Some of the converts have made detailed confession of sins (stealing, e.g.); some who have been neglectful of school privileges have returned to get the religious impetus; and at least two that had been dismissed for meanness have experienced a change of heart. We shall look for permanent results, and work to that end with hope; yet this people are so emotional and so stolid! so ready to move along a certain line in a body, but indifferent to duty when it leads along an uninteresting path of individual effort. Indeed, the home life of many is unfavorable to genuine Christianity; some being persecuted, even, because they have not seen a vision, till they are made to believe they "have got nothing."
Mr. Wharton preaches the pure and simple gospel plainly and vividly; is attractive in person and of commanding presence. At his departure there were many expressions of regard and grateful remembrance, and he will always have a warm place in the affections of Selma people, who have been impressed in so short a time by the life and words of this man of God.
COTTON VALLEY, ALA.
BY A TEACHER.
I have been asked to tell something of the work and school in Cotton Valley. Hence I send a little description of it as it appears to a new teacher, just having entered the missionary field.
There are many features about the work here that make it a most interesting one. First, it is situated in a dense black belt, where the people are anxious to improve, and are appreciative of all that is done for them. Next, Cotton Valley is quiet and retired, being forty miles from Montgomery, nine from Union Springs, and thirteen from Tuskegee; so that, while we are enabled to teach without interruptions that break into school life in cities, we are yet not so far removed as to be incommoded when business necessitates our going to a city.
Doubtless Miss Lilla V. Davis, the pioneer, founder, and principal of our school is well known to most of the friends and helpers of the American Missionary Association, but, for the sake of those who are not so well informed, and because hers is a story worthy of being told anew, I will say a word of her whom all Cotton Valley delights to honor. She, ten years ago, left her home in Boston, Mass., and coming down here under the most adverse circumstances, and in the midst of the lowest humanity, established this school. Her teaching in those days was not so much from books, but she went into the homes of the people and made them feel that she was one of them. She talked and read to them, taught them the rules of decency and virtue, and that cleanliness is next to godliness. Thus, step by step has she been leading them on until now, instead of a valley of ignorance, it is "as a city set on a hill, whose light cannot be hid," for instead of a one-room-log-cabin we have a nice, comfortable school building, planned and furnished in modern style. I mean by this, that what we have is up-to-date and not that we have all we need, for our largest room, the one we call and use as our chapel, needs settees, blackboards, maps, and lights; and last but not least, we need a piano, as at present our only musical instrument is a baby organ, which is now so nearly worn out that many of the reeds instead of responding to the touch of the solicitous performer sit in silence, considering themselves too aged to jump up and down, and take part in such active service.
Our school this year is larger than ever, and our students, I think, would compare well with those of more favored schools in cities. The present enrollment is nearly two hundred, and when the weather is good, and all are in, we find the work rather heavy, as there are only three teachers, and we all believe in thorough work.
We have a large and interesting Sunday School to which the parents as well as the children come; also a Christian Endeavor Society, and a Circle of King's Daughters.