White Queen of the Cannibals | Page 3

Mrs. Slessor received were very small.
Somehow they had to find ways of getting more money. When she was
eleven years old Mary went to work in the factory, too. Would she ever
get a chance to be a missionary or must she give up that dream?
"Mary, Mary," called Mrs. Slessor, "it's five o'clock. Time to get up and
go to work."
"Ho, hum," said Mary, "I'm still tired, but I'll get right up. I don't want
to be late!"
At six o'clock in the morning Mary was at work. She had to tend to the
shuttles on the weaving machines. The weaving sheds where Mary
worked were damp and dark. All morning long she heard the whirring
of the belts and the clacking of the looms. In the afternoon she went to
school. By the time she was fourteen years old she was an expert
weaver. She now began to work full time.
The hours were long. Twelve hours every day for six days a week the
fourteen-year-old girl worked in the factory. And the pay was very
small. But it was a joy when she received her pay on Saturday night.
Mary hurried home.
"Mother, Mother," she called happily as she hurried into the house,
"here is the money I earned this week."
"Oh, Mary, that is so good of you," said Mother Slessor. She wiped
tears from her eyes with the end of her apron. She felt sad that Mary
had to work in a factory. She thought of her own childhood in a happy
home where there was always plenty to eat and plenty of money to buy
things that were needed. She quickly hid Mary's wages in the same
place where she hid her own wages, so that her husband would not find
the money and spend it for drink.
Mary did not lose courage by the long hours in the factory. She

remembered that David Livingstone, the great missionary, had worked
in a weaving factory, too.
"If I want to be a missionary, I must study," said Mary. "When can I
find time?" Again Mary remembered something David Livingstone did
when he was a boy. He would take books to work and read them when
the weaving shuttles were working right and did not have to have
someone attend to them. Mary did the same thing. She read many
books from the Sunday school library. She read books like Milton's
Paradise Lost. But most of all she read the Bible.
Conditions at home grew worse. Mary's drunken father became meaner
and meaner. Saturday nights were the worst. Mary and her mother
would sit waiting, after the younger children had been put to bed, for
the father to stumble home. One night he was so mean to Mary, she had
to run out of the house to get away from him. The whole family was
unhappy because of Mr. Slessor's sinful habit. Finally, one morning he
did not waken from the drunken sleep. In the night his soul fled to face
the Judge in Heaven. The death of the father was really a great blessing
to the family, for he had brought them only sorrow and trouble.
Now the family felt free. The load they had borne was lifted. Mary at
once began to take a more active part in church work.
"If I want to be a missionary, I better have some practice. I know what I
can do, I'll ask the Sunday school superintendent for a class to teach."
She did, and was given a class of girls. She enjoyed teaching the girls
very much. She called them her "lovable lassies."
But Mary was not satisfied. She wanted to get more practice.
On her way home from the factory Mary passed through the slums of
the city. Mary herself did not live in a fine house; in fact, it was a very
poor one. But in the slums the children lived in small, dark apartments.
The streets on which they played were narrow and dirty. The children
here did not know about the Saviour. They grew up rough and tough,
cursing, swearing, stealing, and doing many mean things. Mary's heart
ached for these children of the slums. She wanted to teach them that

Jesus could make them happy. She talked with many people about it.
At last her church opened a mission in the worst part of the slums.
Mary went to the superintendent.
"I want to teach a class in our mission," said Mary. "I am sure you can
use me better there than you can here."
"But Mary," said the superintendent, "you are doing a fine job here in
the church; why do you want to go to the mission?"
"There are many who will gladly teach a class here at the