Alexander Berkman

“ I am allowed to receive all mail sent, "of moral contents," in the phraseology of the rules. And I shall write whenever I may.
Dear Sonya, I sense bitterness and disappointment in your letter. Why do you speak of failure? You, at least, you and Fedya, should not have your judgment obscured by the mere accident of physical results. Your lines pained and grieved me beyond words. Not because you should write thus; but that you, even you, should think thus. Need I enlarge? True morality deals with motives, not consequences. ”

“ I should now be hidden in that green box-with bated breath I'd flatten myself in the darkest recess, and wait for the Chaplain to collect the mail....
My heart beats tumultuously as the wild fancy flutters in my brain. I am oblivious of the forming lines, the sharp commands, the heavy tread. Automatically I turn the hosiery, counting one, two, one pair; three, four, two pair. Whose voice is it I hear? I surely know the man-there is something familiar about him. He bends over the looping machines and gathers the stockings. ”

“ I'd kill myself first. But it will not be necessary, thank goodness! It was such a lucky thought, this going out in my letter. But what has become of the Chaplain? if he'd only come- why is he so long? They might miss me in the shop. No, no! that man is therehe is turning the stockings-they don't know I am here in the box. The Chaplain won't know it, either: I am invisible; he'll think it's a letter when he puts me in his pocket, and then he'll seal me in an envelope and address-I must flatten myself so his hand shouldn't feel-and he'll address me to Sonya. ”