Amadito and the Hero Children  Amadito y los Niños Héroes university of new mexico press albuquerque Amadito and the Amadito y los Hero Children  Niños Héroes

Enrique R. Lamadrid

Illustrations by Amy Córdova Afterword by Michael León Trujillo For Yasmín

© 2011 by Enrique R. Lamadrid Illustrations © 2011 by Amy Córdova All rights reserved. Published 2011

Printed and bound in China by Everbest Printing Company, Ltd. through Four Colour Imports, Ltd. | Production location: Guangdong, China Date of Production: June 2011 | Cohort: Batch I

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lamadrid, Enrique R. Amadito and the hero children = Amadito y los niños héroes / Enrique Lamadrid ; foreword by Genaro M. Padilla ; afterword by Michael León Trujillo ; illustrations by Amy Córdova. p. cm. — (Pasó por aquí series on the Nuevomexicano literary heritage) Parallel title: Amadito y los niños héroes Pasó por Aquí Includes bibliographical references. Summary: A brief fictional recounting of legendary epidemics that struck the American Series on the Nuevomexicano Southwest—the smallpox epidemics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the Literary Heritage influenza epidemic during World War I—which ravaged many rural communities throughout the West. Includes author’s notes about the characters. Edited by Genaro M. Padilla, ISBN 978-0-8263-4979-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8263-4980-4 (electronic) [1. Epidemics—Fiction. 2. Southwest, New—History—Fiction. 3. Mexican Americans— Enrique R. Lamadrid, & Fiction. 4. Spanish language materials—Bilingual.] I. Córdova, Amy, ill. II. Title. A. Gabriel Meléndez PZ73.L2777 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2011009197

Design and composition: Melissa Tandysh NOTE FROM THE SERIES EDITORS

WE AT PASÓ POR AQUÍ ARE PLEASED TO OFFER Enrique R. Lamadrid’s rousing bilingual story, Amadito and the Hero Children / Amadito y los Niños Héroes, a fact-based fi ction about a Nuevo Mexicano village’s fi ght against two deadly epidemics that doomed thousands of people in the Hispano Southwest: smallpox and infl uenza. Separated in time by more than a century, both nine-year-old protagonists are from the village of Chamisal, tucked high in a valley of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Like a little pilgrim, María Peregrina arrives in 1810 as a carrier of the precious smallpox vaccine. True to his name, Amadito proves his love for family and community in the midst of the deadly fl u pandemic in 1918. Like so many traditional Nuevo Mexicano cuentos, this is a story of hope in which children are intrepid, brave, and smart enough to over- come major obstacles against huge odds. Professor Lamadrid’s expertise as a folklorist provides a broad cultural, literary, and historical context to offer contem- p orary audiences, especially schoolchildren, an inspirational tale for their own challenges in an often-troubling world. One of the challenges that Nuevo Mexicano children face is the recovery of their linguistic heritage—the Spanish language. Together with Professor Michael León Trujillo’s learned and illuminating afterword, this modern day cuento can be taught by teachers and parents in New Mexico and beyond who wish to help children understand their role in confronting worldwide threats to our common well-being, like pandemic disease or the ominous results of global warming. Rather than passively hoping all turns out well in the end, Amadito and the Hero Children will help young readers

5 imagine themselves as capable of similar acts of heroism, to help them build confi dence to grow into adult heroes who put their education, determination, and ethical vision to the service of building a truly cooperative and coherent world, locally and globally.

For the Pasó Por Aquí Editors, Genaro M. Padilla University of California, Berkeley

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | AGRADECIMIENTOS

DEBTS OF GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION: To the Resolaneros of the Academia de la Nueva Raza of Embudo, New Mexico—Tomás Atencio and Consuelo Pacheco for their constant concern for La vida buena y sana, Estevan Arellano for his encouragement, E. A. “Tony” Mares for his poetic advice, and Alejandro López for sharing the taped interviews from the amazing Academia oral history project of 1971–1972. Many of the stories about remedios and memories of the infl uenza pandemic of 1918 recorded there confi rmed what I found in my own interviews in the Española valley and with Dr. José Amado Domínguez conducted in the 1980s. To my grandson, Inti Martín Lamadrid Ortiz, the great-great-grandson of Mamá Virginia and Papá José Inés. To the members and healers of this extended family, including Amadito himself; Dr. John DeFlice; Gianna DeFlice, L.Ac., MSOM; and Ana Yasmín Lamadrid, R.N. To prima Barbara MacPherson for her colorful childhood memories of Chamisal. To my compadre Charles Briggs and Clara Mantini for their heroic medical and political leadership in the cholera and rabies epidemics in the Orinoco delta. To Rudolfo Anaya who introduced me to the world of children’s books. To Amy Córdova for bringing this story alive in her art. To Eleuterio Santiago Díaz for keeping wise vigil over the bilingual texts. To Robert O. Valdez, director of the UNM Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy, for sharing his research on Dr. Xavier Balmis’s 1803 Expedición Real Filantrópica de la Vacuna and on smallpox epidemics in New Mexico. To New Mexico State Representative Lorenzo “Larry” Larrañaga and the descendents of Dr. Cristóval Larrañaga. And to “Cuernoblanco,” Clark Whitehorn, editor-in-chief of UNM Press and his editorial team for believing in this book.

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own from La Jicarita, that majestic D mountain with the little gourd name, a canyon fi lled with ponderosa pines broadens into a slender valley fi lled with chamisa brush to the town of Chamisal, down to the Domínguez family ranch and its fi elds of beans and more beans. In early fall, especially in the years of the First World War when the young men were fi ghting in France, every available child was recruited to pick the pods. Bushels upon bushels were spread out in the sun to dry for a week before la trilla. For the threshing, other villages ran goats round and round the packed-earth threshing fl oor to loosen the pinto beans from the pods.

ajando La Jicarita, esa montaña B majestuosa con su nombre tan chiquito, hay un cañón lleno de pinabetes que se abre a un vallecito estrecho lleno de chamizos hasta la placita de Chamisal, bajando hacia el ranchito de la familia Domínguez con sus campos de frijoles y más frijoles. Comenzando el otoño, especialmente en los años de la Primera Guerra Mundial cuando los jóvenes peleaban en Francia, todos los niños del valle se juntaban para pepenar los frijoles. Fanegas y más fanegas se apilaban en el sol para secarse una semana antes de la trilla. En otras placitas la gente corría cabras sobre las eras para que soltaran los frijoles de sus vainas. 9

n Chamisal, the Domínguez kids were in charge. n Chamisal, los muchitos de la familia IAt ten, Anita was the oldest, followed by José EDomínguez se encargaban de todo. Con sus Amado, Enrique, Isaac, and Pablita. Only two-year- diez años Anita era la hermana mayor, seguida por old Fermilia had to stay home with Mamá Virginia José Amado, Enrique, Isaac y Pablita. Solamente while the other children raked the beans onto big Fermilia, con sus dos años, se quedaba en casa con canvas tarps and jumped up and down, singing Mamá Virginia mientras los otros muchitos sacaban every song they knew, and this one especially for los grandes cotencios, echaban los frijoles encima y the occasion: brincaban sobre ellos, cantando todas las canciones que sabían, y en particular, esta para la ocasión: Frijolitos pintos, Little pinto beans, claveles morados, purple carnations, Frijolitos pintos, ¡ay, cómo sufren oh, how they suffer, claveles morados, los enamorados! those who are in love! ¡ay, cómo sufren los enamorados! Only the oldest boy, José Amado, paused to think about the words of the silly little song. For Solamente el hermano mayor, José Amado, se his nine years, Amadito was more thoughtful and detenía a pensar en la cancioncita tan tonta. Para serious than other children his age. The frijolitos sus nueve veranos, Amadito era más inquisitivo y pintos were obvious, for he was standing at the serio que los otros niños de su edad. Los “frijolitos edge of a bean fi eld. pintos” eran obvios para él, porque estaba parado “But why is love painful? And what are the en la orilla de un campo de frijoles. purple claveles for?” he asked big sister Anita. “¿Pero por qué duele el amor? ¿Y para qué Amadito had only seen them at weddings and sirven los ‘claveles morados’?” le preguntaba a su funerals, especially the paper ones. hermana Anita. Amadito sólo los había visto en los Everybody always laughed at the casorios y los funerales, especialmente los de papel. next verse. It was funny and Todo el mundo se reía de los siguientes versos. disturbing at the same time: Eran chistosos y curiosos a la vez:

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Primero da viruela, First smallpox strikes, Primero da viruela, luego sarampión, then the measles, luego sarampión, le quedó la cara his/her face was left le quedó la cara como un chicharrón. like a pork crackling. como un chicharrón.

he other kids laughed about having a face os otros muchitos se reían de la idea de T like a chicharrón. Who would fall in love with Ltener una cara achicharronada. ¿Quién you if you had a scarred and ugly face? But what se enamoraría de ti si tuvieras una cara fea y was viruela, the smallpox? Amadito knew about cicatrizada? Pero ¿qué era la viruela? Amadito sarampión, because he, his brothers, and his sisters sabía del sarampión porque él y sus hermanos y had had measles and then chicken pox one right hermanas lo tuvieron y después la varicela uno tras after the other. His mother told him that smallpox otro. Su mamá le había dicho que la viruela era un was a deadly disease that not that long ago would mal muy peligroso que no hacía tanto tiempo venía come to ravage New Mexico every ten years or so. a Nuevo México cada diez años o algo así. “Como la mano negra . . . like the black hand of “Como la mano negra de la Muerte,” le dijo, Death,” she told him, “la viruela took away many, “la viruela se llevaba muchos, muchos niños many children and old people with great pain and y gente grande con gran dolor y sufrimiento.” suffering.” It reached into even the most remote Penetraba los valles más remotos y protegidos and protected valleys of the Sierra de la Sangre de la Sierra de la Sangre de Cristo. Entonces de Cristo. Then came la vacuna, the vaccine, and llegó la vacuna, y por fi n la gente quedó a salvo. fi nally people were safe. Amadito knew it had Amadito sabía que la vacuna tenía algo que ver something to do with the smooth, round scar on con la cicatriz redonda y lisa en su brazo. La his arm. He tapped it gently with his fi nger as his tocaba ligeramente con el dedo mientras su mother spoke. madre hablaba.

13 or two whole days a stiff wind blew through or dos días enteros un viento recio sopló en Fthe beautiful October days. The kids worked Plos hermosos días de octubre. Los muchitos hard, tossing armfuls of crushed pods into the air as trabajaban duro, tirando brazadas de vainas pisadas the wind blew all the dry husks away. The kids then para arriba mientras el viento se llevaba la hojarasca. scooped the beans into fi fty-pound guangoche sacks Entonces echaban los frijoles en guangoches de and loaded them into the family buckboard wagon cincuenta libras para cargarlos en el carro de bestias for the trip to Embudo Station. Papá José Inés was y llevarlos a la Estación de Embudo. Papá José Inés going to take Amadito with him to sell the beans llevaría a Amadito con él para vender los frijoles y and bring back supplies for the family store. It would traer mercancía para la tiendita de la familia. ¡Sería be the last summer adventure before school began! la última aventura del verano antes del comienzo School was a family affair in Chamisal. Mamá de la escuela! Virginia was the teacher. Her father had sent her to La escuela era un asunto de familia en Chamisal. Normal School in Grand Junction, Colorado, for Mamá Virginia era la maestra. Su papá le había a year of teacher training. Now she taught many mandado de a la Escuela Normal en Grand Junction, of the kids of Chamisal, even though there was no Colorado, para ser maestra. Ahora enseñaba a school building there yet. It was easier to teach at muchos de los niños de Chamisal, aunque no había home than to pack her kids over the hill every day un edifi cio escolar todavía. Era más fácil enseñar to the nuns in Peñasco or to the boarding school en casa que mandar a los hijos a diario donde las in Chimayó. She kept her math lessons in a ledger monjas de Peñasco al otro lado del cerro o a la book and used the stories of One Thousand and One escuela de internos de Chimayó. Guardaba sus Nights, two McGuffey Readers, her Spanish Bible, lecciones de matemática en un cuaderno de negocios and the weekly copies of a newspaper, La Revista y para enseñar lectura y escritura usaba los cuentos de Taos, for reading lessons. The news was worrying de las Mil y una noches, dos libros americanos de Mamá a lot lately. McGuffey, su Biblia en español y las copias del “Gracias a Dios, the Great War is ending,” she periódico semanal, La Revista de Taos. Las noticias read aloud from the paper to the family at the table le preocupaban mucho a Mamá últimamente. one morning. “But our boys are still dying!” “Gracias a Dios, se termina la Gran Guerra,” le leyó del papel en voz alta a la familia en la mesa una mañana. “¡Pero nuestros jóvenes siguen muriendo!”

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he obituaries read that four soldiers from n los obituarios se anunciaba que cuatro T Taos and Río Arriba counties had died in Esoldados de los condados de Taos y Río France, not from German shells, but from la Arriba habían muerto en Francia, no por los infl ueza española. They called it “Spanish fl u,” proyectiles alemanes sino de la infl uenza española. not because it was Spanish, but because the La llamaban así, no porque fuera española, sino only newspapers that reported it were in Spain, porque los únicos periódicos que reportaban a neutral country in the war. Even though tens of sobre ella eran los de España, un país neutral thousands were dying, French and British papers en la guerra. Aunque millares de personas estaban made no mention of the epidemic. The push to muriendo, los periódicos de Francia e Inglaterra win the war would not be sidetracked. no mencionaron la epidemia. El proyecto de The fl u started just like a resfriado, with chills, ganar la guerra no iba a ser desviado. sore throat, sniffl es, fever, and cough. But unlike La infl uenza lo mismo como un resfriado, a common cold, it quickly got worse. Much worse. empezaba con escalofríos, dolor de garganta, By the second day, the sick person could no longer moqueos, fi ebre y tos. Pero a diferencia del resfrío stand up because of the bone-cracking pain. If he común, pronto se hacía peor. Mucho peor. Para or she could not fi nd a place to rest and lie down, el segundo día, el enfermo ya no podía pararse por death could come soon. Part of the cure was to los dolores en huesos. Si él o ella no encontraba un stay home near your own bed and to keep away lugar para acostarse y descansar, se podría morir from others. It was best to not sit or stand, but to pronto. Parte del remedio era quedarse en casa stay horizontal. Even with proper care and plenty junto a la cama, alejado de los demás. Era mejor of warm liquids, many people died within a week no sentarse ni pararse, sino permanecer recostado. from pulmonía and complications. The suffocating Aun con mucho cuidado y muchos líquidos pneumonia made lips and faces turn blue, and the calientes, mucha gente se moría dentro de una victim would slip into a deep coma from which semana de la pulmonía y sus complicaciones. many never awoke. La gente se sofocaba; los labios y la cara se les volvían azules. La víctima caía en una coma profunda de la que muchos no despertaban.

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week later, Amadito read from an article na semana más tarde, Amadito le leyó a A from La Revista to the family. Ula familia de un artículo de La Revista. “Look, la infl uencia has come to Albuquerque, “Mira, ‘la infl uencia’ ha llegado a Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos.” He saw where Mamá had Santa Fe y Taos.” Vio donde Mamá había subray- underlined the headlines: “Black Hand of Death ado los titulares: “La Mano Negra de la Muerte Reaches in from Europe. New Mexico Suffers nos Llega de Europa. Nuevo México Sufre con with the World.” el Mundo.” There was no cure, no sanctuary, and no No había ni cura, ni refugio, ni remedio remedy for what the people called para lo que la gente llamaba “la infl uencia” en “la infl uencia” in local Spanish, español local en vez de usar el nombre original not the original Italian name. del italiano. La epidemia iba a “infl uenciar” sus The epidemic was about to vidas para siempre. Solamente la raíz del oshá “infl uence” their lives forever. o apio silvestre aliviaba el dolor de garganta. Only the oshá—wild celery Mucha gente creía que el jugo de la cebolla root—seemed to give any relief to the sore throat. morada ayudaba. Quizás era porque tenía el Many folks believed that the juice of the cebolla mismo color que los labios de los enfermos. morada—the purple onion—would help. Maybe Después de cocerlas en el horno, se machucan because the color matched the lips of the affl icted? con el piloncillo para hacer un jarabe espeso. After baking it in the oven, you mash it with Por si acaso, Mamá Virginia le había pedido a piloncillo—those raw sugar cones—to make a thick su esposo que trajera una caja de cebolla morada syrup. Mamá Virginia had asked her husband to con los otros abarrotes que venían en el tren de order a box of cebollas moradas to be shipped Española. to them on the train with the other goods from “¡Te traeremos dos cajas!” se reía Papá. “¡Y ese Española, just in case. espejo redondo que querías!” “We’ll bring you two boxes!” Papá laughed. “Plus that round mirror and frame that you wanted!”

18 he next day Amadito hitched the mules to the l próximo día Amadito enganchó las mulas T wagon for the trip down to Embudo. They Eal carro para el viaje a Embudo. Las mulas tossed their heads happily in anticipation. Papá José meneaban las cabezas, alegres de anticipación. Inés paid special attention to the wagon’s brakes, Papá José Inés prestó mucha atención a los frenos, since the winding road was very steep and rocky. ya que el camino serpentino era muy empinado y He always whistled merrily to himself on trips. They pedregoso. Siempre chifl aba alegremente cuando left town before sunrise and rolled into what people viajaba. Salieron de la casa antes del amanecer y were calling “Dixon Town,” an upper Embudo llegaron a “Dixon Town,” la plaza de Embudo de village that an Americano postmaster had just arriba que un estafetero americano acababa de dar named for himself. Things were unusually quiet. su propio nombre. Estaba todo demasiado tranquilo. “Papá?” Amadito questioned. “Where is every- “¿Papá?” Amadito preguntó. “¿Dónde está body, why aren’t people picking their apples yet?” toda la gente, por qué no están pepenando las He noticed the piles of ripe yellow and red fruit in manzanas?” Notó que habían pilas de fruta yards and orchards beginning to rot on the ground. amarilla y colorada en los patios y arboledas que Papá stopped whistling. estaban empezando a podrirse. Papá dejó de chifl ar. “¡Diosito de mi vida!” He gasped when he saw “¡Diosito de mi vida!” susurró cuando vio que that three houses had large bows tied from black tres casas tenían grandes moños de tela negra en cloth hanging on their doors. Amadito had never las puertas. Amadito nunca había visto este tipo de seen this kind of adornment, but he knew right adorno, pero entendía de una vez lo que signifi caba. away what it meant. They knocked at the door Tocaron a la puerta de su primo Jorge en una casa of their primo Jorge in a house un poco más abajo de la plaza. En just below the plaza. Instead vez de invitarles a tomar café y of inviting them inside comida como siempre, los recibió for coffee and lunch as he ansiosamente en el portal. usually did, he met them nervously on the portal.

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No entren, sigan. Estamos en cuarentena, que o entren, sigan. Estamos en cuarentena, “ Dios los guarde. Don’t come in, go on. “Nque Dios los guarde,” les dijo. We are in quarantine, may God keep you.” La infl uenza ya había llegado en el tren, The fl u had already arrived on the train, the el famoso ferrocarril de vía estrecha “Chile Line” famous narrow-gauge “Chile Line” from Santa Fe de Santa Fe y Española a San Antonito, Colorado. and Española to San Antonito, Colorado. First a Primero murió un muchacho de doce años, y twelve-year-old child had died, and many mourners muchos dolientes que habían asistido al velorio that had attended the velorio, or funeral wake, had se habían enfermado. Nadie sabía la importancia now taken sick. No one realized how important de cubrir la tos o el estornudo. No entendían it was to cover a cough or sneeze, or how the que la infección se transmitía al tocarse la nariz infection spread by touching your nose or eyes. o los ojos ni que se podía prevenir lavándose las And they had no idea how washing hands with soap manos con jabón. Sí comprendían que la infl uenza could keep the disease away. They did realize that se contagiaba por contacto directo, así que se the infl uenza was contagious and spread by direct impuso la cuarentena, y las familias comenzaron contact. So the cuarentena was called, and families a quedarse dentro de sus casas. Varios hombres were staying inside their houses. Armed men had armados se habían ido de Dixon a la Estación de gone down from Dixon to Embudo Station to dis- Embudo para disuadir a los fuereños de que se courage strangers from getting off the train and bajaran del tren para impedir más contagio. Pero bringing in more illness. But it was already too late. ya era demasiado tarde. Papá José Inés and Amadito said good-bye Papá José Inés y Amadito se despidieron to their primo Jorge and headed down past the del primo Jorge y pasaron el último arroyo por el last arroyo and through the little gorge of the Río pequeño desfi ladero del Río Embudo a La Junta, Embudo to La Junta, the place where it fl owed into el lugar donde desembocaba en el Río Grande. the Río Grande. The converging canyons brought Los cañones juntaban el agua de los dos ríos que the fl ow of both rivers dashing together like in a chocaban como en un embudo. funnel or, in Spanish, embudo. “¿Papá?” preguntó Amadito. “¿El Embudo “Papá?” Amadito asked. “Is Embudo named recibió ese nombre por los cañones o por esos for the canyons or for those embudo-shaped hills cerros que parecen embudos junto al río?” No by the river?” No answer. recibió respuesta.

21 hey traveled without a word and crossed the adre e hijo viajaron en silencio y cruzaron el viejo T old wooden bridge to Embudo Station. Soon Ppuente de tablas hacia la Estación de Embudo. the steam whistle and puffi ng of the two o’clock Pronto oyeron el silbato y los resoplidos del tren de train could be heard echoing off the black lava cliffs. las dos de la tarde y los ecos por los precipicios de It usually sounded cheerful, but today it sounded lava negra. Normalmente sonaba alegre, pero ese día like a lament. They saw two men with rifl es meet the era como un lamento. Vieron a dos hombres salir con train. The locomotive stopped to get water from the rifl es para recibir el tren. La locomotora paró para water tower and its redwood tank. Only a few people abastecerse de agua de la torre de agua y su tanque were on the train. None made a move to get down. de madera de palo colorado. Muy poca gente había The clerk waved from the freight car. en el tren. Nadie intentó bajarse. El empleado les In a quick transaction, Papá José Inés collected saludó desde el carro de carga. his pay for six hundred pounds of pinto beans. En una rápida transacción, Papá José Inés tomó Then he exchanged most of the cash to the clerk el pago por seiscientas libras de frijoles pintos. Luego for the merchandise for the family store. Their devolvió la mayor parte del dinero al empleado para livelihood for a good part of the year depended pagar por la mercancía de la tiendita de la familia. on this single transaction. Amadito helped with El sustento para la mayor parte del año dependía the checklist as their wagon was loaded: básicamente de este negocio. Amadito ayudó a cotejar con la lista mientras cargaban el carro de bestias:

22 ight for the darkness: a drum of kerosene uz para la oscuridad: un barril de querosén Lfor lamps, plus wicks, boxes of matches, and Lpara las lámparas, mechas, cajas de fósforos replacement glass globes. y bombillas de vidrio. Mamá Virginia’s round mirror. El espejo redondo de Mamá Virginia. Household hardware: axes, shovels, hoes, saws, Ferretería de casa: hachas, palas, cavadores, nails, skillets, pots. serruchos, clavos, puelas, cazuelas. Kitchen staples: Three large wooden boxes of Comestibles para la cocina: Tres cajas grandes de piloncillo. A fi fty-pound sack of coffee beans. piloncillo. Un saco de cincuenta libras de café Another of salt. Two cases of the small cans of en grano. Otro saco de sal. Dos cajas de botes baking soda the people called salarata. Spices de “salarata” para hornear. Especies como like pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. pimienta, clavos y canela. Food for travelers and shepherds: cases of cans Abarrotes para viajeros y pastores: cajas de of corned beef, potted meat, Vienna sausages, botes de carne argentina, botes de puré de sardines, condensed milk, and that greatest of carne, salchichitas de Viena, sardinas, leche delicacies, deviled ham. condensada y la mayor delicia de todas, el For spring gardens: A large envelope of fancy jamón del diablo. kitchen garden seeds—lettuce, turnips, radish, Para los jardines de primavera: Un sobre grande and more—that people were anxious to try out de semillas fi nas—lechuga, nabos, rábanos y next spring. And a few bare-root fruit trees and todo—lo que la gente estaba deseosa de probar lilacs to get into the ground as soon as possible. la próxima primavera. Y para sembrar en For the kids: Boxes of lemon and cinnamon drops, seguida, ramitas de lila y arbolitos de fruta. black licorice, ribbon peppermint candy. The Para los niños: Cajas de dulces de limón y canela, oranges for Christmas came later. anís negro, caramelo de listón de yerba buena. For sewing: Bolts of color print and Las naranjas se conseguían más tarde, para la black cotton cloth, muslin, and Navidad. striped ticking. Wool cloth for Para coser: Rollos de tela grabada y de tela negra coats. Needles and thread. de algodón, rollos de muselina blanca y rayada. For the infl uenza: two crates Tela de lana para abrigos. Agujas y rollos de hilo. of purple onions. Para la infl uenza: dos cajas de cebolla morada.

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nstead of lingering at the station house to n vez de entretenerse en la estación para Ilisten to the latest news, the father and son Eescuchar las últimas noticias, el padre y el hijo left as quickly as they had come and started salieron tan rápido como habían llegado y subieron back up the canyon. Since they couldn’t stay el cañón. Como no podían quedarse en casa del at the house of their primo Jorge, they camped primo Jorge, acamparon al lado del Río Grande en by the Río Grande in a grove of grandmother una alameda de álamos gordos, con brillantes hojas cottonwoods, with brilliant yellow leaves quaking doradas temblando en la brisa. La cena fue un bote in the breeze. Dinner was a whole can of corned entero de carne argentina con tortillas de trigo que beef with wheat tortillas they had brought habían traído de la casa. from home. Muy temprano la siguiente mañana subieron Early the next morning they started back up por el Río Embudo. Cuando se acercaban Dixon, the Río Embudo. As they approached Dixon, les sorprendieron las campanas: la melancólica they were surprised to hear the sound of bells: the campana de la Iglesia de San Antonio y las somber bell of San Antonio’s Church and the high, campanas altas y claras de los presbiterianos clear bells of the Presbyterians across the street. al otro lado de la calle. Las iglesias estaban vacías, The churches were empty, the plaza was empty, la plaza estaba vacía, porque los funerales y velorios for funerals and gatherings had been cancelled habían sido cancelados y prohibidos. Sólo vieron and forbidden. All they saw were a few men in the algunos hombres en el camposanto y los sepulcros camposanto and the fresh graves they had just dug. que acababan de excavar. La única persona que The only person out walking around was se paseaba era Inocencio, un joven de la calle. Les Inocencio, a street kid, who grinned sonrió y les dijo, “Buen tiempo para and told them, “Buen tiempo para morir; morir, están enterrando gratis.” están enterrando gratis . . . It’s a good Ellos se sonrieron pero no time to die; they are burying people se rieron. for free.” They smiled but didn’t laugh.

26 s they headed up the canyon and the ientras subían el cañón y el camino A winding road towards Peñasco, the two Mserpentino hacia Peñasco, las dos mulas mules looked over their shoulders towards the miraban hacia atrás hacia el valle. Todavía tenían valley. They were still hoping to stop in Embudo la esperanza de pararse en Embudo para comer to snack on fallen apples in the orchards. When de las manzanas caídas en las arboledas. Cuando the travelers reached the top of the cuestecita, they los viajeros llegaron a la cuestecita, tomaron agua. drank some water. Papá José Inés quickly gathered Papá José Inés juntó unos palitos, prendió una a few sticks, lit a small fi re, and then cut a bunch lumbre y luego cortó unas ramitas de sabino. A of green cedar boughs. Amadito wondered why Amadito no se le hubiera ocurrido echarle ramas anyone would throw green cedar on a fi re. A verdes a la lumbre. Una nube repentina de humo sudden billow of white smoke puffed up. blanco subió. “Walk through the smoke three times, mi’jito.” “Pasa tres veces por el humo, mi’jito.” “Por qué, Daddy, why?” “¿Por qué, Daddy, por qué?” “En el nombre del Padre, del “En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo, Hijo, del Espíritu Santo.” del Espíritu Santo.” The fragrant smoke gave special El humo fragante prestó un power to the familiar blessing. poder especial a la bendición With tears in their eyes, they familiar. Con lágrimas en los ojos, prayed for the health of their family. rezaron por la salud de su familia. As they hurried through the little forest Mientras se apuraban por el bosquecito of ponderosa pines on the other side, a gust of de pinabetes al otro lado, una ráfaga de viento trajo wind brought the sound of more bells, this time el sonido de más campanas, esta vez de Río Lucío from Río Lucío and Peñasco. Even though there y Peñasco. Aunque todavía había una cordillera was still a small chain of hills yet to cross, they de cerritos para cruzar, creyeron oír la campana even imagined they heard the bell of Chamisal. de Chamisal. What a relief it was when they saw Mamá Qué alivio cuando vieron a Mamá Virginia y los Virginia and fi ve brothers and sisters waiting on the cinco hermanos y hermanas esperando en el largo long portal. Gracias a Dios, everyone was all right. portal. Gracias a Dios, todos estaban bien.

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apá and Amadito unloaded the wagon. Right apá y Amadito descargaron el carro. De Paway, Anita and Mamá started making purple Puna vez, Anita y Mamá empezaron a hacer onion syrup in case anyone would need it. The el jarabe de cebolla morada por si alguien lo boxes of onions were left on the portal so that if necesitaba. Las cajas de cebollas se quedaron en el neighbors needed any, they wouldn’t come portal para que los vecinos las pudieran recoger sin inside. Hanging from the viga of the ceiling tener que pasar para adentro. Colgando de la viga was a sack of fresh oshá. There was del techo había un saco de raíz de oshá fresca. No nothing to do but wait and pray the había nada más que hacer excepto esperar rosario in the evening. y rezar el rosario a la nochecita. Como no Since not that much could be se podía hacer mucho contra la infl uenza, done for the infl uenza, Amadito Amadito se sentía apenado y frustrado. felt grieved and frustrated. Now Ahora ni podían salir a jugar, ni buscar a they could not go out to play or sus amigos. ¿Cuántos estarían enfermos fi nd their friends. Were any of them o muertos? ¿Quiénes necesitarían ayuda? sick or dying? Did anyone need Los vecinos y la familia no podían juntarse help? Neighbors and family could para consolarse porque todo el mundo se encerraba not even gather to console each other en la casa. since everyone just stayed at home. Sólo Papá José Inés salía a diario a la placita, Only Papá José Inés ventured out daily into the llamando a los primos y a los vecinos desde fuera, village, calling out to primos and neighbors from preguntando por los enfermos y distribuyendo las outside, asking about the sick and distributing cebollas. Los muchitos se sentían como cautivos, the cebollas. The kids felt like prisoners, like the como la princesa Scheherazade en el libro de princess Scheherazade in their mother’s Arabian cuentos árabes de su mamá. Pasaron dos meses storybook. They spent two months shut in the encerrados en la casa, excepto cuando se les house, except on days they got to play on the long permitía jugar en el largo portal. Cada otro día portal. Every other day they heard the bells, which escuchaban las campanas que esparcían su eco echoed up and down the valley. a lo largo del vallecito.

30 Dios da y Dios quita . . . God giveth and He ios da y Dios quita,” decía Papá con “ taketh away.” Papá said with tears in his “Dlágrimas en los ojos cuando doblaban las eyes when the bells tolled. Every night the family campanas. Cada noche la familia daba gracias a gave thanks to God for making it through another Dios por haber vivido otro día más. Una mañana day. One morning Papá José Inés left for Taos to Papá José Inés salió para Taos a buscar noticias. see if he could get any news. La Revista de Taos had La Revista de Taos había dejado de publicarse por stopped publishing for a month. The infl uenza had un mes. La infl uenza se había llevado al editor. taken its editor, too. Como buena madre, Mamá Virginia intentó Like a good mother, Mamá Virginia tried to transformar todas sus ansias en acción. Movilizó turn all her worrying into action. She mobilized the a los niños para limpiar toda la casa con jabón kids to scrub down the house with jabón de lejía, lye de lejía. Era la capitana de su pequeña tropa. soap. She was the captain of her little troops. The El enemigo era la enfermedad que amenazaba enemy was the disease that threatened her family a su familia y a la comunidad desde todos lados. and community from every side. “¿Qué más se puede hacer? ¿Qué más puedo “What more can be done? What more can I yo hacer?” Pensaba en voz alta. do?” She wondered out loud. Se sentía inútil ante a la infl uenza. ¿Cuándo She felt helpless faced with the infl uenza. habrá un remedio efectivo? Había gente tan When would there ever be an effective remedy for desesperada que ponían las cebollas moradas— it? Some people were so desperate that they placed o cualquier cebolla—debajo de la cama de la the purple onions—or any onions they could fi nd— persona enferma. ¿Cómo pueden absorber el mal? under the bed of the person sick with fl u. How No tenía sentido. Otra gente hacía incienso de las could they absorb the illness? It just didn’t make ramitas del chamizo pardo para bendecir las casas sense. Other people made incense from bunches con humo. ¿Qué efecto podía tener esto? of chamizo pardo to bless the houses with Por lo menos tomar el jarabe de la cebolla smoke. Was it doing any morada o el té de oshá o chamizo parecía good? Drinking the purple más razonable. onion syrup or tea made of oshá or sage seemed more reasonable.

31 Ojalá hubiera una vacuna para la infl uencia . . . jalá hubiera una “ I wish there were a vaccine against the fl u,” “O vacuna para la she prayed. She remembered the miracle stories infl uencia,” rezaba. Se her elders had told her of la vacuna and how many acordaba de los milagros people it saved from the deadly viruela. At least que contaban los viejitos de la for the smallpox there was something effective she vacuna y cuánta gente salvó de could do for her children. She got down the box la terrible viruela. Por lo menos había with the family papers from the attic and found algo efectivo que podía hacer para sus hijos. an envelope that she had carefully sealed and put Bajó la cajita con los papeles de la familia away several years ago. Inside were three dried del piso de arriba y sacó un sobre que había scabs from smallpox vaccinations she had done sellado cuidadosamente y guardado hacía años. on herself and her fi rst two children. Adentro había tres costras de vacunas que ella hizo Even though la viruela was now rare in para sí misma y para sus primeros dos hijos. New Mexico, it still lurked in the shadows, Aunque la viruela ya no era nada común en ready to strike people down or scar them for Nuevo México, todavía acechaba en las sombras, life. She remembered an old spinster aunt from lista para tumbar a la gente o desfi gurarla de her childhood who had almost lost an eye to the por vida. Se acordaba de una tía solterona que scarring. Her eyelashes and eyebrows never did conoció en su juventud que casi perdió un ojo grow back. For the rest of her life, people unkindly por las cicatrices de la viruela. Nunca recuperó nicknamed her La Cacariza, “Scarface.” Mamá sus pestañas y sus cejas. Por el resto de su vida la Virginia shuddered with the memory and returned gente cruelmente le decía “La Cacariza.” Mamá to her project with new resolve. She had learned Virginia tembló al recordarlo y volvió a su proyecto from her mother how long to soak the vaccination con nuevo empeño. Había aprendido de su madre scabs, how to sterilize a penknife in a candle fl ame, cuánto tiempo remojar las costras, cómo esterilizar how to clean the arm with alcohol, scratch a little una navajita en la llama de una vela, cómo limpiar cross on the skin, and rub the scab into the cut. el brazo con alcohol, cómo picar una crucita en la piel, y frotar la costra sobre la pequeña herida.

32 hile Anita distracted her brothers and sisters ientras Anita distraía sus hermanos con W with games and dolls in another part of the Mjuegos y muñecas en otra parte de la casa, house, Amadito helped his mother prepare for la Amadito ayudó a su madre con las preparaciones vacuna. One by one, he brought Enrique, Isaac, para la vacuna. Uno por uno, trajo a Enrique, a Pablita, and little Fermilia into the kitchen and Isaac, a Pablita y a la pequeña Fermilia a la cocina calmed them down. para calmarlos. “You must be brave like soldiers, como niños “Tienen que ser valientes como soldados, héroes,” he told them, as his mother had. como niños héroes,” les dijo, como su mamá les Amadito’s brothers sat still while Mamá Virginia había dicho. made the cross, and she let Amadito rub in the Los hermanos de Amadito se sentaron quietos scab. A piece of ribbon candy was the reward for mientras Mamá Virginia les hacía la crucita, bravery. While Mamá Virginia held her little girls y dejaba que Amadito les frotara la costra. tight to her breast, Amadito made the little crosses Un pedazo de dulce de cinta fue el premio and fi nished the vaccinations. Only Fermilia cried. por la valentía. Mientras Mamá Virginia apretaba a sus hijitas contra su pecho, Amadito les hizo las crucitas y terminó las vacunas. Solamente Fermilia lloró.

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hat night when the younger kids were in bed, sa noche cuando los pequeños estaban en la T Mamá Virginia gathered Anita and Amadito Ecama, Mamá Virginia juntó a Anita y Amadito together for a story. They had many questions para contarles un cuento. Tenían muchas preguntas about what had happened that day. How could sobre lo que había pasado ese día. ¿Cómo podían the vaccination help them? If the mysterious las vacunas ayudarles? Si la misteriosa viruela era viruela was so bad, how come the kids joked and tan malvada, ¿cómo es que los niños cantaban sang about it? What did la vacuna have to do y se burlaban de ella? ¿Qué tenía la vacuna que with vacas, with cows? Mamá Virginia told them ver con las vacas? Mamá Virginia les dijo cómo how cows had saved people from la viruela by las vacas habían salvado a la gente de la viruela sharing their immunity, their protection from compartiendo su inmunidad, su protección de disease. What they shared was cowpox, their own la enfermedad. Lo que compartían era la viruela disease that helped save people from the dreaded de vacas, su propia enfermedad que ayudaba a la smallpox. gente a protegerse de la viruela que mataba a “Cows share their milk, even their meat to feed la gente. us. Diosito has given them this other talent so they “Las vacas comparten su leche, hasta su carne can save our lives, too!” Mamá Virginia said. para alimentarnos. ¡Diosito les ha dado este otro “Mamá, mañana we will give a special treat talento para que puedan salvarnos la vida también!” of some apples to La Pinta.” She was the family les dijo Mamá Virginia. milk cow. “Mamá, mañana daremos un regalito, unas “Mis hijos, you are as kind as you are curious! manzanas a La Pinta.” Ella era la vaca lechera de Now I will tell you about your Nana María la familia. Peregrina, your great-grandmother, the bravest “Mis hijos, ¡son tan buenos como curiosos! girl in Chamisal.” Ahora les voy a contar de su Nana María Peregrina, su tatarabuela, la muchacha más valiente de Chamisal.”

35 he told them stories from the days of the es contó historias de los tiempos de los Santepasados, our ancestors, about the Niños Lantepasados, nuestros antepasados, sobre Héroes, those valiant children who brought the los Niños Héroes, aquellos valientes jóvenes blessings of la vacuna to New Mexico. Mamá que trajeron la bendición de la vacuna a Nuevo Virginia had heard about the Niños growing up México. Mamá Virginia había oído de estos niños and in school had read about Doctor Larrañaga, cuando crecía, y en la escuela leyó sobre el Doctor the army surgeon from Santa Fe. Long, long ago, Larrañaga, el cirujano militar de Santa Fe. Hace in the fall of 1804, he recruited eight boys, sons muchísimo tiempo, en el otoño de 1804, el doctor of the soldiers from the Presidio fort, to travel reclutó a ocho niños, hijos de los soldados del down the Camino Real to Chihuahua to bring Presidio, y viajó con ellos por el Camino Real back la vacuna the following spring of 1805. a Chihuahua para traer la vacuna a Santa Fe la They would get it from La Real Expedición siguiente primavera de 1805. La tomaron de La Filantrópica de la Vacuna, the royal expedition Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna, que that was traveling north by coach with the famous viajaba al norte por coche con el famoso Doctor Doctor Balmis from Spain to vaccinate all the Balmis de España para vacunar a toda la gente people of New Spain. de la Nueva España. In those earliest years of the nineteenth En esos primeros años del siglo diecinueve, century, the surest way to transport the vaccine la manera más segura de transportar la vacuna was in the bodies of healthy, robust children. When era en los cuerpos de niños saludables y robustos. the little cross was scratched on their arms, they Se les rascaban las crucitas en los brazos, y se were vaccinated with fl uid from the blister of the les vacunaba con el suero de la ampolla del niño previous child. Then, ten days later a new blister anterior. Así, de ese modo, diez días después, se would form in the same spot. The serum from les formaba una nueva ampollita en el mismo lugar. one blister could vaccinate dozens and dozens of El suero de una ampolla podía vacunar a docenas y people if the expedition was in a settlement or the docenas de personas, si la expedición se encontraba next child carrier if they were still traveling. The en una población, o al próximo niño, si todavía children were vaccinated in pairs to ensure that andaban viajando. Los niños fueron vacunados en the vaccine would not be lost. parejas para asegurar que no se perdiera la vacuna.

36 hen the Niños Héroes arrived in each uando los Niños Héroes llegaban a cada “W town, they put on their tricornios, their “Cplacita se ponían sus tricornios. Cada uno three cornered hats. They each dressed up in a se vestía con un traje amarillo con una banda yellow suit with a red sash,” said Mamá Virginia. colorada,” contaba Mamá Virginia. “Les ofrecían “They were treated to banquets, the best food and un banquete, con la mejor comida y dulces que sweets that each town had. The people knew that cada pueblo tenía. La gente entendía que su their health depended on them.” salud dependía de ellos.” The story continued well past bedtime. But La madre siguió con la historia más allá Anita and Amadito listened in amazement. They de la hora de acostarse. Pero Anita y Amadito learned how la vacuna could be lost, how the escuchaban absortos. Aprendieron cómo la vacuna chain of transmission from child to child could se podía perder, como la cadena de transmisión be broken. The fi rst time this happened, Doctor de niño en niño podría ser quebrada. La primera Larrañaga’s helpers visited all the ranches they vez que pasó, los ayudantes del Doctor Larrañaga could until they found a milk cow sick with cowpox visitaron todos los ranchos que podían hasta que blisters. The next time it was lost a couple of years encontraron una vaca de leche enferma con later, another epidemic was on the way and la viruela de vacas. La próxima vez an emergency package was rushed from que se perdió fue algunos años más Chihuahua with special instructions tarde. Se acercaba una epidemia y for a new technique. Inside was an mandaron un paquete de emergencia envelope with dried scabs from desde Chihuahua con instrucciones vaccinations. They were to be especiales para una nueva técnica. ground and mixed into a paste Adentro había un sobre con costras secas with drops of clean water, then de otras vacunas. Tenían que molerlas y rubbed onto the broken skin of mezclarlas con gotas de agua pura para hacer the little cross. In that way the una pasta. Después frotaban la pasta en la cruz vaccine was revived and the campaign que picaban en la piel. Así revivieron la vacuna y renewed. la campaña se renovó.

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he same way we did our vaccinations!” sí hicimos nuestras vacunas” gritó “T Amadito shouted. “¡A Amadito! “This is when our María Peregrina became “Fue en aquella campaña cuando nuestra one of the Niños Héroes,” Mamá Virginia María Peregrina se hizo uno de los Niños added. “She was a little girl from Socorro whose Héroes,” añadió Mamá Virginia. “Ella era una parents had died in a fl ood. Like other orphans, muchita de Socorro y sus padres habían muerto she was recruited to help with la vacuna.” en un diluvio. Como otros huérfanos, ella fue Amadito and Anita knew that their great- reclutada para ayudar con la vacuna.” grandmother had been adopted, but this was Amadito y Anita sabía que su tatarabuela the fi rst they had heard of the rest of her había sido adoptada, pero esta fue la primera story. In 1810, when she was nine years old, vez que oyeron el resto de su historia. En 1810, Doctor Larrañaga took Nana Peregrina to cuando tenía nueve años, Nana Peregrina Santa Cruz de la Cañada. On a bright October fue llevada a Santa Cruz de la Cañada por day, the people had been called to the yard el Doctor Larrañaga. En un brillante día de of the convento where the vaccinations were octubre, la gente fue llamada al patio del being drawn from her own blister. Two persons convento donde estaban haciendo las vacunas vaccinated that day were a young man and his de su propia ampollita. Dos personas vacunadas sister from Chamisal. Their wagon was loaded ese día fueron un joven y su hermana de with oats and beans that they brought to trade Chamisal. Su carro estaba lleno de avena y for corn, melons, and chile, which grow better frijoles que ellos habían llevado para cambiar down in the valley. para maíz, melones y chile, que crecen mejor “That’s right,” said Amadito. “It’s warmer! en el valle. That’s the same reason we trade down in “Es verdad,” dijo Amadito. “¡Es más Embudo. Pero ¿qué pasó? What happened caliente! Por la misma razón vamos a to Nana Peregrina then?” cambalachear en Embudo. Pero, ¿qué pasó? ¿Qué le pasó a Nana Peregrina después?”

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er duty was done as soon as her arm na vez que su brazo se sanó, su misión “Hhealed. She played her part to distribute “Uquedó cumplida. Hizo su contribución en la vacuna. Since she was an orphan, she was invited la distribución de la vacuna. Como era huérfana, to Chamisal, where she gave the vaccination to le invitaron a Chamisal, donde vacunó a toda la everyone who needed it. The viruela swept through gente que la necesitaba. La viruela vino una vez again, but nobody died. She was adopted and más, pero nadie murió. Ella fue adoptada y se casó married into our family when she was a young con uno de nuestra familia cuando era joven. ¡Su woman. Her blood is in your veins, and her spirit sangre está en las venas de ustedes, y su espíritu is with you!” los acompaña!” The next day Papá José Inés returned with El próximo día Papá José Inés regresó con good news. Their primos in Taos were in good buenas nuevas. Los primos de Taos estaban en health. People were getting better. Mamá Virginia buena salud. La gente se mejoraba. Mamá Virginia explained how she decided to vaccinate the le explicó como decidió vacunar a los muchitos, children, just in case, and how helpful the oldest por si acaso, y lo mucho que le había ayudados los children had been, especially Amadito. mayorcitos, especialmente Amadito. “Ese muchito nació para curar . . . that kid “Ese muchito nació para curar,” Papá Inés dijo was born to help cure people,” Papá Inés said con mucho orgullo. “Tiene buen corazón. Algún proudly. “Tiene buen corazón . . . he has a good día será médico.” Sabía que iba a pasar. heart. Someday he will become a médico.” He knew it would come to pass.

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he story of Nana María Peregrina was an a historia de Nana María Peregrina fue una Tinspiration to all, especially in a time of Linspiración para todos, especialmente en los epidemic and death. Children play such a special tiempos de epidemias y muerte. ¡Los niños jugaron part in the health of their families! un papel muy especial en la salud de sus familias! In the next weeks, the infl uenza subsided in En las próximas semanas, la infl uenza estaba Chamisal. By Christmas 1918, Taos County was menguando en Chamisal. Para la Navidad de 1918, in recovery. The black hand of Death was loosening el condado de Taos estaba recuperándose. La mano its grip, but the death toll was high. Gracias a Dios, negra de la Muerte afl ojó, pero se había llevado nobody in the Domínguez family got sick or died, a muchos. Gracias a Dios, nadie en la familia but they did lose four primos and many friends. Domínguez se enfermó ni murió, pero perdieron Chamisal, a village of several hundred, lost over a cuatro primos y a muchos amigos. Chamisal, forty people. A thousand died throughout all una placita de varios cientos de habitantes, perdió New Mexico. a más de cuarenta. Mil personas murieron en todo “Sólo Diosito sabe cuántos . . . only the Good Nuevo México. Lord knows how many,” all the people would say. “Sólo Diosito sabe cuántos,” todo el mundo It would take a generation for the people of decía. New Mexico, the nation, and the world to recover Tomaría una generación para que la gente from the tragic pandemic of the infl uenza. But de Nuevo México, la nación y el mundo se Nuevo Mexicanos had survived many hardships recuperara de la trágica pandemia de la infl uenza. and perils in their four-hundred-year history Pero los nuevomexicanos ya habían sobrevivido in this land. We remember the strength of our tiempos difíciles y los peligros de una historia de antepasados and all those that came before— cuatro cientos años en esta tierra. Recordamos their ingenuity and their sacrifi ce. They claimed la fortaleza de nuestros antepasados y toda la the future as their own. We are all the children gente de antes—su resolución y su sacrifi cio. of the Niños Héroes. Ellos hicieron suyo el futuro. Todos somos los hijos de los Niños Héroes.

44

EPILOGUE AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

efore the ordeal of the 1918 infl uenza epidemic, the family Bof José Inés Domínguez and Virginia Rodríguez of Chamisal and Guadalupita, New Mexico, had already lost two babies to diphtheria, which hit rural communities hard almost every winter. Two new children were born and named with their names. After 1918, Carmen and Jorge were born. The youngest child, Jorge, was stricken with meningitis but happily survived. All his seven brothers and sisters—Anita, José Amado, Enrique, Isaac, Pablita, Fermilia, and Carmen—got their educations and enjoyed professional careers. Papá José Inés dry-farmed pinto beans and worked in the mines of Colorado to get them through school. Three of the Domínguez children became teachers like their mother. Born in 1909, José Amado Domínguez became the fi rst Nuevo Mexicano physician in Taos County. He graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri and served his innumerable patients for fi fty years until his own death in 1999. He was the last doctor to make house calls to the villages of northern New Mexico where he grew up. The twentieth-century part of this story is true. The nineteenth- century adventures of Nana María Peregrina are historical fi ction, although her name is in the family, and she is an ancestor.

Peace and good health!

46 EPÍLOGO Y NOTA BIOGRÁFICA

ntes del desafío de la epidemia de la infl uenza de 1918, A la familia de José Inés Domínguez y Virginia Rodríguez de Chamisal y Guadalupita, Nuevo México, ya había perdido dos bebés a causa de la difteria, que pegaba en las comunidades rurales casi todos los inviernos. Luego tuvieron dos nuevos hijos que fueron bautizados con los mismos nombres de los fallecidos. Después de 1918 nacieron Carmen y Jorge. El hijo menor, Jorge, sufrió la meningitis pero felizmente recuperó. Todos sus siete hermanos—Anita, José Amado, Enrique, Isaac, Pablita, Fermilia y Carmen—se educaron y tuvieron carreras profesionales. Papá José Inés cultivó frijoles pintos al temporal y trabajó en las minas de Colorado para educarlos. Tres de los niños se hicieron maestros como su madre. Nacido en 1909, José Amado Domínguez fue el primer médico nuevomexicano en el condado de Taos. Se graduó de Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine en Missouri y sirvió a sus innumerables pacientes por cincuenta años hasta su propia muerte en 1999. Fue el último doctor que hacía visitas de casa en las placitas del norte de Nuevo México donde creció. La parte de esta historia del siglo veinte es verídica. Las aventuras de Nana María Peregrina son fi cción histórica, aunque su nombre perteneció a una antepasada de la misma familia.

¡Paz y salud!

47 AFTERWORD

Global Pandemics and Remedios Nuevomexicanos

Michael León Trujillo

t fi rst glance, global epidemics of infl uenza and smallpox may A seem diffi cult or even callous subjects for a children’s book. But in Amadito and the Hero Children, they fuel an amazing story appropriate and inspiring for children and adults alike. It should not be a surprise that a professor of New Mexico folklore would pick such subject matter. As the collective wisdom and practice of the people, folklore often confronts real world struggles and imbues them with meaning. Children have long told and retold stories of hope and pain. Through their eyes complex concepts become accessible. In this tale, and like the folklore that Enrique Lamadrid has long written about and taught, culture, history, mortality, and hope are woven together into a life-affi rming tale. Amadito is the story of how a boy and his family in a seemingly isolated mountain valley of New Mexico confronted global smallpox and infl uenza epidemics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, utilized techniques brought from distant lands and passed down by their ancestors, and changed the world for the better. Disease and epidemics, the pain and struggle they bring, as well as the meaning and hope fostered in such struggles have long been part of the human experience. In the aftermath of the 1492 Columbian Encounter, agricultural, technological, and cultural exchanges changed the world. But the transfer of disease had immediate and catastrophic consequences. Millions of Native Americans died of diseases for

48 which they had no immunity. As resistance developed in the natives and mestizos, epidemics continued to ravage the Americas. Lamadrid reveals in this book’s fi nal sentences that the twentieth century events represented in the text really happened and the nineteenth century events are historical fi ction. For young readers, the story renders events, news stories, family history, and their own challenges understandable. For teachers and parents, Amadito speaks to abstract but urgent matters such as globalization, while a family story illustrates the importance of local history and struggle.

Local History / Local Knowledge Amadito and the Hero Children expresses the rich layers of local New Mexico history and culture. It depicts real events in the Taos County village of Chamisal, for the book’s main protagonist, Amadito, was a real child. Details in the story, such as the pinto bean harvest and Amadito’s trip with his father from Chamisal to Dixon and the Embudo station are true, but the story lines recount both history and fi ction. Lamadrid describes events that span nearly two hundred years and New Mexico’s transition from Spanish to Mexican to American government. In the fall Amadito at age of 1918 during the U.S. period, the child Amadito and his community sixteen. Menaul endure the global fl u epidemic that killed millions of people School football worldwide. In the fall of 1810 during the fi nal years of team, Albuquerque. Spanish colonial rule, a fi ctional nine-year-old orphan from central New Mexico, María Peregrina, carries the smallpox vaccine from the town of Santa Cruz de la Cañada to the village of Chamisal. She accompanies the real Santa Fe physician, Dr. Cristóval Larrañaga, who in 1805 brought the real children who transported the vaccine from Mexico’s interior

49 to the ranches and towns of New Mexico, the far northern frontier of New Spain. The scientifi c techniques he taught the people of New Mexico became home remedies. In this book’s fi nal pages we learn that the María Peregrina is an ancestor of Amadito, who grows up to be the real Dr. José Amado Domínguez, Taos County’s fi rst Nuevo Mexicano physician. Lamadrid imbues this story with the richness of New Mexico’s oral histories and knowledge often passed Mamá Virginia down through word of mouth rather than by historians. Nuevo and Papá José Inés Mexicano Spanish fi gures large in the book, with its mix of both on their wedding day, 1908. standard and local terms for illnesses like viruela (smallpox), sarampión (measles), and resfrío (cold). The local term for the infl uenza epidemic of 1918 is la infl uencia, which sounds like “the infl uence,” but is actually a phonological adaptation of the Italian loan word infl uenza. Interestingly, infl uenza also means “infl uence” in Italian, in reference to the ancient belief that catastrophic outbreaks of disease were caused by the infl uence, literally the “in-fl ow” or emanations, of certain bad stars. At the center of the story is a rhyme, “Frijolitos pintos,” one of the most popular and recognizable Nuevo Mexicano children’s songs. On the surface it seems to be nonsensical, but in the opening scene of the story, Amadito begins to suspect its deeper meaning. The song mitigates and even pokes fun at the diseases that swept New Mexico and the terrible scars they left on survivors:

Primero da viruela, First smallpox strikes, luego sarampión, then the measles, le quedó la cara his/her face was left como un chicarrón. like a pork crackling.

50 As they acquired the English language, Nuevo Mexicano children would soon learn another nonsense song and game that recalls another pandemic that decimated the population of Europe in the Middle Ages, the Black Plague:

Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down. . . .

The fi rst symptoms were swelling of lymph nodes and spot rashes or “rosies” that swelled into “buboes” and erupted. The only remedies were the “posies” or herbs, since it took centuries to discover the real causes and carriers of the plague—infected fl eas. Death came within days. Ashes to ashes. Although the pharmacopeia of herbal remedies in New Mexico is rich and powerful, there was little protection against smallpox before the vaccine. The only potential remedios or remedies against the fl u were oshá (wild celery root), the tea and the incense blessings from chamizo pardo (gray sage), and the syrupy mixture of cebolla morada (purple onion) and piloncillo (raw sugar cones). Prayers and blessings were a reassuring spiritual recourse. In the story, Amadito’s father is desperate to protect his young son from the fl u and gives him a culturally hybrid blessing: the traditional Catholic invocation of God’s power plus a Native American smoke purifi cation. He asks the boy to walk through puffs of cedar smoke three times as he says, “En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo, del Espíritu Santo . . . In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.”

Global Circulations: Infl uenza and Variola Amadito is rich with local history and culture, but it also connects to regional, national, and transnational circulations. Distant events and

51 their repercussions in distant locations may be mapped through the transmission of contagions across the globe. The deadliest of all were infl uenza and smallpox. From the remote village of Chamisal, the “globalization” of disease is specifi cally addressed in our story. Epidemics with global reach are termed pandemics and are linked to regional, national, and global networks or systems of trade and colonization. The enormous expansion of Spanish and Portuguese colonization in the sixteenth century and British, French, and Dutch colonization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries transmitted diseases from the so-called Old World to the New World and between colonial centers and remote frontiers. Diseases often arrived before the fi rst face-to- face contacts between natives and explorers. In at least one case in North America, smallpox was used as a biological weapon: in the 1763 siege of Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) when offi cers of the English Army gave infected blankets to their Indian enemies. In the Spanish colonies, the smallpox epidemics that regularly devastated the population were of great concern to civil and religious authorities. Even the story of the American colonists’ revolt against England may be persuasively told against the backdrop of the spread and toll of disease. In the twentieth century, the 1918 infl uenza pandemic that raged around the globe and took the lives of millions of people can only be understood in the context of World War I. In Chamisal, Amadito’s mother, Virginia Domínguez, reads real news from La Revista de Taos, the real newspaper that reports the deaths in France of four soldiers from Taos and Río Arriba counties from the fl u rather than from German shells. Within days, the epidemic penetrated the valleys of northern New Mexico. The only effective defense to ward off the fl u was the cuarentena, or quarantine, learned during Spanish colonial era epidemics. As the claustrophobia set in, Mamá Virginia became more desperate to protect her children. Since she was powerless against the fl u, she decided to do something within her power, to vaccinate her

52 children against la viruela, with the help of her son. After all, the last Domínguez family outbreak of smallpox had been in one of the Indian Pueblos in 1899, home and store. well within living memory. Her home remedy was also the pride of Chamisal, NM, ca. 1918. nineteenth-century science. Smallpox was not eliminated in the United States until the late 1940s or in Mexico until the early 1950s. These resolute efforts by Amadito’s family and neighbors provide the hope in the story. They are also the place where the specifi city of local history and global circulations meet.

Deadly and Benign Inoculations: Variolation and Vaccine In northern New Mexico, children and parents confronted illness and found healing in vaccines originally brought in the bodies of children. Formal medical knowledge from faraway places became the local knowledge of Nuevo Mexicano ancestors. Here we recall the real story of the hero children from Santa Fe, the Niños Héroes as they were

53 called in their own time, who carried the smallpox vaccine north from Chihuahua to New Mexico. Their story demonstrates that it is not only death that travels across oceans and along the old Camino Real, but deliverance. Medical knowledge and technology sanctioned by the centers of power followed the same paths as colonization and disease. With historical fi ction Lamadrid links the Hero Children to Amadito through María Peregrina. In colonial Mexico, public authorities used the risky techniques of variolation as a defense against the imminent threat of smallpox (variola in Latin). Variolation was the inoculation or introduction into the body of scrapings from the blisters of smallpox victims through a scratch on the skin or sniffi ng the dried powder. A healthy person would then contract a less virulent smallpox infection. Cristóval María Vaccination is an inoculation from the sores of Larrañaga, report of the cowpox (vaccinia in Latin), a related but nonfatal disease. Vaca is, children vaccinated, May 24, 1805. Spanish of course, cow in Spanish. The technique of vaccination was pioneered Archives of New by English physician Edward Jenner, who almost died from being Mexico, Series II, variolated as a child. 1621–1821, Roll 15, Because of the terrible smallpox epidemics in Spain’s colonial Frame 639, Twitchell possessions, an expedition was sent by Spain’s King Charles IV under #1833. Courtesy New the leadership of Dr. Francisco Xavier de Balmis to distribute the benign Mexico State Records and effective smallpox vaccine throughout its colonial possessions. The Center and Archives. Expedición Real Filantrópica de la Vacuna, or Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine, set sail on November 30, 1803, from La Coruña, Spain, in the twilight years of the vast Spanish empire. It was

54 the earliest and most ambitious public health project in modern times. In addition to the live vaccine, the expedition brought Balmis’s own Spanish translation of the French physician Jacques-Louis Moreau de la Sarthe’s treatise on vaccination, Tratado histórico y práctio de la vacuna (Moreau de la Sarthe 1803). Balmis and his collaborators visited the Canary Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, the Philippines, and China, vaccinating more than 100,000 people in Spanish colonies, including 45,000 people in Mexico alone. The Balmis expedition began with twenty children from La Coruña’s orphanage, who would be the most secure carriers of the vaccine. The king himself adopted them to make sure they would fi nd proper homes after their work was done. The Niños Héroes from Santa Fe, who would carry the vaccine from Chihuahua, were recruited from the families of soldiers of the Presidio de Santa Fe by Dr. Cristóval Larrañaga, the Basque physician also stationed there. Lamadrid describes the process of vaccination in the story:

In those earliest years of the nineteenth century, the surest way to transport the vaccine was in the bodies of healthy, robust children. When the little cross was scratched on their arms, they were vaccinated with fl uid from the blister of the previous child. Then, ten days later a new blister would form in the same spot. The serum from one blister could vaccinate dozens and dozens of people if the expedition was in a settlement or the next child carrier if they were still traveling.

Not revealed in Lamadrid’s text is the fact that inoculation by variolation and vaccination were controversial topics in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century medicine. Many people became sick and died from variolations, although a much smaller percentage than those that contracted the disease through “natural” means. People naturally mistrusted the

55 vaccine as well. The children who brought protection to the peoples of the Spanish empire did so at great personal risk and were real heroes in every sense of the word. After his arrival in Santa Fe on May 24, 1805, Dr. Larrañaga worked selfl essly and tirelessly for years to spread the vaccine across New Mexico and teach the people how to use it. The Dr. Larrañaga’s fi ctional María Peregrina joins him on one of his trips to Santa Cruz signature and rubric. de la Cañada and continues north to Chamisal. These heroic children Detail from letter on page 54. of the twilight era of Spanish colonial rule are, in Lamadrid’s story, the inspiration for American-era Amadito to travel east to Missouri to earn his degree at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. We are not told that Amadito will also become Lamadrid’s father-in-law, but that is also a key part of the story. In this way, Lamadrid draws a line of continuity from the children who migrated to and from Mexico’s interior, to María Peregrina’s pilgrimage to what would become Taos County, to Amadito, and to Dr. José Amado Domínguez and his own children and grandchildren. All are participants in global circulations fraught with both danger and healing. As the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 shows, global circulations continue to manifest themselves in the form of contagions. This book actually began as the “2009 Flu Plan” that Lamadrid was asked to write in his professional role as chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico. There is much work yet to be done, and we hope that the generation of Amadito’s great-grandchildren will fi nd similar inspiration.

56 FURTHER READINGS

Aldrete, J. Antonio McCaa, Robert 2004 “Smallpox Vaccination in the Early 19th Century Using 1998 “Inoculation: An Easy Means of Protecting People or Live Carriers: The Travels of Francisco Xavier de Balmis.” Propagating Smallpox? Spain, New Spain, and Chiapas, Southern Medical Journal 97 (4): 375–78. 1779–1800.” Boletín Mexicana de Historia y Filosofía de Austin Alchón, Suzanne la Medicina 2, nueva época (septiembre 1998): 4–11. 2003 A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Melzer, Richard Perspective. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1982 “A Dark and Terrible Moment: The Spanish Flu Epidemic Baca, Oswald G. of 1918 in New Mexico.” New Mexico Historical Review 57 (3): 216. 2000 “Infectious Diseases and Smallpox Politics in New Mexico’s Río Abajo, 1847–1920.” New Mexico Historical Mignolo, Walter D. Review 75: 107–27. 2000 Local Histories / Global Designs. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. University Press. 2003 America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Infl uenza of 1918, Moreau de la Sarthe, Jacques-Louis 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1803 Tratado histórico y práctico de la vacuna. Trans. Francisco 1972 The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Xavier de Balmis. Madrid: Imprenta Real. Consequences of 1492. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Pearcy, Thomas L. Díaz de Yraola, Gonzalo 1990 “The Control of Smallpox in New Spain’s Northern 2003 The Spanish Royal Philanthropic Expedition: The Round-the- Borderlands.” Journal of the West 29 (3): 90–98. World Voyage of the Smallpox Vaccine, 1803–1810. Trans. Pettit, Dorothy A. Catherine Mark. Madrid: Instituto de Historia, Consejo 2008 A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918–1920. Superior de Investigaciones Científi cas. Murf, Tenn.: Timberlane Books. Fenn, Elizabeth A. Rees, Clifford M. 2002 Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82. 2005 “Spanish Infl uenza in New Mexico, 1918–1919: The New York: Hill and Wang. Role of the State and Local Public Health Measures.” Frost, Richard H. ABA Health eSource 2, 4 (December). 1990 “The Pueblo Indian Smallpox Epidemic in New Mexico, Simmons, Marc 1898–1899.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 64 (3): 1966 “New Mexico’s Smallpox Epidemics of 1780–1781.” 417–45. New Mexico Historical Review 41 (4): 319–26.

57 GLOSSARY

Amado [Amadito]: beloved [name] “En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo, antepasados: ancestors del Espíritu Santo”: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy buena/o: good Spirit” [blessing] cacariza/o: scarface Embudo: funnel [place name] Camino Real: Royal Road en: in camposanto: holy ground, graveyard enamorados: sweethearts cara: face enterrar [enterrando]: to bury cebolla: onion entrar [entra]: enter chamisa: sage brush española: Spanish Chamisal: fi eld of sage brush [place name] Española: Spanish woman [place chamizo pardo: gray sage brush name] chicharrón: pork crackling estar [está]: to be claveles: carnations frijolitos pintos: little pinto beans convento: convent “Gracias a Dios”: “Thanks be to God” cotencio: tarp [saying] cuántos: how many gratis: free cuarantena: quarantine guangoche: gunny sack cuestecita: little summit or hill guardar [guarde]: to keep or guard curandero: curer haber [hubiera]: to be dar [da]: to give héroes: heroes Dios, Diosito: God, little/dear God hija/o: daughter, son “Dios da y Dios quita”: “God giveth and God infl uenza, “infl uencia”: fl u taketh away” [saying] jabón de lejía: lye soap Jicarita: little gourd [place name]

58 mañana: tomorrow pulmonía: pneumonia María Peregrina: Mary the pilgrim quedar [quedó]: to remain [name] ¿qué pasó?: what happened? mi’jito: my little son [contraction] La Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna: morado: purple Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine morir: to die resfriado: cold muchacha/o: girl, boy revista: review or magazine muchita/o: little girl, little boy rosario: the rosary nacer [nació]: to be born saber [sabe, sé]: to know nana: grandmother salarata: baking soda niño/a: child sarampión: measles nuevomexicanos: New Mexicans seguir [sigan]: continue ojalá: may god grant Sierra de la Sangre de Cristo: Mountains of the oshá: porters lovage [medicinal root] Blood of Christ [place name] para: for sólo: only Peñasco: boulder [place name] sufrir [sufren]: to suffer pepenar: to pick tiempo: time pero: but trilla: threshing piloncillo: raw sugar cones vaca: cow pinta/o: painted vacuna: vaccine ¿por qué?: why? varicela: chicken pox portal: porch velorio: wake primero: fi rst vida: life primo: cousin viga: roof beam puela: frying pan viruela: smallpox

59