Page 334 - ANNA KARENINA
P. 334
Anna Karenina
special attention in spring, and in addition to reading,
Levin had begun that winter a work on agriculture, the
plan of which turned on taking into account the character
of the laborer on the land as one of the unalterable data of
the question, like the climate and the soil, and
consequently deducing all the principles of scientific
culture, not simply from the data of soil and climate, but
from the data of soil, climate, and a certain unalterable
character of the laborer. Thus, in spite of his solitude, or in
consequence of his solitude, his life was exceedingly full.
Only rarely he suffered from an unsatisfied desire to
communicate his stray ideas to someone besides Agafea
Mihalovna. With her indeed he not infrequently fell into
discussion upon physics, the theory of agriculture, and
especially philosophy; philosophy was Agafea Mihalovna’s
favorite subject.
Spring was slow in unfolding. For the last few weeks it
had been steadily fine frosty weather. In the daytime it
thawed in the sun, but at night there were even seven
degrees of frost. There was such a frozen surface on the
snow that they drove the wagons anywhere off the roads.
Easter came in the snow. Then all of a sudden, on Easter
Monday, a warm wind sprang up, storm clouds swooped
down, and for three days and three nights the warm,
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