The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-27
BY GEORGE \. sUnREIxER.

The. 'Tesfmonio de un Parecer." tes- umony of witness and a plumber of other documents, tells us a great deal about the life es the missions. presi- dios and vfllas< In Southwest Texas. Not that this difiered from life at other spanish missions and settlements to any extent.
 With the mission built the padres went to housekeeping. True. slpirs was not a life of luxuary. stiii it lacked few of the comforts then sn- joyed Their cells were som, enat rude. There were the usual xhite- washed walls. and the dirt floor Win dows were rare. and of furniture not much was to be found in the cells save pallet and possibly . bench. But whsie the padres cared little for fine trap pings in this respect. they did not be- iieve in asceticism in the matter of ep- petite. By means of acequias or irrf- gation 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 wine, .nis soi- ace was not beyond their reach even where its Importation was froaght with difficulties.
 Since the conversion of the Yndios Bravos was to some extent their mis. sion, the padres devoted great deal of time to this. How they reached them is somewhat of puzzle, 4 we consider that the Indians, on the W hole, were not very eager to come under the control of the pale face which s,as necessary to effect their conversion. Most likely the catechumens became this under coercion; being in most !. a 1.Aa "a kp T1ria- oners in forays made. possibly, for this purpose. Fiaggelation appears to have been a potent factor in their feligious training.
 Life Not . Hard One.
 Once under the control of the padres. the Indians became soon Yndios re- ducios--that is, reduced Indians. There were but few pursuits they mould f"l- low at the missions besides agriculture. Building operations were not frsauent. and little opportunity there was. tnere- fore, to instruct the Indian Tn tnis art His own needs in he matter of hous- ing clothing and food were not 7iany, ana easily supplied. and though he was obliged to raise the food of the padres and the small garrisons. his life can not have been very hard one on mission having many converts. ofer- ttinatelv most of the missions "did rot prosper. This, for the reason that 1t was hard, and, in some cases, impossf- ble to make converts and It IS mos. likely that the few Indians converted had to work hard
 TO make the Indian work. was, no ao,,bt fine fun measure of success his teachers expected. As matter of fact. here his education ended. 1t Is. how ever. no morek than just to state that the peasant of Europe was at this tIme Tn not much better position. No sys- tematic attempt to teach the Indian now tc read and write was made. The dog ma of the church and its proprtetles were indeed the extent of his learning.
 The padres in Southwest Texas do not seem to have shared that reilEious feryor, and even fanaticism that marked their efforts in the otner Spsh'sn Amergras For this cause IS not hara to find As already stated, the missions in Texas had only military. and. to4 some extent political Iaison d.etre. The French had to be wardea off and to do this. presidios had 10 ns astahlirhed at strategfcal poia-s. sshe small forces stationed there had to ha fed. and. for this reason. the ln- aian was needed To do anything at all with the son of the prairie. reng- ion had to be called to ala Ah"tneF reason for the founding of the mis- sions was the fact that the bun or Pone Alexander made the validity of the document dependable on thestipn- lation that the spaniards were ao tl,eir utmost to convert the Indian 10 christianity. o,, .. this picture;
 Over the cfiaparrRl floods tae HIst ,,.s,,. !, aay AIi-fs vet quet within the .sss,on and the villa without. Pies prother Antonio opens his eyes and