While mouldering in tower and wall,
And bending in decay,
Do we gaze upon this chapel fair,
The Church of San José.
[19] San José is the most interesting of the ruins of the mission chapels in Texas. There are five of them,—the chapel of the Alamo, at San Antonio; Chapel of Conception, two miles from San Antonio; Chapel of San José, five miles from San Antonio; Chapel of San Juan, ten miles from the same place; and one other near Goliad. These chapels were built by the Jesuits, at the time when they contemplated Christianizing the Indians of Mexico. The Indians were obliged to assist in the labour. The chapels are all in a state of ruin. On the top of San José, near the large cross at its foot, a peach tree grows. Occasionally there is some sort of service performed in them. There is a great deal of carving about them, and remains of former splendour; but they have become refuges for the bats and owls, which are for ever flying in and about them.
HAWKING.
BY EDITH MAY.
She had drawn rein within the castle court