rence; but before _useful_ people one does not bow in reverence. We
are entering an era of _merely useful_ people; and these will be the
best. Of these there will probably be many, of beautiful, charming
workers very few. And in the very search for a Bazaroff--a living
one--is perhaps unconsciously betrayed the thirst for beauty, naturally
of a single peculiar type. All these illusions one must get rid of.

I should not have reproached your acquaintances with a want of talent if
they had not made pretensions. If they were plodding workers, they would
leave nothing to be desired; but when they loom up and claim admiration,
one cannot pass on without reminding them that they have no right to our
admiration.

Ah, A. P.! we shall see no typical characters, none of those new
creations of whom people talk so much. The life of the people is
undergoing a process of development and--throughout the whole mass--of
decomposition and recomposition: it needs helpers, not leaders, and only
at the end of this period will important, original figures appear. I
have just said that you will not see them. You are still young. You will
live to see the day: as for me, that is another thing.

For the present, let us learn our A, B, C, and teach others, do good
gradually, in which you are already making progress. The letter from
your son, which I herewith return, is warm and good. May he, too, enter
the ranks of the useful workers and servants of the people, as we once
had servants of the Czar!

PARIS, January 3, 1876.

TO M. E. SALTIKOFF:[D]--I received your letter yesterday, dear Michael
Jefgrafowitch, and, as you see, I do not delay the answer. Your letter
is by no means "dull and blunt," as you say. On the contrary, it is very
good and sensible. It gave me pleasure. There hovers about it some power
and better health, in sharp contrast with its immediate predecessor,
which was an extremely gloomy production. Besides, I am by no means
cheerful myself at present: this is the third day in bed with gout.

Now a line or two as to "Fathers and Sons," seeing that you have
mentioned the subject. Do you really believe that all that you reproach
me with never entered my own mind? For this reason I wish not to vanish
from the scene before I finish my comprehensive novel, which I think
will clear up many misunderstandings and place me where and as I belong.
However, I do not wonder that Bazaroff has remained a