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.
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