The preparation at Stamford was complete. ALL, from the excellent pastor up to the oldest deacon, and down to the youngest child, took part. The able and enthusiastic superintendent, Mr. Junius Smith, is a born missionary, and he led his Sunday-school host into the work with great earnestness. The church was filled at an early hour of the evening, and when the great throng sung that sweetest of all Jubilee Songs, and one which has stirred the hearts of the best people on two continents, “Steal away to Jesus,” that wonderful, weird, plaintive melody fell upon my ears with _almost_ the effect with which the Jubilee Singers have a thousand times rendered it with their matchless voices and marvellous power. Hon. Oliver Hoyt, one of Connecticut’s wisest and best senators, impressively invoked the Divine blessing. The facts in relation to the organization, successful progress and grand achievements for the Master of the American Missionary Association were admirably brought out by the tersely-prepared exercises. The pastor, superintendent, teachers and scholars all had their part and _did well._ Rev. G. D. Pike, whose head and heart are crammed full of well-devised plans for the up-lifting of the Freedmen, and through the uplifted Freedmen of America the redemption of Africa, made one of his most forcible pleas in behalf of the Association. The writer of this imperfect sketch followed with an exhortation in his Methodist way. The collection was taken and a happy day closed. The Sunday-school Jubilee Concert exercise, if generally used, will be instrumental in _fixing facts_ in the minds of young and old. I bespeak for it the examination of Sunday-school superintendents, and I most heartily bespeak the generous consideration of all good people in behalf of the American Missionary Association. * * * * * THE WILDERNESS AND THE SOUTH COUNTRY. A Discourse on the Duty of the American Churches to the Despised and Outcast Races. PREACHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE A. M. A. TO THE 1ST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, JACKSONVILLE, ILL., BY THE PASTOR, REV. E. CORWIN, D. D., DEC. 22, 1878. Joshua xii. 8: “In the mountains and in the valleys, and in the plains and in the springs, and in the wilderness and in the south country.” We owe nobody an apology for following the example of the Great Teacher in the latitude and longitude he allowed to himself in the use of Old Testament texts. I honor by following a Divine example when I use this passage from Hebrew history as marvellously suggestive of our broader heritage and of our responsibilities as a people coming into fuller possession of a goodly land; in the mountains and valleys of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard; in the vast plains of the interior; in the springs and great river sources of the lake region; in the wide reaches of wilderness, comparatively worthless but for their exhaustless resources of mineral wealth; and last, but not least, in the sunny south country.