A CHOICE OF BLESSINGS

287

rangements were completed, owing to the large number of people detained by the storm, and about midnight we were ushered into our resting place, a mile or so from the chapel. A Filipino bed, with a mosquito net, was to serve for one traveler, and a blanket on the bamboo floor for the other. After a brief struggle as to who should have the bed on the floor, the visitor yielded, and, as usual, secured the better accommodations. Mr. Rodgers slept on the floor, declaring that it was what he was accustomed to do when on missionary tours, and that he was really happier there than in bed. This statement would be harder to believe if it were not that the bed and the floor were both of bamboo, so that there was doubtless little difference between the pliability of the two.

A three hours' ride in the rain Monday morning carried us back to Manila, none the worse for our day in the province, and in every way better for the delightful experience with those who a short time ago were America's most bitter enemies. Cavite Province was a hotbed of insurrection; its reputation for such things dating back at least a generation. With the Gospel in the hearts of the people, the American Army may safely be reduced there and in other provinces. The Government of the United States has no stronger ally in its pacification of the islands than the Protesant Church of America with its faithful, self-sacrificing missionaries; and of these, none deserves greater praise than Mr. Rodgers, one of the veterans, though still a young man.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE SILLIMAN INSTITUTE

Dumaguete an Ideal Place for the School-Friendly
Spirit and Active Co-operation of Government Offi-
cers-Necessity and Dignity of Honest Toil-Boys
Alike the World Over-The Benefactor a Noble
American.

TRUST that you will visit the Silliman Institute at Dumaguete," said Governor Taft when outlining our trip to the southern islands. "It is only a few days ago that one of the provincial officers from Negros was speaking with me about this school, and he made the remark that no effort of Americans had done more to bring about a good feeling between their government and the natives of that island than the establishment and conduct of this institution."

From another source similar testimony was borne to the excellent character of the institute, which bears the name of its donor, the Hon. Horace B. Silliman, LL.D., of Cohoes, N. Y., who gave $20,000 to found it. The city of Dumaguete is exceptionally healthful and the Institute is located on a beautiful palm-shaded tract of nearly five acres on the main street, near the Governor's residence, and fronting the beach. It is easily accessible, not only from the province in which it is situated, but from the populous islands of Cebu and Bohol, where the same dialect is spoken.

IMPRESSIONS OF DUMAGUETE

289

The friendly spirit and practical co-operation of the Provincial Governor and other prominent persons at Dumaguete in all that pertains to the school enterprise and the general plans of the station are everywhere seen. That Dumaguete is a station of exceptional salubrity and exemption from disease has been shown in the fact that Dr. Langheim, one of the instructors of the Institute, has by judicious and watchful care and sanitary precaution saved the community to a large extent from the fearful ravages of cholera which visited Iloilo. The medical work of Dr. Langheim is varied and exacting; besides his services at the Institute, he has important duties as general superintendent of the Board of Health for Oriental Negros.

The Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D.D., the Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, through which Dr. Silliman presented his gift to the Filipinos, visited Dumaguete in 1901. In "The New Era in the Philippines" he gives his impressions of the place and the work in these words:

"The location is the most healthful and beautiful that I saw in the Philippines. The land rises gently from a pebbly beach to a noble mountain range. The lower levels are covered with plantations of tobacco and sugar cane, higher slopes with hemp, and summits of the mountains with heavy forests of hardwoods. Across the clear water the islands of Siquijor and Cebu are seen, while farther away, but in plain view, are the outlines of Bohol and Mindanao. I drove for several miles in various directions from the town in order to get some idea of the adjacent country. The result was surprising. In this alleged uncivilized land on the other side of the globe,