thirty degrees: about 99 degrees F.
duhan: a lodge
hut on hen's legs: in the Russian fairy tale a witch lives in the hut
Night in the Ukraine: a famous descriptive passage in the second canto of Pushkin's narrative poem 'Poltava'
ikon on his breast: panagia, an image of Mary and Jesus worn by bishops around their necks
Thy Hand has planted: Psalms 80:15-16
His beaver collar is silver with hoar-frost: from verse 16 of Chapter 1 of Pushkin's
cocotte: prostitute
peace: phrases from the Russian Orthodox funeral service
Stanley: Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904), an English explorer
who so offendeth one of these little ones: Mark 9:42
kalii bromati: potassium bromide, used as a sedative
tinctur? gentian?: tincture of gentia, used to improve digestion
aqu? foeniculi: fennel water, used as a sentative and laxative
William I.: Wilhelm I (1797-1888) was King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany
Rudin: the hero of Turgenev's novel of the same name; another superfluous man
Russification: the state policy of Tsar Alexander III, that non-Russian ethnic groups should be assimilated
consistory: an administrative and judicial institution set up under the archbishop
train: in Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina kills herself because of an unhappy adulterous love affair
smear the gates with tar: to mark where a woman lived who was involved in an immoral love affair
fives and fours: A's and B's
post: game were participants write anonymous notes addressed to someone present
art for art's sake: idea in
Kant or Hegel: the German philosophers Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831)
Leskov: Nikolay Leskov (1831-1895), a Russian novelist and short story writer; the story is 'Conscientious Daniel,' first published in 1888
knees of the gods: more accurately, 'in the laps of the gods'
fortress: prison were political prisoners were held
PUSHKIN: the final lines of Pushkin's lyric poem 'Memory'; the poet was tragically killed in a duel in 1837
green rays: the green flash is a rare atmospheric phenomena, only observed when the sun is near the horizon; despite its name, the green flash usually lasts several seconds.
Lermontov: there is a duel in Lermontov's novel
Bazarov had a duel: Bazarov has a duel with Pavel Kirsanov in Turgenev's
portmanteaus: suitcases
screw he has put on himself: how he has buckled down
One man vanquishes thousands and another tens of thousands: cf. 1 Samuel 18:7
* * *
The Wife
by Anton Chekhov
I
I RECEIVED the following letter:
'DEAR SIR, PAVEL ANDREITCH!
'Not far from you -- that is to say, in the village of Pestrovo -- very distressing incidents are taking place, concerning which I feel it my duty to write to you. All the peasants of that village sold their cottages and all their belongings, and set off for the province of Tomsk, but did not succeed in getting there, and have come back. Here, of course, they have nothing now; everything belongs to other people. They have settled three or four families in a hut, so that there are no less than fifteen persons of both sexes in each hut, not counting the young children; and the long and the short of it is, there is nothing to eat. There is famine and there is a terrible pestilence of hunger, or spotted, typhus; literally every one is stricken. The doctor's assistant says one goes into a cottage and what does one see? Every one is sick, every one delirious, some laughing, others frantic; the huts are filthy; there is no one to fetch them water, no one to give them a drink, and nothing to eat but frozen potatoes. What can Sobol (our Zemstvo doctor) and his lady assistant do when more than medicine the peasants need bread which they have not? The District Zemstvo refuses to assist them, on the ground that their names have been taken off the register of this district, and that they are now reckoned as inhabitants of Tomsk; and, besides, the Zemstvo has no money.
'Laying these facts before you, and knowing your humanity, I beg you not to refuse immediate help.
