Polikéï, as a man of no consequence, and inclined to be disreputable,
and moreover as being from another village, had no one to look out for
his interests, neither the housekeeper nor the butler, neither the
overseer nor the housemaid. And his _corner,_ where he lived with his
wife and five children, was as wretched as it could be. The _corners_
had been arranged by the late lamented bárin as follows: The hut was
about twenty feet long, and built of stone; in the middle stood the
great Russian stove; around it ran a corridor, as the servants called
it; and in each corner a room was partitioned off by boards. Of course
there was not much room, especially in Polikéï's _corner_ which was
next the door. The nuptial couch, with quilted counterpane and chintz
pillows; a cradle with a baby in it; a three-legged table which served
for cooking, washing, piling up all the household utensils, and as a
work-table for Polikéï, who was a horse-doctor; tubs, clothes, hens,
a calf, and the seven members of the household,--occupied the corner;
and there would mot have been room to move, had it not been that the
common stove offered its share of room (though even this was covered
with things and human beings), and that it was possible to get out upon
the door-steps. It was not always possible, if you stop to think: in
October it begins to grow cold, and there was only one warm sheep-skin
garment for the whole family. And so the young children were obliged
to get warm by running about, and the older ones by working and taking
turns in climbing upon the big stove, where the temperature was as
high as ninety degrees. It must have been terrible to live in such
circumstances, but they did not find it so: they were able to get along.
Akulína did the washing and mending for her husband and children;
she spun and wove and bleached her linen; she cooked and baked at
the common stove, and scolded and quarrelled with her neighbors. The
monthly rations sufficed not only for the children, but also for the
feed of the cow. The firewood was plentiful, also fodder for the
cattle; and hay from the stable fell to their share. They had an
occasional bunch of vegetables. The cow would give them a calf; then
they had their hens. Polikéï had charge of the stable: he took care of
the young colts, and bled horses and cattle; he cleaned their hoofs, he
tapped varicose veins, and made a salve of peculiar virtue, and this
brought him in some money and provisions. Some of the oats belonging
to the estate also made their way into his possession: in the village
there was a man who regularly once a month, for two small measures,
gave twenty pounds of mutton.
It would have been easy for them to get along, had there not been moral
suffering. But this suffering was severe for the whole family. Polikéï
had been from childhood in a stable, in another village. The groom who
had charge of him was the worst thief in the neighborhood; the Commune
banished him to Siberia. Polikéï soon began to follow this groom's
example, and thus became from early youth accustomed to these _little
tricks,_ so that afterward, when he would have been glad to break loose
from the habit, he could not.
He was young and weak; his father and mother were dead, and his
education had been neglected. He liked to get drunk, but he did not
like to see things lying round loose: whether it were ropes or saddle,
lock or coupling-bolt, or any thing even more costly, no matter, it
found its way into Polikéï's possession. Everywhere were men who
would take these things, and pay for them in wine or money according
to agreement. Money gained this way comes easy, the people say: no
learning is needed, no hard work, nothing; and if you try it once, you
won't like other work. One thing is, however, not good in such labors:
however cheaply and easily things are acquired in this way, and however
pleasant life becomes, still there is danger that disaffected people
may suddenly object to your profession, and cause you tears, and make
your life unhappy.
This was what happened in Polikéï's case. He got married, and God gave
him great happiness: his wife, the daughter of a herder, proved to be
a healthy, bright, industrious woman. Their children came in quick
succession. Polikéï had not entirely abandoned his trade, and all went
well. Suddenly temptation came to him, and he fell; and it was a mere
trifle that caused his fall. He secreted a pair of leather reins that
belonged to a muzhík. He was detected, thrashed, taken to the mistress,
and afterwards watched. A second time, a third time, he fell. The
people began to make complaints. The overseer threatened to send him
to the army; the lady of the house expostulated; his wife wept, and
began to pine away: in fact, every thing went entirely wrong. As a man,
he was kindly, and not naturally bad, but weak; he loved to drink,
and he had such a strong taste for it, that he could not resist. His
wife would scold him and even beat him when he came in drunk, but he
would weep. "Wretched man that I am," he would say, "what shall I do?
Tear out my eyes. I will swear off, I won't do it again." But lo! in a
month's time he goes out, gets drunk, and is not seen for two days.
"Where on earth does he get the money to go on sprees?" the people
asked themselves. His latest escapade was in the matter of the
office-clock. In the office there was an old clock hanging on the wall.
It had not gone for years. Polikéï got into the office alone when it
happened to be unlocked. He took a fancy to the clock, carried it off,
and disposed of it in town. Not long afterward it happened that the
shop-keeper, to whom he sold it, came out on some holiday to visit his
daughter, who was married to one of the house-servants; and he happened
to mention the clock. An investigation was made, though it was hardly
necessary. The overseer especially disliked Polikéï. The theft was
traced to him. They laid the matter before the lady of the house. The
lady of the house summoned Polikéï. He fell at her feet, and, with
touching contrition, confessed every thing as his wife had counselled
him to do. He accomplished it admirably. The lady began to reason with
him. She talked and she talked, she lectured and she lectured, about
God and duty and the future life, and about his wife, and about his
children; and she affected him to tears. The lady said,--
"I will forgive you, only promise me that you will never do it again."
"Never in the world. May the earth swallow me, may I be torn in
pieces!" said Polikéï; and he wept in a touching manner.
Polikéï went home, and at home wept all day like a calf, and lay on
the stove. From that time forth Polikéï had conducted himself in a way
above reproach. But his life ceased to be happy. The people regarded
him as a thief; and now that the hour of conscription had come, all
felt that it was a good way to get rid of him.
Polikéï was a horse-doctor, as we have already said. How he so suddenly
developed into a horse-doctor, was a mystery to every one, and to
himself most of all. In the stable where he had been with the groom who
had been exiled to Siberia, he had fulfilled no other duty than that of
clearing manure out of the stalls, or occasionally currying the horses,
and carrying water. It was not there that he could have learned it.
Then he became a weaver; then he worked in a garden, cleared paths;
then he got leave of absence, and became a porter[4] for a merchant.
But he could not have got any practice there. But when he was last
at home, somehow or other, little by little, his reputation began to
spread for having an extraordinary, if not even supernatural, knowledge
of the ailments of horses.
He let blood two or three times; then he tripped up a horse, and made
an incision in its fetlock; then he asked to have the horse brought
to a stall, and began to cut her with a needle until the blood came,
although she kicked, and even squealed: and he said that this was
meant "to let the blood out from under the hoof." Then he explained to
a muzhík that it was necessary to bleed the veins in both frogs "for
greater comfort," and he began to strike his wooden mallet upon the
blunt lancet. Then under the side of the dvornik's horse he twisted a
bandage made of a woman's kerchief. Finally he began to scatter oil
of vitriol over the whole wound, wet it from a bottle, and to give
occasionally something to take internally, as it occurred to him. And
the more he tormented and killed the poor horses, the more people
believed in him, and brought him their horses to cure.
I think that it is pot quite seemly of us gentlemen to make sport of
Polikéï. The remedies which he employed to stimulate belief in him
were the very same which were efficacious for our fathers, and will
be efficacious for us and our children. The muzhík, as he held down
the head of his one mare, which not only constituted his wealth, but
was almost a part of his family, and watched, with both confidence and
terror, Polikéï's face marked by a consequential frown, and his slender
hands, with the sleeves rolled up, with which he managed always to
pinch the very places that were most tender, and boldly to hack the
living body with the secret thought, "Now here's to luck," and making
believe that he knew where the blood was, and where the matter, where
was the dry and where was the fluid vein, and holding the handkerchief
of healing or the phial of sulphuric acid,--this muzhík could not
imagine such a thing as Polikéï raising his hand to cut without the
requisite knowledge. He himself could not have done such a thing. And,
as soon as the incision was made, he did not reproach himself because
he had hacked unnecessarily.
I don't know how it is with you; but I have had experience with a
doctor who, at my own request, treated people who were very dear to
my heart in almost exactly the same way. The veterinary lancet and
the mysterious white phial with corrosive sublimate, and the words,
"_apoplexy, hemorrhoids, blood-letting, pus,_" and so forth, are
they so different from "_nerves, rheumatism, organism,_" and the
others? _Wage du zu irren und zu träumen,--_"dare to be in error and
to dream,"--was said not only to poets, but to doctors and veterinary
surgeons.
[Footnote 4: _dvornik._]