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Show 1 A TALE OF TWO THIEVES By Maxim Gorky. Once T sat with pome sort of a fellow In n tavern and. out of lonesonieness. Invited him to tell me :m episode out of his life story. He was nn Incredibly shabby and worn-out worn-out piece of humanity. Ho looked as If he had boon camp' lied all his life, to wedgo himself through narrow places and rub against corners everywhere with his body, wherefore his clothes got to b rugs and his body vanished somewhither as If he had been snatched from a bono factory. Ho was thin, angular and completely bald Not a single heir row on his head The cheeks were cadaverous, the cheek-bones cheek-bones formed two acute angles, and the skin was so tightly stretched over them Hint It shone, while on all the rest of the face it wart zigzagged with wrinkles But his e i ; wen- hold and shrewd; the cucumber-like long nose jerked constantly Hi an ironical munii' i, and tlv Hp h this man flowed smoothlj oul of his nouth, which was half concealed by a hard, red mustache, it struck me that his life must be very Interesting. "You want to hear my blographj ?" he asked me hoarsely. "Yes of course. I will have to tell, bo long as you treut ine But the entire story that Is scarcely practicable practica-ble I hae lived through an Immensely long life! It would he tedious to listen to It all and not at all ent rtalnlng to tell It. But a bit of It, an anecdote or so that's better. Do you care for If All right! But you'll order more vodka for the trouble? For. you know, pometlmes it's just ;cs disagreeable, perhaps, for a man to dive Into the post as to climb down Into a ItWer. The Blind Man's Story. "This little tale will hnrdly seem Important Import-ant enough to be available for your literary liter-ary purposes But It Is to me I like It The matter, If you will please observe, is very simple and consists of the following; "Once ono Christmas eve It was worry wo-rry comrade, Jashka BlSOW and I had been stuck In the street all day We had offered our services to ladles to carry parcels. But the ladles had turned deaf cars to us. They entered their carriage and drove Off from which you can Judgo that neither of us was lucky "Wo also begged, and in this waj got together to-gether something, I 29 kopeks, of which a 10-kopek piece was gl- n to me by a gentleman on tho stops of the Circuit court, turned out to be counterfeit, nnd Jashka In other respects also a much more talented fellow than had become a truly rich man bv evening. He bad 11 roubles and 76 kopeks "This amount he s;dd had been Riven to him In a lump bv some ladv; and this lad) WSJ at the same time magnanimous enough to present to him not only the money but likewise the purse and the handkerchief to boot "That Is apt to happen now nnd then, you know Some time a a person gets Into Bi-ch a condition out of Sheer kindness that he acts as If he wasn't Just all right and wanted to squeeze you to death only to get rid of ou "When Jashka told me about tho truly Christian conduct of this lady, he k pt looking around furtively for some reason or other. No doubt he wanted to thank the good soul once more for his rich present, pres-ent, and he kept urging me, 'Quicker, qui' k. i " "v g ran anvway. as f.it us we could With all my being with every particle of mv frozen body. I hurried to get into a w rui place. The wind l."vled. li whirled tin snow up from the sidewalk and hurled it down from tho roofs Cold piercing thorns flew about and lodged In the collar The face was scraped as with knives, and so frozen was iny neck that It seemed to be as thin rus a ling r I In alenlng to snap off at any careless movement I kept constantly burying It between the shoulders shoul-ders for fear of losing my head. Neither Of 1 1 B was clad according to the season, but Jashka felt warm on account of hap-plness, hap-plness, while I fell stiii colder on account of envy. ' I in not, miu knov, a luck fellow-devil fellow-devil take me Only once in all my llfo tie r was a sumover presented to me. and even that was full of boiling wotcr. and hi I scikb d m leg w hile running with It and had to spend ton da rs In the prison hi spltal until I was healed And another time but that's another matter. ' Well, then Jashka nnd I were running along the street, and as he ran he said " 'We're going to celebrate the holiday n.jgn'.lh enily ' We'll pay the room rent. 11 i ' ou are, old beldame' You bet. A quart of vodka. And how would a ham go with It? H m! Not at ail so bad, a ham' Oh but that will come high, won't It? Do you know what they are selling sell-ing at?' 1 did not know, but I knew the Intrinsic Intrin-sic value of ham. and we d Id I i procure pro-cure on We determined upon entering the start In whl h we saw the most people. peo-ple. Things aie bound to be good a store which Is narrowed bj a lot of pur-ch pur-ch isera ergo, as the Romans used to say. one can choose there according to ono s taato Supplies for a Holiday ' 'A ham please r shouted ' shka, pushing push-ing himself through the i rowd Show me a ham, not large, but good I beg jour pardon you jostled nie, too. I um well aware of who is unmannerly, but I know also thut it is Impossible to be verj courteous cour-teous here. Surely I can't help it If It is urcomfortably narrow In hero What! I touch our pocket? Phat .is your hand lliat met mine as U crept into my coat pi i ket. i buy for in n ou too; so we both have an equal right 'Jashka comported himself in the store as if h Intended buying a whole consignment consign-ment ol hums, sac I'jhi of them. And 1 aalled mself of Hie confusion and. in my own modest way appropriated a box of marmalade, a bottle of Olive oil and two big boiled sausages 'Well, le v. we will, Indeed, have a holiday,' hol-iday,' rejoiced Jashka. 'It's going to be a feast for fair!' "H Leaped as he walked ami snuffled audibly with his 'portecochere' as we used to call' his thh k, broad nose And his gray little ees were resplendent with Joy. I too felt ulad. 'To eat palatably now and then Is a Kr' at pleasure for llltl people. "And so, sir. we kept moving toward our lodging, driven forward b the storm and wind At the same time wo wero residing re-siding In a cellar room on the outskirts of the city, In the home of a God-fearing old woman, B pedlar iti the vegetable mart. Thoso reglotid were always lonely and deserted. In tho winter there wasn't a Bi Hi to he met on the streets after 6 in thi evening, And if nny form did show Itself, It most Indubitably carried Its heart In Its soles. "Weill so we run and suddenly wo see ahead of us a man He walks and totters apparently drunk Jashka nudges me and whispers' 'Get onto his fur1' "To meet a person wrapped In a fur mantle is agreeable, you know, for the reason that a fur mantle has n-j buttons and Is very easily slipped off. And so we gc-t up close behind this felloe and find the fellow la brond-shouldc-red and of a prodigious size. H grumbles about something some-thing We ponder. The Big Man's Complaint. "Suddenly he stops, so quickly that our noses barely escape striking against his back He stands stock still and swinging his hands upward, bawls in the healthiest sort of bass: " 'I am ho whom nobody loves" "It was as If he had shot the words out of a cannon We recoiled; but he had alreadv seen ua and. planting himself With his back to a wall experienced man demanded " 'Who are you scoundrels?' " Friars mendicant replied Jashka. modestly. " 'Beggars'' That's proper; for I, too. nm poor In strength Where arc you going0 go-ing0 " 'Into our hole.' replied Jashka. " I 11 go with you. Where else can I go? I don't know where Beggars, receive m. I will feed you and give you drink Take me home with you, Be friendly to me." " 'Invite him.' whispers Jashka to me "In the roaring voice of this man I hcaid the notes of drunkenness, but I heard also somewhat more the howling and bellowing of a dec-ply wounded, stricken heart I possess a fine Instinct for drama I was once a prompter in a theater and, so. I invited tho roaring fellow to ua moat Insistently, " I accept! I will dwell with you, beggars!' beg-gars!' he shouted with all the vigor of his broad ch i "We walked along abreast with him and h said. "Tin nu know who I am? I am ono who Hees from the holiday, 1 am th Customs Inspector Gontsharow Nikolai Niko-lai Dlmltrlowitsh. that's who I am. 1 have a wife at home; children two sons and I love them. Flowers, pictures, hooks are there; lhe are ull mine. It Is all nice and cozv and warm at my home, if all thut I have ,-u home were yours, it would take you long to spend It in drink But 1 1 am no drunkard even If I am drunk now 1 am drunk because be-cause I feel oppressed. Holidays always n ake me f.-i-l crumped and oppressed.' Brought Him to Their Den. " 'You are Incapable of understanding that. It la a deep wound it Is my sor-tow sor-tow ' "I listened with great interest. Whenever When-ever I see a powerful big fellow it always ceems to me he must be unhappy. This world was created for small, weak, lean, ragged people Put a starling Into a puddle and he dies And frogs and 1. i i and all other things of that kind are Incapable of living In pure, running water This fellow Interested me vastly, "And BO we brought him Into our den and thereby frightened our hostess not a little She believed that we had brought him there to rob him and was determined to go and notify the police We pacified the old woman by pointing to our own cadaverous forma anil then to that co-lOSSUS co-lOSSUS with his Immense arms and broad visage and huge chest. He could have strangled us and the old woman without rus much as getting Into a sweat. And then we ordi red the pacified old woman to the tavern and tho three of us oat down to the table. f ' "We sat In our miniature cave nnd drank slowly, awaiting the advent of the 1 liday Uur guest took off his fur and n in. lined in his short sleeves without hi;-vest. hi;-vest. He sat opposite um nnd roared " 'You arc obviously knaves, I can feel that. You tie when you aav you are bi k-g.irs. k-g.irs. You are too oung to be beggars and your eyes, moreover, are too brazen But no matter what ou are, It Is all the same to me. 1 know that you are not ashamed of your life. That s It! And I am ashamed Shame drove mo away from home- ' "Do you know, sir, there Is a nervous sickness called St Yltus's dance? Well, there urc people whose conscience suffers with a sickness Just like It And I recognized recog-nized that the inspector was one of those " 'At my home, he continued, 'everything 'every-thing is conducted In the most orderly manner and It Is awfully disagreeable to live in so orderly a f-ishion Everything is placed and hung once for all; and everything every-thing Is so rooted to Us place that not oven an earthquake would bo able to transpose all these chairs, pictures, cta-geres. cta-geres. They have become rooted Into the lloor and Into tho soul of my wife These wooden, Inanimate things have grown into our lives 'ind I myself can no longer live without them. Mocked by Neatness of His Home. " 'One gets so habituated to all this wooden trash as to become wooden, too. You get accustomed to It all, cherish It, pit) It the evil one take It all' It grows and crowds ou, It crowds tin air eut of tho room and does not allow you to breathe freely. " 'And now this army of customs has decked Itself out as a holiday, has made Itself fair and attractive and resplendent it is repulslvel resplendent, it mocks me. " 'Yes. it knows; once I had three pieces In all. a pallet, a chair a.id a table And her portrait was there, too. Now I have a hundred artlcl-s of furniture; they demand de-mand that people tit Upon them who are worthy of their price Well, then, there come people of wealth to me to sit on tht m!' Th Inspector drank a glass of vodka and then continued; " 'Those are all very decent people, half-dead people, pious cattle, brought up on the sweet grasses of the meadows of Russian literature " 'I feel unspeakably lonesome In their companj . The odor of their conversation asphyxiates me. 1 already know everything every-thing that they can possibly tell ine, and I also know that thi y can do nothing to become mole animated and Interesting " 'Oo' The dullnt ss of their souls makes these people horrifying. All are lymphatic, giant-like immense; and even their words are us heavy as stones heavy enough to crush a person Whenever they visit me I feel as If 1 W'i helnt; surrounded ty bricks to ba Immured 1 hate them. But I cannot drive t hi m out and that 1- Whj 1 am afraid of them. it in not I who .ittrai-t them I am a disgruntled, taciturn man. They i ome solely for the purpose of sitting on my furniture. ICut one can I throw out the furniture, either My Wife loves It 1 wife also exists only" for tho sake of tho furniture By Id a' en' She hc-rself has became wooden!" "Smash It," Suggests Jashka. "The Inspector laughed, his back leaning lean-ing against tho wall And Jashka, to whom this lamentation of tho In9oector had prObabl become tedlollti loOK ad vantage of the opportunity to say: " 'if your Highness had only smashed this furniture to bits on the woman.1 " 'Well? And then''" ' That Is you see, all at once out with It ' " 'You fool " "He shook his Intoxicated head, and then let It sink upon his breast und said simply " it Is awfully repulsive to me. Oh. how lonely I ami Tomorrow Is the holiday, but I cannot. 1 cannot bo home, i carl absolutely not'' " 'Remain our guest fur a while,' sug-g' sug-g' Bted Tashka. "' 'Your guest "' "The- inspector looked about. Our small quarters were saturated through and through wltn smoke and dirt 'i understand p rfectlj what the matter mat-ter Is ' I Said to the lllpi Ct. ! " 'You? 'Who are you?' ho aekeel "1 am also B person w ho iuis once orderly.' or-derly.' 1 replied 'I, too, have enjoyed the charm of an undisturbed peaceful life 1. too. was elbowed out of life by trifles They elbowed, they Jostled out m soul and all that was in me. I longed as you long now. I took to drink nnd hern me a drunkard-1 ha..- the honor to Introduce myself." ' The Inspector stared at me and regarded regard-ed nn- a lone; time. b.-:n-. . ,.-ti I I y In solemn Hence Then I snw how his' thick red lips began to quiver disgustedly beneath the bushy mustache And he turned up his nose In a manner riot at all flattt i In to me. " 'Entirely?' he asked suddenly "All Trash Is Man." " 'Entirely,' 1 replied, 'and I carry my all with me ' " Who are you. then?' he demanded, still regarding me ' A man. All trash Is man nnd vice versa' 1 on e understoixl perfectly the art of speaking In aphorisms 1 'Very wiser ;-aid the inspector, without with-out rmm Ing his eos from me. " 'We are also educated people.' said Jashka modestly 'You will ilnd us en-tlrel en-tlrel eognenlal. Simple p,.,,p ,t without with-out any understanding. And we, too, ill-like ill-like various luxurious furniture. Of what use is It, anyway? A man doesn't sit on a chair Willi his face You ouht to enter into a close friendship with us.' " 'iv eald the inspector He had sud-di sud-di n i bi ibored up. " Yes, you AVe will disclose such secrets se-crets to you tomorrow.' ''Hand me in i oat" the inspector suddenly sud-denly commanded Jashka and sprang to hit feel And he si i very firmly on hh f i t " Where do vou want to go?' I asked. "Wh( re ." He looked it me timidly with his big, calf-like eyes and be-gan to shudder. 'i ? home!' "I looked at his face that had grown haggard, and said no more. "Irate has provided for every kind of cattle a stall conformable to Its nature, (ind no matter how the cattle may luhgt out with Um hind feet, it win get to its place Ha, ha hn' "And fo the Inspector left us onel then wi beard him 'iiin; with might and main for a fiacre " My companion laspeel Into pllenen nnd began to drink the voelka In measurel drafts. After he had emptied the glars he began to whistle and thrum upon the table with his lingers ' Well, nnd what happened then'.'" I asked 'Then? nothing. Were you expecting some-thing else?" "Yes the feast." "Oh, yes. There was a feaflt I forgot to tell you that the inspector mado a present of his purse to Jashka. It contained con-tained 20 roubles and some kopeks. Surely there was a fetusC" |
