About the book: 1988 / In the published stories of the classic of Lithuanian literature Vaižgantas [Juozas Tumas] (1869-1933), the reader is presented with a Lithuanian village during the times of serfdom and in the post-reform era. Creativity, hard work, a heightened sense of guilt and responsibility for one’s actions - what the author calls the Lithuanian national character - found a vivid artistic embodiment in the stories. The writer calls on a person to live his life with dignity and constantly direct it towards spirituality. A peculiar ethnographic flavor, a philosophical vision of the past and an awareness of its enduring significance for descendants, clear moral criteria - all this arouses interest in the work of Vaižgantas even today.