object to it, and that she might not on that account feel at home there. I did not tell her that he was the sexton, and had, before his manumission, belonged to one of my deacons. But the fact that I did lay before her was sufficient for my purpose. Her prejudice was aroused; even her dull eyes for a moment shot fire, as she declared that she would never “jine” a church that had a “niggah” in it. Thus ended my call. But I found in my varied labors on their behalf, that most women among them were free from the disgusting habit of snuff-dipping, and that some of them were not violently prejudiced against negroes. If in a measure all entertained such prejudice, some at least held it in reasonable abeyance. A woman of this sort became a member of my church. She was ordinarily neat in appearance, but could neither read nor write. She had lived in a back country place in Tennessee, where most of those with whom she daily associated were illiterates. At the breaking out of the war her husband became a volunteer Union soldier. On that account she was harassed and tormented by the people of her neighborhood so that she fled to St. Louis for asylum, where soon after her husband’s regiment was encamped. Being an earnest Christian, she at once united with the church; but her husband was soon sent South to engage in active service in the field. He knew how to write, and she often received letters from him, which she could not read. She was deeply mortified in being compelled to ask others to read to her her husband’s letters and to write hers in reply. Spurred by her sense of shame, she resolved to overcome her defect. And such was her ability that in a few weeks she could both read and answer her husband’s letters without any help from others. I shall never forget the triumphant joy with which she told me that in a letter just received, her husband assured her that he was able to read every word that she had written him. Then she said to me, “Where I lived in Tennessee hardly anybody could read and write, and I never thought of learning; but up here, where everybody reads and writes, I felt awfully ashamed that I couldn’t, so I said I must know how too.” And with great glee, she added, “I do now.” During all the period of the war she was a very efficient Christian worker in the encampments and hospitals in and around our city. This was another species of the white refugees; a class that had the will and native talent to overcome their disabilities and rise to a higher rank in the social scale.