Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader

by Ernesto Nelson

Here in the New World, new environments and new conditions have given rise to new ways of living and have created a long series of new activities and institutions, with corresponding modifications in the language of the people,—all of which are entitled to a place in the reading matter of the American student of Spanish and claim their rightful share of his attention. It seems to me that a knowledge of the New World’s contribution to the original Spanish racial inheritance should be of peculiar interest and value to the student of Spanish in the United States, as it will reveal many of the same agencies which have modified the original inheritance of the first settlers in his own country and directed their evolution. He will find in the continent to the south of him geographical conditions which almost exactly duplicate those in the northern; he will find the same lack of hampering tradition and the same free play of individual effort and opportunity; the same boundless expanse of territory and the same generous breadth of horizon. He will find also the same problems in education, immigration, naturalization, racial amalgamation and government, and a literature which cannot fail to thrill him with a keen sense of relationship to his Latin-American cousins.

Even to understand Spain, Spanish America must be taken into account, since, to paraphrase the words of a well-known English poet, “They little know Hispania, who only España know,” and certainly no consideration of Spanish literature can afford to ignore the action and reaction, the play and interplay of thought and feeling which, finding their earlier expression largely in belligerent verse, have gradually mellowed into the noble and tender sentiment of friendship and unity of spirit which to-day permeates the literature of both the mother land and that of her independent daughters in the New World. To-day the mother land sends her millions to the free countries of the New World where, far from being compelled to abandon their cherished ideals, they are encouraged to expand them to undreamed-of horizons where the romantic soul of Spain finds its long-sought-for opportunity.

To understand rightfully the present renaissance in Spain as revealed in the almost unprecedented prosperity of her rural population, the multiplying of schools and libraries endowed in many instances by unknown “hands across the sea,” the American student of Spanish must take into account the transcendental symbiosis through the agency of which lethargic Spain is being quickened and vitalized by her former colonies. He must perceive and appreciate that the Spanish world as a whole is again expanding, and that there is no part of its complex and diverse whole which has not made its specific contribution toward that beneficent achievement. He must realize that no study of the language common to all these parts is complete, therefore, which fails to keep in full view the complete background.

Three unusual features should commend this Spanish American Reader to the attention of the teacher of Spanish. First, the wide range in style and subject matter, combined with the dominantly idiomatic form of expression, enlivened by the dialogue in which a large part of the text matter is written. Such living forms of expression, embodied as they are in subjects closely related to Spanish American activities and conditions of to-day, afford the most practical kind of material for everyday use. Second, the opportunity this book offers for oral and written exercises by substituting the numerous “Variants”—a practically new and important feature—in the footnotes for the original expressions in the text. Third, the very considerable mass of first-hand information bearing directly upon subjects of the greatest interest to students in the United States, and the opportunity they afford for the discussion of Spanish American topics.

I cannot close this foreword without acknowledging my indebtedness to the Pan-American Union for exact data and information; to the New York Public Library and the Hispanic Society of America for the facilities afforded in the copying of excerpts; to Las Novedades for permission to reprint certain text matter; to Dr. Homero Serís for his assistance in collecting Spanish Americanisms; and, last but certainly not least, to the Spanish Department of D. C. Heath & Co., the publishers, for valuable suggestions and assistance in planning the book and in the preparation of the manuscript.

ERNESTO NELSON

NEW YORK, September 7, 1916.

CONTENTS

[PART ONE]
PAGE
[PREFACE]		[iii]
CHAPTERS
[I.]	La Casa y el Mobiliario. Uses of se, de, un, una, uno;Definite and Indefinite Articles	[1]
[II.]	Las Casas de Comercio. Adjectives; cada and todo; BusinessVocabulary (except Banking)	[16]
[III.]	Mercaderías. Nouns; Uses of se and de (continued)	[24]
[IV.]	Paseos por el Mapa. Uses of se (continued), lo, por, si, másde and más que	[32]
[V.]	El Obrero en la América Latina. Equivalents of who andwhom	[49]
[VI.]	El Extranjero y el Criollo. Oficios y Empleos; NegativeForms; Vocabulary relating to Occupations	[52]
[VII.]	Corretaje	[59]
[VIII.]	Derechos de Aduana. Uses of uno y otro, unos y otros;Custom-House Vocabulary	[61]
[IX.]	La Salud y la Vida. Vocabulary relating to Public Hygiene	[64]
[X.]	Vapores. Vocabulary relating to Shipping	[67]
[XI.]	La Caza y sus Productos. Uses of the Preterite and ImperfectIndicative	[69]
[XII.]	Zonas de Vegetación. Physiographical Terms	[73]
[XIII.]	Metales. Vocabulary relating to Mines and Mining	[80]
[XIV.]	El Carbón, el Petróleo y el Gas Natural	[85]
[XV.]	Caucho y Chicle	[87]
[XVI.]	Trigo. Vocabulary relating to Agriculture	[91]
[XVII.]	Maíz	[94]
[XVIII.]	Cacao	[98]
[XIX.]	Azúcar	[101]
[XX.]	Café	[104]
[XXI.]	Tabaco	[107]
[XXII.]	Producción y Comercio de Pescado	[109]
[XXIII.]	El Riego y la Hulla Blanca	[111]
[XXIV.]	Oportunidades Comerciales en la América Latina	[114]
[XXV.]	Frutas	[125]
[XXVI.]	Carne y Lana	[129]
[XXVII.]	Por Teléfono. Vocabulary relating to the Use of theTelephone	[132]
[XXVIII.]	Teatro	[138]
[XXIX.]	Tranvías Eléctricos	[141]
[XXX.]	Deportes y Diversiones	[143]
[XXXI.]	Sombrerería Cara y Barata	[148]
[XXXII.]	Bancos	[149]
[XXXIII.]	Entrando al Mercado Latino-Americano	[157]
[XXXIV.]	Las Importaciones de Norte América	[161]
[XXXV.]	Nacionalidad	[163]
[XXXVI.]	Educación	[165]
[XXXVII.]	¿Qué es la América Latina?	[174]

[PART TWO]
[I.]La Naturaleza en la América Latina:
	[1.]	El Ñandú: Avestruz Americano	Andrés Bello	[183]
	[2.]	El Cotopaxi	Manuel Villavicencio	[185]
	[3.]	El Ombú	Marcos Sastre	[186]
	[4.]	Vegetación de los Andes	Francisco José de Caldas	[187]
	[5.]	El Bosque de Chapultepec	Luis de la Rosa	[189]
	[6.]	La Selva Tropical	Manuel Ancízar	[191]
	[7.]	El Cóndor	Juan Ignacio Molina	[192]
	[8.]	Descripción de Venezuela	José Oviedo y Baños	[193]
	[9.]	La Calandria: El Ruiseñor deAmérica	Marcos Sastre	[194]
	[10.]	Una Mañana en los Andes	Juan L. Mera	[195]
	[11.]	Personificación de las Aves	Daniel Granada	[196]
	[12.]	San Miguel Allende	Manuel Payno	[199]
	[13.]	La Selva Misionera	Leopoldo Lugones	[200]
	[14.]	El Salto del Tequendama	Juan Franciso Ortiz	[201]
	[15.]	El Quetzal	Antonio Batres Jáuregui	[202]
	[16.]	Navegación en los Canales de Tierra delFuego	Roberto J. Payró	[202]
	[17.]	Las Campiñas del Sur de Chile	Enrique del Solar	[203]
	[18.]	Los Andes y la Pampa	J. V. Lastarria	[204]
	[19.]	El Zum-Zum	E. Pichardo	[205]
	[20.]	El Desierto de Atacama	Eulogio Allendes	[206]
	[21.]	La Catarata del Iguazú	Manuel Bernárdez	[206]
[II.] Vida y Costumbres:
	[1.]	El Hogar Paterno	Domingo F. Sarmiento	[208]
	[2.]	La Tierra Nativa	Isaías Gamboa	[209]
	[3.]	El Caballo y sus Arreos (a)	Barros Gres	[210]
		(b)	José López Portillo y Rojas	[211]
	[4.]	La Trilla	Alberto Gerchunoff	[212]
	[5.]	La Pesca en las Islas	Santiago Maciel	[214]
	[6.]	La Caza del Tigre	Jorge Isaacs	[215]
	[7.]	Una Bodega	Carlos O. Bunge	[217]
	[8.]	El Rodeo y la Aparta	Alberto Blest Gana	[218]
	[9.]	En el Trapiche	A. Suárez Romero	[220]
	[10.]	En Tren	Orrego Luco	[221]
	[11.]	La Bolsa	Julián Martel (José Miró)	[222]
	[12.]	En Diligencia	José López Portillo y Rojas	[224]
	[13.]	La Caza de las Váquiras	M. V. Romero García	[226]
	[14.]	En el Cafetal	Malpica La Barca	[228]
	[15.]	En el Comité	Manuel T. Podestá	[230]
	[16.]	Viajando en Buey	Florentino Goenaga	[232]
	[17.]	En un Velorio	F. de Paula Gelabert	[233]
	[18.]	La Fiesta de Guadalupe	Ignacio Manuel Altamirano	[235]
	[19.]	Sucre	Ciro Bayo	[236]
	[20.]	El Mate	Pedro N. Arata	[237]
	[21.]	¡A la Cárcel todo Cristo!	Ricardo Palma	[239]
	[22.]	Tertulias	J. M. Cárdenas	[240]
	[23.]	Bogotá	Miguel Cané	[242]
	[24.]	El Bautizo	Wenceslao Gálvez	[243]
	[25.]	Los Carnavales de Antaño	Daniel Muñoz	[245]
	[26.]	El Luto	Valerio	[249]
	[27.]	El Bambuco	José Miguel Rosales	[251]
	[28.]	El Día de Muertos en mi Pueblo	Victoriano Agüeros	[252]
	[29.]	Noches del «Colón»	Enrique Gómez Carrillo	[253]
	[30.]	Cabalgata	Lorenzo Marroquín	[255]
	[31.]	La Quena	Santiago Estrada	[256]
	[32.]	Recuerdos de Tibacui	Josefa Acevedo de Gómez	[257]
	[33.]	El Puchero y el Asado en el Plata	Emilio Daireaux	[258]
	[34.]	El Hojalatero	Manuel Fernández Juncos	[260]
	[35.]	Mi Educación	Domingo F. Sarmiento	[262]
	[36.]	El Llanero	Rafael Maria Baralt	[263]
	[37.]	La Mujer Hispano-Americana	Emilio Daireaux	[264]
	[38.]	El «Triste» y la «Vidalita»		[265]
	[39.]	El Gaucho	Francisco Bauzá	[266]
	[40.]	El Lacho Guapetón	Vicente P. Rosales	[270]
[III.]Algunos Prohombres de Hispano-América:
	[1.]	Bolívar	Miguel S. Carbonell	[271]
	[2.]	Retrato de San Martín	Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna	[273]
	[3.]	San Martín y Bolívar	Juan María Gutiérrez	[274]
	[4.]	José F. Rivera	Daniel Martínez Vigil	[275]
	[5.]	Francisco Bilbao	Pedro Pablo Figueroa	[276]
	[6.]	Sarmiento	Miguel Cané	[277]
	[7.]	Maceo	L. Rodríguez Embil	[278]
	[8.]	Bartolomé Mitre	B. Vicuña Subercasseaux	[279]
	[9.]	José Pedro Varela	Carlos Roxlo	[280]
	[10.]	Bernardino Rivadavia	Juan María Gutiérrez	[282]
	[11.]	Juan Montalvo	Miguel S. Carbonell	[283]
	[12.]	José Martí	Rubén Darío	[284]
	[13.]	Hidalgo y Morelos	J. Abelardo Núñez	[286]
[IV.] La Literatura Hispano-Americana:
	[1.]	Los Primeros Pasos	Juan María Gutiérrez	[287]
	[2.]	El Romanticismo	Santiago Vaca Guzmán	[288]
	[3.]	El Regionalismo	Max Henríquez Ureña	[289]
	[4.]	Algunos Literatos Ilustres de Hispano-América		[291]
[V.] El Ideal Americano:
	[1.]	Ambas Américas	Domingo F. Sarmiento	[306]
	[2.]	Nuestra América	José Martí	[307]
	[3.]	América	Román Baldorioty de Castro	[308]
	[4.]	Augurios	A. Suárez y Romero	[310]
	[5.]	El Porvenir de América	José María Santibáñez	[312]
	[6.]	La Europa en el Nuevo Mundo	Juan Bautista Alberdi	[313]
	[7.]	La Influencia Francesa en la AméricaLatina	Manuel Ugarte	[314]
	[8.]	Mosaico de Pueblos	Jesús Castellanos	[315]
	[9.]	Los Extranjeros en América	Belisario Roldán	[317]
	[10.]	El Cántaro de la Doncella	Leopoldo Lugones	[319]
	[Vocabulary]			[321]