One of our missionaries writes from a field where the people are living very near the line of absolute starvation. They are as ignorant as could be inferred by the most logical mind from their whole past history; they are as bigoted and superstitious as their training can legitimately make them; they are as much in need of what the missionary offers them as a people can be. If he partially educates the children, the Stygian darkness of their homes seems to blot out what they have learned; if he enrolls them in the temperance army, they lose step when they pass the boundary of childhood; if a hopeful revival comes to cheer his heart, causing him to forget his past toils and despair, the converts over whom he rejoiced are swallowed up by the old churches about him, which teach salvation through loud shouting or semi-occasional feet-washing; and his hopes would die, only that there are a few bright ones among the children who have twined themselves about his heart. Amid the almost universal chorus of rejoicing from all parts of the field over abundant and cheering results, there comes, once in a while, a note like this from one who labors, not less abundantly or acceptably than others, but with more doubtful success. From another field, the missionary tells of a revival commencing among his own people, which was the signal for desperate _rival_ as well as revival efforts in the other colored churches, directed largely to the end of drawing away from him the results of his labors. He notes a fact which seems to him strange, but one which, we apprehend, is destined to repeat itself with great frequency as the work of education goes on. The colored people seemed less responsive to the efforts which the church, unusually active, puts forth. As the negro becomes more intelligent, we hope and believe that he will prove less highly inflammable; and he should comfort himself with the assurance that the results of all genuine religious revivals belong to the Lord, and we will rejoice in it all, under whatever banner the new recruit marches. The bigotry of sectarianism, which is of ofttimes so trying, should be classed with other sins which the Gospel, rightly preached and broadly illustrated, will in time remove; and, if under educational influence, the negro kindles more slowly to religious zeal, he will doubtless burn more steadily, and in the end yield more light and heat. * * * * * TEACHER OR MISSIONARY, WHICH? The _Natal Mercury_, South Africa, paints a dark picture of the Caffres, even of those who have professed Christianity. Many fathers, it says, still sell their daughters in marriage for cattle as in years past, and many practice polygamy, which still has a very strong hold upon those of whom better things ought to be expected.