MARBEESHOO.
VISIT THERE.--NATIVE ACCOMMODATIONS.--HOSPITALITY OF SENUM.--MOHAMMEDAN
WOMEN.
The following account of Miss Fiske's visit to Marbeeshoo, in November,
1847, presents a vivid picture of things as they were, and the
Christian thoughtfulness of one who had learned a more excellent way:--
"As we sat at dinner a few days since, Mr. Stocking proposed that I
spend the Sabbath with him at Marbeeshoo. I said at once, 'I cannot
leave my school.' But he forthwith called Sanum, Sarah, and Moressa, my
oldest girls, and asked them if they did not love souls in Marbeeshoo
well enough to take good care of school, and let me be absent till
Tuesday. They were delighted to think of my going where no missionary
lady had ever been, and said, 'We will do all we can for the girls, and
we will pray for you, if you will only go and try to do those poor
women good.' It was hardly two o'clock before we were on horseback.
Marbeeshoo is about fifty miles from us, and in Turkey. Two years ago
it was said 'no lady should try to go there,' but brother Stocking
thought not so now; and I was willing to follow where he led,
especially as a former pupil had recently settled there. We must be out
over night, but we thought best not to spend it in a tent, on account
of the cold. Near sunset we came to Mawana, a village of mud huts. We
went to the house of the head man, who joyfully welcomed us to his
house. It consisted of a single low room, inhabited by at least a score
of men, women, and children. They came in one by one, but already the
hens had found their resting place, evidently no strangers there.
Several lambs had been brought into their corner, and three or four
calves, each had his couch of grass. Our horses had been arranged for
the night on the other side of a partition wall, some three feet high.
When all were within, the coarse bread and sour milk were brought out
for supper. Then Mr. Stocking read from the Bible, and talked, and
prayed with the numerous family, and the women sat around me, while I
tried to do them good, till about ten o'clock. At that time, the mother
of the family rose, saying, 'Now we will settle it.' I listened to hear
the settlement of some family quarrel, but to my surprise her meaning
was, 'We will settle where to lie down for the night;' and as I looked
over the room I thought, surely some little skill in settling is
needed, if we are all to sleep here. But soon she took out three of the
children to an empty manger, where she put new hay, and quickly settled
them; they were covered with an old rug, and at once fell fast asleep.
She then returned, saying, 'Now there is room for our guests,' and
brought a piece of cotton cloth, which she said was _all_ for me. In a
short time, one and another was fast asleep. They lay on mats, without
either bed or pillow, and the divers breathing or snoring of men, and
calves, and lambs was soon heard, all mingled together.
"I found myself sitting alone with the old lady, and so, putting my
carpet bag under my head, and drawing my shawl about me, I lay down
too. This was a signal for extinguishing the light; but before that, I
had marked a road, where I thought I might possibly pass out between
the sleepers should I need fresh air. There was no sleep for me; and
the swarms of fleas made me so uncomfortable, that before midnight I
found my way out, and remained as long as the cold air of that November
night allowed, and so passed out and in several times during the night.
I watched long for the morning, and at length it came, and the
sleepers, one by one, arose. They all hoped I had slept well, and I
could not tell them I had not, for they had given me the best they had,
and told me again and again how glad they were that I had come, and
hoped their house would always be mine when I came that way. There was
a proposal for breakfast, but the morning was so fine that I suggested
to Mr. Stocking that a carpet bag sometimes furnished a very good
breakfast.
"We did enjoy that ride very much after a sleepless night. The road was
often only a narrow path on the edge of a precipice, and such as I had
never passed over before; but I thanked my God at every step for the
pure, fresh air of those mountains. As we approached the village, hid
away among the cliffs, and in such a narrow spot that houses were
placed one above another on the terraced hill-side, one of our
attendants insisted on riding forward, and we were not greatly
surprised to find a crowd ready to welcome us. One and another cried
out, 'Senum wants you to go to Zechariah's.' So to Zechariah's we went,
and there was my pupil, waiting with open arms to receive me. She took
me from my horse, exclaiming, 'Is it true that you have come? I have
heard where you staid last night, and I know you did not sleep at all.
Come right into my room; there are no fleas here; I have a bed that is
clean, that I keep for the missionaries. I will spread it for you, and
you shall sleep before any body comes to see you.' The bed was spread;
she gave me milk to drink (Judg, iv. 19), and then said, 'I will guard
the door so no one shall disturb you, and I will wake you for dinner.'
I was soon asleep, and slept two long hours before she woke me.
"When she did, she came with her tray in her hand, where was the
freshly baked bread, the nicely cooked little fish, which, she said,
'my husband caught expressly for you and Mr. Stocking,' honey from
their own hives, milk from their flock, and other simple refreshments.
All was neatly prepared, and we were so thankful for the dear child's
attentions! When dinner was over, she said, 'Now I want you to see the
women; but they must not come here, for they will leave fleas, and you
will not be able to sleep tonight. There is another large room the
other side, and we will have meeting there this afternoon.'
"About three o'clock I met there more than one hundred poor women, who
of course must ask many questions before their curiosity would be
satisfied. They finally became quiet, however, and I could tell them of
the Saviour, who had loved to teach just such needy ones as they were.
I enjoyed the afternoon very much; it was all the more precious for the
discomforts of the night, and the comforts of Senum's house. The next
day was the Sabbath, and most of the time I was in the 'large room,'
where the women came freely. In the afternoon about three hundred were
present. I was weary at night, but Senum's care, with the thought of
the privilege of meeting so many who had never before heard of Christ
as the _only_ Saviour, made me forget it all."
Painful as is this view of woman as she was among the Nestorians, her
condition was still worse among the Mohammedans; not, indeed, in
matters of outward comfort, for the wealth of Persia is in Moslem
hands, and they occupy every position of rank or authority in the land.
But in all that pertains to morality and religion, they stand on a
lower level.
The Nestorian woman may not have known what was contained in the Bible,
yet she knew that it was the word of God, and was ready to receive all
its teachings as of divine authority. To her Moslem sister it is not
only an unknown book, but one she is taught to regard as superseded by
the Koran.
Although the Nestorian woman knew nothing of spiritual worship, yet she
regarded the Lord's day as set apart for his service. The Moslem, on
the other hand, regards it like any other day of the week, and exalts
her Friday to the place that of right belongs to the Sabbath of the
Lord.
In all her degradation, the Nestorian woman reverenced the name of
Jesus as her God. True, she had no correct idea of salvation or
redeeming love; yet even a blind attachment to that sacred name is not
without its reward. She may have fallen very low, but there was a power
even in her ignorant adherence to Christ, that kept her from falling to
the level of those who renounced him for the Arabian impostor. This was
seen especially in the blessings that came to her through the
institution of Christian marriage, while others groaned under the
debasing influence of a sensual polygamy. The wretchedness this
occasioned is a topic too large and too painful to dwell upon here. But
the wide gulf that separated the two classes was clearly seen, when on
her Sabbath the missionary could speak to the Nestorian of her Saviour
out of her Bible, while the Moslem knows nothing beyond her kohl and
her henna,[1] her dresses and her follies, and other topics at once
belittling, debasing, and corrupting. [Footnote 1: Kohl is a black
powder used to paint the eyebrows and eyelashes. Henna is a plant
employed to stain the nails, and sometimes the entire hand and part of
the foot, of a dark orange hue.]