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Regimental ladies duel. Name day, explanation with Shurochka. The main characters of the story. The composition "Heroes and Problems of the Novel by A. I. Kuprin" The Duel "" Images of Regimental Ladies

Bek-Agamalov's features are present in each of the officers. Many are generally bestial. During a scandal in a brothel, this bestial essence comes through especially clearly: in the bulging eyes of Bek-Agamalov "naked round squirrels glittered terribly", his head "was low and menacingly lowered", "an ominous yellow shine lit up in his eyes." "And at the same time, he bent his legs lower and lower, cringed all over and absorbed his neck, like an animal ready to take a jump."

After getting drunk, the officers made a scandal in the brothel, quarreling with each other. After this scandal, which ended in a fight and a challenge to a duel, “everyone dispersed, embarrassed, depressed, avoiding looking at each other. Each of his own horror, his own slavish, guilty longing - the horror and longing of small, evil and dirty animals, whose dark mind suddenly lit up with a bright human consciousness.

At the end of this story about the wild act of drunken officers, Kuprin draws our attention to contrast of this description, followed by the description of the dawn: “It was dawn, with a clear, childishly clear sky and a still cool air. The trees, damp, enveloped in a barely visible steam, were silently awakening from their dark, mysterious night dreams. And when Romashov, walking home, looked at them, and at the sky, and at the wet grass, gray with dew, he felt short, disgusting, ugly and endlessly stranger among this innocent beauty of the morning, smiling awake. "

Thus, in "Duel" he showed the moral and spiritual decay of the military intelligentsia, its remoteness from the people. Kuprin helped the officers to know themselves, their position in life, all its informality and tragedy.

3.3. Officers' wives are the personification of extreme spiritual impoverishment

The officers' wives are as predatory and bloodthirsty as their husbands. Regimental ladies are the personification of extreme squalor. Their everyday life is woven from gossip, provincial game of secularism, boring and vulgar connections.

The most repulsive image - Raisa Peterson, angry, stupid, depraved and vindictive. "Oh, how nasty she is!" - Romashov thinks with disgust. “And from the thought of his previous physical intimacy with this woman, he had such a feeling as if he had not washed for several months and had not changed clothes. And he says how disgusting, thought Romashov. “It’s strange that I haven’t noticed this until now. She speaks as if she has a chronic runny nose or a polyp in her nose: "don't fight it."

The rest of the "ladies" are no better. Even the outwardly charming Shurochka Nikolaeva shows the features of Osadchy, who does not seem to be like her.

While Romashov is looking for ways of personal self-assertion of a person, and by and large - of humanity, Shurochka Nikolaeva seeks to fully realize the possibilities of her extraordinary nature, and physical - an irresistible feminine charm, femininity, and intellectual - a lively, energetic mind. But to realize it with an obvious selfish goal, the role of a regimental lady does not satisfy her. She longs for more: a brilliant and idle life, a real society, where "light, music, admirers, subtle flattery, clever companions." How can this be achieved by an ignoble woman without sufficient means and education? Only thanks to the career of her husband or another person who selflessly loved her. Shurochka is not only selfish in her mind, but also bloodthirsty. Mercy, forgiveness, elementary concepts of good, spiritual nobility and tact are alien to her: they are "brakes", obstacles on the way to the fairy tale she cherishes about "real" life. Therefore, she strongly condemns the "sentimental opponents" of the officer's duels. She is impressed by fights with blood: “What kind of tenderness are these: they are afraid of a shot! Your profession is to risk your life! " She is ready to mercilessly dispose of the life of Nazansky, who loved her (I would shoot such people like mad dogs. Such officers are a disgrace for the regiment, an abomination! ”) And disposes of life, brings her husband to a duel, Romashov who loves her selflessly in a duel. However, she would also leave her husband without remorse, even dispose of his life, if Nazansky or Romashov could become active assistants to her in the implementation of an egoistic plan. It is impossible not to notice that in Shurochka Nikolaeva there is a further development of the character discovered by L. Tolstoy in Helen Kuragina-Bezukhova.

Why is Shurochka still drawn with a certain amount of author's sympathy? The best heroes of the work are in love with her. Apparently, not only because Shurochka stands out against the background of insipid, vulgar and depraved regimental ladies with female charm and intelligence, but because, with all her moral flaws, which for the time being remain unsolved, she has a whole, strong-willed nature, a predisposition to personal self-determination. And the writer's sympathies have always been on the side of such natures who found the strength to resist the flow, even with all the obvious or hidden viciousness.

The image of Shurochka is one of the most successful creations of the writer in the "Duel". AV Lunacharsky noted that Kuprin was able to "deduce both a curious and completely lively and indisputably interesting female type."

Nevertheless, in Shurochka, the egoism of an ambitious bourgeois woman, external charm and intelligence intertwined. Her will and perseverance are aimed at achieving selfish, selfish goals.

Thus, although Shurochka's "ideal" is shallow, vulgar and limited, other regimental ladies are many times worse than Shurochka: angry, stupid, ignorant, hypocritical. Such are Raisa Peterson, Anna Ivanovna Morgunova, the wife of Captain Talman and others.

Kuprin portrayed the world of "regimental ladies" with the same ruthlessness as the world of officers.

3.4. Moral and ideological orientation of the main characters of the story - Romashov and Nazansky

Romashov was conceived as a real hero, an opponent of the generally accepted in the then society and negative, and approved as positive value orientations in the story. Nazansky, on the other hand, appears in the work as a herald of a new faith, a new philosophy of the century, which appeals to the author, one might say, a mouthpiece of his ideas, in short, a mentor, inspirer of the activating Romashov.

In the plot of the story, Nazansky completes the characterization of the human "quality", and, accordingly, the social and state expediency of the officer corps, and also proclaims promising, from the point of view of the author, philosophical ideas of the time. So far, in the speeches of Nazansky, Nietzsche's ideas of the "superman", the rejection of traditional humanism, have been recognized. But a significant place in these speeches was occupied by the ideas of V. Soloviev and N. Berdyaev. In the criticism of traditional mercy, there is an intertextual overlap with the famous remark of Ivan Karamazov Dostoevsky about Julian the Merciful (for some reason, Kuprin has John the Merciful).

The richness of the richness of the postulated by Nazansky model of the man of the future is impressive. These are, first of all, the ideas of personal self-permanence, self-confidence, self-esteem, a sense of harmony with the natural world, based on the mobilization of the still little-demanded principles of existence ("love for oneself, one's mind, for the infinite wealth of one's feelings"), personalistic motives for denial power, false, illusory authorities determined by human culture (“You are the king of the world, his pride and adornment<…>the god of all living "), equality is not of similitudes, but of different, that is, individuals who are unequal not in the legal, but in the existential sense (" do not fear anyone in the universe, because there is no one above everyone and no one is equal to you "), in Tolstoy-Dostoyevsky motives of a careful sensation of the beauty of living life, nature (“how beautiful, how seductive life is!<…>oh joy, oh divine beauty of life<…>blue sky, evening sun, calm water<…>, Oh, how wonderful everything is, how tender and happy everything is! ").

This model lacks what can be called selfishness, violence against others in the name of one's own benefit. The main thing in this model is the desire for freedom of spirit: “somewhere far from our dirty, stinking camps, a huge, new, radiant life is taking place. New, brave, proud people have appeared: fiery free thoughts light up in their minds ... ”. On the contrary, intolerance of freedom of spirit, a tendency to violence among adherents of traditional values: “We (brought up on the same values. - VL), pouting like Indian roosters ... haughty mumble:“ What? Where? Be silent! Riot! I'll shoot you! " The role of love in this model is enormous - for a woman, for a neighbor. Kuprin took an interest in the idea of ​​the high ethical meaning of sexual love, the role that was assigned to it in the harmonization of society in the philosophy of V. Solovyov ("The Meaning of Love"), N. Berdyaev ("Metaphysics of Sex and Love"). This idea is pathetically expounded by Nazansky: “for Dante, all love is the charm, the charm of spring! ... I'm talking about love in the direct, bodily sense. But it is the lot of the chosen ones ... Love ... has its heights, accessible only to a few out of millions. " Such love is capable of sacrificing everything, encouraging people to overcome their own egoism, in the spirit of the philosophy of Solovyov and Berdyaev: “always adoring, always ready to give for her (chosen one - V.L) - no, why for her, for her whim, for her husband, for a lover, for her beloved dog - to give both life and honor, and everything that is possible to give! ... handsome men and winners do not know such joys ”. This is a paraphrase of Solov'ev's postulate: "the moral meaning of love requires the reunification of that which is unjustly divided, requires the identification of both."

The paraphrase is minted, like an aphorism, in Nazansky's monologue: "Love, freed from the dark fetters of property, will become a light religion of the world, and not a secret shameful sin in a dark corner, with a look around, with disgust."

The main thing is that Kuprin's model of a perfect person excludes the slightest possibility of people confronting each other: “a great faith in one's Self will overshadow, like the fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit, the heads of all people, and then there will be no slaves or masters,<…>how dare I then offend, push, deceive a person in whom I feel an equal ... "

Designing existential harmony excludes its achievement through social confrontation that was in the atmosphere of that time. This would contradict the essence of the Russian spiritual Renaissance, towards which Kuprin is oriented. Through the lips of Nazansky it is said: "What interest will make me break my head for the happiness of the people of the thirty-second century?" He does not share the calls for a violent breakdown of the regime, does not agree with the cliques: "Let's join hand, let's go and perish, but let's prepare a bright and easy life for future generations." The harmony of a bright life for Kuprin is possible only through the spiritual transformation of a person, the predominance of not an egoistic, individualistic, but a personal principle. Of course, the mass man of the past, as well as of the present new century, has defended and is far from this romantic ideal. It turned out to be illusory and happy life, which they tried to achieve through social confrontational revolutions.

The temptation, brightness, beauty of the new model of man is also supported by the portrait of its champion: “Golden hair fell in large, solid curls around his high, clean forehead, a clean, rectangular shape, a red, small beard lay in regular waves, as if crimped, and his whole massive and graceful head, with a bare neck of a noble design looked like the head of one of the Greek heroes or sages ... Clear, slightly moist blue eyes looked lively, intelligent and meek ... ".

But life according to the old, well-established rules and norms destroys fresh, new shoots. The outward beauty of the character turned black, burned like bright green in dry weather: "The eyes sunk deeply and blackened around, the eyelids turned yellow, and the cheeks with uneven dirty skin sagged and sagged down, and ugly overgrown with liquid curly hair."

Nazasnky is a thinker, a forerunner, a herald of new ideas, a character who reasoning and explaining, one might even say, the mouthpiece of the author. Romashov, however, is called upon to embody these ideas in his activities, in practice. It is he who is the most lively, dynamic, active hero in the "Duel". Already in the exposition of the plot, he was distinguished from the masses by unofficial features: he blushes with confusion, speaks inconsistently, unnecessarily straightens his glasses. The main thing is that he does not share the hackneyed officer ethic, which allows him to mock civilians. True, in exceptional cases: "if he is a decent person, a nobleman and so on ... why am I going to attack him unarmed with a saber."

Kuprinologists (V. Afanasyev, A. Volkov, F. Kuleshov, O. Mikhailov) call Romashov ordinary, weak. Most likely, they reproduce the opinion of Shurochka Nikolaeva, to whom, from the point of view of strong-willed, selfish aspirations, Romashov seemed weak, because he could not spiritually accept them. But already in the first portrait characterization of Romashov, strength is declared, as well as the non-officer trait that restrains her: "of average height, thin, and although quite strong for his build, but, from great shyness, awkward."

The physical strength of the character in the plot is found in the dominant of a consistently growing spiritual strength, the basis of a real, effective opposition to the generally accepted caste and wider - universal, mass, worship of generally accepted traditional priorities. Already at the outset of the plot, Romashov spoke out against the undeserved insult of the lower rank by the regimental commander, stood up for the defenseless, wordless Tatar Sharafutdinov. An application for the hero to overcome the musty, stagnant, atmosphere of provincial life is in the ambitious fantasies with which the hero lives in his free time from service. Evening walks to the station, evening dawns, as it were, signal the exhaustion of former values, the search for a path to new ones, and their illumination at the end of the day. Most of the plots of these fantasies branch out according to the prevailing images. Like Andrei Bolkonsky, Romashov dreams of his own "Toulon" - about accomplishing feats in the field of defending the Fatherland, even when suppressing workers' riots, but more as a military intelligence officer, or the commander of a general battle that determines the fate of the war. It doesn't matter that these are the fantasies of a romantic youth. They train the will and spirit of the character in an existential litigation with an ordinary, inert everyday life. The challenge, thrown on the parade ground to the soldier Colonel Shulgovich, demanded no less courage than dignified behavior in battle. Determine the features of his worldview, outlook on life, which are reflected in the stories "Molokh", "Olesya", "Duel";
To comprehend and compare the specificity of the general and the different in the depiction of the spiritual and emotional world of the heroes of the stories;
Analyze the author's position in relation to their heroes;

Chapter 1. Features of the image of the spiritual and emotional world of man in the stories of A. I. Kuprin - "Molokh", "Olesya", "Duel"

1.1. With pain for a person: the story "Moloch" by A.I. Kuprin ..................... 10

1.2. Reflection of the socio-ethical problems of the people and the intelligentsia in the story "Moloch" ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… .25

1.3. Characteristic features of the spiritual and emotional world of the heroes of the story "Moloch" …………………………………………………………………… ... 30

1.4. Disclosure of contradictions in the character of the main character of the story - Bobrov. 39

1.5. The value of a realistic depiction of reality in the grouping of images .............................................. 42

Chapter 2. The embodiment of the moral ideal in the story of A. I. Kuprin "Olesya"

2.1. Kuprin's discovery of true poetry in ordinary people …………… .47

2.2. The autobiographical nature of the story "Olesya" ……………………………………… .52

2.3. The role of landscape in revealing the emotional and spiritual world of the main

heroines ………………………………………………………………………… .... 58

Chapter 3. The depiction of the crisis of the army as a crisis of Russian life in the story "Duel" by A.I. Kuprin

3.1. The originality of the conflict in the story "Duel": the personality in the army

environment …………………………………………………………………………… .... 67

3.2. The immorality and lack of spirituality of the army environment …………………… ..76

3.3. The wives of officers in the story "Duel" are the personification of extreme spiritual impoverishment ............................................................................. 79

3.4. The moral and ideological orientation of the main characters of the story - Romanov and Nazansky ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..81

Conclusion… ... …………………………………………………………………. 87

List of used literature …………………………………………… ...… 90

My service in the Old Guard. 1905-1917 Makarov Yuri Vladimirovich

"Regimental ladies" or "officers' wives"

In the Assembly, according to an unwritten rule, it was considered the height of indecency to raise a conversation about familiar ladies, and even more so about the wives of their officers.

This question could not even be touched upon in principle, since from the reasoning general, it was easy to imperceptibly collapse into particulars, and this would, of course, be completely unacceptable.

But in frank conversations face to face, about what the officers' wives should be, of course, they spoke and on this issue, as I recall, there were two opinions.

The defenders of the "regimental ladies" institute said something like this:

A Semyonovsky officer cannot marry a person who is "unsuitable for the regiment". The eligibility conditions are as follows: a good family, good upbringing, and an impeccable reputation. In all monarchical countries of Europe, wherever there is a "court", and in Germany, and in Austria, and even in Sweden, attention is drawn to the origin and social status of the wives of the guard officers. In England, for example, it is required that the wife of a guard officer be "presentable", that is, she would have the right to be presented to the "court."

The title of the wife of the Semyonovsky officer is as high and honorable as the title of her husband. By law, in order to marry, an officer must ask permission from the regiment commander. But this is still not enough. It is necessary to collect certificates about the future wives of officers and the more difficulties are created in this matter, the better ... But then, when all the deadlines have passed, all the conditions have been met, and permission has been received, the officer's wife is, as it were, "accepted into the regiment" just as her husband was admitted to the regiment in due time. From that time on, she entered the corporation of "regimental ladies", becoming to the wife of the commander of the regiment in approximately the same relationship as her husband to the commander.

There is no written subordination for the "regimental ladies", but there is an unwritten one, and it is expressed in greetings, visits, etc. Theoretically, the wife of the regimental commander, if necessary, can give the wife of a young officer "advice" to do this and that. then, or not to do this and that. The regimental ladies are one family, women of the same circle and upbringing, and in this case it is only natural if the older and more experienced will guide the younger and more frivolous on the path of truth.

The other side spoke like this:

There are no "regimental ladies" and should not be. For a good military man, a wife is always an extra place of vulnerability. Therefore, it is best if the officer does not marry at all. There are old cavalry regiments in Russia, where, according to tradition, an officer cannot marry younger than the rank of lieutenant colonel. Otherwise, leave the regiment. And in terms of camaraderie and military prowess, these are the best regiments in our entire army. But if the officer cannot do otherwise and will take this step anyway, then no one has the right to interfere in his choice. The only judgment that should be applied to an officer's wife is whether she is a good wife to her husband or a bad one. Our sovereign founder, Peter, was married for the second time not to a muslin young lady, but to a woman who saw the views. And Peter was happy with her and she helped him in his labors.

The corporation of "regimental ladies" is not only useless, but also harmful. The officers of the regiment are connected by a lot: uniform, service, common interests, regimental traditions, regimental partnership in peacetime and combat in wartime. All this fills life so much, entangles a person so much from all sides that the inevitable difference in characters, some difference in social circles, and often a very large difference in financial situation, all this fades into the background and ceases to be felt. The regiment knocks dozens of people into one family and develops its own type. And in the development of this type, loud names and throwing money do not play any role. There is absolutely no way to knock fifteen officers' wives into one family, if only because, apart from the identical form of their husbands, nothing essentially binds them together.

It is unnatural and absurd to try to introduce some kind of subordination among officers' wives. The colonel is always older than the captain, by years, by service in the regiment and by experience. He receives his share of respect and respect from the younger ones legally and naturally. But suppose such a forty-year-old bachelor colonel, with 20 years of service in the regiment, wishes to marry a 20-year-old girl, fresh from school. And the captain's 30-year-old wife, a mother of three children, will have to become her junior, give her a place, be the first to visit her, etc.

Already by their nature, in all their associations, especially those deprived of a direct, immediate goal, women, no matter what circle they belong to, and no matter how brought up they are, inevitably bring pettiness, whence picks, gossip, gossip and all sorts of petty nasty things. ...

Of course, one cannot demand that all 45 officers of the regiment be best friends with each other. But with the help of the off-duty discipline that exists in Sobranya, it is easy to ensure that very few people who sympathize with each other will be in outwardly decent relations.

With women, again completely regardless of the circle and upbringing, it is unthinkable to achieve even such modest results. Among the ladies there will always be "inseparable friends", but there will also be those who "cannot stand" and "cannot stand" each other, they will not hide their feelings and, of course, will try with all their might to draw their husbands into their quarrels. And that is not all. In such regimental "families", with the inclusion of wives there, courtship, flurries, and, as an inevitable consequence of them, duels, divorces, exchange of wives and swift departures from the regiment inevitably begin.

Therefore, no regimental social life, obligatory acquaintance with "houses", obligatory general amusements, etc. should not be. Compulsory communication should be only between officers, in the Assembly or in other places, but exclusively on the “idle leg”. If the regiment was a "diplomatic corps", the participation of wives in the common life would be necessary. If the regiment were stationed in some remote place on the Austrian border, where the only civilized women are the wives of their comrades, this would be inevitable. But in the city of St. Petersburg, everyone has the opportunity to find a pleasant circle of acquaintances in addition to the regiment. Beware of the "Little Garrison" and Kuprinsky "Duel". And therefore, down with the "regimental ladies" and long live the "wives of the officers", who the less they take part in the regimental life, the better for themselves and the more peaceful for their husbands.

In my time, both of these currents resulted in something in between, but with a significant bias towards the second. "Regimental ladies" existed, but they almost did not take part in the life of the regimental.

Before marrying, an officer legally asked permission from the regiment commander, but permission was relatively easy, especially during the war. I remember two or three cases of refusals, but in these cases, if the young officers asked permission from their fathers, the result would be the same.

At the time of marriage, one pressing question arose imperatively. The question is material. If a single officer had only enough personal funds for himself, and the bride had nothing, then he had to leave and look for a service that was paid better than the officer's.

It was believed that all wives of officers should be familiar with each other. To do this, each had to visit each on reception days, between 5 and 7 o'clock in the evening. It was considered sufficient to do this once a year. The younger ones started, the older ones answered.

In order to recognize the wife of his comrade on the street and in public places, all officers had to make the same annual visits to the regimental ladies. For young people, this was a rather heavy duty. For courage, they usually set off in two in one cab. It was necessary to end this matter before the second half of November, before the regimental holiday. Then, before the holiday, it was supposed to be with the wife of the regiment commander.

As I remember now my first visit to the commander's house, the visit was not so successful.

When I entered the regiment, the commander was G.A.Min, although he himself was a man of modest origin, but according to his wife, born Princess Volkonskaya, who belonged to the greatest Petersburg world and loved all splendor and splendor. In his wife, Yekaterina Sergeevna, on the contrary, there was nothing "grandamast", and in her appearance, manners and dresses she very much reminded some Tula landowner of an average hand. There was also a daughter, Natasha, who was also a very sweet and modest creature. Nevertheless, thanks to the tastes of the owner, the commander's house was put on a very big foot, and even the commander's orderlies, instead of ordinary white soldier's shirts, on solemn occasions wore livery tailcoats and red vests.

Visiting day at Ekaterina Sergeevna was Saturday. As far as I remember, I went on a visit alone. Already approaching the entrance, I strongly disliked that the whole courtyard was full of carriages. There were also courtiers. Cars at that time were not yet found, at least in general use. I went into the Swiss, took off my coat and, as it was supposed to, in the newest frock coat, with long trousers, with a saber over my shoulder, my left hand in a white glove, on a very slippery parquet floor, with a constricted heart, went to torture. I walked through two empty halls and came to a large drawing-room, from where they heard lively voices. I walked pretty quickly to keep up. The drawing-room was not very large, and for a timid visitor it was rather despicably arranged. A large mahogany carved "trellis" was placed near the door, presumably from the time of Alexander I, when he commanded the Semyonovsky regiment as his heir and lived in this house. This trellis, like a screen, obscured the entire living room with all the guests from the entrance. And when you go around it, then at high speed, there is no time to think. A few more steps and you are in the thick of it. I dimly saw that some ladies were sitting, some generals were standing, several officers of other regiments, two or three of ours; I saw a round tea table, not with a samovar, but with a silver alcohol machine, around it some girls and people in civilian clothes.

The hostess of the house, Ekaterina Sergeevna, I somehow caught a glimpse of, but of course I did not recognize and walked briskly to the first lady, which seemed to me the most suitable. And, of course, I didn't. He shuffled his foot, kissed the lady on the hand, and then, as was supposed in the Assembly, began to bypass all the guests, from the right flank, saying: Second Lieutenant Makarov, Second Lieutenant Makarov ... Of course, he did not hold out his hands.

I was waiting for it to be served to me. I knew this from childhood. Then the worst happened. I sat down on some kind of fragile gilded chair and one of the girls brought me a cup of tea (not a glass at all, glasses were not given at social events) and brought in a small porcelain plate with cookies. I thanked politely and took it. I'm sitting. In my right hand I have a cup, and in my left a cap, a glove and a plate. Very uncomfortable. To taste cookies, you need to put a cup on the floor, which is not customary. To take a sip of tea, you need to somehow get rid of your cap, gloves and plate. But where to put them? You could, of course, put your cap on your knees, put your right glove in it and put a plate upstairs. But it was very difficult to do it with one gloved left hand, without long preliminary practice and with a restless soul. I did not dare and sat there for a long time with the most gloomy look. Finally, a very young girl took pity on me, took my cup and plate from me and took me to talk to the windows. On the way, I heard one of the ladies say to the other, pointing at me with her eyes: "pauvre garcon". She said softly, but I heard. Our conversation at the window was more like a questionnaire.

How long have you been in the regiment? - Five months. - What company are you in? - I have to get up early in the morning ... I couldn't do that, and so on.

A few minutes later, I regained my composure and slipped out of the living room without saying goodbye. My rescuer turned out to be Ye.S.'s niece, Olga V., with whom we later became great friends and often remembered my first appearance in the "big world" with her.

After the first winter in St. Petersburg, I realized what major tactical mistakes I had made on that memorable day. Firstly, you can enter the barracks quickly, but you had to enter the living room slowly. There is no hurry. Entered, it was recommended to stop at the threshold and figure out, so to speak, a campaign plan. And the first step is to find out who the owner is and where her location is. You had to go to her and kiss your hand. They were supposed to say hello only to acquaintances, and half-bows to unfamiliar ladies, and nothing to men. The "headdress" could be freely put next to it on the carpet. It was more prudent to refuse a cup of tea, and a plate of cookies, when there was nowhere to put it but on the floor, should not have been accepted at all. In general, it was better to make such a visit while standing, going up to someone from your acquaintances.

But all knowledge is acquired by experience, not excluding knowledge in secular circulation.

An even more striking case took place with one of the fellow soldiers, but in a house of a completely different type. This house was large, with numerous daughters, nieces and girlfriends. The house adhered to Russian customs, and five o'clock tea was drunk in a large dining room, at a long table. All sorts of pies and cakes were honestly on the table, and glasses were supposed to be for men. And the guests went straight to the dining room. My friend came to the house for the first time and felt embarrassed. He was honored by honor first of all approached the hostess, everything was clean. The lady behind the samovar, she is the hostess, and then decided to bypass everyone and introduce himself to everyone. There were about 25 people at the table and the round took about ten minutes. The further he moved, the more tension increased. Some of the guests were busy talking and did not see that someone was standing behind a chair and eager to introduce themselves ... "Uncle Kolya! .. Uncle Kolya, they greet you" ...

And what ... where? Oh yes, yes, very nice.

When the young man finished his round, he had already reached the point, as they say, especially since he noticed that at the far end several pairs of sly eyes were watching him with cheerful curiosity. Finally, the poor man received his glass of tea from the hands of the hostess and carried it to his place, but ... did not carry it. The glass slipped out of his hands and dropped to the floor. Immediately after this, from the girl's end, there was an explosion of mad laughter. The young man stood for a while, then turned to the door and went out ... Downstairs in the Swiss, he put on his coat and went home with such a feeling that he wouldn’t be in this house anyway.

Life, however, judged differently. He not only began to visit this house often, but two years later he married the very girl who most bullied him.

I was cured of shyness pretty soon. I was also cured by our officer, Captain P., who is not at all a military man, but an intelligent man, observant and very "secular" himself.

One day he says to me:

Listen Yuri, are you shy?

Do you want me to cure you?

So listen. Shyness in a normal person comes mainly from an excess of pride. It always seems to you that wherever you come, everyone is only busy watching how you bowed, how you turned and what you said. Every minute you feel that you are the "center", the center of everyone's attention ... And this is the biggest mistake. As soon as you clearly, firmly and forever grasp the simple truth that all people are mainly busy with their own affairs and no one cares about you, and no one is interested in you, as soon as you realize this, you are saved ... Everything will go like clockwork, disappear connectedness and tension and you will not only stop suffering, but you will begin to find pleasure in the company of people, even if you don't know much.

The advice was wise and helped me tremendously. In less than a year, I was on the right track to recovery.

But my case was simple. I was a young man who grew up in the provinces and for whom, before St. Petersburg, the most "high society" house he visited was the house of our Yaroslavl governor, where, by the way, everything was very family-like. I remember the cases are much more complicated. I remember, for example, one of the Tsar's aide-de-camp, the bearer of one of the most famous Russian historical surnames, more precisely, the surname of Peter the Great's mother. Born in St. Petersburg and brought up in the Corps of Pages. A man who was well over 30. And I saw with my own eyes how, talking with unfamiliar ladies, he blushed crimson, like a 15-year-old boy.

Let me give you an even more striking example. In 1906, in June, our entire regiment was invited to Peterhof to the Tsar for a "garden party". The reception was to take place at the Tsar's dacha, in Alexandria, in a marvelous park with huge old trees and amazingly beautiful green lawns. The day before we arrived from Krasnoe Selo by train and spent the night in the Ulanskiy barracks. And the next day, at four o'clock, the whole regiment went to Alexandria, with a chorus of music at the head. I remember it was not very far to go. They stopped in front of the park gate, cleaned themselves up again and brushed the dust off their boots. All were in white, officers in white tunics, soldiers in white shirts, and all without weapons, no sabers, no rifles, no cleavers. The weather was such as can only be in Petersburg on clear, sunny, not hot, with a breeze, days. Arriving at the right place, we stopped and stretched out in two ranks, in company, the officers in their places. The king came out. He, too, was in a white tunic and unarmed, in our uniform; the uniform was visible only by the blue band of the white summer cap. He walked around the ranks and greeted. Then they ordered:

Disperse!

And we, officers, went to the other side, where under the trees there was a huge round tea table, covered to the ground with a snow-white tablecloth, and on it was a silver samovar, cups, cookies and all kinds of food. At the table sat the queen in a white lace dress and received "guests" ... Immediately the royal daughters ran around, the eldest was 10 years old. The two-year-old heir, who due to illness could not walk, was sitting in the arms of his uncle, the sailor Derevenko. Then he was handed over to our senior sergeant-major RL Chtetsov. There were almost no courtiers. The leader was appointed as the aide-de-camp on duty that day. book Boris Vadimirovich, who actually did not serve with us, but was listed in the regiment's lists, often wore our uniform and was considered, as it were, our officer. We all had a joyful and cheerful mood. The king was also cheerful and, as always, very simple to handle. He was afraid of clever ministers, he was shy in front of senior generals, but here, in the familiar environment of soldiers and officers, he felt like the same colonel, the battalion commander of the Preobrazhensky regiment, which he once was, and so he remained for the rest of his life.

The Tsar's girls had a lot of fun. With loud shouts, they rushed about the meadow and played with young officers in tag and burner. The queen acted as a hostess. She poured tea and handed a cup to each personally. As far as one could judge from short phrases about children, about the weather, or about tea, sweet, strong, with lemon or milk, she spoke Russian quite fluently, although with a strong English accent. But she performed her master's office with such obvious suffering that it was a pity to look at her. At that time she was already a mother of five children and bore the title of All-Russian Empress for the eleventh year. It would seem what embarrassment and awkwardness she could experience in the company of some unknown 40 officers, who were rather embarrassed themselves in her presence. And yet it struck me that when she asked her simple questions, her face was red. This was clearly noticeable, since in those days decent women did not yet paint their cheeks. And when she held out the cup, her hand trembled violently. But here, of course, there was more than just shyness. Already in those days, our first regimental lady, the wife of the chief, was a sick and deeply unhappy woman.

In the first year of service, recognizing my ladies on the street and in public places often did not go smoothly.

For example, you sit in the theater. During the intermission you see your officer with a lady. Now who is this lady? If the wife, then it is supposed to come. If this is a relative, sister, sister of the wife, etc., then you can come up and not come up. If this is just an acquaintance, then you do not need to approach. One 20-minute visit a year is still not enough to remember 15 new female faces, which, in addition, tend to change radically with each new hat or dress.

In the second year, all the ladies were already studying firmly.

That is, in fact, all the social obligations of single men in relation to the wives of their comrades.

There were no obligatory congratulations, Happy New Year, Easter, name days, births. There were two or three married company commanders who easily accepted and fed mainly their junior officers, but nothing more.

No evenings, balls, performances, etc. were held in Sobranya and the ladies were not allowed to enter there. An exception was made only once a year. On the third day of Christmas, there was a Christmas tree in the School of Soldiers' Children. All officers and their wives were invited there. After the Christmas tree, at 11 o'clock, we went to have supper at the Meeting. Not all of the ladies came, but mostly young ones who liked to have fun. In order not to hinder the fun, neither the commander of the regiment nor his wife showed up. For this evening, the large dining room was cleaned up as a "restaurant". They took out a large table and put small tables and light bulbs with colored lampshades on them. By tradition, the ladies were invited not by their husbands, but by single men. They had supper for five or six people, and the husbands were seated at other tables. There was one for each table, two ladies and the tables were drawn up in advance, so that everyone would be pleasant to each other. Our little string orchestra, the so-called "ballroom", was playing, and when he was released at two o'clock in the morning, one of the officers sat down at the piano and the dance began. As a rule, Ungern-Sternberg played, who could only play dances, but on the other hand reproduced them with a special purely pianist thunder and brilliance. Foxtrots and shimmies did not yet know, but danced waltzes and square dance.

I remember one particularly successful evening. They drank normally, but the fun often comes not from drinking, but somehow by itself. That evening, some of us ran to the regimental museum, pulled out old uniforms and put on them, which, by the way, was strictly forbidden, but this only added to the spice of the pleasure. The officers who had never danced, and those who did not know how to dance, began to dance, which was especially funny. They began to drive dizzying quadrille, with frantic gallops. A couple rolled to the floor, fortunately it turned out to be a wife and husband. In a word, the merriment was unrestrained and exuberant ... A little more and it would have been bad. The next day, one of our wits, BS Pronin, an imperturbably calm wit, who dropped his words out of the corner of his mouth, which further strengthened the impression when he was asked how he liked the night before, without taking out his eternal cigar, and hissed: “It was very nice, a little prim ”.

This kind of fun, of course, did not work out every time, but it was always fun and pleasant. Mainly because this was the only time to get into the Winter Meeting, the young ladies loved these dinners very much and had been preparing for them for a long time.

It was easier to get into the camp Assembly. There, on the second floor, there were two rooms, arranged in the likeness of restaurant cabinets. There the officers could invite their families, or just acquaintances. This was used mainly when the officer himself could not leave the camp. On holidays, a certain number along with did not have the right to leave the camp location. But neither the lower large hall, nor the lower terrace, nor the garden, so as not to hamper the freedom of single men in their kingdom, was the ladies' element allowed. It was also not recommended for the officers to receive ladies in the camps in their barracks. The only exception was the commander's barrack, which had several rooms. But again, I do not remember that the wives of the commanders came there for more than a few hours, exclusively on holidays.

All these wise rules, the lack of compulsory communication, obligatory family amusements and the relatively very closed life of the vast majority of married officers did what, for the entire time of my close relationship with the regiment (from 1904 to 1917), I do not remember a single duel or one divorce and not a single romance story at all. Not all the regiments of the Petersburg garrison could boast of this. As a corporation, the officers' wives acted only once a year. When the regiment celebrated the regimental holiday in Tsarskoe Selo, the ladies did not go there. But if the celebration took place in St. Petersburg, in the Mikhailovsky Manege, and the empress was present at the prayer service and parade together with the sovereign, then the ladies also received invitations. At the prayer service, they stood with her, somewhat behind. His uniform was: a white hat, a white cloth or woolen tailleur suit, white gloves and fur on his neck. Those who had codes, maid of honor or institute, or medals, had to wear them. Before the prayer service, the commander's wife brought the queen a large bouquet of white roses, with wide blue, regimental, ribbons.

There were two more cases when ladies could take part in the official regimental life, but this is optional. They could come to the All-night Vigil at the Cathedral on the eve of the Introduction and stand in the officer's enclosure, and in the summer, at the end of the camp, come to Krasnoe Selo for the "dawn with a ceremony." Since both dawn and the ceremony took place at the location of our regiment, they had the opportunity to pleasantly end the evening by having dinner with their husbands and their friends on the top floor of the Sobranye.

But then came the ever-memorable August of the ever-memorable 1914. The regiment went to the theater of military operations, the regimental ladies remained in St. Petersburg. How many thousands of years people have been fighting and how many thousands of years women close to the warriors think and feel the same thing. It's not easy to fight, but to have loved one in constant danger, to fall asleep and wake up with the thought of where he is, what is with him, here he is now, perhaps at this very minute, lying on the ground and bleeding, but I do not know this and cannot help him ... harder than fighting ... From a distance, everything always seems more terrible.

And these days in St. Petersburg something happened that was understandable and natural. The wives of the officers, who had barely known each other before, were united and akin to a feeling of common alarm in the face of a common test.

Even during the mobilization, some called others by phone:

Does your husband take a thermos with him? What about a Japanese heating pad? What kind of underwear? You know silk is best; they say a complete guarantee against insects.

By the way, how many things, collected with such love and touching care, had to be thrown out in the war for their complete uselessness ... How much money, gifts and all kinds of affection received from the young "ladies" loyal, but roguish orderlies, so that they only look better for "Lieutenant" or "captain".

And when the regiment left, they began to go and call the commander's house, where they used to go once a year, grimacing. And by itself the "Semyonovsky Ladies' Committee" was formed, and the wife of the commander who led the regiment, Maria Vladimirovna Etter, turned out to be its chairman, soul and main spring.

M. V.'s Semyonov form was the most brilliant. Her father, Count V.P. Kleinmichel, was once our commander and she was born in the regiment. And then, having married IS Etter, when he was still in young ranks, she went with him, so to speak, all positions from junior officer to commander. She did not have any specific features of a “mother-commander”. In peacetime, she lived in isolation and took care of her husband and son, a 15-year-old high school student. But with the departure of the regiment to the war, the MV family grew up to four thousand at once.

By birth and by her husband, she belonged to the largest Petersburg world, but it was difficult to imagine a greater "democracy". Her own "I" did not exist for her at all. It was possible to anger her, but it was unthinkable to offend her. With the wives of the sergeant-major and with the grand princesses, she spoke in exactly the same tones. On the street, she might have been mistaken for a governess from a poor house or a music teacher running through her lessons, but by no means for what she really was. It seems that she spent the whole war in one single black dress, with a skirt always slightly on the side.

From her husband, with whom she had established a semblance of a telegraphic and written "code", MV always had the fastest and most accurate information about where the regiment was: on a campaign, in reserve, in battle or on vacation. And it is clear that a one-story wooden house, on the corner of Zagorodny and Ruzovskaya, was a magnet to which the hearts of all women who had loved ones in the regiment were drawn.

Due to a fatal mistake made by our superiors, our regiment, like all the regiments of the Russian army, went to war in an overcrowded composition. The companies had four officers each, the sergeant major were in platoons, the senior non-commissioned officers were in the ranks behind the privates. A mistake, for which we had to pay dearly, when, in the very first months of the war, half of the command staff were knocked out.

Thanks to the exorbitant number of officers who had left, the Ladies' Committee had grown enormously in its immediate appearance. In addition to wives, mothers, sisters, aunts, brides entered in a natural way. With each new arrival of officers, the committee was replenished, which immediately led the case energetically and skillfully. Of course, they did not arrange any charitable teas or breeches, but first of all they imposed contributions on themselves, and for this they reduced their expenses. Those who kept horses began to ride cabs and trams. They stopped receptions, let go of the extra servants, if this servant herself did not need help. Young beautiful women they stopped going to restaurants and instead of 10 new dresses a year they wore and remade old ones. First, they took up the families of the ensigns and sergeants who had left with the regiment. All of them were entitled to a ration, but it was completely beggarly. Then, whenever possible, they found out the addresses in Petersburg and the environs of the families of reserve soldiers who had left with the regiment. There weren't many of them, but there were such. And we must give full justice to the women of this generation. All this assistance was not at all "charity". It was thought and said that our husbands and sons are now next to each other, side by side, fighting and suffering, helping and helping each other. Likewise, we women must and must help each other.

And there were members of the Ladies' Committee, who quietly and without publicity took into their care 5 or 10 spare families.

One of the types of assistance was sewing linen from ready-made material, at a special rate, depending on the situation and capabilities of each family.

Another matter of the committee was taking care of our wounded, soldiers, of course, officers, and so there was someone to take care of. To do this, they collected information about hospitals, visited and pampered their own.

Finally, parcels were collected and sent to the regiment, again for the soldiers, with linen, tobacco, tea, sugar, sweets, etc. Parcels were sent to officers by their families, but they were also sent through the Committee.

At the end of August 14, losses began. First, they brought one killed, then two, then five, and little by little cement coffins filled the entire lower church of the regimental Cathedral.

MV always met all those killed on the platform herself. And she did even more. When telegrams about losses came from her husband to her name, she took these telegrams and went to report the terrible news to mothers and wives. Another would say on the phone, in a roundabout way, to someone not very close to slowly, carefully prepare. But she considered it her sacred duty and dealt all the blows herself.

Now it seems that maybe the bodies of the killed officers should not have been brought to Petersburg. Perhaps it would be more beautiful to bury everyone right there, on the spot, next to comrades in arms in a common grave, which is not for nothing called "brotherly". But families wanted to have at least something from their loved ones, right here, next to them, so that there was something to pray and cry over. And when there was an opportunity, it was difficult to deprive them of this consolation.

The dead were brought from the Varshavsky or from the Baltic railway station, usually in the evening. A freight train should come up to some 10th or 6th spare platform. There are a bunch of people on the empty platform. Little about. Ioann Yegorov, Protodeacon Krestovsky, next to the soldier-psalmist; he is holding a censer and a bundle with mourning vestments. Five choristers. Several officers, either wounded in recovery, or themselves the other day going to the regiment, MV Etter and several women in black. Among them, one in a thick black veil, so that it is almost impossible to find out who she is. Now she is the main person. They do not approach her and do not greet her, they only bow respectfully from a distance, but she does not notice these bows. Next to her are two, three women in black, the closest ones, a mother, a sister. She has known what happened for several days. All these days she held on with all her might, only praying and crying in her room. But now she is afraid that she will not be able to stand it ... This first date after separation is very scary. If only one of the strangers would not take it into their head to come up, take a hand, kiss, hug ... She is like a glass poured from the top. Touch him and everything will spill over. You have to wait a long time. Sometimes an hour, sometimes more. Finally the head of an endless freight train appeared. But the platform is empty. They will unload tomorrow. Now only one carriage will be unloaded. The train crept up and stopped with a crash and clang. Using a piece of paper, the weigher found the carriage, snapped off the seal with pliers, rolled the door and took off his cap and moved aside. The clergy entered the carriage and began to dress. Behind them quietly, giving each other a way, all entered, women in front, men behind. In the back on the floor there is a long, narrow, zinc box, made of ammunition boxes. The box is the same width in the legs and shoulders. On a flat cover with a cross-to-cross wire, a scabbard and a checker, with a red shabby lanyard, are soldered. Above them is a crumpled protective cap, faded from rain and sun. Hand out candles. Fanning the censer, the protodeacon quietly roars: "Bless the Lord ..." "Blessed is our God ..." Fr. John. And quietly, in a quarter of a voice, but unusually harmoniously and harmoniously, the singers enter: "Blessed art Thou, Lord, Teach me with Thy justification, Thy deceased servant rest in peace, Despising all his sins ..."

They pray for the peace of the soul of the newly departed warrior Alexander. Everything is quiet. You can only hear a train maneuvering across two tracks and a steam locomotive whistling. A woman's figure is kneeling in front, head bowed to the zinc box. The face is not visible. Everything is hidden by a black veil. No sobbing or sobbing is heard. The tears are all cried out. Her shoulders tremble only occasionally.

Other female figures in black are kneeling behind. And their prayer interferes with the thought that one wants, but cannot be driven away. Today she is the main face, and in a week, a month, or six months, I will be kneeling in the same black veil ... And in the same horribly simple, unlike a coffin, home garden box, which can no longer be opened, but it is better do not open, there will be what remains of a young, strong, cheerful, affectionate person who gave me so much happiness ... And instead of the newly departed warrior Alexander, they will chant another name that is so dear to me and which I love so much ...

Of all the Christian rituals, there is none more touching and comforting than our Orthodox memorial service. For so many hundreds of years and so many millions of grief-stricken people prayed to these words and listened to these chants full of simplicity and quiet sadness, that both these words and these chants by themselves acquired a miraculous power to send reconciliation and reassurance to a tormented and suffering soul.

We sang eternal memory. The officers lifted the box onto their shoulders. Otherwise, it is impossible to carry, there is nothing to take. They were transferred to the goods yard, where the regimental drogues stood, the simplest, black ones, in two horses. The small procession stretched along Izmailovsky Prospect, turned along the 1st company, crossed Zabalkansky and went out to Zagorodny. When they were level with the commander's house, the bells rang out. This regimental Vvedensky Cathedral, with a measured solemn ringing, met another of its parishioners.