In a report on Education, prepared by the Syria Mission in 1855, it was stated, that “without entering into details in regard to the course of study pursued, we are happy to say that the results of Dr. De Forest’s Seminary were very gratifying, and proved, if proof were needed, that there is the same capacity in the native female mind of the country that there is in the male, and that under proper instruction, and by the blessing of God, there will be brought forward a class of intelligent, pious and efficient female helpers in the great work of evangelizing this community.”

The hope implied in the above sentence with regard to the raising up of “a class of intelligent, pious and efficient female helpers,” has been abundantly realized.  The list of Dr. De Forest’s pupils is to a great extent the list of the leading female teachers and helpers in all the various departments of evangelic work in Syria.

Not having access to the records of the Seminary as they have been lost, I have obtained from several of the former pupils a list of the members of the various classes from 1848 to 1852.  The whole number of pupils during that period was twenty-three.  Of these two died in faith, giving good evidence of piety.  Of the twenty-one who survive, twelve are members of the Evangelical Church, and nine are now or were recently engaged in teaching, although nearly twenty years have elapsed since they graduated.  Twenty-one are at the head of families, esteemed and honored in the communities where they reside.  The names of the whole class are as follows: 

    Ferha Jimmal, now Kowwar of Nazareth. 
    Sara Haddad, now Myers of Beirut. 
    Sada Sabunjy, now Barakat of Beirut. 
    Sada Haleby, of Beirut. 
    Miriam Tabet, now Tabet of Beirut. 
    Khushfeh Mejdelany, now Musully of Beirut. 
    Khurma Mejdelany, now Ashy of Hasbeiya. 
    Mirta Tabet, now Suleeby of B’hamdun. 
    Feifun Maluf, of Aramoon. 
    Katrin Roza, of Kefr Shima. 
    Mirta Suleeby, now Trabulsy of Beirut. 
    Sara Suleeby, of Beirut. 
    Esteer Nasif, now Aieed of Suk el Ghurb. 
    Hada Suleeby, now Shidoody of Beirut. 
    Helloon Zazuah, now Zuraiuk of Beirut. 
    Khushfeh Towileh, now Mutr of Beirut. 
    Fetneh Suleeby, now Shibly of Suk el Ghurb. 
    Akabir Barakat, now Ghubrin of Beirut. 
    Hamdeh Barakat, now Bu Rehan of Hasbeiya. 
    Eliza Hashem, now Khuri of Beirut. 
    Rufka Haddad, (deceased). 
    Sara Bistany, (deceased). 
    Durra Schemail, of Kefr Shima.

Two of the most successful of those engaged in teaching, are now connected with the British Syrian Schools.  They are Sada Barakat and Sada el Haleby.  The former has written me a letter in English in regard to her own history and religious experience, which I take the liberty to transcribe here verbatim in her own language.  She was one of the least religious of all the pupils in the school, when she was first received but the work of conviction and conversion was a thorough one, and she has been enabled by the grace of God to offer constant and most efficient testimony to the reality of Christian experience, in the responsible position she has been called upon to fill in the late Mrs. Thompson’s institution.