The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories Part 32

Thus: Naum, after having conducted his business successfully for fifteen years, sold his inn on profitable terms to a petty burgher.... He never would have parted with his house if the following apparently insignificant incident had not occurred: two mornings in succession his dog, as it sat in front of the windows, howled in a prolonged and mournful manner; on the second occasion he went out into the street, gazed attentively at the howling dog, shook his head, set off for the town, and that very day agreed on the price with a petty burgher, who had long been trying to purchase his inn.... A week later he departed for some distant place--out of the Government,--and what think you? that very night the inn was burned to the ground; not even a kennel remained intact, and Naum's successor was reduced to beggary. The reader can easily imagine what rumours arose in the neighbourhood concerning this conflagration.... Evidently he carried his "luck" away with him, all declared.... It is reported that he engaged in the grain business, and became very wealthy. But was it for long? Other equally firm pillars have fallen p.r.o.ne, and sooner or later a bad deed has a bad ending.

It is not worth while to say much about Lizaveta Prokhorovna: she is alive to this day, and as often happens with people of that sort, she has not changed in the least; she has not even aged much, but only seems to have grown more lean; moreover, her penuriousness has increased to an extreme degree, although it is difficult to understand for whom she is always h.o.a.rding, since she has no children, and is related to no one. In conversation she frequently alludes to Akim, and avers that ever since she discovered all his fine qualities, she has come to cherish a great respect for the Russian peasant. Kirillovna has purchased her freedom from Lizaveta Prokhorovna for a considerable sum and has married, for love, some fair-haired young butler or other, at whose hands she endures bitter torture; Avdotya is living, as of yore, in the woman's wing of Lizaveta Prokhorovna's house, but has descended several rungs lower, dresses very poorly, almost filthily, and retains not a trace of the cityfied affectations of the fashionable maid, or the habits of a well-to-do landlady.... No one takes any notice of her, and she herself is glad that they do not; old Petrovitch is dead, but Akim is still roving on pilgrimages--and G.o.d alone knows how much longer he is destined to wander!

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Leipzig.

[33] A _desyatina_ is 2.70 acres. He was obliged to buy the land in his owner's name: serfs could not hold landed property.--TRANSLATOR.

[34] St. Petersburg.--TRANSLATOR.

[35] To the holy pictures.--TRANSLATOR.

[36] See note on p. 273.--TRANSLATOR.

[37] He had been a staff-officer in the civil service, according to Peter the Great's Table of Ranks.--TRANSLATOR.

[38] These numerous maids, in the old serf days, were employed in making the most exquisite linen, lace, embroidery, and so forth.--TRANSLATOR.

[39] The beard was regarded as a mark of peasant origin.--TRANSLATOR.

[40] Neither field-serfs nor the superior house-serfs were addressed by their patronymic (like the n.o.bility). Dunyasha is the diminutive of Avdoty.--TRANSLATOR.

[41] It is customary to have a holy picture, with a shrine-lamp filled with olive-oil burning before it, in bedrooms.--TRANSLATOR.

[42] The difference in value between paper and silver money was considerable in those days, and the sort of currency is generally specified.--TRANSLATOR.

[43] In Russian: "Berries from the same field."--TRANSLATOR.

[44] In Russian: "If you are fond of sleighing, then be fond also of dragging the sledge."--TRANSLATOR.

[45] Tiny double loaves of leavened bread, like those used in preparing the Holy Communion, are sold at the entrances to churches. Any one who wishes to have the health of his living or the souls of his dead friend prayed for, buys a loaf, and sends it to the sanctuary before the beginning of the morning service, accompanied by a slip of paper, whereon is written: "For the health" (or "For the soul") "of Ivan"--or whatever the friend's baptismal name may be. The priest removes from the loaf with his spear-shaped knife a triangular particle, which he places on the chalice (it is not used in the Communion), and at a certain point of the service, all these persons are prayed for, by name--the Lord being aware which of the Ivans or Maryas is intended. After the service the loaf is returned to the owner, who carries it home, and (when possible) gives it to the person who has been prayed for. It is the custom for pilgrims to the various shrines to bring back loaves of this sort to their friends, and these are highly prized. At some of the famous monasteries, instead of the customary imprint of a cross and the Greek letters meaning "Jesus Christ the Conqueror," which are used on the loaves for the Communion, a special holy bread (prosfora) is prepared for this purpose, stamped with the Saint or Saints for which the locality is renowned. In the primitive church, the worshippers were wont to bring offerings of bread, wine, oil and wheat, for the requirements of the service. As long as the congregations were not numerous, all such givers were prayed for by name. When members became so numerous that this would have been burdensome, the custom was inst.i.tuted of praying for the Sovereign and his family, as representatives of all the rest: and this last custom still prevails, mingled (as above described) with a remnant of the original custom.--TRANSLATOR.

[46] The shrine of St. Sergius at the Troitzky (Trinity) monastery, forty miles from Moscow. The optin Hermitage in Tamboff Government. "The White Sh.o.r.es"--the famous monasteries of Solovetzk, in the White Sea, and at Byelo-ozero (White Lake), south of Lake Onega. Valaam, an island in Lake Ladoga, with another famous monastery.--TRANSLATOR.

[47] The Korennaya Hermitage lies about sixteen miles northwest of Kursk, in southern Russia. Mtzensk, nearer the centre, is half-way between Orel and Tula.--TRANSLATOR.