Chapter 15 "My Life - A Mainlander's Story" XV

fifteen Masha and I drove to Kulilovka to attend the inauguration of the school. "It's autumn, it's autumn, it's autumn..." Masha whispered, looking at the scenery on both sides. "Summer is over. The birds are gone, only the willows are still green." Yes, summer is over.The sunny and warm day came, but the morning was cold, the shepherds had put on their fur coats, and the dew had not dried off the asters in our garden all day.There are always sad voices in the air. It is hard to tell whether it is the mournful sound of the shutters on the rusted hinges, or the flying cranes. In short, people feel so wonderful in their hearts, and they long for life so much!

"Summer is over," said Masha. "Now we can draw conclusions. We do a lot of work, we think a lot of things, and we are better than we used to be because of it, and we are blessed with achievements in self-improvement, but do our achievements have any significant impact on the lives around us?To whom does it benefit?No.Ignorance, filth, alcoholism, staggeringly high child mortality, business as usual.You plow the land and sow seeds, I spend money and read books, but no one benefits from it. Obviously, we are only working for ourselves, and our thinking is only for ourselves. "

Such arguments often confuse me, and I don't know what to think. "We have been sincere from beginning to end," I said, "and whoever is sincere is right." "Who can argue with that? We are right, but we make mistakes in doing what we think is right. First, isn't it wrong in our outward ways? You want to be Beneficial, but by the mere fact that you have bought the estate, you have blocked all avenues of doing good to them from the first place. Secondly, since you work, dress, and eat like peasants, it is as if you Prestige confirms that it's normal for them to wear that kind of clumsy clothes, live in shoddy cabins, and have ugly beards.... On the other hand, let's say you work long, long, all your life, and it turns out to have some practical effect, but they, Can these practical effects of yours stand against the spontaneous forces of general ignorance, hunger, cold, degeneration, etc.? This is but a drop in the vast ocean! Another way of fighting is needed here, a strong, brave and swift way of fighting If you really want to do something beneficial to them, you have to get out of the narrow circle of daily activities and try to influence the vast masses at once! What is needed here is vigorous and powerful publicity first.

Why is art, such as music, so vivid, so widespread, and actually so powerful?This is because a musician or a singer can affect thousands of people at once.Lovely art, lovely art! "she went on, looking dreamily at the sky." Art gives wings, takes man far, far away!Whoever loathes filth, who loathes vulgar petty interests, whoever is irritated, insulted, or aggrieved can find peace and contentment only in beauty. " The weather was fine and pleasant when we reached Kurilovka.In some yards, people were threshing corn, and the air was filled with the aroma of rye straw.The rowanberries inside the fence were bright red.Looking around, the surrounding trees are all golden yellow or red.Bells sounded from the bell tower, people carried the holy image to the school, and at the same time came the singing: "The Fervent Patronus".How clean the air is, and how high the doves fly!

People held prayers in classrooms.Then the Kurilovka peasant presented Masha with an icon, and the Dubechnya peasant presented Masha with a loaf of bread and a gilded salt shaker.Masha burst into sobs. "If anyone has said or done anything that is unpleasant, please forgive me," said an old man, bowing to her and me. As we drove home, Masha kept looking back at the school.The green roof that I painted now glows in the sun, and we'll see it for a long time.The look Masha was looking at now was, I think, a farewell look. "Notes" ① A hymn in praise of Our Lady.