His condition
became improved and by 1859 he had amassed a capital of two thousand
roubles, with which he opened a book-shop, hoping to enlighten the
darkness of his country. To this ideal he gave all his strength and his
money. In 1860 Nikitin went to Petersburg and Moscow to establish
connections with the leading publishing houses; from which no small
literary acquaintance arose. In the Spring of 1861 he suffered from a
throat trouble which developed into bronchial tuberculosis of which he
died on October 16, 1861. His trials with his father and those caused by
his father's extreme intemperance were considered to have greatly
hastened his lamented death.
CONSTANTINE MICHAILOWITSCH FOFANOW was born at Petersburg, May 30, 1862.
He is not a highly educated man, and is now living, after a series of
misfortunes, happily surmounted, at Gatschina.
SEMIJON JAKOLOWITSCH NADSON was born at Petersburg, December 26, 1862.
On his father's side he was of Hebrew extraction. His grandfather had
formerly embraced the orthodox faith, and his father, from whom he
inherited his musical talent, died in an asylum, in the extreme youth of
the poet. His mother, after contracting a second marriage, which ended
unhappily, died at the age of thirty-one, of consumption. The boy
learned to read and write at the age of four, from an old servant.
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