During that year Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge commenced a school for girls in Beirut.  Dr. Eli Smith speaks of this school as follows, in the Memoir of Mrs. S.L.  Smith:  “A few girls were previously found in some of the public schools supported by the Mission, and a few had lived in the Mission families.  But these ladies wished to bring them more directly under missionary influence, and to confer upon them the benefit of a system of instruction adapted to females.  A commencement was accordingly made, by giving lessons to such little girls as could be irregularly assembled for an hour or two a day at the Mission-house; such an informal beginning being not only all that the ladies had time to attempt, but being also considered desirable as less likely to excite jealousy and opposition.  For the project was entered upon with much trembling and apprehension.  Not merely indifference to female education had to be encountered, but strong prejudice against it existing in the public mind from time immemorial.  The Oriental prejudice against innovations from any quarter, and especially from foreigners, threatened resistance.  The seclusion of females within their own immediate circle of relationship, originally Oriental, but strengthened by Mohammedan influence, stood in the way.  And more than all, religious jealousy, looking upon the missionaries as dangerous heretics, and their influence as contamination, seemed to give unequivocal warning that the attempt might be fruitless.  But the missionaries were not aware of the hold they had gained upon the public confidence.  The event proved in this, as in many other missionary attempts, that strong faith is a better principle to act upon in the propagation of the gospel, than cautious calculation.  Even down to the present time (1840) it is not known that a word of opposition has been uttered against the school which was then commenced.

“On the arrival of Mrs. S.L.  Smith in Beirut in January, 1834, she found some six or eight girls assembled every afternoon in Mrs. Thomson’s room at the Mission house, receiving instruction in sewing and reading.  One was far enough advanced to aid in teaching, and the widow of Gregory Wortabet occasionally assisted.  On the removal of Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge to Jerusalem, the entire charge of the school devolved upon Mrs. Smith, aided by Mrs. Wortabet.  Especial attention was given to reading, sewing, knitting and good behavior.  In November, 1835, Miss Rebecca Williams arrived in Beirut as an assistant to Mrs. Smith.  The school then increased, and in the spring of 1836 an examination was held, at which the mothers of the children and some other female friends were present.  The scholars together amounted to upwards of forty; the room was well-filled, “presenting a scene that would have delighted the heart of many a friend of missions.  Classes were examined in reading, spelling, geography, first lessons in arithmetic, Scripture questions, the English language, and sacred music, and the whole was closed by a brief address from Mrs. Dodge.  The mothers then came forward of their own accord, and in a gratifying manner expressed their thanks to the ladies for what they had done for their daughters.”  Of the pupils of this school, the greater part were Arabs of the Greek Church; two were Jewesses; and some were Druzes; and at times there were eight or ten Moslems.