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Norfolk, Va., April 15, 1867

Rev. Edwd P. Smith,
Genl. Field Agt. A.M.A.

Dear Sir:

I wish at this time to direct your special attention to the efforts of a rival Society - the Episcopal - at this point.

Without designing any reflections upon  their operations or the character of the persons they employ, I think it may be conceded that so far as the educational work is concerned, their mission here is wholly unnecessary, and is an imposition upon the benevolence that sustains it.

The Episcopal Commission, whose headquarters are at the Bible House, N.[[?]] allowed a school to be opened a little more than a year ago, by a "cast aside" minister, Rev. M.E. Willing, whose family then living here needed more for its support than his ministrations procured. To secure his ap-