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.