Sometimes before the introductory word at the beginning separate turnover, are put comma and dash and after it - fifth, to avoid possible ambiguity: Since there is still time, we will call someone extra for the exam, -let's sayretakers- (“suppose”, “say”). With traditional punctuation (the introductory word at the beginning of a separate phrase is not separated from it by a comma, but stands out along with it; see § 25, paragraph 4), it would turn out: ... let's call someone else for the exam, let's say those who pass again- word allowable could be perceived as a homogeneous predicate;
3) before the introductory word after the comma, if the part of the sentence following the introductory word summarizes what was said in the first part: Chichikov asked with extreme accuracy who was the governor in the city, who was the chairman of the chamber, who was the prosecutor, -word,did not miss a single significant person(G.) (see § 25, item 2).
Some expressions close to introductory combinations can be separated dash depending on the position they occupy in the sentence; compare: What to saythe places are wonderful. - The place is beautiful. - what to say(with a touch of attachment).
§ 26. Introductory and plug-in constructions
introductory sentences
1. Commas the following types of introductory sentences are distinguished:
1) personal uncommon sentences like I think, I know, I see, I remember: I have tea, the sky seemed like a sheepskin(P.); Here I am, IThink,better eyes(G.); Among the mountains of the Caucasus there is,I heardgrotto(L.); And you, meI seesilk(T.); I have, Ifeltboiled in the heart and rose to the eyes of tears(T.); He meYou know,respects(T.); ugly, good man how he thought he was,he thoughtlove like a friend(L.T.); And this Greek teacher, this man in the case,can you imaginealmost got married(Ch.). These sentences differ from introductory words only by the presence of a pronoun-subject in the verb form and do not require more complex punctuation;
2) sentences are impersonal, indefinitely personal, also simple in structure, as a rule, not common: Buran,it seemed to me,was still raging(P.); Marina ... was carried away,told mevanity, not love(P.); ... And this voice is wonderfully new,she imaginedstill sounded(L.); He was now driving to the Yauza bridge, where,he was told to,was Kutuzov(L.T.);
3) proposals joined by means of unions or allied words: late grandfather,as long as I rememberwas the kind of grandmother's butler(P.); The first toast was drunkas readers may guess,for the health of the new Kherson landowner(G.); … Dana had half a copper for expenses and dainties, and,which is much more importantclever instruction(G.); Praskovya Ivanovna has long woken up,as we learned from Parasha,got dressed and ate tea in her bedroom(Ax.); I, as you can surely see from me,very insignificant person(Lesk.); The painter helped me, or,as he called himselfpainting contractor(Ch.); As sailors saythe wind grew stronger(Ch.); These dogsif I am not mistaken,come from simple mongrels and sheepdogs(Cupr.); She was beautiful andmore importantly,clever woman(Paul.).
2.
Through dash the constructions listed in clause 1 are rarely drawn up; usually with the help of a dash, more common sentences are distinguished: The lady herselftalking about her- can't distinguish boiled pork from veal(M.G.); We have everywhere -I thought - even in such a hole, Skobelev, his people(Furm.); The accuser flies headlong into the library and -can you imagine?- neither a similar number, nor such a date of the month of May is found in Senate decisions(Fed.) - the interrogative nature of the introductory sentence plays a role; To suspect Yakov Lukich of sabotage -now it seemed to him- it was not easy(Sh.); Let the enemy get away, or -as it is said in solemn language military regulations
- letting him break away is a big nuisance for scouts(Kaz.); ... They sit here under pain of death and - whatmoreworse - in the pouring rain(Kaz.).
Insert sentences and phrases
Plug-in sentences and phrases (that is, those that introduce additional information, comments, clarifications, explanations, amendments, etc. into the main sentence, sometimes falling sharply out of the syntactic structure of the whole, and, unlike introductory sentences, usually do not express the attitude of the speaker to the expressed thought, do not contain overall assessment messages, indications of its source, links with other messages) are in the middle or at the end of the sentence and are separated by brackets or dashes.
1. Parentheses stand out:
1) plug-in constructions that supplement or explain the content of the main sentence: In the end, he ordered to harness himself a racing droshky, dressed warmer(this was at the end of September)and, righting himself, left the yard(P.); On a hot summer morning(this was at the end of July)woke us up earlier than usual(Ax.); Young sparrow fell out of the nest(the wind shook the birches of the alley strongly)and sat motionless(T.); I didn't get a good look at his face.(the stroller rushed past too quickly);but it seemed to me that he was deeply moved(T.); Returning to your room(she was in the outbuilding and was almost completely cluttered with forged chests),Gavrila first sent his wife out...(T.); Petya was not at home(he went to a comrade with whom he intended to move from the militia to the active army)(L.T.); Having passed some Austrian troops, Rostov noticed that the next part of the line(it was the guard)already entered into action(L.T.); Discants and violas(sometimes basses and tenors)these choirs were recruited from students(Rem.); He raised his hand(there is silence)and with a half-bent palm pointed to Broinitsky, who was standing below.(A.T.); Prudent Levinson even before the reconnaissance ride(she arrived at night)set up a reinforced guard(F.);
2) plug-in constructions, which are incidental author's remarks: Believe(conscience is a guarantee),marriage will be torture for us(P.); Do not answer those, I know that you will not admit it, because Grushnitsky was killed(she crossed herself)(L.); "Gentlemen," he said(his voice was calm, though lower than usual).“Gentlemen, why empty arguments?”(L.); Passion passed quickly but hotly in my soul(otherwise I can't call her)catch and collect butterflies(Ax.); But the Lord God knows(he raised his hand over his head)that the globe of the earth would sooner fall into fragmentation than for me to go back on my word or ...(here he even snorted)or be afraid...(T.); I did not understand(now I understand),what did I do with the creatures close to me(Garsh.); Now that more than a week had passed since Dasha's visit, it began to seem surprising to him how imperceptibly(he didn't even say hello to her)and just(entered, sat down, put her muff on her knees)to appear in their frenzied apartment this girl(A.T.);
Exercise 38 Find introductory words, phrases, sentences in sentences. Determine their meaning.
1. They [the eyes] seemed to want to express something, for which there were no words in the language - in his language at least - there were no words (Turgenev). 2. But the judges, apparently, were not happy with his speech, they did not move (M. Gorky). 3. Indeed, I occupied him, and it was fun for him to look at my laughter (Dostoevsky). 4. On the other hand, the tenth Arkhip kept calm, imperturbable and did not grieve at all; on the contrary, he even, not without pleasure, jumped over them [lying oaks] and lashed them with a whip (Turgenev). 5. With tired steps, I approached the dwelling of Nikolai Ivanovich, arousing, as usual, in the children amazement, which reached the point of intensely meaningless contemplation (Turgenev). 6. You see, I'm waiting for this lady ... I know that she is here (Dostoevsky). 7. ... And I spent the evening with Tyeglev under the canopy of an empty barn, in which he arranged, as he put it, his summer residence (Turgenev). 8. However, duty, you understand, first of all (Turgenev). 9. Finally, to our indescribable joy, Yermolai returned (Turgenev). 10. Filofei, although a fool - according to Yermolai - was not satisfied with this statement alone (Turgenev). 11. Listen, Nikolay! In your opinion, all this is clever, subtle, according to all the rules of psychology, but, in my opinion, this is a scandal, a misfortune (Chekhov). 12. The art of Andrei Rublev, for example, was truly discovered and studied only in Soviet time(Krivitsky). 13. Recently, monuments have appeared to unknown soldiers and ordinary sailors, so to speak, soldiers "in general" (Voronov). 14. In the hayfield, the guys, according to the ancient order, throw the girls right in the dresses into the warm midday water (Soloukhin). 15. Fortunately, he rubbed his leg with a boot, and the next morning he was taken in a sledge to the nearest station (Paustovsky). 16. In my opinion, Yesenin is the first in Russian literature to write about animals so skillfully and with such sincere love (M. Gorky). 17. But common sense, firmness and freedom, ardent participation in other people's troubles and joys - in a word, all her virtues were definitely born in her (Turgenev). 18. Of course, during the search you will have to talk to many people (Strugatsky). 19. Honestly, I could not even imagine that this is possible (Strugatsky). 20. Therefore, you will work alone (Strugatsky).
Exercise 39 Consider pairs of proposals. Prove that in some cases the underlined words and constructions are introductory, but in others they are not. Fill in the missing punctuation marks.
1. Realizing the enormity of his talent, Mayakovsky, however, strove to always be in the “bucha of life”. Some of the poet's predictions now seem naive, but they do not lose their charm (Dolmatovsky). 2. Tsvetaeva never tried to hide from life; on the contrary, she wanted to live with people. The gymnasium where I studied was located opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Ehrenburg). 3. By the way, he is easy to remember. He did not know how to bow by the way, to pat in time (Turgenev). 4. In the thin twilight of a summer night, her face seemed paler and younger. Small pink clouds did not seem to float past, but went into the very depths of the sky (Turgenev). 5. They say they give balls. At the next table they talk about gold (Chekhov). 6. And if this is not there, then there is nothing. Remembering what this means, Kashtanka jumped onto a chair (Chekhov). 7. He now has no one to exchange a word with (Chekhov). My uncle took the place of my father, brought me up at his own expense, and with a word did for me what he would not always do and father (Dostoevsky). 8. No, friends, it can be a hundred times worse, I know for sure (Tvardovsky). Potugin definitely loved and knew how to speak (Turgenev). 9. It happens like this, but it happens and vice versa. Instead of slowing down, on the contrary, he stood on the goats and desperately twisted the whip (Kataev). 10. The time will come when everything will change your way, they will live your way, and then you will become obsolete, people will be born who will be better than you. [Tuzenbach:] In your opinion, do not even dream of happiness! But if I'm happy! (Chekhov). 11. From the first glance at his face, it was obvious that he had no permanent occupation (Saltykov-Shchedrin). The path along which we rode was rocky, wet and obviously represented the bed of a dried-up river (Zakrutkin). 12. Balyasnikov made a daring speech, in which, among other things, he said that I was conceited (Aksakov). Moral women, strict judges, and by the way, Nil Andreevich aloud condemned her (Goncharov). 13. It is also true that he has never had a chance to go on business until now (Dostoevsky). “And it’s really disgusting on your part,” Valya said, proudly raising her upper lip, “when you returned, and did not go in” (Fadeev). 14. Apparently, they did not expect such a passage from me and they did not give any order on my account. It was evident that the words of Paul made a deep impression on them (Turgenev). 15. Their patterned edges, fluffy and light, like cotton paper, slowly but visibly changed (Turgenev). Apparently you will have to start by studying these documents (Strugatskys). 16. My wound healed slowly; but actually I had no bad feeling against my father (Turgenev). That's actually the story, and its plot is not tricky (Tvardovsky). 17. At the present moment, conscientious and gifted popularizers are at least as necessary as original thinkers and independent researchers (Pisarev). I feel that all the workers, at least the majority, will take up arms if necessary (Serafimovich). 18. On the one hand, silent distant mountains, on the other hand, the near sea rustled (Soloukhin). And on the other hand, Kirsanov maintained his role with his former impeccable artistry (Chernyshevsky). 19. Energy comes from somewhere, and most importantly, you don’t feel tired (Arseniev). She could not remember her nightly thoughts, but the main thing remained of them and filled her being with that “something”, which was, should be happiness (Paustovsky). 20. Finally, the path was found, and we cheerfully went on (Arseniev). Sitting somewhere on a mound in the steppe, or on a hillock above the river, or finally on a well-known cliff, the blind man listened only to the rustle of leaves and the whisper of grass or the indefinite sighs of the wind (Korolenko). 21. In general, spring turned out to be extremely protracted and bad (Prishvin). He made several remarks about various trifles, but in general he praised him very much (Garshin). 22. Perhaps from his point of view, he is not stupid (Ostrovsky). I know that a crime has been committed if you look at things from the point of view of general morality (Lavrenev).
Exercise 40. Find introductory words, combinations and sentences in excerpts from the works of B. and A. Strugatsky. Determine their meaning. Fill in the missing punctuation marks.
1. I must admit it stunned me. 2. By the way, copying documents is prohibited. 3. Of course, he clearly saw that I was dissatisfied with the task, that the task seemed to me strange and, to put it mildly, ridiculous. However, for some reason, he couldn't tell me more than he did. 4. As I expected, there was nothing in the folder except documents. My first impulse was to shove this whole pile of papers on the table, but of course I caught myself in time. 5. However, I must say that in my attitude to theorists I am not original. Fortunately, I rarely have to deal with people in this profession. 6. It turns out that the boss is mainly interested in a certain Tristan. For his sake, he got up today at an unbearable early hour and did not hesitate to pick up Elephant from bed, who, as you know, goes to bed with roosters. 7. But I probably remember him! Everyone called him (except for Komov, of course) Lyovushka Ryovushka or simply Ryovushka, but not because of course that he was a crybaby, but because his voice was loud and roaring. 8. This most likely does not concern me. But I have to know where can he go? In my opinion, going to my mother in such a state is obscene. He doesn't look like a brat, or rather, he shouldn't look like one. Teacher? Mentor? It's possible. This is quite likely. 9. Since the boss has not explained to me why it is necessary to look for Abalkin, then it does not matter. And then I realized one more thing. Rather, I did not understand, but felt. And even more suspicious. All this abundance of papers, all this yellowed scribbling, will not give me anything except maybe a few more names and a huge number of questions that have nothing to do with the case. 10. Most of the papers were documents written, as I understand it, by the hand of Abalkin himself. Firstly, it was a report on participation in the Dead World operation on the planet Hope. Secondly, there was another document in the folder, a report on the operation on the planet Giant. The operation, however, was in my opinion a trifle. 11. It seemed to me that this material was completely useless for me. Writing such reports is a pleasure, reading them is usually a real torment. 12. I am not a psychologist, at least not a professional, but I thought that maybe I could extract something useful from these reports about the personality of Lev Abalkin.
Exercise 41. Find introductory words, combinations and sentences in sentences. Determine their meaning. Fill in the missing punctuation marks.
1. By the way, rumors about the erudition of university watchmen are greatly exaggerated. True, Nikolai knows more than a hundred Latin names ... but for example, the uncomplicated theory of blood circulation for him is now just as obscure as it was twenty years ago (Chekhov). 2. A painter helps me, or as he calls himself a painting contractor (Chekhov). 3. And this Greek teacher, this man in a case, you can imagine almost got married (Chekhov). 4. In my opinion, the best thing you can do is leave it completely. Faculty of Medicine. If you fail to pass the exam, then obviously you have neither the desire nor the vocation to be a doctor ... But immediately I feel sorry for him, and I hasten to say: - But as you know. So read a little more and come (Chekhov). 5. Probably I don’t know, but it seems that this whole trick was deliberate and not improvised (Dostoevsky). 6. Among birds, insects in dry grass, everywhere, even in the air, the approach of autumn was felt (Arseniev). 7. I will drive around the city by the way and buy cigars (Goncharov). 8. By the way, he was remarkably handsome (Dostoevsky). 9. The greasy cap, with which Bredyuk did not seem to part even in a dream, was pulled over his forehead (Fadeev). 10. He really was interested in philosophy (Karavaeva). 11. The housekeeper at least does not shave his beard, but this one, on the contrary, shaved and seemed quite rare (Gogol). 12. In the strict sense, about ten people, of course, including myself, were not worth this appointment for lack of sufficient knowledge and because of their youth (Aksakov). 13. Someone, fortunately, did not notice us, ran past (Chekhov). 14. Him literary works I must say, quite successful ones brought him fame (M. Gorky). 15. From the next room, apparently the dining room, the living room was separated by an arch curtained with a heavy curtain (Kataev). 16. Misfortune did not change him at all, but on the contrary, he became even stronger and more energetic (Turgenev). 17. We know and therefore we believe that fairy tales are given to come true and we may still be destined to visit Venus (Mikhalkov). 18. And Pyotr Petrovich, at least in many respects, is a very respectable person (Dostoevsky). 19. At least twenty times, and it seems without particularly important reasons, he ran down to the sleigh in one coat and ran up again (L. Tolstoy). 20. Terenty made his living doing minor plumbing work; but, firstly, there was little work, and secondly, urgent matters took up a lot of time (Kataev). 21. For them, he is a hero, but I must admit that I imagine heroes differently (Turgenev). 22. Not a year, but maybe ten years, Ivan Georgievich lived in one night (Laptev).
Analysis of exercises
Exercise 38 1. It seemed- "uncertainty, assumption"; at least- "assessment of the measure, the degree of what is being said"; stands out together with a separate turnover, because it stands at the end of this turnover (in his language at least). 2. Apparently- Uncertainty, speculation. 3. Really- credibility, certainty. 4. Against- "the order of thoughts, their connection." 5. As usual– “the degree of commonness of the stated facts”; the introductory sentence is isolated on both sides, since it stands in the middle of a separate member of the sentence (exciting, as usual, in the kids amazement). 6. You see- "attracting the attention of the interlocutor." 7. How did he express- message source. 8. you understand- "to attract attention". 9. To our indescribable joy- "feeling of joy, approval." 10. According to Yermolai- message source. eleven. According to you, according to me- message source. 12. Eg- "the order of thoughts, their connection." 13. So to speak- "evaluation of style, manner of speech." 14. According to ancient order- "the degree of commonness of the stated facts." 15. Fortunately- feeling of joy, satisfaction. 16. In my opinion- message source. 17. Word a dash is placed because the introductory word is preceded by homogeneous members (common sense, firmness and freedom, participation), followed by a generalizing word ( all the virtues). 18. Of course- credibility, certainty. 19. To be honest- "assessment of style, manner of speech, way of presentation and design of thought." 20. Hence- "the order of thoughts, their connection."
Exercise 39
1. Realizing the vastness of his talent, Mayakovsky, however(an introductory word in the meaning of “the order of thoughts, their connection”), strove to always be in the “bucha of life”. Some of the poet's predictions now seem naive, however(conjunction in the meaning of "but") they do not lose their charm. 2. Tsvetaeva never tried to hide from life, against(an introductory word meaning "the order of thoughts, their connection"), she wanted to live with people. The gymnasium where I studied was located against Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 3. Yes, By the way(an introductory word in the meaning of “evaluation of style, manner of speech, way of presenting and shaping thoughts”; you can replace - by the way), he is easy to remember. He couldn't bow By the way, pat on time. 4. In the thin twilight of a summer night, her face seemed paler and younger Small pink clouds, seemed(an introductory word in the meaning of "uncertainty, assumption"), did not float past, but went into the very depths of the sky. 5. Here, They say(introductory word in the meaning of "message source"), give points. At the next table They say about gold. 6. And if this is not the case, then Means(an introductory word in the meaning of “the order of thoughts, their connection”), there is nothing. Remembering what it is Means, Kashtanka jumped up on a chair. 7. He now has no one to talk to word. My uncle replaced my father, raised me at his own expense, and, word(an introductory word in the meaning of “the order of thoughts, their connection”), did for me what my own father would not always do. 8. No, friends, it can be a hundred times worse, this exactly I know. Potugin, exactly(an introductory word in the meaning of "confidence"), and loved and knew how to speak. 9. It happens, but it happens vice versa. Instead of slowing down, he vice versa(an introductory word in the meaning of “the order of thoughts, their connection”), stood on the goats and desperately twisted the whip. 10. There will come a time when everything will change In your, will live In your, and then you will become obsolete, people will be born who will be better than you. [Tuzenbach:] In your(introductory word in the meaning of "message source"), do not even dream of happiness! But if I'm happy! 11. At first glance at his face was obviously
that he has no permanent employment. The path we were on was rocky, wet and, obviously(an introductory word in the meaning of "uncertainty, assumption"), was a bed of a dried-up rivulet. 12. Balyasnikov made a bold speech in which by the way
said I was arrogant. Moral women, strict judges and, by the way by the way), Nil Andreevich criticized her aloud. 13. Is it true and the fact that until now he had never happened to go on business. "AND Truth(an introductory word in the meaning of “reliability, confidence”), disgusting on your part,” Valya said, proudly raising her upper lip, “when you returned, and did not go in.” 14. It is seen(an introductory word in the meaning of “assumption, uncertainty”), such a passage was not expected from me and no order was given to me. It is seen it was that Paul's words made a deep impression on them. 15. Their patterned edges, fluffy and light, like cotton, slowly but apparently changed. Apparently(an introductory word meaning "guess, uncertainty"), you will have to start by studying these documents. 16. My wound healed slowly; But proper(a particle in the meaning of "directly") I had no bad feeling against my father. Here, proper(introductory word in the meaning of "relationship to style, manner of speech"; can be replaced as a matter of fact), and the story, and its plot is not wise. 17. At present, conscientious and gifted popularizers at least(meaning "no less than") are as necessary as original thinkers and independent researchers. I feel like everyone is working at least(an introductory word in the meaning of “relation to the thought expressed”; the introductory word is at the beginning of a separate member and stands out with it) the majority will take up arms if necessary. 18. On the one side
silent distant mountains, on the other side
the sound of the nearby sea. AND, on the other side(an introductory word in the meaning of "the order of thoughts, their connection"), Kirsanov withstood his role with the same impeccable artistry. 19. Energy comes from somewhere, and, most importantly (an introductory word in the meaning of “the order of thoughts, their connection”), you do not feel tired. She could not remember her nightly thoughts, but The main thing left of them and filled her being with that "something" that was, should be happiness. 20. Finally the path was found, and we cheerfully went on. Sitting down somewhere on a mound in the steppe, or on a hillock above the river, or, finally (an introductory word meaning “the order of thoughts, their connection”), on a well-known cliff, the blind man listened only to the rustle of leaves and the whisper of grass or the indefinite sighs of the wind. 21. All in all(an introductory word in the meaning of "relation to style, manner of speech"; can be replaced - generally speaking), the spring turned out to be extremely protracted and not good. I made a few remarks about various little things, but All in all very much praised. 22. Perhaps from my point of view(an introductory word in the meaning of "message source"), he is not stupid. I know it's a crime if you look at things in terms of general morality
.
Exercise 40
1. I must confess, it stunned me. 2. By the way copying of documents is prohibited. 3. Of course, he clearly saw that I was dissatisfied with the task, that the task seemed strange to me and, to put it mildly, ridiculous ( And connects nominal parts of predicates - seems strange and absurd, therefore it is separated from the introductory combination to put it mildly). However for some reason he couldn't tell me more than he said ( however- adversative union, can be replaced by But). 4. As I expected, there was nothing in the folder but documents. My first impulse was to shove this whole pile of papers on the table, but I, of course, caught up in time. 5. However, it must be said, in my attitude to theorists I am not original. Fortunately, I rarely have to deal with people of this profession. 6. coming out, the chief is mainly interested in a certain Tristan. For his sake, he got up today at an unbearable early hour and did not hesitate to pick up Elephant from bed, who, as is known, goes to bed with roosters. 7. But I am his, perhaps, remember! Everyone called him (except Komov, Certainly) Lyovushka-ryovushka, or just Ryovushka but not because of course that he was a crybaby, but because his voice was loud, roaring. 8. This, more likely, does not concern me. But I have to know where can he go? In my, it is obscene to go to my mother in such a state. He doesn't look like a jerk more precisely- should not be similar. Teacher? Mentor? It is possible. This is quite likely. 9. Since the boss did not explain to me why it is necessary to look for Abalkin, Means, it does not matter. And then I realized one more thing. Or rather did not understand, but felt. And more precisely- I suspected. All this abundance of papers, all this yellowed scribbling will give me nothing but, May be, a few more names and a huge number of questions, having norelation to business. 10. Most of the papers were documents written, as I understand, by the hand of Abalkin himself. Firstly, it was a report on participation in the operation "Dead World" on the planet Hope. Secondly, there was another document in the folder - transaction report for planet Giant. Operation, however, was, In my opinion, trifling. eleven. How it seemed to me, this material was completely useless for me. Write reports like this pure pleasure, read them, usually,- sheer torment. 12. I'm not a psychologist, anyway– not a professional, but I thought that, May be, I will be able to extract from these reports something useful about the personality of Lev Abalkin.
Exercise 41 1. By the way, rumors about the scholarship of university watchmen are greatly exaggerated ( by the way- “evaluation of style, manner of speech”). Is it true, Nikolai knows more than a hundred Latin names ... but, For example, the uncomplicated theory of blood circulation for him is now as obscure as it was twenty years ago ( Truth- "confidence, reliability"; For example- "the order of thoughts, their connection"; But ties the parts compound sentence and has nothing to do with the introductory word: Nicholas knows, but the theory is dark). 2. A painter helps me, or, what he calls himself, painting contractor (what he calls himself– “message source”; or in the meaning "that is" refers to a separate application with an explanatory meaning ( painter, or painting contractor) and is separated from the introductory sentence by a comma). 3. And this Greek teacher, this man in the case, can you imagine almost got married can you imagine- "attracting the attention of the interlocutor"). 4. In my, the best thing you can do is leave the medical school altogether ( In my– “message source”; in front of the pointer This relating to the predicate, put a dash). If you fail to pass the exam, then obviously, you have neither the desire nor the vocation to be a doctor ( obviously– “Assumption, uncertainty”; no no...- a repeating union connecting homogeneous members). But immediately I feel sorry for him, and I hasten to say: However, as you know ( however- "admission"). So, read a little more and come ( So- “the order of thoughts, their connection”). 5. I probably don’t know, but, Seems, all this trick was deliberate, A not improvised (Seems– “uncertainty, assumption”). 6. Among birds, insects, in dry grass - word, everywhere, even in the air, the approach of autumn was felt ( word- "assessment of style, manner of speech, way of presentation and design of thought"; the introductory word stands after homogeneous circumstances before the generalizing word everywhere, so a dash is placed before the introductory word). 7. I will drive around the city, by the way, and buy cigars ( By the way- the circumstance of the mode of action). 8. By the way he was remarkably handsome By the way- "evaluation of style, manner of speech"; can be replaced with a combination by the way). 9. The greasy cap with which Bredyuk, Seems like, did not part even in a dream, was pulled over her forehead ( Seems like- "guess, conjecture"). 10. He was really interested in philosophy ( Indeed in the meaning of "really" is not an introductory word). 11. Housekeeper, at least, does not shave his beard, but this one, on the contrary, shaved and, seemed, quite rare ( at least- "assessment of the measure, the degree of what is being said"; on the contrary- "the order of thoughts, their connection"; seemed- speculation, uncertainty). 12. In the strict sense, a man with ten, of course including me, were not worth this appointment due to lack of sufficient knowledge and youth ( of course- "confidence, reliability"; stands at the beginning of a separate turnover, therefore it stands out together with it). 13. Someone ran past fortunately not noticing us (fortunately- "joy, approval"; stands at the beginning of a separate definition, therefore it stands out together with it). 14. His literary works, need to say quite successful brought him fame need to say- "assumption" and "assessment of the manner of speech, the way of formulating thoughts"; stands at the beginning of a separate definition and stands out together with it). 15. From the next room, apparently dining room, the living room was separated by an arch, curtained heavy curtain (apparently- "assumption"; stands at the beginning of a separate addition with a clarifying and explanatory meaning and stands out along with it). 16. Misfortune did not change him at all, but on the contrary, he became even stronger and more energetic ( against A not separated from introductory word a comma, since an introductory word without a union cannot be removed from a sentence, it is impossible: misfortune did not change, but he became stronger and more energetic). 17. We know and it became, we believe that fairy tales come true and we visit Venus, may be, still destined ( that is- "the order of thoughts, their connection"; union A is not separated from the introductory construction by a comma, since the introductory construction without a union cannot be removed from the sentence, it is impossible: we know, but we believe; may be- speculation, uncertainty). 18. And Pyotr Petrovich, at least in many ways, a very respectable person ( at least- "assessment of the measure, the degree of what is being said"; stands at the beginning of a separate turnover with an explanatory and connecting meaning, therefore it stands out together with it). 19. At least twenty times and, Seems, for no particularly important reasons, he ran down to the sledge in one coat and ran up again ( at least has the value "at least" and is not introductory; Seems- speculation, uncertainty). 20. Terenty made his living doing minor plumbing work; But, Firstly there was little work, and, Secondly, urgent matters took a lot of time ( Firstly Secondly- "the order of thoughts, their connection"; conjunctions but, and connect parts of a compound sentence and are not related to introductory words, cf .: Terenty got on petty work, but there was little work, and things took a lot of time). 21. For them, he is a hero, eh, confess say, I imagine heroes differently ( confess say- "assessment of the manner of speech, the way of designing thoughts"; union A connects parts of a compound sentence and has nothing to do with the introductory construction, cf .: For them, he is a hero, but I imagine heroes differently.). 22. Not a year, but, May be, Ivan Georgievich lived ten years in one night ( May be- "uncertainty, assumption"; the union a connects homogeneous members and has nothing to do with the introductory construction, cf .: Not a year, but ten years, Ivan Georgievich lived in one night).
1.
Small introductory sentences are usually separated by commas, for example: You , I think, accustomed to these magnificent pictures(Lermontov); He was now driving to the Yauza bridge, where , he was told to, was Kutuzov(L. Tolstoy); ... On this day, not only did the hen have nowhere to drink, but even mother said, sparrows froze on the fly(Sholokhov).
Less commonly, such sentences are distinguished by a dash, for example: The lady herself - talked about her - can't tell the difference between boiled pork and veal, and once shamefully bought instead of parsley - hell!(Bitter); The accuser flies headlong into the library and - can you imagine?- neither a similar number, nor such a date of the month of May is found in Senate decisions(Fedin) (the interrogative nature of the introductory sentence plays a role).
Commas highlight introductory sentences, included through subordinating conjunctions and allied words how, if, what, how much
and others, for example: The painter helped me, or as he called himself painting contractor...(Chekhov); These dogs , if I am not mistaken, come from simple mongrels and sheepdogs(Kuprin); ... Dana had half a copper to spend and , which is much more important smart advice...(Gogol).
The staging in these cases of a dash occurs as an exception in artistic speech, for example: Let the enemy go, or - as it is said in the solemn language of military regulations - letting him break away is a big nuisance for scouts, almost a shame(Kazakevich); ... Sitting here in fear of death and - what's worse - in the pouring rain(Kazakevich).
2.
Plug-in sentences (that is, sentences containing various kinds of additional remarks, incidental indications that explain the sentence as a whole or individual words in it and sometimes sharply fall out of the syntactic structure of the whole) are distinguished by brackets or dashes (brackets are a stronger switch-off sign). For example:
A) Vladimir Sergeyevich (that's what they called young man in a coat) looked at his man in bewilderment and said in a hasty whisper...(Turgenev); Having passed some Austrian troops, Rostov noticed that the next part of the line (it was the guard) already entered into action(L. Tolstoy); The sleigh hit sharply on a pile sticking out of the water (trace of a blown bridge) and turned over with strange ease(Sholokhov);
b) My parish - I could see it - confused the guests at first(Turgenev); ... Imagining that the lock was locked, I took out the key and - Oh God!- I only had the head of the key in my hands(L. Tolstoy); ... Even my hosts - if they were at home- opened the windows and, listening, praised the musician(Bitter).
In a number of cases, brackets and dashes are used on an equal footing to highlight plug-in structures. Wed punctuation in sentences that include plug-in constructions of the same structure:
Litvinov remained on the path; between him and Tatyana Or was it just his imagination?- something was happening ... unconsciously and gradually(Turgenev). - And every evening, at the appointed hour (or is it just me sleeping?) girlish figure, seized by silks, moves in a foggy window(Block);
bakers - there were four of them - kept away from us(Bitter). - Soldiers (there were three) ate, not paying attention to Pierre ...(L. Tolstoy).
The presence of a comma as an additional sign with a dash is due to the conditions of the context. For example:
loved to brag - this sin followed him, - maybe, and here he dragged in for a red word ...(Furmanov) (a comma before the second dash serves to separate the introductory word Maybe
, which begins the part of the sentence following the insertion construction).
I climbed into a corner, into a leather armchair so big that you could lie in it. , - grandfather always boasted, calling him the chair of Prince Gruzinsky, - climbed in and watched the big bored fun ...(Gorky) (a comma before the first dash closes the preceding subordinate clause, and a comma before the second dash closes the participial in the insert structure itself).
The comma, which, according to the context, should have come before the first bracket, if the insertion construction is highlighted with brackets, is transferred after the second bracket, for example: Tatyana, who, as we said above, was a laundress (however, she, as a skilled and learned laundress, was entrusted with one thin linen), was a woman of about twenty-eight, small, thin, blond, with moles on her left cheek(Turgenev) (the comma closing the participial turnover is not placed before the brackets, but after them).
If there is another insertion or introductory structure inside one insertion sentence, the first sentence (external, so to speak) is highlighted with brackets, as a stronger switch-off sign, and the second (internal) - with a dash, for example: I had a hasty lunch without answering the solicitous inquiries of the kind German woman, who herself burst into tears at the sight of my red, swollen eyes. (Germans - a well-known thing - are always happy to cry)…
(Turgenev).
I The manager said to me: "I am keeping you only out of respect for your venerable father, otherwise you would have left me long ago." I answered him: "You flatter me too much, Your Excellency, believing that I can fly." And then I heard him say: "Remove this gentleman, he spoils my nerves." Two days later I was fired. So, in all the time that I was considered an adult, to the great chagrin of my father, the city architect, I changed nine positions. I served in various departments, but all these nine positions were like one another, like drops of water: I had to sit, write, listen to stupid or rude remarks and wait to be fired. Father, when I came to him, was sitting deep in his armchair, with his eyes closed. His face, thin, dry, with a bluish tint in the shaved places (his face looked like an old Catholic organist), expressed humility and humility. Without answering my greeting and without opening his eyes, he said: - If my dear wife and your mother were alive, then your life would be a source of constant sorrow for her. In her premature death, I see God's providence. I beg you, unfortunate one,” he continued, opening his eyes, “teach me what to do with you? Before, when I was younger, my relatives and friends knew what to do with me: some advised me to enter the volunteers, others - to the pharmacy, others - to the telegraph; now, when I had already passed twenty-five and even gray hair appeared in my temples, and when I had already been to volunteers, and pharmacists, and the telegraph office, everything earthly for me seemed to have already been exhausted, and they no longer advised me, but only sighed or shook their heads. - What do you think of yourself? - continued the father. - At your age, young people already have a solid social position, and you look at yourself: a proletarian, a beggar, you live on your father's neck! And as usual, he began to say that the young people of today are dying, dying from unbelief, materialism and excessive conceit, and that amateur performances should be banned, as they distract young people from religion and duties. “Tomorrow we will go together, and you will apologize to the manager and promise him to serve in good faith,” he concluded. - You must not remain without a social position for a single day. “I ask you to listen to me,” I said sullenly, not expecting anything good from this conversation. - What you call social position is the privilege of capital and education. The poor and uneducated people earn their living by physical labor, and I see no reason why I should be an exception. - When you start talking about physical labor, it comes out stupid and vulgar! - said the father with irritation. “Understand, you stupid person, understand, brainless head, that in addition to brute physical strength, you also have the spirit of God, holy fire, which in the highest degree distinguishes you from a donkey or from a reptile and brings you closer to a deity! This fire has been mined for thousands of years by the best of men. Your great-grandfather Poloznev, the general fought at Borodino, your grandfather was a poet, orator and leader of the nobility, your uncle is a teacher, finally, I, your father, am an architect! All the Poloznevs kept the holy fire for you to extinguish it! “You have to be fair,” I said. - Millions of people carry out physical labor. - And let them carry it! They can't do anything else! Anyone, even a full-blown fool and criminal, can engage in physical labor; this labor is a distinctive property of a slave and a barbarian, while fire is given as an inheritance to only a few! It was useless to continue this conversation. The father adored himself, and for him only what he himself said was convincing. Moreover, I knew very well that this arrogance with which he spoke of black labor was based not so much on considerations about the holy fire, but on a secret fear that I would become a worker and make the whole city talk about me; most importantly, all my peers had already graduated from the university long ago and were on a good road, and the son of the manager of the office of the State Bank was already a collegiate assessor, but I, the only son, was nothing! It was useless and unpleasant to continue the conversation, but I sat there and weakly objected, hoping that they would finally understand me. After all, the whole question was simple and clear and only concerned how I could get a piece of bread, but they did not see simplicity, but they told me, sweetly rounding phrases, about Borodino, about holy fire, about uncle, a forgotten poet who once wrote bad and false verses, rudely called me a brainless head and
stupid person . And how I wanted to be understood! In spite of everything, I love my father and sister, and from childhood the habit of asking them has settled in me, it has stuck so firmly that I can hardly ever get rid of it; sometimes I am right or wrong, but I am constantly afraid of upsetting them, I am afraid that my father's skinny neck turned red from excitement and lest a blow come to him. “To sit in a stuffy room,” I said, “to copy, to compete with a typewriter for a man of my age is shameful and insulting. Could this be a holy fire? “After all, this is mental work,” said the father. “But enough, let us stop this conversation, and in any case I warn you: if you do not enter the service again and follow your contemptible inclinations, then my daughter and I will deprive you of our love. I will disinherit you - I swear by the true god! Quite sincerely, in order to show all the purity of the motives by which I wanted to be guided in my whole life, I said: - The question of inheritance does not seem important to me. I give up everything in advance. For some reason, quite unexpectedly for me, these words greatly offended my father. He turned purple all over. Don't you dare talk to me like that, you fool! he called out in a thin, shrill voice. - Scoundrel! - And quickly and deftly, with a habitual movement, hit me on the cheek once and twice. - You began to forget! As a child, when my father beat me, I had to stand up straight, hands at my sides, and look into his face. And now, when he beat me, I was completely at a loss and, as if my childhood was still going on, I stretched out and tried to look straight into my eyes. My father was old and very thin, but his thin muscles must have been as strong as belts, because he fought very painfully. I backed away into the hall, and then he grabbed his umbrella and hit me several times on the head and shoulders; At that moment, my sister opened the door from the drawing room to find out what the noise was, but immediately turned away with an expression of horror and pity, without saying a single word in my defense. My intention not to return to the office, but to start a new working life, was unshakable in me. It remained only to choose the occupation - and this did not seem particularly difficult, since it seemed to me that I was very strong, enduring, capable of the most difficult work. I had a monotonous working life with hunger, stink and rudeness of the situation, with the constant thought of earning money and a piece of bread. And - who knows? - Returning from work on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya, I, perhaps, will envy the engineer Dolzhikov more than once, who lives by mental work, but now it was fun to think about all these future misfortunes of mine. Once I dreamed of spiritual activity, imagining myself either as a teacher, or as a doctor, or as a writer, but my dreams remained just dreams. My inclination to mental pleasures, for example, to the theater and reading, was developed in me to a passion, but whether I had the ability for mental work, I don’t know. In high school I had an invincible aversion to
Greek , so I had to be taken out of the fourth grade. Tutors went for a long time and prepared me for the fifth grade, then I served in various departments, spending most of the day completely idly, and they told me that this was mental work; my activity in the field of education and service did not require any effort of the mind, no talent, no personal abilities, no creative uplift of the spirit: it was machine-made; and I place such mental labor below physical labor, I despise it, and I don’t think that for even one minute it could serve as an excuse for an idle, carefree life, since it itself is nothing but deceit, one of the forms of the same idleness. In all likelihood, I have never known real mental labor. Evening came. We lived on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya - this was the main street in the city, and in the evenings, in the absence of a decent city garden, our beau monde walked. This charming street partly replaced the garden, since poplars grew on both sides of it, which were fragrant, especially after rain, and acacias, tall lilac bushes, bird cherry, apple trees hung from behind fences and front gardens. May twilight, tender young greenery with shadows, the smell of lilacs, the buzz of beetles, silence, warmth - how new and how unusual all this is, although spring repeats itself every year! I stood at the gate and looked at the walkers. I grew up with most of them and once played naughty together, but now my closeness could embarrass them, because I was dressed poorly, not in fashion, and about my very tight trousers and big, awkward boots they said that it was me ship pasta. In addition, I had a bad reputation in the city because I had no social position and often played billiards in cheap taverns, and also because, perhaps, twice, without any reason on my part, they took me to the gendarme officer . In the big house opposite, the engineer Dolzhikov played the piano. It began to get dark and the stars began to fade in the sky. Here, slowly, answering the bows, my father in an old top hat with wide upturned brim passed, arm in arm with his sister. - Look! - he said to his sister, pointing to the sky with the same umbrella with which he hit me just now. - Look at the sky! Stars, even the smallest ones, are all worlds! How insignificant is man in comparison with the universe! And he said this in such a tone, as if he was extremely flattering and pleased that he was so insignificant. What a worthless person! Unfortunately, he was our only architect, and for the last fifteen or twenty years, in my memory, not a single decent house has been built in the city. When a plan was ordered to him, he usually drew the hall and the living room first; just as in the old days, college girls could only dance from the stove, so his artistic idea could only come and develop from the hall and the living room. To them he added a dining room, a nursery, an office, connecting the rooms with doors, and then all of them inevitably turned out to be walk-throughs, and each had two, even three extra doors. He must have had a vague idea, extremely confused, stubby; every time, as if he felt that something was missing, he resorted to all sorts of outbuildings, seating them one on top of the other, and as I now see narrow vestibules, narrow corridors, crooked stairs leading to the mezzanine, where you can only stand bent over and where instead of a floor there are three huge steps like bath shelves; and the kitchen is definitely under the house. with vaults and brick floors. The façade has a stubborn, callous expression, the lines are dry, timid, the roof is low, flattened, and on the thick, as if rich chimneys, there are always wire caps with black shrill weathercocks. And for some reason, all these houses built by my father, similar to each other, vaguely reminded me of his top hat, his nape, dry and stubborn. Over time, in the city, the mediocrity of my father got accustomed, it took root and became our style. My father brought this style into my sister's life. To begin with, he called her Cleopatra (as Misail called me). When she was still a girl, he frightened her with a reminder of the stars, of the ancient sage, of our ancestors, for a long time he explained to her what life is, what duty is; and now, when she was already twenty-six years old, he continued the same thing, allowing her to walk arm in arm only with him alone and imagining for some reason that sooner or later a decent young man would appear who would wish to marry her out of respect to his personal qualities. And she adored her father, was afraid and believed in his extraordinary mind. It became completely dark, and the street gradually became empty. In the house opposite, the music stopped; the gates were thrown wide open, and a troika rolled along our street, dallying, softly playing with bells. This is an engineer with his daughter) went for a ride. It's time to sleep! I had my own room in the house, but I lived in the yard in a hut, under the same roof with a brick shed, which was built once, probably to store harness - large crutches were driven into the walls - now it was superfluous, and for thirty years my father had been folding his newspaper in it, which for some reason he bound every six months and did not allow anyone to touch it. Living here, I rarely caught the eye of my father and his guests, and it seemed to me that if I do not live in a real room and do not go to the house every day to dine, then my father’s words that I live on his neck already sound like not so embarrassing. My sister was waiting for me. She secretly brought me dinner from her father: a small piece of cold veal, a slice of bread. It was often repeated in our house: “money loves a bill,” “a penny saves a ruble,” and the like, and my sister, crushed by these vulgarities, tried only to cut expenses, and therefore we ate badly. Putting the plate on the table, she sat on my bed and cried. "Misail," she said, "what are you doing to us?" She did not cover her face, her tears dripped onto her chest and hands, and her expression was mournful. She fell on the pillow and gave vent to tears, trembling all over and sobbing. - You again left the service ... - she said. - Oh, how terrible! “But understand, sister, understand ...” I said, and because she was crying, despair seized me. As if on purpose, all the kerosene had already burned out in my lamp, it smoked, about to go out, and the old crutches on the walls looked sternly, and their shadows flickered. - Have mercy on us! - said the sister, rising. - Father is in terrible grief, and I am sick, going crazy. What will happen to you? she asked, sobbing and holding out her hands to me. - I beg you, I beg you, in the name of our late mother I ask: go back to work! - I can't, Cleopatra! - I said, feeling that a little more - and I will give up. - I can not! - Why? the sister continued. - Why? Well, if you don't get along with your boss, look elsewhere. For example, why don't you go serve on
railway ? I have just spoken to Anyuta Blagovo, she assures me that you will be hired by the railroad, and even promised to take care of you. For God's sake, Misail, think! Think, I beg you! We talked some more and I gave up. I said that the idea of serving on a railroad under construction had never crossed my mind, and that perhaps I was ready to try. She smiled joyfully through her tears and shook my hand, and then still continued to cry, because she could not stop, and I went into the kitchen for kerosene. II Among the hunters for amateur performances, concerts and live pictures with a charitable purpose, the first place in the city belonged to the Azhogins, who lived in their own house on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya; each time they gave a room, and they took on all the troubles and expenses. This rich landowner family had about three acres of thousands in the county with a luxurious estate, but they did not like the countryside and lived in the city in winter and summer. It consisted of a mother, a tall, thin, delicate lady, who wore short hair, a short blouse and a flat skirt in the English style, and three daughters, who, when they were spoken of, were called not by their names, but simply: the eldest, the middle and the youngest. . They were all with ugly sharp chins, short-sighted, stooped, dressed just like their mother, lisped unpleasantly, and yet, despite this, they always took part in every performance and constantly did something for a charitable purpose - they played, read, sang . They were very serious and never smiled, and even played in vaudeville with singing without the slightest gaiety, with a businesslike air, as if they were doing bookkeeping. I loved our performances, and especially the rehearsals, which were frequent, somewhat stupid, noisy, after which we were always given supper. I did not take any part in the selection of plays and in the determination of roles. I had the backstage part on me. I wrote the scenery, rewrote the roles, prompted, made up, and I was also entrusted with the device of various effects such as thunder, the singing of a nightingale, etc. shadows of the wings, - and shyly silent. I painted the scenery at the Azhogins' in the shed or in the yard. I was assisted by a painter, or, as he called himself, a painting contractor, Andrey Ivanov, a man of about fifty, tall, very thin and pale, with a sunken chest, sunken temples and blue eyes, even a little scary in appearance. He was ill with some kind of debilitating illness, and every autumn and spring they said about him that he was dying, but after lying down he got up and then said with surprise: “But I didn’t die again! ". In the city they called him Radish and they said that this was his
real name . He loved the theater as much as I did, and as soon as rumors reached him that a performance was being planned, he abandoned all his work and went to the Azhogins to paint the scenery. The next day, after the explanation with my sister, I worked from morning till night at the Azhogins. The rehearsal was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening, and an hour before the start, all the amateurs were already assembled in the hall, and the eldest, middle and youngest walked around the stage and read from notebooks. Radish, wearing a long red coat and a scarf wrapped around his neck, was already standing with his head against the wall, looking at the stage with a pious expression. Azhogina-mother approached first one and then another guest and said something pleasant to everyone. She had a way of looking intently into a person's face and speaking softly, as if in secret. "It must be hard to paint scenery," she said softly, coming up to me. “And Madame Mufke and I were just talking about prejudice, and I saw you come in. My God, I have struggled with prejudice all, all my life! In order to convince the servants that all these fears of theirs are nothing, I always light three candles in my room and start all my important business on the thirteenth. The daughter of the engineer Dolzhikov came, a beautiful, plump blonde, dressed, as we used to say, in everything Parisian. She did not act, but at rehearsals they put a chair on the stage for her, and the performances did not start until she appeared in the front row, beaming and amazing the fur with her outfit. She, like a metropolitan thing, was allowed to make remarks during rehearsals, and she made them with a sweet, condescending smile, and it was clear that she looked at our performances as if they were child's play. It was said about her that she learned to sing at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and that she even sang for a whole winter in a private opera. I liked her very much, and usually at rehearsals and during the performance I did not take my eyes off her. I had already taken the notebook to start prompting, when my sister suddenly appeared. Without taking off her coat and hat, she came up to me and said: - Please, let's go. I went. Behind the stage, at the door, stood Anyuta Blagovo, also in a hat, with a dark veil. She was the daughter of the chairman of the comrades' court, who had served in our city for a long time, almost from the very foundation of the district court. Since she was tall and well built, her participation in living pictures was considered obligatory, and when she portrayed some fairy or Glory, her face burned with shame; but she did not participate in the performances, but only came to rehearsals for a minute on some business, and did not go into the hall. And now it was clear that she had only gone in for a minute. “My father talked about you,” she said dryly, not looking at me and blushing. - Dolzhikov promised you a place on the railway. Go to him tomorrow, he will be at home. I bowed and thanked for the trouble. “And you can leave this,” she said, pointing to the notebook. She and her sister went up to Azhogina and whispered to her for two minutes, looking at me. They consulted about something. “Indeed,” Azhogina said quietly, coming up to me and looking intently into my face, “indeed, if this distracts you from serious studies,” she pulled a notebook from my hands, “you can pass it on to someone else. Don't worry, my friend, go with God. I said goodbye to her and went out embarrassed. Going down the stairs, I saw my sister and Anyuta Blagovo leaving; they were talking animatedly about something, probably about my admission to the railroad, and they were in a hurry. My sister had never been to rehearsals before, and now, probably, her conscience was tormenting her, and she was afraid that her father would not know that she was with the Azhogins without his permission. I went to Dolzhikov the next day, at one o'clock. The footman led me to a very beautiful room, which was the living room of the engineer and at the same time a study. Everything here was soft, elegant, and for such an unusual person like me, even strange. Expensive carpets, huge armchairs, bronze, paintings, gold and plush frames; on the photographs scattered on the walls, very beautiful women, smart, beautiful faces, free poses; from the living room the door leads directly into the garden, onto the balcony, you can see the lilacs, you can see the table set for breakfast, many bottles, a bouquet of roses, it smells of spring and an expensive cigar, it smells of happiness - and everything seems to want to say that here - de man lived, worked hard and finally achieved the happiness possible on earth. The engineer's daughter was sitting at the desk, reading a newspaper. - Are you with your father? she asked. He's taking a shower, he'll be right back. Sit down, please. I sat down. "You seem to be living against us, aren't you?" she asked again after some silence. - Yes. “Out of boredom, I watch from the window every day, you’ll excuse me,” she continued, looking at the newspaper, “and I often see you and your sister. She always has such a kind, focused expression. Enter Dolzhikov. He was wiping his neck with a towel. “Papa, monsieur Poloznev,” said the daughter. “Yes, yes, Blagovo told me,” he turned to me briskly, without shaking his hand. - But, listen, what can I give you? What are my places? Strange you people, gentlemen! he continued loudly and in such a tone as if he were reprimanding me. - You come to me for twenty people a day, they imagined that I had a department! I have a line, gentlemen, I have hard labor, I need mechanics, a locksmith, diggers, joiners, well workers, and after all, all of you can only sit and write, nothing more! You are all writers! And he smelled of the same happiness on me as from his carpets and armchairs. Full, healthy, with red cheeks, with a broad chest, washed up, in a cotton shirt and trousers, like a porcelain, toy coachman. He had a round, curly beard - and not a single gray hair, a hooked nose, and dark, clear, innocent eyes. - What can you do? he continued. - You don't know anything! I am an engineer, sir, I am a wealthy person, but before they gave me the way, I rubbed the strap for a long time, I went around as a machinist, worked for two years in Belgium as a simple oiler. Judge for yourself, my dear, what kind of work can I offer you? “Of course it is…” I muttered in great embarrassment, unable to bear his clear, innocent eyes. “At least do you know how to operate the apparatus?” he asked thinking. - Yes, I served on the telegraph. - Hm... Well, we'll see. Go to Dubechnya for now. I already have one sitting there, but the rubbish is terrible. What will be my responsibilities? I asked. - We'll see you there. Leave for now, I'll arrange it. Just please don't get drunk and don't bother me with any requests. I'll kick you out. He stepped away from me and didn't even nod his head. I bowed to him and his daughter, who was reading a newspaper, and went out. My heart was heavy to such an extent that when my sister began to ask how the engineer received me, I could not utter a single word. To go to Dubechnya, I got up early in the morning, at sunrise. There was not a soul on our Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya, everyone was still sleeping, and my steps were heard lonely and muffled. Poplars, covered with dew, filled the air with a delicate aroma. I was sad and didn't want to leave the city. I loved my hometown. He seemed so handsome and warm to me! I loved this greenery, quiet sunny mornings, the ringing of our bells; but the people with whom I lived in this city were boring to me, alien and sometimes even disgusting. I didn't like or understand them. I did not understand why and how all these sixty-five thousand people live. I knew that the Kimrys earn their living with boots, that Tula makes samovars and guns, that Odessa is a port city, but what our city is and what it does - I did not know. Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya and two more cleaner streets lived on ready-made capital and on salaries received by officials from the treasury; but how the other eight streets, which ran parallel for about three versts and disappeared over the hill, lived, has always been an incomprehensible mystery to me. And how these people lived, I'm ashamed to say! No garden, no theater, no decent orchestra; the city and club libraries were visited only by teenage Jews, so that magazines and new books lay uncut for months; the rich and intelligent slept in stuffy, cramped bedrooms, on wooden beds with bugs, children were kept in disgustingly dirty rooms called nurseries, and servants, even old and respectable ones, slept in the kitchen on the floor and covered themselves with rags. On fast days, the houses smelled of borscht, and on fasting days - of sturgeon fried in sunflower oil. They ate badly, drank unhealthy water. In the duma, the governor, the bishop, everywhere in the houses for many years they talked about the fact that in our city there is no good and cheap water and that it is necessary to borrow two hundred thousand from the treasury for water supply; very rich people, of whom one could count about three dozen in our city and who happened to lose entire estates at cards, also drank bad water and talked all their lives with passion about loans - and I did not understand this; it seemed to me that it would be easier to take and lay out these two hundred thousand from my own pocket. I didn't know a single honest person in the whole city. My father took bribes and imagined that it was given to him out of respect for his
spiritual qualities ; gymnasium students, in order to move from class to class, went to their teachers for bread, and these took a lot of money from them; the wife of a military commander during recruitment took from recruits and even allowed herself to be treated, and once in church she could not get up from her knees, as she was drunk; during recruitment, doctors also took it, and the city doctor and veterinarian taxed butcher shops and taverns; in the county school they sold certificates that gave benefits in the third category; deans took from subordinate clergy and church elders; in the city, petty-bourgeois, in the medical and in all other councils, every petitioner was shouted after: "We must be grateful!" - and the petitioner returned to give 30-40 kopecks. And those who did not take bribes, such as, for example, officials of the judicial department, were arrogant, gave two fingers, were distinguished by coldness and narrowness of judgment, played a lot of cards, drank a lot, married rich people and, undoubtedly, had a harmful, corrupting environment. influence. Only from some girls breathed moral purity; most of them had high aspirations, honest, pure souls; but they did not understand life and believed that bribes were given out of respect for spiritual qualities, and, having married, they soon grew old, sank and hopelessly drowned in the mire of a vulgar, petty-bourgeois existence. III A railroad was being built in our area. On the eve of the holidays, crowds of ragamuffins walked around the city, who were called "cast iron" and were afraid of them. Often I had to see how a ragamuffin with a bloodied physiognomy, without a hat, was led to the police, and behind, in the form of material evidence, they carried a samovar or recently washed, still wet linen. "Chugunka" usually crowded around taverns and bazaars; she drank, ate, scolded badly, and escorted every passing woman of easy virtue with a shrill whistle. Our shopkeepers, in order to amuse this hungry rabble, gave vodka to dogs and cats, or tied a kerosene tin to the dog's tail, raised the whistle, and the dog rushed down the street, rattling the tin, squealing in horror; it seemed to her that some kind of monster was pursuing her, she ran far beyond the city, into the field, and there she was exhausted; and we had several dogs in the city, constantly trembling, with their tails between their legs, about which they said that they could not bear such fun, they went crazy. The station was built five miles from the city. They said that the engineers asked for a bribe of fifty thousand in order for the road to approach the city itself, and the city administration agreed to give only forty thousand, dispersed in ten thousand, and now the townspeople repented, since it was necessary to conduct a highway to the station, which, according to the estimate, cost expensive. Sleepers and rails had already been laid along the entire line, and service trains were running, carrying building material and workers, and the delay was only behind the bridges that Dolzhikov was building, and in some places the stations were not yet ready. Dubechnya - that was the name of our first station - was located seventeen miles from the city. I walked. Winter and spring trees were brightly green, engulfed by the morning sun. The place was flat, cheerful, and in the distance the station, mounds, distant estates clearly loomed... How nice it was here in the wild! And how I wanted to be imbued with the consciousness of freedom, if only for this one morning, so as not to think about what was happening in the city, not to think about my needs, not to want to eat! Nothing hindered my life so much as an acute feeling of hunger, when my best thoughts strangely interfered with thoughts of buckwheat porridge, cutlets, fried fish. Here I am standing alone in the field and looking up at the lark, which hung in the air in one place and burst into hysterics, and I myself think: "It would be nice now to eat bread and butter!" Or I sit down by the road and close my eyes to rest, listen to this wonderful May noise, and I remember how hot potatoes smell. With my large stature and strong build, I had to eat little at all, and therefore my main feeling during the day was hunger, and therefore, perhaps, I understood very well why so many people work only for a piece of bread and can only talk about grubs. In Dubechnya, the station was plastered inside and the upper wooden floor was built near the pumping station. It was hot, it smelled of lime, and the workers wandered listlessly through the piles of wood chips and rubbish; the switchman was sleeping near his booth, and the sun burned right in his face. Not a single tree. The telegraph wire hummed faintly, and hawks rested here and there. Wandering around the heaps, too, not knowing what to do, I recalled how the engineer, when I asked what my duties would be, answered me: "We'll see there." But what could be seen in this desert? The plasterers were talking about a foreman and about some Fedot Vasiliev, I did not understand, and melancholy gradually took possession of me - physical melancholy, when you feel your arms, legs and everything
big body and do not know what to do with them, where to go. After walking around for at least two hours, I noticed that telegraph poles went somewhere to the right of the line from the station and after a mile and a half or two versts ended at a white stone fence; the workers said that there was an office there, and, finally, I realized that I needed to go there. It was a very old, long abandoned manor. The fence of white spongy stone had already weathered and collapsed in places, and on the wing, which with its blank wall overlooked the field, the roof was rusty, and patches of tin gleamed here and there. Through the gate one could see a spacious yard overgrown with weeds, and an old
manor house with blinds on the windows and with a high roof, reddish from rust. On the sides of the house, to the right and to the left, stood two identical wings; at one window they were boarded up, near another, with open windows, laundry was hanging on a rope and calves were walking around. The last telegraph pole stood in the yard, and the wire from it went to the window of that wing, which, with its blank wall, looked out into the field. The door was open, I entered. A gentleman with a dark, curly head, in a sailcloth jacket, was sitting at a table by the telegraph machine; he looked sternly, frowningly at me, but immediately smiled and said: "Hello, little favor!" It was Ivan Cheprakov, my high school friend, who had been expelled from the second grade for smoking tobacco. We used to catch goldfinches, siskins and grosbeaks together in the autumn and sell them at the market early in the morning, when our parents were still sleeping. We lay in wait for flocks of migratory starlings and shot at them with small shot, then picked up the wounded, and some of us died in terrible agony (I still remember how they moaned in my cage at night), others who recovered, we sold and impudently swore at the same time that they were all only males. Once at the market I had only one starling left, which I offered to buyers for a long time and, finally, sold for a penny. "Still a little good!" - I said to myself consolation, hiding this kopeck, and from that time street boys and schoolboys called me a little good; and even now boys and shopkeepers used to tease me like that, although no one except me remembered where this nickname came from Cheprakov was not of strong build: narrow-chested, round-shouldered, long-legged. A string tie, no waistcoat at all, and boots worse than mine - with crooked heels. He rarely blinked his eyes and had a rushing expression, as if he was about to grab something, and he was still fussing. “Wait a minute,” he said, fussing. - Yes, you listen! .. What, I mean, did I just talk about? We started talking. I learned that the estate in which I was now located had recently belonged to the Cheprakovs and only last autumn passed to the engineer Dolzhikov, who believed that it was more profitable to keep money in the ground than in papers, and had already bought three decent estates in our area with a transfer debt; In the sale, Cheprakov's mother negotiated for herself the right to live in one of the side wings for another two years and begged for a place for her son in the office. - Why would he not buy! Cheprakov said about the engineer. - How much does it cost from contractors alone! Fuck everyone! Then he took me to dinner, fussily deciding that I would live with him alone in the wing, and eat at his mother's. “She is my miser,” he said, “but she won’t charge you dearly. The small rooms where his mother lived were very crowded; all of them, even the vestibule and the hall, were cluttered with furniture, which, after the sale of the estate, was transferred here from a large house; and the furniture was all old mahogany. Madame Cheprakova, a very stout, elderly lady with slanting Chinese eyes, was sitting by the window in a large armchair, knitting a stocking. She received me ceremoniously. “This, mother, is Poloznev,” Cheprakov introduced me. He will serve here. - Are you a nobleman? she asked in a strange, unpleasant voice; I thought she had fat in her throat. “Yes,” I replied. - Sit down. The dinner was bad. Only bitter curd pie and milk soup were served. Elena Nikiforovna, the hostess, kept winking strangely, first with one eye, then with the other. She talked and ate, but there was already something dead in her whole figure, and even the smell of a corpse seemed to be felt. Life in her barely flickered, and the consciousness flickered that she was a lady-landowner who had once had her serfs, that she was a general's wife, whom the servants were obliged to call excellency; and when these miserable remnants of life flared up in her for a moment, she would say to her son: - Jean, you don't hold a knife like that! Or she would say to me, taking a deep breath, with the affectation of a hostess who wants to entertain a guest: - And we, you know, sold our estate. Of course, it’s a pity, we’re used to it here, but Dolzhikov promised to make Jean the head of the Dubechny station, so we won’t leave here, we’ll live here at the station, and it’s the same as on the estate. The engineer is so kind! Don't you find him very handsome? Until recently, the Cheprakovs lived richly, but after the death of the general, everything changed. Elena Nikiforovna began to quarrel with her neighbors, began to sue, did not pay extra to clerks and workers; everyone was afraid that she would be robbed - and in some ten years Dubechnya became unrecognizable. Behind the big house was an old garden, already wild, drowned out by weeds and bushes. I walked along the terrace, still strong and beautiful; through the glass door one could see a room with a parquet floor, probably a living room; an old piano, and engravings on the walls in wide mahogany frames - and nothing more. Only peonies and poppies survived from the former flower beds, which raised their white and bright red heads from the grass; along the paths, stretching out, interfering with each other, grew young maples and elms, already plucked by cows. It was dense, and the garden seemed impenetrable, but it was only near the house, where poplars, pines and old lindens of the same age that had survived from the old alleys still stood, and further behind them the garden was cleared for haymaking, and there was no longer soaring, cobwebs did not climb into mouth and eyes, the breeze was blowing; the farther inland, the more spacious, and there were already growing cherries, plums, sprawling apple trees, disfigured by props and gangrene, and pears so tall that they could not even believe that they were pears. This part of the garden was rented by our city merchants, and it was guarded from thieves and starlings by a foolish peasant who lived in a hut. The garden, more and more thinned, turning into a real meadow, descended to the river, overgrown with green reeds and willows; near the mill dam there was a deep and fishy stretch, a small mill with a thatched roof roared angrily, frogs croaked furiously. On the water, smooth as a mirror, circles occasionally went round, and river lilies trembled, disturbed by cheerful fish. On the other side of the river was the village of Dubechnya. A quiet, blue stretch beckoned to itself, promising coolness and peace. And now all this - both the reach, and the mill, and the cozy banks belonged to the engineer! And so my new job began. I received telegrams and sent them on, wrote various statements, and completely rewrote demanding entries, claims and reports that were sent to our office by illiterate foremen and foremen. But most of the day I did nothing, but walked around the room, waiting for telegrams, or planted the boy in the wing, and I myself went into the garden and walked until the boy came running to say that the machine was knocking. I dined with Madame Cheprakova. Meat was served very rarely, the dishes were all dairy, and on Wednesday and Friday they were lenten, and on these days pink plates were served at the table, which were called lenten. Cheprakova constantly winked - it was her habit, and in her presence I always felt uneasy. Since there was not enough work in the wing even for one, Cheprakov did nothing, but only slept or went with a gun to the stretch to shoot ducks. In the evenings he got drunk in the village or at the station, and before going to bed, he looked in the mirror and shouted: - Hello, Ivan Cheprakov! Drunk, he was very pale and kept rubbing his hands and laughing as though he were neighing: gi-gi-gi! Out of mischief, he stripped naked and ran around the field naked. He ate flies and said they were sour.
Among the hunters for amateur performances, concerts and live paintings with a charitable purpose, the first place in the city belonged to the Azhogins, who lived in their own house on Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya; each time they gave a room, and they took on all the troubles and expenses. This rich landowner family had about three acres of thousands in the county with a luxurious estate, but they did not like the countryside and lived in the city in winter and summer. It consisted of a mother, a tall, thin, delicate lady, who wore short hair, a short blouse and a flat skirt in the English style, and three daughters, who, when they were spoken of, were called not by their names, but simply: the eldest, the middle and the youngest. . All of them were with ugly sharp chins, short-sighted, stooped, dressed just like their mother, lisped unpleasantly, and yet, despite this, they necessarily participated in every performance and constantly did something for a charitable purpose - they played, read, sang . They were very serious and never smiled, and even played in vaudeville with singing without the slightest gaiety, with a businesslike air, as if they were doing bookkeeping.
I loved our performances, and especially the rehearsals, which were frequent, somewhat stupid, noisy, after which we were always given supper. I did not take any part in the selection of plays and in the determination of roles. I had the backstage part on me. I wrote the scenery, rewrote the roles, prompted, made up, and I was also entrusted with the device of various effects such as thunder, the singing of a nightingale, etc. shadows of the wings, and shyly silent.
I painted the scenery at the Azhogins' in the shed or in the yard. I was assisted by a painter, or, as he called himself, a painting contractor, Andrey Ivanov, a man of about fifty, tall, very thin and pale, with a sunken chest, sunken temples and blue eyes, even a little scary in appearance. He was ill with some kind of debilitating disease, and every autumn and spring they said about him that he was dying, but after lying down he got up and then said with surprise: “But again I didn’t die!”
In the city they called him Radish and they said that this was his real name. He loved the theater as much as I did, and as soon as rumors reached him that a performance was being planned, he abandoned all his work and went to the Azhogins to paint the scenery.
The next day, after the explanation with my sister, I worked from morning till night at the Azhogins. The rehearsal was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening, and an hour before the start, all the amateurs were already assembled in the hall, and the eldest, middle and youngest walked around the stage and read from notebooks. Radish, wearing a long red coat and a scarf wrapped around his neck, was already standing with his head against the wall, looking at the stage with a pious expression. Azhogina-mother approached first one and then another guest and said something pleasant to everyone. She had a way of looking intently into a person's face and speaking softly, as if in secret.
It must be hard to paint the scenery, she said softly as she approached me. And Madame Mufke and I were just talking about prejudices, and I saw you come in. My God, I have struggled with prejudice all, all my life! In order to convince the servants that all these fears of theirs are nothing, I always light three candles in my room and start all my important business on the thirteenth.
The daughter of the engineer Dolzhikov came, a beautiful, plump blonde, dressed, as we used to say, in everything Parisian. She did not act, but at rehearsals they put a chair on the stage for her, and the performances did not start until she appeared in the front row, beaming and amazing everyone with her outfit. She, like a metropolitan thing, was allowed to make remarks during rehearsals, and she made them with a sweet, condescending smile, and it was clear that she looked at our performances as if they were child's play. It was said about her that she learned to sing at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and that she even sang for a whole winter in a private opera. I liked her very much, and usually at rehearsals and during the performance I did not take my eyes off her.
I had already taken the notebook to start prompting, when my sister suddenly appeared. Without taking off her coat and hat, she came up to me and said:
Please, let's go.
I went. Behind the stage, at the door, stood Anyuta Blagovo, also in a hat, with a dark veil. She was the daughter of the chairman of the comrades' court, who had served in our city for a long time, almost from the very foundation of the district court. Since she was tall and well built, her participation in living pictures was considered obligatory, and when she portrayed some fairy or Glory, her face burned with shame; but she did not participate in the performances, but only came to rehearsals for a minute on some business, and did not go into the hall. And now it was clear that she had only gone in for a minute.
My father talked about you, she said dryly, not looking at me and blushing. Dolzhikov promised you a place on the railroad. Go to him tomorrow, he will be at home.
I bowed and thanked for the trouble.
And you can leave this, she said, pointing to the notebook.
She and her sister went up to Azhogina and whispered to her for two minutes, looking at me. They consulted about something.
Indeed, Azhogina said quietly, coming up to me and looking intently into my face, in fact, if this distracts you from serious studies, she pulled a notebook from my hands, then you can pass it on to someone else. Don't worry, my friend, go with God.
I said goodbye to her and went out embarrassed. Going down the stairs, I saw my sister and Anyuta Blagovo leaving; they were talking animatedly about something, probably about my admission to the railroad, and they were in a hurry. My sister had never been to rehearsals before, and now, probably, her conscience was tormenting her, and she was afraid that her father would not know that she was with the Azhogins without his permission.
I went to Dolzhikov the next day, at one o'clock. The footman led me to a very beautiful room, which was the living room of the engineer and at the same time a study. Everything here was soft, elegant, and for such an unusual person like me, even strange. Expensive carpets, huge armchairs, bronze, paintings, gold and plush frames; on the photographs scattered on the walls, very beautiful women, smart, beautiful faces, free poses; from the living room the door leads directly to the garden, to the balcony, you can see the lilacs, you can see the table set for breakfast, many bottles, a bouquet of roses, it smells of spring and an expensive cigar, it smells of happiness, and everything seems to want to say that here - de man lived, worked hard and finally achieved the happiness possible on earth. The engineer's daughter was sitting at the desk, reading a newspaper.
Are you to your father? she asked. He is taking a shower, he will come now. Sit down, please. I sat down.
You seem to live against us, don't you? she asked again after some silence. Yes.
I watch from the window every day out of boredom, excuse me, she continued, looking at the newspaper, and I often see you and your sister. She always has such a kind, focused expression.
Enter Dolzhikov. He was wiping his neck with a towel.
Dad, monsieur Poloznev, said the daughter.
Yes, yes, Blagovo told me, he turned to me briskly, without shaking his hand. But, listen, what can I give you? What are my places? Strange you people, gentlemen! he continued loudly and in such a tone as if he were reprimanding me. You come to me for twenty people a day, imagine that I have a department! I have a line, gentlemen, I have hard labor, I need mechanics, a locksmith, diggers, joiners, well workers, and after all, all of you can only sit and write, nothing more! You are all writers!
And he smelled of the same happiness on me as from his carpets and armchairs. Full, healthy, with red cheeks, with a broad chest, washed up, in a cotton shirt and trousers, like a porcelain, toy coachman. He had a round, curly beard and not a single gray hair, a hooked nose, and dark, clear, innocent eyes.
What can you do? he continued. You don't know anything! I am an engineer, sir, I am a wealthy person, but before they gave me the way, I rubbed the strap for a long time, I went around as a machinist, worked for two years in Belgium as a simple oiler. Judge for yourself, my dear, what kind of work can I offer you?
Of course it is... I muttered in great embarrassment, unable to bear his clear, innocent eyes.
Do you at least know how to operate the apparatus? he asked thoughtfully.
Yes, I served in the telegraph.
Hm... Well, we'll see. Go to Dubechnya for now. I already have one sitting there, but the rubbish is terrible.
What will be my responsibilities? I asked.
We'll see there. Leave for now, I'll arrange it. Just please don't get drunk and don't bother me with any requests. I'll kick you out.
He stepped away from me and didn't even nod his head. I bowed to him and his daughter, who was reading a newspaper, and went out. My heart was heavy to such an extent that when my sister began to ask how the engineer received me, I could not utter a single word.
To go to Dubechnya, I got up early in the morning, at sunrise. There was not a soul on our Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya, everyone was still sleeping, and my steps were heard lonely and muffled. Poplars, covered with dew, filled the air with a delicate aroma. I was sad and didn't want to leave the city. I loved my hometown. He seemed so handsome and warm to me! I loved this greenery, quiet sunny mornings, the ringing of our bells; but the people with whom I lived in this city were boring to me, alien and sometimes even disgusting. I didn't like or understand them.
I did not understand why and how all these sixty-five thousand people live. I knew that the Kimry earn their living with boots, that Tula makes samovars and guns, that Odessa is a port city, but what our city is and what it does, I did not know. Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya and two more cleaner streets lived on ready-made capital and on salaries received by officials from the treasury; but what lived the other eight streets, which ran parallel for about three versts and disappeared over the hill, this has always been an incomprehensible mystery to me. And how these people lived, I'm ashamed to say! No garden, no theater, no decent orchestra; the city and club libraries were visited only by teenage Jews, so that magazines and new books lay uncut for months; the rich and intelligent slept in stuffy, cramped bedrooms, on wooden beds with bugs, children were kept in disgustingly dirty rooms called nurseries, and servants, even old and respectable ones, slept in the kitchen on the floor and covered themselves with rags. On fast days, the houses smelled of borscht, and on fast days, sturgeon fried in sunflower oil. They ate badly, drank unhealthy water. In the duma, the governor, the bishop, everywhere in the houses for many years they talked about the fact that in our city there is no good and cheap water and that it is necessary to borrow two hundred thousand from the treasury for water supply; very rich people, of whom we could count about three dozen in our city and who happened to lose entire estates at cards, also drank bad water and talked all their lives with passion about a loan and I did not understand this; it seemed to me that it would be easier to take and lay out these two hundred thousand from my own pocket.
I didn't know a single honest person in the whole city. My father took bribes and imagined that they gave him out of respect for his spiritual qualities; gymnasium students, in order to move from class to class, went to their teachers for bread, and these took a lot of money from them; the wife of a military commander during recruitment took from recruits and even allowed herself to be treated, and once in church she could not get up from her knees, as she was drunk; during recruitment, doctors also took it, and the city doctor and veterinarian taxed butcher shops and taverns; in the county school they sold certificates that gave benefits in the third category; deans took from subordinate clergy and church elders; in the city, petty-bourgeois, in the medical and in all other councils, every petitioner was shouted after: “We must thank!” and the petitioner returned to give 3040 kopecks. And those who did not take bribes, such as, for example, officials of the judicial department, were arrogant, gave two fingers, were distinguished by coldness and narrowness of judgment, played a lot of cards, drank a lot, married rich people and, undoubtedly, had a harmful, corrupting environment. influence. Only from some girls breathed moral purity; most of them had high aspirations, honest, pure souls; but they did not understand life and believed that bribes were given out of respect for spiritual qualities, and, having married, they soon grew old, sank and hopelessly drowned in the mire of a vulgar, petty-bourgeois existence.
