Letter from Dora Giffen to her family, January 20, 1921
MLA Citation
Giffen, Dora Eunice, 1897-1982. “Letter from Dora Giffen to her family, January 20, 1921.” Digital Gallery. BGSU University Libraries, 31 Mar. 2023, digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/items/show/41458. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.
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Title | Letter from Dora Giffen to her family, January 20, 1921 |
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Subject | Giffen, Dora Eunice, 1897-1982 |
Women missionaries--Correspondence | |
Missions--Egypt | |
Protestant churches--Missions--Egypt | |
Presbyterians--Egypt--Correspondence | |
Egypt--Church history | |
Christianity--Egypt | |
Missions to Muslims--Egypt | |
Egypt--Description and travel | |
Description | Letter from Dora Giffen to her family in Ohio about her missionary life in Egypt, the health and activities of her peers, and the acquisition of a new Steinway piano for their home. |
Creator | Giffen, Dora Eunice, 1897-1982 |
Source | Dora E. Giffen papers; MS-0309; Center for Archival Collections; University Libraries; Bowling Green State University |
Date | 1921-01-20 |
Rights | |
Format | Correspondence |
application/pdf | |
Language | eng |
Identifier | ms00309_b001_f002_i00002.pdf |
https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/items/show/41458 | |
Is Referenced By | https://lib.bgsu.edu/findingaids/repositories/4/resources/1425 |
Spatial Coverage | Shubrā (Cairo, Egypt) |
Type | Text |
34 Geziret Badran, Shubra, Cairo, Egypt Friday, Jan. 20, 1921 Dear Ones, Mother’s letter, sent Dec. 29th, reached me Jan. 17th. It made me long to be with you. Do all take good care of yourselves and of each other. A letter from Aunt Elizabeth Martin, written Jan. 3rd, reached me on the same day, Jan. 17th. She says they are all well. I will not likely get very much written this time, so think I will just enclose her letter. However I have decided to keep it and let Susannah read it before I sent it onto you. Miss Margaret Bell was at our house for dinner today. After dinner I washed my hair and now while it is drying I am writing to you. Soon after tea I am going to start early to class, stop at the hospital on the way to see Uncle John, and do a little shopping. Then after Dr. Zwemer’s lecture is finished at six thirty, Clarice and I are invited out to Lulu Birbari’s for supper. She has been wanting to have us for some time, and we finally found that this Friday would suit probably better than any other time. I can’t go earlier in the week because of afternoon classes and night study. However I have been out almost every night this week. I don’t like to do that but it seemed unavoidable. On Monday night Marianna and I had a nice time at Uncle Johns. Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe, Mr. and Mrs. McConnell and Mr. Edwards were the others there. Mr. Edwards is staying at Uncle Johns during the Assiut College vacation. Marianna took some of her music (she has a beautiful contralto voice), I took my violin, so we had some music. We missed Uncle John: he was at the Hospital. I stopped at the German Hospital yesterday afternoon on the way home from the S&S to see him. He is much better but is not looking well. Aunt Elizabeth and Edna were there, and told me that the doctor had just yesterday told Uncle John that he must go either to Assiut or Helouan as soon as possible and that they had decided on Assiut. Edna asked me if I would care to go and stay with her while her father and mother were way, and I said I would be glad to. They had as yet made no definite arrangements but thought they would go on Saturday, tomorrow. We are planning to have a few people in for a good time after supper tomorrow night (Edna among them), so I may just go home with her then: I am just waiting to find out what their plans are. This little good time tomorrow night is being planned in honor of our new Steinway piano. Martha and I saw on that we liked very much, so we got Clarice and Marianna (the only other ones of our household who really care very much for music) to help us finally decide on it. We all went down Monday afternoon and by Tues. noon the piano was in our sitting room. It is a nice upright one, finished in black. We paid one hundred and five pounds for it. Before Mrs. Coventry left we had decided to get one if we did not have to pay over a hundred pounds for it, but this Steinway was so much above what we saw in other makes for ninety or a hundred pounds that we decided to take it; especially since the Pollocks had given us a donation of three pounds toward the piano fund when they were here, and Mr. Vandersoll of the University had told us that he would give us two pounds toward it. I don’t think we were foolish, do you? The beautiful, birdlike tone is certainly worth the five pounds extra. Because we were missionaries the English Pounds 105 was what it was after a reduction had been made. I wish you all could see it and hear Martha Glass play on it. She is a splendid player. Saturday, 5:00 P.M. I didn’t get very far yesterday afternoon. When I stopped to see Uncle John I found that he was planning to go back to the orphanage today and on up to Assiut on Monday. Miss Buchanan and Mrs. Reynolds were calling on him at the same time and took me on up to Cicurel’s store in their Ford sedan. Miss Buchanan sends Mother lots of love. I rode home in a carriage with her on Wednesday evening and she then was telling me how she used to enjoy you and love you when she lived with you, Mother. The reason we rode home together was that she, Mrs. Reynolds, Martha Glass, and myself, along with two or three others, had been invited to come in after supper and surprise Susannah on Wed. night, since Wed. was Susannah’s birthday. Martha and I were a little late in getting there but Susannah never caught on until we arrived why the others had come. We had a very nice time. And Clarice and I also had a nice time at the Birbaris last night. A good supper and then a good talk afterwards. Mr. Birbari is a widely-read man. Lulu sends her love, Mother, and said to tell you that she is just the same as she always was. She is certainly good to me for your sake. On Tues. afternoon Mrs. McQuiston invited our household over for tea and I was there for a short time. Then prayer-meeting on Thurs. evening broke in on that evening. R.G. was the leader of the meeting and, with me at the piano, Susannah said she could easily imagine herself back in M.C. at a joint Y.M. and Y.A. meeting. It is certainly good to have Susannah here. She and Harry stopped in here for a few minutes this morning. I read the extracts from my letters that were in this week’s B. and M. I think you did well, Mother, in picking the parts that might be of the most interest to M.C. people because of the people mentioned. The clippings that you sent telling of the trouble agreed rather exactly with the facts as I heard them. Madama Zaghloul said that she was the Mother of Egypt and refused to leave her children, The Egyptians, to go into exile in Ceylon with her husband, Zaghloul Pasha. Egypt is quiet now and there is no more new thing to report this week about conditions. I am really verry sorry for the Egyptians. Because of ignorance and their awful religion they cannot and do not know their own minds. We are getting some new converts at Khroonfish. One man was examined for Baptism last Sabbath and there are a lot of Mohammedan enquirers. The pastor is doing a splendid work. Mr. Willard Atchison goes to the Sabbath services there quite often and we are talking of reorganizing the Sabbath School. In that case I will have a S.S. class every Sabbath. On Thurs. afternoon of this week I started holding a class in the day school there to teach the children how to write English. There are ten in the class and I am going to enjoy the work very much. I will hold the class only once a week. Susannah went with me to Khroonfish last Sab. To celebrate my birthday and she was much interested. Ohwyn Bryan is here now with her Father. I have seen and met her and she is a very sweet girl. The word from Lucia Dwight today was quite pessimistic. We do hope and pray for her recovery. Mrs. Coventry is expected home on the 9:00 o’clock train tonight. Four of us had birthdays on Jan. fifteenth: Rev. F.S. Hayman, Rev. Adams, Eileen Henry (Frank Henry’s second daughter), and myself. Now goodbye, for I must go and get ready for the “sing” here tonight. Lots and lots and lots of love to you all. From your own Dora P.S. At Association this February I suppose I will receive my appointment for next December. D.G. |