haste.'" And in that spirit she worked.

Her better knowledge of the position made her resolve to acquire a
thorough mastery of the language in order to enter completely into the
life and thought of the natives. Interpretation she had already found
to be untrustworthy, and she was told the tale of a native who,
translating an address on the rich man and Lazarus, remarked, in an
aside to the audience, that for himself he would prefer to be the rich
man! Efik was the tongue of Calabar and of trade and commerce, and was
understood more or less over a wide tract of country. She learnt it by
ear, and from the people, rather than from the book, and soon picked up
enough to take a larger share in the varied work of the Mission.

Life had a piquancy in these days when she lived with the Andersons on
Mission Hill. "Daddy" Anderson was a veteran of the Mission, but it was
"Mammy" Anderson with whom she came into closest relation. Of strong
individuality, she ruled the town from the Mission House, and the
chiefs were fain to do her bidding. At first Mary stood somewhat in awe
of her. One of the duties assigned to her was to ring, before dawn, the
first bell for the day to call the faithful to morning prayer. There
were no alarm clocks then, and occasionally she overslept, and the
rebuke she received from Mrs. Anderson made her cheeks burn. Sometimes
she would wake with a start to find her room flooded with light. Half-
dazed with sleep and shamed at her remissness she would hurry out to
ring the bell, only to discover that it was not dawn but the light of
the moon that was making the world so bright.

At one time when doing duty in Old Town she had to walk along a narrow
native track through the bush. To let off the high spirits that had
been bottled up in the Mission House she would climb any tree that took