Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovTOMSK, May 20.It is Trinity Sunday with you, while with us even the willow hasnot yet come out, and there is still snow on the banks of the Tom.To-morrow I am starting for Irkutsk. I am rested. There is no needfor hurry, as steam navigation on Lake Baikal does not begin till the10th of June; but I shall go all the same.I am alive and well, my money is safe; I have a slight pain in myright eye. It aches.… Everyone advises me to go back across America, as they sayone may die of boredom in the Volunteer Fleet; it’s all military disciplineand red tape regulations, and they don’t often touch at aport.To fill up my time I have been writing some impressions of myjourney and sending them to Novoye Vremya; you will read themsoon after the 10th of June. I write a little about everything, chitchat.I don’t write for glory but from a financial point of view, andin consideration of the money I have had in advance.Tomsk is a very dull town. To judge from the drunkards whoseacquaintance I have made, and from the intellectual people whohave come to the hotel to pay their respects to me, the inhabitantsare very dull too.* * *In two and a half days I shall be in Krasnoyarsk, and in seven oreight in Irkutsk. It’s fifteen hundred versts to Irkutsk. I have mademyself coffee and am just going to drink it.… After Tomsk the Taiga begins. We shall see it.My greeting to all the Lintvaryovs and to our old Maryushka. Ibeg mother not to worry and not to put faith in bad dreams. Havethe radishes succeeded? There are none here at all.Keep well, don’t worry about money—there will be plenty; don’ttry to spend less and spoil the summer for yourselves.163