He
Eliminates From Them The Idea Of Immediate Retribution, Etc., And
Keeps The Polygamy And The Dances, And All The Lazy, Hazy-Minded
Native Ways.
The education he has received at the mission school in
reading and writing fits him for a commercial career, and as every
African is a born trader he embarks on it, and there are pretty
goings on!
On the West Coast he frequently sets up in business for
himself; on the South-West Coast he usually becomes a sub-trader to
one of the great English, French, or German firms. On both Coasts
he gets himself disliked, and brings down opprobrium on all black
traders, expressed in language more powerful than select. This
wholesale denunciation of black traders is unfair, because there are
many perfectly straight trading natives; still the majority are
recruited from missionary school failures, and are utterly bad.
"Post hoc non propter hoc" is an excellent maxim, but one that never
seems to enter the missionary head down here. Highly disgusted and
pained at his pupils' goings-on, but absolutely convinced of the
excellence of his own methods of instruction, and the spiritual
equality, irrespective of colour, of Christians; the missionary
rises up, and says things one can understand him saying about the
bad influence of the white traders; stating that they lure the
pupils from the fold to destruction. These things are nevertheless
not true. Then the white trader hears them, and gets his back up
and says things about the effect of missionary training on the
African, which are true, but harsh, because it is not the
missionaries' intent to turn out skilful forgers, and unmitigated
liars, although they practically do so.
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