SAMBO was an African boy who lived with his mother on an estate in Jamaica. The planter on whose estate they worked was a kind master; and his slaves, therefore, were much happier than the slaves of many other planters.
Sambo's mother had a small part of the New Testament, which she highly valued. Sambo could read, and when his old mother came to die she bade her dear boy farewell, and with her last breath told him to read his book. Sambo loved his mother, and did not forget her dying words. He read his book every day, so that he could, in time, repeat a great deal of it by heart. He used to quote verses to his companions while they were at work together.
But with constant use, poor Sambo's book, as he called it, became less and less, until it was nearly all worn away. Although he could remember what had once been in it, his comrades would laugh when he repeated it to them, and say, "Ah! it may be all very true, Sambo; but show us in de book, show us in de book."
Now Sambo could not do this; but he heard that in Kingston, the chief town in Jamaica, there lived a missionary who kept a store of Bibles, to sell to anyone who wished to purchase them.
When Sambo got old, his kind master gave him his freedom, but allowed him still to live in a cottage on the planter's estate, and to cultivate the little garden attached to it. Kingston, where the missionary lived, was fifty miles from Sambo's home, and the negro was now an old man; yet he determined to go all that way on foot to buy a Bible. Finally he arrived at the missionary's house; and when he saw the nice looking Bibles, contrasting them in his mind with the "book" he had thought so much of, he was delighted and surprised. Eagerly he exclaimed, "O, Massa! how large! how fine! how good!" Then he expressed his wish to buy one, and inquired the price.
"A dollar and a half," replied the missionary. The negro's face fell instantly.
"What is the matter, my friend?" asked the missionary, observing the sudden change.
"O, Massa!" said poor Sambo, "dis all me hab," showing a dollar. The missionary then told him, that even at the price the book was offered, it was considerably below its cost. But the poor negro could only say, "Massa, me berry sorry, me hab no more dan dis."
The missionary then inquired of Sambo what his name was, and from whence he came; and he was greatly astonished when he found he had traveled on foot in that hot climate, in his eagerness to obtain the book of God; and knowing the negro's master, after a little consideration he said,
"Well, Sambo, you have come a long way, and I do not like to send you home empty; will you promise, if I let you have a Bible, to pay me the half-dollar as soon as you can obtain it?"
"Oh, Massa," replied the African, "me will, indeed me will!" and having received the precious volume, he set off for home.
I do not know how long Sambo was in traveling the fifty miles; but it was in the evening that he came in sight of home, just as his companions were leaving their work, who, as soon as they saw him said, "Sambo! well, Sambo!" Sambo held up his book, while he shouted, "Joy! joy!" They soon gathered around him. "Read, Sambo, read," was the general cry. The old negro, weary as he was, sat down and read a chapter; then he closed the book.
"Go on, go on!" they said. "No," answered Sambo, "me no go on; it no paid for; how much you, Jack? how much you, Tom? how much you, Betty?" and thus he went on until he had obtained from them enough to complete the payment of his Bible; and after the lapse of only one day, Sambo again set out for Kingston; so that by the time he returned home, the poor old negro had journeyed on foot two hundred miles to obtain a Bible to read to his companions.
May this story of a poor Negro's love for the Bible and his self-denying exertions to obtain one, stir up our hearts, to value this precious treasure. Many of our dear readers may have a Bible, or can get one very easily, without taking a long journey, or needing to pay such a price today as Sambo did.
Jeremiah wrote: "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." Jer. 5:1616Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. (Jeremiah 5:16).
Messages of the Love of God 12/21/1958