BEGINNINGS.
MRS. GRANT.--EARLY LIFE AND LABORS.--GREAT INFLUENCE.--HER SCHOOL.--HER
PUPILS.--CHANGED INTO BOARDING SCHOOL.--GETTING PUPILS.--CARE OF
THEM.--DIFFICULTIES FROM POVERTY OF PEOPLE.--PAYING FOR FOOD OF
SCHOLARS.--POSITION OF UNMARRIED MISSIONARY LADIES.--BOOKS.
We have seen that among the Nestorians it was counted a disgrace for a
female to learn to read; and even now, in the districts remote from
missionary influence, a woman who reads, and especially one who writes,
is an object of public odium, if not of persecution. How, then, could
the Nestorians be induced to send their daughters to schools? What
overcame this strong national prejudice? These questions open a
delightful chapter in divine providence, showing how wonderfully God
adapts means to ends, even on opposite sides of the globe.
A Christian gentleman in the State of New York, on the death of his
wife's sister, adopted into his own family her infant child. She was
trained to the exercise of a practical Christian benevolence, and her
superior mind was improved by an education remarkably thorough. In the
classics and mathematics she exhibited uncommon aptitude, and made
unusual attainments; so that it was truly said of her, "Perhaps no
female missionary ever left our country with a mind so well disciplined
as Mrs. Judith S. Grant." She sailed for Persia, July 11, 1835; and
there she displayed rare ability in acquiring the language of the
people. The Turkish she soon spoke familiarly. In a short time she read
the ancient Syriac, and acquired the spoken language with at least
equal facility. Previous even to these acquisitions, she taught Mar
Yohanan and others English; and as they noticed the ease with which she
turned to her Greek Testament, whenever ours seemed to differ from the
ancient Syriac, they regarded her with feelings in which it would be
hard to say whether wonder, love, or reverence was the strongest. Some
might have cried out, when her fine intellect and rare acquirements
were devoted to the missionary work, "Why is this waste of the ointment
made?" But had her friends searched the round world for a sphere of
greatest usefulness, they could not have selected one where her rare
gifts would have accomplished so much; and when such a woman manifested
deep solicitude for the education of her sex, ancient prejudice fell
before her. She taught her own domestics to read. She sedulously
cultivated the acquaintance of both Christian and Mohammedan women; nor
did she rest till she had opened a school for girls in what is now Mr.
Coan's barn. Such was her zeal, that when her health would not allow
her to go there, she taught the pupils in her own apartment. She
commenced with only four scholars, but at the same time prepared the
maps for Parley's Geography in modern Syriac, and the old map of
Oroomiah, so familiar to the readers of the Missionary Herald, was her
handiwork. Nor was her usefulness confined to her school room. Hers was
the privilege of creating such a public sentiment in favor of the
education of woman, that her successors have found the gates wide open
before them, and often wondered at the extent and permanence of the
influence she acquired. There is no one topic of which Miss Fiske has
spoken to the writer so frequently, and with such enthusiasm, as the
great work that Mrs. Grant accomplished for woman in Persia, during her
short missionary life. She was the laborious and self-denying pioneer
in female education, and every year thus far has brought to light new
evidence of her extensive usefulness. It was no empty compliment, when
the venerable Mar Elias said, "We will bury her in our church, where
none but very holy men are laid. As she has done so much for us, we
want the privilege of digging her grave with our own hands."
Miss Fiske writes, shortly after her arrival, "The first Syriac word I
learned was 'daughter;' and as I can now use the verb 'to give,' I
often ask parents to give me their daughters. Some think that I cannot
secure boarding scholars, but Mrs. Grant got day scholars; and when I
hear men, women, and children say, 'How she loved us!' I want to love
them too. I mean to devote at least five years to the work of trying to
gather girls into a boarding school, as Mrs. Grant desired to do. She
has gone to her rest. I wonder that I am allowed to take her place."
And again: "I am usually in school till three P.M., and then I go out
among the poor mothers till tea time. They often say to me, 'Mrs. Grant
did just as you do.' Her short life was a precious offering. I feel
each day more and more that I have entered into the labors of a
faithful servant of Christ."
Among the pupils of Mrs. Grant was Selby, of Oroomiah, who was
hopefully converted while teaching some day scholars connected with the
Seminary, in 1845. Raheel, (Rachel,) the wife of Siyad, the tailor
mentioned in the Memoir of Mr. Stoddard, was another. So were Sanum,
the wife of Joseph; Meressa, the wife of Yakob; and Sarah, the daughter
of Priest Abraham, and wife of Oshana, of whom we shall hear more
hereafter.
After the death of Mrs. Grant, January 14, 1839, the school was
continued under the charge of Mr. Holladay, who employed native
teachers to assist him, the ladies of the mission cooperating as they
could. It then passed into the hands of Dr. Wright, who had the care of
it when Miss Fiske arrived in Oroomiah, June 14, 1843. During all this
time it was only a day school, and contact with vice in the homes of
the pupils greatly hindered its usefulness. It was for this reason that
Miss Fiske was exceedingly anxious to make it a boarding school, so as
to retain the pupils continuously under good influences. But would they
be allowed to spend the night on the mission premises? This was doubted
by many, and all had their fears; yet in August an appropriation was
made for the support of six boarding pupils, who were to be entirely
under the control of the mission for three years. Some said they could
not be obtained for even one year, and not one of them would remain to
complete the three. Even Priest Abraham said, "I cannot bear the
reproach of having my daughter live with you." At that time, scarcely a
girl twelve years old could be found who was not betrothed; and years
were devoted to the preparation of a coarse kind of embroidery, a
certain amount of which must be ready for the wedding.
One day in August, Mar Yohanan said to Miss Fiske, "You get ready, and
I find girls." She devoted that month and the next to preparation for
her expected charge. But the day came for opening the school, and not
one pupil had been obtained. The teacher was feeling somewhat anxious,
when, from her window in the second story, she saw Mar Yohanan crossing
the court, with a girl in either hand. One of them was his own niece,
Selby, of Gavalan, seven years of age; the other, Hanee, of Geog Tapa,
about three years older. They were not very inviting in outward
appearance; but it did not take Miss Fiske long to reach the door,
where the bishop met her, and placing their little hands in hers, said,
in his broken English, "They be your daughters; no man take them from
your hand." She wrote to a friend an account of her success, adding, "I
shall be glad to give them to the Lord Jesus, and love to look on them
as the beginning of my dear school." These two pupils were supported by
ladies in Maiden, Massachusetts, and the number soon increased to six;
but fifteen days after, two of them, finding the gate open, suddenly
left for home. Their teacher did not think it advisable to follow them;
nor did she see them again till, ten years after, an invitation for a
reunion of all her scholars brought two whom she did not recognize. She
said, "Perhaps you were here under Mrs. Grant?" "No, we were your own
scholars for fifteen days, and we are very sorry we ran away." They are
now both useful Christians, and the places they left in 1843 were
speedily filled by others.
The care of the school was much more exhausting than its instruction.
When the teacher went out, and when she came in, she must take her
pupils with her, for she dared not leave them to themselves. Indeed, so
strong were the feelings of their friends, that they allowed them to
remain only on condition that they should lodge with or near their
teacher, and never go out except in her company. A native teacher
rendered such help as he could, needing much teaching himself; and
everything combined to make the principal feel that hers was to be a
work of faith and prayer. As the first of January approached, she
thought how sweet it would be to be remembered by dear friends at Mount
Holyoke; and when it came, she wrote to Miss Whitman, "In looking over
Miss Lyon's suggestions for the observance of the day, last year, I
cannot tell you how I felt as I read the words, 'Perhaps next new
year's day will find some of you on a foreign shore. If so, we pledge
you a remembrance within these consecrated walls.' I thought not then
that privilege would be mine; but since it is, I count your prayers the
greatest favor you can confer."
At Oroomiah, the missionaries met together for prayer at one o'clock,
and after that Dr. Perkins and Mr. Holladay preached to the assembled
Seminaries, while the ladies of the mission met separately for prayer;
then united intercession again closed the day. And they needed to wait
on God, for many difficulties combined to prevent success.
One was the poverty of the people. To say merely that they were poor
gives no true idea of their situation to an American reader. They were
extremely poor, and grinding oppression still keeps them so. In 1837,
Mr. Stocking found very few pupils in the schools wearing shoes, even
in the snow of midwinter; and one sprightly lad in Sabbath school had
nothing on but a coarse cotton shirt, reaching down to his knees, and a
skull cap, though the missionary required all his winter clothes,
besides a fire, to keep him comfortable.
Another evil growing out of their poverty was, that the missionairies,
in order to give the first impulse to education, resorted to some
measures which, after an interest was awakened, had to be laid aside in
order to increase it. For example, poor parents could not be persuaded
to earn bread for their children while they sent them to school; hence,
to get scholars at first, the mission furnished their daily bread; and
this having been done for the boys, had to be done for the girls also.
So, in the winter of 1843-44, twenty-five cents a week was paid to the
day scholars, the others having their board instead. But the current
having once commenced to flow in the new channel, such inducements
became more a hinderance than a help, and, in the spring of 1844, Miss
Fiske told her scholars that no more money would be paid for their
bread; and though some of the mission feared it would be necessary to
resume the practice, instead of that it was soon dropped in the other
Seminary also.
But the special difficulty growing out of the condition of woman in a
Mohammedan country demands our notice. Some may suppose that because
Miss Fiske and Miss Rice have succeeded so well, an unmarried lady from
this country has nothing to do but to go there and work like any one
else. This is not true; such a one cannot live by herself: her home
must be in some missionary family. She cannot go out alone, either
inside or outside of the city. In many things she needs to be shielded
from annoyances here unknown. And God provided all that the teachers of
the Seminary needed of such help; first, in the kind family of Mr.
Stocking, and, after his death, in the pleasant household of Mr.
Breath. Indeed, not one of all the missionary circle ever stood in need
of such a hint as Paul gave the church at Rome concerning the deaconess
of Cenchrea. As Miss Fiske says, playfully, "Whenever we went with them
to visit pupils at a distance, they always made us believe that it was
a great privilege to take us along;" and every lady who goes out, in a
similar way, to labor in the missionary field, will find just such
Christian kindness indispensable to her comfort and usefulness. In such
a sphere of action, a lady's dependence is her independence.
Another difficulty was the want of books. Such a thing as a school book
had been unknown among the Nestorians. The only ones to be had in 1843
were the Bible in ancient Syriac,--a language unintelligible to the
common people,--and the Gospel of John, with a few chapters of Genesis,
in the spoken language, besides a few tracts. Later came the Gospel of
Matthew, and, after that, the four Gospels. Mr. Stocking prepared a
Spelling Book of fifty-four pages, 8vo, a Mental Arithmetic of
twenty-four pages, and afterwards a larger Arithmetic. Mr. Coan, a
Scripture Spelling Book of one hundred and sixty pages, 8vo. Mr.
Stoddard issued a very full and complete Arithmetic for the older
scholars in 1856, but his System of Theology did not appear till after
his decease, in 1857. Dr. Wright was the author of a Geography of three
hundred and two pages, printed in 1849. Mr. Cochran's Scripture
Geography appeared in 1856, and Barth's Church History was published
the same year. But the book studied more than all others, and most
efficient in enlightening and elevating the people, was the Bible, of
which the New Testament appeared in 1846, and the Old in 1852. As many
as three hours a day were devoted to that; and no recollections of
missionary education in Persia are so pleasant as those of the Bible
lessons. The pupils have pleasant memorials of some of them in the form
of Bible maps, drawn by themselves, which now form a conspicuous and
appropriate ornament of their homes.
It may seem to some as though so much study of the Bible would make the
pupils weary of its sacred pages; but precisely the contrary was true.
When the New Testament, shortly after it was printed, was offered to
those who, during recreation hours, would commit to memory the
Scripture Catechism, containing more than one thousand texts, some
learned it in three weeks, and others in a longer time; and their joy
in receiving the reward could hardly be expressed. It was near the
close of the term, and some who had not quite finished when vacation
began remained to complete the task; for they said they could not go
home unless they carried with them their Testament; and the diligent
use they made of it afterwards showed that their desire was more than
mere covetousness. Even eighteen months after, writing to a friend in
America, they say, "Now we have each of us this blessed book, this
priceless blessing; would that in it we might all find salvation for
our souls. This book is from the unspeakable mercy of God; nor can we
ever repay our dear friends for it." I cannot forbear quoting here the
closing sentence of the letter--"Dear friend, the gentle love of the
Saviour be with you. AMEN."