Read "The Confessions of a Little Man during Great Days" by Leonid Andreyev online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
St. Petersburgh,28th August 1914.
To speak with a clear conscience as one does at confession, even now I can't make out why I was in such a panic on that day. War is war, we all know; no one greets its coming with delight; still, it is a simple matter, when all is said and done; we have been through it before. The Japanese War is still fresh in our memories. At present, for example, when bloody battles are being fought, I have no sense of fear, and live as I always do. I go about my work, see my friends, indulge in a theatre or a picture-show, and were it not for my wife's brother, Pavel, being at the war, I could almost forget, on occasions, the terrible events that are happening.