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    No. 432, July 3, 1858.] _ . ' ._,___. j-...

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    Missionary Adventures In Texas And Mexic...

    During , the outward "voyage the Abbe performs the impressive ceremony of a soLemn high mass chanted on deck midway in the great Atlantic Everything in that grand spectacle makes its way to the soul : the immensity of the heavens , the vast oeean , the light breeze playing through the rigging , the tiny waves that rise and fait unceasingly , the ambient air filled with sweet voices and mysterious unurmurings , all proclaim harmony and eternal grandeur—vox Domini super aquas . It is God ' s own eloquence speaking to the heart of man , conscious that between him and eternity there interposes but a single plank .

    Poor ' us an apostle , and with an almost apostolic enthusiasm for his work , Father Donoenech lands at Galveston , the metropolis of Texas . Soon after he encountered the Abbe Dubuis , appointed to be his collabofateitr in evangelizing the Mexicans and Indo- Mexicans thinly peopling that vast region . They have but a single cassock between them , so that while one said mass tbe other walked about in his shirt-sleeves ! l > ubuis , feeling that a certain augmentation of his wardrobe was indispensable , makes a pair of pantaloons from an old petticoat given him by a certain widower as a burial fee for the interment of his wife . On one occasion he entreats his little

    congregation to excuse the sermon , seeing he had not tasted food for the last forty-eight hours . The priest of Bazonin " wears trousers of sky-blue , wide ¦ as those of a Dutch skipper or Algerian Zouave ; the shape and colour of his hat baffled description . " An old bottomless tin bath served him for both altar and dining-table . Nor . was the poverty of these resources more remarkable than the perils to which they were hourly exposed . One day , celebrating mass jri a little hovel that served as a chap-el , the clog 3 commenced barking furiously . An Alsatian , whose ri fle lay in the corner loaded , ran out to ascertain the cause . An enormous panther , chased by the

    hounds , had climbed into the tree overhanging the roof , ready to drop on the first unconscious passenger . To see the beast and shoot him down , was but the work of a moment . Another time , an ill-advised bear , attracted , no doubt , by the incense and chanting , entered during vespers . His curiosity was fatal , being killed , and eaten , next day . Ihii benevolent , kindhearted Bishop of Galveston , appi-ehensive for the state of DomeneeU ' s health , removes him to San Antonio de Bexar , The road lay through a district Lovely as Eden ' s garden . Rivulets murmured on all sides , and the way was bordered with flowers in . such profusion , and so thickly matted together , that scarcely wits , a leaf or stem discernible in this melange of

    brilliant hues . A light breeze played through the old oaks scattered here and there in this delightful garden of Nature ' s own culture . At one view the oaks were grouped in clumps , then whole forests of them met the eye . Sometimes they were interspersed with countless planes and sycamores . They were in-a virgin forest , with herds of deer attended by their fawns , reposing m its dark shadows . It was the America of Chateaubriand . Delighted to find himself amidst vegetation so luxuriant , he was lost in ¦ admiration . But the enchantment is short-lived . The driver suddenly seizes his carbine , cocks it , examines tbe priming , and . then : leisurely places it at his feet . Danger is at band , although he continues to hum his tune , interrupted only when he points out to him the honey-tree and those plants which cure serpents' bites . Suddenly the horses stop , snort wildly , tremble

    all . over , plunge backwards-, dashing the waggon against a tree , and smashing the jiole . The honest Anglo-Mexican alights with , his gun . At the same instant a panther of huge size crouches arid springs on the foremost horse . A shot , and the beast rolls lifeless in the sand . Our abbe" is knocked head over heels to the bottom of the waggon , and witnesses the scene from an extraordinary point of view—a Venvers . Beaching San Antonio without further mishap , he is lodged in the garret of the Mission , furnished with a miserable camp-bed without mattress or palliasse , a crazy table and two chairs , one of which was without a bottom , and the other minus a leg ; the sofa , a . public coffin used to convey to the cemetery the bodies of the poor , and returned when that duty was fulfilled . Onions , garlic , pimento , and vegetables lay thick upon the floor , which served him for a promenade for two months , for he could not walk in the town by daylight owing to the intense heat , nor outside its precincts for fear cf the terrible archery of the

    ¦ Conianche Indians . The parish priest could not accompany a corpse to the cemetery , only a . pistol-shot from his house , without tin escort of armed men . "In this prison , " says the missionary , " 1 passed long hours , musing a good deal , pacing the length" and breadth of the planks , picking my steps lest I should crush the vegetables , and all the while meditating profoundly on a groat variety of subjects . Close to the house was a stream of clear water , where the women bathed publicly . JNJy window was in view of their jrauiholtngs ; I was , therefore , obliged to keep it closed during the day . " The following anecdote is highly illustrative of the state of morals and manners in tins portion of the Texan republic . One night , whilst Dotuenech slept profoundly , there dime loud , repeated knocks at the door , liising in haste , he is accosted by a youth of eighteen and his sister , entreating him to administer the last sacrament to their brother , who lwid been muiucred

    by the eldest son of the family . Two horses were in readiness , one unbridled the other unsaddled . Leaping on the'latter , the abbe" soon arrives at the ruiicho of San llyeronhno , and , guided by traces of blood , enters the cabin where the victim lay . He was .-tretehed on a bed , bathed in his blood , and breathing heavily , with his forehead bound round vvith a bloody handkerchief . "I asked him if he knew me ? Speechless , be made a sign of recognition . Two candles , shedding u flickering light through the cabin , u dying man , a priest praying for and consoling him , form u very simple picture , but one which has frequently been repeated during my life . And atUI , under the cabin ' s roof , in the wildernessfar from the bustle of cities

    , , I have ever considered this picture as sublime . " Ahl » 6 Doniciiech had not yet terminated the sacred unction , when the fratricide stalks into the room to deul his brother a finishing blow . "In an instant , " snya lie , " 1 drew one of my pistols , and levelling it at his breast ordered him to retire , which he did with a very bad grace . " lie then examines and dresses the wounds . One of the ears had been cut off ' . On raiding the cloth covering the wound on the breast , horror-stricken , the good father lets it fall agnin . The unfortunate man had received , near the heart , a blow of ft hatchet , fracturing two of the ribs and severing one lobe of the lungs . Six months afterwards

    he returned to this ranch © ,, and met a man walking in the yard ,, pale and tottering in his gaifr . He asks his nanxe , and fin da it , to . b « that of the person to whom , he had given extreme unction , and believed to W dead for half a year . To be sure he was a German , with the life of a . cat . Some merry circumstances , horwever , now and then axise to cheer and sweeten his lonely enthusiasm . He goes to Dhanis to baptize the two children of an Alsatian . His stock of German being weak , he wrote on a scrap of paper the word imifen , to baptize , not to coufound it with kaufe » , to buy , or verkaufen , to sell—woi-ds which the Yankee fondness for "doing a trade" caused to be continually resounding in his ears . "Unfortunatel y * in the haate of departure , he loses this memorandum , and the words become confounded . in his memory . ' Seeing a likely paterfamilias leaning against the doorpost of a cabin , he trusts to his good star , and loudly asks if he has

    not some children terhaujen—to sell . Surprise and wrath lower upon the face of the man of Alsace . He had used the wrong word evidently , and endeavours to make amends by saying he had been sent for kau / eit—to buy two children . This was too audacious , even for a phlegmatic . German , and the poor abbe received a broadside of energetic , untranslatable compliments . There was now but the remaining taufen . So with all mildness he remarks , "If it is neither to sell nor to buy , then it must be to baptize . " The- German looked nt him fixedly , and discovering by bis costume 'that he might be the priest sent for to admit bis two olive-branches 'within the pale of the church , burst into fits of long-continued laughter , and Domencch catches his infectious hilarity . Contrasted with this pleasant escape from a difficulty , is the conduct of a

    rich-. Greek colonist who wishes to have his child baptized in the Catholic faith- The abbe declines , owing to a very important omission in the arrangement . The father retorts that , " with his gun , " he would force him to christen his son ! A reprobate drunken Geriupn dies in the kennel—his relatives insolently demand the funeral service—Domenech refuses : they also threaten to ' shoot him . ! u I then , " says Domenech , " quietly took oft my soutane and said , ' Now you no longer have to deal with a priest , ' but with a Frenchman who knows how to make his dwelling respected , and who , should you unfortunately attack with fire-arms , has a brace of pistols to reply to yours . '" A mason of Castroville had asked a young , girl in marriage . % vho was pre-engaged . The worthy stone-cutter assures the priest that he will kill him and his rival also if he celebrates this inarria < re . It is

    celebrated notwithstanding , and the unsuccessful suitor , armed to the teeth , waylays the priest in a forest , but fails to effect bis murderous intent . At Matamo > rqs , he has the honour of blessing the marriage of the living descendant of the royal Montezunia . She was twenty-four years old ; her features handsome , noble , and very sweet withal ; her deportment easy but listless in the extreme . The ancient glory of the Incas revealed itself in this the last scion of- . ' their race , for she said she was an orphan without kindred in the remotest degree , and that of all the magnificent possessions of her ancestors nothing remained but some fields in Texas . Six thousand dollars had been offered for them , and , fearing to be stripped of all , she accepted the miserable price , married the man she loved , and retired into obscurity- ;' . her existence unknown indeed to the world , but withal peaceful and happy .

    The present Comanche Indian race are the direct descendants of the bold and warlike tribes once ruled by her royal ancestry . Their women are of wild and savage beauty , set off" most effectively by a chemise of delicately tanned'deer-skin , frin » ed with red cloth , tin , and Venetian pearls . Some wear an ' ornament of the teeth of wild-boars and panthers , ranged on their breasts like the brandebourgs worn by hussars . They olton join their husband in the chase , for the Comanche is a polygamist , who purchases as many wives as he fancies , at the price of , a horse for each . One of these handsome Amazons wore the skin of a lion killed with her own hand , and the lion of Texas is large and formidable . She was always accompanied by an animal about the size of . a cat , but of the form nnd appearance of a gont . Its horns were rose-coloured , its fur of the finest quality , glossy like silk and white us snow ; instead of hoofs it had claws . They templed her with an offer of five hundred francs , nnd the commandant ' s wife would have given for it a brilliant of great value . She refused both . She knew a wood , she said , where they abounded , and would , it' ever she returned , catch some of these singular creatures , expressly for them .

    Sickness at hist compels the Abbe to seek his native climate , and , by the bishop ' s sanction , he sails for France . "Arriving nt Lyons , iny native town , it w « s just ten oclock when I knocked nt my mother ' s floor . How my heart bent ! 'Who is there V 'ItisJ . ' 'Ah ! my Emmanuel ! ' We fell into each other ' s arms , and wept tears of joy . A mother ' s caresses are sweet at any age . " After a sojourn of three weeks in the bosom of his family , he starts for Home . He was but poorly clad , but at the Vatican ti man is not judged by his dress . Mis Holiness receives him with accustomed benevolence . "During i » y lift-, " says the author , "I had never seen features so full of sympathy , so kind , so venerable . I briefly told my adventures and the Holy Father replied , * 1 see , dear child , thnt you are inured to misery . ' ' So much bo , ' I rejoined , ' that oven in Rome it quits me not . ' " He then frankly avowa his pecuniary embarrassments , for his last five franca lad totally disappeared . His Holiness smilud , and seeing my confidence in God , said , "Since you travel on the business of Providence , his vicar shall pay your travelling expenses ; " and suiting the nction to the word , l ' ope 1 ' ius IX ., with princely largess , gave him a large handful of gold ieces

    p . After a very short sojourn in France , AbbI Domenech returns to the scene of his former labours , to which want of space will not allow of om following him . The journey was not without its accompanying perils . During u voyage on the Hudson , in one of the monster htemiiboat . s " tlml ply as fur as Albany , making the distance—one hundred and fifty-six milus—in a few hours , for the trifling charge of one piastre , two contending boats wuigh anchor at the same moment , and sot out in a spirit of proud " rivalry . His cuptuin , not , tmtihfied with a speed of twenty-five—at times twenty-sevenmiles an hour , had oil and grease thrown into the ftinmee . The boats gel entangled , and there are from seven to ei > ilifc hundred passengers on board At this alarming crisis , jv deputation accosts tho caijtain , entreating him to

    No. 432, July 3, 1858.] _ . ' ._,___. J-...

    No . 432 , July 3 , 1858 . ] _ . ' . _ , ___ . j- B- E LEADEl 643

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 3, 1858, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03071858/page/19/