put up after Chekhov's own plans. A new cattle yard made its appearance,
and by it a hut with a well and a hurdle fence in the Little Russian style,
a bathhouse, a barn, and finally Chekhov's dream--a lodge. It was a little
house with three tiny rooms, in one of which a bedstead was put with
difficulty, and in another a writing-table. At first this lodge was
intended only for visitors, but afterwards Chekhov moved into it and there
he wrote his "Seagull." This little lodge was built among the fruit-bushes,
and to reach it one had to pass through the orchard. In spring, when the
apples and cherries were in blossom, it was pleasant to live in this lodge,
but in winter it was so buried in the snow that pathways had to be cut to
it through drifts as high as a man.

Chekhov suffered terribly about this time from his cough. It troubled him
particularly in the morning. But he made light of it. He was afraid of
worrying his family. His younger brother once saw his handkerchief
spattered with blood, and asked what it meant. Chekhov seemed disconcerted
and said:

"Oh, nothing; it is no matter.... Don't tell Masha and Mother."

The cough was the reason for Chekhov's going in 1894 to the Crimea. He
stayed in Yalta, though he evidently did not like it and longed to be home.

Chekhov's activity in the campaign against the cholera resulted in his
being elected a member of the Zemstvo. He was keenly interested in
everything to do with the new roads to be constructed, and the new
hospitals and schools it was intended to open. Besides this public work the
neighbourhood was indebted to him for the making of a highroad from the
station of Lopasnya to Melihovo, and for the building of schools at Talezh,
Novoselka, and Melihovo. He made the plans for these schools himself,