obtain an education there at very moderate cost by working for the institution. When he arrived he inquired for "the boss," being ignorant of the proper appellation of the head of the school. He was admitted as a student and remained long enough to complete the normal course and also the English course in theology.

As a student Mr. Herod was not brilliant, but he was faithful. He had excellent common sense and great moral power. His influence over his fellow-students was strong and helpful. He won the admiration and respect of all. We all predicted success for him as he went out from the University to take up his life-work.

Mr. Herod became pastor of the Congregational Church at Abbeville. It was then at a very low ebb. He was also made Principal of the public school of the city. He has labored untiringly and with rare devotion and his success has been very marked.

The writer had the privilege of visiting Mr. Herod in his field. He found him pastor of a flourishing church with a comfortable church edifice and occupying a very nice parsonage. He met the Mayor of the city, the Superintendent of Schools and several of the representative white citizens, with whom he had conversations relating to Mr. Herod's work. These men bore willing testimony to its importance and value. They affirmed that he had built up his church and had done very much to elevate the colored people, that he had won the love and esteem of his race and also the confidence and respect of the best white people. Mr. Herod practises thrift; has a bank account and teaches the people economy and business honor.

The white people treat him with courtesy and show their appreciation of his work in many ways. There is now a very kindly feeling between the two races, largely owing to the efforts of this devoted man. There is very much to encourage in this case. There are other graduates who are doing a similar work.

SCHOOL LIFE IN PORTO RICO.

SCHOOL BOY IN PORTO RICO.

I was sitting in my room at the hotel at Lares, tired out after two days on pony-back, my first trip into the mountains of the interior, and my first experience on horseback. My long ride and consequent fatigue, my position, far from home, family and friends, in a new region where language, food, customs, all were strange, made me feel most lonesome. Only a good night's sleep could ward off a threatened attack of home-sickness, a longing to see the land and hear the language "that God made," as the boys in blue express it.

Suddenly a new sound aroused me, drew me to the porch, and brought a relief which only travelers who have been far from the homeland can realize. Four young girls on the next porch, scarcely visible in the gathering darkness, were singing:

No one saw the tears that came or knew about the restful feeling which followed me into dreamland. I had not left my country. Its spirit, its love of liberty, the happy "songs in the night" which it had put into the mouths of its sons and daughters, had preceded me.

Every night during my stay in Lares, the four girls, one of them a daughter of the alcalde, or mayor, who made me understand that they had learned this song from their teacher, sang America for "el Americano," whose coming and talk about a possible school had made such a stir in their beautiful village.

When we opened an American Missionary Association school in Santurce and later in Lares, was it strange that America was the first song taught to the children? How quickly they learned it and how they sang it, with a spirit and enjoyment which I have rarely seen equaled. Then followed: "Rally Round the Flag," "The Star Spangled Banner," and "Marching through Georgia." They were the best means of instilling the spirit of patriotism and most effective agencies in training the pupils to keep together and follow a leader.

One day I heard several Porto Ricans singing with such spirit and earnestness a strange, rather weird melody; they told me it was "Borinquen," their national song extolling the beauties of their island home—called Borinquen by the original inhabitants. When I proposed in school one day, after singing America, that we would try Borinquen, if one of the older young ladies would lead us, the quiet that came over the school, the brightening of faces and air of expectancy, removed all possible doubt about their love of their island. After that America and Borinquen usually came together. Every Porto Rican and Spaniard learned to sing America.

PRIMARY CHILDREN, LARES, PORTO RICO.

But the songs we sang impressed on these music-loving boys and girls thoughts other than those of love of country. Within a month after opening most children could sing "Jesus Loves Me," and the little primary children rarely failed to ask for this when given a choice. Later came "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and other religious songs. When they afterward heard from the Bible, read in Spanish and in English, the story of Jesus taking the children into his arms, the song had prepared for the story and the story made the song mean more. Nearly all learned to say, in Spanish or English or both: "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

So the songs opened the way for Bible stories and Bible verses. The little first grade children studied about Abraham, and the others learned about David as a boy, a shepherd, a servant in the king's palace, a fugitive from Saul and as being King of Israel. Nearly all learned the Twenty-third Psalm and several of the Beatitudes.

We were afraid the parents might object to the religious songs and Bible stories and withdraw the pupils from the school. But they did not, not one, so far as we knew. Several told me that they wanted their children not merely to learn to read and to become intelligent Americans, but that they wanted them to grow up as good men and women and were glad to have them taught these things. During the last two months some time was given nearly every day, in each room, to Bible stories or Bible study.

CARNIVAL, SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO.

We soon found that our Porto Rican boys and girls know very little about study or attention or self-control and obedience. In most homes they do much as they please. In school they had been accustomed to studying out loud, to learning by heart without understanding, to reciting in concert, and to talking as much as they pleased. They are quick-tempered and apt to fly into a passion. They lack greatly in perseverance or "stick-to-it-iveness."

The schoolroom was a noisy, distracting place for a time; the playground was the scene of frequent uproars and even fights. They seemed to have no idea of playing together or following a leader or of organizing and keeping up games.

But they