l
building can be erected. Nothing can contribute more to the progress and
welfare of the young people than a well-equipped industrial department
where knowledge of trades can be imparted.

[Illustration: THE WILMINGTON A. M. A. SCHOOL.]

THE WILMINGTON A. M. A. SCHOOL.

With their immense preponderance of a country population, naturally the
largest part of the Association's mission work in the Carolinas is in the
country. In the North Carolina Congregational Association most of the
churches are country churches. The Association meetings are well attended.
The accompanying illustration is from a photograph taken at one of the
recent meetings in McLeansville, where there are two churches not far
apart. Besides these in this part of the State, there are country churches
at High Point, Salem, Strieby, Melville, Oaks, Pekin, Dry Creek, Carter's
Mills, Dudley, Malee, Nalls, Troy, Snow Hill, and other points. The annual
meetings of the Association are most interesting occasions. Pastors and
people of these little churches gather from near and far for fellowship,
mutual comfort, and inspiration. With some of these churches schools are
associated, which afford to the young the opportunities of a Christian
education, and contribute from their elder pupils many students for our
higher institutions of learning. With the multiplication and development
of these churches these higher schools will have a steady constituency of
great importance.

[Illustration: SCENE IN BEAUFORT, N. C.]

SCENE IN BEAUFORT, N. C.

[Illustration: NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES.]

NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES.

Thus the Association, so far from confining its work to the cities, is
doing a very large share of its work in the country and among country
people. Some of this work has been long-continued and has achieved a
widespread and beneficial influence in the neighboring communities. The
self-denying devotion of many years is reaching a most blessed fruitage,
and those who have given the strength and vigor of a lifetime to the poor
and despised now find their closing years brightened with the sight of
what has been wrought by their long labors for the advancement of the
Kingdom of Christ. The picture of the Oaks congregation at their church
door is an illustration. There, among the plantations, are two sisters who
have given their lives,