The Silver Cradle by Julia Nott Waugh

Author:Julia Nott Waugh [Waugh, Julia Nott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 1988-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Easter and Epiphany

Polycarpo and Felicidad Mendez being given to standing, however uncertainly, on their own feet do not find it necessary to send their children to Pascual’s school. It exists for people poorer and more helpless, but they know the master well, and they share in many of the activities of that unassuming good man.

Pascual was president of the Anti-Communist Society of San Antonio until the group dissolved itself for lack of visible resistance. And he is principal, janitor, and cook at a school for children who do not fit into, or cannot get into, any other institution. His political convictions derive inviolate from Rome and are not here relevant. But his vocation springs from the blend of characteristics and circumstances that directs the destiny of man: from a religious compulsion, from a need to serve, from a scholarly leaning in a not very scholarly Mexican, from poverty and ill health, from the possession of a little house set in a garden.

Now see how all these strands weave together. Pascual has made a vow of service to children, and he lives among families whose progeny, like their needs, are multitudinous. Although he came to San Antonio when he was fifteen and is to some degree a product of the public school system of the town, he is conscious of and distressed by the degradation of manner and manners among his compatriots on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and by the corruption of the Spanish tongue. He must do something. He does. He has a house which adapts to any purpose, and just enough strength to maintain a school—a school in which he can form conduct, correct language, and overlay life with a patina of religion. This ill man with a respect for learning and an urge to be of use to his fellows teaches poor people in his house and in his garden—English in the morning, Spanish in the afternoon and evening, manners all day long.

The ownership of that small property is of first importance. It is the bedrock, the foundation stone, on which the school as an enduring institution stands. Pascual possesses not only a house but a home, not only a home but a homestead. It represents to him and to his sister, Epifanía, continuity of life. The place is well known. They were there last year and the year before. They carry on with the assurance that they will be there next year and the year after. Perhaps all their lives. For, although taxes do pile up, the state is not a landlord threatening eviction on the first of any month. It is true that the place lies in the line of march of the great housing project, and a solid and sanitary and efficient apartment may one day rise on the site of this charmingly dilapidated school. But that is an eventuality of the future, and Pascual would welcome it. He would be compensated for his holdings, of course, and with money in hand he and Epifanía willingly would seek another little house in another little garden.

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