We Arrive at Oyo

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And received a happy welcome from the two Englishmen who were just as glad to see two Americans -- all white.

How glad they were to see us! Two boys, almost, in the far interior of Africa who had not seen another white person for many months. Mr. Matthews, the man in charge of the mission, we had never seen before. He was just out of college and had been out only a few months. He was homesick for his girl and hoped, later, to have her join him there. Poor fella! His hope was never realized. A few months later he too fell a victim to the African fever.

The other man, was in charge of another mission and was just visiting at Oyo. His name was Pinnock. He had come out as a boy of twenty, full of zeal for the mission work. He had been there two or three years at this time and had gone through some hard experiences, sickness, loneliness and many other things incident to the work, as well as lack of sympathy from the older missionaries because he was not under their particular Board. But he was a conscientious, faithful worker. We were living in Lagos at the time of his arrival, perhaps three years before, and because the other missionaries were not sympathetic with him, he was driven to us for friendship and there grew a strong bond of friendship between us which has lasted through all these years. Later he became dissatisfied with his baptism, and joined our mission and was baptized by my husband in Ogbornoso. Later he was appointed by our Board and became an important member of our staff in the Yoruba Mission. He was earnest and faithful and continued for many years, one of the chief leaders in our work, there. He is now in Toronto, Canada and we often pass letters and talk of the old times. His birthday and mine are the same - Nov. 17th - and we always

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exchange letters at that time. He was sixty-one last year and though, knew his hair is white, I still think of him as the black-haired, rosy cheeked boy I first knew in 1888.