Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-16
MORO CHIEFS SIGN
PLEA WITH THUMBS
Islanders Ask Aid of u. S,
Through Mrs. C. l.. Spen-
Ger, Missionary.

In the petition signed with their
! thumb prints. the Moros of the Philip
pine Islands have appealed to the
American people to permit them t.
remain under the protection of thu
American flag, Mrs. C. Lorillard Spen
Ger, who has done missionary work ir
the islands since 1914, told AN audi
ence In Memorial Continental Hal
yesterday afternoon.
Mrs. Spencer spoke under the aus,
pices OF the Washington Chapter oil
the Moro Educational Foundation, ir
the presence of a distinguished gath.
ering. In the audience was Mrs. Cool.
idge. who occupied the presidential
box and evinced much interest in the
| lecture.
Although wealthy. Mrs. Spencer left
luxurious home here to travel tC
the fringes OF the Orient and. to-
gether with Bishop Charles Henry
9rent. to distant Jolo to teach the
Moros of that section. who were then
little better than ssvages, the story
OF Christianity.
Here To Rinse Funds.
1T was TO tell the story of the Moros
progress along the highway of civil
cation. to rest for few months away
from the blazing heat of the Philip.
continuation and extension of the
work she and Bishop Brent are doing
that she came to America. With her
Mrs. Spencer brought a number of ex-
cellent lantern slides
Rt. Rev. James Z. Freeman. Bishop
of Washington, presided at the meet
ing. In short address, in which he
presented Mrs. Spencer to the audi
ence. Bishop Freeman recalled the
Iinn 80 Ill ~, IL
said: When we had wooden chalices
we had a golden priesthood: wher
we have golden chalices we have q
wooden priesthood"
Bishop Freeman pointed out that IL
might not be amiss for the church to
return to wooden chalices IL that liz
necessary to obtain golden priest
hood. Christianity. and especially
American Christians, he declared
must help their less fortunate fellow
men and women in distant lands-peo-
pie. who he added, some time may be-
come citizens of the United States
The bishop, by description, likened
Mrs Spencer and Bishop Brent tc
"a golden priesthood"
Pagan Practices shown.
At the outset Mrs. Spencer pointed
out that while the Moros are Mo-
hammedans, they are really pagan
Mohammedans," since they do not
benefit from all of the religious as
sociations accorded other members OF
that doctrine. Her pictures and the
experiences she described confirmed
this description of those natives OF
Americas farthest East possession.
Mrs. Spencer described the awful
results of massacres, told of cases OF
cannibalism in its worst forms, OF
banditry and head hunting, of sicken-
ing pagan rites, and finally, OF the
work of redemption and how IL IL
saving hundreds of Moro women and
children from perpetuation of the
hideous customs that have come down
to them from the dark ages, rites thai
are as ancient as they are revolving
To accomplish this reclamation, Mrs
Spencer was obliged to dwell in a
little home built on stills" by ma
tive boys, suffer the unpopular
odors OF nearby pearl industry
learn to meet snakes, spiders anG
centipedes-and like them. Toward
the end of her lecture, however, she
showed pictures OF boys and girls
grown into young men and womer
after they had absorbed the light OF
education that a person would never
have been able to recognize.
Mrs. Spencer highly praised the
work of some of the military gov