CHAPTER IX.

ENTRANCE ON

MISSIONARY LABORS -INTEREST

IN THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOOL- HABITS AND MANNERS INHABITANTS EXPERIENCE ON MISSIONARY

OF THE

We now find Mrs. Smith in her appointed field of missionary service, and entering, with all her heart, into the interesting scenes and circumstances of that land which she had so much desired to see. As she has been, so she will continue to be found the best historian of her own course of life and labors. In this capacity she will appear, commencing with the first letter to her parents, after arriving at her station.

"BEYROOT, FEB. 5, 1834.

"After so long a time, my dear parents, I am permitted to address you from this interesting land, around which, I doubt not, your thoughts have already hovered, while you have imagined it to be the dwelling-place of your children On the 28th of January, a day of uncommon beauty, we approached our destined home. I can hardly convey to you the feelings which pervaded my breast, as I looked upon it. The bird's-eye view of Beyroot, at the foot of that far famed Lebanon, which is truly a goodly mountain,' riveted every affection of my heart, while its beauties commanded my attention. Mr. Smith had left undescribed its natural features, leaving me to form my own impressions; and he remarked that even to himself it appeared more lovely than he before imagined.

"It occupies the northern side of a cape, called the 'Cape of Beyroot.' The city itself, which is enclosed by a wall, is small, and not particularly attractive or repulsive; but the environs, where the missionary house stands, and which occupies an extent of country several times larger than the city, present an enchanting prospect, even at this season of the year. The ground rises gently towards the south, and is covered with an uninterrupted succession of gardens, separated by hedge-rows of the cactus, or prickly pear, and filled with mulberry trees, trained to a low growth. These are now stripped of their verdure; but the sycamore, the kharoob, and here and there a palm and cypress, diversify the landscape, while innumerable almond trees, in full blossom, enliven the scene, and place its beauties beyond description. The houses, which are of a bright yellow, tinged with brown, and unique in their appearance, are scattered at equal distances over the gardens; and are perhaps as contiguous to each other as yours and Mr. C.'s. Some of the terraces of the houses are surmounted with low pointed columns, designed for the frame-work of an awning; which give them a picturesque aspect, when viewed at a distance. Mount Lebanon, in all its grandeur, stretches from north to south; while the snowy ridges of its lofty eminences, and the numerous villages which occupy its declivities, give additional interest to the ever-varying appearance of its scenery. Among these villages, the one in which Asaad Shidiak lived and suffered, is distinctly perceptible from the neighboring terrace of an Armenian friend, Yacob Aga. It seems as if my eye would never tire in admiring the scene which is spread out before me. I can truly say, that Beyroot pleases me more than any spot which I ever saw, my own dear native town not excepted. There are no vicissitudes for the eternal beauties of nature,' said Madame de Genlis, when she revisited Versailles, after those revolutions which had overthrown palaces, marble columns, and statues of bronze. So have I often thought, since I came into Syria, which still retains those

characteristics of the promised land,' that rendered it so attractive to the Israelites.

"We were most cordially welcomed by our friends, who seem quite happy and devoted to their work. This brings me to the moral aspect of the mission, which, though mentioned last, is not, I trust, last in my heart. I think I may say it is encouraging, much more so than either of us expected. We feel that a wide door of usefulness is opening before us, which will demand all our energies, and

even more.

"The Arabs are extremely free and social in their habits. The trials of missionaries here, and perhaps in most Eastern countries, are of a different character from those which are imagined by friends at home. They are not so much personal privations as moral perplexities, arising from the ignorance and deceit of a population destitute of that civil and religious freedom, furnished only by the diffusion of God's word. If our operations assume a more decided cast, we know not but we shall yet have the 'persecutions' which are promised among the blessings of ' a hundred fold,' to those who forsake home and country for Christ. If, as his servants, we should be thus identified with our Lord, may we have grace to endure this fellowship with his sufferings.

"The language of the country furnishes the most for midable difficulty to surmount. Mr. Smith says that Mr Bird has become so familiar with it as to have as great a choice of expressions as in speaking our own language. He reads the Scriptures once a week to a congregation of beggars, in his yard, after which he distributes bread to them. When I saw him in the midst of about sixty, the morning after our arrival, my thoughts immediately reverted to the Saviour's ministrations. You can hardly imagine, though you have often been informed of it, with what increased interest the Scriptures may be perused in this country, where they were written. I seem, in consequence of the unchanged habits of these people, to enter directly into the

circumstances which are described in holy writ. — The best hours of every morning I devote to the Arabic, and the first hours of every evening to Italian. I have already, through necessity, attempted to stammer in both of these; and in the French likewise, with Mrs. Chasseaud, the wife of our Consul.

"I continue to be happy in my new situation, and most cheerfully adopt this country as my own, and hope to make my grave here. My dear husband, for the first day or two, was surrounded with old friends among the natives, who welcomed his return with great joy. He feels as if he had returned home.

"February 6. It is a most lovely morning, and we are all occupied in preparing letters for America. My window looks directly upon Lebanon; and the summit of Jebel Sunneen, its loftiest peak, 10,000 feet in height, is covered with a brilliant mantle of snow. Would that you could share with me the glorious prospect. But though we may not mingle the expressions of our admiration here, there is a land of pure delight,' where erelong we hope to be reunited. Objects and interests more bright and conducive to our happiness, will there unite our tastes and feelings, and we will therefore think most of our heavenly home.

"April 2.On the 27th of March I had the privilege and enjoyment of receiving letters from my beloved country, among which were Nos. 1 and 2 from my dear father. These last, like diamonds among jewels, were selected and read first. I will not attempt to inform you how much I enjoyed in the reception of these tokens of affection, or how grateful I felt to my kind friends from whom they came. That page, my dear mother, from yourself, was not the least valued, I assure you. It was so characteristic, it brought you directly before me, and I had a more vivid impression of your affection than I have before had since we parted. I have thought of you a great deal, perhaps. more than you have imagined.

"Not only the important moral and political features of this Eastern country are associated with the expansiveness of your mind, but every landscape and every flower bring you to remembrance. Especially when studying the Arabic, your fondness for etymology is continually before me; and I think how much pleasure you would derive from a language, every word of which can be traced to its root. You have my constant prayers, and those of my husband, and I doubt not that we and our work have yours. I rejoice in your comfortable health, and in the kindness of your friends, and in all your family blessings. I am still with you in my dreams, and some of them are quite irrelevant to the calling of a missionary.

"I thank dear father for his precious letters, and am most happy to hear that his health improves, and that he enjoys the light of God's countenance. In this I am not disappointed. In His house he will find that which is better than sons and daughters.' Please to give my love to the kind friends who meet with you for prayer, and tell them that I thank them most warmly for their remembrance of me. If there be a class of persons on earth who need the prayers of all, it is that of missionaries. When hearing Mr. Smith's farewell sermon, I thought that I felt the force of his arguments, but now I know them to be true. Pray most of all that we may abound in love towards those who are around us. They are ignorant, deceitful, ungrateful, and unwholesome; and unless the Holy Spirit constantly excites us to the exercise of the most disinterested benevolence, we are in danger of despising them, and of exulting in our own superiority. Familiarity with their wretchedness, also has a tendency to diminish that warmth of sympathy with which we have been accustomed to regard those who are destitute of the gospel. I often think, when I am surrounded by these degraded women, 'Here are the very persons over whom my heart so yearned, when I was far away in my native land.'