Francisco Ferrer; his life, work and martyrdom, with message written ...

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His Life and Work. 21
man." The result was that she approved his plan, and
"placed at my disposal the money necessary for such a
venture." These material resources were secured to
Ferrer by certain dispositions in his favor made in her
will. The final paragraph of this glimpse into Ferrer's
soul is worth recording
"What will be most surprising is to know that between
the two of us there was nothing more than profound
fraternal friendship, based purely on personal sympathy
and similitude in our humanitarian sentiments. Not even
on New Year's Day did we bestow a kiss on each other
and that in France where people who most detest each
other will on that day exchange kisses. Strange though
this may appear, it is pure truth-, and this fact gives me
the more strength to exalt and magnify the principles
that the Escuela Moderna represents :
the preparation for
a free and happy humanity, without wars, or other collective
or personal dissensions."
Here, apart from the philosopher and the educationalist,
we can see the fervid idealist, the active propagandist,
fired with enthusiasm for a cause already living in embryo
in his brain. No doubt, as he said, he created enemies
but a man of that type is equally certain to gain—as we
know Ferrer did gain—an ever-widening circle of friends
and admirers.
Those were the days when the springs of his greatness
ran in unobserved channels. For that reason the student
has to dig and delve in scattered regions for the materials
for forming an all-round
estimate of Ferrer's character.
I have been fortunate enough to read two of the earliest
and most important of Ferrer's letters, as preserved for
us in an Italian translation, which appeared in La Ragione.
These letters are addressed to Mario Gibelli, and
belong to a period (1898) anterior to the foundation of
the Escuela Moderna. For that reason they shed new
and unsuspected light upon his opinions at that date on
the sexual relationship. He writes thus
"I am not yet married, because it is not possible for me
to get a divorce in any country. For all that, my wife
and I remain friends and wait."