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Domingo Faustino Sarmiento |
Argentina's
leading writer, educator
and policitician served as President
from 1868 to 1874. The passage below
belongs to one of the indisputable classics
of Spanish American literature. |
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The Feat of Saint Peter
My Mother |
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La Fiesta de San Pedro
Mi Madre |
The feast of Saint Peter was always celebrated by
a splendid
banquet given by our uncle the
curate and he knew the rights and
desires of the children of the family to attend the festivities. Many times the
curate asked, "Why did I not see Domingo? I haven't seen him. And Paula?" And to
this day he supposes that it was obedience to my mother's orders, instead of
poverty, which
prevented our attendance. |
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La fiesta de San Pedro fue siempre
acompañada de un espléndido banquete que daba el cura, nuestro tío; y
sábese el
derecho y el deseo de los niños de la familia a hacer parte de la estrepitosa
fiesta. No pocas veces el cura preguntaba: "¿Y Domingo, que no lo veo? Y la
Paula?...", y hasta hoy sospechaba que esta dolorosa ausencia era ordenada e
hija de un plan de conducta de parte de mi madre en lugar de la pobreza que
imposibilitaba nuestra asistencia. |
I must mention one more characteristic
anecdote of my mother. She had a friend
of her infancy, Doña Francisca Venegas, from whom death separated her at the
age of sixty. She was the last of that name in San Juan as I see in Mallea's report.
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Debo comentar otra característica anecdótica de mi madre. Tuvo una amiga de
infancia de quien la separó la muerte a la edad de 60 años, doña Francisca
Venegas. Fue ella la última de este apellido en San Juan según veo en el
interrogatorio de Mallea. |
The two
friends had continued to visit
each other devoting one whole day to the delight
of
fusing their two families into one, and the same friendship has united the
daughters of both.
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Visitábanse ambas amigas, consagrando
un día entero a la delicia de confundir sus familias en una, uniendo a
las niñas de una y otra la misma amistad. |
Dona Francisca was a
very wealthy woman but on the day that
my mother passed with her our own servant went into the kitchen to prepare all
the food which we were to consume during the day. The protest of twenty years
against this practice of my mother's could never
in the least change her firm
and unalterable resolution, in order that the great pleasure of seeing her
friend should not be obscured by the suspicion that she wished even for one day
to put aside the duty of supporting her family, or
to turn her face away to the
inequalities of fortune.
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Poseía cuantiosos bienes de fortuna
doña Francisca, y el día que mi madre iba a pasarlo con ella, su criada
pasaba a la cocina a disponer todas las provisiones de boca que debían
consumir en el día, sin que la protesta de veinte años contra esta
práctica de mi madre, hubiese alterado jamás en lo mas mínimo su firme e
inalterable propósito de que, al placer inefable de ver a su amiga se
mezclase la sospecha de salvar así por un día siquiera el rudo deber de
sostener a sus hijos, y doblar la frente ante la desigualdad de la
fortuna. |
Thus was practised at the
humble home of the family of
which I made a part the noble virtue of poverty. Happy are the poor who have had
such a mother! |
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Así se ha practicado en el humilde hogar de la familia de que forme parte la
noble virtud de la pobreza. ¡Bienaventurados los pobres que tal madre han
tenido! |
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GLOSSARY |
banquet:
a ceremonial dinner party for many people (banquete)
curate:
a person authorized to conduct religious worship (cura,
sacerdote)
prevented our attendance: prevented us from attending (impedía
nuestra asistencia)
anecdote:
short account of an incident,
especially a biographical one (anécdota) |
each
other:
mutually (mutuamente, la una a
la otra)
fusing:
mixing together different elements of the
family (mezclar, fusionar)
very wealthy: very rich
(muy adinerada, muy rica)
in the least: to any extent at all (en lo más
mínimo)
to turn her
face away:
to refuse (doblegarse)
humble: poor (pobre, humilde) |
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MAS "CUENTOS
CORTOS LATINOAMERICANOS"
FORO
INICIO |
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