It was a very big country; it took many days for a letter to reach one's father in Russia.

Why might not everybody be there who wanted to?
I do not know when I became old enough to understand.

The truth was borne in on me a dozen times a day, from the time I began to distinguish words from empty noises.

My grandmother told me about it, when she put me to bed at night.

My parents told me about it, when they gave me presents on holidays.