Shoemaker Martn Avdyeich lived in the city. He lived in a bas.e.m.e.nt, in a room with one window. The window looked out on the street. Through it the people could be seen as they pa.s.sed by: though only the feet were visible, Martn Avdyeich could tell the men by their boots. He had lived for a long time in one place and had many acquaintances. It was a rare pair of boots in the neighbourhood that had not gone once or twice through his hands. Some he had resoled; on others he had put patches, or fixed the seams, or even put on new uppers. Frequently he saw his own work through the window. He had much to do, for he did honest work, put in strong material, took no more than was fair, and kept his word. If he could get a piece of work done by a certain time he undertook to do it, and if not, he would not cheat, but said so in advance. Everybody knew Avdyeich, and his work never stopped.
Avdyeich had always been a good man, but in his old age he thought more of his soul and came near unto G.o.d. Even while Martn had been living with a master, his wife had died, and he had been left with a boy three years of age. Their children did not live long. All the elder children had died before. At first Martn had intended sending his son to his sister in a village, but then he felt sorry for the little lad, and thought: "It will be hard for my Kapitoshka to grow up in somebody else"s family, and so I will keep him."
Avdyeich left his master, and took up quarters with his son. But G.o.d did not grant Avdyeich any luck with his children. No sooner had the boy grown up so as to be a help to his father and a joy to him, than a disease fell upon him and he lay down and had a fever for a week and died. Martn buried his son, and was in despair. He despaired so much that he began to murmur against G.o.d. He was so downhearted that more than once he asked G.o.d to let him die, and rebuked G.o.d for having taken his beloved only son, and not him. He even stopped going to church.
One day an old man, a countryman of Avdyeich"s, returning from Troitsa,--he had been a pilgrim for eight years,--came to see him.
Avdyeich talked with him and began to complain of his sorrow:
"I have even no desire to live any longer, G.o.dly man. If I could only die. That is all I am praying G.o.d for. I am a man without any hope."
And the old man said to him:
"You do not say well, Martn. We cannot judge G.o.d"s works. Not by our reason, but by G.o.d"s judgment do we live. G.o.d has determined that your son should die, and you live. Evidently it is better so. The reason you are in despair is that you want to live for your own enjoyment."
"What else shall we live for?" asked Martn.
And the old man said:
"We must live for G.o.d, Martn. He gives us life, and for Him must we live. When you shall live for Him and shall not worry about anything, life will be lighter for you."
Martn was silent, and he said:
"How shall we live for G.o.d?"
And the old man said:
"Christ has shown us how to live for G.o.d. Do you know how to read? If so, buy yourself a Gospel and read it, and you will learn from it how to live for G.o.d. It tells all about it."
These words fell deep into Avdyeich"s heart. And he went that very day and bought himself a New Testament in large letters, and began to read.
Avdyeich had meant to read it on holidays only, but when he began to read it, his heart was so rejoiced that he read it every day. Many a time he buried himself so much in reading that all the kerosene would be spent in the lamp, but he could not tear himself away from the book. And Avdyeich read in it every evening, and the more he read, the clearer it became to him what G.o.d wanted of him, and how he should live for G.o.d; and his heart grew lighter and lighter. Formerly, when he lay down to sleep, he used to groan and sob and think of his Kapitoshka, but now he only muttered:
"Glory be to Thee, glory to Thee, O Lord! Thy will be done!"
Since then Avdyeich"s life had been changed. Formerly, he used on a holiday to frequent the tavern, to drink tea, and would not decline a drink of vodka. He would drink a gla.s.s with an acquaintance and, though he would not be drunk, he would come out of the tavern in a happier mood, and then he would speak foolish things, and would scold, or slander a man. Now all that pa.s.sed away from him. His life came to be calm and happy. In the morning he sat down to work, and when he got through, he took the lamp from the hook, put it down on the table, fetched the book from the shelf, opened it, and began to read it. And the more he read, the better he understood it, and his mind was clearer and his heart lighter.
One evening Martn read late into the night. He had before him the Gospel of St. Luke. He read the sixth chapter and the verses: "And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
And he read also the other verses, where the Lord says: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."
When Avdyeich read these words, there was joy in his heart. He took off his gla.s.ses, put them on the book, leaned his arms on the table, and fell to musing. And he began to apply these words to his life, and he thought:
"Is my house on a rock, or on the sand? It is well if it is founded on a rock: it is so easy to sit alone,--it seems to me that I am doing everything which G.o.d has commanded; but if I dissipate, I shall sin again. I will just proceed as at present. It is so nice! Help me, G.o.d!"
This he thought, and he wanted to go to sleep, but he was loath to tear himself away from the book. And he began to read the seventh chapter. He read about the centurion, about the widow"s son, about the answer to John"s disciples, and he reached the pa.s.sage where the rich Pharisee invited the Lord to be his guest, and where the sinning woman anointed His feet and washed them with her tears, and he justified her. And he reached the 44th verse, and read: "And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment."
When he had read these verses, he thought:
"He gave no water for His feet; he gave no kiss; he did not anoint His head with oil."
And again Avdyeich took off his gla.s.ses and placed them on the book, and fell to musing.
"Evidently he was just such a Pharisee as I am. He, no doubt, thought only of himself: how to drink tea, and be warm, and in comfort, but he did not think of the guest. About himself he thought, but no care did he have for the guest. And who was the guest?--The Lord Himself. Would I have done so, if He had come to me?"
And Avdyeich leaned his head on both his arms and did not notice how he fell asleep.
"Martn!" suddenly something seemed to breathe over his very ear.
Martn shuddered in his sleep: "Who is that?"
He turned around and looked at the door, but there was n.o.body there. He bent down again, to go to sleep. Suddenly he heard distinctly:
"Martn, oh, Martn, remember, to-morrow I will come to the street."
Martn awoke, rose from his chair, and began to rub his eyes. He did not know himself whether he had heard these words in his dream or in waking. He put out the light and went to sleep.
Avdyeich got up in the morning before daybreak, said his prayers, made a fire, put the beet soup and porridge on the stove, started the samovar, tied on his ap.r.o.n, and sat down at the window to work. And, as he sat there at work, he kept thinking of what had happened the night before.
His thoughts were divided: now he thought that it had only seemed so to him, and now again he thought he had actually heard the voice.
"Well," he thought, "such things happen."
Martn was sitting at the window and not so much working as looking out into the street, and if somebody pa.s.sed in unfamiliar boots, he bent over to look out of the window, in order to see not merely the boots, but also the face. A janitor pa.s.sed by in new felt boots; then a water-carrier went past; then an old soldier of the days of Nicholas, in patched old felt boots, holding a shovel in his hands, came in a line with the window. Avdyeich recognized him by his felt boots. The old man"s name was Stepanych, and he was living with a neighbouring merchant for charity"s sake. It was his duty to help the janitor. Stepanych began to clear away the snow opposite Avdyeich"s window. Avdyeich cast a glance at him and went back to his work.
"Evidently I am losing my senses in my old age," Avdyeich laughed to himself. "Stepanych is clearing away the snow, and I thought that Christ was coming to see me. I, old fool, am losing my senses." But before he had made a dozen st.i.tches, something drew him again toward the window.
He looked out, and there he saw Stepanych leaning his shovel against the wall and either warming or resting himself.
He was an old, broken-down man, and evidently shovelling snow was above his strength. Avdyeich thought: "I ought to give him some tea; fortunately the samovar is just boiling." He stuck the awl into the wood, got up, placed the samovar on the table, put some tea in the teapot, and tapped with his finger at the window. Stepanych turned around and walked over to the window. Avdyeich beckoned to him and went to open the door.
"Come in and get warmed up!" he said. "I suppose you are feeling cold."
"Christ save you! I have a breaking in my bones," said Stepanych.
He came in, shook off the snow and wiped his boots so as not to track the floor, but he was tottering all the time.
"Don"t take the trouble to rub your boots. I will clean up,--that is my business. Come and sit down!" said Avdyeich. "Here, drink a gla.s.s of tea!"
Avdyeich filled two gla.s.ses and moved one of them up to his guest, and himself poured his gla.s.s into the saucer and began to blow at it.
Stepanych drank his gla.s.s; then he turned it upside down, put the lump of sugar on top of it, and began to express his thanks; but it was evident that he wanted another gla.s.s.
"Have some more," said Avdyeich; and he poured out a gla.s.s for his guest and one for himself. Avdyeich drank his tea, but something kept drawing his attention to the window.
"Are you waiting for anybody?" asked the guest.
"Am I waiting for anybody? It is really a shame to say for whom I am waiting: no, I am not exactly waiting, but a certain word has fallen deep into my heart: I do not know myself whether it is a vision, or what. You see, my friend, I read the Gospel yesterday about Father Christ and how He suffered and walked the earth. I suppose you have heard of it?"
"Yes, I have," replied Stepanych, "but we are ignorant people,--we do not know how to read."
"Well, so I read about how He walked the earth. I read, you know, about how He came to the Pharisee, and the Pharisee did not give Him a good reception. Well, my friend, as I was reading last night about that very thing, I wondered how he could have failed to honour Father Christ. If He should have happened to come to me, for example, I should have done everything to receive Him. But he did not receive Him well. As I was thinking of it, I fell asleep. And as I dozed off I heard some one calling me by name: I got up and it was as though somebody were whispering to me: "Wait," he said: "I will come to-morrow." This he repeated twice. Would you believe it,--it has been running through my head,--I blame myself for it,--and I am, as it were, waiting for Father Christ."