, it is
said, was taken in one lump by the President, Santa Ana. Still the
missions were able to hold their own until the Mexican Government
removed the Indians from the control of the Padres, for the benefit, I
suppose, of the "Indian ring." The secular control of the native
tribes was, in Mexican hands, an utter failure. The Indians, now no
longer compelled to work, no longer well fed and comfortably clothed,
were scattered about the country as paupers and tramps. The missions,
after repeated interferences of this sort, fell into a rapid decline,
and at the time that California was ceded to the United States, not one
of them was in successful operation. A few of the churches are still
partly occupied, as at San Luis Obispo, San Capistrano, and San Miguel.
The Mission of Santa Barbara is still intact, and has yet its little
bands of monks. A few, like San Carlos, have been partially saved or
partially restored, thanks to the loving interest of Father Casanova
and others; but the Indians are gone, and neither wealth nor influence
remains with the missions. Most of them are crumbling ruins, and have
already taken their place as curiosities and relics of the past. Some
of them, as the noble San Antonio de Padua and the stately San Luis
Rey, are exquisitely beautiful, even in ruins. Of others, as San
Rafael, not a trace remains, and its spot can be kept green only in
memory. It is said that at San Antonio, a mission once numbering
fourteen hundred souls, and rearing the finest horses in California,
the last priest lived all alone for years, and supported himself by
raising geese and selling the tiles from the mission roof. When he
died, ten years ago, no one was left to care for his beloved mission,
which is rapidly falling into utter decay.

[Illustration: Mission of San Antonio de Padua--side of the chapel,
with the old pear-trees.]

So faded away the California of the Padre, and left no stain on the
pages of our history.

[1] Address at the Teachers' Institute at Monterey, California,
September, 1893.

[2] This stretch of water, as explained below, lies entirely outside of
what is now known as San Francisco Bay.

[3] The limits of San Francisco Bay, as now understood, were
ascertained at the time of the founding of the mission, and the name
was then formally adopted.

[4] Bret Harte.

THE CONQUEST OF JUPITER PEN.

In a cleft of the high Alps stands the Hospice of the Great Saint
Bernard.