Soon after the arrival of Mr. Dunmore, a young man of talents, named Tomas, who had long been vacillating, boldly declared himself a Protestant, and though his bishop offered him the monthly reward of two hundred piastres for two years, paid in advance, if he would leave the Protestants, his reply was: "Go tell the bishop that I did not become a Protestant for money, and that I will not leave them for money, even should he give me my house full of gold." Tomas was then nineteen years of age, and had an orphan brother and two sisters dependent on him. He had been a prosperous silk manufacturer, but after he became a Protestant, both nominal Christians and Moslems refused to trade with him, and he was impoverished. It was decided to send him to the Bebek Seminary, with his younger brother; and to send his older sister to the Female Seminary at the same place; while Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore took the youngest, a bright little girl of six years. In this young man we have the future native pastor of the church in that city.
The persecutions inflicted on the Protestants at Diarbekir were similar to those described elsewhere. But not only were the native converts, in this remote city, oppressed in every possible way, but the missionary reports himself as being grossly insulted, and even stoned in the streets whenever he went abroad.
About this time Mr. Marsh performed a missionary tour to Mardin, through Jebel Tour, a branch of the great Kûrdish range of mountains which crosses the Tigris above Jezirah, and goes westward toward the Euphrates. These rugged, though not lofty mountains, cover fourteen hundred square miles, and form the stronghold of the Jacobites. Their ecclesiastical capital is Mardin. "High up the mountain's side," writes Mr. Marsh, "with a steep descent of six or seven hundred feet to the plains, the city wall mounts up still higher, three hundred feet or more; and a large castle on the mountain top crowns the view." Here he found several persons favorably inclined, and recommended the place for a missionary station.
The Rev. Henry Lobdell, M. D., and wife, reached Mosul in May 1852. They came through Aintab, Oorfa, and Diarbekir. Such was the desire of the people of Aintab for a missionary physician to take the place of Dr. Smith, that four hundred and twenty of them signed a petition in a single evening, requesting him to remain; but he felt constrained to give them a negative. He speaks with pleasure of his brief sojourn at Oorfa, which he describes as beautifully situated on the west side of a fertile plain, and retaining many marks of its ancient greatness.
In the ten days which Dr. Lobdell spent with Mr. Dunmore at Diarbekir, he was impressed by the hold the reformation was taking in that place. At the same time, he and his missionary brother had a startling illustration of its hostility to the Gospel. They were looking at the great mosque of the city, formerly a Christian church, and in the words of Mr. Dunmore, "As we were standing in front of it, in the public highway, examining its architecture, several lads came up and began to insult us and to order us away. We did not notice them, but went further from the mosque, and stopped to examine some old marble pillars. Soon, however, we found a rabble about us, who began to jerk our garments. I then turned and spoke to them, and they instantly rushed upon us like tigers. They seized Dr. Lobdell's hat, threw it into the air, and began to beat him. One ruffian seized me by the throat. By main strength I loosed his grasp, and was moving off, when two men tried to wrest my cane from me, but did not succeed. We retreated as last as possible, but when we got out of the reach of their hands, they resorted to throwing stones, some of them weighing two or three pounds. One hit Dr. Lobdell in the side, and we saw no alternative but to run for our lives. We went immediately to the Pasha, taking one of the largest stones with us, and made a statement of the facts in the presence of the council. He refused to do anything more than to send a man to inquire who was in fault, the ruffians, or we! He said he knew nothing about us."
In a tent supported by a raft of one hundred and twenty inflated goat-skins, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell floated down the Tigris to Mosul. "The Arabs, who swam out upon their goat-skins, and the Kûrds armed to the teeth upon the shore, were alike unable to touch us, as the river was unusually high and swift. I do not remember having enjoyed four successive days so much. The scenery is grand, equaling that of the far-famed Hudson. It might not wear as well, but it is unique and wonderful." Mr. and Mrs. Williams were there to welcome them.
Mr. Marsh was absent on a visit to his native land, from whence he returned with his wife in May, 1853. He was accompanied as far as Aintab by Rev. Augustus Walker and wife, and from thence to Diarbekir, by Messrs. Schneider and Walker. Mr. Dunmore's congregation had then risen to nearly two hundred hearers.
Mr. Marsh was especially struck, on returning to Mosul, with the greatly improved singing of the congregation, which he thought was now better there than at Diarbekir, Aintab, Constantinople, or Beirût. This was due to the unwearied pains taken by Mr. Williams, though the people seemed to have a better ear for music than elsewhere in Western Asia.
Dr. Lobdell found his medical profession a great assistance to him as a preacher of the Gospel. Jacobites, Papists, and Moslems came in considerable numbers, and he preached the Gospel alike to all. He was overworked, and it was perhaps a favor to him that the judge was stirred up by Popish priests, as the Moslems affirmed, to forbid the Mohammedans coming to his preaching. The judge was willing that they should call upon him for medical aid, if he would not preach the Gospel to them; but the doctor declined administering to the body, unless he could, at the same time, explain to them "the words of Jesus" (which all Moslems professed to receive) for the benefit of their souls.
Salome Carabet returned to Syria, very much in the manner of Rebecca of old, to become the wife of the young pastor at Hasbeiya; and the female school was thus deprived of its teacher.