Page 703 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

the seed sown in drills, and all the rest of it—it was all
splendid if only the work had been done for themselves,
or for themselves and comrades —people in sympathy
with them. But he saw clearly now (his work on a book of

agriculture, in which the chief element in husbandry was
to have been the laborer, greatly assisted him in this) that
the sort of farming he was carrying on was nothing but a
cruel and stubborn struggle between him and the laborers,
in which there was on one side—his side—a continual
intense effort to change everything to a pattern he
considered better; on the other side, the natural order of
things. And in the struggle he saw that with immense
expenditure of force on his side, and with no effort or
even intention on the other side, all that was attained was
that the work did not go to the liking of either side, and
that splendid tools, splendid cattle and land were spoiled
with no good to anyone. Worst of all, the energy
expended on this work was not simply wasted. He could
not help feeling now, since the meaning of this system had
become clear to him, that the aim of his energy was a
most unworthy one. In reality, what was the struggle
about? He was struggling for every farthing of his share
(and he could not help it, for he had only to relax his
efforts, and he would not have had the money to pay his

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