CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. THE WOMEN OF SYRIA. (A paper read before the Ladies' Foreign Missionary Society of Athens Presbytery, at Marietta, O.) I have been requested to give some information concerning the women of Syria, among whom I have dwelt for the last sixteen years, and in whose welfare I feel a warm and personal interest. As I consider my theme, however, I am in the first place impressed with its composite nature. If we were asked by some foreigner to describe the women of America, you can easily see what a wide range our thoughts would take. We must include in our survey the Indian woman on the western frontier and the refined, cultured and Christian dweller in the metropolis. We would think of the poor, ignorant women of the most benighted portions of the country, and the strong, energetic and noble-hearted who in these days of high privilege and achievement are doing so much for themselves and their sisters in this and other lands. White and colored, rich and poor, good and bad, ignorant and cultured, selfish pleasure-seeker and she whose only thought is of others,-all these would come before our mental view if we should attempt to describe the women of America. Yet in all this variety there is unity. So in reference to the women of Syria. They form a whole consisting of many dif ferent elements. There are the Bedawîn wanderers on the outskirts of the land, dwelling in tents as their Ishmaelite mothers have done for centuries, never resting long in one abiding-place, but ever journeying kindly when approached with kindness, but ignorant in the extreme and difficult to reach, partly on account of their wandering life and partly also on account of the great unwillingness of the government that their race should be brought under educating influences. Again, there is the Druze woman, a dweller for the most part on Mount Lebanon. Her tall, erect form and dignified bearing are quite marked. Her eye is dark and her glance bespeaks latent energy. She walks with the free, strong gait of the mountaineer. Her garments are long and of sombre hue, her girdle of bright Oriental colors. Her religion is a strange one, and but little is publicly known about it. It is a dissent from Mohammedanism. Belief in transmigration of souls is one of its articles. Truthfulness is not considered essential in intercourse with those of alien faith; but notwithstanding the deep duplicity of her nature and the warrior blood of her father and brothers, our Druze woman is an interesting character, and when once gospel truth has fairly gained the citadel of her heart. she is capable of developing into elevated womanhood. Then there are the Maronite Catholics, the Greek Catholics and also the adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church. Many a girl from their number has been gathered into our schools, many a woman induced to listen to the truth, and many a convert has been added to our churches, but still much remains to be done. Superstitions which have their roots deep in the centuries of the past do not often vanish in a day. The power of the priesthood is yet strong. To these sects belong many of the simplehearted women of the country, busy with plucking the mulberry leaves for their silkworms, grinding their wheat, making their bread, feeding their cows and sheep, gather ing their olives, drying their figs and raisins, and caring for their children. If we call upon them they will usually receive us with courteous hospitality, and their neighbors will often come in to share the visit and listen to our talk. They are also found in large numbers in the cities and towns. City life is, however, there as here, more formal than that of the country. Some are very poor and some are very rich. Wealthy dames there are who go rolling about in their fine carriages, arrayed in Parisian toilets and having the veneering of western accomplishments. Jesuit and Greek boarding-schools have taught them French conversation and opened their eyes to the fascinations of the French novel. Some have been won to a higher culture, but western civilization without the pure gospel as a permeating principle is a poor thing to ingraft into Orientalism. There are also a great throng of Mohammedan women, embracing perhaps half of all in Syria. With far less social freedom than others in their land, they are not, I think, so closely immured as in India. Divorce is frequent both with them and the Druzes. The Koran allows to each man four regular wives, but the poor do not often avail themselves of the permission, and even among the wealthy in Syria it is not unusual to find the one wife. To the unfettered in dependence of the American life the Moslem woman is an entire stranger. When wealth lifts her above the wholesome necessity for labor, her life must pass in idle gossip or weary monotony. She will spend many hours of her daily existence in smoking the arghileh. The benefits of Christian education have reached a few of the Mohammedan women, and it is encouraging to know that the improved character of those who have received its benefits has so won the respect of the men who have married them that they have rarely if ever been divorced, and have been permitted also to remain the one wife of the household. There is one school in Beirut under Scotch auspices, where by giving the board, clothing and tuition, quite a number of Druze and Moslem girls have been gathered, and the results have been [November, very satisfactory. Some also have been received into other boarding-schools and a good many into day-schools. Some of the Mohammedan women, together with many from other sects, have been induced by the promise of a little reward for regular attendance to come to the week-day classes arranged for their instruction. A few yards of unbleached cotton is frequently enough to attract them and to remove the husband's veto. Hundreds of women are gathered weekly in this way in private houses or school-rooms. Bible stories are told and simple verses of Scripture taught. The gospel teachings are enforced by familiar illustrations, and persuasive and kindly influences are used as far as possible in connection with personal intercourse. The Mohammedan woman never goes into the street without being enveloped from head to foot in something like a large sheet, usually of white cotton, but among the wealthier of black or colored silk. Her face also is veiled. The missionary lady is sometimes able to get access to the harem of the Mohammedan, but we are waiting and hoping for larger opportunities to comfort and help these veiled women. If a There is one sect of the Mohammedans called the Metâwileh, among whom ceremonial observances are very strict and something like caste seems to prevail. Christian should chance to use one of their utensils or dishes, it would usually be either destroyed or subjected to most thorough washings. If a Christian traveller should eat his lunch near their homes, the place where he had been would probably be washed by the pouring of jars of water over it and a thorough cleansing would ensue. Though these are the habitual customs of the Metâwileh, I can never forget the kindness I once received in one of their villages when after a most exhausting journey over the plain on which stand the ancient ruins of Baalbec I arrived at a little place a few miles distant from these ruins, faint with the terrible heat and burning sirocco air. I was taken into one of the rooms of a humble Metâwileh house, glad to be anywhere in the shade. Water was brought and kind sympathy was expressed in the faces of those who stood around me. As I thanked them, I prayed that they might ever find rest when weary and know at last the true Refuge. I do not know how they may have expiated their hospitality after our departure, but we were not witnesses of it, and several of our hosts escorted us even to the outskirts of their village and parted from us with many salaams. Great ignorance prevails in this the lowest of Mohammedan sects. Lastly there are the Nusairiyeh. They are more like pagans than any other dwellers in Syria; for though the Canaanites once dwelt in the land and Greek and Roman divinities have been worshipped upon these shores in the past, it is not now a heathen country. Little exact knowledge seems to be had of the belief of the Nusairiyeh. Some think them the descendants of the old Canaanites, and some that they incorporate in their religious ideas fragments of the ancient Persian religion. There are none in all Syria more needy of spiritual and mental enlightenment and of all civilizing and elevating influences. The Metâwileh and Nusairiyeh form, however, the smallest sects in this country of many creeds. These are the women of Syria. They are, as you have seen, of many different classes and of various social grades. Wave after wave of conquest has swept over their land. European and Asiatic, Christian and Moslem, have made it a battle-ground, and diverse influences have held sway; but notwithstanding this variety in class and individual character, they are united in one common need. Do you feel that you know them not and that they are far apart from you? With all the difference which false belief, foreign customs, strange tongue and garb can give, I can assure you that they are women like unto you. The mother's heart beats there as here. The touch of sympathy and kindness awakens the grateful response. Sickness and suffering also bring us into one common fellowship. Together we face the great and solemn future. The soul-wants we often feel so deeply they have, though they may 403 not be conscious of them. Do we need forgiveness of sius and the Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour and refuge? So do they, even though they may not know of him. Often have I remembered, while talking with the village women and noting their Oriental ways, so like those of Bible times, that Christ too was in his earthly life an Oriental, that his mother Mary was a village woman, that no doubt he often sat in similar homes, saw their simple household life and sympathized in their cares. Jesus is in truth to the whole world kin; but do not let us think, in the pride of our great privileges and the full possession of our Christian civilization, that these women of the Orient are not just as dear to Christ as we are, that he does not wish to bless them as he does us. It is not my intention in this paper to speak of the great work already being accomplished through the large number of schools for girls in Syria, nor of the great possibilities of the future in connection with them. My experience has been more in the way of simple friendly intercourse, teaching in the weekly classes for women of which I have spoken, and also in Sabbath-school and Bible-class. My heart warms as memory recalls the throng of upturned faces. It is true the women often come to us for material good and the supply of earthly needs. Can we blame them for emphasizing these when they have yet so much to learn of the transcendent value of spiritual blessings? Have we yet reached a lofty indifference to worldly possessions? They look upon us as almost literally "possessing all things." Is it strange that they sometimes inconveniently besiege us to give of our abundance? I believe that many a woman of Syria whose name has never yet appeared on the roll of the Protestant Church has learned to love and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and that many a Bible prayer drilled into the mind by patient teaching has become the genuine language of the heart. Their names recur to me as I * Total of schools in Syria under the care of our Presbyterian Board, 141; pupils, 6199. 404 Saharanpur Theological Seminary. write. Saada, the old beggar woman, who in her tattered garments listened so intently and was so glad she "had come and learned the truth before she should die," and who, on hearing the story of Nicodemus, asked with such sympathetic eagerness whether, after all his questionings, he understood "all about it at last." Worady, poor woman, who in loneliness, poverty and illness was found staying her heart in the night watches on the Saviour, saying, "I am weary and heavy laden, and thou hast said, 'Come unto me." Others too whose eyes have filled with tears as they have listened to the story of the prodigal son or Joseph making himself known to his brethren, and other Scripture narratives. A class of Beirut women, on listening to a letter written for their benefit by one who had often taught them, but who was then absent, was so responsive to the remembrance and the interest manifested in their welfare that, as they leaned eagerly forward to listen, there were few dry eyes, and blessings manifold were invoked in fervid Oriental phrase upon the writer of the letter and those dear to her. These incidents I mention that you may feel that they are indeed in many things your sisters. Will you not pray for them? Will you not help them? Will you not send those who can instruct them? Aye, when God's providential call comes, will you not go to them? [November, I have often felt during the last few months, since coming to America, how truly all work for the kingdom of God is one. Loving consecration to our Master will always find some means of expression. Devoted service is as needful here as abroad. It is, however, easier to give our attention to the near and real than to the distant and abstract. I have wished therefore to make more vivid to your apprehension the persouality and needs of the various types of Syrian women. I am sure, my friends, that to the all-embracing love of Christ no people are foreign. Shall we not strive to mount to this high plane of divine sympathy? A vision from heaven was needed of old to reveal to Peter on the shore of Palestine that a western soldier might be a brother in Christ. Do we not here in this western land need at times another revelation, even a glimpse into the heart of our Lord, to enable us to realize that a woman of the Orient may be a sister in Christ? "And lo a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." BEIRUT, SYRIA. MARY PINNEO DENNIS SAHARANPUR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. The theological seminary at Saharanpur closed its fifth session on the 11th of July, when seven young men graduated, of whom six belonged to our own missions, and one was from the Canadian Presbyterian mission at Indore, Central India. Since its organization in the beginning of 1885, twentythree students have graduated from the seminary, belonging to our own and other missions. Of those who belonged to our own synod among this number, two have become pastors, one at Rawal Pindi and one at Lodiana. These two congregations sup port their pastors entirely, paying them about 25 rupees ($8) per month. The others who have graduated are all engaged in evangelistic work in the missions, and are doing a good work. The Synod of India fully recognizes the importance of the seminary in its relation to the future of the native church in India, as do the other Presbyterian churches or missions who send their students to us. Several years ago the Lodiana mission estimated 14,000 rupees (about $5000) for the purpose of putting up a new building for the seminary; but last 1889.] Society of Christian Endeavor. year, on account of the reductions which were made necessary by the lack of funds, the money could not be appropriated to this purpose. The building in which we now are obliged to hold the school, being a dwelling-house, is not well adapted to school purposes, and moreover, this building may soon be required for a missionary or mis 405 sionary ladies. We, therefore, earnestly "THE SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR." When a society at its eighth annual convention can report 7671 local organizations and a membership of 470,000, its popularity at least is plainly manifest. The critical may still question its abiding usefulness and look upon it as the result of one of those temporary waves which occasionally sweep over the churches; but that this organization has taken a strong hold upon large numbers of the young people in the churches of our country cannot be questioned. Being a pastor who started a Society of Christian Endeavor in his church before this wave had reached its present highwater mark, I have been asked by the editor of THE CHURCH AT HOME AND ABROAD to present some of the features of this work to its readers. More and more is the Church of the present intent upon caring for the young. "Feed my lambs" is a command of the Master which ministers and people are hearing and heeding as never before. Children. are received into the full communion of the Church in larger numbers and at a far earlier age than formerly. More thought and attention are given to this large portion of our church membership. But progress in this direction only shows how much more needs to be done. One of the most frequent questions in the religious convention and paper during the last two decades has been, "How can we interest the young people in the church and attach them to it?" The grand work of the Sabbath-school has been recognized both in the field of instruction. and influence. Christian parents have gladly welcomed this co-operative force. But all Sabbath-school workers understand the difficulty of holding the young, especially the boys, after the age of sixteen or seventeen. Yet even in those Sabbathschools where this is accomplished, through a superior class of officers and teachers, it is felt that there is a work to be done for the young which cannot be accomplished either in the home or in the school. It is in the line of drill and discipline; it is in the application and testing of principles already taught. Of course the final aim of all religious instruction is to teach the child to think and act aright for itself when thrown upon its own resources. It is of the highest importance, however, that during this period of testing the young should be within the reach of the best Christian influence and form their habits of thought and life in connection with the Christian Church. How to do this is the problem. Various have been the answers. (a) Some have said the young crave amusement; let us plan a part of that amusement in connection with the church. Hence the church sociable, the church paror and kitchen. Some one has said the church kitchen and the church stage are not far apart. The occasional announcement of tableaux and private theatricals at church entertainments shows whither the desire to entertain may carry people. (b) Others have formed literary and debating societies in the church, at the meetings of which there would be readings, discussions, essays and musical renderings. No serious objection can be raised to this if it be kept subordinate to the religious spirit of the church. In the smaller towns and villages, where there is very little intellect |