Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1915 — Life Among the moros [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Life Among the moros

Mrs. lorillard spencer recently made an extended visit to the Philippines and became intensely Interested in the natives and their future. Writing in the New York Tribune, she says: You say you Would like an account of my stay in Jolo, a description of my friends the Moros, and, above all, as my small nephew puts it, “the most exciting thing that happened to you,” but unfortunately I am so absorbed by the great issue at stake, the destiny of a nation, held as it were in the hand of the American people, that wonderful as those days were in that little far away island, with its mountains, and fertile valleys, its palms, its silver beaches, lined with coral and shells, its rainbow tinted fish and many colored birds, its wonderful stars and radiant moonlight, I find myself forgetting all else in the great longing to make every citizen of these United States appreciate the privilege which lies in his power—the gift that he may either give or withhold. Remember, please, that I am speaking of the Moros, not the Filipinos, and in order to understand the great gulf which separates the two you must bear in mind first and last that the Filipinos are Roman Catholics and the Moros Mohammedans, and, of equal Importance, the fact that the Filipinos do not want Americans to remain in .the islands and the Moros are begging us not to leave them. The Moro hates the Filipino, with good cause, and the Filipino, with good cause, is deadly afraid of the Moro. It is well known that just before I left the islands a paper published as a joke the following: “Suggested, that a Filipino governor be appointed to govern Jolo, his official residence being in Manila" — which is 500 miles away, and quite frankly iUwould be a very brave man (Filipino) who would try it at closer range. I agree with those whose solution is to keep the province of Mindanao and Sulu for a generation at least and let the Filipino have his longed for Independence. He has freedom now if he cbuld appreciate it, but like many other blessings he will not recognize it till it takes flight. Housekeeping in Jolo. There is one man, however, who always believed that the Moros would respond to kindness. He is Charles H. Brent, Episcopal bishop of the Philippine Islands. He longed to give them a chance of proving that they would not reject a hand held out in helpful kindness. That reminds me of something a man said when I told him before sailing that all I hoped to do was to hold out a hand. His reply was that if I did they would cut it off. All I ran say is it was ’ held out and his prophecy did not come true. On the contrary, my experience of the last year has made me realize as never before that love can win where hate spells death. We started. Deaconess Young and myself, from New York on December 6, reaching Jolo January 28. We stopped there only a day and went on to Zamboango, where we remained nearly a week Collecting furniture and so forth for the only available house we could get in Jolo. It was unfortunately situated in. the middle of the town, surrounded by sweatshops and over a pearl exchange, which sounds very pretty and smells very bad. I do not, however, wish to take up your time with details that simply have to do with comfort or discomfort; because, no matter how great the discomfort, it-was more than made up for by the wonderful success of the venture. And after all, the discomfort was not sc great, for we had prdered our beds, mosquito nets, sent from New York, and were fortunate in finding them waiting for us at the customhouse. That reminds me of my surprise when we were obliged to pay duty on anything made outside of the United States, in spite of the fact that duty had already been collected in the United States. . V . Were in Real Danger. " At first the natives quite ignored us. I mean those we inet in the streets of Jolo, tor we were not at first allowed to go outside the gates (you know Jolo

is the smallest walled town in the world), as there existed a strong feeling that we were in very grave danger owing to the fact that it had been heralded we had come to proselytize. Some Mohammedans in San Francisco had written to a high dignitary that we might be expected and they hoped every possible obstacle would be put in our way, and as the Moro’s idea of an obstacle seldom falls short of death you can see the danger was very real. The first day we did go out, accompanied by the bishop and an armed escort, we took the precaution to leave a note of instruction with Mr. Ellis, the banker, telling what should be done in case we did not return. Yet we did' go out and nothing happened. And after a few weeks both Miss Young and myself went out quite alone. When Miss Katherine Buffum, also a volunteer, joined us, she took charge of our industrial class, which was a great success, and Mrs. Tryon, the trained nurse, started in with a will to assist Mr. Thompson, who had charge of the dispensary, supervised by Col. Charles Lynch. By the way, we were told before }t started that we would be lucky If we had three patients during a month. The first 90 days we treated nearly six hundred, many coming from the other side of the’island. This pleased us very much, as it meant we had gained the confidence and were getting hold of the mountain people, who are quite different and much more difficult to get at than the natives of Tulay. To cut a long story short, with the exception of Miss Young’s illness and return to the United States after a few months of very real work, during which she and the bishop (he was with us the first few weeks) laid the foundation of that which has been in the providence of God a most wonderful exhibition of what the Golden Rule cap accomplish, the work progressed gratifyingly; but even the Golden Rule might have failed if we had not been able to call into play that other rule, without which no real sympathy can be given. I mean—to put yourself in the other man’s place, trying to see things as he sees them and not as we think he ought to see them.