Such is the country, and such are the circumstances, surrounding the work here. “What has actually been done?” you ask, and it is a very natural question. Nine churches have been organized, and are doing faithful work for the Master in this region. Four schools have been wholly or partially supported by the A. M. A. for some time, and their influence is felt far and wide. In the Williamsburgh Academy, between one and two hundred bright, earnest young people gathered in the chapel for the opening exercises of the school. These scholars range in their studies from first primary to higher normal. Many teachers from other schools come here to complete their otherwise imperfect preparation for their work. The work of the academy is not that of intellectual training, with a little religion tacked on to make it palatable with Christian people; it is Christian training which the pupils receive here. I rode with Brother Myers forty-four miles on horseback, much of the way through a driving rain-storm, to visit some stations which we could not conveniently reach by rail. At Corbin, which is to be the junction of the new railroad with the present railroad, we have a beautiful site for a church building—some lumber already on the ground—and we ought to push the building to completion at once. People came out from their cabins along the roadside as we rode past, and eagerly asked: “When are you coming to take up a meeting with us again?” Children especially crowded around our horses when we stopped, to inquire about the Sunday-school, to get a pleasant word from Bro. Myers, which he never failed to give, and to receive some little paper, or brightly colored card with a Scripture gem upon it. His pockets seemed to be always full of these children’s traps. There are four church buildings ready to be dedicated, and two pastors, native mountaineers, one a graduate of Berea College, awaiting ordination. And so the work moves on in a wonderful way, for it is God’s way. This is only one part of the work which the A. M. A. is pressing forward in these mountain regions. I had hoped to have space to speak of the work in Scott and Morgan and Cumberland Counties, Tenn., but cannot now. The large academy building at Mount Pleasant, Tenn., of which our readers of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY have heard an occasional word, is already completed, and will be ready for dedication in a few weeks. It is a grand building, a cause of wonderment to the simple mountain people, who ride for tens of miles to see it. I shall speak of it more at length hereafter. This school and church work is like the rising of the sun of a brighter and better day over this Cumberland plateau. * * * * * A CONTRAST. BY A TEACHER.