Leo Tolstoy Archive
Written: 1852
Source: Original Text from WikiSource.org
Transcription/Markup: Andy Carloff
Online Source: RevoltLib.com; 2021
" There is something else I wanted to tell you," said Nekhlyudov. "Why has not your manure been removed ? "
" What manure is there to take away, your Grace ? How many animals have I ? A little mare and a colt, and the young heifer I gave last autumn to the porter ; that is all the animals I have."
"You have so few animals, and yet you gave your heifer away ? " the master asked, in amazement.
" What was I to feed her on ? "
" Have you not enough straw to feed a cow with ? Everybody else has."
" Others have manured land, and my land is mere clay that you can't do anything with."
" But that is what your manure is for, to take away the clay : and the soil will produce grain, and you will have something to feed your animals with."
" But if there are no animals, where is the manure to come from ? "
" This is a strange cercle vicieux" thought Nekhlyudov, but was at a loss how to advise the peasant.
"And then again, your Grace, not the manure makes the grain grow, but God," continued Churis. " Now, last year I got six ricks out of one unmanured eighth, but from another dressed eighth I did not reap as much as a cock. God alone ! " he added, with a sigh. " And the cattle somehow do not thrive in our yard. They have died for six years in succession. Last year a heifer died, the other I sold, for we had nothing to live on ; two years ago a fine cow died ; when she was driven home from the herd, there was nothing the matter with her, but she sud- denly staggered, and staggered, and off she went. Just my bad luck ! "
" Well, my friend, you may say what you please about not having any cattle, because you have no feed, and about having no feed, because you have no cattle, — here is some money for a cow," said Nekhlyudov, blushing, and taking from his trousers' pocket a package of crumpled bills, and running through it. " Buy yourself a cow, with my luck, and get the feed from the barn, — I will give orders. Be sure and have a cow by next Sunday, — I will look in."
Churis smiled and shuffled his feet, and for so long did not stretch out his hand for the money, that Nekhlyudov put it on the end of the table, and reddened even more.
" We are very well satisfied with your favor," said Churis, with his usual, slightly sarcastic smile.
The old woman sighed heavily several times, standing under the beds, and seemed to be uttering a prayer.
The young master felt embarrassed ; he hastily rose from his bench, walked out into the vestibule, and called Churis. The sight of a man to whom he had done a good turn was so pleasant, that he did not wish to part from it so soon.
" I am glad I can help you," he said, stopping near the well. " It is all right to help you, because I know you are not a lazy man. You will work, and I will help you ; with God's aid things will improve."
" There is no place for improvement, your Grace," said Churis, suddenly assuming a serious, and even an austere, expression on his face, as though dissatisfied with the master's supposition that he might improve. " I lived with my brothers when my father was alive, and we suffered no want; but when he died, and we separated, things went from worse to worse. It is all because we are alone ! "
" But why did you separate ? "
" All on account of the women, your Grace. At that time your grandfather was not living, or they would not have dared to; then there was real order. He looked after everything, like you, — and we should not have dared to think of separating. Your grandfather did not let the peasants off so easily. But after him the estate was managed by Audrey Ilich, — may he not live by this memory, — he was a drunkard and an unreliable man. We went to him once, and a second time. ' There is no getting along with the women,' we said, ' let us separate.' Well, he gave it to us, but, in the end, the women had their way, and we separated ; and you know what a peasant is all by himself ! Well, there was no order here, and Audrey Ilich treated us as he pleased. ' Let there be everything ! ' but he never asked where a peasant was to get it. Then they increased the capitation tax, and began to collect more provisions for the table, but the land grew less, and the crops began to fail. And when it came to resurveying the land, he attached our manured land to the manorial strip, the rascal, and he left us just to die !
" Your father — the kingdom of heaven be his — was a good master, but we hardly ever saw him : he lived all the time in Moscow ; of course, we had to carry supplies there frequently. There may have been bad roads, and no fodder, but we had to go! How could the master get along without it ? We can't complain about that, only there was no order. Now, your Grace admits every peasant into your presence, and we are different people, and the steward is a different man. But before, the estate was left in guardianship, and there was no real master ; the guardian was master, and Ilich was master, and his wife was mistress, and the scribe was master. The peasants came to grief, oh, to so much grief ! "
Again Nekhlyudov experienced a feehng akin to shame or to pricks of conscience. He raised his hat a little, and walked away.