ion and real education, they, of course, cannot understand till
now, that religion is the root of culture.

Polygamy is by no means prevalent among the Mohammedans of Bulgaria,
indeed it is very rare that a man has more than one wife, but these few
exceptions are productive of great misery. Divorce for very trivial
reasons is not uncommon, but there has recently occurred under my eye a
case of happy reconciliation and restoration through the influence of
Christian friends.

The Mohammedan woman of Bulgaria shares to a degree the freedom of her
Bulgarian sisters, is a power in the home, and, especially if the mother
of grown sons, is much respected and considered. But ignorance is her
curse. Here and there one finds a grown woman able to read, but the mass
are content to let their girls go to school for a few years and then
gradually forget all they have learned. But still I have known some
keenly interested in the reading of Scripture. I recall one visit in a
roomful of women at the festival of Bairam, when a young girl attracted
by the Injil Sherif--the New Testament--in the hands of the Bible woman,
opened it and read aloud the whole of the eighteenth chapter of Luke to
that roomful of deeply interested listeners. As she finished, clasping
the book to her heart, she exclaimed: "Oh, give me this wonderful book,
I must read it all." When we left she followed me to the door, reminding
us earnestly of our promise to send her a book soon. We know that the
book was much read.

Another girl of seventeen, whom Fatima Hanum had taught not only to read
but to love the Book, found great comfort in the prayers and Christian
sympathy of this same dear friend during a long illness. On her
death-bed she said to her mother: "We have lived in darkness, but there
is light and I have seen it!"

We believe the light is beginning to glimmer in more than one Mohammedan
home in Bulgaria. In this city, as in many others, Mohammedan women are
accustomed to spend Friday, whenever the weather will permit, under the
trees in some pleasant spot, and Fatima Hanum with her Bible is a
familiar figure among them--indeed they often send word to her: "We are
going out for the day. Come with us and bring the Book."

In a recent tour I was a welcome guest in several Turkish homes, and
warm approval was expressed by the women of their Protestant
neighbors--only one failing was regretted--"they eat pork," but even
they acknowledged that it wasn't so b