An Epoch in History | Page 6

no
school-house, they are expected to secure the aid of the people and
have one built.
3. The American teacher is to see that all studying aloud is stopped.
4. All supplies must be kept under lock and key. In towns where there
is no case or box to lock the supplies in, and it is also impossible to get
the town council to furnish a case, a requisition may be sent to Manila,
and, if an appropriation can be secured, one will be made and sent out.
Thus it can be easily seen that we were indeed pioneers. In many places
no school-house was to be found, and in some cases it was even
difficult to get the town council to provide a case in which to keep the
supplies.
The work of the teachers was, in short; to "make the English language
the basis of instruction in the public schools." On our arrival at Bacalod
two schools were found in progress, for some soldiers had been
detailed for the work here previous to our coming. One of these was for
boys and the other, for girls. Thus the work here had been in a measure
simplified, but complications that had arisen at Talisay, one of the
largest and richest towns on the island, demanded a change of teachers
and the writer was assigned to the place as superintendent. Here an

attempt had been made to start a school but it had failed ignominiously
and a system of education was to be put into operation from the very
start.
The Filipinos are not strong advocates of co-education, so separate
schools were to be started for the boys and the girls. The one for the
boys was gotten well in hand before the one for the girls was attempted
at all.
A few days after reaching the town and securing a home the presidente
of the town had it publicly announced that the following Monday
morning at eight o'clock a public school for boys would be opened in a
building that had been rented for the purpose by the municipal council.
About the middle of the afternoon of the same day a man beat a little
drum throughout all the streets of the town to call the people out and
the town clerk announced both in Spanish and in the native language
that this public school would begin at the time and place mentioned
above; that instruction would be free to all who came; that the
government would furnish all supplies; and that instruction would be
given in the English language. A native principal and assistants were
employed and everything was ready to begin.
The official report of the result is as follows:
Boys' public school of Talisay, Negros, P. I., began November 4, 1901.
Forty-three boys present at eight o'clock. Forty-one of them knew
"good morning" and "good afternoon" but do not know the distinction
between them. Two of them speak simple Spanish. At eight forty-five,
eight more, who had been attending an early morning private school,
came in together.
The books they brought were so varied and so different from one
another that it seemed impossible to bring any reasonable degree of
order out of such a chaos, and so, after struggling vainly for about a
week with the problem, the superintendent by one fell stroke removed
everything in use and put in a uniform system, and from that day on the
English language has been the basis of instruction in the public schools
of Talisay. The work was of necessity very slow at first, but by the end

of a year two schools were going nicely and a number of the brightest
boys and girls had made really excellent progress.
CHAPTER V.
A "BAILE."
Not long after the arrival of our party at Bacalod we received an
invitation to a "baile" given in our honor by the inhabitants of Silay, a
town some ten or twelve miles up the northern coast and one noted for
its social life. The invitation was accepted with pleasure, and about the
middle of the afternoon on the day appointed we were clad in the
immaculate white of the tropics and steaming away up the coast on
board a launch sent for our conveyance. Twilight was still lingering on
the path of day when we anchored just off shore at the town. A
row-boat containing the officials of the city came out to meet us and, in
due season, we were ushered into a spacious drawing-room filled
almost to overflowing with the élite of the town. The élite of towns in
the Philippines speak Spanish, and, as only one or two of our party
could at that time boast of more than a formal acquaintance with the
Castilian tongue, the exchange of ideas that