She told them
of the joy that they would have if they took Jesus into their hearts. She
told them of the hope of life after death with God in Heaven. The natives
listened. They liked her talk. After that whenever she came to that
district, crowds would come to hear her speak.
"Mammy," said Mary, after she had come from a trip to the outstations, "it
hurts my heart to see how cruel these people are. And those awful, ugly,
cruel gods they pray to. The chiefs are so cruel and mean and have no
mercy. And then that terrible secret society, the Egbo. I saw some of their
runners dressed in fearful costumes scaring the people and whipping them
with long whips. I saw a poor man whom they had beaten almost to
death. Then there is that horrible drinking. They are worse than wild
animals when they become drunk. And worst of all is that they have slaves
and sell their own people as slaves."
"Ah, lassie," said Mammy Anderson, "you haven't seen anything yet. There
are millions of these black people in the bush and far back in the
interior. Most of them are slaves. They don't treat a slave any better than
a pig. The slaves sleep on the ground like animals. They are branded with a
hot iron just as animals are. And just as the farmers back home fatten a
pig for market, so the girls are fattened and sold for slave wives. The
slaves can be whipped or sold or killed.
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