Google
This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at |http: //books .google .com/I
£/5Si3?-^,(5^
l^arbaTb College %,itirars
FROM THE FUND
PROFESSORSHIP OF
LATIN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND
ECONOMICS
Established 1913
W
OLD SPAIN
NEW AMERICA
I
MCLEAN -WILLIAMS
O
OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
fe\>
Interdenominational
Home Mission Study Course
Each volume i2mo, cloth, 50c net (post extra) ; paper,
30c. net (post extra)
Under Our Flag. By Alice M. Guernsey.
The Call of the Waters. By Katharine R. Crowell.
From Darkless to Light. By Mary Helm.
Conservation of National Ideals. A Symposium.
MoRMONiSM, THE ISLAH OF AiCERiCA. By Bruce Kinney,
D.D.
The New America. By Mary Gark Barnes and Dr.
L. C Barnes.
America, God's Melting-Pot. By Laura Gerould Craig.
Paper, net 25c. (post extra).
In Red Man's Land. A Study of the American Indian.
By Francis K Leupp.
Home Missions in Action. By Edith H. Allen.
Old Spain in New America. By Robert McLean, D.D.
and Grace Petrie Williams.
JUNIOR COURSE
Cloth, net 40c. (post, extra); paper, net 350. (poet, extra).
Best Things in America. By Katiiarine R. CrowelL
Some Immigrant Neighbors. By John R. Henry, D.D.
Comrades ntOM Other Lands. By Leila Allen Dimock.
Goodbird the Indian. By Gilbert L. Wilson.
All Along the Trail. By Sarah Gertrude Pomeroy.
Children of the Lighthouse. By Charles L. White.
OLD SPAIN
IN NEW AMERICA
BY
ROBERT MCLEAN
Superittteudent of Mexican Work in South Wat Home MissUn
Board Presbyterian Church, U, S, A.
AND
GRACE PETRIE WILLIAMS
Illustrated
Issued by the
COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
124 East 28th Street, New York
HARVARD C0LLE6E LIBRARY
LATIN-AWERICAN J
PROFESSORSHIP fUNO
W>viu /^.^ |C| 23
COFYWCHt, I9x6b BY
J* F. McTyxbx
L-l
%^
FOREWORB
There seemed to the General Committee of Twenty-
eight, to which is committed the choice of topics for the
text books for mission study, one outstandingly ap-
propriate subject for 1916 — "The Two Americas/'
The national pride in the physical achievement of a
completed Panama Canal has crystallized into appre-
ciation of the new problems and greater responsibilities
coming to the United States with the easier access to
the West Coast of South America, and with the draw-
ing together of all the peoples of the two continents.
iThe continued disturbances in Mexico have aroused
more earnest inquiry into the conditions that exist in
that unfortunate country, and the reiterated demands
for intervention by this government have emphasized
its nearness to us.
The Expositions of San Francisco and San Diego
have acquainted the people of the North with the ad-
vance made by the countries of the Southern Continent :
tibe Pan-American Scientific Congress held in Washing-
ton, D. C, in January, 1916, and the Congress on Chris-
tian Work in Latin America held at Panama, February,
1916, have Concentrated attention on the Spanish
speaking peoples of the two continents and the adjacent
islands.
With such introductions what more logical dian that
yi FOREWORD
the churches should this year study their relation to
the Latin-American peoples who are without a knowl-
edge of the Christ?
The Home Mission text book of necessity confines
itself to a study of those groups which live under the
Stars and Stripes, Le,, the Mexicans living in the
United States, and the Spanish speaking peoples of
Porto Rico and Cuba. The latter group, being imder
the protection of this country, has been accepted as
'Home Mission territory by most of the denominations
and is, therefore, included here.
Believing that the Christian Church must be mightily
aroused as to its responsibility for the Spanish speak-
ing peoples of the continents, so that spiritual growth
may keep pace with material development, the Council
of Women for Home Missions, representing the
Women's Home Mission Boards of sixteen denomina-
tions, prayerfully sends forth this little book, trusting
that through its agency there may be awakened a more
responsive interest in those peoples who represent
" Old Spain ** in " New America."
PuBUCATioN Committee.
Acknowledgment is made to Mr. R. C. Tillinghast, The
Congregational Education Society, The Woman's Board of
Home Missions of the Presbjrterian Church, and The Ameri-
can Missionary Society, for the pictures used as illustrations
in this book.
/
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
FAGS
SPAIN IN AMERICA ^ . . ., . 3
Period of Exploration and Conquest
Aim of Early Explorers 4
Discovery of America 5
Search for the Fountain of Youth ...... 6
Conquest of Mexico 7
Discovery of the Mississippi River . ^- .' r.' r. . 8
Revolt of the Pueblos * ., i., •. . 9
Capture of Acoma .^ ... 12
Settlement of Florida by Menendez 13
Results of Spanish Conquest
Population 14
Mixture of Races 15
Education in Latin America • .^ .. . . • • ., 16
Indian Opposition ............ 17
Why Spanish Efforts in the New World Failed
Advantages of Spain 18
Reasons for Spanish Failure 19
Words of a Spanish Statesman 20
Comparison of Spanish and English Colonization . .21
Advantages of Saxon Colonization 22
Other Elements Contributed to Strengthen America . 23
The Nineteenth Centxjry
CHAPTER II
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 29
Missionary Work of the Spaniards
Religious Motive 29
Attitude of Natives ,..•,... 30
vu
vm CONTENTS
^ PACK
Destructive Policy of Qergy • •> • m » i.: m • 32
Consecrated Missionaries . • m :•: m n w m »• 34
Second Capture of Acoma ,.< >•• li^ :•> m m w t* m S5
The Inquisition . • , : m f^t m m m w. » m 3l^
Religion of Mexicans • • «. •. m m m w m ^; 37
The Old Missions .• m m w a .•. 37
BBStKKINGS OF FrOTESTANT MISSIONS
Early Missionaries . . . •. . •, m k: » » • 38
Mexican People •: m .1 • :•: w » 41
Hindrances to Missionary Efforts • .< «<;«••»:• .42
Power of God's Word .< •' • m m m m w m • 43
THB PSMTIBmES
A Land of Ckossss
CHAPTER HI
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST . .: -. :. « •:" . 51
Conditions with Which Missionaxies Contend
Superstition and Belief in Witches . m •> >i m m 54
Power of Priest • • », ^ • m m e- r« » w :• 55
C^UStOmS :• • •■■ »•! «' • i*i m w Mi M IM • i*: 5^
The Saloon •. • •. •. ^, .*, mi .«. a m a m a «. 60
Work of the Churches
Evangelistic • .• •.•.»•.« mi » m m m m m m 61
Educational ••••••. ^i m » w m :« ;• a 63
Medical •,•••.•• •. • m w m « m • 68
wOCial • •; • • • • • • M .•) H w •: W !•• 7^
Results of Missionary Work
In xxonies • • • • • • ■»• ^ m m :•• m m f. yi
Testimony of Roman Catholics m m m m w m m 7X
Pupils Seat Out • . • » >•• m m m » m m m 72
Desire to Help Others «. »MMMKWMiM« 73
Otnt Missionary Teachers
Is THE Work Worth While?
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER IVI
FAGE
CUBA PARA CRISTO . . • .i « « m w m » ». 79
Thbeb Qjmpses of Cuban Hisiokt
Days of Splendor • ^ • •. m m w m m w m i*. 79
,len xcsirs War • •: • •, •] m m m w w m .*. oi
Cuba Libre •••••.•. :*i m >: m m m .« •. S2
Cuba of To-day
Geography and Qimate ...:.: m m w •: • • 84
Who Are the Cubans of To-day? . • .. >, ,.-. • 1. 85
Cuban Character • . • . ..! . , . f: . . w . S6
Intemal Improvements Begun by United States ., • 88
Education in Cuba • .«, m i* 1.1 ..i m m ,•! m l*. 89
Religious Wobk in Cuba
Intolerance of Spain .i :• » » ;•: m m ;• m .•. • 90
Evangelistic Work ., ^.i .•; o :•) m ^.i m ,.. ... . 92
Educational Work .^ ;•, . ;•; :.: ;•. m ,.-. .», c. . 94
Cuba para Cristo .... 1*1 .•: i«i •) x w •. • 96
Cubans in the United States
CHAPTER V
OUR NEW POSSESSION .. .. ^, .., ..: ^ « ^. ^ •. loi
Under the Power of Spain
Discovexy and Colonization • m » m :•-. •; • •. • loi
Ponce de Leon • . • .i <•, »■ •: m >i w -••. • • 103
Diego Columbus • '.i ■•■, w m i*' ;«i m w • •• I* 103
Coming of the Negroes *. m m !«r m w • m • • 104
jDetter l/ays • • •. • .•; m m w ^ m .•{ i*] •, • 104
Freedom of the Slaves ... » » » » ^ ..i » •: . 104
Spanish Misrule •. m .». »: w i*-. »: • • • • . 105
Our New Possession
Government • • •. m m w m » .* i*.- •: • • 105
Physical Conditions • • « •: • •. .i .. . . . 107
Sanitation and Health • ., ;.i m » • >• •^ . • 108
X CONTENTS
PAGE
Development of Education in Porto Rioo
Educational Conditions Under Spanish Occupation . no
Growth of Schools Under United States • . • .no
Religious and Moral Condition of the Foscto Ricans
Under Spanish Domination • .. • • ■• • • . ' • 112
Protestant Entrance . . .. ••••••.. 114
Church Comity 114
Missionary Work 115
Encouragements • 116
Effect on the Catholic Church . .. • ..r •, .. • .116
Social Service
Religious Settlements • •, :• • m m r. '..- • •118
Orphanages 120
Medical Work . .. • 120
The Symbol of Liberty
CHAPTER VI
A NEW ERA 127
Missionary Work Among Spanish Speaking Peoples
Evangelistic Results ....... ... ....•;. 127
Educational Results .. •.•..!•.. . 128
Medical and Social Work . • ... . .,...,. 128
General Results
Awakened Peoples •••••.. 130
A Christian Sabbath .••.....•••>. 131
Comity . . . . . . . ......... ^ ... 132
Larger Aims for the Future
Better Understanding of Spanish-Americans • •. . 133
Better Knowledge of Spanish 134
Better Knowledge of Mexicans in United States . • 135
Leaders of Their Own People 136
Educational Work • • . 138
More Work for the Homes 138
Extension of Medical Work ...... . • .. . 139
Opportunity God's Call to Action
Call to Cuba and Porto Rico Answered 140
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
Home Missions Our Defense 141
A Lost Opportunity 141
What Can We Do? 142
The Bearing on Home Missions 143
The Church's Problem ... 145
APPENDIX 149
Concerning the Great Southwest 149
Population .......•: 149
Cuban Facts 150
Porto Rican Figures 152
Protestant Missions to Spanish Americans . . • .153
Cuba 153
Porto Rico 154
In the Southwest iS5
BIBLIOGRAPHY 160
ILLUSTRATIONS
Mission of San Xavier dsx. Bac . . m m Frontispiece
PAGE
Map of Spanish Possessions at .Time of Louisiana Pus-
CHASE • • •:•■.• '«£ I* i«i M • i« I*: •* • • 20
The Penitentes «, k •. m m m m ;• m M :• .« m 44
Southwestern De^rt • :« m k m ;r :« m :« •: o 50
Santiago de Cuba .. • v w m « m m m ■ • ri m 66
Typical Porto Rican Mountain Home «»«»»• 114
PuBuc School at Arecibo • .1 « m i« m 1 :• • .114
Modern Mission School in the Southwest m » « m 130
Day Nursery in Porto Rioo • .« :., i^ ^ m « » m i*. 130
i2
PREFACE
The marked difference between Saxon and Latin
America cannot be due wholly to climate or to race.
There must be contributing causes that have removed
the stimulus from the people of Latin America ; there
must have been a fundamental lack in their system that
would account for their lack of progress. As the re-
ligious faith of a nation largely determines its progress
and its destiny, it seems legitimate to ask whether the
form of Christianity introduced long ago has not
proved itself inadequate to create a civilization that
would develop the best qualities of those who ac-
cepted it.
Great honor is due those early missionaries of the
Roman Catholic Church, who came with the explorers
and adventurers, and who alone mitigated to the In-
dians the severities of the conquerors. They planted
many missions but they committed the fatal error of
adapting Christian worship to the beliefs and practices
of pagan tribes. Instead of Christianizing paganism,
they allowed their Christianity to become paganized.
In the place of patiently teaching right thinking and
right living to the Indians, the more expeditious
method was adopted of having the converts conform
mechanically to a system differing but slightly from
that they had always practiced. The Roman Catholic
xiu
xiv PREFACE
Church did so many wonderful things in the two
Americas that it is impossible not to grieve that there
should not have been that deeper knowledge of truth
that would have laid in this hemisphere the foundation
of a spiritual and vital religion.
The Protestant founders of this nation brought with
them high ideals and a true knowledge of spiritual
things ; the nation they founded has often failed at the
testing times, but those ideals have ever been before it
and toward them it has striven. The churches thus es-
tablished have sought the highest development of the
individual, they have demanded that his personal ac-
ceptance of Christian truths and his transformed life
shall conform; they have sought a regenerated social
conscience and works that should show to a doubting
world the truth of their professions.
The mission of the Protestant Church is not to de-
stroy the Roman Catholic Church, but to bring it into
cooperation with all Christian forces on the one foun-
dation Christ Jesus, and for the one work, to make Him
known as King and Lord. Recognizing the splendid
men and women of that communion, we are yet face to
face with the fact that its system, left to itself, is one
that breeds paralysis.
The Spanish- American peoples oflFer wonderful pos-
sibilities to those communions that are ready to meet
them with vital, transforming truths ; there must be a
close union of all the forces that are Christian to carry
to a successful conclusion one of the greatest tasks of i
the Church.
SPAIN IN AMERICA
I
''My men grow mutinous day by day,
My men grow ghastly wan and weak.**
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy chedc
^What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?''
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
'Sail on! sail on I sail on, and on!'''
JOAQUIK MnxBL
"And while he held above his head the conquering flag Of
Spain,
He waved his glancing sword and smote the waters of the
main;
For Rome! For Leon! For Castile! thrice gave the cleav-
ing blow,
And thus Balboa claimed the sea four hundred years ago."
:T. B. Read.
S:
OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
SPAIN IN AMERICA
The early maps of the United States showed west of
the Missouri River a vast stretch of country extending
to and beyond the Rockies marked " The Great Amer-
ican Desert." The steady progress of civilization has
redeemed that desert and it is now the great granary of
the North American continent. The utilization of the
streams, the opening of the fountains held in reserve
by the bountiful Creator, and the planting of forests
to conserve the rainfall, have made the " desert" the
happy dwelling place of throngs of prosperous people.
Millions of acres of the public domain are still unre-
deemed, and await the action of the government in
developing their resources to make them the fit habita-
tion of the millions who will yet come to our shores.
Scattered throughout this great region are the mis-
sions of the Protestant Church to the Mexicans, one of
our great Spanish speaking peoples. To understand
the Mexican of the United States as he now presents
himself, we must know the elements of which he is com-
posed. We cannot, in our discussion of the Mexican
missionary problem in the United States, separate it
3
4 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AM^IRICA
from the problem in old Mexico. The problem was
created while yet our whole Southwest was under the
Mexican flag, or, farther back, under that of Spain.
The Spanish population within the boundaries of the
United States is the product of Spanish activity in ex-
ploration and colonization in the sixteenth century, and
the character and condition of the people must be inter-
preted in the light of the character, teachings, and con-
ditions of that age.
Old Spain has left her impress upon the whole
Southwest. Spanish names cling to villages and
towns ; the language and religion of Spain are to a great
extent the language and religion of today; the results
of her persecution and oppression are everywhere
visible. It is the Spain of Philip the Second, the Spain
that has not been touched to any degree by the spirit
of modem progress, the Spain that is not in harmony
with American ideals or American ideas of intellectual
or spiritual growth. The churches of America have
no greater task than the transformation by the teach-
ings of the Gospel of this bit of Old Spain into a re-
gion that shall possess the highest ideals of the New
America.
Period of Exploration and Conquest
Aim of the Early Explorers. The fifteenth century
was distinguished as a period of great physical activity
among men. There were voyages, discoveries, and ex-
plorations; there were many new inventions, chief
among them the mariner's compass. Two trade routes
between Europe and the East had been used for cen-
SPAIN IN AMERICA 5
turies, but the capture of Constantinople by the Turks
in 1453 closed the northern route while the southern
was practically under the control of Venice. The other
powers hoped to find a new way to the Indies, and
Portuguese navigators, by following the coast of
Africa, finally reached their goal. The new theory
advanced that the earth was round led others to be-
lieve they would achieve success by sailing westward.
The Discovery of America. Columbus was the first
to try to prove that such a route was possible. The
story of his attempt to equip an expedition, of the
courage of the leader, and of the despair of the sailors
is familiar to all. Columbus did not realize his desire ;
but he opened to the world a new continent. The great
navigator was received with the highest honors by the
Spanish when he returned from his first voyage with
trophies of conquest, and men were eager to embark
with him on succeeding voyages. As the Pope, whose
authority was recognized by most rulers, had granted
Portugal the land she had discovered along the African
coast, Spain asked that the countries in the west be
guaranteed to her. The Pope was desirous of peace,
and decided that Spain should hold all the lands west of
a line three hundred and seventy leagues west of the
Cape Verde Islands that were not already claimed by
some Christian power, while Portugal was to have
possession of the eastern regions. Many men accom-
panied Columbus on his second and third voyages and
colonies were established in the islands discovered by
him, but there was great disappointment in Spain be-
cause the riches they had expected were not found.
6 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
His popularity, later declined and he becaihe an object
of derision; by the common people he was called the
"Admiral of Mosquito Land," and broken-hearted,
practically disgraced, he died in poverty.
The Search for the Fountain of Youth, Ponce de
Leon was one of the many whose desire for wealth and
adventure led them to the New World. He was gov-
ernor of Porto Rico, but, losing the favor of the King,
was removed from his oflSce. The desire for gold had
not been satisfied and a still greater desire possessed
him. De Leon had heard strange stories of the land
where there was a Foimtain of Immortality. It seemed
to him well worth while to seek out this fountain, to
bathe therein, and then live to enjoy the wealth and
power he felt sure would be in the new land. The
King of Spain gave his consent to the undertaking, ap-
pointing de Leon governor for life of the country he
planned to discover. An expedition was fitted out at
great expense. The men sailed from island to island
searching for the fountain and for gold, and on Easter
Sunday, 15 13, called by the Spaniards "Pascua de
Flores," the coast of Florida was sighted. Three days
later the men landed, and because of the day when it
was first seen, and the profusion of beautiful flowers
and foliage, de Leon named the land Florida. The
search for the Fountain of Immortality was continued
unsuccessfully and de Leon, bitterly disappointed, re-
turned to Porto Rico. A few years later he went back
to his province of Florida only to receive a mortal
wound from the arrow of one of the Indians who op-
posed his landing. His entire wealth was lost in this
SPAIN IN AMERICA 7
last expedition and sick, old, and impoverished, he re-
turned to Cuba to die.
The Conquest of Mexico. Spanish history of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries records stories of
adventure and romance that seem almost incredible to
people of the twentieth century, but it tells no more
desperate nor exciting tale than that of the expedition
of Cortez against Mexico in 15 19. When this Spanish
youth first came to the New World he attracted the
attention of the secretary of the governor of Cuba who
told him that the governor would doubtless settle a good
estate upon him. The confident boy answered, " But I
came to get gold, not to till the soil like a peasant.*'
Rumors had reached Cuba of the cities and people who
lived just west of them, whose empire contained all the
gold, silver, and jewels the Spaniards had been seeking.
Cortez was chosen to lead an expedition against the
land, and prepared for the voyage with tireless energy,
only to find as the time to embark drew near that the
jealous governor had decided to take the appointment
from him. Cortez hastened his preparations and
slipped away in the night.
He spent some months sailing westward along the
coast of the mainland, and then with eleven ships landed
on the southern shore. Cortez was fearless, a leader
who admitted no possibility of defeat. To make sure
that there should be no temptation to withdraw from
the attempt, all but the best one of the ships were
beached and burned at the place of landing, which
was named Vera Cruz. The inhabitants of the coun-
try were greatly alarmed at the approach of strangers.
8 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and their ruler, Montezuma, sent presents to the in-
vaders with the request that they turn back. Cortez
moved steadily forward. His guns and horses, which
were seen then for the first time by the Aztecs, terri-
fied them and they were ready to believe Cortez the
war god of their legends. With remarkable tact
he was soon in control of the country, Montezuma
trusting him absolutely. Unfortunately Cortez had to
return to Vera Cruz for a time, and his substitute was
so cruel that the people rose against the Spanish. Cor-
tez, on his return, persuaded Montezuma to try to
pacify his subjects. They were stilled for a few
months but later broke out more fiercely than before
against the white men, Montezuma himself being
killed in this uprising. Cortez immediately made the
attempt to lead his men out of the capital, Tenochtitlan,
under cover of the darkness, but did not escape the
Aztecs who attacked from all sides.
The bloody struggle of that night has few parallels
in history. It has been called ever since Noche Triste,
the " doleful night.'* Although his forces had been
fearfully reduced, Cortez did not despair, but by a most
daring attack within a few days regained control of the
city, adding new territory to the empire of Spain.
Discovery of the Mississippi River, One of the ad-
venturers of the day who had joined an expedition to
Peru w^sHwTiandb^deSo^ When he started on his
jouitieyhewasalmostpSi]^ but he returned a man
of great wealth. With others, de Soto begged royal
permission to attempt again the colonization of Florida.
for he believed that the gold and silver that were in
SPAIN IN AMERICA 9
other parts of the New World must be found in Florida
as well. Having obtained the consent of the King, he
prepared a fleet of nine vessels, carrying almost a
thousand men, as well as horses, swine, and blood-
hounds. Men of birth were eager to share the adven-
tures of this well known leader. Troops were landed
at Tampa Bay and the ships went to Havana for pro-
visions. Like most of the Spaniards, de Soto treated
the Indians cruelly and was hated by them in return.
His forces moved farther and farther westward in
their useless search for gold, finding instead " fighting,
fever, and famine.'* Some adventurers had reached
the mouth of the Mississippi ; de Soto was the first to
explore the river above thejentrance to the Gulf. His
party crosseH^iTandrwahderedmaiiy miKs beyond, only
to return disappointed to its banks. The leader, dis-
couraged by misfortunes, died and was buried in the
great river he had discovered. The few survivors of
the expedition sailed down the Mississippi and found
protection among Spanish settlers in Mexico.
Revolt of the Pueblos. Some of these adventurers,
who had been unsuccessful in their journeyings, excited
the Spaniards in Mexico with tales of the '* seven
cities of Cibola" that were filled with treasures of
gold. A priest first went north and found the cities,
now believed to have been the villages of the Zuni
Indians in the present New Mexico. On his return the
Spaniards, always indefatigable in their pursuit of
treasure, planned an advance on the country under
Coronado. It would be interesting to follow the in-
trepid Spanish explorers through the region now form-
lo OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
ing the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Cali-
fornia, but neither space nor the purpose of this
volume will permit. The history of exploration has
hardly a parallel to the courage and tenacity of pur-
pose that characterized this invading army. Tourists
today speak of the hardships and discomforts of a
summer trip across the desert in a Pullman, but these
men cheerfully explored those desert places, carrying
provisions and water, suffering hunger and thirst,
heat and cold without impairment of discipline or
abatement of courage. The motives were mixed : the
adventurers were lured by lust for gold, the patriots
were animated by the desire to add to the glory of the
Church and Crown, the priests by the desire to con-
vert the natives to the faith of the Church.
Everywhere the Indians received them kindly, but
the Spaniards in most cases grossly abused the hospi-
tality. A few examples will suffice to reveal the causes
that finally led to the revolt of the Pueblos and a most
desperate attempt on their part to rid their land of the
invaders.
Coronado^sjBxpedition into what is now New Mexico
took place in 1540, and, coming to their villages at the
beginning of winter, he not only quartered his soldiers
upon the natives and consumed their winter's supplies,
but demanded of them one hundred pieces of cotton for
his men. Without giving them time either to weave the
goods or to collect them from others, he sent out collec-
tors with a company of soldiers and stripped the In-
dians of the clothing they were wearing.
In one of the villages the camp-master. Lope de
/
1
SPAIN IN AMERICA ii
Samaniego, was killed by an Indian arrow, and his
death was avenged by hanging every Indian belonging
to the place.
An officer insulted the wife of a prominent Indian,
but Coronado gave no heed to the complaint of the hus-
band. At length the Indians resolved to protect them-
selves, so, barricading their pueblos,^ they made war
upon the Spaniards. The battle that followed was a
desperate one, but finally superior arms and discipline
prevailed, and the Indians, worn by the long de-
fense and smoked out of their houses, came out and
called for quarter. Two of the Spanish officers re-
sponded by crossing their arms, the Indian sign of
inviolable friendship. On seeing this, the Indians
threw down their arms and surrendered. Who was to
blame for the infamous treachery that followed is not
clear, but Coronado's orders were that none should be
spared. He directed that two hundred stakes be driven
into the ground and that the Indians be burned alive.
,The historian says that no protest was made by the two
officers who had pledged their sacred honor for the
safety of the captives.
The ** seven cities of Cibola " were never found, al-
though Coronado advanced as far north as Kansas.
When de Soto and his followers were in their most
desperate straits, Coronado and his men without doubt
were but a short distance from them. Had the leader
pushed a little farther east, "he might have shaken
1 The Pueblo Indians were named from their peculiar style
of communal dwelling, built from two to five stories high
around a courts and easily defended.
12 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
hands with de Soto and with him wept tears of disap-
pointment " over their accumulation of misfortunes.
The Capture of Acoma. On a lofty, perpendicular
rock, having on the summit an area of about seventy
acres of arable land, was located the " Sky City " of
Acoma which may to-day be reached by driving from
Lag^na. A half century after the expedition of Cor-
onado and the revolt of the Indians, Don Juan Ofiate
visited New Mexico to make another attempt to estab-
lish Spanish authority. Pueblo after pueblo submitted,
offering no resistance. On October 27, 1598, he camped
at the foot of the cliffs on which Acoma was built.
The chief men came down and invited Ofiate and his
followers to visit them. They finally consented, and
barely escaped annihilation at the hands of the In-
dians. The refusal of Ofiate to enter the Estufa, or
underground Council House, was all that saved them.
The Indians had concealed a band of armed warriors
in the darkness, prepared to avenge the sufferings of
their countrymen in the other pueblos.
In November of the same year the ** Sky City *' was
again visited by another Spanish force under Juan de
Zaldivar, and when they were scattered about the vil-
lage the Indians suddenly attacked from all sides; of
the whole band four only escaped by a daring leap f rom
the cliff, fortunately striking upon great sand heaps
below.
In January of the following year a brother of Zaldi-
var made an attack upon Acoma and after a most
bloody battle succeeded in capturing the place, but only
after nearly all the defenders were killed. Acoma was
SPAIN IN AMERICA: Eij
later repeopled by the Indians, but they never were
friendly to their Spanish conquerors.
The Settlement of Florida by Menendes. After
several attempts at colonization in Florida the Span-
iards appear to have abandoned the effort. In 1564
Admiral Coligny, the great French commander, planned
to place there a colony of French Huguenots. The site
selected was the mouth of the St. John's River.
Here the colonists built a fort and began the explora-
tion of the interior of the country. Lawless and dis-
contented adventurers greatly hampered the better class
in their efforts to develop their holdings, and it was
only when in August, 1565, Jean Ribaut came with
several hundred new colonists, among them many
artisans, that the attempt at colonization appeared to
offer prospects of permanency.
Unfortunately for the future of that land, the Span-
iards decided to make a nother attempt to colonize
Florida. News of the French expedition reached Spain
while Pedro Menendez de Aviles was preparing to sail
with his force of 2,500 men. He landed in Florida in
September of that same year, and took formal posses-
sion in the name of the crown of Spain. A surprise
night attack gave them possession of the French fort ;
the scattered French were defeated and captured in
detaiL In response to their offer of surrender if their
lives would be spared, Menendez writes : " I answered
that they might give up their arms and place themselves
at my mercy and I would deal with them as the Lord
should command me." He declined an offer of 50,000
ducats for their safety, and " conscientiously '* put them
14 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
to the knife in cold blood. One account relates that one
detachment was captured and hanged with this inscrip-
tion above them^ " Not as Frenchmen^ but as Luther-
ans/'
Two years later an expedition of Frenchmen under
Dominic de Gourges recaptured the fort taken from the
French, and all the Spaniards who escaped the sword
were hanged with this inscription above them, " Not as
Spaniards, but as traitors, robbers, and murderers/*
So were the wrongs of the French avenged.
Results of Spanish Conquest
,' Population. Dr. Bourne quotes from the report of
Juan Lopez de Velasco to the Council of the Indies in
1576. ** Velasco enumerates in the New World some
two hundred Spanish cities and towns with some min-
ing settlements. These towns, together with the stock-
farms and plantations, contained one hundred and sixty
thousand Spaniards of whom about four thousand were
encomenderos, — i. e, lords of Indian serfs — the rest
settlers, miners^ traders, and soldiers. Of Indians
there were probably about eight or nine thousand vil-
lages, inclusive of tribes or parts of tribes, containing
one million five hundred thousand men of tribute-pay-
ing age (fifteen to sixty), or an approximate Indian
population of about five million, not counting the con-
siderable number who escaped taxation, either because
not yet reduced to village life or because they hid away.
The Indians were divided into three thousand seven
hundred repartimientos belonging to the king or to
private persons. In addition there were about forty
SPAIN IN AMERICA 15
thousand Negro slaves and a large number of mestizos
and mulattoes.
"The great mass of the Indians were nominally
Chtistians and were living as civilized men^ and their
numbers were increasing."
If the figures of Velasco are correct, one cannot help
wondering what became of that great Indian population.
Did they become decimated by slavery and abuse as did
the Indian population of Porto Rico?
Mixture of Races. The Indians of Latin America,
whose blood, mingled with that of their Spanish con-
querors, flows in the veins of the great mass of the
population south of the Rio Grande, had attained before
the coming of the white man a higher degree of civili-
zation than had the Indians of North America. They
were proficient in agriculture, while their knowledge of
astronomy was astonishing. They had never learned to
use an alphabet, but had invented a picture writing.
They cast gold and silver vases. Some of the treasures
sent to Spain by the conquerors are now in the Amer-
ican Room of the British Museum. .
To-day some of the proudest statesmen of Mexico
boast of the purity of their Indian blood. Benito
Juarez, the one reverenced above all others as liberator
because his indomitable courage and masterful leader-
ship thwarted tlie attempt of Austria, France, and Rome
to establish a monarchy on the ruins of the Republic,
was of pure Indian blood, and this same blood predomi-
nated in Porfirio Diaz, Mexico's most brilliant presi-
dent.
iThe Spanish adventurers freely intermarried with the
i6 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
natives, .and, whatever else may have been lacking in
their education, wives and children were taught to fol-
low the religion of their husbands and fathers, and also
to accept unquestioningly whatever the priests deemed
essential to their eternal welfare. Old Spain, with all
that inhered in the old feudalism that was disappearing
from Europe, was thus bodily transplanted to America.
The mingling of the Spanish and Indian bloods in a race
that was molded in the fanatical monastery schools is
sufficient explanation of the medieval character of
the population of the Southwest at the time of the
incorporation of this territory into the union of the
States.
Education in Latin 'America. Educational facilities
were provided for the wealthy. The first printing
, press in America was set up in Mexico City by Bishop
/ Zumarraga about J 535. The oldest books in America
^ came from that press. Books published in that century
\ are still in existence, and are a credit to the men who
wrought the evidence of their skill into these fine and
y^ enduring specimens of art.
A great industrial school was founded in Mexico City
near the middle of the i6th century by Pedro de Gante,
a blood relative of the Emperor Charles V. The Uni-
versity of Mexico opened its doors in 1553, and had an
enrollment of more than one thousand students ; among
the instructors were found some of the finest educators
of Europe, many of them graduates of the University
of Salamanca, then at the highest period of its glory.
Among the branches taught in the industrial school
were Latin, music, painting, and the manufacture of
SPAIN IN AMERICA 17
crosses — then so much in demand — standards and
other articles for ecclesiastical use.
The students were taught wood carving, carpentry,
engraving, and stone-cutting. In the ruins of many of
the old churches are found excellent spedmens of the
workmanship of these first pupils of the Spanish
Pioneers. Nearly three-quarters of a century before
the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on Plymouth Rock,
Me xico C ity was the centre of culture and industry.
Massively constructed and magnificently adorned
churches were built in the most prominent places in all
the more important cities and villages, while public
works received far more attention than they did in the
two succeeding centuries. Great aqueducts were built
to convey water from the mountains to the fertile val-
leys, fine roads were constructed and mines were
opened, employing thousands of workers and yielding
millions of gold, silver and copper, while substantial
and costly public buildings were erected in every city.
The Spaniards of that day utilized to the limit the ser-
vices of the natives, and could those old ruins be given
voice, what stories they might tell of a peaceful people
being crushed to satisfy the lust for gold and power of
a stronger race!
Indian Opposition. The Indians did not submit
without heroic attempts to oust the invaders, who had
become their masters. Charles F. Limimis declares,
in " Spanish Pioneers," that the stories of cruelties
practiced upon the Indians by the Spaniards are
" wholly untrue," and he pictures the Spanish conquest
as animated by the most sincere desire for the material
i8 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and moral uplift of the natives in the New World.
Halos are given to Cortez and Pizarro, and Fray Val-
verde, to whom historians attribute the doubtful credit
of having given the signal for the massacre of Atahual-
pa's force, is called "Good Fray Valverde." Ata-
hualpa's death was, according to Lummis, the necessary
result of his own " treachery " toward the Spaniards.
These apologies will not obscure the fact that, conceding
the energy, the enthusiasm, the zeal, and the consecra-
tion of the missionaries, there was something cruel,
something radically wrong with the whole Spanish sys-
tem of colonization, some inherent principle because of
which God did not suffer it to dominate the whole New
World. Its moving spirit was that which overran Hol-
land, that of Sevilla and Valladolid, the spirit that de-
stroyed or drove out more than twelve millions of the
best blood of Spain, " sacrificing," as one Spanish his-
torian says, "her material interests to conserve the
spiritual."
Why Spanish Efforts in the New World Failed
Advantages of Spain. Spain had greater advantages
in her attempts to control the New World than any
other nation that came to our shores. She was mistress
of the seas; she was the first country to reach the
western hemisphere; she had great wealth and daring
men ; she chose the southern lands where the Indians
were partly civilized and not as able to oppose the white
man as were the northern tribes, and where the riches
of the soil were hidden. In spite of all these advan-
tages Spain failed.
SPAIN IN AMERICA 19
Reasons for Spanish Failure. New Spain, as it was
known in the sixteenth century, included nearly all the
country around the Gulf of Mexico and reached west-
ward as far as California. Explorers penetrated to the
north as far as Kansas and on the Atlantic coast even
to Virginia. The Spaniards founded the two oldest
towns in the United States, St. Augustine and Santa
Fe. Spain possessed splendid material upon which to
build a strong and progressive civilization. That mix-
ture of races that gives the energy of a Cortez and the
sturdy, incorruptible patriotism of a Benito Juarez, is
capable of accomplishing anything that the Creator may
ask of His creatures. Yet today Spain holds none of
this great territory that was hers by right of discovery
and conquest. In most cases the territory claimed by
Spaniards overlapped that claimed by other countries.
The other countries held the disputed territory through
superior strength. The defeat of the Spanish Armada
made it impossible for Spain to attempt to control the
coast. Spain had no great desire to colonize. Like
young Cortez, her men were unwilling to till the soil,
desiring to find gold without labor and to enjoy the
wealth they gained without exertion. The aristocracy
of Spain did not look with any more favor upon the
development of educational institutions in her colonies
in America than did England upon the development of
industries in her colonies prior to the Revolution. The
colonies of Spain were for exploitation, not for develop-
ment. The two great motives for progress, love and
hope, had no place in the system imposed by the Span-
iards, and gross darkness and hopeless stagnation
20 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
settled upon the people. Spain held her colonies in an
iron grip, but never helped them to a higher life.
The Words of a Spanish Statesman. In 1871 Emilio
Castelar, Spain's greatest statesman, advocating in the
Cortes a more liberal and progressive policy in the
colonies of Spain, said : " When from our narrow
visible horizon we turn our eyes to the whole world,
we see that the continents are ruled by universal and
unchangeable laws; that Asia is the land of the im-
movable past, the land of empires, of theocracies, of
castes ; Europe is the land of the volcanic present, the
land of combat between ancient powers and new ideas ;
while America, and above all, Saxon America, with its
immense virgin territories, with its rising republics,
with its equilibrium between stability and progress, with
its harmony between liberty and democracy, is the con-
tinent of the future, the immense blackboard stretched
by God between the Atlantic and the Pacific, upon
which the hiunan race may write, test and solve all
social problems. The closing years of the 19th cen-
tury upon which we have entered may be as grave and
momentous as the closing years of the i8th century
when the French Revolution broke out. It rests with
Europe to decide whether she shall follow Asia, erecting
upon her soil the old altars, and upon the old altars the
old idols, with her idols the immovable theocracies,
with her theocracies despotic empires ; or whether she
will go by the way of labor, by liberty, by right to co-
operate with America in the work of universal civiliza-
tion. And a most important factor in this civilization
may be our Spain with her glorious past" Castelar
Itti^:
SPAIN IN AMERICA 21
did not hesitate to charge Spain's decadence to the
dominant church. He said : " We know that a demo-
cratic state cannot bear in its bosom a privileged church ;
democracy was bom under the curse of the church."
Could Spain at that time have heard and heeded
these stirring words, the story of the two Americas
might have been far different.
Comparison of Spanish and English Colonisation.
Edward Gaylord Bourne, in " Spain in America," says :
" If we compare what the Spaniards accomplished in
the i6th century with the work of the English in the
17th, we shall appreciate that, although different in
character and less in accord with our predilections and
prejudices, it was, nevertheless, one of the greatest
achievements of human history. They undertook the
magnificent if impossible task of lifting a whole race
numbering millions into the sphere of European
thought, life and religion. Yet this thought and life
and religion were so different in many respects from
the ideals which now appeal to the descendants of the
17th century English Protestant that we instinctively
appraise the attempt of the Spaniards both by modern
standards and by the measure of their failure, rather
than by the degree of their success."
The light of the sixteenth century was not that of
the twentieth, nor is the light of the twentieth century
that in which our own civilization will finally be
judged. When we compare the work of the Spaniards
with that of the English as colonists in the New World,
the more amazing appears the general assumption as
to the assured superiority of the Saxon, and the oft
22 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
repeated assertion that the attempt to bring the present
day descendants of Indians and Spanish adventurers
up to the level of the Saxon is doomed to fail.
Advantages of Saxon Colonisation. President Gates,
of Amherst College, says: **At the time when the
colonies that formed the vital nucleus of our American
life came from the mother land, England overflowed
with Puritan zeal, and Puritan godliness, and virility of
soul. England's life had been deepened and made
spiritual. It was no longer marked by the brilliant and
seething effervescence of the Elizabethan age. Even
before that time the Wars of the Roses had broken up
that comfortable, materialistic tendency to 'settle on
the lees ' that has proved so deadly to so many nations.
Take your place in one of the great cathedral churches
of England, and as the service is intoned and the words
fall on your ear, * O Lord, send peace in our day,* let
the thought make real before your eyes the emotions
that led to that petition. See the faces of the worn old
warriors and of the long-suffering women whose
families had been rent asunder by the Wars of the
Roses, and by the Civil War ; men and women whose
hearts went out to God in an agony of petition in these
words, as they longed to establish something of peace
and family life again in homesteads that had been deso-
lated by these long struggles. There had come to Eng-
land out of this deep suffering a great moral renovation.
The Lollards had kindled a light. Luther had spoken
more clearly and emphatically. The wonderful intel-
lectuality of Elizabeth's reign had given a new con-
sciousness of power and a fresh sense of national unity
SPAIN IN AMERICA 23
to the English people. The struggle between Papist
and Protestant had forced Englishmen to think out for
themselves theories of government and of personal
religion and personal responsibility. Then came the
insincerity, the wilful yet feeble despotism of the
Stuarts. It clashed with the forged steel of Prot-
estantism, and was broken against the Ironsides, —
Cromwell's Christian heroes. It was at such a time
from the best life of England the scion was transplanted
to America. The very best of English life was taken.
In the history of our dear motherland, this was pre-
eminently the time for her to become the noble parent
of a still nobler offspring. There was iron in the
blood. There was faith in the life. Do you remember
how near Cromwell came to embarking as an emigrant
to America ? When next you visit our oldest univer-
sity at Cambridge, go into the library of Harvard, gaze
at the death-mask of Cromwell's face, — a part of the
noble gift of Carlyle to his admirers among the young
men of America, — and as you note the massive power
of those features and recall the work which that man's
iron will accomplished for England and for the liber-
ties of the world, remember that it was men of his con-
victions and of his training who came swarming to
America, at a time when he so nearly accompanied
them. They became the fathers of our national life.
.They impressed upon our institutions and our ideals
the life that made England under Cromwell and Mil-
ton the foremost nation of the world."
Other Elements Contributed to Strengthen "America.
Other strengthening elements entered into the making
I
1^.
24 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
of the nation. Holland had fought the world's battle
against the legions of all-conquering Spain, and had
won her freedom of worship and conscience. With the
band of Englishmen, exiled for conscience* sake, who
sought a place to build their altars to God, there went a
mingling of sturdy Dutch and fire-tried Huguenot, all
animated by one purpose, and these laid the founda-
tions of a free government in that portion of the new
world now known as Saxon America. Bowing the
knee only to God, basing their laws upon His revealed
Word, believing in the equality and brotherhood of man,
these men and women were fitted in the trial by fire to
give to the world a high type of human government
Jheir ideals are the ideals of Christian America ; and
a continued striving toward these ideals is sufficient
explanation of the growth and greatness of Saxon
America. To conserve these ideals is the work of the
Church of the living Christ.
The Nineteenth Century
The story of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
of Spanish occupation of the Mexican territory is one
of oppression and tyranny endured through necessity
by the conquered natives. Not until the nineteenth
century did they make any effort to release themselves
from this bondage. One rebellion after another was
suppressed until that of 1821, when the Mexicans were
able to throw off the yoke of Spain. Their leader was
lYturbide, who became Emperor for a few months and
was then sentenced to be shot. Already the United
States had purchased Florida from Spain, so after the
J :.*. .^
SPAIN IN AMERICA 25
Treaty of Cordova Spain could claim no territory on
the mainland. Meantime the present state of Texas
had been settled by colonists from Mexico, whose num-
bers were greatly increased by settlers from the United
States. These opposed the Spanish control of Mexico
and, after an insurrection in 1836, made Texas an in-
dependent republic, which it remained until it was an-
nexed to the United States in 1845. The Mexican
War which lasted a year and a half soon followed, and
at its close the tract now known as New Mexico,
Arizona, and California was ceded by Mexico to the
United States.
In these few years were added to our country all the
regions of the mainland occupied by Spanish speaking
people for whom our work of Home Missions is now
carried on. Hereafter the use of the term Mexican
applies to those people who are descendants of the
union of the Spanish and Indian races.
II
FOLLOWING THE CROSS
"More than all the pageants of Castilian manners, more
than all the sheen of Montezuma's gilded courtliness is the
grace and glory of a Christlike man. What the Mexican was
and is must sink and wane while the Mexican to be rises the
new Christ's man."
M
Where restless, turbulent peoples toss
Under the fire of the Southern Cross,
A light gleams down the mountain track
As the gates of Panama swing back.
'On the South three gates.' Swing wide, swing wide —
A welcome here for the human tide ! "
Rsv. Chables L, Thompson, D.D.
II
FOLLOWING THE CROSS
Missionary Work of the Spaniabo^s
Religious Motive. It is hard to reconcile the treat-
ment the Spaniards gave the natives of America with
the deep religious purpose that so evidently actuated
some of the explorers. The names they gave the
islands, rivers, and lands they discovered show how
great was their desire to honor the religion they pro-
fessed. Thfe first land Columbus stepped upon was
named San Salvador ; another island he called Trinidad,
in honor of the Holy Trinity; the Mississippi was
known to the Spaniards as the Rio del EspiritcJ Santo,
the River of the Holy Ghost, while Vera Cruz means
th^ True Cross ; the Virgin and the saintsof the Church
were all remembered. When Columbus asked aid of
the King and Queen of Spain he claimed he had been
influenced by reading Marco Polo's work on China,
and confessed that his main purpose in attempting the
voyage was his desire to reach China in order to con-
vert the Great Khan, or Emperor, as well as his sub-
jects, to Christianity. Still, he stated if they refused to
accept the religion he offered, any Christian king was
at liberty to enslave them and take their possessions.
When land was reached the Admiral appeared in his
richest clothes, and approached the shore bearing the
29
30 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
royal flame colored standard of Spain ; there he and hi^
men knelt down, kissing the ground and giving thanks
to God for bringing them safely to land. To the end o£
his life, it is said, Columbus believed he had been ap-
pointed by God to carry Christianity to the people of
the far east> and his purpose in taking natives to Spain
was to Christianize them as well as to show them to the
rulers. Even the audacious Cortez claimed that his
purpose in visiting the country of Montezuma was in-
spired by his noble desire to make that ruler a believer.
Montezuma refused to accept the religion so graciously
oflFered, and those of his followers who survived the
Spanish attacks must have doubted the sincerity of
Cortez.
Attitude of the Natives. The Indians of the south-
land who were conquered by the white man were partly
civilized tribes. They worshipped the sun with great
ceremony and some of these tribes had temples and
numbers of priests. The approach of the white man
appeared to inspire them with awe, for they at first
looked upon him as a god. De Soto with all his cruelty
succeeded in deceiving the natives into believing he was
one of the immortals. It is told of him that at one time
he erected two crosses, and the Indians, thinking he was
about to perform a miracle, brought two blind men for
him to heal. De Soto did not admit he was unable to
make the blind see, but instead of attempting the mir-
acle delivered a talk on the mystery of the Atonement,
which could hardly have been appreciated by his audi-
ence. The ceremonies attending disembarking were
always very impressive to the simple natives; there
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 31
were the explorers in their resplendent robes, the priest
bearing a crucifix while chanting a Te Deum; there
was the prayer of thanksgiving and the kissing of the
crucifix.
The Spanish explorers not only over-ran what is
Mexico proper today but pushed northward, eastward,
and westward, even penetrating to Colorado on the
north and to Virginia to the northeast. They were
accompanied by zealous priests whose passion it was to
convert the natives to the true faith. That the converts
had not even the remotest idea of the true Christian
doctrine seemed to mattejr little, so long as they con-
formed to the rites and ceremonies of the Church. A
Mexican historian says they looked upon conversion to
the doctrines and forms of worship of their conquerors
as a necessary consequence of their defeat in battle.
The acceptance of the religion of their conquerors was
as much an acknowledgment of their subjection and
vassalage as the queue was the s)ntnbol of the Chinese
subjection to the.Manchu dynasty.
While the old religions were nominally destroyed,
many of the gods appeared under Christian names, and
little change was really required of the converts. The
same Mexican writer says, " The conquered Americans,
who feared everything, and rightly, from the hardened
conquerors, came to the conclusion that conversion and
baptism were the most powerful shield behind which
to protect themselves from further cruelties. They,
therefore, entered towns en masse asking the missionary
to baptize them, and in search of the precious guar-
antees of liberty and life."
32 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
Nor was this the only pressure brought to bear upon
them. Philip the Second decreed that only Christian
children could inherit the property of their parents.
As the result of this command an Indian chief would
insist on the conversion of the whole tribe. The re-
semblance between the old and the new religion made
the transition comparatively easy ; and in the distorted
form of Christianity that has prevailed since that day
among the Latins in our land we see the shadow of old
pagan Mexico.
Destructive Policy of the Clergy. The destructive
policy of the Romish clergy has deprived the student of
the present day of the key to the history of the people
who left, in the ruins of their cities and temples, evi-
dences of a higher civilization than has been found in
any other part of the New World. The Maya ruins
and inscriptions are the admiration and despair of the
modem archaeologist. Edward H. Thompson, writing
in the Geographical Magazine of "The Home of a
Forgotten Race," says of certain ruins that appear to
have been libraries : " Who knows but their contents
formed part of that funeral pyre of ancient Maya
literature made by the zealot Bishop de Landa on the
Mani common.
" De Landa, seeing on these old rolls of deerskin and
volumes of Maguey paper signs he could not read and
symbols he could not understand, concluded they were
cabalistic signs of a diabolical nature, and caused them,
with many other objects of inestimable value to science,
to be destroyed by fire on the public square of Mani.
" At that time, the old chronicler tells us, there were
k.
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 33
destroyed five thousand idols of distinct forms and
sizes, thirteen altar stones, twenty-two stones, carved
and of small sizes, twenty-seven rolls of ancient hiero-
gl)rphics on deer skins, one hundred and ninety-seven
vases of all sizes and patterns, and many other unre-
corded objects.
"An ancient Spanish chronicler states naively that
the natives who witnessed the destruction by fire were
much affected and made a great outcry of woe. Is it
to be wondered that they made a great outcry of woe ?
They saw not only the sacred things calcining in the
fervent heat, but also that written lore, accumulated
knowledge of their race, going up in smoke and red
cinders. Naturally the thinking ones among them
made a great outcry."
The destruction continued. The children educated
in the monastery schools were led out to demolish the
old Aztec temples. Sahagun, a Franciscan monk, came
to Mexico in 1529 and labored zealously among the
Indians for many years. He prepared an exhaustive
history of New Spain and has given much valuable in-
formation as to the methods pursued in giving to Mexi-
can civilization the impress that characterizes it today.
The children were taught to he iconoclasts, and the
spirit of the race descended from this mixture of
Spanish and Indian bloods has ever been destructive
rather than constructive.
Sahagun says of the education of the children :
" We took the children of the caciques into our schools ;
we taught them to read and write and chant. The
children of the poorer natives were brought into the
34 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
court-yard and there instructed in the Christian faith.
After our teaching, one or two of the brethren took the
children to some neighboring teccalli, and by working at
it for a few days, they leveled it to the ground. In
this way they demolished in a short time, all the Aztec
temples, great and small, so that not a vestige of them
remained."
On one occasion, the mission children in Tlascala
stoned to death a priest of the old religion who sought
to win the people back to the ancient faith.
Consecrated Missionaries. It would be unfair to
underrate the sincerity, the piety, the zeal, the purity of
purpose of the Franciscan missionaries of that day.
We must remember that it was the time of Philip the
Second, the time of the murderous Alva, the time of the
Inquisition, an age of brutal cruelty in war and a worse
cruelty in church. These monks not only accompanied
all the military expeditions, to look after the welfare of
the natives, but often alone they penetrated the wilds
wherever souls were to be found, exiling themselves
from civilization and all congenial companionship, suf-
fering hunger, thirst, cold, persecution, and death, with
no thought of reward except the approval of the Mas-
ter whom they served with all the fiery and consecrated
zeal of the old crusaders. Hard indeed would be the
heart that would not be deeply moved at the recital of
their consecration, their heroism and suffering. Often
they protected the Indians against the cruelty and lust
of the adventurers who accompanied the expeditions of
conquest. The fact that their own conduct would not,
at times, meet the test of modem Christian civilization.
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 35
must be viewed in the light of their age; they were
seeing as through a glass, darkly. When the adven-
turers had satisfied their desire for exploration they
went back to the settlements. The missionaries had
not accompanied them for the sake of adventure ; theirs
was a desire to serve the people, to bring them to
the Cross, and again and again the priest stayed with
the savages when his companions returned to civiliza-
tion. Through their efforts many missions were estab-
lished on Spanish territory, but oftentimes the mission-
ary was foully murdered by the very ones he hoped to
save.
The majestic ruins of great mission churches that
are today found where once there were large Indian
poptdations attest the zeal, the energy, the' consecration
of these pioneers of the Cross.
Second Capture of Acoma. The second capture of
Acoma was in 1629 by the good Fray Juan Ramirez.
This apostle to the Indians determined to establish a
mission upon the lofty rock, and alone left Santa Fe,
refusing an escort of soldiers, bearing no weapon but
love in his heart and the crucifix in his hand. Footsore
and weary he came to the foot of the rock, but as he
began the ascent pf the narrow stairway the Indians
poured down upon him such a flight of arrows that he
was compelled to take refuge under the overhanging
cliff. Just then a little girl toppled and fell from the
summit, but was caught by a sand-covered ledge out of
sight of the people above, who supposed she had fallen
to her death. The Fray quickly gathered the child in
his arms and stepping boldly into the path once more,
36 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
carried her safely to the top of the rock. The Indians,
believing a miracle had been wrought, received him
reverently, as one coming from the gods. For more
than twenty years he dwelt among them, teaching them
to read and write and instructing them in the doctrines
of the Church. He was greatly beloved by them, and
his name with that of Las Casas should be written in
letters of gold over against the black record of so many
of the adventurers. The Franciscans won, in a most
remarkable manner, the love and confidence of the
Indians, and their consecration and benevolent interest
in the victims of Spanish exploitation is the one bright
page in the history of Spanish conquest in America.
One of the most interesting, most majestic and massive
of the old churches stands on the rock of Acoma, recall-
ing the conquest of peace by Fray Ramirez.
Later the Franciscan monks were replaced by Jesuits
and the Indians fell upon evil days. The service that
they had rendered in the spirit of hospitality became
enforced, and then was laid the foundation of that sys-
tem of peonage that has been the curse of Mexico, and
has not wholly disappeared from the United States.
The Inquisition. The Inquisition was at work dur-
ing this time in Mexico, and the awful suflferings, the
processions of heretics, the contumely heaped upon
them made a deep impression upon the Indians, and
from generation to generation there was transmitted a
horror of heresy or rebellion against the Holy Catholic
Church. This will explain, in great measure, the
reason why it has been so hard to make an impression
upon the lower classes in Mexico and our Southwest.
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 37^
iThe tender and merciful Saviour was hidden from their
sight, and in His place there was pictured a God who
well might have been placed beside the gods whose tem-
ples the children were taught to destroy. It is related
of one of the Jesuit missionaries that he tortured him-
self until he was but an emaciated skeleton covered
with sores, and when, in his old age, he was mercifully
deprived of his instruments of torture, he exclaimed in
anguish, "What means have I now to appease the
Lord ? What shall I do to be saved ? "
The Religion of the Mexicans. Through the labors
of tireless, consecrated priests, through fear and
through compulsion, the religion of the Indians of
Spanish speech became that of the Roman Catholic
Church. For more than three hundred years she was
without a competitor in Latin America.
The Old Missions. The stories of the old missions
of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas form
an interesting and important background for all the
history of the Southwest. Burton Holmes referred to
them as the " Beacon Lights of Civilization." It was
just seven years before the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was made on the Atlantic coast of North
America thaj^junip^o Serra^ inspired by the noblest
motives, reached the Pacific coast and began the estab-
lishment of missions for the Church of Rome and the
Crown of Spain. The priests were hindered by the
viciousness of the soldiers who accompanied them, but
in spite of this bad influence succeeded in bringing the
Indians to a better mode of living and exerted a bene-
ficial influence over many tribes. More than twenty
38 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
missions were established, the Indians performing most
of the labor of construction, under the direction of the
fathers. When the buildings were completed the In-
dians lived about them, performing the duties within
and without the missions. The life seems to have been
very happy until the Mexican government, which had
succeeded in throwing oflf the yoke of Spain, began to
covet the properties, which were worth millions of dol-
lars. The missions were secularized to replete the
treasuries of Santa Anna, the fathers and the Indians
departing from their old abodes. In recent years the
buildings have been restored, but the friendly life of
priest and people which was a part of the old missions
is but a memory of the past.
Beginnings of Protestant Missions
The Early Missionaries. Shortly after the close of
the Mexican War, men began to cross the continent to
the new region of California in search of gold. At
almost the same time other men began going to New
Mexico for a far nobler purpose — that of carrying the
Word of Gkxi to the Mexican people who had become
part of the United States. Many Americans disap-
proved of the expense of the war and the acquisition
of new territory, but the Church of Christ could not
stop to question the advisability of the step ; there was
a new responsibility which it must endeavor to meet
At this time, there was but one white settlement be-
sides the military posts between Missouri and Santa
Fe. The great event in New Mexico was the coming
of the railroad to Santa Fe; before that the journey to
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 39
the territory was full of perils. The early missionaries
were obliged to travel by ox train, taking three months
for the dangerous trip. Yet men and women dared
undertake the fearful pilgrimage for the sake of carry-
ing the Good News to those who were in ignorance.
The first Protestant missionary to begin work in the
new section was the Rev. Samuel Gorman, sent out by
the Baptist church to labor among the Pueblo Indians.
Little is known of his work except that he established a
school, using the Spanish Bible as the chief textbook.
About a year after Mr. Gorman went to New Mexico,
the Presbyterian and Methodist churches sent mission-
aries to the territory.
The Civil War interrupted the missionaries, many
being recalled, while most of the buildings occupied by
them were abandoned for a time. The First Presby-
terian Church of Santa Fe was not organized until
1867, although the first Presbyterian missionary had
reached Santa Fe in 1850. It had been planned that
the organization should take place in the senate cham-
ber of the Capitol, but the man who carried the keys
disappeared, and instead the organization was effected
in the home of the governor, whose wife was one of
those most eager for the coming of the Protestant
church.
At about the same time John L. Dyer made a trip
on horseback to New Mexico. Father Dyer, as he was
called, had experienced all the dangers and privations
known to the daring pioneer ministers of the west.
His labors called him to the mining camps of Colorado,
where a saloon or a store was the only place in which
40 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
service could be held. His means of support were so
small that he was obliged to work at some manual labor
during the week to support himself, and yet without
bitterness or a feeling of discouragement he continued
through the dangers that threatened him. No one
better fitted could have gone to visit the new field, and
the reports made by him so stirred the Methodist church
of which he was a preacher, that the work that had
been given up was revived and Father Dyer sent to
superintend the field. In speaking of his district, he
said : " That year I took in Trinidad, being the first
Protestant who ever tried to preach there. This ap-
pointment was not taken without at least some knowl-
edge of the labor, privations, and dangers attending a
Protestant preacher in that field. I already found that
it was not Mexico, but New Mexico, the outside or fag
ends of an old Latinized nation, that had been ridden
over by Romish priests. Being the first discoverers of
our American continent, their church, I supposed, had
lost almost all but form and ceremony, and had been
backsliding ever since. I have seen men by the dozen
go to church in the morning and by eleven o'clock the
same men carrying their chickens to a pit to have a
cock fight in plain view of the priest's house. They
were communicants, and yet I never knew one of them
to be brought to account for violating the Sabbath. My
prayer is that God will convert and reform that whole
country. Indeed, it is rapidly becoming enlightened
and improved in every way.*' Others followed Father
Dyer and a beginning of school and church in the terri-
tory was thus made.
J!.
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 41
The Mexican People. The new home mission field
was in every respect a foreign mission field. There
was a new language to be learned and a people whose
manner of living was entirely different from anything
the missionaries had known. Men, women, and even
children smoked home-made cigars ; drinking, gambling,
and cock-fighting were prevalent, while education and
religion were alike neglected. There were many cus-
toms that reminded the missionaries of Bible lands in
Bible times. The implements used by the Mexicans
were most primitive ; they prepared their food, ploughed
the land, threshed grain, and separated it from the chaff
like the people of old ; the herding of cattle and watch-
ing of sheep made the missionaries think of the age of
the patriarchs; people carried burdens on their heads
and made the bricks for their homes of the mud of the
streets mixed with straw and chaff, as did the Israelites
in the days of bondage. Because of their poverty the
natives were badly nourished and very poorly clad.
There was beauty all around them, but they did not
reflect that beauty.
When the missionaries were admitted to the homes
of the kind and polite people, they found them bare and
cheerless. The beds were spread out on the hard
earthen floor at night and in the morning were rolled
up and placed against the walls. There were no
chairs, no tables, no bedsteads, and one room was
usually living and sleeping room for a large family, a
sufficient reason for the lack of delicacy so evident
among the people. Aside from the pleasing reverence
for parents and the old, the home relations were dis-
42 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
tressing to those coming from the north. Husbands
and sons sat down and ate what was placed before them
while wives and daughters stood back or waited in
another room until their superiors had finished. There
was a freedom from moral restraint that was dangerous
to family life. Whether these faults of the home are to
be attributed to the Indian ancestry or the Spanish, one
can hardly decide. The relations of the family varied
greatly in different Indian tribes, but we may imagine
that the position of woman in the home was an inherit-
ance from the Spanish conquerors. They had lived
with Indian women, treating them as slaves; when it
pleased the Spaniard to change his location he did not
hesitate to leave a woman and her children behind,
while he was free to form new ties in a new locality.
Women, always the drudges, were looked down upon
by men as their inferiors.
Hindrances to Missionary Efforts. — The opposition
of the Roman Catholic clergy proved to be a great
hindrance to all missionary efforts, as did the fact that
the Mexican did not differentiate between the mission-
ary and the white man, in many cases a fugitive from
justice, who had come for the purpose of gain and who
had been unfair in his dealings with the Mexican. The
immorality of these men was well known and the mis-
sionary had the same problem to contend with in New
Mexico that he had in China and Africa, where the
trader had gone before him. On the other hand, the
clergy had been without rivals for so long that they
could not imagine the possibility of Protestant mission-
aries coming to the regions they claimed as their own.
FOLLOWING JHE CROSS 43
People were threatened and warned against the mis-
sionaries as against a pestilence, and, in view of the
knowledge they possessed of the white man, there is
little wonder that the people at first believed what the
priests told them of the immorality of Protestantism.
The Power of God's Word. — When Mr. Gorman
was recalled from New Mexico at the outbreak of the
Civil War, he left behind him at least one Spanish
Bible. This was in the possession of a young man
who had been in Mr. Gorman's employ. He continued
to read the Bible and when he married he read it to his
wife, who learned to believe in the Book and love it as
her husband did. There was no Protestant church, no
missionary to help them, and so they worshipped alone
until the Congregational Church established a mission
in their vicinity. This man, who was still living in
1914, was the first convert of Protestant missions in
New Mexico.
A Spanish Bible was picked up on the road near Las
Vegas in 1868, the finder exchanging it for a spelling
book. The man with whom he made the exchange was
fond of reading, and began at once to study his new
book. He gained some knowledge of the way of life
and told the story to others as well as he could, in a
wonderful way preparing the field for missionaries who
later reached his neighborhood.
Father Gomez was another to whom the Word was
revealed. His ancestors came to this country with the
Spanish conquerors, living in the manner of the patri-
archal families for three hundred years. In some way
he had seen a Spanish Bible and was impressed with
ij4 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
the truths it contained. Although he was a poor man
he determined to possess a copy. He borrowed a yoke
of oxen and with another ox to sell, started on his
journey of 150 miles to Santa Fe to secure the Book.
The ox was sold for $25, and the Bible purchased.
Father Gomez read with joy; accepting the teachings
and telling his friends of the love of God, he formed
them into a group of Bible Christians, among whom a
church was soon organized when Presbyterian mission-
aries came to them. When the General Assembly of
that denomination met in New York in 1889 a young
man spoke before a group of women holding that price-
less Bible in his hands. It had lost its covers from use.
The young man, a grandson of Father Gomez, told
what a power it had been in bringing people to God,
and said in closing, *' I bless and praise God for the
precious gift, and I would not part with it for all the
world beside."
The Penitentes
The Order of Penitent Brothers was even more
active in the days of the early missionaries than it is
today. This is the development of the Third Order of
Saint Francis, the name having been changed three
centuries ago in Spain before the Franciscan monks
brought it to this country. In America self-torture was
added to the original requirements of the order. The
members, some twenty-five or thirty-five thousand
strong, claim allegiance to the Catholic Church, al-
though the Church will not allow the celebration of
their rites within its buildings. Men and women are
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 45
members, the women meeting separately except during
the services of Holy Week. Good Friday is the day on
which the religious rites are especially carried out, al-
though each Friday in Lent service is conducted at the
Morado and processions are held at night in which tor-
ture is undergone. On Good Friday is held wKat is
called the Procession to Calvary. Several men carry
heavy wooden crosses bound to their naked backs.
Others, stripped to the waist, scourge themselves as
they pass along the road with scourges dipped in salt
water to make them sting more cruelly. The backs
bleed under the cutting scourge and men, exhausted
through pain, fall down only to be urged on by those
attending them.
The general idea that the Crucifixion as enacted by
the Penitentes is dying out is denied by those who are
upon the scene. The nailing of the victim, or hero as
he prefers to be regarded, to the cross, does not take
place, although he begs for the nails, believing the en-
durance of this greater agony is a glory to him ; but a
man is stretched, bound with ropes upon the cross, his
side pierced until the blood flows from it, and then the
cross is elevated.
In "Our Mexicans" Rev. Robert M. Craig has
given a vivid description of the services in the Morado
or Holy Dwelling, to which he was admitted through
the influence of a friend. " The building is of adobe,
with large sliding doors in one end, and with but one
small, round hole in one side for light and ventilation.
The floor is native earth, except at the end where the
altar is located. In front of this table, on a small
46 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
stool, sit two men, each holding a stone in his hand.
Directly in front of the stool, but on the earthen floor,
at some distance from the front of the altar platform,
is a stand on which is a wooden triangle, having one
lighted candle on the apex, three on the base, and five
on either side. In front of this the Penitentes stand
facing the lights. Jhese men for days have been tor-
turing themselves. Now their heads and backs and
arms are bandaged. These men we would suppose to
be the most religious in the community; instead, they
are regarded by the people as the most deluded and of
the lower class, doing penance not only for the sins they
have committed, but for those which they intend to
commit during the coming year.
" All things being ready, at the blast of a trumpet
the meeting is in progress. The choristers under the
table sing and play one verse. The men in front of
the table strike three times on the seats with the stones
they hold in their hands, then one of the Penitentes
steps forward and extinguishes one of the lights. This
continues until all the lights but one have disappeared.
There is silence for a moment. Then a large, flat sur-
face, probably nine by twelve feet, apparently of wood,
covered with zinc, which in its turn is covered with
leather, is placed on the floor. The doors in the front
of the building are closed and barred. The Hermanas
range themselves about the room. The music is again
started, and at a given signal the last light is gone.
From boxes and barrels, previously ranged round the
room, ropes and chains and sticks are drawn, and for
FOLLOWING THE CROSS 47
atJottt one half-hour the clashing of chains and the
clamor of other instruments is maddening.
*' The noise, the groans, and the darkness I can never
forget If at any time I want an illustration of that
* outer darkness ' I only think of that awful night in the
Pefdtente^ meeting-house.
" What does it all mean ? Not ' the arrival of the
soul in purgatory/ as some one has said. As the
candles are again lighted, I see one of the Penitentes
go forward and take from the wall a cross on which is
an image intended to represent our Saviour, who has
died during the darkness, and at once the whole mys-
tery is clear. The darkness, with all the unearthly
sounds, is intended to represent the transactions at Cal-
vary on the Good Friday night when the 'King of
Glory * bowed His head and gave up the ghost.
" After this service the image on the cross is borne
from the little chapel to the house of a friend where
entertainment has been provided, and there the music is
kept up until the morning, when all return to the
Morado, from which they go to their h<xnes in peace."
A Land of Crosses
New Mexico has been called a " land of crosses, but
no Christ." The people have worshipped for centuries
the dead Christ, His Cross, the Virgin, and the saints
as idols. The effort of missionaries is ever to make the
Risen Christ triumph over the darkness of this land, as
He ever triumphs over spiritual and physical darkness.
Only the Gospel of love, preached in personal contact.
48
OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
supported by the godly lives of missionaries, lived in
works of mercy and healing, can ever counteract the
influence of a teaching that has so largely incorporated
the old Indian paganism into the faith developed by
the early missionaries. Love and patience, not con-
troversy, must characterize the winning missionary
propaganda. Once the people are undeceived, the old
system loses its hold forever, and blind, unquestioning
submission is changed into a strong, living faith in and
loyal adherence to the newly discovered Father and the
tender, sympathetic Christ.
Ill
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST
** There is such a thing as the micage of the desert, whicK
has mocked the dying traveler. There is also the oasis where
the grass is green and the palm trees stand erect in their
beauty, and thor reason thereof is the unfailing spring which
rises -from the heart of the earth and yields its living water
to the traveler as he journeys across the desert from the land
which he has left to the land which he has never seen. That
spring is the Spirit of the living Christ, Who * was dead * and
is 'alive for evermore/ Who remaineth from age to age the
strength and hope of the race into which He was bom and
for which He died."
John Watson, D.D.
Ill
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST
t
*' The wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and bios*
som as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and re-
joice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon ; they shall see the glory of the Lprd, and the
excellency of our God. ... In the wilderness shall
waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes.'*
The prophet might well have spoken these words of
our own Southwest. The wildernesses, the solitary
places, the parched lands have been redeemed to a
great extent through the work of our government, and
where habitation seemed impossible the desert is blos-
soming as the rose.
It is a wonderful country. The remarkable trans-
formation of the past few years was seen by thousands
of Exposition visitors who traversed the continent last
summer. California, New Mexico, and Arizona were
appreciated as never before. Much has been accom-
plished through irrigation and scientific farming, but
vast regions are still untouched.
51
52 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
Many have found the redemption of the wilderness
the greatest attraction in the Southwest, others enjoy
the climate, while still others are drawn by the wonder-
ful scenery. An artist colony has been established in
Taos, the second oldest town in New Mexico. Lum-
mis, in his book "The Land of Poco Tiempo," de-
scribes New Mexico by the words ** Sun, silence,, and
adobe;" to another the moonlight of New Mexico
makes the strongest appeal; while a starlit night has
been most wonderfully described by a musician, Franz
X. Arens, conductor of the People's Symphony Con-
certs in New York. On a recent program he intro-
duced the Second Movement of Dvorak's "New
World Symphony '* in the following words : " Some
years ago, I made a most interesting trip of over three
hundred miles into the New Mexico mountain regions.
There were seven of us, and we traveled in old-fash-
ioned canvas-covered prairie schooners, along deep
canyons, over high mountain passes, through Indian
reservations, over lava-strewn deserts, etc. One beau-
tiful night we camped on an open prairie; to the East
loomed the Taos Mountains, raising their peaks over
12,000 feet. To the North, South, and West was the
seemingly endless prairie ; overhead were the stars, and
in such numbers! There seemed to be more stars
than I had ever dreamed of, and such lustrous stars!
They seemed to be suspended from the heavenly dome
as so many electric lights, scintillating in their brilli-
ancy and lustre. The very stillness and silence with its
impressiveness seemed to be pregnant with eloquence.
'* It was a wonderful and a new experience for me ;
■I
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 53
its beauty would not let me go to sleep ; and so, lying
on my back, I gazed at those stars, and gave myself
over entirely to the wonders of the scene. For a long
while I lay thus, when, lo! out of that vast stillness
there came a haunting melody to my memory. It was
the English Horn melody of the *New World Sym-
phony'; and this movement depicts the mysterious
beauty, vastness and stillness of a starlight night on our
western prairies."
In the early days when New Mexico was received
into the United States the government established mili-
tary posts throughout the west to enforce order. \At
the same time the Church stationed her soldiers in the
lonely country. The glimpses of Anglo-Saxon cultiva-
tion and Christianity have aroused the people of Mexi-
can origin and they are eager for education in the Eng-
lish language. It is to the ministry of faithful soldiers
of the Cross to the physical and spiritual needs of the
new citizens, rather than to the enforced control of the
government, that the progress made by the people of
the Southwest must be attributed.
The great region known as the Southwest is made up
of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
and California. Texas, according to the last census,
had a population of 3,896,542 people, of whom 125,016
were Mexicans; New Mexico had 11,918 Mexicans in
a population of 327,301 ; in California and Arizona
were found 33,694 and 29,987 Mexicans. The total
number of Mexicans, irrespective of people of Mexi-
can blood who have been born in the United States, was
about 200,000, scattered over the states of the south
f
54 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and west. Since the census was made a large number
of Mexican refugees, variously estimated from 500,000
to 1,000,000, have come into tiie country.
Until recently the Mexican people have lived quite
apart from the American population in small villages
known as plazas, where the Spanish speaking priest had
full control until the Protestant missionary went in.
Ignorance and immorality, superstition and witchcraft
have existed and still exist in parts remote from the
paths of civilization and Christianity.
Conditions With Which Missionaries Contend
Superstition and Belief in Witches. — Among some
of the Mexican people the belief in witches and what
they call the " power of the evil eye " is common. A
missionary tells of finding two brothers crying and on
asking the reason he was told by one of them " A drop
of blood fell from the ceiling on the towel with which
he was drying the dishes, and it means there will be a
death in the family, for about the same thing hap-
pened just a year ago and our little brother died."
The blood had come from a scratch, but they would
not believe it. A poor old woman is generally singled
out as a witch, and she is said to go around after dark
in the guise of a cat, dog, or owl. People fear to touch
anything she has touched, believing evil will come from
it. Another missionary tells of living next the village
witch, and the terror of the children when this poor
woman brought food to her. The teacher ate the food,
but the fact that she was not harmed did not convince
her pupils that the witch was harmless. The same mis-
.>^s^
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 55
sionary was told by a poor old lady who had asthma^
that she had been a beautiful singer until a friend who
was jealous of her voice hired a witch to give her food
with something in it to ruin her voice. Still another
missionary has written of her amazement one evening
in finding one of the most intelligent women in her
village throwing stones up into a tall tree, while she
scolded a hooting owl that had taken refuge there.
When asked what she was doing, the woman answered
she was trying to kill the witch who was concealed in
the form of an owl. The examples of belief in witches
are not few. It has been stated that probably sixty
per cent of the people fear their power.
Power of the Priest. — The power the priests hold
over the Mexicans is very great From the earliest
days of Protestant effort they have opposed the coming
of the missionaries. They have tried all these years
to keep the people from the mission schools and
churches. First the priest warned the Mexicans
against Protestants as against those who had come to
injure them ; if a warning was not sufficient, the priest
exercised his authority, and if that authority was dis-
regarded he refused to administer the rites of the
church to those who disobeyed, a threat which in very
many cases has been sufficient to bring about the de-
sired result. The offices of the priest — baptism, mar-
riage, confession, absolution, burial — are administered
only for money and the tax on the poverty-stricken
people has been heavy and paid under protest, but it
has been paid.
writes: "Suppose you were taught
56 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
that they observe * children's day ' in purgatory ; that
every child there for whom friends on earth buy a
candle will have a lighted candle to carry in the proces-
sion, and that every child for whom a candle is not
bought on earth marches with the procession, but with
its upraised finger burning; would you not, if you be-
lieved it, pay any price for a candle, so your child
might not have its finger bum ?
" Suppose you were taught that unless you had the
priest's forgiveness for your sins and his blessing as
you lay on your dying bed that you would go to hell ;
would you not get money from any source, so you
might have the sprinkling with holy water and the
anointing with oil at the hand of the priest who had
the keeping of your soul in his hand?
" Suppose you believed that your baby would be lost
imless the priest baptized that child ; would you not get
the money for the baptism and give it to the priest, no
matter at what sacrifice ? "
Another missionary tells of a daring attempt of one
of the clergy to prove to his people the punishment for
disobeying the authority of the clergy : " A mother of
three grown sons was dying. She had come to doubt
the sanctity and genuineness of the priesthood, and es-
pecially of the priest in this particular village, and her
last request was that they would not allow him to
bury her. This request they honored, laying her away
without the religious ceremony. Soon the husband was
called upon by the priest to explain why he did not re-
quest him to say mass at the burial. He told his wife's
wishes in the matter. The priest told him his wife was
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 57
in hen and would remain there until he had mass for
her deliverance. The man was rather bold and dared
to dispute the belief that his wife was in torment, * for/
said he, ' my wife was a good woman/ * I will prove
to you next Sabbath,' said the priest, ' that your wife
is burning in hell/ It became known that the demon-
stration was to take place, so there was a great crowd
gathered to see the work. The priest led the way to the
cemetery, armed with his vessel of holy water and his
crucifix with a long staff. When he reached the grave
he pressed the staff down into the grave some two feet
or more and worked it about until the hole was left
open. He then poured holy water into the hole. It
was only a little while until a crackling like fire was
heard and something like smoke began to escape. The
priest had made good and told the wicked man that the
smoke was from hell, where his wife was in torment.
The demonstration was a succefss, and the man was
convinced, and began negotiations with the priest for
terms to get her out. He was told that owing to the
aggravation of his crime it would take $500. This he
could not pay, so he was in a great state. You see he
was especially guilty, because he had tried to evade the
established forms of the holy church. His wife's sister
came to the rescue. She told the man to make no
contract, but to go home with her and she would show
him what to do. He did so. After all had gone from
the cemetery she told her brother-in-law to get a shovel
and go with her. They went to the grave and opened
it and found there a pik of quick lime, which, of course,
began to slack when the water was poured on it. This
58 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
happened a few years ago, but thanks to Him who will
lead all who care to follow, the day of such things is
fast passing, and the little weak churches and the mis-
sion schools are bringing about the change, slowly, it
seems at times, but truly, truly/*
After the mission schools were definitely established
the opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy to them
seemed to lessen, but during the past year two teachers,
one from one of the largest boarding schools and the
other from a plasa school have said : " We are meet-
ing with more opposition from the Catholic priests this
year than we have had for a good many years. Either
they feel the need of a renewed effort locally or there
is a pressure from headquarters. This morning a fine
boy who entered school last week came to tell me that
his father had told him he had to stop school, because
the priest had said that none of the family could come
to church or have any of the church rites administered
to them if the boy was left in the Protestant school.
This seems like old times for we have often met this
opposition, but not much of late years/'
** The priests are getting desperate, especially in the
more remote villages, and are threatening all sorts of
dire calamities upon those who send their children to
our schools. They say the children receive a little
poison every day.*'
Customs. — Efforts to improve conditions in Mexico
are hampered by the prevailing idea that what has been
for generations must continue forever. Children are
a blessing, for they come to relieve parents of work.
It is amazing how much labor is expected of the tiny
:axi
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 59
children, and their capability for work makes their
school attendance very irregular. Marriage takes
place early, and the contracting parties have little voice
in the matter, the fathers arranging for them.
f Each place holds its Fiesta annually. Jhe celebra-
tion is in honor of the patron saint of the village, and
religious services are carried on by the priest. The
saint is brought from his place in the church and car-
ried about the town, the religious service of the morn-
ing being followed by an afternoon of revelry, which
often terminates in heavy drinking. In Taos the
Fiesta combines with the worship of the saint the old
Indian rites in honor of the sun.
Ceremonies for the dying and dead are particularly
distressing. A note from a recent letter from one of
the plasa mission schools helps us to realize these con-
ditions. *' The evening before my neighbor died the
room was filled with people, all praying aloud. A bon-
fire is kept burning before the house all night, and
there is always a feast for the friends with a plentiful
supply of wines and whiskey. And the horrible wail-
ing 1 It is wonderful that the throats of people in
affliction are not worn out The sound is peculiar and
terrible. The mourner, her head covered with a black
shawl, cries out until completely exhausted. When we
ask why they do it they say, * It is our custom. You
Protestants are cold.' **
A teacher tells graphically of his experience when
going home with the body of one of the pupils who had
died in the school. " We were met at the station of
Embudo and had to drive twenty miles up into the
#*
6o OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
mountains to the beautiful little valley of El Valle del
San Maguiel. The wailing of the mourner is a cry of
despair and grief. We were met by nine horsemen and
four wagonloads of parents and friends, and of all
doleful, heart-rending sounds I have ever heard these
were the worst. On the drive home we had to stop
with every person we met and every town through
which we passed, and there the wailing was repeated.
Some five or six miles from the home we were met by
another band of horsemen, some of them the brothers
of the dead boy, some cousins, and some friends.
About one mile from the house we were met by all the
remaining inhabitants of the valley. The night had
settled down long before this, and the wailing and
shrieking were awful. This was the way the people
had of expressing their sorrow and sympathy for the
bereaved. We proceeded to the home and the body
was taken into the room and again the wails of sorrow
were heard. Such a night I have never passed, and I
never want to have to pass another one. One of our
young ministers was sent for and we had some Chris-
tian services, notwithstanding the fact that the family
is nominally Catholic. After the services they took up
again the singing of dirges, which had been going on
over the body for miles before we reached the home,
and was continued all night. About two o'clock the
following afternoon we laid the poor boy to rest in the
little graveyard."
The Saloon. — One of the greatest evils with which
the missionary must contend is the saloon, and, to the
shame of the American, this great evil is a product of
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 6r
American occupation. One of the oldest missionaries
said that years ago before the American saloon became
so universal, evangelistic work was far more fruitful
than it has been since. Public schools are oftentimes
supported from the license of the saloons, and if there
are few saloons and money is scarce, the schools are
kept open only two or three months. There is a bright
side to the question, for people are awakening to this
danger and in some places are voting it out. Here is a
word from San Mateo : " Our Mexicans from San
Mateo voted unanimously to close the saloons. There
was but one vote for the saloons, and it was cast by a
poor, benighted American who did it for pure spite."
Work of the Churches
Evangelistic. — Ever since the day when Jose Y.
Perea met the Rev. John Annin, who went to New
Mexico in 1869, with the words " I have been praying
for a missionary, and I have made vows and promises
to the Lord in connection with this work. You can
depend oh me for anything I can do to assist this mis-
sion work," there have been splendid men of Mexican
parentage to engage in evangelism. Mr. Perea was
later ordained, and ministered to a parish that required
fifteen days to cover. The great drawback to mission-
ary work has always been the small number of men
who are engaged in it. It has been necessary to spread
the efforts of the few clergy over so large a territory
that only an occasional service has been possible in
many places, and whole regions have been absolutely
neglected. California has a large Mexican population.
62 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and although work is being successfully carried on in
many localities there are large settlements of Mexicans
almost untouched by missionary effort. In Arizona
mission workers are laboring under great difficulties in
the mining camps with a constantly moving population,
yet not only is there permanent growth, but there is the
joy of knowing that the message is being carried to
these roving Old Mexico miners. The influence of the
evangelistic work in New Mexico is greatly aided by
the work of the mission schools, most of the evangel-
ists being graduates of these same schools.
In Colorado the efforts of consecrated men who
toiled over the mountains, visiting Mexican hamlets
and sheep camps, teaching and preaching the Gospel
of Christ, have been rewarded. Today are to be
found in this locality as strong Protestant Spanish-
American Christians as anywhere within the bounds of
the United States. The enthusiastic annual conven-
tion of the Mexican Christian Endeavor Societies of
Colorado is an evidence of the ever increasing influ-
ence of the faithful missionaries. Texas is in the
making. The most wonderful state in the Union in its
possibilities, it has the Mexican problem in a more
acute form than any other. Bordering on a more
populous part of Old Mexico than do the other states,
it comes more closely in touch with the more irre-
sponsible and lawless Mexican element. There may
be more reason for race prejudice there; but, to the
honor of the Texan Christians, In no part of the
Southwest is the problem being approached with
greater earnestness and zeal. El Paso is the centre of
. REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 63
{activity, but the Southern Methodist, the Presbyterian
U. S., and the Baptist have established their missions
along the whole frontier line. In El Paso nearly all
denominations are at work. Owing to the great mass
of refugees from Mexico, this past year has been an
exceptional one, for many have ** cried unto the Lord
in their trouble " and He has given them a hope that
is not dependent upon conditions in poor, battle-torn
Mexico.
Educational — Whenever our forefathers estab-
lished a new town, the church and the school were al-
ways placed at the center of the settlement. Religion
and education must always go hand in hand. .The
Roman Catholic Qiurch neglected this principle.
When the missionaries went to the Southwest they
realized that the greatest need of the people, next to
the Gospel, was education and they did everything in
their power to relieve that need. As late as 1872 there
was but one school in New Mexico. The territory
was very poor and unable at the start to provide its
own schools. Even the largest places were dependent
upon those of the Mission Boards for some years. In
the larger towns and cities today, however, the schools
are as well equipped and progressive as anywhere in
the country, and there is a steady improvement in the
work in smaller places.
Early mission schools were day schools, but teachers
realized that far more could be done for the children
if they had them all the time, and about 1880 a be-
g^ning of boarding school work was made. It has
been the policy of Church Boards to discontinue
64 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
schools wherever public schools reach a high standard^
and so from time to time school work in different vfl-
lages has been given up. The total number of day
and boarding schools now maintained by the Protestant
Church in the Southwest is about twenty-five, and as
these are spread over New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
Texas, and southern California, they can reach but a
small proportion of the young people of this region.
No estimate can ^ver be made of the value of the
plasa schools to the communities to which they min-
ister. Oftentimes an American young woman has en-
tered a plasa, opened a school and carried on the work
alone, being perhaps the only American in the village.
She has been nurse, doctor, teacher, and friend to the
people of the community. Her home has been their
refuge, the model from which they have tried to im-
prove their own homes. She has had to adjust her
life to the life of the people and win their confidence
and love through unselfish living and devotion to them.
A teacher who opened the work at Embudo, New,
Mexico, described her experiences :
"We often read of the strange customs of a race
whose language differs from ours, but we do not un-
derstand until we mingle with them. Thus was the
reality brought to bear upon me when first I came to
live with the Mexicans in Embudo. My first week
was spent in a Mexican home, my bed was made on
the floor, the woven mattress hard and knotty; sleep
seemed impossible, but nature at length succumbed and
the night passed by. One thing out of their custom,
I had a room at night to myself. Breakfast consisted
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 65
of black coffee and tortillas (pancakes) placed on a
small stand, and the man of the house ate with me ; as
the women eat after the men, they waited until we
finished, then partook of their meal in the next room
on the floor, as is the custom.
'* For dinner a .chicken was prepared, which had
more bones than meat Not having a stove, all cook-
ing is done on the fire-place. So I was amused at the
process of cooking the chicken. It was cut in small
pieces, and one piece at a time was put on a two-
pronged iron rod, held over the blaze until done, then
served on a plate. In order to help tne the man
picked up a part of the chicken with his fingers and
gave it to me. At supper we had Indian meal gruel,
which is considered a fine drink ; before handing the
cup to me the man took a drink out of it. This was
too much, so I said I did not wish any. All this was
done in kindness, only showing the lack of knowledge.
The black coffee and tortillas were also part of each
meal.
" I decided to cook for myself, and rented of them
two rooms, one to live in, the other for the school, and
remained in that house three years. In visiting the
families the first time, I found them anxious for the
change from a Mexican to an English teacher in order
to study the language. The school then became over-
crowded with pupils, and it was impossible to hear
every one recite in one day, as no two were studying
from the same book, and each one must recite sepa-
rately except the chart class."
The work at Embudo is typical of the work that has
66 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
gone on in the plaza schools. .The rooms engaged by
the teacher gave way to a tiny adobe church building
for the school, while she continued to live in a native
adobe house whose mud roof was no protection from
the rain. The church, in turn, was abandoned for an
attractive modern schoolhouse containing two large
rooms which accommodate the one hundred and
twenty pupils ; next the school is a five room home for
the teachers, and nearby a small hospital building.
The interesting thing about these new buildings is that
the people brought the rock and sand required for their
construction, and men and women worked valiantly to
provide the new school for their children. They
gather in the home for social meetings and sewing
classes, while the school is opened for entertainments.
While the plaza school is an inspiration and a lesson
to the homes, teachers find the needs of individual boys
and girls are better met in the boarding school. There
are several very fine boarding schools conducted
by Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians.
Here the teachers are able to counteract the unfortu-
nate moral influences by which the boys and girls have
been surrounded, as well as to hold them for a regu-
lar attendance, a thing most difficult to secure in day
schools. The Rio Grande Industrial School and the
Menaul School at Albuquerque have done a remarkable
work for boys, while the Rio Grande Industrial and
Harwood at Albuquerque, the Forsythe Memorial and
De Pauw at Los Angeles, the Mary J. Piatt at Tucson,
and Allison- James at Santa Fe care for the girls.
Holding Institute at Laredo, Jexas, is the largest
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST Oj
Church boarding school in the Southwest. The pupils
in these schools are trained for all kinds of work —
the most important being that which will prepare them
to be good home makers.
An outline of the schedule at Rio Grande will show
what active places these boarding schools are. The
rising bell rings at 5 130 each morning, and the older
boys hurry to the bam and dairy house to attend to
their chores. The girls, under the direction of one of
the teachers, begin the preparation of breakfast, dust-
ing and cleaning. Breakfast comes at 6 145 and at its
end every one goes to some regular task, — housework,
laundry work, or farming ; each one knows his duty and
attends to it. This is followed by work in the school-
room or some industrial work, which is continued until
the bell rings for dinner. After dinner has been served
and the dishes washed, all return to the school rooms
until four o'clock. Then follows an hour's intermis-
sion for play and at five the chores and kitchen work
claim the attention of certain pupils. The boys wash
dishes after supper, and at 7 115 the entire school family
assembles for the chapel service, followed by a study
hour and nine o'clock retiring bell.
Schools necessarily vary a little, but everywhere they
are found training boys and girls for useful lives.
They learn to wash and iron, bake and clean, as well as
to read and write. They enter with enthusiasm into
baseball, tennis, and other sports. It is interesting to
note that where new buildings are added to the school
equipment, whenever it is possible the labor of the boys
is utilized. Both Menaul and the Rio Grande Indus-
70 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
Another teacher- speaks of the epidemic of grippe,
the great suffering and only one small room for sick
and well, for cooking, eating, and sleeping. In one
home where a little child died there were twenty-eight
people as guests in the small room for a week. The
missionary insisted that the men and boys sleep in the
school room.
One denomination has sent one doctor to New
Mexico and provided an automobile for the long trips
through the country.
At Embudo a nurse has been placed in charge of the
new hospital. The teachers do all in their power to
relieve the suffering of the people in other stations.
Social Work. — Like medical work, the social work
has very slowly been recognized as a necessary ac-
companiment of missionary effort. The missionaries
themselves have always realized the need and have pro-
vided wholesome diversions for the people among whom
they have been, in this way gaining the good will of
whole communities. The Methodist Episcopal Church
South has been developing gospel settlements with
educational and social features in different localities,
having deaconesses and social workers in charge.
[They have opened three night schools and at their
mission for Mexicans in Los Angeles have a nurse in
attendance.
At Los Angeles too the Presbyterians, and at El Paso
the Methodists, conduct settlement work with gratify-
ing results. Women's Societies and Girls* Clubs are
organized. The members are taught cooking and sew-
ing, their own culinary products serving for refresh-
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 71
ments. The workers introduce devotional services, and
seek in every way to uplift the people. The houses
opened to mothers and children for work and play have
been a great benefit to those who visit them.
Results of Missionary Work
In the Homes, — It has been said of the girls of a
leading mission school that no town into which they
have gone fails to show, even to passing guests, a better
condition because of their presence. One worker has
written, " As I have journeyed through the southwest, I
have many times entered Mexican homes that had all
the appearance of American homes, and when I have
asked some of the friends what has brought about the
change, why they differ from their neighbors, I am an-
swered perhaps, *Why the lady of the house is a
mission school graduate, or the head of the family is a
graduate,* and frequently we find that both husband
and wife are graduates of these Christian schools. In
Las Placitas, there was, years ago, a mission school,
but it has been closed about eleven years. Yet, when I
visited that place, I found clean, stalwart young men
who acknowledged that the impulse to a clean, orderly
life had been given them in that school, and the fathers
and mothers were asking that it might be reestab-
lished."
Testimony of Roman Catholics. — ^** I am obliged to
oppose your schools; my bishop demands it. At the
same time I realize that they are doing good work for
my people ; and if I were a man of family, living in one
of these Mexican towns, I should wish to send my chil-
^2 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
dren to your schools/* These words were spoken by a
priest.
At a recent meeting of mission school graduates an
address was made by one of the county superintend-
ents. He stated that of the forty-two teachers in his
county thirty-six were graduates of Protestant schools.
He said that he was a Catholic and had been called to
account by those in authority in the church for employ-
ing so many Protestants, but he secured always the
best teachers he could find. It was said that the Arch-
bishop declared that the greatest menace to the Catholic
Church in New Mexico was the Protestant mission
schools. He said : " They are actually making good
citizens out of the Mexican people."
When money was raised for a hospital in connection
with one of the Protestant mission schools $130 came
from patrons of the school, secured by a Catholic, and
largely contributed hy Catholics.
The Pupils Sent Out. — As has been previously
stated, mission schools have provided a large number
of the missionaries who are working in the Southwest
Graduates of every school are filling positions of trust
One principal has given statistics regarding his own
school which are characteristic of all mission schools :
" Fifteen of our graduates are Home Missionaries, all
but one doing work in New Mexico or Arizona among
their native people ; seven graduates and many former
pupils are public school teachers, and the work that
they are doing is almost altogether for the Mexican
people, missionary in itself to a great extent. Some
of them are yet in college and some in a theological
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 73
seminary. One is in a medical school^ and if there is
need for any class of help for the people it is medical
aid. He will have one of the broadest fields for use-
fulness that can be found anywhere."
Desire to Help Others. — The people are not only
giving of their choice youth for the advancement of
the Kingdom, but more and more they show a disposi-
tion to depend less on mission funds. When they hear
of need in other places they are always ready to con-
tribute from their own poverty for the benefit of others.
Our Missionary Teachers
From whatever point we view missionary work, we
find the chief factor in the betterment of the people is
the missionary teacher. Through perils of loneliness,
through perils of disease, through perils of opposition,
through perils of discouragement and exhaustion, she
continues her ministries to those to whom she gives a
new life perspective — new hopes and ambitions where
lives would otherwise have been hopeless. When asked
if his church carried on any social work among Span-
ish speaking peoples, a Board ofiicer answered that the
day school teachers carry it on to a great extent and
"often act as nurses, postmistresses, and justices of
the peace." It is so in every denomination ; the plcusa
teachers have learned to be everything to all men.
During the day they are busy in school, but after hours
they visit the homes sharing the sorrows and joys of
the people. They prescribe for the sick and nurse
them as well. They help the bride with her wedding
preparations, and even oftener prepare the dead for
74 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
burial. To old and young, sick and well, they are
ministering angels.
The old monks brought the olive and the date from
Mediterranean regions to the Southwest ; a woman mis-
sionary from Brazil is credited with having been re-
sponsible for the development of the orange industry
in California; the missionary of today provides garden
seeds and advises the people in matters of farming.
iThere are better vegetables, better chickens, and better
eggs because of the mission teacher.
A woman who has been almost twenty-five years
'(most of the time alone) in one of the plasa schools,
recently reported for the three midwinter months to
her Board as follows : ** Patients treated, 48 ; dis-
pensary visits, 27; visits, 129; maternity case, r;
deaths, o." And she is not a trained nurse; only a
day school teacher 1
A missionary pictures her experiences in these
words : " When I returned after a brief absence from
the plasa I was met with the news that one of our men
who had gone to Kansas in search of work had come
home crazed and with a burning fever. I found him
approaching the crisis of typhoid. We put him to bed
on a mattress spread with wooden slats, with a coarse
brown native blanket for a sheet. You may ask why
I did not supply this need. It was due to the fact that
nearly all my sheets had recently been used for band-
ages. Here he lay for several weeks while the family
of five ate and slept in the same room. It is little
wonder that two of the children fell ill and that the life
of the youngest was sacrificed. During this time I
REDEEMING THE SOUTHWEST 75
was spending five hours a day in the school room while
doing what I could morning, noon and evening for my
patients; for I had another patient almost equally ill
who had come sixty miles in order that I might care
for her. There is no other mission station within
ninety miles of us and a district with a radius of
twenty-five miles looks to me for help."
An officer of one of the Home Mission Boards visited
the region of New Mexico, and before returning home
made an address in one of the large cities of the state.
He told of a missionary he had seen who had carried
on her school work and gone miles over the mountains
after school to care for a woman who was suffering
from a fearful sickness. When the speaker finished
three women came to him, each saying, " I know about
whom you were talking. It was Miss ," and each
woman mentioned the name of a different missionary !
It is not the exceptional teacher who is doing this
remarkable work in the Southwest. The service has
developed a wonderful type of self-sacrificing, noble
women who learn to laugh and to weep, to vaccinate, to
bind up wounds, and to soothe those suffering from
^ever. They are a group of women of whom the
Protestant Church is rightly proud.
Is THE Work Worth While.^
When one of the early missionaries went to the
Southwest, a priest told him it was useless to try to
help the ignorant people. The Roman Catholic Church
liad been at work for 300 years, he said, and the peo-
ple were so degraded they had not improved in the
76 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
slightest degree. The answer of the missionary was
that when the Protestant Church had labored ifor as
many years with as little result, it would be time to
consider withdrawing. It is less than seventy years
since the first Protestant missionary entered New
Mexico. Education has made great advances, the
moral and physical condition of the people has im-
proved, there are many homes where there were only
dwelling places, and, best of all, thousands who would
not have known the Saviour have been brought to Him,
and reverently acknowledge Him to be their only
Lord and King.
IV
CUBA PARA CRISTO
"This is the most beautiful land eyes ever beheld; one
could live here forever.*'
From the diary of Christopher Columbus.
** The future of Cuba is unalterably bound up with that of
the United States. We have made ourselves responsible in
the eyes of the world for her political destiny, and the Chris-
tian people of America, whether they would or not, are re-
sponsible in the eyes of God for the spiritual destiny of the
Cubans. No earnest servant of the Master will deny this
solemn obligation of American Christians to this needy people,
who have suffered not only from the tyranny and oppression
of Spain, but also and equally from the blighting effects of
four centuries of Roman domination and oppression."
— Rev. H. R. Moseley, D J>.
IV
CUBA PARA CRISTO
Three Glimpses of Cuban History
The Days of Splendor. — Poor Dona Isabella looked
sadly towards the west from the parapets of Havana ;
she had been watching thus for weeks and months.
She had learned to hate beautiful Cuba. How much
she wished she had tried to persuade her brilliant Gov-
ernor to be satisfied with the wealth he had gained in
Peru and to settle in far away Spain! She thought
of her childhood days, of the stories she had heard of
the western land that had been discovered a few years
before by the Admiral Christopher Columbus. She re-
membered that he had called it a wonderfully beauti-
ful land, and that it was not until after the Admiral's
death that people knew it was but an island. All her
life Dona Isabella had heard that this knight and that
lord were going to or coming from the New World.
Sometimes she had wished she were a man that she
might join one of the expeditions, and she had been
sure she would have come home weighted down with
the gold and treasures of the New World, not impov-
erished as so many had returned. She wept as she
thought of what had happened when her girlhood was
79
82 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
•
discontented and in a state of unrest! When a dele-
gation of Cubans went to Spain, asking that their griev-
ances be heard, the royal commission listened to them
but paid no attention to their requests. The Cubans
were aroused at the indifference of the Spaniards, and
when Cespedes came forward to lead them in 1868 they
were ready to begin the guerrilla war which lasted for
ten long years. The island was ravaged from end to
end and was finally forced to secure peace by the treaty
of Zanjon. Important reforms were promised but
never fulfilled, and Spain remained in control of an
island whose inhabitants were waiting for the oppor-
tunity to break out against her power, and to drive
her from their borders.
Cuba Libre. — The failure of Spain to live up to the
terms of the Treaty of Zanjon finally resulted in the
most formidable of the revolutions that swept over
Cuba. Gomez, one of the leaders of the Ten Years'
War, was living in San Domingo in 1895, where he
was joined by Jose Marti, who had been prevented by
the United States authorities from starting an expedi-
tion to Cuba from Florida. With a small force of
men they landed on the island and raised the flag of the
Cuban Republic.
They enlisted their countrymen in a struggle for in-
dependence in which the undrilled men were opposed
by the trained soldiers of Spain under the notorious
"Butcher" Weyler. The rebellion extended and
Weyler was succeeded by Blanco, who remained in
charge of the army until the destruction of the battle-
ship Maine in Havana harbor drew the United States
CUBA PARA CRISTO 83
into the war. United States troops were landed on the
island and by August, 1898, Spain was willing to ac-
knowledge her defeat. By the treaty of Paris, Cuba
was declared free, the United States assuming military
control until conditions in the island warranted the
withdrawal of her troops. In 1902 the military gov-
ernment transferred its power to the newly elected
president and congress of Cuba. In 1906 there was an
unsettled condition of affairs which necessitated a sec-
ond intervention of the United States in Cuba, but the
former restlessness seems now to have subsided and
for the past eight years the people of the island have
been able to control their affairs without disorder.
The general impression of the nations of the world was
that when the United States once had her troops on the
island of Cuba she would never withdraw, but this
country has been able to prove to the world that her in-
terest is not a selfish one, and that while Porto Rico is
a possession of this country, the relation to Cuba re-
mains that of a protector. If the Cubans need the
help of the United States it will be given them, but
while they are able to govern themselves it is against
the policy of this government to interfere.
A partial, though we believe temporary, alienation of
the Cubans, caused partly by a misunderstanding as to
the motives of the United States, partly by the mis-
representations of interested agitators, partly by un-
wise tariff laws enacted by Congress and possibly, in
part, by the activity of the priesthood, has at times
greatly hampered the work of physical, social, and
moral regeneration. Cubans are exceedingly jealous
84 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
of their rights, and it would appear to an unbiased ob-
server that Congress has not always scrupulously re-
spected the rights or the feelings of a sensitive people.
Even after these years of helpfulness on the part of
the United States, many Cubans are still suspicious of
her ultimate design in exercising a protectorate.
It may be that eventually Cuba will find peace and
safety under the American flag; but if that day ever
comes, it should be on the initiative and with the hearty
consent of the whole people of the island. Otherwise
Cuba must remain independent, for its strategic impor-
tance is so great to the United States, guarding as it
does, with Porto Rico, the approaches to the Panama
Canal, that it could never be permitted to pass under
the control of any European power.
Cuba of Today
Geography and Climate. — It is hard to realize that
this island which does not belong to us is far nearer our
shores than the one that does; it takes but five hours
to reach Cuba from Key West while Porto Rico is far
beyond Cuba. The shape Ci Cuba has been compared
to that of an alligator. If placed on a map of the
United States, Cuba would extend from New York to
Indianapolis, and its territory is about equal to that
of the State of Pennsylvania. The rough mountains
the fertile plains and valleys make Cuba a very attrac-
tive island; it is rich in its forests, and the cultivated
areas yield freely. The Spaniards realized the possi-
bilities of the island and profited from its cultivation;
since Cuba has become independent her industries and
• ■ w
CUBA PARA CRISTO 85
commerce have developed marvellously, her foreign
trade now amounting to some $300,000,000 a year.
One crossing the island beholds the constant contrast
of roughly cleared forest tracts, beautiful forests, and
newly planted orange groves, with the settlers' cabins.
The eastern part of Cuba is very mountainous, and the
western low. The central part of the island contains
the most fertile land, and is the region where sugar
and tobacco are grown to the greatest extent.
The climate of Cuba is claimed to be ideal by those
who visit her shores; there are few extremes of heat
and cold. Though the thermometer sometimes reaches
94 degrees Fahrenheit, there is a breeze from the ocean
to freshen the air and people comfort themselves with
the thought that they are in the second healthiest coun-
try in the world, Australia being the only one that sur-
passes Cuba.
Who Are the Cubans of Today? — The Indian
blood does not strongly predominate in Cuba and Porto
Rico as it does in Mexico. Porto Rico was almost
depopulated by the extinction of the natives and the
dissensions of the Spaniards, and for two hundred
years the increase in population was exceedingly slow.
The extermination of the natives left Cuba for genera-
tions peopled chiefly by Creoles — the children of
Spaniards bom in the island — and by Negro slaves.
Many Cubans at the present time will not allow that
any have a right to be so called unless they are de-
scended from the Creole class. The other races were
either pure Chinese and pure Negroes or else a mixture
called "Mulattoes." These last are considered the
.'■. . «-.:-..jtA:pi4Jui-j.:...'......"v^
86 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
most turbulent and insubordinate of all, and formed the
revolutionary element that caused the second American
occupation.
The census of 1907 gave the total population of
Cuba as 2,048,980. Of these there were of the Cubans
1,224,539. Of the remainder of the population 185,000
were Spaniards, 6,713 Americans, 274,272 Negroes,
1 1*837 Chinese and 334,695 of the mixed races.
Cuban Character. — It is not just to judge the Cuban
by our American standards. Race, environment, edu-
cation, religion, opportunities and possibilities of de-
velopment, must all be taken into consideration in our
estimate of him both in the present and the future — ;
for he is both present and future. Four himdred
years of misrule, enforced ignorance, and wrong re-
ligious teaching, have left their impress. Denied lib-
erty of expression, there was little to develop a thinking
people. Surrender of conscience to the priesthood will
invariably undermine personal morals. A reverence
for things because they are old will paralyze progress.
Howard B. Grose (" Advance in the Antilles "), por-
trays Cuba as she has been formed through the four
hundred years of Roman Catholic domination as fol-
lows : " * By their fruits ye shall know them,* said
Jesus. The Roman Catholics can hardly declare it un-
just to apply this principle of the Saviour to the product
of their Church in Cuba. If, after centuries of com-
plete domination over the lives and government of a
people, we find an appalling absence of moral and eth-
ical standards, of educational institutions, of national
and individual ideals, of honesty and chastity, of chiv-
CUBA PARA CRISTO 87
airy and conscience^ what shall be said of the sins of
omission and commission of the Church under whose
instruction and dictation this came to be ? And when
you discover that in all the years of corruption and op-
pression the Church never raised its voice for relief
even, not to say release or liberty ; when you find that
the Church had no protest against the cruel forms
of sport such as the bull-fight and the cocking-main,
or against the spread of gambling among all classes
through government lottery; when you learn that the
priesthood was shamelessly and openly corrupt, so that
it became itself a source of moral rottenness, according
to the confession of some of its own members, and de-
served the contempt it inspired in the best men ; when
you know that through the greed of this Church the
masses of the people were practically forced into fami-
lies not bound by legal or Church ceremonial; when
you read the long and terrible chapters of illiteracy,
of intellectual repression, of foolish superstitions, of
infamous impositions in the name of religion upon
a hopelessly chained people — it is not unjust to apply
the Master's test/'
Amid such surroundings and under such influences
was formed and developed the character of the Cuban
people. Conceding that they are lacking in some of
the qualities we deem essential for the highest civiliza-
tion, we should ask if we would be better imder like
conditions. The Cuban or Porto Rican at the worst
has not been much worse than was the Scot when John
Knox worked into the national life, through the school
and the Word of God, the spirit of his prayer, " O
90 OLD ^PAIN IN NEW AMERICA
pupils and teachers are too polite in Cuba to work
while they have visitors/'
Elementary work is carried on in these schools, un-
fortunately ending in most cases with the fifth grade;
some schools carry the work to the seventh grade, and
their graduates are eligible to take the examinations
for the government provincial institutes, of which
there is one in each of the six provinces. The insti-
tutes carry work a little farther in some subjects than
our high schools, giving the B.A. degree at the com-
pletion of the course. Graduates of the institutes, in
turn, may enter the University of Cuba at Havana.
It is unfortunate for the people that the grade of public
schools is usually so low; another unfortunate thing
is that there are no government normal schools to
train teachers. This must usually result in poor teach-
ing, and it makes very desirable the opportunity given
to people in some parts of the island to place their chil-
dren in the high grade mission schools.
Religious Work in Cuba
Intolerance of Spain. — The religious intolerance
that has been encountered in all Spanish speaking peo-
ples was particularly active in Cuba. A number of
English speaking people living in Havana about 1870
wished to organize a church. They were refused per-
mission to hold public services, and met in private.
Bishop Whipple of the Episcopal Church visited the is-
land in 1871, and, the people being again refused per-
mission to hold public service, he accepted the invita-
tion of the officers of an American man-of-war that
CUBA PARA CRISTO 91
was in the harbor, and the Sacrament of the Com-
munion was celebrated on the vessel. Bishop Whipple
interested his church people on his return to the United
States, and a clergyman was sent to minister to the
English speaking residents of Havana. Services were
held in one of the hotels on Sundays, the missionary
spending his time during the week ministering to all
the people he could reach, whether Spanish or Eng-
lish. Many Cubans, driven out of the island as exiles
following the civil war, came into contact with Prot-
estantism in the United States and accepted it. About
the same time the American Bible Society began to
circulate the Bible in Cuba, scattering the Word among
a few of the people. The work grew quietly in spite
of the opposition of the authorities, and an appeal to
the Spanish government, following the refusal of local
authorities, resulted in a royal decree affirming the
principle of religious freedom. Opposition continued,
but the Episcopal Church took advantage of the royal
decree, and built its first church in Mantazas in 1887.
In 1883 the Southern Baptist Church had begun work
in Havana, continuing it until the coming of others to
the same field in 1899.
February 17, 1898, after the terrible disaster of the
Maine, Captain Sigsbee asked permission to read the
Protestant burial service over the bodies of the first
victims that were found. Permission was denied him,
and in the carriage, and in his room, he read portions
of the service.
One of the first steps of the United States in Cuba
was to issue a bill of rights, and the second guarantee
92 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
made by this bill was " freedom of worship according
to individual conscience/' The fact that the Roman
Catholic Church was in such close touch with the hated
Spain loosened the hold of the priests over the people,
♦ but nevertheless they met the coming of Protestant
missionaries with opposition. The hostility of the
Roman Church, manifest in our own Southwest, was
repeated in Cuba.
Evangelistic Work. — The attitude of the civil
authorities during the Cuban war of independence made
it necessary for the missionaries under the Episcopal
Church to withdraw from the island, but they returned
as soon as the Spanish power was broken. At this
time other denominations realized their responsibility
for this neighboring island, and a number of mission-
aries were soon on the field. They have found three
important types of work to be done in Cuba: that
among the native Cubans, among the Jamaica negroes,
and among Americans residing in Cuba.
The first missionaries were delighted with the way
in which people thronged to their services. Even in
pleasure-loving Havana they crowded the meetings, but
it was difficult to decide whether the crowds were
merely idly curious, or whether they were hungering
for the Gospel. Dr. Moseley, who opened the field
for the Baptists, said of them : " One of the greatest
difficulties we have to encounter is the indifference of
the people. They are not a serious people and are in-
clined to take everything lightly and carelessly. I
think it may be truthfully said that Cuba has no re-
ligion. Of course, the Romish Church is the estab-
CUBA PARA CRISTO 93
lished church of the island, but its devotees are few in
number, and while all Cubans are nominal Catholics,
they do not concern themselves about Protestantism or
Romanism, righteousness or unrighteousness, but pur*
sue the even tenor of their way gaily, carelessly, many
of them going to mass in the morning, on some pleas-
ure excursion in the afternoon and to our service at
night. Many of them are willing to imite with our
church without any investigation whatever. For that
very reason we must go slowly and carefully, and
while candidates for church membership are nimier-
ous, we examine each one privately, and then again
publicly, and receive only such as give evidence of hav-
ing been bom of God's Spirit. And God is giving His
Spirit and souls are being bom into the Kingdom.*'
Most of the people had heard little preaching, and a
service in a language they cf>uld understand was in-
teresting to them; the hymns were a novelty; and so
curiosity was found to be a great motive in drawing
them together. When the careless were satisfied, the
attendance at the services diminished somewhat, biit
the enduring work had begun. There was little at-
tention paid to the Romish clergy who tried to keep
their followers away from Protestant churches, and
homes were opened hospitably to the missionaries
where buildings were not provided.
When asked last year if the work in Cuba paid, one
of the missionaries who has been longest there an-
swered : " I make bold to express the doubt if any
field of Christian work in Roman Catholic countries has
dded more visible or abundant fruitage in proportion
94 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA ^
to the money expended and the missionaries employed
than Cuba/' He spoke of the improvement in the
home life. When Americans entered Cuba there were
168,000 people living in unlawful cohabitation. To-
day marriages are performed without exorbitant fees,
and so marriages take place. There are almost eleven
thousand members of Protestant churches, and young
men and women trained in these churches are carry-
ing the Gospel to their own people. Thousands of chil-
dren gather each week in the Sunday schools, carry-
ing to their homes messages from the Word of God.
Every missionary feels that missions in Cuba pay.
Many Jamaica negroes have been drawn to Cuba
by the higher wages, and among them have been found
fetish worshippers. The Episcopal Church is trying
to reach this diMcult part of the population.
Work among our countrymen who have been at-
tracted to the island is very necessary. Some of them
are of great help to the missionary force, but others
have retarded missionary work. Freedom from the
restraint of home surroundings, with a yielding to the
carelessness of Cuban life, has made it particularly
necessary that the Church exert itself for these people,
* for if it fails to hold them, it can not make great prog-
ress with the Cubans.
Educational Work. — Almost four thousand children
have been gathered into the mission schools in Cuba.
This number seems encouraging until we remember
that there are about four hundred thousand children
of school age in Cuba. The plan of education carried
out by the government makes it possible for those
CUBA PARA CRISTO 95
who Kve in large places to attend the higher schools,
but the majority of pupils complete only the fifth gfrade.
The public school gives absolutely no religious train-
ing, and the poor preparation of teachers makes the
school work of a low standard. Many parents object
to the coeducational plan of the public schools, others
to the mixing of white and colored children in the
schools ; the result has been that children of the better
class have been sent to the parochial schools established
by the Roman Catholic Church since 1898, or to private
schools that are favored by the Church.
There is a very great need of mission schools all
over the island, schools that will begin with the kinder-
garten and carry the average pupil through the high
school grades, providing some means of higher educa-
tion for those who desire to fit themselves for teaching
or preaching. There are fifty day schools and a few
boarding schools under the various Mission Boards
which are now accomplishing a splendid work. Jhe
children began going to these schools with misgivings.
;They feared that the priest would put them out of the
church if he knew what they were doing. They tried
to avoid the religious services that were a part of the
daily routine, but little by little they were interested
and were won to the truth.
The Baptists, who carry on the most extensive work
of any denomination in Cuba, have opened an educa-
tional work of great promise in El Cristo, ten miles
north of Santiago. The site was selected after care-
ful deliberation, and dormitories for boys and girls,
class room building, and gymnasium erected. It has
96 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
been possible to do a far more effective work with
the pupils who have lived with the teachers, than with
pupils in day schools. The Cubans have evinced a
growing interest in athletics^ and schools have culti-
vated this interest in honest sports, in order to draw
students' from the objectionable diversions that have
previously been offered them.
Workers in Cuban schools have said that the chil-
dren are far more difficult to deal with than those in
Porto Rico and New Mexico, for they are very likely
to be impolite, impertinent, talkative, restless, and ex-
citable. They seem to have developed without restric-
tions of any kind. In spite of such disadvantages, the
missionary teachers in Cuba are doing a work that has
already shown wonderful results in the noble type of
young manhood and womanhood that has been devel-
oped under their inspiring leadership.
Cuba para Cristo. — Over three hundred delegates,
representing the Christian Endeavor Societies and Sun-
day schools of Cuba, met recently in Havana. The
watchword of the Convention was " Cuba para
Cristo" (Cuba for Christ). This is the slogan of
the churches of Cuba, and the thought echoes through
all the gatherings on the island. A missionary says:
" We have abundant reason to thank God, take cour-
age, and do more and more for the youth of Cuba."
Cubans in the United States
Almost four centuries after de Soto left Cuba, thou-
sands of people from the island of which he was gov-
ernor followed his course to Florida and settled just
^ .lij
CUBA PARA CRISTO 97
across the bay from the spot where he landed. They
did not come with the same purpose that influenced
that fearless explorer, but because they looked upon
this country as their friend and wished the privileges
that life here offered for their children.
At the time of the Spanish-American War there was
a community of some five thousand Cubans at Tampa,
Florida. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
opened a school for the children, which has been main-
tained to the present time. Another school, primarily
intended for Cubans, was opened by the same church
at Key West. English speaking children have taken
advantage of the opportunity to attend this school, and
today are in the majority.
In a population of 10,000 in West Tampa there are
but 1,500 Americans. The rest are almost entirely
Cubans, for the most part employed in cigar factories.
A mission of the Congregational Church has brought
great blessing to this city. In 1905 a missionary and
his wife started work in a rented house which also
served as a parsonage. This building later housed the
public school, and when the school moved to its own
building, the missionaries decided to open a church
school. There has been the gradual growth that at-
tends consecrated efforts, and today the church has
six buildings in West Tampa. When children were
found who were deserted and neglected, the mission-
aries took them into their own home. A home for
boys and one for girls were later opened to meet the
needs of such children. As the work developed two
people could not attend to all the demands that were
98 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
made upon them^ and a Cuban minister was called to
their assistance. There is now a group of six Ameri-
can teachers and missionaries who, with the Cuban
pastor, carry on day and night school, religious edu-
cation in school and Sunday school, church services in
English and Spanish, conduct homes for boys and
girls, furnish play as well as serious work for the peo-
ple, and serve as friends and counselors to the many
who come to them for help.
In spite of the indifference and carelessness of many
of the Cubans, missionaries have found those in Cuba
and in the United States a most lovable people. They
are responsive to the message of the Gospel, and very
loyal as members of the Church. It has been worth
the sacrifices to be able to lead them to a better life
than they have ever known. With better educational
facilities, better church buildings and equipment, the
Protestant Church will be able to extend its influence
and hasten the time when the hope of the people that
Cuba be Christ's will be fulfilled
n
V
OUR NEW POSSESSION
102 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
November iS, 14939 Columbus landed. A granite
monument marks the place where he planted the cross
and took possession in the name of the Crown of Spain
and the Holy Catholic Church. The town takes its
name Aguadilla (watering place) from a gfreat foun-
tain that bursts out of the hillside and furnishes water
for the whole population. The name given by Colum-
bus to this beautiful and fertile region was Puerto
Rico, or Rich Port, and to the island, San Juan Bau-
tista. For some time the Spaniards called the island
San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico. Later when the
explorations had extended to the eastern end a settle-
ment was made across the bay from what is now the
city of San Juan and was called Caparra. Later, in
1521, it was transferred to the present site command-
ing the entrance to the bay. The name of the new
town was changed to San Juan de Bautista, and the
island was henceforth known as Puerto Rico. The In-
dian name was Borinquen, and the national anthem of
the Porto Ricans bears that name and is as dear to
their hearts as is ** America*' to the Americans or
'' God Save the King ** to the British.
Soon after founding the new town, the Spaniards
began work on the fortifications at the entrance to the
harbor, and the massive and formerly impregnable
fortresses of the Morro and Cristobal Colon are monu-
ments to the energy and engineering skill of the Span-
iards of that time. But as one looks upon those
mighty walls, and realizes that they were built by the
forced labor of the unhappy natives, it does not re-
quire a strong imagination to believe that the mortar
OUR NEW POSSESSION 103
that has stood the test of nearly four hundred years
was mixed with the blood and tears of the unfortunate
inhabitants of beautiful Borinquen.
Ponce de Leon. — In 1508 Ponce de Leon was made
governor of Porto Rico. It was a dark day for the
hospitable natives when they were delivered into the
hands of this cruel and brutal adventurer. Under his
administration the Indians were not only made to work
in the gold mines of Porto Rico, but were also carried
by thousands to the neighboring island of Haiti. If by
chance they escaped to the mountains they were hunted
with bloodhounds, and were either slain or brought
back to toil in their bondage until freed by a merciful
death.
Diego Columbtis. — In 151 1 Ponce de Leon was suc-
ceeded by Diego Columbus, a brother^ of the dis-
coverer, but the condition of the natives was in no way
improved by the change. A system whereby the In-
dians were distributed among the Spaniards as virtual
slaves had been instituted by Christopher Columbus,
and under his brother they were divided into eight sec-
tions and distributed among eight overseers to search
for gold in the streams. So cruel was their treatment
that at last in 151 1 the peaceful slaves could no longer
endure it, and there was a general uprising in which
hundreds of their masters were slain. But like all up-
risings against the armed and disciplined Spaniards, it
ended in greater cruelties, and the Indians were not
only subjugated after brief successes, but were almost
^ By some authorities named as a son of Christopher Colum-
bus.
I04 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
exterminated. How many there were at the time of
the discovery cannot be ascertained. The estimates
varied from one hundred thousand to six hundred
thousand ; but when the King of Spain by royal decree
ordered their liberation from slavery it is stated that
there were left but sixty to avail themselves of the of-
fered liberty and *' before the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury the natives disappeared as a distinct race.**
The Coming of the Negroes. — In the early part of
the sixteenth century Negroes began to be imported
in great numbers to take the place of the exterminated
Indians. What untold cruelties attended the traffic we
can only imagine. It is said that the man-eating
sharks that infest the waters of the West Indies came
from Africa, following the slavers, drawn by the
corpses thrown overboard.
Better Days. — Fortunately for Porto Rico, Spain
had her hands full with European wars and the island
had a period of comparative freedom from interfer-
ence for almost two hundred years. By 1800 the
population had increased to nearly forty thousand,
counting the slaves, who numbered about six thousand.
The Freedom of the Slaves. — On March 22, 1875,
while under the short-lived Spanish Republic, Porto
Rico abolished slavery. If the Spaniards did bring
the first African slaves to America, they were wiser
than we in that they abolished slavery without the
enormous waste and bitterness of a civil war. Porto
Rican representatives to the Spanish Cortes united
with the Republicans in the request for the abolition
of slavery, and the Negro, who on the night of March
OUR NEW POSSESSION 105
21st, lay down to sleep a slave, awakened on the 22nd
a free man. A loan of nearly fourteen millions of
dollars was negotiated to pay the slaveholders for their
slaves, and the great act was accomplished without
leaving a ripple on the surface of the social or civil
life.
Spanish Misrule. — During the trying years that fol-
lowed the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, both
Porto Rico and Cuba suflFered industrial paralysis.
On November 25, 1897, Spain granted autonomy to
both Cuba and Porto Rico, but the hand of the Spanish
oligarchy was still heavy upon them. Their liberty
was only in name. Castelar said with reference to the
union of church and state, "A privileged church
within a free state is an impossibility." He warned
the Cortes that unless a larger liberty, civil and re-
ligious, was granted in the islands, they would lose
both Cuba and Porto Rico.
The reforms were denied and the record of misrule
from Ponce de Leon to Weyler was continued, until it
led, in the providence of God, to American intervention,
and the opportunity for the Church of Christ to show
to the world what His Gospel could accomplish in the
redemption of a people.
Our New Possession
Government — A nation was born in a day, in an
hour, when on October 18, 1898, the Stars and Stripes
were raised over the Governor's palace in San Juan.
The centuries of misrule and oppression ended that
day with the stroke of twelve; but not even the most
io6 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
sanguine of the thousands who witnessed the unfurling
of that symbol of liberty could have foreseen the trans-
formation that would take place in the physical, the
moral, and the intellectual condition of the people, in
the space of one decade from the historic event.
It was no easy task which was assumed by the
United States in reorganizing the government in the
islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.
Here was an island with a population of about one
million, 60 per cent of whom were white, 34 of mixed
blood, and 6 per cent Negroes. The Spaniards did not
draw the color line very closely, consequently the pop-
ulation was decidedly mixed both as to color and
blood. This admixture was bound to cause many
complications. It is a remarkable fact that the cross-
ing of Spanish and Indian produced a much more
peaceable and dependable type than the cross with the
African.
The pro-Spanish element was, of course, bitterly hos-
tile to the new government, and the priesthood was
even more antagonistic. The Roman Catholic Church
had undisputed sway for four hundred years and
every effort was made to prejudice the uneducated
masses against the new comers. When the terrible
hurricane of August 8, 1908, swept the island and al-
most destroyed the coffee industry, the main depend-
ence of so large a portion of the laborers, the priests
declared it was a manifest judgment of God upon
them for having accepted a heretic government to the
detriment of the **Holy Catholic Apostolic Church."
It was only the apathy and indifference of the people
OUR NEW POSSESSION 107
toward the Church that rendered abortive this at-
tempt to array them against the United States.
The wisdom of a military form of government was
seen in handling the difficult conditions immediately
following the hurricane, when nearly the whole popu-
lation was in great distress. The military became the
police force, and a government appropriation of
$200,000 relieved the immediate necessities and at
once convinced the people that at last they had a gov-
ernment that would serve them as well as be served
by them.
The military government gave way to the civil gov-
ernment established by the Foraker Law of 1900.
Physical Conditions. — Porto Rico is a gem for the
beauty of its scenery. Standing on a mountain top
overlooking the sea, watching the changing colors as
the fleecy clouds move over the waters, seeing the
wealth and beauty of valley and mountain, one is car-
ried away by the wonderful prospect. The graceful
palm, the glossy leaved mango, the golden orange, the
soft trade wind, purified by its sweep across three
thousand miles of open sea, — all combine to win the
heart of the visitor from the north to swear eternal
loyalty to "Borinquen the Beautiful." When once
the tropics get their grip on the heart and imagination
there is no release. In no other place will the moon
seem so bright, the air so soft, the foliage so beauti-
ful, while the ear is always listening to hear once more
the soft rustling of the palm. The discomforts are
forgotten, and only the delights of those long winter
days are remembered, days of freedom from frosts.
no OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
American athletic sports have taken a strong hold
upon the youth of both sexes, and the influence of this
new activity cannot be measured by the physical gain.
The necessity for self-control in training and the new
interest in the open air sports have tended to wean the
young men from the old and debasing sports that pre-
vailed, and a new generation of men is being devel-
oped stronger physically, mentally, and morally than
was ever known under the Spanish regime.
Development of Education in Porto Rico
Educational Conditions Under Spanish Occupation.
As a result of four hundred years of Spanish occu-
pation, only fifteen per cent of the population of Porto
Rico could read and write. The State left all matters
of education to the care of the clergy. The Qiurch
was supreme in all things, religious, social, and politi-
cal. So far as the masses were concerned her motto
might well have been ''Ignorance is the mother of
devotion/' Little or no effort was made to educate
the people. The Church dictated not only what should
be taught, but how it should be taught The mayor
of one of the towns in Porto Rico told the writer tiiat
before American occupation the parish priest was al-
ways chairman of the board of school directors. A
priest coming from Spain one day sat the next day in
the board, and dictated the educational policy of a
district with which he was entirely unfamiliar.
Growth of Schools Under United States. — Prop-
erly speaking, Porto Rico had no school system prior
to her passing under the American flag. There were
/ ■
OUR NEW POSSESSION h i
a few schools, it is true, but no system which looked to
the education of the people either in self-government
as in a democracy, or in self-control as under a truly
Christian system of social development Under Amer-
ican direction an excellent school system has been
developed and school houses of modem design dot
the island. In primary work the different mission-
ary organizations have supplemented the work of the
insular government, gradually giving way to the public
schools as these were able to meet the demands. In
San Juan the government opened a high school that
ranks with schools of like order in cities of the same
class in the States. The first class, consisting of five
Porto Ricans and one American, was graduated in
1904. The Porto Ricans did not take kindly, at first,
to coeducation, but are rapidly conforming in this to
American ideas. It is inspiring to see the children
thronging to the schools, entering with zeal into study
and sports and saluting the flag with as enthusiastic
loyalty as any Saxon among us, or any son bom of
Revolutionary sires.
Today most of the cities have modern concrete
school buildings, and together with the ordiq^ry
branches of study have developed manual training
and household arts. The needs of the rural sections
have been given particular attention the past two years
and now every village has its public school. In 1900-
1901, $435,565.29 was appropriated for the schools,
while in 1913-1914, $3,014,740.00 was the amount set
apart for this work. Very little school work is now
attempted by the churches, on account of the splendid
112 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
system of public schools. The little that is done is
confined almost entirely to the poorest districts of the
cities. The teachers of the public schools are in a
large proportion Porto Ricans, and many of these are
graduates of the Normal College of the University of
Porto Rico at Rio Piedras, where is also located an-
other division of the University, the College of Lib-
eral Arts. A third college of the University, the Col-
lege of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, is located at
Mayaguez. Porto Rico should be grateful to the
United States for the aid given in educational matters ;
but Americans should understand that it is a Porto
Rican legislature that willingly votes the funds to de-
velop and carry on the schools and that the Porto
Rican people cheerfully pay their taxes to bring the
system to a high state of efficiency.
Religious and Moral Condition of the
Porto Ricans
Under Spanish Domination, — Spain always carried
her state religion to her dependencies, and she suc-
ceeded in planting the Roman Catholic Church as firmly
in Porto Rico as in any of her other possessions. The
Inquisition was introduced by Bishop Manso as early
as 1519, and not even Torquemada in his greater field
was more relentless in the pursuit of heretics than was
this monster in the pursuit of all who incurred his dis-
pleasure. There seems to have been no limit to his
authority. From all parts of the island the accused
were brought to San Juan for punishment, the favorite
method being roasting alive. The spirit of the Inqui-
OUR NEW POSSESSION 113
sition prevailed even to the last, and the people, ex-
cept such as had traveled abroad, were wholly igno-
rant of the beliefs and practices of Protestants.
Priests were paid from state funds and every city
had its cathedral facing the principal square.
The priests were frequently men of immoral lives
and their hold on the people grew less and less. Men
deserted the services of the Church almost entirely,
and at the time of the coming of the Americans large
numbers had drifted into atheism. The people of
Porto Rico knew of the immoral character of many
of their priests, and while it was one of the prin-
cipal reasons for the absence of men from the services
of the Church, yet it did not seem to shock the faith-
ful ones. Morals and religion were divorced in a
way never understood among Protestants.
The excessive fees demanded by the priests for per-
forming a marriage ceremony made one almost pro-
hibitive and, even in the time when the State recog-
nized civil marriage, such was the power of the clergy
over the ignorant peasants that few dared avail them-
selves of the provisions of the law. As a consequence
fully fifty per cent of the families were formed with-
out a marriage ceremony. Often the judges aided the
Church in this immoral practice. A well authenticated
case is as follows: A young couple in Porto Rico
went to take out a marriage license. When the judge
found they were Protestants, he availed himself of
every possible legal obstruction to the marriage. The
girl was an orphan, but had been raised by foster
parents. Jhe judge said it would be necessary to wait
tti4 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
until the court could appoint a guardian^ as the con-
sent of the foster parents was of no value. When
the young man protested, the judge advised him, in
the presence of a crowd of men, to take her home
with him and not bother about a marriage ceremony.
It was necessary to go to the Attorney General to get
an order for the license before the judge would issue
it.
Cock-fighting, gambling, disregard of the Sabbath,
and intemperance were prevalent in the island when
the Americans took possession.
Protestant Entrance. — The Church of England was
the first Protestant Church to establish itself in Porto
Rico. Even before American occupation, there was
not the same intolerance of churches other than the
Roman Catholic as there was in Cuba, and services
for the English residents were held in the Holy Trin-
ity Church in Ponce, beginning in 1867. This build-
ing was transferred to the Episcopal Church in 1899.
Within four months after the Stars and Stripes were
raised over the island, Protestant missionaries were on
the field. It is an interesting fact that the first Prot-
estant church in the city of Mayaguez was organized
in the old building of the Inquisition, and the first
native Protestants lifted up songs of praise within
walls that had echoed with the cries and groans of the
victims of the " Holy Office.'*
Church Comity. — In a large measure the lamen-
table mistake of denominational competition has been
avoided in Porto Rico. Methodists, Baptists, Pres-
byterians, Qmgregationalists, Disciples, Lutherans,
k
Typical Porto Rican Mountain Hoi
Public School at Arecibo
OUR NEW POSSESSION 115
United Brethren, and the Qiristian Alliance have
divided the territory in such a way as to secure help-
ful cooperation. San Juan and Ponce, the two prin-
cipal cities, are open to all, but all have not availed
themselves of the privilege of entering.
The spirit of union is seen in the tendency to com-
bine wherever the way seems open. The Presbyteri-
ans had a most successful training school for the na-
tive ministry in Mayaguez. After several years of
successful work the Congregationalists and United
Brethren joined with them, and it is now an interde-
nominational school.
These three cooperating denominations have also
united in the publication of an interdenominational
paper for the extension of evangelical work. It would
seem from the growth of this spirit of mutual helpful-
ness that there is reason to believe that eventually all
denominations will unite in supporting one training
school for the ministry, in one publication for the dis-
semination of the printed truth, and in higher Chris-
tian education.
The Episcopal Church has not formally accepted
the principle of comity prevailing among the other
churches, but has been in sjnnpathy with it and has
largely observed it in spirit.
Missionary Work. — The Church Boards having in
charge the missionary work on the island sent at once
men who had a knowledge of the Spanish language,
and, as far as possible, those who had had experience
in missionary work in Mexico and South America.
The evil growth of years could not be checked at once,
/^
ii6 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and there was much to discourage the newcomers.
The immorality was revolting, but there were rays of
light through the darkness. Missionaries found a
people who were remarkably teachable and who were
eager to hear the true message. The few men on the
field at first held services in city and country districts,
covering as large a territory as possible, and always
having large audiences.
Gradually the religious indifference and apathy of
the people ceased, and there was ready response to the
invitation of the missionaries. Even some who still
profess that they are Romanists have opened their
homes wide for services.
Encouragements. — The number of church members
in Porto Rico passed the 10,000 mark several years
ago, and the number in Sunday schools was even
larger. Pastors have reported a desire on the part of
the people to make their lives better, and very many
marriage ceremonies have been performed by mis-
sionaries for those who have been living together with-
out it for years. Oftentimes there are children old
enough to serve as witnesses.
Many forms of evil have been restrained, and
Christian men are fighting intemperance and an open
Sunday. The work of the missionaries is only re-
tarded by the small number of men and the large par-
ishes that are theirs to serve.
Effect on the Catholic Church. — Not the least of
the wonders wrought by Protestant missions has been
the change in the Roman Catholic Church. Ameri-
cans who have known Porto Rico from the beginning
^ OUR NEW POSSESSION 117
have seen a new people and a new church bom. The
policy of the missionaries has never been one of at-
tack, but the loving presentation of the Gospel; not
antagonizing, but winning. The American Catholic
bishop, sent to the island soon after it came under
American control, removed the most corrupt of the
priests and replaced them with better men. The Sis-
ters, who had neglected the poor, began to care for
them. Schools were opened by them and the Brothers,
and even if the object may have been to counteract
the influence of the public and mission schools, it was
worth something that they interested themselves in the
unfortunate ones. A higher standard of morals for
the clergy was demanded by an enlightened public
opinion, the nominal, though indifferent Catholics,
were moved to a greater interest and devotion, and
made a more insistent demand that their church meas-
ure up to the standard of piety, purity, morals, and
helpfulness that characterized the Protestant churches.
A missionary was in company with a number of
Porto Ricans and Spaniards; one of the latter com-
mented on a fine Protestant church, when another
turned to the missionary and said, *' We do not need
you Protestants here any longer." Asked his reason,
he continued, ''Because the Bishop has put out the
priests who caused such a scandal, and the Sisters are
opening schools and are caring for the poor."
" Good ! " said the missionary ; " that is a part of our
mission. We have not come to destroy, not even to
attack the Roman Catholic Church, but to do what she
was not doing. If we shall be able to stir her up to
Ii8 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
help the poor and make them better and their lives
brighter, we will feel that our mission has not been in
vain. But, supposing we were to close every Prot-
estant church tomorrow, suspend the work of all
medical missions, close all our schools, and then with-
draw all our forces from the island, how long would
this reform of your Church continue? " " Well said,"
another replied, ** it would not last long."
Social Service
The first missionaries to go to Porto Rico realized
that there were physical ne^ that must be met be-
fore the spiritual needs of the people could be greatly
touched, and they asked their churches for teachers
and doctors to supplement the work of the government
in eradicating the hook worm, establishing sanitary
conditions, and in teaching the Porto Ricans. As the
government schools have improved it has been possible
for teachers to devote more of their time to raising the
standards in the home life of the people.
Religious Settlements. — After visiting the work of
the churches in Porto Rico the head of the School De-
partment of one of the Church Boards said of the
needs in the fearfully overcrowded city districts:
*' The only method of attack that will achieve the de-
sired end is through a neighborhood settlement with
(i) a visiting nurse working in cooperation with the
kxral physician, (2) a day nursery for the mothers,
(3) a play school for the little children below public
school age, (4) profitable industrial work, and (5)
competent instruction in domestic science."
•n:
OUR NEW POSSESSION 119
It is sucH a work that missionaries are iattempting
to develop, and only the lack of buildings, equipment,
and helpers have retarded them. The Blanche Kel-
logg Institute, located at Santurce, a suburb of San
Juan, is the most noteworthy institution under denomi-
national control, carrying on this type of work. The
workers spend their mornings calling on the sick, vis-
iting among the people, encouraging and helping them
in every way. They try to provide work for those
who have no employment; during the depression of
the past two years this has been a hard matter. In
the early afternoon time is given to the care of the
Settlement house and grounds, business, and prepara-
tion for classes. Three afternoons a week girls from
seven to twelve attend the Settlement, learning to
sew, cook, and clean. It has been found necessary to
teach plain sewing, for the women and girls who have
learned to do beautiful lace and drawn work have
known nothing of the more necessary sewing. Older
girls carry on advanced work the other three after-
noons, and at night the mothers or still older girls
meet. The mothers also form a missionary society,
doing missionary and Bible work among their own
people. They have practical addresses on such sub-
jects as cleanliness, training of children, and pure
foods, as well as religion and travel. This settlement
has been doing a great work in the interests of temper-
ance. Boys and girls, men and women are enrolled
in the temperance societies, and are trying to limit the
sale of liquors, which are now found in every grocery
store. Addresses on temperance are given before the
..V-
I20 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
societies, and posters in the interest of temperance
have been set up by them. In every club at the Set-
tlement, the Bible is given a prominent place.
Settlement work is of incalculable value to the peo-
ple of the cities and to the Christian Church. The
missionaries are anxious to increase it, and the Church
at home must recognize the need and make it possible
for this work to be extended.
Orphanages. — The George O. Robinson Orphanage
of San Juan is ideally located in large grounds near
the ocean. The girls are trained in all kinds of house-
work, together with the regular school branches. The
Orphanage has not yet been in existence fifteen years,
but it shows results that warrant its continuance.
Not only has there been satisfaction in being able to
care for neglected little children, but there has been
the joy of seeing some of these children develop into
beautiful, useful womanhood.
Medical Work. — Dr. Ashf ord of the army medical
corps compares the proportion of people in the United
States and Porto Rico who are able to pay for medical
attendance. In the United States the ten per cent
who are not able to pay are largely cared for by or-
ganized charity. On the other hand but ten per cent
of the Porto Ricans are able to pay for the care, and
as there is not a well organized system of charity the
State and individuals must look after the sick. The
first Presbyterian missionary to reach Porto Rico
asked his Mission Board for a doctor, for the over-
crowding, lack of knowledge of sanitation, and preva-
lence of anemia were things with which a clergyman
OUR NEW POSSESSION 121
could hardly deal. The Woman's Board of Home
Missions of that denomination responded by sending
the first medical missionary, a young woman, Dr.
Grace Atkins. Before her office in San Juan was in
order or her drugs unpacked, patients began to arrive.
When she had been but six weeks on the island and
was still almost ignorant of the language, she was
receiving as many as twenty patients a day and visit-
ing many more in their homes. Dr. Atkins found
that her work could not have the best results both be-
cause the people were too ignorant to carry out her
directions, and because the homes were lacking any
of the comforts needed by the sick. She returned to
the States and persuaded the women of her de-
nomination to undertake the building of a hos-
pital.
Santurce, the home of the Methodist Orphanage
and the Blanche Kellogg Institute, was selected as a
site for the buildings known now all over the island as
the Presbyterian Hospital. The frame buildings orig-
inally erected have already suffered the ravages of
winds, rains, and insects, and are soon to be replaced
by a substantial and beautiful concrete hospital build-
ing. The physicians treated 6,000 patients in 1907
and almost 25,000 in 1915, while 600 operations were
performed.
A great work of this hospital has been the training
of Porto Rican girls as nurses. The graduates have
'begun a most necessary work qn the island, some do-
ing private nursing, while others have been engaged
by churches or districts for work among the poor.
122 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
Their knowledge of people, language, and conditions
has been a great asset in undertaking the work.
In addition to the nurses, there is at the hospital
a missionary who gives all her time to religious work.
She opens the clinic with a brief service and as she
aids the nurse in the distribution of medicines she uses
the opportunity to give spiritual help. That this work
is needed was shown by the answer to a question asked
at one of the clinics of the forty patients who had gath-
ered. They were questioned as to how many had
ever been in a Protestant or in a Catholic church.
Two of the number had been in the former, and four
in the latter. Through the work of the Christian
staff of the hospital many have found the Saviour and
been brought into the churches of their neighborhoods
on their return home. The CongregationaUsts have a
skilled medical missionary who holds clinics in three
large centers.
The first unit of a new hospital is being erected at
Humacao and will be ready for use soon. Sick peo-
ple come in from miles around for medical treatment,
over 14,500 cases having been cared for during the
past year, as many as 170 in one day, the doctor giv-
ing all the medicine himself and putting up as many
as 10,000 bottles of medicine a year.
The g^ft of a new Ford machine enables the medical
missionary to reach his remote clinics much more ex*
peditiously than heretofore. With the new hospital
he will operate on hundreds of cases of physical blind-
ness and through this work there will be an opportu-
nity to open the eyes of those who are spiritually blind.
OUR NEW POSSESSION 123
One of the women missionaries with the help of a
young Porto Rican woman cares for the personal re-
ligious work at the Humacao clinic. The native
helper reads the Bible passages, gives a little talk, and
offers prayer; then a hymn is sung and tracts and
other religious reading matter are distributed.
St. Luke's, under the Episcopal Church, at Ponce,
is another hospital that is meeting the needs of people
on the southern side of the island. Other denomina-
tional hospitals are in operation at various points, and
just as with the settlement and evangelistic work,
their usefulness is limited only by lack of workers and
equipment
The Symbol of Liberty
A young man who was in Porto Rico before the
Spanish had entirely withdrawn, wrote home : " The
Spanish soldiers are embarking in large numbers and
will soon all be homeward bound. Then we expect
to celebrate ! We will have a flag raising and make it
a day the Porto Ricans will remember. Most of the
Porto Ricans have flags but they are afraid of show-
ing them."
The people did not know what that new flag was to
mean to them, but as they belonged to a new country
and had no love for the old, it was the part of wisdom
to possess the new flag. Whether they were to have
a new form of government or a new religion, they did
not know.
The flag has been the means of bringing blessings
of which the Porto Ricans never dreamed: there are
■.i.\
124 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
schools for all children ; there are hospitals to care for
the sick; there are churches inviting the weary and
heavy laden to come and find rest ; there is a Book of
which they never knew, a Book that has brought com-
fort and joy to thousands of people on the island;
there are ministers and evangelists, Bible readers and
teachers, nurses and deaconesses, doctors and visitors,
all of whom have come through the unfurling of the
flag.
The Church has by no means completed her work in
Porto Rico. She has just arrived at the point of
greatest opportunity. She must concentrate her ef-
forts on the social and evangelistic work, reaching the
thousands who have been so far passed by while their
more fortunate neighbors have been offered the bless-
ings of the Gospel. She must seek those who have re-
fused, the careless and indifferent, and win them to the
truth. Above all she must train the young, that there
may be an adequate force to carry the Word to every
valley and village and give to all the people of this
beautiful little island new life, new hopes, and new
aspirations.
i.
i
r
i
1
t
h.
VI
A NEW. ERA
" Our schools have done a great work in New Mexico and
they still have a great service to render. Were they with-
drawn, the cause of progress would suffer a serious drawback.
The task that has been assigned us is a great one — to loose
the shackles of ignorance and superstition that have bound
a race, and set them on the pathway of progress and useful-
ness; to train a generation for citizenship and cultivate in
them the virtues of temperance, truthfulness, and social purity;
to place the cause of education on a permanent basis of effi-
ciency unfettered by ecclesiastical control; to aid in the up-
building of a great, prosperous, progressive state; to promote
a religion that walks hand in hand with morality and intelli-
gence — such is our mission and purpose, and we must not
falter nor fail until it be accomplished."
— Rev. J. H. Heald, D.D. .
" 0, Church of the Living God, come to the rescue and give
to the poor Lazarus that God has placed within our gates, yes,
at our very doors, the crumbs, even the crumbs, that are fall-
ing from your tables. Then, when this ransomed people come
with gladness unto Zion thou shalt joy to hear the valleys and
the hills break forth before them into singing. Thou shalt
join the raptured strain, exulting that the Lord, Jehovah, God
Omnipotent doth reign over all the earth.''
VI
A NEW ERA
It is desirable to summarize briefly the work among
our Spanish speaking peoples as a whole. They are
scattered over a large territory touching the Pacific
Ocean on the west, Mexico on the south, and reaching
far out into the Atlantic and number about three and
a half millions of people. These people, with the ex-
ception of the Cubans, are a part of our own country,
though many of them bom under the flag are in ig-
norance of the vital principles of a free government.
Where the Gospel has penetrated there has come light
and imderstanding; where it has been withheld there
has been no change from the former degradation and
decay.
Missionary Work Among Spanish Speaking
Peoples
Evangelistic Results. — In all the regions where mis-
sionaries are working among the Spanish speaking
people there has been evinced a great readiness to
hear the Gospel preached. Children in the Sunday
schools, young people in their organizations, and old
and young in the churches have responded with eager-
ness to the invitation, that has been offered. That the
net result in* church members is no greatei' is due only
127
■', \
'■'.'.:■''
128 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
to the fact that the missionary force is not large
enough to touch more than a part of the field.
Bible readers have proven to be a great help to the
evangelistic work. Going from home to home, they
have the opportunity not only of leaving portions of
the Scriptures and reading them to the people, but of
being able to come into close touch with family life,
to receive the confidence of the people, and to help
them to improve their surroundings.
Educational Results. — The percentage of illiteracy
has been greatly reduced in all the fields, in large part
due to the work of the government of course, but the
Protestant Church through its missionaries has always
encouraged education, and supplemented the work of
the authorities. Wherever the public school is of good
standard, the Church withdraws its mission school,
concentrating its efforts on more needy points. The
boarding schools have been of the greatest value in
carrying on the work of the Church, for in them are
gathered and trained the young men and women who go
to higher institutions for special training or return to
do school or community work for their own people.
Medical and Social Work. — ^The Church has not
felt it necessary to open medical work in Cuba, for
the general physical condition of the people is good,
and the Cuban government cares for hospital work in
a satisfactory manner. In Porto Rico, however, the
medical mission has been a great aid to evangelistic
work. That it has been appreciated by the people has
been demonstrated hundreds of times. A man visited
the hospital at San Juan recently asking for a bed for
i
A NEW ERA 129
his sick child, only to find there was no place for him.
Again he asked if there was a place in the private
building for his brother, who was very ill. There was
no place there, and the attendant told him of the pros-
pect of a new plant from which it was hoped it would
not be necessary to turn people away. His answer
was: **Well, if you have a hospital containing two
hundred beds they will always be full, and there will
be lots of people waiting for beds yet."
To the medical mission must be given the credit of
carrying the Gospel of healing into the most hope-
lessly poverty-stricken homes. The government has
wrought wonders in banishing yellow fever and other
tropical scourges from the islands and the isthmus, but
the Protestant medical missionary has sought out the
poor in their homes, has opened hospitals and clinics
for those who were financially unable to secure treat-
ment elsewhere, has taught them to observe sanitary
laws, and above all has pointed them to the Great
Physician who heals both body and soul.
During the past year one denomination made a be-
ginning of medical missionary work in the Southwest.
The " Brooklyn Hospital " at Embudo, New Mexico,
with its ten beds under the care of a missionary nurse,
will be a blessing to many sick. A building for dis-
pensary use has been added to one of the missions,
where a teacher who has been on the field for years
will be able to care for the sick who come to her for
every need. A district nurse has been added in an-
other mission.
In addition to the work of the nurses, one mission-
130 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
ary doctor has been sent to New Mexico. It has been
deemed best to have him locate at some distance from
the nurses who are ministering to the people, and he
has been stationed in a field which will include a popu-
lation of two thousand in fourteen plasas. This has
been named the "Rincones Medical Station.'* The
doctor has been provided with an automobile in order
that he may extend his field of usefulness. He is fif-
teen miles from the ** Brooklyn Hospital " and twenty-
five miles from the nearest doctor.
Social work as undertaken by the Church has filled
an important place among missionary activities.
Wherever schools have been closed there has remained
the opportunity to carry on a much needed work in the
homes. This is being done through institutions like
the Blanche Kellogg Institute in Porto Rico, in
crowded city communities, and in the lonely little Mexi-
can plazas. The missionaries work largely with the
children, but reach the homes through the children
and exert their energies to improve home conditions.
^They lead sewing and cooking classes for mothers as
well as daughters, plan wiiolesome social diversions for
the young, provide a home that is ever open for the peo-
ple who wish to enter it and a model for those who are
inspired to make their own homes better. The workers
perform the duties of doctors, nurses, dentists, seam-
stresses, or any other work they are called upon to do.
General Results
Awakened Peoples. — Among the Mexican people
jn earlier years there was a dulness, an indifference.
Day Nursery in Pobio Rico
A NEW ERA 131
kn acceptance of what came, without any attempt to
better conditions. .The same qualities have existed to
a greater or less degree among tbe other Spanish
speaking peoples. They have been somewhat roused
from this apathy, and today instead of basking in
the sunshine and leaving the duties of today for a
more auspicious tomorrow, great numbers of these
people have been awakened by education and religion to
the desire to make themselves more efficient men and
women. The numbers of professional and trades peo-
ple who have graduated from our schools are a proof
of this statement. Life has attained a definite pur-
pose where it had been colorless. Jhe war in Mexico
with all its horror, ruin, and bloodshed, has been a
. powerful factor in rousing the Mexicans in America
to a realization of what it means to belong to this
country. The young men and women who have lived
so long under our institutions without becoming in
reality a part of our national life, cannot help con-
trasting their condition with that of those of their
, blood on the other side of the line. In Colorado and
New Mexico they are calling themselves no longer
Mexicans, but Americans, with all the pride and sense
of responsibility of citizenship.
A Christian Sabbath. — Protestant missions have
given to Spanish America a truly Christian Sabbath.
The old Sabbath meant mass in the morning and the
rest of the day spent in sports, bull-fighting, cock-
fighting, gambling, and drinking. Usually the laborers
devoted Monday to recovering from Sunday's debauch.
Wherever a Protestant congrq;ation has been formed.
I3a OLD SPAIN IN. VEW: AMERICA
there the Christian Sabbath is observed, and its influ-
ence is rapidly modifying the character of the Romish
Sabbath.
Family prayer was quite unknown among the
Spanish-Americans before the advent of the Protes-
tant Church. A young lady from a prominent Roman
Catholic family in Porto Rico went for a short visit
to the home of a Protestant missionary. After
breakfast they had family prayers, and when they
rose from their knees the young lady turned to the
missionary, and with tears in her eyes said, "You
have a beautiful custom in your home.'* Later the
missionary dined with her people, and as they gath-
ered at the table the mother said to him, ** Anita tells
me you are accustomed to ask a blessing at the table;
will you do it here ? ** So little by little the influence
of the missionaries is gaining in the homes, cleanliness
and godliness going hand in hand and transforming
the home life.
Comity.— Thert has been a great gain to the home
Church through these Spanish-American missions in
the growth of the spirit of comity among the diflferent
missionary organizations. In Cuba and Porto Rico
there has been a fair division of the field among these
groups, and for the most part there is an honest keep-
ing of the compact. Human nature causes discord
iiow and then, but the spirit of comity is growing. A
closer cooperation in education, in training schools,
and in publications indicates the approach of the day
when all will work in perfect harmony and waste will
be eliminated. The aim set by the Panama Confer-
A NEW ERA 133
cnce of 1916 pointed toward the withdrawal of some
denominations from Cuba and Porto Rico, and the
elimination of distinctive, denominational emphasis,
leading to the use of the general name of the " Evan-
gelical Church," This aim may not be realized, but it
is a step toward the unity that is so desirable among
Spanish-Americans.
In the southwest of the United States there is ian
Interdenominational Council that meets once a year to
take up and consider all questions that have to do with
the work among the Mexicans in the United States.
There are snags in the stream and there are differ-
ences of opinion, but the end is being gained.
Larger Aims for the Future
5f Better Understanding of the Spanish-Americans.
There is needed a better understanding of the Span-
ish-American people. The assumption of undoubted
superiority in intellect and morals on the part of the
Saxon has been a constant barrier to a better under-
standing and closer relation between the two races.
Few Saxons ever get into either the mind or heart
of the Latins. The assumption of racial superiority
has often led to a degrading patronage, and the very
men who should stand erect in the presence of God
and men, who should radiate the spirit of freedom and
independence have been pauperized.
For keenness of intellect, for energy and courage!,
the men who pushed out into the unknown, crossed
hitherto untravelled seas, found a new world, burned
their ships that there might be no possibility of retreat.
134 ' OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
and then witfi their handful conquered that world,
need fear comparison with no race that lives or has
lived
A leader in Latin America must acquire the faculty
of seeing things from the Latin point of view. Just
here is where the Saxon missionaries have failed. Lat-
ins and Saxons do not see things through the same eyes.
One great mistake made in mission work among both
Latins and Orientals is the insistence that they con-
form to ouf way of thinking and seeing. Their think-
ing men are keen students of philosophy and keep
abreast of the developments of science, and it is use-
less to get them to come down to what may be termed
"pious patter/' Dr. George ICnox said of the mis-
sionary to Oriental lands : "If the missionary is to
succeed, to aid in making the new civilization Chris-
tian, h^ must have a threefold training : first, he must
intelligently and sympathetically enter into the spirit of
the modem scientific world; second, he must under-
stand the civilization of the land to which he goes;
third, he must disentangle the essential truths of Chris-
tianity and Occidental forms and accidental accre-
tions."
Jhe Latiii mind is essentially Oriental, and what
Dr. ICnox has said applies with equal force to Latin
America. Jo know the mind of God is the first re-
iquisite of the missionary, but next to that must come
a knowledge of the mind of the people over whom he
shall be placed by the Holy Spirit.
Need of a Better Knowledge of Spanish. — One of
the great needs of missionary workers among Latin
A NEW ERA '' 135
j^ericans is ia better knowledge of the Spanish lan-
guage and its literature. This is as necessary in Cuba,
Porto Rico, and the Southwest as in South America,
and it has been an unfortunate fact that many who
have undertaken work in American parishes which has
brought them into contact with Spanish speaking peo-
ple have made no effort to learn the language. There
are those who have ministered year after year to a
handful of Americans and who are surrounded by far
greater numbers of Mexicans who know not the Christ,
and yet, with the tremendous opportunity presented to
them, have made no effort to learn the language that
would make it possible for them to save those who are
dying in ignorance. In the day when business men in
all parts of the country are exerting themselves to ac-
quire Spanish for commercial purposes, should not the
religious worker who will be able to touch the spiritual
nature of these people make a like effort ?
The translations of Scripture and hymns into Span-
ish have received severe criticism from those who
work among Spanish-Americans, on the ground that
they are of no literary value, and cannot appeal to edu-
cated people.
As well as a better knowledge of the Spanish lan-
guage, there is needed a better knowledge of Spanish
history in the New World. To understand the Mexi-
can, the Porto Rican, and the Cuban, his historical
background must be appreciated, for the history of his
people has greatly affected him personally.
Better Knowledge of Mexicans in United States.-^.
Jhe people of America are more ignorant of the
136 PLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
needs and conditions of the Mexicans in the United
States than of the people of any other part of the
globe. When the great Christian Endeavor conven-
tion met in Los Angeles in the midst of thousands of
Mexicans, representatives of various nations were
called upon to rise and show their numbers ; the leader
had to be reminded of the Mexican people, and was
amazed at their numbers when he called upon them,
saying he had not expected to find them in attendance.
A conference on work among the immigrants was
called in the same city, and in spite of their being
40,000 strong in Los Angeles, Mexicans had not been
included in the list of immigrants who were to be con-
sidered. In the same region the recent Laymen's
Missionary Convention had no place on its program
for the consideration of the varied needs of this peo-
ple.
Some day the story of the great Southwest will be
heard; the story of the heroism and sacrifices of the
Franciscans, their great work for the natives, and the
reason why their work did not abide; the story of a
patient and uncomplaining people, little .understood,
but capable of great things. One who has had their
interests at heart for years has said " Were I a younger
man I would make the world hear that story, and
arouse the Church to a sense of the wonderful oppor-
tunity we now have of doing the greatest missionary
work of the century."
Leaders of Their Own People. — The leaders of
Spanish America must come from their own race and
be of their own thought and speech. Steiner says.
A NEW ERA 137
" Blood IS thicker than water, but language is thicker
than blood/*
No alien can get into the most intimate life of the
Latins, but the alien in blood may be so bound to them
by spiritual and sympathetic ties as to be helpful in
the development of a leadership from among their own
people. To do this he must meet them in the spirit of
brotherhood and service, not lordship. The object of
our mission is not to get them to follow us, but to
train them to lead others to Christ. Little progress
can be made in spiritual development except through
leaders who can enter into the secret place of their life
and character.
That it is possible to train young men for the re-
ligious leadership of their people has been proved in
individual cases on all the fields. In New Mexico
young men trained in the mission schools have been
wonderfully successful in leading others of their peo-
ple to accept the Saviour. The past winter the prin-
cipal of one of the New Mexico schools wrote of the
work accomplished by two of their graduates with ad-
miration : " Last year and this our evangelistic
meetings have been conducted by two of our former
pupils. As a result of the ten days of meetings with
the earnest gospel messages, twelve have united with
the church and forty-four have confessed faith in
Christ. Most of these are from homes of early mis-
sion school pupils. I have many friends in the min-
istry and two brothers, but do not know any in whom
I have more confidence and for whom I have greater
love than these two yoimg men, now evangelists to
138 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
thieir own people. I am more convinced than ever be-
fore that the way to lead the Spanish-Americans to a
knowledge of the Christ is through the mission
schools, and through these splendid Christian workers
who are developed in them/'
Educational Work. — That educational work for the
Spanish speaking people is far from satisfactory 9iust
be confessed by alL Jhe splendid public school sys-
tem of Porto Rico has relieved the missionaries of
the need of dealing with the matter of secondary edu-
cation, but there is still need of better training of
leaders for work as pastors, teachers, Bible readers,
and visitors. Such a work undertaken interdenomi-
nationally to a greater extent than is now done would
greatly multiply results among the people. In Cuba
and New Mexico the education of those in cities and
large towns is well provided for by the authorities,
but the children in smaller places suffer from inade-
quate school facilities. Neither do public schools give
the religious and moral training that the children of
these people do not get in their homes, so the educa-
tional work of the government must be supplemented
by the mission work in order that the highest needs of
the children may be met. Cuba particularly stands in
need of far greater missionary effort along the lines of
education.
More Work for the Homes. — Throughout the mis-
sion fields workers are found using their utmost
strength in their endeavors to raise the standards of
family life. Home has seldom been a pleasant place,
and family relations have not been held sacred. Mis-
A NEW ERA 139
sionaries wHo have been engaged in teaching have been
able to improve conditions to a great extent, but if the
home, the citadel of family life, is to be permanently
strengthened there must be more Bible women, more
district nurses, and more settlement workers whose
primary duty it is to go into the homes. It is a most
important work that women be taught to make home
iattractive to the men and children of the family, for
to the average Spanish-American home is the place
where he occasionally eats and sleeps. A real home
would tend to make husbands more faithful and
woman's lot brighter. There are occasional homes
that are worthy of the name — the homes of women
who have been trained in mission schools. When these
are more numerous a great impulse will be given to all
missionary work.
Extension of Medical Work. — Medical missions in
Porto Rico have been the pride of the Church. In
Cuba, as has been stated, there has been no great need
of these. Jhe Southwest, with its vast regions with-
out any medical attendance except that given by the few
scattered teachers, must appeal to all as a needy field
for this branch of missionary work.
Far more medical work is needed in Porto Rico than
is carried on today by the churches, and the need of
an extension of this ministry in the Southwest is im-
perative. There is now one medical missionary, and
there are hundreds of lonely little plazas without any
medical assistance. It is not fair to the missionaries
who go to this region to teach and preach that they
should be compelled, in addition to their other duties^
140 OLD SPAIN IN N^W AMERICA
to bear the burden of caring for those who are desper-
ately sick. No field at home or abroad is in greater
need of doctors and nurses than this Southwest region.
Opportunity God's Call to Action
The Call to Cuba and Porto 'Rico 'Answered. —
When Cuba and Porto Rico entered into their present
relations with the United States, the churches of the
country did not doubt that a call had come to them,
and in a reverent and statesman-like way planned a
definite method of facing the problems coafronting
them on the new fields. Though the work has been
limited to a great degree by the small number engaged
in it, there has been satisfaction over the results at-
tained. These islands are situated between the two
Americas, and stand in a direct line of travel between
the Canal Zone and European trade. Their location
is strategic from a commercial point of view, and with
the results of missionary work, they will be strategi-
cally located from a religious point of view. The home
mission work accomplished in these islands is destined
to be a great foreign mission asset. Edward A. Odell
of Porto Rico speaks of the hopes and the immediate
needs of the island of Porto Rico in these words:
"As the Porto Rican is looking forward to the time
when he will have entire control of his own govern-
ment, just so the native church is looking forward to
the time when she will be able to support herself and
indeed be able to pass the gospel along to the south.
But this day must be necessarily delayed if, when mis-
sions are opened and the work is prospering, we are
A NEW ERA 141
forced to retrench because our ranks, depleted by sick-
nesSy cannot be filled by men able and willing to bear
the burden — if burden it be. I could tell you of some
of the Porto Ricans who, mindful of the sacrifice made
by the church for their country, are now nobly giving
their services to this work. Let the peculiar, unique,
and immediate need of this island speak now, and do
not falter in stretching forth the hand to sow while the
soil is waiting for the seed."
Home Missions Our Defense, — Americans have al-
ways believed in the gospel of preparedness. Wher-
ever a mining camp was opened, there was found the
missionary, and there came the school teacher to pre-
pare the growing community for worthy, Qiristian
citizenship.
Where the lumber- jacks penetrated the forests, there
they were followed by the " sky pilot " to hold them
true to Christian ideals.
The frontier farmer, the immigrant settler on our
wide prairies, was no sooner settled than he was sought
out by the circuit-rider, that the rising generation
might be so instructed as to become a defense and not
a menace to society and country.
Every school, every church, every family altar, every
institution for helping the helpless, is a witness to the
defensive power of Home Missions. No other power
is adequate, no other can be trusted.
A Lost Opportunity. — There was a time when the
markets of South America were open to the United
States and to be had for the taking. When William
Wheelright went to investigate the commercial possi-
142 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
bilities throughout the republics of the South He re-
turned to Boston full of enthusiasm and sought to
enlist American capital in his great enterprise for the
development of commerce between the United States
and South America^ but he found no response to his
appeals. That was America's opportunity and it was
3uffered to pass.
Wheelright then went to England and there found
willing listeners and returned to Chile backed by Eng-
lish capital Railroads and telegraph lines were built
in Chile iand the Argentine Republic, and the Pacific
Steam Navigation Company was organized, a company
that practically controlled the trade of both coasts from
the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn. So strongly
has British trade entrenched itself that for almost two
generations America has been a poor fourth in South
American commerce.
Jhere is a fine monument to William Wheelright in
the plaza of Valparaiso, but it might well stand for a
memorial to American folly in letting pass the great
opportunity. We failed because we did not appreciate
its value.
Such an opportunity is iagairi oflfered to us in this
world's crisis to make good with Spanish America in a
higher commerce.
What Can We Do? — America has given to the
world the highest form of government known to his-
tory. It is laid upon this nation to give to the world a
new diplomacy, one where language will be the expres-
sion of truth, where treaties will not only be sacred,
but where the plighted word of a nation will be backed
A NEW ERX 143
by the wealthy the power, and the lives of her people.
Only thus can this great nation become a truly
mighty power in the world To reach this height of
national honor we must b^;in with our nearest neigh-
bors, the strangers within our gates. Had we done
this from the beginning of our relations with South
America and Mexico, the whole line of republics from
the Rio Grande to the Cape would stand solidly with us
against the world, if need be. But American egotism,
indifference, and injustice in the past stand as a mighty
barrier between us and our nearest neighbor.
The Bearing on Home Missions.-^lt may be asked,
what has this to do with the question of Home Mis-
sions ? Everything : the half million or more of Mexi-
can refugees who are now in the United States because
of the war will form the nucleus around which will
gather the elements for the new Mexico that is to be
born ; and when that new Mexico is bom there will re-
main little of Old Spain.
The children of the Mexican refugees are in our
schools and are absorbing both the principles and spirit
of our liberty, subject to law. They will never forget
the horrors of the revolution, and those scenes will be
contrasted, in their minds, with the peace they have en-
joyed under the American flag. Many of the better
class of Mexicans, for their children's sake, are taking
out citizenship papers. What that means to them only
those who know the Mexican's loyalty to his country
and flag can appreciate. They have come to us with a
bitter prejudice against all things American. In Mexi-
can schools and histories the American flag is spoken
144 OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
of as "La bandera odiada" (the hated banner), but
here the people have found that it represents human
rights for all races and nations.
The people of southwest Texas have now the most
serious problem with which they have ever had to deal.
It consists not only of the Mexicans across the border,
but the resident Mexicans, the majority of them illiter-
ate and unskilled, who form more than half the popula-
tion in some counties. In El Paso there are more than
thirty thousand Mexicans, many of them people of cul-
ture and refinement who have never known want, but
who are now in destitute circumstances. Mexicans
have reached California, New Mexico and Arizona also
in great numbers, and both state and church are facing
the problem. People of this country have been sending
of their wealth across the ocean to the homeless and
suffering, unmindful of the fearful need along the
Mexican border. The first should be helped, but the
others should not be left to perish. Some of the 320,-
000 who have come to Texas alone are converts under
the Protestant missionaries in Old Mexico. Those
who have heard the Gospel message know their Bibles
and are wonderful examples of Christian faith and en-
durance.
In the history of the United States so large a num-
ber has seldom come to us from one foreign country in
the same length of time. All the dangers we have
faced from the immigrants who have thronged Ellis
Island in past years are being faced on our southern
border. Unless these individuals are won by the
friendliness and kindness of our people, they will be a
t^
A NEW ERA i4s
great menace to our nation, but if they iarc reached and,
made to believe thjat we stand as brothers to help them
in their destitution and misery, they will be a desirable
element in our national life. Old Mexico will be more
helped by missionary effort now in California, Texas,
and elsewhere in the United States, than by the work
of missionaries who may go across the border after the
war ends. The people who become true followers of
Christianity during their exile in this country will be
the best missionaries to Mexico. We can today touch
the Mexican life as never before. Never again will
such an opportunity be given us. The Mexican must
be regarded as a brother with rights as inalienable as
ours. Churches for the preaching of the Gospel, in-
dustrial schools to train the young people for the new
duties of their changed life, and sympathetic fair treat-
ment will be an intervention that will win a large place
in the love and confidence of the Mexico of to-morrow,
and in Latin America for all time.
The Church's Problem. — The problem, then, that
confronts the Christian churches of America at this
rtioment is the speedy evangelization of the million or
more Mexicans in our land, and through them their
countrymen across the border. The tremendous
energy that was shown in exploration and in church
building in the sixteenth century is not dead. It is in
the tomb awaiting the voice of the Son of God. That
energy, quickened by God*s Spirit, can be used for the
building of God's Kingdom in Latin America.
John, being in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, had a
wonderful vision of the things that should come to
146 ' OLD SPAIN IN NEW AMERICA
pass. Would that we, Ceing in the Spirit, might have 2l
glorious vision of the New America, from the frozen
north to Cape Horn, under the influence of God's
Spirit, tmfolding in righteousness and truth. Mexico
may be redeemed and blossom as the garden of the
Lord. South America with her virgin forests, with her
immense fertile plains and valleys, with her mountains
full of untouched wealth, with the possibilities of her
people awakening from the slumber of four centuries,
will develop in material wealth and power. The task
of transforming the two continents into a mighty world
power, standing for the right of man to be and to do
the very best possible, is today in the hands of Chris-
tian America.
APPENDIX
*»
II.
• l!
i
'1
s'.'
I ■
I.
APPENDIX
CONCERNING THE GREAT SOUTHWEST
1492 — Columbus discovered the New World.
15 12 — Ponce de Leon discovered Florida.
1 513 — Balboa discovered the Pacific.
1519 — Cortez conquered Mexico.
1539 — Ferdinand de Soto discovered the Mississippi
River.
1683 — Sack of Vera Cruz.
1769 — Serra reached California and founded mis-
sions.
1821 — Mexico freed from Spain.
1845 — Texas admitted as a state.
1848 — California and New Mexico ceded to United
States by Mexico.
Population
Seven states have a large Mexican population, ac-
cording to the last census, and since that was taken a
far greater number of Mexicans, variously estimated
from 500,000 to 1,000,000 have crossed the border.
These have located almost entirely in these same states.
The census report (1910) is as follows:
Total Mexican
Population Population
Texas 3,896,542 125,016
Colorado 799,024 2,603
New Mexico ...... 327,301 11,918
Arizona 204,354 29,987
California 2,377,549 33,694
Oklahoma i,657»i55 2,744
Kansas 1,690,949 8^429
149
ISO APPENDIX
Of the total population of Mexicans in the United
States all but 5412 were living in these seven states.
In addition to the number who were bom in Mexico
there was recorded a population of 162^00 who were
bom of Mexican or mixed parentage. The total Mexi*
can population including the foreign bom and those of
mixed or Mexican parentage amounted to 382,002.
CUBAN FACTS
1492 — Discovered by Columbus. "
1508 — Cuba discovered to be an island.
1511 — Velasquez sent to colonize.
1524 — First slaves in New World brought to Cuba.
1551 — Havana became capital.
1505 — Drake threatened attack.
1762 — Invaded and conquered by the English.
1763 — Returned to Spain b)r England.
1829 — Uprising against Spain.
1844 — Uprising against Spain.
1848 — Chinese coolies taken to Cuba.
1868-1878 — Ten Years' War. ( Cost Spain lives of
8,000 officers, 200,000 privates and $300,000,000.)
1869 — Slavery abolished by new Republic. (Total
abolition, 1887.)
1895 — Final war of liberation.
1898 — Destruction of Maine, and interference of
United States.
1902 — Cuban Republic established.
The trade of Cuba per capita is greater than that of
any North or South American country. For 1913-
1914 it amounted to $300,951,000, of which the ex-
ports amounted to $169,130,000.
The population of Cuba in 1907 was 2,048,980; of
whom 1,224,510 were whites, 274,272 negroes, 334,695
mulattoes, 11,837 Chinese, 203,696 foreigners.
The following statistical table of results of Prot-
1
i
1
lOOHMfBa
i«i=ias
1
,io<«p.Aa 1 -:"«:*" 1 £ 11
|ooi|Mi»puns
ijjipi
1
2
;ir.T|
SS2^^ "«
?
SSS;S~S
R
waqmsH
|§l-:i.i|
1
ps^ineSjo
irs?~8-s
5
*B(.!«iK
si.is'siais
»
amiiposdiia
liiJii;
5
-
3
p»tpnq»»«a
lllllll
1
III.
!p
152 APPENDIX
estant missions in Cuba was compiled by Rev. J. Milton
Greene, D.D. for the Assembly Herald. Dr. Greene
stated that something should be added for the Disciples,
Adventists, and Pentecostals, whose figures he had not
been able to secure.
The Missionary District of the Episcopal Church in-
cludes Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The Board appro-
priates for this support $45,189 yearly. Forty-eight
stations are maintained by this church.
PORTO RICAN FIGURES
1493 — Columbus first landed.
1509 — Ponce de Leon appointed governor.
15 n — Half Spanish force slaughtered by Indians.
1533 — Authorities petitioned empress against fur-
ther introduction of slaves.
1595 — Attacked by Sir Francis Drake.
1625 — Besieged by Dutch.
1797 — Besieged by English.
1837 — Porto Ricans deprived of right of representa-
tion in Spanish Cortes.
1868 — Insurrection of Lares.
1873 — 31,000 slaves received freedom.
1895 — Reform laws enacted.
1897 — Royal decree conceding autonomy to Porto
Rico signed.
1898 — Became possession of United States.
1900 — Modified territorial form of government for
Porto Rico voted by Congress.
— Porto Ricans admitted to full citizenship.
" A practical matter of first importance is the crea-
tion of a public sentiment that shall insist upon the
granting of the rights of citizenship to the Porto
Ricans. The present situation is anomalous, full of
friction and disastrous to the missionary as well as the
other highest interests of the island. Porto Ricans will
APPENDIX 153
never feel right' towards Americans until Americans
treat them right in this matter of citizenship."
Rev. Howard B. Grose, D.D.
(Note. Statistical report of Protestant Missions in
Porto Rico and map showing boundaries of these mis-
sions are given in booklet " Protestant Missions in
Porto Rico/\ Statistics were gathered in 191 1.)
According to the last census the population of Porto
Rico is 1,183,173. In 1915 the United States exported
goods to Porto Rico to the value of $30,149,764 and
imported from the same island merchandise valued at
$41,950419.
The Legislature of 191 5 made women eligible for
membership on school boards, designated a Mothers*
Day, and established a juvenile court.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS TO SPANISH AMERICANS
In response to a questionnaire sent out to secure in-
formation regarding the work of the different denomi-
nations among Spanish speaking peoples, the following
facts have been secured. The results have been un-
satisfactory, as some failed to give any information,
in some cases the information was not definite, and in
others the work of the women's boards and the men's
are so united that it has been necessary to give that
of the entire Church.
Cuba
According to the most accurate data obtainable there
are now latoring in Cuba 47 ordained missionaries, 40
women missionaries, 200 native workers; there are
about 200 regular and outstations, 10,000 communi-
cants, 7,000 pupils enrolled in Sunday schools, 2y^ day
schools with an enrollment of 1,600 pupils, and 4 higher
institutes with an enrollment of 375.
154 APPENDIX
Porto Rico
Porto Rico has about 60 ordained missionaries, 65
women missionaries, 210 native workers, 570 churches
and outstations, with a total of 14,000 communicants.
The Sunday schools of all denominations have an ag-
gregate attendance of 13,000. There are 35 mis-
sion day schools with approximately 3,000 pupUs in at-
tendance. The main purpose of the day schools was
to cooperate with the public schools, providing for those
in the cities who could not attend on account of pov-
erty, or for the rural districts where there was inade-
quate provision by the government. As fast as the
public school system provides for the primary grades,
the mission schools of like grade are bemg given up.
The Baptist Training School at Rio Piedras, the
Polytechnic Institute, interdenominational but under
the auspices of the Presbyterian Church, in San
German, the Theological Traming School at Mayaguez,
carried on by the Congregationalists, United BreSiren
and the Presbyterians are outstanding institutions.
Three orphanages, the G. O. Robinson, for girls, at
San Juan, and one for boys, bearing the same name,
at Hatillo, under the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
the Christian, for boys, near Bayamon, are providing
for a class of children who, before the advent of Prot-
estantism, were without hope.
Three great healing institutions, St. Luke's, Epis-
copal, at Ponce; the Presbyterian, at San Juan, and
the Rye Hospital at Mayaguez, are doing as great a
work as has ever been known in the history of modem
missions. Clinics are held at different mission sta-
tions, and the fame of the healings has gone through
all the island. Anotlier hospital is being erected by
Congregationalists at Humacao.
Baptist — The missionary work of the Baptist So-
jciety is a most important one and covers more territory
APPENDIX 155
than any other in the island. They have important
churches in San Juan, Rio Piedras, Ponce, Yauco, Ad-
juntas, Oaguas, Cayeyj-and many other points.
Fine church buildings have been erected by all the
organizations engaged m missionary work, contributing
largely to the success of the missionary effort in a land
where the " temple *' means so much in religion.
The influence of the Christian character of the con-
verts is being felt in all the island, and Protestantism
will soon stand an equal chance with the dominant
church. It must do more; the American ideal must
take deep root in this guard of the Panama Canal. A
strongly Christian population will be the best defense.
In the Southwest
In the United States proper, work is being carried on
in six states, Florida, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico,
Arizona, and California. In Florida the Spanish
speaking people are mostly Cubans, while in the other
five states they are Mexicans.
Methodist Episcopal, South.-^ In the States the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is doing a large
evangelistic work. They have 60 Mexican churches in
Texas and 7 Cuban churches in Florida, with a total
membership of 2,900; 2y missionaries, both men and
women, are employed, 20 Mexican and 7 Cuban.
There are under their care 62 Mexican and 7 Cuban
Stmday schools, i boarding, 2 day, and ^ night
schools with a total enrollment of 915. In medical and
social work they have 17 deaconesses, i trained nurse,
and 20 teachers.
The work of this church among the Spanish speak-
ing people b^an in 1881 among the Mexicans and in
iS^ among the Cubans in Tampa, Florida. The mem-
bership in Tampa is 300, with a Sunday school enroll-
ment of 500.
156 APPENDIX
Methodist Episcopal. — In California the Methodist
Episcopal Church is successfully carrying on three lines
of mission work: Evangelistic, including regular
preaching services in the streets as well as in churches,
distribution of tracts, literature and Bibles ; Social, aid-
• ing the poor with work, clothing and food, house to
house and hospital visitation, opening reading-rooms
and clubs ; Industrial, cooperative laundry, employment
agencies and industrial education in the Spanish- Ameri-
can Institute at Gardena.
There are ii regular charges, 14 outstations, and 4
church buildings, with a total membership of 304.
The two most important educational institutions for
the Mexicans conducted by the Methodist Episcopal
Church in California are the Spanish-American Insti-
tute for boys, at Gardena, and the Francis De Pauw
Industrial School for girls at Los Angeles. Both are
well equipped and are doing a fine work. In New
Mexico there is an industrial school for girls, located
in Albuquerque, called The Harwood School, in recog-
nition of the services of Dr. Thomas Harwood, a
pioneer missionary of that church. A settlement house
has been opened in El Paso, in connection with the
evangelistic work in that border city with its 40,000
needy Mexicans. Another school for Spanish speak-
ing girls, which was opened in Tucson, Arizona, is now
housed in a commodious building of its own, and is
preparing the home makers of the next generation.
Presbyterian U. S. A. — The Presbyterian Church,
U. S. A., has work among the Mexicans in the five
southwestern states. The total church membership in
the five states is 1,850. They have a strong work
among the young people in Colorado ; the annual Chris-
tian Endeavor conventions, held continuously for nine-
teen years, and constantly increasing in interest, re-
veal the strong hold the evangelical faith has upon the
new generation of Spanish-American citizens.
APPENDIX 157
No class of mission work of this church has given
better returns than the service rendered by the conse-
crated teachers in the plasa schools. In Coldrado and
New Mexico the Presbyterians have 10 day schools
with 15 teachers and an enrollment of 743 pupils. The
most prominent schools under the Woman's Board of
the Presb3^erian Church in its work among the Mexi-
cans are the Menaul Training School for boys at Albu-
querque, New Mexico, the Allison-James School for
girls at Santa Fe, and the Forsythe Memorial School
for girls at Los Angeles. The Menaul school has a
corps of 15 workers and an enrollment of 157; the
Allison-James has 12 workers and an enrollment of
105 ; and the Fors3i:he a corps of 6 workers and an en-
rollment of 50.
Already men and women have gone out from the
New Mexican schools who are exerting a strong influ-
ence in the educational and social life of New Mexico
and Colorado; and even to Old Mexico have gone
pupils who are carrying the seeds of the new life and
hope to that stricken land.
The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., has work at only
three points in Texas : El Paso, San Antonio, and San
Angelo. In the latter place there is a day school in ad-
dition to the regular church service. Settlement work
will be undertaken soon in El Paso and San Antonio.
Presbyterian, U. S. — The Presbyterian Church in
the United States, or Southern Presbyterian Church,
has been brought into close touch with a large Mexican
population, especially in the state of Texas. They be-
gan work there in 1883. A Texas-Mexican Presby-
tery has been formed that includes the work in Mexico
and Texas. There are more than 1,000 Mexican
church members in this Presbytery.
The increase of the Mexican population from 150,
000 to 400,000 in the last ten years has laid upon this
church a heavy burden in trying to meet the increasing
IS8 APPENDIX
demands for evangelistic and educational work. A
new church building in £1 Paso has given a new im-
petus to the work in that important center.
An industrial school at Kingsville, Texas, is planned
to meet the needs of the £reat Mexican population on
the border, and is destined to exert a great influence in
preparing for useful citizenship the hitherto neglected
youth of Mexican birth. It was opened in 1912 with
50 students and many more on the waiting list The
farm of 669 acres provides a fine field for agricultural
instruction and experimental work.
The work of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., in
Florida, is confined to the Cubans in Ybor City and
K^ West Exact statistics are not available.
Congregational. — The Congregational Church sur-
rendered Its work in Cuba to the IPresbyterian Church,
U. S. A. In Porto Rico they have the eastern end of
the island, in accordance with the comity agreement
made between the different societies at the opening of
the work immediately after the American occupation.
The educational work at Blanche Kellogg Insti-
tute, on the Military Road, in Santurce, has l:^en dis-
continued and the buildings are used for Community
Settlement and Social Service. The statistics for the
Congregational missions are fortunately available ; they
are as follows: Ordained American Missionaries, 4;
Native Workers, 7; Churches, ii; Membership, 731;
Benevolent Contributions, $109.42; Outstations, 38;
Women Missionaries, 3 ; Teachers in Blanche Kellogg
Institute, 4.
An advance has been made in comity by the union
of the Congregational force with the Presb3^erians,
Baptists, and United Brethren in maintaining an
Evangelical Press. A fourth hospital is promised for
the eastern end of the island as soon as plans can be
perfected. This will be under denominational con-
trol.
APPENDIX 159
In Los Angeles the Congregationalists have, for some
years, conducted an institutional work for both Ameri-
cans and Mexicans ; but latterly the institutional work
has been given up and the Mexican evangelistic work
has been federated with that of the Presbyterians under
a Presbyterian pastor, an arrangement that has proved
satisfactory to all.
In New Mexico they have three churches, five day
schools, one very successful boarding school, the latter
located at Albuquerque.
The most important work of this church in the South*
west is that in £1 Paso, where there is a flourishing
church whose influence is bein^ felt on both sides of the
boundary line. Plans are being discussed for a more
extended effort in the line of social activity among the
dense population in *^ Little Chihuahua."
Christian. — The work of the Christian Church
among the Spanish speaking people in Porto Rico is
confined mostly to the southern part of the island,
though they have an important work on a little strip in
the north. There they have one church and an orphan
asylum for boys.
In the territory for which this church is responsible
on the south, there are not less than 75,000 souls. For
this great number they have only four missionaries.
They have a church membership of 190, ten Sunday
schools with an enrollment of 750, 5 organizations and
a property valued at $14,000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acosta, Joseph de — Historia de Las Indias.
Bancroft, H. H. — History of Arizona and New
Mexico.
Bancroft, H. H, — History of Mexico.
Bourne, E. G., Ph.D. — Spain in America.
Brown, Hubert W. — Latin America.
Cappa, Padre Ricardo — Derecho de Conquistar
America.
Carter, O. C. S. — Acoma; The Qiff City of New
Mexico.
Craig, Robert M. — Our Mexicans.
Curtis, William E. — Between the Andes and the
Ocean.
Davis, W. H. — Spanish Conquest of New Mexico.
Dinwiddie, William — Porto Rico and Its Possibilities*
Fairbanks, George R. — The Spaniards in Florida.
Forbes-Lindsay — Cuba, Past, Present and Future.
Forbes-Lindsay — Porto Rico.
Fornaro Carlo de — Carranza and Mexico.
Gutierrez de Lara, L. — The Mexican People and Their
Struggle for Liberty.
Grose, Howard B. — Advance in The Antilles.
Halstead, Murat — The Story of Cuba.
Inman, Col. Henry — The Old Santa Fe Trail.
James, George Wharton — In and Out of the Old Mis-
sions.
Lummis, Charles F. — The Land of Poco Tiempo.
Lummis, Charles F. — Spanish Pioneers.
Lowry, W. — Spanish Settlements in the United States.
Morris, C. — Historical Tales of Porto Rico.
i6o
BIBLIOGRAPHY i6i
Prince, L. Bradford — Concise History of New
Mexico.
Rankin, Melinda — Twenty Years Among the Mexi-
cans.
Read, Benjamin M. — Illustrated History of New
Mexico.
Reed, John — Insurgent Mexico. '
Rees, Thomas — Spain's Lost Jewels.
Richman, L. B. — California Under Spain and Mexico.
Romero, Matias — Mexico and the United States.
Starr, Frederick — Mexico and the United States.
Winton, George B.— Me»co To-day,
Ik
II
%
i
s
E N E /•
tf!^
\
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11