One jovial3 friend of mine added, that the number of these paupers4 had so increased, that they already formed not a “Golden Company,” but a “Golden Regiment5.”
My witty6 friend was right; but he would have been yet nearer the truth had he said that these men formed, in Moscow, not a company, nor a regiment, but a whole army,—an army, I should judge, of about fifty thousand.
The regular townspeople, when they spoke7 to me about the pauperism of the city, always seemed to feel a certain pleasure or pride in being able to give me such precise information.
I remember I noticed, when visiting London, that the citizens there seemed also to find a certain satisfaction in telling me about London destitution8, as though it were something to be proud of.
However, wishing to inspect this poverty about which I had heard so much, I had turned my steps very often towards the Khitrof Market,—but on each occasion I felt a sensation of pain and shame. “Why should you go to look at the suffering of human beings whom you cannot help?” said one voice within me. “If you live here, and see all that is pleasant in town life, go and see also what is wretched,” replied another.
And so, one cold, windy day in December, two years ago (1883), I went to the Khitrof Market, the centre of the town pauperism.
It was on a week-day, about four in the afternoon. While still a good distance off I noticed greater and greater numbers of men in strange clothes,—evidently not originally meant for them,—and in yet stranger foot-wear; men of a peculiar9 unhealthy complexion10, and all apparently11 showing a remarkable12 indifference13 to everything that surrounded them.
Men in the strangest, most incongruous costumes sauntered along, evidently without the least thought as to how they might look in the eyes of others. They were all going in the same direction. Without asking the way, which was unknown to me, I followed them, and came to the Khitrof Market.
There I found women likewise in ragged14 capes15, rough
cloaks, jackets, boots, and goloshes. Perfectly16 free and easy in their manner, notwithstanding the grotesque18 monstrosity of their attire19, these women, old and young, were sitting, bargaining, strolling about, and abusing one another.
Market-time having evidently passed, there were not many people there; and as most of them were going up-hill, through the market-place, and all in the same direction, I followed them.
The farther I went, the greater became the stream of people flowing into the one road. Having passed the market, and gone up the street, I found that I was following two women, one old, the other young. Both were clothed in some grey ragged stuff. They were talking, as they walked, about some kind of business.
Every expression was unfailingly accompanied by some obscene word. Neither was drunk, but each absorbed with her own affairs; and the passing men, and those about them, paid not the slightest attention to their language, which sounded so strange to me. It appeared to be the generally accepted manner of speech in those parts. On the left we passed some private night-lodging-houses, and some of the crowd entered these; others continued to ascend20 the hill towards a large corner house. The majority of the people walking along with me went into this house. Before it, people all of the same sort were standing17 and sitting, on the sidewalk and in the snow.
At the right of the entrance were women; at the left, men. I passed by the men: I passed by the women (there were several hundreds in all), and stopped where the crowd ceased.
This building was the “Liapin free night-lodging-house” (“doss-house”). The crowd was composed of night-lodgers, waiting to be let in. At five o'clock in the evening this house is opened and the crowd admitted. Hither came almost all the people whom I followed.
I remained standing where the file of men ended. Those nearest stared at me till I had to look at them. The remnants of garments covering their bodies were very various; but the one expression of the eyes of all alike seemed to be, “Why are you, a man from another world, stopping here with us? Who are you? Are you a self-satisfied man of wealth, desiring to be gladdened by the sight of our need, to divert yourself in your idleness, and to mock at us? or are you that which does not and can not exist,—a man who pities us?”
On all their faces the same question was written. Each would look at me, meet my eyes, and turn away again.
I wanted to speak to some of them, but for a long time I could not summon up courage. However, eventually our mutual21 exchange of glances introduced us to each other; and we felt that, however widely separated might be our social positions in life, we were still fellow-men, and so we ceased to be afraid of one another.
Next to me stood a peasant with a swollen22 face and red beard, in a ragged jacket, with worn-out goloshes on his naked feet, though there were eight degrees of frost.[1] For the third or fourth time our eyes met; and I felt so drawn23 to him that I was no longer ashamed to address him (to have refrained from doing so would have been the only real shame), and I asked him where he came from.
He answered eagerly, while a crowd began to collect round us, that he had come from Smolensk in search of work, to be able to buy bread and pay his taxes.
“There is no work to be had nowadays,” he said: “the soldiers have got hold of it all. So here am I knocking about; and God is my witness, I have not had any thing to eat for two days.”
He said this shyly, with an attempt at a smile. A seller[2] of warm drinks, an old soldier, was standing near. I called him, and made him pour out a glass. The peasant took the warm vessel24 in his hands, and, before drinking, warmed them against the glass, trying not to lose any of the precious heat; and whilst doing this he related to me his story.
The adventures of these people, or at least the stories which they tell, are almost always the same: He had had a little work; then it had ceased: and here, in the night-lodging-house, his purse, containing his money and passport, had been stolen from him. Now he could not leave Moscow.
He told me that during the day he warmed himself in public-houses, eating any stale crust of bread which might be given him. His night's lodging here in Liapin's house cost him nothing.
He was only waiting for the round of the police-sergeant to lock him up for being without his passport, when he would be sent on foot, with a party of men similarly situated25, to the place of his birth.
“They say the inspection26 will take place on Thursday, when I shall be taken up; so I must try and keep on until then.” (The prison and his compulsory27 journey appeared to him as the “promised land.”) While he was
speaking, two or three men in the crowd said they were also in exactly the same situation.
A thin, pale youth, with a long nose, only a shirt upon his back, and that torn about the shoulders, and a tattered28 cap on his head, edged his way to me through the crowd. He was shivering violently all the time, but tried, as he caught my eye, to smile scornfully at the peasant's conversation, thinking thus to show his superiority.
I offered him some drink.
He warmed his hands on the tumbler as the other had done; but just as he began to speak, he was shouldered aside by a big, black, hook-nosed, bare-headed fellow, in a thin shirt and waistcoat, who also asked for some drink.
Then a tall old man, with a thin beard, in an overcoat fastened round the waist with a cord, and in bark shoes, had some. He was drunk.
Then came a little man, with a swollen face and wet eyes, in a coarse brown jacket, with his knees protruding29 through his torn trousers and knocking against each other with cold. He shivered so that he could not hold the glass, and spilled the contents over his clothes: the others began to abuse him, but he only grinned miserably30, and shivered.
After him came an ugly, deformed31 man in rags, and with bare feet. Then an individual of the officer type; another belonging to the church class; then a strange-looking being without a nose,—all of them hungry, cold, suppliant32, and humble,—crowded round me, and stretched out their hands for the glass; but the drink was exhausted33. Then one man asked for money: I gave him some. A second and a third followed, till the whole crowd pressed on me. In the general confusion the gatekeeper of the neighbouring house shouted to the crowd to clear the pavement before his house, and the people submissively obeyed.
Some of them undertook to control the tumult34, and took me under their protection. They attempted to drag me out of the crush. But the crowd that formerly35 had lined the pavement in a long file, had now become condensed about me. Every one looked at me and begged; and it seemed as if each face were more pitiful, harassed36, and degraded than the other. I distributed all the money I had,—only about twenty rubles,—and entered the lodging-house with the crowd. The house was an enormous one, and consisted of four parts. In the upper storeys were the men's rooms; on the ground-floor the women's.
I went first into the women's dormitory,—a large room, filled with beds resembling the berths37 in a third-class railway-carriage. They were arranged in two tiers, one above the other.
Strange-looking women in ragged dresses, without jackets, old and young, kept coming in and occupying places, some below, others climbing above. Some of the elder ones crossed themselves, pronouncing the name of the founder38 of the refuge. Some laughed and swore.
I went up-stairs. There, in a similar way, the men had taken their places. Amongst them I recognized one of those to whom I had given money. On seeing him I suddenly felt horribly ashamed, and made haste to leave.
With a sense of having committed some crime, I returned home. There I entered along the carpeted steps into the rug-covered hall, and, having taken off my fur coat, sat down to a meal of five courses, served by two footmen in livery, with white ties and white gloves. A scene of the past came suddenly before me. Thirty years ago I saw a man's head cut off under the guillotine in Paris before a crowd of thousands of spectators. I was aware that the man had been a great criminal: I was acquainted with all the arguments in justification39 of capital punishment for such offences. I saw this execution carried out deliberately40: but at the moment that the head and body were severed41 from each other by the keen blade, I gasped42, and realized in every fibre of my being, that all the arguments which I had hitherto heard in favour of capital punishment were wickedly false; that, no matter how many might agree that it was a lawful43 act, it was literally44 murder; whatever other title men might give it, they thus had virtually committed murder, that worst of all crimes: and there was I, both by my silence and my non-interference, an aider, an abetter45, and participator in the sin.
Similar convictions were again forced upon me when I now beheld46 the misery47, cold, hunger, and humiliation48 of thousands of my fellow-men. I realized not only with my brain, but in every pulse of my soul, that, whilst there were thousands of such sufferers in Moscow, I, with tens of thousands of others, daily filled myself to repletion49 with luxurious50 dainties of every description, took the tenderest care of my horses, and clothed my very floors with velvet51 carpets!
Whatever the wise and learned of the world might say about it, however unalterable the course of life might seem to be, the same evil was continually being enacted52,
and I, by my own personal habits of luxury, was a promoter of that evil.
The difference between the two cases was only this: that in the first, all I could have done would have been to shout out to the murderers standing near the guillotine, who were accomplishing the deed, that they were committing a murder, and by every means to try to hinder them,—while, of course, knowing that my interference would be in vain. Whereas, in this second case, I might have given away, not only the drink and the small sum of money I had with me, but also the coat from off my shoulders, and all that I possessed53 at home. Yet I had not done so, and therefore felt, and feel, and can never cease to feel, that I myself am a partaker in a crime which is continually being committed, so long as I have superfluous54 food whilst others have none, so long as I have two coats whilst there exists one man without any.
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1
pauperism
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| n.有被救济的资格，贫困 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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9
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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15
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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32
suppliant
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| adj.哀恳的；n.恳求者，哀求者 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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berths
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| n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位 | |
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38
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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41
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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42
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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43
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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45
abetter
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| n.教唆者，怂恿者 | |
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46
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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47
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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48
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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49
repletion
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| n.充满，吃饱 | |
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50
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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51
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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52
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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54
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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