01-046 [Family]
1882.10.05 Madrid
From: José Rizal
To: Parents and Siblings
Enrolled in medicine and law — In good health but poor in money — Attends meeting of Circulo hispano-filipino — Would like to know five or six languages — Enjoins his younger sisters to study.
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Madrid, 10 October [1882]
MY DEAR PARENTS AND BROTHERS,
Although I haven’t received letters from you to answer nor do I have many news to tell you, nevertheless I write you to give you news about myself and to have the pleasure of communicating with you even through writing, since I can’t do it now in a better and more direct way.
On Monday, the second, our classes began in all seriousness. More than one hundred attend each class. Among my professors of medicine is the Marquis of Busto in the obstetrical clinic, a highly cultured person, but unfortunately is suffering from gout, an ailment peculiar to the aristocratic class. He goes to class from time to time and when he does, he is accompanied by liveried attendants.
I’m in very good health though very poor in money. Through my letter before this (28 September) you must have been informed of the expenses I incurred and of the money they sent me for three months. I paid for the three months indicated and I still owe the Jésuit fathers 25 pesos. Excepting this particular circumstance, I’m well and I’m growing stout. I believe that the cold agrees with me and especially the house in which I live where, though I’m not very well fed as there at home, I have enough to eat and above all utmost cleanliness in food, my room, and all my belongings. This is the principal thing to keep away bed bugs and fleas which abound here in other boarding houses. The cold weather lasts a few days and afterwards passes away. About two or three days ago I had to walk almost running with my hands in my pockets, but now I’m well, enjoying a very pleasant weather. I was at the Círculo hispano-filipino[1] last Saturday. There several matters all pertaining to our country were taken up.
We continue meeting every Sunday at the house of Mr. Ortiga (Pablo) vice president of the Council of the Philippines. I believe I told you about him in my previous letter.
Sangcianco, author of Progreso de Filipinas (Philippine Progress) is going there and plans to return soon. If you wish to send me something through him, you can do so; such as jewelry, sweets, jellies, bagoong,[2] pickled mangoes, tamarind; all these, it is understood, must be well packed in a single box so that they will not be too bothersome; and give him freight money, for it would be odd to make him spend his own money besides making him carry things of no concern to him.
Tell me when you write what things you are sending or will send me. It is not necessary however that you send me all the things I mention above. I believe that the tamarind and guava or mango jelly would be the best, although it is not the mango season. Pickled mangoes do not keep and they get spoiled quickly. In short you know better than I what you want or can send me. If it is possible, a good finger ring, inasmuch as there are many there, that will be of great usefulness to me under all circumstances.
I’m very sorry not to be able to devote myself at present to my favorite studies, such as language, painting, sculpture, and literature, for medicine and law take up all my time. In the following years I shall be able to study two or three languages more for I should like to know five or six languages before going home.
Vicente González[3] was here this morning and was reminding me of our pastimes there including the card-game that we played when we took a bath at the Real, the songs of Sulá[4] the harp, etc. etc. He was asking me when we would return to those places. Vicente has grown a beard but he is ever the same. He told me to give you all his regards just as he does to his family for me.
I hope to receive letters and help from you by the next mail which is still too far away that I have to wait for fifteen days more. Don’t send me money or anything through anybody except Sangciano, Paterno, Anacleto, Locsin, or others like them, to avoid what happened to a Bisayan whose family sent him through an employee ₱300 and the ₱300 pesos haven’t shown up until the present, nor do I believe they will ever show up. Be very careful in this matter, for here not to pay one’s debts is held to be better than to pay them. Just imagine that.
I have not yet met either Nena or Aring. I would be pleased to see them and meet them to recall things. It is always pleasant to see one who has been in his hometown.
In the previous mail I wrote to Maneng, Sra. Neneng, my brother, and to you. Tell me about Silvestre, whether he has already returned or not to the town. It is better if you send me the drafts through the French mail boat, inasmuch as the Spanish boats are delayed a long time and here everything must be paid in advance. It would also be better to arrange with a firm like that of Tuason, for example, so that every first of the month, its correspondent at Madrid may give me a certain amount. In that way I don’t have to depend upon the arrival or departure of the ships. Only when you want to give me a gift, as for example for Christmas, you may send me a bank draft.
May God grant that you didn’t suffer anything during the months that that terrible guest, cholera, was there.
I beg my very beloved parents to always bless their son who never forgets the sacrifices that they do for him nor the benefits that he owes them. I trust within a short time to have the pleasure of embracing them and never separate from them again, live with them, help them in everything, and contribute towards the common welfare. I embrace also my sisters, entreating Pangoy and Trining to study and write, especially the last one, for here I see very pitiful examples. One afternoon I saw a girl of about 15 or 16 years, pale, sick, sad, ragged, lying down in the hollow of a wall on a dark street, begging for alms. She was so weak, so thin, so sick, that she couldn’t speak, and she only extended an emaciated hand. She must have been very beautiful judging by her big and languid eyes. It was cold and she was shivering. As I had no money with me I couldn’t give her anything.
Regards to all our relatives, friends, and acquaintances, kisses to the nephews and nieces.
J. RIZAL
[1] An association of Filipino students and Spaniards interested in a magazine with the support of Mr. Juan Atayde, a Spaniard born at Manila and a military officer.
[2] Bagoong is a Philippine sauce made of small fish or shrimp with plenty of salt.
[3] A Spanish mestizo, dubbed “Marquis of Pagong” (pagong is Tagolog for turtle) and a friend of Rizal at Manila.
[4] A sister of his brother-in-law Mariano Herbosa who played and sang the harp. Her full name is Ursula.