nstructor laughs heartily that the ladies of our company are
served first at table. He said that if any person should come to his
house and speak to his wife _first_, he should be offended. He said the
English ladies have some understanding, the Arab women have none. It is
the custom of this country that a woman must never be seen eating or
walking, or in company with her husband. When she walks abroad, she must
wrap herself in a large white sheet, and look like a ghost, and at home
she must be treated more like a slave than a partner. Indeed, women are
considered of so little consequence that to ask a man after the health
of his wife, is a question which is said never to find a place in the
social intercourse of this country."

Jan. 24, 1825, Dr. Goodell wrote, "Some adult females come occasionally
to be taught by Mrs. Bird or Mrs. Goodell, and although their attendance
is very irregular, and their _disadvantages very great_, being _without
Arabic books_, and their friends deriding their efforts, yet they make
some improvement. One of them, who a fortnight ago did not know a single
letter of the alphabet, can now read one verse in the Bible."

July 1, 1825, Messrs. Goodell and Bird speak of the first girls taught
to read in Syria in mission schools. "Our school contains between eighty
and ninety scholars, who are all boys _except two_. One is the teacher's
wife, who is perhaps fifteen years of age, and the other a little girl
about ten." That teacher was Tannus el Haddad, who died a few years ago,
venerated and beloved by all sects and classes of the people, having
been for many years deacon of the Beirut Church, and his wife, Im
Beshara, still lives, with an interesting family.

On the 21st of Dec, 1825, Dr. King wrote as follows: "I spent about a
month in Tyre, and made some efforts to establish a school for Tyrian
females, and was very near succeeding, when one of the principal priests
rose up and said, 'It is by no means expedient to teach women to read
the word of God. It is better for them to remain in ignorance than to
know how to read and write. They are quite bad enough with what little
they now know. Teach them to read and write, and _there would be no
living with them_!'" That Tyrian priest of fifty years ago, was a fair
sample of his black-frocked brethren throughout Syria from that time to
this. There have been a few worthy exceptions, but the Syrian priesthood
of all sects, taken as a class, are the avow