GETTING READY TO MAKE BRICKS
ONE morning, Father Pena came to Massea.
“I received a letter yesterday saying that a ship has come to San Francisco,” he said. “It has brought some pictures for the church at our Mission. I want you to go to San Francisco with an ox-cart and bring the pictures back.”
Father Pena gave Massea charge of many things. Massea had been a chief at his Indian rancheria, and so Father Pena sent him for the pictures.
Threshing the grain.
Docas went with Massea. As they rode along they passed their old rancheria, which was deserted now.
“Where have the Indians gone?” asked Docas.
“They went away across the mountains toward the rising sun,” answered Massea. “They live now in the big valley down by Tulare Lake.”
The next day they came to San Francisco. Docas was much interested in the big, new church that the Indians had just finished building. It was made of adobe bricks instead of brush.
They loaded the pictures into the cart and started home. As they went slowly along, Docas said, “Why don’t we have a big, new church like the one here at the Mission Dolores? I hate to put these new pictures in the old brush house.”
“We are going to build one very soon. Father Pena told me so just before we started,” said Massea.
The day after Massea and Docas came home from San Francisco, Father Pena came to Docas and said, “Docas, where is the best clay bank?”
Docas thought a moment. Then he answered, “At the back of Yisoo’s house. Every time we try to walk across it after a rain we get stuck.”
“Let’s go and take a look at it,” said Father Pena.
When they got there, they found Heema and Alachu making little clay mortars and pestles out of the adobe mud.
“They play here every day,” said Docas.
Father Pena picked up a dry mortar that Alachu had made a few days before. It had dried very smoothly, with no cracks in it. Father Pena nodded his head. “I think this adobe will do,” he said.
On the next day Father Joseph and a number of the other men came out to the adobe bank.
“Dig up a patch of adobe,” said Father Joseph to Massea.
The children all stood around and watched while Massea dug.
“Now pour some water on the adobe and mix it up,” said Father Joseph.
In a few minutes Massea said, “It doesn’t mix easily. The adobe is in such large lumps.”
“Jump in, children, and dance around in the adobe. That will break up the lumps and make the adobe into a smooth paste,” said Father Joseph.
Docas, Yisoo, and a number of the other boys jumped in.
“Take hold of hands and make a ring,” said Docas. “Now we will play we are having an eagle dance.”
“It’s great fun!” said Yisoo.
“I’m stuck!” cried Docas. Yisoo and the other boys ran to him and pulled him loose from the big sticky lump in which his feet had stuck.
They jumped faster and faster. “You’re jumping on my toes,” cried Yisoo to Docas.
Then they both laughed, for Yisoo was not hurt.
They jumped about so fast that very soon they had crushed every lump.
While the children were jumping, Massea was sitting on the ground near by, chopping tules. He carried the chopped tules to where the children were jumping.
“Stop jumping a minute while I throw these in. Then you can mix them with the adobe,” said Massea.
“What are the broken tules for?” asked Docas.
“To make the bricks stick together better,” answered Massea.
While the children were mixing the tules into the adobe paste, the men were busy, carrying piles of wooden moulds out from the Father’s house.
When the adobe was smooth, Father Joseph said, “Now watch me make the first brick.” He filled a mould with the mixture of adobe, tule, and water. “Now help me carry the mould to a smooth piece of ground,” said Father Joseph to Docas.
And there was another brick.
The mould had a bottom that slid out. Father Pena pulled the bottom out from under it after they set it down. Then he raised the sides of the mould, and the brick was left flat on the ground.
“What a nice brick!” said Alachu. She ran forward, and before any one could stop her, she put her hand down and tried to lift the brick. It was still soft, and her fingers made marks on it.
Father Joseph said, “You will have to wait until it dries.”
Docas had watched very closely. He went back to the hole and filled a mould; then he and Heema brought it out to the smooth piece of ground. They put it down near the first brick, pulled out the bottom and raised the sides just as they had seen Father Joseph do. And there was another brick.
Soon a great many Indians were at work making the bricks, and after a little while there were rows and rows of bricks drying in the sun. They were left lying flat until they were about two-thirds dry; then Docas went around and turned them up on their edges.