brought on by ignorance and Mohammedan influence, to one of considerable respect, in a social, intellectual and moral point of view.  I do not mean that they achieved then this great and worthy object, but they were first to begin the work, which is still going on, and destined apparently to grow much farther.  And it is but just that their names and primary labors be embalmed in the memories of the past.

“Aside from the intrinsic good which they accomplished, and the direct fruits of their labors, and you are as well acquainted with them as I am—­they gave the first and best teachers for the schools which have sprung up so abundantly since their time.  Of the importance of giving well-trained female teachers for female schools, in the peculiar social system of the East, nothing need be said.

“I believe, however, that the main value of these earlier labors was the impulse which they gave to the course of Female Education in Syria.  Prejudices and barriers, which had become hoary by the lapse of time, have been completely broken down, at least among the Christian Churches of the East.”

CHAPTER XVII.

OTHER LABORS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THIS FIELD.

The following statements have been chiefly made out from documents furnished to me by those in charge of the various Institutions.  I give them in order according to the date of their establishment.

THE IRISH AND AMERICAN UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION IN DAMASCUS.

I have not received official statistics with regard to the work of this Mission in behalf of women, but they have maintained schools for girls and personal labors for the women through a long series of years.  Mrs. Crawford, who is thoroughly familiar with the Arabic language, has labored in a quiet and persevering manner among the women of Damascus and Tebrud, and the fruits of these labors will be seen in years to come.  Miss Dales, now Mrs. Dr. Lansing, of Cairo, conducted a school for Jewish girls in Damascus some fifteen years ago, which was well attended.

Mrs. E. Watson, an English lady of great energy and zeal in the cause of female education, after years of labor in North and South America, Greece and Asia Minor, came to Syria in 1858, and commenced a girls’ school in her own hired house.  She afterwards removed to Shemlan, in Mount Lebanon, where she erected a building at her own expense for a girls’ boarding school, and afterwards gave it to the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East.  She has since, with untiring energy, erected another building for a Seminary for Druze and Christian girls, the former Institution continuing as it has been for many years under the efficient management of Miss Hicks, assisted by Miss Dobbie.  She has also recently erected a neat and substantial church edifice in Shemlan.