USA > California > Los Angeles County > San Gabriel > The old San Gabriel mission : historical notes taken from old manuscripts and records : with mention of the other California Franciscan missions and their founders > Part 5
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The seventeenth was San Fernando Rey de España, located near San Fernando City in the San Fernando Valley, twenty-one miles north of Los Angeles. It was founded September 8, 1797, by Father Fermin Lasuen, Presidente, and Fathers Francisco Dumetz and Francisco Javier Uria.
The eighteenth was San Luis Rey, near Ocean Side. It was founded on June 8, 1798, by Father Fermin Lasuen and Fathers Juan Norberto de Santiago and Antonio Peyri. The latter was the first to introduce and plant the pepper tree in California. One of these trees of very con- siderable size stands in front of the campanile of San Gabriel.
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The nineteenth was Santa Ines, virgin and martyr, located near Los Olivos. It was founded September 17, 1804, by Father Esteban Tapis, successor to Father Fermin Lasuen, and by Fathers Marcelino Cipres, Antonio Calzada, and 'Romualdo Gutierrez.
The twentieth was San Rafael Arcangel, at San Rafael, founded on December 14, 1817, by Father Prefecto Vicente Sarria.
The twenty-first, San Francisco Solano, in the Sonoma Valley, near the town of Sonoma was founded in July, 1823, by Father Altimira. The Pala Chapel, the old Plaza Church at Los Angeles, and the Royal Chapel at Monterey, are frequently, but improperly, called Missions.
THE VERY REV. RAMON PRAT
THE VENERABLE ANTHONY MARY CLARET Founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
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.
CHAPTER VI1.
Story of a Marvelous Indian Crucifix. The Mission Play Amid Replicas of the Old Missions. It Attracts Many Thousands to San Gabriel's Vicinity.
W HEN Mexico was in the midst of her strife with Spain for her independence from that monarchy, while Upper California was unapprised of those troubles, but dreamed in her sunshine, then it was as the Aztec Eagle strove to free itself from the Lion of Castile, that there occurred a marvelous incident. This was while there sat on the throne of San Fernando Rey de Castilla y Leon and of Queen Isabella, another illustrious king who succeeded to the name of the former and to the virtues of both-His Majesty Don Fernando VII. At the music of this name, Fernando, our thoughts readily dwell on the Mission San Fernando Rey de España and its wonderful valley, one of the richest and most marvelous of the inland chain of Missions.
In this valley we may wander along the sunny road, the King's Highway of the glorious days of the Spanish era, trodden by conquistadores and footsore brown priests. Sweet memories of the past, veiled in story and romance, will linger in our minds and impel us to think of those early days of California history. We may imagine Don Tomas Feliz, the bravest soldier of the dozen that consti- tuted the escolta of the Mission San Fernando under the leadership of Sargento Damaso. Don Tomas was the . dearest among his comrades to Padre Pedro Muñoz, the minister of this Mission.
While our hero was serving at Los Angeles, he fell in love with Señorita Maria de Jesus Lopez, of the blood of Castile. Padre Muñoz united them in marriage in 1815. The Feliz ancestors had ever been remarkable in the an- nals of California for their loyalty and devotion to their king. So the annexation of California to the Mexican Federation, marked the fall of Los Feliz, from their as- cendency. A living perennial witness of their loyalty to
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the golden throne that bore the arms of Castilian power, is the old Rancho Los Feliz, granted by Charles III, King of Spain, for past services rendered to the Spanish crown. This ranch, in its original dimensions, extended from El Monte de la Porciuncula to the Cahuenga Pass, covering the western section of the city of Los Angeles, and stretch- ing out to what is now Hollywood, Colegrove, Sherman, and La Brea Ranch.
It was on a bright morning of April, 1816, that glad tidings reached San Fernando Mission. Sargento Damaso had been promoted to a captaincy in order to command the troops of Santa Barbara. Don Tomas was chosen to go thither with the happy news of the promotion of Sargento Damaso to that important point and military post.
It was on the Viernes de Dolores, in the Passion Week. This was indeed, a great day for the Mission. The devo- tion of the Spaniards to Our Lady, chiefly under the title or invocation of Her sorrows, is known the world over. The early missionaries, the sons of the Poor Man of Assisi, inherited from him their love and tenderness for the mys- teries of our redemption; so they always endeavored to impress them on the minds of the neophytes.
Let us retrace our steps to the San Fernando Mission of those days of the old régime of care-free and pleasure- loving California,-when such words as thine and mine were hardly known,-when the virgin soil yielded freely, and the hard, cold iron plowshare had scarcely begun to furrow the face of mother earth,-when the Missions ever thrown open to the wanderer, were a great patri- archal family with their parental authority presiding over them. Our friend, Don Tomas, clad in the characteristic attire and with the accoutrements customary with the Spanish soldiery, mounted a fiery steed. In less than an hour he had gained access to the Santa Susana Mountains.
He was then in the Simi Valley, where the blossom was on the trees, in the orchards, and meadows. This valley lies north of the famous Santa Susana Mountains, which rise 3,700 feet above the sea level, south of the Simi Hills,
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that soar as high as 2,159 feet, and east of the Santa Susana Pass. Westward it is separated from the Little Simi Valley by a low range of hills.
The Camino Real, so often trodden by the cowled Pad- res, along which was built the marvelous chain of Missions between San Diego and Sonoma, runs through the Simi Valley from east to west .- On that far off day, Don Tomas Feliz occasionally lowered the speed of his spirited horse that he might drink in the beauty of the fields aflame with poppies, of the blue and transparent sky, and of the plains and orchards, and thus tune the harp of his soul and render in the presence of God the sweet music of prayer.
So he had finished his Corona Dolorosa in honor of the sorrows of Our Lady. The gentle breeze from the ocean had caressed the brave soldier, when a sudden backward jerk of the steed aroused him from his reverie. He spurred the horse but the steed could not move any further. Then casting his eyes on the roadside he saw, as though floating on a sea of light, a wonderful image of Christ crucified. Don Tomas instinctively dismounted. Falling upon his knees, reverently he picked the figure up and pressing it to his lips exclaimed : "I adore Thee, oh! Christ, and I bless Thee because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world." The amazement of Constantine at the flaming cross in the heavens, the devotion of St. Helen when she discovered the sacred instrument of the passion, the transports of joy of Heraclius when he recovered this memorial of our redemption from the hands of the Infi- dels-these alone can be compared to the joy of Don Tomas.
But how great his surprise was when he observed that the image had no Cross. He at once repaired to the nearby hills, where the manzanitas grow and from a limb of that shrub he hewed a Cross. As soon as he returned to San Fernando, our soldier showed the crucifix to Padre Vic- torio with a vivid account of the whole event. The aged Father with tears in his eyes, murmured a word of bless- ing and attached to the Crucifix the spiritual treasures of
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the Stations of the Cross and the Apostolic Indulgences at the Hour of Death.
Padre Victorio, by the crown of thorns and Indian tuft of feathers, by the features of the face, and the charac- teristic air of the image, traced its origin and proclaimed it the workmanship of Juan Antonio, the neophyte who had painted the Stations of the Cross for the San Fernando Mission at the time of its founding.
At last, after his venturesome life, Don Tomas foresaw the approaching Angel of Death. Then he summoned his daughter, Maria, to his death bed. Gazing upon her, the dearest of his children and clasping the Crucifix in his cold and trembling hands, the old soldier exclaimed: "This is the most precious legacy which I bequeath to you, my dear child. Keep it with the love and reverence becoming such a sacred memorial. May God, and His Blessed Mother, continue to shower His blessings upon you."
Holding the Crucifix to his lips he murmured: "Thou hast redeemed me oh! Lord, God of Truth."
Then his purified soul took its flight Heavenward. Faithful to the commission, wherewith she had been en- trusted, "Aunt China," as Maria was called, always kept the heirloom with great care and reverence. The spring of her life was spent in the Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles, while the fruitful summer of her useful career and the fall of her declining years found her always in the San Fernando Valley.
When the Angel of Death would enter a household she would be found at the bedside. With her Crucifix she administered the religious consolations to many souls. "Aunt China" reached two and four score years. In her old days she could no longer peruse those spiritual books which she used to read with so much delight. She could, however, still gaze on that mysterious book, her Crucifix, in which she found the lessons of life eternal.
It was on March 27, 1913, that one of the few golden links connecting our money mad rushing age with the early care-free California life was broken. One of the
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most beautiful and unselfish lives that ever lived in this wonderful land was ended. Dear "Aunt China" had passed to her reward. She died pressing to her heart her old treasured Crucifix, holding the blessed candle and with her beads about her neck. Expressive emblems, indeed, which bring out the three distinguishing characteristics of her beautiful life, namely: her tender devotion to the Blessed Mother, her strong faith, like an oak not to be wind-shaken, and her spirit of sacrifice ever expressed in deeds of charity. She was laid to rest under the shadow of the Mission she had loved so much and which she had seen in the days of its glory.
May what was mortal of her rest in peace there in the valley while her soul finds Heavenly happiness. A sweet fragrance will long linger around her memory.
THE MISSION PLAY.
One of the institutions incident to and particularly connected with San Gabriel is its Mission Play. This fam- ous dramatic production in some respects resembling the great Passion Play of Oberammergau, attracts very many people to the vicinity of Los Angeles. During the two great expositions given in California, the first at San Francisco, and the second at San Diego, a very consider- able portion of the attendance at both of them also went to witness this Mission Play.
1ts environment is among a group of replicas of the twenty-one old California Missions that were built and strung along the original King's Highway, extending from the Harbor of the Sun at San Diego to the Valley of the Seven Moons in Sonoma's neighborhood. This replica idea originated with Mrs. Ida L. McGroarty, wife of John Mc- Groarty, author of this Mission Play, forming a most appropriate setting for it.
Among the many very distinguished persons visiting San Gabriel and witnessing this play, after first attending the two expositions indicated, was the Hon. Thomas Mar-
LARGE MUSEUM HALL
-
-
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shall, Vice-President of the United States, and many others whose names are legion.
The play itself is a very powerful one. It is produced periodically by a large company of highly talented pro- fessional actors, some of whom are paid very considerable sized salaries. It is a story of the founding, the rise and fall of the old Franciscan California Missions, with their principal founder, Father Junipero Serra, as the central and most important figure portrayed.
The first act, whose opening scene is laid on the shore of San Diego Bay and is to commence with the year 1769, depicts the dramatic situation in which Father Junipero Serra and his companions are situated. The group, at the commencement, shows the eminent prelate surrounded by a corporal and three soldiers seated in dejection, a weary and almost starved Padre sleeping and exhausted anxi- ously awaiting the return of the dark Don Gaspar de Portola, the first comandante-governor of California, and also for the relief ship expected from Mexico.
Don Gaspar had gone in search of the Port of Monterey with his troops and train, in the expectation of there find- ing and obtaining supplies for the relief and sustenance of the noble explorer and evangelist and his companions, as well as for Gaspar de Portola's soldiery. Gaspar returns but without having been able to reach or find the Monte- rey Port. He determines to put all of his people, including Padre Junipero, on his ship which is lying in the harbor.
Although Father Serra is almost famished he is still hopeful of succor and success, for a ship laden with sup- plies had been promised to his party from Mexico. It was long overdue, but Junipero expected its arrival hourly.
While they are thus waiting, some Indians come with a child intended for baptism by the priest. Preparations for the baptismal ceremony are in progress when the Indi- ans suddenly change their minds, take the child away and create a disturbance that threatens the safety of the party of soldiers and the missionaries. This is considered by Gaspar as an evil omen, just as the coming of the savages
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with the child for baptism had been considered an auspici- ous one by the Missionary Serra.
Gaspar determines that all of the party shall be aboard of the ship before the sun sets, which it is on the point of then doing, but Junipero declines to go and announces his determination to remain, if he has to do so alone among the savages. He entreats Gaspar to wait another day. Reluctantly Portola agrees. The next day dawns and is drawing to a close, when Gaspar orders all present to board his ship.
Then it is that Junipero Serra pleads earnestly to God to send the relief ship. A miracle occurs. Just as all but Junipero Serra are about to abandon hope of the coming of the relief ship from Mexico a sail is discovered in the offing near the very edge of the horizon. The ship finally sails in as the sun sinks behind a golden cloud.
The second act gives the Mission in its greatest glory and at the height of its successful ascendancy. An inter- val of fifteen years is supposed to have elapsed in which success in every endeavor has crowned the efforts of the faithful missionaries and their flock. Serra and his asso- ciates have succeeded in civilizing and Christianizing the Indians, in effecting an organization for systematic and progressive improvement, educational, industrial, and re- ligious. The Indians have learned to pray, to labor and to imbibe instruction. Reports of the great progress are read by a party of the players after they have participated in a procession during which they sing the historic old songs of the early days of the Missions. There is then an intermission as at the end of the first act, and during it the audience visit the group of replicas and take refresh- ment and rest until summoned for the rendition of the third and final act of the play. They are summoned by the silvery notes of a Mission bell, brought hither from one of the other Missions located elsewhere. During the second act an anachronistic scene is introduced, showing the Commander Rivera in an attempt to abduct Anita, a girl half Indian and half Castilian, but frustrated and
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driven out by the forceful mien and dramatic action of Father Serra. This act also introduces a fiesta scene with characteristic dancing, song and music, poetry and pleas- antry, of the old Mission days.
The third act depicts the utter decay and ruin into which the old Missions fell after the days of secularization came upon them, when the Indians were driven out and scattered and the Fathers were forced to flee and seek refuge else- where. The scene opens with a visit to the Mission by señora Josefa Yorba of the blood of Castile, who has come to make a pilgrimage from her distant ranch and to pray before the altar at which her forefathers had knelt in devotion. While she is conversing with the care-taker, old and decrepit Ubaldo, some poor Indians enter, bearing a litter on which is the form of one of the exiled Fran- ciscan priests who has exacted the promise from them when he died to bring his corpse and bury it in the con- secrated ground of the Mission. This they do and attempt to bury with it a golden chalice which they could have sold for an immense amount, but which they refused to do, although they were almost on the verge of starvation. Thus they kept their faith and veneration for the sacred vessel. They end the act with evidences of grief while the Señora Josefa bewails the lost glory of the old Mis- sions and the vanishing of those who originally had peo- pled and conducted them and expressing the hope that they might again be restored.
Since this Mission Play was first rendered in California on April 29, 1912, several thousand performances of it have been given at San Gabriel. It is one of the great attractions here for the laymen and tourists who travel many miles to witness it, all of whom are greatly interested in its renditions.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Founding of Los Angeles. Her Old Plaza Church. Her Many Beauties and Charms.
NCE upon time, as a fairy tale would commence, and her story is as enchanting as fairy fiction to children, in the Valley of Our Lady, which lies in the very heart of California of the South, midway between the great wall of the Tehachapi and San Diego's harbor of the Sun, a hamlet sprang into existence, the Mother mountains hemming it in as though with a shining cimeter of a giant god.
This town, or old Pueblo of the Vale of Our Lady, has grown into the world-famed city of Los Angeles, the magical metropolis of the southwest.
It was in July, 1769, that an exploring party coming by land was sent forth to make certain the discovery of the Bay of Monterey by the celebrated mariner, Cabrillo, and the landing there of the intrepid sailor, Sebastian Vizcaino, in 1602, when he planted the Cross on its fair shores. The final object in view of the adventurous expedition of 1769, was the founding of a Mission in Monterey, which hazardous undertaking was under the direction and com- mand of Gaspar de Portola, first governor of California, and Padres Francisco Gomez and Juan Crespi, as chaplains of the expedition.
This exploring party, before taking possession of the wonderful Valley of Our Lady, its rivers and mountains, sent some emissaries to spy out the land and learn its unsurpassed possibilities. Prominent among these were the Pobladores Don José Vanegas, Don Francisco Navarro, and Don Juan Rocha. These courageous explorers came into a land where profusely flowed milk and honey as was evidenced by its fine fruits. But this land, like that of Chanaan, contained very formidable inhabitants. The In- dians along the banks of the Porciuncula River were far more ferocious than the Jebusites and Amorrhites of old;
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so much so, that some of the explorers grew timid, when Don Francisco Navarro, taking a commanding attitude, exclaimed : "Let us go up and possess the land in the name of his Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain, for which, with the help of God and Mary's powerful intercession, we shall be able to conquer this beautiful terrain."
So they all at once crossed the river and ascended those lovely hills, where they pitched their tents with the pur- pose of remaining safely over night. It was late on the afternoon of August 1, 1769, the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, the great Porciuncula day. Porciun- cula means a mite, or small portion, comparable to the "widow's mite."
These brave men, with strength almost exhausted, and with well-grounded fears for their safety, slept on that southern hillside under the twinkling stars of California's cerulean sky. This hill is now known as Elysian Park, but in the older days as "El Cerro de la Porciuncula." Next morning the party arose from their slumbers, when Navarro said to his companions: "1 bring you good tid- ings of great joy, that shall be to all people. I heard secret words which it will not now be granted to me to utter. I have been vouchsafed what mortal eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. A wonderful sign has appeared to me in my dreams. I have seen a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars. Thousands of Angels adminis- tered to her and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before her. Had not faith taught me that she was merely a creature, I would have worshipped her as a deity. 'Henceforth,' she said to me, 'let this hill be called "El Cerro de la Porciuncula." By the same name shall also be known the sparkling river that encircles its feet below. It is also my wish that a city after my name should be founded here; and a church, as my memorial of this day's events, as a witness of my love, should be erected in the
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midst thereof. So, Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciuncula shall be the name of this city."
Forthwith the Princes of the Angelic hosts, falling upon their knees, placed their crowns at her feet in token of their guardianship of the future Pueblo. At the same time God's praises were hymned by their lofty harps, ten thousand harps that tuned Angelic harmonies; sweet melodious notes filled the skies and rose to the very gates of Heaven.
SELECTION OF THE SITE.
On a journey that Father Junipero Serra made from the south to Monterey, he determined that a place so fair and so rich, as the Valley of Our Lady, should have a Mission and a city. No metropolis in this vast country has ever had a more auspicious founding than had ours of the glori- ous southwest. Unlike many a city that merely happened to come into existence, or incidentally began as a camping ground, or as a trading post, ours began to be in a far more dignified manner. In fact, it was legally organized from the very beginning.
Following the founding of San Jose, through the Vice- roy, Marquis de Croix, and the general Visitor of the Kingdom of New Spain, Galvez, a petition with its recom- mendation for the founding of Los Angeles, was sent to his Catholic Majesty, Charles III, King of Spain. A reply to this petition was delayed four years, when a properly signed document was returned by the King to the Viceroy, ordering the City of the Queen of the Angels to be founded.
At once volunteer Spanish settlers were sought in Mex- ico. These Pobladores with their families were granted liberal concessions in the way of property and political privileges. Headed by Lieutenant Don Jose Zuñiga, they gathered at San Gabriel. It was September 4, 1781, that the Pueblo was founded by Governor Felipe de Neve, who had gone for that purpose to the Mission San Gabriel, the Mother and guardian of the future Pueblo, with eleven
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families brought from Mexico. The party was accom- panied by some soldiers, who bore aloft the banner of Castile, a band of Indian acolytes, carrying the Cross, the emblem of our Redemption, and finally the Franciscan priests with the banner of Our Lady.
Among the numberless hosts of dreamers and seers that, allured by the irresistible charms of the Land of Heart's Desire, have ever flocked to this most beautiful city of ours, there stands out, foremost, the great dreamer and empire builder, the immortal Junipero Serra. It was two years after the founding of Los Angeles, on March 18, 1783, that Father Serra came to this city on his way to San Gabriel. He was for the first time the honored guest of one of the most hospitable cities on the face of the earth. Father Junipero stayed over night and the next day, March 19th, early in the morning, he resumed his journey to the Mission of San Gabriel. Fasting, he came to this Mission in time to sing the Mass at which he de- livered an eloquent panegyric on St. Joseph, this day being sacred to the Holy Patriarch, the virginal spouse of Mary and foster father of Jesus Christ.
In her early days, Los Angeles was but one of the visit- ing points of the sandaled priests of San Gabriel, where the people had to go to attend services. In those far off days the great Angelus bell, the largest bell at the Mission, could be heard at Los Angeles. At the first bell in the morning, two hours before the services, the people started out in their ox-carts from the Pueblo, arriving at the Mis- sion in time for Mass. However, later on they had their own place of worship, frequently visited by the San Gabriel Fathers.
The blessing and laying of the corner stone of the Old Church, as it now stands, took place in 1814.
The venerable Plaza Church of Los Angeles was never intended for a Mission in the formal sense of the word, although there clusters around the old adobe church all of the glamour of story and all of the romance of the Cali- fornia Missions. This historic church was built on the
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same style as the Missions, the timbers having been hewn and carried by the Indians from the forest where they were cut to the site on which the sacred edifice was erected. It seems, however, that the plans were drawn sometime in 1811 or 1812 and that the Comandante of the Presidio of Santa Barbara had given orders to start to build this church.
To Padre Luis Gil y Taboada, Minister at San Gabriel, came the honor of blessing and laying the corner stone of this grand landmark. The Church of Our Lady of the Angels was finished towards the end of 1821; or, perhaps, at the beginning of 1822. The date of its formal dedica- tion, however, was December 8, 1822.
The "Libro de las Cosas Notables de la Mision de San Gabriel" offers a bit of information concerning this sub- ject of the finishing of the church and also giving the reason for the absence from San Gabriel of one of its bells. This book says: "In 1821 the Mission of San Ga- briel loaned a bell to the Pueblo of Los Angeles, until the Poblanos should receive one."
If the Angelenos borrowed a bell, it shows that the church was already or was about to be finished. There is no evidence, however, that this bell was ever returned. Then again, as early as 1823, we find in the archives of the old San Gabriel Mission records of some dead people whose funerals were held from the Plaza Church and who were buried in the cemetery which at that time was ad- jacent to the church. Prior to the building of this church, a temporary chapel was erected on the first old plaza in 1784.
The architect who designed the present church was Don Jose Antonio Ramirez. A neophyte from San Gabriel and another from San Luis Rey Mission did the work for one real, or twelve and a half cents of our money per day each. At the time of the dedication of the Old Church, Don Anastasio Carrillo was comisionado, and Don Manuel Gutierrez was alcalde, or mayor, of Los Angeles. The ayuntamiento, or city council, appointed sponsor of the
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ceremonies Don Jose de la Guerra y Noriega, who was then the celebrated captain of the Presidio of Santa Barbara.
JUNIPERO SERRA'S BI-CENTENNIAL.
It was on November 24, 1913, that the Mission San Gabriel celebrated the second centennial of the birth of Padre Junipero Serra, Father and Founder of the Cali- fornia Missions. Nature graced the occasion with a bright and cloudless day, such as only California can boast of. No one had ever dreamed before that such crowds, as appeared on this important anniversary, would come to and congregate at this Mission. Thousands and many other thousands came to San Gabriel from Los Angeles, the Crown City, Pasadena, and other towns and cities, as well as from the foot hills and the beach settlements. As of old, there was no barrier that would prevent anyone from coming from anywhere and taking part in this cele- bration. Christians, Jews, Gentiles, and people of many creeds and of no creed whatsoever, all came to honor the Great Empire Builder the man who won California for us.
On this occasion, as elsewhere alluded to, a bronze tablet in honor of the Founder's memory was unveiled and dedicated by the Knights of Columbus with appro- priate ceremonial functions.
It may not be amiss to mention the reasons for sepa- rating the settlements of the whites in Pueblos apart from the natives, the Indians. One of the very strong reasons was that the Spanish king's policy was to have the white settlers grouped in towns for the purpose of conquest, colonization, and civilization, while the motives of the Fathers in gathering the natives and Indian neophytes in the Missions was to Christianize and educate them, deem- ing salvation and education of more importance than conquest.
The cowled Padres of the Missions, like their founder, St. Francis, loved intensely the beautiful and romantic in nature. These appealed to them. especially the silence of
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the valleys, the sparkling flow of the streams, and the majesty of the mountains, all of which required that their Missions be somewhat apart from the Pueblos.
Still, those Franciscan Friars were not dreamy senti- mentalists, to fall in love with melancholy winds and purling rills, and water-falls and nodding groves; but their poetry was the poetry of hard work and hard fare. unselfish hearts and charitable hands.
Thus it is that these two very distinct systems of settle- ment began and continued and still hold and will continue to hold their very divergent existence with their peculiar. but admirable customs, and both will continue through their many charms and attractions to secure the interest and admiration of many thousands and possibly millions of present peoples and their posterity. While it is not intended or expected that the Mission settlements will grow greatly in populace, the material of native Indian stock not warranting such expectation, they are likely to . perpetuate their existence enshrined in the beautiful cus- toms of the past. It is not unlikely that the Pueblos will continue, as they have steadily and rapidly been doing, to grow while their populations and boundaries increase, until the confines of Pasadena and Los Angeles overlap and other cities of California unite in forming an unbroken chain of wealth and beauty, power and populace, that shall be peerless and continue on down through the corridors of time.
THE END
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