Set in Sierra Leone, this story by Adelaide Casely-Hayford highlights how colonialism caused many people in occupied countries to abandon their cultural heritage as either a survival tactic or to “get on” in colonial society. Mista Courifer, a proud coffin-maker and lay preacher is obsessed with adopting a British lifestyle, no matter how impractical or uncomfortable it may be. His world falls apart when his son, who has been brought up to do the same, decides to live in a mud hut and wear traditional dress. Themes include colonialism, cultural ambivalence, identity, mimicry/pretence, hypocrisy, generational independence/rebellion