Act 1 Scene 1

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_ ACT I SCENE 1

The scene represents the verandah of a fine country-house, in front of which a croquet-lawn and tennis-court are shown, also a flower-bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess. Mary Ivanovna Saryntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her sister, Alexandra Ivanovna Kohovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semyonovich Kohovtsef, a fat flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince-nez, are sitting on the verandah at a table with a samovar and coffee-pot. Mary Ivanovna Saryntsova, Alexandra Ivanovna Kohovtseva, and Peter Semyonovich Kohovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is smoking.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and Nicholas Ivanovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage him, _J'aurais trouve tout ca tres gentil_;[1] but when I see that _your_ husband is playing the fool--yes, simply playing the fool--then I can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your husband, Nicholas, too. _Je lui dirai son fait, ma chere._[2] I am not afraid of anyone.

[Note 1: I should have considered it all very pretty.]

[Note 2: I will tell him the plain fact, my dear.]

MARY IVANOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all myself? but I don't think it so very important.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you let it go on, you will be beggared. _Du train que cela va ..._[3]

[Note 3: At the rate things are going.]

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like theirs.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my dear! Anything a _man_ does always seems right to you!

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Oh! I don't know. I was saying----

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because when you men begin playing the fool, _il n'y a pas de raison que ça finisse_.[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not allow it. _J'aurais mis bon ordre à toutes ces lubies._[5] What does it all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons everything, gives everything away, _et fait le genereux à droite et à gauche_.[6] I know how it will end! _Nous en savons quelque chose._[7]

[Note:
4: There is no reason for it to stop.
5: I should put an end to all these fads.
6: And plays the bountiful left and right.
7: We know something about it.]

 

PETER SEMYONOVICH [to Mary Ivanovna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and _tout ce qui s'en suit_;[8] as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but what is this? Explain it to me.

[Note 8: All the rest of it.]

MARY IVANOVNA. But he told you about it yesterday.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount--and that churches are unnecessary! But then how is one to pray, and all that?

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes. That is the worst of it. He would destroy everything, and give us nothing in its place.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. How did it begin?

MARY IVANOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed man.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. _Il etait très gentil et comme tout le monde._[9]

[Note 9: He was very nice, and like everybody else.]

MARY IVANOVNA. But, all the same, he was then quite changed.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. In what way?

MARY IVANOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely and simply had _l'idee fixe_. He read the Gospels for days on end, and did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and extracts, and then began going to see bishops and hermits--consulting them about religion.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And did he fast, or prepare for communion?

MARY IVANOVNA. From the time of our marriage--that's twenty years ago--till then he had never fasted nor taken the sacrament, but at that time he did once take the sacrament in a monastery, and then immediately afterwards decided that one should neither take communion nor go to church.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. That's what I say--thoroughly inconsistent!

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, a month before, he would not miss a single service, and kept every fast-day; and then he suddenly decided that it was all unnecessary. What can one do with such a man?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. I have spoken and will speak to him again.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Yes! But the matter is of no great importance.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. No? Not to you! Because you men have no religion.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Do let me speak. I say that that is not the point. The point is this: if he denies the Church, what does he want the Gospels for?

MARY IVANOVNA. Well, so that we should live according to the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, and give everything away.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. But how is one to live if one gives everything away?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And where has he found in the Sermon on the Mount that we must shake hands with footmen? It says "Blessed are the meek," but it says nothing about shaking hands!

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, of course, he gets carried away, as he always used to. At one time it was music, then shooting, then the school. But that doesn't make it any the easier for me!

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Why has he gone to town to-day?

MARY IVANOVNA. He did not tell me, but I know it is about some trees of ours that have been felled. The peasants have been cutting trees in our wood.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. In the pine-tree plantation?

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, they will probably be sent to prison and ordered to pay for the trees. Their case was to be heard to-day, he told me of it, so I feel certain that is what he has gone about.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. He will pardon them, and to-morrow they will come to take the trees in the park.

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, that is what it leads to. As it is, they break our apple-trees and tread down the green cornfields, and he forgives them everything.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Extraordinary!

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. That is just why I say that it must not be allowed to go on. Why, if it goes on like that, _tout y passera_.[10] I think it is your duty as a mother to _prendre tes mesures_.[11]

[Note:
10: Everything will be lost.
11: To take measures.]

MARY IVANOVNA. What can I do?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. What indeed! Stop him! Explain to him that this cannot go on. You have your children! What sort of an example is it for them?

MARY IVANOVNA. Of course, it is hard; but I go on bearing it, and hoping it will pass, like his former infatuations.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, but "_Aide toi et Dieu t'aidera!_"[12] You must make him feel that he has not only himself to think of, and that one can't live like that.

[Note 12: God helps those who help themselves.]

MARY IVANOVNA. The worst of all is that he no longer troubles about the children, and I have to decide everything myself. I have an unweaned baby, besides the older children: girls and boys, who have to be looked after, and need guidance. And I have to do it all single-handed. He used to be such an affectionate and attentive father, but now he seems no longer to care. Yesterday I told him that Vanya is not studying properly, and will not pass his exam., and he replied that it would be by far the best thing for him to leave school altogether.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. To go where?

MARY IVANOVNA. Nowhere! That's the most terrible thing about it; everything we do is wrong, but he does not say what would be right.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. That's odd.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. What is there odd about it? It is just _your_ usual way. Condemn everything, and do nothing yourself!

MARY IVANOVNA. Styopa has now finished at the University, and ought to choose a career; but his father says nothing about it. He wanted to take a post in the Civil Service, but Nicholas Ivanovich says he ought not to do so. Then he thought of entering the Horse-Guards, but Nicholas IvAnovich quite disapproved. Then the lad asked his father: "What am I to do then--not go and plough after all?" and Nicholas Ivanovich said: "Why not plough? It is much better than being in a Government Office." So what was he to do? He comes to me and asks, and I have to decide everything, and yet the authority is all in his hands.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, you should tell him so straight out.

MARY IVANOVNA. So I must! I shall have to talk to him.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And tell him straight out that you can't go on like this. That you do your duty, and he must do his; or if not--let him hand everything over to you.

MARY IVANOVNA. It is all so unpleasant!

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. I will tell him, if you like. _Je lui dirai son fait._[13]

[Note 13: I'll tell him the truth.]

[Enter a young priest, confused and agitated. He carries a book, and shakes hands all round.]

PRIEST. I have come to see Nicholas Ivanovich. I have, in fact, come to return a book.

MARY IVANOVNA. He has gone to town, but will be back soon.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. What book are you returning?

PRIEST. Oh, it's Mr. Renan's _Life of Jesus_.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Dear me! What books you read!

PRIEST [much agitated, lights a cigarette] It was Nicholas Ivanovich gave it to me to read.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA [contemptuously] Nicholas Ivanovich gave it you! And do you agree with Nicholas Ivanovich and Mr. Renan?

PRIEST. No, of course not. If I really did agree, I should not, in fact, be what is called a servant of the Church.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But if you are, as it is called, a faithful servant of the Church, why don't you convert Nicholas Ivanovich?

PRIEST. Everyone, in fact, has his own views on these matters, and Nicholas Ivanovich really maintains much that is quite true, only he goes astray, in fact, on the main point, the Church.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA [contemptuously] And what are the many things that Nicholas Ivanovich maintains that are quite true? Is it true that the Sermon on the Mount bids us give our property away to strangers and let our own families go begging?

PRIEST. The Church, in fact, sanctions the family, and the Holy Fathers of the Church, in fact, blessed the family; but the highest perfection really demands the renunciation of worldly advantages.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Of course the Anchorites acted so, but ordinary mortals, I should imagine, should act in an ordinary way, as befits all good Christians.

PRIEST. No one can tell unto what he may be called.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And, of course, you are married?

PRIEST. Oh yes.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And have you any children?

PRIEST. Two.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Then why don't you renounce worldly advantages, and not go about smoking a cigarette?

PRIEST. Because of my weakness, in fact, my unworthiness.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Ah! I see that instead of bringing Nicholas IvAnovich to reason, you support him. That, I tell you straight out, is wrong!

[Enter Nurse.]

NURSE. Don't you hear baby crying? Please come to nurse him.

MARY IVANOVNA. I'm coming, coming! [Rises and exit].

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. I'm dreadfully sorry for my sister. I see how she suffers. Seven children, one of them unweaned, and then all these fads to put up with. It seems to me quite plain that he has something wrong here [touching her forehead. To Priest] Now tell me, I ask you, what new religion is this you have discovered?

PRIEST. I don't understand, in fact ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Oh, please don't beat about the bush. You know very well what I am asking you about.

PRIEST. But allow me ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. I ask you, what creed is it that bids us shake hands with every peasant and let them cut down the trees, and give them money for vodka, and abandon our own families?

PRIEST. I don't know that ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. He says it is Christianity. You are a priest of the Orthodox Greek Church, and therefore you must know and must say whether Christianity bids us encourage robbery.

PRIEST. But I ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Or else, why are you a priest, and why do you wear long hair and a cassock?

PRIEST. But we are not asked ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Not asked, indeed! Why, I am asking you! He told me yesterday that the Gospels say, "Give to him that asketh of thee." But then in what sense is that meant?

PRIEST. In its plain sense, I suppose.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And I think not in the plain sense; we have always been taught that everybody's position is appointed by God.

PRIEST. Of course, but yet ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Oh, yes. It's just as I was told; you take his side, and that is wrong! I say so straight out. If some young school teacher, or some young lad, lickspittles to him, it's bad enough--but you, in your position, should remember the responsibility that rests on you.

PRIEST. I try to ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. What sort of religion is it, when he does not go to church, and does not believe in the sacraments? And instead of bringing him to his senses, you read Renan with him, and interpret the Gospels in a way of your own.

PRIEST [excitedly] I cannot answer. I am, in fact, upset, and will hold my tongue.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Oh! If only I were your Bishop; I'd teach you to read Renan and smoke cigarettes.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. _Mais cessez, au nom du ciel. De quel droit?_[14]

[Note 14: But do stop, for heaven's sake. What right have you?]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Please don't teach me. I am sure the Reverend Father is not angry with me. What if I have spoken plainly. It would have been worse had I bottled up my anger. Isn't that so?

PRIEST. Forgive me if I have not expressed myself as I should. [Uncomfortable pause].

[Enter Lyuba and Lisa. Lyuba, Mary Ivanovna's daughter,
is a handsome energetic girl of twenty. Lisa, Alexandra
Ivanovna's daughter, is a little older. Both have
kerchiefs on their heads, and are carrying baskets,
to go gathering mushrooms. They greet Alexandra
Ivanovna, Peter Semyonovich, and the priest.]

LYUBA. Where is Mamma?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Just gone to the baby.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Now mind you bring back plenty of mushrooms. A little village girl brought some lovely white ones this morning. I'd go with you myself, but it's too hot.

LISA. Do come, Papa!

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, go, for you are getting too fat.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Well, perhaps I will, but I must first fetch some cigarettes. [Exit].

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Where are all the young ones?

LYUBA. Styopa is cycling to the station, the tutor has gone to town with papa. The little ones are playing croquet, and Vanya is out there in the porch, playing with the dogs.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, has Styopa decided on anything?

LYUBA. Yes. He has gone himself to hand in his application to enter the Horse-Guards. He was horribly rude to papa yesterday.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Of course, it's hard on him too.... _Il n'y a pas de patience qui tienne._[15] The young man must begin to live, and he is told to go and plough!

[Note 15: There are limits to human endurance.]

LYUBA. That's not what papa told him; he said ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Never mind. Still Styopa must begin life, and whatever he proposes, it's all objected to. But here he is himself.

[The Priest steps aside, opens a book, and begins to read. Enter Styopa cycling towards the verandah.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. _Quand on parle du soleil on en voit les rayons._[16] We were just talking about you. Lyuba says you were rude to your father.

[Note 16: Speak of the sun and you see its rays.]

STYOPA. Not at all. There was nothing particular. He gave me his opinion, and I gave him mine. It is not my fault that our views differ. LyUba, you know, understands nothing, but must have her say about everything.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, and what have you decided on?

STYOPA. I don't know what Papa has decided. I'm afraid he does not quite know himself; but as for me, I have decided to volunteer for the Horse-Guards. In our house some special objection is made to every step that is taken; but this is all quite simple. I have finished my studies, and must serve my time. To enter a line regiment and serve with tipsy low-class officers would be unpleasant, and so I'm entering the Horse-Guards, where I have friends.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes; but why won't your father agree to it?

STYOPA. Papa! What is the good of talking about him? He is now possessed by his _idee fixe_.[17] He sees nothing but what he wants to see. He says military service is the basest kind of employment, and that therefore one should not serve, and so he won't give me any money.

[Note 17: Fixed idea.]

LISA. No! Styopa. He did not say that! You know I was present. He says that if you cannot avoid serving, you should go when you are called; but that to volunteer, is to choose that kind of service of your own free will.

STYOPA. But it's I, not he, who is going to serve. He himself was in the army!

LISA. Yes, but he does not exactly say that he will not give you the money; but that he cannot take part in an affair that is contrary to his convictions.

STYOPA. Convictions have nothing to do with it. One must serve--and that's all!

LISA. I only say what I heard.

STYOPA. I know you always agree with Papa. Do you know, Aunt, that Lisa takes Papa's side entirely in everything?

LISA. What is true ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Don't I know that Lisa always takes up with any kind of nonsense. She scents nonsense. _Elle flaire cela de loin._[18]

[Note 18: She scents it from afar.]

[Enter Vanya running in with a telegram in his hand, followed by the dogs. He wears a red shirt.]

VANYA [to Lyuba]. Guess who is coming?

LYUBA. What's the use of guessing? Give it here [stretching towards him. Vanya does not let her have the telegram].

VANYA. I'll not give it you, and I won't say who it is from. It's someone who makes you blush!

LYUBA. Nonsense! Who is the telegram from?

VANYA. There, you're blushing! Aunty, she is blushing, isn't she?

LYUBA. What nonsense! Who is it from? Aunty, who is it from?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. The Cheremshanovs.

LYUBA. Ah!

VANYA. There you are! Why are you blushing?

LYUBA. Let me see the telegram, Aunt. [Reads] "Arriving all three by the mail train. Cheremshanovs." That means the Princess, Boris, and Tonya. Well, I am glad!

VANYA. There you are, you're glad! Styopa, look how she is blushing.

STYOPA. That's enough--teasing over and over again.

VANYA. Of course, because you're sweet on Tonya! You'd better cast lots; for two men must not marry one another's sisters.[19]

[Note 19: In Russia the relationships that
are set up by marriage debar a marriage
between a woman's brother-in-law and her sister.]

STYOPA. Don't humbug! Shut up! How often have you been told to?

LISA. If they are coming by the mail train, they will be here directly.

LYUBA. That's true, so we can't go for mushrooms.

[Enter Peter Semyonovich with his cigarettes.]

LYUBA. Uncle Peter, we are not going!

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Why not?

LYUBA. The Cheremshanovs are coming directly. Better let's play tennis till they come. Styopa, will you play?

STYOPA. I may as well.

LYUBA. Vanya and I against you and Lisa. Agreed? Then I'll get the balls and call the boys. [Exit].

PETER SEMYONOVICH. So I'm to stay here after all!

PRIEST [preparing to go]. My respects to you.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. No, wait a bit, Father. I want to have a talk with you. Besides, Nicholas Ivanovich will be here directly.

PRIEST [sits down, and lights another cigarette]. He may be a long time.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. There, someone is coming. I expect it's he.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Which Cheremshanova is it? Can it be Golitzin's daughter?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, of course. It's the Cheremshanova who lived in Rome with her aunt.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Dear me, I shall be glad to see her. I have not met her since those days in Rome when she used to sing duets with me. She sang beautifully. She has two children, has she not?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, they are coming too.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. I did not know that they were so intimate with the Saryntsovs.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Not intimate, but they lodged together abroad last year, and I believe that _la princesse a des vues sur Lyuba pour son fils. C'est une fine mouche, elle flaire une jolie dot._[20]

[20] The princess has her eye on Lyuba
for her son. She is a knowing one,
and scents a nice dowry.]

PETER SEMYONOVICH. But the Cheremshanovs themselves were rich.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. They _were_. The prince is still living, but he has squandered everything, drinks, and has quite gone to the dogs. She petitioned the Emperor, left her husband, and so managed to save a few scraps. But she has given her children a splendid education. _Il faut lui rendre cette justice._[21] The daughter is an admirable musician; and the son has finished the University, and is charming. Only I don't think Mary is quite pleased. Visitors are inconvenient just now. Ah! here comes Nicholas.

[Note 21: One must do her that much justice.]

[Enter Nicholas Ivanovich.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. How d'you do, Alina;[22] and you, Peter Semyonovich. [To the Priest] Ah! Vasily Nikanorych. [Shakes hands with them].

[Note 22: Alina is an abbreviation, and a pet name, for Alexandra.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. There is still some coffee left. Shall I give you a cup? It's rather cold, but can easily be warmed up. [Rings].

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. No, thank you. I have had something. Where is Mary?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Feeding Baby.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Is she quite well?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Pretty well. Have you done your business?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. I have. Yes. If there _is_ any tea or coffee left, I will have some. [To Priest] Ah! you've brought the book back. Have you read it? I've been thinking about you all the way home.

[Enter man-servant, who bows. Nicholas Ivanovich
shakes hands with him. Alexandra Ivanovna shrugs
her shoulders, exchanging glances with her husband.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Re-heat the samovar, please.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. That's not necessary, Alina. I don't really want any, and I'll drink it as it is.

[Missy, on seeing her father, leaves her
croquet, runs to him, and hangs round his neck.]

MISSY. Papa! Come with me.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [caressing her]. Yes, I'll come directly. Just let me eat something first. Go and play, and I'll soon come.

[Exit Missy.]

[Nicholas Ivanovich sits down to the table, and eats and drinks eagerly.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, were they sentenced?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes! They were. They themselves pleaded guilty. [To Priest] I thought you would not find Renan very convincing ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And you did not approve of the verdict?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [vexed]. Of course I don't approve of it. [To Priest] The main question for you is not Christ's divinity, or the history of Christianity, but the Church ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Then how was it? _They_ confessed their guilt, _et vous leur avez donne un dementi_?[23] They did not steal them--but only took the wood?

[Note 23: And you contradicted them.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [who had begun talking to the priest, turns resolutely to Alexandra Ivanovna]. Alina, my dear, do not pursue me with pinpricks and insinuations.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But not at all ...

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. And if you really want to know why I can't prosecute the peasants about the wood they needed and cut down ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. I should think they also need this samovar.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, if you want me to tell you why I can't agree with those people being shut up in prison, and being totally ruined, because they cut down ten trees in a forest which is considered to be mine ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Considered so by everybody.

PETER SEMYONOVICH. Oh dear! Disputing again.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Even if I considered that forest mine, which I cannot do, we have 3000 acres of forest, with about 150 trees to the acre. In all, about 450,000 trees--is that correct? Well, they have cut down ten trees--that is, one 45-thousandth part. Now is it worth while, and can one really decide, to tear a man away from his family and put him in prison for that?

STYOPA. Ah! but if you don't hold on to this one 45-thousandth, all the other 44,990 trees will very soon be cut down also.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. But I only said _that_ in answer to your aunt. In reality I have no right to this forest. Land belongs to everyone; or rather, it can't belong to anyone. We have never put any labour into this land.

STYOPA. No, but you saved money and preserved this forest.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. How did I get my savings? What enabled me to save up? And I didn't preserve the forest myself! However, this is a matter which can't be proved to anyone who does not himself feel ashamed when he strikes at another man--

STYOPA. But no one is striking anybody!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Just as when a man feels no shame at taking toll from others' labour without doing any work himself, you cannot prove to him that he ought to be ashamed; and the object of all the Political Economy you learnt at the University is merely to justify the false position in which we live.

STYOPA. On the contrary; science destroys all prejudices.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. However, all this is of no importance to me. What is important is that in Yefim's[24] place I should have acted as he did, and I should have been desperate had I been imprisoned. And as I wish to do to others as I wish them to do to me--I cannot condemn him, but do what I can to save him.

[Note 24: Yefim was the peasant who had cut down the tree.]

PETER SEMYONOVICH. But, if one goes on that line, one cannot possess anything.

[AlexAndra Ivanovna and Styopa--

[Both speak together]

{ ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Then it is much more profitable
{ to steal than to work.
{
{ STYOPA. You never reply to one's arguments. I say that
{ a man who saves, has a right to enjoy his savings.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [smiling] I don't know which I am to reply to. [To Peter Semyonovich] It's true. One should not possess anything.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But if one should not possess anything, one can't have any clothes, nor even a crust of bread, but must give away everything, so that it's impossible to live.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. And it should be impossible to live as we do!

STYOPA. In other words, we must die! Therefore, that teaching is unfit for life....

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. No. It is given just that men may live. Yes. One should give everything away. Not only the forest we do not use and hardly ever see, but even our clothes and our bread.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. What! And the children's too?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, the children's too. And not only our bread, but ourselves. Therein lies the whole teaching of Christ. One must strive with one's whole strength to give oneself away.

STYOPA. That means to die.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, even if you gave your life for your friends, that would be splendid both for you and for others. But the fact is that man is not solely a spirit, but a spirit within a body; and the flesh draws him to live for itself, while the spirit of light draws him to live for God and for others: and the life in each of us is not solely animal, but is equipoised between the two. But the more it is a life for God, the better; and the animal will not fail to take care of itself.

STYOPA. Why choose a middle course: an equipoise between the two? If it is right to do so--why not give away everything and die?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. That would be splendid. Try to do it, and it will be well both for you and for others.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. No, that is not clear, not simple. _C'est tire par les cheveux._[25]

[Note 25: It's too fine spun.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, I can't help it, and it can't be explained by argument. However, that is enough.

STYOPA. Yes, quite enough, and I also don't understand it. [Exit].

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [turns to Priest] Well, what impression did the book make on you?

PRIEST [agitated] How shall I put it? Well, the historic part is insufficiently worked out, and it is not fully convincing, or let us say, quite reliable; because the materials are, as a matter of fact, insufficient. Neither the Divinity of Christ, nor His lack of Divinity, can be proved historically; there is but one irrefragable proof....

[Note: During this conversation first the
ladies and then Peter Semyonovich go out.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. You mean the Church?

PRIEST. Well, of course, the Church, and the evidence, let's say, of reliable men--the Saints for instance.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Of course, it would be excellent if there existed a set of infallible people to confide in. It would be very desirable; but its desirability does not prove that they exist!

PRIEST. And I believe that just _that is_ the proof. The Lord could not in fact have exposed His law to the possibility of mutilation or misinterpretation, but must in fact have left a guardian of His truth to prevent that truth being mutilated.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Very well; but we first tried to prove the truth itself, and now we are trying to prove the reliability of the guardian of the truth.

PRIEST. Well here, as a matter of fact, we require faith.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Faith--yes, we need faith. We can't do without faith. Not, however, faith in what other people tell us, but faith in what we arrive at ourselves, by our own thought, our own reason ... faith in God, and in true and everlasting life.

PRIEST. Reason may deceive. Each of us has a different mind.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [hotly] There, that is the most terrible blasphemy! God has given us just one sacred tool for finding the truth--the only thing that can unite us all, and we do not trust it!

PRIEST. How can we trust in it, when there are contradictions?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Where are the contradictions? That twice two are four; and that one should not do to others what one would not like oneself; and that everything has a cause? Truths of that kind we all acknowledge because they accord with all our reason. But that God appeared on Mount Sinai to Moses, or that Buddha flew up on a sunbeam, or that Mahomet went up into the sky, and that Christ flew there also--on matters of that kind we are all at variance.

PRIEST. No, we are not at variance, those of us who abide in the truth are all united in one faith in God, Christ.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. No, even there, you are not united, but have all gone asunder; so why should I believe you rather than I would believe a Buddhist Lama? Only because I happened to be born in your faith?

[The tennis players dispute] "Out!" "Not out!"

VANYA. I saw it ...:

[During the conversation, men-servants set the table again for tea and coffee.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. You say the Church unites. But, on the contrary, the worst dissensions have always been caused by the Church. "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens." ...

PRIEST. That was until Christ. But Christ did gather them all together.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, Christ united; but we have divided: because we have understood him the wrong way round. He destroyed all Churches.

PRIEST. Did he not say: "Go, tell the Church."

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. It is not a question of words! Besides those words don't refer to what we call "Church." It is the spirit of the teaching that matters. Christ's teaching is universal, and includes all religions, and does not admit of anything exclusive; neither of the Resurrection nor the Divinity of Christ, nor the Sacraments--nor of anything that divides.

PRIEST. That, as a matter of fact, if I may say so, is your own interpretation of Christ's teaching. But Christ's teaching is all founded on His Divinity and Resurrection.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. That's what is so dreadful about the Churches. They divide by declaring that they possess the full indubitable and infallible truth. They say: "It has pleased us and the Holy Ghost." That began at the time of the first Council of the Apostles. They then began to maintain that they had the full and _exclusive_ truth. You see, if I say there is a God: the first cause of the Universe, everyone can agree with me; and _such_ an acknowledgment of God will unite us; but if I say there is a God: Brahma, or Jehovah, or a Trinity, such a God divides us. Men wish to unite, and to that end devise all means of union, but neglect the one indubitable means of union--the search for truth! It is as if people in an enormous building, where the light from above shone down into the centre, tried to unite in groups around lamps in different corners, instead of going towards the central light, where they would naturally all be united.

PRIEST. And how are the people to be guided--without any really definite truth?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. That's what is terrible! Each _one_ of us has to save _his own_ soul, and has to do God's work _himself_, but instead of that we busy ourselves saving _other people_ and teaching _them_. And what do we teach them? We teach them now, at the end of the nineteenth century, that God created the world in six days, then caused a flood, and put all the animals in an ark, and all the rest of the horrors and nonsense of the Old Testament. And then that Christ ordered everyone to be baptized with water; and we make them believe in all the absurdity and meanness of an Atonement essential to salvation; and then that he rose up into the heavens which do not really exist, and there sat down at the right hand of the Father. We have got used to all this, but really it is dreadful! A child, fresh and ready to receive all that is good and true, asks us what the world is, and what its laws are; and we, instead of revealing to him the teaching of love and truth that has been given to us, carefully ram into his head all sorts of horrible absurdities and meannesses, ascribing them all to God. Is that not terrible? It is as great a crime as man can commit. And we--you and your Church--do this! Forgive me!

PRIEST. Yes, if one looks at Christ's teaching from a rationalistic point of view, it is so.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Whichever way one looks, it is so. [Pause].

[Enter Alexandra Ivanovna. Priest bows to take his leave.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Good-bye, Father. He will lead you astray. Don't you listen to him.

PRIEST. No. Search the Scriptures! The matter is too important, as a matter of fact, to be--let's say--neglected. [Exit].

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Really, Nicholas, you have no pity on him! Though he is a priest, he is still only a boy, and can have no firm convictions or settled views....

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Give him time to settle down and petrify in falsehood? No! Why should I? Besides, he is a good, sincere man.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. But what will become of him if he believes you?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. He need not believe _me_. But if he saw the truth, it would be well for him and for everybody.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. If it were really so good, everyone would be ready to believe you. As it is, no one believes you, and your wife least of all. She _can't_ believe you.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Who told you that?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, just you try and explain it to her! She will never understand, nor shall I, nor anyone else in the world, that one must care for other people and abandon one's own children. Go and try to explain that to Mary!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, and Mary will certainly understand. Forgive me, AlexAndra, but if it were not for other people's influence, to which she is very susceptible, she would understand me and go with me.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. To beggar your children for the sake of drunken Yefim and his sort? Never! But if I have made you angry, please forgive me. I can't help speaking out.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. I am not angry. On the contrary, I am even glad you have spoken out and given me the opportunity--challenged me--to explain to Mary my whole outlook on life. On my way home to-day I was thinking of doing so, and I will speak to her at once; and you will see that she will agree, because she is wise and good.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, as to that, allow me to have my doubts.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. But I have no doubts. For you know, this is not any invention of my own; it is only what we all of us know, and what Christ revealed to us.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Yes, you think Christ revealed this, but I think he revealed something else.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. It cannot be anything else.

[Shouts from the tennis ground.]

LYUBA. Out!

VANYA. No, we saw it.

LISA. I know. It fell just here!

LYUBA. Out! Out! Out!

VANYA. It's not true.

LYUBA. For one thing, it's rude to say "It's not true."

VANYA. And it's rude to say what is not true!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Just wait a bit, and don't argue, but listen. Isn't it true that at any moment we may die, and either cease to exist, or go to God who expects us to live according to His will?

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, what can I do in this life other than what the supreme judge in my soul, my conscience--God--requires of me? And my conscience--God--requires that I should regard everybody as equal, love everybody, serve everybody.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Your own children too?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Naturally, my own too, but obeying all that my conscience demands. Above all, that I should understand that my life does not belong to me--nor yours to you--but to God, who sent us into the world and who requires that we should do His will. And His will is ...

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And you think that you will persuade Mary of this?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Certainly.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. And that she will give up educating the children properly, and will abandon them? Never!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Not only will she understand, but you too will understand that it is the only thing to do.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Never!

[Enter Mary Ivanovna.]

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, Mary! I didn't wake you this morning, did I?

MARY IVANOVNA. No, I was not asleep. And have you had a successful day?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, very.

MARY IVANOVNA. Why, your coffee is quite cold! Why do you drink it like that? By the way, we must prepare for our visitors. You know the Cheremshanovs are coming?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, if you're glad to have them, I shall be very pleased.

MARY IVANOVNA. I like her and her children, but they have chosen a rather inconvenient time for their visit.

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA [rising] Well, talk matters over with him, and I'll go and watch the tennis.

[A pause, then Mary Ivanovna and Nicholas
Ivanovich begin both talking at once.]

MARY IVANOVNA. It's inconvenient, because we must have a talk.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. I was just saying to Aline ...

MARY IVANOVNA. What?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. No, you speak first.

MARY IVANOVNA. Well, I wanted to have a talk with you about Styopa. After all, something _must_ be decided. He, poor fellow, feels depressed, and does not know what awaits him. He came to me, but how can I decide?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Why decide? He can decide for himself.

MARY IVANOVNA. But, you know, he wants to enter the Horse-Guards as a volunteer, and in order to do that he must get you to countersign his papers, and he must also be in a position to keep himself; and you don't give him anything. [Gets excited].

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Mary, for heaven's sake don't get excited, but listen to me. I don't give or withhold anything. To enter military service of one's own free will, I consider either a stupid, insensate action, suitable for a savage if the man does not understand the evil of his action, or despicable if he does it from an interested motive....

MARY IVANOVNA. But nowadays everything seems savage and stupid to you. After all, he must live; you lived!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [getting irritable] I lived when I did not understand; and when nobody gave me good advice. However, it does not depend on me but on him.

MARY IVANOVNA. How not on you? It's you who don't give him an allowance.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. I can't give what is not mine!

MARY IVANOVNA. Not yours? What do you mean?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. The labour of others does not belong to me. To give him money, I must first take it from others. I have no right to do that, and I cannot do it! As long as I manage the estate I must manage it as my conscience dictates; and I cannot give the fruits of the toil of the overworked peasants to be spent on the debaucheries of Life-Guardsmen. Take over my property, and then I shall not be responsible!

MARY IVANOVNA. You know very well that I don't want to take it, and moreover I can't. I have to bring up the children, besides nursing them and bearing them. It is cruel!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Mary, dear one! That is not the main thing. When you began to speak I too began and wanted to talk to you quite frankly. We must not go on like this. We are living together, but don't understand one another. Sometimes we even seem to misunderstand one another on purpose.

MARY IVANOVNA. I want to understand, but I don't. No, I don't understand you. I do not know what has come to you.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well then, try and understand! This may not be a convenient time, but heaven knows when we shall find a convenient time. Understand not me--but yourself: the meaning of your own life! We can't go on living like this without knowing what we are living for.

MARY IVANOVNA. We have lived so, and lived very happily. [Noticing a look of vexation on his face] All right, all right, I am listening.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Yes, I too lived so--that is to say, without thinking why I lived; but a time came when I was terror-struck. Well, here we are, living on other people's labour--making others work for us--bringing children into the world and bringing them up to do the same. Old age will come, and death, and I shall ask myself: "Why have I lived?" In order to breed more parasites like myself? And, above all, we do not even enjoy this life. It is only endurable, you know, while, like Vanya, you overflow with life's energy.

MARY IVANOVNA. But everybody lives like that.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. And they are all unhappy.

MARY IVANOVNA. Not at all.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Anyhow, I saw that I was terribly unhappy, and that I made you and the children unhappy, and I asked myself: "Is it possible that God created us for this end?" And as soon as I thought of it, I felt at once that he had not. I asked myself: "What, then, has God created us for?"

[Enter Man-servant.]

MARY IVANOVNA [Not listening to her husband, turns to Servant] Bring some boiled cream.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. And in the Gospels I found the answer, that we certainly should not live for our own sake. That revealed itself to me very clearly once, when I was pondering over the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. You know?

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, the labourers.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. That parable seemed to show me more clearly than anything else where my mistake had been. Like those labourers I had thought that the vineyard was my own, and that my life was my own, and everything seemed dreadful; but as soon as I had understood that my life is not my own, but that I am sent into the world to do the will of God ...

MARY IVANOVNA. But what of it? We all know that!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Well, if we know it we cannot go on living as we are doing, for our whole life--far from being a fulfilment of His will--is, on the contrary, a continual transgression of it.

MARY IVANOVNA. But how is it a transgression--when we live without doing harm to anyone?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. But are we doing no harm? Such an outlook on life is just like that of those labourers. Why we ...

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, I know the parable--and that he paid them all equally.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH [after a pause] No, it's not that. But do, Mary, consider one thing--that we have only one life, and can live it well, or can waste it.

MARY IVANOVNA. I can't think and argue! I don't sleep at night; I am nursing. I have to manage the whole house, and instead of helping me, you say things to me that I don't understand.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Mary!

MARY IVANOVNA. And now these visitors.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. No, let us come to an understanding. [Kisses her] Shan't we?

MARY IVANOVNA. Yes, only be like you used to be.

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. I can't, but now listen.

[The sound of bells and an approaching vehicle are heard.]

MARY IVANOVNA. I can't now--they have arrived! I must go to meet them. [Exit behind corner of house. Styopa and Lyuba follow her].

VANYA. We shan't abandon it; we must finish the game later. Well, Lyuba, what now?

LYUBA [seriously] No nonsense, please.

[AlexAndra Ivanovna, with her husband and Lisa,
come out on to the verandah. Nicholas Ivanovich
paces up and down wrapt in thought.]

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Well, have you convinced her?

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Alina, what is going on between us is very important. Jokes are out of place. It is not I who am convincing her, but life, truth, God: they are convincing her--therefore she cannot help being convinced, if not to-day then to-morrow, if not to-morrow ... It is awful that no one ever has time. Who is it that has just come?

PETER SEMYONOVICH. It's the Cheremshanovs. Catiche Cheremshanov, whom I have not met for eighteen years. The last time I saw her we sang together: "La ci darem la mano." [Sings].

ALEXANDRA IVANOVNA. Please don't interrupt us, and don't imagine that I shall quarrel with Nicholas. I am telling the truth. [To Nicholas Ivanovich] I am not joking at all, but it seemed to me strange that you wanted to convince Mary just when she had made up her mind to have it out with you!

NICHOLAS IVANOVICH. Very well, very well. They are coming. Please tell Mary I shall be in my room. [Exit].

[Curtain.] _

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