Valparaíso
(“Vale of Paradise”), Chile.
[Sunday,]
Feb. 4,th, 1900
9 P.M.
My Dear Mamma and all the rest:
Perhaps you will be surprised to learn that I am again nearly four hundred miles from our recent home in Concepción. I did not intend to attend the conference, but Charlie wanted me to do so and the La Fetras of Santiago also advised me to do so, and now I am very glad that I came, though the trip was hot and dusty. [There is likely a lost letter in the sequence since there is no previous reference to going to a conference.] (Charlie went to the Spanish church tonight so I have no pen.)
Monday evening we arrived in Santiago. Charlie came here on Tues., but I came with Mrs. Ira La Fetra on Weds. as far as the beautiful hotel at Viña del Mar—a summer resort for the city of Valparaíso people. Mrs. L has a sprained foot from a fall; as she invited me to stay with her I rubbed her foot and took as good care of her as I knew how and spent a part of the time in walking through the beautiful park in back of the hotel—the prettiest spot I have seen in Chile. Mrs. L. paid all my expenses ($6 per day).
On Thursday morning we came to the conference, which is conducted by [Methodist Episcopal Church] Bishop [William Xavier] Ninde, [1832–1901], of Detroit, Mich. He is a very fine old gentleman. We had a long talk with him. We asked him to remove us to Santiago because the La Fetras wanted us and we like them very much, which was promised, though the appointments will not be read till tomorrow. The school at Santiago is the most important one and has a large printing establishment in connection with it. So we are very much pleased with the change.
We also liked it at Concepción quite well, and I do not like the thought of leaving some of those friends behind, but the position of director and directora of the Colėgio Americano was assigned to us. (Don’t read the following [i.e., the rest of this paragraph and all of the following one, all of which is between large parentheses] to any[one] but the family[.]) (Mr. and Mrs. Herman were here three months before we came, and because the wages of Director and directora are a little more they have in an underhanded way been scheming for the position ever since they came. Mr. Herman is one of those stingy, quiet, undermining fellows, so we concluded that it would not be so very pleasant to work with them. To fill the position well would mean more hard work than either of us are able to do, and the responsibility is great also.
The bishop and other workers say now that we have shown that we came for something better than to seek position, and if they had any other suitable people they would not give the place to Mr. Herman. We like it better at Santiago anyway.)
This city—Valparaíso—looks much prettier to me now than it did when I came from the ocean. It looks nice at night to see the lights in tiers up the high hills. There are about six thousand Germans in this city and nearly that many English people, besides other nationalities. Nearly all the important business of this country is done by foreigners. All the chief wholesale and retail stores, hotels, gas companies, and railroads are in the hands of foreigners. But they (most of them) need mission work fully as much as the natives because they come for the selfish purpose of making money and often fall deeply into drunkenness and immorality.
Often foreigners live with some of these women till they have some wealth, then they go off and leave them destitute with families, and I am told that many of these poor children on the streets belong to the priests. Thus you see it is never quite safe to inquire into the ancestry of some of these boys and girls. Now, do not get the idea that all the people here are bad. This morning the Spanish chapel was crowded with people that have been converted under one of our missionaries, and in the testimony meeting, the minister had to ask them to wait for each other and give the floor to only a few at a time. They all seemed so anxious to testify at once.
At eleven we were all seated in the Scotch Presbyterian church, where our Bishop was invited to preach a sermon in English. For the first time I felt as though we were only a few miles from home—The finely dressed Scotch congregation, the pipe organ, and the good sermon from the text “He rests in his love,” Zeph. 3:17, made me feel so. The conference provides for our entertainment at the Lutheran mission home for sailors. The keepers of this home, Mr. and Mrs. Kipp, met each other as mission workers among the Jews in Jerusalem. Mrs. Kipp is from Alsace, Germany, and she took a course in Moody’s Bible school in Chicago in preparation for her work. She speaks four languages and is a very interesting lady. They have a baby three months old.
I was so glad to get the letters from home, mailed at Ashland. We got nine letters in one day, but I am sorry to say that I did not receive the Xmas package you sent me, and I fear I will not get it. Miss Iwan received a number of handkerchiefs from home, but they were put between different leaves of a “Ladies Home Journal”. The postage is not so much that way either. These people have very prying dispositions, and if you would see what kind of people at Panama handle the mail you would wonder that it comes through as well as it does. However, I thank you as much as if I would receive them. Miss Iwan and Miss White received boxes from home.
They had sent to their people for some things which were sent to New York to Dr. Smith, and he kept them till the bishop came, who brought them with his baggage. That is about the only safe way to get any packages here. Now, I am not hinting for a package. Mr. I. H. La Fetra is going to the States soon and will return in Sept. of 1900.
Perhaps, I will send you some money for some underwear before that time. If not, you need not bother anything about it. The La Fetra brothers [Ira, the founder of Santiago College, and Tylee, also key to the development of the school] are both Ohio Wesleyan University men from Delaware, Ohio, and we believe they are very good people. Pa, as it is not quite convenient for me to send you the money for your compliments you may let it bring you interest for a time; and I fear grandma will be disappointed if she expects me to come home a fleshy woman because I am not built that way. I know enough about my physical condition to know that I will never be very fleshy, though I am ten or fifteen pounds heavier than I was when I left home.
[Santiago
de Chile]
[Tuesday,]
Feb 6th
1900
2 P.M.
It seems I cannot get one decent letter written to home. Three different kinds of writing in one letter are quite enough variety.
Well, the conference is over, and I am glad to tell you that our future home will be Santiago. Charlie will go to Concepcíon tomorrow and pack our books and goods and bring them here without my aid. The railroads here are so rough and have so many turns that it makes me feel seasick to ride a long distance on them. You see, Concepción is three hundred miles from here. We left Valparaíso last evening on the slow train and arrived here this morning at 6:30. After breakfast I went to bed and slept till twelve; then, after dinner, Charlie handed me three letters. One from home, which of course was read first, one from Judd, and a twenty-three-page letter from Miss Rebecca Lullman.[?] She gave a most interesting description of events at Lebanon, Ohio, [home of the normal school that Dillie attended].
Perhaps, Ada will be interested to learn that Prof. Withers has a son about five months old.
Also glad to learn that Ada was getting on so well with her school, but the strain on her nervous system makes me shudder. I have been through it all and am convinced that the natural laws of health serve their penalty on all who draw too heavily on the nervous system. Heavy mental work with the proper intervals of physical exercise is not so apt to leave its traces, but if I have helped anyone in my work at home I would not undo any of it if I could. My vacation has been such a rest that I feel as though I could do good work the coming year. The description of the Xmas dinner at home made me a little hungry, but how would you like some of the large delicious peaches and melons that are sold on the streets here? I never saw such contrasts as there are in this country. One may see a beautiful dwelling house on one corner of the street and a dirty low hovel on the other, and some of the most finely dressed people on the streets and near them, some old, dirty women try to sell “empanadas” (a cake of dough with meat on the inside) or a little fruit that perhaps grows on her only tree. In walking a distance of one-half mile on the street one day I met six beggars who were lame, blind, or crippled in some way and each one said “de me un cinquito por el amor de Dios”; “Give me a little five-cent piece for the sake or love of God.” It is almost heart-rending to see them, and yet I am told that most of them would spend the money to get drunk; and sometimes families that have a blind child send it out on the streets to beg a living for those at home who are too lazy to work. Others beg for the Catholic cathedrals. To give something to all the beggars one sees, a small fortune could be expended in a short time.
We received the booklet that Grace [Charlie’s sister] sent us but not the package from home. I sent some linen inserting [sic] and a little narrow lace edging with Mrs. Campbell to mail to you when she reaches the “Estados Unidos”
It is not pretty, but you should have seen how glad the poor old, greasy-faced dark-colored women were to be able to sell. Many of the poor people make lace and baskets of horse hairs to sell for a living, and of course anybody who tries to make a living in a decent way ought to be encouraged. The lace is handmade, and I thought perhaps the inserting [sic] would make two dresser covers with hemstitched hems as I could not get the lace to match it—one for Mellie and one for Ada because I did not get them anything last year. and the narrow [word missing] was made by the children in a Catholic orphanage. I want you to edge some of grandma’s nightcaps with it. Don’t let anybody see it because it is not pretty. I’ll try to send the rest of you something some other time. Allie, I’m sorry that I did not think about sending some pressed orange blossoms. They are all past now and you’ll have to wait for nearly a year.
I should have written for one of the home newspapers ere this, but it seems it takes all my writing time to write to friends, and I can’t write a good enough letter for the paper.
(Secret) Mellie is doing now what she should have done long ago. If we do not maintain our own dignity and independence no one will do it for us. While we ought to be kind and respect the rights of others we can gain nothing by allowing our own to be trampled down. Judd seems to be very sorry for past conduct, but his mind is such a query [sic] to me that I do not know if that meek and humble spirit would continue if he once possessed [his mind?] again. I will write more the next time when I have thought more about it. I wish it were not as it is.
The states mail leaves this evening, so I have no time to recopy this and get it in better form.
You ought all do less work and rest a little more. I wish I could relieve ma in her work this vacation.
Dillie
P.S.
I just finished a letter to Judd. From [the] conference I learned that Protestantism is slowly but surely changing the conditions of these people. The work is hard but encouraging.
Love to all and don’t work too hard
Dillie
P.S. Please see at once that our address at the Ashland Press is changed to Santiago Casilla 67. Our letters were forwarded to us from Concepción, but not the [news]papers. Maybe an Ashland Press is awaiting us at Concepción.
The Bishop will ordain Charlie and another minister, 40 yr. Old, at this College tomorrow. We cannot tell what the nature of our work will be till the next letter.
Lovingly, also Charlie sends love
Transcribed 2015 by SMK
Posted Jan 9, 2019 at 11:30.
Revised Nov 27, 2022 at 19:44. EDT.
Retrieved Jun 1, 2026 at 10:57.
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