It was during the early autumn of 1856 that the good Spirit prompted the Sabbath-school teachers of Massachusetts, one thousand strong, to pay a visit to the Crystal Palace and the Sabbath-school teachers of New York. They were received with great cordiality, and mingled delightfully with the Sabbath-school teachers of New York and Brooklyn during two or three days, closing with a grand Farewell Meeting in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. This religious festival afforded a good opportunity for the Sabbath-school laborers from the various sections of the country to compare views and converse freely about all departments of the good work. All this proved to be interesting and profitable beyond all expectation, and the result was, there arose a very general desire to renew these prolonged conferences of teachers, under other forms, as soon as practicable. Accordingly, Massachusetts called a three-days State Sabbath-school Convention, in the city of Boston, later in the fall of the same year; and New York held its first State Sabbath-school Convention, of three days, in the city of Albany, in the month of January, 1857. Both conventions were enthusiastic and useful, and those States have continued these meetings annually since that period; and most of the Northern States, and some of the Southern States, have followed the good example, with the most beneficial results. They have awakened much interest and aroused the people everywhere. Beside the State meetings, County and Town Sunday-school Conventions have been organized quite extensively, combining counsels and efforts in all directions. The States appointed County Secretaries or Vice-Presidents, and counties gave the same office to the towns, forming a medium of union and communication, exploration and effort throughout. These conventions are very useful; but care must be taken or they will degenerate into dull, heavy routine, or wordy discussions, or tedious essays, or mere story-telling, or a waste of time in organizing.