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WILLIAMSBURG ACADEMY, WHITLEY CO., KY.

BY MISS EDITH WILLIAMS.

In this land where the people live by their crops, it was most encouraging to see the number of older boys who remained in school till the last of the term.  Two of our boys remain with us during vacation, to do the needed work.  They are earnest Christians and faithful workers, and appreciate the home influences here.

Many of the girls tell me that their fathers used to be “moonshiners,” and they say that at that time they thought it all right; did not realize the evils of alcohol until taught about it in the school.  We believe, however, that the morals of this part of Kentucky are steadily improving, and feel confident of it in our own little town.

Last week I visited a country school house about four miles from town.  It was made of logs.  Three small holes were cut in the logs for windows.  The benches were split logs, and the floor was the earth.  The great stone chimney, (the only spacious thing about the building,) was beginning to crumble away.  This is a typical log school house of the past, but much better ones are going up all over the country, giving brighter hopes for the future.

With the better school buildings through the country, our Academy will be ready to furnish them with better teachers than they have had in the past.  Our hope for the future among the Mountain Whites is great.

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SCHOOL AT MARSHALLVILLE, GA.

BY MRS. ANNA W. RICHARDSON.

Our school is very large, there being enrolled two hundred.  Our great trouble is a lack of teachers.  There are only three of us.

New facts regarding the people among whom we work are brought to us constantly.  Yesterday four pupils entered school who were perfect wonders.  The oldest of them is seventeen years of age, and the youngest perhaps ten.  The oldest has been to church three times during her life, the others have never been.  They have never been to Sabbath-school, and know nothing about Christ and God.  They have never in their lives heard the word Bible.  The oldest one has seen a preacher three times—­the same man each time.  They made their first visit to town, and beheld the first railroad car yesterday.  They do not know who made them!  Ever since their arrival I have been saying over and over, “Surely we have Africa at our very door.”  I cannot realize it.  The responsibility is so great that it makes me tremble.

Many of our pupils have little or no religious training at home.  We have a good many pupils whose parents are “Hard Shell Baptists,” and do not allow them to go to Sabbath-school, and teach them not to pray for forgiveness of sins.  A few afternoons ago, the pupils were all asked what they desired to be.  One little boy raised his hand to say that he was going to be a “Hard Shell” minister, for they were already saved, and had no praying to do.  This answer was a result of his training at home.