House and Garden 
are a mass of debris, a crumbled tower, a 
shattered cloister or a shapeless heap of adobe 
bricks. The missions were not alone churches; 
they were quarters, walled rectangles with 
apartments for priests, soldiers, shops, but 
they were built of such poor adobe that dis¬ 
integration has taken place where a more 
substantial building would have survived. 
Another cause of regret at their decay lies in 
the fact that old travelers still speak of the 
hospitality of those missions which provided 
food and shelter. Situated about a day’s 
journey apart on the main route of travel in 
the then little settled California, they were a 
haven of rest to wayfarers. Horses were the 
only means of transportation and the weary 
prospector could ride up at night to one of 
these hospitable hostelries and be assured of a 
welcome from priest or sacristan who met 
him at the door. A bath, a hearty meal and 
a hospitable bed awaited him and if desired 
he could start out the next day with fresh 
horses and a guide. This fact alone ought 
to insure their preservation as typical of early 
frontier hospitality before the days of rail¬ 
roads and hotels. 
A project is on foot to open up in a satis¬ 
factory way this El Camino, the road which 
for a distance of hundreds of miles leads from 
one mission to another. It winds through 
sheltered valleys, past prosperous fruit ranches, 
olive groves and smiling landscapes, and 
if this is carried out the tourist will not 
only have a delightful glimpse of California’s 
prosperities, but will pass from one mission 
to another and view romantic places that now 
one has to go off the beaten track to see. A 
plan coincident with the opening of the road 
is to restore the missions and replace as far as 
possible their contents. Some idea of the 
value of these may be gained from knowledge 
that the bells of the Santa Cruz church cost 
four thousand dollars, and its silver plate 
thirty thousand. The San Fernando Rey 
Mission has already been restored by the 
Landmarks Club of Los Angeles. 
It will be difficult to duplicate the original 
buildings as some have fallen into ruins that 
scarcely show the form, size and shape. 
Even in those that are not ruined the doves 
in many instances have nested in images and 
reredos. An interesting feature of nearly all 
the churches were the confessionals built in 
one side with huge doors and iron hinges and 
gratings that still remain. In many missions 
the decorations have been covered with a 
coat of whitewash by practical latter-day 
priests and are partially if not wholly ruined. 
At San Luis Rey, some of the old mural 
decorations remain, but at Santa Barbara all 
that remains of the old decorations are found 
in reredos and arches. Here and at some 
other missions are remnants of old paintings, 
which competent critics agree should be pre¬ 
served. 
A few detractors claim that the missions 
in their teaching of the Indians were a failure, 
and that they simply enslaved a people who 
were free before their founding and that the 
buildings flourished for the benefit of those 
priests who indulged in six good table courses 
daily. Such people contend that the sooner 
the buildings are removed as rubbish the 
better, as they are not monuments which were 
employed for the elevation of mankind. The 
sentiment for the repair and restoration of 
these structures is, however, widespread and 
there is every reason to suppose that in the 
end the connecting road will convey sight¬ 
seers from one mission to another, and these 
beauties of California will be preserved as 
treasured historical curiosities of the State 
before her so-called pioneer days. One 
thing is certain: these old missions mark 
the storms of a century and are fast becoming 
the habitation of owls and lizards. To see 
these buildings is like turning the pages of 
the past. Some were twenty years in the 
building, most had bells from Spain, and in 
some were vessels of silver centuries old, 
lifelike images, rich priestly garbs and writ¬ 
ings that have been accredited to the brave 
Father Serra through whose efforts they 
were founded. 
178 
