"Well, Vanyatka," he said, "I told you so. Who burned up the village?"

"He did, batyushka," said Ivan. "He did! I myself caught him at it. Right before my eyes he touched off All I needed to do was to pull out the bunch of burning straw, trample it down, and it would never have happened."

the roof.

Ivan," said the old man, "my death has come; you, too, will have to die. Whose sin was it?"

Ivan looked at his father, and said nothing. He could not utter a word.

"Tell me in God's presence! Whose sin was it? What did I tell you?"

Only at this moment Ivan came to himself, and comprehended all. He began to snuffle with his nose, and said:

"Mine, batyushka!" and he fell on his knees before his father, began to weep, and said :—

"Forgive me, batyushka; I am guilty before you and before God."

The old man waved his arms, took the candle in his left hand, and pointed with his right to his forehead; tried to cross himself, but failed to lift it high enough, and stopped short.

).

Glory to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee, O Lord!" he said, and then he turned his eyes on his son.

"But Vanka, Vanka!"

"What is it, batyushka?"

"What ought you to do now?”

Ivan kept on weeping.

"I don't know, batyushka," he said. "How are we going to live now, batyushka?"

The old man shut his eyes, moved his lips, as if he were trying to gather his strength; and then he opened his eyes again, and said: -

"You will get along! if you live with God-you will get along."

The old man stopped speaking, and smiled, and said:

1 Affectionate diminutive of Ivan; like Vanka, Vanyusha, Vanyushka Ivan is colloquial for Ioann, John.

"Look here, Vanya! don't tell who set the fire. Hide your neighbor's sin, and God will forgive two."

The old man took the candle in both his hands, held them crossed on his breast, sighed, stretched himself, and died.

Ivan did not expose Gavrilo, and no one knew what was the cause of the fire.

And Ivan's heart grew soft toward Gavrilo, and Gavrilo was surprised because Ivan did not tell any one about him.

At first Gavrilo was afraid of him, but afterward he got accustomed to it. The muzhiks ceased to quarrel, their families also. While they were rebuilding, both families lived in one dvor; and when the village was restored, and the dvors were put at a greater distance apart, Ivan and Gavrilo again became neighbors in one

nest.

And Ivan and Gavrilo lived in neighborly fashion, just as the old men had formerly lived. And Ivan Shcherbakof remembered the old man's advice, and God's proof that a fire ought to be quenched at the beginning.

And if any one ever did him any harm, he made no attempt to retaliate, but tried to arrange things; and if any one ever called him a bad name, he did not try to outdo him in his reply, but he tried to teach him not to say bad things; and thus he taught the women and children of his household; and thus Ivan Shcherbakof reformed, and began to live better than before.

WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD

IS ALSO

(1885)

IN

N the city lived the shoemaker, Martuin Avdyeitch He lived in a basement, in a little room with one window. The window looked out on the street. Through the window he used to watch the people passing by; although only their feet could be seen, yet by the boots Martuin Avdyeitch recognized the people. Martuin Avdyeitch had lived long in one place, and had many acquaintances. Few pairs of boots in his district had not been in his hands once and again. Some he would half-sole, some he would patch, some he would stitch around, and occasionally he would also put on new uppers. And through the window he often recognized

his work.

Avdyeitch had plenty to do, because he was a faithful workman, used good material, did not make exorbitant charges, and kept his word. If it was possible for him to finish an order by a certain time, he would accept it; otherwise, he would not deceive you, he would tell you so beforehand. And all knew Avdyeitch, and he was never out of work.

Avdyeitch had always been a good man; but as he grew old, he began to think more about his soul, and get nearer to God. Martuin's wife had died when he was still living with his master. His wife left him a boy three years old. None of their other children had lived. All the eldest had died in childhood. Martuin at first intended to send his little son to his sister in the village, but afterward he felt sorry for him; he thought to himself:

"It will be hard for my Kapitoshka to live in a strange family. I shall keep him with me."

And Avdyeitch left his master, and went into lodgings with his little son. But God gave Avdyeitch no luck with his children. As Kapitoshka grew older, he began to help his father, and would have been a delight to him, but a sickness fell on him, he went to bed, suffered a week, and died. Martuin buried his son, and fell into despair. So deep was this despair that he began to complain of God. Martuin fell into such a melancholy state, that more than once he prayed to God for death, and reproached God because He had not taken him who was an old man, instead of his beloved only son. Avdyeitch also ceased to go to church.

And once a little old man from the same district came from Troitsa1 to see Avdyeitch; for seven years he had been wandering about. Avdyeitch talked with him, and began to complain about his sorrows.

"I have no desire to live any longer," he said: "I only wish I was dead. That is all I pray God for. I am a man without anything to hope for now."

And the little old man said to him:

"You don't talk right, Martuin: we must not judge God's doings. The world moves, not by our skill, but by God's will. God decreed for your son to die, - for you - to live. So it is for the best. And you are in despair, because you wish to live for your own happiness.” "But what shall one live for?" asked Martuin.

And the little old man said:

"We must live for God, Martuin. He gives you life, and for His sake you must live. When you begin to live for Him, you will not grieve over anything, and all will seem easy to you."

Martuin kept silent for a moment, and then said, “But how can one live for God?"

And the little old man said:

"Christ has taught us how to live for God. You know how to read? Buy a Testament, and read it; there you

1 Trinity, a famous monastery, pilgrimage to which is reckoned a virtue. Adyeitch calls this zemlyak-starichok, Bozhi chelovyek, God's man. - ED

will learn how to live for God. Everything is explained there."

And these words kindled a fire in Avdyeitch's heart. And he went that very same day, bought a New Testa ment in large print, and began to read.

At first Avdyeitch intended to read only on holidays; but as he began to read, it so cheered his soul that he used to read every day. At times he would become so absorbed in reading, that all the kerosene in the lamp would burn out, and still he could not tear himself away. And so Avdyeitch used to read every evening.

And the more he read, the clearer he understood what God wanted of him, and how one should live for God; and his heart kept growing easier and easier. Formerly, when he lay down to sleep, he used to sigh and groan, and always thought of his Kapitoshka; and now his only exclamation was:

"Glory to Thee! glory to Thee, Lord! Thy will be done."

And from that time Avdyeitch's whole life was changed. In other days he, too, used to drop into a public-house1 as a holiday amusement, to drink a cup of tea; and he was not averse to a little brandy either. He would take a drink with some acquaintance, and leave the saloon, not intoxicated exactly, yet in a happy frame of mind, and inclined to talk nonsense, and shout, and use abusive language at a person. Now he left off that sort of thing. His life became quiet and joyful. In the morning he would sit down to work, finish his allotted task, then take the little lamp from the hook, put it on the table, get his book from the shelf, open it, and sit down to read. And the more he read, the more he understood, and the brighter and happier it grew in his heart.

He was

Once it happened that Martuin read till late into the night. He was reading the Gospel of Luke. reading over the sixth chapter; and he was reading the

verses:

"And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak

1 Traktir.