The Closing Years

IN the Record for July 1889, Mr. Goldie referred feelingly to the departure of Mr. Anderson. He wrote:—

In his departure the personal intercourse of a long and intimate friendship ceases between us. . . . Connected with each other in the Jamaica Mission, we have been still more closely and for a much longer period associated in the Calabar Mission, helping to form each other's character, as such close association must necessarily do, towards that perfection, I trust, which shall be attained in the perfect and inseparable union of the future. I shall ever cherish the recollection of his warm-hearted friendship, which I have no doubt is reciprocated. May all blessing be his for support and guidance in the part of his life's pilgrimage which yet lies before him!

Mr. Anderson's last letter for some time to Calabar after his return to this country, until the operation for cataract, to which he refers in the letter, had taken place, was fittingly addressed to Mr. Goldie, and contains the following reference to Mr. Goldie's remarks:—

You are quite right in supposing your cordiality towards me is fully reciprocated. Your place in my esteem and affection is unique.

The letter is partly devoted to discussing matters of business connected with the publication of Mr. Goldie's Calabar and its Mission, which appeared in 1890.

The letter contains an account of Mr. Anderson's homeward voyage, which was a very pleasant one, and of his movements in Scotland after his arriva :—

We got into dock at Liverpool at midnight of Thursday, May 16. I went direct to Dr. Adam's from the steamer, and stayed with him from Friday till Tuesday, when I came to Edinburgh. I stayed a fortnight in Edinburgh, and then went to Crieff for a fortnight. As usual, I greatly enjoyed Crieff.

I received a very cordial welcome from the Mission Board at its meeting on the last Tuesday of May. . . .

I have been at the great oculist, Dr. Argyll Robertson. He gives me hope of restored vision by and by. . . . He says there is growing cataract, which will not be ready for removal by operation for some months. I went to him the other week to inform him that my one seeing eye (the left) was getting dimmer and dimmer. That was just what he expected owing to the progress of the cataract. "Just go on with the eye-drops, and come to see me at the end of July." I take that as the warning that by the end of July the eye will be altogether or almost dark. . . .

After this date you need expect no more letters from me for months to come.

There is in a postscript written on July 2nd a pathetic reference to his inability to read Mr. Goldie's account of his life in the Ungzvana Ef'ik :—

My eyesight is so much failed, and Ungwaua Ef'ik is so dim, that I have not been able to make out one sentence of the article headed with my name, and no one here can help me! . . .

I left Calabar in debt a few notes or letters, but I think I paid all by last mail; and now, returning ten pages for your four, I consider you six pages in my debt!

I see three sermons preached every Sabbath, but do not hear one. I have spoken a few sentences to Nicolson Street Sabbath scholars, Edinburgh, and to Mr. Ingles's Sabbath School, Crieff; but I did not get on well'. I have cost Her Majesty's dentist a great deal of thought and trouble, but he can't do impossibilities. Gums too much wasted away. I suspect my days of public speaking are over.

My sister and family very anxious for me to go to them in Virginia West. But I have formed no plans for the future as yet.

In the same letter there are references to the Rev. A. M. Porteous, B.D., Cullen, a native of Dalkeith, who resigned his charge for mission service in Old Calabar. Mr. Anderson wrote in July:—

I have not yet seen Mr. Porteous, but hear the highest eulogies in his favour from all quarters here.

Mr. Anderson was present at a farewell meeting held in Buccleuch Street Church, Dalkeith, on the evening of Sabbath, August 25, at which the Rev. James Fraser minister of the congregation, presided, and delivered an address. He said :—

Fifty years ago come next month, I myself stood before a Dalkeith congregation and took farewell, when about to engage in Foreign Mission work, telling those I addressed that I would never see them in the face again. A second time, years afterwards, I did the same thing; and here I am once more before you, after half a century's labour in the Foreign Mission field. It was by no wish of mine that I have discontinued my work in Old Calabar, but because I feel unable any longer to bear the burden, and think I will be doing a better work by staying at home and making room for younger brothers, such as Mr. Porteous. I envy Mr. Porteous the prospect before him, and wonder that more young men are not willing to offer themselves for the service of Christ abroad. Foreign Mission work is not now the serious matter that it was fifty years ago. Steam navigation has almost abolished distance; the nature of the climate of Calabar has been ascertained ; the diseases of the country and their remedies are known and understood; and Europeans know what to eat, drink, and avoid. Better influences are at work in social life. Calabar is to be taken under British government. Captains of vessels and traders are immensely superior to those who preceded them in former days. Formerly Sabbath observance was unknown ; but now ships' officers, as a rule, treat the Lord's Day with respect, and conduct themselves with propriety towards the Mission.

The congregation I address has reason to feel grateful for the privilege you have enjoyed of sending out so many labourers to Old Calabar and other mission fields. . . . I have no doubt that in future days the sending out of Mr. Porteous, your young fellow-townsman, will be looked to with feelings of no ordinary satisfaction.

Mr. Porteous, after less than three years' devoted service, first at Creek Town with Mr. Goldie, and then alone at Ikotana, Cross River, died at Ikorofiong on January 26, 1892, of haematuric fever. What Mr. Goldie described as his last message was uttered in the prayer: "May they come, more and more, and of the right kind!" When will another ordained man follow his noble example? Never were men of experience more needed in Calabar than at the present time.

In the Record for March 1890 it was stated :—

The Foreign Mission Board in their Report last year called the attention of the Synod to the fact that Mr. Anderson had reached his jubilee year, and that the Synod passed the following resolution: "The Synod hear with much interest that the Rev. William Anderson of Calabar has entered upon his jubilee year of missionary-service. They congratulate him on the good work which during his long career he has accomplished, both in the mission field and on his occasional visits to the Church at home, and they express the hope that in the evening of his days he may enjoy much comfort and happiness."

On his return from Old Calabar, Mr. Anderson met with the Board, who communicated to him the resolution of the Synod, and arranged for an address being presented to him on the completion of his fiftieth year. The address was duly prepared and engrossed on parchment, beautifully illuminated; and advantage was taken of the Workers' Meeting in connection with the Mission Week in Edinburgh to present the address to Mr. Anderson. The presentation was made by Mr. Duncan M'Laren, Chairman of the Board; and Mr. Anderson, on accepting the address, made a most stirring and touching reply. [Under the title "A Retrospect"' it appeared in The United Presbyterian Magazine for April 1890.]

The following is a copy of the address:—

To the Rev. William Anderson, Missionary of the United Presbyterian Church, Old Calabar.

Dear Mr. Anderson,—Fifty years having elapsed since you first left this country for work in the mission field, the Foreign Mission Board desire to congratulate you, and to express our thankfulness to God that you have been spared to labour so many years. We recall with no ordinary interest and satisfaction the work that you have been privileged to do, first in Jamaica, and then in Calabar, not only with your living voice, but also with your pen. You can look back upon the time when the darkness was unbroken in Calabar, and the people were sunk in idolatry and its abominations; you now see the people enlightened, education advancing, and many gathered into the fellowship of the Church; and you have the unspeakable happiness of being able to say that your labours have been owned of God as one of the agencies in bringing about the blessed change. We recall also how much you have done on the occasion of your visits to the home-land in the way of keeping alive the interest of the Church in the Calabar mission field, and calling forth the gifts and the prayers of the people on its behalf.

We rejoice that, even after so long and trying a service, you are still favoured with a remarkable measure of health and strength; and we earnestly trust that, though no longer labouring in the field itself, you may be spared for a season to plead the claims of the people among whom you have lived so long, and who are dear to you by many tender ties, so that you may have the satisfaction of knowing that you are still working on their behalf, and securing for them a still larger share of the sympathy and aid of the Church. We trust that your mantle may fall on the younger men who are now in the field, and that you may be cheered during your declining years by tidings reaching you from time to time of multitudes of the dark children of Africa being brought to a knowledge of the truth, and of those already gathered into the Church devoting themselves to the service of the Master, and seeking still further to extend the gospel among their benighted fellow-countrymen.— In name of the Foreign Mission Board,

DUNCAN M'LAREN, Chairman.
James Buchanan, Secretary.
Edinburgh, December 1889.

During 1890, Mr. Anderson's "Autobiography" was published in The United Presbyterian Magazine. The daughters of the Rev. W. Morison, M.A., Rosehall U.P. Church, Edinburgh, copied the MS. for the press for Mr. Anderson. This is how he acknowledged his indebtedness in a letter to Miss Morison, dated 1 Gladstone Place December 20, 1890:—

I forget whether it was to sister Catherine or to sister Helen that I gave a small coin long ago, and when father and mother remonstrated against my action, I promised— as many bad boys do—that I would not do the like again. But this has led me into a difficulty. I find, on balancing accounts for the year in connection with the U.P. Magazine, that I am due to yourself and sister or sisters the sum of------. Now my difficulty is, How can I keep my promise to father and mother and remain an honest man? With your help I might get out of it in this way. Let me know what book or books, or article or articles, to the value of------, would be useful to yourself and sisters, and—why—leave the rest to me.

Your father and mother, and indeed nearly all my friends, frequently charge me with not visiting so frequently as I should. In regard to your house, my thoughts run in this way:—

"'How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour!'.
Why should a lazy loon like me
Intrude into the bower
Of cheerful, hallowed industry—
Father and mother, sisters three,
All toiling on incessantly
For benefit of all around;
And I—'a cumberer of the ground'?"

Here is another delightful letter—an invitation to visit, with Mr. Anderson, the Menagerie in the Grassmarket:—

Misses Morison, My dear Ladies,—I once thought of coming your length this evening to inquire whether you have yet seen my worthy countrymen (nicknamed by some folks as Lions, Leopards, Monkeys, etc.) in the Grassmarket. ... I went to see them on Christmas Day ; but the exhibitors had hardly got matters in proper order then, and I have not been there since, owing to the crush. Well, I mean to leave this place to-morrow at 1.30 to take a parting look at my friends, and it would be easier for you to come round this way than for me to go round your way; and, A.Z>., if any or all of you—with a representative Douglas or two—will kindly come here at above hour, and take me under your protection to my friends' cold lodgings, I shall feel myself highly favoured and honoured. Leave passage money and all travelling expenses for me to settle. ... If mother has not seen the animals, and would like to see them, I should be proud of her company.

In February 1891, Mr. Anderson was present at the farewell meeting held in the East U.P. Church, Perth, for Miss K.J. Hutton (now Mrs. Marwick), held on the eve of her leaving- as a Zenana agent for Old Calabar. Mr. Anderson took a great interest in all those in whose designation for the mission field he took part.

In the Record for October 1891 it was stated:—

The name of the Rev. William Anderson, Old Calabar, has been added to the list of annuitants under the Sacred and Infirm Ministers' and Missionaries' Scheme. The long service of this brother for forty-nine years in the foreign field renders him in every way worthy of the regard of the Church and of its provision for the comfort of his old age. As an expression of its sympathy with Mr. Anderson, and its admiration of his long and faithful labours, the Board appointed him as the first annuitant under the "Crichton Bequest," the whole annual income of which will be paid to him.

On the death of Mrs. Goldie, which took place at Creek Town on August 20, 1891, Mr. Anderson wrote:—

Fifty-one years have passed away since, with her husband, she joined the mission band in that gem of the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica. Forty-four years ago the worthy couple were selected to go to the help of the Lord against the mighty in dark Calabar. During all these years she has toiled nobly, faithfully, and patiently in the work of the Lord. What she was to her husband he only can tell; but all her contemporaries can testify of her value to the Mission. August 20th was a happy day to her. Then was it said to her, "Come up hither." And oh! the meetings and greetings beyond! Her sister Fuphemia, Mrs. Sutherland, Mrs. Anderson, Margery Barty, and Mary Baillie, all awaiting to welcome her home. But that same 20th of August was a day of sadness to those left behind.

The great day alone will declare the value of her labours among the large numbers of destitute children, twins and orphans, and others, of whom she generally had a full house. Many of these are now husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, heads of happy Christian families. Through these the holy, happy influence of Mrs. Goldie will go down to unborn generations.

Mr. Anderson was present at the ordination of the Rev. Ebenezer Deas, as a missionary to Old Calabar, in Bristo Place U.P. Church, Edinburgh, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 19, 1892, and delivered the address to the new missionary. In the beginning of the address Mr. Anderson referred to what he called his "four T's.," viz. Temper, Temperance, Temperature, and Time (punctuality), attention to which he believed to be conducive to health in Calabar. The address dealt with the missionary's position and work:—I. As matters of vast importance. II. As of high honour. III. As involving solemn responsibility, (1) as a preacher; (2) in regard to prayer; (3) as regards house-to-house visitation. Counsels as to how to meet hours of dejection and times of opposition followed ; and the address closed by calling attention, IV. To the missionary's glorious reward. I regret that I cannot find room for more than this brief outline of the leading points of the address.

In May 1892, Mr. Anderson was present at the Free Church Missionary Breakfast, Edinburgh. There I met him for the first time, being introduced to him by Mr. Luke, then at home on furlough. He was, as always, interested in meeting a new recruit. We sat beside him, and he kept the table lively with his amusing remarks. The Rev. W. S. Peebles, formerly of Old Calabar, came to greet him and Mr. Luke, and compliments in Efik passed between them. Soon after, Mr. Anderson left on a visit to his nephews and nieces in America.

To his friend R. A. Douglas, Esq., Edinburgh, Mr. Anderson wrote from Wheeling, West Va., on June 30, 1 S(j2 :—

I left Glasgow and Greenock in the State of Nevada on Friday the 10th. Miss Currie and Miss Seton accompanied me to Greenock. We reached Moville on Saturday, and lingered there for some hours for Irish passengers and cargo. Left Moville about 5 P.M. Sea a little angry —perhaps about some Home Rule palaver. When dinner-bell was rung at six, I felt it prudent to keep my berth. That was my only absence from table during the voyage. . . .

On morning of Tuesday, 21, we were off Sandy Hook. In dock about 10. After passing Customs ... I encamped at New Jersey Railway Station till 8.42, when I started by train for this place. Night journey sometimes pleasant, sometimes eerie. . . .

Right glad and grateful to find all my loved ones here well. I indeed feel that there is a want. The only and constant playmate and companion of my childhood and a considerable part of my boyhood is no longer to be seen here, and I am reminded of Mrs. Hemans' lines—

"O give my brother back to me!
I cannot play alone."

But all is well with her, and a voice comes to me from her quiet resting-place on that hilltop, "Be ye also ready," "Be not slothful." I am glad, however, to be among her children and her children's children, and to see them all healthy, busy, and happy.

The two Presbyterian ministers are very kind. The senior, Rev. Dr. Cunningham, who with his wife called on me at 1 Gladstone Place [Edinburgh] last autumn, prevailed on me to preach for him last Sabbath morning, and he says his people were all delighted to hear a Scotch sermon ''Luke x. 42;. Other five pulpits are open and inviting me.

This is the place, Mrs. Douglas, for being duly appreciated! The Edinburgh newspapers never speak of me as being a "distinguished visitor," or "the great Rev. Dr. Anderson from Africa "!

Mr. Anderson's niece, Miss Elizabeth Clohan, writes regarding his visit:—

We begged him to rest, and not preach during his visit of '92, but we soon found that it was impossible for him to rest in our sense of the word. He loved to preach. Of course, our meeting in '92 was saddened by my mother's death, which occurred in '89; but I need not say saddened, for death was never sad to uncle. Were it not for our hard winters, I think uncle would have remained with us. He was much pleased with Dr. and Mrs. Cunningham, who were equally fond of him. He feared our very changeable winters, and went away with a half promise that, if we promised to keep him warm, he would return. Dear as was Scotland and the loving Scotch friends, I think, as he grew older, there was a longing for his own kith and kin, but still stronger was his desire to die among his beloved people in Africa.

Uncle talked much of those "gone before" when he visited us in '92.

My sister had married and died since his visit of '76 and '77, so the two deaths were much in uncle's mind, as in ours. My sister's child Dora lives with us, and was twelve years old in '92. You know how fond uncle was of children, so Dora and he became fast friends. He called her his "little guide," as she went with him on his daily walks.

On Sept. 8, 1892, Mr. Anderson wrote to his friend Mr. Joseph Gilray, Edinburgh:—

I have been eleven Sabbaths in this country and have had opportunity of hearing only two sermons. I have not been altogether idle. I have delivered eighteen sermons and addresses, chiefly missionary. Have not been allowed to confine attention to Presbyterian churches. Have preached in two Lutheran, one Methodist Episcopal, and one "Disciples."

Am at present in heart of the old Slave States (South). Find a good deal of the old pro-slavery or anti-negro feeling to be pretty strong among the elderly generation of whites. . . . The Presbyterian Hymnal (North) has the hymn intact beginning "Jesus shall reign," etc. Hymn absent from Presbyterian Hymn Book (South). In the Methodist Episcopal, stanza awanting—

''Blessings abound where'er He reigns,
The pris'ner leaps to lose his chains," etc.

For the edification of the Methodists, I stated that I missed the stanza, and then recited and commended it.

I did not make any definite arrangements about lodgings when I left you. I told Mrs. M'Gregor that I might never return (that is quite possible yet); and that, were I to return, I might find her dead, or married, or flitted, or averse to being bothered with any lodger. She writes me, however, that her door still stands open for me if I wish to re-enter it, whether for a short period or a long. Well, 1 Gladstone Place [now 33 Sciennes Road] has been my Edinburgh home since, I think, 1865, and I like the locality, so I have made up my mind to return to my old quarters. Perhaps Providence may open up a way of escape during winter from the rigours of your Edinburgh clime.

1 have mentioned eighteen addresses past. Future prospect—Sabbath, 11, two addresses, Presbyterian church, Martinsburg; Tuesday, 13, one address, Methodist, Salem; Saturday, 17, pre-Communion sermon, Baltimore; Sabbath, 18, Communion address and Missionary address, Baltimore—will bring eighteen to twenty-four; but hope to hear a sermon (or see one preached) on 18th. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Amen." . . .

This is my last letter for Europe for this season.

Mr. Anderson returned from America in the beginning of October, and immediately resumed his mode of life-preaching, attending meetings, etc. He presided occasionally or took part at the Noon Prayer Meeting in the Free Assembly Hall. Here is a sample of his activity taken from a post-card to Miss Duncan, Jan. 21, 1893:—

Have been very busy since Christmas. Was relieved from preaching in Glasgow, New Year's Day. Busy day, though. Aided Mr. Morison, Rosehall, at Communion in forenoon. At second Communion, afternoon, Newington. Evening, addressed show people, Waverley Market. Sometimes at two prayer meetings a day during Week of Prayer. Took part in several. Have taken part in evening meetings at Rosehall, Newington, North Richmond Street. . . .

In his correspondence during these last years he notes all the events that transpired in Calabar as he received the news. Thus, in the same post-card, he writes:—

Sad news from O. C. again. Rev. J. W. M'Kenzie, who left L'pool, Aug. 24, died at Ungwana, Dec. 16 [1892]. Only about three months in the field! Death not to be attributed to climate. So brethren say. . . . How mysterious are His ways! These young and to appearance vigorous young men called away. Old cumberers like myself linger on !

Here is another little glimpse of the old man :—

I find that I am failing somewhat. Easily fatigued— short walk makes breathless—very unwilling to move— shrink from exchanging warm room for cold street. Bought annual ticket for Literary Institute. Frequently spend a half or a whole hour there.

Mr. Anderson became famous for his closely-written post-cards initialed WA. Here is a specimen one to Miss Duncan, dated "7.4.93 " :—

E. U. M, [Edima Ufan mi, Efik for "my dear friend."] I have taken a dislike to letter writing and become addicted to card playing. Had I waited a little longer here on Wednesday, I might have had your company on my visit to Miss Edgerley. She would have valued a visit from you. Her address is "Mrs. Marwick,------"l I found her a little better than she had been, though still confined to bed. ... I have never seen a bptter conducted Exhibitor}' Missionary Meeting than that [Congo-Balolo] of last evening. Got home (?) about eleven. Mr. Guinness is one of the ablest lecturers I have heard. Had a kind male guide homewards, Rev. Mr. Brown, Dumbiedykes. Tho' he is a Kirk minister, we did not fall out by the way. The cake ! the cake ! Thanks to donors (I suppose two) for the same. Only sorry for its size. A 6d. one would have been sufficient. Love to mother and all friends, not forgetting the Ford lassie, Agnes.—Yrs., WA.

In response to an invitation to visit Mrs. and Miss Duncan at Burntisland, Mr. Anderson wrote on August 24 the following post-card :—

"To go" or "not to go"? Question discussed as attentively as Home Rule Bill for forty-eight hours. Discussion not yet finished. The demon Obstruction ! Perfectly exhausting to illustrious colleague [Gladstone] and myself. We must apply the gag. A steady hour's sunshine says "Go." Opposition clouds and rain say "Don't." Must apply gag.

Tuesday last week saw Messrs. Dean and Weir, with Miss Edgerley, off from Waverley to Liverpool. Miss E. meanwhile goes only to Grand Canary. They left on Wednesday in Cameroon. Mr. Marwick arrived on Friday, and is safe and sound in maternal home. Left all well in Old Calabar.

I am kept pretty well agoing. Sabbath before last, Greenlaw; last Sabbath, St. Margaret's Parish Church. Engaged for three Sabbaths in September. After that— where?

It was after my return from Calabar in August 1893 that I became intimately acquainted with Mr. Anderson, who became a frequent visitor to, and met many Calabar friends old and new at my mother's house.

The following post-card to Mrs, Duncan, dated September 13, 1893, refers to an accident which befel Mr. Anderson :—

Should have thanked you a day or two ago for the Jamaica Presbyterian which you so kindly forwarded to me. I forwarded it to Miss Edgerley—she being a native of Jamaica—to cheer her in her solitude at Grand Canary, where she is for health. This is mail-day for Old Calabar, but I have not written a line for it. Mrs. M'Gregor has been my amanuensis for (or on) two cards. Not in trim for writing just now—left arm in sling. On Monday last week attempted to step on car in motion. Got foot almost on step. Car jerked off quickly. I fell to street, and in doing so broke one of the small bones of the arm. Went to Dr. Peddie, who splintered it up in tight bandage. Bandage to remain three weeks, then changed.

In spite of his accident, Mr. Anderson was able to continue preaching, as the following post-card, dated September 18, shows :—

Dr. Peddie has just been here washing and dressing arm. Progressing finely. Arm in sling, but preached twice yesterday without pain or fatigue in North Richmond Street U.P. Texts—1 Pet. iv. 18, and Rev. xiv. 3. Good audiences considering the season.

You would be laughing at my ignorance (I suspect Mrs. M'Gregor was doing so). I thought that you must have A'island, B'island, C'island, etc. etc., till Mrs. M'Gregor ventured to suggest that B'island might be only a contracted form of Burntisland ! I am very teachable and tractable—willing to learn from anybody and everybody. Calabar [mail] goes and comes fortnightly now.

On October 31, Mr. Anderson wrote to Miss Duncan:—

Cold pretty trying outside now. Just hesitating as to flying off to Grand Canary for four months. Very indolent—a packing up, even on a small scale, seems a very formidable business.

Mr. Anderson decided to go to Canary, and left Edinburgh, Caledonian Station, at 10.15 A.M. on December 4. Mr. H. M. Stanley travelled by the same train. Mr. Anderson had a few minutes' conversation with the explorer. A small company of friends had assembled to see Mr. Anderson off, and the attention of the travelling public was drawn to the veteran missionary. From Liverpool, Mr. Anderson wrote next day to Miss Duncan :—

Dr. Adam's son dangerously ill, so he boarded me with an old friend, Miss Hickson, niece of the staunch old friend of the Mission, Dr. William Fergusson.

To Mr. Gilray, Edinburgh, Mr. Anderson wrote from the Sailors' Institute, Port Luz, Grand Canary, on December 28:—

Dear Friend Gilray,—You will have read or heard ere now that the good ship Cameroon arrived here safely on the morning of Thursday, 14th inst.

Our passage across the usually turbulent Bay of Biscay was pretty rough, but that was only to be expected at the season of the voyage. I have never had two more pleasant days at sea than the two last days I was on board. 1 have never seen a finer sunset, even at sea, than that of the Tuesday evening. The sun neared the horizon in great majesty—clouds of jasper, sardius, and emerald gathering around him, till tier after tier above him and on each side of him suggested the gates of Paradise and the glory of the Eternal Throne as being only a few paces away on the other side of them. The Royal Hotel [Edinburgh] lit up for the reception of George and May yon night was poor, poor in comparison. I am reminded of Zerub Baillie's report of a sermon by Robbie Flockhart. Robbie was preaching near the great confectioner's near the Tron Church, of beauties or bliss of heaven. After using a number of other metaphors, he wound up with this grand climax: "But, in fact, my freends, Fergussons shop there's naething til't! "

Very pleasant climate this. Thermometer as yet between 66° and 68°—doors and windows open—and no fires save in cooking places. Sun up shortly after 7, continues shining till about 5.

"Canary Islands"—of old the "Fortunate" or "Elysian Isles." Why now called Canary? Not, it seems, from the little yellow songsters, of which there are multitudes in the country, but they are all in cages. I have not seen a single bird of any kind since I came here, except in cages; and I have not seen a single cat, nor a single specimen of the tribe. I have seen one goat. Plenty of horses, asses, and muies—most of them most barbarously treated. I wonder if anyone feeds the poor sparrows of Gladstone Place and Sciennes Hill now!

I am not altogether idle here. Lots of ships here from all nations. At an average, 100 steamers call here monthly—from north, south, east, and west. Mr. Searle tells me that at some seasons of the year fully 130 steamers call in the north. He has seen the number up to 150. Mr. Searle (rhyme with pearl) and his noble wife are doing a great work here among sailors, residents, and visitors. I was surprised to learn that they founded and maintain the Institute on their own responsibility alone, and at their own charges. . . .

New Years Day, 1894. . . . We had a pleasant season yesterday afternoon. We introduced something new into Christian life and work in Grand Canary, viz. the observance of the Lord's Supper according to our Presbyterian form. Mr. Searle acted as elder on the occasion. lie is a Baptist, and addressed the "little band and lowly" in almost the same words which I addressed to Rosehall congregation on the first Sabbath of September, founded on Pilate's "Ecce Homo!"—" Behold the Man!" Our number was small—communicants and spectators; but we had representatives of four great denominations—Episcopal, Wesleyan, Baptist, Presbyterian. Miss Edgerley and I were the representatives of Presbytery. We mean to observe the ordinance monthly. . . . Preached to evening congregation from Matt, xxvii. 22, Dr. Pentecost's division, as you and I heard in Queen's Park.

On New Year's Day 1894, Mr. Anderson wrote to Mrs. M'Gregor :—

It seems to me that it would appear very ungrateful were I not to remember you on this day, and to wish you "A Happy New Year and many returns," seeing that I have spent the last four New Year's Days—'90, '91, '92, and '93—very comfortably in your hospitable abode. . . .

I suppose that you will miss me at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice. But my place is, I trust, more than supplied by Another, who appears to the spirit's eye as " One like unto the Son of Man." You have still your Bible—His Word beside you, and eyes to read it; so that, having this precious treasure, neither you nor I can be altogether solitary. The longer I read the Book the more do I value it. I trust it is the same with you. I am in a sense among strangers, and yet I hardly feel it to be so. Miss Edgerley's presence has been one source of enjoyment. She reminds me that she went to Old Calabar first in 1854 (forty years ago !), so that she and I have many common subjects to discuss. She looks forward with joy to next month, when she expects to set off once more for the dear old home—not in Britain or in Jamaica, but in "the Dark Continent." . . .

Kindly let Miss Cameron, Miss Walker, and Lizzie know that they are not forgotten by "the lad that's awa'" on this New Year's Day.

To his cousin, Mrs. Gordon, Dalkeith, Mr. Anderson wrote on January 8, 1894:—

I managed to preach in the saloon on the Sabbath during which I was on board, but had to continue sitting in an arm-chair during the whole service. The chair-foot was tied to the table-foot, but notwithstanding that precaution, the captain had to catch hold both of the chair and of me, once or twice, to prevent a tumble. . . .

On arriving here I felt it a great advantage to find Miss Edgerley here. Her father and brother, both ordained missionaries, and also her stepmother, slumber in the cemetery of Old Calabar. Miss E. and I board at the Sailors' Institute, an institution founded by a worthy gentleman, E. W. Searle, Esq., for the benefit of the seamen who visit this port. Mr. S. acts as missionary at the Institute, visits the shipping, preaches on board ships, preaches and holds meetings at the Institute, etc. etc. He toils hard, and is ably supported by his excellent wife. She reminds me in some things of my own Louisa, so energetic and so self-denying. I am glad to be able to assist them somewhat in their evangelistic work. I generally deliver one address on a week-day and preach twice on Sabbath. . . .

The population of the island is chiefly Spanish and Popish. . . . Learned men tell us that the islands, when first visited by Europeans, abounded in large dogs, and that the islands took their name from the Latin word "canis," a dog! . . . Teneriffe is about fifty miles distant, and we can see its peak to-day glittering white with snow.

On Jan. 22, Mr. Anderson wrote to Mrs. Douglas, Edinburgh:—

I was greatly astonished last Thursday evening on sitting down at our tea-table. I had just come in from a long walk. When I sat down, Miss Edgerley said to me, "Miss Hogg and Mrs. Rae [of Calabar] send you their compliments." "How were they conveyed?" (I meant the compliments). "Both ladies are in the port. I have just seen them." I was astonished. Miss Edgerley then explained that Miss Hogg had been very ill—at death's door—and that the doctors had hurried her off, but protested against her voyaging alone, so Mrs. Rae had to accompany her thus far. ... As Miss Hogg had improved greatly during the voyage hither, it was not considered necessary for Mrs. Rae to accompany her to L'pool, so Mrs. Rae remains at one of the Las Palmas hotels, and she and Miss Edgerley have arranged to return to Old Calabar by the first out-going steamer. . .

I continue to enjoy the place, the climate, and the people connected with the Institute very much. . . . Last evening—Sabbath—we had the largest congregation I have yet seen at the Institute. A Wesleyan brother, Mr. Paulding, took the devotional part of the service. His sister is wife of J. Hudson Taylor, head of the China Inland Mission. Mr. Paulding's wife is pining away in consumption. My text was 1 Pet. iv. 18.

Writing to Mrs. M'Gregor, Edinburgh, on Feb. 9, Mr. Anderson refers to visits to the Institute of Samuel Plimsoll, Esq., and others :—

I think you will remember an M.P. who made himself famous some years ago as the Champion of Seamen, and whose mark is, I believe, on all British trading vessels up to this day. He and Mrs. P. attend one of the Sabbath services and also the Bible class. ... At our last Bible reading ex-M.P. Plimsoll and his wife were present. He gave us a fine address on his own Christian experience. Among other things, he said: "When I was travelling in India long ago, I felt very anxious one Sabbath to worship in some Christian church. After a weary journey, I reached a mission station, and joined the audience. The missionary gave out for his text, I Kings xix. 13: 'What doest thou here, Elijah ?' and began to put some searching questions, as I thought, direct to me. I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable, and to wonder whether I did right in going there. I was somewhat startled, sir, when I came to your place of worship and heard you give out the same text," etc. etc.

Miss Edgerley and Mrs. Rae set off for O. C. in the Matadi on Jan. 24. My present purpose is to leave this place for L'pool in the steamer advertised to leave this port on April 9. . . . Should you fall in with an elderly lady with whom I was for some time a lodger— her name is, or was, Mrs. M'Gregor—be so kind as to say to her that if she has changed, or is about to change her name, or to flit, or if she would rather live a retired life, and not be bothered any more with those troublesome people called lodgers, that should I be spared to reach

Edinburgh, I can stay a week or two at Robinson's till Providence makes my way clear for the future. ... In regard to lodgings, I would not think any the less of you, or feel less grateful for all your past kindness, were you to say . . . that you would be more comfortable were you relieved of all lodger responsibility.

Writing again to Mrs. Douglas on March 7, Mr. Anderson said :—

I am not altogether destitute of testimony that my services have been beneficial to some. A number would like me to remain among them. Some would like me to promise that, D.V., I will return. I avoid all engagements on the ground that the future is not ours—that we know not what a day may bring forth. I do not like to say to them that I should like to go elsewhere [Calabar]. . . .

To oblige friends here, I have got my photo taken at Las Palmas. It seems to me to be the best likeness that has ever been taken of me. But this may be owing to my increasing blindness. . . .

The original inhabitants of the island, or the original Spanish settlers, must have been splendid engineers. The roads and the water conduits are splendid in the interior of the island. The scenery and the farms are enchanting. No wonder that the ancients styled the islands, Elysian. . . .

I see from papers that old friend Mrs. YVaddell has got home. "Be ye also ready."

To Mrs. M'Gregor and Mrs. Douglas, Mr. Anderson wrote on April 7:—

Dear Ladies,—Only time for a few words. Matadi here two days before her advertised time, and overcrowded. Friends, and even Mr. Jones, chief of the Shipping Company, and his captain advise me not to go in her. Now arranged and guaranteed to me that I go by Accra, due here on 21st. Two members of the Mission on board, sick—or rather on sick list—Mr. Manson, who is spending the day at the Institute, and Miss Johnstone, who can't leave ship.

Mr. Anderson arrived in Liverpool by Accra on April 24, and, after spending a few days with Dr. and Miss Adam, went to Edinburgh on May 2, in time to be present at the meetings of the United Presbyterian Synod. After the meetings were over, Mr. Anderson lived a somewhat solitary life, as the following note to Miss Duncan, dated June 8, shows:—

Laziness and love of solitude increasing rather than diminishing. I have my solitary walks daily—very pleasa'nt. Walked on Tuesday evening from 33 to summit of Calton Hill to hear the music. Had I had company, I could not have stopped at pleasure to look at shop windows, at placards on walls, passing vehicles, etc. etc. I would have required to watch lest my companion should be speaking to me, and it would have been necessary for him or her to scraugh out to make me hear. Alone—"I am monarch of all I survey."

Had an invitation to tea last evening from one of the most respected families in Rosehall Church. My reply was substantially—"Thanks. Tea at 4, prayer meeting at 8. That means—leave lodgings at 3.30, return at 9.30. Six hours! Formidable. Remain where I am, I can read half an hour, write half an hour, lie down and rest half an hour, or take a nap if so disposed. Enjoy my solitary cup. Renew the process at pleasure. 7.30, off to meeting. Back at 9.30. No feeling of exhaustion. Go to tea. Keep eye on strain six hours to see things clearly—ear on stretch to try to catch what is said to me. Speakers have to yell out when addressing me. The weary hours go round. Get to bedroom worn out. Better not expect me." I did not go. Becoming quite recluse, hermit, anchorite what more?

Had once some thought of going for a day or two to your Convention [Bridge of Allan], but blind, deaf, dumb, —what good could I either receive or communicate? I trust that the meeting will be profitable to all who shall attend it. . . .

My engagements are not many nowadays—Edenshead morning and evening, Sabbath, June 17. Sabbath, July 15, the old day of "Ford Summer Sacrament" (these words set my heart aglow), Ford, forenoon, and Cranston Parish Kirk, evening. First Sabbath, Sept., St. Mary's Free, evening. I have sometimes had more continuous work.

In a post-card of June 13, Mr. Anderson wrote:—

Jamaica Presbyterian for May contained a fine notice of my worthy old friend George Millar, Principal of Montego Bay Academy. Miss Edgerley was for some years a boarder in his house. . . . Had a letter from Miss E. last evening, of date May 8. . . . Wonderful changes, she says,—post office, barracks, botanic garden, etc. etc.

On Sept. 19, Mr. Anderson wrote to Miss Duncan :—

Mind not yet made up as to where I should winter. Three places of refuge—(1) Old Calabar, (2) Grand Canary, (3) Fir Cottage Convalescent Home, near Southampton.

On Sept. 28, Mr. Anderson wrote to me:—

Dear friend Marwick,—I was delighted on the 18th inst. by receipt of your communication of 22nd ult. Received at same time a note from Mr. Weir, of Aug. 6. Is Creek Town favoured above Duke Town in postal accommodation? I think that yours is the only letter that I have ever received from Old Calabar within a month of date. . . .

I should have liked well had the way been clear for my revisiting Calabar during the coming winter. . . .

Glad to see from your note that the [Mission] Press is at work on important business—[Mr. Goldie's] Memoir of King- Eyo VII., and Ukpabio's Translation [of Dr. J. H. Wilson's The Gospel and its Fruits\ Kindly let me have a copy of each, and let me know price of copies and postages. ... I have posted Scotsman of 22nd to Mr. Paton. Ask a sight of it. Leader on printers' blunders will amuse you. I post for you last Evening News. I enclose advertisement of The Lazy Age.

To Miss Duncan, Mr. Anderson wrote on Nov. 15 :—

Had rich treat on Sabbath evening in Augustine Church, by seeing and hearing Rev. James Chalmers from New Guinea. He is a man and a missionary of a right royal stamp. I never heard two more thrilling missionary addresses. I introduced myself to him as from Old Guinea. He and I fraternised very cordially.

Letters from Old Calabar to-day. My path thither not made any plainer. I think it may be considered settled that, D.V., I leave Liverpool for Grand Canary on Saturday, Dec. 1. . . .

I was among the crowd last evening at Literary Institute, hearing (or rather seeing) Rev. S. R. Crockett.

Mr. Anderson left Edinburgh for Grand Canary on Nov. 28, and spent a few days with Dr. and Miss Adam in Liverpool. On Dec. 13, Mr. Anderson wrote to Miss Duncan from the Sailors' Institute:—

We had the quickest and the quietest voyage I have ever experienced. Dropped anchor in Port Luz about 6 P.M., Saturday evening, Dec. 8. Voyage seven days six hours. Hardly a ripple on the ocean during the whole way. And the good steamer Bonny never gave an uncomfortable plunge or jerk or roll. Captain Windham is an exceptionally pleasant man, and evidently did not need to be instructed by my good friend Dempster to deal kindly with his old missionary passenger.

Not yet entered on regular work. In so far as I can see, my visit number two will be very much a second edition of number one.

Mr. Anderson records in letters to various friends my brief visit to him on the afternoon of Sabbath, Dec. 16, when on my way home with my wife and infant son, on account of the very serious illness of the former:—

A few of us were holding our usual prayer meeting in the reading-room in the afternoon, when a stranger entered. Mr. Searle rose and spoke to him, and showed him a seat. When service was concluded, Mr. Searle asked me if I recognised the stranger. I felt obliged to reply, "No, I do not." I was confounded when Mr. Searle announced his name.

Although Mr. Anderson was still suffering from the effects of a cold he had contracted in Liverpool, and the afternoon was a bleak one, he insisted on accompanying me part of the way to the landing-place.

Mr. Anderson took part in a Watch Night Service on Dec. 31, and at 12.30 A.M. on Jan. 1, 1895, wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, Edinburgh :—

You have my first writing for the present year. Six of us have just finished our little "Watch Night Service," and wished each other all seasonable blessings.

On Jan. 9, Mr. Anderson wrote to Mrs. and Miss Duncan:—

I continue to aid Mr. Searle in his work, but there does not seem the same life and energy in the locality as there were last year.

People sometimes murmur when missionaries—even missionary ladies—are not able to stay for a prolonged period in the field. What would they say if some of them should not be able to reach the field? We have a case of that kind here just now. . . . [Mr. V. and his wife] left Liverpool in Nov., but sea life told so much on her highly-strung nervous system, that the ship doctor, glad to have got her so far alive—would on no account allow her to proceed a single mile farther on her voyage. Her husband went on to his station and his work, and she remains rusticating here in a state of great perplexity and uncertainty. She is a splendid musician and a high-class painter. Her Christmas present to me was a beautiful view of the scene of my daily walks—the Hay of Confitel. She seems glad to have me to talk to and to sympathise with her in what she feels to be "a fiery trial." . . .

Have been repcrusing—for the first time for fifty years —the life of my valiant townsman, "Mansic Waugh, Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself." I never read the volume with more interest or amusement. You must not think that I have given up all serious reading! The Bible I got from you, Isobel, is my daily—my hourly companion.

To Mrs. M'Grcgor, Mr. Anderson wrote on Feb. 6:—

I preach sometimes on board the ships—especially on those which have Scotch captains and crews.

The weather is not so invariably mild as when I was last here. On the morning of Jan. 14, the sea, on both sides of the Institute, rose higher than it had done for twenty-two years, and flowed into and damaged a good many of the houses. During the night of Tuesday last there blew quite a tornado, such as has never been seen or felt by the present generation.

Mr. Anderson returned from Grand Canary in time for the meeting of the Synod in the beginning of May. He had pleasant intercourse on the voyage with Bishop Ingham of Sierra Leone, who afterwards sent him a copy of his interesting volume, Sierra Leone: A Hundred Years Ago and Now, and spoke of Mr. Anderson at Exeter Hall. [On hearing that I was engaged on the Memoir, Bishop Ingham kindly sent me a brief note of reminiscence, and a card of Mr. Anderson's, expressing approval of the Bishop's scheme of employing West Indians in mission work in West Africa.] He was present at most of the meetings, sitting as a "silent" member, seeing rather than hearing what was going on. At the great missionary meeting on the Wednesday evening, he sat in the front seat in the body of the hall, facing the platform and the speakers.

During the summer his public engagements were comparatively few. On the evening of July 21 he preached in Rosehall U.P. Church, Edinburgh, from John xvii. 1. On July 28 he was at Edenshead taking the Communion services for Mr. Lawson, formerly of Calabar. On Aug. 4 and 1 1 he preached in St. Leonard's Parish Church, Edinburgh. On Sept. 1 he dispensed the Communion for the last time in Rosehall Church, and addressed the communicants from Matt. xvii. 4.

With reference to Mr. Anderson's connection with Rosehall congregation, the Rev. W. Morison, M.A., writes :—

Mr. Anderson joined the membership of Rosehall on his return to Scotland after his retirement from the mission field in 1889. While at home on furlough, five or six years before his retirement, he was as good as a member. He was never absent either from the Sabbath services or the weekly prayer meeting without sending a note to his minister mentioning the cause of absence. He was always most ready to render service to the congregation and the minister, whether to preach or give missionary addresses, or visit the sick.

He often took part in the monthly Communion service and at the Thursday evening meeting, and always with evident pleasure to himself as well as to the people. His devotional language was exceedingly rich. His prayers for those in sorrow, and especially for the bereaved, were very tender, and moved all who heard him. They were tenderest of all when he was remembering the relatives and colleagues of those who had died in the mission field.

It will be convenient to give the rest of Mr. Morison's sketch in this place :—

In Mr. Anderson's intercourse with us at our fireside he was always bright and cheery. He had much of the spirit of the boy up to the last. On leaving our gate, after saying farewell before his final return to Old Calabar, he buttoned his coat tight like a boy about to run a race, set off at a brisk pace—ran rather than walked for a short distance, and called back, "This is how I mean to do at Old Calabar."

He took great interest in the young people, liked their society, and often asked them to read or sing to him. He liked well a good Scotch song. He often brought gifts to the children—usually some good book.

He was one of the best Radicals I ever met. He sent to the papers many letters [signed "Octogenarian"] in which he stated very strongly the views he held on such questions as Disestablishment, Home Rule, etc.

On the evening of Sept. 8, Mr. Anderson was the principal speaker at a missionary service in North Richmond Street Church. I spoke briefly on the changes which Mr. Anderson would find, when he returned to Calabar, had taken place since his departure in 1889, and then Mr. Anderson spoke of darkness and dawn in Calabar. The following evening he was present at an exhibition of articles for a Calabar Mission Box, when the Rev. George M'Donald gave an account of his work at Ungwana. The ladies of the congregation presented Mr. Anderson with a dressing-gown, which he donned, and then recited, by request, " The Missionary Hymn," which he had found in a newspaper, and which was a favourite recitation of his. I accompanied him home, and he insisted on walking back to the Surgeons' Hall, a car station, to save the horses stopping specially for him, and he got off at Hope Park for a similar reason.

A few days after, I was at tea at his lodgings to help him to pack up his books. He expected the Rev. James Robertson also, and when the bell rang, hastily donned the dressing-gown that he might in the capacity of an African chief in full dress receive his visitor! It was that evening, after the books had been packed, and while he sat talking of the past and the future, that he asked me to write his Memoir, as he had little expectation of returning from his visit to Old Calabar.

On Sept. 15 he paid his last visit to his friends in Dalkeith, and preached in Buccleuch Street U.P. Church in the forenoon from Isa. xxi. 11, and in the afternoon addressed the young.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, on the eve of Mr. Anderson's departure for Calabar, the news arrived of the death of the Rev. Hugh Goldie at Creek Town on Aug. 18. On receipt of Mr. Beedie's letter I hurried to 33 Sciennes Road. Mr. Anderson came to the door himself, and I knew whenever I saw him that he had received the news. Mrs. Miller of Rose Hill, Jamaica, was with him. He declared that half the pleasure of his coming visit to Calabar had been taken away. In an interesting little "In Memoriam" article which Mr. Anderson pencilled while on the voyage, and which appeared in The Children s Magazine, Nov. 1895, he wrote:—

By his departure Calabar has become to me deprived of a great portion of its attractions. I had looked forward with great delight to a revival of our youthful intercourse, expecting in his fellowship to become young once more, and "to fight our battles o'er again." I might enlarge on his geniality, his plodding perseverance, his conscientiousness, and what I may call his stubborn adherence to the right. But I shall content myself with saying that it will be well for myself and for all the brethren in the Mission if we follow him as he followed Christ.

The following day Air. Anderson was present at the forenoon service at Rosehall, and at the afternoon service at Uristo U.P. Church, and in the evening addressed a crowded meeting in Newington U.P. Church Hall. He spoke of his friendship with Mr. Goldie, and then of the work they and Mr. Waddell had done in Old Calabar.

The two following days were devoted to leave-taking, most of his friends calling on him to say good-bye. One of the few visits he paid was one in company with Mr. John Cochrane to a blind lady, Miss Cameron, his old friend and near neighbour. On Wednesday morning, Sept. 25, he left the Caledonian Station for Liverpool. A large company of friends gathered to see him off. A few hymns were sung with faltering lips. "A Bristo Poet" wrote :—

"A touching scene, that parting day,
Let scores the story tell,
Who met with tear-dimmed eyes to say,
Brave Anderson, farewell!
Again, with heart so strong and true,
Though on life's journey far,
Our friend has bid his home adieu,
And gone to Calabar."

Mr. Anderson was very fond of my little boy, who had been born in Calabar, and we touk him to the station. Mr. Anderson kissed the child tenderly, and wrote afterwards that the faces of my wife and my child were the last he caught a glimpse of as the train steamed out of the station.

He spent a few days in Liverpool with Dr. and Miss Adam, and on Saturday 29th embarked on the S.S. Benin, along with the Rev. K. and Mrs. Deas, returning after furlough. The vessel was uncomfortably crowded as far as Canary. During the rest of the voyage Mr. Anderson suffered a good deal from the heat, partly due to his clothing not being sufficiently light. The Benin arrived at Duke Town shortly after noon on Thursday, Oct. 31. "My reception," wrote Mr. Anderson to home friends, "from Europeans and natives was all that my warmest friends could have wished it to be."

Mr. Anderson stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Beedie during the few weeks he was spared after his return to Old Calabar. The narrative of the closing weeks will be best given in the words of Mr. Beedie, as published in the Record for April 1896, and supplemented by a letter to me. In the earlier part it describes the same events as Mr. Anderson did in his letters to home friends. The letter will be read by many with mournful interest, as Mr. Beedie himself has since passed away (on Jan. 31, 1897), in the midst of that fruitful ministry of which Mr. Anderson wrote, and to the unspeakable loss of Old Calabar. Mr. Beedie wrote:—

I need not say that we all looked forward with great interest to his return here. We knew that the desire of his heart was to end his days here, and be laid by the side of his " beloved Louisa," and we knew that he had a very strong desire to speak a few more words to his old friends, to whom he had so often spoken before.

When the mail steamer came in, we hastened on board to meet and welcome him, and we were struck with the great change visible on him since we had last seen him— over three years before. He looked hale and strong for a man of eighty-four, but still it was plain that he was not the same man. A very great crowd of the natives were waiting, and the women began to hug him. I had to keep them away by force, fearing that they would take the breath from him altogether. There was a great demonstration; school children marched before singing hymns, and some hundreds crowded round the house, all anxious to get a shake of his hand. We had in the end to put him into the room, and explain to the people that he was not so strong as to be able to stand so much fatigue.

In the cool of the evening I went along with him to the cemetery, and he said he was glad that the spot he had long ago fixed on as his last resting-place had not been appropriated.

The first Sabbath after his return, it was arranged that he should take the afternoon service ; but, as the hour approached, the excitement threatened to unfit him, and I proposed that he should just say a few words to the people, as they were all expectant. He seemed quite pleased; and after the opening exercises I explained to the people that Mr. Anderson did not feel able to take the whole service, but he would say a few words to them. He then stood up and preached with all his old power, and finished the service. He said, afterwards, that the arrangements we had made had taken the nervousness away, and that he had felt quite comfortable.

During the few weeks we had the privilege of having him with us—for privilege it was—he was as full of fun as ever, and was constantly joking, in his old way; but there was a subdued tenderness about him which told of living in the secret of God's presence.

At our November Communion I got him persuaded to preside at the Communion and dispense both tables. He was very unwilling, but finally agreed ; and that was the last Communion on earth. He seemed to have a presentiment that it would be his last. He conducted our services every Sabbath day—except the last two ; but he was in church at all the three services on both days.

When he had to acknowledge that he did not feel able, he said he was quite aware that the "old machine" was about used up.

It may be interesting to give a note of his texts. On Nov. 10 he preached in the afternoon from Num. x. 29. On Friday 15, at the preparatory service, he preached from John xxi. 15. On Sabbath, 17, his pre-Communion address in Efik was from John xix. 5, and the post-Communion address in English from Ps. xlviii. 9. At the English service on Nov. 24 he preached from Matt, xxvii. 22. On Dec. [ he preached at Henshaw Town in the forenoon from Isa. xxi. 10, and has noted "as on 14.4.89." On Tuesday the 3rd he addressed the prayer meeting from Luke xiv. 22, and on the forenoon of Sabbath the 8th preached from the same text at Henshaw Town.

In a private letter to me, of date Dec. 30, 1895, Mr-Beedie told of Mr. Anderson's illness and death:—

He took ill on Saturday morning the 21st. We all thought he was dying—breathless and restless and pained. He thought himself dying. However, he was up early on Sabbath morning and out at church at all the three services. Of course he should not have been out, but he told me of some man who said that he would go to the house of God as long as he could walk, and when not able to walk he would crawl. On Sabbath night the illness returned, and at 2 A.M. I tried his temperature and found it at 102°4'. I wakened Dr. Porter, and we got him soothed, and he fell asleep.

Mr. Beedie said nothing of his own and Mrs. Beedie's devoted attendance on Mr. Anderson; but Miss Slessor, who was at Duke Town at the time recruiting after severe fever, wrote a touching account of the last days:—

I do not feel as if I could convey any idea of the experience of that week of suffering and helplessness, fenced round by devotion and prayer and service touching to see. Mr. and Mrs. Beedie have tended him as if he had indeed been their very own father. Mrs. Beedie sang to him, and comforted him with thoughts and words of Jesus, and day and night ministered to him with all the gentle persistence which characterises her. He repeatedly called for the "Bishop"—his name for Mr. Beedie; and he never called but the response was ready. It was only when there was no more hope of recovery that Mr. Beedie permitted the service to be shared by those of his native children who were capable, and who hungered for the permission to help. It mattered not that Mr. Anderson was unconscious of all their efforts, sometimes of their very presence; that only seemed to double their anxiety to nurse and comfort and help him, and every sentence which fell from his lips was watched for and treasured and passed round to the waiting groups outside with affectionate eagerness. 1 le wished to be spared till the Jubilee, but said, "Only if it be His will." He was tried sadly by doubts for a few days. Satan seemed to bring all his sins to his remembrance, and tried to take away his assurance of hope ; but 1 think that during the last two days that frame of mind had passed away, and he repeatedly said when asked how he felt, "Fine and comfortable," or "quiet," or "resting." He was able to speak but little for three days, and when asked if he had anything to say, he replied always "No!" Once he began, "There is a fountain filled with blood." I was close by his back, and picked it up, repeating line after line and verse after verse slowly; and on being asked again and again whether that were it, he answered, "Ay! ay! that's it." His breathing was so laboured that I always lay down and spoke over his shoulder, and one day I called "Daddy, daddy, O!" as we speak here. He answered, "Ay! the poor old man is here." I said, "The poor old man? Why, all things are yours: for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." "Ay," he replied, "that's your charitable opinion." When Miss Slessor remonstrated with him for mistrusting his Saviour's grace, and reminded him that he must take his place as Christ's own in spite of all that Satan might insinuate, he replied, "Ay, there's at least the fact even for me, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, and, Come unto Me all ye that labour," etc. But, as I have said, he began to be very quiet and to lose consciousness at times. On Friday night, after a restless day, the Government doctor came over, and Messrs. Barclay and Simmers stayed all night. About half-past seven in the morning he passed quietly away, after exactly one week's illness.

Mr. Anderson died on Saturday, Dec. 28, and was buried the same afternoon. Mr. Beedie wrote:—

We have all a feeling of satisfaction that he has got his desire—-to be laid beside his wife and where he spent the best of his days.

Miss Slessor described the funeral:—

We laid him beside his wife, amid the tears and sobs of a crowd of his children and children's children; but after we had reached the house we heard strains of thanksgiving too, from the spot where they laid him, and "The home over there" and the "Sweet by and by" alternated with the songs of Zion in the language of the country. Many thanksgivings and many prayers were offered yesterday, beside the bed on which his body lay, by a group of loving and mourning women, and fresh consecrations were made there to Him who had lent so long to us such fathers and mothers as the Waddells, the Goldies, and the Andersons.

The Government staff paid their tribute of affectionate respect by attending the funeral, notwithstanding it was a day advertised as a public holiday, at which they should have presided publicly.

The record of Mr. Anderson's life and work may be completed by the mention of two facts which came out after his death. "Seldom did any Mission Board receive a letter like that which came from William Anderson, complaining that his retiring allowance of £120 was much too large, and asking that half of it might be divided between the Aged Ministers' Fund and Foreign Missions. Of course the Board declined to withdraw from himself the means and the pleasure of exercising what liberality he thought fit." The Record for March 1893 contained the following paragraph: — "'A Friend' has made a generous offer of £600 to form the nucleus of a Capital Fund for providing annuities to Zenana missionaries who may become incapacitated by old age or sickness. The offer has been gratefully accepted by the Board." The "Friend" was none other than the old missionary. "That fund, which other donations have now raised to about £1200, will remain as a beneficent monument of the rare offering which originated it."l

In his letter to Dr. Robson of Nov. 26, 1895, Mr. Anderson wrote:—

I have been quite delighted by the many marks of progress which I have witnessed in the work of the Mission. Crowded Sabbath congregations, a crowded Sabbath school well supplied with teachers, well attended prayer meetings and classes for instruction, numerous admissions to Church fellowship, numerous applications for admission, and increased liberality in contributions for sacred purposes, are substantial indications that our worthy brother Beedie and his excellent helpmeet have not been labouring in vain during these by-past years. There is one thing in particular which forces itself on the attention of every kindly spectator, viz. the desirableness, indeed the necessity, for a new and larger place of assembly. Sabbath after Sabbath large crowds surround the church, being unable to obtain admission. Within, every inch is occupied,—seats, passages, and pulpit steps all crowded. . . . The present sanctuary has served its purpose well. I should well like to see another monument of progress at Duke Town—a capacious temple consecrated to the service of the One True God.

The new church [At my request, Mr. Beedie furnished me with the following statistic?. which show how the congregation had recovered from the split in 1882, and had entered on an era of prosperity:—" When Mr. Anderson left in April 1889, there were 86 on the roll. There are now on the revised roll for 1897, 290 native names. There are 20 European names on the roll, making in all 310. Mr. Anderson's name was pill on the roll at the end of 1895, but is now removed."] to be built at Duke Town is to be called the Anderson Memorial Church. But Mr. Beedie, whose ministry has done so much under God to create the need for the new church, and who to the last was engaged in raising funds for it, has not been spared to see it erected to the memory of one to whom he proved himself a devoted colleague and a worthy successor. It would only be fitting to associate Mr. Beedie's name with that of Mr. Anderson in the new church, for the names of Anderson and Reedie will be linked together for many days to come in the memories of European and native in Old Calabar and in the minds of not a few at home.

MR. BEEDIE.