There a woman is dragging a dry branch along and from round the corner comes the sound of an axe.
Cossack children, spinning their tops wherever there is a smooth place in the street, are shrieking; women are climbing over fences to avoid going round.

From every chimney rises the odorous kisyak smoke.

From every homestead comes the sound of increased bustle, precursor to the stillness of night.
Granny Ulitka, the wife of the Cossack cornet who is also teacher in the regimental school, goes out to the gates of her yard like the other women, and waits for the cattle which her daughter Maryanka is driving along the street.

Before she has had time fully to open the wattle gate in the fence, an enormous buffalo cow surrounded by mosquitoes rushes up bellowing and squeezes in.

Several well-fed cows slowly follow her, their large eyes gazing with recognition at their mistress as they swish their sides with their tails.