He had intended to call the boy Velikoselski, after his native place, Velikoe Selo, which means "big village"; but finding that there was already a Velikoselski in the seminary, and being in a facetious frame of mind, he called the new comer Grandvillageski--a word that may perhaps sorely puzzle some philologist of the future.
My reverend teacher was a tall, muscular man of about forty years of age, with a full dark-brown beard, and long lank hair falling over his shoulders.

The visible parts of his dress consisted of three articles--a dingy-brown robe of coarse material buttoned closely at the neck and descending to the ground, a wideawake hat, and a pair of large, heavy boots.

As to the esoteric parts of his attire, I refrained from making investigations.

His life had been an uneventful one.

At an early age he had been sent to the seminary in the chief town of the province, and had made for himself the reputation of a good average scholar.