The saddest reports of home life among the negroes are gained from conversation with our returned student teachers. One of our girls, a born lady, delicate and refined, who had always lived comfortably in the city, went out to teach for the first time this summer. Her first boarding-place was a log house of three rooms and twenty occupants. Each room contained a separate family. There were no windows or openings in the logs except the chimney and door, and of course the door must be shut at night to keep out animals. The father and mother have a bed; the children (boys and girls) all nestle together on a quilt spread on the floor, in the corner, sleeping in the same filthy garments they have worn through the day. Think of trying to sleep as she had to during the intense heat of last summer in a close room with twelve persons. The first morning she told the man of the house he must get a saw and make a place for a window. He protested; so did she; said she should sit up all night and not shut her eyes to sleep unless it was done; and it _was_ done. Need a missionary in Africa practice more self-denial than this exceedingly neat and delicate girl in Georgia? She took a lamp with her which was a great curiosity, as the children were not accustomed even to a candle. At dusk the door was filled with eager eyes waiting to see her "make a fire in that queer thing." She is an unusually sweet singer. It was remarkable how quickly her fine voice was recognized and appreciated by the musical intuitions of even that rude people. They came long distances to beg her "to sing one more time," and often remarked, "I'm shore the angels can't sing no better." * * * * * ALABAMA. Testimony as to Progress Already Made--The Situation and Equipment. REV. F. BASCOM, D.D., MONTGOMERY. I am much interested in my work and in my people. I see abundant proofs of the beneficent agency of your society here. Could its influence have been exerted in like manner among all our colored people of the South, the problem so perplexing to politicians and philanthropists, as to the future of this class in our country, would have been already solved. It seems to me that my neighbors here who have been under the influence of our school and church, for these few years past, are as well prepared for the duties and responsibilities of freemen and citizens as are the ordinary farmers and mechanics at the North. I am most happily disappointed in the intelligence of the men and the culture of the women, and in the neatness and comfort of their homes. But I see this elevation of the race is accomplished by the most laborious and exhausting efforts of your employés. Dr. Bascom also writes to a friend, as appears in the _Advance_: