present them to the public library in his native town of Taganrog. Whole
bales of books were sent by Chekhov from Petersburg and Moscow, and
Iordanov, the mayor of Taganrog, sent him lists of the books needed. At the
same time, at Chekhov's suggestion, something like an Information Bureau
was instituted in connection with the Taganrog Library. There were to be
catalogues of all the important commercial firms, all the existing
regulations and government enactments on all current questions, everything,
in fact, which might be of immediate service to a reader in any practical
difficulty. The library at Taganrog has now developed into a fine
educational institution, and is lodged in a special building designed and
equipped for it and dedicated to the memory of Chekhov.

Chekhov took an active interest in the census of the people in 1896. It
will be remembered that he had made a census of the whole convict
population of the island of Sahalin on his own initiative and at his own
expense in 1890. Now he was taking part in a census again. He studied
peasant life in all its aspects; he was on intimate terms with his peasant
neighbours, to whom he was now indispensable as a doctor and a friend
always ready to give them good counsel.

Just before the census was completed Chekhov was taken ill with influenza,
but that did not prevent his carrying out his duties. In spite of headache,
he went from hut to hut and village to village, and then had to work at
putting together his materials. He was absolutely alone in his work. The
Zemsky Natchalniks, upon whom the government relied principally to carry
out the census, were inert, and for the most part the work was left to
private initiative.

In February, 1897, Chekhov was completely engrossed by a project of
building a "People's Palace" in Moscow. "People's Palaces" had not been