During 1828 and 1829 the Missionaries temporarily withdrew to Malta. In 1833, Dr. Thomson and Dr. Dodge arrived in Beirût. The Mission now consisted of Messrs. Bird, Whiting, Eli Smith, Drs. Thomson and Dodge. In a letter written at that time by Messrs. Bird, Smith and Thomson, it is said, "Of the females, none can either read or write, or the exceptions are so very few as not to deserve consideration. Female education is not merely neglected, but discouraged and opposed." They also stated, that "the whole number of native children in the Mission Schools from the beginning had been 650; 500 before the interruption in 1828, and 150 since." "Female education as such is yet nearly untried."
During that year Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Dodge commenced a school for girls in Beirût. 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 Beirût 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 Beirût 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.
A Sabbath School, with five teachers and thirty pupils, was established at the same time, the majority of the scholars being girls. A native female prayer-meeting was also commenced at this time, conducted by three missionary ladies and two native Protestant women. At times, as many as twenty were present, and this first female prayer-meeting in Syria in modern times, was attended with manifest tokens of the Divine blessing.
As has been already stated, the seclusion of Oriental females renders it almost impossible for a male missionary to visit among them or hold religious meetings exclusively for women. This must be done, if at all, by the missionary's wife or by Christian women devoted especially to this work. It was true in 1834, and it is almost equally true in 1873. The Arabs have a proverb, "The tree is not cut down, but by a branch of itself;" i. e. the axe handle is of wood. So none can reach the women of Syria but women. The Church of Rome understands this, and is sending French, Italian and Spanish nuns in multitudes to work upon the girls and women of Syria, and the women of the Syria Mission, married and unmarried, have done a noble work in the past in the elevation and education of their Syrian sisters. And in this connection it should be observed, that a sine qua non of efficient usefulness among the women of Syria, is that the Christian women who labor for them should know the Arabic language. Ignorance of the language is regarded by the people as indicating a want of sympathy with them, and is an almost insuperable barrier to a true spiritual influence. The great work to be done for the women of the world in the future, is to be done in their own mother-tongue, and it would be well that all the Female Seminaries in foreign lands should be so thoroughly supplied with teachers, that those most familiar with the native language could be free to devote a portion of their time to labors among the native women in their homes.
In 1834 and 1835 Mrs. Dodge conducted a school for Druze girls in Aaleih, in Lebanon. This School in Aaleih, a village about 2300 feet above the level of the sea, was once suddenly broken up. Not a girl appeared at the morning session. A rumor had spread through the village, that the English fleet had come up Mount Lebanon from Beirût, and was approaching Aaleih to carry off all the girls to England! The panic however subsided, and the girls returned to school. In 1836 Mrs. Hebard and Mrs. Dodge carried on the work which Mrs. Smith had so much loved, and which was only temporarily interrupted by her death.
In 1837, Mrs. Whiting and Miss Tilden had an interesting school of Mohammedan girls in Jerusalem, and Mrs. Whiting had several native girls in her own family.
In reply to certain inquiries contained in a note I addressed to Miss T. she writes: "I arrived in Beirût, June 16, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting in Jerusalem were desirous that I should take a small school that Mrs. Whiting had gathered, of Mohammedan girls. She had in her family two girls from Beirût, Salome, (Mrs. Prof. Wortabet,) and Hanne, (Mrs. Reichardt.) There were in school from 12 to 20 or more scholars, all Moslems. Only one Christian girl could be persuaded to attend. I think that the inducement they had to send their daughters was the instruction given in sewing and knitting, free of expense to them. Mrs. Whiting taught the same scholars on the Sabbath. The Scripture used in their instruction, both week days and on the Sabbath, was the Psalms. After a year and a half I went to Beirût and assisted in the girl's school, which was somewhat larger and more promising. Miss Williams had become Mrs. Hebard, and Miss Badger from Malta was teaching at the time. Mrs. Smith's boarding scholar Raheel, was with Mrs. Hebard. I suppose that female education in the family was commenced in Syria by Mr. Bird, who taught the girl that married Demetrius. (Miss T. probably meant to say Dr. Thomson, as Mariya, daughter of Yakob Agha, was first placed in his family by her father in 1834.) The girls taught in the different missionaries' families were Raheel, Salome, Hanne, Khozma, Lulu, Kefa, and Susan Haddad. Schools were taught in the mountains, and instruction given to the women, and meetings held with them as the ladies had strength and opportunity, at their different summer residences. The day scholars were taught in Arabic, and the boarding scholars in Arabic and English. I taught them Colburn's Arithmetic. I taught also written arithmetic, reading, etc., in the boys' school."
In 1841, war broke out between the Druzes and Maronites, and the nine schools of the Mission, including the Male Seminary of 31 pupils, the Girls' School of 25 pupils, and the Druze High School in Deir el Kamr, were broken up.
In 1842, the schools were resumed. In twelve schools were 279 pupils, of whom 52 were girls, and twelve young girls were living as boarders in mission families.