'That's right!' I thought, 'that's right!' That means that he is a cultured man who loves business and order, who, in general, loves to arrange life, loves to live, knows the value of himself and of life.

Good!" Yakov Tarasovich trembled, his wrinkles spread over his face like beams, from his smiling eyes to his lips, and his bald head looked like some dark star.
The merchants stared silently and attentively at his mouth, and all faces bespoke intense attention.

The people seemed petrified in the attitudes in which Mayakin's speech had overtaken them.
"But if that word is to be interpreted precisely thus, and not otherwise, if such is the case--then the people who call us uncultured and savage, slander and blaspheme us! For they love only the word, but not its meaning; while we love the very root of the word, we love its real essence, we love activity.

We have within us the real cult toward life, that is, the worship of life; we, not they! They love reasoning' we love action.

And here, gentlemen of the merchant class, here is an example of our culture, of our love for action.