In a Mission Patio. 



great iquadrangle arose the simple, sym- 

 metrical buildings of the establishment 

 — the arched corridors, the tiled roofs, 

 the doors hewn by hand out of planks. 



Just twenty-one years later work 

 upon the magnificent stone church was 

 commenced at one corner of the quad- 

 rangle, and in 1806, after nine years of 

 labor, it was completed, its walls deco- 

 rated, its bells hung in the massive 

 tower, and its saints enshrined. 



And to-day, nearly a hundred years 

 later, what ruin greets the eye ! Earth- 

 quake and vandalism have left but a 

 suggestion of the splendor of its prime, 

 although the ruin is full of poetry as 

 well as pathos. In this ruin I spent 

 the month of January a year ago, and it 

 occurred to me many times that here, 

 where the hand of time had so rudely 

 shaken all the landmarks of man, there 

 is at least one feature of the scene which 

 is substantially the same to-day as upon 

 that eventful morning when Father 

 Serra first said the mass here. I refer 

 218 



