Southern States is steadily augmenting, while the alienation between the
black and white races in the South is becoming more pronounced. The
Southern problem is the more difficult of solution.

* * * * *

A clergyman in a Southern town who is connected with families of great
influence, and who ministers to a large white church, is accustomed to
preach every afternoon in a colored church under the care of this
Association. He usually repeats to the colored church the sermon
preached in the forenoon to his own people, and finds that those who
hear it in the afternoon appreciate it fully. The two remarkable facts
in this incident are that the gentleman should consent to do this
gratuitous labor for the colored church, and that the colored church
should understand and appreciate the sermon prepared for the cultured
white congregation.

* * * * *

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT.


Mr. Silas M. Rideout, of Cumberland, Maine, has presented to the
American Missionary Association, through the Boston office, a most
beautiful box for keepsakes. It is about 6 inches in width, 9 in length
and 4 in depth, made of inlaid woods of different colors very tastefully
arranged, "American Missionary" being set in the cover. The inside is
lined with plush. On a card in the box the following was written by a
friend: "This box was presented to the American Missionary Association
by a good man living in a small town in Maine, who, like that good