FOREWORD
When Maxim Gorky had finished writing that wonderful series of tramp stories which astonished by their force and originality the outside world no less than the native, when it became evident that his contact with the civilized world and his entry into the political arena had not served to add to his literary prestige, there appeared on the scene a young
man, by the name of Leonidas Andreiyeff, with a small volume of tales, fittingly dedicated to the author of "Chelkash."
It was one of those peculiarly timed events, which occur occasionally in the domain of literature no less in that of history, when a man of genius appears in our midst—in the nick of time, as it were—to carry on some unfinished work, and to hammer the next link in the chain of prevailing circumstances. Since this initial
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