NATIVE CHRISTIANS 
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a negro, but in order to be just to such a convert one 
must distinguish between the real morality which 
springs from the heart, and the respectable morality of 
society ; it is wonderful how faithful he often is to the 
former. One must live among them to know how much 
it means when a man, because he is a Christian, will not 
wreak the vengeance which he is expected to take, or 
even the blood revenge which is thought to be an 
obligation on him. On the whole I feel that the 
primitive man is much more good natured than we 
Europeans are ; with Christianity added to his good 
qualities wonderfully noble characters can result. I 
expect I am not the only white man who feels himself 
put to shame by the natives. 
But to give up the common habit of lying and the 
readiness to steal, and to become a more or less reliable 
man in our sense, is something different from practising 
the religion of love. If I may venture on a paradox, I 
would say that the converted native is a moral man 
more often than he is an honourable one. Still, little can 
be effected by condemnatory expressions. We must 
see to it that we put as few temptations as possible in 
the way of the coloured Christian. 
But there are native Christians who are in every 
respect thoroughly moral personalities ; I meet one 
such every day. It is Ojembo, the teacher in our boys’ 
school, whose name means “ the song ” ; I look upon 
him as one of the finest men that I know anywhere. 
How is it that traders and officials so often speak so 
unfavourably of native Christians ? On my very first 
journey up the river I learnt from two fellow travellers 
that they never, on principle, engage any Christian 
" boys.” The fact is that Christianity is considered 
