Sidney W. Mintz - Worker in The Cane - A Puerto Rican Life History-W W Norton & Co Inc (1974) PDF
Sidney W. Mintz - Worker in The Cane - A Puerto Rican Life History-W W Norton & Co Inc (1974) PDF
Sidney W. Mintz - Worker in The Cane - A Puerto Rican Life History-W W Norton & Co Inc (1974) PDF
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Worker in the <dane
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I- c SIDNEY W. MINTZ
Eesti Humaniharinrditu~
RAAMATUKOGU
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ISBN 0-393-00731-6
4567890
Acknowledgments
ix
Preface xi
x ·worker in the Cane
that it was a principal reason for my returning to the commu-
phies of westernized workina-class persons had been written by nity to work with Ta.so on this book. Nothi~g that I tho~ght I
anthropologists. That is DO\V much changed. Imew about him had prepared me in the slightest for his con-
The book". preceded b, some years by an anthropolo ·cal version. While anthropologists have long been interested in re-
study that I made of the community in w:bicb Taso lived, and ligious phenomena, relatively little was availab!e in the litera-
liYes. That conununity was composed almost entirely of rural ture of the time that dealt with religious convers10n as an aspect
proletarians- that is. of a ticultural wage:-earners who worked of "modemization" or "westernization" among peoples who are
in the sugar-cane for waaes- and who consumed hardly any- not "primitive." This, then, is another aspect of Ta.so's story that
thing of what they personally produced, while producing almost has aained increasing attention over time.
nothina they could personally consume. F~y, this book is of course concerned in very fundamen~al
Resembling in ·ery broad-tenns the industrial proletariats of ways -..yith Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people, and with
Europe, these people nonetheless exhibited as well manv of the the ituation in which thev find themsel\'es. At the time when
chamcteristics of . ocial lif assocfated with the unindustrialized my fieldwork began in 1948-, i~terest in P~erto Ri~o on the part
rural, personalistic. non-western world and were- and are- for of North America was alreaay substantial, due m some large
this rea on somewhat paradoxical sociologically. Anthropologi- measure to the post-World War II migration of_ Puerto Ric~ns
cal tudies of plantation communities and of rural proletariats to the mainland in search of improved economic opportumty.
were almost non-existent at the time. Tbat too. is now m uch But there was not et a large cond g neration of Puerto Rican
chan ed. .
livincr in the United State nor had the inten e difficulties faced
The principal figure in this book played a role in the develop- by the Puerto Rican people, both at home and ~n ~~e mainland,
ment of party-based political activity in the Puerto Rican been made part of the consciousn ss and sen 1bili~e ~f North
coun~·side, and in the e\·entual coming to power of the Popu- Amerkan . ~Ioreover the penetration of Puerto Rico itself by
lar Party there. Long bf:'fore becoming a Popular. ho,...-ever, North American interests, already overpowering, was to become
Ta o was a charter member of Puerto Rico' Socialist Party and even more visible during the intervening twenty-five years. As
later, active in the suga.rworker ' union as well. The irilportanc~ this was happening, the heightened tempo of Caribbean migra-
of these experiences is rernaled in bis own narration and one tion to the United States, especially in the last decade, was
ets from this commentar ' some sense of the subtle psycho- increasing North American interest in the migr~nts themselves
social linkag · that connect clas membership class conscious- and in their homeland societies, just as these migrants-Puerto
ness, and political action. Such matters wer e not of consuming Ricans among them-were calling for attention to their ~wn ve?
interest to <1.nthropologi.sts twenty years ago, but today political particular problems in the urban N~rth A:nerican settmg. This
dentist and ociologists together with anthropolovists and is, perhap , yet another w y in which this book has a greater
historians have become interested ane\v in the nature of class- apparent rele,·ance to the present than it had when it was first
based political movements and in the history of such move- written. It is the same story, the same book; but the world in
ments the ,,,..orld o 'er. Here, again there has been a noticeable the context of which one may read it has become a little different.
shift in interest
When I wrote this book-which consists of Ta.so's story told
Rather late in hi life- only shortly after 1 left the field for the mainly in his own words, with my comments an~ occasional
.Brst time, in 1949-Taso turned away from political activity interpretations-my main objective was to ~~ke ava1~abl~ a :;ur~l
( and as the narration will reveal from much else as well) and proletarian' s account of the experience of. wes~er?izat10~ ( m
was converted to a Pentecostal religious sect. This immensely this case , a North American colonial and impenahst species of
important change in his life-trajectory so caught me by urprise
xii
Worker in the Cane
westernization) in an agrarian, fasular subtropical setting.
While I sought to deal with the particular. local and individual
in this instance, it did not escape me that throughout Africa, Contents
Asia and Latin America anthropologists were busily studying
"tribal' peoples. while 1argel ignoring those who were being
subjected to what were common and widespread processes of
this kind. TI1us I was dealing with a single case; but I believed
it had e~i:remely wide relevance in the modem world.
It was my hope that the remarkable intelligence and articu- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
lateness of the protagonist- a man who had ,.ery little formal PREFACE TO THE NORTO N LIBRARY EDITION ix
education, and had lived a very hard life-would re ea! it elf
1. Introduction 1
successfully to the interested reader, and thus illwninate the
immense human potential, often unrealized, that lies outside our 2. The Local Setting 12
reach because our social and economic system often destroys 3. Taso's Written Autobiographical Statements 27
jndividual capacitie before the can blossom. I have no full 4. Childhood and Adolescence 35
confident belief that 1 ucceeded in m. intent; but I am entirely 5. Manhood: the early years ( 1927-39) 99
certain that my friend, Taso, in tellincr his own story did. Thi! 6. Manhood: the later years ( 1940-49) 177
remains, and is more than e,·er, bis book.
7. The Conversion 210
8. History within History 253
9. Epilogue 271
LIST OF CHARACTERS 279
GLOSSARY 281
List of Illustrations
Maps
Introduction
---
Puerto Rico
lean-tos behind the living quarters. And all around the houses
grows the cane. 66"
T'11Miln
2. Doiia Eli 3. Taso and Eli with five of their ten li\'ing children
Taso's Written Autobiographical Statements 33
impossible. I could not pay the costs. Then Chea sent him
to the Percy [Secretarial] School [in Ponce] to take a course.
Before he could finish, the Anny called him, May 13, 1953.
At that time my niece Rosa had emigrated, and Cheo bad
the bad luck of getting sick with the chicken pox and he
was hospitalized at San Lucas [Hospital, in Ponce]. Then I
moved from my house to theirs to look after the store and the
house. Later Chea came out and we moved back to the house
again. And in 1953 Noel was born. For that delivery a brother
in the faith, Benjamin, was the one who went to find the
midwife. At that time there was none in the barrio, and he
brought her from Paso Seco. When Pablin set out for Korea,
afterward he sent Eli from there $65 a month with which we
added two rooms to the house, because we were already quite
uncomfortable. But that was a sad period in the house for the
lack of him.
In this period of time, from the ye.ar 1945 till today, I have
lived more tranquilly. Althou uh during this time I suffered
twice from a sickness which at the outset seemed dangerous,
it was only a simple infection of a gland in the prostate. And
regarding my situation now, it is much better. For example,
Carmen sews and from what she earns she buys clothes for
the [younger J children and at times she buys them for Blanca,
and even for us ourselves. Also Pablin at times helps out. In
those other [earlier] years they were not able to help me and
I had to supply everything. And regarding the benefits of the
church, I am very appreciative. For example, my girls are at
home and even the littlest ones are being taught good pre-
cepts, to keep them far from juvenile delinquency, and to
have respect for God. So that all this has come to be a great
help to me. I feel more serene. I do not live a life as desperate
as it was in the years before. And also, I earn a little more. In
short any problem I have now I can resolve better.
lem. But their problem always was the question of jealousy, she [Nenita] was, and came back Sunday to the house to
you see. And he-at the same time she would be telling him wait for a peddler named Don Cayetano, from whom he ~ad
these things, almost immediately after- [he chuckles]. Yet bought on trust. He waited for him until about 6 P.M., which
Tomasa, I never saw her dance or- what is more-I don't was the hour Don Cayetano was accustomed to come down
remember that-after Tomasa took a husband, I never even here in a two-wheeled carriage. And after he paid him he
saw her walking for pleasure on the road of the village. went back again to the house where he had left her [Nenita].
Tomasa was a woman who was always at home, and she And by this time she had run out of the house and was
never went out anywhere. So that- [he chuckles] I don't ever waiting for him in ambush on a path in the cane. And when
remember him being jealous; the fights over jealousy were be passed by, she attacked him with a knife. And they fell ~o
on her part, yes. fighting, and according to what he told us afterward, he s~id
Regarding that, l felt a little sad, because it gave me pain he struck her and she went head over heels. She went runmng
that my sister was suffering so much in that regard. When I from there, ~long what we call a maclaine in the cane field.
was already a pretty big boy, I myself used to see at times And he turned around and eame back to our house with a
that he-when I would pass by-I would see him talking to knife wound in his palm. There in the fight they had she had
women in different places. And I knew already that they also managed to bite him, and then he came back to ou~ home
were women that- [he sighs J that he had on the side. And to cure himself. And at that time I was already a big boy.
I never, never said anything to Tomasa because of wanting I remember that, and I was even present at some of the dif-
to avoid fights and things at home. But I really suffered, be- ferent fights he and Tomasa had during her life. Finally, my
cause my sister used to have to suffer all of that· but if I were sister died, and she [Nenita] remained then in Santa Isabel.
to tell a story of that at home, well then it would be one ficrht Now she is as placid as she was wild; now she is completely
0
more, and one I was provoking. I would see these things and tame.
I would turn my gaze away. I never told Tomasa of anything I saw. Actually one doesn't
Now, Cornelio, while he was living with Tomasa my sister, say anything in order to avoid discord between m~rried peo-
carried off another girl [Nenita]. Then they made him marry ple. Because £gbts begin, and if it is a man who likes t~ i;ise
her-they denounced him [i.e. brought him to court]. and his hands. well, it goes badly with the woman; and avoiding
then they made them marry. But he .remained living with that kind of foolishness, well, at times one keeps one's mouth
m~ sister. There was a time when he stayed with his legal closed. And one never thought- I never thought- it would
wife wheu he was married, and so they were together a get to the point where he would carry off ~t other girl, too
little while, when be settled down; but he never neglected bis - that it could be a thing that- I thought it w::i,s a matter
obligation to our house, see? of making love and nothing more, and as we say, ~veryone
Cornelio had this about him, that he could fall in love with comes to pass such a time. I never thought that it would
another woman, you see? For example, he fell in love with come to such an extreme. But actually he did carry her off.
that lady he carried off, living at the time with my sister. And when he came back home, well, he and Tomasa, they
I remember when tbey fell in love. And the night he carried didn't have a :fight but rather, as they were already a married
her off he took her to a Jiouse in a part that is called Cayures, couple, they had their little quarrels. But in this regar~ my
a house that is there all alone. And that was a Saturday. sister was a different kind of person, you see. As he contll1ued
And on Monday he came home to soo Tomasa my sister. And living at home, and as Rosa had already been born at the
tbey had their words. And afterward he went acrain b
wbere time, well, she never- And b e was-a few nights in the
50 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 51
house, and then he would go to Cayures where he had the the end of the cuarentena [the traditional forty-day postnatal
other. And she had gone to another place that they call the sexual abstention period] a lady came to visit the house who
"street" of Cayures, to the house of a sister that she had was a niece of Cornelia's. She came from Santa Catalina [a
there, another separate place, and there they were a while. barrio of a municipality north of Santa Isabel]. She came
And after that, he came to live here in my father's house, here at about three in the afternoon or later, and Tomasa went
in the barrio. out of the house to the kitchen, which was back about 20 or
And thus they were a long while, living thus, Nenita and 25 feet from the house. And the floor of the kitchen was
Cornelio, they would get along, and other days they would earthen; it was a kitchen without a wood floor. She set about
have fights. She would lie in wait for him, and he would beat roasting coffee, in order to serve coffee to this lady who had
her up, and thus they were. But he always continued living at arrived. And when the coffee was roasted, she took the pot
our home while my sister was alive. He would go away for off the fire and put it on the ground, and she squatted at the
bNo or three days- but he never gave up coming to the house. side of the pot to stir the coffee, from which the smoke was
To such an extent that when Nenita began having his chil- rising. -
dren, the children would come to our house-yes-and in the When you roast coffee in a pot like that, there is a whole
house-think of it- Tomasa after- after feeding them even lot of smoke; and in order that the taste of the smoke not
dressed them up. They would eat, and then she would send remain, she continued moving the grains about in the pot,
them back home. squatting on the ground while the smoke was present. And it
It is a kind of situation that leaves one feeling a little un- seems that it was this way that my sister caught her illness.
comfortable, you see? When you have a sister, and the hus- As soon as she got up from there she felt pain. She said it was
band of your sister carries off another woman, one feels a a pain in this place [he points to his ribs on the left side]. She
little uncomfortable about that, you see? That someone would finished maldn<Y the coffee, and after she seIYed it she went
do this sort of thing to one's sister. But if your sister con- and la down, and she continued during the night with that
tinues living with him-oh, one is not able to take a hand then pain and the next day .she <YOt a fever. And she continued
-it is their pleasure-and as later he always continued living with the fever. And people said. as they used to imagine, that
with my sister, always giving her what she needed, there was it was pasmo [literally, "spasm"] and they began to give her
no one who could say to her, "Leave him, leave him be, what- medical treatment in accord with its being assumed to be
ever may happen." That is a difficult matter regarding mar- pasmo-remedies that the people here knew.
ried couples. Because I know certain women here, their hus- I remember one remedy; I don't know the others. It was
band gives them a beating in the morning, and another at when I \ Vas a boy that they used these things; they would take
noon, and a third in the evening, and in spite of it they die what they called the comejen that is, the lump of wood where
living with him. I don't know if it is a question of love or the comejen [termite] lives; they take that and boil it, and
what, but they don't leave him because of it. Now if Tomasa they give the water to drink to those whom they believe to be
had left Cornelio, he would have been well left! There was suffering from pasmo.
no one who would have said to her that she ought not to Pasmo comes when one goes out suddenly like that, from
have left him. inside a house, and the air outside is cold, and this cold
Now, concerning Tomasa's illness at the time she died. On that one catches, that's what they call pasmo. And people
that occasion Tomasa had a completely good delivery; she attributed it to her roasting coffee, which is a pasmo-produc-
came out well from the birth. But it happened that before ing thing-that is, it is a little dangerous. And so they
52 Childhood and Adolescence 53
Worker in the Cane
treated her two or three days with those domestic remedies. sweat so tremendous that it was impossible to reduce it. Until
The~ _Cornelio brought a doctor, and he prescribed some finally one morning at about ten she died, speaking thus
medicme, but the medicines didn't arrive at first and then with us.
the fever came too. When the doctor came she already had So it was-all that sickness which caused her death. The
fever, and they gave her medicines. And the medicine didn't doctor said it was puerperal fever. But I know she caught
stop the fever or the pain. And then the doctor said it was her illness, because she was completely recovered from her
puerperal !ever t_h~t she had, and they continued giving her delivery. And as soon as she roasted that coffee and put it
the doctors medicmes. And it seems to me, if I am not mis- out to cool and stirred it, she felt that pain. She finished the
taken, that he came back and prescribed again. And · coffee and went to lie down, and she did not get up again.
tl d" . d"d , h smce
le me icmes i n t elp, there came the comments that it And the newborn baby was given over to another woman,
was pasmo, and they continued with certain household and they kept it fed with milk and with teas. They used to
remedies. give a lot of teas to the children in those days; that is what they
And then after six or seven days there came what they call did with him until finally Tomasa died. And after she died
a sincope [literally, "swooning"]. It was a sweat such as I we had to solve problems. At one point Dofia Petra had him;
have only seen one person have in my entire life. It was a and at other tinles Doiia Agustina had him. She was a woman
sweat that ran from the body as if you were to take a person of considerable age, and she had him a little while; but as he
and _pour water ove: his head. I recall well that we wrapped was still very small he bothered her a lot at night, you see,
her m a sheet, and m five or ten minutes you would take off and as he lacked the mother's breast, well, she decided to turn
the sheet and wring it out in wash basins. And there were hin1 over once more to Cornelio. And after that he took the
three or four mortars, those little ones, in the house, and infant to Petra again, and she had him a little while, and
p~ople were at those mortars grinding cinnamon day and later she returned hinl; and so he was passed from hand to
mght, _to crush it into cinnamon powder to be used to powder hand. Nenita had hinl, she who was also Cornelia's woman,
her with, trying to absorb the sweat. And it was terrible the and so he was until when he was already a boy of about two
way one would no sooner apply the powder to her face than years and a half he also died.
the sv:eat w?uld carry it off. And they made many other When Tomasa died, as is the custom, they held a velorio,
remedies, trymg to cut the sweat; and it was not possible as they do now-you have seen them here, chanting [ rezando:
_In the midst of the spasm and everything, she was speaking telling the rosary] and giving coffee and crackers to the peo-
with us as we are talking now, without loss of consciousness. ple. Then they used to tell stories a lot at the velorios-stories
I remember well how she would direct us "Anoint me here that the people would tell, stories that they lcnew. And I
anoint me there"-she herself, speaking wi~h us. At that tim~ heard many Biblical stories; that's why J: say that there are
there w~re many neighbors helping, and at the tinle Monse people who have read the Scriptures with those ends in mind,
-:-Pablo s woman, . my brothe~'s woman-was also helping some to be able to sing and others to explain them as stories
m t~e house durmg Tomasa s illness. And from Colonia at velorios. I recall that there was a man here called Manuel
r:>estmo there were some, and others entering and going out and I heard hinl many times telling the story of Samson in
smce by then we were staying up all night struggling with velorios that way. And so the people entertained themselves
her. E_specially those that were older-I who was still a child, during the night until it grew light, and sometimes they would
sometimes I was up and sometimes I'd be sleeping. But I continue until time to leave for the burial.
have never seen a thing like that, an illness like that one, a Now, I put myself in Cornelia's place. When a man loses
54 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 55
his woman he feels completely sad, to see his companion lost. for other necessities. I continued this way there, until finally
And I could see it in him, though we were all sad, he partic- in that house I was made my first pair of long pants. Then
ularly was grieving at the time. Particularly a man left with !
after that they went to live at Colonia Texido.r. And too-
little children, and you could say that there was no family l moved there with them. They were there a little while, and
here to look after them, so the man felt a little sad. I con- then I came back to live in the barrio; but I always used to go
tinued there with him for a while, working and living there, to eat at their house. They were there a little while, and then
and afterward he began looking about because it was a little they moved back to the barrio, and when the~ moved. back I
hard for him. After that he had the child in the house of Doiia moved into their house again. And so I remamed until I fell
Agustina, and he went to eat at Doiia Lola's house. But I in love with Elisabeth. And I was in their house until I mar-
didn't go with him to board at Doiia Lola's at that time. I re- ried her. Then I moved away from there; I left them. Then
mained alone at home. I came to make a different life. Then I began to start a home
One day we went to a burial in Santa Isabel. And while of my own.
we were <:oming back home Don Epifanio, Doiia Lola's hus-
band, invited me to enter and to eat. He knew I had no sure You have told me a great deal about Tomasa. Now can you
place to eat. And I accepted, and entered to eat there. And tell me about your brothers?
when we were-sitting at the table and eating, Lola proposed Well, while I was still quite small my brother Pablo went
that if I wished they, seeing our situation-that if I wished, off to Guayama. And my brother Eugenio remained at home
she could make meals for both of us. And so I began eating with Mother. Later he went to work at a pump station they
there. And then I asked her the price of the meals, as those had here in Jauca, and he was there a while. And at times he
were critical times and one earned little. I was always think- would leave that job and work as a plowman. Sometimes he
ing of keeping up good relations. I asked her, and she told was in that work, sometimes he would go off and he would
me it was a question of $1.50 [per week], and I accepted. come back, and so he worked three or four different times
And then I saw the way that she looked after me, her be- at that job. After our mother died he took a wife from here,
havior; and I never paid her $1.50, but $2 or something more. named Antonia, and he lived with her several months-a
And as they saw how I conducted myself with them and how question of several months-and after that time they had a
they got along with me, when he [Epifania] went to work at baby boy who died when he was about a year and half old.
Cortada [a neighboring sugar mill], they invited me to live After that she went to live at Coamo, and Eugenio used to go
with them in their house there. When they made me this week ends to visit her there. And then she took ill, and one
proposal 1 went, and paid :more money. In this way I resolved afternoon they brought him the news that she had died, quite
most of my problems-I didn't have to worry about having suddenly. They came and told him she had died; and after
to buy clothes, or about having to fix my bed, because she she died he remained here a short while. Then he went to
[Lola] took care of everything. She would come, straighten La Torre de Ponce [a district in the municipality of Ponce,
the bed and make it take care of my dirty clothes, repair west of Santa Isabel] where we have an uncle, a brother of
my work clothes, and I didn't have to worry about any of my father, and then he was working there, doing the work
that. I resolved most of my problems. we call atierro, breaking land-hauling the plows with oxen.
At that time we used to get about 80 cents a day at work. He went there first, and then I went there where he was to
And we worked seven days. We earned $5.60. Out of that stay, and I was there some months. When he lived with his
I would pay $2, $3, $3.50, for board, and the rest remained wife, our mother was already dead-she had died some time
56 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 57
before. And afte~ard, when he went to that place to work, belonging to bis mother-in-law, and it was at that time that
as Mother had died, then I also went to live there. he took ill and bis death came in a matter of a week. It was
pneumonia. I went to the velorio; they [Cornelio and Tomasa]
At that time you were living here with Cornelio? were the ones who took charge of that, as older people of
Yes. They were here, you see, Cornelio and Tomasa. Then I greater experience, so with regard to that I never bad to
lived for several months in his [Eugenio's J home here. Then carry out any responsibilities. They were older people who
after he went to La Torre I came back again to the house of kne,w~ what they had to do. I did not know what had to be
Tom::sa. And from there: then I went to La Torre, to my done with regard to the velorio, only that I was there as an
uncles house. He [Euaemo] was already doing the work that attendant to my brother. The ne>.t day we went to the burial
I mentioned to you before. And my uncle there wanted me to - we went and buried him- and I went every night to the
stay there with him, because Mother had already died, and ceremonies they had for him until they celebrated the ninth
the o~ly one ~at was left was Tomasa. And I did get used night ( no~ena·rio), which is the last service they used to hold
to berng there m one way, but in another I didn't, because l for people who died. Thus -ended his span of life. He was
missed Tomasa very much. bringing up a little girl at the ti.me, in Coamo, and after he
. Beyond ~at, I liked it a lot there, because at that time died I saw no more of her. After a long tim~long after he
m the bamo of La Torre there were very many different had died-she came back here to Jauca; I got to see her, but
fruits and things. You know that when bo s fall into such since then I have never seen her again.
places, that is a delicious thing. I was enchanted by that, I My brother Eugenio was a man of my build, more or less,
was always roaming a?out there, and there were many mango with the difference that he was stockier, he was fuller, in
farms and such, and it was a delight; but I missed Tomasa. spite of which his statnre was like mine. Eugenio was dif-
And I suppose it was about three months, something like ferent from my brother Pablo. My brother Pablo was a whiter
that and :omasa came to see me there. They were there, if man; but their eyes were very similar. And in behavior, well,
f m not nru:taken, something like from one day to the next, Pablo was one way with regard to jobs and my brother
before making the return trip. And f wanted to return with Eugenio was another. My brother Eugenio was- that brother
Tomasa, but my uncle didn't want to let me come. And I always liked to work in the cane, in the pump stations, and
secretly got ~eady to make the trip, and when they left to in different kinds of work, while the other brother, my brother
catch the tram they bad to go quite a distance a kilometer Pablo, well, he never liked to work with bis hands.
or something more. Well, they left and I bid' myself and For me, they were pretty much the same, because I did
when they were arriving at the station, then I came out by not have to depend on them, you see? The same liking I had
an.other r?ute to where they were. And Tomasa my sister for one I had for the other. But Eugenio was always more at
said nothing, because she missed me too. She let me come our side than Pablo. Pablo went off to Guayama when I was
and we took the train and I returned to Jauca. ' little, and then he used to visit us occasionally. Eugenio was
Then after a while my brother Eugenio came back here with us a lot during Mother's life. Although he worked in
and brought me my clothes. He came that time with the idea different places, it would be some place near; he was always
of staying in Jauca again. Then he was here a while working here. When he went to La Torre, Mother had already died
at different jobs in the cane, and then he returned to work at the time, and it was the only time that he went away so
again at the pump station. Then he came to live in a house far from us.
58 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 59
Can we go back again to when you began to work? Did the those lands. They gave those lands a first plowing and then
men you worked for play any part in forming your ideals? one plowing more, which they called "crossing." And after-
You mean were they interested in how one behaved? Look, ward they passed a harrow over the land to break it up, and
I worked for a mayordomo called Enrique Martinez here in then they did the squaring-off ( banqueo), that is, marking
Colonia Pastor Diaz. And before that I worked for another the rows so as to be able to come back later with a special
there whose name I can't remember. But in any case, their plow ( bombo) to make the rows and to finish them off.
problem was whether one could do the quantity of work These ox plows consisted of four yokes of oxen managed
for which they paid you. They weren't interested in anything by two boys; the one who took care of the two forward they
else. called the cuartero, and the one who managed the two be-
I must have been about nine or ten years old, more or less, hind they called the tronquero. I used to manage two of
when I began to work. It was then that I began to work in those teams, and another boy would manage the other two.
work, where you earn a wage. And there were occasions The plowman would use a whip to assist the tronquero when
when I would be going to school at the same time. I re- one got to the main furrows, so that the hindmost yoke of
member the first work I did was picking corn. They paid me oxen might get as close as possible to the main furrow
35 cents a day. That was what they paid then. This corn ( callej6n) before the three yokes in front turned about. That
wasn't for eating. They used to plant corn there in Colonia way the furrows would reach right to the main furrow, and
U sera for the use of the colonia [i.e. for feed and fodder]. it wouldn't be necessary to lay down many cross furrows at
It was a matter of a few weeks' work. And after that I went the edge of the main furrow. And so there we were in that
on to do other work, work they used to have plenty of here part, Cayures, until they had broken open a large amount of
for the kids-all of this work has now been eliminated-I brushland in that area. I worked a long time in that work
went on to feed ( darles rabos) the oxen in the cane fields. there. And not I alone; at times they had three, four, five
While the carters were filling the wagons with cane, each plows working, for at that time the preparation of the land
carter had a lad feeding the oxen. I spent lots of time work- went so slowly, and it took a lot of plows to speed up the
ing at this also. And after that I went on to struggle with work a little.
the oxen; I used to handle two yokes of oxen, bringing the At that time the colonia had a tremendous number of oxen.
carts out of the cane fields and leading them to the railway There was an ox corral where one could see 125 or 150 oxen,
siding. or more. And at Colonia Destino, many more, because it was
At the time I am speaking of now, in this colonia of Don a much bigger colonia and they had to use more plows. And
Pastor Diaz there was cane only in the swampy lowland, and then there was the loading and moving of cane, which was
a little bit in that upland part called Cayures. Those uplands a terrible job. The number of oxen they used to need was
were in brush, and there were many hucar and tachuelo tremendous. And particularly the colonias where they had the
trees, which are among the best woods they have here in system of changing the teams of oxen. Because the yokes of
Puerto Rico. And they used a great number of people for oxen were not supposed to work all day, except those used
uprooting those trees and converting the wood into charcoal for carrying the cane. The hour of changing the teams was
in order to clear the brushland. And when those lands were from eleven to twelve. At eleven they would turn the boys
clear of all that wood, then the plowing work was begun. I loose and we would come and change the oxen. But in the
would go with Elario Godineaux, who was my plowman-and cane-carrying it was difficult because there were times when
there were other plowmen with other plows-to prepare at that hour most of the carts were in the cane fields being
60 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 61
filled, and it was not possible to change the teams. Then were old or injured, they had the custom of taking them to
sometimes the oxen used by the wagonmen would work the sell in Salinas, to the butcher shop, or to Santa Isabel or one
whole day. But the plow oxen would always be changed at of those towns, and there they would sell them for meat since
midday for a new team. the ox-well-could no longer work. That was their pay [he
Here in this colonia of which we are speaking [Pastor Diaz] smiles].
they had had a place for raising animals, and besides that
they bought young animals to break in. They carried out What sorts of recreation did you have as a boy?
these tasks during dead time. The wagonmen would load up Concerning these things, there was one that I used to do
with IOcks and manure for the fields, and then they would from the time that we were very little boys, from the time my
take these calves and begin to train them for wben the harvest mother was alive-and that I continued to do even after I
would begin, so that by then they would be broken in. And was living with Elisabeth. After we would work through the
after they mashed them up a little with the carts-we used day, we used to go to the sea, to the part we call El Cayo [The
to call the first yokings "to mash them up"-then they'd use Cay]. And we used to go with a person who could cast a
them with the plows for a little while. Then those oxen could throw-net. From here in the barrio we would carry the
be used with the wagons to carry cane. To be used for carry- viandas. They would get the firewood there; they would get
ing cane they had to be gentle oxen, because if they bucked rocks-those rocks from the cay there. They would make a
or anything like that, then they would throw out the loads fireplace, and on it they would put a five-gallon tin ( lat6n),
of cane. So by the time they used them to work with the and they would peel the viandas, and they would put them on
wagons, they would have to be completely tame. to boil, and we would go to cast the throw-net, and there we
At the colonia, they always had what they called an ox- used to catch fish-lobster and all kinds of fish. You caught
herd-the colonias always had to have someone, an older farea, you caught robalo, you caught fayao, you caught mero
person-and apart from that there were times when they -different kinds of fish. But always there were plenty of
would have two or three boys also busy with that work. Be- jarea above all.
cause during the harvest they were accustomed to take the One night, we were in just such a serenata [an evening's
oxen to feed in the fields they were cutting, in the part they enjoyment or meal]; and those who remained at the fireside
had already cut. The boys would be there to see that the wanted to play a trick on those of us who went to fish. That
oxen didn't go into the part where the [uncut] cane was with- night we went with a boy named Guillo Alicea, who was the
out turning them back, and if there were small plots of cane one throwing the throw-net. At the entrance to the cay he
nearby, to see that they didn't go off and eat them. So there made a cast, and he caught about twelve jarea, but good
was not only the oxherd, but also other people were employed big ones. That was before entering the cay. When we got to
to care for the stock. And during the night sometimes they the cay, the others remained behind cooking viandas, and they
would carry cane stalks to the corrals so that the oxen could came and cooked the jarea, and ate them up. And we-well-
eat them during the night. And other times they would move meanwhile we were walking and fishing. But we made a great
them to the enclosures, to the pastures, and they would feed catch that night after we entered the cay; we caught a fish
during the night, and at 4:30 A.M. the oxherd would come that they call here a vieja [literally, "old female one"] that
and lead those animals to the corral so that when the carters weighed about eight pounds, and another that weighed about
arrived they would have all the animals together in the corral. six, and beyond that, a great quantity of other fish and
As for the animals which could no longer work because they_ lobsters, and so on. And when we came with the catch we
62 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 63
had made, those who had stayed behind were laughing at out that night we thought we would eat some fuh with oil and
what they had done. And then Guillo Alicea, who was a vinegar, but the viandas were all we ate that night!
slightly smart-alecky fellow, said: "Look how they have fin- We used to carry on that activity as a sport, yon see, be-
ished with all the fish cooked here tonight! I am not going cause we used to eat our re!rular meal at night. But this we
to give so much as a raw fish to any of them." did really because we liked the night fishing so much-catch-
And we went to work and prepared all those fish, and ing the fish-and we did it as a sport and for enjoyment at
put them in a fish can to cook; and the viandas were already the same time. We never did it in order to sell the fish. When
cooked, and we ate what we could, but the others were left we held one of those serenatas it was to eat the fish there
without any more fish. And we ate fish until we were stuffed. that way; if it was a big fish then people would bring back
From there to the barrio I brought a lard can full of cooked a couple of pounds of fish to their homes, but we never did it
fish so that they would not be wasted. We who had kept on with the end in mind of selling the fish. In recent years people
fishing brought back whole cans full- a matter of greed- would go especially to catch lobster and such and sell them;
nothing more than what Guillo did out of bis shamelessness, but when it was for a seren-ata it was exclusively to eat, a
because of the way he felt when he saw that they had cooked matter of a fiesta and such. There were times when one used
all the first catch of fish and had saved us none. And at the to drink one's little bottle too, and give out shots there.
time I was already living with Elisabeth. When I arrived Then there were the movies; as I've told you before, I used
home, I called Joaquin, Elisabeth's father, and Elisabeth, and to like them a great deal. Many more people used to go to the
we sat down on the bed with that serenata that we brought. movies then. One gentleman- a black man, not trigueiio [lit-
And I went fishing like that from the time I was a boy. l erally, "wheat-colored"]- would go from here who was called
continued to do that until finally people did it no more. 111 Ventura Antonetti. And be was obsessed with the movies. If
tell you especially when they were giwg up that custom. At he didn't go to Santa Isabel he would go to Salinas [a mu-
the time of the war [World War IT] they prohibited so many nicipality a few miles east of Santa Isabel]-and on foot; at
things, and you couldn't be with lights in those places (i.e. that time there was none of this car business. And we would
along the beach]. And then the people lost the custom, until make up a group among us boys and older people: Ventura,
now I don't know anyone who goes to the sea to make such Marfa Rosa Malvet, and Dolores Alomar, those are people
a serenata. of color from where compadre Gueni lives. Then, from here
Th~e was also another night when a funny thing happened in the barrio I would go, and Adolfo David. And from Boca
to us m one of those serenatas. V e went to the cay from here, Chica [a nearby colonia] an endless number of people would
actually from Palo Seco [a mangrove swamp on the beach]. go. A great mob would go to the movies, on foot. And some-
And with us that night went Don Bache, Cheo's father- times we would do that up to three times a week. Then, later
older people would go with the boys. And that night we left on, we used to go twice a week.
Don Bache cooking on the outer shore. And we went and The enthusiasm was tremendous; at the time they showed
walked through all of Palo Seco. And on our way back from lots of serials, and when one of those started, one wouldn't
there we caught a little barracuda of about a half pound. Don want to miss a single episode. It was so serious that one would
Bache remained there cooking and ate the barracuda with have to be dying to be willing to miss one of those shows.
a plate of viandas, and then though we walked the whole cay And so we went on for a long time. But afterward-I myself
we didn't catch anything else. What we were left with that cannot explain how it came about-we began to give up that
night was pure viandas with oil and vinegar. When we went habit, little by little, little by little, until at last we went no
64 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 65
more. But at the time rm telling you about, it was remarkable know where the pictures came from. They were silent pictures;
the number of people who used to go to the movies on foot. there were no talkies then. That came later, many years later.
And when we came out of the show everyone would have Later, I gave up the custom of going to the movies. It seems to
saved his nickel, and we would go to the bakery that used to me when I began going to the dances, as I became more at-
be on the Calle de Guayama, and there each one of us would tracted by the dances and so on, then ~ gradually beg~n giving
buy a pound of bread, and then we'd spend the rest of the up the pictures. At the time I was gomg to the movies I was
trip [walking home] each of us eating his pound of bread. still a little boy-I wasn't dancing or any of that. Then I got
And one time I recall that we went to the movies during a to like the dances more, and then I lost my love for the movies.
strike in the cane fields (1920], and ..vith us went a boy from Until at last I gave up the movies and was left with dancing.
Colonia Pastor Diaz, a boy named Bartolo who used to work
in the house of Don Pastor as an errand boy, and Adolfo Can you tell me about any of your friend.ships then? .
David. And those two boys were always hostile to each Well, the friendship I had with Guillo Alomar became qmte
other-wherever they were they were fighting. And that night close. Guillo Alomar, because before we were speaking of
we went to the movies, and when we came out they began to another Guillo. There was a time when nearly all the boys
quarrel, and they quarreled and quarreled. And when we got of the barrio here would get together at night in that place
to the entrance t-0 Colonia Alomar, well, then we said, "Good, where "they" used to live that was almost a little barrio. And
if you're going to fight, then fight; let's have the fight right almost all who lived there were people of color, and there
here." And we made a great ring, a ring of boys; and we put were lots of little boys, little boys of color. Boys like us,
them in the middle. I remember that Adolfo had a cup which averaging about eight, nine, ten years, or s~. And. they would
Dofia Antonia had entrusted to him and he gave it to me to take big cans and use them to play on. F elix Godineau.x, who
guard for him. And Bartolo was carrying something else that lives with Adela-he was one of those who would take up
he gave to someone to hold. And they fell to it with punches. palos [sticks, used here to mean instruments for ~e~ting
And while they were beating each other up and we were rais- rhythm], and at times tambourines, and others would l!Illtate
ing a great noise, as if it were a cockfight- the police were the sounds of instruments with their mouths; and we would
hidden in the cane, watching the entrance there [ e>.."Pecting make up some terrific dances among ourselves, you know?
some trouble in the strike}. And when we raised that great And that was a regular custom. Every night we would be
roar there, they came bursting out of the cane-and they mixed in with those there.
were left standing in the road, without a single boy remain- And so we went along developing that [friendship], or at
ing behind! We didn't stop running until we got to the entrance least I in particular was acquiring ~t with that boy. And h.e
to Colonia Destino, and we weren't foolincr in that race! had-it was not his mama-I don t remember well, but it
We used to see many pictures that were exciting. Lots of us seems to me it wasn't his mama-a lady that was named
used to lik-e the cowboy pictures, and I remember a picture Baldomera, who was raising him, and another who was named
of which I didn't miss a single episode, a picture that was Dolores-well, those two women were intimate friends of
called Breaking the Barricade; and another called The Road Mama, and they would show me very great affectio~ whe~ I
of Iron; and I don't remember all the others. I do know there went there. And there were times when I would arrive qmte
were pictures of which I didn't miss a single one of the ep- early in the afternoon, and they would call and invite me to
isodes; and if there were fifteen episodes it was fifteen that eat in the house, and I was there almost all the time, and
I saw. The print was in Spanish; we read it. Now I don't then we used to share his dinners. Different times he would
66 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 67
give me some of his own dinner. And they used to eat a of Don Pastor Diaz. And there we became friends and work-
thing that I liked very much-probably you have not eaten it. mates. Sometimes we didn't work from noon on, and we
Here in the sea when they fished a lot they used to catch a would go to Boca de Caballo [a nearby inlet], which is a place
little fish that we called pelaillo. It is a little fish; and when where there are many sea grapes. There were some tremendous
you cut off the head, off with the head come the insides, and trees and we would take the oxen there, and we would go to
it doesn't have scales or anything. Then you salt it and you eat the grapes. And there was a gentleman named Tomas
put it to dry in the sun. After it is dried, they would prepare Rios, and we would go to bis place there also. We used to eat
flour and put the fish in that softened Hour, and then put it the melons he cultivated- he had a lot of melons and we
to fry that way-as fried codfish is made, as Eli makes bacalao would eat them too.
[salt cod]. And that fish dinner was the best. And I used to
enjoy myself very much at their house. And as they knew Paying for them?
how very much I liked that, if I wasn't there when she was We didn't pay anything! He used to grow a great many, and
making it, Baldomera would always save me my portion. we used to take them, and -cane, and so on, being boys-
And if I didn't come, they would send to look for me so that And there is a coconut grove in the same part of Boca de
I might come to get my portion there. Caballo where the trees were very low, and you can reach
Jn the evening that place was like an. amusement park for the coconuts from the ground. And we would spend the after-
ns. All the kids would get together there. That project was an noons there, drinking coconut water and eating sugar cane.
every-night one-to play to dance; we always would run to That was something we used to do often.
the same place. It would be a night of big noise there. And in And we also had another custom. If we went to the corral in
that place of which I am speaking, all all the people were of the morning to yoke up, and if for any reason they weren't
color there were no whites at all. All the families were people working there, we would continue our trip and go to the cay
of color. of Palo Seco and there we would set out to catch octopus,
and in those days they used to catch a lot. There were times
And the others got along well with them? when we would leave there each one with twelve or fourteen
[Somew·hat impatiently.] Yes, that was no problem. or fifteen octopuses. Those we would carry to our homes, his
Now, reqarding the dances. I got to be so crazy for the to his house, and I would carry mine to mine. And we didn't
dances that there were times that after leaving work working sell those-they were used in the family.
all day, we would go to a dance in Coamo [a municipalitv to Compadre Berto has always been much enamored of fishing.
tbe north]. And torretber be and I Guillermo Alomar and I, His father used to fish a lot with hook and line. We continued
we would go on foot, from here in the center, as far as U sera, that friendship as children; and later on at the dances there
Las Flores, and even to Coamo, and dance there until four were many times that we were dancing with girls at the same
in the morning, and then return here from there, to be here dance, and so we came to have that friendship we still have
in the barrio for work-and to work through another day. today.
But that was when we were older.
Now I'm going to tell you how it was that I learned the work
What other frienW; from childhood could you mention? of the pala [ditching shovel]. My brother-in-law Cornelio
The first time I came to know Compadre Berto was when was a palero, and he used to work a lot here in the poyal
we were boys and used to handle oxen, there in the colonia [swamp] of Colonia Pastor Diaz. At that time the poyales
68 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 69
were plowed and furrowed in sections for cultivation, consist- They had that practice because then the colonia didn't
ing of seed beds for two or four pieces of seed cane. That is, have a pond in which to keep its water supply. The water it
where the poyal was very wet, where there was a lot of received was government water, and that water was being sup-
ground water, we made hills to accommodate two pieces and plied day and night. So in order to make the most of the water
where the terrain was dryer, four pieces. His work a; tha~ they used to work it that way. Although there was also another
~e was ~at of ditcher, working with the pala. I used to go way. When they weren,t able to irrigate at night, then they
with my sister Tomasa to bring him lunch and breakfast. \fOuld prepare what we used to call regulators ( arregladeros)
Tomasa was a strong woman; and at that time they used to of water, and we could arrange the water so that it would be
make ditches as deep as two shovel lengths, and as wide as working by itself the whole night [i.e. without irrigators work-
two shovel widths. And then my sister would take the pala, ing, by gravity feed]. But they used to use the night workers
and she would fold over her dress in front and catch it be- because then they could get more benefit from the water.
tween her legs, take the pala and start to dig the second And in the times of serious drought they would do that espe-
[deeper] shovel length. And I too put myself to practicing it. cially- providing either all~night or at times half-night workers.
They used what we called a botal6n, a long-handled pala, That was when they used to employ me, lighting the irrigators,
to collect the dirt that remains in the ditch- the fine earth, as way by night. I remember that in those days they used to
w_e call it. At times she would go behind Cornelio seconding grow com in the cane banks, here and there. And at night we
him, and I behind her, with the botal6n, finishing np the job would roast ears of com from the plants they were growing
of removing the earth that was left. Afterward my brother-in- on the pathways through the cane. And then one irrigator
law would come back, recut the ditch on each side, and back would go off and prepare chocolate, crackers, and that sort of
we would come, she and I, and clean up this earth. This we thing, and it would be ready for us to eat about 9:30 or 10;
used to do for half an hour or an hour when we would go because we used to have to be in water all night long.
there, especially at the lunch hour, because at breakfast we It was during this time, too, that I first felt the pain of a
could do little since she had to come back home in order to hernia which I have told you about before. I felt that when
prepare lunch. So that was how I came to learn to do pala I was still a boy. I was already working. Yes, 1 was working
work. Then I came to do it on my own account, earning already. I was lighting the way of the irrigators, and calling
money, later on. the oxen, and doing various tasks. But when I began to feel
Then my brother-in-law was put in charge of irrigation at that pain, I was mostly struggling with irrigation work, at
Colonia Pastor Diaz; he was encabezado [a kind of foreman J. times taking the pala, too. And I would set about learning to
And then I used to have to go at night with a lantern to make the proper movements for irrigation work and so on.
illuminate the work of the irricrators durina the niaht, some- When I fust began to feel that pain, it was not frequent. But
times half the night: an~ somefunes the wb~le nigh~ through. as time went by it became more common- to the extreme that
I would go along lighting the way for the irrigators as they recently [ie. in the past ten or fifteen years of his life] there
went along doing the work. And I used to see how they did were times when once or twice a month I would be laid up
the work, and sometimes when they put their palas down with that pain. And when it came it would put me down so
I would grab one and put myself to doing their work. That's that I could not stir from bed. I would have to be in bed until
how I learned to do irrigation. At that time I was a kid- just the pain passed. It gave me pain first in the higher parts, and
a kid. I was a few years old, and already I used to lose whole later the pain slid to the testicles. I felt it more on the left
nights lighting the way for them. side and then, when I had a lot of pain, I felt it on both sides;
70 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 71
but at first I felt it on the left side, and when the soreness They wanted to conceal from the owners that a worker was
was very great, I would feel pain in both places. It hurt me making that sum of money; and this was the way they would
most when it descended to the testicles; then it bothered me try to conceal it in irrigation work.
very much. Then I could not move. And as soon as I was Earlier, as I told you, Guillo Alomar and I were feeding
touched there it hurt me excessively. the oxen part of the time, and after'.vard, still as boys in short
Anyway, that was the way I lea.med about irrigation. And pants, we used to load earls with cane, too. This was work
as I was about to tell you, then I got work as an irrigator there that the men used to do, but we also used to do it. And in one
with my brother-in-law. We bad varying prices with regard colonia-the colonia that used to belong to the family Val-
to inirration work· it would depend on the job. For wetting divieso-we two always loaded cane, with another boy who
down seed- the first wetting you give the seed after planting was also a friend of mine-not like Guillo, but I always
-at that time if I remember rightly they were paying $1.50 regarded him as a friend too-called Claudio. The three of us
a cuerda (approximately nine-tenths of an acre] . And fertilizer and another boy who came on later whose name I can't remem-
[i.e. irrigating fertilized soil] paid at $1.60, something like ber were always the ones who loaded the cane at that colonia.
that, more or less. And reWar i.rriCJation (el riego corrido) And we did different jobs; when dead time came we were
they used to pay at 90 cents or a dollar. The wages were by irrigating. And in those days they used to carry gravel from
the piece. So for regular irrigation, when there is neither the river or from the seaside to throw in the callefones [paths
fertilizer nor seed if the piece rate were 90 cents; and you wet between the cane fields]. They used carts that were worn out.
down hvo cuerdas a day, or three that was what you were We also did that work during dead time. Actually we did
paid for. At the time the work was done that way, I was any kind of agricultural work there was. They also used to
quite shrewd about irrigation work and I used to do all right load carts with manure, and we did that work too in dead
for myseH. 1 always earned $18 or S20 [weekly], "·hich in time. When there were very big droughts and not much food
those days was a real bonanza. That was the way I learned for the cattle, we also used to load certain carts that were
to do irrigation and the prices for which I would· work. especially adapted, that they called pa;eras. We used them
Now I also used to work by a day rate, at 80 and 85 cents to carry straw from the cane fields to the corrals. There women
a day at Colonia Texidor, where they paid a dollar for a day would take the straw and pour molasses and a little water
and a quarter, or 80 cents a day; so I've done this work in over it and the cattle would come there and eat in the evening.
various forms, by day and by piece. At the time when I used In sho;t, we were employed in all the jobs that were connected
to earn $18 or S20, the [re!!Ular] wages were 80, 85, 90 cents- with the cultivation of cane. In dead time, we did every kind
a dollar a day at the most. The prices varied, and by piece- of job.
work one could earn somethinu more. Now I can tell you more
about this. The owners of the colonias ne\'er wanted one to Now, about the dances in my youth-I used to look upon
earn much money. There were times when I used to earn my them somewhat timidly, because we were not allowed to take
$18 or $20, and my very own brother-in-law would never part at first. Although I wanted to, it wasn't possible. I had to
give me this whole amount on my account. If I had earned wait until I was bigger. And even so, at times they used to
$20, well, he'd put down $15, and then leave $5 until the next throw us out of the dances. The organizers of the dances
week's accounting. And they used to practice this system, you didn't let us boys in. Some times they told us we couldn't go
see. In fact the week after I left the job I went to collect $7 in the dance; they wouldn't allow boys in short pants to be at
or $8 that I had worked for before and had earned before. the dances. And sometimes, although they would throw us
72 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 73
out, we would insist that we wanted to be there until the fee was a dollar, or whatever, and that was only for the dance
end, and we would begin to dance a couple of numbers, and itself. The other expenses one had to pay separately. If one
they went along letting us stay and letting us stay, until finally asked for a plate of rice and chicken-well, it would cost 30
there we were dancing the whole dance. When I asked Lola or 40 cents, an inexpensive matter; and if it were viandas,
Lebron to make me long pants, it was in order to go to the 25 cents. Also they made coffee and sold it, and almost always
dances. With long pants we would be able to enter more they sold drinks, too. And you asked me once if the girls used
easily, understand. Those who already had long pants had cosmetics on their mouths and faces-the women here have
less trouble in this regard, while those who didn't-the ones always used those things.
in short pants-well, the organizers of the dances didn't want Those dances almost always used to begin as it got dark,
to let them stay. around 8 P.M. or before, and they would be dancing until the
sun rose. There were times when it was already daytime, the
What were the dances like? sun up, and the musicians would get ready to leave to go to
I am going to tell you about a dance in a house a little be- their homes, and those still dancing would get together and
yond where Tomas Torres lives [a nearby section of the barrio]. collect $1 or $1.25, and we would go and give it to the mu-
At that time Jose Maria Silva and his wife Alcilia lived in sicians so that they would play a bit longer. And so we used
that house. She is still living; he is dead. Dances used to be to continue dancing thus until 8 A.M. or 8:30, even until 9 in
given there on Saturdays-called commercial dances. That is, the morning. There were times when some of the parents
they were held with the end in mind of making money. I can would come and watch for a while and then leave. Those
name some of the girls with whom I danced there. There was who held the dances had to go first to the parents of the girls
a girl named Santia; Juana, who was her sister; another girl in order to get permission for them to go to those dances. It
they used to call Juana of Destina; eh-Marcola used to is different now-now you don't have to invite partners; now
dance. Many girls came from Destina, and afterward left they come to a place where there is a nickelodeon and they
Destino---0ne that was called Julia, another that was called dance. Then you couldn't do that. The person who was going
Rosa; in short, many girls, senoritas, were at those dances. At to have a dance first had to reckon beforehand with the matter
those dances, almost always a man called Inginio played, and of partners, and there were times when they gave dances here
he was a good accordion player, but good, good; and the other with girls from Coamo.
instruments were the tambourine, a guiro [an incised gourd Tole [Doiia Antolina, Taso's mother-in-law] did that. As
which is used as a rasp], and guitar- those were the things the young people here were more enthusiastic then, she would
they used in those days. And the admission fees for those go to Coamo and invite partners from there. And she had to
dances might be a dollar, or 75 cents, or 50 cents-that de- rent a car or a truck, and it would bring them here to the
pended on how much money was around, how the situation barrio, to her house. Then she would feed them, you see, in
was. the afternoon, and during the dance the expenses were the
At those dances they might sell cold salt cod with creole partners'. Now the next day she had the obligation of sending
vegetables, and sometimes rice and chicken, and other times them off again to Coamo at her own expense. So they had no
viandas and salt cod and tomato, and things like that. Around expenses whatever for transportation. That was the obligation
11 P.M. and on, these different foods were prepared, and they of the manager of the dance. That was another way they had
were for the escorts to buy to give to the girls or to friends, . [of arranging it]; instead of having all the dances here with
and to eat oneself as well. That was aside from the fee. The the girls from here, sometimes they would get girls from an-
74 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 75
other place for the dance. Thus they would change the part- men, and I threw a punch at him, and- we wrestled, and we
ners and the people here liked it-dancing with_ partners from Jell through the open door to the ground, the two of us in a
Coamo, lots of good partners. And really one enjoyed himself fury. We fought until they intervened and separated us, and
a lot. at ~o~e dances~and now they have been disappearing. I had a grudge against that boy, though he was of our family
I believe 1t IS a question of modem times (modernism.a )-the - to the extreme that I 1ay in wait for him (le velaba) [be
facilities that they have now when they want to dance. laughs], and it was not with a good end in mind. But after-
They come to a place where there is a jukebox and they don't ward he himself recognized that he ought not to have done
have to ask anyones permission. that. I went one night to buy a beverage there where Colo's
In those dances I was telling you about just before, in the store is now. and he was there. vVben he saw me enter be came
~ouse of Jose Marfa Silva, there was no electric light. They and offered. his hand and said, "Cousin, quit this!" He asked
hghted the place with kerosene lamps, and in the kitchen my pardon, and we became friends once more. At that time
they used lanterns-they used them in the kitchen because I must have been at least fifteen or sixteen years old, some-
of :he ':ind-and the kerosene lamps, which were more easily thing like that, because I had· already been dancing quite a
extinguished, would be put in the dance hall, in places where while, when I was still a boy in short pants.
there was not much wind. The lanterns were used in the
kitchen because there were times when they had to take them You were not in love with that girl you fought over?
by the handle and move them from one place to another, and No, no, we were not in love. It was just that she was one of
the kerosene lamps were less easy to handle. the dancing partners; we danced with everyone. I don't know
And at those dances there was not only dancing but almost whether he was half in love with her, or what. But when I
always outside there would be a big game, als0-dice or cards. asked to dance with his partner, he insisted on not giving her
One would dance a while and gamble a while. Thus one to me, and a second time also. And here [i.e. in Puerto Rico]
would pass the night at those dances, gambling part of the especially-I don't know about other places-but in the dances
time and dancing the rest. The pieces they used to play a here that is not something one can do much. For there are
a whole lot then were the plena, and the foxtrot, and the those who, refused on one occasion, well-that was enough
bolero accompanied by the accordion. And there were many [for a fight]. And it's something one doesn't like because to
other kinds of dances--one called the Charleston-and no be left standing in the middle of the dance hall-it is like a
end of ~ances . At the dance there would be people of color, slight, you see? And it reveals an attitude which is a little
and white, and whatever. There were no problems in the disagreeable.
dances. Boys here begin falling in love with girls from the time
But at times at those dances one would have to struggle they are little. I remember that in school, still a school boy,
with different-problems. I remember I had a problem at a I fell in love with a girl they called Guadelupe. We were
dance with a first cousin of mine. And it was over a dancinu little .kids-school kids. Then there was another girl, called
partner· she still lives here- is a sister in the [Pentecostal] Teresa, who was also a schoolgirl; but these were kid things.
faith. I remember it well. He was dancing with her, and I When I was already a big boy, already mozito [a youth],
went to cut in, to dance with her and he refused to !tive me then I fell in love with Herminia, and I fell in love with Luisa,
his partner. And I came back and insisted that he giv~ her to and [he smiles] other girls besides. Luisa was a girl I got to
me, and he continued to refuse. And then one feels a little know well at a dance. I fell in love with her. And really, when
ashamed of it-in the midst of the other girls and the other one is that age one is always in love with this one and in love
76 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 77
with that one, see. As we say in this country, we are like the about with her-well, one at times can go that far, but at a
hummingbirds. And it was a pretty happy life. One falls in love dance it's difficult. Many times I saw fights at a dance here
with the girls at the dances, and has an opportunity at the on account of that. A boy kisses his partner, and this has
dances to enjoy oneself fully, because the girl herself seeks one brought about grave consequences at the dances. Because it is
out to dance in the dances. Well, I had some trouble at times not that the girl gives him the opportunity but rather that he
when I had to avoid a dance because more than one of my takes the satisfaction of doing it. And that has provoke.cl great
girl friends was at it. And almost always- and that is why £crhts at the dances. Although it has not been a common
I would prefer not to have my daughters dance-it's at the thmg, there have been cases of it also. I don't remember
dances that there's the most opportunity for the man to-con- kissing a partner at a dance. Away from the dance, yes _[he
quer the woman. That's why I would prefer to have my daugh- laughs] I kissed them at times. That- you know how things
ters avoid the dances-although it's a natural thing, and there are with those in love-one begins by talcing the girl's band,
comes a time when they have to fall in love and take husbands. and thus little by little you go along till you have her trust,
But it would please me if they would avoid the dances, where and that is the way. You had· to avoid her family [he laughs]
things happen that- ought not to happen. The day that they -for if one came- I don't remember-let me see-the £rst
fall in love, let them fall in love in the house; they have to time. Now later, other times, yes, but the £rst time was when
marry, so let them marry in that way. But let it not be at a I was a little boy- imagine. Now after that, I remember, es-
dance. Because I remember through my own experience that pecially that girl Guadelupe who is not here now; she is in
it is very easy to make a girl fall in love at a dance. It is one El Norte. I remember t)ie night I kissed her. We were little
of the easiest ways to do it. Because there are parents here kids; well, that night we were secretly holding hands ( jugando
who are very strict with their daughters, and they don't let de tnanos) and then I invited her to kiss me, and I kissed her
any man come near them with the end of fallincr0 in love [he laughs]. I felt very proud.
[making love]. And :in spite of that, the girl goe-S to a dance
and then it is very easy for one to make love to that girl. And you didn't say anything abot1t it to tTie other boys?
And thus I was ·with the girls in the dances for that was No, that one always holds back-that is, understand, ! -
the best opportunity to get to know them; been.use one is close because through one's speaking of it it can cret back to her
to [pegado, literally "stuck to"] one's partner \vhile you are family, and then that's the worst. 1 have always been a little
dancing with her, and it's the best opportunity to talk to her. reserved about my affairs. I know they talk a lot about those
While apart from that it is a little difficult. Sometimes a man things. There are times when one has a friend and one tells
is not agreeable to a parent, and he can't talk with the girl him secrets, and as soon as he is able he goes and talks you
easily, you see-it's difficult for him. While at the dance he believing that he is not going to say anything, and that's the
comes and it's an easy thing; already they're together. And way it goes. Because of that, whatever anyone confides to me
when a piece ends they can sit together, and there is no one remains a secret for me.
to intervene in this, because even if the parent himself is
watching, he has to remain quiet. Can you remember when you got to do more than kiss a
girl?
Can you remember the -first time you kissed a girl? Well, that was when I was a boy, I did that when I was
[He laughs nervously.] In a dance that is difficult. Now still in short pants, perhaps about seventeen years old. It was
see, if one leaves with her, there are times when one walks this way [he indicates money in a characteristic gesture with
78 Worker in the Cane Chfldhood and Adolescence 79
his fingers]. I'll tell you this way. [He writes "75¢" on a pad yes, but you have no memory of seeing animals for the first
on the ta:ble.] That type of woman. I was working. I was time, or-
working at the time, and my mother was already dead. They That is something so common here; it's a thing a child is
gave a dance here, and they brought-someone here-they accustomed to seeing.
brought women-from Salinas. They would bring them from
Ponce and from Santa Isabel. And after that I backed away Then that was the first time. And how did you know that
a little from that, because of certain cases that I saw happen woman?
here, especially with a friend of mine, Moncho, who later That was one of the dances they were giving in that place.
emigrated. That boy had an illness that was almost a death One knew they were giving those dances [i.e. with prostitutes]
case. I got further away from that. here, and that kind of dance was the kind they especially
prohibited boys from _entering. So the boy in short pants al-
ways remained outside, belo~. And the young boy watches-
How did you know what a man was supposed to do?
you know what a boy is like-how they [the women] dress,
That is a thing I can't explain, because-because no one
and walk, and come and go, and that is where those who can
taught me and I didn't see anyone doing it! [He laughs.] That
take the opportunity, and the women are what they look for.
is a little difficult! I don't know where it [such knowledge]
could come from. Right now I know that most of the little
How did you come to know the price?
kids you see around here-I know that they know-now how
One always asks that.
they learn, or how it happens, that is a little hard to know. It
could be from watching the animals, or whatever. I am sure
Of her?
that with regard to seeing people-here that is a little diffi-
Yes.
cult, a little difficult. Because they can see a pair of sweet-
hearts kissing, and holding hands and other things, but re- And you went to the dance with that intention?
garding that, it's a little difficult for a child to see it. So there [He laughs.] Yes. Yes, especially because when they come
has to be another way in which they are able to learn, to to those places, that is their aim; to dance and to do that.
come to have this cunning ( malicia). But with regard to One always-especially when a boy is becoming a youth-
that, you have seen how it is here in the barrio. And at home goes to such a place, and sees their movement; and in the
I regard it as equally impossible for a child to learn, for who- male that desire is growing. He sees their ways, how they
ever is the parent, or whatever the crowding, he will always behave with the other men there; and then this ambition
hide as much as possible, especially from his children. So I
grows in the man.
don't know how they are able to learn, to get this idea. I am At that time Moncho and I were both beginning. But soon
very sure it is not in the family; most surely it is not within I backed away from that-see, on seeing his experience. But
the family. he continued many years, continued with that business. I
gave up the habit, because of the sufferings I saw him go
And can you remember as a child being curious about through. He was nearly killed by a sickness from that, and I
where babies came from? got frightened and gave it up. Oh, that boy was very. sick.
Well, not I-at least it's as if I always knew they must And if he lost his health, still, and in spite of it, he contmued
come through this act. with that.
80 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 81
Where do you suppose the impulse comes from that pushes right after that first experience I told you about. After that I
the boy to do that? don't remember whether there were other times because in
Well, there's the conversation of one boy with another. a short while I fell in love with Elisabeth.
And apart from that-for instance, take a boy like Jose Miguel
[Taso's second living son, sixteen years old]. They do not And with Elisabeth that was not possible until you married?
have those dances now-but suppose they were giving them [He laughs goodhumoredly, but in astonishment.] No!
-well, that boy, there he is in the doorway, and he is watch-
ing the behavior, how they are, the men with them; then Then a very frank question-tell me if you don't want to
the boy also gets this ambition-"Could I do that too?" And answer: Did you want to do that with Eli before you got
that way the boy goes along with growing cunning. I am talk- married?
ing to you about how it happened in those times, although Well, when I fell in love with her, I did so with the hope
now it doesn't happen just that way, see. But in those times, that she would become my woman. Then I had to show a
well, a young boy was able to acquire cunning in that man- little more consideration. And' if the woman doesn't give one
ner because he had an easy opportunity to see that. Now it is the opportunity, it is difficult. For you can see cases where a
a little difficult, because giving that kind of dance is hard person falls in love with a woman, and if he goes where the
now. But I believe that is the way the boys have the easiest woman is and possesses her before making himself responsible
chance, if they are in the doorway watching those women to her, and then gets the desire to go away, he leaves her and
and how the men are with them, behaving as if they were the woman loses her chance [to marry]. So that also depends
completely lost. The boy goes along acquiring that cunning on the opportunity that a woman provides one. When a
and the desire to do just what the others are doing there. And woman doesn't give one the opportunity that isn't possible.
a boy like Jose Miguel, although he isn't yet 17, you can say Because the woman thinks that one might do some bad thing
he is a man already. He goes along thinking, with the am- [i.e. desert her before establishing a de facto marriage], you
bition to do what the others do. see, and therefore the woman always holds the man back.
It is not possible; you may find those cases too, but it is dif-
Can you remember the second time? ficult. And when I married Elisabeth, there was no one else.
Yes, but it was a woman who had had a husband, and he
had left her. She was alone. She was a woman older than!-
although she was still quite a young woman. She was not from These narrations cover the period from Taso's birth in 1908
here; she had come here. I don't know where she came from. until his marriage in 1927, when he was nineteen years old.
And I as a young boy-well, at times, a woman falls in love Almost all the information from the recorded interviews con-
with one, and that is the opportunity one is given; that was cerning these years is included in the preceding sections. But
the job I accomplished [he chuckles]. It only happened once. the story can be filled out with data that I gathered during
It was different from the other times because she was a other visits, especially my first and longest stay in the village.
woman who--she was not like those before. She was a woman On one occasion when we were discussing the weaning of
who--she was not like those others. She was less dangerous. It his children, Taso made a humorous reference to his own
could be that she fell in love, see, believing she would be childhood. He was, he had been told, weaned after he was
able to corrupt a boy, see? And that occurred at a time almost three years old. A neighbor named Sixta Rivera used to tease
82 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 83
him when he was a child because he had been weaned so colored, possibly a reflection of the American Occupation.
late. It would make him feel ashamed to be teased about it Even in recent years some older men, particularly in the up-
he told me. ' lands, still affect the old-style cavalry hats of the United States
Taso was able to give little information concerning his Army, and mayordomos and their assistants still commonly
mother's appearance. She was tall, he says, taller than his wife. wear khakis.
Her hair was black and her eyes brown, unlike Eli, who has Taso says he liked school. When I asked him in 1956 why
blue eyes and dark blond hair. His mother always wore long he had not made more efforts to continue his schooling and
dresses with sleeves that came to the wrist. At no point in whether he had not had aspirations to become trained in
his description of his mother or of his relationship with her some particular craft or profession, he answered that he had
did I sense any special reserve or hostility; she is remembered wanted to continue his schooling but constant economic need
with reverence and with very clear longing, although without pressed upon him. He aspired to little because he knew of
much detail. little to which to aspire: that is, there were few models of a
Taso's memories of his sister seem to be quite complete and different life which he could look up to realistically. He did
detailed. In 1956 I tried to get some specific information from well in school, particularly, he says, in mathematics. He also
him on sex typing-the differences in training, in the kind did well in Spanish, in hygiene, in writing, and in "agricul-
of tasks given a male child which enable him to distinguish ture" and geography. His worst subject, he said with a smile,
himself from girls. Taso harked back immediately to his own was English. When he was about twelve or thirteen, a teacher
and Tomasa's childhood. Tomasa did the ironing and washed who was very fond of him often invited Taso to join him in
the woodwork and the floor. Taso cared for the family's goats, lunch. The teacher wanted to take Taso with him when he
taking them to pasture, carrying water for them at noon, left Jauca for a job in a different school. Taso would not go.
giving them grass in the late afternoon, and bringing them back He had to work, he said, and he did not want to exchange
at dusk. He was charged with collecting the kindling, and the familiar for the unfamiliar. His formal education ended
often he made the food purchases for the house. Both his sister before he finished the fourth grade.
and he would get water for the house. Palo Seco, the nick- Of the house he was born in and lived in most of the time
name for that stretch of marshy mangrove swamp, near the until he began boarding with Dofia Lola Lebron, Taso says
J auca beach, where the brackish surface springs were that that it was one of the better ones in the barrio, but that it was
used to provide the barrio's water supply, was still littered ramshackle and old. It was wooden, unlike the majority of
in 1956 with broken bits of glass from the jugs people for- houses, and had a wooden floor, also uncommon. The beds
merly carried there to get water. in the house were of wood, with springs and mattresses, and
Taso described himself at the age of about nine years old as with canopies overhead. One senses that Taso's family prob-
wearing knickers, long knee socks, a bombacho (a shirt which ably had known better times. Most of the houses had earthen
slipped over the head, hung outside the pants, and was tied floors and very little furniture, with beds woven of maguey
about the waist with a cord), and over-ankle shoes. People, fiber or cloth, without mattresses. Hammocks were common
he says, did not worry so much about having shoes then. then, too.
(This was a real problem when I first went to Jauca in 1948. His early memories for the most part are dim and miscel-
One might send a boy to school without shoes-though it was laneous, but the basic facts are here, and it may be worth
done with shame-but never a girl.) In the years of Taso's noting them again. Taso was born in Barrio Jauca, Santa
childhood most of the clothes children wore were khaki- Isabel municipality, in 1908. His father was a merchant of
84 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 85
limited means, a native of Barrio J auca; his mother was the he began boarding at the Lebr6n's, some of the problems
daughter of a landholder or tenant farmer in the bio-blands of physical existence were resolved for him, but he seems to
of Salinas, who apparently came originally from Juan~ Diaz. have lacked any wholly dependable and continuous source of
Taso's father and an elder brother were drowned when Taso personal warmth and security. In 1925 he got his first pair of
was less than a year old, leaving Taso and two brothers and long pants. Two years later he was married by common law,
a sister, all older than Taso by some years. I have recon- and a new period in his life began.
structed some of this information: Pablo, the eldest, was born This record has many implications which the interviews
about 1884 (died 1947); Eugenio was born about 1898 (died themselves only suggest. One is struck, for instance, by the
1922); Tomasa was born in 1900 (died 1923 ). Taso's mother, serious deprivation which seems to have marked Taso's earlier
whose age could not be determined, died in 1920 when Taso years. He had no father; while he was still quite small, his
was twelve. In addition to the brothers and sister mentioned mother died. Three years later he lost his sister as well. At the
here, ~aso has at least two half brothers, Alejandro and same time that his sources of security were taken away from
Hermelmdo Cruz, sons of his father by a mistress, who are him, Taso was compelled to {!ope with more and more difficult
somewhat older than he and who took their mother's surname. problems-of fending for himself, of satisfying his own grow-
Taso began school when he was about seven or eight years ing needs, and of being partly responsible for the needs of
old, and started to work at nearly the same time. He tells others, particularly Cornelio's infant children. This depriva-
how sometimes he would go to school half a day, and then tion appears to be of special importance with regard to his
work half a day; on occasion, the schoolmaster would come lack of a male figure upon whom he could model himself, and
and get him and other truant little boys at their jobs and take to whom he might look for reassurance and guidance. Cor-
them back to the schoolhouse. It didn't matter; the next day nelio was undoubtedly the most important adult male in
they would be at work again. The jobs were in the cane, on Taso's childhood. But Taso's feelings about Cornelio must
the colonias nearest to J auca village. Taso worked mostly with have been very mixed. He never refers to Cornelio with much
the oxe~ at.fust, assisting the plowmen. Later on he acquired warmth, and the record suggests how Taso must have re-
new skills m the cane, earning more money and increasing sented Comelio's philandering while Tomasa was alive. At
his mastery as he gi:ew. the same time, Cornelio was one of the few people to whom
He tells in some detail of bis feelings for his mother and Taso could tum for help or advice. Cornelio was a self-suf-
sister, of his ister Tomasa's fust common-law marriaae and ficient man; he held fairly responsible jobs and had high
how su~ t~gs wer~ handled. Shortly after this maitiage earning power. He never neglected his economic responsibili-
ended hts ruter mamed again pregnant with a child from ties to Tomasa, and he cared lovingly for their children after
her first union. In 1920 when his mother cIIBd Taso became her death.
in effect his sister's ward. Soon his sister died and he and The other men to whom Taso could have turned for guid-
Cornelio struggled with the care of the three children, two ance were his brothers Pablo and Eugenio and Don Epifanio,
of whom have survived to adulthood. Dofia Lola's husband. Pablo moved away while Taso was still
The years 1923-25 seem to have been particularly difficult a little boy, and Taso saw him only irregularly. Eugenio died
for Taso. He was still young-fifteen years old in 1923--and when Taso was fourteen. And whatever real intimacy there
already bereft of all his close relatives. The emotional tone may have been between Taso and Epifania seems to have
of his relationship with Cornelio is not fully evoked, but Taso become attenuated when Taso took a wife. That Taso's rela-
seems to have been lonely and worried in those years. When tionship with Cornelio continued is evidenced in later inter-
86 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 87
views describing his move to Aguadilla, where Cornelio had supposed to be done by men-in fact, many men of Taso's
gone, and the help Cornelio gave him there. Cornelio was group will quite seriously insist that they are constitutionally
still a boss, able to muster resources and help for Taso and incapable of cooking or of washing clothes.
his growing family. Today Taso maintains very warm rela- It is easy to see then why Taso might have felt disoriented
tions with his nephew Eladio and with his niece Rosaura. during the period between Tomasa's death and his residence
After Cornelio died they spent much of the time of their in Dona Lola s house. He did such things because he had to,
own growing-up in and around Taso's house. and washing and cooking and house tending must at least
Cornelio's treatment of Tomasa must have colored Taso's have depressed him; at the worst, they could have threat-
view of adult male-female relationships. But Cornelio's be- ened his sense of identity. It was Dofia Lola who made Taso
havior, while perhaps unusual in its openness, was not sharply his first pair of long pants. As he puts it, "Me hize hombre en
deviant within his social environment. Obviously Taso did la casa de ellos' (I became a man in their house). Thus he
not retain a completely negative attitude toward Cornelio's was living with Epifanio and Lola at the time he himself
behavior, however much he indicates his disapproval at the views as transitional between boyhood and young manhood.
way Cornelio acted. As he suggests, it took two to perpetuate He had been interested in girls before then and had even
a situation such as Comelio's and Tomasa's, once it had been had his first sexual experience. But his long pants are a symbol
created. of his manhood, and they did in fact make him more
Taso's own words show how hard it must have been for grown-up in the eyes of others, as his discussion of the dances
him to live without his mother and sister after their deaths. reveals.
His problems were not only emotional, however. Taso was It is of interest that Taso refers several times to his own
doing the work of a man by the time he was twelve years children in recounting his childhood experiences and that the
old, but there was no woman to satisfy his practical, let alone references are made in connection with dances and with the
his emotional, needs after Tomasa's death. It is important to onset of heterosexual experimentation. At the same time that
stress that a working man of Taso's social group is supposed he reveals a certain boastfulness in discussing his own ex-
to have a woman at his side-mother, sister, wife or other. ploits, he expresses anxiety about his daughters attending
The division of work between men and women fits this ex- dances. This swift moving back and forth from his own ex-
pectation. That Taso lacked someone to prepare his meals, periences and sensations to fears about his children, and a
mend hi_s clothes, care for his quarters, and attend to his other certain primness concerning them, occurs again and again in
practical needs made life very difficult for him. That is why the verbatim record. It necessarily has to do with the way
he stresses his feeling of relief when Dofia Lola undertook Taso sees himself, now and as a young man, and with the
to look after him. At least on the practical level, she succeeded way he sees his own children. Moreover the narration reveals
~n giving him the feeling that he was at last living once more that the ways children experienced adolescence and took on
m a home, and that his daily needs would no longer over- their status as marriageable young men and women in Taso's
whelm him. Taso talked at times about the problem of having group has changed with time.
one's, clothes washed. Occasionally, before he began living in Taso's reminiscences about his childhood illnesses require
Lola s house, he would leave his work clothes with a laundress no special notice except for two items. The inguinal weak-
only to find that they were not ready when he went to pick ness or hernia he describes seems to be associated in his
them up before the day's work began. There was no one to thinking with the learning of harder jobs, part of his matura-
make his bed or to cook his food. And these tasks are not tion under Cornelio's guidance. His fear of venereal disease,
88 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 89
after watching a young friends suffering, also relates clearly social behavior and the social structure differ so strikingly
to the growing-up process. But the symbolic significance of from what is familiar to most outsiders, and since so much of
these things need not be discussed here. what Taso says has to do with these arrangements of life.
One other item in the narration ought to be recalled. Taso Courtship among the people of Barrio Jauca is usually
describes his fight with a cousin, occasioned by a slight he conducted in secrecy. It is expected that young ladies will
suffered at a dance. The point of interest is Tasos statement, not speak to young men or have anything to do with them
"al estremo que yo le velabd' (to the extreme that I lay in socially except in the presence of some other person. But
"".a~t }~r him). :he ver~ velar, "to watch over, to keep a young people chafe under constant chaperonage and seek to
v1g1l, is laden with special meaning in this connection, for it escape it. They do so, however, with the collusion of a
implies "to lie in wait with the intent to commit violence." chaperon who serves as a go-between. Thus small groups
Every language has its repertory of affect-heavy terms of this of young men and women strolling on the road may stop
sort~ In Puerto Rican Spanish, guardar ("to keep, guard, pro- by covert agreement so that a boy and a girl can talk to-
tect ) can mean to hold a serious grudge, or to keep resent- gether, off to one side and m relative privacy. At dances a boy
ment alive. The verb maliciar ("to suspect") is often used and a girl may sit together 1:.riefiy in front of everyone and
particularly to mean "to suspect sexual misbehavior," ana the talk, or perhaps even hold hands. In the evening a young
noun malicia ("cunning") frequently refers to precocious couple may be seen conversing in the shadows. Sometimes
sexual impulses. The adjective pendiente (''hanging, cling- a young man may "steal a kiss." But invariably someone
ing") means "watchfully waiting," again often with sexual will be standing nearby. The "secrecy" of courtship, then, im-
overtones. T.he terms velar guardar, aguantar, and a number plies the presence of a third party. This suggests a powerful
of others are used in patterned ways to refer particuJarlv to force for social control at work, to prevent young couples
violent behavior or the possibility of such behavior. Taso from consorting privately; and young people apparently bend,
~se1f ha~ never be.en a violent man and apparently fought though reluctantly, to this form of control. In this group,
little phySJcally dunng his life. But the record is marked "dating" in the United States sense does not occur. One is
by the violence around him (as in the story of the relation - led to assume that people in Barrio Jauca rule out privacy
ship between Cornelio and his leual wife Nenita). His story in courtship because they fear the possible consequences.
about himself and his cousin, however, is the only one he re- This assumption appears to be confirmed by the character
counted from ltis adolescence in which serious violence might of marriage in Taso's social group. Of the 183 marital unions
have been a possible outcome. that I tabulated in the Barrio Jauca population, 134 were
From Taso's description of domestic arrangements-Cor- based on common law; of the 134, all involving previously
nelio's wives, his own father's mistress, and so on-and of his unmarried girls were initiated by elopement. The form of
feelings about such things, it might seem that there were no elopement is so standard that it can be described precisely
rules for conduct in Barrio Jauca for these areas of life. Noth- and holds for all but the most unusual cases. The young couple
ing could be further from the truth. That the rules are dif- secretly agree upon the occasion to elope. The young man
ferent from those familiar, say, to middle-class North Ameri- communicates-again secretly-with a relative (or, rarely, a
cans; however, goes without saying. This is not the place to trusted older friend) living in another village or town, and
sur_,·ey thoroughly the conventions of courtship marriage, arranges hospitality for himself and his wife-to-be for a two-
residence, and household organization in Taso's village. But or three-day period. The act of separating a girl physically
something must be said of these things, since the patterns of from her family in this way establishes the fact of marriage.
90 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 91
Thus, unless the couple later marry by civil or sacramental this is because after a senorita becomes a mujer de estado,
ceremony, elopement and marriage come to mean the same she is thought to be much more responsible personally for
thing. The families of the newlyweds only rarely interfere her own behavior-she is "grown up." In the view of many
in the arrangements, however much they may resent them. young men an unattached mujer de estado is fair game, while
The girl's parents, however, may insist that their new son-in- a senorita is not.
law marry their daughter by civil ceremony. In this way they Que se casa pa' su casa is a pun which means "He who
establish the wife's legal claim upon him in the event that marries should have his own house." Residence for those who
there are children and the two separate afterward. The young elope is ideally away from relatives on either side in Barrio
man can be compelled to marry the girl if he is not already Jauca; if one elopes, he should have his own hut, however
legally or sacramentally married and if the girl has not lived humble, to return to with his wife. The privacy which is
in a previous union of any kind. The compulsion has a legal denied young people during their courtship is insisted upon
basis, but usually the threat of being taken to court is suf- when the fact of thefr marriage has been publicly acknowl-
ficient. Jauquenos say that the use of legal threats has in- edged. Independent residence is an ideal which cannot al-
creased in the past two decades, but I have no statistical ways be realized, however. When a young man cannot im-
evidence that this is so. mediately provide his bride with her own house, the next best
It will be seen that the previous marital status of both choice is residence with the girl's family. There seem to be
parties, particularly that of the girl, is socially as well as several underlying assumptions here. It is assumed that a
legally relevant in local thinking. A woman is either a senorita man will be able to deal successfully with his wife's mother;
or a mufer de estado. A mujer de estado has lived in some it is also assumed that his wife will not be able to deal suc-
sort of marital arrangement; she is no longer virginal. The cessfully with his mother. A man's relations with his mother-
rules governing her behavior and her social person are dif- in-law are likely to be circumspect and somewhat distant, but
ferent. If she marries a second time she need not elope. And very important. If he has trouble with his wife, his mother-
public opinion does not control her behavior with such strict- in-law may prove an effective intermediary. Moreover, if the
ness, though a mujer de estado will also seek to conform by marriage fails, it is to her mother's house that his wife is likely
not meeting in private with a suitor. Particularly because she to move. The mother-daughter tie is hence a very important
is not a senorita, she must be careful not to compromise her- one. The mother-son tie is much less so, once the son has
self. Parents do not attempt with the same zeal to compel a married. Food and gifts are much more likely to move from
suitor to marry their daughter if she is not a senorita; legally, daughter to mother than from son to mother, unless the son
it is much more difficult to do so anyway. is still resident in his mother's house and unmarried.
One :6.nal point may be made emphatically in this regard. A son who brings his wife into his mother's house is court-
Though most marriages are established by elopement and ing trouble. This is the third residential alternative, and by
remain common law, it is certain that pre-elopement sexual far the least preferable. A man who brings his wife home to
relationships between a young suitor and his girl are extremely live after eloping runs the risk of being thought babyish and
rare. In other words, the seeming informality of the predomi- immature, as well as economically unresourceful. People be-
nant marriage arrangement must not blind one to the fact that lieve a daughter-in-law cannot get on well with her husband's
this social group values premarital chastity highly and man- mother; perhaps it is not surprising that the belief is usually
ages to enforce this value with remarkable success. The same confirmed when the two women share the same house.
assertion may not hold so :6.rmly for a mujer de estado. I think The picture is not so simple when the woman is a mujer
92 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 93
de estado rather than a senorita. Courtship of an unattached more than about six years' diHerence-are rare. Since a man's
mujer de estado is not so delicate; elopement is not cul- economic status and power do not usually improve signifi-
turally required, and residence-at least initially-may be cantly with advancing age in this rural proletarian community,
matrilocal or patrilocal, but it is much more commonly the he cannot readily contract marriage with a much younger
former. Everyone aspires to an independent household. woman through blandishments of wealth or promised luxury.
Ideally, there would not be a single case in which three It is considered pathetic for a mature man to be without a
generations would be found in the same household. In prac- wife-a woman to cook for him, care for his house, bear and
tice, independent residence is heavily predominant. raise his children. Thus young people who may experience
Marriage signifies social approval of a relationship which several marriages of short duration in their late teens or
will come to have economic, sexual, reproductive, and so- early twenties often settle into a more lasting relationship
cializing functions. Sexual activity immediately after elope- within ten or fifteen years. It is possible that the increased
ment literally legitimizes the relationship. The economic func- migration to the United States may have affected still further
tion begins to be fulfilled as soon as the young people set up the fluidity of marriage relationships, but I have no statistical
housekeeping. Everyone hopes for a child as soon as pos- confirmation.
sible, and reproductive and socializing functions are thereby A young man usually has his first heterosexual experiences
brought into operation. But the marriage relationship in well before he is twenty years old, often as early as fifteen.
Barrio J auca is very brittle. In my 1948 sample of 60 couples, His sexual partner may be a prostitute, or an older unattached
counting a marriage by each individual as one, there had mujer de estado. Adultery, between a younger unmarried
been 183 unions-on the average each marriage partner had male and a married woman, or between married persons, is
been married one and one-half times. Successive unions were rare and also extremely dangerous. By the time he is seven-
usually common law, though in a few cases an individual who teen years old a young man begins to think seriously of secret
married the first time by civil ceremony would later marry courtship and elopement, as I have described these. A young
another spouse by common law (without a divorce), and the woman may have her first heterosexual experiences at an even
opposite also occurs in my sample. Children usually remain earlier age than a young man-there are marriages in my
with their mother, while she frequently returns to her parents' sample contracted when a girl was thirteen years old-but
home until she marries again. Seriatim marriages characterize her first experience usually occurs in an elopement, and not
some individuals of both sexes, and there are many half before. A girl who has a sexual relation with her secret suitor
brothers and half sisters in a village like Jauca. It obviously before elopement is very likely to lose her chance for elope-
need not be pointed out that these patterned aspects of Jauca ment, and hence the public acknowledgment of marriage. She
life are not tantamount to immorality, promiscuity, wanton- is ruined ( daiiada-literally, "damaged"), and has become a
ness, or anything of the kind. J auqueiios have their own quite mujer de estado in the sense of no longer being virginal, but
principled conception of immoral behavior. she does not have the attributes of a woman who has passed
I do not have adequate data to assert this definitely, but it into and out of a socially legitimized relationship.
appears that the brittleness of marriage declines with ad- It sometimes happens that a man who is living in a common-
vancing years and the birth of children. People in their mid- law relationship may elope with another girl. If her parents
forties do not often dissolve their marriages, though the mar- then compel him to marry her, the obligations of his legal
riage may be the second or third for one or both partners. marriage take precedence over the obligations of his common-
Marriages between persons of very different ages-that is, law relationship. It is easy to see why the parents of a
94 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 95
senorita will seek to guard her from young men and to compel phenotypical extreme, with physical suggestions of American
a suitor to marry her by civil ceremony if possible. At the Indian ancestry as well appearing in many individuals (for
same time, there are cases where a man lives simultaneously example, Taso's wife and their daughter Lilian) . While there
in two relationships, one common law and the other civil, is high consciousness of physical differences, there is little
as was true of Taso's brother-in-law, Cornelio. Such arrange- race prejudice as it is known in the United States. Marriages
ments are rare, however, and ought not to be confused with between persons of dramatically different phenotype are com-
the practice of having a wife and a mistress, more frequent mon; physical type probably does enter into the choice of a
at a higher class level. No Jauquefio would have dreamed mate, but its priority as a consideration seems to be very low.
of speaking of Taso's sister Tomasa as Cornelio's mistress So matter-of-fact is the racial egalitarianism of a person
( querida). Yet such situations are poorly thought of by J auca such as Taso that questions about the social relations between
people. They feel both women are at a disadvantage in such persons of different physical appearance did not stimulate
circumstances. At the same time, they feel strongly that the him; instead they usually caused him to become mildly im-
prerogative to terminate such an arrangement rests with the patient or quizzical. It is not that there is no feeling about
woman, and that if a woman stays in such a relationship it is race in Barrio Jauca; but it was difficult to get interview de-
her own responsibility. scriptions of race relations since, in Taso's view, there is noth-
In recent years, a few young J auca men have contracted ing to be described. This is, of course, not altogether true.
marriage by civil ceremony, preceded by public visits to the For instance, in addition to many euphemisms of social de-
house of the girl of their choice. Also, some young men, scription, there is a stock of chauvinistic terms referring to
particularly those who have had army service, have married physical characteristics which are never used publicly. That
by civil or Protestant ceremony, sometimes to legitimize there is feeling about color is also revealed by certain com-
further a common-law relationship, sometimes to initiate a monly held stereotypes.
fust marriage. This trend partly has the quality of accultura- There is no question but that the people of color of Puerto
tion to middle-class Puerto Rican and North American stand- Rico have not had wholly equal opportunity in the island's
ards. It also suggests-particularly in view of the apparent history. And it is impressionistically correct that persons of
increased inclination of parents to compel a man to marry extreme Negroid appearance remain concentrated in the lower
their daughter after an elopement-a decline of the power of social and economic echelons of Puerto Rican society. But the
local community norms and a tendency to depend more on most important feature of the relationship of people of color
the institutional controls of the wider society. to the total social system is the fact that they are not confined
Taso's comments about his childhood friendships, and the to any social category that might be considered castelike in
references to color in this connection, have historical as well character; when they rise in the social and economic struc-
as sociological meaning. Taso himself is a "white" man. There ture, they discover that it is in fact a single structure, with
is no noticeable physical trait which would suggest any other few vertical barriers separating them from their social and
kind of background, and he knew of no other genetic strain economic equals of purely Caucasoid ancestry. Though there
in his family. Barrio Jauca, however, and most of the south is color awareness, race consciousness, and some race prejudice
coast of Puerto Rico, is populated by people who are fre- in the lower class, race feeling hardly bas any consequences
quently of more complicated ancestry. The range of physical in daily social life. In Taso's case, the circle of his friends,
appearance in a rural south coast community is bewildering, compadres, and kinfolk represents the gamut of physical
running from a Negroid phenotypical extreme to a Caucasoid types.
96 Worker in the Cane Childhood and Adolescence 97
Taso's references to his religious training are clear. placed by machines. Standardization of field jobs also came
Throughout his childhood and half of his adult life, religion about, as later texts reveal. Thus with reference to work, Taso
was of no importance. He was born a Catholic and was bap- was growing up in a period of vigorous and significant change.
tized. But his Catholicism had no emotional or ideological The economic and technological changes naturally affected
significance. And, as he says, "In 80 per cent of the cases that the social qualities of life, and the impact of these changes
is how one is religious here in J auca." In Puerto Rico the was felt even in the most intimate areas of living.
original content of Catholicism appears to have been seriously Education was of minimal importance for the lower-class
eroded in the centuries of isolation and ecclesiastical uncon- children who were Taso's contemporaries. Today compulsory
cern. Devout Catholicism persists mainly in the upper class education is much more a reality in Puerto Rico-though
and in the highland municipalities. Among the lower-class many children still receive inadequate schooling. One of the
people of the coasts, Catholicism is generally not an effective difficulties with school training formerly was the lack of any
part of life, and every sacrament and rule, except with regard realistic opportunities to which the child could aspire. With
to baptism, is observed only in the breach. This situation has few models to stimulate his effort, economic need as a constant
great relevance for the later chapters of Taso's life. goad to give up school, and little evidence that education
Taso's descriptions of his early work experiences point up could lead to a better or fuller life, it is not surprising that
some significant facts about life in Barrio Jauca in the earlier most of Taso's contemporaries got no more schooling than he
decades of this century and about the ways in which it has did.
changed. In describing various places and events and in his Taso mentions that when he was a child people walked to
references to the breaking of new ground for cane, he pro- the movie houses in Santa Isabel and in Salinas-"At that
vides evidence from his childhood that the region of which time there was none of this car business." In his earlier years,
Barrio Jauca is a part was going through an agricultural he would go with his mother or sister to Palo Seco to get
transformation in the 1920's. Land that had never been culti- water for the house. The roads are now good in the south
vated before was being thrown into sugar production on a coast region. Automobile and bus transportation is swift and
grand scale. The uplands in particular, which could be em- readily accessible. Standpipes replaced the surface springs
ployed for cane cultivation only when an artificial water sup- of Palo Seco as a source of water in 1935. And electrification
ply was assured through irrigation, were coming under the is now common to almost all the houses and shacks in the
plow by the thousands of acres. barrio. These are not the only areas of life in which public
Taso makes plain that there were no enforced laws affect- works and technology have eased effort and have brought the
ing the labor of children. As the United States corporations village more into the modem world, but they are of the great-
expanded their control, buying outmoded haciendas and put- est importance to local people. Kerosene stoves, when they
ting land into cultivation, boys as young as nine or ten years can be aHorded, sa e time from tinder gathering. Electricity
of age were employed in large numbers to feed and manage can mean the use of electric or even steam irons. Refrigerators
the oxen and for other jobs. Only in the 1940's did laws af- had begun to appear in the period 1945-50 and by 1956
fecting the labor of children come into effect. The cessation there was a television set in the barrio. Such devices as electric
of employment of women and boys in the fields was accom- mixers, washers, dryers, electric or gas stoves, and the like,
panied by a progressive mechanization of the field operations. are still unknown-not even aspired to. But even without
The large numbers of oxen were gradually reduced, to be re- these, the mechanical changes as well as the advancements in
98 Worker in the Cane
public works have been part of the revolutionary remaking
of the barrio since the second and third decades of the CHAPTER 5
century.
The description of Tomasa's death from malaria and Taso's Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39)
references to his own childhood illnesses and the deaths of
some of his children lead into another important area of
change in Jauca life. Even when Taso was a child, doctors
were called in J auca and their ministrations were respected.
But in the case of Tomasa's death, it is plain that there was
still a struggle in progress between modem scientific and folk I GOT MARRIED in-it seems to me it was in 1927. Yes, '27;
medicine. The commonness of malaria (which persisted in because I remember that when Elisabeth was pregnant with
J au ca until the 1940's) and of other diseases (such as our first child-which was after we'd lived together for about
schistosomiasis, amoebic dysentery, and gonorrhea) to which a year-the hurricane of San. Felipe struck [1928].
Taso does not refer indicates that as late as the 1930's the We men paint a beautiful panorama for a girl. It's true
awareness of modem medicine did not mean an opportunity that at times we don't provide them with what we've prom-
to take full advantage of medical techniques. Fundamental ised. But we aim at winning the girl, and we make a great
improvement in health and health conditions in J auca and in number of offers. And finally we dominate! When I began
scores of other villages like it began only in the 1940's. Before to fall in love with Elisabeth, it was at a dance. I remember
then, lower-class Puerto Ricans were barely able to benefit it as if it were now, and I even remember the house where
from what was known of diseases and their control. I began to fall in love with her. The dance they were giving
In these many areas of life the first half of the century that night was being held in the house of Santiago Alvarado,
brought about vast and rapid change. This is the background here in the barrio. And it was at that dance that I began to
against which the events in Taso's life must be viewed. fall in love with Elisabeth. I had seen her before. Our love
was kept secret for a long time. After a while it seems that
they [Ell's family] got some idea that we were in love. But
that was never a problem for me, understand. They saw
what I was like-and it seems they didn't really disapprove.
Even so, one night I was taking her home-she was living
at Cuatro Hermanos [a nearby colonia]-and I was taking
her there to her house. I turned back before we got to her
house, and it seems that she caught something when she got
home! [Eli's mother saw Taso with her, and EH was scolded
for walking unchaperoned with him.]
EH was married before. She was a mujer de estado. I don't
really know anything about her first husband, not even his
surname. He was called Eusebio. He was not from here, but
from Guayama. I saw him only a few times. He was a short
man, a white man. He was here at the time, and then he went
99
100 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 101
to Guayama and I never saw him again. I knew Eli from be- to Comadre Paula, a house located beside Antolina's house.
fore, though. Like the other boys in the barrio, one makes the And then we began living in a little house that Antolina
acquaintance of the girls here-but it was not a question of bought for us. Beside her house on adjoining land there was
our having a close friendship before. Rather, one always says a little house for sale, and Tole [Antolina] bought it for us
something [flirtatious] to the girls one meets. In the midst for $15. In those days you could buy a little house like that
of that, she went off with him. Then they broke off and she for such a price. Afterward, I went and talked to the owner
came back here to the barrio. It was when she came back- of the land. I told him that if he would let me keep that little
after perhaps a year-that I began to fall in love with her house, if he would let me fix it up a little, I would agree to
once more, and then the thing became serious. Now, while help him in anything I knew about. He told me that there
they were living together they lived in Guayama. I don't was no problem, and that I wouldn't have to pay him any-
know who left whom-but after that, they came back here thing. I proceeded to fix up my house there, and seeing what
and then they separated. He went back to Guayama and she he had told me, I was quite contented, you see? Then I had
stayed here with her mother, living in a house her mother my family's old house in another place, and I went and dis-
had near Colonia Valdivieso. Then they moved to a place mantled it. I turned over part of the lumber to Cornelio,
near Comadre Paula Godineaux. and I took the rest and repaired the new little house. But
About eight or nine months passed by. I was not concerned then the landowner wanted me to pay a sum [as rent for the
about Eli's having been married before, because I already land] which was impossible-and this after he had told me I
knew her from before that. I knew she had had another wouldn't have to pay anything. I gave him an argument, say-
husband. I don't know how others might see it, but for me ing that I had not committed myself to anything of the sort.
it made no difference, particularly since that man never re- What he asked at the time was impossible for me to pay:
turned here. After he left here, he never came back. And she $12 a year. I told him it wasn't right and we had words. Then
and I never discussed her marriage. Our jealousies came later I decided to take the house apart. I dismantled it and put the
-hers of me and other girls and the like-but never regard- lumber in Antolina's house. So I was left without a house
ing that. I have never been jealous of my woman. The day of my own again; I had to move back into Tole's house once
my woman makes me jealous I'll leave her. That is my more.
opinion. One must think about that beforehand. Because if And at that time-in fact even before-my troubles with
a man knows that a woman has had another husband [and EH began, because of other women whom she knew I had
it makes him jealous] perhaps he ought not to marry her. been in love with before. There was one case in particular,
Now, as I told you before, when I began to fall in love with and it is only very recently that I became convinced that
Elisabeth it was at a dance. After that, when she accepted she had at last given up that obsession. The girl is called
me, then I went to live with her. At the time I was living Luisa, a triguefia, and she lives in a nearby town. I had been
in that house there of ours [i.e. his mother's house] and I went in love with that girl in the past, and Elisabeth never wanted
to live in the room that Eli had in her mother's house. She to make peace with her. On different occasions they almost
had a separate room, and it was the one we then came to came to blows here because of Eli's jealousy. And one time I
occupy. At that time Antolina [Eli's mother] was living alone. nearly had a real problem with a member of that girl's fam-
Then after some time she began to live with Sica [her third ily. What happened was that the girl's mother came to the
husband]; he moved into the house. There was a period of house to humiliate Elisabeth. And as Elisabeth has this tre-
some two or three months that we lived in a house belonging mendous spirit (genio ), and jealousy at the same time, she
102 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 103
came out of the house carrying a shotgun. Nothing happened, And so we were .fighting for years, and it was a terrible
luckily. But there was a man in that girl's family called Don struggle, what with her jealousy. That began almost from
Chago. That man hadn't lived here before, but then he moved the moment we started to live together. That was about 1927,
here. He was of the family of Compadre Colo. And when he and in the 1940's Elisabeth was still that way. Now, as we
found out about the dispute, he said he was going to wait for have had a family and so on-she is old, and I am a little old
me and I was going to have something to settle with him, -well, that has ended. She was completely different from
because it concerned his family. But there was a friend who me, because Elisabeth could not say that I ever had doubts
hurried to where I was working and told me what was hap- about my woman. I believe that the day I would have to live
pening, and that I should be careful when I got home. I re- in jealousy of my woman, I would say, 'Well, you take your
member it as if it were now; I was working with the portable road and I'll take mine," because I am not that way. Now a
rails, either filling wagons or laying rails-one of those two woman is not like that.
jobs. And I took a pick and took out one of the things we And in that period of time I suffered greatly, and so did
call a shoe, for joining the rails. And I had taken a coat in she. That, that was a regular war. If I got home feeling calm
the morning to protect me from the cold. And then I put on the woman would be invidious, and then there would be a
the coat and put this shoe in my pocket, and walked with my fight. It was one of our greatest problems. As she knew there
hand in my pocket, holding the shoe, until I arrived at the were girls I had fallen for in the past, she believed that at
house. When I passed by where he lived, he was seated in any moment, well-as you know, there are so many cases
the doorway. And I passed by expecting him to call to me. here where a man carries off a girl now. And then his woman
But I passed by and came to the house and he said nothing. [i.e. a prior common-law wife] is left behind. And there are
After I bathed myself in the afternoon, I was walking around so many cases in which a man has carried off a girl, and for
the barrio and in the yard of the house, and he never called whatever reason they haven't made him marry her. And after
my attention to what had happened. a while he carries off another girl, and then they make him
But Elisabeth was a thoroughly jealous woman-not only marry that one, and then this one here is left. And I believe
of some particular girl but of any woman with whom I might it's from that that her madness came.
be talking. That would be enough for a fight, and a vicious During that time, a girl I knew was out walking with an-
one. I remember one night there was a wake there where other girl from here, and I took her to Ramos' store and paid
Alvarado lives. Sarita, whose sister had died, and I had come for several beverages for them there. And Conrado, who is
from town. I don't remember on what errand I'd gone but I of Elisabeth's family, saw me when I paid for the refresh-
went and came home. And as custom has it, I said, "Well, I'm ments. And he ran and told her right away, and when I left
going to the wake," and I went to the wake. EH stayed at there I was immediately embroiled in a fight with her. And
home, and she-it seems she went out to the road to watch that, well, it was more of what she was most expecting, you
me, as a jealous woman will. I stayed awhile at the wake, and see? Because he went and told her he had seen this and he
when I left I went out on the road and returned home. At had seen that, and then the woman became even more re-
that time we were living next to Tole's house. And I left the bellious.
wake on the side by the railroad, but when I got home EH Now, I never had children with another woman, only those
insisted that she saw me come away from the sea side. You I have had with Elisabeth. But there are cases also in which
see what kind of thing was going on? And when I got home, men have their wives and have had children with other
well, nothing else but a fight, at that hour. women like that. To know other women, though having a
104 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 105
wife-that's a thing that happens here all the time. I don't by and he would say something to me, to flirt as they make
know if it is like that over there [in the U.S.], but here, yes. love to girls here. I was still very young, and recently had
Now, there are women, prostitutes, whom anyone can use for left that other. I only lived with him eight months, nothing
whatever purpose. But there are also other women who don't more, and I was the same as when I had gone off with him.
have their husbands, who live alone, and they too-well, as I used to go to dances with my mother. Mama went, and she
we say, each one of us defends himself. There are also those used to take me. I went to a dance, and I know it was at that
who have their husbands. Of course that is a bit dangerous. dance that he fell in love with me. It seems to me that was
But these, too, may lend their little favors. And here there -there was a man here they used to call Nene-Nene Al-
are those men who have more opportunity, not like those of varado, and there was a dance given at his house, and it was
us who have it rarely, not persons such as I am, always at there Taso fell in love with me, in that house, at that dance.
home, tied firmly to my family. There are those who pay no Mother knew Taso from the time he was a little boy, and
attention to their situation or to anything, but rather are my mother always used to say, "You see, since he is a boy
watchful for whatever presents itself. And there are even cases raised in the barrio, the barrio knows him." We noticed that
where a man will have children with another woman. And Taso, from the time he was little, was good with his mother,
afterward that creates serious problems. There are those who and that he was hard-working. From the time when he was
don't take that into account, who don't take care with regard little he would go to work, keeping up the house, and keeping
to that. And especially where there may be a fight afterward up the obligations of a grown man. I recall when his sister
with a jealous woman-one must also be careful to avoid such died. I was still a little girl and I got to see the wake for his
disputes. Particularly in my own case, where I had a woman sister. I went to the velorio that night. In other words, we
who was a little hot-tempered in such matters! One must had reasons for knowing the life of Taso's family, you see. We
avoid these things, and it is not so easy. And after one has knew their life, and we saw their behavior; we saw how they
one's wife, where the woman accepts one thinking he is a conducted themselves, and we saw it was a family that got
committed man, that children may come, it is a little difficult along well, brother with brother. He always lived with his
unless the man makes a proposal which is false, fools another family, and he always worked to help his family out. He was
woman, and is able to succeed. But it is a little difficult after always working only for his family, and he was a boy without
a man is committed, although there are those cases, too-I am vices. What happens here is that a person scrutinizes others
not going to make a comment on that! [He laughs and stops and goes along forming opinions. This is what I say of PabHn,
talking abruptly.] that PabHn creates the same impression as Taso did when he
was growing up. I got to know Taso when he was still in
short pants, you see, as children, and he never said or did
I introduce here materials from my interviews with Elisa- anything ill-mannered. I knew he was living with his mother,
beth, Taso's wife, wherein she describes her marriage to Taso. that he was a native of the barrio, and he would go here
and there like all of the boys. And we knew he was a good
My first husband had gone off. I had thrown him out and boy, just as now many people call me and say to me, 'What
hardly remembered him any more. During this time I re- a fine son you have; that PabHn behaves like a grown man.
mained working with my mother. I was working and buying That boy is going to be like Taso was when he was growing
all of my own necessities. And after much time, well then up." And with this manner of his, when he began to fall in
Taso, as I was then alone, well, he began to-I would pass love with me, I had no reason to reject him. There was noth-
106 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 107
ing for which I could reprove him, because I knew more in a bad little room, in a house that was falling down and
or less how he had been brought up, and more or less how almost had no floor. Then I said to him, "Where I am com-
he conducted himself with his family. And my mother al- ing when we elope is right here!" And then, well, we agreed,
ways used to say, "A man who is good with his mother will and Mama knew he was going to move into her house. Then
be good with his woman." And I had remembered that, too. they gave us a room in the house; and as I was not a senorita,
And as he had never been married, I decided to test that. there was no need to be careful to hide this from the public
I said, "Well, I am going to accept this boy to see if it is true, or a_nything. Because already the world knew we were in
as my mother said, that a man good with his mother and love and that he was staying here. At any hour of the day he
with his family is good with his woman." And in reality it would be visiting me in the house. And the days he wasn't
turned out to be the truth. working he would be at the house. The world saw him at
the house; already everyone knew we were a couple. All
Your mother never scolded you for going with him? that was lacking was that he remain in the house. And he
Once. I came to the barrio [i.e. to where Taso lived, from began staying at the house, with Mother's consent. Because
Colonia Cuatro Hermanos where EH was living]-and that here they have the custom that when a youth carries off a
was the only time she scolded me. But it was because he senorita, he has to carry her far, far from her family, because
brought me back alone toward home. I had stayed in the he is stealing her, he is fugitive. But when it is with the con-
barrio till quite late, and he came bringing me back toward sent of the parents, when the parents like the boy or how-
home. And she came to meet me, and she saw me with him. ever it is, with their consent, then they may be married in
And she didn't like it, because she saw it as something sus- the house of the parents, and later move to another place. The
picious. His bringing me home-she thought people might way it is with senoritas is different. But when he took me,
talk. But I felt sure people would not talk, because where he he took no senorita, because I had already had another
was bringing me was to a place where he used to leave me spouse, one with whom I had lived eight months. So Taso
to go the rest of the way alone, where no one would see didn't have to go through the business of carrying me far
me. But she realized he was courting me because she came away; rather, he could leave me in the same house, only in
to meet me that time. And she scolded me; indeed she a separate room.
did. I was quite young, quite ignorant, at that time. Let me
Not years, but months passed, and we got married. When tell you what happened only a little after we began to live
we decided this, Taso took me to my own house. It was not together. My brother was a barber, and I stole a razor from
that he carried me off, but rather that he came to live in my his barber box. And my brother missed the razor, and he
mother's house. Because here it is very different, depending said, "Someone took a razor from my barber box, and I need
on whether one is a senorita or not. But as I was not a senorita, it." And I had the razor here [she points to her blouse] and
well, Mother was glad that we might become a couple. Be- I didn't tell him I had it. I told no one. I didn't want anyone
cause he began then to visit me at home, and by then they to know that I had it because I had a bad thought in my
knew already at home that we were going together with the head. I was being unjustly jealous of Taso. What I thought
idea of eventually getting married. Then, when we discussed was not true, it was a vicious jealousy, you see, a vicious
marrying, he decided to move his things to my house, be- thing, and I was imagining it. I thought he was with another
cause I didn't want to move here to the barrio. I didn't want woman; but actually he was not out with any woman. My
to move where he was because he had a bad house. He lived jealousy had blinded me, I had this hallucination that I saw
108 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 109
him with-with a woman that I was jealous of, you see. And And he was quite ignorant, too; we were young, two young
I believed I could surprise him walking along the road and ones. He had as little sense as I. Any little thing I would tell
talking with her. It was when he went off to the burial of him would hurt his feelings and also might make him angry.
that infant of Cornelia's who had died, a little girl named But he never became infuriated with me like some other men
Isabelita. You remember, we told you of one occasion when who beat their wives.
Cornelio beat up Nenita, his legal wife? Well, that was the One time we had a-a passing thing, but it was not-it
child she had in her belly at the time. We told you he beat was nothing. He gave me a slapping once! And it was my
her up in the house, and when he hit her with that chair, the fault! One time he slapped me. But I was in the wrong. It was
child leaped inside her belly-well, when that child was sev- because of that same jealousy of mine. Also a matter of my
eral years old it died. ignorance. My mother, you see, had her little business. And
Taso went to the funeral. And I was jealous of a particular a girl came in the store to buy tomatoes. Taso had planted
woman; and I knew he would have to come back from the some tomato plants behind the house. And the girl, as my
cemetery on foot. I awaited their return. I thought, they are mother had a business and used to sell tomatoes and sweets
going to come along here feeling nne, along the road, talking and different things-well, the girl came and she said: "Dofia
and falling in love, and I don't know what else. And so I hid Tole, do you have any tomatoes?" Then Mother said, "I have
myself under a culvert, in a drain pipe in a place they call no tomatoes, they're all gone." And as Taso had those little
Las Montafias,-there it was that I hid myself. And I waited. tomato plants growing behind the house, he jumped up and
But they didn't pass by; I believe they came back in a ear- said, "She has no tomatoes, but in a couple of months, I will
l don't remember for sure, but I know I didn't see them go have some, because I have some plants behind the house,
by. And nnally I came back along the road and came home. more than enough." He said nothing more to the girl. The girl
When I got tired of prowling about with that razor because began to laugh when he told her he had those little plants and
no one came, well, I returned, and I put the razor back in that she should wait. But as I was so jealous, I believed it
Mariano's barber box. The razor reappeared. And my mother was a love-joke that he had told her. And I got mad. I felt
knew it had been me, and my mother said to Mariano: "This this rage in a second, and what I desired was to fall upon
razor! Hahl And if it was not Elisabeth that was going about him. Because of those few words, nothing more.
carrying that razor with her-bah!" Well, then, I got into this real fury, and when it was dinner-
Then they questioned me to see if I had had it, and I said time I didn't want to eat. I left my food. And he always used
no, that I hadn't been walking about with any razor. Be- to say to me that what made him angrier than anything else
cause I didn't want my mother to know about it, you see. And was when someone cast aside what his sweat had earned-
I had this maliciousness, apart from being jealous. Taso never that is, you see, the bread he earned with his sweat. And ! -
has been an argumentative man, but at times there would knowing that made him very angry-well, I took the plate
be fights in the house because of my jealousy, you see. As I of food, and I threw it in his face; the food with the plate to-
wanted him to be jealous of me, then it seemed to me that if gether. And he became poisoned with anger. He approached
he were to go out in the street, well, already he was out with me, he alarmed me; then we began to fight-he said some-
some other woman! A matter of my ignorance, because the thing and I answered him. Until there came the things said
man is not like that. Ignorant thoughts, because when I joined in heat, and he slapped me! Well, that has been the only
up with him, I was still pretty ignorant. I was quite young. time, and it is now about twenty-six years that we've lived
llO Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 111
together; it was the only time he ever struck me; it was just we became contented once more. Ah, but that was an anger
that once. I passed through that day, when he gave me that slap!
We had a baby already, very little at the time. I remember
that already Vitin had been born. I had him at the time in Taso picks up the narration once more.
the corner, in a little hammock-I had him there in a ham-
mock-and this happened in my mother's house. In 1928 there came the hurricane of San Felipe [September
We were then living in a little house close by that Mother 13]. At the time of that hurricane, as I told you, I had a
had bought for us. Well, afterward, he went off to the house. wife already. We passed through that hurricane safely in the
And I remained in my mother's house, sulking. I didn't want store of the Mora family. At that time Don Jose Guilbe had
to go to my own house. But then Mama made me go there his store there. I went to work that morning, and at that time
to sleep. Mama always defended that one; my mother knew I was an irrigator at Colonia Destina, in the part they call
quite well what a wild one I was. Ah, I had the deepest hurt, Valdivieso. I went to- work at dawn and started the water,
because it seemed to me that the world turned over. He had and before beginning work we were standing in front of the
never hit me or punched me, and when he threw that punch sluice that brings the water, waiting for it to reach us. And
at me I thought the world was coming to an end. It left me then the irrigation foreman, Juan Morales, arrived. We talked
with a very great hurt, and I didn't want to go to our little a while because the water had not come yet, and we were
house. I wanted to stay at home. Actually he hadn't beaten already feeling some rather strong wind. And he told me we
me at all, he merely touched me-but I told my mother that wouldn't work that day because the wind was suspicious.
I wouldn't live any longer with a man who would beat me Then he sent me to close the pond, and we sent the irrigators
like that. But truthfully the one who sought the beating was home. At that time the men who were under my direction
I. It was a mere touch, a glancing blow; yet it seemed to me were Juan Borges, Evaristo Rivera, Ramon Borges, and sev-
like the kind of punch boxers give each other. And it made eral others whose names I don't recall at the moment; I
me so nervous that I began to scream, and I filled the house know I had about seven or eight men working with me. After
with my screams when he struck me. I suffer from nerves, and I closed off the sluices I came to Antolina's house, where
this nervousness came over me. I cried with the deep hurt I we were living then.
felt, I cried and cried and cried-I cried nearly till midnight And while Elisabeth was making lunch-good and early be-
because of it. But finally I went home. Because Mama was cause the hurricane threatened-I went out to walk by the
a grown woman, you see, and she knew best. She knew that seashore, to gaze upon the way the sea was. And the sea was
my obligation was to go to my own house, and she advised good and strong. It was around 10 A.M. and the tide was
me to go. coming up and passing und(;rneath the sea grape trees al-
When I got there he was well wrapped up in the bed, snor- ready. Afterward I came back home and ate lunch; it was
ing loudly! He was as if nothing had happened. I arrived in already prepared. And around eleven or eleven-thirty the
a rage, and I sat on the doorstep and I didn't want to go to hurricane struck. In the middle of the squall we forced our
bed, I was so poisoned with rage; I didn't even want to go way outside. I took Elisabeth by the arms, clasping both
to sleep. And he was snoring-snoring away when I got there. hands around her body, and we struggled along defending
Next day, I was still not willing to eat, what with the rancor ourselves from the wind, so that we could get to Don Jose
I had; I was always a bad-mannered one, you see. I keep Guilbe's place. And Antolina and Sico also came with us, and
grudges; until finally, we began talking about some trifle, and the rest of the family. When we arrived, I left Elisabeth and
112 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 113
Antolina there. Then we men devoted ourselves to helping changed-what we call the viraz6n--then it leaned toward
those persons who still had not been able to get to places the forward part. But it did not fall. Absolutely nothing hap-
of the greatest safety. pened to Tole's house-I don't know, it may be the work of
After that I stopped outside the store, and from there I God, because her house was a very weak one.
watched the hurricane as it unfolded. I saw the first-grade While the storm was building up, it seems that there were
school tumble to the ground, and I watched the way the people who valued their lives little and forced themselves
houses were going down. In front of the store building then? out to collect iron sheeting and wood and those things scat-
was a vegetable stand, belonging to Nico Suarez. The stand tered everywhere. And really, people who didn't have houses
had fallen down and there was a great quantity of ripe vegeta· appeared after the storm with houses, and people who had
bles and avocados and every kind of food around there. At had houses were left without any! While the storm lasted, one
that point Antolina had disappeared from the store. Eli and could not walk through the streets. Many houses lay in pieces
I looked for her among the other people, but could not find in the road, and many zinc sheets and plenty of lumber that
her. But we were not surprised or frightened by this. And at had been blown about now were in the road. It was perilous
around five Antolina appeared; she had gone home to pre- to walk about at night with the boards and spikes and such
pare dinner. She brought rice and beans for us, and coffee too, that were around.
which she had prepared there. We ate from what she brought But around 2 A.M. there were many, many little children
us, and we gave the rest to some ladies there who had little crying with hunger. Food had been prepared, but with so
children, so they could give it to their children. many people it was not possible to give it to everyone. It was
And so night came. When night arrived, then everyone hard partly because there were not enough pots, and partly
found himself his place in the building. Actually a number because it got to some and not to others. Then I asked for
of us had to remain standing, and others were sitting here a flashlight from a friend of mine-if I'm not mistaken it was
and there, because there were a great number of people in Inocencio. And I pushed my way outside, and got as far as
the store. It was completely full of people who were looking where the vegetable stand had been. During the afternoon
for the safest place to stay. And down there in the sixth-grade food had been blown all over, and we went and put some
school there were lots of people, too. Luckily no one had stems of ripe Martinique bananas in a nearby horse cart. And
taken refuge in this hurricane in the first-grade school- having borrowed the flashlight, I went along lighting my way,
though it had been one of the places of refuge before. Some- little by little, in the midst of the wind, and got to the cart
how, on this occasion no one ran to it. and brought back a stem of bananas, and they were dis-
The storm went along building up, and by 9 P.M. many tributed among the crying children. And so we passed the
houses here had fallen to the ground. From the steps of the night.
Moras' store there I watched our house. It was moving back- Around eight o'clock the next morning the wind began
ward and then swaying forward again with the force of the calming, gradually calming, and then each person started
wind. I waited from moment to moment for it to fall to the back toward his home. One would find his flat on the ground;
ground, and I could see from there when all the front part, another's would be spread about in a thousand places; and so
of galvanized iron, tore loose from the rest and was carried it went. And those that found their houses flattened collected
off. The house actually swayed to one side and danced to the the sheeting and lumber that they could, and raised whatever
other, but it did not fall. While the wind was blowing from and wherever they could-their house as before, or just a
this side, it leaned away from the sea. Then when the wind shack-but to begin with, anything at all. They propped up
114 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 115
the zinc sheets, and so these makeshifts stood until one could the storm a girl who was telephone operator in Coamo-I
remake one's house or shack. didn't see her or know her but I read about it in the papers,
About two weeks afterward I went with Elisabeth to Coamo and people who came from there told us-continued to give
to see her father, who was there. At that time they were be- service at the phone until the office fell down, and she lost her
ginning to distribute some food. I don't know if it was the life. And here in the part they call Boca Caballo we found
Red Cross or who it was that was giving it away-they gave a dead woman, too, whom the river had carried from the
it to us in the name of "I maintain" ("Mantengo"). And while place called Borinquen, in Salinas. We found her because a
we were in Coamo they were distributing the food in a bus wave had carried her to the beach, and she was almost com-
through the whole town; they went about carrying it through pletely covered by sand; there we found her. And so accord-
the streets. That afternoon we were sitting in front on the ingly there were deaths in different places caused by the
street when the bus went by. And they brought it to us too- storm, because really that storm was something serious. I was
to Elisabeth, to me, and to Elisabeth's father, and to his wife, able to appreciate that it was a strong hurricane since, as I
a woman who was called Caita. They brought a tiny thing to told you, there had been storms of lesser intensity before.
each one of us, in a little bag-a trifle that they were giving EH was already pregnant, during the hurricane of San
away-but they brought a bag for each of us. We left them Felipe, with our first child, who was named Victor Manuel
there because two or three days later we came back here to Zayas. He was born March 23, 1929, and the midwife who at-
Jauca. tended was Comadre Lupe. At that time they didn't attend
And so, when it was all over-when I came back to Jauca- as they do now, when a woman must be a registered midwife.
I went back to work again. Then we began struggling with At that time they didn't have that. On that occasion EH was
the cane, the cane that the wind had felled. We set to work sick almost continuously during the nine months of her
propping up the cane that had fallen into the irrigation pregnancy with chills and toothache, and I went repeatedly
ditches; not in all the cane field, but just in the irrigation to the doctors to see if they could treat her illnesses. During
ditches where the cane had fallen and the water couldn't go the final months I sent her to Guayama, to my brother Pablo's
by. We were put to work setting these up and putting earth house, so they could take her to a doctor. And she went there,
around the stalks, because we found that the wind had so and after he examined her he told her that at the end of the
ripped them out that when we stood them up they nearly nine months the illness would pass, because it was a direct
tore out of the ground. So at the same time that we set them consequence of her stomach-what we call here "bad
up, we put earth around the stalks. stomach" when a woman is pregnant. And so it happened.
During that time, in the first week, there was a great Still, after she gave birth, she had about two more such spells
abundance of vegetables here in Puerto Rico, because so of chills, fevers, and afterward all of that passed and she was
many properties .h ad been destroyed, and the owners h ad cut left completely well.
all the egetab1es there were rather than lose them all, and Before Elisabeth became pregnant, I was always waiting
there were great quantities. a ailable everywhere. Bnt after- for the news of a child. Because it is the most desired thing.
ward they got so scarce that it was only after a great while And one certainly can't count on it, since it is the work of
that one could get them again, even such common ones as God whether one will have a family or not. And after a year
bananas and plantains, because the farms that had provided went by-I don't know if it was a whole year or not-she be-
them were completely destroyed. came pregnant. And then one feels content, because another
There had also been some deaths. I remember that during member of tl1e family is coming and, as we say, children
116 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 117
brighten the home. One knows when one's wife is pregnant which they sell in the pharmacy. They put these to parch, and
by the time that-that she has her periods-when she misses then they throw them in a jug of water, and this was the water
at least two consecutive months, well, it is certain proof that that the women used to drink during almost the entire
the woman is pregnant. And from there on I never lose track cuarentena. Now today they don't do that either; now women
of the date. I count then from the first, and I know more or drink water from the barrel, without using this method. There
less the month the woman is going to give birth. were many such customs that the women used to have, but
And then I-I don't know about anyone else-when the now little by little the doctors have gone along explaining to
woman is pregnant, I begin to prepare as soon as possible, the registered midwives, and they have gone along explaining
knowing that a woman can give birth from seven months to the women, so that now they don't use these processes.
onward. And one may be caught unprepared. In Vitin's time, When the moment of Vitin's birth came, I was working at
I told Elisabeth that she should prepare everything she Colonia Valdivieso, and I was laying rails with Compadre
needed as soon as possible. She began with the sheets and Gueni when Salvador; Elisabeth's brother, came to find me
built right up to the layette. I think you know what a layette at work. We were working -that day in field No. 136 when
( canastillo) is-the layette includes the bonnets, little shirts, he arrived with the message. Immediately I left my work,
and the band the women tie round the umbilicus of the child, called the foreman, and told him to take charge of the work
round and round. And another thing they used in those days I was doing since I was going to look after the situation. I
that they no longer use. When they were four or five months knew already of several cases that were a little delicate;
along the women prepared a bottle with rum, and they put Tomasa had died as a consequence of a delivery. And I had
in garlic, rue, and anamu [a medicinal "herb], and a number witnessed that. Immediately I went to Antolina's house, and
of other herbs, and this stuff becomes foul smelling. The when I arrived Antolina was making certain preparations, and
women had the belief that when pregnant they had an animal I went rapidly to find the midwife. I brought Comadre Lupe,
inside them and that after a woman gave birth the animal who would struggle with her. That would have been about
could sting her. And so she would take a draught of this drink two in the afternoon when this was going on. And I became
-a foul rum. Elisabeth used that also in the beginning. Then very uneasy because at eight at night the woman had not
later, when midwives had to pass examinations, and the yet given birth.
doctors went along explaining, well, women gave up this While the midwife was struggling in the room with her,
custom. I don't know if some still may have it, but in our I was in the living room going from one side to the other,
house we rapidly eliminated it. And, as I told you before, all expecting some grave peril-grave, you see-and I was com-
this was in readiness for when the moment came. And es- pletely upset ( impacientado). And then around 9 P.M. the
pecially, a hen was always kept ready for when the time boy was born. When I heard the boy cry there in the other
came. Then immediately they would take it up, when the room, then, with the change in the situation, I felt content.
pains came to the woman, and the hen was killed. And they And as soon as she had arranged her in the bed, and taken
began to give soup to the woman, and chicken broth during care of the little boy, I went in to see the boy and to see how
the period of labor, until the woman gave birth. And after she was. Then, well, I felt content because the woman had
she gave birth, she also continued eating it. come out all right.
And they also had the custom that they would not give We did not plan before the birth who the godparents
women in childbirth common water from the rain barrels, would be. And as for my children, I never, never gave them
but rather they would use what they call moscada [nutmeg], their names. The names of my children were always given by
118 Worker jn the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927--39) 119
Elisabeth's father or by Elisabeth, and at times Rosaura; they when I would come from work in the afternoon he had the
were always intervening in these matters. I left it to them, habit of coming to me as I reached the shoulder of the rail-
and the day that it came time for me to go and inscribe them way. I would take my pala off my shoulder, and he would
in the register, then I'd say, "Well, let's see"; because some- pick it up by the handle and drag it along; and while I held
times there were different opinions among them, some be- him on the other side, we would walk together until we
lieving one way and others believing another. Until at last reached the house. He was raised together with Luis
they would decide on one, and then that was the name that Godineaux, a boy who is here, the son of Maria, and they
I would go to inscribe. would come to the house and eat. And afterward they would
When they poured water on Vitin [i.e. in unsanctioned go to the house of Marfa Godineaux and there the two would
baptism], they poured it on him in the house of Antolina. eat again.
Then we spoke to Compadre Gueni and Comadre Paula; they And the boy was in complete good health when sickness
came to Tole's house. And that was a simple thing, the pour- came upon him suddenly. I remember that it was a Saturday.
ing of water on a child. They take the water, they raise it up, Fe Mora, the sister of Cosme, passed by along the road near
the godfather or godmother holds the child, they recite the the house, and we were sitting playing with him. And he
credo and the padre nuestro, and the child is ready. They said, from where we -were playing with him there, "Adios,"
pour water upon the head, and it is done. That is all there he said, "Adi6s, sweetheart," to Fe. That boy had-I don't
is to the ceremony when you water-baptize a child. When know if it was together with the other kids that he learned
you pour water on a child, they don't make a fiesta. It is on such things-but truly he was a boy you had to see. And the
the occasion of [church] baptisms that they ate accustomed next day I went to work, and he lay down to rest completely
to do that, to make a feast and eat barbecued pig, and those well and hearty.
things. But in the case of pouring water, no. One may make I was doing irrigation work at Texidor at the time. I left
a little chocolate and serve that. the job at Colonia Valdivieso, and I was irrigating at Texidor.
The water [for an unsanctioned baptism] one always gets And when the lunch hour came, I was awaiting my lunch and
at the church. I do not know how they get it at the church the lunch did not arrive. There was a boy who used to bring
now, because recently I have heard that the priest will not the lunches. And his absence worried me, because Elisabeth
give water for that. But I know that they always used to get would always appear herself where I was waiting when the
it in the church. And they would keep it in bottles, in those boy was not able to bring it. And she didn't appear. And at
little grape juice bottles that one can buy in the store-they 2 P.M. her brother Salvador came, calling me in the field. I
would save the water in these. And, actually, if they don't came out, and when I came out the news he gave me was that
have that water, they don't pour water on the child. It has I should come-that the child was very ill, that he had had
to be water they bring from the church. an attack. Then I came swiftly, leaving my pala out there in
I'm going to describe now the life of Vitin over the course the field. And I came to the house.
of about two and one-half years. That child was born with a When I arrived, it turned out Tole had already attended
live spirit; he was an agile child, a child that was never quiet. to things, and they had given two injections against those
And a child to whom one could say things and he would act attacks. And I went to town and brought Dr. Velez; Velez
like a mature person. He had reason at a very young age, came again and gave another injection. It must have been
and one was able to say things to him and he could under- about 8 P.M. and they put ice bags on him, and then he under-
stand them easily and carry them out. To such an extent that went what seemed like an improvement. He remained thus
120 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927--39) 121
rather quiet, and then at around 11 P.M. there came this other first child, because you see all the time how I am with my
attack, and then it was attack, attack, until around-around children, that it matters not which one, that for me Tasita,
8:30 A.M. he died. who is the last, is as if she were the first, that we raise them
And at the moment he died I was not in the house. Because in this manner-this love that we give the children; so that
as soon as the brightness of dawn came I left the house again when one dies we believe that the world has come to an end.
to go to the town to try to get the doctor. And then Salvador And so we were a long while, thinking thus. Until at last,
followed me on his bicycle and caught up to me there almost well, the memory is gradually erased, and then with the
at the hill in the middle of Colonia Destino--to tell me that affection toward the others, well, one goes along erasing the
I should come back, that the child had died. So I didn't suc- need for that child. At times one despairs, truly. At times
ceed in bringing the doctor back here. While I had gone with one is in the midst of despair, one suffers, until one cannot
this aim, he reached me along the road and I turned back. speak of it, you see? I have seen different cases of a person
Then, when I got back to the house it was terrible. The first crying for a member of the family who had died, and I have
son-and Elisabeth was having nervous attacks that were ter- heard them say things that- one would not say in his proper
rible. And still Elisabeth's attacks of nerves are such that I mind. Truly, one feels so despairing. And I know well that
must struggle very hard with her. Then we had this struggle when this child died I felt so wretched. In the midst of the
with her, until we were able to calm her somewhat. And at sadness one feels, at times one may say things-almost any-
the time we were already living in the little house, and it was thing-far from all reason.
very uncomfortable there for the wake. Then we made the Afterward we began to care even more for Carmen Iris.
preparations and went to Antolina's house, and it was there And in the midst of this, one goes on acquiring more ex-
that we kept vigil during the night. And that is where the perience, you see? As the family grows, one gets more ex-
history of Vitfo ends. perienced in how to treat children, and so on. As with all
We always believe in God, although some believe in one things, you see, when one has one's first children, well, one
manner and others in another. And there are times when one really doesn't know how to care for them well. But through
believes in God in one manner, and a time comes when one having more children, one grows more careful. If a child gets
believes in another. But as for dying we all know a time comes sick, one knows how to treat it. And so after Vitin's death,
when one must die, and th-at-"Bendito, that is the fate of the well, we took yet more care with Carmen Iris. For example,
child"-nothing more, and he died at that time. Now I really now when a child is sick, well, right away we are careful that
believed that I was dying when that happened, because he it doesn't go out into the night air, that it comes in when it
was the first child and truly I had put all my love in him as rains, and all that. And it could be that before, since one has
if he were the only one. Carmen Iris [the second child] was little knowledge concerning these things-well, one doesn't
still very little, see? And then when the boy began to talk, worry, one is careless, and any kind of abnormal thing can
and as he used to have that way of behaving with me as has happen. But when one goes along experiencing these things,
my Tasita [his youngest daughter]-well, one has an immense one acquires experience, and one worries more about it.
affection for one's children, you see? It seemed one had lost Now, Carmen Iris was born in March 1931; she was born
half one's life when that happened. It is a moment that one- in the little house Antolina bought for us. Carmen was born
that I do not want to recall, you see, when a thing happens in the dawn, and the one who attended her was Tole. She
as in this case, with a child that one has raised so indulrrently
b , was the one who did everything; she was the one who looked
treated so freely, the first child and all that. And not just the after and cared for Elisabeth. That birth was completely easy,
122 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 123
and Elisabeth during that pregnancy felt few symptoms and down, the way she orders things to be done. She has been
had a completely happy delivery. When Carmen Iris was like that since she was a little girl. She has had illnesses,
born, I was cutting cane seed at Rio Jueyes [part of Colonia though not of great seriousness. When we moved her to this
Boca Chica]. And the same day, after Antolina looked after house, she had the measles-I brought them all here with
the tasks, fixed up the woman and the child, then I went to that sickness. And chicken pox, and those kinds of illnesses.
work. When she was very little, she also suffered from indigestion-
Of Carmen I can tell you that that girl-I don't know what we call here empachados [colic]. She suffered from this
where it came from, the kind of disposition that girl has al- when she was little, though she has never been sickly. But
ways had ever since she was a little girl-but she has always her disposition has always been that way.
been given to rages. I remember-I wasn't at home, but
Elisabeth told me-the story of how she had a real fright one But I would like now to tell you some other things. I'll
time with Carmen. She was washing the :8.oor in the house, tell you first what it was that led me to enter politics. In 1928
and the women here are accustomed to fill tubs full of water the candidate for mayor in Santa Isabel was Don Pastor Diaz.
in order to proceed with the washing. And Carmen was Now before, as I have told you, my family had a house, an
bothering her, playing in the tub, and wouldn't let her work old house and a piece of land. I don't know what it was that
with the water and the broom in washing the :8.oor. And she motivated him, but Don Pastor Diaz came one day where we
scolded her and told her to get out, that she didn't want her were and told us that that house and that piece of land were
playing in the tub any more. And she picked her up by one his. My family had always lived on that plot of ground, and
hand and put her thus to one side; and the child ran out cry- Mama had told us it had been a present that had been given
ing. And at that moment, Joaquin, Elisabeth's father, was to our father. But actually we had no deeds or anything of
standing outside. He had bought bread from a truck that that kind. Afterward Don Pastor Diaz said that only the land
came from Coamo and he was putting butter on it. And when was his. And then he put pressure on us to move the house,
Elisabeth took up the child and put her to one side, well, so that he would be left with the land. This was in 1927; I
she didn't notice that the child ran off crying. And when she had a wife already. And as we had no deed to prove the
looked at the girl again, she discovered that in the fit of cry- house was ours, I went and dismantled it.
ing she was having she had almost suffocated, you see. The Now the following year, in the campaign of 1928, when
child wasn't able to get her breath. When she saw the child Don Pastor Dfaz was a candidate for mayor, I had the op-
was almost unconscious she dropped the broom and took portunity to get into political activity against him, though
the child in her arms. And Joaquin, who had the pieces of I wasn't even old enough to vote. But I made every possible
buttered bread in his hand, put them on the ground. And effort to help whip him in that political campaign. And in the
while he was helping Eli with the child, a dog came by and end we were successful. We beat him. And so it was that I
stole the bread! Elisabeth had a great scare. She had to toss had entered politics. I don't recall well, but it seems to me
the child up in the air and throw her about until at last that at that time the Puerto Rican Alliance was fighting
Carmen regained consciousness-she says the girl almost suf- against the Socialist party. He was with the Alliance-their
focated in the midst of that tantrum. candidate for mayor. And as I told you before, in the be-
Since she was little Carmen has always had that disposition. ginning, in 1928, I didn't think about politics, but rather
You have seen her ways-you've seen how she orders the about the attitude of that man Pastor Diaz-it was his be-
children around. You would think the house was falling havior that motivated me to get into political activity.
124 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 125
We surrendered the land to Don Pastor Diaz. And then if they were done now, with the government we have now,
after some time he rented a piece of that same land to he would have died of rage or suffered greatly!
Compadre Ceferino. And we saw a paper he gave to Ceferino, His wife was a Guayama woman whom I did not know.
showing the amount of land he was renting him. And another If I'm not mistaken he had a son, and there were several
part remained unrented. Years later my nephew Lalo de- suits with regard to his inheritance after Diaz died [an
cided to move his house and nail it up on the land Diaz had oblique reference to the claims of an alleged illegitimate son].
taken from us, and there he has it still. But when that hap- He had an old, big house in the colonia; he lived there part
pened Don Pastor Diaz was already dead. And then the of the time. It was in that same house that he paid [the work-
lot remained like that, split in two. And the part where Lalo ers]. And there were rooms full of things he was saving. But
put his house they have not disturbed. It's a small lot but afterward he built two houses in addition to the big one,
Don Pastor rented it to Ceferino as if it were his. At that time good-sized ones; and though he built those two, he remained
I was working at Colonia Destina as an irrigator. And the in the old house. And we ourselves used to ask what this could
afternoon Don Pastor Diaz came with this demand, I wasn't mean-with two good houses and he continuing to live in a
at borne. I was wcn:king, because at that time we were work- house that is practically a barn? But after a long time he left
ing half the night through, irrigating. And when Elisabeth the old house and went to live in one of the new ones which
came to bring my dinner she told me what he had said. I is still the house there. And when he died everything 'he had
thought of perhaps seeing him in order to talk about it, but remained there. Then Dona Eva, the wife of his son, and his
mv older brother Pablo didn't want to go. And it was he who son, who was called Ignacito, were there a while. And after-
~ew more or less bow Papa had been made owner of that ward they went to San Juan where they'd been living before.
land. He refused to go and I, being younger and not know- Then Ignacito also died there and she was left. And accord-
ing how it was, decided that I would do nothing. When he ing to what I've been told-it's not anything I can vouch for
told me we would have to take the house apart, well, I ac- -all the things were left in that house, and they say they
cepted this, and took it down. have all disappeared from there. I have no idea in what
Now, concerning Don Pastor Diaz, there is little else I mysterious way this might have happened, but they say
could tell you, because he was a man with whom one could everything that was there has been carried off.
scarcely talk. I do know certain of his habits . He used to I'm going to tell you another experience I had with that
charge around on a horse and when bis employees least ex- man. After the hurricane of San Liborio [1926] I remember
pected it he used to go riding around on that horse, checking that my brother-in-law Cornelio and I went for a walk along
on ernryone. I remember that he introduced a system one the seashore. And there was a woman here, a prostitute, and
time of not paying the workers for time when it rained. He she was also walking by the seaside. And in Palo Seco we
said he wasn't going to pay for rain. Then the workingmen passed by her. From there, we returned once more to the
used to go home each time it rained in order to avoid fights barrio. But we neither looked at nor touched anything be-
with him in the pay line. So you can judge his behavior. He longing to the colonia. In spite of that Don Pastor Diaz
was a man who, with regard to work was completely paltry. wanted to denounce us. He wanted Herminia, the first
He had man, bad customs. I told you before that sometimes mayordomo, to swear out a complaint that we were stealing
when 've would go at 5 P.M. to get paid be would be walk- coconuts. And if it were not for Herminia arguing with him,
ing around, revising the lists, and then finally he'd tear them saying that he was not able to do this, he would have de-
up, and there'd be no pay till the neA1: da '· Things such that, nounced us, without any reason and without our having done
126 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 127
anything at all. I don't know where this thing came from with who died. Torres was a man who would tell almost all his
that man, because we had not committed any misdemeanor problems to the boss; and when he told him he had lost a
or taken anything of his. Instead we were simply looking baby, Don Pastor answered, <Well, one has to resign oneself;
at the disaster of the storm and what the sea had wrought. that is a test through which all of us must pass, eh?" And
And he was intent one way or another upon denouncing us, the man resigned himself. Some time passed and a machine
to such an extent that Herminia had to hide our workbooks; killed an animal Torres had, and he came that time also to
because he wasn't able to denounce us since we had done Don Pastor and told him: "Look, Don Pastor, a mare I had
nothing. If he had had us taken to court we would have lost was killed by a machine." And Don Pastor answered him,
our jobs-and if he had proved it, we could have gone to <Well, then. We who have, we are the ones to lose, eh? Be-
jail. But he could not prove it, since really we had committed cause those who have nothing lose nothing. As you and I are
no crime. But there were cases in those days when they were ones who have, well, we are called to lose." And the man
the government, and without being guilty one could be resigned himself to that also.
thrown in jail by them-there were those cases, too. , , Now Don Pastor Diaz baa a burro there at Rio Jueyes. And
People had no bias against working on Don Pastor Diaz with the passage of time it came about that the burro died.
hacienda-because it was a question of who the mayordomos When the sabanero Don Tito came to bring milk to the
were. He didn't go riding about often-just every once in a colonia, he brought the news that the burro had died, since
while. He was very exacting about the jobs. For anything they used to keep a record of the animals that died. And
at all-if he saw a worker leaving half an hour early, well, he when he came, well, he told the wife she should tell Don
would call him instantly, and instead of taking off this half Pastor; but she didn't dare. And he also didn't dare tell him.
hour he would take off a quarter of a day. Then they didn't But then Don Tito finally asked Torres to tell him what had
reckon by the hour-it was a quarter of a day or half a day happened. Well, as soon as Torres told him, "Don Pastor,
which they used to take away, you see? A man could lose a the sabanero has come and he says that the burro died," Don
quarter of a day's work for five or ten minutes. But other Pastor answered, "It cannot be! Under no circumstances. That
than that, he didn't often go where we were working. And burro cannot die!" So the baby of the mayordomo could die,
with the mayordomos the workers worked quite well. He on and his mare-but Don Pastor's burro wasn't allowed to!
the other hand was a bit hard. As to what people here Now to go back to my story. When Don Pastor demanded
thought, I don't know about others, but I never considered the house, and EH told me that, I felt quite uncomfortable.
him good. It was our only sure refuge; once we departed from there,
For instance, this story I'm going to tell you now. At one we would have to keep moving. So I felt angry and upset. At
time in the colonia of Boca Chica, that part called Rio Jueyes, the same time, I was angry with my brother because he ought
they had a farm where they raised male calves that were to have helped me straighten it out. But as he refused I left it
prepared during the harvest for cane carting. And there was as it was. He should have known something about it, but he
a sabanero there named Don Tito. The sabanero is in charge obliged me to remain silent. At that time Pablo was here in
of caring for the animals-taking them to drink and taking Jauca working at cutting cane for seed. He did little enough
them different places to eat. In the colonia there were two of it; he didn't care much for working in the cane. Now, I
mayordomos, the second one being quite a friend of mine, don't know if Pablo thought we were in the right or whether
named Torres. And about that time Torres had a baby boy he thought we no longer had rights to the land. What I can
128 Worker in the Cane
tell you is that Mama always told us that that piece of land
had been given as a present to our father. Had Pablo gone
with me to Don Pastor Diaz and explained his position, if
he had said something like this: "Friend ( fulano), it was a
gift to my papa, in such and such a time"-well, we might
have been able to do something. Although perhaps not-be-
cause Don Pastor was quite a rude man. But at least we
might have done something. But Pablo didn't want to.
7. The harvest
went on being a Socialist; and if the Popular party had not ap- was a system established on the basis of piecework rates at
peared in 1940 God knows if I would not have continued be- the time. They'd done it that way formerly, but they had
ing a Socialist. given it up; and then they returned to a piecework basis. And
as I had considerable experience in irrigation work by the
Now I would like to return to the jobs I have had. One that piece, I knew that one could make more money that way,
I used to do a lot when I started living with Elisabeth was and I decided to stay on there in order to get work with my
carter ( carretero). Helping to drive the oxcarts was work I brother-in-law, who had already offered me work.
used to do as a child-but when I was already fairly grown Later on I had still another job, laying rails. You know
up, not a very little boy. The smaller child works as a cuartero, already what that is like. That was when Central Aguirre
with two yokes of oxen, taking the carts out of the fields. [the biggest corporation in the area] took up this colonia
And at times, while the carters are filling the carts and there's here belonging to Don Lucas Perez Valdivieso. And Don Jose
nothing for him to do, he helps them and so he learns how Godineaux, the father of Compadre Gueni, was the foreman
to fill the carts, and afterward he becomes a carter himself. of the little wagons. Compadre Gueni and I used to take
At the time, I was carting cane at Colonia Bomba, the prop- charge of preparing the pathways for the wagon-loaders. At
erty of Don Clotilde Santiago. The mayordomo was Don Destina they already did that. Now when they brought this
Rafael Gracia. There they would load cane by the ton, at method to Colonia Valdivieso, it was new. Don Lucas Perez
various rates per ton. Sometimes they loaded at 14 cents, Valdivieso had used oxcarts up till then.
and other times at 15 cents, and at 16 cents; those were the Compadre Gueni and I did that work by the day. There
wages per ton for loading cane on oxcarts. were times when we used to earn $2, $2.10, and so on a day,
In dead time the carters were put to work carrying gravel with the wages for the job fluctuating somewhat. And that,
from the river bed at Paso Seco to be used for repairing the too, was where I learned to load the little wagons that were
pathways in the cane, to prepare them for harvest time. We brought into the cane on portable rails. But as we were doing
would put gravel in the places that used to get bad when it the same kind of work, I learned to load the little wagons
rained, and at the same time we would take advantage of there, and later on I came to be a vagonero [loader of the
the opportunity to train the bull calves, the oxen that had wagons on portable rails] too. Before I got to be a vagonero I
never worked as yet. That work was a little dangerous. They first loaded the big fulgones [standard railway cars on Puerto
still wouldn't know how to draw the carts, and sometimes it Rico's narrow-gauge railway]. That same year I worked at the
would be a lot of work even to yoke them to the carts. And siding here at Valdivieso. I worked part of the time laying
when they were finally yoked, they'd be running and bucking, rails and toward the end, in the last weeks of the harvest
and many times the carts would even upset-dangerous work, I wasn't working on the rails and they sent me to fill th~
that. The purpose was to prepare the animals so that when the railway cars. The harvest was almost finished. At the time
harvest came they would be more docile and could be used they were paying 12 cents a ton for cane loaded onto the rail-
for carrying the cane. I spent a lot of time with Don. Rafael way cars there at the siding. I worked there until the end of
there, not a matter of years, but quite a lot of time. Later on the harvest.
I got a little tired of the dawns-one had to get up early to And the following year I took up this work again when the
go from here to Colonia Bomba. harvest started. From the first day of the harvest I loaded
Then I stayed on here at the colonia of Don Pastor Diaz. railway cars, and I continued to do it for some years. That
I stayed with the idea of working in irrigation, because there was the kind of work in which I told you once I squandered
132 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 133
my youth, because that work is really a little rough. A man I liked this work a lot, in spite of its being heavy, because
would be loading at least 24, 25, and up to 28 tons of cane a one could earn a little more money. And one only rarely had
day, by hand. There were also days when one loaded only 18 to move from the place where he was working; he could al-
tons-it depended on the amount of activity there was in the ways stay in the same place. That was the part that agreed
cane. The tonnage was paid at 9, 10, up to 12 cents; that was with me. It was not like being a carter always going back and
the wage range. I worked at that for several years. And I also forth from the corral to the cane field. Rather, in the morning,
filled railway cars from little wagons-that is, emptied little one used to arrive at that place and not have to move until
wagons into the big cars. But I also used to fill the railway the afternoon to go back home again. In this sense it was one
cars from cane dumped on the ground. They would bring it in of the jobs I most liked to do in the cane, hard as it was.
oxcarts, put it on the ground, and then the railway cars would When I was doing that work, I had a woman already; I was
be filled from there. I was there for many years working at already living with Elisabeth. I can't remember ever having
that. filled cars during my childhood. I did that after I began liv-
At that time there were no winches. I remember that the ing with Elisabeth. I believe a boy would hardly dare con-
first winch I saw was here at Colonia Usera. You could see front one of those railway cars. I was a young man-young.
them in a few other colonias, but not like now. Now all the I was rather strong; I used to attack that work with gusto.
sidings have their winches, but not then. Then they used to And I did it for a good long while.
bring the cane to the siding, and we filled the railway cars And after I finished with that I worked on the railroad.
by hand. The cart would be backed up close to the railway One doesn't learn that work until one gets to do it, because
car. The oxen would tum about and they would put the cart one can look, and looking, still not learn. One can more or
end-to-end with the railway car, the part in back meeting less get the idea. But if one doesn't try it out, it is hard to
with the railway car. This cart had what they call a hinge learn. Because one can go to the railway with the crew, and
( gozne); they would unfasten the hinge and the back part of if one doesn't concern oneself with learning how to do the
the cart could be lowered and the cane would fall to the work, well, one doesn't learn how. That really must be
ground. They would haul off the oxen, the cart would be learned. When I went to do that work, I didn't know any-
drawn away empty, and the cane remained. Then we used thing at all about it. But I learned. At the time, the crew fore-
to gather it by hand from there and put it inside the railway man was Inocencio Torres, and I remember that the first day
car, picking up two, three, four, six canes at once and throw- that I worked-it was at the siding at Colonia Florida, or
ing them inside the railway car. You have seen how the rail- rather at the branch track at Florida. We were making an
way cars have vertical side posts. Well, one would begin to elevation. Those are in the places where the rails have sunk,
fill the cars by collecting the cane and pushing it between the and then you put gravel on each side, and later the rails are
side posts. When it got somewhat piled up, then one would lifted with jacks and the gravel is put in under the rail itself,
throw bundles of cane on top. That used to be easier. There with the aim of lifting the road up.
was something they used to do to make the railway cars I got the job in the following way. During dead time the
hold more cane. When he'd throw in a quantity of cane, the railroad always used to take on more people in order to
fulgonero [railway car loader] would take a machete and get speed up the work. And when the harvest would come, then
inside the car. There he'd chop up the cane a little so it would they would take off those people and the regular brigade
fit better. Then he'd fill a little more and afterward go back would be left with the work. And as in those times nearly
in to chop some more. everybody was unemployed, there were plenty of people.
134 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 135
And then Inocencio Torres made me the proposition that if I laines with palas. The system before had been that maclaines
wanted to go to work I could, and so I went to work with were made by oxen. That is, they would make the ditches
him. He was from here. We knew each other from here. that were used for watering the cane with oxen and a plow.
And a number of times when the brigades were working Don Rafael Gracia established the system of making the
around here I had stopped to watch them working. So we maclaines by pala. Don Rafael began by using lots of paleros,
knew each other, and they always had the habit-or he used almost all the paleros there were. The work at the time was
to, when he had this job-of going to seek out people to work. not well organized-there were many problems ( rompeca-
The foreman always busied himself looking for personnel bezas) because we ourselves still didn't have a clear idea
that he thought would be the best. And that's how I got the about the work. But we learned how he wanted it, and then
work. And when the harvest started then they terminated he took all the paleros off the maclaine work, and left only
our work and were left with the regular brigade. That was a Conrado David, Compadre Marcial, and me exclusively in
system they'd had a long time. And in that work they were that work. And we ·were the ones who used to make the
paying 65 cents a day, 80 cents when the harvest came. The maclaines every year in the primavera [spring-planted cane]
dead time would come, and 65 cents; come the harvest, and during the harvest and in the gran cultura [late-planted cane]
the increase, 80 cents. As soon as the harvest ended it would during the month of August. We were doing that up to the
go down to 65 cents. That was their system. time they brought in this system of .irrigation which is called
today "oil-line"; and then they went along eliminating the
Now I'm going to tell you about pala work. I have told you maclaine work, until finally this work disappeared entirely.
how I learned the work of the pala, going with my sister The ditch work we did they now do with machines. It is rare
Tomasa to bring Cornelio his lunch and helping him. Now today to encounter a palero making a ditch, because they now
I came to do it on my own account, earning money. I recall make the selfsame maclaine for irrigation with a machine
that the first time I undertook it was at Colonia Alomar. I and what we call a bombo attached to open the ditches.
went there to work and worked several weeks. And then from Before, the palero always used to have his work in dead
there I changed over to work at Destina here. I worked three time. The ditches collect weeds and get clogged with dirt,
weeks here in Valdivieso during a heavy rain, ditching to and the paleros were always busy in dead time reopening
drain. And I continued; I went on until I'd made myself a the ditches, digging them, and cleaning them. Now that is all
palero for real. Then we took charge of the pala work eliminated because they pick the weeds with a machine. The
here in Destina: Compadre Marcial, Conrado David, Tomas pala work has almost disappeared completely. They only use
Torres, Tomas Famania-who also would do ditching at that it in certain special cases or where the machines have trouble
time, but was not a regular palero--Santiago Alicea, and an- in entering; that's where they use the paleros. That was the
other man who lives at Mil Cuerdas, called Pedro Moreno; way, at any rate, that I learned how to do the pala work. And
we used to take charge of pala work. Bernaldo Echavarria in those jobs I earned a good bit of money. Because the
also used to work at it. So when there was need they would palero is rather shrewd and always looks for ways to make
put on a few more, and when the work was scarce there more money. In spite of the [low] regular wages one used
always remained Conrado David, Compadre Marcial, Tomas to be able to earn $18, $20, and $25 [a week]-it depended-
Torres, and I. And Santiago Alicea. That was the number of especially in digging cane holes (hoy ados).
paleros that used to stay with the colonia. I've never told you about the work of hoyados. This work
They had not yet established the system of making mac- was in preparation for planting cane, and the palero would
136 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 137
come to make the cane holes in the field. They used to use you are left with 250. If you were to go on working in a good
a measure for the distance from hole to hole. The palero soil, you'd have a good week. That depended on the terrain
used to use the measure while the mayordomo was around; and on the condition of the palero. That depended on these
and when the mayordomo wasn't around, the palero would things, and one used to be able to earn his $18 or $20 or even
throw the measure ahead of him, and he would know his more.
measure more or less by using his stride for where the hole
should come. It was awkward and also cost time to use the .I can tell you a story concerning those years, which also
measure. And that was the procedure: he would take the concerns Don Rafael Gracia, the mayordomo. What I am
pala, and throw the measure a little ahead, and continue dig- going to tell about now happened in a harvest when we
ging the hole. And when he got to where he estimated the paleros had to go fill wagons since, when the harvest is be-
hoyado would end he would come back and clean out the ginning, the work of the pala runs out. And wagon-loading
forward part. was a job that very inany people resorted to, since even boys
I did palero work for many years. Although, you see, I am could do it, and an excessive number of wagon-loaders had
telling about years of work, and it's actually this way: dur- turned up. And sometimes we had to go at four in the morn-
ing the harvest, if there was no shovel work, we would em- ing, and we would be there until five in the afternoon and
ploy ourselves in other jobs. But as soon as there was shovel fill only two cars of cane, or three, and truly we used to
work we used to go back to it. When the harvest would be- make hardly anything. For that they would pay us at 17
gin there was no pala work and we used to load wagons. As cents a ton; and there were times when in two cars we were
soon as pala work opened up we would leave the wagons able to load five tons and a half, or six; and in three, we
behind, and they would send us to work with the pala. So could load seven, seven and a half, or so, at a price of 17
there were times in a single year when we would work a cents a ton. And a group of wagon-loaders agreed to speak
good while with the little wagons and another stretch with with Don Rafael Gracia, who was then mayordomo at
the pala; but we always worked at these jobs. Destina, to see if he could find some way in which we could
The work of hoyado de resiembro [digging holes for re- earn more money, or if he could reduce the number of
planting cane which had not taken hold] was also a piece- wagon-loaders and use those people in other jobs, so that
work job. I've done that at various wages. I've done it at 35 those who were left might earn more money.
cents a hundred, at 50 cents, at 55 cents, and more, according And that morning we went to him. All of us wagon-loaders
to the way wages were, going up a little as they would at came to an agreement and then we withdrew to a road where
times. In digging cane holes, one used to be able to dig 500 they had picked up the portable rails-where they had al-
holes, or 600 holes; that would depend on the nature of the ready collected the cane-and we were seated there, waiting
soil, the palero, the skill that he had, and so on. For example, for Don Rafael to get to the field. And the field where we
a palero who digs 500 holes a day at 75 cents per 100 holes were lay very close to the colonia, and from the place where
-that's $3.75. And that per day, if one worked a whole week, we were sitting we could take cognizance of all of the activity
came to $15 or $18; because one could also see the instance on the colonia. There we sat and ate our breakfast; and when
where one could come to a place, a cane field, where you it was time for Don Rafael to come down from his house
could take up and dig 500 holes early. Now there could be to get a horse and come to the cane field, almost all the
the morrow when you meet up with a bad soil-tough-and wagon-loaders were there together with us at that moment.
138 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 139
But then suddenly they went off to pile up the cane to fill the loading work and left it to them. And we were better off
the wagons-and what was left was a matter of six or seven with the pala work.
of us wagon-loaders, waiting for Don Rafael to arrive. I do The first time I got to know Don Rafael Gracia was at
not know the attitude of those who went off, what it was in Cuatro Hermanos. When he was at that colonia they used to
this regard-I am not going to say they were afraid-but tell me he was a hard man, that he was a little hard as a
at least they acted as if they were. mayordomo. But I had luck with him in the time I worked
But we waited for Don Rafael there, and we explained the there; no kind of difficulty occurred to me with him. One time
situation-that we were losing time, that what we were earn- something happened to me with him and I came out all
ing was a pittance, and that we had to be there too many right; and after that, I left off working there with him and
hours even though most of the time we were not working. returned to work at Destino. Then they moved him-I don't
There were times when one would load one wagon in the know what kind of negotiation they made with that colonia-
morning, and then another in the afternoon, and leave in the and they brought him here to work at Destino, and then I
evening with credit for two wagons of cane. Then he told us worked again with him here. And many people used to say he
he could withdraw a few loaders, but there were times on was a hard man. Now, I don't know, because during the time
Saturdays when there would be less people, and then he that he was so tough, the same ones who used to say so
would have a problem. So then he decided to leave that con- lamented at the time of his departure; and I could say that
siderable number of loaders, and he sent us once again to when Don Rafael was at Destino he was a completely good
work with the shovel. He allotted us shovel work, starting up person with me and I have no complaints concerning him.
with the spring cane planting. We had enough work then, And as I just said, there were people who lamented his going
but during those days he was always looking for one way when he left Destino. I don't know what the explanation
or another in which we might earn a little more than we were would be-the one who came after him was a little drastic,
earning, and not have to work the hours which we were perhaps, and then they missed him. But many people noted
working. And we-well, we were very content going back to his absence.
the shovel, because I used to like shovel work the best, and
the same for Compadre Marcial. You told me once that the paleros of old used to suffer from
Then we left wagon-loading. The others went on strug- hernias as a result of pala labor. Can you tell me more about
gling with those wagons. And Don Rafael was right, because that?
there were times on Saturdays when lots of people would go When we used to be together-Compadre Marcial, and
off, and then he had trouble getting people to fill the wagons Conrado, and other paleros, those of now-sometimes we
which they had to fill every day. This was the view he had would talk of this matter of the paleros of olden times. And
put before us, and it was a logical position. We could not it would come to our minds that it might have been this de-
have made a commitment for the whole wagon-loading task termination of theirs in piecework, trying to earn more money,
because we would not have been able to give him results. We to such an extent that they looked less well after their health
were only about six men; we could not accomplish a job that and might have gotten ruptured from it. For example, by a
25 or 30 could accomplish. Now if we had been magicians bad dig with the shovel a person might suffer this sickness.
we might have made ourselves responsible for that, but it was I believe so-I'm not sure, but it seems so to me. The palero
impossible. Then he sought that other way, and took us from must use his feet and at times push with the foot that presses
140 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 141
on the shovel-hard. Well, in a swampy section or in times of Something else I ought to tell you about. I once spoke of
rain, when he presses hard with that foot, he can slip, and I be- a strike they had here. At the time of that strike I was a boy
lieve a man can easily incapacitate himself that way. And in the [1917]. I only took part because as they were coming along
same way in the swamps, where ditches are cut, each time the road and shouting vivas and so on-well, I joined up with
the palero struggles to take up a mass of mud, lift it out of the the group and walked a while shouting too, but I didn't know
ditch, and throw it to one side, it is a great quantity of earth even what they were shouting for! Yet I can remember when
that he lifts because the earth is wet. And when he lifts it up, they used to have strikes here, and the way they used to bring
he lifts what we used to call a cospe [a mass]-heavy-1 those who came to break the strikes [1920-1922]. They would
attribute it also to this. If this same palero is not standing go and bring trucks full of people from the west, from Yauco,
the right way when lifting this great lump of earth he also Guanica, and those places over that way-they would bring
can easily get a rupture from that. What's more, they used them from there to break strikes that were started here. They
to gamble and compete in these jobs, because each one didn't would bring those people and stick them in the colonias. And
want the other to do more work than he. And if he were the colonias also had a great number of people living on them.
making cane holes, he would be anxious that the other not Then it was the ones living here in the barrio who used to
cut more than he. And they always used to have this kind of suffer the worst. Because while the strike was going on, the
fight, see? people of the barrio, those who lived here in this outside part,
These are things that we ourselves used to wonder about would remain on strike while those who were living within
sometimes when we used to get together. Because today the colonia used to go on working, in addition to those
not so many of these cases occur. You may see one, but it's brought from other towns. And that is what made it a little
not like then, when almost all paleros ended up useless from hard for the strikers to control the situation. The colonias
this sickness. I have in mind many persons who were inca- had many different points of entrance-gateways-but when
pacitated and were paleros-for example I remember Don the strike would start, right away they used to lock the gates-
Venturo Antonetti; Don Juan Toro, the father of Compadre they' d put on a lock. And then some employee would come
Marcial; Valentin Alicea; Celestino Santiago; all of these men to guard and to care for these gates so that no striker could
were paleros, and all were useless ( inutiles). So all this had enter. And so the workers that were brought here would
to be a consequence of something, because one didn't see so remain inside the colonias until after the strike was over. They
many useless people on the other jobs. I believe that it must would never come out to the barrio. After the strike was over
have come from something they did. It could be from the was when they would begin to come out. It was rare that
excess of work, or not looking after themselves in time, or you would see one of them coming to the barrio otherwise so
from the way they handled the shovel, as I explained before. that the strikers would have a chance for some exchange of
But today's palero isn't maimed like this. In spite of that opinions with them concerning their supporting or joining
pain I told you about before, well, that trouble of mine was up with the movement.
not a rupture like the others had. Rather, I felt only this pain, I never worked during a strike period. First, because at
and I had had it before I became a palero. I felt this pain, times my necessity was not so great, and other times because
but I didn't know at the moment it occurred if it were from it seems a little hard to me that a person should be called a
some badly placed dig with the shovel or what. Finally, thank strikebreaker. To me that word is a little strong. So I always
God, it has disappeared, and I have not felt it any more. have abstained from work during strikes. And when strikes
142 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 143
came along and I had to stop working, well, I always had my I always preferred credit at local stores to the American
credit. And my credit would always carry me a part of the stores, thinking of the week when I might not be working. The
time that they were on strike. One restricts oneself to eating American store would not give me credit, while with credit
less when one is not working; and those periods of strikes here, if I don't have work one week or two, well, the local
passed that way. But there are people whom necessity com- stores give me the food for my children; and when I return to
pels to work. They have big families and often no credit, and work I can pay off the account little by little. I don't know if
necessity obliges them to succumb. the American stores would give credit in the period of a
There was a lad here, a friend of ours, who sometimes strike to the people they used to sell to. I know that they do
worked during a strike. And I sympathized with him because ordinarily, because recently when Clemente was living there
he had a big family. In one strike when they distributed a in Destino many people traded there and they got credit
little food they brought here, I fought for their giving him a there, and even used to owe accounts there during the harvest,
part of what they were distributing, even though he wasn't which they paid off little by little. Now during a strike-I
a union member, so that he might hold back a few days with- doubt it. It seems to me ·the company would be the first to
out working; because in reality necessity obliged him to work. correct that and not trust them, in order thereby to obligate
He had so many little children. I myself took out a part of them to go to work.
what there was and gave it to him. Let me turn now to the year 1932. When EH was pregnant
But I never, never in my life have worked during the period with PabHn in the first months, Compadre Jose Espada, who
of a strike. One learns. They can teach one, because indeed came every week from the highlands to this barrio to work,
you know that you are doing something that is bad; you made me the proposition that I send Elisabeth there so she
know that there are many fathers of families here in the could recuperate a little from an illness of the pregnancy.
street whose sons are not eating because they are in this And I told him I was going to send her. But after about two
movement. Well, those people cannot be in a good humor, weeks, I was left without work, and then he invited all of
and if you work, you run that risk. I believe it is a lesson that us to go there for as long as a month. I accepted, and the two
does not have to be taught; one learns it alone, for hirnseH. of us went, with Carmen Iris, who was just a baby. They
I would have credit at our little stores in the barrio. I am brought us a donkey, and we went by animal as far as Santa
not able to tell you if the company stores gave credit during Catalina [a rural barrio of Coamo] because at that time it was
the strikes because I never bought much from them; I never difficult to go there by car. The roads were no good. They
liked this business of a company store. First, tickets were were merely paths, quite difficult for car travel. And we were
needed to buy in the company store. Then one had to be at there about two or two and a half months. There was Com-
the heels of the timekeeper, and if the timekeeper wouldn't padre Jose, and Comadre Dulfa, and a girl they called Luz.
punch the ticket, well, one could not buy at the company And they were bringing up a little boy about the size of
store. It was a system I didn't like, always waiting for the Roberto [Taso's eight-year-old son]. And Carmen Iris, always
timekeeper to come to punch the ticket in order then to be given to yelling loudly, used to spend the whole day scream-
able to go to buy at the store. They had another system I ing, and the little boy would tell her, "Shut up, fire whistle!"
disliked. Those stores formerly were closed off in the front. And we enjoyed the fights between those two, she for not
There were several little windows through which one had to shutting up, and he for making her.
make purchases, so the customer didn't see how they were I got quite used to it up there; but only during the day.
weighing goods or anything. I didn't care for those things. And the same happened with Elisabeth. During the day it
144 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 145
is a lovely highland. But when night came I couldn't get used them, and that is the fear they have of the people of color.
to it. And we were up there for that period of time, during So they don't want to come down to the coast.
which Elisabeth recuperated somewhat-though it was really
a foolish matter, since it was a consequence of her pregnancy. One day in 1932 at a time when I badly needed a house
But at least in the time she was there she rested. And I rested Adolfo David came to me. He is a friend to whom I will be
too, although I helped Compadre there with whatever he had grateful for the whole of my life. He told me, "Go where my
to do in the house. Elisabeth used to go out walking with mother is; tell her to give you a house plot; and I'm going to
Comadre Dulfa, but as she was not working she had an easier help see that she gives you a lot." I was a little timid about it,
time. for at that time people didn't want to rent lots to anyone-
At night, however, the highland country is a little sad, but I decided to do it, for necessity decided me-and I came
different from what it is here, what we are accustomed to on to talk with her. Then she put many obstacles before me. She
the coast, in terms of moving around, friendships, convers- told me she had problems with her mother, that her mother
ing at night, and so on. There it is very different. The houses had started a lawsuit against her. But then Adolfo got into the
are remote from each other, set back from each other, and the discussion and said, "No, Mother, let him; you know what
roads rather bad. If one arrives there at night and without a he's like, we know him." Then she said, 'Well, take the spot
light, one can't move around because there are ravines and you want."
dangerous places. And for one to walk about without a light Then, when I got back home I was very pleased. Elisabeth's
is impossible, and a person who doesn't know those places, father was a carpenter. And he came to put up the house in
well, he really can't leave the house. So when night would Comadre Antonia's lot. And when he began to put the house
come, the only diversion was to seat ourselves in the front door together with the material I had we found we were short one
and talk, Compadre Jose and I. During the day Compadre Jose wall; we were left open to the street. Then he recommended
didn't drink. But when night arrived he would take a bottle and to me a man who was living here, to see if he would lend me
put it in the doorway and light up a cigar, and there he would money. Wood at that time was very cheap, and I went and
be until he finished the bottle and smoked two or three got money. I remember it as if it were now; I got $14. With
cigars; and we would converse there a while, and then to bed. this $14 I bought wood for the wall and I bought the doors
And I never got very accustomed to that atmosphere, for I I needed, in short, I finished the nine-by-sixteen house. And
was a little uncomfortable at night. Although in the daytime then I had this account with him. I settled it with a few
I liked it a lot because we entertained ourselves, Compadre animals I had, raising them on shares, and with surplus from
Jose and I, walking through the farms and helping with the my earnings. At that time one would work from six in the
things they were doing there, minor crops that they were morning until six at night-a day and a quarter-and they
cultivating, and with Comadre Dulfa and Luz, picking coffee paid one dollar. We used to earn $5.80 per week, for on
and singing in the coffee groves. And really I liked the days Saturday there was no quarter day.
a lot. But when night came it was as if it were a cemetery. After we paid the money then we no longer had the prob-
When we left I invited Compadre Jose's mother to come lem of a house. At that time we already had two children.
here, and she said no, she was afraid! The highlanders fear the We had-better said-we had had three, and the oldest had
people of color of the coast because they believe all the peo- died-we had PabHn and Carmen Iris. Rather, PabHn was
ple of color are witches, and that they are able to bewitch born when we moved to the new house.
146 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 147
Concerning Pabl:in's birth, I am going to tell you something I was still a considerable time without work, keeping going
that you brought to mind with a question. It was in the time with God's help.
of the 1932 political campaign. At that time I was working At the time they threw me out of work it was a few months
at Colonia Texidor, and they threw me off the job. You could before the elections of 1932. What happened was that they
say I was then in no position to help Elisabeth to prepare sent me to repair a canal which the water had broken through.
for the new baby. It was a terrible situation. At that time I They sent me to close it off with some cement. And I was
was not able to make twenty-five cents available for her needs. closing it off with another person who was working at Colonia
It was the year in which I think I suffered the most. And I Texidor, a man who was always close to the mayordomos; and
can tell you that for that child, Elisabeth had to take her good he was against my political position. And while we were
dress to make shirts for PabHn. That was how things were. working there, the mayordomo came by. We were not discuss-
I had bought that dress for Elisabeth and it had cost me $9; ing politics at the moment, but when the mayordomo, Don
I had bought it from Don Cayetano, and I had bought it on Benigno Patino, arrived the other began to show off his
time. And that was the situation and that was what Elisabeth politics. And I, never being one to hide his ideals from any-
had to do when the time of Pabl:in's birth came. So I was one-I always thought this way-we undertook to discuss
badly off at the time. And after he was born I had to make politics, he defending his party and I speaking about mine.
great sacrifices in order to give something to the midwife. I was a little partisan about my party; I already had much
And Comadre Antonia used to come by to lend us a hand love for it. Well, the mayordomo did not mix in the conversa-
and to do something for us. And Antolina, who was not in tion. And I remained at work the rest of the day and came
very good condition herself at that time-she also helped us home, and when I went to work the next day, they told me
with whatever she had. But at that time I really suffered there was no work. And the next day there was no work; and
enough; and after he was born I had about six or seven months finally work ended for me. So I believe this was the origin
wholly without work. of my being suspended from work-the conversation right in
Afterward they gave us work on the road. And I went to front of the mayordomo, and then the mayordomo doing
work. I never had worked for the government and I believed things in this way. I was what you could call a long while
I had gotten a great job-that I might be working some fifteen without work.
days. And after I worked the first day the boss on the road
came and told us each one was going to work just two days Here is Elfs description of Taso's blacklisting.
because the work had to be divided among all those that Well, Taso went off to work and came back because they
needed work. It was a humane thing, but really my situation gave him no work. According to what he said, it was an
was a little serious and I needed to work more. Yet I had to arrogance of that mayordomo Patino, done to him because
make the best of it. And I went so far as to do something that of politics. We were Socialists at the time and they wanted
was not good-there were times when I had work as much to punish Taso because he was in politics. They retaliated by
as four days, and then would put down two days to another's not giving him work, and that was when we really began to
credit in order to cover me for the four days. The name of suffer. He would go out looking for work at all of the colonias
Salvador, Elisabeth's brother, would be put down and he and wouldn't find it. And Mama would help us out "with
would get the money and give it to me, so that I would have a plate," as we say. If it were but water she was boiling at
something more to live on. And after that campaign was over home, she would send some to me. Many times you would
148 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 149
see the plate of food she sent being shared between us two with. And then near us there was living a neighbor lady they
and a small child we had then-it seems to me it was Carmen called Dofia Candida, and when I bore Pablin that lady used
Iris, because that was when I was pregnant with Pablin. to come and take the diapers and wash them; and you could
Carmen was already weaned. And we spent a long time that say she was the one who attended me, who helped me in the
way. And that was the period when, if we came to have a necessities of the house.
quarter, or 8 or 10 cents, we always used to buy cornmeal, That mayordomo made me angry, see? I said he was a man
because you got the most for your money. And the way to without a heart, see, that he was a man who didn't think of
make it so it gave the most was to boil it soft. I used to take the sufferings of others-he didn't think about how a man's
that cornmeal and put it in a pot of water to boil, and that family could go hungry. That man was heartless; or else he
cornmeal would buzz around in that pot! I was trying to get didn't think of his own family, he didn't think that perhaps
the most out of that cornmeal; and the cornmeal painted the some day the same thing might happen to him, to suffer hunger
kitchen wall yellow. When the meal began to boil it would with his children; that was what I always thought. I didn't
begin to shoot out bits and paint the wall, and many times I discuss it with anyone, you know, because I don't like to com-
had to leave the pot by itself because it used to paint me too! ment about these things with neighbors. We suffered what-
And as it was hot it would burn me, and I'd have to run out ever we suffered, but we suffered in the love of God and
of the kitchen till it stopped spitting. Because it was like a silently, at home. Very few people knew what we were experi-
tornado, it was as if it were shooting off bullets, and those encing apart from the nearest neighbors, like Comadre Antonia
little balls would fall upon one everywhere. David, the owner of the neighboring lot, who would appear
We were in that situation for some time, living like that. many mornings at our door with a pot of coffee for us. She
And during that time I was pregnant with PabHn, and we would call me or Taso and give us coffee in the morning;
were in the worst possible condition. I had not been able to only the nearest neighbors knew of our circumstances.
prepare even a rag. And there came the time when the only
good dress I had was in the trunk; it was of a cloth they call Taso continues his story.
claro de luna. And when the moment came that I had to make At the time that I was blacklisted, I was sergeant-at-arms
the little shirts for when the child would be born, there was no of the Committee of the Red Card (Carta Roja) which func-
way of doing it. Some neighbor women helped me with some tioned within the Socialist party. We members of the Red
clothes, some old worn-out things from infants they had. Card were the people who would be candidates for possible
I don't remember who those neighbors were, but I know jobs in the municipality if the party should win. At that time
they helped in that regard. And then it came my tum. I took we had to pay dues. I don't remember how much they were.
the dress-which I had for an emergency, you see, if it If I recall correctly, it was something like a dollar every three
should happen that I had to go to the hospital-I took my months; a small matter, but we had to pay it. My work was to
new dress and I put it to the scissors and I made, it seems to summon all the members each time there was a meeting and
me, three or four little shirts from the skirt, which was full. maintain order during the meetings. And I came to the Socialist
And for bonnets, I made several from the top part. I made party in those elections with much enthusiasm, since they
little bonnets, and those were the bonnets I used on Pablin had a good program and they told us the laws that they pro-
when he was born. I don't remember if he had shoes or not. posed to put in force. I remember some of them, such as the
It seems to me I didn't get shoes, and if I did they were old 500-acre law, and the distribution of land, and an infinity of
ones given to us. I know I didn't have anything to buy them laws that exist today but that were already in the program of
150 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927--39) 151
the Socialist party. That was what made me come to the In the elections of 1932, the Socialist party leaders instructed
Socialist party and :6ght for some time on its side. us that the voter who came with a little yellow ticket hidden
When the days of the elections came around I worked in a under his shirt front was a voter who really didn't have a
voting place on the Calle Guayama in Santa Isabel. It was vote--who was coming to vote in place of some other. And
a two-room house and those rooms were the voting places. so we Socialist party committeemen were to let this one go
I worked that day as secretary for the Socialist party. During by, because he was going to vote with our party.
the morning a man who has since died, named Francisco See how it was? That was in 1932, and in 1936 the same
Robledo, came to work for the Liberal party and for the things were going on. We had that procedure, and they also
Republican party one named Julio. And during the course of must have had the same; but we didn't understand their
the election the functionaries of the Liberal party were code. Now when such a person came, we would secretly iden-
changed many times, because of the many arguments that de- tify him by the yellow ticket that he had here in the front of
veloped in the voting place in those campaigns. They would his shirt. And we gave him his chance to vote, unless the
go and leave their posts, and then other officials would have others opposed him, because we knew that this was a voter
to come to carry out the work until the end of the day. who would vote with us. If they knew the person and they
The last one we worked with that day-that is, with whom opposed him, then it was for the judges at the table there to
I worked that day-was Don Rafael Gracia. It was already decide. There would be a discussion and it would be clari:6ed,
around nine at night and we were still struggling with the and if he wasn't able to vote, he didn't vote; and if they had
election returns, and he was the one representing the Liberals any doubts, they didn't let him vote. And that was the way
at the time. He was the mayordomo at Colonia Destina, and things were carried out. In that election we won-or rather,
there he was, working alongside me in the polling station. In the Coalition won, we Socialists alone did not.
the other station, on the other side, was Don Benigno Patillo, The Socialist party leaders had made me a promise that I
the mayordomo of Colonia Texidor, who threw me out of would have work-that if they shared in winning the elections,
work and blacklisted me. They used this system so that when they would help me in one way or another. But after the elec-
the voters came from their colonias to vote, they were con- tions were over, I went to them different times with the end
fronted with the mayordomos sitting there. And then you that they afford me what they had offered me. And they never
could see the fear. Then they would vote for their party for gave me a chance. Some of those who had worked in the
fear that when they went back home they would be thrown voting place with me were given up to $10. I don't know-
out, or some such thing-whatever oppression the mayordomo I was the one with bad luck because they never gave me
would think of-and so the voters would vote with them. even a penny. I was there the next day, celebrating the tri-
They had a system that almost always told them how one umph in the Municipal Hall, and they did give us food; but
voted. They'd know. Because I've also worked at the table, they never gave me a penny. And I know they had money be-
and when I was interested in knowing how a person voted, cause they got help from different places, and they collected
I've investigated. The voting booths were made of thick paper, money with our help. But never, never did they give me any-
and the paper would wrinkle and tear. And the functionaries thing, or meet the promise they made me, that they would
of the polling station had the privilege of standing around. give me some little job-that, too, they failed to give me.
And they walked about while the voter was marking his There was for instance the mayordomo of the hospital-
ballot, and they usually could get to know how he voted. And the one who looks after the hospital. Or the janitor's job. In
one has his little methods for investigating-something else. the Municipal Hall there is always a janitor and in the schools
152 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 153
there are also janitors; and there are different jobs in the town, after looking at the way things were and the way they be-
so if they had wanted to help one, they could have. It could haved that I would struggle no more with those matters.
be that there were others in the town who were nearer than I, Now I always continued looking to my party-that is, not
and they gave the chance to them, since I was farther away; my party, but rather to the [political] obligations that I had.
but in any case they gave me nothing they promised me. And in the campaign of 1936 I had no political activities at
And the treasurer and school director was a relative of all-Elisabeth and I simply went and voted. Eli also voted.
mine. And I troubled him one time for some medicine for one She also voted in the same polling place as I. Elisabeth was
of my kids who was sick and he refused me the help. He told one of those Socialists who used to like to get dressed up in
me he couldn't help me, and he put a great many obstacles a red dress, with red stockings, and she would go there to
in my way and so I gave that up. And then Carlos Curet met vote-a veritable torch. She always voted for the same party
me in the street, and he asked me my situation and I told him, as I. And we came back to the barrio to await the results of
and then he went with me to the pharmacy and authorized my the election that they would bring there to the barrio-some-
getting the medicine. And Saturday when I went to pay for it, thing I had always awaited before in the town. That timP-,
he didn't want me to pay for it, saying that he would. In well, as soon as I voted, I went and came back to my house.
those days they had given him a little job working in weights I decided to fight no more in political matters.
and measures, and he made himself responsible for those
pennies for medicine. But honestly, the one to whom I'd I ought to mention the hurricane of San Cipriano [Sept. 26,
gone to get help-and I knew that he really could give it to 1932]. Here on this coast it was no great thing; but we always
me-and he refused it to me-well, that was the pay I got for have to prepare for the worst. I had come from the Moras'
the service I had rendered. house, which was the only place in the barrio that had a radio.
When all that happened, I then told them the same as I am It had been a little hard to understand the news they were
telling you-that I would work no more in those committees, giving on the radio at the time. The radios were not so modern
and they could give my post as sergeant-at-arms of the Red and since the electric lines are so near here they operated
Card to anyone else, and that I would not work in the voting with terrible static; and a great number of people were
places either. And actually after what I had gone through eagerly awaiting the news they were giving. We were listen-
there, I didn't feel like working any more in the voting places; ing to the news, listening to what they were saying in San
it was a tremendous struggle. In Santa Isabel, I believe the Juan. There had been a very strong wind here already. It was
whole town voted in just eight voting places. And it wasn't not a question of danger, but rather that one took notice of
like now when, if I am not mistaken, there are 150 voters to that wind; it was not an ordinary wind. It was much stronger,
each voting place. In that time a great number of voters used causing a great movement of the trees and the cane. And I
to vote in a voting place, and sometimes we would still be remember I was there listening to the news until they an-
struggling at midnight with the returns. One went through nounced in San Juan that one of the station towers had fallen.
a lot in that 1932 period that we're referring to-one suffered And that ended the transmission and we could hear no more.
hunger and thirst in those voting places. One could not stop Then the night passed, but here in this area there were no
work for a moment to go out of the polling places, and if one grave consequences.
were to go out, afterward they wouldn't let him go in again. It's a custom here that always when they announce hur-
It was excessively fierce politics in that period. And I decided ricanes one goes to the place of greatest safety, and :if the
154 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927--39) 155
hurricane passes somewhere else, well, it goes. But particularly charged me $1.50. I was carrying with me $2 and change. In
when night comes one wants to have refuge in the safest Mayaguez, I caught a bus and the bus cost me 50 cents to
place, because if it comes this way during the night that is a Aguadilla. And when I got to Aguadilla I was out of money,
little dangerous. And one always takes these precautionary but I was already pretty near to where they were.
measures and seeks to do them during the day. And the night Then I continued on foot. It wasn't very far but it was
passed and another day came, and actually nothing happened pretty rough because there is a terrific hill. I wasn't happy
in this region. But then we were able to read about it in the about walking there in that rough country but I climbed up to
papers; they reported afterward what had happened there on the place, and when I got to their house it was getting dark.
the north coast. That section was really completely torn up. The cane planta-
I had a problem in the hurricane of San Cipriano because tions there looked as if a fiery wind had passed over them.
at that time Rosa and Lalo were living on the north coast in I saw houses that were completely overturned, with the top
Aguadilla. I wrote to find out how they were but I didn't get parts underneath and the bottoms up in the air. And along
any answer from them. That made me anxious because I the road that led to their barrio, I saw families living on the
read in a paper what had happened in that area. In the place shoulder of the road, sitting and cooking without hope there.
where they were living there was a ravine, and a family of When I got to my brother-in-law Cornelio's house, one of
eleven persons had been carried off and drowned there. And my feet was badly cut and had swollen up from the walk
when I read of such things, it had my mind in a turmoil. I I'd taken. I stayed there two weeks. The mayordomo there
didn't know how the family was. Then I decided to make a was disposed to put me to work. I didn't want to, because my
trip to where they were, but I had no money. I wasn't work- foot was bad, but he wanted me to do anything that I wanted
ing then either, because the work we got in those days, as there, so I went to work for a week. They put us to work
I've told you, was scarce. And we continued suffering the removing the waste that the ravine waters had dragged along
scarcity of money when this storm came. So I decided to go and cast about in the cane. I worked there those days. After-
to where my brother Pablo was-to Guayama. My brother ward I came back home.
always used to make out all right there-he always managed No harm had come to the family; they were completely
with his $40 or $50. I got to where he was and explained safe. They told me of the things that had happened to them
my situation and what my aim was. And I remember that he because they were living in such a perilous place. I could ap-
gave me $3. He wasn't doing too well, but out of what he had preciate it because their house was situated where a great deal
he gave me $3. I made that trip to Guayama on foot, because of water used to concentrate. During the hurricane there was a
I had no money. Then I took a public car back here. I got heavy rain. And the entrance to the ravine nearby got plugged
home, and from what I brought I told Elisabeth to make up and the water was passing underneath the house. And it
dinner, because we ·were really badly off at that time. backed up at a place called La Charca and began to rise, and
I took the rest of the money to make my trip. In the morn- then the overflow began to reach the house. They told me
ing I got a car-the one that was carrying the newspapers that the water reached to the house floor; I could appreciate
around at that time. The driver was taking the papers as far all this because there was more rain while I was there, and
as ~layagiiez-it was only during the hurricane period that he some cartloads of cane at the side of the house were covered
did that. I'd thought that it would be a trip only as far as over by the water. I can well imagine that the night of the
Ponce, but when we got there, he told me he was going to hurricane they must have been a little worried in that house!
Mayaguez. I continued with him to Mayaguez, and there he During San Cipriano there were great problems there, great
156 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 157
suffering. They told me about a family who had left their but it was impossible to get one. I had to start home on foot,
house seeking refuge. Their house remained perfectly safe with the hope that some car would overtake me. And at the
but all of them lost their lives. Afterward I returned home end of the Calle de Comercio in Ponce I got on a bus that
here and went back to work. came as far as the Mercedes sugar mill. And in Mercedes I
got off and continued walking as far as the causeway when
Later on, in 1934, EH endured an illness which was terrible. a driver I knew came by; I waved to him and he stopped. He
I suffered greatly, greatly with this illness of Elisabeth's. The was named Fernandez. I told him that if he would bring me
woman was failing, failing, failing. And she was pregnant- home, I would pay him well-though I didn't have much
it was with a boy we had who died, whom we called Giiiso; money on me, Antolina would be able to give me a couple of
he was named Luis. And I sent her to be examined in various dollars to pay him. Well, he told me he couldn't do it because
hospitals here and as far away as Aguirre. Nowhere did they he had to take the relief workers to Boca Chica mill-it was
discover the embryo, and the woman simply got sicker and harvest time. Then I got in the car and he let me out at the
still sicker. Then I sent her one day to the District Hospital very entrance to Boca ·Chica. There I spoke with the gate-
in Ponce. There the doctor examined her and took some keeper who puts the chains across the railway crossing on the
X-rays. And then they told her exactly. She was pregnant- road. I spoke with him, and he told me, "If you can wait till
and they even told her the number of months she had. When morning the trucks that leave here go to carry sugar to the
she returned home we began to treat her illness. She had Caribe mill and there-" But I told him that wasn't my prob-
become terribly weak. Then we began to treat her. lem, that by morning I would have to be here, that I was in
Well, the woman improved. But in that period of her sick- a great hurry; and I continued walking.
ness, I came one day from work and told Antolina to take Before I had reached Pastillo village a truck reached me-
her to Ponce to Dr. Om so he could examine her and prescribe one of those carrying sugar. I had seen this same truck stopped
for her. And when they came back in the afternoon, she in the Calle de Comercio in Ponce when I left. The driver
showed me the prescription and I realized that EH was later told me that he recognized me, that he had thought I
seriously ill. I had been paid $5.10 that day. At that time I was was going to some place near Ponce. When I signaled him
working on the railway and that was my weekly earnings: he stopped. I got on and he asked me what had happened,
$5.10. And because her condition was so bad, I took the pre- and I explained my situation. Then he gave me some advice.
scription that Tole brought and went immediately to seek He said, "Look, if this should ever happen to you again, never
the medicine. I went to Salinas and could not find it; I went on come to this place, because I only stopped here for you be-
to Guayama but they did not have it there; then I came back cause I recognized you from when you passed by on Calle
toward Ponce. I borrowed money in Salinas from our boss de Comercio carrying that little sack in your hand." Actually,
on my way through, and went on to Ponce. And in the new I knew it was a tough spot. But necessity had obliged me to
pharmacy there I got the medicine. I tied it up in a little sack- come, even though I was on foot, because I had left my
that is, in a handkerchief. woman in grave danger. So it was that in this truck I finally
It had been about 8:30 P.M. when I passed through here got to Jauca.
en route to Ponce. I didn't stop to say anything to people in When I got to Tole's house the door was ajar, because one
the house because it was a matter of haste. I left no word at who goes to Salinas to seek medicine for a sick person and
all, and went on swiftly. After I got the medicine I waited on at midnight still has not appeared-they believed that some-
the Calle de Comercio in Ponce for a public passenger car, thing else had happened. But, thank God, when I arrived I
r
158 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 159
had the medicine and we gave it to the woman and she im- struggle with different problems. For one part, it was good;
proved. And she convalesced. But when the time of delivery for another, it did not suit me. In his house I was fine; he had
came she was terribly sick. When she gave birth to the child many things there. But then I went to live apart-you see,
Elisabeth suffered a relapse-she went four days without I brought my family there. I brought my wife and the children
knowing anyone. And the first day I went in a hurry and got I had. Cornelio himself helped me out, helped me find a
Dr. Velez. And Dr. Velez told me I could do nothing because house, and I went to live there.
she was dying already. I told him to prescribe for her-that But at that time things were even worse there than here--
while there was life, I would make the necessary efforts to a man used to earn 50 cents a day. That was the wage they
help her. And he answered me like this: 'Well, if you wish, were paying for agricultural work, irrigation, cane cutting,
give her serum. That is the only thing that may help her en- and all. Then when I went to live in that little house, the
')
dure a little." greatest problem developed. With the 50 cents they were
Afterward he prescribed three bottles of serum daily, one paying I was not· able to pay the rental of a house and main-
in the morning, one at noon, and one at night. The one at tain my family. Now, for the people who lived there it was
night was given hot. The bottle was wrapped in a towel put easier, because they had their cultivated plots, and almost
first in hot water to heat it. So for four nights we kept vigil everyone had his cow. But I-everything I wanted to consume
over her, giving coffee and crackers to the people who came, at home I had to go and buy. So our situation was aggravated.
and watching a movement we could see here [he points to These people I am telling you about had little plots of land
the base of his throat]. And on the fourth night, between and with that 50 cents they used to buy their seasonings. But
1 and 2 A.M., she opened her eyes and looked at us. they already had their chick-peas and sweet potatoes and
And Antolina and I, who were always near her bed, re- every kind of green vegetable; they had these but I did not.
joiced greatly. And Lola Lebron, in whose house I had formerly I had to buy them. My brother-in-law helped me a lot: he
lived, was there at that moment; and Epifanio also had come gave me milk for the children and many things, but my prob-
to know how she was. Then on the next day I went and I told lem was serious. I needed more money to resolve my situation.
Dr. Velez that the woman had improved, and he came and While I was in Aguadilla I received a letter from Guayama.
saw her. When he saw her he marvelled. He did not believe The wife of my brother in Guayama had died and he was
he would :6nd her alive. Then he began to change the med- seriously ill. My brother-in-law then gave me money so that
icines, until the woman gained strength, convalesced, and I might visit Guayama. I took the money and went. Then
:6nally arose from this sickness. After she got over this illness, I began to struggle with that problem besides. But my brother
then the situation got bad, bad, bad. Work was what you recuperated soon. While I went to look after my brother my
could call completely scarce. And I had to buy milk for that family stayed behind in Aguadilla. I returned there, and then
boy, Giliso, who later died. we started living in the house I'm telling you about, and we
At that time, as I've told you, my brother-in-law, the father lived there a brief period. But I saw my situation as exces-
of Lalo and Rosa, was living in Aguadilla. He was working sively bad, and at last I decided to return once more to Jauca.
there as a mayordomo for a boss named Don Rafael H. Then I spoke with my brother-in-law. And he didn't want
Lopez. And there, well, he had certain comforts-he had his me to go. But I explained my position. Compadre Obdulio,
own cows and he had some he had let out on shares besides. who was :6rst mayordomo, committed himself to pay for my
He had written me to ask if I wanted to go there for a while. house so that I would not go. But I refused; I said, "No, I'm
I thought about it and I decided to go. But there I had to going."
160 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 161
When I first went there Obdulio had baptized our youngest night Elisabeth was complaining because she was sick, and
child, whom we carried there. We became compadres there. I was also what you could call completely ill with influenza.
And he didn't want me to leave under any circumstances. He And when morning came she told me to get up and make her
saw I was a worker, that I was quite efficient in the work tea. I got up, sick as I was, and lit the light and made ginger
they did there, and he didn't want us to leave; he had come tea and brought it to her. As soon as I gave her the tea I
to appreciate Eli and me. But I wasn't able to stay; the situa- went and lay down once more, and it was a matter of a
tion was too difficult. I spoke with him and resolved to come moment-she lay back and in a minute the boy was born.
back here. Then I sold many of the things I took from here, I was frightened-I hadn't expected anything so sudden. I
and I returned. got up right away and put on my pants and ran out of the
My house here was then stacked up as lumber in Comadre house and brought Comadre Jesusa who lived nearby. She
Antonia's house and had to be rebuilt. Elisabeth came back came and took care of everything, arranged the child and
and got sick again. Antolina was selling knickknacks in the fixed her. Then I went to Herminia's store where I traded,
cane and it was hard for her to watch over Elisabeth at the and bought four or five beers-the malt beers we used to give
same time. Then Antolina suggested that I move my house to women after a delivery-and opened one and poured it
from Comadre Antonia's lot to her lot so she could look after out in a glass. And when Elisabeth took it a great dizziness
Elisabeth. I began working again on the railway; and when I overcame her, and then she had this great collapse. It was a
would come back in the afternoon I would work on the house, terrible thing, and she knew nothing more of the world for
lowering it from the house posts in order to move it. And I four days. That was when I had to walk hard and fast to
moved Elisabeth to Antolina's house and then I moved the bring the doctor and to struggle with her, Tole and I, the two
house itself. I was thus three days moving and putting it up of us struggling with her.
there. Then we began living there and Antolina looked after Later on Moise was born [1935], and Comadre Jesusa also
Elisabeth. attended for Moise. Moise's birth was very easy for Elisabeth
Now Luis-whom we always called Giiiso-was born in and during the pregnancy she had few difficulties. I went to
1934 before we went to Aguadilla. And it was in that period seek Comadre Jesusa, who lived in Paso Seco at the time, and
that Elisabeth had that very bad sickness when I had to run when I returned, the child had already been born. All she
all over during the pregnancy to different places seeking in- had to do was take up the child and cut the umbilical cord.
formation because the doctors had told me that she wasn't Elisabeth was already in bed when she arrived. And after
pregnant; until at last they made those examinations in the that Jose Miguel was born, in 1937. If I don't remember in-
District Hospital in Ponce and established that she was correctly, it was May 9. On this occasion, I don't recall that
pregnant. Then when she gave birth she had that serious Elisabeth had any difficulties or illnesses during the preg-
illness. Comadre Jesusa assisted at that birth. This woman nancy. And Comadre Jesusa attended on this occasion too.
came from the barrio of Paso Seco to live here at the time. On October 27, 1939, Blanca was born. Elisabeth already
And she was the person easiest at hand when Eli was in had her favorite among the midwives and it was Comadre
labor. Jesusa. And though there were midwives nearer, I had to go
Here I'm going to tell you something that happened to that night to Paso Seco, though it was late at night. I went in
me at that time. When Elisabeth gave birth to Giiiso, I had the railway handcar ( terecina) up to the Santa Isabel station,
come home from work sick with influenza and during the and went to the house and called her. And when I called her
162 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 163
they told me she was in Cortada. Then I came back and most continuously during a period of three years; is that
passed by home and in the same handcar went as far as right?
Vaqueria [a nearby upland farm] where Comadre Sandalia What happens is that at times the woman turns out to be
was living and called her. I brought her back and she was pregnant sooner. Because as I told you before, one has a time
the one who attended the birth of Blanca. when one leaves the woman alone. But after this time is past,
Now of the deaths of Luis and of Moise. In Luis' birth the woman can become pregnant again. It can be soon, or it
Elisabeth had her grave illness. That was the birth in which may be later, as in the cases of the others, who took more
she was in danger for a period lasting four days, as I ex- time. I don't know if it was a consequence of her having taken
plained. And after a period of some months we moved to so many medicines in the course of her illness with Luis, or
Aguadilla, and later we returned from Aguadilla and came other things that would have inclined her to have those
back here to the barrio. Luis had two sicknesses that were children more rapidly. It's a little difficult to understand, but
very serious. First, he had an attack of pneumonia, and that this is my opinion, because one always leaves the woman
time Dr. Velez treated him and was able to cure the sickness. alone during the cuarentena-it is the custom.
Later on he got those attacks of pemiciosa, from one of
which he died [October 27, 1937] . Long before that, Moise
was born. That child was born completely robust ( grueso ) You never used birth control techniques?
and fat while L uis, when he was born, was quite weak, No. My opinion is that I don't like those treatments. Now,
surely as a consequence of Elisabeth's illness. But Moise was there have been many cases here, cases I know, where a
quite otherwise; Moise was born a very robust child. And he woman went on her own account and got these things. Other
was a white, white child, completely, like Eusabeth. He had times it may have been because the husband wanted her to
blue eyes. And tbat child died, you could say, ia health- it get them. But there were also cases where there were certain
was very sudden. When 11e began to get those vomiting at- troubles between spouses on account of that. I didn't like the
tacks, he was comp1etely well. And suddenly the vomiting idea. And one has little knowledge of what is involved, you
be an. And in the midst of the vomiting, diarrhea. And Elisa- see? And they have different kinds of things; but in truth
beth and I took him to different places treating him. We I never gave much thought to it. And lately also they began
carried him to Salinas· and to Santa Isabel where Dr. Velez using other things, operations and things, and that I liked
was. And it was not possible to stop either the vomiting or even less. They put a woman's life in peril, you see-that
the diarrhea, until at last these killed him-weakened him so even less. I never gave it any thought.
that at last he died. And that birth had been one of the
easiest that Elisabeth had bad. As I told you before, Elisabeth And no one suggested that many births could have an ef-
had already given birth to that child when Comadre Jesusa fect on the life of the woman? No one suggested you should
arrived. She came only to cut the cord, to take him up and wait more than the forty days?
fix him, and to care for Elisabeth. It was one of the best de- Well, the doctors never talked to me about it.
liveries Elisabeth has had. Later on Blanca was born. With
Blanca, too, Elisabeth had a very easy time.
And birth control devices?
It seems that Eli had PabUn, Luis, and Moise in three suc- Well, when we were kids, there were those who used dif-
cessive years. That would mean you had sexual relations al- ferent things for that, and I never-I saw them, and I thought
164 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 165
they were [he shows disgust and laughs uncomfortably]- You told me it was never possible that the children might
The handling of such things [he laughs with distaste]- be able to see the sex act itself?
No. I am sure that never happened. No.
And when one has many children-for instance, you never
thought it might be a good idea- Till when do the babies sleep in the bed?
W ell, I never thought about that, see? But there are those When they begin noticing things we move them out. Or
who took those treatments, and when not, their women went else Elisabeth sleeps with them and I sleep alone.
and got them. But I never thought about it.
About what age would the child be then?
Nor Eli either? Like Tasita, see? [Tasita is five years old.] She is still sleep-
Neither of us. ing with Elisabeth and I sleep on the cot. Now within a
year I will leave iny cot and we will give it to her.
She never complained about having too many children?
Never. Elisabeth, she sometimes says, "So many children!" There was never a time when one of your children three or
[he laughs]-and the children keep coming. And truly, as I four years old was sleeping with you at the time of a sexual
have said other times, in spite of my poverty and everything act?
I always earned the bread for my children; when there were The little children? No. We-there are times when the
two, when there were three, when there were seven and eight child is-here in-at such a time, well, we either have a small
-I always earned my children's bread, and really it has been cot or something else. Now I don't have it because I dis-
a satisfaction in itself that I could supply those things. But mantled it, they damaged it-good springs, too-well, we
as far as that goes-well, for that part I will tell you that had that and we put two or three little children to sleep
always thanks to God, in one way or another, I managed to there in that separate bed.
provide bread for my sons. There might be some people who
stopped having children because of their economic situation. And it has never happened that the sex act occurred with
one of them in the same bed?
So it seemed to you that those were disagreeable things. It [Long pause.] It may be that one of the little ones may
never occurred to you that using them might be considered have been, at the time when they were very little, but when
a sin? the children already have a-when one knows that they wake
At that time I had no knowledge of that. Now it seems to up for anything, one doesn't do it. One seeks some other
me I have some knowledge of that. way, but not [he laughs uncomfortably]- Those are special
occasions which depend on the opportunity one has, see;
Can you tell me if your distaste was associated with the one must seek every way possible to avoid their seeing.
fact that one uses such things with prostitutes?
Yes. Particularly those things that men used much here in Taso here turned to another subject.
the time of the prostitutes. Then there was a spread of disease, I would like to mention something further here of illnesses
a series of great sicknesses of those women, and the men I have had. I told you before that I first felt the pain of
sought means of protecting themselves from them. And then hernia when I was still a child. J\foch, much later-though it
the thought of using one with one's woman [he shows dis- bothered me occasionally in the meantime-it got so bad that
taste]- I was put in the hospital in Santa Isabel. There a doctor and
.... :=::
166 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 167
a head nurse examined me. He was telling her what he dis- she kept it hidden in the house, and as I was crazy with pain,
covered, probing thus with his fingers, and they had me there I sent Elisabeth to bring me a quart of grape juice and I
for observation, and I believed they were going to operate. mixed it with a quart of rum. I could never drink rum
They gave me a treatment with ice packs and some applica- straight. I mixed them and made a half bottle, and with two
tions of black ointment, until the inflammation went away gulps-with two drinks-I drank that bottle, because I was
six days after they admitted me, and then they didn't operate. insane. And when that too failed to help, I took the rum
I don't remember the date of that, but I had a woman al- straight. I drank and drank, in quantity, and when morning
ready-it was Elisabeth who took me to the hospital. I was came I was far from the world.
at home about four or five days using some local remedies, When I awoke in the morning-Elisabeth was sleeping
but in view of the fact that the pain continued and it became separately-I smelled the foulness of my own drunkenness
difficult for me even to raise myself from the bed to use the [he laughs nervously]; I had vomited everything up. And it
chamber pot, well, she decided to take me to the town. was something terrible. And when I awoke I was terribly
About that time I also suffered an infection in my hand, weak and I called Elisabeth to ask her to clean me up. I
which was the result of the prick of a fish spine. At the time was filled with loathing. Getting into such a condition was a
Tole had a little store-it is larger now-and when I had consequence of that pain, you see, which had me so crazy
nothing to do I would help her in the store. And that day I would do anything.
Elisabeth was ironing, and they came by selling fish and we Then the pain returned, and since it was the pain which
bought some for the house. And as Elisabeth was ironing, I had caused me to think to drink liquor and all that, I resolved
set about cleaning the fish. It happened that as I passed the to go quickly to the hospital in Santa Isabel. They did not
knife to scale them a spine pricked my finger. I thought it want to operate on me because the infection was not yet
would be a trivial thing, and I only undertook to squeeze a mature ( estaba verde )-it was not yet ready for operation.
few drops of blood out of the finger and left it that way. And But I insisted, because I was very tormented. I said they
later on I went again to serve in the store, and I attribute should cut off the finger or whatever, but I was not returning
what happened to putting my hand in a barrel of salt pork home that way. Then the clinician [male nurse; practicante]
( tocino). It formerly came in barrels, with water and every- told me there was no anesthetic. I sent Elisabeth to buy it,
thing. And I believe I got the infection from that. When night and when she arrived with it they had already operated on
came, well, the hand hurt and during the night it bothered me with anesthesia. They did have it at the hospital, but they
me a lot. The next day it bothered me even more, and more, didn't want to operate because they saw it was not yet time
until after hvo or three days, well, I had no life with the for operating. But actually, when they operated and I came
pain I had. Elisabeth stayed up all night struggling with me. home, I slept completely well, what with the night's sleep I
And now there comes to mind a story of what also hap- had lost. I felt relief and slept well. I felt better. But after
pened to me in connection with that. Christmas Eve was ap- two or three days the infection was then moving into the
proaching at the time, and they roasted a pig at Tole's house palm of the hand, and then I spent some three or four days
and made a liver stew. I didn't have the least desire to eat. treating myself at home with hot water to see if I could avoid
But to humor them I ate a little stew, chittlings ( asadura), having to have another operation.
and so on, and a bit of roast pork ( lech6n), and when I went But in view of the fact that it wasn't possible, I decided to
to go to sleep that night I couldn't sleep, and I was insane with go to Salinas. Then Ramon, Elisabeth's brother, and Elisabeth
pain. At that time Tole was selling pitorro [illegal rum] and took me to the doctor, and the doctor gave me some pastilles
-
168 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 169
to dissolve in hot water, in which to put my hand, and he decision to enter politics because of it; the birth and death
told me to wait three days. As soon as we got back here, of Victor (1929--31); the birth of Carmen Iris (1931); Pablin's
Elisabeth prepared the water and I began immersing my birth and the acquisition of a house plot at Comadre An-
hand in the hot water, as hot as possible, and with that it tonia's ( 1933); Taso's blacklisting and his subsequent po-
matured rapidly from one day to the next. And on the follow- litical disillusionment ( 1932-33); the brief stay in Aguadilla
ing day I had no life with it. The hand was completely black ( 1934); the births and deaths of Luis ( 1934-37) and Moise
and swollen and the fingers could not be bent. I got Elisabeth ( 1935-36). Then follow the births of Jose Miguel ( 1937)
and Ramon and went to Salinas again with them; and when and Blanca ( 1939).
I showed the hand to the doctor he was amazed. He told Much of the material which Taso and EH provide in these
me that if I had waited any longer I would have got gangrene narrations does not fall neatly into chronological form. Ell's
in the hand. I told him, "It was you who told me to wait three jealousy of her husband, for instance, was a continuous as-
days, but I could not stand it and came now." pect of their relationship, and did not cease to affect them
Then he ordered a nurse there to perform the operation both seriously until after· many years of living together.
immediately. She covered the hand with iodine and per- Rather more of Taso's personality and intellect are re-
formed the operation, which was something terrible with the vealed by these narrations than in the material on earlier
state that hand was in. And I was suffering from that hand years. One notes his angry reaction to Don Pastor Diaz's high-
something like seven months afterward. It simply would not handedness; he goes into politics at first not to fight for
form a scar over the wound, and afterward also the higher something but to fight against a man who he felt had abused
part swelled up again, so that was the cost of forming a scar him. Diaz himself appears as a prototype of the old-time
on the operation they performed on me. hacendado-eccentric, imperious, selfish, and cruel. Other
I had about seven months of sickness with that. They put Jauquefios told me of Pastor Diaz, however, and did not paint
thirty-three stitches in my hand at that time. I remember his character quite so blackly. He would invite local working
that at first it was a barbarity that I suffered. At the begin- people to serenade him and his wife on the terrace of the
ning they used gauze drains, and it was a terrible thing be- house; at Christmas, he might distribute pennies or small
cause they put them in with clamps, and those clamps at gifts of food and sweets. Whether behaving kindly or cruelly,
times would break off and swell up in the flesh and with that Diaz seems to be a symbol of an earlier era in Puerto Rican
one suffered very much. And later on they put in drains of life, when the relationships between workers and their em-
rubber, and with rubber drains one didn't feel it, since they ployers were as between superior and inferior, the powerful
put the rubber over the wound and push them in easily; but and the weak, and often, as between arbitrary father and
those gauze drains are a terrible thing. It was one of the ill- fearful and dependent son.
nesses that caused me great suffering. Taso's radical spirit is revealed in the story of his black-
listing. By the 1930's most of the land on the south coast was
in the hands of a few corporations, most of them North Amer-
The preceding interviews cover the period from 1927 to ican. The political situation was very dark, and workers were
1939 in Taso's account. Considerable additional material-on forced to vote in line with their employers' interests to keep
illnesses, jobs, and other matters-has been omitted. Viewed their homes and jobs. The distinction between agregados-
sequentially, the major events seem to have been the follow- resident laborers-and independizados-those who did not
ing: the loss of the house plot to Don Pastor Diaz, and Taso's live on hacienda land-is important here. The agregado was
170 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 171
~ven mo:e !-1-°der the thumb of the corporation than his facts are not reported. In any case, in the early years of their
mdependizado co-worker. The agregado lived in a company life together, Taso and Eli were in conflict much of the time,
house traded at a compan store, and was locked on the and Taso's alleged interest in other women was at the root
plantati?n during sb:ikes, when he was compelled to work of their trouble. As so often occurs in Jau ca life, the theme
as a strikebreaker. The independizado was also at the mercy of sexual love lies close to the theme of violence. Eli can
o~ tJ:ie corporations, but not so completely. When Taso Jost describe laughingly how she lay in wait to slash Taso and
bis ]Ob because of his political beliefs (that this was the his supposed girl friend with a razor. But the laughter lies in
cause .is not proved, but seems certain) he was apparently the retrospect. The edge of violence is also revealed when
blacklisted at all the colonias of the area, for he walked the Taso tells how Eli threatened to kill the mother of a girl in
roads for miles in search of work on any farm and was al- whom he was allegedly interested, and how a relative of the
ways turned down when he gave bis name. girl threatened publicly to attack him in turn. What the
His political attitudes are worthy of reflection, since they interviews do not reveal in this connection is an aspect of
seem to be a blending of high principle and self-interest both Taso's character which seems to be important for what de-
£reel) admitted. He would not conceal or surrender his p o- velops later in his life history: a growing sense of guilt.
litical beliefs even when he knew that they threatened bis The narrative reveals something of Taso's restlessness,
economic se.curity. When he desciibes how he sat in the both physical and intellectual. His descriptions of work are
pollin. statio~~ with ~ own mayordomos, who represented precise and detailed. He talks with spirit and interest about
opposmg political parties, he mentions that workers would the strikes, the changes in work routine, the hurricanes, his
come- in to vote, that they would see the mayordomos- "'And visit to the highlands, and other matters. Th ese were very
~~n you cou]d see the fear." He says this without contempt· hard years: political repression and frequent unemployment,
It is the objective judgment of a brave man who feels sorry the lack of a secure home for his family, illnesses and injury,
for the coward because he knows how hard it is to be brave. the deaths of three children- the picture Taso provides is
At the same time Taso was concerned with more than harsh and gloomy. The rare touches of bnmor, as in Elis
~deoJogy ~ . his politics. He wanted a better-paying, easier description of the boiling cornmeal, only add poignancy.
JOb-a political JOb-and he was disappointed vhen he did Certain features of Jauca culture are pointed up. The con-
~ot ~et one.,~ di~~usionment "ith the Socialist party when stant moving about and the search for a home are aspects
1t failed to protect hinl. as he puts it, led him awa - from of a cultural norm described earlier-the expectation that a
politi:S ( thonch h.e later returned, only to undergo a ·similar man will be able to provide his wife and children with an in-
e~-penence ) . Taso s sympathy for a frigl1tened voter is like dependent residence. This problem plagued Taso through
his concern for men who broke strikes because their situation much of his married life and was only resolved permanently
compelled them to do so. He points out that he never broke in later years. Another side of Jauca culture-or rather low-
a. strike, partly out 0£ principle and partly out of fem: of land culture-is .exposed when Taso tells about their stay in
VIOience. Aguadilla and the visit he and Eli made to the highlands in
Eli's jealousy- and Taso's ramblings on women, love, and 1932. The highlands are set apart from the lowlands in Puerto
sex, are not sufficiently clear to permit distinguishing be- Rican life. The lowlands have good transportation, more
tween the true and the imagined or supposed with certaintv. electrification, more contact with the towns. They are the
It seems ~lear that ~H's jealousy was possibly inappropriate areas in which the majority of Puerto Ricans of Negroid
and certainly excessive. It also is likely that all the relevant phenotype are concentrated. The people of the highlands
172 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 173
speak of the "witches of the coast." When the coastal town of competence. Greater knowledge of birth control and contra-
Guayama had a baseball team, the team was officially called ceptive devices was acquired by some Jauqueiios. Horne
Los Brufos (The Witches). Highlanders are not as used to medical remedies, such as the rum-garlic-rue-anarnu mixture
large-scale mechanized agriculture as are lowlanders. They used by women post partum, began to be discarded.
are not as familiar with working for wages and buying their Even greater changes occurred in the sphere of work. Taso
daily food needs; and they are considered backward and un- describes the job of the fulgonero-who would load up to 28
sophisticated by lowlanders. The paternalism which typified tons of cane a day into railroad cars by hand-and how
rural economic relationships in all of Puerto Rico in the mechanical winches replaced the fulgoneros. The palero was
nineteenth century persists in greater strength in the high- gradually eliminated by the introduction of new machines
lands to this day. and new ditching arrangements. With the virtual disappear-
Taso makes clear that he prefers lowland life. His visit ance of the palero's craft, the last vestiges of artisan skill
to Aguadilla was brief; he never found conditions there were removed from the cultivation of sugar cane. Work be-
wholly satisfactory, and he returned to Jauca with his family came increasingly standardized in this period. The rematistas
after less than a year. He was at a disadvantage ''lee he and encabezados, labor bosses who earlier set the price for
lacked the subsistence plots and livestock of his highland work in consultation with the rnayordomos, were replaced
neighbors. His description of his visit with EH to Santa by regular employee-foremen, and the prices for work became
Catalina in the Coamo highlands also suggests that he missed fixed either by piece or day rate. In the first years after the
the evening social events and the relatively greater bustle United States Occupation the new owners could not ac-
of lowland life. Correspondingly, he talks humorously of the curately estimate the maximum amount of work they could
fear the highlanders have of the people of the coast. The exact for the lowest cost, and the labor bosses unconsciously
lowlanders are Negroes; they are witches; they cannot be assisted them in achieving rate standardization. The stand-
trusted. There is a remote analogy with the way city dwellers ardization of work and the elimination of special skills meant
and country folk feel about each other in other countries. that almost any worker could learn to do any job, and workers
Of course, Jauqueiios are considered country folk by the town hence became highly interchangeable, like standard parts in
dwellers; but the J auquefio quite accurately recognizes that a complex machine.
he is as much like the townsman as he is like the rural high- This change was accompanied by another. As more and
lander. He would represent some sort of midpoint if one were more land was cleared and became irrigable, cane cultiva-
to. view the differences along a continuum. In his experience tion spread into sections which had served other purposes
with wage labor, union organization and political activity, before. In the plots where workers had previously kept
store buying, mechanized agriculture, and similar things, he is their livestock or gathered their tinder or animal fodder or
close to being urbanized. building materials, cane now came to be grown. The value of
In the years between 1927 and 1939 changes of great im- such land before had been little and the local hacendados
portance occurred in Jauca culture as well as in Taso's per- had afforded their workers the use of such land as part pay-
sonal life. Standpipes providing pure water along the village ment for labor. The employment of idle land of this kind for
road replaced the surface springs of Palo Seco. Radios were sugar cane cultivation drove local workers toward greater
first introduced into the barrio. Cars became more common cash expenditures, changed their consumption needs and
and the roads were surfaced. Midwives were required to preferences, and made their cash incomes the real measure
take out licenses and to meet official tests of know]Pdge and of their labor worth.
174 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Early Years (1927-39) 175
The extension of corporate control over vast south coast based on deference and favor, which he formed with his
areas signaled the removal from the zone of the hacendados mayordomos and the hacendados, and from the friendship
-the men of Don Pastor Dfaz's stripe, who had previously and kinship relations he had with his neighbors. His inclina-
played so important a part in the lives of local working peo- tion to appeal to authority higher than that represented by the
ple. Taso has already pointed out that formerly many of the local landowners would be slight-such a possibility might
holdings on which he had worked had belonged to particular not even occur to him.
landowners-Don Clotilde Santiago, Don Lucas Perez A man like Taso, in his middle years in 1940, must have
Valdivieso, Don Pastor Dfaz, and so on, always with the seen the world differently. Artisan skills had lost most of their
honorific "Don" attached to their names. The lands of these special value, and they disappeared almost completely there-
men were gradually absorbed by long-term lease or sale and after. The encroachment of the cane upon lands formerly
consolidated within corporation holdings. The owners them- used by working people meant the surrender of many tradi-
selves moved away, persisting only as memories for the older tional noncontractual services and the gradual loss of sec-
workers. Their former holdings sometimes bear their names- ondary sources of noncash· income. The standardization of
Valdivieso, Descartes, Alomar, Texidor-but nothing else of work meant the need to concentrate all one's energies in the
them remains. direction of increasing productivity by wage labor and using
These changes taken together mean that the people of such productivity as the prime measure of one's economic
Barrio Jauca in, say, 1940, were very different in their style worth. The personal relationships with mayordomos and
of life from their parents or grandparents. A man like Taso hacendados lost force-the mayordomos' power diminished as
was living through the period when the changes were in most they too became interchangeable employees of the corpora-
intense flux. A man in middle years who worked on a Jauca tion, and the hacendados moved away, never to return. The
hacienda in 1900 might have certain special skills which now almost entire dependence on cash earnings meant the
helped to set him apart from his fellow Jauquefios. He might acquisition of a more precise picture of one's "worth" meas-
own a cow and several pigs, which he could quarter on ured in dollars and cents. The company stores came to exer-
hacienda land and feed and care for in part out of the cise control over men's use of their time and earnings, and
hacienda resources. His cash income would be very small incidentally exposed workers to a greater variety of attainable
indeed, but he could eke out an existence by subsidiary ac- commodities. The men's feelings of security that came from
tivities, such as fishing and raising livestock, and by availing their personal relationships with superiors diminished, and
himself of whatever perquisites the hacienda provided. He some other source of emotional (as well as economic) support
would not be able easily to measure the cash or purchasing had to be substituted. J auquefios came to think more about
value of his labor, because so much of what he earned would the right to vote, the right to form unions, the right to be
be given him in the form of services and privileges of use. educated, and the value of impersonal institutions, such as
He would buy little for cash and be exposed to little expecta- unions and political parties and courts, in securing preroga-
tion that there were other worthwhile things to be bought tives formerly obtained through personal loyalty and service
besides those known to him in his limited experience. His or, in some cases, previously unknown.
cash dealings would be mainly with itinerant peddlers or with These many changes had the effect in part of "prole-
the small barrio stores which stocked only the daily neces- tarianizing" the people of Jau ca. They were made more alike,
sities. He would know little or nothing of politics and unions. so to speak, by what was happening around them. At the
His sense of security would flow from the personal relations, same time, however, these same changes had the effect of
176 Worker in the Cane
making individuals more aware of their own separateness of
identity-Jauquefios were becoming more "individualized" CHAPTER 6
simultaneously as they became more proletarianized. This is
no paradox. The effects of the United States Occupation,
particularly in economic terms, were to make individuals see Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49)
themselves as isolates rather than as members of a coherent
hacienda community. On the one hand, they came to feel
more sharply their identity with many workers throughout
the sugar corporation zones. On the other, each became in-
creasingly aware that his fate depended quite precisely on
I ErA VE YET to give you a description of the way Elisabeth
his own performance, especially at work. It was impossible
to curry personal favor with something called la compafiia. helped me from the time we fust lived tog~ther. In :1e _be-
It was not easy to coax special dispensations out of a ginning she helped me by takmg in washmg and rronmg.
mayordomo whose quotas of work and disposable funds were Later on she gave that up and started selling past~les [cakes
made of mashed plantain and meat, wrapped m banana
set more and more by agricultural scientists working in an
office fifty miles away. leaves and boiled]. She used to make the pasteles on Satur-
days and go to sell them at Colonia Texidor. She had that
Certainly Jauquefios tried-probably quite unconsciously-
business for about two years. But one Saturday after she had
to maintain the traditional p atterns of relationship. But
made the pasteles and prepared to sell them, she got a fever
mayordomos grew less and less willing to become godparents
to workers' children. Fewer and fewer personal services could and wasn't able to go. At that time, I was loading cane on
the railroad cars at Colonia Valdivieso. When I came home
be claimed on the basis of faithfu] effort or long-time resi-
in the afternoon I found her sick with fever. We divided up
dence. The imperson al institutions of the larger society, such
the pasteles among the neighbors and sold some to people
as political parties and labor unions, bad to become more
in the houses nearby.
important at the same time that each worker inclined more
Eli had a different kind of pastel business before that, too.
and more to perceive himself as separate and alone in his
economic struggles. She had it a long time, and it was a business that paid well.
She used to make $15 to $20 weekly. It was a business that
In 1940 the Popular party (Partido Popular Democratico)
she herself invented. She would make a quantity of pasteles
came into being. It marked a turning point in Puerto Rican
on order. When she set about making them, she already had
history, and in certain ways it was a turning point as well in
Taso's life. orders for 80, 90, or 100 pasteles. Any that were left ov_er
she'd sell at the pay line. In the house of Don Rafael Gracia,
the mayordomo, she would sell around $1.50 worth, and in
the house of Don Dolores Suro, who was second mayordomo,
she used to sell a dollar's worth. The bookkeeper and all of
them used to buy, and here in the barrio she would sell a
great quantity.
But then Eli gave up the pastel business. I was out ~f work,
and then they started some ditching work at Coloma Boca
Chica. That was when the colonia was first being rented.
177
178 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 179
And Eli set up a stand with bread, coffee, salt-fish salad, and When they went to harvest them she wanted to go too. ~
other thmgs. She went to sell there to a number of the the time she had lived with me she had never done that kind
paleros and to the seeders who were working during the time of work, but something got into her to go. And I let her go.
of the late summer cane. That was how she spent the rest She worked at it until they harvested almost all the beans
of that dead time. In the harvest a regular peddler customar- they'd planted that year. They planted a whole Jot of beans,
ily did that work, and so Eli gave it up and the other one and it happened that they lost a lot of them because there
began again. After that there was about a year that she were heavy rains. But they also saved a lot to ad antage, and
wasn't working. she worked hard at that. And after that, when the bean
Then sometime after 1935 she established a beverage busi- harvest was over, she felt she wanted to continue working.
ness here in this colonia, Destino, in the first years that the Then Don Rafael Gracia put her to work collecting the
corporation had it. She began with that business in Colonia cane that used to fall in front of the siding where they loaded
Valdivieso with hardly anything at all-she used to sell ten, the cars. She used to gather the canes that would fall in front
twelve bottles there. Later on, the next year, she no longer of La Quinta [a company barracks nearby] . She worked at
went to Valdivieso but transferred to Destino, where there that in the cane, for a year during the harvest periods. And
was more activity. At that time a great number of people about then she became pregnant with Lilian [1943] and she
worked on the carts; they use a lot of people in that work. got a "bad stomach ' as we call it-fevers and bad vomiting-
Or rather, they used to use them; now they're all eliminated. such that she bad -to gh e up working. And I wouldn t let her
Anyway, she used to sell up to twenty dollars' worth a week go back to work under any condition. After she recovered she
in her business. wanted to work more, because Elisabeth is a strong woman.
One Sunday when she went to buy ice for the drinks from But I didn't let her work any rnore.
the bus that brought it from Ponce, she leaned against the From then on, she hasn't had any work of a business sort.
side of the bus, and a sixty-pound block of ice on the scales Though he always has helped me with the domestic tasks,
came loose, fell on her foot, and crushed two of her toes. I lookincr after her family as the family has grown larger-at
had to put her on my shoulder-because she was quite unable this p~int we are so numerous that often there is ins~cient
to walk-and take her to the hospital. The nurses cut the nails time for her simply to look after her very own family. The
oH, and I had to carry her back on my shoulder to the town tasks are many and it's hard for her-now at times we our-
plaza, and I got a car there and brought her home. For a selves must send the clothes out to be washed. As the family
while she wasn't able to move from the bed. is big and we are many, if we all change our clothes at once
At that time I had Rosa living in the house. Rosa said she there are enough dirty clothes for a laundress. So she has
would take over the business. So I hired a boy, one from the been a woman who has worked a lot with me, has helped me,
highlands-he happens to be living in the barrio again right and on the occasions when I've been sick she has always
now-and I gave him lunch and dinner here, and about $1.50 worked hard to scrape up the money we needed. Thank God,
a week, to take the cart to the cane fields for Rosa. There in we haven't suffered, because she is a woman well prepared to
the fields Rosa would sell the refreshments and keep the help. These are the ways in which she has helped me. When
accounts in the notebook. She went along keeping up the I haven't been able, she has put her hands to the situation
business until Elisabeth finally recovered from the accident. and has resolved it.
Later on, around '42 or '43, the corporation had people There remains Eli's most important business in which she
plant a great number of beans here because of the war. handled a good deal of money. When the bolita game business
180 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 181
appeared here she decided to sell tickets. And really she had know that it's bad, because many must sacrifice in order that
a lot of luck in that. She won many times and she also sold one benefit. I recognize this; but he who has the business has
lots of prize-winning tickets. There were times when for four a great advantage.
or five weeks in a row she made the money in the house,
sometimes because she sold the prize-winning tickets [or. Why did Eli give up the business?
commission], other times because we won ourselves. The way she gave it up was as follows. She used to go out
I remember one time when I was having some dental work to collect what she had sold during the week at Destino. And
done. I'd made a promise in town to pay something down in 1948 a bill was before the Governor [to punish sellers and
and the rest weekly, whatever I could manage. One night the buyers by jail sentences]. I remember that that afternoon I
bolitero [illegal-lottery salesman] came to the house and was watchfully waiting for the least movement in the capital.
offered us some tickets, and Eli bought a piece of a ticket. In The bill was signed into law, and when she came back from
the morning before I left for the clinic, I walked down the Destina I said to her, "W(fll, this is the last you are going
road along here, and they were chanting the bola [giving the to sell." And so she liquidated her business. Since then I've
winning numbers over the radio] in Don Jose's house, and thought- suppose by chance they had caught her? sh;
they sang out a number for first prize. I heard it, and I went would have had to go to jail and then with fines I wouldn t
back home and said to Elisabeth, "Elisabeth, that piece of a know how to pay and having to stay home attending this
ticket you bought last night-wasn't it such-and-such a num- mass of family, it would be something terrible! It is better
ber?" And she told me, "Yes, it was 885." I remember it as if that she look after the kids and I work
it were now. I thought that she had only taken a piece, and
I said to her, "How much did you win, $20?" And she said, Could you reconstruct the attitude you had when we
"No, $80--I took four pieces." That was on 885. And with that, formerly discussed the bolita, before you changed your mind
I began to pay part of this work about it?
And our house-I can say that more than half of the money Yes. We were discussing at that time why people preferred
invested in it we got out of bolita. I made the most of it-I to play bolita [rather than the government-sponsored lottery].
used it in buying wood and I repaired the house. And Elis- And I told you that it was easier for them, and they felt they
abeth handled a great deal of money in this. This bolita busi- won more easily playing this game. Because when they used
ness came to such extremes here at one point that tickets were to want to buy a favorite number, they could get it more easily
being sold like bread, in the streets-children and everyone than if it were in the legal lottery, see? They would say, "I
were selling. There were some drawings that were called La want to play such and such a particular number," and they
Mucara [the owl] because they used to have them at night; could buy it easily. In the legal lottery this is difficult to do.
it was a lottery conducted in Cuba, and the same numbers Another thing: in a bolita series composed of a thousand
announced as winners over the Cuban radio won here too. numbers, those thousand numbers are almost entirely sold
They used to have to sell those during the day, and they'd here in the barrio. It's a rarity when the winner doesn't tum
collect the money the same day; we also won on that a num- up here in the barrio. You understand? And if, for example,
ber of times. I remember that with 163 I once won $100, there are four, five, eight, or ten series that are being cast,
and EH took out $100 the same night-the two of us hit at it's remarkable if a Sunday should pass without people win-
the same time. So that it was a business in which Elisabeth ning prizes. In the legal lottery it's rather more difficult, even
handled lots of money. All the same it's a bad business; I though there are more prizes in it. This is why people much
182 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 183
prefer to play the bola. Because they're playing within a it up. It may be that what's happened to them is what hap-
thousand numbers, and in the government lottery they have to pened to me-in the first few years they won and the game
play among many thousands. And one way or another, among looked good to them. But afterward when they got taken by
the thousand, the prize always turns up here. And then there the numbers, well, they saw the game wasn't so good. It can
comes this enthusiasm-"If that one wins this week, next be that what changed me changed them too.
time it's my turn." This enthusiasm that the people have is Long ago I told you that there are many houses here built
the result. They are always living with this hope-"If the with money from bolita. Now see how it works. A person plays
other hits today, tomorrow I'm going to hit." And so it goes. the game for several dollars' worth a week and doesn't win
I've always admitted that the bolita game is bad for those for a year. Then at the end of the year he wins. And then
who play, you see; I know it's bad for those who play it. Now suppose he wins as much as $300. Then he's able to build a
those who have the business of selling-they benefit a great modest house or do something to improve the house he has.
deal. For the player this is a bad game. Say you have three Now my opinion is this: y~s-he took out $300-but he was
numbers among a thousand-you really have 997 numbers playing a year without taking out anything. Now, one must
to lose with, and only three to win with. Now the sellers-one compare the money that he played in a year with the amount
can say that for them all the numbers are opportunities to win. he won.
That's the difference. He who has the selling business has a I can give you an actual example. Someone was saying,
good business indeed. But of course now it's a little dangerous. while we were talking on the railroad this week, that his house
cost more than $1,000, and that he had won $600 in the bola.
Can you tell me your moral or religious attitude about this But then he himself admitted that he had already lost more
matter? than $1,000 when he won the $600. At the time he was work-
That is something else-though I had given up bolita al- ing-he was doing all right-and yet he himself says that he
ready, we also don't play now for religious reasons. We're not would have kept on until he was without a pair of work pants
able to play. That is part of our doctrine: we can't do that. playing the bola-you see? If, after a long time, they come
Now before, as I told you, when we were selling, we used to out winning $500 or $600 they go and build a house or make
receive great benefits. And looking back on it, it may have repairs. Sure, one can enumerate the houses here that people
appeared to me at the time that the people who played also got through the bola and those repaired from bola winnings.
got great benefits from it. But even after selling a whole But one must compare this with what they have lost-that is
series of numbeL- when you sell all of them-you see clearly to say, with those dollars each week which are left over and
that although you are handling the prizes, still the game favors which they do not save but gamble, because they believe
the bankers the most. After the tickets are sold, they never that from a few dollars a week, three or four hundred are
lose. Now, when I gave up selling-or rather, when EH gave never going to appear otherwise. And they continue gambling.
up selling-then I found myself in the position of those to It can be two, three years, perhaps, and they never win. But
whom we sold. And then there would be time and time again over the years, at some point they win. And that is when they
when I used to gamble $2 and 83, and a long time would go realize the gain. They do what they want, whether it be
by when I wouldn't win a single dollar back, see? So little by building a house or anything else, with the money. But I be-
little I came to say, "Well this- we have to give it up." And lieve that if it were worked out with a pencil, they'd still be
many people here who have won money in the past don't want losing.
you even to mention the bolita to them now-they have given Now for myself, what I won used to vary-it might be $8
184 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 185
or $10, $15, $18, and it could be $20 too. I remember that nothing, then nothing. But that's how we do it, until we have
there was one number that I played up to $2,000 [i.e. the saved what we need.
biggest prize, if he had won] and as luck would have it, I
played it seven years, and in seven years it paid off $140. Now I would like to go back to the year 1940. When the
That was 231. With the money we got from that I made part elections were coming, when the 1940 campaign was ap-
of the front porch of the house-which forms part of the room, proaching, then there arose this business of the Popular party.
the half porch. And part of the back of the house used for I had no knowledge of it then, although there were already
sleeping-what we call colgadizo-that too was built with some people who were fighting for that party in some towns
that money. And some oak boards that are set up as part of of the island. And one day I was in a local store when Cosme
the walls and part of the zinc sheeting for the roof were Mora arrived with petitions to get the party on the ballot. I
bought with that money. It went for many such things. filled out a petition for the party. But it did not pass through
But I stopped playing long before I entered the Church. my mind at the time that I was going to be a Popular. I was
As we say here, "He who plays always loses and he who still a Socialist. When I £Ilea out the Popular party petition,
drinks gets drunk." But, one thing-we Puerto Ricans believe I did it with the end in mind of cooperating with them, so
that saving money, we'd never get to have very much. And that they might register their party; but I continued being a
that puts the people to playing. I believe that if they would Socialist. And through my conversations with some of their
devote themselves to saving the money, they would save it. leaders who came here to the barrio, and because of the
But the way they do it today, if they don't invest it in one program they used to advance when they held their meetings,
and the laws they said they would pass-all this information
thing they invest it in another. They don't want to save when
they put before the people-well, then I decided to leave the
they think that dollar by dollar, they're never going to get to a
Socialist party and enter the Popular party. I was losing my
hundre~. If they hold the dollar in their pockets, well, they
interest in the Socialist party, because some years had gone
throw it out on some other vice. They never seem to have
by and they had fulfilled none of the promises they had made,
that something to believe that $1 today, $2 tomorrow. That's
you see. Because of the coalition between the Socialists and
my belief; I don't know about others.
Republicans, the Socialists were unable to put their program
into action. They were completely obstructed and they could
. And sin.ce you've given up bolita, have you ever saved up
little by little for something? not realize the program they had.
And then the Socialist party began to lose force and we
When I made this floor, I had a bunch of dollars I pulled
members began to lose our love of the party, since we saw
t?gether that way. When I'd get my pay I'd meet my obliga-
that it could not achieve the program offered us. And I went
tions, and what was left over I gave to Elisabeth to take care
along finding the program of the Popular party more and more
of. I s~ould also include a little pig that I sold for money;
attractive. They told us that if they won and did not fulfill in
and with that, I did the job. That is how we do it now
that year what they had promised, we should vote against
when we have a debt-for example, an obligation with a
them the next time. This promise meant that one would not
peddl~r-we already know what part of the money must be
have to wait so very long, just the period of one term-and
set as~de to pay. And if I tell Elisabeth we're going to save
then if disappointed, vote against them. The Popular party
for this or that, then she tries to help. Each week I'll give her
made up its program before it went into the elections. And
something to hold-$2 or $3 or $1-and at week's end if it's
186 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years ( 1940-49) 187
t~ey would tell us: "You want these laws in this country. So touch on this matter of the Republicans. She says that Don
give ~s your vote once. If we don't put through the laws, Rafael Martinez Nadal did a great favor for a son of hers
then m the next election vote against us." And so we-that is, and that she can't stop being a Republican even though
I-saw that the laws were very favorable, and I decided to Martinez is long dead. And they go along this way-"My
vote with the Popular party in 1940. papa was a Republican, and I can't change"- "My father
There had been political campaigns before in which I had was this and that, and I am the same." As they say, "I must
work~d hard-campaigns in which I can say that I wasted honor his bones."
my time. Afterward, I worked hard in the others, but I ob- Now as I told you before, the Popular party forecast the
tained some benefits, although not directly-but indirectly, laws they would put into operation. They explained to people
see? In the previous ones, fighting in the Socialist party, I what was happening, what the government in power was
got none at all. Then I decided to work in the campaign of like. They talked to the people in a way that was easy to
1940 for t~e Popul.ar party. And while I can't truthfully tell understand. Before, at political meetings the leaders would
you that I ve received the greatest help directly, indirectly hold forth, and it was truly eloquent oratory, truly lovely. But
~he Popular party has helped me a lot. It isn't perfect; it has what we heard we did not understand-orations about the
its errors, but it has lifted the workers up a little. Think about mists, the seas, the fishes, and great things. Then, when Mufi.oz
this. When Lalo was still a youngster we used to work at Marin came, he didn't come speaking that way. He came
hoeing there at Colonia Destina. And there were times when speaking of the rural worker, of the cane, and of things that
we were working that we used to earn $4.50, the two of us for were easier to understand. And the people could go along
the week-and that was what you called work. There 'was with him, understanding and changing. And so they learned
this system that if you agreed to do two cuerdas of weeding to trade the mists and the sea for the plantain trees and for
for $3 and it to~k you the whole week, that was what you the land they were going to get if they gave the Popular party
earned. At that trme there was no minimum wage law. their votes.
Now, after the minimum wage law came in, it didn't matter The first time I heard Don Luis Munoz Marin speak was
~f .the. may~rdomo "we~e to say to me while I was digging in the barrio they call Coqui, in Salinas. That night there came
irngat10n ditches, This cuerda of ditch is worth 75 cents." before us the heavy artillery of the Popular party; I knew
This wouldn't matter because after I worked seven hours some of them. Many of them had been with us in the Socialist
he would have to pay me what the law stipulated. Now, if party. But then they left to found the new party. I remember
I could earn something more beyond this, I would earn it- that that night Don Benigno Fernandez Garcia spoke there,
but my minimum wage always had to be paid. In such ways, and many others that had gone over to the Popular party. Of
t~e Pop~lar party has come to alleviate the situation. I recog- course, now many who were with us have moved on and
~1ze th~rr errors. But they have made it possible for us to others remain. That night Don Luis was explaining to the
live a little less affiicted economically. people thus: "In this election you give me your vote, and I
Now I'll tell you something else too. Here we have a promise you the following things. And if I don't keep my
thing-it'~ like '~ith religion. There are people who say that promise, then vote against me in the next election." It was an
they contmue bemg Republicans b ecause they must be grate- easy thing to understand; the people understood. And one
ful to some old. leader for such and such a thing. And many saw a great enthusiasm among the people because the party
vote out ~f ~rati~ude to one or another leader this way. Do you was just beginning, and everywhere they had meetings there
see how it is? We have a lady here with whom you still can't were lots of people.
188 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 189
Now, when I registered in the Popular party, I did it with in the Legislature we made a beginning-there we could
doubts. We had been fooled many times. I was going to try realize something in our favor immediately. And in that
it out. If they had not given us those same laws which they period of time, the Popular party did a number of quite good
offered us, I probably would have voted against them the things which I believe contributed to their continuing to win.
next time. Or I would have given up politics, which had been And we went along getting more confidence in the party and
my idea. I had pretty much lost interest already. I saw that in the leaders.
the situation of the workers never changed. It was always Now another thing happened, you know. Before, we all
the same. In the barrios, we always had the same conditions; used to go and deposit our votes and we thought no more
they never changed. Even if something good were done in the about it. So Don Pedro Juan Serralles [a member of one of
towns, things in the barrios were always the same. Puerto Rico's wealthiest families], for instance, there in the
Now, I can tell you that when we began with Popular party Senate, could do whatever crossed his mind, and we here-
affairs here in Jauca, there was hardly any campaign. In well, we were far away from whatever he was doing. Little
the first meetings of the Popular party here, the people here knowledge on our part about-matters of government, and little
flooded into the Popular party. interest, too, at the same time. Today, from the time the
If I'm not mistaken, we had a tie in the House of Repre- Legislature reconvenes, people are watchfully observing what
sentatives in 1940, while the Liberal party got one represent- one legislator does and what the other one does. Now it
ative. When that representative joined his vote to ours then reaches such an extreme that at times when the Legislature
we used to have the majority in the House. That one repre- has finished its business, there are those who say, "Oh, Fulano
sentative used to be very important, because however he in the Legislature, he hasn't done a thing." In those times, well,
voted, there was the majority. the Legislature would come and go, and no one knew when
At that time I did not know most, or even any, of the it started and when it stopped. No longer today-because
local leaders of the Popular party. Their board of directors today the people are watching to see what each leader they
made the nominations of candidates for mayor and for the voted for will do. The people have been waking up, see? The
municipal assembly of the town. Afterward they would come leaders have been preaching, and orienting, and interesting
to the barrios and hold meetings and explain the results of people in things, and interest has been awakened.
the directors' meetings they had had, and the candidate who Well, we continued fighting for the party and then came
had been nominated, and the assemblymen who had been the 1944 campaign. The party was picking up more steam
nominated. They explained it and we accepted it. and we won more and more people to us. You could say that
In that election the candidate for mayor was a gentleman the people were becoming more convinced, because the party
named Luna. Although we had enough votes to win that elec- put through new laws and went along keeping its promises.
tion, we lost it because he was a rather inactive candidate. And I continued working in the party. Of course, at times the
Moreover, voters from the country didn't understand things- leaders say things before they win, and after they win it's
many didn't know where the polling places were and lost not as they had said. But at least the laws themselves brought
their votes. In town the campaign was badly organized. It's some benefit and were good.
not like now, when they name people who don't have a vote Anyway, I was never intent upon the question of municipal
to serve as escorts to bring voters to the right voting places. employment or anything of that kind, see. When I used to
Then there was none of that prepared and, though we had have some need, I'd go to the mayor or someone else, because
the votes to win, we lost. Although we lost in the municipality, during the election periods I would help them. I was work-
190 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 191
ing with them, and it was only fair that if I had some need I was a tie between Francisco Robledo and Norberto Bemacet.
should go where they were to ask help. But I wasn't interested Then they had to have a new election. Now when they counted
in any political posts-rather I always used to hope that help the votes, one was blank. And Compadre Gueni approached
would reach me through means of the laws the government a boy who was at his side whom he knew had turned in a
would pass. blank ballot. Compadre Gueni coaxed him to give his vote to
In the elections of 1944 I came to know Pancho [Francisco Francisco Robledo, and the boy did.
Robledo, who became Popular party mayor of Santa Isabel in When the new election was tallied Robledo came out with
1944]. A number of us here then undertook to direct the party's a one-vote majority. Then there was a great hubbub in the
barrio committee---Compadre Gueni, Compadre Marcial, Com- assembly. Bemacet threw himself out of there in a fury and
padre Berto, Daniel Torres, Juli.an Texidor, and I. There was a said be was going to found a new party. And at that time he
fight among three party mayoral candidates at the time. There had a lot of people who followed him, from that part of
was Francisco Robledo, whom I came to know little by little. Cortada called Descalabrado [in the western barrios of Santa
And we had Norberto Bemacet and Ventura Rodriguez. These Isabel] and those places. He went out in the street very
three had a great struggle trying to line up delegates. I don't angry, saying that they had robbed him, and there was a lot
know if this has been explained to you. This matter of del.,. of talk about how he would not knuckle under, and that he
egates is why they have meetings in the barrios, and one was going to register a new party. But he didn't. His support
reason why the, need the barrio committees. They allow a came from his having been fighting for the union, the CGT.
delegate for a certain number of party members-one for And although a large number of people withdrew their con-
each 100 members, it seems to me. Sometimes Barrio Jauca fidence in him, there were a lot who still followed him; but
has three delegates sometimes four; and so it goes in each of finally he lost the trust they had in him. Now, I noted that
the barrios. The delegates are nominated here in the barrio many times in the newspaper El Batey [the official Popular
and the delegates from the different barrios and the town party paper], they would show him as a cane cutter, and he
party committee name the candidates for mayor and the would be suggested for election to the House of Represent-
municipal Assembly. atives. They used to give him prominence in such a way that
And these three candidates were trying to get control of one had to recognize something special about him.
the delegates, each one of them, because the delegates were But I want to return to where we were a little while ago.
divided, and each candidate wanted to win control of the Bernacet continued protesting, but in the end he had to align
number of delegates necessary to come out on top in his himself once more with the party. I don't know where the
candidacy. Two of the candidates knew they didn't have pressure came from , but he realigned himself again with the
enough delegates to be nominated, but they agreed to con- party and accepted what had happened at the convention.
tinue working until the day of the election. Then he went on working, although not as strongly as before,
I was not a delegate the day they had the local convention, with the Popular party. After that he got a government job;
but Compadre Gneni was. I was in the back observing the he was employed in the tick bath program. He remained
assembly when the meeting began. Then Don Ventura working there and it seems to me he is still in that job. We
Rodriguez withdrew his candidacy and ceded the votes that won the 1944 election locally, and then the party here could
belonged to him to Bernacet. The election itse1f is secret- develop its program better. Robledo had a somewhat difficult
they use little slips of paper. Then the delegates voted, and it administration that first period, however.
192 Worker in the Cane
In 1944, Lilian was born. Lilian was a tiny baby. She was
such a little thing that you could hardly see her on the bed.
And when she was about two and a half or three years old-
when she was already walking-she had a fever so severe that
afterward she had to learn to walk again. I didn't know even
what kind of fever it was, what it was we were treating. The
doctor didn't tell us. They gave her medicine, she recovered,
and afterward she came to walk again. But one may see that
she walks with one leg turned out sideways. Perhaps you
have noticed; I believe that is a consequence of the fever.
After the 1944 campaign I decided I had to move my house
from Tole's lot, where it then was, and :6nd a place to live
where I could really consider myself independent. By that
time I had worked for Robledo, who was then mayor. I had
helped him a lot. And the previous administration had
bought an acre of land in Jauca to be divided among local
people who had no place for their houses. I pestered Robledo
and he agreed to help me get a lot. But it happened that an-
other person went and solicited the lot at the same time I did.
And because there was no more than one lot available, an
assemblyman was sent here to look over the situation and
they brought me to town. They asked me whether I believed
this lot could be divided between the two. I told them that my
only aim was to have a place to put my house. H the other per-
son would accept half, so would L So it was decided, and we
divided the lot.
always people there known here in the barrio-Epifanio Of the party itself I cannot complain. But in Santa Isabel
Torres voted there, Cornpadre Berto, Elisabeth-you could we have always had to put up with that, for lack of pe~ple
say people of the family. And I took a ballot to show some who have the necessary education to carry out the vanous
voters who were seeking information about voting-there, in- jobs. Now with regard to the party, no-1 go on always being
side, I began to show them. And Epifania, who was a mem- a Popular. If I see that they abandon a fundamental part ~£
ber of the Socialist party, came and took the ballot from the program, it seems to me I will vote no more. Because if
me. I gave in right away because I knew it was out of order! the party were to break up, and another were to come-I
But we celebrated a completely tranquil election that day. don't know, but it seems to me I would struggle no more
Except for some minor incidents v.rith some Independentists with politics. . . .
who were there-I don't know, but it seems they had had In 1949 I resimed my job on the ha.mo comnuttee. That
some drinks-and they tried to interfere. But it was nothing, was over somet!iliig I needed. 1 needed to m~e a latrin~ he~e
and a completely tranquil election was celebrated in that vot- and it was difficult to get an oil drum I requrred to build. it.
ing place. Pancho [the mayor] promised me, when they were making
After that, well, I lost a little of my enthusiasm for politics the road to the beach, that he was going to get me one there.
-I am not going to say for my party-but rather the way But they finished the road to the beach and the drum never
people act at times, when in reality they do not give a person ~~~ .
what he deserves. It was in the elections of '48 that Pancho's And when Carmen Iris- if they had wanted to help me m
candidacy was imperiled. And Herminia and Pedro gave him one wav or another, well-there were different jobs at which
tremendous cooperation. I figured that at least they would she wocld have been able to work. There were times when
give those boys some job-some fairly regular job-because they were appointing people for things here in the b~o
they had earned it. And apart from that, they were good and they never gave her an opportunity. There were times
P9pulares. But with all of that, as we Puerto Ricans say, when they would come and they would ~ve the jobs to
they passed the buck in the case of those youths, and the women who bad only come to live here a little before; they
two boys were left in the end with only a tiny reward. I would give them opportunities to work. They never offered
don't know if they felt the boys didn't earn more, though I her an opportunity.
believed they did. I am sure they earned it. Whatever work, If they "vere expecting something of me now, they would
however important, they did it. And in spite of that, they not get it. I am not the kind of man who always bothers
didn't make it; and still they have gone on in their party as someone about some need of mine. I think that if one works
always. What they did with ~ose boys was not right. at those things, helping them, and they have some interest
I heard how they held a meeting on appointments, the in helping one well, it's not necessary to be o~ top of .~em
way they went about it, after the campaign. The town com- all the time with one's problems, right? That IS my opIIDon.
mittee wanted to stop the mouths of the barrio committees And they never gave me anything, and the drum- I was left
-a thing that ought not to be, because if we have rights in waiting for it and it never arrived.
everything else, if we cooperate in all the needs of the party, After that Colo gave me a new drum, and I got hold of
then when we are victorious we should have the same rights. another used one. I kept the one Colo gave me with the
It is not right that they then should put muzzles on the mouths idea of keepincr rainwater in it. But as I didn't get another
of the barrio chairmen. Those are the things that make one used one, I declded to put that one in. Then I changed it
lose interest. It is not politics, but rather the particular mem- with one Compadre Gueni had. I gave it to him because i~
bers who manipulate the affairs of the municipality. was a new drum, a good one. I gave it to Compadre Guem
206 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years (1940-49) 207
and Compadre Gueni gave me an old one that bad no bot- boring municipalities east and west along the coast. By this
tom. Then with those two old ones I constructed the latrine. time their owners-the agrarian upper class of the region-
had become completely detached from local life, having
Taso was thirty-two years old in 1940, married, the father moved to the cities, or to the United States or Europe, after
of four children (three others having died in infancy), a selling or leasing their lands. All jobs in the cane were now
palero by trade, a man with about forty compadres, honored standardized, with stipulated minimum wages, and piece-
and respected in his native barrio. The year 1940 probably work survived only in particular jobs-such as cane cutting
did not differ significantly for Taso from the years im- -where the decision to work by wage or by incentive was
mediately preceding and following it. Life was just as hard, up to the workers themselves. Nearly all perquisites provided
wages almost as low. His troubles with Eli's jealousy con- to workers in place of cash had been eliminated. Child labor
tinued, and he was still searching for a secure place to estab- laws were in force. Mechanical devices were by this time es-
lish his own house permanently. sential in the fields, arid the value of all special manual skills
Yet in retrospect 1940 was some kind of turning point. had declined, reappearing only on a very reduced scale in
It was the year that the Popular party first ran candidates such activities as driving trucks and operating winches. Cash
in the island elections. Labor troubles had begun anew in income was rising, partly in replacement of the noncash
the cane fields, and a relatively powerful island union would services that had been discontinued, partly because of po-
emerge from them. Minimum wage laws had recently been litical pressure and the improving economic situation. The
introduced in the cane, and the economic situation was decision-making function of mayordomos and foremen was
slowly improving. Though the following years reveal certain sharply reduced, and their authority correspondingly de-
serious disillusionments in Taso's life and a crystallization of clined (a process the workers themselves were only dimly
personal conflict in full maturity, his life broadens and enters aware of at first).
upon a new and less pessimistic phase. The maturation of a rural proletariat-landless, wage-
The major events of this period which directly affected eaming, store-buying, and economically homogeneous-was
Taso were the first campaign of the Popular party (1940); the complete. Individual workers were members of an island-
birth of Raul ( 1941); the birth of Lilian ( 1944); the begin- wide occupational group and came to think of themselves in
ning of Taso's official participation in union affairs (1944); this way-and to exercise their political p ower accordingly.
the move, at last, to his own house, on inalienable land They lost their feelings of identity with particular haciendas
( 1945); the birth of Roberto ( 1945); Taso's acquisition of a or communities and particular bosses or hacendados, and
permanent job on the railway crew (1946); his personal dis- began to think of themselves as members of a national class.
illusionment in the political campaign of 1948; and the birth They also were made increasingly aware of their separate-
of Tasita ( 1948). ness and individuality since many of the devices by which
For the people of Jauca, as for those of scores of similar they had formerly allied themselves with particular patrons
communities on the south coast, the years 1940-49 were part and power figures were no longer effective.
of a new period in their society. The industrial agricultural Taso was subject to these processes in the same manner
system that the United States Occupation had introduced to as all of his neighbors and fellow workers. But his particular
Puerto Rico had already consolidated itself. No independent perceptions of the changes, their special effects on him, were
small-scale haciendas were left in the municipality of Santa to some extent unique. He readily gave up his palero craft
Isabel, and they were practically eliminated in all the neigh- to become a railway worker, where other skills are needed
208 Worker in the Cane Manhood: The Later Years ( 1940-49) 209
and "where your rice and beans are a sure thing even in the mandate of the membership; the town political commit-
dead time." He early and vigorously involved himself in the tee ought not attempt to muzzle the committees of the rural
growth and success of the Popular party, though he indicates areas.
that he joined at first with doubts, since "we had been fooled His personal hurt is revealed when he discusses his disap-
many times." In his description of political and union activi- pointment at not being given an oil drum with which to con-
ties, it is apparent that Taso has certain qualities which made struct a new latrine, and when no job is ever offered his
him stand out. He was elected to the post of treasurer of the daughter. Though he phrases his discouragement with local
barrio union local, and he became a member of the Popular politics first in terms of the failure of the party to reward
party barrio political committee. In these posts he continued two other loyal Populares, it then becomes plain that he
to serve, as he had years before on the Red Card committee feels his lack of personal reward keenly; the final paragraphs
of the Socialist party. He was usually aligned in these jobs of this narration almost border on the pathetic. Taso suffered
with some of his compadres, those ritualized friends who give what must have been serious disappointments in two im-
him a feeling of security and belonging in his community. portant areas of activity-politics and unions. He withdrew
While Taso's descriptions of his activities provide a pic- from these things; but one senses that this physically and
ture of the big changes that were going on in those years, intellectually energetic man will have to replace his old in-
they also reveal something special about the man himself. terests with new activities.
Along with his fellow committeemen, he played a part in Taso says little here about what was happening to him at
pushing the union local toward a more democratic and use- home in these years, except for his descriptions of how Eli
ful program-though in the end their efforts were frustrated. helped him. He mentioned earlier that Eli's jealousy of him
Again, in describing the political machinations of Popular had not diminished, but he does not indicate whether her
party officials on the local level, Taso emerges as a critical feelings were in any way based on reality. His children were
and energetic participant. growing bigger and more were born, but he doesn't talk about
It was not until 1940 that he could feel his political activity them much (largely, I believe, because I could see him with
might lead to tangible results. The Popular party gave men them daily, and there must have seemed no need for him to
like Taso their best opportunity to learn the meaning of describe to me his relationships with them).
political democracy and to exercise their talents as political My friendship with Taso, which ripened during and after
leaders and organizers. For Taso 1940 opened a new, opti- the 1948 political campaign, may have gained strength partly
mistic period of political action; he was also active in 1944 because he felt rejected by the party leaders. During the
and 1948. But he reveals his disillusionment after the 1948 last months of 1948 and until August 1949, while I was in
campaign. The cause of this disillusionment was partly per- Jauca, Taso and I spent a great deal of time together. l
sonal, though Taso protests that he never sought or expected thought I knew him well by the time I left Jauca; I did, but
direct personal rewards for his activity. It is clear that the not well enough. One of the most important events in his
man was not motivated solely or mainly by the hope of direct entire life was yet to come, a matter of his own doing. And
personal gain. He continued to honor his party for the re- in those months of 1949 when I thought I knew him so well,
wards Puerto Rican working-class people as a whole had won. I had not the slightest glimmering of its coming.
Though he recounts many disputes in discussing politics and
unions, rather than being merely contentious, Taso raises
what seem to be real issues: the union president should obey
The Conversion 211
us of the things she had seen happening there in Ponce. I was
CHAPTER 7 a little dubious. I asked her some questions, and she affirmed
what she had said. And she told me, 'Well, if you want to see
The Conversion for yourself, go see."
And afterward, Elisabeth wanted to go. Then Elisabeth
went also, and when she came from there, she too told me the
things that were happening there. She knew I was suffering
from a sickness [inguinal pain] and she pressed me to go
myself. It was she who persisted in saying that I should go.
Now wE WILL TALK about when I entered the church. I decided one day that I would go. At times I had had the
When you were here in 1949 we once stopped in front of a idea of getting an operation, but I always thought that I
Pentecostal service. At the time I didn't know what was in might end up a useless [disabled] man and then perhaps I
the Scriptures [Taso here refers somewhat ashamedly to the would not be able to earn my family's food. That was what
occasion when he ridiculed the Pentecostal services we were made me hold back and not have an operation. And at this
watching]. But I have listened to them preach the Gospel point Elisabeth insisted that I go to the meeting in Ponce.
since I was a little boy. At that time the Evangelical Church It happened that when I decided to go, I had no money.
was preaching here in Jauca; there were no revivalist churches But Filiberto, Elisabeth's cousin, was leaving with a carload
such as the Pentecostal Church. They preach the same Gospel, of people from here with the same objective, to go to Ponce
but not as we Pentecostals preach it. The evangelical churches to the evangelization campaign. And then Elisabeth went and
do not receive the blessing of the Holy Ghost; in the Pente- spoke with Filiberto, and he told her yes, he would take me.
costal churches, the blessing is received. When a person re- I went with Filiberto, and that night the service was being
ceives the blessing he fulfills the prophecy of the prophet held in the Morel Campos athletic grounds. They had moved
Joel by speaking in tongues; that is when one receives the it from the Paquito Montafier Park, where it seems to me they
blessing. In the dead churches it is not permitted, but in had been giving it on previous nights.
the living churches this is why the people shout so much and When we arrived there was an immense crowd. It was hard
why they are called living churches-and we attest to it, un- work to get to the platform ( templete) where the ministers
like the dead churches. were directing the meeting. I got up close to the platform
Before, I had no knowledge of any of that. But I had heard and listened there to the whole service. In the moment when
preachers of the Gospel from the time I was a little boy. And Brother Osborne began to pray for the sick, my own case
although Mama and the rest of the family were Catholic in came immediately to my mind. When he began to pray, he
their religion-and so was I, thou.uh without any kno ledge- spoke in this way: "All those who have sickness in any part
! liked the Gospel very much because jt was preached so -put your hands on the affected place, whoever has dif-
clearly; it was easy to understand. Now, some time after you ferent illnesses." And I lifted my hand to the spot where I
left Jauca, they held an eYangelization campaign in Ponce really felt my pain. And while that brother prayed, I felt
[early in 1950]. A preacher named Brother Osborne came something in my body, a thing-an extraordinary thing-
there, and a campaign was held. I don't remember how long while he was praying for the sick. And later, after he finished
it lasted, but the first of those at home who went to see that that prayer, I felt an ecstasy-something strange-and then it
campaign was Carmen Iris. And when she came back she told went away. Later on they made an invitation to those per-
210
The Conversion 211
CHAPTER 7 us of the things she had seen happening there in Ponce. I was
a little dubious. I asked her some questions, and she affirmed
what she had said. And she told me, "Well, if you want to see
The Conversion for yourself, go see."
And afterward, Elisabeth wanted to go. Then Elisabeth
went also, and when she came from there, she too told me the
thing.s that were happening there. She knew I was suffering
from a sickness [inguinal pain] and she pressed me to go
myself. It was she who persisted in saying that I should go.
Now WE WILL TALK about when I entered the church. I decided one day that I would go. At times I had bad the
When you were here in 1949 we once stopped in front of a idea of getting an operation, but I always thought that I
Pentecostal service. At the time I didn't know what was in might end up a useless [disabled] man and then perhaps I
the Scriptures [Taso here refers somewhat ashamedly to the would not be able to earn my family's food. That was what
occasion when he ridiculed the Pentecostal services we were made me hold back and not have an operation. And at this
watching]. But I have listened to them preach the Gospel point Elisabeth insisted that I go to the meeting in Ponce.
since I was a little boy. At that time the Evangelical Church It happened that when I decided to go, I had no money.
was preaching here in Jauca; there were no revivalist churches But Filiberto, Elisabeth's cousin, was leaving with a carload
such as the Pentecostal Church. They preach the same Gospel, of people from here with the same objective, to go to Ponce
but not as we Pentecostals preach it. The evangelical churches to the evangelization campaign. And then Elisabeth went and
do not receive the blessing of the Holy Ghost; in the Pente- spoke with Filiberto, and he told her yes, he would take me.
costal churches, the blessing is received. When a person re- I went with Filiberto, and that night the service was being
ceives the blessing he fulfills the prophecy of the prophet held in the Morel Campos athletic grounds. They had moved
Joel by speaking in tongues; that is when one receives the it from the Paquito Montafier Park, where it seems to me they
blessing. In the dead churches it is not permitted, but in had been giving it on previous nights.
the living churches this is why the people shout so much and When we arrived there was an immense crowd. It was hard
why they are called living churches-and we attest to it, un- work to get to the platform ( templete) where the ministers
like the dead churches. were directing the meeting. I got up close to the platform
Before, I had no knowledge of any of that. But I had heard and listened there to the whole service. In the moment when
preachers of the Gospel from the time I was a little boy. And Brother Osborne began to pray for the sick, my own case
although Mama and the rest of the family were Catholic in came immediately to my mind. When he began to pray, he
their religion-and so was I, though without any knowledge- spoke in this way: "All those who have sickness in any part
r liked the Gospel very much because it was preached so -put your hands on the affected place, whoever has dif-
dearly; it was easy to understand. Now, some time after you ferent illnesses." And I lifted my hand to the spot where I
left Jauca, they held an evangelization campaign in Ponce really felt my pain. And while that brother prayed, I felt
[early in 1950). A preacher named Brother Osbome came something in my body, a thing- an e~-traordinary thing-
there, and a campaign was held. I don't remember how long while he was praying for the sick. And later, after he finished
it lasted, but the first of those at home who went to see that that prayer, I felt an ecstasy- something strange-and then it
campaign was Carmen Iris. And when she came back she told went away. Later on they made an invitation to those per-
210
212 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 213
sons who might want to accept the Gospel. But I went out herself, "What have I done?" You see-it was as if a-as if
of there; I made no profession of faith. something had carried her to the altar.
I came back to my house. And afterward I did not feel that Well-when she came and told me, none of it seemed bad
pain that I had been feeling in those days, though I had been to me. I knew that the Gospel was a good thing, and as for
especially sick with it. And up to the present, thank God, the doctrines of this particular church, the majority of the
I have never felt that pain again. That was a pain that every people know them. If you ask any of those people you see at
two or three months would lay me up for a week at least. the services what the doctrines are, they know them-what
And in the period of time since then I have never felt that we do, and what we may not do. Actually, for the next few
~ain again. After I came home, we still had no idea of join- days, Elisabeth didn't dare attend any service. Though they
mg the church. But we did talk about the things that had were giving the services near here, it had cost her dearly to
happened in Ponce. It was a great campaign. And we read become converted, and afterward she was a little timid about
some books they distributed here later, tracts they gave away. going out and attending a sei:vice.
Then one day Elisabeth said to me, "Tonight I'm going to But then they gave another service right nearby and she
go watch the service that they're having here" [in Jauca]. went. She had said that she was not going to attend services
I told her to go ahead [said with carelessness]. While she at any far-off places, to walk here and there. And this night
was at the service, I stayed behind burning some trash in they were going to give a service in the house of Santiago
back of the house. And when she came home she told me "I Alicea, who is himself a member. And I went with her. That
was converted to the Gospel." I said to her, "Well, if ;ou night I made a profession of faith there, but I did it only in
have really accepted the Gospel, well done" [again said order to test something. I wanted to find out if the blessing
carelessly]. But it had not been so; it was a joke on her part. of the Holy Ghost, which they say comes in the midst of the
The next week she went to the service again, and I was demonstration ( nwvimiento) they make, was real.
doing the same thing that night. Then when she came from I made a profession of faith that night. And I enjoyed the
there she told me, "I was converted to the Gospel tonight." service, hearing them speak, though I said nothing. I didn't
And I said to her, "But like the other night?" And she said: understand any of it yet, but I enjoyed listening to them
"No. Tonight it was for real." testify and sing the beautiful hymns and so on. And the next
Then she swore that this is what happened: She said that week, tJiey announced a service to be held in Varsovia [a
the service had ended. She had sat down in the front part, small colonia about eight miles away]. We went to Varsovia
by the store steps-that is, where the church is-and the that night. At the time we didn't even know what a vigil
service had ended. She says that Brother Juan, the pastor, ( vigilia) was. We went to that vigil; and during that vigil,
made his call, and that she remained seated where she was. Elisabeth swiftly received the blessing. And a few-few days
She says that while Brother Juan was ending the service, he later, then I received it [his voice is soft and low J.
was making his appeal. And when he said, "Come, EH, there So I had made my confession of faith so that I might re-
is still time," she was still sitting there, holding the baby in main no longer in doubt about the demonstration they make
her lap. And then, she says, something lifted her from the -those things of which I was really ignorant before. After-
seat and carried her to the altar. She says she did not realize ward, I continued testing it. The Scriptures say it-the Scrip-
what was going on until afterward, when the congregation tures speak of it. It is a promise. As I told you earlier, though
prayed for her. It was when she went outside that she asked there are churches that do not accept it and do not seek it-
214 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 215
it is a reality. We know that it is in the Bible and that it is that there were times when Elisabeth and I would go alone,
true. People may ignore it, and we find that right here there with one sister more, to far-off services. That is a thing that
are those who ridicule it. But for us it is a matter of indif- grows in one, and one feels that responsibility.
ference if anyone wishes to mock it, or to say it is a lie, or And from there to here, well, we have gone along strug-
not to accept it. We know it is logical, we passed through gling. We who were far away were ourselves converted. And
the test, and for us there remains no place for doubt. And that is why those who are far away now may also be con-
we have gone along the road since then. When one feels that, verted.
receives that, then one has more awe ( temor). Then you
know you have a thing which you didn't have before. One What did you know of revivalist churches and the Gospel
feels more awe, and one goes along learning the teachings before Eli went the first time to Ponce?
of the church. One gets surer footing on the road. When they went to Ponce and came back and told me what
And since that we have had further proof. Not in every was happening there, it passed through my mind that I had
case, of course, because the same Scriptures say, "Accord- heard many of those same things before, from the preachers
ing to your faith you have done it." At times we have arrived of the Gospel-that all those things could be, that they could
at a place where someone is sick and we have prayed for happen. I used to hear them preaching different things about
the sick one-it is a gift of God, He gives that to certain how if one were sick he could be cured. You see, not that
persons who consecrate themselves to Him-we have prayed they would cure one, but rather that God Himself could cure
for the sick one and the sick one has gotten up, has im- one. So I already knew many of the parts of that doctrine
proved. But other times no, because, as I told you, the Scrip- from having heard them preach before. Well, when they came
tures say, "According to your faith you have done it." But from Ponce, they recounted to me the things they had seen
we have proof that the Gospel is a sacred thing and that it there. And then it was that I decided to go, to see for my-
is a good thing [all of this said in rhythmic rather repetitive self. What they told me were things I had heard preached in
tones, with an air of great certainty and almost a peculiar different places, sometimes on the radio and sometimes in
tiredness, as if said very, very often- almost a recited different places around here, such as when they would hold
sermon]. campaigns in the barrio. As I had some knowledge of that
Now, there is another thing I ought to explain about this. already, when they were telling me I knew it must be a part
When I made a profession of faith, what I said to Brother of the Scriptures that was being fulfilled there. And that was
Juan was as follows: "I am going to be converted to this"- what led me to make sure of it by going myself.
that was how I spoke-"but I am going to tell you some-
thing. I am not going to go off to faraway services the way Then you went to Ponce with Filiberto--
you do." And he said to me, "Don't get excited. Go only when Yes.
it seems proper to you."
Now I am able to affirm that it is born in one after one is And got to the park where the meeting was and got close
in the church. That desire to ao to services everywhere, to be -to the platform.
walking about from here to there- that is a thing that grows Now can you tell me the most you can remember of how
in one after one is within the church. Before one sees such you were feeling at the time the pastor said that the sick
a thing as tremendous, difficult-but it's nothing. When you should put their hand,s on the place that was paining or was
come to try it out, then you feel that desire-to the extent sick? What passed through your mind?
216 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 217
. Since they had been explaining to me what was happening other things that one has to go along giving up. Now, what-
m Ponce, I went with the faith that I would be able to be ever happens to one, one seeks the most efficacious means of
cured. Then, when he told me to put ~y-when he told the resolving it. Before, one tried to resolve it through violence,
sick to place their hands where they were sick, I put my hands or in some other bad way; now one seeks to resolve it in a
on the affected spot. I had faith that I too would be made different manner. So that we have been made over new again
well. Now, eh-while he was preaching-the message he [he chuckles].
was preaching there-in truth at times one feels, eh-guilty
(culpable) of many things. When one does not live a life as When you put your hands on the affected part, at that mo-
one, really ought to live it, then at times while they preach, ment, did you feel guilty?
one s :ery conscience accuses one. They preach that one is I am not referring to being guilty for the sickness. I say
sometimes far from God, even while believing one is near. "guilty," you see, because the preacher explains things this
At times one is mistaken about the way one lives, and what way: "You find yourself sad because you are so far from
they say moves one to recognize-uh---one's situation. What I God." You see? One says, "Well, if I find myself sad it is be-
w~s s:eking was to make sure of something that I had heard cause in truth I am far from God," according to what he
said: One must pass through that experience for oneself." says. Now, one must seek the way out, as they advise. "When
:And as I came to understand, then I felt guilty about many you seek God, then you are made a new creature and then
thmgs. For example, they preach and advise one, "Thou shalt you have peace in your home, then you have contentment."
love thy neighbor as thyself." They present it in such a Those are the ways in which they go along enlightening one.
~eautiful way. And other things they tell us-things that one Now, in that moment that I felt-eh-eh-guilty, it was
is far removed _from. And these things move one's heart, they because I used to do many of the things they prohibit. That
change the attitude one has. And as the Scripture says, one is the guilty part of what I was feeling. Before, as I said,
feels a little---one is convicted ( uno se corta) when they Elisabeth and I used to have our differences and we used to
preach in that fashion, if one really does not live as one quarrel, and such things. And when they explain these things,
should. At times one doesn't have love appropriate for one's then one feels guilty. I felt guilty, and she must have too.
fellow beings, eh-has a quarrel with one's wife or with one's Surely it was the same for her; it came her tum too. The
family. And then they counsel one that if one is in Christ same thing happens now when we preach. After all, we don't
eh-all of those things must be changed. I believe this is th~ know what anyone does, but there are times when what we
most important change a person can make. preach really wounds someone else.
. These are the things that moved me to change all of my at- I'm going to give you an example so that you can under-
titudes, to change their form, so as to be nearer to Christ stand a little better. Suppose there's someone who drinks
and to have a more tranquil life. And in that regard, I find liquor. And suppose he stops in front of the church. One does
myself very contented. Though in the last few years Elisabeth not know him, one does not know if he drinks liquor or
and I ';eren't having a.ny gre~t battles, still we had not given leaves it alone. But the pastor there in the pulpit may say
up havmg them-and m the time that has passed since, it has that the drunkards have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven.
ende& Especially as I told you before-the jealousy and the Well, as we say, right away that person feels himself con-
fights that Elisabeth used to have-well, now she feels a little victed, because the words get to where he is. That is the
?1~re restraint. Now she knows that if she behaves that way,
situation when we say, "Fulano was convicted by that mes-
1t is contrary to the Scriptures. Be('ause the word of God says sage, by the words that were preached."
that the jealous are not godly. And it is the same with m~y This is how the words reach a person, you see. One knows
218 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 219
nothing of him; when one preaches, one doesn't know what three years and a half have gone by in which I have felt
one person does or what another does. But when a message nothing!
reaches someone, what he does is to argue with himself:
"My conscience-it is I who am doing that; that message Ell. was the first of the family to receive the blessing?
touches me." And another part touches another. See? So that Yes. The night Elisabeth received it, it was in Varsovia
each gets the part which affects him. at that vigil. We were both there. When she received the
blessing, it was during a vigil-an all-night service. It is a
You told me that you felt an ecstasy. Can you describe it? service divided into two parts. It begins at dusk, and they
Well-they tell one to close one's eyes. One is in com- have what we call the devotional part and then a part for
plete communion while they pray; and the ecstasy is as if one testimony when brothers testify. And they sing special hymns
were seasick; what I felt that night was something like that. until twelve, or twelve-thirty or one. Then at that hour they
I didn't see anything. I felt as if they had put something end the first part of the vigil. Then one goes out and drinks
before my eyes, as if I had left the world. Even when he coffee, and if there are crackers one eats those too. And later:
said, "Open your eyes," I still felt something big in my head on, the second part of the vigil begins and it goes on until
-it was as if one were in a faint. But you know that when the morning.
you faint you are about to fall, while I had my feet firmly And that night when we were at that vigil, which was when
planted. Elisabeth says she saw stars and things. I saw noth- Elisabeth received the blessing, there was a great outpour-
ing like that [he laughs slightly]. Rather, I felt this big thing ing of the Spirit ( bendici6n) in the church. There were many
in my head, this ecstasy. Now, when he told me to open my brothers who were dancing in the church. And Elisabeth was
eyes, I opened my eyes but I still felt something like an seated on a bench, and she kneeled to pray and right there
ecstasy. Then I didn't feel anything-anything more. I only where she was .kneeling, praying, she received the blessing.
felt that thing in my body, that ectasy in my whole body. She got up from a tier of benches where she haa been sitting,
Now, I know there was something in me. Because before I and she was kneeling in the aisle they have in the middle.
had never had that sensation, never until that moment· and Now while a brother is receiving the blessing, different
then afterward the sensation went away. Something V:as in movements occur in his body---at times he moves just his
me at that moment. head, and perhaps there will be a movement in the body too.
With Elisabeth it was especially a movement of the head.
And you can't tell me more about what happened? She twisted her head violently and her hair shook loose and
[No response.] came down and covered her face as she remained kneeling
in that blessing; until at last she received the tongues there.
There is no way to tell me-? Then they raised her up from there, one taking her by one
[He laughs a little helplessly.] Well-it is a little difficult, arm and another by the other, and she was talking perfectly
because I don't know how. What I do know is that up to the in tongues.
present [emphatically], thank God, I have never felt that
pain again. And anyone here you ask can tell you-every How d·id you feel at that moment?
two or three months I would have to go to bed-and for a Well I felt content because I knew- I had seen others
week at least. I used to get better and then three or four who were baptized with the blessing, and I knew that uh-1
months would pass, and then to bed again. Now-already was no longer able to remain in doubt regarding it; because
220 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 221
Elisabeth is a serious woman and she could not work a de- - well, as I told you before, then one bolds more tightly to
ception. That-that satisfied me.
the Gospel. One lcnows that in one regard that- that-that
one has a thing one did not have before, you see? And by that
And you wanted at that moment to have the same kind of night, well, I was able to substantiate it by -ruisabeth's ex-
blessing?
perience and those of all the others.
Surely-that is one's desire. But it is not a matter of when
one wants it [he laughs]. It is the desire of many. I know And how did you feel during the time you were receiving
a-we have a brother in the church-they call him Pedro, the blessing?
of the Coamo church- who has fought tremendously to re- One feels most content, one feels full of that. Truly, when
ceive the blessing. And in spite of that he has not received one receives the blessing that way, when a person thus re-
it He says to me: '1 fast, I cry, I have done so many things, ceives the blessing of the Holy Ghost, it is a great joy that a
and still I have not received it:" And I say, 'Well, Brother, Christian feels . And frequently you can arrive at a Pente-
there must still be something that you must do. Or it may be costal church and hear a brother who has just received the
that you are doing something that still prevents you, so that blessing talking in tongues from moment to moment. Now
you have not received it."' No, it is not when one wants it see, afterward, the brother gets to control himself better. For
[he chuckles].
when one is converted, when one thus receives the blessing,
one's desire is to be in communion always, and one is al-
But what happens when one wants and is not able- for ways seeking it.
example you wanted to receive it that night and-- And then as time goes by, then the Christian who has
Exactly. One prays: "O Lord-eh- bless me and baptize passed through that experience does not talk so much, be-
me"- but if it is not there-well, one gets up [he laughs] cause he is not so much in communion as he was at the be-
if one doesn't have it. All of the members of the church al- ginning. You see-it is like when one begins to fall in love.
ways await it, all of those who are not baptized always await One is always awaiting the girl and so on. And then afterward
that, because from one moment to the next they may re- they get married and then that diminishes-and so it happens
ceive it.
in this case. After the brother-uh-learns more, and then
after the blessing, well, it does not have-he does not seek it
And when you received the blessing-that occurred much so much as in the beginning, as when he received the bless-
later?
ing. In the beginning brothers come to the church, feel that
It was-a short period of time passed-a matter of one desire, and want to be baptized immediately with the Spirit.
week or two, something like that. The night I received it, You see? And so it happens, you see, that they receive it.
it was in this church here. Yes. In that place here; there it And time passes. And then, as it is then a common thing to
was. That night they told us to pray and we were praying. them, time passes, and then they get used to it. But in the
And while one is praying one feels as if something comes and beginning, one is exceed)ngly happy, having that thing that
fills one-a thing that comes and fills one. And then I re- one did not have before.
ceived a blessing, and I was moving myself about, and as
it happened here on my knees-since it was concrete-I Can you remember the moment when you were speaking in
skinned my knees while we were praying. That was the night tongues?
I received the blessing, over there. And at the same time one Of course [with some surprise]. One does it when one is
receives the tongues. And when one is baptized with the Spirit in a normal state. Now the Scriptures say that he who speaks
223
222 Worker in the Cane The Conversion
in tongues speaks and reveals mysteries, and no one will certain parts of the Scriptures concerning the control of a
understand, because God speaks through him who speaks in Christian and so on. Because a part of the Scriptures says
unknown tongues. that if a~ ignorant person enters and sees him that way, he
will say that the people there are crazy [he laughs].
When one talks in tongues, are there words one under-
stands? Can you recall the first sensation you felt when you re-
It can be-I have heard some brothers speak sometimes ceived the blessing? .
in such a way that you can understand them. Yes, at times Well that was what I told you before. You feel a tlung-
one can understand some. We have heard some brothers in as if ;ou have-some say they feel something that enters
the course of the blessing order the church to pray. And through their feet and fills them; now, I felt as if a thing came
some things you understand, although others you do not As through my head and filled me. There are those who feel it
the Scriptures say, in tongues one speaks mysteries that no through-through different :!?arts of the bod~. The body
one will understand. But many times one understands. trembles, you see, and one always has a continuous move-
ment while one feels this.
You can remember the sounds you made?
The people sitting close by on the benches sometimes put You were feeling no pain?
their ears close to you to see if they can understand some- No. To the contrary. One feels no pain at all. We were
thing, you see? kneeling and praying. They ordered us to kneel and we were
praying. Then one receives the Spirit, yo1:1 see; th~t .comes
But you don't remember what you were sayingP and fills one, and you have that demonstration· th~n it is dur-
Eh-eh- I don't remember understanding anything I my- ing the demonstration that one receive- the blessing.
self was saying, you see? Now I have understood many other
brnthets. Eh-Sister Teresa; once I heard her during a bless- The only sensation you recall is that of being filled-?
ing she received in Varsovia. She was speaking very clearly Yes, something comes and fills one. From there on one feels
in tongues, and I understood when she told the brothers to nothing more. One feels this thing that filled one, one feels
pray- when she said that the congregation required more
full [emphatically].
prayer. And sometimes a brother speaks and speaks and one
understands it. When a brother speaks and speaks, the pastor
or someone else takes him and helps him kneel, leaves him That was the only time you were speaking in tongues?
Jmeeling there, and lets him speak what he will; and then the No, that happened different times in the church, see-
service continues.
But to you yourself? . ,
So we can suppose that a brother has no control of the Yes, to the same person on different occasions . You d?n t
words he speaks? always speak in tongues in the church-but ~here are s~rvices
Eh-in the beginning when a brother receives the bless- -as we call them, services of great outpouring, and different
ing, no-he usually doesn't have that control. Afterward he brothers speak in tongues. That depends on-the commun~on
begins controlling himself. The pastor disciplines him, the that a Christian has in the church as well, the commumon
pastor sees him, and goes along exhorting him. There are he has. and how the service goes.
224 "\-Vorker in the Cane The Conversion 225
The speaking of tongues always begins in the same manner? At the last I went a lot. I'd push up front to hear; I always
When one receives a blessing? No, afterward it is a thing moved myself up to--up to the steps to hear it. And then
that comes at times when you are not expecting it. The finally they had a campaign. They brought pastors from
tongues start up-and there are times that one person with different places to preach there; and many people came-not
this carries it to another one, and one becomes filled and I alone, but many people were coming to hear them preach.
speaks-one says he is in communion with his eyes closed. I went frequently while they were having services here, and
This comes ornr one and the tongues rush forth. And it I listened to the services. I remember that at times discus-
passes and one opens one's eyes, and one is as one was, as we sions would arise among the people listening to the services
are talking now. outside. I recall one night when Lele and Radames were on
One knows one is speaking in tongues. One gets knowledge the subject. I was watching the services and also listening
-one hears it all, you see? One hears it all. Now, understand, to their conversation. And Lele was saying, "Why is it those
it is not a thing one can do at will. It is not when one wants people are yelling and sillging so?" And then Radames an-
to speak in tongues-no--rather, it comes upon one. swered him in this manner: he said, "Those people there
feel as happy or more happy than you and I when we are
When one makEs a profession of faith, what happens? drunk."
W_b_en one makes a profession of faith, then the pastor and There near the outside there were always people discuss-
the brothers of the church pray for one. It is done by raising ing and saying something about the services. And none of
the hand. They ask, "Who among you wishes to accept the these were members of the church. But Radames is a man,
Lord?" or, "Who wants to make a profession of faith? Those as I understand it, who has studied some in the Scriptures.
who do, raise their hands." That was what I did. So one And so I was going to listen to the services that way, and
doesn't have to do anything else. One raises one's hand, and gradually I got interested. And I believe that what it says
they pray; thus one comes to make himself a member on pro- in the Scriptures was being fulfilled. It says, "With hearing
bation of the church. Then one continues listening to the well the faith and then the word of God." So as I went on
services, and they go along indoctrinating one and laying hearing the message, I was getting more interested.
down the procedure, little by little- what one must do and And then they celebrated a campaign here and different
what one must not do, and so they educate one, teach one ministers came who were well informed in the Scriptures.
the doctrine. They were explaining the message, and I was acquiring more
interest in it and more conviction. And then it was that I re-
And you visited the church often before making such a solved to enter the church-not before the doubts I told you
profession? about before had been dissipated, but after my doubt was
Yes. I was going to many services right here. And-I always ended. Because afterward any other doubt I might have I
moved to the front there, I always used to give my nickels resolved in the Scriptures.
there, when they were collecting offerings and such. And When I decided to join the church, at first I believed I would
particularly when I was a boy I used to go a lot to the not remain in it. One always sees certain things, especially
Evangelical church services here. among people who don't kn~w. Often they gather before the
doors of the church, some to criticize and others to mock and
But when the Pentecostal church was in the store, did you so on. That didn't sit well with me, and I believed I wouldn't
go much before making a profession of faith? stay in because of that-the way they mock you, almost to
226 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 227
your face. But when I began to study the Scriptures, I came night I approached closer to the church by that door here
to know that that was something that had to happen. In the [he points to the church down the road]. They were passing
Scriptures I found the Apostle Santiago saying that the the plate and I made a contribution. And I remember that
mockers must come. So I learned that it is a part of the ful- Brother Juan then invited me to come in; and I didn't want to.
fillment of the Scriptures. Now when it happens I feel more That night he invited me to walk in, and I don't know why,
content. I think, good, here is the fulfillment of the Scriptures. but I didn't want to. At a later date I went in seriously. But
So before, it could have made me go away; today, it holds me that night he urged me. He was saying, "Enter, it is good."
more 6nnly. \Vhen one .has read something which he may ex- He put before me many quotations of the Word. But-and
pect to happen and then he sees it happen, then one has one I have noted that with the church-while one is being invited,
experience more. Now I know this must occur, and it doesn't there is always the feeling of "Later, later." And I believe the
catch me by surprise. So I went along getting more interested. moment will come in which many are going to be left thus,
Now, about how I entered the church. I don't know how "Later, later."
Elisabeth would explain to you how she entered. But I joined
having heard the message and possessing the most important And you never discussed it with anyone-Chea, Rosa?
proof beforehand. Though I saw great things in Ponce, when No. I never had such discussions. They have never inter-
I returned I had not decided to enter in the church. It was fered in this. Once after I entered the church I went to work
after that that I pushed myself forward to hear what they and a compadre of mine spoke up with some nonsense, but
were preaching. I never made anything of it. We were returning from work
and he, knowing I had made myself a member of the Pente-
You didn't go to so many of the meetings here? costal Church, said to me, "Ah, now you are going to have to
I went to some, see, but I didn't go so frequently. As we put up with many things here, because we are going to tell
did that niaht [referring again to the night in 1949 when he you lots of obscenities." And then I said, 'Well"-this was my
and I '·ent and both mildly ridiculed the activities]-! would answer-"Well, it shall be as God wishes." But actually,
stop and I would listen a while. I went often to listen espe- nothing came of it. All to the contrary; it was a foolishness of
cially when preachers from outside came. That's when one his, because he has never said anything more to me about it.
sees the church well attended, you see? A preacher comes
from afar, and the.n all the people go to hear him. They an- You never had problems with your friends apart from that?
nounce a preacher from such-and-such a place and then the Regarding the church? No. Because since then, if any
church is well attended- many people go, see. And during person would come to me concerning my membership, the
the campaign I saw many people preaching who were •;.veil only thing I would have to do is put the Scriptures before
versed in the Word. To the little that I had learned already him-why it is that I came to join and testimony as to why
I added much more there; and finally that moved me to join I am as I am [i.e. in the church]. And if he were a little mis-
the church. taken, I would explain my reasons. So I can't fall into a
quarrel now [he laughs].
Before entering, or after, did you discuss your faining the
church with some of your friends, for instance with Don After you made a profession of faith the most important
Berto? thing was the blessing and the speaking of tongues?
No, I didn't discuss it with anyone. I only recall that one That is an important part. But all the doctrine, the educa-
228 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 229
tion, all of that is important. Speaking in tongues is not-it very happy when I see that because it means she feels well,
is not so very important, you see. One knows that it is a understand. Immediately she feels the desire to go to church
prophecy one must fulfill. But as for speaking in tongues, the on Sunday and she feels more responsibility. For that reason
very Scriptures say that will save no one; it is not a question I send the children for a part of the service.
of its saving anybody. The Scriptures say it is a gift, but that
doesn't mean that because a person speaks in tongues that
he is saved. That would be very mistaken. Here is Eli's parallel narration.
Must one make a confession before entering the church? From the time when I was little I was interested in religious
No [with astonishment]. matters. I remember well that when I was little my father
used to take me and my brothers Mariano and Salvador to
One doesn't speak of one's sins or of what happened to one? the Evangelical church. He used to tell us that we had to
No; we do not confess our sins to any man. When we pray, attend services, and he usea to take us to Bible school. But
then we confess our defects. We go directly there [i.e. to God]; afterward he lost his faith. He gave up religion. And then he
we confess for our own part. Suppose I were to commit a began to drink. Under the influence of liquor, he gave my
misdeed and I were to believe that it was a bad thing I did. mother a bad life. I figure that was the cause of their separa-
Well, right away, as soon as possible, I ought to put myself tion. So when we were a little bigger and he became that way,
to pray. I don't go to Brother Juan to say, "I did that"; no [he we had to follow the same course, more or less-not drinking,
laughs]. Confess here to men, no; that is not the way, you but giving up church. Since he stopped going, we did too.
see? There is another church in which one must go to confess But I always had religious feeling, you see. I knew religious
to a man, and then one can do whatever one pleases [he things were good.
chuckles]. And I may be mistaken, but I think there could be Later on, as a young woman, I began enjoying the things
something that a man would do, a sin so great-God knows, of the world-dances, parties, such things-and we would
maybe a crime-and I'm sure he wouldn't dare confess that much sooner go to a party than go to church. I remember
[he laughs]. that as a young woman I attended some services in a Catholic
church. I went to see the people kneeling. I wasn't really
Now, Blanca received her blessing after Eli and you?. going to church; rather, I went to watch those who were
Yes, Blanca had it afterward; but not much time went by. kneeling and praying. I didn't pray at all. I went to watch.
I believe that something like three or four months went by, And if it were a Protestant service I might also go, seat my-
something like that. Her experience was almost the same. Oh, self, and be silent like the others. But I wasn't doing anything;
you would have enjoyed seeing her last Saturday. The same I wasn't giving any service to God. As soon as I would leave
Scripture says that there comes a time of coolness. For a long we would go dancing. If there was a party we went to the
time I watched Blanca going to services, and I saw, as we say, party. Anything that came to our notice that we liked, we
that she was cold in the church. And then last Saturday in the would go to. We were much more part of the world than
middle of the service she was greatly excited ( bien prendida) of the things of God. I only came to have more interest in
[said with evident pleasure], speaking in tongues. Last Sahff- the things of God since I have the capacity of a grown woman,
day, yes. It has been a good while that I haven't seen her-ah, you see-after I had had my children.
I never saw her the way she was that night [he laughs J. I get We began to learn the Gospel when Brother Osborne came
230 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 231
and preached in Ponce. The first who went to those meetings Taso know first, then when I came back home he would
was Car:inen Iris. Lots of people were going from here. And say something disapproving to me.
there were comments made here concerning what was hap- But by the time the girl came home so enthusiastic from
pening in Ponce. People were seeing miracles. They said the Ponce meeting, with her stories of the meeting, my heart
that God-that God was doing miracles in Ponce. The lame was already more with God than with anything else. I re-
were getting well, the blind \Vere seeing, and the paralytics mained silent that night, just listening approvingly to every-
were starting to walk. Well, that girl has always liked religious thing she said. But I said to myself, "If Taso would give me
things too. She didn't go to any church, but she liked such the money, I would go-I would also go see." The next day
things. some people were again preparing to go from here. And I
Well, she left the house one night to walk around, and it said to Taso that afternoon, "Caramba, Taso, you know some-
seems she he2,rd someone recounting something about the thing? I'd like to go to Ponce to hear that man preaching;
Ponce meetings. And she came back to the house and spoke I feel the desire to go."
with me and her father. She said she wanted to go to Ponce Taso has always been a serious man in these matters and
to see if the things she heard about were true. She wanted to respectful too toward the affairs of God. Long before he be-
do as St. Thomas-to see in order to believe. Then Taso told came a Pentecostal he was a man who never laughed at the
her, "Well, Daughter, if you want to go, go." He gave her work of God. He said, "Good; if you want to go, Pablito is
money for the trip, and it seems to me it was Pablito Figueroa going this afternoon. Send someone to ask if there is room
[a public car driver] who took her. He was going to take his for you in the car." Then I sent one of the children to Pablito's
\\·ife Dona Fela and his sister-in-law, and Carmen went too. house to ask if there was a seat I could have. I was prepared
And Carmen, in \'iew of what she saw and heard in the sermons to pay them to take me to Ponce. I did not dare go alone; I
-well, she was stirred by it; and when she returned she told didn't really know where I was going. And I don't know
us about it. \Ye had already gone to sleep when she came how to walk around alone at night anywhere. On that occasion
back and she ·,rnke us up to tell us what she had seen. She even less, for I'd get lost. And then Dofia Fela sent word that
told us of a child who was deaf and had recovered his normal Pablito had said yes. And I said, 'Well, here I am; now I'm
hearing and of many blind men \vho had regained their sight. going to Ponce."
She came home very happy. I went that night with them, and when I got there I found
At that time I was already listening to the services here. I it was exactly the same as Carmen Iris had said. I saw the
would approach the serYices that were then being held in very same things, and I saw some other things besides, even
the l\lora family's store. I'd walk up close to the door. But more interesting. I saw for myself. It was there that I came
I \rnuldn't stay long; I'd just listen a little while. The services to believe that to belong to a church is worth the effort, that
they \\·ere gi\'ing here in the barrio were already pleasing me to be a religious being is worth it, that one should seek out
-they were reaching my heart; but I had still not arrived at the things of God. Because of what I saw there, I had to
any determination to be converted. I wanted to test some- acknowledge that there is something powerful, that there is
thing more, to arri\·e at a more-more serious knowledge. I something more, beyond the fumament one sees. There is
\\:anted to test more of God's ways. I felt-I felt a desire to something more. I moved forward there in the crowd.
come closer to religious things. But at the same time I didn't My only doubt about the church was about the blessing,
quite dare. I believed that if I were converted without letting you see, which I had seen them receive in the chapel in Jauca.
232 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 233
The sisters dance, and here it is said that they dance in the nervous state. She was very nervous and then her family,
Spirit. And I would see them dance and I would say, "That who were walking about with her, took her to where the
could be the truth, and it could be that it is not." But when preacher was. He took out a very white handkerchief, a very
they danced there in Ponce with their eyes closed, not open- white one, and he bandaged her arm with it. He did nothing
ing their eyes at all for a single moment, and they went to and to her, he did not cure her with anything; he simply bandaged
fro and didn't bump into anything; when they fell down and her arm.
didn't hurt themselves at all, then I thought to myself, UThere And I saw another thing too. I don't remember if it was
must be something to it." And then I returned from Ponce the same night, because afterward I went back-I liked what
with this belief of mine still deeper. It was there that I con- I saw, and returned. There was a woman who said that she
firmed my faith. It was there that I gained more faith. had a tumor in her stomach, and that they were unable to
Some very important things happened there. There was a operate. And that night she vomited up the tumor. She vomited
girl near me with a tumor here [she points to her arm]. It up blood and pus right in front of us. She made such a pool
was like this [she raises her hand several inches from her that we had to move to give· her room to vomit. She was a
forearm], a very big twnor- very, very big. The preacher was Pentecostal, and there she was vomiting up this tumor, this
way up in front on a platform they put up there. He was foulness that she had in her stomach. And she was dancing,
quite far away and the girl was near us. And he beuan to dancing in the Spirit. And many Pentecostal sisters were
pray, this Brother Osborne, he began to pray there. He ~aised walking about with her, and all of them ended up dancing
his hands and gave a beautiful sermon in English. He spoke around her, and she was vomiting and going like this [imitates
in English, and there was an interpreter- he would say a the sounds of vomiting] and dancing and springing in the
word in English and the interpreter would say it in Spanish air, as when one receives the blessing. And the sisters were
and we understood. While he was praying we knew what he all around her, speaking tongues and speaking tongues and
was saying, because if he said, "O Lord," well, the other would dancing around, until finally they carried her, still under the
say, "O Senor." And when he was casting out the demons, same blessing, to where the preacher was. And when she be-
the one who was speaking Spanish said: "In the name of came calm she gave testimony there. She said that the doctors
Jesus I order that you depart from the sick bodies." had given her up because they were unable to operate. They
Brother Osborne said it in English and the interpreter said she would die if they operated, and there she was, cured.
would say it in Spanish. And even the movements that Osborne And that filled me with even more faith. I returned here
made would be made by the interpreter. If Osborne went like resolved to become converted. But I didn't tell Taso anything
this with his hand, he would do the same with his hand also. about how I planned to be converted. I said to myself, "It's
It was all easy to understand; whether American or Puerto true, it's good, I am going to become converted." And at the
Rican, he could understand. And as he said that prayer, well, same time Brother Osborne was preaching he made an invita-
that girl, without anyone touching her-and that tumor was tion to the people there who did not know the Saviour. He
really serious, so serious that she said the doctors didn't dare invited them with such a live faith that his words really reached
put her under the knife-went like this, like this [she throws one's heart. I came home resolved to tell Taso I was going to
her arms backward and out], and it burst. When it burst become converted. Then the next day, or two or three days
blood ran out and pus, blood and pus. Her arm was bathed later-I don't really recall how many days passed-again
in it and it dripped on her dress. And then she said, "Ai, it I approached the services in Jauca. But I know that when
has burst!" She was frightened and she fell into a kind of I came home I came with this idea of being converted. I came
234 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 235
home, and I confirmed what Carmen had told us. Taso didn't back very pleased, very happy. He told everyone here what
reproach me. I told him what happened, and he didn't re- he had seen. And from then on he noticed little by little that
proach me or say I was lying. He never doubted me. time was passing and he didn't feel that pain. He began to
I told him about the meetina because he was suffering from comment on it, even giving testimony in the church that the
a hernia, and I told him that at the meetings sick people were Saviour cured him. Because as time went by and he didn't
getting cured. On the night "e went I saw many cripples- feel the pain any more, then he realized that from the night
paralytics-putting their crutches on their shoulders and walk- he went there for the first time he felt well. He has never felt
ing out like that- putting their crutches high up in the air the pain again.
so that people might see that they were standing on their Now, when I returned from Ponce, I remained silent. I
own feet. Wherever you looked one would be walking about remained silent and didn't tell him I was going to be converted.
-here one was he.a.led, here another, and here was some other But I can tell you something; it was God doing His work
healed. One saw nothing else but crutches raised in the air, upon me. They were giving services here, and as the chapel
the crutches of the lame, raised up, and the cripples standing was so near, when they used to- sing there I would feel a great
on their own two feet. And so I told Taso that he ought to joy, my heart rejoiced, and something told me that I should
go see-that the wa those people were being cured of those come closer, that I should get nearer to the chapel. But I
other sicknesses, as God was curing those, he would cure the was afraid that he might scold me or something. I knew he
hernia also. really wouldn't scold me, you see-but the wives here always
At the time, Taso couldn't go two or three weeks without are afraid to leave the house without permission, and so on.
an attack of that pain. There were times when he might go Sometimes he would go out and I would remain here alone.
a month without feeling it, but the next month he would What I would do was sit myself down on the porch, or close
have it. And he ·would be five or six days, and sometimes up to that window, which was then lower, in order to listen to
to two weeks, in bed. One time they had him in the hospital the services. And no matter how softly the preacher there
and were about to operate on him. And then they brought in would preach, I used to hear that sermon as if he were right
someone gravely ill with pneumonia, and in order to provide here in the house. I would enjoy every little thing in the
a bed for the one who had pneumonia they took Taso out and services.
sent him home for observation. The idea was to operate on But then as the days passed, I could no longer restrain
him later; but he was never operated on. Then he went where myself. I began to go out of the house. And so that he wouldn't
Osborne was, and Osborne prayed, he prayed and beseeched scold me, I would take one of the children with me in my
heaven for the sick, and Taso was cured. He was cured, be- arms. Because if I go out and leave the children and they
cause he has never suffered from it again, and a number of bother him a lot, then when I come back he scolds me because
years have gone by already. We are converted more than the children annoy him. So I would take the child on my
three long years now, and I have never heard him complain shoulder and come about as close to the meeting as Ceferino's
again of it. And yet before he could not go a month, be could house. Near about there, I'd stop in front where I could hear.
not go three weeks, \vithout being sick. And it was a matter The services were going on, and each night I was getting
of one foot here and one over there, because he couldn't put closer.
his two feet together when he had that pain. Then one night I came to the very door of the chapel and
I don't remember what he said when he got back from sat down. I did not go with the idea of being converted that
Ponce, but I know be arrived full of enthusiasm. He came night, because I didn't dare without speaking first with Taso
236 Worker in the Cane
The Conversion 237
about it. But I went and sat down on a rock, one of those that
had fallen out of the little stair wall. I sat down near the He always used to say that I had to find a religi~n that
last door with Lilian in my lap. I enjoyed the service seated would calm me down. I was very irritable and very Jealous,
there, and I was waiting for the service to end before return- and be would say I had to stop that. I could not g~t f~t
ing home. But when the service was ending already and the I was always very thin- being jealous of him and getting mto
brothers were shaking hands and saying good-by, then _racre.s. Whatever he would say to me, there would be a fight.
Brother Juan Hernandez, the pastor, went like this to me There was no peace-no peace in the house, you ~ee. And
[a beckoning motion] from there in the pulpit. I had remained now that I am converted to the Saviour, well, there IS peace,
seated; I had not stood up. The service had ended. And then there is peace; there is a beautiful testimony for you. Ther:
he went like this [motioning] to me. is peace in the house, and there is hle. Because I must speak
And he said, "Come, Eli." When he said, "Come, EH," to the truth. I .know that ifs good because a change has occurred
me I know I said nothing to him. But I felt as if I were being God has worked a great change, in him as in me, and healed
raised up and carried, as if I were being carried through the him 0£ that sickness. And further- I also used to feel many
air from where I was sitting. And when I realized what was small illnesses that I have nol: felt ever again, thank God.
happening, he was already praying for me. There I was with I believe this too was accomplished through means of prayer.
Lilian, that seven-year-old child, .in my arms. And then I felt I believe it was that. Because I took no medicine, I did noth-
as if I were carried irom where I was sitting, carried to where ing, and even so the illness I bad has left me.
the pastor was. But when I really understood what happened, Then after that, in the beginning I used to go to church
when I realized I bad been converted, I was already in front timidly, with fear, wi th shyness. There are many people w~o
of him and he was pra ing. Then I myself said, "But in God's make fun of you, and many people here do not seek a fa.ith
name ( AdiOs ) I did not come to be converted tonight. Wl1y because they're afraid others will mock. There are many
is it that I have been converted this night?" I even thought who make fun of the work of God and have no religion of an.y
that if I uot home and told Taso I had given myself to this sort· and when a person is converted to a religion there is
religion, he might say something :in anger to me or scold me. alw~ys someone to ridicule it. And I was a wom~n who hardly
And afterward I was frightened. left the house or went anywhere. But after makmg the profes-
But, thank God-I say that it must have been the work of sion of faith, I knew I had the obligation to attend some
God-I got back home and told him, smiling, ''Taso, I was services even if it were only once or twice. Well, I used to
converted tonight. I am a Pentecostal now." And he said to go to the chapel on Sunday, but I went timidly. I would seat
me, "Well, it's the best thing you could have done. Let's see myself in the seats near the front, not daring to look out at the
if you can give up the tantrums you always have." Because I street, because when I did that it seemed to me that the on-
was a jealous one and bad tempered, more given to tantrums lookers out there were making fun of me. But later on, that
than anyone. And he said to me, "It's the best thing you could feeling disappeared. And little by little I was learn~g more
have done. Let's see if you can stop these rages you fall about the religion. I read the Scriptures and I realized ~at
into." He said it a little differently, actu.ally- "to see if you it was prophesied that people would mock. Well, leannng
can give up a little of this that you have." And I said, ''Well, that ended my fear. Now if they want to mock me, let them,
then, you don't believe it." I assumed be still doubted, that and I will not complain to the world.
he thought I was making a joke. But then when he realized Taso began attending services about a week or two after
I really had been converted, he took it well. me. One night I didn't dare go alone. They were goinl? to
hold a service in the house of a brother named Santiago
238 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 239
Alicea, whom you know. He had become converted, and they faith, because there are things you could not ask your mother
were going to give a service there. This was still when I was or father, while you may ask what you wish of God. Ask, so
just beginning, the first weeks that I was attending, and I that He may hear you."
didn't dare go there. People always talk. I used to hear others And so I was getting more experience, and any problem I
talking about bow the sisters went off alone with the brothers. had, well-when I went to pray, when I knelt-I would begin
Now, one has trust in one's brothers and one dares to go to ask God about it. I would concentrate, and ask; and one
anywhere alone with them. But as people -always gossip, I night I was praying, and I felt this heat in me-but it really
didn't want to go to that meeting alone. I was going to the wasn't hot. It was-according to what Brother Juan told me
chapel here alone with the children, you see, but I didn't dare afterward-it was one of the first intimations that one is going
go there alone, because it was being held in Poyal [the swampy to receive the blessing. I felt it first when they were praying.
coastal section of the barrio J.
It was as if there were some cooling breezes-like when one
Then I said to Taso, 'Tonight there's a service in Poyal, in comes close to a refrigerator. qne feels that cold air, that col~
the house of Brother Chago [Santiago Alicea]; I'd like it if breeze-like when one opens a refrigerator and puts ones
you would take me. Let's go, let's go together, because I face up close to the refrigerator and one feels something like
don't want to go alone with the brothers. I want you to go." a very cool breeze. It was very agreeable-and cold, not just
Then Taso said, 'Well, let's go-I'll take you." And the two of cool, but cold. And I felt that-that cold air. It passed over
us left together; he accompanied me. When they were about me, across my face [moves her hand in front of her face]. And
to end the service, then Brother Juan :invited anyone who later I felt it upon my legs.
wanted to make a confession of faith- and Taso did so. He And it was as I was feeling that cold breeze upon my legs
was converted right there, just as I had been before. He must that I noticed that at times my dress would move, like this,
have been convinced already, because .he had recovered from as if there were a breeze. But there was no breeze. It was only
his sickness. And who knows, perhaps he had God in his heart what I felt, you see? I noticed it and I looked to see if there
also. The pastor didn't have to talk much to him to convince were something moving about, something blowing about my
him to .seek God- be too followed in the path. legs. Then, after that cold breeze, then I felt several waves of
Well, now, we went on attending the chapel l1ere. And one heat, as if I were to bring my face close to an oven. I felt
night the brothers began to pray. I didn't know how to pray this heat about my ears, as if I were going to be burned. And
as they pray. In the Pentecostal church they pray loudly, the I continued praying, continued praying, and continued pray-
majority pray in raised voices. And I was lea.ming how to pray. ing. And as I prayed more, my face felt hotter and hotter.
I am very inquisitive- I like to ask questions- and I asked Until I realized that I was sweating, sweating, and I sweated
the pastor, I said to Brother Juan, "Well, Brother Juan, how as if-as if my face were cooking. I didn't know what it could
does one learn to pray? I come to chapel but I don't know be, I didn't know what it was, and I became frightened, and-
what I must do. Tell me how one learns to pray.' Then the and I stopped praying.
only thing he told me was: "Well, Sister, already you have And later on I asked the pastor, I questioned him, what
received the Lord as your Saviour. I know you already have could it have been that I felt when I began to pray-first
God in your heart. Well, when you kneel expound all your cold winds and later that heat upon me that almost burned
problems so that He may hear you. I am sure that He will me. And he told me that when I felt that I shouldn't stop
hear you. When you kneel, ask what you will- as if you were praying. Instead I should continue. He said th~se were in~ma
asking something of your mother or father. But with even more tions that I was receiving-that I was soon gomg to receive-
240 Worker in the Cane 241
The Conversion
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For a space of two or three weeks like. But I know that each time this thing approach~d me, it
I was receiving those-those fresh breezes, and later the hot filled me- from my feet to my head-some cool thing came
ones, until one night they gave a vigil at Colonia Varsovia. over me and blew upon me. And l felt at times that my body
It was the first vigil I ever went to. They hadn't held any [she laughs slightly ]-as if it wanted to move; .I felt rny body
from the time of my conversion, and I didn't even know what tremble-quiver. I felt as if each time somethmg surrou:ided
a vigil was. I bad heard that the brothers stayed up all night me, as when one is c:iught in .a light shower. l felt .as if m~
praying and singing and honoring the Lord, but so far I had heart were !!Towing bigger, as if my heart wanted to JUIDP ou
not been to any. I wanted to rejoice at tha.t -vigil. I knew by of my che~ . I was receiving those things [she moves ~er
then that these sensations I would get were intimations of bands in front of her face ]- thus, o er one, now. and agam.
something more, because the pastor told me they were. And Something comes to where one is; one sees no~g b~t one
I knew that when I recei ed them, I should not stop praying, feels it. I was sitting there in a row of women, sisters m the
but that I ought to pray instead with more spirit, with more church and I had the end of the bench.
force, v.:ith more faith- that they meant that the Saviour was And 'when 1 closed my eyes, I saw what looked like a little
going to stamp me ''ith the blessing of the Holy Ghost. light moving from here [she motions to the left at eye levell
Well, then we went to that vigil, Taso and I . We passed the to here [she passes her hand to the right before her eyes]· And
whole nigbt in prayer and singing, and it was a lovely thing- from this side it returned and passed by again. I saw i t about
for the vigils are beautiful, and one spends the whole night three or four times during the second part o1 the vigil l felt
in meditation with the Saviour, and praying- praying and that cold wind, and that light passed back and forth, back and
honotina the Saviour and singing beautiful hymns. And forth. And then I remained watchfully waiting, with my eyes
then about midnight, well they have an intermission- like closed, but I did nothing. .
they have in theaters, when the people go out to get a bit of It was alread · getting light; morning was already commg.
fresh air to take some air and so on. We bad that part at And ·we began to pray again, and when-~ know that when
twelve at night. We \\ ent outside then to drink a bit of black I kneeled there came thfa peculi.ar thing. It mvaded my whole
coffee, which is what they have at the vigils, and to eat body (he~ voice becomes tense and excited] and I ~egan to
crackers and things they bring. If it "ere a velorio or some- tremble to move my body. I didn't want to move ir- some-
thing like that, then people would be going out to drink rum thing V:as mo·..-ing me. When I knelt they asked the brothers
and-and other thin as, you see. But in the vigil of the Saviour, who were not baptized with the blessina to form a group. We
no. There one goes and drinks a little coffee to a•oid sleep- did- men and women- to seek the blessing. In the prayer
iness- that is, to distract one. Because though one doesn't I was raising I beseeched the heavens- I as_ked the Lord to
sleep during the night, one doesn't get sleepy either, since it stamp me ,vith the blessing that the pastor s~d He had fo~ us~
is a jovful and good thing. By then my body was moving more, movmg_ more, until a
Then at about one o.r soon thereafter we began the second last something [her voice rises almost to a shnek] compelled
part. We were outside about an bour, and then Brother Juan me to dance, something carried me about, so that I was strug-
asked us to reconvene within the chapel so as to begin the gling this way and that- I could not. contra~ myself, I co~~
second part. And as the second part started, I felt those waves not because this was a tremendous thing. This \Vas some~.:.
of heat coming more rapidly. In the place where I was sitting,
I would feel something that came over me that was not- that
tremendous. And the joy one feels- because it is no: a thing
that frightens one, no. I didn't feel the sli htest bit fr1ghten:d;
was something that-I don't know, I can't explain what it was I felt instead that I wanted to hurry to recejve it, to receive
242 Worker in the Cane The Con version 243
the blessing. I wanted to hurry, to be filled completely with know what it was that I was saying. I could not tell you what
it. And the more one danced, the more one felt it. And I I said, you see?
know that this thing this peculiar thing was in me--you see- After one has knowledge of some of this, when one has
that it was in me. When one receiYes such a strong blessinu (;)J
understanding of some of it, when one studies the Scriptures,
at times the other sisters rejoice in the same sanctification. then at times when the brethren speak in tongues, one may
The_· spoke in tongues alongside me, and they were telling me understand some of the words they use. But it is afterward,
to glorify- to glorify more, and the pastor was saying to me, when one has been a while in this religion. One may have
"Glo:rify Glorify the Lord still morel You are going to receive some knowledge and be able to interpret some of the tongues.
the promise now." But not everyone can interpret them; it is rare that the Lord
And while I was g1orifying, l know that at one point I raises up an interpreter for those tongues; indeed, one doesn't
wanted to say. '"Glory to God, Hal1e11:1jah." and I could not. know oneself what one is saying. Well, that lasted for more
I swallowed my tongue; and then 1 spoke in other languages, than an hour. When it passed, I was bathed in such a sweat
like Hebrew or something like that. The pastor said I was that you could wring out my clothes.
going to say something in tongues; and then I beard Brother When that passes, you can stand up and leave your seat,
Juan say, "She has received it! She has received it! She has and you are left feeling fine. One feels just the same. But dur-
spoken in tongues, in spiritual tongues." And, meanwhile, ing it I was kneeling and I could not stand up. The blessing
while I was in that state, there were those strong movements came while I was kneeling, and for an hour I was in that same
in my body. Something comes-comes to where one is, and position. And in that same position, one--one feels a trembling
for the sheer pleasure of it. one goes on speakino- in tongues. that shakes one to one's very guts [she laughs slightly]. All
One doesn't know what one is saying, and one is left speaking the body is caught up in movement. And then one is speak-
that way ~thout knowing how. ing in tongues. Now those who have more knowledge control
What I said, I could hear. But I mneli did not understand it, they can restrain themselves. But as it was new to me-
what I was sa ing. I know that I w~ speaking in a tongue as I was new, I really didn't know how. One can hear, and one
that was not my own, a language that was not mine. It was has one's complete consciousness; but one can't stop talking
not Spanish; l wanted to speak in Spanish but I couldn't I until-until it passes. It comes, it invades your body, some-
could not stop speaking those tongues. It was a beautiful thing comes over one, something peculiar. So much so that
thing-wanting to speak one's own language, to change, to He Himself-I say this because it is the promise-so much
control oneself enouglJ to stop, to stop doing that-and not so that if God Himself didn't want it, it would not-it would
to be able to. I \vanted to stop talking those tongue-S, so that not pass.
I could ask the brethren what if was that I bad. It was like And when I began speaking in tongues, I felt as if my face
speaking- like--like speaking in Latin; like the people speak were being lighted up by a flashlight. When I sensed that
who speak in Latin, and who speak in different languages. light upon my face, I tried to open my eyes to see what it was;
And I know that when I went to say "Glory to God, Hal1elujah," but I could not. My eyes remained thus [she closes her eyes
I said glori- I know that I said g7ori- but then I topped. very tight]. And I felt as if something like this were happen-
I could not say gloria, as I say it now. And from there on ing with my hair [she rumples the hair on the side and front
I went on talking in-it was a mix-up, like the Arabs talk, and of her head, suggesting the movement caused by a breeze];
like the-well, like the Americans speak English-well, like as if wind were blowing my hair about, moving my hair this
that. I didn't understand the very things I was saying; I didn't way. But I tell you that it was no wind; I merely felt that.
244 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 245
Afterwcird I sat down again. And then I felt fine. As I am lot-this way [she turns her hands inward, clawlike, and
now-here, well. I felt very happy because I had received makes swimming movements of small compass, with hands
something, and I had spoken in tongues that I had never close to the chest], going like this, but very rapidly, very, very
spoken before. And I said, "Caramba, what beautiful l~n rapidly. And he became bathed in such a sweat that y~u
guages I have spoken tonight-where woul_d t~ey be comn;.? could have wrung out his shirt and gotten water out of it.
from?" [She laughs slightly.] And then I said, What could it And then while he was making that demonstration with his
be?" Oh, I felt very happy, very happy, because I don't know hands, his hands went this way [motioning to the front of
the chest] in the-here on his shirt. And while his hands were
how to speak English, I don't know how to speak Hebrew,
pulling at his shirt the buttons went flying; the buttons of the
and still I spoke four or five different languages that same
shirt flew [she laughs]. They fell on the floor-I remember
nio"ht. I felt most happy about that.
this from that night.
Then when it was full daylight, then they ended the vigil,
I don't believe he spoke in tongues that night. Taso always
and \Ve returned to the barrio. And I felt more alive than
said to me that he doubted that he had received the promise,
ever, and happier than ever, to think that I had this in me-
because he did not speak in tongues as I had. He was always
this precious thing-which I didn't have before. It filled me
at me with this: "Cara, Brother Juan says I have the blessing,
with joy every time I thought of it. Ave Maria, it made me
but I don't know; I don't recall that I spoke in tongues." He
most happy. I felt full of life.
was always telling me this. But one night we went to a service
And after one receives the blessing, then each time one
at Pefiuelas [a settlement in the north of Santa Isabel]; I was
prays one may speak in tongues. But the stro_ng move°?ent
watching, and he received a great big blessing, and I heard
occurs only when one is stamped with the blessmg. And smce
when he spoke in tongues. He said a word in tongues-I can't
one knows nothing about it the first time, one can't control
remember what it was. And the next day I said to him: 'You
that tremendous movement. But after one has that experience,
say that you are in doubt whether you have the blessing
the blessing will come and you can control it. You've already
confirmed. You know you have the blessing but you don't
had the experience. You know it is something that comes from
believe you have it confirmed. Well, when you were at the
God. You receive it, but you receive it with more spirit, with
service in the house of Brother Santos, you said this word.
more power. Then afterward you await it, you see? You expect
And I recall that I told him the word-it was a mixed-up
it and you know it is coming. It is when one does not know-
word, you see? Not Spanish; a word like in Latin-like in
then when it comes it is very powerful, and swiftly you go
Latin. I kept the word in my head as he said it. And then at
toward it and it comes to you, and it comes uncontrolled, you
home I told him, not knowing if he would remember. I kept
see? But afterward one controls it, little by little.
the word in my mind to show him that he need not doubt it,
you see. He had the promise confirmed, because he said that
Was it long after that that Taso received the blessing? word that was not his under the blessing.
Taso received it afterward. When Taso received it he left
his shirt without buttons [she laughs slightly and looks at
Taso, who sits on the doorstep reading his Bible]. It was In 1949 Taso was 41 years old. His economic situation was
about two weeks later, or something like that. Taso was in better than it had been during the preceding decades, and
the chapel here in J auca. That night when Taso began to his political party had been confirmed in power by an immense
receive the blessing, he began the same as I. He began to-to majority in the 1948 elections. His search for a home was no
-to dance. Then during the blessing he was using his hands a
246 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 247
more than a memory, for the family lived securely now on The "average" J auca Catholic, if a male, has not been con-
inalienable land, in that part of Barrio Jauca called Palmas firmed, has never taken communion, has never gone to con-
Orillanas. In these ways life had become better. fession, is not married in the church, and has an attitude to-
But Taso was plainly frightened by the recurrent attacks of ward official Catholicism which is neither enthusiastic nor
helplessness he was suffering due to the inguinal weakness violently critical. By his measure, however, he is a Catholic-
he had acquired in childhood. Eli still harassed him with not a Protestant or an atheist, but a Catholic. The walls of
her jealousy, and there is little doubt that these things together his shack are decorated with saints' pictures, a cross, and a bit
were making him feel depressed and guilty. Though his of palm from the preceding Holy Week. He has his children
political party was now triumphant, he derived no direct baptized, though the official baptism may take place years
personal reward from the victory. While life was better and after the children are born. He has no objection if his wife
the.re was much to be thankful for, not everything was goes regularly to church so long as it does not interfere with
satisfactory; there were still many problems a man could not her household duties_:though the likelihood of her going is
handle or understand. slight. He believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ, and in the
I left Barrio Jauca in August 1949, and early in 1950 Taso Holy Trinity, if you trouble him to think about it. He may tell
became a member of the Pentecostal Church, surrendering the you that the Catholic Church is "the church of the rich," but
Catholic faith into which he had been born. This meant an he is not likely to change his faith. He will expect to be buried
important change in many areas of his life. It was a conscious in hallowed ground, and he does not-ordinarily-wonder
choice, which he feels has solved many of his problems and whether he should be anything but a Catholic.
has made the world more comprehensible and bearable. So Such a Catholic was Taso. He could not remember ever
fundamental a reorientation is dramatic when it occurs to having been in church himself, but he had been "raised as a
~nyo~e. In Tas?'s case, because he is a hardheaded person, Catholic." He had his children baptized, he gave alms if
mtelhgent and mtellectually critical, and because of his bitter envelopes were brought to his house, and his speech was
personal history in political struggles, such a change seems colored by religious phrases. That part of his behavior most
additionally significant. influenced by Catholicism had to do with the baptism and
The revivalist churches ha,·e grown rapidly in Puerto Rico, choice of godparents ( padrinos) for his children and the
part~cularly in the past twenty years and may be expected to maintenance of respect relationships with these compadres.
continue to grow. What impels individuals to make such a But though he had over fifty compadres-both godparents
religions choice dilling their growth was the question which to his children and parents to whose children he was padrino
motivated me, more than any other, to try to look down the -he did not concern himself about the connection between
path Taso had walked, to try to understand what had hap- the godparental custom and Catholicism. And yet this area of
pened to him. his life was more closely bound up with the Catholic Church
In J auca, as in any community large or small in Puerto Rico, than any other, since he insisted on church baptism, even
the majority of people are Catholics. But the term "Catholic" if years late, for all his children, up to the time of his con-
used to refer to a believer in a particular world religio~, version.
covers a great variation in intensity of faith and in conception Beyond this Taso showed no interest in religion when I first
of religious adherence. For the lower-class Puerto Rican worked with him and did not participate in any rituals besides
Catholic, particularly in the coastal reofonsb
of the island , baptism. During 1948 and 1949 he was a poor informant on re-
religious affiliation is rarely manifested by ritual participation. ligion; as I have indicated, his attitude was offhand and slightly
The Conversion 249
248 Worker in the Cane
sour. He seemed to find the revivalist churches amusing; he making professions of faith within the church. Blanca joins the
was mildly contemptuous, though not hostile. Once we saw church long before either of her parents but does not receive
several young girls in trance states at a Pentecostal service the blessing until after they have done so. When EH joins, she
and Taso seemed to find their behavior comical, even slightly first tests Taso by saying she had joined when she really had
shameful. I remember that he indicated his distrust of their not. He says later that he was unconcerned and his tone ex-
behavior; he disliked and suspected their lack of control. presses it. But I believe he acted approvingly. Eli's experience,
This was in the summer of 1949 toward the close of my first however, was such that she could have considered herself not
field trip, less than a year before Taso's conversion. It seems responsible for her profession of faith in case Taso objected.
certain that he was reorganizing his attitudes toward religion When Taso himself finally makes a profession of faith,
by then, even though he never indicated this to me. It may he says he does it as a "test." He wishes to know if the visita-
have been because he was behaving overtly in terms of what tion of the Holy Ghost, which occurs during the trance state,
he thought my religious attitudes to be, or because his own is genuine. His reasoning is revelatory of the sort of character
views were still changing on a largely unconscious level. the man has. But it is plain -that the test is really no test at all.
When he finally wrote me about his conversion his letter was Soon after he makes a profession of faith, his wife receives
brief and slightly defensive. the blessing. And, he says, she is a serious woman; when
While the material on his religious life was of particular she receives the blessing there is no further room for doubt.
interest to me, he made it clear near the beginning of our In a matter of weeks, he, too, is baptized by the Holy Ghost.
work on the life history in 1953 that he wanted to discuss The whole sequence has a certain unity.
that last. It seemed to me he felt the rest of his life story Taso's conviction that he was cured before he believed
could serve as an introduction to the conversion, so to speak. is noteworthy. I am sure that he believed--or was fully pre-
And it is perhaps true that his conversion "fits," coming as it pared to believe-or the curing would not have been possible.
does in the flow of total life experience. And the authenticity of the visitation of the Holy Ghost is
Taso's narrative raises a number of serious questions that also proved in his mind before he tests it. He would have us
I cannot answer. It seems obvious that by the time Taso took believe he was not convinced at the time he made a profession
his trip to Ponce he was already predisposed to be influenced. of faith. Yet it seems fair to conclude from his own words that,
He says: "I went with the faith that I could be cured." To had he not been sure he would be confirmed in his faith the
reconstruct the changes in his thinking which led up to this profession would never have been made. '
proved impossible. But the succession of events does reveal The experience of the blessing by EH is a "test," because
something about him. His daughter Carmen Iris attends the he could trust her where he could trust no other. If she had
services and returns with sensational stories. Then Eli does this experience, then it could not be a fraud. It is possible
the same; she makes the events she has seen directly relevant that his profession of faith helped to trigger her receiving of
to Taso. Something motivates her to urge him to attempt to the Holy Spirit. Thus at last Taso can experience the promesa,
cure himself through a supernatural agency and she must and know he has not been deceived-and presumably, that he
suppose he may listen. He goes at her urging, and experiences is not deceiving himself, as well. He is at pains to explain
a strange physical sensation and a cure, which he seems al- that the experience is real, that it is foretold and has Biblical
most entirely incapable of describing as a personal experience. justification. This particular order of events bespeaks Taso's
Just as Carmen Iris and Eli attend the important revival curiously hardheaded approach to nearly everything, includ-
meetings in Ponce before him, so Blanca and EH precede him in ing religion: his need for a feeling that what he does is
250 Worker in the Cane The Conversion 251
justified, pretested, verifiable; his preoccupation with control, The conversions of EH and of Taso are separate events, but
order, and restraint, probably put sorely to the test by his de- the narrations reveal that they are also parts of a single set
cision to be a Pentecostal; and his complementary and bal- of circumstances. The words of the narrators reveal how
anced relationship with EH. The fact that the tests themselves different Taso and Eli are from each other. But like all peo-
are probably no more than routine confirmations of what he ple who have lived in an intimate and meaningful relationship,
must have believed unconsciously already only demonstrates the subtly sense each other's moods and tempers uncon-
his need for rational support in the decisions he makes. sciously. For the curiously balanced and mutually gratifying
When Taso turned back once more to his experience in partnership they have, it was right that they should both be
Ponce, new materials emerged. He emphasizes that the converted to the new faith . Plainly, each was getting some-
minister evoked in him feelings of guilt-the word culpable thing for himself from the experience; but the church also
is best translated this way. The usual meaning of culpable in became a setting within which they could relate to each
Puerto Rican speech is "guilty as charged," rather than "feel- other in new ways. Elfs description of her own religious
ing guilty." The word is rarely used, anyway. It seems to me background and of the steps leading up to her conversion
very important that Taso uses it, so far as I can tell, without illuminates the meaning of the experience to her alone as well
any prompting from me. His guilt does not arise from his as for her relationship to her husband.
sickness, he says-he claims he does not feel guilty for being From Eli's recounting, it is clear how emotionally oriented
ill. It arises in connection with his friends and neighbors, she is as compared with her husband. One gets the im-
and with his family; has he behaved toward them as he pression as well that Eli is a much more sensual person than
should? Then he shifts to Eli's jealousy of him-the minister's Taso; it would be difficult not to read analogies into Eli's
words "convicted" her (this translation would fit with Funda- narration of her baptism by the Holy Spirit. Some of the dif-
mentalist usage in the United States) , as well as him. When ference behveen the parallel recountings, however, probably
he and EH entered the church, her jealousy ended for good, derives from the culturally determined rules for male versus
since the jealous are not godly. And so indeed other things female behavior.
must have ended for him. Perhaps he is not explicit enough Thus the nvo narrations reveal different things: both Taso
here; I believe his meaning, however, will be sufficiently clear and Eli joined the Pentecostal Church for the same reason,
to anyone who has read his story. and yet each for 11is own reasons. Both derive some kind of
Against the background of his advancing years and his disil- general grati£cation out of their new status; yet each receives
lusionment with his local political leaders, the concatenation of some particular and individual gratification. They undergo
items in this part of the story may reveal a meaningful se- comparable experiences; but these are only comparable, not
quence. There is his frightening illness, centered in the core alil<:e, and each perceives his experiences and those of his
of his potency-and in this context, of his potency for "evil." spouse in distinctive ways.
There is the (associated?) arousal of guilt feelings, inten- For both Taso and EH conversion meant a new solution
sified by Eli's persistent and extreme jealousy. There are Eli's to old and almost unendurable problems. Taso reveals the
urgings that he go to the revival meeting to see if he can burden of guilt he carried, and one sees the ease with which
be cured; and he goes with this expectation. The cure itself the words of the pastor could evoke Taso's guiltiness. He
is unexrlained. With the forswearing of Un-Christian be- stands before God sick and guilty and disillusioned, and
havior, his consciousness of his own guilt and his capacity for feels his burden miraculously lifted. EH remembers the
dealing with it both undergo changes. words of the Scriptures from her childhood, and from the
252 'Vorker in the Cane
lips of her father before he lost faith. She is drawn to religion
by f?rces she cannot understand. Both Taso, in his description CHAPTER 8
of himself and of his response to Blanca's emotional relation-
ship to the church, and Eli, in her descriptions of her ex-
periences, reveal a deep undercurrent of powerful human History within History
feeling which the church came to satisfy.
similar personal experiences have not. In short, one comes in degree according to various social distinctions within the
back to the point of convergence of personal and cultural island.
"explanations" of behavior. The wave of ecumenical Protestant proselytization in
The question may perhaps be examined in another way. Puerto Rico soon after the United States Occupation probably
There is much in the revivalist approach to the good life that created some change in the insular social structure. The
is reminiscent of early Protestantism. The church, in what proselytes, as I have suggested, appeared to come principally
it forbids and in what it encourages, provides a world view from the middle class, and religious change of this sort has
which seems to be remarkably congenial to growing mobility direct meaning for acculturation, in this case "Americaniza-
aspirations in a society that is becoming Westernized. Thus tion." The revivalist churches made their penetrations at a
the injunctions against gambling, smoking, and drinking may later time, more deeply, and at lower class levels. But it may
be tantamount to enforced saving, or at least to the potential at least be hypothesized that revivalist proselytization could
accumulation of capital for other purposes. Church marriage serve motives to acculturate among social groups which, for
is more acceptable in the wider society than common-law one or another reason, couh:l not have been expected to move
union; and a marriage certificate is of some importance in freely and easily into the ecumenical denominations.
terms of the possible future status of the children of such As time passed after the United States Occupation, the
unions. The various tenets and taboos add up not only to culture of the conquering society posed for the lower-class
forced economic saving but also to the idealization of de- Puerto Rican a set of new values and potentially desirable
ferral of gratification-surely a basic postulate of self-advance- objectives. The cane cutter inevitably wa~ exposed to n~w
ment in W estem society. Thus conversion to a revivalist sect kinds of goods, new ideas of worth, new attitudes. And unlike
may be viewed as a way of increasing one's social and eco- remoter areas of the island where change has come more
nomic mobility, even though middle-class feelings toward gradually, the south coast was totally revamped by the Oc-
such groups may obscure this. cupation. The result at first was simply to disorient people, a
If a society is suddenly exposed to new values by another fact revealed when older Jauqueiios talk about the early
more powerful and invading society, it seems reasonable to 1900's. The new emphasis on cash income, the elimination
assume that those persons who take up the new values with of noncash services, the introduction of new consumers' goods,
the greatest speed and efficiency stand the best chance for and the opportunity to earn money by intensified effort began
success. This will not be true, of course, if the invading so- to push aside older standards. Workers co~d begin t.o think
ciety is thrown back and the old order restored. But in Puerto of getting security more through matenal possessions or
Rico, United States influence has been powerful, protracted, money-making skill, and less throuah the fulfillment of cus-
and irresistible. There is no reason to suppose the trend will tomary noneconomic obligations and the extension of personal
be reversed. Accordingly, more and more Puerto Ricans have friendships.
been pressed to adjust their way of life to fit more success- In the pre-Occupation situation landowners bad so~gbt
fully to new standards. In many cases such adjustment is de- above all else to avoid investing capital in their enterpnses.
liberate and conscious. One may see this particularly with Agriculture was extensive rather than intensive and labor-
those Puerto Ricans who have emigrated to the mainland and heavy rather than machine-heavy or capital-heavy. The sugar
who are rapidly acculturating to life here. The same process industry was contracting, not expanding. Grinding seasons
goes on to a lesser extent in Puerto Rico, varying of course were long and involved much waste of labor. Little land was
268 Worker in the Cane History within History 269
used for cane. It surely would be fair to say that sugar pro- Ricans, particularly in the coastal zones. Yet they were ~m
duction in · Puerto Rico in 1899 was less capitalistic than it bodied in what working people could learn from watching
had been at midcentury. Landowners never had an accurate the way the men who staffed the American corporations went
idea of labor efficiency. And the laborer was unable to de- about their work and, by deduction, from the demands of
velop an accurate idea of the value of his labor. the work itself. They found, for instance, that many of the
In the post-1900 setting there was unlimited capital availa- new items in the company stores were desirable, and that
ble and it was to be used in the most rational (and profitable) the workers who made the greatest effort and used their
manner possible, without reference to other considerations. money for personal rather than social purposes shared most
Such a completely new basis for economic activity can com- in the enjoyment of material innovations. Again, th~y ?egan
pletely upset customary modes of behavior. And people sub- to realize that education, which was hardly even within the
jected to this .kind of transformation, as they come ta per- grasp of lower-class people before, could emerge as the.most
ceive the nonutility of their old ways, cast about for new important instrument for guaranteeing the future secunty of
ways that fit life better. one's children if not oneself. -
The "American way" requires that a man put his economic Perceptions of this sort do not usually translate themselves
betterment high on the hierarchy of personal values. It pushes swiftly into motives to new kinds of behavior. Probably new
men in the direction of dependable daily effort, accompanied needs are aroused frequently without any conscious aware-
by a new conception of time- the equation "time is money." ness of the implications for future behavior. But there is no
It also drives men .in the direction of deferring immediate question that the attitudes of Jauqueiio~ were being c~an~ed
gratification in return for later reward. In the United States in particular directions by the ideological and material ~
the premium put on a long uninterrupted period of education pact of the American Occupation. Nor is it beyond belief
is a clear illustration of this; and for many young Americans that people are led to new expressions of attitude and value
all and any other personal needs must be subordinated to this through a new religion, even without perceiving the con-
goal. The American way does not so much demand that most gruence of the new religious ideology with the soci~l and
decisions be economical as that one be prepared to rationalize economic changes that have already taken place. In their own
them as economical. Thus it becomes "more economical" to way the revivalist churches make ideological imperatives out
own a big car because it will wear better; a new refrigerator of kinds of behavior which are congenial to the new stand-
is more economical than an old refrigerator; and even petty ards. The self-denials held out as moral necessities serve the
pleasures like new clothes or repainting the apartment be- simultaneous purpose of increasing thrift and teaching the
come rationalized as economical because they improve one's deferral of gratification.
job opportunities, influence people with more power, and The impulse to economy is not accompanied by asceticism;
prove one's own fitness. The direct personal pleasure such those converts who are unconsciously moving toward an ap-
things may bring becomes secondary to the asserted motives proximation of the new societal ideals may use their savings
of "practicality" and "economy." to further a child's education, to enjoy a higher standard of
These emphases-personal economic advancement, a time- living, and in other ways, at least some of which are directly
is-money orientation, deferral of immediate gratification, the satisfying. These new uses of capital prove effective: their
pre-eminence of the economic motive, and the subordination worth inheres in the greater future income they promise and
of pure pleasure-seem to run quite counter to the standards the greater material satisfaction they afford. Such asce~cism
which must have typified life among lower-class Puerto as characterizes the conversion is in the area of self-demal of
270 Worker in the Cane
spontaneous impulse outside the religious setting; and this, CHAPTER 9
too, provides its own reward. As we see Taso relate himself
in new ways to his feelings of guilt and depression, it seems
as if the price of inner peace is really quite low. Epilogue
A final point with regard to the possible uses of a revivalist
church as a medium of acculturation may be made. It has
been fa.5hionable to assume that Westernization-crudely, the
introduction of capitalistic technology and economy and of
democratic ideology- leads directly to secularization among
non-Westem peoples. It cannot be stressed enough that this WHEN I RETURNED to Barrio Jauca in the summer of 1956
is not necessarily true. In fact, in the case of the Tasos, it my aim was not to bring Taso's .story .up .to date, but. rather
would seem that Westernization has had quite the opposite to fill in gaps and c9rrect inconsistencies m the materials we
effect. The new vay of life seems to have brought in its wake had assembled in 1953. The story presented here goes only up
the need for a vigorous kind of ideological dedication, and to the period of Taso's conversion and the months immediately
the revivalist churches may be a powerful answer. One can- following. I realized that if I undertook to advance the story
not predict, of course, what may become of the intensity of six more years, it would mean another ~u.ge task of c~m
belief of men like Taso when the acculturation process has pilation, transcription, translation, and writmg, a~d the ~ob
moved along another half century. For the present, however, might never get done. So we contented ourselves with clarify-
Jauca's Pentecostals are surely more fervent than Jauca's ing and consolidating what had been collected before.
Catholics. Becoming a Protestant per se may not increase Inevitably, I looked about me at Barrio Jauca. I saw that
one's chances for rapid Americanization; but such a move may the colonias where Taso had worked as a child and as a man
in its ancillary effects do just that. It may be that when West- are much the same as they were, but their populations are
ern ideology and technique are imposed on a backward peo- now almost wholly removed to public land. Alongside the
ple, acculturation to an easy-going secular view will come main population settlement in Jauca an ent!re community of
fastest if they become more religious first additional houses has sprung up. The land is held by the ~n
A treatment of this kind can do no more than offer in broad sular government; it is divided into plots held in perpe~1ty
outline some of the possible meanings of social change against by the residents-mainly former agregados of the colomas.
which the personal history of a single individual may be The first night we walked past these houses I asked Taso
P.xamined. The suggested relationships between social back- how the corporation felt about this change. .
ground and life history are intended to serve merely as "In the old days when there was a strike the. corporat10~
hypotheses which might be proved or disproved or refined. could make the people on the colonias work as strikebreakers,
The gap between the sociological explanation of a phenome- he said. "Since the Popular party, even the agregados could
non- why people in settings such as these become members not be compelled to work during a strike. An~ ~he corpora-
of revivalist churches-and the psychological explanation of tion had to maintain the houses in good cond1t10n, because
the same phenomenon- why Taso Zayas became a Pente- the Popular party compelled them to. So when the govern-
costal- is perhaps unbridgeable. But through asking the pre- ment offered to buy this piece of useless land for settlement,
liminary questions it may become possible to make the neA'i: the corporation agreed to sell it and to help the agregados
questions sharper and more telling. move there."
271
272 Worker in the Cane Epilogue 273
"And what about the company stores," I asked him. 'Who Wages have increased somewhat, and the Army and emi-
buys there now?" gration continue to funnel wealth into the barrio. Nine of the
He laughed. "Search me," he said. "Their agregados are little shacks along the road now boast television aerials. At
gone and we, here-we have our little stores. I think those least one house has a flush toilet. Local stores now sell, among
company store~ will have trouble. They send public amplifiers other things, cleansing tissues arid sanitary napkins, unknown
around all durmg the harvest advertising sales. But we mostly in the rural barrios eight years ago. The children, and even
buy right here." the dogs, seem fatter, sleeker, and in better health. People
There are many more houses in the barrio. I was unable to deplore the decline of work in the cane, but there is always
make a census, but I doubt that the local population has the migration. No one has come back to the barrio from the
grown much through natural increase. This is because the North to start a business here as yet, but at least one man-
emigratio~ to the Unite.d States has assumed large proportions Lalo-has it in mind.
here. Barno J auca has its own post office substation now, and I returned to Jauca in 1956 expecting to live in the addi-
the small merchant whose charge it is ceremoniously stamps tional room Taso had put orito his house, since he had written
the letters before they are distributed. Most of the letters- that it would be reserved for me. Instead, I was given the use
a?d t~ey we:e arriving at the rate of about thirty a day-are of an entire house, one of the most elegant in the barrio, and
airmail, commg from the United States. Many contain money this is part of Lalo's story. Though he continues to live in the
orders. Almost every day someone leaves for the first time United States, working and saving, he has been sending
"para el Norte," nervous, his cardboard suitcase in hand his money to the barrio in expectation of coming back some day.
skin burned brown, his clothes fitting badly. And a 'few With the money a large lot was bought opposite Taso's house.
months or a year later he is back for a visit, this time with a On it there is a house which is a wealthy man's by Jauca
me~al sui~case, ~ cream-colored fedora on his head, swag- standards. There are four bedrooms, a long living room, a
gering a little, his face paler but fuller, bursting with stories kitchen with wiring for a stove and a refrigerator, and a
abou~ the tremendous cold, the Americans both good and bad, shower. To have built the shower and kitchen as integral parts
the richness and perversity of the country up there. of the house is an unusual step, and suggests a change in the
Work in the cane grows ever more scarce. The work of direction of United States culture.
the palero, which interested me so much when I first learned Otherwise, except for its size, the house is authentically
of it, is ~ow entirely gone. The ditches are made by machine. Puerto Rican. The walls between the bedrooms, and between
!he arana ~ow loads the cane after it is cut. People describe the bedrooms and the living room, do not reach to the ceiling.
~ ~wed v01ces how it pushes the cane into piles, picks it up The electric wiring is exposed. There are no wall electric fix-
m its great tentacles, and drops it into rubber-tired carts tures. The living room is illuminated by two single light bulbs
drawn by tractors. Tracks are no longer laid in the cane. The in fixtures on the ceiling, which is 12 feet from the floor. The
oxen get scarcer and scarcer. A new machine which cuts cane windows are made of wooden slats, with jalousies cut into
is ~eing tried ou:; it works badly, but everyone says, "You them, topped by tiny panes of colored glass that do not open.
~ait; those Americans, they will make it work right." Dur- The floors are bare, unpainted pine. The beams show. Behind
mg the harvest men now work two shifts, the second run- the house there is a privy. It is a Puerto Rican house, a fitting
ning usually until midnight or 1 A.M:. The grinding capacity house for a lower-class coastal Puerto Rican who has struck it
of the mills has risen, and the harvest gets progressively rich. To have built a different kind of house would have re-
shorter.
quired the services of contractors from one of Puerto Rico's
274 Worker in the Cane Epilogue 275
large cities. I am sure Lalo would not have liked it that way. china closet is filled with expensive Japanese china in good
While I was there Taso's two oldest sons, Pablin and Jose taste, purchased by Pablin and sent home from Japan while
Miguel, were painting the outside of the house with Taso's he was in the Army.
help. The main color is pale green; the trim is pink and PabHn is married-but casado casado, as the lower-class
white. If Lalo cannot re-create Puerto Rico in New Jersey, he Puerto Rican says when he means the marriage is not com-
can return to Puerto Rico and live in the style his experiences mon-law. Pablin and his wife reveal the great change here
as a child urged him to aspire to. Though the house was not when they are compared with Taso and Eli. Pahl.in was be-
finished yet it was rapidly filling with furniture, shipped at ginning his second year in the Universidad de Santa Maria in
Lalo's expense from the United States. There was a bed with Ponce. Although the costs of his education were a drain on
a wooden frame finished in blond veneer, a sharp break with everyone, the massiveness of this accomplishment can scarcely
local culture. But there was also an iron bed of the kind be realized. Pablin's wife commuted each day to a factory in
people here still desire. There was a dresser and a chest of the neighboring town of S~linas. She was earning $39 weekly
drawers, also finished in blond veneer. The drawers were as an inspector of pen points-about $10 more than a fair
full of products of United States culture that Lalo wanted for cane cutter can make when there is work.
his own: sheets and pillowcases; chromolithographs of Jesus Jose Miguel is also married, but his pattern is more con-
Christ; a figure of Christ on the Cross, of ivory and gold- sistent with the older culture. He had eloped with the fifteen-
colored plastic, cemented on a cheap table lamp; a set of year-old daughter of the deceased Pentecostal minister of
records for learning English; some very bad paintings of Jauca; Doiia Otilia, the girl's mother, said that she would
rural scenes, in no way reminiscent of Puerto Rico, set in take Jose Miguel to court if he did not marry the girl, and
cheap wooden frames. In one comer was an electric sewing Taso mged him to do so. So they were .married, and soon
machine; in another a large radio. And one room was filled l1ad their own little house. Jose :Miguel was not interested in
mainly with leatherette seats from restaurant stools, ostensibly an education. He wanted to cut cane but his father told him
in case Lalo should decide to open a restaurant on his return. not to bother, since the earnings were small and the work
This is the authentic Puerto Rican harvest of six years in hard. So Jose Miguel did no more than assist his grand-
a casting foundry in Newark, New Jersey. At the same time, mother, Doiia Antolina, in her store. He had hopes of emi-
however, one of Lalo's daughters spoke fluent English and grating to the United States. Both Pablin's and Jose Miguel's
was in her second year of high school in Newark. The other wives gave birth to their first children within a year of their
children also speak more English than Spanish; the oldest marriages.
daughter is married. One wonders how they would readjust When I was in Jauca in 1953 Dona Eli was pregnant with
to the Puerto Rico Lalo remembers and yearns to return to. her twelfth child, Noel, a boy born during Christmas of that
Much more, of course, can be said of Taso and his family. year. In 1956 during the summer Eli was still nursing him.
Things have changed in his house too, and very rapidly. On one occasion I sat with Doiia Eli and her daughter-in-law
There are two new rooms; and although the four very tiny Nelda, Jose Miguel's wife, and had the-to me-strange ex-
bedrooms are full of beds, there is more room than before. perience of watching grandmother and mother nurse their
The house is painted inside and out. Dona EH is raising aoats, babies together. Elf told me that Tasita, her eleventh child,
a pig, chickens, a turkey, and a duck. A new china ~loset continued nursing until Noel was born-a period slightly in
stands in the living room, and a new dining table-though the excess of five years. Noel is a very healthy child and was the
whole family never sat at the table at once, even in 1956. The healthiest-looking of their children that I could remember.
276 Worker in the Cane Epilogue 277
Taso continues to be active in the church. He played an never carry Ponce; when will Compadre Marcial return from
important part in the construction of a larger and more ele- the North?
gant chapel in the new settlement of houses in the barrio. Taso's story has no moral. Perhaps it is enough that his life
In addition to Blanca (who was the first of the family to at- should seem so much better to him now. Or perhaps the
tend church services regularly, even before Eli and Taso) reader will see the waste I think I see: the waste of a mind
Carmen Iris has joined. The younger children also go to the that stands above the others as the violet sprays of the "fl,or de
services: Tasita (8), Roberto (11), and Lilian (12). Lilian cafia tower above the cane. But the story should evoke no
has experienced her first blessing, but is not yet a regular pity, for that is a sentiment which degrades the meaning_ of
member of the church. The only children who remain out- Taso's life to himself and to those who know and love him.
side the church are Pablin, Jose Miguel, and Luis Raill. It may
be significant that they are all males and the oldest of the
children, with the exception of Carmen Iris, who is the oldest
of all and unmarried.
Taso's participation in the church continues in force, but
I sensed some decline in bis fervor. He seemed more willing
than usual to talk of other things. When l asked him whether
the membership had risen, he said: "The membership of the
church is one of those things. It rises and it falls. The only
thing that keeps growing in numbers always is the jukeboxes!"
But there has been no disturbance of his faith, I believe. He
suffered from prostatitis in 1954, but the hernia pain has never
returned. His job pays better now than it did in 1953. His son
returned safe from the Army. He has succeeded in leading
more of his children into the church. He seems serene.
Perhaps some time in the future there may be reason to
continue with Taso's story. He earns nearly $30 a week now,
on a yearly a erage. He works only five days a week, usually.
His work takes him into the cane, along i:he railroad tracks
and on the spurs, eight hours a day in the sun. With what
he earns l1e supports seven cbildren and his wife entirely
and contributes to the support of two other children. He and
Eli and seven of their children live in their little house, eat-
ing their rice and beans and drinking black coffee, entertain-
ing themselves with the Bible and the tambourine and the
gossip of the barrio. Celestino carried off the daughter of Don
Paco; Eusebio killed Demetrio with a knife; Don Fonso's cow
was killed by the railroad train; the Republican party will
List of Characters