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RAMONA 17

every one of the soft rounded hills which made the beautiful
rolling sides of that part of the valley, a large wooden
cross; not a hill in sight of her house left without the sacred
emblem of her faith. "That the heretics may know, when
they go by, that they are on the estate of a good Catholic,"
she said, "and that the faithful may be reminded to pray.
There have been miracles of conversion wrought on the most
hardened by a sudden sight of the Blessed Cross."
There they stood, summer and winter, rain and shine, the
silent, solemn, outstretched arms, and became landmarks
to many a guideless traveller who had been told that his
way would be by the first turn to the left or the right, after
passing the last one of the Seiiora Moreno's crosses, which he
couldn't miss seeing. And who shall say that it did not often
happen that the crosses bore a sudden message to some idle
heart journeying by, and thus justified the pious half of the
Sefiora's impulse? Certain it is, that many a good Catholic
halted and crossed himself when he first beheld them, in the
lonely places, standing out in sudden relief against the blue
sky; and if he said a swift short prayer at the sight, was
he not so much the better?
The house was of adobe, low, with a wide veranda on the
three sides of the inner court, and a still broader one across
the entire front, which looked to the south. These verandas,
especially those on the inner court, were supplementary
rooms to the house. The greater part of the family life went
on in them. Nobody stayed inside the walls, except when it
was necessary. All the kitchen work, except the actual cook-
ing, was done here, in front of the kitchen doors and win-
dows. Babies slept, were washed, sat in the dirt, and played,
on the veranda. The women said their prayers, took their
naps, and wove their lace there. Old Juanita shelled her
beans there, and threw the pods down on the tile floor, till
towards night they were sometimes piled up high around her,
like corn-husks at a husking. The herdsmen and shepherds
smoked there, lounged there, trained their dogs there; there
the young made love, and tlie old dozed; the benches, which
ran the entire length of the walls, were worn into hollows,
and shone like satin: the tiled floors also were broken and