called the pioneers of Mexican literature. They attempted and accomplished one of the most stupendous undertakings ever conceived by the most enthusiastic philanthropist. They had not only to learn the language of the Indians to whom they came to preach, but to master, also, a great variety of dialects. This done, they formed of these vocabularies and grammars, leaving an invaluable heritage to their successors in this field of labor. By their patience and devotion they humanized a savage people and christianized a pagan nation.
Cortez compelled the natives to yield to him by force of arms, but his work was but the beginning of their subjugation; the friars completed the conquest by the milder but more potent agency of religion.
It has been related of one of these good brothers, Toribio Benavente, that coming one day to the town of Tlaxcala, and being unable to preach to the people because of his ignorance of their language, he pointed to the heavens, thus signifying his holy mission. The Indians were struck with the contrast between the humble dress of the friar and the gayly bedecked Spanish soldiers, and spoke of him pityingly as ''motolinia." The good father, inquiring the meaning of the word, was told that it meant a poor person. "Then," said the friar, "this shall henceforth be my name." From that day he signed himself Motolinia, and was ever after known by that name.
The life of Father Bernardino de Sahagun affords a noble exemplification of the spirit of Christianity. With the exception of thirty years spent in his native Spain, his whole life was passed entirely among the Indians. For sixty-one years did he labor for their advancement and education. He was not a fanatic, seeking to convert by fire and sword, but the loving and patient
