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2 (482) THE
Some Boys of the Gra
by r. c. w
As the gilts ol the childreu ou Children's
Day ill our Sunday Schools are to go to erect
the main buildiug ol the Uraybill Memorial
School, 1 am sure that the boys aud girls ol our
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Mtuvuiti >r uuiu i irwc HI hUU W SUlUt' U1 tile UOyS
of that school, so 1 am going to introduce a
tew ot them to you. i am sorry that I cannot
present ail ot them, but that would take too
much of your time. The first one that 1 shall
present is
J&SU8 AI.VAKHX.
His name is first on our register not only because
it begins with "A"', but because he was
first on the grounds. He arrived almost nine
months before school opened. Think of arriving
at a hoarding school nine months ahead of
time! But that is just what Jesus did. tHis
name is pronounced "Ha soos"). And he went
to work as soon us lie arrived to earn money
with which to buy clothes, books, and other
things that he would need, so as to be ready to
enter school as soon as the classes should begin.
He was a poor bgy, almost twenty years old
and had never been to school but four years.
But he wanted to learn. He was fully in earnest.
All through the long hot summer months,
he and some companions that joined him a
little later, worked by day and studied at night.
Two nights in the week they came to my house
to recite, and two they went to the principal
of our day school for boys. Thus they pre
pared themselves for the opening of classes in
October, 1911.
Jesus is still with us. lie has proved himself
a very faithful, helpful boy. He is older
and more experienced than most of the boys,
and sets them a good example in both study
and deportment. He is always ready to do any
kind of work that has to be done, and is always
looking for some means by which to earn
money to help support himself in the school.
He has drawn the water and cut the wood for
my kitchen. He has been church sexton. Last
year when he saw the boys going to the bar
ber shop to get their hair cut, he said that ne
could cut hair, so 1 bought him some shears
and a razor, and he became school barber. He
can count on no help at all from his family.
In fact he has to help support his aged mother
and younger sisters. At present, I am paying
him extra to care for and milk our cow.
He is school dairyman.
He has been a faithful member of my Sunday
School class for three vears. He is an native
enthusiastic worker in the C. E. Society. He
is a diligent student of his Bible, and is always
ready to read it to others, or to lead
prayer-meeting in an out-station. About a
year ago he decided to study for the ministry.
So when you give to the Graybill Memorial
School, you are helping prepare Jesus to carry
the Gospel Message to his own people.
RODOLFO TORRES
is the second name on our school register. I
remember very distinctly the night that I met
Rodolfo. We had been in Montemorelos but
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had taken a class of boys in the Sunday School.
We decided to entertain my boys in our home
one evening. Each boy was to invite one
friend. All that were invited came, and in
many instances the rest of the family came
with them, as well as a number of "extras."
The whole house and yard were full. There
were all ages and sizes present. We learned
something of Mexican customs that night, but
we had a good time all the same.
Among the "extras," the uninvited, was a
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOI]
ybill Memorial School
[ORROW.
lull, aerioua, determined looking young woman.
With lour voumrer brothers, whose st/es
ranged from four to sixteen years, tilie proudly
presented her brothers, and told me that she
wanted to send theni to our school as fast as
they became old enough to outer. The oldest
was liodolfo, a tall slender intelligent looking
boy, with a high forehead, and the slender little
black niustuche so characteristic of the
Mexican boy of that age.
1 learned later that the young lady had
walked three miles to the "party ' to present
Her brothers. And she returned' home that
night, taking her turn at carrying the little
fellow, who was asleep long before they left
uui uurne. jjlui iuumer is aeau, ana tue cure
of a large family of younger brothers falls on
her shoulders. Through tier inliuenee, two of
the brothers, ltoUolfo and Jesus, entered our
school the following fall. 'They have been
laithful, well behaved students, among the best
that we had. Their father is the most prominent
citizen of the little town in which they
live, and while not wealthy, they live in comfortable
circumstances. 'They are not Christians,
though they always entertain our evangelist
when he goes there to hold meetings, and
have allowed him to preach in their parlor,
which was the largest room to be had in the
\ril 1 o ?n
When the evangelist was here in March,
i912, Kodolfo publicly confessed Christ, but
did not join the church. Ue said that he did
not know enough to answer the questions that
his family might ask hiin. But he was an attentive
member of my Sunday School class,
and a faithful student of the Bible. While he
could not take the active member's pledge in
the Christian Endeavor, not being a church
member, he was a faithful associate member,
and took his place on the program whenever it
became his turn.
Shortly after we left Montemorelos in Anril.
1912, for our vacation, Kodolfo met with a serious
accident in the school shops. Four fingers
were cut from his left hand in the joiner. When
he was able, he wrote me a very beautiful letter.
1 should like to include it all here, but one
sentence will show the spirit in which he submitted
to God's will. He wrote "If God has
taken away from rne the possibility of manual
labor, it is because He has some other destiny
for me." From that time he seemed to be
seeking that "destiny." He spoke of bookkeeping
and of teaching as professions in life.
But these did not satisfv him. A f?w wflflk#
ago he told me that he had decided to study
for the ministry. On March the 16th he was
received into the church. He had learned
much of the true way, and had gained much
courage. We have seen the timid boy, who
was afraid of the questions of his family, lead
prayer-meeting in his home town, with his father
and older brother present. He is now a
student in the Presbyterian College and Semi
nary at Coyoacan. He was our most advanced
student, and we felt that he would have better
opportunities there than in this unequipped
school. We hated to give him up before he
finished his preparatory course. His influence
in the school was so good. But our loss is his
gain. May God bless him, and grant to him
a long life full of happy service for the Master
among this need^ people.
PEDRO DETOX no.
is another very interesting fellow. He is not
a bright student, but he is a very willing, earnest
one. His father did not want him to go to
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' T * [Mar 28, 1913
school,' but wh?u Presbytery met iu Mouteiuorelos
lust spring, he run away from home and
came to Montemorelos with the delegate to
Presbytery. 1 hardly knew what to do with
Pedro when he eaine. He had no clothes but
the soiled well-worn suit that he was wearing.
He had no bed-clothes, not even the soiled red
blanket that serves the poor Mexican for bed,
coat, or umbrella, as the need may demand.
Some members of Presbytery helped us supply
him with clothes, and he entered school. He
lias been with us ever since. He spent his summer
vacation working on the School farm, not
returning to see his family until Christmas, in
October his younger brother, Lino, entered
school. The father had become willing for
them to come, but he does not help them at all,
so they have to work during their holidays and
extra hours to earn money for clothes and
shoes. Lino is a brighter student than-Pedro,
and just as willing to work. He says that he
wants to prepare himself to teach. In December,
Pedro and Lino joined the church.
LORETO CRUZ
is another boy that 1 want you to meet. He
may be a little embarrassed, but you will excuse
him when you know more about him. His
name is not on the school roll. Yet no one- of
our boys has been more faithful or helpful
than he, and no one deserves more credit for
what lie Has accomplished than he. Mr. Shelbysent
him to us about two years ago from a far
away mountain ranch. He was eighteen, a
tall, dirty, unkept mountain boy, of the very
poorest class of Mexicans?a "peon" of the
peones?in dress and appearance. He wore the
typical high sombrero, the close fitting pants,
rude sandals, and a red sash around his waist.
But he had seen the light. He had learned to
love Jesus. And he wanted to learn to read
that he might read his Bible. But what could
we do with him If We had no class for "ABC"
pupils. And who would clothe and board him
until he learned to read and write? I arranged
for him to live with one of the workmen on
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uie scuoui larcn, ana lei mm go to worK along
with the other hired men. The foreman soon
found him to be a hard-working, trustworthy
boy. I bought him a primer, and the foreman's
wife began to teach him to read. Later
she allowed him to come to her house for his
meals. When that foreman left us, I had Loreto
come over to the school dining-room to
take his meals with the rest of the boys. He
still sleeps over at the school farm, where he
can care for the stock. He always spends the
regular evening study hour here with the boys
studying. I let Rodolfo teach him until he
left for Coyoacan. Francisco is his teacher
now. He has learned to read and write, and
hna hmicrht twn hnnlra o RiKln o-n/1 a knmn
book.
I should like to present Francisco and Teofilo,
my two brightest pupils in Arithmetic;
Guillermo and Benjamin, the twins; Moises
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aiiix * miur, who cuiue irom up on tne Texas
line; an<d all the rest of our hoys, but you
must come to Montemorelos, if you wish to
know them all.
Montemorelos, N. L., Mexico.
It is a Question whether alll our searching
criticism has ever done so much to produce
efficient work and to bring our neighbor to his
befit, as words of genuine and hearty encouragement.?John
Watson.
1 have seen so much good from suffering, so
much good from pain, that I believe in the good
of 'both. Tt is pain and suffering that bring out
sympathy, self-sacrifice, and strength of character.