The songs, concert exercises, responses and ideal pilgrimage gave enthusiasm to the class, while the personal examinations guaranteed thoroughness. As I recall those Saturday afternoons of my early ministry, surrounded by earnest women and wide-awake boys and girls of all ages, I am amply rewarded for all the labor and time expended. The enthusiasm and delight, the perceptible growth in knowledge, the spirit of catholicity, the steadiness promoted in the frivolous, the gratification afforded on the occasion of public examinations and reviews, the increased appreciation of the Sunday preaching, visible on the faces of young and old, the grateful words that have come through the intervening years from those who were by these studies incited to a more intelligent and earnest Bible study--these are some of the results of those years of pastoral service. The plan is practicable for every pastor. The book which I now have the honor of introducing to the public furnishes to every minister a complete preparation for directing such classes--a preparation which, twenty-five years ago, would have been a great benediction to me. One of these Palestine classes reported its imaginary tour through the village paper. These articles gave local interest to the movement, delighting the imaginary tourists, and (through no fault of ours) deceiving more than one simple-hearted reader in the community. From these letters I make a few extracts. "PALESTINE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE 'INDEPENDENT WATCHMAN.' "DEAR INDEPENDENT: In fulfillment of the promise made the night before our departure, I sit down to write the first of a series of letters detailing the most noteworthy incidents of our journey to the Holy Land, with such historical and geographical facts as are suggested by the localities we may be permitted to visit. "As you are well aware, an association, which has for its specific object the study of Bible history and geography, was organized in your town some months ago. After a course of thorough preliminary training, arrangements were consummated for a tour of observation through Egypt, Arabia, Palestine,--the lands of Hebrew life and literature, the scenes of the early Christian history, and, later, the arena of Saracenic invasion and domination. We are now on the way thither. While the tide of mighty immigration is pouring westward toward the American desert, the Rocky Mountains, Pike's Peak and Cherry creek, a tiny rill of exploration is trickling eastward toward the desert of Sinai, the mountains of Egypt, the peaks of Lebanon, and the river of Jordan." * * * * *