Will not some earnest Christian at the North increase his contribution, so that the school facilities at Dorchester Academy may meet the demand another year, and so that the hearts of these Christian heroines may be comforted and cheered? * * * * * DEDICATION OF BALLARD BUILDING. The first Sunday in this New Year was a memorable day with us at Tougaloo, having been looked forward to with eager expectancy for months--especially by the carpenter’s apprentices and other wood-working students, who, no doubt, next to Mr. Stephen Ballard himself, of New York, feel a sense of personal proprietorship and joyful interest in “Ballard school-house,” which was dedicated that day. The new school-house is not only a monument to Mr. Ballard’s philanthropy, but also to the value and success of the mechanical training given here, as the work was almost entirely done by the students. The day of dedication was the third of a succession of days unusually cold for us, and the air was full of snow-flakes, so that few of the expected guests from a distance made their appearance, and the extreme unpleasantness of the day kept most of even our near neighbors at home. However, besides the students and their immediate friends, we had as guests Miss Dickey, the honored head of Mt. Hermon Seminary at Clinton, with two of her assistants; Rev. J. B. Oliver, of the Congregational Church at Greenville, and Rev. C. L. Harris, of the Congregational Church at Jackson; also Mr. Moses Folsom, of Iowa, a representative of “_The Burlington Hawkeye_,” with a friend of his. Probably none of the _special days_ in the annals of the school have passed off with more unity and spontaneity of feeling, nor left a happier consciousness behind. The Sunday-school lesson had for its title “The Beginning,” and besides its regular and ordinary teachings, was specially and happily applied, and, at its close, ten persons were received into church membership. The regular dedicatory ceremonies and services took place in the afternoon and were good throughout. Rev. C. L. Harris, of Jackson, delivered the address. Always energetic and enthusiastic, and ready for whatever word or work his day and opportunity bring him, he gave us a really excellent address. He gave in the outset a sketch of the life of the Christian merchant who had considered himself the Lord’s steward of the funds required to build this school-house and the shops required for our trades. He then spoke at large upon the three-fold work to which this institution was dedicated,--the education of head, hand and heart, all tending to the firm and right establishment of the home and fitting for the widest usefulness.