Excellent Women Part 25

II.

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND SERVICE.

Dr. and Mrs. Whately gave their children a careful religious and moral training, and sought to instil into their minds the highest motives for right doing, and to set before them a high standard of conduct. Mrs.

Whately early a.s.sociated her daughters with herself in visiting among the poor in the village of Stillorgan, which adjoined the grounds of Redesdale, and in teaching in the village school. The poor of Dublin also were not forgotten, and especially at Christmas time Mary shared with her mother in the distribution of gifts among the deserving poor in the city, and in the entertainment of many of them in the servants' hall of the palace.

It is not known, perhaps she could not herself tell, exactly at what period the light of the Gospel first dawned upon her heart, but a subsequent time at which her spiritual life was much deepened and intensified was very marked. In 1849 the health of her brother broke down, and he was ordered by the physicians to spend the winter on the Continent. Mary accompanied him. They went first to Nice, but the climate disagreeing with them, they pa.s.sed on to Florence and Pisa, and subsequently spent some time among the Waldensian valleys. This tour was in many ways a preparation for Mary's future life. She took lessons in painting, which was to be the chief recreation of her later years; she attained some proficiency in Italian, which led her a few years afterwards to engage in mission work among the poor Italians in Dublin; and her visit to the Waldensian valleys gave her her first insight into evangelical work abroad. But most important of all, she became acquainted with M. Meille, a young Waldensian pastor, and his wife, through her intercourse with whom her religious convictions became intensified and her spiritual horizon widened. When she returned to Dublin the great Irish famine was still continuing. The distribution of food and other efforts to relieve the distress were occupying the attention of all philanthropic persons. Mrs. Whately had become actively engaged in this work, and she and her daughters henceforward took a more prominent part in aggressive Christian work than they had hitherto done.

Famine relief paved the way for greatly extended effort to spread Gospel knowledge among the Roman Catholic population. Industrial and Bible schools, refuges, and other Christian inst.i.tutions sprang up in various parts of the country. Protestant missions to Roman Catholics were greatly extended. In this work Mary Whately found opportunity for the expression of her deepened spiritual experience. She taught in the adult cla.s.ses at the Townsend Street Mission Hall joined her sisters and other ladies in founding a ragged school for boys--the first in Ireland--and afterwards in inst.i.tuting a work among dest.i.tute girls, which issued in the Luke Street Girls' Home where hundreds of poor girls were taught to live respectable and Christian lives. These various forms of Christian service gave her tact and experience in dealing with the poor, which proved invaluable in her subsequent work in Egypt. As her sister says, "The Irish Church Mission work was the preparatory training to which she always especially looked back with thankfulness. The admirable manner of teaching and explaining Scripture employed in their schools she felt to have been the most valuable education for her subsequent life-work." [l]

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, by E.J. Whately, p. 15.]

In 1856, as she was in ill health, it was recommended that she should spend the winter in a warmer climate. Egypt was chosen, and, accompanied by a friend, she landed at Alexandria and proceeded to Cairo, where she remained several months. This was her first acquaintance with what was to be the land of her adoption. Before returning home in the spring of 1857 she made a prolonged tour in Syria and Palestine. She took much note of the mission work carried on in various places, and so greatly interested was she in the work among Jewesses then carried on in Jerusalem that she had some thoughts of giving it for a time her personal a.s.sistance.

III.

FIRST EFFORTS IN CAIRO.

The year 1860 was one of sorrow and bereavement to Mary Whately. She lost first her youngest sister, then her mother. Under the strain of nursing and sorrow her own health was seriously affected, and she was ordered by the doctors to spend the winter in a warmer climate. Her thoughts recurred to Egypt and her former pleasant sojourn there; accordingly she selected Cairo as her residence, purposing in her heart to make an attempt to bring the Gospel within reach of the Moslem women and girls. Egypt was then very different from what it is now. Railways were but just beginning to make their appearance, the Suez Ca.n.a.l was not yet cut, European customs, now so prevalent, had scarcely begun to invade the age-long usages of the upper cla.s.ses. English residents in Cairo and tourists up the river were alike few in number. Few outside influences had been brought to bear on the Mohammedan population to moderate their extreme bigotry and hatred of anything called _Christian_--a word which they invariably a.s.sociated with the picture and image wors.h.i.+p of the members of the Greek or Roman Church with whom they had come in contact, or with the irreligious pleasure-seeking of tourists, or travellers by the overland route to India. The Copts, or descendants of the early Egyptian Christians, were almost without exception buried in the profoundest ignorance of the Scriptures and of Christian truth, given over to superst.i.tious beliefs and practices, and dest.i.tute of any real spiritual life. Education for boys was of the most primitive character; for girls it was never thought of, nor had any educational effort ever been made for them during the twelve centuries which had elapsed since the rise of Mohammedanism. Christian missionary operations were almost non-existent. The American Presbyterians had recently commenced missionary effort, but their work was mainly, as it still is, among the Copts, and they had not yet opened a station in Cairo. Since 1827 indeed the Church Missionary Society had maintained a missionary--sometimes two--in Cairo, but their work had not issued in the formation of a Protestant Christian Church.

"It was laid on my heart," says Mary Whately, "to try and do something for the girls and women of the land, especially those of the Moslem poorer cla.s.ses, far the most numerous, of course. The only schools. .h.i.therto opened for the children of the land had no scholars except from the Copts or native Christians; others were considered quite out of reach, and many of my friends endeavoured to dissuade me from an attempt which was sure to end in failure, as they said. However, it seemed best to make an effort, at all events. But it was begun in prayer, and therefore difficulties and delays did not greatly discourage me." [l]

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, pp. 21, 25.]

Mary Whately, accompanied by a cousin, resided for a time with Mrs.

Lieder, of the Church Missionary Society. But in order to open a school she had to engage a house for herself; and after great difficulties one was secured in a suitable position. It was but a comfortless abode, and only rude furniture and inefficient domestic help were obtainable. But Miss Whately held outward comforts in light regard. Even in later days, when she had built for herself a capacious and comfortable house, it was furnished in the simplest, even rudest fas.h.i.+on, and all her personal expenses were cut down to the lowest possible point, that she might have the more to spend the work to which she gave both her heart and her life. As as she was settled in her new house she endeavoured to make acquaintance of her neighbours.

Miss Whately was but just beginning to learn Arabic, and the only a.s.sistants she could get for starting her school were a Syrian matron--who could speak but a few words of English and read with difficulty the New Testament--and her daughter of thirteen. Accompanied by the Syrian matron, Miss Whately went out into the surrounding lanes and invited the women to send their little girls to her to be taught to read and sew. She met with many curt refusals and received many fallacious promises; but when at last, in February 1861, a start was made, nine little girls were present the first morning "No recruiting sergeant," she says, "was ever so pleased with a handful of future soldiers, for it was beating up for recruits for the Lord." [1] The numbers gradually increased, though from time to time they were seriously affected by the spreading of malicious reports and the opposition of bigoted relatives and the only way to keep up the attendance was to go round visiting to obtain recruits, and to cultivate an acquaintance with the parents of the old scholars. In three months the children had been reduced to some sort of order, taught the alphabet and the way to sew; they could repeat a few texts, and sing a few hymns with some approach to sweetness. But perhaps of more importance still, they had learned to love and obey their teacher. Before her return to England for the summer she took them for an early morning feast in the public gardens of Cairo: and when the simple repast was finished, while "the little ones danced and waved boughs in a perfect ecstacy of merriment," the elder girls, she says, "seemed to find no pleasure so great as following us about, pointing to the flowers, and frequently throwing their arms round us, exclaiming, 'I love thee! I love thee much!' with eyes really overflowing with affection. How often had it been said 'You can make nothing of Moslem girls!' but the key of love is wonderfully powerful, and equally so in every land in opening the doors of young hearts." [2]

[Footnote :1 _Bagged Life in Egypt_, new ed., p. 29.]

[Footnote :2 _Ibid_., p. 110.]

Meanwhile the beginnings of other Christian work had been made by Miss Whately. In the early mornings she would drive or ride a few miles out of the city, and seating herself near to some hamlet would enter into conversation with the women and girls, and seek to instil into their dark minds some drops of divine truth. Much of her time also was spent in visiting the poorer women of the city.

When, at the end of May, both the heat of the climate and family claims necessitated her return home, she placed her little school under the care of a teacher whom the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East provided.

The following winter was pa.s.sed with some friends at Pau. After a trip to the north of Spain she spent another summer at home. In the autumn of 1862 she again arrived in Cairo, to re-open her school, which had for some time been suspended through the departure of the teacher. Many of her former scholars, hearing of her return, came to give her a very hearty greeting, and were willing to come back to school, bringing their younger sisters with them. They had, however, forgotten nearly all they had learned, and were at first very unruly. No a.s.sistance beyond that of an ignorant woman to help keep order and teach a little sewing was obtainable, while Miss Whately's still imperfect acquaintance with Arabic increased the difficulties which are everywhere experienced in the conduct of a ragged school. The younger children were especially difficult to deal with. The parents of the Mohammedan children objected to the use of pictures, being accustomed to see them the objects of reverence on the part of the Copts and other Eastern Christians, while the Coptic children were inclined to wors.h.i.+p them. Amusing songs in Arabic, suitable for young children, there were none; and when a little marching about was attempted for the sake of variety, the mothers said, "We send our children to _learn_, and you teach them to _play_! If that is what they go to school for, they may as well be at home." [1] After a time a young woman was found who could do a little teaching. Miss Whately had to continue to give all the religious instruction herself.

Yet, despite the many difficulties, the school was firmly established and continued to make slow but steady progress.

[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, p. 269.]

When her scholars were about to start for the "school-treat" to which reference has been made, a little boy, looking on with envious eyes, had exclaimed in a piteous voice, "I wish I were a girl." [1] "It was indeed a triumph," says Miss Whately, "to the little school that it caused an Egyptian boy even for a moment to wish himself a girl." Other boys had expressed their desire to come to school; so, as the 'girls' school did not meet on Sundays, Miss Whately started a Sunday cla.s.s for boys. This was all it was possible for her to do by herself. But just at that time she became acquainted with one who, with other members of his family, was henceforth to be closely a.s.sociated With all her work in Egypt. This was Mansoor Shakoor, a young Christian Syrian of good family and education, who, after working for some years as teacher and evangelist in Syria, had become agent in Cairo for the Moslem Mission Society, recently established in England. First of all Yousif Shakoor, brother of Mansoor, came to help her in work.[2] Later Mansoor also entered her employ, and she maintained both the brothers from her private resources.

Thus she was provided with devoted and efficient helpers. Under their superintendence a regular school for boys was established, and when in 1863 she again returned to England she left the charge of all her work in their hands. On the 8th of October in that year Archbishop Whately died, and Mary Whately's Irish home being broken up, she determined henceforth to fix her permanent abode in Cairo. She now hired another house near to her own residence for the accommodation of the increasing schools.

[Footnote 1: _Ragged Life in Egypt_, new ed., p. 167.] [Footnote 2: _Life of Mansoor Shakoor_, pp. 58, 59.]

Very few English people can stand the intense heat of the Egyptian summer, and Mary Whately being disinclined in 1864 to come so far as to England, spent a short time instead in Syria. When she returned to Cairo she took with her to educate and train Fereedy Naseef, the young cousin and betrothed of Mansoor Shakoor. For this young girl there sprang up in Mary Whately's heart a deep and warm affection; she called her and treated her as her daughter, and both before and after her marriage in the summer of 1868 she resided under Miss Whately's roof. When in 1872 her husband died, she still remained, and Miss Whately shared with her the care and training of her young son and daughter, while she in return gave great a.s.sistance in the conduct and work of the mission.

IV.

MISSION WORK IN CAIRO AND ON THE NILE.

Is it possible to convert Moslems to Christianity? are they ready to receive it? No one perhaps is more competent to answer these questions than Mary Whately, and this is what she says: "To say, as has been sometimes rashly declared, that the Moslems are ready to receive Christianity, and that the faith of the false prophet is crumbling away, is what I would not venture for a moment to a.s.sert. But I can state as a fact, that in the neighbourhood of Cairo the peasant population both men and women, are willing, and many of them eager to _listen_ to the Word of G.o.d when it is brought before them judiciously and discreetly, as well as with kindness and zeal." [1]

[Footnote 1: _More about Rugged Life in Egypt_, p. 210.]

Subsequent experience confirmed this view, and more than twenty years later she remarks "It is necessary to be discreet in dealing with Mohammedans, for if the spirit of bitterness is once aroused, the door is shut, for the time at least, against good influences." [1] To awaken to an experience of vital religion the ignorant, superst.i.tious, and spiritually lifeless Copts is a difficult task; to bring to personal faith in Christ the bigoted Moslems is more difficult still. "A Moslem's religion," she says, "is twined up with his political, social, domestic life so minutely, that the whole rope, as it were, has to untwisted before he can be free from error, and the very admixture of truth in their book makes it harder in some respects to refute than if, like the heathen doctrines, it was all wrong throughout. Perhaps the intense self-righteousness of Moslems is after all the hardest point about them; their notion that in the end all who are Islam are safe strengthens them in this belief." [2] Nevertheless, the points of contact between the Mohammedan faith and the Christian a wise teacher can use as pegs to hang Christian teaching upon; and this Mary Whately's previous experience among the ignorant and bigoted Roman Catholics of Ireland enabled her to do with much tact. When peasants said to her, "Your book is Christian--we don't like Christian books," she would explain that it was G.o.d's book, and that the Koran did not forbid it to be read; and that she wanted to tell them about Seidna Eessa (the Lord Jesus), whom Mohammed acknowledged to be a prophet. In this way many an initial difficulty would be overcome, and the reading, with simple explanation, of stories from the Gospels would elicit the response, "The words are good," and the request for the gift of a New Testament.

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, p. 109.]

[Footnote 2: _A Glimpse behind the Curtain_, p. 117.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mary L. Whately]

As soon as Miss Whately had settled in Egypt she began visiting the poorer women of Cairo. Usually she was received with courtesy, and when she became known, with grat.i.tude; and though this work was arduous and consumed much time, through it an entrance was made for the Gospel into many homes. Into the houses of the rich she penetrated but seldom, partly because her work lay in other directions, and partly because these were occupied by numerous slave-wives, who, being chiefly Circa.s.sians or Georgians, spoke Turkish, and did not understand Arabic.

In earlier years Miss Whately did all the visiting herself, and her books bear abundant testimony to the skill with which she could turn the conversation to spiritual matters; in later years she was much a.s.sisted in it by Mrs. Shakoor and by a Bible-woman whom she employed.

Mansoor and Yousif Shakoor engaged in similar work among men. They often found men at the coffee-houses willing to listen to the reading of the Scriptures. When this was put a stop to through the opposition of the Moslem priests, a book depot was opened, which did good service for some years. Evening meetings were also established, but these were attended almost exclusively by Copts, though occasionally a Moslem would brave the real danger of being present at a Christian service.

Beside the early morning rides to which reference has been made, which afforded opportunities for religious conversation, Miss Whately would occasionally stay for a week or two at some farmhouse or by the seaside, and find opportunities of teaching the people around something of the Gospel. The following is an incident connected with this work in the country: "At an open spot just outside the village a barber was shaving a peasant's head, and, as usual, a group were a.s.sembled near him chatting and smoking. Mr. Shakoor took advantage of this and resolved to join the party of men, and get into conversation, while I went a little further in search of some women. I soon found four or five with some little girls, all sitting upon a dust-heap! They looked very dirty, as well they might, but I remembered 'who can raise up the beggar from the dung-hill and make him to sit among princes.' I saluted the poor women in a friendly way, and though looking astonished they replied civilly. After a little chat and a few questions on both sides, I asked if they had ever heard about our first parents, Adam and Eve, and how sin came into the world. They just knew the names, but no more, and were pleased to listen while I related the story. Before I had finished, an old woman who had come up interrupted me. A young man who was standing near and listening, desired her not to interrupt the lady, for he could see she was learned, and 'thou art ignorant,' he added, with more truth than politeness. 'But you are not well placed here,' he said, pointing to the heap on which they were seated. 'Come to the roof of my house, my mother will show you the way, and these women can come too if they like.' I acceded to this courteous invitation, and followed the mother and son up the mud-brick steps leading to the rude terrace; and though anything but clean, it was a great improvement on what we had left, and with genuine kindliness the old woman brought out an old but well-preserved carpet and spread it for me. The others had followed, and sat round to hear what the stranger could have to read to them. They really seemed interested, though sometimes interrupting me with remarks not at all to the purpose. I managed to bring them back to the stories I read, of course choosing the simplest possible, and trying to explain a little as we went." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, pp. 181-184.]

Miss Whately would occasionally make an excursion into the desert, making the acquaintance of the wild Bedouin tribes, and reading to them the Scriptures. "Lady," once said a Bedouin, lifting the curtain of a tent in which she and her sister were seated, "I saw your horse at the water, and my comrade and I are come to hear some of your book." They listened attentively while she read to them the ninth chapter of John's Gospel.

An important part of her work was the missionary tours which she made each year in the winter or early spring. The first of these journeys was in 1861, the last within a few weeks of her death. The spiritual condition of those she visited is thus described by Miss Whately: "The ma.s.s of the peasants are little, if at all, different from what they were in the days of Pharaoh. Instead of praying to G.o.ds of stone and revering brutes, it is true they now call on the Almighty, but know scarcely anything about Him, neither His Word nor His laws. Much of the religion of the _fellah_ consists in prostrations, and his _spontaneous_ prayers are usually invocations to dead men, as we see with Nile boatmen and other labourers; when in a fatiguing work, they call on the 'Lord Hosseen or Zeid,' &c. to 'stretch out a hand and help.' Buffaloes and sheep are frequently sacrified at the shrines of sheiks of reputed sanct.i.ty, or at the mosque dedicated to Lady Zeynab. A pilgrimage to Mecca and the performance of certain ceremonies there are supposed to cleanse the pilgrim from sin. The Copts (who form the minority of the population) have always preserved their veneration for Scripture, but neglected it, and were extremely ignorant, till in some degree aroused by the efforts of missionaries to seek more after education, and to read more of the Word of G.o.d." She proceeds thus to describe the work among these people: "On our yearly Nile excursion we had great cause for encouragement, both among the Copts and the far more numerous Moslems.

The coast of the river is dotted with numbers of villages--some almost large enough to be considered towns, boasting a few houses with windows, a mosque, and a small primitive school; others are mere hamlets, consisting of mud huts crowded closely together, and built in and out of the palm-trees. We brought to several of these places both medicine for the sick and books for those who desired them, and were heartily welcomed as the peasants' friends; indeed every year the welcome grows warmer. Dr. Azury, the skilful medical man of the Mission, has always numerous patients; and after their bodily ailments have been attended to, they and their friends and neighbours a.s.semble on the sh.o.r.e to hear him read from the Bible. Mrs. Shakoor and myself are at the same time occupied in visiting the poor women in their homes or in reading and speaking to troops of both men and women in the open air. When we are going to leave, the boat is besieged by men and lads asking for Bibles or portions of Scripture, which are given to those only who can read.

The last sight as we sail away is often that of a circle gathered round one who reads aloud to those who cannot read for themselves." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Report of the English-Egyptian Mission_ for 1887.]

V.

PROGRESS OF THE SCHOOLS.

The boys' school, which had begun with a few ragged Moslem children in a room which was little better than a stable, increased rapidly. In 1870 the pupils numbered one hundred and sixty in daily attendance. About half were Moslems, the rest Copts and Syrians, with one or two little negro slaves or bronzed Nubians. Many were very poor, but some belonged to the middle cla.s.ses, and there were even a few from wealthy families, who would ride to school on donkeys from distant quarters of the town.

The two brothers Shakoor devoted much of their time to the superintendence of the school, and taught all the higher branches, being a.s.sisted in writing, spelling, &c., by several native teachers. The girls' school advanced less rapidly, because of the early marriages, which usually withdrew the pupils about the age of twelve, and because girls were more wanted at home than boys. In 1870 there were about a hundred names on the roll, with an average attendance of seventy or eighty.

It was long Miss Whately's desire to acquire a piece of land on which to build suitable school premises. Her desire was gratified when in 1869 the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, at the kind suggestion of the Prince of Wales, made her a grant of the freehold of nearly an acre of land, just outside the old wall of Cairo, the only condition being that the building erected on it should have a handsome front, as it would face a main road. Considerable delay was experienced in getting the necessary papers for making the possession secure, and it was not till 1871 that the building was erected. Mansoor Shakoor, who had considerable knowledge of architecture, designed it, and superintended all the details of its erection. By its side, and separated from it only by a garden, Miss Whately put up a house for herself, that she might be always close to her work. About one fourth of the cost was contributed by those who in Cairo and in England took an interest in the work of the school, but Miss Whately herself contributed the remainder of the outlay, amounting to about four thousand pounds.[1]

[Footnote: 1 Letter from Mary L. Whately, _The Christian_, June 15, 1882.]