Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/219

Rh circumstantially were entered the names of their fathers and mothers, and how they had behaved: of one only, a certain Fedotov, it was stated: 'father unknown; he was the son of the peasant girl Kapitolina, but he was of good character and not a thief.' All these details gave a peculiar air of freshness: it seemed as though the peasants had been alive only yesterday. After gazing a long time at their names, his heart was stirred and with a sigh he brought out 'Goodness, what a lot there are of you crowded in here! What did you do in your day, my dear souls? How did you all get along?' And his eyes unconsciously rested on one name. It was Pyotr Savelyev (Never mind the Trough), of whom the reader has heard already, and who once belonged to Madame Korobotchka. Again he could not refrain from saying: 'What a long name, it has spread all over the line. Were you a craftsman or simply a peasant, and what death carried you off? Was it at the pot-house or did a clumsy wagon run over you when you were asleep in the middle of the road? "Stepan Probka, carpenter, of exemplary sobriety." Ah, here he is, here is Stepan Probka, that giant who ought to have been in the Guards! He went about all the provinces with an axe in his belt and his boots slung over his shoulder, eating a hap'orth of bread and a couple of dried fish, though I bet he carried home a hundred silver roubles in his purse every time, or perhaps sewed up a note in his hempen breeches, or thrust it