Evening star., 1947-03-02
An Unofficial Envoy Returns From Syria

teaching one year at q rural school
before going on to finish her edu.
cation at the University Of Califor-
MIA. Two other things happened to
her in this period. When war broke
out In Europe, she lost almost every
thing she had inherited from the
countess. Also, while at Valparaiso,
she married q fellow student from
whom she separated-permanently
after q few months.
Clearly, however, Essie by that
time was already indestructible as
well as undefeatable. Her work at
the biological station-18 hours a
day of it-solved both her financial
and emotional problems.
When she embarked on her Syrian
adventure, turning her back on the
life she had built for herself here
to take what she had learned where
she thought 1t was needed, Essie
was within few months of SO years
old. In Damascus, she continued to
prove her indestructibility. She
held her school together through
terrible sessions of the civil strife
which periodically has plagued the
old city.
In the latest trouble, at the end
Of the last war, the American consul
finally bullied her into leaving the
school and taking temporary refuge
outside the city. A few short minutes
later, a French shell came screaming
through the window where she had
been sitting as he talked to her.
The Homecoming of DR.. Christina
Adamson Essenberg amounts to q
sort Of triumphal tour Of the United
States. She is not famous, Of course.
Most people never heard about her.
But everywhere she goes there are
those who know and care. From the
boys who ate her f!apjacks during
the war, to the men who knew her
as handsome (some said beautifully
middle-aged woman who worked
side by side with them in their
laboratories a generation ago-they
all want to see her.
Visited Parents of Soldier
Killed Driving Ambulance
In New York. she spent two weeks
with the parents Of a boy who was
killed driving an ambulance in Italy
He had written them before he
died about what she did for him in
Damascus. In Washington she has
been staying at the Science Service
Building, 171s N street NV. DR..
Harlow Shapley, the famous head
of the Harvard Observatory, in
sisted she use his room there during
her stay in Washington. In Cali
fornia, some rs years ago, she per-
suaded him he should stick with
his astronomy, instead Of switching
over to biology, as he wanted to do.
Now she is on her way again
off to California, with cross-country
stops.
The trip Is not all triumph for
Essie. She has to get enough
money from somebody to enable her
to keep her school going. Her own
meager funds are exhausted and
she cannot meet the costs out Of
tuition. She admits now that unless
she can get help from some source,
enough to give the school solid
backing, she can't go on with
her work.
Her friends have little doubt but
that she will succeed. But they
worry about what will happen to
her II she doesn't. How. after all,
can a woman Of II, out Of touch
with everything for 20 years, hope
to get along in this modern world
with no money of her own?
When you broach this subject to
Essie, she takes the attitude that
you must be joking.
"You silly boy" she says. "Of
course, if cannot 90 back, I will
find something to do. I can learn,
and I can teach. There are many
things still to learn, and many
people to teach. Do not worry your
head about me- I may even write
a book. But this Is all nonsense
I am going back"
She'll probably do it, too.