Mary Slessor: Letters 51–60

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 don’t 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 don’t 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 sincerely

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

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 don’t 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 don’t 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 & don’t repeat that giving of yourself up to doing record work. It wont pay, & then you don’t profess to have a Halo waiting, so please, don’t 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

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 don’t 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 don’t 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

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 don’t like it. Russell is a fine man himself, & deserves to succeed. Now, please, don’t get mis-anthropic, seeing your nearest white neighbour is far off, & don’t 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

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 don’t bother, only if you remember about it, tell me how to do to get it. If you don’t, or if it were removed, never mind,

Yours again
MMSlessor

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 don’t 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 don’t get a letter of some kind at that season, then I shall think I'm cast off indeed.

You write about Halliday! don’t 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 don’t 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

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

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 don’t 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.

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 don’t 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 don’t say whether your health is good or bad, or indifferent. Cd. you not ignore my weakness for airing my aches, & don’t 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*