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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
We were kindly received in Sydney, and were much encouraged when we heard ourselves often commended to God in the prayers of our many kind friends. I was ordained by Revs. J. Eggleston (president), S. Rabone, S. Ironside, and T. Adams, in the York Street Church, on Wednesday, September 19 ; and on the following Wednesday, September 26, we sailed in the John Wesley for our appointment, and arrived in Tonga on October 18. The brethren there told me that they had decided to keep us in the Friendly Islands, instead of going to Samoa, and they wished me to consent to this arrangement. I told them, however, that I could do nothing to interfere with my conference appointment, and that if they thought that a change should be made, the chairman himself must take the responsibility of making it. The end of the matter was that we went on to our own appointment, and arrived at Samoa on October 30.
It may, I think, be interesting in these days of steam communication to realise how different the conditions were in those early days. The captain of the John Wesley would not approach the Samoa Islands within five or six miles, and it took several hoursÕ hard pulling in the boats after the vessel had been sighted before any one could get on board. In our case Mr. Dyson did not reach the vessel until nearly dark, and then we and all our goods and chattels were put into the boats far out at sea. We did not reach the shore until about three oÕclock in the morning, after the crew had been pulling nearly all night in heavily laden boats and having had to come through a passage which was very seldom smooth, and often a very dangerous one. As soon as we were clear of the ship, the vessel was on her way back to Tonga.
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