Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-17


thing, however, to hungry stomach like
mine, quite as palatable and delicious as
any poem, in the old fellows battered
waffies, hot battercakes, milk and noun
tain honey. Receive the assurance that
| did ample justice to the baking, and
failed not to compliment, in the best
Spanish / could command, the thirteen
dirty children of my host, who were
| really about as handsome as frizzly chick
ems lust out of rainstorm, but who APP
peared, under the transferring operation
of little flattery, tan belJos como Ids
eStrelLas.
Having disposed Of the victuals, was
ready to dispose of business, but the bust
ness did not sit as well upon the stomach
| of my host as his bread and butter did on
mine, so | accomplished little by my trip.
The shades of night had fallen ere /
bid my host goodbye, and mounting our
horses, we set out a lively pace ON our re-
turn. The atmosphere was in that pecu-
liarly inyigorating, health-giying condi-
ton which sends thrills of pleasure
through the frame; when the human sys-
TEN if in that delicious state of equilibrium
which is susceptible only of sensations of
delight, like the harmonies of an instru-
ment in perfect tune. / journeyed along,
not in dreamy reverie, but in a waking
delirium of ecstasy. As we rode on there
suddenly appeared beautiful phenome-
non on the pinnacle of the mountain to
the east of us. A bright band about
three inches broad, extending for hun
dred yards or more along the backbone of
the mountain, which was bare of trees
and presented its dark but clearly defined
profile sharply against the sky, began 10
CLEAN with the brilliancy of polished sill
yer; and the explanation came a moment
later, when the full round moon raised its
glowing disk in the heavens, bathing all
the woods, hills and canons in a silver
sea Of effulgence. As down the vale we
rode, completely environed by mountains,
with no visible place of egress, the river
a serpent of silver on our right, the grass
under our feet carpet of silver, and every
shrub or twig glittering like FURNISHED
armor, / thought of Rasselas and the
Happy Valley. Like him was not /
Fastening eagerly to scale the walls that
hedged me in, to see and try what lay be-
yond their uutrodden heights, only at last
TO dash from me the cup of disappoint-
ment and to sigh for the innocent joys of
the valley!
Down the glen we moved, and drank
in its beauties like an inspiration. At
last the white cross over the Mission was
figured upon the horizon. We reached
the spot and drew rein to take in the
scene. AS my eyes wandered inquisi-
lively over the ruined walls, the fallen
roofs and broken arches, is it strange my
thoughts should be tinged with the sombre
and sad2 No lights cleaned from the
dark pile; no forms moved to and fro in
its dusky halls Where were the thou
sand souls that once labored and worship
cd here? A century had wrought sad
change. Not one of that host was left
to continue the work they had begun, or
to record the history of their end. No
songs of praise, or voice of minister
sounded through the aisles The cross
alone cleaning against the sky, spoke
with the tongue of an angel prOclaiming
the unchanging and Interchangeable truth.
Pious hands-fanatical though they may
have been-raised and fastened that
standard there just one hundred years
ago, and there it stands to-day pointing
heavenward as at first But those who
reared the structure are gone-every one;
thier adobe huts near by in which they
lived, are in dust, and the fields they till
ed are barren and black. 1t is not here
as in those countries where the tide of
civilization rolls over the old and builds
upon il the new. In such cases the desc
lation of the ruin is buried out of sight
by the comeliness of the new structure,
which takes its place. But not so with
this old Mission. Decay and desc lation
are here without the reforming, recon-
structing and identifying hand of i'm
prOvement. However, l would not be
understood to mean that this Mission is
altogether ruin. On the contrary, the
main building is still intact, and services
are held in it every month.
Under the mission system in California
the Fathers waxed fat aud rich. This
Mission of San Antonio de Padua in 1922
had 80, 900 head of cattle; 800 horses,
and 600 mules; 500 yoke of oxen; $4,000
sheep, and 600 hogs.
Formerly 1000 Indians belonged to
this Mission-there is not one within
many miles of it now-and great num-
bers belonged to the other Missions. The
whole number of the race in the State in
1928, is estimated at 1000 now there
are scarcely 10000. Undoubtedly the
decay and decline of this race is owing
chiefly to its contact with the whites
though the reason of the fact is not so
clcar-but this is not the only cause. Ma
tons rise and fall; races follow their ex-
ample. Civilization raises its polished
shafts to day; tomorrow they lie in rub
bish, and moss and lichens fastcn them
selves upon the broken columns. The
ruins of vast cities are found in Mexico
and Arizona, but the people who built
them melted away before the followers of
Cortes, and so rapid was that decline, that
their towns had fallen into decay, and the
| grass and earth had covered them before
the vanguard of civilization had reached
their gates. The fiat of God has made
| it so.