Los Baños house where El Filibusterismo was begun, drawn by Rizal 121 Diploma of Merit awarded Rizal for allegory "The Council of the Gods" 123 Silver pen prize won by Rizal for poem "To Philippine Youth" 125 Alcohol lamp in which Rizal hid poem "My Last Thought" 125 CONTENTS Handwritten quote: It is commonly said that the life of a good writer is best read in his works. --Autographic quotation from Rizal. Page Rizal's Song "Hymn to Labor" 2 Rizal's Song "Maria Clara's Lullaby" 3 My Boyhood 13 My First Reading Lesson 49 My Childhood Impressions 59 The Spanish Schools of My Boyhood 61 The Turkey that Caused the Kalamba Land Trouble 65 From Japan to England Across America 69 My Deportation to Dapitan 73 Advice to a Nephew 81 Filipino Proverbs 83 Filipino Puzzles 84 Rizal's "Don'ts" 85 Poem: Hymn to Labor 87 Memory Gems from Rizal's Writings 91 Mariang Makiling 93 NOT BY RIZAL The Memory of Rizal 8 Rizal Chronology 101 A Reading List 119 Philippine National Hymn (by José Palma) 126 Song: Hail, Philippines (by H. C. Theobald) 128 RIZAL'S OWN STORY MY BOYHOOD José Rizal wrote the first three chapters in 1878. He was seventeen years old at that time. CHAPTER I My Birth and Earliest Years in Kalamba I was born on Wednesday, the nineteenth of June, 1861. It was a few days before the full of the moon. I found myself in a village. I had some slight notions of the morning sun and of my parents. That is as much as I can recall of my baby days.