In New Orleans 45 per cent. of the population is colored, and in the State at large 55 per cent. I do not believe that this ratio will be materially changed by the exodus. And even if a few thousands of Freedmen left the South in search of warmer hospitality, an increased compensation for labor, and a more equitable recognition of their rights as citizens, it would not lessen the possibilities of good afforded to the Association. Should a half million go away, there would still be four and a half millions left to be instructed and helped in their race struggle for higher intelligence and a purer religious life. Press forward, then, the glorious work of education. Hasten the full equipment of the normal schools and colleges for the wider, grander work before them. Let new churches be planted, and the pure gospel of Christ be preached all over the beautiful and fruitful South, wherever the Freedman has his home. The work is not one of a generation, but of a century. Student Aid. To secure, at the earliest day, one of the chief objects of the Association—the thorough education of colored young men and women as teachers and ministers, who shall be competent to lead the masses of their race to a higher civilization—special aid must be given to those whose minds and hearts give promise of usefulness. A large number who propose to seek only an elementary education, or those who reside in the city where a school of high grade is located, do not require aid from abroad. The wise policy of the instructors in our institutions is to search for young men and women of promise, and encourage them to pursue a full course of study, and to watch over them till the benefits they receive are made a valued possession not only to themselves but to their race. What are the facts in the case? The best material is often remote from the college, and utterly lacking in pecuniary ability. Many of the brightest, the most intellectual of the children of the Freedmen, who are intensely anxious for an education, and have a praiseworthy ambition to be fitted for positions of responsibility and usefulness, are denied the privileges of the college by reason of extreme poverty. Many others are able to meet a part of the cost of an education, but without benevolent aid must stop short of a full course of study. I am just now in receipt of a letter from a worthy and talented young man near New Orleans. I quote a sentence to show its import: “I have the same mind to work in the cause of Christ and prepare to preach His word. I think I have been called to engage in this work and cannot be satisfied unless I do. Dear brother, I do now most solemnly appeal to you and the good brethren in the North to aid me to an education.”