The San Francisco call., 1910-01-02
By Ashleigh B. Simpson

= PHINXLIKE In the heart of San
Francisco stands the Mission Do
lores, seeming to hold behind its
closed doors the secrets of the ro-
mantle history of California Its 1873
years Of existence take it back to revo-
lutionary times and invest it with fas-
cinating interest. We who hold the
mission in reverence have grown 10 re-
gard il as belonging absolutely to
the past It does not occur to US to
seek for men who actually participated
IN the mission work in the days when
the Franciscan friars still administered
to the spiritual and temporal needs of
the Indians and the Spanish.
There are, nevertheless, two such
men living today at the little town Of
Halfmoon Bay. one. Raymundo Mi
ramontes, who served as altar boy at
Dolores in the days when Spaniard
and Indian knelt on the very same
old flags that now constitute the floor.
though long hidden under modern
tongue and groove. has passed the
mark Of four score years and ten,
while the other, the Don Pablo Vas
duez, son Of Jose. Tiburcio Vasquez.
who was ma 5ordomo OF the mission, is
20 years younger. The "reminiscences
Of the two old friends and comrades
center about the~period prior to 1912,
when the church rule Of the men who
travelled from San Diego TO San Fran
cisco and beyond was terminated as
the result Of the edict Of 1888.
Raymundo, ,Aliramontes, the altar boy,
assisted in the celebration of the mass
when the now silent bells rang true
and clear across the fields. The Pablo
Vasquez was a black eyed boy in those
days, following his father around the
Mission Dolores and accompanying him
in the trips about the peninsula where.
the duties Of the msjordomo called.
AIiramontes, then a slight STRIPPING OF
q lad, came daily TO the mission from
his home near the polls" Qittle spring.
ia the neighborhood Of tsle Presidio.
Today they are comfortably circum-
stanced Spanish aristocrats living at
ease at HalfmOOn Bay, where they re-
ceive due homage and respect from
the people Of the little Spanish town.
Were you to inquire for Vasquez, as 1
had occasion 10 do, you would be ex-
plicitly informed and go on your way
with the impression that the Pablo
VasQuez" was the most important per-
souage in the vicinity. He ie invari-
ably spoken Of in this quaint way
throughout the countryside surround
ing his rancheria; II IS mark of dis
tinction that is justly paid. In spite
Of their gray hair and failing sight,
the two old comrades smilingly steal
back into the past and bring from il
most al fh0Se
faraway days, recalling the faces Of
the gentle padres and telling the story
Of the early mission settlement.
AS far as they know Don Pablo Vas
ouez and Raymundo Miramontes are the
only remaining souls who trod the
ground Of our Mission Dolores when
the long silenced bells described by
Bret Harte sounded the knell of sacred
service. They alone are able to tell Of
the day when Fathers Muro and Real
chanted the "mlsa" before the elaborate
Mexican altar in the Mission Dolores
and describe the people who sat upon
the rough hewn benches, and whose
names remain to us interviewer with
the early history Of San Francisco. In
the time OF their youth San Francisco
was a phantom, dream of the future
that never disturbed the peaceful slum-
bers OF the fathers nor crossed the
minds vision Of the two comrades To
the west OF Mission Dolores. now
majestic IN the heart OF vast cfvilizay-
tion, lay naught but barren rolling
hills and the ocean; to the south the
Indians titled the soil and herded cattle
under the supervision OF Pablo Vas
Quez' father. the smajordomo. Sand
dunes lay between the Mission and the
Preside toward the north, and TO the
east the waters OF San Francisco bay
Tapped gently in tides that washed over
sites Of many OF our tallest buildings
and greatest thoroughfares. That was
The city then. the metropolis known to
the original Don Gaspar de Portola.