| Show IN THE SOUTH SMS sitting silling the old antu listening to the songs of 0 the lie natives description of an aged monarch of the forest labors of the natives accompanied pains d with song son strict atice ance of gospel misshun ary Y wk EDMOR JOURNAL at this thi dato balai I 1 am seated under the old falu enjoying the quiet gentle breeze of the pacific perhaps you yoa will wonder what the autu is ia it is a large free just a few feet to the left of our meeting house and stands right on the edge of the sea it ib may be called I 1 largo argo and beautiful owing to its tremendous size its years are unnumbered to man I 1 would venture to sa say y only its creator could tell us ug its age age the roots have pushed themselves thease lyea above the earth s surface to that extent that they have formed comfortable for table resting places so EO much so ea that I 1 find it hard bard to keep myself from going to sleep under the shady boughs bough of this beautiful tree the school children sometimes sit and sing in tranquility to the ocean waves which teem heern to convey the sweet notes heavenward or to some enchanted place chera hearts are entwined entwine dand and the soul brou brought ht into sweet communion with those no not of this abia planet at times wh while i le I 1 am sea beatel tei u under n the green boughs of this old autu reflecting upon the past and future I 1 am aroused from meditation by the strains of sweet music perhaps it if is a boat coming my way filled with natives perhaps someone is attending to their daily duties anil and are singing a song song 0 to lighten their burdens they very otten often do this they sing when they work their oars dip dill with a note and riss rise with a note and the boat glides through the water with a song how beautiful it is to see a boat coming containing about one hundred natives all sin singing ain some familiar song perhaps Ier hapa filly fifty two of the number have an oar each each bach oar dips at the same time and rises with the same re regular ular ity of course all boats are not this large e while somo some are much larger they vary in size pulling from two to seventy five oars however they all work their oars accompanied with a song notwithstanding the number of journeying 0 partied if f this character which have cone under my observation each one brings with it something new it in may ay be a new song son or it may be a new boat at any any rate there is a feature about it which creates such a n desire as that with which school children raise from their seats and rush to the doors and windows to see it 0 go go by this thia occurs almost daily if it is not a boat it is a small canoe hewed out of some large tree anyhow there is a song iong attached to it whatever it is the natives sing while they dance they are so fond orthis of this that they have been known to pas pao the entire ni night ht in thi chii manner they sin sing upon upon their journeys and in fact upon all occasions and above all they sing before t hey bey proy prey at dusk when the days tumult has been hushed and all nature has been lulled hilled into nights Blum slumber the natives yes ye that beiji benighted cited race of goda people gather around the fireside and sing songs of praise ID him who dwells above their tod god and redeemer how beautiful to see them the h husband the N wife ife the children all are there all join in the song this happens as regularly as the day closes it is not one family but all example did you say ah that all would imitate it notwithstanding 1 some of their degraded customs and habits they are examples woi thy of emulation when it comes to tome of the sacred ordinances of the gospel their evening songs and prayers they consider a duty duly a duty too that they owe to god and to themselves themi elves thre there are exceptions however there are io in all classes of people but taking all into consideration they leverence the sacre driess of the gospel I 1 refer particularly now to the sacrament this ordinance they consider more sacred than any to partake of the sacrament in samoa a peron must ha I 1 at rights with his neighbors and be ba in full fellowship with atle church during its administration jou hear no disturbance not a whisper all is still and quiet and souls so als are brought into sweet communion with gods holy spirit kiy little experience among this people has taught me to love them for their devotion to some of the ordinances of the gospel they seem to reco anie the fact that god lias has established these ordinances for far a purpose and they try in a way to understand that purpose e hymns suitable are also alao selected and ald sunu sung upon don these occasions occA ions I 1 the natives sing during their distribution of food they hane haea a kind of a song when they launch a boat the word used in laun launching chin a boat is toso this word is lengthened out to such an extent that its very sound seems to draw the boat along there is a peculiarity i about the method of singing here on samoa samba one leads the rest come in on the bass base the bass bas cairies about three notes while the lead takes in a range of about four notes such a thing 0 as a sharp or a flat is not known as far as I 1 am able to judge pour fout or five notes are all that are used the school tc children hildren are very apt and eager to learn music we have taught them several of our sunday school and other son gsand you hear them here and there humming I 1 some tune that sounds quite familiar f when I 1 took my mv station under the tree today my nay intention waa to tend send word how bov tile the bread fruit is utilized I 1 shall not trouble you this time only to say a great c quantity of it lias has been coave converted arted into samoan masi just aline a line re regarding arding our work here in the south sea T those hose matters winch which occupy our minds most are generally genei ally connected with our missionary labors labor As the days roll by tho the work rolls on it was in the evening of the eighties when the gospel of our lord was first sounded on these islands it is now oa on the eve of the nineties find and yet not all have heard the gospel sound but we are pleased to stats state the prejudice which has been engendered into the hearts of some of these people that the honest in heart are being gathered out and the people are beginning to sie see us as we are this year something like three hundred d have been baptized and we feel that it is good to be here I 1 am yours JAY kv KI jkr Salea aumua samoa august I 1 16 C 1897 |
