San José

“ Charles Heywood, U.S.N., had been deputed to occupy the little town of San José.
As I have before mentioned, the settlement is situated in a narrow valley, about a league at its greatest width on the gulf, and is rapidly wedged in, as it falls back into the interior, by converging walls of lofty barren mountains. It is fertilized by a swift little stream of pure water, which, in pleasing contrast to the parched arid hills around, brightens the landscape with many green patches of cultivated fields, fruits, and foliage. ”

“ José Antonio Carillo escorted representatives of his family along the Camino Real, through San José pueblo, on to San José Mission, four leagues away toward the setting sun.
The Bandinis followed the de la Guerras. The Auguellos and the Malarins paced side by side. The busy bee of politics buzzed in vain in the cap of Juan de Bautista Alvarado, for the active brain beneath was under the spell of superior attraction in Mission San José, and the man hastened thither faster than if the governor's chair awaited him there. ”

“ On the nineteenth of March, the fiesta of San José and of all his namesakes, I asked Pedra if we should have one of the tarts of St. Joseph for dinner.
“In all Madrid there is no house so poor that the torta of San José will not be eaten to-day. He is the patron of the church, and as such we all must venerate him.” It was a busy day for Don José Villegas; a flood of visitors, cards, letters, telegrams and presents poured through the Tower of Babel from daylight till midnight. ”

“ We next visited San Jose, one of the most romantically, beautiful towns in California, which would require the subtle gift of genius, a touch of poetic fire, and, above all, the fullness and richness of descriptive power, to enable me to give any adequate conception of its charms. It was almost a fairy realm, with its fields of waving grain, then golden with the glow of the harvest season; trees laden with fruitage, and vineyards drooping with their ripe, purple clusters. ”

“ The Doña Carmelita cordially seconded her father's invitation. The Barcelos accepted; the Señora Valentino likewise.
"Mission San José—Mission San José—" mused the latter. "Is there not living there a Franciscan friar, one Lusciano Osuna?"
"It is so," assented Mendoza.
"I heard he was in California, and as you mentioned the Mission San José it came to me that was given as his present home."
"A man of some importance, probably, in Spain," volunteered Señor Hernandez. ”

“ Not until 1797 was the mission of San José founded, on a spot some fourteen miles distant from the pueblo. The padres had no keen desire to place the missions in close proximity to the pueblos, fearing the evil influence on the Indians [172] of a bad class of white men, besides other inevitable complications, such as the mixing up of cattle. Father Engelhardt, in his History of the California Missions, tells the story of the founding of the Mission San José thus: “Here, on Trinity Sunday, June 11, 1797, Father Lasuén raised and blessed the cross. ”

“ Mission San José de Guadalupe and the pueblo of the same name are not, as so many people, even residents of California, think, one and the same. The pueblo of San José is now the modern city of that name, the home of the State Normal School, and the starting-point for Mount Hamilton. But Mission San José is a small settlement, nearly twenty miles east and north, in the foothills overlooking the southeast end of San Francisco Bay. The Mission church has entirely disappeared, an earthquake in 1868 having completed the ruin begun by the spoliation at the time of secularization. ”

“ When the Missions of the Concepcion, of San José, of San Juan, of San Francis of the Sword, now crumbling to inevitable decay, shall be only mounds in the midst of stunted trees and matted vines, when the exquisite carvings of their broad façades shall have turned to dust again, the traveller will stand before the Alamo with reverence, and enter, with uncovered head, the dim recesses of this altar-place of liberty. ”

“ She mounted her horse gracefully, despite her bandaged arm, waved adios to the Higueras, and set out toward San José attended by Captain Morando.
"Be sure to stop if you feel weak," called Señora Higuera. "A peon will make his house yours, as well will any ranchero." ”

“ He preached also on the morning and evening of Sunday the 19th, to crowded audiences at the same Church. At the close of the latter meeting, numbers of friends came forward to shake hands with us, who, in the warmest terms, expressed delight at our visit to their city. "San José is in the middle of the Santa Clara Valley; and, in consequence of its healthful climate, which is a medium between the cold winds of the coast, and the hot valleys of the interior, is much resorted to by invalids. One street is occupied entirely by French inhabitants, and another quarter only by Chinese." ”

“ A glow-worm’s light beneath a star that shall never set!
Monday, Sept. 25. San José is sixty-five miles from Monterey, and stands in the centre of a spacious valley which opens on the great bay of San Francisco. It is cultivated only in spots, but the immense yield in these is sufficient evidence of what the valley is capable. A plough and harrow, at which a New England crow would laugh, are followed by fields of waving grain. Within this valley lie the rich lands of Com. Stockton, and they will yet feel the force of his vivifying enterprise. ”

“ The Captain Morando still pursues Stanislaus, the elusive—so I heard this morning in San José. My brother-in-law, the Colonel Barcelo, has returned to Monterey in disgust, having given up the chase. You know the old saying, señorita, 'The braver in war, the keener in love.' The Captain is both a brave soldier and a keen lover. ”

“ Lounging one afternoon along the Alameda, a leafy avenue set out by the early Mission Fathers between the village of San Jose and the convent of Santa Clara, he saw a double file of young girls from the convent approaching, on their usual promenade. A view of this procession being the fondest ambition of the San Jose collegian, and especially interdicted and circumvented by the good Fathers attending the college excursions, Clarence felt for it the profound indifference of a boy who, in the intermediate temperate zone of fifteen years, thinks that he is no longer young and romantic! ”

“ Her special symbol is the lily, peculiarly appropriate for the patroness of the ever-blooming Santa Clara Valley.
SAN JOSÉ
San José (St. Joseph) , enjoys the distinction of having been the first white colony planted in the state by the Spaniards, although when we read the complaints of the padres concerning the highly undesirable character of its first settlers, recruited mainly from the criminal classes of Sonora, the distinction would seem to be of rather a doubtful sort. ”

“ San José was founded and began conversions in 1797. [Pg 147] The baptism book here has the converts identified according to general area, not specific village. There are six such regions, or categories: "Palos colorados," "de la Alameda," "del Estero," "del Norte," "del Este," "del Sur." Of these the first three are evidently local and in the region now being discussed: (1) the redwoods back of Oakland and San Leandro; (2) Alameda Creek and adjacent plain; (3) the shore of the Bay directly west of the mission. ”

“ So they moved on solemnly toward the sea, where, in the distance, Father José saw stately caravels, bearing the same familiar banner, awaiting them. The good Padre gazed with conflicting emotions, and the serious voice of the stranger broke the silence.
"Thou hast beheld, Sir Priest, the fading footprints of adventurous Castile. Thou hast seen the declining glory of old Spain,—declining as yonder brilliant sun. The sceptre she hath wrested from the heathen is fast dropping from her decrepit and fleshless grasp. The children she hath fostered shall know her no longer. ”

“ The suburbs consist chiefly of cane huts, tenanted by Indians and half-castes. The larger of two public gardens, the Morazan Park, contains a representative collection of the Costa Rican flora. The principal buildings are the cathedral, founded in the 18th century but restored after 1870, the hospital, government offices, institutes of law and medicine and of physical geography, training school for teachers, national bank, museum, library and barracks. The staple trade of San José is in coffee. ”

“ After going some six leagues to the northeast we halted to pass the night in the valley of San José near a willow grove which contains good water.
20th day. From the valley to Pescadero, or Cholvones, we traveled about nine leagues to the east-northeast11 and arrived very late so as not to be seen or heard. Soon we placed our people in position to attack a dance [being carried on] by heathen Indians and fugitive Christians.
21st day. Before dawn we assaulted a village on this side of the river and only one person escaped, a San José Christian named Bernardo. ”

“ It may be said, therefore, that by comparison with some other spots to which Englishmen and others are congregated for the gathering together of money, San José may be considered as a happy region; but, nevertheless, a life there is not in every way desirable. It is a dull place, with little to interest either the eye or the ear. Although the heat of the tropics is but little felt there on account of its altitude, men and women become too lifeless for much enterprise. There is no society. ”

“ At five o’clock in the afternoon we left the island, and having passed Point San Pablo, which is on the side of the mainland of San José, we stopped at eight o’clock in the evening, having gone in the entire day six leagues toward the northeast.
14th day. We set out at six o’clock in the morning, and with a light wind we arrived at noon at the end of the strait of the Chupcanes [i.e., Carquinez Strait] . The village of this name is Christian, part at San- 274 - José, part at San Francisco. It is fourteen leagues distant from the latter and seventeen leagues north-northeast of the former. ”

“ San José.At San José a Spanish governor resides, who presides over the two pueblos of San Pedro and San José, and does the duty also of alcalde. Lieutenant Budd did not see him, as he was absent, but his lady did the honors. Lieutenant Budd represented the pueblo as cleanly and orderly. About fifteen soldiers were seen, who compose the governor’s guard, and more were said to be stationed at San Pedro. A small fort of eight guns commands the roadstead. The beach was found to be of fine volcanic sand, composed chiefly of oxide of iron, and comminuted shells ”

“ On the south of the town runs a small stream, and the place is surrounded by plains, affording fine pasturage. Being situated on the direct route from the southern ports to the gold mines, San José received a considerable stimulus from their discovery. A profitable trade was soon established, and the town improved very rapidly. It is now a town of about four thousand inhabitants, and the increase still continues rapid. In a greater degree than any of the older towns of California, it has all the evidence of a thriving and progressive place. ”

“ This difficulty over, the major-domo promised us a guide before day-light for the next village. At three o'clock we were awakened by the creaking of the sugar-mill. We waited till daylight for a guide, but as none came we bade farewell to our kind host, and set out alone. The name of the hacienda is San José, but in the hurry of my movements I never learned the name of the proprietor. In the constant revolutions of Central America, it may happen that he will one day be flying for his life; in his hour of need, may he meet a heart as noble as his own! ”

“ Who heads you?"
"The Señorita Doña Carmelita Mendoza," replied Enrico, impressively.
"Thou hast ever been a joker, old man," guffawed Stanislaus. "Call to mind Salinas field where our bullet overtook thee, and bawl a joke about that."
Carmelita advanced her horse a few steps. "Stanislaus, I remember you as Padre Duran's major-domo, at Mission San José. Come forth here and meet me, and let you and me alone arrange for returning the peonas to their home. For each rifle of yours we have two to oppose, and reenforcements are hurrying to join us. Come, let us speak together." ”

“ At the western end the chancel is raised by three shallow steps. Behind the altar is a gaudily painted Mexican screen done in 1802. To the left hangs the miracle-working painting of San José sent to the Mission by Charles II of Spain, it is said. On the opposite wall is another holy picture painted on buffalo hide by some Mexican craftsmen. The San José painting was for years a serious cause of dissension and almost of war between Ácoma and Laguna, so that it was amusing to have my host pull me by the sleeve and say, sotto voce, pointing to our chauffeur, “Don’t speak of it, he’s Laguna.” ”

“ Colonel Barcelo, commander of the presidio at Monterey, with his wife and her younger sister, the Señora Valentino, rode up on horseback.
The Colonel and his wife were well known to the picnickers. His sister-in-law had but lately arrived from Madrid.
The newcomers were accorded a gracious reception.
"Happened to be visiting near San José. Hearing of the merienda, we came along without an invitation," said Barcelo, laughing. "Besides, I wished Señora Valentino to witness one of our festal days. It is unique. Madrid itself holds nothing to equal it." ”