To N. A. Leikin, 21 February 1889. Moscow.
Н. А. ЛЕЙКИНУ, 21 февраля 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Written from Moscow on 21 February 1889 to the publisher and humorist Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" ("Splinters"), a frequent and familiar correspondent. Chekhov opens by excusing himself for having left Petersburg without saying goodbye to Leikin in person, half-jokingly asking him to imagine himself fleeing to understand why.
2 He turns to news of the season: mock congratulations on Lent, cabbage, and boredom, with spring and dacha season approaching; he envies Leikin his own settled country place, having still to find and fret over one himself. He then reports on money: "Ivanov" together with the farce "The Bear" brought him nearly a thousand roubles, with two or three hundred more expected from the Society of Dramatic Writers, but he reflects that though playwriting pays well, the restless life of a playwright – ovations, backstage anxieties, sharp swings of success and failure – does not suit his temperament, and he doubts he will ever become a proper dramatist, preferring the smoother path of prose fiction.
3 Domestic and business odds and ends follow: he lacks a copy of Leikin’s play "The Fireman’s Godfather" for his collection (the copy Leikin had sent him having since been passed on to the impresario Korsh) and Leikin’s new book; he asks when Leikin will next be in Moscow; and he notes, on the subject of "Motley Stories," that he has asked the printer Golike to settle accounts with him no earlier than 1 April.
4 The letter closes on a lighter, more personal note: Chekhov asks after Leikin’s dachshunds, half-jokingly regretting that he did not beat Leikin to Khudekov’s in order to take one of the puppies himself, and imagines Leikin’s own dogs, Rogulka and her mate, indignant and squabbling at the dachshunds’ presence. He sends regards to Leikin’s wife Praskovya Nikiforovna, to their son Fedya, and to the Khudekovs, praising Khudekov’s wife as very agreeable, offers a blessing, and mentions in passing that he is having sour cabbage for supper that evening, before signing off.