From Him to Her and from Her to Him. Cheerful Stories

In this collection by Nikolai Aleksandrovich Leikin, a classic satirist of the late 19th century, as always, there is an abundance of everyday details and signs of the times, and the themes of the stories are relevant at all times. The arbitrariness of the rich, emotional blackmail for extorting money (both from children and parents, as well as from "suitors" of naive ladies), the frivolity of young girls, excessive talkativeness. The author does not shy away from such still pressing topics as strange fellow travelers on the train, behavior in queues, a passionate desire to party, and ubiquitous drunkenness. The phenomena touched upon are difficult to call funny, but that is the strength of a talented humorist: not only to expose the vices of society but to do so in a cheerful manner. The collection concludes with a lengthy story featuring humorous parodies of Leikin's contemporaries.