Page 84 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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set up hospitals and clinics and provide an organized medical

side to the Mission’s activity, But as John. Van Ess had

warned in 1913, "We have excellent hospitals and are proud

of our doctors; we are on the way to having efficient schools;

we push both these activities, but only as a means to an end -

,.148
to make Christ king.

As the missionaries continued in their work they became

more fluent in Arabic, more versed in Arab customs and court­

esies, and more enamoured of the physical beanty of these an­

cient and exotic lands. In 1915 Eleanor Calverly reminisced

about her arrival in the Middle East:

nHow well I remember the thrill that I experienced
:
at my first sight of Arabia 0000 The first view of a real,
live caravan on the shores of the Suez canal, the first
sight of.".a Moslem at prayer at the same place, the mingled
scent of sandal wood, incense, and many indescribable odors
in the Indian bazaar brought an increasingly joyous reali­
zation that the dreams of years of preparation were coming
true.” 149

While the early reports of the missionaries are replete with

references to rotting sewage and the unwholesome living habits
j
of the Arabs, the mission reports of 1923 display a photograph

of Ruth and Rachel Jackson smiling from under their Arab

, head-dress as they help to harvest a wheat crop with the

same sort of sickle used by the Ruth of Biblical fame.-^O

As time goes on, we see more and more pictures of missionaries

in Arab dress and read more eloquent and excited accounts of

visits to beautiful and historic sites throughout Arabia,

as the missionaries are gradually wooed by the siren call

of the muezzin and the natiiral warmth and hospitality of their

Arab hosts.