The literary work will compare most favorably with that done in other like institutions of the best grades. The students have taught in this State and in other States and are much in demand. It is a Christian centre and is giving a thorough Christian training to all of its students. Its industrial and domestic departments are giving such training as will revolutionize the home life, give intelligent direction to the applied hand, and give business-like system to all the activities. The present year marks the most interesting and prosperous one in its history. All the rooms in the girls' dormitory are occupied, and no place can be found for the boys. The great, pressing and immediate want of the institution, is a dormitory for the boys. With this want supplied, the ability of the school to do a much-needed and urgent work for Christ and humanity will be increased many fold. Few schools under the auspices of the _Freedmen's Board_ have a better field and a better opportunity to do a great, useful and permanent work for a needy, meritorious, and appreciative people. With timely and sufficient aid, few schools have a brighter, more fruitful, or a more glorious future. The faculty of the school is as follows: Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., Mr. J. J. Johnson, A. B., Miss Ada G. Battle, N. S., Mrs. Flora E. Elms, N., Mrs. Ida V. Penland Love, N., and Mrs. Laura C. Franklin, Matron. REV. W. H. FRANKLIN. [Illustration: REV. W. H. FRANKLIN, A. M.] Rev. W. H. Franklin, A. M., was born at Knoxville, Tenn., April 14, 1852. His parents were free and enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew them. His father was a competent brick mason and was much in demand in his trade. His mother is a modest and sensible woman. The ancestors of both parents were influential. His grandmother, with several members of her family, went to Liberia in 1850. Mr. Franklin had the opportunity of attending school one month, just as the Rebellion began. He learned to read and to write his name in that month. When Burnside came to Knoxville in 1865, he entered school again. He was generally acknowledged not only the head of his class, but also the head of the school he attended. He attended the schools of Knoxville until 1870. He then taught school at Hudsonville, Marshall Co., Miss., for two terms and saved sufficient money to help build a better house for his mother and to enter Maryville College, Maryville, Tenn. In that institution he took high rank in his class, and in the college. His talents received immediate recognition. The first year he appeared as Vice-President of the Athenian Society and a participant in its annual exercises, delivering a recitation and the diplomas to the graduates of the society. From that time his recognition and place was secured until his graduation in 1880 from the classical course. His graduating oration was said to be the best on the occasion. He entered Lane Theological Seminary in Sept., 1880, and graduated from