EBENEZERS.
EXAMINATION IN 1850.--COLLATION AND ADDRESS.--VALEDICTORY BY SANUM.
--SABBATH SCHOOL IN GEOG TAPA.--EXAMINATION THERE IN 1854.--PRAYER
MEETING AND COMMUNION AT OROOMIAH, MAY, 1858.--SELBY, OF GAVALAN, AND
LETTER.--LETTER FROM HATOON, OF GEOG TAPA.
There are occasions, interesting in themselves, that also serve to mark
the progress which they promote. Such an occasion was the examination
of the Seminary, June 6th, 1850. There have been examinations since,
but none so marked in their influence for good; none where the teachers
felt so much like calling the name of it "Ebenezer," and saying,
"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
The pupils had improved, during the last weeks of the term, more than
they had ever done in twice the same length of time, both spiritually
and mentally. At the close of the term, their parents and friends, with
some of the leading Nestorians, were invited to the examination. More
than one hundred and sixty spectators, besides the pupils, were crowded
into the large recitation room. This had been adorned with a profusion
of roses, from the vineyard of Mar Yohanan, arranged in wreaths and
bouquets, with festoons of sycamore leaves, and other devices. The
people were delighted,--for, like other Persians, they are great
admirers of flowers,--and many, on entering, involuntarily exclaimed,
"Paradise! Paradise!" In their various studies, the attainments of the
pupils would have reflected honor on a seminary in our own land; but
their knowledge of Scripture exceeded all besides. Even on the details
of the Tabernacle they rarely faltered; and their compositions showed
an intimate acquaintance with Bible facts and doctrines.
Dr. Perkins delivered an address, comparing the early days of the
mission with that scene, and felicitously answering various objections
that had been raised against female education; and, at the close,
diplomas were given to three of the oldest pupils.
The exercises were pleasantly diversified by a plentiful collation
under the arbor in the court behind the Seminary, where lambs roasted
whole, in the native style, lettuce, cherries, pilav (a preparation of
rice), and some cake, prepared by the pupils, were duly discussed. Many
of the women had never before sat at the same table with men, and it
was amusing to witness their awkward embarrassment. Some snatched the
food from the table by stealth, and ate it behind their large veils, as
though it were a thing forbidden.
Hormezd, the Miner of John, now aged and blind, who had been led all
the way from Geog Tapa, said, towards the close of the afternoon, "I
wish Joshua were here."
"And what do you, want of Joshua?"
"I want him to command the sun and moon to stand still, for the day is
altogether too short." As the company dispersed, several old men took
Miss Fiske and Miss Rice by the hand, saying, with moistened eyes,
"Will you forgive us that we have done no more for your school?" But
the best of all was, some sixty adult women, from different villages,
begging for spelling books, that they might commence learning to read.
Thirty of them did not rest till they could read their Bibles. The
cause of female education never lost the impulse that it received that
day.
Instead of the valedictory composed for this anniversary, is here
subjoined the greater part of the one prepared by Sanum, for a like
occasion, because it takes a wider range, and is richer in its
historical allusions:--
"Now that another year is closed, and we are ready to leave each other
in peace, it is fitting to review the past, that together we may praise
the sweet Keeper of Israel for the blessings he has poured upon our
heads. We fear to try to recount them all, lest we tempt the Lord; so
we will speak of but a few.
"Let us renew the wings of our loving thoughts, send them to the years
that are past, and see where rests the dust of some of the dear
teachers of this school. Listen! There comes a voice, 'They are not to
be found among the living.' Yes, the place of one is empty here, and of
another there. Then, where are they? Thou, O country art a witness that
they have pressed thy soil; and you, ye blessed winds, answer us, 'They
have gone!' and ye green leaves of time are true witnesses that they
lie among the numbered dead. But where shall we find them? They lie far
apart. We must visit one that first laid her hand on some of us to
bless us (Mrs. Grant); and though we remember her not, she often
embraced us in the arms of love, and carried us before a throne of
grace. She was one of the first that left all her friends, and ploughed
the mighty waves of ocean, that she might come to Oroomiah's dark
border. Though fierce tempests raged, and heavy waves raised themselves
above the ship, her prayers, mingled with love for us, ascended higher
still, and overcame all. At the foot of Mount Ararat she doubtless
remembered the bow of promise; and her consolations were renewed, when
she thought of it as a prophecy, that a company of the fallen daughters
of Chaldea should become heirs of glory. She so labored, that her
influence is widening from generation to generation.
"The Lord is rewarding her even to the third and fourth generation. But
though she engaged in her work with such holy zeal, her journey was
short. Some of us had not seen our eighth summer when those lips, on
which were written wisdom, were still; and that tongue, on which dwelt
the law of kindness, was silent in death. Now she rests in our
churchyard. She sleeps with our dead, and her dust is mingled with the
dust of our fathers, till that day when she shall rise to glory, and a
company of ransomed Nestorians with her.
"But where is that other dear friend of our school [Dr. Grant], who was
the beautiful staff of her support? He encouraged her to labor for us
while many of us were yet unborn. His heart was large enough to love
every son and daughter of our people. He sowed with many tears, and
gave himself for the Nestorians. Shall we not believe that the fruits
of his labors have sprung up among us? Then, where is he? Let us go
silently, silently, and ask that ancient city, Nineveh. It will direct
us, 'Lo, he rests on the banks of the noble Tigris.' Would that our
whisper might reach the ear of the wild Arab and cruel Turk, that they
walk gently by that stranger grave, and tread not on its dust. Then,
shall we think no more of it? No; with a firm hope we expect that those
mountains, on which his beautiful feet rested, shall answer his name in
echoes, one to the other; and the persons who saw his faithful example
there shall mingle in the flock of his Saviour.
"But the journey of our thoughts is not finished. We must leave in
peace this blessed grave, and go search for one with whom we were well
acquainted [Mrs. Stoddard], and whose gentle, loving example is so
graven on the tablet of memory, that it cannot be erased. Can we forget
her prayers with some of us the week she left us? or how, when she took
our hand for the last time, she said, 'The blessing of the Lord rest
upon you'? We did not then expect that our eyes would no more rest on
that lovely face, and our ears no more hear that sweet voice in our
dwellings. When we heard of her departure to a world of light, it was
hard to believe that she had gone and left us behind. Lo, on the shores
of the Black Sea she has laid her down to rest. O ye angry waves, be
still, and ye winds of God, fan gently that sacred spot. All our people
are indebted to thee, thou blessed one. Thou, who didst first teach us
to sing the songs of Zion, now removed from sin and sorrow, thou art
singing with the myriads of the just. We would not call thee back, but
rather praise the Lord that you and those other dear friends are
entered into rest. No, ye are not lost, ye spirits made holy; but as it
was necessary that some should come from a distant land to labor here,
so ye were necessary to do a greater work in heaven. We believe that ye
are doing there more than ye could have done here; yea, that ye form a
part of that great cloud of witnesses that encompass us to-day. It is
delightful to us to think that ye blessed ones guard us. It is a
comfort to our teachers to think that you, who laid these foundations,
are still round about us. Beloved ones, we would not call you back.
Cling closely, and more closely, to your Saviour, till we, too, through
free grace, shall share in your glory.
"And now, beloved friends, who with them flew on the wings of the
gospel across the ocean to tell us of salvation, we rejoice to-day that
the sharp arrows of death have not touched you. Ye have been more than
fathers and mothers to us. Our hearts are full of love to every one of
you, O blessed band! but we cannot express it, except with a heavenly
tongue. When darkness reigned in the breast of every son of the
Chaldeans, and no whisper of salvation had fallen on the ear of their
daughters, you opened the beauties of the priceless pearl before our
eyes, that it should enlighten us with heavenly brightness. We cannot
make known all that you have done for us. Let it remain till that day
of light when the Lord shall commend you before his chosen. When we
look at our dear teachers, our hearts warm to you with no common love,
because you led them to leave the sweet place of their nativity for our
sakes. You have been parents to them, wiping away their tears with the
soft hand of a mother, and sharing their trials with a father's heart.
While you have helped them in every department of their school, the
blessing has all been ours.
"If on the wings of an eagle we should fly to the extreme north, we
should find no such school as this, crowned with blessings, but should
see our sisters groaning in bitterness, saying, 'Not one ray from the
divine sun rises on us in our misery.' If we turn to the south, there
we see the daughters of Arabia lamenting, 'In all this desert, not one
oasis yields the waters of life to quench our burning thirst.' Eternity
alone will suffice to praise Him who sent you, the only heralds of his
grace, to us sinners.
"But our southern journey is not finished. From one end of Africa to
the other our sisters lie wrapped in the shadows of death; and if we
turn to the east, all the way to China, the daughters cry, 'Wretched is
our unhappy lot: no cloud of mercy, such as surrounds you, lights up
the place of our abode. So on the west, as far as Constantinople, our
companions in suffering have no school to sound in their ears the
blessed name of Jesus.
"What are we, that the Lord should choose us from the midst of such
darkness, and send you to us with the message of life? Let all nations,
with wondering lips, praise the Almighty for his grace to us, so
worthless.
"Now that we go from you, we leave with you this our handiwork as a
token of gratitude. [A specimen of needlework now among the curiosities
at the Missionary House in Boston.] Receive it, though a trifle. The
figures on it show what you have taught us in our pleasant school. As
we have first of all been taught to sit at the foot of the cross, and
neither hope nor glory in anything else, we have made that the
foundation. Under the cross you have watered us with the showers of
divine instruction and prayers, that, like this vine, we might entwine
about it and bear pleasant fruit. From this cross we learned, while yet
in the bloom of life, like newly-opened flowers, to join together in
sweet friendship. Above this we have placed a circle around the Holy
Bible, that bright lamp of the Lord, that will enlighten us like the
sun if we follow its leading--that well of living waters, which will
cause us to flourish like the palm tree. Thus will our leaf be ever
green, and our fruit sweet till the day when the mystery of love shall
be revealed, and we dwell in the mansions of the blest. There, joining
with all the singers in heavenly places, we shall receive harps and
sing glory to our heavenly King, who saved us from everlasting woe.
There we shall inherit crowns of gold, and, with myriads of the saints,
cast them down before the Lamb. If but one of us reach that place, will
you deem your labor in vain? God, who rewards even the gift of a cup of
cold water, will never forget what you have done to the least of his
people, and if the least are on the earth, we are they. Now that you
send us forth into the world, remember us, we beg you, whenever you
bring your sacrifice before the Lord.
"Dear teachers, your acts of kindness have been more than the hairs of
our heads; we cannot recount them. We can only ask Him, who alone is
rich, to reward you from his good treasures, for none but He can meet
our obligations to you. Each thought that reverts to the past demands a
tear of gratitude. O blessed seasons, when God sent down his Holy
Spirit, that through your labors these walls of Jerusalem, so long
broken down, might be again rebuilt. It is sweet to think that in the
hand of Christ, you have been the means of the salvation of our souls,
which are to live forever. We believe that your prayers and tears are
in the golden censer before the throne. Now that we go out from under
your wings of love, which cannot reach to all your scattered flock, we
entreat you to ask the Good Shepherd to lead us in green pastures and
beside the still waters, and keep us under his wings of mercy in our
weakness.
[Her address to the native teachers, bishops, &c., is omitted.]
"Dear parents, we rejoice exceedingly to see you here, looking on us
with eyes of love. No words can express what you have done for us,
especially in sending us here to learn of Jesus. We trust that it has
been, or shall be, a blessing to you also. It is our hope that you will
be willing to send your daughters to distant places, to make known
eternal life. If you do, great will be your reward from the Lord.
"And now, sweet sisters, another year have we sat under our own vine
and fig tree unmolested. We have tasted the honey and milk of the
blessed land, and drank of the waters from the Rock. But now the time
has come to leave these bowers of knowledge, but not the lessons here
learned, nor the counsels of our teachers, nor the sweet whispers of
the Holy Spirit.
"Dear sisters, let us bear forth with us the light-giving countenance
of the Saviour, which will scatter all the evil around us as the light
dispels the darkness: without this we cannot go. Though separated in
body, let us be united in fervent prayer. Let a conscience made
sensitive by grace be our abiding companion. Let the tent of Abraham
teach us that we have no abiding city here; and like him, let our first
work be to offer those prayers to God which shall testify that he is
ours. And now, before going forth, let us clothe ourselves with the
meekness and gentleness of Christ. Yea, let us take with us all his
virtues, being obedient, teaching our dying associates, and leading
them one and all to Christ. Though we part, our love can never be
sundered, and we will ask the Lord to send his ministering spirits to
strengthen our faltering steps, and feed our souls with heavenly manna,
so that if we never more see each other here, we may meet in heaven
with our sisters who have gone before."
The teachers improved the interest awakened by the examination in 1850,
to urge their older pupils to labor in the village Sabbath schools; and
let us look in on their efforts in Geog Tapa. The children there were
divided into ten classes, each with one of the pupils for a teacher.
Others taught the women who could not read. Soon these were joined by
both old and young men, who were taught by pupils from the Seminary at
Seir, and as many as forty spelling books were in active use. The
children, too, were taught to sing. Thus they labored till winter, when
the school was put in charge of the village school teachers. In the
spring the pupils resumed the work with undiminished zeal. Nor did they
toil in vain, for the attendance increased from about seventy to four
hundred; and some of the teachers testified that they spent there some
of the most delightful Sabbaths they ever knew. Yonan, who
superintended the school with Moses, had also a class of old women,
that increased from six to thirty-seven, whom he taught from the book,
well known to our Sabbath school children, "Line upon Line." His own
account of it is very interesting. He says, "The women, especially the
aged among them, have a habit, when they meet, of engaging in
unprofitable conversation, and, both on the way to church and in it, we
could not stop it. Awakening sermons produced no impression; and though
they had heard preaching for fifteen years, they were still very
ignorant. But now what I teach them on one Sabbath I require them to
repeat the next; and so they are obliged to leave off their gossip, and
talk over what they have heard, that they may not forget it. These
women are so anxious to be taught, that if I am hindered a little
longer than usual in arranging the classes, they cry out after me in
the church, that all the other classes are being taught, but they
forsaken."
A class of old men, taught by Deacon John, commenced with an attendance
of ten, but soon numbered forty. Formerly they went to market on the
Sabbath, or sat sunning themselves in the street, going to hear
preaching about half the time; but they became so interested in the
exercises, that they were unwilling they should close. They brought
others with them, and if one of them was kept away one Sabbath, he
mourned that the rest had got so far before him.
The women carried their books with them when they went out to the
vineyards, and at resting time: while others slept, they read. Some,
who could not afford oil at night, read by moonlight, and when they
spun, they fastened the book open on a shelf, so that they could read
at the same time. Once, when a woman was asked if she could repeat her
lesson, she replied, "O, yes; I repeated it over just now while I was
milking." The men also took their books out to the fields, that they
might improve every spare moment, and one was so earnest that, when
waked in the night to attend to the cattle, he read till morning; but
his family, finding that he burned so much oil, took care after that to
let him sleep. Good old Mar Elias rejoiced to see such a work among his
flock; and it was most pleasant to see the large church so crowded by
people, seated on the floor, that one could hardly walk about among
them.
After the teachers had attended to their classes about an hour and a
half, the younger scholars repeated the portion of Scripture they had
learned during the week, and the parents were much pleased to hear
their children recite.
The daily report of the Seminary was introduced into the Sabbath school
in a way that only Orientals could do it. The older members of the
school were required to report any cases of swearing, stealing, or
quarrelling among the younger ones during the week, who were publicly
reproved on the following Sabbath. This made the parents more careful
to watch over their children, and the children more circumspect in
their daily behavior. If any little trouble occurred among them during
the week, they said to each other, "Let us be careful; Sabbath is
near;" and though at first some of the people smiled when the children
were reproved, it soon became more common for them to weep.
After taking an account of the attendance, the children sung, divided
into two companies, on opposite sides of the church; and then Mar
Ellas, or some of the elders of the village, addressed the school.
Yonan closes his account of it by saying, "We have learned in this work
more than ever before the value of female education. Among our most
energetic, faithful teachers are young women who love to sit down
before little children, and the ignorant of their own sex, and teach
them the way of life."
Thursday, June 1st, 1854, was a great day in Geog Tapa. The forenoon
was devoted to the examination of a girls' school, taught by Hanee and
Nargis, graduates of the preceding year, and both belonging in the
village. As it was a feast day, a large number were present from the
neighboring hamlets. At nine o'clock the examination commenced in the
spacious church, which was crowded, the congregation numbering about
six hundred in all. The fifty pupils occupied the middle of the church.
The studies pursued were ancient and modern Syriac, geography,
arithmetic, both Scripture and secular history, reading and spelling;
and in all of them the pupils did credit both to themselves and their
teachers. The singing, that day, especially pleased the parents, many
of whom exclaimed with wonder, "Our daughters can learn as well as our
sons." Miss Fiske rejoiced to see her children's children in the pupils
of her first pupil, who gracefully managed her little flock with an
easy control. The villages of Gavalan, Vizierawa, and Ardishai, had
each a similar school, containing in all one hundred pupils; and each
of these schools was as valued a centre of religious influence as of
intellectual training. The teachers were in the habit of praying with
one of their pupils alone every day, as well as of opening the school
with prayer; and Friday afternoon was regularly devoted to a religious
meeting with the mothers of the pupils. These schools fitted the
teachers for usefulness, and the pupils for admission to the Seminary,
as well as for teachers in the Sabbath school; and they furnish a
delightful view of the present and prospective usefulness of the
Seminary among the people.
Noon came, and the large assembly scattered, to enjoy the hospitality
of the village. For the people opened their houses for those in
attendance, just as they do with us at the annual meetings of the
American Board. Geog Tapa could also boast of its committee of
arrangements, in humble imitation of greater things.
After a recess of an hour and a half, the people reassembled for the
examination of the Sabbath school, in a grove behind the church, as
that building could not contain the multitude which now numbered more
than a thousand. First came a class of men, from twenty to seventy
years of age, headed by Malik Aga Bey, the village chief. They had been
taught orally by Deacon John, and answered questions in Old Testament
history very readily. Then followed a class of women, fifty or sixty in
number, most of them over forty years of age. These had been taught by
Yonan, and were quite familiar with the Old Testament, from the
creation to the reign of David. One old blind woman wanted to point out
the stopping places of Israel in the desert, on the map which hung on
one of the tall trees: she had learned their names by heart, and was
familiar with their location by touch.
Next came a class of twenty men, who had recently learned to read; for
which they had each received a copy of the New Testament. A class of
women then followed, numbering twenty-three, who had also been taught
to read by the boys and girls in the village schools. Mr. Stoddard
called for the teacher of each woman to step forward; and a copy of the
Old Testament was presented to every one of them, as they stood in a
row in front of their pupils. There was one woman who stood without a
teacher. Mr. Stoddard called for hers also, and some one whispered to
him that she had been taught by her husband. Mr. Stoddard thereupon led
him out, and, placing his hand on his head, said, before the whole
assembly, "All honor to the man who has taught his wife to read!" and
presented him also with a Bible.
One who was frequently present often wept to see Women giving a morsel
to their infants to quiet them, that they might devote the longer time
to their lessons; some of them so intent on the work of learning, that
their faces were bathed in perspiration. She used to fill her pocket
and reticule with cakes for the little ones, so that their mothers
might be more free from interruption. The exercises of that day gave a
great impulse to the cause of education in Geog Tapa. As many as
seventy adults were soon poring over their spelling books; and the next
summer one half of the adult women were either readers or engaged in
the same employment; though previous to the examination of the Seminary
in 1850, not one in thirty could read, or cared to learn.
Having given an account of these two interesting occasions, let us now
look in on another equally interesting, though of a different kind,
that took place in Oroomiah, three years later. During the interval,
Mr. Stoddard had entered into rest; and his bereaved widow, Dr. Perkins
and family, and Miss Fiske, were about to sit down together, perhaps
for the last time, with the Nestorian converts, at the table of the
Lord.
It was in May, and the day one of the finest of those charming May days
in Oroomiah. The most of the Nestorians who had been admitted to the
communion were present; and in distributing the guests among the
mission families, it was understood that all who had been connected
with the Seminary should go there. The object of this was, to gather
all the scattered members of the family together once more in the place
where prayer had been wont to be made, before they went to the Lord's
table. As yet, no one knew that their teacher was about to leave them;
for she did not wish any thing else to turn away their thoughts from
Jesus. When they had assembled in the school room, she could not say
much, but besought the Lord Jesus to be the Master of the assembly.
After singing a hymn, the words "looking unto Jesus" were given as the
key-note of the meeting. He came and whispered peace, and all felt that
they sat together in heavenly places. The eyes of their hearts were
opened, so that they realized the fulfilment of the promise, "There am
I in the midst of you."
They were invited to speak freely of their joys and sorrows, in order
that together they might carry them to Jesus. The first to speak was
Hanee, one of the two whom Mar Yohanan brought to Miss Fiske at the
commencement of the school.[1] She had, not long before, buried her
only child; and holding her hands as though the little one still rested
on her arms, she said, "Sisters, at the last communion you saw me here
with my babe in these arms. It is not here now. I have laid it into the
arms of Jesus, and come to-day to tell you there is a sweet as well as
a bitter in affliction. When the rod is appointed to us, let us not
only kiss it, but press it to our lips. When I stood by that little
open grave, I said, 'All the time I have given to my babe, I will give
to souls.' I try to do so. Pray for me." She told but the simple truth;
for after the death of her child, she used to bring the women into the
room where it died, and there talk and pray with them. Since then, she
has received another little one, and in the same spirit given it back
to Christ. When she ceased, the whole company were in tears. The leader
could only ask, "Who will pray?" and Sanum, whose children had died by
poison, and who could enter into the feelings of the bereaved mother,
knelt down and prayed as very few could pray for mothers left desolate,
and for those who still folded their little ones in their arms. There
was perfect silence while she pleaded for them, save as the sweet voice
of her own babe sometimes added to the tenderness of her petitions. A
child in heaven! what a treasure! and what a blessing, if it draw the
heart thither also! [Footnote 1: See page 51.]
There was a little pause after the prayer; and, to the surprise of all,
the voice of Nazloo was heard in another part of the room; for they had
supposed her near, if not already entering, the river of death.
"Sisters," said she, "since seeing you, I have stood with one foot in
the grave; and may I tell you that it is a very different thing to be a
Christian then, from what it is in this pleasant school room. Let me
ask you if you are sure that you are on the Rock Christ Jesus." A
tender prayer followed, the burden of which was, "Search us, O Lord,
and try us, and see if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in
the way everlasting."
The next to speak was one of the early pupils, who had come many miles
that day to be present. She said, "I could think but one thought all
the way as I came, and that was, 'Freely ye have received, freely
give.' We have certainly received freely: have we given any thing? Can
we not do something for souls? I fear the Lord Jesus is not pleased
with us."
They were then asked if they were ready to engage in direct labors for
souls, to search them out, and by conversation and prayer seek to lead
them to Christ. Many pledged themselves to the work, and engaged to
bring the names of those for whom, they had labored to the next
communion, that all together might intercede in their behalf to God.
Before that time arrived, Miss Fiske left for America; but the first
letter she opened, out of a large parcel that awaited her in Boston,
was one containing the names of those with whom her pupils had labored
and prayed in distant Persia. Is it strange that, as the slips of paper
fell at her feet, her heart was moved?
But we cannot dwell longer on the prayer meeting. As many as twelve
said a few words, and more than that number led in prayer, during the
two hours they were together: from thence all repaired to the dining
room,--the three upper windows on the right of the engraving belong to
this,--where they did "eat their meat with gladness and singleness of
heart." Then it was announced that arrangements had been made for class
prayer meetings. It seemed to be just the thing that all longed for,
though none had spoken of it; and at once each class went along the
familiar passages to the room assigned it, and the voice of prayer
arose from nearly every apartment in the building. The chapel bell
rung, but it was unnoticed; and each little company had to be
separately summoned to church. There, according to previous
arrangement, Miss Fiske led each to a seat, that the communicants might
be together, and then herself sat down behind them all. A glance
revealed ninety-three sisters in Christ before her; and as the services
had not yet commenced, her thoughts went back to the day when, asking
concerning many of them, "Is this one a Christian?" "or that one?" "or
that other?" the answer came, "You have no sister in Christ among them
all!" No wonder she now inwardly exclaimed, "What hath God wrought? The
Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." There was but
one among the ninety-three with whom she had not bowed the knee in
prayer, and that same evening, as she was devising methods to get her
away from the rest to her room alone, the Lord sent her, unexpectedly,
to the door; and with her also she enjoyed the privilege of personal
religious intercourse and prayer.
At the communion, when all stood up to enter into covenant with
thirty-nine new converts, six of them pupils of the Seminary, there
seemed a deeper meaning than ever before in engaging to be the Lord's
forever.
In Hanee we have seen the grace bestowed on one of the two whom Mar
Yohanan brought to form the nucleus of the school. The other was Selby,
of Gavalan, his own niece. She became hopefully pious in 1846, when
hardly ten years of age. There were very few in whom her teachers took
such uniform delight, though they felt some anxiety when she married
Priest Kamo, of Marbeeshoo, a cousin of Mar Shirnon--intelligent and
influential, but unconverted. Yet she had strong faith that he would
become a Christian, and soon gained a wonderful influence over him,
without compromising in the least her own religious principles. She
became his teacher in the Bible,--it was a new book to him,--and in her
he saw the Christian life it described beautifully exemplified. She had
just begun to hope that her prayers were answered in his conversion. He
was much interested in aiding the evangelists in the mountains, and the
mission was hoping great things from him, under the good influence of
Selby, when he died. Her feelings, under this affliction, are thus
described by her own pen, in a letter to her teacher, dated Marbeeshoo,
June 4th, 1859:--
"It is not because I have forgotten you that I have not written you
until now. How can I forget you? And were that possible, I could not
forget your instructions. I remember them at all times, by day and by
night. They comfort me in sorrow, and strengthen me in anguish. You
have taught me the duties of this life, and you have pointed me to the
world to come. I remember when you used to take me by the hand, and
lead me into your closet, and there pray with me; and my heart fills
with mingled joy and sorrow--with joy, that such precious seasons were
given me; with sorrow, that they will be mine no more. Shall I never
see your face again--that face, which bore to us more than a mother's
love? You were a perfect mother, because in Christ.
"I grieve very much that I did not see you before you left; but I
believe that the seed you have sown will continue to spring up to the
end of the world. You asked me, in your letter, to tell you about my
work. I have a greater work than any of my companions, but it is in a
place covered with thick darkness, like that of Egypt. The people are
stiff-necked, wise to do evil, but of God they have no knowledge.
Temptations surround me as mountains; they rise up about me like the
waves of the sea. While Kamo lived, I was comforted, for he loved the
truth. Every day he used to read the Scriptures with me, and ask the
meaning of each verse. I had hoped he would have Paul's zeal in the
work of the Lord. I had expected that we should have schools in our
village after a year or two, and that the places of concourse for idle
conversation would become places for reading the Scriptures, and for
prayer. But it has pleased the Lord to give me a great and heavy
affliction. He has smitten me with his own rod, making this world a
vale of tears. But it is the Lord; let him do what he pleaseth. It is
all for my profit.
"I want to ask you and your friends to pray for me, that I may endure
to the end."
The feelings of the pupils, after the departure of Miss Fiske, are
graphically expressed in the following letter from Hatoon, of Geog
Tapa:--
"My heart longs to tell you of the change in our dear school. Our
return, after vacation, was much like that of the Jews from Babylon,
when they found their city laid waste, and their temple in ruins. Every
time they looked on the spot where it had stood, their hearts were
crushed. So when we did not see you, and went not to take your hand and
be kissed by you,--when we saw not your ready feet coming to the door,
to bring in each one and make her happy,--our hearts were broken, and
we could not restrain our tears; especially when I remembered the times
that the daughters of the church used to meet in your room to mingle
our prayers, our tears, and our joys together. These recollections
leave an aching void which cannot be filled. It seems to me that the
ways of your room mourn, because you come not to the solemn feasts. If
Jeremiah were here, I think he would say, 'How doth Miss Fiske's room
sit solitary that was full of people! How do the daughters of the
Oroomiah schools mourn, and their eyes run down with water, because
Miss Fiske is far from them?' These changes show us that this world is
as down driven by the wind. Perhaps you will reply, in your cheerful
way, 'Do you feel so? There is much that is pleasant in the world.' I
know it; but our school was always such a pleasant place to me. I was
so happy in it and its heavenly employments, that not even the death of
friends could destroy that joy. But now I seem overshadowed by dark
clouds, and sinking in deep mire. Yet I will try, in all this, to bow
my will to the holy will of Him who doeth all things well."