If the
crops are bad, what do they say? 'It is the good God'--that is what they
say. It is the good God that makes crops good or bad, and it is the good
God that makes men say, 'C'est le bon Dieu.' The good God makes the
philosophy. It is all one."
She appeared to grow agitated, and her voice shook as she spoke. "Tsh, it
is only a fool that says the good God does it, when the thing that is
done breaks you or that which you love all to pieces. No, no, no, it is
not religion, it is not philosophy that makes one raise the head when the
heart is bowed down, when everything is snatched away that was all in
all. That the good God does it is a lie. Santa Maria, what a lie!"
"Why 'Santa Maria,' then, if it is a lie?" he asked triumphantly. He did
not observe how her breast was heaving, how her hands were clenched; for
she was really busy with thoughts of her dead Carvillho Gonzales; but for
the moment he could only see the point of an argument.
She made a gesture of despair. "So--that's it. Habit in us is so strong.
It comes through the veins of our mothers to us. We say that God is a lie
one minute, and then the next minute we say, 'God guard you!'
Always--always calling to something, for something outside ourselves.
That is why I said Santa Maria, why I ask her to pray for the soul of my
friend, to pray to the God that breaks me and mine, and sends us over the
seas, beggars without a home.
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