Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HOW A CAKE OF SOAP SAVED MADAGASCAR, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOW A CAKE OF SOAP SAVED MADAGASCAR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once, in heathen madagascar, to the missionary band
Last Line: And honor, not the least of all, to that fine cake of soap!
Subject(s): Cleansing Agents; Madagascar; Missions & Missionaries; Detergents; Soap; Cleansing Compounds; Disinfection And Disinfectants


Once, in heathen Madagascar, to the missionary band
Came a message full of peril to the mission and the land;
From the savage queen this message, borne by envoys stern and gruff:
"Back, sirs, to the land you came from; you have taught us long enough."

Then the missionaries pleaded with the envoys of the queen:
"Many things remain to teach you, much you have not heard or seen;
Doctrines of the highest import still are left for us to speak;
Still remain the tongues of Scripture, holy Hebrew, sacred Greek;
History, science, arts of beauty, -- ah, not half our work is done!
Let the gracious queen permit us to complete what we've begun."

Such the missionaries' message to the Madagascar court.
Promptly came this royal answer, very plain and very short:
"We care not for Greek and Hebrew; they are far beyond our scope.
Can you teach us something useful? Can you teach us to make soap?"

Truly a perplexing question! Text-books theological,
Memories of college studies, would not fit the case at all.
Whispered they to one another: What to do? or what to say?
"Give us but a week," they answered; and the envoys went away.

Then came seven days of trial; surely seven days unique
In all missionary annals; quite a Robinson Crusoe week.
Ashes of all woods, uniting in a score of different lyes,
Fats of many a beast, devoted to the holy sacrifice,
Pans and kettles, cans and dishes of all fashion and all size,
Straight were pressed into the service of the anxious enterprise.
Now too weak and now too strong, too much lye or too much fat,
Now too harsh and now dark-colored, wanting this and lacking that, --
When in all the ages ever were such tremors and such hope
And such eager prayers united, just to make a cake of soap?

But at length, the week completed, came the envoys from the queen,
And the missionaries faced them with a glad, triumphant mien;
For they carried, smooth and shining, white and pure, a perfect cake
Of the best soap that a mortal ever yet had grace to make!

You may talk of your Sapolio, Pear's, and Ivory, and the rest,
But this Madagascar product I will vouch for as the best;
For that single cake of soap washed away the mission's fears,
Won for Christ's life-giving gospel respite rich of five long years,
Scoured full many a heathen soul until it gleamed with heavenly light,
Cleansed the soil for schools and churches and for households pure and bright,
And became, though but a cake of soap, the stable corner-stone
Whereupon a Christian people like a temple has upgrown,
Through those five years so established on the everlasting Good
That the devil's fiery onset it triumphantly withstood.
Honor to the Christian knights who would not yield to servile fear,
But seized the sting of Circumstance and used it for a spear!
All honor to their ready brain and their courageous hope;
And honor, not the least of all, to that fine cake of soap!





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