ONE WEEK'S COLPORTER WORK IN MEXICO.
By A. G. Bodwell
I INTEND in this to give you as nearly as I can an idea of what we did in one week which we spent at Tehuantepec. Rising at daylight, and getting some tortillas and bananas, or atole (which is a kind of corn gruel), for breakfast, I then begin to canvass, and work until 12 or 1 P. M. After a dinner of tortillas and beans, I do what writing I am compelled to do, and then I start out and canvass as long as I can see. We stopped here in what is called a meson. It is something like a wagon-yard in the States. We rent stalls for our horses and a room for ourselves, spread a blanket on the floor, and sleep on this. During our stay here and in Salina Cruz, which was about a week of solid work, I took in $67.14 from cash sales and subscriptions, obtaining 44 paid subscriptions for our paper, and selling 188 papers, many of them at 10 cents a copy. I also sold 30 “Steps to Christ,” 18 “Christ’s Object Lessons,” 1 “Patriarchs and Prophets,” 24 Bibles, and 10 Testaments. When we left Tehuantepec we had to hire an ox-cart to haul our freight to Tanala. This was 6 days’ travel. About sundown we left Tehuantepec on horseback, and rode 25 miles to Jucitan. When we arrived it was late at night, and the people were asleep. So we tied our horses to trees, spread our saddle blankets on the ground, and went to sleep. The next day we canvassed the town, finishing a little before sundown, and then rode on to Chicapa, a distance of about twenty-five miles. Here again we tied our horses to trees and made a bed on the ground. We canvassed the town the next day, and left about 4 P. M. for Izhuatan, a distance of thirty miles. At this town we had some interesting experiences. One Indian woman had a Bible which some one had given her several years before in passing through. I canvassed her for the paper, but she said that she had no time to read anything but the Bible. She said that she kept the Bible where she could read it when she stopped a few minutes to rest. I talked with her for awhile, marked some passages for her on the Sabbath question, and told her how it was that the world was keeping the wrong day, then left her a tract on the subject. We left this place about 4 or 5 P. M., and then rode to Tapanatepec, about thirty-six miles farther. Here we canvassed all day, leaving at dusk for La Punta, a distance of thirty or thirty-five miles. We arrived there between 3 and 4 in the morning, took a nap13under some trees, and about sunrise went to work. After eating some atole and bread and feeding our horses, we left there about 4 or 5 P. M., having worked hard all day, barely stopping long enough to eat breakfast and dinner. We rode thence to Tanala that night, a distance of about twenty-five miles. In the entire six days’ travel on the road I took 400 paid subscriptions, besides selling many papers, Bibles, and Testaments. In the four days here in Tanala I have taken in from cash sales and subscriptions over $52, and have secured 43 paid yearly subscriptions for our paper here, sold 114 papers, 29 “Christ’s Object Lessons,” 18 “Steps to Christ,” 3 “Patriarchs and Prophets,” 7 Bibles, and 4 Testaments. I sold all the books that I brought with me, so for the rest of my trip I had only papers, Bibles, and Testaments. I could have sold many more if I had had them. Several asked me for “Patriarchs and Prophets.” One man sent a boy to hunt me up, with a note and the money, asking me to please send “Patriarchs and Prophets.” The first half day I was here I took 15 yearly subscriptions for our paper. In all this country which I have passed through the people want literature and they want the Gospel. The power of the priests to a large extent is broken. I believe that tent meetings or Bible-readings could be held at these places. Schools could also be established. The people express themselves freely about these things, and say, “We want to know the truth.” They are a very friendly and industrious people. We sowed this place before the priest knew what we were doing. He then held services and told the people that the books we were selling were bad books; that they would be condemned for buying them. He even tried to get them to burn the books. The people told what he said, and came to buy more books. They said that they believed the life of Jesus Christ was more pure than that of the priest. It makes me think that we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. During the month I have traveled over 420 miles on horseback, and placed over 88,000 pages of Christian literature in the hands of the people, besides taking 129 subscriptions for our paper.