He became deeply interested in the subject of education. He said one day to Dr. Z. C. Taylor, our missionary at Bahia: "While I was a Catholic I had no desire to educate my children, but now I would give all of this farm to see them educated." Dr. Taylor told him of some of his own plans concerning a school, and Captain Egydio contributed the first money for the school, which Dr. Taylor afterward established, Captain Egydio's gift of a thousand dollars making it possible for this school to be organized. Of the trials and persecutions which he endured for the gospel, we can cite only one or two. A priest paid two men sixty dollars to go and take the Captain's life. They appeared one night at his door and asked for employment. He invited them in, saying he had plenty of work he could give them to do. The time soon arrived for family prayers and the men were invited to be present. The Captain afterward told the family that while he was praying he received a distinct impression that the men had come to do him bodily injury and that in the prayer he had committed himself absolutely to the protection of God. The next day he took the two men out into the field to show them what to do. In the meantime he had been telling them of the love of Jesus and how He had come to save to the uttermost those who would believe on Him. One lingered behind to shoot, but his hand trembled too much. The other did not have the courage to do the man of God any injury. That night they said they would not stay longer. He paid them for the day's work, bade them godspeed and they departed. But he did not always escape suffering so easily. One afternoon as he was passing by the priest's home the priest accosted him and said: "Captain, why is it you do not stop with me any more? You used to do so, but of late you have passed me by." He urged the Captain so strongly that he decided to stay all night. They offered him wine to drink, which he refused. Then they gave him coffee. That night he suffered agony and was sick for some time after reaching home. He was sure he had been poisoned. He suffered many persecutions from unsympathetic neighbors, not only from criticism, but sometimes from bodily injuries and from painful abuse, all of which he bore with an equanimity of spirit which would do credit to any martyr to the cause of Christ. Dr. Z. C. Taylor relates a trying experience through which he and Captain Egydio passed together.