-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 in