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"That land, happy, poor, and narrow; as the world is God's, so

that was our own! How everything there belonged to us, how I

remember all that surrounded us, from the linden that with its

magnificent crown afforded shade to the children of the whole

village, down to every stream and stone; how every cranny of the

land was familiar to us, as far as the houses of our

neighbours-the boundary line of our realm!

"And if at times a Muscovite made his appearance, he left behind

him only the memory of a fair and glittering uniform, for we knew

the serpent only by his skin.