Identifier: darkcallofcontin00walkrich (find matches)
Title: The call of the dark continent : a study in missionary progress, opportunity and urgency
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Walker, F. Deaville (Frank Deaville), b. 1878
Subjects: Missions -- Africa Methodist Church -- Missions
Publisher: London : Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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a Kafirwoman that she should sell me her baby for fivepounds. The sum would have been a small fortuneto the woman; yet, as she did not understand that Iwas but in play, she snatched up her baby with ascream, and hugged it to her bosom, and ran awayto a safe distance, from which she assured me thatthe very thought was impossible, . . . and as long asI was at the kraal she kept eyeing me with jealouswatchfulness. It is quite customary for the parents toamuse their little ones by playing with them,or making playthings; and one distinguishedworker supplies a delightful picture of alarge childrens party in a Kafir kraal. Anyone who has visited Africa must havebeen fascinated by the merry-eyed, playfulchildren who gather round the stranger inexpectation, or shyly stand at a distanceand follow him with wistful eyes; and, ifthe visitor has in his heart the love of Christ,he will ever afterwards yearn to tell the boysand girls of Africa of One who called thechildren unto Him and blessed them.
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The People of the Dark Continent 79 Childhood is ever beautiful, but as theAfrican children grow, their childishinnocence is lost all too soon, and they learnfrom observation, or are deliberately taughtby their parents or instructors in the bushschools, such things as for ever pollute theirminds and defile their hearts. The earliesttraining is received in the home, the mothersteaching the girls the rudiments of^suchdomestic economy as is known in Africa, andmen initiating the boys in the use of weaponsor the management of cattle. In earlychildhood the boys and girls are usuallytogether in play and work, but as yearsadvance they grow apart, the boys soonlearning to treat their sisters as inferiors.About the age of ten they are sent to thebush schools. These are held in secretin the woods. The sexes are separated, andby selected men and women the boys andgirls are instructed in the customs of theirpeople. The children are inured to hard-ships and often the training is extremelysevere. I

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