The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-26
EVERYDAY LIE IN
 TEXAS MISSIONS Padres Lived Fairly We'll With Indians Doing the Work LITTLE TEACHING DONE All That Was Required of the Indian Was That He Obey the Padres
 and Do Little Physl-
 cal Labor.
LITTLE TEACHING DONE
BY GEORGE A. scHRElNER.

San Antonio. Tex. December 5.-tspe- cial.)--The 'Testimonio de un Parecer.v testimony of a witness, and a number of other documents, tell us a great deal about the life at the missions. presidios and villas in Southwest Texan Not that this differed from life at other Span ish missions and settlements to any ex- tent.
 With tho mission built the padres went to housekeeping. True, theirs was not life of luxury. StiIl 1t lacked few of the comforts then enjoyed. Their cells were somewhat rude. There were the floor. Windows were rare. and of furni- ture not much was to be found in the cells save pallet and possibly bench. But while the padres cared little for fine trappings in this respect they did not be- lieve in asceticism in the matter of ap- petite. By means Of acequias or irriga- tion ditches, large patches of land were cultivated, yielding, under the influence of a generous climate, all the products of Spanish soil and those of Mexico. The country being well suited to the raising of
  reach even where It's importation was wrought with difficulties.
 Since the conversion of the Yndios Bravos was to some extent their mission. the padres devoted a great deal of time to this. How they reached them is some what of puzzle. if we consider that tho Indians on the yhole were not very eager to come under the control of the pale face which was necessary to effect their con version. Most likely the catechumens became this under coercion; being in most cases Indians who had been taken pris- oners in forays made, possibly, for this purpose. Flaggeation appears to have been a potent factor in their religious training.
 Once under the control of the padres. the Indians became soon Yndos reducidos this is, reduced Indians. There were but few pursuits they could follow at the missions besides agriculture. Build ing operations were not frequent, and little opportunity there was. therefore, to instruct the Indian in this art. His own needs in the matter of housing, cloth ing and food were not many. and easily supplied, and though he was obliged to raise the food of the padres and the small garrisons, his life cannot have been very hard one on a mission having many con- verts. Unfortunately most of the mis- sions "did not prosper" This for the reason that it was hard, and in some cases impossible. to make converts and it is most likely that the few Indians con yerted had to work hard
 To make the Indian work was no doubt the full measure of success his teachers expected As a matter of fact, here his education ended. 1t is. however, no more than just to state that the peasant of Eu- rope was at this time in not much bet ter a position. No systematic attempt to teach the Indian how to read and write was made. The dogma Of the church and it's proprieties were indeed the extent of his learning,
 The padres in Southwest Texas do not seem to have shared that religious fervor and even fanticism that marked their ef- forts in the other spanish-Americas. For this a cause is not hard to find. As al- ready stated, the missions in Texas had only a military. and to some extent politi-