There has been little opportunity thus far to learn save from letters as to the character of the missionary work done by the pupils during their vacation, but we have good reason to know that it has been more abundant and effective than in any season before. A larger share of the pupils went out as followers of Christ than heretofore, and a larger supply of temperance literature was put into their hands, and the sentiment of the people toward them and their work is increasingly favorable. It seems probable that the appeals for assistance on the part of worthy pupils will be greater than usual on account of the smaller returns their best endeavors to help themselves have secured.
A severe and protracted drought has affected all this region, so that the cotton crop was small and required early attention, and pupils were taken out of school and attendance and pay were rendered small. We meet under the shadow of sorrow, having lost five students by death during the vacation, one of them a beloved member of the senior class. We hope that the tender and thoughtful feeling which manifestly prevails thus far may lead ere long to great and blessed results.
LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL.
REV. S. E. LATHROP, MACON, GA.
Our school opened on the 3d of October with 64 scholars present. This number was increased to nearly 90 during the first week, and there will be constant additions until Christmas. Many of the poorest pupils are busily picking cotton, to earn something for school expenses, and will arrive within a month. Ten or twelve of the older scholars of last year have now gone to Atlanta University, so that there are not yet as many grown pupils as there will be after cotton picking is over. Among the new students is a young Methodist preacher, in charge of a circuit in an adjoining county. He seems quite in earnest to learn. Another of our excellent young men was converted while teaching during the summer, and has done good work in Sunday-school, temperance and revival meetings. Another taught school in the same county, and both labored earnestly in the temperance cause. A bill was passed by the legislature this summer, allowing the people of that county to vote on the question of prohibiting the sale of liquor within their own limits. These two young teachers, aided by another former pupil teaching in an adjoining county, who has considerable talent for public speaking, worked hard for prohibition. The result is seen in the news that comes this morning, that prohibition carried the day by a majority of nineteen votes.
Several new scholars have come into our school, and a larger number will yet come through the efforts of these young teachers. The attendance at opening is larger than for several preceding years, and indications point toward a steady increase. Atlanta University being within one hundred miles, draws off many of the older students, but what is our loss is their gain. The dark and ignorant communities of our common-wealth are being enlightened slowly but surely, by the earnest young teachers from this and other schools, and their influence is not small on the side of morality, religion and progress.
The school opens more favorably than for several years before, with an increase in the corps of teachers, and general prospects for extended usefulness. There is a growing number of those who desire advanced education, whose purpose it is to fit themselves to enter some of the higher institutions. Their greatest hindrance is their poverty; but the pay for school teaching is improving somewhat, although most have to wait six or eight months before receiving what they earn. There is, however, general progress in most localities, and we are glad to believe that the Lewis High School is doing its share, reaching out to uplift this whole region of country.