{"id":7070830,"date":"2026-10-01T04:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T04:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070830"},"modified":"2026-10-01T04:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T04:27:47","slug":"noli-me-tangere-ch-19-a-schoolmasters-difficulties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070830","title":{"rendered":"Noli Me Tangere Ch 19: A Schoolmaster&#8217;s Difficulties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chapter 19: A Schoolmaster\u2019s Difficulties<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>El vulgo es necio y pues lo paga, es justo<br \/>Hablarle en necio para darle el gusto.<\/em><sup><a href=\"#Notes\">[1]<\/a><\/sup><br \/>LOPE DE VEGA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mountain-encircled lake slept peacefully with that hypocrisy of the elements which gave no hint of how its waters had the night before responded to the fury of the storm. As the first reflections of light awoke on its surface the phosphorescent spirits, there were outlined in the distance, almost on the horizon, the gray silhouettes of the little <em>bankas<\/em> of the fishermen who were taking in their nets and of the larger craft spreading their sails.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two men dressed in deep mourning stood gazing at the water from a little elevation: one was Ibarra and the other a youth of humble aspect and melancholy features.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is the place,\u201d the latter was saying. \u201cFrom here your father\u2019s body was thrown into the water. Here\u2019s where the grave-digger brought Lieutenant Guevara and me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ibarra warmly grasped the hand of the young man, who went on: \u201cYou have no occasion to thank me. I owed many favors to your father, and the only thing that I could do for him was to accompany his body to the grave. I came here without knowing any one, without recommendation, and having neither name nor fortune, just as at present.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy predecessor had abandoned the school to engage in the tobacco trade. Your father protected me, secured me a house, and furnished whatever was necessary for running the school. He used to visit the classes and distribute pictures among the poor but studious children, as well as provide them with books and paper. But this, like all good things, lasted only a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ibarra took off his hat and seemed to be praying for a time. Then he turned to his companion: \u201cDid you say that my father helped the poor children? And now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow they get along as well as possible and write when they can,\u201d answered the youth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat is the reason?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe reason lies in their torn camisas and their downcast eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow many pupils have you now?\u201d asked Ibarra with interest, after a pause.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMore than two hundred on the roll but only about twenty-five in actual attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow does that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The schoolmaster smiled sadly as he answered, \u201cTo tell you the reasons would make a long and tiresome story.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Noli Me Tangere Chapter 19 - A Schoolmaster&amp;apos;s Difficulties | English Translation Audiobook\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lYus102BuQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDon\u2019t attribute my question to idle curiosity,\u201d replied Ibarra gravely, while he stared at the distant horizon. \u201cI\u2019ve thought better of it and believe that to carry out my father\u2019s ideas will be more fitting than to weep for him, and far better than to revenge him. Sacred nature has become his grave, and his enemies were the people and a priest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe former I pardon on account of their ignorance and the latter because I wish that Religion, which elevated society, should be respected. I wish to be inspired with the spirit of him who gave me life and therefore desire to know about the obstacles encountered here in educational work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe country will bless your memory, sir,\u201d said the schoolmaster, \u201cif you carry out the beautiful plans of your dead father! You wish to know the obstacles which the progress of education meets? Well then, under present circumstances, without substantial aid education will never amount to much; in the very first place because, even when we have the pupils, lack of suitable means, and other things that attract them more, kill off their interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is said that in Germany a peasant\u2019s son studies for eight years in the town school, but who here would spend half that time when such poor results are to be obtained? They read, write, and memorize selections, and sometimes whole books, in Spanish, without understanding a single word.<sup><a href=\"#Notes\">[2]<\/a><\/sup> What benefit does our country child get from the school?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd why have you, who see the evil, not thought of remedying it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The schoolmaster shook his head sadly. \u201cA poor teacher struggles not only against prejudices but also against certain influences. First, it would be necessary to have a suitable place and not to do as I must at present\u2014hold the classes under the convento by the side of the padre\u2019s carriage. There the children, who like to read aloud, very naturally disturb the padre, and he often comes down, nervous, especially when he has his attacks, yells at them, and even insults me at times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know that no one can either teach or learn under such circumstances, for the child will not respect his teacher when he sees him abused without standing up for his rights. In order to be heeded and to maintain his authority the teacher needs prestige, reputation, moral strength, and some freedom of action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow let me recount to you even sadder details. I have wished to introduce reforms and have been laughed at. In order to remedy the evil of which I just spoke to you, I tried to teach Spanish to the children because, in addition to the fact that the government so orders, I thought also that it would be of advantage for everybody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI used the simplest method of words and phrases without paying any attention to long rules, expecting to teach them grammar when they should understand the language. At the end of a few weeks some of the brightest were almost able to understand me and could use a few phrases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The schoolmaster paused and seemed to hesitate, then, as if making a resolution, he went on: \u201cI must not be ashamed of the story of my wrongs, for any one in my place would have acted the same as I did. As I said, it was a good beginning, but a few days afterwards Padre Damaso, who was the curate then, sent for me by the senior sacristan. Knowing his disposition and fearing to make him wait, I went upstairs at once, saluted him, and wished him good-morning in Spanish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHis only greeting had been to put out his hand for me to kiss, but at this he drew it back and without answering me began to laugh loud and mockingly. I was very much embarrassed, as the senior sacristan was present. At the moment I didn\u2019t know just what to say, for the curate continued his laughter and I stood staring at him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThen I began to get impatient and saw that I was about to do something indiscreet, since to be a good Christian and to preserve one\u2019s dignity are not incompatible. I was going to put a question to him when suddenly, passing from ridicule to insult, he said sarcastically, \u2018So it\u2019s <em>buenos d\u00edas<\/em>, eh? <em>Buenos d\u00edas<\/em>! How nice that you know how to talk Spanish!\u2019 Then again he broke out into laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ibarra was unable to repress a smile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou smile,\u201d continued the schoolmaster, following Ibarra\u2019s example, \u201cbut I must confess that at the time I had very little desire to laugh. I was still standing\u2014I felt the blood rush to my head and lightning seemed to flash through my brain. The curate I saw far, far away. I advanced to reply to him without knowing just what I was going to say, but the senior sacristan put himself between us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPadre Damaso arose and said to me in Tagalog: \u2018Don\u2019t try to shine in borrowed finery. Be content to talk your own dialect and don\u2019t spoil Spanish, which isn\u2019t meant for you. Do you know the teacher Ciruela?<sup><a href=\"#Notes\">[3]<\/a><\/sup> Well, Ciruela was a teacher who didn\u2019t know how to read, and he had a school.\u2019 I wanted to detain him, but he went into his bedroom and slammed the door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat was I to do with only my meager salary, to collect which I have to get the curate\u2019s approval and make a trip to the capital of the province, what could I do against him, the foremost religious and political power in the town, backed up by his Order, feared by the government, rich, powerful, sought after and listened to, always believed and heeded by everybody? Although he insulted me, I had to remain silent, for if I replied he would have had me removed from my position, by which I should lose all hope in my chosen profession. Nor would the cause of education gain anything, but the opposite, for everybody would take the curate\u2019s side, they would curse me and call me presumptuous, proud, vain, a bad Christian, uncultured, and if not those things, then anti-Spanish and a filibuster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOf a schoolmaster neither learning nor zeal is expected; resignation, humility, and inaction only are asked. May God pardon me if I have gone against my conscience and my judgement, but I was born in this country, I have to live, I have a mother, so I have abandoned myself to my fate like a corpse tossed about by the waves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDid this difficulty discourage you for all time? Have you lived so since?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWould that it had been a warning to me! If only my troubles had been limited to that! It is true that from that time I began to dislike my profession and thought of seeking some other occupation, as my predecessor had done, because any work that is done in disgust and shame is a kind of martyrdom and because every day the school recalled the insult to my mind, causing me hours of great bitterness. But what was I to do? I could not undeceive my mother, I had to say to her that her three years of sacrifice to give me this profession now constituted my happiness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is necessary to make her believe that this profession is most honorable, the work delightful, the way strewn with flowers, that the performance of my duties brings me only friendship, that the people respect me and show me every consideration. By doing otherwise, without ceasing to be unhappy myself, I should have caused more sorrow, which besides being useless would also be a sin. I stayed on, therefore, and tried not to feel discouraged. I tried to struggle on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here he paused for a while, then resumed: \u201cFrom the day on which I was so grossly insulted I began to examine myself and I found that I was in fact very ignorant. I applied myself day and night to the study of Spanish and whatever concerned my profession. The old Sage lent me some books, and I read and pondered over everything that I could get hold of. With the new ideas that I have been acquiring in one place and another my point of view has changed and I have seen many things under a different aspect from what they had appeared to me before. I saw error where before I had seen only truth, and truth in many things where I had formerly seen only error.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCorporal punishment, for example, which from time immemorial has been the distinctive feature in the schools and which has heretofore been considered as the only efficacious means of making pupils learn\u2014so we have been accustomed to believe\u2014soon appeared to me to be a great hindrance rather than in any way an aid to the child\u2019s progress. I became convinced that it was impossible to use one\u2019s mind properly when blows, or similar punishment, were in prospect. Fear and terror disturb the most serene, and a child\u2019s imagination, besides being very lively, is also very impressionable. As it is on the brain that ideas are impressed, it is necessary that there be both inner and outer calm, that there be serenity of spirit, physical and moral repose, and willingness, so I thought that before everything else I should cultivate in the children confidence, assurance, and some personal pride.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMoreover, I comprehended that the daily sight of floggings destroyed kindness in their hearts and deadened all sense of dignity, which is such a powerful lever in the world. At the same time it caused them to lose their sense of shame, which is a difficult thing to restore. I have also observed that when one pupil is flogged, he gets comfort from the fact that the others are treated in the same way, and that he smiles with satisfaction upon hearing the wails of the others. As for the person who does the flogging, while at first he may do it with repugnance, he soon becomes hardened to it and even takes delight in his gloomy task.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe past filled me with horror, so I wanted to save the present by modifying the old system. I endeavored to make study a thing of love and joy, I wished to make the primer not a black book bathed in the tears of childhood but a friend who was going to reveal wonderful secrets, and of the schoolroom not a place of sorrows but a scene of intellectual refreshment. So, little by little, I abolished corporal punishment, taking the instruments of it entirely away from the school and replacing them with emulation and personal pride. If one was careless about his lesson, I charged it to lack of desire and never to lack of capacity. I made them think that they were more capable than they really were, which urged them on to study just as any confidence leads to notable achievements. At first it seemed that the change of method was impracticable; many ceased their studies, but I persisted and observed that little by little their minds were being elevated and that more children came, that they came with more regularity, and that he who was praised in the presence of the others studied with double diligence on the next day.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom-1024x559.jpg\" alt=\"Spanish colonial era schoolroom\" class=\"wp-image-3260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom-1024x559.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom-768x419.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pinoywit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/colonial-era-schoolroom.jpg 1408w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt soon became known throughout the town that I did not whip the children. The curate sent for me, and fearing another scene I greeted him curtly in Tagalog. On this occasion he was very serious with me. He said that I was exposing the children to destruction, that I was wasting time, that I was not fulfilling my duties, that the father who spared the rod was spoiling the child\u2014according to the Holy Ghost\u2014that learning enters with blood, and so on. He quoted to me sayings of barbarous times just as if it were enough that a thing had been said by the ancients to make it indisputable; according to which we ought to believe that there really existed those monsters which in past ages were imaged and sculptured in the palaces and temples.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFinally, he charged me to be more careful and to return to the old system, otherwise he would make unfavorable report about me to the alcalde of the province. Nor was this the end of my troubles. A few days afterward some of the parents of the children presented themselves under the convento and I had to call to my aid all my patience and resignation. They began by reminding me of former times when teachers had character and taught as their grandfathers had. \u2018Those indeed were the times of the wise men,\u2019 they declared, \u2018they whipped, and straightened the bent tree. They were not boys but old men of experience, gray-haired and severe. Don Catalino, king of them all and founder of this very school, used to administer no less than twenty-five blows and as a result his pupils became wise men and priests. Ah, the old people were worth more than we ourselves, yes, sir, more than we ourselves!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSome did not content themselves with such indirect rudeness, but told me plainly that if I continued my system their children would learn nothing and that they would be obliged to take them from the school. It was useless to argue with them, for as a young man they thought me incapable of sound judgment. What would I not have given for some gray hairs! They cited the authority of the curate, of this one and that one, and even called attention to themselves, saying that if it had not been for the whippings they had received from their teachers they would never have learned anything. Only a few persons showed any sympathy to sweeten for me the bitterness of such a disillusioning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn view of all this I had to give up my system, which, after so much toil, was just beginning to produce results. In desperation I carried the whips back to the school the next day and began the barbarous practice again. Serenity disappeared and sadness reigned in the faces of the children, who had just begun to care for me, and who were my only kindred and friends. Although I tried to spare the whippings and to administer them with all the moderation possible, yet the children felt the change keenly, they became discouraged and wept bitterly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt touched my heart, and even though in my own mind I was vexed with the stupid parents, still I was unable to take any spite out on those innocent victims of their parents\u2019 prejudices. Their tears burned me, my heart seemed bursting from my breast, and that day I left the school before closing-time to go home and weep alone. Perhaps my sensitiveness may seem strange to you, but if you had been in my place you would understand it. Old Don Anastasio said to me, \u2018So the parents want floggings? Why not inflict them on themselves?\u2019 As a result of it all I became sick.\u201d Ibarra was listening thoughtfully.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cScarcely had I recovered when I returned to the school to find the number of my pupils reduced to a fifth. The better ones had run away upon the return to the old system, and of those who remained\u2014mostly those who came to school to escape work at home\u2014not one showed any joy, not one congratulated me on my recovery. It would have been the same to them whether I got well or not, or they might have preferred that I continue sick since my substitute, although he whipped them more, rarely went to the school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy other pupils, those whose parents had obliged them to attend school, had gone to other places. Their parents blamed me for having spoiled them and heaped reproaches on me for it. One, however, the son of a country woman who visited me during my illness, had not returned on account of having been made a sacristan, and the senior sacristan says that the sacristans must not attend school: they would be dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWere you resigned in looking after your new pupils?\u201d asked Ibarra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat else could I do?\u201d was the queried reply. \u201cNevertheless, during my illness many things had happened, among them a change of curates, so I took new hope and made another attempt to the end that the children should not lose all their time and should, in so far as possible, get some benefit from the floggings, that such things might at least have some good result for them. I pondered over the matter, as I wished that even if they could not love me, by getting something useful from me, they might remember me with less bitterness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know that in nearly all the schools the books are in Spanish, with the exception of the catechism in Tagalog, which varies according to the religious order to which the curate belongs. These books are generally novenas, canticles, and the Catechism of Padre Astete,<sup><a href=\"#Notes\">[4]<\/a><\/sup> from which they learn about as much piety as they would from the books of heretics. Seeing the impossibility of teaching the pupils in Spanish or of translating so many books, I tried to substitute short passages from useful works in Tagalog, such as the <em>Treatise on Manners<\/em> by Hortensio y Feliza, some manuals of Agriculture, and so forth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSometimes I would myself translate simple works, such as Padre Barranera\u2019s <em>History of the Philippines<\/em>, which I then dictated to the children, with at times a few observations of my own, so that they might make note-books. As I had no maps for teaching geography, I copied one of the province that I saw at the capital and with this and the tiles of the floor I gave them some idea of the country. This time it was the women who got excited. The men contented themselves with smiling, as they saw in it only one of my vagaries. The new curate sent for me, and while he did not reprimand me, yet he said that I should first take care of religion, that before learning such things the children must pass an examination to show that they had memorized the mysteries, the canticles, and the catechism of Christian Doctrine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo then, I am now working to the end that the children become changed into parrots and know by heart so many things of which they do not understand a single word. Many of them now know the mysteries and the canticles, but I fear that my efforts will come to grief with the Catechism of Padre Astete, since the greater part of the pupils do not distinguish between the questions and the answers, nor do they understand what either may mean. Thus we shall die, thus those unborn will do, while in Europe they will talk of progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet\u2019s not be so pessimistic,\u201d said Ibarra. \u201cThe teniente-mayor has sent me an invitation to attend a meeting in the town hall. Who knows but that there you may find an answer to your questions?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The schoolmaster shook his head in doubt as he answered: \u201cYou\u2019ll see how the plan of which they talked to me meets the same fate as mine has. But yet, let us see!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- Pinoy Wit Responsive 3 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Read Chapter 20 English Translation (coming soon)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"Notes\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chapter 19 Notes:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">1. The common crowd is a fool and since it pays for it, it is proper to talk to it foolishly to please it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">2. \u201cThe schools are under the inspection of the parish priests. Reading and writing in Spanish are taught, or at least it is so ordered; but the schoolmaster himself usually does not know it, and on the other hand the Spanish government employees do not understand the vernacular. Besides, the curates, in order to preserve their influence intact, do not look favorably upon the spread of Castilian. About the only ones who know Spanish are the Indians who have been in the service of Europeans. The first reading exercise is some devotional book, then the catechism; the reader is called <em>Casaysayan<\/em>. On the average half of the children between seven and ten years attend school; they learn to read fairly well and some to write a little, but they soon forget it.\u201d\u2014Jagor, <em>Viajes por Filipinas<\/em> (Vidal\u2019s Spanish version). Jagor was speaking particularly of the settled parts of the Bicol region. Referring to the islands generally, his \u201chalf of the children\u201d would be a great exaggeration.\u2014TR.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">3. A delicate bit of sarcasm is lost in the translation here. The reference to Maestro Ciruela in Spanish is somewhat similar to a mention in English of Mr. Squeers, of Dotheboys Hall fame.\u2014TR.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">4. By one of the provisions of a royal decree of December 20, 1863, the <em>Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristina<\/em>, by Gaspar Astete, was prescribed as the text-book for primary schools, in the Philippines. See Blair and Robertson\u2019s <em>The Philippine Islands<\/em>, Vol. XLVI, p. 98; <em>Census of the Philippine Islands<\/em> (Washington, 1905), p. 584.\u2014TR.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Reading:<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chapter 19: A Schoolmaster\u2019s Difficulties El vulgo es necio y pues lo paga, es justoHablarle en necio para darle el gusto.[1]LOPE DE VEGA. The mountain-encircled lake slept peacefully with that hypocrisy of the elements which gave no hint of how its waters had the night before responded to the fury of the storm. As the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7070831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179789,179790],"tags":[85734,75563,179791,231881,75564],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7070830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-literature","category-noli-me-tangere","tag-difficulties","tag-noli","tag-noli-me-tangere","tag-schoolmasters","tag-tangere"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Noli Me Tangere Ch 19: A Schoolmaster&#039;s Difficulties - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7070830\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Noli Me Tangere Ch 19: A Schoolmaster&#039;s Difficulties - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chapter 19: A Schoolmaster\u2019s Difficulties El vulgo es necio y pues lo paga, es justoHablarle en necio para darle el gusto.[1]LOPE DE VEGA. The mountain-encircled lake slept peacefully with that hypocrisy of the elements which gave no hint of how its waters had the night before responded to the fury of the storm. 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