The second enterprise which the Christian Woman's Board of Missions is to develop for the reaching of the higher

S. G. INMAN.

classes is something that no one had thought of a year ago, but into which we have been led step by step by the Lord himself. It has grown from a little reading-room opened a year ago in Ciudad Porfirio Diaz into a great moral movement, which has stirred the whole community and bids fair to lead our mission into a new epoch of service. This reading-room, being the only thing of its kind in the city, attracted the young men of the best families. Night classes in English brought still more, and when a debating club was organized its membership was made up of a number of the most influential men of the city. The club began the discussion of moral themes and soon the little room was too small to hold the crowd. Following the gambling fair, when the whole city is given up to gambling for a month's time on the public plaza, the club discussed the question as to whether such fairs were good things or not. The facts brought out in this discussion so stirred the members that they decided that the general public should be educated in the matter. The mayor was called on to help and a series of moral conferences was arranged to be held in the theater, which was placed at our disposal free of charge. The mayor himself presided at these meetings, and by his courtesy the municipal band furnished music, while our members and others of the most prominent [46] citizens spoke in favor of suppressing gambling and cleaning up the city in general.

      A profound impression was made on the community, and we were requested, at their close, to continue them in the fall, making them a regular part of the city's life. And best of all, before our committee of citizens could wait on the Governor of the State to ask him to suppress the gambling fair, he gave a general order against all gambling. And in a personal interview he expressed to us his great interest in the work, and afterward wrote us a letter, saying that if we succeeded in our plan of putting up a building for the enlargement of the work, the Government would exempt it from all taxation.

      This building is an absolute necessity. The place we have had consisted of only a small reading-room, a classroom and some living-rooms. But a few weeks ago we were turned out of these by the owner, who had been excommunicated by the parish priest for renting them to us. Our reading-room now occupies temporary quarters in an old store-room and our furniture is stored awaiting developments. So it is a question of buying property or giving up this magnificent opportunity. We need a building in which we can not only have a reading-room, library, classrooms and living apartments, but one in which we can have a chapel for evangelistic meetings. Because of lack of this room we have been able to have no religious services so far. Yet a number of men who have taken part in the moral campaign have promised that as soon as we begin evangelistic meetings they will become members of the church. So we stand now facing this great opportunity, which the American Consul at Diaz says, after twenty-five years' experience in Latin America, is the greatest he has ever seen a mission have. Here is offered to the Disciples of Christ, the youngest of all evangelical bodies working in Mexico, the opportunity to solve the greatest problem before missions in Latin America--the conversion of the educated classes. And we do not believe that they will fail to provide the means for the erection of this building and the entering of this great open door.

[CCR 46-47]