MOB 376
Letter from Elizabeth "Betts", the daughter of missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Harlow to her parents. It is dated Anatolia, October 4. There is no year, but I am estimating it to be late 1940s due to the references to A.M.A.G. (America Mission for Aid to Greece). The text is as follows:
Dearest ones-
Just a short note before going off to chapel to hear Hal give the talk. Later downtown to sign AMAG (American Mission for Aid to Greece) waiver (If I die, no responsibility-etc.") so I can go back on their plane, then I'll mail this at the U.S. post office box at the AMAG air shack. I didn't know before that you can send letters by the Air Force planes for a 5-cent stamp. Convenient?
It's a beautiful fall day up here. Busses coming loaded with kids--what a different feeling there is from Pierce (American College of Greece)!
MOB 376
Mr. Stein's visit has been swell. He's treasurer of the C.C.S.C. & on the Prudential Committee of the Board. He's very much concerned over the situation at Pierce & I hope can do something about it. Hal's been running him ragged, but he's fascinated with everything & I think much impressed with Hal. He asked him if he didn't want to be Pres. of Pierce! Hal definitely doesn't, but it was good he asked him.
Day before yest. we got up at 6:30 & I took them to the ELLAS plane. Oh, I guess I didn't tell you that the AMAG list got full, so I had to rush to the New Angeletterre & sign my life away on the U.N. plane. Anyway, I went back to the college, called the U.N. office & was told plane left at 10 a.m. Jim (the college driver) drove me to airport & I waited while plane after plane went out, & my tummy trembling (I still am scared of flying). About 12 they told me the plane wasn't leaving until 4 p.m., so I went back home, had lunch, small nap with Linda, & off to airport again at 3 p.m.
MOB 376At 3:30 it was ready to leave & we went out to the plane, then the officer in charge told me that I was last on the list & the plane was full, so I couldn't go. But just before they were to go he rushed out and put me on--he had found one seat! It was a small but comfortable plane--real seats, etc. But I can't seem to overcome my plan fright. We got to Salon.(?) at 5 p.m., to the lonely Army Field. No one there to meet me so I called Anatolia from a little quonset hut where 3 Greek soldiers were the only people there.
Mr. Compton said Hal was at a meeting & he would send a college jeep for me. So I watched the U.N. people go, talked for 1/2 hr. with one of the Army crew on the plane, watched the crew go, & I was left alone on a huge field with one plane, 1 quonset hut, & 3 Greek soldiers--it was now after 6 p.m. I called Anatolia again--they said Hal had called & was coming. I stayed in the shack with the 3 soldiers, who were really awfully nice--they made me speak Greek, & it was fun, though I was getting worried because time went by & still no one came.
MOB 376Well, the 3 had to eat & were relieved by 3 others who didn't look so nice, but luckily just then Hal came--now after 7 p.m. I had waited over 2 hrs.--Hal thought the college jeep was going for me & they thought Hal was going for me.
We got up to Anatolia & went right to dinner at the Riggs' house--they had the Compton's & several teachers--it was nice. After supper other teachers came over. I was dead, so at 10 Mrs. Compton rescued me & took me home.
Yesterday a.m. Joe (Stein), Hal & I went down to Sal. to meet Ruth Nichols, going out to a village to distribute clothing. The village is up north in the mts., so we had to have military escort. We had 2 Tanks, 1 weapons carrier, 10 soldiers, Truck with clothes, & our jeep. It felt so strange being led by a tank. It was a beautiful day & marvelous road most of the way (built by AMAG). We stopped at one army camp to meet the colonel & get permission to go on. When we were to turn off the main road we were stopped & told the road was mined & we had to wait. So a truck went ahead of us with a mine detector & we followed. No mines. We passed men along the way guarding the road--civilians. It was lovely country.
(Now at airport waiting for plane)
MOB 376Finally about 1 p.m. we came to the village. Only 300 pop.--almost all the men killed either by Germans or Andartes.(?) It was terrible seeing all those women dressed in black, only a few very old men, & 2 or 3 young men. We got some good pictures. The distribution was carried on in the truck--names read out, then bundle given. We were asked to one house for coffee & a sweet (quince jam) they have the biggest quinces I've ever seen here.
In the little mud house was an old man 100 years old. The only man--husbands, sons, all killed. We got there about 2 and (oh, gee, they're talking about me & it looks like I'm going to be bounced off this plane!) went on to a larger village (Axiopoulos) for dinner. We ate with the soldiers, & after dinner they did Greek dances on the sidewalk & sang. We left about 4, taking turns riding in the tank, & got back at 8:00. Had supper at Comptons & I went to bed right after supper--I was dead!
This a.m. I am parked at the airport--don't know when the plane will leave.
MOB 376Just before I left we got a note from Riggs with our financial acct. up to now. According to him, our salary if $2356 a yr., & we still owe over $600 to the Bd.--which he thinks is awful. We were told our salary is $3000 a yr., we haven't spent anything more than the necessities--we don't spend anything for clothes, or amusements (except a few movies). But we do have to buy food, & wood to keep us warm, etc. If it weren't for the Board we wouldn't have such a debt--we got in debt to help them & he talks as if we're throwing our money around! I'd like to know how he expects a family of 5 (includ. Maritza) to live on $2000 a year when we have to pay so much for food. I'm mad--Hal says he'll fix it up, but his (Riggs) attitude irk me to death.
Please send this on to Ruth & Hal--we must try to cut down our expenses so after this for the most part I'll send letters to you to send on to them--or maybe one week to you & one to them--O.K.?
Give Jim & Judy our love--just got their letter & will write soon.
Much much love
Betts.
Price: $120.00
MOB 376NOTE FROM WIKIPEDIA: S. Ralph Harlow (20 July 1885 – 21 August 1972) was an American clergyman and Christian missionary to the Middle East.
Harlow was born in Boston. He graduated from Harvard University in 1908 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1912. He obtained an M.A. from Columbia University and a PhD from Hartford Theological Seminary. He was ordained Congregational minister in 1912 and worked for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Smyrna and Turkey. Harlow was Chaplain and Sociology teacher at the International College in Smyrna from 1912-1922. He worked for the Young Men's Christian Association with the American Expeditionary Force in France until 1922. He was a lecturer for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
MOB 376He joined the faculty of Smith College faculty in 1923 where he was professor of religion for over thirty years. He was a Socialist candidate for the House of Representatives from Northampton, Massachusetts in 1932. Harlow was a friend of Norman Thomas and advocated for a pacifist philosophy. He was a director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a member of the American Christian Palestine Committee. He held interest in the paranormal and once claimed to have observed floating angels with his wife. He wrote about psychical phenomena from a Christian perspective and was convinced that there was life after death.
In 1953, the Marion and S. Ralph Harlow Scholarship Fund was established for students. Harlow received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Hebrew Union College in New York. He was one of the few Christians to be honoured by a Jewish institution. Nelson Glueck commented that Harlow "has actively associated himself with Jewish causes, with Israel and its Hebrew University, and without respect to race and creed, has expended in a humble and perceptive way, a warmth of human sympathy".
Harlow died in Northampton, Massachusetts on 21 August 1972, aged 87. He is buried at Abels Hill Cemetery in Massachusetts.
