Mffflr BSHfIfS ISSSSM
Mllft. L. RUTHERFORD, Term Editress.
VOLUME I.
THE WIDOW'S MITE.
Line® suggested by a Sermon of the
Itev, Dr. Potter on the text. ‘‘This poor
widow hath cast more in, than all they
which have east into the treasury ’’Mark
xii. 41.
The poor widow brought her two mites,
And to the Lord she gave,
The scanty earnings of the week,
Which she had tried to save.
No bread at home was there to give
When the father] ess should cry:
The widowed mother was not deaf,
Hhe hpard their plaintive sigh.
No wood at home, to make a fire;
Although the wind blew cold,
The widow threw in all she had,
The Saviour said, the whole.
Not a mite left to pay the rent,
The hard demand to meet:
Sba with her suffering little ones,
Might soon be in the street.
Their thread baie garments must be worn
Though ragged thin and had.
The widow gave unto the Lord,
The last two mites she had.
The faith and trust the widow showed,
All met the Master’s eye;
And not a blessing for her home
Would he to her deny.
The jingle of those little mitas,
Has run the ages t hrough:
And softened many a hard heart,
That held back what was due,
Has taught the rich, how little
Is all of their bright gold,
Compared unto the widows mite,
The part, unto the whole.
Has taught the poor, the very poor
That they ir.ay something give,
The widow was as poor as they,
As hard for her to live:
A sweet lesson of faith and love,
She’s taught the whole world wide, 1
That they who love and serve, the Lord!
For them., He will provide.
The widow’s mites will ever preach
To all, the riel), the poor,
Oh! surely than-all the givers there,
The widow 7 she gave more.
slow much pain have those evils cost us
'which never hanoened ! Wait, then, till
fcri;Us come
THE OLDEST CITY IN
THE WORLD.
All travellers in all ages agree in pro*
nottucing the landscape of which the city
of Damascus is the central feature, sl* e
most strikingly beautiful they have ever
®eon.
.Many years ago the writer of these lines
ma de the journey of ninety miles on horse
back from Beyrout to Damascus and he
can never forget the impression made up
on him, when emerging from the rocky
rid ges of Anti Lebanon, “the head of
Syria” “the eye of the East’-*- in the
centre of a paradise of luxuriant verdure
and inexhaustible wealth of fruits and
flowers, suddenly burst upon his view.
Having ridden for hours among the
beetling cliffs, hoary strongholds, and :
majestic forests of “goodly Lebanon, ’’
with the mighty’ snow-capped Hermou
closing up the plain to the South, —see-
ing only here and there patches of ver
du re, the traveller is wholly unprepared
.for the sadden transition from roekv hill
and stony plains,to what has been aptly
called “a wilderness of gardens,” thirty
miles in circumference, where the olive,!
ihe pomegranate, the walnut, and the
poplars, overtopped occasionally by the
graceful palm, blend their various tints
ot verdant foliage with the tangled mass
es of roses and other flowers, flecked h ere
and there as if with streaks of silver*
where the sparkling waters of the Barada
are seen coursing in every direction amid
the luxuriant pastures and fields of grow
ing corn. In the centre of this lovely
park, gleam the white walls, the stately
minarets,and graceful cupolas of Damas
cus, while all beyond is an arid desert,
herbless and shapeless. Beautiful as
this city is, at is the historical associations
connected with it, which make a visit to
it so wondrously impressive. A city,
which was already famous when Abra-*
ham left Mesopotamia; which is far older
than the fallen cities, Baalbec and Pal
myra; which is still, as it was when
Isaiah wrote, “the head of Syria,” wtnle
Babylon has disappeared, and ot Tyre
nothing is left but aheap of ruins; which j.
was celebrated for its stren :h in or*
days of King David, and for u , ton .
ciai power in tli se of th
IMPROVEMENT.
ATHENS, GEORGIA, MARCH, 1876.
which was an old city when Elisha, “tin
man of God," came there and wept over
the wickedness of Renfiadad and Haz -.el;
.vhich through descending centuries was
-ueeessively occupied possessed by the
(dugs of Babylofc and Persia, by Alex-'
mder and Pompey, by JtSaladin and
Tamerlane; and which, above all ot’htr
hings, is famous as the place near which
■laul of Tarsus, “yet breathing out tnr *a t
iningsand slaughter against the disciples
>f the Lord,” saw the risen Saviour
aeard his voice, and became the apostle o
Jesus whom he persecuted,-=- a city with
such a marvellous history can well be
upposed to inake a® impression which no
>ther city in tfca world can make. “The
treet which is ealled Straight’hs still as it.
vus when the convicted persecutor was
ied to the house of Judas and was visited,
oomforted, and baptized by the' disciple
Ananias; and the little room where Paul
s said to have passed “three days with
out sight and neither did eat nor drill k,‘
aid the fountain in the street which i
said to have supplied the water for his
baptism, are pointed out and look as if
they were destined to last unchanged,
forever.
A city with a history stretching back
beyond the days of the earliest, .patriarchs
-showing so little sign of change or decay
surrounded by such matchless boauties*"of
fertility, and bounded by a horizon of such
hoary desolations, is a sight which no pen
can adequately describe and of which n<>
imagination can form more than u faint
conception. • 13.
THE LUCY COBB INSTITUTE.
lu the year 1857, aa anonymous let
ter appeared in one of the Athen’s p ipeis
calling the attention of the citizens to
the importance ot establishing a fine fe
male seminary iu the place. The letter
was favorably received, and in a week oj
two another appeared, still urging the
same thing. These letters attracted the
attention of Mr. T* R. R. Cobb who im
mediately took the matter in hand, : ad
with bis unwavering < i ..
porsever
SI,OO For Six Months.
of the “Lucy Cobb’, was completed his
dilost the lovely Lucy, di ed
lii compliment to Mr. Cobb, the Trustee*
>f the school, (who had been appointed
uid who had aided him to their uJer
nost ability) named the school The Lucy
Cobb Institute. The school was first
placed under the direction of Mr. Wright
who carried it on successfully for sev.-ra
years. He was a Northern man, and at
the bagi unifig of our contest for freedom
left the school and went North, It was
then conducted by Mr- Muller, assisted
by Miss Sallie Lipscomb, a highly accom
p]ished and excellent teacher. Under
their management, the school not nn’v
lived but flourished through the war a i
ter this it was under the charge of
Madame Sosno.vski, and still continued
to improve and flourish. It was then
placed under Dr. Jacobs, a pious and
nighly esteemed Presbyterian divine It
then fell into the hands of the present
abe principals, Mrs. A. E. Wright
m l Rev. P. A. Heard. The Lucy
C >bb has, and-stifl is graduating Geor*
gi*‘s loveliest daughters, aud no doubt
there are many,.and will be many more
who *vill rise up aud call her blessed. It
is but right that we should mention with
praise, the able, and efficient board of
Trustees, whose active and lively inter
est in the school, tins contributed greatly
to its prosperity, and advancement.
ONI Y ONE.
Only one life from life’s occva.
()ite grain of sand from the shore;
(>nly one beam from the sunshine,
To brighten ourtlffe never more.
()nly one life from life’s ocean
One, yet we miss it so;
lor it seems that rhe brightest ant.
dearest
Are always the first to go.
Only one missed from the fireside,
Cross the white hands on the breast, -
One weary heart has ceased beating,
One longing soul gone to rest.
Only one star from the myriads,
Vh‘-h =. : q In the aky overhead.
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