The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER I 27<br />
Quite in contrast, the other priest, a Franciscan, talks much and gesticulates more. In spite of the fact that his<br />
hair is beginning to turn gray, he seems to be preserving well his robust constitution, while his regular<br />
features, his rather disquieting glance, his wide jaws and herculean frame give him the appearance of a Roman<br />
noble in disguise and make us involuntarily recall one of those three monks of whom Heine tells in his "Gods<br />
in Exile," who at the September equinox in the Tyrol used to cross a lake at midnight and each time place in<br />
the hand of the poor boatman a silver piece, cold as ice, which left him full of terror. [18] But Fray Damaso is<br />
not so mysterious as they were. He is full of merriment, and if the tone of his voice is rough like that of a man<br />
who has never had occasion to correct himself and who believes that whatever he says is holy and above<br />
improvement, still his frank, merry laugh wipes out this disagreeable impression and even obliges us to<br />
pardon his showing to the room bare feet and hairy legs that would make the fortune of a Mendieta in the<br />
Quiapo fairs. [19]<br />
One of the civilians is a very small man with a black beard, the only thing notable about him being his nose,<br />
which, to judge from its size, ought not to belong to him. <strong>The</strong> other is a rubicund youth, who seems to have<br />
arrived but recently in the country. With him the Franciscan is carrying on a lively discussion.<br />
"You'll see," the friar was saying, "when you've been here a few months you'll be convinced of what I say. It's<br />
one thing to govern in Madrid and another to live in the Philippines."<br />
"But--"<br />
"I, for example," continued Fray Damaso, raising his voice still higher to prevent the other from speaking, "I,<br />
for example, who can look back over twenty-three years of bananas and morisqueta, know whereof I speak.<br />
Don't come at me with theories and fine speeches, for I know the Indian. [20] Mark well that the moment I<br />
arrived in the country I was assigned to a toxin, small it is true, but especially devoted to agriculture. I didn't<br />
understand Tagalog very well then, but I was, soon confessing the women, and we understood one another<br />
and they came to like me so well that three years later, when I was transferred to another and larger town,<br />
made vacant <strong>by</strong> the death of the native curate, all fell to weeping, they heaped gifts upon me, they escorted me<br />
with music--"<br />
"But that only goes to show--"<br />
"Wait, wait! Don't be so hasty! My successor remained a shorter time, and when he left he had more<br />
attendance, more tears, and more music. Yet he had been more given to whipping and had raised the fees in<br />
the parish to almost double."<br />
"But you will allow me--"<br />
"But that isn't all. I stayed in the town of San Diego twenty years and it has been only a few months since I<br />
left it."<br />
Here he showed signs of chagrin.<br />
"Twenty years, no one can deny, are more than sufficient to get acquainted with a town. San Diego has a<br />
population of six thousand souls and I knew every inhabitant as well as if I had been his mother and<br />
wet-nurse. I knew in which foot this one was lame, where the shoe pinched that one, who was courting that<br />
girl, what affairs she had had and with whom, who was the real father of the child, and so on--for I was the<br />
confessor of every last one, and they took care not to fail in their duty. Our host, Santiago, will tell you<br />
whether I am speaking the truth, for he has a lot of land there and that was where we first became friends.<br />
Well then, you may see what the Indian is: when I left I was escorted <strong>by</strong> only a few old women and some of<br />
the tertiary brethren--and that after I had been there twenty years!"