work of raising
woman from her degraded position, brought on by ignorance and
Mohammedan influence, to one of considerable respect, in a social,
intellectual and moral point of view. I do not mean that they
achieved then this great and worthy object, but they were first to
begin the work, which is still going on, and destined apparently to
grow much farther. And it is but just that their names and primary
labors be embalmed in the memories of the past.

"Aside from the intrinsic good which they accomplished, and the
direct fruits of their labors, and you are as well acquainted with
them as I am--they gave the first and best _teachers_ for the
schools which have sprung up so abundantly since their time. Of the
importance of giving well-trained female teachers for female
schools, in the peculiar social system of the East, nothing need be
said.

"I believe, however, that the main value of these earlier labors
was the _impulse_ which they gave to the course of Female Education
in Syria. Prejudices and barriers, which had become hoary by the
lapse of time, have been completely broken down, at least among the
Christian Churches of the East."

CHAPTER XVII.

OTHER LABORS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THIS FIELD.

The following statements have been chiefly made out from documents
furnished to me by those in charge of the various Institutions. I give
them in order according to the date of their establishment.

THE IRISH AND AMERICAN UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION IN DAMASCUS.

I have not received official statistics with regard to the work of this
Mission in behalf of women, but they have maintained schools for girls
and personal labors for the women through a long series of years. Mrs.
Crawford, who is thoroughly familiar with the Arabic language, has
labored in a quiet and persevering manner among the women of Damascus
and Tebrud, and the fruits of these labors will be seen in years to
come. Miss Dales, now Mrs. Dr. Lansing, of Cairo, conducted a school for
Jewish girls in Damascus some fifteen years ago, which was well
attended.

Mrs. E. Watson, an English lady of great energy and zeal in the cause of
female education, after years of labor in North and South America,
Greece and Asia Minor, came to Syria in 1858, and commenced a girls'
school in her own hired house. She afterwards removed to Shemlan, in
Mount Lebanon, where