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THE PLAN BOOK SERIES 
 
 A LITTLE 
 
 JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO 
 
 FOR INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER 
 GRADES 
 
 By MARIAN M. GEORGE 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 
 
< &<J t JL 
 
 '-ypiEs Received 
 tiOV 8 1900 
 
 a Copyrfeht «otry 
 c/hnr. Y f tq G o 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 Deliver** to 
 
 OSOfc* DIVISION, 
 
 L JEB 14 1901 
 
 Copyright, 1900, 
 By A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 
 
 
A Little Journey to 
 Puerto Rico 
 
 Do you know what people mean when they speak 
 of " Our New Possessions "? What are they ? Where 
 are they? Why are men, in the streets, in the shops, 
 everywhere, talking about them ? Why are the news- 
 papers full of articles in regard to them ? Why are 
 our lawmakers at the capital devoting so much time 
 and attention to them ? Can you tell ? 
 
 Some of these things you can easily ascertain for 
 yourselves. Others we will speak of here. 
 
 The new territory which has lately come into the 
 possession of the United States, consists of the islands 
 of Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines. Cuba 
 is not included in this list; it is soon to be an inde- 
 pendent country. 
 
 Since Puerto Rico and these other islands have come 
 to be parts of the United States, everyone is anxious 
 to learn something more of them. 
 
 The best way to learn the geography of a country 
 and the customs of the people is to visit the country 
 and see with your own eyes. 
 
 That would be a difficult thing for most of us. The 
 next best way is to make the journey in imagination, 
 and that all of us can do, 
 
4 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The island nearest us is Puerto Rico, the most east- 
 ern island of the Greater Antilles. Let us visit that 
 first and the other islands later on. 
 
 We must find out something of the climate, how- 
 ever, before we start on this journey. This may not 
 be the right season of the year to go. We must know, 
 too, what kind of clothing to take with us. 
 
 In order to plan our route wisely, we must know 
 something of the geography of the island. We 
 should also know the past history of Puerto Rico, in 
 order to understand the customs of the people and the 
 conditions that exist there. 
 
 LOCATION, SIZE, SURFACE. 
 
 If you will find a map of the West Indies in your 
 atlas or geography, you will also find Puerto Rico. 
 It is one of the four Greater Antilles Islands, and lies 
 east of Haiti and farthest out in the Atlantic Ocean 
 
 It is over four hundred miles from the east coast of 
 Cuba, one thousand miles from Havana, and about one 
 thousand four hundred and fifty miles from New 
 York. 
 
 In size it is the smallest of the group. Its area is 
 about three thousand five hundred and fifty square 
 miles. Its average length is about ninety-five miles ; 
 its average breadth about thirty-five miles. 
 
 In shape it resembles the State of Connecticut, though 
 it is only three-fourths the size of that State. 
 
 Puerto Rico, in English, means Rich Harbor. But 
 Puerto Rico is not rich in harbors. There are not more 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 5 
 
 than six good harbors, but it has less than three hun- 
 dred and fifty miles of coast line. 
 
 The surface of Puerto Rico is mountainous. A range 
 of hills traverses the island from east to west. The 
 hills are low and their sides are covered with vegetation. 
 The hills are not rocky and barren, but are cultivated 
 to their very tops. 
 
 The lower valleys are rich pasture lands or culti- 
 
 An Afternoon Siesta. 
 
 vated plantations. The knolls have orchards of cocoa- 
 nuts and other trees. Coffee, protected by the shade of 
 other trees, grows to the summits of the green hills. 
 The ground is covered everywhere with a thick car- 
 peting of grass. 
 
 The soil is remarkably fertile. This is due partly to 
 the fine climate, partly to abundant moisture. The 
 island has many fast flowing rivers. There are over 
 twelve hundred of these. In the mountains are numer- 
 ous springs and water falls, but these are hidden by 
 the overhanging giant ferns and plants. 
 
A LtTTt£ JOURNEY TO RffcfcTO Rt€6. 
 
 BRIEF HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Colum- 
 bus November 17, 1493. He made a landing at a bay, 
 where he found springs of pure water, which was much 
 needed on his ships. This place he named Aguadilla, 
 which means " the watering place." 
 
 In 1508 Ponce de Leon, a Spanish navigator, visited 
 the island, and was much pleased 
 with its beautiful scenery and 
 with the hospitality of the na- 
 tives. A year or two later he re- 
 turned, and founded the town of 
 Caparra. In 1 509 he founded the 
 city of vSan Juan on the island 
 that guards the entrance on the 
 east. 
 
 When Ponce de Leon came to the island, he found it 
 inhabited by a happy, harmless people who received 
 him with delight. They brought gifts to him, and 
 showed him and his soldiers gold, which was found in 
 the river beds. 
 
 The kindness of the natives was rewarded by cruelty 
 on the part of the Spaniards. They were ruthlessly 
 murdered or reduced to slavery, and compelled to work 
 in the mines. A revolution followed in which the 
 greater number of the natives were killed. 
 
 The severe work required of those remaining so 
 shortened their lives that very soon all had disappeared. 
 Not a descendant of this race is now living, but many 
 curious and interesting relics, left by them, may be 
 found. 
 
 Ponce de Leon. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 7 
 
 One of these is a stone collar, shaped like a horse 
 collar, and skillfully carved. This was placed upon the 
 breast of the native after his death, and was supposed 
 to keep him from harm. 
 
 Ponce de Leon built for himself a castle on the point 
 of land above the mouth of the harbor of San Juan, and 
 here he lived until he sailed on the voyage which 
 resulted in the discover}^ of Florida. 
 
 After his departure, Puerto Rico was left alone for a 
 long time. After some years, Spain sent peasants to 
 colonize the island, and slaves were introduced to culti- 
 vate the plantations. 
 
 In 1870 the island was made a province of Spain, in- 
 stead of a colony. In 1873 slavery was abolished. 
 
 Puerto Rico came into the possession of the United 
 States as the result of the recent war with Spain. It 
 was ceded to the United States Sept. 6, 1898. 
 
 Gen. George R. Davis is now Military Governor 
 of the island. The form of government for Puerto 
 Rico has not yet been decided upon. It is one of 
 the problems that Congress is now working out. 
 
 ' CLIMATE, —PERPETUAL JUNE. 
 
 Puerto Rico is a very beautiful island. Its climate 
 and scenery attract many visitors, and erelong it will 
 be a popular winter resort for people from many 
 countries. 
 
 It has been called the land of perpetual June. 
 Flowers bloom and plants and trees yield fruit the 
 year round, There is no winter; but during the 
 
8 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 season which is our winter, their skies are beautifully 
 clear and blue. 
 
 The air is neither dry nor moist, but perfect. The 
 nights are always cool, and the trade winds keep the 
 hottest days from being unpleasant. The average 
 temperature is only 8o°. It is the coolest and the 
 healthiest place in the West Indies. 
 
 There are two seasons, the rainy and the dry. The 
 
 Gathering Coffee in Puerto Rico. 
 
 rainy season lasts from July to December ; the dry, 
 from January to June. From November to June the 
 climate is more than usually delightful and healthful. 
 In the summer months it is somewhat warm, and the 
 heat and dampness are oppressive in August and 
 September. 
 
 In September and October the rain comes in tor- 
 rents , but it rains in the mountains almost every day 
 in the year. The daily showers of the rainy season 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 9 
 
 usually come late in the afternoon, but the sky clears 
 up with the setting sun. 
 
 The people pay little attention to drainage or to 
 securing a supply of good water. As a result, fevers 
 are common during the summer months among the 
 people who live in crowded quarters in the city or in 
 the marshes. 
 
 Hurricanes occasionally occur between the months 
 of July and October. These are sometimes accom- 
 panied by earthquake shocks. People may be injured 
 or killed and their homes destroyed during these violent 
 storms. Puerto Rico, however, is freer from them 
 than other islands of the West Indies. 
 
 A HURRICANE. 
 
 It is easy to tell when a hurricane is approaching. 
 The wind dies away and a deathly stillness falls over 
 everything. Not a breath of air moves. The leaves 
 droop on the trees and the heat almost smothers one. 
 
 The sky becomes copper-colored, and tints everything 
 with a ghastly hue. The cattle and other animals 
 seem to know that danger is near, and rush about in 
 a terrified way. 
 
 Far out in the ocean the water is calm and smooth ; 
 but near the shore the waves rush furiously upon the 
 beach with a mighty roar. 
 
 By and by the wind begins to rise, just a little ; first 
 from one direction, and then from another. This is a 
 sign that the storm is near at hand. Very soon a fear- 
 ful roar is heard, and all at once the hurricane descends 
 upon the island. 
 
 The work of destruction begins. Trees are up- 
 
IO A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 rooted, growing crops are laid waste, and houses are 
 torn down and scattered in every direction. Some- 
 times whole villages are destroyed and many people 
 killed or wounded. 
 
 When the barometer tells of the approach of a 
 storm, the people prepare for it. They hunt some 
 hole, cave, or cellar into which to crawl. They take 
 with them, when there is time to do so, a supply of 
 cane juice and food, to last until the storm subsides. 
 
 " The people guard as much as possible from the 
 hurricanes by building their houses of stone with mas- 
 sive walls. They provide strong bars for doors and 
 windows. When the barometer gives notice of the 
 approach of a storm, these bars are brought out, and 
 everything is at once made fast. 
 
 " Doors and window-shutters are closed, barred, and 
 double locked, and the town looks as if it were de- 
 serted by all human beings. The state of suspense, 
 while the hurricane lasts, is dreadful, for no one knows 
 when the house may fall and bury all beneath its ruins. 
 
 " Add to this the howling of the blasts, the crash of 
 falling trees, the piercing cries for help from the 
 wounded and dying, and one may faintly picture the 
 terrible scene. To venture out is almost certain death, 
 the air is so filled with flying missiles, such as boards, 
 bricks, tiles, stones, and branches of trees." 
 
 It is indeed fortunate that the people of Puerto Rico 
 are largely free from these desolating storms. Some 
 idea of their power for destruction may be gathered 
 from the pictures in our papers of Galveston, Texas 
 after the recent hurricane there, 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. i 1 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP. 
 
 The best time for us to visit Puerto Rico, then, is 
 after the hurricane season, in the winter. January, 
 February, and March are the favorite months of 
 travelers. 
 
 But if we wish to celebrate the four hundred and 
 seventh anniversary of the discovery of the island, we 
 must go in November. It was the 17th day of this 
 month that Columbus first visited Puerto Rico. 
 
 We will need to take our thinnest clothing for use on 
 the island, but we should have light wraps for the cool 
 evenings. 
 
 We should also go well provided with umbrellas, 
 rubber overshoes, and rain coats, if we do not wish 
 to spend many afternoons indoors. 
 
 Now the best way to reach Puerto Rico is not, as 
 many people think, from Cuba. San Juan, the capi- 
 tal, is nearly as far from Havana as from New York. 
 
 We will take the steamer from New York that goes 
 directly to San Juan. If the weather is good, we may 
 expect to make the voyage in four days. 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 What a busy crowd it is through which we pass to 
 the New York wharf ! Dozens of large ships and hun- 
 dreds of small vessels andTsailboats crowd the harbor. 
 
 There is a large steamer just going out. It is loaded 
 with hardware, kerosene, pine lumber, and codfish, and 
 is probably bound for South America. 
 
 Crowds of people are going on deck with departing 
 
12 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 friends. Many of the friends have brought or sent 
 flowers and steamer-letters, to be enjoyed by the trav- 
 elers, during the voyage. 
 
 Now the bell sounds a warning to our visitors to say 
 good-by. They leave the boat, and soon we are off. 
 As we leave the harbor we listen to the band play- 
 ing " America " and the " Star Spangled Banner," and 
 
 Our Ocean Steamer. 
 
 take the last glimpse of our native land which we shall 
 have for a month. 
 
 It is not far from the dinner hour, so we now visit 
 the dining-room for the purpose of securing our place 
 at the table from the head steward. 
 
 We next secure a steamer chair, and have the deck 
 steward place it in a comfortable, sheltered place on 
 deck. It is well, before long, to visit our staterooms, 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 1 3 
 
 and put our clothes and other belongings in order for 
 the trip. 
 
 By the time this is done dinner is announced. Some- 
 how we do not feel very hungry. The vessel rolls 
 about so that we begin to feel dizzy. We think we 
 would rather go to bed, and we try to do so, but find it 
 rather difficult. 
 
 The stewardess comes in just then, and asks if she 
 may help us. With her assistance we climb into our 
 berths. Rock, rock, rock ! If the boat would only be 
 quiet one moment ! We are very seasick by this time, 
 and feel as if we never wish to eat another meal. The 
 motion of the boat lulls us to sleep by and by, and the 
 next thing we know it is morning. 
 
 The air in our stateroom seems close and " stufFy," 
 so we gladly leave it and go on deck, where we remain 
 for the rest of the day. The steward serves our meals 
 to us here, and we spend the time in our steamer 
 chairs, watching the white-capped waves, the sea gulls 
 over us, and the porpoises following the boat for food. 
 
 After the first day out we sail into smoother seas and 
 warmer weather. We throw aside our wraps and put 
 on lighter clothing. We also don broad shade-hats to 
 protect our eyes from the glare of the light upon the 
 water. 
 
 A favorable wind bears us southward to the tropical 
 sea, which many people consider among the most beau- 
 tiful things in the world. 
 
 The water of the Bahama sea is wonderful because 
 of its clearness and its deep purple color. A cloud 
 shadow changes the purple into emerald. 
 
 Looking down into the clear depths, we see the dol- 
 
14 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 phins as distinctly as the birds overhead. Shoals of 
 flying fish dart out of the water, their fins serving as 
 sails for an instant ; then they drop back again. 
 
 Many other new and interesting objects and scenes 
 add to the pleasure of our voyage from the great north- 
 ern metropolis to the capital of the island in the south- 
 ern seas. These we can not tell about now. 
 
 SAN JUAN. 
 
 While we are learning of the plant and animal life 
 
 the good ship bears us 
 
 about and beneath us, 
 swiftly on, and all too 
 journey's end. 
 
 We seem hardly to 
 of Liberty's towering 
 harbor, before the gray 
 appear above the hori- 
 this massive stone fort 
 attracts our attention. 
 
 Across the harbor 
 capped waves rush fu- 
 in a mad 
 toward 
 sho re. 
 through 
 narrow 
 nel, the 
 glides 
 harbor 
 the guns 
 
 soon 
 
 have left the shadow 
 torch in New York 
 walls of Morro Castle 
 zon. Far out at sea, 
 with its beacon light 
 
 are at our 
 
 Statue of Liberty — New York Harbor. 
 
 entrance the white- 
 riously over each other 
 race 
 the 
 Passing 
 this 
 c h a n - 
 ship 
 into the 
 under 
 of the 
 
 two picturesque old forts which guard it, and we get 
 our first glimpse of San Juan. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 15 
 
 Our first view of this beautiful old city fills us with 
 anticipations of pleasure. We find that the ground 
 upon which , the city lies slopes upward from the calm, 
 broad harbor to the forts that guard its heights. 
 
 Here and there a tall palm-tree rears its graceful 
 head above the tops of the gayly colored buildings that 
 glisten in the sunlight. 
 
 * Our guide tells us that San Juan is one of the most 
 perfectly fortified cities in the world. It is easy to 
 believe this when, from the ocean and from the bay, we 
 see the massive walls and battlements of the forts 
 that guard the north and east. 
 
 We learn that they are cut from the solid rock which 
 crowns the crest of the narrow peninsula. The steep 
 walls of the vast castle of San Cristobal overshadow 
 the whole city. 
 
 The city is built on an island, connected with the 
 mainland by a bridge. « 
 
 It is surrounded by a high, thick stone wall : that is, 
 it was once upon a time ; but the city is now extended 
 far beyond the walls. Inside is the city proper, or old 
 San Juan. Outside are the more modern buildings 
 and the suburbs. 
 
 San Juan is not only the seat of government, but it 
 is considered the first city of Puerto Rico in interest 
 and in importance. Ponce, however, disputes this 
 claim. It has the best harbor, and the best public 
 buildings, churches and schools on the island. 
 
 The palace of the governor-general and the head- 
 quarters of the American administration we find located 
 in San Juan. 
 
 Over thirty thousand people make their homes in 
 
i6 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 this city, and a goodly number of them we find at the 
 shore to meet our vessel. They do not wait for us to 
 land. They come out to meet us. 
 
 Dusky natives in landing boats are soon alongside, 
 and we learn to our surprise that our ship does not go 
 to the dock. We are to go ashore in these small awn- 
 ing-covered boats. This is a new experience for us, 
 but it is an old Spanish custom. 
 
 Landing from Our Steamer at San Juan. 
 
 The steward of the ship tells* us that we may retain 
 our rooms and use the ship as a hotel during the stay 
 in port, going ashore for sight-seeing when we like. 
 
 We have heard that the hotels in San Juan are very 
 poor ; but of course we wish to see for ourselves what 
 they are like, and so we decide to give them a trial. 
 
 We are in no hurry to seek the hotels, however. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 *7 
 
 The streets of San Juan present so many novel sights 
 to our wandering eyes that we wish to look about first. 
 
 STREET SCENES. 
 
 We have been told that we could walk all over the 
 town in an hour, and we resolve to try it. 
 
 The streets are narrow and dark, but well paved 
 
 
 A Street in San Juan. 
 
 and clean. They ought to be clean, for they are 
 swept by hand every day. The sidewalks are so 
 narrow that only two of us can walk abreast, so we 
 take to the road. This is used as a highway for 
 people as well as vehicles. 
 
 Naked little children of all ages and colors play 
 about the streets and on the sidewalks. Colored men 
 and women, smoking black cigars, saunter idly about. 
 
1 8 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Street venders carrying their stores upon their heads 
 or backs, or in large panniers upon tiny ponies, fill 
 the air with cries announcing their wares. 
 
 Judging from the number of the venders of drinks 
 we see on the streets, every one in San Juan is thirsty. 
 We are, at any rate, and very delicious we find their 
 ices and sherbets, their iced orange, lemon and straw- 
 berry waters, iced cherries, milk, coffee and chocolate. 
 
 ' WKks* 
 
 DuiyCE (Sweetmeat) Seiners in Puerto Rico. 
 
 Fruit sellers under the arcades and in stalls tempt 
 us with their attractive wares ; but the fruits are new 
 and strange to us, and we hesitate about buying. 
 
 The hack drivers are asleep on closed carriages at 
 the hack stand. Long lines of clumsy carts, with high 
 wheels, rumble over the cobblestone pavements with a 
 dreadful clatter. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 19 
 
 In the open doorways of shops we see men and 
 women manufacturing articles for sale. Some are 
 making chairs, some shoes, some jewelry, some boxes, 
 and, in one place, we see a number of workmen mak- 
 ing coffins. 
 
 ' We are interested in observing that flags of different 
 colors are used as signs, and that the walls are painted 
 with brilliant pictures. In the quarter near the sea, 
 the brandy stores, built of reeds, have round them 
 swarms of beggars of every degree. 
 
 The laundry shop we find just outside the city, 
 beside a large creek. A laundry not built by hands ! 
 Here women stand knee-deep in the stream, with the 
 hot sun beating down upon their heads. They are 
 doing their laundry work. The clothes are cleaned 
 by soaking them in water and pounding them with 
 stones. We wonder if there are any buttons left on 
 the clothes after this treatment, and resolve not to 
 trust our clothes to this laundry. 
 
 We note outside the city wall a broad concrete walk ; 
 along this walk seats, trees, and rude statues ; and 
 between the walk and the wall an ornamental garden. 
 
 Having now taken a general stroll, we will rest up 
 preparatory to our visit to the points of special interest. 
 
 POINTS OF INTEREST IN SAN JUAN. 
 
 We are now ready to visit the places of unusual 
 interest about the capital city. The most noted build- 
 ings are the governor's palace, the cathedral, the city 
 hall, the arsenal, the buildings used as quarters for the 
 troops, the forts, the castles of Morro and San Cristobal, 
 the house which Ponce de Leon built, the palace of the 
 
20 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 bishop, the theater, the hospital, the orphan asylum, 
 the poorhouse, the jail, the library, and the colleges. 
 
 In the heart of the town, facing the City Hall, the 
 guide shows us a public plaza ; and under the frowning 
 walls of San Cristobal, on the outskirts of the city, 
 he points out another. These plazas are fiat, open 
 spaces, paved with cement and surrounded by rows of 
 shade trees. 
 
 In the plaza of Columbus, on the outskirts of the 
 city, is a handsome statue of Columbus. Facing this 
 plaza is the grand theater. 
 
 In the cool of the evening, the people gather in these 
 plazas, and listen to the music of the band. 
 
 One of the most interesting buildings in the, city to 
 us is the " White House of Ponce de Leon." It is still 
 standing where it looked northward over the sea so 
 long ago. 
 
 On the side toward the bay is an old wall, and beyond 
 this is a beautiful garden and rows of palm trees. 
 From the windows we get a fine view of the bay. 
 
 The people of San Juan have honored its founder 
 with a statue, which stands in the center of one of its 
 plazas. 
 
 His remains are preserved in a leaden box in the 
 church of Santo Domingo. 
 
 We find the famous Morro Castle to be a small mili- 
 tary town in itself, with houses, chapel, barracks, dun- 
 geons, water tanks, warehouses, and also a light tower, 
 a signal station, and a light-saving station. 
 
 This ancient fort is the beginning of the wall which 
 surrounds the city. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 21 
 
 THE HARKET PLACE. 
 
 Look at these people coming in from the country ! 
 Our guide says they are going to the market place. 
 Let us follow them and see what a Puerto Rican mar- 
 ket place is. 
 
 Here it is, situated near the ocean. The court is 
 formed with stones, and it contains booths for fruits, 
 vegetables, and produce of all kinds. 
 
 Dear me ! what a busy, noisy place ! People from 
 every race and nation seem to be gathered here. Big 
 
 Going to Market. 
 
 people, little people, babies, roosters, dogs, donkeys, 
 horses! What talking, shouting, laughing, crying, 
 crowing, barking, and braying ! 
 
 Men are smoking, lounging about, and bragging 
 about their game-cocks ; women are making small pur- 
 chases and gossiping with neighbors ; babies are tum- 
 bling about on the ground, devouring bits of fruit that 
 come in their way : [but all are good-natured. 
 
 Bach market man or woman has a place assigned, 
 
22 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 and within this space or in a booth are piled high 
 heaps of fruits and vegetables. And such fruits and 
 vegetables we never in our lives beheld or even 
 dreamed of ! 
 
 Heaps and heaps of golden, luscious oranges are 
 offered us by the thousand, or two for a penny. Ba- 
 nanas are sold five for a cent, or a bunch of a hundred 
 bananas for twenty-five cents. Think of it ! In New 
 York it would cost us three to five dollars. 
 
 There are ever and ever so many kinds of fruits of 
 which we do not even know the name. But we make a 
 list of those whose names we do know, and here the}^ 
 are : oranges, bananas, plantains, limes, lemons, cocoa- 
 nuts, bread-fruit, bread nuts, pomegranates, dates, figs, 
 pawpaws, the tamarind, sugar apple, grosella, mammee, 
 guava, granadilla, naseberry, alligator pears, shaddocks, 
 and Indian plums. 
 
 Could you find so many in a 
 New York, New Orleans, Chicago, 
 or San Francisco market, do you 
 think ? 
 
 Then here are the vegetables. 
 They would make even a longer 
 list, but we note a few of those 
 with whose names and forms we 
 are acquainted : yams, sweet pota- 
 toes, Irish potatoes, carrots, tur- 
 nips, celery, beets, egg plant, 
 radishes, peas, beans, tomatoes, 
 cabbage, pumpkins, cantaloupes, 
 watermelons, squashes, peppers, 
 cassava, yantias, and okra. 
 
 The people in the market, see- a poultry deader. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 23 
 
 ing that we are Americans, try to charge us many times 
 what each article is worth. If we travel very far, we 
 will find that this is a custom of the people in many 
 countries. They think all Americans are rich. 
 
 Now this is*a great mistake, and so we decline very 
 firmly to buy anything at all. This offends the mar- 
 ket people. They wish us to make them an offer. 
 
 They offer us their fruits for half the first price. 
 Again we refuse. A fourth of the original price. We 
 shake our heads. 
 
 Our guide now offers to make our purchases for us, 
 and does so for a very small sum. And the market 
 people and venders are quite satisfied. It is all they 
 expected. 
 
 HOMES AND HOME LIFE. 
 
 A narrow, shaded street tempts us to leave the noisy, 
 business part of the town and the throng that crowds 
 these streets and plazas, and stray into the suburbs. 
 
 No matter which way we turn, some new picture 
 meets our eyes. 
 
 Wandering along, we peep into doorways, courtyards 
 and pleasant patios. Some of the houses have crosses 
 upon their summits, to show the devotion of the in- 
 mates to their religion. 
 
 Others have a palm branch twined among the iron 
 bars of their balconies, or placed aloft, to protect the 
 house from evil. This branch was one of those blessed 
 at the cathedral the last Palm Sunday. 
 
 A piece of white paper floating from the iron railing 
 of a balcony tells us that the house is to let. Here 
 
24 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 buildings can be rented by the day or week, as well as 
 by the month or year. 
 
 The dwellings and other buildings are of gray stone 
 or brick, stuccoed over and tinted blue, yellow, drab or 
 any other color but pink. 
 
 About half the houses are two stories in height, the 
 others one story ; but all are flat-roofed and without 
 chimneys. The main or upper story has iron balco- 
 nies which project over the narrow streets and darken 
 them. The houses have no windows of glass, but the 
 window openings are provided with heavy shutters. 
 We enter these houses through interior courts or 
 patios. 
 
 Many of the rich Puerto Ricans have fountains, trees, 
 and flowers in these open central courts ; a few have 
 roof gardens. Here the family sits in the evening to 
 catch the cool sea breezes. Others sit on their balco- 
 nies along the outside of the house, or along the inner 
 court or patio. 
 
 The patio is the coolest place about the house during 
 the heated hours of the day. Here the women bring 
 their sewing or embroidery, and chat. It is also the 
 favorite playground of the children, and in its shade 
 the men of the household take their afternoon 
 nap. 
 
 There are no yards or gardens attached to these 
 houses. The only green spots to be found are the 
 inner courts, the public squares or plazas, and the gar- 
 den of the Governor-General's palace. 
 
 There is no portion of the city set aside for the rich 
 or the poor. People of means, of education, and of 
 refinement live in the upper stories. The poor live in 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 25 
 
 crowded rooms and patios, and in basements or in dirty 
 alleys. 
 
 Many of the wealthy, fashionable people live in the 
 pretty suburban towns. Others, who are engaged in 
 business in the cities, live over their stores, on the sec- 
 ond floor. 
 
 The lower floors are occupied by servants, or poor 
 people. To reach the upper stories of these buildings, 
 we must pass through a crowd of children, dogs, and 
 poultry in the courtyard below. 
 
 Upstairs the rooms are large and the ceilings lofty. 
 The windows reach to the floor, and the shutters are 
 kept open to admit the air. 
 
 The homes of even the wealthy seem to us plainly 
 furnished. There is no upholstered furniture. It is 
 too warm for this, they tell us. But wood furniture, 
 wickerwork, and willow ware are used. 
 
 The floors in the best houses are tiled or are made 
 of hard wood. 
 
 Carpets are never used, but rugs are seen occasion- 
 ally in the center of a room. 
 
 The bedrooms are small and not well ventilated. 
 The beds are canopied and trimmed with fine hand- 
 made lace. 
 
 The walls are usually bare; but here and there 
 a fine painting may be seen. Giant ferns and broad- 
 spreading palm leaves are used to festoon the walls 
 and arched doorways. These are cut fresh and re- 
 newed from day to day, and they make the dark, cool 
 rooms attractive and inviting. Within and without 
 the house, potted tropical plants are found. 
 
 Peeping into the bath room of one of these homeSj 
 
26 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 we see, not a bath tub, but a swimming pool large 
 enough to accommodate a young whale. 
 
 We think this an improvement on our bath tubs 
 at home, and of the joy it would give the average 
 United States boy to add such a feature to his own 
 home. 
 
 FOOD AND DRINK. 
 
 For water the people have, until quite recently, been 
 dependent upon cisterns, in which the rain that falls 
 upon the flat roofs is collected. These cisterns are 
 
 The Bread Seller. 
 
 in the patio, or courtyard, and an open drain runs 
 through the same place. 
 
 Much of the cooking is done here by the poorer 
 people. 
 
 It seems to us that cooking in houses without 
 chimneys would be rather difficult, but then these 
 people do not use stoves or coal. They cook over 
 a small pot, or brazier, or furnace of charcoal. 
 
 They cook less food, too, than people who live in the 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 27 
 
 North. They live largely on fruits and vegetables 
 and have little meat. 
 
 Ice is used only by the families of the wealthy, and 
 it is impossible to keep milk or fresh meat for any 
 length of time. In place of ice-water the people store 
 water in porous jars, and in this way it is kept cool. 
 
 They prepare many refreshing drinks to be used 
 in place of water by using oranges, lemons, limes, 
 cocoanuts, and the milk of almonds. 
 
 They also indulge very often in little ices, which 
 the venders bring to the doors man y times a day. 
 
 The poorer people, who can not afford to indulge 
 in such expensive drinks and ices, use barley water, 
 or water with toasted corn and sugar in it. 
 
 The people have coffee or chocolate and biscuits 
 for the first or early breakfast. The second breakfast 
 is eaten between eleven and twelve o'clock, and corre- 
 sponds to our lunch. Dinner is eaten at six or seven 
 o'clock in the evening. 
 
 Many of the business men take the morning meal 
 with their clerks at a long table on a veranda, or in a 
 room of the establishment. From three to four o'clock 
 in the afternoon everyone indulges in a siesta or nap. 
 
 Along the wharves and in the outskirts of the city, 
 the houses are but one story high, and many of them 
 are built of wood. These houses have but one window 
 and are dark and poorly ventilated ; yet they are 
 crowded with poor people. 
 
 Some of them have patches of garden separated by 
 rows or hedges of cactus. Here we see brown mothers 
 sitting in the sun mending fish nets. Their naked 
 little children are at play near them. 
 
2& A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The people of Puerto Rico, on a casual glance, 
 appear to us to come from every nation on earth. The 
 first person you meet will be black, the next brown, the 
 third yellow, and the fourth white. 
 
 After a time we are able to divide them into five 
 classes : the upper class of white Puerto Ricans ; the 
 lower class of whites, or peasants ; the negroes ; the 
 mixed people of negro and Indian or other blood ; and 
 the foreigners. 
 
 Among these last are Germans, Swedes, Danes, Rus- 
 sians, Frenchmen, descendants of Moorish Jews and of 
 natives of the Canary Islands. 
 
 All of these people speak Spanish, however, and 
 have the Spanish customs, manners, and religion. 
 
 Of the 850,000 people, less than one half are colored 
 or of mixed blood. 
 
 The upper class of white Puerto Ricans is descended 
 from Spanish stock, and in this class are found the 
 wealthy planters and stock raisers, the merchants, and 
 the professional men. 
 
 They are a happy, good-looking, hospitable, polite, 
 and prosperous people. Many of them are fairly well 
 educated. 
 
 In appearance these people resemble the Cubans, 
 having regular features and dark hair and eyes. 
 
 The men are not large, but are well built, erect and 
 graceful. 
 
 The women have clear complexions, delicate features, 
 and small hands and feet. 
 
A UTTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 29 
 
 Heavy clothing is not worn. The men dress in 
 white (light linen or cotton), and the women in cotton 
 or other thin material. 
 
 The ladies of the family are secluded very closely. 
 They spend much of their time in the patios or on the 
 balconies of their homes, embroidering, making lace, and 
 gossiping. They care little for reading or for study. 
 
 The Puerto Rican is generous and hospitable. He 
 tells you, as does the Cuban, that his house and all it 
 contains, his servants, his horses, his possessions, are 
 yours to use and to have. 
 
 But of course he does not mean that you shall accept 
 these gifts. He means that he expects you to use 
 them freely so long as you are a guest in his house. 
 
 By these well-to-do people, any sort of labor is re- 
 garded as degrading and altogether out of the question ; 
 so they keep many servants. Some are paid and some 
 receive only their board and clothes. But all are 
 content. 
 
 The working people are of one color, a light brown, 
 with black eyes and straight hair. They are rather 
 small and thin ; and many of those living in the cities 
 are ill-fed and diseased. 
 
 They are ignorant and somewhat indolent, but are 
 gentle, quick of wit, and teachable. Though cruel to 
 their animals, they are kind to their children. 
 
 There are many beautiful girls in the lower classes 
 as well as in the upper, and these we see on the streets 
 and in the market places. 
 
 Many of them use long scarlet shawls and wear 
 black satin slippers on their bare, pretty little feet. 
 They are as proud of their little feet as of their hands. 
 
^o 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Some of the girls in the market have hair three- 
 quarters the length of their body ; but while it is so 
 black and abundant, it is extremely coarse. The labor- 
 ing men cut their hair short in the neck, and wear a 
 thick bang on the forehead. 
 
 In many parts of the island beggars appeal to us 
 
 A Beggar of Puerto Rico. 
 
 with outstretched hand. Even the little children are 
 taught to add their mite to the family income by 
 begging. 
 
 In Ponce these beggars secure a special license to 
 pursue this profession and have a regular s}^stem. In 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 31 
 
 certain houses, on certain days, a little table is placed 
 in the doorw^ and a row of copper cents or coins 
 upon it. 
 
 The beggars who are privileged to come to these 
 homes, come at the right time, take their pennies, and 
 with a " Thank you ! " shamble off. 
 
 CHILD LIFE. 
 
 Formerly lessons never bothered the small Puerto 
 Rican, or indeed any other Puerto Rican child. He 
 played " hookey " all day long, and no truant officer 
 disturbed him, or dragged him off to school. 
 
 He never saw a schoolhouse or 
 the inside of a schoolroom. He 
 never saw a book. But, for that 
 matter, neither did his father or 
 mother. They can neither read 
 nor write; nor can many of their 
 neighbors. 
 
 The Puerto Rican city child 
 often lives in a crowded basement, 
 with many brothers and sisters. 
 The child of poor parents in the 
 cities is not usually very clean ; 
 but then he has very few opportunities for bathing, 
 and his only playground is the courtyard and the 
 streets. 
 
 His little country cousins, who live where pools and 
 streams are found, spend much of their time in the 
 water. They find it pleasanter to paddle in cool 
 streams, beneath overhanging tree ferns and banana 
 trees, than to roll in the dirt. 
 
32 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 They object, however, to wearing clothes, and are 
 allowed to go without any until they are ten or twelve 
 years of age. Even at this age they shed briny tears 
 when compelled to put on one cotton garment. 
 
 These little country children learn to be helpful at 
 a very early age. They fish and catch crabs ; weed 
 the garden ; dig potatoes ; gather fruit, vegetables and 
 coffee ; and do errands. 
 
 But they have one bugaboo, and that is the wild dog. 
 This animal is very fierce. It sometimes leaves its 
 hiding place in the forest, with a pack of companions, 
 and carries off sheep, pigs, and calves. 
 
 If very hungry, it may attack a child ; and so the 
 children keep a sharp lookout for it. 
 
 Children in Puerto Rico sleep on the floor or in a 
 hammock, and they eat whenever or wherever they 
 can find fruit or vegetables within their reach. Some- 
 times they smoke, too. 
 
 They have no toys, no books, no pictures, no fine 
 clothes or homes ; yet, for all that, they are cheerful 
 and contented. They have little, but they seem to 
 want little. 
 
 The children of the wealthy and well-to-do dress and 
 look very much like the children in our Southern 
 States ; though the babies and very young children 
 sometimes wear no clothes. 
 
 These children are sent to school, or are taught by 
 a governess or tutor at home, until they are old enough 
 to be sent away to school. 
 
 Then they are sent to Spain, France, or the United 
 States, to complete their education. 
 
 The girls study and read very little. It is not con- 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 33 
 
 sidered necessary for them to be well educated. They 
 are not allowed to walk about the streets alone, but 
 must have a servant, nurse, or attendant from the time 
 they leave their cradles until they are married. 
 
 EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Not more than one seventh of the 850,000 people in 
 Puerto Rico can read or write. Only one child in 
 twelve, between the ages of six and sixteen, attends 
 school. (In 1897, of 125,000 children of school age, 
 only about 28,000 attended school — about 19,000 boys 
 and 9,000 girls.) 
 
 The buildings used for school purposes are seldom 
 anything more than thatched huts. Sometimes two or 
 three rooms are given to the school in the house where 
 the teacher lives. 
 
 Many of the country districts are without schools, 
 and no school privileges are provided for three fourths 
 of the people. 
 
 The schools are of the old-fashioned, ungraded, dis- 
 trict-school type, and are for pupils from seven to thir- 
 teen years of age. 
 
 Pupils are supposed to study arithmetic, geography, 
 grammar, the history of Spain, and religion. There 
 are few schoolbooks used. The pupils write down 
 what the teacher dictates, or copy what the teacher has 
 written. The one book they use is the one from which 
 they learn to read. 
 
 Arithmetic problems are often worked out on the 
 floor with bits of clay. 
 
 There are from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five 
 pupils in each room, and two or three teachers. The 
 3 
 
34 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 pupils sit on long benches or on the floor. The boys 
 and girls have separate schools ; but the white and the 
 colored pupils attend the same school. 
 
 The pupils are bright and quick to learn, but there 
 is no discipline in the schoolroom. They come and go 
 as they please. They stay at home if they wish, and 
 no truant officer disturbs them. 
 
 Many remain away from school because of a lack of 
 clothing. Others remain away because they prefer to 
 play in the streets. Their parents are careless and 
 indifferent to the advantages of an education , and make 
 no effort to induce their children to attend school, or to 
 study. 
 
 This unfavorable state of things is soon to disappear. 
 The United States is now rapidly introducing schools 
 and capable teachers into every part of the island. 
 The people seem very glad to take advantage of the 
 better order of things. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 The established church of the country is the Roman 
 Catholic ; but other religions are tolerated, and a few 
 Protestant churches are to be found scattered over the 
 island. 
 
 The people seem to be little interested in religion or 
 in their churches, and Sunday with them is only a f£te 
 day or a holiday. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 35 
 
 HOW THE PEOPLE AMUSE THEMSELVES. 
 
 The people of Puerto Rico have two hundred holi- 
 days or feast days in their calendar. They are always 
 ready to welcome new ones, however, and have within 
 the past 3'ear added Washington's birthday and the 
 Fourth of July to the list. 
 
 Last year they celebrated the Fourth for the first 
 time. In all the cities there were speeches in the day- 
 time arid fireworks at night. In the country there 
 were races and processions in honor of the new " feast 
 day," or holiday. 
 
 The people show their patriotism and loyalty to the 
 flag of the United States in many ways. They are 
 eager and quick to adopt American manners and cus- 
 toms. 
 
 Just before sunset, the band comes into the Plaza at 
 Ponce and plays the " Star Spangled Banner " in front 
 of headquarters as the American flag is drawn down 
 for the night. 
 
 The Puerto Ricans noticed that the American men 
 took off their hats and stood with uncovered heads 
 while the flag made its descent; and now they, too, 
 show their loyalty by doffing their hats when the flag 
 comes down. 
 
 The people of Puerto Rico are extremely fond of 
 music. Strolling bands of guitar and mandolin play- 
 ers are numerous ; and at evening time the air is filled 
 with music. 
 
 Bach peasant makes his own guitar. It is a very 
 curious instrument. This guitar music is usually 
 accompanied by music from another instrument called 
 
36 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 a guida. This is made from the great curve-necked 
 gourd. The music or sound is made by passing a 
 piece of umbrella wire up and down a series of notches 
 cut from end to end on the outside curve of the 
 gourd. 
 
 The sound produced is much like that made by rub- 
 bing together two pieces of sandpaper. We would not 
 call it music at all, but the natives seem to like it. No 
 orchestra is complete without it, and one can hear the 
 scratching of this instrument almost any time, at any 
 home in Puerto Rico. 
 
 Sunday is a day not of rest, but of merry making. 
 During the early morning hours the Puerto Ricans go 
 to church. After church, they hurry away to the 
 cockpit or to the bull ring in the suburbs of the town. 
 
 Very early in the morning we see numbers of roost- 
 ers staked out by short strings to pegs driven in the 
 sidewalks. These are the game-cocks which furnish 
 to the Puerto Rican his favorite amusement and oppor- 
 tunity for gambling. 
 
 They seem to realize their importance and keep 
 up a great crowing, sending challenges of defiance 
 back and forth to each other. Their owners take good 
 care of them and endeavor to keep them in good con- 
 dition for fighting. 
 
 In the market places we see these fowls in wicker 
 coops. Many venders of food and other articles have 
 game-cocks tied by strings to their stools and stations. 
 
 When their owners have nothing else to do, they 
 devote themselves to training these birds ; or they try 
 to find some one willing to match them in a contest. 
 
 The buildings where these fights take place are to be 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 37 
 
 found in every town and village. They are considered 
 
 next in importance to the cathedral and the town hall, 
 
 and more important than the schools. 
 
 The cock fights "are usually held on Sundays and 
 
 holidays, and last the greater part of the day. On the 
 
 day set for these fights, the birds are taken to the 
 
 arena, descriptions given and amounts wagered. One 
 
 fight follows another, and large sums of money are lost 
 
 and won. 
 
 BURDEN BEARING. 
 
 If a country is without good roads, it must employ 
 human burden-carriers; and many of these we see in 
 Puerto Rico. Men and women walk long distances 
 through the country bearing heavy burdens upon their 
 heads, shoulders or backs. 
 
 The banana and plantain men carry their fruit fas- 
 tened to poles. They move along quite easily with two 
 hundred pounds or more of fruit. On the street and in 
 the market place we hear the singsong notes of the 
 vegetable man telling us of the excellence of his wares. 
 These he carries on his head on an immense board, 
 sometimes five feet long. 
 
 The dulce seller, too, carries his tray of cocoanut 
 dulces, guava jelly and other sweets on his woolly pate; 
 as do also the sellers of fruits, bread, cakes, bottled 
 cocoanut milk and trinkets. 
 
 The hat weaver and the broom maker carry their 
 wares on a shoulder pole, with a load fastened to each 
 end so as to balance it. 
 
 The milkman carries an open-mouthed ten-gallon 
 milk can on his head. From this dangle the ladles 
 and measures he uses. 
 
38 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 But he does not always deliver milk in this way. 
 Sometimes he rides up in front of the door astride his 
 horse, and shouts " milk " at the top of his voice. 
 
 On each side of his horse are fastened milk cans, and 
 from these cans he ladles without dismounting. 
 
 Sometimes he drives his cows before him and milks 
 them at his customer's door. This is the favorite 
 method, because the milk is then sure to be sweet. 
 
 A Puerto Rican Hat Weaver. 
 
 This is not always the case if the milk is carried some 
 distance in the hot sun, in uncovered tin cans. 
 
 The milkman always comes very early in the morn- 
 ing, and so does the baker. If the baker is not on 
 time, we must wait for our breakfast ; for bread is not 
 baked in the house. It is always bought. 
 
 We can hear him long before he reaches our door, 
 for he keeps up a plaintive cry in order to attract our 
 attention. 
 
 Sometimes our human bread wagon carries a great 
 board or basket on his head, and in this are as many as 
 fifty loaves. (See illustration, page 26). 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 39 
 
 The butcher, on horseback, brings meat hanging 
 from hooks in frames. Much of the poultry is brought 
 to town in great odd wicker coops strung across the 
 backs of ponies. Here is a poultry vender at the street 
 corner, with his inverted and excited merchandise sus- 
 pended by strings from his shoulder. (See page 22). 
 
 HOW THE PEOPLE TRAVEL. 
 
 Puerto Rico is a very delightful place to visit, but we 
 do not care to go there to live until there are better 
 roads. 
 
 There is but one good road on the island, the one 
 leading from San Juan to Ponce. There is only one 
 line of street cars (in the city of Mayaguez); and there 
 are only one hundred and forty-seven miles of railroad 
 in the whole island. 
 
 The best roads run along the coast from town to 
 town. There is one exception. This is the wonderful 
 military road which connects Ponce, on the south shore, 
 with Sau Juan on the north shore. (See map, page 4). 
 
 Parts of the country away from the coasts are reached 
 by bridle paths ; but the roads outside the cities and 
 towns are impassable during the rainy season. Some- 
 times there is only a bridle path or trail overgrown with 
 tangled vegetation, and crossed by streams without 
 bridges. 
 
 The means of transportation employed by the people 
 are the pony carriage or surrey, the saddle horse, the 
 ox-cart and the foot. The beast of burden is either the 
 donkey or the pony. These animals are employed to 
 carry goods in packs over the trails, in place of using 
 the wagon. 
 
 The ponies are usually small, half-starved, badly 
 
4o 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 treated animals. They carry great burdens, that look 
 heavy enough to crush them to the ground. 
 
 Their food consists of green corn and grass. One of 
 the commonest sights on the road, street, or market- 
 place is the pony with his load of green fodder. 
 
 This is usually so large that it covers the animal 
 entirely, but the master is always in plain view, sitting 
 astride the moving corn-stack. 
 
 P4? %•££&* 
 
 -3 
 
 „,„„»/.■«>"'<""' • 
 
 A Puerto Rican Pony Loaded. 
 
 The planters and farmers have an odd-looking sad- 
 dle, which they use on these ponies. It is a leather 
 pad to which are. attached wicker baskets. 
 
 The well-to-do farmers who own ponies carry fruit 
 and vegetables in these baskets. Sometimes two hogs 
 are brought to market in the baskets, with all four feet 
 tied together. 
 
 When the farmer takes his family to market, he and 
 his wife ride the pony, and the children ride in the 
 baskets. 
 
 The ponies also carry bales of grass, trunks, and all 
 kinds of* household goods, and furniture. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 4 1 
 
 The principal draught animals are oxen. The heavy 
 two-wheeled ox cart is used to convey great loads of 
 sugar, coffee, and tobacco or fruit, over the good roads. 
 
 Great, strong, patient beasts they are. They are 
 yoked by a bar of heavy wood fastened to their horns. 
 
 They are driven, not with words or whip, but with a 
 goad. The driver or teamster walks in front of his 
 team and waves his arms and goad the way he wishes 
 them to go. 
 
 If they do not follow fast enough to please him, he 
 urges them along by prodding them. The end of the 
 goad is shod with a sharp spike of steel, three inches 
 or more long. Often we see these oxen dripping with 
 blood, and seamed and scarred with wounds. 
 
 Besides the pain of this constant goading, they suffer 
 from flies upon their face, nose and eyes. Since their 
 heads are bound, they can not shake the flies off. 
 
 All day they stand or travel in the hot sun without 
 water or food. 
 
 Even when they stop or rest, no one thinks of putting 
 them in the shade. 
 
 Almost all the people are cruel to their animals, yet 
 they seem not to realize that they are doing wrong. It 
 is a custom, that is all. 
 
 It makes us wish we might organize a society for the 
 prevention of cruelty. It is, perhaps, the only thing 
 that could change this custom. 
 
42 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS HOME. 
 
 Puerto Rico is a country of farmers. Nearly five- 
 sixths of the people live in the country. Their homes 
 are scattered along the valleys, on the hills, and even 
 
 The Puerto Rican Farmer in Town. 
 on the mountain tops ; for the land is fertile every- 
 where. 
 
 We have seen the homes and home life of the people 
 in the city. Now let us take a jaunt out into the coun- 
 try to see how the farmers and the plantation laborers 
 live. 
 
 Here is a farmer now, coming down the street. He 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 43 
 
 is on his way to the market. His horse is a thin, 
 mean-looking little beast. His produce is carried in 
 baskets, and his machete is sticking out of one of these. 
 
 This machete he always carries with him. He could 
 not get along without it. It is a large, long, clumsy 
 knife, something like a corn-cutter. Sometimes he 
 uses it to cut a way for himself and pony through the 
 forest, or on the bridle paths overgrown with plants 
 and vines after the rainy season. 
 
 When he has sold his load of vegetables and fruit, 
 we will ride out with him to his home and visit some of 
 the plantations. 
 
 We saw many peasant farmers and laborers in the 
 market place, and found them polite, shrewd, bright in 
 conversation, but very ignorant and somewhat indolent. 
 
 They are quite content with their way of living, and 
 take no thought for the future. A Puerto Rican 
 farmer thinks himself rich and fortunate if he owns a 
 horse, a cow, some game-cocks, a gun and an acre of 
 land. 
 
 He is simple in his tastes and buys little in the mar- 
 ket. His rice flour, corn meal and coffee he has pre- 
 pared at home, by pounding in wooden mortars or 
 grinding between stones. 
 
 His patch of land he plants with corn, sweet potatoes 
 and other vegetables. Bananas, plantains and other 
 fruits grow wild and may be had for the picking. 
 
 His vegetables, fruit and poultry he takes to the 
 market and sells, but only when compelled to do so by 
 necessity. 
 
 This money is spent for clothing or other articles, or 
 perhaps lost in gambling. 
 
44 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Only the lightest kind of clothing is necessary; for 
 the coldest days are not so cold as onr mild autumn days. 
 
 The dress of the farmer consists of a cotton jacket, 
 white shirt and check pantaloons. His head is pro- 
 tected from the hot rays of the sun by a large broad- 
 brimmed hat. This is made from the grass which 
 grows around his doorway. No shoes are needed. 
 
 The dress of his wife is a simple white cotton gown, 
 and his children wear no clothes at all. 
 
 Home of a Peasant Farmer of the Better CXass. 
 
 The houses or homes of the peasant farmers a^ 
 nearly all alike. They are built in a few days, from 
 poles and .royal palm bark. They are thatched with 
 leaves of the palm or with grass. These huts are usu- 
 ally divided into two rooms. 
 
 There are no chimneys, often no windows, and but 
 one door. A very poor house, you think; but then it 
 is only intended for a shelter. It shields them from 
 the damp and cool winds of night and the daily rains 
 of the rainy season. At other times they live outside. 
 
 There is no stove, and of cooking utensils there are 
 few. The cooking is done for the most part outside 
 the house, when the weather is dry, on a sheet of iron 
 or in an iron kettle. The food is served in gourd 
 dishes and eaten with gourd spoons. 
 
 During the rainy season the people live in great dis- 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 45 
 
 comfort. The cooking must be done inside the hut at 
 this time. As there is no chimney, the room is soon 
 filled- with smoke, which can only escape through the 
 openings under the eaves. 
 
 Would you like to see the furniture of one of these 
 poor cabins ? It consists of a few calabash shells used 
 for eating vessels ; some rude earthen pots ; a tin cup, 
 perhaps ; two or three hammocks made of the bark of 
 the palm tree, and a machete. 
 
 Bunches of dried herbs and gourds dangle on the 
 walls, but there are no pictures, curtains, or ornaments 
 of any kind. 
 
 At night the people sleep on the floor, or in ham- 
 mocks. They spend much of the day also in swinging 
 to and fro in their hammocks, smoking, and playing on 
 their guitars and other native musical instruments. 
 
 By the door the family dog and the naked babies 
 tumble in the dirt. Perhaps there is a pig and some 
 poultry; but there is sure to be a game-cock or two. 
 
 Near the house is the garden. In this are raised 
 sweet potatoes, beans, squashes, muskmelons, peppers, 
 gourds, calabashes, bananas and plantains. 
 
 The farmers we see at work have their oxen har- 
 nessed to rude plows by the horns. The ground is so 
 rich it is not necessary to plow it very deep. 
 
 An acre of good land here will produce more vege- 
 tables and fruit than in most other countries. 
 
 Riding through the country we see plantations of 
 coffee, sugar cane or tobacco, and also stock farms. 
 Puerto Rico is fertile from the mountain tops to the 
 sea. It is rich in pasture lands, shaded with groves of 
 palm trees, and watered by hundreds of streams. 
 
 Here and there herds of horses and cattle and flocks 
 
46 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 of sheep graze on the plains. When we approach the 
 flocks of sheep, we discover a very curions thing. The 
 wool on these sheep is not at all like the wool on the 
 sheep raised in onr own country. It is more like the 
 hair of the goat. 
 
 Cattle are highly valued by the people, not only for 
 dairy and food purposes, but as beasts of burden and draft. 
 
 Outside of the large plantations, crops are raised 
 a small scale ; and modern implements and ma- 
 
 on 
 
 chinery are almost unknown. 
 
 V- 
 
 A Mountain Village in Puerto Rico. 
 
 Most of the land is divided up into very small farms 
 or garden patches, or is taken up by groves. 
 
 In the interior of the country are many little vil- 
 lages, shut out from the rest of the world. We reach 
 them by the narrow horse-trails that wind in and out 
 among the mountains. 
 
 THE LABORERS HILLSIDE HOME. 
 
 Perched on the hilltops and sides, shaded by banana 
 trees, are the picturesque little huts of the laborers. 
 Most of them pay no rent. Land owners give them 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 47 
 
 small patches of ground on the hillsides, which they 
 themselves do not care to till, in order to have the 
 laborers near or on the plantations to assist in cultivat- 
 ing or harvesting the sugar cane, tobacco and coffee 
 crops. 
 
 Here the peasant laborers build their cabins ; and, 
 when there is no work for them on the plantations, 
 they tend their gardens in a haphazard way. By 
 working a little each day they manage to make a scant 
 living. 
 
 Five months of the year they labor for their land- 
 lords, receiving about fifty cents a day. 
 
 The laborer is often paid in plantains. Fifty plan- 
 tains are a day's pay. On this he feeds his family, for 
 the plantain is the Puerto Rican peasant's bread. 
 
 The plantains left are taken to market and sold. 
 One day a week is lost in this way, for the market is 
 often twenty miles away. 
 
 Near a stream on the mountain side we see a group 
 of women. Some of them are sitting on stones by 
 the bank; others are standing in the hot sun in mid- 
 stream, and all are washing. 
 
 It is wash day, and they have brought their clothes 
 here to wash them. They have no tubs, wash-boards, 
 clothes-pins, or clothes-lines. Sometimes they have no 
 soap. In place of this, they use the seed or roots of 
 the soapberry tree. 
 
 The soap-seed tree bears several months in the 
 year. The seed is inclosed in a yellow skin, and is 
 black, and about the size of a marble. The leaf of a 
 vine, called the soap vine is also used for the purpose 
 of washing clothes. 
 
4« 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The clothes are first soaked in the stream or pond, 
 and then spread upon a broad, smooth stone; after 
 which they are pounded with clubs or stones. When 
 they are clean, they are spread out upon the bushes to 
 dry and bleach. 
 
 Cooking the Evening Meal. 
 
 Then the tired women rest under the trees, and chat, 
 and perhaps smoke until evening. When the hot sun 
 has gone down in the west, they make their damp and 
 dry clothes up into huge bundles, lift them to their 
 heads, and plod homeward. 
 
 L<et us follow them to their homes up on the moun- 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 40, 
 
 tain side. Some of the huts are built closely together. 
 Others are scattered about on lonely ledges. Shall 
 we go inside one of these huts? The woman who 
 has just returned has thrown her burden into a corner. 
 
 The fire has been carefully smoldered, and this she 
 now blows into a flame and then proceeds to prepare 
 the evening meal. 
 
 About the other cottages are women squatting on 
 their heels, gossiping with one another. In the ditch 
 near by little children paddle about. Their voices are 
 soft and pleasant, and their play merry and good- 
 natured. We hear no quarreling. 
 
 Now their mother calls them to bring in some sticks 
 for the fire. When these are added to the flame, the 
 firelight shines out in the darkness and guides the 
 father on his homeward way. 
 
 He has been working on the coffee plantation near, 
 and is now climbing the narrow, winding path up the 
 hill with his load of plantains. Perhaps the wife will 
 cook some for supper. 
 
 The children satisfy their hunger, and then creep 
 into their corner or hammock and are soon fast asleep. 
 
 Out in the darkness we hear the tinkle Of a home- 
 made guitar. Now another, and then another, takes up 
 the Spanish or Indian air. Perhaps the beater of a 
 drum is added to the little band of musicians which has 
 gathered in an open space near the small village. 
 
 The natives compose much of their own music, and 
 wild, strange melody it is. It seems to inspire one with 
 a wish to dance. The Puerto Ricans are very fond of 
 this amusement, and when they hear the music of the 
 band, they gather around for a frolic. 
 
50 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Once a week, at least, they gather for a dance ; and 
 this, with their cock-fighting and gambling, is almost 
 their only form of amusement. 
 
 Few of these people can write or read. They have 
 no books and can not afford to buy even a newspaper. 
 
 The life of the peasant in Puerto Rico, you see, is 
 not an easy or pleasant one; but he does not suffer from 
 cold or hunger, as do the poor in northern countries. 
 
 GLIMPSES OF OTHER CITIES. 
 
 We have now a very good idea of San Juan and of 
 rural life in districts near it. 
 
 So let us travel about the island a bit, for glimpses 
 of other parts of the country, and of the other important 
 cities. 
 
 The most comfortable way to do this would be to 
 make the voyage around the island on board the ship, 
 going ashore for sight-seeing when the ship makes 
 port for freight. 
 
 But this would give us no opportunity to see the 
 interior of the island; so we make up our minds to 
 endure poor roads in order to enjoy the mild adventures 
 that fall to our lot (as all good travelers should do). 
 
 We decide to celebrate the seventeenth of November, 
 the anniversary of the discovery of the island, at the 
 place where the ship of Columbus first touched land 
 over four hundred years ago. 
 
 We find no Pullman cars on the railroad which leaves 
 San Juan for Aguadilla ; but the novelty of the ride 
 takes the place of the luxuries to which we are accus- 
 tomed at home. 
 
52 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The train goes leisurely along at the rate of sixteen 
 miles an hour. We are glad that it goes no faster, for 
 it gives us an opportunity to see the beautiful country 
 through which we are passing. 
 
 The line follows the coast most of the way. Upon 
 one side are frequent views of the ocean, and upon the 
 other a constant panorama of wonderful scenery. 
 
 ARECIBO. 
 
 A ride of four or five hours brings us to Arecibo, a 
 town of 7,000 people, on the north coast. It is the head- 
 quarters of the sugar industry, and the chief town of 
 one of the most fruitful regions on the island. 
 
 The harbor is very poor, being little more than an 
 open roadstead. Into this harbor empties a small stream 
 called the Arecibo. Goods are transported on this river, 
 to and from the town, in flat-bottomed boats, with the aid 
 of long poles and by much patient pushing. 
 
 Along the river are valuable plantations of sugar and 
 coffee, as also fine pastures. 
 
 Arecibo boasts one of the most handsome and artistic 
 plazas on the island. These plazas are usually paved 
 with stone and devoid of vegetation; but this one has 
 a small park in its center, surrounding a beautiful 
 fountain. 
 
 The cathedral, which faces the plaza, is larger than 
 usual, and more modern than most of the church build- 
 ings in the West Indies. 
 
54 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 AGUADILLA. 
 
 After a night spent in Arecibo we wish to hasten on 
 to Aguadilla, but the railroad, we find, will not carry 
 us so far. It ends at Camuy, a few miles west of 
 Arecibo. Here we take a carriage for the remainder of 
 the journey. 
 
 The old-fashioned coaches are drawn by small ponies, 
 
 Drying and Hulling Coffee. 
 
 and these brave little animals carry us up hill and down 
 hill, through deep mud holes, over rocks, into and out 
 of ruts, at a terrific pace. 
 
 We wonder that the carriage does not break and 
 spill us out. The driver lashes the poor beasts until it 
 seems as if his arms must be lame, but our protests have 
 no effect on him. 
 
 Aguadilla, a quiet, peaceful little city of 5,000, lies 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 55 
 
 on the western coast. Here Columbus landed in search 
 of water when he made his second voyage. 
 
 He found a clear, rippling spring, with the water 
 filled his casks, and continued on his way. On the 
 shore stands a cross marking the spot where his boat's 
 keel touched the sand. 
 
 The town has beautiful trees, and is surrounded by 
 choice grazing-lands. It is noted for its fish, sugar- 
 cane, sweet oranges, and lemons. 
 
 The cultivation of sugar-cane, coffee, tobacco and 
 cocoanuts furnishes the industries of the neighborhood. 
 We find the three establishments for the preparation of 
 coffee for market very interesting places to visit. 
 
 MAYAGUEZ. 
 
 Leaving Aguadilla for Mayaguez, we take the tram- 
 way which connects the two towns. It is the only one 
 on the island, and the people are very proud of it. But 
 oh, what a ridiculous little road ! 
 
 It is a narrow gauge, not more than forty-seven 
 inches wide. The cars are quite diminutive, and do not 
 carry more than ten or twelve people. We can ride 
 the length of the road, about two miles, for five cents. 
 
 We see long lines of patient oxen plodding their way 
 to the city, pulling clumsy carts piled high with or- 
 anges. Mayaguez is the market to which the best 
 oranges in Puerto Rico come. 
 
 Large, sweet, and luscious we find this fruit, the 
 principal food of many of the people. 
 
 It grows wild by the roadside, in the valleys, every- 
 where except on the hillsides. Such quantities of 
 oranges ! It seems as if enough of the fruit is grown 
 
56 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 in Puerto Rico to supply the whole of the United States. 
 Yet very few oranges are sent away from the island. 
 They can not be shipped profitably until good roads are 
 built. 
 
 The city of Mayaguez claims a population of 20,000 
 people. It has, probably, 12,000 to 15,000. It is the 
 great western shipping port, is the third largest city, 
 and the prettiest and most attractive city in Puerto Rico. 
 
 Mayaguez is very different in appearance and cus- 
 toms from the other cities. We can scarcely realize 
 that we are on the same island. 
 
 The streets are macadamized, wide, shaded by trees, 
 and lined with handsome shops and residences. The 
 sidewalks are narrow, — only two can walk abreast on 
 them. 
 
 The town is well provided with public buildings. It 
 has also three hospitals, a home for the destitute, a 
 public library, good waterworks, is lighted by electricity, 
 and possesses the only street-car line on the island. 
 The principal plaza is a park of grand old shade trees. 
 It contains a majestic statue of Columbus. 
 
 The citizens are, many of them, coffee planters who 
 have estates near the city. Bach family of the better 
 class dwells in a home of its own, instead of living in 
 second stories. 
 
 The poor people of the town are not so poor, or un- 
 clean, or shiftless, as the poorer classes at the capital. 
 
58 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 PONCE. 
 
 To reach. Ponce, the next city we wish to visit, we 
 must use carriages as well as railways. It is on the 
 southern side of the island. 
 
 Ponce is the largest city in Puerto Rico, having a 
 population of over thirty-seven thousand people. The 
 main part is built on a plain about three miles from the 
 seashore. 
 
 A fine road connects it with Playa, the port, where 
 are found a good harbor, large wharves and the more 
 important government offices. 
 
 Ponce has wide, clean streets, handsome buildings, 
 and attractive homes. Many quaint and picturesque 
 old buildings line its avenues ; but in the newer parts 
 of the town and in the suburbs the buildings are 
 modern. 
 
 It has a military hospital and barracks, two other 
 hospitals, a home for the old and poor, gas works, and 
 an ice machine. There are also establishments for 
 hulling coffee, drying coffee, distilling rum, manufac- 
 turing carriages, and grinding sugar. (See illustra- 
 tions on pages 54 and 69). 
 
 The large central plaza has pretty gardens and a 
 cathedral. 
 
 There are three manufactories of chocolate for the 
 use of the people in the surrounding country. Sugar, 
 coffee, oranges, pineapples and cocoanuts are brought 
 here to be shipped to the United States and other 
 countries. 
 
 Near the city are white-gypsum quarries; also medic- 
 inal baths, to which many invalids and travelers go. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 59 
 
 The only Protestant church in the West Indies is the 
 Episcopal church here. 
 
 On the outskirts of Ponce is an old cemetery, in which 
 many famous Puerto Ricans of an early day were bur- 
 ied. It is quite different from our idea of a cemetery. 
 It is one solid mass of masonry built into the side of a 
 hill. In this are narrow vaults, one above the other. 
 
 A Funeral Procession. 
 
 The openings of these vaults look much like bakers' 
 ovens. The bottom vaults are used first, and when a 
 body is laid in one of them it is sealed up and the name 
 of the deceased graven on the outside. The next mem- 
 ber of the family who dies is placed in the vault above; 
 and so on, each family having a tier of vaults. 
 
 As carriages and hearses are rare objects in Ponce, 
 I he coffin is sometimes carried on the shoulders of men. 
 
6o A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The procession is often composed of those attracted by 
 curiosity, rather than the friends and relatives of the 
 deceased. 
 
 The people of Ponce are wide-awake, progressive and 
 anxious to better their condition. They are also more 
 hospitable and friendly than in other towns. 
 
 It was here that the American army under General 
 Miles proceeded in 1898, after landing at Guanica. The 
 troops received a hearty welcome from the inhabitants. 
 
 The people were glad . to be relieved from Spanish 
 rule, and wished to have their land annexed to the 
 United States. 
 
 A proclamation of welcome was issued to the soldiers, 
 feasts were spread, and the stars and stripes floated 
 from many house tops. 
 
 THE MILITARY ROAD. 
 
 Now we are ready to return to San Juan, going 
 northward over the great military road, one of the finest 
 highways in the world. 
 
 It is macadamized, is fifty feet wide, ninety-seven 
 miles in length, and smooth and even as a boulevard. 
 It crosses mountains which reach a height of almost 
 four thousand feet. It winds in and out among the 
 coffee-covered hills, giving us a fine view of the green 
 mountains and the deep valleys below. 
 
 Looking down we see patches of sugar cane and 
 tobacco ; groves of bananas, cocoanut, and palm trees ; 
 hedges of strange growth ; unknown plants and vines, 
 and fern-covered rocks. 
 
 Here and there is a rude cabin surrounded by bread- 
 fruit and banana trees. We pass picturesque little 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 6l 
 
 towns with blue and yellow houses and quaint 
 churches, their spires towering upward. In fifteen 
 hours we would reach San Juan, but we delay our 
 journey in order to obtain a closer view of the scenery 
 and of the homes of the people. 
 
 Many happy hours we spend on the plantations in 
 the country. 
 
 During these country rides and visits we get our 
 knowledge of the animal and plant life of the island. 
 
 Let us stop, then, for a few days, at a country home 
 by the seashore. 
 
 A COUNTRY HOHE. 
 
 The residence of this home we find to be of good size 
 and divided into rooms by partitions that reach only 
 half way up to the roof. This is to give a free circula- 
 tion of air. The house is thatched with palm leaves, 
 and has a wide veranda running around it. 
 
 Mosquito curtains are used to keep out the swarms 
 of sand flies and mosquitoes that make the night un- 
 comfortable. 
 
 All doors and windows are closed before sunset and 
 not opened until the moon is well up. Then large fires 
 are lighted around the house to drive the mosquitoes 
 away. This is for our benefit, for the natives do not 
 mind these insects as much as we do. But we have 
 other midnight visitors. 
 
 Large fireflies fly in at the open windows and light 
 up the room with their fairy lamps. And such wonder- 
 ful fireflies, over an inch long ! 
 
 The people, the children especially, are very fond of 
 these fireflies and frequently keep little cages of them 
 
62 
 
 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 for pets. They feed them on sugar-cane juice and 
 bathe them as if they were birds. 
 
 Little crabs rattle gaily over the floor and sometimes 
 * crawl into our shoes, where we find them in the morn- 
 
 Country Home of the Better Ci,ass. 
 
 ing; friendly but ugly lizards croak from the walls 
 and roof, where they pass the night hours in catching 
 insects. 
 
 These lizards are found in and about most of the 
 houses and are harmless, useful little fellows. They 
 are six or seven inches long, of a pale, yellowish color, 
 mottled with brown. 
 
 Instead of taking a morning bath in our rooms, we 
 take a dip in the warm sea water. We find it hot, 
 even very early in the morning; and as we walk to the 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 63 
 
 shore in our bathing suits, we make a large palm leaf 
 do duty as a sunshade. 
 
 When we dress for breakfast we examine our clothes 
 very closely, for the centipedes have a disagreeable way 
 of taking strolls over one's clothing and the bedding. 
 
 Our breakfast consists of turtle eggs, bread fruit, 
 plantain and cocoanut milk. Our meals are served 
 on the veranda, and there we spend the most of the 
 day. Hammocks are swung from the beams, and, 
 lying in them, we drink in the cool sea air and feast 
 our eyes upon the beautiful surroundings. 
 
 In the shallow water near the shore we find great 
 pink conch shells. The fish in them we have made 
 into soup for our dinner, and very good soup we find it. 
 
 Sometimes we go out in the mountains with our host 
 hunting for game, or for mountain cabbage for our din- 
 ner. Perhaps others would like to know what this 
 mountain cabbage is, and we will tell them. It is the 
 bud of a palm tree, a part of the trunk of which, when 
 young, is edible. When cooked, it looks like very 
 white cabbage ; but the flavor is finer and more deli- 
 cate. It is sometimes eaten raw, as a salad. 
 
 The meat for our dinner consists of fish, and the flesh 
 of the armadillo, the agouti and the iguana. 
 
 These animals are queer looking creatures. As we 
 wish to see them in their haunts in the woods and 
 fields, we will accompany our host on some long walks 
 and drives, in order to find out more about them. 
 
64 A UTT%E JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 When Columbus visited the West Indies, he was 
 delighted by the beauty in and about them. " I know 
 not," he said, " where first to go ; nor are my eyes ever 
 weary with gazing on the wonderful verdure. The 
 singing of the birds is such as to make one wish never 
 to depart." 
 
 The wonderful beauty of the country of which he 
 spoke is unchanged ; but we listen and look in vain for 
 the singing birds. The hunter's gun has caused the dis- 
 appearance of large numbers of the birds. Those remain- 
 ing are found only in the forests. 
 
 Columbus spoke also of the flocks of parrots " whose 
 bright wings obscured the sun"; but we seldom see 
 the brilliant plumage of these birds on our excursions. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 There are said to be about one hundred and fifty 
 kinds of birds on the island of Puerto Rico. Among 
 these are the mocking bird, the wild canary, the sugar 
 bird, the thrush, the humming bird, the owl, the hawk, 
 the dove, the cuckoo, the oriole, the nightingale, and 
 the Guinea bird. During the migrating season, many 
 other birds fly over from other islands. 
 
 Flamingoes and other water birds are numerous on 
 the coast. 
 
 There is a parrot market in every port, however, 
 and this is a popular place of resort. Here are cool 
 trees and drinking stands, or booths, where cocoanut 
 milk and cool drinks are sold. 
 
 The birds are not usually confined to cages, but are 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 65 
 
 left to climb about the booths. The natives love these 
 birds and make great pets of them. The birds are 
 tame and quite accomplished in the art of begging. 
 When the passer-by extends his hand, they walk into it 
 for the sake of the gifts which they know will come. 
 
 But the bird which is oftenest seen is the fighting or 
 game-cock. The streets and market places are full of 
 these. They are the pets and often the most valued 
 possessions of their owners. 
 
 OTHER ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 The scorpions, centipedes, wasps, sand flies, fleas 
 
 The Armadillo. 
 
 and mosquitoes manage to make things lively for us 
 much of the time. 
 
 One enterprising and annoying insect, the chigoe, or 
 " jigger," is able to bore a hole through the sole of a 
 shoe and attack the foot. 
 
 There are no poisonous serpents or dangerous wild 
 animals in the country; so we travel about through 
 field and forest without fear. 
 
 The boa, which is occasionally seen, is huge and 
 5 
 
66 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 alarming in appearance; but it is looked upon as a 
 friend rather than an enemy. It is of great service to 
 the farmer in clearing his place of rats. 
 
 The largest native animals we find to be the arma- 
 dillo, the agouti, and the iguana. 
 
 The agouti is a little animal resembling a rabbit. 
 It lives on vegetable food, and finds a home in the rocky 
 hillsides and on the borders of the woods- As game is 
 not plentiful, it is sometimes used for food. 
 
 The armadillo and iguana are preferred for food, 
 however. It is not an easy matter to catch an arma- 
 dillo. It has a shell on its back, and into this it 
 promptly retreats at the first sign of danger. It has a 
 long, pointed snout and strong, sharp claws. It can dig 
 a hole in the ground almost as fast as a man can dig 
 with a pick and spade; so, when an enemy appears, it 
 digs a hole and buries itself from sight. It is not a 
 troublesome animal. It lives chiefly upon beetles, 
 grubs and worms, which it hunts by night. 
 
 The iguana is a lizard which feeds on fruits and 
 vegetables. It grows to three or four feet in length, 
 and is an ugly looking creature. It will not fight 
 unless you compel it to do so. It does not live in 
 the water, but in trees, bushes, and in the cracks and 
 fissures of rocks. Sometimes hunters build fires at the 
 entrance of their hiding places and smoke them out. 
 The flesh, when cooked, resembles chicken or veal, and 
 is a popular dish with the natives. 
 
 But the most delicious meat of all comes from the 
 land crabs and the crayfish. These are caught in 
 great numbers when the crabs migrate from the moun- 
 tains to the coast. Once a year they make this jour- 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 6j 
 
 ney, for the purpose of depositing their eggs in the 
 sand. 
 
 The sea fisheries are important to the people of 
 Puerto Rico. The coast waters and fresh water 
 streams swarm with fishes of strange shapes and gaudy 
 colors. 
 
 Among these are the shad, sardines, Spanish mack- 
 erel, dolphins, flying fish, sting rays and sharks. The 
 sponge, the manatee and the whale are also found near 
 the island. 
 
 Suppose some one were to ask you to what king- 
 dom the sponge belonged. Could you tell? Many 
 years ago people believed that it belonged to the vege- 
 table kingdom ; but it is now known to belong to the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 The animals attach themselves to rocks, shells and 
 other hard substances below water. 
 
 Mussels, clams and sponges are cultivated to some 
 extent. Mollusks are useful in many other ways than 
 as food. Their shells are used for making buttons, 
 parasol handles and shirt studs. Sometimes they are 
 used for making roads. Many shiploads of these 
 shells are brought to New York from Puerto Rico and 
 other parts of the West Indies every year. 
 
68 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 PLANT LIFE. 
 
 Puerto Rico seems to us to be one big flower gar- 
 den. All kinds of fruit grow wild and most wild plants 
 blossom and bear fruit several times a year. 
 
 Cultivated fruits, flowers and vegetables are planted 
 several times a year in order that a fresh supply may 
 always be at hand. Flowers bloom every month of the 
 year, but are most plentiful in June. Ferns, in some 
 instances, grow to spreading trees, with graceful 
 
 Branch and Fruit of the Cacao Tree. 
 
 drooping fronds. Many plants have colored leaves 
 which are as brilliant as the flowers themselves. 
 
 Everywhere grow trees and shrubs valuable for their 
 fruit or for their medicinal qualities. 
 
 The leading crops are sugar cane, coffee and tobacco. 
 Over one-half of the exports consists of coffee, and a 
 little less than one-fourth of sugar. Cacao and fruits 
 make a large part of the remainder. 
 
7<D A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 Rice forms the chief food of the laboring classes, 
 and this grows, not on the wet lowlands, as in our 
 country, but on the mountain sides. 
 
 Bananas and plantains are two of the important food 
 products. Next to these, the yam and the sweet 
 potato form the diet of the natives. 
 
 Among the fruit trees we find cocoanut palms, tam- 
 arinds, prickly pears, guavas, mangoes, bananas, or- 
 anges, limes, cacao (or cocao) trees and lemons. 
 
 Among the spices found here are the pimento, or all- 
 spice, nutmeg, clove, pepper, mace, cinnamon, ginger, 
 and vanilla. 
 
 The hills are covered with forests, which yield valu- 
 able timber and dye woods. Among these are mahog- 
 any, cedar, ebony, and lignum-vitae trees. Logwood 
 and other dye materials are common. 
 
 Many varieties of the palm flourish here, — the cocoa- 
 nut palm producing fruit in greater abundance than in 
 any other country of the West Indies. 
 
 THE COCOA PALH. 
 
 The most abundant cocoanut groves in the world are 
 said to be found on Puerto Rico and the other islands 
 of the Antilles. This tree usually grows near the 
 coast, for it loves the salt water ; but it is sometimes 
 found on the hill slopes a short distance inland. 
 
 " The tree grows to a height of from sixty to eighty 
 feet, lives a hundred years, bears a hundred nuts each 
 year, and is said to have a hundred uses for man." 
 
 The trees bear such heavy burdens of fruit that it 
 seems impossible that so slender a trunk could hold 
 such a weight of fruit in the air. The fruit is expen- 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 71 
 
 sive when it comes to us, because of the difficulty in 
 climbing the trees, gathering the nuts, and removing 
 from them the heavy fibrous husks. 
 
 Here is a negro gathering cocoanuts. Let us watch 
 him. He climbs the tall tree, dragging a rope after 
 him. About his waist 
 is a belt in which is 
 thrust a machete. 
 
 He hacks off a 
 bunch of the nuts 
 and attaches it to the 
 end of the rope. It 
 is then lowered to 
 another negro or to 
 the ground. The 
 nuts are in bunches 
 of a dozen or two, 
 and are covered with 
 a green, smooth, 
 shining covering. 
 
 After the bunches 
 of nuts are all re- 
 moved from the tree, 
 the climber throws down the rope and comes down hand 
 over hand. 
 
 These nuts are so large that a single one often yields 
 two glasses of milk. 
 
 We found that the natives made boats and furniture, 
 as well as houses, from the trunk of this palm tree. 
 They extract from its roots a remedy for fever. The 
 foot stalks of the leaves are made into combs. The 
 leaves are used for thatching huts and in making bas- 
 kets, mats and hats. 
 
 Gathering Cocoanuts. 
 
72 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The fibrous material at the base of the foot stalks is 
 used for sieves, and woven into clothing. A medicine 
 is made from the flowers, and from the flower-stalks 
 palm wine is made. From the juice is made sugar and 
 vinegar. From the fruit or nut, water, jelly and meat 
 are obtained. Oil is extracted from the kernel ; and 
 the refuse is used for food for fowls and cattle, as well 
 as for manure. 
 
 From the husks ropes, brooms, brushes, and bedding 
 are made. The shells are used as lamps, cups, spoons, 
 and scoops. 
 
 It has been called the poor man's tree because it 
 gives him food, drink, medicine and material with 
 which to build his home. 
 
 The tropics could not do without the palm. It is 
 more to that region than the pine is to the north. 
 
 THE CALABASH TREE. 
 
 Another very useful tree to the natives is the cala- 
 bash, or gourd tree. It provides him with many house- 
 hold utensils. In height and size it resembles an apple 
 tree. Its leaves are wedge-shaped and its flowers are 
 large, whitish and fleshy. 
 
 The fruit is something like a gourd and often a foot 
 in diameter. The shell of the fruit is so hard that it is 
 not easily broken by rough usage or burnt by exposure 
 to fire. It is used instead of bottles, cups, basins, 
 dishes, pots and kettles, and to make musical instru- 
 ments. 
 
 Sometimes the calabashes are polished, carved, dyed 
 or otherwise ornamented. The pulp of the fruit is used 
 as a medicine. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 73 
 
 THE TRAVELER'S TREE. 
 
 One of the most curious and beautiful trees on the 
 island is the traveler's tree. It is so named because it 
 contains in its leaves and at their bases a large quantity 
 of pure water. 
 
 By piercing the leaves with a spear or pike the water 
 is drawn out, and found cool and refreshing. It often 
 relieves the thirst of the traveler in this warm country. 
 
 BREAD FRUIT. 
 
 Among the fruit products used in large quantities are 
 the bread-fruit and 
 bread-nuts. These 
 trees grow very 
 large and have 
 wide -spreading 
 branches about 
 fifty feet from the 
 ground. 
 
 The leaves are 
 very broad, and 
 the fruit looks 
 something like an 
 ovoid osage orange 
 as large as one's 
 head. 
 
 The fruit is best 
 when picked green, 
 and baked in an oven or in the ashes, after paring away 
 the outer skin or rind. When done it resembles a 
 browned loaf of bread. It is very good and whok- 
 
 Breadfruit. 
 
74 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 some, too ; but it tastes more like baked plantain than 
 bread. 
 
 The bread-nuts look on the outside like the bread- 
 fruit, but the inside contains a great mass of closely 
 packed nuts like large chestnuts. These are not good 
 raw, but are fine when baked or boiled. 
 
 ANNOTTO. 
 
 We have often heard people speak of butter and 
 cheese being colored, but did not know that the dairy- 
 man was obliged to send to the West Indies for his dye. 
 The bush which provides it is called the annotto or 
 annatto. It grows to the size of the quince tree. The 
 leaves are heart-shaped ; and the rosy flowers are fol- 
 lowed by fuzzy red-and-yellow pods, something like 
 chestnut burs. 
 
 These small burs are filled with a crimson pulp con- 
 taining many seeds. This pulp is immersed in water 
 a few weeks, strained and boiled to a paste. The paste 
 is made into cakes and dried in the sun. Then it 
 comes to our country and appears upon our tables in 
 butter or cheese. 
 
 Can you tell me where bay rum comes from ? We 
 have often wondered, and find here an answer to the 
 question. It is furnished by the bay tree, which grows 
 here. The leaves are distilled and the oil extracted 
 from them to furnish this perfume for the bath. 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 75 
 
 SPICES. 
 
 Spices, in some form, are served every day upon our 
 table ; yet few of us know where they come from, or 
 where, how, or upon what they grow. 
 
 We have heard of the Spice Islands, perhaps, and we 
 just take it for granted that they all grow there. We 
 are very much surprised, then, to find many of the 
 spices in Puerto Rico. 
 
 ALLSPICE, OR PinENTO. 
 
 The pimento spice is native to this soil. The groves 
 of these trees are beautiful. The trees grow to a height 
 
 Branch and Bud of Pimento (All-Spice). 
 
 of thirty feet, their stems are smooth and clean, and 
 their leaves glossy. 
 
 The trees bear fruit when about seven years old. 
 The berries are gathered green and dried in the sun. 
 
76 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The branches to which the berries are attached are 
 broken off by boys and thrown to girls and women, who 
 pick off the berries, and take them to the drying places. 
 One tree sometimes bears a hundred pounds. 
 
 The tree likes the hills and mountains along the sea, 
 a hot climate and a dry atmosphere. 
 
 THE NUTHEQ TREE. 
 
 The nutmeg tree grows to a height of thirty to fifty 
 feet. The ripe fruit looks somewhat like the apricot 
 on the outside. It bursts in two and shows the dark 
 nut covered with mace, a bright scarlet. This is 
 stripped off and pressed flat. The shells are broken 
 open when perfectly dry, and the nuts powdered with 
 lime to prevent the attacks of worms. 
 
 The tree bears the sixth or seventh year, — the nuts 
 becoming ripe six months after the flower appears. 
 Twenty thousand nuts are sometimes gathered from 
 one tree. 
 
 Other important growths we find to be pepper, which 
 begins to bear when five years old and may bear for 
 thirty years ; the vanilla bean, which proves to be very 
 profitable when properly cared for ; and cacao, which 
 requires eight years to come to full fruitage, but is an 
 invaluable plant. 
 
 niNERALS. 
 
 Puerto Rico has no mines or minerals of any con- 
 sequence, except a little iron. Foundries for magnetic 
 iron have been established at Ponce, San Juan and 
 Mayaguez. 
 
 Gold, silver, copper and coal are known to exist in 
 
A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. J J 
 
 small quantities beneath the surface, but not in suffi- 
 cient amount to be mined. 
 
 The island is well supplied with limestone, which 
 makes an excellent building material. Marble, also, 
 is easily obtained. Along the coast are occasional 
 marshes where salt is prepared for market. 
 
 OUR JOURNEY'S END. 
 
 Our month in Puerto Rico is drawing to a close, and 
 the good ship which is to bear us homeward is waiting 
 in the harbor. 
 
 We make a last farewell tour of the shops in San 
 Juan, and buy a few gifts for the friends at home : a 
 green parrot to please sister ; a tortoise-shell comb for 
 mother ; a cane for father, a native hat for brother, and 
 a calabash drinking bowl for the school museum. 
 
 It is with reluctant steps that we make our way to 
 the ship. The clear sky, the perfect climate, the con- 
 stant verdure, the wonderful plants and trees, and the 
 beautiful mountain scenery make Puerto Rico one of 
 the most attractive lands to be found anywhere. 
 
 Although the roads are in a deplorable condition, 
 a new system has been planned, and will probably be 
 soon completed. 
 
 Though the country may lack school buildings, the 
 cities and towns are better provided with other public 
 buildings than most places of the same size in the 
 United States. And the eagerness with which the peo- 
 ple seize upon the statements that their children are to 
 be given the same opportunity for an education as chil- 
 dren in the United States have, indicates that the 
 schoolhouses will soon dot the island. 
 
78 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 The streets of the smallest villages are paved, and 
 all contain some place of recreation and attempts at 
 ornamentation. Bach village has one or more public 
 squares laid out with trees, walks, flowers, seats, and 
 usually with a band stand in the center. 
 
 We do not find these improvements in all our own 
 small towns. But the people need better schools, more 
 nourishing food, and improved methods of farming. 
 Sanitary measures need to be introduced into the 
 homes and communities. Harbors need to be dredged, 
 that ships may come closer to land. The water power 
 of many rushing streams needs to be chained and made 
 to generate electricity, to grind corn, to hull coffee, to 
 cook food, to pull cars, and to light cities. 
 
 There should also be fountains, baths, and sewers; 
 the land in certain sections should be irrigated, and 
 the streams should be bridged, that means for travel 
 and transportation may be afforded. 
 
 Perhaps all this will be done, ere we visit this island 
 again. At any rate, we sincerely hope that this may 
 be the beginning of a new and better day for Puerto 
 Rico. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 adobe . 
 
 
 a-dO'ba 
 
 agouti . 
 
 
 
 
 a-go7)'ti 
 
 Aguadilla 
 
 
 
 
 ii-gwa-del'ya* 
 
 annatto 
 
 
 
 
 an-nat'to 
 
 Antilles 
 
 
 
 
 Sn-til'lez 
 
 Arecibo 
 
 
 
 
 a-ra-se'b5 
 
 Arroyo . 
 cassava 
 
 
 
 
 ar-rO'yo" 
 kas'sa-va 
 
 j chigoe 
 
 
 
 
 j chig'6 
 
 ( chtgre 
 
 
 
 
 ( chlg'er 
 
 dulce 
 
 
 
 
 dul'cy 
 
 guava . 
 
 
 
 
 gwii'va 
 
 granadilla 
 
 
 
 
 gran-a-dll'la 
 
 guida . 
 
 
 
 
 gni'da 
 
 iguana 
 machete 
 
 
 
 
 I-guan'a 
 ma-cha'ta 
 
 mammee 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 mam-ma' 
 
 manatee 
 
 
 
 
 man'a-te' 
 
 Mayaguez 
 Morro 
 
 
 
 
 mt-a-hwes' 
 mO'ro 
 
 okra 
 
 
 
 
 Ok'ra 
 
 patio . . 
 
 
 
 
 pat'S-6 
 
 peon . 
 pimento 
 plaza . 
 Ponce . 
 pomegranate 
 San Juan 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 pe'on 
 pi-men'to 
 pla'za 
 pon'tha 
 pum'gran-ate 
 an-wan' or sa'n ho0-8n' 
 
 scorpion 
 shaddock 
 
 
 
 
 skor'pi-un 
 shad'duk 
 
 siesta 
 
 
 
 
 si-es'ta 
 
 tamarind 
 
 
 
 
 tam'a-rind 
 
 tarantula 
 
 
 
 
 ta-ran'tu-la 
 
 yucca . 
 
 
 
 
 yuk'ka 
 
 79 
 
REFERENCE BOOKS. 
 
 "Our New Possessions," by Trumbull White. Cloth, 
 
 676 pp $2 .00 
 
 " Puerto Rico and Its Resources," by Frederick A. Ober. 1.50 
 
 "The West Indies," by A. K. Fisk. 414 pp 1.50 
 
 " Porto Rico," Hall. 1.00 
 
 " Porto Rico," Rector 1.25 
 
 " Porto Rico," Dinwiddie 2.50 
 
 ' ' Porto Rico, ' ' Robinson 1 .50 
 
 ' ■ The West Indies and the Main " 1.75 
 
 "At Last" and "A Christmas in the West Indies," 
 
 Kingsley 
 
 "Three Cruises of the Blake," Alexander Agassiz. 2 vol. 8.00 
 
 " Down the Islands," Palou 2.50 
 
 ' ' The West Indies, ' ' Fiske 1 . 50 
 
 " In the Wake of Columbus," Ober 2.00 
 
 " Due South," Ballou 1.50 
 
 ' ' The Foreign Commerce of Our Possessions, ' ' etc. , Treas- 
 ury Department, Washington 
 
 "Porto Rico," National Geographic Magazine, '99, 25 cts. 
 
 a number; per year 2 .00 
 
 These books may be obtained from A. Flanagan Co., 
 Chicago, 111., at price given. Considerable reductions may be 
 secured, if several volumes are purchased at one time. 
 
 80 
 
TEACHER'S SUPPLEMENT 
 
 A Little Journey to 
 Puerto Rico. 
 
 SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 Children love to read or hear of the people of other lands, 
 and the tactful teacher will wrap her information about the 
 natural features of a country in the " sugared pill of stories." 
 
 Books of travel are helpful and interesting in linking together 
 fact and story. From them the child comes to feel a sympathetic 
 interest in the ways of people unlike those he knows. 
 
 By emphasizing the idea of continuity of beliefs and customs, 
 we impress the child with the most important lesson history and 
 geography hold for him, — that all countries and peoples are 
 closely related and have mutual interests. 
 
 ' ' The acquisition of this feeling of the inter-relationship of the 
 nations of the world, while starting the child out with a broad 
 view of life, will in no wise lessen his love for his own country." 
 
 Too often the lonely little stranger in our midst — the for- 
 eigner — is viewed with heartless curiosity, or contempt, and 
 subjected to ridicule. Patriotism to many a child means nothing 
 more than a belief that our own country is the best, our own 
 people the smartest, and that we can whip any and every other 
 nation on the globe. 
 
 Do the children know that the ' ' blood that boils so hotly 
 against other countries is drawn from the very same sources that 
 feed the veins of our seemingly alien neighbors ' ' ? 
 
 If any teacher imagines that her pupils have a definite idea 
 of the meaning of patriotism because they are able to sing 
 ' ' America ' ' and the ' ' Star-Spangled Banner, ' ' let her read Mar- 
 ion Hill's story, entitled "The Star Spangled-Banner," in Mc- 
 Clure's Magazine for July (1900). 
 
 6 81 
 
8 2 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 THE TRAVEL CLASS. 
 
 Nothing in the study of geography is more interesting or 
 helpful to pupils than the taking of imaginary journeys. It 
 makes geography a live subject. 
 
 Suggest that your pupils organize a Travel Club, and that 
 some of the trips be personally conducted. 
 
 Maps and a globe should be in constant use. The home 
 should be the starting point. Railroad circulars, maps, and time- 
 cards for free distribution will be found valuable. Pupils should 
 be taught how to use these maps and time cards. 
 
 Give pupils a choice as to routes or roads over which they are 
 to travel. Each pupil, however, should be able to give a reason 
 for his preference for any particular road, and must know the 
 number of miles and the time required for the journey. The 
 road or route voted upon by the majority may then be decided 
 upon, and preparations made for the trip. 
 
 Find out the best time to go to each particular country, and 
 the reason. What clothes it will be best to wear and to take 
 with one. About how much money it will be necessary to spend 
 on such a trip, and when and where this money should be 
 changed into the coin or currency used in the country we expect 
 to visit. 
 
 A Guide may be appointed to obtain time-tables, maps, rail- 
 road guides, the little books of travel, or other descriptions of 
 routes and of the parts of the country that are to be visited. 
 (Further suggestions in regard to these "helps" will be found 
 elsewhere in this book.) 
 
 The principal features of the country passed through may be 
 described, if time permits; also the more important cities. Note 
 the population, occupations, productions, together with anything 
 of special interest or historical importance associated with the 
 city or locality. 
 
 The Guide takes charge of the class in the same way that a 
 tourist guide would do. He escorts us from the home depot to 
 the city, state, or country, pointing out the route on a map sus- 
 pended before the class. 
 
The travel class. 83 
 
 Arriving at the city or country, he takes us to the various 
 points of interest, telling as much about each as he is able, and 
 answering questions pupils may wish to ask. If the guide can 
 not answer all questions, the teacher or some other member of 
 the party may. 
 
 When the guide has finished with a topic or section, other 
 members of the party may give items of interest concerning it. 
 
 A different pupil may act as guide to each city or part of the 
 country visited, and each pupil should come to the class with a 
 list of questions about the places. 
 
 Every pupil in the class may take some part, either as guide, 
 or as the class artist, musician, librarian, historian, geographer, 
 geologist, botanist, zoologist, or man of letters. 
 
 A Historian may tell us of the history of the country, and 
 answer all questions of historical interest. 
 
 A Geographer may tell of the location on the globe, of the 
 natural land formations of mountains, canons, prairies, rivers, 
 etc., and of the climate. resulting from these. He should illus- 
 trate his remarks. 
 
 A Geologist may assist, and show specimens of minerals and 
 fossils, or pictures of these. 
 
 A Botanist may tell us of native plants, useful or ornamental, 
 and show pictures of these if possible. A Zoologist tells of the 
 native animals, their habits and uses. 
 
 The geographer, geologist, botanist, and zoologist direct the 
 work at the sand table, and assist in reproducing the country in 
 miniature. 
 
 The Merchants and Tradesmen tell us of the products for 
 which their country is noted, and show samples of as many as 
 it is possible to secure. They also tell what they import, and 
 why. 
 
 A Librarian or Correspondent may visit the library for infor- 
 mation sought b} r the club. He must be able to give a list of 
 books of travel, and be ready to read or quote extracts referring 
 to the places visited on the tour. 
 
 He or his assistant may also clip all articles of interest from 
 papers, magazines, and other sources, and arrange these, as well 
 
84 A LITTLE JOURNEY To PUERTO RICO. 
 
 as the articles secured by other pupils, in a scrapbook, devoted 
 to each country. 
 
 The Artist and his assistant may tell us about the famous 
 artists and their works, if any. He may illustrate his remarks 
 with pictures, if he can obtain or make them. 
 
 The Club Artist may also place upon the board in colored 
 crayons the flag, the coat of arms, and the national flower of the 
 country. 
 
 A Photographer may be appointed to provide or care for the 
 photographs and pictures used in the class talks. The photo- 
 graphs may often be borrowed from tourists or others. Pictures 
 may be obtained from magazines, railroad pamphlets, the illus- 
 trated papers, or from the Perry Pictures, and mounted on card- 
 board or arranged by the artist in a scrapbook with the name of 
 the country on the cover, 
 
 If the members of the travel or geography class are not pro- 
 vided with the "Little Journeys," the teacher should have at 
 least two copies. The pictures from one of these books should 
 be removed and mounted for class use. They may be mounted 
 on a screen, or on cardboard, and placed about the room or 
 grouped in a corner. They should be allowed to remain there 
 during the month, that all the pupils may have an opportunity to 
 examine them. 
 
 Another pupil may collect curiosities. Many families in each 
 neighborhood will be able to contribute some curio. Pupils in 
 other rooms in the building will be interested in collecting and 
 loaning material for this little museum and picture gallery. 
 
 Coins and stamps may be placed with this collection. Begin 
 a stamp album, and collect the stamps of all the countries studied. 
 The stamps of many countries show the heads of the rulers. One 
 of the most attractive of these is the United States postage stamp 
 showing " Columbus in Sight of Land." 
 
 The album should be kept on the reading table with the scrap- 
 books, in order that pupils may have access to it during their 
 periods of leisure. 
 
 Dolls may be dressed in the national costume or to represent 
 historical personages. 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP. 85 
 
 This form of construction work may be done outside of school 
 hours by pupils under the direction of the historian and artist. 
 The dolls, when dressed, may be made the centers of court, home, 
 field or forest scenes arranged on the sand table. 
 
 A Musician or musicians may tell us of the characteristic 
 music of the country, and of famous singers or composers. She 
 may also sing or play the national song or air of the country, if 
 there be one. 
 
 The singer should be dressed in national costume, if it is pos- 
 sible to secure it, or to make it out of calico, paper, or some other 
 cheap material. 
 
 A Man of Letters may tell of the famous men and women of 
 the country through which we are traveling, and may visit their 
 homes with us. He may call attention to the literature of the 
 people and give selections from noted writers, from or about the 
 places visited. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP. 
 
 With maps, guide-books, time-tables and notebooks before us, 
 we look up the steamer lines and routes and decide when, where, 
 and how to go. (Good maps will be found in the railroad guide- 
 books). 
 
 ■ City newspapers publish once a week the lines of steamboats 
 and their times of sailing. The steamboat agents also furnish 
 advertising matter giving other necessary and interesting in- 
 formation. 
 
 When we have decided upon our route, we telegraph ahead 
 for our staterooms. Now let us plan for our baggage. What 
 kind of a trunk must we take ? Why a steamer trunk ? How 
 large must this be ? What will we do with this trunk when we 
 leave the boat? (We are advised to leave it and part of its con- 
 tents at the ship company's office. They will store it until we 
 are ready to take the return trip) . How many pounds of bag- 
 gage are we allowed on the steamer ? 
 
 What other baggage shall we take (hand bags) ? Why not 
 small trunks? (Because every pound of baggage must be paid 
 for in some countries.) Many countries have not our convenient 
 
86 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 system of checking baggage. What else will we need? (Trav- 
 eling rugs. ) 
 
 What clothes must we take? First, we must take warm 
 clothes for steamer wear, which may be packed away when we 
 arrive. Then we must take traveling suits for train wear, and 
 thin clothing to use after arriving at our destination. 
 
 We have promised friends at home that we will inform them 
 of our safe arrival immediately. How can we do this? By 
 mail? Is there not a quicker, way? How many know of the 
 cable? How many have ever sent a cablegram? Can we cable 
 from Puerto Rico? How much will it cost? Our guide-books 
 give us all this information. 
 
 We must have guide-books, phrase books, toilet articles and 
 writing materials. These should be packed in linen or canvas 
 bags, because more easily carried about than heavy leather 
 satchels. 
 
 Our guide must be able to speak Spanish, for that is the lan- 
 guage of the Puerto Rican people. 
 
 If one of our party acts as guide, we must be careful to select 
 a polite, tactful, and, above all, a patient and good-natured 
 person. Why? — Because his patience will be severely taxed 
 many times during this trip. 
 
 Arriving at the city from which we are to sail, we visit points 
 of interest, the docks especially, and compare our steamer with 
 others, learning what we can about all the ships in the harbor. 
 
 If our lesson is well planned, we can accomplish a great deal 
 the day we sail. 
 
 CLASS WORK. 
 
 After two or three conversational lessons, let pupils begin 
 their diaries (composition books). In these may be written 
 descriptions of what they see, hear, or read about the place being 
 studied or visited. 
 
 In most schools will be found one or more pupils who have 
 been upon or crossed the ocean. Let them give both oral and 
 written descriptions of the voyage. 
 
 In giving accounts of these journeys, have pupils describe the 
 incidents and details of everyday life on ship-board. They may 
 
AFTERNOONS ABROAD. Sj 
 
 tell of the ship, its furnishings, rigging, engines, officers and 
 crew. 
 
 Let them also describe the dining room, the meals, and the 
 manner of serving. 
 
 They may further describe a stateroom or berth, and picture 
 their fellow passengers in words or drawings. 
 
 It will greatly cultivate their power of expression to tell how 
 the time on board the vessel was passed, and to narrate any inter- 
 esting occurrences of the voyage. They may describe the ocean 
 by day and by night; also its appearance in a storm. 
 
 Many will be interested in descriptions of the birds that were 
 met and of the fishes that swarmed about the ship. 
 
 If time will not permit each pupil to give oral descriptions or 
 to write compositions on each topic, assign a different topic to 
 each pupil. Bind all papers together, when finished, to keep 
 with scrap-books devoted to the country visited. 
 
 These diaries or reproduction stories may be illustrated with 
 pictures clipped from illustrated papers and other sources or by 
 original drawings. 
 
 Try to secure specimens of seaweed to be exhibited to pu- 
 pils during the lesson on the sea voyage. Ask pupils to secure 
 ocean shells, sponges, pictures of sea birds, and specimens or 
 pictures of other animal and plant life in the ocean. 
 
 AFTERNOONS ABROAD. 
 
 At the conclusion of the study of a country, a topic may be 
 assigned to each pupil, or selected by him. With this topic he 
 is to become thoroughly familiar. 
 
 In place of the old-time review, invitations may be issued by 
 the pupils, and the results of the month's work be summed up 
 in the form of an entertainment, called — 
 
 AFTERNOONS OR EVENINGS ABROAD. 
 
 When a class, club, or school has been studying a country, 
 the work may be brought to a close in a way that pupils and 
 their parents and friends will enjoy and remember, by giving 
 An Afternoon or Evening Abroad, 
 
88 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 This form of geography review would be appreciated more 
 particularly in villages, or in country districts, where entertain- 
 ments, books, pictures, and opportunities for study and social 
 intercourse are rarer than in cities. 
 
 At the conclusion of an afternoon talk or entertainment, any 
 pictures used may be placed on the chalk tray along the black- 
 board, that visitors may examine them more closely. 
 
 If the entertainment is given in the evening, the teacher may 
 be able to use stereopticon views. 
 
 These will prove a very great attraction to both pupils and 
 parents, and should be secured if possible. The lantern with oil 
 lamp may be easily operated by the teacher while the pupils give 
 the descriptions of the pictures or give talks about the country. 
 
 The lanterns and slides may be rented for the evening or after- 
 noon at reasonable rates, and the cost covered by an admission 
 fee of from ten to twenty-five cents. In sending for catalogue 
 and terms, ask for the paper used to darken windows if the lan- 
 tern is to be used in the afternoon. 
 
 Two of the largest dealers in stereopticon views and lanterns 
 are T. H. McAllister, 49 Nassau St., New York, and the 
 Mcintosh Stereopticon Co., 35 Randolph St. Chicago. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 For the afternoons abroad, given as geography reviews, or as 
 a part of the Friday afternoon exercises, invitations may be writ- 
 ten out by the pupils, or mimeographed, or hectographed, and 
 carried to friends and parents. 
 
 If given as an evening entertainment and illustrated by stere- 
 opticon views, handbills may be printed and circulated, at least 
 a week beforehand. The following form may be used: — 
 
PUERTO RICAN MARKET PLACE. 89 
 
 SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 A TRIP TO PUERTO RICO FOR TEN CENTS. 
 
 You are invited by the pupils of the school [or the 
 
 members of the Travel Class or Club] to spend an evening [or 
 afternoon~\ in Puerto Rico. 
 
 The party starts promptly at 1 . 30 p. m. [or 8 p. m.] , Novem- 
 ber 1 st. Those desiring to take this trip should secure tickets 
 before the day of sailing, as the party is limited. Guides are 
 furnished free. 
 
 The proceeds of this entertainment are to be used in the pur- 
 chase of a library, and of pictures and stereopticon views for the 
 school. 
 
 A PUERTO RICAN MARKET PLACE. 
 
 Decorate the room with ferns, potted palms and other trop- 
 ical plants, or pictures of them. (Exact reproductions in paper 
 or other material can now be procured at small cost.) On one 
 side of the room have one table devoted to Puerto Rican curios ; 
 another to fruits and vegetables; and a third to other products 
 from the island. (Or fit up one end or corner as a market place 
 in San Juan or Ponce.) 
 
 Explain your plan for the entertainment to your groceryman 
 and other merchants most convenient to your school, and en- 
 list their aid. They will usually be willing to lend products 
 imported from or native to the country. 
 
 For a list of the fruits and vegetables to be exhibited in the 
 market place, see the list given when on a visit to the market 
 place at San Juan. (See p. 2 2). 
 
 On the product-tables arrange pieces of sugar cane, samples 
 of raw, loaf, granulated, and powdered sugar, and of molasses. 
 If possible to secure the stalks of sugar cane, have short lengths 
 to be sold for consumption — as in Puerto Rico. Near the table, 
 tack up pictures of sugar plantations and mills. Have the cof- 
 fee-berry and beans, ground coffee, cups of coffee prepared as a 
 drink, and pictures of the tree, fruit, and coffee plantations; also 
 secure specimens of the fruit of the cacao tree, a cake of solid 
 
90 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 chocolate, chocolate candy, and a cake containing chocolate lay- 
 ers. Cups of cacao, or chocolate may be prepared as a drink. 
 Have near pictures of the cacao tree and fruit. 
 
 Secure, if possible, samples of rice, allspice, nutmeg, mace, 
 cinnamon, pepper, cloves, ginger and vanilla; bottles of clove 
 oil and bay rum ; packages of the annatto and logwood dyes ; 
 sponges, tortoise-shell combs, and articles made of cedar, ebony, 
 or mahogany, or pieces of these woods. 
 
 The tables and booths in the market places should be presided 
 over by pupils dressed as Puerto Ricans, and venders should go 
 about the room, after the entertainment is over, with native 
 wares to sell. 
 
 Among these venders will be the bread man, the milk man, 
 the fruit and vegetable man, the dulce seller, and the vender 
 of ices. 
 
 These venders should, if possible, carry their wares as the 
 Puerto Ricans do. 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 The girls may be costumed in very simply made white 
 dresses. Handkerchiefs may be tied about the head, for head 
 coverings. 
 
 The boys may be dressed in loose white trousers, girdled at 
 the waist by a belt of leather, a white shirt, and a silk or cotton 
 handkerchief around the neck. 
 
 A broad brimmed hat may be worn. 
 
 The dulce seller carries guava, pieces of pineapple, preserved 
 fruits, chocolate candy, fresh cocoanut meat, grated cocoanut, 
 etc. 
 
 The bread vender carries small rolls on his tray. The milk 
 man carries his can upon his head, ready to serve milk from tin 
 cups which are tied to the sides of the can. 
 
 REFRESHriENTS. 
 
 These may be served during an intermission or at the close 
 of the entertainment, and may consist of the national drinks, 
 orangeade, lemonade, chocolate, coffee, cocoanut milk, and of 
 rolls, cheese, native fruits and confectionery. 
 
AN AFTERNOON IN PUERTO RICO. 9 1 
 
 The pupils who serve these refreshments should be prepared 
 to tell something of the way in which these refreshments are 
 prepared and served in Puerto Rico. 
 
 One of the favorite drinks of the people of Puerto Rico is 
 orangeade. This is made as we make lemonade, except that the 
 juice of the orange is used in place of that of the lemon. In 
 making lemonade they use limes more frequently than lemons. 
 
 Coffee and chocolate are drinks also very much in use. The 
 chocolate is made about the consistency of thick gruel and 
 served with a light, thin cake. 
 
 The coffee is made very strong and only a small amount 
 placed in the cup. The cup is then filled with boiling milk. 
 
 Among the favorite sweetmeats are the guava jelly and mar- 
 malade. The jelly looks much like our currant jelly ; the mar- 
 malade resembles quince marmalade. It is usually served with 
 cheese. 
 
 Secure some of these sweetmeats for the booth or shop, and 
 serve bits to those who wish to buy. The small, flat boxes are 
 the best for this purpose. 
 
 Fresh cocoanut meat should be removed from the shell and 
 divided into penny squares, that the pupils may be able to buy 
 a bit for a penny. 
 
 AN AFTERNOON IN PUERTO RICO. 
 
 PROGRAMME. 
 
 i. Introductory remarks by the guide, who explains our plan 
 of celebrating the anniversary of the discovery of Puerto Rico 
 by Columbus, Nov. 17, 1493, by a journey to that island, Nov. 
 17, 1900, to be spent at Aguadilla, the first landing place of 
 Columbus on Puerto Rico. 
 
 2. Another pupil gives a short talk on the location, size and 
 surface of Puerto Rico, using a large map. 
 
 3. History of Puerto Rico by the class historian. 
 
 4. Climate of Puerto Rico, with description of a West Indies 
 hurricane. 
 
 5. Preparation for the trip. 
 
 6. Recitation — "Southern Seas" (given on the following 
 pages). 
 
92 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 7. Song, — "Life on the Ocean Wave." 
 
 8. Description of our voyage, by a pupil who has made an 
 
 ocean voyage. 
 
 9. Harbor and city of San Juan. 
 
 10. Points of interest in the city. 
 
 1 1 . Homes and home life of the people of the island. 
 
 12. Characteristics of the people of Puerto Rico. 
 
 13. Child life and education. 
 
 14. Amusements. 
 
 15. Burden-Bearing. 
 
 16. Travel. 
 
 17. The farmer. 
 
 18. The laborer. 
 
 19. Glimpses of cities in Puerto Rico. 
 
 20. A country home. 
 
 21. Animal life. 
 
 22. Plant life. 
 
 23. Recitation, " Puerto Rico," poem. 
 
 24. Conclusion. 
 
 25. Announcements. 
 
 26. Song — "America." 
 
 Before the concluding song, announcement may be made of 
 the plan for a series of afternoons or evenings abroad. Speak 
 of the purpose of these entertainments and express a hope that 
 all those present will attend the next entertainment — "An 
 Afternoon [or Evening] in Hawaii." 
 
 SOUTHERN SEAS. 
 
 Yes ! let us mount this gallant ship, 
 
 Spread canvas to the wind; — 
 Up ! we will seek the glowing South,— 
 
 Leave care and cold behind. 
 
 Let the shark pursue, through the waters blue, 
 
 Our flying vessel's track; 
 Let the strong winds blow, and rocks below 
 
 Threaten, — we turn not back. 
 
SOUTHERN SEAS. 93 
 
 See, where those shoals of dolphins go ! 
 
 A glad and glorious band, 
 Sporting amongst the roseate woods 
 
 Of a coral fairy land. 
 
 See on the violet sands beneath 
 
 How the gorgeous shells do glide ! 
 O sea ! old sea ! who yet knows half 
 
 Of thy wonders and thy pride ? 
 
 Look how the sea-plants trembling float, 
 
 As it were like a mermaid's locks, 
 Waving in thread of ruby red 
 
 Over those nether rocks, — 
 
 Heaving and sinking, soft and fair, 
 
 Here hyacinth, there green, 
 With many a stem of golden growth, 
 
 And starry flowers between. 
 
 But oh, the South ! the balmy South ! 
 
 How warm the breezes float ! 
 How warm the amber waters stream 
 
 From off our basking boat ! 
 
 And what is that ? 
 '"Tisland! 'T is land ! 
 
 'Tis land ! " the sailors cry. 
 Nay ! 't is a long and narrow cloud 
 
 Betwixt the sea and sky. 
 
 And now I mark the rising shores ! 
 
 The purple hills ! the trees ! 
 O what a glorious land is here, 
 
 What happy scenes are these ! 
 
94 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO PUERTO RICO. 
 
 See how the tall palms lift their locks 
 From mountain clefts, — what vales, 
 
 Basking beneath the noontide sun, 
 That high and hotly sails. 
 
 Yet all about the breezy shore, 
 
 Unheedful of the glow, 
 Look how the children of the South 
 
 Are passing to and fro ! 
 
 What noble forms ! what fairy place ! 
 
 Cast anchor in this cove, 
 Push out the boat, for in this land 
 
 A little we must rove ! 
 
 We '11 wander on through wood and field, 
 
 We ' 11 sit beneath the vine ; 
 We '11 drink the limpid cocoa-milk, 
 
 And pluck the native pine. 
 
 The bread-fruit and cassava-root 
 
 And many a glowing berry, 
 Shall be our feast; for here, at least, 
 
 Why should we not be merry? 
 
 William Howitt. 
 
 Note. — The following poem may be given as a recitation by 
 changing the title to "Puerto Rico." The words apply to this 
 island as well as to the island which is described. 
 
 SANTA CRUZ. 
 
 Betwixt old Cancer and the midway line, 
 
 In happiest climate lies this envied isle : 
 Trees bloom throughout the year, soft breezes blow, 
 
 And fragrant Flora wears a lasting smile. 
 
AN AFTERNOON IN PUERTO RICO. 95 
 
 Cool, woodland streams from shaded cliffs descend, 
 The dripping rock no want of moisture knows, 
 
 Supplied by springs that on the skies depend, 
 That fountain feeding as the current flows. 
 
 Sweet, verdant isle ! through thy dark woods I rove 
 
 And learn the nature of each native tree, 
 The fustic hard; the poisonous manchineel, 
 
 Which for its fragrant apple pleaseth thee ; 
 
 The lowly mangrove, fond of watery soil; 
 
 The white-barked palm tree, rising high in air ; 
 The mastic in the woods you may descry ; 
 
 Tamarind and lofty bay-trees flourish there ; 
 
 Sweet orange groves in lonely valleys rise, 
 
 And drop their fruits unnoticed and unknown ; 
 
 The cooling acid limes in hedges grow, 
 
 The juicy lemons swell in shades their own. 
 
 Soft, spongy plums on trees wide-spreading hang ; 
 
 Bell apples here, suspended, shade the ground; 
 Plump granadillas and guavas gray, 
 
 With melons, in each plain and vale abound. 
 
 But chief the glory of these Indian isles 
 Springs from the sweet, uncloying sugar-cane ; 
 
 Hence comes the planter's wealth, hence commerce sends 
 Such floating piles, to traverse half the main. 
 
 Whoe'er thou art that leaves thy native shore, 
 And shall to fair West India climates come ; 
 
 Taste not the enchanting plant, — to taste forbear, 
 If ever thou wouldst reach thy much-loved home. 
 
 — Philip Freeman. 
 
 tffet 
 
NOV 8 1900- 
 
 HELPFUL BOOKS. 
 
 SONGS IN SEASON. 
 
 Special songs for each season, and special songs for each 
 noted day in each season. There are twenty Songs of Spring- 
 time, eight Flower Songs, thirteen Bird Songs, twenty-six 
 Songs of Autumn, thirty Winter Songs, and twenty Miscel- 
 laneous Songs. The general arrangement is by Miss George. 
 Words by Lydia Avery Coonley and others. Music by Mary 
 B. Conrade, Jessie L. Gaynor, Frank Atkinson, and others. 
 It is a charming song book, and will be used in all seasons. 
 Contains 160 pages. Paper, 50c ; cloth, 75c. 
 
 STORIES IN SEASON. 
 
 Contains stories suitable for reading by the teachers : eighteen 
 about Autumn, sixteen on Winter, twenty-one on Spring. 
 Several poems on each season of the year, etc. They have 
 been selected from a variety of sources and put in usable 
 form by Miss George, and will be welcomed by all teachers. 
 Suitable for Primary and Intermediate Grades. 160 pages. 
 Paper ; price, 50c. 
 
 CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS. 
 
 First-class entertainments for Primary and Intermediate Grades. 
 Contains full-page pictures, Boyhood of Christ, Christ Blessing 
 the Little Children, Three Madonnas, thirteen full-page pictures 
 showing costumes of the children of as many different nations, 
 such as Russia, Italy, German}-, etc. Sixteen pages of music, 
 besides a large amount of original recitations, suggestions, 
 accounts, and descriptions of how Christmas is observed in 
 other countries. Price, 25c. 
 
 WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN. 
 
 By Miss George and Mrs. Avery Coonley. Wholly original. 
 Mrs. Coonley has written in rhyme descriptions of the early 
 homes of these patriots, their mothers, their school days, the 
 particular work of each, their particularly good qualities, 
 etc., etc. These are excellent for readings and recitations. 
 Mis9 George has given, in several pages of particularly good 
 matter, plans for observing the birthdays of each. Songs 
 and pictures complete the book. Price, 25c. 
 
 A. FLANAGAN CO., - Chicago. 
 
mama 
 
 Volume IV OCTOBER., 1900 
 
 No. 2 
 
 •y. ^« *• Subscription $1.50 per Year ^* ^* "*» 
 
 THE> 
 
 |2P^1 
 
 PLAN BOOK 
 
 A I/ITTM> JOURNEY 
 
 TO 
 
 PUERTO RICO. 
 
 MARIAN M. GEORGE;, Editor. ^ ^ 
 ^ v« A. FLANAGAN CO., Publishers. 
 
 Issued Monthly, except J\ily a^rid August 
 
 V **• Entered ir\ Chicago Post Office a.s Second-Class Mail *r» ■*» 
 
S^vai*pa%Kiw^^ 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 1M, 
 
 "Puerto Rico" is the second of a series of Plan Book 
 Journeys, which will embrace a great many countries of large 
 and growing interest to teachers and pupils. All countries may 
 ultimately be included. 
 
 The first numbers in the series will be devoted to our 
 new possessions, and to Ihose countries which the late wars 
 have brought to the attention of the public, and made centers 
 of interest. 
 
 The work is planned and prepared for both teachers and 
 pupils. The Little Journeys for the pupils are to be used as 
 reference books in connection with the study of a country, or 
 as supplementary readers for the Intermediate and Gram- 
 mar grades. 
 
 The Teachers' Edition contains the same reading matter, 
 with additional pages of suggestions to teachers for conducting 
 these journeys abroad ; Programs for Afternoons and Evenings 
 Abroad ; Music ; Recitations, and other material for these enter- 
 tainments. 
 
 These books are intended for teachers who find it difficult 
 to obtain information in regard to the countries visited. 
 
 It is hoped that each volume will be specially helpful to 
 those teachers whose books of travel are few, and opportunities 
 for travel limited. 
 
 To those teachers who wish to interest their pupils in geog- 
 raphy and reading. 
 
 To those teachers and pupils who have grown weary of the 
 usual Friday Afternoon Exercises. 
 
 To those teachers who wish to arouse the interest and enlist 
 the aid of parents in the work of the school. 
 
 To those teachers who wish to equip their schools with 
 libraries, pictures, stereopticon views, etc. 
 
 To those teachers who wish to obtain funds for this purpose 
 by giving school entertainments which will not require much 
 extra work on the part of the teachers. 
 
 To those teachers who wish to give entertainments which 
 will be the outcome of the regular school work. 
 
 To those teachers who believe that pupils enjoy, appreciate, 
 and make the best use of material which they themselves have 
 helped to secure or earn. . 
 
 The following numbers are now under way: November, 
 Hawaii ; December, The Philippine Islands ; January, Alaska 
 and Canada ; February, Mexico. 
 
 ii&%i£% | £*& l £%^ 
 
ATTRACTIVE BOOKS for 
 
 . Advanced PUPILS and TEACHERS. 
 
 Conover's Evangeline Study. Desirable edition, containing In- 
 troduction, Notes, Plan of Study, Poem complete, Maps, Illus- 
 strations. Prepared specially for school use. 152 pages. 
 Paper, 15c ; flex, cloth $ .25 
 
 Lives of the Presidents. (Ellis.) 218 pages. Cloth, 50c; 
 
 boards 36 
 
 Great American Industries. "Minerals." 192 pages. Cloth, 
 
 50c ; boards 36 
 
 Great American Industries. " Products of Soil." 172 pages. 
 
 Cloth, 50c ; boards 36 
 
 The two volumes above are filled with interesting facts, 
 fully illustrated with engravings, maps, and charts. A third 
 volume on Manufacturing is in preparation. 
 
 Stories from American History. (Ellis.) Striking incidents 
 from the landing of Columbus to the Revolution. Illustrated. 
 176 pages. Cloth, 50c ; boards 36 
 
 The Evangeline Book. (Muhlig.) A most admirable volume, 
 containing the story of Acadia ; customs and conditions of the 
 people ; the poem entire, with notes ; maps and other illus- 
 trations. Cloth, 30c ; paper 20 
 
 DESIRABLE BOOKS AND AIDS FOR ADVANCED TEACHERS. 
 
 Denison's Friday Afternoon Dialogs. 25 Dialogs 25 
 
 Rich's New Higher Arithmetic. Model solutions. New methods. .75 
 Morton's Lessons on the Continents. 77 pages. Illustrated... .20 
 Dodge's Outlines of English History. Suggestive. 128 pages.. .25 
 
 Smith's Grammar, Etymology, and Syntax. Cloth 50 
 
 Winchell's Orthography, Orthoepy, and Punctuation. A new 
 
 and valuable book. Abundant exercises 50 
 
 A. FLANAGAN CO., Publishers, 
 
 266-268 WABASH AVE., CHICAGO. 
 
YOU CAN HARDLY MISS IT IF YOU 
 GO VIA THE QUEEN & CRESCENT." 
 
 A Southern trip is an ideal 
 trip when it's taken on fast, 
 luxurious trains. ' That 's 
 the kind they have on the 
 Queen & Orescent Route. 
 And over a track that is 
 absolutely SUPERB. 
 
 Parlor Caf 6 and Observation Cars on 
 day trains from Cincinnati south 
 daily. Free Reclining Chair Cars on 
 night trains. Through Pullman 
 Drawing Room Vestibuled Sleeping 
 Cars to all important Southern Cities 
 from Cincinnati and the North. 
 
 W. A. Bkcxler, N. P A., 
 
 113 Adam St., Chicago. 
 W. C. Rinearson, G. P. A., 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 The Little Classic Series 
 
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 THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE 
 
 Among the features of this new edition which, it is believed, make it 
 the most desirable series published, are : — 
 
 J. A full page portrait of the author in each volume* 
 
 2. Biographical and other matter not found in other editions. 
 
 3. Better paper and a good* clear type. 32 pages in each issue. 
 
 4. Substantial and attractive covers. 
 
 5. The economical price oi 5 cents per copy. 
 
 IN THE SERIES NOW ISSUED OR UNDER WAY, ARE :— 
 
 The King of the Golden River ; The Great Stone Face ; The legend of Sleepy 
 Hollow ; Evangeline ; Miles Standish, double number, 10 cents, 64 pages ; The 
 Deserted Village, and Gray's Elegy ; The Nurnberg Stove, double number, 
 price 10 cents ; The Snow Image; Rip Van Winkle, etc., etc 
 
 SINGLE NUMBERS IN ANY QUANTITY MAILED AT 5 CENTS PER COPY. 
 
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