When Mary returned to Devon, she told her mother about her decision. Mrs. Slessor was not at all happy about it. She could see that Mary’s heart was in Calabar, and she didn’t want her daughter’s work to stop just because she was sick. She argued back and forth with Mary about the decision until in September 1885, Mary asked a Christian friend in Dundee to come to Devon and take over caring for her mother and sister. She offered to pay the friend from her allowance, which would resume as soon as she set sail for Africa. The friend agreed, and Mary began making plans to return to Calabar with baby Janie. She was convinced it would be the last time she would see her mother and sister, and it was a sad parting. Yet Mary knew that her mother, a stubborn Scot, would have things no other way.
In the afternoons aboard ship when Janie was tucked safely into her bunk for a nap, Mary would sit on deck and watch the sea break over the bow of the ship. She would think about Calabar, which was as much home to her as Dundee or Devon, perhaps even more so. Mary had looked forward to speaking Efik again and seeing her friends in Old Town. But this time she would not be living in Old Town. The missions committee had informed her of this just before she set sail. This time she was to be stationed at Creek Town.
Two missionaries, Miss Johnstone and Miss Edgerley (Samuel Edgerley’s sister), had been living in Creek Town. Now they were both too sick to continue on there, and Mary had been asked to take their place. She could have said no, but not without a lot of misunderstanding, and so she agreed to the move. Besides, Mary could see some good things about being in Creek Town. It was the village of her friend and protector King Eyo, and she had many other friends there as well. Hugh Goldie and his wife were stationed there. Mary had grown to highly respect them over the years and looked forward to their company. Most important, Janie would be farther away from her family, who undoubtedly would still want to kill her. But there were also some drawbacks to being in Creek Town. Mary would have to live a more European lifestyle, entertaining white guests, eating English food, and dressing like a Victorian lady.
At thirty-seven, Mary still harbored the dream of living far out in the African bush, away from European influences altogether and ministering to Africans who had never heard the gospel message or of its power to free them from their oppressive customs. But Mary’s dream was one that the missions board didn’t support. Despite their opposition, Mary prayed that God would use her time in Creek Town as preparation for fulfilling her dream sometime in the future. She could not have imagined how dramatically her prayers would be answered or where her dream would lead her in the years ahead.
Chapter 11
Creek Town
Welcome home, Mary Slessor,” bellowed the Reverend Anderson from the shore as the steamer maneuvered into its berth on the Calabar River. Mary waved to him while Janie peered cautiously from behind Mary’s skirt. Janie didn’t remember her homeland and was seeing it through the eyes of a three-year-old girl who knew only Scotland. It must have all seemed very strange to her, and Mary was anxious for Janie to reacquaint herself with her roots and learn to speak Efik.
Mary reached down and scooped Janie up into her arms. “It’s all right, Janie,” she said. “We’re home, home in Calabar.”
As she scanned the scene, Mary pointed to the new steam launch tied up at the new jetty in Mission Hill Bay. “Look, Janie,” she said excitedly, “there’s the new boat the Sunday school children in Scotland saved up to buy. Isn’t it grand? We’ll have to write a letter to the children and tell them how wonderful it looks, won’t we?”
Janie nodded.
It was December 4, 1885, and Mary was welcomed back into the missionary family with great enthusiasm. After all, she was one of the few missionaries who had survived two terms on the mission field in Calabar. Jessie Hogg, a young woman whom Mary had met in Scotland, was one of the first people to meet her. She had taken up the missionary challenge after hearing Mary speak, and it made Mary feel good to think her time in Scotland had not been wasted. In fact, as a result of Mary’s efforts in Scotland, the mission now had more money than ever before and the new steam-powered launch to ply the rivers of Calabar.
Jessie Hogg wasn’t the only new arrival at the Calabar mission. In the thirty-three months Mary had been away, five other new missionaries—three from Scotland and two from Jamaica—had arrived. This brought the total number of Presbyterian missionaries in Calabar to seven ordained ministers, their wives, four single men, and four single women.
After spending the weekend in Duke Town, Mary and Janie made their way to Creek Town for a lavish reunion with King Eyo and all Mary’s Creek Town friends. The first question the king asked Mary was whether her mother was well. Mary had a letter for King Eyo from her mother which she handed to him. King Eyo and Mrs. Slessor had been corresponding regularly since Mary’s first visit to Creek Town. Mary told the king she hoped her mother was fine, but in the pit of her stomach, she had a sickening feeling that things were terribly wrong.
In fact, they were. Mrs. Slessor died on New Year’s Eve, just three weeks after Mary’s arrival back in Calabar. Then three months after her mother’s death, Mary received a letter notifying her that her sister Janie had also died. After she received the letter, Mary led a normally scheduled Bible study and then spent the rest of the night sobbing into her pillow. Within a year, she had lost her mother and her last two remaining sisters.
For many days Mary felt bitter and empty. She thought about all the decisions she had made. Had she made a mistake returning to Calabar? Should she have insisted on her sister’s returning with her to Calabar? Why hadn’t she realized how close to death her mother was and stayed home with her for two more months? Mary had many questions but no answers. Eventually, Mary accepted the fact that her family was gone. She wore her mother’s wedding ring as a reminder of the people who had meant so much to her. The ring was a plain gold band worn thin by fifty years of hard work.
Once again, Mary Slessor threw herself into missionary work. And there was plenty to throw herself into. Miss Johnstone and Miss Edgerley had set up a busy schedule of visiting women in their yards, treating the sick, and teaching school and Sunday school. Since they had both become sick and had returned to Scotland, Mary took on both their workloads. Not only that, she continued to attract the usual collection of children. While she was in Scotland, new homes had been found for the children she’d left behind. Now that she was in Creek Town, other children were sent to her until she soon had five children as well as Janie living permanently with her, along with a number of others who drifted in and out of the house. The oldest girl was thirteen-year-old Inyang, who had been sent to Mary for training in running a European house in the hope she could one day get a job as a housemaid. Inyang was a big girl, much bigger than Mary, but gentle and amiable. Her one problem was that she didn’t like to wear any clothes. Of course, this behavior startled some of the other missionaries who came to visit. Inyang soon took charge of the day-to-day running of the kitchen and helped take care of the other children.
Okin also lived with Mary. He was the eight-year-old son of a slave whose owner decided he should be brought up to know the Christian God. This decision puzzled Mary because the owner was not at all interested in Christianity. Still she was glad to take in anyone who was given to her.
Ten-year-old Ekim was the oldest boy living at Mary’s house. One of King Eyo’s sons, Ekim was a quick learner and was kind and patient. Mary considered it an honor to raise him. She hoped he would one day take on some influential role in the tribe.
Another boy was sent to live with Mary by King Eyo’s sister. Someone had seen the boy’s parents steal a dog from a neighbor and secretly cook and eat it and had told the dog’s owner. The owner was furious. He had been hoping to eat the dog at a feast the following week. He went to the couple’s house and laid a charm representing a curse at their front door. Within days, the woman fell ill and died, and the boy’s father became too upset to care for his one-year-old son. Since the family was under an evil curse, no one else would feed or care for the boy either. King Eyo’s sister had ordered that the toddler be taken to Mary. It took many weeks before the child was finally strong and healthy. When Mary sent word to the king’s sister asking whether one of her slaves was willing to raise the child, the king’s sister’s compassion apparently ran out. The woman sent back a message saying, “Let the boy die.” Mary did not. She kept him, and he too became part of her family. Along with these four children was a six-year-old girl who, with Janie, got into a lot of mischief.
One afternoon, not too long after Mary had settled into Creek Town, a runner reported to her that Janie’s father was coming to visit her. Mary had heard that Janie’s mother had died while they were away in Scotland, but she knew nothing of the father’s whereabouts. Sure enough, a short time later, a tall man with huge hands and a frown on his face walked up to Mary and informed her that he was Janie’s father. Mary’s heart thumped in her chest. Mary wasn’t sure what to do. Had the man come to take Janie away or, worse, to kill her on the spot? Perhaps he’d had bad luck lately and blamed Janie, a living twin, for it. As Mary said a quick, silent prayer, she felt she should let the man see his daughter.
“I just want to see her from a distance,” the father explained.
“She won’t hurt you,” replied Mary, then turning to Inyang she said, “Go and bring Janie to me. Tell her she has a special visitor.”
It was a tense few moments as they waited for Janie to appear. Janie ran straight to Mary and hid behind her skirt.
“Janie, this is your father,” said Mary gently. “I want you to go over and give him a big hug.”
Janie and her father shared a common look of terror, but Janie did as she was told. At first her father held her at arm’s length, but then he hugged her tightly, tears running down his cheeks. Mary invited him to stay for lunch of rice and soup. When it was time to go, the father promised to return in two days. When he did, he brought with him food for the household. From that time on until he died a year later, he would walk great distances to bring his daughter and the white ma food.
King Eyo often called upon Mary’s services. Mary understood British law better than he did, especially as the role of the British in Calabar was changing. Until this time, an agreement known as the Berlin Conference Agreement had given various European nations “spheres of influence” in Africa. The Calabar region was under the British sphere of influence. This meant that the British were supposed to have control over the people and trading in the area. However, in 1887, Germany, which had long been interested in the Cameroons, claimed it by force, driving out the Baptist missionaries from England who worked there and shutting down their mission stations and schools. This move by Germany upset the whole fragile balance of spheres of influence, and other foreign governments began to flex their muscles over territory in Africa.
Of course, this situation greatly worried the missionaries and everyone else in Calabar. They wondered whether the Germans would march from neighboring Cameroon into Calabar. King Eyo was especially worried. He had an excellent relationship with the British, especially with Mary’s help, and he had no desire to start all over again with another foreign power.
The British consul felt the best way to secure the Calabar region was to press inland with British troops and gunboats and open up more trade routes and impress the local inhabitants with the might of Britain. The missionaries, including Mary, pleaded with the British consul to let them to be the first to make contact with the inland tribes. They were convinced that many natives would be killed in unnecessary fighting if troops were sent inland first.
