Excellent Women Part 26

In consequence of the extension of the work, and because this large outlay had seriously diminished her resources, Miss Whately depended largely on the gifts of others for means to carry on her work. After the addition of a medical mission in 1879, the expenses of the work amounted to some 1200 or 1300 a year, a sum which, of course, it was quite out of her power personally to provide. 200 of this was derived from an annual grant from the Egyptian, Government, and about 150 from paying pupils, while occasionally grants were received from several English societies. The new schools soon became one of the "sights" of Cairo, and the English and American tourists who visited them contributed considerably to the funds, while the rest of the money required was collected in England, mainly through the efforts of members of Miss Whately's family and the honorary secretary of her English committee.

But the difficulty of securing sufficient funds to carry on her work efficiently was always one of Mary Whately's chief burdens, and she was often obliged to make up deficiencies herself. During her occasional visits to England, which latterly occurred only once in two or three years, she was largely occupied in addressing public and drawing-room meetings on behalf of her work.

But to return. The new school buildings were opened in January 1872.

"All the friends and acquaintances who took any interest in education, whether natives or Europeans, were invited to be present. The school hall, a large and beautiful room, though very simple and without any architectural ornaments, was adorned for the occasion with wreaths of green leaves, berries, and flowers, such as an Egyptian winter offers in abundance; and a table spread in an inner room with fruit and sweets to regale the children, while coffee and sherbet were handed among the visitors. Mr. Shakoor then spoke to the parents and friends of the scholars, telling them how the building had been made for G.o.d's glory and the good of the children in time and in eternity, and that with a good secular education the knowledge of G.o.d's revealed Word in the Old and New Testament was given to all of them." [1] Four months later Mansoor Shakoor died, an irreparable loss to the mission, and four years later his brother Yousif followed him.

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mansoor Shakoor,_ p. 98.]

From the opening of the new buildings the schools advanced rapidly. It was soon found that the simple teaching of reading and writing to the boys would not attract scholars, but to secure the advantage of instruction in English and French, geography, history, and accounts, many parents would send their boys, who were thus brought under Christian influence. The extent to which this prevailed may be judged from the testimony of the schoolmaster, that "of the boys brought up under his tuition, not one had, so far as he could find, taken more than one wife," which showed a great breaking away from the traditions of Mohammedanism.[1]

[Footnote 1: _The Christian_, June 29, 1888.]

The girls received a simpler education, but with both boys and girls the daily reading and explanation of the Scriptures in Arabic held a prominent position, the Bible being the princ.i.p.al reading book in use.

"Nor is the teaching of those things that concern salvation confined strictly to the time spent in reading Scripture. A few questions, or a remark in the course of a secular lesson, often shows them what is the most important of all matters in our minds. Nothing positively controversial is taught; that is to say, no contemptuous expressions about the religion of any of the children are allowed, and the plainest truths of the Gospel specially set forward; but occasionally something comes into the lesson which shows to an intelligent learner the vanity of the superst.i.tions around them." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Among the Huts_, p. 116.]

The policy of employing Egyptians or Syrians as teachers was frequently challenged by people in England, and vigorously defended by Miss Whately. "The schools are under my personal superintendence," she wrote in 1885, "receiving not only daily supervision, but examination from me, and I never gave up the teaching of any part of Scripture into other hands, until I had truly converted as well as educated teachers as a.s.sistants." [1]

[Footnote 1:_The Times_, Aug. 15, 1885.]

In 1879 pupils had to be refused for want of room, and from that time till her death the scholars numbered nearly seven hundred.

The period of the Arabi rebellion in 1882 was a severe testing time.

Though deliverance came at the eleventh hour, and Cairo was spared, "the inhabitants," writes Miss Whately in her report for that year, "lived for months in a sickening anxiety which can hardly be realized by those who only know the general facts from the papers." Not only Jews and Christians, but Moslems who remained faithful to the Khedive were threatened with torture and death. Miss Whately stayed at her post long after nearly all the Europeans had fled, and only left when the English Consul informed her that he would be no longer responsible for her safety. "The superintendent of the Mission Boys' School remained in Cairo at great personal risk, to keep things together as much as possible. The schools were not closed till the bombardment of Alexandria, when the excited mobs in the streets made it unfit for children to be abroad, and it soon afterwards was necessary to take away the board with the notice of the 'British Schools,' &c." The school buildings were used as a refuge for the homeless and persecuted, both foreigners and Egyptians. A list of buildings doomed to pillage included the Mission House. "The second day after the entrance of the victorious army, the superintendent opened the school. The pupils flocked back by degrees. At first some of the children of _Arabists_ hung back, but began to follow the rest after a time." Miss Whately had the joy of knowing that in the time of extremest danger many young Coptic girls, formerly her pupils, when urged to pretend to turn Moslems to save their lives, had replied, "No! if we die, we die in the faith of the Messiah." [1]

[Footnote 1:_Report of English Egyptian Mission for_ 1882.]

Yet the same year a night school for youths of the better cla.s.ses was established. Several years previously Miss E.J. Whately had founded in connection with the school a branch for the education of the children of European parents in Cairo. After the rebellion these were much less numerous, and the branch, henceforth known as the Levantine School, was chiefly attended by Jewesses, Armenians, Syrians, and others of Eastern race, who paid for the education they received. Among them it did good service. Subsequently small branch mission schools were established in Gizeh and other places.

VI.

THE MEDICAL MISSION.

Sympathy with the sick poor around her for whom no medical aid was available, early led Mary Whately to dispense simple remedies and especially to distribute medicine to relieve the terribly prevalent ophthalmia. In this she attained considerable skill, and though her nerves were more susceptible than others often thought, she bore bravely the contact with dirt and the sight of suffering which these labours entailed. "She loved to relate," says her sister, "what affectionate grat.i.tude was called out by these acts. The Egyptians are very sensible to kindness, and she never forgot how a poor mason, whose hand, injured by the fall of some part of a wall, she had daily dressed, afterwards recognising her as he pa.s.sed by her garden railing, saluted her with the words, 'May Allah ever hold your hand, O lady!' This kindness it was that won her a way among the poor of the city. In lanes and streets where she had been met by pelting with dust and cries of 'Cursed Nazarene!' she was now met by the salutation, 'Blessed be thy hands and feet, O lady!' or similar words of welcome. 'Sitt Mariam' (literally Lady Mary) became a household word in many mouths." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, p. 62.]

Miss Whately perceived that medical mission work--of which none whatever had been attempted in Cairo--would form an excellent introduction to Christian work among the adult population. In 1878 therefore she engaged Dr. Azury, a skilful Syrian doctor, who had been trained in the American Medical College at Beyrout, and who had lately married Mrs. Shakoor's sister. Almost before the necessary premises could be secured numerous sufferers applied for treatment. At first a small wooden room was built by Miss Whately on her premises as a waiting room for the patients and dispensary for the doctor; and during the first three years over four thousand patients were cured or relieved, and many operations performed, some of which restored sight to the blind. In 1881 a suitable building for this branch of the Mission was erected, containing two airy waiting rooms, one for women and children and the other for men, a consulting room in which the doctor saw his patients, and two separate rooms, each containing a bed or two for the reception of cases that needed constant care. In the waiting rooms Mary Whately might be found almost any morning reading the Bible and talking to the patients waiting their turn to see the doctor. No compulsion was used, but an attentive hearing was usually obtained, while a psalm or some story from the New Testament was read and explained. As the same people would often come every day or two for several weeks, something like continuous teaching could be given. In this work Mary Whately greatly delighted. In any difficult case, says a friend (_Sunday at Home_, 1889, p. 406), "'Sitt Mariam'

would take her place in the surgery, ready with a kind word and practical a.s.sistance." An instance of the good done by the mission is given by the same writer. "A young woman came one day weeping bitterly; she was one of the wives of a sheik of a village some miles away, and she was almost blind. Her husband had told her that she was no longer of use to him, and he should divorce her. She was in a pitiable state of distress. The doctor, by G.o.d's help, was able to cure the poor young wife completely. She returned to her village in deepest thankfulness, and was taken back into favour by her lord and master. Some time afterwards she returned again, this time bringing a tall turbaned man with her, who proved to be her husband; he was the sufferer this time, and the good and forgiving wife had persuaded him to come and see the doctor to whom she owed so much. After some time the man was cured, and during his bodily treatment we may be sure that his soul was not forgotten. He showed his grat.i.tude by sending many from his village to the Medical Mission; so that the seed was sown broadcast."

VII.

LITERARY EFFORTS.

Mary Whately, though she belonged to a book-writing family, aspired to no literary fame. Her ten books were all the outcome of her work in Egypt, and were written to awaken interest in it, and in some cases to secure funds for it. She was, as a girl, the "story-teller" of the family, and among her companions secured a reputation for her powers of narration. This gift she turned to good account.

"It was at her father's suggestion and by his advice that her first book, _Ragged Life in Egypt_, was published. A friend staying in the house had been reading to him a series of letters Mary had written her, describing her first settlement for the winter in Cairo, the commencement of her school, her visits among the poor, etc. He listened with much pleasure and attention, and on his daughter entering the room a few minutes afterwards, he said, 'Mary, you ought to publish these papers!' Her first answer was, 'Oh! people are tired of Egypt! they have had so many books of travels there and so many details!' 'Yes,' he rejoined, 'but yours will be new; you have reached a stratum lower than any foreign visitor has yet done.' This determined her to publish; and the book was finished and brought out immediately. In 1863 the same friend read to the Archbishop during his last illness the ma.n.u.script of the second part, _More about Ragged Life in Egypt_. On the morning on which the reading was finished, he took his gold pen from his pocket, and giving it to her said, 'I shall never use this again, Mary; take it, and go on.'" [1]

[Footnote 1: _Life of Mary L. Whately_, pp. 55-57.]

In 1871 she published a further account of Egyptian life and of her mission work, under the t.i.tle, _Among the Huts in Egypt_. Meanwhile in 1867 she had contributed to the _Leisure Hour_, and afterwards issued as a volume, _The Story of a Diamond_. Another story, _Lost in Egypt_, was written in 1881. In 1873 Miss Whately published a biography of Mansoor Shakoor, and in 1881 she wrote _Letters from Egypt for Plain Folks at Home_. In 1878 she published a story called _Unequally Yoked_, ill.u.s.trating the miserable lives of English women who have been persuaded to marry Mohammedans, and in 1872 she wrote _A Glimpse Behind the Curtain_, a story of life in the harems of Cairo. Her last book appeared in 1888 with the t.i.tle, _Peasant Life on the Nile_. With changed names and in a slightly veiled form, it recounts the history of some who received spiritual blessing through her mission work. All her books are written in a simple unaffected style, and reveal an unrivalled acquaintance with Oriental character and the Egyptian mode of life. Most of them are ill.u.s.trated by engravings from her own sketches.

VIII.

RESULTS.

Writing in 1861 Miss Whately said, "The reaping time is not yet." [1] Ten years later she writes: "It is a missionary's duty to sow beside all waters, and to lose _no_ opportunity, even if his chance of doing good be but small. The sower of the seed has need of much patience; and though he need not actually be _expecting_ and looking for disappointment, as that would paralyse his efforts for good, he must yet be prepared for it." [2] In this spirit of patience and perseverance Mary Whately carried on her work, and though her work was largely pioneering, she was not without encouragement. Her hand was the first to begin to break down the wall of ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry which had for centuries shut in the people of Egypt. She convinced thousands that the Christian book is a good book, and Christian men and women good people, despite the evidence to the contrary of so many in Egypt who bear the Christian name but do not live the Christian life. The sentiments of the people are leavened by thousands among them who in youth pa.s.sed through her schools, and there acquired an acquaintance with Scripture truth.

"Youths employed under Government, on the railways or in mercantile houses, who have received with the secular education which has secured their positions, a thorough knowledge of the Bible as its condition, continually greet her after they have quite outgrown her recollection." [3] The teachers in later years were chiefly composed of those who had been pupils in the schools, and of whose conversion she had no doubt. Thousands of poor sufferers were relieved by the Medical Mission, thousands of homes made happier by the visits of herself and her a.s.sistants. Many of the Scriptures distributed on her Nile journeys were kept and read, and found afterwards in most unlikely places.

[Footnote 1: _More about Ragged Life_, p. 199.] [Footnote 2: _Among the Huts_, p. 151.] [Footnote 3: _Lost in Egypt_, preface.]

In 1870 Miss Whately was able to tell of the first of her scholars of whose conversion she could feel sure. In 1878 she writes of two little boys, pupils in her school, who read the Bible at home to their old nurse, a slave woman, during the illness which terminated in her death.

So simply did she receive the truth, that she declined to see the Mollah or reader of the Koran, saying, "No, no, I want no one but Him whom the boys tell me about; the boys' Saviour is my Saviour." [1] In _Peasant Life on the Nile_ Miss Whately gives several instances of Copts who through her efforts refused to turn Moslems, and of others who became Christians in deed and in truth.

[Footnote 1: _Letters from Egypt_, pp. 117, 118.]

Instances of blessing on the work of the Mission might be multiplied.

Nevertheless the difficulty of bringing a Mohammedan to an open avowal of Christianity always remained extremely great. Converts to Christianity always incurred the risk of secret poisoning. Yet in the report for 1888, penned by Miss Whately only a few weeks before her death, she says, "The seed sown in past years is evidently taking root;"

and the accounts for that year contain the significant entry, "Clothes for poor convert on his baptism, 2." She also gratefully acknowledged that the reading of the books of her lending-library, largely supplied by the Religious Tract Society, had reached more Mohammedans than any other Christian agency.

IX.

TWILIGHT.

Like the twilight in the land of her adoption, the twilight of Mary Whately's life was very brief. Her sun went down while it was yet day.

Her last years were among her busiest. She would rise very early, often watching from her balcony the dawn break, and then would take a ride in the fresh morning air, or go out into her garden, for, as with her father, gardening was her delight. After a simple breakfast she would be usually found in the dispensary by nine o'clock, reading and talking to the patients. When they had all been cared for, she would teach her Scripture cla.s.s in the Levantine school, and afterwards visit the other schools, or attend to some of her domestic duties. After a short rest in the heat of the day, the remainder of the afternoon would be occupied with receiving or paying visits, and the short evening before retiring early to rest, when free from various forms of mission work, with painting or reading. When burdened with the difficulties of the work, she would often exclaim, "Why tarry the wheels of His chariot?" and the coming of the Lord was ever the object of her lively antic.i.p.ation.

In the summer of 1888 she paid her last visit to England, taking also a tour in Switzerland, which she greatly enjoyed. Early in the autumn she returned to Cairo, where she was joined by her elder sister, who frequently spent the winter with her. In February she made preparations for her usual Nile trip. After the boat had been engaged and paid for, she caught a cold, and was urged to defer the journey; but as this would have caused extra expense, she declined. The excitement of the work, which, on account of the doctor being unable through ill health to accompany her, was unusually heavy, kept her up for the time, but on her return to Cairo she had to retire to bed. Bronchitis set in, and in a few days the gravest was feared. A relapse discovered weakness of the heart, and on the morning of Sat.u.r.day, March 9, 1889, her spirit fled.

Then was there, as of old, "a grievous mourning" among "the Egyptians."

No need was there to employ professional mourners to make a wailing; the teachers and scholars, and the hundreds of poor men and women who had learned to love her, wept aloud for her. Her body was laid to rest in the English cemetery in Cairo, but she herself rested from her labours among those of whom she wrote:--

"Oh! they've reached the sunny sh.o.r.e Over there; They will never hunger more; All their pain and grief is o'er; Over there.

Oh! they've done the weary fight Over there; Jesus saved them by His might; And they walk with Him in white; Over there."

W.R. Bowman