Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

The Children's CornerMDR. PEOPLES AT WORK IN TURKEYby Mrs. Kenneth SandersonHe continues: "In one of the military hospitals duringthe war my first patient was a Greek. He had not seen a razoror a piece of soap or water or anything of a cleaning andbeautifying nature for weeks. He came in in such poor shapethat I took him upstairs to bed and didnT bother to give hima bath. That was late in the afternoon."The next morning the nurse came to me with thenews that the patient was 'just walking away'. I went up tosee him and found that all his whiskers and hair were justfilled with lice. I got a razor and shaved all his hair and beardoff. Then I had him taken down and given a bath. If he diedin the process, I would be sorry, but he couldn't stay in thehospital full of lice. I then ordered the soldier that I had, togo up to the cupboard where I kept the man's rags he'd beenwearing and look at them. He said they too were walkingaway so I ordered him to take them down to the edge of thesea and put a match to them. You could hear and see thesizzling because of the grease and livestock they contained.All Dr. Peoples' hard work did not pass withoutappreciation. One early patient wrote the following letter.Translated into English it reads, "I am pleased. Yourservice is like that of the angels because of your companionship.Let the door of heaven be opened for you. — Lether divine majesty, Mother Mary, brush back your hairfrom your brow."Although busy with work, life must have been lonelyfor the Peoples' family for most of the missionaries had leftdue to the war and in late November he wrote to Dr.Metheny, "I have not received a letter from home in I donot know how long. Your letter of September 8 was the firstletter any of us received from America since the beginning ofthe fighting. Food is high in price. People have no money andno work. However, our day schools are both running withfair and increasing numbers. There is great need for relieffunds here."Our story has already grown very long so we willsummarize the next three years as years of war and muchwork with the sick and dying. This time much of the doctor'swork was in caring for British military prisonerspassing through Turkey.Dr. John Peoples ' War ExperiencesIn November 1916, Turkey entered the World Warand five months later she broke off relations with America.Dr. Peoples was the family doctor for the Chief of Police inMersine. In early 1917, he sent for Dr. Peoples and told himthat orders had come from Constantinople that anyAmericans who wanted to return to their homeland couldgo.Dr. Peoples went home and talked the matter overwith his wife. He felt he should stay to protect the missionproperty but he urged Mrs. Peoples to do as she felt best for10herself and the children. In the days that followed both ofthem prayed much, asking the Lord to guide them.A few evenings later they were kneeling in familyworship. Dr. Peoples was leading in prayer when Mrs.Peoples felt as though a hand was resting on her shoulderand seemed to hear a voice speaking to her saying, "Fearnot, I will take care of you.""The voice was so clear and real," she later told herfriends, "that I raised my head and looked across the tablethat separated John and me to see if it was John, but he hadhis head bowed in prayer. I was sure this was an answer fromthe Lord."So Evadne began gathering clothes and other thingsnecessary for herself and the three children, David, Jean,and Sam, to travel to America. It was no easy job to pack allthe things they would need for the long journey. May 31,they received permission to travel. They were also told theymust be in Tarsus as soon as possible. June, 2 a party of sevenleft Mersine for Tarsus: Mrs. Peoples and her children,Mrs. A. J. MacFarland and Margaret, and Miss EvadneSterrett, Mrs. Peoples' aunt. They rode over rough roads inspringless wagons. In Tarsus they joined a group of eightypersons, fifty-nine Americans and the rest Turkish. Let ushear about the journey in Mrs. Peoples' own words.' 'We were told to be ready to start by four o'clock inthe afternoon, June 6. We were in the last wagon whichpulled out. There were eight open wagons and nine coveredones. Because we had the little children with us we were in acovered wagon. Besides the fifty-nine Americans we hadtwenty-one others, including Turkish guards, plus 154pieces of baggage. How we did long to be back in Mersine."It was a cold, hard ride and baby Sam did not enjoycold solid food. When a baby boy has been used to a milk dietand is cutting teeth he generally lets everyone know thatthings are not going smoothly with him."The journey is generally considered to need thirtysixhours but we were told we must do it in twenty-four. Wearrived one hour late and it was too late to get our militaryexaminations that evening. They offered us an emptywarehouse in which to sleep. Goats had occupied the roomthe night before. Fortunately for us the Commandant ofByzanti at that time had been in Mersine and knew us and hedid us the favor of getting us a room in a hotel."On the morning of June 8, we were herded to thestation in Byzanti. After all our luggage had been inspectedand stamped and we too had been inspected, they sent usback to the warehouse until about nine p.m. when our trainwas ready to depart for Konya. We were packed in prettyclosely, but fortunately no one found any lice, only bed bugsand fleas.(To be continued)COVENANTER WITNESS