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CONTENTS
Family Background / My father: the able man / My father: the lay preacher / School days / Dangerous Occupations / Going to Sea I / Going to Sea II / Going to Sea III / Passage to America / First Steps / The Great Lakes / Return to England / A Narrow Escape / Passage to New Zealand / Auckland / Finding a Mission / Fit for Mission Work? / A Suitable Helpmeet / A Bush Honeymoon / Our Worst Night / Missionary Heroes / Sydney to Samoa
Acknowledgments & Links
I might have done very well indeed in this position. The gentleman I was with pleaded hard with me to stay with him, and promised that if I would remain twelve months he would set me up in business in the rising town of Goderich, on Lake Michigan; but I felt drawn strongly towards England, and finally decided to return. I could not possibly give any good reasons then for that wish, but I have done so many times since God sent me to the Mission field. I have often felt the truth of Bushnell's words, that every man's life is a plan of God, and I feel certain that He brought me back from Canada to carry out in me His Own loving purposes.
I had a rough experience going home. When I reached Quebec I found that men were very much needed, as there were many ships lying there whose crews had deserted them. I thought it better, therefore, to go home before the mast rather than pay for my passage, and so shipped as ordinary seaman on board a barque called the Olive, of Gloucester. I selected this vessel because I thought she would make the longest passage of any vessel in port; and as the wages were good, the longer the passage the more money there would be to draw. However, she disappointed us all in that respect, for we had strong westerly gales nearly all the way across the Atlantic. We had a large deck cargo, which soon shifted in the heavy gales. The vessel shipped large quantities of water, and we did little or nothing but man the pumps the whole of every watch. The crew consisted of a set of the biggest ruffians I have ever sailed with. They were what are called runners,
and came from New York to Quebec simply to get ships to take them home. Mine was the only chest in the forecastle; all the rest had what is commonly known as a stocking full
of clothes each. The captain was armed, and I think had to keep his cabin door secured every night. We were glad enough to know one evening that the captain expected to make the land early in the morning. It was my morning lookout watch, and when I was relieved at eight bells (4 a.m.) I told the man whose watch it was that the orders were to keep a sharp lookout for land. He appeared to be very sleepy. I did what I could to rouse him up, but he was always a useless, careless fellow. Going to my berth, I laid down without undressing, as I felt restless, and my mind was very busy thinking of the home and friends I had left some five years before. In about an hour I heard a great noise on deck, and all hands were called.
Family Background / My father: the able man / My father: the lay preacher / School days / Dangerous Occupations / Going to Sea I / Going to Sea II / Going to Sea III / Passage to America / First Steps / The Great Lakes / Return to England / A Narrow Escape / Passage to New Zealand / Auckland / Finding a Mission / Fit for Mission Work? / A Suitable Helpmeet / A Bush Honeymoon / Our Worst Night / Missionary Heroes / Sydney to Samoa
Acknowledgments & Links