San Mateo

“ As Sid passed below him then halted his pinto and waited, Scotty climbed on up and soon was peering through a ragged granite gap in the ridge. Below him fell away the bare, sage-strewn slopes and the low ridges of the foothills. Beyond that the great sun-baked plain of San Mateo lay like a floor. Up on its lonely hill, dim, in the blue distance, rose the school, yellow, and as Spanish as old Mexico. A mass of green around it told of water and of its permanent Apache colony. ”

“ Determined, then, on seeing with our own eyes all these wonders, we set out for San-Mateo, taking with us an Indian, having with him a crowbar and a couple of pickaxes, to dig us out a way, should we have the chance of prolonging our subterraneous walk beyond the limits which we all already knew. ”

“ We pitched in an old and abandoned alfalfa field above the town, and got supper from the postmaster.
San Mateo, Peru.
May 27.— San Mateo, a village about the size of Surco and Matucana, is situated on both sides of the Rimac, and at an elevation of ten thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea. The men work the chacras of maize, potatoes, and beans; and the women do all the household work, besides carrying their meals to the workmen on the farms, over hills that would make a lazy man shudder even to look at.
PARAC. 53
They live in poverty and filth, but seem happy enough. ”

“ San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence) , was a saint who suffered martyrdom by being roasted on a gridiron. The legend relates that he said to his tormentors, “I am now sufficiently cooked on this side, turn me over and roast me on the other.” San Lorenzo is in Alameda County, twenty miles southeast of San Francisco.
San Matéo (St. Matthew) , is the name of a county bordering on San Francisco Bay, and of a town on the west shore of the bay, twenty-one miles south of San Francisco. St. Matthew was a Hebrew by birth, and the author of the book of the Scriptures that bears his name. ”

“ The stream was from sixty to seventy yards wide, with an extended rocky bed, which shows that during the rainy season it is a large one, though less rapid than the Paracti. 191
The Indian lives by the side of the San Mateo. Brighter days and clearer nights are found here. The soil is rich, the country undulating. The Indian has an uninterrupted view of the valley of the San Mateo, until his eye strikes the Andes.
We halted at a place called San Antonio, composed of a single shed, very neatly built and thatched. Our hamacs were slung up and baggage put under cover. ”

“ Mothers have from time immemorial rested their babies’ heads against that stone head, because “Mateo was a clever man, and baby must be clever too.” In the language of Galicia, this figure of Mateo is sometimes called el santo dos croques, the saint with the curls (lit. “of the curls”) . Mateo has represented himself as a humble supplicant whose eyes are directed towards the holy altar, and whose knees are bent in adoration. He is clad in a tunic with wide sleeves, probably the every-day garb of a Gallegan citizen of the twelfth century. ”

“ The coast now trends to the south west, a high wooded mountain, distinguished by the name of the Sierra de San Mateo, stretching some way into the sea, and forming the steep sandy cape of Paloma, a league on the western side of which are the ruins of Belon.
The road to Cadiz, however, leaves the sea-shore to seek a more level country, and, inclining slightly to the north, keeping up the Val de Baqueros for five miles, reaches a pass between the mountains of San Mateo and Enmedio.
The valley is very wild and beautiful. ”

“ I made a speech to some curious loafers about the tent, in which I appealed to their pride and patriotism, telling them that I thought it strange that so large a town as San Mateo, belonging to so famous a country as Peru, could not furnish a sick stranger, who could eat nothing else, with a few eggs. ”

“ Much of their lore appears to be of their own invention. The superb Puerta de la Gloria, wrought by a then famous architect sent from the king of Leon, but known to us to-day only as Master Mateo, was the fruit of twenty years' labor. This triple porch, which runs across the west end of the nave, being finally completed, Master Mateo seems to have symbolized the dedication of his service to the Apostle in a kneeling statue of himself, facing the east, with back to the richly sculptured pillar of the chief portal. ”

“ We retraced our trail of the night before, going back to the cart-road. A little before eight we came upon a ranch, the Ranchito del Boca del Rio. Here we asked our way, and found that we were still as far from San Mateo, as when we left Huilotepec the night before. Eating a light breakfast, we secured a guide who took us, by the shortest way across the river, back to the main trail for San Mateo, where he left us. The road was long and hot and sandy. Our horses could hardly keep up a decent walk. It seemed that we would never reach the town. ”

“ Thence came their timber vigas or whatever other wood might be needed by the pueblo, all to be brought by human labor across thirty miles of desert. [14] On the slopes of San Mateo, we are told, are the most holy and hidden places of prayer and ritual, which the uninitiated may never find or penetrate. Well-worn trails run from Laguna and Zuñi as well as from Ácoma to the summit, and I have been told by a resident of Albuquerque of an altar and prayer sticks found there in recent days. ”

“ In this serious conclave the good Father Felipe once more expounded the alienated condition and the dangerous reading of the absent man. In the midst of which the ordinary post brought a letter from Don Jose, calmly inviting the family to dine with him and Roberto at San Mateo on the following Wednesday. The document was passed gravely from hand to hand. Was it a fresh evidence of mental aberration—an audacity of frenzy—or a trick of the vaquero? The archbishop and alcalde shook their heads—it was without doubt a lawless, even a sacrilegious and blasphemous fete. ”

“ The next morning at daybreak he resumes his journey, and rides fifteen miles to San Mateo, breakfasts at eleven, takes his siesta in a hammock until four or five in the afternoon, then mounting his mule again, covers the ten miles to Esparza by sunset, where he dines and spends the night, usually remaining there, to avoid the heat of Punta Arenas, until a few hours before the steamer leaves ”

“ In Christian artists of greater note than Mateo—even in Nicolas of Pisa, there is something earthly, frivolous, profane; but in Mateo all is serious, spiritual, without any loss of the human element. As we contemplate the Pórtico the figures almost seem to move, to sit, to talk. You seem to hear the murmur of their lips. The same discreet realism manifested in the heads is shown also in the limbs. The arms, the hands, and even the fingers seem to move with flexibility and delicacy. ”

“ It is thus the romantic legends of Granada mingle themselves with everything, and are kept fresh in the public mind.
As we wended our way back to the Alhambra, Mateo was in high glee and garrulous vein. “Ah, Señor,” exclaimed he, “there is no place in all the world like Granada for grand ceremonies (funciones grandes) ; a man need spend nothing on pleasure here, it is all furnished him gratis.” Pero, el dia de la Toma! Ah, Señor! el dia de la Toma! “But the day of the Taking! ah, Señor the day of the Taking!”—that was the great day which crowned Mateo’s notions of perfect felicity. ”

“ In February, 1905, I again started out on a protracted trip, through central California, making brief stops to address audiences in Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo, and, before going further, Redwood City. There was no trouble now to obtain a church in the latter town in which to plead the cause so dear to my heart. The only trouble was that the building could not admit the overflow of people. Thence I went to San Francisco. There I was warmly received by dear Sister Kauffman, whose hospitality I accepted whilst I was filling church engagements and visiting once more the county jail No. 3. ”

“ The people whom we met wore little clothing. Men frequently had nothing but the breech-clout and hat. Women wore a skirt, but no upper garment. Children up to ten and twelve years of age ran naked. Reaching San Mateo at twelve o'clock, we found the village excited at our non-appearance. Our carretero had arrived long before with our luggage. He had told the presidente of our intended coming, and men from the town had been sent through the by-roads to seek for us. The town lies on a level stretch of sand, and the houses are built of canes and thatched with palm. ”

“ As Lopez Ferreiro has put it, the statuary of the Greeks was the sister of poetry, that of the Middle Ages was the sister of psychology and philosophy.
The whole masterpiece of Mateo may be described as an attempt at the interpretation of one great thought, or rather of a series of thoughts “toute une ordre d’idées,” which “is engaging the attention of all humanity.” Lopez Ferreiro notes how daringly Mateo made his attempt to push his art into the road along which two centuries later it was carried by Italy’s most celebrated artists. ”

“ Don Mateo's right hand in all these festivities was Severino, of the ironmongery shop. Nobody in the province could equal him in the manufacture of beautiful, elegant, well-arranged decorations, nor in the difficult art of putting up green arches with lamps for the night, nor in his power of sending off rockets swiftly and perpendicularly. ”

“ Stan Rockman who after 35 years has this to say about his choice to practice public healthcare: "I love providing high quality care to patients with few options." He asserts that the patient mix at the San Mateo Medical Center enables him to practice international medicine. ”

“ If it was impossible to be rid of him, it was equally impossible not to like him. Life was a prolonged holiday for Mateo during Geoffrey Crayon’s residence. Whatever obligations he had, of a domestic or a business nature, were joyfully set aside that he might wait upon the visitor. ”

“ Mark Highman is a hero of healthcare to a generation of the less fortunate in our county and State. The San Mateo Medical Foundation is right to honor his contributions at a special ceremony on April 30th. ”

“ In the Cathedral, on the plinths of the columns in the outer aisles, are several notices to the effect that "whoever speaks to women, either in the nave or the aisles, thereby puts himself in danger of excommunication." I could not help laughing, as I read this monkish and yet most unmonk-like statute. "Oh," said Mateo, "all that was in the despotic times; it is not so now."
A deluge of rain put a stop to my sight-seeing until the next morning, when I set out with Mateo to visit the Royal Chapel. ”

“ The center, a satellite office of the San Mateo Medical Center, offers primary medical care, reproductive health care, mental health counseling, sexuality education, case management of pregnant teens, vocational guidance and life skills training. This center has been highly effective in helping girls and boys from low-income backgrounds where individual needs require a multi-service response. ”

“ He was said to have a particularly good name, but he was a Corsican and a highlander, and there are few Corsican highlanders who, in scrutinizing their memory, can not find some peccadillo, such as a gun-shot, dagger-thrust, or similar trifles. Mateo more than others had a clear conscience; for more than ten years he had not pointed his carbine at a man, but he was always prudent, and put himself into a position to make a good defense if necessary. “Wife,” said he to Giuseppa, “put down the sack and hold yourself ready.” ”

“ Madam Speaker, in our democratic system of government, we are taught to believe that all voices are heard equally. But most 12-year-olds don't have a lobbyist and few tables in the halls of power make room for families. That is why the work of the Peninsula Partnership Leadership Council and the San Mateo County Youth Commission and the principles laid out in the Bill of Rights for Children and Youth are so vitally important. ”

“ Don Mateo was a handsome well-made man, about forty-two years of age, and five feet eight in height, with remarkably piercing black eyes and dark olive complexion: his nose was aquiline, and his beard and hair, which were black and curling, were slightly tinged with white: he had entered his autumnal quarter, but had all the raciness of spring in his habits and disposition: this accounts for his making himself so agreeable with the softer sex; who generally prefer a man of maturer years, with a pleasing cheerful address, to an insipid young one. ”

“ Mateo, my Filipino servant, was helping me sort over specimens one day under the thatched roof of a shed which I had hired to use for such work while I was on the island of Culion, when I was startled to see him suddenly drop the bird skin he had been working on, and fall upon his knees, bending his body forward, his face turned toward the road, until his forehead touched the floor. ”

“ James—The Stem of Jesse—Custom and superstition—Judith—The prophets—The bases of the pillars—Mateo represents himself—Another superstition—“The saint with the curls”—The capitals—A lifelike effect—A great thought—Didron—The drapery—The portico at South Kensington—Colouring—Mateo’s inscription—Mateo’s birthplace
THE Cathedral of Santiago di Compostella is celebrated all the world over for the exquisite beauty of its sculpture not only as regards its statuary but also for its ornamentation generally. Here at least the Cathedral of St. Sernin, or St. ”