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of his life, and the deep and undeserved interest she took in his welfare, watching over him when he was an alien and a wanderer in a strange land, till he rose to notice and im

will say on such an occasion,) pointing to his lovely wife, and no less lovely children, "to the native goodness of her heart I am indebted for these, and all the other blessings which under Providence I possess. Verily, True Friendship is known by its fruits-in contradistinction to all else that goes under that name!"

Penns' Grove, Del. Co., Pa.

Written for the Ladies' Garland.
STANZAS

ness, care and circumspection. By his knowledge, the skilful physician has in the treatment of diseases a decided superiority over the bungling quack, who has never made medicine nor the human frame, so won-portance in society. "Look there," (he derfully contrived and so skilfully formed, his study. Those who go to work aright in the training of children, must, of necessity, pay a supreme regard to first principles. These are, of course, simple; but are they, on this account, less efficient? No, verily-the experience of the past amply attests their efficacy. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," says Solomon; and reason and common sense say, if you mean to raise a solid superstructure, take heed how you lay the foundation thereof. Man in the present state, is a pilgrim to eternity; and that system of education which gives him the highest elevation, physically, morally, and mentally, deserves the supreme regard of all rational creatures. To ask then for the good way and to walk therein, by throwing defective systems to the moles and bats, is therefore the incumbent duty of all who righly appreciate the present and future welfare of their offspring. As Pope says "Just as the tree is bent the twig's inclined." God and nature have assigned mothers an important share in the education of our race. In order, however, to fill this sphere properly, it is necessary that the fair sex should receive a proper education.

Nannie Gordon had received a decent share of her mother's attention with regard to the formation of her mind, when she was but a tiny girl. Early impressions take deep root, and are never entirely eradicated. Nannie's early lessons were all on the side of piety and virtue, and these were enforced by a blameless walk and behavior, on the part of her preceptress. Such conduct could not fail in producing beneficial results on the sweet innocent creature, who is now the affectionate wife of the hero of the foregoing story. As such, she has given pleasing evidence of the soundness of Mrs. Heatherton's judgment in the high estimation she formed of her virtues on their first acquaintance. Mrs. Kirkland is now the blooming queen of a happy domestic circle, every member of which yields her the willing homage of the heart's best affections. While the widow sojourned in the low vale, she was an occasional visitor at Frank's, in order to see how her "braw chield" and his bonnie wife, and a' the bits o' blithe bairns were getting on, but she has now lain down where the weary find rest. Her memory is embalmed in the recollection of many a survivor; but in none so vividly as in the heart of Frank, who now delights in telling over the leading incidents

Inscribed to Miss I. M. R., an affectionate
friend and relative of the writer's.
I sigh not for an honor'd name,
Or monarch's star-gemm'd crown;
I pant not after worldly fame,

Or badge of high renown.
But friendship's boon I fondly crave,
That I may share with thee,
And ne'er forget the joy it gave

When lavish'd first on me.

The look of love that from thine eye
Its winning glances threw,
Told me thy heart was beating high
With friendship, pure and true.
And cold the heart that ere could brook
A smile or tear of thine,
When from an eye that seemed to look
Inspired with love divine.

Forbid that I should e'er forget

In joy, in weal, or wo,
The happy hour when first we met
In friendship here below;
Where many a smile so bland and fair,
In worldly pomp arrayed,
Is but the courtier's subtle snare
In flattery displayed.

But, lady, who that knows thee well,
Can doubt thy trusting heart?
Where love and pure affection dwell,

That death can never part.
O! if but blest with such a friend,

When sorrows cross my way,
They soon in joy would have an end,
And cares should flee away.
But still a richer boon than this

I fain could wish for thee,-
That thou at last, in endless bliss

From sorrows may'st be free.
Then seek for joys which ne'er decay,
E'er life's last pulses beat,
So when thy days shall pass away
We may in glory meet.
Harmony, N. J., Sept. 1842.

J. R. L.

No. 5.

"Thy Will be Done."-A Summer Evening Walk.

"THY WILL BE DONE."

A mother was kneeling in the soft light of the dying day, by the side of her suffering babe; the deep and low-breathed accents of the father went up in supplication, as if to the very ear of the Eternal. "O! Thou who didst weep at the grave of Lazarus, and dost note every pulsation of the human heart, look down in thy compassion on our helpless child. O! save him, for thy mercy's sake! Whatever else thou withholdest, give us the life of our sweet babe."

"Amen," responded the trembling voice of the heart-stricken mother, as she wiped away the cold sweat from his pale forehead. “O! William, I cannot give him up," she added, "he is so lovely, and then he is our only one; surely your petition will be granted."

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The unconscious infant lay motionless in its cradle; its little bosom heaved with the faint breath of life; its tiny fingers were half hid beneath its golden hair, while the sweet smile that played around its fevered lips seemed to respond to the whisperings of angels, as if they were already welcoming the freed spirit to the land of light. The father and mother gazed upon it with an intensity that none but a parent's heart can feel. Gradually the smile relaxed-the hand fell down upon its bosom-the throbbing of the heart became more tranquil-a moisture diffused itself over the skin, and a sweet sleep fell upon it, clothing it as with a mantle.

Long and quietly it slumbered; and when the eye opened, and the lip moved, its cherub face seemed irradiated with unearthly intelligence and purity. Day after day, and night after night, the father and mother watched their boy, as he was slowy restored to health and activity, God spared him, and he grew up to loveliness, the pride of his parents. Pestilence stalked abroad. Death laid low the young and beautiful. Still their child, as if by some talismanic spell, was preserved, and the fond mother thanked God in her heart, that he had lived to comfort her.

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Time passed on. Again the mother bent over him, a blighted, blasted being. The cherub smile of infantile innocence had given place to the intensity of remorse, and the sternness of despair. The fair boy had grown to manhood. He had gone forth into the world. He had mingled with the giddy throng that pursue the syren pleasure, till they find too late that, with her, joy is but a name, and hope but a phantom; that she leads to sorrow and to death. Her contaminating and withering influence over-mastered him, and he went onward until the poisonous

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mildew of his guilt settled on his soul, and wasted his existence.

"Let me die!" exclaimed the wretched sufferer.

"O! that thou had'st died in the calmness of thy childhood," murmured the self-accusing mother.

Again the father knelt by the bedside of his son, and his voice once more went up in prayer. "Whatsoever thou givest or withholdest, enable us to say, sincerely, Thy will be done."

"Amen," clearly articulated the mother, and the angel of death took the spirit of the hopeless to the bar of God.

Written for the Ladies' Garland.

A SUMMER EVENING WALK.
BY THOMAS L. HARRIS.

Alone, I wandered forth at eventime;
The day had passed in all its loveliness;
The sun, encircled with a drapery
Of crimson, gold, and purple-tinted clouds,
Behind the towering hills had gone to rest.
The busy hum of active life was hushed;
The strong-armed artizan, his labors done,
Enjoyed at home his sweet, well-earned, repose:
The play-ground was deserted, and the laugh-
The merry shout of happy infancy,
In its wild cadences, so musical-
Fell on the ear no more.

My footsteps strayed
To where, amid the trees, flows quietly
The placid Mohawk, on its winding way.
The sapphire skies above the gentle stream,
Were darken'd not by clouds; their arch'd expanse
Were mirror'd in its quiet depths serene.
And from their homes afar the stars shone out,
As from a draperied couch a child's glad eyes.
The full-orbed, queenly moon, cast forth a flood
Of heaven-born radiance on the sleeping wave,
Until it gleamed like some bright, silvery cloud.
Unruffled by a ripple lay the stream,

Reposing 'neath the stars and soft moonbeams,
Save when the breathing of the western wind,
With perfume from the folded flow'rets laden,
Woke on its placid breast a sudden thrill,
Like that which moves the wanderer's beating heart
When some delicious melody of yore,
First heard in childhood's verdant vales afar,
Falls on his ear.

And as I wandered on,

A trembling vale of foliage hid from sight
The streams translucent bosom. But I knew
The windings of its path by the long grass
That grows in wild luxuriance near its brim,
And by the verdant carpet spread around,
Where spring the golden lilies, lightly waving,
And shrinking modestly from the embrace
Of the balmy air.

Methought 'twould be sweet,
If, like this quiet stream, far from the strife
And enoyings of the busy crowd of men,
And from the mart and city's ceaseless whirl,
For evermore aloof, in quietude,

I could in pleasant pathways journey on
The time of my allotted pilgrimage;
My course, aye marked by gentle, kindly deeds,
As this stream is by flowers; and all my words
As soft and full of healing as the breeze
That plays upon its surface.

And then, when
Passing down the still and dreamless grave,
As this fair stream goes to the dark, blue deep,
My memory would linger in the hearts

Of those who love me, like the flowers' perfume, When its brief life hath gone! Utica, N. Y., July, 1842.

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DAMASCUS.

"I will break also the bar of Damascus."-Amos, i. 5.

that period has formed the capital of one of their pachalics.

Modern Damascus, by the natives called Damascus ranks as a city of high antiqui- El Sham (an appellation of uncertain meanty; if, indeed, it be not the oldest city on the ing,) though often captured and several times globe: it is first mentioned in Gen. xiv. 15. demolished; has always risen again to splenIt stands on the river Barrady (the Chrysorr- dor and dignity, and has in all ages been hoas or Golden Stream of the ancient geo- mentioned as one of the finest and most degraphers,) in a beautiful and most fertile lightful situations in the world: it may be plain, about 160 miles northeast of Jerusa- called the Florence of Turkey, and the flower lem, and 50 miles from the sea, on the east of the Levant. Surrounded with orchards and southeast of Anti-Libanus, open to the planted on the beautiful and fertile plain of south and east, and bounded on the other the Barrady, its situation has been celebrated sides by the mountains. The region around with enthusiasm by oriental writers, who it, including probably the valley between the rank the Valley of Damascus first of the four ridges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, is in the terrestrial paradises. It is two miles in length Old Testament called Syria of Damascus or from north-east to south-west; but its breadth Demesk, and by Strabo Coelesyria. This is not in proportion, being extremely narrow, city, which originally had its own kings, was and it is divided into twenty-three districts. taken by David (1 Sam. viii. 5, 6,) and sub- It appears formerly to have been enclosed sequently by Jeroboam II. king of Israel. (2 within three strong walls, the destruction of Kings, xiv. 28.) Afterwards it was subject which is announced by the prophets Jeremiah to the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, the (xlix. 27,) and Amos (i. 4, 5.) The first or Seleucidæ, and the Romans. In the time of innermost was the greatest in point of elevaSaint Paul it appears to have been held by tion, between which and the second was a Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, the father-in-ditch, and the third or exterior wall was the law of Herod Antipas. (2 Cor. xi. 32, 33.) lowest. These walls had towers, some in a At this period it was so much thronged by circular form, and others square. Mr. Rae Jews, that according to Josephus (War, book|| Wilson considers the present wall, which is ii. ch. xx. § 2.) ten thousand of them, by com-low and does not inclose it more than twomand of Nero, were put to death at once.

thirds round, as standing on the site of the It may be accounted one of the most vene- ancient inner wall; the others being broken rable places in the world for its antiquity. It down, and the ditches full of rubbish. Duris supposed to have been founded by Ux, the ing the crusades, the eastern part was acson of Aram; and is, at least, known to have counted impregnable. For a short time, existed in the time of Abraham, Gen. xv, under the Ommiade dynasty, Damascus was 2. It was the residence of the Syrian kings, the capital of the Saracen empire or khaliduring the space of three centuries, and ex- fate: it is now the capital of a pashalik of the perienced a number of vicissitudes in every Ottoman empire. Its streets are narrow, in period of its history. Its sovereign, Hadad,|| order to shade the inhabitants from the heat whom Josephus calls the first of its kings, of the sun. The houses, and especially those was conquered by David, king of Israel. In which front the streets, are very indifferently the reign of Ahaz, it was taken by Tiglath built, chiefly of mud formed into the shape of Pileser, who slew its last king, Rezin, and bricks, and dried in the sun; but those toadded its provinces to the Assyrian empire. wards the gardens, and in the squares, preIt was taken and plundered, also, by Senna- sent a more handsome appearance, and many cherib, Nebuchadnezzar, the generals of Alex- of them are spacious and elegant. The gates ander the Great, Judas Maccabæus, and at and doors are often adorned with marble porlength by the Romans in the war conducted tals, carved and inlaid with great beauty and by Pompey against Tigranes, in the year be- variety; and the inside of the habitation, fore Christ 65. During the time of the em- which is generally a large square, well-paved perors, it was one of their principal arsenals court, is ornamented with fragrant trees and in Asia, and is celebrated by the emperor marble fountains, and surrounded with splenJulian, even in his day, as "the eye of the did apartments, furnished and painted in the whole East." About the year 634, it was highest style of luxury. During great heats taken by the Saracen princes, who made it a kind of awning or veil is spread over the the place of their residence, till Bagdad was top of these courts. The market places are prepared for their reception; and after suffer- well constructed, and adorned with a rich ing a variety of revolutions, it was taken and colonnade of variegated marble. The prin. destroyed by Tamerlane, A. D. 1400. It cipal public buildings are, the castle, which was repaired by the Mamelukes, when they is about three hundred and forty paces in gained possession of Syria, but was wrested length; the hospital, a charitable establishfrom them by the Turks, in 1506; and sincement for strangers, composing a large quad

rangle, lined with a colonnade, and roofed in small domes covered with lead; and the mosque, the entrance of which is supported by four large columns of red granite; the apartments in it are numerous and magnificent, and the top is covered with a cupola ornamented with two minarets.

is called “Straight” in Acts, ix. 11, forms the principal thoroughfare in this city : it is about half a mile in length, running from east to west; but as it is narrow, and the houses project into it in several places on both sides, it is difficult to form a clear idea of its length and straightness.

Damascus is surrounded by a fruitful and The zeal of the early Christians founded delightful country, forming a plain nearly churches at Damascus; and a magnificent eighty miles in circumference; and the lands cathedral, which was dedicated to St. John most adjacent to the city are formed into the Baptist (whose head is said to be depositgardens of great extent, which are stored with ed here,) is now converted into a mosque. fruit trees of every description. "No place It is a noble edifice, six hundred and fifty in the world," says Mr. Maundrell, "can feet in length, and one hundred and fifty in promise to the beholder at a distance a great- breadth, and has a large and beautiful marble er voluptuousness;" and he mentions a tradi- court with a tank of water, and granite cotion of the Turks, that their prophet, when lumns of the Corinthian order, supporting approaching Damascus, took his station upon arches, the upper ones being half the height a certain precipice, in order to view the city; of the lower, and forming a double cloister. and after considering its ravishing beauty No Christian is permitted to enter this buildand delightful aspect, was unwilling to tempting. The other mosques are numerous, but his frailty by going farther, but instantly took in point of splendor are not to be compared his departure with this remark, that there with those of Constantinople. was but one paradise designed for man, and Many of the Damascus Jews carry on an that, for his part, he was resolved not to take extensive commerce in foreign merchandise. his in this world. The air or water of Da- They trade with Great Britain, and with the mascus, or both, are supposed to have a power-ports of France and Italy. Among them are ful effect in curing the leprosy, or at least, in arresting its progress, while the patient remains in the place.

some of the richest men in Syria-possessing from one to two millions of piasters, of which one hundred make a pound sterling, or four dollars forty-four cents of American money. They deal largely with the caravans which arrive from Mesopotamia, Persia, and all the regions of the East.

There is no city in the Holy Land, with the exception of Jerusalem, so interesting as this. It is the oldest one on the face of the

ment in the midst of decay. Babylon and Thebes were its contemporaries; but the former has passed away without leaving a trace of its magnificence, and the latter is represented only by its startling ruins. Still Damascus remains, and is now, with the exception of Constantinople, the largest city of the East.

The total population of Damascus is estimated at 150,000 souls, of whom a small proportion only is composed of Jews; there are about 12,000 Christians of different sects and denominations. The remainder are Mohammedins. The Franciscan monks have a convent which bears the name of Saint Paul, the scene of whose miraculous conversion (re-earth, and stands a solitary, stately monulated in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles) is pointed out to the Christian traveller, about a quarter of a mile from the eastern gate of the city: it is marked out by heaps of gravel and earth, and on the 25th|| day of January, annually, in commemoration of this event, the Christians in Damascus walk in procession, and read the history of the apostle's conversion, under the protection of a guard furnished to them by the pacha. Not far from this spot, the part in the wall is also shown from which Paul was let down by night in a basket (after the manner of Rahab in the case of the spies, Josh. ii. 15,) in order to avoid the fury of the persecuting Jews who watched at the gate to kill him on account of his change of principles. (Acts, ix. 25.) At a small distance is exhibited the place where he rested, till some of his friends joined him in his flight.

The house of Judas, in which Ananias restored sight to the apostle (Acts, ix. 17,) is a small grotto or cellar, containing a Christian altar and a Turkish praying place. The street in which this house stands, and which

Damascus has a peculiar importance in connexion with the progress of Christianity in these parts. It has already been visited by the agents of the Bible and Missionary Society. Being the great mart where eastern and western merchandise is exchanged, the general rendezvous of Islam caravans from the north and east in their progress to Mecca, and rendered comparatively a safe residence by the efficiency of Mehemet Ali, it opens one of the most important and extensive fields of missionary labor.

Another Paul may yet preach CHRIST in Damascus, and the moral aspect of this delightful country may present as cheering an appearance as the rich displays of its natural scenery.

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