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22 THE
| Miscellaneous j
LETTER FROM MEXICO.
o. m. ^nester.
In this and subsequent communications
the plural pronoun will be used, not editorially,
but because a kind Providence
through a good friend arranged that my
wife should accompany me on this visit
to our Mexico Mission.
Our first contact with the work was at
Barnesville, Texas, where we have a self
supporting Mexican church, over which
Rev. Desiwerio Cavassas was recently installed
as pastor. This brother himself
proposed in the Presbytery a substantial
reduction in the salary he had been receiving
through the Mission, in order
that the church might come up to the
plane of self-support. At present they
are worshipping in the building of the
American Church, with whom they have
most cordial relations. They need their
own building, however, and have already
begun accumulating a fund for that purpose.
After a day and night with the Brownsville
brethren we crossed to H. Matamoros.
This letter "H" stands for the Spanish
word "Heroica," and was prefixed to
the name Matamoros by act of Government
because of the heroic resistance
made by the city at the time of one of
the numerous revolutions. Here we
found as the male missionary in charge,
Rev. Hervev L. Ross who was our most
satisfactory and delightful guide, interpreter
and friend, for most of the remaining
part of our visit. Here also we
found Miss Alice McClelland who had
. recently arrived and whose chief occupation
now is learning to talk a second
time. But here chiefly we found Miss
Anne E. Dysart, who has been here for
twenty-eight years conducting a girls'
school, largely on the basis of making
bricks without straw. In these twentyeierht
vears wo have nalrf In rant tnv
native dwellings used for the school more
than twice as much as would now be required
for the girls school building
which we feel confident, we soon will
have at this or some other point.
The immediate occasion of our visitwas
to consult with the missionaries and
native brethren concerning the Braybill
Memorial School to be established with
the fund recently raised by the children
of the Church for that purpose. This is
to be a high school for boys, with an industrial
department, and of a general
character different from anything that
uoo /uv uccu attutuptcu 111 pi uicataiii
mission work in Mexico. Our brief sojurn
in the country has convinced us
more firmly than ever that such an enterprise,
properly equipped and wisely conducted,
will contribute more effectively
than anything else could do to the supply
of the native church with the kind of
leaders, whether ministers, elders, deacons
or private members it needs, and
to the speedy establishment in this land
of a church that will be not only self
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUT
supporting but also a real aggressive
power for evangelization.
The three points that had been mentiond
as possible locations for the school
were Monterey, Montemorelos and Linares,
all in the State of Nuevo Leon. Monterey
has the advantage of being the capital
of the state, and Governor Bernardo
Reis had expressed so much interest in
the matter that if he had remained in
off.ce it is probable that the city through
his influence would have offered such
substantial inducements for our coming
mere as we would have found it difficult
to refuse. Such was his popularity
in the country, however, that President
Diaz, in view of the Presidential election
now pending, seemed to think it safest
to send Governor Reis on a mission to
Europe, and we found on our visit to
Monterey that there were certain difficulties
in securing suitable property for
the agricultural department of the school,
in his absence, we were unable to overcome.
At Montemorelos an English gentle
man wno nas lived there for many years
and is now a faithful member of our
Church offered us a piece of land partly
set in orange trees for $6,000 on indefinite
time, for which he had, pending our
acceptance or refusal, a cash offer of
$7,000. In other words, he proposed to
give us in the sale of the property a cash
donation of $1,000. In addition to this
the city proposed to donate us a beautiful
lot for the girls' school provided both
schools should be located there. At Montemorelos
we were most hospitably entertained
by Miss Bedinger, and our investigating
party was increased by Revs.
.i. u. sneiDy and W. A. Ross and by Mr.
and Mrs. J. R. Silliman, formerly of Texas,
but now Saltillo, Mexico. Mr. Silliman
has been engaged for many years in
successful farming in Mexico, and is also
an enthusiastic Southern Presbyterian.
His interest in the enterprise was expressed
by his coming at his own expense
and at the sacrifice of a week of
his valuable time to give us his invaluable.
counsel in this vital matter of finding
the right location. We all left Montemorelos
feeling that it would be difficult
to refuse the generous propositions that
were made us there, although recognizing
one serious dlffleultv in the wnv nf
accepting them, namely, a doubtful supply
of water for irrigating purposes.
From Montemorelos we went to Linares,
where all the Mission except Miss
Dysart and Miss McClelland, and including
Mr. and Mrs. Silliman were gathered,
and where we were all royally entertained
in the home of Mrs. Graybill. Our
first day there was largely occupied in
receiving deputations of leading citizens,
farmers, merchants physicians, etc., who
came to show their interest in our enter
prise, scarcely any of whom were Protestants.
Part of the afternoon and all
of the second day were occupied in look-*
ing over various properties that were offered
for the school. We visited one
place which we thought would be almost
ideal for our purpose, but the owner was
very old and had been warned by the
priest that, being so near his entrance
H December 29, 1909.
into Purgatory, he should beware of increasing
the account he would have to
settle there by selling his land for a Protestant
school. One or two others were
found, however, who had desirable places
to sell and who did not seem to be
concerned on that score. The chief advantages
of Linares seemed to be its central
position in our field, the fertile soil
and abundant water supply of the beautiful
valley surrounding it, the lively interest
of so many in our enterprise who
have heretofore stood entirely aloof from
our Mission work- anti
- muu iuc iuv t lllttl LllIS
city was the last field of labor and Is now
the final resting place of the great and
good man in whose memory the school is
to be established.
Before leaving Linares it was agreed
that the male members of our Mission
should at once proceed to investigate the
details of several propositions that were
made for the sale of property, and conclude
a purchase if satisfactory arrangements
as to terms could be made, subject
to the approval of the Executive
Committee at 1Mn?hv?iio
Many other things connected with this
delightful visit to our Mexico Mission including
some account of the Sabbath
spent with Mr. and Mrs. Shelby and Miss
Lee at C. Victoria, remain to be said
when time and space are found to be
available for that purpose.
A MISSIONARY MOVEMENT AMONG
STUDENTS.
By Rev. E. D. Brownlee.
Among the many significant movements
for Missions during the past few
years, one of the most important in its
far-reaching effect on the cause in Georgia
is the Georgia Students' Missionary
Leasrue. It h?ri ito inoinUn....
w ? .vw at LUC lUSl
International Student Volunteer Convention
in Nashville in 1906. The delegates
from Georgia at that convention were
powerfully moved during those stirring
days, and of their own motion, decided
that a special effort ought to be inaugurated
in Georgia for informing the minds
of the students on the needs and the call
for their life abroad, and for setting them
on fire for a world contest for the Savior.
During November of that year a number
of those delegates met at Wesley an Fe
umit- ^onege at Macon, (Ja., and organized
with Prof. Chas. R. Forster, of Wesleyan
as President. Their purpose was
to organize mission study classes among
the students, disseminate missionary Information,
and arouse missionary interest
and enthusiasm and so put the call
of God before the minds of the students
that they might hear God's call to Missionary
work. To accomplish these ends
they plan to have a system of inter-collegiate
correspondence about the work nt
Missions; to arrange for speakers to
visit the colleges from time to time and
speak on the Mission work of the' world;
to have an annual convention at which
prominent speakers should present the
call of the heathen.
Much has been done along the lines of
correspondence and visitation, and those
who were fortunate enough to be pres