Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/117

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MORAVIAN SCHOOLS.
113

utation in early times, when our country could boast but few institutions for the education of females. The different classes seemed in perfect order, and the countenances of the pupils evinced contentment and happiness. The gardens belonging to the establishment, which are pleasantly laid out, and decorated with fountains, were shown us, by an ancient guide, who said he had in youth been a soldier under Frederick the Great. The contrast must be strong indeed, between the drill of a military despot and the blessed lore of the florist.

The spacious church at Bethlehem, is adorned with the portraits of many missionaries; the sect of Moravians having very early entered the field of missionary labor, and wrought there with a tireless and self-denying zeal.

Our approach to Nazareth, which was from the beautiful region of Wyoming, through Bear-Creek, Stoddardsville, &c., was rendered striking by passing at the hour of sunset the base of a lofty mountain, from whose empurpled summit, rays of crimson and gold went streaming up the horizon in prolonged and magnificent coruscations. Nazareth has a school for boys, which was well filled, and maintained a good reputation. Its members seemed to enjoy that health of body, and those salubrious moral iufluences, without which the intellectual gains of the young are but a mockery.

Nazareth is less populous than Bethlehem, and