Did they tell them they were brothers? That every human heart Was a link in love's great chain-- Of salvation's scheme a part? Not they: they bade them hew the stone, And bear its heavy weight; And, while they used the Indian's strength, They gained his fiercest hate. But towers, and spires, and steeples rise, And the Church of San José Arrests the traveller, who kneels, Then passes on his way. Turning once more, to bend before The Virgin and her Son, The Cherubim and Seraphim From his strained gaze are gone. No converts from the red men Made these haughty priests of Rome; But still on ignorance and vice The holy cross looked down, Though Jesus, with the crown of thorns, The offering made for sin, And the vase of holy water, Borne by angels, stood within. Rich tapestries, and gilded signs, And images stood forth, And the patron saint, San José-- Were all these nothing worth? "The red man's heart is adamant," Thus do the Jesuits say; "Unmoved they see these splendours-- Unchanged they turn away." Not under stern and unjust rule The red man's heart will melt, But by such gentle, sorrowing love, As Christ for mortals felt. Oh! that the star might shine for them, That unto us is given, To cheer our dreary path on earth, And guide our steps to heaven. Let the ruins of her glory stand, A monument to art; But the temple of the Living God Should be the human heart; While mouldering in tower and wall, And bending in decay, Do we gaze upon this chapel fair, The Church of San José. [Footnote 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.