The story of a failure [short story]

Title

Creator

Sugui, Jose

Language

English

Source

The Young Citizen 5 (7) July 1939

Year

1939

Subject

Children's stories

Failure (Psychology)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

July, 1939 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 249 CHARACTER AND CITIZENSHIP SECTION THE STORY OF A FAILURE ADAPTED BY JOSE SUGUJ THIS is the story of a young man who was never consider·ed a "success," but whose friends and neighbors respected him because he did his best and never committed any w r o n g knowingly. "And," said they, "that is all that can be expected of any man." This young man was a schoolteacher and a lawyer. He suffered physical pain, but he accepted with resignation whatever came to him. All his life he spoke little and thought much. his third year of what was then called the secondary course, he won a scholarship offered by a well-known college in the capital city. In Manila, he supported himself by teaching. He was then seventeen years old. During his second year in the city on account of a cholera epidemic all schools He was of medium height and s 1 i g h t physique. He had a sensitive face and a high forehead. His eyes w e r e penetrating but not lively. He carried his head a little to one side. He tried hard to secure ttn education. closed and he had to return home. In a near by town he was offered another teaching position, which he accepted. After two years of teaching, when he was twenty years old, he was able to return to the city to finish his secondary education. He obtained his former position, but during the year the founder and director of the school When he walked, he either looked straight ahead or gazed at the sky. It ~as the conviction of this man that first of all one must be good, and to be good, one must have knowledge. So he tried hard to secure an education. He left his home to study in the dementary school of. another town. He earned his board and lodging by working as a muchacho in the household of a tailor. In died and he had to leave the city again. He then taught in another town in his home province, staying for a period of two years. As a teach:er, he was exacting, but encouraging. He spoke slowly and distinctly, and only when necessary, striving to make the recitation the work of the pupil. He never gave up the idea of contin250 • THE YOUNG CITIZEN July, 1939 uing his education. Accordingly, he obtained a short leav.e of absence from his school and went to the city to take an examination for a degree, which he passed meritissimus-most deserving. He could now study law. During his iast two years as a teacher he had managed by strict economy to sa'le a small sum. A part of this he gave to his parents to spend on the improvement of their home and farm. The remainder he found was not enough to pay his first year's expenses. at the law school. His life at school was one long struggle against poverty and pride. He was too proud to accept help from anyone, for he felt that every man should be "sufficient unto himself." · He deprived himself of everything except the bare necessities of life, employing various means in order to make his way alone. He gave private lessons, assisted in preparing documents in law cases, and worked as a copyist in court. Having only one black coat, he was always shabbily dressed. Later he was an assistant to a clerk of the court, who befriended him. When his friend left this position, the new clerk of the court, unfavorably impressed by his silent assistant's shabby black coat, turned him out into the street. It was a happy day for him when· he graduated and was admitted to the bar. But fortune was still against him. He contracted a severe fever and became paralyzed~first in the right leg and then in the left. He bore his infirmity with calmness: he liad learned to accept life. Later his disability saved him from being shot, when he was arrested, together with some of his friends, on suspicion of inciting a revolt. Because of his paralysis he was detained in the hospital and later set free. The Filipipos wer.e struggling to se' cure their independence. When this man was thirty-four years old he planned a revolutionary government. He organ' ized and directed this government, and drafted a proposed constitution. He did this while he was in his invalid'.s chair, or was being carried from place to place in a hammock. It is little wonder that those of his countrymen who know the details of his life hold him in high esteem. , A year later he was captured, again r.eleased, and then exiled. A year or so after that he was informed that he would be _permitted to return to the Philippines if he would take the oath of allegiance to the sovereign nation "without mental reservations." Having 'become con - vinced that his dream of a Filipino nation could become a reality only through the help of that sovereign nation, he took the oath of allegianae. On his return he was offered a government position which he refused, fear' ing that his infirmity had unfitted him for efficient work. Perhaps his real reason was that he wanted to "hide" his shame and anguish, "not for having committed an unworthy act, but for. not having been able to do better service." He was consoled, however, in knowing that he had done his best, and that he had not committed any wrong· consciously. Soon afterwards, in his thirty-ninth y.ear' cholera again broke out in the city, and he was stricken. Did he still have regrets as he lay on his death bed? Did he look back on his life and still consider it a failure? Or did he finally realize the- sublimity in the knowledge of (Please turn to page 259:) Jul)', 1939 THE OLDEST CHURCH (Continued from page 242) brought from China leads one to the second floor. The stair-case is worth seeing, as are also some of the numerous paintings which hang in the church and convent. In the upper part of the convent is a library. The British, durin~ the invasion of 1762, are charged with having carried away a number of the rarest books and the most. important documents and manuscripts, so that at present only a few valuable books and manuscripts remain in the library. There are numerous other rooms and corridors in ,the c_hurch and convent, such as the recreation hall, cloisters, a private chapel, the dining room, etc. One may descend by a curious circular stairway to the form.er dispensary and storehouse and the o Id dining room with its unique decorations on the ·ceiling. The convent was designed by the same great architect, Herrera, who d.esigned the church, but his plans wer.e not entirely followed, and many minor changes arid additions have been made during the intervening centuries. THE YOUNG CITIZEN COFFEE (Conti1111ed from page 257) shrubs are raised from seed sown in nurseries, and afterwards planted in moist and shady places on sloping ground. Care is taken to plant the shrubs so that at certain seasons the roots w i l l be constantly surrounded with moisture. When the fruit is ripe a cloth is placed under the tree and the fruits are shaken down. Then the berr-i.es are placed on mats and dried in the sun .. Th~ husk is later removed by heavy rollers. The best coffee comes from Mocha, but Java and Central America also produce large quantities of excellent coffee. Brazil in South Am er i c a grows abundant crops - m o r e than any other country. Coffee is also grown in the Philippines to some extent. It has been estimated that the world's supply of coffee is more than two billion pounds a year. The Anyone who will tak.e the ti me to be shown through this noble edifice by one of the accommodating fathers in charge will find a visit to the Church of Saint Augustine, o Ides t church in the Philippines," to be most interesting. 259 greatest coffee-consuming countries are the United States and the countries of northern Europe. The refreshing action of coffee is produced by a drug called caffeine (pronounced caf-een). The pleasant smell is produced by an oil which is largely developed by the roasting process. Coffee is an important article of commerce. The coffee expor~ed each year from Brazil alone is valued at more than 500 million pesos.-A.dapted frnm the Concise and the Compton Encyclopedia. STORY OF A FAILURE (Continued from page 250) having always followed the dictates of his conscience and of having always done his best? Thus lived and died Apolinario Mabini, a man. who considered himself a failure. Whether or not Mabini was a failu~e, you, reader, will d.ecide for yourself. -Adapted from Philippine P1·ose and Poetry. VVEATI-IER QL'ESTIONS (A11swers from' page 233) I. Yes 5 .. Yes 2. Yes 6. Yes 3. No 7. Yes 4. No. 8. No

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