The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-03-31
OLD CHURCH BELLS.
those OF Southern California Mis-.
siOns. az
}omo OF Thorn Hnve Tolled for Almost n
n Century-Historlc Relics OF tho
Ancient Spanish Re-
glme.

& "Elany thousands of eastern tourists
southern California have looked with
3n awe inspired by their supposed IN
W qulty ut the mission churches b. ut by
lie Spanlards, when the land which
ow makes up this state was Il de-
4endcncy of that nation. These an
que-loolSing buildings nro interest
ZIG enough without any fictitious
s tributes, and while they represent an
epoch thut is past, and rule that is
verthrown, they are not so very an
Pent. In fact" says Los Angeles
of the New York Tribune.
$8men are yet living hero who were
ranlish Youngsters when the build
Rengs were begun. However, antiquities
&c created very young sometimes. A
ewspaper here recently commented on
S$hc destruction of an historic building
so Rcdlands. That town is one of the
5#argcst and busiest in southern Califor-
iia, but the building in question. as
sAVell as the town, is only five years old,
set y was III Il way historic, as it was
ihe first house in the place.
# But TO return to the matter of the
lEuaint Moorisll-lookingm mission church.
scattered through southern Califor-
&Hhia. They are somewhat primitive in
8s}Pesign, and look as if they might be
#fenturies in age Another cause which
ahas led to considerable error rs TO the
Irrespective years in Which they were
2Ercctcd is the confounding of the dates
*3ff the founding of the missions and tho
#lubscqucnt erection of the church build
$ing itself.
A - II
2kpeen profound student of California.
sNnd from him l learn the following
sacts: The mission church building ut
Nan Luis Rcy was erected in 1902. BY
he way, this is the most interesting of
MI OF them, and is moro nearly in tho
Condition and amid tho surroundings
aayhich characterized these churches in
ehe Spanish regime than any other
3gan Gabriel mission was built in 1901
Nan Juan de Capistiano and San
'ernando in 1906, San Bucnavcntura in
|&is09, San Diego in 1918, and Santa Bar.
SSara in 1920.
II Thus the notwithstanding build
aing at San Gabriel is only little over
&eighty-cight years old. Recently east
dern tourists in Los Angeles haYe been
fhttractcd by some beautifully illumin-
3htcd pictures of this building which
3Svcrc sold as souvenirs in the stores in
4this city, and on which the date of cree
Rhion was printed as I'LL. This serious
3frror married the value of the other
]fvise finely executed pictures. The
{Ycar mentioned was the date of the cs-
Establishment of the mission of the Arch
langcl Holy Gabriel, on the I'll Monte
flowlands, at what is now called the
Fold San Gabriel mission. This cold.
!!idamp locality was productive of too
limuch malarial fever among the priests,
3and several earthquakes damaged the
Hpoorly constructed buildings, so that
tthrcc or four years aftcrward the holy
brothers moved several miles north
ward to the present beautiful site on
the warm dry uplunds, ut what is now
known as San Gabriel. Here they first
erected an adobe church which in 1901
was replaced by the present stone and
rubblc structure. In this building OK
Gov. Pho Pico, who is now, at the age of
nearly nincty-thrcc, n resident of West
Los Angeles, began his long public ca
rccr first as an acolyte in the year
1909. RTherc are many others yet living
church was built.
Even the bells are of the present
generation. Mr.. Stephens tells mo that
he recently climbed TO the belfry and
copied the inscriptions on them. So the
often written story about Spanish ladies
casting their jewels; and golden orna-
mcnts into the melting pots to assist in
making The mission bells is not true as
to the one made by Mr.. I1olbrools, and
probably not as to the other three.
The same tradition is associated with
the bells in every Spanish mission in
the Americas. Neither are The bells
ancient, rs one was made in 1928 and
the other in 1880. Tic undated ones do
not seem TO be any older than the ones
which bear the year in which thcy were
made
"But the west knows and cares little
about time, and California particularly
has right TO be contcmptuous OF the
slow rate Of progress in other localities
In less than fifty years it has developed
from Mexican province into Il great
state, and the growth in that time has
amounted to what it would have taken
centuries to accomplish elsewhere. The
missions are not ancient in years but
in what they represent scntimcntallv
they are, in the language of the day,
out Of sight"
Cheap Napkins.
Those gossamcr-lille Japanese nan.
kins used in some cheap restaurants
cost rather less than quarter of a cent
each, and, all things considered. are