ton.
Ml
Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
KNOX COLLEGE LIBRARY
MEMORIALS
OF THE
HON . ION KEITH-FALCONER, M.A.
MEMORIALS
OF THE
HON. ION KEITH-FALCONER, M.A.,
LATE LORD ALMONER S PROFESSOR OF ARABIC IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF CAMBRIDGE, AND MISSIONARY TO THE MOHAMMEDANS
OF SOUTHERN ARABIA.
BY THE
REV. ROBERT SINKER, D.D.
LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF
THE ROYAL BOHEMIAN SOCIETY OF SCIENCES.
WITH PORTRAIT AND MAP.
Ariva i\v /uoi K pSij, ravra / jyjj/mi cui ruv X/oterrov Ztjpiat . PHIL. iii.
SIXTH EDITION.
CAMBRIDGE :
DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
LONDON : GEORGE BELL AND SONS.
1890.
I
LIBRARY
KNOX COLLEGE
I
CHISWICK PKES.S : c. WUITTINCHAM AND co., TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE.
PREFACE.
A CAREER of exceptional promise was early closed in the
death of Ion Keith-Falconer. The beauty of his character,
his ardent missionary zeal, his great learning, form a
combination rarely equalled ; and the feeling was very
generally expressed last summer, especially in Scotland,
that an attempt should be made to portray the many-
sidedness and goodness of that life. It was represented
to his family that it was a duty " to make the story of
such a life the possession and the stimulus of the Church
and the country."
When I was honoured with the request to write the
Memoir of my late dear friend, I could but feel it was too
sacred a trust to be refused.
How noble a life his was, how unselfish, how worthy to
be loved, those who knew him know well ; how hard it is
adequately to set forth, on the one hand, its harmonious
beauty, on the other, the rich variety of its aspects, I am
very fully conscious. Still even the simple record of his
life is its truest encomium. Its essence may be summed
up in St. Paul s words, " I count all things but loss for
Christ."
The numerous letters with which I was entrusted by
the members of his family and others, to whom my grate
ful thanks are due, give a fulness to the narrative which
it must otherwise have lacked. Many will learn, perhaps
to their surprise, how many were the interests of one whom
they knew or heard of in one aspect only.
My especial thanks must be given to my friend of many
vi Preface.
years, the Eev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A., Principal of Kidley
Hall, Cambridge, who has aided me with his counsel and
help at every stage of my work, and to whom I owe many
valuable suggestions, while the book has been passing
through the press : and to Dr. George Smith, C.I.E.,
Secretary for Foreign Missions in the Free Church of
Scotland, who has kindly allowed me to appeal to him
constantly for information as to the details of the South
Arabian Mission.
In conclusion, I humbly commit this book to God s
blessing. May He, Who has called His servant home to
Himself, grant that some hearts may be quickened into a
fuller love towards Him, a deeper zeal, by the record of a
life devoted to His service.
E. S.
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
February 2, 1888.
NOTE TO THE SIXTH EDITION.
IN the second and subsequent editions, a very few details
have been added to the account of the Shaikh Othman
Mission. No change calling for any remark has been other
wise made.
I cannot send forth this new edition without expressing
my thankfulness for the welcome accorded to the earlier
editions of this book. That welcome both marks a wide
spread appreciation of the noble character I have sought
to portray, and is a symptom of the remarkable growth of
interest in the cause of Foreign Missions, which the last
few years have witnessed in our country.
The portrait in the present edition is a reproduction of
a photograph taken by Mr. Vernon Heath.
March 6, 1890.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION .... ^ r ... 1
CHAPTER II.
HOME, CHILDHOOD, SCHOOL 7
CHAPTER III.
STUDENT LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE 31
CHAPTER IV.
EVANGELISTIC WORK : BARNWELL AND MILE-END . . 62
CHAPTER V.
LEIPZIG 88
CHAPTER VI.
ASSIOUT: HOME 105
CHAPTER VII.
CAMBRIDGE : MARRIAGE : KALILAH 120
CHAPTER VIII.
ADEN 139
viii Contents.
CHAPTER IX.
PROFESSORSHIP OF ARABIC 167
CHAPTER X.
SHAIKH OTHMAN . . 194
CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUSION 229
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Professor Keith-Falconer . . . Frontispiece
Map of the Country near Aden . . . To face page 142
MEMORIALS
OF THE
HON. ION KEITH-FALCONER, M.A.
CHAPTEE I.
INTRODUCTION.
" The rest of Scotland s war-array
With Edward Bruce to westward lay,
Where Bannock, with his broken bank
And deep ravine, protects their Hank.
Behind them, screened by sheltering wood,
The gallant Keith, Lord Marshal, stood :
His men at arms bear mace and lance,
And plumes that wave, and helms that glance. "
SCOTT, Lord of the Isles.
IN the reign of Malcolm II., King of Scotland, a battle
was fought at Barry in Forfarshire, in the year of our
Lord 1010, with an army of Danish invaders, who were
signally defeated. Their leader was slain by a young
Scotch nobleman, Robert Keith, as the name would
now be spelt, who for his valour was created by the
king Hereditary Great Marischal of Scotland, and was
rewarded with lands, some of which, in East Lothian,
still bear the name of Keith. The king is said to have
dipped his fingers in the blood of the Danish chief and to
have drawn three vertical bars on the shield of his follower ;
B
2 Introduction.
and these enter into the family arms to this day. The
king at the same time pronounced the words Veritas
vincit, " Truth overcometh," afterwards the motto of the
Marischals. 1
From this warrior sprang a family memorable in
the annals of Scotland. His descendant, Sir Robert
Keith, was one of the supporters of Wallace, and after
wards joined the standard of King Robert Bruce.
He aided largely in gaining the battle of Inverurie,
A.D. 1308 ; which led to his receiving a grant of lands in
Aberdeenshire, and henceforward it was with this part
of Scotland that the family was specially associated.
Sir Robert commanded the Scotch cavalry at the battle
of Bannockburn, A.D. 1314, and his attack on the English
archers in flank had an important effect on the fortunes
of the day.
About the year 1380, Sir William Keith built Dun-
no ttar Castle near Stonehaven in Kincardineshire. In
the course of building this, long the chief seat of the
family, he was excommunicated for encroaching, as was
alleged, on consecrated ground. The grandson of this
Sir William was in 1458 created Earl Marischal by
James II. At Flodden, A.D. 1513, the two eldest sons
of the house fell in their father s lifetime: and William,
the fourth earl, a staunch supporter of the Reformation
in Scotland, fought at the battle of Pinkie, A.D. 1547.
More generally known, however, than any of these is
George, the fifth earl. In his youth, he was sent abroad
with his brother for his education, and studied for some
time at Beza s house at Geneva. He was highly esteemed
by James VI., who sent him in 1589 as ambassador to
Denmark, to conduct the Princess Anne, his betrothed
queen, to Scotland : and subsequently, when James VI.
had become King of England, Earl George was appointed,
1 Douglas, Peerage of Scotland, ii. 184. Davidson, Inverurie
and the, Earldom of the Garioch, pp. 15, 435.
Introduction. 3
A.D. 1609, Lord High Commissioner to represent the king
in the Parliament of Scotland.
Some years before this (1593), he had founded at his
own cost a college at Aberdeen, for a Principal and four
Professors, which, under the name of Marischal College,
long did useful work to the cause of religion and learning ;
till in 1860 the University system of Aberdeen was re
modelled, and Marischal College lost its independent exist
ence. 1 Carlyle, writing at a time when the College still
existed in a separate form, speaks of it as a place " where,
for a few, in those stern granite Countries, the Diviner
Pursuits are still possible (thank God and this Keith) on
frugal oatmeal." " Earl George died in 1623, having
throughout his life taken the warmest interest in the cause
of learning. 3
The seventh and eighth earls fought for the king in the
Civil War, and the former was imprisoned in the Tower of
London from 1651 to the Eestoration.
In the unfortunate rising of 1715, the tenth Earl, George,
was seriously implicated ; and an act of attainder having
been passed on him, he fled from Scotland, accompanied by
his brother James, who was also involved, though only
nineteen years of age at the time.
The latter, afterwards the famous Marshal Keith, entered
successively the Spanish, Russian and Prussian services,
became a highly-trusted friend of Frederick the Great, and
fell at the battle of Hochkirch (1758), where he commanded
the right wing. He was buried with all honour at Berlin.
Some words of his epitaph may be cited : they are relevant
1 One of the last professors, at the time of this absorption, was
the late Prof. Clerk Maxwell of Cambridge.
3 History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, v. 624, ed. 1865.
3 In the Signet Library at Edinburgh, is a rare tract, the lament
of Marischal College on the death of its founder, " Lachrymae
Academise Marischallanae, sub obitum Maecenatis et Fundatoris
sui munificentissimi, nobilisshni et illustrissimi, Georgii Comitis
Marischalli, Domini de Keith et Altre." Abredoniae, 1623.
4 Introduction.
to other heroes and other warfare, " suorum aciem mente,
manu, voce et exemplo, restituebat ; pugnans, ut Heroas
decet, occubuit." l Carlyle gives the letter written by
Frederick to the surviving elder brother, then and for
some years after, governor of Neufchatel, " loved by him
almost as one boy loves another." ; The king begins by
saying " If my head were a fountain of tears, it would not
suffice for the grief I feel ; " and subscribes himself, " Your
old friend till death." 3
After this, through the intervention of Pitt, the Earl
Marischal was pardoned (1759) and allowed to come back
to Scotland, but before long he returned to Prussia, and
died in 1778. With him the title of Marischal became
extinct.
We must now look back to the time of the great Civil
War of the seventeenth century, and to an event which in
directly led to the creation of the Earldom of Kintore. In
the year 1651, Crom well s troops were besieging Dunnottar
Castle, whither the Regalia of Scotland (the crown, sceptre
and sword of state) had been taken for safety after the
battle of Dunbar. The castle was of exceptional strength,
standing as it did upon a rock protected on one side by a
deep ravine, and on the other by the sea. Still great
anxiety was felt by fhe defenders of the castle for the pre
servation of their treasures, on which it was known that the
English set an inordinate value.
Accordingly, the governor s wife, Mrs. Ogilvie, concerted
an ingenious scheme, with her parish minister, Mr. Grainger,
of Kinneff , and his wife. One day the latter lady rode past
Dunnottar Castle to Stonehaven, accompanied by her maid,
to procure flax for spinning. On her return she obtained
leave from the commander of the English forces to visit
Mrs. Ogilvie in the Castle, and was followed by the maid
with the flax on her back. The maid having been sent away
1 Carlyle, ?/. s. 373. 3 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 386.
Introduction. 5
to talk to her friends, the Eegalia were concealed in the flax
by the two ladies.
After a while the unconscious maid resumed her burden,
and she and her mistress again passed through the English
lines, the English general actually helping Mrs. Grainger
to remount her horse. That night the minister and his wife
buried the Regalia under the pulpit of Kinneff Church, and
here the treasures lay safely hid till the Restoration. 1 In
the meantime, to divert suspicion from the true state of the
case, a letter was allowed to fall into the hands of the be
siegers, purporting to be from Sir John Keith, the fourth
son of the sixth Earl Marischal, which stated that he had
reached France in safety with the Regalia, and would give
them to the king.
At the Restoration, Sir John Keith received a grant
of the lands of Caskieben, now Keith-Hall, in Aberdeen-
shire, and was afterwards (1677) made Earl of Kintore,
assuming the appropriate motto Quce amissa salva,
" What were lost are safe."
The second earl fought for the old Pretender at the
battle of Sheriffmuir, but no very serious consequences
befell him. His two sons died childless, but his daughter,
Lady Catherine, who was married to Lord Falconer of
Halkerton, had a son ; and on the death in 1778 of the last
Earl Marischal, to whom the estates, though not the title 2
had passed, Lady Catherine s grandson became fifth Earl of
Kintore.
The great-grandson of this nobleman was the father of
the subject of our present sketch.
The late Earl of Kintore, the eighth holder of the title,
succeeded his father in 1844 at the age of sixteen, married
his cousin in 1851, and after a life spent in the faith and
fear of God, and in the furtherance of every good work
1 For these details, I am indebted to the interesting account
given by Dr. Davidson, op. cit. p. 367.
2 This was in abeyance from 1761-1778.
6 Introduction.
"mente, manu, voce et exeinplo," passed to his rest in
1880.
Many were the schemes for shedding the light of gospel
truth in the dark places of the earth, which lost in him an
earnest and eloquent advocate. Specially had the Free
Church of Scotland cause to mourn at his death one of its
most loyal and munificent supporters.
Of his four sons, two passed through the golden gates
before him, and now, in the spring of the present year
(1887), Ion Keith-Falconer has rejoined his father and
brothers.
CHAPTER II.
HOME, CHILDHOOD, SCHOOL.
" Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright."
WORDSWORTH.
THE river Don may be said to divide Aberdeenshire into
two approximately equal parts, and to separate the High
land half of the county from the more level country to the
north and north-east. About twenty miles above the place
where it falls into the sea a little north of Aberdeen, and
in a north-westerly direction therefrom, stands the small
town of Inverurie, within the angle made by the union of
the rivers Don and Urie, whence its name. Still closer to
the place where the rivers meet, there rises abruptly a
mound of considerable size, perhaps of artificial origin and
intended for sepulchral or the like purposes, perhaps a relic
of the glacial period. This is the so-called Bass of In
verurie, on which, in the twelfth century and doubtless
earlier, stood the Castle, commanding the fords over the two
rivers. It is referred to in one of the so-called prophecies
of Thomas of Ercildoune, " the Rhymer,"
" Dee and Don shall run in one,
And Tweed shall run in Tay ;
And the bonny water o Ury
Shall bear the Bass away. "
1 Davidson, p. 1 ; Thorn, weaver of Inverury, Rhymes and Recol
lections, p. 98. The latter states that the old rhyme is in every
one s mouth in the district.
8 Home, Childhood, School.
Spite of this, however, the Bass still remains a very pic
turesque object in the rather flat country.
The town of Inverurie has a thriving and comfortable
look, but can hardly be called picturesque ; and the white
granite of its buildings gives to it, as to its great neighbour
Aberdeen, a look of decided coldness. Level though the
immediate neighbourhood is, hills can be seen in the
distance, and six miles away to the north-west rises Ben-
na-chie, one of the outlying summits of the Grampians.
It is of a tributary of the Urie, the Gadie, which falls
into it a few miles above Inverurie, that the well-known and
beautiful Scotch song " Whar Gadie rins " was written. 1 I
venture to quote the first stanza,
" I wish I were whar Gadie rins,
Mang fragrant heath and yellow whins,
Or brawling doun the bo.skie lins,
At the back of 13en-na-chie !
Ance mair to hear the wild birds sang ;
To wander birks and braes aiming,
Wi Men s an fav rites left sae lang
At the back of Ben-na-chie."
Of the lands between the Don and Urie, anciently and still
known as the Garioch, the lord, in the latter part of the
twelfth century, was the celebrated David, Earl of Hunting
don, the companion of Richard Cceur de Lion in the glories
and perils of the second Crusade. A charter is extant of
Earl David, of about the date 1202-1206, one of the witnesses
to which was Matthew the Falconer, ancestor of the Lords
Falconer of Halkerton, and of the later Earls of Kintore. 2
These latter became in their time the holders of much
of what had been Earl David s land, and their chief seat
Keith -Hall stands close to the town and Bass of Inverurie,
but on the other side of the Urie. It is built on the site
of an older house, already mentioned, Caskieben, some
portions of which are perhaps included in the present
1 Thorn, p. 143. Also, with some variation, Davidson, p. 167.
a Davidson, p. 26.
Home, Childhood, School 9
building. This is largely the creation of the first Earl of
Kintore, who was the planter moreover of numerous fine
avenues of trees, of which the stately remains still partly
surround the house. 1
The house itself is of the square massive type of build
ing characteristic of so many Scotch mansions of older
date, and in the stern whiteness of its appearance, seems
to lack the rich warmth of colour of an English house of
equal date. In the well- wooded park surrounding the
house, and at no great distance from it, is a small and
very picturesque lake, and the line of hills, among which
Ben-na-chie is prominent, forms the distant view seen
from the park and garden.
Such were the surroundings amid which were passed
the early years of the subject of this memoir.
Ion G-rant Neville Keith-Falconer, the third son of the
late Earl of Kintore, was born at Edinburgh, on the 5th
of July, 1856.
His early years were spent at Keith -Hall, varied by
long visits to Brighton and elsewhere, but the annals of
childhood are of necessity almost uneventful. His mother
speaks of two marked characteristics even of those early
days, his intense and as it were innate truthfulness and
his unvarying thoughtfulness for others. The chivalrous,
self-sacrificing, warm-hearted man could not possibly have
been developed from a different boyhood than this.
With tender, earnest care did his God-fearing mother
instil in his earliest years the simple, unquestioning faith
in Christ, which throughout his life seemed, while growing
with his growth, never to lose its fresh, deep simplicity.
Some interesting reminiscences of this part of Ion s life
are furnished by Mrs. Blundell, who when he was between
four and five years old, came to Keith -Hall as one of the
children s nurses.
1 Davidson, p. 402.
10 Home, Childhood, School.
I give the narrative just as it has been communicated
to me : the perfect simplicity and life-like character of the
details are more than apology.
She describes how from the very first she was struck
with his extreme unselfishness and consideration for others.
He was always eager to give up to his brothers and sisters ;
if anything was to be shared among them, he would
say, " Give it to the others first, I will wait." For his
elder brother Dudley in particular, there was nothing he
would not do or give up ; he delighted in being his slave,
his wish was absolute law to him. He brought everything
to Dudley for his judgement, and delighted in telling
others how much Dudley was superior to himself.
If Ion had been anywhere when Dudley could not go,
he would immediately on his return give him a minute
account of everything, and be full of regrets that Dudley
had not been able to share his pleasure. They used to
draw and paint and carve a great deal together, and once,
under Dudley s directions, Ion and his eldest brother
made a little model railway-line, on which a small engine
ran.
His devotion to Dudley remained the same all his life,
and he felt his death most acutely. He used afterwards to
go to the nursery and talk about him for hours with the
nurse, and everything in any way connected with him was
sacred in his eyes.
He never required to be amused like most children, but
was always full of resources in himself reading was at all
times and above all things his delight. From the time
when he was about five years old, he used on Sunday
afternoons to read the Bible to the other children and
explain it ; and Dudley and he were in the habit of
reading and praying together. When he was about seven,
he began to go and read the Bible in the cottages, and
the people were perfectly amazed at his knowledge of the
Bible and his power of explaining it. He did this entirely
without suggestion from any one, and never talked of it to
any one ; it was only from the people themselves that it
was found out. His old nurse used then to say that she
was sure he would one day be a missionary. He was so
Home, Childhood, School. 11
much loved by every one, that he went by no other name
in the household than that of " the angel."
He was as generous then as he was in later years.
When out walking, he could not pass ragged or hungry-
looking persons, without emptying his pockets for them ;
and when all his money was gone he would save up biscuits
and the like and give them away. Before he received his
allowance of pocket-money, he always carefully planned
how every penny was to be spent, and faithfully adhered
to his scheme. He once saved up to buy some ginger-
nuts, which were his favourite weakness, for himself, and
went down to Inverurie to buy them ; but on the way
back, he met a hungry-looking boy, and promptly bestowed
them all on him. Of such things too he would never
speak, and it was only through the nurse watching him
continually that his acts of kindness were found out. He
did it all, as the nurse said, " just as if it was his ordinary
work."
He was always full of life and merriment, and after he
grew older there was nothing the younger children enjoyed
more than when he came, as he often did, to romp with
them in the nursery.
At the age of nine, he began to work under a tutor.
This gentleman, Mr. E-edknap, at first gave daily lessons
to Ion and Dudley at Brighton, where Lord Kintore was
then living, and subsequently became resident tutor at
Keith-Hall, and accompanied the family abroad when for
nearly a year they resided at Vico near Naples, or in
Naples itself. Mr. Redknap writes :
" The work of God the Holy Spirit was clearly mani-
sested at an early period of Ion s life : grace wrought in
his heart, and deeply was he interested to listen to the
story of the Cross, and of the life and ways of the Lord
Jesus in His path of love and grace. During the many
walks and rambles that we had together, he would often
say to me, * I wish you would talk to me, which I knew
meant to say, Will you speak to me of the Saviour and of
the incidents in the life of the Lord Jesus ? .... He was
a thoroughly conscientious and noble-hearted boy."
12 Home, Childhood, School.
At the age of eleven, lie was sent to the large pre
paratory school of Cheam, near Epsom, in Surrey ; then
as now, under the management of the Rev. R. S. Tabor.
Here he gained a considerable number of prizes, and
seems to have been thoroughly happy.
In 1869, being now thirteen years of age, Ion went up
to Harrow to compete for an Entrance Scholarship, which
he was successful in obtaining.
Mr. Arthur Watson, the master in whose House he resided
while at Harrow, has written the following note describing
their first meeting and his subsequent impression :
"I well remember my first meeting with Ion Keith-
Falconer. At the beginning of the Easter holidays in
each year, an examination is held at Harrow for the
election of entrance scholars. It was at that time in 1869
that two visitors were announced to me, who proved to be
Ion Keith-Falconer, then a bright, fair, intelligent looking
boy not thirteen years old, and a master from his private
school. Ion then and there informed me that he was
coming to be a boarder in my House, and did not seem
disconcerted when I assured him that there must be some
mistake, as no previous communication on the subject had
been made to me. Eventually we came to a compromise.
I was greatly attracted by the open guileless face of my
young visitor, and I promised that if he obtained a
scholarship I would find a place for him. He was duly
elected a scholar ; and thus it happened that I had the
happiness of seeing and watching him throughout his too
short, but always blameless and distinguished, career at
Harrow.
"His boyish life was noticeable from the first for
marked individuality and determination. The public
school system, great as are its merits, has at present too
great a tendency to repress idiosyncrasies of taste and
temperament, and to impel those who come under its
influence to adopt a more or less common type of manners
and pursuits. It was therefore refreshing to meet with
one who was by no means disposed to swim necessarily
with the stream ; and who though in no wise self-engrossed
Home, Childhood, School. 13
or unsociable, would not flinch for a moment from saying
or doing what he believed to be right, at the risk of in
curring unpopularity, or being charged with eccentricity.
He was one of those boys, not too common, who are not
afraid to have the courage of their opinions. Always high
principled and religious, he never disguised his views. I
remember how, when almost head of my House, he dis
played conspicuously on the wall of his room a printed
roll of texts from the Bible an open avowal of his belief,
which was far less common, and more noticeable, at the
time I speak of, than it would be now. Not that he was
anything of a prig or a Pharisee : far from it. He was an
earnest, simple-hearted, devout, Christian boy.
"He had not been very long at Harrow 1 before, under
the belief that he would make more progress in Mathe
matics than in Classics, he was transferred to the Modern
Side. He rose to the head of it before he left the school,
which he left at an earlier age than usual, to read with a
tutor preparatory to entering Cambridge : I perfectly
recollect how in presenting him with his last prize Dr.
Butler, then our head master, expressed his regret that he
was not to remain his full time at Harrow.
" He was no trifler or dilettante, but always energetic,
manly and vigorous. As far as I remember, he was not
remarkable for any success in games : and of course there
was no opportunity of developing that special skill in
bicycling for which he was afterwards so conspicuous. He
showed however great proficiency in shorthand writing,
and succeeded in inspiring one or more of his companions
with an enthusiasm for it. In fact, either he himself or a
pupil was in the habit of taking down whole sermons in
shorthand that were preached in the school chapel.
" My own intercourse with him was always most cordial
and happy. Nothing ever occurred to overcloud it : and
I feel sure that his lofty consistent character, and scorn
of all that was low and base, must have had influence
over his companions. When his Harrow days were over,
it was always a great pleasure to me when I was able to
meet him again. I was delighted to hear from time to
time of his Cambridge distinctions, and increasing fame
1 He had, as a matter of fact, been there three years.
14 Home, Childhood, School.
as an Oriental scholar, and greatly shocked and distressed
when the news caine that a life of so much promise had
been, in the Providence of God, so prematurely, as it
seemed, cut off. With me the pleasant memories of his
bright and God-fearing boyhood will linger as long as I
live."
With the above it is interesting to compare the remi
niscences of a school-fellow, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, for
merly M.P. for Aylesbury. Mr. Eussell thus writes of
him :
"Ion Keith- Falconer came to Harrow in September,
1869. Earlier in the year he had won an entrance
scholarship, an honour gained by open competition among
all the best taught boys of the private schools. He was
therefore already known as a clever and industrious boy,
and I remember being interested by what I heard of him
before I ever saw him.
" I was older than Ion : I had been nearly two years in
the school, and I was not in Mr. Watson s House, where
he was; therefore my opportunities of seeing him were
few: but I well remember my first sight of him. Mr.
Watson gave a breaking-up supper before the Christmas
holidays (1869), and asked me to it. Ion was then
pointed out to me, and I perfectly recollect the engrossed
expression of his face, and the pose of his head as he
leant back in his seat, in complete and intense enjoyment
of some humorous speeches and songs. I have a photo
graph of him as one of a group of Mr. Watson s House,
in which this attitude and this expression are exactly re
produced. I cannot remember anything of Ion during
the year 1870, beyond the general impression that he
worked hard, particularly at Mathematics, and rose ra
pidly in the school
" In 1871 I went into Mr. Watson s House, and then
for two years I saw a great deal of Ion. My recollection
of him at this time is perfectly distinct. He was not like
other boys: he was essentially the reverse of common
place. In every action and quality in look and voice
and manner and bearing he was individual. In the first
Home, Childhood, School. 15
place as to religion : Ion s was not the simple goodness of
an uninstructed but well-meaning boy, though that in its
way is beautiful. He was already an advanced, and, if
the" word is permissible in such a context, an accomplished
Christian.
" It goes without saying that his moral standard in
speech and action was the highest. And this in him
was the result of a heart filled through and through with
the love of God and Christ. But besides this, he had
thought carefully and gravely about religious problems,
and had defined and even rigid opinions. Thus when a
Confirmation was about to be held in the school chapel,
and many of his friends and contemporaries were candi
dates for it, Ion astonished his tutor by declaring himself
in heart and intention a member of the Free Church of
Scotland, and on principle opposed to episcopal rites.
His religion was by no means self-contained, personal and
passive. He longed to make others better; and he took
an earnest, and, as he rose in the school, an authoritative
part against those forms of evil communications, which
are always present in a greater or less degree in every
assemblage of boys.
" Then again as to his work, Ion was not like other
boys. Most boys who work at all, work chiefly from the
wish for distinction. This motive never seemed present
to him. He worked often at odd and out of the way sub
jects, such as shorthand, not for the sake of prizes or
promotion at school, but either simply to improve his
own mind, or with a view to future usefulness "
Perhaps the foregoing remark as to the absence of any
wish for distinction as such, though in the main true,
must not be absolutely pressed. There was indeed a
total absence in Ion Keith-Falconer of the petty vanity
which can see in each school or college success an end in
itself, rather than the stepping-stone to a fresh advance
and a means towards higher usefulness ; but he was by
no means without the healthy ambition which enjoys a
keen intellectual contest, rejoicing heartily if success at
tended him, though ready with most genuine sympathy
16 Home, Childhood, School.
to congratulate the victor, if the result were otherwise.
It may be worth noting that his chief distinctions at
Harrow, besides the Entrance Scholarship, were the
Ebrington prize for German, the Flower prize for German
prose, and the prize for Problems, all of which were
gained in 1873.
Mr. Eussell has referred to Keith-Falconer s practice of
writing shorthand while at school. Of this we shall speak
more fully in the following chapter ; it will suffice here to
say that he learnt it quite unaided, and before he had left
school he had acquired a very high degree of proficiency.
His favourite amusement too of bicycling had begun in
the Harrow days, when he was about fifteen.
Truly the boy was father to the man in this case, if
ever. The lines of reading, the bent for languages, the
keen interest in the study of Scripture, the simple, rest
ful, yet thoughtful faith, the eager desire to be of service
to others, the deep warm affection he gave to those whom
he called friend, all these characterised Ion Keith-Fal
coner alike as schoolboy, undergraduate, and to the last.
The following interesting note, written by Mr. E. E.
Bo wen, the master of the Modern Side at Harrow,
strikingly brings this out. Both this note, it is true,
and that which follows it, written by the present Master
of Trinity, who was Head-Master of Harrow during the
whole time that Keith-Falconer was at the school, extend
into a period beyond the Harrow days; but the present
seems the fittest place for both the accounts. It will be
remembered that at the end of the summer term of 1872,
Keith-Falconer passed from the Classical to the Modern
Side at Harrow, mainly with the view of devoting in
creased attention to Mathematics. Mr. Bowen writes :
" It was for only one year, 1872-3, that Keith-Falconer
was in my Form at Harrow the Modern Sixth. He did
well as a schoolboy, but short of the very front rank.
Home, Childhood, School 17
Though industrious, he had some caprice It would
be difficult to find a pleasanter boy to deal with ; he was
always interested, always cheerful, with an eye for the
picturesque side of things, and a delightful way of running
off the rails in any direction that happened to suit his
fancy. He took a good deal of pains with his lessons ;
his note-books were master-pieces, and he shewed a re
markable refinement and delicacy in all that he did ; but
his views of the proportion of things were often different
from those of his teachers, and he would devote himself to
some side issue, or spend hours on writing out some short
hand notes, when other boys were passing him by.
" I saw him often when he was at Cambridge, and was
happy enough to retain his friendship till the last. His
bicycling feats were one subject of common interest between
us. Bicycles were just coming into fashion when he went
to the University : he was an enthusiast in the use of them,
and an admirable performer; and when he appeared in
riding costume at Harrow, with his tall figure mounted on
the enormous machine that he rode, it was a sight to see.
He kept up the amusement for many years : for two or
more he was certainly the best bicyclist in England, and
his delight in success only shewed in more than common
relief the charming modesty with which he carried his
honours. He had a real delight in feats of strength and
endurance for their own sake. He seemed to have found
the same quality in one of the professional bicyclists with
whom he became acquainted ; and again and again he
would tell me how John Keen was a man whose soul was
above prizes a man to be made a friend of.
" It is about eight or nine years ago that under the im
pression, which may have been a mistaken one, that he was
in danger of squandering his powers for want of some de
finite object, I remember writing to him at Cambridge,
urging that on the one hand he should lay himself out to
edit some book I suggested one which fell within the
line of his reading, and set to work at it for the next year
or two ; and that on the other, while his physical powers
were still at their best, he should perform some bicycling
feat which it would be a pleasure afterwards to remember.
He came down to Harrow more than once to discuss these
18 Home, Childhood, School.
plans, but especially the latter ; and we spent the evenings
over maps of England, and argument about roads and
routes. Finally it was settled that he should go down to
Cornwall with his bicycle and start from the Land s End,
to ride, if he could, to John o Groat s House within a
fortnight. The experiment was a failure ; bad luck in
roads, and abominable weather, stopped him. But the
idea was not given up : and in 1882 he accomplished the
feat in thirteen days. It has since been done by shorter
routes and in much shorter time : but six years ago the
roads were worse made and less familiar than now ; and
machines have since then been built in special view of per
formances of the kind. As it was, and with the difficul
ties that were encountered, the ride was a splendid display
of strength and endurance. He carried post-cards and
telegraph forms, and two or three times a day he would
despatch one of these to give me an account of his pro
gress. There still lingered a memory of him in the Har
row Modern Side ; and we hung up a big map of England
in the class-room, and marked his victorious career with a
tiny red flag day after day throughout the fortnight till we
landed him safe at John o Groat s. He did 215 miles in
his last two days. He was very much pleased at his suc
cess, and came and gave us an hour s talk about it a sort
of informal lecture a few weeks later.
" The other subject on which I used to hear from him
from time to time was the special line of study to which he
had devoted himself. He had always been particularly
interested in the Old Testament lessons at school : and he
had also, as it seemed, a Scotchman s delight in questions
of theology. I suppose it was this which attracted him, by
means of Hebrew, to the other Semitic languages. The
study was one in which I was unable to follow him : but I
can form some estimate of the vast amount of labour that
he must have gone through when once he had adopted this
line of reading. Of one thing I am sure, that whatever he
learnt he made his own ; for I never knew anyone so clear
headed, I had almost said so candid, about what he knew.
The way in which he could state an unsolved difficulty
seemed almost as good as a solution of it. He was no less
a consummate expounder of subjects known to few than he
Home, Childhood, School. 19
was a delightful companion on ground which was common
to all. I remember writing to him once to ask about the
method and time of the adoption of the Western Aramaic
among the Hebrews. There are very many scholars who
could have answered the question ; but I am afraid some
would have left the questioner at the end much where they
found him. Keith-Falconer s reply, on a couple of sheets
of note-paper, was a model of simple and clear-headed
statement ; it said just what was wanted, and told it with
out any display of learning or attempt at style. I think
this clear-headedness in matters of intellect was after all
only a reflection of the moral simplicity which was his
highest and most beautiful gift. I have often known
young men who were candid, many who were devout, and
many who were pleasant : but I can hardly remember any
who united the three qualities so fully. He approached
the world of ideas as great observers approach the world
of nature, with wonder, with reverence, and with humility.
His earnestness of feeling seemed to grow more large-
minded and wider in sympathy as he developed into man
hood ; and even in the things about which he cared most a
sort of boyish playfulness freedom trustfulness never
left him."
The following letter, from the pen of the present Master
of Trinity, will fitly close the series of reminiscences of
Keith-Falconer s Harrow life.
" TRINITY LODGE, CAMBRIDGE,
Nov. 30, 1887.
" DEAR MR. SINKER,
" You have asked me if I can give you a few recol
lections of our dear friend Keith-Falconer when he was a
boy at Harrow. They must be but few, for he came com
paratively little under my own personal notice. He was
not a member of my House, and his stay in my Form was,
for reasons which I will soon explain, very brief.
" He came to Harrow, as you know, in 1869, winning one
of our Entrance Scholarships in open competition. It was
a Classical Scholarship, and as a matter of course he was
placed on the Classical Side. He rapidly passed up the
20 Home, Childhood, School
Forms 011 that Side till lie reached my own, the Upper
Sixth. I was struck at once by his intelligence and steady
work, and was surprised when I learned that he wished to
be transferred to our Modern Side, with a view, if I re
member rightly, to a fuller training in Mathematics, French
and German. In consequence of this transfer, I saw much
less of him, our intercourse being almost limited to a weekly
lesson in Modern History.
" While a member of the Modern Side, he won, in 1873,
our two school prizes for knowledge of German ; soon after
which he left us for Trinity, carrying with him no special
distinction, but the highest character for manly sterling
goodness.
" Later on came the good news of his University suc
cesses in Theology and the Semitic Languages, proving that
he was working with a definite purpose as a professional
student. Soon too we began to hear of his feats as a
bicyclist, including those rapid progresses from south to
north which were telegraphed by him to Mr. Bowen, and
at once carefully indicated by pins on a map for the edifi
cation of Mr. Bo wen s boys.
" It must have been, I think, in 1884 that I received
from him an unexpected but welcome offer to continue
certain Prizes for the study of the Scriptures at Harrow,
Prizes which had hitherto been provided from another
source. The correspondence which then took place between
us, followed by a long interview for the discussion of de
tails, shewed me how warm was his affection for his old
School, how deep his conviction that the study of the
Scriptures at school might be made fruitful at once and
interesting, and how thoughtful and well considered were
his suggestions for making the Prizes efficient for their
purpose. I say nothing of their money value. It was
Tery considerable ; but, as you know, it was not in his
nature to spare himself or to do things by halves. He in
stituted them not in his own name, but in memory of his
father, the late Earl of Kintore. He followed up this
signal service to the School by consenting to be the first
Examiner for the Kintore Prizes ; and he sent me, when
the work was over, a thoughtful report, giving his impres
sion of the performances of the boys.
Home, Childhood, School. 21
" My departure from Harrow in the summer of 1885 put
an end to official intercourse of this kind, and I do not
think we had any further communication with each other
till the end of last year (1886), when I received from him
at Davos- Platz a most kind letter of congratulation on my
appointment to the Mastership of Trinity. He told me
also of the plan which he had formed for going to Aden,
and there employing his knowledge of Arabic for mis
sionary purposes.
" The result of this generous enterprise we know but too
well. The work was scarcely begun before it reached its
earthly end. To those who believe in the abiding results
of devotion to the cause and the Person of Christ, his short
life will not seem a failure. His image will remain fresh
in the hearts of many as of a man exceptionally noble and
exceptionally winning, recalling to them their own highest
visions of unselfish service to God and man, and help
ing them to hold fast the truth that in the spiritual world
nothing but self-sacrifice is permanently fruitful, and that
the seed of a truly Christian life is never quickened except
it die.
" Believe me to be,
Dear Mr. Sinker,
Most truly yours,
H. MONTAGU BUTLER."
Some extracts from letters written by Keith-Falconer
during the Harrow days may now be given, and will help
considerably to shew what manner of boy he was. The
first extract is taken from a letter to his old tutor, Mr.
Redknap, written at the age of fourteen, and the remainder
from letters written to Lady Sydney Montagu, afterwards
his sister-in-law, now Lady Kintore.
" KEITH HALL, July 31, 1870.
" I arrived here yesterday morning. I started from
Harrow at about a quarter to 8 A.M. on Tuesday, and
proceeded thence to the Langham Hotel, Portland Place,
where I met Mr. Karney and Inverurie. 1 At 12 o clock
1 His eldest brother, now Lord Kintore.
22 Home, Childhood, School.
the same day we started for Cambridge from King s Cross
station, and arrived there about 1.30. Having lunched at
an hotel, we went to look for lodgings for Oddo, 1 which
was soon effected, and then a jolly row down the Cam.
Then we went round the colleges, &c., and came back to
London in the evening.
" The next day we separated, I and Oddo departing by
the City of London boat for Aberdeen, .... The City
of London is clean and comfortable, but very slow ; we
took 54 hours to make the journey, labouring against a
wind dead against us for a good part of the way, and
rocking about like a cork. I was not, however, sick, but
once or twice very near it, which is almost worse.
" When we arrived before Aberdeen, it was past time
for the last train for the north ; at least we could not
have caught it, being only seven minutes to the time.
The tide was unfortunately out, so that we could not cross
the bar ; we then signalled for a tug-boat, which, in accor
dance with the proverbial slowness of Scotchmen, came, in
about half an hour, or more, with a small boat in tow.
This was to convey passengers from one boat to the other.
The latter occupied a very long time, as only about 15
could go at once. So we had to wait till four boatfuls
had been deposited safely on the tug, which in itself was
not over safe, on account of the swell. Getting into the
tug-boat required a little presence of mind, as one had to
wait till the swell lifted the small boat on to a level with
the deck of the tug-boat, and then take a spring in ; a
false step would probably have proved fatal.
" Well, at last all the passengers were got safely on to
the tug, and we started for the harbour, where we arrived
about half -past eight P.M., and I was not at all sorry to sit
down to dinner at Douglas s. We started next morning by
the first train, arriving at Invemrie at eight ; the rest you
can guess.
" So much for the journey, now for Harrow. I am now
in the third fifth, V. 3 in fact, Mr. Watson s Form, in
whose House I am. In Classics, out of 37, I came out
altogether 9th, in Mathematics 1st, and in Modern Lan
guages 3rd ; placing me altogether 4th in the total, which
1 His old boyish name for his brother.
Home, Childhood, School 23
I think good. I got a prize for Mathematics, Smiles s
Life of George Stephenson, which I read on the voyage and
which was very interesting.
" I must see if I can t come out first in Form next term,
in the V. 2 (Mr. C. F. Holmes) I am now in the
Harrow Rifle Corps Band as drummer ; I had some rare
lark at Wimbledon where we vanquished the other public
schools, and won both the Ashburton Shield and Spencer
Cup. I will write again.
" Your affectionate friend."
The letters to Lady Sydney Montagu dwell largely on
his thoughts on religious subjects, and bring out at once
the depth of his love for Christ, and his great humility.
His allusions to his friend Mr. Charrington s work in the
East End of London will be better understood when I shall
have spoken of that work at some length in a subsequent
chapter.
" HARROW, (no date, but May, 1873).
" . . . . Do you know the hymn beginning, The sands
of time are sinking, the dawn of heaven breaks ? It is my
favourite one. A verse of it is quoted in Forgiveness, Life
and Glory, 1 as follows :
O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep sweet well of love ;
The streams on earth I ve tasted
More deep I ll drink above.
There to an ocean fulness
His mercy dotli expand,
Where glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel s land.
I wish I had tasted more deeply of that stream than I
have I have very nearly decided to become a Free
Church Minister. If so, you will have to look over my
Hebrew Exercises and hear me the Shorter Catechism.
.... I have been reading the Shadoiv and the Substance to-
1 Both this work and the other mentioned in this letter are by
Mr. (now Sir) S. A. Blackwood.
24 Home, Childhood, School.
day, annexing a remark here and there I am grind
ing away awfully hard at my German, for the Ebring-
ton prize. The exam, comes off on the 10th of next
month
" The last of my texts for to-day on the roller is Surely,
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. I
don t feel as if I was ready for that. I mean I am so bad,
but I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions,
and as a cloud thy sins. "
" HARROW, (no date, but June, 1873).
" I have had my German examinations : did I tell you ?
I did very well, I don t think anyone better. I am not
proud, but I don t mind telling you exactly what I think.
I did good prose, which counts very high I am also
writing for the Flower Prize : not a prize for botany,
or anything about flowers, but for a prize offered by
Mr. Flower for the best bit of German prose. The exercise
is to be sent in on Saturday, 21st June. I hope to do
well .... I did it nearly all to-day, and I can t find out
any mistakes. What is the German for . No, that is
unfair. I suppose I must do it all myself. (Don t think
that I wrote the last three lines to shew off my honesty !
I was really going to ask for something, but it wouldn t be
quite fair.) .... Your shorthand was much better than
the preceding one but you have forgotten the vowels,
please learn them up Don t let your desire to
write fast exceed your desire to write well, as you have
probably seen in Pitman s book."
" HARROW, July 6, 1873.
" I want you to answer this question. Do you
think a person can be saved without knowing how he is
saved, that is only by acknowledging Jesus as the one
person who can and is willing to save him and by asking
Him to do so (i.e. to save him somehow, hoiu he knows not) ?
I say, Most decidedly. For He says, Come unto Me, &c.,
* Behold I stand at the door and knock ; if any man, &c.
Now if you asked me how Jesus saved me, I could not tell
you. I know He died for my sins .... I have often
asked God for Jesus sake to make clear to me everything
Home, Childhood,, School. 25
I don t understand. But He won t. (Why?) I often
nearly cry because everything is so confused and dark.
Yet whenever I see a person who loves Him, I immediately
feel drawn towards him. However I sometimes feel very
happy when I think that the Lord Himself hath said,
Come unto Me, and J will give you rest ; and * If ye then
being evil know how to give good gifts, &c. and texts like
them, which are all contained in that little book you sent
me I send my character : tell me if it is true, and
whether it is not too good."
" HARROW, July 16, 1873.
". . . . I must say something about Jesus Christ, be
cause I think He ought never to be left out ; and that is
the fault I find with parties and balls and theatres : Jesus
Christ, Who is the All in All, is utterly left out. It seems
very curious, when one comes to think about it, what
power the devil has over people, has not he ? But that
shall not always be so Lord, hasten the time when Thou
shalt reign altogether, and when Thy servants shall serve
Thee, and Thy Name shall be upon their foreheads, and
when they shall see Thy face for Jesus sake."
" HARROW, (no date, but July, 1873).
" . . . . Charrington sent me a book yesterday, which I
have read. It is called Following Fully, .... about a
man who works among the cholera people in London, so
hard that he at last succumbs and dies. But every page
is full of Jesus Christ, so that I liked it. And I like
Charrington, because he is quite devoted to Him, and has
really given up all for His glory. I must go and do the
same soon : how I don t know."
The concluding letter from which I cite was written
from Mr. Charrington s house.
" STEPNEY GREEN, (no date, but towards
the end of /*%, 1873).
" . . . . After dinner we went the rounds to inspect the
tent for preaching, and Charrington lent it to a little
missionary to hold a midnight meeting in on Thursday.
26 Home, Childhood, School.
We also visited the Mission-Hall, where they were making
a pool for baptizing people in In the evening a well
attended meeting at the tent ; foul air. After the meeting
(the speakers were Dr. - - an old, but very energetic and
godly Scotchman, broad accent, a soldier from Wellington
barracks, a Mr. Kerwin, and a Mr. - ), we went to have
some tea, and then to the Hospital, to see a man supposed
to be dying, but found to be recovering.
" I have lots to do here. I did not get to bed till nearly
one o clock, having been up nineteen hours. We visited
the Boys Home, which I think a capital place. The dor
mitories are perfect; ventilation, cleanliness and comfort
could not have been better looked after."
At the end of the summer term of 1873, Keith-Falconer
finally left Harrow, it being settled that he should spend
his last year before entering Cambridge with a tutor, and
devote himself exclusively to Mathematics.
Accordingly in October he went to reside in the house of
the Rev. Lewis Hensley, Senior Wrangler in 1846, and
formerly a Fellow of Trinity. This gentleman was now
vicar of Hitchin, a small town in Hertfordshire, half-way
between Cambridge and London ; and here Keith-Falconer
spent the ensuing twelvemonth, save for various short
vacations. Soon after he had begun to reside in his new
abode, he writes to his sister-in-law :
" There are three other fellows here : we work six hours
a day. I do mathematics exclusively, trigonometry and
analytical conies at present .... To-day is Sunday : I
and Mr. Hensley walked over to Preston this morning, a
small village at a distance of about three miles, where he
preached. The Church here is an enormous building. The
vicarage is just between the Market-Place, or the town-
square, and the Church railings. My window, at which I
am now sitting, looks out on a sort of walk which runs
half-way round the Church, and which is the resort of all
the little boys in the neighbourhood ; so that I hear
nothing all day but Oh, ave you seen the Shah ! varied
by a continual ringing of the Church bells. Then there is
Home, Childhood, School. 27
the Church clock which strikes lustily every quarter of an
hour, giving forth 636 strokes per diem, which is a great
excitement for us in this little place."
Although Keith-Falconer worked, as his habit was,
conscientiously at the task set him, it cannot be doubted
that neither for Classics at Harrow, nor for Mathematics
at Hitchin, did he feel any special enthusiasm. Partly, as
Mr. Bowen has pointed out in his note on the Harrow
days, he had various side-interests which absorbed a cer
tain amount of time and energy, so that he was sometimes
passed by students, who, with less originality of thought
than he, and often probably with less brilliancy, did how
ever stick with greater persistence to the subject in hand.
Still there was a further reason and a weightier one.
In neither of the two lines of study to which as yet his
mind had been directed, had he found anything on which
his zeal could be thoroughly aroused. When his mind at
last found its true field of work, no student could show a
more enthusiastic or more unchanging zeal.
Mr. Hensley has kindly furnished me with some in
teresting reminiscences of his former pupil. In these
while one reads as a matter of course : I soon found
that he would be diligent and conscientious in his work,
and that I had in him a satisfactory pupil, whom I could
trust without fear, indoors or outdoors ; one is not sur
prised to find the further remark, In neither Classics nor
Mathematics was he an intense student. Mr. Hensley
continues :
" He was full of all sorts of by-occupations and hobbies,
and it was in following these that his eager character ex
pended itself. He took up Pitman s Shorthand, which he
practised diligently, and frequently treated us to disquisi
tions on its advantages. He was at all times full of some
matter of this kind, and overflowing in talk about it with
others, and generally in very high spirits and full of fun.
Then he brought with him a bicycle, and rapidly devel-
28 Home, Childhood, School.
oped, whilst at Hitcliin, that mastery of the machine which
made him afterwards the champion rider of England. I
suppose his tall figure was an advantage to him, but more,
I should say, the perfervid resolution, with which he
threw himself into whatever interested him. Or he would
rise at seven to take lessons in the Tonic Sol-fa System, or
at other times might be heard singing to himself as he lay
in bed, at the same early hour. In short, he was always
doing something : if he had but a quarter of an hour before
work-time, he would be busy with his Shorthand, or would
spring on his bicycle and dash round the town and be home
again at the appointed hour.
" I have mentioned his singing. This was connected
with plans for doing good, which likewise occupied much
of his thoughts. One of these was the promotion of the
Temperance cause, to which he devoted himself by assist
ing in the entertainments and addresses of a Temperance
Brigade of young men, which was under the management
of Mr. Arthur Latchmore. With him also he would fre
quently, after attending the Parish Church in the morning,
gather together a meeting of poor people in the open air or
in a schoolroom in one of the outlying parts of the Parish,
and conduct a little service with Moody and Saukey s
Hymns, or would visit the sick and infirm on a week
day.
" He had been brought up in the Free Church of Scot
land, and although this did not prevent him from attend
ing our Church services, he was in many ways independent
in his views, at times startling strictly orthodox and
regular Churchmen, and no doubt kept in his heart and in
his convictions a strong attachment to the Church of his
early education
" I have already touched on his labours amongst the
poor, and a few words may perhaps be added, contributed
by Mr. Arthur Latchmore, with whom he shared in these
labours, and to whom he expressed his most intimate
thoughts : Keith-Falconer was very fond of visiting the
cottages of the poor, especially at the Folley, speaking a
kindly word to try and rouse them to think more of their
souls salvation ; and often by the bedside of the sick and
infirm would he sing and read to them, cheering and com-
Home, Childhood, School. 29
forting many a weary soul, and not forgetting to help
those in distress with his purse. He was a strong believer
in the power of prayer, for nearly always before going out
either to the open air services, the visiting the poor, or
conducting the Bible Class in connection with our Young
Men s Brigade, we used to have a few minutes in prayer
together. "
Mr. Hensley concludes :
" He became much attached to Hitchin, and frequently
in after years ran over from Cambridge, and twice in
vacation time came to lodge here with friends for the sake
of reading, and once in 1875 came back to me for a week s
special help. Taking all this into account, I can still
hardly believe that his residence with me was so brief, so
deep is the impression which he has left with us all."
It was during his residence at Hitchin, that the first
great sorrow of his life befell Keith-Falconer.
His elder brother Dudley, two years and a half older
than himself, had always been of a more delicate constitu
tion than his two strong young brothers, one older and the
other younger than himself. The departure of the eldest
brother for school, and the gap in years dividing the others
from their youngest brother Arthur, tended especially to
associate Ion with Dudley.
The delicate health of the latter forbade his being sent
to school, and thus he continued to study at home with
the tutor with whom Ion worked. In their amusements
too they were inseparable, and spent much time together
in a room allotted to them at Keith-Hall for carpentering
and the like.
In spite of Dudley s lack of physical strength, he was at
all times a leader in his brothers various boyish pur
suits : to his judgement various points were referred for
decision.
At last the mere delicacy of health began to assume
30 Home, Childhood, School.
a graver form, and Dudley became more and more a con
firmed invalid.
He had from his earliest childhood been one in whom
the love of G-od had been of the very essence of his being ;
and now with gradually increasing weakness, the pure
flame only shone out brighter and fuller.
At times, though very weak, he was capable of taking
the fullest interest in all that was going on around him,
and would throw his whole soul into the endeavour to
speak words of peace to others ; at other times, intense
pain allowed him but to lie still and suffer in silence.
In the autumn of 1873, Dudley s increasing weakness
warned his parents of the expediency of removing him to a
warmer climate. Accordingly, as on previous occasions,
he was taken to Cannes, his mother accompanying him.
Here for a time some improvement seemed to shew itself ;
but it was the last flicker of life, and gradually it became
plain that the end was near, and the father and Ion were
summoned from England. Still death came not as speedily
as he had been looked for. Day after day the dying boy
awoke to the consciousness of the fact that this world was
around him yet. No fear of death disquieted him ; he had
loved his Saviour with too deep an intensity to feel aught
but earnest longing to meet Him. Nor was there at all a
desire for death simply as the release from keen bodily
anguish.
With brain clear to the last, with heaven opened to his
enraptured gaze, he waited, eagerly but submissively, till
the time should come for him to cross the river.
On the 27th of November, Dudley Keith- Falconer died.
His death caused the first gap in the bright family circle,
since so sadly thinned.
CHAPTER III.
STUDENT LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE.
" Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,
A constant influence, a peculiar ^race."
WORDSWORTH.
IN the October term of 1874, Ion Keith-Falconer began
his residence as a Cambridge undergraduate, having been
entered on the books of Trinity College on the 24th of
September preceding.
To this great College, with which so many illustrious
names of the past are associated, he was warmly attached,
and his letters in later years contain frequent remarks
shewing cordial love both to College and University.
He did not occupy rooms within the College walls at
any period of his undergraduate life, save in the Long
Vacations, when, by the rule of the College, such residence
is obligatory. With this exception, he occupied the same
set of rooms during his whole Cambridge life until his
marriage in 1884. These were on the north side of the
Market Square (21 Market Hill), facing the Guild-Hall.
Here he worked resolutely at his books, utterly unaffected
by certain distracting sounds, which might have disturbed
a less diligent or less equable student. On market days,
a noisy hum from the busy square pervaded his room ; all
day long and all night the clock of the University Church
of St. Mary chimed the quarter-hours, and at nine each
evening the great curfew bell rang, as it had done for
32 Student Life at Cambridge.
centuries, and this was followed by the tolling of the
number of the day of the month.
To all these disturbances, Keith-Falconer was supremely
indifferent : he liked in the intervals of work to look out
on the busy scene of life below. The late Bishop Hampden
was said to have written his Bampton Lectures while his
children were playing around him in his study. The same
kind of concentration over work, irrespective of surround
ing disturbances, was always a marked characteristic of
Keith-Falconer.
In dealing even with the undergraduate career of a man
so many-sided in his interests, it is necessary to aim at
giving its due importance to each element to be described.
Here was a young Christian man, whose Christianity
prompted him to use every faculty for the furtherance of
the Gospel, a student as careful and painstaking as any
of those to whom the highest goal of human ambition is a
distinguished place in the class-list, a writer of short
hand, whose pace and accuracy could hardly be excelled,
a bicyclist, whose prowess and endurance won him in
numerable triumphs.
We propose in the present chapter mainly to dwell on
the student side of Keith-Falconer s life, from the time of
his first entering Trinity in 1874 up to that of his last
examination in 1880 ; and also to speak of those secondary
interests which served him for relaxation of mind and
body. We shall reserve to the following chapter some
account of certain schemes for benefiting others with which
he was associated even at this early period.
His intention had been in the first instance to compete
for Honours in the Mathematical Tripos, Mathematics
being a subject to which, as we have seen, he had paid
special attention at Harrow, and with Mr. Hensley. With
this intention in view, he became a pupil of the late Mr.
Thomas Dale, Fellow of Trinity, one of the most distin
guished of the then Cambridge Mathematicians.
Student Life at Cambridge. 33
Early in his first term he writes to his sister-in-law.
"CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 11, 1874.
"I have lots to tell you, but I don t know where to
begin. Yesterday was the ten-mile bicycle race three
started. I was one. I ran the distance in 34 minutes,
being the fastest time, amateur or professional, on record.
I was not at all exhausted. The road was splendid, and a
strong wind blowing from behind To-day I am
going to amuse the public by riding an 86-inch bicycle to
Trumpington and back. There is a little scale of steps up
it, up which I am helped, and then started off and left to
myself. It is great fun riding this leviathan : it creates
such an extraordinary sensation among the old dons who
happen to be passing. If I fell off it, I should probably
break an arm or a leg so I shan t repeat the performance
after to-day
" I have been going in for Sol-Fa lately with vigour. I
have got two of the certificates given by Curwen, and
astonished mother by singing some tunes at sight correctly.
" The Little-go begins on the 5th and ends on the 17th,
one paper only each day I like my lodgings very
much. My landlady can almost remember Adam, and
tells me stories about Dr. Whewell and people dead long
ago I have a class in the Choir School on Sunday
mornings."
The " Little-go " referred to in the preceding paragraph
is, it perhaps need hardly be said, an examination which
all undergraduates must pass, whether candidates for
Honours or for an Ordinary Degree. He again refers to
it. in another letter to the same :
" Jan. 3, 1875.
" Did you see the Little-go list ? . . . . The papers were
absurdly easy. About forty men were plucked, and seven
for cribbing. The man next me wanted me to give him a
few hints, but I could not do it ; so he was plucked . . . ."
This last incident deserves a somewhat fuller mention,
D
34 Student Life at Cambridge.
as illustrating alike Keith-Falconer s keen sense of honour
and his kindliness. On the day before the examination
began, a man going in for it wrote to him saying that he
had found they would sit side by side during the exami
nation, and that as he was not very well prepared in some
of the subjects, he hoped Keith-Falconer would give him a
little surreptitious help. To this Keith- Falconer replied
that he would not dream of such a thing, but if the other
cared, he would devote every minute of time till the exami
nation began to coaching him for it. Nothing, however,
was seen of the man, and the result happened that might
have been anticipated.
A few days later he again writes to his sister-in-law :
"Jan. 8, 1875.
" The bicycle race at Lillie Bridge has been postponed
till the 23rd .... I went to stay with my antagonist for
a few days, and took him and his mother and his aunt to
Spurgeon s on the Sunday. They. were slightly astonished
to see such a mass of people all rivetted for nearly an hour.
Moody and Sankey will probably hold a meeting in his
Tabernacle. I shall go to hear them, I hope. I expect it
will be glorious."
Three terms in due course passed away, and at the annual
College examination in June, Keith- Falconer obtained a
First-Class, and was a Prizeman.
All this time he seems to have entertained a certain
amount of doubt whether the course he was pursuing was
the best for him ; whether, in spite of the mental training
which the study of Mathematics gives, he was not perhaps
making an end of the means ; instead of following a line of
study in which he could feel a higher degree of sympathy
with the work itself.
It was not without careful thought, in which reasons for
and against were anxiously weighed, and not without the
fullest search for help and guidance, that when one-third of
Student Life at Cambridge. 35
his undergraduate course had passed, Keith-Falconer re
solved to give up his previous plans, and to begin to read
for Honours in the Theological Tripos.
No one who knows the English University system needs
to be told that to change from Tripos to Tripos is an
altogether unusual proceeding, and is, as a rule, one to be
decidedly deprecated. In Keith-Falconer s case, there can
be no doubt that the change was a wise one. If viewed
merely on the comparatively low ground of academic dis
tinction, it might be urged that Harrow had given him a
sound, scholarly knowledge of Greek and Latin (languages
which of course hold an important place in the work of the
Theological Tripos), and his first year at college had taught
him the student s first great lesson, how to read. If viewed
on the higher ground of permanent interest in the work for
its own sake, then too there could be no doubt. He shewed
the keenest appreciation of his new line of work from the
first, and kept it to the end.
A man, in whose heart was the desire to serve G-od and
how fervent the desire was the Harrow letters have shewn
and therefore the desire to aid others to serve Him, and
who felt that great powers had been entrusted to him by
God so to be used, might well feel in these new studies as
though he were humbly seeking to carry out, so far as in
him lay, God s purpose concerning him.
I first became personally acquainted with Keith-Falconer,
when, on his deciding to read for Theological Honours, he
became my pupil in July, 1875.
His appearance at this time, his manner, his tastes, were
all strikingly like what they were in later times. He had
a remarkably tall, well-shaped figure, whose symmetry
seemed to take off from his height of six feet three inches.
Physically very strong he certainly was, in one sense, or
his wonderful feats of athletic endeavour, of which we
must speak presently, would have been impossible. Yet
for all those feats, which were partly due no doubt to the
36 Student Life at ^Cambridge.
sustaining power of a strong will, he could not really be
called robust.
His kindly voice and genial smile will live in the recol
lection of his friends ; like good Bishop Racket of Lichfield,
he might have taken as his motto, " Serve God and be
cheerful." Side by side, however, with his geniality there
was in Keith-Falconer at all times the most perfect and, so
to speak, transparent simplicity. Never was a character
more free from any alloy of insincerity or meanness. No
undertone of veiled unkindness, or jealousy, or selfishness,
found place in his conversation. From the most absolute
truthfulness he would never waver ; his frank open speech
was the genuine, unmixed outcome of the feelings of his
heart.
A certain slight, very slight, deafness in one ear made
him at times seem absent to those who did not know this,
and unknowingly had sat or walked on the wrong side.
A characteristic habit of his seemed now and then^to
give a certain degree of irrelevance to his remarks. Some
times, when in conversation on a topic which interested
him, he would, after remaining silent for a short time, join
again in the conversation with a remark not altogether
germane to the apparent point at issue. He had been fol
lowing out a train of thought suggested by some passing
remark, and after working out the idea on his own lines as
far as it would go, made his comment on the result. Yet
whenever the conversation had to do with the interests or
needs of those to whom he was speaking, no one could
throw himself more completely, heart and mind, into the
matter. Talk for talking s sake he cordially abhorred, that
talk which is simply made as though silence were neces
sarily a bad thing in itself.
This interest in widely different topics of conversation
was not, however, simply the result of mingled good-nature
and courtesy, a mere complaisance, where it was but a care
less good-nature that saved the courtesy from hollowness.
Student Life at Cambridge. 37
Far from it. No one who knew Keith-Falconer well needs
to be told how thoroughly, how constantly, and in what
varying ways, he could make the business or cause of
another his own ; whether it were a friend in need of help,
from the most trifling to the most momentous matters, or
the absolute stranger whom apparent chance had sent
across his path.
His old landlady, Mrs. Emmerson, between whom and
himself the warmest cordiality always existed, writes :
" During the nine years he was in residence with me, his
sole aim seemed to be, to benefit all needing help, whether
friends or strangers. He would frequently bring in those
he met accidentally in his walks, give them refreshment,
better clothing, or money, and start them in fresh spirits."
Still with all this, his kindliness was by no means one
lacking its proper counterpoise of discretion; his strong,
clear-headed, Scotch common- sense was constantly mani
fested, even in his schemes of beneficence. Yet even thus
it must be remembered that his was a character in which
the warm heart was guided in its action by the clear head,
not one in which the clear head did but allow itself to be
swayed more or less by the loving heart. Love was the
dominant power, discretion the corrective influence.
It may be well to add a few words at this stage as to
what I have called above his secondary interests. Of phy
sical exercises, his favourite, and indeed the only one in
which he habitually indulged, was bicycling. To this he
had first taken at Harrow, when he was about fifteen, on
what was popularly known as a " boneshaker." The level
Cambridgeshire roads afforded him admirable scope for
this amusement, and the great pace at which he could run,
and the long distances for which he could endure, were ex
traordinary. A dozen years ago, it must be remembered,
the bicycle had not come into nearly such general use as at
present, and great feats of pace and distance were corres-
38 Student Life at Cambridge.
pondingly more noticeable. On one occasion, he went on
his bicycle in one summer s day between dawn and dark
ness all the way from Cambridge to Bournemouth, where
his family were then staying, a distance of nearly 150
miles. It will be desirable to give a brief sketch of some
of his athletic successes, but this may best be postponed
until we have spoken in detail of his work as a student.
Another favourite pursuit, which can hardly perhaps be
called an amusement, but which certainly often furnished
recreation in the true sense of the word, was shorthand
writing. This he had taught himself at Harrow, accord
ing to the system invented by Mr. Isaac Pitman, known
as phonography ; and kept it by constant practice in a high
state of efficiency. It proved of course of immense use to
him in various University and other lectures, and count
less sermons were thus taken down, not simply for practice
only, but often with some kind intention to be of service.
Thus the Rev. P. W. Minto, for many years the Free
Church Minister at Inverurie, writes :
" As showing his readiness to be helpful, I may mention
that he frequently gave me the benefit of this useful ac
quirement. When I wanted to preach, as far as language
is concerned, extempore, he took notes of the sermon, word
for word, and then would spend three or four hours next
day in writing it for me in longhand, so that I might have
it for use on future occasions."
Lastly, I may mention music. While his tastes were
not keenly musical, of certain forms of sacred music he
was very fond. He had acquired a competent degree of
skill by means of what is known as the Tonic Sol-Fa sys
tem, which he maintained to be far more easy of attain
ment by the ordinary learner, though the notation itself
was one in which the most difficult music could be accu
rately expressed.
1 Free Church of Scotland Monthly, July 1887, p. 213.
Student Life at Cambridge. 39
With this digression as to Keith-Falconer s various
side-interests at this time, we must now attempt to give
some account of his work as a student of theology. This,
from July 1875 to January 1878, was guided, as I have
already said, by the requirements of the Theological
Tripos.
These pages may be read by some to whom everything
connected with the development of such a mind as Keith-
Falconer s must be full of interest, yet to whom the de
tails of this particular examination may be altogether un
known. I therefore venture to give a short description of
it, as it was constituted at the time when Keith-Falconer
was a competitor in it.
At that time, it lasted for seven days, two papers being
set each day, and three hours allowed for each. The last
four days were devoted to more advanced or more special
ized work.
There were thus fourteen papers set ; or fifteen, if an
additional paper in Hebrew be included, the marks for
which only had regard to the Hebrew Prize. Of these
fourteen papers, one was a general paper on the Old
Testament, three were devoted to the Hebrew subjects,
three to Greek Testament, and the remaining seven to
miscellaneous Divinity, Church History and the like.
Some of the subjects were unvarying, some were changed
from year to year.
The general Old Testament paper consisted of questions
on the criticism and exegesis of the various books, on the
history of the Hebrew text, and of the Greek and English
versions ; as well as on the history of the Jews down to
the Christian Era.
The three Hebrew papers in 1878 were respectively on
Genesis, on Isaiah, and on Zechariah and Ecclesiastes. In
the third of these papers, questions on the Septuagint
version of the books named were also set. Into all these,
in addition to pieces for translation from the Hebrew, and
40 Student Life at Cambridge.
critical and exegetical questions, there entered, more or
less largely, what is technically known as " pointing " ;
that is, pieces of Hebrew are set in which the student has
to supply the vowel and other marks known as the "points."
This exercise is one which tests the soundness and accuracy
of a student s Hebrew knowledge thoroughly. In the ad
ditional Hebrew paper, pieces of English were also set to
be turned into Hebrew, answering to the Greek and Latin
composition of the Classical Tripos.
Of the three papers on the Greek Testament, one was of
a very general kind, including questions on the history of
the New Testament Canon, on the criticism of the text, on
the language, and on the contents of the several books.
The other two were respectively on the Gospels, with
special reference to one, that in 1878 being St. John ; and
the remaining books of the New Testament, again with
special portions, those for 1878 being Acts i.-xii. and the
First Epistle of St Peter. Questions were set in these
two papers analogous to those on the Old Testament
subjects.
Two papers were set on Church History, the first a
general one on the first six centuries of the Christian
Church, and the other on special subjects, varying each
year, those in 1878 being the life and times of Pope
Gregory VII. and of Archbishop Cranmer.
The five remaining papers were, one on the Ancient
Creeds and the Confessions of the Reformation period ;
one on Liturgiology, purporting to deal with the structure
of the chief ancient Liturgies, and with the history of
Christiau worship ; two on selected Patristic works, Greek
and Latin respectively, those for 1878 being, in Greek the
first Apology of Justin Martyr, and three of the polemic
treatises of Athanasius ; and in Latin, a book of Irenaeus s
work Against all Heresies, and two books of Bede s Church
History.
Lastly, there was a paper on certain Modern Theological
Student Life at Cambridge. 41
writings, those set for 1878 being the first part of Butler s
Analogy and the first two sections of Bishop Bull s Defensio
Fidei Nicence.
It will be obvious to any one, whether professed student
or not, that the above represents a mass of work to do
which creditably might well occupy two years and a
half.
As a matter of fact, very few men took up quite all the
work, though very few on the other hand quite restricted
themselves to the first six papers, on which alone the ques
tion of passing or failing hinged.
Keith-Falconer made it his set purpose to cover the
whole ground, and to do it thoroughly and carefully ; and
this he succeeded in doing, though the amount was enough
to keep him busily occupied during the two years and a
half, except for one digression into another piece of work
of which we shall speak presently.
While, however, he worked most conscientiously at the
whole allotted scheme of subjects, he took distinctly more
delight in the Biblical than in the non-Biblical work, and
from the very first shewed pre-eminently the keenest in
terest in the study of Hebrew.
The Talmud says, in a well-known passage : " There are
four sorts of pupils, the sponge and the funnel, the strainer
and the sieve. The sponge is he who spongeth up every
thing ; and the funnel is he who taketh in at this ear and
letteth out at that ; the strainer is he that letteth go the
wine and retaineth the dregs ; and the sieve is he that
letteth go the bran and retaineth the fine flour." Among
the last of these four classes any one to whom Keith-
Falconer had been a pupil would assuredly place him.
It goes without saying that he was neither careless nor
unappreciative, but he was not simply the careful, plodding
student, who in his utmost zeal does but more or less im
perfectly reproduce his teacher. The scholar, whose study
is really to bear worthy fruit, must not only " read, mark
42 Student Life at Cambridge.
and learn," but also "inwardly digest" and make in the
highest sense his own what he is taught. The teacher of
such a pupil need be no chopper-up of intellectual food
into small doses, there is certain to be a sufficiency both of
receptive and of assimilating power.
Such a pupil was Keith-Falconer. Docile he was in
the true sense of the word, at the same time he certainly
was
Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri,
and this not from captiousness or any contrariety of spirit,
but simply because the true scholar s instinct was strong
within him, to seek ever for the truth and that alone.
Thus it was the sterner, severer form of study, specially
associated with Cambridge, with its traditional loyalty to
Mathematical science and pure scholarship, that attracted
him, rather than something perhaps more seemingly in
viting, but less uncompromisingly exact.
Hebrew, we have said, was a subject to which Keith-
Falconer took kindly from the first, and in a comparatively
short space of time he was able to compose with accuracy
and elegance in that language. It hardly needs to be said
that, as contrasted with a language like Greek, Hebrew has
an exceedingly small vocabulary, and is largely lacking in
the power of marking delicate distinctions and modifica
tions of thought characteristic of the former. In this
seemingly rigid, inelastic medium, Keith- Falconer early
found a peculiar delight in composing, not only by render
ing suitable pieces of English into Hebrew, but also by
writing letters in it as a means of communication. A
bundle of post-cards now lies before me written by him in
that language from 1876 onwards, on every conceivable
subject, which shew a power I have not often seen
equalled of bending the inflexible idioms and making the
scanty vocabulary suffice for the needs of nineteenth cen
tury English.
Student Life at Cambridge. 43
We spoke above of a slight digression from the main
stream of his work, if it can fairly be called a digression.
This was his competition in December, 1876, for one of the
prizes founded by the late Dean Jeremie, of Lincoln, for
proficiency in the Greek of the Septuagint. The special
subjects appointed in the year when Keith-Falconer was a
candidate, were the first book of Samuel, Daniel in the
two existing Greek versions, and the apocryphal " Gospel
of Nicodemus." Although his Tripos work was heavy, he
spared no pains in this competition, and even acquired,
with a view to the more thorough treatment of his subject,
a sufficient knowledge of the so-called Chaldee language,
in which part of the book of Daniel is written.
He succeeded in obtaining one of the two prizes, and was
also a prizeman at the two annual college examinations in
June 1876 and June 1877.
On his way up to Cambridge for the October Term of
the former year, he broke the journey at Stockton-on-
Tees, with the view of helping for a few days in a certain
good work that was then being carried on in that town.
At this time, Mr. G. J. Holyoake, the secularist lecturer,
was holding a series of meetings in Stockton, and after one
of his lectures challenged public discussion. Keith-
Falconer, who had been present at the lecture, imme
diately went upon the platform, and brought forward
certain objections with such force, that on the particular
points at issue he completely silenced his opponent.
In December, 1877, the month preceding his Tripos
Examination, a great blow befell him in the death of his
youngest brother Arthur in his fifteenth year.
Always delicate and lacking the robust strength which
thrives amid the rough vigour of a public school, Arthur
had been educated almost entirely by tutors at home.
The heathen poet declares that they " whom the gods
love die young" ; and the thought maybe consecrated to a
Christian use. In looking at Arthur Keith-Falconer one
44 Student Life at Cambridge.
could not help feeling that the exceptional sweetness and
gentleness, so absolutely simple and engaging, and the
depth of love for Christ which seemed so completely part
of his nature, and to carry one as though into a quiet
resting-place away from the world s rough din all pointed
to a life which the Master would early call back to Him
self.
His absorbing delight was music, for which he had as
distinct and special a gift as his brother Ion for language,
and to this, his time, so far as it was not taken up with his
studies, was largely devoted.
During the summer of 1877, he had been, though not
robust, seemingly in very good health ; but in the autumn
signs of increasing weakness began rapidly to shew them
selves, and as the winter approached it became clear that this
world s sunshine was for Arthur almost at an end. It needs
not to be said that the two brothers were tenderly attached
to one another, and at the beginning of December, Ion
Keith-Falconer hurried away from Cambridge to Keith-
Hall to be with his brother for such short remaining time
as God might will.
Besides the desire to see his brother once more, he needed
change also for himself, for he was by this time feeling by
no means well under the long-continued strain of work and
anxiety ; indeed during the examination itself in the fol
lowing month, he was sufficiently unwell to require to have
recourse to a doctor.
He found his brother simply fading away. He suffered
no pain, and was perfectly conscious to the last, looking
on to the future with the peaceful unquestioning calm of a
child who is going home.
He died on December 9, and changed the hymns of this
lower world for the song of the Seraphim.
With the shock of this great loss upon him, and in by
no means good physical condition, Keith-Falconer went in
for his Tripos on January 4, 1878. On the 24th, the list
Student Life at Cambridge. 45
was published, and his was one of the six 1 names in the
first class, the prize for Hebrew being also awarded to him.
On the Saturday following he took his B.A. degree.
For some months after his degree, Keith-Falconer did
not reside much in Cambridge. He certainly needed rest,
and found it largely in change of occupation, though his
letters shew that the studies at which he had made so
satisfactory a beginning by no means languished. Most
of the time till June he spent at Brighton, where his
family were then residing, and devoted himself largely to
preparing for an examination at Cambridge an under
graduate friend who needed exceptional help.
In August he was at the Broadlands Conference. This
is the name given to a meeting gathered by the Right
Hon. W. Cowper-Temple (now Lord Mount Temple) at
his seat in Hampshire ; a meeting which has for its end
the strengthening and deepening of spiritual life. Here
his powers of writing phonography came into play to re
port the addresses. To the published account of the pro
ceedings was prefixed an Introduction by Keith-Falconer
as to the object, scope and results of the Conference.
This Introduction exhibits not only considerable power of
language, but also a greater depth of thought than could
ordinarily be looked for from a young man of two and
twenty. The absolute earnestness of the religious con
viction underlying it is manifest, and it fully deserves to
be reproduced here in full. In order, however, not to
break our thread, we give it as an Appendix to the present
chapter.
In October, Keith-Falconer settled again into residence
at Cambridge, in his old rooms looking out on the market-
1 It is interesting to note that of these six, two others besides
Keith-Falconer devoted themselves to the cause of missions abroad ;
Mr. Lefroy becoming one of the members of the Cambridge Univer
sity Mission at Delhi, and Mr. Williams an S. P. G. missionary at
Rewari, near Delhi.
46 Student Life at Cambridge.
place. He was now definitely working for two examina
tions, both more or less on the same lines, though by no
means absolutely identical. These were the examinations
for the Tyrwhitt University Hebrew Scholarships, to be
held in May 1879, and that for the Semitic Languages
Tripos, in February 1880. The former of these, founded
in 1818, represented, then as now, the highest distinction
to be obtained for Hebrew in Cambridge. Among the
scholars who have won it in the past are to be found such
names as Bishop Harold Browne of Winchester, the late
Bishop Ollivant of Llandaff, Dean Perowne, and the late
Dr. F. Field. The direction of the founder was that the
examination should turn primarily on the Hebrew Bible,
and in a secondary degree on things directly tending to
illustrate it. Accordingly, passages are set for translation
from any part of the Bible, both in the Hebrew and that
which is called Chaldee ; and, moreover, extracts are set
from Rabbinic, or in other words, post-Biblical Hebrew,
Commentaries on the Scriptures by the great Rabbis and
the like ; and also from the Targums, or paraphrases of
the various parts of the Bible into the vernacular language
of Palestine, such as it was in our Saviour s time, such
language as St. Paul used when he addressed and stilled
the noisy mob of Jerusalem from the steps of the " Castle."
Pieces of Syriac also are occasionally set. In addition to
all this, there is " pointing," such as I have already ex
plained, and also pieces of English to be turned into He
brew. These last are often of considerable difficulty.
There lies before me now a rendering into Hebrew,
made by Keith-Falconer at this time, of Cardinal New
man s beautiful hymn, " Lead, Kindly Light." The hymn
is written in strong, idiomatic English, by no means easy
to reproduce adequately. Yet the rendering is most
happy, and, for a student at the stage of progress at
which Keith- Falconer then was, gives warrant of very
high promise.
Student Life at Cambridge. 47
In this term, he began to read Syriac with Dr. Wright,
the well-known learned professor of Arabic at Cambridge,
and, in the interests of both examinations, though mainly
the Semitic Languages Tripos, he worked at it very regu
larly in 1878 and 1879.
Thus occupied with his reading, now directed to a suffi
ciently large field of new work, and with his heart un
doubtedly very much in earnest as to his coming examina
tions, the time passed by till the following May, when the
first examination was held, and he was elected a Tyrwhitt
scholar.
From what I have already said, and from much that
will follow, it will be clearly understood that at the times
of his busiest occupation, his heart had the fullest room
for interest in anything by which God might be glorified
or man benefited. Still, to prevent endless breakings of
continuity, I have felt it undoubtedly best to let the
student-life stand as a continuous story.
After the examination, he went for a time to London,
where his family then were, and his letters are full of his
hopes as to the contest just over, and yet more, of his
plans for the other yet to come.
It may be well perhaps at this stage if I briefly sketch
the nature of the Semitic Languages Tripos for which
Keith-Falconer was now working. The examination was
one of recent foundation, being first held in the year 1878,
and was designed to give encouragement to a wider range
of Oriental study than was provided by the Tyrwhitt
Scholarships. The examination is one lasting for seven
days, of which the first two are devoted to Arabic, then
two to Hebrew, then two to Syriac, and on the last day
two papers are set on the Comparative Grammar of these
languages, and on their Literary History respectively.
At the time when Keith-Falconer entered for this ex
amination, he had not acquired more than a slight know
ledge of Arabic, and did not take up the first two days
48 Student Life at Cambridge.
papers. The remaining five days, however, provided
ample work. A knowledge was required of the whole
Hebrew Bible, with special reference, as in the case of
the earlier Tripos, to certain books ; those for 1880 being
Genesis, Ruth, Job, and Amos. Rabbinic Hebrew was
represented by selected books from such writers as Mai-
monides and Rashi, that greatest of all exponents of
Scripture in the eyes of an orthodox Jew.
Syriac, in which, as well as in Hebrew, composition is
set, was represented by selected books of both Old and
New Testament in the various ancient Syriac versions of
Scripture, Curetonian, Peshito and Harklensian ; by non-
Biblical works such as the Doctrine of Addai, parts of
Aphraates, and Joshua Stylites; as well as by a paper
containing pieces from unspecified books.
The professed scholar and an unlearned person can
alike feel that all this is a very serious mass of work.
Keith-Falconer faced it in his customary methodical way.
Writing from London on June 26, he remarks :
" I have revised pretty carefully Isaiah 1-39, and after
Isaiah will do Ezekiel (harder than Jeremiah) and a few
chapters from Leviticus ; and then will return to Psalms,
Proverbs, Minor Prophets, &c. (old ground). I have very
nearly finished the Joshua Stylites, the hardest of all the
Patristic Syriac. Peshito, &c. will be very plain sailing."
Moreover, he read his books not in the undiscriminating
way of one to whom everything which is printed must of
necessity be true, but with a very clear idea of the value of
what he was reading. Thus of a certain well-known text
book, he makes some very just remarks :
" I have read through . Knowledge which every
one possessed long ago is here put in a nice, handy shape.
He has however done his best to make everyone believe it
is all a new discovery, but there is very little of really new
information contained in the book."
Student Life at Cambridge. 49
One topic which interested him much, then as in later
times, was the relation of the Septuagint to the existing
Hebrew text. The Septuagint, venerable as being the
oldest of existing translations of the Old Testament, and
most valuable in many ways both for the criticism of the
text, for exegesis in many difficult passages, and in a very
high degree for the light it throws on the Greek of the
New Testament, is a book for which extravagant claims
have been put forth by some of its advocates.
It may suffice here to say that whether or no there are
passages where the Greek translation has preserved a
purer text than the Hebrew, still there are beyond all doubt
hundreds, literally hundreds, of places where the variation
is simply due to a blunder on the part of the translators.
When to such a blunder there has been further added a
corruption of text due to a transcriber s carelessness or
wilfulness, the case is often one which calls for a consider
able degree of ingenuity and scholarship combined to solve
it, if indeed it is soluble at all.
Points of this kind always excited a keen interest in
Keith-Falconer. In a letter written about this time, he
says, " Send me some Septuagint nuts to crack if I can."
I cannot refrain from giving a specimen of one of these,
where I feel convinced that Keith-Falconer s proposed
solution, thought out by him in the summer of 1879, is the
undoubtedly true solution of a very curious difficulty, as to
which numerous theories have been put forth.
In Psalm xc. 9, the beautiful wording of the English,
" We bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is
told," is, perhaps, not an absolutely literal, but is certainly
a faithful rendering of the Hebrew. The Septuagint,
however, gives a curiously different rendering, which is re
presented by the translation as given in the Douay version
of the Bible. In this version, the only English version, be
it remembered, sanctioned by the Roman church an Eng
lish translation (so far as the Psalms are concerned) of a
50 Student Life at Cambridge.
Latin translation of a bad Greek translation of the Hebrew,
the clause runs, " Our years shall be considered as a spider."
Of the various hypotheses put forward by various scholars
to explain this curious difference, I have no hesitation in
saying that I consider Keith-Falconer s theory, which sees
in the passage a translator s blunder complicated by a
scribe s further corruption, wilful or otherwise, as un
doubtedly the true one. 1
In the course of the summer, Keith-Falconer felt the
need of being braced up somewhat for his work, and went
away for a few weeks to Ramsgate, taking his books with
him ; and from thence to Scotland, first on a visit near
Loch Luichart in Ross-shire, and then home, until he re
turned to Cambridge for the ensuing term.
The examination for which he had long been working
was held in February, 1880, and resulted in his being
placed in the first class, his work having been distinctly
brilliant and of decided promise. It is interesting to re
member that one of the four examiners on that occasion
was Mr. E. H. Palmer, at that time Lord Almoner s Pro-
1 It may be desirable to put this definitely in a note. The existing
Hebrew is Pl^H TO? "like a passing thought" (or "passing
speech"). The existing Greek is TO. try I HJLWV & dpdxvn t/itXJrwv
("I thought upon our years as doth a spider "). It must be noted,
however, that the two oldest MSS. of the Septuagint, the Sinaitic
and Vatican, agree in reading, not the nominative dpagi 1}, but the
accusative dpd\viiv. Keith-Falconer s suggestion was that dpdxvijv
was a scribe s error for dxvrjv ("chaff"); and we may compare
Psalm xxxix. 11 ("like a moth fretting a garment"), where the
$y ("moth") of the original was misread as $j5 (by both
Septuagint and Peshito), and rendered ayyi\ in the former, which
was corrupted into dpd\vi}. But whence lias d-^vn keen derived in
the 90th Psalm ? In all probability, the Greek translators misread
i3 (" like "), for p03 (" like chaff"). Thus the resulting idea
of the Greek verse would be, " I mused upon our years as though
but chaff." The i^Xkrutv is of course got by only a slight altera
tion from
Student Life at Cambridge. 51
fessor of Arabic, destined at no distant date to die a violent
death at the hands of Arabs, members of a race among
many tribes of which he had lived as one of themselves.
The massacre of the Wady-Sudr does but add another to
the list of lives of the highest value wasted amid the so-
called exigencies of party warfare.
With the Semitic Languages Tripos, the first portion of
Keith-Falconer s student-life found its natural end. He
had essayed his weapons, he had now won his spurs. He
was henceforth to prove, through such length of life as God
might vouchsafe him, what use he would seek to make of
his exceptional gifts.
In subsequent chapters it will be my duty to speak fully
as to the form in which Keith-Falconer s further devotion
to learning shewed itself. I propose now to look back
once again to the beginning of his undergraduate career,
and see in what secondary interests he chiefly found de
light.
I have already said that his chief, and in some respects
his only settled amusement, was bicycling. In this his
powers were so exceptional, and his successes so striking
and so numerous, that I feel bound to speak of this aspect
of his life in some detail. It might otherwise have seemed
somewhat surprising that after such a narrative as that of
Keith-Falconer s student -life, I should now proceed to
dwell, with some fulness of detail, and using of necessity a
certain amount of technical phraseology, on a chronicle of
athletic successes.
Although the great majority of hard reading men are
not as a rule famous as athletes, which is very different
from saying that they do not freely indulge in vigorous
bodily exercise, for this indeed they must do if the brain is
to perform its duty properly ; still there have been not a
few men who have combined in a striking way the highest
academic distinctions with marked success iu various forms
52 Student Life at Cambridge.
of athletics. Thus Bishop Selwyn, " of Lichfield and New
Zealand," who took the degree of Second Classic in 1831,
rowed " seven " in the Cambridge boat in the first race
with Oxford in 1829. The Hon. Mr. Justice Denman, who
was Senior Classic in 1842, rowed stroke of the First
Trinity boat when it was head of the river ; and also rowed
in 1841 and in 1842 in the race with Oxford.
So too Keith-Falconer, while never allowing his bicycling
to interfere with his reading, and indeed habitually de
claring that the chief value of it was the help it gave to
men in doing their duty so much the better, stood, in this
his own favourite form of athletics, quite in the forefront
even of those who made it their chief ambition in life to
win a race, or " break a record."
It would take too large an amount of space to give a full
list of the various bicycle races in which he competed, and
of the various successes he won, and would serve no really
useful purpose to do so ; we propose merely to give suffi
cient details here to enable the general reader to see how
remarkable his powers were in this respect.
He had begun the practice, as we have seen, at Harrow,
and had carried it on while with Mr. Hensley at Hitchin ;
and so decidedly had his fame preceded him to Cambridge
that he received the unusual compliment of being elected
Vice-President of the C.U.Bi.C. 1 on June 6, 1874, although
he did not come into residence till the following October.
On November 26, he rode and won his first race at Cam
bridge, doing ten miles of road in 34 minutes, then con
sidered unusually quick time. His own reference to this
race has already been given in a letter to his sister-in-law.
He was in December elected Secretary for the ensuing
term, and subsequently at intervals held office in the club,
of which he was a Life Member.
In the following year, he was victorious in a C.U.Bi.C.
1 Cambridge University Bicycle Club.
Student Life at Cambridge. 53
Lent term race from Hatfield to Cambridge, a distance of
42 miles ; and on May 10, lie won the race for the Univer
sity against Oxford, the course being from St. Albans to
Oxford, a distance of 50 miles.
In the April of the following year, 1876, he won the
Amateur-Championship Four-miles race at Lillie Bridge,
in what was then the fastest time on record ; and on
May 15 following, he won the C.U.Bi.C. Fifty-miles trial
race, at Fenner s ground^ at Cambridge, in 3 hours, 20
minutes, 37 seconds.
On May 1, 1877, he was elected President of the London
Bicycle Club, and to this office he was annually re-elected
for nine years, retaining it until his resignation of office at
the annual dinner of the Club, on October 29, 1886, shortly
before he left England for the last time.
In the C.U.Bi.C. races this term (May 23, 24), he was
successful in the Two-miles, Ten-miles and Twenty-five-
miles races, accomplishing the last-named distance in 1
hour, 30 minutes, 25 seconds. He was very successful too
in the Inter-University races held at Oxford, when he rode
the Two-miles race in 6 minutes 1 second (the first mile
having been done in 3 minutes) and the Ten-miles in 32
minutes 25 seconds, all of which were then the best ama
teur times on record.
The Rev. W. d A. Crofton, of Worcester College, for
merly captain of the O.U.Bi.C., who rode for Oxford in the
Inter-University races on each of the occasions when Keith-
Falconer rode for Cambridge, tells me that in 1877, at the
start for the Two-miles race Keith-Falconer s step broke,
racing bicycles being in those days provided with steps.
When the starter gave the warning, " Are you ready ? "
Keith-Falconer s voice was heard saying, " No, I m not
ready, I want a chair." A chair was brought and he duly
mounted, as calm and unruffled as if nothing had happened
at so critical a time.
In May 11, 1878, he competed successfully, at Stamford
54 Student Life at Cambridge.
Bridge, near Fulliam, in the Two-miles race of the National
Cyclists Union, for the title of " Short-distance Champion: "
but at a race held at Cambridge, in the October of that
year, will be remembered as one of his best performances.
This was one of Five-miles between amateurs and pro
fessionals, and ultimately resolved into a contest between
Keith-Falconer and John Keen, the then professional
champion, in which the former was victorious by five
yards.
I annex an amusing account of this race from a letter
addressed by Keith-Fahoner to Mr. Isaac Pitman, the
veteran inventor of phonography, in reply to a letter of
the latter, urging him to give up smoking. After thanking
him for a subscription which he had sent to the Barnwell
Mission, he proceeds :
" As for smoking, I think that the following will gratify
you. Early in the year I consented to meet John Keen,
the professional champion of the world, in a five-mile
bicycle race on our ground at Cambridge on Oct. 23. But
I forgot all about my engagement till I was accidentally
reminded of it nine days before it was to come off.
" I immediately began to make my preparations and to
train hard. The first great thing to be done was to knock
off smoking, which I did. Next, to rise early in the
morning, and breathe the fresh air before breakfast, which
I did ; next to go to bed not later than 10, which I did ;
next to eat wholesome food and not too much meat or
pastry, which I did ; and finally, to take plenty of gentle
exercise in the open air, which I did.
" What was the result ? I met Keen on Wednesday
last, the 23rd Oct., and amidst the most deafening applause,
or rather yells of delight, this David slew the great
Goliath : to speak in plain language I defeated Keen by
about 5 yards.
" The time was by far the fastest on record.
Student Life at Cambridge. 55
mins
" The 1st mile was done in 2
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Total time 15
" The last lap, that is, the last circuit, measuring 440
yards, we did in 39 seconds, that is more than 11 yards
per second.
" The excitement was something indescribable. Such a
neck and neck race was never heard of. The pace for the
last mile was terrific, as the time shews ; and when it was
over I felt as fit and comfortable as ever I felt in my life.
And even when the race was going on, I thought actually
that we were going slowly and that the time would be bad,
and the reason was, I was in such beautiful condition. I
did not perspire or blow from beginning to end. The
people here are enchanted about it ; so that it is gratifying
to me to think that, notwithstanding my other work and
other business, I can yet beat, with positive comfort and
ease, the fastest rider in the world. . . .
" I am bound to say that smoking is bad, bad for the
wind and general condition. . . ."
In May 1879, races were again ridden between amateurs
and professionals on the ground of the University Club at
Cambridge. On May 21, he met his old adversary John
Keen in a Two-miles race, defeating him by 3 inches ! The
time in this was 5 minutes 36-1 seconds ; and this, I under
stand, was not beaten for several years. On Saturday,
May 24, he won the Twenty-miles race by 16 yards, the
time being 1 hour, 4 minutes, 15} seconds, which at that
time was the best on record.
An eye-witness, describing the scene, and referring to a
time when all Keith- Falconer s competitors had dropped
out save one, says that he " was contented with riding just
behind until 200 yards from home, when, with a spurt
56 Student T,ife at Cambridge.
which the Cantabs were expecting, but which simply
astonished all others, he came right away and won as he
liked." From the same source I extract the following
anecdote, which certainly bears sufficient internal marks of
genuineness : " On the day of the 20-miles race, it was
stated that he was studying hard all the morning, and
forgot that he had to race ; and it was not until all the
other competitors were at the starting-post, ready to start,
that he rushed into the dressing-room, changed his clothes
as quickly as possible and mounted for the race. He rode
several miles before he recovered his breath." 2 It may
most fairly be added here that at the time of these races,
a week had barely elapsed since Keith -Falconer had been
engaged in a heavy examination, of which we have already
spoken, that for the Tyrwhitt Scholarship. Six hours
examination work per diem for four consecutive days
forms by no means a good preliminary training for a keen
physical contest.
Although it is beyond the period covered in the earlier
part of the present chapter, it will be desirable to include
here, as probably his last race, or at any rate the last of
any importance, the 50-miles Bicycle Union Amateur
Championship race, at the Crystal Palace, on July 29,
1882. This was won by Keith-Falconer, who beat by
nearly seven minutes all previous records, the time being
2 hours, 43 minutes, 581 seconds. An account of an in
teresting ride the whole length of the island, made by
Keith-Falconer in that year, will be given at length in its
proper chronological place.
Another great interest, as we have seen, was shorthand.
This was undoubtedly a recreation in one sense, but it
certainly was constantly turned to very practical account.
Great as was his skill in it, he had never received any in-
1 London Bicycle Club Gazette for May 27, 1879.
Ibid.
Student Life at Cambridge. 57
struction, but had simply taught himself the art at Harrow,
as is mentioned by Mr. Arthur Watson.
Mr. Isaac Pitman, who I sincerely trust will pardon me
for changing " the reformed English spelling " of his letter
to that in current use, says in a letter :
" He learnt shorthand simply by reading the instruction
books, and was a good writer in May, 1874, when I first
made his acquaintance during a three weeks stay at
Bournemouth. He took a deep interest in phonography,
wrote it swiftly and accurately, and had a thorough know
ledge of the minutest part of the system ; and that not
merely as a stenographer, but as a judge of its value as a
part of a harmonious whole. He must have learnt it some
years before this date, but I do not know how many."
When I first knew him in 1875, I was astonished at the
ease with which he could keep up with a rapid speaker,
and the equal ease with which he could read his MS. a
considerable time after.
To a beginner in the art, he was not only willing, but
positively wishful to be of use. His constant advice to
those seeking to learn, used to be, "Mind you practise
every day, and don t be in a hurry to write quickly."
A vast quantity of note-books on his work were filled
with this writing, and his correspondence with Mr. Pitman
was entirely in phonography.
Student, athlete, phonographer, in all three aspects,
Ion Keith-Falconer took a foremost position among experts
in three very different lines ; in all three, his excellence
was avowed and undoubted.
Yet there was something more, something beyond all
this power and skill of brain and muscle, a heart which
the love of Christ constrained to work for Him, a heart
filled with the old faith, fervent still after all the turmoil
of a great public school, and the more subtle temptations
of a great University, as when in childhood he learnt its
first rudiments by his mother s knee.
58 Appendix. Broadlmids Conference.
The two principal works, bnt by no means the only ones,
in which he was engaged, during and after his under
graduate career, in Cambridge and in London, will form
the subject of the following chapter.
APPENDIX.
See above, p. 51.
BROADLANDS CONFERENCE, 1878.
FOR the information of those who were not privileged to be
present at the Broadlands Conference of 1878, we preface
our report by an introduction, in which we hope that the
salient points of the Conference, its object, scope, and
results, are fairly brought out. The subject for considera
tion was
PENTECOSTAL BLESSING,
or the
PROMISED OUTPOURING OP THE HOLY SPIRIT.
(1) The promises of which the realization may now
be expected.
(2) The conditions that assist, and the hindrances
that impede, the reception of the promised
blessings.
(3) The use to be made of the gifts of the Spirit.
In the very early days of Christianity, the believer could
not do otherwise than keep separate from the world, for
the world would have nothing to do with him. He was
shunned, maligned, and persecuted. On the other hand,
for this very reason, his faith was bright and clear, and he
expected very shortly the second coming of Christ. He
was indeed a burning and a shining light in this dark
world. But after a time when men began to recognize the
splendid morality of the Gospel, and when the false charges
Appendix. Broadlands Conference. 59
of Atheism, inhumanity, and vicious practices, which were
commonly circulated, began to be disbelieved, certain
advances were made by the State and the world. Philo
sophers began to choose and to pick from the Christian
system what they thought beautiful or true, and to intro
duce the same into their own systems ; and the State com
menced to look on the new religion with a certain amount
of distant toleration, and, in time, to assume towards it an
attitude even of respect. On the other hand the Church
was gradually losing some of its first love, and its old
ardour was cooling. The Lord delayed His coming.
Heresies began to spring up, grievous wolves entered the
Church of G-od in sheep s clothing and tore the flock. The
evil, we cannot help thinking, was consummated when
Constantine, early in the fourth century, laid his diseased
hand on the Church, and united it with the State. We do
not express any decided opinion on the vexed question of
Church and State. It would be out of place here to attempt
to decide whether the abstract theory of union of the
Church with the State is warranted by the Bible. We are
dealing with the practical question, viz., How has that
union affected the attitude of Christians towards the world ?
The mass of people now flocked in, were baptized, and
professed Christianity. It was now the religion of Rome,
and so the religion of the whole civilized world. It is true
that under Julian, relapse to heathenism was attempted ;
but the power of the old religions of Greece and Rome was
gone for ever, and the attempt was all in vain. Christianity
was henceforth, to speak in a general way, the religion of
the civilized world. This was glorious in one way, and
when we contemplate the wonderful progress which Chris
tianity had by this time made, and remember the despised
Nazarene, and all His low estate when here below, we are
bound to exclaim, " This is the Lord s doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes " (Matt. xxi. 42).
But still one bad result seems to have followed. The
Church and the world became more than ever united, and
the solemn command to come out from among them and
to be separate, more than ever difficult of performance.
And passing over the long expanse of centuries, which in
tervened between then and now, we see other influences at
60 Appendix. Rroadlands Conference.
work, which render this our separation from the world
increasingly difficult. The conditions of life in the present
age are entirely unfavourable to any kind of seclusion.
The multifarious interests of this toiling, rushing, fevered
day, have so banded men together, and the vast increase
in railways and telegraphs, and all other means of com
munication, have rendered the exchange of thoughts, the
"collision of mind with mind," and the social intercourse
of individuals, so easy, that a certain amount of mutual
advance, of interchange of thought and feeling, is now
demanded where none was expected before. Yet the com
mand is plain " Come out from among them, and be ye
separate." But a consideration of the evil will suggest the
remedy, and a contemplation of the difficulty will point to
the solution. It is evidently quite impossible for the
Church to be absolutely separate from the world in this
sense, that the believer is to be a marked man, shunned
and ousted by all. Civilization has thrown a garb of seem
ing friendship over all, and the "white ashes of social
hypocrisy " choke anything like open hostilities. Nor is it
the Lord s will that the believer should be entirely shut
out from the world, for if the leaven never come into con
tact with the meal, how and when will the whole be leavened?
The difficulty is at once recognized and solved by our
Lord when He says, " I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world " (John xvii. 15, 16). " In the world, but
not of it," is to be our motto. Still though we know what
the mind of the Lord is with respect to this, the practical
difficulty remains, how to maintain this separation, and
how, while discharging those manifold duties of life in
which we are necessarily brought into contact with others,
yet to maintain our purity, nor ever to touch the unclean
thing. We cannot do it, except we be endued with power
from on high. And to this end, a gracious provision has
been made for us. The Shepherd truly is no more in
bodily presence with the flock, and the wolves abound ;
but the sheep are not defenceless. The Comforter has been
given to them. In other words, it is by the mighty power
of the Holy Ghost working in us, with us, and through us,
Appendix. Broadlands Conference. 61
that we are to overcome the world, to resist its allurements,
and to hurl back its every encroachment. And here the
question naturally suggests itself: How is it then, that
though the Holy Ghost has been imparted to the believer,
he is yet liable to danger from sin and the world ? (not to
speak of danger from within). The answer is, that Chris
tianity never did, and never will, do away with human
responsibility. We are indeed in a state of probation. We
have a warfare to fight, and how are we straitened till it
be accomplished! The Holy Ghost hath in very truth
been given to us, but (humanly speaking), its manifesta
tion depends on ourselves. We are responsible for its
manifestation. " Stir up the gift of God that is in thee."
This is the command ; and the Conference spent much of
its time in considering what conditions assisted, and what
hindrances impeded, this manifestation. The subject seems
to us a very important one, for the simple reason that in
proportion as Christians live in the power of the Spirit, in
that proportion will their influence be felt in the world
that surrounds them. When spirituality is at a low ebb,
then the believer is weak, and dares not come into contact
with the world, lest he be drawn away and enticed ; and if
he does, woe to him. And it seems to us that the reason
why infidelity, scepticism, heresy, and schism are so alarm
ingly on the increase in our day, is that the only light
which illumines the world s darkness is so faint and dim.
" Ye are the light of the world " (Matt. v. 14). The truth
of Christianity may be proved by the most incontestable
evidence, internal and external, but unless this evidence be
mightily confirmed by the consistent walk, and the holy
conversation of its professors, the world will never be con
vinced. Precept is well, but without example tis a mockery.
Preaching is good, but practising is a sine qua non.
" Christian character is a more magnificent apology for
the claims of Jesus, than all Christian preaching and talk
ing e er can be." We may now enumerate some of the
principal conditions of, and hindrances to, the manifestation
of the Spirit within us, which were dwelt on at the Con
ference.
CHAPTER IV.
EVANGELISTIC WORK : BABNWELL AND MILE-END.
"Heart and soul
A very man, tender, and true, and strong,
And pitiful."
MORRIS.
To Cambridge men of a quarter of a century ago, the
name of Barn well bore an ugly sound. It was that part
of the town to which seemed to gravitate a mass of various
ills ; a large, poor, rapidly growing suburb, whose name
seemed synonymous with squalor and vice.
Yet this state of things was one which had only risen
comparatively recently ; old men who have not long passed
away remembered a very different Barnwell. The late
Professor Sedgwick, who died in 1873, once described to
the present writer a ride he had taken when a young man
from Trinity College to Newmarket, in which he would of
necessity pass through Barnwell.
The long street which is still called Jesus Lane, from
the College which has stood near it for four hundred
years, was then really a lane. Beyond the College, where
now is a continuous street of houses for a mile and a half,
came a distinct break with green fields and a plantation of
trees, followed by a small straggling village, with a very
pretty, though somewhat dilapidated little church, which
once had been the church of Barnwell Abbey. Half a mile
further on, was a yet smaller chapel, with some exquisite
Norman work, which was intended for the use of lepers,
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 63
who might not come to the service with the rest of the
congregation. Then came the open moor all the way to
Newmarket.
This small village was Barnwell, and was the inhabited
part of the large parish of St. Andrew the Less. Close to
this was the river Cam, which formed the northern
boundary of the parish.
It may be not without interest to call attention to the
fact that, in the space between the old Church and the
lepers chapel and the river, there has been regularly kept
each returning September for centuries, 1 a fair, popu
larly known as Stourbridge Fair, once one of the most
important business meetings in England, I had almost
said in Europe ; and even in the last century a very busy
scene of real trafficking, 2 now a gathering that might very
well be done away with.
Various causes co-operated vastly to increase the popu
lation of this part of Cambridge, not only absolutely, but
also relatively to the rest of the town. Among the fore
most of these causes is doubtless to be placed the railway.
The quiet University town, in the heart of a thinly -peopled
agricultural district, was quickened into a noisier and
more stirring life by the advent of the railway, and four
competing lines now meet in Cambridge. Both the con
struction and working of these led to a large influx of men
of the working class. Again, the discovery of great beds
of fossils, known as coprolites, and rich in chemical con
stituents tending to the fertilization of land, brought also
large numbers of navvies, who lodged in Barnwell and in
many cases permanently settled there.
The steadily increasing numbers of the University also
1 Probably instituted by a charter of King John in 1211 A.D.
(Cooper s Annals of Cambridge i. 34.)
2 For an interesting account of the fair as conducted in the last
century, see Cooper, iv. 318 sqq. ; Gunning, Reminiscences ii. 148
sqq. ed. 2.
64 Evangelistic Work : Bumwell and Mile-End.
brought about a corresponding increase in the number not
only of College servants, but of irregular hangers-on, men
ready to make themselves useful in connexion with the
various amusements of the undergraduates.
Whatever the various causes may have been, an immense
rate of increase in the parish is most marked. Thus in
1801, the population of the parish of St. Andrew the
Less, or, as it was then called, St. Andrew in Barn well,
was 252 ; the number of inhabited houses in the parish
being 79. The population of the whole town of Cambridge
in that year was 10,087. In 1881, the population of the
parish was 21,078, that of the whole of Cambridge being
35,363. The number of the inhabited houses in the
parish had now risen to 4,342. I subjoin in a note the
population of the parish and of the whole town at each of
the censuses since the beginning of the century, to shew
how continuous and how rapid has been the growth. 1
It is true that, as the town of Cambridge is at present
constituted, the popular name of Barnwell is not applied
to the whole of the huge parish. It denotes, however, a
large part of it, and pre-eminently of the poorer districts.
It is thus abundantly clear that the provision adequate
for the spiritual needs of the small village would soon be
found insufficient for so rapidly growing a population. For
some time apparently things were allowed to drift, with
merely sporadic efforts to give help. The beginning of a
more systematic attempt to cope with the needs of the
Parish. Town.
1801 252 10,087
1811 411 11,108
1821 2,211 14,142
1831 6,651 20,917
1841 9,486 24,453
1851 11,776 27,815
1861 11,848 26,361
1871 15,958 30,078
1881 21,078 35,363
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 65
case was the establishment by a party of undergraduates,
in the year 1825, of a Sunday School, which speedily
assumed large proportions ; and which still, under its
original name of the Jesus Lane Sunday School (though
it is many years since it left its first abode which gave it
its name), exercises a most important influence for good.
This, though not strictly a parochial agency, was dis
tinctly designed for the benefit of Barnwell ; and in 1839,
largely through the instrumentality of the Rev. C. Perry,
afterwards first Bishop of Melbourne, a large Church
was opened in the parish under the name of Christ s
Church.
Since that time other Churches have been built, and
several chapels of various dissenting bodies testify to much
hearty zeal for the furtherance of the Gospel.
In the present generation great improvements have
taken place in the character of the parish, due, under
God s blessing, to a succession of earnest, hard-working
Vicars, and to no one more largely than to the late Rev.
J. H. Titcomb, afterwards Bishop of Rangoon, and the
Rev. E. T. Leeke, now Chancellor of Lincoln. No one
who remembers Barnwell twenty -five years ago can fail to
realize an immense improvement.
Still the labourers were very few for so great a mass of
people, mostly poor and ignorant, including even yet a
large number of persons following vicious courses ; and
while the Gospel teaching of a band of devoted men was
gradually leavening the mass, yet while the workers were
slowly gaining on the task which faced them, hundreds
were dying.
It was this state of things which led to the special effort
of which I have now to speak.
On the high road through Barnwell, not far from Christ
Church, stood a rather disreputable-looking theatre, with
the high-sounding name of the Theatre Royal, Barnwell.
This was not so valuable a property as it might otherwise
F
66 Evangelistic Work: Barnw ell and Mile- End.
have been, for by immemorial law, no plays could be per
formed in Cambridge without the permission of the Vice-
Chancellor ; and this permission was never conceded
except in vacation time, when the great mass of under
graduates have left Cambridge.
In May, 1875, in anticipation of a visit of Mr. D. L.
Moody to Cambridge, a few gentlemen, both members of
the University and townsmen, decided to hire the theatre,
then of necessity closed, for a month, and hold evange
listic services in it, to break the ground, as it were, for his
visit. Although Mr. Moody was prevented from paying
his visit at that time, the theatre was taken notwith
standing ; and a vigorous effort was made to reach that
still large element of the population which never by any
chance went to any place of worship whatsoever, to all
intents and purposes as heathen as if the name of Christ
had never been proclaimed in England.
With all this, Keith-Falconer associated himself most
heartily. Still, it must be noticed, his interest, however
great, co-existed with his studies, yet did not interfere
with them. He fully recognized, then and subsequently,
a truth which not all young men when seeking to be of
use to others do sufficiently realize, the truth namely that
for a time duties which may seem the highest, and in one
sense certainly are such, ought to be subordinated to
others which seem to them less important. Yet there can
be no doubt that to an undergraduate living in a Univer
sity, and therefore presumably a student, the highest duty
of all is for the time his study. The legitimate claims of
that being satisfied, let him be useful in every possible way
so far as his opportunities permit.
To confine ourselves to Cambridge men alone ; such
names as Henry Martyn, Bishop Selwyn, and Bishop
Mackenzie, shew how noble may be the outcome in the
service of God of an undergraduate career primarily de
voted to steady University work. Such too was Keith-
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 67
Falconer ; he never neglected his simple everyday duty, to
attend to one apparently higher, yet not so distinctly and
directly assigned him as his proper work.
When the month for which the Theatre had been hired
came to an end, the building reverted to its ordinary con
dition for a time. So great, however, had been the success
attending the services in the Theatre, that it was deter
mined to carry on the same kind of work elsewhere in
Barnwell, and for about three years and a half mission
services went on at a Ragged School in New Street.
All this time, Keith-Falconer was a steady and consis
tent helper of the mission, by his purse, by his personal
co-operation, and we may well feel sure by his prayers.
An old friend of his has remarked that in his active share
in evangelistic work may probably be found the explana
tion of the fact that Keith-Falconer was so little assailed
by speculative doubts as to the Faith. For a mind so keen
and so inquiring as his was, to have been so free from such
attacks, is a thing which must strike one as remarkable in
an age like ours.
On one occasion, I think in 1876, I accompanied Keith-
Falconer to a meeting at the Ragged School. The gather
ing of people, of whom there were several hundreds, dis
played a remarkable contrast to an ordinary Christian con
gregation. They represented as a whole a stratum de
cidedly below that of the decent working man of the
poorer sort. Many were ragged, most were dirty and un
kempt, and before the service began, many of them be
haved most outrageously. Yet when the service began, I
rejoice to say, the conduct was orderly enough ; evidently
many, while coming in the first instance simply from
curiosity, bore in their way a friendly feeling enough for
their visitors. Yet it may be noted, as shewing the stratum
from which the bulk was drawn, that on one of the speakers
remarking, " A great many of you, I know, have been, and
I fear some are still, thieves ! " he was greeted, in tones
68 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
which shewed that no offence had been taken, with ready
cries of, " Yes, Sir."
It was at this meeting that I heard Keith- Falconer
speak in public for the first time, and on the somewhat
unusual subject of Zelophehad s daughters. What had
specially led to this topic I forget, but he worked up in a
very practical way the ideas suggested by the petition of
these maidens, not afraid to speak out boldly and ask for
the object of their need. Have faith to draw near to God,
and ask for help just as you feel the needs of your own
soul, be they what they may, was the thought throughout.
His speech was evidently that of one who had thought over
carefully what he was going to say, and meant most deeply
and sincerely every word he said. One felt that he would
grow in time to become a weighty and effective speaker,
though not what would popularly be called a brilliant
one ; never to the last did he seek after the ornate
eloquence of the rhetorician.
The work went on in this quiet, unpretentious way till
the autumn of 1878, when it became known that the owner
of the Theatre was about to sell it by auction ; and at a
meeting of the band of workers it was resolved to buy it,
if it could be got at a price not exceeding <1,200. After
this meeting Keith-Falconer, feeling that the building was
sure to fetch a decidedly higher sum, at last prevailed upon
his colleagues to increase their bid to 1,650 ; but to their
great disappointment, the bidding rose to ,1,875, at which
price it became the property of the late Mr. Sayle.
This gentleman, however, on hearing the above facts,
consented with great generosity to give up the Theatre to
the Mission workers, for the price they had been willing to
give for it, the extra 225 being viewed as a subscription
undertaken by Mr. Sayle and his friends.
Even as it was, a considerable sum had to be provided,
and a glance at the subscription list shews that more than
half was raised out of Cambridge. This was mainly due
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 69
to the untiring advocacy of Keith- Falconer, who not only
contributed largely, but also used his utmost efforts with
his friends ; his father, Lord Kintore, and his future father-
in-law, Mr. Bevan, each subscribing =100, the former ulti
mately giving a second like sum.
The requisite amount was rapidly raised, and, after the
necessary cleaning and repairing of the building, it was
formally opened for its new purpose as a mission-hall
(though the old name of Theatre was still retained) on
Sunday, November 17, when very large audiences were
assembled. On the Monday evening the house was crowded,
and on the Tuesday, when there was a social gathering for
tea, followed by a public meeting, every available seat in
the Theatre, from the pit to the gallery, was filled. 1 On
the stage were about 300 persons, and the corridors were
blocked by an eager crowd.
After more than 600 persons had partaken of tea, a
public meeting was held. The chair was taken by Mr.
W. R. Mowll of Corpus Christi College, with whom were
gathered the various gentlemen, who, with the subject of
our present memoir, had striven manfully at the work ;
Mr. H. D. Champney, also of Corpus, Mr. Vawser, Mr.
Flitton, and others. Besides these, other friends were
present from a distance, among whom were the Rev. W.
Hay Aitken, and Mr. F. N. Charrington, each of whom
gave a very effective address.
Keith-Falconer also spoke on this occasion. The speech
was so characteristic of the man, so peculiarly appropriate
to the occasion, and was marked by such sterling common
sense, that I feel fully justified in giving it nearly in full,
as reported in a local paper :
" I am not given to much speaking. But this occasion
is so extraordinary, and the sight before my eyes so ex
hilarating and inspiriting, that if I were a stone I should
1 The Theatre can readily hold 1000 people.
70 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
be forced to throw in my note of praise and thanksgiving
with the rest. What a marvellous transformation this
place has undergone ! Well may we exclaim, Look on
this picture, and on that. Our theatrical friends are
familiar with transformation scenes, but they have got
a novel one to-night, and I hope they have all come to
look at it. And who can deny that it has been a trans
formation from bad to good ? It is all very well for the
supporters of the theatre (especially when they have a
pecuniary interest in the popularity of the drama) to say
that theatre-going is educating and elevating and en
nobling. I will only remark that if this place has been the
means of educating, elevating, and ennobling a fallen
humanity, in Barnwell at least, it has not got on with its
work particularly fast, and the results do not exactly stare
one in the face, and the sooner a more efficient system
comes into play the better. There is one point about this
transformation scene worthy of notice, and that is that the
place is open, free to all. And this is like the Gospel of
the great God. It cost so much, and the sum to be paid
was so vast, that we poor sinners, slave and struggle hard
as we might, could not possibly make up the sum, and so
we have been let off altogether, for the Saviour of the world
has paid it for us. Now our prayer to God is that this
transformation scene may be the earnest and precursor
of many a transformation scene in the hearts and lives of
men and women now careless and without God. I hear that
an actor, quite unworthy of being named, who was perform
ing here in the summer, on his benefit night, made an ora
tion to an admiring audience, and told them in effect, that
the poor players, who had so long striven by their elevating
and instructive performances to raise the tone and purify
the morals of Barnwell, were at length to be supplanted by
a company of religious hypocrites. Acting, he said, has
not ceased in this place : there will be acting still. His
opinion apparently was that religion is another name for
hypocrisy. But he spoke the truth unwittingly. We trust
that there will be some grand actiilg in connection with this
place. It requires no prophetic eye to see the time when
men and women, now sunk low in sin and vice, will be con
strained by the mighty power of a Saviour s love and the
Evangelistic Work: Barnwell and Mile-End. 71
solemnities of a coming eternity proclaimed from this place,
to act the magnificent part of the champions of God, and
the followers of Christ. For, remember, this life of ours
may be viewed as a great drama. The God that made us
has assigned to each his part, and written it in letters so
plain and patent that he who runs may read. And soon
the curtain must fall, and the players must depart to
return no more. It is a play once acted, and only once.
It has no rehearsals, and one false step can never be made
right, and one slip of the tongue can never be recalled. A
numberless audience watches the performance, and, with
intense interest, witnesses the characters as they develop,
and the plot as it thickens. Now there be two prompters
on this stage. The evil one stands on this side and the
Holy Ghost broods over us on the other. Many there are
who, casting aside with the folly of contempt or the blind
ness of indifference the part that God has bid them play,
speak and act that which is prompted by the evil one, and
live lives deservedly wretched, because they make them de
liberately base. But there are others who, taking heed to
the commands of God and to the promptings of the Holy
Ghost, live lives of splendid morality and of glorious wit
nessing to the despised Nazarene. These are the salt
of the earth, and to these doth England owe her greatness,
and in proportion as these diminish, in that exact propor
tion will our nation sink among the nations of the earth.
To whom, then, will ye hearken ? To the Spirit of truth,
or to the spirit of lies ? Will you be one of those to whom,
in the words of the great preacher, Life is a mere collec
tion of fragments, whose first volume is a noisy and obscene
jest-book, and whose last is a grim tragedy or a despicable
farce ? or, will you be numbered with those to whom
Life, however small the stage, is a regal drama played out
before the eyes of God and men ? There be some here who
have come out of idle curiosity and the love of novelty-
would that you were curious enough to inquire into the
things of God, and to taste and see that the Lord is good ;
would that you were sufficiently fond of novelty to try the
new life, which is as different from the old one as light is
from darkness. God, in mercy, turn the idle curiosity into
earnest seeking, and the love of novelty into a longing for
72 Evangelistic Work: Barnw ell and Mile- End.
a new life, and then you will be able from your own
experience to testify that the new act is better than the
old ; for the old was selfish and brought you misery, but
the new act is Christ-like and brings joy unspeakable and
full of glory."
Since that day, nine years ago, the Barnwell Mission has
done a great amount of work for good ; and, I understand,
the Theatre has never been closed for a single Sunday
throughout the whole of that time. Though Keith-Falconer
frequently attended the meetings, he gave but few ad
dresses, and, unfortunately, none of them were reported.
He was always most cordially welcomed, and his zeal for
the furtherance of the work continued quite unabated.
Some further examples of this will be given in a later part
of our story ; we must now shift the scene from Cam
bridge to the East End of London with its thronging
myriads.
In the widest part of the Mile-End Road, that great
artery leading from the heart of London eastwards, the at
tention of the passer-by is irresistibly caught by a very
large, imposing building, of great breadth and commanding
height, over the central door of which is the name, under a
large clock, Great Assembly Hall.
This building is the final outcome of the resolve, gra
dually developing during many years, of Mr. F. N. Char-
rington, to bring the Gospel and every good subsidiary in
fluence home to the masses around. In this noble scheme
of usefulness, Keith-Falconer was associated nearly from
the first, as a most devoted ally of Mr. Charrington, and as
a most munificent supporter.
The work was one which irresistibly appealed to him.
The needs, spiritual and other, of the East End of London
were, and are, so great as to force attention from the most
casual observer: the attempt proceeded throughout uni
formly on what he most justly felt should be the true
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 73
principle of civilizing by Christianizing, not with the idea
that the religious life will come more readily when the
material conditions of life are improved. There will, it is
true, often be great material need. In such cases the duty
of a teacher of the Gospel is clear. He will not follow so
suicidal a policy, deserving to fail as it surely will, as to
offer Christian teaching to men and women in bodily need,
without making any effort to meet those needs. But, on
the other hand, he will not insist on first civilizing in
every possible way, save by religion, the masses of the
lowest class, by art, by general education and the like, and
then, and only then, allow religion, if needs be, to be brought
to bear.
Let the evangelist come forward with the Gospel in one
hand and his material appliances, be they what they may,
in the other ; then will the benefits from each, on soul
and body, act and react on one another, till many a
changed man and w oman will by their lives testify to the
noble perfectness of the plan.
Although the growth of the Mission is primarily, under
God s blessing, to be referred to the self-devoted efforts of
Mr. Charrington, still so deep was Keith-Falconer s in
terest in it, and so weighty and so loyal was the support
which he gave, that it becomes the clear duty of the
present writer to speak in some detail of the scheme. 1
The Mission whose central rallying point is the Great
Assembly Hall bears the name of the Tower Hamlets
Mission. This name, Tower Hamlets, seems strangely
suggestive of something very different from the rather
grim reality. It shews, however, what the district ori
ginally was, " a cluster of villages, starting from the Tower
of London, and extending along the River Thames for
some miles." Gradually, as time went on, the intervening
1 The matter of the subsequent pages is largely drawn from
Keith-Falconer s own pamphlet, A Plea for the Tower Hamlets
Mission, undated, but published in 1882.
74 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
spaces were built over, until fields and country-lanes and
green hedge-rows had given place to interminable streets ;
and what were once beautiful rural spots have become the
principal part of the densely peopled East End of London,
now numbering more than one million souls. In the
centre of this, the largest mass of working people in the
world, the work of the Tower Hamlets Mission is carried
on.
Keith- Falconer had first made the acquaintance of Mr.
Charrington, who was six years his senior, when, in or
about 1871, the latter was on a walking-tour in Aberdeen-
shire, and was invited to Keith Hall by the late Lord
Kintore. From that time forward each was to the other
a most valued and trusted friend. In later years, when
Lord Kintore had passed to his rest (July, 1880), Keith-
Falconer writes to Mr. E. H. Kerwin, the Secretary of the
Mission ; " It is pleasant to me to reflect that it was my
father who first introduced me to Charrington and his
work, and that he so cordially supported the Tower Ham
lets Mission. I hope that his sudden departure may be
the means of blessing to the careless, perhaps to some who
heard him speak in the Assembly Hall."
In the pamphlet above referred to, Keith-Falconer tells
the interesting story of the way in which the Mission
was begun. Mr. Charrington was " the eldest son of the
late Mr. F. Charrington, a partner in the well-known firm
of Charrington, Head and Co. The large brewery is per
haps the most striking feature in the Mile-End Road.
Its remarkable ladder is seen against the sky for a long
distance, and its many chimneys and handsome frontage
must catch every stranger s eye."
In the year 1869, Mr. Charrington was travelling with
a friend in the South of France. His friend had pressed
upon him the truth that this life was meant to be some
thing more than one of pleasure and living to oneself
alone, however innocently ; and at parting prevailed upon
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 75
him to read the third chapter of St. John s Gospel. While
doing this, the light of God broke in upon the reader, and
he determined to devote himself henceforward to the ser
vice of God and the teaching of His Gospel.
Shortly after this, a further thought came to Mr. Char-
rington, which resulted in a very striking act of sacrifice
on his part. He told the story himself in his speech at
the opening of the Great Hall last year. 1 He was in the
habit of going, evening by evening, to a little mission-
hall, and had to pass a certain beer- shop, called the
" Rising Sun," where night after night he saw wretched
women waiting outside for their husbands within. Over
the beer-shop was the name of Charrington, Head and
Co., and it occurred to him that whatever good he was
doing with one hand, he was undoing and more than un
doing with the other. He determined therefore resolutely
that he would have nothing further to do with the drink
traffic. On his father s death, a few years after, he had
the alternative allowed him either of taking as eldest son
his due share of the lucrative business, or of being content
simply with a younger brother s portion. Needless to say,
he chose the latter.
The first efforts of the young missionary were in a
night-school, under the direction of the Rev. Joseph
Bardsley, then Rector of Stepney. Till the accommoda
tion proved too small, he, with two or three others, worked
in a hayloft over a stable, lighted by two or three small
paraffin lamps hung up on the rafters, and tried to do his
best with some ragged little boys.
Soon the little hayloft grew too small, and a school
room had to be taken ; and gradually Mr. Charrington
and his friends were led on to further work among lads
and started a Boys Home. One of the cases which led to
this was the following :
1 Feb. 4, 1886.
76 Evangelistic Work: Barnw ell and Mile- End.
" At the close of one of the meetings, a little boy was
found sobbing. With some difficulty he was induced to
tell his tale. It was simple. His widowed mother, his
sisters, and he, all lived in one room. Everything had
been sold to buy bread except two white mice, the boy s
pets. Through all their poverty, they had kept these
white mice ; but at last they too must go ! With the pro
ceeds he bought street songs, which he retailed on the
waste, and so obtained the means of getting more bread
for his mother and sisters. Now they were completely
destitute. The boy was accompanied home. Home, ! It
was a wretched attic, in one of the most dilapidated houses.
It was a wretchedly cold and dismal day. In the broken-
down grate the dead embers of yesterday s handful of
firing remained. On the table, in a piece of newspaper,
were a few crumbs. The air was close and the smell
insupportable. * My good woman, said Mr. Charring-
ton, why don t you open the window ? * Oh ! she re
plied, you would not say that if you had had nothing
to eat, and had no fire to warm you. The family was
relieved."
Among the good results of this new effort, it may be
mentioned that a gang of juvenile thieves, known to the
police as the Mile-End gang, was broken up ; several of
its members, including its leader, having been thoroughly
influenced for good. Many of the lads were taken out of
their evil surrounding and sent to Yarmouth, where they
were employed on the fishing smacks.
The next stage was the opening of what was known
as the East-End Conference Hall, on November I, 1872.
This was a building in Carlton Square, capable of seating
600 persons, in which the Gospel was preached for some
years with remarkable success. The reason why it was
left, or rather, was given up to another body of workers,
who still are doing good work in it, was, as was so often
the case in connexion with this mission, that it was be
coming too small for the needs of the work.
Accordingly, a move was made to Mile-End Road, at the
Evangelistic Work: Barnwell and Mile-End. 77
corner of White-Horse Lane. Here there was a large
piece of ground which for years had been used by travel
ling showmen with waxworks, merry-go-rounds, theatres
and so forth. Naturally, the respectable inhabitants and
the police alike concurred in rejoicing at the demolition of
dilapidated buildings which had afforded such facilities to
persons of the lowest character. On this land a tent was
erected, in which services were held every night for two
whole summers. A large number of the speakers were
soldiers of the Guards, who came all the way from the
West-End barracks, many of them walking the whole way
there and back, a distance of ten miles, in order to preach
the Gospel.
At last a yet better site was obtained at the broadest
part of the Mile-End Road, and that no time might be lost,
a large tent was at once set up, and was opened on May 21,
1876. It was the largest tent they could obtain, the great
one from Wimbledon Camp. This was replaced in April,
1877, by the first great Assembly Hall, large enough to
hold nearly 2,000 persons, yet hardly deserving the name
of great when contrasted with its gigantic successor. It
should be added that this Hall was from its first inception
intended merely to be temporary, being made of corrugated
iron, though it might last till something more durable
could be obtained.
For nearly nine years this Hall was open every night all
the year round, with an average attendance on week-
nights of over 600, while on Sunday nights the building
was crammed and hundreds were sent away for want of
room. The late Lord Shaftesbury, speaking in this Hall
in 1879, said :
" It is a mighty thing to have achieved such results in
the wild and remote districts of the East End of London.
Would to God we had a hundred halls such as this, where
men of God should stand and daily preach the Word of the
Lord, and minister consolation to those who come."
78 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
Before I come to speak of the erection of the present
building, there are one or two other points which are note
worthy. The first of these is what Keith -Falconer called
" preaching the Gospel from the walls of the city," that is,
by means of placards containing texts of Scripture, direct
personal appeals, and short pointed stories with pictures.
Keith-Falconer remarks : -
" We have several of these stations in the East of London,
around which numbers of people may often be seen eagerly
reading the Words of Life. On Sunday mornings, work
ing men out for their weekly stroll, stop to read the parable
of the Prodigal Son, or the story of The Patchwork Quilt.*
In the dead of night, the poor fallen girl, as she passes
along, is startled to see the familiar text she learned as a
child in the Sunday School ; the policeman, who walks
along his solitary beat, turns his bull s-eye lantern, and while
all is hushed around him, reads the story of a Saviour s
love ; and the profligate, as he returns from some scene of
revelry, is arrested for the moment as he reads the solemn
words, Prepare to meet thy God. The result of this work
has been that large numbers of people have been brought
to hear the Gospel."
The idea was, so far as I am aware, a novel one ; it is
one which might perhaps provoke a certain amount of
adverse comment ; but remembering the intense earnest
ness of these young teachers of the Gospel, their resolution
to leave no method untried which might be productive of
good, the careful deliberation with which each step was
weighed, and above all, the undoubted success which has
attended this method, one cannot but echo the sentiment
of Clement Marot s remark, " Why should the devil have
all the good music ? " and ask why to the highest purpose
of all, and to that alone, should the walls be denied \
For more reasons than one, both from the insufficiency
of space in the Assembly Hall, large as it was, and with
1 Plea far the Tmvcr Hamlets Mission, p. 8.
Evangelistic Work: Barmvcll and Mile-End. 79
the view of getting hold of a different element of the
population, various music-halls were hired for Evangelistic
work. One of these, called the Foresters Music-hall,
capable of holding 2,000 persons, was used through three
winters. They were also enabled to take, for two succes
sive winters, Lusby s Music-hall, the largest building of
the kind in the East End, holding 3,000 persons. In
describing the opening of the latter, Keith-Falconer
says :
" The opening night in November was very remarkable.
The crowd was so great that it extended beyond the tram
lines, which are seventy feet from the entrance, and before
the doors were opened a line had to be made for the tram-
cars to pass through, and we were thankful that there was
no accident in so terrible a crush. The hour of service was
seven o clock, but at half-past six not a seat was vacant in
any part of that vast building, and whatever standing-room
could be found was quickly occupied."
Besides all such works as the above, Keith-Falconer
warmly sympathized with Mr. Charrington s attempts to
draw away people more and more from the music-halls
and public-houses, not merely by the counter-attraction of
something purer and better, but also by direct personal
appeals addressed to persons entering such places. This
naturally excited a great deal of angry opposition and for
some time there were a number of very unpleasant dis
turbances, which the owners of the property, thus be
coming depreciated, sought to lay to the charge of Mr.
Charrington, who on one occasion was actually arrested by
the police in consequence.
" I shall never forget," writes an eye-witness, Mr. E. H.
Kerwin, " the night when Mr. Charrington was taken off
by the police, falsely accused of disturbance outside Lusby s
Music Hall. I was not there, but hearing of the incident
1 Plea for the Tower Hamlets Mission, p. 12.
80 Evangelistic Work : Barnioell and Mile-End.
I went off to the police station, and on nearing it saw a
large crowd. In the dark I could see one tall man, stand
ing in the centre, head and shoulders above everyone else,
and perfectly white : this was Keith-Falconer, who had
been covered with flour by the frequenters of the music-
hall. He gave evidence on this occasion He also
gave evidence at Clerkenwell Sessions against the character
of Lusby s Music Hall."
Not only therefore had these messengers of the Gospel
to contend directly with drunkenness and vice, but also
with those who had a strong pecuniary interest in main
taining the existing state of things, who would say with
their prototype Demetrius, " By these things we have our
wealth." It is often withheld from workers for God to see
with their own eyes the fruit of their labours, but Mr.
Charrington has been blessed in seeing very decided results
during his seventeen years work. Here is a significant
fact. One public-house in the neighbourhood, that less
than twenty years ago was sold for 1 5,000, was sold two
years ago for less than 7,000.
Still, however, with all this, much remained to be done ;
not only was the existing Assembly Hall, large as it was,
often insufficient to contain the numbers who flocked to
it, but many other useful agencies had either to be some
what cramped in their usefulness, or had to be postponed
altogether. Thus within a few years of the opening of the
Assembly Hall in 1877, Mr. Charrington and Keith-
Falconer began to discuss a further advance.
Before proceeding to speak of the wonderful develop
ment of their foregoing schemes, and the marked blessing
which has been granted to these indefatigable workers, I
may call attention to a somewhat different duty which
befell them in the hard winter of 1879, that of the whole
sale feeding of the hungry. I again quote Keith-Fal
coner s remarks : l
1 Plea for the Tower Hamlets Mission, p. 14.
Evangelistic Work: Barnwell and Mile-End. 81
" During the hard times of the winter of 1879 (due to
the long frost and the depression of trade) a work was
forced on our Mission which we had never contemplated
taking up. The difficulties and dangers of wholesale charity
are very great, and our desire has been to avoid them,
except in extreme circumstances. But the distress of that
winter was extreme, and for many weeks we opened our
halls and fed the literally starving multitudes with dry
bread and cocoa. The austere distress began in December.
Hundreds of men were waiting daily at the Docks in the
hope (nearly always a disappointed hope) of a job. Starving
men were found in several instances eating muddy orange
peel picked off the road.
" Our feeding became a very public matter, as there was
much correspondence about it in the Times, the Daily
News, the Echo, and other leading papers, and many people
came from long distances to see for themselves. The public
supported us liberally with funds, and we were enabled to
give no less than twenty thousand meals from January 1st
to February 14th, beside which we assisted over three
hundred families every week in their own homes. We
look back to the time as one of very great blessing."
All who were Keith-Falconer s intimate friends during
the last six years of his life must have heard from him a
great deal as to his hopes respecting the new building, his
careful elaboration of plans for the maximum of useful
ness, and his hearty thankfulness at the completion of the
work.
In 1880, however, the undertaking to be achieved must
have seemed simply gigantic. The whole cost of the
present buildings, including the site, has mounted up to
about <40,000. Of this the site had been previously pur
chased for the former Assembly Hall at a cost of ,8,000 ;
for the remainder, which it was expected would not exceed
.24,000, but which has been found in reality to be nearly
<32,000, appeals were issued.
As the Honorary Secretary of the undertaking, Keith-
Falconer published the pamphlet from which I have
82 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
already largely drawn. It consists of a general history of
what had already been done and concludes with a direct
appeal for help. This appeal is so characteristic of the
writer, so thoroughly earnest (entertaining as it does no
doubt but that the money will be forthcoming), and, as
was his way in such things, so quaintly methodical, that I
reproduce it here in full. 1
-PROPOSED NEW HALL.
" We now appeal for funds in order to erect a new and
larger Hall.
" The present building is altogether unsuitable.
a. It is far too small. On Sunday nights hundreds are
turned away for want of room. When, during two
successive winters, the adjacent Lusby s Music Hall
(one of the largest in London) was opened on
Sunday nights simultaneously with our own hall,
the united congregations usually amounted to 5, 000
persons. These facts tend to shew that if we had
a building sufficiently large, we could gather as
many persons as the human voice can reach.
b. It is a temporary structure, which by the Metro
politan Buildings Act must come down sooner or
later.
c. The corrugated iron is becoming dilapidated and lets
in the rain, so that rows of umbrellas are often put
up during service.
d. The cold in winter is intense.
e. The acoustic properties are inferior.
" Please add to this that our site is the very best in all
East London. It ought surely to be utilized to the fullest
extent. The present building only covers half of it.
" We have got the site, and we have got the people. May
we not have a hall to accommodate them ? The willing
ness to hear is very remarkable, and it is distressing to see
1 Plea for the Tower Hamlets Minion, pp. 15, 16.
Evangelistic Work: Barnwell and Mile-End. 83
hundreds and thousands turned away for mere want of
room.
" The guarantees which the public have that the work is
a proper one, and that the new Hall will be properly used,
are :
1. The testimony of trustworthy persons who are ac
quainted with the Mission. Mr. Spurgeon has
written a warm letter. Lord Shaftesbury is an old
friend of and worker in the Mission. He has de
livered several addresses in the Hall. The late
Lord Kintore was a warm and constant friend of
the work. Mr. E. C. L. Bevan has both promised
2,000 and consented to act as Treasurer.
2. A trust deed has been drawn up, and signed, trans
ferring the property to Trustees, namely : F. A.
Bevan, Esq. ; Fredk. N. Charrington, Esq.*; Eichard
Cory, Esq. ; Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer ; James
Mathieson, Esq. ; Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P. ; Hon.
Hamilton Tollemache ; Joseph Weatherley, Esq. ;
and specifying the objects for which it is to be
used.
"It may be objected that the East End ought to supply
its own wants. This is impossible. The population of the
East End consists of the working classes, who, though they
furnish the sinews of wealth which resides elsewhere, are
poor themselves. Thus the East End has a double right
to look outside for help. It is poor and cannot help itself
adequately, and the wealthy are responsible for the well-
being of their servants, the toiling thousands through
whose labour they derive their riches.
" The character of our Mission is evangelistic, unsectarian,
and SOBER. I say sober, because of late years some have
despaired of reaching the masses except by using certain
unseemly and sensational methods. Our work is an em
phatic protest against this practice, and a standing disproof
of its necessity.
"Finally, the building for which we plead will cost
.20,000, a small sum indeed when we consider what
amounts many are willing to spend on their own comforts
84 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
and pleasures. This sum will not only build a suitable
Hall, but a Frontage in addition, embracing a Coffee Palace
and a Book Saloon for the sale of pure literature. The
site has already been paid for."
The nature of the assistance rendered by Keith-Falconer
to the work carried on by Mr. Charrington was manifold,
though much of it has been rather implied than expressed
in the foregoing pages.
He supported the work with liberal pecuniary aid. His
donations from first to last amounted to the large sum of
<2,000 ; and a glance at the names in the subscription list
shews that some of the largest donations were due to his
friendly influence.
Again, when every wheel in that gigantic machine had
to be carefully and anxiously planned, Keith-Falconer was
ever at hand as a shrewd and patient adviser. He did not
often address the evening meetings, though sometimes he
gave an expository address on a portion of Scripture at the
gathering on Sunday morning. Mr. Charrington tells me
that he was especially struck with one which dwelt with
great power on St. Paul s speech on Mars Hill. Any fear
that Mr. Charriugton had for a moment that the speaker
might be getting over the heads of his audience was quite
dispelled when he observed how keenly they entered into
his graphic description of the scene from Mars Hill, of the
various elements of the crowd there assembled, of the
apostle s recognition of each of these in his speech, and
how forcibly the speaker brought the old but ever fresh
lesson to the hearts of his audience.
It was, however, with individual cases that he rather
preferred to deal. Distress of any kind found in him a
ready and generous, but discriminating, helper. Cases of
this kind were numerous, they were as a rule known but to
few.
To give a mere cursory enumeration of some of these
would not be of much use, but the following may serve as
Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End. 85
a typical case. W. was a painter living in the East End of
London, a steady, hard-working, married man. Keith-
Falconer had first met him at the Assembly Hall, and had
shewn him much kindness, and subsequently told him to
apply to him if he should be in trouble. At last trouble
came ; work being very slack, he was forced to pawn his
tools, his best clothes, and, at last, most that he had which
was worth pawning. Soon poor W. s health broke down,
and letters now before me shew how timely and how con
siderate Keith-Falconer s help was. Then when he was
just able to keep his head above water through this help, a
fresh trouble befell him. Failing to receive payment for
some work which he had done, he found himself unable to
discharge a debt amounting to about <4, and was sent to
prison. To add to the trouble, the poor wife was daily
expecting to be confined of her sixth child. Again did
Keith-Falconer intervene, and the man was freed from
prison, and the wife and children saved from the work
house.
In a letter written by W. after the sad news from Aden
had reached England, the writer dwells with warm grati
tude on the change in his own position, and, with deep
grief at the news, adds ; " He told me if, by reason of the
frailty which is in man by his evil heart of unbelief, I
should fall into sin, Remember sinking Peter ; that One
who raised him to the surface of the water can give me
strength to get up again."
Keith-Falconer s habit was to ran down for a week at a
time and help. Sometimes he stayed longer, as when once
he spent three weeks with Mr. Charrington giving careful
tuition to a friend who was preparing for an examination.
Often too he accompanied Mr. Charrington on the occasion
of the annual excursions in connection with the Assembly
Hall ; and was exceedingly kind and helpful when 2,500 of
the attendants at the Hall visited Southend.
Although it is carrying this part of the history beyond
86 Evangelistic Work : Barnwell and Mile-End.
the period as yet reached in the other divisions of our
narrative, still it will be convenient to speak in this place
of the ultimate completion of the work in the success of
which Keith -Falconer was so intensely interested.
The sum to be raised was, as we have seen, a very con
siderable one, but those who had thus put their hand to
the work held with Napoleon that the word * impossible
should have no place in their vocabulary ; and so perse
vering were their efforts, and so fully did God aid their
enterprise, that by the beginning of the year 1886, 1 there
were ready for use not only an Assembly Hall of much
larger dimensions than the previous one, but numerous
other rooms used in connection with various beneficent
purposes. Of the whole .40,000 of the cost, more than
c25,000 had been already received ; but unfortunately the
estimates were exceeded in many points, so that a very
considerable debt still remains on the building.
The Hall is capable of holding comfortably 4,300 per
sons, so that on occasion, with a little pressing, it could be
made to accommodate nearly 5,000. On one striking and,
I fancy, novel feature of this Hall, Keith -Falconer was
very fond of dwelling, both before and after the attain
ment of his idea. This was that there should be an un
broken view from the street into the Hall, so that the
speakers on the platform should be clearly visible through
the intervening glass doors. Keith-Falconer held, and
doubtless very justly, that many a man or woman of the
poorest class is often deterred from entering a place of
worship by the closed doors and the fancied obstacles be
hind them.
To give any detailed description of the Hall would be
out of place here ; it will be sufficient to state that the
ground-floor area is 130 feet long by 70 feet wide, the
height from floor to ceiling being 44 feet. Two large gal-
1 The building was opened on Feb. 4, 1886 ; on Mr. Charrington s
birthday.
Evangelistic Work: Barnioell and Mile- End. 87
leries run round three sides of the building, while on the
remaining side are two platforms, one above another, with
a large organ behind. Abundance of windows of slightly
tinted yellow glass yield a pleasant light by day, while
shutting out entirely the outside view. At night, brilliant
as is the light given by the continuous row of gas-jets, the
ventilation is admirable.
Of the space between the great Hall and the street, the
central part is occupied by a large vestibule, where passers
in and out may meet and exchange friendly greetings ;
and the two wings by a book-depot for the sale of pure
literature, and by a spacious coffee-palace. Upstairs, various
organisations have their home, a Young Men s Christian
Association, a Young Women s Christian Association, an
Emigration Depot, and the like.
In the summer of last year (1886), I accompanied Keith-
Falconer to see the building, and we were taken by Mr.
Charrington to the central point of the upper gallery of
the great Hall to gain the best general view of the room. As
we sat there, I could not but be struck with the similar ex
pression on the faces of the two men. It was one in which
joy, and keen resolve, and humble thankfulness were
strangely blended. One great work for God, which Keith-
Falconer had striven hard to further, he was allowed to see
in its fullest completeness, carried on by men working
there with heartiest and purest zeal.
Not while any of the present generation of workers
survive, will the name of Ion Keith-Falconer fade out of
loving remembrance in the great building in Mile-End
Eoad.
CHAPTER V.
LEIPZIG.
" High nature amorous of the good,
But touched with no .ascetic gloom,"
TENNYSON, In Memonam.
OUR chapter on Keith -Falconer s student life at Cambridge
ended, it will be remembered, with his last examination,
the Semitic Languages Tripos, in February, 1880. At the
time of this examination his knowledge of Arabic was but
slight, and simply sufficient for the requirements of the
paper on Comparative Grammar in the examination.
The Tripos over, he turned his attention definitely to the
study of Arabic, the language, which, like Hebrew, had a
wonderful fascination for him from the first, and to which,
as his knowledge widened, he l>ecame more and more de
voted ; though realizing ever, as he went on, how vast was
the field of work. As he expressed it in a letter written in
March, 1887, " I expect to peg away at the Dictionary till
my last day."
The time until the end of May was mostly spent in quiet
study at Cambridge, broken by short occasional visits to
town ; and during the latter part of this time he worked
assiduously at Arabic with Dr. Wright. On leaving Cam
bridge early in Juue, he spent some time at his father s
house in London, and about the middle of the month
started for Royat, in Auvergne, where he purposed remain
ing for several weeks.
It was while he was here that a very grievous sorrow
Leipzig. 89
befell him in the almost sudden death of his father, whom
not long before he had left in perfect health, and between
whom and himself the most perfect confidence and love
had always existed.
In a letter which I received from Keith-Falconer, dated
July 25, he says :
" . . . . The event was a fearfully sudden one. I received
at 6 o clock on Monday morning a telegram as follows :
Your father very ill, come at once. At 8 I was in the
train. Reached Paris at 5 P.M., telegraphed for further
information to be sent to Dover. Arrived at Dover at
4 A.M. Tuesday, a telegram was put into my hands, saying,
Your dear father passed away peacefully on Sunday night
at twenty minutes to seven. I got home at 6.30, and
found my father, whom I had left in perfect health five
weeks before, in his coffin.
" He was perfectly well on Sunday excepting that a
fortnight before he had sprained his ancle. On Friday or
Saturday he remarked that he never felt better in all his
life. On Sunday afternoon he received two friends, and
chatted with them in his usual lively, happy manner.
When they had left, he and my mother went out in the
carriage. They had not traversed more than two or three
streets, when he said, * I feel so ill, I must go back, and
began to change colour and to tremble violently. The
horses were turned instantly, and when home was reached,
he put his hand to his side, exclaiming, I am dying : carry
me in. The servants carried him to his room in a half-
fainting condition He said good-bye to my mother,
and quietly expired. My sisters were on a visit in the
country at the time."
After referring to the cause of death, which lay in the
fact that the sprain had resulted in the formation of a clot
of blood which had gradually worked up to the heart and
interfered with its action, the letter continues :
" Fancy dying of a sprain ! Life seems to hang by a
thread. It is noteworthy that my father always hoped for
90 Leipzig.
a sudden death, and dreaded the thought of a lingering
illness. He also told Mr. - , of Aberdeen, when last
there, that he would like to die on a Sunday.
" It seems like a dream. I do not realize my loss, but
must do so in time.
" We laid him in his grave to-day, next Arthur, in the
family burial-ground next the parish Church of Keith-Hall,
up the hill. About 600 attended "
This is not the place to write a detailed account of the
numerous good works with which the late Lord Kintore
was associated. A man of profound religious convictions,
he endeavoured consistently to let his religion be the ani
mating principle of the whole course of his actions. He
wore * the white flower of a blameless life," and set a noble
example of simple Christian goodness. He was most
generous at all times in his support of all good works, and
especially of those connected with the Free Church of
Scotland.
Of this Church he had long been an elder, and with it
his sympathies were very strongly bound up ; though, like
his son Ion, he was most tolerant of the views of those
who, while agreeing as to essential truth, differed from him
in details. Father and son alike, though holding to their
own views unflinchingly, preferred to dwell in conversation
with their friends on the points which they held in common*
rather than to battle about those on which they differed.
Towards the end of the summer a case occurred which
shews how ready Keith-Falconer was, while even the
shadow of his great sorrow rested upon him, actively to
interest himself for anyone who, he felt, had a legitimate
claim upon his sympathies.
Dr. Wright had mentioned to him in the course of con
versation the difficulty experienced by the well-known
G-erman scholar, Dr. Lagarde, in meeting the cost of the
publication of his books. Dr. Lagarde had succeeded
Ewald as Professor of Oriental Languages at Gottingen,
Leipzig. 91
and had published a very large number of works mostly
having a direct bearing on the text of the Old Testament.
Groing as many of these did somewhat off the beaten track
of studies, they would appeal to a rather limited public
even in G-ermany, and thus the cost of publication would
be but slightly reduced by the sale of the books. The
more numerous the publications, the greater the loss, and
therefore it seemed inevitable that works of very consider
able value, in a part of the field where none too many
workers have worked, must cease from lack of funds.
A letter from Keith-Falconer to his mother, dated
August 28, 1880, tells her all this, dwells on the fact that
all exact work on the elucidation of the text of the Old
Testament is a thing to be cordially welcomed, and urges
that it is a reproach to those who have the cause at heart,
and can afford to help, to allow such work to be hindered
from simple want of funds.
He accordingly tells her that having had full assurance
from Dr. Wright that the facts were as he had stated
them, he wished to raise a fund of dl,000 to help Lagarde
to carry on his work. He undertakes to give <100 him
self, and begs his mother to contribute .250, adding, " I
have not got patience or time to go asking for a pound
here and a pound there."
One of the books specially aided by Keith -Falconer s
kind interposition was an edition of the Septuagint, for
which some fresh MSS. had been examined. In the pre
face to the first volume, Lagarde warmly and gracefully
alludes to the opportune help he had received, the names
there given of his supporters being with one exception due
to the advocacy of Keith-Falconer.
In this same letter, he alludes to a book on which for
some years he spent pains most ungrudgingly, and of
which I shall give a detailed description in its due place.
This was the Kalilah, a book of which Dr. Wright was
preparing the Syriac text for publication, and had urged
92 Leipzig.
Keith-Falconer to bring out an English translation with
an Introduction, promising to send him the proof-sheets
of the original as they appeared.
For some time Keith-Falconer had wished to have an
opportunity of studying at a German University, not, it
needs not to be said, from any feeling that he could there
obtain teaching in Arabic of a higher kind than at Cam
bridge, for a letter, which will be given presently, shews
what his views were as to the Cambridge professor ; but
partly from the wish to become yet more thoroughly
versed in German while pursuing his Arabic studies, and
partly, I fancy, from the wish to see something of a type
of university and of students differing in many ways from
our own.
Accompanied by a friend, a student of like pursuits, he
established himself at Leipzig, which he reached on October
23, and where he remained for nearly five mouths.
The following letter to a friend, dated October 24, gives
an amusing account of his arrival. After speaking of his
journey from London, via Calais, Brussels and Diisseldorf,
it proceeds :
" We started at 1 P.M. from Diisseldorf, and were due in
at 11.42, but did not arrive till 2 in the morning. A. was
much tried hereby. I sat it out patiently enough, but he
otherwise. Towards 1 A.M. his face assumed an aspect of
resigned despair. He was very cold and very hungry and
very tired. When at length we got in, we found no cab,
except two which had been taken. So we had to wait
about till one could be fetched.
" In the meantime A. found that his book-box had
been taken away by mistake by another party. He was
indeed in a frenzy. But he got better when our cab finally
came, and still better when we found his box at the Hauff
Hotel, where we went. But he could not get anything to
eat, and so went to bed supperless. Next morning he was
up early, thinking that the whole day would be required to
fix ourselves ; but I, on the contrary, persisted in laziness,
though every half-hour A. came entreating me to make
Leipzig. 93
haste and sally out with him in quest of rooms. So I had
breakfast in bed, then a hot bath, then dressed and shaved
to my satisfaction. It was now 1 o clock, and at last we
went out together ; but it struck me at this point (1) that
it was time for dinner, (2) that we had better first go and
see , who would be able to give us good advice about
rooms, etc.
" We then separated, I to dinner at the table d hote, and
A. to make purchases, as he could not eat for fuss and
anxiety. They gave us a splendid dinner, and towards the
end A. came in and felt inclined to eat, and as they keep
the dishes hot for late comers he got his dinner
After dinner we went in search of rooms, and to make up
for my lazy immobility of the morning, and to set him
more at rest, I promised him he should have the first good
rooms we found. In about an hour we discovered a
splendid set, which he took at once After getting
his rooms, I went to get some for myself. This I soon
did, but they are not as good as his."
A later letter (February 18, 1881) to the present writer,
graphically describes his course of life and his sur
roundings :
As to study, I think I can claim having laid a good
foundation in Arabic. Three days in the week we (that is
A. and self) go to Professor X. to read Koran. We have
read about fifty pages in Fluegel s large edition. Besides
this we read in a Chrestomathy book by Arnold not with
X., but in lecture where Professor Y. holds forth. X. is
not like some German professors, for he is tidy, without
spectacles, nicely dressed, polite and affable, moderate in
his views, and does not smoke X. lectures in the
university in Arabic and Turkish. He can read besides
Persian, and has an elementary knowledge of Hebrew and
Syriac. His knowledge of the Bible, especially of the Old
Testament, is marvellous. It would indeed astonish you.
Till a fortnight ago he had never heard that the golden
calf is reported to have been broken, ground to powder,
mixed with water, and partaken of by the Israelites. He
confessed to his ignorance in the most naive and artless
94 Leipzig.
way. The chapter too in Ezekiel about the dry bones he
had never heard of. He certainly knows less of the bare
contents of the Bible than most English and all Scotch
children of nine or ten years old.
" Y. does wear spectacles, talks in a loud, rough voice, in
terlards his every lecture with frequent exclamations of
" Du lieber Gott/ Ach Gott, and smokes like a chimney.
But still he is tidy, and keeps his hair short. But he and
X. are really very kind and goodhearted to a degree.
" Y. s lectures twice a week from October to March
cost me the moderate sum of 9s. 6d. But I have almost
entirely ceased to attend them. I first went to them to
learn some Arabic, afterwards I continued to attend them to
learn some German, and now I cease going at all because I
can learn neither. He can t lecture a bit, and carries on a
most inelegant, conversational, slipshod, rough and ready,
broken conversation. X. on the contrary speaks admirable
German, and is in every respect " hochst bescheiden. Old
Dr. Fleischer, the Arabist, I have called on. He is over
eighty. Fresh and merry as a cricket. Active as ever.
" I also know Prof. Windisch (Sanscrit and Old Irish,
which he learnt from Mr. Standish O Grady), who is a very
pleasant and exhilarating person Professor. - I
met a few days ago. He talked Chinese in his youth, his
father having been connected with China. Of Scotch
ballads he has a large collection, and recited one to me.
He is a good stenographer, and can write longhand back
wards or upside-down, or backwards and upside-down.
Philosophy and art are the pegs on which he manages to
hang never-ceasing harangues. Smokes like a chimney.
Was formerly a Judge in Dresden, and studied Chinese in
spare hours. His acquirements you see are varied and
peculiar.
"Among German students I have no acquaintances at
all But I must not omit to say that I have made
friends with old Dr. Delitzsch. He is highly esteemed and
beloved in the town and university. He is by far the
greatest theologian here. He is very small of stature ;
white hair ; neck encased in white bandages ; his head is
broad and flat, and not high and intellectual-looking. He
is very poetical and mystical in his conversation ; and is
Leipzig. 95
very kind and homely in his manner : he has numerous
acquaintances among the students, and hunts up all the
English- speaking students especially the Scotch. He
thinks very highly of the Free Church of Scotland. He
does not like at all. Thinks him keck, and one in whom
the Ver stand pradominirt, while the Geist and Gemiith fail
to occupy their proper place All this I gathered from
a long conversation, which I may say I was privileged to
have with him lately. I was drinking coffee in the Re-
stauration situate on the ground floor of the house in which
I used to lodge, and in comes the old gentleman. So I in
duced him to come up to my room, and kept him for a long
time. F. Klein, mathematical professor, closes my list
of learned acquaintances. They all have a profound re
spect for our Dr. Wright, and from all I can gather, Scot
land can boast of having produced the best all-round
Semitic scholar in the world
" Delitzsch, I suppose you know, has just published a
pamphlet called Falsche Wage ist nicht gut, in reply to
Rohling s Talmud-Jude. Rohling is a Roman Catholic
priest, and bigotted to an absurd degree against the unfor
tunate Jews, who are universally disliked in Germany. I
asked a gentleman the other day, Woran erkennen Sie
denn einen Juden ? answer, * An seinem allgemeinen bru-
talen Wesen. This gives the key-note to the general anti-
Jew agitation in Germany. No specific charge against them
as a body ; only a strong antipathy to the Jew.
" I used to lodge in splendid rooms in the centre of the
town, from which I had the best view in Leipzig. But the
waiting was not satisfactory, and the sitting-room was
much too large a huge salon with polished floor and
being a corner room, fearfully susceptible to cold winds,
and so big that the Ofen could not heat it. So I have
changed and now lodge as above. Here I have verkehr
and umgang in the family, consisting of a well-to-do busi
ness man formerly in excellent circumstances, but now,
as so many since the war, in reduced position his amiable
lady, a middle-aged daughter and two younger ones. I
am learning a lot of German from them, as they don t know
any English, though they are supposed to have learnt it at
school.
96 Leipzig.
" I dine at 1.30 at the table d hote of Hotel de Prusse
a splendid dinner 7 or 8 courses for Is. 6d. (abonnement)
if wine is taken, 2s. if not : extraordinarily cheap. Every
thing is cheap here : ridiculously cheap. I can buy a cigar
for 2|d. here which in Cambridge would cost 6d. ! You can
get excellent light wine for 2s. 6d. a bottle. I have dined
fairly well for 6^d. ! (soup, two courses of meat and vege
tables and compot). Lodgings also : one can get an excel
lent pair of rooms at 50s. a month. Books, however, are
not much cheaper than in England. I have just purchased
a hardly used copy of Freytag in four vols. for 6
" I also want you to look up a Peerage and trace my con
nection with James Keith, the Field-Marshal of Frederick
the Great. I am going to Berlin before I return home, and
I shall look such an idiot if I do not know how I am con
nected with him.
" Christmas, you will be surprised to hear, I spent at
Cannes, where my mother and sisters are, I went there
via Paris and Marseilles : returned via Genoa, Milan,
Verona, the Brenner and Munich.
" Dresden is the town which most pleases me, of all those
which I have seen. Berlin is very unattractive : so cold,
and angular as a Dutch garden, and prosaic and flat.
Leipzig is delightful, so long as one keeps strictly in the
town, for the suburbs and surroundings are painfully
hideous, compared to which those of Cambridge are charm
ing and gorgeous. (So rest and be thankful.)
" I hope to spend the summer term in dear old Cam
bridge. A great friend of mine, J. E. K. Studd, has
secured the lower rooms, which is pleasant for me. Kalilah
goes ahead, though slowly. I have done about 100 pages,
but go faster and faster as I progress "
This brings before, us the picture of a genial and light-
hearted, but diligent student, and of a shrewd observer of
what went on around him. All this Keith-Falconer was,
but it is only half the picture.
There are some natures (and I speak here of natures
altogether sincere), which, being animated with love for
God and Christ, vet will not Le content with allowing that
Leipzig. 97
love to permeate the whole nature, letting its light shine
before men as our Saviour bids us, but must bring up the
innermost feelings to the surface at all times.
To read some of the so-called religious biographies it
would seem as though for everything save the actual reli
gious duties, a sort of half apology were needed, as if every
form of honest secular work, every form of innocent recrea
tion were rather to be tolerated than approved of.
The bright geniality of many of Keith-Falconer s letters
co-existed, as his friends know well, with the deepest
thoughtfulness in religious matters. It was not his habit
constantly to bring such topics into his ordinary conversa
tion, but the thoughts lay there ; and when duty called for
it, or in more private talk with intimate friends, he would
speak out unreservedly.
Some of the following extracts taken from letters written
to a friend at this time, bring out another side of Keith-
Falconer s character.
The first extract is from his answer to a letter in which a
friend had urged upon him how high the standard of Chris
tian life ought to be.
" You have tried to picture what the Christian life
ought to be. You do not, and cannot overdraw the pic
ture. But this hardly touches the important and the prac
tical question, how to attain to it. It does not seem to me
sufficient merely to own the presence of the Holy Ghost.
I believe in the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church
(ever since the Lord ascended) ; and I believe that the
Holy Grhost will dwell in me, that is reign in me, if I will
surrender myself to Him. And this surrender is not a
thing to be done once for all ; it is continuous and life
long. Like other habits it becomes easier the more it is
persisted in, but it is a struggle. The Christian is de
scribed as a warrior in the New Testament, and not only
so, but as a struggling, hard-fighting, agonizing one see
1 Peter v. 7-10 and elsewhere. If by simply and once for
all surrendering ourselves to the Holy G-host, we could en-
H
98 Leipzig.
sure ourselves against sinning, why does the New Testa
ment teem with warnings against particular sins and
temptations, instead of simply telling us surrender your
selves to the Spirit once for all ; the Spirit will then fight
your battles for you.
" As to the two ways of putting the Gospel, Christ for
us, We for Christ, I perfectly agree with both. In fact
they seem to me identical
Christ for us
Our Lord
Our Head
Our Brother
Our Saviour
etc.
We for Christ
His servants
His members
His brethren
His ransomed people
etc.
and Cant. vi. 3 binds together these two sets of relationship.
. . . . We for Christ is strikingly brought out in Ps. ii.
7, 8. Cf. Prov. viii. 31."
In a subsequent letter he writes :
"Nov., 1880.
"As to the wisdom so often deprecated in the New
Testament, it seems to me that Greek philosophies and
Rabbinical follies are aimed at. But scholarship in our
sense of the word did not exist when the New Testament
was written. Scholarship is a laborious and, to a great
extent, mechanical way of getting at the original text.
Scholarship assumes no doctrine, and denies none. It is
colourless. Scholarship can hardly be called wisdom, any
more than I can be called wise because I know English.
The words chiefly used in the New Testament to denote
wisdom, viz. aotiia and yvwtrtc, mean something else, namely
Rabbinical lore and tradition and Greek (Alexandrian)
philosophy, which afterwards made a compromise with
Christianity, and produced Gnosticism. The more of a
scholar one becomes, the more one fathoms the depths
of one s ignorance, and estimates the measure of one s de
pendence on God s Spirit. To take the immense trouble
of learning ancient languages in order to ferret out correct
readings, is a silent, but most emphatic protest, against the
Leipzig. 99
claims of a priori reasoning or philosophy. Rationalists
are no scholars, because they begin by assuming ideas and
theories which scholars do not and then adapt the text
or the translation so as to suit them. You can refer to
any commentary of the Tubingen School, and you will see
the force of this remark."
"Nov., 1880.
" People forget that while the sacred writers were in
spired penmen, yet they were penmen, and that each re
tained his individuality, yet without sin or error, and that
consequently the style, diction, and habits of one writer
differ from those of another. It is impertinent and im
pious to postulate that God must have laid aside the in
dividuality and humanity in itself first created and not
sinful of each writer, and used him as a passive, dead,
inanimate, senseless, pen or instrument. God might have
done this, but he did not do so: God may take pure
Hebrew and use it ; he may take corrupt Hebrew and use
it. He may take a writer, who has a gift for splendid and
gorgeous descriptions, as Isaiah, and use that gift. He
may also take a writer, whose style is more monotonous,
and less thrilling, as the author of Ecclesiastes, and use
his style. Inspiration lies apart from these considerations.
All I know about inspiration is that it makes the writing
free from all error and untruthfulness, and that every word
is to be considered the word of God. Speaking very roughly,
I refuse to believe that our English Bible, as we have it,
preface to King James and all, fell down from Heaven."
In March, Keith-Falconer had rather a severe illness,
which confined him to his bed for about a fortnight.
When he began to regain his strength, the time had
almost come at which he had purposed to return home.
His companion wished to defer his own plan of visiting
Switzerland at this time, so as to be able to accompany
him, as not yet quite recovered, as far as London. This,
however, Keith-Falconer, always one of the most unselfish
of men, refused to allow, and insisted that he was strong
enough by this time to go quite safely to England alone.
100 Leipzig.
He reached London early in April, and shortly after
this had the very great pleasure of being introduced to
General Gordon, and having several long conversations
with him.
On these conversations Keith-Falconer often dwelt after
wards. There were certain common elements in the two
men which must have tended to draw them to one another.
In each there was the same deep, simple faith, ingrained
and unwavering ; the same absorbing realisation of the
workings of God s Providence ; the same utter abnegation
of self when the thought of duty came in ; and, to a cer
tain extent, somewhat of the same unconventionality in
both speech and action.
In Keith-Falconer s mind there had previously been the
highest admiration for Gordon from what he had read of
him : now that he had met and spoken to him, he en
shrined Gordon in his heart as one of his heroes. He set
great store, as may well be imagined, on a little book
which Gordon had given him, Clarke s Scripture Promises,
promises which both men had come so absolutely to
trust.
The following letter is the second of two written by
Gordon to Keith-Falconer in April, 1881 : it shews that
the elder man saw that there was sterling metal in the
younger. The invitation was one which Keith -Falconer
frequently regretted that circumstances had prevented him
from accepting.
"5, ROCKSTONE PLACE, SOUTHAMPTON, 25, 4, 1881.
" MY DEAR MR. KEITH-FALCONER,
" I only wish I could put you into something that
would give you the work you need, viz. secular and religious
work, running side by side. This is the proper work for
man and I think you could find it.
" Would you go to Stamboul as extra unpaid attache to
Lord Duft erin; if so, why not try it, or else as private
Leipzig. 101
secretary to Petersburg ? If you will not, then come to
me in Syria to the Hermitage.
" Believe me with kind regards,
"Yours sincerely,
" C. G. GORDON."
As was the case when any subject lay near his heart,
Keith-Falconer talked much at this time to his intimate
friends of Gordon and his wonderful career. One inci
dent, I remember, he was very fond of dwelling on. When
the " ever- victorious " Chinese army under Gordon s leader
ship had accomplished its work, the richest gifts were
gratefully pressed on him. Pecuniary rewards of every
kind he absolutely refused ; the only thing he would ac
cept being a gold medal, the sole material result to him of
his marvellous successes. Some time after his arrival in
England, wishing to contribute to the Cotton-famine Fund,
and finding himself somewhat short of money at the time,
he deliberately gave up his gold medal for this purpose.
When Gordon was sent out for the relief of Khartoum,
Keith-Falconer followed his movements with the keenest
interest and eagerly looked for tidings. As the news came
of the long, solitary watch in that far-off post, where that
noblest of the noble waited, without fear and at last with
out hope, for the help which England, or rather her rulers,
would not send, Keith-Falconer s anxiety became intense.
When at last the news came of the treachery at Khartoum
and the bloody massacre, he at first hoped against hope
that the news was false, and that the sacredness with
which Gordon was known to be invested must have suf
ficed to save him. When all hope was clearly gone, his
grief as for a most dear friend was blended with the
keenest indignation that one of England s noblest sons
should have served as a mere counter in the reckless game
of politics.
The May term of this year was spent by Keith-Falconer
in quiet study at Cambridge.
102 Leipzig.
Writing to the friend to whom the three foregoing
letters were addressed, he says :
" May 4, 1881.
" Pray constantly for me, especially that I may have my
path in life more clearly marked out for me, or (which is
perhaps a better request) that I may be led along the path
intended for me."
On May 28, Keith -Falconer started on a bicycle tour
through Oxford, Pangbourne and Harrow. This was,
however, intended but as a " preliminary canter " to a
much more ambitious effort. Accordingly, on June 4, he
went by train to Penzance, fully intending to achieve the
ride from the Land s End to John o Groat s House in the
extreme north-east of Scotland. After waiting at Pen
zance for several days, he was reluctantly forced to give
up his scheme, on account of the persistent bad weather ;
and, returning to town, paid a visit of several weeks dura
tion to Mr. Charrington. The following letter well indi
cates his feelings at the time :
"STEPNEY GREEN, June 12, 1881.
"It is overwhelming to think of the vastness of the
harvest-field, when compared with the indolence, indif
ference and unwillingness on the part of most so-called
Christians, to become, even in a moderate degree, labourers
in the same. I take the rebuke to myself To en
joy the blessings and happiness God gives, and never to
stretch out a helping hand to the poor and the wicked, is
a most horrible thing. When we come to die, it will be
awful for us, if we have to look back on a life spent purely
on self, but believe me if we are to spend our life other
wise, we must make up our minds to be thought odd
and eccentric and * unsocial, and to be sneered at and
avoided.
" For instance, how odd and unsocial of my heroic
friend (Mr. Charrington) to live in this dirty, smoky,
East-End all the year round, and instead of dining out
Leipzig. 103
with his friends and relations, to go night after night to
minister to the poor and wretched ! . . . . But I like to
live with him and to watch the workings of the mighty
hand of God and to catch a spark of the fire of zeal which
burns within him, in order that I may be moved to greater
willingness and earnestness in the noblest cause which can
occupy the thoughts of a man. This is immeasurably
better than spending my afternoons in calling on people,
my evenings in dinners and balls, and my mornings in
bed The usual centre is SELF, the proper centre
is GOD. If therefore one lives for God, one is out of centre
or eccentric, with regard to the people who do not."
After leaving Mr. Charrington, Keith-Falconer rejoined
his mother and sisters at Keith-Hall, where he remained
till August 20. From a letter written at this period I
extract the following exceedingly sensible remarks as to the
true function and benefit of vigorous physical exercise :
"July, 1881.
4 It is an excellent thing to encourage an innocent sport
(such as bicycling) which keeps young fellows out of the
public-houses, music-halls, gambling hells and all the
other traps that are ready to catch them. I wish I had
ridden last year. It is a great advantage to enter for a
few races in public, and not merely ride on the road for
exercise, because in the former case one has to train one
self and this involves abstinence from beer and wine and
tobacco, and early going to bed and early rising, and gets
one s body into a really vigorous, healthy state. As to
betting, nearly all Clubs forbid it strictly, and anyone
found at it is liable to be ejected promptly. A bicycle
race-course is as quiet and respectable as a public science
lecture by Tyndall If we exercised and trained our
bodies more than we do, there would be less illness, bad
temper, nervousness and self-indulgence, more vigour and
simplicity of life. Of course, you can have too much of it,
but the tendency in most cases is to indulge the body, and
not exercise it enough, and athletic contests are an excel
lent means of inducing young people to deny themselves
in this respect."
104 Leipzig.
On August 20, Keith-Falconer left home for a short
visit to Germany, travelling by way of Harwich, Rotter
dam, Amsterdam, Cologne, Frankfort and Carlsruhe to
Herrenalb in the Black Forest. Here he remained for
some weeks, but his letters written at this time dwell
entirely on points of purely personal interest.
After a flying visit to Leipzig, he set out for home,
passing on his way through Stuttgart and Strasburg, and
reaching London at the end of September.
His next journey was a much more distant one, and but
for his illness might have proved decidedly adventurous.
CHAPTER VI.
ASSIOUT: HOME.
IIoXXwv dvOpuTTittv "iStv aarea KO.I voov tyrw.
HOMER.
ALTHOUGH Keith -Falconer had by this time devoted very
considerable attention to classical Arabic, he was anxious
to gain, what no study of books alone could give him, a
ready colloquial use of the language as spoken at present.
To do this it would be necessary to reside for some time
at a place where not only could satisfactory teaching of
the kind he needed be obtained, but where to a certain
extent he would be forced to use his Arabic and not be
tempted on all occasions to have recourse to some more
familiar language.
A place fulfilling the necessary conditions was Assiout
on the Nile, about 200 miles above Cairo, and the furthest
point as yet reached by the Egyptian railway. The place
was very little frequented by Europeans, and at the time
when Keith-Falconer first went there was not even an
hotel. Fortunately, however, a Scotch missionary, Dr.
Hogg, resided there, and was an accomplished Arabist.
Accordingly he left England towards the end of October,
intending to remain in Egypt for three or four months.
The story of Keith-Falconer s residence at Assiout may
best be told by extracts from his own letters. Those here
given are addressed either to his mother or to Miss Bevan,
his future wife.
106 Assiout: Home.
"ON BOARD LE PfiLUSE, Nov. 3, 1881.
(First he describes his journey by way of Calais, Paris
and Marseilles) :
"At Marseilles I went to the Terminus Hotel. This
morning I was very busy making purchases in accordance
with Baedeker s directions. I got a strong pocket-knife,
two balls of twine, four note-books, steel pens and pencils,
ink and inkstand, paper and envelopes, drinking-flask and
a bottle of gum The steamer is decidedly a fine one,
and we do hardly anything but eat all day long We
reach Naples early on Saturday. Then after a few hours
straight to Alexandria, where we are due on Wednesday
morning I am studying Baedeker, which seems to
be quite a compendium of information and learning, and
hope even to acquire enough Arabic during the voyage to
get on with at first."
11 CAIRO, Nov. 10, 1881.
" The train got to Cairo at 10.25 last night, and the
hotel omnibus met us at the station. After a very jolty
ride along one of the main thoroughfares of Cairo, we
entered the Muski, or the City f of Cairo, where the best
shops are and much of the business is done. I was on the
box, and with difficulty kept there along the Muski. The
hotel was reached at the end of a street, too narrow for
carriages to drive along, but when reached, a very pleasant
house, arranged in a quadrangle, and a garden in the
middle After breakfast, I went to the Kutub-
Khaneh, or Vice-regal Library, where I saw Dr. Spitta-
Bey, the chief librarian, to whom I had a letter of intro
duction from Dr. Wright. He was very kind and agreeable.
Then on to the American Mission, where I presented my
letter to Dr. Watson. He will write to Dr. Hogg at
Assiout, and on Monday I shall know if I can live there.
I mean this afternoon to go to see Miss Whately, and to
have a bath in native style Cairo has about
400,000 inhabitants, including 20,000 Europeans, princi
pally Italians. The streets are not paved at all but it
would take sheets to describe the town There is
something very nice about many of the people many of
them have such good faces. They have a good reputation
Assiout: Home. 107
for honesty, especially the Nubians Flies are a
plague. One sees people lying asleep on the road -side,
covered with flies, mouth, nostrils, ears, eyes, swarming
with them a disgusting sight.
" I intend to spend a month or five weeks at the ver
nacular, and then to resume the ancient language, under
the guidance of a sheikh.
" I have just visited the mosque of Sultan Hasan, the
finest specimen of Arabian architecture to be seen any
where : it is beautiful. The greater part of it, the Sahn
el-Ga a, where the congregation stand, is uncovered. One
has to put on slippers over one s boots to walk about in the
mosque."
"CAIRO, Nov. 13, 1881.
"Yesterday I visited the Pyramids of Gizeh, and
mounted the G-reat Pyramid. The Arabs spoilt all the
fun with their jabbering importunities for money and their
clumsy assistance. The begging here is something dreadful.
It is a recognised thing among high and low. They seem
to imagine that strangers come out here on purpose to
shower money round them, and that sight- seeing is only
the excuse for so doing I have also visited two
mosques, and the bazaars of course. A bazaar means a
dirty narrow street, where all the shops wretched holes
sell the same wares. There is the bazaar of the jewellers,
the blacksmiths, etc."
" ASSIOUT, Nov. 20, 1881.
" I am here at last. The journey from Cairo was very
unpleasant. The dust I shall never forget it. I tried to
read (Dozy s Islamisme) , but in a short time the book and
I got so filthy with the dust, that I became irritable and
uncomfortable and could not read. After lunching on a
dusty chicken, a dusty bit of cheese, dusty apples, dusty
ham, dusty bread and some wine, I laid myself on the
dusty seats and had a sleep for a couple of hours, and
shortly arrived.
" I was met by one of Dr. Hogg s students, who could
speak a little English. He had brought donkeys and a
lamp ; for the town is not lighted at all, and the streets
are narrow and winding. After 15 or 20 minutes ride
108 Assiout: Home.
right through the centre of the town, we arrived. The
house is on the extreme edge of Assiout, looking out on the
town on one side, and on the other on a green expanse
terminated by an imposing range of hills, the commence
ment of the Great Desert. The Nile is right away on the
other side of the town, and a good mile from here. There
is an hotel at the station, which will be ready on Dec. 1,
and I intend to live there from that date. The proprietor
or manager is a Greek. There are numbers of Greeks in
Egypt, and they dislike anything like manual labour, pre
ferring to keep shops, and especially restaurants and
hotels. Dr. Hogg is a first-rate Arabist. He preaches in
Arabic perfectly fluently. He teaches his students in
Arabic, including the Sol-Fa class. (The Arabs have
wretched ears, and Dr. Hogg tells me that it was only by
means of the Sol-Fa that he could get anything approach
ing to music out of them.) Family worship in the morn
ing at 7.15 is conducted in Arabic ..... I have taken a
teacher. He is to come two hours a day, and to receive
^83 a month. So you see learning is wonderfully cheap
here ..... Dr. Hogg is most accomplished. He knows
Italian thoroughly, and can preach in it. He has preached
in Turkish, but has dropped it. He is very fond of phi
losophy, and has translated Calderwood s Handbook of
Moral Philosophy into Arabic. He has a good voice, and
can play, and lead the psalms and hymns. He knows
phonography, and used to write it when a student in
Edinburgh."
" ASSIOUT, ATov. 25, 1881.
" I have had a touch of fever and a heavy cold .....
The family are very kind to me ..... Dr. Hogg has been
running in and out all day long. He is a splendid nurse,
being strong, and has no doubt about what ought to be
done ..... As to my Arabic studies, I have learnt a good
deal, and can make myself intelligible to servants and
porters. I have a teacher every day for two hours, and
translate from a child s reading-book."
Shortly after writing the foregoing letter, Keith-Falconer
removed to the hotel. He does not appear to have found
any great amount of comfort there. He again writes :
Assiout: Home. 109
" ASSIOUT, Nov. 30, 1881.
" I am disappointed with Egypt, both as to scenery and
climate. It is a vile place for catching cold. Buildings
seem constructed with a view to as many draughts as
possible. The colouring at sunrise and sunset is beautiful
like apricots and peaches There are no bells.
That is the greatest drawback of all. You have to go
outside your door and clap your hands, and when you
have repeated this performance five or six times, the Arab
servant may begin to have a suspicion that somebody
wants someone ; and when at last you get him, it will be
very wonderful if he does what you want."
" ASSIOUT, Dec. 22, 1881.
" A good many travellers pass through here, principally
Greek merchants and English : but I am the only person
staying here for any length of time. The hotel has been
advertised by the owners as a first-class one, but this is
hardly true, for there are no carpets or mats on the floors,
which are of stone ; no wardrobes or chests of drawers in
the bedrooms, no baths of any kind, and no sofas or arm
chairs. The servant, a kind of man of all work, is a
Greek, and for stupidity, I think, unrivalled. The cooking
is fairly good, I am thankful to say. The hotel is in a
line with the station, and the engine draws up exactly
under my window. The town is truly and unspeakably
disgusting. The streets are all filthy alleys, very crooked
and winding, and not lighted at night I shall be
very glad to get back to civilisation. I cannot call this a
civilised place."
" ASSIOUT, Dec. 22, 1881.
" I am getting on with Arabic, but it is most appallingly
hard. Yesterday I went with my teacher to his house.
He introduced me to his wife, child and tea. She was at a
college in Beyrout."
" ASSIOUT, Dec. 28, 1881.
" There is no society here at all, of course. I see a
missionary now and then, or the Greek doctor and my
teacher. Sometimes a traveller or two drops in. There
110 Assiout: Home.
are three Frenchmen here now, awaiting their dahabeah,
which is coming from Cairo. They are small, dark, dirty,
and of most villanous countenance. My teacher has been
styled the inspired idiot. His face is absolutely destitute
of expression, and he only speaks when positively neces
sary He is a Syrian, and he invited me to dinner
on Saturday the 24th (for Christmas), and I never want
to taste Syrian dishes again."
" ASSIOUT, Jan. 12, 1882.
" I am meditating a camel ride in the desert. I mean
to go from here to Luxor (Thebes) on a donkey, camping
out every night, and from Luxor to Kossair on the Red
Sea on a dromedary. I must go back first to Cairo to get
a tent, bedstead, &c. I have talked it over with a very
experienced Egyptian traveller. He says it is perfectly
safe, especially in the desert among the Bedouins, who
are gentlemen. The Egyptian Arabs are hardly that. I
shall learn two things by doing this journey; (1) Arabic,
(2) cooking. I expect to take a week getting to Luxor,
where I must stay a day or two to arrange about camels.
From Luxor to Kossair will take another week. At
Kossair there is a missionary station (American Presby
terian). I am advised not to put on native dress, because
the European is more awe-inspiring."
"CAIRO, Jan. 17, 1882.
" I am at Cairo now getting together my necessaries
for the journey which I contemplate. I have got vermi
celli, rice, chocolate, preserved meats, Liebig s extracts,
salt, rope and cord, a measure, soap, sardines, preserved
curry, cocoa, two stew-pans, two basins (tin), kettle, knives,
forks and spoons, three tin mugs, soup-ladle, fan to blow
up the fire, tea, brandy, whisky, &c Just bought a
mattress and pillow for 10s. I have been racing about
bazaars all the afternoon : I have made some capital
bargains."
* ASSIOUT, Jan. 25, 1882.
" I came away from Cairo on Saturday last, and stay
here till Monday week, when I hope to start for my little
expedition southwards. I am sending to Cairo for a
Assiout : Home. Ill
revolver ; I think it is better to take some little precau
tions I am dreadfully lonely here It is
curious that the French consul invaded me this morning,
mistaking me, I suppose, for someone else, and commanded
me to return to France immediately."
So far as I can remember, the French consul fancied
that he had found in Keith-Falconer a Frenchman who
was " wanted " by the police for some misdeed or other,
regardless of the fact that Keith-Falconer had come to
Assiout two months before with introduction to a well-
known resident, and him a Scotchman, and that his ap
pearance and height were certainly not those of a French
man. Eager however to manifest his zeal, he actually
forced his way into Keith-Falconer s bedroom before he
had risen, and was only with some difficulty convinced of
his error.
Just at this time, when the journey through the desert
had been planned and provided for, Keith-Falconer had a
second attack of fever; and though happily it was not
severe, still on his recovery he felt it to be wiser to give
up the scheme and return to Europe.
He reached Cannes early in February and remained
there till the end of March, when he left for Genoa, pro
ceeding thence to Siena. Here he stayed for about a
month, largely with the view of increasing his knowledge
of Italian, and on his return passed through Milan and
visited the Italian lakes.
After his long absence from home, he now turned his
steps to England, which he reached on the 12th of May, in
remarkably good health and spirits, and bent upon again
trying the experiment of a bicycle ride from the Land s
End to John o Groat s House. To get himself into
thoroughly good condition for his expedition he essayed
first the shorter journey from Cambridge to the Lakes ;
and then on June 1, travelled down with his "machine "
to Penzance, waiting for a favourable day to start.
112 Assiout : Home.
Of the journey he then undertook he wrote a detailed
account at the time, which appeared in an Aberdeen news
paper and in the London Bicycle Club Gazette. There is a
good deal of racy freshness and vigour about it which in
duces me to reproduce it here at full length.
" First day. I left the Land s End point at 4.5 A.M. on
Monday, 5th inst., with a S.W. wind blowing me along.
Sixty- five minutes riding brought me over 1(H miles of
rough hilly road to Penzance. Passing through Hayle,
Camborne, and Redruth, Truro (36 miles) was reached at
7.40. The smooth macadam road from Bedruth to Truro
struck me as being singularly good for an English road,
but I have since been informed that it was made by a wily
Scot who was awarded a prize for it. Leaving Truro at
9.0, a very swift ride brought me in sight of Bodmin (60
miles) at 10.45. Heavy rain was now falling and necessi
tated an hour s halt. I had not got 6 miles out of Bodmin
when a second and more violent storm of rain and mist
gave me a bath all for nothing. So I pulled up again at a
lonely village called Jamaica, owing to its remote situation
(70 miles). Here I sat for five and a half weary hours at
a little temperance inn, for there is no public-house in
Jamaica. A copy of Butler s Dissertation on Virtue,
which I found here, served, I hope, to reconcile me to the
weather. It was the driest experience I had that day.
Starting once more, I rode gingerly over a succession of
tremendous hills into Launceston, of beautiful situation
(81 miles), where I realised that tea in dripping clothes is
unpleasant. About 10 P.M. the river Tamar, which sepa
rates Cornwall from Devon, was crossed, and two miles
further on I pulled up for the night at Lifton (85).
" Second day. The next day was fine, and the ride
through Okehampton (100) to Exeter (121), though abound
ing in difficult hills, and severe collar work, was pleasant
enough, the scenery being lovely all the way, and the air
most exhilarating. At Exeter I entered on a plain, and
pursuing a fine level road, soon reached Taunton (152),
one of the cleanest, pleasantest, and most flourishing of
English country towns. From here a delightful spin in
the dark over a smooth country lane brought me to Lang-
Assiout : Home. 113
port (166) about 11 P.M. A long argument with a com
mercial traveller kept me up till one o clock, the consequence
being that next day I was good for nothing (besides having
failed to convince the commercial).
"Third day. During the ride through Somerton (171)
to G-lastonbury (183), I became the victim first of stupidity,
then of malice. A waggoner seeing me about to overtake
him pulled very suddenly to the wrong side, and sent me
sprawling over a heap of flints. No harm done. Shortly
after a wilful misdirection given me by a playful Somer-
tonian sent me 2| miles in the wrong direction, so that I
traversed 12 instead of 7 miles between Somerton and
Glastonbury. Wells Cathedral (188) was one of the few
sights which I lingered to see. It is gorgeous. Then came
the long ascent of the Mendip Hills, and I shall never for
get the view of the Somerset Plain obtained from the top.
At the summit of the steepest part the Bicycle Union has
placed one of its boards, inscribed " To cyclists this hill is
dangerous." A beautiful ride took me shortly to the city
of Bath (208), whose glory has departed. Once up the
long hill out of Bath, progress became rapid, and the third
night was spent at Didmarton, a Gloucestershire village
(225). Here a commercial gentleman told me that three
well-known cricketers (who are brothers) learnt all their
cricket from their mother, who, he told me, knows more
about the art than any of her sons !
" Fourth day. A pleasant if uneventful ride led through
Tetbury (231), Cirencester (241), celebrated for its scien
tific college of agriculture, Burford (258), Chipping Norton
(269), Banbury (282) to Southam (296?). Here my
troubles, which never come singly, began. Rain com
menced falling, which soon wetted me through, I lost my
road and went quite a mile and a half out of the way, and
shortly before reaching Rugby (309), the spring broke.
But I felt so well and fit that I could not be glum. So, on
reaching this town, I promptly took the machine to a
mechanic, who had it plated and made stronger than be
fore by next morning, and myself to the Three Horse-
Shoes Hotel, where I received every attention.
" Fifth day. Sunshine and rain alternated rapidly until
the afternoon. My road lay through Lutterworth (316),
1 14 Assiout : Home.
Leicester (328), Melton Mowbray (343;, Grantham (359),
Newark (374), to Retford (394). The last 10 miles were
done in the dark, rendered more intense by the rain-clouds.
To ride along a stony road on a dark rainy night is a most
severe trial of nerve and temper. One cannot see the
stones to avoid them, and each time the wheel goes over
one, the machine is jerked up, or thrust on one side, and
the rider gets a shake that makes his heart jump into his
mouth, and brings to mind unparliamentary language.
Retford was reached at 11 P.M., and when I asked the
landlord of the White Hart whether he often put up bicy
clists, he looked at me severely and replied, Yes, but not
so late as this. However, I met with every attention here.
I got wet through twice to-day, and hardly slept a wink all
night nerves a little overwrought I suppose.
" Sixth day. On emerging from the hotel I found to my
horror that a furious north-west wind was blowing. I
struggled on as far as Doncaster (412), when I became
sick of fighting against that strong man, and threw up the
sponge. After a good dinner at the Reindeer, I went to
bed for a couple of hours, expecting that the wind would
lull in the evening it did so, but of course the road got
bad then. A wet greasy oolite road, rendered more de
lightful by the recent gyrations of a feathery traction-
engine, is a treat not soon forgotten by the bicyclist. I
enjoyed it this evening. Riding was only possible here
and there. I tried to make myself believe that I was on a
walking tour, and had taken the machine with me to come
in handy now and then. About 11.30 P.M. I tramped into
Wetherby (443). Two friendly policemen aided me in
making sufficient noise to awaken the landlord of the inn
here.
" Seventh day. The wind, still N.W., was blowing
gently to-day, and did not impede perceptibly. The road
improved gradually to Borobridge (455). Instead of run
ning straight from here to Durham, through Northallertou
and Darlington, I chose the celebrated Learning Lane, a
smooth flat bit of road full thirty miles long, and often
selected for trotting matches. It is properly the high road
to Carlisle, via Scotch Corner and Greta Bridge. The lane
has little traffic on it, and steers clear of towns. High
Assiout : Home. 115
speed was made through Leeming, Catterick (477), Scotch
Corner (482), where the road to Carlisle bends off, and you
can see the violet hills of the border country in the dis
tance, Pierce Bridge, and over a range of hills to West
Auckland (495), all black and grimy with coal-dust, and
Bishop Auckland (498), hard by, where the Bishop of
Durham resides. Dined here, and met with a young
Japanese who was interesting. Then on to Durham (508)
through Spennymoor, and thence via Chester-le- Street to
Newcastle- on-Tyne (523). The county of Durham may
boast of considerable natural beauties, but commercial en
terprise has introduced into the landscape so many features
of ugliness that the traveller is glad to leave it behind.
The high-level bridge which unites Gateshead and New
castle is a grand structure. I had now scored 84 miles
since the morning, and hearing from a policeman that I
could get comfortably lodged at an inn six miles on, I
thought I might complete the 90 miles before halting for
the night. In due time Six Mile Brig hove in sight. It
was a dirty little colliery village. But I was tired, hungry
and wet, and the hour was eleven. So I thundered at the
doors of all the inns I could find. No answer, except at
one place, where a woman looked from a window and told
me that the house was full, which, of course, was quite
true. I shall take care that Dash Mailes, Esq., the land
lord of the hotel which the policeman recommended, re
ceives a copy of this account. A merry Northumbrian,
prompted by that temporary feeling of generosity inspired
by strong drink, vowed he would not leave me till he saw
me safely housed, and made the locality reverberate with
shouts of Tom/ and Jack, and Bill/ but T., J., and B.
slept quietly on. At length a tall man came up and offered
me a night s lodging, as well as food. I accepted. The
house to which he took me was a pitman s lodging-house.
He was a pitman. His landlord also a pitman and
family lived downstairs, and he upstairs. The landlord
was directed to prepare supper. A vast pot of tea and a
measureless pile of spice-cake, with butter, soon adorned
the festive board. I had ridden 30 miles from Bishop-
Auckland without tasting a morsel of food or drink ; so
I did not count the cups of tea or the planks of cake which
116 Ass io u t : Home.
I consumed I was afraid of getting into double figures.
Then half a pipe of twist (for experiment) and upstairs to
lie down till it was light enough to go on.
" Eighth day. I was up with the lark, and amused
with it too, and shortly found myself in Morpeth (537),
eight miles on. Here, as might be expected, I had one of
numerous baths and a breakfast worthy the name. Also
made the acquaintance of a Presbyterian tailor, full of
theology, politics, and good nature. Nineteen miles of
fresh open country over a fine macadam road brought me
to Alnwick (556). My old enemy the north-west wind got
very boisterous now, and I was forced to resume the walk
ing tour, taking the machine along with me, in case it
might be of use again in the dim future. The wind was
terribly cutting as well as powerful, but a blue jersey,
bought at Alnwick, kept me as warm as a toast. Of course
I missed my way going out of Alnwick. I always do when
other troubles are on hand. They never come singly, and
nothing succeeds like success. But the hardest blow was
yet to fall. A few miles out of Morpeth my right foot
began to hurt at the back ; but I thought nothing of it, as
I only felt it when walking up a hill. But the walking
tour from Alnwick to Belford (572) caused so much pain
that resignation and defeat seemed a matter of minutes.
However an hour s rest at Belford did good, and on I went.
The wind was cruel, and forced me to walk most of the
way to Berwick (587). I limped in about 10.30 P.M. and
put up at the Ked Lion.
"Ninth day. Foot better to-day, and by leaving the
boot unbuttoned I seemed to give it the requisite relief.
Fortunately I had no walking tour to-day. The wind was
still strong, but the road was grand, and 29 miles of hard
pushing brought me to Dunbar (616). At this point the
road turns in sharply to the west and I felt the wind but
little as I rode through Haddington (627), and Traneant
(636), into Edinburgh (645). Our city on a beautiful
summer s evening presents a spectacle not equalled any
where else. Quitting Edinburgh shortly after 9 P.M., a
ride of an hour and a-half over the finest and smoothest
stretch of road I have ever been on in my life brought the
traveller to the Star and Garter at Linlithgow (661).
Assiout: Home. 117
The Town Council had been riding the marches to-day
an arduous proceeding I should suppose, and one re
quiring substantial refreshment.
" Tenth day. When I awoke the rain was pattering on
the window-panes, and a keen N.W. wind was blowing. A
shudder, a resolve, a leap, and I was dressing quickly. The
road to Falkirk (669) I found hilly, rough, lumpy, and
slippery. Add to this wind and rain, and the result is
misery. At Falkirk I stopped. Cook let me stand before
the kitchen-fire while she prepared breakfast. At 9.30 the
rain stopped and I continued. The wind was rising rapidly.
More walking tour. Though I tramped most of the way
to Stirling (680) and thence to Dunblane (687), my foot
gave no trouble. I fondly thought that it had got well.
At Bridge of Allan (683 1) I dined, and slept an hour. At
Dunblane the road turns sharply to the west ; and thence
to Crieff (704), by Muthill and Perth (721), the ride was
pleasant and prosperous. Dunkeld (736) was reached at
11 P.M.
" Eleventh day. To-day was a failure. After passing
Blair-Athole (756), the glen becomes rapidly higher and
narrower. The wind came sweeping down as through a
funnel. There was a strong draught. Another walking
tour. After three miles my foot began to complain.
Once past Struan Inn there is no other until you get to
Dalwhinnie, twenty miles distant. At Dalnacardoch I was
in such pain that I was obliged to invade a farm-house
and ask for rest and food, which I got at rather a high
figure. Then on past Dalnaspidal Station, over Drumochter
Pass to Dalwhinnie at the head of Loch Ericht (780). It
was now eight o clock, and I had only covered 44 miles
since morning. At the Loch Ericht Hotel the medical
skill of Dr. Peyton, of Broughty-Ferry, worked wonders,
and the next day saw me traverse 105 miles with ease and
pleasure.
"Twelfth day. Newtonmore (789), Kingussie (793),
Aviemore (805), and Carr-Bridge (811) succeeded one
another rapidly. The scenery along the road from here,
via Loch Moy (822) and Daviot (831), to Inverness (837),
was glorious. The day too was lovely, and not a breath
stirring. Leaving Inverness at six, I rode rapidly through
118 Assiout : Home.
Beauly (847), Dingwall (859), and Invergordon (872), to
Tain (884), where the last night on the road was spent.
Two miles before Tain the road forks right and left. No
guide-post is there to direct the stranger. It was nearly
midnight. Fortunately I descried a light in a window, and
procured the necessary information. This reminds me that
I did not see a single guide-post in Scotland, except two
close by John o Groats, put up at the repeated request of
an English tourist, Mr. Blackwell (the first bicyclist who
rode from end to end of our island). Why is this ? In
England they abound.
" Thirteenth and last day. I rose to find my foot
horribly stiff and painful. But the day was fine, no wind,
and only 110 miles more to run. Starting at 9.20, I ran
hard to Bonar-Bridge (899), over the Mound to Golspie
(920), where I dined, and slept an hour. Leaving at 4, I
ran rapidly through Brora (926) to Helmsdale (938). I
had limped up the Ord of Caithness by sunset. At Berrie-
dale (948) it was raining hard. At Dunbeath (954) I
stopped to have tea and bathe my foot, which had been
tried severely by the 4-mile limp up the Ord. Wick (975)
I reached about midnight. After refreshing and nursing
myself for an hour and a-half at the Station Hotel, I
started again, to the blank astonishment of landlord, boots,
and waiters. The utter solitude, stillness, and dreariness
of the remaining 19 miles made a most remarkable im
pression on me. Not one tree, bush, or hedge did I see
the whole way only dark brown moor and a road straight
as a rule. At twenty minutes past three I stood stiff, sore,
hungry, and happy before John o Groat s House Hotel.
I had ridden 994 miles in 13 days less 45 minutes. This
gives an average of 76 to 77 miles a day. I had no diffi
culty in rousing the landlord, and was soon asleep. Thus
ended an interesting and amusing ride.
" I have only to add that the machine which carried me
is a 58-incher, built by Humber and Marriott, of Queen s
Road, Nottingham, and weighing 45 Ibs. As an illustra
tion of the perfection of this bicycle, I may mention that
the hind wheel, which revolves 1,000 times a mile, ran
from Dunkeld to John o Groat s (a distance of 260 miles)
without being oiled oh the way. Thus it made over a
Assiout : Home. 119
quarter- million revolutions on the strength of a single
lubrication ! "
The summer of this year was spent partly at Keith-Hall
and partly in London. It does not, however, present any
incident specially worthy of record. His studies and his
work for Mr. Charrington fully engrossed Keith-Falconer s
time.
CHAPTER VII.
CAMBRIDGE. MARRIAGE. KALILAH.
" I would the great world grew like thee,
Who grewest not alone in power
And knowledge, but by year and hour
In reverence and in charity. "
TENNYSON, In Menwriam.
FOR the two years preceding October, 1882, Keith-Falconer
had, as we have seen, resided but little at Cambridge ;
most, however, of the ensuing three years, except the vaca
tions, was spent there.
The beginning of term found him in his old quarters on
the Market Hill, as keen a student as when of old there
was an examination ahead to be worked for.
To so thorough and careful a scholar, the Kalilah meant
a far larger amount of labour than it might have been
supposed would be required by a translation of a fairly
easy Syriac book. Still the text existed but in one MS.,
and that most corrupt, and even with all the emendations
of Dr. Wright and Professor Noldeke, Keith-Falconer found
abundant material on which to exercise his critical acumen.
We must speak in some detail of the nature of this book,
when we come to the time of its publication.
It is not, however, to be supposed that his book, un
grudging as was the labour he devoted to it, absorbed the
bulk of his time : his engrossing study was Arabic, in which
he was now reading such difficult books as the Mo allakat
and Al-Hariri.
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 121
If he had been asked at this time why he gave so pre
ponderating an amount of time to Arabic, which at no time
he felt to have any direct bearing on the exegesis of the
Bible, and whose literature was quite unconnected with his
Biblical studies, he would have said that the language itself
had a wonderful attraction for him ; the labour was its own
reward.
We must now turn to some other aspects of his life. In
a letter to Miss Bevan, written at the beginning of this term,
he gives an amusing account of the success of one of his
friends, an Irishman, in his examination :
" CAMBRIDGE, Oct. 22, 1882.
"R. - was here yesterday. He told me how he got a
first class in his Little-Go. He and another man had
worked for it more or less together. R, of course had
hardly looked at the subjects, while his acquaintance, a shy,
nervous man, had conscientiously gone through all the sub
jects, and worked eight hours a day all the term.
" The nervous man when called upon for viva voce turned
ashy pale, and was so overcome by his feelings that he was
unable to utter a single syllable and was told to stand down.
Meanwhile Paddy was enjoying it rather than otherwise
from his seat. Presently the name of R was called
out. Patrick saunters quietly up. It is needless to say
that this was the first time that he had been introduced to
his subject. After taking his seat, and arranging himself
very deliberately indeed, he takes stock of the examiner,
who is a red-bearded, pale, stern-looking man. Patrick is
directed to construe at such and such a place. He replies
Certainly, Sir. After examining the passage for a few
moments and satisfying himself that an attempt would be
absolutely hopeless, he looks up, bends forward and gazing
steadily into the examiner s face, whispers in tones of im
pressive earnestness, Anywhere but there, Sir. The stern
one is taken by storm and shakes with laughter and lets
him go on wherever he likes ! Paddy succeeds in choosing
a particularly easy passage, and not only passes the viva
voce, but gets through the whole exam, with a first-class.
His hard-working, conscientious friend only gets a second."
122 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
Early in the following month, Mr. Moody paid a visit to
Cambridge. The visit was one which many remember with
gratitude, and the tone of more than one College was dis
tinctly raised.
From another letter to the same :
" CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 6, 1882.
" Moody has commenced. I was at the first meeting
which took place yesterday (Sunday) in the Corn Exchange.
It began at 8 A.M. sharp. There were more than 1,000
people present, chiefly townsfolk. At 8.30 P.M. there was
a meeting for University men only. There came fully
1,600 men, nearly all of them undergraduates. I am afraid
many of them could not hear, and that was some excuse
for the occasional bad behaviour which marred the meeting.
Fancy applauding a prayer ! A large number remained to
the after-meeting. Moody said that he was quite satisfied.
Meetings go on all this week. Moody spoke on Daniel.
Towards the end I thought he was very impressive."
All this time Keith- Falconer was very much occupied
with his work in connection with the mission at Mile-End,
of which he was Honorary Secretary, and had published
his pamphlet, of which I have already spoken, A Plea for
the Tower Hamlets Mission. It is true that the great mass
of work devolving on Mr. Charrington required that there
should be also a secretary living in the midst of the work
and devoting his whole time to it ; still Keith-Falconer s
post was very far from being a nominal one. It must be
remembered that at this particular time the special anxiety
of the workers was not mainly that of carrying on a gigantic
machine, but also of obtaining funds to erect a building
commensurate with their needs. The sum requisite for
this purpose was believed in 1882 to amount to <24,000 ;
it really has proved to be c32,000. All this entailed a
large correspondence on Keith-Falconer. In writing a
business letter he was exceedingly business-like : his facts
were put in the clearest and most methodical way. A
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 123
letter from him asking for a subscription was no effusive
appeal ; it was a quiet, sensible statement of facts, all the
more cogent because the writer had shewn himself anxious
to take all possible pains to do justice to his case.
Besides all this, frequent flying visits were paid to Mile-
End, and in all every opportunity of doing good was caught
at. As one who knew him well said, " He never seemed to
be able to come anywhere, without trying to do good to
somebody." Numbers of men and women received from
him in right form, right degree, and in the truest and
wisest Christian kindliness, just that help the case needed,
bodily or spiritual. Of this, one typical case has already
been given in detail. To shew how his kindness was some
times appreciated, I may note that there lives a certain
cabdriver in Whitechapel, who was always most genuinely
anxious to be allowed to drive him anywhere about London
for nothing.
In Cambridge, besides his interest in the Barnwell
Theatre Mission, he had always on hand cases calling for
individual aid. These did not assume with him, as a rule,
the easy form of taking a piece of money out of his pocket
and giving it to some importunate applicant, the truth
of the appeal doubtless varying inversely with the impor
tunity. Again and again he spent a great amount of time
and pains to adapt the aid exactly to the case which
appealed to him. Thus on one occasion he spared no
trouble to obtain situations on a railway for a man and
boy ; he aided a man who had come down in the world to
emigrate ; he gave a helping hand in more ways than one
to a man who was struggling bravely upwards. Of help
given to students in Cambridge he was most generous, and
I shall speak of it later on.
In the spring of 1883, he was appointed one of the
examiners for the Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarships, for which
he had himself competed successfully in 1879. In this and
on other occasions when he acted as examiner, he shewed a
124 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
thoroughness and carefulness that I have not often seen
equalled. He went over the ground on which he was to
examine as minutely as if he were one of the keenest com
petitors himself, so that the paper fairly represented the
whole field of work. I remember well his bringing me a
copy of a paper he had just set in an examination, and
asking, " Now do you call this paper quite fair ? I really
think no one can say that I have not tried to do justice to
each part."
In assigning the marks to the papers sent up by candi
dates he was also, I hardly need add, exceedingly careful.
Of this an illustration may be given. Sometimes, in exam
inations in Hebrew, it became his duty to set " pointing." !
To assign the marks properly for a piece of pointing re
quires exceptional care, otherwise a very false result may
be obtained. This Keith-Falconer felt, and accordingly to
judge fairly of each man s mistakes he adopted the fol
lowing plan. For each candidate he took a second copy
of the unpointed Hebrew and himself entered in it solely
those points which the student had written wrongly. By
having them all clearly before him in this form, he was
enabled thoroughly to judge of the amount of marks to be
deducted in each case.
The summer Keith-Falconer spent quietly at Keith-
Hall, in work on the Kalilah and at Arabic ; and in Sep
tember he attended the Congress of Orientalists at Ley den.
Presumably this, like other similar gatherings, is mainly
meant to promote esprit de corps, and to give men of like
pursuits the opportunity of seeing one another, rather than
actually to instruct the visitor. At any rate, Keith-Fal
coner writes, " The Congress, as far as I can make out, is
a failure as regards its labours, and a success as regards
its convivial gatherings."
It had long been his wish to obtain a lectureship in
1 This expression has been explained above, p. 45.
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 125
Cambridge, and on his return to the University in Oc
tober, 1883, he was offered and accepted the post of He
brew lecturer at Clare College.
He had in a very high degree the gift of teaching.
Thoroughly master of his subject, he could also tho
roughly realise the standpoint of the beginner. One who
knew him well, writes of this time :
" He took just as much pains in teaching the stupidest
man as the cleverest. He often said he did not mind men
being ever so stupid, if only they did their best, and did
not try to appear clever. He was a born teacher, as I
know from experience he always went to the bottom of
a subject, and made it so clear that no one could help
understanding. At the same time, he believed in his
pupils puzzling out things for themselves, as much as
they possibly could, and would only explain when *he
thought they had done their utmost."
It was not merely that he possessed the gift of lucidity
in a remarkable way ; he shewed an exceptional amount
of kindness in the use of it. If at his lectures, painstaking
and clear as he was, a student still failed to grasp the
difficulties, again and again would^ he invite him to his
rooms, or after his marriage to his house, and there give
his time ungrudgingly.
On some occasions, being thrown into contact with men
who had either been badly grounded by previous teachers,
or who needed more individual help than lectures would
furnish, he gave them all the help which could be ren
dered by a private tutor, and, having regard to the means
of those thus helped, he refused in every case but one to
accept the ordinarily recognised University fee. In the
one exception, the money was sent as a contribution to
Addenbrooke s Hospital, half in his own name, half in the
pupil s.
He was appointed in this year one of the examiners for
the Theological Tripos, and took part in the examination
126 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
of January, 1884, and also in that held under the new
system in the following June.
When the work on the January Tripos was finished and
the list published, he left for Cannes, where he resided
during February, and spent a good deal of time in pre
paring his papers for the next Tripos.
On February 29 he writes :
" . . . .A short-sighted lady, sitting next me in church,
told her husband afterwards that next her had sat a very
naughty boy, who drew pictures all through the sermon,
and that she had been on the point of stopping him
" On Wednesday I had a most delightful ride on a tri
cycle across the Esterelles to Frejus. Once at the top, I
cocked my legs up and went spinning down for miles with
out doing a stroke of work."
On March 4, he was married, at Trinity Church, Cannes,
to Miss Gwendolen Bevan, daughter of Mr. R. C. L. Bevan,
of Trent Park, Hertfordshire. After the wedding, they
spent some time at St. Raphael, near Frejus, where the
quiet, picturesque neighbourhood greatly delighted him,
and went thence, by way of Marseilles, to the neighbour
hood of Naples. Here they duly inspected Pompeii and
Capri, and ascended Vesuvius by the funicular railway.
By the middle of April, Keith-Falconer had brought his
wife to Cambridge, and resided during the May term and
Long Vacation in the house previously occupied by the
late Professor Fawcett, in Brookside.
The term was a busy one. He had spent some time on
his papers for the June Tripos at the beginning of the
year, but a good deal still remained to be done, and the
actual work of examination was itself considerable. His
work as lecturer, interpreted in the generous way in which
he viewed his post, also drew largely on his time ; and be
sides all this, he had his Arabic and the Kalilah.
The house he was occupying had been taken only for
six months ; but in the course of the summer he found
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 127
one that suited him in the Station Road, which had just
been vacated by Lord Eayleigh, on his resignation of the
Professorship of Experimental Physics, and took the
house on lease before leaving Cambridge for September.
The vacation was spent in Scotland, partly at home at
Keith-Hall, and partly on a bicycle tour in West Suther-
landshire, with his friend Mr. E , already spoken of in
the present chapter.
The following two extracts from letters written to his
wife shew the nature of the tour and bring out the spirit
in which Keith-Falconer entered into a holiday.
" INSCHNADAMPH, Sept. 13, 1884.
" I wish you were here to enjoy this wonderful country.
Excepting as to strong air, I think the Braemar district is
distinctly inferior to this. The charm lies principally in
the astonishing variety of lochs. We have seen dozens of
all sizes and shapes. E - turned up at Inverness as
arranged, appearing on the scene in a wonderful fur-
trimmed ulster! We got to Lairg about 4.30 the same
day. After tea and having put on our riding clothes and
labelled our bags to Lochinver, we rode off at 7.15 to
Altnahara Inn (21 miles). We had to go carefully most
of the way, as the darkness came on at 8. E - went
off the handles once. Next day we rode across to Tongue,
where we sighted the North Sea. On the way we took a
dip in Loch Loyal. Dinner at Tongue. We had a job to
get across the Kyle. It was very low water and we had
to wade some distance before we got to the boat. We had
a talk with the boatman, who said he had been praying
and searching for many years, but couldna find Him.
We took an age to ride seven miles across the Moine, a
dangerous swamp, to Hope Ferry.
" E was nearly run away with down the hill, which
might have killed him. It is the steepest, longest and
most winding hill I have ever seen. Hope Eiver and Ben
Hope looked most grim and black in the dusk. The ferry
is crossed by a chain-bridge. We pushed on three miles
further to Heilim Ferry on Loch Eriboll, which is reallv
an inlet of the sea. An inn is marked on the map, but on
128 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
arriving at the house, we found it was no longer an inn.
A little blarney from E - worked like an open sesame,
and we got tea and beds ; but it was a rough place. Here
we had a dip in the dark just before going to bed.
" Next day across Loch Eriboll by boat and then seven
miles of up and down to Durness. We found the hotel
occupied chiefly by a shooting party R - was
very unwell at Durness, so we staid there all day. Next
day a glorious run to Scourie, through Rhiconich, and
from Scourie to Kyleskee Ferry. The first thing we did
here was to plunge off a rock into deep, clear water. Then
tea. Another bathe next morning. After doing seven
miles to Scaig Bridge, I sent R - on to Inschnadamph
(where we are now), while I rode to Lochinver, most of
the road skirting Loch Assynt. Coming away from there,
I had a fall over the handles, consequently my right hand
looks rather ghastly. To-morrow to Ullapool or Lairg.
.... This place is 36 miles from the rail and we have not
been so near since leaving Tongue."
In another letter to the same he thus gives his general
impressions of the country :
" We have had the most gorgeous day that mortal man
could enjoy. Balmy air, soft fanning breeze, magnificent
scenery, piles of mountains wrapt in soft, dreamy haze,
profusion of lakes and bays dotted with little rocky islands
and reflecting the scenery so perfectly that one hardly
knows whether one is standing on one s head or one s
heels ; a human being only encountered at rare intervals,
charming bathing, salt and fresh, at every turn ; a clean,
cheap little inn about every 15 miles. R comes off his
machine every quarter of an hour. Happily his cranium
is thick."
On this Mr. R - remarks, " I only three times nearly
broke my neck."
The beginning of October saw Keith-Falconer settled in
his new house at Cambridge, 5, Salisbury Villas, in the
Station Road. Here he had a large pleasant study look-
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 129
ing out on a good-sized garden, in which the sometimes
very audible whistle of the ^trains no more affected him
than the noises from the Marketplace had done in old
days.
It would seem to have been towards the end of the year
1884 that the idea of work in the foreign mission field first
definitely entered Keith-Falconer s mind.
He had, it is true, often thought, but only in a very
vague way, that he might possibly go abroad some day
as a missionary. Among his heroes for years past had
been Dr. John Wilson, the well-known Scotch missionary.
As far back as 1878, he thus writes to a friend :
" Mind to get hold of Dr. George Smith s Life of John
Wilson, D.D., F.R.S., the great Scotch missionary of India.
He was a Free Church man ; every Indian missionary
must sit at his feet. He was probably the greatest Indian
scholar that has yet appeared. This is most extraordinary,
as he gave most of his time to mission-work. He also
made a name in geology ! His powers of memory were
something incredible. As for his toils for the people of
India, the biographer writes, From Central India to
Central Africa, from Cabul to Comorin, there are thousands
who call John Wilson blessed. .... The author too is a
very distinguished writer on Indian subjects."
Nor was this warm admiration for Wilson a mere fleet
ing fancy, to be forgotten when the next new book brought
a fresh hero forward. On his last visit to England in
1886, he constantly spoke with the same enthusiasm of
this noble worker for Christ.
When, towards the close of 1884, his intimate friend Mr.
C. T. Studd, of Trinity College, had been accepted as one
of the volunteers for the work of the China Inland Mission,
Keith-Falconer s interest was greatly excited, and, with
his wife, he was present at Mr. Studd s farewell meeting
in Cambridge early in 1885, and also attended the Oxford
meeting.
130 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
It was not, however, till the February of the following
year that the idea of any special place as his sphere of
work occurred to him. The whole history, however, of
the Aden project and of the immediate causes which led
up to it is best reserved for independent treatment in the
following chapter.
Early in 1885, was published Keith-Falconer s book, on
which an infinity of time and pains had been expended, the
Kalilah and Dimnah, otherwise known as the Fables of
Bidpai. This book, as I have already mentioned, when
speaking of the beginning of the undertaking in 1881, is a
translation from the Syriac, of which the text was pub
lished by Dr. Wright in 1884.
It is unfortunately, with one minor exception yet to be
spoken of, the only completed literary work Keith-Falconer
has left behind him ; unfortunately, not alone from the
standpoint of friends who mourn his loss, but also from
that of scholars in general, who are taught by the fulness
and accuracy of the work how much might have been
looked for in years to come from one whose first essay was
of so brilliant a promise.
While of course it is not my intention to enter into any
long account of the various forms of the text of which
Keith-Falconer has spoken in his Introduction, it will at
any rate be of interest to speak generally of the stories
which make up the book, and of the special form of the
text on which he worked.
The book is more familiarly known to general readers
under its name of Bidpai s or Pilpay s Fables, from the
fact that several English and French translations, ulti
mately derived from an old Persian version, have been
issued under that title.
As Keith-Falconer remarks in his preface, probably no
book except the Bible has had so many readers, when re
gard is had to the array of various languages into which
these Fables have been translated.
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 131
They were in their origin Indian, and formed a part of
Buddhist literature. The Indian original no longer exists
in its primary form, but there are extant Sanscrit writings
in which it is embodied. The chief of these is the Pancha-
tantra, of which the late Professor Benfey published a
translation with an exhaustive Introduction. This, how
ever, is an elaborate and artificial expansion of the original
work, of which we have a fairly faithful reproduction in
the Kalilah and Dimnah.
The present Fables are of an altogether different type
from the ^Esopic. In the latter, animals act as animals
would ; in the former they act as men in the form of
animals.
The name Bidpai, which occurs with great variety of
different spellings, is that of an Indian philosopher, who
tells a number of stories to the King his master, to enforce
some particular rule of conduct, each story giving rise to
a number of minor parenthetical stories. The first of
these tales is that of Kalilah and Dimnah, which has thus
given its name to the whole collection. Kalilah and
Dimnah are simply two jackals, leading characters in the
story told to illustrate the maxim, "When a false man
comes between two loving brothers, he disturbs their bro
therly feeling and destroys their harmony."
The collection of Indian stories passed into Persia not
later than A.D. 570 ; and thence arose a version in Pehlevi,
or ancient Persian, in which, it would seem, a Persian
element became added. An ancient Tibetan version of
part of the book, made directly from the Sanscrit, has
recently been brought to light ; but the Sanscrit original
and the Pehlevi version have unfortunately perished.
From the lost Pehlevi, two surviving versions were
derived, an older Syriac version made about A.D. 570,
which has remained absolutely childless ; and an Arabic
version, made about A.D. 750, from which all other known
texts are derived. Directly drawn from the Arabic ara
132 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
versions in no less than five distinct languages, Syriac,
Greek, Persian, Hebrew and Spanish; each of which,
except the first, has been the parent of other versions.
It is this later Syriac version which Keith-Falconer
translated. Before proceeding to speak of this, it may be
noticed that the Hebrew version, now known only by a
unique MS., gave birth to the well-known Directorium of
John of Capua, and from this again are derived transla
tions into the German, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian,
English and French languages.
Like the older Syriac version, 1 so also the later Syriac is
known solely by a unique MS. This MS., which was dis
covered by Dr. Wright in the Library of Trinity College,
Dublin, and edited by him, is partly due to the thirteenth
and partly to later centuries, and simply teems with
errors. In the absence therefore of a second text to act as
a corrective, conjectural emendations had frequently to be
resorted to. Many of these were furnished by Dr. Wright
and Professor Noldeke, and a large number are due to
Keith-Falconer s own critical skill. That he was no
feeble novice herein, making a few vague guesses, but
resting mainly on the experience of older scholars, follows
not only from the fact of his occasionally differing from
these distinguished Orientalists, but from the high terms
of approval in which they have themselves spoken of his
work.
To return, however, to this Syriac version itself. The
translator probably lived in the tenth or eleventh century,
and was a " Christian priest, living at a time when the
Syrian Church lay in an utterly degraded state." 3 Pas
sages often have a different turn given to them, in order
to bring in a Christian sentiment.
1 For a very interesting account of tlie way in which the unique
MS. of this was brought to the knowledge of Europe, indirectly
through the Vatican Council, see Keith -Falconer s Introduction,
p. xliv. 2 Ibid. p. lix.
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 133
As we have already observed, the fables are of an alto
gether different kind from the ^Esopic. Many of them
are very quaint and striking. The most pleasing of all is
that of the Ringdove, 1 but it is much too long to be quoted
here. A curious interest, however, attaches to the Fable
of The Ascetic and the Weasel*
This is the story of a child born to an ascetic by a
beautiful and much-loved wife, after she had long been
childless. Even before the child is born, the wife has to
check her husband from recklessly indulging in plans for
the future of the child, when even its sex is not known.
She bids him, " Commit your affairs to G-od, and every
thing that is desirable in His sight and in accordance
with His will shall come to pass." But, adds she, if a
man plans things too soon, there will befall him the fate
of the ascetic when he lost his honey and oil.
Bidden to tell the story, she proceeds,
" It is said that an ascetic derived his nourishment from
a king, that is, the governor of a town, every day so much
oil and so much honey. And whatever he had remaining,
he used to pour into an earthenware vessel which he hung
on a peg above the bedstead on which he slept. One day
while sleeping on the bedstead, with the earthenware
vessel full of oil and honey, he began to say within him
self : If I sold this honey and oil, I might sell it for a
dinar and with the dinar I might buy ten she- goats, and
after five months they would have young, and after a lapse
of five years these would have young and their number
would become very large, and I should buy two yoke of
oxen and a cow, and I should sow my fields and reap
much corn and amass much oil, and I should buy a certain
number of servants and maid-servants, and when I had
taken to myself a wife of beautiful appearance and she had
borne me a handsome son, I should instruct him and he
would be secretary to the king. Now in his hand was a
staff, and while he was saying these things, he kept
1 Kalilah and Dimnah, p. 109. a Ib id. p. 169.
134 Cambridge. Marriaye. Kalilah.
brandishing the staff with his hand, and struck the
earthenware vessel with it and broke it, whereupon the oil
and honey ran down on his head as he slept. So all his
plans came to naught, and he was confounded."
Here, in somewhat other guise, is the well-known story
of Alnaschar and his wares of glass.
In due time the child was born, and on a certain day,
the father had to be left in charge of it during the absence
of the mother.
" But when the woman had gone, a messenger from one
of the chiefs of the town came for him and could not wait.
So he left the boy and departed. Now they had in the
house a weasel who used to help them in all their affairs,
and did not leave a single mouse in the house without
killing him. And he left him with the boy and went with
the messenger. Whereupon there came forth a powerful
snake and sought to kill the boy. And the weasel fought
with the snake until he killed him and bit him into several
pieces, and the body of the weasel was stained with the
snake s blood. When the ascetic returned from the man
who had sent for him and saw the weasel with his body
stained with blood, he thought that the boy had been
killed, and without searching into the matter, sprang on
the weasel and killed him. When he had killed him, he
looked and saw and lo the boy was alive. And he repented
and was ashamed and brought upon himself grief and
sighing, and he began to revile himself for mortification,
saying to himself: * Would that this boy had not been
born, for then I had not been guilty of this murder. And
the woman returned and upbraided him, saying: Did
I not tell you not to be hasty and do things too soon
before you had tried them, lest you should reap a bad
end?"
Here is a story which, in some form or other, is found
in the literature of nearly every civilised nation. It is of
course specially familiar to us in the form in which, in the
place of the weasel, appears the faithful dog Gelert, the
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 135
imaginary eponym of Beddgelert, Gelert s grave/ in
Carnarvonshire.
The Introduction prefixed to the translation, extending
over eighty-five large octavo pages, dwells on the literary
history of the document, and on the history and biblio
graphy of the versions. It is a piece of work, which, for
rich fulness of learning, critical acumen, and clearness of
style, might well do credit to an older scholar than the
young man of less than eight and twenty at the time of
its completion.
To the translation are appended notes, largely, but not
wholly critical ; there being some very carefully worked out
notes on the names of the persons in the story, &c.
The remark was once made to me, half -seriously, half in
jest, by one of the most distinguished of living scholars at
Cambridge, with reference to the exceedingly long time
often requisite for the writing of a short note, which to
the general reader may seem to have cost but little
trouble: "I should often like to append a note to this
note ; This note has taken me (so many) hours ! " This
thought strikes one forcibly in some of the modest, unpre
tending notes in Keith -Falconer s Appendix. The work is
most thorough, and none but a professed scholar can esti
mate how long a time some of those notes must have cost
their writer.
Of the various reviews of the book, I will refer but to
one, that of Professor Noldeke, one of the foremost of
living Oriental scholars, who concludes a very favourable
notice with the words, " We will look forward with hope to
meet the young Orientalist, who has so early stepped for
ward as a Master, many a time yet, and not only in the
region of Syriac."
Although, as we have already said in the present chapter,
Keith-Falconer s thoughts were beginning at this time
1 Gottinqteche gelehrte Anzeigen, no. 19, p. 757 (Sept. 15, 1885).
136 Cambridge. Marriage. KaUlah.
definitely to turn to Aden, which engrossed his mind more
and more, he yet very cheerfully undertook, soon after the
publication of the Kalilah, a somewhat troublesome piece
of literary work, the article on Shorthand for the new
edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I have spoken in
an early chapter of Keith-Falconer s remarkable powers as
a writer of phonography, besides which he had a consider
able, though general, knowledge of other systems. Still
the work for the article involved a large amount of research
and drew somewhat largely on his time.
The article, which, in its printed form, runs to about
thirteen columns in the large quarto of the Encyclopaedia,
gives a general sketch of the progress of shorthand in
England, since the days of the first pioneers of the art, Dr.
Timothie Bright and John Willis. The rudimentary forms
of shorthand in use among the ancients were described by a
different writer.
Keith-Falconer states that of published English systems
there have been no less than 483, the great majority being
alphabetic, in which each letter has its own symbol. Thus
of the 201 systems from Willis s time to Mr. Pitman s ail
but seven are alphabetic, the remainder being phonetic.
Of Mr. Pitman s system, which, under its name of
Phonography, was first published in 1840, a detailed
account is given. This system is, it would seem, far more
widely used than any other, and Keith -Falconer considered
it to be the best of existing systems, though he makes
some very just remarks on the wisdom of writers of
different calibres adopting different methods.
After a short account of the systems invented during
the last half century, he gives a clear summary of the
various methods in use in other countries, Germany,
France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark. The article con
cludes with a concise bibliography on the literature of the
subject.
The essay is characterized both by its lucidity and its
Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah. 137
thoroughness. Thus Keith-Falconer paid a special visit
to Oxford for the sole purpose of inspecting in the Bodleian
two books spoken of in the article, the unique copy of
Bright s Characterie (1588), and the anonymous work of
Willis, the Stenographic, of 1602, of which only one other
copy is known. I speak from direct personal knowledge
when I state that Keith-Falconer used every endeavour to
acquaint himself with everything of worth written on the
subject, and that the very large amount of preliminary
reading can by no means be estimated by the mere length
of the article.
The Easter Vacation was spent at Cannes. Although
Keith-Falconer could always thoroughly enjoy a well-
earned holiday, yet his heart always turned back lovingly
to his books. On April 8 he writes from Cannes :
" I am weary of idleness and want to get back to my
books Old Scotland beats this place hollow in re
spect to scenery, but the climate here is wonderful."
Not long before this time Keith -Falconer had arranged
a matter of much interest, which has already been referred
to in an earlier chapter in the note of the Master of Trinity ;
his foundation of the Kintore Prizes at Harrow. These
prizes, two in number, one open to the whole school and
the other to the younger boys only, were designed to en
courage the intelligent reading of Scripture by the boys ;
and to take the place of those which had for some years
been given by Mr. Beaumont. The Kintore Prizes were
first awarded in the summer of 1885, Keith-Falconer act
ing as Examiner on this occasion.
The May term passed quietly by. The work of study
and of teaching went steadily on, none the less that the
new interest, of which we have to speak in the following
chapter, became more and more engrossing. In the course
of the term, Keith-Falconer was offered and accepted the
post of Examiner for the Semitic Languages Tripos of the
138 Cambridge. Marriage. Kalilah.
succeeding February. For this he set his share of the
papers, though he did not return from Aden in sufficient
time to take part in the actual work of examination. At
the end of the term he resigned his college lectureship f
which he had held since October, 1883.
Ready at all times to do all that in him lay to encourage
a zeal for honest athletic exercise, Keith-Falconer accepted,
on May 2, the post of President of a Cycling Club, that of
the Cambridge Young Men s Christian Association. In
the previous summer he had acted for them as judge at
their fifth Annual Races, on August 14 ; but in August,
1885, he was unable to be present and again act as judge,
and wrote a very kindly letter to the secretary regretting
it, offering at the same time a prize for the winner in a
four-miles bicycle race.
August was spent at Trent Park and Keith-Hall, and in
September, Keith-Falconer again went for a bicycle tour
with his friend Mr. R , over much the same part of
Sutherlandshire which they had visited in the previous
year.
One can hardly conceive a greater contrast than that
which now awaited him. Fresh from " the hills, and
heather, and lochs, and linns " of the wild north-west, he
was now, after a very short visit to Cambridge, to find
himself a dweller in the grim Arabian settlement of Aden.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADEN.
" Um zu iiberzeugen, sei du iiberzeugt ;
Um zu riihren, sei du geriihrt."
SAILER.
THERE is probably no place on the whole surface of the
habitable globe more utterly arid and dreary to the eye
than Aden. A peninsula of black, volcanic rock, joined
to ,the mainland by a low, sandy isthmus, a burning
tropical sky, and an almost total absence of vegetation, form
an uninviting picture. " It is not a place," writes a
resident, " to which any one could possibly ever come for
pleasure." Yet from the mission stand-point it is a place
presenting a striking union of exceptional advantages.
Before speaking of these, however, it will be well to
attempt first a very brief general description of the place
itself. 1 Aden is situated on the south coast of the province
of Yemen, in Arabia Felix, about 100 miles east of the
Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, where the waters of the Eed
Sea meet those of the Indian Ocean. The rocky peninsula
of which we have spoken is an irregular oval about five
miles long from east to west, and three from north to
south ; and rises at its highest point to an elevation of
over 1,700 feet above the sea-level. It encloses a good-
1 The fullest account of Aden known to me is Captain (now
Major) Hunter s Account of the British Settlement of Aden in
Arabia. London, 1877.
140 Aden.
sized harbour, where steamers from Europe enter almost
daily.
At the western end of the peninsula is the small town
known as Steamer Point, whose name sufficiently indicates
its character. Here are several streets of stone houses, a
church, several public buildings, and the coaling stations
of Government and various shipping companies. This is
the cooler end of the peninsula, as during the hotter
months the breezes here come directly off the sea, whereas
at Aden itself, built as it is in the crater of an extinct
volcano, hot sandy winds prevail.
From Steamer Point, a road passes through Maala, a
village chiefly occupied by the Somalis, of whom mention
must be made presently, and enters the Crater through
what is known as the Main Pass Gate.
Aden itself, at the eastern end of the peninsula, is a
town consisting of about 2,000 houses, and a population
of perhaps 20,000, and is divided into two nearly equal
parts by the dry bed of a watercourse. The heat, as may
well be supposed from the position of the town, is very
great, the shade temperature ranging, it is said, from 75
to over 100.
The question of the water supply of Aden is naturally
at all times a matter of great moment. The need is met in
various ways ; from wells a few miles distant, in or near the
village of Shaikh Othman, from which a large quantity is
conveyed into Aden in leather-skins on camels and in boats.
There is also an aqueduct from the above village, but the
water thus conveyed is not fit for drinking purposes. A
considerable supply is also obtained from the Tanks, large
reservoirs which store up the rain-water. So steep are the
hills, and so hard the rocks, and so slight is the coating of
soil upon them, that very little of the rain is absorbed ;
and thus in spite of the small rain-fall, a considerable body
of water may altogether be stored. Besides all these
sources of the water supply, a fair quantity of good water
Aden. 141
is yielded by condensers, and it is this which is mainly used
by Europeans for drinking purposes.
As regards the history of the place, 1 we find that in 1538
the Turks became possessors of the province of Yemen,
having overthrown the native Imams. After about a cen
tury of Turkish rule, the Imams regained their power, till
in 1735 the Sultan of Lahej broke loose from his allegiance,
possessed himself of Aden, and became the founder of a
line of independent rulers. In the year 1837, an English
vessel was wrecked near Aden, and the passengers and
crew suffered ill-treatment at the hands of the Arabs. In
consequence of this, it was agreed that, besides other com
pensation, the peninsula of Aden should be ceded to the
English. A lack of good faith, however, was shewn in
carrying out this arrangement, and the town was taken by
assault on January 19, 1839, and was henceforward
reckoned as part of the Bombay Presidency. It was thus
the first acquisition of new territory to the Empire in the
reign of Queen Victoria.
What now, it may be asked, are the special missionary
advantages of this place which can counterbalance its very
obvious disadvantages ?
First then may be noted its important geographical
position. Only lOf days journey from England, and nearly
equidistant between Suez and Bombay, it may justly be
called one of the great central points of the world. It is
a coaling station for the steamers of the Peninsular and
Oriental and other great lines ; so that the traffic of the
world, long diverted into the route round the Cape of Good
Hope, is now returning on its ancient lines.
But secondly, it is not merely as a depot for foreign
traffic that we must view Aden, great as is the importance
which that gives the place, but as the point to which the
caravans from the interior converge. These come into
1 Hunter, pp. 163, sqq.
142 Aden.
Aden daily. At sunrise, hundredsof camels, laden with
coffee, fruit, fodder, grain, wood, water, and other things,
are led into the town by their Bedawi drivers. The number
of camels that entered Aden in the year 1875-76 amounted
to no less than 267,845.
Yet another advantage, and that one of the highest im
portance, lies in the fact that Aden is British territory, and
that British influence extends far into the interior. It is
estimated that the independent tribes between Aden and
the Turkish frontier number about 120,000 souls, and
these are subsidised by our Government, somewhat on the
principle of the grants made to the Highland clans before
1745. In return, their good behaviour is secured, caravans
can pass in safety, and risks of molestation to Europeans
are much lessened. The sheikhs of these tribes come into
Aden periodically for their money, and thus possibilities of
intercourse are opened up into the interior. This last ad
vantage is obviously exceedingly great, and it is one upon
which Keith -Falconer constantly insisted. Striking con
firmation of this is afforded by the following remarks
which I extract from a paper by Major-General Haig,
K.E. :
" I have recently, while travelling through Yemen and
visiting the Somali coast, had occasion to notice again and
again what a powerful and far-reaching influence of this
kind is exercised by Aden. I had no conception of it
before. There are many things there which we regret and
would gladly see altered ; but these things, though they
may detract from, cannot obliterate, the impression made
upon the surrounding races and countries by this scene of
strong, just and wise government. Aden is visited by
thousands from hundreds of miles all round from Somali-
land, from Hadramaut, from Yemen, from the countries
along the Red Sea, and all take baqk with them an ideal of
government to which in their own lands they are entire
strangers. And often they may be heard contrasting the
1 Himter, p. 86.
ADEN
B A\ D L I \\ %
Bir Achmad
A K R A B I
EN
***Ade \
GULF OF ADEN
Scale of English Miles .
012345 783 10
Stanford*, Geog*
; Deighton Bell & Co.
Aden. 143
two conditions the peace, the order, the liberty, the just
administration of the law, the religious toleration (this of
the Jews especially) to be found in Aden, with the very
reverse of all these things everywhere else. I was con
stantly reminded of this in Yemen. Aden is known to the
remotest corners of that magnificent country, and the
people are quietly drawing their own inferences, and some
times manifesting preferences which are evidently not a
little irritating to the Turkish authorities. How much
more powerful for good would this influence have been if,
instead of the timid policy that would avoid the place be
cause of the evils there, there had been men capable of
presenting to its thousands of visitors in their own tongue
that Gospel which is the true basis of Christian civiliza
tion ! "
Weighty and pregnant with grave significance to
us, whether as Christians or as Englishmen, is that last
sentence.
Finally, two other points may be urged in connection
with Aden. The Jews are scattered all over Yemen in con
siderable numbers, 2 and a good-sized isolated community
of them had their settlement near Aden. A very different
race, the Somalis, must also be named. Of this people,
who belong to the African race on the opposite coast, there
are thousands in Aden, and at this point missionary ope
rations might be begun among them before continuous
work was attempted on the opposite coast.
Taking all these things into account, it will be seen that
a very promising field for missionary enterprise presented
itself. Given a missionary possessing the requisite quali
fications, indomitable zeal for the spread of the Gospel, a
thorough command of Arabic, tact and judgement in plan
and in action, and bodily strength which could endure the
1 "On both Sides of the Red Sea," in the Church Missionary
Intelligencer and Record for May, 1887 (p. 282).
2 Their numbers are estimated by Gen. Haig to be not less than
60,000. Ibid. June, p. 351.
144 Aden.
burning heat of Aden given all these, then under God s
blessing, a door might indeed be opened from which
Islam might be assailed under the most favourable con
ditions.
That all these qualifications, except the last, were
strikingly united in Keith-Falconer, must be obvious to all
who knew him well. He had^ been a true-hearted servant
of Christ throughout his life, and in gradually widening
spheres of usefulness he had always sought to teach others
how great was the blessing he himself possessed. He had
a striking aptitude for the acquisition of languages, and
had devoted several years of steady work to Arabic, in
whose richness and fulness he took an ever-increasing
delight. As we have seen, his patient study of the Arabic
of books at Cambridge and at Leipzig had been supple
mented by a winter s residence in a rather out of the way
part of Egypt, with a view to the colloquial use of the
language. After his return to Cambridge in October, 1882,
none of his other interests, and there were many, ever
dulled his love for his Arabic, and had the role of the
scholar pure and simple been the aim he set before him
self, and had his life been prolonged, it is certain that he
would in time have ranked high, very high, among the
Orientalists of the century.
Such, however, was by no means his ideal. Pleasant
and indeed useful as is the life of the scholar, pre-eminently
pleasant as he ever felt his own Cambridge life to be, he
believed that God had entrusted him with gifts which
called for a wider field of exercise. He had, it is true, side
by side with his studies engaged in works of evangelization
and beneficence here in England ; but while to the last his
heart was deeply bound up with the work that was being
done at Barn well, and at Mile-End, of which I have spoken
in a previous chapter, still it seemed as if some scheme
ought to present itself in which Christian zeal and lin
guistic power might work hand in hand, or rather, shall I
Aden. 145
say, in which his intellectual attainments and his learning
might be to him something more than a mere parallel
interest, existing side by side with, but having no connec
tion with, work for Christ.
Viewed in this light, the feeling deepens that in Keith-
Falconer was to be found the true type of the champion
of the Cross against Islam, the teacher of the Bible against
the Koran, the herald proclaiming Jesus against the False
Prophet.
In Keith-Falconer s own heart and mind too this feeling
had existed in a way for some time before it bore definite
fruit ; a feeling of which he was only half conscious him
self, manifesting its presence by increased zeal in study,
increased earnestness in the cause of the Gospel, combined
all the time with a feeling of uncertainty, of craving for
some line of work not yet apparent. In this state of things,
with this impulse working underground, as it were, all
that was wanted was the touch which should bring it to
the surface, should combine his varied gifts, and make
them work as one force to a definite end.
I have said in the preceding chapter that towards the
end of the year 1884, Keith-Falconer s thoughts first began
to be definitely drawn to the foreign mission field, but as
yet without reference to any special sphere of work.
The way in which the idea of choosing Aden as the sphere
of his labours first occurred to him was this. A paper had
been written by General Haig, from whose interesting
articles I have already quoted, strongly urging upon
Christians the duty of attempting the evangelization of
Arabia. A summary of this was published in the Christian
newspaper in February, 1885 (no. 785, p. 13), where Keith-
Falconer read it, and thenceforward the idea was slowly
developed, from an interest in which the mind itself hardly
realized how great a hold had been taken on it, to the day
when, as though in answer to the question " Who will go
for us ? " he answered, not with eager but evanescent zeal,
146 Aden.
not with vague, crude ideas, only half -formed and doomed
by their very nature to failure, but with a resolution as
calm as it was deep, " Here am I, send me."
The immediate outcome of the perusal of General Haig s.
article was a request on Keith-Falconer s part for an inter
view, and he accordingly met the General in London on
Feb. 21, 1885, to talk about Aden. In a letter to the
present writer, General Haig remarks :
" My impression of that conversation is that he came not
only to get information, but to say that his mind was
already made up to go out for six months and see what
the place and prospects of work were like We joined
in prayer that he might be guided and blest in all his
thoughts about Arabia."
Besides the advantages presented by Aden from the
missionary stand-point, there might further be added the
fact that the field was, broadly speaking, well-nigh un
trodden. I need not say that this remark is made with the
fullest recognition of the important work done at Aden by
the resident chaplain, who serves the two churches, at the
Camp and Steamer Point respectively. His work, how
ever, moved in altogether different lines to that which
Keith-Falconer was beginning now to picture more and
more definitely to himself as his own. The chaplain s
duty was to Aden viewed as a British possession and to
minister to the Christian residents. He was expected not
to work among the natives. Such work has of course in
finite possibilities of usefulness, but is an altogether diffe
rent work from the missionary s attack on a definite form
of error.
There was also, it is true, a Roman Catholic Mission,
founded in 1840, and having chapels at the Crater, and at
Steamer Point. As to this, Keith- Falconer, writing from
Aden in January, 1886, remarks :
" The two chaplains, besides attending to the Roman
Aden. 147
community (Europeans, G-oanese, Abyssinians, &c.), work
among Somali outcasts and orphans ; but I am told that
their converts generally lapse into Islam when they quit
the Roman Catholic school. There is, besides, a convent at
Steamer Point kept by sisters of the 4 Good Shepherd/
where friendless girls of all nationalities are received and
educated, and brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. 1
The sisters also keep a day-school which is purely secular.
From all that I hear, the Roman Catholic missions in Aden
have failed. It may fairly be said that nothing effective
has yet been done in Aden to lead the people to a living
faith in the Son of G-od."
One of the two great English societies, the Church Mis
sionary Society, had about this time considered the ques
tion of an Arabian mission, which had been urged upon
them by General Haig. As a result of this, Dr. and Mrs.
Harpur were sent out in October, 1885 ; and after remain
ing at Cairo for some months to study Arabic, went on to
Aden in March, 1886 ; about the time when Keith-Falconer
was leaving it at the end of his first visit.
It may be interesting to add here that on General Haig s
return to Aden in December, 1886, he and Dr. Harpur
started on a missionary tour in a steamer along the Somali
coast, and subsequently to Hodeida, on the Arabian side of
the Red Sea. 3 This place seemed to promise an important
opening, and I understand that the Church Missionary
Society has founded a station there.
All this, however, was, it will be seen, subsequent to
Keith-Falconer s first visit in November, 1885 ; and thus,
with the qualifications of the man pre-eminently adapted to
meet the special requirements of the place, there was the
further satisfactory thought that he was not seeking to
build on other men s labours.
One disquieting thought, however, remained, the ques-
1 The Koman Catholic nuns have, since that letter was written,
broken up their establishment.
8 Haig, u. s. April, p. 219 ; June, p. 353.
148 Aden.
tion whether the climate was one in which he and his
young wife could live and work. If it should appear that
the constitution of either was really unfitted to live in the
terrible heat of an Aden summer, it would be clear that the
idea must be given up ; it was but a passing impulse, not
the direct call from God.
To settle this question he spared no pains. He read
carefully everything that he could find written about Aden,
he consulted several gentlemen who had had long acquain
tance with Aden, and he sought the opinions of the highest
medical authorities as to the personal case of himself and
his wife.
As the outcome of all this, he gradually became fully
convinced that the attempt could be made satisfactorily,
that the heat, though very great, was dry from the absence
of vegetation, and therefore less exhausting, and that by
the exercise of proper precautions it might be sufficiently
borne.
This conclusion afforded him very great satisfaction.
Well do I remember how day by day, as we met, he would
tell with pleasure some piece of fresh favourable evidence.
Thus it appeared that the percentage of sickness among the
soldiers at Aden Camp was distinctly less than among
those at Bombay. One day with exceeding glee he told me
that an English lady, for some years a resident at Aden,
had said to him, " It is hot certainly, but there were few
days when I could not enjoy a game of tennis during some
part of the day." This lady however lived, I fancy, at
Steamer Point.
Clear as might be his own belief on this subject, still it
would naturally be with some reluctance that his friends
could be brought to consent to his settling at a place which
bore, justly or unjustly, so bad a name.
To meet these not unreasonable scruples, he resolved
upon the wise course of testing the place for himself by a
temporary residence at Aden, sufficiently long to be con-
Aden. . 149
vincing, one way or the other, before absolutely taking the
final resolve.
Much will have to be said by-aud-bye of Keith-Falconer s
idea that a prominent part in the work of his mission
should be that of the Hospital, where medical and surgical
aid should be freely given to Arab and other applicants.
He justly felt that the gratitude excited for help thus given
might often, by G-od s blessing, lead men to listen atten
tively to the message which these helpers in their bodily
needs sought to deliver to them.
It was not from any idea that he could himself wisely
take a leading part in this element of the work, but, as he
humbly expressed it, that he " might be able to help the
doctor a little," that for some time before this he had de
voted some attention to medicine and surgery ; and had
accordingly attended some lectures, and seen a certain
amount of operating work at Addenbrooke s Hospital at
Cambridge. To know something about drugs, and to
have some little familiarity with the practical details of
surgery, were wise precautions on the part of a missionary,
even though he had as his companion a properly qualified
medical man.
One point more remained to be settled, the question as
to whether he should go absolutely as a free lance, or
should associate himself more or less closely with some
existing organization. This did not take long to settle.
In spite of some advantages arising from the greater free
dom of action in the former case, the advantages on the
other side, the sympathy and support from home, the
sharing of the responsibility, the help to be had from the
experience of others, were obviously preponderating. Nor,
this settled, was there any question as to the body with
which he should connect himself. His father had always
been warmly attached to the Free Church of Scotland, and
had been an elder of that Church ; and though educated
in England, and having the highest esteem for the Church
150 Aden.
of England, and counting some of her clergy among his
most intimate friends, Keith-Falconer remained throughout
a member of the Church in which as a child he had been
brought up.
Accordingly, after some preliminary correspondence, he
met in conference the Foreign Missions Committee of the
Free Church on September 14, and, after generally describ
ing the nature of his proposed mission, asked to be in some
way recognized by the Free Church. The Committee
warmly accepted his offer, and commended him and his
work " to the Great Head of the Church."
All being at length settled, Keith-Falconer sailed with
his wife from England on October 7, on this occasion taking
the longer sea route by the Bay of Biscay. They reached
Aden on October 28, and remained there till March 6 in
the following spring.
It will obviously be best to allow the story of the journey
and of the residence at Aden to be told, as far as possible,
in Keith- Falconer s own words. The extracts which follow
are from a letter to his youngest sister written at sea :
" S. S. SURAT,
Oct. 13, 1885.
11 You would enjoy this if you were here. In four hours
we shall be at Gibraltar; the Spanish coast is risible.
Unfortunately we shall not be allowed to land there, unless
the quarantine has been raised, which is not likely. . . .
The sea is dotted with sea-horses, but quite calm, at least
the ship does not roll or pitch : the water is a dirty blue
colour. You probably imagine we are revelling in warmth
and sunshine. This is a great mistake. We are on deck,
but with our great-coats on, and would be in the saloon, but
for the sake of the salubrious marine atmosphere.
" We had a rough and dangerous time in the Bay of
Biscay. . . . Shortly after passing Ushant, the gale pre
dicted by the Yankees swept down on us. Friday night,
Saturday, and Saturday night, we were the sport of the
waves. My interior is so admirably organised that I was
Aden. 151
not the least inclined to be sick ; but poor Gr. was awfully
ill The pitching was highly inconvenient. The
saloon in the morning was a mass of broken glass and
crockery. Every single pitch made all the glass and
crockery slide violently as far as they could: and every
now and then, a particularly violent lurch would produce
effects which would have done credit to a bull in a china
shop. Besides the pitching and noise of shivering crockery,
we enjoyed close proximity to the screw. Every two minutes
it would get out of water and buzz round so as to give our
end of the ship a perfect ague fit. The doctor a jolly
young paddy was in constant attendance, and said G. was
one of the worst sufferers. Hardly any one not one
quarter of the people came to meals all through it. The
top of the saloon was carefully closed to keep it from the
waves, and darkness was added to danger. The engines
were stopped for eight hours on one of the nights and
every effort was made to prevent the waves filling the ship.
The Captain told me that for some hours it was blowing as
hard as it could well blow, and that if the storm had gone
on longer, the results might have been disastrous. One of
the boats was swept by a sea from one of its davits and
they cut it away. The crash of that wave nearly killed an
old lady with terror, she thought that all was up. By
Sunday the gale had abated, and we have had a beautiful
run The waiters showed great skill during the storm :
fancy helping you to soup when the ship is like this [here
is given a rough sketch of a ship rolling heavily]. There
were a great many falls and bruises ; I got a nasty one : I
had grasped an iron rail and it gave way There are
several dogs, including two collies, on board : also a parrot,
a cow and goats and sheep, and three pussies, and ducks
and chickens
" If you are in London when Charrington s hall is opened,
I wish you would go with M. and every one you can get,
to assist at the ceremony. It will be a magnificent sight.
The building, very nearly as large as Spurgeon s, will be
crammed. Very likely Spurgeon will be present and give
an address. ....
" I was so busy at the the last moment writing notes and
sending cheques to tradesmen that I had only five minutes
152 Aden.
wherein to say goodbye to , and must have seemed un
feeling ; but I hate these long, sentimental leave-takings,
and they are better avoided."
The following letter to myself was written a few weeks
after his arrival at Aden, and gives some further details as
to the voyage. It is somewhat later in date than the two
which follow it, but I have placed it first because of the
continuous account which it furnishes. After describing
the storm in the Bay of Biscay, he proceeds :
" We got one good day at Malta, and enjoyed the trip
ashore very much. We drove some four miles to the
governor s summer residence and roamed in the garden
there. The country was very parched owing to the hot
summer they have had. We also saw the dried monks.
In a certain monastery, it was the custom till quite re
cently to exhume the dead monks after lying one year
underground, and to stand them in niches in the walls of
the underground passages. The island is utterly priest-
ridden In the treaty by which the English acquired
the island it was stipulated that no interference with the
religion of the people should be practised. If you give
a Testament away in the street you are liable to arrest. A
little travelling in Koman Catholic countries makes one
realise that the Papacy is a lover of darkness rather than
light. Mrs. last year met with a French student who
spoke Proven9al, and persuaded him to translate one of the
Gospels into Proven9al, as the millions of Proven9al-speaking
people are still without the Bible in their own tongue. He
did so from the Greek ; but to this day he has failed to
send more than parts of his MS. He now confesses that
the priests have persuaded him to throw difficulties in the
way of publishing the Proven9al Gospel. Yet I know that
he was quite competent, and the Bible Society had con
sented to print his MS.
" We had a few hours at Port Said and a day at Suez.
The passage through the Canal was monotonous. We
moved along at about four to six miles an hour, and had to
stop during the night. The canal is just 100 miles long.
The Red Sea was hot and steamy, but nothing to speak of.
Aden. 153
The deck had a double awning above it, and there was
generally a breeze blowing. We turned the corner at
Perim island (where there is now a rival coal company)
very early in the morning. The Arabian coast all the way
thence to Aden was very fine. We arrived in the harbour
about 2.30 P.M. ; and rowed ashore in a long boat pulled by
Somalis. These people form nearly half the population,
and are far more attractive than the Arabs. They are
very quick at picking up a smattering of English, and all
speak Arabic. Many of them are tall and well-built, while
the Arabs are generally short and stumpy. We found our
rooms ready for us at the Hotel de 1 Europe, a square edi
fice built round a court, in which a cafe chantant used to be
carried on. The establishment belongs to a Jew from
Smyrna, by descent a Spaniard : but the real manager is a
Somali, who proved of the greatest service to us. He can
talk Arabic, Somali, Hindustani, English, and a little
French. The cooking was excellent, and would have done
credit to a Parisian chef. Yet the kitchen was about as big
as your old study, and for range had only three or four fire-
holes in the stone. All our cooking utensils that we bought
when we came into our bungalow cost under 2, 10s. Od.
The cooks here are either Portuguese from G-oa or Hindoos,
and never expect better kitchen accommodation than what
I have described. We stayed at the hotel six weeks, finding
nothing to complain of except the tremendous clouds of
dust and sand driven in by the high winds which prevail at
this time of year. I certainly felt the heat a good deal at
first, but one gets accustomed and it is rather cooler now.
We were lucky in finding a bungalow.
" Aden town not Steamer Point where the hotels are
is situated in an extinct crater, surrounded by barren,
frowning, and cinder-like rocks (the highest is 1700 feet
high) on all sides, except where there is an opening re
vealing the sea. To get into the crater from Steamer
Point the road winds through a pass, and our house is
situated close to the point where the road emerges from
the pass on the crater side. The whole town lies spread
out at our feet : the bazaars being about one mile from us.
The house is perched on the side of a steep hill and is built
in steps, so that our bedroom is much higher than the
154 Aden.
dining-room. There is a separate building (connected by
a bridge with the house) meant for sleeping in : my wife s
maid lives in it. We have two rooms and a spacious
verandah covered in by boards and lattice work (to break
the force of the wind). In the evening we sit on the top
of the house, and should sleep there in the summer. The
verandah is our drawing-room and reception room ; the
drawing-room proper we use as dining-room and study,
and the room which is meant for the dining-room we sleep
in. We feed pretty much as in England, only our meat is
confined to mutton (4 pence a pound) and chicken (8 pence
each but very small) The expensive part of our food
is the tinned things. We are now getting a box from the
Stores. We are badly off for vegetables : we have potatoes, and
spinach and tinned things. The native vegetables are nasty.
" I begin the day by giving my wife an Arabic lesson.
She is nearly through Socin s little grammar. Then I read
Arabic all the morning. About 4, I go to the town and
converse with natives, coming home to dinner at 7.30. I
always carry an Arabic Gospel, and make a point of read
ing it with the natives. Though it is done into good clas
sical Arabic, most understand it fairly well.
"Yesterday I met a young Arab whom I knew. He
came with me at my invitation to the tanks (great stone
reservoirs which catch the rain) where there is a little
garden, the only one in Aden: we sat among the trees
reading at the end of St. Luke. He seemed interested,
and going back he asked me to let him come every evening
and hear more. I should generally look upon such a re
quest as a move towards a further request for bakshish.
But I can t help thinking he is an enquirer. All seem to
have great respect for knowledge of nahwi, i.e. gram
matical, literary Arabic. I constantly observe people
looking at me in the street and saying, That man knows
Kuran and nahwi.
"Yesterday a,fikih (i.e. schoolmaster who teaches Kuran
to the children, and officiates at a mosque) came up to the
house, and conversed with me, and before leaving went
through his prostrations and prayers for my benefit.
These kind of men seem generally very willing to show
off. They are supposed to know the whole Kuran by
Aden. 155
heart. Certainly this man can reel it off from any point
you like to pitch upon.
" There is a town 10 miles off, within British limits, and
with a mixed population of about 7000 ; where I hope to
settle. Here there is water and vegetation, and the climate
is perceptibly cooler than in Aden. My notion is to start
an industrial refuge, day-school and surgery there. There
are two principal doors to Arabia, the children who can be
trained up in the faith of Christ and the medical aid.
Arabs often come from a long distance to Aden to be
treated, and these would stop short at our mission-house
for the town I speak of is on the road to the interior.
There are plenty of orphans and castaways whom one
could get. I find that travelling within a certain radius is
regarded as quite safe : and all the natives I have asked
declare positively that the road to San a (a large town
garrisoned by the Turks and 200 miles inland) is perfectly
safe. I am sure there is a great opening for a missionary,
especially if accompanied by a surgeon.
" If I build and get a plot granted (which is an easy
matter at Shaikh Othman, the town ten miles off), I shall
hand them over to the Free Church of Scotland. They
have recognized me as representing them."
To his Mother.
" ADEN, Nov. 18, 1885.
" The heat has somewhat abated, and it is quite cool
and pleasant indoors. A breeze is constantly blowing,
which is pleasant, but without invigorating effect. I
doubt whether any one could live here long without a
weakening of all his faculties. I read Arabic for several
hours every day, and a native fikih or schoolmaster comes
daily to instruct me
"Aden is not without its disadvantages as a mission
station. The climate is very enervating and at the same
time there is no hill- station anywhere near for the mis
sionaries to go and recruit : but possibly after a time such
a hill-station will be opened. The relations between the
English and the neighbouring tribes become more satis
factory as time goes on
156 Aden.
" Last night, dined with us. He went out to
India with Chinese Gordon and Lord Bipon. Gordon
wore an ordinary black frock-coat down the Red Sea, and
seeing in the newspaper that slavery had cropped up again
in the Khedive s dominions, promptly wrote a letter to
that potentate, roundly abusing him for breaking his pro
mises and calling him a double-faced rascal. When they
got to Bombay, and a grand dinner was to be held,
Gordon refused to go in, in fact was found to have no
dress-clothes. They persuaded him to let them rig him
out in a composition suit, half civil, half military, bor
rowed from other persons. Directly dinner was over,
the Secretary had vanished and was found in his room
smoking cigarettes, as was his wont, with his legs on the
table and the borrowed plumage strewing the floor. Next
day he resigned.
" I never cease to regret that I did not spend some time
with him in Palestine, as he himself proposed.
" To-day we are sending a little Abyssinian boy, a res
cued slave, to Zanzibar, to be educated by the missionaries.
The Political Resident asked us to take him. As we could
not, we send him to Zanzibar We expect in three weeks
to enter a bungalow overlooking Aden proper We
are both perfectly well, but until about a week ago, when
the weather became cooler, I felt the heat rather badly.
" G. is struggling with Arabic. Arabic grammars should
be strongly bound, because learners are so often found to
dash them frantically on the ground."
To the same.
" ADEN, Dec. 1, 1885.
" Our bungalow, overlooking the Camp and main town,
is almost ready. We have engaged a Portuguese cook
and a Portuguese butler and a Somali servant, and hired
some furniture. I engaged a Portuguese cook a few days
ago, on the strength of good certificates, but I dismissed
him to day for drunkenness. I wish I could get a Moslem,
as they are abstainers. Dr. and Mrs. Colson the port
surgeon dined with us last night, and he assured me
that we have nothing to fear on the score of health
Aden. 157
The dust is fearfully bad now, the winds being so strong.
The rooms ought to be swept and dusted three times a
day
" We sleep to-night at Shaikh Othman. There are two
bungalows there. The owner of one, a Parsee gentleman,
has given us leave to use it. We take food with us and
the Somali waiter and factotum of this establishment.
He is very clever and speaks about six languages, as
badly as he does fluently. We want to see the place, so
as to get a better idea of its suitability for a mission
station.
" As living is very cheap here compared to what it is in
England, I shall have a lot of spare cash to spend in keep
ing up a staff : e.g. my white suit of American drill costs
me about six shillings I want to get a qualified
surgeon to come out with me next year, and an artisan.
My idea is to start an industrial orphanage. There is a
great dearth of good carpenters. In fact there is not one.
If we could, besides bringing them up in the faith of Christ,
teach them a handicraft, they would be able to make a living
and the orphanage would be self-supporting. Little can be
done with Moslem adults, but young children can be trained
aright."
The following letter to General Haig (Dec. 16), clearly
shews the general character of his aims :
" . . . . First about my connection with the Free Church
of Scotland. I am still, as before, a lay member of that
body ; only their Foreign Missions Committee have re
cognized me as a missionary representing their Church.
This does not bind me in the very least, while it may be
useful to me in my work. Shortly before leaving England
I met their Foreign Missions Committee, and asked that
I might be recognized in some way by the Free Church :
and they passed a minute stating that I had made the re
quest, and that they the Committee recognize me as
representing the Free Church.
" Though I am not paid by them, I have their recogni
tion and sympathy. At present there is no need for me
to enter into any closer or more formal connection with
them, but when a mission-building and school go up, I
158 Aden.
shall wish to make them over to the Free Church. I f ully
see the advantages of having an organisation at home to
back one up and to share the responsibility of the work.
" I have made up my mind that the right place for me
to settle at is Shaikh Othman, not Aden. This will leave
Aden and Steamer Point open to the Church Missionary
Society. Though I do not think that a medical missionary
would have much scope in Aden, I think that a Bible and
tract room, and preaching-hall might be started there.
" Now let me tell you briefly what I have just written
to Dr. G. Smith, Secretary of the Free Church Missions
Committee.
" Children are far more hopeful than adults. Then a
Christian school should be started, if possible. Also, in
gaining the confidence of the people, in pushing inland,
and in creating opportunities for introducing the Gospel, a
medical man (especially a surgeon) would be a valuable
aid. Now Aden and Steamer Point are well provided by
Government with free schools and free hospitals. As it
would be difficult or impossible to compete with the Govern
ment in the matter of schools and hospitals, I look for some
other place. Shaikh Othman presents itself. Here there
is scope for a medical missionary and for a school, the
Government provision being very inadequate. Further,
the climate of Shaikh Othman is better and less ener
vating, there is plenty of water there, and the ground
capable of cultivation. Also Shaikh Othman is 10 miles
nearer the interior, and removed from the evil example set
by so many of the Europeans who live in or pass through
Aden. It would further be very difficult to get a good site
in Aden.
" These are the principal reasons which decide me in
favour of Shaikh Othman. My wish is to build a mis
sionaries bungalow, and start an industrial orphanage and
school there. There are plenty of outcast and orphan
children in the place, some of whom might be brought up
in the faith of Christ and become native evangelists and
teachers. I should also like to see a medical mission in
connection with this institution, which when built I should
wish to hand over to the Free Church of Scotland.
" I have made an informal application for a grant of
Aden. 159
land, and am told that I can have it at a nominal rent
whenever I begin to build.
" I hope to spend next summer in England, and if all
goes well to begin building in October I have asked
Dr. Smith to make it known in Scotland that I want a
surgeon to work with me at Shaikh Othman.
"As yet I can only walk about the town picking up all
the Arabic I can and reading aloud from the Gospels. I
have made some acquaintances, and find that whenever I
go to see one of them his friends and neighbours collect
round the door or come inside, so that I have a congrega
tion at once, though rather a noisy one. The coffee shops
as a rule are too noisy.
" I hope to visit Lahej soon, but fear I shall be unable
to go to San* a. I should not know where to leave my
wife. When I have a colleague at Shaikh Othman with a
wife, the two ladies can be together, while the husbands go
to San a and elsewhere.
"If the C.M.S. Missionaries come here, I trust we
shall find ways and means of co-operating and helping one
another."
To his eldest Sister.
"ADEN, Jan. 17, 1886.
" This morning I mounted a little brick- coloured donkey
(artificially coloured) and galloped down to a certain pier,
whence I plunged without the donkey into the sea.
This is my first sea-bathe. The water is quite tepid. On
the way back, the little donk (as the boys call it) col
lapsed under my weight, which made me very angry with
it, even to beating To-day there is a great ziara, or
festival at Shaikh Othman, and every one who can afford,
goes over there. Our hammal, Yusuf, saw a huge waggon,
for 40 people, going there drawn by a camel. The people
indulge in a great many holidays here. For instance, no
Jew will do a stroke of work from Friday evening till Sun
day morning; and the Arabs and Somalis are always going
to these ziaras. You would enjoy the evenings here after
sunset. The air is so balmy and the colours are beautiful.
After dinner we often sit on the roof, whence we see all
160 Aden.
Aden spread out before us. On these occasions I generally
send for my Somali servants and converse Arabic with
them. They are very ignorant and superstitious. They
tell me that the Arabs believe the English to be nearer to
them in race than any other people ! They explained to
me that the reason why the Jews were expelled from Spain
was, that a certain Jew had bewitched the Spanish pigs, so
that they all ran into the sea ! I have begun to learn
Somali. It is rather difficult, and the only grammar in
existence is not satisfactory. My teacher, a young Somali,
who knows Arabic better than most, has got into difficul
ties through his improvidence. He amassed some money
and then did the pilgrimage to Mecca, and so spent it all,
besides giving up his employment. This pilgrimage is one
of the curses of Islam. The other day a Somali young lady
proposed to him, and according to Somali custom he was
obliged under pain of disgrace to accept. But he declares
he is very fond of her, only he has not enough money to
marry her for some time. We have ascended Shumsfin s
highest peak (1700 feet), and saw the wild black dogs, and
the wild sheep, and the kites and vultures. Part of the
way was quite green and flowery. At the top, oh joy ! we
found tea awaiting us. I am learning to speak Arabic
quite nicely, but it will be long before I can deliver real
discourses. "
To his Mother.
"ADEN, Jan. 27, 1886.
" Many thanks for the Contemporary. The Bishop of
Peterborough s article is very good as far as the last point.
Gladstone s reply to Huxley in the Nineteenth Century is
exceedingly good I am reading Moffat, and after
that, will take Carey, and then, if time permits, Vinet. I
see that V. will interest me least You are rather
hasty in coming to a certain conclusion about Aden. You
forget the summer heat, which is certainly very enervating,
perhaps too much so for me, after some years have elapsed.
I want to build at Shaikh Othman and pass over the build
ings to the Free Church, so that whatever happens to me,
the work may be cared for by them.
Aden. 161
" Arabic portions are very well received, and even
asked for. On Monday week I hope to go to Lahej and
the villages with Dr. Jackson, a Scotch military doctor.
We go on camels The weather is now quite cool,
and we have showers almost daily."
To his eldest Sister.
"ADEN, Jan. 31, 1886.
""Yesterday I had been telling a group of men about
Jesus Christ. Most Mohammedans know that He was
the son of Mary and a great prophet ; and when I had
proved that I knew a good deal about Him, one man said,
Well, you Franks seem to know about everything. He
did not know that the Christian religion has to do with
Christ.
" Many imagine that Europeans are clever people who
get drunk and have no religion to speak of. Koman
Catholics, when devout, are considered to be idol-worship
pers. The priests here have done immense harm. Their
converts always relapse. One man told me he had been
to a priest to talk about religion, and that the priest had
only told him to keep the Ten Commandments
" Moffat s life is exceedingly interesting. I bitterly re
gret not having known him. I might have, easily. And
I cannot understand why we never heard of old Mr. Paton
before he was on the point of leaving. And Gordon, too !
I might have lived with him in Syria. What things I
have missed. Not to mention Duff."
The following letter, written to his mother, tells of his
furthest journey inland, and is most suggestive of the
possibilities of successful work beyond the British frontier.
El-Hautah, it may be remarked, is 25 miles inland from
Shaikh Othman.
"ADEN, Feb. 14, 1886.
" . . . . Last Monday I went with a Scotch military
doctor to Lahej. The capital, El-Hautah, is in the middle
of an oasis about seven miles across. The oasis is ferti-
M
162 Aden.
lized by a stream which loses itself in the sand. The Sul
tan, a stupid, cruel wretch, owns every inch and does
nothing for the people, who are so many serfs. We dis
tributed Gospels, which were most willingly received, and
the doctor treated some cases and shot two bustards
" The oasis is all cultivated and the sight of so much
green was very refreshing. We spent one day at a place
five miles beyond El-Hautah, resting under the mango
trees by a cool stream. Camel riding is not very pleasant.
Our camels were Government ones and very rough riding.
One of the drivers in an unwary moment let his camel, a
very fierce and powerful brute, get hold of his wrist, when
it just lifted him off the ground and shook him from side
to side like a rabbit. Fortunately no bone or artery was
severed and the man will not lose his hand. This kind of
thing is a common occurrence. Sometimes a camel will
bite off a man s head. The driver had stupidly forgotten
to put on the muzzle. There is a terrible amount of disease
at El-Hautah, ulcers predominating, and a medical mis
sionary would be welcomed.
To the same.
"ADEN, Feb. 23, 1886.
" . . . . We find the house is haunted by monkeys at
night ; Dr. Jackson wants to come up and have a shot at
them. Gladstone s reply to Huxley we enjoyed verv much.
Huxley s second reply in last Nineteenth Century does not
to my mind at all weaken the arguments. I think Drum-
mond must have done himself harm by his contribution to
the controversy. Fancy reducing Genesis to the level of
George Macdonald s poetry. But Drummond s whole article
is vague and intangible to the last degree.
" The weather is gradually warming up, and I expect we
shall not need ulsters passing through the Red Sea."
[Continued on Feb. 24.]
" Very glad to hear from M. that Charrington s hall is
such a success as a building. I knew it would be. He
deserves great credit for pulling this grand scheme
through."
Aden. 163
He then expresses very warmly his wish that he could
do yet more than he had been able to do for the great
work at Mile- End, adding, " I shall have to spend about
<800 to dglOOO at Shaikh Othman in all likelihood in a
short time. The Kesident has directed that the plot I
applied for shall be reserved for ine till the year ends."
In a letter of February 24 to Dr. George Smith, we
learn further details of the journey to El-Hautah :
" I have applied for a garden plot, and to-day have re
ceived a note from the municipal officer to inform me that
the site I asked for will be reserved for me till the end of
the year. The plot measures nearly 510 feet by 510 feet,
and lies exactly between the old village of Shaikh Othman
and the new settlement. A better situation could not be
desired Since writing last I have been to El-Hautah,
the capital of Lahej. It is in an oasis. In the direction
of a line drawn from Shaikh Othman to El-Hautah, this
oasis extends for fully seven miles, but beyond this I can
give you no idea of its dimensions
" Though I had been warned to use the utmost caution
in introducing religious topics with the people of Lahej,
on account of their supposed fanaticism, I found no diffi
culty whatever in circulating Arabic Gospels. They were
received with the utmost willingness, and several came to
the bungalow to get them. Books are greatly valued in
Aden and neighbourhood, and the name of Isa, the Messiah,
is held in veneration by all. The Injil Evangelion a
term applied to the whole New Testament, is acknowledged
as God s book, and as having come down from heaven. It
would not surprise me in the least if a Christian mission,
conducted with prudence and self-denial, were welcomed as
a message from God. The Roman Catholic missionaries
have, I fear, done great harm to the cause of Christianity.
They are looked upon by many natives as worshippers of
idols and pictures, and so classed with the Hindus. But
to return to El-Hautah. The population is said to be
about 5000. The houses are all built of mud. The amount
of disease and misery is appalling. My companion, a Scotch
army-surgeon, treated several cases, one with magic effect;
164 Aden.
and we both agreed in thinking that a medical missionary
would have his hands full in this wretched town.
" The Sultan owns every inch of the fertile oasis, and
the people are so many serfs. His soldiers get no pay,
only their food. One of the natives who came to us for
treatment with an extensive sore behind his foot, told
us that the Sultan had given him a year s imprisonment
for tearing a water-skin, and that the fetter had produced
his sore. The Sultan sent to see us, and consulted the
doctor about his ailments. On being told that he must
take daily exercise, he exclaimed, Impossible ! If I shew
my nose outside my palace, twenty men run after me
crying for justice. The Sultan took us to see his chief
secretary. On seeing this functionary, I was surprised to
recognize a man with whom I had conversed at Aden, and
to whom I had given a Gospel. He now asked me for the
whole Bible. Thus a book given in Aden may be carried
far away.
" I was much struck by the comparative coolness of the
climate after getting clear of the rocky peninsula of Aden.
We got in to El-Hautah at 10.30 A.M., but without being
at all inconvenienced by the heat. We rode camels. The
nights at El-Hautah (we stayed three nights) were posi
tively cold. I have no doubt it is the same at Shaikh
Othman."
It will have been seen how strongly Keith-Falconer in
sisted in his letters on the importance of the orphanage
and the medical side of his mission. I therefore quote
some further remarks, shewing in more detail his ideas on
these points, from a letter to Dr. George Smith. The
orphanage, it will be remembered, was not merely for
orphans, but for castaways. These last were mostly So-
malis " whose parents are only too willing that they should
be fed and cared for by others."
On these points Keith-Falconer writes :
" It would be necessary to teach the children to work
with their hands, and I think that a carpenter or craftsman
Aden. 165
of some kind from home or from India should be on the
Mission staff. But the chief object of the institution
would be to train native evangelists and teachers ; and a
part of their training should be medical. With a slight,
rough-and-ready knowledge of medicine and surgery, they
would find many doors open to them. In the school, read
ing by means of the Arabic Bible and Christian books,
writing, and arithmetic, would be taught to all ; and
English, historical geography, Euclid, algebra, and natural
science to the cleverer children. A native teacher, procur
able from Syria or Egypt, would be very valuable, and I
think a necessity at first. If it were known in the interior
that a competent medical man and surgeon resided in
Shaikh Othman, the Arabs who now come to Aden for
advice would stop short at our Mission-house; and the
surgeon would have considerable scope both in Shaikh
Othman, El-Hautah, and the little country villages, not to
speak of the opposite African country. Of course the
treatment of surgical cases would involve the keeping of a
few beds. The medical missionary should be a thoroughly
qualified man, as natives often delay to come for advice
until disease has become serious and complicated. The
port- surgeon has impressed this upon me several times.
It should be mentioned that the native assistant at the
Shaikh Othman dispensary often finds that Arabs come
to Shaikh Othman to be treated, and, deriving no benefit,
refuse to go on to Aden and return home. The institu
tion should stand in a cultivated plot or garden. This
would render it far more attractive, and would greatly
benefit the children. It would be possible to arrange for
this in Shaikh Othman, where there is plenty of water
and the soil is good ; but not in Aden, where almost utter
barrenness is everywhere found."
One point in connection with Keith-Falconer s life at
Aden, which is not referred to in any of the foregoing
letters, should not be passed over here, the interest he
took in the English soldiers of the garrison. He caused
it to be made known among them that any who wished
might come to his house in the evening, when he would
give them tea, and then have a little devotional meeting.
166 Aden.
The soldiers valued the privilege exceedingly, and a dozen
or more would come frequently. Often too when out
walking, he would, as his manner was, get into kindly con
versation with them. He rather surprised them by urging,
as he did, the fact that among the greatest hindrances to
the cause of mission-work in India and elsewhere may be
placed the inconsistent conduct of many professing Chris
tians. It is needless to say that the Aden soldiers recip
rocated most warmly this friendly interest taken in them.
The extracts from Keith-Falconer s letters which have
been given in the foregoing chapter will, I trust, have
sufficiently shown the nature of the work, its difficulties,
its exceptional encouragements ; will have shown too with
what resolution the young missionary, valiant for the
faith, faced his work. Nor was it valiantly only, with the
courage that gladly gives up all for Christ, yet fails to give
to the sacrifice its full value by neglecting to consider
every possible precaution : a strong, practical common-
sense underlies it all, a quality which that first great
missionary St. Paul so markedly brings before us.
Thus with all satisfactorily laid in train, and with
heart now fully resolved to return in the following autumn
and make as his home the place he had experimentally
visited, Keith-Falconer and his wife sailed from Aden on
March 6, and, after a fortnight s stay at Cairo, sailed from
Suez on the 23rd for Brindisi, en route for Cannes. Here
he remained for a fortnight, and on April 11 he reached
England in the best of health and the cheeriest of spirits.
CHAPTEK IX.
PROFESSORSHIP OP ARABIC.
" Den jungen Orientalisten, der sofort als Meister aufgetreten 1st." l
NoLDEKE.
ON his arrival in England, Keith -Falconer spent some
time at Wimbledon, where his family were then staying,
and at Trent Park. On the morning of Easter Day he
visited the Great Hall at Mile-End, where he addressed a
very large audience on the subject of Temptation/ as
dealt with in the first chapter of St. James s Epistle. Those
who were present speak of this address as the most striking
they had ever heard from him.
He returned to Cambridge towards the end of April.
He seemed to be in splendid health and vigour of body ;
and in referring to the two attacks of Aden fever which he
had had, said laughingly, " we thought no more of it than
you do of colds in England." He was full of the brightest
hopes for the success of his work and could now of course
speak with much greater confidence than before his visit
to Aden. His residence there had convinced him of what
indeed he had fully believed in the preceding autumn, that
not only was there a vast work waiting to be done, to
bring the light of the Gospel amid the darkness of Islam,
and that Aden was pre-eminently a place in which to begin
the work, but that the climate, hot and trying as it was,
need cause him no apprehensions either for himself or his
wife, if only proper precautions were taken.
1 See above, p. 135.
16S Professorship of Arabic.
The soldier of the Cross had counted the cost, had
weighed with the utmost care every risk, and had taken his
final resolve. The manner in which he told his friends
this was very characteristic of the man. The resolve was
most real and determined, no capricious fancy of an im
pulsive youth, but the purpose of a strong man who goes
forth to the fight, ready to spend and be spent in the
cause of Christ. But deep and real as it was, there was
nothing stern or repellent in his earnestness. As with his
whole nature, so in this particular ; he never seemed more
genial and sunny than when he told of the past winter s
experiences, his house at Aden, his Somali servants, his
visits to the interior, and his hopes that God would bless
his future endeavours. With the deepest earnestness the
most perfect simplicity was blended; it was as though
something of the warmth and openness of the boy had
been wrought up with the matured reflectiveness of the
man.
At this time his plans were to make all necessary pre
parations in England during the summer, and to leave for
Aden at about the end of October.
One chief point was to receive the formal recognition of
the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland at
their Annual Meeting at Edinburgh in May. Another was
to find a surgeon to work with him at Aden. It was
necessary that his colleague] should be a properly qualified
medical man, who had had considerable practice in surgery,
as cases of some difficulty were likely to occur. But it was
no mere scientific man who was wanted, who might be
glad to accept the appointment for a few years mainly
with the view of studying tropical diseases in a little
worked region. His colleague must be a man who, while
fully skilled in the details of his profession, which was in
dispensable, should also be like-minded with himself,
animated by the true missionary spirit, bringing his
medical and surgical skill, as Keith-Falconer his knowledge
Professorship of Arabic. 169
of Arabic and his other gifts, as his offering to the cause
of Christ,
How fully the colleague he ultimately met with justified
by his affection and loyalty the choice that had been made,
the record of the time spent at Shaikh Othman, during
both the sunshine of the hearty work and the anxious
time when illness came, fully testifies.
On the 24th of May, Keith-Falconer left Cambridge
for Edinburgh to meet the General Assembly ; Wednes
day, the 26th, being the day specially devoted to Foreign
Missions.
At the afternoon meeting, the Convener, Colonel Young,
laid before the Assembly the Eeport of the Foreign Mis
sions Committee, and dwelt warmly on Keith-Falconer s
proposal of the previous autumn to go out as a missionary
to Aden at his own expense, asking only for the counte
nance, help, and sympathy of the Free Church. He re
ferred also to the somewhat parallel case to be found in
the Gordon Mission in South Africa, founded in memory
of James Henry Gordon, who, had he lived, would have
been Earl of Aberdeen, and had formed the plan of pur
chasing a huge stretch of land in South Africa and of estab
lishing a Christian Settlement under his own personal
supervision.
At the evening meeting, at which it was known that the
missionaries present would address the Assembly, the
great Hall was crowded from floor to ceiling. Keith-
Falconer had been placed by the Secretary in the seat
which had always been occupied by his father at the meet
ings of the Assembly and had been much touched and
gratified in consequence. After Dr. Dalzell, a missionary
from the Gordon Settlement, had spoken, the Moderator,
Dr. Somerville, formally introduced Keith-Falconer to the
Assembly. He dwelt on the active part taken by the late
Lord Kintore in evangelistic work, and then spoke of the
resolution of the son to devote himself to a missionary
170 Professorship of Arabic.
life, consecrating himself and his means and his brilliant
Arabic scholarship to the spiritual benefit of the Mo
hammedans.
The following is a condensation of Keith-Falconer s
address to the Assembly. He said that he
" was to speak about missions to the Mohammedans, and
that before recounting the items of his own experience during
a four months stay in Arabia, he ought first to allude to
a few of the leading facts connected with Islam, which,
though probably familiar to some, were perhaps only dimly
known to others. In doing so, he mentioned that the ad
herents of the Mohammedan religion numbered from 100
to 150 millions of souls, and said that it should be remem
bered that no Moslem ruler ever ruled over so vast a
number of Moslem subjects as did our Queen Victoria
at this moment. Therefore Mohammedanism had a dis
tinct claim on our interest and sympathy. The wonderful
spread of Islam had led some writers to discern in it a
proof of its divine origin, and although the Lord Jesus
Christ had obtained sway over a vast number of human
beings, it had been asked why Mohammed had had a
success that compared with that of our Lord. The answer
had been made that it was because Mohammedanism
pandered to the passions and natural desires of mankind,
and he maintained that that was the true statement of
the case.
" He next referred to the beliefs of the Mohammedans,
pointing out that they are not heathens ; that they have a
strong belief in the Lord of heaven and earth, one God,
omnipotent and omniscient, that there is no God but
one, and Mohammed is His prophet/ in angels, in spirits,
and in a devil, in the immortality of the soul, the resurrec
tion, and the judgement day. As to their religious prac
tices, he mentioned that they must have five prayers a day,
accompanied with fasting, which at certain times lasts for
a month ; that they have all to give alms ; that murder is
forbidden, though, if one murdered an unbeliever/ he
takes a high place in heaven ; and that they are forbidden
to use wine or intoxicating drink, to gamble, or to take
usury; that they are enjoined to make a pilgrimage to
Professorship of Arabic. 171
Mecca ; and that one of the last commandments is to make
war against infidels.
"As to their regard for the Lord Jesus Christ, He was
called the Word of God, and His miraculous conception
and birth were admitted; and although His Divinity was
most strenuosly denied, at the same time He stood on a
higher level than any of the prophets, including Mohammed.
They believed in the Gospel, and said that the Koran was
sent in verification of it.
" As to Aden and the vicinity, he said the Gospel might
be preached without let or hindrance in the British settle
ment of Aden. The climate was exceptionally good. He
had a letter from the senior surgeon at Aden, who had
been there five years without a day s illness, saying that
no one need fear the climate. The natives were undoubtedly
willing to receive the Gospel. He had been again and
again urged to come and set up a school. One day a Mo
hammedan asked him for a piece of paper, and then wrote
in a mysterious way, If you want the people to walk in
your way, then set up schools. This was an hajjee, one
who had gone the pilgrimage to Mecca, where probably he
had been fleeced of all the money he had, as they generally
were. He offered the hajjee a copy of St. John ; but he
said he would not have it. He asked why, and the reply
was, that he liked the historical part, but that there were
parts that made him tremble. He pointed to the fourth
chapter, where there was the conversation between Christ
and the woman at the well, to whom Christ said, If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink ; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and
He would have given thee living water. That verse, he
said, makes my heart tremble, lest I be made to follow in
the way of the Messiah. He thought that a striking
testimony to the power of God s Word.
" He managed with little difficulty to get into the in
terior, and had the company of a Scottish military surgeon,
a true Christian man. They stayed some days there, and
although the authorities at Aden had warned him not to
broach religious subjects for fear of a rising, he had many
opportunities of conversing with the natives. Many came
to him most anxious to have the Gospel explained, and to
172 Professorship of Arabic.
have their ailments treated by the doctor. Of course they
were taken to see the Sultan of this little town. After
describing his ailments, he took them to see his chief
secretary, whom he, the speaker, had happened to meet
in Aden. He gave him a copy of St. John. He said he
had read it with great interest, and he said, I want you
to do one thing to pray to God that I may get well ;
and from the tone of his voice he could see he recognized
the sympathy between them as two religious men.
" They might ask what means he proposed for carrying
on missions to these people. First, he proposed to have a
school for the children ; and at the place where he had
decided to recommend the committee to settle him, there
were 1000 children, all ready to receive education. Then
he proposed the careful and discriminate distribution of
the Scriptures. He was decidedly against the broadcast
scattering of copies of God s Word many of them to be
torn up. What he did in Aden now was to say this :
Now you ask me for this book ; if you can read it, and
understand it, I will give you one. He tested that by
asking the man to read ; and if he could not read, he did
not get the book. In that way they valued the book more
than if one distributed it broadcast. It was not always
zeal that was best ; they must have zeal mixed with a little
common sense.
" The third thing he proposed was a medical mission.
What they wanted was a surgeon to go out to offer him
self. He believed the Church was willing at his instance
to appoint a surgeon at the station at Aden. He must be
a man who was specially skilled in surgery, for the Arabs
thought more of surgery than of medicine. They were accus
tomed to medicine from roots, but they came long distances
to a surgeon ; and what was wanted was a skilful surgeon,
who would come forward and devote himself to this work.
Undoubtedly the difficulties were considerable. The lan
guage was a difficult one to learn it had many sounds we
were unaccustomed to, and the vocabulary was very large
and the Mohammedan was one-of the most stubborn of
all religions. They wanted to rouse the consciences of the
people. By the Mohammedan religion a man was saved
by good works ; and yet for all that there was a feeling
Professorship of Arabic. 173
that it was not enough, and that at the last day there
would be an intercession."
The great meeting listened with the profoundest in
terest while the young missionary spoke of the past winter s
work, and of his now definite resolve to go forth again
in the ensuing winter to resume the work as a permanent
undertaking.
At a later period of the evening four young candidates
for the Foreign Mission field were introduced to the As
sembly by the Moderator, and solemnly committed to the
grace of G-od for their future distant and arduous labours.
When these four young men had taken their places and
the Moderator had begun to speak, Keith-Falconer said to
the Secretary, near whom he sat, " How much I should
have liked to have stood up with them. Is it too late even
now ? " At this point, however, it seemed wiser not to
interfere with the settled plan.
Keith- Falconer had deliberately offered himself to his
Church ; and unanimously and cordially had he been re
cognized as a missionary fully accredited by them, and
earnestly was God implored to bless the work of a mission,
which, so far as man might see, had begun with distinct
and exceptional promise.
The thanks of the Church, moreover, had been with
equal unanimity given to Keith -Falconer for his generous
proposals regarding the medical missionary who was to
accompany him.
That there should be a second missionary, and he a
medical man, had been Keith -Falconer s original idea ;
and though his colleague had not yet been chosen, the
whole summer as yet lay before them. Consequently, the
general arrangements as to the appointment might be
agreed to beforehand.
Those arrangements testified alike to Keith-Falconer s
generosity and his good sense. Not only, as we have seen,
174 Professorship of Arabic.
did he propose to go out entirely at his own expense as re
garded himself and his wife, taking also upon himself the
whole cost of the building of the Mission-House and Hos
pital ; but he further proposed to be responsible for the
stipend of the medical missionary. Still, with equal deli
cacy and good sense, he did not propose to pay this stipend
directly to his colleague, who might in that case have come,
perhaps, to feel himself too much a mere subordinate. In
stead of this, he undertook to pay, for a period of not
more than seven years, the sum of <300 annually to the
Treasurer of the Free Church, which sum would be de
voted by the Church to paying the medical missionary s
stipend.
Up to the end of May, Keith-Falconer had not heard of
a surgeon such as he needed, who was also physically able
to endure a tropical climate. Early in June, being told
that he might perhaps find a man suitable to his purpose
at a small hospital in the East End of London, and having
also been asked by Mr. Charrington to come up to report
an address to be given by Mr. Spurgeon at the great
Assembly Hall, he arranged to combine the two in a flying
visit to town. It was with very hearty pleasure that I
accepted his invitation to accompany him, and now look
back upon that short two days visit as bringing out the
manysidedness of that noble character. Part of the first
day had to be devoted to two German ladies who had
arrived that morning on their first visit to England, and
for whose comfort and enjoyment Keith -Falconer shewed
the most careful and perfect thoughtfulness. The re
sult, however, of a long drive intended to give the visitors
some idea of the great size of London was that the train
which was to convey the two ladies and Mrs. Keith-Fal
coner to Cambridge was only caught with literally not a
second to spare. As the carriage-door was shut while the
train was actually in motion, he laughed delightedly like a
boy and said, " I often told them we were a very business-
Professorship of Arabic. 175
like people and never wasted time, and now they will
see it."
Mr. Spurgeon was prevented by illness from giving the
address, but another speaker took his place ; and both
that evening and the following morning both Keith -
Falconer and Mr. Charrington shewed with what would
have been enthusiasm, if it had not been so methodical,
the numerous striking features of the great building.
After this, a call was made at the hospital previously
mentioned, where Keith-Falconer had been told that there
was a chance of hearing of a possible colleague. 1 Although
nothing resulted from this visit, it made a great impres
sion on Keith-Falconer, and he often referred to it after
wards.
The hospital was one serving as a small outpost, as it
were, of the Mildmay Mission, in a narrow street some little
distance to the north of Bethnal-Green Road, and in the
midst of as low and miserable surroundings as can well be
conceived. The amount of good wrought by the hospital
to such a neighbourhood must be incalculable, but the
people round had hardly yet realised this truth. The
lower windows were broken wholesale with stones again
and again, till the plan was devised of protecting them with
wire guards ; when, with cruel ingenuity, the stones were
replaced with mud. The hospital, moreover, which con
tained about fifty beds, was only just large enough for the
patients ; the devoted ladies working there having conse
quently to take rooms in a house across the narrow street,
involving the traversing of two very steep flights of stairs.
Keith- Falconer took the deepest interest in all the details
1 It is most interesting to add that the gentleman of whom
Keith- Falconer had heard at this Bethnal-Green Hospital, Dr.
Alexander Paterson, though then from other engagements unable
to accept Keith-Falconer s invitation, has now (March, 1888) gone
to carry on the work at Shaikh Othman. Dr. Paterson is the fifth
medical man who has gone from this little hospital into the foreign
mission field.
176 Professorship of Arabic.
told us, and talked for some little time very tenderly to
some of the patients in the children s ward.
As we thought of the patient devotion, the utter abne
gation of self, the work for Christ shewn within those
dingy walls, and the pandemonium of vice and drunken
ness and profanity around, we could but thank God that
constraining love for Him could fight such a battle.
Early in the summer Keith-Falconer received the grati
fying offer of the distinguished post of Lord Almoner s
Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge, vacant
by the resignation of Professor Robertson Smith. The
offer was made by the present Bishop of Ely, Lord Alwyne
Conipton, with whom, as Lord Almoner, rested the appoint
ment to the Professorship.
This Professorship, together with a corresponding post
at Oxford, was founded in 1724, by the then Lord Almoner,
out of the Almonry Bounty. At first, the post was some
times held in conjunction with the other Professorship of
Arabic, founded by Sir Thomas Adams in 1632, but latterly
the existence of the two professorships has resulted in a
division of work. Among recent Lord Almoner s Professors
may specially be mentioned the late Mr. E. H. Palmer,
famous for his colloquial knowledge of Arabic in various
dialects, and well-known to general readers by his work on
the " Desert of the Exodus."
The offer came to Keith-Falconer at rather a critical
time; he was now definitely looking forward to leaving
England about the end of October, and to beginning [to
build at Shaikh Othman as soon as possible after his arrival
at Aden. Thus, to accept a Professorship, necessarily en
tailing certain duties, would be anyhow to make an inroad
on time none too plentiful already.
After very careful consideration, he formally accepted
the offer. Two things weighed with him in forming a
decision. In the first place, the duties of the post, though
not indeed quite nominal, were not such as to be in any sense
Professorship of Arabic. 177
a tie ; the patent of appointment merely binding him to
deliver one lecture a year, so that, viewing this as the acade
mical year, nearly a year and three-quarters might, if neces
sary, intervene between two consecutive courses of lectures.
Again, Keith-Falconer felt that if the Professorship
could become to him an additional source of influence, if
he could make of it a vantage ground, enabling him, a
missionary to Arabia, to speak with greater weight as to
the evangelisation of Arabia, because he spoke, not as a
missionary only, but also as a professor of Arabic in a
great English University then indeed the offer was one
not lightly to be let slip.
The offer once accepted, there was no time to be lost in
considering the question of lectures. The subject on which
he first fixed was the Sects of Islam ; but this seeming
on the whole too technical, he ultimately chose one more
likely to be of interest to a general audience, though re
quiring a large amount of careful research. This was the
Pilgrimage to Mecca, regard being had to the early
political and religious importance of Mecca, to the legends
circling round the Pilgrimage, to the manner in which the
Pilgrimage is performed, and to the successful attempts
made by various adventurous Europeans in disguise to see
the ceremonies in and near the sacred city.
At this time, too, the proof-sheets of his article on
Shorthand in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Bri-
tannica had just come to hand ; and, written as the article
was on a highly technical subject, and condensed as much
as possible, even the presence of the proofs meant that a
good deal of time and care had yet to be expended.
No surgeon, moreover, had yet been found for the
mission, and this fact entailed a considerable correspon
dence and several journeys, besides being a distinctly dis
turbing factor.
In addition to all these cares, the cares as to his future
mission-work which required his personal attention, the
N
17$ Professorship of Arabic.
cares as to the literary work for which he had made him
self responsible, and pre-eminently his lectures, there
remained plenty of cares of the ordinary business descrip
tion, none the less imperative because running in a lower
groove. The disposal of the lease of his house, the choice
of articles of furniture to be taken to Aden, arrangements
as to the sale of the rest, the gradual purchase of a multi
plicity of articles for the new home, which could be got
better in England than on the spot, the division of his
books into those to be taken with him, forming of them
selves a considerable library, those to be stored away at
home, and those to be given away where they would be
useful all these things might of themselves fairly have
occupied a man s whole time.
Yet here was a scholar, not only attending carefully to
these, but also engaged in laborious scholarly work, in
volving the reading of all books on the subject on which
he could lay his hand, both in various European languages
and in Arabic. To shew his exceeding thoroughness in
this respect, it is worth noting that on finding that one of
the most valuable books on the subject of the Pilgrimage
was written in Dutch, 1 a language of which he knew next
to nothing, he forthwith spent three weeks in thoroughly
working up the Dutch grammar and so was enabled to
read the book with comparative ease.
But with all this, his mood was always the same, always
bright and kindly and genial ; ready to think at the busiest
time, if needs were, of the wants of another ; to discuss a
difficulty ; to advise, where advice was needed ; to be of
practical use, where such help was required ; and then to
return, steadily and patiently, to his work.
In August, he again acted as judge at the bicycle races
of the Cycling Club of the Young Men s Christian Associa
tion at Cambridge, of which I have previously spoken. In
1 Snouck-Hurgronje, Het MckkaanscJie Feest (Leyden, 1880).
Professorship of Arabic.
this he had for some years taken a friendly interest, and
held at this time, as in the previous year, the office of
President of the Club. He had occasionally given special
addresses to the young men of the Association on Sunday
afternoons, and now, as his departure from Cambridge
drew near, he shewed the warmth of his good feeling by a
very generous contribution to the library.
On August 26 was held the annual supper of the com
bined athletic clubs of the association, and Keith-Falconer
was present and took the chair. The toast of his health
was drunk with great enthusiasm, and he replied in a
kindly little speech in which he gave a humourous account
of his early attempts at bicycling, and wound up with
some very wise remarks as to the true function of bodily
exercise and amusements : " It was to be better fitted for
serious work. He did not like to see a man, long after he
had come to years of maturity, simply absorbed in sports,
cricket, or whatever it might be."
The preparation for the lectures on the Pilgrimage in
volved a very great deal of work. Any clever man, with a
ready pen, can, by merely going rapidly over one or two
good modern authorities, present facts in a clear convenient
form, regardless as to how far he has surveyed the whole
field. Not so Keith-Falconer, not so any true scholar in
like case. Nothing on which he could lay his hand rele
vant to the subject was passed over by him. He read
steadily on, making, as his friends so well remember, brief
notes in shorthand on the margin of the books, and fuller
notes, also in shorthand, in the note-book by his side.
How carefully and methodically, when all this was
done, were his facts marshalled into shape, like a well-
disciplined army swayed by one mind. In Mr. Bo wen s
note of Keith-Falconer s Harrow days, he dwells upon his
exceeding clearness of exposition. 1 This clearness, this
1 See above, p. 18.
180 Professorship of Arabic*
recognition of the standpoint of the reader or hearer as
well as his own, was shewn in everything of the kind
Keith-Falconer put his hand to. The same beautiful
lucidity and the same orderly arrangement characterize
alike the Introduction to Kalilah, already spoken of, the
Lectures on the Pilgrimage, and the article on Shorthand.
About the middle of August, Keith-Falconer heard that
a young surgeon, on the staff of the Western Infirmary at
Glasgow, wished much to join his expedition. With this
gentleman, Dr. Stewart Cowen, an appointment for meet
ing in Glasgow was agreed upon, and on August 16, Keith-
Falconer and his future colleague met ; and each speedily
saw that he had found a man to be absolutely trusted, and
from whom complete sympathy and support could be
looked for. With growing acquaintance, Keith- Falconer
came to see that no more loyal, no more zealous companion
could have been found. After events shewed clearly how
well-grounded the choice had been.
His family were staying for the summer and autumn at
Darn Hall, a large house a few miles north of Peebles,
situated on the edge of a deep glen, and surrounded by
hills, one of which, Dundrech, rises to a considerable
height. A neighbouring house, Portmore, had been the
home from which Mackenzie had gone forth, the first
missionary bishop of Central Africa.
Keith-Falconer remained at Darn Hall during September
and the early part of October ; his lectures and the cor
respondence about the Mission fully occupied him.
On the evening of the last Sunday in September, advan
tage was taken of his residence so near Peebles to hold a
Missionary meeting in the Free Church there, so as to
hear from the young missionary an account of the nature
of the work to be done at Aden, and of the hopes with
which they would be faced. All this, drawing not merely
from books, but from his own experience of the foregoing
winter, Keith-Falconer put forth with exceeding clearness
Professorship of Arabic. 181
and simplicity. His speech was not that of a brilliant
rhetorician, but it was eloquent in the truest sense, from
the perfect sincerity which animated him, and his complete
mastery of his facts ; all this enhanced by the tall, hand
some figure of the speaker, and his clear, musical voice.
This speech was not reported, but it was in substance
much the same as those delivered by him at Edinburgh
and Glasgow in November, which were his last public
utterances on the subject of his mission before he left
England. As such, I have reproduced it later nearly in
full.
The large gathering of people listened with keen, quiet
attention, as Scotch audiences do, and by the mouth of
their minister wished the speaker God s blessing for him
self, his companions and his work, with its infinite
possibilities.
Keith-Falconer himself throughout this time was as
industrious, as earnest and as bright as ever. A long
morning s work at a German, a Dutch, or an Arabic
chronicle of the Meccan pilgrimage would find him blithe
and buoyant at the end of it, ready to amuse or be amused.
Walking over one day into the pretty little town of Peebles,
he recounted very merrily, and with the inimitable Scotch
accent which he could reproduce when he pleased, the story
of an enthusiastic native who, having seen the world and
found no place like home, embodied his idea in the remark,
" I ve seen London, and I ve seen Paris, but for pure
pleasure, give me Peebles ! "
He paid several visits to a young Scotch probationer/
staying for his health for a short time at Peebles, who had
had somewhat of a hard struggle with circumstances in
his determination to get a University degree, the ultimate
aim being the foreign mission-field. Him, I have reason
to believe, Keith-Falconer had aided in more ways than
one, and took at all times the liveliest interest in his
progress.
182 Professorship of Arabic.
About the middle of October, Keith-Falconer returned
to Cambridge, having now fixed his lectures for the second
week of November, leaving for Aden immediately after
wards. Up to the very last the work went briskly on.
He took an infinity of pains to secure the highest amount
of clearness and accuracy ; the matter which represented
the first lecture being written out at least four times.
A slight digression ensued on October 29. On the
evening of this day, the annual dinner of the London
Bicycle Club was held at the Holborn Restaurant, having
been put earlier than its usual date to enable Keith-
Falconer to be present. As I have mentioned in a pre
vious chapter, he had been uninterruptedly President of
the Club since May 1, 1877, and he had very rarely missed
the annual dinner.
Naturally, after so long an association, the relations be
tween the Club and its President were exceedingly cordial,
and the various speeches testified to much warmth of
feeling. There was a large gathering, and the President
took the chair, and made several pleasant genial speeches
in the course of the evening. 1
First he proposed the Queen s health " since whose acces
sion some fifty years have circled, or rather may I say
more appropriately have cycled, round." Later in the
evening he proposed the health of * the visitors, and told
the following anecdote of one of his own guests :
" Then we have my very old friend, Mr. ; he
comes from the sister isle. He is the hero of a hundred
bicycling exploits, and perhaps I might recount a small
incident. We were riding in the north of Scotland it
only shews you what a daring cyclist he is far away from
railways and civilization ; I said, Bide carefully, don t go
fast down these hills. It was no use, speed was every
thing ; presently I came gingerly round the corner. I saw
a bicycle lying in the road, and a foot peeping up through
1 London Bicycle Club Gazette, Nov. 4, 1886.
Professorship of Arabic. 183
the hedge. It turned out he had dislocated his elbow, but
he jumped on again and rode with me 20 miles. That
evening we saw a first-rate London doctor, who was visiting
in the neighbourhood. He said, You must give up your
tour ; fomentations, cold-water taps, etc. ; you must go
home. He was not satisfied with that prescription, for
he thought it might be remedied then and there. We got
to a local surgeon s, who looked at the limb, and said,
Oh, that s just dislocated ; I will put it straight in three
minutes, and went for the chloroform. My friend laughed
at the idea of chloroform. He got him on the sofa, I sat
on his legs. The surgeon came, and said, Now, if I hurt
you, what will you do ? I will hit you in the eye.
4 Then I ll hit you back. However, in ten seconds the
arm was right, and in twenty-four hours we were in the
saddle, and completed our tour. I think that will shew
you that he is an admirable representative of the pluck of
the British race."
In combining with this toast that of the Press Keith-
Falconer said :
" I have always a fellow-feeling with gentlemen of the
press, especially those who are experienced in the art of
shorthand.. That is an art to which I have been a devotee
for many years, and I always think of it as the literary
bicycle ; it clears the ground so quickly. I think, you
know, that cycling and shorthand somehow go together."
Before leaving England, Keith -Falconer s thoughts
were, as might be supposed, warmly turned to the various
schemes for good, with which he had been associated, for
which he had worked and written and spoken and prayed.
For Mr. Charrington s great institution at Mile-End, now
working like a huge machine, whose wheels are the hearts
and brains of men, he took measures to insure his life for a
considerable sum shortly before leaving England. 1 The
1 It is right to say that while the Insurance Office declared
Keith Falconer s life to be a First-Class one, they refused to
grant the policy, save at a prohibitive premium, on hearing of his
proposed place of residence,
184 Professorship of Arabic.
Barnwell Mission had pursued its quiet career of useful
ness for some years past, and throughout that time Keith-
Falconer s general help had been steadily given, both in
money and personal effort. No very long time before
leaving England, he started the idea, taking the hint from
Mr. Charrington s book depot, of having a lending library
of wholesome books in the Theatre, and helped not only
by contributing money, but by choosing the books in the
first instance.
It was he also who originated the idea of a Barnwell
Missionary, promising to contribute <50 a year for two
years towards the cost of maintenance. This was in no
sense intended in any spirit of rivalry to the work done
most devotedly for the last four years, by the present
Vicar, the Rev. A. H. Delme-Radcliffe ; but was an attempt
to reach some of a class whom, even yet, though happily
in an increasingly less degree, the existing organisation
was unable adequately to touch. Keith -Falconer writes
on this subject to the Vicar of Barnwell as follows :
"ADEN, ARABIA,
Dec. 9, 1886.
"Mr DEAR MR. EADCLIFFE,
" On arriving here yesterday, I found your kind
letter at the post-office. (I left Cambridge on Nov. 13.)
" I have no objection to a churchman being our mis
sionary, and have written to Mr. to tell him so. As
we are undenominational (what a word!), the man s par
ticular form of worship is not of any moment to us. And
as we believe you to be doing a genuine Christian work in
the place, we should be very glad to work with you and
for you. I am much obliged for the offer of a donation
annually, it will be thankfully accepted.
" The idea of a town missionary working in the way I
described did not occur to me till just after leaving Cam
bridge, else I would have discussed the matter with you.
I must leave it with you and Mr. to decide the
details. But I would suggest that those streets and houses
whose inmates are known to be habitual neglecters of
Professorship of Arabic. 185
Sunday worship, should be considered the proper sphere
for the missionary, and you and your curates might note
some special cases which they might consider peculiarly
suited to a plain town missionary.
" If the people he reaches all go straight to your church
and not to the theatre, I shall not grieve. So long as they
come tinder the power of the Gospel, I am satisfied. (Never
call me a bigoted dissenter after this !) With very kind
regards to Mrs. Badclift e,
" I am yours ever."
At the beginning of November, Mrs. Keith-Falconer
left Cambridge for Cannes, where her parents were then
staying; and on Saturday, the 6th, Keith-Falconer started
for Scotland, to deliver his final public addresses in con
nection with his mission, and to say farewell to his family
at Darn Hall.
The Sunday was spent quietly at home, and in the
deepening dusk of the November evening he left for Edin
burgh, where he gave an address to a very large and highly-
interested gathering, which was repeated substantially the
following evening at Glasgow. This address, the last of
his public appeals in England or Scotland, so unmis-
takeably spoken from the depth of his heart, so touching
in the way self is set aside, so strong and emphatic in its
statement of the needs of the case, and the means of meet
ing them, is here reproduced nearly in full. 1 Though he
who then spake the words lies in his lonely grave by the
Indian Ocean, yet shall the living ardent faith of that
utterance endure while the Church Militant lasts.
" Since the Muhamuiedan religion is professed by the
people of South Arabia, the consideration of missionary
prospects there involves the question, Whether Islam is,
or is not, the impregnable fortress which it is commonly
supposed to be ?
1 I have merely omitted the paragraph describing Aden itself,
which has been virtually given already _in another form.
186 Professorship of Arabic.
" I wish to show (1) That there are weak points in Islam,
which, if persistently attacked, must lead to its eventual
overthrow, while Christianity has forces which make it
more than a match for Muhammedauism (or any other re
ligion), provided always that it has free play and a fair
field ; (2) That the efforts already made to christianize
Muhammedan countries have produced commensurate re
sults ; (3) What practical encouragements we had during
our four months residence at Aden. In conclusion I wish
to make an appeal.
" (1) The great truth which the Arabian prophet preached
was the truth of the one God, the Creator of the worlds,
who brought us into being, who does as He pleases, is
merciful and pitiful, the requiter of good and evil, the all-
wise and all-powerful. But while he taught rightly that
there is one God, he did not show the way to Him. The
Gospel does this, and therefore has an infinite advantage
over Islam. The Kuran is intensely legal, and all defects
in the true believer will be pardoned, that is, overlooked,
by the Merciful One. As the law to the Jews, so Islam to
the Arabs, is a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.
Again, the Kuran is in a sense founded on our Christian
Scriptures. The prophet did not profess to come as a de-
troyer, but as a renovator and a completer. He posed as
the restorer of the true religion of Abraham, which had
become grossly corrupted, and the building of the Kaaba,
the Meccan temple, he ascribed to that patriarch and Ish-
mael. Of Christ he ever spoke in terms of the greatest
reverence, and even admitted His miraculous birth. The
Word of God, the Spirit of God, are among the epithets
applied to Him in the Kuran. Muhammed himself was
the last, the seal, the greatest of the prophets ; and the
Kuran, he said, was sent down from heaven to men as a
confirmation, or verification of what they already had in
the Gospel and the law. As the Messiah and the Gospel
had superseded (not overthrown) the law and the pro
phets, so Muhammed and the Kuran had superseded all
that had gone before. What a handle has he thus given
to us ! for a Muslim cannot logically refuse to receive the
Gospel, since it was to confirm its truth that the Kuran
was given.
Professorship of Arabic. 187
" When a Muhammedan realizes that the Kuran and the
Gospel are inconsistent, he must either renounce his faith
or pronounce our New Testament a forgery. I remember
that on one occasion an intelligent hajjee (pilgrim to Mecca),
after reading a few chapters of St. John, in which the Lord
makes claims and promises infinitely transcending those of
Muhammed, returned me the book, refusing to read it any
more, because it made his heart tremble lest it should be
seduced to follow after the Messiah. He had realised that
to follow Christ meant to forsake Muhammed, but, lacking
courage, he shut his eyes to truth. Muhammed while pro
fessing to acknowledge Christ, ignored or was ignorant of
His claims, and has succeeded for more than twelve cen
turies in standing between men and the Light. Give the
Gospel to the Muhammedans, and they must at any rate
be logically convinced that their prophet has fearfully mis
led his followers, for their prophet and his Kuran fall in
finitely short of our Prophet and His Gospel. How should
they then supersede these ? Further, it is well known that
the natural inclinations and passions of mankind find full
provision made for them in the prophet s religion. It is
quite sufficient to point to the well-known position of
women in Islam, Islam s recognition of slavery, and the
combination of religion with political power, which has
always formed a pillar of the Muhammedan state, to see
that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life, which Christ taught men to repress and deny,
were simply legalised and regulated by Muhammed. It is
no wonder that so many millions of human beings are con
tent to embrace a religion, which, while professing to satisfy
the inborn cravings of mankind after God, at the same time
offers him such carnal attractions. But this is no more
than saying that Islam is as strong as human nature. Any
one who takes the trouble to read the Epistles of Paul (and
not all of the writers on Islam will take so much pains)
can convince himself that Christianity has proved herself
more than a match for the worst, the most inveterate, vices
which enslave mankind. Can a religion like that of Islam
be described as a powerful one, qua religion, which has
owed its propagation and continuance so largely to such
base and carnal means ? From its birth, Islam has been
188 Professorship of Arabic.
steeped in blood and lust, blood spilt and lust sated by
the sanctions of religion. Certainly there was a time in
the prophet s career, when he had in him something of the
spirit of the old prophets ; but when driven out of Mecca
at the flight to Medina, he left his prophetic mantle behind
him, and thenceforth became little more than an earthly
ruler aiming at absolute power. From that time he em
ployed all the arts of an unscrupulous policy. The force
of arms, threats, concessions and compromises (which some
times shocked his friends), the promise of rich booty, all
these he did not scruple to employ. By preaching the
truth of the one God, he raised himself to a certain plat
form of power and influence; the sword and the spear,
diplomacy and statecraft, raised him much higher.
" But Islam not only owed much to its own power and
attractions, it was indebted also to the weak and divided
condition of the Christian community in Arabia at the
prophet s time. Christianity was well known in various
parts of Arabia when Muhammed appeared. Shortly
before his birth, a Christian army from Yemen stood
before the gates of Mecca, with the intention of demolish
ing the Kaaba, when a sudden epidemic of smallpox wrought
such frightful havoc among them that a miserable remnant
returned disheartened to their own country. There were
Christian kingdoms, too, in Lakhm and Ghassan ; but the
Church was split by dissensions as to the nature and per
son of Christ, and the worship of the Virgin. The sight
of the bitter quarrels of the Nestorians and Eutychians
must have contributed not a little to prejudice the Arabian
prophet s ignorant mind against Christianity ; and Islam
was destined soon to sweep it completely out of the penin
sula. Nor can the crusades in later times have failed to
embitter the Muslims, and mislead their minds as to the
true nature of the religion of Christ ; and speaking gene
rally, it may be said that the Church is itself to blame for
the very rise of Islam. The Arabs were sunk in idolatry.
The Church, instead of holding out to them the lamp of
truth, was engaged in internal warfare. The gross igno
rance of the prophet with regard to the Scriptures and the
true nature of Christianity, proves how remiss had been
the Church in Hijas in obeying the command to preach
Professorship of Arabic. 189
the Gospel to every creature, while his general acceptance
and recognition of those Scriptures goes far to shew that
had he known and understood their contents, he would
never have entered 011 the career he did. But these con
siderations ought not to cause the slightest misgivings as
to the imperative duty to take the Gospel to the Muham-
medans, or as to the success which must follow. For,
where the Gospel in its simplicity has been faithfully,
patiently, and honestly preached to them, the desired re
sults have ensued.
" (2) Raymundus Lullius, a Spanish noble of Majorca
in the 13th century, after vainly endeavouring to persuade
the Eoniish Church to institute a Mission to the Muslims,
became himself a missionary to the Arabs of North Africa,
Nine years he spent in the study of the Arabic language,
the Kuran, and the Muhammedan traditions. After this
preparation he preached boldly, carrying his life in his
hand. You will find the story told in Dr. G. Smith s
Short History of Christian Missions. 1 He suffered many
hardships and imprisonments, but ere he died had raised
a small Christian Church, now long since dispersed. But
it was not until this century that the Church could be said
to awake to her duty in the matter. Notably the American
Presbyterians have done much to shake Islam, although
they work mainly among the degraded Christian Churches
of Egypt and Syria. In the American and other Mission
Schools, thousands of Muslim boys and girls are daily
taught the truths of the Gospel. Within quite recent
years some fifty Muslim converts have been baptized in
Egypt by the Americans, but there are many more unbap-
tized converts. In Peshawar, where the Church Mission
ary Society have long been represented, a Christian church
is filled by Muslim converts, and a large school for Muslim
children flourishes there. Are not these startling and en
couraging facts ? The success in Egypt and Syria would
have been far greater had not a Muhammedan government
done its best to check and thwart the missionaries ; but a
new day is dawning, European and especially English in
fluence is rapidly gaining ground in Egypt and the East.
1 Pp. 102-108, ed. 2.
100 Professorship of Arabic.
Not many years ago, a Muslim convert to Christ had td
fear for his life, and baptism would have ensured his
speedy death, yet a few months ago the government of
Egypt did not dare even to degrade a sergeant of police
who had received Christian baptism. Western education
is rapidly gaining favour in the East, and widening the
cramped boundaries of Eastern thought. The Kuran is
doomed.
" (3) Many a time was I asked by natives in the street
and the market, when was I going to set up my school, as
they wished to send their children to it. A man once
handed me a slip of paper on which he had written, If
you want the people to walk in your way, then set up a
school. Our Arabic Gospels are constantly clamoured
for, and received with the greatest readiness. To my
question, Why do you want the Injil ? I several times
received the answer, Because it is God s book, sent down
from heaven/ In the town of El-Hautah, where lives the
sultan of the neighbouring Abdali tribe, our books were
welcomed. The amount of sickness is frightful. The
road through the Abdali tribe is perfectly safe, and the
sultan is extremely civil to the English governor.
" In conclusion, I wish to make an appeal. There must
be some who will read these words, or who, having the
cause of Christ at heart, have ample independent means,
and are not fettered by genuine home ties. Perhaps you
are content with giving annual subscriptions and occasional
donations, and taking a weekly class ? Why not give
yourselves, money, time and all, to the foreign field ? Our
own country is bad enough, but comparatively many must,
and do, remain to work at home, while very few are in
a position to go abroad. Yet how vast is the Foreign
Mission field ! The field is the world. Ought you not to
consider seriously what your duty is ? The heathen are in
darkness, and we are asleep. Perhaps you try to think
that you are meant to remain at home, and induce others
to go. By subscribing money, sitting on committees,
speaking at meetings, and praving for missions, you will
be doing the most you can to spread the Gospel abroad.
Not so. By going yourself, you will produce a tenfold
more powerful effect. You can give and pray for missions
Professorship of Arabic. 101
wherever you are, you can send descriptive letters to the
missionary meetings, which will be much more effective
than second-hand anecdotes gathered by you from others,
and you will help the committees finely by sending them
the results of your experience. Then, in addition, you
will have added your own personal example, and taken
your share of the real work. We have a great and im
posing war-office, but a very small army. You have wealth
snugly vested in the funds, you are strong and healthy,
you are at liberty to live where you like, and occupy your
self as you like. While vast continents are shrouded in
almost utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer
the horrors of heathenism or of Islam, the burden of proof
lies upon you to shew that the circumstances in which God
has placed you were meant by Him to keep you out of the
foreign mission-field."
On the Tuesday evening, Keith-Falconer returned to
Cambridge, the lectures on the Pilgrimage being announced
for the following Thursday, Friday and Saturday after
noons.
The lectures were delivered in one of the rooms of the
Divinity Schools of the University before an attentive
audience. The MS. from which the lecturer read, was,
save for an actual Arabic word here and there, written
entirely in shorthand ; although no one who had not pre
viously been aware of the fact could possibly have guessed
it, so completely at home was the reader with his
hieroglyphics.
The first lecture dwelt mainly on Mecca itself, the im
portance of its position as a commercial centre, to which
large numbers of caravans converged, and its religious im
portance, as being a place possessed of special sacred
associations before the time of Mohammed. It was pointed
out that the Meccan pilgrimage was no creation of Moham
med, but an ancient institution he sought to utilize for
his own advantage.
The second lecture was occcupied with an account of
192 Professorship of Arabic.
the pilgrimage itself, and of the various rites and customs
attending it ; and in the last, the lecturer gave a very in
teresting resume of all the recorded visits to Mecca made
by Europeans, who, disguised as Moslems, had made the
journey safely, but at very considerable risk. All who
were present at the lectures will testify to their clearness
and fulness, and to the skill which gave point and interest
to the more technical details.
The last lecture over, Professor Keith-Falconer, for once
to name him by his official title, left the lecture-room for
Mr. Turner s house in St. Andrew s Street, where he was
then staying, passing the great Gate of Trinity College,
through which for years he had gone in and out almost
daily, and across the Market Place, on which in old days
he had so often gazed from the windows of his lodgings in
the intervals of work. Once arrived, and having laid aside
the University cap and gown, never again to be worn by
him, it was necessary to give undivided attention to much
that yet remained to be done. The lecture had not been
finished till 3 o clock and the train by which he proposed
to go to London left at 7.
Two men were engaged in packing a large quantity of
books, many of which he had wished to be able to use to
the last. Giving directions to these men, carefully sorting
various papers, constantly interrupted even in the midst of
a hasty dinner by persons to whom orders had to be given,
Keith-Falconer, in the midst of a chaos of packing and a
multiplicity of details of business, and on the eve of a
journey half across the world, was as calm and undis
turbed as if he were simply leaving home for a few
days.
He was very bright and cheery, but not with the exube
rance of hopefulness sometimes seen in one about to essay
new work far away. It was an unruffled composure ; and
no excitement, no hurry, no thought of the personal side
of the enterprise, seemed to mar the bright, perfect calm.
Professorship of Arabic. 193
So too was it to the last. As he stood on the platform
of the railway station, accompanied by his little dog Jip,
which was to go with him to Aden, and has since returned
in safety, it seemed inconceivable that a man starting on
so long a journey, with work so anxious awaiting him at
the end of it, should have shewn himself not merely happy,
but absolutely calm and undisturbed.
A few short minutes while the train stopped, and then,
one of the most gifted, many-sided of the sons whom our
dear mother Cambridge ever reared had left her walls for
ever,
CHAPTER X.
SHAIKH OTHMAN.
" He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time."
WISDOM OF SOLOMON.
WE have seen in the preceding chapter that various causes
had somewhat delayed Keith-Falconer s course of lectures,
rendering it necessary for him to leave Cambridge on the
evening of the day on which he had delivered his third and
concluding lecture.
Encumbered with a vast amount of luggage, huge boxes
of books, one very large box containing a deck chair of
special construction for his wife s use on the voyage on the
Mediterranean, and other things, he found it was so late
before these had all been safely deposited at the London
terminus, which he purposed leaving the following night,
that, instead of going to his sister s house as he had in
tended, he went, accompanied by his little dog Jip, to
Mr. Charrington s house in Stepney Green.
The following afternoon he devoted to his sister, and,
various farewell visits paid, and with many hearts keenly
and prayerfully dwelling on his movements, he left Victoria
by the evening Continental express for Paris, in order to get
the day there for some purchases, including some Oriental
books he had failed to procure in England. Leaving Paris
that night, he rejoined his wife at "Cannes on the following
afternoon, and sailed from Marseilles in the French steamer
Alphce, on Thursday, Nov. 18. They reached Alexandria
Shaikh Othman. 195
on the following Tuesday evening, and landed the next
morning.
A letter written during the voyage shews him as being
in very good spirits. He dwells with much humour on an
account of a rather tempestuous meeting which had been
held at the Mansion House, when Mr. Charrington had felt
it his duty to protest against a ruling of the chairman.
Then he tells of his flying visit to Cannes, and then reverts
to his plans for the future. Dr. Cowen had sailed from
London on November 16 for Aden, and it had been Keith -
Falconer s intention to join him on his arrival at Suez,
leaving his wife with friends at Cairo till some provision
for her comfort could be made at Aden. This plan enabled
Keith-Falconer to spend six days at Cairo, after which he
left his wife under the friendly roof of Dr. and Mrs. Watson,
of the American Mission House. Here she spent her time
in taking long Arabic lessons and visiting in the native
houses.
On the arrival of the English steamer it was found
that there was no room on board, and consequently Keith-
Falconer took passage from Suez in an Austrian steamer,
which was passed so closely by the other in the Red Sea
that the two missionaries could distinguish each other
plainly. Dr. Cowen arrived at Aden on December 7, and
Keith-Falconer himself on the following day putting up at
his old quarters, the Hotel de 1 Europe, at Steamer Point.
On December 12 he writes to me as follows :
" Arrived here Jip and I all right early on Wednesday
morning last, December 8, in the Austrian Lloyd boat
Berenice, from Suez. There was no room for me in Co wen s
steamer, which passed us quite close in the Red Sea, so
that we signalled one another. His boat was crammed,
while I was the only 1st class passenger in mine, which
was bound for Hong Kong, and every bit as good as any
P. and O. boat I ever was in, excepting in speed. We
stopped at Jidda, but to my great disappointment, quaran-
196 Shaikh Othman.
tine prevented me from going ashore. I gazed long at the
hills which hid Mecca from us. At Jidda, the only other
1st class passenger got off, an Indian Musalman going to
Mecca. His card runs thus : H. M. Ismail Khan, of
Datauli, Aligarh [North-west provinces] As he was
going to relations at Mecca, I asked him whether it was
true as Keane states in his * Six Months at Mecca -
that an Englishwoman had lived there as a Muslima for
many years. He said, Yes, she now lives in my house at
Aligarh. I then asked him some questions, and his
answers tallied exactly with Keane s account. She is
known as Zuhra Begum, which might very well be rendered
Lady Venus, as Keane does. Was not that a curious
coincidence ?
" We spent a pleasant six days in Cairo : I left my wife
at the American Mission House with Dr. and Mrs. Watson.
I travelled to Suez with D. A. Cameron, just appointed
consul at Sawakin. He said, I swear by the American
missionaries. Half of these Bulgarian deputies were edu
cated by them at their schools at Constantinople and else
where. And curiously, Cowen heard exactly the same
thing from an Armenian merchant who spoke English.
The Americans are certainly doing a fine work in Cairo
with their schools.
" Our plans are maturing nicely. . * . . Dr. Harpur is
now with General Haig on a cruise to the Somali coast, to
see whether there is an opening there. I expect to see him
at the end of next week.
" We have met with cordiality itself here. The General,
Major Seely, the two surgeons, Jackson and Colson, the
chaplain, Streeten, and my old Somali servants, Jusuf and
Ahmad, welcomed us with great kindness.
" The General s account of Maharaja Dhuleep Sing was
highly diverting. D. S. insisted on being made a Sikh.
The ceremony was performed at the Residency. The
General refused to be present. D. S. had to strip and put
on a very scanty and simple attire ; and in the middle of
the ceremony ran out thus dressed into the General s
study. ....
" We are having what in England you would call the
most delicious summer weather, warm and breezy. If the
Shaikh Othman. 197
voyage were not so long, I could send you plenty of beauti
ful flowers from the gardens at Shaikh Othman.
" My old friend Isma il, the schoolmaster, is back from
Zabeed, restored to sanity. He says that he shewed the
New Testament I gave him to the mufti and to his own
family and others at Zabeed, and that some of these are
now copying it out in writing. This shews how rare and
how valued is the New Testament in Arabia
" My furniture, books, &c., I expect shortly. My wife
comes on here in P. and O. ship Thames in about fourteen
days.
" Shaikh Othman is growing fast : 50 native infantry
men will go there, as soon as the lines are built "
For five or six days after their arrival, Keith-Falconer
and his companion stayed at the Hotel, going out two or
three times to Shaikh Othman. Subsequently, they ac
cepted the hospitality of General Hogg at the Residency
and of Dr. Colson respectively. It was thought that Dr.
Cowen, who had not been in Aden before, might learn
much from an experienced surgeon who had resided there
for some years.
On the 28th Mrs. Keith- Falconer arrived ; Keith-Fal
coner, writing on the following day, says :
" My wife came yesterday in P. and O. ship Thames.
The General sent out his launch and cutter to land her.
Lord and Lady Aberdeen also came ashore for tea at the
Residency, as well as Lady Brassey and daughters. My
wife is very well and enjoyed herself immensely at Cairo.
Dr. Watson travelled with her to Benha, an hour from
Cairo, where she joined the Indian mail, and so got to
Aden in perfect safety and comfort."
It is now necessary to speak of a somewhat unpleasant
incident which occurred soon after Keith-Falconer s arrival
at Aden ; which of itself would only call for a passing
remark, but, in the light of subsequent events, acquires a
very grave significance.
198 Shaikh Othman.
There can be no reasonable doubt that the external con
ditions under which Keith-Falconer was living during the
time he spent at Shaikh Othman were not in themselves
such as to be conducive to good health : a structure of
wood and iron and matting is not the kind of house which
a native of a country like England should choose to live
in, in a specially hot part of the Tropics.
It might not unnaturally be asked, why so questionable
a step had been taken, why a missionary should fail to
use the fullest precautions for the physical well-being of
himself and his companions ; and were the facts not defi
nitely set forth, there might seem to be in the present
instance a lack of necessary forethought most foreign to
Keith-Falconer s character.
I feel it will be well therefore to give the facts in some
detail. It will be remembered that Keith-Falconer, on
leaving for England in the spring of 1886, did so with the
full intention of settling at Shaikh Othman, and there
building his house and the Mission-Hospital and School.
A grant of land had been reserved for him to the end of
the year. Thus even though the work should be com
menced immediately on his return to Aden, some months
must necessarily elapse before the house could be ready
for occupation.
Evidently, it would be a pity to live during those months
at Aden, or at Steamer Point, involving, even in the former
case, a ten miles journey to and fro. Not only would this
be a great drag on the direct work of the Mission, but it
would also leave the workmen engaged on the building
almost entirely without supervision.
The obvious plan was to hire a suitable building at
Shaikh Othman, while the Mission House was being built,
all care being taken that the temporary home was such as
was suitable for European residents.
There was at Shaikh Othman, as it happened, only one
good stone bungalow, besides the one belonging to Govern-
Shaikh Othman. 199
ment. This belonged to a wealthy old Arab, named
Hassan Ali, who is said to be more or less a tool in the
hands of expectant relatives. At Keith -Falconer s request
Dr. Colson had seen this man in the foregoing summer
and had found him professedly wishing to let or sell the
house. As Dr. Colson s letter (Aug. 1, 1886) bears striking
independent testimony to the climate of Shaikh Othman,
another matter of the highest importance, I subjoin the
following extracts :
" I have seen Hassan Ali, and he is not only willing to
let you his bungalow, but also to sell it. Whether it would
suit your purpose, I do not know. I have not said any
thing about the rent, as you will doubtless prefer to make
your own bargain. Shaikh Othman is certainly far
superior in climate to Aden proper. On two occasions I
have been there lately. On one, when we left the Camp
and on returning to it, it was insufferably hot, but Shaikh
Othman was comparatively pleasant. On August 12, we
went in a howling, hot and dusty wind ; Shaikh Othman
was quite a haven after it. On returning, the wind, as we
got near Aden, increased in violence, and the pony could
hardly get along. The place, for a hot climate, may be
considered very fair. I am glad to say we have all enjoyed
excellent health in spite of the heat, which was unusually
great in June and July. It is much better now
" Your doctor should be provided with lithotomy instru
ments. A successful operation for stone among the Arabs
will be a great missionary success; and if your doctor
makes a name, he will get plenty of work to do, and a
proportionate amount of influence."
Naturally, therefore, Keith-Falconer expected that on
his arrival at Aden this stone bungalow would be avail
able for his use ; and accordingly he went over it, inspect
ing it carefully, to see what alterations, if any, might be
required. After this, accompanied by Dr. Cowen, he
called on Hassan Ali, who at. first offered it to them for a
few weeks for nothing. Clearly such a course was quite
out of the question, if for no other reason than this, that
200 Shaikh Othman.
Keith-Falconer and his party would have no right to
remain if the owner wished to put them out. Presumably,
however, Hassan Ali no more thought of his offer being
accepted, than Ephron the Hittite supposed that Abraham
would take him at his word.
An offer was then made to Hassan Ali of a rent, which
Englishmen and Arabs agreed in declaring to be ample,
which same rent indeed a few months afterwards he ac
cepted from the American Consul, on a five years lease ;
but, scenting a possible victim, the old Arab haggled and
demanded what was simply an exorbitant sum. On this
Dr. Cowen writes :
" To have acceded to this demand would simply have
been ruinous in all subsequent dealings with these men
and those around ; as they would have thought he could
be done on every occasion in which money was con
cerned.
" Accordingly, on another visit to Shaikh Othman, he
found a small hut (40 feet square), which the owner said
he would let and alter for us. The next day, General
Haig and I saw the hut again with him, and he decided to
take it.
"When Hassan Ali s relatives found this, they sent
urgent messages, begging him to renew negotiations. This
he simply refused to do, feeling that he was much better
free from such men. Besides, in any case, they would only
have let the upper half of the house, and to have had drink
ing and smoking parties occupying the other half, and sing
ing bacchanalian songs in the verandah outside, would
never have done, as the natives would naturally have asso
ciated us with them."
I have dwelt on this point at some length, because it
seemed my clear duty to vindicate the memory of the noble
dead from any possible charge of haste or carelessness, of
mere hurry to get to work before looking fully to every
precaution.
Once settled in the temporary home everything looked
Shaikh Othman. 201
very pleasant and hopeful. "Writing a postcard on busi
ness on December 22, lie adds the postcript All well and
jolly. In a letter of December 26 to his old friend Mrs.
Emmerson, he says :
" I have got on hire a little house in a garden to live in
at the native village where we are going to settle
We are having beautiful weather, not too hot, and no dust.
I have engaged three servants ; one is an Arab cook, the
others a Somali butler, and a Somali coolie. All servants
here are men, except Indian nurses and women who come
in to sweep. Kitchenmaids and housemaids are men.
.... All servants are barefooted, but must wear white
turbans on their heads. The natives never touch beer or
wine "
The letter concludes :
" I hope that you will get through the winter nicely.
But you are an old lady, and God may call you at any
time. So make sure that you are trusting in Jesus blood
alone. Not the best person living can be saved except
through Him."
That lesson had long sunk deep into his own heart.
In a letter dated December 29, after speaking of the in
formation which Dr. Cowen had gleaned from Dr. Colson,
he thus refers to the temporary house :
" After considerable difficulty I managed to get a tem
porary dwelling-place in Shaikh Othman. It is a roof on four
pillars with walls of iron lattice, the roof extending beyond
the pillars on all sides. By putting in three wooden parti
tions, a dwelling-house, with verandah, two bed-rooms, and
sitting-room (used also for eating and studying) is created.
The house stands in a garden, and both belong to an Indian
merchant. The servants will live in offices made of mud
bricks, with roofs of bamboo and matting."
On December 31 he writes :
" Yesterday Cowen and we went to Shaikh Othman and
found the house nearly ready for habitation. The cook, a
202 Shaikh Othman.
Madrasee, had gone over in the morning ; and fifty pack
ages had arrived from the wharf, and fourteen from various
parts of Steamer Point (all despatched by me in the morn
ing). To-day my wife and I go to the Colsons, where she
remains until everything necessary has been unpacked, or
about three days. Then at last we shall be settled for some
months. I am putting up a shed near our house for re
ceiving patients.
" Charlie Studd l has written me a delightful letter. He
is at Chungking, Szechuen, living with Bourne, the English
Resident. They are not allowed by the magistrate to go
outside the house, on account of the late riots. He thinks
the Chinese language was invented by the devil to prevent
the Chinese from ever hearing the Gospel properly ! . . . .
He is pleased to notice that the first thing recorded of
Sarai after she was made a princess (Sarah) was, she set
to work to cook and make cakes (Genesis xvii. 15 27).
.... You will be sorry to hear that I am not going to
publish those lectures. I have turned over the matter well,
and the more I meditate, the less I feel inclined to print
them." 3
A sad accident happened shortly after the missionaries
had settled in their new abode. On January 5, while a
large well was being dug in the garden by two Jewish
workmen, the earth fell in upon them. Keith-Falconer
and Dr. Co wen were able to aid considerably in extricating
one, the other was killed instantaneously.
The news of the accident drew together a large crowd
from the village, which was about half a mile away, and
served as the first introduction of the missionaries to their
new neighbours. The workman who was killed, a youth,
was buried the same evening ; dead and buried within four
hours.
1 This is Mr. C. T. Studd, of Trinity College, Cambridge, a
member of the China Inland Mission.
3 This refers to the three lectures on the " Meccan Pilgrimage,"
which he had delivered as Professor at Cambridge in the previous
term.
Shaikh Othman. 203
A few days after this came the first patient, an Arab, the
head gardener of the large garden adjoining. Grateful for
the help afforded him, and clearly perceiving in what way
he might best shew his gratitude to his new friends, he did
his best to induce large numbers of his acquaintance to
profit by the same help, and in this and other ways proved
of great assistance to the missionaries.
On December 31, Keith-Falconcer had spoken of putting
up a shed near his house for patients. This, when built,
was simply a rude hut, some 15 feet by 12, built against
the garden wall, with mud walls and planked roof ; and to
this a simple verandah of mats was afterwards added.
The number of applicants for help very soon shewed that
the natives fully appreciated the benefits offered them.
During the last week of January twenty new cases pre
sented themselves, besides an equal number attended to
elsewhere ; and by the end of about six weeks nearly 300
visits had been paid to the dispensary.
The hospital accommodation was necessarily very in
sufficient. Still, the " shed," besides serving as a dispen
sary and consulting-room for out-patients, contained also
beds for three in-patients, two of whom had come, at a
comparatively early period, no less than eight miles to be
treated.
In about a fortnight after the date of the last letter the
house was ready for occupation. On January 11 he writes,
" Our temporary quarters are very comfortable and the
books look very nice." Things were now fairly settled, and
Mrs. Keith -Falconer was to join him the following day.
Here for a time all went well. Every care had been taken
to make the hut, the " shanty "as he was in the habit of
calling it, as little inconvenient or unhealthy as might be.
A thatch roof was even put on over the ordinary one, at
Dr. Colson s suggestion, as an extra precaution against the
heat.
I again quote from Dr. Cowen s letter :
204 Shaikh Othman.
" Once in our little hut, we were very well and comfort
able for about six weeks, but of course it was not a place
for continued sickness, such as we had (though this again
could not have been anticipated), and which indeed delayed
the building of our new stone bungalow in which we
might reasonably expect to be well quite two months
altogether All this, I think, shews that every pre
caution that care and thoughtfulness could suggest was
taken, and that our living in that little hut was not due to
any carelessness or indifference to health on his part. Also
his firm stand against Eastern cupidity at the outset made
him more respected even by those who tried to swindle
him ; and his contentment and happiness in such humble
quarters were also characteristic."
Now that the party was settled in its temporary quarters,
proceedings were at once set on foot for beginning the
erection of a permanent home. On January 11, he thus
writes to his mother :
" We have arranged a contract for the wall round our
land, and operations have begun. We are to pay about
7s. 2d. per 10 feet of wall. You would have laughed at
our meeting with the Arab contractors. The business
lasted an hour and a half. First I explained the thing
with black board and chalk. Then they began bidding.
We started at 12 rupees ( = IBs.). There was great excite
ment at the end.
" Some days ago I engaged a Madrasee cook, and
thought I had got a treasure : excellent character, and he
sent us beautiful dishes. But he was a drunkard, and I
caught him whacking our Somali coolie. So I packed him
off then and there. The last thing he did was to kneel
before me, and make a -j- in the sand perfectly drunk.
We have now a Goanese cook, and a Groanese butler."
To the same.
41 SHAIKH OTHMAN,
Jan. 23, 1887.
" You will be glad to hear that the medical work has
made a start. When the dispensary was finished, we let
Shaikh Othman. 205
it be known that we were in a position to treat patients,
and soon they began to come. Last week we had eighteen
patients : one or two were very satisfactory cases. Most
of the people who came are Arabs, one an Indian Muham-
medam, one a half-Arab, half-African (and a runaway
slave), four are Somalis. They all seem to repose the
most absolute confidence in us.
" To-morrow at 6 A.M. we mount camels for Bir- Achmad,
a village outside British territory, and the seat of a local,
petty Sultan : at 5 A.M. another camel starts with the
medicine-chest, which must be conveyed at walking-pace,
for fear of breaking the bottles. We take with us a man
who has an interest in the garden next to ours, and who
seems to have done a good deal in the way of puffing our
establishment ; he was our first patient. Curiously, after
we had resolved to visit Bir-Aehmad, we heard that one of
the Sultan s nephews is very ill : so we shall easily get an
introduction to the Sultan. Bir-Achmad is said to be
eight miles off : we expect to get back by dark. We hope
to make a weekly excursion in future. My own part of
the work at present consists in interpreting for Cowen
and telling the people why we have come. Incidentally
I learn medicine and surgery. I am improving quickly
in speaking and understanding Arabic, but I constantly
need an Arab interpreter to explain what the Bedouin
means.
" As Shaikh Othman has 6000 people, Lahej 5000, and
Bir-Achmad and other villages in the neighbourhood about
1500 between them, we shall have plenty of work without
going far away. We have one interesting case from Lahej,
a man with an enormously enlarged spleen, the effect of
repeated fevers from malaria. We hope to reduce it by
local application of biniodide of mercury
" We have at last got our temporary abode in order. The
rooms are really very comfortable, and no one need pity us
in the least. We hope in another ten days to have com
pleted the arrangements for building the bungalow. . . ; .
" Here is our day as a rule :
" 6.30. Get up. I take my bath at the well-side. It
is very deep and big, and a camel walks round and round,
working the wheel which moves a chain of little buckets
206 Shaikh Othman.
descending into the water. I just sit down under the water
as it flows out. It feels like warm milk. Then, after
dressing, a cup of tea and toast.
" 7 to 8.30 is the appointed time for patients : but they
often come later, and it will be some time before we succeed
in making them observe the right time.
8.30 to 9. Bible reading in company.
9. Breakfast.
9.30 to 1.30. Arabic reading and patients, if any come.
1.30. Lunch or tiffin.
2 to 4.30. Anything.
4.30. Tea.
5 to 7. Walk out with Jip.
7. Dinner.
8. Prayers, after which each goes to bed when he
pleases.
" This afternoon we visited three patients in their homes.
Q. remained outside, and the native women inspected her
closely, feeling her dress, etc."
[Continued on Jan. 25].
" Yesterday we accomplished the visit to Bir-Achmad.
We started about 7 on camels, and the ride took an hour
and a half. The ambling trot of the camel is not half bad,
and the native saddle is far preferable to the European
leather saddle with stirrups which are made for camels.
" We might have stopped for three days and been hard
at work all the time. The cases treated amounted to
twenty. At first the people were afraid, and we could
only hear of two cases. One was that of an old woman
with dropsy. She was enormously distended She
was intensely grateful to us. This at once established
Cowen s credit, the news spread like magic, and we were
taken to a number of houses to see sick people. All the
rooms we went into were beautifully clean and tidy. I left
a few gospels with some boys who could read, and wrote
their names on the title-pages, which seemed to please
them very much Several gave us the Muslim saluta
tion, Peace upon you, though they are forbidden to do so
to Christians. Our next excursion will be to El-Hautah." }
1 This excursion they were prevented from taking in consequence
of the lon illness.
Shaikh Othman. 207
The visit to Bir-Achmad is also described in a letter of
February 1 from Dr. Cowen to Dr. George Smith, from
which I make the following extract :
"We arrived at our destination shortly before nine
o clock, and were shewn into the upper room in the small
mud gateway of the sheikh s palace. At a distance the
palatial building itself presents a most imposing effect,
which a nearer inspection proves to be a delusion and a
snare. In this mud room we rested, cooked our breakfast,
and had our audience with the sheikh s nephew, a good
specimen of the Bedouin Arab quiet, hospitable and
courteous in manner; ignorant and superstitious about
religion ; with a wholesome belief in the powers (real and
imaginary) of European medicine, and decidedly grateful
for kindness and benefits received. They thought there
were one or two sick people in the village ; so after read
ing extracts from the Injil 1 to the young people, we set
off to visit them. Happily I had brought my instruments
with me ; and we were able to relieve a poor woman who
had suffered for three years from ascites, the cause of
which I could not ascertain. So unmistakeable were the
results and the relief to the poor sufferer, whose demon
strations of gratitude were eloquent beyond all power of
language, that the effect on the Arab mind was striking
and instantaneous. Suspicion was at once disarmed, and
the news of the event spread like wildfire through the
village, and we were literally dragged from house to house
to see sick people of whose existence they seemed previously
to have been strangely ignorant."
At this time everything seemed exceedingly bright and
hopeful. The letters thus far cited shew not merely cheer
fulness, for that indeed characterizes the letters written
during the period of sickness, but an evident and resolute
hopefulness. From a letter of Dr. Cowen s to myself I
select one or two incidents illustrating the nature of their
life at this time. He mentions that the verandah of mats
which had been added to the dispensary was a place to
1 See above, p. 163.
208 Shaikh Othman.
which Keith -Falconer was fond of coming, as long as he
was able, " to sit and talk or read to the natives who
came. His kind and sympathetic manner readily opened
the way to their hearts, and the English Sahib who spoke
Arabic like a book was everywhere welcome. His know
ledge of the language was still mainly that of the written
or classical Arabic : he was, however, rapidly acquiring
the colloquial tongue when laid aside by fever."
Dr. Cowen further refers to a point I have already dwelt
on in an earlier chapter. Underlying Keith-Falconer s
kindness of demeanour and of heart, there was a large
amount of decision of character and strong common sense.
He won respect all the more from those around him when
it became clearly seen that with all his generosity he had
a decided objection to being imposed upon ; and while I
very much doubt whether any of his friends ever saw him
angry, in the ordinary sense of the word, he could, if the
occasion called for it, manifest a genuine righteous indig
nation at what was cruel or base. An illustration of this
may be given. A man in his employ had, when intoxi
cated, cruelly beaten his wife and cut her head while in
Keith-Falconer s garden, and was summarily dismissed.
Keith-Falconer in sending the man away addressed him
in terms of the severest reproach for his cruelty, "but
without a trace of anger." The poor wife, pathetically
anxious to mend matters, tried to explain the injuries by
saying that she was subject to epileptic fits, and had fallen
against a box! He was much touched with the poor
woman s behaviour, and hired a camel to carry her and
her things away.
The following incident has considerable suggestiveness
in its bearing on the question of the view of Christianity
likely to be taken by the Arabs of the interior. Dr. Cowen
writes :
" During our first visit to Bir-Achmad we were taken
to see a sick man, whose complaint required surgical aid,
Shaikh Othman. 209
and whom he promised to take into our dispensary. He
was to have come in the next day, but fully six weeks
elapsed ere he arrived. The poor wife explained the long
delay by saying she could not get a camel. When he
asked her if no Muslim would lend her one to bring a sick
man in, she replied with an impatient gesture, There are
no Muslims now. He paid for her camel both ways, and
kept her for some weeks, as she wished to attend to her
sick husband. She was very grateful for the kindness
she had received, and, though wretchedly poor, twice
brought us a native basket with twenty eggs. This was
but one of the many instances in which the people shewed
their gratitude by sending presents of flowers, fruit, vege
tables, etc."
The Sultan of Lahej, the most influential native poten
tate in the neighbourhood, of whom, it may be remem
bered, Keith-Falconer had spoken in his first visit in no
very complimentary terms, called twice at the bungalow,
and was one of Dr. Cowen s patients. During Keith-
Falconer s last illness, he sent in a considerable quantity
of water-melons, bananas and honey, and had previously
asked to be allowed to stock the new garden with fruit
trees. This was the more pleasing, because, as I have
already mentioned in a note, Keith -Falconer s illness pre
vented him from repeating the visit he made to El-Hautah
in the preceding year.
One day a Turk, passing through Shaikh Othman on
his way to Aden, where he had some official business,
called at Keith- Falconer s house. Here he was very kindly
received, and had a long conversation with his host re
specting some extracts from the Gospel which were read
to him. He also received some benefit from a slight sur
gical operation, and evidently the kindness with which he
was treated left a deep impression on his mind. " On his
return from Aden," writes Dr. Cowen, "he presented us
with three large gourds, filled with honey, for which he
had sent home, a distance of a hundred miles besides a
210 Shaikh Othman.
pair of tame rabbits : he wished us also to take money.
He also promised us letters of introduction, if we travelled
inland as we hoped to do."
Keith- Falconer was fond of occasionally dropping into
the coffee shops of the village and talking to the natives
there assembled. One day, as he passed a certain shop, he
found an old man lying in great pain on a rude bed by the
way-side. What followed may best be told in Dr. Cowen s
words :
" He asked some of the crowd of men and boys to carry
the poor man to our dispensary, where we would take care
of him. At once several of them called out for hammals,
or inferior persons, to do so, while they themselves shewed
no signs of moving in the matter. He said, In our
country, if a man were ill in the street, plenty of people
would gladly carry him ; but you Muslims don t seem
willing to lift a finger. To this one of the crowd sig
nificantly replied by putting his finger to his mouth and
saying, Lip-Muslims here. Thereupon he nodded to me,
and taking each an end of the bed, we began to carry the
poor fellow ourselves. This was too much for them, and
immediately any number of volunteers were forthcoming.
This method of shaming them into action he practised on
other occasions with like success."
I have spoken of this period of the residence at Shaikh
Othman as bright and cheerful, and so in one sense it cer
tainly was, most cheerful, most hopeful. Still at times
there was much to depress in the surrounding circum
stances ; yet not only at this time, but later when attack
after attack of illness would have crushed the spirit out of
many men, Keith- Falconer retained both his exceeding
thoughtfulness for others, and a genial humour and keen
sense of the ridiculous. One very hot day, seeing his
Somali servant perspiring freely over an ice machine which
demanded a great deal of exertion and provided very little
ice, he laughingly suggested that the heat was abstracted
from the water and passed up the handle into the boy s
Shaikh Otliman. 211
body, which the boy himself thought fully accounted both
for the ice and the perspiration !
All through the time of residence at Shaikh Othman,
he was very fond of talking of his old school and
college friends and teachers with much affection. Dr.
Cowen remarks, " what struck me most was the warmth and
duration of these friendships, some of them dating back
ten or fifteen years or more." A characteristic piece of
though tfulness for an old friend may be mentioned. He
had a box of carefully selected books packed up and sent
to Mr. C. T. Studd, when he heard of his isolation from
friends and books in China. Among the books so sent
was one which Keith-Falconer read for the first time
shortly after landing at Aden, and with which he was
much charmed, Blaikie s Personal Life of David Living
stone.
The present will be a suitable place for the insertion of
the following note. It was found among Keith-Falconer s
papers, and tells its story plainly : it embraces the whole
range of his employment, other than the direct teaching of
the Gospel, and testifies alike to the thoroughness of his
missionary purpose, to his zeal for acquiring knowledge,
more especially such as bore on his missionary work, and
to his methodical grouping of his details.
" Handwriting.
Grammar.
Arithmetic. .v
Beading practice.
Help G. and Cowen.
Ja cubl.
Geography of Yemen, etc.
Bedawi language.
Medicine.
Somali.
Hindustanee.
212 Shaikh Othman.
Learn texts by heart, (1) Bible, (2) Koran.
Supervise building and garden.
Correspondence.
Light literature.
Catalogue my Arabic books."
In the references to grammar, reading practice, and the
learning of texts, we must of course understand Arabic.
The Ja cubi, mentioned in the second group, is an Arabic
work, which Keith-Falconer had begun to translate before
leaving England, and of which about half had been finished
at his death. The work is a geographical description of
the countries which had embraced Islam, and though the
Arabic text has been several times printed, there is not, I
understand, a translation into any modern European
language. The part which Keith-Falconer had finished
was mainly occupied with the description of Persia. 1
The mention of Somali and Hindustanee in the third
group refers to Keith-Falconer s intention of acquiring at
any rate a reasonable working knowledge of these two
languages, both of which were largely spoken in Aden.
References to both of these will be found in some of the
letters yet to be cited.
I spoke in passing, in a preceding chapter, of General
Haig s remarkable journey through Yemen. In all the
details of this Keith-Falconer took a very keen interest,
and it cannot be doubted that, had his life been prolonged,
he would have tried in due time to make his way into the
interior.
In the early part of February, General Haig met Keith-
1 The book derives its name from its author, Achmad ibn Abi
Ja cub, commonly called Al-Ja cubl. The actual title of the book
is Kitabu-1-Buldan, or * the Book of the Countries. It was written
in the year 891 A.D.
Shaikh Othman. 213
Falconer three or four times. The following extract is
from a letter from G-eneral Haig to myself :
" Dr. Harpur and I were just starting one day just after
my arrival [at Aden] to call on him and Mrs. Keith-
Falconer at Shaikh Othman, when he walked in with Dr.
Cowen. They spent the afternoon with us, and we had
much prayer and talk about the work.
" I saw him last on February 7, when I drove out to
Shaikh Othman and spent the evening with them. It was
a very interesting time. We walked out through the
newly rising town, looked at the half-built enclosure wall
round the piece of land he had taken for mission buildings,
and talked over various plans. He was then greatly en
couraged by a visit which he and Dr. Cowen had just paid
to one of the nearer villages, where they were kindly re
ceived, and the doctor s medical aid was gladly welcomed in
many cases. 1 He looked well and strong, and little we
thought how nearly his short course was run. We all
knelt together before I left, and commended him and his
work to the Lord I anticipated for him years of
usefulness. But it was not so to be, and it is best as it is.
He who doeth all things well has ordered it otherwise, and
doubtless Keith-Falconer s early death was more for His
glory and the extension of His kingdom in Arabia than
many years of life would have been."
On the day of General Haig s visit, Keith-Falconer thus
writes to his eldest sister :
" SHAIKH OTHMAN,
Feb, 7, 1887.
". . . . We are more out of the world here than we
should be at Aden, for we see no daily telegrams, and
seldom a white face ; but the life here is of a much more
interesting nature than it could be at Aden. Here we are
in closer contact with the people, and have constant oppor
tunities of meeting with them. We have already three in-
patients in the infirmary behind the house. This is a little
mud building with planks for a roof, and with a door and
1 This is of course the visit to Bir-Achmad of January 24.
214 Shaikh Ot/tman.
two windows. One patient is nearly blind and very weak :
we shall not be able to do much more than improve the
general tone. One has scurvy and is getting steadily
better. The third is a very bad case of heart-disease,
liver-disease and dropsy. He is a Bedouin from a town
called Ibh, about 100 miles inland. I am afraid he will
die soon. Last night I left him crying aloud to Allah, and
the Messiah. He is very ignorant, and I had told him
that God loves every person who believes in the Messiah.
" General Haig came to-day and stayed to dinner. He
has just returned from a journey. Starting from Hodeida,
a Red Sea port, and accompanied by the Syrian colporteur,
Ibrahim (who sells Bibles for the British and Foreign
Bible Society in Aden), and a Somali servant, he went up
to San a, the capital of Yemen, where he was entertained
by some Italian merchants. Thence he came down to
Aden. He speaks of plenty of cultivation in some districts.
The climate in the highlands of Yemen is quite temperate,
and he always slept in a house. The roads seem to be
quite safe. He found quantities of Jews, all marvellously
ignorant. At one place he had a semi-public discussion
with them, or rather with the chief rabbi in the presence of
the rest.
" Our wall of mud, eight feet high, which is to surround
our house and garden, is about half-finished, and we have
arranged a contract for the procural and conveyance of
7,200 cubic feet of stone from Aden. There is no stone
here. In a few days we hope to have arranged a third
contract for building the walls. When the house is built,
or a little earlier, we must get the dispensary and hospital
erected. The estimate for the house amounts to 5,400,
6,500, or 7,400 rupees, according to the kind of wood we
use for it. 7,400 rupees equal ,570. The dispensary will
come to about .100 or ,150 more The school and
a house for the Cowens will come later. These are all initial
expenses, and when defrayed will not occur again."
It was very soon after General Haig s visit that things
began for the first time to be clouded over. On February 9,
Keith-Falconer and Dr. Cowen paid their second visit to
Bir-Achmad, riding on camels as before. On the evening
Shaikh Othman. 215
of the next day the former was slightly feverish, but felt
sufficiently well to rise and speak to a number of Somali
women in the verandah with Mrs. Keith -Falconer. On the
next day, however, he had high fever, and on the 13th Dr.
Colson was called out from Aden to see him. The fever
continued for three days, and then began to abate, so that
by the 19th he was able to rise for dinner, and on the 21st
walked round to the next garden with Colonel and Mrs.
Eaper. To aggravate matters, Mrs. Keith -Falconer also
had fever very badly at the same time ; though, most
providentially, Dr. Cowen was entirely unaffected by it at
present.
At this time Keith-Falconer writes to his mother,
"SHAIKH OTHMAN,
Feb. 22, 1887.
" Both G-. and I are now convalescing after a bout of
Aden fever. I never felt so utterly miserable in all my
life, but Colson declares that there is no danger in it, and
that it leaves no after effects One of our Somali
servants has had it too, but coupled with a great deal of
shivering, which we did not have. This morning the butler
says he has fever. There is a great deal of it about now,
owing to the strong winds which have been prevalent
lately
" Quinine is quite useless in this fever, one must simply
grin and bear it. When we get into a proper house,
affording proper protection from the wind, we shall not
be so liable to it.
"The Queen s Jubilee was celebrated at Aden a few days
ago. The Parsees, who are hand in glove with the English,
made a great display of loyalty."
Towards the end of the month he had a slight return of
the attack, but on March 2 he was able, with Mrs. Keith-
Falconer, to remove to Khor Maksar. This place is
situated on the Isthmus, about two miles to the north of
the defensive works, and here is stationed a troop of native
216 Shaikh Othman.
cavalry. Khor Maksar formed until recently the limit of
British territory at Aden. Here they enjoyed the hospi
tality of Lieutenant Gordon, the officer in command of the
troop, whose friendship and kindliness they greatly valued.
After about a week s stay here they moved, Mrs. Keith-
Falconer to Colonel Eaper s in Aden Camp, and Keith-
Falconer himself to Steamer Point, to the house of Dr.
Jackson, then and afterwards a true friend and adviser.
From here he thus writes to his youngest sister :
"STEAMER POINT, ADEN,
March 9, 1887.
" . . . . When that miserable fever left us, we came
away for change of air. First we went to the Isthmus, to
Lieut. Louis Gordon s house. He commands the Aden
Troop (100 Indian cavalry men, stationed there for duty
when necessary), and is a son of Sir H. W. Gordon, brother
of Chinese G9rdon. He has the magic wand, which the
Chinese thought ensured victory to the ever victorious
army. We became great friends. His room contains
three pictures of his uncle, and he looks on his journals,
<fec., as a kind of Bible
" Yesterday I came here, Dr. Jackson s house. We are
both well again, but are not going back till Monday next.
" Our mud wall is finished, and we have got the stone
for the house, and arranged the contract for the stone work ;
27 rupees (about <2) per 100 cubic feet. The house will
cost just about .500. Try and get some fat donations for
the hospital. I believe that three of Mrs. s dresses
would build it. But I believe that we can do it without
more help, as we are spending very little on ourselves now.
Still a few little cheques would expedite matters. Our
cow is a success. It only cost <3 "
" treated us to tunes on the orguinette. You put in
rolls of paper, with slits in them, thus [here follows a
rough diagram], and turn a handle. It requires no skill,
and gives great pleasure. He treated us to a varied
selection. He played the Old Hundredth, then Pina
fore/ ....
"I am acquiring quite a stock of medical knowledge.
Shaikh Othman. 217
Ulcers are my forte at present. We get 100 new patients
a month. Some come from far inland. G-. is improving
in the Arab tongue. I have just written to Dr. G-. Smith
about the pink leaflet. 1 We have no out- station at Lahej.
There is no such thing as * ripe scholarship : I expect to
peg away at the Dictionary till my last day. Cow en will
certainly not travel among the Bedawin till Mrs. C. arrives
to keep G. company.
" We have had our roof thatched, and the house will be
cooler for it. The weather at present is cool and breezy."
After a total absence of three weeks, Keith-Falconer re
turned to Shaikh Othman, much improved in health, free
from fever, eating and sleeping well. It would seem, how
ever, as though a strange susceptibility to a return of
fever still remained, and during the next five weeks he had
several fresh attacks, partially regaining his strength in the
intervals and going about, but never thoroughly strong.
To his Mother.
"DR. JACKSON S, STEAMER POINT,
March 17, 1887.
" You will be glad to hear that we are both nearly well.
.... One of the peculiarities of Aden fever is that you
think you are quit of it, and for a time you convalesce
nicely : then it comes back in a milder form for a day at a
time, remitting. We expect to be back at Shaikh Othman
on Saturday.
" I am learning Hindustanee. It is a mongrel jargon
of Sanscrit, Hindee, Persian, Arabic and English : but I
find it is very awkward not to know it.
" The Surgeon-General of Bombay has been making en
quiries about our dispensary. I think that eventually the
Government dispensary will be discontinued, and we shall
get a grant ; by which we shall be enabled to keep a hospital
assistant
1 This is the Sabbath School Missionary Leaflet of the Free
Church of Scotland (No. 36), "Our Medical Mission in South
Arabia."
218 Shaikh Othman.
" If the Turks would clear out of Yemen, a wonderful
field for commerce would be thrown open : for the Turkish
government is vile, and all cultivators are taxed to an
iniquitous extent."
On March 26, he wrote thus to myself :
" I have not been able to write owing to the long spell
of fever which both my wife and I have been through. I
am now at Steamer Point with Dr. Jackson trying to get
back strength, but it is slow work, and the fever may come
back any day. Cowen has also sickened. My wife is
recruiting at Mrs. Raper s in Aden.
" Did you ever think of reading O^EHp instead of 0^*1 p
in Hab. 1 Comp. parallel passage in Deuteronomy. Have
just read Scott s Antiquary. First class. Now I am in
Heart of Midlothian. I am afraid I don t feel up to writing
a long letter yet."
On or about April 1, Dr. Colson went over to Shaikh
Othman, "and found him looking much better and in good
spirits."
To his Mother.
"SHAIKH OTHMAN,
April 4, 1887.
" . . . . After lying on my back for nearly seven weeks,
I find that I have little news It is now five days
since I had fever, and I am getting rapidly stronger.
" Our house is at length rising from the ground. We are
going carefully to work, and bargaining like Jews. The
weather is very pleasant : the early mornings and evenings
are fresh and the nights quite cold. The white ants are
very troublesome ; they have destroyed several of our nice
pictures. The floor beneath our matting is just earth, and
harbours all sorts of creatures. The rats also are very
bold. The mice have nibbled a good bit off my professorial
patent, but I keep it in its box now.
1 This refers to the Psalm of Habakkuk (iii. 4), in which we both
at this time were especially interested.
Shaikh Othman. 219
" We have got all our German books. I am reading
4 Die verlorene Handschrift. .... I am trying to learn
enough Hindustanee to talk with natives
" Official correspondence has been going on about our
medical work. We do more business than the Govern
ment dispensary. When Cowen has got a native assistant,
we shall no doubt be able to make an arrangement with
Government, by which they withdraw and give us a
grant."
Again, in a letter of the same date to myself, he
" Our illness has thrown us back in every way. In par
ticular, I have been unable to write to you at any length,
or to think over Habakkuk s Psalm. My wife has been
quite well for more than a week, but I am still weak and
not fit for much. This fever is evidently of a remittent
nature. I have had five attacks in eight weeks. There is
nothing for it but patience.
" Our house is at last rising above the ground. Here is
a plan of it The verandah is 12 feet broad, and the
dining room will form part of it, shut in by wooden parti
tions, or reeds and mats. The doors have glass in them,
and serve also as windows. In this climate one is obliged
to have a great many of them. The walls are of stone, the
roof of wood and plaster. The floor will be plaster
throughout. The verandah will be thatched. The rooms
will be about 12 feet high
" We get a great many patients, and Cowen has not
been thrown out of his work by his fever nearly so much
as I. His attack was fortunately a mild one. He will
require an assistant when he comes back from England.
By that time we hope to have built our hospital "
To his Mother.
"SHAIKH OTHMAN,
April 19, 1887.
"We are all pretty well, but neither I nor G. are as
strong as we should like to be. We are having nice
weather. We never think of going out in the day. The
220 Shaikh Othman.
nights are quite cool, dangerously so. Next month is said
to be about the worst in the year.
" We have engaged a gardener from Lahej to lay out
our plot. We must stock it well with palm-trees, because
they thrive here so well, and give such good shade when
grown We expect to be home next year for three
months."
A letter dated April 20 was the last I was ever to re
ceive from him. Considering the nature of the letter, I
felt some hesitation in reproducing it here, but those
whose judgement I value have urged me to do so, and I
accordingly give it almost in full. The letter was written
in answer to one of mine telling of my mother s grave
illness, at a time when I had all but given up hope and
only a few days before she passed to her rest. The letter
in reply is thoroughly characteristic of the writer. Its
deep Christian trust and tender sympathy are what Ion
Keith-Falconer s friends could ever count on finding in
him. Nor should the lighter touches of the letter be over
looked. The remarks on points of Hebrew I have allowed
to stand ; not as specimens of the deliberate judgement of
the scholar giving forth a carefully thought out theory,
and yet not to be thrown aside because they are only
sparks from an anvil on which good weapons could be and
had been forged. The letter runs :
"SHAIKH OTHMAN,
April 20, 1887.
"Your letter of April 3 received yesterday evening.
I am most truly sorry to hear of the dangerous illness of
Mrs. Sinker. You will know the worst by now. Thank
God, we sorrow not as those who have no hope : and we
know that death for a Christian is the beginning of life.
I am very glad that H. C. G. Moule has been to see you
so often: and sincerely sorry that I cannot do the same.
I pray that you may not give way to excessive grief, but
on the contrary may be glad for her sake and may dwell
Shaikh Othman. 221
with thankfulness on the thought that God has spared her
to you for so long
" Certainly they are to be envied who are just thankful
for all that God gives them, and do not grieve for what
He holds from them. A man was stricken with blind
ness ; when asked if he did not repine, he said, On the
contrary, I am filled with thankfulness for all the years of
sight which I have enjoyed. It is hard to get to this
state, but it can be done. If I am a Christian, I can say
Whatever happens to me is the very best thing which can
be devised. And yet, on the other hand, it is only natural
that one should be sad (without complaining) when a
loved one is taken. I argue hence that grief is intended
for us, and must turn to blessing. And so I conclude that
God, by this special grief, has some special blessing in
store for you.
" I have been looking at Hab. 1 again. |V^fl Dt^l strikes
me as very suspicious. ^VHH seems to give the wrong
meaning, besides being air. Xey. ; I would suggest |Vin,
revelation or unveiling, but the usage of ]VtH does not
quite favour this sense. Perhaps we might point P JH ?
Is this form used in poetry out of pause ? Then again
I should like to point HJ31 vice H^}, and construe ITi!]"!
with D*np. In ver. 16 I think there must be a clerical
error, and would like to read Qy I") 17^7- Do not shew
these hasty remarks to . It would terminate my
friendship with him, if he did not die on the spot of a fit.
" Can you tell me which is the best dictionary of
Scotch ? Such a book is needful in reading Scott.
" Yours ever affectionately,
And with deep sympathy."
To his Mother.
"SHAIKH OTHMAN,
May 1, 1887.
" You will be sorry to hear that I have been down with
yet another attack. I am now getting strong again. This
makes my seventh attack This rather miserable
1 Habakkuk iii.
222 Shaikh Othman.
shanty in which we are compelled to live is largely the
cause of our fevers. It is all draughts. Our address
should be The Draughts, Shaikh Othman. I sincerely
trust that when we get into our house, which is now six
feet above the ground, we shall be exempt from this nui
sance. We are going in a few days to Gordon s bungalow
on the isthmus to enjoy his fresh sea-air. He is four miles
from here, but his climate is quite different from ours, and
is more bracing. You need not have the slightest anxiety
about us. At the present moment we are distinctly better
than we were after the first attack. We are not being
gradually worn out.
" Our gardener, newly engaged, is busy levelling, plough
ing and laying out the plot, and directly the well is com
plete, planting and sowing will begin. We expect to begin
living in the new house about June 1, though it will not
be finished then. . . . *
" I have had plenty of time for reading. I have got
through Scott s Heart of Midlothian, Antiquary and
Guy Mannering : Sir Percival : enough of S*he to
shew that it was just a remodelling of King Solomon :
Children of Gibeon by Besant, capital : Pressense s
Early Years of Christian Church, vol. i. : Life of
Livingstone by Blaikie, splendid : parts of Carus s Life
of Charles Simeon : Forbes* s Hindustani Grammar,
most : Bonar s Life of Dr. Judson, very interesting : half
of Dorothy Forster, which I got tired of : parts of Horae
Subsecivae by Dr. J. Brown : and the first hundred pages
of Die verlorene Handschrift, which is very well written,
though the story is not intensely interesting so far
(Continued) May 2.
11 To-day is very pleasant. Sun very hot, with a gentle
breeze blowing. I am also better and stronger
Read Bonar s Life of Judson, and you will see that our
troubles are nought,"
On May 3, Dr, Colson again went over to Shaikh Othman
to see him ; "he was looking pale and seemed a good deal
knocked-up." Still, it was thought, he was stronger and
brighter than he had been for some little time past ; and
Shaikh Othman. 223
he wrote an unusually large number of letters for the mail
which left on May 4. He had arranged to go with Mrs.
Keith-Falconer on May 5 to spend a few days at Khor
Maksar with Lieutenant Gordon, as the change to his
house on a former occasion had done them both much
good. At the last moment, however, Mr. Gordon was
compelled to put them off for a day or two.
On May 3 he wrote to his brother-in-law, Mr. Ashley
Bevan :
" . . . . Cowen has nursed us splendidly. He is just the
kind of man I wanted. The people like him very much
and flock to the dispensary : but he knows too little Arabic
to communicate freely with them. He is picking it up
rapidly, and is evidently a clever man. We have accom
modation for six in-patients, so that as soon as I am strong
enough I shall have all the opportunities I want. Islam
has no very strong hold on the people. They say them
selves, There are no Muslims here. English influence is
very great, and extends far inland. The Sultan of Lahej
is among our patients : he sends us presents of fruit, and
offers to stock our garden
" I used to offer patients a choice between our medicine
and Zemzem l water. They always chose the former."
He writes on the same day to Mr. J. H. Turner, of
Cambridge :
" Since Feb. 10 until a day or two ago, I have been suf
fering from remitting fever ; for twelve weary weeks, with
a few short breaks, on my back a useless invalid. I hope
and trust that I have shaken it off now We shall
soon be in a good stone house which is building, and the
hot weather has begun and the hot months are healthier
than the cool so we look forward to a spell of health
now.
" My wife has been about as bad as I have : but, thank
God, we are in excellent spirits One good point
about this fever is that it leaves no bad effects behind it.
1 The sacred well at Mecca.
224 Shaikh Othman.
The doctors know of no remedy for it. Quinine is useless.
.... Just received a kind note of greeting from G. E.
Moule, Bishop of Mid-China, dated from steamship Hy-
daspes, written en voyage for China
" The weather is now warming up. Yesterday it was
94 in the shade : but we have a double roof and a delicious
breeze.
" The people are flocking to our dispensary, and we keep
a few in-patients ; but Dr. Cowen knows too little Arabic to
preach to them. I long for health to get at them. D.V.,
I shall be in Cambridge in May Term, 1888."
Alas, Deo aliter visum.
The two foregoing letters did not reach the hands of
those to whom they were addressed until after the tele
graph had told the news that God had called His servant
to Himself.
For the period which remains I have been permitted to
draw upon a brief diary kept by Dr. Cowen, and Mrs.
Keith-Falconer has put into my hands certain notes taken
by herself.
On the morning of Thursday, May 5, Keith-Falconer
received a visit from Ibrahim, the Bible Society s agent
at Aden who had accompanied General Haig in his journey
through Yemen, and was much interested in the conver
sation. In the afternoon, accompanied by his wife and
Dr. Cowen, he drove to the garden-plot of the Mission-
House. Here they spent more than half-an-hour, while
he examined the work done and gave directions to the
workmen. In the evening, he did not seem to be at all
over-fatigued.
On the Friday morning (May 6) he felt too tired to rise
for breakfast, and by noon it was clear that the fever had
returned. It was in the course of this morning, Mrs.
Keith-Falconer believes, that he said to her, " Isn t it very
strange ? I get generally so depressed when I am unwell,
but now I don t feel in the least cast down. After all
Shaikh Othman. 225
these weeks of illness, I feel in perfectly good spirits." He
had his books on his bed, his Bible, Hebrew Old Testa
ment and Hindustani Grammar, as had been the case all
through his illness, and read a good deal.
On Saturday the fever was present all day. In the
evening Colonel Eaper came to see him, and was much
struck with his patient cheerfulness.
For the following extract I am indebted to Dr. Cowen s
diary :
"May 8. Sunday. He took early tea and milk with
usual relish Caught a fresh chill, teeth chattered.
Did not get warm for half an hour. Then very hot, fol
lowed about 11 or 12 o clock by heavy perspiration. Feel
ing of oppression increased, relieved somewhat by sickness.
.... Asked me to read to him, chose last chapter of St.
Mark, it is disputed, but that doesn t matter. . . . .
2.30 P.M. At this time and during remainder of afternoon,
pulse imperceptible at wrist or barely present Asked
if his wife had been as ill as this Stayed with him
that night : very restless, but had one sleep of about three
hours.
" May 9. Monday. Still restless Objected more
than once to Achmad sitting beside him, while I visited a
sick woman, &c., as A. was not well, and he said it would
tire him. Same when his wife sat with him. Wrote for
nurse That evening I talked with him about a
change, which I said was necessary, and said I would stay
after June 7 if necessary. 1 He said he hoped it would not
be necessary, and that I should not get fever. Suppose
you caught it three or four days before you were to sail. I
am going to pray that nothing may prevent your getting
away on the 7th of June. He had been wandering at
times during the day, but seemed to brace himself up for
this, and was perfectly clear ; very simply and fervently he
thanked God for my nursing, and prayed for restoration to
health to carry on the work begun ; that nothing might
1 It had been planned that Dr. Cowen should have taken the
steamer of this date for England, to complete the medical and
surgical outfit of the Mission.
226 Shaikh Othman.
prevent my sailing as arranged, and that He would gra
ciously dispose the hearts of friends at home towards the
cause of missions, in the name of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. I stayed by his side all night : he slept
about four hours altogether."
In the course of the morning of this day he had said to
his wife, " I want you to thank God that I am so much
better ; I feel like a new man ; do pray now." Afterwards
he talked of the seeming mysteriousness of the fever being
allowed to interrupt the work for so long, but added that
God allowed it all and so it must be right. Then he said,
" How I wish that each attack of fever had brought me
nearer to Christ nearer, nearer, nearer ; " adding shortly
afterwards, " I can most truly say that I am not afraid to
die, in spite of my many shortcomings, but I do pray God
that I may be spared pain." Then he spoke of his brother
Dudley, how much he suffered, and how joyful he was at
the thought of death.
The following extract is from Dr. Cowen s diary :
"May 10. Tuesday. Condition much the same as
yesterday. About 5 P.M. Mr. Streeten, the chaplain,
called, bringing the nurse to help us. He did not feel
well enough to see Mr. Streeten, and asked to be excused.
I walked to the garden plot with Mr. Streeten, and talked
over possible trips: he promised to make all enquiries
from P. and 0. agent the same evening. I said we could
not arrange anything definitely, as it would depend on
when he was well enough to move, and when that would
be really no one could say at present. In evening was
very weak and restless Asked me if I thought
there was danger : I said * I hope not/ and tried to cheer
him.
" Told the nurse to knock me up at once if anything
happened, and shewed her where I slept. Shortly before
9, he took two eggs in brandy and milk, and about 9.30
fell asleep. I stayed with Mrs. Keith-Falconer till 10
o clock, and had prayer for her husband with her. We
Shaikh Othman. 227
talked over his condition and treatment, and could think
of nothing else which could be done. Left the nurse in
charge with brandy and milk and ice by bedside. Was
sleeping quietly and regularly when I left about 10 o clock,
and being very tired I slept soundly till hastily called by
Mrs. Keith-Falconer about a quarter to six next morning.
The nurse reported that he slept quietly most of the night,
and she was thinking how refreshed he would be next day,
as he had been rather restless for two nights. About 4
A.M. he was still sleeping quietly and regularly. She then
lay down by the side of the bed, and was not awake when
Mrs. Keith- Falconer called to her in the morning
One glance told all. He was lying on his back, with eyes
half-open, and hands resting on the bed by his sides
The whole attitude and expression indicated a sudden and
painless end, as if it had taken place during sleep, there
being no indication whatever of his having tried to move
or speak."
It was indeed the end: quietly he had passed away.
" God s finger touched him and he slept." Slept ! Nay,
rather awakened. Not in the close heated room, where he
had so long lain half-helpless, the weary nurse, overcome
with heat and watching, slumbering near, the young
wife, widowed ere yet she knew her loss, lying in the
adjoining room, herself broken down with illness as well
as anxiety, the loyal doctor, resting after his two nights
vigil not on these do Ion Keith-Falconer s eyes reopen.
He is in the presence of his Lord : the life which is the
Life Indeed has begun.
On the evening of the llth he was reverently laid to
rest at the Aden cemetery, several of the officers of the
garrison (H.M. s 98th Regiment) attending the funeral.
The spot is a wild and dreary one, in no sense recalling
the peaceful beauty of many an English churchyard. He
is far from home and loved ones, yet he rests amid those
for whom he laboured with so perfect a love, and for
whom he counted no loss too great, if only he might
228 Shaikh Othman.
win them for Christ. He died at just Henry Marty n s
age. Like him he has " fulfilled a long time in a short
time," and precious shall be the fruit that shall spring,
in God s good time, out of his blessed devotion to the
Lord.
CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUSION.
" My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pil
grimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My
marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me, that I
have fought His battles, Who now will be my rewarder . . . .
So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the
other side. "
PILGRIM S PROGRESS. Death of Valiant-for-Truth.
IT was almost exactly six months after the young mis
sionary, full of keen hopes and joyous anticipations, had
left England for the East, that the telegram told the un
looked-for news of his death and his burial amid the
scene of his labours. The cheerful tone of the letters he
had written during his illness made it all the harder to
realise the fact that one who had been seen so short a
time before in the fullest vigour of young manhood had
indeed passed away. That warm, loving heart, that keen,
active brain, were, for this world, at rest. All the zeal
and self-sacrificing earnestness, all the carefully planned
and patiently worked-out schemes, all the efforts, all the
prayers, seemingly in vain. Yet, G-od be thanked, it is
indeed but in seeming. Who will venture to think, as he
looks back on the fair, noble record of Ion Keith-Falconer s
life and on his sacrifice of what the world holds dear, that
such love and faith can remain permanently effectless?
In that noble young Christian hero s life and death a seed
has assuredly been sown, the ultimate harvest of which no
man may foresee.
230 Conclusion.
The news of his death excited a deep feeling of sorrow
amid a far wider circle than that of his immediate friends
and acquaintances. Few men have died at so early an
age who have elicited from such widely different quarters
such expressions of warm regret.
It so chanced that the sad news from Aden reached
home only a few days before the Annual Meeting of the
General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, that
Assembly which in the preceding May had sent its mis
sionary forth with so hopeful a God-speed.
Both the outgoing Moderator, Dr. Somerville, who had
been the mouthpiece of the Assembly on that occasion,
and his successor, Dr. Rainy, paid warm tribute to the
work and the memory of this soldier fallen at his post.
The former, in his sermon at the opening of the As
sembly, after referring to the unlooked-for nature of the
news and to the sorrow which would be universally felt,
proceeded :
" It is a peculiar providence that on the very eve of the
opening of the General Assembly, tidings should have
reached us of the unexpected death of one of the most
chivalrous, distinguished, and beloved of our young mis
sionaries, who, amid the burning heats of Aden, at the
early age of thirty-one, has fallen under the power of that
mysterious malady which has borne from the Church on
earth so many of her noblest and most devoted sons. The
blow that has descended is one which will be keenly felt
throughout every district I may say, throughout the
country at large. The young Christian hero was present
with us at the last Assembly. His noble parentage, high
intellectual qualities, brilliant attainments, but above all
his self-sacrificing devotion to the highest of all causes,
invest his death with a power which will influence our
minds during all the proceedings of this Assembly.
"What may be the beneficent result which God may
educe from this calamity, we know not. This, however, we
may venture to hope for, that the death of this noble young
man may prove the means of awakening attention, greater
Conclusion. 231
than has ever been directed, to all Arabia s provinces, and
tend to give a lasting wound to that fatal system of Moham
medanism which has so long blighted the souls of millions.
What Christian Scotchman, with qualities in any way re
sembling those of him who has passed away, will stand
forth to raise the banner of the Gospel in the place of the
gallant warrior who has fallen ? "
The new Moderator, Dr. Rainy, in his opening address,
dwelt pointedly on the same thought : the first volunteer
has fallen in the Lord s battle ; who comes next ? He
said :
" Whatever becomes of the mission, of Ion Keith-Fal
coner we have now the memory only. But it is a very
profitable and admonitory memory. Very visibly he gave
to the cause and kingdom of our Lord Jesus all he had.
His university distinction, his oriental learning, his posi
tion in society, his means, the bright morning of his mar
ried life, I may add his physical vigour for he had trained
body as well as mind he brought them all to the service.
He did so the more impressively because he did it with no
fuss about it. We need not doubt that his free and com
plete gift was accepted. It was well that it was in his
heart. Suddenly, to our thinking, the Lord has been
pleased to take him up higher. We might think that, had
he been spared, his life might have been fruitful, not only
as a force abroad, but as an example at home ; for he was
the first in our Church s experience who was at once able
and willing to inaugurate this special type of dedication to
mission work, and his life might have been a standing
appeal to others. But shall his death have no force as an
appeal ? Who comes next ? Who will come with youth
and trained mental faculties, and proved success in study
and acquirements, and with position and means that make
him independent, and give them all to the service ? Or if
all these cannot be so equally combined, as in our lamented
friend, who will come with the measure of those gifts they
have, giving all they have ? It is sad that he is gone. But
it will be a great deal sadder if it should turn out that his
example fails to raise up a successor from among the young
men and young women of our Church."
232 Conclusion.
The Free Church, in its official " deliverance," made
solemn mention of those of its missionaries who had passed
to their rest in the preceding year, concluding with two
whose work was ended in the very spring-time of their
lives :
" The falling asleep, in the first months of their fervent
service, of Mrs. Cross at Chirenji, the farthest African out
post in East Central Africa ; and of the Hon. Ion G. N.
Keith -Falconer in the extreme Asian outpost of Shaikh
Othman, in South Arabia, gives solemn urgency to the
latest appeal of the latter to the cultured, the wealthy and
the unselfish, whom that devoted volunteer for Christ re
presented : While vast continents are shrouded in almost
utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors
of heathenism or of Islam, the burden of proof lies upon
you to shew that the circumstances in which God placed
you were meant by Him to keep you out of the foreign
mission-field. "
In Cambridge, it needs not to be said, after the first
shock of startled surprise, there was a very general and
keen feeling of sorrow. To all came the thought that one
of the most distinguished graduates of our University had
passed away in his prime, under circumstances which
added an exceptional interest to his name ; many had the
further sad recollection that never again in this life should
they see the face of one of the most loveable of men.
In the sermon preached before the University on the
Sunday after Ascension-day (May 22), the preacher, the
Rev. H. C. G. Moule, Principal of Ridley Hall, who had
taken as his subject " our union by the Holy Spirit with
our exalted Lord," dwelt at the close of the sermon on the
loss which the University and Church had sustained, and
on the lesson to which it clearly pointed :
" I will say no more upon the text. Bear with me a few
moments longer if I pay my poor tribute as we close to the
blessed memory of him who is but just lost to our Univer-
Conclusion. 233
sity, and to the Church Militant on earth, and whose name
I venture to enrol on the lengthening register of my friends
in Christ gone home. I spoke here of Ion Keith-Falconer
on Thursday, but the comparative privacy of our assembly
then leaves it surely my duty to lay one more wreath of
love and honour now upon his Arabian grave. He was
gifted, as men well knew, in many ways ; with the gifts of
birth, which are worse than nothing without goodness, but
a true talent with it ; with the physical vigour and address
which Scripture itself calls the glory of young men ; with
a mental constitution in which facility and rapidity of
acquisition and accuracy of result were combined as few
men are permitted to combine them. He took his seat at
nine-and-twenty in the conclave of our Professors. And
then, quite unobtrusively and as in the day s work of life,
he went forth, for the Name s sake of his beloved Lord, to
be the evangelist of the Arabians. And then, ten days
ago, before his thirty-first birthday, he lay down and slept
in Christ Not many years ago died, in the very
noon of youth, Ion Keith-Falconer s elder brother. It is
on record that for three whole days his dissolution was,
from the medical point of view, retarded by the overflow
ing joy which filled and vivified his being as the prospect
shone before him of entrance into the presence of the King.
God deals not so with all His dying saints. It may or may
not have been thus with this true brother of the same
blood and the same precious faith, as he also went over
Jordan. But it is sure as the foundations of all truth that
he is exceeding glad now, in great joy and felicity now, in
the everlasting life ; welcomed with open embraces into
the eternal tabernacles, into the bliss of the sight of Christ.
And why ? The ultimate answer is because of the blood
of the Lamb, because of the indwelling and the leading of
the Holy Spirit,
" And what to us, what to the Christian Church, says
the silence of his grave? When, forty years ago, the
apostolic Krapf buried his wife at Zanzibar and stood
alone beside the tomb, Now, said he, is the time come
for the evangelization of Africa from the eastern shore ;
for the Church is ever wont to advance over the graves of
her members. That omen is fulfilling now. So shall it be
234 Conclusion.
in Christ s name for old Arabia, shut so long against the
Cross, but claimed now for her true Lord by our scholar-
missionary s dust."
It may well be imagined that to the workers in Mile-
End the news of Keith-Falconer s death would come with
peculiar poignancy. He had been one of the mainstays of
that work almost from its beginning, his voice had been
heard in the Great Hall only a few months before, and in
no place had the news from the distant mission-field been
more eagerly dwelt on than here. At the memorial service
held in the great Assembly Hall on the Sunday evening
after the tidings became generally known, the building
was thronged with an immense congregation. Still but the
same lesson : for him, " the souls of the righteous are in
the hand of God ; " for them that remain, let his example
speak forth trumpet- tongued to fight the Lord s battle.
Warm expressions of sympathy were elicited in many
quarters ; other missionary societies than that with which
Keith-Falconer was specially associated, put on formal re
cord their sense of the loss which the Church had sustained.
The Committee of the Church Missionary Society sent a
minute expressing their regret at the death "at an early
age and almost at the very commencement of a missionary
career of singular promise, of the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer."
They add
" The Committee feel that there is an ample sphere for
both Societies in the Arabian field, and trust that God
will raise up for their sister Society a suitable successor to
carry on the important work which Mr. Keith-Falconer
commenced ; and desire to express their very sincere sym
pathy with the Free Church of Scotland in the loss which
in Mr. Keith-Falconer s removal they have sustained."
To shew what I believe testifies to the increasing soli
darity among those interested in the cause of Christian
Missions throughout the world, it may be added that not
Conclusion. 235
a few missionary journals in Canada and the United States
contained touching notices of Keith-Falconer s work and
death. 1
Among the various simpler marks of recognition paid
to his memory, I cannot refrain from noticing the follow
ing mentioned to me by Mr. Charrington. In the East of
London there exists a very large benefit Society, conducted
on total abstinence principles, known as the Sons of the
Phoenix.* The members of this are drawn entirely from
the working classes, and number, I am told, not less than
30,000. Of this society, a new Lodge for younger members
has been formed this summer, under the name of " the
Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer Lodge." God grant that the
reminder involved in the name under which these youths
are enrolled may ever be a help to something higher,
towards a fuller realization of truest Christian manhood.
It is not, however, in lament, deep and sincere though
it be, or in simply dwelling lovingly on the thought of the
departed, that honour may most truly be shewn, but rather
in carrying on his work as he would have had it done. If
of Keith-Falconer it may be said
So brave, so strong,
Fired with such burning hate of powerful ill,"
it is no true honour, no mark of true affection to the much
loved dead, if, among his works manifold, that with which
his heart had been pre-eminently bound up, that for the
attainment of which he counted not dear anything but the
love of the Master, were to be allowed to die out in oblivion.
As in the parallel case referred to in his last public utter-
1 From quite another quarter of the world comes a singularly
interesting piece of intelligence. The Presbytery of the Free
Church of Scotland in Kafraria resolved (Oct. 8, 1887) that "steps
should be taken to prepare a Memoir of the late Hon. Ion Keith-
Falconer, to be printed in Kafir, as a tract for circulation among
the Native Congregations, with a view to impress them with an
example of self-sacrifice. "
236 Conclusion.
ance in Great Britain, that of Rayinund Lully, lying in
death amid the Moors whom he sought to bring back to
faith in the Saviour, a protest for all time if ever supine-
ness surrenders that region without protest to the false
prophet so do Ion Keith- Falconer s sacred remains lie, in
witness and appeal, on that shore where in recent genera
tions he has been the pioneer proclaiming the unchanging
message of the Gospel.
My story might justly be charged with incompleteness,
if I passed over without mention that which is the truest
conceivable way of honouring Keith-Falconer s memory,
the maintenance of the work begun at Shaikh Othman.
The news from Aden had reached this country between
the outgoing of the old and the election of the new Com
mittee of Foreign Missions in the Free Church ; and thus
not till their meeting in June could the Committee take
official cognisance of the loss. They recorded in eloquent
and touching words what Keith-Falconer had done, the
causes which had brought his work to an untimely end,
and their own expression of deep and sincere regret.
" After five months work, enthusiastic, untiring and
hopeful, there remain for us on earth only his memory
and the undying power and persuasiveness of his personal
life and example."
But this was not all. At the same meeting, the Secre
tary announced that under God s blessing, Keith-Fal
coner s work should not be stayed by his death ; for by
the generosity of his mother and widow, stipends would
be guaranteed for two missionaries, one of whom at
least should be a medical man, to carry on the work at
Shaikh Othman. Dr. Cowen undertook to return to Aden
at any rate until the buildings were completed.
An appeal was thereupon issued asking for a sufficient
sum to complete and furnish the buildings. The estimated
amount was XI, 200, which was raised in a few months,
and we may now hope that a few months more will see
Conclusion. 237
the whole set of buildings in complete working order.
The whole of the money already spent on them, amount
ing to upwards of ,300, had been entirely defrayed by
Keith-Falconer himself.
It was of course no light thing to aim at carrying on a
mission the founder of which had fallen so early in the
midst of the work of which he was, humanly speaking, the
all in all. There was indeed no fear as to the zeal and
devotion of men who would volunteer for such a mission-
field ; but it was an imperative duty to utilize to the full
the lessons of the past, that the new workers might enter
upon their task under the most favourable conditions.
The well-known Indian Missionary, Dr. Mackichan, who
had succeeded Dr. John Wilson at Bombay, was now on
the point of returning to India, and was therefore re
quested to visit Aden and Shaikh Othman on his way and
to report generally on it and anything relevant to the
success of the mission.
At a meeting in August of the Foreign Missions Com
mittee, a second missionary, also a medical man, volun
teered to go out to Shaikh Othman, and was accepted.
This gentleman, Dr. Alexander Paterson, is the son of the
Committee s first medical missionary to Madras, and
grandson of Dr. Chalmers s parishioner and friend, the
Missionary of Kilmany. This successor to Keith-
Falconer s work had never interchanged a word with him,
or indeed seen him, save at a distance; yet, strangely
enough, as I have already mentioned, it was to see him as
a possible colleague that Keith -Falconer paid his visit to
the hospital in Bethnal-Green in June, 1886. Dr. Pater-
son, after devoting himself at Cairo during the winter to
the study of Arabic and of special Oriental diseases, pro
ceeded to Shaikh Othman at the beginning of the March
of the present year. 1 There yet another volunteer is
1 Dr. Paterson has already an average of twenty cases a day,
Arabs and Somalis, both men and women.
238 Conclusion.
working, who sailed from England in November last. This
is Mr. Matthew Lochhead, who speaks Arabic fluently,
and who for three years held the post of Lay Evangelist
and Medical Assistant in a mission among the Kabyles in
Morocco.
When the present chapter was ready to be sent to the
press, fresh tidings reached me which call for feelings of
deep thankfulness, and cannot fitly be passed over here.
The death of the young missionary and his appeal for
men has had so powerful an effect on the Divinity students
of the New College, Edinburgh (one of the three Colleges
of the Free Church of Scotland), that out of the forty who
will complete their seven or eight years course of study in
April next, eleven, besides two of the previous year, have
offered themselves for missionary work abroad. Several
of these, to whom South Arabia was provisionally offered,
were ultimately found ineligible for that post on grounds
of health. One of the most distinguished, however, a very
promising Semitic scholar, Mr. William E. W. Gardner,
M. A. , lias been chosen by the Foreign Missions Committee
and will be ordained for the work.
Mr. Gardner s father was a missionary in Poona, his
sister is a missionary in Bombay, and his elder brother is
about to go out as ordained Professor to the Wilson College
in Bombay. Mr. Gardner will continue his study of Arabic
for the present and will join the Mission in October.
The mention of the Edinburgh New College suggests
one point more, the disposal of Keith- Falconer s Arabic
books. The choicest of these, upwards of 400 in number,
have been made over by his family to the Library of this
College, where they will be kept as a special collection
under the title of the " Keith-Falconer Arabic Library."
Professor A. B. Davidson and Sir, William Muir consider
it to be the most valuable Arabic library in Scotland.
All that now remains to be told is to speak briefly of the
results of Dr. Mackichan s visit to Aden. Having landed
Conclusion. 239
on Oct. 1, the first necessary piece of business to be trans
acted was to take steps for transferring the grant of land
at Shaikh Othman to the trustees of the Free Church of
Scotland, as Keith-Falconer would himself have done on
the completion of the buildings.
It is strangely touching to read of Dr. Mackichan s
meeting with Colonel Eaper, Dr. Colson, Dr. Jackson,
Lieutenant Gordon, and others whose names are familiar
as those of cordial friends to the mission party. On
Sunday evening, October 2, Dr. Mackichan was taken by
Colonel Eaper to see the spot where the departed worker
for Christ was laid.
" He accompanied us to the place where Keith-Falconer
lies buried a spot that shall ever remain sacred to all who
shall read the records of the planting of Christ s Church in
Arab lands, and which now and in coming years should
call forth the highest manifestations of the missionary de
votion and heroism of our Church. Behind it and around
it, stand the black mountain rocks the gloomy hills of
darkness to which the departed labourer came with the
message of the Gospel s glorious light ; in front of it lies
the white, sandy Arabian shore, with the ocean stretching
away into limitless distance. As we looked upon it in the
quiet of the peaceful sunset hour, it was a scene in which
labour and rest, suffering and joy, seemed strangely
mingled. The black frowning rocks seemed to speak of
toil and suffering, but the still unending expanse before
us lifted our thoughts away from the scene of sorrow, to
that of the unending and unspeakable joy, in which that
labour and sorrow have ended. As we stood by the grave
we thought of the mysteriousness of the bereavement
which had deprived the land of one so devoted to the cause
of its evangelisation, and so eminently fitted for the work
to which he had consecrated himself. Colonel Kaper in
terpreted our thoughts and his own, when he spoke of it
as the dying of the seed which should yet bring forth much
fruit. It was touching to see how carefully the grave was
tended. The Colonel had enclosed the space temporarily
in a tasteful border of wood, while the loving hands of his
240 Conclusion.
two little children had covered it with the shells which they
themselves had gathered from the adjoining beach."
On the following day a visit was paid to Shaikh Othman,
under the guidance of Dr. Jackson. Dr. Mackichan was
agreeably surprised by the comparative coolness of the
temperature of Aden after that of the Ked Sea, and still
more by that of Shaikh Othman. Here he found the old
village gradually disappearing, and being replaced by one
built by Government with wide, open streets. After a
visit to the Government office, a careful inspection was
made of the unfinished mission buildings. These, as has
been already stated, lie between the old village and the
new, and the site was chosen by Keith-Falconer that the
mission and its workers should be in the very midst of the
people. The plot, which was 510 feet each way, was en
closed by a wall of sun-dried bricks seven feet high, with a
gate in the centre of each side of the square. In the eastern
corner was the unfinished house, the walls of which had
risen to the height of the first story. It had been intended
to add an upper story, containing at least one room.
The next visit was to the house where the mission party
had lived. Of this Dr. Mackichan says,
" As we went over the little unoccupied dwelling in which
Mr. Keith-Falconer s last moments were spent, we realised
something of the trials with wlu ch our missionaries had to
contend in the beginning of their labours. The house is
not only small but low-roofed, while the high wall which
surrounds the enclosure must exclude much of the breeze
which is so essential to healthful life in that region. There
can be little doubt that the illnesses from which all the
members of the Mission suffered were in great measure due
to the peculiar position in which they were placed, rather
than to any general climatic cause."
On their way back to Aden, visits were paid to Hassan
Ali s bungalow and to Khor Maksar, the residence of
Lieutenant Gordon.
Conclusion. 241
Those who have followed with interest Keith -Falconer s
heroic missionary career will be glad to read of the im
pressions left on the mind of an acute observer, written
immediately after careful investigation on the spot. Dr.
Mackichan had strong grounds for believing from all he
saw and heard while in Aden that Keith-Falconer s work
while in Arabia, short though it was, had by its intense
earnestness left a deep impression on the hearts of the
people, and that the influence had spread far into the
interior. " We have," he adds, " not merely the assurance
that the seed of corn which has died will bear much fruit,
but can behold already the up-springing of the tender
blades of promise."
Dr. Mackichan informs us that a railway is already pro
jected from Aden to Shaikh Othman, and is expected to
be an accomplished fact in six months. This will doubt
less largely increase the population of Shaikh Othman,
and will in many ways bring great benefits to the mis
sionaries, but not without certain drawbacks.
One important point had to be settled, the question
whether the original scheme of the mission should be re
tained unchanged in all its details as planned by Keith-
Falconer. After careful consideration, Dr. Mackichan
proposed one important modification, in which he was
supported by the " unanimous, almost urgent representa
tion" of those gentlemen on the spot who took a warm
interest in the welfare of the mission. This was to pro
vide a residence for the missionaries on a fresh site,
reserving the existing buildings and the enclosure for the
various purposes of the Mission, Hospital, Dispensary,
Mission School ; the present unfinished building being on
its completion used as the School, the Hospital being
erected on another part of the same enclosure.
There is obviously much to recommend this change,
and the proposal has been approved of by the Foreign
Missions Committee of the Free Church. Thus, as be-
242 Conclusion.
fore, the work will still be carried on iii the heart of the
village, but the missionaries will live rather less than
half a mile away, on a spot thoroughly open to the
freshest breezes. Here they will not require the high
enclosing wall necessary in the village, and thus will be
able to obtain after a hard day s toil the rest and fresh
air which are absolutely essential to their health and fit
ness for labour. . -
Again then does the mission begin, and with bright
prospects of success. Humanly speaking, we may well
believe that the workers at Shaikh Othman have now a
jjjreat field opening out before them. In the success of
their work all servants of Christ, of every branch of the
Church, cannot but feel the warmest interest.
A great price has been paid, a noble life laid down;
but by God s will that death may have wrought as much
for His cause as a long life spent in missionary service :
and, in any case, it is not for us to define the conditions
under which God s servants, here or beyond the grave,
shall work for Him. The Master had need of him, and
has called him.
In those words from the greatest of English allegories,
which stand at the head of the present chapter, we have
the dying utterance of Valiant-for-Truth. Fittingly may
those words be applied to the closing of the short life of
Ion Keith-Falconer, short if measured by length of years,
and yet
" One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name."
Devoted missionary, true Christian hero, he has left a
mark on many fields of work, an undying memory in many
hearts. " He has fought His battles, Who now is his
rewarder."
THE END.
INDEX.
Aberdeen, 7, 22.
Ackmad, 196, 225.
Aden, description of, 139 ff. ;
life at, 154, 171.
Arabic, 90, 92, 107, 121, 144.
,, Lord Almoner s Pro
fessorship of, 176.
Assembly Hall, Mile-End, 80 ff. ,
234.
Assiout, 104 ff.
Bannockburn, battle of, 2.
Barnwell, 62 ff., 183 ff.
Barry, battle of, 1.
Ben-na-chie, 8.
Bethnal-Green Hospital, 175.
Bevan, Mr. Ashley, 223.
,, R. C. L, 69, 126.
Bicycle Club, Cambridge Uni
versity, 52 ff.
,, ,, Cambridge C.Y.
M., 138, 178.
,, ,, London, 53, 182.
Bicycling, 17,51 ff, 102, 112, 126,
138.
Bidpai, see Kalilah.
Bir-Achmad, 205, 207, 214.
Black Forest, 104.
Bhmdell, Mrs., 9.
Bowen, Mr. E. E., 16, 27, 179.
Bright, Dr. Tim., 136.
Broadlands Conference, 45, 58 ff.
Bruce, King Kobert, 2.
Butler, Rev. Dr., Master of
Trinity, 13, 19.
Cairo, 104 ff., 110.
Cambridge, 17, 31 ff, 66 ff., 101,
121 ff., 167, 191, 232.
Cannes, 30, 126, 137, 166, 195.
Caskieben, 5, 9.
Champney, Mr. H. d A., 69.
Charrington, Mr. F. N., 23, 25,
69, 72 ff, 102, 151, 162, 174,
183, 194.
Cheam School, 12.
China Inland Mission, 129, 202.
Church Missionary Society, 147,
159, 234.
Clare College, Cambridge, 125.
Colson, Dr. and Mrs., 156, 197,
199, 215, 218, 226, 239.
Cowen, Dr. B. Stewart, 180,
195, 197, 199, 201, 203, 210,
236.
Cowper-Temple, Right Hon. W. ,
45.
Croft on, Rev. W. d A., 53.
Dale, Mr. Thomas, 32.
Darn Hall, 180, 185.
Delitzsch, Dr., 94.
Delme-Radcliffe, Rev. A. H.,
184.
Dundrech, 180.
Dunnottar Castle, 2, 4.
East-End Conference Hall, 76.
Ebrington Prize, 16, 24.
Edinburgh, 169, 185 ; New Col
lege, 238.
El-Hautah, 161 ff, 206.
Ely, Bishop of, 176.
Eiimierson, Mrs., 37, COL
214
Index.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 136,
177.
Falconer, Lord, 5, 8.
Fleischer, Dr., 94.
Flitton, Mr., 69.
Flodden, battle of, 2.
Flower Prize, 16, 24.
Frederick the Great, 4.
Free Church of Scotland, 6, 15,
90, 95, 150, 157, 230; General
Assembly of, 168, 230.
Gardner, Mr. William R. W.,
238.
Gordon, General, 100 if., 156,
161, 216.
Gordon, Hon. James Henry, 169.
Gordon, Lieut. Louis, 216, 223,
239.
Haig, General, R.E., 142, 145,
147, 157, 212.
Harpur, Dr. and Mrs., 147, 196,
213.
Harrow, 12, 17, 22 ff., 137.
Hassan AH, 199.
Hensley, Rev. Lewis, 27 ff.
Hindustanee, 212, 217, 225.
Hitchin, 27.
Hochkirch, battle of, 3.
Hodeida, 147.
Hogg, Dr., 104 ff.
Hogg, General, 197.
Holyoake, Mr. G. J., 43.
Huntingdon, David, Earl of,
8.
Ibh, 214.
Ibrahim, 224.
Invenirie, town and Bass of, 7,
11, 22; battle of, 2.
Jackson, Dr., 161, 162, 196, 216,
239, 240.
Ja cubl, 212.
Jeremie Prize, 43.
Kafraria, Free Church of Scot
land in v 235 n.
Kalilah, 91, 120 130 ff.
Keen, John, 17, 54, 55
Keith, Robert, 1 ; Sir Robert,
2 ; Sir William, ib. ; Lady
Catherine, 5.
Keith, Marshal James, 3, 96.
Keith-Falconer, Hon. Arthur,
43.
Keith -Falconer, Hon. Dudley,
10,30,226.
Keith-Falconer, Hon. Ion ; birth
and childhood, 9 ff. ; school at
Cheam, 12 ; Harrow, 13 ff. ;
with Mr. Hensley, 26 ; Cam
bridge, 31 ff. ; appearance and
manner, 35 ff. ; Jeremie Prize,
43 ; takes his degree in Theo
logical Trinos, 45 ; elected
Tyrwhitt Scholar, 47 ; Semitic
Languages Trinos, 47 ; bicy
cling, 51 ff. ; skill in shorthand,
57 ; helps Barnwell Mission,
67 ; becomes acquainted with
Mr. Charrin^ton, 74 ; helps the
Mile-End Mission, ib. ; death
of his father, 89 ; help to Dr.
Lagarde, 91 ; begins Kalilah,
ib. ; visits Leipzig, 88 ; meets
Gen. Gordon, 100; visits the
Black Forest, 104 ; Cairo, 106 ;
Assiout, 107 ; Sienaand Milan,
111; bicycle journey from
Land s End to John o Groat s
House, 112ff. ; examines for
Tyrwhitt Scholarship, 123 ;
attends Orientalist Congress
at Leyden, 124 ; appointed
Lecturer at Clare College,
Cambridge, 125; skill as
teacher, 126 ; marriage, 126 ;
bicycle tour in Sutherland -
shire, 126 ; Kalilah published,
130; first thinks of visiting
Aden, 148 ; offers himself as
Missionary to Free Church,
150 ; sails for Aden, ib. ; kind
ness to soldiers of Aden garri
son, 165 ; returns to England,
166 ; formal recognition by
Free Church, 169 ; address to
General Assembly, 170; plans
forMedical Mission, 174; visits
Bethnal-Green Hospital, 175;
accepts Lord Almoner s Pro-
Index.
245
fessorship, 176 ; meets Dr.
Cowen, 180; address at
Peebles, 180 ; presides at din
ner of L.B.C., 182; plan for
Barnwell Missionary, 184 ; ad
dress at Edinburgh, 185 ; lec
tures on the Meccan Pilgrim
age, 191 ; leaves England for
the East, 193 ; arrival at Aden,
195; disappointment as to bun
galow, 198 ff. ; fits up a hut
for dwelling-house, 200 ; visit
to Bir-Achmad, 205 ff. ; second
visit to Bir-Achmad, 214 ; at
tack of fever, 215 ; visit to
KhorMaksar, ib. ; last illness,
224 ; death, 227 ; burial, 227 ;
reception of news at home,
230 ff. ; Dr. Somerville s Ser
mon, 230 ; Dr. Rainy s Sermon,
231; "deliverance" of Free
Church, 232 ; Rev. H. C. G.
Moule s Sermon, 232 ; Service
at Mile-End, 234 ; minute of
C. M.S., 234; minute of Foreign
Missions Committee of Free
Church, 236 ; Arabic Library,
238 ; grave, 239.
Keith-Hall, 5, 8, 9, 11, 21, 90,
124, 127, 138.
Kerwin, Mr. E. H., 26, 74, 79.
Khor Maksar, 215, 223, 240.
Kintore, Earl of, first, 5, 9 ;
second, 5 ; fifth, 5 ; eighth, 5,
20, 69, 74, 83, 89 ff.
Kintore Prizes, 20, 137.
Lagarde, Dr., 90.
Lahej, 141,159, 161 ff., 205, 220.
Latchmore, Mr. Arthur, 28.
Leipzig, 88 ff, 104.
Leyden Orientalist Congress,
124.
Lochhead, Mr. Matthew, 238.
Lully, Raymund, 189, 236.
Lusby s Music-Hail, 79, 80, 82.
Maala, 140.
Mackenzie, Bishop, 180.
Mackichan, Rev. Dr., 240, 241 ff.
Malcolm II. , king of Scotland, 1.
Marischal College, 3.
Marischal, Earl, first, 2 ; fourth,
ib. ; fifth, ib. ; seventh, 3 ;
eighth, ib. ; tenth, 3, 6.
Mecca, 196 ; see also Pilgrimage.
Mile-End, 72, 122, 163, 167, 183.
Minto, Rev. P. W., 38.
Mohammedanism, 161, 170 ff,
185 ff.
Montagu, Lady Sydney, 23, 33.
Moody, Mr. D. L., 34, 66, 122.
Moule, Bishop, of Mid China,224
Rev. H. C. G., 220, 232.
Mowll, Rev. W. R., 69.
Noldeke, Professor, 120, 132, 135.
Palmer, ProfessorE. H.,50, 176.
Paterson, Dr. Alex., 175 n., 237.
Peebles, 181.
Phrcnix, Sons of the, 235.
Pilgrimage to Mecca, 160, 171,
177, 179, 191, 202 n.
Pinkie, battle of, 2.
Pitman, Mr. Isaac, 38, 55, 57,
136.
Portmore, 180.
Professorship of Arabic, see,
Arabic.
Rainy, Rev. Dr., 231.
Raper, Colonel and Mrs., 216,
225, 239.
Redknap, Mr., 11, 21.
Russell, Mr. G. W. E., 14.
San a, 155, 159.
Seely, Major, 196.
Semitic Languages Tripos, 47,
137.
Septuagint, 49.
Shaftesbury, Lord, 77, 83.
Shaikh OtWan, 140, 155, 158,
176, 194 ff.
Sheriffmuir, battle of, 5.
Shorthand, 16, 27, 38, 57, 136 ff.
177.
Siena, 111.
Smith, Dr. George, C.I.E., 129,
158, 163, 164, 189, 217.
Sol-Fa, Tonic, 28, 33, 108.
Somalis, 147, 153, 159, 168, 212
Somerville, Rev. Dr., 169, 230.
240
Index.
Spurgeon, Rev. C. H., 83, 174.
Steamer Point, 140.
Stourbridge Fair, 6.3.
Streeten, Rev. G. B., 196, 226.
Studd, Mr. C. T., 129, 202, 211.
,, J. E. K., 96.
Sutherlandshire, 126, 138.
Tabor, Rev. R. S., 12.
Theological Tripos, 39, 125.
Tower-Hamlets Mission, 73, 122.
Trent Park, 126, 138, 167.
Trinity College, Cambridge, 31
ff 62 1 92
Turner? Mr. j. H., 192, 223.
Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship,
*46, 56, 123.
Vawser, Mr., 69.
Wallace, William, 2.
Watson, Mr. Arthur, 12, 22.
Watson, Dr. and Mrs., 106, 195.
Whately, Miss, 106.
Willis, John, 136.
WiUon, Rev. Dr. John, F.R.S.,
129, 237.
Wright, Dr. W., 47, 88, 90,
120, 132.
Yemen, 141 if., 214.
Young, Colonel, 169.
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