'X ^ United Brethren In Christ. Home Missionary Society Our Spanish-American Work in New Mexico tihvavy of trKe trheolo^ical ^^mimvy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •a^D* PRESENTED BY Rufus H. LeFevre mv •pantBlf-Ammran Hork in Nrui fflexiro Our Workers The United Brethren Home Missionary Society Dayton, Ohio ^ OUR l-hb 11 1953 Spanish -American Work IN New Mexico Its Origin lb Nature Reasons for the Work Achievements Past Quadrennium Our Policy Our Future Needs Ways to Assist the Work HOME MISSIONARY OFFICE Otterbein Press Building Dayton, Ohio 1921 dI'' Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/ourspanishamericOOunit OUR SPANISH -AMERICAN WORK So many people wonder why we, as a denomination, are giving attention to school work in New Mexico. This little booklet is intended to answer the above eiuery and at the same time to make plain to our denomination why our Home Mission Society entered upon this work; what we are doing, and what the needs are for future success. ITS ORIGIN Our Spanish-American work in New Mexico was begun at Velarde, October 12, 1912. This is the day that Miss Mellie Perkins, the originator and pioneer of our Spanish- American work, landed at Velarde, New Mexico. We regret that we do not have space to print her first impressions and early experiences as she entered upon this work, so tar from home and among not only foreigners but almost heathen. Miss Perkins organized our work here amid many hard- ships and difficulties, and had charge of the work till l'.)15, when she placed it in others' hands, while she herself went about eighteen miles further down the Rio Grande river toward Santa Fc, the capital of the State, and opened another school at Santa Cruz. In the summer of HUT, a third school was opened at Al- calde, about half wa\ l)etween Santa Cruz and Velarde. ITS NATURE There are several phases to our Spanish-American work in New Mexico. In the first place, we have standard schools, according to the highest standard prescribed by the State. We complete grade school work and prepare the pupils for first-class high school work. Another phase of the \v(jrk is the religious. Not only is there daily worship in the schools, but reading and study of the Scripture. Then the boys and girls are urged to attend our Bible school and worshij:) on the Sabbath. Much is made of Christian Endea\or among the young people. A regular pastor is maintained for the three schools and regular preach- ing services are maintained. At Siinta Cruz, we ha\'e a reg- ular organized church. At Velarde and Alcalde we have but plaza schools. The children come from their own homes each day and return in the e\ening. At Santa Cruz we maintain both a plaza and boarding school. The boarding pupils come to us in the fall and stay till school closes in the spring. It is in this work that the greatest results are achieved, as here we have both the boys and girls under our complete supervision. The boys are homed in the bo\'s' dormitory and are under the direct super\ision of the pastor and his wife, while the girls are homed in the girls' dormitor)- under the super\ision of three matrons. Besides the school and church work, the girls are taught American cooking, housekeeping, plain sewing, needle work, and music. The boys are taught such home and out-door work as our present facilities afford. We hope the time will soon come when modern methods in both garden and fruit growing can be taught. REASONS FOR THE WORK A few people in the Church ha\c criticized the Home Board for going into this work, on the ground that the Span- ish-Americans are imbedded in another religion. On this ground, practically all our foreign missionaries would have to be called home. This criticism comes from the same kind of a spirit that criticized Christ for taking the gospel to the publicans and Samaritans. C o Let us look at this Spanish-American question from sev- eral viewpoints. The Spanish tongue is the largest in the world today. The Spanish-Americans are spreading over the Southwest and Central West states at an alarming rate. They are ignorant both of Christianity and the basic prin- ciples of our national life. .\ Republic like America can be secure and promoted onl\- b\ the voluntary acts and good will of its people. The injection of the un-American spirit of the millions of aliens and Spanish people into our Ameri- can life must stagger, if not eventually overthrow, the basic principles of our national life. The gospel of Jesus Christ, through the Protestant Church of America, is the only remedy tor these undermining forces. The public schools of the rural sections of New Mexico are wretchedly deficient; so that dense ignorance prevails in all that country- among the Spanish people. It is impossible to promote the true Christian religion where such dense ignorance and superstition prevails. No one, not having visited that country can form any conception of the poverty, ignorance, superstition and deg- radation of those Spanish people in the Southwest. And so long as the federal government does not step in there and provide a standard public school system with standard and efficient teachers, the only thing for the Protestant churches to do, in order to promote the Christian religion among this people, is to maintain standard schools of their own, which all the denominations are doing that are promoting home mission work among the Spanish-American people. So our Spanish-American work is necessary, not only from the viewpoint of our national welfare, but from the viewpoint of the evangelization and Christianization of this e\er-increasing Spanish-American people, who are becoming an organic part of our nationality and civilization. 'Tis true the Christian religion will never make all the people of America of one blood, but it can make them of one mind, and that the mind of Jesus Christ, whose life and spirit alone can make us all ot one purpose, mind, and kingdom. Man>- more reasons could be Ki\en: but we trust that the above is sufficient to make plain to an\ why we are pro- moting this Spanish-American work in New Mexico. ACHIEVEMENTS THE PAST QUADRENNIUM No department of our home mission work has given the Home Office so much concern and anxiet\" as our Sjxinish- American work. The work, four \ears ago, was just in its infancy, and indeed still is. But from the beginning of our connection with the work, it seemed apparent that it needed reorganiza- tion under a well-defined polic\' with some specific goals. Information was gathered from many sources. Much time was given to prayer for proper guidance in a sane, practical and possible course. I'nder these impulses we tried to grap- ple with the task. Many good plans presented themselves, but resources and maintenance staggered us at many points. We needed a practical, possible policy. We needed equip- ment. We needed resources and maintenance; we needed workers and friends for the cause. But we held steady to the needs and claims; and the close of the quadrennium, May 1, 1921, finds our Spanish-American work taking on a definite form with a fixed goal, and with both equipment and resources sufficient to do efficient work for the kingdom at least on a small scale. Our equipment is not ideal, but adequate to demonstrate to the denomination the real needs and fruit of such work. During the quadrennium our work at Alcalde, a purely Spanish town, was opened. Our boarding-school work has been consolidated at Santa Cruz. A large, commodious girls' dormitory, that will home from se\-enty-five to a hundred girls, was completed in .August, n»2(). An electric plant was installed to light all three of our buildings at Santa Ouz. The Edith McCiirdy Home was converted into a boys' dor- mitor\-. .A large school room was pro\ ided in the basement of the girls' dormitorx' for the opening of a two years' normal 10 course in the near future. This will open the way for the preparation of efficient teachers for that entire section. In November, 1920, a large, commodious school building was completed at Alcalde. A beautiful five-acre plat was donated to the Home Society by Mr. Borah, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The building contains two well-equipped modern school rooms; a cozy four-room apartment for the teachers; a large basement with hot-air furnace to heat the entire building; a good sanitary well, con\enient to teachers' apartment. At Velarde, additional property was purchased south of our teachers' home so as to safeguard the best interests ot our work there. The total \aluation of our three mission properties is about S50,00(). At present there are eleven in our staff of workers. Six teachers, four matrons and a pastor. Arrangements have already been completed for a general superintendent of our work whose dut>- will be to superintend the New Mexico conference, have general supervision over our three schools and act as pastor for the Santa Cruz charge. There is now a combined enrollment in the three schools of about two hundred. At Santa Cruz we also have a church organization with a membership of forty-four. OUR POLICY In framing a i)olic>- for our Spanish-American work, a number of facts had to be kept in mind. One was that the Catholic Church has held almost absolute sway in that coun- try for many centuries. Another was, that we, as a denomination, had \vr\ limit- ed means for such a task and that we, as a church, had still less knowledge than means of the real needs of that work. 11 And most of all, we were confronted with the fact that, in both means and numbers, the growth to the denomination would be extremely slow. In the face of these three facts we tried to make a careful study of the whole situation, and then to settle on some def- inite course. Many changes may yet have to be made; but the following are some of the rules that we have been trying to incorporate into a policy for our Spanish-American work: First — That there must be no antagonism, in any way, to any existing religion about us. That if we cannot convince by education, training, and the teaching of the gospel of Christ and Christian example that our claims are better, then we must fail. Second — That we must keep in mind the denomination's very limited quota to Home Missions. That while we hope to do a creditable share in the great Spanish-American field, we must not allow that to hinder our Conference Extension, Frontier and Special City Mission Work. Some think that w^e ought to pay better salaries, put in more convenient equip- ment and enlarge beyond what we have. All these things are desirable, but until the denomination grows up to a larger support for Home Missions and particularly our Spanish- American work, we must be content with what we have. Third — That for several reasons, we have fixed, as a pol- icy, a certain nominal sum to be paid by each one seeking the privileges of our schools. It teaches them the value of such privileges and the necessity of a loyal support of all welfare work for the betterment of their own condition. Again, it makes the pupils themselves more punctual and attentive to their school work. While we ask a fee of but twenty-five cents per month for plaza pupils and a fee of fifty dollars for each pupil that is fed and homed the entire school year, yet it means considerable toward the current expense of the school. Fourth — It is the policy of the school, in every phase of the work, to instil real Christian principles into the minds IJ 1.^ of all the pupils, to give them a higher standard of morality, inspire a higher standard of home life, teach the dignity of labor and a common brotherhood. In fact one of the great- est tasks in the entire work is that of disciplining the minds and conduct of those crude children whose genealogy for many generations has been little above animal instinct and passion. OUR FUTURE NEEDS We have already mentioned the fact that our Spanish- American work is yet in its infancy. And while we consider that we now have creditable build- ings and equipment, yet as we look into the work as it is, we discover many and great needs for the future. The follow- ing are some of the most important that will have to be met within a number of years: 1 — An adequate water system at Santa Cruz. This will probably imply a sewerage system of a mile and a half, and will ha\'e to be laid underneath two irrigating ditches. It will require an outdoor ele\'ated tank sufficient to supply the three buildings. Another well will need to be put down equipped with gas engine and building suitable for operating the same. A complete system of plumbing will have to be installed for fire protection, domestic use, laundry and bath. It is evident that it will cost many thousand dollars to install this, our greatest need, just now. 2 — Our boys' dormitory is entirely inadequate, and not very well adapted to the work. However, it needs enlarging and changing in a number of ways. First, it should be enlarged so as to accommodate at least fifty boys. This calls for considerable more dormitory and study room. Another stairway will have to be built in so as to admit the boys to their dormitory quarters from their own apartments instead of having to go through the pastor's apartments. 14 In addition to tlu'sr enlargements, we need a small tract of land l>ing just south of our property as a phu'ground for the hoNs, part of which can ver\' niceh' be set apart for cem- etery purposes. 3 — Two more departments should he added to our school work. One is, a two years' normal course tor our grade graduates and such others as might want to come in from outside schools to prepare themselves for teaching and com- mercial life. Nothing would so rapidly improve the moral and religious conditions in that section as to have those young people, who come up through our schools after taking a nor- mal training, go out ox'er that country and establish stan- dard ptiblic schools, thus, not only giving a higher standard of education, l)ut a higher standard of morals as well. Right in this line also we are hoping that as our l:)o\s and girls complete their work and go out into life, they will also set up higher standards of home life, thus instilling new ideals for all the people. The other department that is much needed is Manual and Industrial Training for the boys. In connection with their school work nothing would be more helpful to those boys than to be taught how to make and do things. How different that country would become if those boys were gi\en higher ideas of home construction and making. The mater- ial is there, it simply needs minds to construct. The same is true in reference to indtistries and farming. What could be made out of that countr>- if the people were onh' aroused and trained to the tasks and possibilities! 4 — Another need calling right now is the repairing and remodeling of our buildings at \'elarde. While our buildings here are comfortable enough with a little repair, they are ilh' adapted for the work in hand. What is really needed is the remodeling of the present chapel so as to give us two modern school rooms, thoroughh' ecjuipped. As it is now, tiie lower grades mtist be taken into a large 15 Transporting children to the Santa Cruz School from Espanola. The Crown Drill at the dedication of the Girls' Dormitory. A typical Indian or Mexican Corral. 16 room of the teachers' home, which is neither large enough nor adapted to school work. Besides the room in the home could be well used for social and other purposes. Then the home needs other repairs, such as new floors, some interior conveniences, a front and rear veranda, a deep sanitary well, a double garage for use of teachers and superintendent. Some drainage system must be installed, if possible, to carry oft the surface water at times. o — We imagine that some readers, long before they come to this place, are asking, where will the means come from.-' Possibly a word concerning the past will assist us for the future. The girls' new dormitory at Santa Cruz and the school building at Alcalde, both of which were finished in 1920, cost completed, — buildings, ground, equipments and furnishings, — in round numbers, $33,000, all paid. The means for the Alcalde building were given by the Otterbein Guild and W.M.A. The means for the girls' dormitory at Santa Cruz was put into the United Enlistment askings. The running expense for the three schools the past year, including the salary of teachers, pastor, matrons and current expense, approximated $12,000. The future will call for probably the same amount for running expense. A very rough estimate for installing a complete water system, enlarging the boys' dormitory and making the necessary improvements at Velarde may be put at from $15,000 to .s2(),00(). WAYS TO ASSIST THE WORK We have now made our Spanish-American work a distinct department of our home mission work. As such we are ready to receive special gifts from an> one who has an interest in that work. Five hundred dollars provides the support for a teacher or matron for one year. Fifty dollars provides the boarding for a boy or girl for a school year. One of our largest current l)ills is our light and 17 fuel for all the buildings. The winters are not so long, but because of the high altitude, are rather severe at times. How many individuals or organizations could support one of these interests and get real blessings out of it! The Church has been very liberal in donat'ng furnishing and bedding. We cannot tell you how much these gifts are appreciated and hope they will be continued. For as the work enlarges it will constantly call for more such donations, besides what it will take to replace the worn-out household equipment. xA.nother way by which you can assist this noble work is by endowment and annuity gifts. Money that can be loaned out on first mortgage security, the interest of which will go to the permanent upkeep of the buildings, furnishings, etc. The interest of a $100,000 permanent fund would amply provide this expense for the future. Thus, my dear reader, through this little booklet, the Home Mission Society comes to you asking for an offering of prayer, kind words, interest, means and whatever else you are prompted to do for these downtrodden people living under the Stars and Stripes. We have tried to make the message brief and interesting, that in one hour leisure you might be- come intelligent on this most needy department of our home mission work. May God bless the message and the reader. 18 OUR SPANISH-AMERICAN WORKERS 1920 1921 Pastor Santa Cruz Charge and Superintendent of our School Work— Rev. J. R. Overmiller, Santa Cruz, N. M. Teachers — Miss LilHan Kcndig, Santa Cruz, N. M. Miss Ruth Smith, Santa Cruz, N. M. Miss Mary Breiwner, Velarde, N. M. Miss Anna Hardy, Velarde, N. M. Miss Bertha Wohlhieter, Alcalde, N. M. Miss Lulu Clippinger, Alcalde, N. M. Matrons — Girls' Dormitory Miss Bessie Willhide, Santa Cruz, N. M. Miss Matie Watts, Santa Cruz, N. M. Miss Sara Emrick, Santa Cruz, N. M. Boys' Dormitory Mrs. J. R. Overmiller, Santa Cruz, N. M. 19 'm, BX9878.76 .A373 Our Spanish-American work in New Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00045 7905