To I. P. Chekhov, 4 May 1891. Aleksin.
И. П. ЧЕХОВУ, 4 мая 1891 г. Алексин.
Headnote
A short domestic note of 4 May 1891, from the dacha near Aleksin station, Tula province, to Chekhov’s brother Ivan Pavlovich ("Ivan," a schoolteacher). Chekhov reports he has settled into the little four-room dacha in the woods – cramped inside, spacious out, six minutes’ walk from the Oka with an uphill climb back – and grumbles that the station road is dull and worse than "Boromlya" (his recurring byword for a tedious stretch of road). He asks when Ivan will arrive, gives the postal address, reports the family mongoose Mangus is in good health, and asks Ivan to bring rubber galoshes rather than big boots, since the local soil is sandy. He anticipates good mushroom-hunting and fishing in the Oka and wants to buy a boat.