ad settled
at Mabotsa, when preaching on the most solemn subjects, a woman might be
observed to look round, and, seeing a neighbor seated on her dress, give
her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other would return
it with interest, and perhaps the remark, "Take the nasty thing away,
will you?" Then three or four would begin to hustle the first offenders,
and the men to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence.

Great numbers of little trifling things like these occur, and would
not be worth the mention but that one can not form a correct idea of
missionary work except by examination of the minutiae. At the risk
of appearing frivolous to some, I shall continue to descend to mere
trifles.

The numbers who attended at the summons of the herald, who acted as
beadle, were often from five to seven hundred. The service consisted of
reading a small portion of the Bible and giving an explanatory address,
usually short enough to prevent weariness or want of attention. So long
as we continue to hold services in the kotla, the associations of the
place are unfavorable to solemnity; hence it is always desirable to have
a place of worship as soon as possible; and it is of importance, too,
to treat such place with reverence, as an aid to secure that serious
attention which religious subjects demand. This will appear more evident
when it is recollected that, in the very spot where we had been engaged
in acts of devotion, half an hour after a dance would be got up; and
these habits can not be at first opposed without the appearance of
assuming too much authority over them. It is always unwise to hurt
their feelings of independence. Much greater influence will be gained by
studying how you may induce them to act aright, with the impression
that they are doing it of their own free will. Our services having
necessarily been all in the open air, where it is most difficult to
address large bodies of people, prevented my recovering so entirely from
the effects of clergyman's sore throat as I expected, when my uvula was
excised at the Cape.

To give an idea of the routine followed for months together, on other
days as well as on Sundays, I may advert to my habit of treating the
sick for complaints which seemed to surmount the skill of their own
doctors. I refrained from going to any one unless his own doctor wished
it, or had given up the case. This led to my having a selection of
the severer cases only, and prevented t