CORINNA SHATTUCK ‘ V ( c < »^ uf H^< o > fr i, *** r ** i < * * * **g» MISSIONARY HEROINE CORINNA SHATTUCK MISSIONARY HEROINE PREPARED BY EMILY CLOUGH PEABODY PRINTED BY The Woman’s Board of Missions of the Interior Room 1315, 19 S. La Salle St. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 1913 I Copyright, 1913 By Woman’s Board of Missions of the Interior. TO MISS MYRA C. PROCTOR WHOSE CORRESPONDENCE WITH CORINNA SHATTUCK FOR MANY YEARS MADE THIS NARRATIVE POSSIBLE CORINNA SHATTUCK. CORINNA SHATTUCK— MISSIONARY HEROINE “Sacrifice your personal rights but be like a rock for your principles.” These words were the motto on a simple hand-made desk in an ancient city of Turkey-in-Asia, but they reveal the spirit of the noble missionary who sat at this desk many hours each day planning for her hundreds of Armenian orphans. All the world knows how Corinna Shattuck was true to her motto on that awful day of the massacre in Oorfa, when she stood “like a rock” between a ferocious soldiery and hundreds of helpless fugitives. Only her closest associates know with what persistence she “sacrificed her personal rights,” as she worked on half¬ pay, with only one lung, for over twenty-five years at a station three days journey from the nearest missionary. “If she had lived in the fifth century,” writes a friend, “the ascetic simplicity of her life would have surrounded her head with an aureole and her memory with legends; only you cannot put an aureole on a Puritan woman in a cotton frock, and we are tired to death of legendary sanctity.” Corinna Shattuck was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 21st, 1848, of sterling New England ancestry. Left an orphan at four years of age, she was brought up by her grandparents in Acton, Massachusetts. Here she learned lessons of industry and strict economy, also the value of high ideals and an earnest Christian faith. She became a teacher 5 at sixteen, but three years later her pastor’s wife awakened her interest in missions and she entered the State Normal School at Framingham in preparation for the life of a mis¬ sionary. Having limited means she was obliged to board herself and live very simply; but so highly did she value a good education, these difficulties seemed insignificant. To interest her fellow-students in missionary work, she began correspondence with Miss Myra Proctor, a former graduate of the school, who had charge of a hoarding school for girls in Aintab, Turkey. It is to he regretted that these letters of hers have not been preserved, for they so impressed the missionaries at Aintab that Miss Shattuck was asked to join Miss Proctor as soon as possible after her graduation, and she sailed for Turkey, August 27th, 1873. Of her first experiences she writes: “My journey was a very pleasant one, for my traveling companions of the mis¬ sionary party were like old friends. I am almost useless until I get my tongue, hut I go to the school every day to study and see the girls, as I want them to feel I have an interest in them.” Three years afterward Miss Shattuck was able to join Dr. Fuller in touring the Oorfa field where later the great work of her life was to be done. Of that trip Dr. Fuller writes, “Those six weeks of travel, consultation and en¬ deavor fixed in my mind an estimate of her devotion, courage and resource which places her in the front ranks of mission¬ aries. The following incident will illustrate my meaning. One day Miss Shattuck and several friends climbed nearly to the top of Mt. Casius to watch the sunrise the following morning. When it was time to return to the school the muleteers saw their opportunity to produce a “corner” in 6 TURKISH SHEPHERD. mules, and made their prices so exorbitant as to be pro¬ hibitory. While the gentlemen of the party were considering what to do, Miss Shattuck, with characteristic wit and ener¬ gy, found a way to the nearest city and from there sent back a caravan to take the rest of the party home. She, herself, did not return to Aintab for several months, but spent the time in touring, and traveled nearly a thousand miles on horseback. “But,” says she, “I feel amply repaid in the knowledge I have obtained of the people and of the work in our great field. I now plan to start for Oorfa, where I hope to open a school for the more advanced girls. With the exception of a native assistant, I must go alone, as none of my associates can he spared just now.” As a teacher in Aintab Seminary, Miss Shattuck might have been content simply to teach her regular classes, work among the women in the city as there was opportunity and enjoy the comfortable home of the Mission Station. But she could not forget those who were more needy, and finally left Aintab, with an Armenian teacher, for a four months’ stay in Oorfa. She writes from there a few weeks later, “Our school numbers thirteen girls and five women. The women take only Bible lessons. They are very regular in attendance hut Turkish is hard for them. No ‘four months’ can decide whether or not our work is successful. Two years is short enough time to fully inaugurate a system of schools. This week we begin to teach sewing. The girls are very anxious for it and it will act as a bait and a diversion. We get new pupils bv visiting from house to house. Our girls come to Sunday School and I have organized two classes for women. Pastor Abouhayat is giving interesting sermons on Sunday afternoons. Such close attention by the people and such splendid teaching exercises by a native, I have seldom, if ever, 8 seen. Today there were no less than two hundred women and girls present and the men’s side of the church was over¬ full. “Yesterday the Pasha called and as he asked especially for me, I was sent for. He talked of my work here and ex¬ pressed real interest. Indeed, he was very agreeable—but how I did long for an American man. Sometimes it is hard to feel myself so alone. I do not want to be bold and un¬ ladylike, neither do I want to ignore my American citizen¬ ship by putting myself on a level with natives in everything.” At the beginning of the next year ( 1878), Miss Shat- tuck, taking with her a native teacher and a younger girl to teach in the primary school, went to Kessab for several months. Here she was twice as far away from her Aintab associates and thirty-six miles from the nearest postoffice. But at the Annual Meeting of Missionaries, three months later, both she and Miss Proctor resigned their positions in th: Seminary, and asked the privilege of working in the out- stations of Aintab. They were assigned to Adana for the school year, beginning in October. The day that the school opened, only one girl was pres¬ ent, but in the course of three months there were eighty pupils. Although all of these were girls from Adana homes yet many of them were as rude as mountain children. All that winter Miss Shattuck had been in poor health and as it was almost time for her first furlough she was ad¬ vised to go to America for a year’s rest. Colorado sunshine and invigorating air together with some library work at Col¬ orado College brought increased health, and the encourage¬ ment that she might sometime return to her work in Turkey. Occasionally her letters revealed the restlessness she felt. “How can I,” she writes, “spend my time in this College 9 library doing mere manual labor which a dozen others might perform much more skillfully, when I could be telling those poor souls over in Syria of a Saviour who has redeemed them. Telling them, too, in their own tongue, which I have spent so many months to acquire.” But she was very happy while in Colorado, and wrote to a friend, “I have everything to be thankful for in so many of the comforts of life; so many kind friends and so much of health enabling me to enjoy them. But especially I give thanks for a contented, restful, happy spirit in the realization of what a year ago I could scarcely endure the thought of.” She transferred her church membership from Framingham, Massachusetts, to the First Congregational Church of Colo¬ rado Springs, throwing herself heart and soul into the church activities, especially its missionary interests. After four years she was permitted to return for work on half-pay in the Girls’ College at Marash. One lung was practically useless, but she slept out of doors during the warm season, and kept her hands so busy with manual labor and her thought so full of plans for Christian service she had but little time to think of herself. It is most significant that the work which was to distinguish her as a missionary still lay in the future, and covered a period of twenty-seven years. Her work in Marash was largely teaching Bible and History, with some touring in the neighboring mountain towns. In one of her letters she remarks, “I find I must do more teaching in the school. Somehow, in spite of lame Turkish there is something the girls get from us which they do not get from native teachers. Vim is the English name for it.” In the summer of 1892 Miss Shattuck resigned her position at Marash and asked to be assigned to Oorfa. The io EPHRAIM TOWER IN OORFA mission granted her request, and accompanied by Miss Mel- linger, a new missionary just getting the language, arrived in Oorfa in October, and began at once the usual work in Sunday School, day school and friendly visitation. Early in 1895 rumors of the political troubles reached Oorfa. Massacres in the Moosh country drove thousands of refugees into the hills about the city where they were stricken down with fever. Miss Mellinger, while caring for some of them, contracted the disease, made a remarkable recovery and went to Smyrna to recuperate, leaving Miss Shattuck alone, except for her native helpers. In October the city was devastated by a mob, hundreds of shops being demolished, houses sacked and about sixty people killed. Soldiers were stationed about the Christian part of the city as guards, and none dared go into the Moslem quarter or beyond the walls. The Christians were obliged to give up their fire-arms and then forced to open their shops and resume business. For a few weeks all was quiet, but the restlessness of the Moslems suggested another uprising. Miss Shattuck now made every effort to remove her house¬ hold to Aintab but was not able to secure the necessary traveling permit from the government. She writes at this time, “No permit as yet. If I cannot leave I accept in peace the will of God and remain. He knows what He has planned for me.” On Saturday morning, December 28th, one hour after the long-waited-for permit was granted, the anticipated attack came. M iss Shattuck herself must tell the story. From Saturday morning until Sunday night “innumerable crowds of Moslem residents, joined by Kourds from the villages and assisted by the soldiers, went about entering the homes, ferreting out its hidden men and butchering them like so 12 many sheep. Women and children were unmolested unless they tried to protect the men. Later, the women and chil¬ dren were removed from the homes and taken in crowds to Khan, Mosque or Moslem homes, while the houses were robbed of everything, even doors and shutters. All the while this work was going on we were carefully protected, military officials frequently sending me salaams and im¬ ploring that I ‘be not disturbed.’ One guard stood outside my street door calling, ‘This is the house of a foreigner; it is not permitted to enter here.’ Neighbors rushed in pell- mell over our walls, our guards shouting that they must not come, and our servant trying to keep them out. But it was impossible to stop them, and by Saturday night I found they were everywhere; in my private rooms, the kitchen, the stable, anywhere to be under my shadow. “Poor things! What was I to do? I need not say I slept none that night. I devised a plan, submitted it to a few of the most reliable men, entreated and persuaded them to go to the school-room of the Protestant church, and in a few hours I had all the men off my premises, hidden and under lock, the key with myself, and supplied with bread and water for twenty-four hours. It was a heavy responsi¬ bility I carried, but less risk than to retain them in my home. Sunday afternoon martial music was heard and a grand procession of military and civil officers appeared view¬ ing the streets and homes. They requested entrance to our yard and asked that I appear on the veranda. Salaams were then offered and they begged that I would not be disturbed. Peering into windows, they inquired if we had men here. We could honestly say ‘No, only women and children.’ All day there was the smell of burning wool and cotton in the houses fired, and later the sickening odors from the great 13 holocaust in the Gregorian Church, where some three thou¬ sand having gone for refuge, perished. Monday, the work was declared done. The Kourds and Arabs were driven away by the soldiers and announcements made that people were safe. “Slowly they began to come out of their hiding holes— wells, vaults, drains and all imaginable places—some not having tasted food since Saturday. The dead number about five thousand and the Protestant loss is one hundred and ten. Our pastor and several important leaders are killed. I have the pastor’s six children with me; their mother died two years ago and they have no one who so properly as myself can care for them. My servant, Hagopjan, remained close by me through all those perilous hours. “Everybody’s house is empty. There is no work, no confidence in the Government, all are utterly crushed. I am told that the Sultan himself sent a telegram for my pro¬ tection. While I am thankful I am spared that I may serve, yet I would willingly have died that parents might have been spared to their children. The end we see not. We are in a thick cloud, but God lives and we will trust Him though all expected help of man fail.” Just after the massacre the Pasha sent an officer to in¬ quire what Miss Shattuck needed for her household. Her requests were speedily granted, and among the provisions was a bag of white flour as a special gift for herself. She sent back word, “There is no difference here; the white flour and the brown flour will be used together for all.” Miss Shattuck’s courage and resourcefulness saved at least three hundred lives during those frightful hours of mas¬ sacre. But now she was confronted with a situation which taxed her abilities to the utmost. The hundreds of destitute 14 people were in need of food, clothing, and the means to make their own living. Their faith in God had received a ter¬ rible shock and they questioned His goodness. Before the school could be opened or services resumed in the churches relief work was necessary. Gifts of money from other parts of Turkey, from the Red Cross Society, and from friends in America provided clothing and some few household neces¬ sities. The widows were put at work tying mattresses and quilts, and it was a great satisfaction to all when conditions were enough improved so that school work could he resumed and the teaching by the Bible women. One sorrowing widow remarked, “It takes the fire out of my heart to read God’s words.” Truly, “God’s word and their work were the two blessed panaceas for those sorely afflicted women.” After as many orphans as possible had been placed with relatives and friends, there still remained over three thou¬ sand unprovided for. From these Miss Shattuck took sixty boys and girls under her care, but the number soon grew to one hundred and fifty, although they took none whose mothers had been left with less than four children. Before long the accommodations were overcrowded and Miss Shat¬ tuck was obliged to send half the boys to the German or¬ phanage. Her motherly heart hated to part with any of them for, as she says in a letter, “Long has it been in our mind as a hard, hard thing to send any away, yet it is the right thing that about one-half go, so the Lord will help us over this. However, as I looked them over at prayers last evening I was glad I did not know which.” Denied children of her own, Miss Shattuck became the mother of Armenian orphans. She had a parent’s heart for them. There was no woman in the land who had as big a nursery as she, and the organization of these helpless women i5 AT THE SCHOOL PUMP, ADANA, TURKEY. and children in different forms of industrial work reveals her tireless energy, and her ability as a business woman. One of Miss Shattuck’s associates thus wrote of her: “Miss Shattuck was a born leader and organizer, and could endure more for a woman of her physique than any one I ever saw. Under a somewhat cold exterior was a warm and sympathetic heart; but she wasted no time in useless pity. She worked better alone, but at the same time was a true friend who was not ashamed to tell one of her shortcomings. With her, a thing was either right or wrong, and she was often so stern with wrongdoers it would seem that she almost hated the sinner along with the sin. But not so; no one forgave more fully than she, yet it was only after fruit was brought forth meet for repentance. She wanted nothing halfway. Hers was a lonely, hard life, but she did her work and a grand one it was. As an example of unselfish devotion and untiring energy she has no one who excels her.” 16 Work with the girls naturally began with washing, cooking and sewing, while the boys learned to bake bread for the three Homes, make shoes and work in the vineyards. Like all mothers, Miss Shattuck had not only to provide work for the big hoys but recreation for the little folks, who are quite as wiggly in Turkey as America, also Sunday had to he made a pleasant and helpful day for a family of more than a hundred children. That she was a wise as well as a kind mother is revealed in a letter which she wrote several months later in regard to one of her boys who had made considerable trouble. “The solid satisfaction we take in that fellow now so contrasts with the extreme trouble he formerly caused us, we praise God and hope for the most hopeless of the rest of the set.” Many difficulties had to be met before the industrial work was established. In this devastated region business was stagnant, and a market was necessary for their goods. There was no money to supply even the material needed to keep two thousand people at work, or provide competent teachers. For the widows it was necessary that they should be taught to earn their living at once, while the boys needed more to learn a good trade for future use. Even ip America the organizer of industry is one of the greatest benefactors in any community. Often the pros¬ perity of hundreds of homes is dependent upon his genius. How much more must this have been true in that desolated region where the organizing genius was a frail woman with¬ out capital or competent assistants, and a market three thou¬ sand miles away. Oriental silk embroidery was revived and this together with delicate work on handkerchiefs and collars, gave regular employment to the women. There was very little demand 17 for this work in Turkey, so after four years’ experience Miss Shattuck visited Europe to make arrangements with several wholesale firms for the disposal of goods. SCHOOL GIRLS, TURKEY. It is gratifying to know that a German firm and the McBride Company in Belfast, Ireland, became her agents, they furnishing material and paying for the work done. From this time the embroidery work was established on a successful business basis and additional workshops were opened in adjoining towns. Over two thousand women and girls were regularly employed and five hundred dozen embroidered handkerchiefs were shipped every week. So crowded were the living rooms of the station, first with the boxes and bales for the relief work, and later with materials for the embroidery industry that for twelve years M iss Shattuck was obliged to use her own private room as a storeroom and workroom, taking down her bed and sleeping on a couch or out of doors. Her generous nature led her to share everything she had with the largest possible number. But Miss Shattuck never forgot that she was, first of all, a missionary, and no work was ever given out until a passage from the Scriptures had been read and explained, and a prayer offered. She also required certain hours of study that all might learn to read God’s word. Thus the widows and orphan girls learned the blessed¬ ness of work to relieve great sorrow; were taught to sup¬ port themselves and live the Christian life. While M iss Shattuck was in England arranging for the embroidery work of her women, she held meetings in all the large towns and cities to raise money for the support of the orphans. But England was absorbed in the South Afri¬ can war and the visible results of her winter’s work were few. In the spring she went to the United States, and here also, the slowness with which her work progressed almost overpowered her. “Say nothing to any but the Father,” she writes, “but it is getting to be almost an anxiety, and that is forbidden.” Later some large gifts came that were very acceptable, so that when she started for Turkey in September, she was very happy over all that had been accomplished. “The Lord has prospered my undertaking, and I worked faithfully to the very end,” she writes a friend. 19 Arriving in Oorfa in September, 1900, she says, “The land never looked so drear, or the home so in need of paint and polish, but I am exceedingly happy in being here; glad to find my helpers all well and the children—how they have grown!’’ She had, however, a real disappointment in failing to bring with her a trained and efficient young man to take charge of the boys and their work, and it was not until four years later that she found the man needed—Mr. George Gracey of Belfast, Ireland. Now began systematic work with the boys. A tailor shop and shoe shop were opened, also shops for carpentry and iron work. The boys were allowed small wages for their work which was paid to them when they graduated and was often sufficient to start them in their trade. Many times manual labor roused the boys to better intellectual work, while working together also helped to overcome race prejudice, as there were Moslem apprentices in the shops and occasionally a Hindu. Farming was an important part of their training, for the people of that region needed to he taught how to culti¬ vate the soil. Considerable livestock was owned and cared for by the school, and the extra buildings necessary were put up by the hoys. That Miss Shattuck was a woman of strong faith and wide vision is shown in a letter concerning the industrial work. She wrote, “I feel the great need of bringing forward the common people more, although the thought of others is for educated strong leaders in school and pulpit work. I favor that heartily, but feel we need also skilled workmen to support such leaders and appreciate them. I would like manual labor not to be so despised by our college graduates. 20 PLOWING IN TURKEY I feel that our young fellows, as they enter upon their trades, should have more skillful fingers, more inventive power. Then they would desire to do differently from their fathers and grandfathers and become advanced workmen instead of plodding forever through life at a scanty existence. The missionary movement is taking this form even in dark Africa, and if not during my opportunity with these boys it will some day be true here.” Miss Shattuck’s presence commanded respect from every class of people. Among the Turks her masterfulness and ability to bend men and events to her will, greatly impressed them. The story is told by her servant, Hagopjan, of her trip to Ibrahim Pasha’s camp, three days’ journey by horse¬ back, to secure protection for her Orphanage farms which were terrorized by the raids of his horsemen. Scouts in¬ formed the Pasha of the approaching party and he, himself, came considerable distance on foot to meet them, an atten¬ tion he was never known to pay to any man. He took Miss Shattuck very courteously by the arm, as soon as she had dismounted, and led her into his tent of audience to the place of honor by his right hand. The great tent was crowded to the door with Arabs. Afterward he invited Miss Shattuck into the inner apartments where his chief wife received her cordially and proceeded to prepare dinner with her own hands. When dinner was served both of the wives of the Pasha sat at the meal unveiled. The first afternoon, according to the Arab custom, the Pasha asked no questions as to Miss Shattuck’s errand. So she did not suggest the subject until evening when the Pasha invited her to do so. Then he called the three Arabs who cultivated the Orphanage farms and had accompanied Miss 22 Shattuck, and charged them to be free from any anxiety, saying, “If a lamb of your villages is lost I will repay it with a camel.” When it was time for Miss Shattuck to leave, the Pasha held the stirrup of her horse for her to mount and walked along some distance to bid her God-speed. The two villages were always absolutely safe after that trip and the Pasha sent a beautiful blooded Arab horse as a pledge and token of respect to Miss Shattuck. Several times the Arabs tested her power as mediator and she had many unusual experiences. The following story is told in one of her letters: “Our good Arab, Hamed, although innocent himself, belonged to a tribe a member of which had killed an Arab of another tribe several years be¬ fore, and the avenger was seeking Hamed. The Sheik had promised safety till the end of the harvest, but all said I must go and arrange for the man’s pardon. I left in the afternoon in our springless wagon with my servant along with me. The jolting hurt my poor weary head so much I felt I had made a serious mistake to undertake the journey. In the evening an Arab of a neighboring tribe entreated that we remain in his big tent over night and we accepted. He killed a lamb and prepared the usual feast, which we ate by moonlight and then I slept. An hour after sunrise we had bread and voghourt and went on. I had heard while on the way that the Sheik was in the city and I prayed con¬ stantly, ‘show me Lord, what I can do if I am to act at all; I came for this.’ We held a conference with the head men of both tribes who said I must go in person to those who de¬ manded Hamed’s death. We asked several prominent per¬ sons to go with us; one, a Christian merchant to act as in¬ terpreter, and with a full wagon we came to the home of the young man who had been killed. 23 “The first thing I saw in the darkened room as I entered was a pale, glaring-eyed woman lying on her bed ‘near to death' they said. Her husband, her son and a cousin were on one side of the room and our party on the other. The conversation began. I stated that I had come, not for a reprieve for a few months but for full pardon for the one whom they sought to kill in revenge for their son. At once the father poured forth a volley of fierce words; the dying woman slowly rose in hed and fixed her glassy eyes on me. I looked the pity and entreaty that I felt as I again pleaded for a definite answer. The woman finally pressed her hand to her heart and said, ‘I grant it.’ Then her husband did the same, then the son. The cousin now put on a fierce look and spoke at length. I watched the faces about me and cried in¬ wardly to God to spare from blood then and there for others were also growing fierce. I allowed but one at a time to speak, and urged the cousin to give his answer. Finally he said, ‘I grant it,’ and the fifth relative also granted it. “Then the aged brother of our Hamed rose, came across and kissed the father and others and I said, ‘Our work seems done. Let us thank God and I will go.’ The father then said, ‘Has anyone in all these years ever come to my house entreating me before? She has come all this distance, would not anyone yield?’ How I longed to tell them of our (and their) Mediator! The lesson has burned deep in my soul ever since. Then an immense copper tray, four feet in diam¬ eter, full of rice and meat was set before me and I invited the family and others to sit down and eat. Later they said, ‘Had the Sheik been here it could not have been done so, but this is far better.’ ‘May it prove so,’ I said and prayed with them. So good is again seen out of adverse circum¬ stances and I felt the jolting far less coming home, partly 24 because I rode in the saddle over the roughest portion and partly because I was very happy. Dear people! That ‘love is the fulfilling of the law’ is the thought ever before me as I see and listen to them.” Her own words reveal her in¬ ner life of these days. “I have too little leisure for long communing with God, but I do keep by the Saviour’s side and I look constantly to Him for guidance. It is a sweet almost strange life that I have walked step by step through these intricate ways, and have seen the snarls untangle and the grand blessing continue. I tremble lest something upset it; yet I will not distrust.” Being in one of the most isolated and dangerous parts of Turkey, three days’ journey from the nearest mission station, Miss Shattuck had but few guests and often for months she saw no one but natives. Yet she was extremely social by nature, and had a way of making much of her friends whenever they visited her. She once wrote, “How many times do we ‘entertain angels unawares’ from the lack of love and skill to draw them out.” Miss Shattuck always discovered ‘the angel’ in her visitors! Severe in all things which pertained to herself, she was wonderfully sympathetic in the suffering of others. This sympathy found beautiful expression in the work for the blind which Miss Shattuck began in December, 1902, and which is now known as the Shattuck School for the Blind. An orphan teacher in the day school, Mary Harootoon- yan, lost her sight and through Miss Shattuck’s influence was able to go to the Royal Normal College for the Blind in London, where she learned the Braille system and be¬ came very skillful in the use of the typewriter. Returning to Oorfa she gathered the blind children of that neighborhood and taught them to read. In a few 25 months this work developed into a school which was very dear to Miss Shattuck’s heart. She never wearied of visiting the pupils and watching their progress in the common school studies, Bible, music, mat weaving and lace making. The happiness of study and work transformed these afflicted children, and as one girl said, “At home, when¬ ever a guest came to see us, like a mouse I disappeared at once. Now I can entertain company and talk to them on different subjects and quite forget that I am blind.” In the summer of 1908 occurred the political changes in Turkey and the proclaiming of the new constitu¬ tion. Miss Shattuck’s letters tell of great restlessness among the people and defiance of all authority. Travel¬ ing without a permit being at last possible, everyone wanted to go some¬ where, and many could not distin¬ guish between liberty and license. “It is a hard year,” she says; “for all who have any Armenian groups to manage.” The great financial responsibility of the Orphanages and the heavy demands of the Industrial plant were becom¬ ing too heavy a burden for Miss Shattuck alone. The sad¬ dening massacre at Adana, where several of her friends among the native pastors and teachers were killed, and where Mary, her blind teacher, was held captive for so long that she was mourned at Oorfa as one who had perished, had a crushing effect upon Miss Shattuck, who was now in very One of the youngest in the Oorfa Blind School. 26 feeble health. At length she determined to go again to America in search of a helper, for she felt that if she could only come in touch with Christian young people she could persuade some young man and his wife to carry on her work. She thought also that a complete change and rest would enable her to recuperate as she had done before, and so in April, 1910, she left for America. That last evening in Oorfa she sat in bed surrounded by her orphan boys and girls. With tearful eyes they sang her favorite hymns and three blind girls sang in English, “God be with you till we meet again.” Miss Shattuck’s parting word to them was, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.” Faithful friends met her at different stages of the jour¬ ney and gave what assistance they could. All tried to per¬ suade her to give up the long voyage but she was sure the sea air would be beneficial. She made but one record in her notebook of the entire journey—“Came to Serouj in six hours.” This tells us better than words how feeble she really was. Sick and alone she took the steamer Romanic April 27th, but went at once to her stateroom and did not leave it dur¬ ing the whole voyage. Fortunately Dr. and Airs. William Allen Knight of Boston, discovered that the sick lady was Corinna Shattuck of Oorfa, and everything possible was done for her comfort during the rest of the journey. On arriving at Boston she was taken to a hospital and later to the Cullis Home, where she wrote to her friend Aliss Proc¬ tor, “I am at last hidden in a good place.” But the work of the frail, weary missionary was done; and peacefully, Sunday morning, Alay 22nd, 1910, she en¬ tered paradise. 27 One almost regrets that she was not permitted to die in the country where she had given her life. Yet it must be remembered she never laid down her work. Death over¬ took her while she was still on the march in search of a successor, and the very day she died she talked hopefully of future plans. The faithful Armenians of Oorfa would have asked no greater privilege than to have ministered to their beloved missionary those last days of her life. Denied this, they marked her resting place with a granite stone bearing the words, “In loving memory, by the Oorfa Armenians.” Although the body of Corinna Shattuck rests in her native land, her heart lies buried in the lives of the Armenian Christians of Oorfa. She fought the good fight; she kept the faith. To repeat her own words, “The Lord prospered my undertaking and I worked faithfully to the very end.” A worthy summary of the noble life of Corinna Shattuck— Missionary Heroine, 28