Here was just the place to build a mission. First he set up a great wooden cross and said mass. There was no organ music, so the soldiers fired their arms instead. The simple Indians stood by in wonder and awe. Junipero Serra was a man of energy and action, and in a short time he had his first mission built. From San Diego he went northward and planted mission after mission as far north as San Francisco. When he died the Franciscan missions controlled practically all of southern California. [Sidenote: =Mission buildings surrounded by gardens=] Wherever the friars built a mission they made sure the soil was good and that there was plenty of water near by. For in much of that country little rain falls and many crops grow only when watered by irrigation. Having found a suitable place, they would then build a church. This was always the largest building of the mission. Some of the churches were very beautiful. Around the church clustered the houses of the friars and the huts of the Indians. Each mission was surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards. A little farther away were the fields in which the grain was grown. All of these were watered by irrigation ditches that drew their water from some mountain stream. Beyond the cultivated land lay the ranches on which cattle and sheep grazed in great numbers. [Sidenote: =Indians taught useful occupations=] All the Indians in the neighborhood were made to live at the mission, and here they were taught the Christian religion. They were also taught many useful occupations. The men were shown how to farm, to make saddles, work at the forge and the carpenter bench, and other useful trades. The women were instructed in spinning and weaving. In the morning the angelus called every one to mass. After breakfast the day's work began and each Indian was sent to his task. Some cultivated the fields, some took care of the stock, some worked in the shops. Each one had to do his share of the work, and was punished if he disobeyed. He had to work, pray, and live as the friars told him. [Sidenote: =Missions fall to ruin=] When Mexico freed itself of Spanish rule, California became a part of Mexico. The new government put an end to the missions. The friars were forced to leave, and the Indians drifted back into their old wild life. To-day nothing remains of the work of the friars except the old mission buildings. Most of them are in ruins, but they still tell of the quiet by-gone days when the gentle Franciscans ruled in California. SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL