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 MATLAB®
A Practical Introduction to Programming
and Problem Solving
This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh
(g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com)

Copyright Elsevier 2022

 This page intentionally left blank

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 ®
MATLAB
A Practical Introduction to Programming
and Problem Solving

Sixth Edition

Stormy Attaway
Boston University

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the
Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center
and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.

This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher
(other than as may be noted herein).

MATLAB® is a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. and is used with permission. The MathWorks does not
warrant the accuracy of the text or exercises in this book.

This book’s use or discussion of MATLAB® software or related products does not constitute endorsement or
sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular pedagogical approach or particular use of the MATLAB® software.

Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden
our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become
necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using
any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods
they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a
professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any
liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or
otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the
material herein.

ISBN: 978-0-323-91750-6

For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann publications

visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals

Publisher: Katey Birtcher

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Typeset by STRAIVE, India

Printed in India
Last digit is the print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Contents

PREFACE.................................................................................................... ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................. xxi

PART 1 Introduction to Programming Using MATLAB®

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to MATLAB®.....................................................3
1.1 Getting into MATLAB............................................................... 4
1.2 The MATLAB Desktop Environment........................................ 5
1.3 Variables and Assignment Statements................................... 6
1.4 Numerical Expressions......................................................... 11
1.5 Characters and Strings......................................................... 18
1.6 Relational Expressions.......................................................... 18
1.7 Type Ranges and Type Casting............................................. 23
1.8 Built-in Numerical Functions............................................... 26
1.9 Using MAT-Files for Variables.............................................. 28
1.10 Additional MATLAB Products................................................ 29
Summary........................................................................................ 33
Common Pitfalls............................................................................ 33
Programming Style Guidelines...................................................... 34
CHAPTER 2 Vectors and Matrices.......................................................... 39
2.1 Vectors and Matrices.............................................................. 39
2.2 Vectors and Matrices as Function Arguments....................... 56
2.3 Scalar and Array Operations on Vectors and Matrices.......... 60
2.4 Logical Vectors........................................................................ 62
2.5 Matrix Operations and Matrix Properties............................... 67
Summary........................................................................................ 76
Common Pitfalls............................................................................ 76
Programming Style Guidelines...................................................... 77
CHAPTER 3 Introduction to MATLAB Programming.............................. 83
3.1 Algorithms............................................................................. 84
3.2 MATLAB Scripts..................................................................... 85
v

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 vi Contents

3.3 Input and Output.................................................................... 89

3.4 Scripts with Input and Output............................................... 97
3.5 Scripts to Produce and Customize Simple Plots.................. 98
3.6 Introduction to File Input/Output (Load and Save)............. 104
3.7 User-Defined Functions that Return a Single Value.......... 109
3.8 Local Functions in Scripts................................................... 118
3.9 Commands and Functions................................................... 119
3.10 Introduction to Live Scripts................................................. 120
Summary...................................................................................... 125
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 125
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 126
CHAPTER 4 Selection Statements........................................................ 131
4.1 The if Statement.................................................................... 131
4.2 The if-else Statement............................................................ 135
4.3 Nested if-else Statements.................................................... 138
4.4 The Switch Statement........................................................... 143
4.5 The “is” Functions in MATLAB.............................................. 146
Summary...................................................................................... 151
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 151
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 152
CHAPTER 5 Loop Statements and Vectorizing Code............................ 157
5.1 The for Loop.......................................................................... 158
5.2 Nested for Loops................................................................... 165
5.3 While Loops........................................................................... 172
5.4 Loops with Vectors and Matrices; Vectorizing..................... 180
5.5 Timing.................................................................................... 189
Summary...................................................................................... 195
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 195
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 195
CHAPTER 6 MATLAB Programs...........................................................203
6.1 More Types of User-Defined Functions................................ 203
6.2 MATLAB Program Organization............................................ 212
6.3 Application: Menu-Driven Modular Program....................... 218
6.4 Variable Scope....................................................................... 224
6.5 Debugging Techniques.......................................................... 229
6.6 Tasks in Live Scripts, Code Cells, and Publishing Code...... 234
Summary...................................................................................... 241
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 241
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 241

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Contents vii

CHAPTER 7 Text Manipulation..............................................................249

7.1 Characters, Character Vectors, and String Arrays............... 249
7.2 Operations on Text................................................................ 252
7.3 The “is” Functions for Text................................................... 266
7.4 Converting Between Text and Number Types...................... 267
Summary...................................................................................... 271
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 271
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 271
CHAPTER 8 Data Structures.................................................................277
8.1 Cell Arrays............................................................................. 278
8.2 Structures.............................................................................. 282
8.3 Advanced Data Structures.................................................... 295
8.4 Sorting................................................................................... 300
Summary...................................................................................... 309
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 309
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 309

PART 2 Advanced Topics for Problem Solving

with MATLAB
CHAPTER 9 Data Transfer.................................................................... 317
9.1 Writing and Reading Spreadsheet and csv Files.................. 318
9.2 Lower-Level File I/O Functions............................................ 319
9.3 Data Transfer with Web Sites............................................... 328
Summary...................................................................................... 334
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 334
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 335
CHAPTER 10 Advanced Functions.......................................................... 341
10.1 Variable Numbers of Arguments........................................ 341
10.2 Validating Function Arguments........................................... 346
10.3 Anonymous Functions and Function Handles.................... 348
10.4 Uses of Function Handles................................................... 350
10.5 Nested Functions................................................................ 354
10.6 Recursive Functions............................................................ 355
Summary...................................................................................... 362
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 362
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 362
CHAPTER 11 Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
and Graphics..................................................................... 369
11.1 Object-Oriented Programming............................................ 369
11.2 Using Objects with Graphics and Plot Properties.............. 370

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 viii Contents

11.3 User-Defined Classes and Objects..................................... 378

Summary...................................................................................... 406
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 406
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 406
CHAPTER 12 Advanced Plotting Techniques.......................................... 411
12.1 Plot Functions and Customizing Plots................................ 412
12.2 3D Plots............................................................................... 423
12.3 Primitive Graphics Objects.................................................. 426
12.4 Plot Applications.................................................................. 433
12.5 Saving and Printing Plots.................................................... 436
Summary...................................................................................... 440
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 440
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 440
CHAPTER 13 Sights and Sounds............................................................445
13.1 Image Processing................................................................ 445
13.2 Introduction to Apps and Graphical User Interfaces.......... 457
13.3 App Designer....................................................................... 474
13.4 Sound Files.......................................................................... 484
Summary...................................................................................... 489
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 489
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 489
CHAPTER 14 Advanced Mathematics.....................................................497
14.1 Set Operations..................................................................... 497
14.2 Complex Numbers............................................................... 501
14.3 Matrix Solutions to Systems of Linear Algebraic
Equations............................................................................. 508
14.4 Symbolic Mathematics........................................................ 515
14.5 Calculus: Integration and Differentiation........................... 521
Summary...................................................................................... 528
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 528
Programming Style Guidelines.................................................... 528
CHAPTER 15 Basic Machine Learning Algorithms and Concepts.........533
15.1 Preprocessing Data, Basic Workflow................................. 534
15.2 Algorithms and Model Performance................................... 537
15.3 Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox™....................... 540
Summary...................................................................................... 546
Common Pitfalls.......................................................................... 546

APPENDIX I............................................................................................. 549

APPENDIX II............................................................................................ 561
INDEX...................................................................................................... 563

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Preface

MOTIVATION
The purpose of this book is to teach basic programming concepts and skills
needed for basic problem solving using MATLAB® as the vehicle. MATLAB is
a powerful software package that has built-in functions to accomplish a diverse
range of tasks, from mathematical operations to three-dimensional imaging.
Additionally, MATLAB has a complete set of programming constructs (basic
coding building blocks) that allow users to customize programs to their own
specifications.
There are many books that introduce MATLAB. There are two basic flavors of
these books: those that demonstrate the use of the built-in functions in
MATLAB, with a chapter or two on some programming concepts; and those that
cover only the programming constructs without mentioning many of the built-
in functions that make MATLAB efficient to use. Someone who learns just the
built-in functions will be well-prepared to use MATLAB but would not under-
stand basic programming concepts. That person would not be able to then
learn a language such as C ++ or Java without taking another introductory
course, or reading another book, on the programming concepts. Conversely,
anyone who learns only programming concepts first (using any language)
would tend to write highly inefficient code using control statements to solve
problems, not realizing that in many cases these are not necessary in MATLAB.
Instead, this book takes a hybrid approach, introducing both the traditional
programming approaches and the efficient uses. The challenge for students
is that it is nearly impossible to predict whether they will in fact need to know
traditional programming concepts later on or whether a software package such
as MATLAB will suffice for their careers. Therefore the best approach for begin-
ning students is to give them both: the traditional programming concepts, and
the efficient built-in functions. Because MATLAB is very easy to use, it is a per-
fect platform for this approach to teaching programming and problem solving.

ix

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 x Preface

Because programming concepts are critically important to this book, emphasis

is not placed on the time-saving features that evolve with every new MATLAB
release. For example, statistics on variables are available readily in the Work-
space Window. This is not shown in any detail in the book because of the desire
to explain the concepts in the book.

MODIFICATIONS IN THE SIXTH EDITION

The major modification is the introduction of concepts and terminology used
in Data Science and Machine Learning. These are increasingly important topics,
useful in all fields, but they are very complex. Therefore, rather than just adding
another chapter to the end of this book, these concepts are introduced through-
out the book. At the end of every chapter, a few topics that are related to that
chapter will be introduced in a supplement of only approximately two pages.
By doing this, the concepts and terminologies used in Data Science and
Machine Learning are gradually introduced. These supplements also serve to
add context to each chapter. Then, at the end, there is a new chapter on this
material, but it is short because the first 30 pages of the chapter are already
spread throughout the book.
Other changes in the Sixth Edition of this book include the following:

n Use of MATLAB Version R2021b

n New section introducing controls and tasks in the Live Editor
n New section on validating function arguments
n Earlier coverage of matrix operations and matrix properties
n Earlier coverage of live scripts
n Earlier coverage of .mat files
n Usage of built-in files, including .mat files, .csv files, and .jpg files
n More coverage of data structures including tables
n New section on reading from and writing to .csv and spreadsheet files
using readtable, writetable, readmatrix, and writematrix, replacing the
old xlsread, xlswrite, csvread, and csvwrite functions, which are no
longer recommended
n More plot functions, including scatter, gscatter, xline, yline, sgtitle, and
subtitle
n More “is” functions, including ismethod and isnumeric
n More table functions including head, tail, preview, addvars, movevars,
removevars, and renamevars
n New basic functions including dimension functions height and width,
and string function append
n Usage of functions that work with data including normalize, rmoutliers,
missing, and fillmissing

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Preface xi

n Usage of “mustBe” functions for validating function arguments

n Change in focus from help to the online Documentation pages
n Many modified and new end-of-chapter exercises (over 100 new,  25%,
are new)

Some of the Advanced Mathematics topics that were previously covered in

Chapter 14 have been moved. Coverage of statistical functions has been moved
to the Machine Learning supplements at the end of Chapters 2 and 10 (and aug-
mented in the supplements in Chapters 3 and 11). Fitting curves to data has
been moved (and augmented) to the Machine Learning supplements at the
end of Chapters 12 and 14.

KEY FEATURES
Side-by-Side Programming Concepts and Built-In Functions
The most important and unique feature of this book is that it teaches program-
ming concepts and the use of the built-in functions in MATLAB, side-by-side. It
starts with basic programming concepts such as variables, assignments, input/
output, selection, and loop statements. Then, throughout the rest of the book,
many times a problem will be introduced and then solved using the “traditional
method” and also using the “efficient method.” This will not be done in every
case to the point that it becomes tedious, but just enough to get the ideas across.

Systematic Approach
Another key feature is that the book takes a very systematic, step-by-step
approach, building on concepts throughout the book. It is very tempting in
a MATLAB text to show built-in functions or features early on with a note that
says “we’ll do this later.” This book does not do that; functions are covered
before they are used in examples. Additionally, basic programming concepts
will be explained carefully and systematically. Very basic concepts such as loop-
ing to calculate a sum, counting in a conditional loop, and error-checking are
not found in many texts but are covered here.

Data Transfer
Many applications in engineering and the sciences involve manipulating large
data sets that are stored in external files. Most MATLAB texts at least mention the
save and load functions, and in some cases also some of the lower-level file
input/output functions. Because file input and output are so fundamental to
so many applications, this book will cover several low-level file input/output
functions, as well as reading from and writing to spreadsheet files and .csv files.
Later chapters will also deal with audio and image files. These file input/output

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 xii Preface

concepts are introduced gradually: first load and save in Chapter 3, then lower-
level functions in Chapter 9, and finally sound and images in Chapter 13. A
brief introduction to RESTFUL web functions, which import data from web-
sites, is given in Chapter 9.

User-Defined Functions
User-defined functions are a very important programming concept, and yet
many times the nuances and differences between concepts such as types of
functions and function calls versus function headers can be very confusing
to beginning programmers. Therefore these concepts are introduced gradually.
First, arguably the easiest type of functions to understand, those that calculate
and return one single value, are demonstrated in Chapter 3. Later, functions
that return no values and functions that return multiple values are introduced
in Chapter 6. Finally, advanced function features are shown in Chapter 10.

Advanced Programming Concepts

In addition to the basics, some advanced programming concepts such as text
manipulation, data structures (e.g., structures, tables, and cell arrays), recur-
sion, anonymous functions, and variable number of arguments to functions
are covered. Sorting is also addressed. All of these are again approached system-
atically; for example, cell arrays are covered before they are used in file input
functions and as labels on pie charts.

Problem-Solving Tools
In addition to the programming concepts, some basic mathematics necessary
for solving many problems will be introduced. These will include statistical
functions, solving sets of linear algebraic equations, and fitting curves to data.
The use of complex numbers and some calculus (integration and differentia-
tion) will also be introduced. The built-in functions in MATLAB to perform
these tasks will be described.

Plots, Imaging, and Graphical User Interfaces

Simple two-dimensional plots are introduced very early in the book
(Chapter 3) so that plot examples can be used throughout. A separate chapter,
Chapter 12, shows more plot types and demonstrates customizing plots and
how the graphics properties are handled in MATLAB. This chapter makes use
of text and cell arrays to customize labels. Also, there is an introduction to
image processing and the basics necessary to understand programming Graph-
ical User Interfaces (GUIs) in Chapter 13. App Designer, which creates GUIs
using object-oriented code, is also introduced in Chapter 13.

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

 Preface xiii

Vectorized Code
Efficient uses of the capabilities of the built-in operators and functions in
MATLAB are demonstrated throughout the book. To emphasize the importance
of using MATLAB efficiently, the concepts and built-in functions necessary for
writing vectorized code are treated very early in Chapter 2. Techniques such as
preallocating vectors and using logical vectors are then covered in Chapter 5 as
alternatives to selection statements and looping through vectors and matrices.
Methods of determining how efficient the code is are also covered.

Object-Oriented Programming
Creating objects and classes in MATLAB has been an option for some time, but
as of R2014b, all Graphics objects are truly objects. Thus, object-oriented pro-
gramming (OOP) is a very important part of MATLAB programming. Applica-
tions using App Designer reinforce the concepts.

Data Science
Many concepts related to data science, such as normalizing vectors, finding cor-
relations between vectors, randomizing data, visualizing data, and data scrub-
bing are introduced in the end-of-chapter supplements and also in Chapter 15.

Machine Learning
Concepts related to Machine Learning, including types of algorithms (super-
vised learning: classification and regression; unsupervised learning: clustering),
binning/bucketing, one-hot encoding, assessing model performance, confu-
sion matrices, split and cross validation, hyperparameter tuning, feature engi-
neering, splitting data, and basic workflows are introduced in the end-of-
chapter supplements and in Chapter 15.

LAYOUT OF TEXT
This text is divided into two parts: the first part covers programming constructs
and demonstrates the programming method versus efficient use of built-in
functions to solve problems. The second part covers tools that are used for basic
problem solving, including plotting, image processing, and techniques to solve
systems of linear algebraic equations, fit curves to data, and perform basic sta-
tistical analyses. The first six chapters cover the very basics in MATLAB and in
programming, and are all prerequisites for the rest of the book. After that, many
chapters in the problem solving section can be introduced when desired, to pro-
duce a customized flow of topics in the book. This is true to an extent, although

This book belongs to Grant Heidelbaugh (g.heidelbaugh@gmail.com) Copyright Elsevier 2022

Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 Maxim Yatzènko, a Little Russian himself, was simple and
unassuming in his manners toward peasants and servants. Although
he often scolded and shouted at them, he never hurt any man’s
feelings; and while his inferiors were on familiar terms with him,
they never failed to treat him with respect. Hence to the Pan’s
request, Joachim replied,—
“Why not? I used to sing as well as the next man. But, Pan, do
you think our peasant songs are likely to please you?” he asked,
slightly sarcastic.
“Eh, what nonsense, fellow!” replied Maxim. “A pipe cannot be
compared with a good song, if only a man can sing well. Let us
listen to Joachim’s song, Petrùsya. But only you may not understand
it, my boy.”
“Is it to be a peasant’s song?” inquired the boy. “I understand
their language.”
Maxim heaved a sigh. “Ah, my dear boy, these are not slave
songs; they are the songs of a strong and free people. Your mother’s
ancestors sang them on the steppes of the Dnièper, the Danube, and
the Black Sea. Well, you will understand them sooner or later, but
just now I am anxious about something else.”
In point of fact, what Maxim really feared was that the picturesque
language of the folk-songs would not appeal to the vaguely obscure
mind of the child; he felt that the animated music of epic song must
be interpreted to the heart by familiar images. He forgot that the old
bards, the singers and bandur-players of the Ukraine, were for the
most part blind men, who had been driven by misfortune or physical
incapacity to the lyre, or bandur, to gain their daily bread. It is true
that these men were but beggars and artisans with harsh voices,
some of whom had not become blind until they were old men.
Blindness wraps the outer world about with a dark veil, which
likewise envelops the brain, entangling and impeding its processes;
and yet by the aid of inherited conceptions and impressions gained
from other sources, the brain creates in this darkness a world of its
own, sad, gloomy, and sombre, but not devoid of a vague poetry
peculiar to itself.
Maxim and the blind boy seated themselves on the hay, while
Joachim reclined on his bench,—a position which seemed especially
conducive to his artistic efforts,—and after musing for a moment he
began to sing. Whether by chance or by instinct, his choice was a
happy one. He selected a historical picture,—

“Over yonder on the hill the reapers are reaping.”

No one who has heard this beautiful song well rendered can ever
forget its strange melody,—high-pitched and plaintive, as though
oppressed by the sadness of historical reminiscence. It contains no
stirring incidents, no bloody battles or exploits; neither is it the
farewell of a Cossack to his beloved, nor a daring invasion, nor a
naval expedition on the blue sea or the Danube. It is but a fleeting
picture that comes uppermost in the memory of a Little Russian, like
a vague revery, like the fragment of a dream from an historic past.
In the midst of his monotonous, every-day life that picture rises
before his imagination, its outlines dim and indistinct, steeped in the
strange melancholy that breathes from bygone days,—days that
have left their impress on the memory of man. The lofty burial-
mounds beneath which lie the bones of the Cossacks, where fires
are seen burning at midnight, where groans are sometimes heard,
still remind us of the past. The popular legends as well as the folk-
songs, now fast dying out, also tell us of the past.

“Over yonder on the hill the reapers are reaping,

And beneath the hill, the green hill,
Cossacks are passing,
Cossacks are passing!
They are reaping on the hill, while below the troops are
marching.”

Maxim Yatzènko was lost in admiration of the sad song. That

charming melody, so well suited to the words, called up before his
fancy a scene illumined by the melancholy rays of sunset. Along the
peaceful slopes of the hill-sides he seemed to see the bowed and
silent figures of the reapers, and below moving noiselessly, one after
the other, the ranks of the army, blending with the shades of
evening in the valley.

“Doroshenko[10] at the head,

Leading his army, his Zaporòg army
Gallantly.”

And the prolonged note of the epic song resounds, vibrates, and
dies away upon the air, only to start forth anew, evoking fresh
images from the dim twilight. These were the pictures which at the
bidding of the song took form in Uncle Maxim’s mind; and the blind
boy, who had listened with a sad and clouded face, was also
impressed by it after his own fashion.
When the singer sang of the hill where the reapers were reaping,
Petrùsya was straightway transported in his imagination to the
summit of the familiar cliff. He recognizes it by the faint plashing of
the river against the stones below. He knows very well what reapers
are,—he has heard the ringing sound of the sickles and the rustle of
the falling ears. But when the song went on to describe the action
under the hill, the imagination of the blind listener at once
transported him into the valley below. Though he no longer hears
the sound of the sickles, the boy knows that the reapers are still up
there on the hill, and he knows that the sound has died away,
because they are so high above him,—as high as the pine-trees,
whose rustling he hears when he stands on the cliff; and below, over
the river, echoes the rapid monotonous tramp of the horses’ hoofs.
There are many of them, and an indistinct murmur rises through the
darkness from under the hill. Those are the Cossacks “on the
march.”
Petrùsya also knows what “Cossacks” means. The Cossack
Hvèydka,[11] who sometimes stops at the house, is called by
everybody “the old Cossack.” Many a time has he lifted Petrùsya to
his lap and smoothed his hair with his trembling hand. When the boy
according to his custom felt of his face, he found deep wrinkles
under his sensitive fingers, a long, drooping mustache and sunken
cheeks, and on those cheeks the tears of old age. It was such
Cossacks as he that the boy pictured to himself marching below the
hill. They are on horseback, and like Hvèydka they wear long
mustaches, and are old and wrinkled too. These vague forms
advance slowly amid the darkness, and like Hvèydka are weeping for
grief. It may be that the echo of Joachim’s song suggests the lament
of the unfortunate Cossack who exchanged his young wife for a
camp-bed and the hardships of a campaign, as it rings over hill and
valley.
One glance was enough for Maxim to discover that despite the
boy’s blindness the poetic images of the song appealed to his
sensitive nature.
III. THE FIRST FRIENDSHIP.
 III.
The First Friendship.

In pursuance of the system which by Maxim’s influence had been

established, the blind boy had as far as possible been left to his own
resources; and from this system the best results had ensued. In the
house he showed no signs of helplessness, but moved from place to
place without faltering; took care of his own room, and kept his
belongings and his toys in order. Neither did Maxim by any means
neglect physical exercises; the boy had his regular gymnastics, and
in his sixth year Maxim presented his nephew with a gentle little
horse. At first the mother could not believe it possible that her blind
child could ride on horseback, and she called her brother’s scheme
“perfect madness.” But the old soldier exerted his utmost influence
and in two or three months the boy was galloping merrily side by
side with Joachim, who directed him only at turnings.
Thus blindness proved no drawback to systematic physical
development, while its influence over the moral nature of the child
was reduced to its minimum. He was tall for his age and well built;
his face was somewhat pale, his features fine and expressive. His
dark hair enhanced the pallid hue of his complexion, while his eyes—
large, dark, and almost motionless—gave him a peculiar aspect that
at once attracted attention. A slight wrinkle between his eye-brows,
a habit of inclining his head slightly forward, and the expression of
sadness that sometimes overcast his handsome face,—these were
the outward tokens of his blindness. When surrounded by familiar
objects he moved readily and without restraint; but still it was
evident that his instinctive vivacity was repressed, and it was only by
certain fitful outbursts of nervous excitement that it was ever
manifested.

II.
The impressions received through the channels of sound
outweighed all others in their influence over the life of the blind boy;
his ideas shaped themselves according to sounds, his sense of
hearing became the centre of his mental activity. The enchanting
melodies of the songs he heard conveyed to him a true sense of the
words, coloring them with sadness or joy according to the lights and
shades of the melody. With still closer attention he listened to the
voices of Nature; and by uniting these confused impressions with the
familiar melodies, he sometimes produced a free improvisation, in
which it was difficult to distinguish just where the national and
familiar air ended and the work of the composer began. He himself
was unable to distinguish these two elements in his songs, so
inseparably were the two united within him. He quickly learned all
his mother taught him on the piano, and yet he still loved Joachim’s
pipe. The tones of the piano were richer, deeper, and more brilliant;
but the instrument was stationary, whereas the pipe he could carry
with him into the fields; and its modulations were so
indistinguishably blended with the gentle sighs of the steppe, that at
times Petrùsya could not tell whether those vague fancies were
wafted on the wind, or whether it was he himself who drew them
from his pipe.
Petrùsya’s enthusiasm for music became the centre of his mental
growth; it absorbed his mind, and lent variety to his quiet life. Maxim
availed himself of it to make the boy acquainted with the history of
his native land; and like a vast network of sounds, the procession
filed before the imagination of the blind boy. Touched by the song,
he learned to know the heroes of whom it sung, and to feel a
concern for their fate and for the destiny of his country. This was the
beginning of his interest in literature; and when he was nine years
old, Maxim began his first lessons. He had been studying the
methods used in the instruction of the blind, and the boy showed
great delight in the lessons. They introduced into his nature the new
elements of precision and clearness, which served to counterbalance
the undefined sensations excited by music.
Thus the boy’s day was filled; he could not complain of the lack of
new impressions. He seemed to be living as full a life as any child
could possibly live; in fact he really seemed unconscious of his
blindness. Nevertheless, a certain premature sadness was still
perceptible in his character, which Maxim ascribed to the fact that he
had never mingled with other children, and endeavored to atone for
this omission.
 The village boys who were invited to the mansion were timid and
constrained. Not only the unusual surroundings, but the blindness of
the little Pan intimidated them. They would glance timidly at him,
and then crowding together would whisper to one another. When
the children were left alone, either in the garden or in the field, they
grew bolder and began to play games; but somehow it always ended
in the blind boy being left out, listening sadly to the merry shouts of
his playmates. Now and then Joachim would gather the children
about him and repeat comical old proverbs and tell them fairy tales.
The village children, perfectly familiar with the somewhat stupid
Hohòl devil and the roguish witches, supplemented Joachim’s tales
from the stores of their own knowledge; and the conversations
ensuing were generally quite lively. The blind boy listened to them
with great interest and attention, but rarely laughed. He seemed
incapable of comprehending the humor in the speeches and stories
he heard; and this was not surprising, since he could neither see the
merry twinkle in the eyes of the speakers, nor the comical wrinkles,
nor the twitching of the long mustaches.

III.
Not long before the period to which our story relates, the
“possessor”[12] of the neighboring estate had been changed. The
former neighbor, who had managed to engage in a lawsuit even with
the taciturn Pan Popèlski, in consequence of some damage caused
to the fields, had been replaced by the old man Yaskùlski and his
wife. Although the united ages of this couple amounted to one
hundred years, their marriage had been celebrated but recently,
because Yakùb was for a long time unable to procure the sum
required for hiring an estate, and thus was forced to act as overseer
of one estate after another, while Pani Agnyèshka spent her period
of waiting as a sort of companion in the family of the Countess N.
When at last the happy moment arrived, and the bride and
bridegroom stood hand in hand in the church, the hair of the
handsome bridegroom was fairly gray, and the timid, blushing face
of the bride was likewise framed in silvery locks.
This circumstance, however, by no means marred the married
happiness of the somewhat late-wedded pair, and the fruit of their
love was an only daughter about the age of the blind boy. Having
won for themselves a domestic shelter, where under certain
conditions they had a right to full control, this elderly couple began a
peaceful and quiet existence, which seemed like a compensation for
the hard years of toil and anxiety which they had passed in other
folks’ houses. Their first lease was a failure, and they had started
anew on a somewhat smaller scale. But in this new abode they had
at once arranged things to suit themselves. In the corner occupied
by the images, decorated with ivy, sacred palm, and a wax taper,[13]
the old lady kept bags filled with herbs and roots, by whose aid she
doctored her husband as well as the peasants who came to consult
her. These herbs would fill the hut with a peculiarly characteristic
fragrance, associated in the minds of the villagers with their memory
of that neat and quiet little house, with the two old persons who
dwelt therein, and whose placid existence offered so unusual a
spectacle in times like these.
Meanwhile the only daughter of this elderly pair was growing up in
their companionship,—a girl with long brown tresses and blue eyes,
who straightway impressed every one that saw her with the
uncommon maturity of her face. It seemed as if the calm love of the
parents, finding fruition so late in life, had been reflected in their
daughter’s nature by a mature judgment, a quiet deliberation in all
her movements, and a certain pensive expression in the depths of
her blue eyes. She was never shy with strangers, willingly made the
acquaintance of children and took part in their games,—which was
done however with an air of condescension, as if she herself really
felt no interest in the matter. She was in fact quite happy in her own
society, walking, gathering flowers, talking to her doll,—and all so
demurely that one felt as if in the presence of a grown-up woman
rather than in that of a child.
 IV.
One evening Petrùsya was sitting alone on the hillock above the
river. The sun was setting, the air was still, and only the tranquil, far-
away sound of the lowing herds returning to the village reached his
ear. The boy had but just ceased playing and had thrown himself on
the grass, yielding to the half dreamy languor of a summer evening.
He had been dozing for a minute, when he was roused by a light
footstep. With a look of annoyance he rose on his elbow, and
listened. At the foot of the hill the unfamiliar steps paused. He did
not recognize them.
“Boy!” he heard a child’s voice exclaim, “do you know who it was
that was playing here just now?”
The blind boy disliked to have his solitude disturbed. Therefore his
answer to the question was given in no amiable tone,—“It was I.”
A slight exclamation of surprise greeted this statement; and
directly the girl’s voice added with the utmost simplicity and in tones
of approval,—“How well you play!”
The blind boy made no reply. “Why don’t you go away?” he asked
presently, when he perceived that his unwelcome visitor had not left
the spot.
“Why do you drive me away?” asked the girl, and her clear tones
expressed genuine surprise.
The tranquil sound of the child’s voice was grateful to the blind
boy’s ear; nevertheless he answered in his former tone,—“I don’t
like to have people come here.”
The girl burst into a peal of laughter. “Really? What a strange idea!
Is this all your land, and have you the right to forbid other people to
walk upon it?”
“Mamma has given orders that no one shall come here.”
 “Your mamma?” asked the girl, thoughtfully; “but my mamma
allowed me to walk over the river.”
The boy, somewhat spoiled by the universal submission to his
wishes, was not used to such persistency. An angry flush swept like
a wave over his face, and half rising he exclaimed rapidly and
excitedly,—“Go away! go away! go away!”
It is impossible to tell how this scene would have ended, for just
then Joachim’s voice sounded from the direction of the mansion,
calling the boy to tea, and he ran quickly down the hill.
“Ah, what a hateful boy!” was the indignant exclamation he heard
follow him.
The next day while he was sitting on the very same spot,
yesterday’s adventure came to his mind. Now, this memory excited
no vexation; on the contrary, he wished that the girl with the quiet,
tranquil voice, such as he had never heard before, would come back
again. All the children that he knew shouted, laughed, fought, and
cried noisily; not one had such a pleasant voice. He felt sorry to
have offended the stranger, who probably would never return.
The girl indeed did not return for three whole days. But on the
fourth day Petrùsya heard her steps below on the river’s bank. She
was walking slowly, humming something to herself in a low voice,
and apparently paying no attention to him.
“Wait a moment!” he called out, when he perceived that she was
going past; “is that you again?”
The girl at first made no reply, for her feelings had been hurt by
her former reception; but suddenly it seemed to occur to her that
there was something strange in the boy’s question, and she paused.
“Can’t you see that it is I?” she asked with much dignity, as she went
on arranging a nosegay of wild flowers which she held in her hand.
This simple question sent a thrill of pain through the heart of the
blind boy. He threw himself back on the grass and made no reply.
 But the conversation had been started, and the girl still standing
on the same spot and busying herself with her flowers, asked again:
“Who taught you to play so well on the pipe?”
“Joachim taught me,” replied Petrùsya.
“You do play very well. Only why are you so cross?”
“I—am not cross with you,” replied the boy gently.
“Well, then, neither am I. Let us play together.”
“I don’t know how to play with you,” he replied, hanging his head.
“Don’t know how to play? Why not?”
“Because.”
“Tell me why.”
“Because,” he replied scarce audibly, and dropped his head still
lower. Never before had he been obliged to speak of his blindness,
and the innocent tone of the voice of the girl, who asked this
question with such artless persistency, produced a painful impression
upon him.
“How odd you are!” she said with compassionate condescension,
seating herself beside him on the grass. “It must be because you are
not acquainted with me. When you know me better, you will no
longer be afraid of me. Now, I am not afraid of anybody.”
She said this with careless simplicity, as she played with her corn-
flowers and violets. Meanwhile the blind boy had accepted her
challenge to more intimate acquaintance, and as he knew but one
way of learning to know a person’s face, he naturally had recourse
to his usual method. Grasping the girl’s shoulder with one hand he
began with the other to feel of her hair and her eye-lashes; he
passed his fingers swiftly over her face, pausing occasionally to
study the unfamiliar features with deep attention. All this was so
unexpected, and done with such rapidity, that the girl in her utter
amazement never opened her lips; she only looked at him with wide-
open eyes in which could be seen a feeling akin to horror. Not until
now had she noticed anything unusual in the face of her new
acquaintance. The pale and delicately cut features of the boy were
rigid with a look of constrained attention, which seemed in some
way incongruous with his fixed gaze. His eyes looked straight ahead,
without any apparent relation to what he was doing, and in them
shone a strange reflection from the setting sun. For a moment the
girl felt as if it were some dreadful nightmare.
Releasing her shoulder from the boy’s hand, she suddenly sprang
to her feet and burst into a flood of tears. “What are you doing to
me, you naughty boy?” she exclaimed angrily through her tears.
“Why do you touch me? What have I done to you? Why?”
Confused as he was, he remained sitting on the same spot with
drooping head, while a strange feeling of mingled anger and
vexation filled his heart with burning pain. Now for the first time he
felt the degradation of a cripple; for the first time he learned that his
physical defect might inspire alarm as well as pity. Although he had
no power to formulate the sense of heaviness that oppressed him,
he suffered none the less because this feeling was dim and
confused. A sense of burning pain and bitter resentment swelled the
boy’s throat; he threw himself down on the grass and wept. As the
weeping increased, convulsive sobs shook his little frame,—the more
violently, because his innate pride made him struggle to repress this
outburst.
The girl, who had scarcely reached the foot of the hill, hearing
those stifled sobs turned in amazement. When she saw that odd
new acquaintance of hers lying face downward on the ground,
crying so bitterly, she felt a sympathy for him, and climbing the hill
again she stood over the weeping boy.
“What is it?” she said. “Why are you crying? Perhaps you think
that I shall complain? Don’t cry! I shall not say a word to any one.”
These words of sympathy and the caressing voice excited a still
more violent fit of sobbing. Then the girl sitting down beside the
boy, devoted herself to the task of comforting him.
 Passing her hand gently over his hair, with an instinct purely
feminine, and a gentle persistency, she raised his head and wiped
the tears from his eyes, like a mother who tries to comfort her
grieving child.
“There, there, I am no longer vexed,” she said in the soothing
tone of a grown-up woman. “I see you are sorry to have frightened
me.”
“I did not mean to frighten you,” he replied, drawing a long breath
in his efforts to repress his nervous sobs.
“Well, it is all right now. I am no longer angry. You will never do it
again,” she added, raising him from the ground and trying to make
him sit down beside her.
Petrùsya yielded. Again he sat facing the sunset, and when the girl
saw his face lighted by the crimson rays, she was impressed by its
unusual expression. The tears were still standing in the boy’s eyes,
which were as before immovable, while his features were twitching
convulsively with childlike sobs,—all the signs of a deep sorrow, such
as a mature nature might feel, were evident.
“How queer you are—really!” she said with thoughtful sympathy.
“I am not queer,” replied the boy with a pitiful look. “No, I am not
queer! I am—blind!”
“Bli—nd?” she repeated, prolonging the word in her surprise, while
her voice trembled, as though that sad word, softly uttered by the
boy, had given a heavy blow to her womanly little heart. “Blind?” she
repeated again; her voice trembled still more, and then as though
seeking a refuge from the uncontrollable sense of misery that had
come over her, she suddenly threw her arms around the boy’s neck
and hid her face on his breast.
This sad discovery taking her entirely by surprise, had instantly
changed the self-composed little woman to a grieved and helpless
child, who in her turn wept bitterly and inconsolably.
 V.
Meanwhile the sun, revolving as it were in the glowing
atmosphere, vanished below the dark line of the horizon. For a
moment the golden rim of the fiery ball had lingered on the edge,
leaving two or three burning sparks behind, and then the dark
outlines of the distant forest became at once defined by an
uninterrupted blue line. The wind blew fresh from the river.
The girl had ceased crying; only now and then a sob would break
forth in spite of her. Petrùsya sat with bowed head as if hardly able
to comprehend so lively an expression of sympathy.
“I am—sorry,” she said at last, by way of explaining her weakness,
but her voice was still broken by sobs. Then after a short silence,
having partially regained her self-control, she made an attempt to
change the conversation to some topic of which they could both
speak with composure. “The sun has set,” she said thoughtfully.
“I don’t know how it looks,” was the mournful reply. “I only—feel
it.”
“You don’t know the sun?”
“No.”
“And you don’t know your mamma, either?”
“Yes, I know mamma. I can tell her step from a distance.”
“Yes, of course you can. I can tell my mother when my eyes are
shut.”
The conversation had assumed a less agitating tone.
“I can feel the sun,” said the blind boy, growing more animated,
“and I can tell when it has set.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because—don’t you see?—I can’t tell why myself.”
 “Yes,” said the girl, and she seemed quite satisfied with this reply,
and both were silent.
“I can read,” Petrùsya was the first to break the silence, “and I
shall soon begin to learn to write with a pen.”
“How do you manage?” she inquired, and suddenly paused
abashed, reluctant to pursue the delicate subject.
But he understood her. “I read from my own book, with my
fingers,” he explained.
“With your fingers? I could never learn to read with my fingers. I
read poorly enough with my eyes. My father says that it is difficult
for women to learn.”
“And I can even read French.”
“How clever you are!” she exclaimed admiringly. “But I am afraid
that you will take cold,” she added; “see how the fog is rising over
the river.”
“And you yourself?”
“I am not afraid. What harm can it do me?”
“Neither am I afraid. Could a man possibly take cold more easily
than a woman? Uncle Maxim says a man must never fear anything,
neither cold nor hunger, nor the thunderbolt, nor the hurricane.”
“Maxim,—the one on crutches? I have seen him. He is terrible.”
“No, indeed. He is very kind.”
“No, he is terrible,” she persisted. “You cannot know, because you
never saw him.”
“I do know him. He teaches me everything.”
“Does he beat you?”
“Never. He never beats me or screams at me,—never.”
“Well, I am glad of that. How could anybody strike a blind boy? It
would be a sin.”
 “He never strikes any one,” said Petrùsya, in an abstracted tone of
voice, for his sensitive ear had caught the sound of Joachim’s steps.
In fact the tall figure of the Hohòl appeared a moment later on the
summit of the rising ground that separated the estate from the
shore, and his voice resounded through the tranquil evening air,
—“Panitch!”
“They are calling you,” said the girl, rising.
“I know it; but I don’t want to go.”
“Oh, yes, do go. I will come to see you to-morrow. They are
waiting for you now, and for me too.”
The girl was faithful to her promise, and appeared even earlier
than Petrùsya could have expected her. The next day as he was
sitting in his room at his daily lesson with Maxim, he suddenly raised
his head, listened, and exclaimed eagerly, “May I go for a minute?
The girl has come.”
“What girl do you mean?” inquired Maxim, as he followed the boy
out of the door.
Petrùsya’s acquaintance of yesterday had in fact entered the yard
of the mansion at that very moment, and on seeing Anna
Michàilovna who was in the act of crossing it, deliberately went up to
her.
“What do you wish, dear child?” asked the former, supposing that
she had been sent on some errand.
The little woman offered her hand, as she demurely inquired, “Are
you the mother of the blind boy? Yes?”
“Yes, my dear,” replied Pani Popèlska, admiring the girl’s clear eyes
and the ease of her manners.
“Well, Mamma gave me permission to come to see him. May I see
him?”
At that moment Petrùsya himself ran up to her, and behind him in
the vestibule appeared Maxim.
 “That’s yesterday’s girl, Mamma,—the one I told you of,”
exclaimed the boy, as he greeted the child. “But I am taking my
lesson now.”
“Well, Uncle Maxim will excuse you this time,” said Anna
Michàilovna. “I will ask him.”
Meanwhile the little woman, perfectly at home, approached
Maxim, who was advancing toward her with his crutch and cane,
and extending her hand, remarked with the most gracious
condescension, “It is very good of you not to strike a blind boy. He
has told me of it.”
“Indeed, my young lady!” exclaimed Maxim, with a comical
affectation of gravity, clasping between his own broad palms the
girl’s tiny hand. “How grateful I ought to be to my pupil that he won
your good-will in my behalf!” And Maxim laughed, as he patted the
hand he retained in his own. Meanwhile the girl stood looking at him
with her clear, open gaze, which completely subjugated his woman-
hating heart.
“Well, Annùsya,” said Maxim to his sister with a quizzical smile, “it
seems that our Peter is beginning to choose his own friends. And
you cannot deny, Annya, that he has made a good choice, even
though he is blind. Has he not?”
“What do you mean, Max?” asked the young woman, gravely, as
the color mounted to her cheeks.
“I was only joking,” replied the brother, briefly, perceiving that his
sally had touched a sensitive chord, which responding revealed a
hidden thought in the maternal heart.
Anna Michàilovna blushed still more deeply; she stooped hastily,
and with a sudden passionate tenderness embraced the girl, who
received this unexpected and impulsive caress with her usual serene
though slightly surprised expression.

VI.
 From that day the closest intimacy was established between the
Popèlski mansion and the home of the Possessor. The girl, whose
name was Evelyn, came every day to the mansion, and in a short
time she too became Uncle Maxim’s pupil.
At first this plan of companionship in study did not meet with Pan
Yaskùlski’s approval. In the first place he thought that a woman
needed no more education than would enable her to keep a
memorandum of the soiled linen, and an account of her own
expenses; in the second place he was a good Catholic, and believed
that Maxim had committed a sin in fighting the Austrians in defiance
of the clearly expressed admonition of the “father-pope.” Finally he
firmly believed that there was a God in heaven, and that Voltaire and
his followers were plunged in fiery pitch,—a fate which also, as many
believed, was in waiting for Pan Maxim. However, as he grew to
know him more intimately, he was obliged to admit that this heretic
and fighter was a very good-natured and clever man, and so the
Possessor compromised the matter.
“Let me tell you this, Vèlya,” he said, addressing his daughter, as
he was on the point of leaving her to take her first lesson from
Maxim, “never forget that there is a God in heaven and a Holy
Father in Rome. I, Valentine Yaskùlski, say this to you; and you must
believe me, because I am your father. That for primo. Secundo, I am
a Polish nobleman, and on my coat-of-arms, together with the hay-
rick and the crow, is a cross on an azure field. The Yaskùlskis were
ever good knights, and at the same time they were not ignorant
concerning religious matters; and for that reason also you must
believe me. But in regard to all subjects relating to orbis terrarum
you are to respect what Pan Maxim Yatzènko tells you, and study
faithfully.”
“Do not fear, Pan Valentine,” retorted Maxim, smiling, “we do not
draft little Panis into Garibaldi’s regiment.”

VII.
 Both children profited by this companionship in study. Although
Petrùsya was farther advanced, there was still an opportunity for
competition. Moreover, he could often help his new friend about her
lessons, and she was very successful in devising methods of
explanation in regard to subjects which were naturally difficult for a
blind boy to comprehend. Her society had introduced a new element
into his studies, contributing a pleasing excitement to his mental
labors.
Taking it all in all, fate had certainly proved propitious in this gift
of friendship. The boy no longer sought solitude; he had found that
congenial companionship which the love of older people had not
afforded, and in moments when his little soul was most peaceful he
was glad to have his friend near him. They always went together to
the cliff or to the river-bank. When he played, she listened with
genuine delight; and after he had laid his pipe aside, she would
describe in her vivid childlike way the various objects in Nature that
surrounded them. She could not of course picture them with
absolute fidelity, but from her simple description the boy gained a
very clear idea of the characteristic coloring of every phenomenon
which she described. Thus, for instance, when she spoke of the
darkness with which the black and misty night shrouded the earth,
he formed a conception of this same darkness from the low tones of
her timid voice. Then again, as she raised her serious face and said
to him, “Ah, what a cloud is coming toward us!—a very dark cloud!”
he seemed directly to feel its cold blast, and in her voice he fancied
the rustling sound of the creeping monster advancing threateningly
upon him far above his head.
IV. BLINDNESS. VAGUE QUESTIONS.
 IV.
Blindness. Vague Questions.

There are natures that seem predestined for the gentle task of
love, as well as for the anxieties of sorrow,—natures in whom a
sympathy for the cares or griefs of others is a necessity as
imperative as the air they breathe. They have been endowed with
that calmness so essential for the fulfilment of every-day duties; all
the natural longings for personal happiness seem to have been
restrained and held in subserviency to the ruling characteristic of
their temperaments. Such beings often appear too placid, too
reasonable, and devoid of sentiment. They are insensible to the
passionate longings of a life of pleasure, and follow the stern path of
duty with as much contentment as if it were yielding them the most
glowing joys. They seem as frigid and majestic as the mountain-
tops. Commonplace human life abases itself at their feet; even
gossip and calumny glide from their snowy white garments like
spatters of mud from the wings of a swan.
Peter’s little friend presented all the traits of this type, which as
the product of education or experience is but rarely seen. Like
genius, it falls to the lot of the chosen few, and generally manifests
itself early in life. The mother of the blind boy realized what good
fortune had befallen her son in winning the friendship of this child.
Old Maxim likewise appreciated this, and felt confident that since his
pupil now enjoyed the benefit of an influence heretofore wanting, his
moral development would make tranquil and continuous progress.
But this proved a sad mistake.

II.
During the first few years of the child’s life Maxim had believed the
boy’s mental growth to be under his entire control, and its
processes, if not directly guided by his influence, at least so far
affected by it that no new intellectual manifestation or acquisition
could evade his vigilance. But when the boy reached that period of
his life which forms the boundary between childhood and youth,
Maxim realized how vain had been his audacious dreams of
education. Nearly every week revealed something new, oftentimes
something he had never anticipated; and in his efforts to discover
the sources of the new idea, or representation thereof, Maxim was
invariably baffled. A certain unknown influence, either organic
growth or hereditary development, was evidently participating in
Maxim’s educational plans; and he often paused reverently to
contemplate the mysterious operations of Nature. In these outbreaks
by which Nature effects her gratuitous revelations, disturbing, so to
speak, the equilibrium between the supply of acquired knowledge on
the one hand and that of personal experience on the other, Maxim
had no trouble in following the connecting links of the phenomena of
universal life, which diverging into thousands of channels enter into
separate and “individual” lives.
This discovery was at first startling to Maxim, inasmuch as it
revealed the fact that the mental growth of the child was subject to
other influences beside his own. He became anxious for the fate of
his ward, alarmed at the possibility of influences which could bring
the blind man nothing but irremediable suffering. Then he tried to
trace to their sources those mysterious springs which had leaped to
the surface, hoping to obstruct their passage and check their
influence over the blind child.
Nor had the mother failed to observe these things. One morning
Pètrik ran up to her in an unusual state of excitement.
“Mamma, Mamma,” he exclaimed, “I saw a dream!”
“What did you see, my boy?” she asked; and in her voice there
was a pathetic intonation as of doubt.
“I dreamed that I saw you and Uncle Maxim; and—”
“What else?”
“I don’t remember.”
“And do you remember me?”
“No,” replied the boy, thoughtfully, “I have forgotten everything.”
This was repeated several times; and each time the boy grew
sadder and more restless.

III.
 Once, as he was crossing the yard, Maxim heard from the
drawing-room, where the music-lessons usually took place, some
very queer exercises. They consisted of two notes. First, the highest
key of the upper register was struck incessantly, in swift repetition;
then the low reverberation of a bass note jarred upon the ear.
Curious to discover what might be the meaning of these strange
musical exercises, Maxim hobbled across the yard, and a minute
later entered the drawing-room. He paused, and stood motionless in
the doorway, contemplating the scene before him.
The boy, who was now ten years old, sat on a low stool at his
mother’s feet. Beside him, craning his neck and turning his long
beak from side to side, stood a tame stork which Joachim had
presented to the “Panitch.” The boy fed him every morning from his
own hands, and the bird followed his new friend and master from
morning till night. At this moment Petrùsya was holding him by one
hand, and slowly stroking his neck and back with the other, while an
expression of deep thought and absorption rested on his face. The
mother meanwhile, evidently excited and at the same time with a
look of sadness, was striking with her finger the key that sent forth
that sharp resonant note. At the same time, slightly bending forward
from her seat, she watched the boy’s face with a painful scrutiny.
When his hand, gliding along the brilliant white plumage, reached
the tips of the wings, where the white plumes were suddenly
replaced by black ones, Anna Michàilovna instantly moved her hand
to the other key, and the low bass note, with its deep
reverberations, echoed through the room.
Both mother and son were so much engrossed in their occupation
that they had not observed Maxim’s entrance, until, recovering from
his astonishment, he interrupted this performance: “Annùsya, what
does this mean?”
Meeting Maxim’s searching glance, the young woman was as
much confused as if a severe tutor had detected her in the
commission of some fault. “You see,” she said in confusion, “he tells
me that he can distinguish a certain difference between the colors of
the stork, but he cannot understand wherein this difference consists.
Truly he was the first one to mention it, and I believe he is right.”
“Well, what of it?”
“Well, I was trying, after a fashion, to explain this difference to
him by sounds. Don’t be vexed, Max, but I really think that there is a
correspondence.”
This unexpected idea took Maxim so entirely by surprise that at
first he was at a loss for an answer. He asked her to repeat her
experiments, and as he watched the rigid concentration of the boy’s
expression he shook his head. “Believe me, Anna,” he said when he
was alone with her, “it is better not to arouse thoughts in the boy’s
mind, to which you can give no satisfactory solution. He must resign
himself to his blindness,—there is no help for it; and it is our duty to
keep him from trying to comprehend the light. For my part, I make
every effort to avert each question, and if it were but possible to
keep him removed from all objects likely to suggest them, he would
no more realize that a sense is missing than we who possess five
deplore the want of a sixth.”
The sister yielded as usual to her brother’s persuasive arguments;
but this time both were mistaken. While overrating the influence of
outside impressions, Maxim forgot the powerful stimulus which
Nature communicates to a child’s soul.

IV.
They had before them a blind child, a future man, the possible
father of a family. “Malevolent fate,” or perhaps “accident” hidden
within the mysterious realm of phenomena, had closed forever those
eyes,—the windows through which the soul receives impressions
from the glowing, many-colored, changing world. Doomed never to
behold the light of the sun, although not himself the offspring of the
blind, he was still a link in the illimitable chain of bygone lives, and
contained within himself the possibilities of future lives. All those
living links now lost in the remote past, corresponding in proportion
to their capacity to the impressions of light, had transmitted to him
the inner faculty, and through him, blind though he was, to an
endless succession of future generations who would possess the
power of vision.[14]
Thus it was that in the depths of this child’s soul these hereditary
forces lay dormant,—vague “possibilities,” hitherto unaffected by
outside influences. The whole fabric of his mind, fashioned after the
ancestral model, had reserved within itself a substratum of the
impressions of light, the product of the countless experiences of his
ancestors. Thus in his inner organization the blind man is like
another possessing eyesight, but with eyes forever closed, Hence a
dim yet ever present consciousness of desire that craves
contentment; an undefined yearning to exercise the dormant powers
of his soul which have never been called into action. Hence also
certain vague forebodings and endeavors,—like the longing for flight,
which children feel, and the joys of which they taste in witching
dreams.
Now, at last, the instinctive inclination of little Peter’s childish
fancies was reflected on his features in that look of troubled
perplexity. Those hereditary, and yet as far as he himself was
concerned undeveloped and therefore unshaped, “possibilities” of
the ideas of light rose like obscure phantoms in the child’s mind,
exciting him to aimless and distressing efforts. All his nature, in an
unconscious protest against the individual “accident,” rose to claim
the restoration of the universal law.

V.
Consequently, however much Maxim might try to exclude all
outward impressions from his nephew, he had no control over the
urgent cravings that came from within. With all his precautions he
could but avert a premature awakening of these unsatisfied
yearnings, and thereby diminish the boy’s chances of suffering. In
every other respect the child’s unhappy fate, with all its cruel
consequences, must take its course.
And like a dark shadow this fate advanced to meet him. From year
to year the boy’s natural vivacity subsided, like a receding wave,
while the melancholy that was echoing within his soul grew
persistently, and left its impress on his temperament. His laughter,
which in childhood resounded at every new and especially vivid
impression, was now rarely heard. He was naturally less accessible
to all that was bright and cheerful, and more or less humorous, than
to that vague obscurity and gloom peculiar to the Southern nature,
which finds reflection in the folk-songs. These made a deep
impression on the boy’s imagination. The tears stood in his eyes
whenever he heard how “the grave whispers to the wind in the
field,” and he loved to wander through the fields himself, listening to
this murmur. He longed more and more for solitude; and when in his
hours of recreation he started off on his lonely walk, the family
would avoid that direction, lest they might disturb his solitude.
Seated upon some mound out on the steppe, or on the hillock
above the river, or on the familiar cliff, Petrùsya would listen to the
rustling leaves, the whispering grass, the vague soughing of the
wind across the steppe. All this harmonized perfectly with the deep
seriousness of his mood. There, so far as in him lay, he was in
absolute sympathy with Nature; he understood her; she disturbed
him by no perplexing and unanswerable questions. There the wind
fanned his very soul, and the grass seemed to whisper soft words of
pity; and as the spirit of the youth in harmony with the gentle
influences that surrounded him melted at the tender caress of
Nature, he felt his bosom swell with an emotion that communicated
itself to his whole being. In moments like these he would throw
himself on the cool, moist grass and weep; but in these tears there
was no bitterness. Again, he would seize his pipe, and enraptured by
his own emotions would improvise pensive melodies suited to his
mood and to the peaceful harmony of the steppe. One could easily
understand that any human sound coming unexpectedly to interrupt
this mood would affect him like a distressing discord. At such times
the only fellowship possible to him was with a soul akin to his own;
and in the fair-haired girl from the estate of the Possessor the boy
enjoyed just such a companion.
This friendship was the more firmly knitted by mutual sympathy. If
Evelyn contributed to their partnership her calmness, her gentle
animation, or imparted to the blind boy some new detail of the
surrounding life, he in turn gave her his sorrow. The little woman’s
knowledge of him seemed to have dealt a serious blow to her tender
heart: pluck a dagger from a wound, and the bleeding will increase.
On the day when she first learned to know the blind boy on the
hillock in the steppe, her sympathy for his affliction had really
caused her acute pain, and his presence had grown by degrees quite
indispensable to her. Separation seemed to renew and increase the
poignant pain of her wound, and she longed to be with her little
friend that she might appease her own suffering by ministering
constantly to his comfort.

VI.
One warm autumn night both families were sitting on the terrace
in front of the house, admiring the starry sky, with its blue distances
and glimmering lights. The blind boy with his friend sat as usual by
his mother’s side. All was still around the mansion, and for the
moment they sat silent; only the leaves stirred from time to time,
like startled things, with unintelligible murmurings, and then lapsed
into silence.
Suddenly a meteor, leaping forth from the darkness, flashed
across the sky in one brilliant streak; and as it gradually
disappeared, it left behind a trail of phosphorescent light. Petrùsya
seated beside his mother had linked his arm in hers, and she
became suddenly conscious that he started and began to tremble.
“What—was that?” he asked, with a look of trouble on his face.
“It was a falling star, my child.”