The Women of the Arabs

by Henry Harris Jessup

CHAPTER XVI.

OPINIONS OF PROTESTANT SYRIANS WITH REGARD TO THE WORK OF AMERICAN WOMEN IN SYRIA.

The following letters have been addressed to me by prominent native Syrian gentlemen, whose wives have been trained in the American Mission Seminaries and families. They all write in English, and I give their own language.

Mr. Butrus el Bistany, the husband of Raheel, writes me as follows:—

Beirût, Oct. 23, 1872.

"It would be superfluous to speak of the efforts of American Missionary ladies in training the females of Syria, and the good done by them.

"The sainted Sarah L. Smith, who was one of the first among them, established the first Female School in Beirût.

"Mrs. Whiting, also, who had no children of her own, trained five girls in her family, all of whom are still living.

"Mrs. De Forest had a very interesting female school in her family, and the girls educated in that school are of the best of those educated by American ladies in Syria.