mean? Bratsui! All it needs, is to pull it down, and trample it out."

But when the ceiling of his izba fell in, he crept up close to the fire, caught hold of a burning beam, and tried to pull it out. The women saw him, and began to call him back; but he pulled the beam out, and went back after another, but staggered, and fell into the fire.

Then his son dashed in after him, and pulled him out. Ivan's beard and hair were burned off, his clothes were scorched, his hands were ruined, and yet he did not notice it.

"He has lost his wits from grief," said the crowd.

The fire began to die down; and Ivan still stood in the same place, and kept repeating, "Bratsui! Only pull it down!"

In the morning the starosta sent his son after Ivan.

"Uncle Ivan, your father is dying; he wants you to come and say good-by."

Ivan had forgotten all about his father, and did not comprehend what they said to him. "What father?" says he;

66 wants whom?"

"He wants you to come and bid him good-by; he is dying in our izba. Come, let us go, Uncle Ivan," said the village elder's son, and took him by the arm. followed the starosta's son.

Ivan

The old man, when he was rescued, was surrounded by burning straw, and was badly burned.

He was taken to the starosta's, at the farther end of the village. That part of the village was not burned.

When Ivan came to his father, there was no one in the izba except a little old woman, -and some children on the oven.

the starosta's wife, . All the rest were at

the fire. The old man was lying on the bench with a little candle in his hand, and was gazing at the door. When his son entered, he started. The old woman went to him, and told him that his son had come. He asked him to come nearer. Ivan approached, and the old man said:

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

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

"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.

going to live now, batyushka?"

"How are we

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 lodg ings 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 Troïtsa1 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 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.

you

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. Avdyeitch calls this zemlyak-starichok, Bozhi chelovyek, God's man. — ED.