1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



201 



has Sundaj-school and preaching every 

 Sabbath, and, I think, a Thursday-evening- 

 meeting; then there are two free evening 

 schools during the week, to teach English, 

 to anj' one who maj' want to learn. I have 

 been there two Sundays, and have at each 

 service talked to the children and people, 

 through Bro. F. as interpreter. My eager 

 desire to know them and learn their lan- 

 guage was met by them perhaps more than 

 half way. It may seem a little extravagant 

 for me to say it, but it seemed a good deal 

 like •' love at first sight," on both sides. 

 They were mostly children eager to learn, 

 and for ilieir sakcs I became a child too for 

 the time being. There were some fathers 

 and mothers present, and they soon became 

 warm friends of mine because of my anxiety 

 for the best interests of the children. I 

 asked how manj^ had Bibles, Testaments, 

 or parts of Bibles, that they could read ev- 

 ery daj'. Almost all raised their hands. 

 Brother F. said they regarded the lesson- 

 papers and cards with texts on as a part of 

 the Bible. When I asked how many read 

 something from the Bible every day, they 

 almost all raised their hands. I told them 

 of the happiness I found in reading my Bi- 

 ble every daj' in Spanish, and advised them 

 in a like manner to learn to read the Bible 

 in English. I told them it was a sad fact 

 that there were some very bad words in 

 English, but I hoped there was nothing to 

 correspond in Spanish. There was some 

 sad shaking of the heads, however, as they 

 thought the matter over. I have been as- 

 sured, however, that profanitj' and blas- 

 phem\' are not nearly as common in Span- 

 ish as among the Americans. If this is 

 true, dear friends, shall we not all try very 

 hard to avoid teaching this great evil while 

 we give them English that they may get 

 what is good? They (especially the chil- 

 dren) are looking to me to teach them what 

 is new and what is valuable. May God 

 help America to use this great opportunitj^ 

 to teach, to give them only what is good 

 and pure. I asked if it was possible to "tell 

 lies" in Spanish, as people do in English. 

 A very bright-looking business man said, 

 " Tell Bro. Root that the verj' same words 

 that are used to tell the truth can also be 

 used to tell lies.'''' 



One great feature of the work is singing 

 Gospel Hjmns. When words are sung, 

 there is plenty of time to give a full and 

 correct pronunciation to each one. I am 

 quite sure no music was ever sweeter and 

 more touching to me than to hear those 

 childish voices express the beautiful senti- 

 ment of these hymns in the Spanish tongue. 

 At the close of the service the roll is called, 

 and each one responds with a scripture 

 text. There were 94 enrolled, and some- 

 thing like 80 present; and I do not remem- 

 ber that a single one, young or old, failed 

 to repeat a text. They were on hand, 

 many of them, long before meeting time, 

 and a crowd was always in the street be- 

 fore the open windows during each session. 

 Several lingered after meeting to practice 



hymns. On one of these occasions two 

 bright young men sang several Gospel 

 Hymns with me, first in English, then in 

 Spanish. They corrected my pronuncia- 

 tion, and then in turn I corrected theirs. 

 While their awkward attempts to speak our 

 words as I spoke them made me laugh, it 

 drew my heart toward them in a way I 

 have never felt before. I know they will be 

 honest and true, for the love of Jesus Christ, 

 that love that " surpasseth all understand- 

 ing," is in their hearts. One of them said, 

 as we closed our mutual lessons, something 

 like this: 



" Mr. Root, I am glad 3'ou came here. I 

 hope you will come again — often. It gives 

 me much pleasure to know you." 



May the dear Savior guide, direct, and 

 keep Florentina in his efforts toward a new 

 life, and in his desire to learn all that is 

 good and pure and true. At one of the 

 week-day meetings Bro. F. put on the 

 blackboard the first verse of the Gospel 

 Hymn, " Wonderful Words of Life:" 



Sing them over again to me, 

 Wonderful -words of life ; 

 l,et me more of their beauty see, 

 Wonderful words of life. 

 Words of life and beauty, 

 Teach me faith and duty — 

 Beautiful words, wonderful words, 

 Wonderful words bf life. 



It was verj' plainly written, and one pu- 

 pil after another came up and stood before 

 the board and read it aloud in English. 

 With some prompting, all got through with 

 it. Many had to try again and again after 

 their patient (and loving) teacher; but the 

 final was when they all joined together 

 with enthusiasm axidsangihQ verse through. 

 I did not know what the custom was, but I 

 could hardy resist showing them 7iiy appre- 

 ciation of their eft'orts by clapping my 

 hands. It seems they understood it, for I 

 got a volume of thanks, expressed in differ- 

 ent Spanish words and phrases. 



Now, lest I am giving the bright side too 

 much of all this mission work, I might add 

 that there is considerable noise and dis- 

 order in all their exercises. Brother F. 

 was inclined to feel troubled about this; 

 but I said, "Never mind the noise. A 

 noisy school is far better than a dull sleepy 

 one." He told me, however, that, just be- 

 fore I came the second time, some boj' fixed 

 a pin so as to stick out of the toe of his boot. 

 This he pushed up through the cane-bot- 

 tomed chairs so as to make people jump; 

 and the trick was played, not only on the 

 boys, but on younj^ ladies as well. Mr. F. 

 did not get hold of the guilty one, but he 

 gave the whole school such a "lecture" 

 that it stopped at once. 



The great Father has not made us all 

 alike. Some have remarkable talents in one 

 direction and some in another, but this 

 dear brother has a remarkable gift for this 

 kind of work. I thank God that he has 

 given me such a love for my fellow-men 

 that I can at least appreciate and see some- 

 thing of the outcome that is likely to follow 

 such undertakings. 



