the Mission Board
of the United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh. When it arrived she
rushed to her mother.

"I'm accepted! I'm going to Calabar as a teacher." And then, strange to
say, she burst into tears.

[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, DUNDEE, WHERE MARY SLESSOR
FIRST TAUGHT AS A MISSION TEACHER.]

So she who had waited so long and so patiently, working within the walls
of a factory, weaving the warp and woof in the loom, was now going to
one of the wildest parts of Africa to weave there the lives of the
people into new and beautiful patterns.

[Illustration: DUKE TOWN, WEST AFRICA.]

CHAPTER II

How our heroine sailed away to a golden land of sunshine across
the sea; how she found that under all the beauty there were
terrible things which made life a misery to the dark-skinned
natives; how she began to fight their evil ideas and ways and to
rescue little children from death; how, after losing all her
loved ones, she took a little twin-girl to her heart, and how
she grew strong and calm and brave.

On an autumn morning in 1876 Miss Slessor stood on the deck of the
steamer _Ethiopia_ in Liverpool docks and waved good-bye to two
companions from Dundee who had gone to see her off. As the vessel
cleared the land and moved out into the wide spaces of the waters she,
who had always lived in narrow streets, felt as if she were on holiday,
and was in as high spirits as any schoolgirl. She could not help being
kind and helpful to others, and soon made friends with many of the
passengers and crew.

One man drew her like a magnet, for he also was a dreamer of dreams.
This was Mr. Thomson, an architect from Glasgow, who was filled with the
idea that the missionaries in West Africa would do better work and
remain out longer if there were some cool place near at hand to which
they could go for a rest and change. He had been all over the Coast, and
explored the rivers and hills, and had at last found a healthy spot five
thousand feet up on the Cameroon Mountains, where he decided to build a
home. He had given up his business, and was now on his way out, with his
wife and two workmen, to put his dream into shape. Mary's eyes shone as
she listened to his tale of love and sacrifice; but, alas! the plan, so
beautiful, so full of hope for the missionaries, came to nothing, for he
died not long after landing.

It was from Mr. Thomson that she learned most about the strange coun