---·
Tlie Organization of Mission Life, I722-r;28
209
or two as companions, or sometimes alone, and like a true father goes in search of his children, he would travel across plains, over hills, and into the forests until he found them and brought them back. Almost all the missionaries agree that when the neophytes saw the Padre after their escapade, they ran to him like lost lambs to the shepherd. Although this was a common occurrence throughout the year, the fickleness of their wqrds did not seem to discourage the missionaries, who, like trusting mothers, constantly forgave their children for the indescribable hardships they had to endure for their sake. One of the most common and recurring epidemics to which the missions were exposed was smallpox. The natives seem to have been particularly susceptible to the contagion and greatly dreaded the perilous consequences of the disease. In their childish way they believed the malady was an evil spirit that walked from one afflicted person to another. Whenever a mem- ber of a tribe became a victim of smallpox, the rest of the Indians placed him under the shade of a large tree, surrounded him by a fence of thorns, and leaving him some food and water, abandoned him to his fate, while they fled as far away as possible. On the path, they would halt at regular intervals and place thorny bushes so that the smallpox, in trying to overtake them, might pierce its "little sacks" and die in the attempt. When such an epidemic visited the missions it was with the greatest difficulty that the missionaries were able to keep the neophytes from run- ning away. The indefatigable and devoted Padres would work night and day to prepare food for the sick and to give them such comfort as they could provide. The Indians who were not afflicted generally refused to take care of the sick, because they feared that they might contract the disease. At such times those who died were buried as soon as possible, and in cases where all the members of a family occupying one house succumbed, they were burned with all their belongings, for it was thought to be the surest means of preventing further infection. The trying years of Governor Fernando Perez de Almazan's adminis- tration were fruitful years. It was during this time that the real founda- tions for the civil administration of Texas were laid and that the mis- sions became definitely organized. In spite of the unsympathetic and unfair report of Pedro de Rivera in 1727, and notwithstanding the reduction of all the garrisons, the work was to go on, because its roots had been planted deep in the soil. The untamed children of the plains had been brought in touch with a force hitherto unknown in their lives. The all-embracing love of the Padres had softened their hardened souls;
Powered by FlippingBook