The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-06-25

as apostles of Christ, taught the simple
child of nature and heralded across two
centuries the Texas of today.
At first all was well. The Indians
FASTENED to be baptised and received in
return gifts and the blessings of the
fathers. But ere long drouth parched
the earth, the corn crop was destroyed,
and shortly terrible plague swept over
the land. Hundreds of the natives sue
cumbed to the pestilence. And, too, one
beautiful afternoon, the day burned out
along the west the gentle twilight and
the dews of heaven silently touched the
pallid lips of Padre Fonte Cubierta.
The very air was stricken and told of
its open sorrow to the sympathetic pines
that poured out their uninterpretable
lament. On the morrow shallow
grave was scooped, and over it a little
rude cross was raised, and in his narrow
cell the first of the Franciscan dead
was forever laid.
Another year came, and drouth and
famine and plague ravaged the land.
The poor Indians, at first so friendly and
trustful. were now melted by their
medicine men to cry out against the
missionaries. They came to believe that
their ills were directly attributable to
the influence of the padres, and that their
calamities had come in consequence OF
their baptism. SO persistent and
threatening did their murmurings
become and so inauspicious was
the outlook that the anxious
fathers concluded to withdraw from the
province. For three years they had
taught the savages in the two little mis-
sions of Santa Maria and San Francisco,
but now they were preparing to abandon
the field where hard they had struggled.
1t was in the deep Of night; silently the
keepings of the sacristy, virgin and saint,
and the bell that had tolled its mathis and
its yespers-all were buried, and in the
darkness of that October night the friars
stole away.
For twenty years and more the pro-
vince of Texas remained untrodden by
civilized men, The first work of the
Franciscans seemed entirely lost and so
ill-starred had been their experience that
any but those untiring men in gray would
have submitted to what appeared insur-
mountable obstacles. The friars did not
despair during the long interval of twenty
years. They strOve in every way to
bring about the reoccupation of the coun-
try. but unavailing were their effors till
on the eastern border of the province the
French began to operate. Then the
Spaniard. jealous of any rival, penetrated
the country to the abandoned region, and
there among the various tribes erected
missions-siX in all.
The Indians were happy to see the
fathers; the prejudice and hatred that
had driven the missionaries from the
province twenty years before had been
forgotten and the natives only remember
ed the goodness of the piOus men that
had given them gifts and that had point
ed them to the ManitOu beyond the stars,
nd hat hnI Inv "a cnnpbpS r.
muring soft words while death in sable
robe stood by. They welcomed the re-
turn of the fathers and soon there had
gathered about the missions a thousand
souls. willing listeners to truths they
could not understand. Many were bap-
tiZed and learned their little pray
ers which they repeated as artlcssly as
infants. The work of christianizing con-
tinucd. but not without its embarrass-
ments. The time was not long till the
spectre that stalks across the whole tide
of the mission period made its appear
ance. 1t came dressed in the guise of Il
Spanish soldier. Vicious. unrestrained
and insubordinate. stepped in the worst
vices known to mankind. he entered the
fair land of the red man and converted
his happiness into disgrace and shame.
The troubles increased. the Indians grew
desperate at constant outrage: provisions
became scarce and either Providence, so
incensed. commanded. or the fates de-
creed-thc French advanced in 1719 and
the missions and posts were deserted.
Two years later the country was reoc-
cupied and the work was revived. but
the Saturnian age of the missions beyond
the Neches had passed forever. The red
men. few in number would come and go
as suited their pleasure. Some few souls
were baptized to the JOY of the fathers,
but the struggle was a hopeless conflict
Blow followed blow. each complicating
and distressing the situation. A number
of governors now strove each to surpass
the other in the severity of his treatment
of the missionaries. Some of the unof-
Tending friars were expelled from the
province: some were imprisoned: their
letters were destroyed: and the neophytes
were either dispersed or employed to the
profit of the governor Thus the struggle
continued. nor thought those consecrated
men of yielding: they ever lived endeavor-
ing to bring the intidel to bow before the
one Supreme God and Father. But the
unrelenting years brought no relief. and
finally in 1913 the doors of the missions
were closed and sealed with an everlast
ing seal. and the padres turned them
selves away from the scene where the
conflict had been long and sore. and
where ut its dawning their day had risen
brilliant. blushing as Aurora. but where
at its closing out through the mist and