It was as a teacher that I had my first experience in leading a soul to Christ; the school was in winter time in Redbank Township, a German settlement. They had never had a Sabbath school there, but I succeeded in organizing and conducting one that was greatly blessed. One of my pupils who was about eleven years old had a drunken father. The dear little fellow used to come early to school so that he could help the teacher and have a quiet talk and sometimes a prayer. During the holidays I went to Clarion town to attend a teachers' Institute. While there my dear boy Willie was taken sick. They sent for me to my home which was four miles distant, but Clarion was twelve miles farther away and the snow was very deep. Therefore they did not send to that place for me. There were no railroads. The dear boy called for me until the very last day, then he said, “Tell my teacher that she will find me when she comes to heaven,” and with that sweet message he said good-bye to the sickness and sorrow of earth, and entered the joy of heaven. Oh, how long he has been there waiting for his teacher to come. I was greatly grieved because I was not sent for.

Teaching school was always a delight, and yet, I had many trying times. I never could leave all the cares of the school room behind when I started for home. No, indeed, I carried them to my bedroom and often lay awake half the night studying what to do with bad boys or girls, or how to make a hard lesson plain. To-day I thoroughly believe that the way to succeed with any vocation is to make it a part of your very self and weave it into your every thought and prayer. I have no sympathy with those who take hold of any kind of work with the tips of their fingers. No, no! Grab hold of it with both hands and hold on as if your very life depended upon its success, for it does.

In those days the rod was freely used in the schools, the teacher marched around with one in his hand, all day, often slashing it upon the seat to frighten the pupils. Against this I protested with all my might in our teachers' meetings and elsewhere. I only used the rod three times that I can remember in all my fifteen years of teaching, and then it did no good. They said I did not know how to administer such punishment, and perhaps they were right. My schools were never very quiet; there was freedom, but not real disorder. As a general thing I loved my pupils and they loved me and we did not try to worry each other. I know I made mistakes for which I shed many tears.

Shortly after I united with the church I felt it my duty to read the Bible and pray with my pupils. In Pennsylvania public schools this was not forbidden, but I had never prayed in public and feared I could not. One morning I said, “Children we can't be good to-day unless God helps us. Let us kneel and pray.” All got on their knees and I said, “Our Father which art in heaven,” and there I stopped. I could not repeat another word, not even the prayer I had said every day from a child. After a time of quiet we arose from our knees. The children were much impressed. I thought they would smile at my failure; but no, it had a good effect and perhaps was the best prayer I ever made, for I was so very much in earnest. I think the children thought my short prayer was what I wanted. I have always taught the Bible as well as prayed in my school; yes, taught it, not simply read it. Once in Illinois the directors said, “We do not allow the Bible taught in our schools”; then I said, “I will leave”; but they replied, “Oh, no, don't leave.” So I had my way. To God be all the glory.

It is very encouraging to remember how God has always helped me. Just here let me tell you another experience that may perhaps help some fainthearted teacher. There was a large troublesome school near Clarion town. The winter of which I speak the teacher left after teaching one month—rather the scholars drove him out. They came for me to take the school. I said, “Yes, if you will wait until I finish this school I'm teaching.” They waited and I went. The school numbered about sixty. The house was crowded. We had no graded schools in the country. Many of the pupils were between the ages of 16 and 20. Some were very unruly. I began with my Bible lessons and prayer. The order was not the best. I kept some after school, wrote little letters to others, praised those that were good and tried to be patient. I had several talks with about six of the large girls. They were not all good, but I thought I would tell them how they could help me; perhaps that would make them more careful. Dear reader, I want you to know that there are a great many people in this world bad because no one believes in them. But notwithstanding all my plans, the school was far from what it ought to be. When I had taught about two weeks several of the large boys came to the door while I was praying. The door was shut as it always was during devotions. They began to mock my prayer, repeating part of it and saying “Amen.” The prayer ended, the door opened and in walked my bad boys. I said nothing, but called a class to recite. I had been trying hard to keep the tears back and could bear it no longer, sank on a seat and cried like a child. Mary Wilson, one of the large girls came up and took the book and heard the class recite. I tried a half-dozen times to dry my tears that forenoon and failed each time. Now this was an entirely new experience for me. I never had done so before nor have I since. It was not a bit like me. I had not planned it. If I had it would have lost its effect. The girls heard the classes and managed the recess and I sat there and cried. The pupils knew I was making a great effort to be calm. Every one was very quiet and orderly. The girls told me that the bad boys never once looked up. At noon we went to a little stream of water in the woods. The girls bathed my face, combed my hair and comforted me. They said half the school had been in tears in the morning. Well, I taught that afternoon, never referred to the morning, nor did I at any time afterwards—buried it all—never by word or look reproved the bad boys, nor did they make any apology; but they came to school and behaved themselves most of the time. The battle was fought and won, and I had nothing to do but trust and pray. I finished that school and taught the next winter. We had a reading circle, that met some evenings in the week and a great exhibition at the close of the school. It was one of my best schools; there were many intelligent pupils. Surely God can use the weak things of this world. The last school I taught in Pennsylvania was a select one. It was really the first session of what is now called the Reeds Institute, Reeedsville, Pa. The day after the closing exhibition we met in the church to say good-bye, not to meet again, as I was going west. Rev. Benjamin H. Thomas, the pastor of the church, said he called, opened the door saw us all on our knees, most of us in tears; he felt it was too sacred a place to intrude, so left. Those were certainly the most devoted pupils I ever had, intelligent and faithful.

The Home Farm, about three miles from Helena, was a contraband camp something like Island NO. 10. Here were gathered a great company of women and children and helpless old men. A company of soldiers in a fort near by guarded it. There were no white people there, and no one was teaching or helping those people to a better life. I offered to go and live there. The other teachers called me presumptious and crazy, but I went. We fixed up a room in a cabin with a colored woman. I got the soldiers to make me an arbor and some rude seats, made by driving posts in the ground and fastened on them a split sapling; nailed my blackboard to a tree, and divided the colony into four divisions. The very little children, older children, adults who could read a very little, or rather those who wanted to learn, and the old people who could only listen as I read to them. Each division spent about one hour and a half in school. A little before dark every evening a great crowd gathered around my cabin for family prayers. I read the Bible and explained it, and gave them a memory verse. Then they sang their weird, old plantation hymns, and prayed their old-time prayers till after dark. Then each retired with a sweet, glad song in all hearts, for so it seemed, judging by the joy in my own heart. O, how I did enjoy each day there! Once a week I came to Helena in the ambulance that brought the sick ones to the hospital. I have been exposed to smallpox and other contagious diseases, but the Lord has kept me. One of the nights I was in Helena a raid of rebel soldiers came to the colony, and so disarranged things that I could not go back. The same God that had sheltered me all these years brought me home the very day the danger came to that outpost. Praise the Lord!

After this I began to teach the colored soldiers that were guarding Helena. I found none that could read well; several others could read a little, having been taught occasionally by officers of the regiment. I found only one who was a Christian. I opened a school in four or five companies which I taught at different hours of the day. I never had more than ten at once, and yet I had more than one hundred on my list. Each day I taught all one verse of the Scripture till they knew it perfectly; giving them plain, easily understood texts, such as “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God;” “The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God;” “God so loved the world,” etc.; “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Other than this I said very little to them on the subject of religion except a short prayer at the opening and closing of the school. I had not been teaching more than six weeks till I noticed a seriousness in the manner of some, which showed they were under conviction of sin. The Bible did this. Those texts of Scripture sank down deep into their hearts, and all night long as they stood on guard, God's word was doing its blessed work. There I learned the value of the Bible, and from that day to this I have been trying to get God's words into the homes, the hands, and the hearts of every human soul I meet. God speed the day when His message will be made the subject of the social conversations, and Bible study be the great work of our associations, conferences, and conventions.

One day I said to the boys in each division: “All of you who are sorry for your sins and want to be forgiven, come to the children's school room at 7 o'clock.” It was next to my home. There the other teachers taught the children each day. When I entered that school room, there sat three of my boys in tears. “My sins, my sins. How can I be forgiven?” was all they could say; and I, what could I do? No preacher there; no chaplain in that regiment; nothing could I do, but tell them about Jesus and his love, and then we all got down on our knees and prayed as I never prayed before. Then the boys prayed. When we rose from our knees two were converted. I wish you could have seen them as they quietly walked the floor praising God, their faces all aglow with the joy of pardoned sin. The next night five new inquirers came and one poor boy rushed in saying, “O pray for me; I am on guard to-night, but I am such a sinner I have come to ask your prayers.” I think three were converted that night.

For one week we had the meeting every night, after that we met only once a week, and on the Sabbath. The teachers of the children often met

Those who were converted were nearly all between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four years. It was perfectly marvelous, the progress they made in their studies. I had been a teacher for most of the time among white people for the past fifteen years, but in all that time I never had pupils that learned as fast as some of those boys. They not only memorized, but reasoned; got hold of ideas and expressed them in writing. I taught them only about seven months, and all that time they attended to their usual soldier duties. It was all learned in the spare minutes that the other soldiers in the regiment idled away. But few of these boys knew even their alphabet till they came to me. Their conversion to Christ did much to awaken and strengthen their intellects. It is well that I had this glorious experience with these colored soldiers in the first part of my work among this despised race. From that day to this nothing has occurred that could dampen my enthusiasm for the colored people, both as regards their moral and mental elevation.

Rev. Carter, an African Methodist Episcopal minister came to Helena about the time I left. He was the only colored minister there. They wanted to be baptized; I took them to the home of this pastor. He examined them, and one Sabbath about twenty-five marched down to the Mississippi River and were buried with Christ in baptism. We formed ourselves into a little church with no officers—only the following

This covenant was signed by 62 men, representing seven companies in the 56th regiment.

Mother's sickness called me home about the close of the war, and these soldiers were soon after mustered out of service. I kept in touch with a number of these soldiers for several years. Three, James Owen, George Gaines and John Meadows, are to-day faithful ministers of the gospel. I give you some of the words they wrote in my album just before I left for the North. You wonder that they express themselves so well. I took much pains in showing them how to write letters. It was one of our every-day studies with those who could write. I can take space for but four of the many letters written in my album:

Here is another from an eighteen-year-old boy:

During the years that mother's feeble health kept me from the South, my thoughts were with the freed people. I remembered how unfit these slave mothers were to take care of their children's souls and minds, and that the father's slave life had forced him to leave the entire care of his family to the master and that because of all these, there should be more done for the present fathers and mothers. However, I said but little to any one on this subject because the popular plan for helping the colored people was the schools in which to educate teachers and preachers; but I did find three men in Chicago to whom I opened my heart on this subject. They represented the three great Baptist missionary organizations. Rev. S. Osgood, the Foreign Mission; Rev. I. N. Hobart, Home Mission, and Rev. F. G. Thearle, the Publication Society. From these I received sympathy and words of encouragement. These were men who knew how to listen even to a woman. A good listener is a wonderful comforter, one that by face and manner makes you feel be is taking in what you say. Others listen with a faraway look and restless manner that makes you want to shut your mouth and never say another word. Dear Brother Hobart was especially interested; I can never forget his sympathy and he proved it real by the way he fostered my work for four years. He simply told the churches and individuals of the work I was doing. That was all the appeal he made, except that he paid my expenses to come North and speak to associations and churches. A letter written on Nov., 1874, reads as follows: “I have just received a letter saying that the Women's Mission Circle of Galesburg has appropriated fifty dollars for your work.” He then gives me in the same letter the names of the principal donors to my work the first year. The money amounted to more than two hundred dollars but this was not all I received. Often the money was sent direct to me. In this way the Lord supported me till the organization of our blessed Women's Baptist Home Mission Society, February 1, 1877, when I had the honor of receiving their first commission.

In Southern Louisiana our Bible readings during the winter were usually held in private houses because the churches were very open and seldom any fire. Sometimes there was a log heap fire outside the church where we went out to warm and came in to get cold. I never tried the going out, talking and being on my feet kept me warm. In my travels over the plantation I seldom retired until after twelve. We usually organized some kind of work, Sabbath schools, temperance societies, or woman's missions. After the general meeting closed at the church the officers of these followed me to my lodging place to get an extra lesson respecting their duties. Often I took these trips alone, no one seemed strong enough for the journey, or there was not money to pay railroad fare for two.

Let me tell you about a meeting in a little free town about two miles from the village. I came there in the morning and drummed up a meeting, as we say, for the women and children, and a few men, which lasted from two until five in the afternoon, but it was quite cold, so at night we met in a private house. Forty-five persons were crowded into that little room. Many of them were young people who had learned to read. I supplied the people with Bibles in those days. Oh, these meetings were wonderful inspirations to me! Like Paul's they often continued till midnight, but there was no sleeping Eutychus present. I had been traveling for seven days, and working at least eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and yet this meeting kept me wide awake. I can shut my eyes and see that eager company. The teachers in churches with cushioned pews seldom get up the enthusiasm we felt standing close together, reading by dim light. There was not much singing; they could sing after I was gone, but that sweet old book, the Bible, was the great attraction. Pastor, if you want to feed your flock, and keep them interested, let them all have their Bibles, and each read verse about, and search in every corner of every verse. The answer to most questions are right there, if you look sharp and read and reread. Our meeting finally ended. The family gave me a bed in a cold room. I was very weary, fell asleep, and awoke in about an hour with a hard chill. I called the wife. She came to me, her husband arose and made the fire; the mattress was carried out and laid on the hearth. Some of the sisters came in to help care for me, but the chill continued until 10 a. m. the next day. They wanted to go for a doctor. I said, “No.” They did go, but he was not at home. The poor people were always much alarmed when I was sick in their homes, because, they said, “If you die here white folks will say we didn't take care of you, and your friends in the North will say the same.” (I have several times been dangerously sick.) Two of the women came to me in great distress that day and said, “Sister Moore, I fear you will die.” I asked, “Is there a road to heaven from this little room, if so all right.” Then they laughed, and I laughed, too, but I told them not to fear for I was immortal and could not die until my work was done. By noon I was able to sit up. They got a buggy and took me to the village where a meeting was appointed for 2:00 p. m. I conducted the meeting, got well, and went on with my work.

When I traveled over the country I carried my black-board illustrations on a large piece of paper. I drew them with colored crayon, and pinned them up to the walls of the cabin or church. One was called “Wings and Weights,” to explain Col. 3d chapter.

I drew two ladders, reaching from earth to heaven. A man on the lower round of one with the weights mentioned in Col. 3:5-9 fastened to his feet, arms, back, head, etc., therefore he stuck and could not move an inch. On the other ladder was a man just flying up towards heaven with the wings given in Col. 3:10-17, fastened all over him. How eagerly they listened. It was a joy to teach them God was with me.

Another lesson was on “Home.” I drew a large house. It had a door called “Watchfulness”; windows, “Cheerfulness”; kitchen, “Economy and Health”; bedroom, “Cleanliness and Purity. ”A lamp called love, from which streamed golden rays into every corner of the house. Above the door I said was written, “Watch to keep whisky and all bad company out, and yourselves from the saloon, your children off the streets.” Over the window, “Be always pleasant and kind, let the children be joyful at home, encourage each other as much as possible.”

The people were too extravagant. They did not know how to save or how to cook. I pictured a sweet wife with a clean dress, a glad welcome for her husband, who first saw that wood and water were in and then sung the crying baby to sleep, instead of scolding because supper was not ready. I had much to say about the bedroom. That lamp with the love streaming all over the house was the climax. One night as I was teaching the lesson, a poor wretch of a man walked right up to me saying, “I once had a home just like that, but it is gone. My wife is dead, my sins killed her. My children have gone to the bad,” and then he burst into tears and cried like a child. I took his hand tenderly and we sank on our knees. I prayed: I think all in the house were in tears. Then I told them how to be loving and kind and patient with each other's faults, and keep sacred the marriage vows. All hearts were tender and the lesson found its way in. Praise the Lord for His presence and power!

My charts about temperance and missions, found on page 243, always helped to impress the truth. Many of them said I thought all the world had the gospel but we poor black people. I placed in many churches and homes the motto, “Christ is the Head of this House,” and said carry all your disagreements to the Head of the house, and don't say, “I'm boss here.”

As I speak of this country work I am often asked, “What kind of a bed did you have and what did you have to eat?” and all such questions. The laws of sight say you cannot see two objects clearly at the same time. Now I was so intently seeing those men, women, and children that other things only got a passing glance. It was the immortal soul that I saw distinctly and the almost crushed to death intellect of those dear black people. I rememer that they were very poor, that often there was only one spoon for the whole large family with which to sugar their coffee, and sometimes there was no sugar for the coffee. The beds were soiled and hard, and I also remember how glad they were to share all with me. One night I slept in the only bed and the wife and three children on the floor with only a blanket over them, while the husband went—I do not know where for his bed. Since I have been North these last years I have often thought that the larger the house the less room. The same is often true of the richer colored people. I know we rode in a cart from one plantation to another with old chairs for seats, and that the harness was composed of leather, rags, and twine; but since I had no better to give them and they had not better and no money to buy better I was polite enough not to call attention to these deficiencies, but I did teach temperance and economy. Yes, I have taught economy North and South with all my might. If you, dear reader, only used your money for comfort and health you might be able to help those poor people and then sit down and show them how to live decently, and in order. This I did when it was practical, as all who know me will bear testimony. It will not pay to tell you about the broken chairs, the scant raiment, the dirty dishes, the soiled bedding, but this I know, I slept sweetly usually from 1 a. m. to 5 a. m. in each night. I seldom on these trips retired till after midnight. The God who shut the lion's mouth must have closed the mouths of certain troublesome insects so that they did not trouble me, and though the food was not healthy yet God kept me well and vigorous so that I could be used to do His work. Glory to His name.

I wrote to our Fireside Schools in “Hope” for December, 1898, requesting them to give no presents to each other on Christmas, nor to prepare extra dinners for that day, and send what they would have thus used for the heathen in Africa.

Many did not like the plan, but a few tried it, and as a result we received up to February 1, $70.50, from 25 families, 12 Bible bands, 41 individuals, 17 Sunshine Bands of children.

We know that most of these donors are poor; had they been rich the gift would have been greater in earthly coin, but no greater on heaven's record.

This money represents about 300 persons, we cannot give the exact number.

Some did not tell us how the money was saved. Several children told how they gave up dolls and firecrackers, and money given them for Christmas was gladly sent to the heathen children. Families gave up the usual Christmas dinner, etc. We learned enough by this experiment to know that with thought and with self-denial a great amount of money could be thus raised, and each donor would be healthier if they would thus save from unnecessary food and raiment.

I do testify that the few self-denials that I have made added more to my happiness than all my many indulgences.

But best of all we have the testimony of our blessed Savior who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and who did deny himself the joys of heaven for the sorrows of earth. Read Phil. 2:5-7.

I was present at the organization of the Colored Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, which was formed at Montgomery, Ala., in 1881, and was one of the committee that framed the constitution. At its fourth annual session, at Meridian, Miss., the following was offered:

Resolved, that we condemn the raising of money for this convention by fairs, suppers, etc.

This resolution led to considerable discussion, but brought out the fact that our best men all over the South were opposed to these unlawful schemes. This greatly encouraged me. I was made a life member by the convention at this meeting. I also brought to this convention seventy dollars for foreign missions, the gleanings of the women and children of Louisiana, and money obtained largely by self-denial.

We are glad to report that this good work still goes on slowly, and yet considering the opposition, great things have been accomplished. From 1899 to January, 1902, we have received $367.75, which has been used to support a school in South Africa. This has not all been given by the children, but the children's request that the parents would allow them to do without presents on Jesus' Birthday would often lead the parents to give as well as the children. We are quite sure this is the proper way to train our children in Christian giving. Strange that self-denial is not popular with those who follow Jesus.

After I returned to Louisiana from Selma in 1883 it was decided that I give all my time to work in the country. My first effort at a Training School for Mothers was in Thibodeaux in September. It only lasted ten days. Some of the missionaries from New Orleans came and helped me. Men as well as women attended. One of our subjects was missionary work under five heads, ( 1 ) in the heart, (2) the home, (3) among my neighbors, (4) in my church, (5) in all the world. Of the last we said: A light that shines pure and steady in the first four places will by its influence reach the whole world. Another subject was the training of children under three heads, the heart, mind, and body. In fact all our lessons for all these years are included in the above subjects.

The account of our next school in 1884 is found connected with the following report of the

MORGAN CITY READING ROOM.

After I transferred my headquarters to Morgan City I saw the great need of a reading room or some place where a poor colored man that was a stranger could sit down and rest. Morgan City is on Morgan Bay not far from the Gulf of Mexico. The trade brought many boats to and from the town. Men who tarried there for a few days had no place of rest except a saloon. One Sabbath I started early so as to take Joe Vincent some books. He was barkeeper in Alex. Oliver's saloon. He had signed the pledge about six weeks before and kept it. Early as it was, I found a congregation and read the Bible and had a social talk. As I sat there this reading room came up before me and I asked God to give us a quiet spot dedicated to religion and humanity, where young men could be sheltered and helped. I left the saloon, made several visits, taught a class in Rev. Wilson's Sunday school, and then went to Sims' house and coaxed his wife to go with me to Rev. Evan's Sunday school. The rain was pouring down and we found the church door locked. We looked a little further and saw a door open and a congregation gathered. They had come through the storm that kept Christians indoors that rainy day. Can it be possible that a thirst for strong drink has a greater power over a sinner than the love of Christ has over a Christian? The door thus open was that of Mr. Livingston's saloon. He welcomed us, for both he and Mr. Oliver were gentlemen in manners. Sister Sims and her little daughter were with me; they sang Gospel hymns and I talked in a loving way of Jesus' love and power to lead us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. They listened with quiet respect. Four of the men present were only a little under the influence of liquor; they rose and acknowledged that whisky had ruined them. Out Of 23 in this saloon congregation were six boys present between the ages of 13 and 16 years. As I looked at those poor men standing there in their prison and the boys around whom the chains were fast growing strong, tears came, but all that was left for us to do was to kneel on that wet, muddy floor and tell Jesus all about it. The prayer was heard and this room is a part of the answer. The day following I went to New Orleans to attend the annual meeting of the W. C. T. U. of Louisiana. Our blessed Miss Willard was there and through her influence and that of Mrs. Cole, my pastor's wife, I was allowed to read a paper on the need of temperance for the colored people. Because of the character of my work it was difficult for me to get a hearing before white folks, but God opened the way and touched many hearts. I explained the need of a reading room. After I sat down Horace Waters, the piano merchant, came up and gave me $70 with a “God bless you.” Dear Sister Lathrop of Michigan and Mrs. Merrich, the president of the Louisiana W. C. T. U. each kindly gave me $1.00; Miss Dunning, a teacher in Leland, $2.00; besides I had just received $5.00 for my work from Mr. McVinty of Pennsylvania; in all I had 19 blessed dollars and God's promise. I went home and told our pastors, and Dr. Gray and Mrs. Pharr (both white). All promised help. We rented a house in the midst of three saloons and nearly opposite Mr. Oliver's. The other two were kept by white men but the colored were made welcome. We employed Mr. and Mrs. Sims. He was only to give his nights. This room was kept open from 6 a. m. till 10 p. m. for four months and a cheaper one for two months longer, without any expense to the citizens except $5 given by the white people. Our colored people were slow to see the use of such agencies and are the same to-day. A mighty work was done in that reading room. While it was open I conducted a training school for five weeks, to which came twelve women from other towns and the country. The citizens lodged them and gave them coffee and bread in the morning and I gave them one good meal daily, and on that they were kept in good health. All the morning till 1 p. m. was spent in study, then dinner and visits in the homes and little cottage meetings till night. In this work I had the help of Miss Belle Harris. Her health was quite frail but her spirit was willing. “How did the reading room help?” you ask. I had a number of charts on temperance and pictures by which I could explain the sin of drunkenness because many, indeed the greater number even of the young men could not read, but there was always some one in the room who could read to them. Men, women, and children came. I gave all the books that were appropriate from my library. Then I had D. L. Moody's and Charles Foster's books. These are two men for whom I have thanked God for many years, because, like Paul in 1st Cor. 14:19 five of their words were worth ten thousand words of many writers who use words to hide truth rather than to reveal it. But these good men were clear and simple in their teachings, and like their Master “the common people heard them gladly.” I hear so many sermons these days whose connection with Christ and His Bible I cannot see. O brothers, make the way to the Cross plain, for we have not long to stay.

Let me see, we were talking about the reading room. One rainy day while our training school was in session and Alex. Oliver's saloon was crowded, the Spirit led me to say, “Sisters, you stay here and pray, and I will take one of you and go to that saloon and tell them about Jesus.” We went. There were two gambling tables and Mr. Oliver was counting for one of them, and there was much noise in the room; but He who stilled the tempest was with us. I said, “Mr. Oliver, I want to talk to some of these men if they will come over to that corner of the room.” He said, “All right,” but scarcely looked up, and the gamblers never raised their heads. However, I got about half the men into “that corner.” I did not tell them they were drunkards nor did I refer to any of their sins. I read Acts 26:17-18 and said, “God sent me here to tell you about the blessed Saviour, the one that saved Paul who wrote these words. His eyes were once shut, but God opened them till he could see Jesus, the one that loved him. Paul was forgiven and now lives in glory. I will follow Paul soon; now I want you to go along with me. Will you come?” The men crowded up close and listened with eager eyes and ears. Yes, they said, they wanted to go where Paul was. Then I said we will all kneel and you be sure to tell Jesus what you have told me. As soon as we knelt God made the gamblers drop their cards and keep still. Some went silently out of the room. Christ was real to me that day. Glory to His name. Mr. Oliver was convicted of sin and never rested till God spoke peace to his soul. He came to one of our reading room meetings and saw a picture—“The drunkard's five steps to ruin,” that deeply impressed him. I wanted him to pour his whisky all out on the street, but he did not do that. However, he closed his saloon at a great sacrifice. I brought him to school in Leland University. He had a good mind, had been a school teacher, was ordained for the ministry and became pastor of a church. I am told that a church occupies the site of his saloon.

The next year I felt called to work in another association. The books were kept in a pastor's home and used for several months, then taken across the bay to another church where they did good service. They were, finally, given away to persons who read them.

As a result of our training school and the labors of Sisters Pound and Thompson part of the time, we secured from the gleaning of the women and children that year $45.00 for Africa and $58 for the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society. Children were often converted in our meetings. Bible lessons were taught in very many homes, mostly by our good sisters visiting their neighbors. I visited myself in that association 14 churches, conducted 82 religious meetings, attended one Pastor's Institute where I read three papers. This institute was conducted by Brother H. Woodsmall, who was employed by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. He was one of the wisest and most successful Christian workers the world ever saw. There were many agencies at work part of 1884 in that 5th District Association, as it was called, and to-day they are still reaping the good results. Praise the Lord. You ask where did I get the money to support the reading room and the training school? I answer, often from persons who wrote to me but never met me. I always replied and told them the good accomplished. I wrote many letters at night. Indeed, when I was not at meetings I was writing a great part of the night. People must know of a work before they will give and after these people knew, God spoke to their hearts telling them to give. This was done in answer to both prayer and labor.

My reading room craze did not end with Morgan City. I had another room fitted up in Plaquemine and after I settled in Nashville I tried to have the room open in one of the churches certain hours of certain days and nights in the week and hired a young man to care for it one month; but no one seemed to see its use, yet it accomplished something; the books were lent and returned; finally they were all out in homes and I did not try to gather them up. Next I put a large number of my best books in a room rented by the colored Young Men's Christian Association. This did some good, but it did not accomplish what I expected. Next I put books in a little mission room, but that was not a success. It is hard to make the people see the value of good reading. While in Little Rock, I was sick one day and as I sat and looked at my books lying idle on the shelves, I talked to the Lord Jesus, myself, and the books about as follows: Dear Lord, you have said to me, “Occupy till I come”; I am looking for you to come every day. Those books are a part of myself and they should be occupied in doing good. I would be ashamed to have you come and find any part of me idle. Books, you get down off those shelves and “go about doing good”; the world needs you, and I get but little time to read you. Get down, I say! and they did get down and they did go to work. I have spent a great amount of money for books in my life because good books have helped Sister Moore and they will help others. God sent us while in Little Rock Miss Laura Beck of Indiana, who arranged a circulating library, in which we had over 300 good books, and I think they were wisely used while we remained there. You will see by the fireside-school catalogue of 1901 that we have donated $2,476.19 worth of books and sold $5,621.13 worth during the last six years. The average cost of these books is about 18 cents apiece. So you see many thousands of homes and hearts have been fed with helpful thoughts through our books. This does not include all the books we have given or sold, but only those of which a record has been kept. Many were given and sold by myself and I failed to keep account of them. And yet the demand is far beyond the supply. Satan is ahead of me in most homes. To illustrate: As I called at a home in Nashville, I saw a girl reading intently; she went out and her mother said, “Mary is so fond of reading that I cannot get her to help me with the work. She is the only one in the family that can read, but she will not read to me nor the younger children.” At another time I found this girl and saw that her book was a filthy novel, which some school girl had given her. I gave her a good book and asked her to read it to the younger children, but she would not. Her taste for good books was destroyed. This is the evil that our Fireside school hopes to correct by placing in the hands of the young mother good books which she is supposed to begin to read to her children when they are not more than two years of age and keep on, daily, until they are no longer children in her home. In this way their taste for good reading becomes so strong that bad books will have no attractions. Does my reader see the point, and will she stop and pray that good books may travel fast enough to keep ahead of bad ones.

But in this as in all else eternal vigilance is the way to success. We need especially the co-operation of teachers and pastors to help when parents have not had a chance for education—this is the case with many white people as well as colored. Open your eyes and look. Watch your beginnings.

in the fall of 1886. I had visited in several parishes north of Baton Rouge, La., and prayed that I might have a school that could reach the women who wanted to do Christian work. I rented a plantation house of Mrs. Drouillard of New Orleans and moved my furniture there. Our pupils made mattresses out of corn husks, and tables out of boxes. Soon we had things comfortable, and opened school the 1st of November, 1887. Only five of the women who had been doing mission work came, but we had sixteen girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, plantation girls nearly all, with no culture and but little education. If while reciting a lesson they saw some of their friends coming, they would jump to their feet and run to meet them like a little child, though I had often told them how to be quiet, and had given them the usual rules of decorum. They would go out into the yard and dance, and most of their plays with each other were like those of rude boys. But it was beautiful to see how five months refined and educated those girls.

The teacher I had engaged disappointed me, therefore I was alone for about six weeks. Mrs, Drouillard came out to see me about a month after school opened. She went home and told her daughters how over-burdened I was. Her daughter Mary said, “I'll go and help her.” She came and was a perfect God-send—a good teacher and one who could control the pupils. She was with me two months. This was a remarkable answer to prayer and a sample of the way God has sent supplies for all my needs for many years. One of the women I had with me was Mary Triplet from Port Hudson. At this time she was 58 years of age. I met her about three years before, and one night in her plantation home I started her in the study of the Bible. She had a splendid natural intellect and was a very godly woman. The Mission band of children that she taught for three years were the first to pick cotton and cultivate gardens so as to get money for Jesus. Some time after our school opened she devoted several days to fasting and praying for the school. Then she called me and said: “There are seven girls here without religion. God wants to save them, and He will in answer to prayer, and through them make the other Christians who are all so wild better.” So we joined in prayer and soon after we called those who were Christians in the school together, and Mary Triplet told how God had laid upon her heart the salvation of the girls. She was so earnest that all hearts were touched. The plan was for one of the Christians to choose a sinner for whom to especially pray and talk with, as the opportunity afforded, until they were saved. All made their choice and I took the one that was left. We were true to our promise. Some weeks after our dear Sister Tripplet came to ask if we Christians could have a short meeting together, then each take her unconverted friend alone in a room, so in six rooms in our house all would be praying. We separated and within about forty minutes reassembled. Most of the sinners were in tears crying, “What must I do to be saved?” We fell on our faces before God. The lunch hour passed. No one thought of eating. The mourners went from room to room crying for help. The evening shadows gathered, but the interest continued till late at night, when three were saved. Two more found peace the next day before noon, and another soon after, but the one for whom I was to pray especially was not converted. This revival left a blessed influence upon the hearts of all our students.

We could only afford fire in the school room. Nine of the girls had never been to school and did not know one letter. Every evening I took these to another room and read them Bible stories, as mothers do, for an hour and a half, while the others were in school with the teachers. It was cold, but we wrapped up in comforters. No mother ever had more attentive hearers. Speaking of the cold reminds me that I wrote the greater part of my paper “Hope” that winter up in a garret where I could be quiet, with comforters wrapped around me.

We had twenty-five boarders enrolled. I had much trouble in getting this school started, but finally secured teachers. We had a missionary society and in two months collected $3.50. One dollar we put on our plates as we sat down to our Christmas dinner. The dinner was not extravagant. Two dollars and twenty-five cents we sent to Africa, and $1.25 to the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society. The boarders cheerfully did the work of the household. They were glad to learn to sew and cook. We always prepared our Sunday food on Saturday. Some were glad to eat cold breakfasts and dinners so we could have time to worship God on his holy day. Some of them carried out this plan after they went home. In two months the students made ten dresses, six sacks and many other garments. A majority of the girls worked beautiful mottoes on cardboard.

It was a difficult task to carry this school from place to place, but it was the only way in which I could reach people who had no money to travel on the cars, and who could stay so short a time.

As the idea of training schools for wives and mothers developed it led to the formulating of the following course of study:

1. Family prayer and daily systematic study of God's word at home.

2. Education, including how one can make her home a school room. Also the discussion and selection of the best books and papers for parents and children.

3. Housekeeping, including economy, neatness, order, cheerfulness and industry.

4. Laws of health, including proper food, clothing, exercise, cleanliness, and care of the sick.

5. Social purity and temperance, because these virtues are so necessary to the happiness of the home.

6. Mothers' and children's meetings, where all questions pertaining to the duties of wife and mother and child will be discussed and carried to God in prayer.

7. How to protect and teach neglected children. Also all plans for helping to make better the homes of our neighbors and extending the religion of the Lord Jesus to all within our reach.

The object of the organization is: First, To study and commit to memory the word of God for our own edification and comfort. Second, To teach it to others. Third, To supply the destitute with Bibles, and if possible to get every man, woman and child who can read to own a Bible. No organization would be required, if it were not that by this method we can get more persons to study the Bible, and also to better help and encourage each other.

ARTICLE 1. It shall be the duty of each member of the Band to read or hear read a chapter, or part of a chapter each day and commit to memory three new verses each week. Those who are young and quick to learn should memorize one verse each day. If you have the paper HOPE it is expected that you will read the daily lesson given in that paper.

ARTICLE 2. It shall be the duty of the members to read the Bible to the sick or those who cannot read, as often as opportunity affords; also to seek opportunities.

ARTICLE 3. It shall be the duty of the members to do all in their power to supply the destitute with Bibles, and to use their influence to get every man, woman and child to own and read the Bible.

ARTICLE 4. It shall be the duty of the members to carry with them a Bible when they go on a visit, or to church, or any meeting. It is also a good plan to keep a little Testament in our pockets while at work, so we can read at leisure moments.

ARTICLE 5. It shall be the duty of the members to meet once a week and make reports of study and Bible work done. If members live too far away or other duties prevent they should send written reports as often as possible. Persons can belong to the Band if they cannot read, if they will promise to have some one read to them.

ARTICLE 6. The officers of the society shall be: president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. The duty of said officers to be the same as in any other society.

INSTRUCTIONS.

There is seldom any use for the office of treasurer, because when we find one who cannot buy a Bible, the member that finds such an individual gets him a Bible if she is able, and reports it at the next meeting and a record is kept of the fact in the minutes. If she is not able she reports it and some one or more who are able provides the Bible. I would be glad to get a report of each Band from the secretary at the close of each month, telling at least these three facts: Number who read regularly (this will include old and young, sinners and Christians, for all can belong to the Band), number found without a Bible, and number supplied with a Bible. I may be able to get Bibles for those you cannot supply. But, of course, you want to have the blessing of giving them yourself if you can, for Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”—Acts 20:35.

The above is the plan that has been found valuable in the study of the Bible in Louisiana and many other states. When you form your Band you may make some changes if you think best, but do not lose sight of the great object of the Band. Some may object to carrying a Bible with them, others may say they cannot help to get Bibles for the destitute and some may make other objections. But get all to join who will promise for themselves to read the Bible daily and commit to memory at least three verses a week.

There is no danger of your taking too much time, or being too zealous about the study of God's word. Such ignorance of Bible truth as we find in every church, should make every Christian shed bitter tears of shame and sorrow. Jesus says: “In vain do you worship me teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.”—Matt. 15:9. We want to find what God says and obey Him. He is the only one that has a right to make laws for His children. If there is a rule in the church or the home which I cannot prove by the Bible, then I need not obey that rule. There is a blessing promised to those who “delight in the law of the Lord and meditate therein day and night.” They will be fresh and fruit-bearing all the year long. Everything they do will prosper. If you do not believe it, read Psalms 1:2, 3. But remember you must delight in the Bible, enjoy it, love it, admire it, obey it, honor it, trust it. That is what “delight” means. You can claim the promise if you delight in the Bible.

We hope all will read the daily lessons given in HOPE. It is a great inspiration to know that all are reading the same portion of Scripture each in his own home.

My blessed Bible Band pupils, blessed because you delight in the law of the Lord and in His law do you meditate day and night. Ps. 1:2. You are the hope of the Christian church. Hitherto the people have so often “erred or gone wrong, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Matt. 22:29. The power of God is the Holy Spirit (Acts 1 :8), that same Holy Spirit with whom so many of you are filled. Glory to his name! Then you study the Bible daily. Acts 17:11. The Bible gives you a knowledge of God's word and the Holy Spirit gives you power to obey it.

It matters not if the officers of the Band are not your choice, nor if the regular meetings are stopped. Keep on with your daily study, do not omit a single day. But strive hard to get the meeting started again. Your Band would be a regular, profitable one if only two meet once a week in a private house to review the lessons, provided two are all you can interest. But do not, I beseech you, let personal jealousy or quarrels destroy the fellowship of the members, who should be, like Mary, humble, and meekly “sitting at Jesus' feet to hear his word.” Luke 10:39.

Mothers who have little children, sick ones, and those who have work to do at the hour of meeting are full members, and should just as carefully study the lesson daily as if they were able to attend.

The devil does not care how much time you spend in prayer as long as you will not read the Bible. Because without the Bible you do not know how to pray an acceptable prayer.

I have never known a Christian to backslide who continued the daily, prayerful study of the Bible.

Satan hates the Bible. It was the sword in Jesus' hands that conquered him nineteen hundred years ago. Matt. 4: 1-11.—Eph. 6:17.

Surely all Christians of every name should sit down together to read their Father's letter.

For example, I had the following in my paper: “Sister Mary, you must forgive Sister Jane, though she has wronged you. Jesus loved you and died for you while you were sinning against Him, and Jesus says you must forgive Jane or he will not forgive you. If you do not believe me read Eph. 4:32.” But Mary does not know where to find Ephesians, so she hastens to her neighbor, who knows as little as Mary about the Bible; but before night a visitor calls who reads from her Bible these words: “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Eph. 4:32. Mary asked the visitor if she would not come and help her study the lessons, which she did, and thus they helped each other; and once a week all met in a private house or church to review. Hundreds have learned to read with the help of neighbors or their own children. Let me state another fact. Those who study HOPE must have a Bible. I noticed our Sunday school quarterlies had nearly turned the Bible out of the school by giving the Bible text so the pupil did not need the Bible. In our paper we only give book, chapter, and verse. This compels the reader to get a Bible before he can understand the explanation. HOPE created a great demand for Bibles. I prepared the Constitution for Bible Bands, which we have given you. You ask, did not the people have the Bible before your HOPE was born? Yes, some did. There were school books before you learned to read, but you needed a teacher. When the teacher came you got the books. HOPE has been the teacher that led many to buy a Bible and others to use the one that lay covered with dust.

I see by my record that in 1888 we had ninety Bands, with 1,683 members, who claimed to read daily the Bible lessons. The work continued with unabated interest, so that in 1889 we had, through visits and correspondence, gotten the work established in ten associations; there were only twelve in the state. I had visited all these places repeatedly and conducted many Bible readings. That year we had reports from one hundred and fifteen bands. The reports included a statement of number in Bands; number who read daily at home; number of persons who read the lesson to neighbors; number of texts memorized. These were the principal facts.

I give you the following report from one Band as a sample: Number in Band, 49; number who read daily, 26; number of families visited with Bible and prayer, 84; number of verses memorized, 1,995. This is a report for four months. I gave the people the following

1. If I am a saved sinner, I should stop at every promise for a Christian, and ask if I believe it, and rest my soul upon it; and at every command, and ask if I obey it cheerfully. Luke 6:46; John 14:15 and 15:14.

2. If I am an unsaved sinner, I should stop at every invitation of mercy, and ask my own heart why I do not accept it, and remember that God will accept no service or work at my hands till I receive the pardon for my sins that Jesus bought with his own blood. I have only to accept and believe His promise, and then I am a saved sinner and ready for work on earth and a home in heaven. Acts 16:30, 31; Acts 2:38-39.

3. I should remember that all the Bible stories, and all its histories of individuals and nations, have been written for my warning or my encouragement or learning, and I should stop as I read, till I get the lesson for my own heart. 1 Cor. 10:5-13.

4. I should meditate or think about what I have read in the Bible and talk about it to others. Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2.

5. When I read the Bible I should get a dictionary and find the meaning of every word, or ask some one to explain what I do not understand. I should get a reference Bible and a Concordance and learn how to use them and use them in the study of the Bible. Acts 8:30-31.

6. God talks to me when I read the Bible. I talk to God when I pray. We should let God do the most of the talking.

7. When we read the Bible we must expect that the Holy Spirit will be our teacher. John 14:26. The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. 2 Peter 1:21. The natural man cannot understand God. 1 Cor. 2:9-16.

Oh, God, help me to remember that thou art talking to me when I read the Bible, and may I believe every word thou sayest. May the Holy Spirit shine in my heart, and make the meaning plain; and make me willing to obey all thy commands for Jesus' sake. Amen.

God was in this work and many hearts learned to delight in the law of the Lord. My leaving Louisiana soon after this resulted in an abatement in the interest, because all Christian work requires human instrumentality.

Our Mothers' School in this place was a success. We held it in the forenoon five days in the week. Some of our day pupils walked two miles to attend and did their work in the afternoon saying they accomplished just as much as in a full day without our Bible lessons. They soon had a longing desire to tell others what they had learned and this led to

It was in Little Rock that our Sunshine Bands had their origin, at least, under that name.

Ellen Washington, one of my pupils, who lived on a back street, was sitting under a tree near her door, one afternoon, watching a crowd of playing children; some came nearer and she kindly welcomed them; others followed; then she talked and sang with them. They were so interested that she asked them to come again next day and she would tell them more. They were mostly children that did not attend Sunday school. When Sister Washington related this experience in the Training School next day, the Spirit said to me, “There is the plan by which we can reach the masses of neglected children. We cannot dress them up for the Sunday school or church, and parents do not care to send them, but every woman with a mother-heart can make a Sunday school room out of her own home. Glory, hallelujah! I have found the way to save the children and it will also help these mothers with their own children as they train their neighbor's children in the right path; for no mother must neglect her own family. Bad company does not lead us astray while we are seeking to reform them in the Gospel way, because we are always on the defensive. I hope my reader will take notice of this thought and practice it.

Mary O'Neal was the second woman to tell how she and her husband, who were good singers, were sitting on their gallery one Sunday evening, when they kindly called in the children who were playing on the street, and sang with them. Oh, how much sweeter and better this was than to scold them for breaking the Sabbath.

I have not time to tell you of the other noble women who, like Lydia, opened their homes as well as their hearts to the Lord's work. In these little meetings in the homes, children were often converted and united with the church. It is so much easier teaching children, dressed in their every-day garments in one's own home, than in the Sunday school, because too often the foolish Sunday dress hinders the Gospel from reaching the heart of the children, and the same is true with older people. Good Lord, deliver us from fashionable dress in Thy house! If our women spent the same time in secret prayer that they do in primping and crimping for church, they would carry a blessing with them, and come home ready to live the sermon and pass it on to their neighbors.

These mothers' and children's meetings in the homes continued to increase. Among the children converted in our home in Little Rock was Jimmy Washington, whose picture we give you. He had no mother. From the time he was three years old he led his blind father around the city to sell the brooms he made and in that way they earned a scanty living. Jimmy was only five when he was converted and quite small of his age. The day he went forward with others to join the church, the deacon said, sternly, “Go to your seat.” “But,” said Jimmy, “I am a Christian and must be baptized.” “Child, you do not know what you are saying.” Jimmy turned away in tears, saying, “Well, Sister Moore will let me join her church?” Yes, dear Jimmy, you and all the children that are old enough to confess their faith in Christ shall find a welcome to my heart and to my church (if I had one). The child held on to his faith and some years after united with the church and began to preach. For several years he wrote me often, but lately I have lost sight of him.

I find by my record that in 1892 we had ten Sunshine Bands, with an average attendance in all of about 150; and twelve mothers' meetings, averaging each week an attendance of about 80. Sister Button and I visited these meetings as often as possible, so as to help and encourage our dear women who were so anxious to be used of God. Little Rock is a small city, so by means of these meetings we reached a very large class of non-church goers. One time I rented a little house near the depot, and far from churches, where we held meetings among a very neglected class.

To provide for extra expenses in carrying on the work in Arkansas the Lord sent special gifts.

Dr. Wayland, while editor of the National Baptist, was interested in my work and put a little notice of it in his paper. Four persons read it and each sent $5 at the same time, also the following which explains itself.

We also outlined the following course of study covering three years:

FIRST YEAR.—Bible, HOPE, “Peep of Day,” and “Second Temperance Reader.”

It is an acknowledged fact that in these days the religious training of our children in their homes is too much neglected. Many parents expect the Sunday school teacher, pastor, or some one else to do this work. Others are careless and let their daily labor or demands of society make them neglect the souls of their children. Not a few mothers give all their time to feeding and clothing the body, while the soul starves or is fed by Satan.

Our usual plans for helping the children have taken them away from their parents, and thereby we have lost the help of the parents to a great extent. I refer to our Sabbath schools, children's and missionary meetings, kindergarten, etc. Scarcely one mother out of one hundred comes to these meetings with her children. Perhaps this need not be so, but facts prove it true. We must keep the mother and child nearer together. The mother is the God-given teacher of the child. But we seldom have them together, even in the house of God. The children come to the Sabbath school, and when it is out the children leave and the parents come to the preaching service. If the child cannot attend both services, then it had better come with the parent to either the preaching service or the Sunday school.

Now I do not want to be understood as condemning the Sabbath school and other helps, but only to say that they are not able, in one hour out of every seven days, to do the great work of the religious and moral training of our children. Indeed, much of this work should be done before the child is old enough to go alone from home.

A mother said to me a few days ago, “Sister Moore, I have brought my children up in the Sabbath school, and yet they have gone astray.” I said,“My dear sister, you could not bring your child up in the Sabbath school, because it is in session only one hour and half during the whole week. At home is where your child has been brought up. There is where its character was formed, to a great extent, before it was seven years old.”

The Fireside School is a matter of common interest to all denominations and races, and is left in the hands of the churches, so that each sect can adjust it to suit their plans of church work. Let us counsel and advise together. Other subjects are important, but none as important as how to make our homes pure, intelligent and happy.

One point must be guarded: Do not call the Fireside School a woman's society; if so, you will shut out father and children, and thus destroy the harmony of God's plan for the home.

We began with mothers first, because father would not take time to listen to us. After a few years, father came and said to us, “Have you forgotten there is a father as well as a mother in the family?” Therefore, we changed our pledge from mothers' to parents' pledge. Soon after this a little child wrote us, saying, “Mamma has promised to be good to me, and I want to promise to be good to mamma.” This led us to prepare a sons' and daughters' pledge.

1. Sign the parent's pledge, which is as follows:

It was called a mothers' conference, because, at this time, the fathers had not joined us. But men, including pastors, as well as women attended our first conference in Little Rock, September 9th, 1893. Some of the subjects discussed were as follows:

1. Why is an organization of mothers needed ?

2. The use of the mothers' pledge.

3. The necessity of a mother being a good pattern to her children, especially in temper, conversation, and dress.

4. The best time for family devotions and the best manner of conducting them so as to make them helpful for the children.

5. Mothers need to improve themselves mentally, morally, and physically for the good of their children.

6. Since love and cheerfulness attract children more than anything else, how can we supply our homes with an abundance of these virtues?

We had nine sessions, three each day, held in seven different churches, including representatives from all the denominations in the city. This is the first time to my knowledge that all sects among the colored people united in Christian work, and it was to me a great source of joy, a direct answer to prayer. The minutes were kept by Sister Lottie Stephens, of Little Rock, a member of the M. E. church, and were remarkably concise, clear, and instructive. Through them were learned much more of the lessons taught than of the people who spoke. That meeting and those that followed, cheer and comfort me to-day, when I am discouraged because of the failure of other plans. Anyone who will read a copy of those minutes with the papers written by those colored women who had had so little opportunity, will never afterwards say the negro is an inferior race.

This mothers' conference went on gloriously, holding annual meetings from 1893 to 1898, at which time some misunderstanding arose between the pastors and our sisters in charge of the work. I left the state in 1894, but returned each year for two successive years to attend the conference. Perhaps the collecting of money by the conference was at the root of the trouble, as there was in the state a woman's organization whose special work was the collecting of money for various objects. I had repeatedly said and written that the Fireside School was not an agency for collecting money, but one in which we educated the whole household to deny themselves, and give for all lines of Christian work through the church. I had seen too many side issues draining the church of her money, and influences to add to the number. I see now that our work was too narrow in Arkansas because it was a mothers' instead of a parents' conference. We have it now on God's plan, father and mother, church and home, all united in this good work. “What God has joined together let not man put asunder,” and may we all see that work and workers, not money, is our greatest need, and may God awaken pastors to see the value of keeping alive the little church at home. All good people are grieved to see how much of the time of a church service is spent in collecting money, which ought to be given to teaching each redeemed soul that all they have and are belongs to God. When this truth is learned and obeyed, Christians will deny themselves at home in order to give God His part of their earnings.

Though the conference in Arkansas has not met for the last three years, yet the work of reform in the homes through daily Bible study flourishes. It is indeed refreshing to see how bravely our mothers have held on to our paper, HOPE, with its daily Bible lessons and Bible band meetings held in homes when they could not meet in churches.

We also have local parents' conferences in Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama and Virginia, but no state organization. Pastors usually attend and take part and are becoming more interested each year. We hope the time is not far distant when our pastors will hold the monthly parents' meeting, which the Fireside School recommends so as to foster the daily prayerful study of a special lesson in every home, and that they will see that good books supersede bad ones, knowing that, “If good we plant not, vice will fill the place.”

Good food and pure air will not make you strong physically unless you take exercise. Neither will Bible study and prayer give you spiritual strength unless you seek to save and edify other souls. Every

I noticed that all these outside organizations, especially the benevolent and secret societies, were draining the church of her money and influence, and leading its members to look to the world for help instead of to God, and thus forming a sinful union with the unconverted; therefore in planning our “Fireside School,” we were careful to put it under the wing of the church, the same as the prayer meeting. We planned for no officers, but expected the pastor to call a parents' meeting once a month and thus encourage daily Bible study and a faithful performance of all the duties belonging to parent and child. But when pastors can see only the church and things that centered around that, we must needs have some plan to keep alive the little church around the fireside; therefore, we have Bible Band meetings for this purpose. These proved to be very helpful.

I praise God for everything because of Rom. 8:28.

Repeating these sonnets and many others stored in my memory has been like music to my soul. The Spirit brought them to my remembrance just when I needed the lesson they taught.

How to raise money for God's cause is surely the great question the church is asking to-day, North and South, East and West. Among both white and colored it is the great theme.

We have been told that the prayer meeting is the thermometer of the church, or in other words, shows how much religion the church has. But it seems to me that the money we give, the real amount of self-sacrifice we make, is a better proof of our piety than even our prayers. If every member felt that all they had belonged to the Lord, it would surely be freely given whenever the work of the Lord needed it. Even the last cent would be given as we would pay any honest debt, and yet every Christian says he is not his own. He knows he has been bought with the precious blood of Christ, and before he could be converted he gave everything up to God. “Now as ye have received Christ so walk ye in him.” Col., 2:6. But after we give it up we grab it back again, and forget we are stewards, and act is if we were proprietors and had a deed for all that was simply given us on trust.

The early converts were so full of the thought that all they had belonged to God that they acted it out by selling all they had and putting the money in a common fund, and I have never found where the Holy Spirit censured them for so doing.

I do not know if Lydia kept her house in her own name after her conversion or not, but this I do know: She opened wide her doors for God's

Take our modern plan of raising money by means of fair entertainments, excursions, etc., and see if you can find any proof for it in the New Testament or in the Old.

Again, notice how the pastor's salary is raised in most churches in Louisiana—a common tax levied on rich and poor alike. The bible says, “If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to that he hath not.” 2 Cor., 8:12. But here all must give their 25 cents or 50 cents, as the case may be. The roll is called and all come up and pay. I was at one of these meetings lately where a poor sister owed two months' dues, 50 cents, and could not pay. She said she had been sick, but would pay as soon as she could; but it was all of no use, she could not speak in the covenant meeting, nor sit down at the Lord's Supper, if she did not pay that 50 cents. I felt so sorry for her that I paid the 50 cents; I kept her in the church. I am told by the deacons that they must be just that strict or they would not get their money.

We would also call attention to the great amount of time spent in calling for collection at the close of the sermon, noisy singing and urging all to give, “Saints and sinners, all come on with your nickels.” Surely in this way the good seed of the sermon is taken out of hearts even before they leave the church. Is this according to God's plan? He intended that all our worship should be with a willing heart, joyfully as unto the Lord. A free-will offering, for “God loves a cheerful giver.”

Can we take this as a foundation truth? Giving of our substance to God is a means of grace as important as that of prayer. I think all will admit this. The command to give was not to enrich God but to make us better. A means by which we are brought into intimate and close connection with God. A gift is only between friends. We would not accept it from an enemy. Nor will God accept any work or offering at our hands till we have first accepted Him as our Savior, as the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. In Old Testament times most of these gifts were consumed in smoke—burned up. God did not need them, but in all these gifts He had a lesson to teach His people—a lesson about the coming of Christ and their dependence on Him for all they had, and we need the same lesson. How appropriate was the gift of first fruits. God is the real owner and He should have the first and best. Then thank offerings, how beautiful. You and I have felt the joy of this to-day, as we sit here and contrast our hope of heaven and joy in Christ with the sad state of our brethren in Africa. Our hearts overflow with thanksgiving, and they must have an outlet in our glad thank offering to missions. How good God is to let me give him back as a gift what God had first given to me.

King David saw the beauty of this. 1 Chron., 29:14. Nothing brings me so near to God as my gifts to Him. I seem to feel the clasp of His hand and see Jesus' smile of approval as I lay my gift on the altar. Praise the Lord!

Giving in this way is devotion, is prayer, is real worship. To share this means of grace with the world would be sacrilege, would be downright wicked. The world cannot understand it. You might as well ask a sinner to come and sit down at the Lord's Supper as to ask him to give to God. Think before you say I am not correct. Remember we started with the proposition that giving was religious worship. But I am told that the sinner receives God's blessings, and that it is his duty to give. Granted that it is his duty, is it not also his duty to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Until he performs this duty he is not ready for either the Lord's supper or giving gifts to God.

How much we think we need it all for ourselves and give it before we spend one cent for self. How disrespectful it is to grab our wages and run off and spend it without stopping to say “thank you,” to the dear “Father from whom comes every good and perfect gift.”

Again, how shall we lay aside the one-tenth? If you have a family you belong to your family, and also what you earn, just the same as your home belongs to you, wife, and child, so also your wages. If you give a part away they will have to live on less. Therefore you should lay the plan before your wife and your children as soon as they are old enough to understand. Your wife, who keeps your home, has a share in all you earn, and a gift from the husband is also a gift from the wife. I hope the husband will take notice of this fact.

Let us illustrate: It is Saturday evening, you have earned $5 this week, you sit down and take it out before your wife and little ones, aged 1, 3, 6 and 8 years, respectively. You kneel down and in a short prayer thank God for the $5 and ask Him to show you how to spend it, which is a far more difficult task than earning it. Wife says baby needs a new dress, 3-year-old Jane a pair of shoes, John a hat, and Mary a book for school, wife wants a set of cups and saucers, and you, she says, must have a new shirt, and you add, “Can't we have something extra for dinner?” First of all you take out 50 cents, and show it to the children, who can understand, you say, “God was very good to let me earn this money, shall we give him 50 cents of it?” All say, “Yes, only 50 cents is too little to give to God.” Then you reckon what the week's board will cost, the rent, etc., you find you must give up the extra dinner and there is no money for John's hat; you call him to you and say, I can get you the hat if I do not give God any money. But John, young as he is will not take God's money and Mary stands up and says, “I will do without my book and let John have a hat.” But John says, “No”; I can do better with my old hat than you can without the book.” The dear mother's eyes fill with tears of joy as she witnesses the unselfish spirit of her children. All the result of sharing with God and putting God's claim first. The scant dinner tastes good because shared with God.

Again, it is Saturday, all are seated around the precious $5. Wife says: “Here is $1 that I earned by sewing” and dear little Mary's eyes dance with joy as she lays down beside the $1, 10 cents, saying, “I got this for running errands.” Though young, she has given her heart to the Lord and now gives her earnings. Put it all in one pile and divide it—61 blessed cents for God's purse to-night.

The happy family are again on their knees, all are happy, all are learning to give as God prospers. God and his part have been first in the thoughts of all. This way of dividing with God weaves our religion into our every-day life as nothing else can.

Some Saturday night our family finds as the money is laid down that they have more than usual. Not so many things needed for the family. The father tells of the great need of a school-house over in Africa for Brother Colley. The mother says, “I went to see poor old sister Ann, and she needs coffee and sugar. I wish I could send her some.” Here is 50 cents for Africa, 25 cents for sister Ann, the father adding, you all helped to give this. Mary and John take a little basket with sugar and coffee to poor sister Ann, Mamma saying as she kisses the little faces, “I will tell sister Ann you helped give this nice present,” and away they go, happier than if you had given each $1 worth of candy. O, parents, do study till you find the true secret of happiness for your children, and you will find it lies in doing good, in giving rather than in receiving.

Sabbath evening; father reads in African Missions an account of the needed school house to his family, saying, “I am so glad we could help, if only 50 cents.” Then the little faces brightened up and the little hearts say, “I will give more next time.”

Years roll on; Mary is now 14, John 12 years old. There is to be a Sunday school picnic. Mary tells of a nice dress her playmate, Maggie, has, and wants one like it. Mother says, “Wait till Saturday and see if we have money enough to get it.” Our family in remembering to pay God a part have learned “to owe no man anything.”

How one good thing follows another. “Godliness is profitable unto all things.” Saturday comes, no money for Mary's dress. The tears will come, for the child had set her heart on that dress. It is hard to give it up.

But years ago the sweet girl had learned the lesson of self-sacrifice. The tears are soon wiped away as she goes softly to her mother's side, and, putting her arms around her neck, says, “I can be happy without the dress.” All the children are looking on and learning the lesson. John says, “You are the best sister in the world, and when I get big I will buy you the nicest dress in the store.”

All this unselfishness is the result of honoring God, putting His claim first—it makes all I have holy—it leads me to think first of others. It helps me to remember that “I am not my own.”

But you say my family is an imaginary one. No, it is not. There are some such families in our selfish world. You go home, my dear brother and sister, and try this plan with your family. Try it faithfully. Learn to “deny thyself” and teach the lesson to your children while young, remembering Jesus said, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow me.” You are safe as long as you follow Jesus. Oh, if all would give as we have suggested—all, rich and poor. Then would the Lord's treasury be full of money and the church full of joy and peace.

Let us take God into all our plans, into all our work; he is the friend with whom we should share all we earn. We will illustrate by the example of the fond wife and husband. Visions of what he shall buy for his wife, and her smile of approval sweetens all his toil, and the dear wife cannot enjoy a meal without her husband. Every delicacy must be shared with him. A still nearer and dearer place should God hold in all our hearts. Dear friends, this is a proud and happy day for us. God has greatly honored us by making us the medium by which He sends His gifts to the heathen world. It makes me think of the words when the temple was finished, “Go your way; eat the fat, and drink the sweet and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto the Lord, neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Neh., 8:10. Yes, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. That means for his own starving brethren in Africa. Let us send them a large portion. We are feasting on the bread of life and drinking joyfully from the well of salvation. Our temple is built. “We are dwelling in the Tabernacle of the Most High, and abiding under the shadow of His wing.” Let us spread the joyful news to the end of the earth. Surely God did plan for our happiness when He gave us this work to do. Let us make sacrifices, gladly, joyfully, willingly, for the work of the Lord. Let there be no whining because our religion costs us so much and because the calls are so great, but rejoice that God accepts our offering at our hands.

I want to add that most of the white churches, North and South, practice this unlawful way of raising money, by appealing to the unconverted, and by fairs, suppers, etc. Indeed, it was from the white people, and not from the Bible, that the colored people learned it, and they are far more guilty than the colored people.

It is true that we teach our children to give just on the same principle that we teach them to pray, but along with it we teach that neither the prayer nor the gift will be accepted unless done with the heart.

We will sum up the whole matter: First, as giving to God is a part of religious worship, devotion, communion with God, the same as prayer and the Lord's Supper; therefore it cannot be shared with sinners. If we do so we desecrate holy things. No one is prepared to worship God till he is converted. Second, our present plan of getting money from the unconverted and asking lukewarm Christians to give to God under the excitement of a supper or entertainment is wrong. There is no worship in it. It is only a desecration of holy things to call it giving to God. When money is raised in this way the church is robbed of a great means of grace and brought down to a sinful mingling with the world. Lord help us to keep the worship of the church pure; help us to build up the wall of separation between us and the world, strong and high. Help us to be “a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” and unto thy name will we give all the glory for Jesus' sake, Amen.

When we go out and beg the world for money for God's cause we open the door and bring the world into the church. Let us repeat this, when Christians go out and beg the world for money they bring the world into the church. Just here is one place where the church and the world begin to walk together, and are now walking till you can scarcely tell saint from sinner. It is a positive injury to both—the world and the church. It makes the church less spiritual. It demoralizes this precious part of worship, so that not one in ten gives from a pure motive. We have come down and give as the world does. You can have our money if you give us a supper or an excursion or some excitement. Pastors tell me that they cannot get their people to give as unto the Lord—come and hand their money right into God's hand, as they should. No, they will not do that. Therefore, in order to drag money out of the pockets of the unconverted and of lukewarm Christians we must need have an entertainment, etc., and this tends to make the whole church lukewarm. Can you not see how it harms the church. I never heard a pastor say that any of these unlawful means of raising money, or even the noisy way of taking a collection, was a spiritual blessing to the church. They only do it because they cannot get the money any other way. But they began at the wrong end. They begin by saying, We must have money, instead of saying, We must obey God. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” To obey God is better than building a church or sending a missionary to Africa. They make the same mistake that Saul did 2,000 years ago, when he brought the sheep and the oxen that he should have destroyed to offer as a sacrifice. 1 Sam., 15:15. That is the same excuse our pastor makes to-day—“The people took of the spoils,” thus throwing the blame on the people, but the leader wasto blame; and on your leaders of to-day lie the blame of offering an unlawful sacrifice. We expect the teacher, then, to show us what to do. He has been to the “law and the testimony.” Many of the people cannot read God's word, and must depend on what the preacher says. We said our plan of giving was also an injury to the sinner, because it makes him feel that he has gained some merit; that God was pleased with his gift and will bless him for it. Every day some sinner tells me, I give as much to the church as any one, etc. I cannot make him see that it will do no good. His gift has had a tendency to quiet his conscience.

I heard a preacher not long since say that all the churches along the Mississippi River in Louisiana were built with the proceeds of fairs, etc. Far better to have worshipped in private houses, as the early Christians did, than to build churches in that way. God does not need our gifts. In Ps., 60:10, He says, “Every beast of the field is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof.”

Then you ask, what is the Gospel way of giving? We answer, give cheerfully, give willingly, give as the Lord prospers you, give on your knees in prayer. This is the sweetest way to give. I have tried it. Kneel in your closet and say, “Here, Lord, take this money for Jesus' sake.” Many good people take the Old Testament plan of giving one-tenth of all they earn. But this is not enough. They gave thank offerings and “first fruits” besides, and surely our gifts should be more than theirs, but we will use their plan to illustrate. Suppose you earn $5 a week, then give 50 cents; if $2.50, then 25 cents.