Letters Exchanged Between José Rizal and Other Reformers - 1884

  Letters Exchanged Between José Rizal and Other Reformers in 1884

013 Mariano Catigbac, (1) Lipa, 27 June

Leonor Rivera is languishing -- Villa-Abrille speaks well of Rizal -- Advises Rizal to make the most of his opportunity to study -- His family is behind him -- Receives Spanish papers sent by Rizal -- He believes Rizal is destined to soar.

Lipa, 27 June 1884

Mr. José Rizal

My old Friend,

       I received your elegant as well as winsome photograph.  I see that you are very stout and dressed very elegantly which proves that you now pay attention to your person and in a short time you are entirely changed so that Leonor herself will not recognize you if she would see you at the present time.  Your fiancée is languishing, the effect undoubtedly of what is worrying her.  I believe that it is the first time that she loves.  Devoted to the man of her heart, she sees that instead of the happy ending coming near, it is moving away at gigantic steps.  What heart will not melt at such a prospect?

       On the 23 of this month I received your letter brought by Mr. Villa-Abrille (1) that he sent me by mail.  I have had an opportunity to talk with this gentleman and he spoke very well of you as well as of the rest.

       Take advantage of this propitious occasion to go into other studies that you believe desirable because your whole family work for your future, specially your brother Paciano.

       At this moment I have before me two invitation cards, one from your father and the other from your brother-in-law Marianito, inviting me to the fiestas of your town, which is advertised as very pompous.  But I cannot please them because I have to attend a wedding of one from Manila who lives at my house and the daughter of Francisca Africa (Balong Quicay) (2).  The invitation arrived late, but it was not their fault but of the post office (delights of the Philippines) because its date was the 20^th.  Had it not been for my previous engagement I would have gone there without an invitation.

       I have informed them of how impatiently you await their letters and that you have not received any for a year now.

       If you are stout, I’m much more so.  My knees now do not pass through the trousers that I wrote when we were on Magallanes Street and many of our companions do not recognize me at first glance.  They imagine I’m a relative of that truant and naughty Mariano.

       I received the newspapers El Dario and El Progreso.   My nose lengthens seeing a friend, a comrade, and a compatriot step out of the ordinary sphere and hurl himself to support a difficult polemic that at the slightest slip will expose him to the criticism of the entire world; but I’m confident that with your talent and industry you will perform your task successfully.  You ask me for copies of the plays that have been staged here.  Unfortunately it seems that God in his voyage in the world did not stop at Lipa.

       El Comercio published a flattering as well as interesting announcement of P. Paterno’s speech.  Long live the Philippines!

       As a sample from the province, I cannot send you to A . . . .  for I’m afraid you may form a bad opinion of our province.  If Macalintal were not married and with family, he may perhaps be of some promise.

       I should like you to send me the continuation of the polemic until the conclusion.  Have you some speeches of Paterno that speak of the Philippines?  Their perusal would be interesting to me.

       At the risk of wounding your modesty, I permit myself to tell you that you are destined to soar, for which reason I pray God for your prosperity and the glory of the Philippines.  Regards to all.

Your friend who embraces you,

M. Catigbac

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(1)         Francisco Villa-Abrille, friend of Rizal.  See letters 319 and 320.

(2)         Balo is a Tagalog term for widow or widower.  The “ng” is added for euphony.  Quicay is a common pet name for Francisca.

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014 José M. Cecilio, Manila, 31 August

Rizal’s speech at the banquet of Madrid in honor of the Filipino painters, Juan Luna and Felix P. Hidalgo favorably commented in Manila -- Leonor Rivera again  -- As a writer Rizal is assured of immortality.

Sta. Cruz, Manila, 31 August 1884

Mr. José y Mercado

My dearest Tocayo (1) and old Co-Babylonian,

       I had already a copy of your superb toast taken from the clean draft that you sent to the landlord when I received on the afternoon of the 24^th your letter of 16 July last with the receipts for delivery to friend Zamora and a bundle of newspapers whose wrapper, signed by me, was returned to the mail-carrier to be sent to you for your satisfaction.  That same afternoon I took the newspaper for Tincho to his house and the receipts to Zamora.  Though I had already read your well-rated model toast, I searched for it avidly in the newspaper in order to read it again and to see if there it had been modified as I did find one paragraph, which was not in the draft that you sent to the landlord, and some words substituted for others.  You must have improvised that part.  I believe that there are many here who will not comprehend the real scope and significance of your speech.  I give you then my most enthusiastic and complete congratulations on your new and brilliant oratorical glory won in that capital city, on your canary-yellow hood, and the prizes you have won.  At the same time I thank you very sincerely for the present of newspapers.

       Friend Tincho is very much satisfied with your speech and requests me to thank you on his behalf.  If he does not write you, it is not because he has forgotten you but because difficult circumstances of life through which he is passing do not permit him to do so, but he likes you so much that he does want you to take revenge . . . .

       Next Wednesday the bundle of newspapers with a letter for your brother Paciano will leave for Calamba.  No one in your esteemed family died of cholera.  They are well and a few days ago the couple, Don Ubaldo and Doña Olimpia, were in this district.  I am sure that they do not write you on account of their numerous tasks, but according to the landlord you will soon receive letters and money from your brothers, if you have not yet received them.

       Orang, the disputed Orang of the present day, is very well and requests me to give you her regards.  It is rumored that this young woman is going to marry P. who is only one inch from the floor.  I don’t know if it is true, but the truth is I see him frequenting Orang’s house.

       Titay and Candeng remember you and if they do not write you it is perhaps because they are very busy with their children and husband and the other one for being occupied in dressing very elegantly, much more than her sister who is single.

       The three cousins of Mabolo -- Mentang, Tentay, and Oñang-- are not yet married.  The middle one continues with . . . . it seems to me.

       It is not known if M. is still engaged to my cousin Miciano.

       Margarita, who is as old as you are, is getting old and it seems she has no fiancée.

       Orang, one afternoon when she called me and inquired about the health of the little landlady, (2) laughed when I told her that she was so-so.  She replied that she was also in the same condition and added that who knows if her sickness and that of the young lady of Intramuros might have the same cause.

       The little landlady is now fairly well for she is not as thin as before.  I have a reputation as an observer and profound dosimeter [a device for measuring the total absorbed dose from exposure to ionizing radiation] and I am going to tell you that the cause of her ailments is your having gone to that land without her consent.  That is what I understand and if I am wrong, what can be done, everybody makes a mistake.

       From your letter that I am answering it cannot be deduced that you have received my letter whose bearer was Ceferino in which went an observation made Miciano and in my preceding letter that had a gold letter, you will see the reply or defense made by Tincho in your favor.

       The Yrene affair, Tocayo, is so problematical that it cannot be assured whether the law that the extremes touch each other will be confirmed.

       I would regret, dear Tocayo, if you abandon the pen for the bistoury [a surgical knife with a narrow blade used to open abscesses or fistulas] as I am sure that through the first your immortality is more immediate.

       I am glad that the majority of those from here write, but if I decide to go there, paper will certainly become scarce, as you say, for so many drafts that will never deserve the glory of being put in clean copy.

       By this mail I send a letter to de León with your address because I believe he lives there.

       Receive the most sincere regards of Tincho, Teong, Rosauro, Gella, my parents and brother and an embrace from your very affectionate, sincere servant, who says until the next letter.

Chengoy

P.S.

       I send regards from the Apacibles.  Tomorrow Luis Beaumont (3) sails for that city.

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(1)         They have the same name, José; hence tocayo, or namesake.

(2)         Leonor Rivera, daughter of Don Antonio Rivera, referred to as landlord.

(3)         Luis Martínez Beaumont was the husband of Rizal’s aunt Concepción Leyba.  He died at sea.

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015 José M. Cecilio, Manila, 30 September

Receipt of copies of the review Los Dos Mundos in which Rizal’s speech is published -- Paciano, Rizal’s brother, complains of poor mail service -- Is Rizal going to study law, now that he is already a physician?  -- Knowledge of law and languages is important -- Felipe Zamora inquires about Rizal’s books.

Sta. Cruz, Manila, 30 Sept. 1884

Mr. José Rizal y Mercado

My dear Friend and distinguished Co-Babylonian,

       Though I have no letter of yours to answer, I write you this now to tell you that on the 10^th instant I received by the Reina Mercedes four copies of the magazine Los Dos Mundos in which your famous speech is published and in due time they were distributed to their addresses.

       In reply to my letter to your esteemed brother Paciano accompanying the preceding newspapers that you sent me, dated 5^th instant, among other things, he told me the following:

       I have stopped writing to my brother, not because of any damned business but an accursed laziness that I have in my body.  But speaking to you very seriously, I am not intending to write him so long as I don’t receive a reply to my last two letters.  He has always answered punctually until this time, but I am surprised that he has not done it, my first letter being nearly four months old.  Perhaps it has been lost and the same fate might befall what I write so that I abstain.

       So then I transmit this to you in order that you may see that in Calamba there are also complaints about the mail and see to it that they are remedied.

       All those who received periodicals send you the most sincere thanks.

       Before this reaches your hands, you must already have received your Compadre Teong’s letter sent at the beginning of this month.

       Our friend the pharmacist Mr. Anacleto del Rosario is already separated from Enrique Pérez, but I don’t know the cause.  Del Rosario is managing the Botica de Javega on the Escolta with a salary of 120 a month.  This friend does not have even half a son nor any sign, it seems, of having one; that is, while others have more than enough children, he lacks them.

       On the 21^st instant they celebrated Candeng’s birthday, Chengoy’s wife.  According to what they say, the orchestra that attended with it singers of condiman and cundangan (1) was complimented by the boasted fiancée of Orang, D. P., a vara (2) and ¼ tall, or less, as I see.  In my opinion the very sweet songs they sang that night were more than sufficient to make the old love of our P. enter through the right eye of the winsome Orang.

       This poor girl is sick.  She takes a walk in the morning because, according to her, she has incipient tuberculosis.  I physician by sight, see only that she is a little thin: I am afraid, Tocayo, that the cause of this is unrequited love; but sooner or later we shall find out if she will get well by marrying . . . . 

       The one who is in good health now is the old girl of the Question of the Orient, which makes me suspect that she has received from you a verónica satisfactoria, as it is said in a little play whose title I don’t remember at this moment.

       M . . . mellow, continues with Cousin Miciano.  Who knows if this girl will be the “niche” of this young man?

       As to the three cousins of my district, Mentang, Tentay, and Oñang, the first seems to be no longer engaged, or she wanted to be disengaged at her own accord, because of the information she has received that Mr. S. in C. has many children as these have mothers.  The second continues with her love that is not lame as I see it, though the man in whom she has placed it is.  The third, on account of the marriage of that Juan, is now with S. C., student of medicine, brother of Fr. Luis and of the factitious Crispiniana of Concordia College.

       Now that you are already a physician, have you resumed the law course?

       How many living and dead languages do you know at the present time?  In order to be truly exalted, in my poor opinion, one must know law and languages.

       By this same mail I send a letter to Ceferino who it seems lives with you, inasmuch as his first letter in which he might have told me about his whereabouts has been lost.  Please tell him that Quintero, your fellow townsman, is planning to take away Anita of San Jacinto from him, for he wants to speak to her mother in order to declare his love to her.  Does this seem to you idle talk?  She is a girl whose sweetness stirs the enthusiasm of de León.  By right of priority, as lawyers would say, she belongs to Quintero, for this land had begun to wiggle for one semester.  If I am not mistaken, Ceferino has not stepped yet into the house of this family.  The sister of this girl, who is called Loleng, is the one who gave the very famous Ferrer the revolcon H after having received it from the question to which we give the name Oriente that, though old, has not lost its importance.

       Your kind family is well.  I did not have the pleasure of speaking with your brother Paciano who was here at the house of the landlord last week, as I learned about it after he had returned to Calamba.

       As one copy of the periodical Los Dos Mundos was not addressed to anyone, I decided to send it to Mr. Gracio Gonzaga, lawyer, residing in Cagayan, through our friend Mr. Ramón Gonzaga.  You know him for he is our good friend.

       Our friend Del Rosario des not manage the drugstore of Javega as I wrote at the beginning, but he is the owner of the drugstore of Mendieta on San Fernando Street, Binondo, which he bought for 10,000 when it cost only 4,000, so that there was a premium of 6,000.  May God will that this friend prosper!

       Our friend Zamora inquired about your books and I told him that I knew nothing, for I have not received any letter from you since your letter in which you said to me that he would receive your books by mail.

       Your Compadre Rosauro perhaps will be delayed in writing you as he is very busy and is preparing for the examinations for filling one of the newly created positions of aspirant.

       This macaronic letter is getting already too long and like almost all that I send you, it has little substance.  Receive, therefore, in the meantime the affectionate regards of my parents, brother, and of your Co-Babylonian friend,

José M. Cecilio

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(1)         Also spelled Kundiman, folksong.  Cundangan, literally meaning “because” is used facetiously to rhyme with Kundiman.

(2)         A vara is about 2.8 feet, a unit of length.

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016 Felipe Zamora, Binondo, Manila 1884

Dr. Zamora sends a draft to Rizal to page for books, subscriptions and music sheets.

Binondo, . . . 1884

Mr. José Rizal y Mercado

My dear Friend,

       I send you the duplicate of the draft that I sent you by mail on the 1^st of this month, requesting you to collect this if you have not received that one.  From that amount you can deduct what you advanced me for the Boccaccio and the pamphlet El frío en terapéutica.  Likewise, I beg you to pay the bookseller Mr. Moya (8 Carretas) forty-six pesetas for two year’s subscription . . . . (NOTE: This part of the letter was destroyed) and the office of Siglo Médico (36 Magdalena, Room 2) for my subscription to the magazine and library that ought to begin in May of this year.  I request you to send me by the first mail a copy of . . . and the metallotherapy by Dr. . . . translated by M. Flores y Pla, a copy of Carmen with the words, a copy of Tempestad with words, a copy of the rigadoon Boccaccio, of the polka of La Mascotte, of the fantastic mimic dance that the Excelsior shows at the Eden Theater in Paris, and of another that La Sieva is likewise showing at the same theater.

       If there is any balance left after you have made the payments and the purchases, please give it to friend Figueroa, telling him that it is . . . .

       Bad luck pursues me . . . . fate . . . . a comadre, mother-in-law, and three children.  My father and mother, my wife, and only daughter, who remains to me, are gravely ill, except my mother.

       My regards to all my friends and countrymen and you know that your friend and comrade loves you sincerely.

Felipe Zamora