Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future Part 10

There are in the territory of the Republic several shrines of more than usual renown, which at certain seasons of the year attract crowds of wors.h.i.+pers, some coming all the way from Porto Rico. Wonderful cures of invalids are registered which recall the miracles of Lourdes.

The most celebrated of these churches is the one on the Santo Cerro, the Holy Hill, built on the exact spot where forces of Columbus planted their cross when defending the hill against the Indians. After the Indians had stormed the place all their efforts to destroy the cross were unavailing, so the story goes, and they were finally driven to precipitate flight by the apparition of the Virgin, sitting on the cross. A church was founded on the spot and a convent near by. During the dark years of the colony the convent was abandoned and fell to ruin but at no time was a priest lacking to look after the site of the miracle. In the time of Heureaux the humble wooden chapel then crowning the hill was replaced by a larger but modest brick church, the greater part of the bricks being carried up from the ruins of the old city of La Vega which lie at the foot of the hill. The church occupies an eminence overlooking the great Royal Plain. Its most prized treasure, which is reverently kissed by the priest before he shows it to the stranger, consists of two splinters about an inch long, of black wood, parts of the original cross of Columbus, enclosed in another small cross of gold filigree work. A larger piece of the original cross is kept in the cathedral at Santo Domingo City, to be exhibited on special occasions. The pieces of the original cross carried away by the Spaniards were enough to make a score of crosses, yet nevertheless there was always some wood left, which circ.u.mstance was heralded as an additional miracle.

Within the church on the Holy Hill, in one of the chapels, there is a hole in the stone floor a little over two feet square and deep, which is pointed out as the exact place where the cross of Columbus stood.

There is nothing so coveted by pilgrims as to be able to kneel in this hole and offer up their prayers. The soil from this spot is credited with strange powers, such as that of healing wounds on which it is laid, and that of causing floods to subside, when sprinkled on the troubled waters. The late Archbishop Merino a.s.sured me that the miraculous nature of the spot is evidenced by the fact that however much soil is taken out of the hole, the bottom thereof always retains the same level, but my later inspection of the dry yellow earth at the bottom disclosed nothing unusual. Near the Santo Cerro church is the trunk of the nispero tree, gnarled with age, from which Columbus is said to have cut the wood for his cross. All around are miserable shacks, inhabited, so the pure-minded priest of the church sorrowfully told me, by people the conduct of many of whom is quite at variance with the holiness supposed to pervade the place.

The town of Bayaguana, to the northeast of Santo Domingo City, also attracts the faithful, especially about the first of the year, by reason of the fame of the "Cristo de Bayaguana," a very ancient figure of Christ in the church of that town. In the same way Higuey in the eastern part of the island is specially noted for its shrine of the "Altagracia," a picture of the Virgin, of which tradition says that in the early days of the colony it was given by an aged mysterious stranger to the father of a devout maiden who had pined therefor. The church is built on the site of an orange tree under which, it is said, the picture was first admired by the girl and her relatives; the trunk of this tree is shown behind the altar of the church. Pilgrimages to this place take place preferably about the twenty-first of January and the miracles ascribed to the Virgin are astounding. Miracles of quite a different nature are attributed to an image of Saint Andrew, in the capital. The populace confidently believe that as sure as this figure is carried to the street an earthquake will follow.

There are always several altars in the churches, surmounted by figures of the saints to whom they are dedicated. Some of these statues are quite beautiful, others, in some of the poorer churches, are hideous.

As in other Spanish countries the churches are bare of seats, and people who attend either send small chairs before the service, or stand. It is not unusual to see well dressed ladies carrying their chairs to church. Women are much more in evidence than men, and the Dominican woman is not different from her sisters in other countries, for a new hat or dress is apt to awaken in her an irresistible yearning to go to church. Young men are fond of attending, too, but it is to be feared that in many cases their object is to see the young ladies rather than to hear the sermon.

The custom of celebrating the saint's day instead of the birthday is followed, so that birthdays pa.s.s unperceived while the day dedicated in the calendar of the Catholic Church to the saint whose name a person bears, is the day which he celebrates and on which he receives the felicitations of his friends.

Christmas tide is not a time when presents are exchanged, and Christmas trees are not found, save rarely and where the foreign influence is strong. There is no lack of celebration, however. On Christmas Eve the churches are crowded and there are banquets and dances going on everywhere. In the cities the small boys amuse themselves by setting off fireworks. During the Christmas week dances are frequent, and in the country they continue sometimes for days to the lugubrious accompaniment of accordions and large drums. December the twenty-eighth, Holy Innocents' day, is All Fools' day, instead of April the first, it being argued that just as the innocents of Herod's day were made to suffer, so the innocents of this age should be persecuted. Many are the pranks perpetrated and the small boy is in his glory. On New Year's Eve many families receive their friends; there is generally some large ball, and the new year is ushered in with fireworks and other noises.

The great day of the year for the children is the sixth of January, the feast of Epiphany, or Three Kings' Day, as it is called in Santo Domingo. Just as the three wise men from the East brought presents to the infant Christ in ages past, so they now make the rounds and leave presents for deserving children, thus taking the place of our Santa Claus. The receptacles they choose for the good things they deliver are either the children's slippers or shoes, or boxes made ready by the little ones. For weeks before the anxiously awaited day, letters are written to the Kings, explaining what gifts would be acceptable, and are given to the parents who undertake to deliver them. The children are careful to facilitate the display of the Kings'

generosity by placing their shoes or boxes in conspicuous places and filling the boxes with gra.s.s, so that the horses of the Kings can eat.

Their thoughtfulness is rewarded, for on the following morning the visit of the Kings is attested by indubitable evidence, as there is an abundance of toys and sweets and the gra.s.s is often quite strewn about. Excited little ones are sure they heard the pawing of the horses on the balcony. The Kings usually show a magnanimous disregard of past offenses, but occasionally they leave a letter of advice or warning, and they have even been known to place a switch in the box of a particularly bad boy.

Easter is celebrated with great solemnity. In order to provide opportunity for observing all the ceremonies prescribed by the church, they are so arranged that the ceremonies corresponding to the commemoration of the death of Christ are begun on Thursday at noon and the celebration of the resurrection on Sat.u.r.day at noon, and this is the order of dates accepted by the people in general. On Thursday and Friday soldiers form a guard of honor before the churches, and up to Easter of 1906 there was a strict prohibition of any vehicle going through the streets between Thursday noon and Sat.u.r.day noon. Not a wheel was permitted to turn in this period, giving rise to much inconvenience and discomfort. Since 1906 a more liberal view has prevailed. At this time as on certain other church festivals, solemn religious processions wind through the streets.

The church has charge of several small hospitals and orphan asylums. A few schools in the Republic are also under its auspices, but in general religious education is much neglected.

Although the Catholic religion is the state religion and is professed by so large a majority of the population, the influence of the church in the government is no more than in many countries where no such circ.u.mstances prevail. Discipline in the priesthood is limited almost entirely to ecclesiastical matters and priests otherwise speak and act for themselves. They frequently partic.i.p.ate in politics and are often to be met in munic.i.p.al councils and in Congress, and in such cases their acts indicate that they sit, not as priests representing the church, but entirely as individuals representing the const.i.tuency from which they were elected. Father Merino, who later became archbishop, was elected president and served out his term. President Morales had been a priest, but had abandoned the priesthood when he was elected to Congress. The present head of the church, Archbishop Nouel, has also been president, under a temporary compromise.

Another peculiarity of Dominican Catholicism is its tolerant att.i.tude towards freemasonry. It is not unusual for persons who are recognized as fervent Catholics to be at the same time enthusiastic masons.

There are instances even of devout families, where one of the sons belongs to the priesthood and the other sons and the father are zealous masons, but where all live under the same roof in absolute concord. The first lodges were founded in 1858 and there are lodges to be found to-day in all the princ.i.p.al cities. Several of them have their own buildings, that at Santiago being especially worthy of remark. They have done excellent work in behalf of charity and education. The lodges of Santo Domingo City, Santiago, La Vega and Moca maintain free public schools, and the lodge of Puerto Plata a hospital. The lodges of oddfellows in the Republic have done similar good work.

The absence of religious fanaticism is further exemplified by the tolerance accorded other religious sects. These, it is true, are but slimly represented. Of the Jewish faith there are probably not two dozen persons in the Republic. The Protestants are almost entirely negroes from the British and former Danish islands and other foreigners, and descendants of the American negroes settled in Santo Domingo. For these the Wesleyan Methodist Church of England maintains a flouris.h.i.+ng mission with chapels in Puerto Plata, Samana, and Sanchez and a small branch in Santo Domingo City. The princ.i.p.al chapel is in Puerto Plata, which is also the residence of the minister in charge of the mission. The African Methodist Church also has small stations at Samana and San Pedro de Macoris, though the word "African"

does not tend to make the church popular in Santo Domingo. There is further an almost abandoned Baptist mission in Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi. In all these churches, services are generally carried on in the English language alone. In San Francisco de Macoris, Protestant services are conducted in Spanish by devotees who do not seem to be ordained by any particular sect.

CHAPTER XIII

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE

Education in Spanish times.--Work of Hostos.--School organization.--Professional inst.i.tute.--Primary and secondary education.--Literacy.--Libraries.--Newspapers.--Literature.--Fine Arts.

As in other Spanish colonies, it was not the policy of the Spanish government in Santo Domingo to foster popular education. Learning was confined to the clergy and the aristocracy and was imparted only by servants of the church. As early as 1538, the Dominican friars obtained a papal bull for the establishment of a university, and in 1558 the inst.i.tution known as the University of St. Thomas of Aquino was inaugurated by them in Santo Domingo City, with faculties of medicine, philosophy, theology and law, the princ.i.p.al branch being theology. This university acquired considerable celebrity, but practically disappeared during the colony's decline, being revived by royal decree of May 26, 1747, which gave it the t.i.tle of Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Domingo. The cession of the island to France and the wars which followed weakened the famous inst.i.tution, which was definitely closed by the Haitians when they a.s.sumed control of the government. The Haitian occupation and the civil disorders of the first forty years of the Republic were not propitious for the spreading of education. Beyond a theological seminary founded in 1848, there were only a few humble public and private schools, leading a precarious existence. An eminent Porto Rican educator, Eugenio M. de Hostos, was responsible for the intellectual renaissance of Santo Domingo. This remarkable man was one of those talented dreamers produced by Latin-America, a lover of the abstract ideal in government, philosophy and pedagogy, erudite, eloquent, with an enthusiasm which fired his pupils and hearers. Early in life he conceived the idea which he preached unceasingly: that of a Confederated West Indian Republic, in which the princ.i.p.al states were to be Cuba, Santo Domingo and Porto Rico. Inspired by the Cuban war of independence of 1868 to 1878, he wrote and spoke throughout Spanish America in behalf of the union of the Spanish speaking peoples of the West Indies, the first step to that end to be the independence of Cuba. In 1880 he arrived for the third time in Santo Domingo, where he was then less known than in South America. Having obtained from the government a commission to found normal schools in the Republic, he was appointed director of the normal school of Santo Domingo City. He came as the right man at the right time. His teachings touched a responsive chord in the hearts of the Dominicans; his unsparing condemnation of old pedagogical methods and eager advocacy of new ones gave rise to discussions which awakened a general interest in education and letters; and his aggressive enthusiasm smote the rock which held Dominican literature bound. A prominent Dominican historian, Americo Lugo, says: "I believe that what may be called national literature does not begin until after the arrival in the Republic of the eminent educator Eugenio M. de Hostos."

Hostos labored in Santo Domingo for eight years, during which time he had as pupils many who have since become prominent in the councils of the Republic. The baneful policies of Heureaux forced his departure, and he settled in Chile with his family, being appointed professor of const.i.tutional law at the National University. Upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American war, when it became apparent that Porto Rico would be American and his ideal of an Antillan Confederation definitely shattered, he journeyed to Was.h.i.+ngton to labor in behalf of Porto Rico, returning later to his native island in the hope of uniting the Porto Ricans in a demand for autonomy. There political pa.s.sion ran high, and Hostos, disappointed, went back to Santo Domingo, where his entry was almost triumphal. He again a.s.sumed charge of public education though the civil disorders filled him with sadness. In 1903 he died in Santo Domingo, but the seed he sowed lives and flourishes and his memory is revered by Dominicans.

In 1884 a general school law was pa.s.sed, repeatedly modified since, according to which primary instruction is a charge upon the munic.i.p.ality, while the cost of secondary instruction is to be defrayed by the state. Supreme inspection over educational matters was given to the Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, who was a.s.sisted by a superior board of education with school inspectors in the various provinces. There were further special boards of education in each province, presided over by the governor, and school boards in the communes which are not capitals of provinces and in the cantons.

Owing to the difficulty of finding competent personnel, the inspection of the educational inst.i.tutions has generally been perfunctory and the teachers have done pretty much as they pleased. Unfortunately the financial limitations of the country have not permitted the development of the schools in the measure desired. Since the middle of 1917 numerous changes in the school system and curriculum have been decreed by the Department of Public Instruction and the system is undergoing a general reorganization.

In 1882 a "Professional Inst.i.tute" was founded, the name of which was in 1914 changed to "University of Santo Domingo," and it is now called the Central University of Santo Domingo. It occupies the same building in the capital, adjoining the church of St. Dominic, where the old university was located. It confers degrees in five branches: law, medicine, pharmacy, dental surgery and mathematics and surveying.

Practically all the lawyers of the Republic have graduated from this school. Most of the native pharmacists, also, have studied here. With reference to instruction in medicine and surgery, and in dentistry, the inst.i.tution is handicapped by the lack of a suitable hospital and clinic. As a result those who wish to adopt any of these professions pursue their studies abroad, if possible, and all the best known physicians are graduates of foreign universities. The entire annual appropriation for the University is only about $24,000. A similar inst.i.tution, on a smaller scale, is the Professional Inst.i.tute of Santiago, founded in 1916. In several cities there are high schools called normal schools, and other inst.i.tutions called superior schools, and the capital has an academy of drawing, painting and sculpture.

With the exception of a few private schools, primary education is in the hands of the munic.i.p.alities, which are a.s.sisted by small subventions from the national government. In the munic.i.p.alities there is more enthusiasm for education than in Congress, if we judge from the figures presented by the budgets. Every little town takes pride in making its budget for education as large as possible, year after year.

The total amount spent for educational purposes, however, including salaries, rent, supplies, subventions and teachers' pensions, is only in the neighborhood of $500,000, contributed about in equal shares by the state and the munic.i.p.alities.

The total number of scholars enrolled is only about 20,000. The schools are generally located in rented houses, there being no buildings erected expressly for school purposes. Their equipment is as a rule deficient. The teaching force is handicapped by lack of facilities and training. The salaries of the elementary teachers are very small, and while some munic.i.p.alities are prompt in their payments, others lag far behind, and the Spanish saying "as hungry as a schoolmaster" has not lost all its meaning.

If the amounts expended for education are not large, it is due to lack of money and not to lack of realization of the advantages of learning.

The interest manifested in education and the eagerness of parents to furnish their children as much schooling as possible, are among the most hopeful signs for the future. In the towns and villages where the schools are located, most children learn at least to read and write, but out in the country illiteracy and ignorance reign supreme. In the absence of statistics it is not possible to determine the proportion of illiterates; there is no doubt, however, that it is very large, and I have heard it estimated at all the way from seventy to ninety per cent of the population over ten years of age.

Some of the best schools are private inst.i.tutions, one of the best known being the inst.i.tute for girls and young ladies, founded by Santo Domingo's foremost woman poet, Salome Urena de Henriquez. It is the custom also for well-to-do families to send their children abroad for study and to travel themselves, and the Dominicans are not few who, besides their native Spanish, speak other languages, acquired abroad.

Within the country, too, there is a predilection among the upper cla.s.s for the study of foreign tongues, and many learn English and French in the family circle or by a.s.sociation with persons speaking these languages.

As a result of the educational limitations, the population of the country may be divided into three groups: first, a number of persons, small in comparison with the whole number of inhabitants, who compare in culture, education and accomplishments with members of the best society in any country; second, a much larger group of persons who possess knowledge more or less rudimentary; and third, the great majority of the inhabitants, who are unlettered and unlearned.

One obstacle to the spread of information is the lack of public libraries. There is a public library in Puerto Plata, and various clubs in the larger towns have libraries, for their members or the public, but they are all very small and limited. The newspapers, therefore, furnish the only source of reading for the majority.

Practically all the papers are published in the cities of Santo Domingo, Santiago and Puerto Plata, and all are of modest dimensions.

Many newspapers have been founded in the Republic and after leading an ephemeral existence have succ.u.mbed, some because their editors were persuaded by threats or rewards on the part of the government to cease publication, and the greater portion because of financial embarra.s.sment. Notwithstanding the const.i.tutional precept guaranteeing free speech, editors of the opposition have generally found it more healthy to withdraw to the neighboring countries and conduct their campaigns at long range. On the other hand, it must be said that several governments have honestly endeavored to allow the press full liberty, but that the privilege has always been abused. The princ.i.p.al daily newspaper of the Republic, and the one having the largest circulation is the "Listin Diario" of Santo Domingo. It is a four-page sheet and its daily edition is about 10,000 copies. It is the only paper having a cable service, and it receives its cablegrams from the French cable company, whose line crosses the island. It is also one of the oldest of the existing newspapers, having been founded in 1889, and maintained itself by constantly observing a prudent att.i.tude. In the capital there also appear the "Gaceta Oficial," in which the laws and governmental decisions and announcements are published; the "Boletin Munic.i.p.al," containing munic.i.p.al announcements; several reviews whose character is indicated by their t.i.tle: "Revista Medica,"

"Revista de Agricultura," "Revista Judicial," "Boletin Masonico"; two small humorous papers; two commercial sheets; an ill.u.s.trated paper, "Blanco y Negro," and a well-known literary monthly, "Cuna de America"

(Cradle of America). Santiago also boasts a daily paper, "El Diario,"

as also several smaller papers and literary periodicals. In Puerto Plata "El Porvenir," the oldest of existing Dominican newspapers, is published, as well as three less important sheets.

Especially interesting among these publications are the "Cuna de America" and others devoted to belles-lettres. They const.i.tute a reflection of current Dominican literature, being given over to poems, lyric compositions, biographic, historical, philosophic and other articles, and extracts from new plays and books. In these periodicals most of the poems which have brought fame to Santo Domingo have appeared.

Before the intellectual awakening incident to the labors of Hostos the number of Dominican writers was small. Little was done in colonial times. In the turbulent period following the cessation of Spanish sovereignty at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the situation of the country was not favorable for the cultivation of the muses, but scions of the families who then emigrated have made their names immortal in the literature of Cuba and other neighboring countries.

Juan Pablo Duarte, the liberator, Antonio Delmonte y Tejada, the historian, and a small group of others who flourished shortly before or at the time of the establishment of the Republic, may be said to initiate the literature of the country, but their fame is mostly local. The first generation of Dominican citizens furnished a somewhat larger proportion of literary men, among whom may be mentioned the venerable Emiliano Tejera, the late Archbishop Fernando A. de Merino, Francisco X. Amiama, Francisco Gregorio Billini, Mariano A. Cestero, the historian Jose G. Garcia and the novelist Manuel de J. Galvan, though it is significant that the best productions of some of these appeared after 1880. It is since that year that literature has really flourished. So fecund have Dominican writers been, and so excellent their productions, that Santo Domingo occupies a proud place in the beautiful field of Latin-American literature, where only a few years ago it was practically unknown. There is an abundance of poets, essayists, historians and novelists worthy of mention, and an attempt to single out a few might lead to unjust distinctions. A number of the best writers are women, and all prominent newspaper men are also distinguished in literature.

In poetry, especially lyric poetry, the Dominican writers excel. They show great depth of feeling and a full command of the sonorous Castilian tongue. A favorite theme is, of course, the old story which is ever new. The civil wars have inspired many pathetic compositions, and poems like Salome Urena's apostrophe to the ruins of colonial times, Bienvenido S. Nouel's elegy on the ruins left by the late revolutions, and Enrique Henriquez' "Miserere!", gems of verse, are veritable cries of anguish at the desolation wrought by fratricidal strife. Perhaps it is the poets' sorrow at the misfortunes of their country which is the cause of the note of sadness so often to be remarked in Dominican writings. Some writers are cla.s.sed as poets though they have versified little or not at all; of these Tulio M.

Cestero, one of the most popular of the younger writers, is an example, it being said of him that "he writes his poetry in prose."

The love of poetry is by no means confined to persons of higher education, but is general throughout the country. It has been said that if there were one engineer in Santo Domingo for every hundred poets, there would be fewer mudholes in the roads. The productions of some poetasters are characterized by an abundance of rare adjectives, which are introduced as well to give an impression of depth of thought as to advertise the author's erudition. However, there are so many good poets that forgiveness is readily extended to the others.

The national song of Santo Domingo, an ode to liberty, was written by a school teacher, Emilio Prud'homme. The music was composed by Jose Reyes, who died several years ago, and is agreeable and almost majestic. Reyes occupies probably the most prominent place among Dominican composers. Others have also obtained prominence, and their number is constantly increasing; among them special mention may be made of Jose de J. Ravelo, one of the younger men whose work has attracted attention and gives promise of even better things.

In painting and sculpture several Dominicans have attained prominence of late fears. The princ.i.p.al artists are Arturo Grullon, a prominent oculist; Luis Desangles; and Miss Adriana Billini, whose paintings have received prizes in Paris, Porto Rico and Havana respectively.

Desangles painted the picture "Caonabo," which hangs in the session hall of the City Council of Puerto Plata and shows the Indian chief in chains. The sculptors are few, and their fame so far is only local, The foremost is Abelardo Rodriguez U., a photographer of the capital, who is something of an artistic genius. His photographs can compete in artistic merit with the best produced anywhere, and he is also a painter of no small merit. His best known sculpture is the figure of a dying guerilla soldier, significantly ent.i.tled, "Uno de tantos"--"One of so many."

Powerful a.s.sistance has been given to education and artistic development by various clubs and literary a.s.sociations, especially women's clubs, throughout the country. Though at times eclipsed by revolutionary turmoil, their work has continued undaunted and has had gratifying results. The educational plane attained by Santo Domingo in spite of all obstacles, and the general recognition of the supreme importance of public instruction, justify confident predictions of advance in the future.

CHAPTER XIV

MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION

Railroads.--Samana-Santiago Railroad.--Central Dominican Railway.--Roads.--Mode of Traveling.--Inns.--Princ.i.p.al highways.

--Steamer lines.--Postal facilities.--Telegraph and telephone lines.