Missionary Intelligence.

EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE LETTERS.

THE following interesting letter, from one of our Missionaries in Syria, was read before the Ladies' Missionary Society of Allegheny congregation. We call the attention of our Sabbath schools to the suggestion at the close. How many will respond?

Our building, notwithstanding all the Doctor's efforts, still lingers. Providence only knows what toil and weariness he has had about it. If he had not pushed and economized as he has done, it would not have been finished for four years yet. As it is, we intend, Providence permitting, to begin our regular school in it the 1st of September. We have received money direct from one Sabbath school, enough to keep one Fellah child a year, and they think they will be able to support three more. Another school talks about undertaking to keep one or two; they have not decided yet. Could you not undertake something of the kind? You might do as others are doing. Send the money direct to us, not troubling the treasurer of the Board with it, and then we will be directly responsible to you for the assigned use of it. About $50 a year will keep a girl or boy, after the first year. For the first, of course, it will take more, as we need beds, desks, &c., to start with. Our mission, professedly, is to the Fellaheen. They are the only real heathen in Syria. They worship the sun and moon. We are persuaded, after experience, that the only way to be successful among them is to take the children away from their friends for a time, until religious principles can be established in their hearts. Inefficient as the boys' boarding school was before, being necessarily in the hands of a native, located at a distance from the houses of the missionaries, much good has resulted from it. Those of the boys who were in the school that have married, treat their wives very differently from the rest of the people. They do not whip them, or allow them to go out and work in the field, as do the other Fellahin.

A Fellah woman is about on a par with an Indian squaw. Her husband smokes and hunts, while she plows, sows, reaps, and attends the house and children. And if God, in his providence, gives her daughters instead of sons, she receives an extra share of ill treatment and abuse. Wives in this country are bought, and then treated as slaves of the very lowest kind. If a man kills his wife by ill treatment, the law taks no cognizance of it. Above all, we must elevate the women. I paid a visit, about two months ago, to two of the villages where we have schools. If we could set a Fellah village in the diamond of some large city, we could make money enough by the exhibition to keep the Mission a year or two.

If you can, imagine fifteen or twenty one-story and one-room houses, built side by side and separated by three-feet passages, "the invariable type being four walls formed of unhewn loose stones piled up in two rows, with rubble between. The roof is supported on a post of wood,

usually the trunk of a tree with the bark on.

This carries transverse

beams. These, in turn, support smaller branches, and these slighter, till, over all, myrtle is placed, and then earth some inches thick, which is mudded over on the approach of winter. The inside walls and door undergo the same process. There are no windows, and the door is often so low that I would have to stoop to enter. The fire

is made in the middle of the floor. One or two mats or quilts for a bed, and mud receptacles for wheat, constitute the furniture of the house." The house into which I first went had been freshly covered with mud, and looked rather respectable. In one corner was a stick slung at an angle, on which were two hawks, for hunting. In a corner was a native loom for weaving coarse muslin, of which their clothes are principally made. In the opposite corner, seated on a coarse straw mat, were ten or twelve boys, comprising Yusef's school. In the other, if it had been winter, animals would have been, and even yet would be, at night. This house had an extra piece of furniture, i. e. a few boards about three feet off the ground, to lay the bedding on. We were invited to a seat on this, which we took, feeling rather uneasy lest we should carry away more than we brought. All the women in the village gathered in the room and about the door to see the Frank girl. A great many of them had never seen a civilized woman before, and I was duly examined. One girl, after standing looking at me for a while, asked me what made me leave my friends and come here alone? I told her as well as I could, but she did not seem to appreciate my motives.

After examining the boys as to their acquirements, we mounted and rode a half hour across to another village. The door of the teacher's house, which is also the school-room, was not any higher than a common bureau. With difficulty I managed to double up and get in, when we were invited to a squat on the floor. As soon as my eyes became accustomed to the light, or rather absence of light, I saw the boys squatting on a mat, rocking back and forth. My ears before had been apprised of their presence. It is customary in Arab schools for the children to repeat their lessons out loud. These, to show their diligence to the strangers, had commenced in their loudest key. The room, unbemudded as yet, with its winter accumulation of smoke presented anything but an inviting picture. I could scarcely realize the possibility of human beings living in such a condition. The anxiety to see me was so great that the women crowded around the door, shutting out what little light and air there were. So the teacher proposed we should adjourn out doors under a tree. The whole village gathered around to see a girl from a civilized country. The gentlemen-Salem Sauleh, my Arabic teacher, and a missionary from Beirut had quite an interesting talk with them. Mr. Frazier said it was quite worth while to take me along, if only to collect a congregation. When we mounted to leave, I had on a large sun bonnet, to protect me from the sun, and my hat was slung over my arm. A woman came up and asked me what the hat was. I told her, and she asked me if I wouldn't put it on. To gratify her, I did. She said it was very pretty. I talked with them as well as I could, and they were pleased as children at being noticed.

Don't you think there is sufficient necessity for trying to take these girls out of such a condition and trying to show them something better, and awaken in them a desire after better things? There is far more necessity for educating the girls than the boys, for as long as the young men have no other resort than to marry such wives, the children cannot be better than their mothers. We will have accommodations in the building for ten of each sex, and I think the different Sabbath schools could support that many without calling on the treasurer for anything extra. If you send to us direct, we will keep you posted as to the progress of your protegés, which will make it more interesting for the children.

Mr. Beattie, under date of July 1, writes:

We intend opening the school in Latakiyeh the 1st September. The prospect is that pupils, both boys and girls, will be obtained from the Fellaheen without difficulty; all we need is money to support them. A little help on the part of the Sabbath schools of the different congregations will furnish, without trouble, the requisite support. The 2d church of New York-I mean the Sabbath school of that churchhas already forwarded the support of one pupil for a year, with the belief that they will be able to do more. A lady also, from the same congregation, has volunteered to bear the annual expenses of one, from her own pocket, and has forwarded the amount, $50 in gold. Let this example be imitated, and funds will not be wanting to fill our boardingschool, nor will the burden thus distributed be felt. It is befitting that the children of the Sabbath schools should enter into this. .I hope that they will be encouraged to do so, both for their own sakes as well as the good of the needy Fellaheen.

Mr. Dodds writes from Aleppo, July 12th:

We have been in Aleppo now for nearly a month, and it is only now that I have found my first leisure for writing to you; and now I have time for only a few lines, as the post goes out this evening, and I have other letters to write. Our parting was very painful to us, not only on accouut of the severance of ties that were very close and tender, but also because we left the brethren at Latakiyeh quite overburdened with labor, responsibility and care.

God prospered our journey when we moved, and we arrived in Aleppo five days after leaving Latakiyeh; and although we were all considerably fatigued, we made our arrival sound in health and limb, and without any considerable damage to our goods; and now we are as comfortably settled down as we were in Latakiyeh, and in some respects, more so.

Our Bible class on Sabbath forenoon, has hitherto, since our coming, numbered from twenty to twenty-three or four, and our audiences at preaching on Sabbath afternoon, from twelve to twenty. About half of those who attend at these exercises are constantly fluctuating, so that we have some new hearers almost every Sabbath: and I generally make it a point, at almost every meeting, to explain the way of salvation, so that those who hear but once must either accept Christ and be saved, or reject him and be without excuse in the day of judgment.

In our Bible class we take the New Testament, in order, as long a lesson each day as we have time thoroughly to sift, and first read the lesson over verse about, and then ask questions all round, taking the passage, verse by verse, giving in the mean time such explanations as the ignorance or errors of the persons present demand, and adding, at the close, some words of exhortation. This exercise sometimes elicits some lively discussion and controversy. We open and close, of course, with devotional exercises.

The boys' and girls' schools here number, each, more than forty pupils. The former I visit almost every day, and the latter occasionally. They both require some modifications to increase their efficiency and usefulness; but these will have to be introduced gradually.

I received, last evening, a letter from Muallim Isa, our native helper at Idlib. His account of the state of the work there, is encouraging. His school has over thirty pupils, boys and girls. He has meetings. with a number of adults, for their religious instruction, every evening, and twice on the Sabbath. Latterly, also, the children of the schools mostly meet with him on the Sabbath for religious instruction.

On the fourth Sabbath of May we dispensed the sacrament of the Lord's supper. By the way, I suppose bro. Beattie or the Doctor has informed you, before this time, that at the same time-that is, at the close of the communion-we baptized one of the Fellaheen, a young man by the name of Hassan, but who, at his baptism, took the name of David, and who has a wife and one child. I have much hope that Hassan wil prove useful, and that his wife, too, will, in time, be brought to Christ, as she appears to be quite docile, and he is very diligent in teaching her. I have a long story to tell you about him, but I have not time now.

Ecclesiastical.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYNOD OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF IRELAND.

FROM the August number of the Covenanter (Belfast), containing the Minutes of the Synod of the Church in Ireland, we make the following synopsis:

The Synod met in Londonderry, Monday, June 29th, at 7 o'clock P. M., and after a sermon by Rev. J. Kennedy, it was constituted with prayer. Rev. C. K. Toland was chosen Moderator, and the present Clerk continued.

During the past year there has been no decrease among the constituent members, but an increase of one-Rev. Joseph Hamilton, pastor of the congregation of Garvagh. The number of ministers now in connection with the Synod is 28, of congregations 36, and of members 4,610.

Delegates from the Scottish Synod were present and addressed the Court. Messrs. J. L. M'Cartney and W. P. Johnston, being present, were invited to sit and deliberate. Mr. M'Cartney, by request, ad

dressed the Court, giving an account of some of the operations of the church in this country.

The motion made last year for discontinuing the practice of requiring public proclamation of banns of marriage was renewed, and after a protracted discussion it was agreed "to pass from the subject at present, and hold it under consideration for another year."

An able report on the subject of Ministerial Support was presented. and several resolutions proposed for the adoption of Synod, among which are the following:

"3d. That in no case shall Presbyteries proceed to the ordination or induction of a minister over a self-supporting congregation on a lower stipend than £100 ($484 in gold), in the year.

"4th. That Presbyteries be instructed to use their influence in having a manse secured, if possible, in every congregation in the church." Interesting and encouraging reports from missionaries in the American Colonies, Australia, and at home, were presented. The propriety of engaging more actively in the work of Foreign Missions, was discussed, but nothing definite was done. Mr. James Torrens, a theological student, offered himself to go out as a "medical missionary" to Syria.

The report of the Theological Hall represents that institution as in a prosperous condition. "Ten students were enrolled" the past year. Drs. Dick and Houston still continue to discharge, with satisfaction, the duties of Professors.

The Synod adjourned to meet in Belfast on the last Monday of June, 1869.

ORDINATION OF A. W. JOHNSTON.

THE Commission of the New York Presbytery appointed to ordain and install A. W. Johnston as pastor over the Craftsbury (Vt.) congregation, met according to appointment, Aug. 5th, and was constituted with prayer by the Moderator, Rev. J. M. Beattie.

The trial discourses-a lecture on Isaiah 61: 1-3, and a sermon from 1 Peter 2: 7, first clause, and the examination, which was conducted at considerable length in Ilebrew, Greek, Theology, &c.—were very cordially sustained. Prof. Sloane preached the ordination sermon, from 1 Tim. 3: 1, impressively setting forth the excellency of the work of the Christian pastor. After answering the usual queries, Mr. Johnston was ordained and installed, Mr. Beattie conducting the solemn service. J. C. K. Milligan addressed the pastor, and D. M'Allister the people. The attendance upon the exercises was unusually large, the church being filled to its utmost capacity. A pleasant and encouraging feature of this settlement was the hearty welcome given to the pastor, not only by the members of the congregation, but also by nearly, if not entirely, all the rest of the numerous audience present. We trust that, by the Divine blessing upon the labors of pastor and people, this congregation may be as a vineyard which the Lord has blessed. D. M'ALLISTER, Clerk.