lding, praying for and laboring with
classmates. A member of Grade Eleven, for whom special effort had
been made, came out at this time.

Some of the converts have made detailed confession of sins (stealing,
_e.g._); some who have been neglectful of school privileges have
returned to get the religious impetus; and at least two that had been
dismissed for meanness have experienced a change of heart. We shall
look for permanent results, and work to that end with hope; yet this
people are so emotional and so stolid! so ready to move along a
certain line in a body, but indifferent to duty when it leads along an
uninteresting path of individual effort. Indeed, the home life of many
is unfavorable to genuine Christianity; some being persecuted, even,
because they have not seen a vision, till they are made to believe
they "have got nothing."

Mr. Wharton preaches the pure and simple gospel plainly and vividly;
is attractive in person and of commanding presence. At his departure
there were many expressions of regard and grateful remembrance, and he
will always have a warm place in the affections of Selma people, who
have been impressed in so short a time by the life and words of this
man of God.

* * * * *

COTTON VALLEY, ALA.

BY A TEACHER.

I have been asked to tell something of the work and school in Cotton
Valley. Hence I send a little description of it as it appears to a new
teacher, just having entered the missionary field.

There are many features about the work here that make it a most
interesting one. First, it is situated in a dense black belt, where
the people are anxious to improve, and are appreciative of all that is
done for them. Next, Cotton Valley is quiet and retired, being forty
miles from Montgomery, nine from Union Springs, and thirteen from
Tuskegee; so that, while we are enabled to teach without interruptions
that break into school life in cities, we are yet not so far removed
as to be incommoded when business necessitates our going to a city.

Doubtless Miss Lilla V. Davis, the pioneer, founder, and principal of
our school is well known to most of the friends and helpers of the
American Missionary Association, but, for the sake of those who are
not so well informed, and because hers is a story worthy of being told
anew, I will say a word of her whom all Cotton Valley delights to
honor. She, ten years ago, left her home in Boston, Mass., and coming
down here und