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lived in the country a serf, Ivan Shcherbakov, and it was well with him. He himself was in the fulness of his strength, the first workman in the village, and he had three sons on their legs, one married, one engaged to be married, and the third who had begun to go out with the horses and plough. Ivan's old woman was wise, and a good manager, and her daughter-in-law turned out to be meek and a hard worker. There were no idle mouths about the house save a sick old father, who had lain on the stove for seven years from asthma. There was lots and to spare at Ivan's place—three horses with their foals, a cow with her one-year-old calf, and fifteen sheep. The women made shoes and clothes for the men, and wrought women's work at home; the muzhiks did peasants' work. There was bread in abundance.

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