I got your letter when I was fearfully bored and was sitting at the gate
yawning, and so you can judge how welcome that immense letter was. Your
writing is good, and in the whole letter I have not found one mistake in
spelling. But one thing I don’t like: why do you style yourself “your
worthless and insignificant brother”? You recognize your insignificance?
... Recognize it before God; perhaps, too, in the presence of beauty,
intelligence, nature, but not before men. Among men you must be conscious
of your dignity. Why, you are not a rascal, you are an honest man, aren’t
you? Well, respect yourself as an honest man and know that an honest man is
not something worthless. Don’t confound “being humble” with “recognizing
one’s worthlessness.” ...
It is a good thing that you read. Acquire the habit of doing so. In time
you will come to value that habit. Madame Beecher-Stowe has wrung tears
from your eyes? I read her once, and six months ago read her again with the
object of studying her--and after reading I had an unpleasant sensation
which mortals feel after eating too many raisins or currants.... Read “Don
Quixote.” It is a fine thing. It is by Cervantes, who is said to be almost
on a level with Shakespeare. I advise my brothers to read--if they haven’t
already done so--Turgenev’s “Hamlet and Don Quixote.” You won’t understand
it, my dear. If you want to read a book of travel that won’t bore you, read
Gontcharov’s “The Frigate Pallada.”
... I am going to bring with me a boarder who will pay twenty roubles a
month and live under our general supervision. Though even twenty roubles is
not enough if one considers the price of food in Moscow and mother’s
weakness for feeding boarders with righteous zeal. [Footnote: This letter
was written by Chekhov when he was in the fifth class of the Taganrog high
school.]