OUR ESTEEMED CONTEMPORARY
Constantly attacked in "The Light," the worthies of the Cabin finally
decided to start another paper, in which they could avenge the
injustices to which they had been exposed.
This entailed an enormous sacrifice, because very few among them were
rich. The only one that could be called so was Don Pedro Miranda, and he
would rather have a tooth drawn than loosen his purse-strings.
By dint of meetings, touting, asking help from different quarters, and
making collections at the Cabin, they ended by getting the requisite sum
of money for setting up a printing-press, as Folgueras was not willing
to print the publication, nor did they wish to humiliate themselves by
asking such a favor. When the printing apparatus, modest as it was, was
all in order, the occasion was celebrated by the indispensable banquet,
at which it was decided to name the new organ "The Youth of Sarrio," and
all its supporters glowed with enthusiasm for its prosperity and with
desire for the destruction of its vile enemies.
The appearance of the first number, bearing a vignette representing a
youth surrounded with rows of books for his perusal and delectation,
caused a great sensation in the town, and it deserved it. The members of
the Cabin, who had been powerless to resent the insults heaped upon them
by "The Light" for many months, now avenged themselves with interest.
Santo Cristo de Rodillero, what a stream of insults and attacks! From
the beginning to the end it was full of caustic attacks on the members
of the Club. They did not openly call one a rogue, another a villain,
another a brute, another a humbug, and so forth, but they spoke of them
under names by which no one could fail to recognize them. Belinchon was
called "Don Quixote," and Don Rudesindo "Sancho," Sinforoso the "Marquis
of Kicks," and Pena "Captain Choleric," etc. And shielded thus, they
attacked them in a most merciless fashion, and did not leave them a leg
to stand on.
Sticks were used at night on the Rua Nueva. Folgueras, who had also his
share of insults in "The Youth of Sarrio," met Gabino Maza and leveled a
blow at his head, which Maza returned with interest, and Folgueras
renewed the attack, for a compositor came to his assistance, and his
opponent was seconded by his son-in-law, which made the brawl look quite
alarming.
"The Youth of Sarrio" was published every Sunday. Periquito Miranda was
glad of an outlet for his poetic vein, as his father's quarrel with the
Club had arrested the demand for his effusions in that quarter; but it
now overflowed in numberless sonnets, odes, acrostics, and other
metrical combinations which bore witness to his platonic love for the
wife of the manager of the steel factory, a great, elephantine, stout
Frenchwoman who could easily have put him in her pocket. But we know
that Periquito had a predilection for ponderous, portly specimens of
womankind. He found that the form of _dreams_ was his best mode of
expressing the feelings which assailed and tormented his soul. The
platonic youth dreamed in verse that he was in a lovely grotto, where a
nymph with waving arms invited him to repose upon a couch of roses and
green grasses. Another time he was on the summit of a very high
mountain, when on the billowy clouds in the distant horizon a form of a
woman (the wife of the manager) took shape; the clouds approached, the
woman was white as driven snow, glorious and splendid as a magnolia
flower, and the beautiful apparition finally came toward him and bore
him off to azure space, encircled in her arms. Another time he was
sailing in a little ship on the ocean waves. The ship foundered, and he
descended to the briny depths to be welcomed by a fair and most
beautiful nymph (always the wife of the manager), who took him by the
hand, led him to a magnificent crystal palace, seated him at her side on
a marble throne, and invited him to the nuptial ceremony to the strains
of sweet music, after which she escorted him to an apartment which was a
marvel of decoration.
These dreams of bliss, put into facile verse yet adorned with a certain
poetic gravity, caused some anxiety among the paterfamiliases. Periquito
daily ate more and grew thinner.
"The Light" of the following Thursday, after loading the chief members
of the Cabin with insults, attacked the poet under the malicious,
satirical pseudonym of Pericles.
A fierce and incessant warfare thus arose between "The Light" and "The
Youth of Sarrio," and the columns of both papers were filled with mutual
insults and recriminations.
It seldom happened that a number of either of the publications appeared
without giving rise to some blows or a brawl, if not to a formal duel.
Nevertheless, they became more chary in this respect. It was an easy
matter to be a second for any contending parties, but to use a sword or
pistol on one's own behalf was another matter. The spirit of controversy
inflamed the minds of the townsfolk; many people who had remained
indifferent in the disputes between the Club and the Cabin ended by
joining one side or the other, in some cases because they took up the
cudgels on behalf of their relations, and in other cases merely because
the dispute aroused a kindred feeling in their bellicose temperaments.
The place was soon divided into two parties. The side which boasted of
Don Rosendo as its worthy chief was the most numerous, and it consisted
of almost all the rich merchants of Sarrio. That of the Cabin was
smaller, numbering the landowners and the timorous religious people who
had been scandalized by "The Light."
The dissension increased to such a degree that in a short time those
that belonged to one side totally ignored those of the opposite party,
although they had been good friends hitherto.
"The Light" and "The Youth of Sarrio" began to criticize each other's
style and grammar, eagerly seizing upon any mistakes of syntax, and
finding as much fault with the diction as with the verbs.
"This word is not Castilian," said "The Youth of Sarrio."
"The word _desilusionar_, which the pettifoggers of 'The Youth of
Sarrio' say is not Castilian," returned "The Light," "we have seen used
by the most eminent writers of Madrid, such as Ferez, Gonzalez,
Martinez, etc. This time, as usual, the organ of the Cabin has
overreached itself."
"The Youth" replied to this remark, "The Light" retorted; instances from
the grammar, dictionary, and distinguished authors were quoted, and at
last nobody knew what to think.
"The Youth of Sarrio" was condemned for using the preposition _de_ after
_debia_ when referring to the Calle de Atras requiring to be repaired.
"A _de_ too much, dear student."
"But when the verb is used conditionally," returned "The Youth," "the
_de_ is required. Have the editors of 'The Light' been to school, or
not?"
"We have been to school," was the reply, "to greater purpose, as it
seems, than all the fools of the Cabin, and we know that in the present
case the verb _deber_ is not used conditionally."
"Yes, it is." "No, it is not." And things went on as before, although
sometimes they spoke of referring the questions to the Academy of
Language. "Don Juan Tenorio," by Zorilla, was often quoted, and
citations from "El Curioso Parlante" were brought to bear on the
questions at issue.
This grammatical controversy drove people to the study of a science of
which they had hitherto been ignorant. The effect was the same at both
the Club and the Cabin, and two or three copies of the latest grammar of
the Academy were constantly in request.
The most venomous of the linguistic attacks were those directed against
Don Rosendo, whom it was considered expedient to crush in respect of his
being the head and soul of his party. Belinchon had never studied
grammar, except in his childhood, but like all superior spirits, if he
did not know it he divined it. His opponents were constantly bringing to
light a thousand anachronisms in his articles, but such was the
confidence with which his powerful mind inspired them that they never
credited these remarks, and only regarded them as pure calumnies. If
there had been no grammar, Belinchon, with all his natural gifts, would
have been capable of inventing one. Nobody was a greater master than he
of the language of the press, bright and brilliant, full of phrases made
sacred by the use of a hundred writers.
Thanks to his wonderful style, Don Rosendo could write an article on the
liberty of culture with the same facility as he could pen an informal
account of the fishing industry.
His enemies said that he used Gallicisms. And what if he did? The mere
fact of a writer of such repute using them converted them into the
purest Castilian.
This anxiety to show up the Gallicisms of "The Light" was one of the
manias of "The Youth of Sarrio," or "The Local Student," as it was
always called by the other publication, anxious to show the withering
contempt it had for it by not even giving it its proper name. By the use
of a certain old dictionary in the possession of one of the members of
the Cabin they were merciless in their attacks on the articles and the
novelettes in "The Light." If Don Rosendo said in courteous language
that for want of _conveniancias_ he could not touch upon certain
subjects, "The Youth" called him to book in a sarcastic style. Where did
the clever Don Quixote (as they almost always called Belinchon) learn
this use of the word _conveniencia_? It was certainly not in the famous
history written by Cervantes. If he used the word _gubernamental_ or
_banal_, or the phrase _Tener lugar_, what bursts of derision from "The
Youth of Sarrio"! What mockery! What scorn! This lasted until the Club
got hold of another dictionary of Gallicisms, and then both papers
became so involved on the subject that they ended by ignoring purism,
and returning to their free, happy, independent style.
Moreover, the controversy had become so heated that classic terms were
insufficient for the conveyance of their insults.
In all the articles such terms as "venomous reptile," "despicable
creatures," "obtuse brains," "wallowing in the mire," "ignoble and
degraded beings," were adopted on both sides.
Tired of insulting each other, they proceeded to lead the attack into
the family life, and modest wives and venerable fathers were soon not
safe from the shafts. "The Youth of Sarrio" was the first to start in
that quarter by publishing an Arab story called "The Eastern Slave," in
which form an exact relation was given of the history of Dona Paula and
her marriage with Don Rosendo (Mahomad Zegri), flavored with low-toned
remarks and shameful insinuations. Belinchon felt inclined to call the
staff out, but thinking it would only add fuel to the fire and look as
if the cap fitted him, he decided to confine his revenge to the organ of
the press.
Sinforoso, at his request, then wrote an Indian story, in which the life
and shady doings of Maza's father figured, for he had been a
slave-owner, and had made his fortune in trafficking in human flesh.
Henceforth Eastern stories were freely told on both sides as instruments
for laying bare the peccadillos of either party.
The widest field for strife, and the richest in results for both the
Club and the Cabin, was that of politics. The eyes of both parties
turned in that direction, and no opportunities were lost for skirmishes
and conquests. Until this division in the town, politics, as we know,
had played but a small part in Sarrio. But from that time it became the
constant subject, the indispensable element of all masculine
conversation.
No one had hitherto thought of referring to Rojas Salcedo on the subject
of the mayor's reelection, because Don Roque was the friend of
everybody, and had represented the district for eighteen years.
Nevertheless, as the time of the municipal elections drew near, letters
were sent from both parties on the matter.
It must be mentioned that the members of the Club wished at all cost to
have Don Roque deposed from the municipal chair, because on more than
one occasion, in the exercise of his duties, he had sided with the
opposite party at the expense of his old friends.
"The Light" repudiated him on this account. The enmity increased. Don
Roque in revenge abused his authority by sending Folgueras to prison,
and the attacks of "The Light" proceeded with redoubled fury. Don Roque
being now regarded as a tyrant of the Middle Ages, began to fear for his
life, and went about night and day accompanied by the veteran Marcones.
It was said that his death was decreed at a secret meeting of the
members of the Club, so the hair of the poor mayor stood on end with
terror if he espied any of "The Light" party in a lonely quarter, and he
promptly turned his steps in an opposite direction.
Rojas Salcedo replied to the members of the Cabin that if Don Roque were
elected councilor he would be reelected mayor. At the same time he
secretly wrote to the members of the Club, charging them to do their
best to prevent his being elected, and in this way he sided with both
parties.
But the partizans of Belinchon triumphed all along the line by reason of
their numbers, their riches, and their open-handedness. The struggle was
finally concentrated on the matter of Don Roque. The members of the
Cabin knew that if he were elected the battle would be won, because he
would be mayor, and the power of that office would outweigh any other
influence in the corporation. The Club was also quite alive to the fact,
so both sides fought with the fiercest zeal. At last the old mayor was
defeated at the election by a small number of votes. Confused and cast
down, his eyes terribly inflamed and his face so livid that it was
fearful to see, he finally retired home after spending the whole day at
the Town Hall. A king robbed of his crown could not have felt the blow
more keenly. He arrived at his house without an escort, like any
ordinary being. He had seen Marcones in the corridor, and he was certain
Marcones had seen him, but he had not ventured to ask him to accompany
him home, as the old official was standing talking obsequiously to Don
Rufo, his enemy, and pretended not to see his old chief pass by. It was
not that Marcones turned to the rising sun, but, imbued with the
principle of modern statesmanship, he understood that the public force
ought always to be at the service of the reigning power.
And yet it was really more necessary for Don Roque to be escorted home
than it had hitherto been. Besides suffering from a shock that went to
his heart, he felt physically indisposed. These long hours of agony,
suspense, receiving contradictory reports at every minute, on no
nourishment but drops of gin since the morning, had worked a dreadful
change in him. His legs shook and his sight failed. To reach his home he
had to support himself several times against the wall. On his arrival at
the door the old servant who opened it started back aghast, the face of
her master looked as if his throat was being squeezed by pitiless,
invisible hands. Although she was always able to interpret the confused,
indistinguishable sounds that issued from his mouth, she could not
understand a word he said on this occasion. Seeing him go straight to
his room, she took him a glass and some water. But Don Roque in a fury
dashed the glass to the ground, and roared like a person possessed with
the devil. However, it was impossible to understand what those hollow,
fearful, demoniacal sounds meant which rose to his mouth, and before
issuing forth resounded four or five times in the enormous cavities of
his throat. Trembling and alarmed, she ran to fetch a bottle of wine.
Although somewhat appeased, he declined to take it, and he repeated with
greater emphasis, but with no more clearness, the order that he had
given. At last, by dint of sharpening her wits, the servant managed to
understand that her master wanted some rum punch. Don Roque, seeing that
she had understood him, became calm; he took off the enormous greatcoat
in which he was enveloped, then his frock coat, then tried to take off
his boots; his noble municipal countenance assumed the color of
Valdepenas wine, but he could not bring the undertaking to a
satisfactory conclusion, so when the servant came with the punch she
completed it for him.
Then he said he was going to bed, and the doors were to be well locked,
and he was not to be disturbed on any pretext whatsoever. The servant
did not understand a word of this discourse, but divining the purport,
she withdrew.
Don Roque then threw himself on to his bed, drew the clothes up, and
with his back against the pillows, he took the glass of punch and put it
to his lips. On discovering that there was a deficiency in one of the
ingredients, he uttered a guttural, awful sound, and rising from the
bed, he fetched the bottle of rum from his cupboard and put it on the
little table by the bedside.
Then once more in bed, he gravely and solemnly proceeded, with the glass
in one hand and the bottle in the other, to repair the servant's error.
He took a sip of punch and then filled up the glass from the bottle, and
the concoction thus strengthened was more befitting the state of
agitation which possessed his mind, for under that apparent calm Don
Roque's brain was wild with excitement. All the hours of the day passed
before him in their sad and depressing course--the deceptions he had
endured, the disappointed hopes, the heated discussions, and finally the
desertion of Marcones.
And then the future. That was of the blackest description. Was he to
resign the mayor's mace that he had wielded with glory so many years, to
turn into a nobody without an escort, a private person, not to have the
run of the Town Hall, not to pass by any of the corporation officials,
and not to be able to say: "Juan, go to Rabila well, and don't let the
servants be cleaning their pails there"?
If he saw a stonebreaker in the road, was he not to have the power of
telling him to strike harder or gentler, to raise the ax less or more?
His feet were intensely cold. He got up two or three times to put the
clothes thicker over them, but his efforts were fruitless. The contents
of the bottle finally passed to the glass, and from the glass to his
stomach. A pleasant heat then pervaded his inside and gradually
permeated through all his members. Don Roque then felt his tongue
loosen, and he began to talk to himself, very distinctly in his own
opinion, but if any mortals had been in earshot they would have
retreated in horror.
Sounds like all, call, mall seemed to figure most frequently in the
monologue, from which a perspicacious philologue, taking into account
the combination of the vowel _a_ and the consonant _l_, would have
deduced the probability that the word expressed by the mayor was rascal,
and this would have been a more or less legitimate deduction.
At last he was silent. He felt a fiery heat in his throat, which passed
to his head and face. His tongue declined to move. He experienced a
sensation of physical increase of his whole being; his head especially
seemed to grow; it grew in such a measureless way that it overpowered
him.
At the same time the objects about him--the cupboard, bed, washstand,
and the sticks standing in the corner--appeared to grow small. He seemed
to hear in his head the noise of the machinery of a clock in motion, a
wheel that went round swiftly, and a hammer that fell rhythmically with
a metallic sound. The hammer ceased and the wheel went on.
He thought he heard strange noises in the street that petrified him with
fear. Poor Don Roque did not know that his enemies were at that moment
treating him to "rough music." He thought of calling the servant, but
feared that the sounds were imaginary, as they had been before. And, in
fact, he was confirmed in this idea by hearing a deafening clang of
bells, a discordant sound in which all seemed mingled, from the largest
bell of Toledo to the smallest hand-bell.
How bewildering! how fatiguing! Fortunately it ceased with a final loud
clang, but it was immediately succeeded by a whistle so long and so
sharp that it seemed it must break his tympanum, and he instinctively
raised his hands to his ears. On the cessation of the whistle he thought
that the foot of the bed went up and the head went down, until his feet
were above his head, which was a most agonizing sensation. He then gave
a long sigh, and his feet returned to their normal level; but as the
same proceeding was repeated several times, he had to give repeated long
sighs to regain his normal position.
But that fantastic operation did not warm Don Roque's feet. They were
like two pieces of ice, while the rest of his body was burning hot. His
head especially rose to a fearful temperature that increased every
minute. When he raised his hand to his forehead it seemed like a flame,
and he seemed to hear the voice of his wife, who died twenty years ago,
calling, "Roque! Roque! Roque!" The teeth of the mayor chattered with
terror. He lost sight of the cupboard, the walls of the bedroom, and the
objects about him, and saw in their place a million lights of all colors
that were at first motionless and then began to dance violently. By dint
of crossing and recrossing each other they formed solid circles--one
blue, one red, one violet--that danced around him and became more
striking than the solar spectrum. At last the circles also disappeared,
leaving one single, luminous, hardly perceptible point. But that point
slowly increased; it was first a star, then a moon, then an enormous sun
that grew gradually larger as it assumed a blood-red hue. This sun
increased and increased until its immense disk grew to the size of an
ox, then it partially overshadowed him, then it covered him completely,
and then he suddenly knew no more. And the good mayor, indeed, saw no
more, for in the morning he was found dead, with his head fallen
forward, a case of apoplectic seizure.