s brethren, and was
advised to remove to that place. The Rev. George B. Whiting and wife
and Dr. and Mrs. Dodge, were to occupy the station thus vacated,
aided by Miss Betsey Tilden. Dr. Dodge accompanied Mr. Thomson on
his return, and assisted him in removing his babe and his effects to
Beirut; and on the 22d of October he and Mr. Whiting were on their
way with their families to Jerusalem.

Early in the winter, Dr. Dodge was called to Beirut to prescribe for
Mrs. Bird, who was dangerously sick. Mr. Nicholayson returned with
him to Jerusalem, arriving there on the 3d of January, 1835, cold,
wet, and exhausted with fatigue, having traveled on horseback nearly
seventeen hours the last day. The peril of such an exposure in that
climate was not realized at the time. Both were soon taken sick, and
Dr. Dodge rapidly sunk, though a physician from one of the western
States of America arrived at the critical moment, and remained with
him to the last. He died on the 28th of January, and Mrs. Dodge
removed to Beirut. The arrival of Rev. John F. Lanneau in the spring
of 1836, furnished an associate for Mr. Whiting. A school was
opened, and numerous books were sold to the pilgrims. Early in the
next year, Tannus Kerem of Safet was engaged as a native assistant.
He was born and educated in the Latin Church, but in thought and
feeling was with the mission, and enlarged their personal
acquaintance and influence. In the summer the cholera appeared, and
swept off four hundred victims in a month. Mr. Homes, of the mission
to Turkey, was there at the time, and all devoted themselves to the
gratuitous service of the sick, a thing unknown before in that
region. They gave medical aid to many, nearly all of whom recovered,
and thus gained many friends. Preaching was commenced in September
to a small but attentive congregation. Mrs. Whiting and Miss Tilden
had an interesting school, composed chiefly of Mohammedan girls.
There was also a school for boys under a Greek teacher, with
twenty-four pupils. In 1838, Mr. Whiting was obliged, by the
protracted sickness of his wife, to visit the United States, and Mr.
Lanneau was alone at Jerusalem, with Tannus Kerem, and suffering
from extreme weakness of the eyes; but was encouraged by the arrival
of Rev. Charles S. Sherman and wife in the autumn of 1839. The new
missionary expressed his surprise at finding the different classes
so little affected by the prejudices of sect in their intercourse
with me