’There were a very fine intelligent set of young men from the Loyalty Islands, some sleepy, lazy ones from Mai, some fierce, wild-looking lads from the Solomon Islands who had long slits in their ears and bone horns stuck in their frizzly hair.  Mr. Patteson could communicate with all more or less easily, and his readily delicate hearing enabled him to distinguish accurately sounds which others could not catch—­wonderful mp and piv and mbw which he was trying to get hold of for practical purposes.

’He was in comfortable quarters, in one long low room, with a sunny aspect.  It looked fit for a student, with books all about, and pictures, and photos of loved friends and places on the walls, but he had no mind to enjoy it alone.  There was sure to be some sick lad there, wrapped up in his best rugs, in the warmest nook by the fire.  He had morning and afternoon school daily in the large schoolroom, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Lask assisting him.  School-keeping, in its ordinary sense, was a drudgery to him, and very distasteful.  He had none of that bright lively way and readiness in catechising which made some so successful in managing a large class of pupils at once, but every person in the place loved to come to the evening classes in his own room, where, in their own language, he opened to them the Scriptures and spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.  It was in those private classes that he exercised such wonderful influence; his musical voice, his holy face, his gentle manner, all helping doubtless to impress and draw even the dullest.  Long after this he told me once how after these evening classes, one by one, some young fellow or small boy would come back with a gentle tap at the door, “I want to talk to you,” and then and there the heart would be laid open, and counsel asked of the beloved teacher.

’It was very pleasant to see him among his boys.  They all used to go off for a walk on Saturday with him, sometimes to town, and he as full of fun with them as if they had been a party of Eton boys.  He had none of the conventional talk, so fatal to all true influence, about degraded heathen.  They were brethren, ignorant indeed, but capable of acquiring the highest wisdom.  It was a joke among some of us, that when asked the meaning of a Nengone term of endearment he answered naively, “Oh, it means old fellow.”  He brought his fresh, happy, kindly feelings towards English lads and young men into constant play among Melanesians, and so they loved and trusted him.’

I think that exclusiveness of interest which Lady Martin describes, and which his own family felt, and which is apt to grow upon missionaries, as indeed on every one who is very earnestly engaged in any work, diminished as he became more familiar with his work, and had a mind more at liberty for thought.

Mr. Dudley thus describes the same period:—­’It was during the summers of 1857-8 and 1858-9 that the Loyalty Islanders mustered in such numbers at St. John’s College, as it was supposed that they, at least Lifu would be left in the hands of the Church of England.  Mr. Patteson worked very hard these years at translations, and there was an immense enthusiasm about printing, the Lifuites and Nengonese striving each to get the most in their own language.