Bishop H. M. Turner, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L., is the senior Bishop of the African M. E. church, and although peculiar in his views, is said to be the greatest living Negro. He is now serving his third term as Bishop of the Sixth Episcopal District, the only man in the history of Methodism who has had the distinction of being returned in succession to the same diocese. He is president of the Bishops' Counsel, President of the Sunday School Union Department at Nashville, and Chancellor of Morris Brown College. He has crossed the ocean many times and planted the gospel in South and West Africa. It was during his administration as President of the Missionary Board of the A. M. E. church that we were appointed general superintendent. It is through him that many students from the foreign fields have come to this country and matriculated in the different schools and colleges, graduated with high honors from the different departments, and have since returned to the Fatherland to teach and preach to these native sisters and brothers. In May, 1905, was celebrated at St. Louis, Mo., his twenty-fifth anniversary as bishop in the church, which proceedings of this Silver Jubilee have been published in a journal called the quarto-centennial that will do ample justice to this great hero which, with our feeble pen we are unable to do. executive board of Interdenominational, International State S. S. Association, and editor of the Missionary Searchlight, a woman's church paper in interest of missions, launched by her in 1898, and adopted at Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago by the last two general conferences as the woman's missionary organ. She was the legal representative to both these distinguished gatherings. In June the A. and M. College, Normal, Alabama, at its commencement, conferred upon her the degree of M. A.

Mrs. Sara J. Morgan was born in Virginia, and is now about eighty-three years old. She has the distinction of being one of the old school, being sold from her mother while quite a child and reared in the house with her mistress. She is an excellent house-keeper a good manager, a splendid seamstress and in her day received prizes for her beautiful and artistic handwork on undergarments and tailoring. She has had the distinction of being the mother for eight unfortunate children and a faster mother for five, the youngest being a young man now grown whose mother died when he was seven days old, and little Sara, the author, whose mother died when she was a year and one month old. To each of these she tried to give as much of an education as they would willingly receive. She is an earnest worker and consistent Christian woman, and in whose crown will be many stars for being a mother to the motherless and handing a cup of cold water to the least of these, my little ones.

S. G. Hatcher, the father of the author, was one of a large family of boys, all of which are now dead. Their father, Jordan Hatcher, was considered in slave days a very well-to-do colored man. He hired his own time and that of his boys from his master at so much per day and taught them the trades, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting and carpentry which these boys as fathers have handed down to their posterity and some of their children are now teaching these trades in the schools and making a fair living for their own families. Jordan Hatcher was also a teacher in the public schools of Dallas county, and was ten years postmaster at Cahaba, Ala., the old capital of the State. He was also one of the three colored members of the first Constitutional Convention of the State, after the emancipation. He was a devout Christian and lived to be seventy-three years of age. S. G. Hatcher was, by trade, a blacksmith and silversmith, but after some years, owing to ill health, abandoned that occupation, taking up gunsmithing and silversmithing, having successfully run in two different towns a wholesale and retail grocery business and bar-room. After some years' reflection, his decision was that the sale of whiskey was not for Christian men, and he, without hesitation, gave up the same. He was married four times, first, to Miss Laura English, second, Miss Eliza English, third, Miss Virginia Tarte, fourth, Miss Fannie Mumford, who still survives him. To these unions were born sixteen children, all of which are gone to the better land, save the three daughters, Frances, Georgia and Sara. All children of the second wife, Miss Eliza English, who was from one of the oldest and best families of white and colored in the State. At the time of his death he was class leader and trustee, having held all other positions connected with the church. His example in church work was worthy of emulation, and among his last admonitions while on his deathbed was, “Conference meets here in a few weeks, and be sure to pay my dollar money.” He was over sixty-three years of age at the time of his death.

Mrs. C. M. Wilson, relict of Dr. M. R. Wilson, one of the most prominent pastors in the State of Georgia, and was at the time of his demise pastor at Americus. Before his marriage to Mrs. C. M. Aldridge he was a son-in-law of Bishop J. M. Shorter, from which marriage survives one daughter, Miss Bessie E. Wilson, a young lady of excellent parts, who is a graduate from the academic course of Morris Brown College, of Atlanta, Ga., and who is also, by trade, a tailoress and a milliner, all of which she has attained through her stepmother and a scholarship from the Southwest Georgia Conference.

Mrs. Wilson is now a confirmed invalid, having worked very hard, and going through the most heroic sacrifices for Bessie's education. She has been a great missionary and church worker, and was the first manager and associate editor of the Missionary Searchlight, and was also assistant general organizer of the Sixth District for three years. Died on July 18, 1906.

Miss Ella J. Lamar was born and reared at Shelman, Ga. Her school days were few, owing to a feeble mother and no one to push her education. She joined the church quite early and has been instrumental in spreading the borders of Christianity and continuing to study, being tutored by such gentlemen as J. P. Vandergriff, D. J. Jordan and W. J. Thomas. In 1905, she matriculated at Morris Brown College and, in connection with her other studies, took the missionary course under the principal of that department, Miss L. P. Lemon. Miss Lamar, of Dawson, Ga., is a teacher in the public schools and declares that she would lay down her life for the cause of missions, and her greatest pleasure is when in discharge of her Christian duties. Though poor and an orphan, she given her time and means to the great cause of missions, and is at present president of the Albany District W. H. and F. M. Society.

Mrs. Georgia A. Levens, Mrs. Frances Vaughn, sisters of the author, good Christian women, helping in all causes of the spreading of the gospel; kind and loving in family relations and benevolent to the poor, both members of the Ladies' Aid Society of P. U.

St. Paul A. M. E. church, at Cahaba, a brick structure, recently renovated and one of the oldest landmarks of Christianity in the State, and the spiritual birthplace of the author.

Dr. H. B. Parks, the great Secretary of Missions in the A. M. E. church, one of the greatest preachers of the age and on whom the church expects to confer the honor of the bishopric.

Bishop James A. Handy, D.D., one of the pioneer bishops, who was president of the Missionary Board for four years and who confirmed our second appointment as G. S.

Again the time has come for me to try, in my humble way, to present to you some of the grandest causes that today is fast becoming the greatest theme in the churches of every denomination and every nationality.

Home of the author, 305 Franklin street, Sehma, Ala. This home is not very palatial in appearance, but on the inside is comfortable and inviting.

The great Buckeye State and the land of Here We Rest has joined both heart and hands by blending two lives in one, in the holy bonds of wedlock, and it gives us unbounded pleasure to welcome this the beautiful bride in our midst, who come to us with heart of love full to overflowing, and re-echoing to the vibrating response of our honored son and brother. We welcome you, first, to our picturesque State, whose lovely cities are always glad to welcome honored visitors. But with what infinite pleasure will they throw open their gates to welcome the lovely daughter of Ohio, who has sacrificed much to come under the protection of this our beloved son of Alabama—whose prominence in the State not only in the African M. E. Church, make the members of the State, regardless of denomination, proud of him. Then the city of Selma, with her quiet and serene loveliness, throws wide her portals and invites you to freely partake of all her pleasures, perhaps not so elaborate as some of other cities, yet with open hearts and outstretched hands, in behalf of these her most honored citizens and loyal-hearted friends. We welcome you. We invite you to the lovely streams and beautiful fountains whose everflowing waters leap out in plenty, and hope as flows their bubbling streams, so may the love of your hearts made one always flow to the end. We also invite you to sit under the shade of our lovely oaks, and as they send out their zephyr breezes and spread their branches to protect you from the glare of the sun, so may the protecting care of a beloved husband and the great God of heaven watch over you. Our homes, not so beautiful as some to which you have been invited, but whose “latch-string” is always on the outside, open wide their doors to show you in, where all things are made ready for your comfort, to have you feel not as an adopted daughter, but as one born and reared with us, and to these we freely welcome you. Suffice it to say that we, the citizens of Selma's quiet vicinity, in welcoming Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson Mixon into our midst, hope that as time rolls on, in the home made happy by her coming, that the life of Rev. Winfield Henri Mixon, D.D., Acting Bishop of Alabama, may have only clouds enough to make the sunshine brighter when the sky breaks through. As his bride we welcome you, and our entire wish is that the three P's—peace, plenty and prosperity—attend you. Again, we welcome you.

The pleasure it gives me to be with you in this assembly can not very easily be expressed, for as a coworker and laborer in the cause of Christ I feel near to all.

I come before you as acting superintendent of the missionary department of this great church of ours, and as successor to that great woman of the North, Rev. Mrs. Lillian F. Thurman. I would be glad were I able to lay before you the miles traveled, the organizations effected, number of members since my appointment; but owing to the misfortune of losing my “hand-grip,” lost all of these reports, and am only able to lay out from the beginning of this year. I have traveled, January, 1898, 5,250 miles, organized societies since January, 1898, 58; lectures given, 116; annual conventions of women held (both State and district), 10. Now, this is an account of my travels since the beginning of the year, but it is impossible for me to remember previous to that time, having lost my reports.

Now, my brethren, I have endeavored to hold up the missionary banner of the church since my appointment, and I have had great pride in the same; first, because the honor conferred is the first in the history of the church to be given a woman of the South, and although feeling my incompetency as a public speaker at the beginning to follow such a noted woman of such wide experience, with willing hands, yet with some reluctance I made a start, and continued to pray that the responsible position should be jealously watched over and so well taken care of that your children in after years could look upon my grave or the book containing my biography and there pledge themselves to not let the missionary banner trail in the dust; secondly, because I have felt that from my earliest existence, from the time of my mother's death, when only a babe of one year and one month old, that “there was a destiny that shaped my end.” And having been reared in the African Methodist Episcopal church, and taught to be a missionary from my earliest childhood by a good foster-mother, I felt that this great man of God whom the world reverences one of the greatest men in the church, the greatest Negro in the world, had me pointed out to him by an unseen hand, as in the days of old, saying, “Mount the iron horse, go to the city of Selma, Ala., in the church of Brown Chapel; there will you find an earnest worker, a willing servant, who is willing to do my bidding if you point out to her the way. Tell her, her time, her talent, though but small, is required of her by the God of heaven, to overlook the seeming difficulties and the usual besetments that attend such work, and Go, for lo! I am with her always, even to the end. That when she passeth through the waters I will be with her, and the rivers shall not overflow her, and when she passeth through fire, she shall not be burned; neither shall the flame be kindled against her.” And God has been with me. But, my brethren, how often in the hours of disappointment, solitude, want and deprivation have I wondered if I had the sympathy of the P. E. and ministers who should be my standard bearers, and if they could understand that with the little experience had in the hardships of life, and knowing how much was before me in such a position, how much I sacrificed to carry on the work.

And that my husband must have been a good man and a Christian to allow me to take such a responsibility and have to remain from home for weeks and sometimes for months, to help carry on the work of the African Methodist Episcopal church. And for the sake of the church and the honor of the men composing the same, I have borne my trials in silence, not telling even him. Now, brethren, the disappointments came in numbers of ways. When a P. E. would get me to take up his district to work through I would look to him, as chief, to notify the ministers of my coming, and some engagement made for my board. Then the ministers in some places have, instead of preparing for me, left the place, not even telling the people of my coming, and some invited minister of another denomination having charge of the church—having, then, spent $3 to get to that place and had to hire public conveyance to get to the next place at $2.50.

And not only that incident, but more often have I left a place with not means enough to get to the next, and telegraph my husband to send me money to the next place to pay my railroad fare. Then meet up with some who say, “Well, sister, you have done a lot of good for the church and people in general, and I am sorry we can not get up your expenses, but we hope, if you come again, to do more for you.” I have spent as much as $7 to get to a place and received only $2.35 for expenses; and just so have I gone on till I find myself already in debt for traveling to the amount of $47.85. Such has been the disappointments; yet the most of the ministers and presiding elders have given me a hearty encouragement, and have done what they could, but too much of “Sister, you can't meet the women of the church to-day; this is the Baptist day, and next Sunday is ours.” In solitude have I gone to the Lord in prayer and asked him to help me to bear my burden and to be able to stand through evil report as well as good. When having been turned away from doors where I should have been comfortable with “I wish I could take you, but I am unprepared”; and “Rev., I would take the missionary, but what kind of a looking woman is she? Well, I will go down to the train and see her”; and upon seeing me getting off the train, “Reverend, let me have her,” and “Please let me have her.” But your humble servant went to the home of the poor widow and shared her bed, and ate fruit till the night train came. The poor woman, who by her ways and actions said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you,” for the minister of that place was so very indifferent as to the cause of missions he had not even prepared to give me a cup of tea.

Some have sent me from the parsonage after speaking at night and closing at 11 o'clock, to walk through sand ankle-deep for one and a half miles to spend the night with one of their members, to sleep upon straw and cover with my wearing clothes that I did not take off, to keep warm, with only a collection of 35 cents. Yet this minister wishes the church to know that there is no gift in the A. M. E. church which he does not expect to reach. And he is a nice looking man, and does wear a beautiful suit, but the generosity of his heart and love for missions does not fit or hang like his handsome coat. Again in the darkness of the night, when I have reached places at 10 o'clock and no one meet me, and strange men looking upon me as I take the road, would take compassion on me and say: “Lady, I will take you where you can spend the night if you go with me. It is through the woods, though, but if you will trust yourself I will take you there safe. I am a member of that church, but I did not hear the pastor say anything about you coming, and he is not at home.” After arriving at the place, where I was made more than welcome to such as was there, with a man, his wife and six children, with one room and a shed made on the outside, where the “bunk,” beside the wall, floor and all made of rived boards, bed of straw taken from under the children and across these but I bowed in prayer and thanked God for even that rough place to lay my weary bones, and arise next morning to take the train for the next place where my destination was directly to the church, to speak and not have anything to eat till 1 o'clock. But I have found fruit to be a great help to appease hunger, when able to buy it to carry with me. Yet it may not be so healthy going to new places, so often. But, my brethren, I was born in the African Methodist Episcopal church, not in some other church, and come over here to reap now the few loaves and fishes, for there are none; but for the love of the church and its promotion have sacrificed my home and school-room, where I have made $40 per month and over, and suffered the hardships laid out to you without compensation. It is with my heart and soul that I love the work assigned me.

But I ask in the name of heaven, is it right; is it justice to myself and husband or does God require such of me to wear out myself, my time, without sympathy, much less compensation, for my labor—not even enough to keep me from the real wants of life, if it was not for the dear husband who helps me, that I may not make a failure. There is a saying that it takes “grace, grit and greenbacks” to run the A. M. E. church, but I have been running this work with grace and plenty of grit, minus the greenbacks. I feel that I am willing to tender my resignation to the Bishop and all present, and resume my labors in the school-room.

For the sympathy and broad-heartedness is only about one-third of the ministers and presiding elders of the Sixth Episcopal district; and if they know of any woman of the Southland whom they are willing to support, who is able to do the work—one whom they will not allow to go half clad and where it will not take all that her husband can make to help her to hold the honored position, I will willingly bid her “God speed.” Although I will feel that God will not be pleased, my resignation will be forthcoming if you can find one who will take hold where I leave off. I pray to you to support her, let her feel that you sympathize with her efforts, for the work is hard, for even now the call to me is not only in Georgia and Alabama, but Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina, and this last week Massachusetts sends in a request concerning the work.

But, dear brethren, if there be one whom you choose if my resignation is accepted, be her standard-bearer, that she may be able to show to the world that the women of the South, as well as in any part of the country, can help carry on the plans of God's church and are willing to march onward and upward, to push the battle of the Lord to the gate, that Christ may say to them “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.”

My brethren, have you quite understood that if you take care of the W. H. and F. M. Society that very soon the Home Department will be able to help you buy church land, build churches and take others from under the auction block. And in communities where African Methodism is needed, put competent ministers, who are able to do good among the people. And, brethren, if you have any ministers in your district who seem to have so much jealousy in them against the women concerning their work, tell them that we are not trying to take their pulpits; for my part I have studied the history of the church since my connection with the same, when only eleven years old. I have studied its laws seventeen years and, had I been aspiring for the pulpit, could have taken an examination for elder's orders ten years ago. So tell them to “let not their hearts be troubled.” Brethren, a close-fisted man will not prosper; there are P. E.'s now present who have invited me to visit their districts and to go around among their churches. They have given no attention to the work, afterwards, much less to me. And as yet my board bill has not been paid, my hopes had been that the P. E.'s and ministers of the sixth Episcopal district especially would some day be able to point with pride to me, their first daughter, belonging by birth to Alabama and a member of the Central Alabama Conference, and to Georgia by adoption, in marriage to one of her sons, with seven years' hard work in the school-room and church, and a member of the North Georgia Annual Conference, I felt that you, my brethren, had so long wanted a woman of the South to make some representative mark that if I made a start I would receive your hearty support. 'Tis true that there are some good, kind and open-hearted ministers and P. E.'s who have put their hands into their pockets and have helped me unsolicited, little knowing how much such help was needed. To these I extend my heartfelt appreciation, and feel that the interest of the church is nearest their hearts, and that when this, the venerable head of our Bishop and other silver locks before me, shall have gone to make their last and final repo