Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/55

 CHAPTER II HOTELS RESTAURANTS CUISINE Hotels Camps Apartments. 1 THE first guest-houses of California were the Mis- sions where the padres received wayfarers who, arriving on foot or by horse or mule, sought a night's Hospitality. Fine gentlemen were housed in the priests' quarters, those not so fine in the arched wings where the Brothers slept. Food and a bed were free to all. Standing before the sun-tinted walls raised by Indians' hands, we picture scenes of arrival at Mission doors. We see the gleam of wet flanks, the flash of inlaid bridle, and dark slim hands lifted to the lips in halloo and greeting; we hear the answer of swarthy helpers and hurrying monks, the creak of doors opening into cool bare rooms, the scurrying of fowls, the hum of the kitchen, and, if it be night, the far-off strum of Spanish strings to the drone of neophytes about the patio fire. When the guest had stayed his time, he left an i See list at rear of volume. 35