PRAYER WITH A BACKBONE.--The pastor of one of our smaller churches in the South, describing the concert of prayer held in behalf of the Association, tells this brief but pithy story about it: "The objects and purposes and work of the American Missionary Association were briefly reviewed at the prayer-meeting, and the prayers in its behalf were fervent and earnest. But we shall not cease, but continue to pray for your success. Inclosed please find one dollar as a sort of backbone to our prayers." FUNNY ANSWERS. A teacher in the mountain field gives in a recent letter some of the answers that came in from the pupils in their examination papers. Some of them are amusing. "Climate is the combined space of heat and moisture." "The solar system is situated in that part of the heavens called the Milky Way." "The polar circle is parallel, running slanting round the earth." "It is the wind's duty to refresh and cherish the earth." "A volcano is the safety-valve of an earthquake." Digestive organs are termed "dijective organs," and the different races of men were given as "Indians, Negroes, Whites, and French." FAMILY FEUD IN THE MOUNTAINS. BY A MISSIONARY. I have recently witnessed the result of a Kentucky riot, the first since I came here. Two desperate factions met on the night of the 25th, at eleven o'clock. Four men and a woman were engaged in it. The leader of the first faction fired and shot the leader of the second faction in his own house, and another of the first faction fired at the leader of the second faction till he fell with two balls through his left arm, one ball broke his right leg, and two balls went into his back. The leader of the second faction shot the leader of the first faction in the right leg and he fell; both men lying within a few feet of each other. The wife of the leader of the second faction took one of his pistols and started to kill the first leader, but one of his men stepped up with two revolvers and told her not to fire, that he would kill her if she did. This ended the shooting. The first faction helped to carry the leader of the second faction in the house and then took the first leader away. They used 32 and 44 calibers. The first leader lives four miles from my house. When they told him he could not live he asked them to send for me. I went and helped dress his wounds and sung and prayed with him. He said he had been a bad man, and asked me to pray for him. I heard to-day that some of his friends wanted him to send for some other minister, but he said no, he wanted no one but myself; and I expect to go and see him to-morrow if he is still living. I believe in the near future we will have a good hold in eastern Kentucky, if the American Missionary Association is successful in getting the right ministers. The minister's wife has a great deal to do with his success in this work. AN INCIDENT OF MOUNTAIN WORK. BY A MISSIONARY.