152 
MISSIONARY LIFE 
1870, he had the entire charge of it again. The 
last two missionaries dead, and none ready to take 
their places, it looked as though the demand to 
abandon that field had become a necessity. As 
long as we had a trustworthy native worker on the 
ground we had something, but now that he is gone, 
and no one to take his place, we had better quit, 
said those who wished it discontinued. These 
gloomy days in the history of Sherbro Mission, 
and especially the fact that by the death of Mr. 
'Williams we were without a single representative 
in that dark land, with its multiplied millions of 
deeply degraded heathen, affected others quite dif- 
ferently, who now had a greater zeal for the con- 
tinuance of the mission than they ever had before. 
Among this number was one of the officers of the 
society, who urged the appointment of a man and 
his wife to go with him to Africa, which proposi- 
tion resulted not in his going then, but in their 
being sent in ITovember, 1870. Their names were 
first presented to the committee soon after the intel- 
ligence reached us that Mr. Williams was dead; 
but owin^ to the fact that the brother was not a min- 
ister, and v ith little evidence that they would make 
snccessful missionaries, the committee had deferred 
action until the month of October. This man is 
now an ordained minister in the United Brethren 
Church, and has proved to be among the most 
