But it is time to bring forward her husband, in letters which open
up a new department of usefulness, and illustrate the meaning of Mar
Yohanan, when he brought her first pupils to Miss Fiske, and said,
"No man take them from you." The truth was, that the same parents,
who at first could not trust their daughters in the Seminary for a
single night, were now unwilling that they should be united to a
husband who did not commend himself to its teachers as a suitable
companion for their pupils. But let Oshana speak:--
HONORED LADY, MISS FISKE: I have a petition to lay before your zeal,
which is active in doing good to all poor insignificant ones like
me. Dear lady, whose love is like the waters of the Nile, and
spreads more than they; for it reaches the sons of the mountains of
Kurdistan, as well as those of the plain. I am venturing to trouble
you more than ever before. This summer, when I went to my country
(Tehoma), my mother and uncles, who greatly love me, with a natural
love, beset me to marry one of the daughters of my country,
whomsoever I should please; but I made known to them that I wished,
if possible, to take one of the pupils of your school, for I said to
them, "If I take one of these who are so wicked, ignorant, immodest,
and disorderly, they will embitter my life;"' I entreated of them
not to put this yoke of iron on my neck.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294