The text describes the town of Smile, located in Kyiv Governorate, Cherkasy District. The history of this town is briefly described, and the question of its present owner, Count Bobrinsky, is also touched upon. The note goes on to mention the parish church, which is famous for its miraculous image of the Mother of God (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1872, Series 2, T:9, pp. 33-34, after: University of Lodz Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text.

The church with the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in Smile.

This town, located in Kyiv Governorate, Cherkassy District, in picturesque surroundings, flanked by the rivers Rosia and Taśmina, flowing into the Dnieper, at the mouth of the latter, which joins the swampy Irdyn over a charming valley, is one of the most decent in the country. Smyla is an ancient settlement, and was once a defensive place and had a castle, under the walls of which warrior hordes fought bloody battles for many centuries. Today, there is no trace of all this, the fortress has been replaced by a cemetery on a hill above the River Tašmina, surrounded by ruined ramparts. In recent times, the town has blossomed especially with the sugar industry, as it has excellent factories, namely refineries, which count among the finest in the empire. The extensive estate, formerly called Smilansk, consisting of 9 towns, 179 villages and 100,000 landowners, was bought at the end of the last century by Prince Potemkin for two million silver roubles, yet it was for nothing. After his death, Smyla was purchased from one of his heirs by the present owner Count Bobrinsky, to whose efforts the whole province owes the present excellent growth of agriculture and the industry connected with it. The parish church, famous for its miraculous painting of the Mother of God, also stands out in the well-built town with its artistic beauty. This edifice, founded in 1818 and completed in 1827, stands on a spacious site surrounded by a wall, amidst trees and flowering bushes. It has an ornate façade, supported by four pillars of Ionic order, a cupola with two turrets and an iron-clad roof. Inside, meticulously maintained, it has numerous paintings and three altars, with paintings by Paszkowski, after whom many such mementos are kept by churches in this and the Podolia province. The large altar contains a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin painted on wood, depicting the Mother of God with a crown on her head, holding the infant Jesus, also crowned, whose hand rests on the globe. Crowds of devout people, even from far away, still visit this place, especially on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to which the church is dedicated. The crowds of devout people, even from afar, still visit the place, especially on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, under whose name the present church was erected and on whose feast day a large annual fair is held.