Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovTO HIS SISTER.STEAMER “ALEXANDR NEVSKY 23,” April, 1890, early in themorning.My dear Tunguses!Did you have rain when Ivan was coming back from the monastery?In Yaroslavl there was such a downpour that I had to swathemyself in my leather chiton. My first impression of the Volga waspoisoned by the rain, by the tear-stained windows of the cabin, andthe wet nose of G., who came to meet me at the station. In the rainYaroslavl looks like Zvenigorod, and its churches remind me ofPerervinsky Monastery; there are lots of illiterate signboards, it’smuddy, jackdaws with big heads strut about the pavement.In the steamer I made it my first duty to indulge my talent—thatis, to sleep. When I woke I beheld the sun. The Volga is not bad;water meadows, monasteries bathed in sunshine, white churches;the wide expanse is marvellous, wherever one looks it would be anice place to sit down and begin fishing. Class ladies* wander abouton the banks, nipping at the green grass. The shepherd’s horn canbe heard now and then. White gulls, looking like the youngerDrishka, hover over the water.The steamer is not up to much ….* * *Kundasova is travelling with me. Where she is going and withwhat object I don’t know. When I question her about it, shelaunches off into extremely misty allusions about someone whohas appointed a tryst with her in a ravine near Kineshma, thengoes off into a wild giggle and begins stamping her feet or proddingwith her elbow whatever comes first. We have passed bothKineshma and the ravine, but she still goes on in the steamer, atwhich of course I am very much pleased; by the way, yesterday for*Translator’s Note: I.e., School chaperons, whose duty it is to sit inthe classroom while the girls are receiving instruction from a master.137