her place in the surgery, ready with a kind word and practical assistance.”  An instance of the good done by the mission is given by the same writer.  “A young woman came one day weeping bitterly; she was one of the wives of a sheik of a village some miles away, and she was almost blind.  Her husband had told her that she was no longer of use to him, and he should divorce her.  She was in a pitiable state of distress.  The doctor, by God’s help, was able to cure the poor young wife completely.  She returned to her village in deepest thankfulness, and was taken back into favour by her lord and master.  Some time afterwards she returned again, this time bringing a tall turbaned man with her, who proved to be her husband; he was the sufferer this time, and the good and forgiving wife had persuaded him to come and see the doctor to whom she owed so much.  After some time the man was cured, and during his bodily treatment we may be sure that his soul was not forgotten.  He showed his gratitude by sending many from his village to the Medical Mission; so that the seed was sown broadcast.”

VII.

LITERARY EFFORTS.

Mary Whately, though she belonged to a book-writing family, aspired to no literary fame.  Her ten books were all the outcome of her work in Egypt, and were written to awaken interest in it, and in some cases to secure funds for it.  She was, as a girl, the “story-teller” of the family, and among her companions secured a reputation for her powers of narration.  This gift she turned to good account.

“It was at her father’s suggestion and by his advice that her first book, Ragged Life in Egypt, was published.  A friend staying in the house had been reading to him a series of letters Mary had written her, describing her first settlement for the winter in Cairo, the commencement of her school, her visits among the poor, etc.  He listened with much pleasure and attention, and on his daughter entering the room a few minutes afterwards, he said, ’Mary, you ought to publish these papers!’ Her first answer was, ’Oh! people are tired of Egypt! they have had so many books of travels there and so many details!’ ‘Yes,’ he rejoined, ’but yours will be new; you have reached a stratum lower than any foreign visitor has yet done.’  This determined her to publish; and the book was finished and brought out immediately.  In 1863 the same friend read to the Archbishop during his last illness the manuscript of the second part, More about Ragged Life in Egypt.  On the morning on which the reading was finished, he took his gold pen from his pocket, and giving it to her said, ’I shall never use this again, Mary; take it, and go on.’” [1]

[Footnote 1:  Life of Mary L. Whately, pp. 55-57.]