So highly does the Indian government prize the work of the missionary schools that each of them which is held to the required standard of efficiency receives a grant for partial support. The American Board Bulletin says, “Our tremendous school system in Ceylon of more than ten thousand pupils is carried on practically at government expense.” In a village in India the parents’ request for a school was answered by the statement that if such a school were opened, the Bible would be taught in it. Quickly the reply came, “Teach your religion, but educate our boys.” [Sidenote: New demand for education in Persia and Turkey.] When the century opened, Persia and Turkey were asleep. Suddenly came the awakening, the reaching out for something new and different, and, as in the case of China, one of the first thoughts was,--Our children must be educated. Instinctively they turned to the missionaries who for long years had quietly, steadily, sown the seed, prepared literature, set up printing presses, trained preachers and teachers. Boys _and girls_ began to flock into the mission schools. [Sidenote: Messages from Persian parents.] “Fathers sent pleasant messages,” wrote a missionary in Teheran in 1911. “One said, ‘Your girls make better wives and mothers and in every way better women, than others.’ Another, ‘I wish my wife had been educated, but I am determined my daughter shall be.’ An Armenian of wealth and influence is reported to have answered to a remonstrance against sending his little daughter to us instead of to their national school: ‘Did I ever refuse to give you money? I will continue to help support our national schools, but I must send my daughters (he has five) where they can really obtain an education. They can learn in one week all you can teach them about going to theatricals and dances.’ A friend was telling us that her sister would send her girls to us. ‘Why?’ ‘Because every Moslem in this city understands that your school is the only one where girls really learn. Why should my sister be the only fool?’”[57] [Sidenote: New schools for girls in Teheran.] These messages are significant in view of the fact that in a brief time seventy girls’ schools were reported to have sprung up suddenly in Persia’s capital city, with an enrolment of five thousand pupils.[58] But scarcely half a dozen of those at the head of the schools had ever been to school themselves, and the testimony from all over Persia was the same as that at the capital,--“The missionary schools are the best.” Here is the eager call from Turkey:[59] [Sidenote: The call for teachers in Turkey.]