The herald., 1896-11-18

actual work Of repair. OF the several
items included In the cash contributions
two deserve special mention: The $50
turned over by Miss keiso as treasurer
| of the Mission Preservation society. and
| the very generous contribution OF $500
| by the ladies' of the Pasadena section OF
the club. While the income Of the club
/ has been larger than could have been
easonably expected during its hrst
! year, the directors can confidently as
! sert that the results accomplished nave
| been out of all proportion to the money
] expended, and have been made possible
/ only by the fortunate circumstances be-
fore referred to. under which the work
at Capistrano has been prosecuted.
| While criticism of its work by actual
members of the club have been few. the
directors have not escaped the usual
| penalty of official position. Certain mis-
informed persons have thought the preS-
| ervation of the missions would be great
benefit to the church which provided
them and have begrudged aid in work
which they believed most concerned 1t
alone. This idea has no foundation in
fact. The missions were designed for
the accommodation of vast numbers OF
Indians who have long since disappear
ed, and are not fitted for modern or
dinary uses Wherever practicable, as
at Santa Barbara and San Gabriel the
pair and. PIT : tN use. But at Capistrano
and San Fernando the only interest
which the church can have is that which
should be common to every Californian,
that of the historian and antiquarian.
Not only SO, but am informed by Rev.
Father Adam that the church has al
ready expended more than the actual
value of some of the missions in litiga-
ton in the courts to regain possession
from squatters into whose hands they
had fallen.
Some artists who look at everything
from the point of view of the sketcher,
have bewailed the removal of rubbish.
the stoppage of cracks and the repair of
tumbing roofs as destructive of their
picturesqueness forgetful that there
would be little of beauty or profit in the
heaps of broken tile and mud to which in
very few years the elements would
have reduced them.
Ii has. however. been the policy of the
club to repair nothing which could stand
without repairs and always to replace
decayed work as far as possible in the
form and spirit of the original.
IN recent numbers of the Land of Sum
shine you have been informed of the
proposed work to be at once begun at
San Fernando. This will require great
er outlay than has Capistrano. but with
the increased membership of the club,
which now numbers 400. and the prom
ised active cooperation of land holders
in the vicinity Of that mission, we believe
it can be accomplished this present year.
While the efforts of the club have been,
and for time at least must contine to
be. mainly directed to the preservation
of the missions, there are some other
matters which / believe imperatively
demand it's attention. Most important
of these is the prevention of the needless
and often wanton destruction of old
trees. Whether the American people
have inherited natural enmity to trees,
as cumberers of the ground, born of gen
erations given to constant hard toll in
the subduinE of the virgin forests of the
Atlantic and middle states, or whether
from callousness born of our ircreas-
ing scramble for money, certain it is. We
are criminally careless of our trees and,
day by day, the noble oaks and lordly
sycamores are falling under the axe with
few to plead for them and those few al
most unheeded.
We must do something more than
plead or even protest; we must cry
shame on the man, be he engineer or
councilman or what not, who under the
plea of public convenience or necessity
lays his hands on these old dwellers in
the land, whose ancient and vested
rights should have the respect of all good
citizens and the protection of forestry
laws which should say to the man who
claims to own them and would sacrifice
for few feet of soil or the preservation
uncracked of a miserable square of side
walk that which the sun and rain and
Mother Earth, yea. and God himself,
have worked for centuries to make,
which had it's birth before his first feeble
| cry was heard, and if suffered to remain
will live in beauty long after his stay on
earth has terminated. Thine this tree
is to enjoy and cherish, but not to wan
etonly destroy"
We are not utterly powerless even
now, for was recently told by brother
architect that when it was proposed to
cut down two mighty eucalyptus trees
which guard the Temple street entrance
to court Circle and redeem the neighbor-
hood from utter commonplaceness, he
got a restraining injunction from the
court.
Isuppose many of his neighbors laugh
ed at him as sentimental German who
had not had the advantages of American
birth and training. But we of the Land
marks club, whose main stock in trade is
sentiment, can we'll afford to commend
his action. / am an American by birth,
as has been my fathers for many genera
tions and 1 am proud of my country;
but verify believe that want of senti-
ment-romance. if you willis the
greatest lack or the American people.
Utility" has come to be with us the syn
onym for virtue, and yet it was sent-
ment that builded the pyramids, the
Parthenon, and the great cathedrals of
the Old World. 1t was sentiment that
brought our forefathers to New England
and the Franciscan fathers to Califor-
mia. 1t is sentiment that writes the po-
etry and paints the pictures and, in
short, does everything that uplifts our
lives out of the dull treadmill of the COM
! monplace round of mere existence. Aye!
more. 1t was sentiment that clothed
| the earth in beauty and the armament in
glory. So we are well content to be num-
bered with those who believe in the
practicability of sentiment and the final
! utility of romance.
POLICE COIIRT PROCEEDINGS