satisfactory work out of the Indians than I did out of the white men." The Indians had often said that the roads were theirs, and they wanted to use them, so that they were not losing anything, even if they worked a little over their time, and several of them who were over fifty years of age voluntarily gave a day's work or two. While the Indians by no means always do as I wish to have them, yet these facts are encouraging.

MISSION HOME, S'KOKOMISH.

The Trials of Missionary Life.—The hardships and dangers to which our Indian missionaries are exposed are illustrated in the sad experience of Rev. T. L. Riggs, the superintendent of the missions of the Association at Oahe, S. D.

The exposure to the blazing sun and cutting winds and excessive cold of the Dakota winters has produced acute inflammation of the eyes, so that Mr. Riggs is entirely blind. We trust this is only temporary, but the pain and confinement in a dark room, and necessary retirement from the active work which Supt. Riggs so energetically carries on, are a painful trial, and will awaken the sympathy of all our readers.

A sad affliction has also befallen our honored missionary, Dr. A. L. Riggs, and his family, of Santee, Neb. Their little grandson, the child of the missionary daughter in China, has recently died of small-pox under very painful circumstances. The entire family in China had this disease, but at last accounts all but the little child were recovering.

GRAND VIEW, TENN.

I reached Pleasant Hill last Saturday, driving from Grand View. It is of Grand View that I want to report first.

They are in the best condition that I have ever seen. The teachers are doing well, and the new pastor has taken hold most earnestly and successfully.

No one can question the bringing in of the mountain people, both in church and school. More than two-thirds of the pupils are of native families, and the native people are filling the church. Mr. Dorman, the new pastor, has put the second service into the evening again, so as to get more of the mountain folk, and he succeeds. It was a grand thing to get him, coming with so good an education and devoted spirit. The people are feeling happier than for years, and coöperating cordially.

The institute is full. They cannot get on without more room. In the primary grade they enroll sixty-nine, and have seats for twenty-eight. The attendance is fairly well up to the enrollment and they absolutely cannot get on long this way. It is a splendid work. The American Missionary Association has reason to be proud of it, but it seems imperative to have more room.

The work all over this portion of the mountains is thoroughly encouraging.

GOSPEL TRANSFORMATIONS.

This autumn has been for me a season of hard labor, and, at the same time, one of great rejoicing. For more than a month I have been laboring night and day almost incessantly striving to lead souls to Jesus, and the dear Lord has blessed me to see more than thirty happy conversions. Tired, almost exhausted, still I must press on, for there is yet much to be done.

In the meetings held this fall I have realized more fully than ever before in my life the mighty power of the Spirit, and the blessedness of the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At a place in Scott County, Tenn., where I held a ten days' meeting, this fact of the Holy Spirit's power and the blessedness of the Christian religion was most beautifully illustrated, as the following incident will show.

When I began preaching there the neighborhood was in a universal state of ferment. Fussings, fightings, hard feelings between neighbors were everywhere; and between denominations most bitter prejudice and cruel jealousies. There were men there, close neighbors and kinsfolk, who had not spoken to each other for three years. Some were so angry with each other that they were fighting occasionally and trying to kill each other. They came to church with their pistols in their pockets to shoot each other, and I expected that we might have war in the church yard at any time and men killed. But while they held their thumbs on their pistol hammers I wielded the hammer of God's word with unrelenting force. While they were getting ready to fire revolvers I was firing red hot gospel shot into them with deadly effect. Their hard hearts softened, they weakened, they fell before the sword of the Spirit. Strong men broke down and wept like children. Grasping each other by the hand, embracing each other in their arms amidst a flood of tears, they confessed to each other their faults, and begged pardon and prayed and shouted as I never saw men do before in my life. Hostile enemies were made happy friends, would-be murderers were converted to God, hard feelings among neighbors were swept away, denominational prejudice was forgotten, and brotherly love and Christian peace reigned supreme. And besides this some twenty-five precious souls were saved; among them an old grandmother was brought to Jesus. And still the good work goes on.

Praise the Lord for His wonderful love and for His mighty power which He has manifested in the salvation of precious souls.

THE POOR HELPING THE POOREST.

The extreme poverty among many of the colored people of Wilmington, N. C., led me to think that there would be many families that would have no Christmas gifts unless given by those who could spare, even from their scant living, a portion to be given to those wholly destitute. Accordingly I invited the children in all the rooms in Gregory Institute to bring such offerings as they were willing to make, to be afterward distributed to those who otherwise would have no Christmas and were without the necessities of life even. The idea seemed to meet with general approval among teachers and pupils. Friday, the last day before the Christmas vacation, was appointed to bring in the gifts, and the amount contributed wholly exceeded our most extravagant hopes. Shortly after 8 o'clock the school children began to arrive laden with gifts, consisting of almost every imaginable article that could be used. Some brought a sweet potato—always the largest they could find—others a pound of sugar, rice, flour, bacon, pork, beans, peas, corn meal, cabbages, turnips, tea, coffee, matches, apples, oranges, grits, and if there are any other things to be found among eatables I think I can produce them from the packages now deposited in the sewing room.

Besides this quite a quantity of wood was brought, and a good supply—several bundles, at least—of fat pine for lighters, and considerable clothing. One special gift I must mention. It was from a little girl in the primary class. The girl is about eleven or twelve years old, and very poor. She worked all last summer and saved her money to pay her tuition in our school this year, and, as I have learned, had secured nearly enough to pay her tuition during the year. But, alas, poor little Mary. For some reason, probably to get the food necessary to live, her mother was obliged to take her hard earned and slowly accumulated money, and before school began she found that what she had so long hoped and planned for she could not realize. However, she did not give up her cherished