ago, during a brief stay of ours in Moscow, had become connected with
a footman. She too had been discharged, and she had ended in a
disorderly house, and had died in the hospital before reaching the
age of twenty. It is only necessary to glance about one, to be
struck with terror at the pest which we disseminate directly by our
luxurious life among the people whom we afterwards wish to help, not
to mention the factories and establishments which serve our luxurious
tastes.

[And thus, having penetrated into the peculiar character of city
poverty, which I was unable to remedy, I perceived that its prime
cause is this, that I take absolute necessaries from the dwellers in
the country, and carry them all to the city. The second cause is
this, that by making use here, in the city, of what I have collected
in the country, I tempt and lead astray, by my senseless luxury,
those country people who come hither because of me, in order in some
way to get back what they have been deprived of in the country.] {13}



CHAPTER XIV.



I reached the same conclusion from a totally different point. On
recalling all my relations with the city poor during that time, I saw
that one of the reasons why I could not help the city poor was, that
the poor were disingenuous and untruthful with me. They all looked
upon me, not as a man, but as means. I could not get near them, and
I thought that perhaps I did not understand how to do it; but without