lowing will show how sparingly he had to
live in his youth: during his two years, he had a real substantial
meal only about once in two months, and then in a restaurant run on
philanthropic principles, where he paid only 30 copecks (about 30
cents). His regular meals consisted of bread, tea, sausage and
potatoes. But this was an epoch in which living was cheap: the wave
of democracy was spreading, and the "intellectuals" were trying to
get into closer touch with the people. The movement was so powerful
that many of the younger generation who could have done other
things took up this work; others, on principle, married humble
peasants. In 1872 Korolenko left for Moscow, and there entered the
Academy of Agriculture. He was expelled after two years and sent to
Kronstadt for having taken part in student manifestations. Several
years later, we find him again in St. Petersburg without a permanent
position; he was employed as a reader in a publishing house, and was
also attempting to do some writing. His first efforts took the form
of a series of sketches, published under the title, "Episodes in the
Life of a Seeker." He was at this time accused of being too much
inspired by the scenes of sadness and injustice of which he had been
a witness. In 1879 he was imprisoned and then deported to Viatka. He
remained there a year. Thence he was sent to the miserable town of
Kama, and a few months later to Tomsk, where he learned that they
wanted to exile him to Siberia. In a letter, published by a
newspaper, he eloquently protested against the persecutions of which
he was the unhappy victim. His protestation was answered by his
transfer to the frozen region of the province of Yakutsk in Eastern
Siberia! He passed three years in the midst of the "taiga," the
immense virgin forest which covers this country, in a village of
nomads whose miserable huts, very low and smoky, were scattered
along the shores of the Aldane. Here he wrote several stories, and
the "Dream of Makar," which was published two years later, and
greatly praised by the critics for its originality and its setting.
The dreary country around Yakutsk and the life that is lived there
made such a profound impression on the young man that even to-day he
speaks of that time with real emotion.

"My hut was at the extreme end of the town. During the short day one
could see the small plain, the mountains which surrounded it, and
the fires in the other huts, in which lived people wh