The Farmington (Nova Scotia) Industrial Academy
By Mrs. Geo. E. Price
On a very pretty hillside at the foot of the Cobequid Mountains stands our school home. As a place for a school of the prophets, it can scarcely be surpassed. It is about nine miles from the railway station (Oxford Junction). The natural scenery here is grand; and when one is once on the ground, he feels shut in, surrounded by the handiwork of the great Creator. Looking southeast from the door of the home, a beautiful mountain may be seen, clothed with beech, birch, and maple, and sloping from the blue sky down to the edge of a deep ravine. This slope is gradual and graceful. The varied tints of the foliage of this season make the scene one of exquisite beauty. At the bottom of this ravine a brook babbles over the stones, flowing onward until it reaches a larger stream, where it is lost to view. A road runs parallel with the brook. Over a mile of this road is so sheltered with forest trees that in many places they form canopies overhead. This is a sheltered road for winter travel. On this brook, and near the academy site, is a waterfall about fifteen or twenty feet in height. This, especially after a heavy rain, materially assists the brook in the soul-music of the forest. The home, which serves the double purpose of schoolroom and boarding home for the present year, is a very bright spot. The glorious morning sun seems to concentrate its rays on the hillside where the building stands. There are some very devoted young people here, who we know will be a great help in making the school what it should be—a school for educating Christian workers. This is the first school of its kind in the Maritime Provinces, and we want it to be a success, and know it will be, if students and teachers work hand in hand, with the sole purpose of honoring God and bringing souls to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. The formal opening of this school took place Oct. 6, 1903, but actual school work began a few days later. The industrial part of the work, so far, has consisted of work about the farm and on the buildings. This farm is especially adapted to fruit growing, the soil being of a light, sandy nature, and the land hilly. This mission-school farm is the gift of a brother who has been deeply interested in Christian education, and who has maintained a school in his own house for years. Pray for our work. We need your prayers and sympathies, and may have to call for even more substantial assistance from time to time. Those alone who have helped in pioneer work of this kind know the difficulties attending the establishing of the work, but our hearts are in this work, and we mean to do what we can to develop the missionary spirit of the school, for this is the spirit which should control all our institutions. MRS. GEO. E. PRICE.