MY DEAR EVAN,--This book, which you expressed a wish I should dedicate to you, consists of short essays and stories dealing entirely with Russian subjects. These essays (which deal with Russia) are in no sense political. I will not go so far as to say they are uninteresting; such modesty is, as Bacon once pointed out, a gross form of boasting; besides which it is a mistake. If one underrates one’s wares one is taken at one’s word. I have found this out to my cost. Once when I was competing in a Civil Service Examination, and appeared as a candidate in the German _viva voce_, the German examiner asked me if I could speak German.…
Or read it translated: 日本語 · 中文 · हिन्दी · Español · العربية · Français · বাংলা · Português · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia · اردو · Deutsch · Kiswahili · 한국어