[A]
"Now, if he had only had himself to be troubled about, it wouldn't have
mattered a kopeck,[B] for a _man_ can always make shift for himself.
But, you see, this man had been married once upon a time, and, although
his wife was gone, his three children were left, and he had _them_ to
care for as well as himself. And, what was worse, instead of being
boys, who might have gone out and earned something for themselves, they
were all girls, who could do nothing but stay at home and cry for food,
and many a time it went to his heart so that he stopped his ears, and
ran out of the house that he mightn't hear them.
"However, as the saying is, 'Bear up, Cossack, and thou'll be Maman
(chief) some day;' so he struggled on somehow or other, till at last it
came to Easter Eve. And then all the village was up like a fair, some
lighting candles before the pictures of the saints; some baking cakes
and pies, and all sorts of good things; others running about in their
best clothes, greeting their friends and relations; and, as soon as it
came to midnight, such a kissing and embracing, such a shaking of hands
and exchanging of good wishes, as I daresay you've seen many a time in
our villages; and nothing to be heard all over the place but 'Christ is
risen!' 'He is risen indeed!'[C]
"But, as you may think, our poor Stepka (Stephen) had neither new
clothes nor rejoicings in _his_ hut--nor lighted candles either, for
that matter.
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