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In August of 1899 I was mustered out of the service as the

regiment was about to return home and I had decided to try my
fortune in the Philippines.

One day in August, 1900 upon receiving a letter from Mr.

Atkinson, who was then at the head of the schools in Manila, I called
at his office and accepted a position as teacher in the Second Tondo
boys School where I taught for two months.

In November of 1900 there was branching out of the school system

and upon request I was sent into the provinces. My first location was
Cavite Viejo, the home of Don Emilio Aguinaldo.

I found there had been a so-called Spanish school in the town in

which had been taught the Catholic catechism, a few prayers also in
Spanish and something of manners, together with a very little of
numbers. The building had been destroyed during the uprising of
1896 and the school had deteriorated even below its former low
standard of instruction. The man I found in charge was ignorant old
fisherman who had picked up a little Spanish in Manila. He would
catch fish in the morning and about ten a.m. would come home and
hear the children repeat their exercises in Spanish pronunciation and
the catechism.

It was truly a novel sight to see the old man dressed in nothing but a
pair of coarse pantaloons with the legs rolled up above his knees, sitting
propped up against a post, mending his net, with the betel nut juice
trickling down the corners of his mouth and the cigarette smoke curling
above his matted chair, while he assumed the character of a teacher.

The children studied their exercises out loud in concert and could be
heard more than a block away shouting at the top of their voices: "a-b ab,
i-b ib, e-b, eb, o-b ob, u-b ub". They had been kept at this senseless work
day after day, week in and week out, during the whole year.

The place used for a schoolhouse was the under part of the
fisherman's bamboo house. It was low, uncoiled, with a mud floor, and
open to the weather. In one corner was tied a pig, while on the posts were
nests occupied in part by patient old biddies. there was also the ever
prevalent, half-starved dog always under foot.

Upon entering, the sign which met my eyes was not one calculated to
insure enthusiasm in the work. Some of the little half-clothed younsters
were eating raw turnips, others were smoking the inevitable cigarette,
some were having a good time gambling with pennies, while a few were
shouting their lessons. Out of this confusion, I must bring order: with this
material I must organize a school.

The people were very anxious to learn the new language and seemed
willing to help, but when it came to supplying an adequate building and
paying Filipino assistants, they were absolutely helpless. They looked to
the government for everything. There seemed to be some excuse for their
inability to help in this way for they had just passed through four years of
almost continuous fighting and privations and had little to give but
poverty.

The people were exceedingly poor and many children came to

school with only an abbreviated shirt for clothing. These were, of course,
sent home and in many cases could not return because the parents were
too poor to clothe them. The people in the early days took the new
government as natural consequence and looked to it for everything of a
general nature, remaining indifferent or blaming it if it failed to keep the
peace or punish offenders; but always neglecting to give any help in
bringing these things about.

Toward education they were eager to show their appreciation and

loud in their praises of it. The town officers would send out policemen to
gather the children into the schools when they played truant or were kept
away by their parents. The people seemed to think that an education was
easily and quickly acquired and after one had finished, he need never
work any more. Coupled with this was the Spanish belief that a
gentleman never did manual labor, they were scandalized when I took
hold and began making desks for the schoolroom.

In 1902 I was transferred to Alfonso, a town in the hills of southern

Cavite, where the work of starting the schools had to be begun all over
again. I selected some young people in the town and taught them the
lessons they should teach the children the next day and giving them
instruction in the evening and after school hours, I succeeded in fitting
them for teachings in the primary grades.

No Americans were nearer than Indang, seven miles away, and for
months at a time I would see no one who could speak English. I was
obliged to learn Tagalog in order to make myself understood.
The greatest difficulties were encountered in finding school buildings and
preparing the Filipino teachers for there was very little money available. It
took weary months of extra work to prepare the teachers for their duties.
We had teachers' classes after school hours and in the evenings and at
last opened up schools in the barrios of Bailin, Magallanes and Mendez
Nunez. The people of the barrios put up provisional buildings. Civil
government had been established and was being appropriated for schools
but the demand for new schools was greater than we could possibly
supply.

The methods of instruction were very similar to those in vogue now.

The pupils were first taught a number of words by the use of objects and
a few action words. Then the use of these words was taught by means of
conversational exercises. After this the questions and answers were
written by the pupils, either copied or by dictation. The child taught to
read and each new word was treated in the same way. The pupil learned
to read, write and use the word the same day. Of course the pupils were
older than those generally found in the first grade today. The children had
a tendency to commit whole pages of the text and repeat them without
any knowledge of their meaning.

As for discipline, I have never found any trouble except that at

times the Filipino teachers had to be cautioned against being too severe.

Those early years were full of interesting work and even though
there were hardships, privations and disappointments, I look back to
them with pleasure. We, the pioneer of the work, feel that we helped lay
the foundation stones of our present efficient educational system.