ＷＥＢ絵本「電報（黒島伝治）」

第１回配信

"Gensaku's son has gone to a city."
"His son will take an entrance examination for a public junior high school."
Such a rumor was spreading all over his village.
源作の息子が市の中学校の入学試験を受けに行っているという噂が、村中にひろまった．

Gensaku was a poor independent farmer in the village. And he had only paid the tax less than the standard level.
It was natual and normal that sons of the landowners or the soy sauce factory owners would go to universities in Tokyo.
Nobody would gossip about such sons.
But, Gensaku was a small poor farmer. And he was going to send his son to school of a city.
This aroused curiosity for the village people.

源作は、村の貧しい、等級割一戸前も持っていない自作農だった．

地主や、醤油屋の坊っちゃん達なら、東京の大学へ入っても、当然で、何も珍しいことはない．

噂の種にもならないのだが、ドン百姓の源作が、息子を、市の学校へやると云うことが、村の人々の好奇心をそそった．

Okino was Gensaku's wife.
When she asked the neighbors to let her use their bathroom or when she went to a temple for a prayer, other wives made sarcrastic remarks.
"Your son will go to junior high school, won't he? You have much money! You can send him to school. Tee-hee, tee-hee."
Okino hadn't said anything about the entrance examination for her son.
On the day after her son left, she met some village people on the street.
Everyone already knew that matter.
They said "Oh! You are going to make your son a somebody. So, you are going to send him to school."
At first, she felt proud of her son. Also, she was happy.

源作の嬶の、おきのは、隣家へ風呂を貰いに行ったり、念仏に参ったりすると、「お前とこの、子供は、まあ、中学校へやるんじゃないかいな．銭が仰山あるせになんぼでも入れたらえいわいな．ひひひひ．」と、他の内儀達に皮肉られた．

おきのは、自分から、子供を受験にやったとは、ひと言も喋らなかった．しかし、息子の出発した翌日、既に、道辻で出会った村の人々はみなそれを知っていた．

最初、「まあ、えら者にしようと思うて学校へやるんじゃぁろう．」と、他人から云われると、おきのは、肩身が広いような気がした．嬉しくもあった．

"Did you say to others that he had left?" She asked Gensaku at a lunch time.
"No. I have said nothing." He answered unpleasantly.
"So, ... but, everybody already knew."
"Well." He was deep in thought.

「あんた、あれが行たんを他人に云うたん？」と、彼女は、昼飯の時に、源作に訊ねた．

「いいや．俺は何も云いやせんぜ．」と源作はムシムシした調子で答えた．

「そう．・・・けど、早や皆な知ってしもうとら．」

「ふむ．」と、源作は考えこんだ．

When Gensaku was 16 years old, his father died. After that, he stood on his own feet.
He obtained 1 acre of farmland and saved about 20 dollars. Now, he became 50 years old.
When he was young, he intended to save 200 or 300 dollars and he continued working hard with poor meals.

源作は、十六歳で父親に死なれ、それ以後一本立ちで働きこみ、四段歩ばかりの畠と、二千円ほどの金とを作り出していた．彼は、五十歳になっていた．

若い時分には、二三万円の金をためる意気込みで、喰い物も、ろくに食わずに働き通した．

He was able to save 20 dollars with his best effort, but he could not save money anymore.
He went down the slope of his life far away. He felt that he used up his energy and that he could not work hard.
According to his experience from 16 years old, the soy-sauce factory owner and the landowner got much money without hard labor and they led luxurious lives. He was only able to save money for hard labor little by little, though.

しかし、彼は最善を尽くして、ようよう二千円たまったが、それ以上はどうしても積りそうになかった．

そしてもう彼は人生の下り坂をよほどすぎて、精力も衰え働けなくなって来たのを自ら感じていた．

十六からこちらへの経験によると、彼が困難な労働をして僅かずつ金を積んで来ているのに、醤油屋や地主は、別に骨の折れる仕事もせず、沢山の金を儲けて立派な暮らしを立てていた．

The third son of the landowner was as old as he.
The son was a mediocre student. But the son went to advanced school using the power of money.
Now, the son became a priest of Konpira Shrine and he easily cheated people out of their money.
また彼と同年だった、地主の三男は、別に学問の出来る男ではなかったが、金のお蔭で学校へ行って今では、金毘羅さんの神主になり、うまうまと他人から金をまき上げている．

Also, there were some people who were as old as he or who were younger than he.
At school, their grades were pretty worce than his. But they were able to go to advanced school and learned reading and writing.
Now, one became a manager of a soy-sauce factory, another became a chief clerk of a soy-sauce dealer, another became the head of an elementary school.
And they took power in the village. So, he had to bow his head to such persons.
They became members of the village council and dicided the tax rates for each farm family as they pleased.

彼と同年輩、または、彼より若い年頃の者で、学校へ行っていた時分には、彼よりよほど出来が悪かった者が、少しよけい勉強をして、読み書きが達者になった為に、今では、醤油会社の支配人になり、醤油屋の番頭になり、または小学校の校長になって、村でえらばっている．

そして、彼はそういう人々に対して、頭を下げねばならなかった．彼はそういう人々の支配を受けねばならなかった．

そういう人々が村会議員になり勝手に戸数割をきめているのだ．

Now, the peasant farmers were working all year round, but they were nevertheless on very hungry.
The proceeds of their crops were low. But their taxes and their living costs were high. The balances were always in the red.
But, even if such peasant farmers had been employed as laborers of a soy-sauce factory, the labors would have been hard and the wages would have been low.
Anyway, they could not change from peasant farmers to dealers or managers of soy-sauce factories.

百姓たちは、今では、一年中働きながら、うえなければならないようになった．畠の収穫物の売上げは安く、税金や、生活費はかさばって、差引き、切れこむばかりだった．

そうかといって、醤油屋の労働者になっても、仕事がえらくて、賃ぎんは少なかった．

が今更、百姓をやめて商売人に早変わりすることも出来なければ、醤油屋の番頭になる訳にも行かない．
（つづく）