Thomas. Avelino, A Tale Of The Ilocano Country

GMD B ^»»^ s^iois 00fi'^ io/5 HoUingo- Corp. pH8.5 JSION ST0RIES-N0.2 Priee,Five, Cents JESUIT MISSIOM munMHi^iM THE CELLAI^ C€Cr StiCP 18090 WYOMING a DETROIT, MICH. A8221 U.S.A. AVELINO THE ILOCANO A TALE OF COUNTRY Thomas J:* J^eeAe'y, S.J. JESUIT MISSION PRESS 257 Fourth Avenue New York, N. Y. (ISO Imprinii Potest: Edward Qf ^ C. Phillips, S.J., Provincial^ Maryland- New York, Nihil Obstat: Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D., Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: •i« Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New New York, May, 1930. Second Printing Copyright, 1930 Jesuit Mission Press, Inc. York. M4sr3 AVELING A TALE OF THE ILOCANO COUNTRY GV/^UDDLED _ II over desks hewn from the nara groves of Fernandina, my third year high school hoys are speeding to the finish of the daily catechism drill. In the light of modern school appointments, what a scene for the regency inspector! To my right is the lone window, latticed with iron bars. No fairy casement this, opening out onto fairy lands forlorn! The vision it reveals is confined to the prosaic Plaza Burgos, the agora for all the quidnuncs of a municipality that was already ancient when it was first espied by Salcedo from his Spanish caravels. Above my head are worm-eaten rafters and the webs of ever spinning spiders. On the white-washed walls pistol shots: fired from close range and from every angle have left their gashes, eloquent memorials of '98 and the American army of occupation. Heavy fiag stones pave the floor. Just a score of years ago these same stones echoed to the nervous stamp of the famed cavalry ponies of Ilocos, as, champing at the bit, they winnied for the open and their fellows in the fray. "Caramba, Dios mio!" Our survey is rudely interrupted. —3— A sudden snap of graphite was accompanied by this euphonic but futile apostrophe to the unfavoring god of luck, with a general chuckle of commiseration for the victim. Avelino, however, with his left hand firmclutching the desk, bends low to the right like a jockey from his saddle; then, using the stone pavement as a file, he rasps and planes the broken pencil point. final spurt and his hand is raised in triumph. ly A "Avelino!" Flushed and expectant the lad arose, and immediately this ordinary classroom situFrom forty sets ation becomes dramatic. of eyes the message is flashed and broadcast to the waiting boy: "You are our champion! You must not fail! For the honor of Ilocos and the Philippines, carry on before America!" Here was an echo of that fierce spirit of patriotism which half a century ago was tribal and local but has since passed beyond provincial limits, and now as a national voice is insistently crying to Ame