Brewton is the county seat of Escambia County, Alabama.  It is on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, one hundred and six miles north of Montgomery, and seventy-four north of Mobile.  It has a population of about two thousand five hundred, and is quite thrifty.  Alco is a mile and a half further south, on the same road, and is a nice little village of five or six hundred people, that has grown up within the last three years, and almost wholly out of the Peters Lumber Company.  The property of the Company consists of one of the largest and finest mills in the South, with nearly 200,000 acres of yellow pine surrounding it.  Some three hundred colored men, most of them with families, are employed in the various operations of the mills.  Mr. Peters is engaged most of the time in his large lumber and salt interests at Manistee, Mich., but comes South two or three times a year to look after the business at Alco.  From the first, it was the purpose of the Company to do something to improve the church and school facilities of the colored people, and last spring, while Mrs. Peters was spending a few weeks at Alco, she had a building 35x60 erected, and nicely arranged for church and school purposes.  This she turned over to the American Missionary Association, and they at once sent down Rev. W.P.  Hamilton, of Talladega, to open a school and begin preaching.  The second Sunday in June, he was joined by Prof.  G.W.  Andrews, of Talladega, Rev. R.C.  Bedford, of Montgomery, and Rev. F.G.  Ragland and Deacon Godbold of Mobile, to assist him in dedicating the building.

Though but little was known of Congregationalism in that part of the country, the services were entered into most heartily by all classes of the people.  Most of the ministers at Brewton, in charge of colored churches, closed their places of worship and joined with us, partaking in the services, and speaking with great delight of the coming of an educated preacher and teacher among them.

Mr. Hamilton starts off with over fifty pupils in Sunday and day school, and hopes soon to have members enough so that he can take steps to call a council and organize a church.  The brethren of Alabama are greatly encouraged by this movement.  Heretofore we have had no church or school between Montgomery and Mobile, one hundred and eighty miles.  Now the distance is divided, Alco standing about half way between the two places.

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CHILDREN’S DAY.

BY REV.  J.E.  SMITH.

The 9th of June last was a grand day for the young people in the First Congregational Church at Chattanooga.  The church was tastefully decorated with appropriate Scripture mottoes, choice evergreens, beautiful flowers and sweet singing canaries.  There was present a large number of adults and a larger number of clean, sweet, hopeful children, and many laughing, cooing babes in the arms of their Christian parents, who