But if the Georgian and the kind-souled Soloviev served
as a palliating beginning against the sharp thorns
of great worldly wisdom, in the curious education
of the mind and soul of Liubka; and if Liubka forgave
the pedantism of Lichonin for the sake of a first
sincere and limitless love for him, and forgave just
as willingly as she would have forgiven curses, beatings,
or a heavy crime—the lessons of Simanovsky,
on the other hand, were a downright torture and a
constant, prolonged burden for her. For it must
be said that he, as though in spite, was far more accurate
and exact in his lessons than any pedagogue working
out his weekly stipulated tutorings.
With the incontrovertibility of his opinions, the
assurance of his tone and the didacticism of his presentation
he took away the will of poor Liubka and paralyzed
her soul; in the same way that he sometimes, during
university gatherings or at mass meetings, influenced
the timid and bashful minds of newcomers. He was
an orator at meetings; he was a prominent member in
the organization of students’ mess halls; he
took part in the recording, lithographing and publication
of lectures; he was chosen the head of the course;
and, finally, took a very great interest in the students’
treasury. He was of that number of people who,
after they leave the student auditoriums, become the
leaders of parties, the unrestrained arbiters of pure
and self-denying conscience; serve out their political
stage somewhere in Chukhlon, directing the keen attention
of all Russia to their heroically woeful situation;
and after that, beautifully leaning on their past,
make a career for themselves, thanks to a solid advocacy,
a deputation, or else a marriage joined with a goodly
piece of black loam land and provincial activity.
Unnoticeably to themselves and altogether unnoticeably,
of course, to the casual glance, they cautiously right
themselves; or, more correctly, fade until they grow
a belly unto themselves, and acquire podagra and diseases
of the liver. Then they grumble at the whole
world; say that they were not understood, that their
time was the time of sacred ideals. While in
the family they are despots and not infrequently give
money out at usury.
The path of the education of Liubka’s mind and
soul was plain to him, as was plain and incontrovertible
everything that he conceived; he wanted at the start
to interest Liubka in chemistry and physics.
“The virginally feminine mind,” he pondered,
“will be astounded, then I shall gain possession
of her attention, and from trifles, from hocus-pocus,
I shall pass on to that which will lead her to the
centre of universal knowledge, where there is no superstition,
no prejudices; where there is only a broad field for
the testing of nature.”
