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as with a rosy veil, the nearest as well as the more distant
hills.
I go out by the shore of the Don. On the steep bank,
opposite where I stand, is a village looking, in this evening
light, as if of porcelain. I see an even row of cottages, with
pink, round, overhanging roofs, and below these a ravine,
leading to the Don, where piled-up snowdrifts seem to glide in
finely-moulded shapes. And the outlines of all are softened by
the translucent frosty mist.
Through this village I had to pass, and began to wander off
in the direction of the bridge that crossed the Don. From the
other side a small figure came rapidly to meet me. Soon I
recognised a little girl of about ten years. When she came near
enough to see who I was she uttered in her small, childish voice
the well-known, usual words, “I am coming to your grace.”
“What do you want?”
“My mother is dying.”
“Come, I will go with you.”
We went up the steep bank, and as we approached the village
the beautiful vision disappeared. To begin with, I saw that
from several roofs the straw had been taken, so that only the
framework stood there, like gnawed skeletons. Beneath the
overhanging roofs the walls of the huts stood up, half buried in
the snow. Openings were dug through the drifts to the small
frosted windows which, however, were almost hidden behind
heaps of dirt and refuse.
We entered the last cottage in the street; its owner had
built it in more prosperous times, for it was of brick. Under
present conditions it is more miserable to live in than those
built of wood. Inside was darkness, damp, cold, and foul air.
I recollected that the day before a little girl had come from this
house to ask for money “for gas,” i.e., for lamp oil, and I had
refused. They must then have applied to a rich peasant in
the same village to lend them some.
The girl took a vessel and ran out, slamming the door after
her. When my eyes became accustomed to the gloom I could
distinguish the objects within. Doors, window, corners, and
rents in the roof, with the lower part of the walls, were all
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