Tolstoi's Cossacks

This passage has nine short sentences—containing 146-words—where Tolstoi not only, in my opinion, masterfully describes a moment in time at a specific location, but draws a sharp contrast between the inhabitants. I cannot imagine how many times Tolstoi pondered, wrote and rewrote this passage until he felt it was perfect.

“ Moscow has become quiet. Only very rarely does one hear the sound of wheels in the wintry streets. There are no longer any lights in the windows, and the street lamps have been extinguished. From church towers come the sound of bells which, borne over the sleepy city, remind one of morning. The streets are empty. Every now and then a sledge ploughs its way through the mixture of snow and sand and, crossing over to another street corner, the driver stops to wait for another fare. An old woman passes by on her way to the church where a few irregularly placed wax-candles are already burning with a red light which is reflected from the gilt mountings of the icons. Workmen are already getting up after their long winter night, and are going to their work. But for the gentlefolk it is still evening.”

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