Memories of Vasily Vasilyevich Bolotov

(Read at the meeting of the Tver Scientific Archival Commission on February 21, 1901) Recently I had the pleasant opportunity to receive for reading a biographical sketch about the late professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy V.V. Bolotov 1 . This name instantly revived the brightest memories in my soul from the distant past. Two years of my childhood life flashed before me like a bright stripe, spent with the boy Vasya Bolotov under the same roof, in the circle of his mother and grandmother. The charming features of his Danish nature, the sweet features of these two kind women rose in my imagination with such vividness, as if our life together had only recently passed. Meanwhile, more than 40 years separate me from that time! It is clear with what soul-stirring interest I ran through the biography of V.V. Bolotov, with what emotional excitement I followed his brilliant steps in life, from the bench of a gifted schoolboy to the degree of an outstanding scientist. A lot of biographical information is given about him in the brochure of M. V. Rubtsov; but, I believe, there are many who are not written down at all: after all, powerful natures leave behind broad traces. And I think that not a single detail, not a single particular, from the life of such wonderful people, no matter in whose memory they are preserved, should be passed over in silence, especially from the life of children, preschool, about which compilers of biography usually have the most meager information.. In the consciousness of this duty, I decided to reproduce, as an eyewitness, everything that I know about the boy Bolotov during the period of his 4-6 years of age. I was born in 1848, therefore, 5 years earlier than V.V. Bolotov, and spent the first years of my childhood in a village near the Rozhka churchyard, Ostashkovsky district, where my parents lived. There were almost no rural schools at that time, and only at the end of the 50s they began to appear here and there in the villages of state peasants. Such was the school in the village of Kravotyni, 10 versts from the Rozhka churchyard. It was there that my father sent me to study in the fall of 1857, in the 9th year of my age. My father placed me in an apartment with the mallow baker of the Kravotyn church, Marya Ivanovna Bolotova, probably knowing her to be a good woman. This was the mother of Vasya Bolotov, who was then only about 4 years old. An old woman, the mother of Marya Ivanovna, the widow of the priest of the village of Kravotyni, also lived with them. From the very beginning, when I settled with them, the Bolotov family made the most pleasant impression on me and immediately endeared itself to my childish soul. Marya Ivanovna and her old mother always treated me so kindly, with such affection that I felt among them like in my own family. The kindness of these women shone through in every step. Little Vasya himself, almost still a baby, liked me more and more. Even at this age he was not like his peers. I don’t remember a time when he was capricious about anything, annoyed me with something, played pranks on me, and generally indulged in such pranks that, although characteristic of childhood, are sometimes not particularly pleasant for others. What especially struck me in the Bolotov family was a kind of patriarchal simplicity and an ever-present religious mood. Never in their small house was there any idle, inappropriate talk, no backbiting, gossip, condemnation or ridicule of others. Nevertheless, it was possible to notice between them even the slightest discord in their mutual relations: a spirit of peace and mutual love constantly hovered among them. Little Vasya and his mother and grandmother doted on him; they protected his every step and carefully monitored his health. But even more remarkable is their good effect on the soul of the beloved boy. Every day, morning and evening, Marya Ivanovna lovingly placed Vasya Bolotov in front of the holy icons and prayed with him for a long time, forcing him to read prayers he had memorized or learning new ones in front of the icons. Prayers before lunch and dinner were also performed very strictly. Omitting church services was considered a great sin, and exceptions were made only due to illness or other unexpected obstacles. The fasts were observed to such an extent that even little Vasya was not allowed to eat before the end of mass if there was a service. For such love and care of his mother and grandmother, Vasya Bolotov repaid them with the most ardent childhood affection. He tried to please them in everything, showed obedience in everything, kept to most of their company, not wanting to go outside to play with his peers, and I never saw him do anything wrong before his mother or grandmother. Reading the biography of Professor Bolotov, you are involuntarily amazed at the fruitfulness of the grain of these pure family relationships, which increased the majestic image of a person with an unfading purity of heart until the end of his life and with the most tender affection for his mother. A truly instructive example for parents! Another feature that remains in my memory of the Bolotovs is the hard-working life of the family. After the death of her husband, the sexton, Marya Ivanovna was left without any means. But it was never noticeable that she became discouraged, lost heart, grumbled about her fate, or resorted to begging. In everything she relied on God’s help and her own labor. Initially, her only means of livelihood was baking prosphoras for the Kravotyn church. But this occupation gave her too little income, something like 10 or 12 rubles. per year, I don’t remember well. I had to find other means to feed myself, Vasya and my old mother. And so Marya Ivanovna began sewing common clothes for the district peasants. This work paid off, of course, very cheaply; it was possible to increase earnings only by the amount of work: therefore it was necessary to work tirelessly. That is why not a single day, not a single hour passed without work: Marya Ivanovna either prepares and bakes prosphora, then cuts, then sews, then darns something for her Vasya and always without a murmur, evenly, calmly. The old woman, her mother, is also not idle, doing whatever she can do: spinning, knitting, unwinding threads, and busying herself with housework. Vasya Bolotov also inherited this trait of tireless work from them, as can be seen from his biography. But the most precious memory for me remains to this day our special childhood relationship with Vasya Bolotov. I have already mentioned that with all my soul I was attached to the Bolotov family. But from the second year of my stay with them, my attachment to Vasya became even more friendly. These were not the various games and fun that so often bring children together; At the same time, for such a rapprochement, we were separated by a 5-year age difference. But it so happened that this very difference in years cemented our relationship on a different basis - on the basis of teaching. When I was returning home from school, preparing my homework, Vasya did not leave my side: he looked at me thoughtfully and listened carefully to what I was reading or memorizing. I began to notice that he extremely liked my retelling out loud everything I had read or memorized. All this interested him to the highest degree, and he himself tried to accurately convey in his own words everything he heard from me. Thus, little by little I found myself in the role of little Vasya’s mentor, and this flattered my childish pride. I was proud that I could pass on my knowledge to others, and, competing with such an inquisitive boy, I tried to interest him even more in learning. For this purpose, I showed him different pictures in books, explained the alphabet as best I could, told him what and where I saw or heard, etc., and in this way we got to the point where Vasya, imperceptibly, and as if without studying, adopted the entire alphabet and learned to read. I was glad that they understood everything so well and absorbed everything so quickly in their memory; Vasya’s curiosity became stronger over time. Regarding the pictures he had seen, he began to besiege me more and more with his questions about various objects, extremely everything, being interested and seeking thorough explanations. Questions: where? How? Why? etc. began to be heard more often, and sometimes put me in an awkward position. What I knew myself, I willingly shared with the inquisitive boy; It did not often happen that his questions exceeded my reserves of information and did not find a clear answer from me, or were completely left unanswered. And there was nowhere to get the necessary information. Here my memories are involuntarily transferred to the sphere of the school of that time. The old school of the 50s was not the same as today. Now the curiosity of children, expressed in their requests, even those not directly related to the program, is satisfied whenever possible, and is positively encouraged by many teachers. It was not like that back then: teaching was limited to assigning lessons, committing them to memory, listening to them, and the necessary seasoning on the part of the teacher for those who were guilty - “secution.” There was a huge difference even in school books. Now there are many of them published, with a wide variety of content, from which the inquisitive mind of a child can extract for himself what he wants to unravel. At that time, the only books in school were: the primer of the church press, the book of hours, the psalter and other church books, which had to be memorized, but were not supposed to reason. The teacher at the Kravotyn school at that time was a seminary student (D M. Speransky), a man, it seemed to us, with great knowledge, but he also paid tribute to his time: the same ancient method of teaching and the same bitter seasoning for learning - the rod. At the same time, he was strict and exacting, and it was scary to approach him with questions that worried your soul. So, in difficult situations, I was unable to obtain, either from the teacher or from the book, the information that Vasya Bolotov asked for. Involuntarily, I sometimes had to indulge in my own thoughts and guesses; but now I don’t remember how much truth there was in them. Be that as it may, I continued to remain in the role of Vasya’s teacher, and our mutual conversations, conversations, questions and answers did not stop throughout our life together. Here I saw with my own eyes his brilliant talents and amazing memory. His very appearance and the way he spent time left an indelible impression on me. He was somehow serious beyond his years, not childish; concentrated, spoke rarely, clearly, with a special intonation, like an adult. He never tried, like other children, to go out into the street, play games with other boys, play pranks, play naughty things: he stayed mostly in his own home and rarely left the company of his mother, grandmother, or mine. The adults who came into contact with him were just as amazed at his extraordinary abilities, amazed at the seriousness of his questions, the meaningfulness of his answers, his peculiar behavior, and rejoiced for Marya Ivanovna that God had sent her such a son. In 1859, my studies in the village of Kravotyn ended, and I was transferred by my father to the city of Ostashkov, to one of the schools. From that time on, my connection with the Bolotov family was broken, and our paths diverged. I heard from time to time with what brilliant success V.V. Bolotov followed the path of his education in theological school, seminary and academy, everywhere remaining a bright phenomenon among his comrades - and to me, from the impressions that I had about him, it seemed that it should not have been otherwise. Fate led me along a different, more modest path: for a long time I was a city parish teacher, then I worked as a police officer, served in city elections, and now I have been appointed head of the city government. But nowhere have I forgotten and will never forget that little Vasya Bolotov, with whom I spent so many joyful hours in my adolescence, sharing with him my childhood thoughts and resolving my childhood perplexities. I will not forget his kind mother and grandmother, who sheltered me in their family as if they were their own son. There is no one left now from this family, but all these sweet faces stand before me, as if alive, in their modest home environment, full of mutual love and peace, continuous work and kindness towards others. And if you can only ask God for earthly happiness for the dead, then I would pray for one thing: may this family, who loved each other so tenderly during life, remain inseparable in that better, afterlife World! January 15, 1901 Gor. Ostashkova". A bibliographic essay about Professor Bolotov, compiled by M.V. Rubtsov and published by the Tver Scientific Archival Commission, was kindly offered to me by the venerable chairman of the commission, I.A. Ivanov