138 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



more, it civilizes the native, catching him 

 young, and teaching future voters the 

 language of the country whose laws oh, 

 supreme height of human folly ! they are 

 to assist in making. True, these mission- 

 schools are but as a drop in the ocean, but 

 still they accomplish the above, and some- 

 thing more too, judging by the few specimens 

 I have seen of mission-instructed Mexicans. 

 That they have acquired the (to them) un- 

 natural art of truth-speaking, I cannot go so 

 far as to affirm, but in all other details they 

 are an improvement on the original. 

 One day Adelado came to me. 

 ' Senora, will you advance me five dollars ?' 

 ' But, Adelado, you are already ahead of 

 your wages/ 



* Si, senora, but the padre ; it is to pay 

 the priest.' 



* The padre, Adelado ? But you have 

 already paid him much !' 



' Si, senora, but Tomas he has asked me 

 to be godfather to his child, and to be a god- 

 father one pays the priest ten dollars.' 



Now, the priests are sleek and fat, and as 

 even Mother Church soils her garments with 



