Laidlaw-five days and nights from Pen ganized, as there are several Presbyterians dleton to Laidlaw, three hundred miles! already in the neighborhood. You can go from Oregon to New York in less time, and with infinitely more comfort. But as I stand and face a congregation of men and women, boys and girls, who have come from cultured, refined, and, not infrequently, luxurious homes, to battle with the hardships of frontier life and lay the foundations of State, Home and Church, I forget the stage ride, the long, cold days and nights, the many inconveniences, and rejoice in the privilege of planting His standard here and there, and for this I am Decker is a school-house between four and No work has five miles from Spring Hill. ever been done here before. In addition to the Sabbath-school now organized there, the Rev. Davis Willson will preach once every two weeks. The Spring Hill church will doubtless have its church building completed by the middle of summer. Recently I raised above $529.00 in cash and subscription as a fund for a new church building. The congregation in Spring Hill has been meeting in the school house for nearly twenty years, and over and over again there has been talk of erecting a house of worship, but it never took practical shape. On the occasion of a union meeting of several schools in a grove, I determined to start a subscription paper. Not only was the building project undertaken at that time, but another matter of far-reaching importance was taken up: The farmers have often been obliged to have their threshing done on Sunday or lose their turn and possibly their grain. This has not been satisfactory to many of the Christian farmers, but there seemed to be no help for it. The matter was discussed privately, however, and I suggested to all who were opposed to Sun new railroad is built, and we hope to get a church established there in due time. Har lowton is likely to become an important town on the line of another railroad that very sure to be built this year. Great railroad and irrigation schemes are on Montana's program, all of which promise much for the advancement of our great State. Pray for us that we may take it all for Christ. How the Work Grows A Sabbath-school missionary in North Dakota writes: A Presbyterian church, which I organized on the 7th of January, day labor to form a company, buy a machine, and do their own threshing. I have just had the pleasure of learning that a company will soon be formed for this purpose; and that the members are feeling very happy over the outlook for better and more consistent Christian living. The Sabbath-day in Montana is but little respected by the world; and its sacredness is held too lightly by many church members also. Many new settlers are locating in and about Straw. A new town is to be located two or more miles from there when the BY OUR SABBATH-SCHOOL MISSIONARY, 'CAPT. 1906, with eighteen charter members, developed from the Hope Sabbath-school which I organized two years ago. At the time of the organization of this school there were only a few professing Christians in the community. Worldliness was uppermost but now the large majority are Christians. There is great activity in spiritual work here, and the spirit of the Lord is moving on the hearts of men. The people are planning to build a house of worship in the new town near by. On the 28th of January, 1906, a Presby terian church, the outcome of the Sabbathschool, was organized at Sarles. These people have now raised $1,500 for a church building and expect to begin its construction as soon as the spring opens. Never since I became directly connected with Sabbath-school work have I been more busily engaged nor harder pressed than during the past winter. As I become better known there is almost continual demands for my services. Vacant churches have asked me to become their pastor; and new organizations have done the same. Those contemplating building have requested my dressed a Christian Endeavor Society at This coming summer promises to be a red-letter year for church building on my field of labor. The most of the building on this field is the direct results of the development of Sabbath-schools which I have had the blessed privilege of organizing as Sabbath-school missionary. a assistance in launching their schemes; and insupplied territories have asked me to establish preaching stations. I have striven in the last three months to be used of the Lord to the full extent of the energy and strength given me. This can be shown by a day's work in February. On Saturday, February 3rd, I started at 8 A. M. to reach my appointment for Sunday. A snow storm delayed me so that I was ntil II P. M. going the distance of forty miles. The next morning I preached at 11 A. M.; walked eight miles and preached at 3 P. M.; then drove seven miles, and ad North Dakota is a great field, and our Church, through its Sabbath-school missionaries, is doing a grand work; but it is often forced to halt because of the lack of men and means to meet the demands. The work of the Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work in furnishing a general missionary has been the means of bringing the gospel to many lives and homes. May your prayers ever be with me that with increasing faith in Him, I may "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." EDWARD B. HODGE, D.D., SECRETARY. The College-Bred Negro All persons who have given careful attention to the subject appear to concur in general in the opinion that every effort should be put forth to secure universal education for the nine or ten million negroes now in various parts of the United States. There is not the same unanimity of opinion with regard to the wisdom of providing for them suitable opportunities to secure what is known as the higher education. There are many who wish to have the negro know his place, and the place which they assign to him is simply that of "a hewer of wood and a drawer of water" for white people. Such persons have no sympathy whatever with the idea of a college training for any members of the black race. We have always felt that this view was essentially unchristian. As the Scotch woman said, when presenting her strenuous objection to some innovation in the church service, "There's nae Scripture for it." There is no reason why the negro of America should not have the same opportunity for advancement and development that his favored white neighbor has. Experience has proved conclusively that he is abundantly capable of profiting by the opportunity if it is given him. The experienced, and now venerable, head of Lincoln University, President I. N. Rendall, replies to the question "Is the negro capable of receiving the higher education?" "The negro is capable of receiving all that we are capable of giving him." No sensible person would propose the higher education for all negroes. No sensible person would propose to give the higher education to all of the white population. The things about which it may be assumed that all good people will agree are well set forth by Prof. Horace Bumstead of Atlanta University, Georgia: 1. A removal of the appalling illiteracy of the masses; 2. A checking of the criminal tendencies of the lower classes; 3. An increase of the productive capacity of the wage-earners; 4. An improvement of the domestic life of the race; 5. A safeguarding and ennobling of their citizenship; 6. A development of personal character among them. We ask ourselves how these desirable, and indeed necessary, things are to be secured under the existing conditions of liberty in which the negro is now living. It is our deliberate opinion that the open door of wellorganized colleges is a prime necessity for the solution of the problem. The common school has its place, and its efficiency must be greatly increased. The industrial school has a place of almost equal importance. But the college is essential for the full efficiency of these very instrumentalities. The South is said to have spent one hundred and twenty-five million dollars at least since 1870 in maintaining her thirty thousand negro public schools; but, as custom in the South requires that the teachers of the negro schools must themselves be negroes, this enormous sum has been to a large degree wasted by reason of the inefficiency of the teachers employed. If it were only to prevent such a weakening of the efficiency of the common school, and such spending of great sums of money in vain, the college for intelligent negroes must be of priceless advantage. Where graduates from a college are sent to give instruction, valuable work is done; an influence of incalculable value is exerted upon the whole negro population where the teacher resides; and, in addition to all, he becomes a means of preparing other teachers to fill the same position of importance that he has himself occupied. One graduate of Atlanta University is said to have trained two hundred teachers, who in turn are instructing ten thousand children. "These college graduates are also prominent in organizing and maintaining State associations of negro teachers, and in conducting, under the direction of State superintendents of education, the |