Excellent Women

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 passed 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 assistance 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 worship 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."[33 - Among the Huts, p. 269.] 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.

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."[34 - Ragged Life in Egypt, new ed., p. 167.] "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 class 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 associated 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.[35 - Life of Mansoor Shakoor, pp. 58, 59.] 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.

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 assistance 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 assert. 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 God when it is brought before them judiciously and discreetly, as well as with kindness and zeal."[36 - 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."[37 - Life of Mary L. Whately, p. 109.] To awaken to an experience of vital religion the ignorant, superstitious, 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."[38 - A Glimpse behind the Curtain, p. 117.] 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 God'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.

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 gratitude; 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 Circassians 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 assisted 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 assembled 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."[39 - 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 mass of the peasants are little, if at all, different from what they were in the days of Pharaoh. Instead of praying to gods 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 sanctity, 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 God." 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 assemble on the shore 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."[40 - 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 classes, 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 assisted 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.[41 - Letter from Mary L. Whately, The Christian, June 15, 1882.]

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 God's glory and the good of the children in time and in eternity, and that with a good secular education the knowledge of God's revealed Word in the Old and New Testament was given to all of them."[42 - Life of Mansoor Shakoor, p. 98.] Four months later Mansoor Shakoor died, an irreparable loss to the mission, and four years later his brother Yousif followed him.

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.[43 - 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 principal 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 superstitions around them."[44 - 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 assistants."[45 - 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."[46 - Report of English Egyptian Mission for 1882.]

Yet the same year a night school for youths of the better classes 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 gratitude 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 passed 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."[47 - 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 assistance." 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 God'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 gratitude 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 manuscript 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.'"[48 - 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 title, 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, illustrating 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 title, 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 illustrated by engravings from her own sketches.

VIII.

RESULTS

Writing in 1861 Miss Whately said, "The reaping time is not yet."[49 - More about Ragged Life, p. 199.] 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."[50 - Among the Huts, p. 151.] 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 passed 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."[51 - Lost in Egypt, preface.] 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 assistants. Many of the Scriptures distributed on her Nile journeys were kept and read, and found afterwards in most unlikely places.

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."[52 - Letters from Egypt, pp. 117, 118.] 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.

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 class 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 anticipation.

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 Saturday, 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 shore
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