miss Slessor has stood for an ideal, the ideal of doing good to her fellow- creatures, in a sphere where she felt that humanity most needed the guiding instinct and the specialised insight of woman.

It will certainly be admitted that in Mary Slessor, a good woman has made the corner of God's footstool which she occupied, better for her appearing.

[Note: The lower half of the fourth page comprises a “Pledge” to be completed by those promising “to abstain from all Intoxicating Liquors” and sent to the Scottish Temperance League.]

EDITORIAL NOTE: Actually, by 1914, Miss Slessor was at Ikpe

MacGregor, Rev. J.K.]
Article: Miss Mary M. Slessor. The Story of her Romantic Career. Published in the Record of the Home and Foreign Mission Work of the UF Church of Scotland [August 1913][August 1913]

GD.X.260.22ii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.22ii

A biographical article describing Miss Slessor's work, in the “Record of the Home & Foreign Mission Work of the United Free Church of Scotland”, August 1913, p372. It includes a photograph of Miss Slessor taken on her return from the Canary Islands.

A note elsewhere [in the announcement of Miss Slessor's death in the “Record”] mentions that this was written by Rev. J. K. MacGregor.

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Miss Mary M. Slessor
The Story of her Romantic Career

Miss Slessor has been enrolled as an Honorary Associate of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, of which the King is Sovereign Head and Patron and the Duke of Connaught Grand Prior. This honour has been conferred upon her in recognition of her services “in the cause of humanity.” Apart from her missionary work she has earned the gratitude of the Government by influencing the native tribes of Southern Nigeria to settle down and cease fighting among each other.

Few women, or men, have served God and man better than Miss Slessor has. Giving up everything, she has, to her surprise, discovered that the path of sacrifice (of which she never thinks) is the path of fame (for which she does not care). Living in the wilds of Africa, where white people are few, she finds that the eyes of many in her own country and the world over are turned on her. Her services have been recognized by the Order of the Hosital of St.John of Jerusalem. The honour was never more worthily gained, for surely no one has more devoted herself to the relief of suffering humanity than Miss Slessor has done.

It is six years since Miss Slessor was last home and many must still have vivid recollections of the shy and nervous, yet forceful, little lady whose greatest ordeal was to face the crowds that came to listen to her interesting addresses. She dislikes publicity, and is able to endure it because she never goes before the public unless the path of duty leads her there, and then she thinks not of the public but solely of her duty. When publicity is forced on her, she withdraws within herself, and those who come to stare depart with a totally wrong impression of her.

Miss Mary Mitchell Slessor hails from the East country. Her years, till she went to Calabar, were spent north of the Tay, mostly in Dundee and its neighbourhood. Even then she showed qualities which, developed under the stress of circumstances in Calabar, have made her such a force for righteousness. Who that has heard her tell how she tackled the gang of roughs that had determined to spoil the services in the Mission Hall in Dundee has not been thrilled? There she stood in the wynd[Note 1], encircled by the gang, undergoing the ordeal of a leaden weight swung nearer and nearer her head. She never winced, never faltered. At last the leader was satisfied. “She's game, boys,” he cried, and they, who had resolved to scoff, kept to the bargain they had made with her and went to the service. To this day Miss Slessor remembers these lads - grandfathers some of them now are - and she delights to tell of those who have done well in life.

In 1876 she was appointed to Calabar, and was at first stationed in Duke Town. She was full of life and fun, and “Daddy” Anderson, as the late Rev. William Anderson was called by everyone, must often have shaken his head over the Mission Agent, who boasted afterwards that she had climbed every tree between the Mission Hill and Old Town, where she taught school. Meanwhile she was laying the foundations of that mastery of the Efik language and of native law and custom which I have heard competent judges declare to be unequalled by that possessed by any other European. After she went to live at Old Town she lived very close to the natives. She entered into their thought, learned their family relationships (which in a polygamous country, where ties are loosely held to, are exceedingly intricate), became acquainted with the cross currents of native opinion, and acquired that patience and decision which are essential to anyone who would influence them. Under trying circumstances she displayed that determination, courage, and tact which have made her such a power for good amongst the people.

These were the old fighting days, when every village had a feud with its neighbours and life was cheap. A man did not dare to go alone along the paths through the bush. Even when going for water to the springs the women took their lives in their hands. Besides the spirits were supposed to dwell in the bush and molest people, any tree might have behind it a foe of flesh and blood. Sometimes this intermittent murder was fanned into a war, and village went out to attack village. At these times Miss Slessor knew not danger. On more than one occasion she has heroically gone into the zone of fire and stayed there till the combatants went home, for they would not fire lest she whom they respected so much should be hurt. Then, when they had separated, she negotiated terms of peace. By her tact and persuasiveness, by her unfailing sympathy and insight and good humour, she has frequently been a successful mediator, and for her sake towns that hated each other have sunk their differences.

HER COURAGE AND FAITH

With that fearless unselfishness which has characterized all her life, she went in 1887 up to Ekenga amongst the wild and, at that time, cannibal tribe of the Okoyong, a sept of the Ododop people that migrated from the north-east to the country between the Calabar and the Cross Rivers. Here she had to live close to God, if she was to live at all. I can picture her landing at the beach in the evening after being paddled all day from Duke Town. Before her stretched five miles of path through the forest which was infested with leopards. And she had no lamp. Home she must get, and, as she herself has put it, she went in faith that the path of duty was the path of safety. “He has promised that we can take up serpents, why should I be afraid of leopards?” So along the track she walked, praying, “O God of Daniel, shut their mouths.” Hers is the faith that always abides under the shadow of the Almighty. It was not on land alone that dangers were to be faced. On the river, when a hippopotamus attacked the canoe in which she was travelling, she covered the children's heads with her dress that they might not see the danger and spurred the men on to paddle harder, knowing that their courage depended on them seeing her calm. One can easily believe her when she says she was afraid that time, but what is courage but faith conquering fear?

When the Okoyongs continued their wanderings to Akpap, Miss Slessor went with them. She was the first, and for many years the sole, European who resided amongst them, and her influence over them was extraordinary. She found all the horrors of witchcraft, the poison bean ordeal, and twin murder rife amongst them. Shortly after her arrival, the chief's son was killed by the fall of a tree, and his father enquired of the witch-doctor who had been the cause of his son's death. Twelve persons were accused of it, and they were put in chains that they might undergo the poison bean ordeal. Miss Slessor never rested till they were all released, and through her exertions the chief's son was buried without the sacrifice of a single human life. Such a thing had never before been known in Okoyong. Brawls were of frequent occurence, and in them Miss Slessor by her courage saved many a life. On one occasion when a man had run amok with a drawn sword, she tripped him from behind and got the sword from his grasp.

When Native Courts were started in Southern Nigeria, she was asked by Sir Ralph Moor, the High Commissioner, to take charge of the one in her district. Later, and till recently, she held a similar position in connection with the Native Court of Ikotobong, in the Ikot Ekpene District. In this way her work as a missionary was linked up with the systematic pacification of the country which the Government had entered after she began her labours. It is noteworthy that no punitive expeditions have been required in the country over which she ruled as uncrowned queen.

Naturally her influence has been greatly directed to the helping of women and children. Already at Old Town she had begun to care for twin children, who had formerly been thrown into the bush as accursed, and for twin mothers who had been banished from the towns, springs, and markets. These she took under her special protection, and many hundreds have, through her instrumentality, been saved from a fate too terrible to contemplate. She has done much to elevate the position of all classes of women, and in Okoyong succeeded in abolishing the ordeal by burning oil, which was resorted to in cases of suspected infidelity.

Miss Slessor's mind was far too broad for all her interests to be absorbed by any one section of the community, and realizing the importance of industrial training for the elevating of the people, she advocated strongly this branch of education. As the result of her appeal, the Hope-Waddell Training Institution was started in 1895.

INFLUENCE OVER THE PEOPLE

The help that she has given in opening up the country to trade has been enormous. While the Efik people still held a monopoly of trade with the factories and acted as middlemen for all up-river tribes, she herself brought down canoes from the Calabar and Cross Rivers to the factories, and thus showed the up-river people the benefits of direct trading. During the war between Kwa and Efik, the only way by which the Kwa people could get to the factories was by going through the grounds of her house at Old Town during the night.

Her self-forgetful labours have won for Miss Slessor a great influence over the people - an influence which extends over an area of more than 2000 square miles. So great is her personality that to her house at Okoyong there resort natives from Ugep and even from the country north of the Cross River, from the north-west from Arochuku, west from Uyo, east from Oban, seeking her help and advice. Her fame has reached even to Northern Nigeria, where the natives know of the “good white Ma who lives alone.” In this way she has exerted a profound influence for civilization that is yielding great fruit.

In all her varied activities, in all her plannings and journeyings, it is as a missionary of the Gospel that Miss Slessor has always worked. It was to further the Kingdom of God that she went to Calabar, and for that, even in the Native Courts and palaver sheds when she listened to the woes and quarrels of the people, she has laboured. She is the greatest pioneer missionary that our Mission in Calabar has had. After the Aro expedition in 1902, the people of Enyong Creek came and begged her to come amongst them. Soon at Itu, which had been the greatest slave-market on the Cross River, a little church was built, and in that district and along the banks of the Enyong Creek, there are now more than a dozen churches with over a thousand Church members. She still labours for the cause she loves, and at Use and Ikpe is instructing the people and building up young churches.

For some time her health has given her friends some anxiety, but she was greatly benefited by a short holiday to the Canary Islands at the end of last year. God grant that in health and strength for many years to come she may be spared to help the people for whom she has lived, and to whom she has brought the Word of Life.

(In writing this sketch free use has been made of passages in “Calabar and its Missions.”)

EDITORIAL NOTES:
1] Wynd = lane or narrow alley in a town [Scots]

Slessor, Mary
Article: Our Missionary Mail-bag. Africa - Old Calabar. From Miss Slessor, Ikot Obon, 17th January, 1906. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [April 1906] 17th January 1906
GD.X.260.19viii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19viii a)

Miss Slessor describes a happy Christmas when they had the pleasure of visitors. Afterwards Mary experienced some dangerous situations when some trouble arose which required action by a unit of the army, and she calmed and helped a prisoner and his family. Both road and rail have arrived in her area. A new church is to be opened in Duke Town, but owing to a bout of fever and the unsettled state of the country Mary has decided not to attend. The school house and church is almost finished, and the court takes up most of her time.

________________________________________________________

An article from the Women's Missionary Magazine of April? 1906

Our Missionary Mail-bag.

Africa - Old Calabar

From Miss Slessor, Ikot Obon, 17th January, 1906.

I had Miss Wright and Miss Amess for a week and more at Christmas;[Note] we had such a happy time, though we were crowded. There were over half-a-dozen Europeans here, and as the surveyors are Christian men, we dined with them in the open shed in which they lived, and also had tea with them several times. Then trouble arose through a disloyal house here, and so we have had ten European officers in this bush for the last ten days. Every spot is ablaze at night with fires; there are sixty soldiers, a captain and sergeant, with their retinue of servants, all in tents and booths; and then two railway surveyors with horses and servants. They and our road surveyors have been “held up” by these people.

After careful going about it, the man came in, and his people brought a number of guns and he his revolver. I have just had the privilege of hearing his commands, and his depositions to his mother and daughter and one confidential slave, and he has gone quietly to his cell, and they have gone quietly to take hold of his goods and children till he comes back in four years' time. My being here gained the mother this privilege, and I think I may win them not only to loyalty but to Christ.

Next week there will be silence again, but only the silence which brings the sound of an abundance of rain. For here is road and rail, where six months ago was dense darkness and silence. Oh that our Church may move on and *in*! Am I to give up this opening? I cannot see the way to turn back.

This is an eventful day in Duke Town; the new church is to be opened. I should have liked to go, and could have had a good escort, but I have had fever the last three weeks, and this unsettled state of the country absolutely forbade my thinking of it. May there be souls born and nurtured for God in that building! As there were so many of us here last Sabbath, I asked them to hold some sort of service if only for example's sake, and we mustered seven, and had some singing, and a chapter, and some good talking.

The court takes up a great deal of my time, but I do not know how to let any of it go, for it holds such possibilities for good. The schoolhouse, which is also the church, is almost finished. This is harvest season, so the boys have little time, but we have worshipped there the last two or three weeks. Last Sabbath we had over thirty men from the road; the navvies are over five hundred in number on the four miles between here and the beach. This would make a fine field of itself, as the men come from all parts.

EDITORIAL NOTE: This event is mentioned in Item GD.X.260.19viii b) a letter from Miss Amess in Akpap, dated 20th January 1906.

GD.X.260.19viii b)

This letter is included because Miss Amess was such a close friend and co-worker of Miss Slessor's. She describes her work at the Akpap Mission and mentions her visit to Miss Slessor during the New Year holidays.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine, April 1906?

From Miss Amess, Akpap, 20th January, 1906

The work here is most interesting; we have five boys and two girls staying with us. The youngest boy is about five years old; he knows English fairly well and sings several English hymns. One feels the great hope of the future is to win the children for Christ. They are just as lovable as white children; I like to watch their little black faces during worship, as they are answering the Bible questions. We have school from 9 to 11, and from 3 to 5. The attendance varies considerably; one day we had eighty-three present. The natives are busy with their farms just now, so we have had only from thirty-five to forty this week.

On Sabbaths there is morning service which Miss Wright conducts; in the afternoon she has the Sabbath School, and I go with a few of the native Christians to have a meeting at one of the farms. One of the native Christians speaks, and I give out the hymns, and one Sabbath spoke through an interpreter. Miss Wright gives me an Efik lesson every night. We are reading the “Pilgrim's Progress” in Efik.[Note] Will you kindly remember me in prayer with regard to my learning the language? I hold on to the promise, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” It is really wonderful how God hears and answers prayer about even the details of our life.

We went to see Miss Slessor during our New Year holidays; she was so glad to see us. The natives have a true friend in Miss Slessor; she lives for their highest welfare. She speaks Efik just like them, with all their inflections and gestures. It is good to meet a veteran on the field, unflagging in her zeal for God's glory and the extension of His kingdom. We are expecting her here for a week soon, as the chief of this place died a few months ago, and there are some matters to settle.

On the Sabbath we were at Ikot Obon; we went to a village about three miles from Miss Slessor's house. At first the people were frightened, they had never seen a white woman before, but after a little persuasion we got about one hundred gathered together for a service. Miss Wright had the privilege of telling the story of Jesus and His love to some who had never heard about the Saviour before. Oh, the need for more labourers! Truly the harvest is great, but the labourers are few.

EDITORIAL NOTE: A copy of this work in Efik, donated by her friend Charles Partridge, is included in the Dundee Central Library's “Mary Slessor Collection”.

Slessor, Mary
Article: Old Calabar. From Miss Slessor, Ikot Obon, 28th February 1906. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [June 1906] 28th February, 1906
GD.X.260.19ix
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19ix

The article is an edited version of material contained in Miss Slessor's letter to Mr Stevenson, Ref: GD.X.260.02, dated 28th February 1906. q.v.

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An article in the Women's Missionary Magazine of June 1906.

Old Calabar. From Miss Slessor, Ikot Obon, 28th February 1906.

The hospital is a grand gift, and I am so glad with and for our people in its bestowal. Itu is already being justified as the site for such a house of healing, for there are hundreds of men on the river frontage there, making a railway embankment. It will be the base of lines for road and rail that shall intersect the whole of this Ibibio country, down to the estuary and across to the Niger. Such things are being rushed before our eyes; things that never entered our wildest dreams of Calabar. In all this, how plainly God has been leading me! First to Itu, then the Creek, then back from Aro, where I had set my heart, to a solitary wilderness of the most forbidding description, where the silence of the bush had never been broken; and here, before three months are past, there are miles of roads, and miles more all surveyed, and being worked upon by gangs of men from everywhere, and free labour is being accepted and created as quickly as even a novelist could imagine!

There is a pressing need for some industry at which a respectable Christian woman, wishing to earn her living, could do so apart from native marriage. Every woman born here can work the land, raise stock, etc., and we could get land up country for this purpose. There is room for women who could do laundry work near the river, as there are weekly steamers, and officers are scattered all over the Cross River, Aro Chuku, and Ibibio districts. Then, too, there is baking, and as this great tribe is still unclothed, there could be dress-making up here. Then there should be elementary schools both for boys and girls, with farm work, mat-making, etc., attached; and these scattered about would supply Sabbath services.

The first communion at Itu was most thrilling. The new teacher at Akani Obio seems to find a good field for his energies and zeal, and the converts there seem quite as enthusiastic as ever. Asan has peculiar difficulties, on account of the relationship of old families to slaves, but they too have got a teacher, and I trust the Word will conquer all the old fashions and the passions of the people. My oldest girl is at Okpo, doing a little among the women and girls at school, and she says the services go on steadily and prosperously. The lads there too do a little in the Ibibio land behind them.

Pray for boys and girls, taught of God, to teach small schools all over the land! There are 700 men on the four or five miles between here and Itu, living in grass huts by the roadside. They are from every part of the country, and it is such a grand chance to sow the seed and have it carried far and near as they return to their homes! This navvy work will go on. There are two gangs near, who come from the place where at first the Government had to go and fight. They come to church without being asked now, and are very attentive. The service is very informal, but the building is almost ready. We have been worshipping in it these two months, and it is Gospel they hear, if it is not oratory. We have forty scholars, and a fairly good congregation wherever we go, a hundred or so just now in morning service, as it is farm time. For the rest it is just living among them and doing every daily and social duty in such a way as shall win their confidence and affection.

Slessor, Mary
Article: Facts about the Up-River Work, Calabar. Published [it is presumed] in the Women's Missionary Magazine [July 1912] 23rd March 1912
GD.X.260.19xix
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xix

This article is taken from Miss Slessor's Report to Mr Stevenson, 23rd March 1912. See item GD.X.260.11.

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An article assumed to be from the Women's Missionary Magazine of July 1912? This item includes a photograph entitled “A Bridge in the Up-River Region”. Facts about the Up-River Work, Calabar The following account of her work comes from Miss Slessor too late to be incorporated in the Report of the Women's Foreign Mission. We have pleasure in passing it on to our readers. “Early last year I had to go under doctor's orders; so more or less I had to do things in a soft sort of way, which would not let one feel satisfied. But my Use people ..........” [There follows a version of part of the letter GD.X.11 already transcribed .]

Slessor, Mary
Article: Our Foreign Missions. Africa. Old Calabar. A Letter from Miss Slessor. Published in the Record of the Home and Foreign Mission Work of the UF Church of Scotland, [1907?] 29th October 1907
GD.X.260.22i
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.22i

An article from “The Record of the Home & Foreign Mission Work of the United Free Church of Scotland”, [possibly the issue for December 1907 or January 1908] page 21. It includes an interesting map of the Cross River area. A warm letter of thanks from Miss Slessor to all those who have written to her, made donations for her work, and those who gave her hospitality, on her recent visit home. This item also contains a sketch map of the mission area included in a part article by Rev. Wilkie.

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OUR FOREIGN MISSIONS. AFRICA.

Old Calabar.
A Letter from Miss Slessor

It is an exceptional act to print a farewell letter from a missionary returning after furlough, but in view of the exceptional circumstances of Miss Slessor's pleading for Old Calabar, and of the quality of the letter itself, we have pleasure in inserting it

S.S Fantu
Off Cape Verde, 29th October 1907.

DEAR DR. ROBSON, - As it is quite impossible to answer privately all the kind letters and messages sent to me by sympathizing friends from all parts of the Church, may I beg of you to express my thanks by a few lines in the “Record”. Such messages make the heart very sad and very tender at parting times, but they are a great strength and stimulus too, and I trust they will make me more earnest and faithful, and more worthy of the trust and friendship they express.

For all the gifts to the Lord's Treasury so graciously and prayerfully given in answer to appeals for help, I also tender my thanks. I know they have already been acknowledged to each giver by the King Himself, as they have been registered in Heaven, but I am also the debtor of all, for I have received such help to faith, and such tender rebukes for faithlessness, that the gifts, and the letters which have accompanied them, have been to me a special means of grace. May I ask that prayer not only accompany the gifts, but also *follow* them, that God may give the leading, and the wisdom in administering them, so that the utmost may be realized, and all mistakes avoided.

To all who have received me into their homes, and given me a share of what are the most sacred things of earth, I give heartfelt thanks. What the Bethany Home must have been to our Lord, no one can better appreciate than the missionary coming home to a strange place, homeless. I thank all those who have rested me, and nursed me back to health and strength, and who have nerved me for future service by the sweet ministers and hallowing influences of their home life. To the members of the Mission Board for their courtesy, their confidence and sympathetic helpfulness, I owe much gratitude. And not only for services which can be tabulated, but for the whole atmosphere of sympathy which has surrounded me; for the hand-clasps which have spoken volumes; for the looks of love which have beamed from eyes soft with feeling; for the prayer which has upheld and guided in days gone by, and on which I count for strength in days to come, - for *all*, I pray that God may say to each giving, sympathetic heart, “Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me.” – With gratitude, I am yours in Christ's service,

M. M. Slessor

Slessor, Mary
Article: Our Missionary Mailbag. Old Calabar. From Miss Slessor, Itu, 7th October 1905; published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [January 1906] 7th October 1905
GD.X.260.19vii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19vii

Dr. Robertson, who is to take over the station at Itu as well as run the proposed hospital there, has been up to choose the site and set his men to work clearing the land. As soon as he and his wife are established, Miss Slessor will be free to move on. This she views with a mixture of relief and a sense of loss. A church is to be opened in Akani Obio at the end of the month. A twin mother has been helped by the Christian women at Itu. A murder has just been committed near by, and she is waiting to see how the situation develops and what will be required to be done.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine January 1906?

Our Missionary Mail-Bag. Old Calabar

It has been arranged that Dr. & Mrs. Robertson should carry on the work at Itu, the district which has been opened up by Miss Slessor.

From Miss Slessor, Itu, 7th October 1905

This is a lovely morning. Dr Robertson came up on Friday morning at 5.30, and, without seeing the outlook, as the mist was heavy, chose his site, measured it, and left his fourteen boys to work on it, clearing roots and levelling ground. Itu is so happy and thankful for the new station; a thrill of new hope and life seems to quiver all up the creek. Dr Robertson will go to Calabar again for what he needs, and for a boy to cook, etc., and then come and take charge at the end of next week. That means, that after the services of to-morrow and the services for the following week, when I would be here to introduce him to the routine, as it were, my work in Itu as direct pastor Itu is finished, and I am at liberty to run up the creek or into Ibibio, just as God may lead. It is a great relief, but it brings a sense of loss, too, for I hardly before realised how much one is helped by good Christian intercourse, even among two-year old Christians, till I see myself thrown back again on the stiltified, almost fossilised, moral sense of the degraded Ibibio heathen. It is a trial to the children, too, for they have no equals in Ibibio, and the Itu people have made us love them dearly. Itu will love and cherish Mrs Robertson; God grant them both grace and help, and make their lives here a blessed success. If all goes well I would like the induction and baptismal services together. It was like a fairy tale to hear that Dr Robertson had been given a blank cheque for the hospital; I can only look up into this blue, blue sky, and say, “'Even so, Father,' let me live and be worthy of it all, and worthy Thee.”

I have almost engaged another teacher-boy; I think it best to create readers and lay foundations as fast and as far-spread as we can, so that the Word may propagate itself. The Chief at Akani Obio says he will be ready for the opening of the church by the end of this month, but he wishes his friend, Mr. Wilkie, to be there. The chief has been bereaved, indeed, in the loss of his wife. Only nine or ten neighbours, that is, heads of houses, came to the funeral, as there was no devil-making or drink, and they had such a time of singing and praying, that “those who were not convinced as to Chritianity by preaching, had to believe what they saw and heard from that death-bed.” He keeps very firm, so do they all. I shall have more time now to see them; but Ibibio, with its multitudes, calls, so does the Aro country. We must thin out at Calabar, unless we can get more labourers.

A twin-mother from Enyon is here now. The two babes have died, but the people do not want her back. The church women at Itu have made Christianity a reality to her and her people during this trial. They lived with her while I was away, so dividing the time that she was never alone. She is recovering her spirits, and is amazed at what she has seen and heard. The old chief has cut down the old juju tree in the town, and removed the dirty altar and its furnishings. God bless and comfort him for his courage and faith.

. . . ( Later, from Ikot-Obong ) My new room is crowded with a savage lot of men and women. A murder has been perpetrated close by, about a woman. She is but a girl, and they have brought her here in preference to tying her up and torturing her to confess whom she wants for her husband, seeing she declares she will never marry this one to whom she has been betrothed from infancy. She has invented several excuses, the chief one being that there is one of his wives whom she does not like. God help these poor down-trodden women! The constant cause of palaver and bloodshed here is marriage. It is a dreadful state of society. I have left them a little, to see whether she will confess. If she will not, I cannot give her over to them; the safer way is to keep her as a prisoner on parole, and get a place for her to sleep with some woman near. The two policemen are away to see the murdered man. If there is to be a riot, I shall go myself; but if they are able to take the prisoner away in quietness, the matter will have to go to the station and garrison for this district. It is almost impossible for a European magistrate to hold this horde of people; I wish we had mission stations here and there to which things could come till they are enlightened a little. What an awful thing heathenism is! How much Calabar has to be thankful for indirectly in having the Gospel. It is only in the face of such darkness as this that one realises the safety and enlightenment and general comforts of life that flow from the presence of God's Word. . . .

I have been thinking much about the Christian's armour, and the shoes have come home to me more than ever before. Just now, I am the feet of the Church, as it were, and I am to go with shoes of peace. What a preparation for the Government that is - to pave the transition roads with Gospel peace! Pray that I may have both patience and tact, and that I may be able to lift the whole question up to a higher than a political plane.

Slessor, Mary
Article: Concerning Advance Work in West Africa by Miss Slessor. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [January 1908] [January 1908]
GD.X.260.19xii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xii

Miss Slessor has arrived back in Calabar, and has sent an article on the position of women there. She describes their traditional life, the problems faced particularly by the Christian women, and her proposals to help them by providing means for them to make their own living.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine of January 1908?. The article includes a photograph of “A Market Scene in Calabar”.

1] Miss Slessor has arrived safely in Calabar, and has received a warm welcome from all, including the Government officials.

2] Concerning Advance Work in west Africa by Miss Slessor

The kind of advance, which concerns the women of the Church more especially, lies in the direction of some development of our work which will make the native woman something more than a mere cipher in the community; something more than a mere creature to be exploited and degraded by man. According to native law, a girl child, if not betrothed by her guardians to some man, lacks all protection of law. If she be not “a man's wife” she may be insulted or injured with impunity, no punishment except the merest rebuke can be meted to the man. Then, too, as emancipation advances under Britain's administration, something must be done to meet it. Not only must we provide some way of protecting and sheltering women, but in order to this end we must create some industry by which these women may earn their living, and thus become independent of the polygamous marriage and the open insult.

Women who wish to live a Christian life in the Calabar towns, support themselves largely by dressmaking, the loose, almost shapeless garment used by the majority is easily made, and the sewing-machine is quickly mastered by our women. Cloth, which suits their pronounced taste, is sold cheaply by the trading houses, and there is a growing demand for such work. It is sent up country for sale, and it would be unwise to take the bread out of these women's mouths by a wholesale extension of this particular work up country, at least not yet. Something not too hard for her strength, something that will sell. Something that will not cost too much for initial expense can be found doubtless, and thus not only the woman be provided for, but the country be benefited.

Government has one or two Homes in Northern Nigeria for women, and girls beyond school age, but these are not distinctively Christian, and the future of the girls is a problem they have not yet solved. Several girls in their care are boarded out among our intelligent women in Calabar, and several have been given to the sisters of the Roman Catholic school. As these get older, something definite will have to be done for them, and even if the question did not press on ourselves regarding the girls growing up in and around our mission houses, and in the Church, who cannot be betrothed according to heathen fashions, it is time we had some place at which a woman can be received for any length of time necessary, and at which she can be employed at remunerative work. Shall we do it? Shall we take and befriend twin mothers and their outcast offspring in these new districts where the fear of them still holds sway, or shall we leave the Government and the convent to help them?

The leakage has been damaging to the Church in the past. Many who have been brought up in mission and Christian houses have gone to live with the partly educated natives, who come down from the coast to work in Government offices as clerks, artisans, or petty officers, in preference to becoming drudges in the harems of Calabar men. Hence their training, though not lost to the community, is wholly lost to the Church. Is this to go on? Shall we not rather gather them in to be saved, and saviours of others, to be an honoured factor in the community, a purifying and uplifting power in the market, in the home, and in the Church.

Slessor, Mary
Article: A Missionary's Testimony: Extract from a Letter to Friends from Miss Slessor. Published [it is presumed] in the Women's Missionary Magazine [March 1910] [March 1910]
GD.X.260.19xvi
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xvi

Miss Slessor relives in her imagination a Sabbath School trip with her friends at home, and the singing of psalms at a service. However she describes a typical service at her station [presumably at Use] declaring she would be no- where else.

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Presumed to be from the Women's Missionary Magazine of March 1910?

A Missionary's Testimony

Extract from a Letter to Friends from Miss Slessor.

The sun is so brilliantly bright that last time I raised my head I felt quite giddy, so I shut my eyes for a bit, and have gone over all your homes, and the lane up to the Tweed, and the road far out that we went for the Sabbath school trip to Sandyknowe, then up the road towards Newtown, past the church and manse, the houses and shops under the railway bridge, and up by the lovely road, round [by?] the Eildons to Bowden, each farmhouse and each garden standing out separately, and it has been such a blink that it has made a feeling like home- sickness. I wish I could get just a fortnight, or even a week-end to realise it, and to grip each hand, and look into each face, and to hear the dear homeland language, and to have an English service with the congregation singing a psalm, “O Thou, my soul, bless God the Lord;” or “Praise waits for Thee in Sion,Lord;” or “I'll of salvation take the cup.” Just a wee blink of home and a home Sabbath!

But though the tears are coming at the thought, you are not to think, for one moment, that I would take the offer, even though it was given me! A thousand times “No.” I feel too grateful to God for His wonderful condescension in letting me have the privilege of ministering to those around me here, who otherwise would have no one to guide their worship or teach them. It is such a privilege to have a people *waiting* on one's ministrations. I wonder if the ministers at home feel this! To go up and find the church swept and clean; mats and seats laid down, and someone waiting for your appearance to ring the bell; and then, while your head is bowed behind the mud pulpit, to find that they have trooped in, and are coming in as fast as they can, each one, even the small boys and girls, bowing their heads in silent prayer. I tell you, dear friends, I would not, for all the weight of responsibility, and the feeling of my unfitness, change places with the happiest and mightiest on earth.

Slessor, Mary
Article: Triumphing over Superstition, by Miss Slessor, Okoyon. Published in the “Women's Missionary Magazine” [May 1901] [May 1901]
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Dundee City Archives

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This would appear to be part of a letter by Miss Slessor telling of the unusually happy outcome after the birth of twins in a nearby town.

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Article from the “Women's Missionary Magazine”, May 1901 or 1907, page 109. It includes a photograph of “A Rescued Twin”.

Triumphing over Superstition by Miss Slessor, Okoyon

My heart has been singing, and has been so light these days that it has been like renewing my youth. Three weeks ago a messenger came from a place where I have not worked much, because it so far off, to tell me that twins had been born there, and to ask me to go and take them away. The people of that place had been the last to give up marauding and old customs. I sent Mana and Janie to try and help the mother and save the bairns; when they came back with a bonnie baby boy, and the news that the other twin, who had died, had been decently buried by the father, that the latter was sitting near the mother, and had made a comfortable place for her, and that when she was stronger, she might come to see her baby, we were all cheered.

The mother had formerly lived near our old home, and had heard the Gospel. Her husband is a young chief whose half-brother is a member of our native court of justice. He is good-looking, and evidently has a mind of his own, and is wishful to give up the ways of Okoyon, and learn the new ones. He drinks rum, but I have not come into “close grips” with him about that yet, for, from infancy, drink is to these people like their food, and only the Spirit of God can convince of sin and implant loathing for it.

My surprise, almost consternation, can be imagined, when I heard that he was at the back door with his wife, and wished me to go to him, as he did not wish to face Okoyon - my yard in front being crowded with people. When I went round I found the couple sitting in an outhouse, where Mana had taken them to rest, and, after greetings, the husband said, “Ma, I have come with Arigi to see our child, Efik Idiom, will you bring him to us?” When he was brought, the mother held out her arms, and the father rose and bent over him. I put the child into his arms, and he held him. It was not a scene for words!

The couple, their children and slaves, stayed in the outhouse, tidied it up, and improvised partitions and doors. They lived just like white Christians, and were delighted and never wearied of the bairns, and the preaching. The father stayed for four days, then went home for a day or two, and came back.

When I called for the heads of the houses to which Etok and his wife belong, we had a most interesting meeting. I spoke to them not as a white woman, but as a mother, and said that they ought to take my advice and keep their twin mothers and children, without the use of force from the Consul. I reasoned about the evils of the old customs from every point of view; the goodness of God in sending the Gospel to them before he sent the Consul; and lastly, and most strongly, about the relation of human life to God's creating, and especially His redeeming sovereignty. When I asked them to express their opinions, there was only a silence, that became unbearable in its intensity. I broke it, and begged them to let me know what was in their hearts. I told them that I would stand by the parents and their right to take their children home, and that no one must forbid friends to visit them should they wish to do so, and that if trouble or calamity befell them, and they dared to blame the twin house-hold for it, I would stand by the innocent.

The old chief of the town and district kept his head in his hands. When I proposed to him that he should come out of the wood into the daylight, and look on the sunlight of God's love, his face broke into a wintry sort of smile, and he said, “Ma, what can I say? I have nothing to answer you, you have given your advice and commands, and I can only obey them.”

The tension was broken, and relaxed into talk, but the old chief rose and went away without having spoken to the father or to anyone, except “goodbye” to me. The young men spoke to the father, however, but not one asked to see or speak to the mother. Her people have been taught, and they went to her, and sat outside. They said that they did not wish their woman to make strife in Okoyon, but if her husband wished to keep her, they had nothing to say, they would not cast her off or hinder her nursing the child.

Mana and Janie went home with the father, and mother, and baby, and had a little meeting with the household. I gave Etok a parcel of clothing for every wife and child in the house, as well as for Arigi and her baby. All were made alike, so that the home-going might make a break in the tension of fear and jealousy, the mingled and doubtful atmosphere of a heathen home. I had told Mana to read the 91st Psalm, and to speak about the safety of the Christian. When she came home, she said that she “was surprised till all the strength left her body,” when she saw Etok go deliberately to the altar and lift “the plates of god” and the broken dishes, etc., and carry them all to the back-yard. He said, “Now I have done with Okoyon! I will pray to the God of heaven, and, whatever comes, I have done it, and I mean to stand by it. God will help me!”

Etok and his household live near Akom. Is it her prayers that are being answered thus? “I will make all the places round about My hill a blessing.”

Slessor, Mary
Article: From Miss Slessor, Use, Ikot Obon. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine, [April 1914] [April 1914]
GD.X.260.19xxii a)
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xxii a

Miss Slessor gives an account of the opening of the new church at Use.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine of April 1914?

From Miss Slessor, Use, Ikot Obon.

Well, “oor kirk” was opened at last on Christmas Day. Mr Cruickshank came over on Christmas Eve, and stayed all night at Ikot Obon, and then Miss Peacock, Miss Couper, & he came here. Miss Couper opened the door and we had a rare forenoon. The church was crowded outside and inside, and all quietly but neatly dressed, children and all. Mr Cruickshank was at his best - he is always that among bairns - and the ladies were the same. The service was hearty and reverent, though three highly coloured flags were flying in the square on a very high flag-staff. Our collection was over £5, mostly in “threepeny bits” and sixpences, and this, after all, as far as we have gone, is paid, and that does not take in over £2 handed in the night before from the non- Christian chiefs of the village. When the service was over, we came home for lunch. The church folk gave a plain breakfast to all guests (mostly from Ikot Obon, Use and Itu) who cared to stay.

When the visitors left, our own people held a praise meeting, the women in the house square, and the men on our quiet road, walking up & down like a Salvation Army march, waving occasionally a silk handkerchief. Some who could not come, since it was Christmas Day and they were employed by white men, sent 2s. 6d. to be added to the collection. God has been good to me! I am anxious that the non-Christian chiefs who have given largely get right impressions about God's work and money, and shall try to make this clear to them. I've been with the newly released Israelites this morning, as they encamped by the Red Sea, for God's “lest peradventure” made Him “lead them about through the way of the wilderness,” and we have still His “lest peradventure” working out strangely inexplicable things, but the glorious freedom is ever His one grand objective for the “farther on”.

GD.X.260.19xxii b

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine of April 1914?

Mrs McGregor came over for our Communion, and also for the formal opening of the new church. That ceremony took place on the Friday. We had a good turn-out, and a liberal collection - £6, 3s. 3d. Then, on the Sabbath morning we had about 450 people at the service, even a larger attendance than we had when Ma was here. Several couples have renounced polygamy, and are now married properly. We are glad that at last a stand has been taken against this old custom.

Slessor, Mary
Article: A Pathetic Incident by Miss Slessor. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [March 1909] [March 1909]
GD.X.260.19xiv
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xiv

This is an account of a tragic occurence when two parents brought a dead child, and their intense grief, to Miss Slessor, who did her best to solace them.

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An article from the Women's Missionary Magazine of March 1909?

A Pathetic Incident by Miss Slessor

A very pathetic incident occurred the other day. A woman came asking one of my girls to “come out and see.” The girl first went to see herself, as I had a poultice on my leg and was resting it. She came and said: “Oh, ma, you come, a poor woman and her husband are here to say that one of their children died two or three days ago, and one has died this morning, and what are they to do -- could they ask any one, or could it not be *reversed?*” As a faint is called death, I did not know for a minute how to take it, as it meant to them that witchcraft was in it. I said: “Jane, go you and speak to the poor creatures, and try to guide them to comfort and light, and come and tell me how it stands.”

She came back with tears in her eyes, saying: “Ma, come yourself, I can't say anything; they have the baby with them. ”So I hirpled [Note] out and found as pathetic a group as can be pictured - the father, a mere lad, in the front, with a child over his shoulder, and a cloth covering it; the mother, dazed and broken, holding out both hands to me, and crying : “Ma, help us;” a group of silent men and women in the background, wiping their tears away, and looking to see whether the white woman could do anything. What could I do? I said: “Come, my child, give me your baby,” and he laid the poor, dirty, unlovely, unclothed child in my lap. No loving hand had cleansed the poor wee mouth, or taken off the various layers of “medicine” which had been plastered over the little head and face and neck. Her beads were on her waist and arms, and elsewhere. It was death, in all its natural repulsiveness, stripped of the sweetness of Christian love, and the hope of immortality, which makes “their very dust dear” to His people; and instead of the hush of the chamber at home, where all of our humiliation is hidden away, there were the glare of tropical sunshine, the presence of all and sundry, and the long six miles' journey back again to the miserable hut, which makes all they know of home.

You can hardly realise how difficult it is to find words to meet such a sorrow to heathen parents. It is such a blank, such a gulf, and our God has no tender, loving associations with home and childhood to them, who only know of God as a demon to be placated in any way possible. I was just led to speak to them of a great sorrow I had years ago, when I lost four boys in one month; and as I told the story, and from that led them on to what was my comfort, and what alone could be theirs, we came to a point where all broke down, and Jane took the cloth and laid the baby in it and wrapped it up. The poor father said: “Thank you, Ma; thank you, our mother,” and he put his dead baby over his shoulder and turned to go, the women holding the poor mother in her agony.

How little those who lightly throw it aside realise what they owe the Gospel. May God in His mercy save us from ever becoming a Christless nation exalted to heaven! May the fate of other Churches and nations who forget God never be ours.

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EDITORIAL NOTE: “hirpled” = limped [Scots]

Slessor, Mary
Article: Africa. From a letter written by Miss Slessor acknowledging a parcel of work from St. Luke's, Montrose. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [November 1906] [November 1906]
GD.X.260.19x
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19x

This is a fascinating account of Miss Slessor's first experience of the use of “modern” equipment, ie a phonograph, and slides, in telling Biblical stories. Also her recording of the “Prodigal Son” is to be taken on to other villages the Administrator will visit.

She has visited the Slessor Memorial Hospital for the first time, and is delighted with it.

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An article presumed to be from the Women's Missionary Magazine of November 1906

From a letter written by Miss Slessor acknowledging a parcel of work from St. Luke's, Montrose.

Our Administrator has just come back from Britain after furlough, and has brought with him a phonograph, a magnificent instrument, and a number of grand old hymns - e.g., “Holy, holy, holy!” “Abide with me, ” etc., and on Sunday night he gave the village a great treat by having this at the service. We also hung a sheet up, and filled the lamp, and gave an exhibition of several Scriptural slides on the screen. It was all done without any forethought, but it proved a great success; the Court House was crowded. The hymns and bits of addresses were interspersed, and I spoke into the “trumpet” the parable of the Prodigal (Luke xv.)[Note]; and it was reproduced twice over in a trumpet tone. The audience was simply electrified. That parable has gone on to be reproduced all over the Ibibio towns where our Administrator will be going on his civilising and governing tours. Is it not grand? It seems like a dream! It has opened up new ideas of means and possibilities for service. A person with means could get the Gospel carried round like that, when he or she could not speak a word of the language. It is so marvellous: every sound reproduced! Even the little halt I made to remember a word came; the people could not keep down their delight and wonder. The Administrator himself marvelled at the stride from the unbroken heathenism of this place twenty months ago to a service in which young and old took part with intelligent interest and reverence; and he added some words of instruction and advice, and recommended the Gospel to their acceptance. Oh, it was a red-letter day! I am so cheered by it all, for I had not noticed myself, being always there, the difference a stranger sees. Pray that the power of the Spirit may come to carry saving knowledge to their hearts.

Now about the new hospital at Itu. I was there three weeks ago at the Communion, and saw the hospital for the first time. It is truly a noble gift. God bless the giver! May his reward be even now in his own soul, granted according to the royal measure of God! What comfort to a weary, suffering body speaks out from each of those appliances, and from that cool, clean, quiet building! I think the doctor will keep one of the sections for white people, and I would like very well to be a patient myself for a week under such circumstances. Oh, the infinite difference and distance between Christianity and heathenism! Thank God for what the Gospel has done for the bodies as well as for souls!

EDITORIAL NOTE: The Mary Slessor Collection, in the Dundee Central Library, contains recordings of Miss Slessor's voice, donated by her friend Mr Charles Partridge. Among them is a recording of the “Prodigal Son” in Efik. The originals are on wax cylinders, but these have been re-recorded onto other media from time to time. Mr Partridge also donated a phonograph.

Slessor, Mary
Article: Miss Slessor in a recent letter, gives the following glimpse of progress at Use: Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [January 1910] [January 1910]
GD.X.260.19xv
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xv

A short news item, telling of a local funeral and of her adopted daughter Mary's wedding.

Both these events are described more fully in her letter to Mr Charles Partridge [Letter No. 63, dated 15th October 1909] and Mary's wedding is again mentioned in Letter 64 dated 9th December 1909.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine, January 1910?

MISS SLESSOR in a recent letter, gives the following glimpse of progress at Use:

“Things progress slowly, but I think surely here. Our old chief has died, and instead of a week of drinking and flogging, the town was quiet, but for the mourning women, and the *Egbo*[Note] drum for one night. Most of the male members of the chief's house are Christians, and they came to ask what they should do in regard to the funeral - the drink, and the goat sacrifice, etc., and all were firm for the right. The wife, who is left, is a candidate for baptism, and they asked about her and the time of mourning; she will not be prohibited from coming to Church, even on the first Sabbath, so I thank God and take courage.” After telling of the wedding of Mary, one of the many rescued twins she has protected and mothered, Miss Slessor continues: “So our girlie has gone out to a new life, but David, who is the motor driver on the Government staff, is a Christian lad, and I am pleased to give her to him. He lives as we do, and alone, not in a compound as the people here do. I trust Mary will be good and faithful. . . Before they left David came and said, 'Mother, you won't let us go without prayer,' and down he knelt; so we gave them to god, and had a solemn time together.”

EDITORIAL NOTE: “Egbo” – the name of the main Calabar secret society

Slessor, Mary
Article: No More Sorrow by Miss Slessor, Use, Calabar. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [July 1908] [July 1908]
GD.X.260.19xiii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xiii

This article recounts the sad scene of the funeral of an African child. Her thoughts on this cause her to meditate on Revelation Chapter 21, Verse 4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine of July 1908?

No More Sorrow by Miss Slessor, Use, Calabar

We have to start early for the services on Sabbath morning, as we go far over the hills, and it is stony land and hard to manage - the cycle is no use then. Even before we reach our destination the sun is high. On entering the first town, we met a woman who told us, so and so's child is dead, and there, sure enough, were the mourning women round the door, and the little grave dug at the door-step. Pushing in among the sweating, howling crowd, I asked for the mother; then the wailing ceased. I found her in a dark corner. She had fainted. After a little she recovered, and her first conscious wail was “my boy, my boy!” By-and-by the wee laddie was brought out, just held in his mat. I opened it to see him, and there was the poor emaciated body with swollen head in all the hideousness of disease and dirt, to be hidden from the sight of the people. The grave was far too short, and rather than desecrate the poor wee body, I made them make it longer, and they laid him down to do this just as if he had been a piece of goods; then they laid him in, and threw on the earth less than a foot from the top soil. There was no want of tenderness either, for the women again burst forth with wailing. His own father threw on the earth, and the women after we had gone took the poor mother away to cheer her and remove the grave from her sight. It was all they could do.

As I went from village to village the memory of this scene coloured all my outlook. It led me to take as my subject Revelation xxi, 4: no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death; God wiping the tears from all eyes. But even that great assurance could not lift the sadness, the terrible squalor, the utter hopelessness of these crowds of sister-hearts. Then there came comfort. It was if He said, “I do not wish you to be ignorant of what I am working out in all the mystery of sin and suffering. It is not My fault that you do not know, it is your own capacity that is wanting, but that too is coming. You do not need to wait for heaven, it is coming daily as your horizon widens, and day by day you will know better and more.”

Then the dark side passed out of sight, and brighter and grander things came into view. The sweetness of a summer breeze seemed to come over me, and the quiet, holy, perfumed, flower-laden atmosphere of the Christian home came before me, with all the earthly and the perishing parts transmuted into the heavenly. The valley was illumined by the Resurrection and the Life Himself, and He seemed to put His hand on me. Restfulness seemed to come then, and it covered all things and received all things into itself. The Glory even covered all that sweating, dirty, shrieking mass of womanhood I had left, and the poor, little body, with all the ravages of sin, unconcealed and unmitigated by covering and cleansing; and His voice hushed my heart into perfect trustfulness, as He seemed to say over and over again, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

Slessor, Mary
Article: The Awakening up the Cross River. Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [April 1905] [April 1905]
GD.X.260.19v
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19v

This article gives a full description the dedication of the new church at Akani Obio, which was held with prayer, hymns, and tact and cheerfulness, and with a good collection. There was a deputation from another place begging for a church in their town, which she had visited the previous Friday. She is also planning a visit to Akani Obio where a lad from the Itu church was working.

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An article from the Women's Missionary Magazine of April 1905?

The Awakening up the Cross River, by Miss Slessor.

I have been up the creek to the farthest town. I cannot pretend to tell you about the dedication of the church at Akani Obio, up this lovely little sub- creek, because there was that subtle something which will not be caught by language and put on paper, but which is as real as one's very personality, pervading all the service and all the atmosphere, lifting one into something like an upper chamber, separated from all the mists and wrangle of this world. All the chiefs from the district were invited, and the hospitality was so lavish, and yet so chaste and even refined - such a lesson to the heathen from one of themselves, living under the same circumstances. Grace does so much for the human as well as for the spiritual side of us! Truly there is no refinement so thorough or so true as that springing from converse with Christ.

Mine host was dressed with care, in a black suit, black silk necktie, and soft felt hat. His wife was also neat, and her yard and his house as fit for my comfort as for that of the native – that says something for a man who two years ago was a heathen, in a place which was not known to any but trader natives.

At the dedication the scholars sang, and there was prayer, and everything that there would have been in a home church under the circumstances, and yet I know that not one heathen chief felt uncomfortable or “out of it,” it was done with such tact, and cheerfulness, and meekness. It was just, “Stand still, and see the salvation of our God,” for it it was not of our doing, except in an indirect manner. If you had seen my host's intelligent behaviour at the prayers and service, you would have been surprised. He said to me: “Some men have their women-folk dragging them back, but God has been good to me, and my women, small and big, are *eager*, and if they have one rod[Note 1], or if they have ten, they give it gladly to God's work.” He is a very stern disciplinarian, too – a born ruler, and is chosen by the Consul as president of the Court.

A bottle with coins, and a paper with the names of the ruling chiefs, and the ministers in the Mission, the three missionary magazines, etc., were buried where the pulpit will be. Their collection was good, and, after I was ready to go, my host came with a Calabar friend, and, with a deal of blushing, held out a handful of florins to me, asking if I would buy some food for myself, as they did not know what kind of food I liked. But, of course, I told him to put them away, and that I had plenty of food lying at Efik.

At the service there were rows and rows of nicely- dressed women with hymn- books, though they do not know their letters, putting their “Amens” in the right place, singing every hymn heartily, and leading off in the Lord's Prayer, as well as filling the collection plate. It was a tribute to Christianity, for they had the benches, while the men, other than chiefs, had only logs and the ground to sit upon. May all those women be won really for Christ. They need our prayers, for Satan tries hard to spoil the work. Some of their tribe do not approve at all, as no Egbo[Note 2] or funeral rites can live.

A deputation was there from a bigger town further on. Two men were begging with heart and soul for a start for God's Word and a church in their town; but the old chiefs do not like to be second, and they would do nothing. Nevertheless, those who wanted God met Sabbath after Sabbath and held service. I sent word to them to send a canoe for me, and I went up on Friday last. The old chiefs told me in open palaver their reasons for not going in with the few young and “half slave;” and, with as much tact as possible, I tried to meet both views, with just a scintillation of blame for each: and the starting of church building is to take place at once, and, I think, on a lasting basis, but the question of a school is left over for the present. The two old men are very affectionate in their manner to me, and the church party are jubilant at the victory so easily gained. I charged them to walk and speak with meekness, and so win those without.

I also met a section of people at Akan Obio, among whom an Itu lad has been working. They were not attending church, nor caring for school; but the lad has been here to-day with a present of fish and bananas, and he says both men and women are now turning out well to meeting and church. I hope to go up there this week; they will paddle me in my own canoe.

I have had four women from *beyond* that same town to-day, with a complaint against it, that the people have taken their fishing grounds and farming land from them. As the case has been in the native Court I can do nothing for them. But I should like to get hold of those women for God. What crowds there are of them, and no one to teach and help them!

EDITORIAL NOTES:
1] Rod = the local currency
2] Egbo = the name of a powerful secret society

Slessor, Mary
Article: Pioneering. The following is from a private letter from Miss Slessor … Published in the Women's Missionary Magazine [December 1904] [December 1904]
GD.X.260.19iv
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19iv

Miss Slessor tells of the renting of land in the Aro country for the establishment of any buildings she wishes to build. She has visited a town recommended by the Consul and found a young man avid to hear more of the Christian message. After getting lost she came out at a village where again she found a welcome, and people desirous that she should live with them. She goes on to tell of a recent visit to the man in this Creek whom the previous January they had found treasuring books which had belonged to his dead son. He had accepted Christianity and was struggling to hold services. She ends by listing all the advances achieved in the area.

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From the Women's Missionary Magazine presumably of December 1904. It includes a photograph “Up-river Scene, Old Calabar”.

Pioneering

The following is from a private letter from Miss Slessor, written on her pioneer journey in the Aro country Old Calabar.

This is one of the last days of September, and I am writing this in my shed at Amasu, in Inokon. The boys are putting in the long big sticks which make the wall. The ants and damp have made ducks and drakes of the place, but with a new wall I shall be able to stay in it on my next visit, which will be probably about a month hence. We have stayed at the Consulate, where Mr Dyer has made us so comfortable and happy. We shall, all well, go off with the steel canoe[Note 1] tomorrow morning, and the Consul is going to get the chief to sign the paper by which this place is leased to me today.

On our way down! In the most comfortable of boats and on a perfect morning. Before leaving I did not get much writing done, as so many visitors came, and I had to help with the building. The chief made half-an-hour's palaver about taking anything from me for the ground, but the Consul was inexorable, as it is the law for protection to the natives, that every bit of ground occupied by Europeans, or indeed any stranger, must be registered. As a coin had to pass, and as they had refused the £2, 10s., which the Consul offered to give in my name, I just passed a shilling over to them, and then the whole thing was joyfully settled. This was a merely nominal recognition of the fact that the ground is not mine; they are protected, and I am installed and authorised to build other structures necessary for any teaching work. So much for having planted one foot in Aro soil! What is to be the result?

The Consul sent me to a town which I had not previously visited. I took his orderly as a guide, and found there a young man who had gone across to the Niger overland; he had there heard the Gospel, and is craving for teaching and light. I was so cheered to hear that he knew the vital truth of Christianity, the atoning death of Christ. This man, an old woman, and a young lad, and some of his wives whom he called in, made as interesting and interested an audience as ever I had. Next day I lost my way, and came out at the Ibom Spring. There two men took charge of my bundles and bairns, and led me to a bridge round a little way. Then one asked me if I had come with God's Word. What else should I come with I replied. “Oh,” he said, “We have built a small church, and are longing for you to come, and teach us, and we will build a house for you to stay in.” But I could not let the chance of a boat slip. I shall, however, go back and stay a little time with them next month, and build.

Mr Wilkie could tell of our visit to a man in the Creek. Oh, what a lovely creek it is! Surely creation has nothing fairer to-day! Last January, when we were up here for a trip, I promised to call on this chief, and Mr Wilkie and I went. What a revelation we got of a soul in darkness, wrestling towards God and light and peace. The books belonging to his dead boy were brought. There, in that dark place, were a Bible, hymn-book, copy-book, etc, and the owner, who might have turned a teacher, had been snatched away, but God made that the means of awakening the father. Well, he sent a canoe for me the other Sabbath, and as soon as the boat glided to the beach, a bell rang out its message of “Come to prayer.” I got such a surprise. They can only meet and say the Lord's Prayer, and sing(?) a hymn, and repeat short passages which they have learned, but there they were, collection plate and all! Thank God for two places in this creek, which during this year have begun services, and are seeking the Lord. The darkness is fleeing before the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, but where are those who are to teach?

To-day every canoe passing hails us with such kindliness and joy. Only a year ago all this region was as much outside the Church as if it had been a thousand miles away in the interior, now we have a baby-girl on board, motherless, belonging to their tribe. I have six boys reading very fairly, and a number coming up in the earlier classes. We have the Sabbath recognised, and I have a room in three separate towns, besides Itu, which is my head-quarters. There we have a congregation of from 250 to 350, many readers, nearly a score of catechumen, and half-a-dozen Sabbath-school teachers.

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Charles Partridge, in his book “Cross River Natives” [pages 46-48: published by Hutchinson 1905] gives a detailed description of a steel canoe. “…they are built of metal plates, which are screwed together, and … furnished with armoured sides, to be used when necessary to protect the occupants. They are flat bottomed, and are some sixty feet long, and nearly eight feet wide in the middle,…there is a sort of cabin, … having an arched roof of wood, the highest point of which is only five feet ten inches from the wooden floor ……”

2] Catechumen = people studying the basic teachings of Christianity prior to baptism

Slessor, Mary
Article: Ikpe, it will be remembered ….. Published [it is presumed] in the Women's Missionary Magazine [March 1911] [March 1911]
GD.X.260.19xviii
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.19xviii

This article includes an extract from a recent letter describing developments at Ikpe

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Presumed to be from the Women's Missionary Magazine of March 1911?

IKPE, it will be remembered, is the name of the new up-river station in Calabar, where Miss Slessor is planting the Standard of the Cross. In a letter written at Use on 27th December, she says: “I came down from Ikpe at dawn on Sabbath morning, where I have been building, and learning more of God's goodness, and of the Name that is mighty to save, everywhere, and under all circumstances. I was up for a month, and the house is nearly finished, but I came here to make a home for the bairns at Christmas, and also to see my dear people, and be with them at this hallowed time; also to get more building material, for the house is bigger than I had first planned. The Ikpe people gave so heartily of labour and material, that I took it as God's leading, so I shall need a hundred sheets more iron than I expected. It is far up, and very isolated, and visitors will need accommodation. I am trusting Him to fill up the great need that exists, for we cannot believe how far we have gone here, till we see the life up there in unbroken heathenism and darkness. But some are born again, really alive unto God, and they have the vim and grit that is born of struggle and persecution. Pray for them and for us.”

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 6th September 1907
GD.X.260.03
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.03

Miss Slessor describes her vacation which she is currently spending in the Tayside area. She thanks Miss Crawford for a book she has sent, and hopes that they may become better acquainted.

________________________________________________________

Mill Bank
Stanley
6. 9. 07

My Dear Miss Crawford

Your very kind note came, & was a joy to Miss Ames & myself. & your message to her Mother is much appreciated. She remembers your Adress[Note 1] & visit here with much gratitude, & the kind words you spoke to one of her girls who was much affected by her sisters approaching departure. It is easy to get to the mother heart, & so easy to brighten a fellow travellers life for the time being, if we are just watchful & in the spirit of our Master seeking opportunities. All the women here remember your visit very vividly. It must have been to many a time of blessing. I have been calling on many of the Christian women with Miss Amess & her sister & her mother & spent a very pleasant evening with their Pastor Mr Thomson. Yesterday we were at a fine meeting at Kinclaven, “the Kirk in the Muir”[Note 2]. There is not a house in sight. The pine woods were divided to make a road for the manse people & the worshippers, & there was a big strip of purple heather lying in front of the door. the building dates from 1744. It was a rare experience to be in such a place, specially as my dear & old friend Mr Logie was brought up there, & his forebears from the starting time. 3 generations have been session clerks there.

I am just going off to Perth for the week end, & then back to Newport on Tay as they have made a few engagements of a quiet & private kind there, & among my home friends at Dundee. I shall not be able to come to the sub meeting on 12, but Miss Amess & I will be *surely*, if well, at the meeting on 19th. I would be in Glasgow anyhow at Anderston on the 18th. We thank you for the book you have sent us. I am to leave it here as they have not read it yet, & there are so many to go over. It is intensely interesting. How great a work, & such grand results, from such small beginnings. I do not know much about your old work, but I trust we will get better acquainted, & so learn from one another. One of the girls from this house is gone off to her sphere of work as a nurse in England this morning & the parting with her sister is a very tender one, as they may not meet again till Miss Amess has gone. I am keeping out of the way, but it is so sweet when Christ rules in a home, to see the love & loyalty to Him in the giving up of one another for His Sake. Were they near I know I should have messages to you, as it is I am not troubling them, & you can just understand that love is sent. Miss Amess hired a bicycle for the week I have been here, & we have been out every dry morning for a long run, in order to get up strength. We have both been so much the better of it, & our converse, & our fun too, has been a great joy. Now I must just say bybye, as we also go off after breakfast. I hope to see you before long & trust you will have much of the Joy of the Lord for your strength, seeing you cant get into the open air for it among the heather. I wish you had been with us Yesterday. Thank you for your kind words of comfort regarding work & bairns. “ The Lord bless Thee & keep Thee. The Lord cause His face to shine upon Thee, & give thee peace.”

Yours most affectionately

Mary M Slessor

Why do you say that about tying my shoe?? If you knew me, as God does!!! But the blood goes on cleansing, that is all my hope & plea. Never say that kind of thing again.

Yours again

MMSlessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Adress = Address, a speech

2] Muir = moor, or moorland[Scots]. Kinclaven, is a couple of miles to the North East of Stanley [which is 7 miles north of Perth] where she is staying.

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 6th November 1907
GD.X.260.05
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.05

Dundee City Archives

Miss Slessor begins by expressing her delight in Miss Crawford's last letter and then in their newly established friendship which she states is “one of God's most precious gifts to me on this furlough”. She describes her journey and fellow passengers at some length.

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S.S. 'Fantee'
Off Lagos
6. 11. 07

Dear Daughter of the King,

Your sweet message was given you by the Holy Ghost & it has accomplished what He pleased, & I trust the text, which is at once a fact & a promise will testify to my soul day by day, as I rise up, & as I lie down, of the ever-full-to-overflowingness of the Grace which is available in every moment & every circumstance of life, & it will also bring you before my mind, so that I may speak to the King regarding you, as I beg of you to do for me. This is surely the meaning in its highest sense of “The Community of Saints”. What a grand pattern we have of it in the Ephesians & Paul. Also the Phillipians. What an intensity of desire, What a breadth of longing love, What a holy audacity for His Children & brethren in Christ, What an infinitely high ideal of what Gods Children should be. It is good just to lay all this prayer before God, & to tell Him, Lord this is just what I pray of Thee to fulfill in, so & so - & in thy Church Universal, & in our congregation, & among the heathen converts. It lifts ones lives up to the light & stand point of Gods ideas for us. Dear friend you have been one of Gods most precious gifts to me on this furlough, & I thank Him for it, & trust that all He has meant for us through this linking of hearts, may be fulfilled. Why has He so blessed me above others? For His gifts to me overwhelm me, & make me feel ashamed of my poor halting service & faith. May your faith & love & devotion, be a stepping stone upward for me, that I may share in it to some extent, by a loving emulation.

We have had such fine weather all the way. It was rather heavy on the day after sailing, the Sunday, but after that [it?] has been simply glorious. Sea & sky one sheet of blue. How I have longed to share it with the invalids of our dark dreary climate. Surely it has been an answer to prayer! I *have* rested. Except that I wrote a great deal for the Sierra Leone Mail, I have literally lolled about & I have never missed a meal, except one day. I was asleep & missed the Tea Bell. Isnt that a good record? I lay down in the Ladies room when we had gone down the Mersey a bit, more for Dan's sake, for fear he wd. be sick, than for my own, & I had such a sleep that I was not undressed till Monday morning, but I had hearty meals in my Cabin, & Dan lay singing, & telling stories, & longing for, & wondering about all the dear ones we left behind. Would we never get back to see Auntie? & etc, etc. So we were borne over it all! Here comes the Capn. with a writing board for me! How kind!!

But we had dreadful Company all the way to our last stoppages. A crowd of men going to the Gold Mines, made a perfect pandemonium of the ship. Night & day, they roared & hurrah-ed, & behaved like hooligans. Every low Music Hall song, & every vulgar Chorus the boys on the street shouted, was given here in the middle of the night, & all the day long. The Capn got angry in the end, & so did some more of us specially last Sunday when they roared & danced till 4 o/c a.m. & then did the same till 4 o/c a.m. next morning. That was their last night, so we all let them go on, but poor fellows they went off in that dreadful sun, to go up country to a homeless place & a rough life, after a fortnight of drinking & gambling & sleeplessness. One passenger said as they went off, “They will all die like dogs up there.” How I longed to be of use, but I cd. not go to that smoking room, & on Sabbath at dinner, I had to rise & go out, as the only way I cd. protest. They were quieter after that. And poor fellows, they were so kind too in their own way, & all came & bade me a kindly goodbye, & smilingly agreed to my word of warning & advice. One, who was the leader, & whom I had to rebuke one day, gave Dan a new shilling as he went off. He told me his parents were Baptists, & he spoke nicely always about Missionaries. One man told me yesterday, that his i.e the drunken fellow's - Mother was crying like any thing when he came off, & he was quite tipsy, & hollering like a madman, & yet poor chap, he may have only done it to hide what he was feeling. Thank God for His *restraining* Grace, as well as for His electing Grace.

We have had two very quiet, but very hot nights, but it is so nice to have peace & quietness to lie & think & read & pray. One of the rather wild lads who went home with us, has constituted himself my cavalier & fellow at Table, & I think he has been touched to better living at least, & has saved some money, & some health too by the alliance. He is to write to me after we separate. He looks so young, & he has a wife & two children, yet he squanders his money & his health like anything. His favourite author & poet is Omar Kayam, & we have some talks over it. What a negation to go into the bush with!! May God meet him there & change his heart. We are now within the Protectorate waters, so I feel quite at home. I expect some of the officers to come off, tho' no one knows I am coming by this boat, & I have a few notes to write, & parcels from friends to send off, so, I shall let this lie for a little. I shall post at Calabar as I may not have much time after I begin work. Will you send a wee line now & then, & tell me how the Lord leads you: & pass on any new things He gives you. I shall try to do the same to you. And now good bye. May He draw you close into the Shadow of His Love, & keep you & yours ever there, safe & *comfortable*. Thats a good idea of the feeling of those who keep near. Comforted is not enough, Comfortable means the *state* & uppermost feeling in life of such an abode. Please excuse this paper & scribble. “God be with you till we meet again”. I am dear yours very affectionately Mary M Slessor

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 21st December 1907
GD.X.260.06
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.06

Miss Slessor gives news of her fellow missionaries. she touches on the opportunities for extending her work, and mentions her developing plans for her women's industrial project. While it is being built she intends to build a new house for herself two days travel away. All are well.

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This letter had been folded and addressed to “Miss Crawford, per favour of Rev. W. Stevenson”

21st., Decr,. 1907.

My very dear friend

I cant close the letter to Mr Stevenson without a wee wordie to you. How are you? Is it very cold & dull in that bleak land? It is lovely here, only we have it very close in the mornings, with the smokes. It is not nearly so bad as it is at the riverside, but it is not a healthy time, still it is so bright & green, that it is lovely. Miss Chalmers came up last night for her holiday. The MacGregors have gone on a walking tour some where, I wish Miss McFadyen had come up. She thought there would not be room, I dont know why! There is a whole room unoccupied. Dr Robertson came up this morning on his cycle. His boys brought up 2 cases of milk which came by Jubilee[Note 1] for me. All are well at Calabar as far as I hear. I have had such grand opportunities put in my way since I came back, that I wish I had stores more of strength to carry them out. If you could only hear the pleadings, & see the churches built & half built, & no one to go to them. I am trying to make this place fit for a beginning among the women. I think it is quite capable of all that they can do for a few years, & by that time they will be getting profits & can develop & lay out their capital in any way they find suitable. While they will be building here for the ladies & women, & a workshop, I trust I shall be getting a house for myself farther on, a two days journey from here, partly by land & partly by water & out of that extended knowledge of the country & the roads. We may get a new station for the ladies here, leaving this whole place to the Industrial Home. The cry comes from every where, for help & for teachers, O that I were young again! Why is it that you cant come? Eh? Is God using all He might use? If we did not *know* Him, we might ask such questions, but *He* is caring & He *is* using us to the best advantage, tho' we may not see it. Miss Chalmers & I have been speaking of you, & she says, you could not be spared from the work you are doing yonder, & etc. etc. etc, & perhaps so. It is His choice for you, & so that settles the fact that it is the *best*. We have had a fine welcome, found all had been in His loving & faithful keeping, & my bairns & I are an unbroken family, & Oh, How good it is! We have had Abrahams intercession for Sodom this morning. Look at it this evening when you get time & ask the Holy Ghost to shine on the wonderful truths it contains for us, & you will have a feast. I have no news.

Sabbath Midday.

Had to stop here, Have been to service at Ikot Obon, had a fine congregation. Have had a good meeting at other two villages & have just had breakfast. Miss Chalmers well. So are we all fondest love to you & to your dear parents, & may your life be more fruitful than ever. The boy is waiting so ta ta.

Ever affectionately yours

Mary M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Jubilee – the name of the regular river passenger and supply boat.

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 27th December 1908
GD.X.260.07
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.07

This long letter begins with an appreciation of Miss Crawford's last letter and of her support. She mentions the support given to her by her fellow missionaries, particularly Miss Peacock, who is only two miles away. Miss Peacock will be extra busy as her assistant Miss McMinn has been recalled to assist with the secondary schools in Calabar - a move which Miss Slessor has had difficulty in accepting as she feels the bush mission work is so important. She tells how they have spent Christmas. She has tried to answer some pleas for help from one of the villages by bringing some very lively children to her own home, with the idea that they shall return to spread the light after their training and experience with her. The women's settlement is well on its way to completion. The Head of the Prison Department is to supply them with an instructor in basket-making, while a Christian lad from the Institute is to be sent by Mr. Wilkie to assist. She seems no nearer to keeping her promise to the Ikpe people to go to them, but they are visiting her and receiving advice and she says the spirit is there. She will move as soon as someone is able to take over from her.

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We'll see about the *REPORT*

Use Ikot Oku
27. 12. 8

You dear, dear friend,

What kind of an Answer am I to send for this precious letter of yours? speak of “a Pat on the back!” You dear old thing! If I were only near enough I should hugg you up till you wd. be breathless. Dont *I* need a pat on the back!! & am I brave enough not to long for it??? O if you knew! But God has been so good to me in giving me a sister like Miss Peacock so close, for I can see her at least once a week, & often twice, & she is so good & so kind to me, & because of just what she is in her character, she is a tower of strength to me. And we have such a nice girl in Miss McMinn too, Only just when we are beginning to appreciate her & to love her so dearly as a helper, the order comes, that she go to one of the Calabar schools as Miss Robertson has had to leave already. I feel bad about those secondary schools here! I fear, for I feel, that drain on our resources, & the time for them is not yet in Calabar, & that they shd. shut up an evangelizing agency in a dark heathen province for a wheen[Note 1] girls who cd. easily go to the town schools, makes me feel rather like a resentful critic, than a sympathizing sister. However, we thank God for the months we have had Miss McMinn, & she will go down a very much wiser woman in regard to natives & native needs & character after her stay in the bush than she would have been by her first 2 years stay in Calabar, & God rules & over rules! I do hope Miss Peacock will be able to bear the strain of the Ikot Obon work. I rather fear for her though she puts her soul into what she does, & the school & congregation & Dispensary & family are too much for any woman. Xmas day has passed. It was hard to realise it was Xmas in this heat & brightness, but the lassies came & stayed for 3 hours with me, & Dr Adam came & spent 3 hours in the morning, & he is a good Xtian[Note 2] man, & *alone* in this sense among the officers, so it did him good no doubt, & certainly it was a treat to me. We have made no difference in the Church. No decorations or anything as the Creek Congregations have borrowed from the R.Cs[Note 3] in Calabar & make a lot of fuss. We think the spiritual, is the *only* side we shd. hold up, so we had a play with the bairns, & some sweeties & etc., & have just kept it at that with our people. She is having fine Congregations, & this morning my Kirkie was filled, & nearly all were dressed in some way, & all are so reverent & devout in demeanour, it is quite an inspiration. Last night there were 3 women at the Candidates Class, 6 men, & as many lads & boys who read in school, so we are having some cheer from the Lord. After the Church was dispersed I ought to have gone into the bush, but a sick baby had to be treated, & I came back, & found heathen from a long way with a motherless baby 2 or 3 weeks old. The poor thing has bones & strings & charms, & a bell round its neck & body, & the grannie & the father were with it. A Church member from Okpo in the Creek sent them on with the tiny wee morsel of humanity, so I have stayed in with a wild flock of bush children I picked up last week in the Aki country above Okoyon. Four boys & a girl, all at the Pickle age, & all as wild & undisciplined as the goats in the bush. I was asked to go up there to settle some trouble, when they came with their yearly tribute of food & fowls. They came to the Okoyon House during the last decade with all their sicknesses & sorrows, & now they are in a sort of 'No Mans land' civically[Note 4], & no missionary is nearer than this. They have prayed for teachers for years & the same plaint broke my heart when I was up, so to help as much as possible, I brought these youngsters down to try to give them the help that a stay here can give & let them go back & try to spread the light. With these, all full of spirit, to keep in order, & all rather young to be in the bush all day, I have stayed up & so these few lines may let you know, that far, *far* from forgetting I think of you & pray for you & often in fancy talk & write with you, though it never comes out into practical shape. If I dared write during the long sleepless nights, I cd. keep up with the stress a little, but I dare not do it, as it shakes me so for next day, & yet I *long* to write to the loved ones, but if God meant me to, He wd. give me the time & strength. Eh ?

You ask about the settlement? The Deed is in the hands of the 2 pastors in Calabar. It will emerge some day I have no doubt, when they get time, & we can meet, but during all the year we have been steadily working tho in a quiet way, towards it, by building new bits of houses, & putting additions to this house, so that Europeans may find it suitable, & by planting fruit trees, & in various ways working up towards being ready to flit whenever any one will come to take over. I think the Duke Town friends will find a great difference when they come up for New Year time. The Head of the Prison Dept. was up with the Judge & his lady, last week calling on me, & he wired round to Lagos for a teacher of basket making to be sent to us at once, as the ways & means here have not been of easy adjustment, & he has been home since I came out. It will take some time to get a man round, but it will be the best way, & will cost us nothing, & if one man is a prisoner, he can be put up in the Prison at Itu during the mid times. I have been without a Clerk, & the old one was worse than being without - for a long time: so I have never had the pen out of my hand while in the house, but I have got a Xtian boy from the Institute & from Mr Wilkies care, & when he learns the routine, & the language a bit, I shall have more leisure, & he will not be the same care to me, as he is a Church Member & one of ourselves, so that Miss Peacock will be able to hold him under her guidance & to look over things when I am not there. The Court buildings are next door to her, & I am 2 miles down. [Note 6] The Ikpe people are wondering Im sure, what kind of promisers we are, For I dont seem any nearer to keeping my word to go to them than ever I was. They were down last week, & were telling me that one of the women members of their company had died, & she told her mother not to cry, & told her father not to trouble thinking her Dowry was lost, & told her husband not to dream that she was afraid or loth to go. For she said, “I have seen Jesus, & I want to go to Him, & it is He who calls me, & you must learn & come after me, and all the friends who love Him will come & by & by we shall all be happy for ever more.” etc etc. This from a flock without a shepherd! They just meet & sing & pray, & seperate, But the Spirit is there! & He teacheth savingly [Note 6] Mr & Mrs Mcgregor are meaning to go up with me when they get away next week & I hope we will have a good time among them. I hear that the R.Cs mean still, to get to Bendi. I got the first base before them, that was Aro Chuku, but there is to be a new route opened by Ikpe & the Upper Creek, & so I must be up & doing to get a place there. Whenever any one comes to take this place from me & be with the girls, I shall move. The settlement will begin in a *natural* & simple way, not by *hiring* people or bringing in people in a hurry, but by the one or two in hand getting taught & being able to teach others. It will be a great disappointment to you, as to us, to get Miss Robertson back so soon, & then Mrs Weir too will be going, & tho her loss will be mostly felt by her husband, there is the farther loss of Mr Topping, so a feeling to weakness comes over one. But our strength is in God, & He abides ever the same.

I'm glad to hear that Mr Stevenson is getting back to health. Miss Adam our beloved sister keeps me in touch with you all, & the changes at the offices have been before us very vividly during late months. It seems all so sad, & strange, you grow into it by degrees, but to us it is just the bare fact, that old friends are gone & we dont know the new ones. May God get His proper Place as the Chooser, & then all will be well, For He is able to guide His Church as ever He was, only we sometimes make the choosing & the doing OUR business too much, & then we get trouble.

I am sure that though deadness is the prevailing feature generally over the life of the Churches, those who live *near* to God, are intensely in earnest & live farther “ben”[Note 5] than perhaps ever was the case with the Church, & **they** hold the Keys of the Kingdom ? Eh ?

O my dear, What a scribble this is?! & here are 2 of those mad caps at my window, & wanting something, so I suppose I cant lift another sheet of paper. If I dont get a bit more added, you will know I couldnt, & you will give my love to your dear parents, & take a whole heartful warm & true to your precious self, & may all the years in future turn to purest gold all that concerns you. I am dear sister

Yours most affectionately

M M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Wheen = a few [Scots]
2] Xtian = Christian
3] R.Cs. = Roman Catholics
4] meaning of this word is unclear
5] ben = “in or toward the inner or better” [Scots word, defined by “Chambers Dictionary”]
6] In these two places has been placed a St Andrews cross with a dot in each segment - the whole forming a diamond. The editors feel this may not be of Mary's making, and suggest these are marks made prior to subsequent publication.

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 19th November 1909
GD.X.260.08
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.08

Miss Slessor begins by expressing her delight at the “precious letter” she has just received from MIss Crawford. Her heart is singing at the news that Miss Crawford's brother and sister-in-law have been “born again”, and goes on to tell of some similar wonderful experiences among her people.

She gives news of their missionary friends and her own household. She has had fever and has not been strong enough to do anything except Station and household work.

________________________________________________________

Use Ikot Oku
19. 11. 09

You Darling

I can just write back your own words, & say, “If *you* had all the letters & messages I have written to you during sleepless nights, & the evening hour when we lie - *I* *lie* - & the children sit round & talk & the babies sit on my bed & enjoy themselves,” – you wd. have a pile. But alas!! “The flesh is weak”, & gets weaker in regards to writing as it makes me nervous. What a precious letter!! It has flooded all the morning with light & it has been a busy morning too for it is market morning. As I was not at Court yesterday – in fact am wondering if with my weak health & the *'beyond'* calling out, I shd. not leave it altogether - Well, every one is here telling what did, or did not occur, & thinking I can recast the case & allow appeal & give advice & etc., etc., etc., & Mary has been down with all her new full blown importance as a *Matron*, what with Bananas for me, & a water cooler, & biscuits for the bairns – she turned the house upside down before they started for the Market. We got a new baby too yest. from Aro Chuku, & she has had to be admired & handled & petted, & the older one did not see the fun of that, & made herself known. But in all the confusion, my heart has been singing, & I am just to tell you so at once. *Each* *Message* you send has an UNCTION with it, Do you understand what I mean? You get letters which are nice, & you are very grateful to the writers, & etc., etc., but some come *always * as an inspiration full of the Holy Lords power. These are His dictation I'm quite sure, & *yours is* *always* that, & this time you have the grand news of a brother & sister in law being born again. O dear sister, I am glad with you, & have just asked God to shew them His Salvation in such fulness that it will satiate their souls & captivate them for ever with His love. I know what it is to pray long years too. I had to for my father & never got the answer you have got. But I *know* my Father & lord so well, I can leave it with Him for the lower fatherhood. Let me tell you of a great joy I had last week at our Catechumen class[Note 1], a lad, who will *surely* be baptised at first Communion has waited for his wife for over a year. Last week when Class was over, He waited & said, “Ma, There she is”, & there she was!! Taken the great step. She is from a very heathen town miles away, & is a fine looking lassie & just at her confinement. Then a Man who brought his mother a month ago, said, “Here is my nephew, & after asking him if he had made the great decision, & got the answer, He said, “There is my wife, & she came forward, a much older woman than he is a man, so I asked if she had been his fathers wife & he answered 'Yes' which means that they *may* *not* be married as Xtians[Note 2], but she is convinced she says, that Gods way is *the* way & has gone into it. Then a woman with 2 children came forward & said “My husband is coming bye & bye. He says I may come to the Class for instruction & learn till he can join me, when he means to put his name among Gods people, & we shall walk in His way. He has told his other wives, so they know they must go. The husband is in this case the owner of the woman. He bought her years ago, & his owner again knows all Gods Word, tho' he is not a Church Member, & is therefore not likely to hinder them. That makes 3 women, & a man in one day! O my dear it is simply splendid, specially as it is so very difficult as a rule to get in these women. & here they come of their own accord as it were. But the Joy tho real & deep goes just a short way when the overwhelming number who do not come, & do not care for these things, looms up again & the care for them, puts all else in the shade. Still when I find the bell rung for me, the Church all swept, tables & seats laid, & a Congregation of 100 *waiting*, my heart rises in gratitude. What if I had to hunt them up, & clean up myself! & seek out children, & do what so many have to do, to get someone to come! O how good our Father is to me!! Miss Annie McMinn went up to be with her sister till Presby[Note 3] - & she being left with the new Miss [-ess?] who is not too robust, we sent Miss Rosina to be with them at Okoyon for a month. Hence Miss Turner went up to Miss Peacock while she, Miss Rosina, is away. Miss Peacock had a number of visitors for a time, & so was, & is I fear rather tired. She has the Dispensary when Miss Rosina is away. Miss Turner does not know any thing about that kind of work, & does not understand school work either, but Miss P takes the Dispensary herself, so as she has a native teacher in school, she sends Miss Turner there with him, & her presence is a reason then for sending girls. I am going to the school here myself, except when Janie goes if I am too busy or tired. The Settlement can not be a fact till we get help. I have had too much fever for any other than station & household work, & as Annie & Mary have both been married this last year & gone to homes of their own, Janie & the young ones are only able for house & station work.

I dont think the Church realizes that we are not only none to the good, but *one* *less* than we were a few years ago, all the Extension talk & money notwithstanding, & a settlement or any thing else must have a staff & a permanent, & a - to some extent, trained staff if it is to be anything. One cant take in & start people & then throw them off when some one goes home. I see this is a half sheet only, & my time is up, but dear,dear friend my hearts love goes with it, & all here if they knew I was writing wd join Miss P. & [T?] all.

I have a letter from dear Rosie McMinn this morning, she & her sister are well as also Miss [L?] Amess. I'm just to send up a line to dear Miss Peacock. How well off I am with them. They are all so good & tender with me. Now give my best regards to your parents. My Mother was just like yours, & love for yourself

from yours affectionately

M M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Catechumen class = a class which teaches the rudiments of Christianity prior to baptism
2] Xtians = Christians
3] Presby. = reference to the regular meeting of the Members of the Calabar Presbytery.

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 25th December 1910
GD.X.260.09
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.09

It is Christmas Morning and Miss Slessor has arrived back at Use. She has just received her mail, brought by Miss Amess. Although she has not yet washed or had breakfast she is hastening to reply to Miss Crawfords letter, with its “sweet and kind words” and its peep into her family circle. She recounts their arrival and the news of the death of one of their Use church members. Later she tells of her various household activities with news of friends. The new house she is building at Ikpe is almost finished, and she is very pleased with the new building which she describes. There is a good Christian nucleus already at Ikpe, although not all the people are interested in the Gospel as yet, but welcome her there for other reasons. She describes her arrangements for some outlying churches. A more detailed description of the funeral mentioned earlier is given, and she tells of a family headman who wishes to prepare for baptism.

________________________________________________________

Use Ikot Oku
25th Decr. 1910

My dear, dear friend

What a Xmas message!! It is worth coming down for! I have had a heap of mails brought down this morning by my dear sister from Ikot Obidi - Miss Amess. Among them all, Yours has come closest to my heart, & tho *I have not been washed for 2 days*, & have not had my food, I cant let one half hour pass without sending my loving thanks, & I wish you knew - do you know ? - God may be telling you through some one of His Messengers - that I am praying for you & yours, & asking that your Xmas may be a Holy & a Happy One. Thank you very dear friend for your sweet & helpful words. May such be given with Compound interest back to you. And thank you for a peep into your home circle. I have no home here now in that sense, all my home circle are waiting Up Yonder for me, & it is so precious thus to be taken into the sacred things of another home. May the Blessed Saviour's felt Presence be ever with you there, in fuller measure than [even?] Bethany had it. Christ wants sympathy, & He still loves to be loved & trusted & entertained by His Children in the sacred enclosures where life & character find their springs & growth.

I left Ikpe yest. morning at 6/30. a.m. We were in the canoe all night & reached the beach here at 5.50 a.m. this - Xmas morning. Mary & Alice & David were there, as they are living at the beach in the Garage, & they heard the canoe boys singing & the drum, & ran down to help us to get off. We have a new baby, whose mother died of small pox this month up at Abariba, so we were burdened, but God made this provision for us, & Alice came up with the baby, & Mary took our kit, & we got up early. But the first news I got was of the death of one of our members, who was at Church last Sabbath, a dear old lady, & her house has been bereaved once & again of late, so I could not venture to go to take service at the Church & sent up to tell Miss Amess to come & take it, as she has been doing all the time I have been away. The dear girl came & so I have had a rest & the good news, that the lady was buried quietly in Xtian[Note 1] fashion, & Miss Amess was sent for to the funeral, & the faith of the members of the family is not shaken. But now, I feel releived a little by this wee talk with you, & I must get my subject ready for afternoon, so tata. Your letter will help me immensely. Thank you once more.

*Wednesday*

Letters must be finished today. Sabbath had afternoon service, left the meeting evening to the members, as I was too tired even to speak to the children at prayers. Monday the girls made a thorough cleaning out of the Hall. Mary & David & baby were here, & then the whole Ikot Obon Membership came in, with my own best men. They had all been at breakfast at a candidates place at the Beach. I went up with them to call on Miss McFadyen, as they said she had not been able to be at Church the day before. Found them all three well. We have some dear Xtian lassies here!! & these 3 are among the cream. Spent a sweet hour or two with them, & came back in the cool. They all came down & had tea here yest., & all my bairns, Annie & all were down spending the day at Marys. The babies & all, but they laid the fire & put the kettle & everything ready just at the door, so we had no trouble, & dear Miss Amess laid the table. I had a turn out of Mission box stuff, to get it aired, & to see what wd. be suitable to take as gifts for the new place, & for callers who might be remembered at this season. So the writing pad has been untouched, & my occupations have been very prosaic, such as the hemming of curtains for the window as these are dirty & shabby in the extreme. This is market day, & I shall have the babies, & I have an order for building material to write out & send, & to try to get men to go to Itu to carry the Bowden Box[Note 2] over, that means writing a native, & writing to the Dr. & etc., etc. Not much evangel there? Eh? Well! It is all for His Dear Sake, as I am His, & all my work is His. Now I must tell you that the new house at Ikpe is nearly finished as far as native work is concerned. Only the mudding & that wd. have been done, but our iron[Note 3] has failed to get up. Transport is difficult. The people have worked with such a will, & the material & the workmanship is the finest, by a long stroke of any I ever had. Of course it is a huge town, & non Xtian has worked with Xtian, & vied with with them in their eagerness. In a fortnight the whole thing has been done, Leveling, stumping, building. & they have found all the material themselves. Only my carpenter failed- as he got sick & had to go for medicine to Eniyon. He did not get a canoe to come back for a week, so every thing was at a stand still. The 2 bedrooms are raised 5 1/2 feet, so there will be a boxroom & a room for the babies underneath, & a little more privacy from the 2 or 3 steps up off the Hall. That means the extra price of boards for the floor, but if any newer body is put up there, it will make it more cosy & homelike for them, & will give the extra 2 rooms below. It is the best house I have yet built, & it will be the most expensive, as verandahs are covered with Iron, & the mat roof for coolness under, instead of the single roof, but you see it is far out of the way, so every comfort that can minimize the loneliness & conserve the health & nervous calm, is good. I do not think it will cost altogether over £40 “ ” & there will be accomodation for visitors. The people are not all desirous of the Gospel. They want to have my help in other ways, & the security & safety of having me there, & they want their children to learn English in order to compete with the other tribes who are going in for Government service, & by that means, pushing themselves up, & others under. But it can be the means to an end, & by this open door, we can get in the Gospel wedge, which *alone* can help or lift up any people. Then the Xtians themselves are a great asset. They are not well grounded in the Faith, & they have adopted outward things which infant congregations with inadequate supervision have adopted or created, but they have *grit* & they are in dead earnest, & have borne persecution, & several are soundly converted, & among them are the best human material there is in the place. So it is a fine sphere, but will need our wisest & strongest help for some time to come. I am sorry to say, they are not desirous of any other European, as they are only acquainted with certain sides of the White Mans life & ways, but when our Missionaries visit them, this will pass away. Pray for workers! I shall just need to lock up this place, for I shall need Jean to teach - she was teaching at Nkana, a village 4 miles on, while we were up, & I need the others for the babies & house & station work, & I shall need Annies husband for a new school 12 miles out from this place, & another lad for the school here at Use. & the members will have to work away themselves with the help & supervision of Ikot Obon ladies. O that the Spirit wd decend in Power on the Home Church! & thrust out labourers into the Harvest. I endorse & plus, all you say about Miss Affie Young. She is a woman among a 1000, in *every* *sense*. It wd be far too good to be true that she came here. O how I long for such an one, or one like Miss Amess, to be at my back, for my strength is precarious now, & a helpless helper, only adds to the burden. The Nkana Church was opened by Mr McGregor 2 years ago, & yet not a creature has been found to go there, & not one knows A.B.C. This place *I* *must* supply while at Ikpe. I have promised to divide my time equally between them & Use, & the Dist. Comr.[Note 4] has said he will help me to make a cycling road to Nkana from Ikpe, so that I may be better able to take it on. My little Whitie has a brother a very good scholar, but he is small, & I am not sure that he is a converted boy, at Okoyon. I am thinking of sending for him to teach in the school at Ikpe & then myself & Janie can teach English. I could not undertake the school there alone, as there is a constant run of people from all round seeking advice & having palavers[Note 5] settled, & tho' this is a most important work, creating public opinion, & establishing just laws, & protecting the poor, & getting a hold on the people, it is not a work I like. I only wish some one could come & take it up. Small pox is rampant all over the Abariba & Unene districts & I fear for Ikpe as the big market is there. The Govt.[Note 6] doctors are doing all in their power to get the people vaccinated but your experience of India will tell you how they fear any foreign interference with old fashions & methods. I need not say pray for us, I know you will. Pray that all my bairns be *converted*. Born again. More & more I am feeling that nothing short of this is much good. On our arrival at the Beach Mary told me that “Ekereke said I was to tell you that his mother *was* *asleep* ”. That is the first of our members to go up Higher. Was it not lovely of him to put it like that? How soon the Power of Jesus transforms not only the habits, but the very thought & language of a people! She is laid in our new God's Acre[Note 7]. Her little grandchild was the first to be buried in Xtian fashion, & she was there that day, sitting by me, little thinking she wd be next. It was cancer. She was a very superior woman, & very loveable, & most sincere. Her son sent for Miss Amess to conduct the funeral service, & sent for the principal Church Members at Ikot Obon to come, & Miss Amess says, it was a most orderly, quiet & solemn service. I dared not speak of it, but have been trying to translate the Hymn “Sleep on Beloved” since, as an outlet to my own feelings. To this add, that this morning one of our best men, father of a large family has been asking when next Communion will take place, as he wishes to prepare for it. He is prepared in the essentials. It is the women of the house, & the civil side that has been the barrier. So the faith has not failed, when they see the ills of this life come upon Gods People. I have set a time when we can have a long talk with him & his wife, & his sons, who are candidates on their own profession will be asked about taking the vows on themselves. So quietly & surely He is making a people for Himself among us. Now Im ashamed always at the sort of letter I make, But dear lassie, will you look between the lines ? & if you dont see the love shining, aye blazing - its the fault of this horrid ink. Oh, & to think that I once thought of you as a soulless official !!! You darling. God bless you, & make you more & more a blessing, & a help to His Children, a pronounced Imperialist for Christ's Kingdom. You have come into your own in Calabar. You are dearly loved among the sisters here, & those who are near me, & who were told yest of your letter, send their loving regards. I have a letter from Miss Chalmers, who says she is quite better, & that Miss Ramsay is well & enjoying the new work. Now tata. Every blessing be yours, & much consciousness of the Presence of Our King &

Lord. I am affectionately yours in Him

M M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Xtian = Christian
2] Bowden Box. Bowden is a village in the Scottish Borders where Mary rested quietly on her visits home in 1898 and 1907. A brief entry in her diary for 5th June 1911 reads “Good news from Bowden, with 8/- from the Stitchel children” and for Thursday 8th June “Additional books from Mr Hart, with £10 added to the ones from Bowden and Stitchel”. This Box therefore must be one sent to her from friends in the church at Bowden, St Boswell's and possibly contained books.
3] iron. Corrugated iron
4] Dist.Comr. = District Commissioner
5] palavers = discussions with problems to be resolved
6] Govt. = Government
7] God's Acre = Burial Ground, graveyard

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 14th December 1911
GD.X.260.10
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.10

Miss Slessor has been back at Ikpe for the last five weeks, and once again expresses her delight on reading Miss Crawford's latest letter and in her descriptions of family life. She has had to take things a litle easier as she had overstrained her heart while at Use. However, the people display their care and kindness by making her very welcome, preparing her house for her occupation, and in carrying her to and from the Church Services and school. The mission work there is progressing well, and she has started to share with them the Old Testament.

Again she expresses her affection for Miss Crawford and regrets that owing to her state of health this is just a short letter.

________________________________________________________

Ikpe Ikot Nkon
14. 12. '11

You Darling!

Your letters must be written in the Spirit, for they come *living* & *direct*, with beneficent power to my heart every time they come,- which is all too seldom! I have just read yours the last one of my bundle which came this afternoon, & I hasten to thank you, before the last rays of daylight leave the window. How very precious your messages are, & how sweet it is to get a glimpse into A Home. How Good the Lord is to you dear Miss crawford giving you your parents till now, & your Home, & your sisters & brothers set in families. I am a poor solitary with only memories, & these very far off nowadays, & have no one except my bairns here to care very much what happens, & it is very refreshing to get a glimpse into *a Home*, & be allowed to share to some extent in its sacred joys.

I am up here, & I have been for 5 weeks, & am feeling as if it were a long time since I heard of the world, & yet, I love it, & feel so grateful to God for giving me once more the opportunity of telling the Gospel story. The House has stood empty the whole long wet season & it is marvellous how little it has suffered. I had overstrained my heart & it seemed as if my work was over, & yet when these poor solitary shepherdless sheep from this wilderness came down pleading for the help which seemed impossible, I *could not* let go, & God has sent me back. They carry me to & fro from Church because of the hill, but I can take both services & the Sabbath School twice every Sabbath, & the school twice every day, & Oh! I feel it such a privelege! How Good God is to me! & how kind the people are. When I came up we were met 3 or 4 hours down the Creek by two crowded canoes of lads, who literally dragged our canoe, & took off all our luggage, & then kept playing on before & then behind all the way up. Then the beach was crowded with waiting people, & hundreds were waiting at the head of the town, & all the grounds were cleaned & water & firewood were in the house & every thing that loving welcome could do was done for our comfort. So that “Goodness & mercy have truly followed me”, & I pray I may be more worthy of it & be more useful to them during the few remaining days than ever. The Chiefs dont seek the Saviour yet, but neither do they hinder the members of their households from coming to us, & the congregations keep good, & the lads keep together, & the score of Catechumens[Note 1] keep firm, & in all, the work is hopeful, & the school lads are working hard, & at least 20 of them can read in a fair way the Truths of the New Testament. I have been trying to shew them what riches lie in the Old testament, which was till very lately an unknown book to them, & it has been very growingly luminous to myself. There is no way of getting mails or of sending mails from here, so it feels isolated a bit, but they are beginning to go down to the Dr. & he can send up any thing. I have twice had a parcel this way.

Now my dear dear friend, you are not to be thinking that this is any thing like a worthy reply to your precious letter. It is not, I am so awfully conscious of it, but dear it is just to say, How much I feel its tender message as a strength & inspiration to go on & try again & do better, & I do thank God for all you are to us in that, otherwise rather unattractive secretariat. We all - the ladies here I mean - feel that in your very presence there, we have a bright warm personal friend & sister. May you be kept in health & strength for us, with your sympathetic prayerful presence & personality. I dont think you realize how much the sisters value you, and our Precious Saviour has in you His sympathetic servant, with the leisure of the Spirit to listen to His messages from His Church, & Cause. Miss Adam tells me about you now & then. I hope she is better! I dread the day when she may retire from Active service there. She is another in whom the Lord finds ever a listening ear & a sympathetic & obedient heart. You will understand that I am not able to write much. My back aches, & it makes me nervous, & that brings irritability of temper, which works not Gods Will, so dear, you will just take this one sheet, & beleive that it is just packed *full of* *love* & gratitude, & please give my warmest love to your dear parents whom I seem to know as friends through you. Just fancy that! & at first I feared you as an *official*, hard & supercillious, you dear tender heart! God bless you & keep your bow, long in strength, & bless you yet more & more. With *love, **love**, ***love***, I am dear Miss crawford yours very affectionately

Mary M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTE:

1] Catechumens = those being taught the rudiments of Christianity before baptism

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 23rd March 1912
GD.X.260.11
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.11

This is the report that Miss Slessor had been urged to write, although she does not feel equal to it as she says she does not know how. It is quite a comprehensive review of her mission work with insights into the Africans' situation and points of view. It arrived in Edinburgh too late to be included in the “Report of the Women's Foreign Mission”, but an edited version was published in the “Women's Missionary Magazine” published [according to a handwritten note] in the issue for April 1914, but this must be a mistake as the original is clearly dated 23rd March 1912.

________________________________________________________

Ikpe Ikot Nkon
23rd March 1912

My dear Miss Crawford.

Miss Adam has been asking me to write a report to you, & has asked so earnestly that I cant refuse to try. Though the very word 'Report' dries up any thing at once, & makes me stand quite foolishly wondering how it can be done. I'm afraid my mind is not a trained or methodical machine. It only works as it chooses, & then I have not an elaborate system or method of work. It is just any & every thing as it comes. Of course the school & church services are the same always, but they dont fill up the time, & the other things are not classifyable.

You know that early last year I got an over strain & had to go under Dr's orders, so more or less, I had to do things in a silly soft sort of way, which would not let one feel satisfied. The service in church seemed unreal almost, when sitting on a table all the time, & school work never seemed thorough when done on a sofa. But my Use people are very kind, & all meetings except the evening public worship meeting, were brought to my verandah, so that I had no walking. Even our Coronation service was held at the House. Then too, they always carried me to, & from Church. Surely never had worker kinder people than mine. The winds last Tornado season were very high, & we are situated high up, & get the full sweep of it since the Government Road took away the high trees. So the damage done in our village & Church & my house, was very considerable, & the people insisted on making almost a new house instead of patching up. It was then I got that strain, but the house is so well done that I do not grudge it. When the Dr would allow me to come up here, It was November, very nearly a year from when I had left & things had gone slack a bit, & there was a decided set back in the school, but I myself was so thankful to be able to grip on again, & the lads were so grateful for our coming, that things soon righted themselves, & I think I have never had boys work better, or to better purpose in the school, nor have I ever been so surprised at the progress made in General Scriptural Knowledge, & in steadiness of purpose than among the lads & men, Taught as they have mostly been by any & every body who knew as little as them selves, & reading so imperfectly, as they did, I sometimes wondered if pure ignorance was not less dangerous & harmful, than the silly things they talked. Yet God kept them together, & since I came up, I should say a score of them can read well, & intelligibly, & can now be trusted to take the lessons, & also to teach in the Sabbath School. They knew nothing at all about the Old Testament, except the little I gave them during the preceeding stay, when we went through Genesis, but they did not seem to value the Copy of the Old Testament I left with them. Now it is all very different, & there is an effort being made by each & all to become the possessors of a “Big Bible”, & so the whole Sabbath school have learned to go over in order, the names of the Books & have thus got a general idea of the plan of the Old Testament, & its general divisions. The Services have widened out immensely in interest, for them & for me. Even the schoolboys take a pride in their new found knowledge, & the Readers in “The Pilgrims Progress” go over every text quoted by Bunyan, as glibly as a White teacher could. As a rule the Sabbath school comprises the whole company of the Xtian[Note 1] section. It is always well attended & only mothers with babies & elderly men come after the Church bell at the close. The Church is always quite full before school is over. One section of boys, about 60 of them, who cant read in the Bible, have been going thoroughly through the Catechisms, & they get Marks, & a small Prize to the 2 best on the 1st Sabbath of the month. A crowded Class of boys & lads who can read the New Testament have been committing John 14 to memory & for the last 3 months they too have been getting a Prize & Marks for memorizing. A girls & young womens class taught by Alice have been learning Psalm 103, & a Hymn from the Hymn Book in use at service. While the old & staid men learn from the Old Testament. They have learned Isaiah 53rd & etc. etc. & the tinies[Note 2] get a Hymn. The Native never gets a service or a chance to speak, but he can yarn & yarn for as long as any one will listen. The rest is very generally composed of singing(?)[Note 3]. The wildest stretch of imagination can hardly call it harmony! & any thing that will lessen this outpour of the crudest & most wonderful Christian (rhetoric)[Note 4] this is wrongly spelt, you know what I mean! seems to me a boon & discipline. Since they have begun to learn how very little they know, there have not been the forwardness to take the “Chair” & the “Prayers” that there used to be. Instead there have been many questions on many subjects, & quiet knowing looks at one another when answers were received. Names of Catechumens[Note 5] came in steadily, the greater number with the pathetic announcement that they saw no hope of full membership in view, as the wives betrothed to them by their parents, were either not willing to become Christians & go into Christian Marriage, or their parents were not favourable to their giving up girls thus betrothed to them, telling them they must stick to their bargain, church or no church. However things are bit by bit coming round, & several young girls are willing, & several wives are willing to be one wife in Christian marriage, where a number are already in the Yard. Some parents are very obstinate, so are some husbands where wives wish to leave the Harem & be Baptised & in these cases the young people can do nothing as they cannot pay back the dowry, so must hold to the wife, or to the husband, in the choosing of whom they had no share. The dowry is much higher here than lower down river. but parents *must* come round as the years march with their progresses, & God is for them, so that is the great point. I have found their fathers fighting shy of me, because they have not the courage to say to me that they will not do God's way, but some of them laugh & say, wait a little Ma, till the work time is over, & we have proved the lads & women & we shall see. They are afraid lest this upset the very roots of their life, by allowing the old ground work of all their existence to be taken away. And there are dangers too, that unworthy women & men may make Church membership a mere excuse for breaking Home ties & giving licence to vice. So I am not in a hurry to give into the lads, or to blame the Chiefs & parents, even if it keep the Communion Roll low in numbers. For this very reason of conserving Home relations, as they know them, I have met girls privately, & do not call their names at class. I am pleased to see always 3 or 4 girls & women at the Catechumen Class, & I find that one of them at least belongs to the Chief who is 2nd in place in the town, Also that he has given his consent to the choice of a young daughter, who is wife to one of the nicest lads, & who has a wee baby, & who is anxious to stay & enter the Church, with him as his Xtian wife. The Head Chief has given a daughter to a husband also on the same terms, provided he gives the sacrificial cow on her marriage day, & pays up his dowry of nearly £20. The cow will be pushed out of the way, sure, if I am here in the body, & the lassie herself seems to be in real earnest. Her 2 brothers are never absent from school & church, & can read & write fairly well. Indeed each of the four head Chiefs are well represented at Church & school by their children. One of the big heart breaks is, that *not* *a* *single* *girl* has yet come to school. Not even a baby! It will be absolutely necessary to make a school apart, for them, & it is also certain that I cannot take on two schools, & the lads *must* be kept on so that they may supply their own town, & the villages round. There are 5 or 6 boys, who are far on, Reading almost perfectly, & in English they have got over the beginnings. Two of them are in the 2nd English book, & read & translate & write better far than any who have ever taught them, but they are too young to take schools, except here at home, for the bairns are as heathen, & undisciplined, & wild as it is possible to conceive, & they need a strong hand. But after the work season is over, & the big lads get time to go in for 3 months hard work, a score of them may be available. I should like the Reader in Church to be as perfect as possible, as the half taught are the down drag & the big danger of these infant Congregations, & I shall insist on the Reading of Gods Word, with miles less of exhortation than they are accustomed to from the native itinerant. Indeed, I have already told them that whether I am absent or not, the Native Itinerant ceases to enter our pulpit. The Theology is Wonderful! The Horizons are wide beyond the ken of such laymen as myself, & the ranting & noise are not conducive to reverence or dignity or the building up of Xtian man - or womanhood. So that the Congregation, as that of Use will be put into the hands of the most Capable, & with rules for the carrying on of the services in the way to which they have become habituated. We had a visit last month from the Chief of our Akani Obio Town, who expected to see a bush congregation. When he saw every person turning up the Hymns & places in Old & New Testaments, & taking the dignified & intelligent part in the services that they take in the Town Churches, He was surprised beyond measure, & said he had no idea that the congregation had progressed like this. I told the Catechumens at our last meeting, that I thought it was time our “Public Worship” in the evenings in the Church ceased, & every household began “ Family Worship” as there were few Xtians now who could not read. The first stages have to begin thus, but tho' in the bustle of the family life in the morning, it may be well to keep on the Early Worship till the lads have control in their homes, & it is a witness to the town of the claims of God on us. A Family Circle may be a means of deepening the life of the disciples, & also of influencing the children. Over one 3rd of the Church seats are as a rule filled with girls & women on Sabbath morning. The afternoon is thinner, during this work season. As the water carrying makes a big demand on them, & the place swarms with babies. Except Aro Chuku, I never saw a place swarm with children like this place, & the bairns need heaps of water in this awful heat & drought. I cant say any thing. Again & again the women of the town, who do not make any pretence of caring for the Church, have given us proof of their care for us. Every section of the town sends now & then a deputation with food, & salt & pepper & oil, lest the children be hungry. Every now & then, they are there of their own accord clearing our roads & grounds, before we are out in the morning, & I have not yet had a woman patient in the Dispensary who has not brought oil & pepper & firewood & food to us. The smile is always ready, & all that we need, is the Xtian lady to go in & band them into a simple informal meeting at such hours as they have a little leisure, & to move in & out of their homes taking an interest in their homely tasks, & speaking Word in Season. I feel overwhelmed at the privilege of being with them once more, but alas! The school, the dispensary & the services, with my own home duties leaves me not a vestige of strength for going about among them.

The Chiefs do not profess to be Xtians, nor do they pretend more than their good will & help in the work of the Gospel. But they too watch when the market falls on Sabbath, that the children are not allowed to be hungry, & my wish in any thing is met as soon as expressed. They are undoubtedly changed. One who knew them - say 2 years ago, would hardly beleive them to be the same men. Even in looks they are as men clothed & in their right mind. Our head man is invariably “Tight”[Note 6] as are most of the elderly males before market day is half done, but there is no brawling, & the town is usually cleared of strangers & stragglers & women by *early* Afternoon. Everything is quiet & decorous, & the town is cleaner & trees cut down & fences mended, & the young men who congregate by the score & the score in the afternoons in the Towns Place, are clothed & quiet & altogether changed. So the Gospel wins its *indirect* Triumphs, & *shall* win till it Conquers.

A new & bigger & airier church in a quieter & better site was to have been built last year. The work was divided to the men, & the site cleared & etc, but my illness put a stop to it all, & it cannot be begun now till the planting is over. It will be a native building, but will be on a good scale for the size of the town, when we hope to get the Chiefs & elders of the town suitable seats, & thus have the means of giving them room, & place worthy of their position. We have had the first twins saved here. Fine babies but what a sulky heathen of a mother. “You can take a horse to the water, but you cant make him drink.” & this mother simply *would* *not* have the children, & after a fortnight of fighting with her night & day, the last one died from sheer starvation. I had no teats or bottles but what the other babies were using, else I might have broken my own resolution never again to take children from their mothers. It is not only bad in principle for all concerned, but I am not able physically for this now. However several persons have seen twins, & have *not* died.

The little congregation at Use has been left a longer time than ever before, but I hear from time to time & so far there is no word of defection. The school is in the hands of 2 lads, & the services in the hands of the members. We will, D.V.[Note 7] go down next week, as the Communion will be coming on in a few weeks, & I must make enquiries into things & also see & help to prepare any new candidates for Baptism.

For all I have written I dont seem to have told you any thing of any consequence, but as I said, I dont know how to write a Report. If you can pick out any thing that will suit you, I shall be glad, tho' I much doubt it. I hope by another year to have a few of the villages on the list of schools & meeting places, as it is, the only place we work is Nkana where Janie has been for more than 4 months.

Now dear Miss Crawford I shall close, with every possible wish & desire for your wellbeing, & for your home, & your work. May God bless & INDWELL[Note 8] you more & more for His glory. I am ever your loving friend

Mary M Slessor

This has been done just in snippets as I could get at it. It is the 30th now, & therefore it is rather disconnected & perhaps I have repeated myself? Our dear Miss Adam has had a sad time. Eh?

You will be a comfort to her I know.

MMS.

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Xtian = Christian
2] the tinies = the youngest children
3] Miss Slessor's own question mark
4] rhetoric. Miss Slessor had two tries at the spelling of this word
5] Catechumens = those being taught the basics of Christianity before being baptised
6] “tight” = intoxicated
7] D.V. = Deo volente, God willing
8] indwell = dwell or abide within spiritually

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 11th September 1912
GD.X.260.13
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.13

Miss Crawford's latest letter has obviously been singing Mary's praises. Although she delights in it she points out that she is but a humble instrument while it is “the grand dynamic of prayer” that achieves results. Once again she thanks Miss Crawford for the peep into her home life and utters words of loving encouragement.

She discusses the biblical story of the fig tree in Matthew. Their return journey to Ikpe was very pleasant as they were able to take advantage of the government motor car, and they received their usual warm welcome from the Ikpe people, although there has been some back-sliding as no-one could be left in charge. However, she is dealing with this. The letter ends with news of the activities of members of her household.

________________________________________________________

Ikpe
11th Sep. 1912

You Precious Old Darling!

That old office of yours would hear shrieks I fear, if I were there beside you just now, for certainly the hugging would not be all on your side. What a love of a letter you always write, & this one is simply a 'Crowner'[Note 1], only, Please spare the butter a wee bit, for I'm awfully fond of butter. If you ask Miss Adam, she'll tell you how they used to keep all their mutton fat for me, & I ate it neat, without even a bite of bread. So beware of pandering to the depraved, natural tastes of your Missionary, to whom self abnegation should be everything in life. You old pet! Do you think any thing of this world's glory *could* weigh me down? Of course you dont. I *should* like tho' if it would lift me *UP* to higher endeavour & noble acheivement, for O, surely no member of His Body is so unworthy of notice as I am! Ah, on “the crowning day thats coming” when He calls Mary Slessor, it will be to shew her the shining ones who have been keeping on the Power all the time that she was the so very miserable instrument of distributing. It is not anything in me dear one, so take the comfort of this to yourself, that the grand dynamic is Prayer. Prayer Waves pulsate from Britain out through Calabar. May they go back with infinite impetus to their source, & give out their precious treasure there. Thank you for all your news, & for taking me into your Home life again, & giving me a wee peep. God *Has* blessed you above many in your Home Wealth. May it long, long be your haven of refuge & rest! I do hope your holiday has done you good! It is so easy to “greet”[Note 2], & so difficult to “keep smilin” when body & mind are tired out. O, dont I know it! But His power can overflow from a soul satisfied with His Good things, into the poor mortal body, & His resurrections are manifold & varied & beautiful. Dont I know that too!! Rather! & what He does for me, He does for the sisters of the family all over. He does it for *you* too. Eh? He is a Blessed Wonderful Master!! O that we may never disappoint Him! I had this morning in my Reading that incident which is always an enigma to me, & seems to throw a difficult & unreal light on the Lord. The blasting of the Fig Tree. Mathews version. Then at Worship came the last sad act in the life of Saul in Samuel. On Gilboa's Mountains! Put the two together. It made a solemn lesson for us! Xt.[Note 3] was hungry! He was lonely, the shadow of Calvary was falling over Him. The Tree showed well, so did the grand Temple with its Crowds of Passover pilgrims, its staff of Learned Concecrated Officials. So did the Twelve Men who had left all to follow Him. But the Tree failed. It was useless for the purpose for which it was there. The Temple failed. It too was useless, worse than useless. It belied the God whom it represented. It shamed His Holiness. The well loved, well taught, well guided disciples failed utterly to understand, or to sympathise with the burden of unrequited love & the frustrated outflow of sympathy with which His heart welled over. On their journey up to the Capital - His last one - they quarrelled & sought only for greatness & place in the Kingdom of their imagination, & here “ they marvelled” at the fulfillment of His words. They only marvelled!! The world could do that much. They did not even ask the solemn purpose of His unwonted severity. Ah, Yes! We seldom come up to His reasonable expectations of us. Humanly speaking. We live on the outside, & He does not need us there. He *needs*, He *wants*, He *seeks* infinitely more. Just as we do, when we are hungry in soul, & He turns away from what is of so little use, & it comes true here & now, “To him that hath shall be given, & he shall have Abundance, but to him who hath not, shall be taken away even that he seemeth to have. The Fig Tree, the Souls Capacity withers away. Poor Saul & his fine boys, & the flower of Israels manhood!!

But here am I writing a sermon in return for that lovely letter. You can get plenty sermonizing at home. Its habit you see Preach, preach, preachin'. Well I have no news. We got the Govert. Motor Car & got a lovely run over here as far as the road permitted. The girls walked 10 miles, but the Govt. provided Hammock & boys for me at the other side, & my own Rickshaw got boys & carriers in the prisoners, so the girls were in Clover too, as they had no loads. We had a dozen of prisoners on this side, & some warders. I always get those, & they never try to run away. I think it has a good effect on them, & it gives them a walk, albeit they get a parcel to carry. They are always so careful of me too. My heart just keeps on singing at all Gods Goodness. Over a hundred young men came across & cleaned all the grounds, & cut the surrounding bush, & things have gone merrily as a marriage bell at school, but O! there has been much backsliding of many who began well. From various reasons, but very, *very* *muchly* from the fact that there is no one in charge while I am away, & the place is so brutishly heathen. Last night was Catechumen Class[Note 5], & I told them I should purge the Roll[Note 6] in a drastic fashion. I am also to withdraw my Countenance from the Chiefs. Still, I thank God, there are those faithful few who keep the light brightly burning. I hope Annie & her husband are on their way up now. They are to walk & stay with Mary at the middle of the journey, for a day or two to rest their limbs, & then tackle the last 24 miles when rested. He is to take the Station Jean had 5 miles from here. She has a sweet baby girl 7 weeks old, so she could not go in the canoe in this wet weather & sleep by the road. We spent an hour with Mary & David[Note 7] & we got breakfast, & a talk. Little Marion was in the motor to meet us, & sat on my knee, then after breakfast came on again tho' it rained torrents. The roads were fearfull. David had to go on foot for labourers one time we sank in the sand, but we were all comfortable inside. We left Whitie[Note 8] at Mary's for a change & joy to them both. It poured as we passed Ibiaku, so the looked forward to visit to Miss Welsh was out of the question. I was so sorry to pass her hoosie[Note 9] by. I fear she will be gone before I can get back. I had a letter from Mr Rankin to day with a pair of specs I was getting soldered at Duke Town. He found a canoe coming here to market & sent a wee wordie[Note 10]. It is so cheering. He says Mr McGregor has passed - leaving the specs - to Ibon. I hope it is that he has got a bit of ground at the beach there at long last, in order to build a shed for our brethren on their landing there. It is so difficult to get liberty to build just now that Government is changing the land laws, but it is all for the safeguarding of land to the natives. I am wondering if Miss Peacock will soon be coming. She gives no idea of the time. It is sad to see the doors locked. I expect our new sisters will be on their way. They will be welcome indeed. My two big girls are home from Orange Grove. Maggie is with me in school. The others are working the wet sand & rubbing the walls & putting in new floors. Alice says the bell has rung for school, so I must close this. I dont know when I shall get it posted, but it will be ready when the time & opportunity comes. All here send love. They know your Photo, tho' they dont know you. And a warm heartfull goes from your very affectionate friend

Mary M Slessor

My warmest regards to your parents & brother, that goes without saying. I shall write to Mr Stevenson as soon as I can.

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] crowner = the best of all
2] ”greet” = weep, cry [Scots]
3] Xt. = Christ
4] Catechumen Class = a pre-baptism class on the rudiments of Christianity
5] Roll = the Membership Register
6] Mary and David were her adopted daughter and husband
7] Whitie was one of her younger adopted sons
8] hoosie = house [Scots]
9] wee wordie = a short note [Scots]

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 27th October 1912
GD.X.260.12
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.12

Miss Slessor has been sent for a rest to the Canary Islands. Everything has been done to help her, and make her visit as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Jean has been sent with her and everyone has rallied round, from the ship's captain to the servants.

She has been studying a book sent to her by Miss Crawford and discusses it - “just the bracing word” she needed. Although she is not strong enough to attempt the climb to the English church, she is thinking of Use, Miss Peacock, and the communion services being held there.

________________________________________________________

The Hotel Santa Catalina
Grand Canary
The last sabbath of Oct. 1912

My very dear friend

I have been feasting on your book today in as far as a selfsearching, & utterly humiliating study can be called feasting. How *my* ministry & *my* character shrivels before this ideal. But thank God, there is the bracing of a tonic in it too, for if I may serve another day, I trust it will be thus, on the Heights with God, & in the heathen valleys, with the power & the light & the freedom of the Heights accompanying. You will wonder to find this address! Blame, or thank - as you feel & see fit - my dear old faithful friend Miss Cook, who suggested it, & dear heart: wants to pay for it!! It is my *first* *trip*, in all my life, & were it not such an expensive one, I should say it is perfect. The expense appals me, as they would not let me go without Janie[Note1], I am so lame & feeble & foolish. But it has done me so much good, that I hope it will do for the furlough which I must have taken after the winter was over. I am ashamed & sorry to be away, when workers are so few, but perhaps it is ecconomical too, for I have been working on my Capital all this Year, & it has not been a very first class service either. I feel just longing to be there again, & I think I should work so much more on Gods lines & so much more earnestly if He gives me the opportunity. Our dear ones here, at Duke Town[Note 2], sent me right off as soon as the idea struck them. They dressed me & financed me, & recomended me to every body. The result being that I have been carried over at everybodys expense but my own. Capns! Officers! Stewards! every body up to the Hotel servants here, have had as great care for me, as if I were somebody. I have met Xtians[Note 3] here too, & scots people, & I have gone up the hill at the back of the grounds, up to the Third Terrace, with no other help but Jeans hand. The sunshine & the breezes, & the blue expanse of ocean, the gardens, & the atmosphere of love, make it like a visit to Paradise. One of our high officials sent a letter to the Manager - which has given me every privilege, & I have been got over the transShipping from both boats without a single bit of effort, the Captains, both having taken me over, & Capn. Toft bringing me right up here himself. I only wish I had a fortune, that I might try to get all this for needy invalids. I thought all the way up the coast that it would be better in view of the Expense here, to brave the cold & go right home, take a 3 months furlough, & try to repay it by service among the Churches during the winter, but the first bit of coolness - tho' I had on all the flannells I cd. have put on, & had the coziest part of the boat given me - I got a bad throat, & am coughing it & having to take care of it till now, so that was out of the question. I'm thinking much of Use[Note 4] & dear Miss Peacock today, for I think it is the day of Communion there, but I beleive my people will leave its celebration till I get back. I have no news from here. I have not attempted the English Church today, as it is rather far I beleive, but though we have not had a service since leaving Calabar, I am not in a barren land, for the Bible is very precious. Now this is but a wee wordie of love, & of thanks, belated through weakness, for your admirably chosen & precious book. Just the bracing word I needed. I dont remember your new address, so am to put this into Miss Cooks envelope, & she can hand it to you. You dear sweet servant of God, take a heart full of love from me, & remember me to your dear parents with tender respect & regard. I shall write to you when I get home again & let you know the result of my spending all this money. O how I wish you were here to see & enjoy! It is simply magnificent. Janie does not care for the house, she is shy & lonely, and the servants all speak Spanish, but she revels in the out of door loveliness.

Now tata, Heaps of love again, & thanks for your thoughts of me, & beleive me ever yours most affectionately

Mary M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Janie, Jean - one of Miss Slessors adopted daughters and dearly-loved and staunch helper
2] Duke Town - One of Calabar's most important towns and the headquarters of the Calabar Mission
3] Xtians = Christians
4] Use - the place where Miss Slessor established her home and base for many years, and more recently cared for jointly with Ikpe

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 2nd May 1914
GD.X.260.15
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.15

This is a letter of love and support to Miss Crawford who would appear to have some difficulties at home. She reminds her of God's love and goodness.

________________________________________________________

Rest House
Odoro Ikpe
2, 5, 14

My dearly loved Friend

It is so long since I heard how things are with you in your home, that I cannot wait longer to express my sympathy, & my share in all your anxiety for your dear ones. How is your dear Father? How does the Mother bear the strain? & How are you after all the strain of Assembly time? I do hope you will have a holiday & be getting the summer air & rest somewhere before this reaches you?? Eh? I joined with you in the day of intercession, & have beleived that God will answer in the best & highest way. In His Chosen Way. I myself think the First Thing is the consecrated annointed Man or Woman, then the buildings etc will not drag much. I have the joy of [200?] New Towns coming to learn of My Lord. & this is health to the bones. I wish I could write to you of all His Goodness, but with a house building, & school at any & all hours, & a very frail tabernacle, I am afraid to indulge, only I must send a wee wordie of Love, & tell you to look up & know that to the dear ones as to yourself, the sky grows the more comforting & the more genial & the more glorious as it sets. The Morning is Magnificent in its dawn & power, the noontide potent in its glory & splendour, but it is in the westering that the fret is soothed, & the nerves quietened, & Home Life realized, & in the golden glow, ere He hushes His own to Rest is the hour of Holiest, closest, intensest cementing of Spirit-bonds. “*So* He giveth His beloved sleep” not necessarily the sleep of death. His Promises & Revealings are like Himself just equal to our ability to use & appropriate them. Thus He gives Rest to Our Souls. There I leave you, & the dear Parents, & the dear brother, who with you still occupies the old Home nest, & there you are safe, & know for ever beloved friend of mine, that *no* *good* *thing* shall He with-hold from you & yours. My girls would send love if they were here. My own heart sends an outflow both warm & tender & the Love of “The Beloved” covers you all.

I am dear one yours in warmest & best of all bonds which can never be broken.

M M Slessor

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Miss Crawford 24th December 1914
GD.X.260.16
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.16

Miss Crawford's father has passed away, and Miss Slessor sends her friend words of love and comfort.

It is Christmas time, and the First World War is being fought. Despite the date at the top of her letter she says it is Boxing Day. News of some friends is given, and she tells of the box of Christmas puddings from Mr Charles Partridge which was made the centre of their festivity, to the bairns great delight. She tells of some war-time activities locally. They had had a surprise visit from Mr Brown who had had to leave earlier than expected as he was obliged to travel on the government boat “The Diamond”. A play day has been arranged for the children. Mary ends with her usual loving thoughts for her friend and her family.

________________________________________________________

Use Ikot Oku
24. 12. 14

My very dear Friend

Your letter was what it always is, A perfect, joyous message from God to me. Notwithstanding all the sadness of your loss, it is a joyous message, telling as it does, That “God is able to make all Grace Abound.”, under the most trying circumstances, & in all the crisis of life. That is *The* Apologetic to Xtianity & Xt[Note 1] among Men. Our Family Worship lesson this morning was 2 Cor.1st[Note 2] & all the comfort & the motive for having got it, & the duty of using it as “*our* *line* of defence” to be held for Our King & His Empire, against Satanic & earthly foes, in our own hearts & outside in the world. “Tell it out among the Nations ”that He is *Able* to Keep, Able to Comfort, Able to “save to the uttermost” all who come to Him with want, or sin, or sorrow. “He is able” to supply all our need as sinners, & Blessed be His Name! Able to supply all our need as men & women living in a world full of partings & sadness & soul & body needs which cannot be tabulated in words. And *you* are telling it out & Mrs Arnot has been telling it out to me, & I have been strengthened & comforted, & have been trying to pass it on. I thank God for all He has been to you & yours during these months of trial! For the Grace given to the dear Father now with Himself, safely passed into the Home Above, & for His Help & Grace & Comfort to the aged companion of his long life; & for His Goodness to you beloved Friend of mine, through it all, making you grow in Grace & - in what is far deeper & more profound, & less easy to express -“ The *Knowledge* **of** our Lord Jesus Xt.

I have been long in answering your dear letter, but I have not been able to write, & am not now. Only at this Season, my heart goes out to you, & communes with you in what will be a rather sad Xtmas[Note 3] tide. There will be few Merry Xtmasses in Europe this year. But thank God, there will be a more profound sense of all Xt came to be & to *do* for Mankind, & a closer union & communion between Him & His People thro' the sadness & insufficiency of Earthly Good. He will Himself draw near & will fill empty chairs in lonely homes & hearts & make His people - aye & thousands who have not sought Him in prosperity, to know that Here & Now, He is the Resurrection, & the Life, that he that beleiveth in Him shall never die. Dear One, It is the day after Xmas. I meant to write to you Yesterday, but I never got the length of the pad tho' it lay in sight all day. How has it been with you? & how has it been in the Trenches, & the Battle front lines in the cold & the Homesickness? Again! Rest. & God was there, & He has done all things well. I have had a visit from Miss Coupar & Mrs Brown. Mr Brown is working at Ikot Obon for a few days, & the ladies from Duke Town School, Miss Chalmers & Miss McKennall were down with Miss Peacock the day before. It has been so nice to see them all. The bairns had a tea party on the back verandah on Xmas Eve. I had a package of Plum Puddings from one of our officers,[Note 4] & we had one of them, & a tin of fresh herring & tea & the table cups & saucers & dishes, & the bairns were greatly delighted. Tonight they will each get a Hymn Book - Efik-, Dr Robertson was from home, & they dont sell these elsewhere up river. I have a big boil on my side so did not get to the meeting yesterday, as I could not bear my clothes on it, but it is broken & better today, & I hope we shall have a good service tomorrow. There is rather hot fighting going on up the Cross River a bit, & all round our boundaries. We have taken the Capital of the Cameroons, & some 5 locomotives & *2 aeroplanes*. They say those have been over Calabar unknown to us, & they had the Railway laid up to 40 miles of Itu they say so it was easy to come down & fire up without our knowledge, & we have not a single gun at Itu. But Our Father was watching over us, & the Railway is cut & several Germans taken prisoners, & a steamer has taken all their women who were left behind. That fact of leaving their women is a great compliment to Britain I think. But we are not yet rid of them, for there are other companies about, only it is hard to find out where in the dense Forests that surround us. The light is [failing?] me & there are many interruptions. But whether or not I get a letter proper written this will shew you that my hearts love is with you. The Diamond[Note 5] will pass on Tuesday. I think she is on Government business, but the Browns will be going on her. So I shall have a lot of local letters to write on Monday to go with them, & may be I shall not get more done for the Wednesday mail boat.

28th

My dear lassie Yesterday I had Mr Hart from Duke Town Calabar. We were on our way home from Morning service, & saw a cyclist coming up the road smiling & waving, & lo! Mr Hart whose boy had lost the road from [Uro?] Ibo from which he was coming, turned up. He had come a long way that morning & was very tired. & it was blazing hot, & his box was half a day behind as his boy got a puncture. Well you can guess the surprise, & the pleasure, & the fine conversation till evening brought the meeting here & he took the Adress, & then I was so tired after the two services & the meeting, that I turned in & left him out in the moonlight thinking the Diamond would not be here till after noon today. Up comes a messenger in the middle of the night to say the Diamond was at Itu, & was to sail at 6. A.M. so he was up at 4 o/c & off before day light to catch her. Wasnt it a cheat? But boats are scarce & uncertain & must be caught at any cost. So want of sleep & visitors & and an untimely but welcome shower of rain, has kept me till now, evening time; & Brown who was to send me a boy to nail on 2 sheets of iron on the roof, has never turned up, & I suppose they are all gone in the early morning & I shall get Rested in some other way, I have no doubt. We are to have a play day for the Sabbath & day school children on Friday, & shall give them prizes. I have been looking out for things this forenoon, & very likely I shall not hear or see anything of my fellow workers till the Year has passed, so I shall have no news to give you. But I send my requests via the Heavenly Wireless, & no destroyer can touch that, or hinder the transference to you. Hence I leave you in Good, Strong, Everlasting, Comfy, Tender Hands, & He will hold us both & all we hold dear, “till we meet”, whether it be here or yonder. My warmest love to your dear mother & to your brother Angus, & may the “Best Wine” be measured out to you, & the 'Finest of the Wheat' & His Own Blessed Presence as the year dawns, & goes on, bringing the Health & the Growth & profit & satisfaction that will go on accumulating in Priceless & Eternal Treasure.

All the bairns know you from your photo, & send messages of love to you. So does your ever loving sister & friend in the Holiest of Bonds.

Mary M Slessor

What if I go home to Scotland in March? Eh?

But theres no one for Ikpe or any where about. Alas!

EDITORIAL NOTES:
1] Xtianity and Xt. = Christianity and Christ
2] 2 Cor 1st. This is a reference to the New Testament. Second letter to the Corinthians, first chapter.
3] Xtmas = Christmas
4] “one of our officers”. This was Mr Charles Partridge. See her last letter to him [Letter number 83] which also describes the festive scene as his parcel of puddings was opened and one consumed.
5] The “Diamond” = a river boat

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Mr Stevenson 28th February 1906
GD.X.260.02
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.02

Miss Slessor responds delightedly to the news of the gift of a hospital to be sited at Itu, and that it is to be named after her is she states quite undeserved. It has been suggested that she return to Akpap in the Okoyong District. She reviews the current situation, and describes the needs and the unparalled opportunities for development of the Mission's work in her present area, and makes it clear she has no intention to move away. Despite her health, she can manage. She puts a strong case for the establishment of industry and shelter for the women of the district. The first twins have been saved in her area. She concludes with a brief review of her current work.

________________________________________________________

Ikot Obon
28th Feby 1906

Dear Mr Stevenson

Youre a fine flatterer I can gather from your letter, & the present occasion gives you a good chance I must say, to set it off, but O if you only kent[Note 2] how small & ashamed I feel at the very thought of such a piece of Xtian[Note 3] Philanthropy being associated with my poor name you would never speak of my writing about myself or my wanderings, for I feel as if I can never come out of the bush & go among other people with this distinguishing mark on me. Why should I be lifted up above the others who are working better, & perhaps far more successfully in God's sight than I am? & what have I ever been able to do except what God has done Himself, & could have done as easily without me. I've not sacrificed a single happiness or incurred a single hardship by any work, for I have such an even, happy, peaceful, *satisfied* life, that I feel quite a fraud. I think there is not a woman on earth more highly blessed than I am. However it is a *grand* gift this of Mr Kemps, & I'm so glad with & for our people in its bestowal. Then too, Itu is already being justified as the site for such a house of healing, for there are hundreds of men on the river frontage there, making a Railway Embankment. It will be the base of lines for Road & Rail which shall intersect the whole of this Ibibio Country, down to the estuary, & across to the Niger. Such things are being rushed before our eyes, things that never entered the wildest dreams of Calabar.

In all this how plainly has God been leading me! I had not a thought of such things in my lifetime, nor indeed in the next generation, & yet my steps have been *led*, apart from any plan of mine, right to the line of God's planning for the Country. First Itu; then the Creek; then back from Aro, where I had set my heart, to a solitary wilderness of the most forbidding description; where the silence of the bush had never been broken, & here, before 3 months are past, there are miles of road, & miles & miles more all surveyed & being worked upon by gangs of men from every where, & free labour is being created & accepted as quickly as even a novelist cd. imagine. And the Minutes say, “ I am to return to Akpap in April”.[Note 4]

It *would* be “going home” as you say, & Okoyon & its people are very dear to me. No place on earth now is quite as dear, but to leave these hordes of untamed, unwashed, unlovely Savages, & withdraw the little rushlight begun to flicker out over its darkness!! I dare not think of it! Whether the Church permits it or not, I feel I must stay here, & even go on farther, as the roads are made. I cannot walk now, nor dare I do any thing to trifle with my health, which is very queer now & then, but, if the roads are all the easy gradients of those already made, I can get 4 wheels made, & set a box on them & the children can draw me about. They are going *round* the hills, & in that case it wd. be easy for us. The officers are running past on 'Bikes' even now & there is waterway up to the beach here all the year round for even deep draught steamers. There is already a factory at the beach, so we can buy things as easily as they can in Calabar. This is a wealthy country, & our Mission must haste to enter, or ask others to do so, before R.C. or Mohamedans do so, as the Govt. will take any one willing & able to teach the people. Also the weak part in our Calabar Mission work is the want of any industry or shelter for women. Where are Mrs Goldies Girls? & many more brought up in the Mission, but whom the Missionaries do not need in their service. Either living with Coast Men, or sitting any how, rather than go into a harem. For there is nothing but market & sewing machines for women, & [Note 5] every woman has a machine & all women can't earn a living in the market. We *must* have something at which a decent Xtian woman who wishes to earn her living, can do so, apart from native marriage. We must really try *at* *once* to get something done, & that something must not be in the evil & overcrowded environment of a shipping port like Calabar. Every woman born here can work land, raise stock, & etc, & we could get land up country for this purpose, & for women who cd. do laundry work, near the river, as there are weekly strs[Note 7], & will soon be more than weekly service, & officers are scattered all over the Cross River & Aro Chuku, & Ibibio districts with strs & runners to carry & fetch every week at least. Then too, there is baking, & this great tribe are still naked, so there could be dress making up here! Then there shd. be Elementary schools both for boys & girls, with farm work, mat making, & etc attached, & these scattered about will supply the Sabbath services just as well as the formulae of the Church & Minister would. This is an absolute necessity at once. The value of land will soon rise to a fictitious value, & it is true economy to invest in something that will be a basis for work in the future. Had our Church kept on her brickfield, & got a saw mill 5 years ago, we wd. have had practically all the workmen in the country in our influence. It has been lost to us, & we have not only lost the moral influence, but the Govt employ hundreds of men at hese two branches alone at immense profits in £.s.d. The same salaries as we are paying, if scattered over new places with inexpensive houses, & with girls schools, & a Minister with a boys industrial school station, wd. cover the country with a net work of simple agencies, & let the old stations be manned at Calabar by one man, one man at a Station. I can give up this very good comfy little house to any one you may send up here & I shall go farther on, or I shall get up a place farther on inexpensively for any one & stay here, just as the case may be, & as there is no isolation, & as the Dr is at Itu, there is no risk, & this is healthy high land - well watered every where, so one or two ladies are safe - aye safer, than in Duke or Creek Towns. With such views & facts * pressing* on me at every point, you will understand my saying, *I* *dare* *not* go back, even for my bonny up stairs house & my own people. I shall rather take the risks of finding my own Chop[Note 6], if the Mission do not see their way to go on.

Then too, Miss Wright has proved herself abundantly able to superintend a station, & the Okoyon people like her, & respect her, & she can both hear & speak to them in their own tongue. Why should I go and interrupt her work. It wd. be unfair except she were going on furlough, & Miss Amess should keep to where she takes root. It is truest economy both in the temper of the worker & in the results of the district. Okoyon is well supplied.

Now you will see this is not for publication. It is for digestion, & if the Church can see its way to go on in some such way to meet the new needs & requirements, I shall do all in my power to further them without extra expense to the Church.

As regards the Creek, the Churches are doing fairly well as far as I know. As Dr Robertson is now in charge of those, of course I do not like to poke my nose in, but the first Communion at Itu, was something thrilling. It is his place to tell you of it, not mine.

The new teacher too at Akani Obio seems to find a good field for his energies & zeal, & the converts there seem quite as enthusiastic as ever. Asan I am not so sure about. It has peculiar difficulties on account of the relationships of old families to slaves, but they too have got a teacher & I trust the Word will conquer all the old fashions & the passions of the people.

My oldest girl is at Okpo doing a little among the women & girls at school & she says the services go on steadily & prosperously. The lads there too, do a little in the Ibibio land behind them. I have money from friends which I can only spend conscientiously on teachers, & its the lack of those! Pray for boys & girls taught of God to teach small schools all over the land. There are 700 men on the 4 or 5 miles of road between here & Itu, living in grass huts all by the road side.[Note 8] They are from every part of the land & it is such a grand chance to sow the seed, & have it carried far & near as they return to their homes, but I'm not able to walk, & I cant get anyone to work amomg them. This navvy work will go on, & on, & O if only a young man were here to catch hold of them. If the Board cd. send Mr Rankin, or Collins here, it wd. be a grand field for them, for all the men are willing to hear. There are two gangs near, who come from the place where at first the Govt. had to go & fight. It is far off, but I do not know the locality myself. They come to Church without being asked now, & are very attentive. Of course, by Church, you dont think for a moment of your Church service. It is very informal & crude, but the church building is almost ready. We are worshipping in it these two months, & it is Gospel they hear, if it is not oratory.

Well, Well! this is all I can send for a letter. I *can* *not* write a 'Report', & specially for Synod or Record. I can only do what my heart spills over, & as I'm old & not able to change my ways you must just bear with me. We have 40 scholars, & a fairly good congregation wherever we go, a hundred or so just now in Morning service as it is farm time, & for the rest, it is just *living* among them & doing every daily & social duty in such a way as will win their confidence & attention & affection. Thats all, & if you wrote to me, I might be in a mood some times to write to you. As you dont, then we're quits.

Eh?

Excuse Government paper, I havent a scrap of my own till I get from Calabar.

I am dear sir

Yours very sincerely

Mary M Slessor

The first twins were saved here last moon, their Mother is here now. Another case some 6 miles distant was reported yesterday, but the children were dead they say. Killed I have no doubt. Still the very reporting is a step in the right direction.

MMS

A note is appended in a different hand in very small neat characters thus: “In answer to a letter telling of the gift of the Mary Slessor Hospital for the district” [signed] [NS?]

EDITORIAL NOTES:

1] Certain passages of the letter relating to suggestions for possible future endeavours by the Church, have been faintly scored out. The editor has ignored these as probably not originalbut editorial markings made in preparation of the letter for some report or other publication.
2] kent = knew [Scots]
3] Xtian = Christian
4] At the end of this sentence Mary had originally placed six exclamation marks. They were subsequently crossed out.
5] It is suggested that the word “not” has inadvertantly been left out at this point,
6] chop = food
7] strs = steamers
8] these gangs of men are also mentioned in her letter Number 27, dated 24th February 1906, to Charles Partridge

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Mr Stevenson 27th [or 28th] October 1907
GD.X.260.04
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.04

Miss Slessor expresses her pleasure at having met Mr Stevenson and Miss Crawford. Regarding reporting the situation in Calabar she is reluctant to say much, although happy to help him to form his own opinions. However she gives at length her opinions on the length and frequency of the missionaries' furloughs, which she believes have no need to be as frequent as those of government officials.

________________________________________________________

Two days past Canaria Islands
[27 or 28]. 10. '07

Dear Mr Stevenson

I must thank you for your kind letter of good bye. It was indeed kind of you to write to me, & for this, & for *all* your kindness, I thank you very warmly. I too am glad that we have met, as I have never felt much at home with our new conditions, & feared the result of the union, *in* *its* *detail*, tho' I most heartily approved of it in theory & in fact. Now, I shall not be afraid of you, both Miss Crawford and yourself have been a revelation to me, & I am ashamed of my former fancies & fears. I shall ever think of, & pray for the secretaries with very warm & thankful heart. God bless you both in that most important sphere.

Regarding things in general in Calabar, I am not very competent to write. I am far enough away to see with a truer perspective certain things, but I am too far apart to be able to give any very valuable opinion regarding many of the workings of the Mission. And if it were not of moment; I should be afraid to say too much on any question for fear of hurting or [thwurling?][Note 1] any one whose judgment might be better than mine. Work like ours has so many sides, & allows of more flexible & mobile treatment than more stereotyped forms of work. However if I can help you to form an opinion on any subject, I shall be glad indeed to give what I think a just & right opinion. As regards the short terms & frequent furloughs, my opinion is not a secret, though it is hardly in good taste to give it, seeing I have been able to stay a little longer than my fellow workers. The reason given for the short term is I believe the fact that Govt. servants stay only for a year or 18 months. While this is true, it is also true, that the cases are not parallel. Govt. officers have not a Home life, we have. Their duties are much more multifarious than ours. They have a constant going about, & are exposed to long marches in the roughest surroundings, & are never sure of a day of ordinary routine. They are called to new situations on an hours notice, & they have seldom precedents, & never *necessarily* data to go upon. Hence they are kept in strain & stress as we never are. Our lives are comparatively quiet, & our ordered methodical routine allows us to have times of rest, & to have comforts such as those men never have. Our food is also regular, & as far as is possible is what is best for the climate. Our servants are trained, theirs are, any boy they can pick up, & food is very haphazard both as to its kind & its preparation. These conditions make a Govt. officials life a very strenuous, & a very wearing one, & it would be impossible for them to go on very long. But apart from all this, the motives which lie at the root of a missionarys life, are, or ought to be, so far above those which rule any wordly calling, that there must be given some proof of their reality. If they for a wordly calling can do much, we from our loftier standpoint, & our higher ideals, should surely do more. If they follow & obey, wherever, & whenever duty calls, surely we should far outstrip them, seeing ours is a service of Love & Gratitude. We can not wonder if the men of the world ask, “ What do ye more than these ? & they have a right to judge by what they see. I would have every one feel that if sickness or weakness calls them home, they will be met at home with sympathy & kindness, but I would have the laws of honour bind every one to do his & her utmost to take care of health & to work up to the measure of his or her ability. And the old law of 3 years, & five years, did not kill or over work our forefathers & mothers. Their record is not bad, & they had not the means or the foods we have, nor had they all the appliances of science we have now for getting health & comforts.

But this is of course my private opinion. If the same simple life were lived, & the early hours kept that used to obtain, I dont think life here would be so hard for us, but late hours, & home habits, are not healthful here. Only you see, I am of the old ways, & cant put myself into the ways of the young who have been accustomed to other things. So you must discount a lot from my way of looking at it. Now this is just a line to thank you. I shall write when I know how things will go. The monies lying in Mr Slights hands need a letter to him, & so I must bid you a goodbye. We have had glorious weather. There are two lads who held service yesterday, but they are lay men, & it was very crude, & very few white men came in. It was courageous of them though, & I must speak to them. With every kind wish, I am yours very sincerely

M M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTE:

1] Indecipherable: Miss Slessor appears to have written over her first word here

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Mr Stevenson 16th December 1907
GD.X.260.01
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.01

Miss Slessor has been asked by Miss Crawford to supply details of her birth date for administration purposes, but cannot quite recall the year of her birth.

________________________________________________________

Creek Town
Old Calabar
16th. Decr 1901.

Dear Mr Stevenson

I have a note from Miss(?)[Note 1] Crawford asking me to send you the exact date of my birth.

Thats rather a large order isn't it? To a gentleman I do not have the honour of knowing personally either. But as I am settled in a large family, having 13 of my own rearing in hand, I need not blush, need I? I do not know whether I was born in 1848 or 49, & the old Family Bible is given away, & the “Act & Testimony” in which also our births were registered was eaten by the ants here years ago, so I dont know when I can get it. But it was the 2nd. day of the December of one of those years, that had the doubtful honour of my entrance into this world.

Trusting this will satisfy you, & trusting also that I shall be able to escape all obligations to *any* Anuity Fund, by being able to hold my small Fort to the last stage of the Pilgrimage, I beg you to accept best regards & am yours faithfully

Mary M Slessor

EDITORIAL NOTES: 1] This is Mary Slessor's own question mark

Slessor, Mary
Letter to Mr Stevenson 20th February 1914
GD.X.260.14
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.14

Miss Slessor apologises to Mr Stevenson, a Church official, for her late reply and goes on to tell how she is trying to take the Gospel on to an area beyond Ikpe. She has had to convince the chiefs that her presence would be a good thing, as she is determined that the Gospel goes hand-in-hand with their wish to learn to read and write. She plans to share her time at Ikpe with this area - to the disappointment of the Ikpe lads.

As it is the farming season she cannot get any building done, so has had to take over the government rest-house, leaving only two lesser rooms for the District Commissioner to occupy when he attends the local court. There is a description of the first Sabbath meeting held at Odoro Ikpe. The beautiful view from their quarters, and their life there, is described. She suggests that the mission work could be facilitated by the acquisition of a motor-car and chauffeur which would enable the missionary to visit the infant congregations in hours rather than days, and enable more constant supervision and support.

She ends with words of support for both him and Miss Crawford.

________________________________________________________

Ikpe Ikot Nkon
20.. 2.. '14.

Dear Mr Stevenson

It is long long since your most kind letter clamoured for a reply. It gave me the greatest pleasure to have it, & I have answered it many times in my own mind, though, like yourself I find it harder to write as the years press. I thank you for all the kind things you say, & only wish I deserved them more. It is only in so far as My Lord is honoured that any honour is acceptable to me. But I do appreciate the kind thought that led them to see that as our Mission Work had made much of their success possible, they would like to acknowledge it in some way.

I am, as you see, up in the bush. I came over determined to have another “ Try” at some of the big towns which bitterly oppose the entrance of the Gospel, tho' they are eager for Education for their boys. I have absolutely refused to divorce the one from the other, & the dreadful incubus heathenism is to the whole struggling infant Church obsesses me so, I feel something more than ordinary methods must be adopted if there is to be an upward leverage. So I sat down 5 miles from this station, at the town where the Native Consular Court works, & took it upon me to occupy the Rest House, trusting to the good will of the Dist. Comr. in charge, as he is a man much interested in the natives, & seeking their highest welfare. Disciples who live inside a radius of 5 miles came gladly to have a service as not a single soul in all the district can read, & they have heard very imperfectly & superficially, the Gospel story, & only know a couple of hymns by heart. I can go to their houses & hold service, but 10 miles each way in the heat, & the service in the middle of the day, without a place to rest or change, is a feat I can only now & then accomplish & there has been no middle place to which they, & we can find an easier approach. Well this Town of Odoro-Ikpe is midway, & I made one more effort, the day after my arrival, to find a footing. I was so fortunate as to find one old Chief here, who is my friend, apart from mission matters, & he & I were at greater liberty to fight each other. The stock refrain was trotted out, “We cannot bring in your God Word & spoil our Land.” Every bogey is discussed, & usually they are beaten & laugh at themselves. But the casting vote is always given on “Twins & Twin Mothers”. “Those are invariably given a place by Christians, & we cant have it.” We come to personalities, & then they cant deny what they know to be facts, so we break up with all good nature, & even the crowd about us get a bit more friendly after those conversations & battles. Another visit of *all* the [Note 6] of the various sections was held at the Rest House, & there the whole thing was not only given over to my charge, but presents were brought of food, & we were promised every help. So the battle was won by our side. Needless to say, I struck while the iron was hot, & went at once with my A.B.C. card to try & win the boys & girls to my campaign. They were slow a bit at first, but I did not dose them with Theology, but pointed out the Rubber & Cocoa the Government had planted all over the grounds, & tried to awaken their ambitions & interest, & told them how the world was moving outside their bush circle, & how the future was likely to treat ignorance, & etc. & really it is wonderful how soon they saw the point, & their sullenness gave way, & they began to ask questions & to chat, till before the end of the week we were chums, & they came every spare hour to get a lesson. They came to the school here after Market on Wednesday, to pay their respects, & were amazed at the reading & the slates, & then they begged with greater earnestness than ever, that I should get books & slates[Note 1] for them.

I'm afraid the Ikpe school boys were a bit rueful, & did not make much approach in a friendly way as it means their giving up half their chance, & which is broken enough already by the claims of Use. It is the season for farm work, & every hour of daylight is precious. The only leisure is late in the evening after work, so no building can be done, even if the ground & sand, & material were workable. That will come when the rains come, & the question was, Where am I to stay during the week? - I had promised to give them every alternate week with Ikpe --. O, said the Chiefs, Live here just now till building time”, i.e the Rest House is to be my home till then! What then about the D.C.?[Note 2] When he comes over to the Court? But I dared not let them think that an officer would be other than delighted with their capitulation, so I agreed, & made my confession to the D.C. later on by letter. There are still two apartments for him on the other side, but they are open to the road, & are meant I suppose for Interpreters & upper servants. There are no doors or windows, but there are good walls & a good roof, & my girls are accustomed to sleeping on the ground & as the grounds are beautifully kept by the prisoners, there is little fear of Reptiles or beasts. So we are Royally housed, & have clean & pleasant surroundings, & we are the happiest of mortals I think, counting it such an honour, & such condecention on Our Lord's part so to use the frail Tabernacle which has so little that the world counts attractive. But it is doubtless that in the “Earthen vessels, the excellency of the Power” may be manifestly of God, not of us. We came over on Saturday for the service here, & to pull up the scholars, & have found (as usual) that there is always a slackening in every part of the work when we are absent, & the native lads & boys left to themselves, but on the whole it is wonderful how they keep on. The first classes are fairly well where we left them but the lower classes go back & forget every thing. I wonder by what means God will lift off the embargo Dr Hitchcock put on this large town! It is very pitifully sad. The house is always in wonderfully good order. I am surprised each time at a mud house being so, after such long absences & no fires ever put on.

Odoro Ikpe 24th Feb.

Here once more! We came over on Saturday for the first Sabbath service held here. All the schoolboys & a lot of the older ones came over with us to see that we were all right. All the school boys here were running down the hill to meet us & to take the loads from the girls. Nearly a hundred were round me bringing me over the hill top, & the people who were at the Court all came to see what was the matter. Many of these are from inland villages unknown to the Europeans, so we shall be widely advertized. This is to be the meeting place on each alternate Sunday for the disciples of Ndoto & Ibam, some miles farther on. So on Sabbath morning they were here, & some of our Ikpe lads turned up to be a help at the first beginnings. No elderly person came, but the Chief sent a chair & his respects. The women were at the farm, & most of the grown up men folks, but a big play for girls was going on & parties of them were dancing to the stirring strains of the drums, & their sweet young voices were very musical. I wondered that so many of the boys & lads came right away after us. They behaved well & responded most intelligently & the Ikpe lads lent a tone to the meeting. Each boy got on some kind of a garment if only a rag, & that in itself showed respect. In the afternoon several older lads came & seemed impressed with the truth, & then we went to the Town & the Chief who is most friendly, came out & we had a meeting, unconventional, but I think not ineffectual, before his House. It is all very queer & very topsy-turvy a Sabbath like this, sordid a good deal, & unsatisfying to a lover of order & beauty & the regular ways of the Sanctuary, but to those poor things, it is an epoch, & most likely a day full of wonder & pause. Again they brought us home in the darkening, & their parting salutations seemed to be full of wistfulness. O if only we had the men & the women to gather them into the fold of Christ. If only I were young again in all this opportunity. Some boys from Ndot have been here for lessons, & a small market held today, Monday, has sent in women visitors. A deputation from Mbia-bet & the school has filled up an interesting day. It is a sort of Gipsy life, our only article of furniture a camp bed & the provision box that brought our live stock, - fowls. & this gives us a lot of rest in one sense, as there is no house work to do except cooking, & that is very primitive too. If things go on well, I shall begin to build a house as soon as the yams are planted. It is very, very high! It takes me an hour to climb the hill, which is my chief difficulty. The hill & its steepness is the reason for this being the terminus of the Motor Car. The road all round & up to the top of the hill is full of beautiful white smooth stones. They are very hard to walk upon, but so clean & homelike. It is just like the sea shore at home, only what should be the sea is a vast expanse, on three sides, of bush held just now nearly all the time in the grey blue grip of the Harmattan[Note 3] Haur[Note 4]. Away on the horizon lies Aro land & several tribelets with the Creek valley between. It is the widest outlook I have seen in Calabar including Unwana. If the Presbytery wants height, they can have it here in full measure. My idea, born from a fever experience, for the working of this place is a motor car, with a Missionary Chauffeur, with a house at this place & another below Ikot Obon, to meet the launch from Itu. That would embrace the whole of the stations, besides it cd. stop at all the villages on the road which is an impossibility to the ordinary traveller & to the Government motor which I have the privilege of using. On my way I pass Ibiaku & Ikot Obon & Ikot Ekpene, & Itu can be easily reached & the car be back here touching at all those places, before night. It wd. take 8 or 10 persons to do this, besides the saving in strength, time & transport. Next best, for these inland peoples & towns which are opened by Govt, & good roads made, is a motor cycle, to take the missionary to the various places without killing himself, & sleeping by the roadside. But this is all out of the question with that great sum needed in the east. Couldnt Glasgow Individual members, or Edinburgh Swells do this & such things off their own individual bats?? It wd. be a fitting thankoffering for special mercies received by them. But I must get to some duties which must be done before school time. Im quite ashamed of this letter, & I've waited till I could write a decent one. On reading this over, it is simply shameful the mistakes & the disconnected items, but when shall I get a better one done, seeing I live out of doors, & every one who passes has something to say. Thank you for all your news. I hope the spring time which will be with you now, will suit Mrs Stevenson better than the damp winter you have had, & I hope all the members of your family will grow in usefulness & be even more a blessing than ever. Dont you speak of giving over to younger ones. Experience counts for a lot that matters greatly. I hope many years of grand service are before you & that you will continue to hold the lines you know so well. I have had a very beautiful letter from Miss Crawford, & should like to write at once. I do trust her father gets better. Will you please tell her. I'm thinking of her often & often, & will write to her soon. The Wireless[Note 5] to the Throne is ever open.

I have a letter from an officer in Lagos, who tells me of Mr Watts marriage, & well being, & well doing. I must write to congratulate him. He is a *fine* man! I wish we had more of his kind in the Governing service. Now if you can wade through this Tangle, try to understand something of my meaning which is of the warmest & most grateful & sincere Christian appreciation & greeting & affection. I trust this will find you well, & able for the burden of work which the assembly will bring you, & I am

Yours sincerely
M M Slessor

I have to acknowledge yours of --- with money. & etc. MMS

Im expecting Misses Bowes & Hart in 10 days for their holiday.

EDITORIAL NOTES:
1] Slates, often framed in wood, were in common usage in British schools at this time for practising writing and working out sums with the aid of a slate pencil. Could be easily cleaned, and particularly practical in Africa as they would not deteriorate through the climate etc.
2] D.C. = District Commissioner
3] Harmattan: “a parching dusty land-wind of the West African Coast occurring from December to February (Oxford English Reference Dictionary)
4] Haur. This is clearly spelt by Miss Slessor but is not listed in dictionaries.
5] Wireless = telegraphy or radio, which was still in its infancy
6] A word appears to be missed out here.

Slessor, Mary
Miss Slessor's first Impressions of Calabar. Extracts from a Letter dated Duke Town 11th October 1876, copied by an unknown hand.11th October 1876
GD.X.260.18
Dundee City Archives

GD.X.260.18

Miss Slessor describes her voyage out, her first impressions on arrival in Calabar, and of her first journeyings in the bush. Already she is in a hurry for action!

________________________________________________________

Miss Slessor's first Impressions of Calabar.

Extracts from a Letter by Miss Slessor, dated Duke Town 11 Octr. 1876, copied by an unknown hand.

-----As you say. I feel the solitariness of my position * a little* more than I expected. But I have also felt the Presence of the great Elder Brother, & His power to keep me in 'perfect peace' more than I expected. -------- We had no service all the way, & I was hungry for a Scotch Sabbath ------ This, however only made my first Sabbath in Calabar the sweeter. --------My first impressions --- I can hardly define them, but they have not at all disappointed my highest expectations ----- The attendance at Church & at the meetings, the demeanour of the audience, the distinction between the Church members & the heathen around, and the respectful, deferential manner in which the people from highest to lowest receive the missionaries, are all that can be desired, & wd. contrast favourably with almost any part of the Church at home.

The physical features of the place are lovely. It is delightsome land. “Every prospect pleases”. And those who have been here for a long time say that the unhealthiness for which it is proverbial is largely owing to want of proper care.

I have not overtaken much of the language yet, consequently I have not been of much use, and during the last fortnight I have been visiting all our stations. - ----- I spent more than a week at Creek Town, during which time I saw how the School there was conducted & how the ordinary work was carried on: and I also made the acquaintance of the various members of the Mission ------ I saw six persons baptized which was a very impressive sight; and on the next Sabbath I joined in the Communion Service - my first communion in Africa. ----- A congregational meeting was held next day in connection with their new Church.

Mr Edgerley[Note 1] took me up one day to a station called Adiabo & to another - I forget how to spell the name. He spoke to the people & was listened to with great respect & attention. At the latter place the women & children crowded round to see the white 'Ma' and their gesticulations wd. have frightened me had not Mr E. told me they only wished to make friends with me. We have no teacher there just now, & it was really painful to bid them goodbye, & not have a person to leave with them. ---------------

We spent nearly two days at Ikorofion with Mrs Fuller ---------- John Baillie addressed the people, & when he had finished he asked me if I had anything to say. Of course all eyes were fixed on me. It is a rare thing for a white person to visit them, & specially so to have a white lady visitor. And for once in my life I felt it difficult to tell the 'Old,Old Story.' ----------

Going on further we came to a palaver house: the blood of their latest Sacrifice was still fresh on the altar. Some fierce looking men were sitting beside it, but in less than five minutes they were sitting beside me in the house of the Chief, who received me with great Kindness. Scarcely had we been seated, when a crowd of men, women & children almost Smothered us. The Chief drove them off with a whip & made them stand at a respectful distance. ------

------- I enjoyed the walk immensely, tho' it was long & fatiguing. It was thro' “bush proper”. I have not seen bush like it anywhere. Indeed, it cd. scarcely be called walking - it was pushing & climbing and jumping & wading; but Mr E. sent three Krumen[Note 2] to take care of me & they stood me in good stead more than once. -----------

It is a sad fact that not a native woman belongs to the Church there. Here is work for our women at home who are constantly complaining of having nothing to do. *Some*-*thing* *more* *must* *be* *done* for the women here, if we are to raise the men. The women are the great draw-back to our success. To visit these yards & see so many women going, or rather *lolling*, about almost naked, to know their habits & their deceit - one only wonders that the men are as they are.

I have begun my work here this week. It is divided between the School & the yards principally, and as yet I like it very much, & I expect I shall get on pretty well. But Oh, one does need special grace to enable one to 'sit still'; it is so difficult to wait. One text keeps repeating itself - “Learn of Me”. Christ was never in a hurry.-----------------------

The blots are caused by my onslaughts on cockroaches [etc?] This is very prolific land in every department of life - oh. I must except intellectual & spiritual!

Editorial Notes:

Mr Samuel Edgerley was an ordained missionary, the son of the pioneer missionaries who had arrived in Calabar in 1846. He trained in Scotland as a medical missionary, returning to Calabar in 1857 as his father was dying of fever [James Buchan, from “The Expendable Mary Slessor” page 53]
Krumen = a West African people of the Coast of Liberia, noted as seamen [Chambers Dictionary]

Source Material

List of Reference Works in the Local History Centre of Dundee Central Library

Boyd, James

Mary Slessor Memorial Window and Corner Central Museum, Albert Institute, Dundee, 1969.
Compiled from notes of T. M. Davidson. D. 6823

Buchan, James

The Expendable Mary Slessor. Edinburgh:
St. Andrew Press, 1980. 0 7152 0438 6. D.20885, 21458

Buchan, James

Peacemaker of Calabar: The Story of Mary Slessor. Exeter:
Religious and Moral Education Press, 1984 D. 30259, 30260, 30261, 30262

Christian, Carol and Plummer, Gladys

God and One Redhead: Mary Slessor of Calabar.
Hodder and Stoughton, 1970. D.6832, 67133

Church of Scotland, Overseas Council

Mary Slessor of Calabar.
Church of Scotland Overseas Council, 1978. D.15496, 15502

Davidson, Thomas M.

The Mary Slessor Memorial Window:
Descriptive notes and short biography, 1924. D.3850, 4968, 7657, 32684

Dundee Corporation

City by Glen and Sea. Dundee:
Herald Press, 1962. D.3795, 3810, 3846, 3847

Ellis, J. J.

Mary Slessor, the Dundee Factory Girl who became a devoted African Missionary. Kilmarnock:
John Ritchie Ltd., 1920. D.3900

Eme, Nwachuku

From Heathenism to Christianity. March, 1958. D.8380

Knock, Esther E.

The Missionary Heroine of Calabar; a story of Mary Slessor,1956.
D.3722

Grampian Television

Script of the programme on Mary Slessor in “Great Scot” Series No. 19.
D.8377, 8378

Heroes of the Cross

Pandita Ramabui Mary Slessor: Rasalama, and Heroes in Madagascar. London:
Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1933. D.4059

Livingstone, Mrs. W. P. comp.

The Mary Slessor Calendar. London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. D.1395, 12406

Livingstone, W. P.

Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary. London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1915. D.18029, 9328
4^th edn., 1916 – D.30366, 9329, 3859
10^th edn., 1917 – D.9330, 4334, 4770, 30819

Livingstone, W. P.

Mary Slessor the White Queen. London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. D.20567

Livingstone, W. P.

The White Queen of Okoyong… Mary Slessor. London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1916. D.12405, 1501 1967 paperback edn. – D.1368 1933 edn.– D.20567

Luke, James

Pioneering in Mary Slessor’s Country. London:
The Epworth Press, 1929. D.31801

McFarlan, Donald M. Calabar:

The Church of Scotland Mission, 1846–1946.
Thomas Nelson and Son Ltd., 1946. D.4606, 4061

McFarlan, Donald M.

White Queen. The Story of Mary Slessor. London:
Lutterworth Press, 1963. D.3886, 4265

Miller, Basil

Mary Slessor: Heroine of Calabar. Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A.:
Zandervan Publishing House, 1966. D.4495

O’Brien, Brian

She had Magic: The Story of Mary Slessor. London:
Cape, 1958. D.6381, 4163

Slessor, Daniel MacArthur

Reminiscences of Miss Mary Slessor.
Typescript. D.8380 bound with Mary Slessor – Pioneer Missionary. Typescript. D.8380

Slessor, Mary

Photocopies of letters. D.21762

Stein, Rev. Jock, Hudson, J. H. and Jarvie, Thomas W.

Let the Fire Burn…a Study of R. M. McCheyne, Robert Annan and Mary Slessor. D.15545, 15546

Tape cassette recording of Miss Slessor’s voice.

Illustration of Memorial Window. F.1

Obituary in Dundee Yearbook – 18^th January 1915 at Calabar.

Resources in the Local History Centre are for reference only, and are not available for loan. In certain circumstances, photocopies or digital scans may be provided according to the prevailing scale of charges from Local History Alternatively, researchers may find that copies of cited works are available through their national inter-library loans service.