 | Reminiscences of Tolstoy |  |
The Letter Box
The old fogy continues his questions. Why, when women or old men
enter the room, does every well-bred person not only offer them a
seat, but give them up his own?
Why do they make Ushakóf or some Servian officer who
comes to pay a visit necessarily stay to tea or dinner?
Why is it considered wrong to let an older person or a woman
help you on with your overcoat?
And why are all these charming rules considered obligatory
toward others, when every day ordinary people come, and we not only
do not ask them to sit down or to stop to dinner or spend the night
or render them any service, but would look on it as the height of
impropriety?
Where do those people end to whom we are under these
obligations? By what characteristics are the one sort distinguished
from the others? And are not all these rules of politeness bad, if
they do not extend to all sorts of people? And is not what we call
politeness an illusion, and a very ugly illusion?
Lyoff Tolstoy.
Question: Which is the most "beastly plague," a cattle-plague
case for a farmer, or the ablative case for a school-boy?
Lyoff Tolstoy.
Answers are requested to the following questions:
Why do Ustyúsha, Masha, Alyóna, Peter, etc., have
to bake, boil, sweep, empty slops, wait at table, while the gentry
have only to eat, gobble, quarrel, make slops, and eat again?
Lyoff Tolstoy.
419
My Aunt Tánya, when she was in a bad temper because the coffee-pot had been spilt or because she had been beaten at croquet, was in the habit of sending every one to the devil. My father wrote the following story, "Susóitchik," about it.
The devil, not the chief devil, but one of the rank and file,
the one charged with the management of social affairs,
Susóitchik by name, was greatly perturbed on the 6th of
August, 1884. From the early morning onward, people kept arriving
who had been sent him by Tatyána Kuzmínsky.
The first to arrive was Alexander Mikháilovitch
Kuzmínsky; the second was Mísha Islávin; the
third was Vyatcheslaf; the fourth was Seryózha Tolstoy, and
last of all came old Lyoff Tolstoy, senior, accompanied by Prince
Urúsof. The first visitor, Alexander Mikháilovitch,
caused Susóitchik no surprise, as he often paid
Susóitchik visits in obedience to the behests of his wife.
"What, has your wife sent you again?"
"Yes," replied the presiding judge of the district-court,
shyly, not knowing what explanation he could give of the cause of
his visit.
"You come here very often. What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing in particular; she just sent her compliments,"
murmured Alexander Mikháilovitch, departing from the exact
truth with some effort.
"Very good, very good; come whenever you like; she is one of
my best workers."
Before Susóitchik had time to show the judge out, in
came all the children, laughing and jostling, and hiding one behind
the other.
"What brought you here, youngsters? Did my little
Tanyítchka send you? That's right; no harm in coming. Give
my compliments to Tánya, and tell her that I am always at
her service. Come whenever you like. Old Susóitchik may be
of use to you."
No sooner had the young folk made their bow than old Lyoff
Tolstoy appeared with Prince Urúsof.
"Aha! so it's the old boy! Many thanks to Tanyítchka.
It's a long time since I have seen you, old chap. Well and hearty?
And what can I do for you?"
Lyoff Tolstoy shuffled about, rather abashed.
Prince Urúsof, mindful of the etiquette of diplomatic
receptions, stepped forward and explained Tolstoy's appearance by
his wish to make acquaintance with Tatyána
Andréyevna's oldest and most faithful friend.
"Les amis des nos amis sont nos amis."
"Ha! ha! ha! quite so!" said Susóitchik. "I must
reward her for to-day's work. Be so kind, Prince, as to hand her
the marks of my good-will."
And he handed over the insignia of an order in a morocco case.
The insignia consisted of a necklace of imp's tails to be worn
about the throat, and two toads, one to be worn on the bosom and
the other on the bustle.
Lyoff Tolstoy, Senior
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