In addition to the lack of sufficient public schools, there are reasons involved in the former religious control of the islands which make the Mission school most essential in bringing to the citizens of to-morrow quickening ideals and constructive training.
"Mercedes, Juanita, Pachita, Juan, Felipe—here they are, all out at play, just like American school children at recess, only that it is too hot for hard running games. Where is the schoolhouse? Why, under that cocoanut tree. Yes, that little shack, thatched with palm leaves. See the American flag floating atop it! That tells the story. If the breeze that waves it could speak to you as it does to some older people, it would say, 'In all this beautiful island outside the city of San Juan, there was but one schoolhouse when it came into the possession of the United States. Spain had kept the men and women in ignorance for more than four hundred, years. Every bright fold of Old Glory means new life, new joy, new hope to the boys and girls of Porto Rico, for now they have a chance.'"
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The concentration of Orientals on the Pacific coast has laid a heavy responsibility upon Home Missions to interpret to them the message of Christ and the meaning of true citizenship in the Republic.
A number of the larger denominations have responded effectively to this call, and their schools and missions extend from the Golden Gate north to Seattle and south to San Diego.
Homes for girls, with kindergarten and primary schools, and evening classes for young men are most important and telling features in this service.
The story of one girl in the Home maintained in San Francisco by the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is typical of the far-reaching character of all missionary service to Orientals.
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Miss Caroline Lee, a remarkable student, was graduated from the State
Normal School of California. She is at present (January, 1915) attending
the Training School of the Young Women's Christian Association in New
York City, preparing to fill an important position in China under the
National Board of the Association.
Her child life was filled with tragedy and hardship. Her earliest memories are of a river boat in China and of being sold and brought to San Francisco, and sold again.