PIONEERS IN PORTO RICO.
SECRETARY CHARLES. J. RYDER.
The opening of this new island territory for the Christian schools and the evangelistic work of the American Missionary Association is of great interest. Many questions are naturally asked by those who are in sympathetic touch with this new and important movement.
Who have gone to this field? Where have they gone and what fields are opening? Why have they gone? These questions present themselves to the attention of those who have watched with great interest the opening of this island to an intelligent and progressive Christian influence. Let us answer these questions in this article.
A SHACK—A PEASANT'S RESIDENCE.
First, who have gone in this pioneer band of missionaries to Porto Rico?
The educational work is especially under the care and direction of Prof. Charles B. Scott and his wife. Prof Scott is a graduate of Rutgers College and of Oswego State Normal School. He is a teacher of many years' experience and thoroughly qualified for the establishment and direction of the educational work of the Association among this people. Mrs. Scott, a graduate of Michigan University, also takes an active part in this work. They are both devoted Christians, and the religious quickening and spiritual elevation of the people comprise an important part of their efforts.
MISS JULIA D. FERRIS.
MISS ISABEL FRENCH.
Miss Julia D. Ferris goes from Saginaw, Michigan. She received her education at Wellesley College after leaving the High School of her own city. She has been a teacher for several years and has attained marked success in this work.
Miss Isabel French is a graduate of a classical school in New York City and pursued a post-graduate course at Barnard College. She has had large experience in teaching and in Christian and philanthropic work, which qualifies her for this mission field.
MISS JENNIE L. BLOWERS.
Miss Jennie L. Blowers has already had experience in the mission schools of the American Missionary Association, having taught in Chandler Normal School at Lexington, Ky. Her home is in Westfield, New York. She was reappointed to work in the South, but was ready to enter this more distant island field. She is well qualified for this new work.
MISS KATHERINE M. ROWLEY.
MISS MARY L. DANIELS.
Miss Katherine M. Rowley comes from Oberlin, Ohio, being a member of the First Congregational Church of that city. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and is cordially recommended for this missionary service by her professors and teachers.
Miss Mary L. Daniels is a member of Dr. Munger's church in New Haven, Conn. She has been a teacher in the public schools, where she has attained a high position as a very competent instructor. She takes with her the regard and confidence of a large circle of friends and there is every prospect of her abundant success.
All these teachers understand the Spanish language to some extent. This is essential, in order to do the work in Porto Rico.
REV. JOHN EDWARDS,
Evangelist.
Rev. John Edwards, a pastor from Ohio, has been sent out by the Association as an evangelist in this same field. The preaching of the gospel is greatly needed, and Mr. Edwards' circuit covers a large area in evangelistic services. He is in eastern Porto Rico, where there is scarcely any other missionary work.
And so this little band of eight devoted men and women have entered upon the pioneer work in opening up Porto Rico to an intelligent gospel. They have gone out with the prayers and sympathy of thousands of those who have been greatly interested in the important work in this island territory. The future promises large things in the building up of Christian character and the establishment of progressive Christian institutions.
Where have these missionaries gone? They landed first at San Juan, on the northeastern portion of the island. They established a school at Santurce, which is a few miles distant from San Juan. From this field Miss Blowers writes as follows:
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION SCHOOL, SANTURCE.
"The schoolhouse opens on the street (the military road), where there is a constant stream of passers by. There is not an hour in the day that there are not spectators peering in at doors and windows with idle curiosity or eager interest. Sometimes there are not more than three or four, but often as many as eighteen or twenty. Let me tell you of the various persons who composed this outside audience, as I watched them one morning. A native policeman, a business man waiting for his car, three beggars, boys with large trays of bread, fruit and sweetmeats on their heads, a washerwoman with a huge basket of clothes poised securely on her head, the driver of an ox-cart, who stopped his team while we sang "America," three women going to market, a party of daintily dressed, sweet-faced senoritas with their chaperone, a dirty, wild-looking old hag who almost frightened me, a young mother carrying a naked baby in her arms, and boys—well, it was no use to count them. What do you think? Are we not being well advertised?"
ON THE MILITARY ROAD FROM SAN JUAN TO LARES.
Great care was taken in locating these schools. Rev. A. F. Beard, Senior Secretary of the A. M. A., and Rev. William H. Ward, D.D., a member of the Executive Committee, visited the island to examine the conditions and discover the best points for such work. Prof. Scott, after reaching the island, also made thorough investigation concerning the most important location. He wrote after reaching Porto Rico: "The railroad from Arecibo is impassable. I hired a pony and a boy to guide me and started for the town. The only way of traveling now, except on military roads, is by pony. I had never ridden two miles on horseback in my life, but it had to be done and I am still intact, and have ridden twenty to twenty-five miles to-day without even getting stiff. We reached Arecibo, having to ford or ferry streams five times. There were no bridges left.
"Friday I rode to Lares, eighteen miles over the roughest trail imaginable. Much of it is as steep as a stairway, with stones of all sizes replacing the steps. But I managed to stick to my pony. We reached Lares at eight o'clock, the eighteen miles taking nine hours, with three hours at noon waiting for the rain to cease."
Lares, a town of 3,000 population, is situated in the western part of the island. It was finally decided that this should be the place for the second school planted by the American Missionary Association. Prof. Scott writes also: "Lares is a very pleasant place, built around the top of a hill, the best residences at the top, with best possible drainage and supplied with excellent spring water. I had a letter to the Alcalde (Mayor) and to the leading doctor of the town, a very intelligent man, who speaks English. I examined several buildings and found one admirably adapted to our purpose. It is central, with a large room on the ground floor and five bedrooms, a dining room and kitchen for the teachers. Everything is in excellent order. The sanitary condition, with some changes, cannot be surpassed. The house seems just built for our purpose, and with a minimum expense can be enlarged to give two good-sized dormitories. All the people whom I saw were very much interested in our work. The city can do nothing. They have paid no salaries for months."
The schools at Lares and Santurce represent the present educational work of the Association in Porto Rico. Both schools are well under way and large numbers of eager pupils are in attendance. Prof. Scott wrote so urgently for reinforcements in order to meet the needs already pressing, that an additional missionary teacher was sent in January. Miss Johanna Blinka was selected for this important mission, as she was thoroughly acquainted with the Spanish language and had had large experience in educational and missionary work. This completes the force of eight teachers already engaged in the educational work under the American Missionary Association in the island of Porto Rico.
Rev. John Edwards has begun work in the eastern part of the island. There are few missionaries here and the opportunities for evangelistic work are pressing. The following interesting facts were received under recent date from Mr. Edwards: He writes from Fajardo, eastern Porto Rico, "There are many circumstances attending the work here that are very trying and require the greatest of patience. Still, on the whole, there is great encouragement. I have rented a building here at Fajardo, to occupy as the centre of missionary work in this region. I ordered a dozen benches with backs, to be used for public service. A little table stands at the end of the room, on which I place the Bible and use as a pulpit. It is my intention to develop fully the promising conditions both here at Fajardo and also at Humacao, where I have found a warm welcome.
"I understand the best time on Sunday for public worship is in the evening. The young men are most of them occupied during the day. Sunday is their busy market day until three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when the market and stores close and all are free to go whither they like. Some of the young men told me that a number would attend our meetings in the night, that could not come during the day. Of course, this is a condition unfavorable to such Christian work, and yet I hope to be able to gather considerable audiences and reach this needy people with the living gospel of Jesus Christ. I speak in Spanish with comparative ease. We held services Sunday morning, at which I preached. We then sang several hymns which the people are rapidly learning. We need hymn books to offer them for sale, that they may be used in our meetings."
A STREET IN SANTURCE—A SUBURB OF SAN JUAN.
From this letter it will be seen that work is opening hopefully before our evangelist. As the work develops it will demand a reinforcement of preachers capable of doing the same sort of earnest, evangelistic work. The demand in every department of this new island territory is pressing and imperative. Surely the churches of our Congregational fellowship will see to it, each one of them, that the work is fully and cordially supported.
But a very natural question remains to be answered, namely, why have these missionaries gone to this island field? The answer is easy and natural. In the first place, Porto Rico is the only territory that has come under the immediate direction and control of the United States government as a result of the war with Spain. It is emphatically a home missionary field. The responsibility of our American churches is immediate and direct for the spread of the gospel among the inhabitants of this island, who are even now our fellow citizens. The American Missionary Association follows the flag. By the adjustment of work suggested by the churches years ago, at which the Association surrendered its foreign field and took the work among the Indians as a legitimate department of its home work, it has confined its missions to the territory of the United States. Patriotism reinforces the demands of Christianity for the physical, intellectual and religious development of the people in Porto Rico. The time is immediate and the command imperative. It is the command of our country as truly as of God.
Churches, expressing their views through resolutions of local conferences and associations, urged upon the A. M. A. to occupy this island field. This was another reason for going.
The appeal put before the churches in behalf of this important new work met with immediate and hopeful response. Ten thousand dollars are still demanded in order to put the work upon a proper and permanent foundation. Buildings should be erected for the schools, and this immediately. Also homes for the teachers, where model housekeeping can reinforce the instruction of the schoolroom and industrial class. Has not some friend, who reads these messages from Porto Rico, the ability and desire to send a check to our treasury at once, to put one of these mission schools in permanent quarters and thus greatly reinforce the present work and secure its permanency?
Little by little, as the evangelistic movements progress, chapels will be needed for the accommodation of audiences that gather for Christian worship. Here again is a large increase upon the demands of Christian people for this new work of the American Missionary Association.
Surely this little band of heroic Christian missionaries and teachers who have gone out from their homes and from our shores, responding at once to the call of the Master to enter this important and large field, will not be forgotten by Christian men and women in our churches. The work must not suffer. It should be reinforced promptly and largely. In God's providence, mysterious and incomprehensible, this island has become a part of our country. The call now comes to occupy the field, not with armies and military movements, but with the peaceful influences of Christianity. The intellectual and moral quickening of the youth and children through the Christian institutions planted among them, and the preaching of the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to this destitute people, create a responsibility which our Congregational churches must meet courageously and generously.