Reminiscences of my life in Persia

Front matter

CORNELL UNIVERSITY IBRAHY

3 1924 051 402 414

The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library.

Contents

Introduction 9

I. Going to Persia 13

II. Learning the Language and Beginnings

II LrEAENING THE LANGUAGE AND BEGINNINGS OF WOEK

The first work of the missionary in any foreign land is the learning of the language which is to be his or her medium of communication with the people. Persian is not the one and only language of Persia. It is the language of the Southern and Eastern part of the country, but the language of the North and West is Turkish. Nor is this the only language used in that region. There are in the country several nationalities, each having its own distinct and separate language, viz: Syriae, Hebrew, Armenian, and Kurdish. Turkish is understood by all in Northwest Persia and is very extensively spoken, not only in Turkey and Northwest Persia, but also in Southern Eussia, in Eastern China, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, and adjoining countries. So those who have the command of this language can travel through these countries, communicating with their millions of inhabitants and preaching the gospel to them. Still it is not in all these countries a written language, for most of the people are illiterate, very few being able to read. Not having a literature, different people in different districts pronounce the same words differently and use different words for the same thing. Thus it follows that there are many dialects. In order to work successfully in any region one must learn the dialect of that region. The dialect used in Northwest Persia is the Tartar Turkish, a dialect very different from the Turkish spoken in Turkey, which latter is called Osmanli Turkish. Those who have learned the Osmanli Turkish think it a very beautiful language. Tartar Turkish is not so. It is a rude, barbarous language, with no literature and no polish. It has strong roots and has borrowed many words from Arabic and Persian. It is a strong, forcible language, well adapted to preaching to a barbarous people. This was the language given me to learn. There were then no books in it and to learn it was no easy task. But enthusiasm and perseverance won the victory. The air seemed full of words, I trying to catch them and they continually eluding my grasp. I kept listening, or as we say in Persia, "hanging my ear," to conversations .and to preaching, getting words, memorizing them and making them my own. A teacher was provided, and there was translation from English; a primer, a geography and the Bible being text books. It was interesting to learn words and then practice them on the native people. I would be happy when I could make them understand, but alas ! when they would reply and I could not understand them. The work of translating the Bible into Tartar Turkish had been begun, and glad was the day when I first took in my hand a Gospel of Matthew translated and printed in this language, and could read it. This language study was really a very delightful work — with difficulties overcome, tongue trained to pronounce the strange sounds, mind a

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE 29

store house of new words, ability to speak, read and think in Turkish and understand what others were saying. Sometimes there would be hearty laughter over funny mistakes. One day a lady told her cook to make the mouse ready for dinner ; she meant chicken, but used the wrong word. The poor cook was convulsed with laughter. I tried to order my horse shod, and afterwards learned that I had ordered gaiters for him. Many words are similar in sound but dissimilar in meaning, as dava means medicine, dawa — fighting, dewar — a wall, dawar — cattle, dua — prayer. One day the horses were fighting and one of the ladies, using the wrong word, called out, "The horses are praying;" "6t" means horse, "eet" — dog, "at" — meat. A gentleman, who was only just learning the language, entertaining native guests at his table, said, "Will you have some more dog?" Once on a journey, trying to hasten some dilatory attendants, I wished to say ' ' Indy chottin " — " Now load up. ' ' I did say '' ' Indy chotliin " — "Now burst. ' ' They did nearly burst with laughter. Again, when afterwards I was learning Armenian I made a mistake which became a standing joke. I used the word "geenee" — wine, instead of "geen" — wife, and thus instead of asking the man for his wife, I asked him for wine. He brought me a bottle of wine and a wine glass.

Building up a literature in an uncultured language is an interesting occupation. I have done a little in that line, viz: the translation of The Tract Primer from English to Turkish, some work on a geography, helping some in Scripture translation, preparing some Armenian tracts and considerable oral work for immediate use. I studied Persian some, reading the New Testament and Pilgrim's Progress in that language, and speaking it brokenly. It is a beautiful, polished language in which poets, scholars, historians and lawgivers have expressed themselves. In 1871 there was only one Mission Station in all Persia, and that was in Urumia. From the beginning in 1835 to that time, the work had been in the Syriac language and for the Nestorians, a Syriac speaking people. The workers saw and felt the great need of the Turkish speaking Moslem population and were actuated with the desire to reach them with the gospel. So the policy had been to use all possible means of winning their friendship and preparing the way more and more for preaching Christ to them. The way was steadily opening up for this grand work, and I became enlisted in the great struggle of the age.

In Holy Writ we read of famines and pestilences. Some of my first experiences were with these things. Indeed, during all my life in Persia I was familiar with famine, sickness, suffer^ ing and distress of all kinds. When I first reached Urumia they had just passed through a scourge of cholera. Beginning that winter and continuing on through more than two years there was famine. Indescribably wretched poverty, distress, rags, hunger, nakedness, starvation. Our hearts ached for the suffering ones, knowing that many of them must soon die, and that without hope

LEAENING THE LANGUAGE 31

of a better life beyond, knowing, too, that there was no need of such suffering. Had the rulers been honorable, had there been a spirit of philanthrophy, had the rich cared what became of the poor, it need not have been. We need not have seen hungry women and children all over the country hunting roots and herbs and eating grass ; we need not have known of men fighting over a few grains of barley fallen from the manger of the rich man's horses ; there need not have been black, unhealthy bread made of barley mixed with bran, dirt and gravel, the only bread the wretchedly poor could get. It need not have happened that the starving should eat human flesh. One day the Nestorian pastor -of the Protestant Church in Hamadan missed his little daughter. She was found in the hands of those who were preparing to kill and eat her. She was a fat little girl and would have made them a good meal. The rich had plenty. What cared they for the poor? They took their money, their clothing, their houses, their all, and said "Let them die." So it was, not only during that famine of 1871-3, but often since. As I have walked the streets in Tabriz I have heard the cry, ' ' Oh lady ! one bread money give me, oh, lady ! one bread money give me. ' ' Turning to see whence the cry, I would behold a wretched, ragged, dirty, nearly naked girl or woman or boy or man sitting by the wayside begging. Only one bread money ! No home, no friends, no comforts, ' no happiness in this life or in the life to come. Thousands of such die every year. In heat, in cold, in storms, the famishing cry for bread. Is there no bread? Is there no shelter? Can no help be found ? Many are living in luxury, having more than enough. Could they not spare a pittance? Have they no pity, no mercy, no care for the perishing?

The famine of 1871-3 opened a wide door for work. The government cared nothing for the destitution and suffering and in accordance with their fatalistic ideas would say, "It is the will of God," and do nothing to help. Christian nations came to the rescue, as Christian men and women of Europe and America sent help. Large smns of money thus contributed were committed to the missionaries for distribution. They visited the miserable haunts to ascertain by personal observation conditions and needs. Such abodes of destitution and distress ! Many could not get any kind of a shelter and were passing the long cold winter nights in the streets. I have in mind the picture of a place, one of many, where the husband, half blind and a cripple, and the hungry wife — both in rags — crouched under a quilt that had been given them. Their pretty little three-year-old daughter seemed happy and contented with a bone and a crust. In the city of Urumia not far from the residences of the missionaries a large room and yard were rented, where the famine sufferers assembled every day. A Nestorian Christian preacher was put in charge. At noon the door would be opened to the waiting crowds. Before giving bread the preacher would preach to them. They would give eager attention, nodding assent, with tears running down their sad pinched faces

BEGINNINGS OP WORK 33

as the story of the Savior's love would touch their hearts. Shelter and clothing were supplied for many, and soup was furnished to the sick. They would rehearse the words of the preacher, and many seemed to forget their hunger in feasting on the Bread of life. There were those who, on their death beds, were visited, prayed with and pointed to Jesus, and who passed away with the name of Jesus on their lips and peace in their hearts. When the Persians saw that christians of other and far off lands were sending food and clothing they were astonished, and were convinced that there must be something worthy in a religion that manifested itself in such works of mercy. Thus a good impression was made, want was relieved and the Gospel was preached.

Out of this work grew the first Mission School for Moslem girls in Persia. It was on this wise. I was much interested in the hungry crowds that gathered every day, and being eager to do something for them, I would go there with Bible in hand and with a reading prepared for them. The women would remain after the men had gone. Then I would have a meeting with them. Among them were some bright interesting girls, whom I gathered into a room and taught. As we had no books I had some leaflets prepared with letters and easy words. At the same time there was an opening in a Moslem village near Sier. Sier is a mountain village four miles from the city of Urumia, where there are also missionary homes. I had often visited this Moslem village and had found there some interesting girls who wished to learn. So I moved the girls from the city to Sier, and there gathered together all the girls. Three horses carried all the little company of eight precious girls with all the quilts and all our school property. As they crossed the river, on reaching the opposite bank, two loads of girls fell, some in water and some on dry land, but with no serious result. One of the girls cried, "I died, I died," but a dose of castor oil restored her to life. I taught them reading, simple lessons in geography and arithmetic, sewing, housework and cleanliness. Above all the higher lessons, morality, honesty, the love of Grod, love to one another and the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, were impressed upon them as I read and explained the Bible and they committed to memory some of the sacred words. There was no opposition worth mentioning, and the general verdict was in our favor. They said, "It is a good thing. It is a good work, taking orphans and poor children, feeding and clothing them and teaching them knowledge, cleanliness and manners. ' ' At one time some Moslem priests had a conference and tried to influence the governor to stop the school, but he did not heed them. Companies of women from the city and from the different villages came from time to time to see what we were doing. Thus opportunities were given for preaching which we ever endeavored to improve. This work continued steadily and prosperously from May 1st to July 21st, 1873, during which time I did not leave the girls night or day. Then a vacation was given. The girls wept when told that school must close for awhile, and aU went

BEGINNINGS OF WOEK 35

away witli the best of feeling. I had thought to continue in this delightful work, but that was not my privilege, for I was transferred to the newer and more difficult field of Tabriz.

After many varied experiences, encouraging and discouraging, there is now a flourishing Moslem Girls' School in TJrumia. I rejoice to say that Moslem girls are now being taught by missionary ladies in all our Mission Stations in Persia. There is more and more a growing sentiment among Moslems that girls as well as boys may learn to read, and many are thus reading in their own abodes.

Ill

AZEBBYJAN

The Persian ensign is the Lion and the Sun — symbolic of strength and brightness. Persia — the land of poets and warriors — the land renowned in ancient and Bible history — where reigned Queen Esther, Cyrus the Persian, and Darius the Mede — where lived Daniel, the man "greatly beloved" of God — the land whence came the wise men to worship the Babe in the Manger — whose people were once the firm friends and defenders of Grod's chosen people — is no longer Persia of the past. Mental and moral darkness, ignorance, superstition and sin have had their baneful influence upon the people and even upon the very face of the country. Quoting from Gibbon, we read, "In the more early ages of the world, while the forests, that- covered Europe, afforded a retreat to a few wandering savages, the inhabitants of Asia were already collected into populous cities, and reduced under extensive empires, the seat of arts, of luxury and of despotism." And again, ' ' The Persians, long since civilized aad corrupted, were very far from possessing the martial independence and the intrepid hardiness, both of mind and body, which have rendered the Northern barbarians masters of the world. The science of war, that constituted the more rational force of

AZEEBTJAN 37

Greece and Eome as it now does of Europe, never made any considerable progress in the East. Those disciplined evolutions which harmonize and animate a confused multitude were unknown to the Persians. They were equally unskilled in the arts of constructing, besieging or defending regular fortifications. They trusted more to their numbers than to their courage, more to their courage than to their disci|)line. The infantry was a half armed, spiritless crowd of peasants, levied in haste by the allurements of plunder, and as easily dispersed by a victory as by a defeat. The monarch and his nobles transported into the camp the pride and luxury of the seraglio. Their military operations were impeded by a useless train of women, eunuchs, horses and camels, and in the midst of a successful campaign, the Persian host was often separated or destroyed by an unexpected famine. But the nobles of Persia, in the bosom of luxury and despotism, preserved a strong sense of personal gallantry and national honor."

The area of the present kingdom is 648,000 square miles. It lies between 23° and 40° north latitude. It is divided into the provinces of Azerbyjan, Ghilan, Mazandaran, Irak- A jam, Khorasan, Kerman, Laristan, Farsistan, Kuzistan, Luristan and Ardelan. Azerbyjan lies in the extreme Northwest, and in that province was my home. Situated in the temperate zone it has the climate of that zone. The changes are gradual from intense, dry, burning heat in the middle of summer to severe cold in winter, and vice versa. As it is a very mountainous country there may be all the different degrees of temperature at the same time in different parts of the province and at different elevations. So one may pass from the intense heat of summer on plain or valley to never melting snow and winter cold on mountain top. There are parts of Persia where there are the intensely hot summers with a plentiful rainfall, where the orange tree grows and roses are abundant, but the greater part of the land consists of dry barren plains and treeless mountains where there is no rain all summer, and all the country is parched and desert-like. In the bowels of the earth there is water, and the people have learned to bring this water to the surafce by a series of wells called connaughts. They begin on the slopes of the high hills, digging first a well until water is reached, then a few rods lower down another with an underground aqueduct connecting the two wells, and so on until the water from the mountain depth is brought to the surface in a beautiful, clear, cool, fresh water spring. Thence it is carried by channels and distributed over the country, and by its life-giving power transforms the dry land into fields, gardens, orchards and vineyards, making mother earth, wherever it touches her, beautifully green and productive, a vivid illustration of Psalms 1-2, where we read of the "trees planted by the rivers of water." Unfortunately, owing to lack of enterprise, the supply of water is insufficient to meet the demands of the population. So it is dealt out sparingly, and there are many fights over the water courses, and the strongest man gets the water.

AZERBYJAN 39

The products of Azerbyjan are such as would be expected to be found in such a climate. Barley is abundant and takes the place of oats, which are not found. Very little maize grows, but there is an abundance of wheat, rice and other grains. There are the fruits, flowers and vegetables of the temperate zone. Honey is plentiful. Of vegetables there are onions, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, spillage, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans, cabbages, lettuce, squash and all kinds of herbs. Cotton is raised. The vineyards produce a great variety and great abundance of most luscious grapes. Several varieties of them are hung ■ in dry storerooms in autumn for winter use, and they keep all winter, so we may be eating grapes from August to spring. Eaisins, molasses, vinegar and wine are made from the grapes, and from raisins, alcohol. Other fruits of this province are plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, quinces, melons, the mulberry (black and white), barberry, blackberry, cornel. Of nuts we find almonds, English walnuts, chestnuts, filberts, pistachio and others. Dates, figs and other dried fruits, spices of all kinds from Arabia and the South are found in the markets. The silk worm is raised, fed on the mulberry leaf, and one of the industries of the country is spinning the silk and making it into thread and cloth. The domestic animals are the horse, cow, sheep (with big tails), goat, buffalo, camel, mule, donkey, dog, cat. On the mountains are found the mountain goat, the deer, wolf, bear, fox, snake, hare and other wild animals. Bugs and insects of all kinds abound everywhere. We find the domestic fowl and many birds, some with plain plumage and some beautifully colored. In the rivers there are some fish. Alfalfa is the hay.

English enterprise has built a telegraph line from London to Calcutta, and it passes through Azerbyjan. The tall, straight iron poles, set in perfect lines and perfect angles, are a striking contrast to the crooked, irregularly set wooden poles of the telegraph line built by the Persians within the last twenty-five years. As well are they advance lines of civilization, pleasant company for the lonely traveler, and a prophecy of what may be in the future. The fuel used everywhere by the natives in their cylindrical ovens in the ground floors, where bread is baked and cooking done, and around which they sit to warm themselves in winter, is dried manure from the stables. The wood of fruit trees and other trees, as well as roots and branches from the grape vine, furnish fuel for the foreigner, and also is used by some of the wealthier natives. In winter the entire face of the country is covered with snow and in spring and autumn there are rains. Often in springtime the rains, mingling with the melting snows, come down through the valleys in such floods as to carry away houses and destroy much property. In the summer time many of the rivers dry up and disappear. "What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. ' ' — Job 6 :17. Many of the rivers have treacherous bottoms. Often had I ridden across the Lalan river in the dry season and

1. Rose iree at Girls' School, Tabriz, planted by Miss Jewett in 1886. School building in the rear.

2. Two ladies on a journey, attended by Persian men, one of the ladies in the takhtrawan.

AZBRBYJAN 41

had never seen water there, but one spring day as I passed that way the river was full of water and the bottom slippery. My horse slipped and fell and I sat in the water.

There are no farm houses or school houses dotting the country here and there as in our own free America. This is on account of the shiftless government and the unsettled state of the country, rendering it unsafe for a family to live alone. The inhabitants are grouped together in villages and towns in the valleys, all over the plains and far up on the slopes of the mountains. These villages are collections of low adobe houses with a hole in the flat roof for chimney, a hole in the wall for window and a hole in the ground for stove. On the mountain slopes the roof of one house often makes the yard of another, and all over some of the villages one may go, walking on the roofs. In most villages there are some houses with upper room, in which are glass windows, or in lieu of glass, oiled paper. Also there may be found a fire-place in one end of the room, and the floor covered with Persian rugs. In the larger towns there are many of these better houses and in the cities there are many fine buildings, comparatively speaking. In some large towns they are trying to ape European customs and have hotels with furnished rooms. I was much amused once when on a journey I spent a night in one of these hotels in Kazvin. My room was furnished with table and chairs. On the table were pen, ink and paper provided for the use of the guest. There was a single bedstead with mattress and bedding and a nightcap, and with the toilet articles was also provided a tooth-brush. There are no railroads in Persia, unless six miles at the capital city may be called a railroad. And there are very few carriage roads. All traveling and all transportation is by caravan, with horses, mules, donkeys or camels. The halting places for the night are at caravansaries in empty unfurnished rooms, so beds, bedding, all articles of comfort and most articles of necessity must be carried by the traveler. He will find no lack of entertainment, however, for the Persians are hospitable and ever ready to entertain the stranger.

Tabriz is the capital of Azerbyjan and is the metropolis of Persia. It is situated in latitude 38° 5' 10" and longitude 47° 17' 46" E. Its altitude is 4944 feet above sea level. It is surrounded on three sides by high and barren hills. These hills — red, yellow and brown — are rich in their wealth of minerals, tRit undeveloped on account of lack of enterprise in government and people. The plain, on the fourth side, reaches out to Lake Urumia and is dotted over with villages and green with fields, gardens and vineyards. Tabriz means fever-scatterer. Tradition tells us that a long time ago a certain great man was traveling with his family. On the way his wife was taken ill with a fever. Stopping for awhile at this place, the salubrious air soon scattered the fever, hence the name. The air of Tabriz is certainly delightful — dry, clear and cold in winter, and only for a short time uncomfortably hot in summer. There is almost always a pleasant breeze, which blowing down from the mountains or up from the lake is ac-

AZERBYJAN 43

ceptable and invigorating and carries away bad air and sickness.

Tabriz is a very ancient city. It has witnessed many vicissitudes of fortune, at times very prosperous and again overwhelmed with earthquake, war or pestilence. It was formerly surrounded by a moat and a high wall. There were seven gates which were kept locked at night. Now the city has outg^-own its former limits, its suburbs and gardens occupying a space of more than sixteen miles in circumference, and the wall is so crumbled and the moat so filled that scarcely a trace of either may be found. Because of the great altitude of Tabriz water is very deep below the surface, some wells being ninety feet deep. The houses are built with basements and foundations lower than the street of sun-dried bricks made of the earth excavated right on the spot. They are low one or two-story structures with flat roofs. The better houses are faced with burned brick, thus having the appearance of solid brick houses. The streets are narrow and crooked, eight or ten feet wide, a few wider and many narrower. Walls arise on both sides of the streets to the height of ten or twelve feet, with openings through strong wooden doors into the yards, so that every house and yard is completely shut off from outside and is a little world in itself. Tabriz is cleaner than most Eastern cities and has many fine buildings. Many trees have been set out, giving 'Shade and a pleasant, forest-like appearance as one looks over the city from the roof of some building higher than the others. The bazaars are long, narrow, close and uncomfortable, thronged with men, veiled women, horses, mules, camels and donkeys. The display of all kinds of produce, industry and merchandise is very fine and very abundant.

The population of Tabriz is supposed to be about 200,000, of whom 3,000 or more are Armenian. There are a few foreign merchants, telegraph operators and the Consuls of different European nations and of the United States of America. There are said to be 3,800 shops in the bazaars, 250 caravansaries, 100 schools, 210 mosques and 2,000 turbaned men. There is an extensive rug factory where most beautiful Persian rugs are made, fifteen hundred boys being employed in weaving them. Three objects of special interest to visitors are the Blue Mosque, the Citadel, and the Prince's Palace. The Blue Mosque was built several hundred years ago and faced with blue tiles. It is now a crumbling ruin. The foundation walls of its inner apartment are inlaid with the beautiful Persian marble, resembling alabaster. The Citadel, or Armory, is high and conspicuous. It is the first object to be seen on approaching the city. It is built very solidly of burned brick. There the guns, ammunition and cannon are kept. It has been a fine building but now it has an old look and its walls are cracked in many places by earthquakes. The Prince's Palace is the summer residence of the Heir Apparent, who is Governor of Tabriz until called to the throne. This palace stands in the midst of extensive gardens, and from its cupola one may have a fine view of the city and country.

IV How We Live In Peesia

It is interesting in this strange land to study customs and learn how the people live. We find things funny, things sad, things odd, things old. So different are manners and customs, conditions of thought and living, and circumstances of life there from what they are in America, that I despair of clearly describing the one country to dwellers in the other. My sympathies are with the woman to whom I was trying to explain the changes of day and night. In amazement she exclaimed "What strange people they must be over there to have night while we have day." In my first days in that land I saw so many things so queer, so funny, so laughable, that the natives dubbed me the "laughing lady." Living among these things helps one to understand many things mentioned in the Bible, for it is written that the "law of the Medes and Persians altereth not." So it is that we wonder at the changes that are taking place in these latter days. It is the custom now, as in Bible times, to send a messenger before to prepare the way for the King or any important person. This makes it easy to understand Mark 1:2: "Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." There are the dwellers in tents now as then, and when we pass them we think of the patriarch Abraham as he "sat in the tent door in the heat of the day." Scenes like that of Abraham buying a "possession of a burying place" for his dead are enacted every day in Persia, when men in buying and selling are bartering over prices. In the fierce chiefs of the wild Kurdish tribes, armed to the teeth and carrying long spears, we see David and his band of warriors when pursued by King Saul, and we think of the ancient "kings of the nations" making war one with another. The salutations of the East are lengthy, so as the business of Elisha required haste, he bade his servant salute no one by the way. The parable of the sower is beautifully illustrated as we watch the sower going forth to sow. Scattering the seed by hand, some seed falls by the wayside, some on stony ground, some among thorns and some into good ground. The threshing floor is the same now as then, the grain being heaped on threshing floor and trodden out by oxen, then tossed up by a wooden fork and the "wind driveth the chaff away." Implements used in farming are crude and old fashioned, as in the times of Moses and Elijah. The plow is a long stick sharpened and covered with iron at one end, fixed with a handle at the other and drawn by from two to eight or ten oxen or buffaloes, a man holding the handle and a boy sitting on the yoke of the first pair, whip in hand and riding backward. "Wheat is ground into flour by being crushed between two heavy round stones turned by water power. The house of mourning, with hired mourners and the