PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
THE CONGREGATIONAL ROOMS,
FOURTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK.
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second-Class mail matter.
CONTENTS.
Page
Financial—Six Months49
A Word as to the Magazine49
Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting51
Tillotson College, Austin, Texas (Illustrated)52
Avery Normal Institute, Charleston, S. C. (Illustrated)61
Southern Field Notes67
Bits of Experience in the Indian Country69
Christian Endeavors of a Highland School and Village (Illustrated)72
Obituaries—Mrs. Mary T. Chase74
Miss Susie T. Cathcart75
A Suggestive Subscription75
RECEIPTS76
Woman's State Organizations94
Secretaries of Young People's and Children's Work96
OF THE
American Missionary Association
WILL BE HELD IN
SPRINGFIELD, MASS
October 23-25, 1900.
The AMERICAN MISSIONARY presents new form, fresh material and generous illustrations for 1900. This magazine is published by the American Missionary Association quarterly. Subscription rate fifty cents per year.
Many wonderful missionary developments in our own country during this stirring period of national enlargement are recorded in the columns of this magazine.
THE
American Missionary
Vol. LIV. APRIL, 1900. No. 2.
FINANCIAL—SIX MONTHS.
The first six months of the present fiscal year of the American Missionary Association closed March 31st. The receipts are $18,961.74 more than for the same period last year. The increase in donations is $10,699, and in estates $6,433.24, exclusive of the reserve legacy account. The tuition and similar receipts are $1,829.49 more than last year. This is a favorable and encouraging showing. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the friends of the great missionary work carried on by this Association, as evident in their increased donations.
The payments during this period have been $17,595 more than for the same months last year. The net balance, exclusive of the reserve legacy account, is $1,366.74 more favorable than that for the first six months of last year. The increase in current receipts has been expended in the mission fields which have been so greatly crippled by the enforced retrenchments during recent years.
The Association rejoices in its freedom from debt and in the favorable showing for these first six months. The next six months include the summer season, in which missionary gifts are often greatly reduced and the income suffers. We would again remind the pastors, Sunday-school superintendents, officers of Endeavor Societies and Woman's Missionary Circles of the great and pressing need upon the Association, both in old and new fields, among the many millions for whom our faithful missionaries labor. Porto Rico demands increased gifts. The field is opening with great hopefulness both in educational and evangelistic lines. Word comes from missionaries there urging reinforcements, which means more consecrated money to meet this pressing necessity.
A WORD AS TO THE MAGAZINE.
Letters frequently come to the editor of this magazine expressing regret that it does not reach the subscriber regularly each month. No one can regret this fact more than the editor. It must be remembered that the magazine is no longer a monthly, but a quarterly. This reduction in the frequency of the issue of our periodical was found necessary by the Executive Committee during the hard
However, less space is left for general matter. Partially on account of this restriction of space the magazine has taken a slightly different complexion. It is our desire to present as complete as possible the nature and conditions of the missionary work in our various fields. The discussion of incidental or even fundamental problems connected with the work of this Association is not often possible. Those who contribute to this work either money or prayers have a right to know what is being accomplished. Nothing can present it so clearly as illustrated articles, prepared by those who are in these mission fields. In the current issue two important schools are presented in this way.
In the Department of Christian Endeavor the development of work among the young people of the Highlands is interestingly presented. During the current year we plan to present our secondary institutions as the higher institutions were presented—through illustrated articles during the last year.
We acknowledge with gratitude the pleasant words spoken concerning the American Missionary in various periodicals. The cordial notices in missionary cotemporaries of other denominations, and those of our own mission schools, is especially appreciated.
A commission consisting of two members of the Executive Committee have recently visited the mission field. Rev. E. S. Tead, of Boston, and President T. J. Backus, of Brooklyn, were selected by the committee for this special service. They were accompanied by the senior secretary, Rev. A. F. Beard, and through a part of the field by Sec. G. H. Gutterson, of the New England District. They carefully inspected several of the schools of the Association, and their visit was of great value. The testimony they bear to the efficiency of the work and to the interests of the field is pronounced and emphatic. In a future issue of this magazine we hope to present articles from members of this commission which will be of great interest to our readers. The testimony of an experienced pastor and prominent educator must have great weight.
Strong testimony to the value of the educational work among the negroes is found in Harpers' Weekly for February 10th. In an able editorial on "Negro Education," we find the following: "The storm and stress period of the South is still upon it. The curse of slavery has not yet been removed. But it is clear that the schools are sending the light into the dark places, and that everything that shuts off or reduces the brilliancy of the light is inimical not only to the negro, but to the whites themselves, to the South, and to the whole country." No truer word than this could be spoken. The education of the negro is not a question of sectional or local importance alone. It is fundamental to the safety and development of our country. There are in the Southern public schools 27,445 teachers employed in teaching negroes. Twenty-six per cent. of the average attendance of school children in the Southern States, including the District of Columbia, are negroes. The total enrollment of the blacks constitute, however, only 52 per cent. of the children of that race of school age. This fact again emphasizes the necessity of such schools as the American Missionary Association plants among these black people. The high grade and exceptional character of these schools are certainly worthy of commendation. The report of our commissioners based upon facts personally and independently gathered by each will present the conditions as they are. The years of heroic and sacrificial service on the part of a body of missionaries and teachers, unsurpassed in any field, are bringing their legitimate and noble fruitage.
FIFTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING.
Springfield, Mass., has set the doors of its hospitality wide open in its welcome to the Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Missionary Association. This city occupies an ideal position for such a convention. It is the center of many railroad lines, both steam and electric. A large population are resident in the towns and cities and countryside, easily accessible through these lines of transportation. It is so located geographically that many of our most populous states are within easy distance. Add to this the cordial enthusiasm of the churches and citizens who invite the Association, and we have every element of a great and inspiring meeting. Already committees are organized and arrangements are being perfected for this meeting.
Full particulars will be given in a future number of the Missionary, and in our Congregational papers. Rev. Philip S. Moxom, D.D., Springfield, Mass., is the chairman of the general committee, and will receive and pass over to the proper sub-committee any correspondence which may reach him.
TILLOTSON COLLEGE, AUSTIN, TEXAS.
ALLEN HALL, TILLOTSON COLLEGE
January 17, 1881, witnessed the opening of this institution. It was christened "Tillotson Institute." The age of "romance" in the education of the negro was well-nigh passed. The matter-of-fact brain of the late Rev. George J. Tillotson, of Wethersfield, Conn., formulated the plan, and his generous heart enabled him, with the aid of individual contributors and the American Missionary Association, to carry his plan into execution. His purpose was to give the negroes of this far-away Southwest opportunities for securing an education equal to those of any other portion of our fair land. With this end in view he visited Austin and secured an ideal site for the coming college, destined to become the "Yale of the Southwest." Austin contains the magnificent Capitol, the State University, St. Edward's College and other schools, public and private, besides the state institutions for the insane, the blind, the deaf, the aged soldier and the orphan. Within the limits of the city, and yet removed from its din and dust, commanding views of many of these buildings, and of the far-reaching valley of the Colorado and the wooded hills beyond, our campus of twenty acres is a delight to the eye. Undulating, well suited for drainage, well stocked with shade trees and a profusion of wild flowers in their season, it is at once beautiful, healthful and inspiring.
The first building erected on this lot was Allen Hall. It stands on a hill of easy ascent, and is a substantial structure of stone and brick, five stories in height. While it was approaching completion, as story after story was added, the ambitious and intelligent young colored people watched its growth, eagerly anticipating the time when they would "enter its basement and ascend story by story, till they should step out upon the roof full-fledged college graduates."
Money for the purchase of the lot came mostly from Mr. Tillotson's own purse. His efforts in soliciting
For fourteen years Allen Hall afforded all the space available for dormitories for teachers and students of both sexes, dining-room, study-room, recitation rooms, chapel and church services. A series of partitions divided each floor, from basement to attic, into east and west halls. A small addition in the rear served for kitchen.
At the opening of the school there was no charge for tuition. The aspirants for an education "without money and without price" carried the enrollment to a point never since reached in the history of the school.
In 1888 the carpenters' shop was built and industrial training was introduced. An appropriation of $900 from the Slater Fund aided in meeting the additional expense. A marked evidence of the appreciation of this advance is shown in the record of attendance, which increased nearly eighty per cent., and reached the highest figures it has ever done under a charge for tuition.
A material enlargement to the accommodations for teachers and students came in 1894, in the new Girls' Hall, that was occupied for the first time in the autumn of that year. This was erected with funds provided by the American Missionary Association, and is a beautiful and convenient structure. The main part is three and a half stories in height, with wing and rear extension two and a half stories in height. It contains kitchen, dormitories and sitting-rooms for teachers and girls, and a spacious, airy and attractive dining hall for all.
The same year a new charter was obtained and the name changed to "Tillotson College."
The Tillotson Church of Christ in Austin was organized January 4, 1885. Rev. J. E. Roy, D.D., Rev. Jeremiah Porter, D.D., and Rev. J. H. Parr, conducted the services. Twelve members were received by letter and seven on profession. While a large majority of the students are members of churches at entrance, comparatively few have joined the church of the school. The entire enrollment of active members has been one hundred and eleven. This, by no means, gives a fair indication of the Christian spirit and activity of the school. In the religious meetings there is never any reference to denominational or sectarian differences.
On the 1st of February, 1899, the church adopted the "Mt. Holyoke Plan" of a "Wayside Covenant," and thirty-five teachers and students have signed that and entered into fellowship with us, while retaining membership in their own churches.
Porter Chapel, erected for outside missionary work in a needy part of the city, has had a checkered but useful experience. Once it was burned. It was rebuilt in 1890. Here Miss Martha J. Adams was wont to meet people, young and old, and dispense aid and comfort along many lines. Here, too, have been held for many years Sunday-school services, and preaching services from time to time, as strength and opportunity allowed.
In the early years there were a few students, mostly children of teachers, in college courses, and a still smaller number in theology. The aim from the first has been to give instruction in the elements of a good common school education, and to provide advanced work for such as could complete a high school course, or were preparing to teach, or to continue their studies in higher professional schools elsewhere. The list of graduates is still a short one. The motto, "Quality not Quantity," finds its illustration here as in all the rest of the work of the school. The standard of scholarship has always been high and is steadily advancing. Many who have never graduated have done excellent work as teachers in the public schools of the state. "Tillotson" students are in demand and are known and respected for their honesty and reliability. Of the graduates, some are in responsible positions in this state, while others are pursuing courses of study in higher institutions at the North, or have already entered upon professional work. The great work of such a school is in its "leveling up." Who shall measure this? When a boy on retiring at night folds and carefully lays away the sheets and pillow slips from his bed, to "keep them clean," or when he thinks, on entering the dining-room, that he has "reached heaven," evidently there is room for such work.
Teachers and students together strive to make Tillotson a place of refined and Christian culture. The chapel bell calls all to morning prayers, on school days, and to Sunday-school, church services and Christian Endeavor, on Sundays. Each evening the family gathers about the Word at its altar in the dining-room. Bible-study is a part of the regular course through all the grades.
Twenty years is a short time for estimating the harvest from such sowing as this. The beginning was small. The annals are meagre. Here have labored earnest and consecrated men and women from the best institutions of the North. The citizens of Austin have always been sympathetic and helpful. Several of the most prominent of them have served on the board of trustees. Many of them have contributed towards the equipment of the industrial departments of the school.
A small blacksmith shop on the place was a gift of the business men of Austin. The colored patrons of the school, in all sections of the state, have always been most cordial and enthusiastic in their commendation and confidence. It is little wonder that, with the passing of the years, the school has grown steadily in the estimation and affection of all classes. In the early days, the hall at commencement was occupied largely by white people. In these later years the audiences are composed largely of intelligent and appreciative colored people.
When one considers the scanty equipment of the school he can but be surprised that it has accomplished so much.
Endowment, aside from land and buildings, it has none. For income it has always depended upon grants by
To train the hand as well as the head the boys receive instruction in carpentry and industrial draughting, and the girls have regular lessons in needlework, dress-making and kindred subjects.
Tillotson has always done good work. She has made a name for herself. Standing, as she does, for thoroughgoing, non-sectarian, Christian education, for true manhood and womanhood, with mutual co-operation and helpfulness, with so many from all parts of this great State of Texas looking to her for light and leadership, her opportunities for usefulness are out of all proportion to her means. To properly meet these demands she sorely needs many things. A full list of imperative needs would call for too much space. A few must suffice.
A reasonable sum of money for endowment of professorships.
A great addition to apparatus and appliances for experiment and instruction.
Refurnishing of present buildings from top to bottom.
Sanitary drainage and plumbing.
A neat and pleasant chapel. A library and reading-room, with funds to purchase new books.
An extension to complete girl's hall, on the present plan, affording needed rooms for girls and teachers.
Music rooms removed from study and recitation rooms.
A building, with power, for metal working, tinsmithing, etc.
A plant for typesetting and printing.
Additional teachers should be employed, and the courses of study extended, so that men fully equipped for the demands of the new century can be furnished here.
Tillotson thus sends forth her plea to Christian men and women all over our land to be used as the means of untold blessing to needy thousands. Her usefulness has been great. It can be indefinitely increased with comparatively small outlay. Here are grand opportunities for investment in "futures" that will yield large returns. Just after the death of the late Dr. Joseph Hardy Neesima, of Japan, who had been so generously aided by Hon. Alpheus Hardy, of Boston, who had also died not long before, a Christian friend wrote:—"I wonder what Mr. Hardy thinks now of his investment in Joseph Hardy Neesima." They both can now realize so much more fully the meaning of the Master's words: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
AVERY NORMAL INSTITUTE, CHARLESTON, S. C.
More than ordinary interest attaches to this institution for the education of colored youth and the training of colored teachers, located as it is in the very cradle of secession, and near the spot from which was fired the first gun in the long war waged for their perpetual enslavement; and in a city situated in the heart of the cotton and rice-fields of the Southland.
Scarcely had the smoke of the long conflict cleared away or civil authority been fully restored in this long-besieged city, when General Saxton, then Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, opened a school in the Memminger building on St. Philip Street, built for and since used for the education of white children. Here, on the first day of October, 1865, were gathered a thousand children eager for the education so long denied to their race. So great was the pressure to gain admission to this school that one hundred children were seated in the great dome that surmounts the edifice.
The studies during the first year embraced the entire range of elementary branches, from the primer to the Latin grammar. About three-fourths of those who attended this first school were children of freedmen; the others, making up the advanced classes, were born free and constituted an aristocracy of color, a distinction which, after a lapse of more than a third of a century, still exists.
The closing examinations of this first year were attended by a large audience of both white and colored. There were present ladies and gentlemen, missionaries and teachers, civil and military dignitaries, and the leading representatives of both races. It was a novel and moving sight, one that the wildest imagination could not have foreseen or deemed possible five years before.
In its second year the school, then known as the Saxton School, held its sessions in the Military Hall on Wentworth Street, where with a slightly reduced enrollment, it remained until removed to its present quarters, May 1, 1865. The large and handsome building which it now occupies was erected by the American Missionary Association through the Freedmen's Bureau. Rev. Charles Avery, of Pittsburg, Pa., had given a large sum for the education of the colored people, and ten thousand dollars of his bequest were appropriated to the institution, and in honor of this noble philanthropist the name was changed to Avery Normal Institute. Here the enrollment was necessarily reduced and the normal character of its work made more prominent, a feature that had been contemplated from the beginning.
In any survey of the work of Avery, three principals should receive special recognition for their thorough, enduring and Christian labor in this needy field. They are the Rev. F. S. Cardozo, by whom the school was first organized in the Memminger building, Prof. M. A. Warren, who succeeded him and graduated the first class in 1872, and Prof. Amos W. Farnham, now of the Oswego Normal School. Each of these men was distinguished for unusual teaching skill, for great administrative ability, and for complete consecration to the work to which he was specially called. These worthy educators are still remembered here with affection and gratitude, but the full fruition of their labors will be known
For over thirty years about four hundred colored students have annually gathered here for the training which was to fit them for life's work. For many years all grades, from the primary to the high school and normal course, were maintained, but in later years the primary and intermediate pupils have been excluded, their instruction being amply provided for in the public and numerous private schools of the city, thus leaving the Institute free to devote itself to higher grades and normal work, in which Avery has been from the first conspicuous and eminently successful. Its graduates now number nearly four hundred and are found in almost every department of human activity. Some are distinguished in professional life, others in trade, or in business. Among them are doctors, skilled and eminent in their chosen fields of labor, clergymen of acknowledged ability, and teachers of long and successful experience. About two-thirds of all its graduates choose teaching as their special vocation; and nearly all prove their skill and ability in the schoolroom, and have reflected great credit on their alma mater and have been a blessing to their race. There has been for the last ten years a steady and growing demand for colored teachers of ability and with special training for their work; and there is not a county in the state to which our graduates do not go as teachers, and in the lower counties and along this malarial coast nearly all the schools for colored children are taught by Avery graduates. In many places conditions are such that no one can undertake this work without jeopardizing health or risking life itself. But there are not wanting those whom zeal and devotion lead into these dangerous fields. Names might be given of those who have even given up life itself at work in these malarial districts, proving their zeal and the missionary spirit which actuated them.
Avery has cost large sums of money; to maintain such an institution by charity through a third of a century is no small undertaking, requiring faith and consecration. But it has repaid more than a hundred-fold all that has ever been expended. Here in this historic city, surrounded by lowlands of rice and cotton, the negro was found in overwhelming numbers, and after emancipation, in utter ignorance of book lore or a pure gospel. To this people the American Missionary Association, through the Avery Institute and its consecrated workers, has brought the light of knowledge and a pure gospel, and awakened aspiration and hope of a better life. The beneficial effects of this work upon such a people, and indirectly upon the city and state, are incalculable. Intelligent Christianity and Christian education has ever been the motto of Avery, and faithfully has it been realized in the lives of its graduates, and exemplified by them in all the relations that affect good citizenship and true manhood. Race conflicts in this city have been unknown since the days of reconstruction, and it is not too much to claim that this better condition of things here is largely due to the influence exerted by Avery.
Although it is in the strictest sense a school, in which all studies in every department are prosecuted under a high pressure, which knows no relaxation, yet religious teaching has ever been a prominent feature, and the Bible is considered the best text book in the school. It has never been sectarian, but always Christian in its teaching and influence. No year passes without numerous conversions among its pupils, and every church in the city has been blessed in some measure by accessions to its membership from the students of Avery.
The blessings which this school has brought to this people, and indirectly to a far wider constituency, are not wholly a free gift to them. A monthly tuition fee has always been required and collected from all in attendance, except in special cases, in which its collection would impose great hardship or compel the withdrawal of worthy pupils from the school. But in spite of this monthly charge and the sacrifices made to meet it and keep their children in school, these people, out of their meagre earnings, which in so many cases make accumulations impossible, have kept their children in school, and to the end of a twelve years' course, in numbers that would shame many a more prosperous community in more favored sections of our land, where schools and books are entirely free. In 1895 twenty-four successfully completed its course and graduated with honor; in 1896 twenty were added to the alumni roll; in 1897 twenty-eight; in 1898 thirty-one; in 1899 twenty-four; and at this writing twenty-four are taking final examinations for graduation in June. And from these large classes there is not one that is not an honor to the community, scarcely one that has not found a position as a teacher or in some useful calling or industry, while a few are taking higher courses in other institutions. Are not these facts sufficient answer to the charge so often made, that the colored people are losing their interest in education, or that higher education does not benefit them?
Our work has been mainly academic; that is the purpose for which Avery was called into existence, to educate and train colored teachers, and to fit them for honorable positions in trade or business.
The dignity of labor has always been faithfully inculcated, and opportunities for it have not been wanting. Nearly all the normal students and many in the lower classes go from school to some useful occupation, learning trades, or engaging in other remunerative employment. Large numbers not only maintain themselves but are necessary helpers to the bread-winners of their respective families.
But in keeping with the tendencies of the times and of the newer education, and with the traditions and practice of the American Missionary Association, an industrial department has been added to Avery, and it has aroused no little enthusiasm among students and patrons. Needlework for the girls has been introduced, and under an accomplished and efficient instructor it has been from the first a great success. The girls from the lower grades as well as from the normal classes are being systematically trained to do their own sewing, and will in time be taught to make their own garments. Our purpose is to add to this, cooking and other departments of domestic science, as the resources of the Association will permit. Steps have been taken to establish a printing department.
In 1892 Avery Normal Institute was incorporated under the laws of the state, though the control of the school has been kept in the same hands as before, a majority of the trustees being in the executive committee or the administrative force of the American Missionary Association. The purpose of the incorporation was to secure for its graduates the advantages which the laws of the state confer upon graduates of all incorporated institutions.
An article of this nature would be incomplete without some reference to charges so frequently made, and in high places too, that education, and especially the higher education, does the negro more harm than good, and that the educated classes furnish the larger part of the criminals. That there are educated criminals is not doubted, but they are not confined to one race, nor do they come from the students of the American
And this is true not only of those who complete our course and receive their diplomas, but of hundreds of others who do not go beyond the grammar grades. Such invariably make better citizens. It is a rare thing to learn that one of the students from any class of our school has become a criminal. The criminal classes are not recruited from the pupils in missionary schools.
We need large contributions of money or materials that will enable us to enlarge and develop our industrial department. A promising beginning has been made, but it is only a beginning, and we desire to extend it in many lines, giving the widest possible scope to individual talent or proclivities, without lowering in any degree the present standard of scholastic attainment.
We need contributions of money and books to enlarge our library and give to our students advantages which they cannot now find in the city. A good library is absolutely indispensable in all educational work. We have a few hundred well worn volumes, the merest apology for a library, but it is the only one in the city to which colored people have access.
We appeal to individuals, to Sunday-schools, to Christian Endeavor societies and to churches for the establishment of scholarships for worthy and capable pupils. We have many such, on whom the burdens press so heavily that continuance in school to the end of the course is an impossibility. We wish to help such after they have reached the normal department. A small sum expended in keeping these worthy students in the school may bring rich rewards when the harvests of life are all finally gathered.
SOUTHERN FIELD NOTES.
Early in the school year the teachers of Trinity School, Athens, Alabama, made their annual visitation to the country people. They carried with them the good cheer of the holiday season in the distribution of odds and ends from barrels from Northern friends. Gifts were distributed to a hundred persons, old and young. One old lady, fearing that she had been overlooked, exclaimed: "Wat you gwine to gib me?" and she was made happy by the gift of a bandanna handkerchief. Trinity School fills a large place in that community, as it is the only school for colored pupils in a radius of several miles of Athens.
A revival followed the week of prayer service at Talladega College. The school is full, and all are happy in the work.
Secretary Beard's trip through the Southern field was a delight to the workers and students. His sermons and addresses and wise counsel were helpful to all. Porto Rico was made very real by his graphic descriptions of the country and people.
Our church at Shelby Iron Works, Ala., is flourishing under the labors of Rev. E. E. Scott. Mr. Scott, with his rich tenor voice, leads the people in the singing of the old spirituals, and the choir in anthems and song.
Rev. T. J. Bell and his people are doing good service at Selma.
Miss M. L. Phillips and her associates are happy in their work at Marion, Ala. A deep religious interest was awakened both at Marion, Ala., and at our Lincoln School at Meridian, Miss. Rev. M. Jones, a graduate of Tougaloo University, is pastor at Meridian, and Rev. C. L. Harris, the former minister, is now at Mobile.
The Emerson Institute at Mobile is doing excellent work, under the direction of Dr. Burnell and his teachers.
The meeting of the Louisiana Association was held with the Central Church, New Orleans. The attendance was good, and the reports of the churches, addresses and papers were full of interest.
The Woman's Missionary Union, Christian Endeavor and Sunday-school Association also held interesting meetings.
The Straight University has a large attendance; the school is making good progress in its various departments of literary and industrial work.
After the meeting of the Louisiana Association, I visited the work at Thibodeaux, Schriever, Chacahoula, Abbeville, Lake Charles and New Iberia. At several places a deep religious interest was awakened, and a large number avowed their faith in the Saviour.
A new church has been organized at Lake Charles, La., with thirty members. It gives promise of growth and fruitful service. Rev. S. J. Wood, a graduate of Straight University, is pastor. The people bought a lot, and the Church-Building Society aided them in buying a meeting-house which has been removed to their lot.
Three miles from Fort Davis Station, on the Georgia and Alabama Railroad, and forty miles from Montgomery, is our Cotton Valley School, which is located in the heart of the Black Belt of Alabama. This country school is the one bright spot in the lives of the large population of poor black people of Cotton Valley. It is in charge of four young women, graduates of Fisk University—Miss Carrie Alexander, Principal, and Misses Pearl Binford, Lelia Haynie and Lizzie B. Moore. Besides the school work, the teachers visit the people in their cabin homes, hold mothers' meetings, Sunday-school, Christian Endeavor and Junior Endeavor meetings, sewing classes, a literary society and singing-school. It is a veritable social settlement. The people look to these young women for advice, medicine and help in all kinds of ways. They have won the love and confidence of the people, and gladly help them in all ways. The school is under the management of the American Missionary Association, and is supported by the Woman's Missionary Union of Massachusetts. The school is located in a most needy field for mission work. A teachers' home is greatly needed. The teachers occupy the log cabin home built by the first missionary teacher, Mrs. Lillian V. Courtney, nee Davis. This cabin home has done good service; but a larger home is needed for the teachers, with facilities for industrial training for girls.