I. LILIAS TROTTER BOOKS Br I. LILIAS TROTTER Just Published BETWEEN THE DESERT AND THE SEA Cloth Boards 6s. net A new and charmingly illustrated volume, containing sixteen pages of reproductions of some of the author's choicest miniature paintings of persons and scenery, eonnected with her work in Algeria. All who knew Miss Trotter and have enjoyed her previous volumes will understand the warm welcome to this new issue. PARABLES OF THE CROSS 3s. 6d. net PARABLES OF THE CHRIST LIFE 3s. 6d. net PARABLES OF THE CROSS and CHRIST LIFE Combined in one volume 5s. net The charming freshness and originality which characterise all Miss Trotter's writings have already gained for them many friends, In these dainty volumes, coming as they do straight from the field of service, there Is a note of hope and encouragement which will be found most stimulating. FOCUSSED : A Story and a Song. 3d. net LONDON MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT LTD LILIAS TROTTER AT 27. I. LILIAS TROTTER "LALLA LILI" ('I he Arabs' Name for her) FOUNDER OF THE ALGIERS MISSION BAND BLANCHE A. F. PIGOTT MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT LTD LONDON AND EDINBURGH MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD.1 I,ONOOH AND EDINBURGH FOREWORD ISS TROTTER'S friends owe a very great debt of M gratitude to Miss Blanche Pigott, the comrade of half a century, who, through months· of weakness, has compiled these memorials from numberless letters, journals, and reports, seeking to let Miss Trotter, through them, tell the story of her life. Warm thanks, too, are due to the many correspondents who, by letters and reminiscences, have helped to create round that life the atmosphere of past days. It is a matter of regret that the limitations of space did not permit of their publication in full. F. H. FREEMAN. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGB8 l. EARLY YEARS 1-6 II. CoNISToN, 1879. 7-15 III. ALGIERS, 1888-1890 17-27 IV. SECOND JOURNEY TO AFRICA, 1890 29-36 V. RuE DU CROISSANT, 1893 AND 1894 37-52 VI. lTINERATING, 1895 53-70 VII. 1896-1899 71-82 VIII. TOLGA, IC)OO-l90I 83-92 IX. TRACT-WRITING AND TRANSLATING, 1902-1904 93-105 X. DAR NAAMA, EL-BIAR, 1905 AND 1906 107-n5 XI. BLIDA AND BousAADA, 1907. u7-125 XII. TRANSLATING-SWEDEN, 1908, 1909, AND 1910 127-140 XIII. OPENING SLUM PosT, SHUSHAN PALACE, AND EGYPT, 1911, 1912, AND 1913 . 141-150 XIV. SOUTH LANDS AND THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1916 151-16o xv. SOUTH LANDS, 1917 . 161-169 XVI. THE HoME CALL OF BLANCHE HAWORTH, 1918 AND 1919 171-179 XVII. lTINERATIONS IN TUNISIA, 1920-1922 181-192 XVIII. AMoNG THE MYsT1cs OF THE SoUTH, 1923 193-202 vii v111 Contents CRAP. PAGES XIX. THE CONFERENCE oN THE MouNT OF OLIVES, 1924 203-212 XX. THE CLOSE oF RuE Du CROISSANT-OPENING oF BousAADA- THE NILE MISSION PRESS AT DAR NAAMA, 1925 213-222 XXI. NARROWING OF THE PATHWAY, 1926 223-229 XXII. HoME, 1927 AND 1928 231-245 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece facing page LILIAS TROTTER AT THE AGE OF 27 I LILIAS TROTTER AT THE AGE OF 10 3 LILIAS TROTTER AT THE AGE OF 35 7 CouRT, RuE DU CROISSANT 37 From Water-Colour ENTRANCE HALL, RuE DU CROISSANT 37 ORANGE COURT, DAR NAAMA 37 DAR NAAMA • 109 LILIAS TROTTER AMONG HER ARABS, TozEUR 153 Miss HAWORTH AND GROUP OF ARAB GIRLS 170 LILIAS TROTTER WITH HER CLAss AT RuE Du CROISSANT 170 LILIAS TROTTER, 1916 223 THE WELL AT DAR NAAMA DAR EL FEDJR NEW MISSION HousE, DAR NAAMA 2 35 ix EARLY YEARS L1LIAS TROTTER was the granddaughter of Mr. Alexander Trotter of Dreghorn (1755-1842) and daughter of Alex­ ander Trotter of Devonshire Place House, London ( 18 14- 1866). His sister-in-law, Mrs. Mure, writes of him in her Recollections of Bygone Days : " I cannot name this dear brother-in-law without dwelling on his charming character of love, gentleness, generosity, unselfishness, combined with high qualities of intellect and acquirements." Lilias's mother was his second wife, Isabella, the daughter of Sir Thomas Strange. This happy marriage only lasted a few years, for he died, leaving three children by this marriage, and a nearly broken-hearted widow who never recovered from her loss, though she survived her husband thirteen years. The children were : Isabella Lilias Trotter, b. 1853. · Alexander Pelham Trotter, b. I 8 57, who married Alys Fane Keatinge, is a civil engineer, has written on scientific and engineering subjects, and was sometime the Electrical Adviser to the Board of Trade. Margaret Alice Trotter, b. I 860, who married Hugh Egerton, the first Beit Professor of Colonial History at Oxford. CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS ILIAS was the seventh in the family of nine, her father having four sons and two daughters by his firstL wife Jaqueline, daughter of Bishop Otter. Coutts, the eldest, took Orders and became Senior Fellow, and, later, Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cam­ bridge. William, like his father, became a partner of Capel & Co. Henry, afterwards Lt.-Colonel Sir Henry Trotter, K.C.M.G., C.B., R.E., went out to India in I 860 in the Royal Engineers, and, after a varied and dis­ tinguished career, became Consul-General at Beyrout for Palestine and Syria. Later he was on the Danube Com­ mission with a house at Galatz, in Roumania, where he lived with his wife and daughters until he retired. Edward started early in life as Vicar of Alnwick and Chaplain to the Duke of Northumberland. Later he devoted himself to work in the Colonies. He belonged to the pioneer type of Churchman, preferring the outposts of civilization to a settled parish. Lily's much-loved elder sisters, Jaqueline and Emily, completed the first family. Her sister, Mrs. Egerton, writes : "Lily's earliest friendship was formed at Woodford in Essex in 1 8 57, the summer when Alec, her youngest brother, was born, and a house was taken near that of the Chapmans. Here she delighted in the free country life among the large group of children-brothers, sisters, and cousins-of which the youngest in the house, Edith, now Mrs. Barclay, was her chosen friend. Specially remembered were the winter birthday holidays upon the ice. Through all the early years, memories are still fre-sh of the gentle seriousness of Lily's character, and of how these young friends held her as one a little apart and above them in her tastes and ways. "As children, our father cultivated scientific as well as artistic tastes in his family. Thus encouraged, Lily and 3 4 I. Lilias Trotter Alec, her younger brother, built many scientific castles in the air. I well remember them, deep in conversation on our walks in Regent's Park or the Park Square Gardens, inventing a secret language. Her father's death in 1866, after two years' most painful illness, made an indelible mark on Lilias's sensitive nature. She was now twelve, and a gravity came over her which remained in the memory of those nearest to her. Her great gift of love and sympathy seemed boundless. No trouble was too small or too great to bring to her. She simply shed a constant light over her home. Her quality of selflessness was unique. " The discipline which Lilias so noticeably imposed on herself and, by example, encouraged in others, was begun in early years. It came from within, and was neither learnt at school nor enforced at home, where her education was undertaken by German and French governesses and con­ tinued in the French classes of M. Antoine Roche. Lilias also had singing lessons for the production of her soft contralto voice, but of drawing lessons she fortunately only had one short course in landscape-indoors-from which no benefit was derived. " None of those who were with Lily when plans for holidays were made, or journeys begun, will forget the look that came in her eyes, the keenness of the born traveller. ' You see, I was always a tramp,' she explained, when, later, after a long and serious illness, her doctor gave a grudging consent to her starting off on a desert quest. She seemed to rise out of her great weakness, animation stirred again at the thought of the new vision of beauty in store for her. " In 1872, her mother took her to the conference at Broadlands, where Lady Mount Temple collected from far and near those who came to welcome the Quaker preachers, Mr. and Mrs. Pearsall Smith of Philadelphia,· and to listen to their teaching on the Life of Consecration. "Of the great spiritual emancipation here given her, Lily's whole life was an illustration. The impression awakened by these meetings was strengthened at both the later conferences at Oxford in 1874 and Brighton in I 87 5. Lily took part in the mission work in these towns, which Lord Radstock carried on after the conferences. Follow- Early Years 5 ing closely came the Moody and Sankey Revival Mission in London. Both Emily and Lily became workers at the Haymarket Opera House, where the meetings were held. It was due to the influence of these three conferences, at which speakers were collected from places remote geo­ graphically and apart intellectually, that Lily's naturally wide outlook increased its horizon." The following letter, from her sister Emily, gives a picture of one of their activities (referring to a supper for omnibus men) : " What do you think L. and I were about from half­ past ten last night till 3 a.m.