H. K. Carroll
i
A
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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Viewing the ^^0//
Mission of the Methodist Episcopal
Church
v^ By
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
OF lu
^?6 1915
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
6
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C. H.MORGAN
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
11
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. ■ 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,
14
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
16
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-
17
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."
18
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-
19
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
20
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,
21
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
22
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,
23
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
24
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
26
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,
\<^
s ' ;
\ La Paz
•v.^
I
I
\
ol\cju,tqLte
»^rv
LJ
loAnt^'ofagasta
-Z'
^S&frena.
)oC/ocjuimbo
oQiuillota
DV/'alparaiso
o I '
Sjantlago
jConcepcion
ooLIos Angeles
j°o/Collipalll
I
I
I
\
<
Sunta /Arenas
if\(T/errcL c/e/
ANDES CONFERENCE
28
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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