The Seminary was dismissed June 5th. On that day, several hundreds
of the parents and friends of the pupils, in both Seminaries, were
invited to a simple entertainment, got up in native style. The
gentlemen of the mission ate in one room, with the men and boys, and
the ladies in another, with their own sex. The confidence and kind
feeling manifested by all towards the school was very gratifying.
After dinner, the whole company, seated in the court, listened to an
address from Mr. Holladay, then about to return home. He spoke to
parents and children on their duties, privileges, and responsibilities:
towards the close, he spoke of the almost certainty of never meeting
them again till the judgment, and bade them an affectionate farewell.
His utterance was often choked, and his hearers wept; and well they
might, for in him they parted with a faithful friend. During the
exercises, the members of the two schools sang, twice, to the great
gratification of their friends.
That evening most of the pupils went home, all but a few of the
girls carrying with them a copy of the four Gospels, in modern
Syriac, which they had paid for with their needles.
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