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In 1873 Miss Whately published a biography of Mansoor Shakoor, and in 1881 she wrote Letters from Egypt for Plain Folks at Home. In 1878 she published a story called Unequally Yoked, illustrating the miserable lives of English women who have been persuaded to marry Mohammedans, and in 1872 she wrote A Glimpse Behind the Curtain, a story of life in the harems of Cairo.
Shakoor then spoke to the parents and friends of the scholars, telling them how the building had been made for God's glory and the good of the children in time and in eternity, and that with a good secular education the knowledge of God's revealed Word in the Old and New Testament was given to all of them."
Azury, the skilful medical man of the Mission, has always numerous patients; and after their bodily ailments have been attended to, they and their friends and neighbours assemble on the shore to hear him read from the Bible. Mrs. Shakoor and myself are at the same time occupied in visiting the poor women in their homes or in reading and speaking to troops of both men and women in the open air.
In earlier years Miss Whately did all the visiting herself, and her books bear abundant testimony to the skill with which she could turn the conversation to spiritual matters; in later years she was much assisted in it by Mrs. Shakoor and by a Bible-woman whom she employed. Mansoor and Yousif Shakoor engaged in similar work among men.
Many were very poor, but some belonged to the middle classes, and there were even a few from wealthy families, who would ride to school on donkeys from distant quarters of the town. The two brothers Shakoor devoted much of their time to the superintendence of the school, and taught all the higher branches, being assisted in writing, spelling, &c., by several native teachers.
The following is an incident connected with this work in the country: "At an open spot just outside the village a barber was shaving a peasant's head, and, as usual, a group were assembled near him chatting and smoking. Mr. Shakoor took advantage of this and resolved to join the party of men, and get into conversation, while I went a little further in search of some women.
This was Mansoor Shakoor, a young Christian Syrian of good family and education, who, after working for some years as teacher and evangelist in Syria, had become agent in Cairo for the Moslem Mission Society, recently established in England. First of all Yousif Shakoor, brother of Mansoor, came to help her in work.
Considerable delay was experienced in getting the necessary papers for making the possession secure, and it was not till 1871 that the building was erected. Mansoor Shakoor, who had considerable knowledge of architecture, designed it, and superintended all the details of its erection.
Very few English people can stand the intense heat of the Egyptian summer, and Mary Whately being disinclined in 1864 to come so far as to England, spent a short time instead in Syria. When she returned to Cairo she took with her to educate and train Fereedy Naseef, the young cousin and betrothed of Mansoor Shakoor.
Four months later Mansoor Shakoor died, an irreparable loss to the mission, and four years later his brother Yousif followed him. From the opening of the new buildings the schools advanced rapidly.