Part XIII of A Dairy for Puse continues on April 5, 2016, the latest installment of a mother’s diary to her daughter from 1919 – 1953, capturing a moment of Dalmatia and Dalmatian exile in history.
Start at the beginning with Part I here.
I.
April 9, 1933
Puse got into a serious argument with the little Forkapić girl regarding peasants. Forkapić says that they are all stupid and ignorant and Puse claims, that they are not stupid, but that they are neglected and have nobody to teach them, because they have no school. Forkapić´s father is a forestry engineer, she only repeats what she hears from him, and Puse is being told by her mother about her visits to Zagora and troubles people have there. Puse challenges her schoolmate with her arguments.
And when Forkapić says, that peasants do not think about the future, that they let their goats to ruin everything, Puse responds angrily:
“If you had to live the way they do in the harsh winter without heating, together with goats and sheep, you too would cut wood and fight to feed your children. You are sitting in a nice warm room, drinking tea, while those people are out there in wind and frost, barely surviving. If you knew, mom, how we argued, the whole class was talking about it.”
April 1, 1934
Fifteen days ago, we left the old-fashioned flat and replaced it by a more modern and more beautiful one in the Istrian Street 8. There is a better arrangement of rooms, and a fine bathroom – same as is being installed in all new buildings nowadays. There is a small garden in front of the house with two big fig trees, which, we were told, would protect us from mosquitoes in summer. Across of the street of our garden, pink apricot trees are blooming and when the windows are open, you can feel the freshness of the early spring. Downstairs lives Puse´s former schoolmate from the civil school, Maria, with her two brothers, students, so I can already see, that in this new house of ours, there will for sure be no lack of youthful rebellion..!
November 4, 1934
When the King Alexander was killed in the assassination in Marseilles on October 9, Puse in addition to reading about it in the newspapers, also heard about it being whispered, spoken about and argued on, so she feels some sort of uncertainty and fear. After listening to all sorts of possible outcomes, she said to me: “Listen, mom, it is much more interesting to live the history than to study it.” And after she heard more rumours and news from the opposition, which were not published and compared it with what she read in the newspaper, she asked me: “Mom, one day, when the history of today will be thought, will it be known, that there was an opposition and what they were saying, or will only the published newspaper stuff be known? That won´t be accurate. Why do we study history, if history is only what was allowed to be said?”
Oh, my dear Puse, if only we knew more about all the unwritten history, how much more we would know, than we know today! It would be accurate and true! It is obvious, that Puse is clearly noticing what she is interested in.
I.
April 9, 1933
Puse got into a serious argument with the little Forkapić girl regarding peasants. Forkapić says that they are all stupid and ignorant and Puse claims, that they are not stupid, but that they are neglected and have nobody to teach them, because they have no school. Forkapić´s father is a forestry engineer, she only repeats what she hears from him, and Puse is being told by her mother about her visits to Zagora and troubles people have there. Puse challenges her schoolmate with her arguments.
And when Forkapić says, that peasants do not think about the future, that they let their goats to ruin everything, Puse responds angrily:
“If you had to live the way they do in the harsh winter without heating, together with goats and sheep, you too would cut wood and fight to feed your children. You are sitting in a nice warm room, drinking tea, while those people are out there in wind and frost, barely surviving. If you knew, mom, how we argued, the whole class was talking about it.”
April 1, 1934
Fifteen days ago, we left the old-fashioned flat and replaced it by a more modern and more beautiful one in the Istrian Street 8. There is a better arrangement of rooms, and a fine bathroom – same as is being installed in all new buildings nowadays. There is a small garden in front of the house with two big fig trees, which, we were told, would protect us from mosquitoes in summer. Across of the street of our garden, pink apricot trees are blooming and when the windows are open, you can feel the freshness of the early spring. Downstairs lives Puse´s former schoolmate from the civil school, Maria, with her two brothers, students, so I can already see, that in this new house of ours, there will for sure be no lack of youthful rebellion..!
November 4, 1934
When the King Alexander was killed in the assassination in Marseilles on October 9, Puse in addition to reading about it in the newspapers, also heard about it being whispered, spoken about and argued on, so she feels some sort of uncertainty and fear. After listening to all sorts of possible outcomes, she said to me: “Listen, mom, it is much more interesting to live the history than to study it.” And after she heard more rumours and news from the opposition, which were not published and compared it with what she read in the newspaper, she asked me: “Mom, one day, when the history of today will be thought, will it be known, that there was an opposition and what they were saying, or will only the published newspaper stuff be known? That won´t be accurate. Why do we study history, if history is only what was allowed to be said?”
Oh, my dear Puse, if only we knew more about all the unwritten history, how much more we would know, than we know today! It would be accurate and true! It is obvious, that Puse is clearly noticing what she is interested in.
