In 
 
 Porto Rican 
 Homes 
 
 Published by the 
 
 Christian Woman’s Board of Missions 
 College of Missions Building 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
Published by the Christian Woman’s Board of 
 Missions, College of Missions Building, Indianapolis, 
 Indiana. Price, 3 cents each; 25 cents per dozen. 
 
 319 
 
 \ 
 
 2 
 
IN PORTO RICAN 
 HOMES 
 
 E have been invited today to call upon 
 
 » » the lady who has taught Spanish to sev¬ 
 eral in our Mission. She is a very staunch 
 Catholic, having been educated in a convent in 
 Spain where her father, who was a prominent 
 doctor in Bayamon, sent her. You see before the 
 United States took possession of Porto Rico, 
 there were but a few very inferior schools and 
 only fifteen percent of the people could even 
 read and write. Dona Maria and her sister 
 were among the fortunate few whose parents 
 were able to send them away to school. 
 
 Her home stands right by the narrow side¬ 
 walk, so we step from the sidewalk into the 
 door. The windows that open directly upon 
 the sidewalk, have wooden railings just about 
 high enough to conveniently support the el¬ 
 bows of the members of the family, who like 
 to stand here and look out into the street in 
 the evening. Dona Maria spends very little of 
 her time in this way, but in almost any of the 
 homes of her neighbors we see pretty senoritas 
 daintily and sometimes elegantly clad, leaning 
 upon the railings of the windows or upon the 
 railing of a very narrow balcony in front of 
 the house. Often her mother, clad in a loose 
 wrapper which is very much tucked and lace 
 betrimmed and very clean, stands by her side. 
 The passer-by observes many Romeo and Juliet 
 
 3 
 
scenes, and as we sit here in Dona Maria’s 
 sala, or parlor, we are able to see such a scene 
 across the street. 
 
 Now let us'look about us. Our attention is 
 attracted to the tile floor, probably many years 
 old. It looks somewhat like grandmother’s 
 four patch quilts, for it is laid in six-inch 
 tiles, first a figured one, then a white one, all 
 over the floor. It gives the effect of a carpet 
 and is more sanitary. The walls are tinted to 
 simulate marble to a height of about three 
 feet from the floor; above, there is a plain 
 color, and next to the ceiling some stenciled 
 design. 
 
 In the center of the parlor is the inevitable 
 center table with a multitude of little bisque 
 figures of dolls, dogs, angels, dainty slippers, 
 and what not. The number of these things 
 depends upon the pocketbook of the family. 
 It is desirable that the table be completely 
 filled with them. Often in the very center of 
 the table stands a vase of very gaudy tissue 
 paper flowers. The real ones are so common, 
 where one can step out and gather roses at 
 Christmas time, that the tissue paper ones are 
 chosen to decorate the parlor. Around the 
 center table chairs are carefully and geomet¬ 
 rically placed. A large rocker faces each cor¬ 
 ner of the table, and sometimes a straight 
 backed chair faces each side of the table, while 
 at other times all of the straight backed chairs 
 stand in a row against the wall. Pictures go 
 in pairs. If on one side of a room a gilt 
 framed picture hangs, on the oj^posite side, a 
 similar picture of the same size and same kind 
 
 4 
 
of frame must hang. Sometimes the tvVo pic* 
 tines are exactly alike, carrying to perfection 
 the idea of balance. 
 
 We step into a bed room, and notice at once 
 the hangings of old fashioned, big designed 
 lace curtains, such as we used a few years ago 
 for our windows. They use them for bed hang¬ 
 ings. The bed is made with a framework, or 
 kind of roof, four or five feet above it, and 
 these curtains are thrown over the frame work. 
 
 Under the curtains is a net which is drawn 
 carefully about the bed at night to keep away 
 the mosquitoes. A bright chromo of Mary, 
 with her heart, not on her sleeve but in plain 
 sight on her breast, hangs at the head of the , 
 bed. 
 
 Let us pass through the dining room. The 
 red cloth on the table attracts our attention, 
 as does the castor in the center with its vine¬ 
 gar cruet, salt and pepper shakers, and oil 
 bottle. Do not forget the oil. 
 
 The meals in this home are served in courses, 
 with special emphasis upon the meats and sub- 
 stantials, and little attention is paid to des¬ 
 serts. A clean plate is brought with each new 
 food to be eaten. Boast beef and mashed pota- \ 
 
 toes may begin the meal, then fried eggs and 
 French-fried potatoes, then sweet potatoes, 
 served with cod fish, oil and vinegar, then rice 
 and beans, and for dessert, shredded cocoanut, 
 stewed with plenty of sugar, or guava jelly or 
 some kind of presei'ves, and coffee. Bread is 
 bought from the baker, and never made in the 
 home. The loaves are long and rather slender, 
 
 5 
 

 and it is served in chunks rather than in 
 slices. 
 
 Bread and coffee is a typical morning meal, 
 and all who have never been in foreign lands 
 to learn the customs, dip their chunks of bread 
 into their cups of coffee. As soon as a child 
 is large enough to have any food he has bread 
 and coffee. 
 
 Now let us step into the patio or inner 
 court. Sometimes the houses are built clear 
 around the patio, but Dona Maria’s home is 
 on but two sides of it, while on the other two 
 sides stands a very substantial concrete wall 
 as high as a man’s head. On top of the wall 
 are old broken bottles, dozens of them, with 
 the jagged edges sticking upwards. They were 
 put there when the cement was soft and are 
 a part of the wall. 
 
 The patio has a solid cement floor, except in 
 patches, some round and some square, where 
 ilowers are planted. Along the walls are beau¬ 
 tiful flowering vines. From the patio let us 
 step into the kitchen, one of the very last 
 rooms of the house, well removed from the 
 front. Lest your first glimpse disappoint you 
 too greatly, let me say that the fuel used is 
 charcoal, the stoves, charcoal braziers or ce¬ 
 ment “camping stoves”, built right into the 
 kitchen. Into square holes in the top of these 
 stoves are fitted iron grates where the charcoal 
 fire is made. Charcoal is not a bad kind of 
 dirt, yet it is black, and little pieces of it do 
 fall upon the floor to be‘Stepped upon, and the 
 dust of it clings to the cook’s clothes ami 
 hands, and the open fire discolors walls and 
 
 6 
 
ceilings in a short time. In some homes, kero¬ 
 sene stoves are replacing the charcoal. But 
 we must be going, and I must not forget to in¬ 
 terpret for you that which Dona Maria’s par¬ 
 ents are saying to us as we leave. “Must you 
 go so soon? Come again. Our house is yours 
 —we are at your orders.” 
 
 Now let us go out to Hato Tejas to visit 
 Dona Eustaquia. Dear old Dona Eustaquia is 
 one of our first members here. She lives just 
 across the street from the Mission building, 
 ller’s is one of those hospitable homes where 
 her friends feel welcome. Anyone who has for¬ 
 merly lived in Hato Tejas, wishing to return 
 for a visit, is always safe in establishing head¬ 
 quarters at Dona Eustaquia’s. They are all 
 made welcome. 
 
 Eustaquia’s is a frame house with board 
 doors and unsealed board walls. It is a six- 
 roomed house, fairly comfortable, though not 
 as pretentious as the city home we have vis¬ 
 ited. Eustaquia herself is the chief ornament, 
 ller’s is a splendid Christian character. She 
 came out and made a stand for Christ when 
 neighbors and relatives opposed, and taunted 
 and avoided her. She lived a consistent Chris¬ 
 tian life in spite of them, and saw them com¬ 
 ing back to her, one by one, as they needed 
 her Help in sickness or trouble. She has stood 
 by the church when we had a preacher and 
 when we didn’t. She has taught the Begin¬ 
 ner’s Class for several years, bringing with 
 her her own little daughters, her nieces and 
 nephews, and her neighbors’ children, all of 
 whom are very fond of her. 
 
 7 
 
Next we must visit Lorenza lip in Dajaos. 
 Lorenza is an orphanage girl, a demure, mod¬ 
 est, sweet dispositioned little tiling, weighing 
 not more than ninety pounds, 1 am sure. Lor¬ 
 enza is not strong. She fights tuberculosis all 
 of the time, and were it not for her naturally 
 cheerful disposition and her out-of-door work 
 she might be an invalid instead of a Christian 
 worker. She is what we might call a deaconess 
 in the Dajaos church, which, you remember, is 
 located in the coffee district, three miles from 
 a road. She visits the members, reads to the 
 blind, the shut-ins, the aged and any who 
 have not had the privilege of learning to read. 
 She explains the duties of the Christian life. 
 She teaches girls and women to crochet, hem¬ 
 stitch or darn hose. She is a general favorite 
 in Dajaos, and the members support her, pay¬ 
 ing her a little monthly wage. They built a 
 little home for her. It is located about half 
 way down the hill from the Dajaos church. She 
 is near the church but has a steep climb to 
 reach it. The house is new looking, made with 
 undressed lumber, palm sheaths and thatch. 
 Sheaths of palm form the doors inside the 
 house, too. Palm sheath is somewhat like 
 birch bark, only it is thicker and very stiff. 
 The thatched roof is far more comfortable un¬ 
 der that tropical sun than a tin roof. 
 
 Lorenza’s mother keeps house for her, and 
 raises chickens and turkeys and a little gar¬ 
 den. The last time I was in Dajaos, Lorenza’s 
 mother, Dona Marcolina, made some delicious 
 arro con polio (chicken and rice), and sent us 
 a generous helping. 
 
 8 
 
Let us go with Lorenza to visit some of the 
 members. Here is a tiny house set up on stilts 
 so that a heavy dashing rain may have plenty 
 of chance to run off, and not form a damp pud¬ 
 dle under the house. The front steps resemble 
 a chicken roost, but in we go. We sit upon a 
 home-made bench, a box and in a home-made 
 hammock. We look about us. The floor is of 
 poles—a sort of corrugated floor. They are 
 not worried as to how they can use a rocking 
 chair on such a floor, for they have no such 
 piece of furniture. The walls are almost cov¬ 
 ered with lesson picture cards, Sunday school 
 papers and big pictures from the big lesson 
 chart at Sunday school. Each quarter, as a 
 lesson is reviewed, the picture is torn off and 
 given to someone in the school, so at least 
 twelve families receive a big picture each 
 quarter. 
 
 At one side of the room are several canvas 
 cots folded up. They will be put down in this 
 room, tonight, and the father, mother and four 
 children will occupy them and the little baby 
 will swing in the hammock. There is but one 
 other room in the house and that is the 
 kitchen. It is entirely separate from this room, 
 and one takes several steps on a little board 
 bridge in going from this room to the kitchen. 
 There is a little roof over the bridge, too, so 
 one does not get too wet going to the kitchen 
 on rainy days, unless the wind is blowing. 
 
 As soon as we enter the kitchen we see why 
 it is isolated. Smoke! Charcoal is a luxury 
 not to be afforded here. Brush, sticks and 
 pieces of wood are the fuel, and since the 
 
 9 
 
kettle rests on three stones on top of a cement 
 stove, and there is no chimney, the kitchen be¬ 
 comes pretty smoky. It is a well ventilated 
 room, however, sometimes having only three 
 sides, so the smoke escapes. That big iron ket¬ 
 tle on the stove is used to cook beans, or rice, 
 or meat, or to toast coffee. These half gourds 
 about a foot and a half long and a foot wide 
 are used for dish pans. The smaller ones for 
 plates. Long strips from the big gourds make 
 cooking spoons, and strips from smaller gourds 
 make teaspoons. Gourds wound with bejuca, 
 a kind of grapevine, are hung up by the vine 
 handle, and milk or coffee or sugar kept in 
 them. Gourds are used to carry water. Cocoa- 
 nut shells make fine coffee cups, and the longer 
 they are used the more polished and shiny they 
 become. Just outside the door is the mortar 
 and pestle where the coffee is ground, and not 
 many rods away the coffee grove itself. Here 
 is a banana patch where several kinds of ba¬ 
 nanas grow. The big coarse ones, good only 
 when cooked, are called platanos. The little 
 tart ones, apple bananas. Here, also, is a lit¬ 
 tle patch of corn, some beans, and a sweet po¬ 
 tato patch. The needs of the home are simple, 
 the people almost primitive, but the hearts are 
 sincere and true. As we mount our horses and 
 ride down the narrow path toward the road, 
 we hear them say, “Aclios, vaya con Dios” 
 (Good-bye, God be with you). 
 
 Nora Siler. 
 
 Note —People are often called by their first 
 names, even when they are old and gray. Don 
 
 10 
 
is the title of respect used before a man’s first 
 name, and Dona before a woman’s first name. 
 This custom is not unlike our “Miss Abby” or 
 “Miss Fanny” used so often in tbe south. 
 
 
 il