IAW"* WHS COLLEGE {Y 1 HE Ta w\ /£#(• 'rt'l i s s /Y^a'Y • / rac GOSPEL AND THE COLLEGE OR THE POWER OF EDUCATIONAL EVANGELISM AS ILLUSTRAfl^4&LANATOLIA Of Anatolia College REV. Ch y » . BOSTON PRESS OF SAMUEL USHER 171 Devonshire Street ANATOLIA COLLEGE, MARSOVAN STATION. The GOSPEL i AND THE COLLEGE 5 r ~ A 1 l v » 1 '' 1 OR THE POWER OF EDUCATIONAL EVANGELISM, AS ILLUSTRATED IN ANATOLIA BY Rev. Charles C. Tracy, D.D. Of Anatolia College BOSTON PRESS OF SAMUEL USHER 171 Devonshire Street 1898 THE GOSPEL AND THE COLLEGE. As in temporal, so in spiritual warfare, there are strategic positions to be gained and held. As strategic ground for carrying on the conquests of Evangelical Christianity among the nations, none is more notably important than that of Higher Education. If higher education, in any land, is imbued with spirituality, the people of the land will naturally come under the same influence. If it is irreligious, who can wonder if the people lapse into irreligion ? In most lands where missionaries labor, the field is left open to them, as concerns the use of this instrumentality. Educated men and women from Europe or America can easily conduct schools which, in broad and enlightened culture, surpass the other schools in the countries where they labor ; at the same time they hold up Christ the Lord as the Divine Saviour and the perfect man, the model to which culture must aspire. These schools draw in the brightest minds, and the missionary finds himself at the center of influence. He sees at hand the richest soil in which to sow the seed of truth. The opportunity for powerful influence through educa¬ tional institutions is strikingly illustrated at Marsovan, in Asia Minor. A story briefly told will make this evi¬ dent. Schools and evangelism have grown together from the first. During the progress of that growth, some years ago it became manifest that education must enter on a broader field. Adequate supply of Christian laborers required this. The control, in the interest of the Kingdom of Heaven, of leading minds in communi¬ ties required it. As the demand for such an institution was rising in the minds of the people, in obedience to it 4 we began a high school, and it grew. The original four students soon became forty, and then three times forty. After a few' years the school was recognized as a college. There are now two hundred and twelve students in the collegiate and preparatory departments. The people pay willingly for the privilege of having their children trained here. We did not at first realize the extent of the field of which this v r as to be the educational center. It draws its students from an area of near one hundred thousand square miles, and is the only school of such a grade and character in this whole field. What does this mean? A territory nearly half the size of the German Empire, as large as Great Britain, nearly half as large as France or Austria, almost twice as large as all the New England States together, fairly well populated, in which wide terri¬ tory Anatolia College is the one institution of learning of a high grade. With such a field of influence, not the educational only, but the moral and religious character of the College becomes a matter of great moment. In that regard we are privileged to give a cheering testimony. The insti¬ tution was born in an evangelical atmosphere, and in that atmosphere it has lived and grown. From the begin¬ ning, instruction and guidance have kept in view, not the intellect and the present life alone, but the whole immortal man. The student has been looked upon, not simply as a man and a factor in the present world and course of things, but as an actual or possible child of God. Results have largely corresponded with hopes and efforts. Growth and expansion have been marked both in intellectual and spiritual life. The power of the Divine Spirit has often been manifest. Many souls have come to the feet of the greatest of masters and yielded themselves to his service. The demand made upon the student’s intellectual powers is as lieavv as he can bear, but at the same time the Book of books is brought with its mighty truth to the attention of every class, every da} 7 , in a brief but pointed Bible lesson. Each class in this daily morning Scripture lesson of twenty minutes receives, during the course, instruction in the history, doctrine, and precepts of the whole book of Divine Revelation. There are daily prayers, regular Sunday services, Sunday-school and weekly prayer-meetings in the College. More than half the graduates thus far are engaged in direct Christian labor, the same being true of many who did not remain to complete the college course. Some of the alumni are in high positions as professors and as head teachers in high schools. Some have entered upon medical or other studies, and won high honors in first-class institutions of the Western world. A large number of the students have united with the Evangelical Church. The number of those who have gone forth, after a complete course of study, without personal consecration to Christ, is believed to be small. The members of the Faculty and the assistant instruct¬ ors are, without exception, pronounced Christian men. Among American colleges, Princeton, Williams, Iowa, Oberlin, Carleton are represented in our corps of instruct¬ ors. Of teachers not American, all are college gradu¬ ates, one having had four years of post-graduate study in Heidelberg and Berlin, in preparation for the depart¬ ment of Natural Science. Another had a like course in an excellent American institution, with constant work in a fine observatory, in preparation for the chair of mathe¬ matics and astronomy, receiving from that institution the title Doctor of Philosophy. A third spent three years in post-graduate study at Athens, Greece, to become yet more thoroughly equipped for work in the teaching of Greek, his native language. A fourth took four years of 6 special study in New College, Edinburgh, in preparation for theological and scientific instruction. A fifth had two years of post-graduate study of Turkish Language and Law at Constantinople. For the department of French Language and Literature we are so fortunate as to have secured an excellent Swiss Evangelical pastor, born to the use of the French tongue and inspired with love for the missionary work. These are all men of breadth and brain as well as piety. The language of the College is English. As concerns other languages, there is a thorough course in Armenian for Armenians, in Greek for Greeks, in Turkish for all, as also in French. There are courses in Mathematics, in Natural Science, in Philosophy, in Rhetoric, in His¬ tory, in Economics, in Moral Science, in International Law. [For full information, see the Report and Cata¬ logue for 1897, to be had of Mr. Swett at the rooms of the American Board, Congregational House, Boston.] Our aim is, not so much to follow stereotyped methods and courses, as education best adapted to the age and coun¬ try. The principles of the institution are those approved after long trial, but the vital questions of our own day are constantly canvassed. Discipline in the College is somewhat severe. Narcot¬ ics and intoxicating drinks are absolutely forbidden. Any sort of vice, or even indulgence in vile language, constitutes sufficient reason for expulsion. The conse¬ quence is, that the institution has a widespread reputa¬ tion for moral purity. It is a joy to note how highly this is valued, how many wish to send their sons here on that account. There are several departments under the management of the College, of which brief mention may be made. The Home for Younger Preparatories accommodates fifty boys. It has separate quarters and monitors under GIRLS’ BOARDING SCHOOL. 7 the care of a missionary lady as matron. This arrange¬ ment is so highly appreciated by the people that when we enlarge the accommodations every place is imme¬ diately taken. Applications are made nearly a year in advance. Recitations are carried on in the College class¬ rooms, but the boys have dining, dormitory, and evening study rooms in their own quarters. The Self-help Department includes shops where fur- . niture is manufactured, a bookbindery, and an arrange¬ ment for the care of rooms, lights, fires, bells, and other work. The students are paid by the hour for their work, and according to its excellence. Sixty young men in this way earn the means to pay a part of the expense of education. The Medical Work of the station has strong con¬ nection with the College. 1 This is newly organized and bids fair to be very important. A first-class- physician, Dr. Carrington, of Philadelphia, is in charge. In College he will give instruction in physiology and hygiene. He has a dispensary and a hospital capable of accommo¬ dating fifteen patients. He attends to patients at his office four days in the week, and outdoor patients as far as practicable, though his office work is so overwhelming that little time or strength is left for broader operations. There seems to be no limit to the growth of this work but the limit of human strength. We hope to train nurses in the hospital. THE GIRLS’ BOARDING SCHOOL. Though we have not, and do not propose to have, co¬ education, in the ordinary understanding of the term, nor identical courses of study at present through the 1 See the accompanying Medical Report. 8 corps of college instructors and in other ways, there is a very strong connection between the two institutions. Many literary and other privileges are open to the stu¬ dents in both alike, and the general management has much in common. This connection is likely to become still stronger. The main buildings of the two schools are scarcely fifteen rods apart. The same emphasis is given to the education of women as to that of men. This Boarding School for girls has existed for thirty-five years and accomplished a very great work. It was organized by Miss A. E. Fritcher, with about twenty-five girls, and was at that time the only such school in the Western Turkey Mission, then including European Tur¬ key. In those days female education was pioneer work, and, among the people, was held up to ridicule as a silly innovation. Great is the change in public sentiment. Several boarding schools and a College for Girls at Con¬ stantinople have come into being within the territory which in 1864 could hardly furnish pupils for one small institution. The Marsovan Girls’ School has again and again out¬ grown its accommodations. At last it has a fine building cD o of wood and brick capable of housing from eighty to a hundred boarders and fifty day scholars. There are at present 140 pupils, of whom seventy-five are boarders. As concerns the grade of education, decided and steady advancement has been made; so also in efficiency of management. Mental training and character-building constitute the aim and object of the teachers during all the years of each pupil’s course. The excellent influence of the educated women who have enjoyed the advantages of this institution during past years is one of the most marked things in all this region. They constitute a dif¬ ferent, a cultivated class among their own people. Their sons and daughters, coming to us for education, manifest 9 the effects of their mothers’ training. What a difference we see in pupils whose mothers have had the blessing of Christian education ! The influence of vital Christianity in this school is strong. Spirituality, instead of losing its hold, seems to be getting stronger hold with the advance in numbers and attainments. The fact that twenty-five of the pupils in the school are members of the Evangelical Church reveals but a part of the truth in regard to their spiritual state. Concerning more than half of the whole number their teachers have a strong conviction that they have passed from death unto the life which is in Christ Jesus. Eight of the pupils have united with the church during the year past. The reason why there should not be great increase in the attendance at this school is the fact that it is not considered best to take in any more than we have. At present every pupil is under direct personal influence. The fear is, that with increased numbers this precious power will be lost. It is thought that the totality of influence over three hundred would make a smaller aggre¬ gate than the personal influence over a hundred and fifty. The number of instructors in this school is nine, exclusive of college professors and other instructors who give more or less assistance. As in the College, all the teachers in the Boarding School are decided Chris¬ tians in character and in profession. On the staff of instruction, Smith, Carleton, and Elmira Colleges are represented, as also the institutions for girls at Smyrna, Constantinople, and Marsovan. Three of the teachers are American, three Armenian, and three Creek. • •• ••••• In the College the number of students is 212, of whom 42 are Creeks, 170 Armenians. These students 10 are from forty-seven different towns scattered over ten vilayets or provinces. Among the larger towns repre¬ sented are Smyrna, Constantinople, Broosa, Trebizond, Angora, Nicodemia, Konia (Iconium), Castemouni, Sivas, Cesarea, Tocat, Amasia, Samsonn. Of those attending at the Girls’ School, 111 are Arme¬ nians, 29 are Greeks. Most of these are from the three vilayets of Sivas, Angora, and Trebizond. The difficulties met with in the prosecution of this educational work are often appalling, yet there seem to be none that cannot be overcome. The poverty of the people, restriction and espionage on the part of suspi¬ cious officials, would seem sometimes to render the prose¬ cution of our work impracticable, and still it prospers more and more. We now have, including both sexes, more than 350 young people under our instruction on these premises; including the 150 orphans, we have over 500. We have but to open our doors to receive hundreds more — had we the doors to open. Every corner is now crowded. Dormitories, recitation rooms, audience and dining rooms are all cramped and uncom¬ fortable. Such crowding would not be endured in insti¬ tutions at home. Few chairs are endowed, buildings are altogether insufficient; adjoining grounds must be secured, if we have regard to the immediate future of the schools. Does anv one ask what, in addition to heaveulv wis- dom and eartlilv common sense, is necessarv, in order to establish our hold on a territory nearly half as large as the German Empire, we answer laconically, Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars. 11 THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. For many years a well-organized Medical Department has been sorely needed at this center. All concerned are now glad to see the hope becoming a reality. The importance of this branch of work is such as fully to justify the strong feeling that has existed in regard to it. If the Author of Christianity cares for the body from the beginning of His ministry to the final resurrection, surely his apostles and missionary servants have not erred in showing it a like tender respect. Nothing appeals more strongly to human beings, especially the ignorant, than the benevolence which they feel in their nerves — which draws the thorn of pain, which brings misery to an end, which sets deranged organs to work again, which brings that sweet physical delight — the sense of returning health. There is no class or nationality in all this Babel mixture of peoples that does not sigh for this alleviation, and bless the hand that brings it, irrespective of race or religion. No hand is more readily grasped than the healing hand, no friend more welcome than the physician. The genuine missionary doctor, though he lives a toil¬ some life, enjoys a grand opportunity for the exercise of the best of influence. He, if any man, carries about with him the gospel of “ peace, good will to men.” Hence the open door, the boundless opportunity. The educational phase of medical work is one of special importance in connection with Anatolia College. The sound instruction given in Physiology and Hygiene, the new ideas to be imparted to students, and through them to the people far and near, cannot fail to exercise a strong influence on the whole generation rising with the dawn of the twentieth century. With the revolutionizing influence of the new science of Bacteriology in view r , mindful of the fact that missionaries occupy the lands 12 whence issue such scourges as cholera, that desolate many parts of the earth in their progress, who can fail to see the importance of the spread in those lands of ideas which will secure different hygienic conditions, and spare the world so much of its woe? During centuries, Christian neglect of the unenlight¬ ened nations has again and again brought calamities on all Christendom which might have been largely or wholly avoided if those who profess the religion of Jesus had been obedient to his commands, “ Preach the gospel to every creature; ” “Heal the sick; cast out the devils.” It is proper here to make known the fact that the Medical Department, with all this vast work in view, has no certain financial provision. Such provision is earnestly looked for; may the hope not be in vain. Were such a department established on the same foundations with Anatolia College, under the same charter, enjoying the same solidity and security, it would extend its powerful influence over the same great field, be a blessing to all the people of that field, and a right hand in evangeliza¬ tion. Yet, further, it is capable of being an important contributor to medical science, for there are phases of disease in this country for the study of which the Western world scarcely has the opportunity. Connected with the medical branch there is a small hospital, with accommodations for fifteen patients. Three or four persons have had some degree of training as nurses, and the sick are far better cared for than they could possibly be at home. The peculiar effect of this hospital work is specially interesting. From a multitude of such things only brief mention of a few can be made. A little orphan boy was brought in loaded with such a complication of diseases, together with such curious dis¬ tortions of the bodily frame, that the poor child seemed 13 a hopeless case. He has become so far cured and recti¬ fied as to be a happy child in school with the rest. A gypsy woman was brought in with a diseased and ruined eye. There was no remedy but the removal of the eye. She remained some time in the hospital and heard what she had never heard before — the gospel, the moral law. She learned that it is wrong to steal and lie. She was astonished at the new world of ideas opened up to her ignorant mind. She said, u I have lost an eye, but 1 have got light inside,” and went away wondering at what she had heard and seen in the hospital; doubtless to tell it all to her ignorant and degraded people. Another case — a sort of deaconess belonging to another communion, full of prejudiced ideas against the evangelical faith — was brought to the hospital in a dying condition. The assiduous care of doctor and nurses saved the poor woman’s life, and she was filled with gratitude. The ice of prejudice is melted away. A case past recovery was brought in — a poor woman in terror of death. Everything possible was done for the body, to little purpose ; but as she listened to the story of Christ’s love, realized her share in the blessed gospel, the fear of death was entirely taken away. She laid herself down to die in peace upon the bosom of divine love. A consumptive came in ; she was far gone, and, after being treated some time, went home to die, but wrote back loving and happy letters. She had found in the hospital, through the Scripture readings and the fervent prayers she had there listened to, the peace that the world cannot give. She soon departed to be with Christ. A Mohammedan woman came and suffered the ampu¬ tation of a foot. She was in the hospital some weeks and recovered. During this time she was very full of 14 gratitude and wonder at the kindness shown. When the gospel was read, and prayers were offered in the different rooms, she begged that she might hear those words and that the nurses would pray with her. It seemed very sweet and beautiful to her, and she departed to her village full of those changed feelings. More cannot be said here, but the above instances show how effective this labor for the sick is, not only in restoring bodily health, but in bringing to the ignorant the knowledge, and to the suffering the consolation of the gospel. Most grateful acknowledgment is here made of the devoted service rendered in this hospital work by Miss Josephine Taylor, of London, England, during the past year, while she herself was suffering through weary weeks from physical pain and weakness. Dr. Carring¬ ton, on his arrival, found the little hospital already established, under Miss Taylor’s wise and efficient direc¬ tion, though suspended for a time on account of her sickness. Much good had already been accomplished in it. Dr. Carrington’s medical report is herewith pre¬ sented : — Report for the First Three Months of the Medical Department of Marsovan Station. We have a small hospital situated just without the walls which surround our college buildings. This hospital was opened about a year ago bv Miss Taylor, an English lady, but on account of her illness was closed after six months. It was put in full operation again about the first of November upon our arrival. The building was originally a native house, which has been somewhat remodeled, and is at present large enough to accommo¬ date fifteen patients and the necessary attendants. 15 For a dispensary the station has set aside a small building of six rooms, situated at the city entrance to the compound within. These include doctor’s consulting room, dark room for examining eyes, drug and waiting rooms. Four mornings a week have been given up to out¬ patient work; Mondays and Fridays to the city and surrounding country patients ; Tuesdays and Saturdays to the students of Anatolia College, the Girls’ Boarding School, orphanages, and servants within the compound. During the past three months there have been exam¬ ined at these clinics five hundred and fifty-five individual patients. Of this number three hundred and twenty- seven were medical cases, and ninety-seven were minor surgical, the operations being performed in the dispen¬ sary building, chloroform being administered in about a third of the cases. One hundred and fifteen were dis- 4 eases of the eye, and the great majority of this number have averaged ten treatments each, making a total of eleven hundred and fifty applications to the eyes. Six¬ teen cases were major surgical operations, and were per¬ formed in the operating room of the hospital. Thomas Spees Carrington, M.D. February 16, 1898. rWUH n \\ \\ \ • 11 /« »* \ ♦\ / [J - \\ f E; w r L ' —.. 1 - ' ' \ \ i n ^ u i L •=.•.! i i ^._. 1 - --—--\ 1 1 l i 1 \ _i L.—fpVg KEY TO PLOT. A. Anatolia College Buildings. B. Girls’ Boarding School Build¬ ing. . Open Court within, 30 x 40 ft. . Director’s House. . Home for Younger Prepara¬ tories. I. Dwelling of Mr. Riggs. r . Dwelling of Mr. White. . Orphanage for Girls. L. Rented Garden and Boys’ Orphanage. S. Shops of the Self-Help Depart¬ ment. P. Projected New College Build¬ ings around quadrangle. O. Site of projected Observatory in field, highest part of grounds. Z. Small house lately bought, con¬ taining fountain of pure drinking water. E. Exit to public road outside of city. N. Gate opening into street leading to the market. Two other street gates at Z and R I. -• Boundaries of ground possessed. Outlying lots not owned by the institutions. -Roads.