latter, in 1852,
was a check to its growth. The Rev. William Bird, son of one of the
pioneers in this mission, with his wife, and Miss Sarah Cheney,
arrived in the year 1853. Miss Cheney was to take the place of Miss
Whittlesey. The value of this school as a means of elevating women,
became more and more evident. The marriage of the senior teacher in
the seminary at Abeih with a young lady trained by Mrs. De Forest,
gave them a native family, which Mr. Calhoun says, "in its domestic
economy and religious order, would do no discredit to the best
portions of New England." In this year a native church was formed at
Abeih, and another at Aleppo.

The Rev. William W. Eddy and wife joined the mission in 1852, and
were designated to Aleppo. The political condition of Hasbeiya and
the surrounding region, now became so disordered as often to make it
inaccessible to missionaries, or their native assistants. Yet Mr.
Wortabet persevered in his labors during all these troubles, and was
afterwards ordained pastor of the church. Protestant communities at
Ibel near Hasbeiya, and at Rasheiya over the mountain, survived the
severe persecutions to which they were subjected by the combined
efforts of bishops, priests, and local governors; until the
governors, who had been the real cause of most of the difficulties,
were summoned to Damascus, through the agency of the English
Ambassador at Constantinople, to answer for their conduct.

At Sidon, there was an average congregation of thirty-live, and
persecution did not shake their constancy. In a dozen villages near
that city, there were persons in the habit of reading the
Scriptures, and visiting the missionaries. Mr. William Thomson, a
son of the missionary, rendered valuable service in this portion of
the field. Messrs. Foot and Wilson, on a visit to Hums and Hamath,
northward of Damascus, found the former place peculiarly accessible
to religious teaching, and that Dr. Meshakah of Damascus had sent
books to several persons in this place, and been in correspondence
with them. Dr. De Forest was much interested in what he saw in
villages along the coast, as far south as Carmel. Everywhere the
people were anxious to know more of the new way, which was
everywhere spoken against.

One of the persons received to the Abeih church, about this time,
had a somewhat singular experience. In the war with the Druzes, nine
years before, his party plundered a large village. In one of the
houses he saw