03-038 [Reformists]
1882.09.16 and 1882.10.19 Manila
From: José M. Cecilio
To: Jose Rizal
Misuse of funds assigned for the control of the cholera epidemic – Closing of schools on account of the cholera – News of friends – Centenary of St. Theresa celebrated – Reiterates his advice to Rizal to study law – Italian opera company at Manila – Innauguration of the Carriedo Waterworks – Leonor Rivera’s tears – Death of Liceo Artistico Literario de Manila
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Manila, 16 September 1882
Mr. José Rizal
My esteemed Namesake and Friend,
After the visit I made to the Valenzuela family one day last month, it has not been possible for me to make another on account of the coming of the cholera morbus which has upset the spirit of the peaceful inhabitants of this capital city. As a hygienist, you know very well that under the present conditions, it is advisable that one should be isolated and refrain from visiting to avoid contagion. Thanks to the energetic measures adopted by the governor general the evil is now about to disappear, for in some districts no cases are reported and the others trust that they can announce any day now pleasant and comforting news. You will learn about this measures in the local newspapers. As in all calamities that occur in this country, there are many who profit from them. How they swallow with dexterity the funds destined for the calamity and then laugh at half of Manila.
In the measures ordered by the governor general were wise; however, when some of them were interpreted or carries; either through stupidity or evil intention, unfortunately they did not turn out very plausible. A camarin[1]was built on the beach of Sta. Lucia so that poor persons who live 15 or 16 in one tiny flat can go there and live and it turned out that in that camarin there was a crowd of people and when one went out he lost his right to reenter it; that is, they wanted to imprison people there without giving them either water or anything. As you understand, it is not very good to mention this.
Manila, 19 October 1882
On account of some pressing work what I have written back of this was suspended; but now in continuing it I do it with the greatest pleasure of having before me your letter of 31 August last in which I see that you have already received the first letter that I wrote you as soon as I recovered from the eye trouble that I had suffered for a long time.
In that letter you also inform me of your forthcoming departure from Barcelona to Madrid. For this I felicitate you, because whatever you may say, Madrid is better than a city of the second class as Barcelona is.
I am exceedingly pleased to know that you met at Barcelona a Filipino of very fine sentiments and with even a better head who is called Mr. Enrique Rogers.
I thank you for your congratulations, but the harangue like the few that I have written and you have read when we were living in the Tomasina House does not go beyond there as Raguer said in departure from Barcelona to Madrid. For this I felicitate you, because whatever you may say, Madrid is better than a city of the second class as Barcelona is.
I am exceedingly pleased to know that you met at Barcelona a Filipino of very fine sentiments and with even a better head who is called Mr. Enrique Rogers.
I thank you for your congratulations, but the harangue like the few that I have written and you have read when we were living in the Tomasina House does not go beyond there as Raguer said in Ya somos tres.[2] And how do you want me to go beyond there?
Brave Macao cook is friend Cabangis to whom is due panistada[3] that you had at Barcelona for a farewell. Did he know how to cook well? When he returns to this city, he can open a pansit shop in front of the Church of Tondo.
I thank you also for your wish that I may always enjoy good health which I incessantly ask Heaven to grant you.
I shall take good care to vex with jokes those who were surprised at your sudden departure.
The girls you inquire about in your letter are in good health at present. The Vasquez sisters had a mild attack of cholera but not so the poor Ando, their brother, who within a few hours took a trip to Eternity. Mamerta also was at the point of death on account of the same disease but as it was not her hour yet, she was saved. All these girls and Juna Vasquez, your former client, send you their most affectionate regards.
Titay de Dionisio, your intimate friend, was also attacked by cholera in this city, according to the news I have received, but thank God she was saved. I have not visited again this family since the last time I did in your name and of which I gave you an account in my preceding letter sent to Madrid because of the epidemic that has scourged Manila, but I am informed that they are well.
I did not tell you about your kind family in my letters knowing that the landlord is in charge of writing about it. For your satisfaction I can say that your family are in good health and the town……..
Your friends and fellow townsmen have gone to their town where they are remaining until now on account of the closing of the schools. These will open soon inasmuch as cholera cases are very few nowadays. According to the medical meeting held in the Civil Government, the epidemic remains in the city and it is advisable to take very great care so that it would not rebound as it is happening today in some districts.
I can tell you almost nothing about the spirit of the students as the majority of them are out of the city and those who remain here are perturbed, but at present they are recovering their former natural gaiety.
As there were almost no students at the house we could not do anything on the last day of the Most Holy Rosary of Manila. For this reason I could not invite our lady friends of Sta. Cruz. I’m sorry and I’m ashamed of it.
This is the last day of the novena of Our Lady of the Pillar in Sta. Cruz, for having begun a day ahead, that is, on the 11th of this month, but I don’t know if the procession came out because there was a heavy downpour at about 7:00 o’clock in the evening which prevented Pichon and me from reaching that district.
The centenary of St. Theresa was celebrated here with pomp. Last Sunday, the 15th instant, the distribution of prizes took place. You [will] be glad that almost all those who received prizes were our compatriots, with the exception of the prizes for poetry which was won by one Miss Isabel Schez y Martinez whose work in décimas[4] was written in Sevilla; accessit, Fr. Arias, your friend; honorable mention, a Jesuit named Pablo Benguet, second honorable mention, a Filipino of Caivte, Pedro Pay de los Santos; diploma, Fr. Rubin de Celis, parish priest of Malate, Augustinian; and the second diploma, Mr. José Ma. de Laredo, secretary of the Council of Administration. In music one singer of the Cathedral called José Canseco received the gold medal, leaving behind the director of the chapel of the Cathedral because the composition of the latter obtained only second prize. The third prize was awarded to a Filipino of Quiapo, Manuel A. Mata; and the honorable mention to Mr. Leonardo Silos, senior musician of the Regiment of Infantry, No. 5. In sculpture, the first prize went to Captain Chenchen Aréevalo and the second prize to Alejandro Barcelon of Sta. Cruz, of the sculptors’ guild. In painting, the first prize went to Lorenzo Guerrero and the second to Felix Martinez who must be the nephew of Captain Tino of Sta. Cruz.
What more things are lacking in our Tenorio letters that you would like to know? If it is about our roamings believe me we have ceased to belong to the roamers. One gets tired of everything and especially in view of the circumstances that we had gone through.
I am glad that our actors are better than some there.
You are right in commiserating with me in these times of earthquakes and cholera which confound me.
Don’t fail to study law because it will be useful in the achievement of the purpose you have in mind. Your brother will be informed when someone shall leave for that country.
Our friend J. of Iloilo, according to news, is again suffering from his legs. Poor man! All the more because, according to Leonor, his engagement to the elegant Miss….is broken off. This family is in good health and has requested me to convey to you every time I write you their most affectionate regards.
In the house we are very comfortable; we are only five and the lads of the landlord’s family: Pichon, Espina, a new relative of de Leon, who is in the first year of the secondary course, a telegraph operator called Paredes of Ilocos Norte who moved here some days ago, and your poor namesake who will soon leave this Babylonian mansion with regret perhaps. I am waiting for my family any day now inasmuch as the contract has terminated since the end of last month and I do not know why they don’t come. I will give you the address of my new house, for nothing more is wanting.
We have here an Italian theatrical company which is fairly good. The opera Faust is announced for this evening. I do not know if the tenor will sing false notes for the opera is of the first class.
Yeyeng [Praxedes Fernandez][5] has left Compañia de Cubero because she wants to rest. Now Raguer plays her roles and Tagaroma is still active at present.
On account of my numerous and pressing tasks I was unable to attend the grand inauguration of the water system,[6] that is, the first system that will supply Manila and its districts with an element whose necessity has long been felt by their inhabitants. It was solemn and grand according to those who went to Sampaloc to attend it. The landlord had his difficulties This gentleman planned a thing which was carried out but not without giving him headaches and it was the following: Write a speech to be read before the General in Sampaloc on the morning of the inauguration. The aforementioned speech must be delivered by the students who would go there with a music band. A sufficient number of copies of the speech would be printed for distribution among the chiefs and people attending the inauguration. First difficulty: Not finding one to write the speech. How you were missed! Second: Not finding a music band because all music bands were engaged. Third: the printing press failed when the copies were being printed. Fourth: To get the license for printing the speech. It was true he had thought of doing everything at the eleventh hour. The landlord reached as far as Malacañang to ask for the permit. And do you know who agreed to write the speech? Our friend Juan Miciano and afterwards Mr. Pedro Paterno criticized it.
Poor Miciano lost his mother a week ago, a victim of cholera. He lives with his cousin at the Oriental Bazaar. Of course, without father or mother or brothers, he has no other alternative but to live with his nearest relative. I am going to dedicate a paragraph to the woman[7] who loves you most in the world and she is the one of the Orient. What tears this poor woman shed during the first days after her return from her town and did not find you in the house but five thousand leagues away from Manila! Your sister Maria can tell you about her because she cried in her presence. One day she told me that now she had no humor for anything, not even for her most intimate friends and she wanted to dye all of her clothes black. I replied that she must not despair because the years pasan fugaces[8] (the beginning of my first composition. Do you remember?); and above all she must console herself for when you left, one of your greatest regrets, if not the only one, was to have to separate from her. We have to console her somewhat. The landlady, who likes you very much, also cried every time she remembered you. Poor girl!
Give me news of Madrid, of her students, professors, etc., etc., etc.
The Liceo Artistico[9] has been dissolved, according to what I have heard. Its enthusiastic member, Mr. Francisco Marcaida, died of cholera. Dead also are Quezada of Sta. Cruz, Entrala, author of Filipinos scenes.
Command as you please you very affectionate friend and sincere servant,
José M. Cecilio
[1] A Camarin in the Philippines is a barn-like structure used more for storage than for human habitation.
[2] A play in which the popular Spanish actress Raguer starred.
[3] Panistada is a meal shared with friends where the main dish consists of Chinese noodles, much appreciated by Filipinos.
[4] Spanish stanza consisting of ten verses of eight syllables.
[5] Praxedes Julia Fernandez (1871-1919), talented Filipino actress.
[6] The Carriedo Waterworks. The Carriedo Fountain which adorns the Sampaloc rotunda, Manila, commemorates the waterworks for which the Spaniard Francisco Carriedo had donated the sum of P10,000.
[7] Leonor Rivera.
[8] The years are fleeting.
[9] The Liceo Artistico-Literario de Manila. In 1879 it awarded Rizal the first prize for his poem A la Juventud Filipina (To the Philippine Youth).