REV, AUGUSTUS SHEPARD 39 



ter from the Shiloh Association. The time was 

 ripe, and after some deliberation, an organiza- 

 tion was formed, under the name of the ^'Orphan 

 Asylum dissociation." An appeal was issued to 

 churches, associations, conventions, and secret 

 organizations throughout the State. With a 

 burning heart and prayerful desires, no man 

 was so well qualified to follow up these appeals 

 as was this man of God. From the mountains 

 to the seashore, from church to church, from 

 place to place, clothed in earnestness and elo- 

 quence, his voice resounded ^'in behalf of neg- 

 lected boys and girls." And yet wdth all this, 

 it was first a season of clouds and darkness, and 

 then a season of life and hope. Members of 

 this committee grew faint; but ''Brother Shep- 

 ard" would still say, "There is yet hope." 



To better advance the work, and to make it 

 more effective, he organized county Sunday 

 School conventions throughout the State as aux- 

 iliaries to the State Convention, and in the con- 

 stitutions of each of these auxiliaries the main 

 object was the establishment and maintenance 

 of the Colored Orphan Asylum. Evidently thq 

 plan was of God and it had its desired effect. 

 The cause of the orphan was not only heralded 



