* * * * * FLORENCE, ALA.—The _Florence Gazette_ says of the pastor of the Colored Congregational Church of that town: “Mr. Ash has gained the respect and goodwill of all classes in this community, and has accomplished a most praiseworthy educational and religious work among the people of his race.” * * * * * CHATTANOOGA, TENN.—During the absence of the Rev. Jos. E. Smith in Africa, a retired Presbyterian clergyman of Chattanooga, the Rev. T. H. McCallie, offered to preach for his church three Sabbaths for three months, and to extend the time if necessary. He took the greatest interest in the work, hunted up and looked after the members, and, either in person or by substitute, attended the Sabbath services and buried the dead, as if he were the pastor of the church. The Rev. J. W. Bachman, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, also preached one Sabbath, and has expressed the deepest interest in the church, and invited the pastor to call on him. * * * * * BEREA, KY.—There were four accessions to the church at Berea on profession of faith on the first Sabbath of May. * * * * * THE FREEDMEN. REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA. * * * * * MAKE HASTE SLOWLY. At one of our Southern conferences last spring, the brethren, colored and white, were bemoaning the small numbers and slow progress of our churches. A Baptist minister who was present, and who is engaged in this educational work, turned the tide by stating that there were advantages, for the present, in that state of things, and that his denomination suffered somewhat from the embarrassment of numbers. He said that he had been a farmer’s boy, and that when at the tail end of a steam threshing machine for shoving away the straw, if for only a short time his associate stepped away, he found himself unable to keep up with the thresher, and covered down by the accumulation. So they were sometimes bothered in handling their great numbers by way of discipline and effort at moral elevation.