Only three or four remain who were in the conference when I joined thirty-seven years ago. Four others—Revs. E. Harper, I. M. Underwood, A. Orr, and Dr. J. L. Hensley—have located in other conferences, but the great majority have gone to heaven. From hillside and mountain-top they ascended to a place of honor by their Lord, to live in the white light of the throne forever. “Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land, So free from all sorrow and pain; With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands, To meet one another again.” Does any one inquire to know the real secret of their power? It is not easily explained. They had intellectual girth, but this was only incidental to their success. Their surroundings were inspiring, their spirits exuberant, their physical endurance tremendous, their zeal unflagging, but the secret lay deeper; these were only tributary. It seems to me that the one quality which exalted them, and gave them the mastery over men was _reality_. They were _genuine_. God counted them among his captains, and they were loyal to the last. _Duty_ and _destiny_ were to them overwhelming suggestions. In them were wrapped up the present and the eternal hereafter. I can still hear Brother Graham singing as he rode through storm and heat, carrying aloft the banners of the church: “Above the waves of earthly strife; Above the ills and cares of life; Where all is peaceful, bright and fair, My home is there, my home is there.” Chevaliers, divine! “Their burning zeal no langour knew, For Christ, his cause, his tempted few; At home, abroad, where’er their lot, Their much-loved theme they ne’er forgot.” “One soweth and another reapeth,” is the divine law. The foundations of the church among the Virginia hills and mountains were laid amid self-givings, known only to Him who gave to his servants their marching orders, and who accompanied them every foot of the way. A better day has come to the conference. The fields of labor have been greatly reduced in size, pastoral support has been improved, educational advantages have been increased, which means so much to the itinerant’s family, and in other respects conditions made many-fold better. The present membership is 15,000 divided among sixty circuits and stations. Two hundred and six church edifices, worth $243,869, are reported, and thirty-eight parsonages valued at $31,939. The territory embraces four districts. While the number of presiding elders might be diminished, it would not be wise to try the experiment of giving one superintendent charge of the whole conference. The country is too rough, the distances too great, and the public facilities for travel too meager for one man to do it all.