AMEN."




CHAPTER VI.


THE SEMINARY.

MAE YOHANAN.--STANDARD OF SCHOLARSHIP.--ENGLISH BOOKS READ IN
SYRIAC.--EXPENSE.--FEELINGS OF PARENTS.--DOMESTIC DEPARTMENT.--DAILY
REPORTS.--PICTURE OF A WEEK DAY AND SABBATH.--"IF YOU LOVE ME, LEAN
HARD."--ESLI'S JOURNAL.--LETTER FROM PUPILS TO MOUNT HOLYOKE
SEMINARY.--FROM THE SAME TO MRS. C. T. MILLS.

When Mar Yohanan returned to Persia after his visit to the United
States, in 1843, Prince Malik Kassim Meerza, who could speak a
little English, asked him, "What are the wonders of America?" He
replied, "The blind they do see, the deaf they do hear, and the
women they do read; they be not beasts." Having visited Mount
Holyoke Seminary, he often said, "Of all colleges in America, Mount
Holy Oke be the best; and when I see such a school here, I die;"
meaning that then he would be ready to die. When he brought her
first boarding scholars to Miss Fiske, he said, "Now you begin Mount
Holy Oke in Persia."

As she sought to reproduce one of our female seminaries, as far as
was possible in such different circumstances, it seems fitting to
enter somewhat into the minutiae of its arrangements.