С.-Петербургское Общество Взаимного Вспоможения на Случай Смерти

"January 17, 1893. Dear Nikolai Nikitich. In our present meeting, we feel a deep need to express our sincere gratitude to you for your tireless work on the cause of the idea, structure and success of our society. You were the initiator and main driver of the creation of our society, not sparing your health, not sparing your time, not paying attention to spending money from your own funds. You were devoted with all your soul, with all your heart, to the creative goals of society. You have actually shown the importance of the main idea of society, expressed in the word of God “Remember your last.” It’s good for someone who has saved anything for a rainy day, it’s good for someone who has put aside a penny in a secluded corner - another “for his burial...” It’s good for such a prudent person. But how many such prudent people are there? Every day we see a funeral procession through the streets, every day we read that our deceased brothers are buried at the expense of friends or the treasury. Every day we hear bitter rumors that there was nothing with which to bury a person, that groans of poverty and helplessness were heard at his grave - and who, who was imbued with the terrifying power of these soul-tearing rumors, these amazing news?! You, our dear chairman, understood the meaning of the hour of death more vividly than anyone else and began the work of creating our society - with selfless devotion to the idea that dawned on you. You wanted to give each of us the opportunity to help each other in his grief. You have delved into the meaning of the church song “Behold, the bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant, whoever watches will find him.” If the hour of death finds us vigilant, then we must, in all fairness, recognize you as the culprit of our vigor. His Highness N.N. Mikhailov The many troubles you have taken up during the elapsed time of the beginning life of our society, the grief and troubles you have endured in different corners where you had to either achieve various benefits for the benefit of the cause, or bring it into the world, all this shows your tireless activity, ready to lay down your soul for your friend. We are happy to admit that in our time there are people like you - people of action, not words - people of work, kind people, and with their kindness, persistent, going towards every honest good deed and the need of their neighbor - and all obstacles fearlessly, with faith in an inspiring idea. People like you, Dear Chairman, are dear to us, dear because they infuse new forces into society, attracting it to good goals for the common good. Nikolai Nikitich! We see your works for the benefit of our society. These works, as stated above, were raised by you selflessly. In the consciousness of your labors, which you carried out for the benefit of our society, we look at you, who did for us everything that was possible for a person to do. We cannot forget our main mover, our first worker for the good of society, and we most earnestly ask you to accept the token as a memory of your selfless and continuous labors. Let it testify to our constant gratitude for your beneficial and creative activities for the benefit of our society, so dear to your heart. May our society prosper and may the grateful memory of its first creator live forever. We considered it our duty to bring you our heartfelt congratulations on the implementation of your great idea of ​​serving your neighbor; Your cares and labors in such a short time, seven months, united us up to 700 people into a close circle deeply sympathetic to this holy cause. Bringing you our deeply felt gratitude for your energy and good activities, we ask you, as a sign of our heartfelt gratitude, never to leave your child, dear to us. Accept, as long as your strength allows, leadership in our society with the knowledge of the Lifetime Chairman of our mutual aid society in the event of death, and thereby strengthen his good activities and his prosperity. Signed by the Members of the Society: