furnished me so pleasant and comfortable a home in this obscure mountain village; where I have renewed my strength, and now have vigorous health to reëngage in iny labors at Beyroot.

66

Monday, October 8. This day, the season of the monthly concert, has for some time been appropriated to fasting and prayer at this station. While taking an early walk this morning, I met two girls with baskets of grapes upon their shoulders, who, as usual, invited me to partake of their contents. I declined, pleading as an excuse, that it was a fast with me, and they urged me no farther. It is not here as in America, where such an apology might be made the subject of ridicule among the unregenerate. On the contrary, the more peculiar are our habits and numerous our ceremonies, the more respect and influence we may acquire; for to be without religion is considered a great disgrace. Many regard us as irreligious, because we are so simple in our forms of worship and have so few appendages; and are often surprised when we tell them how many churches and priests exist in our native land. A servant woman of Mrs. Whiting, who has now lived long enough with her to love her and appreciate her principles, about a year and a half since remarked to some of the Arabs, that the people with whom she lived, did not lie, nor steal, nor quarrel, nor do any such things; but, poor creatures,' said she, 'they have no religion.' In contrasting the spiritual blessings of my country with the more than useless ceremonies of this, I often think of these lines of the inimitable Watts

'Let strangers walk around

The city where we dwell,' &c.

"In some important respects, the morals of this people are better than those of our own land. But the great destroyer need not be strenuous on the point here, for he has the entire mass of the inhabitants sufficiently enchained by a corrupt religion for all his purposes; and he reserves

216

MEMOIR OF MRS. SMITH.

other temptations for those regions where he can employ them, to blind the eyes of men against the clear light of truth. In this our mountain residence, my husband has had more than usual opportunity to give religious instruction by means of conversation, distribution of the Scriptures, and evening prayers in Arabic, in our room. More or less of the villagers are always present upon the latter occasion. We feel assured that these mountain tops will yet shout to each other,' though we may not live to catch the flying joy' on earth.

"I have rejoiced, dear Mrs. Farrar, in all the spiritual blessings of your own family, and in those of the church at large. In thinking of that garden of the Lord where my friends dwell, I sometimes compare our situation with that of our first parents who were driven out of paradise to till the earth, which they found covered with thorns and briers. Indeed, I think that had Isaiah seen, in vision, our happy land, with all her faults; contrasting it with this, as it is now, and probably was then, he would still have indulged in all the strains of prophetic rapture, which characterize his writings. I must now, through necessity, though unwillingly, leave you. A sheet of paper never seemed so insufficient for my purposes, as since I came to this country. A single one will not contain half I wish to communicate to those I love; and yet I think it will contain as much as I ought to trouble them with."

CHAPTER XI.

SCENERY

SABBATH EVENING

ENGLISH SERVICE

TROU BLES OF MOHAMMEDANS — DEATH OF DR. DC DGE -APPEAL то AMERICAN CHRISTIANS

ON PHYSICAL CULTURE INTERCOURSE WITH ENGLISH FRIENDS

DODGE

LETTER TO MRS. ON PREPARATION FOR THE MISSIONARY WORK --FEMALE PRAYER MEETING NATIVE HABITS OF FASTING THOUGHTS ON AMERICAN CHARACTER - ARAB VISITS LETTER TO MRS. WISNER ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND LETTER TO MRS. HALLOCK.

the

HAVING returned from her summer residence in mountains, and become again settled at Beyroot, Mrs. Smith resumed her journal addressed to her parents, as follows:

"BEYROOT, OCT. 19, 1834.

"My ever dear Parents: I wish you could sit down with me in my pleasant room, this evening, where I have composed myself for a little epistolary converse with you. The full moon, rising in the east, is shining in its splendor over the lofty peak of Lebanon, while the waters of the Mediterranean, which wash its base, are sparkling in her beams, and on the north its dark waves are bounded only by the sky. The street in which we live is directly upon the shore; a high castle, surmounted with a single turret, stands upon a rock, a few rods from the land; the hum of human voices has ceased, and the silence of night is broken only by the roar of the surf, as the sea dashes upon the shore. Three times have I risen from my seat to view and admire in solitude this charming 10

Smith,

scene

217

We are

partially settled in our new abode, but I hope we shall not indulge the thought that this is our rest. If we do, God will break up the delusion.

"This is the evening of the Sabbath, and it will be more appropriate to recall the events of the day. Mr. 'T'hompson preached at our Consul's, a most excellent sermon. My soul was refreshed, particularly in the singing, and I thought of the bliss of heaven. The Sabbath, my dear father, is the day in which I am in the habit of making you especially the subject of my petitions; and often my heart is much drawn out in supplicating spiritual blessings for you, and I feel assured that such blessings will make you completely happy here and hereafter. Thus, through the merits of my Saviour, though far removed from you, I may be the means of making an impression upon your present and eternal happiness.

"October 22. - Yesterday I went up to Mr. Bird's to consult about the plan of a school-house, now commenced for females. I can hardly believe that such a project is actually in progress, and I hail it as the dawn of a happy change in Syria. Two hundred dollars have been subscribed by friends in this vicinity, and I told Mr. B., that if necessary, I thought he might expend fifty more upon the building, as our Sabbath school in Norwich had pledged one hundred a year for female ́education in Syria. I cannot tell you how much satisfaction I take in appropriating my little effects to missionary purposes; as I used at home often to wish that 'Holiness to the Lord' might be inscribed on my little possessions.

"October 27.-This morning the English service was held in the room now called our chapel, at our Consul's, and it promises to be a pleasant resort. I felt more as I used to feel in America, than since I bade farewell to those

'Sacred scenes of peace and pleasure,

Holy days and Sabbath bell.'

Mrs. Chasseaud is much engaged in fitting it up, arranging

with her own hands the covering of the desk, in which she exhibits the tact of her country women. I cannot but think that these feeble beginnings for this land are like the little stone that was cut out of the mountain.

"October 29.— Yesterday I again commenced the female school with four scholars, which were increased to ten to-day, and the number will probably continue to augment as before, from week to week. As I walked home about sunset this evening, I thought, 'Can it be that I am really a school-mistress, and the only one in all Syria?' and I tripped along with a quick step amid Egyptians, Turks and Arabs, Moslems and Jews, to my pleasant and quiet home, where I always find a number of kind friends to bid me welcome. Dear Mrs. Abbott said to me, as I seated myself with her upon the side of her bed, before I took off my hat, 'You don't know what a privilege, what a comfort it is to me to have you here.' My hours are now so systematically and fully appropriated that I can only steal short intervals for writing.

"November 9.- The number of English merchants is increasing here, and for the last week our minds have been much exercised respecting them; especially the importance of their being regular attendants upon our morning service. If a foundation is now to be laid for a future community of English and Americans, as we cannot doubt, we are anxious that it should be a good one. If it be only fashionable for all who come to attend chapel, it will be a great point gained; for there will be souls which may be the subjects of the operations of the Spirit.

"Dear parents, I love you, and think of you constantly, yet am busy and happy. I sometimes indulge the thought that God has sent me to the females of Syria- to the little girls (of whom I have a favorite school) — for their good. They are the burden of my prayer; let them be of yours.

"Jan. 5, 1835. On Friday I distributed rewards t twenty-three little girls belonging to my school, which, as