facilities. We need not name the
reading of the Bible; and judiciously selected sermons, to be read to
the adults when they cannot attend preaching, should not be omitted.
Catechetical instruction, by means of such excellent aids as our own
'Catechism for young children,' and 'Jones' Catechism of Scripture
doctrine and practice,' will of course be resorted to; together with
teaching them _hymns_ and _singing with them_. The reading to them, for
variety, such engaging and instructive stories as are found in the
'Children's column' of some of our best religious papers; and suitable
Sabbath school, or other juvenile books, such as 'The Peep of Day,'
'Line upon Line,' etc., will, in many cases, prove an excellent aid, in
imbuing their minds with religious truth. _Masters should not spare
expense or trouble_, to provide liberally these various helps to those
who take this work in hand, to aid and encourage them to the utmost in
their self-denying toil.

"Brethren, the time is propitious to urge your attention to this
important duty. A deep and constantly increasing interest in the work,
is felt throughout the South. Just at this time, also, extensively
throughout portions of our territory, an unusual awakening has been
showing itself among the colored people. It becomes us, and it is of
vital importance on every account, by judicious instruction, both to
guide the movement, and to improve the opportunity.

"We commend this whole great interest to the Divine blessing; and, under
God, to your conscientious reflection, to devise the proper ways; and to
your faithful Christian zeal, to accomplish whatever your wisdom may
devise and approve."

The _Mobile Daily Tribune_, in referring to the religious training of
the slaves, says:[80]

"Few persons are aware of the efforts that are continually in progress,
in a quiet way, in the various Southern States, for the moral and
religious improvement of the negroes--of the number of clergymen of good
families, accomplished education, and often of a high degree of talent,
who devote their whole time and energies to this work; or of the many
laymen--almost invariably slaveholders themselves--who sustain them by
their purses and by their assistance as catechists, Sunday school
teachers, and the like. These men do not make platform speeches, or talk
in public on the subject of their 'mission,' or theorize about the
'planes' on which they stand: they are too busy for this, but they work
o