To N. A. Leikin, 31 March 1890. Moscow.

a full Easter letter to Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the humor magazine "Oskolki" ("Fragments") and of the collection "Пёстрые рассказы" ("Motley Stories"), with a salutation, several distinct topics developed in ordinary prose, closing courtesies, greetings to named third parties, and a full signature.

Dated 31 March 1890, Moscow – roughly three weeks before Chekhov’s departure for Sakhalin (he left Moscow in late April 1890, traveling overland to Siberia and then down the Amur and by sea). The letter is an Easter greeting that pivots into practical business connected with the imminent journey.

-: An Easter greeting to Leikin, with a wry medical joke (Chekhov, himself a physician) about overeating at the festive table bringing on gastrointestinal trouble. -: Travel logistics – Chekhov is waiting for the Kama river to break up (open to navigation) before setting out, expects not to see Leikin again until December, and asks him to keep writing. The passage alludes to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31): in torment, the rich man begs for a mere fingertip of water from Lazarus to cool his tongue. Chekhov casts his own exile to Sakhalin as that torment, for which Leikin’s letters would be the sole small mercy from "the other world." Left as image, not explained in-text, per the no-added- verdict style rule. He also says he will send his addresses for Sakhalin, Japan, China, and India as the journey proceeds (his return route in fact went via Ceylon, not India or Japan, though at this point in 1890 the route was not yet fixed; render as written). -: A description of the sudden Moscow spring, having been housebound through February and March; a stray comic hyperbole comparing Neskuchny Garden to Tahiti; and a worry that the dry spring could turn into a typhoid outbreak. -: A short, deadpan quasi-scientific digression on soil sanitation and disease transmission – Chekhov writing in his physician’s register, continuing directly from the typhoid remark in. -: Business: Chekhov is waiting on a financial settlement from Leikin for "Пёстрые рассказы" ("Motley Stories," Chekhov’s 1886 story collection, which Leikin had published) and says he is counting on that money to fund the Sakhalin trip; he cannot easily depart until the accounts are settled. -: A question about whether Viktor Viktorovich Bilibin (a fellow contributor to "Oskolki," a longtime correspondent of both Chekhov and Leikin) has received a posting/assignment to the Caucasus. -: A brief, ironic aside that rumors of widespread flogging in Moscow are exaggerated – corporal punishment (of servants, peasants, or as a legal/administrative penalty) was a live and sometimes darkly joked-about topic in the period press; left plain, undramatized,. -: Regards to named members of Leikin’s household/circle and a closing wish for his well-being. -: Signature, "Ваш А. Чехов" / "Yours, A. Chekhov."