Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchas though one would be crushed in a moment …. After an hour’sabuse my old man began splicing together the shafts with cord andtying up the traces; my straps were forced into the service too. Wegot to the station somehow, crawling along and stopping from timeto time.After five or six days rain with high winds began. It rained dayand night. The leather overcoat came to the rescue and kept me safefrom rain and wind. It’s a wonderful coat. The mud was almostimpassable, the drivers began to be unwilling to go on at night. Butwhat was worst of all, and what I shall never forget, was crossing therivers. One reaches a river at night …. One begins shouting and sodoes the driver …. Rain, wind, pieces of ice glide down the river,there is a sound of splashing …. And to add to our gaiety there isthe cry of a heron. Herons live on the Siberian rivers, so it seemsthey don’t consider the climate but the geographical position ….Well, an hour later, in the darkness, a huge ferry-boat of the shapeof a barge comes into sight with huge oars that look like the pincersof a crab. The ferry-men are a rowdy set, for the most part exilesbanished here by the verdict of society for their vicious life. Theyuse insufferably bad language, shout, and ask for money for vodka…. The ferrying across takes a long, long time … an agonizinglylong time. The ferryboat crawls. Again the feeling of loneliness, andthe heron seems calling on purpose, as though he means to say:“Don’t be frightened, old man, I am here, the Lintvaryovs have sentme here from the Psyol.”On the 7th of May when I asked for horses the driver said theIrtysh had overflowed its banks and flooded the meadows, thatKuzma had set off the day before and had difficulty in getting back,and that I could not go, but must wait …. I asked: “Wait till when?”Answer: “The Lord only knows!” That was vague. Besides, I hadtaken a vow to get rid on the journey of two of my vices which werea source of considerable expense, trouble, and inconvenience; I meanmy readiness to give in, and be overpersuaded. I am quick to agree,and so I have had to travel anyhow, sometimes to pay double and towait for hours at a time. I had taken to refusing to agree and tobelieve—and my sides have ached less. For instance, they bring outnot a proper carriage but a common, jolting cart. I refuse to travel156