The San Francisco call., 1897-06-14

:
10000 horses. One hundred and twenty
Thousand bushels of wheat were harvested
every year, and these, with maize, beans, etc,
would come up TO 10000 bushels annually.
From 1900 to $500 Indians were attached 10
each mission, and these were governed, as 1t
were, on the plan Of patriarehal clanshlp.
| Even the poorest of the missions, like San
Rafael ana Soledad. provided everything for
| the church. as well as for the training, In
| struction, clothing and maintenance OF their
| Indians. The missionary was their lather,
| teacher, protector, provider and guardian.
He was all and everything 10 the neophyte
Indian-their civil ruler, mayor and presid-
ing magistrate, if you will BY all this am
strangely reminded of the clanship govern
ment and old Brehon system, laws and gov
eminent exceptionally tender, family like in
all its workings and scrupulousy just.
Oh, friends, bless the memory of the mis-
sionary fathers. Plague, pestilence and per-
fdy may bot out the POOR Indians, earth
quakes and other disasters may level the
Tiled roofs and cross-crowned towers, but a
glorious record is written in indellble char
acters enduring even TO eternity. The his
| tory and tradition of mutual relations be-
tween the fierce red men OF the forest and the
gentle missionary of the cloister will ever
loom up before posterity like fairy visions OF
pleasing halo in the light of memory's ray.
To-day, all over the State the eyes OF the
| population are turned toward us as we cele-
brate this centenary in this humble spot,
where hardly anything remains to give Us
| tangible signs of the prosperity and the
glory of the past The church, the convent
and the cloister, the hospital, the dwellings
| of the Indian pueblo, all the buildings,
| may say, are gone. Gone the poor Indians,
too-called back to that God who failed
never, was ever ashamed to aeknow.-
! edge them hs his own, made TO his own
| image and likeness, very diversities, in fact,
| OF which he himself is the unit and origin.
| The vast herds have vanished. all, all are
gone, only the records remain in four
| Yellum volumes where are inscribed the
names OF neophyte and priest. And yet why
| all this display? Why ali this brightness in
| the midst OF the sbandoGm. .nt OF death and
gloon? Why this lightsOme CLEAN of glow,
pleasure, praise and delight to-day? "Not en-
! bread alone a man shall live, but on every
| word that proceedeth out of the mouth OF
God,' and he that "believeth shall live for
ever" Conscious nature is awakened by this
! recurring day, and rises 10 salute with just
| and joyous greetings the memory of the men
| who were exemplars of the noblest in nature,
| who scared aloft in the supernatural and
| Shone as bright stars of sublimest manhood in
the armament OF civilization, like angel mes
sengers bearing the gospel of peace, the It'd
| ings Of salvation from the God of love. We
! see them and we long to linger in the radiance
of their memories. Looking through the lens
OF pure and crystal justice we feast the eyes OF
our souls on that scene of sublime grandeur OF
! the enchanting view of their loveliest attitude,
/ bending to uplift the sinner and the savage
| suppliants at their feet
Father Montaner, the assistant pastor o.
the parish, followed with a sermon in
! Spanish, which was most enthusiastically
listened 10 and applauded. He drew a
vivid contrast between the different epochs
OF the history of California. In its history,
as in the history of E ypt, of Greece. of
| Rome, and of every nation, there was a
| glorious epoch and dark epoch. The
| glorious epoch of Rome was when she
| could rely upon her stout plebeian stock;
her dark days came when Romans could
! sit and watch, unmoved, the slaughter of
the gladiators in the arena. So California
! had her dark epoch, over a century ago,
| when ignorance and laZiness were the dis
| tinctive features of the Californian, who
sacrificed everything 10 satisfy his own
whim and carnal appet:tes. Ca!ifornia's
| bright epoch was when the founding of
the missions had re moved these evils, and
the civilization of California is in great
measure the glory of the padres.
Father Montaner defended with much
spirit the mission and padres against the
| insinuations made against them, and ad-
duced historical evidence of the benefcent
effect they had upon the States early
career. He smoke feelingIy OF the graft
tude with which the few surviving Indians
venerate the memory of the Franciscan
fathers, and closed with glowing tribute
| to the early paores and the work they ac-
complished
The religious cerem onies over, the visit
ors repaired TO the GaIlegos grounds,
| where the barbecue was awaiting
| them. Abundance had been provided for
all, and although it was estimated that in
the peighborhood of 500 persons sat down
at the tables none were turned away. All
the rest of the day and up to midnight
music and dancing continued in the pa
vilion.
The Portuguese National dance in cos
tune was a very picturesque feature of
the afternoons entertainment. The floor
managers in charge of the dancing were:
l. H. Whitfield, John Stanley, John Gal
| legos Jr.. J. NJ. Selazar, J. R. SaIazsr. A.
L. Sunderer.
The. celebration passed off without
serious disturbance OF any kind The
absence of any unpleasant features to mar
the days pleasure, and the gratifca ton
OF the visitors at the entertainment they
received was due in great measure to the
care and forethought and untiring zeal of
the following citizens who composed the
various committees having the affair In
/ charge:
General committee of srrangements-Juan
Gallegos, president; A. i. Sunderer, secre-
tary; Rev. Thomas McNahoe, Rev. J. NJ Mon
taner, Z. J. Briscoe, J. f. Warmsley, j. F.
Coffaney, Soloman Enrman.
| Finance commlttee-Juan GaIlegos 6 Fhr-
man, w. II. McMinn, T. Twohig, Thomas
Murphy, G. L. Merritt, J. Haussler, A. L.
| Sunderer.
Barbecue committee-John Stanley, A. Ehr-
| man, c. c. McIver, P. De Vaux, Joseph
sunderer, Thomas Ziegenfus, A. J. Saiazar.
William Turner, J. NJ. Salazar John GalIegos
Jr., Charles Steyer, E. Foster, N. Galindo, NJ.
Brown.
transportation committee. F. Coffaney, J.
E. Warmsley, P. Nolan, Thomas Sullivan, F.
Rose, J. B. Barnard, B. Briscoe.
Decoration, music and printing e J.
| Briscoe, ]. II. Whitfield, J. +. Salszar, Joseph
Solon. A. l. Sunderer.
From the History of the Mission San
Jose," which has been compiled with
great accuracy and care by Rev. ]. NJ.
/ Montaner, the assistant pastor of the Mis-
sion, an account of the original mission is
taken. Father Montaner, who is an ac-
cvraplished scholar and deeply read in
the early Spanish history OF the State has