because studied deeply. We also leave something on these pages. Some
people dry flowers on them, the others preserve reminiscences. In
every one of Sienkiewicz's volumes people will deposit a great many
personal impressions, part of their souls; in every one they will find
them again after many years.

There are three periods in Sienkiewicz's literary life. In the
first he wrote short stories, which are masterpieces of grace and
ingenuity--at least some of them. In those stories the reader will
meet frequent thoughts about general problems, deep observations of
life--and notwithstanding his idealism, very truthful about spiritual
moods, expressed with an easy and sincere hand. Speaking about
Sienkiewicz's works, no matter how small it may be, one has always the
feeling that one speaks about a known, living in general memory work.
Almost every one of his stories is like a stone thrown in the midst
of a flock of sparrows gathering in the winter time around barns: one
throw arouses at once a flock of winged reminiscences.

The other characteristics of his stories are uncommonness of his
conceptions, masterly compositions, ofttimes artificial. It happens
also that a story has no plot ("From the Diary of a Tutor in Pozman,"
"Bartek the Victor"), no action, almost no matter ("Yamyol"), but the
reader is rewarded by simplicity, rural theme, humoristic pictures
("Comedy of Errors: A Sketch of American Life"), pity for the little
and poor ("Yanko the Musician"), and those qualities make the reader
remember his stories well. It is almost impossible to forget--under
the general impressions--about his striking and standing-out figures
("The Lighthouse Keeper of Aspinwall"), about the individual
impression they leave on our minds. Apparently they are commonplace,
every-day people, but the author's talent puts on them an original