"BretHarte-LegendsAndTales" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harte Bret)

For many years after Father Junipero Serro first rang his bell in
the wilderness of Upper California, the spirit which animated that
adventurous priest did not wane. The conversion of the heathen
went on rapidly in the establishment of Missions throughout the
land. So sedulously did the good Fathers set about their work,
that around their isolated chapels there presently arose adobe
huts, whose mud-plastered and savage tenants partook regularly of
the provisions, and occasionally of the Sacrament, of their pious
hosts. Nay, so great was their progress, that one zealous Padre is
reported to have administered the Lord's Supper one Sabbath morning
to "over three hundred heathen Salvages." It was not to be
wondered that the Enemy of Souls, being greatly incensed thereat,
and alarmed at his decreasing popularity, should have grievously
tempted and embarrassed these Holy Fathers, as we shall presently
see.

Yet they were happy, peaceful days for California. The vagrant
keels of prying Commerce had not as yet ruffled the lordly gravity
of her bays. No torn and ragged gulch betrayed the suspicion of
golden treasure. The wild oats drooped idly in the morning heat,
or wrestled with the afternoon breezes. Deer and antelope dotted
the plain. The watercourses brawled in their familiar channels,
nor dreamed of ever shifting their regular tide. The wonders of the
Yosemite and Calaveras were as yet unrecorded. The Holy Fathers
noted little of the landscape beyond the barbaric prodigality with
which the quick soil repaid the sowing. A new conversion, the
advent of a Saint's day, or the baptism of an Indian baby, was at
once the chronicle and marvel of their day.

At this blissful epoch there lived at the Mission of San Pablo
Father Jose Antonio Haro, a worthy brother of the Society of Jesus.
He was of tall and cadaverous aspect. A somewhat romantic history
had given a poetic interest to his lugubrious visage. While a
youth, pursuing his studies at famous Salamanca, he had become
enamored of the charms of Dona Carmen de Torrencevara, as that lady
passed to her matutinal devotions. Untoward circumstances,
hastened, perhaps, by a wealthier suitor, brought this amour to a
disastrous issue; and Father Jose entered a monastery, taking upon
himself the vows of celibacy. It was here that his natural fervor
and poetic enthusiasm conceived expression as a missionary. A
longing to convert the uncivilized heathen succeeded his frivolous
earthly passion, and a desire to explore and develop unknown
fastnesses continually possessed him. In his flashing eye and
sombre exterior was detected a singular commingling of the discreet
Las Casas and the impetuous Balboa.

Fired by this pious zeal, Father Jose went forward in the van of
Christian pioneers. On reaching Mexico, he obtained authority to
establish the Mission of San Pablo. Like the good Junipero,
accompanied only by an acolyte and muleteer, he unsaddled his mules