practicable, and the Seminary as such ceased for a time to exist.  Katrina, was married in 1864 to M. Ghurzuzy, a Protestant merchant of Beirut, who is now secular agent or Wakil of the Syrian Protestant College.  In 1866, she united with the Evangelical Church in Beirut.  She has had repeated attacks of illness, in which she has manifested the most entire submission to the Divine will, and a calm and sweet trust in her Lord and Saviour.  Her home is a Christian home, and her children are being trained in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

CHAPTER VIII.

RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL IN BEIRUT.

In 1856 Miss Cheney re-opened the Female Seminary with eight pupils, in Beirut, and in the 34 schools of the Mission there were 1068 pupils, of whom 266 were girls.

In 1857, there were 277 girls in the various schools.

In 1858, Miss Temple and Miss Johnson arrived from America, and the Female Seminary was opened in Suk el Ghurb in the family of Rev. Dr. Bliss.  Miss Johnson and Miss Cheney having returned to the United States, Miss Mason came to aid Miss Temple in February, 1860.  The girl’s school in Beirut under the care of Rufka Gregory, had about 60 pupils.  The civil war in Lebanon, followed by the massacres in Jezzin, Deir el Komr, Hasbeiya, Rasheiya and Damascus, beginning in May, and continuing until the middle of July, broke up all our schools and seminaries, and filled the land with sorrow and desolation.

Miss Temple and Miss Mason remained for a season in Beirut, studying the Arabic language, and in 1862 Miss Temple having returned to the U.S.A., Miss Mason opened a Boarding School for girls in Sidon.

It was decided that none but Protestant girls should be received into this school, that no English should be taught, and that the style of eating, sleeping and dress should be conformed as much as possible to the standard of native customs in the country villages, in order that the girls might the more readily return to their homes as teachers, without acquiring European tastes and habits.  Miss Mason carried on this school until 1865, when she returned to the U.S.A., and it was decided if possible to carry it on with native instructors under the supervision of Mrs. Eddy.

In the winter of 1867 it was under the kind charge of Mrs. Watson of Shemlan and her adopted daughter, Miss Handumeh Watson, and is now conducted by two English young ladies, Miss Jacombs and Miss Stanton, who are supported by the London “Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East.”  On the removal of the girls’ Boarding School to Sidon, it was evident that the Female Seminary must be re-opened in Beirut.  Owing to the depressed state of Missionary finances in America, arising from the civil war, it was deemed advisable to reorganize the Beirut Seminary on a new basis, with only native teachers.  The Providence of God had prepared teachers admirably fitted for this work, who undertook it with cheerful hope and patient industry.  It was decided to make a paying Boarding School of a higher order than any existing institution in Syria, and to resume instruction in the English language, giving lessons also in French and Music to those who were willing to pay for these branches.