"But the methods of the missionaries, generally speaking, have not tended in that direction.

Hence the missionary as a comestible is more highly esteemed by the natives than the missionary as a reformer.

They rarely understand the natives themselves, and they nearly always fail to make themselves intelligible to the natives.

It would appear that the two foolish persons who wrote that letter about Mr.Courtland made but a poor attempt at understanding even their own countrymen, if they fancied that any rumor of a massacre of cannibals--nay, any proof of such a massacre--would have an appreciable effect upon the popularity of the man who brought home the meteor-bird." "You don't think that the public generally would believe the story ?" said Phyllis.
"I think it extremely unlikely that they would believe it," he replied.
"But even if they believed every word of it they would not cease to believe in Mr.Courtland's bravery.

What is a hecatomb of cannibals compared to the discovery of the meteor-bird,--that is, in the eyes of the general public, or for that matter, the Nonconformist public who turn up their eyes at the suggestion of a massacre of natives of an island that is almost as unknown to them as Ireland itself?
The people of this country of ours respect bravery more than any other virtue, and I'm not altogether sure that they are generally astray in this matter.
The Christian faith is founded upon bravery, and the same faith has inspired countless acts of brave men and women.