Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchTOMSK, May 16.It seems my strong boots were the cause, being too tight at theback. My sweet Misha, if you ever have any children, which I haveno doubt you will, the advice I bequeath to them is not to run aftercheap goods. Cheapness in Russian goods is the label of worthlessness.To my mind it is better to go barefoot than to wear cheapboots. Picture my agony! I keep getting out of the chaise, sittingdown on damp ground and taking off my boots to rest my heels. Socomfortable in the frost! I had to buy felt over-boots in Ishim …. SoI drove in felt boots till they collapsed from the mud and the damp.In the morning between five and six o’clock one drinks tea at ahut. Tea on a journey is a great blessing. I know its value now, anddrink it with the fury of a Yanov. It warms one through and drivesaway sleep; one eats a lot of bread with it, and in the absence ofother nourishment, bread has to be eaten in great quantities; that iswhy peasants eat so much bread and farinaceous food. One drinkstea and talks with the peasant women, who are sensible, tenderhearted,industrious, as well as being devoted mothers and morefree than in European Russia; their husbands don’t abuse or beatthem, because they are as tall, as strong, and as clever as their lordsand masters are. They act as drivers when their husbands are awayfrom home; they like making jokes. They are not severe with theirchildren, they spoil them. The children sleep on soft beds and lie aslong as they like, drink tea and eat with the men, and scold thelatter when they laugh at them affectionately. There is no diphtheria.Malignant smallpox is prevalent here, but strange to say, it is lesscontagious than in other parts of the world; two or three catch itand die and that is the end of the epidemic. There are no hospitalsor doctors. The doctoring is done by feldshers. Bleeding and cuppingare done on a grandiose, brutal scale. I examined a Jew withcancer in the liver. The Jew was exhausted, hardly breathing, butthat did not prevent the feldsher from cupping him twelve times.Apropos of the Jews. Here they till the land, work as drivers andferry-men, trade and are called Krestyany,* because they are de jure*Translator’s Note: I.e., Peasants, literally “Christians.”152