t are the poorer
people to learn from us if we give them such an example? Weren't the old
times much better? In a single _darbas_[42] we all lived together; three
or four brothers and their families. We saved in light and heat, and the
blessing of God was with us. Now in that respect it is wholly different.
If one brother spends fifty rubles, the other spends double the sum, so
as not to be behind him. And what kind of brothers are there now, as a
rule? And what kind of sisters and fathers and mothers? If you were to
chain them together you could not hold them together a week at a time.
If it is not a punishment from God, I don't know what is.

[42] Hall.

CHACHO. My dear Ossep, why do you revive those old memories? It gives me
the heartache to recall those old times. I remember very well how it
was. In the room stood a long broad sofa that was covered with a carpet.
When evening came there would be a fire-pan lighted in the middle of the
room and we children would sit around it That was our chandelier. Then a
blue table-cloth was spread on the sofa and something to eat, and
everything that tasted good in those days was placed on it. Then we sat
around it, happy as could be: grandfather, father, uncle, aunt,
brothers, and sisters. The wine pitcher poured out sparkling wine into
the glasses, and it wandered from one end of the table to the other.
Many times there were twenty of us. Now if for any reason five persons
come together in a room one is likely to be suffocated. [_Points to the
ceiling_.] With us there was an opening for smoke in the ceiling that
was worth twenty windows. When it became bright in the morning the
daylight pressed in on us, and when it grew dark the twilight came in
there, and the stars glimmered through. Then we spread our bed-things
out, and we went to sleep together with play and frolic. We had a kettle
and a roasting-spit in the house, and also a pot-ladle and strainer, and
the men brought in the stock of provisions in bags. Of the things they
brought, one thing was as appetizing as the other. Now, it seems the
cooks and servants eat all the best bits. God preserve me from them! Our
homes are ruined by the new ways!

OSSEP. Do you know what, aunt? I wager it will not be long before the
whole city is bankrupt. On one side extravagance and the new mode of
life will be to blame, and on the other our stupidity. Can we go on
living so? It is God's punishment, and nothing more. You will scarcely