Respect & Manners

Everyone in our neighborhood called my grandfather Don Julian. As I got older I realized that almost all the patriarchs were called Don_____ as a sign of respect. This was during a time when we were taught respect for our elders, and, manners. We had to greet anyone that came into our house by name. Needless to say, bad manners were not tolerated. Just a look of disappointment from him was enough to keep me in line. Did I mention that he was my hero? My greatest sadness was when I knew I had let him down by my behavior. He gave me one swat on my behind for lying to him & I cried for hours. My aunt had an egg stealing dog. My cousins & I went to the neighbors house, stole some eggs, lined them up at the kitchen door & told him the the dog had done it. I was about 5 yrs old. Can you see what we did wrong? Everything!   Anyway, back to his story. One time I asked him why he didn't have any sisters. He became sad & told me he did have a sister who died very young. Not knowing what to say I held my breath. He proceeded to tell me that her name was Maria & that she died a few days after completing her 1st communion. They had got back from church. She stood with her back to the fireplace & her veil caught fire. She died of burn complications. My grandpa was later to be deeply saddened by fire claiming 4 of his children's lives.  I should mention here that he was the oldest. So there was Julian, Tomas, Luis, twins Alfredo & Alfonso & Fermin. I think Maria was born between Tomas & Luis. Luis died of pnuemonia when he went to serve during WW1.                                                                                                                                                                                             When Elesta 'contracted him & Tio Tomas out they went to separate ranches. Grandpa was sent to sheep ranch owned by a Mormon who treated him very well. He quickly became an asset because he was a hard worker. I have a picture of Julian at age about 82, plastering the church in Los Griegos in north Albuquerque. He had left the catholic religion shortly after being sold. But, he read his bible every night, & many evenings I sat in his lap to listen to God's word. Tomas was contracted to a cow ranch where he was treated very badly. Often horse whipped for no reason. Word reached my grandpa & his boss gave him permission to go & get Tomas. Grandpa said he approached a camp at night & saw that Tomas was being whipped & tossed around by the other ranch hands. He shot one of them in the hand & took Tomas away from them. All this under the threat of death...to the ranch hands. This explains the strong bond between grandpa & Tio Tomas. Nothing ever came between them.