The Indians were hard to win at
San Francisco, but a piece of cloth, with the image of "Our Lady
de Los Dolores," on it, was exhibited to them and it produced a
marvellous effect. Pictures seem to have a peculiar attraction for the
savage mind. In the Church of Guadaloupe, Mexico, you may see a large
painting of the Mexican Virgin with Indians crowding around her.
The effect of pictures is well illustrated by a scene in the ninth
century, as when, in answer to the request of Bogoris, King of the
Bulgarians, the Emperor Michael, of Constantinople, sent to him a
painter to decorate the hall of his palace with subjects of a terrible
character. It was Methodius, the monk, who was despatched to the
Bulgarian court on this mission, and he took for his theme the Last
Judgment as being the most terrible of all scenes. The representation
of hell so alarmed the king that he cast aside his idols, and many of
his subjects were converted. The Franciscans in their work both in
Mexico and in California understood well the value of pictures in
convincing the untutored mind. Hence it was the custom to have
pictures of heaven and hell on the walls of the Missions.
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