Great benefits have resulted from the schools and the education of the children; for these pupils are, in their homes, teachers to their own parents, and in the villages through which they are scattered they arouse the people to devotion.  A young boy, one of the singers in the church, thus replied to a Spaniard who communicated to him his evil desires, in order that the youth might help him to attain them:  “Sir, I know of an excellent remedy for this temptation which thou art suffering.  Do thou repeat a rosary to the Virgin Mary, and I will say another in thy behalf; thus thou wilt drive away these evil thoughts.”  Thus he who should by right have been the teacher was himself instructed by this new Christian.

Other events in the same residence of Alangalang and in
Carigara.  Chapter LXXV.

When a certain father was setting out from one of the villages that he had been visiting, in order to return to the chief town [of the mission], an incident befell him which the father himself relates, in a letter which is in part as follows:  “In this village there was a sick man, an infidel, whom the father had visited, and provided with someone to instruct and catechize him for holy baptism.  As the father thought that the malady was making but slow progress, he left the sick man thus.  But God, who chose to comfort that soul so desirous for its salvation, caused such a change in the weather that, although the sky was serene and clear when they went to visit the sick man, a rainstorm suddenly arose, so violent that it seemed as if our Lord were constraining the father (as he did the glorious St. Benedict) to halt and abandon his journey in order that that soul might enter by the true way into heaven.  With this he began to instruct the sick man very slowly; and, having taught him what was sufficient, gave him holy baptism, to the great consolation and joy of both.  At once the rainstorm ceased, and the sky became so clear that the father, leaving that poor man much consoled—­or, more correctly, rich in celestial gifts—­made his journey very comfortably.  A few days having passed without his making any inquiry about the sick man, an Indian came to the father, and said to him:  ’Father, that Indian whom thou didst baptize, coming hither, our Lord has taken.’

“During Lent and Holy Week they performed their penances with great devotion, shedding their blood with such fervor that it became necessary to restrain them.  So strong and ardent was their desire to do penance that those who could not procure woolen shirts would not go in the procession, waiting for those garments already stained with blood, in order that they might bathe these anew with their own.  Nor was there less fervor among the children, who sought permission [to take the discipline], even at a very tender age, and became disconsolate indeed if it were denied them.  These new Christians practiced another sort of penance during the last two weeks of Lent, which caused great edification.  In the