A Triumphal March
His progress was a triumphal march, a succession of banquets and popular welcomes and entertainments at the homes of the wealthy.
At Kiev people still remember that the earliest Russian civilization had its beginnings in the Ukraine. There Christianity first took root, and there were the first Russian Princes.
Before Shevchenko's arrival there was organized at Kiev the Society of Cyril and Methodius, called after the great apostles of Russia, and the leading spirits of the Society were professors in the University of Kiev.
Into this brilliant company Shevchenko was welcomed. Its leaders became his devoted friends. A chair of painting in the University was to be established for him.
Most remarkable were the relations between Shevchenko and Professor Kulisch. Kulisch was to be married to a great lady, a daughter of one of the nobles of the country. The poet was invited to the wedding and the bride, in her enthusiasm, actually kissed his hand. This was an astonishing act of condescension towards one who had been a serf, but this lady, herself afterwards a famous authoress, cherished the memory to her dying day.
Shevchenko's saddest experience in the Ukraine was when he visited his native village and found his brothers and sisters in serfdom. His dream was to earn enough money to purchase their freedom, and afterwards to devote his life to the liberation of the peasantry. The poem—"The Bondwoman's Dream"—commemorates the poet's meeting with his favorite sister, Katherine, working as a slave.
His friends thought he should go to Italy to perfect himself in painting. Madame Kulisch purposed to sell her family jewels to raise sufficient money to send Shevchenko to that country. Her husband who was in the plot told Shevchenko that some wealthy person had contributed the money but he must not ask for the donor's name.
But on returning to Kiev from the Kulisch home a policeman put his hand on the shoulder of the poet painter.
The bright dream was ended.
Shevchenko meets his sister.