Note-Book of Anton Chekhov Part 12

"That's my uncle."

Alas, what is terrible is not the skeletons, but the fact that I am no longer terrified by them.

A boy of good family, capricious, full of mischief, obstinate, wore out his whole family. The father, an official who played the piano, got to hate him, took him into a corner of the garden, flogged him with considerable pleasure, and then felt disgusted with himself. The son has grown up and is an officer.

N. courted Z. for a long time. She was very religious, and, when he proposed to her, she put a dried flower, which he had once given to her, into her prayer-book.

Z: "As you are going to town, post my letter in the letter-box."

N: (alarmed) "Where? I don't know where the letter-box is."

Z: "Will you also call at the chemist's and get me some naphthaline?"

N: (alarmed) "I'll forget the naphthaline, I'll forget."

A storm at sea. Lawyers ought to regard it as a crime.

X. went to stay with his friend in the country. The place was magnificent, but the servants treated him badly, he was uncomfortable, although his friend considered him a big man. The bed was hard, he was not provided with a night s.h.i.+rt and he felt ashamed to ask for one.

At a rehearsal. The wife:

"How does that melody in Pagliacci go? Whistle it."

"One must not whistle on the stage; the stage is a temple."

He died from fear of cholera.

As like as a nail is to a requiem.

A conversation on another planet about the earth a thousand years hence. "Do you remember that white tree?"

Anakhthema!

Zigzagovsky, Oslizin, Svintchulka, Derbaliguin.

A woman with money, the money hidden everywhere, in her bosom and between her legs....

All that procedure.

Treat your dismissal as you would an atmospheric phenomenon.

A conversation at a conference of doctors. First doctor: "All diseases can be cured by salt." Second doctor, military: "Every disease can be cured by prescribing no salt." The first points to his wife, the second to his daughter.

The mother has ideals, the father too; they delivered lectures; they built schools, museums, etc. They grow rich. And their children are most ordinary; spend money, gamble on the Stock Exchange.

N. married a German when she was seventeen. He took her to live in Berlin. At forty she became a widow and by that time spoke Russian badly and German badly.

The husband and wife loved having visitors, because, when there were no visitors they quarreled.

It is an absurdity! It is an anachronism!

"Shut the window! You are perspiring! Put on an overcoat! Put on goloshes!"

If you wish to have little spare time, do nothing.