CHAPTER XIX.

_The Children's Chapter._ 233

THE

WOMEN OF THE ARABS.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF WOMEN AMONG THE ARABS OF THE JAHILIYEH, OR THE "TIMES OF THE

IGNORANCE."

In that eloquent Sura of the Koran, called Ettekwir, (lxxxi.) it is

said, "When the _girl buried alive_ shall be asked for what sin she was

slain." The passage no doubt refers to the cruel practice which still in

Mohammed's time lingered among the tribe of Temîm, and which was

afterwards eradicated by the influence of Islam. The origin of this

practice has been ascribed to the superstitious rite of sacrificing

children, common in remote times to all the Semites, and observed by the

Jews up to the age of the Captivity, as we learn from the denunciations

of Jeremiah. But in later times daughters were buried alive as a matter

of household economy, owing to the poverty of many of the tribes, and to

their fear of dishonor, since women were often carried off by their

enemies in forays, and made slaves and concubines to strangers.

So that at a wedding, the wish expressed in the gratulations to the

newly-married pair was, "with concord and sons," or "with concord and

permanence; with sons and no daughters." This same salutation is

universal in Syria now. The chief wish expressed by women to a bride is,

"may God give you an arees," _i.e._ a bridegroom son.

In the Koran, Sura xiv, Mohammed argues against the Arabs of Kinaneh,

who said that the angels were the daughters of God. "They

(blasphemously) attribute daughters to God; yet they _wish them not for

themselves_. When a female child is announced to one of them, his face

grows dark, and he is as though he would choke."

The older Arab Proverbs show that the burying alive of female children

was deemed praiseworthy.

"To send women before to the other world, is a benefit."

"The best son-in-law is the grave."

The Koran also says, that certain men when hearing of the birth of a

daughter hide themselves "from the people because of the ill-tidings;

shall he keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust." (Sura xvi.)

It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear, was

when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of

the grave-earth from his beard!

Before the Seventh Century this practice seems to have been gradually

abandoned, but was retained the longest in the tribe of Temîm. Naman,

king of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a foray, the daughter

of Kais, chief of Temîm, who fell in love with one of her captors and

refused to return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to bury alive

all his future female children, which he did, to the number of ten.

Subsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives of girls devoted to

inhumation, and Sa Saah thus rescued many, in one case giving two milch

camels to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled "the

Reviver of the Maidens buried alive."

The following Arabic Proverbs having reference to women and girls _will

illustrate_ the ancient Arab ideas with regard to their character and

position, better than volumes of historic discourse:

"Obedience to women will have to be repented of."

"A man can bear anything but the mention of his women."

"The heart of woman is given to folly."

"Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded."

"What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation?"

"If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry."

"Fear not to praise the man whose wives are true to him."

"Woman fattens on what she hears." (flattery)

"Women are the whips of Satan."

"If you would marry a girl, inquire about the traits of her

mother."

"Trust neither a king, a horse, nor a woman. For the king is

fastidious, the horse prone to run away, and the woman is

perfidious."

"My father does the fighting, and my mother the talking about it."

"Our mother forbids us to err and runs into error."

"Alas for the people who are ruled by a woman!"

The position of woman among the Arabs before the times of Mohammed can

be easily inferred from what has preceded. But there is another side to

the picture. Although despised and abused, woman often asserted her

dignity and maintained her rights, not only by physical force, but by

intellectual superiority as well. The poetesses of the Arabs are

numerous, and some of them hold a high rank. Their poetry was impromptu,

impassioned, and chiefly of the elegiac and erotic type. The faculty of

improvisation was cultivated even by the most barbarous tribes, and

although such of their poetry as has been preserved is mostly a kind of

rhymed prose, it often contains striking and beautiful thoughts. They

called improvised poetry "the daughter of the hour."

The queen of Arabic poetesses is El Khunsa, who flourished in the days

of Mohammed. Elegies on her two warrior brothers Sakhr and Mu'awiyeh are

among the gems of ancient Arabic poetry. She was not what would be

called in modern times a refined or delicate lady, being regarded as

proud and masculine in temper even by the Arabs of her own age. In the

eighth year of the Hegira, her son Abbas brought a thousand warriors to

join the forces of the Prophet. She came with him and recited her poetry

to Mohammed. She lamented her brother for years. She sang of Sakhr:

"His goodness is known by his brotherly face,

Thrice blessed such sign of a heavenly grace:

You would think from his aspect of meekness and shame,

That his anger was stirred at the thought of his fame.

Oh rare virtue and beautiful, natural trait,

Which never will change by the change of estate!

When clad in his armor and prepared for the fray,

The army rejoiceth and winneth the day!"

Again, she lamented him as follows:

"Each glorious rising sun brings Sakhr to my mind,

I think anew of him when sets the orb of day;

And had I not beheld the grief and sorrow blind

Of many mourning ones o'er brothers snatched away,

I should have slain myself, from deep and dark despair."

The poet Nabighah erected for her a red leather tent at the fair of

Okaz, in token of honor, and in the contest of poetry gave her the

highest place above all but Maymûn, saying to her, "If I had not heard

him, I would say that thou didst surpass every one in poetry. I confess

that you surpass all women." To which she haughtily replied, "Not the

less do I surpass all men."

The following are among the famous lines of El Khunsa, which gave her

the title of princess of Arab poetesses. The translation I have made

quite literal.

"Ah time has its wonders; its changes amaze,

It leaves us the tail while the head it slays;

It leaves us the low while the highest decays;

It leaves the obscure, the despised, and the slave,

But of honored and loved ones, the true and the brave

It leaves us to mourn o'er the untimely grave.

The two new creations, the day and the night,

Though ceaselessly changing, are pure as the light:

But man changes to error, corruption and blight."

The most ancient Arab poetess, Zarîfeh, is supposed to have lived as

long ago as the Second Century, in the time of the bursting of the

famous dyke of Mareb, which devastated the land of Saba. Another

poetess, Rakâsh, sister of the king of Hira, was given in marriage, by

the king when intoxicated, to a man named Adi.

Alas, in these days the Moslem Arabs do not wait until blinded by wine,

to give their daughters in marriage to strangers. I once overheard two

Moslem young men converging in a shop, one of whom was about to be

married. His companion said to him, "have you heard anything about the

looks of your betrothed?" "Not much," said he, "only I am assured that

she is _white_."

In a book written by Mirai ibn Yusef el Hanbali, are the names of twenty

Arab women who improvised poetry. Among them are Leila, Leila el

Akhyalîyeh, Lubna, Zeinab, Afra, Hind, May, Jenûb, Hubaish, Zarifeh,

Jemîleh, Remleh, Lotifeh, and others. Most of the verses ascribed to

them are erotic poetry of an amatory character, full of the most

extravagant expressions of devotion of which language is capable, and

yet the greater part of it hardly bearing translation. It reminds one

strikingly of Solomon's Song, full of passionate eloquence. And yet in

the poetry of El Khunsa and others, which is of an elegiac character,

there are passages full of sententious apothegms and proverbial wisdom.

CHAPTER II.

STATE OF WOMEN IN THE MOHAMMADAN WORLD.

Our knowledge of the position of women among the Mohammedans is derived

from the Koran, Moslem tradition, and Moslem practice.

I. In the first place, the Koran does not teach that women have no

souls. Not only was Mohammed too deeply indebted to his rich wife

Khadijah, to venture such an assertion, but he actually teaches in the

Koran the immortality and moral responsibility of women. One of his

wives having complained to him that God often praised the men, but not

the women who had fled the country for the faith, he immediately

produced the following revelation:

"I will not suffer the work of him among you who worketh to be

lost, whether he be male or female." (Sura iii.)

In Sura iv. it is said:

"Whoso doeth good works, and is a true believer, whether male or

female, shall be admitted into Paradise."

In Sura xxxiii:

"Truly, the Muslemen and the Muslimate, (fem.)

The believing men and the believing women,

The devout men and the devout women,

The men of truth and the women of truth,

The patient men and the patient women,

The humble men and the humble women,

The charitable men and the charitable women,

The fasting men and the fasting women,

The chaste men and the chaste women,

And the men and women who oft remember God;

For them hath God prepared

Forgiveness and a rich recompense."

II. Thus Mohammedans cannot and do not deny that women have souls, but

their brutal treatment of women has naturally led to this view. The

Caliph Omar said that "women are worthless creatures and soil men's

reputations." In Sura iv. it is written:

"Men are superior to women, on account of the qualities

With which God has gifted the one above the other,

And on account of the outlay they make, from their substance for them.

Virtuous women are obedient....

But chide those for whose refractoriness

Ye have cause to fear ... _and scourge them_."

The interpretation of this last injunction being left to the individual

believer, it is carried out with terrible severity. The scourging and

beating of wives is one of the worst features of Moslem domestic life.

It is a degraded and degrading practice, and having the sanction of the

Koran, will be indulged in without rebuke as long as Islamism as a

system and a faith prevails in the world. Happily for the poor women,

the husbands do not generally beat them so as to imperil their lives, in

case their own relatives reside in the vicinity, lest the excruciating

screams of the suffering should reach the ears of her parents and bring

the husband into disgrace. But where there is no fear of interference or

of discovery, the blows and kicks are applied in the most merciless and

barbarous manner. Women are killed in this way, and no outsider knows

the cause. One of my Moslem neighbors once beat one of his wives to

death. I heard her screams day after day, and finally, one night, when

all was still, I heard a dreadful shriek, and blow after blow falling

upon her back and head. I could hear the brute cursing her as he beat

her. The police would not interfere, and I could not enter the house.

The next day there was a funeral from that house, and she was carried

off and buried in the most hasty and unfeeling manner. Sometimes it

happens that the woman is strong enough to defend herself, and conquers

a peace; but ordinarily when you hear a scream in the Moslem quarter of

the city and ask the reason, it will be said to you with an indifferent

shrug of the shoulder, "that is only some man beating his wife."

That thirty-eighth verse of Sura iv. is one of the many proofs that the

Koran is not the book of God, because it violates the law of love.

"Husbands love your wives," is a precept of the Gospel and not of the

Koran. Yet it is a sad fact that the nominal Christians of this dark

land are not much better in this respect than their Moslem neighbors.

The Greeks, Maronites and Papal Greeks beat their wives on the slightest

provocation. In the more enlightened towns and cities this custom is

"going out of fashion," though still often resorted to in fits of

passion. Sometimes the male relatives of the wife retaliate in case a

husband beats her. In the village of Schwire, in Lebanon, a man beat his

wife in a brutal manner and she fled to the house of her brother. The

brother watched his opportunity; waylaid the offending husband, and

avenged his sister's injuries by giving him a severe flogging. In

Eastern Turkey, a missionary in one of the towns noticed that not one

woman attended church on Sunday. He expostulated with the Protestants,

and urged them to persuade their wives to accompany them. The next

Sunday the women were all present, as meek and quiet as could be wished.

The missionary was delighted, and asked one of the men how they

persuaded them to come? He replied, "We all beat our wives soundly until

they consented to come!" This wife-beating custom has evidently been

borrowed by the Christian sects from their Moslem rulers and oppressors,

and nothing but a pure Christianity can induce them to abandon it.

III. Some have supposed that there will be no place in the Moslem

Paradise for women, as their place will be taken by the seventy-two

bright-eyed Houris or damsels of Paradise. Mohammed once said that when

he took a view of Paradise he saw the majority of its inhabitants to be

the poor, and when he looked down into hell, he saw the _greater part_

of the wretches confined there to be _women_! Yet he positively promised

his followers that the very meanest in Paradise will have eighty

thousand servants, seventy-two wives of the Houris, _besides the wives

he had in this world_. The promises of the Houris are almost exclusively

to be found in Suras, written at a time when Mohammed had only a single

wife of sixty years of age, and in all the ten years subsequent to the

Hegira, women are only twice mentioned as the reward of the faithful.

And this, while in four Suras, the proper wives of the faithful are

spoken of as accompanying their husbands into the gardens of bliss.

"They and their wives on that day

Shall rest in shady groves." (Sura 36.)

"Enter ye and your wives into Paradise delighted." (Sura 43.)

"Gardens of Eden into which they shall enter

Together with the just of their fathers, and their wives." (Sura 13.)

An old woman once desired Mohammed to intercede with God that she might

be admitted to Paradise, and he told her that no old woman would enter

that place. She burst into loud weeping, when he explained himself by

saying that God would then make her young again.

I was once a fellow-passenger in the Damascus diligence, with a

Mohammedan pilgrim going to Mecca by way of Beirût and Egypt, in company

with his wife. I asked him whether his wife would have any place in

Paradise when he received his quota of seventy-two Houris. "Yes," said

he, looking towards his wife, whose veil prevented our seeing her,

although she could see us, "if she obeys me in all respects, and is a

faithful wife, and goes to Mecca, she will be made more beautiful than

all the Houris of Paradise." Paradise is thus held up to the women as

the reward of obedience to their husbands, and this is about the sum and

substance of what the majority of Moslem women know about religion.

Women are never admitted to pray with men in public, being obliged to

perform their devotions at home, or if they visit the Mosques, it must

be at a time when the men are not there, for the Moslems are of opinion

that the presence of women inspires a different kind of devotion from

that which is desirable in a place set apart for the worship of God.

The Moslem idea of woman is vile and degraded. A Moslem absent from home

never addresses a letter to his wife, but to his son or brother, or some

male relative. It is considered a grievous insult to ask a Moslem about

the health of his wife. If obliged to allude to a woman in conversation,

you must use the word "ajellak Allah," "May God elevate you" above the

contamination of this subject! You would be expected to use the same

expression in referring to a donkey, a dog, a shoe, a swine or anything

vile. It is somewhat like the Irish expression, "Saving your presence,

sir," when alluding to an unpleasant subject.

A Greek christian (?) in Tripoli came to an American Missionary

physician and said, "there is a woman, 'ajell shanak Allah' here who is

ill. I beg your pardon for mentioning so vile a subject to your

excellency." Said the doctor, "and who may it be?" "Ajellak, it is my

wife!"

I remember once meeting the Mohammedan Mufti of Beirût in Dr. Van Dyck's

study at the printing press. The Mufti's wife, (at least _one_ of them,)

was ill, and he wished medical advice, but could not insult the Doctor

by alluding to a woman in his presence. So he commenced, after

innumerable salutations, repeating good-morning, and may your day be

happy, until he could decently proceed to business. "Your excellency

must be aware that I have a sick man at my house. May God grant you

health! Indeed, peace to your head. Inshullah, it is only a slight

attack!" "He has pain in his back, headache, and he will not eat." "Has

he any fever?" "A little." "I will come and see _her_ this afternoon."

"May God increase your good. Good morning, sir!"

The Mohammedan laws with regard to polygamy, inheritance and divorce,

are a decided advance on the Pagan Arabs of "the Ignorance."

The Pagan Arabs allowed any number of wives. The Koran allows _only

four_ to any believer, the prophet himself having peculiar privileges in

this respect. The modern practice of Mohammedans in taking a score or

more of wives is directly contrary to the Koran. The Pagan Arabs

suffered no woman to have any part of the husband's or father's

inheritance, on the ground that none should inherit who could not go to

war, and the widows were disposed of as a part of their husband's

possessions. The Koran says, (Sura iv.) "Women ought to have a part of

what their parents leave." A male shall have twice as much as a female.

But a man's parents, and also his brothers and sisters are to have equal

shares, without reference to sex. "God commandeth you to give the male

the portion of two females. If she be an only daughter, she shall have

the half. Your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye leave, if ye

have no issue."

Among the Pagan Arabs, divorce was a mere matter of caprice. The Koran

says, (Sura ii.) "You may divorce your wives twice (and take them back

again). But if the husband divorce her a third time, it is not lawful

for him to take her again, until she shall have been actually married to

another husband, and then divorced by him." I have known cases where the

husband in a fit of passion has divorced his wife the third time, and,

in order to get her back again, has _hired another man_ to marry her and

then divorce her. A rich Effendi had divorced his wife the third time,

and wishing to re-marry her, hired a poor man to marry her for a

consideration of seven hundred piastres. He took the wife and the money,

and the next day refused to give her up for less than five thousand

piastres, which the Effendi was obliged to pay, as the woman had become

the lawful and wedded wife of the poor man.

No Mohammedan ever walks with his wife in the street, and in Moslem

cities, very few if any of men of other sects are willing to be seen in

public in company with a woman. The women are closely veiled, and if a

man and his wife have occasion to go anywhere together, he walks in

advance and she walks a long distance behind him. Nofel Effendi, one of

the most learned and intelligent Protestants in Syria, once gave me the

explanation of this aversion to walking in public with women, in a more

satisfactory manner than I had ever heard it before. Said he, "You

Franks can walk with your wives in public, because their faces are

unveiled, and it is _known that they are your wives_, but our women are

so closely veiled that if I should walk with my wife in the street, no

one would know whether I was walking with my own wife or another man's!

You cannot expect a respectable man to put himself into such an

embarrassing position!" No Moslem woman or girl would dare go into the

street without a veil, for fear of personal chastisement from the

husband and father, and the Greek, Maronite and other nominal Christian

women in Syria shrink from exposing their faces, through fear of insult

from the Mohammedans.

When European women, either residents or travellers, pass through the

Moslem quarter of these cities of Syria and Palestine, with faces

unveiled, they are made the theme of the most outrageous and insulting

comments by the Moslem populace. Well is it for the feelings of the most

of these worthy Christian women, that they do not understand the Arabic

language. The Turkish governor of Tripoli was obliged to suppress the

insulting epithets of the Moslems towards European ladies when they

first began to reside there, by the infliction of the bastinado.

In 1857, the Rev. Mr. Lyons in Tripoli, hired Sheikh Owad, a Moslem

bigot, to teach him the Arabic grammar. He was a conceited boor; well

versed in Arabic grammar, but more ignorant of geography, arithmetic and

good breeding than a child. One day Mrs. Lyons passed through the room

where he was teaching Mr. L. and he turned his head away from her and

spat towards her with a look of unutterable contempt. It was the last

time he did it, and he has now become so civilized that he can say good

morning to the wife of a missionary, and even consent to teach the

sacred, pure and undefiled Arabic to a woman! I believe that he has not

yet given his assent to the fact that the earth revolves on its axis,

but he has learned that there are women in the world who know more than

Sheikh Owad.

In ancient times Moslem women were occasionally taught to read the

Koran, and among the wealthier and more aristocratic classes, married

women are now sometimes taught to read, but the mass of the Moslem men

are bitterly opposed to the instruction of women. When a man decides to

have his wife taught to read, the usual plan is to hire a blind

Mohammedan Sheikh, who knows the Koran by heart. He sits at one side of

the room, and she at the other, some elderly woman, either her mother or

her mother-in-law, being present. The blind Sheikhs have remarkable

memories and sharp ears, and can detect the slightest error in

pronunciation or rendering, so they are employed in the most of the

Moslem-schools. The mass of the Mohammedans are nervously afraid of

entrusting the knowledge of reading and writing to their wives and

daughters, lest they abuse it by writing clandestine letters to improper

persons. "Teach a _girl_ to read and write!" said a Mohammedan Mufti in

Tripoli to me, "Why, she will _write letters_, sir,--yes, _actually

write letters_! the thing is not to be thought of for a moment." I

replied, "Effendum, you put your foot on the women's necks and then

blame them for not rising. Educate your girls and train them to

intelligence and virtue, and then their pens will write only what ought

to be written. Train the hand to hold a pen, without training the mind

to direct it, and only mischief can result." "_Saheah, saheah_," "very

true, very true," said he, "But how can this be done?"

It has begun to be done in Syria. From the days of Mrs. Sarah L. Smith

to the present time, Moslem girls have been taught to read and write and

sew, and there are many now learning in the various American, British

and Prussian schools. But it will be long before any true idea of the

dignity of woman enters the debased minds of Arab Mohammedans. The

simple fact is that there is no moral purity or elevation among the men,

and how can it be expected among the women. The Moslem idea of woman is

infinitely lower than the old Jewish idea. Woman in the time of Christ

was highly honored. Believing women followed Christ throughout Galilee

and Judea, and although enemies stood watching with hateful gaze on

every side, not one word of insinuation was ever lisped against them. It

is a most sadly impressive fact to one living in Syria at the present

day, that the liberty and respect allowed to woman in the days of our

Saviour would now be absolutely impossible. In purely Greek or Maronite

or Armenian villages, the women enjoy far greater liberty than where

there is a Moslem element in the population. And it is worthy of remark

and grateful recognition, that although Christianity in the East has

sunk almost to a level, in outward morality, with the Islamic and

semi-Pagan sects, there is a striking difference between the lowest

nominal Christian community and the highest Mohammedan, in the respect

paid to woman. Ignorant and oppressed as the Greek and Maronite women

may be, you feel on entering their houses, that the degrading yoke of

Moslem brutality is not on their necks. Their husbands may be coarse,

ignorant and brutal, beating their wives and despising their daughters,

mourning at the birth of a daughter, and marrying her without her

consent, and yet there are lower depths of coarseness and brutality, of

cruelty and bestiality, which are only found among Mohammedans. I once

suggested to a Tripoli Moslem, that he send his daughters to our Girls'

School, then taught by Miss Sada Gregory, a native teacher trained in

the family of Mrs. Whiting, and he looked at me with an expression of

mingled pity and contempt, saying, "Educate a _girl_! You might as well

attempt to educate _a cat_!"

Not two months since, I was conversing with several of the aristocratic

Mohammedans of Beirût, who were in attendance at the commencement of the

Beirût Protestant Medical College. The subject of the education of girls

was introduced, and one of them said, "we are beginning to have our

girls instructed in your Protestant schools, and would you believe it, I

heard one of them read the other day, (probably his own daughter,) and

she actually asked a question about the construction of a noun preceded

by a preposition! I never heard the like of it. The things do

distinguish and understand what they read, after all!" The others

replied, "_Mashallah! Mashallah!_" "The will of God be done!"

Some ten years ago, an influential Moslem Sheikh in Beirût, who was a

personal friend of Mr. Araman, the husband of Lulu, brought his daughter

Wahidy (only one) to the Seminary to be instructed, on condition that no

man should ever see her face. As Mr. Araman himself was one of the

teachers, and I was accustomed to make constant visits to the school,

she was obliged to wear a light veil, which she drew adroitly over her

face whenever the door was opened. This went on for months and years,

until at length in recitation she would draw the veil aside. Then she

used to listen to public addresses in the school without her veil, and

finally, in June, 1867, she read a composition on the stage at the

Public Examination, on, "The value of education to the women and girls

of Syria," her father, Sheikh Said el Ghur, being present, with a number

of his Moslem friends.

CHAPTER III.

THE DRUZE RELIGION AND DRUZE WOMEN.

The great expounder and defender of the Druze religion is Hamzé, the

"Universal Intelligence," the only Mediator between God and man, and the

medium of the creation of all things. This Hamzé was a shrewd, able and

unprincipled man. In his writings he not only defends the abominations

of Hakem, but lays down the complete code of Druze doctrine and duty.

It is the belief of many, and said to be the orthodox view among the

Druzes that their system as such is to last exactly 900 lunar years. The

date of the Druze era is 408 Hegira, or 1020 A.D. The present year,

1872, corresponds to the year 1289 Anno Hegira, so that _in nineteen

lunar years_ the system will begin to come to an end according to its

own reckoning, and after 1000 years it will cease to exist. Others have

fixed this present year as the year of the great cataclysm, but the

interpreters are so secret and reserved in their statements, that it is

only by casual remarks that we can arrive at any idea of their real

belief. Lying to infidels is such a meritorious act, that you cannot

depend on one word they say of themselves or their doctrines. Their

secret books, which were found in the civil wars of 1841 and 1845, have

been translated and published by De Sacy, and we have a number of them

in the original Arabic manuscripts in the Mission Library in Beirût.

From a chapter in one of these, entitled "Methak en Nissa," or the

"Engagements of Women," I have translated the following passages, to

show the religious position of women, as bearing upon my object in

describing the condition of Syrian females.

"Believers are both male and female. By instruction women pass from

ignorance to knowledge, and become angels like the Five Ministers who

bear the Throne: _i.e._, the Doctrine of the Unity. All male and female

believers ought to be free from all impurity and disgrace and dishonor.

Believing women should shun lying (to the brethren) and infidelity and

concupiscence, and the appearance of evil, and show the excellency of

their work above all Trinitarian women, avoiding all suspicion and taint

which might bring ill upon their brethren, and avoiding giving attention

to what is contrary to the Divine Unity.

"We have written this epistle to be read to all believing women who hold

to the Unity of Hakem, who knows His Eternity and obey their husbands.

But let no Dai or Mazûn read it to a woman until he is well assured of

her faith and her religion, and she shall have made a written profession

of her faith. He shall not read it to one woman alone, nor in a house

where there is but one woman, even though he be worthy of all

confidence, lest suspicion be awakened and the tongue of slander be

loosed. Let there be assembled together at least three women, and let

them sit behind a curtain or screen, so as not to be seen. Each woman

must be accompanied by her husband, or her father, or brother or son, if

he be a Unitarian. The Dai in reading must keep his eyes fixed on his

book, neither turning towards the place where the women are, nor casting

a glance towards it, nor listening to them. The woman, moreover, must

not speak a word during the reading, and whether she is affected by a

transport of joy, or moved by an impression of respect and fear, she

must carefully abstain from showing her feelings either by smiles or

tears. For the smiles, the tears, and the words of a woman may excite

man's passions. Let her give her whole attention to the reading, receive

it in her heart, and apply all the faculties of her mind to understand

its meaning, in order clearly to conceive the true signification of what

she is listening to. If she finds any passage obscure, let her ask the

Dai, (the preacher,) and he shall answer, if he can, and if not, promise

to ask those who are more learned, and when he has obtained the solution

he must inform her, if she be deemed worthy.

"The highest duty of Unitarian women is to know our Moulah Hakem and the

Kaim Hamzé. If they follow Him, let them know that He has released them

entirely from the observance of the Seven Arbitrary Pillars of the Law

(of Islam) which are (1) Prayer, (2) Fasting, (3) Pilgrimage, (4)

Asserting, There is no God but God and Mohammed is the Prophet of God,

(5) Giving tithes, (6) War on infidels, (7) Submission to authority. But

on the other hand, all believing women must perform the Seven Religious

Duties: The First and greatest is Truth in your words: (_i.e._ to the

brethren and sisters); the Second is, To watch reciprocally over the

safety of the brethren; the Third is, to renounce wholly and entirely

whatever religion you may have previously professed; the Fourth is, To

keep yourselves apart, clear and distinct from all who are in error; the

Fifth is, To recognize the existence of the Unity of our Lord in all

ages, times and epochs; the Sixth is, To be satisfied with His will and

His works, whatever they may be; The Seventh is, To abandon and resign

yourselves to all His orders whether in prosperity or adversity. You

must keep these Seven Commandments, and keep them strictly secret from

all who are of a different religion. If the Druze women do all this and

fulfil their duties, they are indeed among the good, and shall have

their reward among the 159 Angels of the Presence and among the Prophets

who were Apostles, and be saved from the snare of the accursed Iblîs

(Diabolus). Praise then to our Lord Hakim, the praise of the thankful!

He is my hope and victory!"

What can you expect of the women, if the teachers are thus warped with

hypocrisy and falsehood. They receive you politely. Dr. De Forest used

to say, that there is not a boor in the Druze nation. But their very

politeness confounds you. The old Druze women are masters of a pious

religious phraseology. "We are all sinners." "The Lord's will be done."

"Praise to His name." "He only can command." "The Lord be merciful to

us." "He orders all things," and yet they will lie and deceive, and if

not of the initiated class, they will swear in the most fearful manner.

The Okkal cannot swear, smoke or drink, but they tell a story of a

village where the people were all Okkal, and things having reached a

high pitch of excitement, they sent for a body of Jehal or the

non-initiated to come over and swear on the subject, that their pure

minds might be relieved! When they talk in the most affectingly pious

manner, and really surpass you in religious sentiment, you hardly know

what to do. Tell them God knows the heart. They reply, "He alone is the

All-knowing, the Searcher of the hearts of men." You shrink from telling

them in plain language that they are hypocrites and liars. You _can_

tell them of the _personal love_ of a personal Saviour, and this simple

story will affect and has affected the minds of some of them more than

all logic and eloquent refutation of their foggy and mysterious

doctrinal system.

They respect us and treat us politely for political reasons. During the

massacres of 1860, I rode from Abeih to Beirût in the midst of burning

villages, and armed bodies of Druzes passed us shouting the war song "Ma

hala ya ma hala kotal en Nosara," "How sweet, oh how sweet, to kill the

Christians," and yet as they passed us they stopped and most politely

paid their salams, saying, "Naharkum Saieed," "May your day be blessed,"

"Allah yahtikum el afiyeh," "God give you health!"

When a Druze Sheikh wishes to marry, he asks consent of the father

without having seen the daughter. If the father consents, he informs

her, and if she consents, the suitor sends his affianced presents of

clothes and jewelry, which remain in her hands as a pledge of his

fidelity. She is pictured to him as the paragon of beauty and

excellence, but he is never allowed to see her, speak to her, or write

to her, should she know how to write. His mother or aunt may see her or

bring reports, but he does not see her until the wedding contract is

signed and the bride is brought to his house.

The following is the marriage ceremony of the Druzes. It is read by the

Kadi or Sheikh, and in accordance to the Druze doctrine that they must

outwardly conform to the religion of the governing power, it is a purely

Mohammedan ordinance.

"Praise to God, the original Creator of all things; the Gracious in all

His gifts and prohibitions; who has decreed and fixed the ordinance of

marriage; may Allah pray for (bless) our Prophet Mohammed, and his four

successors! Now after this, we say that marriage is one of the laws

given by the prophets, and one of the statutes of the pious to guard

against vice; a gift from the Lord of the earth and the heaven. Praise

to Him who by it has brought the far ones near, and made the foreigner a

relative and friend! We are assembled here to attend to a matter

decreed and fated of Allah, and whose beginning, middle and end he has

connected with the most happy and auspicious circumstances. This matter

is the blessed covenant of marriage. Inshullah, may it be completed and

perfected, and praise to Allah, the Great Completer! Amen!

"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. He is my portion

and sufficiency. May Allah pray for his pure prophet!"

This is the marriage contract between the person named A. son of ---- of

the village of ---- in the district of ---- in Lebanon, and his

betrothed named B. the daughter of ---- of the village of ---- she being

a maiden of full and marriageable age, with no legal obstacles to her

marriage. (May Allah protect her veil, and have mercy on her relatives

and friends!)

In view of the mercies of Allah and his prophet Mohammed, they pay fifty

piastres ($2.00) of full and lawful number, weight and measure, of the

Imperial mint of our Moulah the Sultan, (may the exalted and merciful

One give him the victory!) and of new white silver. The agent of the

husband is ---- and of the wife is ----.

It is the absolute and bounden duty of the husband to provide clothing

for the body of his wife and a crown for her head, and of the wife to

give him his due honor and rights and do his work, and Allah will be

with those who fear Him, and not suffer those who do well to lose their

reward.

Signed Sheikh ---- (seal)

-- seal

Witnesses -- seal

-- seal

A whole week is given up to festivity before her arrival, and the

retinue of the bride mounted on fine horses escort her amid the firing

of musketry, the _zilagheet_ shrieks of the women, and general

rejoicing, to the bridegroom's house. Col. Churchill describes what

follows: "The bride meantime, after having received the caresses and

congratulations of her near relatives, is conducted to a chamber apart

and placed on a divan, with a large tray of sweetmeats and confectionery

before her, after which all the females withdraw and she is left alone,

with a massive veil of muslin and gold thrown over her head and covering

her face, breasts and shoulders down to the waist. What thoughts and

sensations must crowd upon the maiden's mind in this solitude! not to be

disturbed but by him who will shortly come to receive in that room his

first impressions of her charms and attractions! Presently she hears

footsteps at the door; it opens quietly; silently and unattended her

lover approaches her, lifts the veil off her face, takes one glance,

replaces it and withdraws."

He then returns to the grand reception-room, takes his seat at the head

of the divan amid the throng of Sheikhs and other invited guests. He

maintains an imperturbable silence, his mind being supposed to be

absorbed by one engrossing object. It may be delight. It may be bitter

disappointment. It is generally past midnight when the party breaks up

and the family retires.

A plurality of wives is absolutely forbidden. If a Druze wishes to

divorce his wife, he has merely to say, "You had better go back to your

father," or she, the woman, wishes to leave her husband, she says, "I

wish to go back to my father," and if her husband says, "Very well, go,"

the divorce in either case holds good, and the separation is

irrevocable. Both parties are free to re-marry. Childlessness is a

common cause of divorce.

The birth of a son is the occasion of great rejoicing and presents to

the family. But the birth of a daughter is considered a misfortune, and

of course not the slightest notice is taken of so inauspicious an event.

This holds true among all the sects and peoples of Syria, and nothing

but a Christian training and the inculcation of the pure principles of

gospel morality can remove this deeply seated prejudice. The people say

the reason of their dislike of daughters is that while a son builds up

the house, and brings in a wife from without and _perpetuates the family

name_, the daughter pulls down the house, loses her name, and is lost to

the family.

The wealthier and more aristocratic Druze sitts or ladies are taught to

read by the Fakih or teacher, but the masses of the women are in brutish

ignorance. You enter a Druze house. The woman waits upon you and brings

coffee, but you see only _one eye_, the rest of the head and face being

closely veiled. In an aristocratic house, you would never be allowed to

see the lady, and if she goes abroad, it is only at night, and with

attendants on every side to keep off the profane gaze of strangers. If a

physician is called to attend a sick Druze woman, he cannot see her

face nor her tongue, unless she choose to thrust it through a hole in

her veil. In many cases they suffer a woman to die sooner than have her

face seen by a physician.

The Druzes marry but one wife at a time, and yet divorce is so common

and so heartlessly practiced by the men, that the poor women live in

constant fear of being driven from their homes.

In Abeih, we were startled one evening by the cry "Rouse ye men of self

respect! Come and help us!" It was a dark, rainy night, and the earthen

roof of a Druze house had fallen in, burying a young man, his wife and

his mother, under the mass of earth, stones and timber. They all escaped

death, but were seriously injured, the poor young wife suffering the

most of all, having fallen with her left arm in a bed of burning coals,

and having been compelled to lie there half an hour, so that when dug

out, her hand was burned to a cinder! For several days the husband

refused to send for a doctor, but at length his wife Hala was sent to

the College Hospital (of the Prussian Knights of St. John) in Beirût

where Dr. Post amputated the hand below the elbow.

One would naturally suppose that such a calamity, in which both so

narrowly escaped death, would bind husband and wife together in the

strongest bonds of affection and sympathy. But not so in this case. The

poor young wife is now threatened with divorce, because she is no longer

of any use to her husband, and her two little children are to be taken

from her! She lies on her bed in the Hospital, the very picture of

stoical resignation. Not a groan or complaint escapes her.

She said one day, "Oh how glad I am that this happened, for it has taken

away all my sins, and I shall never have to suffer again in this world

or the next!" This is the doctrine of the Druzes, and, cold and false as

it is, she has made it her support and her stay.

Dr. Post and Mrs. Bliss have pointed her to the Lamb of God "who bore

our sins in His own body on the tree," and she seems interested to hear

and learn more.

Her younger sister is in the Beirût Seminary. May this poor sufferer

find peace where alone it can be found, in trusting in the Lord Jesus

Christ, whose blood cleanseth from all sin!

The cruelty of her husband, sanctioned as it is by the religious code of

the Druzes, may be the means of opening her eyes to the falsity of that

heartless Christless system, and lead her to the foot of the Cross!

Christians, who read these lines, pray for Hala of Abeih!

SITT ABLA.

More than twenty years ago in the little Druze village of Aitath, in

Lebanon, about seven miles from Beirût, lived a family of Druze Sheikhs

of the tribe of Telhûk. This tribe was divided into the great Sheikhs

and the little Sheikhs, and among the latter was the Sheikh Khottar. The

proximity of this village to Beirût, its elevated position, cool air,

and fine fountain of water, made it a favorite summer retreat for the

missionaries from the withering heats of the plain. Sheikh Khottar and

his wife the Sitt, having both died, their orphan son Selim and daughter

Abla, called the Sitt (or lady) Abla, were placed under the care of

other members of the family of Telhûk. The missionaries opened a school

for boys and Selim attended it. Dr. and Mrs. Van Dyck were living in

Aitath at the time, and the young Druze maiden Abla, who was betrothed

to a Druze Sheikh, became greatly attached to Mrs. Van Dyck, and came

almost constantly to visit her. The light of a better faith and the

truth of a pure gospel gradually dawned upon her mind, until her love

for Mrs. Van Dyck grew into love for the Saviour of sinners. The Sheikh

to whom she was betrothed was greatly enraged at her course in visiting

a Christian lady, and meeting her one day when returning to her home,

attacked her in the most brutal manner, and gave her a severe beating.

She fled and took refuge in the house of Mrs. Van Dyck, who had taught

her to read and given her a Bible. A short time after, several of her

cousins seized her and scourged her most cruelly, and a violent

persecution was excited against her and her brother Selim. She was in

daily and hourly expectation of being killed by her male relatives, as

it had never been heard of in the Druze nation that a young girl should

dare to become a Christian, and Mr. Whiting, missionary in Abeih, sent

over a courageous Protestant youth named Saleh, who took the Sitt Abla

by night over the rough mountain road to Abeih in safety. But even here

she was not safe. The Druzes of Lebanon at that time were at the height

of their feudal power. Girls and women were killed among them without

the least notice on the part of the mountain government. Abla was like a

prisoner in the missionary's house, not venturing to go outside the

door, and in order to be at peace, she went down with her brother to

Beirût, where she has since resided. Selim united with the Church, but

was afterwards suspended from communion for improper conduct, and joined

himself to the Jesuits, so that Abla has had to endure a two-fold

persecution from her Druze relatives and her Jesuit brother. On her

removal to Beirût she was disinherited and deprived of her little

portion of her father's estate, and her life has been a constant

struggle with persecution, poverty and want. Yet amid all, she has stood

firm as a rock, never swerving from the truth, or showing any

disposition to go back to her old friends. At times she has suffered

from extreme privation, and the missionaries and native Protestants

would only hear of it through others who happened to meet her. Since

uniting with the Church in 1849 she has lived a Christian life. In a

recent conversation she said, "I count all things but loss for the

excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, _for whom I have

suffered the loss of all things_ ... and I still continue, by the grace

of Him Exalted, and by the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, awaiting

a happy death, and everlasting rest."

KHOZMA.

Her Christian experience is like that of Khozma Ata. She is the only

female member of the Protestant church in Syria from among the Druzes,

except Sitt Abla. She was born, in Beirût of the Druze family of Witwat,

and when quite a child was taken by Dr. Beadle, then by Miss Tilden,

living at one time in Aleppo, then in Jerusalem, and finally settled in

the family of Dr. De Forest, where she continued until his departure for

America in 1854. For several years she has been an invalid, and is not

often able to leave her house, even to go to church. Two of her little

girls are in the Female Seminary. In 1861 she taught a day school for

girls in Beirût, and assisted Dr. De Forest in his work in the Beirût

Seminary. I called upon her a few days since, and she handed me a roll

of Arabic manuscript, which she said she had been translating from the

English. It is a series of stories for children which she has prepared

to be printed in our monthly journal for Syrian children. The name of

the journal is "koukab es Subah," or "Morning Star." She has been

confined to her bed a part of the summer, and when she gave me the

manuscript, she apologized for the handwriting, on the ground that she

had written the most of it sitting or lying on her bed. She has not

forgotten the example and instructions of Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, and

speaks of them with enthusiastic interest. Her husband failed in

business some years ago, and she is in a constant struggle with want,

but her old friends and loving sisters, Raheel and Lulu, who are among

her nearest neighbors, are unremitting in their kind attentions to her.

What a difference between the faithful Christian nurture her little

children are receiving at home, and the worse than no training received

by the children of her Druze relatives at Ras Beirût, who are still

under the shadow of their old superstitions. She never curses her

children nor invokes the wrath of God upon them. She is never beaten and

spit upon and tortured and threatened with death by her husband. It is

worth much to have rescued a Khozma and an Abla from the degradation of

Druze superstition! These two good women, with Abdullah in Beirût, and

Hassan, Hassein, Asaad and Ali, in Lebanon, are among the living

witnesses to the preciousness of the love of Christ, who have come forth

from the Druze community. They have been persecuted, and may be again,

but they stand firm in Christ. Not a few Druze girls are gathered in our

schools in Beirût, Lebanon, and the vicinity of Hermon, as well as in

other schools in Damascus, Hasbeiya and elsewhere, and some of their

young men are receiving a Christian education.

CHAPTER IV.

NUSAIRIYEH.

To the North of Mount Lebanon, and along the low range of mountains

extending from Antioch to Tripoli, and from the Mediterranean on the

West to Hums on the East, live a strange, wild, blood-thirsty race

called the Nusairîyeh numbering about 200,000 souls, and now for the

first time in their history coming within the range of Missionary

effort.

The Druzes admit women to the Akkal or initiated class, but not so the

Nusairîyeh. The great secret of the Sacrament is administered in a

secluded place, the women being shut up in a house, or kept away from

the mysteries. In these assemblies the Sheikh reads prayers, and then

all join in cursing Abubekr, Omar, Othman, Sheikh et-Turkoman and the

Christians and others. Then he gives a spoonful of wine, first to the

Sheikhs present, and then to all the rest. They then eat fruit, offer

other prayers, and the assembly breaks up. The rites of initiation are

frightful in the extreme, attended by threats, imprecations and

blasphemous oaths, declaring their lives forfeited if they expose the

secrets of the order.

They use given signs and questions, by which they salute each other, and

ascertain whether a stranger is one of them or not. In their books they

employ the double interlacing triangle or seal of Solomon. They call

each other brethren, and enjoin love and truthfulness, but _only to the

brethren_. In this they are like the Druzes. So little do they regard

all outside their own sect, that they _pray to God to take out of the

hearts of all others than themselves, what little light of knowledge and

certainty they may possess_! The effect of this secret, exclusive, and

selfish system is shown in the conduct of the Nusairîyeh in robbing and

murdering Moslems and Christians without compunction.

As it has been said, the Nusairîyeh women are entirely excluded from all

participation in religious ceremonies and prayers, and from all

religious teaching. The reason given, is two-fold; the first being that

women cannot be trusted to keep a secret, and the second because they

are considered by the Nusairîyeh as something unclean. They believe that

the soul of a wicked man may pass at death into a brute, or he may be

punished for his sins in this life by being born in a woman's form in

the next generation. And so, if a woman live in virtue and obedience,

there is hope of her again being born into the world _as a man_, and

becoming one of the illuminati and possessors of the secret. It is a

long time for the poor things to wait, but it is a convenient reward for

their husbands to hold out before them.

Yet the women are so religiously inclined by nature that they will have

some object of worship, and while their husbands, fathers and sons are

talking and praying about the celestial hierarchies, and the

unfathomable mysteries, the wives, mothers and daughters will throng the

"zeyarehs," or holy visiting shrines, on the hill tops, and among the

groves of green trees, to propitiate the favor of the reputed saints of

ancient days. These shrines are supposed to have miraculous powers, but

Friday is the day when the prophets are more especially "at home," to

receive visitors. On other days they may be "on a journey," or asleep.

Whenever a Nuisairiyeh woman is in sorrow or trouble or fear, she goes

to the zeyareh and cries in a piteous tone, "zeyareh, hear me!"

Their women do not veil themselves, and consequently there is more of

freedom among them than among Moslems and Druzes, and in their great

festivals, men and women all dance together.

When a young man sees a girl who pleases him, he bargains with her

father, agreeing to pay from twenty dollars to two hundred, according to

the dignity of her family; of which sum she receives but four dollars,

unless her father should choose to give her a red bridal box and bedding

for her outfit. She rides in great state to the bridegroom's house amid

the firing of guns and shouts of the women, and on dismounting, the

bridegroom gives her a present of from one to three dollars, called the

"dismounting money."

Divorce needs only the will of the man, and polygamy is common. Lane

says in speaking of Egypt, "The depraving effects of this freedom of

divorce upon both sexes, may be easily imagined. There are many men in

this country who, in the course of ten years, have married as many as

twenty, thirty or more wives; and women, not far advanced in age, who

have been wives to a dozen or more men successively."

The Nusairîyeh women smoke, swear, and use the most vile and unclean

language, and even go beyond the men in these respects. Swearing and

lying are universal not only among the Nusairîyeh, but among the most of

the Syrian people. You never receive a direct reply from a Nusaîry. He

will answer your question by asking another, in order, if possible, to

ascertain your object in asking it and to conceal the true state of the

case. Their Moslem and nominal Christian neighbors are not much better.

They all lie, and swear, and deceive. Mr. Lyde illustrates the ignorance

of the Greek clergy in Latakiah by the following incident. A ploughman

who had learned something of the Bible, heard a Greek priest cursing the

father of a little child. He said, "My father, is it right to curse?"

"Oh," said he, "it was only from my lips." "But does not the psalmist

say, Keep the door of my lips?" "That," replied the priest, "is only in

the English Bible."

Walpole says of the Nusairîyeh women, "when young, they are handsome,

often fair, with light hair and jet-black eyes; or the rarer beauty of

fair eyes and coal-black hair or eyebrows."

When a fight takes place between the tribes, the women, like the women

of the Druzes, enter into the spirit of it with demoniacal fury. During

the battle they bring jars of water, shout, sing, and encourage the

men, and at the close carry off the booty, such as pots, pans, chickens,

quilts, wooden doors, trays, etc. In the Druze war of 1860, I saw the

Druze women running with the men through Aitath, on their way to the

scene of hostilities in the Metn. The Bedawin women likewise aid their

husbands in the commissariat of their nomad warfare.

The Rev. Mr. Lyde was the first to undertake direct missionary labors

among the Nusairîyeh, and his work has been carried on by the Reformed

Presbyterian Mission in Latakiah. The Rev. J. Beattie sends me the

following facts with regard to the work now going on among the women and

girls.

The first convert under the labors of Mr. Lyde was Hammûd, of the

village of Merj, a young man of fine mind and most lovely character, who

gave promise of great usefulness. After he became a Christian, his

mother, finding that no Nusaîry girl would marry a Christian, determined

to secure a young girl and have her educated for Hammûd. So she paid

four Turkish pounds for a little Nusaîry girl named Zahara or Venus,

whose widowed mother had removed to her village. This payment was in

accordance with Nusaîry customs, and constituted the girl's dowry. After

the betrothal in 1863, Hammûd sent her to Latakiah, where she was taken

into the family of the late Dr. Dodds for instruction and training. She

gladly received the truth, and Hammûd labored earnestly for her

enlightenment. Everything seemed bright and promising, until suddenly

all their earthly hopes were dashed by the early death of Hammûd in

December, 1864. He died in the triumphs of the Christian faith, and from

that time she gave herself to the Lord. In August, 1865, she with

several others was baptized and received into the communion of the

Church. At her own request, she was baptized as Miriam.

In 1866 she was married to Yusef Jedid, and lived with him in several of

the villages among the Nusairîyeh, where he was engaged in teaching. Her

husband at length removed to Bahlulîyeh in 1870, and a wide door of

usefulness was opened to them. Her little daughters Lulu and Helany were

with her, and there was every prospect that she would be able to do much

for Christ among her benighted sisters. But the same disease,

consumption, which prostrated Hammûd, now laid her aside. It was

probably brought on by a careless exposure of her health while lying

down on the damp ground and falling asleep uncovered, as the natives of

the mountain villages are in the habit of doing. The missionaries from

Latakiah constantly visited her, and Dr. Metheny gave her the benefit of

his medical skill, but all in vain. She loved to converse on heavenly

things, and hear the Scriptures and prayer. But when the missionaries

returned to the city, she was overwhelmed by the rebukes and merciless

upbraidings of the fellaheen, who have no sympathy for the sick, the

disabled and the dying. Her ears were filled with the sound of cursing

and bitterness, and no wonder that she entreated the missionaries not

to leave her. She told Mr. Beattie that she did not fear to die, for her

trust was in Jesus Christ, but it was hard to be left among such coarse

and unsympathizing people. At length she was brought into Latakiah,

where she seemed to feel more at home. At times she passed through

severe spiritual conflicts, and said she was struggling with the

adversary, who had tried to make her blaspheme. At one time she was in

great excitement, but when the 34th Psalm was read she became entirely

composed and calm, and in turn, began chanting the 23rd Psalm to the

end. She sent for all of her friends and begged their forgiveness,

commended her children to the care of Miss Crawford, and asked Mr.

Beattie to pray with her again. Her bodily sufferings now increased,

when suddenly she called out, "The Lord be glorified! To God give the

glory!" Soon after, she gently fell "asleep in Jesus." Thus died the

first woman, as far as we know, ever truly converted from among the

Pagan Nusairîyeh. Her conversion opened the way for that work of moral,

religious and intellectual elevation among the Nusaîry females which has

since been carried on in Latakiah and vicinity.

The first Christian woman to undertake the direct task of educating and

elevating the Nusairîyeh females was Miss Crawford. She commenced her

work in 1869. The Mission had found that the Boarding School for boys

was training a class of young men, who could not find, among the tens of

thousands of families in their native mountains, a single girl fitted

to be one's companion for life. The females were everywhere neglected,

and Miss Crawford came to Syria just at the time of the greatest need.

Under the care and direction of the Mission, she commenced a Boarding

School for girls in Latakiah in the fall of 1869. At first, but few

pupils could be persuaded to come. Only two attended during the first

year. Their names were Sada and Naiuf, the sister of Zahara. The next

year Sada left, and ten new ones entered the school: Marie, Howa,

Naiseh, Shehla, Thaljeh, (snow,) Tumra, (fruit,) Ghazella, Husna,

Bureib'han, and Harba. They were all from twelve to fourteen in age, and

remained through the winter, but at the beginning of wheat harvest,

their friends forced them to return to their homes for the summer. They

made marked progress both in study and deportment, and before leaving

for their homes passed a creditable examination both in their studies

and in needlework. The fact was thus established to the astonishment of

the citizens of Latakiah, that the Nusairîyeh girls were equal in

intellect and skill in needlework to the brightest of the city girls. In

the autumn of 1871 it was feared that the Pagan parents of the girls

would prevent their return to the school, but, greatly to the

gratification of the missionaries, all of the ten returned, bringing

with them nine others; Hamameh, (dove,) Henireh, Elmaza, (diamond,)

Deebeh,(she-wolf,) Alexandra, Zeinab, Lulu, (pearl,) Howwa, (Eve,) and

Naameh, (grace).

During the year the pupils brought new joy to the hearts of their

teachers. Not only were their numbers greatly increased, but the older

girls seemed all to be under the influence of deep religious impressions

on their return to the school. Although they had spent the summer among

the wild fellaheen and been compelled to listen to blasphemy, impurity

and cursing on every side, they had been able by the aid of God's Spirit

to discriminate between good and evil, and to contrast the lawless

wickedness of the fellaheen with the holy precepts of the Bible. Finding

themselves unable to meet the requirements of God's pure and holy law,

they returned under serious distress of mind, asking what they should do

to be saved? Such of them as could do so, had been in the habit of

meeting together during the summer for prayer, and of repeating the ten

commandments and other portions of Scripture with which they were

familiar. They had been threatened and beaten by their friends on

account of their religious views, but they remained unmoved. The

child-like simple faith of some of them was remarkable. Marie was

punished on one occasion by her father for attending the missionary

service at B'hamra on the Sabbath. He forbade her to eat for a whole

day, and she prayed that God would give her bread. Soon after, on her

way to the village fountain, she found part of a merkûk, loaf of bread,

by the wayside, which she picked up and ate most gratefully, regarding

it as a direct answer to her prayer. Another Ghuzaleh, was brutally

beaten because she would not swear and blaspheme, and all were

threatened and insulted because they would not work on Sunday.

In November, 1871, seven of these girls, on their own application, were

received into the membership of the Church. It was an interesting sight

to see that group of Nusairîyeh heathen girls standing to receive the

ordinance of Christian baptism. In the spring of 1872, another was added

to the list. These little ones of Christ have all thus far shown

themselves faithful. They were sent back to their homes in the summer,

and several, if not the most, of them may be forbidden to return again

to the school. Some may say, why allow them to go home? The policy of

encouraging children to run away from their parents and connect

themselves with foreign missionaries and missionary institutions, will

lead the heathen to hate the very name of Christianity, and to charge it

with being a foe to all social and family order, and on the broad ground

of missionary usefulness, the girls can do far more good in their own

homes than elsewhere.

CHAPTER V.

CHRONICLE OF WOMEN'S WORK FROM 1820 TO 1872.

It must not be inferred from what has been said on a preceding page with

regard to the favorable position occupied by the women of the nominal

Christian sects of Syria as compared with the Mohammedan women, that the

first missionaries found the Greek and Maronite women and girls who

speak the Arabic language eager or even willing to receive instruction.

Far from it. The effects of the Mohammedan domination of twelve hundred

years have been to degrade and depress all the sects and nationalities

who are subject to Islam. Not only were there not women and girls found

to learn to read, but the great mass of the men of the Christian sects

could neither read nor write. Many of the prominent Arab merchants in

Beirût to-day can neither read nor write. I say Arab merchants, and yet

very few of the Arabs of the Greek Church have more than a mere tinge of

Arab blood in their veins. To call them Syrians, would be to confound

them with the "Syrian" or "Jacobite" sect, who are found only in the

vicinity of Hums, Hamath and Mardin. So with the Maronites. They are

chiefly of a darker complexion than the Arab Greeks, and are supposed to

have had their origin in Mesopotamia. Yet all these sects and races

speak the common Arabic language, and hence it will be convenient to

call them Arabs, although I am aware, that while many of the modern

Syrians glory in the name "Oulad el Arab," many others regard it with

dislike.

The Syrian Christianity, moreover, so often alluded to in the history of

the Syrian Mission, is the lowest type of the religion of the Greek and

Roman churches. Saint-worship and picture-worship are universal. An

ignorant priesthood, and a superstitious people, no Bibles, and no

readers to read them, no schools and no teachers capable of conducting

them, prayers in unknown tongues, and a bitter feeling of party spirit

in all the sects, universal belief in the efficacy of fasts and vows,

pilgrimages and offerings to the shrines of reputed saints, churches

without a preached gospel, and prayers performed as a duty without the

worship of the heart, universal Mariolatry, a Sabbath desecrated by

priests and people alike, God's name everywhere profaned by men, women

and children, and truthfulness of lip almost absolutely unknown; the

women and girls degraded and oppressed and left to the tender mercies of

a corrupt clergy through the infamies of the confessional; all these

practices and many others which space forbids us to mention, combined

with the social bondage entailed upon woman by the gross code of Islam,

rendered the women of the nominal Christian sects of Syria almost as

hopeless subjects of missionary labor as were their less favored Druze

and Moslem sisters.

In order to present the leading facts in the history of Mission Work for

Syrian women, I propose to give a brief review of the salient points, in

the order of time, as I have been able to glean them from the missionary

documents within my reach.

The first Protestant missionary to Syria since the days of the Apostles,

was the Rev. Levi Parsons, who reached Jerusalem January 16, 1821, and

died in Alexandria February 10, 1822. In 1823, Rev. Pliny Fisk, and Dr.

Jonas King reached Jerusalem to take his place, and on the 10th of July

came to Beirût. Dr. King spent the summer in Deir el Kamr, and Mr. Fisk

in a building now occupied by the Jesuit College in Aintûra.

On the 16th of November, 1823, Messrs. Goodell and Bird reached Beirût,

and on the 6th of December, 1824, they wrote as follows: "Mr. King's

Arabic instructor laughs heartily that the ladies of our company are

served first at table. He said that if any person should come to his

house and speak to his wife _first_, he should be offended. He said the

English ladies have some understanding, the Arab women have none. It is

the custom of this country that a woman must never be seen eating or

walking, or in company with her husband. When she walks abroad, she must

wrap herself in a large white sheet, and look like a ghost, and at home

she must be treated more like a slave than a partner. Indeed, women are

considered of so little consequence that to ask a man after the health

of his wife, is a question which is said never to find a place in the

social intercourse of this country."

Jan. 24, 1825, Dr. Goodell wrote, "Some adult females come occasionally

to be taught by Mrs. Bird or Mrs. Goodell, and although their attendance

is very irregular, and their _disadvantages very great_, being _without

Arabic books_, and their friends deriding their efforts, yet they make

some improvement. One of them, who a fortnight ago did not know a single

letter of the alphabet, can now read one verse in the Bible."

July 1, 1825, Messrs. Goodell and Bird speak of the first girls taught

to read in Syria in mission schools. "Our school contains between eighty

and ninety scholars, who are all boys _except two_. One is the teacher's

wife, who is perhaps fifteen years of age, and the other a little girl

about ten." That teacher was Tannûs el Haddad, who died a few years ago,

venerated and beloved by all sects and classes of the people, having

been for many years deacon of the Beirût Church, and his wife, Im

Beshara, still lives, with an interesting family.

On the 21st of Dec, 1825, Dr. King wrote as follows: "I spent about a

month in Tyre, and made some efforts to establish a school for Tyrian

females, and was very near succeeding, when one of the principal priests

rose up and said, 'It is by no means expedient to teach women to read

the word of God. It is better for them to remain in ignorance than to

know how to read and write. They are quite bad enough with what little

they now know. Teach them to read and write, and _there would be no

living with them_!'" That Tyrian priest of fifty years ago, was a fair

sample of his black-frocked brethren throughout Syria from that time to

this. There have been a few worthy exceptions, but the Syrian priesthood

of all sects, taken as a class, are the avowed enemies of the education

and elevation of their people. Some of the exceptions to this rule will

be mentioned in the subsequent pages of this volume.

In 1826, there were three hundred children in the Mission schools in the

vicinity of Beirût.

In 1827, there were 600 pupils in 13 schools, of whom _one hundred and

twenty were girls_! In view of the political, social and religious

condition of Syria at that time, that statement is more remarkable than

almost any fact in the history of the Syrian Mission. It shows that Mrs.

Bird and Mrs. Goodell must have labored to good purpose in persuading

their benighted Syrian sisters to send their daughters to school, and to

these two Christian women is due the credit of having commenced Woman's

Work for Women in modern times in Syria. In that same year, the wives of

Bishop Dionysius Carabet and Gregory Wortabet were received to the

communion of the Church in Beirût, being the first spiritual fruits of

Women's Work for Women in modern Syria.

During 1828 and 1829 the Missionaries temporarily withdrew to Malta. In

1833, Dr. Thomson and Dr. Dodge arrived in Beirût. The Mission now

consisted of Messrs. Bird, Whiting, Eli Smith, Drs. Thomson and Dodge.

In a letter written at that time by Messrs. Bird, Smith and Thomson, it

is said, "Of the females, none can either read or write, or the

exceptions are so very few as not to deserve consideration. Female

education is not merely neglected, but discouraged and opposed." They

also stated, that "the whole number of native children in the Mission

Schools from the beginning had been 650; 500 before the interruption in

1828, and 150 since." "Female education as such is yet nearly untried."

During that year Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge commenced a school for

girls in Beirût. Dr. Eli Smith speaks of this school as follows, in the

Memoir of Mrs. S.L. Smith: "A few girls were previously found in some of

the public schools supported by the Mission, and a few had lived in the

Mission families. But these ladies wished to bring them more directly

under missionary influence, and to confer upon them the benefit of a

system of instruction adapted to females. A commencement was accordingly

made, by giving lessons to such little girls as could be irregularly

assembled for an hour or two a day at the Mission-house; such an

informal beginning being not only all that the ladies had time to

attempt, but being also considered desirable as less likely to excite

jealousy and opposition. For the project was entered upon with much

trembling and apprehension. Not merely indifference to female education

had to be encountered, but strong prejudice against it existing in the

public mind from time immemorial. The Oriental prejudice against

innovations from any quarter, and especially from foreigners, threatened

resistance. The seclusion of females within their own immediate circle

of relationship, originally Oriental, but strengthened by Mohammedan

influence, stood in the way. And more than all, religious jealousy,

looking upon the missionaries as dangerous heretics, and their influence

as contamination, seemed to give unequivocal warning that the attempt

might be fruitless. But the missionaries were not aware of the hold they

had gained upon the public confidence. The event proved in this, as in

many other missionary attempts, that strong faith is a better principle

to act upon in the propagation of the gospel, than cautious calculation.

Even down to the present time (1840) it is not known that a word of

opposition has been uttered against the school which was then commenced.

"On the arrival of Mrs. S.L. Smith in Beirût in January, 1834, she found

some six or eight girls assembled every afternoon in Mrs. Thomson's room

at the Mission house, receiving instruction in sewing and reading. One

was far enough advanced to aid in teaching, and the widow of Gregory

Wortabet occasionally assisted. On the removal of Mrs. Thomson and Mrs.

Dodge to Jerusalem, the entire charge of the school devolved upon Mrs.

Smith, aided by Mrs. Wortabet. Especial attention was given to reading,

sewing, knitting and good behavior. In November, 1835, Miss Rebecca

Williams arrived in Beirût as an assistant to Mrs. Smith. The school

then increased, and in the spring of 1836 an examination was held, at

which the mothers of the children and some other female friends were

present. The scholars together amounted to upwards of forty; the room

was well-filled, "presenting a scene that would have delighted the heart

of many a friend of missions. Classes were examined in reading,

spelling, geography, first lessons in arithmetic, Scripture questions,

the English language, and sacred music, and the whole was closed by a

brief address from Mrs. Dodge. The mothers then came forward of their

own accord, and in a gratifying manner expressed their thanks to the

ladies for what they had done for their daughters." Of the pupils of

this school, the greater part were Arabs of the Greek Church; two were

Jewesses; and some were Druzes; and at times there were eight or ten

Moslems.

A Sabbath School, with five teachers and thirty pupils, was established

at the same time, the majority of the scholars being girls. A native

female prayer-meeting was also commenced at this time, conducted by

three missionary ladies and two native Protestant women. At times, as

many as twenty were present, and this first female prayer-meeting in

Syria in modern times, was attended with manifest tokens of the Divine

blessing.

As has been already stated, the seclusion of Oriental females renders

it almost impossible for a male missionary to visit among them or hold

religious meetings exclusively for women. This must be done, if at all,

by the missionary's wife or by Christian women devoted especially to

this work. It was true in 1834, and it is almost equally true in 1873.

The Arabs have a proverb, "The tree is not cut down, but by a branch of

itself;" _i.e._ the axe handle is of wood. So none can reach the women

of Syria but women. The Church of Rome understands this, and is sending

French, Italian and Spanish nuns in multitudes to work upon the girls

and women of Syria, and the women of the Syria Mission, married and

unmarried, have done a noble work in the past in the elevation and

education of their Syrian sisters. And in this connection it should be

observed, that a _sine qua non_ of efficient usefulness among the women

of Syria, is that the Christian women who labor for them should know the

Arabic language. Ignorance of the language is regarded by the people as

indicating a want of sympathy with them, and is an almost insuperable

barrier to a true spiritual influence. The great work to be done for the

women of the world in the future, is to be done in their own

mother-tongue, and it would be well that all the Female Seminaries in

foreign lands should be so thoroughly supplied with teachers, that those

most familiar with the native language could be free to devote a portion

of their time to labors among the native women in their homes.

In 1834 and 1835 Mrs. Dodge conducted a school for Druze girls in

Aaleih, in Lebanon. This School in Aaleih, a village about 2300 feet

above the level of the sea, was once suddenly broken up. Not a girl

appeared at the morning session. A rumor had spread through the village,

that the English fleet had come up Mount Lebanon from Beirût, and was

approaching Aaleih to carry off all the girls to England! The panic

however subsided, and the girls returned to school. In 1836 Mrs. Hebard

and Mrs. Dodge carried on the work which Mrs. Smith had so much loved,

and which was only temporarily interrupted by her death.

In 1837, Mrs. Whiting and Miss Tilden had an interesting school of

Mohammedan girls in Jerusalem, and Mrs. Whiting had several native girls

in her own family.

In reply to certain inquiries contained in a note I addressed to Miss T.

she writes: "I arrived in Beirût, June 16, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting in

Jerusalem were desirous that I should take a small school that Mrs.

Whiting had gathered, of Mohammedan girls. She had in her family two

girls from Beirût, Salome, (Mrs. Prof. Wortabet,) and Hanne, (Mrs.

Reichardt.) There were in school from 12 to 20 or more scholars, all

Moslems. Only one Christian girl could be persuaded to attend. I think

that the inducement they had to send their daughters was the instruction

given in sewing and knitting, free of expense to them. Mrs. Whiting

taught the same scholars on the Sabbath. The Scripture used in their

instruction, both week days and on the Sabbath, was the Psalms. After a

year and a half I went to Beirût and assisted in the girl's school,

which was somewhat larger and more promising. Miss Williams had become

Mrs. Hebard, and Miss Badger from Malta was teaching at the time. Mrs.

Smith's boarding scholar Raheel, was with Mrs. Hebard. I suppose that

female education in the family was commenced in Syria by Mr. Bird, who

taught the girl that married Demetrius. (Miss T. probably meant to say

Dr. Thomson, as Mariya, daughter of Yakob Agha, was first placed in his

family by her father in 1834.) The girls taught in the different

missionaries' families were Raheel, Salome, Hanne, Khozma, Lulu, Kefa,

and Susan Haddad. Schools were taught in the mountains, and instruction

given to the women, and meetings held with them as the ladies had

strength and opportunity, at their different summer residences. The day

scholars were taught in Arabic, and the boarding scholars in Arabic and

English. I taught them Colburn's Arithmetic. I taught also written

arithmetic, reading, etc., in the boys' school."

In 1841, war broke out between the Druzes and Maronites, and the nine

schools of the Mission, including the Male Seminary of 31 pupils, the

Girls' School of 25 pupils, and the Druze High School in Deir el Kamr,

were broken up.

In 1842, the schools were resumed. In twelve schools were 279 pupils, of

whom 52 were girls, and twelve young girls were living as boarders in

mission families.

In 1843, there were thirteen schools with 438 pupils, and eleven young

girls in mission families.

During the year 1844, 186 persons were publicly recognized as

Protestants in Hasbeiya. Fifteen women attended a daily afternoon

prayer-meeting, and expressed great surprise and delight at the thought

that religion was a thing in which _women_ had a share! A fiery

persecution was commenced against the Protestants, who all fled to Abeih

in Lebanon. On their return they were attacked and stoned in the

streets, and Deacon Fuaz was severely wounded.

In 1845, Lebanon was again desolated with civil war, the schools were

suspended, and the instruction of 182 girls and 424 boys interrupted for

a time.

CHAPTER VI.

MRS. WHITING'S SCHOOL.

In 1846, Mrs. Whiting commenced a girls' day-school in her family at

Abeih, and in Beirût there were four schools for boys and girls

together, and one school for girls alone. In 18 Mission schools there

were 144 girls and 384 boys. This girls' school in Abeih in 1846 was

taught by Salome (Mrs. Wortabet) and Hanne, (Mrs. Reichardt,) the two

oldest girls in Mr. Whiting's family. It was impossible to begin the

school before August 1st, as the houses of the village which had been

burned in the war of the preceding year had not been rebuilt, and

suitable accommodations could not readily be found. During the summer

there were twelve pupils, and in the fall twenty-five, from the Druze,

Maronite, Greek Catholic and Greek sects, and the greatest freedom was

used in giving instruction in the Bible and the Assembly's and Watts'

Catechisms. A portion of every day was spent in giving especial

religious instruction, and on the Sabbath a part of the pupils were

gathered into the Sabbath School. During the fall a room was erected on

the Mission premises for the girls' school, at an expense of 100

dollars.

The following letter from Mrs. Whiting needs no introduction. It bears a

melancholy interest from the fact that the beloved writer died shortly

afterwards, at Newark, N.J., May 18th, 1873.

"My first introduction to the women of Syria was by Mrs. Bird, mother of

Rev. Wm. Bird and Mrs. Van Lennep. She was then in the midst of her

little family of four children. I daily found her in her nursery,

surrounded by native women who came to her in great numbers, often with

their sick children. They were always received with the greatest

kindness and ministered to. She might be seen giving a warm bath to a

sick child, or waiting and watching the effect of other remedies.

Mothers from the neighboring villages of Lebanon were allowed to bring

their sick children and remain for days in her house until relief was

obtained. She was soon known throughout Beirût and these villages as the

friend of the suffering, and I have ever thought that by these Christian

self-denying labors, she did much towards gaining the confidence of the

people. And who shall say that while good Father Bird was in his study

library among the 'Popes and Fathers,' preparing his controversial work

'The Thirteen Letters,' this dear sister, by her efforts, was not making

a way to the hearts of these people for the reception of gospel truth,

which has since been preached so successfully in the neighboring

villages of Lebanon?

"In the autumn of 1834, Mr. Whiting was removed to the Jerusalem

station. I found the women accessible and ready to visit me, and invite

me to their houses, but unwilling to place their girls under my

instruction. All my efforts for some time were fruitless. Under date of

Aug. 22, I find this entry in Mr. Whiting's journal: "During the past

week, three little Moslem girls have been placed under Mrs. Whiting's

instruction for the purpose of learning to read and sew. They seem much

pleased with their new employment, and their parents, who are

respectable Moslems, express great satisfaction in the prospect of their

learning. They say, in the Oriental style that the children are no

longer theirs, but ours, and that they shall remain with us and learn

everything we think proper to teach them. This event excited much talk

in the city, particularly among the Moslem mothers. The number of

scholars, chiefly Moslem girls, increased to twenty-five and thirty."

At a later date, Jan., 1836, "one of the girls in Mrs. Whiting's school,

came with a complaint against a Jew who had been attempting to frighten

her away from the school by telling her and her uncle (her guardian)

that her teacher certainly had some evil design, and no doubt intended

to select the finest of the girls, and send them away to the Pasha, and

that it was even written so in the books which she was teaching the

children to read. Whether the Jew has been set up by others to tell the

people this absurd nonsense, I cannot say, but certainly it is a new

thing for Jews to make any opposition, or to show any hostility to us.

And this looks very much like the evil influence which has been

attempted in another quarter."

"March 7. Yesterday Mrs. W. commenced a Sunday school for the pupils of

her day school. They were much delighted. They began to learn the

Sermon on the Mount."

"Sept. 7. Had a visit from two Sheikhs of the Mosque of David. One of

them inquired particularly respecting Mrs. Whiting's school for Moslem

girls, and wished to know what she taught them to read. I showed him the

little spelling-book which we use, with which he was much pleased and

begged me to lend it to him. I gave him one, with a copy of the Psalms,

which he wished to compare with the Psalms of David as the Moslems have

them. He invited me strongly to come and visit him, and to bring Mrs.

Whiting to see his family."

The school continued with little interruption until October 3d, when

Miss Tilden arrived and had the charge of the school for nearly two

years. I left in feeble health, with Mr. Whiting, for the United States,

where we spent more than one year. Miss Tilden during our absence was

engaged in teaching in the boys' school in Beirût. On my return the

Moslem school was not resumed, and soon after Mr. Whiting was again

transferred to the Abeih station.

My work in the family school began in October, 1835, when Salome Carabet

and Hanne Wortabet were placed by their parents in our family school. We

afterwards added to the number Melita Carabet, and the two orphan girls

Sada and Rufka Gregory. These two were brought to us in a very

providential way. They were the children of Yakob Gregory, a respectable

Armenian well known in Beirût.

He had two children, and when these were quite young, he left his wife,

and nothing was heard of him afterwards. The mother died soon after and

left the children in the care of the American Mission and the Armenian

Bishop. The old grandmother, who was in Aleppo, on hearing of her death,

soon returned to Beirût to look after the children. She was allowed to

visit them in the Bishop's family, where they were cared for, and one

day, in a stealthy way, she took Sada into the city, placed her in the

hands of a Jew, on board of a native boat bound for Jaffa. I suppose

Sada was then about six years old. They set sail. The child cried

bitterly on finding her grandmother was not on board as she had

promised. There was on board the boat an Armenian, well acquainted with

her father, who inquired of her the cause. On hearing her story he

remonstrated, with the Jew, who said she had been placed in his hands by

her grandmother to be sent to Jerusalem. On their arriving at Jaffa, the

affair was made known to Mr. Murad, the American Consul. He sent for the

Jew, took the child from his hands, and dismissed him, and wrote to Mr.

Whiting in Jerusalem an account of the affair, and was directed by him

to send the child to us. Not long after, her grandmother came to

Jerusalem bringing Rufka. She tried to interest the Armenian Convent in

her behalf. Here I find an extract from Mr. Whiting's journal, which

will give you all of interest on this point. "After being out much of

the morning, I returned and found the grandmother of little Sada, who

had brought her little sister Rufka to leave her with us. She had a

quarrel with the convent, and fled for refuge to us. We cannot but be

thankful that both these little orphans are at length quietly placed

under our care and instruction."

The parents of three of the girls in our family, being Protestants,

always gave their sanction to our mode of instructing and training them.

Bishop Carabet likewise aided us in every way in his power, and ever

seemed most grateful for what I was doing for his daughters. In his last

sickness, when enfeebled by age, I often visited him. Once on going into

his room, he was seated as usual on his Turkish rug. One of the family

rose to offer me a chair, I said, "let me sit near you on your rug, that

I may talk to you." With much emotion he replied, "_Inshullah tukodee

jenb il Messiah fe melakoot is sema!_" "God grant that you may sit by

the side of Christ in the kingdom of Heaven!"

We were from time to time encouraged by tokens of a work of God's Spirit

in their hearts. Melita Carabet was the first to indulge a hope in

Christ, and united with the Church in Abeih. Salome united in Beirût;

Hanne in Hasbeiya, where her brother, Rev. John Wortabet, was pastor.

Sada was received by Mr. Calhoun at Abeih, soon after Mr. Whiting's

death, and Rufka in later years united with the United Presbyterian

Church in Alexandria, Egypt. I have ever thought these girls were under

great obligations to the American Churches and the American Mission, who

for so many years supported and instructed them, and I have ever tried

to impress upon them a sense of their obligation to impart to others of

their countrywomen what they had received. I believe as early as 1836,

they began assisting me in the Moslem school for girls in Jerusalem, in

which they continued to assist Miss Tilden until the school was given

up.

Soon after our removal to Abeih, October, 1844, we established a

day-school for girls in the village on the Mission premises, of which

Salome and Hanne had the entire charge under my superintendence. When

the Station at Mosul was established, Salome was appointed by the

Mission to assist Mrs. Williams in her work among the women, in which

work she continued until her marriage with Rev. John Wortabet. Melita

was afterwards appointed by the Mission to the Aleppo Station to assist

Mrs. Eddy and Mrs. Ford in the work, and so they were employed at

various stations in the work of teaching, until I left the Mission. I

have kept up a continual correspondence with them, and have learned from

others to my joy, that they were doing the work for which I had trained

them."

The above deeply interesting letter from Mrs. Whiting is enough in

itself to show what an amount of patient Christian labor was expended

through a course of many years, in the education of the five young

Syrian maidens who were entrusted in the providence of God to her care.

I have been personally acquainted with four of them for seventeen years,

and can testify, as can many others, of the good use they have made of

their high opportunities. The amount of good they have accomplished as

teachers, in Abeih, Jerusalem, Deir el Komr, Hasbeiya, Tripoli, Aleppo,

Mosul, Alexandria, Cairo, Melbourne, (Australia,) and in the Mission

Female Seminary and the Prussian Deaconesses' Institute in Beirût, will

never be known until all things are revealed. I have received letters

from several of them, which I will give in their own language, as they

are written in English. The first is from Salome, now the wife of the

Rev. Prof. John Wortabet, M.D., of the Syrian Protestant College in

Beirût.

"I do not consider my history worth recording, and it is only out of

consideration of what is due to Mrs. Whiting for the labor she bestowed

upon us, that I am induced to take up my pen to comply with your

request. I was taken by Mrs. Whiting when only six years old, together

with Hannie Wortabet, who was five years old, to be brought up in her

family, she having no children of her own. Owing partly to the nature of

the religious instruction we received, and partly to my own timid

sensitive nature, I was, from time to time for many years, under deep

spiritual terrors, without any saving result. When I was about sixteen,

a revival of religion took place, under whose influence I was also

brought. Mr. Calhoun was my spiritual adviser, and although my mind

groped in darkness, and bordered on despair for many weeks, I hope I was

then led to put my trust in Jesus, and if ever I am saved, my only hope

now is, and ever shall be, in the merits of Jesus' blood and His

promises."

The next letter is from Melita Carabet, daughter of the Armenian Bishop

Dionysius Carabet, who became a Protestant in 1823. She writes as

follows:

"Nothing could give me more pleasure than to comply with your request,

and thereby recall some of the happy days and incidents of my childhood

and youth, spent under the roof of my godly teachers, Mr. and Mrs.

Whiting. I ought to remember them as far back as at the baptismal font,

for I heard afterwards that they were both present on the occasion,

which took place in Malta, where I was born. But as my memory does not

carry me back so far, I must date my recollections from the time I was

five years of age, when I came to live in their family. I can distinctly

recollect the first texts of Scripture and verses of hymns that dear

Mrs. Whiting taught my young lips to repeat, and my little prayer which

I used to say at her knees on going to bed, I still repeat to this day,

"Now I lay me," etc. One incident which happened about a year later, was

so deeply impressed on my memory, and had such an effect upon me at the

time, that I must mention it. It was this. Mrs. Whiting had given us

girls (we were five in number, my sister Salome, and Hannie, Dr.

Wortabet's sister, and Sada and Rufka Gregory) some raisins to pick over

preparatory to making cake. I stole an opportunity after a while, to

slip about a dozen of these raisins into my pocket. No one saw me do it

but from the moment I had done it, I began to feel very unhappy, and

repented the deed. My companions went out to play, but I could not join

in their sports. My heart was too heavy. I sat mourning over my sin, and

could eat no supper, and had no rest until I had made a full confession

to Mrs. Whiting at bed-time. She prayed and wept over me, and somehow I

was comforted and went to my little bed much happier.

"I remember nothing more until a much later period, when I was about the

age of twelve. About this time, there was a great awakening among the

young girls in some of the Mission families. Mr. Calhoun's prayers and

advice were very much solicited and sought, in guiding and praying with

the young inquirers. One Sunday as I was reading the little tract "The

Blacksmith's wife," (which I have kept to this day,) I felt a great

weight and sense of sin. I trace my conversion to the reading of this

tract. It was not long before I found peace. I have often since longed

for those days and hours of sweet communion with my Saviour. I joined

the Church a very short time after this, and at this early age was given

charge of a Bible class in Abeih.

"Now I must pass over a few more years, when I went to Hasbeiya, to

spend a little time with my sister Salome, now wife of Dr. John

Wortabet, who was appointed pastor of the little Protestant Church

there. I spent one year of my life here, during which time I took charge

of a little day school for girls in my sister's house. Dr. Wortabet's

sister Hannie had opened this school some years before I came. I do not

remember the number of pupils, but there were five little Moslem

princesses, grandchildren of the great Emir "Saad-ed-Deen," who was

called some years later to Constantinople to be punished for having

spoken disrespectfully of Queen Victoria. These little princesses were

regular attendants at the school, and learned to read in the New

Testament, and studied Watts' Catechism with the rest of the Christian

children. I had also charge of a Bible class for women, who used to meet

once a week in the Protestant Church. This was before the massacre of

1860. The rest of my life has been spent in teaching in Beirût. Since

the massacres, I have been teaching the orphans in the Prussian School,

where I at present reside. Indeed it has been my home ever since I

undertook this work which I love dearly, and which I hope to continue so

long as the Lord sees fit, and gives me strength to work for Him."

I am permitted to make the following extract from a letter written by

Melita to Mrs. Whiting, in February, 1868. I give the exact language, as

the letter is written in English:

Prussian Institution, Beirût,

_February 23, 1868_.

My Dear Mrs. Whiting--

It is so cold this morning that I can with difficulty hold my pen.

It has been a very cold and stormy month, and there seems no

prospect of fair weather yet. The snow on the mountains is as low

as the lowest hills, and I pity the poor creatures who must be

suffering in consequence. J. enjoys the weather very much; indeed

he seems so exhilarated and invigorated by it that one could almost

wish it to last on his account, but I must say that I wish it was

over, and the warm sunbeams shedding their genial rays again upon

the cold frozen earth.

Trouble and grief are such a common complaint at present that you

will not be surprised to hear me relate my share of them. I have

indeed had my full share, and you would say so too had you seen how

I was occupied during my holidays last summer, in taking care of my

ill and suffering brother. And aside from my fatigue, for I was

always on my feet until two or three hours after midnight, quite

alone with him--merely to witness such indescribable suffering as

he went through, was more than is generally allotted to human

beings on earth. He had been unwell for some time previous, and had

been advised by the Doctor to go up to the mountains, so Mr.

Calhoun kindly offered him a place in the Seminary, where he could

stop until his health was recruited, and in the meantime give a

couple of English lessons during the day to the boys in the

Seminary. He lodged with the Theological students in a little room

above the school, but he had not been up there more than a week,

when his whole body became suddenly covered with a burning eruption

that was always spreading and increasing in size. He could neither

lie nor sit in any possible position, and was racked with pains

that seemed at times well nigh driving him mad. I trembled for his

reason, and was so awed and terrified by the sight, that I was in

danger of losing mine as well. No one would come near him, and Mrs.

Calhoun had kindly asked me to come and spend the holidays with

them, so it fell to my lot to nurse and take care of him. I used to

go to him in the morning as soon as I got up, and sit (or stand) up

with him until two or three o'clock at night, dressing his sores;

running down only occasionally for my meals, and with my little

lantern coming down in the dead of night, all alone, to lay my

weary head and aching heart and limbs on my bed for a little rest.

But not to sleep, for whenever I closed my eyes, I had that eternal

picture and scene of suffering before me. I could find no one who

was willing for love or for money to help me or relieve me for one

night or day. The disease was so offensive as well as frightful,

that no one could stop in the room. One of the Prussian "Sisters"

who went up with me, kindly assisted me sometimes until she came

down. In this state did J. find me on his return from England. His

family was up in Aaleih, and he used to ride over occasionally to

see P. and prescribe some new medicine for him, but his skill was

baffled with this terrifying disease, and poor P. remained in this

agonizing state of suffering for five whole months without leaving

his bed. He was carried down on a litter to Beirût, where he has

been since. He took a little room by himself, and gives lessons in

English until something more prosperous turns up for him. Twenty

years' experience seemed to be added to my life in those three

months of anxiety I went through last summer; and what a picture of

suffering and grief was I, after this, myself. No wonder if I feel

entirely used up this winter, and feel it a great effort to live.

There is not the slightest prospect of my ever getting back my lost

property from that man--as he has long since left the country, and

is said to be a great scoundrel and a very dishonorable man. If he

were not, he would never have risked the earnings of a poor orphan

girl by asking for it on the eve of his bankruptcy. Had I my

property I might perhaps have given up teaching for a while, and

gone away for a little change and rest, but God has willed it

otherwise, no doubt for some wise purpose, and to some wise end,

although so difficult and incomprehensible at present. It is all

doubtless for the trial of my faith and trust in Him. Let me then

trust in Him! Yea, though He slay me, let me yet trust in Him! Has

He ever yet failed me? Has He not proved Himself in all ages to be

the Father and the God of the orphan and the widow? He must see

that I need these troubles and sorrows, or He would not send them,

for my Father's hand would never cause his child a needless tear. A

bruised reed He will not break, but will temper the storm to the

shorn lamb; I will then no longer be dejected and cast down, but

look upward and trust in my Heavenly Father, feeling sure that He

will make all right in the end.

My letter is so sad and melancholy that I cannot let it go without

something more cheerful, so I will add a line to brighten and cheer

it up a little. For life, with all the bitterness it contains, has

also much that is agreeable and affords much enjoyment; for there

is a wonderful elasticity in the human mind which enables it, when

sanctified by divine grace, to bear up under present ills. So with

all my griefs and ills, I have been able to enjoy myself too

sometimes this winter. I have lately attended two Concerts, one

here, given by the Prussian Sisters, for the benefit of the new

Orphanage, "Talitha Kumi," at Jerusalem, lately erected by the

Prussian Sisters there--and one given by the "Sisters of Charity,"

for the benefit of the orphans and poor of this town. Daood Pasha

most generously gave up the large hall in his mansion for the

occasion, as well as honoring it by his attendance. The Concert in

our Institution was entirely musical, vocal and instrumental. All

the Missionaries came. We had nearly three hundred tickets sold at

five francs apiece, so that there was a nice little sum added to

the Orphan's Fund at Jerusalem.

Ever your affectionate

Melita.

Saada Gregory was engaged in teaching at different times in Tripoli,

Aleppo, Hasbeiya and Egypt. Her school in Tripoli was eminently

successful, and her labors in Alexandria were characterized by great

energy and perseverance. She kept up a large school even when suffering

from great bodily pain. She is now in the United States in enfeebled

health.

American Mission House, Alexandria,

_November 8, 1867_.

My Dear Mrs. Whiting,

I know you will be expecting a letter from me soon, partly in

answer to yours sent by Mrs. Van Dyck, and especially because it is

the day on which you expect all your children to remember you. I

never do forget this day, but this time there are special reasons

for my remembering it. Whenever the day has come around, I have

felt more forcibly than at others, how utterly alone I have been,

for since dear Mr. Whiting was taken away from us, it has seemed as

though we were made doubly orphans, but this time it has not been

so. I think I have been made to realize that I have a loving Father

in heaven who loves and watches over and cares for me more than

ever you or Mr. Whiting did. I do really feel now that God has

given me friends, so this day has not been so sad a one to me as it

usually is. Another source of thankfulness to-day is, that I have

been raised up from a bed of pain and suffering from which neither

I nor any of my friends thought I ever would rise. Weary days and

nights of pain, when it was torture to move and almost impossible

to lie still, and when it seemed at times that death would be only

a relief, and yet here I am still living to praise Him for many,

many mercies. Mr. Pinkerton waited on me day and night, often

depriving himself of sleep and rest in order to do it, and when

convalescence set in, and with the restlessness of a sick person, I

used to fancy I would be more comfortable up stairs, he used to

carry me up and down and gratify all my whims. For five weeks I was

in bed, and many more confined to my room and the house. But the

greatest reason for thankfulness is, that God has in His great

mercy brought me to a knowledge of Himself, and of my own lost

state as a guilty sinner. It was while lying those long weary days

on the bed that I was made to see that for ten long years I had

been deceiving myself. Instead of being a Christian and being

prepared to die, I was still in the gall of bitterness and the

bonds of iniquity, and if God had taken me away during that

sickness, it would have been with a lie in my right hand. Now when

I look back on those long years spent in sin and in self-deception,

I wonder at God's loving kindness and patience in sparing me still

to show forth in me His goodness and forbearance. Truly it is of

His mercies that I was not consumed. How often I taught others and

talked to them of the love of Christ, and yet I had not that love

myself. How many times I sat down to His table with his children,

and yet I had no portion nor lot in the matter. Sometimes when I

think how near destruction I was, with literally but a step between

me and death, eternal death, and yet God raised me up and brought

me to Christ and made me love Him, and how ever since He has been

watching over me giving me the measure of comfort and peace that I

enjoy and giving me the desire to know and love Him more, I wonder

at my own coldness, at the frequency with which I forget Him. How

strong sin still is over me, how prone I am to wander away from

Christ and to forget His love, to allow sin to come between me and

Him, and yet He still follows me with His love, still He brings me

back to Him, the good Shepherd. Oh! if I could live nearer Christ,

if I could realize and rejoice in His love. Now when I think how

near I may be to the eternal world, that at any moment a severe

attack of pain may come on which will carry me off, it is good to

know that my Saviour will be with me; that He is mine and I am His.

It is not easy to look death calmly in the face and know that my

days are numbered, yet can I not participate in the promise that He

Himself will come and take me to be with Him where He is. I would

like to be allowed to live longer and be permitted to bring souls

to Christ, but I feel assured that He will do what is best, and

that He will not call me away as long as He has any work for me to

do here I have a feeling that this will be my last letter to you,

and I now take the opportunity of thanking you for all you have

done for me, for all the care you bestowed on me, the prayers you

have offered for me, and the kind thoughtfulness you still manifest

for my welfare. It would be a comfort to me if I could see and talk

with you once more, but I fear that will never be in this world,

but shall we not meet in our Saviour's presence, purified,

justified and sanctified through His blood? With truest love and

gratitude

I remain yours,

Saada.

CHAPTER VII.

DR. DE FOREST'S WORK IN BEIRUT.

In 1847, Dr. and Mrs. De Forest commenced their work of female

education, receiving two young women into their family. In 13 Mission

schools there were 163 girls and 462 boys. During the year 1847, six

schools were in operation in connection with the Beirût Station. One in

the Mesaitebe with 32 pupils, of whom 10 were girls. This school was

promising and 15 of the pupils could read in the Bible. Another was in

the Ashrafiyeh, with 50 pupils, of whom 12 were girls. Nineteen in this

school could read in the Bible. Another was on the Mission premises with

seventy pupils. Another school, south of the Mission premises, had 60

pupils, of whom 15 were girls. In addition to these was the Female

School with thirty girls, taught by Raheel.

In 1848, on the organization of the first Evangelical Church, nineteen

members were received, of whom four were women. Dr. De Forest had seven

native girls in his family, and there were fifty-five girls in other

schools.

In 1849, Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. De Forest visited Hasbeiya to labor among

the women, by whom they were received with great cordiality. The girls'

school of that time was regularly maintained and well attended. Dr. De

Forest had thirteen native girls boarders in his family in Beirût, and

Mr. Whiting had five.

In the Annual Report of the Beirût Station for 1850, it is stated that

"a more prayerful spirit prevails among the brethren and sisters. One

pleasing evidence of this is the recent establishment of a weekly female

prayer-meeting, which is attended by all the female members of the

Church. Yet it is somewhat remarkable that in our little Church there is

so small a proportion of females. Unhappily, only one of our native

brethren is blessed with a pious wife. Some of them are surrounded with

relatives and friends whose influence is such as to hinder rather than

help them in their Christian course, and in the religious training of

their children."

This difficulty still exists in all parts of the Protestant community,

not only in Syria, but throughout the Turkish Empire, and probably

throughout the missionary world. The young men of the Protestant

Churches at the present time endeavor to avoid this source of trial and

embarrassment by marrying only within the Protestant community, and the

rapid growth of female education in these days gives promise that the

time is near when the mothers in Syria will be in no respect behind the

fathers in either virtue or intelligence. The Beirût Church now numbers

107 members, of whom 57 are men and 50 are women.

In 1851, Miss Anna L. Whittlesey arrived in Beirût as an assistant to

Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, and died in a year less one day after her

arrival, beloved and lamented by all. In July of that year five of the

women in Hasbeiya united with the Church.

In 1852 and 1853 the Female Seminary in Beirût reached a high degree of

prosperity, and the girls' schools in different parts of the land were

well attended. Miss Cheney arrived from America to supply Miss

Whittlesey's place.

In 1854, Dr. De Forest was obliged from failing health, to relinquish

his work and return to the United States. A nobler man never lived. As a

physician he was widely known and universally beloved, and as a teacher

and preacher he exerted a lasting influence. The good wrought by that

saintly man in Syria will never be fully known in this world. The lovely

Christian families in Syria, whose mothers were trained by him and his

wife, will be his monuments for generations to come. It is a common

remark in Syria, that the great majority of all Dr. De Forest's pupils

have turned out well.

I have not been able to find the official reports with regard to the

Female Seminary of Dr. De Forest in Beirût for the years 1847, 1848, and

1849, but from the Reports made by Dr. De Forest himself for the years

1850, 1852 and 1853, I make the following extracts:

In 1850, the Doctor writes: "The Seminary now has seventeen pupils

including two, Khozma and Lulu, who act as teachers. The older class

have continued to study the Sacred Scriptures as a daily lesson, and

have nearly finished the Old Testament. They have studied a brief

Compend of History in Arabic, and have continued Arithmetic and English.

Compositions have been required of them weekly in Arabic until last

autumn, when they began to write alternately in English and Arabic. A

brief course of Astronomy was commenced, illustrated by Mattison's maps,

given by Fisher Howe, Esq., of Brooklyn, N.Y.

"Recently the pupils have been invited to spend every second Sabbath

evening with the other members of the family in conversation respecting

some missionary field which has been designated previously. The large

missionary map is hung in the sitting-room, and all are asked in turn to

give some fact respecting the field in question. Even the youngest, who

have not yet learned to read with facility in their own language,

furnish their mite of information.

"The instruction in this school has been given by Dr. and Mrs. De

Forest, aided by Mrs. De Forest's parents and the two elder pupils who

have rendered such efficient aid heretofore. The pupils of all the

classes have made good progress in their various studies, and their

deportment has been satisfactory. They are gaining mental discipline and

intellectual furniture, and have acquired much evangelical knowledge.

Deep seriousness has been observed on the part of some of the elder

pupils at different times, and they give marked and earnest attention to

the preached word.

"In our labors for the reconstruction of society here, we feel more and

more the absolute need of a sanctified and enlightened female influence;

such an influence as is felt so extensively in America, and whose

beneficent action is seen in the proper training of children, and in the

expulsion of a thousand superstitions from the land. Christian schools

seem the most evident means of securing such an end. Commerce and

intercourse with foreigners, and many other causes are co-operating with

missionary effort to enlighten the _men_ of Beirût and its vicinity, but

the women, far more isolated than in America, are scarcely affected by

any of these causes, and they hinder materially the moral elevation of

the other sex. Often the man who seems full of intelligence and

enterprise and mental enlargement when abroad, is found when at home to

be a mere superstitious child; the prophecy that his mother taught him

being still the religion of his home, and the heathenish maxims and

narrow prejudices into which he was early indoctrinated still ruling the

house. The inquirer after truth is seduced back to error by the many

snares of unsanctified and ignorant companionship, and the convert who

did run well is hindered by the benighted stubbornness to which he is

unequally yoked.

"While exerting this deleterious influence over their husbands and

children, the females of the land have but little opportunity for

personal improvement, and are not very promising subjects of missionary

labor. His faith must be strong who can labor with hope for the

conversion of women, with whom the customs of society prohibit freedom

of intercourse, and who have not learning enough to read a book, or

vocabulary enough to understand a sermon, or mental discipline enough to

follow continuous discourse."