The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-05-12

ladders were In position, anu Tue slaves
we're driven To ascend by the swords OF
their own officers. Again and again did
| the Texans throw down their ladders and
overthrow their assailants. But the places
of Ike dead were supplied by fresh sol
dicrs, until The Texans, killed. wounded
and exhausted, could throw down no more
| The MeXcans mounted the walls IN q tn
muliuous horde; The brave defenders club.
| bed their guns and fought till they fell
dend in their bloody tracks. The outer
walls being gained, the defenders took
refuge in the chape! and in the cells OF the
monks, while the gun beside which Travis
| fought and fell, being turned on the Tex
ans, swept the court below, and MAJOR
Evans was shot while attempting to fire
! the magazine, as had been previously dc
ltcrmincd upon, for the defenders OF the
! Alamo had determined that, when the last
moment came, Texan aud Mexican, the
dead alG The living, the assailed and the
assadlaut., should all be hurled into one
common rum. Thus fell the Alamo. 1888
dead Texans, $50 MeXIcans, pictured the
story Of ITS fall.
After the battle had ended and every
Texan was silent IN death, Santa Anna,
with drmonsc vengeance, sent for the Al
caldc, ordered the clothing stripped from
| the dead. who we're hauled in carts to an
open field near the church, thrown naked
INTO pile and burned to ashcs--a burnt
offering to the God Of Liberty. The ven
genCc Of this atrocious act was soon paid
back by Taylor and Scott, at Monterey,
Buena Vista, Moline del Ray, and Mexico
City. And short time after the one
legged, dried up Butcher of the Alamo
was Latin warrior in exile.
THE MISSIONS
are next in Importance to the Alamo, aBd
have an interest tor US apart from their
beauty, tor they stand IN their solitude and
decay rs silent testimony OF the immense
debt that we as people owe to the old
Conqucs,adorcs of Span. They are part
Of the visible romance of our country, for
they met the line Of that cham Of forts
which followed in the adventurous path of
La Sale and IIcnnepin from the Great
Lakes to the Gulf, and they were the out
posts of cvllizatson in the wilderness.
They were half church and half fortress,
and had in former times strong walls far
the Norman Castles, wherewlth "the stately
genus OF antiquity" has crossed the van
tage point of many ar English shrine
Within these walls the Catholic Aztecs,
when pressed by hostile tribes and their
barbarous followers, found refuge and reli-
zion. Blood has been shed all around and
AMID the riven churches Of defenses, both
IN the early fights with the savages and
during the revolt OF Texas against the
tyranny of Mexico.
Every one of these Missions Is now q
ruin; the roofs arc grass.grown, the mus
qucet starts up in the long cloisters where
the fathers used to pace the cactus sprouts
and blossoms on the outer walls the wild
plants hang in lunches there and sweeten
all the air. No one can describe the soil.
tary grandeur and beauty of one or two Of
them, and especially the first Mission, La
Parissiana Conception Acuna. 1t is the
g ba l., -, A
ca. 1t stands uncqualled and alone. Its
existence Is a romance ITS condition q
mystery, and vague pathos haunts its
broken arches and disused cells, regret
my forte Is not in describing architecture
plead ignorance to the difference between
a Greek and Roman column, and know
nothing of the many finer points in art.
Sculptured art and / are strangers and
therefore ! can only attempt general out.
line of details, Had | the gilt l might
revel in describing those gems OF sculp-
tured grandeur which Monastic Spain set
up amid the barbarian hordes, more proud
ly than ever prophet raised the serpent
amid the gloom Of the desert and picture
il fitting colors the colossal figures with
cherubs, scrolls and flowers, and the noble
works of art that surround the windows
and doors. Too, might rcgretfully state
the fact that the halls are roofless, and the
long arcades are crumbing in dust. But
where could find words to fittingly con
vey my condemnation and contempt for
those decorators and wretchcs, those pests
called tourists" visiting these sacred
structures, who will coolly knock the head
Off the image of Mary or Joseph and
pocket the nose of the infant Jesus, tor
exhibition as relics among the Doors and
thin-sklnned unbelievers in the form of
religion which such images represent,
Those images and statues are as sacred
and dear to the MeXlcans, whose villages
surround the crumbling ruins, as the apple
of their eye; and why, then, should not
visitors respect at least, and not destroy
themy
Grand as the Missions are by day, they
| arn lnnblv on whnp cann Inv ,,,nOpIiuht