vated classes of society; then they went as far as the moujik. The "literature of the moujik" assumed a social importance. It had a political influence and was not foreign to the abolition of serfdom.
In the story "Malva" Gorky offers us two characteristic types of peasants who become tramps by insensible degrees, almost without suspecting it, through the force of circumstances. One of them is Vassili. When he left the village, he fully intended to return. He went away to earn a little money for his wife and children. He found employment in a fishery. Life was easy and joyous. For a while he sent small sums of money home, but gradually the village and the old life faded away and became less and less real. He ceased to think of them. His son Iakov came to seek him and to pro-
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