NEGLECT A FIRE AND IT

SPREADS

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

And he would not but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee?

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.". MATT. xviii. 21-35.

IVA

VAN SHCHERBAKOF, a peasant, lived in the country. He lived well. He had perfect health, he was the best laborer in the village, and he had three sons grown up: one was married, one was engaged, and the third was a lad who was just beginning to tend the

horses and plow. His old wife, Ivanova, was a clever woman, and a good housekeeper; and the daughter-inlaw was peaceful and industrious. Ivan lived comfortably with his family. The only one of his household. who ate the bread of idleness was his infirm old father. For six years he had been lying on the oven, suffering from asthma. Ivan had plenty of everything; he had three horses and a colt, a cow with a calf, and fifteen sheep. The women not only mended their husbands' clothes, and made them, and also worked in the field: the muzhiks worked like true peasants. The old grain held out till the new came. They paid their taxes, and supplied all their necessities, with their oat-crop. Ivan lived comfortably with his children.

But in the next dvor lived Ivan's neighbor, Gavrilo, a cripple, the son of Gordyer Ivanof. And a quarrel arose between him and Ivan.

As long as the old Gordyer was alive, and Ivan's father was manager, the muzhiks lived like exemplary neighbors. If the women needed a sifter or a tub, or the muzhiks needed a corn-cloth or to borrow a wheel, they would send from one yard to the other, and, like good neighbors, accommodate each other. If a calf broke into the threshing-floor, they would drive it out, and only say, "Look out, don't let him come in again; we have not moved the corn yet." But as for hiding or locking things up either at the threshing-floor or in the shed, or quarreling, such things never happened.

Thus they got along while the old folks were alive. But when the next generation took the reins, a new state of things came about.

The whole trouble arose from a trifle.

A little hen belonging to Ivan's daughter-in-law took to laying early in the season. The young wife began to collect the eggs for Easter. Every day she went after the eggs to the wagon-box that stood in the shed. But the children, it seems, scared the hen, which flew over the fence into the neighbor's yard, and there began. to lay. The young woman heard the little hen cackling; she said to herself:

"I have n't time now; I must clean up the izba against the holidays. I'll go and get it by and by."

In the evening she went to the shed, to the wagonbox; not a sign of an egg. The young woman began to ask her mother-in-law and her brother-in-law if they had taken any out.

"No," say they, "we have n't."

But Taraska, the smallest brother-in-law, said:

"Your bantam has been laying over in the next yard. She was cackling over there, and she came flying back from there."

And the young woman looked at her bantam; she was sitting next the cockerel on the roost; her eyes were already shut; she was just going to sleep. And she would have asked her where she had been laying, if the hen could only have answered.

And the young woman went over to her neighbor's. The old woman came to the door.

"What do you want, young woman?"

"Well," says she, "baushka,1 my little hen flew over into your yard to-day. I wonder if she did n't lay an egg?"

"We haven't seen it at all. Our own hens, thank God, have been laying this long time. We gathered up our own, but we don't need other folks's. We, my little girl, never go into strangers' yards to collect eggs.'

This was an insult to the young woman, she said a word too much; the neighbor replied in the same way, and the women began to berate each other. Ivan's wife came out after water, and she also took a hand. Gavrilo's wife rushed out of the room and began to blame her neighbor: she recalled things that had happened, and added things that had never happened. A regular cackle ensued.

All screamed at once, and tried to say two words at a time. Yes, and the words were all bad: "You are such and such," "you are another," "you are a thief," "you are a trollop,"-"you starve your old father. in-law," "you are a beast.'

1 Baushka, for babushka, old woman or grandmother.

"And you, mean little beggar that you are, you made a hole in my sieve!"- "And you've got our bucketyoke. I want it back again."

They caught hold of the bucket-yoke, spilt the water, tore off each other's shawls, and began to fight.

Just here Gavrilo came in from the field, and took his wife's part. Ivan and his son rushed over, and they all fell in a heap. Ivan was a strong muzhik, and threw them all in different directions. He tore out a handful of Gavrilo's whiskers. A crowd collected, and it was hard to separate them.

That was the beginning of it.

Gavrilo wrapped up his bunch of whiskers in a piece of writing-paper, and brought suit in the district court. "I did not grow my beard," says he, "for the sake of letting that pigheaded Vanka pull it out."

And his wife kept telling her neighbors that now they would try Ivan at court, and send him to Siberia; and so the quarrel went on.

From the very first day the old man, as he lay on the oven, tried to pacify them; but the young people would not listen to him. He said to them: :

"Children, you are acting foolishly; and the whole thing started from a piece of foolishness. Just think, the whole trouble is about an egg! Suppose the children did pick up the little egg. Why, let them have it.2 One egg is n't worth much. God has plenty for all. Well, suppose she did say a bad word; you ought to have corrected it; you ought to have taught her to say better things. Well, you've had your fight we are all sinners! Such things happen. Now go and make it up, and all will be forgotten! But, if you act out of spite, things will go from bad to worse for you."

The younger ones did not listen; they thought the old man was talking nonsense, and was only grumbling, as old men are apt to do.

Ivan did not give in to his neighbor.

"I did not pull out his whiskers," said he, "he pulled

1 Koromuislo, the yoke which is used for carrying water.
2 Nu i Bog s nim; literally, "Well, and God be with them!"

them out himself; but his son tore out all my eye-hooks, and tore the shirt off my back. Just look at it!" And Ivan also went to court. The case was tried before the magistrate and at the district court. While they were at law, a bolt was missing from Gavrilo's cart. Gavrilo's women folk accused Ivan's son of stealing it. "We ourselves saw him go by the window at night," they said, "on his way to the cart; and some one said he stopped at the tavern, and tried to sell the bolt to the tavern-keeper."

Another suit was begun; and at home, every day, there was a new quarrel, a new fight. The little children, imitating their elders, quarreled; and the women, when they met at the river, did not pound so much with their paddles as they clacked with their tongues, and all to no good.

At first the muzhiks only accused each other, but in course of time they actually began to steal whatever happened to be lying round. And the women and children also learned to do the same. Their lives grew con

stantly worse and worse.

Ivan Shcherbakof and Gavrilo the cripple had their cases tried before the commune, and in the district court, and before the arbiter of the peace, until all the judges were weary of it; Gavrilo would have Ivan fined and put into jail, or Ivan would do the same to Gavrilo. And the more harm they did to each other the angrier they became. When dogs get to fighting, the more they tear each other, the more desperate they become. If some one pounds the dog from behind, he thinks it is the other dog that is biting, and grows madder still. So it was with these muzhiks. They went ahead with their lawsuits either one or the other would get punished by fine or arrest; and for all that, their hearts were filled with still greater hatred.

"Just wait! I'll get even with you yet!"

Thus their affairs dragged on for six years. Still the

old man on the oven kept saying the same thing.

used to try to reason with them:

"What are you doing, children?

He

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