lay her away. He has tried in vain elsewhere, so comes to us, and we cannot refuse. A few hours after, the pitiful little procession passes by. The pine coffin in an old cart, the husband and children, the minister and a few friends, following on foot. Such calls are frequent. Does the money ever come back? Once it did.

So it goes on, day after day, twenty, thirty, sometimes forty calls, for all these incidents are actual facts, and fair samples of our daily experiences and only a small part of our work. There is a large household to look after, and between times there must be flying visits to the distant kitchen to see that everything is going on right there. A watchful eye must look after the details of the dining room and see to the comfort of the whole household. Supplies must be ordered; bills must be paid; there are countless letters to write; there are sorrowful hearts to be comforted; wayward church members to look after; cold, dead prayer meetings to warm up; the Sunday-school to carry along; mother's meetings and children's meetings and missionary societies. An unlimited stock of patience, tact and good nature must be constantly on hand to keep all the machinery running smoothly, while the work is exhausting, wearing out body and soul far too soon.

Does it pay? Yes! for slowly but surely this people is being lifted up to a higher life, and while we sometimes grow faint and heartsick and discouraged, still there are rifts in the clouds and bits of sunshine now and then to cheer our hearts, and someday we hope to hear the Master say, "Well done!"

CROWDED SCHOOL-ROOMS.

Perhaps some of our friends would be glad to hear a few words concerning Brewer Normal School, Greenwood, S.C. The work goes on, but we are hurried and crowded almost beyond endurance. We have only two school-rooms and one recitation room. In one school-room fitted for fifty-eight scholars, there are ninety-seven. They are obliged to sit, three in a seat made for two, on chairs, stools and even on the teacher's platform. Classes are sent from this room, and their recitation room is the teacher's kitchen and dining-room—not very pleasant for the teachers, but a necessity. The teacher of these classes is the Principal's daughter, who has been taken from her own school to aid in this emergency. In the other school-room, fitted for fifty-eight, there are eighty-six—not quite as many as in the other room, but what is wanting in numbers is made up in size. There are several men six feet tall, and one minister six and a half. In many instances, we are obliged to look up to our scholars.

Some of our classes in this room number thirty-five or forty. The smaller classes from this room recite in the recitation room. It is with difficulty that some of our men, weighing two hundred, get into the seats in the school-room, but they bear the crowding and close packing with great patience. The small boarding-houses in the yard are as badly crowded as the school-rooms. In two small rooms, having two beds each, there are twelve young men, six in each. Here they cook for themselves, sleep and study out of school hours. One can hardly find standing-room among the chairs, trunks, etc. Other rooms are crowded nearly as much. And still the scholars come. What shall we do with them? Our cry is more room. O, that God would put it into the heart of some one to give the money needed for another building at Brewer!

PARAGRAPHS.

The congregation of Lincoln Memorial Church, Washington, D.C., rejoiced in a renovated and newly-furnished church edifice, Sunday, Jan. 6th. The pastor, Rev. George W. Moore, preached an interesting sermon on "The Law of Christian Growth." At the conclusion of the services a statement of the cost of the recent improvements was read. The total cost was $1,500, about $200 of which was given by contractors and workmen. Hon. A.C. Barstow, of Providence, R.I., presented the church with one of the large and beautiful stoves, and gave the other at the cost of manufacture. The present membership of the church is one hundred, ninety of whom are resident members. The people have done nobly in their gifts and self-denials, and Pastor and Mrs. Moore have in their hands a great work which promises to be greater in the future.

From a pastor in a remote part of Georgia:

"I have seen more of the condition and wants of the people than ever before, but whiskey and tobacco are the great evils of this part of the country. The colored people are not very much in advance of what they were twenty years ago, but the sad part of it is, that the leaders are no better than the people. I think almost every minister about here uses whiskey and tobacco, as far as I can learn, and of course the members of the churches can see no harm in doing what their minister does. This is a sad picture, but it only shows the need of intelligent and consecrated leaders, such as the American Missionary Association is raising up for a people who have been led by those who are neither intelligent nor consecrated."

Mrs. Hattie B. Sherman, the daughter of Rev. R.F. Markham, died January 14th at her residence in Stockton, Kansas. For two years she was a missionary of this Association at Beach Institute, Savannah, Ga., where she rendered faithful and effective service in the education of the colored people. We tender our sympathies to her father, who was for so many years a useful missionary of the Association in the South, and to her husband, in their great bereavement.

THE CHINESE.

LOO QUONG'S APPEAL.