Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-08-19

NaAaNNiNa NN A|NNNNt ANNW ANNNIAANM the
| Catholic religion with the spaniards
| VINO have been expressing them, and
| Tor this reason the Pedestrians will have
more chance. 1 believe that IL would
take very little to arouse a religious
| interest among them. They have al
ready a reverence for the cross, as you
can see from some Of their customs, A
man on going out Of his house often
ties his door shut and makes the sign
or the cruHH over u. This he thinks
protects Il from thieves and burglars.
The Catholics OF our country are
studying the situation. Father Sher-
man and Archbishop Chapelle have
been here and have organized a move
ment TO bring the people back TO the
church.
The Pedestrians are also beginning
their work. There IL an Episcopal
church here at san Juan, under the
Rev George u. Pratt, formerly OF Chi
cago. lie has services In the Plaza
every sunday morning. and has also
services In "a hall here. The Baptist
church has un excellent missionary
here Ia the Rev. Mt. Mccormick, who
has been working In Mexico and who
speaks spanish nucnty. 1 understand
that the McthOdlstH are planting "a sys-
tom Of schools and that other Protest
ant movements are on the way. The
\. NJ. e. a. has opened rooms In San
Juan, and II Will do a great work
THE SCHOOLS OF PORTO RICO.
80 far the schools Of Porto Rico have
been indcHcrbably poor. The old
school readers were made up of legends I
0f the saints, and Of the Virgin Mary. !
They were VI the most antlquatod de- !
aCriptiOn, and were filled with mialn. !
formation. We had better schools iVO /
years ago than Porto Rico has now.
a great deal has been published about /
O. Hoo. H.H
might think the island had "A school .
organization. The truth u, there nru
only Two buildings ON the Island which /
were built especially Tor public school /
purposes, ana the only modern schools
are those which have been established
brought down by our board Of cduCa-
tion. visited many OF tho public
schools. Thuy are commonly Kept Ia
the dwellings Of the teachers. The
school teacher who may perhaps live
In one room. will use that for teaching
Ia the daytime. moving the dining table
out perhaps TO give place FOR The
scholars. Many OF the teachers have
been collecting runt for rooms used In
this way. as well as receiving the petty
salary allotted 10 them BY their Porto
Rico towns. When mealtime comes
the scholars get out OF the way. Re-
CcHayH aud vacations are taken on all
sorts OF prctcnaca. one OF our school
inspectors found that "A school had adj
I0urncd and the teacher and scholars
gone to "A cock fight.
In another school. where the children
were writing. be found the pupils did
not know even the names OF the letters
which they were COPYING. nor the words.
They made beautiful cUpica, but might
is well have been drawing pictures, for
the writing was only pictures 10 them.
SHOULD HAVE AMERICAN
SCHOLARSHIPS.
A far as 1 can learn the crying need
OF Porto Rico Is a large corps OF iirHt-
class American uchoolmaatera. Uncle
Sam has been running his school busl-
ness here too akimpingly. He has
brought down American school teachers
nt AN onor uf $50 month. This has
been since raised 10 SO, but II u entire
ly too low 10 get the best men. The
island needs "a thorough reorganization,
aud the school teaching has TO begin
ut the ground.
The board VI education has already
organized Porto Rico Into districts. IL
has now sixteen supervising American
teachers. II has lu preparation "a NUM-
Der OF modern text books, and u plan
ming normal and other schools. IL Will
give free text books aud will abolish the
custom OF allowing the teachers 10 re-
Culyo pay from the scholars. All new
teachers from now on must know Eng
llHh anu Spanish. and all rcholarn viii
be taught English.
4 TALK WITH GEN. EATON.
During my stay here have had sew
orhl talks with Gen. Eaton about the
schools. lie tells me that the Porto
RiCan government has set aside Sl25,O00
Tor the next school year, but that con-
siderable more Il needed. He believes
that bonds 10 the extent Of 100000
should be Issued 10 aid In carrying on
the school work. School houses should
boz built by the towns. and they should
Boz separate and apart from the dwell
lugH Oh the teachers, Education should
be- made compulsory as soon as posi-
BILE,
Cen Eaton says there are now $50
schools Un the island, with an attend
nrce OF about 1900. IN other words,
among the children Of school age only
about one in twelve so 10 school, /
doubt whether more than that eau read
and write.
G.u Eaton thinks u would pay 20
give Humu of the Porto Rlcau school,
masters and mattresses trips 10 the
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