"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us! Please come to matins!"

It is awkward to stay in one's room, and so one gets up and goes out. I
have chosen a spot on the bank of the Donets, where I sit during all the
services.

I have bought an ikon for Auntie. [Translator's Note: His mother's sister.]
The food is provided gratis by the monastery for all the fifteen thousand:
cabbage soup with dried fresh-water fish and porridge. Both are good, and
so is the rye bread.

The church bells are wonderful. The choir is not up to much. I took part in
a religious procession on boats.




TO V. G. KOROLENKO.

MOSCOW,
October 17, 1887.


... I am extremely glad to have met you. I say it sincerely and with all my
heart. In the first place, I deeply value and love your talent; it is dear
to me for many reasons. In the second, it seems to me that if you and I
live in this world another ten or twenty years we shall be bound to find
points of contact. Of all the Russians now successfully writing I am the
lightest and most frivolous; I am looked upon doubtfully; to speak the