Page:Korolenko - Makar's Dream and Other Stories.djvu/20

xii turn their faces towards the light. The writer's kind heart never ceases its search for the "eternally human" in every man, and deeply does he sympathise with mankind's unquenchable desire for freedom and justice, which can face evil unafraid. He himself has said in a letter to a friend: "The Universe is not the sport of accidental forces. Determinism, Evolution, and all other theories lead one to confess that there is a law which is drawing us toward something; toward something which we call 'good' in all its manifestations, that is to say toward kindness, truth, right, beauty, and justice."

That is the burden of Korolenko's message to the world, embodied in all his writings.

On his return from Siberia, Korolenko went to live in Nijni-Novgorod and there took an active part in bettering the conditions of life among "the insulted and the injured" whom he loved. In a year of famine he worked hard to organise free kitchens for the starving poor, and many energetic articles from his pen were published in the papers. He also continued to produce stories, sketches, and several longer novels, of which the best known is the "Blind Musician."

In 1894 he made a journey to England and America, and on his return wrote an amusing record of his travels entitled: "Without a Tongue."

In 1895 he became the editor of the magazine, Russkoye Bogatsvo, and since that date the great