After filling for two years the post of president of one of the government boards at Moscow

After filling for two years the post of president of one of the government boards at Moscow, Stepan Arkadyevich had won the respect, as well as the liking, of his fellow officials, subordinates and superiors, and all who had had business with him. The principal qualities in Stepan Arkadyevich which had gained him this universal respect in the service consisted, in the first place, of his extreme indulgence for others, founded on a consciousness of his own shortcomings; secondly, of his perfect liberalism - not the liberalism he read of in the papers, but the liberalism that was in his blood, in virtue of which he treated all men perfectly equally and exactly the same, whatever their fortune or rank might be; and thirdly - the most important point - of his complete indifference to the business in which he was engaged, in consequence of which he was never carried away, and made no mistakes.
On reaching the offices of the board Stepan Arkadyevich, escorted by a deferential porter with a portfolio, went into his little private room, put on his uniform, and went into the board room. The clerks and officials all rose, greeting him with good-humored deference. Stepan Arkadyevich moved quickly, as always, to his place, shook hands with the members of the board, and sat down. He made a joke or two, and talked just as much as was consistent with due decorum, and began work. No one knew better than Stepan Arkadyevich how to hit on that exact limit of freedom, simplicity and official stiffness which is necessary for the agreeable conduct of business. A secretary, with the good-humored deference common to everyone in Stepan Arkadyevich's office, came up with papers, and began to speak in the familiar and easy tone which had been introduced by Stepan Arkadyevich.
`We have succeeded in getting the information from the government department of Penza. Here, would you care?...'
`You've got it at last?' said Stepan Arkadyevich, laying his finger on the paper. `Now, gentlemen...'
And the sitting of the board began.
`If they but knew,' he thought, inclining his head with an important air and listening to the report, `what a guilty little boy their president was half an hour ago!' And his eyes were laughing during the reading of the report. Till two o'clock the sitting would go on without a break - then there would be an interval and luncheon.
It was not yet two, when the large glass doors of the board room suddenly opened and someone came in.
All the members of the board, sitting at the table, from below the portrait of the Czar and from behind the mirror of justice, delighted at any distraction, looked round at the door; but the doorkeeper standing there at once drove out the intruder, and closed the glass door after him.
When the case had been read through, Stepan Arkadyevich got up and stretched, and by way of tribute to the liberalism of the times took out a cigarette, being in the board room, and went into his private room. Two of his board fellows, the old veteran in the service, Nikitin, and the Kammerjunker Grinevich, went in with him.
`We shall have time to finish after lunch,' said Stepan Arkadyevich.
`To be sure we shall!' said Nikitin.
`A pretty sharp fellow this Fomin must be,' said Grinevich of one of the persons taking part in the case they were examining.
Stepan Arkadyevich frowned at Grinevich's words, giving him thereby to understand that it was improper to pass judgment prematurely, and made him no reply.
`Who was it who came in?' he asked the doorkeeper.
`Some fellow, your excellency, sneaked in without permission directly my back was turned. He was asking for you. I told him: when the members come out, then...'
`Where is he?'
`
`We have long been expecting you,' said Stepan Arkadyevich, going into his room and letting Levin's hand go as though to show that here all danger was over. `I am very, very glad to see you,' he went on. `Well, what now? How are you? When did you come?'
Levin was silent, looking at the unfamiliar faces of Oblonsky's two companions, and especially at the elegant Grinevich's hands - with such long white fingers, such long yellow nails, curved at their end, and such huge shining studs on the shirt cuff, that apparently these hands absorbed all his attention, and allowed him no freedom of thought. Oblonsky noticed this at once, and smiled.
`Ah, to be sure, let me introduce you,' he said. `My colleagues: Philip Ivanich Nikitin, Mikhail Stanislavich Grinevich' - and turning to Levin - `a Zemstvo member, a modern Zemstvo man, a gymnast who lifts five poods with one hand, a cattle breeder and sportsman, and my friend - Constantin Dmitrievich Levin, the brother of Sergei Ivanovich Koznishev.'
`Delighted,' said the veteran.

A LEAF FROM HEAVEN

                                      1872

                     FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
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                               A LEAF FROM HEAVEN

                           by Hans Christian Andersen



    HIGH up in the clear, pure air flew an angel, with a flower

plucked from the garden of heaven. As he was kissing the flower a very

little leaf fell from it and sunk down into the soft earth in the

middle of a wood. It immediately took root, sprouted, and sent out

shoots among the other plants.

    "What a ridiculous little shoot!" said one. "No one will recognize

it; not even the thistle nor the stinging-nettle."

    "It must be a kind of garden plant," said another; and so they

sneered and despised the plant as a thing from a garden.

    "Where are you coming?" said the tall thistles whose leaves were

all armed with thorns. "It is stupid nonsense to allow yourself to

shoot out in this way; we are not here to support you."

    Winter came, and the plant was covered with snow, but the snow

glittered over it as if it had sunshine beneath as well as above.

    When spring came, the plant appeared in full bloom: a more

beautiful object than any other plant in the forest. And now the

professor of botany presented himself, one who could explain his

knowledge in black and white. He examined and tested the plant, but it

did not belong to his system of botany, nor could he possibly find out

to what class it did belong. "It must be some degenerate species,"

said he; "I do not know it, and it is not mentioned in any system."

    "Not known in any system!" repeated the thistles and the nettles.

    The large trees which grew round it saw the plant and heard the

remarks, but they said not a word either good or bad, which is the

wisest plan for those who are ignorant.

    There passed through the forest a poor innocent girl; her heart

was pure, and her understanding increased by her faith. Her chief

inheritance had been an old Bible, which she read and valued. From its

pages she heard the voice of God speaking to her, and telling her to

remember what was said of Joseph's brethren when persons wished to

injure her. "They imagined evil in their hearts, but God turned it

to good." If we suffer wrongfully, if we are misunderstood or

despised, we must think of Him who was pure and holy, and who prayed

for those who nailed Him to the cross, "Father forgive them, for

they know not what they do."

    The girl stood still before the wonderful plant, for the green

leaves exhaled a sweet and refreshing fragrance, and the flowers

glittered and sparkled in the sunshine like colored flames, and the

harmony of sweet sounds lingered round them as if each concealed

within itself a deep fount of melody, which thousands of years could

not exhaust. With pious gratitude the girl looked upon this glorious

work of God, and bent down over one of the branches, that she might

examine the flower and inhale the sweet perfume. Then a light broke in

on her mind, and her heart expanded. Gladly would she have plucked a

flower, but she could not overcome her reluctance to break one off.

She knew it would so soon fade; so she took only a single green

leaf, carried it home, and laid it in her Bible, where it remained

ever green, fresh, and unfading. Between the pages of the Bible it

still lay when, a few weeks afterwards, that Bible was laid under

the young girl's head in her coffin. A holy calm rested on her face,

as if the earthly remains bore the impress of the truth that she now

stood in the presence of God.

We saw this from above

But in front of the tan-yard, close to the entrance, stood a

little girl clothed in rags, very pretty to look at, with curly

hair, and eyes so blue and clear that it was a pleasure to look into

them. The child said not a word, nor did she cry; but each time the

little door was opened she gave a long, long look into the yard. She

had not a button- that she knew right well, and therefore she remained

standing sorrowfully outside, till all the others had seen the grave

and had gone away; then she sat down, held her little brown hands

before her eyes, and burst into tears; this girl alone had not seen

Puggie's grave. It was a grief as great to her as any grown person can

experience.

    We saw this from above; and looked at from above, how many a grief

of our own and of others can make us smile! That is the story, and

whoever does not understand it may go and purchase a share in the

tan-yard from the window.