Brazilian Sketches | Page 8

the entrance, the city winding its tortuous way in and out
between the mountains and spreading itself over many hills, the open
sea in the distance and the wild mountain scenery to the back of us,
constitute a panorama surpassingly beautiful.
Nictheroy lies just across the bay. We went over there one night and
spoke in the rented hall where our church worships, and spent the night
in the delightful home of the Entzmingers. The next morning, before

breakfast, Dr. Entzminger showed me over the city. Nictheroy has forty
thousand inhabitants and is the capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro. It
is a beautiful city and offers a wide field for missionary work. Its
importance is apparent.
We have a church in the populous suburb of Engenho de Dentro. We
were present there at a great celebration when the church cleared off
the remainder of its debt and burned the notes. The building was
crowded to its utmost capacity. The people stood in the aisles from the
rear to the pulpit. They filled the little rooms behind the pulpit and
occupied space about the windows. There are about seventy members
of the church. A far greater progress should be made now that the debt
as well as other encumbrances have been removed.
There are in Rio the First, Engenho de Dentro, Governors Island and
Santa Cruz churches, and twelve preaching places, four of which are in
rented halls. Missionary Maddox utilizes many members of the
churches in providing preaching at these missions. There are only a
very few paid evangelists in this mission, but a great many church
members are glad to go to these stations and tell the gospel story.
Besides our Baptist work, the Southern Methodists are conducting a
very prosperous mission. They have several churches and a station for
settlement work. The Presbyterians and the Congregationalists have
some excellent churches and the YMCA is one of the most flourishing
in South America.

CHAPTER III
.
A VISIT TO A COUNTRY CHURCH.
That I may give you a glimpse of the country life in Brazil, and also
some impression of country mission work, I invite you to take a trip
with Missionary Maddox and myself to the little hamlet of Parahyba do
Sul, in the interior of the State of Rio.
On Monday, June 13th, we boarded a six AM train for Parahyba do Sul,
which we reached about ten o'clock. It is a charming town situated on
the river by the same name. This river reminds one of the French Broad,
though the mountains are not so high and precipitous as the North
Carolina mountains. The mountains, too, in this section are not covered

with trees, but with a tall grass, which, being in bloom, gave a beautiful
purple color to the landscape. The railroad climbs up the mountain
sides from Rio in a very picturesque manner.
The Parahyba do Sul Church is three miles over the mountains from the
station, in the house of Mrs. Manoela Rosa Rodrigues. The house is
constructed with mud walls and a thatched roof. The floors are the bare
ground, which is packed hard and smooth. There are two rooms, with a
narrow hall between them and a sort of "lean to" kitchen. The largest
room, which is about fifteen feet square, is devoted to the church. The
most prominent piece of furniture in the house is the pulpit, which
stands in this room. This pulpit is large out of all proportion to
everything else about the place. It was covered over with a beautifully
embroidered altar piece. The two chairs placed for Brother Maddox and
myself were also entirely covered with crocheted Brazilian lace. I
hesitated to occupy such a daintily decorated seat.
This church of forty-six members maintains three Sunday schools in
the adjoining country and six preaching stations, members of the
church doing the preaching. Every member gives to the college in Rio
200 reis (six cents) a month, and to missions, etc., 300 reis (nine cents)
per month. This is munificent liberality when we take into
consideration their exhausting poverty.
Our coming was a great event with them. We were met at the station by
a member of the church, who mounted us on a gray pony apiece and
soon had us on our way. He walked, and with his pacing sort of stride
he easily kept up with us. His feet were innocent of shoes. He says he
does not like shoes because they interfere with his walking. Underneath
that dilapidated hat and those somewhat seedy clothes we found a
warm-hearted Christian, who serves the Lord with passionate devotion.
He often preaches, though he has very little learning. He is mighty in
the Scriptures, having committed to memory large sections of them,
and has a