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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. NUMBERS