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 avowed enemies of the education and elevation of their people.

Some of the exceptions to this rule will be mentioned in the subsequent pages of this volume.
In 1826, there were three hundred children in the Mission schools in the vicinity of Beirut.
In 1827, there were 600 pupils in 13 schools, of whom _one hundred and twenty were girls_! In view of the political, social and religious condition of Syria at that time, that statement is more remarkable than almost any fact in the history of the Syrian Mission.

It shows that Mrs.
Bird and Mrs.Goodell must have labored to good purpose in persuading their benighted Syrian sisters to send their daughters to school, and to these two Christian women is due the credit of having commenced Woman's Work for Women in modern times in Syria.