As the weather grows warm, and the wet, muddy roads become dry, thus favoring travel, the people from all directions flock in great crowds to the house of God, eager to hear the “words of eternal life.” I preached to a crowded house on last Sabbath, and many wanted to know what they “must do to be saved.” God is with us. Every Sabbath brings new signs for encouragement. There are marked evidences of a growing interest on the part of the people to learn of God through His Word. Especially has this been true since the “International Lessons” were introduced in our Sabbath-school. It makes a peculiar impression upon one to see persons fifty, sixty, seventy, and sometimes eighty years of age, whom slavery has worn out, sitting in their Sunday-school classes, with white heads and bent over bodies, with their dim, sunken eyes fixed on the teachers, and sometimes lips and throat moving as if to swallow every word. None of them can read, and it is quite amusing at times to watch them trying to recall the kings of Judah in their order, telling who the good ones were, and naming some of the good things they did. The joy and satisfaction which one shares, in being an instrument in God’s hands for the revealing of His Word unto such babes, are inestimable. * * * * * Needs of this Field. REV. S. S. ASHLEY. Not only is this field needy, but promising. A majority of the people, and those living about the old Midway Church, are nearly all colored. Many of the white landed proprietors are non-residents. Rice culture is the principal employment. The colored people are rapidly becoming land owners, and are remarkably successful in making their payments. Just now, their means are mostly consumed in this effort, consequently they can expend very little in improving their habitations; yet there is improvement in this respect. They are beginning to come out of the swamps and build by the roadside. As slaves, they were not allowed to dwell near the “big road”; therefore, the woods and the swamps seem to them more like home than the roadside. But without instruction they will not achieve much domestic improvement. In fact, they need instruction in every direction—in house-building, in road-making, in agriculture, in domestic economy, in the improvement of time, in business, as well as in schools and churches. A missionary to this people should be an Oberlin. An Oberlin’s work will pay richly. The whole field is accessible to missionary labor. Very many desire instruction. They listen eagerly to kind, plain, Christian advice, and will travel many miles for the privilege. Certainly these are the marks of a good missionary field.