Opening Doors in 
 Latin America 
 
 The Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York 
 
A GUATEMALAN INDIAN 
 
The Key to the 
 Guatemalan Situation 
 
 If variety is the spice of life, Mission 
 work in the County (Departamento) of 
 Quezaltenango may safely be described as 
 spicy. This county to which we seek to 
 minister, varies in altitude from two hun- 
 dred to twelve thousand feet above sea 
 level. It includes the tropics with their 
 intense heat and luxuriant growth of 
 precious woods, sugar cane, bananas, etc., 
 extends up into a temperate zone where 
 coffee plantations abound, then comes a 
 cooler zone where there are occasional 
 frosts and where corn is the chief crop, 
 then some high plateaus where only wheat 
 can be successfully cultivated, then again 
 some steep mountain sides covered with 
 pine, while in the very center of the county, 
 visible from nearly all parts of it, towers 
 the mighty volcano, Santa Maria, whose 
 eruption some ten years ago nearly de- 
 stroyed the town of Quezaltenango. 
 
 But if there is variety in the climate and 
 the flora of the county there is even 
 greater variety in those in whom we are 
 more directly interested, i. e., the people. 
 We have here in the county of Quezalte- 
 nango a foreign colony of perhaps one thou- 
 sand, the largest groups being of Germans, 
 Spaniards, and Chinese. Then there are the 
 educated Guatemalans of Spanish descent, 
 more or less pure. They are plantation 
 owners, lawyers, physicians, merchants. 
 Next in order come the hand-workers. For 
 be it known that we have little or no 
 machinery work here. Our shoes and 
 clothes are all made to order. Our fabrics 
 are woven on hand-looms, etc., etc. The 
 people who do this work, the weavers, 
 
 3 
 
dyers, carpenters, shoemakers and hatters 
 along with the small store and saloon- 
 keepers, are Ladinos, that is, of European 
 descent but with a large proportion of 
 Indian blood. But lower still in the social 
 scale comes the Indian himself, who com- 
 prises the bulk of the population. He is 
 day laborer, pack animal, domestic servant 
 and what not. In this county he is better 
 off than in some other parts of the republic. 
 He usually owns a small patch of land in 
 the highlands where his wife and family 
 cultivate corn or wheat and keep a few 
 pigs or sheep. But he, poor fellow, finds 
 little time to help them. First he must 
 serve in the army, from three to five years, 
 sometimes being stationed near home, some- 
 times far away. Home from his service 
 in the army he is soon called out to aid 
 on some public work, building a new rail- 
 road line, a bridge or similar improvement, 
 receiving four or five cents a day and 
 boarding himself. A few weeks or months 
 of this and he goes home again. Before 
 long the smooth-tongued “habilitador” of 
 some large coffee or banana plantation 
 appears in his town with money to 
 lend, easy money, and the Indian takes 
 the bait. In a few days it is gone, liquor 
 and a few gaudy trappings have made away 
 with it. Then come the long hard days 
 of payment. The strong arm of the law 
 hands Mr. Indian over to the tender 
 mercies of the plantation owner whose 
 money he has borrowed and he must work 
 off his debt at ten cents a day and board 
 himself. If he wants more money he can 
 get it up to a certain limit, it being to 
 the plantation owner’s interest to keep 
 him in debt. The Indian thus becomes a 
 virtual slave, for one plantation owner can 
 sell the debt to another and the Indian 
 must follow his debt. The Indian carries 
 
 4 
 
us all on his back and receives small thanks 
 for his trouble. 
 
 And now what of the religious and moral 
 conditions of these varied classes? The 
 foreign colony is here for money. It is 
 business first, last and all the time. Their 
 morals are the bourgeois morals of their 
 class in all the world. They are no better 
 and perhaps no worse than they would be 
 at home. The Germans are nominal Protest- 
 ants or Jews for the most part, the Spanish, 
 French, Italians, etc., nominal Catholics, 
 Chinese nominal Buddhists, but for all of 
 them business is first and religion second. 
 “Do you think I’m here for my health?” 
 is their common answer to any appeal to 
 public sentiment or religious endeavor. 
 
 The educated Guatemalans are for the 
 most part nominal Catholics, but the men 
 are almost entirely estranged from the 
 Church. Spiritualism has a very strong 
 hold among them and seems to be growing 
 in strength rather than waning. Positivism 
 was and still is a force also in this class 
 but it is rather decadent at present. There 
 are many of these educated Guatemalans 
 who are more or less in sympathy with 
 Protestantism, but a fanatical Romanist 
 wife, or the rigid Puritanism of our move- 
 ment or a certain social repugnance against 
 calling an Indian “brother” have so far 
 kept this class from the fold. Morally this 
 class is what it is everywhere. A certain 
 appearance of respectability is preserved 
 though often it is little more than appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The hand-workers are as a whole of 
 course also nominal Catholics. But if the 
 truth were known, it would be that about 
 all they have to do with the Church is to 
 have their children baptized by it. Mar- 
 riage is the exception rather than the rule 
 among them, the drink evil is a constant 
 
 5 
 
curse to their lives and poverty keeps them 
 morose and sullen. It is among this class 
 that Protestantism has made the greatest 
 progress. On a typical Wednesday night 
 we may have fifteen men at the service. 
 Three carpenters, two weavers, one saddle- 
 maker, one whip-maker, one macaroni 
 maker, one dyer, one tailor, one clerk, one 
 book-keeper, one butcher, one lawyer and 
 one photographer. Two-thirds of this 
 number have been reclaimed from drink 
 and an impure life by the Gospel and given 
 a new life in their homes and business. 
 
 And last and most important what of the 
 Indians? Morally they are better than the 
 Ladinos. As a rule they marry and if they 
 consume great quantities of liquor they at 
 least do not sell it. They are naively relig- 
 ious and so easily made the prey of an 
 unscrupulous priest. Few of the older peo- 
 ple can read and the younger generation 
 can do so only falteringly. Although ap- 
 parently these Indians are the stronghold 
 of Catholicism, they still have their medi- 
 cine men and their arts of witchcraft in 
 spite of the opposition of the Church. In 
 more ways than one they are in the Old 
 Testament dispensation. They have their 
 altars on the high places where they offer 
 fowls, etc., as sacrifices. Their God is the 
 God of the thunder and the rain, the God 
 of wrath and judgment. Even the Protest- 
 ant Indian finds the Old Testament more 
 suited to his state of mind than the New. 
 
 And now what are the agencies at work 
 in this county for the moral and religious 
 needs of these people? There is of course 
 The Catholic Church. But she is playing 
 a losing game. The Government has sys- 
 tematically fought her for many years, 
 taking away some of her most treasured 
 privileges and even infringing on what 
 many would consider her rights. Today 
 
 6 
 
she can have no schools, no catechetical 
 instruction, no Church funerals. Her 
 Churches are in ruins and her clergy 
 diminishing in number. This county has 
 five priests (three of them foreigners) for 
 a population of perhaps two hundred thou- 
 sand. What strikes me about the Catholic 
 Church here is not so much her corrup- 
 tion as her impotence. 
 
 Next in order we might mention The 
 Spiritualistic Society which has a center 
 in Quezaltenango. These men have the 
 Bible and some of them appear to be really 
 reconciled with God through Jesus Christ. 
 They hold up the moral life as worthy even 
 though they seem to fail to give a motive 
 power to live that life. In spite of their 
 fantastical claims and their impotence to 
 change men’s lives they undoubtedly are 
 better than nothing and help to keep re- 
 ligious questions to the fore. 
 
 We should not fail to mention The Labor 
 Unions or rather the organizations that 
 very nearly approximate the old Guilds of 
 the middle ages. They have arranged a 
 Sunday School for their members to keep 
 them away from the saloons. Better yet, 
 leavened by their Protestant members, they 
 have been instrumental in closing the cock- 
 pits and gambling houses of this city. 
 
 Last but not least comes our own Presby- 
 terian Mission. So far we have done noth- 
 ing for the foreign colony but we hope to 
 begin services in English and German be- 
 fore long and a confirmation class for the 
 children. It is our hope that some day we 
 may draw the support of the mission very 
 largely from the foreign Protestants who 
 make their living from the people and so 
 far have given nothing back to them. We 
 have in our Church some five families, of 
 which one of the parents is a German. 
 On August 2 there were present at the 
 
 7 
 
Spanish service citizens of Austria, Ger- 
 many and France. On August 3rd they 
 were called to the war. Let us hope that 
 a patriotism, however blind, may not make 
 them forget that once they worshiped to- 
 gether as brethren. 
 
 Among the educated classes we have 
 done very little. Our native workers have 
 come from the handworkers and have not 
 been able to preach the Gospel to the 
 educated in the language wherein they 
 were born. But one of our elders comes 
 from this class and can probably set oflf 
 the Gospel against Schopenhauer or Spen- 
 cer better than the average elder at home. 
 We are not forgetting the “wise” and 
 “mighty” and pray that they too may learn 
 the riches of love in Christ Jesus. 
 
 We are at present ministering to ten 
 congregations of ladinos in the county, one 
 here in the capital and nine in smaller 
 towns. In practically every town the work 
 is growing and encouraging. 
 
 Nearly every congregation has an 
 Indian or two in it. But we have only 
 one congregation of Indians. This con- 
 gregation has grown faster and on a surer 
 basis we think than any other. It now 
 numbers nearly a hundred baptized with an 
 equal number interested or on the waiting 
 list. It gives promise of a Christian Guate- 
 mala in the future. If the bottom man in 
 society is thoroughly converted the upper 
 classes will not resist long. The Chris- 
 tianity which works from the bottom up 
 will always be healthier than that which 
 works from the top down. The real key 
 to the Guatemala situation is the Indian 
 and we rejoice that he is at length turning 
 to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Paul Burgess. 
 
CHILEAN COUNTRYMEN 
 
“In Peril from the 
 Heathen” 
 
 Dona Martina’s shrewd old face was all 
 aglow. Was it possible that her people 
 away off on the other side of the mountains 
 were to have the privilege of hearing the 
 Gospel, this wonderful Gospel which had 
 transformed her own life so that she could 
 scarcely recognize herself? Swiftly her 
 mind reverted to the days of her young 
 womanhood when she had been employed 
 to sing and dance and otherwise make 
 merry on one of the great estates, and to 
 the shameful orgies to which these were 
 but an accompaniment, and of which she 
 was the life and center. Her dark face 
 flushed with the remembrance, and the 
 longing of her heart sprang to her lips in 
 the half-audible prayer, “Lord Jesus, help 
 me to take Thy Gospel to my old com- 
 panions.” 
 
 And so it came about that we went, four 
 of us, early in April, to the village known 
 as Beautiful Valley, six hours by rail from 
 Valparaiso plus five miles on foot, or, if 
 you are in luck, on horseback. The day 
 was hot and the third-class car packed to 
 suffocation with perspiring humanity of the 
 lowest class, together with fowls of all 
 sorts, bundles, baskets, beer bottles, etc. 
 The air was festive if not perfumed, and 
 everyone in high spirits. Some traveling 
 musicians obligingly began to pick out a 
 cueca on their guitars and the women kept 
 time joyfully with hands and feet in the 
 unforgetable rhythm of the native dance. 
 After six hours of this environment, how- 
 ever, it was with a sigh of relief and a 
 deep intake of fresh air that we alighted 
 at the little station where we left the rail- 
 
 10 
 
road. A small boy and a donkey were 
 waiting for us, to act as guide and carrier 
 for the remaining five miles, and the baby 
 organ, my camp bed and a bag of books 
 were soon speedily made fast to the don- 
 key’s all-enduring back. The town was 
 soon traversed and we were beyond the 
 lights. Our way lay first obliquely across 
 a dried-up river bed, and I laughed to my- 
 self. wishing that my friends could see me, 
 as we stumbled along single file over big 
 stones and through sand ankle deep, trying 
 to keep the donkey’s tail in sight, our only 
 hope of not losing the way in the pitchy 
 darkness. 
 
 After an hour the wearisome round finally 
 came to an end, and we were most hospita- 
 bly received at the home of our evangelist, 
 a typical country family of the lower mid- 
 dle class. The house consisted of two 
 rooms, and a corner shop, where you could 
 purchase anything (in limited quantities) 
 from ribbons and buttons to kerosene and 
 beer. When we had finished dinner one of 
 the daughters whispered to me, “Couldn’t 
 you play on the little organ?” so with all 
 alacrity it was set up and hymn books pro- 
 duced. For two hours we sang hymns, 
 until I was ready to fall off the chair with 
 weariness. But Chilean hospitality would 
 forbid the suggestion of bed-time before 
 midnight and a cup of strong coffee. In 
 the meantime I had been making silent 
 calculations: The family consisted of 
 
 father and mother, a grown-up son, four 
 young women and two children, and there 
 was only one room besides the one in 
 which we ate, which also contained two 
 beds, and we were four. Where were we 
 to sleep? The problem was solved, how- 
 ever, for Chilean hospitality has no limits, 
 and my little camp bed was set up in the 
 
 11 
 
corner grocery between the counter and 
 the wall, where I slept as well as in my 
 own cosy room at home. 
 
 Little by little we began to hear of the 
 persecutions which this family had already 
 been enduring at the hands of the priests 
 since it had been rumored that the evan- 
 gelists were coming. Immediately the vil- 
 lage priest had called a “mission” of some 
 Redemptionist Fathers. Gathering the en- 
 tire country-side into the open square in 
 front of the village church (which was not 
 large enough to hold them), the priests 
 compelled the people to kneel, and with 
 lighted candles in their hands, and making 
 the sign of the cross, swear to heaven by 
 the Holy Virgin and all the saints, that they 
 would cross the threshold of no evangelical 
 service, nor admit any heretic into their 
 houses, and that they would, if possible 
 run them out of town with sticks. Having 
 thus guarded their flock from heresy and 
 error, they awaited developments, confi- 
 dent that when we came we should preach 
 to empty benches. Imagine their conster- 
 nation, therefore, when night after night of 
 our stay our little chapel was packed to 
 overflowing with the very people who made 
 these vows! For three nights we showed 
 views of the life of Christ and preached 
 the simple Gospel, and for three nights 
 the people listened with all their ears and 
 went away saying: “Why, the Gospel is 
 not at all as we have been led to believe — 
 it is beautiful!” The last night, however, 
 there were mutterings of the coming storm. 
 A group gathered outside, incited by the 
 priests, and laid a plot. “Let them come 
 again if they dare,” they said; “we shall be 
 ready for them.” We afterwards learned 
 that the plan was to attack the chapel, 
 kill the men of our party, and carry off the 
 women. 
 
 12 
 
At the end of a fortnight we went back, 
 this time without the magic lantern, trust- 
 ing to the power of the spoken Word. The 
 first meeting was well attended but full of 
 disorder. The front seats were filled with 
 people who were interested and wanted to 
 listen, but the back seats and the door were 
 in possession of the enemy, and it was 
 almost impossible for the preacher to make 
 himself heard. Knives and pistols were 
 handled freely, and the evangelist at the 
 door menaced with blows when he tried 
 to preserve a semblance of order. A little 
 window near where I sat at the little organ 
 was broken open over my head, while the 
 young girls were singing a hymn, and we 
 were deluged with dirt and gravel, but it 
 might have been rose leaves for all the 
 attention we paid to it. I was so proud 
 of those girls, who never wavered until 
 the hymn was finished. We carried the 
 service to its conclusion, although at times 
 the preacher could scarcely be heard above 
 the din. Our evangelist counseled us to 
 wait until the crowd had dispersed before 
 leaving the chapel, but the group outside 
 had no intention of dispersing, and so the 
 pastor, who is a stalwart six-footer, taking 
 the bright acetylene lamp in one hand and 
 the baby organ in the other, presented 
 himself at the door. In the bright light, 
 the evil doers scudded to the other side 
 of the narrow street, in a vain attempt to 
 remain incognito, trying to hide their faces 
 by pulled down hats and lifted ponchos. 
 With kindness and firmness the pastor ad- 
 dressed them, expressing his surprise at 
 their change _ of attitude. “We have not 
 come,’ he said, “to offend anyone, nor to 
 attack his beliefs. We have come to preach 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity 
 and simplicity, because there are people 
 here who want to hear it, and who have 
 
 13 
 
invited us. If it does not please you, you 
 are not compelled to listen.” While he 
 was yet speaking, they began to stone us, 
 and as we turned to go to the house, a 
 half-square distant, the stones flew thick 
 and fast, and later it seemed as though the 
 roof would fall, as they took vengeance 
 upon it. 
 
 The next morning, Sabbath, the men 
 rode to the nearest town to claim police 
 protection, and we were assured that it 
 would be forthcoming for the evening 
 service. At the appointed hour, the prefect 
 himself and another official arrived on their 
 splendid horses, and the service began in 
 perfect quietness. The street was empty, 
 and the night as quiet as a summer’s day. 
 We sang and prayed and read the Scrip- 
 tures with perfect attention, but the sermon 
 was scarcely begun when the sound of re- 
 ceding horses fell upon our ears. The 
 officials, who had promised to remain until 
 the end, had gone! And simultaneously, 
 from the shadows where they had been lurk- 
 ing, sprang forty armed ruffians, and with 
 yells of derision, made for the door as one 
 man. It was impossible to proceed with 
 the service, and under cover of the din we 
 hastily consulted as to what to do. We 
 remembered the plot, and our hearts were 
 anguished for those four pretty girls, the 
 daughters of our hosts. Old Dona Martina 
 had little to fear at their hands, and even 
 the most frenzied mob will think twice be- 
 fore laying hands upon an American, but 
 the girls — how should we protect them? 
 To try to escape by the back door across 
 the fields was madness. There was no one 
 to send with them to the safety of their 
 own house. No! We must remain where 
 we were and try to shut the door, and 
 await help. A swiftly thrown missile 
 aimed at the pastor’s head fell in the center 
 
 14 
 
of the room, having missed its mark by 
 hitting one of the beams, and proved to 
 be a tin can filled with unspeakable filth. 
 It turned upside down, however, on their 
 own number! Having retired for a moment 
 to arrange the next number on the program, 
 we managed to shut the door, but it was 
 without latch or bolt. A strong pole was 
 braced against it, and it required six men 
 to hold it steady under the onslaught of 
 our tormentors, who came against it like 
 an avalanche, with stones, bottles, knives 
 and pistols, and it seemed as though it must 
 give way. For nearly an hour we waited 
 and prayed, while the mob raged outside, 
 expecting momentarily to see the low 
 thatch roof blaze over our heads from the 
 cannon firecrackers, or to see the faithful 
 group at the door pierced by the enemy’s 
 bullets. And our evangelist, where was he? 
 He had disappeared, and no hand was lifted 
 in our behalf. 
 
 In the excitement of the attack, our 
 brave evangelist at the door realized on the 
 instant that the day was lost and that our 
 one hope, under God, lay in overtaking the 
 police. Creeping stealthily away from the 
 door in an opposite direction from that 
 which he planned to take, lest he should be 
 watched, crawling under barbed wire fences, 
 and across dark fields, he finally reached 
 the main road at a point considerably below 
 the chapel, and ran like a hare to a house 
 a mile distant, where he had sympathizers. 
 With failing breath he begged a horse, and 
 waiting for neither saddle nor bridle, threw 
 himself upon it and flew like the wind in 
 the direction the police had taken. But 
 alas! they had already reached the river, 
 and pursuit was useless. Desperately he 
 turned his horse again toward the chapel, 
 his one hope now to find the official whose 
 duty it was to patrol the village, and as he 
 
 15 
 
searched up and down through all the lanes 
 and narrow streets, he heard what seemed 
 in the darkness to be rifle shots. “Oh 
 God!” he cried, “I am too late; they will 
 all be dead before I can get help.” Urging 
 his jaded beast to its limit he rushed for- 
 ward and discovered the missing policeman, 
 half drunk, coming leisurely out of a saloon. 
 With difficulty he made him understand 
 the necessity for haste, and at last, after 
 what seemed an eternity to all of us, we 
 heard the welcome sound of galloping 
 hoofs. We were saved! Our tormentors, 
 surprised on the rear, swung sullenly back 
 away from the bright light which again 
 illumined our darkness. It was a dramatic 
 moment. Flinging himself down from his 
 panting horse, our evangelist, who is by 
 nature the gentlest of men, addressed the 
 now cringing mob: “This is the end,” he 
 said; “we have borne your taunts, your 
 jeers, your insults, your threats and even 
 your stones, with patience, because we 
 have come here to help you. But it is 
 the end. I know you everyone by name, 
 and tomorrow, even tomorrow, I will de- 
 nounce you before the Judge of crime.” 
 And then the pastor: “It is a disgrace to 
 our country. Not even in Central Africa 
 could such things happen. It makes one 
 ashamed to be a Chilean!” 
 
 Summoned before the Judge, they one 
 and all denied roundly any participation 
 whatever in the night’s doings, and the 
 Judge, a veritable Pilate, would fain have 
 washed his hands of the matter. Calling 
 Pastor Krauss aside privately, he confessed 
 that in conscience he knew we were in the 
 right, “But man alive,” he added, “you don’t 
 know these people; they are desperados, 
 and capable of killing you all at a moment’s 
 notice.” “Even so,” was the brave response, 
 “but remember that for everyone of us they 
 
 16 
 
kill, ten will rise up to come in our places 
 to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And 
 knowing these people as you do, why do 
 you not admonish them? We are not seek- 
 ing retribution, but only the liberty of wor- 
 ship which the State accords us.” Thus 
 pressed, the Judge again summoned the cul- 
 prits before him and reprimanded them 
 soundly, to their evident dismay, for had 
 not they and the priests arranged every- 
 thing beforehand in their own way? 
 
 Poor people! One cannot find it in his 
 heart to blame them. As they have been 
 taught, so are they. Their hearts are as 
 wax in the hands of their priests, who might 
 have made of the Chileans a model nation, 
 had they educated instead of exploited 
 them, had they taught them the word of 
 God instead of the foolishness and lies 
 which they themselves mock at. We have con- 
 tinued our visits every fortnight to Beautiful 
 Valley, and although the persecution is still 
 keen, we have had the great joy of seeing 
 whole families turn to the Lord. Our meet- 
 ings are crowded and the little children sing 
 in the streets, “ Wonderful Words of Life.” 
 
 Florence E. Smith, 
 Valparaiso, Chile. 
 
 17 
 
;roup of laborers at breakfast on coffee plantation NEAR BUCARAMANGA, COLOMBIA 
 
Pioneers in a Great 
 Land 
 
 The missionaries in Brazil have felt that 
 Christian education is the key to the present 
 situation of the work here. We may well 
 say that we have an open door here, not 
 only in the sense that there is practically 
 no religious persecution, but that the peo- 
 ple are most anxious to learn the ways and 
 methods of the North Americans because 
 they have seen the efficiency of these in 
 the missionary schools and in the business 
 and technically trained men who have come 
 down here. 
 
 The people frankly recognize their back- 
 wardness and are ready to make great 
 sacrifices that they and their children may 
 have an education. But best of all, I have 
 heard many expressions of appreciation of 
 the fact that it is most important that the 
 education be moral as well as intellectual. 
 A city official, when it was mentioned in his 
 presence that Castro had been singularly 
 fortunate in getting a regiment stationed 
 here and in having the Instituto Christao, 
 at once replied, “There is no comparison 
 between the two. The regiment brings 
 vice, but the Instituto brings only virtue.” 
 He is not a “Crente” but one of our good 
 friends. 
 
 We have been shown the greatest kind- 
 ness and been helped in many ways by the 
 leading business men and officials of the 
 city. We have received offers of land (this 
 before we had bought), money, and free 
 labor. The people have shown a sustained 
 interest in the project from the start. We 
 have many visitors and constant inquiries 
 as to how the work progresses, and when 
 we shall be able to receive pupils. In fact 
 
 19 
 
we anticipate our greatest difficulty to be 
 along this line — how to keep the number 
 down until we shall be able to accommo- 
 date somewhere near the number who wish 
 to come. We want most of all to establish 
 a Christian atmosphere that will leave an 
 indelible impress on every student who 
 comes to us. This must grow with the 
 school. 
 
 As to our plant and problem, we have 
 600 acres of good land, 30 head of cattle, 
 4 horses and a team of mules. We have 
 put up some cheap wooden buildings and 
 are erecting a two-and-one-half-story brick 
 building 40 x 40 feet. There is nowhere near 
 enough money at present available to com- 
 plete the building, but we can finish some 
 of the rooms roughly so that they can be 
 used and then, as we are able, we will 
 finish the rest. The school is beautifully 
 located on a main traveled road two and 
 one-half miles from town. The climate 
 here is almost ideal. 
 
 We have already accepted two young 
 men who did not wish to wait until the 
 opening of the school, and they are to 
 work on the buildings, etc., until we open. 
 There are many others who are simply 
 waiting for us. Ours will be the only 
 school of its kind in this part of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 We expect to give a practical training in 
 the common trades, paying especial atten- 
 tion to farming and domestic science. Our 
 aim is to train up efficient Christian work- 
 ers. Along this line we will give thorough 
 Bible training and teach the theory and 
 practice of modern Pedagogics. From those 
 who come it is hoped that we can choose 
 some who will dedicate themselves to the 
 preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 It is a wonderful opportunity that we 
 have, as this country is just in the be- 
 
 20 
 
ginning' of its history. It is bound to have 
 a great future. It is already beginning 
 to feel its own possibilities. We are among 
 the pioneers in a great virgin land. The 
 Brazilians modeled their government on 
 ours when they founded “Os Estados 
 Unidos Do Brazil.’’ They are still looking 
 toward us for help and expect great things 
 of us — their attitude is that of a pupil to- 
 wards his teacher. 
 
 Save in the state of Sao Paulo, for the 
 most part, the educational system in Brazil 
 is very crude. As the interest in educa- 
 tion has grown, thousands of dollars have 
 been spent in fine big school- buildings, but 
 the great difficulty is to get teachers. I 
 saw one fine big building which had been 
 completed for some time, but had never 
 been used because there was no teacher 
 to be had. In one of the principal cities 
 of the state I have often passed a school 
 house crowded with boys, in front of whom, 
 terrible to contemplate, sat a ferocious 
 looking man with a long stick which from 
 time to time he brought down on the desk 
 with a tremendous thwack to recall the 
 wandering eyes and arms that had such 
 a tendency to stray out of the windows. 
 The buzz of their many voices would in- 
 stinctively rise with the fall of the rod 
 and a new impetus was thus given to learn- 
 ing. Amusing, but tragic. 
 
 For the most part, agriculture is but 
 little in advance of the methods of the 
 North American Indian in his primitive 
 state. Every four or five years the timber 
 land is cut, burned off and, with an iron 
 pointed stick, the corn and beans are 
 planted. Native artisans are very few and 
 most of them are quite inferior. It is 
 readily seen that we can do a great service 
 for this people and win a lasting place in 
 their lives. The practical training that we 
 
 21 
 
hope to give will be a long step toward 
 a self-supporting native church. It will 
 increase many fold the earning power of 
 our members. We hope to be able to hold 
 a two weeks’ conference each year for lay 
 workers. These usually have had few edu- 
 cational advantages and their work of 
 caring for the congregations during the 
 long absences of the Pastor is most im- 
 portant. 
 
 Our greatest need is the prayers of our 
 fellow workers in the home land and that 
 they do all in their power to make it pos- 
 sible for the Lord of the Harvest to answer 
 their prayers. 
 
 H. P. Midkiff. 
 
 22 
 
MEXICAN NATIVE PASTOR AND WIFE 
 
The Mexican Minister and 
 the Protestant Opportunity 
 
 The landing of the American troops in 
 Vera Cruz put the American and the American 
 missionary in Mexico in a serious situation. 
 The Mexican minister, however, has been in 
 a serious situation since the army revolt 
 under Felix Diaz and the coming of Huerta 
 into power in February of 1913. He is nat- 
 urally liberal in politics and his sympathy is 
 with the Madero movement for a larger place 
 for the common people. So he was nat- 
 urally looked upon with distrust in all places 
 held by the Federal army. The utmost cau- 
 tion and non-participation in a public way 
 saved a large number from molestation by 
 the Federal forces. There were others, how- 
 ever, who were such pronounced liberals 
 and partisans of the Madero movement 
 that there was a grave question as to their 
 personal safety. 
 
 Some four men in Northern Mexico, feel- 
 ing themselves to be in danger, left their 
 pastoral charges and joined the revolu- 
 tionary cause in clerical or active military 
 operations in the field. The varying for- 
 tunes of the revolution would sometimes 
 bring one to his home and work, but it 
 has resulted so far in the loss of four men 
 from our work. Two other men have taken 
 government positions. New elements are 
 in control and they are dependent on get- 
 ting new men of intelligence and ability 
 to carry on the new government. Just 
 how long these men will be lost to the 
 work is not possible to say at present. 
 In their new positions, however, they will 
 be able to use governmental influence in 
 favor of Protestantism. 
 
 During the permanence of the Huerta 
 
government, some of the ministers had to 
 endure extra pressure from the Catholic 
 clergy. This was especially so in the 
 southern states. In some places there was 
 the preaching of a holy war because of the 
 American landing in Vera Cruz. The 
 evangelical ministers, being connected with 
 American missions, were talked of as 
 traitors. Our minister in Campeche got 
 up an elaborate patriotic program on the 
 anniversary of the death of Juarez to prove 
 the contrary. One worker in a small town 
 in Yucatan was set upon as “ayancado” 
 (one taken up with the Yankees), and was 
 compelled to leave his home for two 
 months. The village priest was the leader 
 in the movement. During his absence one 
 of his two small boys died. 
 
 The pastor at Merida writes, speaking of 
 his district: “The work is being main- 
 tained but does not advance. The Catho- 
 lic clergy here are ‘de vara alta’ (have 
 the rod lifted up). They are molesting the 
 evangelicals as much as they can. The 
 other day they slapped and struck an evan- 
 gelical in the town of Cacalchen because he 
 did not want to kiss the keys of St. Peter. 
 He went to make complaint to the chief 
 authorities, but was told that it was a 
 Catholic town and that he (the evangelical) 
 could go with his Protestantism to some 
 other place.” 
 
 An effort was made to exclude all the 
 Protestant teachers from the schools in 
 Coahuila, but since the revolution has 
 triumphed, the schools are open and the 
 Protestant element has been given the 
 preference. All the Protestant teachers 
 have work. 
 
 A Catholic country with many of its 
 Catholic churches closed, numbers of its 
 priests expelled, and others in seclusion 
 through fear is a novel situation. This is 
 
 25 
 
the present situation in Mexico. In one 
 state capital, a Catholic church has been 
 taken over for a Masonic Temple and an- 
 other, a new edifice, has been converted 
 into a hall for the meetings of the state 
 congress. The keys of other churches are 
 in the hands of governmental authorities 
 and at this writing have not been turned 
 over to the clergy. 
 
 The outstanding fact that accounts for 
 all this is that the Catholic church had 
 aligned itself with the . Huerta government 
 and had given millions of its treasure to- 
 wards its success. The new elements in 
 control look upon the Catholic church 
 therefore in the same light as the Huerta 
 government is looked upon. A traitorous 
 aggregation seeking to seize the reins of 
 government through force and assassina- 
 tion. 
 
 The masses of the people are in sym- 
 pathy with the revolutionary efforts of 
 Madero and Carranza, and therefore it 
 seems that it may be a long time before 
 the Catholic church comes into favor. In 
 fact there seems to be no way for it to 
 come into the public favor that it has long- 
 been losing, except it apply itself, as it 
 has not in the past, to religious and social 
 betterment of the conditions of the people. 
 
 The situation gives the evangelical 
 churches working in Mexico a more un- 
 trammeled opportunity than ever before. 
 There is a public awakening caused by the 
 war that will no doubt make people more 
 receptive to evangelical teachings. A min- 
 ister, commenting on the fact that the mis- 
 sionaries would return just as soon as the 
 political situation was cleared up, writes: 
 “I am very glad to get this word, as there 
 is a certain awakening in religious matters, 
 which we must take advantage of for the 
 sacred cause of our Lord Jesus, especially 
 
 26 
 
if the union of the churches is to be a fact.” 
 
 The pastor of the Presbyterian church in 
 Monterey, writes: “The Lord is opening 
 wide the gate for Christianity in Mexico. 
 Let us make use of our opportunities.” 
 
 The pastor of our church in San Juan 
 Bautista, realizing the great needs of his 
 country, as revealed by the civil strife, 
 writes: “The only thing that can bring 
 
 prosperity to our country is the Gospel of 
 Christ; learned and put in practice.” 
 
 Another pastor writes: “I trust in the 
 Lord that there will be a great change in 
 public affairs and that we will be able to 
 dedicate ourselves with more tranquillity to 
 the holy work that is in our hands. Would 
 you help us? Come with enthusiasm.” 
 
 Charles Petran. 
 
 Form No. 2209. 
 
 Nov. 1914