09 Visit of Inspection to Liberia

Chapter 9 VISIT OF INSPECTION TO LIBERIA January — April, 1892 AT the end of 1891 Dr. Good received instructions from the Board to proceed on a tour of inspection to the Liberia Mission. This had been established in 1833, had been left without superintendence for a long time, was at present controlled entirely by colored men, and the Board was in doubt whether it should continue on the old basis. This was an unattractive task. Dr. Good always suffered from seasickness on board ship; he knew the Liberian coast was dangerously unhealthy; visitation of the scattered stations would involve great exertion under a hot sun; there was no prospect of finding material for a glowing report, but every chance to antagonize people; and, most of all, it involved separation from his family and interruption of his Ogowe work for three months. He replied to the Board that he could not but be grateful for their confidence in him, but the responsibility involved in the visit to Liberia would be a "load" to carry. " Of course I shall go, and, if I am spared, endeavor to perform the task assigned me."

Without waiting for adjournment of mission meeting, he was off to Liberia by the first opportunity in January. In order to make ship connections he was obliged to go beyond Liberia to Sierra Leone and return; but at whatever port he stopped there was always something to learn, to investigate, or some piece of business to transact for the mission. At Kameruns it was the proposition for a sanitarium to be established, by several missions combining, upon Kameruns Mountain. Discussing the general subject. Dr. Good wrote to the Board that he thought furloughs were apt to be wastefully managed. Missionaries in Africa usually took no vacation until sickness compelled it, whereas if they were expected to spend a month each year away from their cares, sickness might be saved.

" Seven days in the week and every week in the year is the rule with some of us, and the only fact that makes it possible to keep it up is that our work is very varied. Have a mission sanitarium? Yes, if we are required to use it a few weeks each year; no, if it is only a resort when we are broken down. After malignant fever, six months, not six weeks, are necessary for restoration, and I would much prefer going to America, where I could recruit spiritually and mentally as well as physically, instead of going into the wilderness for a six months’ exile." At Sierra Leone he interviewed persons well informed upon Liberian men and affairs. He went to the English cathedral and a Mohammedan mosque, and took a general measurement of moral forces in the country.

Landing at Monrovia, February 11, he spent one month in Liberia, traveling seven hundred miles on foot or by canoe, and visited every station of the mission, with one exception. He also visited the Lutheran mission at Muhlenberg.

Everything passes under observation: the condition of Liberia, political, commercial, agricultural, especially the coffee plantations; the proportion of Americo-Liberian population to the great majority of uncivilized aborigines; methods of the Colonization Society; methods, rules, salaries of different mission Boards. It was some of the time intensely hot; and starting at 6: 30 a.m., once before 3 a.m., in order to take advantage of the tide up June River, he walked hours together over an uninteresting country. Sabbaths he preaches — four times one Sabbath. He arrives entirely unannounced, before they have time to confer or " fix up " accounts, at each minister’s or teacher’s door, now before seven o’clock in the morning, again at eight in the evening. He makes a memorandum regarding the extent and value of all mission property and by whom deeds are held; visits all the schools and examines the scholars, recording the discrepancy between numbers enrolled and present; notes those who are just beginning arithmetic, those who drop final consonants in pronouncing, those who scarcely understand simple English but glibly recite long answers from the catechism. Acting as eyes for the Board, he reports a teacher who " beats the scholars more than is warrantable. I told him that he must win the people or be written down a failure." He marks those ministers who are political candidates, thereby creating division in their flocks; those who increase their income by a side business, or whose moral character is under public suspicion; and he notes the man who " pleased me much by his plain, unaffected way of reading and leading in prayer." He finds Schieffelin the only place where Presbyterians are in the majority, and here "we ought to have a minister," but advises the Board to withdraw from a hamlet of three hundred people, where he discovers three churches, the Presbyterian weakest of all. His ear is open to requests on every side, but he distinguishes between wishes and needs: " ___ wants me to recommend windows and seats for the church. I cannot recommend the latter." At ___ they " sadly need books." Having taken leave of a station, he found it convenient to make a second, sudden reappearance, whereby his first impressions were confirmed or revised. There was only one man who made any success of evading the keen-eyed visitor. " Loafed about the place, learning but little; seemed busy all day and into the night, but I could not make out what he was doing. Crowds of people come and go, and it cannot all be church business. He was not communicative. I have the impression that, though professing cordiality, he was glad to get me off." This errand to Liberia was executed in a temper which made his visit agreeable to the African brethren. His energy might give them a cyclone shock, but they appreciated his fairness and friendliness. His report was temperate, and more faithfully presented the situation to the Board than if they had seen Liberia themselves. Liberians were compared with other Africans, not with Englishmen. " Why should it be expected that freed slaves and their children should make an unblemished success of this business of self-government, which the first cities in the United States find so difficult?... On the whole, Liberia seems to be getting on her feet. I could easily criticize, but knowing Africa as I do, I feel more like praising." Emphatic praise was accorded to the public sentiment against use of spirituous liquors. " Liberian churches discipline for drunkenness, and only white men handle liquor in Monrovia." On setting out for Liberia, Dr. Good had promised his little son to try to return by his birthday, April 12; but it was already the 3d when Eloby was reached, and there yet remained a boat journey of two hundred and forty miles. Here the news met him that his wife was ill. Taking a canoe, he rowed all night up the Moonda River and walked across country to Gaboon to save a few hours. All in vain. He waited five days to catch a boat for Cape Lopez; thence took a trader’s launch which dropped him at Kangwe at midnight of April 12, and he entered the sick-room with the step and voice of a practised nurse.