Sánchez Gómez the printer, who was also known by the nickname Plancheta, was a wealthy man, though he toiled3 away daily like a common workman. He was a person of diabolically4 uneven5 temper, of corrosive6 joviality7 and, at bottom, good-hearted.
He was the most picturesque8 and versatile9 printer in Madrid, and his business was likewise the most complicated and interesting.
One thing alone was sufficient to give the measure of the man: with a single press, run by a gasoline engine of the old type, he published nine newspapers, the titles of which no one could call insignificant10.
Los Debates (Debates); El Porvenir (The Future); La Nación (The Nation); La Tarde (Afternoon); El Radical11 (The Radical); La Ma?ana (Morning); El Mundo (The World); El Tiempo (The Times); and La Prensa (The Press); all these important dailies were born in the basement of the printery. To any ordinary man this would appear impossible; for Sánchez Gómez, that Proteus of Typography, the word impossible existed only in the dictionary.
[139]
Each of these important newspapers had a column of its own; all the rest, news, literary articles, advertisements, feuilletons, announcements, was common to them all.
Sánchez Gómez, in his newspapers, paired individualism and collectivism. Each of his organs enjoyed absolute autonomy and independence, and yet, each resembled the other as closely as two drops of water. The lame12 fellow thus realized in his publications unity13 and variety.
El Radical, for example, a rabidly Republican paper, devoted14 its first column to attacking the Government and the priesthood; but its news items were the same as those of El Mundo, an impenitently15 conservative daily which employed its first column in defense16 of the church, that Holy Ark of our traditions; the Monarchy17, that glorious institution, symbol of our Fatherland; the Army, most powerful bulwark18 of our nationality; the Constitution, that compendium19 of our public liberties....
Of all the newspapers printed there, Los Debates alone constituted a profitable venture for its proprietor20, Don Pedro Sampayo y Sánchez del Pelgar. Los Debates—using the figures of speech employed in the daily—was a terrible battering-ram against the purse of the politicians, an inexpugnable fortress21 for the needs of the creditors22.
Blackmail23, in the hands of the newspaper director, was converted into a terrible weapon; neither the ancient catapult nor the modern cannon24 could be compared with it.
The newspaper owned by Don Pedro Sampayo y[140] Sánchez del Pelgar had three columns of its own.
These columns were written by a huge, thick-set Galician of most uncouth25 appearance, named González Parla, who wielded26 a pen that went straight to the point, and by a certain Se?or Fresneda, as thin as a rail, exceedingly delicate, well dressed and always starving.
Langairi?os, the Superman, was on the staff of Los Debates, but only as an aliquot part, since his works of genius were printed in the nine toads that were born daily in Sánchez Gómez’s printery.
It is high time that we introduced Langairi?os. The newspaper-men called him Superman in jest,—Super for short—, because he was forever prating27 about the coming of Nietzsche’s superman; they did not realize that, jest or no jest, they but did him justice.
He was the highest, the loftiest of the editorial staff; sometimes he signed himself Máximo, at others, Mínimo; but his name,—his real name, that which he immortalized daily, and increasingly every day, in Los Debates, or in El Tiempo, El Mundo or El Radical, was Ernesto Langairi?os.
Langairi?os! A sweet, sonorous28 name, somewhat like a cool zephyr29 in a summer twilight30. Langairi?os! A dream.
The great Langairi?os was between thirty and forty; a pronounced abdomen31, aquiline32 nose and a strong, thick black beard.
One of the imbeciles among his enemies, seeing him so vertebrate and cerebral33,—one of those vipers34 who try to sink their fangs35 into the armour36 of[141] great personalities,—asseverated that Langairi?os’s appearance was grotesque37. A false statement whichever way you look at it, for, despite the fact that his attire38 did not respond to the requirements of the most foppish39 dandyism; despite the fact that his trousers were always baggy40 and frayed41, and his sack-coats studded with constellations42 of stains; despite all this, his natural elegance43, his air of superiority and distinction erased44 these minor45 imperfections, even as the waves of the sea wipe out tracks upon the sand of the beach.
Langairi?os practised criticism, and a cruel criticism it was. His articles appeared simultaneously46 in nine newspapers. His impressionistic manner scorned such banal47 phrases as “La Se?orita Pérez rose to great heights,” “the characters of the work are well sustained,” and others of the same class.
In two apothegms the Superman concentrated all his ideas as to the world that surrounded him. They were two terrible sentences, in a bitter, lacerating style. If any one asserted that such and such a politician or journalist had influence, money or ability, he would reply: “Yes, yes, I know whom you mean.” And if another announced that a certain novelist or dramatist was at work upon a new book or piece, or had just finished one, he would answer: “Very good; very good. Through the other door.”
Langairi?os’s superior type of mind did not permit him to suppose that any man other than himself could be any better than another.
[142]
His masterpiece was an article entitled “They’re All Ragamuffins.” It was a conversation between a master of journalism—himself—and a cub48 reporter.
The Cub Reporter: One must have principles.
The Master: At table.
The Cub Reporter: The country should be told things straight from the shoulder.
The Master: It would get indigestion. Remember the boarding-house peas.
That was the Superman’s regular style, a terrible, Shakesperian manner.
As a result of the cerebral exhaustion52 produced by these intellectual labours, the Super was troubled with neurasthenia, and as a cure for his ailment53 he took glycerophosphate of lime with his meals and did gymnastics.
Manuel recalled having often heard in Do?a Casiana’s boarding-house a sonorous voice bravely and untiringly counting the number of leg and arm flexions. Twenty-five ... twenty-six ... twenty-seven, until a hundred or more was reached. That Bayard of Callisthenics was none other than Langairi?os.
The other two editors could not be likened unto Langairi?os. González Parla, with that porter’s face of his, looked like a barbarian54. He was brutally55 frank; he called a spade a spade, politicians leeches56 and the newspapers printed by Sánchez Gómez, the toads.
[143]
The other editor, Fresneda, outrivalled in finesse57 the most tactful and effeminate man that could be found in Madrid. He experienced a veritable delight in calling everybody Se?or. Fresneda managed only by a miracle to keep alive. He spent his whole life starving, yet this roused no wrath58 in his soul.
In order to get Sampayo, proprietor of Los Debates, to pay them a few pesetas, González Parla and Fresneda were compelled to resort to all manner of expedients59. The hope harbored by the pair, which was a credential obtained through the proprietary60 director, was never realized.
Manuel had heard so much talk about Sampayo that he was curious to make his acquaintance.
He was a tall, erect61 gentleman, of noble appearance, about sixty-odd years old; various times he had filled the office of Governor, thanks to his wife, a fine-looking female who in her halcyon62 days had been able to wheedle63 anything out of a Minister. Wherever this couple had passed through in the course of the husband’s official duties, not a nail was left in the wall.
Sampayo’s wife was very friendly with certain wealthy gentlemen, but in just reciprocity, so super-womanly and tolerant she was, she always picked out good-looking, obliging maids, so that her husband should have no cause for complaint.
And what a human spectacle their home presented! At times, when Se?ora de Sampayo returned somewhat weary after one of her little adventures, she would find her noble-looking husband[144] dining hand in hand with the maid, if not embracing her tenderly.
The couple squandered64 their entire income; but Sampayo was so skilful65 in the art of making creditors and then fighting them off, that they always managed to raise a few coins.
Once when González Parla, who was in an ugly mood, and Fresneda, as amiable66 as ever, called on Sampayo, addressing him every other moment as the Director Se?or Sampayo, and explained to him the dire2 straits in which they found themselves, the director gave Fresneda a letter to a South American general, asking for some money. Sampayo imposed upon his editor the condition that all over ten duros should go to the newspaper cash-box.
When the two editors reached the street, González Parla asked his companion for the letter, and the spectral67 journalist handed it to him.
“I’ll go to see this knave68 of a general,” promised González Parla, “and I’ll get the money from him. Then we’ll divide it. Half for you and the other half for me.”
The skinny editor accompanied the corpulent to the general’s house.
The general, a little Mexican, dressed like a macaw, read the director’s letter, looked at the journalist, readjusted his spectacles and eyed him from top to bottom, asking:
“Are you Se?ó Fresneda?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you sure?”
[145]
“Of course. I’m the man.”
“But you’re consumptive, aren’t you?”
“I? No, sir.”
“Well, that’s what they tell me in this letter, understand?... That you have seven children and that from your looks I can understand that you’re in the final stage of consumption, see?”
González Parla was non-plussed. He confessed that it was true he did not have consumption; but he had had a consumptive father, and since his father had suffered from tuberculosis69, the doctors had told him that he, too, would contract it,—that, indeed, he was already in the early stages, so that if he were as yet not really consumptive, it was almost the same as if he were.
“I don’t understand all this, see?” said the general, after listening to so defective70 an explanation. “I do gather, though, that this is a hoax71. How can a fellow be so fat and yet be sick, hey? But, anyway,” and he handed out a bill folded between his fingers, “take this and be off with you, and don’t be such a faker.”
“This corpulency is misleading,” replied González Parla humbly72, accepting the bill. “It’s due to all the potatoes I eat.” And he disappeared in shame, as fast as he could.
The note was for a hundred pesetas, and the skinny editor divided it with the corpulent, to the great indignation of Sampayo. The director vowed73 that he would not pay them a céntimo for months and months.
[146]
Once, Fresneda reduced to the final gasps74 of hunger, uttered the sole energetic sentence of his entire career.
“I’ll write you a recommendation to the Ministry,” the director had said to him, in answer to a request for money.
“To die of hunger, Se?or de Sampayo,” Fresneda had replied, with a flash of independence not devoid75 of his proverbial finesse, “one does not require letters of recommendation.”
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1
toads
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 ) | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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diabolically
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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corrosive
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| adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的 | |
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joviality
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| n.快活 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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14
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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impenitently
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| adv.不知悔改地 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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17
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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18
bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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compendium
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| n.简要，概略 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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prating
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| v.（古时用语）唠叨，啰唆( prate的现在分词 ) | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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zephyr
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| n.和风，微风 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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abdomen
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| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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cerebral
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| adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的 | |
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vipers
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| n.蝰蛇( viper的名词复数 )；毒蛇；阴险恶毒的人；奸诈者 | |
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35
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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foppish
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| adj.矫饰的，浮华的 | |
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40
baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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41
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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43
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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44
erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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45
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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46
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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47
banal
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| adj.陈腐的，平庸的 | |
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48
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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49
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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50
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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51
gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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52
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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53
ailment
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| n.疾病，小病 | |
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54
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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55
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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56
leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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57
finesse
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| n.精密技巧，灵巧，手腕 | |
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58
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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59
expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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60
proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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61
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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halcyon
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| n.平静的，愉快的 | |
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63
wheedle
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| v.劝诱，哄骗 | |
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64
squandered
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| v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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66
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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67
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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68
knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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69
tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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70
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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71
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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72
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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73
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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74
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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75
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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