CHAPTER XXIII BOYS' AND MIXED SCHOOLS SILLIMAN INSTITUTE In the town of Dumaguete in the province of Oriental Negros is located one of the five greatest Protestant mission colleges in the world. Silliman came into existence in 1900, when Rev. Leon C. Hills occupied Dumaguete. It was named after the original donor, Dr. H. B. Silliman, who gave $20,000 for the establishment of an Industrial School. Rev. Hills was compelled to return to the States because of the ill health of his family, and Dr. and Mrs. D. S. Hibbard were transferred from Iloilo to Dumaguete in 1901 to take over the work. It is to the genius of Dr. Hibbard and his gifted wife that one must give chief credit for the wonderfully rapid growth of Silliman. Mrs. Hibbard has from the beginning made it a practice to know the name, location, and employment of every young man, graduate or undergraduate, who has ever been in. Silliman. Indeed she knows by name quite as many people as the memory teacher who is so widely advertised in American newspapers. THE SILLIMAN SONG I Where the white sands and the coral, CHORUS Loyal sons are we of Silliman Here's a cheer boys three times three Silliman beside the sea. II Happy years of school and college, III When we leave the halls of Silliman, To the love for dear old Silliman Those who cannot pay are received at Silliman as working students, but since this work does not bring large financial returns to the school, it has not been possible to receive more than about ten per cent of the student body as work students. As many as 300 students who have applied for positions have been rejected in a single year. Self-supporting students like to be where their wealthy countrymen are studying.1 In 1905 there arrived a man who must be given a very large share of credit for the material development of the institution -Mr. Charles A. Glunz. Mr. Glunz has already been mentioned as one of the first three Y.M.C.A. secretaries to enter The type of work which is given working students may be seen from the following list: 5 have office duties 12 are instructors 6 are in printing office 19 work in dining rooms 3 are sweepers I is in charge of sales cabinet I is the Silliman tailor 49 work in shop. the city of Manila with the American troops. He was therefore the pioneer missionary of the Philippines. His unusual ability to turn everything to advantage, his mechanical genius, and his power to inspire other men to work, proved invaluable when just such a man was needed at Silliman. The example of the missionaries, who had never been afraid to take their coats off and do all kinds of work, was more important than words could have been. A printing office, a college farm, shops, and a sawmill were established within a year after Mr. Glunz arrived. "A former school teacher in Cebu has pumped water, hauled sand, split bamboo, cut grass and acted as a carpenter. One boy said that if such work had been suggested to them at first, they would have left in a body." A couple of years later Mr. Glunz wrote, "Given a pile of logs and sundry lots of nails, galvanized iron and paint, the students will make their own workshop, durably constructed, neatly finished, and with glazed sashes and moulded doors. This year we completed our machine shop and printing press and moved in. Nine tenths of the work was done by students. They made ten benches for the Provincial Court room, one hundred desks for the Provincial High School, fourteen for the Municipal Boys School, four desks for the Provincial Treasurer's Office, two sets of pigeon holes for the Dumaguete Post Office, several hundred rings for a merry-go-round, several show cases for business men." Few institutions in the Philippines equal Silliman in the beauty of her buildings, and none surpass her in natural beauty. Her campus is one of the charming spots of the Philippines. The indigo blue sea breaking on the eastern shore and the towering green mountains on the west twine about one's heart. The climate, free from malaria, below the typhoon belt, and cooled by frequent rains which fall the whole year round, is as fine for school purposes as any spot on the lowlands that could have been found. The faculty consists of twenty-five Americans and nine Filipinos, in addition to which there are twenty-five other Filipino student-teachers. One's first and last impression of the faculty is that they are enjoying their work immensely, but that they are overworked. "One of the missionaries who is no busier than the rest conducts eight recitations daily, superintends the Silliman printing press, involving the proof reading of a million and a half pages annually, takes his turn at conducting Sunday and chapel services, and serves as a Superintendent of the Sunday school. His work commences at 7.45 in the morning and ends when it is necessary to go to bed at night-and that within ten degrees of the equator. And he likes his job.” Students may enter as far down as the third grade primary and may pursue their studies through a four year college All of these grades conform to the studies required for government recognition, and differ from corresponding grades in the public schools and the University of the Philippines, only in having Bible courses. course. Silliman is the only college in the Philippines which has the Bible in the curriculum from the third grade through to the end of a college course. The studies are carefully graded, so that if a young man continues through to the end he will have such a knowledge of the contents of the Bible as few college students in America are now receiving. It is therefore natural that wherever Silliman students go they become leaders in church and Sunday school. It would be superfluous to say that, as a mission school, Silliman has made the religious experience of its pupils its first concern. "Silliman Institute," says the catalogue, "seeks in every way to inculcate Christian principles, and to develop the highest type of manhood and womanhood, and emphasizes spiritual as well as physical and mental development. Accordingly Silliman employs only Christian teachers." Thousands of men have gone out with a glowing passion for Christ which worked miracles in their communities. Other thousands who have not come out definitely as Protestants have had a broader and wholesomer view of religion, and have been campaigners for social righteousness. Once having gotten the magnificent school spirit of Silliman, men are different. A sheepskin from Silliman is a recommendation for character as well as for mental discipline. The faculty have prayed ceaselessly for the deepening of the religious life of the institution and have tried various methods in different years to bring about the greatest possible number of decisions. In 1906 it was reported that, out of one hundred and fifty students, forty were "interested in the advance of the work of Christ in the Islands," and thirteen were looking forward to the ministry. In 1918 more than two hundred boys "hit the trail" during an evangelistic campaign of two weeks. The personal work on the part of teachers and students was remarkable. The faculty, in common with all other missionaries, have felt that the key to the evangelization of the Philippines is an educated Filipino ministry, and have brought all legitimate pressure upon promising students to select Christian Service as their life work. In 1921, the "Silliman Bible School" was established in conjunction with the Congregationalists, offering a course to first and second year college men in preparation for "immediate work in the Visayas." The regular course corresponds roughly to the Bible Training School course given at Union Schools, Manila. A special briefer course in the Visayan language has proven very attractive. A preparatory theological course of two years is open to high school graduates, and prepares men to enter Union Seminary in Manila. Practically every province is represented in the enrollment of Silliman. "They come from every walk of life, rich and poor. Filipino, Spaniard, Mestizo, Chinese, and Siamese throw Castilian training and tradition and Oriental custom to the wind and live as one big family. Here Catalino, the son of Casillo, the mountain bandit, who defied the authorities so many years, sits at the same table with the son of the exGovernor of the province, and Jose, son of one of the wealthiest and most influential hacienderos of Negros, comes to study hour and sits with Claudio, a former servant of the family. Here the proud Tagalog sits in class with his peaceable Visayan brother and his war-loving, fanatical neighbor, the Moro, or his more distant neighbor from the new republic of China, or Siam. "Esteban and Miguel, sons of Don Emilio Aguinaldo, the famous insurrecto leader, the man who made General Funston |