Catechist and Teacher at Carron Hall and Evangelist at Rose Hill — Engagement to Miss Louisa Peterswald

We have now seen Mr. Anderson initiated into his duties at Carron Hall and at Rose Hill. The frequent references to his predecessor in the school at Carron Hall will have prepared the reader for the announcement of their engagement. It appears to have been a case of love almost at first sight on Mr. Anderson's part. Of the growth of Miss Peterswald's regard for Mr. Anderson there is no record, though Mrs. Cowan was doubtless her confidante, and her interest in the welfare and happiness of both was very deep. Her presence at Unity in July 1840 probably smoothed the way for frequent meetings. The engagement took place on the 18th of July.

In a letter dated Unity, July 1st, 1840, from Mrs. Cowan to Mrs. Elliot of Ford, returning thanks for the box of children's clothes went with Mr. Anderson, we get an interesting account of the young Scottish catechist and the young Jamaica lady teacher, each in their respective spheres of labour, and just on the eve of their becoming engaged to each other:—

Your friend Mr. Anderson is well. He has enjoyed excellent health, except two severe touches of toothache. Mr. Cowan finds him a most useful assistant in all his work, both among old and young. We all esteem him as a most valuable friend. His whole heart is in his work, and he has gained the affections of all the children. We thought the school was in good order when he came, but it has improved greatly under him.

Our former teacher is now teaching a school at Unity, about six miles from Carron Hall, and is getting on most successfully. She has a happy art of interesting the children in Scripture narrative, and storing their minds with the Bible. I have brought down the children to stay with her a few weeks while Mr. Cowan is at the Presbytery, that I may assist her in the school, as her health is not very good. There are about sixty children daily at the school, and every evening a few adults come to learn to read. They have never had sermons on the Sabbath, but it would make a most interesting missionary station. Last Sabbath we had a Sabbath school among them for the first time; 60children attended and about 100 adults, who sat with all the docility of children to learn the Catechism, hymns, etc. When we see how eager they are to profit by the smallest means of instruction, we long for more teachers and missionaries.

On the 14th of July, Mr. Anderson had a narrow escape in school. It is described in his Journal :—

Had just stepped down from the platform when a gust of wind blew in a heavy dead light which fills up a circular opening in the gable wall of the school. It went crash through the table over which my head was bending about half a minute before it fell. I feel grateful for preservation.

The date of his engagement, July 18th, is recorded along with the dates of other outstanding events in his and his wife's life, in a copy of Daily Bible Readings, by the Rev. Jas. Smith, presented by him to his wife at a much later date. In his Journal, although the fact is not mentioned, there is a significant sentence:—

Had a pleasant walk round by Carron Hall negro houses, the rivulet, the cottage, Newlands, and Petersfield. May remember this day in after years—Lord, lift upon us the light of Thy countenance and bless us!

In a letter "To the Young Persons now and lately attending the Sabbath School, Ford," dated 25th July, Mr. Anderson writes about his scholars:—

Would you like to come into Carron Hall school some day and see me busily employed among 130 or 140 blacks? I have about 200 scholars altogether, but there are always a great many absent. One reason of this is that a great number of them have to work a week in the month or so, that they may procure food and raiment and be able to pay their school fees. They are kept at school, not by their parents as you are, but by themselves. With few exceptions they are diligent and anxious to get on with their learning. Some of them were in the piccaninny gang. I must explain this. Piccaninny signifies anything that is young. Thus a boy came running to inform me one day that "two piccaninny birds fall from nest." A man came to me the other day to ask my leave to "pick up" one of the piccaninny cats that were running about. Whenever children were able to do anything in the field, or rather before they could work in the field, they were brought in companies to the buckra's (white man's) cattle-yard to begin their course of slavery by feeding rabbits and hogs. These little creatures were in many places very badly used; and these companies of infant slaves were called "piccaninny gangs." But, blessed be God, the clays of slavery are over; and when I look around among my scholars and see them all clothed, and the smile of joy beaming upon their countenances, and reflect on what some of them were, and on what all of them might have been, and would have been, had it not been for freedom—that instead of being the happy children of Carron Hall school, they would have been the naked, ignorant, oppressed, broken-hearted children of the piccaninny gang, my heart is filled with gratitude to Jehovah for His kindness to the sable sons and daughters of Africa; I feel happy that I came to Jamaica, and more and more willing to spend and be spent in the service of Jesus amongst its inhabitants. Pray for me that I may have grace given to me to be faithful.

My scholars have no friends to instruct them in the way that they should go; their parents cannot do it— indeed, in almost every case the children are better able to instruct the parents than the parents the children. This makes the duties of a teacher more arduous than at home. And how overwhelming his responsibility! Again I solicit your prayers and the prayers of all who may hear this letter read.

On Thursday last I gave the school the vacation for the August holidays. We have two vacations in the year in this country—one at the 1st of August, and one at Christmas. You know that the 1st of August is held as the Anniversary of Freedom. . . .

I do not know how the Sabbath school is conducted, for I have seen it only once. There is no male teacher in it. I believe about two hundred children attend it. It meets about ten o'clock, and dismisses about eleven. It is held in the church. Mr. Cowan or whoever supplies his place holds a meeting in the school at the same hour with the catechumens—that is, those who wish to become members of the Church. The Sabbath-school teachers meet with me on Friday evenings, when we go over the Scripture lesson for the Sabbath.

When I first came here I thought that all the faces were alike, as they were all black ; but I now perceive that although there be less difference of complexion amongst them than amongst you, yet there is the same diversity of features. I have one little jet black creature with cheeks so plump and forehead so intellectual and eyes so expressive. . . . The girl's name is Penelope Wibley.

In a letter to Rev. A. Elliot enclosing the above letter, Mr. Anderson says:—

We are all busy here preparing for the celebration of the 1st of August. I am looking forward to it with feelings of deep interest. I should like to have spent it with the friends at Carron Hall ; but duty calls me to Rose Mill. The Governor's proclamation is that "all churches, chapels, and other places of divine worship are to be open on that day." We are to have our first soiree on Friday evening, August 7th.

Both in his Journal and in a letter which appeared in the Scottish Missionary Chronicle for Jan. 1841, Mr. Anderson gives a graphic account of the Commemoration of the 1st of August, and of the meetings on the two days following:—

I had for some time been looking forward to the celebration of the 1st of August with deep interest, and it was with emotions of no ordinal')' kind that I awoke on the morning of the memorable clay to the pealing of the church bell, while, as yet, the only indications of the approach of the great luminary of heaven were a few faint streaks of brightness in the eastern sky. The people in the neighbourhood had been invited to attend a prayer meeting, which was to be held in the school at sunrise. When Mr. Cowan and I entered, a few minutes before the time appointed, there were about two hundred people assembled. At Mr. C.'s request, I began the exercises of the day with praise and prayer. It was not without considerable effort that I maintained command of my feelings. We sang the following hymn, prepared for the occasion :—

"We hail the blissful dawn
Of Freedom's sacred day,
And call to mind the joyful morn
When Slavery pass'd away.
Praise to our God we sing,
And bless His holy name;
We glory give unto our King,
From whom deliverance came.

Long, long had Slavery's night
Hung darkly o'er our Isle;
But we beheld, with sweet delight,
The Sun of Freedom smile.
Husband and wife are free!
Our children, too, can roam,
In all the sweets of liberty,
Around their happy home.

To-day we gladly sing
New songs of joy and praise,
Our hills and valleys echoing
The heartfelt, thankful lays.
Ye breezes—waft our song
Up to the throne of God;
Angels—the sacred notes prolong
Within your bless'd abode.

Jehovah broke our thrall,
And set the bondmen free;
Our liberty—our life—our all,
O God, we owe to Thee.
To Thee, O Lord, alone,
Our hymn of thanks we raise;
Seated upon Thy glorious throne,
Accept our humble praise."

[This hymn was written by Mr. Anderson for the occasion.]

While we were singing, the first beams of the morning sun darted through the eastern windows. After prayer, Mr. Cowan read in a very impressive manner the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah, making a few appropriate observations as he went along. Several of the negroes were then called upon to pray. Their prayers were short and simple, but full of feeling and fervour. Mr. Cowan then prayed, and our morning service was concluded by singing—

"Hark! the song of newborn gladness
Rolls along the western sea," etc.

The day was observed as a Sabbath. At the usual hour of public worship both church and school were filled. Mr. C. preached in the church, and Mrs. C. and Miss P. were engaged in the school. I was at Rose Hill. Our chapel there was crowded. I addressed the people from Ex. xii. 40-42, and Ileb. ii. 3. From the former passage, I spoke of the great temporal deliverance which had been wrought by God for the negroes of Jamaica; and from the latter, of a more important deliverance than that, even the "GREAT SALVATION." All seemed much interested—all seemed deeply devout. The universal gladness, the delightful excitement, and many a hearty shake of the hand, reminded me somewhat of the customary congratulations at home on New Year's Day, with this pleasant exception, that there was nothing that in the remotest degree approximated to boisterous merriment. Joy beamed in every countenance, but it was joy chastened and softened by a thousand interesting associations and recollections,—it was a feeling of the soul which found expression better in the deep-drawn sigh and the silent tear than in words. When evening drew her mantle around us, I felt deeply grateful to God that I had been privileged to see at least one 1st of August in Jamaica.

Sabbath, Aug. 2.—Another delightfully interesting day. Mr. C. went to Rose Hill, where he had an overflowing audience. I remained at Carron Hall. Both church and school were again crowded. From 1000 to 1100 must have been present. I delivered the same addresses or discourses which I delivered at Rose Hill yesterday.

On Monday the 3rd I went to a place called Cedar Valley, to hold a meeting with the people there. While at breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. C. raised my expectations very high in regard to the scenery through which 1 was to pass; and I was not disappointed. Some places of the road reminded me of the plains of East Lothian and the banks of the Gala and the Tweed. One dark but beautiful spot is worthy of notice. But it would require a poet or a painter to convey any adequate idea of it— at least, to the minds of many of my friends who have received their loftiest impressions of nature's grandeur and loveliness at Roslin Castle or Habbie's How. On the right lies a large mountain, whose majestic ribs of rock frown over the pathway. At one point it is surpassingly grand. An immense ledge of rock projects over the whole breadth of the road, forming a semi-arch over the traveller's head. Half-a-dozen of men on horseback could shun a shower below it. I believe it is often used for that purpose. The arch is almost completed by the pendent branches of the trees which luxuriate on its surface. A few yards to the left, a sweet little rivulet meanders along the base of one of the most picturesque hills I ever beheld. It stretches away, almost perpendicularly, to the clouds, apparently about three times the height of Arthur's Seat, but clothed to the very summit with trees of every form and of every size, arrayed in rich verdure of every shade. Nature appears to conduct all her operations on a much more magnificent scale within the tropics than in the temperate zones.

Cedar Valley is, in some respects, much more beautiful than either Carron Hall or Rose Hill; but it is much hotter than either of them. It is, however, a necessitous place. It is eight miles from this, and in the midst of a great and rapidly increasing population. I met a number of the people below a large tree, beneath which Mr. Cowan has often preached. I addressed them from John iii. 16. The people are hungering for the bread of life. O ye youthful soldiers of the cross in Caledonia, think of the perishing thousands of Jamaica, and "come over and help us"! Several of our fellow-labourers have lost their health, and have been obliged to leave the field; oh, do come and recruit our shattered ranks ! The proprietor, a Brown man of the name of M'Gregor, is willing to give an acre of land, and as much timber as may be required, for the erection of a school or chapel, without charge. Is not this a loud call to your Society to go up and take possession of the land? But while I write, the question forces itself upon me, "Where is the missionary, or the catechist, who is to occupy it, although we had a chapel built to-morrow?" Surely some others have come to you before this time and said, "Here are we, send us." I could not leave the people without engaging that either Mr. C. or myself would be with them on the last Sabbath of the month. They seemed very thankful when I made that engagement. Some, however, looked sad, and said, "It is too long."

Jamaica is far from being satisfied with what she has already received. Her cry still is, "Give, give, give!" And this will be her cry for some time to come. Our daily prayer is that the Lord of the harvest would send forth more labourers into this portion of His vineyard. Such, too, I doubt not, is the prayer of thousands at home. But it is to be feared that many use the prayer who ought to be otherwise engaged; that there are many who are saying with Moses, "Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of whom Thou wilt send," who ought to be saying with Isaiah, "Here am I, send me."

Meanwhile Mr. Anderson was not forgotten by his friends in Scotland, as a letter from the Rev. A. Elliot of Ford, of date nth Aug. 1840, testifies. In acknowledging Mr. Anderson's letter announcing his arrival in Jamaica, Mr. Elliot says:—

. . . The young folks laughed loud and long at the idea of your being so soon transformed into a minister and preaching so frequently, and the negroes young and old turning up their black faces, and opening wide their eyes, listening with eager and rapt attention to your discourses. Nor could I remain unmoved by the pictures thus presented to my mind, though I sat in grave contemplation, and, instead of laughing, was rather disposed to ask whether you were not doing too much—whether you were not working yourself beyond your strength, and whether you were not running too fast to run long. And I still have my doubts about this, though I am glad to learn from the subsequent letters which I have seen, that you are keeping your health excellently. I would not counsel indolence or lukewarmness, or too much care about yourself; but I would say, "Do thyself no harm." Fastina lenta. Remember you are in Jamaica; and while you strive to do good and to promote the good cause to the utmost of your powers, take care that you do not, by over-exertion, lay yourself aside, and incapacitate your self for your Master's work. Your strength, your health, your life, your all are His, and are to be devoted to Him; but you must study so to use them that He may have His own with most usury—most may be done for His glory and the good of those among whom you labour.

This caution was not unneeded, especially in the case of a strong, eager, zealous young man like Mr. Anderson. It is the temptation to which all young missionaries, male and female, whose hearts are in their work, are subjected on arrival in the mission field. They see so much to be done, and there are so few to do the work, that necessity seems laid upon them to do exactly as they would do at home, in defiance of, though partly owing to inexperience regarding, the changed climatic conditions amid which they labour.

That Mr. Elliot's counsels were not untimely may be judged from the fact that the Jamaica Missionary Presbytery, at its ninth sederunt, on the 7th of July, had come to a resolution to restrict the hours of labour of the catechists. The experience of men who have long been on the mission field is, in matters of this sort, of great weight and worth attending to, in these days when increasing attention is being given to the health of mission agents. I therefore give the resolution in full:—

As the health of several catechists is endangered by their teaching too many hours (one of them, Mr. Moir, being about to return to Scotland with his health impaired), and as this zeal, though in itself highly commendable, is calculated to abridge their usefulness and produce unfavourable impressions as to the healthiness of the climate, thus preventing many young men from coining to the island, the Presbytery resolved, through the District Committee, to call the serious attention of the teachers and catechists to this subject. They consider that in this country no school should be taught longer than five hours, and that regularity of diet should be studied, and exposure to the night air avoided. [Secession Missionary Record, No. xiii., Jan. 1841, p. 55.]

As we shall see later on, Mr. Anderson himself, after larger experience of the country and its climate, was able to give his own testimony to health conditions in the tropics, a subject to which he paid a good deal of attention both in Jamaica and in Calabar.

The closing portion of Mr. Elliot's letter contained intelligence of substantial remembrance on the part of the people of Ford, which must have been encouraging to the young missionary. Mr. Elliot says:—

We had our Missionary Anniversary here as usual on the evening of our Fast Day, and in distributing our funds we recollected Jamaica and you, and assigned £5 to assist in building the new church at Carron Hall. I also took occasion to mention the hint you had given of presenting a new Bible and Psalm-book to the Carron I fall congregation. The suggestion took; the call was cheerfully and warmly responded to, and I learn that the necessary funds arc already nearly provided. We shall have the books ready by the time Mr. Simpson returns to Port Maria, who, as you will have heard, is reponed by the Committee, and who speaks of sailing for Jamaica in October or November. He will take charge of our present, and convey it to its destination.

Friends here are all well—and all speak of you with warm affection, and sincerely desire and pray for your success. None, however, feels a deeper interest in you than your aunt, nor is more rejoiced when a letter comes from you, to whomsoever addressed. She has enjoyed good health ever since you left—that is, comparatively good—ill with her breath at times, but not so ill as I have often seen her. She bids me say that she has no particular word to send you, except that she is in her ordinary, and is always best when she hears from you. A letter from you is her best medicine.

As Mr. Anderson's MS. Journal ends abruptly with the entry of the date, Tuesday, Aug. 4th, private letters and letters and reports in the Scottish Missionary Society's publications are the only sources of information regarding the rest of his career in Jamaica. But in the extracts from his Journal and his letters, given up to that date, a sufficiently detailed account has been given of his manner of life and work as catechist, teacher, and preacher. The extracts from letters which follow will give glimpses of his private and public life, while his annual reports will show the progress of the work in which he was engaged.

The first letter which takes up the thread of his life-story is one dated Carron Hall, 3rd Nov. 1840, addressed to the Rev. Andrew Elliot, Ford, in reply to his of 11th August. It contains a veiled reference to his engagement, and refers Mr. Elliot to Mr. James Tod for information. Unfortunately, the letter to Mr. Tod, which presumably told the story of his engagement to Miss Peterswald, and explained why he was suspended surely not a very happily chosen word, as literal suspension in the ecclesiastical sense is not intended; from the exercise of sacerdotal or catechetical duties at Unity, has not come into my possession, and is probably no longer in existence.

Letter to Rev. A. Elliot, Ford.

You kindly assure me that I must think nothing too little or too trifling to write about. Well, here I sit almost in solitude on the summit of a lofty mountain, far far away from the home and the friends of my youth. Mr. and Mrs. Cowan went to Unity yesterday, so that, with the exception of a white girl who boards here, my attendants are all of the sable race. What did I say? A noise from another apartment reminds me that there are no fewer than five little Creoles—all white—whose proximity I had almost overlooked. Catherine Jameson is laughing heartily in that apartment, while the little twins are fretting for their supper. Mary2 and Jane Cowan have just been singing a Freedom Hymn along with their black playmates. We have just had coffee, and in writing home I can hardly divest myself of a feeling of loneliness. No winter fireside companionships and pleasures here.

We had some very warm days, or rather hours, last month; but the weather is somewhat altered. Indeed, I have heard some people complaining of cold to-day. I have not felt Jamaica heat to be at all oppressive, and I doubt not I shall stand its cold exceedingly well. I had two days of very slight sickness last week. Carron Hall is a very salubrious place. We sometimes call it the missionary hospital. The teacher at Unity and the teacher at Goshen have been here for the last fortnight recruiting their exhausted energies.

You and your congregation were much on my mind on Sabbath. I presume it would be your Sacrament day, as it was ours. We had a very interesting and happy day at Carron Hall. Mr. Cowan preached an excellent sermon from John xv. 19: "As the Father hath loved Me, even so have I loved you: continue ye in My love." No other minister was present to assist. I officiated as precentor, and delivered the concluding address in the evening. In the morning I had the catechumens and most of the members for about an hour in the school. I made them repeat the 84th metrical Psalm, made a few explanatory remarks, and catechised upon it.

Nov. 7.—The rainy seasons have set in, so that I have not so many scholars as I had formerly. I have still upwards of a hundred, and I find that that number is sufficient for the exercise of all my energies. I expect to have a communication ere long from my young friends at Ford to my young friends here. My youthful charge here were quite delighted by Mr. Jas. Tod's message to them. They look always quite happy and expectant when I get any packet letters. They love well to receive and send messages.

I still conduct the services of the Sabbath at Rose Hill. I and the people there are getting acquainted and attached. I am ready to resign my charge there, however, whenever a missionary or catechist arrives to take charge of the station; but I must confess I would feel more willing and more gratified to resign into the hands of one of my friends from Ford or Dalkeith than to any stranger. May the Great Shepherd of the sheep soon send one who shall be of more benefit to the interesting people there than I have been, or can be, considering that I have my school duties to attend to here. There has been a change of teacher there. The present teacher is much superior in every respect (if we except what the former teacher was so proud of—whiteness of skin) to her predecessor. The change has added much to the prosperity of the station.

The school which I had the pleasure of opening at Unity on Feb. 29th has flourished very much under the superintendence of my predecessor at Carron Hall. It is expected that her labours there will terminate at Christmas, as it is the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Cowan to send her for six months to a boarding-school at Kingston, preparatory to an anticipated change in her residence and circumstances. Mr. Cowan holds a meeting with the people at Unity on Tuesday evenings. On my coming to the country I had frequently the pleasure of holding that meeting, but since the school was set on foot I have been seldom there, and latterly I have been entirely suspended from the exercise of sacerdotal or catechetical duties there. Jas. Tod can tell you why— to him I refer you for information.

The letter to Mr. Elliot was enclosed in one to Mrs. Elliot, in which Mr. Anderson says:—

Thinking that Mr. Elliot may be in Ireland when this reaches Ford, I shall take the liberty of putting your name on the back of the letter, so that it may be in your power to read what I have written to Mr. Elliot without breaking the seal of anyone's letter but your own, for I must profess or confess ignorance of the laws, customs, or etiquette observed by husbands and wives regarding each other's letters. Please cut off the above scrap for my aunt. . . .

Your Bible and Psalm-books shall be much valued at Carron Hall. I shall feel much gratified when called to officiate from them in either desk or pulpit by the reflection that the}' were sent from Ford. I almost wish they had been hanselled by a day's service at Ford. It would have made them even more dear to me. I feel much obliged by your kind wishes for my welfare. I sometimes think that I owe much of my present happiness to the prayers of my friends at home. I often think of Ford Manse and the happy seasons I have enjoyed there, and, in spirit, I am often in the midst of your family circle. I feel very happy here, however.

The following letter to his brother-in-law and his sister, Mr. and Mrs. Clohan, of date Nov. 24th, 1840, conveys to them the announcement of his engagement, which he had already made to his aunt in the '"scrap" attached to his letter to Mrs. I^lliot. But when he writes to them he is in doubts whether his letters to the Elliots and to Mr. Jas. Tod will ever reach their destination. His old bashfullness seems to overcome him in broaching his love affair, and he beats about the bush till he comes to the point in the second page of his sheet.

Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Clohan.

My very dear Brother and Sister,—I wish you "gude New Year, and many returns of the season." I had no intention of writing to you at present till within half an hour ago. Mr. and Mrs. Cowan are both from home, and I am left somewhat lonely, so I thought that I could not do better than sit down and hold a little conversation with you about family affairs. It is very customary to begin a letter with "I have nothing of importance to communicate," or some kindred expression; but I cannot begin this epistle in that manner, for I have at present something of great importance to communicate.

I may set out by stating that I still continue, by the blessing of God, to enjoy excellent health. I still feel happy that I came here. I continue to love the country and to love my work. I have not so many scholars as I had during the summer, but I have just as many as I can manage properly alone. My congregation at Rose Hill continues to increase. I frequently supply Mr. Cowan's pulpit on the Sabbath when he is in other parts of the island. Sometimes he and I exchange places. We did so last Lord's Day. The Carron Hall congregation averages about 800. I have supplied Mr. Jameson's pulpit at Goshen several Sabbaths. I have been one Sabbath at Port Maria, one Sabbath at Middlesex, and one at Cedar Valley. I have heard only about four sermons since my arrival in Jamaica—except I dignify my own exhortations with the title of sermons. Altogether I have a very busy and a very happy life—oh that I could add with any degree of confidence—a useful one!

Mr. and Mrs. Cowan are just like brother and sister to me. They are exceedingly kind. I would suggest that you remember them kindly in your letters to me, for I am sure that any kindness which any show to me must be regarded by you as done to yourselves. Remember me very kindly to my dear little relatives, Mary, William, and Agnes. Poor little things, I cannot tell you how strongly I feel oftentimes for them. May they be early brought into the fold of Jesus! May they be amongst the lambs which He gathers in His arms and carries in His bosom ! Kiss them for me.

I sent a note to my aunt about a fortnight ago. If she has received it (it was enclosed in a letter to Mrs. Elliot) you will have heard of my intended union to my very excellent and much-esteemed predecessor, Miss Louisa Peterswald. When I wrote to Mrs. Elliot I also wrote to Mr. Jas. Tod, but from a message which I received from both Pear Tree Grove and Kingston post-offices, I fear that both letters must have been miscarried. Now, I earnestly wish you to ascertain whether this be the case or not. . . .

I trust, my dear friends, that you will write me immediately when you receive this, and that you will tell me what you think about my matrimonial intentions. Send kind regards to your intended relative. She is a very superior lady-—much my superior every way. She has several times expressed a fear lest my relations should be displeased at me for marrying a stranger. A kind message from you and my aunt will remove that impression. She is no stranger or alien from the covenant of promise. You may recognise her as a sister in Christ Jesus, and you may be proud to acknowledge her as your friend and relative. I showed her the salt dishes I got from Mary before I left home. She seemed much pleased. She is not a beauty, but she is beautiful and handsome. She is twenty-two years of age.

I receive the newspapers regularly, for which accept best thanks, and convey them also to Mr. Rutherford. If you have no time to write when you receive this, you can give me a hint on a newspaper the old way. From the long address you still put on the papers I perceive that you have not received my letter by Mr. Moir.

My Louisa has gone to a boarding-school to study French, drawing, and music, so I shall not see her from this time till May. Distance between us seventy miles, but the roads are such that a journey will be impracticable. It would take a week to go and come, and I have no time to spare. But you may be sure we write frequently.

I am busy at present studying' Greek and Church History. 1 am half inclined to offer myself as a candidate for the ministry. I think, if all be well, our marriage will be in July, but you shall hear from me before that takes place. May the blessing of God rest upon you !—I am, dear brother and sister, ever yours,

W. ANDERSON.

In a letter to the Secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, dated Carron Hall, Dec. 16th, 1840, he renders some account of his stewardship since his arrival in Jamaica:—

Report for 1840.
[Scottish Missionary Chronicle, May 1841, pp. 13-16.]

My engagements may be comprehended under the following divisions :—

I. Carron Hall School.—There have been at school this year 252 children in all. The average attendance in good weather has been 140. Besides reading and writing, a few of the advanced boys are in proportion, simple and compound; of the more advanced girls, a few are in compound subtraction ; the others are only in the simple rules. The children are very fond of geography, and are now familiar with the names and positions of the countries, capitals, mountains, seas, gulfs, and rivers of Europe; the tribes of Palestine under the Old Testament, and its provinces under the New; and the countries of America. At first a great number of the children used to come without wages on the day appointed for paying them. For some time I contented myself with telling them not to forget them—an exhortation which was but seldom regarded. Feeling it needful to take higher ground, I intimated, previous to the August holidays, that in future there would be no admission without wages. I gave effect to this regulation at our first day's school in August, by turning out about thirty who had come without them. The most of them came back next day with wages. If the measure has had any effect in diminishing the attendance, it is only to a trifling extent. To anticipate and obviate any charge of oppressiveness connected with this measure, I may state that those children who have no parents, or whose parents are very poor, are supplied with wages on application to Mr. Cowan.