Om· Catliolic Heritage in Texas
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interpreting the signs that we cannot make out with words," says Father Espinosa. This was torture to one's tongue, the good missionary assures us, and he was in position to know, for he mastered several of the lan- guages spoken by the tribes of East Texas. It was necessary to twist and turn the tongue into all sort of shapes, he says, in order to produce the strange and harsh sounds of the natives. There were missions where as many as six and seven different dialects were spoken by the neophytes.6- 1 After the difficulties of the languages were overcome it still required infinite patience to train the native sons of the plains slowly to regular habits of industry. Accustomed to a roving life, to move freely from place to place as need or desire prompted them, the Indians experienced great reluctance in adapting themselves to missionary life. "When the poor wretches come into our missions," Father Espinosa observes, "we have to be indulgent with them for a long time in order that they may become accustomed to systematic labor." It was hard for them to realize that they must work regularly day after day. When they were gathered in a mission, one of the first things they were taught was how to cultivate the soil and raise a crop. In their rancher,as the planting was done in a desultory manner and that burden was placed generally on women. Under the supervision and direction of one of the soldiers assigned as mission guards, the men were taken to the field and patiently taught how to plow and how to sow. The missionary frequently set the example himself, laboring side by side with the neophytes. The necessary tools and seed were furnished by the Padres and most of the plowing was done with oxen. When the harvest was gathered it was carefully stored in a common barn, the key to which was kept by the missionary. Throughout the year these supplies were distributed weekly to those who had learned to appor- tion their daily allowances carefully; but those who did not know how to manage the diurnal rations, were accustomed to present themselves every morning to receive these goods from the commissary. In this way those who had been longer at the mission gradually learned self-control and gained the ability to direct their own affairs. If at the end of the year there was any grain left, after all the neophytes had been amply supplied and a sufficient amount set aside for planting, this was sold either to the captain of the neighboring presidio or to settlers in the vicinity. The governor of the Indian pueblo and the alcaldes, acting as agents for the mission Indians, carried on the negotiations and 64The foregoing details, as well as those that follow, are taken from the descrip- tion given by Father Espinosa in his Clironica, I, 47 5-478.
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