INE.

The city of Aleppo was occupied as a Station of the Syria Mission for
many years, until finally in 1855 it was left to the Turkish-speaking
missionaries of the Central Turkey Mission. It is one of the most
difficult fields of labor in Turkey, but has not been unfruitful of
genuine instances of saving faith in Christ. Among them is the case of
Miriam Nahass, (or Mary Coppersmith,) now Miriam Sarkees of Beirut.

From a letter published in the Youth's Dayspring at the time, I have
gathered the following facts:

In 1853 and 1854 the Missionaries in Aleppo, Messrs. Ford and Eddy,
opened a small private school for girls, the teacher of which was Miriam
Nahass. When the Missionaries first came to Aleppo, her father professed
to be a Protestant, and on this account suffered not a little
persecution from the Greek Catholic priests. At times he was on the
point of starvation, as the people were forbidden to buy of him or sell
to him. One day he brought his little daughter Miriam to the
missionaries, and asked them to take her and instruct her in all that is
good, which they gladly undertook, and her gentle pleasant ways soon won
their love.

Her mother was a superstitious woman, who hated the missionaries, and
could not bear to have her daughter stay with them. She used for a long
time to come almost daily to their house and bitterly complain against
them and against her husband for robbing her of her daughter. She would
rave at times in the wildest passion, and sometimes she would weep as if
broken-hearted; not because she loved her child so much, but because she
did not like to have her neighbors say to her, "Ah! You have let your
child become a Protestant!"

It may well be supposed that this was very annoying to the missionary
who had her in special charge, and so it was; but he found some profit
in it. He was just then learning to speak the language, and this woman
by her daily talk, taught him a kind of Arabic, and a use of it, not to
be obtained from grammars and dictionaries. He traced much of his ready
command of the language to having been compelled to listen so often to
the wearisome harangues of Miriam's mother. Sometimes the father would
be overcome by the mother's entreaties and would take away the girl, but
after awhile he would bring her back again, to the great joy of those
who feared they had lost her altogether. This state of things continued
two or three years, while Miriam's mind was daily improvi