Riverds Inspection and Removal of iJt/issions to San Antonio 249
By the time he returned, all the rest would have either abandoned the mission, or would have been forced to run away by the Apaches. But most important of all, he said, was the fact that in the case where there was only one missionary, the Sacraments could not be administered in his absence. 49 It had erroneously been held that the soldiers, who accompanied the missionaries in such cases, were used for the purpose of intimidating or forcing the fugitives to return to the missions against their will. There is not a single instance of force having been employed to compel the Indians to return to the missions against their will even where the persons testifying have not been in sympathy with the work of the missionaries in Texas. It is necessary to remember that the neophytes were very much like full-grown children. They tired easily of the routine of their new life and could not resist the temptation to go back to the woods and the plains. But after they ran away, they soon longed for the comfort and security of the missions and the tender and loving care of the Padres. They realized, however, that they had committed a wrong and were afraid to return for fear of punishment. If they had only known the joy with which they were awaited, the missionaries would not have had to go after them. But Espinosa, who lived for several years in Texas, and many others, have declared time and again, that when the neophytes who had run away saw the Padres, they came to them willingly, joyfully, and eagerly, like sheep who flock to the shepherd. In their simple minds, they knew that if the·missionary sought for them, it was because he wanted them to return to the mission and this dispelled their fear. Life in t/ze missions. In the letter of Father Sevillano to the king, which is a long and detailed report on general conditions in Texas at the close of 1729, he gave a vivid account of life in the missions. Speaking of San Antonio, he points out that most of the Indians congregated there were still very wild, many of them having been just recently converted and many more now being instructed in the doctri11a in preparation to receive the Sacrament of Baptism. They were still totally incapable of governing their own affairs. The missionaries had to take them out to the farms each day and teach them how to plow, how to plant, how to cultivate the crops, and how to harvest them. They had to show them how to look after the mission herd of cattle and the horses, mules, and burros; how to count them, feed them and water them regularly. The
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