H. K. Carroll
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Around and Across South America
NOV 4 1955
BV 2550 .C37 1905 Carroll, Henry K. Around and across America
1848-1931. South
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MAY '.>H 1915
South Americ Mission
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
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H. K. CARROLL, LL.D.
Around and Across South America
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Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church
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H. K. CARROLL, LL.D.
P'irst Assistant Corresponding Secretary
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY
OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
OPEN DOOR EMERGENCY COMMISSION
150 Fifth Avenue, New York
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PRICE, TEN CENTS
Edited by CHARLES H. MORGAN
AROUND AND ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA
THE TOUR IN OUTLINE
HE tour and observations, account of which is given in the following pages, were under- taken in response to the instructions of the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to make a thorough inspection of its mission fields in South America, The time was opportune. South America, next to Africa the earliest field of missionary operations by our church, was entered in 1836. The years of comparatively slow development permitted in 1893 the organization Time of all our work on the continent as the South Amer-
Opportune ica Conference. In 1897 the portion on the Pacific coast was given separate organization. But by the General Conference of 1904 the field was reorganized, so that the South America Conference should include the republics of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil ; the Andes Conference, the republics of Chile and Bolivia; and the North Andes Mission, the northern part of the continent. Bishop Thomas B. Neely also became the first resident bishop, and it was in company with him in his entrance upon his work in South America and presidency at the sessions of the Mission and two Conferences named that my tour of inspection was made.
I left New York December 28, 1904, with Bishop and Mrs. Neely and their niece, by the steamer Seguranca, and after an uneventful voyage of seven days landed at Colon
5
January 4, 1905. I visited the Isthmus of Panama and
studied conditions along the Une of the canal, with the view
to the establishment of missions in the new republic; spent
some days in Lima and Callao, attending the first
Stages of annual meeting of North Andes Mission and inspect-
Tour ing our work in Peru; attended the first meeting of
Andes Conference at Coquimbo, Chile, and visited
other points in that republic, including Iquique, Antofagasta,
Serena, Valparaiso, Santiago, Concepcion, Temuco, and Vic-
CASCADES, CHAGRES KTVEH, PAXAMA
toria, and inspected our church and school properties. My tour of the West Coast completed, I crossed the Andes, start- ing from Santiago, and visited Mendoza, Mercedes, Buenos Ayres, La Plata, Lomas, and Rosario, in Argentina, and Montevideo, in Uruguay, where the South America Confer- ence met in annual session March 22. From Montevideo the return voyage was by steamer to Rio Janeiro, where
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SOUTH AMERICA — ROUTE OF DR. CARROLL
four days were spent, and direct from Rio Janeiro, by the steamer Byron, reaching New York April 19, 1905. The tour occupied nearly four months, or, more exactly one hundred and twelve days, of which fifty- two were spent at sea. In all I traveled about 15,000 miles. The ocean voyage was free from storms and high winds, and iny journe3''S on land were marred by no accidents, illness, or disagreeable occurrences.
MEN AND THINGS ON THE ISTHMUS
The isthmus is not particularly picturesque. liOfty hills lie to the north and the south of the Canal Zone and at the Pacific entrance, with one, Culebra, about three hundred feet high in the path of the canal. Where the railroad crosses, following the course of the canal, the country lies low, Isthmus mostly, and much of it is swampy. The cocoanut
Described and other palms flourish, and the banana greedily drinks in the moisture and glories in the heat. It would seem that sugar cane, cacao, and other tropical pro- ductions would flourish if enterprising men would give them the chance.
The railroad is a little less than forty-eight miles in length. It is said to have cost an immense sum when it was built, some fifty years ago, largely by American capital. It is a single-track road, five feet gauge, with first-class and second- class cars. The best trains make the trip from ocean Railroad to ocean in about two hours. It has been a paying in- vestment from the beginning. The employees, except conductors and engineers, are colored men, largely from Ja- maica. Great numbers of these West Indian negroes are on the i.sthmus, and they form two thirds or more of the popu- lation of Colon. They generally speak English. Nation's Recent It is wonderful how Uncle Sam is spreading
Record himself in these recent years,and how well kno-^Ti
he is in the wide, wide world. Here he is in the Isthmus of Panama, two thousand miles south of Chicago, running a railroad, digging a canal, and caring for the health of Panamanians. You see his flag on one of his war vessels when you disembark at Colon ; you see
it in the Canal Zone, ten miles wide, as you cross the isthmus, and you see it on another war vessel in the Pacific as you leave Panama. And the finest building in Panama is not the cathedral, nor the palace of the president of The Governor the republic, but the big four-story, clean-looking General edifice occupied by General Davis and other offi-
cers of the canal. It is something in these days to be one of Uncle Sam's numerous children.
But is it not strange that the United States should begin the greatest undertaking of modern times by making war on
HOSPITAL AT COLOX
mosquitoes? When the Isthmian Railroad was built, more
than half a century ago, there was a frightful loss of human
life. The sacrifice, it is commonly said, was a man for every
railroad tie. While it is true the French Canal Com-
War on pany did not fight the mosquitoes, they did make
Mosquitoes generous provision for the health of their employees.
We want to guard against malaria and pernicious
fevers, and especially against the dread scourge, yellow fever.
Bacteriological research has shown that the cause of these
diseases is a minute germ, a baciUus, and these bacilli are
9
carried about by a female mosquito of the genus known as "anopheles." We are making war on the mosquito, and taking sanitary measures to make the isthmus a healthy place to live and work, and put an end to "Yellow Jack." This is according to the latest science, and it not only has the support of a sound pliilosophy, but is grandly philanthropic
CULEBRA CUT, PANAMA CAXAL
Old French dredge at work
Uncle Sam is trying to inculcate cleanliness. Every
passenger receives a circular advising certain precautions for
the preservation of the health, one of which is always
Physical and to sleep under a mosquito canopy, which the hotels
Moral Clean- provide for every bed. The governor of the Canal
liness Zone is also solicitous for the morals of the Zone,
and has forbidden the sale of tickets of the Panama
lottery therein. The lottery company, which has its office
in the episcopal palace building, contends that the treaty
10
gives the governor no authority to prohibit the sale of its tickets, but the United States judge here has decided that it does, and an appeal to the United States Supreme Court has resulted in sustaining his decision. Isn't it fine to belong to a nation which believes that cleanliness is akin to godliness, and that morality partakes of godliness?
But some one will ask: ''Isn't the United States doing any- thing but ' cleaning up' the zone? Isn't it doing any digging?" Well, yes. I was privileged with Bishop Neely to have an invitation, with the members of the Pan-American Powerful Medical Congress, meeting early in January, in Pan- Machines ama, to go on an excursion to the deep cut at Cule- at Work bra, about half an hour's ride by train from Panama. We watched a dredge operating on one of the slopes, smoothing them off rapidly, and loading the clay in cars. But what most of the company were specially interested in was an American machine loading broken rocks, and they could not withhold hearty applause at some of the wonderful feats of the powerful machine. After it was announced that twenty of these dredges had been ordered, a doctor of the party said: "I have been skeptical as to this canal, but I am so no longer. I believe it will be built."
The canal will be much larger than the French plan called for. It will have thirty-five feet of water instead of twenty- nine. It will be one hundred and fifty feet wide at the bottom instead of seventy-five, and the sides will prob- Features ably be built of masonry. It will cost hundreds of of Canal millions, but it will pay, and it will be a great boon to floating cominerce. Colon lies low and is wet and warm ; Panama is equally hot, but the climate is drier and free from the heavy storms which break occasionally on the Atlantic side. Pan- Isthmian ama is a typical Spanish-American city. Its streets Cities and are narrow, uneven, and dusty ; its buildings of a People uniform shape, order, and color; its plazas well kept,
with plants and royal palms offering bright oases of green in the desert of brick and mortar ; its population more cosmopolitan tlian one would expect. English is as
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common as the Spanish. The Panama Herald is bilingual. But though clerks and cabmen almost invariably speak the tongue of the Americans and many citizens of the United States are residents here, the American spirit is lacking. There is no enterprise, no progressiveness. The people are willing
THE CATHEDKAI,, PANAMA
enough to have prosperity, but somebody else must bring it. Tliey are keen to profit by the increased demand for prop- erty, which is scarce ; but they Avill hold on to ecclesiastical and other ruins, as they have done for half a century or more, and ask exorbitant prices for them, instead of rebuilding
12
them and offering them for rent or for sale. They had a tramway in Panama, but they got rid of it, and take cabs over the cobblestone streets to the depot and pay fifty cents native n\oney, when they might ride smootlily and cheaply in a trolley. Part of the track still remains. An.ericans must come to the isthmus and teach these easy-going people how to mend their ways, so that the stay of the traveler in Panama will be less of a horror and more of a pleasure.
The Panamanians also need to learn better wa3's in morals and religion. On the west side of the chief plaza stands the cathedral; on the north side is the palace of the bishop. Under the episcopal residence is the Pannma lottery. Lax Everybody patronizes it, and the church, I am told,
Morals profits by the lousiness. â– The priests are well-dressed, fine-looking men, dignified in bearing, and in appearance more intellectual tlian those of the West Indies; but in mor- als they are said to be far below grade. The assistant to the bishop lives openly, a respectable and intelligent resident told me, with the woman who has borne children to him. What of the influence of the church when its priests set such examples?
The week spent on the Isthmus of Panama was chiefly occupied with ascertaining what opportunities there might be for missionary work there. Dr. Wood had been in the city of Panama for many weeks, and gave us much Missionary help in our search for property. The chief places
Opportunities along the line of the canal are the city of Panama, on the Pacific, just outside the Canal Zone; Colon, on the Atlantic; Culebra, where the deep cut in the canal is to be made, and where four hundred or five hundred ma- rines are encamped, and Ancon, the headquarters of the canal government, near Panama. Besides the marines and officers and engineers at Camp Elliott, for whom there is no Protestant service, there are at Ancon and in Panama hun- dreds of Americans, nearly all connected with the canal, with no Protestant pastor to care for them.
In Colon there is an Anglican and a Wesley an chapel, in charge of colored pastors from Jamaica, and a post of the
13
Salvation Army. The bishop and myself concur in the judgment that we hyve no call to enter Colon, whose popu- lation, numbering two or three thousand, is Religious Work cliiefly colored. A reading room and occasional at Colon services Avould l)e a l)oon to the officers and
men .stationed tliere. Panama, the important city of the Isthmus, has an Angli- can and a Wesleyan chapel lor the colored people, l)ut no other Protestant churches. Among its twenty thousand in- hal)itants are many Americans and others who speak English. The Spanish-speaking majority, seeing that American influ- ence must predominate, are alive to the importance of having their children educated in American schools; and as a means of reaching the higher classes, whose religious prej- Beginnings udices are strong, we deemed it important to open at Panama a school in the city, and Brother Vance and wife who are teachers of experience with a fair knowl- edge of the Spanish language, were appointed by Bishop Neely for that purpose. They arrived in Panama in April, 1905, and opened a .school. Services in Spanish and En- glish were inaugurated l)y Dr. AVood at the end of April. The selection of one or two missionaries to preach in Spani.sh in Panama and in English in Ancon and Culebra is in the l)i.shop's plan, and with the approval of the Board of Mana- gers, it is hoped may ])e promptly made so as to relieve Ur. Wood and allow him to return to his work in Peru.
INTO AND OUT OF ECUADOR AND PERU
From Panama to Callao, Peru, is a journey of about nine
days. On the way we stopped a day or so at Guayaquil,
Ecuador. Some of our former mi.s.sionaries, under Dr.
Wood's superintendence, have been teachers in government
Normal Schools at Quito and Cuenca, and their
Prospects in names have appeared among the appointments of
Ecuador the Lima District. Brother Irigoyen, an ordained
deacon, a colporteur of the American Bible Society,
has reported small companies of evangelical believers at
Guayaquil and other places as one of the results of his work,
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but we have no organized church in Ecuador. The new presi- dent, though a Liberal, is not beUeved to possess the firmness of his immediate predecessors in keeping down the active spirit of persecution by the priests, and outbreaks such as have occurred at Quito and Cuenca within recent years might have serious consequences both for those engaged in the Normal Schools and for Brother Irigoyen, whose new appoint- ment is as pastor in Guayaquil and vicinity. It is no doubt
COAST INWIAXS OF PERU
however, our duty to Ijegin direct and open evangelistic work in Ecuador, where Methodists as Bible colporteurs have prepared the way for the organization of congregations.
The long coast line of Peru is repellent. Bare, barren shores, without tree or plant or ])lade of grass, unblessed by drop of rain, stretch interminably along the thirteen hundred miles from Ecuador to Chile, and rise into hills and mountains which stand as grim, silent sentinels of inhospitality. Coast and But lying between these and the great Andean range Mountains are valleys and plants which burst into bloom when of Peru the cool water of the mountain streams is spread
over them, and sugar cane and even rice are pro- duced in large quantities. The mountains are rich in mines of silver and gold and copper, and American engineering skill has built a railroad to them, one hundred and thirty-eight
15
miles from Callao, climbing where it is possible to climb, tunneling where the grades are too steep and a circuit could not be made, up and up and up, through seventy-eight tun- nels, until a height of sixteen thousand feet is attained — the highest railroad in the world.
^>UI('HL-AS l.\ ( K.MKTl.K'i
With candle and holy water
Here you see the curious llamas, the mountain camels. They are beasts of burden and carry sacks of ore from mine to railroad. They are patient and carry without complaint a hundred pounds. Beyond that their strength does not enable them to go and they cannot be made to carry. They
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Llamas, Quichuas
From Coast to Capital
Spanish Conquerors Pilgrim Fathers
are driven with sling and stone, the weapon David used against Goliath. In the mountains also are tlie Quichuas, descendants of the Incas. They are fanatical Catho- lics, but are by no means inaccessible to the gospel. It is to be hoped that our missionaries and native min- isters may be happy instruments of their conversion. The journey from Callao, the port, to Lima, the capital of Peru, may be made either by electric or steam power. The electric cars are large, comfortable, swift, and cheap, and run at short intervals until midnight. For a fare of ten cents you can make the trip in half an liour, passing through a level country, marked here and there with huge mounds, the tombs of ancient Incas. Though rain never falls on this plain, you w411 see flour- ishing vineyards and fields of maize, kept green by irrigation.
Here was laid, in greed and blood, the foundation of an empire of r e p u 13 1 i c s . How d i f- ferent the scenes at- tending the Pilgrims as they landed at Plymouth Rock and began the work of building the mightiest state on the American con- tinent !
The Pilgrims were religious; so were the Spanish conquerors. Lima bears witness still to their zeal for the church. The president of the lower House of Congress sits at the table, when he presides, around which gathered the inquisitors of the Holy OfSce three centuries ago to try and condemn heretics. The bells of seventy-eight churches speak daily of the thought and care of state and people for the outward rites and cere-
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This sketch-inap of the North Andes Mission locates some of the cities and mis- sion stations.
monies and symbols of religion. Seventy-eight churches for one hundred and twenty thousand people, and many of the edifices immense in extent, and most of them in good con- dition. The interior of the archbishop's cathedral Zealous but has much to delight the eye. The stalls of the Superstitious choirand the chairs of the Pope's delegate, the archbishop, and his coadjutors are of magnificently carved wood, the pillars around the altar are covered with gold, and the vaulted roofs are decorated with the metal which in- spired the heroic deeds of the Spanisli conquerors. The air is
THK CATllEDKAL, I-I,MA, I'ERT
laden with incense, and convenient benches call the worshiper to his knees. Surely this is the house of God, the very gate of heaven to awaiting souls. Alas! There is that which pleases the eye and delights the ear, but the soul is not touched by the fire of God. All the honors of worship go to the Virgin Mary. Miss Elsie Wood tells me of a church in Cuzco which bears this in- scription over its doors: "Come, ye heavy laden, unto Mary."
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What is being done in Peru to disseminate a living and fruitful faith is being done almost solely by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Anglican Church has a cliapel in Callao and another in liima. The former Peru's Protes- is practically abandoned, and we hold English tant Field services and Sunday school in it. We have
congregations in Lima and Callao, and it was my good fortune to see the three — two Spanish and one En- glish. We have, including two which may be said to belong
NATIVE CHRISTIAN FA.MIJ.V'
to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, six schools in Callao, the newest being a kindergarten taught by Mrs. Foreman. There is also a school in Tarma. a considerable town northeast of Ijima. The American Bible Society has colporteurs in Peru and Ecuador, and they prepare the way for schools and evangelists. It was a privilege to attend a love feast in Callao and hear glad testimonials of men and women as to the power of the gospel to save and to keep. There was some hesitation due to the presence of a stranger, but more than a dozen spoke or offered prayer.
Dr. Wood , a veteran in the service of the Missionary Society
of thirty-five years, laid the foundations of our work
Dr.Wood's in Peru in 1891. Since then he and his faithful wife
Work have toiled with heroic endurance, unfaltering cour-
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age, and a faith that nothing could overcome, and two of their daugliters have joyfully taken up the work which has so much of trial and discouragement.
Bishop Neely held the first session of North Andes
Mission ^Mission and the brethren of the Mission, foreign and
Session native, separated with new courage and a larger hope.
Evangelize, organize, develop the native ministry, were
the watchwords of the Conference.
IQITIQUE COLLEGE— (CO-EDUCATIOXA I.)
CHILEAN PORTS AND PEOPLE
From Callao down the Pacific coast the journey is leisurely. The managers of the steamship seem to forget that they have passengers who may be in a hurry, and only to remember that there is freight to be delivered and received at short intervals on the rugged and barren coast. Always the land
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presents the same uninviting aspect of red, barren hills and mountains and treeless valleys. The rains of heaven fall not at all, either on the just or on the unjust, and our last glimpses of Peru and the first of Chile are of a country dead indeed to vegetation. A great business in nitrates, or salitre, Chile's Rain- as the natives call it, has developed, and makes less Coast Iquique and other cities in the rainless region
what they are. New deposits are being discovered elsewhere, and the shipments from Iquique are less than they used to be ; but a trust or association regulates the out- put ever3^where, and keeps prices uniform and profitable.
COOKING CLASS, AMKKICAX COLLEGE, COXCEITIOX
Chile is undoubtedly the longest and narrowest republic
in the world. It has a coast line of three thousand miles, and
its greatest width scarcely exceeds two hundred miles. Hot
and dusty in these thousands of miles of thirsty
Long, Nar- land? Most of it. Unendurable? No. On the
row Republic shady side of the street or under a roof, at night,
when the stars are blazing as they never blaze in
northern skies, it is cool — muy fresco, as the natives say.
Keep out of the sun and you can be comfortable day or night,
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so far as the weather is concerned. Dust you must expect and perhaps get used to. In some places it is kept dovai a little by street sprinkling; but it is always ready to rise when stirred by the feet of horses or cattle. On board ship the
THE ALHAMBUA, S.VXTIA<iO
After the Alhanibra in Spain
weather is delightful, and only delightful. Not too hot by day, it is cool enough for wraps at night. The southern trade wind never fails to blow when you are twenty-four or thirty-six hours out of Panama, going south. A cool current
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flows along the coast northward and moderates the tropical climate to a wonderful degree.
Chile is ready for the gospel — more ready to receive than the church of Christ is to give. That fact I have seen demon- strated. At Antofagasta and Coquimbo I saw congregations of converts from out the whited sepulcher of Ca- Welcome for tholicism. At Valparaiso I saw congregations of Saving Truth three hundred to four hundred, mostly converts, on two successive week-day evenings, gathered to listen to the story, ever old, but new and fresh and delightful to them. At San- tiago I saw on Sunday even- ing in our new church, a few blocks from Santiago College, a crowded house of artisans, laborers, and their families. They heard from Bishop Neely's lips and heart the doctrine of the world's re- demption by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Every sign of favor was shown, and when the invitation was given to come and bow at the altar and have their sins washed away by the sprinkling of the atonement, scores came with- out delay. They knelt at the altar, as many as could reach it, and in the space in front, and at benches on either side, and prayed most earnestly for themselves, while Dr. Hoover and Brothers Arms and Vanegas prayed in succession for them. Members of the church knelt with the seekers and tried to show them the way to Christ. At Concepcion a week later the same scene gladdened our hearts. The bishop's strong and searching sermon was blessed by the Holy Ghost, and many came forward and earnestly cried unto God for mercy,
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AKALH AMA.N l.XJilAX, CUILE
In working garb
and obtained it. I saw full houses on week nights in Te- muco and in Victoria, come together not only to hear and welcome bishop and secretary, but to show their interest in evangelical religion.
These people have the same experiences, the same tempta- tions, the same victories, and the same aspirations as the devout in the United States. They get tired of the useless, wicked lives they lead, and are hungry for the true Spiritual bread of the gospel. One of those who knelt at the
Needs like chancel rail in Santiago was asked why he had come. Ours '' O, I have come," he said, " because I am tired of be-
ing a useless drunken lellow." Another's tears of penitence rained upon God's altar. Both testified with joy that their supplications had been answered. For bread the priests have been giving them stones, for fishes serpents.
What kind of Christians do these converts make? In the main, they persevere. Few ever return to the old life or the old church. Most of them have much to learn, and they don't learn it all at once. But the process of education Genuine goes on steadily and encouragingly. If couples have Converts been living together out of wedlock, they seek honest marriage the first thing. They give up liquor and gambling and profanity, and with liquor they generally give up tobacco also. They are more diligent in business, and more provident of their earnings. Their efforts to be clean, physically and morally, to have decent homes, to be indus- trious and honest in their business, to learn their duties as parents and citizens, always tell in their favor. They be- come more prosperous, get more work and more remunera- tive work, and their employers are delighted with their trustworthiness. These evangelical Christians are, therefore, constantly rising in the scale of civilization. Pure religion lifts them out of the degraded life into which the Roman system had caused or at least permitted them to fall. Prot- estant natives can thus get positions more readily, particu- larly responsible positions, than Catholic natives. A non-Protestant employer in Concepcion says Protestants
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are trustworthy; he was never deceived in any of his Prot- estant employees but once.
What wonderful men have been called to leadership in our South America fields! John Dempster, William Goodfellow, Henry G. Jackson, Thomas B. Wood, Charles W. Drees, John F. Thomson, Ira H. La Fetra, all of whom save the Missionary first two are still on this side of the dark stream — Leaders men of consecration and devotion and intellectual
power. The name of that evangelistic and mission- ary apostle, William Taylor, must ever l^e associated with the beginnings of our missions on the West Coast of South
SPANISH METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, lyUIQLE
America, and it was he who called to the work inaugurated by him, both educational and evangelistic, the man who was more completely to organize it, to shape its policies, direct its energies, and carry its burdens. That man was Ira H; La Fetra, whose mind and heart and soul are wrought into our colleges and churches as those of no other man. He and
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his wife have laid wide and enduring foundations for the fu- ture of vital Christianity in all the southern portion of the West Coast.
Methodism has a grand field in Chile, particularly in south- ern Chile. We could make wonderful advances if we had fifteen or twenty thousand dollars more annually, all to be devoted to evangelistic work. Our schools are doing Calls to well; they have prepared the way for the churches and a Advance strong native ministry. The four colleges — oneforboj^s and girls in Iquique, one for girls in Santiago, and one for boys and one for girls in Concepcion — are widely known and have had an immeasurable influence in softening the prej- udices of even the most de- voted Catholics. All except one of the colleges were self- supporting in 1904, paying all expenses except transit of teachers, with a handsome sur- plus to spare. The college properties, well situated and entirely free from debt, except the mortgage on the Santiago College for the benefit of the press, are in good condition. A strengthening of the teach- ing corps, and additional facilities for growth in the two Con- cepcion colleges, better church buildings, and an increase in the force of missionaries of two or three energetic evangelistic workers for special work in Santiago, Valparaiso, and Con- cepcion are the most pressing immediate needs.
.MAKIXG .AIKTHODIST PULPIT.S IX CHILE
THE CONTEST OF FALSE AND TRUE STANDARDS
Irreverence for sacred things is a marked characteristic of the people of this country, even of those whose devotion is unquestioned. Sacred names and terms are used in a way
27
that seems blasphe- mous to a visitor from the North. Supersti- tious regard Irreverence for the cross and makes it a
Superstition common ob- ject. On every liill or mountain top overlooking a village, to^Ti, or city the sacred emblem appears, that all " may be under the cross."
As to morals, one cannot truly describe the condition of the masses with- Low Morality out seeming and to deal in
the Lottery wholesale de- tract i o n . They are frightfully low, and the priests disgrace their holy call- ing by scandalous lives, and are patterns of vice more often than examples of purity. The lottery every- where flourishes, and is used by the church itself, as witness ad- vertisements to raise funds for pious pur- poses.
The forms of the church are observed,
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mass is celebrated, prayers are said, rites performed, particu- larly those of baptism and absolution, the confessional is maintained, and religion is duly honored by the state; the church pervades the state and the state pervades Form without the church, and the republics are nominally Chris- Substance tian; but though the people may honor God with their lips their hearts are far from him, and their lives do not correspond with their profession. I am referring now to the church as a whole. I would not sav there are not
FACULTIES Ol 1111 1 W () M 1 1 ll<)lil>-l ( Ol 1 I (.1 ^, ( t)\< I,l'( ION
exceptions, perhaps many, where the heart and life are en- gaged; but that the rule is as above stated one who sees, hears, and observes cannot long deny. Many lives seem not to be touched by the church at all, except at two points: the beginning and the end. Every infant must be baptized. At death, also, the aid of the church is requested. A man may have led an evil life, been a scoffer, and neglected all his religious duties: but when he comes to his last hour, the
29
priest is called in to hear his confession and to give him abs(>- lution. Thus a life may compass all that is evil, and the record be wiped out by the final act of a priest. As the church does not excommunicate except for denial of the faith or of its own authority, it is easy to see how men may feel free and even encouraged to follow the bent of their evil natures.
To.Mi! (IF i;ki;.\ai;i)o OHUa.lXS, saxti.m.u A Liberator of Chile
The Scriptures would show men the folly and danger of
such a course, but the church is not a friend to the free use of
the Scriptures. Comparatively few of the priests, it is said,
o\Mi a Bible. They know their missal and by it
Bible Kept from know something of the Word of God, but are ig-
the People norant of much scriptural history and teaching.
They do not wish members of their flock to
have the good Book or read it, and for instances where
it has been discovered in Catholic homes, confiscated, and
publicly burned one need not go far into the past. Colpor-
30
teiirs of the American Bible Society are persecuted at the instance of the priests, and in some cases driven out of cities and towns by the pubhc authorities. Everybody remembers how Penzotti was imprisoned in Callao eight months for the crime of selhng Bibles. The prison where he suffered was pointed out to me at the foot of the Calle Colon. Christian countries are these, or so they are called, and the church which dominates them calls itself Christian, and yet the Christian Bible is treated as something dangerous to the Christian faith and, therefore, to be denied to the faithful!
FHUXTIER CHAPEL NEAR VICTORIA
Despite the priests the Scriptures find their way through faithful colporteurs into many Catholic families, and are read, too, with much interest and rarely, it is believed, without some profit. Sometimes the purchaser (they are Colporteurs and never given away) reports to the priest, and is the Scriptures ordered to give up the book as an improper
one. Generally the latter is not informed. Whenever the book is sold it is accompanied with a testi- mony as to its value in making men and women better Chris- tians. Not a few have been led to a better life by it, and, forsaking the Roman Church, die without the presence of a
31
priest, believing in salvation by Christ only. Of this fact we may be fully convinced: there are no countries needing the pure gospel more sorely than these, and Protestantism, with its free Bible, must furnish it, or it will not be had at all.
MOUNT ACONCAGl A, AXiJES KAXGE
Highest summit (22,868 feet) in the western hemisphei'e
CONDITIONS IN THE PLATA COUNTRIES
The journey across the Andes from Santiago had little in it of peril or hardship, and the disagreeable features, if such there were, can with difficult}' be recalled, the}- were so com- pletely swallowed up l^y the continuous delights of the Over the ever-changing scenery, always beautiful, often wonder- Andes ful, and at times truly majestic. Leaving Santiago on Friday morning, we were in Mendoza, on the eastern side of the Andes, Saturday evening, a little after seven o'clock, having made the entire journey by rail, excepting about
32
twenty-nine miles, including the climb over the pass, some thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, which was accomplished in a coach. Tunnels are being bored through the mountains, and in a year or two the rail route will be complete, and express trains are expected to make the dis- tance between Valparaiso, on the Pacific, and Buenos Ayres, on the Atlantic — some nine hundred miles or more — in forty- four hours, so that the l^ishop at Buenos Ayres will be able to reach any of our churches in South Chile, except at Punta Arenas, in less than three days.
WITH SADDLEBAGS IX ARGENTINA
When you descend the eastern slope of the Andes you
descend to the broad pampas, or prairies, which stretch
from ]\Iendoza, at the foot of the great continental range, to
Buenos Ayres, on the Rio. Plata. It is not an inspiring
Pampas of landscape for the jaded traveler who has just come
Argentina down from the glories of the mountain tops, and if it
is hot and dry he will be sensible of little else than
the heat and dust. It is a journey of twenty-four hours on
trains as well appointed as those we are accustomed to in the
33
United States. The eye soon wearies of the vast unending stretches of level grass land, with here and there a clump of trees, partly hiding the home of tlie owner of an estancia, or ranch. This graceful fashion gives the landscape its most pleasing feature. Droves of fine, large cattle, sleek horses, and prosperous sheep roam over these un fenced pastures, and are greater sources of profit even than the wonderful crops of wheat which are raised. Argentina, the statistician tells us, is fifth in importance of the wlieat-exporting countries. On these farms much machinery is used, such as mowers,
TKACIIKK.S AXIJ .STUIJEXTS, THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, .MERCEDES, 1904
1. Dr. Samuel W. Siberts ; 2. Dr. Chaiies^W, Drees
reapers, and threshers, and this machinery is nearly all American, as it is found to be cheapest and best.
The train stops frequently, Ijut there are no large towns until you come to Mercedes, fifty or sixty miles from Suburban Buenos A^-res. As you approach the great city you Beauty miss the beautiful bunches of pampas grass, with
their yellow and white plumes bowing low in gra- cious acknowledgment to the passing train, but you see evi- dences of a higher cultivation, and that the American fashion
34
obtains of beautiful suburban homes, with smooth mown lawns, stately trees, and blooming shrubberies. Wealth is rapidly accumulating in Argentina, and Buenos Ayres is the center of it.
The greatest city of the southern continent, indeed of the
southern hemisphere, lies in a bend of the river as a child
lies in the bend of its mother's arms. It has, therefore, a
most remarkaljle stretch of river front. It is fan-shaped,
Buenos and has a fine opportunity to spread out toward the north
Ayres and east. It is not an old typical Spanisli town, with
narrow streets and adobe houses of a uniform appearance.
It is a foreign city, totally unlike the old Spanish town of
Cordoba, where foreign fashions have not yet intruded. It is
laid out with taste and skill and with an eye to beauty and
comfort. It has, of course, the Spanish plaza — that is a part
of its inheritance; but it has beautiful parks and broad,
shady avenues — these are a part of its acquirements. Sar-
miento was President of the republic some years ago. He had
represented his country at Washington for some years, and
while still Minister was elected President. He had been
intimate with and greatly admired Horace INIann, and he
tried to introduce some of his ideas into the public schools of
Buenos Ayres.
Buenos Ayres has about a million souls, and it is growing rapidly. It is all bustle and energy and enterprise. The young American from New York, Chicago, or Denver feels at home there. He never complains that it is slow. Growth and He likes the present and views the future with en- Enterprise thusiasm. He will tell yqu of the big buildings, including the finest press building in the world, the large banks, the fine stores, and the high-class hotels and restaurants as though he were glorying in the greatness of an American city. Counting heads, Argentinas are in the majority, but measuring influence — in creating, planning, pushing, and bringing to pass — they fall far short. Foreigners are the bankers, the importers and exporters, the manu- facturers, the managers of railroads and steamships and tram- ways, the heads of notable enterprises, the educators, the
36
farmers, the physicians, the architects, the builders, those to whom great trusts and responsibihties are confided.
Growing out of the old Spanish- American spirit, Buenos Ayres is growing into the modern progressive spirit of Eng- land, Germany, and the United States. It has Demands a broken with the old ideas of municipal, mercantile, New Reli- and industrial life and formed a new model for old,
gious Basis staid, and conservative South America. In religion and in morals, however, it is mediaeval. The Church of Rome is one and the same there as elsewhere,with a stand- ard too low morally for commercial, financial, and industrial interests.
LOADING ORANGES, VILLETA, PAKAGUAY
The people of the Plata countries are different from those
of the West Coast. You notice a difference in the garb of
the women. In Santiago, the most modern in spirit of the
Pacific coast cities, native women almost invariably
Sections wear the manto, the black headgear so characteristic
Compared of the Latin American, on the street, and especially
in the churches. In Buenos Ayres and in Montevideo
you will hardly see one, except on the servant class.
The people of the two coasts in one other thing are not unlike: they have deep-seated religious prejudices. Personal contact of missionary, preacher, and layman counts for much in countries like South America in preparing hearts, sealed by prejudice, for the reception of the gospel; and per-
sonal acquaintance also does much for the evangehst in showing him tender hearts and good impulses and even living consciences under exteriors which give no hint of them to strangers. Taking them in the mass, the ob- Personal server would be likely to conclude that these
Contact and people, so badh' schooled in religion, have no con- Conscience science. If this were so, how would you explain a case like this? A Frenchman, a maker of wine, be- came interested in our services and sought to pray for salva- tion. He said every time he kneeled down for this purpose he was somehow so hindered that his efforts were abortive. He could not formulate his petitions. Something kept saying to him, "What about 3'our wine; what about your wine?" This question was always dominant. It persisted so that he could not pray. He could not understand it. '' My wine is all right," he would reply. " It is good, pure wine; there is nothing the matter with it." But he could not pray and he could not get away from the question, '' What about your wine? " Finall}-, in desperation he seized an ax and knocking in the heads of his casks let the wine run away. The moment he had done so his tongue was loosened and he fell on his knees in the vault, and instantly his pra3^er was heard and he was happily con- verted. He had never doubted that it was entirely proper to make, sell, and drink wine. How did he come by so tender a conscience?
Our missions are well and widely planted in Argentina,
Uruguay, and Paraguay, and are conducted in four languages
— Spanish, English, German, and Italian. In Buenos Ayres
the masses are still Catholic by preference, the
Mission Work small minority Protestant. The Church of Eng-
on East Coast land, the Scottish Presbyterian, the Baptists, and
our o^^Ti church form the bulk of the Protestant
element. Our First Church, commonly called the American
Church, lias a fine property, valued at $125,000 (gold), in the
heart of the business section, and a splendid congregation.
Among its members are both Americans and Englishmen,
and it is a power for good. It is loyal to the Missionary
Society and to tlie cause of missions, remembering gratefully
38
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAI. CHURCH, BUEXOS AYRES
those early days when the Missionary Society sent John
Dempster, William Goodfellow, and generous funds to assist it.
The Second Church, occupying a fine commodious building
on our Junin property, is a strong and prosperous bod}^ of
Spanish-speaking people, and has on occasion the largest
Protestant congregation in the city. Our other four
Circle of churches are well distributed and are doing good work.
Churches Two of them occupy rented halls. These should have
property of their o^^^^, and one other should have a
better property. The Boca ^Mission, with its excellent day
school and Spanish and English congregations, is a popular
|
IHi^Mi»_-_. i.»i |
|
|
itnnnmn; ^^^^H |
^^ |
|
*■^^*-«^»* |
NICHOLAS LOWK IX.STITl'TIOX, MKRCKUES
forward movement in a crowded section where it is ac- complishing great good.
Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina, over two hundred miles from Buenos Ayres, where we have two con- gregations, Elnglish and Spanish, and two properties; Men- doza, in the far west of the republic, where our Other Argen- pastor preaches in English, Spanish, and German; tinian Cities Mercedes, the seat of the Nicholas Lowe Institution ;
and lia Plata, close to Buenos Ayres, and Cordoba, in the north, and Bahia Blanca, in the south, are the chief or strategic points of our Mission.
The heart of Argentina is Buenos Ayres. There we should
40
plant Methodism more widely and strongly. Fifteen or twenty congregations at the very least should be our im- mediate aim, if we mean to take the city, this great, growing, prosperous, cosmopolitan city; and if we do not Aim for Stra- mean to take it why are we there, with better- tegic Center, opportunities than any other denomination ? Montevideo Bishop Xeely has planned the removal of the
theological school from Mercedes to Buenos Ayres, and for some provision for a moderate course of theological training at points on the West Coast.
What Buenos Ayres is to Argentina, Montevideo is to Uruguay — the heart and soul. It is a beautiful city of 215,000 population, built partly on sea and partly on river. Uruguayans are a restless people politically, not content to
JJte.-Iwi
__ lUtlHIUUH
HAY ASi) t'lTV UF .MUM'K \ U)K()
University building in tlie foreground
allow many administrations to serve out their term of office. In the last seventy years they have started forty- three revolutions, losing, as will be observed, some op- portunities. Like Argentina, this Oriental Republic, as it calls itself, has learned the lesson of tolerance, and the laws give protection even to Protestant churches and worshipers. In the capital we have English and Spanish congrega- Central tions. Our old property, now surrounded by dens of Church vice, might have served the purpose of both bodies of worshipers for years to come but for the bad character of the neighborhood. The new location is admirable, on the top of a hill, overshadowing a large Jesuit church and mon- astery and being as near the proposed new Congressional
41
building as the library building is in Washington to the Capitol. The Spanish brethren wanted an impressive build- ing, and they have it. The great brick structure towers high above surrounding objects. It is a noble building, and puts Methodism, as it were, on a public pinnacle in Montevideo. Those who would see the notable buildings of the city must not neglect the Central Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Conference met in the basement, the American seats and the electric lights having been put in the night before, and Wednesday evening the opening was celebrated, an enthusias- tic, cheering audience of at least 800 being present. Basement After speeches by Bishop Neely and Dr. J. F. Thomson, Opened a collection was taken to meet Bishop McCabe's
generous proposition to provide the last $2,000 of the debt, and $650 was contributed.
Our educational work in South America Conference is un- questionably helpful in breaking down the prejudice of Cath- olic parents and in training boys and girls for high usefulness. The moral and spiritual education imparted is of Educational inestimable value, whether the graduate continues Work in connection with the Church of Rome or becomes
a member of our church. The policy of Catholicism, which is in some things very wise, is to get control and keep control of the children. Boys and girls who pass through our schools invariably become better Christians even if not better Catholics, as the priest understands the term. Our day schools in Buenos A5Tes, Bahia Blarica, and other centers, our Nicholas Lowe Institution in Mercedes, the women's schools in Buenos Ayres under Miss Le Huray, and in Rosario under Miss Swaney, and our North American Academy in Monte- video under Miss Long, and the girls' school in the same city under Miss Hewitt, are wellsprings of wholesome influence in a thirsty land. They have my most hearty indorsement. The extension of their beneficent work is the extension of the gospel. The gospel is taught in these institutions, and it is lived, and the Bible is read and explained, and scholars come to respect it as the Word of God.
Our North American Academy for boys has had a wonder-
42
ful success. When Miss Long took it up in 1900 it was scarcely more than a name. She began with nine boys and nothing of much value in the way of furniture and Academy books. Rent was paid from the appropriation. All for Boys the rest this remarkable woman has got somehow from the school itself. In 1903-04 she had eighty-six pupils; in 1904-05 she opened with one hundred. The academy now occupies three adjoining buildings, for which $1,320 (gold) is paid in rent. Another year she would need another building. Meantime a splendid property well situated and in every way suited to the scliool's needs has been offered, and she has taken the responsil)ility of securing it. It cost originally $40,000 (gold). She gets it for $12,000, and so good a bargain is it regarded that a bank offered to loan her the full pur- chase price and as much more as might be necessary to adapt it to the use of the academy. Miss Long spent some time in the United States on furlough, during the earlier part of 1905, and raised a part of the amount needed to secure this most desirable property, and she should be relieved of the burden of carrying any of it at the high rate of interest that obtains in South America. It would be difficult to estimate the power of fruitful influence which promises to go forth from this school, and gifts for its buildings will mean much for the future of a whole nation.
Whatever Catholics maj^ think of our church in Uruguay,
they have a high admiration for this school and Miss Hewitt's
school, not simply because of the mental training they give
the boys and girls, but because of the moral influence
Winning they exert. Catholic parents recently came to see Miss
Approval Long about sending their boy. They said, " Is this a
Protestant school?" She answered, "Yes." "Well, we
can't have our boy taught heresies." Miss Long explained
that the teachin was based entirely on the Scriptures. The
great aim was to induce the boys to avoid sins of lying,
swearing, and the vices and to teach them to live clean, moral
lives. She added, " Consult parents who have had boys here
a year or two, and see what they have to say," They did so,
and a day or two later came bringing their boy. An Italian
The Conference territory consists of the four republics, Argentina, Uruguayj Para- guay, and Brazil, and our work is chiefly developed in the two first named.
physician living outside of Montevideo came with his wife and boy. He said: "I don't want my boy to go to the Catholic Church and I don't want him trained in that faitli. My wife is a Catholic, but I am not. I am not anything; but I would like my boy to go to the Protestant Church. When I lived here years ago there was a Protestant minister named Wood. I want my boy to go to the church in which he preached." Miss Long informed him that the Central Methodist Church, in which Dr. Wood preached, was the church which theboysof the school attended, and the father and mother went away content. Miss Long has a temperance organization among the boys, with pledges of abstinence from all intoxicants, including wine and cider, -for one month, for six months, for a year, and for life; also a pledge to abstain from tobacco. Temperance Many boys take the pledge for a short period, then Training renew it and graduate into the ranks of the total
abstainers for life. Many of the larger boys are in this class. At the monthly meeting of the temperance organization the question is asked, "Who has violated his pledge?" and the boy who has done so is expected to rise. One boy rose at the meeting which I attended. Miss Long afterward told me the history of the case. The boy came to her that morning crying, and said to Miss Long, " I have broken my pledge." Asked how he came to do so, he said: " Last night we were invited out to dinner. They had straw- berries. I am very fond of strawberries, and ate two before I discovered that they had wine on them. I am very sorry, Miss Long. I didn't eat any more. I wouldn's have eaten any if I had kno%vn there was wine on them."
The little fellows are being trained to be clean and manly. Is there any better busness than
"the savin' of a little child And bringin' him to his own"?
A PARTING GLIMPSE AT BRAZIL
Our work in southern Brazil was turned over to the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, a few years ago, and we have only one Portuguese mission, that at Para, on the Amazon,
4G
S 3
^ ;-
where brave Brother Justus H. Nelson labors faithfully on,
refusing to abandon his post. Four days were spent in Rio
Janeiro, the capital of the immense republic which
Brazil and embraces so much of the area of the southern
its Capital continent. If there is a more beautiful harbor than
that of Rio Janeiro I have not seen it. Built on
almost as many hills as Rome, the city itself lies in the embrace
MONt'MEXT OF GEXEHAL GUKJAO, PALACE SQUARE, PARA, BRAZIL
of mountains made glorious by rich tropical verdure. Its long arcades of majestic royal palms are worth a journey of thou- sands of miles to see. But the Brazilian capital, rich beyond comparison with its natural glories, is a Portuguese city, second in population among the cities of South America.
48
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