To no man in Alabama has been committed trusts more varied and more weighty. While connected with the Talladega College he occupied the position of State canvasser under the appointment of Mr. Cravath. He has been pastor at Talladega, Jacksonville, Marion and Anniston, and president of Selma University. His special excellence is not of that mental style which gives birth to fine psychological and metaphysical discernments and distinctiveness: it is that sort of mental something which strikes with broad side and ponderous weight. The breadth of his rear head would seem to indicate that all his faculties are driven forward by a force that starts from a broad base. The writer first met Dr. McAlpine in Mobile, in November, 1874, the year following that in which he brought forward, at the Tuscaloosa session of the Convention, his school idea. My first impression of him was that he was a man of special mission, and I immediately sympathized with him and with the school project, throwing myself fully into line with his plans. In referring to his childhood life, and while talking with reference to the power of secret prayer, he once remarked to the writer: “Upon one occasion, though without my knowledge, Dr. McAlpine had resolved to punish me for a trivial matter on my part which had caused him some displeasure. I had gone to feed the horses, and in the crib I was on my knees at prayer. The doctor had followed me with his whip. I was not aware of his presence or purpose, and hence as he did not speak I got through with my prayer and fed my horse and returned to the house. I learned afterward that my prayer had subdued him, and that he had expressed himself as being ashamed of his purpose.” Alluding once to some mistakes he had made, he observed: “We grow wiser as we grow older.” He has been happily married twice. By his last wife he has a large family of beautiful and promising children. The Rivers family, into which he married, are a people of very sterling qualities, and no doubt these happy associations have conduced to his success in all regards. The act of the University in conferring upon him the honorary title of D. D. is evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by the trustees and faculty of the school. He is now theological instructor in the school and is supported by the Southern Board.