etter and
his prayer in his own words: "Not being satisfied with the minister's
advice I went that night down into the woods and knelt beside a
hickory-tree, with the letter spread out, and prayed as follows: 'Lord
here is a letter from Dr. Cravath; I suppose you know him. Here is his
letter which I cannot read, but I am told that you can read as well in
the dark as you can in the light. Dr. Cravath says for me to do all I
can for my son, and look to you for the balance. Now I cannot do
anything for my son; if he is to be aided you must do all, for one thing
is certain I have no money; you have left none with me, and I do not
know with whom you have left it. Now, dear Lord, I leave this whole
matter with you. In your own way and time do for my son what seems best.
I cannot do anything. I ask it all for Jesus' sake. Amen.' I repeated
about the same prayer the following night, and then left it all with the
Lord. In about two weeks I received a letter from my son stating that
some one had put two hundred and fifty dollars in the bank at Nashville
to his account to aid him through college. I considered it the direct
answer to my prayer. This is the proudest day of my life to see my son
John graduate from Fisk University. May the blessing of God rest upon it
and upon the Association which founded and fosters it."

There was an unusual number of the parents of the graduates at this
Commencement. Some of the addresses and scenes recalled the words of the
aged Simeon when our Lord was presented in the temple. There were
fathers and mothers who at great sacrifice had come from Alabama,
Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and other States to see this famous school
and witness the graduating exercises of their children. They spoke out
of hearts full of gratitude to their Northern friends for making it
possible for their children to fit themselves for their life-work in the
schools of the American Missionary Association.

An ordination service of special interest was held at Atlanta, Ga., in
July, when Mr. H.H. Proctor was ordained to the gospel ministry as
pastor of the First Church. He is twenty-five years old, one of "Uncle
Tom's" sons, and is a graduate of Fisk University and Yale Divinity
School. This was the first ordination held in this church, and the first
Negro pastor to serve it, as all the former pastors were Northern men.
Already all departments of the church have taken on new life, and the
future is full of hope. This is one