mission premises? This was doubted by many, and all had their fears;
yet in August an appropriation was made for the support of six
boarding pupils, who were to be entirely under the control of the
mission for three years. Some said they could not be obtained for
even one year, and not one of them would remain to complete the
three. Even Priest Abraham said, "I cannot bear the reproach of
having my daughter live with you." At that time, scarcely a girl
twelve years old could be found who was not betrothed; and years
were devoted to the preparation of a coarse kind of embroidery, a
certain amount of which must be ready for the wedding.

One day in August, Mar Yohanan said to Miss Fiske, "You get ready,
and I find girls." She devoted that month and the next to
preparation for her expected charge. But the day came for opening
the school, and not one pupil had been obtained. The teacher was
feeling somewhat anxious, when, from her window in the second story,
she saw Mar Yohanan crossing the court, with a girl in either hand.
One of them was his own niece, Selby, of Gavalan, seven years of
age; the other, Hanee, of Geog Tapa, about three years older. They
were not very inviting in outward appearance; but it did not take
Miss Fiske long to reach the door, where the bishop met her, and
placing their little hands in hers, said, in his broken English,
"They be your daughters; no man take them from your hand." She wrote
to a friend an account of her success, adding, "I shall be glad to
give them to the Lord Jesus, and love to look on them as the
beginning of my dear school." These two pupils were supported by
ladies in Maiden, Massachusetts, and the number soon increased to
six; but fifteen days after, two of them, finding the gate open,
suddenly left for home. Their teacher did not think it advisable to
follow them; nor did she see them again till, ten years after, an