Page 1703 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

To live the same family life as his father and
forefathers—that is, in the same condition of culture—and
to bring up his children in the same, was incontestably
necessary. It was as necessary as dining when one was

hungry. And to do this, just as it was necessary to cook
dinner, it was necessary to keep the mechanism of
agriculture at Pokrovskoe going so as to yield an income.
Just as incontestably as it was necessary to repay a debt was
it necessary to keep the property in such a condition that
his son, when he received it as a heritage, would say
‘thank you’ to his father as Levin had said ‘thank you’ to
his grandfather for all he built and planted. And to do this
it was necessary to look after the land himself, not to let it,
and to breed cattle, manure the fields, and plant timber.
It was impossible not to look after the affairs of Sergey
Ivanovitch, of his sister, of the peasants who came to him
for advice and were accustomed to do so—as impossible as
to fling down a child one is carrying in one’s arms. It was
necessary to look after the comfort of his sister-in-law and
her children, and of his wife and baby, and it was
impossible not to spend with them at least a short time
each day.

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