Suk el Ghurb, Mt. Lebanon,
_September 3, 1872_.

Dear Sir--I am thankful to say, in reply to your inquiry,
that I was not persecuted when I became a Protestant, like my other
native sisters were when they became Protestants, because I was
very young. I was about four years old when my father died, and a
year after, my mother married a Protestant man. I came to live with
my mother in her new home, with my two brothers. It was very hard
to lose a dear loving father who loved his children so much as my
mother tells me he did. But the Lord does everything right, because
if the Lord had not taken my father away from us I should not have
known the true religion. I lived in my step-father's house till I
was twelve years old. I was then placed in Dr. De Forest's school,
in the year 1848. I stayed there four years. I was not clever at my
studies, and especially the English language was very difficult for
me. Even until now I remember a lesson in English which was so hard
for me that I was punished twice for it, and I could not learn it.
Now it will make me laugh to think of these few words, which I
could not translate into Arabic: "The hen is in the yard." My mind
was more at play than at learning. I was very clever at housework,
and at dressing dolls, and was always the leader in all games. From
that you can see that I was not a very good girl at school. After
the two first years I began to think how nice it would be to become
a real Christian like my dear teacher Dr. De Forest. Then I used to
pray, and read, especially the "Pilgrim's Progress," and my mind
was so busy at it that I used sometimes to leave my lesson and go
and sit alone in my room. Nobody knew what was the matter with me,
but Dr. De Forest used to ask me why I did not go to school? I
told him that I was very troubled, and he told me to pray to God
very earnestly to give me a new heart. I did pray, but I did not
have an answer then. Three or four times during my school time I
began to wish to become a Christian. I prayed and was very
troubled. I wept and would not play, and as I got no immediate
answer, I left off reading and sometimes praying entirely.
Everybody noticed that I did not much care to read, and especial