es which are types;
and as types I present them. The environment which conditions their
work and gives the color of it must needs be included. Situated among
the hills of Eastern Alabama is a thickly settled community of people
about two-thirds of whom are colored. It is in the County of Elmore,
and bears the Indian name of Kowaliga. Being near the corner of two
adjoining counties, it is a rural centre from which large numbers of
children can be reached who ought to be educated, and who are anxious
to "get an education" as their one chance in life, a chance which so
far has been beyond them.

Kowaliga settlement is remote from any railroad and consists wholly of
plantations. These plantations were formerly tilled by slaves, but
since freedom came to those who gave their unrequited labor, the rich
white planters have become poor and many of their sons now may be seen
themselves following their plows, tilling the fields and driving mules
instead of men. The country is fertile and repays intelligent tillage.

The American Missionary Association has been applied to repeatedly for
help in this settlement of Kowaliga. Under the lead of two young
college graduates, both of whom I had met while they were students at
Fisk University, the colored people with great sacrifice had
contributed building material and labor in the construction of a very
substantial two-story building with attic and basement, which,
however, is yet incomplete and unfurnished. The people with few
exceptions, are extremely poor and very ignorant, and have an
imperfect idea of what a school means with its proper appointments and
teachers.

[Illustration: KOWALIGA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.]

In answer to the most urgent appeals of the two young educators, I
arranged in my recent journeying in the South for a personal
investigation. One of the former student acquaintances came for me in
his "one horse shay" and with him as my courier and companion I rode
through this rural district. I found that the white farmers are
gradually leaving their plantations while the colored people are as
gradually becoming land owners. Abandoned farms, which through poor
culture have not paid the farmers for cultivation, can easily be
secured by industrious colored people who are willing to deny
themselves and work hard for an independent start in life.

The father of the young man whom I accompanied on my long ride through
the country is one of these who has already won his succe