1 1:^ .:-s.«r-.-^^«siK.,, \-^ Wr TMAN O PRINCETON, N. J. 'D IJIXISTER PLENIFOTENTIAEY FKOH THE UNITED STATES OF AKEEICA TO THE COURT OF ENGLAND, THIS SIMPLE RECORD OF THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF OXE OF HIS COUXTEYVYOMKN 3'6 HcspcctfuUp £)£l!icateli, ' BY SPECIAL rERMISSION. ^HtC, r _-• 1882 \ CONTHNIIC^l' '- CHAP. PAGE I. Early Life ....... 1 II. Autobiographical Eecollections ... S III. Greece and its People . . . . .21 IV. Life in Athens ...... 46 V. Letters Home . . . . . .60 VI. Experiences of Italian Travel ... 77 VII. An Excursion in Greece, and a Homeward Visit . SS VIII. Establishment of a Boarding School . . 115 IX. The Work Grows 12[) X. Daily Life and Correspondence . . . 144 XL Lights and Shadows of Missionary Life . . 157 XII. JIlNISTRY AMONG THE CRETAN REFUGEES . . 173 XIII. JOPPA AND ITS Associations .... 191 XIV. Commencement of the Mission School . . 201 XV. School Life in Palestine .... 218 viii CONTENTS. CHAP. XVI. Sowing beside all "Waters XVII. Going Home , XVIII. Personal Keminiscences XIX. The Worker's Memorial . PAGE 241 272 279 291 APPENDIX. Ceremonies and Tenets op the Greek Church . New Testament in Greek Schools Obituary Notice • . . . . English Missions in Palestine .... Missionary Work op the American Churches . Present Condition and Future Prospects of Palestine SOI 306 306 307 328 347 MISSION LIFE] IN GREECE AND! PALESTINE. CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE. ■ Standing with reluctant feet Where the brook and river meet, • , . * Womanhood and childhood fleet." — LcKOFBLiiOW ^^^ "^IjHERE the Shenandoah river Avinds \w^^ through the valley of Virgnnia, IliiiAcTsQ: ^^^^ ^YyQ Massinuttin^ and Blue Ridg-e Mountains keep eternal watch and ward — there Mary Bris- coe Baldwin passed her infancy and childhood. Cedar Gi'ove was the family home, but Belle Grove, a beautiful mansion situated very near, and the residence of her maternal grandfather, was the birthplace of Mary. Dr. Cornelius E. Baldwin, a physician of good repute, married the daughter of Major Isaac Hite, who not only owned Belle Grove, and Cedar Grove, but also a vast tract of land in the Shenandoah Valley, i^ne miles in extent. Her ancestry was not only wealthy but ennobled, for her mother, M/s. Baldwin, was niece to James Madison, fourth President of the United States. She was the second daughter and child in a family of twelve, of whom only three survive to the present time. One of these, Mrs. Ann Maury Hay, married Isaac H. Hay, grandson of John Hay, of Kilsyth, Scotland, and B 2 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. a descendant of the Earls of Errol. She it is who is now, although widowed, carrying' on the work in Joppa, which was left hy Miss BaldAvin at her death. It seems that the education of this large family was conducted by private tutors. !Mary was born on May 2Uth, 1811, and Avas from her earliest childhood dis- tinguished for precocity and intelligence. She made good progress in her studies; but of her childhood's days there are little or almost no memorials remainintf of interest to the reader. It seems, however, that as a child she was visited by serious impressions. The " things of God " were brought before her spiritual vision with earnest solemnity, by one instrumentality and another, but she strove against all such impressions. S2)eakins^ in after years to a friend of that time, she said : " 3Iy dear, I feel myself a miracle of grace. When but a child, God used to bring to my mind serious thoughts and feelings, and I persistently hardened my ■ heart against them for years ; but Jesus, in his wonder- ful love and mercy, did not allow me to work out my own destruction .■'' As one of the elder sisters of a numerous family, Mary was remarked for her thoughtfulness, kindness, and patience; and even as a child she was esteemed much among those who knew her, for her strong points of character and depths of thought. Being so thought- ful and fond of reading, it is not surjDrisiug that she cultivated opinions of her own on all subjects coming within the scope of her acquaintance, which opinions she advanced invariably with some reason and with great originality. She was also recognised as original in her habits and style of exjiression, feeling a great dislike to imitation, however much she may admire. Through her girlish days, also, she was the subject of deep impressions — indeed, they never left her from the time of childhood, continuing right on to the period when she made "the great decision.''^ The Right Rev. William Meade, bishop of the diocese of Virginia, in con^ nection with the Protestant Episcopal Church of America^ B 2 4 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. was related to lier^ and viewiag her state of mind with fatherly concern^, used often to speak to her of the importance of seeking better things than this world can give. These conversations lingered long in her memory, creating uneasiness and self-rej^roach, until she deter- mined to listen to him no more. Just as she had come to this determination, however, Mrs. Meade invited Mary and her sister to make them a visit of some duration. They went, and Avere, as always, warmly welcomed. On the journey to Bishop Meade^s house, Mary had, how- ever, been having a silent controversy with herself re- specting sacred things, and had come to the resolution to talk no more on the subject of personal religion ; but as she entered the hall door, a most overwhelming reali- sation of her sinfulness in rejecting God^s proifers of grace, came over her. She could with difficulty command herself sufficiently to preserve her usual quiet manner. So wrought upon was she by the Holy Spirit^s power, that in a day or two she sought an interview with Bishop Meade, and most wisely and tenderly did he counsel her. As the result, before she returned home to Cedar Grove, she could rejoice in the fact that she had found the Saviour, whom having once found, she followed with loving, earnest zeal, to the end of life. Bishop iNleade was also the honoured instrument of the conversion of JMary's father, and elder sister. These conversions took place at about the same period, and not long before Dr. Baldwin^s death. The eldest surviving brother. Dr. Isaac BaldAvin, who, like his father, adopted the profession of medicine, says, referring to this time : '^ My father, and my two elder sisters, Eleanor and Mary, were converted to God under the preaching of the Right Rev. William Meade, bishop of the diocese of Virginia, he being also our family pastor. These two sisters, with myself, were confirmed by him soon after our fathe/s death, and previous to our union with the Protestant Episcopal Church."^ This prelate appears to have realised the Apostolic ideal of a bishop, and was frequently referred to in Miss Baldwin^s correspondence, EARLY LIFE. in after life, with loving reverence, as her " niueh-loved father in Christ/^ Bereavement of the most painful kind fell on the family, soon after Mary^s conversion, and her newly- found faith was put to a severe trial. Dr. Baldwin sickened and died, in 1828, and within two years after, Mrs. Baldwin followed him to the grave. She wasted away in consumption, treading, with weary steps, the path to the grave. But during that lingering illness the two elder sisters vied with each other in smoothing the mother's path to the grave. A friend, speaking of this time, says : " I have often heen told of the beautiful affection she entertained for her parents, especially her mother, who Avas ill for many months previous to her death. During this illness, Miss Baldwin and her elder sister, Eleanor, used to act by turns, a day at a time, as special nurse, sitting by the bed fanning the sufferer, reading aloud, administering medicines, &c. One day, when Mrs. Baldwin was visited by a friend, she observed, ' Eleanor is an admirable niirse, but I cannot help feel- ing glad when Marj'^s day comes. ^ This could scarcely be wondered at, for, while Eleanor fully deserved the commendation she received, Mary^s untiring, tender, loving thought for the sulferer was certainly unparal- leled. The depth and strength of her affection enabled her intuitively to discern the service, mode, and time most acceptable to the patient. ''■' On August 30th, 18^30, ]Mrs. Baldwin passed away, leaving a family of seven orphan children. As it was the mother's wish, the family home was continued for some time, the two elder sisters, under the supervision of the grand-pa,rents, taking the charge of the younger children. At the end of a year, however, the establishment was broken up, on account of the growing necessity for the boys to go from home for the sake of enjoying a public- school education. This having been done, the girls removed to the home of the grandmother a-t Belle Grove. Under the guidance of Mrs. Hite's discreet and loving care, the admirable character, whose course is portrayed 6 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. in these pages^ developed into womanhood. When about twenty years o£ age, Mary went on a visit to Staunton among some relatives. Being of an active turn of mind^ she met with opportunities of rendering service to the JNIaster, whose cause she had espoused^ in the Sabbath school; and in various Church societies. A young friend and acquaintance of those early days bears this testimony to INIary^s whole-hcartcdness in the Saviour's Avork : " She^ like myself, had gone to Staunton to visit rela- tives J and, as Ave met constantly in the Sabbath school and other religious meetings, soon became attached friends, and Avhen Ave parted, begun a correspondence Avhich AA^as only ended by her death. She was of so retiring a nature that she rarely spoke of her past life or gave prominence to self in anything. Ilcr object in life seemed to be making herself useful, and improving the talents God had given her. AYith this object in view, though she had received a good plain education, she AA-as anxious to avail herself of every oj)portunity of improve- ment, and entered the female seminary as a daily scholar to pursue some advanced branches of study. She said that she might in future Avish to teach these things, little dreaming where her gifts Avould be called into exercise. She had then been a communicant several years, and her character Avas marked by a seriousness and earnestness Avhich told that religion AA^as the business of her life, and not a mere profession. When she called upon me, during her first visit home from Greece, she told me, in speaking of the Avonderful Avays in which she had been led to consecrate herself to missionary Avork, that the first suggestion came into her mind from myself, Miss Baldwin, a mutual friend, and myself were busy at one of our sewing meetings, Avhen I asked her, ' Would you not like to be a missionary ? ' We had been read- ing the life of some devoted servant of God, and all felt aglow with admiration of his sacrifices ; but none of us could then feel that Ave should ever be called to make similar sacrifices. Yet in less than tAvo years she wrote : ' It is true, my friend, that after due and prayer- EARLY LIFE. * ful consideration of the subject^ I have determined to forsake kindred and native land, to spend the remainder of my days among a foreign, if not a heathen, people/ The direct circumstances which led to this result were these. A friend (one of the three who talked together that time about missions) felt a desire to do good, and requested a gentleman to propose her to the Missionary Board as willing to go to some of the missions then being commenced in the West. He wrote to the Com- mittee, and received the reply that there was no opening in the domestic field for an unmarried lady, but that Mrs. Hill, in Greece, was urging them to send her an assistant, and that if the lady were willing to go there they would be glad to correspond with her. Her friend promptly declined going abroad ; and Mary asked her- self, ' What is there in the way of my going ? ' and after consulting with her rector and a fcAV Christian friends, soon decided to offer herself for the post. With her, to see the path of duty, was to pursue it ; and, receiving the apj^ointment to Greece, she at once began making preparations.''' The autobiographical sketch which forms the subject matter of the next chapter, will enter more fully into the circumstances which has led to her taking up the important work of missions, which henceforth was to be her lifework ; carried on amidst cloud and sunshine, health and weakness, until the time when she " her labour with her life " laid down. CHAPTER II. AVTOEIOGEAPIIICAL RECOLLECTIONS. " Half-hearted ! SaA-Jour, shall aught be withholden, Giving Thcc part Avho hast given us all ? Blessings outpouring, and promises golden, Pledging, Avith ncA-cr re.->erve, or recall 'i " Half-hearted I Master, shall any Avho knoAv Thee Grudge Thee their lives, Avho hast laid down Thine own ? Naj', we would offer the hearts that wo owe Thcc, Live for Thy love, and Thy glory alone." F. E. Hateugal. ^HE sketch which we now give cmr readers, was drawn up bj Miss Bakl- Avin in I860, many years after her sottk^ment in Athens, and as it con- tains her sentiments in regard to her ^ work, as well as her memorial o£ j!||'''/'';:^)»y*?;* f^ ^'- all the way " by which she had been ♦sjiilV^'f^"' led, it will prove doubly interesting. "' 'y^/ Ilor '''^ Recollections " run thus : — tN ■* " In looking back, my mind has been led ^^ to rcvievN^ the circumstances which led to my \^ coming to Greece, and for my own encourage- ment, as well as for the strengthening of my faith, in that my steps were ' ordered ' by God himself, I now write them out. " After the death of my beloved motlicr I went with my elder sister Eleanor to Staunton, to spend some time with my relatives there, of wjiom we liad a number. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTIONS. 9 After remaining" more than a year, visiting from one family to another, I became weary of what seemed to me a very unprojlfahle life, that of pleasure-seeking only, and I felt that such a life as I was then leading Avas not in accordance with God^s design concerning us. I felt that a life of mere pleasure produced no ' fruit iinto holiness.^ For some years previous to my going to Staunton, I had at times felt a great desire to be directly engaged iu some Christian work, and especially that of extending the knowledge of the Gospel among my fellow creatures, such as is the privilege of clergymen to do ; l^ut being (much to my sorrow) a female, I could not possibly enter the ministry. Next to this, my thoughts turned to a missionary life, and this, too, seemed to me to be a sphere quite out of my reach — a position far too high and heavenly for me ever to attain and enjoy. But from such thoughts as these, my mind was diverted, first, by the death of my beloved father, and, tv/o years after, by the long and last illness and death of my mother. Then my mind was filled with doinestic cares, my sister Eleanor and myself having determined, according to the wish of our departed mother, to carry on the family establishment and assume the care of the younger children. We had the charge of our younger sister and three brothers, our eldest brother being obliged to be absent to attend to his studies. We assumed this responsibility, and maintained it for about a year after mother^s death, but at the expiration of that time it was necessary for our brothers to go to a public school, so then we broke up housekeeping and Avent to Staunton, as I have before stated. Just at the time that I became so weary of living on pleasure, my sister Eleanor made a visit to Wythe County, not far from Staunton, and on her return told me of the great desti- tution of that part of Virginia,, both in schools and in every means of religious instruction. I at once conceived the idea of preparing myself for a teacher (my education had been partially neglected on account of domestic alliictions), so as to go out to that neglected part of the 10 MISSION LIFE IK GREECE AND PALESTINE. country, and establish a sort of missionary seliool, in which religion should be the lasis of all other education. To accomplish this desig-n, I gave notice to all my rela- tives and acquaintances in Staunton that I intended to jmt tnyself hack as a school-yirl, and should decline all invitations to parties, &c. As some ridiculed the idea, and some thought it a strange notion of mine, I felt that I had to contend with some feelings of mortification, but by bearing in mind the word of God, ' He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,'' I was able to overcome them. I made a school-yirVs bonnet, and entered Mrs. Shelf ey^'s institution as a regular day scholar. I took ujd my abode with an aunt of mine, an old friend of my dear departed mother, Avhere I kncAV I could escape all interruptions from company, as she lived retired from the world ; but in the midst of a select religious circle, amongst Avhom I could enjoy projitahle recreation from study. I deter- mined to go over all ordinary branches of study for young ladies from the beginning ; and this course of study I continued regularly for tAvo sessions of ten months each, keeping always in mind Wythe as my selected field of labour. The idea of labouring in \hQ foreign missionary field had long before passed out of my mind as being quite beyond my reach. At the end of the second session, Mrs. Sheff&y asked me if I would be willing for the next session to take the place of her daughter, Miss Sheffey, who was assistant teacher at the institu- tion, as she desired her daughter to have the pleasure and recreation of spending some months with her sister in Richmond. I was delighted at this proposition, and gladly accepted it, as it would give me the opportunity of exercising myself in teaching, while at the same time I could continue my studies under the princii^al teacher. Indeed, I considered this proposition a most providential thing, and thanked God accordingly. When it was necessary that I should remove from my aunt's house to the institution (it was a boarding as well as day-school) , I did so. When this session — which saw my first essay in teaching — had more than half expired, a young lady, 12 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AKD PALESTINE. a friend of mine, and a very pious girl, came to me and said that she mshed me to do her a g-reat favour. She wished me to enquire 7;rH'aY^(^y of our Missionary- Society, whether there was any opening- in the domestic department for a female missionary, as she felt a desire to be eng-ag-ed in the home field. I said I felt sure I could oblig-e her, through my friend IN'Ir. Valentine, who was one of the pillars of our chuix'h in Staunton, and ahvaj's ready to do good. ' Of course,'' I said, ' he will think I am making inquiry for myself, but I shall not mind that, as the secrecy will be only temporary.'' Accordingly I did ask Mr. Valentine to wi-ite to the Society, and he said he would do so with pleasure, pro- vided I would dictate what he should Avvite. At once he took up a pen, and I dictated to him. While I was dictating, the thought crossed my mind, that as inquiry was being made in the dom.estic field, why should not I just add the two words, ' or foreign/ feeling at that moment a revival of the long-shtmberinfj desire in mil heart to become a foreign missionarjj . I felt that I should not, after all, commit myself by this addition, and so the letter was written, including the two words. After a few days an answer was received, stating that there Avas no opening in the domestic field for a female missionary, but there Avas one in the foreign department, for the Society had just received a letter from Mrs. Hill, in Greece, stating her pressing need of assistance, and urgently requesting that a lady might be sent out to aid her in the schools she had established. On reading this my heart fluttered, and though I might justly have laid claim to this opening in Greece, I felt that I ought to let my friend have the refusal of it, since there Avas no opening for her at home, at Avhich she Avould feel disappointed. Accordingly I took the letter to her, and gave it to her Avithout saying a Avord of my own feelings in regard to it. My friend, after reading it, most unhesitatingly said she had never thought of the foreign field — that she did not feel she could possibly make \ip her mind to leaA^e her country AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL liECOLLECTlONS. 13 and friends for a fureigu station. I then took back the letter, and felt that the opening was fairly placed before me for my consideration as to my accepting- it. I could not but feel that God had Himself called me to the enjoyment of what my heart had been so strongly and ardently set upon, viz., to become a missionary. This desire, however, as I have said, I had set aside as being far beyond my reach, and had subsequently turned my attention to preparing myself for doing good at home in a sphere which I felt ivas within my reach. But, lo ! just as the time was at hand when I hoped to commence active work at home (for which I had been for more than two years preparing myself), God opened to me a field of labour which I had not thought of occupying during all this course of preparation. Not only so, but it was the venj field towards which, at the time, my thoughts were always natvirally turning, from the fact that I had made a slight acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Hill at the Convention in Virginia, which took place the same year in which they departed to Greece. At that time they stayed at my uncle^s hovise in Win- chester, where I saw them. I also saw Mr. Hill or- dained, and the slight personal acquaintance I had made Avith them, caused me always to look with peculiar interest to the reports from the mission estabhshed by them in Greece. Thus I saw that God knew what was in my heart — that in its deepest recesses were hidden slumbering desires for a high and broad field of useful- ness to my fellow-creatures, which desires I had lulled to quietness from a consciousness of my ovv^n incapacity. " The circumstances and the way in wdiich this call to Greece was presented to me, has made me ever feel that it came to me directly from God, and tliat in choosing me for so high and important a station. He fulfilled His own words, that ' Not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble are called ; that no flesh should glory in His presence^ (1 Cor. i. 26, 29). As a further confirma- tion in my own mind that I was called of God to the work of this oxir mission in Greece, I bear in remem- 14 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. brance that three times, after the opening- in Greece was shewn to me, I was prepared to give it up, and each time the obstacle was removed by others, and not by myself. First, I felt it right to g-ive the refusal of the opening" to my friend, who, as I have stated, knew nothing of my feelings in regard to it, yet unhesitatingly refused it. Secondly/, after I had seriously and prayer- fully considered the matter of my accepting it, for a fortnight, during which time I presented it to myself in all the unfavourable lights I could think of, to trj/ myself TEMPLE OF VICTORY, ATHENS. and see if it were simply and truly a desire to do good, which inclined me to accej^t it, I found my purpose still steadfast. I examined myself strictly to see whether I was prepared to meet and overcome difficulties and trials, and to make sacrifices of personal comfort and ease, as well as to bear a long and, perhajjs, final separation from my kindred and country. I questioned myself further, to discover whether my faith and trust in Code's pro- mises was so steadfastly established in me, as that I could without fear leave the bosom of a large circle of kiiidred; from whom I had never yet beeii separated, and AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTIONS. 15 go forth alone — that is, ujimarried — to encounter the clangers of the mighty deep and all the uncertahities of social life, amongst those Avith whom I must live and labour. From each and all of these points of view, as I looked at them in imagination, my heart said, ' I am prepared, for Christ^s sake, to meet all these, believing that He who called me would give me all needful faith and strength to meet, bear with, and overcome all things.'' Thirdly, as I was of age I was not bound to ask the consent of any one ; but I did consult my grand- mother, and a dear pious aunt, both of whom encouraged me to enter the field so signally opened to me in Greece. At the close of the fortnight I found that, though every- thing inclined me to say / will go, yet I had not said it, even to myself, and I felt — I could not tell why — a hesitation, as if there was still something needful to make me feel that my decision was finally made. Just then I received a letter from my eldest and favourite brother — for he was then to us as a father as well as a brother — containing a statement regarding his religious views, which affected me most deeply, and settled all hesitation in my mind about deciding to go to Greece. I rose up with a firm and steady purpose of heart, and said, ' I ivill go;' having felt that perhaps if my brother could see the power of that faith which could enable me to forsake kindred and country for Christ^ s sake, exhi- hited m me, it might have a favourable effect on his state of mind. This caused me to decide on taking the important step. " I at once announced to my friends my decision, and through my friend Mr. Valentine, all necessary arrange- ments were made with the Society. Shortly after, I received my appointment to Athens, in due form. I then answered] my brother^s letter, and requested him to come to Staunton, to take me to my sister Eleanor^s in Frederic County — for she had left Staunton, having married, and was now settled in our old homestead. I proposed to pass the summer there, and make the necessary preparations for my departure. A few days 16 MISSION LIFE IN CUvEEOE AND PALESTINE. prior to my brother^s arrival I made a sliort visit to an aunt of mine^ and told her all about my future hopes and plans. I also showed her the letter from my brother, which had finally brought me to the decision. After reading it, she said she thought it right to say to me that her opinion was that my brother needed the soothing society of an affectionate sister, such as I was to him ; and that she imagined I would be doing much more good, and be more in the way of my duty, to go and live with him, and soothe and take care of him, and that she did not doubt but that I could restore to his mind the views he had once i:)rofessed. She much preferred my doing this to going alone among strangers to a strange land. I replied that if I thought my doing so would have the beneficial effect she sup- posed, I would not for a moment hesitate about my course — that I would at once abandon the idea of going abroad and devote myself to my brother. She then urged me strongly to do so (she was not a pious woman) ; and I determined that when my brother came I would propose to him what my aunt had suggested. First of all, however, I communicated to the clergyman of our church these suggestions on my aunt^s part, and my determination respecting them ; but he opposed it, saying that the matter had gone too far for me to draw back now. ' But,^ I said, ' t\\Q soul of my brother is dearer to me than that of any stranger ; and if by the step I now propose I can draw him back to his first faith toward God, I shall deem it my duty to do so. So my going to Greece must depend, after all, upon what he says to my proposition.^ When my brother arrived, I did make this proposition to him, but he would on no account agree to my giving up the missionary appointment. ' For,'' he said, ' I have not yet entered on my career, having just received my diploma as doctor of medicine. I am quite undecided as to where I shall settle myself, and time only can show if I shall succeed in my profession,' Thus I strove to learn what was my duty. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTIONS. 17 " There was just at this time some difficulty about finding suitable companions for the passage out. But I had met at the Convention most unexpectedly with Miss Mulligan, a sister of Mrs. Hill, who had come from NcAv York to attend tlie assembly. I at once asked her if she would not like to accompany me to Greece. She answered that for her own part she would be delighted to go, but she did not know if her father would consent to it. It was then settled that she should write to her father about it. She did so, and on the following day received her father^s consent. It was then arranged by the Society that Miss Mulligan should go out as temporary assistant to Mrs. Hill. Thus I Avas provided with congenial company ; and for escort, we both went out under the care of a clergyman going to Athens. " Upon reflection, I feel most certainly that I was called by God to the work of our mission. I did, and do, and ever sJiall feel sure of it ; and this belief" has been my consolation through all the twenty-five years I have been labouring in the field. Whenever I have felt oppressed by a sense of my shortcomings and in- capacity to do as much as I desired to do, I have remembered for my comfort that He whom I firmly believe placed me here, requires of me onlij io do the lest I can — as it is expressed in God^s Word: 'For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not."* Some of my relatives, who did not know — and if they knew, could not appi'eciate — the motives which actuated me in taking this step, said they were sure I should soon repent of it, and would return home before two years had passed. One said that I was ' going on a Avild-goose chase.' I replied to them, ' You are mis- taken ! I feel that I shall not return for at least ten years, and that my engagement in the missionary field will be for life.'' Eleven years passed before I returned to visit my native land and kindred ; and then I "vvas absent from Greece only sixteen months. Now, 18 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. after twenty-five years of service in this very mission^ I here testify that never once during all these years have I for a moment repented of the step I then took ; and I now feel that in all my life, should it reach ' threescore and ten/ I shall not be able to accomplish the half of what I desire to do. I long- to be instru- mental in God^s hands in bringing those who are sitting in darkness, ignorance, and superstition, into the beauti- ful light of the knowledge of the gospel. I have ever esteemed the title of ' Missionary ■" the Jiighest of all earthly titles, and desire to labour on in this glorious work until I die.'''' Here ends this interesting autobiographical chronicle — broken off all too soon. Had she continued its story, we should have learnt from her own pen what difficulties awaited her in her entrance upon the Lord^s work, in the shape of objections and blame from near and dear friends. It was the old tale with some — that '' she was throwing herself away ; " while others deemed it a descent in the social scale for her, born of well-connected parents, and mingling in good society, to leave home " onlij a missionary : " forgetting that to become a co- worker with God, is to wear a higher honour than any derived from earthly surroundings or possessions. The idea of winning her brother back to his first allegiance to the Saviour, by means of her oAvn consecration upon the altar of service, bore good fruit. Reviewing the past, this brother says : " The halo of saintly Christian faith which ever encircled my sister, has often delivered my feet from falling, in the darkest periods of my earthly existence.''^ On receiving her appointment to Greece she at once commenced making preparations for her departure, re- turning meanwhile to the old home to spend the inter- vening time. Writing to the friend who was her chief companion in Staunton, and who was one of the trio which sat talking, on that ever-memorable day at the sewing meeting, of missions and missionary consecration, she said : " No one can know what a struggle it will AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL llECOLLECTIONS. 10 cost me to tear myself finally from the dear old place, so full of the memories of my childhood, and where my dear parents breathed their last. Yet do not imagine that I am sad and downcast. I assm-e you that I feel far otherwise in prospect of my work. I feel the promise fully verified, ' As thy day, so shall thy strength be ; ' and while I endeavour to look away from the gloomy to the jileasurable scenes before me, can remain quite calm and cheerful.-'^ She spent some time before sailing, in travelling with friends, and visiting different objects of interest in her native State, as well as at the North. She had a keen appreciation of the grand and beautiful in Nature, and her letters at that time were full of the pleasant scenes she had visited. This incident serves to illustrate the ivhole-Iieartedness of the sacrifice she was about to make. She visited the interesting scenes within her reach, as if prepared to wish them all, after one glance, a final fare- tvell. Henceforth her life, strength, hopes, and prayers were to be dedicated to the service of her God upon the missionary altar. It was not that she sought gain, for the salary offered her by the Missionary Committee only amounted to two hundred and fifty dollars per annum, or, as nearly as possible, one pound weekly. This pit- tance was only sufficient for a bare subsistence in a strange land; but, with her constant spirit of self- sacrifice, she was perfectly willing to supplement the deficiency by drawing upon her small patrimony. That she did this, her after correspondence shows, even to the extent of impoverishing herself, upon the opening of a boarding-school in Athens. In many other instances, also, she spent freely of her own property to sustain the cause of Christ in a foreign land. Next to her brothers and sisters, who were now scat- tered about in different homes, or in educational estab- lishments in the State of Virginia, INliss Baldwin felt most the separation from her grandmother. This lady was remarkable for her sterling piety, sound sense, and affectionate treatment of all who came witliin the range c 2 20 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. of her influencG. After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, the chief direction of the orphaned family had fallen upon Mrs. Ilite, and faithfidly had she carried ont the charo-e. In all Miss Baldwin^s snbsequent corre- spondence, we find her referring- to this aged grand- parent Avith words of the deepest gratitude and reverence. It was indeed a trial of faith on both sides to part : on the one side it must have been felt that the journey and the banishment from the native land, must preclude any idea of a very speedy return ; r/liile on the other side the aged Christian lady must have realised the fact that at her age she could scarcely expect to see her grand- daughter again. But each Avas prepared to make the sacrifice. The love of Christ Avas the grand constraining poAver ; and each believed most firmly the promise, " Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or Avife, or children, or lands, for my name^s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.''^ Accordingly, in the strength of faith and full of confidence in the Master, Avho had called her into the vineyard, Mary Bakhvin addressed herself to the Avork. That Avork Avas surrounded Avith many stirring- memo- ries. In the land from Avhich Ave received our Epistles to the Corinthians, Philippians, and Thessalonians, and among- the people to Avhom Paul preached the truth about the " unknoAAni God,'''' and declared salvation by Jesus Christ alone, her life AA^as noAV to be passed. Yet her Avork Avas not all pleasure — certainly it AA^as not an easy one. The story AN^hieh in Apostolic times Avas an '' offence " to the self-righteous Jcav, and " foolishness " to the polished Greek, Avas still, to a large extent, despised. But Avhat missionary — from the primitive age of the Church doAVUAvard — found his or her jatli, a path of roses ? CHAPTER III. GREECE AND ITS PEOPLE. " Gods of Hellas ! gods of Hellas ! Can ye listen in your silence ? Can your mystic voices tell ns Where ye hide ? In floating islands, With a wind that evermore Keeps you out of sight of shore ? Pan — Pan is dead " 0, twelve gods of Plato's vision ! downed to starry wanderings, With your chariots in procession. And your silver clash of wings, Very pale ye seem to rise, Ghosts of Grecian deities I Now Pan is dead. " 0, ye vain, false gods of Hellas ! Ye are silent evermore ! And I dash down this old chalice, AVhence libations ran of yore. See I the wind crawls in your dust, Worm-like, as your glories must, Since; Pan is dead." Mks. Barrett Browning. HERE is no land — save Palestine, the cradle of Christianity — which possesses so many stirring- memories, so many nnrivalled asso- ciations, as Greece. Rome has its ancient story too ; it also has played its ])art, in the history of the \Torld, of civilisation and of Christianity. Bnt Greece contains both sacred and classic soil. When Paul the apostle journeyed from Palestine to Athens, he traversed district after district populated l)y Greeks. As we read of him in Galatia, Pamphylia, Lycaonia, 22 MISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. Cilicia, Cyprus, Lysia, Troas, Phrygia, and Samothracia, we remember that lie journeyed constantly among the Greek people, contesthig their superstitions, mingling with their life, arguing and expounding with them con- cerning the new religion — which yet, in its essence, was not new, but the teaching of the Eternal One. All through Asia Minor, in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, as well as on the mainland of Greece, Paul was surrounded by this ancient, civilised, and cul- tured people. ox THE COAST OF CYPRUS. The ancient name of Greece was Hellas, and this appellation still clings to her in classical poetry. The people of that day were called Hellenes — a name to which some of the most patriotic modern Greeks tenaciously cling. These Hellenes, or Greeks, have done most to promote human culture. Wherever the Greeks made their way, either by conquest or by com- merce, they took culture with them. Indeed, commerce^ colonisaiion , and culture attended their conquests and their progress, in most marked proportions. What the Eomang won by force of arms^ and retained by the awe of their martial power^ Greece both won and re* GREECE AND ITS PEOPLE. 23 iained by more peaceful arts. Brave, too — the Greek people fought and conquered on many a field ; the names of such heroes as Alexander the Great, Achilles, and Ag-amemnon, and such struggles as those of ]\Iarathon and Thermopyke, prove that the Greeks Avere brave to the deatli. Durino- these centuries of THERMOPYLAE. conquest, district after district of country became theirs by right o£ arms. Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace, the ancient Chalcidice, and the whole region extending northward to the Danube, was Grecian, as well as the whole of the seaboard on the ^Egean Sea. Constanti- nople itself— then known as Byzantium — ^Svas in the ethnological Hellad." It is no wonder that with such R history, the provinces of true Greece, now under the 24 JIISSION LIFE IN GREECE AND PALESTINE. lieel of Turkey, are restless and impatient. Turkish oppression accords ill with Greek culture ; the two can no more amalgamate, than can darkness with light. Modern readers who are not acquainted with ancient history, fail to realise how much of the Turkish empire once belonged to Greece. The ancient Greeks excelled in commerce, poetry, BUST OP HOJIER. architecture, sculpture, and painting. Remains exist to the present day shov/ing the beauty of their statues, the magnificence of their temples, and the splendour of their literature. The great masterpieces of Greek literature are still studied in our schools and colleges. Demosthenes, Homer, and Thucydides are studied by thousands of scholars, old and young, to-day, as models of the purest eloquence, clearest style, and most perfect poetry. The Olympic games were designed chiefly for GREECE AND ITS PEOPLE. 25 the honour of learning and eL)quoncc; their generals were all orators, and the laurel crown marked a nation^s approbation. Spartan valour, and Lacedemonian courage are still things to be spoken of and imitated in our day, as the attributes of a brave, learned and cultured people. In Sparta, a noticeable fact was the reverence incul- cated upon youth for age, but in that province only. It is recorded in ancient story, that in a large assembly an aged, poor man, bending on his staff, looked in vain for a seat, until he came near the place occupied by the Spartan ambassadors, one of whom immediately got up and gave him his own seat. At this open mark of reverence for age all the assembly applauded. Another legend records the valour of a Spartan boy, who, sooner than be detected in a theft, allowed a fox to eat out his vitals. With such discipline and surroundings it was not wonderful that the Greeks should become noble, brave, and refined. As a social body, it is recorded that they had a great hatred of drunkenness, and would on certain occasions cause some of their slaves to become intoxicated, in order to show how odious and despicable a drunken person could become in the eyes of others; so warning their children from the practice of drunkenness. This vice was in all ages an offence against Greek taste, even when not prohibited by higher motives. It is also curious that in some j^rovinces they imposed penalties for not marrying, for late marrying, and for marrying unsuitably, deeming these things to be offences against the commonwealth. By the law of ancient Athens, condemned criminals died by drinking poison, not by public execution. This law permitted no penalty severer than a quiet and painless death. The criminal on the day of his death was freed from his chains, and allowed to have his family and friends present in his cell, in order to make his last arrangements and bequests, and to receive com- fort from those nearest to him. When the appointed hour drew nigh, the jailer came in and left the cup GREECE AND ITS PEOPLE. 27 of poison u^ith the condemned, merely giving him directions how to take it, and enjoining- that it should be drank by a given hour. This poison was usually a mixture of hemlock. After drinking the potion, the criminal sat quietly in the presence of his friends until life slowly and quietly ebbed away. When all was over, the body was given over to the friends for private burial, except in very noted crimes, when it was cast out into an appointed Golgotha, outside Athens. So- crates, one of the greatest philosophers of Greece, who flourished about four hundred years before Christ, died in this way. His enemies accused him of introducing innovations into their religion, and of ridiculing the gods, as well as drawing away the minds of the Greek youth from their belief in the established mythology. Upon these charges he was condemned to death; and after discoursing with his friends for some time upon sublime and scientific subjects, drank the poison, and was soon dead. This celebrated man taught his disciples in the Lyceum, or in the groves of Academus; the reader will easily see the reasons why these names have been handed down to modern days as the abodes of learning and study. Xenophon and Plato were two of his most illustrious disciples, flourishing about three hundred years before Christ. The religion of the ancient Greeks was a complicated system of mythology, in which gods and goddesses of all ranks, characters, attributes, and degrees, were supposed to rule over the destinies of mankind. Every household had its altars, which were crowned with myrtle and other foliage, and ornamented with votive offerings. Among others, they worshipped the following deities : — Pan, the god of shepherds : huntsmen and dwellers in the country observing festivals in his honour. He is generally represented as a goat, and is said to have in- vented the flute. Jupiter was the most powerful of all the gods, and supposed to be the ruler of the kingdom of heaven. This god was worshipped under various names »nd by various nations; being- known as the Ammon of 28 MISSION LIFt IN GIIEECE AND PALESTINE. the Africans^ tlio Osiris of EgypL^ and the Behis of Babylon. He vv^as supjDosed to be the son of Saturn, and brother to many other g'ods and goddesses, all of whom possessed great power, but none so complete and universal as himself. Juno, the queen of the gods, and the sister of Jupiter, was represented as the deity of power, empire, and riches. Apollo was the god of the line arts, music, poetry, and elocpience, being* further sup- posed to be gifted with the power of knowing futurity. His oracles were in great repute on this account, and splendid temples existed in his honour in Greece, Italy, and Egypt. The Delphic Temple was the most famoiis shrine at which this god was worshipped, and it ^^'as from this oracle that the utterance " Knoio th//self" is said to have proceeded. In Rhodes a famous Colossus was erected in his h