Page 254 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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NEGLECTED A KAMA I
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district as I have met them in Basrah seem much more distant and di>-
inclincd to make friends than the women in the Aniara district. Hut l
making friends with them has already in one instance proved effective in f
gelling in touch with women in Nasiriych when we were there last spring *1
and will certainly be helpful in other cases it we should go to that district.”
Amara station is still suffering front opposition, and the defection of
converts and adherents. On reading the reports of the workers there, one
is impelled to quote the hymn:
“Christian, dost thou see them
On the holy ground. u
How the powers of darkness
Rage thy steps around?”
Several of the hospital helpers who professed an interest and belief in
Christianity have been proved guilty of living lives that bring only shame
and reproach upon the name of Christ. One convert has gone back to I
ldam, and is using all his influence against the missionaries; another who
had gone hack to Islam and then returned, apparently repentant, has re­
canted for the second time. Mr. Calverley says of all this. "It has put our
work in Amara far back, and it is hard to say how many years will elapse
before our present reputation is replaced by a general appreciation of our
purpose and resjiect for our methods.” However, the Bible shop has had
a large number of visitors; and district tours have been made respectively
by Mr. Moerdyk, the colporteur, and Mr. Calverley. which make them
I eel that much could be done in this line in the Amara- Xasiriyeh field.
Miss Ruth Jackson writes of one woman convert in Amara who has
stood linn in spite of religious pressure, and whose growth in grace has
been a comfort and joy at a time when so many other adherents were
falling away or proving themselves unworthy. She writes: “'The task
which has lain closest to my heart this year has been the development of
children^ work. 1 started in November with seven Arab gills. and the
number gradually increased to twenty-four. Then came a period of ups
and downs due to religious opposition. The religious leaders followed me
into any neighborhood where I gained a footing, and a group «»f children
would be taken away at once. < >ften the children and sometimes Sassana,
who helped me, would receive a healing from the children's fathers. 'This
continued all spring, but since early summer the opposition has quieted.
The attendance is now between twenty and thirty and many of them are
those who once were taken away, and if not permitted have at least not
been prevented I t orn returning to me. < hie very encouraging fact i" their
regularity in attendance now. Frequently a girl is taken away to he put to
work, hut even these manage tu slip in occasionally. < >ne of them continues
regularly and the handicap she endures shows how much the class means
to her. She is only a small child and she squats on the floor with a large
whining baby across her lap whom she tries to quiet liv joggling up and
down with her knee, while with both arms raised she attempts to thread
her needle. Thus with enthusiasm, though not much success, she works
away on her sewing. During the Bible period she walks around with the
bahv on her hip, and despite the distraction she is one of the quickest to
grasp the story and the first to retell it the following week. But before