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The price of a wife in the Belgian Congo.

The Congo is the land where the inhumanity of the white people
toward the helpless blacks has been shown in the past by horrible
atrocities, and cruelties of the most inhuman kind. We hope that day
has past forever. There has also been shown in the Congo a true exhibi-
tion of the spirit of Christ by the missionaries who have worked, suf-
fered and died there for the sake of the black people.

The copper cross we have in our walls from the Luebo was kindly given to
us by Mrs. C. E. Hatch, of Greenville. Mrs. Black, of the Congo, who
sent the cross to Mrs. Hatch writes as follows about it;

"In our section of the Congo it is said that this was coined, in
the primitive method of smelting metals, for the sole purpose of buying
wives, and it is still used for 'dowry' purposes. However, they can be
bought, the value being about fifty cents. The natives do not use it as
money on the market in buying and selling. However, in making up the
'dowry', or establishing the price of a wife , these crosses are taken as
money. Formerly you could buy a wife for two or three of them, but now
a man will demand, say ten crosses, ten goats, ten pieces of cloth and
perhaps a bicycle or sewing machine thrown in for good measure.

Ida McLean Black, A. P. C. M.
Luebo, Congo Belge, Africa."

Jesus placed infinite value upon the individual. Human life is
cheap except where Hisprinciples are lived.

[Photograph of a young white woman holding a metal cross.]

THIS COPPER CROSS WILL BUY A WIFE

In the Baluba country of central Africa this oddly shaped copper coin
is in use. It is about 9 inches across and weighs 28 ounces. In our
[torn] [worth less] than 30 cents, but on the Congo it buys a wife.

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