Part 13 (1/2)
”_Carambas!_ Listen--Monday, what happened?”
”As it was the first school-day, he called the roll and a.s.signed the lesson--about mirrors. Look, from here to here, by memory, word for word. We jump all this section, we take that.” He was pointing out with his finger in the ”Physics” the portions that were to be learned, when suddenly the book flew through the air, as a result of the slap Juanito gave it from below.
”Thunder, let the lessons go! Let's have a _dia pichido!_”
The students in Manila call _dia pichido_ a school-day that falls between two holidays and is consequently suppressed, as though forced out by their wish.
”Do you know that you really are an a.s.s?” exclaimed Placido, picking up his book and papers.
”Let's have a _dia pichido!_” repeated Juanito.
Placido was unwilling, since for only two the authorities were hardly going to suspend a cla.s.s of more than a hundred and fifty. He recalled the struggles and privations his mother was suffering in order to keep him in Manila, while she went without even the necessities of life.
They were just pa.s.sing through the breach of Santo Domingo, and Juanito, gazing across the little plaza [25] in front of the old Customs building, exclaimed, ”Now I think of it, I'm appointed to take up the collection.”
”What collection?”
”For the monument.”
”What monument?”
”Get out! For Padre Balthazar, you know.”
”And who was Padre Balthazar?”
”Fool! A Dominican, of course--that's why the padres call on the students. Come on now, loosen up with three or four pesos, so that they may see we are sports. Don't let them say afterwards that in order to erect a statue they had to dig down into their own pockets. Do, Placido, it's not money thrown away.”
He accompanied these words with a significant wink. Placido recalled the case of a student who had pa.s.sed through the entire course by presenting canary-birds, so he subscribed three pesos.
”Look now, I'll write your name plainly so that the professor will read it, you see--Placido Penitente, three pesos. Ah, listen! In a couple of weeks comes the nameday of the professor of natural history. You know that he's a good fellow, never marks absences or asks about the lesson. Man, we must show our appreciation!”
”That's right!”
”Then don't you think that we ought to give him a celebration? The orchestra must not be smaller than the one you had for the professor of physics.”
”That's right!”
”What do you think about making the contribution two pesos? Come, Placido, you start it, so you'll be at the head of the list.”
Then, seeing that Placido gave the two pesos without hesitation, he added, ”Listen, put up four, and afterwards I'll return you two. They'll serve as a decoy.”
”Well, if you're going to return them to me, why give them to you? It'll be sufficient, for you to write four.”
”Ah, that's right! What an a.s.s I am! Do you know, I'm getting to be a regular a.s.s! But let me have them anyhow, so that I can show them.”
Placido, in order not to give the lie to the priest who christened him, gave what was asked, just as they reached the University.
In the entrance and along the walks on each side of it were gathered the students, awaiting the appearance of the professors. Students of the preparatory year of law, of the fifth of the secondary course, of the preparatory in medicine, formed lively groups. The latter were easily distinguished by their clothing and by a certain air that was lacking in the others, since the greater part of them came from the Ateneo Munic.i.p.al. Among them could be seen the poet Isagani, explaining to a companion the theory of the refraction of light. In another group they were talking, disputing, citing the statements of the professor, the text-books, and scholastic principles; in yet another they were gesticulating and waving their books in the air or making demonstrations with their canes by drawing diagrams on the ground; farther on, they were entertaining themselves in watching the pious women go into the neighboring church, all the students making facetious remarks. An old woman leaning on a young girl limped piously, while the girl moved along writh downcast eyes, timid and abashed to pa.s.s before so many curious eyes. The old lady, catching up her coffee-colored skirt, of the Sisterhood of St. Rita, to reveal her big feet and white stockings, scolded her companion and shot furious glances at the staring bystanders.
”The rascals!” she grunted. ”Don't look at them, keep your eyes down.”