"Sofia, 5/1 99
Kolyo,
I have received all your letters hitherto sent by you and through you. May the splits and splinterings not frighten us. It is really a pity, but what can we do, since we are Bulgarians and all suffer from one common disease! If this disease did not exist in our ancestors, from whom it is also an inheritance in us, they would not have fallen under the ugly scepter of the Turkish sultans. Our duty, of course, is not to give in to that disease, but can we make others do the same?"
