Рассказы

Prince Nekhlyudov was nineteen years old when he came from the 3rd year of the university for summer vacancies in his village and stayed there all summer alone. In the autumn, with an unsteady childish hand, he wrote to his aunt, Countess Beloretskaya, who, according to his concepts, was his best friend and the most brilliant woman in the world, the following French letter translated here:

"Dear aunty.

I have made a decision that will affect the fate of my entire life. I leave the university to devote myself to life in the country, because I feel that I was born for it. For God's sake, dear aunt, don't laugh at me. You will say that I am young; maybe I'm still a child, but this does not prevent me from feeling my calling, wanting to do good and loving it.

As I wrote to you already, I found cases in an indescribable disorder. Wishing to put them in order and delving into them, I discovered that the main evil lies in the most miserable, disastrous condition of the peasants, and such an evil that can be corrected only by labor and patience. If you could only see my two peasants, Davyd and Ivan, and the life they lead with their families, I am sure that the mere sight of these two unfortunates would convince you more than anything I can tell you to explain my intention. Is it not my sacred and direct duty to take care of the happiness of these seven hundred people, for whom I will have to answer to God?