MEETING IN SUPPORT OF THE FOURTH ESTATE
The 9th of June, 1860, ought to be recorded in letters of gold in the
annals of the town of Sarrio, for Don Rosendo, supported by Alvaro Pena
and his son Pablo, appointed the afternoon of that day to meet at the
theatre for the discussion of a subject of _vital_ (Don Rosendo would
not for the world have omitted the word "vital") interest to the town of
Sarrio and its suburbs.
Only four or five of the most intimate friends of the merchant were
acquainted with the noble and patriotic project which had prompted the
invitation; so, drawn by curiosity as much as by courtesy, those who had
been asked arrived at three o'clock precisely, and many came to the
meeting who had not received an invitation.
The theatre was packed quite full. The patrician townsfolk took
possession of the boxes and stalls, while the plebeians repaired to the
gallery. On the stage there was a writing-table, old and dirty, and
round it were placed half a dozen chairs, neither new nor clean, for
they served as furniture for any "poorly furnished rooms" in a play.
The stage was still empty, although the theatre was full, and the whole
house was almost in darkness, for what little light there was came
through the dusty panes of a window at the back of the stage.
In time one's eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and one could
distinguish the people as they entered and proceeded cautiously along
the line of boxes, so as to avoid knocking against anybody, touching the
craniums of the occupants, in their search for vacant seats.
"There is no room here, Don Rufo."
"Is there no place?" asked the medical man with the vacant smile of the
blind.
"No; go up to the stage boxes."
"Come here, Don Rufo; come here," cried some one in the front.
"Is that you, Cipriano?"
And after more pushing and struggling the newcomer managed to get
settled. One arrival, more wide-awake than the others, lighted a wax
taper, but instantly there arose voices from the gallery:
"Eh, eh! Cat's eyes, Don Juan! When you go at night to Peonza's house
you don't have a taper then."
Don Juan hastened to extinguish it, to avoid the insults and shouts of
laughter leveled at him by the idle crowd.
As time went on the hum of conversation grew deafening. The patronizers
of the gallery expressed their impatience by stamps, cries, and shouts,
while exchanging with each other, over the heads of the occupants of the
stalls, jokes and remarks which were coarse in the extreme. It was a
good thing that there were no ladies present.
At last four gentlemen appeared on the stage--Don Rosendo Belinchon,
Alvaro Pena, Don Feliciano Gomez, and Don Rudesindo Cepeda, proprietor
of the finest cider distillery. The four men took off their hats as they
assembled on the stage. Silence suddenly reigned. Some of the
audience--the minority--also took off their hats; the majority, more
veiled in darkness, and more inclined to discourtesy, so prevalent in
the gallery, remained covered. Don Rosendo and his friends smiled
shamefacedly at the audience, and, to overcome the oppressive feeling of
nervousness and embarrassment, they began talking to the occupants of
the front row of stalls who were within sight. Alvaro Pena, more
courageous by dint of his military experience, advanced to the front of
the stage, and, giving an exaggeratedly familiar tone to his remarks,
and aimlessly smiling like a ballet girl, said:
"Senores, my coadjutors are as anxious as myself for all persons of note
in the audience to come up here, so that they may assist us with their
support, eh? and with their knowledge, eh?--in short, that they may
second us in the enterprise about to be inaugurated." The harbor-master
pronounced his r's very much like j's.
The modesty conveyed by this suggestion was received with a murmur of
applause from the assembly.
"Is not Don Pedro Miranda here?" asked Pena, now at his ease, and
resuming the despotic military air peculiar to him.
"Here he is--here!" cried several voices.
Don Pedro, however, remonstrated with those who pushed him toward the
stage.
"But, senores, why? What is the object? There are other people."
But there was no help for it. He was gradually pushed to the stage, and
as there were no steps by which to climb, Pena and Don Feliciano Gomez
pulled him up by the hands on to the boards.
"Now, Don Rufo, come up."
Don Rufo, the chief doctor of the town, after protesting a little, was
also pulled up in the same way. And by the same simple means five or six
more gentlemen arrived upon the stage. Each ascent was greeted with loud
applause and a murmur of delight from the friendly gathering. The
officer then seeing Gabino Maza seated in a chair by the wall, cried out
cheerfully:
"Gabino, I did not see you! Come, man; come along."
"I am very well here," cried the huffy ex-officer of the navy, dryly.
"Shall I come down for you?"
Maza returned in a loud voice:
"There is no need."
"Come, Don Gabino, go up. Don't be idle. Men like you ought to be there.
There is only you now to go up!"
And at the same time they tried to push him on. But all entreaties were
in vain. Maza was as determined to remain in the box as the others were
that he should leave it. Then Alvaro Pena came down after him, but after
a long altercation he was obliged to retire defeated.
The stage was now almost full. More chairs were brought from the actors'
dressing-rooms, the most aristocratic residents of Sarrio took their
seats, and then ensued a consultation to decide who was to be the
chairman of the meeting.
In this there seemed to be some difficulty in coming to an agreement,
and the public gave signs of impatience. The majority was of opinion
that the honor of sitting behind the pine-wood table was due to Don
Rosendo, but he declined it with a modesty much redounding to his
credit. At last, however, he took the chair, as he saw the public was
getting tired; the applause was tremendous. Fresh and wearisome
discussion ensued as to who was to open the meeting. Alvaro Pena, a man
of impulse and action, finally took a few steps toward the curtain; and
said in a loud voice:
"Gentlemen."
"Sh! Sh! Silence!" cried several voices, and silence reigned.
"Gentlemen, the object of this meeting is no other, eh? than for us to
unite in the support of the material and moral interests of Sarrio. Some
days ago our most worthy president informed me that they were
deteriorating, eh? and that it was necessary to support them at all
costs. Gentlemen, there are many questions at issue in Sarrio at this
critical time--the question of the covered market, the question of the
cemetery, the question of the road to Rodillero, the question of the
slaughter-house, and many others; and I said to my worthy friend, the
only means of solving these problems was to call a meeting at which all
the Sarrienses could freely give their opinions."
"What?" cried a sharp voice from the gallery.
Pena darted an angry look in the direction of the sound, and as he was
known to be a violent man, and had great, fierce mustachios, the fellow
trembled in his skin, and did not venture to make a second ejaculation.
"My good friend, whose large heart and love of progress is known to
all, said to me some time ago that he was of the same opinion, and that,
moreover, he had a plan that he was anxious to lay before this
illustrious assembly. Therefore we have called our friends of Sarrio to
a public meeting, and here we are--because we have come."
This collapse produced an excellent effect on the audience, who laughed
and clapped their hands good-naturedly.
"Gentlemen," continued the captain, encouraged by the sound of
merriment, "I believe that what this place requires is to be roused from
its state of lethargy to the life of reason and progress, eh?--to rise
to the height of the progress of the century, to take stock of itself
and its powers. Hitherto Sarrio has been a town under the sway of
theocracy; plenty of nones, sermons, and rosaries, and no thought of the
advance of its interests and the knowledge of anything useful. We must
get out of this state, eh?--we must shake off the theocratic yoke. A
place governed by priests is always a backward and a squalid place."
(Laughter and applause, mingled with hisses.)
The officer spoke better at the conclusion of his speech, and even
acquired a certain aplomb during his denunciation of priestcraft.
"May I be allowed to say a word?" cried a clear voice from a box.
"Who is it? Who is it?" asked the audience and the dignitaries of the
stage of one another.
"It is Perinolo's son."
"Who?"
"Perinolo's son. Perinolo's son."
These words were repeated in a low tone all over the theatre.
Perinolo's son was a pale youth with large, prominent eyes. Nothing else
was visible in the semi-darkness of the place, which was fortunate for
him, for a good light would have revealed the crumpled front of his
shirt and the disheveled locks of his hair, and the holes in his boots
and his threadbare trousers would have been seen through the balustrade
of the box. But all the people of Sarrio knew him from meeting him
constantly in the street or at the cafes. I must say that, in spite of
his appearance, he was a lad of gentle mien and disposition.
His father, Senor Maria el Perinolo, the boot-maker in the town, was
quite an institution. He was one of the few old artisans who in the
middle of the century still retained the jacket and large hat of former
times. He was a Carlist fanatic, a member of all the religious
confraternities; he told his beads in the afternoon as the bell from the
Church of St. Andrew rang for prayer; accompanied by several womenfolk,
he joined in the processions of Holy Week with its disciplinary garb and
a crown of thorns, and he had under his care the Chapel of the
Nazarene, in the Calle de Atras. This poor saint, who had never given
anybody cause to speak against him (supreme testimony of honesty among
the lower classes), brought up his own son, Sinforoso, and two others in
the holy fear of God, and the strap, scourgings, penances on his knees,
days on bread and water, ear-pullings, and blows, constituted the tender
memories of Sinforoso's childhood.
As he grew from boyhood and youth he showed signs of having profited by
his father's teaching. Perinolo made up his mind that the lad's vocation
was not in the direction of boot-making, but of becoming a pillar of the
Romish Church. Means, were, however, wanting to send him to the seminary
at Lancia, so Don Melchor de las Cuevas, Don Rudesindo, and the parish
priest spontaneously came to his assistance, and allowed the lad three
pesetas a day until he could intone the mass. But at the end of the
second year of theology these gentlemen received from the seminarist an
elegantly expressed letter in which he stated that he did not feel
called by God to an ecclesiastical career, and that rather than be a bad
priest he would learn his father's business, or go to America; and it
ended by entreating in fervent terms that he might be allowed to
exchange theology for the law, for which he had a predilection, so as to
modify the disappointment of his father. His benefactors acceded to the
request, and Sinforoso finally became a pillar of the state instead of
the church, as Perinolo had wished.
While pursuing his studies with marks of commendation from the beginning
to the close, he contributed several articles to the daily papers, by
which achievement he considered himself entitled to let his hair grow
and wear eye-glasses. So that the licentiate returned to Sarrio with an
aureole of glory befitting one who had won his spurs and still waged war
in the press of the day. He attached himself to the most advanced
Liberal party, which alienated him from his people. His father was
greatly enraged with him, and it was only through his mother's
intercession that he let him remain in the house. He never spoke to him
or gave him a centime for his expenses, but merely let him sleep under
his roof and partake of their scanty fare. At the end of a few months
the youth's boots became shabby, and his clothes looked wretched; but
the man of letters carried it off by the reserve and gravity of his
physiognomy and the self-importance of his deportment. He spent the
morning reading in bed, and the afternoon and evening in loud
discussions at the cafe of what he read in the morning. The townfolk did
not like him, but they respected his talents and dignity.
"Who asked permission to speak?" queried Don Rosendo.
"Suarez--Sinforoso Suarez," said the youth, bending over the rail.
"Then you have it, Senor Suarez."
The young man coughed, ran the fingers of both hands through his hair,
leaving it rougher and more tumbled than ever, put on his glasses that
he wore hanging by a string, and said:
"Gentlemen."
The quiet, impressive tone with which he said this word, the long pause
that followed it, during which he fixed his glasses on his nose and
looked at the audience in a superior way, inspired silence and
attention.
"After the brilliant speech which has just been given us by Senor Pena,
my respected friend, the illustrious harbor-master of this port [the
captain, who had never spoken to Suarez more than three times in his
life, bowed graciously], the assembly is quite convinced of the generous
and patriotic feelings which prompted the promoters of this meeting.
There is nothing so beautiful, nothing so grand, nothing so sublime as
to see a town met together to discuss the dearest, highest interests of
life.
"Ah, gentlemen, when listening just now to Senor Pena I imagined myself
in the Agora of Athens, a free citizen, with other citizens, free as
myself, discussing the destiny of my country; I imagined I heard the
ardent, eloquent words of one of those great orators who adorned the
Hellenic State. Why, the eloquence of my dear friend, Senor Pena, was
like the overwhelming passion that characterized Demosthenes, the prince
of orators, and like the fluency and elegance that distinguished the
discourses of Pericles. [Pause, with his hand to his glasses.] He was
bright and animated, like Cleon; deliberate and temperate, like
Aristides; his intonation was quiet and precise, like that of Esquines,
and his voice was pleasant to the ear, like that of Isocrates.
"Ah, gentlemen, I, like the eloquent orator who has preceded me on the
subject, desire that the place which gave me birth may awake to the life
of progress, to the life of liberty and justice. Sarrio! What sweet
recollections, what ineffable happiness does this single word awaken in
my soul! Here were passed the days of my childhood. Here my mind began
to form. Here love made my heart palpitate for the first time. Elsewhere
my mind has been enriched by the knowledge of science, and the grand
ideas engendered by the study of law; here my soul has been nourished by
the sweet and holy feelings of the hearth. Elsewhere my intelligence has
been sharpened by polemics and the light of ideas; here my affections
have been fostered by tender family love.
"Gentlemen, I will say it again, come what may, Sarrio is called to a
great destiny. It has a right to be one of the first towns on the
Biscayan coast, an emporium of activity and riches, by reason of the
excellent position which nature has given it, a harbor second to none,
as well as the integrity, industry, and the great gift of intelligence
of its inhabitants."
[_Bravo! Bravo! Unanimous and loud applause._]
The silence, caused more by surprise than any bad feeling, was now
broken, and the "bravos" and applause continued without intermission.
Never had the industrious, honest, intelligent people of Sarrio heard
any one speak so fluently and eloquently before.
"That discourse was a revelation of the modern parliamentary style!" So
Alvaro Pena said when the meeting was over.
The speech continued half an hour longer, amid the increasing enthusiasm
of the audience, when one of the notabilities on the platform thought
that his throat must be dry, and that it was time to give him a glass of
sugared water.
The idea was communicated in an undertone to the president, who
interrupted the orator with the remark:
"If Senor Suarez is fatigued, he can rest. I am going to have a glass of
water sent him."
These words were received with a murmur of approval.
"I am not tired, Senor President," the orator replied gently.
[_Yes, yes; rest. Make him rest. Let him have a glass of water. He will
hurt himself. Let him have a few drops of anise._]
The audience, suddenly inspired with tender sympathy, manifested quite a
maternal solicitude for Perinolo's son, who, inflated with delight,
smiled on the audience and continued:
"Fatigue is fitting for valiant soldiers. Those who, like myself, are
accustomed to the tribune [he had spoken a few times in the Academy of
Jurisprudence in Lancia], do not easily become fatigued."
We must now say that Mechacar, a shoemaker, a neighbor, and a rival of
many years' standing of Senor Jose Maria Perinolo, who had known
Sinforoso from his birth, and had often given him two or three beatings
with the strap, when on his return from school he annoyed him by calling
him by some contemptuous nickname, was in the gallery with his hands
resting on the rail, and his face, alert and attentive, on his hands. No
enthusiasm shone in those eyes under the lowering brows, as in those of
the others; but envy, hatred, and malice were visible on the
countenance. When the honeyed words of his rival fell upon his ears he
felt powerless to stand the farce, and he called out in a rage:
"Stop that rubbish, you fool!"
[_Indescribable indignation of the audience. All eyes were turned to the
gallery. Voices were heard saying:_]
"Who is this brawler? To the prison with him! Out with the fool!"
The president asked with terrible severity:
"Are we in a civilized town, or among Hottentots?"
The question thus formulated produced a profound impression upon the
audience. Suarez, slightly pale, and in an agitated voice, finally said:
"If the meeting desire it, I am ready to sit down."
[_No, no. Go on! Loud and prolonged applause for the orator._]
The indignation against the rude disturber increased to such a degree
that sounds of threats were audible, and several shook their fists in
the direction whence the voice had proceeded. Alvaro Pena, the Greek
orator, more indignant than anybody, finally went up to the gallery and
put Mechacar out of the theatre by force, amid the applause of the
public.
The storm abated, the orator continued. He made a wide digression
through the fields of history to prove that from the Roman conquest,
when Spain was divided into citerior and ulterior Hispania, and
afterward into Tarraco, Betica, and Lusitania, and so on down to the
present day, the Sarrienses had on all occasions given proof of a
powerful intellect, very superior to that of the people of Nieva.
Such assertions were received with great signs of approval. Then
suddenly passing into the region of law, he gently touched upon branches
of knowledge that are not common, particularly in Sarrio--the science of
Tribonianus and Papinianus.
On arriving at a certain point he said, with a modesty that did him
credit:
"What I have just observed, senor, has no scientific value whatsoever.
Every boy and girl knows it who has made the acquaintance of the
pandectas."
Don Jeronimo de la Fuente, a schoolmaster of the town who had studied
the modern methods of pedagogics, and knew something of Froebel and
Pestalozzi, a celebrated man who had written a primer on irregular verbs
and kept a telescope at his window always turned toward the heavens, now
rose from his seat and said:
"Corporal punishment has been stopped in the schools for some years."
"I did not say 'palmetas' [blows]; I said 'pan-dec-tas'" [digest of
law], returned Suarez, smiling with some vexation.
Don Jeronimo was angry at having made such a mistake.
The orator continued, and finally resumed his seat, saying, like the
eloquent officer who had preceded him, that Sarrio must awake to the
life of progress; that she must arise from the lethargy in which she
lay, and that she must take part in the struggle of ideas, which are
always fruitful; and that she must let the radiant sun of civilization
rise on her horizon.
"If it be true, as I have heard, that, thanks to the patriotic and
generous initiative of a most worthy citizen of this town, the Fourth
Estate of modern powers is about to celebrate its advent here; if, in
fact, Sarrio will be presented with a periodical which will reflect her
legitimate aspirations, let it be the palladium for the exercise of her
intelligence, the promoter of her dearest interests, the advanced
protector of her tranquillity and peace, the organ, in short, by which
she may have communion with the intellectual world. Let us congratulate
ourselves with all our hearts, and let us also congratulate the
illustrious patrician whose efforts will bring to us a ray of this
luminous star of the nineteenth century which is called the press."
[_Bravo, bravo! All eyes are turned to the chairman. The face of Don
Rosendo beams with dignity and delight._]
After the son of Perinolo came Don Jeronimo de la Fuente.
The illustrious professor of the instruction of youth was very anxious
to rise in the eyes of the public after his slip about the pandectas. He
began by saying that he shared the opinions of the worthy orator [notice
that he did not say eloquent, or illustrious, but worthy, nothing more]
who had preceded him on the subject; that he, destined by his profession
to light the torch of science in infantile brains, could not do less
than be a devoted partizan of all modern enlightenment, more especially
of that of the press. In corroboration of this statement he begged to
say that as soon as a periodical in Sarrio was an established fact he
would have the pleasure of laying before his fellow-citizens the
solution of a problem which until now was considered insoluble, that of
the trisection of the angle, to which he had devoted much time and
trouble, and which, fortunately, now was crowned with success.
He spoke, moreover, with great emphasis on other matters--of physical
geography and astronomy, clearly and briefly explaining the earth's
rotation and progression, the composition of air, the formation of the
clouds and dew, the origin of the salt of the sea, of springs and
rivers, the scientific cause of tides, and also something about the
cause of volcanoes.
Afterward, just by the way, he passed on to an explanation of the
celestial mechanism, and particularly the law of universal attraction,
discovered by Newton, by which planets move round the sun in elliptic
orbits. Then he explained with great brilliancy the nature of an
ellipsis.
Finally, speaking of our satellite the moon, he remarked that the time
of its revolution round the earth was sensibly diminishing, which
indicated the decrease of its orbit. This, according to the orator,
would sooner or later result in the moon falling into the earth, when
both would be shattered.
Don Jeronimo then resumed his seat, leaving the audience quite crushed
under the weight of this alarming prophecy.
The proceedings went on until the lamps were lighted.
Don Rufo, the town doctor, a tall, lean man, with a pointed beard and
gold eyeglasses, then got up and declared explicitly in a few words that
thought was only a physiological function of the brain, and the soul an
attribute of matter, and that the greater or less degree of intelligence
in animals depends on the cerebral lobules and the weight of the brain.
The orator computed that its weight in a man was three pounds and a
half. Then he gave the calculation of the phosphoric matter that it
contains. Man's brain contains more phosphorus than animals', while
theirs have more than birds'. In children the quantity of phosphorus
increases considerably at the natal hour, and it continues to increase
rapidly with the course of time.
But in what part of the brain is the spark of intellectual activity
situated? asked the orator. In his opinion this activity has its
mainspring in the grayish or bluish substance, and in some way in the
whitish substance, which is the conductor of such activity.
He then spoke of the dura mater, the hemispheres of the brain, the
frontal, parietal, and occipital parts of the skull, the function of the
cerebrum, the seat of the cerebellum.
Here the speaker conceived the happy idea of making a beautiful
comparison between the circumlocutions of this gray substance and a heap
of intestines thrown promiscuously together. All the faculties which we
call the soul are nothing but functions of this gray substance, of this
mass of intestines. The brain secretes thoughts, as the liver does bile.
The orator concluded by saying that while humanity is ignorant of these
truths it can not rise from its present state of barbarism.
Navarro, the veterinary professor, who never wished to be behind the
doctor, then asked leave to speak, and after a few words of
congratulation on the inauguration of the "meeting" (all the speakers
used the English term), he gave expression of a few very rational ideas
on the gangrenous quinsy of the pig, and the treatment for its
prevention. The orator hesitated, stuttered, and grew hot in the
expression of his ideas, but this deficiency of language was compensated
for by the novelty and interest of the subject, for numbers of these
nice animals fell victims to quinsy at certain seasons in Sarrio.
In spite of the interest and respect with which the public listened to
the discourse on the danger which threatened pig-farming, there were
certainly signs of impatience to hear the president's speech. After the
allusion of Perinolo's son to the fact of a journal, every one was
anxious to have the news confirmed. While Navarro was talking a voice
from the gallery cried:
"Let Don Rosendo speak!"
And although this rude interruption was rebuked with a prompt "Sh!" it
was evident that they had had enough of Navarro.
At last the celebrated man of Sarrio, the standard-bearer of all
progress, the illustrious patrician, Don Rosendo Belinchon, reared his
majestic figure behind the table.
[_Silence! Sh! Sh! Silence, gentlemen! Attention! A little attention,
please._]
These were the cries that proceeded from the crowd, although nobody
dared move a finger, such was the anxiety of all to hear the president's
remarks.
Like all men of a really superior mind and clear intelligence, Don
Rosendo wrote better than he spoke. Nevertheless, his quiet mode of
speech gave an impression of dignity that was wanting in the orators who
had preceded him.
"Gentlemen [pause], I thank [pause] all the people [pause] who have
assisted [pause] this afternoon [pause] at the meeting which I have had
the honor to convene. [Much longer pause, rife with expectation.] I have
a real pleasure [pause] in seeing gathered together in this place
[pause] the most illustrious persons of the town [pause], and all those
who, for one reason or another, are of consequence and importance."
[_Bravo! Very good! Very good!_]
After this exordium, received in such a flattering style, the orator
maintained that he was moved by the desire to raise the intellectual
tone of Sarrio. Then he added that the object of this meeting had only
been that of raising this tone. [_Long applause._] He considered himself
too weak and incompetent to accomplish the task. [_No, no. Applause._]
But he counted on--at least he thought he could count on--the support of
the many men of feeling, patriotism, intelligence, and progress
dwelling in Sarrio. [_Thunders of applause._] The means that he
considered most efficacious to raise Sarrio to its rightful height, and
to make it compete worthily with other towns, and even maritime towns of
more importance, was the creation of an organ that would support its
political, moral, and material interests. "And, gentlemen [pause],
although all the difficulties are not yet overcome [pause], I have the
pleasure of informing this illustrious assembly [_Attention! Sh! Sh!
Silence!_] that perhaps in the ensuing month of August [_Bravo! Bravo!
Loud and frantic applause that interrupted the orator for some
minutes_]--that perhaps in the ensuing month of August [_Bravo! Bravo!
Silence!_] the town of Sarrio will have a biweekly paper."
[_Loud applause. Navarro threw his hat upon the stage. Several other
spectators followed his example._] Alvaro Pena and Don Feliciano Gomez
employed themselves in picking them up and returning them to their
owners. Don Rosendo's face shone with an august expression, and his
lips, wreathed with a happy smile, revealed the two symmetrical rows of
teeth, eloquent proof of dental skill.
"In spite of these expressions of regard [pause], for which I thank you
from the bottom of my soul [pause], pride does not blind me. My want of
power [_No, no. Applause_.] makes me fear that the organ about to be
started may not come up to the expectations of the public."
[_Voices from various sides: "Yes, it will. We are sure it will."
Applause._]
"But if, perhaps [pause], the lack of cleverness can be atoned for by
faith and enthusiasm, it will certainly be so. My humble pen and my
modest fortune are at the disposal of the town of Sarrio."
[_Vehement signs of approbation._]
"The new paper," continued the orator, "has a great mission to fulfil.
This mission consists in starting the reforms and the advancement which
the town requires." The necessity of these reforms and advancement was
known to all the world. The covered market was absolutely indispensable;
the road to Rodillero was the constant desire of both places; and as to
the slaughter-house, Don Rosendo asked with surprise how the town could
consent to the existence of a focus of filth like the present one, which
was a perfect disgrace to the place.
Gabino from his seat had listened to the speakers with marked disdain
and disgust. He turned about in his chair as if it were hurting him, and
he was filled with an overwhelming desire to cry out to the orators:
"Asses! Fools!" as he was accustomed to in the Club, or to slash out at
them with one of his fiercest sarcasms. These fooleries thoroughly
upset him. It was not surprising, when we recollect the state of the
ex-sailor's liver. He breathed with difficulty, he ground his teeth, he
smiled sarcastically, and was paralyzed with rage, thus showing his
disapprobation of all that had been said, all that was being said, and
all that would be said. Occasionally he gave vent to a "Bah!" or a
"Pooh!" or a "Pshaw!" and other peculiar sounds not less significant.
Finally, in the middle of Don Rosendo's discourse, either because his
grave eloquence was incontrovertible, or because the applause
exasperated him to an intolerable degree, Gabino left the place and
walked up and down in front of the door of the theatre in a pitiable
state of agitation. In a few minutes he returned, and then went up into
the gallery. Then, hearing Don Rosendo touch upon the matter of the
slaughter-house, he left his seat, and, arriving in the first row, cried
out excitedly, "This is not fair play."
On hearing the remark Don Rosendo stopped suddenly, dumb and pale. A
loud murmur of surprise ran through the whole theatre. Some cried, "Out
with him!" Others said, "Sh! Sh!" and the eyes of all, after being
directed to the gallery, were turned to the chairman. Don Rosendo, quite
agitated, said with a hoarse voice:
"Gentlemen, if these remarks have shown that I have had any unworthy
thoughts in the convocation of this meeting, my delicacy forbids me to
remain in the chair, and I retire."
[_No, no! Go on! Go on! Long live the president!_]
"I am sure, gentlemen," said the orator, visibly moved, "that the
individual who has just called out is not a resident of Sarrio; he was
not born in Sarrio! He can't belong to Sarrio!"
Somebody having murmured that the interlocutor was of Nieva, great
indignation and confusion reigned in the theatre. A formidable cry of
"Down with the bullfinches! Viva Sarrio!" It must be mentioned that the
people of Nieva were called bullfinches on account of the great number
of these birds there, while the people of Sarrio are called in Nieva
chaffinches for a similar reason.
The excitement having at last abated, Don Rosendo acknowledged the
applause with thanks and acceded to the persuasions of the audience, and
returned to his place.
"Before again occupying this seat [the president had retired to the back
of the stage], I must say that if this popinjay or bullfinch
[_laughter_] wants to force from me an opinion on the subject of the
slaughter-house, I have no objection to giving it, because I am always
straightforward. [_Great interest. You could have heard a pin drop._] I
solemnly declare, gentlemen, that in my opinion the new slaughter-house
ought not to be put anywhere but on the rubbish chute."
The orator terminated his eloquent speech with a few more words, and the
meeting broke up.
The audience left the theatre, half asphyxiated, as much by the many
emotions experienced in a short time as by the hundred and four degrees
of heat in the place.