1

Mersine, Turkey
Dec 20, 1894

Dear Sir,
We have read your [powerful] -
and reassuring letter of 15th- December.
Be assured of our appreciation of your efficient action. Your ask "who are the firls and why are they [demanded]." Reverend J.C. Martin could not remember their names. The {...} told him that he would not allow {moslem} girls, or children, {...} Christian {shoots} and this is the reason of the demand for the girls.
For forty one years our Mission has been in operation, during all of which time Moslem children have been in our schools. Most of these have not had a single christian in them, while some are mixed, but none have been exclusively for Christians. For over thrirty years {V J}