In this city and county the colored people had more liberty and better treatment than in any other section of the State. The free people and those who hired their time often supported schools for the education of their children. Revs. Wm. Dossey, P. Stout, A. Travis, J. H. Schroebel, Mr. Hawthorne and Mr. Spence (all white) are mentioned as pioneers and fathers of the work at this point. Near this old French town, June 13, 1845, the writer was born, and in this county and city he spent the first fourteen years of his life, and many years since. For some years prior to the late civil war, the Stone Street and St. Louis Street churches (colored) were both noted for their numbers and their financial strength. STONE STREET CHURCH. This is the “mother church.” The father of the Rev. J. B. Hawthorne, in the early part of their history, served them as pastor, receiving a regular salary of them. At the close of the war, Mr. Spence was their pastor, since which time they have been under the leadership of the Rev. B. J. Burke, a man who in many regards is as strong as he is peculiar. This church, however, has not done much in the way of missions, and not a great deal for education. One of the peculiar customs of the pastor is to “bless children.” Standing in the pulpit, he holds the child up in his arms while he prays God’s blessings upon it. A case of discipline which came up in this church many years ago, led to the formation of the St. Louis Street Church, and I am sorry to say gave birth to a very bitter sectional feeling between the two bodies, which feeling has long been a blight to the Baptist cause in South Alabama. This church is stubbornly set against all secret societies, so that no secret society people are allowed in its membership. The pastor is elected for life. For the support of its poor it has a fund which is called the “Church Treasury.” ST. LOUIS STREET CHURCH. This church was for many years especially noted for its missionary enterprise. To this church Alabama owes many of her pioneer preachers. The late Rev. Charles Leavens, who was pastor just after the close of the war, sought to send a pioneer, an organizer, into every section of the State. Their present house of worship cost, I am told, about $24,000, and is a two-story brick structure. Since the war their pastors have been: Revs. Charles Leavens, I. Grant, A. Butler, C. C. Richardson, and the present occupant, Rev. Mr. Frazier. This church seems now in full sympathy with its past missionary record, over which no one rejoices more than the writer, since it is from this church that he, under God, received his commission to preach the gospel of the Son of Righteousness. ST. ANTHONY STREET CHURCH--NOW FRANKLYN STREET.