Somehow I got my hands on a copy of the local newspaper ‘Tula Rumor’. On its last page I read an advertisement inviting artists and art lovers to take part in an exhibition… The members of the commission were sitting at a small table: one was bald, with a red goatee and a pince-nez, another was tall, looking like an officer, the third was a tall, lanky blond man with a large thin mouth, wearing glasses.

Hello, I whispered faintly and heard:
What do you need, boy?
I brought paintings to the exhibition, but they’re only copies.
We don’t accept copies, said the man who looked like an officer.
I stood there confused and silent not knowing what to do. Then, seeing my confusion, the blond man with glasses softened:
Well, since the boy has brought something, let him show what it is. Put your pictures on this chair, boy.
I unwrapped the bundle and put one work on the chair and the other on the floor, leaning it against the table.
Good! said my defender, after examining the work. ‘I say we accept them. Just look at the love he put into painting twigs on the birches.
Fine, I guess we can, — agreed the man with the goatee…