The coach was ready, but the driver loitered. He had gone into the
drivers' room [izba]. In the izba it was warm, close, dark, and suffocating, smelling of human occupation, of cooking bread, of cabbage, and of sheepskin garments.Several drivers were in the room; the cook was engaged near the oven, on top of which lay a sick man wrapped up in his sheepskins."Uncle Khveodor! Hey! Uncle Khveodor," called a young man, the driver, in a tulup, and with his knout in his belt, coming into the room, and addressing the sick man.
"What do you want, rattlepate? What are you calling to Fyedka for?" asked one of the drivers. "There's your carriage waiting for you." "I want to borrow his boots. Mine are worn out," replied the young fellow, tossi... (From: Wikisource.org.) PARABLE THE FIRST
A weed had spread over a beautiful meadow. And in order to get rid of it the tenants of the meadow
mowed it, but the weed only increased in consequence.
And now the kind, wise master came to visit the tenants of the meadow, and among the other good counsels
which he gave them, he told them they ought not to
mow the weed, since that only made it grow the more
luxuriantly, but that they must pull it up by the roots.
But either because the tenants of the meadow did
not, among the other prescriptions of the good master,
take heed of his advice not to mow down the weed, but
to pull it up, or because they did not understand him, or
because, according to their calculations, it seemed foolish to obey, the resu... (From: Wikisource.org.) No one passion holds men so long in its power, or hides so continuously, sometimes to the very end, the vanity of temporal mundane life or so completely keeps men from understanding the significance of human existence and of its real beneficence, as the passion for worldly glory, in whatever form it may manifest itself : petty vanity, love of glory, ambition.
Every overweening desire involves its own punishment, and the sufferings that attend its satisfaction are proof of its worthlessness. Moreover, every overweening desire grows feeble with the passage of time; ambition, however, flares up more and more with the years. The main thing is that solicitude for human glory is always coupled with the thought of service to men, and a man when ... (From: Wikisource.org.) Christendom has recently been the scene of two wars. One is now concluded, whereas the other still continues; but they were for a time being carried on simultaneously, and the contrast they present is very striking. The first—the Spanish-American war—was an old, vain, foolish, and cruel war, inopportune, out-of-date, barbarous, which sought by killing one set of people to solve the question as to how and by whom another set of people ought to be governed.
The other, which is still going on, and will end only when there is an end of all war, is a new, self-sacrificing, holy war, which was long ago proclaimed (as Victor Hugo expressed it at one of the congresses) by the best and most advanced—Christian—section of mank... (From: Wikisource.org.) It was in the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan,
a century after the birth of Christ. It was at the
time when the disciples of Christ's disciples were still
living, and the Christians faithfully observed the laws
of the Master as it is related in the Acts :
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart
and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught of the
things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all things
common. And with great power gave the Apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ; and great grace was upon
them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked; for
as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and
brought the prices of the things that were so... (From: Wikisource.org.) In the city lived the shoemaker, Martuin Avdyeitch. He lived in a basement, in a little room with one window. The window looked out on the street. Through the window he used to watch the people passing by; although only their feet could be seen, yet by the boots, Martuin Avdyeitch recognized the people. Martuin Avdyeitch had lived long in one place, and had many acquaintances. Few pairs of boots in his district had not been in his hands once and again. Some he would half-sole, some he would patch, some he would stitch around, and occasionally he would also put on new uppers. And through the window he often recognized his work.
Avdyeitch had plenty to do, because he was a faithful workman, used good material, did not make exorbitant c... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) In the fourth volume of the journal Yasnaya Poly ana
there was printed among the children's composi-
tions by an editorial mistake "A History of how a
boy was frightened in Tula." This little story was not
written by a boy, but was made up by the teacher from
a dream which he had, and which he related to the
boys. Some of the readers, who followed the numbers
of Yasnaya Polyana, expressed their doubts whether
this tale really belonged to the boy. I hasten to apol-
ogize to my readers for this oversight, and seize the
opportunity to remark how impossible are counterfeits
in this class of work. This tale was detected, not be-
cause it was better, but because it was worse, incompa-
rably worse, than all the compositio... (From: Wikisource.org.) In this only is the reason for the spread of all kinds of stupefying things, and among others of tobacco, perhaps the widest spread and most dangerous of them all.
It is taken for granted that tobacco enlivens and clears the mind, that, like every other habit, it allures to itself, in no case producing that effect of deadening conscience such as is caused by wine. But all it requires is to look more carefully at the conditions in which special temptation to smoke appears, in order to be convinced that the stupefaction caused by tobacco, just the same as that caused by wine, affects the conscience, and that men consciously have recourse to this form of stupefaction, especially when they need it for this object.
If tobacco merely ... (From: Wikisource.org.) In the sketch of the Yasnaya Polyana School during
the months of November and December, I have now
to speak of two subjects which have an entirely distinct character from all the others: these are drawing
and singing the arts.
If I had not my own views, based on the fact that I
don't know why any one should study either, I should be
obliged to ask myself: Is the study of art profitable for
peasant children, put under the necessity of working all
their lives long just for their daily bread, and what is
the good of it?
Ninety-nine out of a hundred would answer this question in the negative. And it is impossible to answer
otherwise. As soon as this question is put, sound common sense demands such an answer: he is not to... (From: Wikisource.org.) At the time of the Czar Ivan the Terrible, [1] the
Strogonofs were rich merchants, and lived in
Perm, on the river Kama.
They had heard that on the river Kama, for a hundred
and forty versts around, there was rich land ; the soil
had not been plowed for a century ; the black forest
for a century had not been felled. In the forests were
many wild animals, and along the river were lakes full
of fish, and no one lived in this land except wandering
Tartars.
So the Strogonofs wrote a letter to the Czar:
"Grant us this land, and we ourselves will found
cities, and we will gather men together and establish
them, and we will not allow the Tartars to pass
through it."
The Czar consented, and granted them... (From: Wikisource.org.)