Women -- Biography; Women -- Social and moral questions
Askar Khan visited the seminary, and
explored every part of it. He questioned one of the girls who could
speak Turkish, but was baffled by the discreet replies of the pupil;
yet in a decided manner he condemned female education, and told the
girls that their former condition was the only proper one for them.
When we think of the physical labour, the mental effort, the practical
wisdom, the ready discernment of character, the unconquerable
perseverance, and the devoted piety necessary for discharging the
functions of a female missionary; we do not wonder that sixteen years
produced a wearing and exhausting effect upon Miss Fiske’s health. The
time had come when change was imperatively demanded; and as Dr. Perkins
and Mrs. Stoddard were expecting to leave for America the following
summer, it was decided that she should accompany them. During the
intervening months she received ample evidence of the permanency of the
work of grace that had been wrought in the land of her adoption. On the
morning of her departure, about seventy former pupils gathered about
her, and asked the privilege of one more prayer—meeting with her in
her room, “the little Bethel,” as they called it. Six prayers were
offered, all tender and comforting—one particularly so; and this one
she had frequent occasion to remember in the course of her long
journey, and always felt comforted and encouraged by it.
The population of Nova Scotia is now chiefly composed of a native race,
sprung directly or indirectly from the three great families of the
United Kingdom. They are situated on the confines of a frozen ocean,
but their hearts are not chilled, nor their friendships blunted by its
influence. Miss Fiske soon recognised many in the group which
surrounded her at the old sanctuary on the first Sunday after her
return. During 1860, she visited Boston, to say farewell to a band of
missionaries destined for the Nestorian field. Although glad that
labourers were being sent forth, she could not repress a pang of regret
that she could not go with them. Most extensive and blessed was the
work she carried on during her sojourn in America; but amid it all the
noble woman turned her face to the East and longed to be among the
daughters of Persia. Feebler and fainter, however, became that hope;
and soon it was certain that no journey but that to the “beautiful
land” lay before Miss Fiske.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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