laguna de bay, surrounded by mountains, sleeps tranquilly in the stillness of the elements, as if it had not joined the chorus of the tempest on the night before. as first rays of dawn appear in the eastern sky and awaken the phosphorescent myriads in the water, long, grey shadows appear in the dim distance, almost on the border of the horizon. they are shadows of fishermen’s boats at work drawing in the nets.
two men, dressed in deep mourning, from a lofty height contemplate the scene in silence. one is ibarra, and the other is a young, meek-looking man with a melancholy countenance.
“here is the place!” said the latter. “here is where your father’s body was thrown into the water! the grave-digger brought lieutenant guevara and me here and pointed out the spot.”
ibarra, with emotion, warmly grasped the young man’s hand.
“you need not thank me!” replied the latter. “i owed your father for many favors he did me. the only thing i could ever do for him was to accompany his body to the grave. i had come to the town without knowing anybody, without any recommendations, without a reputation, without money, just as i am now. your father protected me, procured a house for me, helped secure whatever was needed to advance education; he used to come to the school and distribute pennies among the poor and diligent pupils; he provided them with books and papers. but that, like all good things, did not last long.”
ibarra took off his hat and seemed to pray for a short time. then he turned to his companion and said: “did [52]you tell me that my father used to help the poor children? how is it now?”
“oh, now they do the best they can.”
“and don’t they come to school regularly?”
“no, for their shirts are ragged and they are ashamed.”
ibarra kept silent for a few moments.
“how many pupils have you now?” he asked, with a certain interest.
“there are more than two hundred on the register, but only twenty-five in the class.”
“how does that happen?”
the school teacher sadly smiled.
“it is a long and tedious story,” said he.
“don’t think that i am asking out of vain curiosity,” replied ibarra, looking seriously at the distant horizon. “i have been meditating a great deal on the matter, and i believe that it is far better to try to carry out the ideas of my father than to try to avenge him. his tomb is sacred nature; and his enemies were the people and the priest. i can forgive the people for their ignorance, and as to the priest, i will pardon his character because i wish to respect the religion which he represents. i wish to be inspired with the spirit of the one who gave me life, and, that i may lend my help, i wish to know what are the obstacles here in the way of education.”
“the country will bless your memory, se?or, if you can carry out the beautiful and noble ideas of your dead father,” said the school teacher. “you wish to know what the obstacles are? very well. we are now in such circumstances that unless something powerful intervenes, there will never be any education here. first, because there is no incentive or stimulus to the children, and, secondly, even when there is an incentive, lack of means and many prejudices kill it. they say that the son of a german peasant studies eight years in the town school. who would want to spend half of that time in our schools, when the benefits to be derived are so small? here the children read, and commit to memory verses and at times entire books in spanish, but all without understanding a single word. what good can [53]the sons of our farmers get out of the school so long as this is the case?”
“and you see the evil; have you not thought out a remedy?”
“ah, poor me!” replied the teacher, shaking his head, “a poor teacher cannot alone fight against prejudices, against existing influences. above all, i would need to have a school house, so that i would not, as i do now, have to teach from the priest’s carriage, under the convent. there, when the children want to read aloud, they naturally disturb the father, who at times comes down and very nervous, especially when he has his attacks, finds fault with the children and insults me. you know very well that under such conditions no one can do any teaching. the child does not respect the teacher from that moment when he sees him mistreated by some one else without maintaining his rights. the teacher, if he is to be listened to, or if his authority is not to be doubted, needs prestige, a good name, moral strength, and a certain amount of freedom. if you will allow me, i will give you an illustration. i wished to introduce some reforms and they laughed at me. in order to remedy the evil that i spoke of a moment ago, i tried to teach the children spanish, because, not only does the government order it, but because it will be a great advantage for them to know the language. i employed the simplest method, used simple phrases and nouns without making use of hard rules, with the expectation of teaching them the grammar as soon as they had learned the language. at the end of several weeks, almost all the smarter ones in the school understood me and were able to compose phrases in castellano.”
the teacher stopped and seemed to be in doubt. then, as if he had made up his mind, he began again.
“i ought not to be ashamed of the history of my grievances. if any one had been in my place, he would have had the same story to tell. as i was saying, i began well. several days later the priest, who was then father dámaso, sent the sacristan mayor to tell me that he wanted to see me. as i knew his character and was afraid to make him wait for me, i went up immediately, [54]saluted him and said good morning to him in spanish. as was customary, when i saluted him, i advanced to kiss the hand which he held out, but just at that moment he withdrew it and, without replying to me, began to chuckle scoffingly. i was naturally disconcerted, and it was all done in the presence of the sacristan mayor. at the moment, i did not know what to say. i stood and looked at him while he went on laughing. i had already become impatient and saw that i was on the point of committing an indiscretion. all of a sudden, he stopped laughing and added insult to injury. with a cunning air, he said to me: ‘so it is buenos dias, eh? buenos dias, ha, ha! how funny! why, you know how to speak spanish, do you?’ and then he continued his laugh.”
ibarra could not keep back his smile.
“you laugh,” replied the teacher, also smiling. “i confess that i did not feel like smiling at that time. i felt the blood rush to my head, and a thunderbolt seemed to dazzle my brain. i saw the priest far off, very far from me. i started toward him to reply. the sacristan mayor interposed and said very seriously, in tagalog: ‘you want to stop wearing borrowed clothes. be content to speak in your own language and do not spoil spanish, which is not meant for you. you have heard about ciruela? well, ciruela was a teacher who did not know how to read, but he taught school.’ i wanted to detain him for a moment, but he went quickly into his room and closed the door violently. what was i to do? in order to collect my salary i have to have the approval of the priest on my bill, and have to make a journey to the capital of the province. what could i do to him—the moral, political and civil authority of the town, sustained by his corporation, feared by the government, rich, powerful, always consulting, advising, listening, believing and attending to everything—what could i do to him? if he insulted me, i had to keep my mouth closed. if i talked back, he would throw me out of work, spoiling my career. and what good would it do—education? on the contrary, everybody would take up the priest’s side of the matter; they would criticise [55]me, they would call me vain, proud, arrogant, a poor christian, poorly educated, and when not this, they would call me an anti-spaniard and an agitator. the school teacher should have no authority. he should only be lazy, humble, and resigned to his low position. may god pardon me if i do not speak conscientiously and truthfully, but i was born in this country, i have to live, i have a mother to support and i have to be resigned to my lot.”
“and have you continued to be discouraged on account of this trouble? have you attempted nothing since?”
“would to god that it had ended there!” he replied. “would to god that that had been the end of my misfortunes. the truth is that from that day i began to take a dislike to my profession. every day the school brought to my mind my disgrace and made every hour a bitter one for me. but what could i do? i could not disappoint my mother. i had to tell her that the three years of sacrifices which she had made for me in order that i might learn the profession now made me happy. i had to make her believe that the profession was a most honorable one, that the work was most pleasant, that the road was strewn with flowers and that the fulfillment of my duty produced nothing but friendships. if i had told her the contrary, i myself would still be as unhappy and would only make another unhappy, which was not only useless but a sin. so, i kept at my work and tried not to be discouraged. i tried to fight it down.”
the school teacher made a short pause and then began again.
“you know that the books in most of the schools are in spanish, excepting the tagalog catechism, which varies according to the corporation which appoints the priest of the parish. the books generally used in the school are novenaries, the ‘doxology’ and father astete’s catechism, which are no more edifying than the books of heretics. on account of the fact that it was impossible to teach the children spanish, as i wanted to do, and owing to the fact that i could not translate so many books into the native language, i decided to try to substitute [56]for them gradually, short verses, extracts from the best tagalog books, such as the ‘treatise on urbanity’ by hortensio y feliza, and some of the little pamphlets on agriculture. sometimes i myself translated small works, such as the ‘history of the philippines,’ by father barranera, and afterward dictated to the pupils for their note books, adding at times some of my own observations. as i had no maps to teach them geography, i copied one of those of the province which i saw in the capital, and with this reproduction and, by the aid of the tiles on the floor, i was able to give them some ideas about the country. the new priest sent for me. although he did not reprimand me severely, he told me, however, that my first duty was to teach religion, and that before i began to teach any such things i must prove by an examination that all the children knew by heart the ‘mysteries,’ the ‘doxology,’ and the ‘catechism of the christian doctrine.’
“so, in the meantime, i am endeavoring to convert the children into parrots so that they will know by heart all of these things of which they do not understand a single word. many of the pupils already know the ‘mysteries’ and the ‘doxology,’ but i fear that i am making father astete’s efforts useless, inasmuch as my pupils do not even distinguish between the questions and the answers, or what either of them signifies. thus we shall die and thus shall do those who are yet to be born; yet in europe they talk about progress!”
“let us not be so pessimistic,” replied ibarra, rising to his feet. “the teniente mayor has invited me to attend a town meeting to be held in the tribunal. who knows but that some plan for improvement may there be adopted!”
the school teacher arose to go, shaking his head in token of doubt.
