Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-07-09
NOTES OF THE NElGHBORHO0D
OF TUCSON.
An Old Angeleno Gives His Impressions Of
Arizona Ruins s. The Cathedral of San
Xavier del Bach.

| nn Oiu hngelen0 0lVeb QIb Impressions Y
Arizona Ruins - The Cathedral Of Sa
Xavier del Bach.
Our some time fellow citizen
DIR. Guiberson, has written from
Tucson a letter to q member of hi
family here We make the follow
ing extracts:
Yesterday 1 and three other M
DIS, all of whose names begil
with q, went out to look ut fa
nous old church about ten mile
from here. 1t is called the Mission
of San Xavier del Bach, and it,
building dates back to the Spanish
conquest of Mexico, or whereabouts
1t is one of the architectural curl
osIties of this Territory, and 1 fell
richly repaid for the visit. The
building stands upon gentle ele
walton, which overlooks the valley
of the Santa Cruz (now the Pspago
Indian Reservation), covered with
q beautiful growth of fine mesquit
trees and here and there showing a
rich crop of ripening wheat or corn.
1t is the only spot in this sterile
country which seems fit for a hui
man being to live in. AS we ap-
preached the church 1 was forcibly
reminded by its appearance of the
celebrated Church of st. Sophia, in
COnstantinOple. The entrance,
once imposing and richly carved,
but now shattered and SCARED by
the corroding energy of time and
the vandalism of man, is flanked
by two tall, square bell towers,
constructed of Iudely baked bricks
AS, indeed. the Whole building is
These towers have in their upper.
most chambers chimes of bells,
which came from old Spain hun.
dreds of years ago, when the
grandson OF Ferdinand and Isabella
was cOntending with Luther, with
Henry and with Francis for the
empire of the world. 1 observed
that the top casting of each bell,
by which 1t was attached to the
beam above, was in the shaped of the
old Spanish crown. approached the
largest yell, and hurled the OIapper
against 1t, and as Its sonUr0us voice
rung out upon the silent air aud
died out In musical echoes among
the hOary columns aud decayiug
arches of the adj AGENT tower, | lived
for brief moment among the far
Oft memories of that ancient bell
among the splendid palaces of me.
deival Spain, glittering with the
contributions OF q tributary world,
and filled with the royal pofnp of
Cardinal, Bishop aud Priest. IL
stood before the wallis of Granada,
then falling from the nerveless
grasp of the last Of the Moorish
Kings, and as passed IN view the
gaily decorated pavilions of the in.
vading army, l stopped before that
of isabella the Cathoiic,u and
saw Column buS-then unknown to
fame-kueel before her upon the
enameiled sward, and receive his
commission to go forth upon the
wilderness of ocean and discover o
new continent. saw Cortez with
his handful of desperate followers
escaping from watery grave,
scaling the frowning walls of the
Mexican Cordilleras, Drawing hum
ger and thirst and disease, fighting
against odds OF 500 to one, trium-
plant at last, resting in security in
the ancient palace of the Monte
zumas. We throw sop to the
dusky Cerberus at the door, in the
shape Of a half dollar, aud enter
the body of the church. A vaulted
structure about so feet wide by 100
feet long, with gallery for the
choir over the pulpit. Just above
the wihgs, and in front of the |
choir. the roof swells out into a
dome which probably rises to the |
height OF IS feet. The whole inte-
rior has been, at one time, gor-
geously carved and frescoed, the
being all in clay. But
now all is touched with desolation.
has mutilated the i'm.
ages, defaced the frescoes,
pulled down the sacred vest
ments of saint and Virgin, and
destroyed the silver affairs. Earth.
4uakes have shattered the massive
walls and cracked the vaulted
arches. Yet majesty, dignity and
strength stand guard over ruin and
decay. The power that could
reach over 5000 miles of sea and
land to erect such a temple, at u
period when the Island of Manhat.
tan had not yet been pressed by
civilized foot, and whose strength
and grandeur, "fresh in immortal
youth" shall continue "when the
primitive New Z.alander takes his
stand upon broken arch of Lon
don Bridge to view the ruins of st. |
Pauls," excited in my mind the
liveliest image of the Eternal.
'There is given unto the things which |
time hath bent
A spirits feeling. and where ho hath |
lent
His hand, but broke his scythe, there is
power
And magic in the ruined battlement,
For which the palace Of the present hour
Must yield its pomp, and wait TIL ages
are Its DOVER"