The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-03


|, two years prevented us from reaching
even one woman in Mitrovitsa, have
fallen, and during our third yearly
visit last spring we had invitations to
five homes and the opportunity to
meet many women. To our few
brethren there had been given spirit
Of suppncation for the women of their
families, and the news that quickly
followed as to Salonica was fully ex-
pected, that Mary, the tailors wife,
had returned to him with two of their
children, their only boy having died
during the months while she aban-
doned her husband and his home be-
cause he had become a Protestant
We expect to hear, too, of the return
to his family Of his apprentice, who
is bearing expulsion from his fathers
house in the same city, because he
would not confess to the priest Gro
man Catholic. The reception of these
two brethren to the little evangelical
pray even more earnestly for the I'M
believing wife and parents. Now they
rejoice with us. as our tailor writes
that his wife eagerly listens to his
reading of the Bible at family prayers
All! his labors were not for naught
when two Of us visited Mitrovitsa last
March; although he waited in vain for
his wife to invite us to see her, yet
with a heart at leisure from itself"
he led the informal service of song
and prayer at our room in the khan
two evenings, with about dozen at
| each service.
Last autumn our beloved Mrs.
Kerefinka Oosheva labored as Bible
woman in two new villages Varva-
| ritsa is a tiny hamlet of 16 houses
hidden among the Strummitsa hills
Our one brother here returned to his
home last year. after serving a term
in the prison of the Seven Towers in
Salonica, on the accusation of having
fed brigands. His soul was filed with
zeal for his neighbors and friends and
he gladly welcomed the Bible woman
to his one-roomed house for a month
while she taught the women and chill
dren who came to her. Those were
two happy evening which two Of us
spent in Varvaritsa and its neighbor-
ing village of Vilusa during corn
husking last autumn. Under the
glorious harvest moon we husked with
the merry young folks and sang gospel
hymns to them. "Sing us another"
| they pleaded; 1--WE never heard such
songs before" Preacher Knioff and
his companions sang 1.-THE Ninety and
Nine" and II viii Sing Of Jesus"
while hush fell upon the jolly crowd.
The light shone steadily from this
humble home until the political dis
turbance which broke out early this
year compelled our Brother Easil to
| flee into free Bulgaria, lest he be
thrown into prison again upon some
suspicion.
Kolesheno is another village in
which Mrs. Oosheva worked for the
first time this year, and later in
Dorian. In the latter place, after a
season Of earnest inquiry, one family
came out on the Lords side and called
! for teacher Although the husbands
work was at once cut off. when he
I declared himself a Protestant, they
shared their home with our Bible
/ woman and rejoiced to see their
veranda filled with women and chill
dren who constantly sought her. Ever
! the 10-year-old daughter of the house
had to bear her cross for Jesus, wher
her teacher refused to call her by
name, but said scornfully: Now we
will hear what this Protestant will
say" But the Ihappy-faced maiden
| lifted her dark eyes bravely to tell us
TN bear this cross for Jesus, who
bore so much for me-"
We have great hope for this place,
beautifully situated upon the lake
bearing the same name. that 1t viii
yet have an important part in the
evangelization of perhaps
as a resort for Christian workers at
summer conferences, classes, and the
like. Our hearts have ached for an
other such worker as Mrs. Oosheva
to go to waiting homes in Guevgueli,
Bagdantse and other places. These
open doors are so many and so far
exceed our present ability to enter that
we call upon our friends to pray, as
Savior. him Gp1f aniofnnd fffha
of the harvest that He will send labor
ers into his vineyard"
Schools were maintained last year
for the first time in Drama and Prisht-
mia. 1t was a happy day last spring
when the young teacher of the latter
school, Miss Esther S. Mladenovitch,
a daughter of the leading Servian
family there, marshaled her 13 little
Servians in line and led them out for
the first time as a school, Her father
and other friends accompanied her
and we went to the Protestant ceme-
terry on the hillside, where the children
plucked wild flowers and decorated
the grave of our noble friend who last
year was laid there, and of the little
children who had preceded him to
heaven. We have great joy in this
first Servian evangelical school and in
the tactful, successful work of its
young IGdcHeT, WHO ldSL
summer from our Monastir school.
Prishtnia is one of the places calling
loudly for a preacher and our hearts
sadden as we think Of son Of one of
the leading evangelical families there,
to whom our eyes had turned as the
first Servian preacher, now far away
in America.
1.-TWO of our older schools-Bansko
and Murtnio-advanced their course
last year. Schools were continued as
usual in Mehomia, Banya, Elashnitsa,
Gurmen, Monospitovo and Todorak,
all the teachers being charged with
the spiritual nurture of the pupils and
their families, as well as with their
mental development. Five schools
were visited at their closing exercises
those at Todorak, Murtino, Monospi-
tovo. Kortscha in Albania and Mo-
nastir. We congratulate the Kortscha
school upon its successful advance
ment from a day school to a boarding
school.
May the spirit of God endue all
teachers and Bible women, as welf as
other laborers for the evangelization
Of Macedonia, with wisdom and con-
secration of soul, to meet her need
at this most critical period of her
history"
DR.. C. Frank Bliven of this city, has