Page 390 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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NEGLECTED ARABIA

to bring women out to these services. The regular private lessons with
arjtsff “t '«■.......
In,ll.. In my children'* clause* al.su I la "un I ,,"<l h.
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he fore, this work was my great pleasure and it was a" ilK,,V!" lu'Il‘ As
•Iren make more progress this year than the ° ° SCC tlle dli|-
learnmg ol Bible stories. The attendance was hr S’ c*!JI’WIIl,,y the
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children were quite faithful. The increasing interest' .3 "!’ "I0
provement in conduct were gratifying Th* 1,1kcl|eral im-
jear was not manifest at all. MaS'of S’ °f "1C l)ri'vi(|ns
friends and regular attendants at prayer meeting I‘S ,CC:ilnc my ‘'lose
llieir homes also. Through my Sabeaii chiUtr V!‘CMt IIHlcl1 in
pita! contacts I came into a mud! cW ‘“"I ‘T tl.ln,uK1' hos-
iiiunity, into more knowledge of their reliidnn |W" ' 1 IC Sal,wi"
.ealization of their great and pecuS n^S «!”? a,Sl,m,S an<l »•'- "
the Lord send workers for this vinevird Ix-fnrn t,unon^ lllc,n-
absorbed into Islam.” } forc thal ««»mumTy is |„M Jr

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EDUCATIONAL WORK
•*/ * un the Light of the world: he that followcth Me shall not walk in llic darkness.”

B ASRAH Boy’s School had another great year. Mr. Van Fss writes, \ i
“Perhaps no work/ is more fatiguing than the daily routine of
teaching, nor demands more of patience and resourcefulness, 'flic
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innate mischievousness and the acquired indolence of the pupil, as
well as the devastating influence of home and society, conspire to fray the !»•
line edges of body, mind and soul. But the teacher’s task is, on the other
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hand, with medical work, the easiest of the missionaries’ tasks, for one can i
a( the end of the day feel that he has done something concrete and may even
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|M'ji(ij|c his conscience into a subsequent complacency. One is to a certain V
c.xU'iit persona grata with the people and there is. moreover, the exhilara­
tion which comes from seeing the child develop and absorb the general
information we impart as well as the particular message we have come to
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oiler.” Going on to facts about the student body, faculty, etc., he reports,
"The attendance soon mounted to over 300, of whom almost three-fourths
were Moslems. A large contingent came from the government schools
bringing the required transfer certificates. Most of these entered the
Middle and High departments. It was interesting to see how soon they
imbibed the spirit of the school. Not one of these has returned whence
lie came. Our loss to the government schools has been practically nil. I
wLh here to record my appreciation of the kindly relationships that exist
between us and the government educational department in Basrah. I have
endeavored to raise the academic standard of the school, with the result
that our graduates now enter Hope College without examination. Five I
of these were in the course of the year enrolled there. Six boys, live Mos­
lems and one Christian, graduated from the High School in April. On
account of his fine spiritual equipment and his earnest evangelistic zeal,
| have this year committed all the Bible teaching in the lower grades to
Muallim Garabed, while'I have myself given all the religious instruction i
in the Middle and High Schools, amounting in the case of each of us to
vcven classes, a total of fourteen Bible classes daily of systematic, pro-

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