Part 5

You visit an English bride who came with her new husband on your steamer, and is to live in São Paulo. Her wedding presents have been delayed in the custom house, and are but just received after paying duties the equal of $400, in American money! It was only the usual collection of gifts to the average bride, but the duties are excessive on silverware and on any bric-à-brac or furniture having gilt mountings. Fabrics and even rugs are dutiable by weight. You have lifted an Oriental rug. She had one. She also had, unfortunately, a whole “bolt of American muslin”--too close-woven and heavy for Brazilian customs. She is trying to decide whether her _sala_ shall be altogether British or partly Brazilian in arrangement. An afternoon tea-table will seem like home to her. She settles upon bentwood furniture, cane-seated of course, and arranges sofa and chairs with elastic reference to Brazilian custom. The sofa occupies a prominent place, two mate armchairs face each other at right angles to the sofa, making three sides of a conversational square, nicely accommodating four persons. The genuine Brazilian would go on adding to the two chairs at least two more on either side of the sofa. His guest would take the chair farthest from the sofa while waiting for the host, and a seat on the sofa at the end of the aisle of chairs would be the high honor which could be extended by the host when he comes in.

She has an oil-stove, too, which is an occasional comfort in the cool evening or on a rainy day when even an umbrella will not dry.

Her handsome mahogany furniture is a comparative trial here, for the Brazilians have a cheaper hard wood of the same color from which many ordinary articles are made, and some other would have been far more elegant, black walnut for instance!

You are by this time entirely accustomed to the universal toothpick, smoothly made of orangewood, really a perfection of a toothpick; for every Brazilian has used one at intervals throughout every meal on the steamer and at hotels since you left Lisbon; also to the universal cigarette, welcome in dining-room and salon. You also find that they hold American dentists in high esteem, and there are several good ones in Petropolis, Rio and São Paulo.

Walking down the street men lift their hats as they pass each Romish church. Every sort of package is carried on porters’ heads, and the colored porters often fall into a rhythmical walk or trot as peculiar to them as the flourish of a black waiter in a restaurant in America.

A pleasant invitation comes to you to attend the English cricket match, a gay affair, with plenty to eat--and drink.

I remember while I was in São Paulo one cool July day talking over the news of the last package of New York _Heralds_ (the paper, or its Paris edition, taken largely by American exiles in Brazil), with an Anglo-Brazilian friend. We had been discussing the unwholesomeness of ice. I showed her the subscription list to the “_Herald_ Ice Fund for the Poor of New York City!” She could only think it $10,000 misplaced! So true is it that one needs really to live in a given climate or place to really appreciate its requirements.

Frequently, evenings, there is a blaze of fireworks for saints you do not know. One day you are invited to go with a party to the “Penha,” one of the Madonna festivals, perhaps the greatest one here. It is celebrated a little distance from town, with scores of roulette wheels, and the people save their earnings for some time to gamble there to their hearts’ content.

When I was in São Paulo a General Conference of Methodist missionaries convened. The men had come from long distances, several of them remote from railroad or seaboard. I went to their farewell meeting. It was held in a plain, whitewashed room. We were seated on long benches. There was little modern style about the garments or evidence of high living in the cheeks or eyes. Bishop Granbery presided with gentle dignity. Dr. Morrison made the address. He began by quoting the text, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Looking about with a quiet, half-sarcastic smile, he said: “Brethren, I do not think any one will accuse any one here of laying up treasures on earth. Let us talk about treasures in heaven. Any of you who has found a poor, ignorant, debased soul here, and has patiently put his own life beside that life, and taught and developed and strengthened that life by God’s help so that it is purer, holier, more Christlike, will find some treasure laid up in heaven. It will be the difference between that soul as he found it and what it becomes.” I have had many occasions to recall that bit of sermon in my knowledge of American missionaries and their helpful work in Brazil, and so, I believe, will you.

It will always be a pleasure to remember the hospitality of both merchants and missionaries. Before leaving São Paulo, you must accept the offer of Dr. Lane, President of Mackenzie College, to go through not only his own preparatory classes and college, where you will find the first working laboratory for chemistry in a Brazilian school and the first manual training school, as well as plenty of classic Portuguese, Latin, and other things, but go through the Government schools as well, where he is always an honored guest. Then go to Cantareira with Prof. Orville A. Derby, the eminent Government geologist, and the young professors of the college. It is an easy day’s excursion to the source of the water supply for the city. A train of open cars takes you through old gardens of roses, and out to the mountain streams, enclosed by first-rate engineering, and filtered and reservoired amid gardens and masonry most attractive. You can study a coffee-tree (or bush) of your own height, with shiny green leaves and bright red cherries, the pits of which are two coffee-beans lying with their flat sides together, and recall the enthusiastic description of a man who has just returned from a trip to a great coffee plantation in the interior.

“As one rides on horseback between the rows of coffee-trees his head is hardly visible above them. Call to mind the hedgerows of England, stretch them in straight, long lines with just room between for the pickers. A space twenty-five feet wide between every hundred rows is a road for carts, but there are no cross streets. Starting from the edge of the fazenda (plantation) quite rapid riding for two hours brings one to the center view from a dome-shaped hill. In all directions as far as the eye can see there is nothing but coffee trees. The only visible ground is the deep red earth of the streets separating each hundred rows. It is a rolling prairie of living green, on a colossal scale. Two months earlier the blossoms covered it ‘like a white sheet.’ A little later this green will be brilliant with red cherries, the branches heavily weighted down by the fruit. This fazenda has 1,600,000 bearing coffee trees. The next has nearly 4,000,000 trees and is the largest in the world. Now I understand how this State produces more coffee even in a bad year than all the rest of the world outside of Brazil combined. Its possibilities in a good year are nearly double the crops other than those of Brazil. The quality is altogether finer than that known in the United States as Rio. This is what has brought English and German capital, increased the population of the city of São Paulo to 200,000 from 60,000 in 1884, and made the commerce of Santos what it is. Italians and Germans both work on these plantations and the one I have just described, which I have just visited, has fifteen hundred people living on the fazenda and constantly employed. The larger plantation, ‘the Fazenda Dumont,’ had a railroad of some twenty miles for use on the plantation, and its connecting line running through the ‘Fazenda Schmidt,’ was used by Mr. Schmidt, my hospitable host, for shipping his coffee to the trunk line and so on down to Santos.”

[Illustration: COFFEE PICKING.]

HOMEWARD BOUND.

It is October. You choose to leave here before it grows too warm. The young spring buds are already adding their delicate green to the darker old foliage.

Rio is reached by rail in fourteen hours. You would like to go home in one of the great New Zealand steamers which makes the round trip from London to London in ninety days, and which always carries charming passengers for the whole voyage by Suez, New Zealand, Straits of Magellan, Rio de Janeiro, Madeira, London. Everybody here knows what variety is provided by this journey, not only of interesting sights in port, but of amusement of every description at sea. They also know when one of these steamers has arrived by the unwonted varieties of game, vegetables, and well-hung beef and mutton in the markets.

No. You decide to go directly to New York, for you have come by way of England, so sail on the “Wordsworth.” Even she is English and there is no longer an American Line. You will touch at Bahia, Pernambuco, and St. Lucia, one of the West Indies, and see New York harbor in twenty-four days from Rio.

Bahia you saw hurriedly on the way down, but it looks even more attractive as you approach it the second time. It is invested with some added interest, also, since learning that the court came here from Portugal for shelter in Napoleonic times; and that this city has always been the center of Jesuitical influence.

The Bahian blacks, a finer race of negroes than you have ever seen, and said to have been Mohammedans, make a very strong impression now. They are physically superb. The low-necked, short-sleeved linen garment worn by the women is frequently beautified with “drawn-work.” The great strings of gold beads around their necks are their substitute for a bank account, for banks are not a convenience to a people who cannot read.

The Bahian oranges are like the finest Floridas, and far superior to any others you have had. Bananas are everywhere the food of the poor, and not better than are for sale at home, and other tropical fruits have been a disappointment.

At Pernambuco you find you own the wonderful reef, and the pine-apples, and the catamarans; for have you not seen them before, and do they not now prove themselves old friends and permanent possessions!

The next many days are a repetition of your former oceanic, tropical temperatures, with far fewer passengers, and less ceremony, perhaps. The sea, however, seems trying to compensate you for other lacks by furnishing interesting creatures for you to watch. There are numberless flying fish, frightened from the water by your ship, and the delicate, little, pink “Portuguese men-of-war,” as the sailors call them, go dancing by on the surface of the water in tantalizing beauty. Do not be sorry that you cannot get one, for, trailing from that shining pink bladder, there are processes which sting like nettles.

[Illustration: COFFEE WASHING.]

For a few days you seem almost to be crossing a wheat-field as you take a long look across the water yellow with gulf-weed which has been thrown off by the gulf stream and floats at rest on this quiet sea. Take a fish line and catch some pretty branches, look at the little fruit which grows upon them and gives the name, grapes, to the sea. It is called by its Spanish form the Sargasso Sea.

St. Lucia pleases you to see for several reasons. You like a day in port. You like to know what this one of the West Indies is like. You enjoy the negroes diving under the ship for coins you throw in the water as you did before at St. Vincent, and, on the whole, though you have had a rarely charming summer, you are glad to cable that you are well and leaving your last port before your arrival home.

The cool October days of the North Atlantic demand again the rugs and warmer wraps which have been needed now and then since the journey was begun. As the fresh air blows in your face you are delighted to find yourself so rested and so easily challenged to an expenditure of energy.

But there are other passengers whose residence in Brazil numbers years of work instead of weeks of pleasure. They have found themselves unable to conquer some attack of disease without the bracing and stimulating aid of a more rigorous climate. They are longing for cold and snow. The Brazilian air which has relaxed and rested you has become enervating to them. Foreign merchants and Bank managers expect six months’ furlough once in three years. Missionaries get a year’s recruiting once in eight years. Anxious relatives were notified before these workers left Brazil that the wrecks were going home. Who would believe that twenty-four days of sea-voyage could make such different looking beings of these invalids! The prospect of home and old familiar scenes and foods seems happiness enough to put new life into anyone, one thinks, in watching these returning exiles.

Familiar faces are waiting on the dock. Good-by. _Ate logo._

APPENDIX.

AN AMERICAN SYSTEM OF SCHOOLS IN BRAZIL.

Nearly thirty years ago an attempt was made to adapt the American system of schools to Brazil, South America, where social conditions and political aspirations are somewhat analogous to our own, and we set about to find out what the American system really was. We sought it in the official courses, which usually cover the whole domain of knowledge; in the voluminous reports of Superintendents, reeking with erudition and statistics; in the schools and colleges of the different States, which we visited and studied, and in the great educational conventions. We found such a lack of uniformity of thought, of organization, and even of purpose and principles, as to leave us in doubt as to whether we had as yet a distinctively American system. In some places there was genuine education, in others they were simply drilling for examination, and not a whit better than the Chinese. We made an extended tour of European institutions for a comparative study, and found many special processes and devices that could be engrafted, and singularly enough, that some of the German methods had their best development in the United States, but no complete system that could be profitably taken over _en bloc_. The great problem of how best to influence the heterogeneous masses which flock to the shores of both Americas and make them into good citizens is not touched by the European systems. The problem is not exactly how to teach this or that special branch, but how to co-ordinate the work and relate all branches to the rapidly changing conditions of American society. The problem is the same in both Americas.

We found it difficult to follow the vertiginous activity of American educators along all lines or to wade through the voluminous literature which accompanies it, brought from the ends of the earth; but, believing that there was a truly American system in process of development, we tried to catch the trend of thought and anticipate the results. Entirely free, unhampered by politics or precedent; with no fads or need of seeking favor of governments or patrons, but at liberty to select what was best from all sources, it will be readily conceded that we had a decided advantage over the educational reformer of our own country.

The following, in brief outline, has been in operation for the fourteen years in the American schools at S. Paulo, Brazil, as a result of our study, and has been eminently satisfactory.

1. A primary school of five years, with a minimum of 100 school days of five hours each per annum, for the ungraded country schools, and 210 (a full school year) for the graded city schools. This course embraces Reading, Writing and the four operations of Arithmetic. Arithmetic is made the test of advancement, but great attention is also paid to Expression and Language, and, very early, small vocabularies of the _two modern languages_, that are to be studied systematically later, are introduced by the “natural method” (French and English by French and English teachers), with pleasure and profit to the pupils; thus in the very beginning of school life the habit of comparing modes of expression is cultivated, which later will be applied to processes. Through Geography the study of nature is begun and our relations to the world in which we live are studied; through Manual training, and the drawing preliminary to it, _things_ and their relations are studied and the child is taught to _do_ and _see_ as well as to think. This is that part of education which society, for its own safety, _must demand_ for every girl and boy in the land. It is all that can be given to the masses, the very poor, the wage-earner’s children, who must go to work early in life. Very bright pupils, with intellectual surroundings, may complete this course easily in four years, as many have done far better than others in five.

2. A Secondary course of six years divided into two periods of three years each. This is an expansion of the primary, extending mathematics to meet all requirements of practical life; cultivating carefully the mother tongue, giving some notions of the two modern languages; thorough training in Brazilian Geography and History, with outlines of General History and Geography; Manual training and mechanical drawing, etc. This first section embraces that part of an education essential to GOOD citizenship, within reach of all, but not compulsory--a short Grammar school course. The second section is a preparation for College, without, however, special reference to a college course. In it the two modern languages are finished; Algebra and Geometry are studied, Latin begun, etc., going about a year further than the average High-school course of the United States. This completes the common school system and prepares the pupil for the highest duties of citizenship.

[Illustration: COFFEE DRYING]

The bright pupil who has finished the primary course in four years may complete this in five. This has been frequently done, and is the rule for those preparing for College.

The student who does this is ready for College at fifteen.

We believe the tendency of American education is to return somewhat to the _Humanities_, enrich the secondary school with studies heretofore included in the advanced courses, and thus shorten the College course. This is the language period of life, and fourteen years’ experience has shown us that the two modern languages can be easily carried parallel to the mother tongue, with benefit to the pupil. It furnishes excellent mental discipline and has the advantage of awakening the habit of comparison earlier. There is a slight sacrifice of the mathematical or scientific side, which is pushed into the next division where it logically belongs.

The first division in this system aims to reach the great mass of society and force it up to the level of _safe_ and intelligent citizenship. The second reaches after the great middle class and purposes to fit its members for the highest duties of citizenship, as well as equip them for trade, manufactures and all legitimate activities, at public expense. It gives a sufficient amount of formulated knowledge and mental training to enable them to continue their studies independently through the opportunities afforded by the Press, public libraries and lectures.

The next step embraces three years of a _culture_ course for that comparatively small class who desire to take a profession, or wish a _liberal education_ in literature, art and sciences, as a stepping-stone to still more advanced studies. Entrance to this class ought to be guarded by severe tests in order to exclude the weak-brained who want a degree simply as an ornament and because they can pay for it. The brainy, poor young man can always find means. This is the College, reduced to three years. It lies between the public school system and the specialized University courses,--not absolutely necessary but highly advisable. It is where the student is thrown into the larger current of independent action and takes on the responsibilities as well as the privileges of manhood, either to prepare for entrance into the higher spheres of active life or to enter upon other studies.

This gives a minimum of school life, at public expense, of four years and a maximum of eleven years.

Education will, therefore, be finished at these ages: The large class of children of the very poor, at ten or eleven years. Another class will go out at the end of the first period of the secondary (the old Grammar course) and enter society fairly well equipped for the ordinary pursuits of life at twelve or thirteen. The second class completes school life, at the end of the public school course, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, well educated; a still smaller class completes the liberal College course at seventeen or eighteen, while the winnowing of all classes produces the comparatively small group of scholars and professionals who are able to enter life fully equipped, with such knowledge as can be obtained from books, at twenty-one to twenty-two. The student who skips the College and short-circuits from the High School to the University may graduate from his professional course with honor at nineteen or twenty, but will always lack that something that enables the man with the wider culture and discipline to win in the race of life.

The points in which the foregoing differs from the plan commonly adopted in United States are: the introduction of two modern languages at the language period of life, for their own value, to improve the study of the mother tongue and to develop earlier the comparative process as mental discipline; the shortening of the College course to three years and reducing school life by at least two and possibly three years, leaving some of the enthusiasm of youth for the first years of independent self-supporting life, also shortening the period of parental support.

No attempt is made here to indicate the exact organization of the various courses; the purpose and logical distribution is what is sought to show. We have been able to see the finished product of the system and feel sure it is an improvement upon the old plan. This is the system of schools known as “Mackenzie College” and the “Eschola Americana” at S. Paulo, Brazil, and is intended to serve, in a modest way, as a model of American education for Brazil.--_Dr. H. M. Lane, in The Brazilian Bulletin._

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS.

There is much vague talk about religious teaching, its relation to other branches, the time that can be given to it, its character, etc.

In order to show what we think about it, we venture to give extracts from our last annual circular to the teachers of the American schools at S. Paulo on the subject.

General considerations to which the attention of young teachers is called:

1.--The opening of school is not a religious ceremony, but a _devotional_ exercise. If arranged with skill it may be made so attractive to children that none will want to miss it (thus tardiness may be diminished); if it holds attention, it cannot fail to teach the lesson.