p. 16 | Canvassing Among the Mexicans on the Rio Grande

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 19, 1909

Canvassing Among the Mexicans on the Rio Grande

By W. F. Mayers

MARCH 19, I left Corpus Christi, Tex., for an extended trip among the Mexicans. After leaving Sarita I came to a sandy desert, and was four days in getting through it. In some places the sand was fifty feet deep, and the wind shifted it about continually. The railroad company had to build barriers to keep it from covering the track.

On account of the dry weather, grass was very scarce. But for the artesian wells and the windmills one would suffer for water. By carrying corn for the horses, I managed to get through all right.

I did not take many books into the desert because of the heavy sand, but ordered supplies from the publishers to come through by freight. There were only a few Mexicans in the desert, but they nearly all bought books, and by the time I got through, I had sold out. When I arrived at the railroad, I found the books I had ordered had been laid off seventy-five miles above, and it was only after much effort that I could get them forwarded.

On account of the delay, I ordered another box of books, to be sure to have enough; but the Lord's blessing was with me, and I soon had to order more. I sold “El Rey Que Viene,” “Cristo Nuestro Salvador,” “Camino A Cristo,” “Cartilla Sagrada,” besides the Spanish paper El Mensajero de la Verdad, and tracts.

Some of the people are too poor to buy a book, even if it costs only thirty-five cents, so I sell them something for five cents, and sometimes as low as one cent, and to those unable to buy anything I give tracts free. The Lord has also provided a way whereby I receive a supply of Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—for free distribution, for which I feel very thankful. I find that even the Catholics are glad to get them.

Now is the opportune time to work among these benighted people. I have felt the leading of God's Spirit in a marked manner. He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.”

On account of the long droughts, there is much suffering among the poor peons, and I have seen whole families walking along the road, carrying all their possessions on their backs, in search of work.

Mexicans are faulty in many ways, but they are not stingy with what they have; they are always generous and hospitable.

Sometimes they ask me to read from the books, and often the reading of a few paragraphs sells the book without any further effort, and then I feel well repaid for my hard study in learning the language. “The Gospel Primer” and “Christ Our Saviour” are good books for them, as many of them have very little education, and some none at all.

I recently sold four books to one man, and neither he nor his family could read. I told him that when he had visitors, they could read for him. After buying the books, he took me to his neighbor, and loaned him the money to buy two books, although he also could not read.

The greatest obstacle in selling Spanish literature is the poverty of the people. Many desire novels. “Haven't you any novels?” they ask. I tell them no, but that I have something better,—the history of Jesus.

People who are used to sitting down to well-filled tables have no idea how poor the Mexicans are, and how little they live on. Corn made into thin cakes called tortillas, and coffee, constitute the diet of many. Beans are sometimes added to this menu when they are able to have them.

Their houses are built of sticks woven together, and daubed with mud, also sometimes of palm branches or anything available, and usually have earth floors. Most of the roofs are made of grass, and serve the purpose very well. Very little lumber is used, and usually there are no glass windows, openings being left in the wall for light and air to enter.

The Mexicans are bound by habits centuries old, and they seldom break away from them. The standard of cleanliness is low among the poorer classes, and they are much afflicted with skin diseases.

Many of these people are little better than slaves, centuries of oppression having degraded them. But now the time has come to give them the last message that mankind is to receive before the coming of the Lord. Who are ready to consecrate themselves to this work?

W. F. MAYERS.