An old friend of Chekhov was a journalist, ‘the king of reporters’ Vladimir Alekseevich Gilyarovsky (1855-1935). They met during the years of Anton Pavlovich’s cooperation with small newspapers. Gilyarovsky wrote in his memoirs: “I fell in love with Antosha, and he loved me until the end of his life…” In the early 1900s, he came to Chekhov in Yalta. After his departure in the office of Anton Pavlovich, above the chair for visitors, there was a sign “Please do not smoke here.” Vladimir Alekseevich hanged it personally for those guests who neglected the health of the owner of the office and allowed themselves to smoke in his presence.

In addition to literary notes, Gilyarovsky is also known as the author of impromptu poetry. He wrote the rhymes down quickly, with his constant pencil, pretty worn out by time. Once at the White Dacha, Vladimir Alekseevich was with Bunin. The owner and guests talked in the luxurious Chekhov’s garden, the gardener Babakai worked nearby. Chekhov’s dogs, Sharik and Tuzik, ran between the plants. Gilyarovsky described this picture with one stanza, written on the doorframe (the translation is given without a rhyme): “You have a lovely site, my friends! With Sharik, bias Tuzik and some Babakai”. Unfortunately, these lines have not survived. After the renovation of the house, they were hidden by paint.

In the memoirs of Gilyarovsky there is a story about one of his home evenings in 1884, which Chekhov also attended. Vladimir Alekseevich wrote that on the next Saturday he went to Russkiye Vedomosti for a weekly fee and received almost 100 rubles. Then he went to the “Budilnik” (“Alarm Clock”), where he met Anton Pavlovich, to whom he boasted of a substantial sum. Chekhov was paid very little that day, and he told the “wealthy” Gilyarovsky that he should let his wife bake a cake and wait for guests. Levitan will also be there.

When the guests gathered, they started talking about Crimea. Isaac Ilyich took a pencil and a sketchbook and, while the conversation was going on, sketched two excellent drawings depicting the sea with the moon and willows above the water. Nikolai Pavlovich Chekhov decided to keep up - and drew the head of a beautiful woman. Anton Pavlovich silently watched the artists, and then could not resist: “Is that how they paint? Well, head! Whose head? Well, the sea! Which sea?” And then he began to explain that the artist’s work should be understandable to everyone. He backed up his words with his own drawing. Those gathered, looking at Chekhov’s work, laughed to tears. In the album, the writer depicted a mountain, a tourist descending along its slope, a building with the inscription “Tavern”, a steamer among sea waves, birds. The painting was called “View of Peter Ionych Gubonin”s estate “Gurzuf”. But, most importantly, next to each detail of the drawing was written what was encrypted: “sea”, “mountain”, “siskins”, “tourist”. Anton Pavlovich handed the album over to the owner of the house and ordered to take care of the drawing as his only picture, joking that he would not take up a pencil anymore, so as not to leave Levitan without his earnings.