Prince Nekhlyudov was nineteen years old when he
came from the Third Course of the university to pass his
vacation on his estate, and remained there by himself all
summer. In the autumn he wrote in his unformed childish hand to his aunt, Countess Byeloryetski, who, in his
opinion, was his best friend and the most brilliant woman
in the world. The letter was in French, and ran as
follows :
" Dear Auntie : — I have made a resolution on which
the fate of my whole life must depend. I will leave the
university in order to devote myself to country life, because I feel that I was born for it. For God's sake, dear
auntie, do not laugh at me! You will say that I am
young ; and, indeed, I may still be a child, but this doe... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The young proprietor, as he wrote to his aunt, had
formed rules of action for his estate, and all his life and
occupations were scheduled by hours, days, and months.
Sunday was appointed for the reception of petitioners,
domestic and manorial serfs, for the inspection of the
farms of the needy peasants, and for the distribution of
supplies with the consent of the Commune, which met
every Sunday evening, and was to decide what aid each
was to receive. More than a year passed in these occu-
pations, and the young man was not entirely a novice,
either in the practical or in the theoretical knowledge
of farming.
It was a clear June Sunday when Nekhlyudov, after
drinking his coffee, and running through a chapter of
" ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Nekhlyudov walked into the hut. The uneven, grimy
walls were in the kitchen corner covered with all kinds of
rags and clothes, while the corner of honor was literally
red with cockroaches that swarmed about the images and
benches. In the middle of this black, ill-smelling, eighteen-foot hut there was a large crack in the ceiling, and
although supports were put in two places, the ceiling was
so bent that it threatened to fall down any minute.
" Yes, the hut is in a very bad shape," said the master,
gazing at the face of Churis, who, it seemed, did not wish
to begin a conversation about this matter.
" It will kill us, and the children, too," the old woman
kept saying, in a tearful voice, leaning against the oven
under ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The young proprietor evidently wanted to ask the
peasant people something else; he did not rise from
the bench, and with indecision looked now at Churis, and
now into the empty, cold oven.
" Have you had your dinner ? " he finally asked them.
Under Churis's mustache played a sarcastic smile, as
though it amused him to hear the master ask such foolish
questions ; he did not answer.
" What dinner, benefactor ? " said the old woman, with
a deep sigh. " We have eaten some bread. That was
our dinner. There was no time to-day to go for some
sorrel, and so there was nothing to make soup with, and
what kvas there was I gave to the children."
" To-day we have a hunger fast, your Grace," Churis
chimed in, glossing his wife... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" There is something else I wanted to tell you," said
Nekhlyudov. "Why has not your manure been removed ? "
" What manure is there to take away, your Grace ?
How many animals have I ? A little mare and a colt,
and the young heifer I gave last autumn to the porter ;
that is all the animals I have."
"You have so few animals, and yet you gave your
heifer away ? " the master asked, in amazement.
" What was I to feed her on ? "
" Have you not enough straw to feed a cow with ?
Everybody else has."
" Others have manured land, and my land is mere clay
that you can't do anything with."
" But that is what your manure is for, to take away
the clay : and the soil will produce grain, and you will
have something to feed your... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" YuKHVANKA the Shrewd wants to sell a horse,"
Nekhlyiidov read in his note-book, and crossed the street.
Yukhvanka's hut was carefully thatched with straw from
the manorial barn, and was constructed of fresh, light
gray aspen timbers (also from the manorial forest), with
two shutters painted red, and a porch with a roof, and a
quaint shingle balustrade of an artistic design. The vestibule and the " cold " hut were also in proper condition ;
but the general aspect of sufficiency and well-being,
which this collection of buildings had, was somewhat impaired by the outhouse which leaned against the gate,
with its unfinished wicker fence and open thatch which
could be seen from behind it.
At the same time that Nekhlyudov w... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Having almost collided with the master, the young
woman deftly put down the tub, looked abashed, made a
bow, glanced timidly at the master with her sparkling
eyes, and trying with the sleeve of her embroidered shirt
to conceal a light smile, and tripping in her leather shoes,
ran up the steps.
" Mother, take the yoke to Aunt Nastasya," she said,
stopping in the door and turning to the old woman.
The modest young proprietor looked sternly, but attentively, at the ruddy woman, frowned, and turned to the
old woman, who straightened out the yoke with her
crooked fingers, and, slinging it over her shoulder, obediently directed her steps to the neighboring hut.
" Is your son at home ? " asked the master.
The old woman bent... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" Come, show me your horses ! Are they in the
yard ? "
" Yes, 'r Grace. I have done as I have been ordered
to, 'r Grace. Would we dare to disobey 'r Grace ? Yakov
Alpatych commanded me not to let the horses out to
pasture for the next day, as the prince wanted to inspect
them, so we did not let them out. We do not dare disobey 'r Grace."
As Nekhlyudov walked out of the door, Yukhvanka
got the pipe down from the beds, and threw it behind the
oven. His lips quivered just as restlessly, though the
master was not looking at him.
A lean gray mare was rummaging through some musty
hay under the shed ; a two-months-old, long-legged colt of
an indefinable color, with bluish feet and mouth, did not
leave her mother's thin ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" Davydka the White asked for grain and posts," it said
in the note-book after Yukhvanka.
After passing several huts, Nekhlyudov, in turning into
a lane, met his steward, Yakov Alpatych, who, upon
noticing his master at a distance, doffed his oilcloth cap,
and, taking out his fulled handkerchief, began to wipe his
fat, red face.
" Put it on, Yakov ! Yakov, put it on, I tell you — "
" Where have you been, your Grace ? " asked Yakov,
protecting himself with his cap against the sun, but not
donning it.
" I have been at Yukhvanka the Shrewd' s. Tell me, if
you please, what has made him so bad," said the master,
continuing on his way.
" Why so, your Grace ? " replied the manager, following
the master at a resp... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Just then the head of a peasant woman carrying linen
on a yoke flashed by the window, and a minute later
Davydka's mother entered the hut. She was a tall
woman of about fifty years, and was well preserved and
active. Her pockmarked and wrinkled face was not
handsome, but her straight, firm nose, her compressed thin
lips, and her keen gray eyes expressed intelligence and
energy. The angularity of her shoulders, the flatness of
her bosom, the bony state of her hands, and the well-
developed muscles on her black bare feet witnessed to
the fact that she had long ceased to be a woman, and
was only a laborer.
She entered boldly into the room, closed the door,
pulled down her skirt, and angrily looked at her son.
Nekhly... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" What, died ? " Nekhlyudov asked, incredulously.
" She died from exertion, benefactor, as God is holy.
We took her two years ago from Baburin," she continued,
suddenly changing her angry expression to one of tearfulness and sadness. " She was a young, healthy, obedient
woman, father. She had lived, as a maiden, in plenty, at
her father's home, and had experienced no want ; but
when she came to us, and had to do the work, — in the
manor and at home, and everywhere — She and I, that
was all there was. To me it did not matter much. I am
used to it, but she was pregnant, and began to suffer ; and
she worked all the while beyond her strength, until she,
my dear girl, overworked herself. Last year, during St.
... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" о MY orphanhood ! " said Arina, drawing a deep
breath.
She stopped, and angrily looked at her son. Davydka
immediately wheeled around and, with difficulty lifting
his fat leg, in an immense dirty bast shoe, over the
threshold, was lost in the opposite door.
" What am I going to do with him, father ? " continued
Arina, turning to the master. " You see yourself what he
is ! He is not a bad peasant : he does not drink, is peace-
ful, and would not harm a child, — it would be a sin to
say otherwise ; there is nothing bad about him, and God
only knows what it is that has befallen him that he has
become his own enemy. He himself is not satisfied with
it. Really, father, it makes my heart bleed when I see
... (From: Wikisource.org.)
"I WILL do so," Nekhlyiidov said to himself with
cheerful self-satisfaction, and, recalling that he had to
visit yet the rich peasant, Dutlov, he directed his steps to
a tall and spacious building, with two chimneys, which
stood in the middle of the village. As he was getting
near it, he met, near the neighboring hut, a tall, slatternly
woman, of some forty years of age, who came out to
see him.
" A pleasant holiday, sir," the woman said, without the
least timidity, stopping near him, smiling pleasantly, and
bowing.
" Good morning, nurse," he answered. " How are you
getting on ? I am going to see your neighbor."
" Yes, your Grace, that is good. But why do you not
deign to call on us ? My old man would be ever so ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" Had I not better go home ? " thought Nekhlyudov,
walking up to Dutlov's gate, and feeling an indefinable
melancholy and moral fatigue.
Just then the new plank gate opened before him with
a creak, and a fine-looking, ruddy, light-complexioned lad,
of about eighteen years of age, in driver's attire, appeared
in the gateway, leading behind him a set of three stout-
legged, sweaty, shaggy horses ; boldly shaking his flaxen
hair, he bowed to the master.
" Is your father at home, Пуа ? " asked Nekhlyudov.
" He is with the bees, back of the yard," answered the
lad, leading one horse after another through the half-open
gate.
" No, I will stick to my determination ; I will make
the proposition to him, ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
NEKHLYUDOV bent his head, and passed through the low
gate underneath the shady shed to the apiary, which was
back of the yard. The small space, surrounded by straw
and a wicker fence which admitted the sunlight, where
stood symmetrically arranged the beehives, covered with
small boards, and surrounded by golden bees circling noisilу about them, was all bathed in the hot, brilliant rays
of the June sun.
A well-trodden path led from the gate through the
middle of the apiary to a wooden-roofed cross with a
brass-foil image upon it, which shone glaringly in the sun.
A few stately linden-trees, which towered with their curly
tops above the straw thatch of the neighboring yard,
rustled their fresh dark green foliage ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" I WANTED to ask your Grace about my children," said
the old man, accidentally or purposely paying no attention to the master's angry look.
" What ? "
" Thank the Lord, we are well off for horses, and we
have a hired man, so there will be no trouble about the
manorial dues."
" What of it ? "
" If you would be kind enough to let my sons substitute
money payment for their manorial labor, Ilyushka and
Ignat would take out three troykas to do some teaming
all summer. They may be able to earn something."
" Where will they go ? "
" Wherever it may be," replied Ilyushka, who had in the
meantime tied the horses under the shed, and had come
up to his father. " The Kadma boys took eight troykas
out to Eomen, and they ma... (From: Wikisource.org.)
When they entered the hut, the old man bowed again,
wiped off the bench in the front corner with the flap of his
coat, and, smiling, asked :
" What may we serve to you, your Grace ? "
The hut was white (with a chimney), spacious, and had
both hanging and bench beds. The fresh aspen-wood
beams, between which the moss-caulking had just begun to
fade, had not yet turned black ; the new benches and beds
had not yet become smooth, and the floor was not yet
stamped down.
A young, haggard peasant woman, with an oval, pensive
face, Ilya's wife, was sitting on the bench-bed, and rocking with her foot a cradle that hung down from the ceiling
by a long pole. In the cradle a suckling babe lay stretched
out, and slept, barely b... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" My God ! My God ! " thought Nekhlyudov, making
his way with long strides to the house through the shady
avenues of the weed-grown garden, and absent-mindedly
tearing off leaves and branches on his way. " Is it possible
all my dreams of the aims and duties of my life have been
absurd ? Why do I feel so oppressed and melancholy, as
though I were dissatisfied with myself, whereas I had
imagined that the moment I entered on the path, I would
continually experience that fullness of a morally satisfied
feeling which I had experienced when these thoughts
came to me for the first time ? "
He transferred himself, in imagination, with extraordinary vividness and clearness, a year back, to that blissful
moment.
He had risen... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" Where are these dreams ? " now thought the youth,
as he approached his house after his visits. " It is now
more than a year that I have been seeking happiness upon
this road, and what have I found ? It is true, at times I
feel that I might be satisfied with myself, but it is a kind
of dry, mental satisfaction. Yes and no, I am simply dissatisfied with myself ! I am dissatisfied because I have
found no happiness here, and yet I wish, I passionately
wish for happiness. I have not experienced enjoyment,
and have already cut off from me everything which gives
it. Why ? For what ? Who has been better off for it ?
My aunt was right when she said that it is easier to find
happiness than to give it to others.
" Have my pea... (From: Wikisource.org.)
In the small room which Nekhlyudov occupied, stood
an old leather divan studded with brass nails, several
chairs of the same description, an open antiquated card-
table, with incrustations, indentations, and a brass rim,
on which lay papers, and an antiquated, yellow, open
English grand, with worn, narrow keys. Between the
windows hung a large mirror in an old gilt carved frame.
On the floor, near the table, lay stacks of papers, books,
and accounts. The room bore altogether a disorderly
aspect, and was devoid of character; and this living
disorder formed a sharp contrast to the affected, old-
fashioned, aristocratic arrangement of the other rooms of
the large house.
Upon entering the room Nekhlyudov angrily threw ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
