The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-06-01
AMERICAN WOMAN
WHO MADE GOOD
Yankee Schoolma'am Defss Turks
lis Brought Home at Last TO
Die Among Her Own People

Corinna Shattuck spent most of her
life in a part of Turkey seldom seen 10y
tourists. hut the HeW who eve did
penetrate to her homo in ancient
Oorfa brought back marvellous stories
of It striking ana forccrul personality
She was born in Louisville. Nv, but
was brought up ny grandmother in
New England. and after graduation
from the birmingham normal school
began her public career as a teacher
in far-off Antab under the auspices
OF the American board. immediately
she began to show daring and a
genius for organization that belong t.
leaders of great enterprises. In less
than year she was Careening on
| horseback all over central Turkey to
select places for opening schools for
girls. The education Ut women was
not exactly popular in that part of
the world, and her abrupt business
methods made Il sensation among
| Turks and Arabs. She was Il familiar
! figure throughout the whole region.
claid in a plain black dress. destitute
of any trimming, with a stocky riding
whip in her hand and an enormous re
| NolVer dangling at her side She was
always being arrested for not having
! her passport with her. and these ar
| rests invariably ended with profound
| apology from the official before whom
! she was brought. The natives under
stood perfectly that she was not to be
| trifled with. and her word was law
both among officials and her assistants
Her perfect fearlessness was once
manifested during the fury OF the
Armenian massacres in a way that
placed her in the forefront of the
worlds heroes. The terrified students
were hudled in Il school building. cX-
pecting every moment to be dragged
forth to death and torture. A Turkish
officer came to the front entrance and
demanded that Miss Shattucll and her
pupils come out peaccably She looked
him squarely in the eye and without a
tremor in her voice began to deliver a
good old New England sermon on their
sins to the officer and his men, who
crowded behind waiting for the signal
to make a dash into the building She
/ ended her TRADE by saying that if the
| Turks entered it would be over her
in their faces. The men withdrew
grumbling, but within half an hour
another great pounding was heard on
the door. Again she opened it, this
time to see q Turkish soldier with
drawn sword who had been sent back
by his superior to guard the building
The lives of 800 women and children
We're saved that night by the courage
OF this plucky Yankee Schoolmarm.
The real greatness of Miss Shat
tuck's character, however, is meas
ured not by these exceptional deeds of
personal bravery, but by the pcrma-
nent institutions and industries which
she has built up in the city of oOrfa.
Hundreds of children We're mad"
orphans by the Armenian massacrcs
for whom homes must be provided.
! For hundreds of women work must be
found, and boys and girls must be
trained for self-support. She set
about this triple task with character
istic energy. The result is an cduCa-
tional and industrial plant in the ira
ditiOnal home % Abraham that would
make the old patriarch rub his eyes in
wonder. There are four shops where
| the Armenian orphan boys are taught
| to be carpenters, Cabinct-makcrs,
smith, tailOrs and Shoc-mnkcrS. They
make chains, bride bits, stirrupS,
locks, hammers, hatChcts, etc. The
work is done between school hours
and during the evening, thus cOmbn-
| ing manual and mental training after
| the most approved modern methods.
! The superior workmanship in the iron
shop has brought the patronage of the
owners of large rug factory in
OOrfa who had been obliged to send to
AleppO, five days distant whenever
their machinery needed repairs. one
| farm boy has recently returned from
Marash, where he spent a year study
ing in an American agricultural col
lege. Now. with pair of good work
horses, he says he is busy turning up
the soil that never saw the sun before"
He has two American plows. IA cult
vator and seed Sower. The boys
We're very proud that the contract for
| furnishings OF a new hospital built by
the provincial governor, was given to
them. The chairs, writing desks,
medicine cupboards, operating table
and instrument cases are entirely their
handiwork. They are acknowledged
to be the best craftsmen in the city. so
they always have orders on hand. The
lumber came from trees which Miss
Shattuck bought herself in the neigh
borhood, as the expense was too great
to bring it from the nearest market.
Her freight train consists of six CamelS,
three of them bought with money
from the sale of her own good horse
Her two tailor shops are the only ones
which import goods from Great Brit
ain and sell to other tailors in the city.
The master workman in the shoe shop
also has charge. three months in the
year, of vineyard which supplies
grapes and raisins 'tDr the orphans to
eat
All Of these various Industries have
been under the direct personal super
vision of Miss Shattuck until her re
cent return to the United Statse. For
years she worked with only one lung,
and physicians testify that nothing but
emcndOuS viii power kept her alive.
| on the passage home she was supposed
to be dying more than once, but the
indomitablc spirit refused to leave the
achievements before leaving Turkey
was to oversee the building of high
wall of heWn stone which enClOscs this
great Industrial plant. In her report
she said: AS the yard was being
cleared and lcvelcd we had a delight
full surprise. They discovered an am
cient cistern in perfect state and in
tb. bayt nhsGfIIa bl1ra IL ptttt1 lac fnt