The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-09

The first noted woman archae- ologist was Mime. Schliemann, who ac- companied and assisted her husband Tn his expIorations in Asia Minor and else where. Since then other. ladies have gone with their husbands on other ex- plorations and have done valuable archaeological work, some of It original notably that of Mime. Jane Dieulafoy- the French lady who has worn mascuI line costume ever since she tried stun,b ling around in skirts in ancient Persia. and found 1t wouldn't do. Mme. Alice D Le Plongeon, now of New York. also accompanied her husband through dan ger and discomfort in Mexico and Gen. tral America and showed herself as good a man as he and merry com rade. The wife of Professor Flinders Petrie was her husbands companion among the ruins of prehistoric Egypt.
 It has been left. however, for some English and American ladies to go out entirely on their own account and mako explorations and discoveries that have thrown new light on ancient centuries.
 Tn England there were two ladies. twin sisters, devoted to each other and to Biblical study. To help them in their Scripture studies they learned Syriac, which scholars believes to be the language spoken by Christ himself. They had heard that in the monasteries perched among the mountains of Syria and that region there must be yet un- discovered manuscripts of Bible times. They resolved to go there and search for themselves.
 The names of the twin sisters are Mrs. A. L. Lewis and Mrs. Y. L. Gib- son. They are very learned women. Both are Ph. .D.'s of the University O. Halle and IL. D.'s of St. Andrews.
 They went on their quest of old Scripture manuscripts. It led them to the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. There, proving them selves to be Christian scholars and ar chaeologists and not mere women, Of whom the monks had a horror, they were admitted and allowed to search the whole unused part of the monas- tery. In vacant cells were old docu- ments the good fathers of St. Gather ines had never thought worth examin- ing. The English ladies found these and set themselves to the task of deci- phering the faded papyrus.
 Their hearts leaped for joy when they discovered a palimpsesr that had un- derneath its outer writing another which proved to be a record of the saying of Christ and which dated back to within q century and half of his actual life on earth. thus constituting it the oldest New Testament document extant. One of the sayings was set down as quoted by Jesus from Rabbi Hillel of Babylon instead of being orig inal with him, and it was nothing less than what we now call the Golden Rule.
 Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson are still pursuing their studies and investiga- tions into ancient Scriptures.
 Meantime a young American woman has dug into history still farther back on the very ground where the history made itself.
 A Boston girl, Harriet Ann Boyd. who received her preliminary education in the Boston public schools. entered Smith college in 1888. While she was there Amelia B. Edwards, the Egyptol- oeist, came to America on a lecture tour and gave an address at Smith. Harriet Boyd was deeply impressed with Dr. Edwards story of achaeolog- ical research among dead and gone peoples The impression remained through the girls college years, ano when she was graduated at Smith In 1892 the desire to make such investi- ratfon for herself had become strong. She repressed 1t, however, for a time and went south to teach school. Again the old longing to take hand in dig ging among ancient ruins famed up strongly. and at length Miss Boyd yielded to 1t.
 Her imagination drew her to Greece as a promising field. She went to Ath- ems and entered the excellent Ameri- can School of Classical Studies. She devoted herself first to the mastery Of modern Greek. While she was study ing with all a scholars enthusiasm the war between Turkey and Greece sud- denly burst forth. Harriet Ann Boyd dropped her books and turned army