Love Letters 
worthy representative, and he gave his consent 
only when it suited his convenience. 
The government of this Alahe was a good ex¬ 
ponent of his character. He would issue a de¬ 
cree and the town crier would publish it through¬ 
out the city, but in a few days the people would 
entirely ignore it, and the fat, lazy old fellow, 
who issued it, would go on playing “warree” 
and dandling his babies and not trouble himself 
about the matter. Coming from under the vig¬ 
orous administration of Areh, 1 found it difficult 
to feel anything like respect for so weak a ruler. 
His cowardly character and his general indiffer¬ 
ence to his duty as a sovereign, came near involv¬ 
ing me in a tragedy. 
Just before I arrived from Ejahyay, a gigantic 
American ship-carpenter named West, came up 
from the coast and asked for shelter and work. 
He claimed that he had been put on shore at 
Lagos because he was too sick to work. Mr. 
Phillips believed him and granted his request. He 
proved to be a consummate hypocrite, also a 
drunkard and a desperado. Some weeks after 
his arrival, when my wife was confined to her 
bed with serious illness, he got crazy drunk and 
“cleaned out ” the native part of the mission 
premises by chasing everybody he met while 
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