A 1920 Biography of Apolinario Mabini Part II

After his three years in Tanauan, Apolinario must have spent three years on the farm with his parents in Talaga. He did not take advantage of his scholarship at San Juan de Letran de Manila until 1881, when he entered the fourth grade of the secondary course and at the same time secured a position as assistant Latin teacher in the school of Melchor Virrey, who gave him board and lodging in return for his services.

During his second year in Manila came the cholera epidemic of 1882, which caused all schools to be closed. Young Mabini went home, returning after the epidemic was over, only to find that Virrey’s school had not been reopened — a majority of the students having not returned — and that he must go home a second time.

When the priest Malabanan, who had transferred his school to Bauan, heard of Mabini’s return, he offered him a place as assistant Latin teacher, which Mabini accepted and held for two years. As a teacher he was exacting, but encouraging. He strove to have his pupils get real benefit from their work; and insisted that they know the thought as well as the words of the lesson. His explanations were clear and concise, yet he spoke only when necessary, striving to make the recitation the pupil’s and not the teacher’s. Although he never used the whip, he often grew impatient and exasperated with the dullness of his pupils. On these occasions he would cry out to them in his native tongue: “Stupid, how stupid you are!”

After two years of teaching, when he was twenty years old, he was able to return to Manila to finish the fifth year of his secondary education which had been interrupted by the cholera epidemic. He obtained his old position in Melchor Virrey’s school and he distinguished himself in San Juan de Letran as a student of philosophy. During the year, Virrey died and his school was closed permanently. At the end of the year, Mabini left Manila for a third time. Sebastian Virrey, a brother of Melchor, who had been in the Malabanan school when Mabini was there, now offered Mabini a position in his school in Lipa. This offer Mabini accepted and he remained in Lipa for two years. There, he first attracted attention as an orator when he delivered a splendid oration on the occasion of a reception tendered a visiting priest.

Although much interested in the welfare of the Lipa school,

The following July, Mabini left Lipa to enter a law school in Manila, finishing the course without interruption in 1894. Just why Mabini did not become a priest, in accordance with his parents’ wishes and in accordance with his own plans, is not known. He said that fate decreed otherwise; others say that his teachers advised him to become a lawyer in order that he might be better able to defend the defenseless. It was not because his religious faith had been lessened; he was always an ardent Roman Catholic. Perhaps, he had dreams of a political career. At any rate, he took up law. In the law school, he was considered the best man in a class of gifted students. He was graduated with the mark excellent in all subjects except two — general Spanish literature and critical history of Spain — which were approved as good. In the examination for licensee in law approved March 2, 1894, he obtained the grade, excellent.

Young Mabini’s life at the law school was one long struggle against poverty and pride. If his philosophy of life had been of a weaker sort, he would have given up under the burden of the privations and the humiliations which he was forced to endure. During his two years in Lipa, he had managed by stringent economy to save a mere pittance. A part of this he gave to his parents to be spent on the improvement of their home and their field. The remainder he found insufficient to pay his first year’s expenses at the law school. His parents had done their best for him and could do no more. Moreover, he always abhorred the idea of accepting aid from others; he felt that every man should be sufficient unto himself. Accordingly, he deprived himself of everything except the bare necessities of life. To obtain these, he sought various means. He gave private lessons during the years 1888 and 1889, and he abstracted cases for a relator de la audiencia, who paid him a few centavos a sheet. The next year he was a copyist in the court of first instance in Manila. Later,

While Mabini was assistant court clerk, it is said that at one time the judge of the court, unfavorably impressed with Mabini’s shabby black coat, ordered his dismissal. Adriano was astounded and said excitedly, “You cannot mean it, sir. Wait!” Then, he brought the judge some of his assistant’s work which, though done rapidly, was neat and exact. After seeing the work, the judge withdrew his order.

Later, Adriano left his position to become a notary public. His place should have been given to Mabini, but for some reason or other, probably for a political one, it was given to a Spaniard named Moreno. The new clerk, perhaps, wanted to make good by cutting down expenses; or perhaps he felt capable of doing the work without an assistant; or perhaps he thought that Mabini’s appearance bespoke inefficiency and nonresistance. Anyway, the new clerk turned his silent, poorly clad assistant into the street. Thus turned out, young Mabini was without work and was unable to pay for his board and lodging.

He now sought a place as aspirante tercero de hacienda. This he obtained after passing an examination in which he received the highest mark. He was appointed to the Intendencia General where he worked in the mornings. In the afternoons, although a better-paying position was offered him, he taught in a private school conducted by Raymundo Alindada, a friend and fellow student in San Juan de Letran. In the early morning, he attended his law classes, often arriving as the first one late. The professor of this class was rigidly punctual. One day the professor looked down at young Mabini’s name and, seeing that he had many tardy marks after it, said sharply, “Little is needed to send you into the streets.” Then he asked the guilty student to explain the lecture of the preceding day, whereupon Mabini repeated almost word for word the lecture, with its due explanations. The professor was dumbfounded and became interested in the cause of the lad’s tardiness. If he investigated further, he must have discovered that Mabini

Because of his poverty, young Mabini was deprived of the social pleasures which most boys enjoy at school. Of course, these pleasures may not have seemed so important to Mabini as to other boys, but doubtless they would have been enjoyed nevertheless, had he had the clothes and the money to afford them. At the time of graduation, his class was planning a class souvenir which was to contain a photograph of each member of the class and other relevant matters such as that which we find in class souvenirs of today. Mabini paid his share of the expense of getting out the souvenir, but he refused to have his photograph taken, simply saying that he disliked the idea. No doubt his clothes were too shabby to be photographed, and he was too proud to borrow others.

About this same time, some friends called on him to invite him to the farewell party of the class, whereupon they learned that he could not attend because his clothes were not presentable. And more than that, he told them that he could not take part in the commencement exercises because he had no money with which to purchase the necessary cap, gown, and hood. While his classmates were still there, they saw a carriage stop in front of the house. Presently, they were surprised to see a servant, who had jumped from the carriage, approach Mabini to offer him a parcel, which when opened was found to contain a cap, gown, and hood for the graduation. This timely gift had been sent by a wealthy woman to whom Mabini had given gratuitous legal advice when he chanced to meet her one day at the home of a friend. So, after all, he received his degree in the conventional habiliments.

Mabini resigned as aspirante tercero de hacienda August 31, 1894, probably because of a misunderstanding with the chief of his department. In the spring of 1895, he was admitted to the bar with the designation of “colegial of the third class.” He then accepted a position in the law office of his old friend Numeriano Adriano where he worked as a notary. Then for at least a year he lived in comparative comfort. It would seem that comfort and ease were now due him, since he had made such a hard fight for his education; but fortune was against him. In 1896 he contracted a severe fever. On his recovery he became permanently paralyzed, first in the right leg and

Mabini was not imposing in appearance. It was through his personality that one discovered his greatness. He was of medium height and of slight physique. He carried his head a little to one side; he had a sensitive face and a high forehead; his eyes were penetrating, yet not lively. When he walked, he either looked straight ahead into space or gazed at the sky. As a rule, he wore the ordinary Filipino attire, he was never “well-dressed,” and he had but one black coat when he was in the law school. When possible, he did not wear shoes because he disliked them. His voice was full and resonant, and he spoke slowly and distinctly. Throughout his life, he was devoutly religious. He was faithful to his friends and he was just in his dealings with men. Too proud to accept assistance from anyone, he trusted always to his own strength. He spoke little and thought much.

Mabini had no love affairs. Once in the Malabanan college, he was heard to say that a certain “daughter of the plow” in Bauan was pretty. Several times during 1891, he called on a distinguished lady of Trozo. But there ends the history of his social relations with women. Nevertheless, we know that he must have appreciated, in some measure at least, the part which a regard for women had played in the history of modern civilization, and the part it might play in the history of the Philippines, judging from the following extract from one of his papers: