makes
bridles for the soul, to be able to control it better. What the
stomach needs is a rest, and the soul needs freedom. What letter is
this?"

"M."

"Yes, see how it sprawls. And this?"

Straining her eyes and moving her eyebrows heavily, she recalled with
an effort the forgotten letters, and unconsciously yielding to the
force of her exertions, she was carried away by them, and forgot
herself. But soon her eyes grew tired. At first they became moist
with tears of fatigue; and then tears of sorrow rapidly dropped down on
the page.

"I'm learning to read," she said, sobbing. "It's time for me to die,
and I'm just learning to read!"

"You mustn't cry," said the Little Russian gently. "It wasn't your
fault you lived the way you did; and yet you understand that you lived
badly. There are thousands of people who could live better than you,
but who live like cattle and then boast of how well they live. But
what is good in their lives? To-day, their day's work over, they eat,
and to-morrow, their day's work over, they eat, and so on through all
their years--work and eat, work and eat! Along with this they bring
forth children, and at first amuse themselves with them, but when they,
too, begin to eat much, they grow surly and scold: 'Come on, you
gluttons! Hurry along! Grow up quick! It's time you get to work!' and
they would like to make beasts of burden of their children. But the
children begin to work for their own stomachs, and drag their lives
along as a thief drags a worthless stolen mop. Their souls are never
stirred with joy, never quickened with a thought that melts the heart.
Some live like mendicants--always begging; some like thieves--always
snatching out of the hands of others. They've made thieves' laws,
placed men with sticks over the people, and said to them: 'Guard our
laws; they are very convenient laws; they permit us to suck the blood
out of the people!' They try to squeeze the people from the outside,
but the people resist, and so they drive the rules inside so as to
crush the reason, too."

Leaning his elbows on the table and looking into the mother's face with
pensive eyes, he continued in an even, flowing voice:

"Only those are men who strike the chains from off man's body and from
off his reason. And now you, too, are going into this work according
to the best of your ability."

"I? Now, now! How can I?"

"Why not? It's just like rain. Every drop goes to nourish