Among the fine-looking men that have been sent out by the A. M. E. Church, to preach the gospel, none has a more manly frame, intellectual countenance, gentlemanly demeanor, Christian spirit, and love of his race, than John M. Brown. When the Committee on Boundary in the A. M. E. Church recommended in the General Conference of 1864, “that there be set apart a Conference in the State of Louisiana, to be known as the Louisiana Conference, embracing the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, and all that part of Florida lying west of Chattanooga River,” Mr. Brown was selected as the man eminently fitted to go to the new field of labor. Money was evidently not a burden to him, for, being a barber, he got on a steamer, and shaved his way to his post of labor.[54] He arrived in New Orleans, unfurled his banner, and went to work in a way that showed that he was “terribly in earnest.” He sowed the seed, and, although he was thrown into the calaboose, his work still went on, a church was erected, members were gathered in, and the cause of Christian missions prospered. After laboring faithfully in this field, Mr. Brown was appointed Corresponding Secretary of the A. M. E. Church, with his head-quarters in Baltimore. He now holds the high and honorable position of bishop, a place that no one is better qualified to fill than he. He is a mulatto, of middle age, with talents of a high order, fluent speaker, terse writer, and popular with all classes. Oberlin College has not turned out a more praiseworthy scholar, nor a better specimen of a Christian gentleman, than Bishop Brown. JOHN I. GAINES. Mr. Gaines was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, November 6th, 1821. His early education was limited, as was generally the case with colored youth in that section, in those days. Forced into active life at an early age, he yet found time to make himself a fair English scholar, and laid the foundation of that power to be useful, which he afterwards exercised for the benefit of his people. At the age of sixteen, he was found in attendance upon a convention, held in one of the interior towns of his native state. At that early age, he showed clearly his mental powers, and men, many years his senior listened with respect to the sage counsel which even then he was capable of giving. From that time to the very day of his death he mingled in the councils, and busied himself with the affairs of his people; and it is no derogation to the merits of others to say, that few have counselled more wisely, or acted more successfully than he.