dead souls, imperial envoy

Chapter 33 Dead Souls (33)
The mountains are undulating, stretching for thousands of miles, dominating the vast plains, like a huge endless city wall.In some places, there are yellowish-brown cliffs, which have been washed by rainwater; Lambskin; in other places, lush woods untouched.The river, sometimes tamed by the towering embankment, twists and turns along with the embankment, sometimes ran mischievously into the meadow, flashed a few times in the sun, and then hid itself in the forest of aspen and alder. From there, I ran out happily, and ran to the distance accompanied by the small bridge, water mill and river dam, which seemed to stop it at those corners.

One part of this endless mountain range is steep and steep, and the peak is quite high. From the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, densely covered with lush trees.There are maple trees, pear trees, low firecracker willow bushes, Caragana trees, birches, spruces, and peppercorns covered with hops... Here the red roof of the landlord's house, the Farmhouse raised ridges, ridge moldings, and landowner's attics.An ancient church stands tall with five resplendent domes.There is a hollow golden cross on each dome, which is fixed on the dome with some hollow golden chains, so it looks like some golden nuggets suspended in the air from a distance.All of these—treetops, roofs, and churches—are reflected in the water, and there are some old willows, some standing on the bank, some standing in the water, hanging their slender arms, as if While admiring this reflection in the water, I have not appreciated enough for many years.

The scenery is quite good, but it would be even more beautiful if you look down from a high place and look far away from the upstairs of the landlord's house.No guest or visitor can stand on the balcony indifferently.He would definitely be out of breath in amazement, and he could only sigh repeatedly: "God, how vast!" The land in front of him is endless: the grass covered with water, the small woods and the dark green and green dense forest behind, like the sea like fog, spread far away.Behind the dense forest is already misty clouds and mist, and what can be seen beyond the clouds and mist is a vast expanse of yellow sand.Behind the yellow sand, there are several chalk mountains, shining white light without the sun, as if the sun shines on them at any time.At the foot of the chalk hills there are a few faint gray dots.That is a village in the distance, which is beyond the naked eye.Only the dome of the church that shone like sparks under the sunlight reminded people that it was a large densely populated village.All of this is shrouded in a leisurely tranquility, and even the densely packed birds in the sky can't break the tranquility, on the contrary, their singing sounds faint and deep.In a word, all guests and visitors will stand on the balcony and will not remain indifferent.Even after looking at it for an hour or two, he still couldn't help expressing the original emotion: "God, how vast!" The village looked like a dangerous fortress, and it had to be entered from the other side.Going up from that side began with fields, crop fields, and finally sparse live oaks, standing gracefully on the green grass, until the farmhouse and the owner's house.To what blessed landowner does this lovely corner belong?What kind of man lived in this village who possessed and ruled all this?
The village belonged to the landowner of Trema Khan County, Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov, a 33-year-old young gentleman who was not yet married and had once been an official of the tenth rank.What was this Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov like, what was his temper and character?
This naturally has to be inquired from his neighbors.Among his neighbours, a former colonel on the burning ship, commented simply and directly: "A complete brute!" A general who lived not far from here said: "The young man is not too stupid, It's just too arrogant. I could have done him some good, I was in Petersburg, and even in the palace..." The general didn't finish.The sheriff's reply was, "That's a little guy, and I'm going to collect his back taxes tomorrow!" Ask the farmers in his village how their master is, and they'll know nothing.In short, the surrounding public opinion about him is more negative than positive.

However, in essence, Tentetnikov is just a drowsy person.Since there are many people in the world who are drunk, why can't Tentetnikov be drowsy?However, after my brief description of a day in his life, the reader will naturally be able to deduce what kind of person he is.He woke up late in the morning, and sat on the bed rubbing his eyes for a long time after waking up.Because his eyes are very small, it takes a long time to rub them.While he was rubbing his eyes, the servant Mihailo arrived at the door with a washbasin and a towel.Poor Mihailo stood there for an hour, two hours, and finally went to the kitchen for a long time. When he came back, the master was still rubbing his eyes. He didn't get out of bed until he had had enough, put on his pajamas, and washed up. , Strolling into the living room to drink tea, coffee, cocoa, and even freshly squeezed milk, a little of everything, mercilessly crumpled the bread into slag, and carelessly knocked the soot everywhere.He drank the samovar for two hours.That's not counting, he still has to take a cup of cold tea and walk slowly to the window facing the yard.You can see the scene below the window here every day.It began with the bearded Grigory, who was serving his master at dinner, and shouted at the housekeeper, Perfilyevna: "You miser, bitch! Can't you shut up, bitch?"

"Just don't listen to you, glutton!" shouted that bitch, that Perfilyevna.

"You're uncomfortable with everyone, even with the manager, you little warehouse rat!" Grigory yelled.

"Boss and you are both gangsters, both thieves!" The bastard shouted so loudly that the whole village seemed to be able to hear, "You two are drunkards, prodigals, and idiots! Do you think the master doesn't know you? He Right here."

"Where is the master?"

"Sitting at the window, he sees everything."

Indeed, the master sat at the window and saw everything.During the quarrel, a servant's child was crying desperately and was spanked by his mother; there was a dog sitting on the ground screaming, and it was splashed with boiling water by the cook leaning out from the kitchen.The noise of people and dogs is simply unbearable.The master saw it all.He didn't ask someone to come out until the noise made him really restless and unbearable.He didn't go into the study until there were two hours left before lunch, in order to do a very important job seriously.This job is indeed very important. Specifically, it is necessary to write an article. This article will comprehensively discuss Russia from various aspects such as people's sentiments, religion, philosophy, and politics, solve the problems of the times that Russia is facing, and clearly plan a better future for Russia. future.In a word, what he was about to write was an important article.However, this masterpiece is still in the brewing stage: nibbling on the tip of the pen, making ticks on the paper, and then pushing these away, picking up the book, and refusing to put it down even after lunch.As he read, he drank soup and sauces, ate baked vegetables and desserts, smoked a pipe and drank coffee after dinner, and played checkers by himself.Did something before supper—it's hard to tell.It seems that nothing is done.

I think the young people in this novel are extraordinary, lonely and noble, wearing casual clothes and no tie, just spending time at home all day long.He didn't want to go out, he didn't want to go for a walk, he didn't even want to go up to see the scenery, he didn't even want to open the windows to let in some fresh air.The beautiful scenery of the countryside that makes any visitor admire it does not seem to exist at all in the eyes of the owner.Here, readers can know: What kind of person is Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov? There are many such people in Russia. Such people are often called lazy, lazy, lazy ,etc.Is this character innate or acquired? How to answer this question?
I think it's better to let us look at his childhood and education experience, maybe we can get the answer from it.

As a child, he was a bright and gifted kid, sometimes floundering and sometimes taciturn.Fortunately or unfortunately, he went to such a school.The headmaster of the school at that time was Alexander Petrovich.Aleksandr Petrovich was a very fine, if somewhat eccentric, man.He had an insight into the nature of the Russians and knew how to talk to them.Even the naughty ones who had been severely reprimanded by him turned away refreshed and determined to make up for their mistakes.At first glance, his students seem too naughty, too presumptuous, and too naughty, and they will be regarded as a group of naughty boys who have no rules and do not obey the restraint.But this is wrong: these urchins are very obedient to the principal's instructions.No matter what he did wrong, there is no naughty boy who does not take the initiative to admit his mistake to him.He is clear about any little thoughts of the students.Everything he did was so unusual.He said that one should first arouse one's self-motivation.He said that he believes self-motivation is the driving force that pushes people forward, without which it is impossible to push people to engage in a certain activity.For those naughty and mischievous phenomena, he did not stop them at all. He believed that this was the origin of spiritual quality.He said that in order to judge accurately the inner spirit of a child, their playfulness and naughtiness are the best basis.Just like a highly skilled doctor sees sudden symptoms and rashes on a patient, he is not in a hurry to get rid of them, but first observes carefully in order to determine what the disease is in the human body.There are not many teachers in his school.Most of the courses are taught by him himself.He doesn't use pedantic terminology, nor does he show off esoteric views like young professors. He is good at telling the essence of the subject in simple words, so that immature students can also know how useful this knowledge is to them.He believes that the most useful thing for a person is knowledge. If a person masters this knowledge, he can know what he should do.

He specially set up an advanced class to teach this knowledge of life.Only a few high-achieving students can enter this advanced class.Students with ordinary talents, after finishing the elementary class, he will let them graduate and go to work. He thinks there is no need to demand too much from them. That's it.He often said: "But for bright students, for gifted students, I will definitely work harder." Aleksandar Petrovich completely changed his appearance as soon as he arrived in this class. People only ask for ordinary wisdom, but now they ask for advanced wisdom.Not the kind of intelligence that teases and laughs at fools, but the kind that can take insults of all kinds, and not wrestle with fools -- without getting angry and angry.At this time, he asked the students what other people asked of the children.He called this kind of wisdom advanced wisdom.To be able to remain calm when encountering any bad luck-this is the wisdom he refers to!In this class, Aleksandar Petrovich tells the knowledge of life that he has mastered.He chooses only those of all subjects that make a man a citizen of his country.Most of his narrations are to explain to the teenagers the various problems they will face when they work in state agencies or private individuals after graduation.He collects all the troubles and obstacles that a person will encounter on the way forward, and the temptations and temptations he will receive, and shows them directly, without any whitewashing.He is very clear about everything, as if he has experienced the hardships of official career and the ups and downs of officialdom.In short, he did not paint a bright future for them.But the strange thing is!Perhaps the students were greatly inspired to be aggressive, perhaps it was the look in the eyes of this extraordinary teacher who was shouting to the teenagers "forward", a word that has inherently magical powers for Russians—I don't know Whether it is for this reason or for other reasons, his students, on the contrary, are not afraid of difficulties from the beginning: where there are difficulties and where great perseverance is required, they are eager to sharpen themselves.Students in this class have very clear minds.From time to time Aleksandr Petrovich put them to various tests, sometimes by himself, sometimes by their fellow-students inflicting unbearable insults on them.These trials made them more firm and cautious.There are not many students graduating from this class, but all of them are tough guys, some talents who can pass through the battle.After taking office, they can stand firm even in extremely dangerous places, and many people who are more talented than them will not be able to bear it. They will abandon their posts for some minor personal grievances, or unconsciously let corrupt officials and crooks control them. live.But Alexander Petrovich's students will not waver at all, because they have insight into the world and even inspired some corrupt officials and bad people.But poor Tentetnikov did not make it to the class.As one of the best students, he was about to enter this advanced class when something bad happened: the great teacher, who could have set Tentetnikov up with just one word, He passed away suddenly!Everything has changed in school.Aleksandar Ivanovic, was replaced by a guy named Fyodor Ivanovic.

Fyodor Ivanovich was a kind and just man, but he saw things very differently.The innocence and liveliness of the children in the junior class was considered by him to be a violation of the rules.Fyodor Ivanovich then set to work to bring order to the surface, keeping the children quiet and ordering them to walk in two files at all times.He would even use a ruler to measure the distance between columns.He divided the seats not according to intelligence, but according to height. In the end, stupid donkeys ate delicious food, but high-achieving students could only eat chaff.This approach naturally aroused complaints, and what is even more incomprehensible is that the new headmaster seemed to deliberately oppose his predecessor, claiming that intelligence and academics were not in his eyes, and he only valued good virtues. Even if a student does not study well, as long as he conducts himself well, he is better than a top student.It's just that the students did not develop good virtues under the teaching of Fyodor Ivanovich.The students were running amok in the dark, and it was clear to everyone that doing it in the dark was worse than doing it on the surface.During the day, everyone behaved well, but at night they gathered together to drink and carnival.In terms of curriculum, Fyodor Ivanovich also completely reversed course.It's all about good intentions, and it's all in new twists -- everything goes against the grain of the original.He invited some new teachers to come, and the new teachers brought a lot of new viewpoints and theories.They taught extensively and profoundly, and poured many new terms and terms on the students' heads.Both closely followed and logically related to new developments in science, but, alas, the life of science itself disappeared.Everything has become a dead dogma for students who are beginning to understand.In a word, everything is upside down.What is even more frightening is that the atmosphere of respecting teachers and teachers has also disappeared: the students began to laugh at the teachers.The principal was first called Xiaofeijia, Xiaobao and other nicknames.Many people were expelled and kicked out of the school for nonsense.Although the school is strictly controlled, the students still find mistresses outside-eight people have a woman together, and they also blaspheme the Holy Spirit and disrespect religion (just because the principal requires everyone to go to church often, but the priest of the church is not competent).

Tentetnikov was quiet by nature, he did not take part in the nonsense, he took part in nothing.But he was also downcast.The spirit of enterprise has been awakened, but it has nowhere to go.It's better not to wake up!Hearing the impassioned speeches of the professors, he couldn't help but think of the former headmaster. The old headmaster spoke clearly and plainly, and never had to be impassioned.He listened to chemistry, legal philosophy, the essence of political science, and the history of anthropology.The history of anthropology is voluminous. The professor taught for three years before he finished teaching the introduction and the development of some urban communes in Germany.All this left only a fragmented impression in his mind.His clever mind told him one thing: the class shouldn't be taught like this; but how should it be taught, he didn't know.Because of this, he often misses the old principal, and often feels extremely depressed, so depressed that he doesn't know how to vent it.

(End of this chapter)