e might have
caused him to yield to the lure of a broad education. Moreover, his
nature contained not one element of commercialism. The impossibility
of entering the wine business with his father, or of spending his life
in physical toil for a bare maintenance, was as patent to himself,
even at that early age, as to his parents. His bent was wholly
intellectual. But he knew that his father could not afford him an
education. Yet this the Church now offered freely. Again, his nature
was essentially religious. The Church now extended all her learning,
all her vast resources, all her spiritual power, to develop and foster
this instinct. Nay, more, to protect and guide its development into
right channels.

The fact, too, that the little Jose was a child of extreme emotions
must not be overlooked in an estimate of the influences which bore
upon him during these trying days. His devotion to an object upon
which he had set his affections amounted to obsession. He adored his
parents--reverenced his father--worshiped his mother. The latter he
was wont to compare to the flowers, to the bright-plumed birds, to the
butterflies that hovered in the sunlight of their little _patio_. He
indited childish poems to her, and likened her in purity and beauty to
the angels and the Virgin Mary. Her slightest wish was his inflexible
law. Not that he was never guilty of childish faults of conduct, of
little whims of stubbornness and petulance; but his character rested
on a foundation of honesty, sincerity, and filial love that was never
shaken by the summer storms of naughtiness which at times made their
little disturbances above.

The parents breathed a sigh of relief when the tired child at last
bowed to their wishes and accepted the destiny thrust upon him. The
coming of a son to these loyal royalists and zealous Catholics had
meant the imposition of a sacred trust. That he was called to high
service in the Church of God was evidenced by Satan's early and
malicious attacks upon him. There was but one course for them to
pursue, and they did not for a moment question its soundness. To their
thought, this precocious child lacked the wisdom and balance which
comes only with years. The infallible Church, their all-wise spiritual
guide, supported their contentions. What they did was for her and for
the eternal welfare of the boy. Likewise, for the maintenance of
family pride and honor in a generation tainted with liberalism and
distrust of the s