There had been a considerable advance in female education, since Mrs.Dodd had, with great difficulty, persuaded a Jewish girl to encounter the odium of learning to read.

Some prominent rabbis were teaching their daughters, and the tide seemed evidently turning.
The Jews of Smyrna were found to be more worldly, and less given to religious thought, than the Jews of Salonica.

But an avowedly Christian school of near twenty pupils was sustained during the year 1854, and taught by the converted rabbi above mentioned.

The teacher was known to be a proselyte.

The New Testament was read daily, and biblical instruction occupied a large place.