I hope you will never see such a sad sight as our little children saw
this evening. A Turcoman who has his tent in our yard was beating his
poor wife, and the little children--his children, I mean--were running
away screaming. You would think their houses very curious were you
to see them. His wives build his house for him in a very short time
when the fleas become so plenty that they are compelled to move. The
materials consist of a ridgepole, some boards, and two wooden troughs,
one for each side. Crotched sticks are driven in to hold the ridgepole,
the pole laid across, and the boards set up against it with the ends
placed in the troughs which are for the purpose of carrying off the
rain. This man's mother lives in a tent of black cloth made of goat's
hair. Poor old woman! She has quite a number of grandchildren whom one
would think she might pet, but she sits nursing and fondling a little
kid. It is a pretty sight to see the great flock of goats go out in the
morning, and come home in the evening. There are black, white, gray and
mottled. Some are huge fellows, as large as a calf. A few nights ago
a wild beast of some kind caught a kid. The kid made an outcry, and
the dogs came and rescued it. We heard afterwards that the beast was
a leopard, which has its den about half a mile away from us. It has
carried off seven goats from one of our neighbors.
Now I must tell you a little about our schoolgirls. There are nine.
Two of these are Moslems and had heard nothing about the true religion
except what little they may have learned from their brother, who was
last year baptized into the Christian church. Since coming here in the
last of June they have committed to memory all of the Short Catechism
known in English as Brown's, and ten Psalms. The eldest a few days
ago when taking some gum arabic to her teacher, took a lump and hid
it away. Some of the girls saw her trying to hide something away,
and found out what it was. Her teacher then talked to her, and told
her how wrong she had done. Since then she asked if it was stealing
to taste the food as she was cooking it. It is so new to them to be
taught that it is wrong to break the Sabbath, to tell lies or to steal,
if the article stolen is of little value. The man of whom I told you
above says of us, "Ah, you have everything very nice here, and we have
nothing, but hereafter you will be tormented, and we will be happy in
the Paradise that Mohammed has prepared for us." Is it not sad to think
of such delusion? This very man cheats on all hands, and is even said
to be connected with a gang of thieves.
And now I will give you an instance of an Arab's self-respect. A day or
two ago a man brought three quails, and said such a man had sent them
as a present to the doctor. The doctor thanked him, and then the man
wanted a present for bringing them. "Give him the quails," said the
doctor, and off he went with them again.
I could fill pages with accounts of the dreadful effects of heathenism
on this people, but it is only what is seen in every place where the
Gospel has not yet gone. This is the hardest trial of the missionaries'
life--more than any physical deprivation--the being compelled to live
among such people. It always makes me think what a long martyrdom the
life of our blessed Saviour must have been on earth. It was not only
that he _saw_ and _heard_ such things, but he knew every _thought_ in
the wicked hearts of those about him. Dear little sisters, will you
not begin even in your childhood to work for Him? To _deny_ yourselves
that these benighted miserable people all over the world may have this
Gospel light? And you can always pray for those who are engaged in this
work. I hope some of you may grow up to go far away to the Gentiles
yourselves.
Lovingly, your friend,
MARY E. METHENY.
- - - - - - -
A little Moslem child accounted for her preference for the Christian
religion by saying, "I like your Jesus because he loves little girls.
Our Mohammed did not love little girls." With unerring instinct she
had seized upon at least one of the great differences between the two
religions.