Just as this theatre discovered or, rather, rescued Tchekhoff as a dramatist, so it first stood sponsor for the author of "Foma Gordeyeff" as a playwright. During the first half of the season of 1902-1903, two of his plays were produced--"Smug Citizens" and "The Lower Depths." The latter was recognized at once as a work of supreme merit and moment. Tchekhoff himself had written to its youthful author five months before its première: "I have read your play. It is new and unmistakably fine. The second act is very good, it is the best, the strongest, and when I was reading it, especially the end, I almost danced with joy." At the première, the rival dramatist's verdict was publicly ratified, for Gorky was called before the curtain twenty times, and the press was unanimously enthusiastic. The play has held its place in the repertory of the Moscow Art Theatre ever since, and eight of its most important rôles are still played by those who created them, just two decades ago. Miss Covan's translation of this play, I believe, deserves particular attention. There have been numerous translations, differing only in the nature of their ineptitude. Here for the first time, the vigor, the virility, the humanity and the humor of the original survive the transfer from the Russian tongue to our own, without mysterious and vaguely symbolic "meanings" gratuitously appended. As nearly as it is possible with printed words to convey the impression which Gorky desires and obtains through the intangible media of the living stage, the following version succeeds. I realized for the first time, as I read it, that the overwhelming impression of the play at the hands of the Moscow Art Theatre is due as much to the genius of the playwright as to that of his interpreters. THE EDITOR. CAST OF CHARACTERS. MIKHAIL IVANOFF KOSTILYOFF--_Keeper of a night lodging._ VASSILISA KARPOVNA--_His wife._ NATASHA--_Her sister._ MIEDVIEDIEFF--_Her uncle, a policeman._ VASKA PEPEL--_A young thief._ ANDREI MITRITCH KLESHTCH--_A locksmith._ ANNA--_His wife._ NASTYA--_A street-walker._ KVASHNYA--_A vendor of meat-pies._ BUBNOFF--_A cap-maker._ THE BARON. SATINE. THE ACTOR. LUKA--_A pilgrim._ ALYOSHKA--_A shoemaker._ KRIVOY ZOB } } _Porters._ THE TARTAR } NIGHT LODGERS, TRAMPS AND OTHERS. The action takes place in a Night Lodging and in "The Waste," an area in its rear. ACT ONE.