He was much grieved by the accounts which reached him of the terrible
war which was being fought between France and Germany in 1870. "What
can I say," he writes, "to my Melanesians about it? Do these nations
believe in the gospel of peace and goodwill? Is the sermon on the
mount a reality or not?"
Yet he had troubles closer at home than this even. The trading ships
were coming in numbers to the islands, and carrying off the natives
either by guile or by force to Fiji and other places where labourers
were wanted.
Notwithstanding the anxieties which beset him on this account, the
good bishop continued to work as hard as ever, and very happy he was
about his people.
On Christmas Eve, 1870, he writes: "Seven new communicants to-morrow
morning. And all things, God be praised, happy and peaceful about us."
He wrote of the large "family" of 145 Melanesian natives he had around
him; at another time he spoke of his sleeping on a table with some
twelve or more fellows about him; and people coming and going all day
long both in and out of school hours!
In August, 1871, he baptised 248 persons, twenty-five of them adults,
all in a little more than a month, and he rejoiced in the thought that
a blessed change was going on in the hearts of these people.
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