Suicide of a Little Missionary in Baguio

Title

Language

English

Year

1924

Subject

Igorot (Philippine people) -- Religions.

Christians -- Mountain Province (Philippines)

Missionaries -- Mountain Province (Philippines)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

' Suicide of a Little Missionary in Baguio All those who visited Baguio this year must have seen Father Carlu. t he pastor of t be snmmer capital of the P. I., driving- an auto, his own flin·er, on his way to some of his scl1ools. or to lhe hospital, or on some other errand. J!]verybody at Baguio knows that Father Carluis rarely athome (ifone may call a sacristy a home) and is nearly always in a hurry 011 the street. Do not be scandalized. dear reader, when you read that Father Carlu has an auto~ First: Father Carlu worki-; daily six hours overtime and will continue that anti hygienic syotem his whole life, as long as he can move. Second: Father Carlu is a youngster who made his tirst Communion a great number of years ago. So he well deserved a better conveyance than a St. Francis train: a reason why. some months ago, he received an auto, a Hupmobile. And if you need a third reason to let a poor missionary possess an auto: the hupmohilewas not a lllXury. l>ut quilt> the contrary: it "a~ as old af: its maf:I er or at lea;;t looked as old. }Tany even ;;aid it was a shame such an ac:ti ve ~I i~f:ionary had no better machine. It rattled and sig-hed with a terrible noise from 1-'tart to stop. so that its drher hardl.v ever had to blow liis horn. to am1ounc·e pis rather slow coming up from behind the sharpest cun·es on tl1e mountain roads. An.nva.1· that hupmol>ile had become dur·i ng- t lte'e last monrhs a near!:-· in"epa 1·a ble companion to the past or of Hag-uio: it helped him g·1,ea1ly in his missionat·j work. it meant FatherCarlu doubled. it was a second little missi011ary but of (·ourse of a i"pecial kind: an old Hup. Once upo11 :1 lime Father C'ardyn. t,he assistant or Fatlte1· Carlll. basing received a lic~ense lo dri1·e an auto. \\"ent ollt on the old c ripple hupmobile of the Baguio mission. How lovely that machine >:oared! so does it seem to a new drh·er on ilis tirst expedition. Father C'a rdyn made a stop in fro11t of the Baguio station. jumped out of lhe f:teaming overhPated B11p and entered the station, just for a couple of minutes. Then baC'k be 11·ent to his machi ne. Hut. oh ! honor. the Hup had disappeared, leaving- only >'ome marks of the 11·heel>:1mthe sandy road. \Vho might have stolen an auto, only worth 1 lw price of its snap'? But the thief c'ould not be fal'. He might still lie caug-ht. Immediately Father Carclyn ran on his t rnC'kf:. :\ ncl see: a Ii ttle farther 29 the IIup liacl l urno>d to the right, taking- the entrance road towards the Holei Pines. Hut .... was it poiosible? ln front of a tree there stood. there lay, there was the lost H upmobile: a total wreck! What had happened? \Vhen the Father had left.the machine, the Hup had thought (if Hupmolliles can think): I am old and stiff. unfit for work, more unfit to climb mountains. 1 am ugly and rust~·, even·body mocks nie. My limbs are weak: they may give way and break at any time, on any road and send my dril·er and passengers to left or rig-ht into any precipice .... and at this terrible thought, the thought of killing a missionary. old Hup had shivered. But this trembling had set the machine arunning and ..... clown the road it went, t-al<ing the curve towards the Hutei Pines, and heading for a huge tree. Into the tree it bumped with all the force of its own weight and the acquired for·•e of a hundred meters' dash downwards. The t ree in selfdefencegal"e the Hup a terrible blow on its face: it meant a perfect knockout. The Hup was beaten, terribly beaten, breathless, noiseless, wheelless, shapeless: in one word: everything, kss a Hup! Poor thing: but a few months ago, a faithful little missionary, it had now committed suicide. to save the life of its master. a great mii;:sionary: Father Carlu. ----~·-•,+----

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