The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-30
"RIZAI1 DAY, IN PHIL- IPPINES RECALLS SAD
 DIST LOVE STORY

This is RizaI Day in the Philip pines and legal holiday in fthose distant isles where the brown men viii today honor the memory of the great est hero, the W asflington of the PhiHppiness' pr. Jose RizaL A Faga- log by birth Jose Riza1. @as a man of extraordinary ability, and, after sever al years in European Medical colleges he attained worldwide fame as surgeon. and as a specialist as in dis eases of the eye. Honored by his pro fessional brethern of Europe and Am erica, with wealth in his grasp, he abandoned every thing to cast his lot with his country men who dreamed Eof freedom from Spanish oppression. He organized the Revolutionary so- ciety which soon became the dominant factor in the Philippines Because Of his activities he was first exiied to a. remote island of Mindanao, and later was accused of sedition and shot to death by a detail Of Spanish soldiers The tragic end of Rizal's career cams on December 30, 1896. and the Fili- pinos have ever since observed the day as a patriotic holiday.
 RizaI was the author Of two novels, l Note me Tangere'' and 'sEI Fflibust- erismo.,, which are the great Filipino i+classics, and which have lately been translated into English under the ti- ties of the Social Cancer and s'The Reign Of Greed.ts The friars as well as the Spanish officials Of the Philip
 pines are bitterly attacked, and the books are Of great historic as g1ving
 pictures Of Philippine society under the Spanish regime, which seems nov I like the record o2 medieval oppression The sonber hue of ';The Social Can cer,, is hghtened by 8 narrative of the adventures of a pair of lovers, who however, are separated by the oppres- sion of church and state. Many years later Rizal himself was to become the tragic hero as to what Philippine writer has described aststhe saddest love story ever told
 If all the world loves a lover, the world will shed tear over the sad fate of RizaI and his bride It was about two years before Rizals death quantanee of Josephine BracHzen, the
 adopted daughter of a wealthy Aneri can named Taufer. The latter a resi- dent of Hongkong. He was advised to go to Manila to see pr. Rizal who was recomne ended as the greatest eye spec list in the east. Arrived at Manila
 where he was accompanied by his daughter, his adopted daughter. ana e
 servant, Mir. Taufer discovered that Rizal had been banished to an island of Minandao- With the permission of the authorities, Taufer chartered a shin
 remained in Manila. but he was ac4 companied by Miss Bracken.
 The meeting between pr. Riza1 and
 Miss Bracken was case Of love at first sight. After an examination Dr, Rdza1 pronoueed Tauferss case hopeless
 and he was ready to return to Manila at once, but his adopted daughter re- fuse to leave the exile with whom she had so suddenly in love. Despite all the
 entreaties, in which Riza1 joined, she remained with her lover, and Taufer fretrned to Manila alone. Although q marriage ceremony was impossible
 she determined to share the hut of the l hero, and there they remained alone i in the Jungle, until pr. Rizal received
 a conditional pardon. His enemies were
 still active, however, and he was soon tried and sentenced to be shot. On tho
 eve of RizaIs execution he made Miss Bracken his wife. After the execution
 of her husband the bride made her
 way to the Rebel lines. where she was
 received and honored as & saint of the cause of Filipino liberty.