tance and success among the women of Syria, must be able to speak
to them familiarly in their own mother tongue. Interpreters may be
honest and conscientious, but not one person in a thousand can translate
accurately from one language to another without previous preparation.
And besides, interpreters are not always reliable. There is still
living, in the city of Tripoli, an old man named Abdullah Yanni, who
acted as interpreter for a Jewish Missionary some forty years ago. He
tells many a story of the extraordinary shape which that unsuspecting
missionary's discourses assumed in passing through his lips. One day
they went through the principal street to preach to the Moslems. A great
crowd assembled, and Abdullah trembled, for in those days of darkness
Moslems oppressed and insulted Christians with perfect impunity. Said
the missionary, "Tell the Moslems that unless they all repent and
believe in Christ, they will perish forever." Abdullah translated, and
the Moslems gave loud and earnest expression to their delight. They
declared, "That is so, that is so, welcome to the Khowadja!" Abdullah
had told them that "the Khowadja says, that he loves you very much, and
the Engliz and the Moslems are 'sowa sowa,' _i.e._ together as one."

Abdullah soon found it necessary to tell his confiding friend and
employer, that it would not do to preach in that bold manner, for if he
should translate it literally, the Moslems would kill both of them on
the spot. The missionary replied, "Let them kill us then." Abdullah
said, "it may do very well for you, but I am not prepared to die, and
would prefer to wait." The very first requisite for usefulness in a
foreign land is the language. It might be well, as previously intimated
in this volume, that in each of the Female Seminaries, the number of the
teachers should be large enough to allow the most experienced in the
language to give themselves for a portion of each week to these friendly
religious visits. The Arab race are eminently a sociable, visiting
people, and a foreign lady is always welcome among the women of every
grade of society, from the highest to the lowest.

IV. Holding special Women's Meetings of the Female Church members from
week to week in the homes of the different families. The neighboring
women will come in, and the native women, who would never take part in a
women's prayer-meeting, in the presence of a missionary, will gladly do
it with the example and encouragement o