Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton Chekhovin separate chapters, a tablespoonful once an hour. The general titlecan be From Siberia, then From Trans-Baikalia, then From the Amur,and so on.You shall have another helping from Irkutsk, for which I am startingto-morrow. I shall not be less than ten days on the journey—theroad is bad. I shall send you a few chapters again, and shall sendthem whether you intend to print them or not. Read them andwhen you are tired of them telegraph to me “Shut up!”I have been as hungry as a dog the whole way. I stuffed myselfwith bread so as not to dream of turbot, asparagus, and suchlike. Ieven dreamed of buckwheat porridge. I have dreamed of it for hoursat a time.At Tyumen I bought some sausage for the journey, but what sausage!When you take a bit in your mouth there’s a sniff as thoughyou had gone into a stable at the very moment when the coachmenwere taking off their leg-wrappers; when you begin chewing it, youfeel as though you had fastened your teeth into a dog’s tail defiledwith pitch. Tfoo! I ate some once or twice, and threw it away.I have had one telegram and the letter from you in which youwrite that you want to bring out an encyclopaedic dictionary. I don’tknow why, but the news of that dictionary rejoiced me greatly. Do,my dear friend! If I am any use for working on it, I will devoteNovember and December to you, and will spend those months inPetersburg. I will sit at it from morning till night.I made a fair copy of my notes at Tomsk in horrid hotel surroundings,but I took trouble about it and was not without a desire toplease you. I thought, he must be bored and hot in Feodosia, lethim read about the cold. These notes will come to you instead of aletter which has been taking shape in my head during the wholejourney. In return you must send to me at Sahalin all your criticalreviews except the first two, which I have read; have Peshel’s “Ethnology”sent me there too, except the first two instalments, which Ihave already.The post to Sahalin goes both by sea and across Siberia, so if peoplewrite to me I shall get letters often. Don’t lose my address—Island ofSahalin, Alexandrovsky Post.Oh, the expense! Gewalt! Thanks to the floods, I had to pay the165