Woman and Her Saviour in Persia: By a Returned Missionary — John Shaqi
Woman and Her Saviour in Persia: By a Returned MissionaryLaurie, Thomas
History
Woman and Her Saviour in Persia: By a Returned Missionary
Laurie, Thomas
Church of the East -- Missions; Missions -- Iran; Women missionaries
A Christian gentleman in the State of New York, on the death of his
wife's sister, adopted into his own family her infant child. She was
trained to the exercise of a practical Christian benevolence, and her
superior mind was improved by an education remarkably thorough. In the
classics and mathematics she exhibited uncommon aptitude, and made
unusual attainments; so that it was truly said of her, "Perhaps no
female missionary ever left our country with a mind so well disciplined
as Mrs. Judith S. Grant." She sailed for Persia, July 11, 1835; and
there she displayed rare ability in acquiring the language of the
people. The Turkish she soon spoke familiarly. In a short time she read
the ancient Syriac, and acquired the spoken language with at least
equal facility. Previous even to these acquisitions, she taught Mar
Yohanan and others English; and as they noticed the ease with which she
turned to her Greek Testament, whenever ours seemed to differ from the
ancient Syriac, they regarded her with feelings in which it would be
hard to say whether wonder, love, or reverence was the strongest. Some
might have cried out, when her fine intellect and rare acquirements
were devoted to the missionary work, "Why is this waste of the ointment
made?" But had her friends searched the round world for a sphere of
greatest usefulness, they could not have selected one where her rare
gifts would have accomplished so much; and when such a woman manifested
deep solicitude for the education of her sex, ancient prejudice fell
before her. She taught her own domestics to read. She sedulously
cultivated the acquaintance of both Christian and Mohammedan women; nor
did she rest till she had opened a school for girls in what is now Mr.
Coan's barn. Such was her zeal, that when her health would not allow
her to go there, she taught the pupils in her own apartment. She
commenced with only four scholars, but at the same time prepared the
maps for Parley's Geography in modern Syriac, and the old map of
Oroomiah, so familiar to the readers of the Missionary Herald, was her
handiwork. Nor was her usefulness confined to her school room. Hers was
the privilege of creating such a public sentiment in favor of the
education of woman, that her successors have found the gates wide open
before them, and often wondered at the extent and permanence of the
influence she acquired. There is no one topic of which Miss Fiske has
spoken to the writer so frequently, and with such enthusiasm, as the
great work that Mrs. Grant accomplished for woman in Persia, during her
short missionary life. She was the laborious and self-denying pioneer
in female education, and every year thus far has brought to light new
evidence of her extensive usefulness. It was no empty compliment, when
the venerable Mar Elias said, "We will bury her in our church, where
none but very holy men are laid. As she has done so much for us, we
want the privilege of digging her grave with our own hands."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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