FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89  
90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>   >|  
ly makes mention of this disloyalty to the ruler of Spain on the part of those who claimed to be most devoted Spaniards. Along with the stories of these troubles which Rizal heard during his school days in Manila were reports of how these exiles had established themselves in foreign cities, Basa in Hongkong, Regidor in London, and Tavera in Paris. At their homes in these cities they gave a warm welcome to such Filipinos as traveled abroad and they were always ready to act as guardians for Filipino students who wished to study in their cities, Many availed themselves of these opportunities and it came to be an ambition among those in the Islands to get an education which they believed was better than that which Spain afforded. There was some ground for such a belief, because many of the most prominent successful men of Spanish and Philippine birth were men whose education had been foreign. A well-known instance in Manila was the architect Roxas, father of the present Alcalde of Manila, who learned his profession in England and was almost the only notable builder in Manila during his lifetime. Paciano Rizal, Jose's elder brother, had retired from Manila on the death of Doctor Burgos and devoted himself to farming; in some ways, perhaps, his career suggested the character of Tasio, the philosopher of "Noli Me Tangere." He was careful to see that his younger brother was familiar with the liberal literature with which he had become acquainted through Doctor Burgos. The first foreign book read by Rizal, in a Spanish translation, was Dumas's great novel, "The Count of Monte Cristo," and the story of the wrongs suffered by the prisoner of the Chateau d'If recalled the injustice done his mother. Then came the book which had greatest influence upon the young man's career; this was a Spanish translation of Jagor's "Travels in the Philippines," the observations of a German naturalist who had visited the Islands some fifteen years before. This latter book, among other comments, suggested that it was the fate of the North American republic to develop and bring to their highest prosperity the lands which Spain had conquered and Christianized with sword and cross. Sooner or later, this German writer believed, the Philippine Islands could no more escape this American influence than had the countries on the mainland, and expressed the hope that one day the Philippines would succumb to the same influence; he felt, however, that it
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89  
90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Manila

 

Islands

 

Spanish

 

cities

 
influence
 

foreign

 

Philippine

 

German

 

career

 

education


believed
 

suggested

 
Philippines
 
translation
 

American

 

Burgos

 
Doctor
 

devoted

 
brother
 
liberal

Tangere

 

familiar

 

greatest

 

acquainted

 
literature
 
careful
 

mother

 

recalled

 

younger

 

Cristo


Chateau

 
prisoner
 

wrongs

 

suffered

 

injustice

 
writer
 

Christianized

 

Sooner

 
escape
 

countries


succumb

 

mainland

 

expressed

 
conquered
 

visited

 

fifteen

 

naturalist

 

observations

 

Travels

 

develop