The main idea of ​​the story is the note of a little schoolgirl. Lydia Charskaya: Notes of a little schoolgirl. Book "Notes of a Little Schoolgirl"

Plot

Lyudmila Charskaya in her work “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” tells about how Russian children lived and studied at the beginning of the 20th century.

Lidiya Alekseevna Charskaya, like a real “engineer” human souls, introduces into the fabric of its narrative a girl with a talent for kindness and self-sacrifice. Many generations of Russian girls considered theirs reference book"Notes of a little schoolgirl." Summary it shows how a person who has not ostentatious, but real virtues is able to change the world around him for the better.

Plot

The main character of the story is a nine-year-old girl. She is bright and kind (in Greek the name Elena means “light”). The reader meets her as she rushes on a train from her native Volga region Rybinsk to St. Petersburg. This is a sad journey, it rushes on against its own will. The girl was orphaned. Her beloved “sweetest, kindest” mother with eyes similar to the eyes of the angel depicted in the church, caught a cold “when the ice broke,” and, having become thin, becoming “like wax,” she died in September. Mom, feeling the approach of her death, made a request to cousin Mikhail Vasilyevich Ikonin, who lives in St. Petersburg and has the rank of general (state councilor), is to raise a girl. Maryushka bought the girl a train ticket to St. Petersburg, sent a telegram to her uncle to meet the girl, and instructed a familiar conductor, Nikifor Matveevich, to look after Lenochka on the road.

Lydia Charskaya describes the scene taking place in the house of the state councilor colorfully. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains an image of an inhospitable, humiliating meeting between her sister and two brothers. Lenochka walked into the living room wearing galoshes, and this did not go unnoticed; it immediately turned into a reproach for her. Opposite her, grinning and with a clear sense of superiority, stood blonde Nina, who looked like a porcelain doll with her upper lip turned up capriciously; an older boy with features similar to her - Zhorzhik, and a thin, grimacing younger son of the state councilor Tolya. How did they perceive their cousin who came from the provinces? The story “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” answers this question: with disgust, with a sense of superiority, with specific childish cruelty (“beggar”, “woodlouse”, “we don’t need her”, taken “out of pity”). Lenochka bravely endured the bullying, but when Tolik, teasingly and grimacing, mentioned the girl’s late mother in conversation, she pushed him, and the boy broke an expensive Japanese porcelain vase.

Immediately these little Ikonins ran to complain to Bavaria Ivanovna (as they privately called the governess Matilda Frantsevna), twisting the situation in their own way and blaming Lenochka. Touchingly describes the scene of the perception of what was done by a gentle and not embittered girl, Lydia Charskaya. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains an obvious contrast: Lenochka does not think about her brothers and sister with anger, does not call them names in her thoughts, as they constantly do. “Well, how should I deal with these bullies?” - she asks, looking at the gray St. Petersburg sky and imagining her late mother. She spoke to her with her “thumping heart.” Very soon “Uncle Michel” arrived (as the uncle introduced himself to his niece) with his wife, Aunt Nellie. The aunt, as it was clear, did not intend to treat her niece as her own, but simply wanted to send her to a gymnasium, where she would be “drilled.” Uncle, having learned about the broken vase, became gloomy. Then everyone went to lunch.

During lunch, Lenochka met another inhabitant of this house, hunchbacked Julie, Aunt Nellie's eldest daughter. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” describes her as a disfigured, narrow-faced, flat-chested, hunchbacked, vulnerable and embittered girl. She was not understood in the Ikonin family; she was an outcast. Lenochka turned out to be the only one who wholeheartedly pitied the poor girl, disfigured by nature, whose only beautiful eyes were like “two diamonds.” However, Julie hated her newly arrived relative because she was moved into a room that had previously belonged to her.

The news that she should go to the gymnasium tomorrow made Lenochka happy. And when Matilda Frantsevna, in her style, ordered the girl to go “sort out her things” before school, she ran into the living room. However, things had already been moved to a tiny room with one window, a narrow crib, a washstand and a chest of drawers (Julie’s former room). Further events involve the evil prank of Julie and Ninochka. First, the first and then the second threw things from Lenochka’s suitcase around the room, then broke the table. And then Julie accused the unfortunate orphan of hitting Ninochka.

The angry, rude and unmerciful governess pushed the girl into some dusty, dark, cold uninhabited room and closed the latch on the outside of the door behind her. Suddenly a pair of huge yellow eyes, flying straight to Lenochka. She fell to the ground and lost consciousness. The governess, having discovered Lena’s limp body, was frightened herself. And she released the girl from captivity. She was not warned that a tame owl lived there.

The next day, the governess brought the girl to the director of the gymnasium, Anna Vladimirovna Chirikova, a tall and stately lady with gray hair and a young face. Matilda Frantsevna described Lenochka, placing all the blame on her for the tricks of her sisters and brothers, but the boss did not believe her. Anna Vladimirovna warmly treated the girl, who burst into tears when the governess left. She sent Lenochka to the class, saying that Julie (Yulia Ikonina), a student there, would introduce the girl to the others.

Julie’s “recommendation” was peculiar: she slandered Helen in front of the whole class, saying that she did not consider her a sister, accusing her of pugnacity and deceit. The slander did its job. In the class, where the first violin was played by two or three selfish, physically strong, arrogant girls, quick to reprisal and bullying, an atmosphere of intolerance was created around Lenochka. Teacher Vasily Vasilyevich was surprised at such unrelated relationships. He seated Lenochka near Zhebeleva, and then the dictation began. Lenochka (Ikonina the second, as the teacher called her) wrote it in calligraphy and without blots, and Julie (Ikonina the first) made twenty mistakes.

“Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains a scene of brutal bullying of a new student by the entire class. She was surrounded, pushed and pulled from all sides. The envious Zhebeleva and Julie slandered her. However, these two were far from being the known pranksters and daredevils Ivina and Zhenya Rosh at the gymnasium. Why did Ivina and others initiate this pressure? To “break” the new girl, to deprive her of her will, to force her to be obedient. Did the young hooligans succeed? No. Lena suffers for Julie's actions.

On the fifth day of her stay at her uncle’s house, another misfortune befell Lenochka. Julie, angry at Georges for reporting to dad about the unit she received in the Divine Law lesson, locked his poor owl in a box. Georges was attached to the bird, which he trained and fed. Julie, unable to restrain herself from glee, gave herself away in the presence of Lenochka. However, Matilda Frantsevna had already found poor Filka’s body and in her own way identified his killer. The general’s wife supported her, and Lenochka had to be whipped. The cruel morals in this house are shown in “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl.” The main characters are often not only unmerciful, but also unfair. However, here the first miracle happened, the first soul opened up to Good. When Bavaria Ivanovna raised the rod over the poor girl, the execution was interrupted by a heart-rending cry: “Don’t you dare whip!” It was uttered by Tolya’s younger brother, who burst into the room, pale, shaking, with large tears on his face. “She’s an orphan, she’s not to blame! You have to feel sorry for her.” From that moment on, he and Lena became friends.

One day, dark-haired Ivina and plump Zhenya Rosh decided to “harass” literature teacher Vasily Vasilyevich. As usual, the rest of the class supported them. Only Lenochka, called by the teacher, answered without mockery homework. Lenochka had never seen such an outburst of self-hatred before... She was dragged along the corridor, pushed into an empty room and closed. The girl was crying, it was very difficult for her. She called mommy, she was even ready to return to Rybinsk. And then the second miracle happened in her life... The favorite of the entire gymnasium, a senior student, Countess Anna Simolin, approached her. She, being meek and kind herself, realized what a treasure Lenochka’s soul was, wiped away her tears, calmed her down and sincerely offered her friendship to the unfortunate girl. Ikonina the second literally “rose from the ashes” after this; she was ready to study further at this gymnasium.

Soon the girl's uncle announced to the children that there would be a ball in the house and invited them to write an invitation to their friends. As the general said, there will be only one guest from him - the chief’s daughter. Writer Lydia Charskaya tells her further story about how Georges and Ninochka invited school friends, and Lenochka invited Nyurochka (the daughter of conductor Nikifor Matveyevich). “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” represents the first part of the ball as a failure for Lenochka and Nyurochka: they turned out to be the object of ridicule from children raised in contempt for “men.” However, the situation changed diametrically when a guest arrived from her uncle. Imagine Lenochka’s surprise when she turned out to be Anna Simolin! Little high-society snobs tried to fawn over the “minister’s daughter,” but Anna spent the entire evening only with Lena and Nyurochka. And when she danced a waltz with Nyura, everyone froze. The girls danced so fluidly and expressively that even Matilda Frantsevna, who was dancing like an automaton, got lost in her gaze and made two mistakes. But then the noble boys vied with each other to invite the “commoner” Nyura to dance. It was a small victory.

However, fate soon prepared a real test for Lena. It happened in the gymnasium. Julie burned the teacher's red book German language with dictations. Lena immediately recognized this from her words. She took the sister's blame upon herself, turning to the teacher with words of regret. “Ah, a gift from my late sister Sophia!” - the teacher cried... She was not generous, she did not know how to forgive... Lena was publicly accused of theft in front of the entire gymnasium. She stood in the corridor with a piece of paper pinned to her clothes with the inscription “Thief.” She who took the blame of another person. This note was torn from her by Anna Simolin, announcing to everyone that she did not believe in Lena’s guilt. They told Bavaria Ivanovna about what had happened, and she told Aunt Nellie. Even more difficult trials awaited Elena... The general’s wife openly called Elena a thief, a disgrace to the family. A repentant Julie came to her at night, in tears. She was truly remorseful. Truly, the sister’s Christian humility awakened her soul too!

Soon the newspapers were full of news of the tragedy. Nikifor Matveevich's train Rybinsk - Petersburg had an accident. Elena asked Aunt Nellie to let her go so she could visit him and help him. However, the callous general’s wife did not allow it. Then Elena pretended at the gymnasium that she had not learned the lesson of the law of God (the head of the gymnasium and all the teachers were present at the lesson) and was punished - left for three hours after school. Now it was as easy as shelling pears to run away to visit Nikifor Matveyevich. The girl went into the cold and blizzard to the outskirts of the city, lost her way, became exhausted and sat down in a snowdrift, she felt good, warm... She was saved. By chance, Anna Simolin’s dad was returning from hunting through this area. He heard a groan, and a hunting dog found a girl almost covered with snow in a snowdrift. When Lena came to her senses, she was reassured; the news of the train crash turned out to be a newspaper typo. In Anna's house, under the supervision of doctors, Lena recovered. Anna was shocked by her friend’s dedication, and she invited her to stay, becoming her named sister (the father agreed). Grateful Lena could not even dream of such happiness. Anna and Elena went to their uncle's house to announce this decision. Anna said that Elena would live with her. But then Tolik and Julie fell to their knees and began to fervently ask their sister not to leave the house. Tolik said that, like Friday, he could not live without Robinson (i.e. Elena), and Julie asked her, because without her she could not really improve. The mother of the family finally accepted her as her own daughter. Georges, indifferent to everything, also became emotional and began to cry, his eternal neutrality between good and evil was discarded in favor of the former.

Both Elena and Anna realized that Lena was more needed in this family. After all, this orphan girl, who initially did not meet kindness on her way, managed to melt the ice around her with her warm heart. She managed to bring rays of love and true Christian humility of a high standard into an arrogant, ugly, cruel house.

Today, “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” is again at the peak of popularity. Reviews from readers claim that the story is vital. How often our contemporaries live, responding blow to blow, taking revenge, hating. Does this make the world around them a better place? Hardly. Charskaya's book makes us understand that only kindness and sacrifice can really change the world for the better.

Lydia Charskaya

Notes of a little schoolgirl

1. To a strange city, to strangers

Knock-knock! Knock-knock! Knock-knock! - the wheels knock, and the train quickly rushes forward and forward.

In this monotonous noise I hear the same words repeated tens, hundreds, thousands of times. I listen carefully, and it seems to me that the wheels are tapping the same thing, without counting, without end: just like that! that's it! that's it!

The wheels are knocking, and the train rushes and rushes without looking back, like a whirlwind, like an arrow...

In the window, bushes, trees, station houses and telegraph poles running along the slope of the railway track run towards us...

Or is our train running, and they are calmly standing in one place? I don't know, I don't understand.

However, I don’t understand much that has happened to me in these last days.

Lord, how strange everything is done in the world! Could I have thought a few weeks ago that I would have to leave our small, cozy house on the banks of the Volga and travel alone thousands of miles to some distant, completely unknown relatives?.. Yes, it still seems to me that this just a dream, but - alas! - this is not a dream!..

This conductor's name was Nikifor Matveevich. He took care of me all the way, gave me tea, made me a bed on a bench and, as soon as he had time, entertained me in every possible way. It turns out he had a daughter my age, whose name was Nyura, and who lived with her mother and brother Seryozha in St. Petersburg. He even put his address in my pocket - “just in case” if I wanted to visit him and get to know Nyurochka.

“I really feel sorry for you, young lady,” Nikifor Matveevich told me more than once during my short journey, “because you are an orphan, and God commands you to love orphans.” And again, you are alone, as there is only one in the world; You don’t know your St. Petersburg uncle, nor his family... It’s not easy... But only if it becomes really unbearable, you come to us. You’ll rarely find me at home, that’s why I’m on the road more and more, and my wife and Nyurka will be glad to see you. They are good to me...

I thanked the kind conductor and promised him to visit him...

Indeed, there was a terrible commotion in the carriage. Passengers fussed and jostled, packing and tying things. Some old woman, riding opposite me all the way, lost her wallet with money and screamed that she had been robbed. Someone's child was crying in the corner. An organ grinder stood at the door and played a sad song on his broken instrument.

I looked out the window. God! How many pipes I saw! Pipes, pipes and pipes! A whole forest of pipes! Gray smoke curled from each and, rising up, blurred into the sky. A fine autumn rain was drizzling, and all of nature seemed to frown, cry and complain about something.

The train went slower. The wheels no longer shouted their restless “like this!” They knocked now much longer and also seemed to be complaining that the car was forcibly delaying their brisk, cheerful progress.

And then the train stopped.

“Please, we’ve arrived,” said Nikifor Matveyevich.

And, taking my warm scarf, pillow and suitcase in one hand, and tightly squeezing my hand with the other, he led me out of the carriage, barely squeezing through the crowd.

2. My mom

I had a mother, affectionate, kind, sweet. My mother and I lived in a small house on the banks of the Volga. The house was so clean and bright, and from the windows of our apartment we could see the wide, beautiful Volga, and huge two-story steamships, and barges, and a pier on the shore, and crowds of walkers who came out to this pier at certain hours to meet the incoming steamers... And we Mommy and I went there, but rarely, very rarely: Mommy gave lessons in our city, and she wasn’t allowed to go out with me as often as I would like. Mommy said:

Wait, Lenusha, I’ll save up some money and take you along the Volga from our Rybinsk all the way to Astrakhan! Then we'll have a blast.

I was happy and waiting for spring.

By spring, mommy had saved up some money, and we decided to carry out our idea on the first warm days.

As soon as the Volga is cleared of ice, you and I will go for a ride! - Mommy said, affectionately stroking my head.

But when the ice broke, she caught a cold and began to cough. The ice passed, the Volga cleared, but mommy coughed and coughed endlessly. She suddenly became thin and transparent, like wax, and she kept sitting by the window, looking at the Volga and repeating:

Once the cough goes away, I’ll get better a little, and you and I will ride to Astrakhan, Lenusha!

But the cough and cold did not go away; The summer was damp and cold this year, and every day mommy became thinner, paler and more transparent.

Autumn has come. September has arrived. Long lines of cranes stretched over the Volga, flying to warm countries. Mommy no longer sat by the window in the living room, but lay on the bed and shivered all the time from the cold, while she herself was hot as fire.

Once she called me over and said:

Listen, Lenusha. Your mother will soon leave you forever... But don’t worry, dear. I will always look at you from heaven and will rejoice at the good deeds of my girl, and...

I didn’t let her finish and cried bitterly. And mommy started crying too, and her eyes became sad, sad, just like those of the angel I saw on the big icon in our church.

Having calmed down a little, mommy spoke again:

I feel that the Lord will soon take me to Himself, and may His holy will be done! Be a good girl without a mother, pray to God and remember me... You will go to live with your uncle, my brother, who lives in St. Petersburg... I wrote to him about you and asked him to shelter an orphan...

Something painfully painful when hearing the word “orphan” squeezed my throat...

I began to sob, cry and huddle by my mother’s bed. Maryushka (the cook who lived with us for nine years, from the very year I was born, and who loved mommy and me madly) came and took me to her place, saying that “mama needs peace.”

I fell asleep in tears that night on Maryushka’s bed, and in the morning... Oh, what happened in the morning!..

I woke up very early, I think around six o’clock, and wanted to run straight to mommy.

At that moment Maryushka came in and said:

Pray to God, Lenochka: God took your mother to him. Your mom died.

Lidia Alekseevna Charskaya, like a real engineer of human souls, introduces into the outline of her narrative a girl with a talent for kindness and self-sacrifice. Many generations of Russian girls considered “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” their reference book. Its brief content shows how a person who has not ostentatious, but real virtues is able to change the world around him for the better. The main character of the story is a nine-year-old girl. She is bright and kind (in Greek the name Elena means “light”).

Orphaned Lenochka

The reader meets her as she rushes on a train from her native Volga region Rybinsk to St. Petersburg. This is a sad journey, it rushes on against its own will. The girl was orphaned. Her beloved “sweetest, kindest” mother with eyes similar to the eyes of the angel depicted in the church, caught a cold “when the ice broke,” and, having become thin, becoming “like wax,” she died in September.

“Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” begins tragically. The brief content of the introductory part is to educate the pure and gentle nature of the child.

Mom, feeling the approach of her death, turned to her cousin Mikhail Vasilyevich Ikonin, who lives in St. Petersburg and has the rank of general (state councilor), to raise the girl.

Maryushka bought the girl a train ticket to St. Petersburg, sent a telegram to her uncle to meet the girl, and instructed a familiar conductor, Nikifor Matveevich, to look after Lenochka on the road.

At my uncle's house

Lydia Charskaya describes the scene taking place in the house of the state councilor colorfully. "Notes of a Little Schoolgirl" contains an image of an inhospitable, humiliating meeting between her sister and two brothers. Lenochka walked into the living room wearing galoshes, and this did not go unnoticed; it immediately turned into a reproach for her. Opposite her, grinning, with a clear sense of superiority, stood a blond, similar to Nina with a capriciously upturned upper lip; an older boy, with features similar to her, Zhorzhik, and a thin, grimacing younger son of the state councilor Tolya.

How did they perceive their cousin who came from the provinces? The story “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” answers this question: with disgust, with a sense of superiority, with specific childish cruelty (“beggar”, “woodlouse”, “we don’t need her”, taken “out of pity”). Lenochka bravely endured the bullying, but when Tolik, teasingly and grimacing, mentioned the girl’s late mother in conversation, she pushed him, and the boy broke an expensive Japanese porcelain vase.

Broken vase

Immediately these little Ikonins ran to complain to Bavaria Ivanovna (as they privately called the governess Matilda Frantsevna), twisting the situation in their own way and blaming Lenochka.

Touchingly describes the scene of the perception of what was done by a gentle and not embittered girl, Lydia Charskaya. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains an obvious contrast: Lenochka does not think about her brothers and sister with anger, does not call them names in her thoughts, as they constantly do. “Well, how should I deal with these bullies?” - she asks, looking at the gray St. Petersburg sky and imagining her late mother. She spoke to her with her "thumping heart."

Very soon “Uncle Michel” (as the uncle introduced himself to his niece) arrived with his wife, Aunt Nellie. The aunt, as it was clear, did not intend to treat her niece as her own, but simply wanted to send her to a gymnasium, where she would be “drilled.” Uncle, having learned about the broken vase, became gloomy. Then everyone went to lunch.

The eldest daughter of the Ikonins - Julia (Julie)

During lunch, Lenochka met another inhabitant of this house, hunchbacked Julie, Aunt Nellie's eldest daughter. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” describes her as a disfigured, narrow-faced, flat-chested, hunchbacked, vulnerable and embittered girl. She was not understood in the Ikonin family; she was an outcast. Lenochka turned out to be the only one who wholeheartedly pitied the poor girl, disfigured by nature, whose only beautiful eyes were like “two diamonds.”

However, Julie hated her newly arrived relative because she was moved into a room that had previously belonged to her.

Julie's Revenge

The news that she should go to the gymnasium tomorrow made Lenochka happy. And when Matilda Frantsevna, in her style, ordered the girl to go “sort out her things” before school, she ran into the living room. However, things had already been moved to a tiny room with one window, a narrow crib, a washstand and a chest of drawers (Julie’s former room). Lydia Charskaya depicts this boring corner in contrast to the nursery and living room. Her books often seem to describe the difficult childhood and youth of the writer herself. She, like the main character of the story, lost her mother early. Lydia hated her stepmother, so she ran away from home a couple of times. From the age of 15 she kept a diary.

However, let us return to the plot of the story “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl.” A summary of further events consists of the evil prank of Julie and Ninochka. First, the first and then the second threw things from Lenochka’s suitcase around the room, then broke the table. And then Julie accused the unfortunate orphan of hitting Ninochka.

Undeserved punishment

With knowledge of the matter (obvious personal experience) describes the punishment that followed main character Lydia Charskaya. “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains a depressing scene of violence against an orphan and blatant injustice. The angry, rude and unmerciful governess pushed the girl into some dusty, dark, cold uninhabited room and closed the latch on the outside of the door behind her. Suddenly, a pair of huge yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, flying straight towards Helen. She fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

The governess, having discovered Lena’s limp body, was frightened herself. And she released the girl from captivity. She was not warned that a tame owl lived there.

Ikonina the first and Ikonina the second

The next day, the governess brought the girl to the director of the gymnasium, Anna Vladimirovna Chirikova, a tall and stately lady with gray hair and a young face. Matilda Frantsevna described Lenochka, placing all the blame on her for the tricks of her sisters and brothers, but the boss did not believe her. Anna Vladimirovna warmly treated the girl, who burst into tears when the governess left. She sent Lenochka to the class, saying that Julie (Yulia Ikonina), a student there, would introduce the girl to the others.

Dictation. Bullying

Julie's "recommendation" was peculiar: she slandered Helen in front of the whole class, declaring that she did not consider her a sister, accusing her of pugnacity and deceit. The slander did its job. In the class, where the first violin was played by two or three selfish, physically strong, arrogant girls, quick to reprisal and bullying, an atmosphere of intolerance was created around Lenochka.

Teacher Vasily Vasilyevich was surprised at such unrelated relationships. He seated Lenochka near Zhebeleva, and then the dictation began. Lenochka (Ikonina the second, as the teacher called her) wrote it in calligraphy and without blots, and Julie (Ikonina the first) made twenty mistakes. We will briefly describe further events in the class, where everyone was afraid to contradict the insolent Ivina.

“Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” contains a scene of brutal bullying of a new student by the entire class. She was surrounded, pushed and pulled from all sides. The envious Zhebeleva and Julie slandered her. However, these two were far from being the known pranksters and daredevils Ivina and Zhenya Rosh at the gymnasium.

Why did Ivina and others initiate this pressure? To “break” the new girl, to deprive her of her will, to force her to be obedient. Did the young hooligans succeed? No.

Lena suffers for Julie's actions. First miracle

On the fifth day of her stay at her uncle’s house, another misfortune befell Lenochka. Julie, angry at Georges for reporting to dad about the unit she received in the Divine Law lesson, locked his poor owl in a box.

Georges was attached to the bird, which he trained and fed. Julie, unable to restrain herself from glee, gave herself away in the presence of Lenochka. However, Matilda Frantsevna had already found poor Filka’s body and in her own way identified his killer.

The general’s wife supported her, and Lenochka had to be whipped. The cruel morals in this house are shown in “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl.” The main characters are often not only unmerciful, but also unfair.

However, here the first miracle happened, the first soul opened up to Good. When Bavaria Ivanovna raised the rod over the poor girl, the execution was interrupted by a heart-rending cry: “Don’t you dare whip!” It was uttered by Tolya’s younger brother, who burst into the room, pale, shaking, with large tears on his face. “She’s an orphan, she’s not to blame! You have to feel sorry for her.” From that moment on, he and Lena became friends.

White Crow

One day, dark-haired Ivina and plump Zhenya Rosh decided to “harass” literature teacher Vasily Vasilyevich. As usual, the rest of the class supported them. Only Lenochka, called by the teacher, answered her homework without mockery.

Lenochka had never seen such an outburst of self-hatred before... She was dragged along the corridor, pushed into an empty room and closed. The girl was crying, it was very difficult for her. She called mommy, she was even ready to return to Rybinsk.

And then the second miracle happened in her life... The favorite of the entire gymnasium, a senior student, Countess Anna Simolin, approached her. She, being meek and kind herself, realized what a treasure Lenochka’s soul was, wiped away her tears, calmed her down and sincerely offered her friendship to the unfortunate girl. Ikonina the second literally “rose from the ashes” after this; she was ready to study further at this gymnasium.

Small victory

Soon the girl's uncle announced to the children that there would be a ball in the house and invited them to write an invitation to their friends. As the general said, there will be only one guest from him - the chief’s daughter. Writer Lydia Charskaya tells her further story about how Georges and Ninochka invited school friends, and Lenochka invited Nyurochka (the daughter of conductor Nikifor Matveyevich). “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” represents the first part of the ball as a failure for Lenochka and Nyurochka: they turned out to be the object of ridicule from children brought up with contempt for “men.” However, the situation changed diametrically when a guest arrived from her uncle.

Imagine Lenochka’s surprise when she turned out to be Anna Simolin! Little high-society snobs tried to fawn over the “minister’s daughter,” but Anna spent the entire evening only with Lena and Nyurochka.

And when she danced a waltz with Nyura, everyone froze. The girls danced so fluidly and expressively that even Matilda Frantsevna, who was dancing like an automaton, got lost in her gaze and made two mistakes. But then the noble boys vied with each other to invite the “commoner” Nyura to dance. It was a small victory.

New suffering for Julie's misdeed. Miracle No. 4

However, fate soon prepared a real test for Lena. It happened in the gymnasium. Julie burned the German teacher's red book with dictations. Lena immediately recognized this from her words. She took the sister's blame upon herself, turning to the teacher with words of regret. "Ah, a gift from my late sister Sophia!" - cried the teacher... She was not generous, she did not know how to forgive... As we see, truly life-like characters are brought to life in “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl.”

A summary of subsequent events is the new trials that befell this courageous girl. Lena was publicly accused of theft in front of the entire gymnasium. She stood in the corridor with a piece of paper pinned to her clothes with the inscription “Thief.” She who took the blame of another person. This note was torn from her by Anna Simolin, announcing to everyone that she did not believe in Lena’s guilt.

They told Bavaria Ivanovna about what had happened, and she told Aunt Nellie. Even more difficult trials awaited Elena... The general’s wife openly called Elena a thief, a disgrace to the family. And then the fourth miracle happened. A repentant Julie came to her at night, in tears. She was truly remorseful. Truly, the sister’s Christian humility awakened her soul too!

Fifth miracle. Harmony in the Ikonin family

Soon the newspapers were full of news of the tragedy. Nikifor Matveevich's train Rybinsk - Petersburg had an accident. Elena asked Aunt Nellie to let her go so she could visit him and help him. However, the callous general’s wife did not allow it. Then Elena pretended at the gymnasium that she had not learned the lesson of the law of God (the head of the gymnasium and all the teachers were present at the lesson) and was punished - left for three hours after school. Now it was as easy as shelling pears to run away to visit Nikifor Matveyevich.

The girl went into the cold and blizzard to the outskirts of the city, lost her way, became exhausted and sat down in a snowdrift, she felt good, warm... She was saved. By chance, Anna Simolin’s dad was returning from hunting through this area. He heard a groan, and a hunting dog found a girl almost covered with snow in a snowdrift.

When Lena came to her senses, she was reassured; the news of the train crash turned out to be a newspaper typo. In Anna's house, under the supervision of doctors, Lena recovered. Anna was shocked by her friend’s dedication, and she invited her to stay, becoming her named sister (the father agreed).

Grateful Lena could not even dream of such happiness. Anna and Elena went to their uncle's house to announce this decision. Anna said that Elena would live with her. But then Tolik and Julie fell to their knees and began to fervently ask their sister not to leave the house. Tolik said that, like Friday, he could not live without Robinson (i.e. Elena), and Julie asked her, because without her she could not really improve.

And then the fifth miracle happened: Aunt Nellie’s soul finally saw the light. She only now realized how generous Lena was, that she had done truly priceless things for her children. The mother of the family finally accepted her as her own daughter. Georges, indifferent to everything, also became emotional and began to cry, his eternal neutrality between good and evil was discarded in favor of the former.

Conclusion

Both Elena and Anna realized that Lena was more needed in this family. After all, this orphan girl, who initially did not meet kindness on her way, managed to melt the ice around her with her warm heart. She managed to bring rays of love and true Christian humility of a high standard into an arrogant, ugly, cruel house.

Today (almost a hundred years after it was written), “Notes of a Little Schoolgirl” is again at the peak of popularity. Reviews from readers claim that the story is vital.

How often our contemporaries live, responding blow to blow, taking revenge, hating. Does this make the world around them a better place? Hardly.

Charskaya's book makes us understand that only kindness and sacrifice can really change the world for the better.

Attention, TODAY only!

Chapter 1
To a strange city, to strangers

Knock-knock! Knock-knock! Knock-knock! - the wheels knock, and the train quickly rushes forward and forward.

In this monotonous noise I hear the same words repeated tens, hundreds, thousands of times. I listen carefully, and it seems to me that the wheels are tapping the same thing, without counting, without end: just like that! that's it! that's it!

The wheels are knocking, and the train rushes and rushes without looking back, like a whirlwind, like an arrow...

In the window, bushes, trees, station houses and telegraph poles running along the slope of the railway track run towards us...

Or is our train running, and they are calmly standing in one place? I don't know, I don't understand.

However, I don’t understand much that has happened to me in these last days.

Lord, how strange everything is done in the world! Could I have thought a few weeks ago that I would have to leave our small, cozy house on the banks of the Volga and travel alone thousands of miles to some distant, completely unknown relatives?.. Yes, it still seems to me that this just a dream, but - alas! – this is not a dream!..

This conductor's name was Nikifor Matveevich. He took care of me all the way, gave me tea, made me a bed on a bench and, as soon as he had time, entertained me in every possible way. It turns out he had a daughter my age, whose name was Nyura, and who lived with her mother and brother Seryozha in St. Petersburg. He even put his address in my pocket - “just in case” if I wanted to visit him and get to know Nyurochka.

“I really feel sorry for you, young lady,” Nikifor Matveyevich told me more than once during my short journey, “because you are an orphan, and God commands you to love orphans.” And again, you are alone, as there is only one in the world; You don’t know your St. Petersburg uncle, nor his family... It’s not easy... But only if it becomes really unbearable, you come to us. You’ll rarely find me at home, that’s why I’m on the road more and more, and my wife and Nyurka will be glad to see you. They are good to me...

I thanked the kind conductor and promised him to visit him...

Indeed, there was a terrible commotion in the carriage. Passengers fussed and jostled, packing and tying things. Some old woman, riding opposite me all the way, lost her wallet with money and screamed that she had been robbed. Someone's child was crying in the corner. An organ grinder stood at the door and played a sad song on his broken instrument.

I looked out the window. God! How many pipes I saw! Pipes, pipes and pipes! A whole forest of pipes! Gray smoke curled from each and, rising up, blurred into the sky. A fine autumn rain was drizzling, and all of nature seemed to frown, cry and complain about something.

The train went slower. The wheels no longer shouted their restless “like this!” They knocked now much longer and also seemed to be complaining that the car was forcibly delaying their brisk, cheerful progress.

And then the train stopped.

“Please, we’ve arrived,” said Nikifor Matveyevich.

And, taking my warm scarf, pillow and suitcase in one hand, and tightly squeezing my hand with the other, he led me out of the carriage, barely squeezing through the crowd.

Chapter 2
My mommy

I had a mother, affectionate, kind, sweet. My mother and I lived in a small house on the banks of the Volga. The house was so clean and bright, and from the windows of our apartment we could see the wide, beautiful Volga, and huge two-story steamships, and barges, and a pier on the shore, and crowds of walkers who came out to this pier at certain hours to meet the incoming steamers... And we Mommy and I went there, but rarely, very rarely: Mommy gave lessons in our city, and she wasn’t allowed to go out with me as often as I would like. Mommy said:

- Wait, Lenusha, I’ll save up some money and take you along the Volga from our Rybinsk all the way to Astrakhan! Then we'll have a blast.

I was happy and waiting for spring.

By spring, mommy had saved up some money, and we decided to carry out our idea on the first warm days.

- As soon as the Volga is cleared of ice, you and I will go for a ride! - Mommy said, affectionately stroking my head.

But when the ice broke, she caught a cold and began to cough. The ice passed, the Volga cleared, but mommy coughed and coughed endlessly. She suddenly became thin and transparent, like wax, and she kept sitting by the window, looking at the Volga and repeating:

“The cough will go away, I’ll get better a little, and you and I will ride to Astrakhan, Lenusha!”

But the cough and cold did not go away; The summer was damp and cold this year, and every day mommy became thinner, paler and more transparent.

Autumn has come. September has arrived. Long lines of cranes stretched over the Volga, flying to warm countries. Mommy no longer sat by the window in the living room, but lay on the bed and shivered all the time from the cold, while she herself was hot as fire.

Once she called me over and said:

- Listen, Lenusha. Your mother will soon leave you forever... But don’t worry, dear. I will always look at you from heaven and will rejoice at the good deeds of my girl, and...

I didn’t let her finish and cried bitterly. And mommy started crying too, and her eyes became sad, sad, just like those of the angel I saw on the big icon in our church.

Having calmed down a little, mommy spoke again:

“I feel that the Lord will soon take me to Himself, and may His holy will be done!” Be a good girl without a mother, pray to God and remember me... You will go to live with your uncle, my brother, who lives in St. Petersburg... I wrote to him about you and asked him to shelter an orphan...

Something painfully painful when hearing the word “orphan” squeezed my throat...

I began to sob, cry and huddle by my mother’s bed. Maryushka (the cook who lived with us for nine years, from the very year I was born, and who loved mommy and me madly) came and took me to her place, saying that “mama needs peace.”

I fell asleep in tears that night on Maryushka’s bed, and in the morning... Oh, what happened in the morning!..

I woke up very early, I think around six o’clock, and wanted to run straight to mommy.

At that moment Maryushka came in and said:

- Pray to God, Lenochka: God took your mother to him. Your mom died.

- Mommy died! – I repeated like an echo.

And suddenly I felt so cold, cold! Then there was a noise in my head, and the whole room, and Maryushka, and the ceiling, and the table, and the chairs - everything turned over and began to spin before my eyes, and I no longer remember what happened to me after that. I think I fell on the floor unconscious...

I woke up when my mother was already lying in a large white box, in a white dress, with a white wreath on her head. An old, gray-haired priest read prayers, the singers sang, and Maryushka prayed at the threshold of the bedroom. Some old women came and also prayed, then looked at me with regret, shook their heads and mumbled something with their toothless mouths...

- Orphan! Orphan! – Maryushka said, also shaking her head and looking at me pitifully, and cried. The old women also cried...

On the third day, Maryushka took me to the white box in which Mommy was lying, and told me to kiss Mommy’s hand. Then the priest blessed mommy, the singers sang something very sad; some men came up, closed the white box and carried it out of our house...

I cried loudly. But then old women I already knew arrived, saying that they were going to bury my mother and that there was no need to cry, but to pray.

The white box was brought to the church, we held mass, and then some people came up again, picked up the box and carried it to the cemetery. A deep black hole had already been dug there, into which mother’s coffin was lowered. Then they covered the hole with earth, placed a white cross over it, and Maryushka led me home.

On the way, she told me that in the evening she would take me to the station, put me on a train and send me to St. Petersburg to see my uncle.

“I don’t want to go to my uncle,” I said gloomily, “I don’t know any uncle and I’m afraid to go to him!”

But Maryushka said that it was a shame to tell the big girl like that, that mommy heard it and that my words hurt her.

Then I became quiet and began to remember my uncle’s face.

I never saw my St. Petersburg uncle, but there was a portrait of him in my mother’s album. He was depicted on it in a gold embroidered uniform, with many orders and with a star on his chest. He looked very important, and I was involuntarily afraid of him.

After dinner, which I barely touched, Maryushka packed all my dresses and underwear into an old suitcase, gave me tea and took me to the station.

Chapter 3
Checkered lady

When the train arrived, Maryushka found a familiar conductor and asked him to take me to St. Petersburg and watch over me along the way. Then she gave me a piece of paper on which it was written down where my uncle lived in St. Petersburg, crossed me and said: “Well, be smart!” - said goodbye to me...

I spent the entire journey as if in a dream. In vain did those sitting in the carriage try to entertain me, in vain did the kind Nikifor Matveyevich draw my attention to the various villages, buildings, herds that we came across along the way... I saw nothing, noticed nothing...

So I got to St. Petersburg...

Coming out of the carriage with my companion, I was immediately deafened by the noise, shouts and bustle that reigned at the station. People were running somewhere, colliding with each other and running again with a worried look, with their hands full of bundles, bundles and packages.

I even felt dizzy from all this noise, roar, and screaming. I'm not used to it. In our Volga city it was not so noisy.

– Who will meet you, young lady? – the voice of my companion brought me out of my thoughts.

I was involuntarily confused by his question.

Who will meet me? Don't know!

Seeing me off, Maryushka managed to tell me that she had sent a telegram to her uncle in St. Petersburg, informing him of the day and hour of my arrival, but whether he would come out to meet me or not - I absolutely did not know.

And then, even if my uncle is at the station, how will I recognize him? After all, I only saw him in a portrait in my mother’s album!

Thinking in this way, I, accompanied by my patron Nikifor Matveyevich, ran around the station, carefully peering into the faces of those gentlemen who bore even the slightest resemblance to my uncle’s portrait. But positively, there was no one like him at the station.

I was already pretty tired, but I still didn’t lose hope of seeing my uncle.

Holding our hands tightly, Nikifor Matveyevich and I rushed along the platform, constantly bumping into the oncoming audience, pushing aside the crowd and stopping in front of every more or less important-looking gentleman.

- Here, here’s another one that looks like my uncle, it seems! – I cried with new hope, dragging my companion after a tall, gray-haired gentleman in a black hat and a wide, fashionable coat.

We quickened our pace and were now almost running after the tall gentleman.

But at that moment, when we had almost overtaken him, the tall gentleman turned towards the doors of the first class lounge and disappeared from sight. I rushed after him, Nikifor Matveevich followed me...

But then something unexpected happened: I accidentally tripped over the leg of a lady passing by in a checkered dress, a checkered cape and a checkered bow on her hat. The lady squealed in a voice that was not her own and, dropping the huge checkered umbrella from her hands, stretched out to her full length on the plank floor of the platform.

I rushed to her with an apology, as befits a well-mannered girl, but she didn’t even spare me a single glance.

- Ignorant people! Boobies! Ignorant! – the checkered lady shouted to the entire station. - They rush like mad and knock down a decent audience! Ignorant, ignorant! So I'll complain about you to the station manager! Dear director! To the mayor! At least help me get up, you ignoramuses!

And she floundered, making efforts to get up, but she could not do it.

Nikifor Matveyevich and I finally raised the checkered lady, handed her a huge umbrella that had been thrown away during her fall, and began asking if she had hurt herself.

- I hurt myself, of course! – the lady shouted in the same angry voice. - I see, I hurt myself. What a question! Here you can kill to death, not only hurt yourself. And all of you! All of you! – she suddenly attacked me. - You gallop like a wild horse, you nasty girl! Just wait with me, I’ll tell the policeman, I’ll send you to the police! “And she angrily banged her umbrella on the boards of the platform. - Police officer! Where's the policeman? Call him for me! – she screamed again.

I was stunned. Fear gripped me. I don’t know what would have happened to me if Nikifor Matveevich had not intervened in this matter and stood up for me.

- Come on, madam, don’t frighten the child! You see, the girl herself is not herself from fear,” my defender said in his kind voice, “and that’s to say, it’s not her fault. I'm upset myself. She ran into you by accident and dropped you because she was in a hurry to get your uncle. It seemed to her that uncle is coming. She's an orphan. Yesterday in Rybinsk they handed it to me from hand to hand in order to deliver it to my uncle in St. Petersburg. Her uncle is a general... General Ikonin... Haven't you heard of this name?

As soon as my new friend and protector had time to utter his last words, something extraordinary happened to the checkered lady. Her head with a checkered bow, her body in a checkered cape, a long hooked nose, reddish curls on her temples and a large mouth with thin bluish lips - all this jumped, darted and danced some strange dance, and from behind her thin lips began to burst out hoarse, hissing and whistling sounds. The checkered lady laughed, laughed desperately at the top of her voice, dropping her huge umbrella and clutching her sides as if she had colic.

- Ha-ha-ha! – she shouted. - That's what else they came up with! Uncle himself! You see, General Ikonin himself, His Excellency, must come to the station to meet this princess! What a noble young lady, pray tell! Ha ha ha! There’s nothing to say, I’m over-borrowed! Well, don’t be angry, mother, this time your uncle didn’t go to meet you, but sent me. He didn’t think what kind of bird you were... Ha ha ha!!!

I don’t know how long the checkered lady would have laughed if Nikifor Matveyevich, coming to my aid again, had not stopped her.

“It’s enough, madam, to make fun of an unreasonable child,” he said sternly. - Sin! An orphan young lady... an orphan. And God is the orphan...

- None of your business. Be silent! – the checkered lady suddenly cried out, interrupting him, and her laughter stopped at once. “Carry the young lady’s things for me,” she added somewhat softer and, turning to me, said casually: “Let’s go.” I don't have too much time to bother with you. Well, turn around! Alive! March!

And, roughly grabbing my hand, she dragged me towards the exit.

I could barely keep up with her.

At the porch of the station stood a pretty, smart carriage drawn by a beautiful black horse. A gray-haired, important-looking coachman sat on a box.

The coachman pulled the reins, and the smart carriage drove up right up to the very steps of the station entrance.

Nikifor Matveyevich placed my suitcase on the bottom, then helped the checkered lady climb into the carriage, who took up the entire seat, leaving for me exactly as much space as would be required to place a doll on it, and not a living nine-year-old girl.

“Well, goodbye, dear young lady,” Nikifor Matveyevich whispered to me affectionately, “God grant you a happy place with your uncle.” And if anything happens, you are welcome to us. You have the address. We live on the very outskirts, on the highway near the Mitrofanievsky cemetery, behind the outpost... Remember? And Nyurka will be happy! She loves orphans. She is kind to me.

My friend would have been talking to me for a long time if the voice of the checkered lady had not sounded from the height of the seat:

- Well, how long will you keep me waiting, obnoxious girl! What kind of conversations are you having with the man? Get to your place now, do you hear?

I flinched, as if under the blow of a whip, from this voice, barely familiar to me, but which had already become unpleasant, and hurried to take my place, hastily shaking hands and thanking my recent patron.

The coachman pulled the reins, the horse took off, and, gently bouncing and showering passers-by with lumps of dirt and splashes from puddles, the carriage quickly rushed through the noisy city streets.

Firmly grasping the edge of the carriage so as not to fly out onto the pavement, I looked in amazement at the large five-story buildings, at the elegant shops, at the horsecars and omnibuses rolling along the street with a deafening ringing, and my heart involuntarily sank with fear at the thought that waiting for me in this big, foreign city, in a strange family, with strangers, about whom I heard and knew so little.

Chapter 4
The Ikonin family. – First adversity

- Matilda Frantsevna brought a girl!

– Your cousin, and not just a girl...

- And yours too!

- You're lying! I don't want any cousin! She is a beggar.

- And I don’t want to!

- And I! And I!

- They're calling! Are you deaf, Fedor?

- I brought it! I brought it! Hooray!

I heard all this while standing in front of the door covered with dark green oilcloth. On the copper plate nailed to the door was written in large, beautiful letters: ACTIVE STATE ADVISER MIKHAIL VASILIEVICH IKONIN.

Hurried steps were heard behind the door, and a footman in a black tailcoat and white tie, the kind I had only seen in pictures, opened the door wide.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, someone quickly grabbed me by the hand, someone touched me by the shoulders, someone covered my eyes with their hand, while my ears were filled with noise, ringing and laughter, which made me suddenly I felt dizzy.

When I woke up a little and my eyes could see again, I saw that I was standing in the middle of a luxuriously decorated living room with fluffy carpets on the floor, with elegant gilded furniture, with huge mirrors from ceiling to floor. I have never seen such luxury before, and therefore it is not surprising if it all seemed like a dream to me.

Three children crowded around me: one girl and two boys. The girl was the same age as me. Blonde, delicate, with long curly locks tied with pink bows at the temples, with a capriciously upturned upper lip, she seemed like a pretty porcelain doll. She was wearing a very elegant white dress with a lace flounce and a pink sash. One of the boys, the one who was much older, dressed in a school uniform, looked very much like his sister; the other, small, curly, seemed no older than six years old. His thin, lively, but pale face seemed sickly in appearance, but a pair of brown and quick eyes glared at me with the most lively curiosity.

These were my uncle’s children – Zhorzhik, Nina and Tolya – about whom my late mother told me more than once.

The children looked at me silently. I am for children.

There was silence for about five minutes.

And suddenly the younger boy, who must have been bored with standing like that, suddenly raised his hand and, pointing his index finger at me, said:

- That's the figure!

- Figure! Figure! – the blond girl echoed him. - And it’s true: fi-gu-ra! Only he said it right!

And she jumped up and down in one place, clapping her hands.

“Very witty,” the schoolboy said through his nose, “there’s something to laugh about.” She's just some kind of woodlouse!

- How's the woodlice? Why woodlice? – the younger children were excited.

- Look, don’t you see how she wet the floor? She burst into the living room wearing galoshes. Witty! Nothing to say! Look how! Puddle. Woodlice is there.

- What is this - woodlice? - Tolya asked curiously, looking at his older brother with obvious respect.

- Mmm... mmm... mmm... - the high school student was confused, - mmm... this is a flower: when you touch it with your finger, it will immediately close... Here...

“No, you’re mistaken,” I blurted out against my will. (My late mother read to me about plants and animals, and I knew a lot for my age). – A flower that closes its petals when touched is a mimosa, and a woodlice is an aquatic animal like a snail.

“Mmmm...” the schoolboy hummed, “it doesn’t matter whether it’s a flower or an animal.” We haven't done this in class yet. Why are you poking your nose in when people don’t ask you? Look, what a clever girl she has turned out to be!.. - he suddenly attacked me.

- Terrible upstart! – the girl echoed him and narrowed her blue eyes. “You’d better take care of yourself than correct Georges,” she said capriciously, “Georges is smarter than you, and yet here you are, wearing galoshes, crawling into the living room.” Very beautiful!

- Witty! – the schoolboy muttered again.

- But you’re still a woodlouse! – his little brother squeaked and chuckled. - Woodlouse and beggar!

I flushed. No one has ever called me that before. The nickname of a beggar offended me more than anything else. I saw beggars at the porches of churches and more than once I myself gave them money on my mother’s orders. They asked “for Christ’s sake” and extended their hand for alms. I didn’t reach out for alms and didn’t ask anyone for anything. So he doesn't dare call me that. Anger, bitterness, embitterment - all this boiled inside me at once, and, not remembering myself, I grabbed my offender by the shoulders and began to shake him with all my might, choking with excitement and anger.

- Don't you dare say that. I'm not a beggar! Don't you dare call me a beggar! Don't you dare! Don't you dare!

- No, beggar! No, beggar! You will live with us out of mercy. Your mother died and left you no money. And both of you are beggars, yes! – the boy repeated as if he had learned a lesson. And, not knowing how else to annoy me, he stuck out his tongue and began making the most impossible grimaces in front of my face. His brother and sister laughed heartily, amused by this scene.

I’ve never been a spiteful person, but when Tolya offended my mom, I couldn’t stand it. A terrible rush anger seized me, and with a loud cry, without thinking and not remembering what I was doing, I pushed my cousin with all my might.

He staggered strongly, first in one direction, then in the other, and in order to maintain his balance, he grabbed the table on which the vase stood. She was very beautiful, all painted with flowers, storks and some funny black-haired girls in colored long robes, in high hairstyles and with open fans at their chests.

The table swayed no less than Tolya. A vase with flowers and little black girls swayed with it. Then the vase slid to the floor... There was a deafening crash.

And the little black girls, and the flowers, and the storks - everything mixed up and disappeared into one common pile of shards and fragments.

Lydia Charskaya

Notes of a little schoolgirl

1. To a strange city, to strangers

Knock-knock! Knock-knock! Knock-knock! - the wheels knock, and the train quickly rushes forward and forward.

In this monotonous noise I hear the same words repeated tens, hundreds, thousands of times. I listen carefully, and it seems to me that the wheels are tapping the same thing, without counting, without end: just like that! that's it! that's it!

The wheels are knocking, and the train rushes and rushes without looking back, like a whirlwind, like an arrow...

In the window, bushes, trees, station houses and telegraph poles running along the slope of the railway track run towards us...

Or is our train running, and they are calmly standing in one place? I don't know, I don't understand.

However, I don’t understand much that has happened to me in these last days.

Lord, how strange everything is done in the world! Could I have thought a few weeks ago that I would have to leave our small, cozy house on the banks of the Volga and travel alone thousands of miles to some distant, completely unknown relatives?.. Yes, it still seems to me that this just a dream, but - alas! - this is not a dream!..

This conductor's name was Nikifor Matveevich. He took care of me all the way, gave me tea, made me a bed on a bench and, as soon as he had time, entertained me in every possible way. It turns out he had a daughter my age, whose name was Nyura, and who lived with her mother and brother Seryozha in St. Petersburg. He even put his address in my pocket - “just in case” if I wanted to visit him and get to know Nyurochka.

“I really feel sorry for you, young lady,” Nikifor Matveevich told me more than once during my short journey, “because you are an orphan, and God commands you to love orphans.” And again, you are alone, as there is only one in the world; You don’t know your St. Petersburg uncle, nor his family... It’s not easy... But only if it becomes really unbearable, you come to us. You’ll rarely find me at home, that’s why I’m on the road more and more, and my wife and Nyurka will be glad to see you. They are good to me...

I thanked the kind conductor and promised him to visit him...

Indeed, there was a terrible commotion in the carriage. Passengers fussed and jostled, packing and tying things. Some old woman, riding opposite me all the way, lost her wallet with money and screamed that she had been robbed. Someone's child was crying in the corner. An organ grinder stood at the door and played a sad song on his broken instrument.

I looked out the window. God! How many pipes I saw! Pipes, pipes and pipes! A whole forest of pipes! Gray smoke curled from each and, rising up, blurred into the sky. A fine autumn rain was drizzling, and all of nature seemed to frown, cry and complain about something.

The train went slower. The wheels no longer shouted their restless “like this!” They knocked now much longer and also seemed to be complaining that the car was forcibly delaying their brisk, cheerful progress.

And then the train stopped.

“Please, we’ve arrived,” said Nikifor Matveyevich.

And, taking my warm scarf, pillow and suitcase in one hand, and tightly squeezing my hand with the other, he led me out of the carriage, barely squeezing through the crowd.

2. My mom

I had a mother, affectionate, kind, sweet. My mother and I lived in a small house on the banks of the Volga. The house was so clean and bright, and from the windows of our apartment we could see the wide, beautiful Volga, and huge two-story steamships, and barges, and a pier on the shore, and crowds of walkers who came out to this pier at certain hours to meet the incoming steamers... And we Mommy and I went there, but rarely, very rarely: Mommy gave lessons in our city, and she wasn’t allowed to go out with me as often as I would like. Mommy said:

Wait, Lenusha, I’ll save up some money and take you along the Volga from our Rybinsk all the way to Astrakhan! Then we'll have a blast.

I was happy and waiting for spring.

By spring, mommy had saved up some money, and we decided to carry out our idea on the first warm days.

As soon as the Volga is cleared of ice, you and I will go for a ride! - Mommy said, affectionately stroking my head.

But when the ice broke, she caught a cold and began to cough. The ice passed, the Volga cleared, but mommy coughed and coughed endlessly. She suddenly became thin and transparent, like wax, and she kept sitting by the window, looking at the Volga and repeating:

Once the cough goes away, I’ll get better a little, and you and I will ride to Astrakhan, Lenusha!

But the cough and cold did not go away; The summer was damp and cold this year, and every day mommy became thinner, paler and more transparent.

Autumn has come. September has arrived. Long lines of cranes stretched over the Volga, flying to warm countries. Mommy no longer sat by the window in the living room, but lay on the bed and shivered all the time from the cold, while she herself was hot as fire.

Once she called me over and said:

Listen, Lenusha. Your mother will soon leave you forever... But don’t worry, dear. I will always look at you from heaven and will rejoice at the good deeds of my girl, and...

I didn’t let her finish and cried bitterly. And mommy started crying too, and her eyes became sad, sad, just like those of the angel I saw on the big icon in our church.

Having calmed down a little, mommy spoke again:

I feel that the Lord will soon take me to Himself, and may His holy will be done! Be a good girl without a mother, pray to God and remember me... You will go to live with your uncle, my brother, who lives in St. Petersburg... I wrote to him about you and asked him to shelter an orphan...

Something painfully painful when hearing the word “orphan” squeezed my throat...

I began to sob, cry and huddle by my mother’s bed. Maryushka (the cook who lived with us for nine years, from the very year I was born, and who loved mommy and me madly) came and took me to her place, saying that “mama needs peace.”

I fell asleep in tears that night on Maryushka’s bed, and in the morning... Oh, what happened in the morning!..

I woke up very early, I think around six o’clock, and wanted to run straight to mommy.

At that moment Maryushka came in and said:

Pray to God, Lenochka: God took your mother to him. Your mom died.

Mommy died! - I repeated like an echo.

And suddenly I felt so cold, cold! Then there was a noise in my head, and the whole room, and Maryushka, and the ceiling, and the table, and the chairs - everything turned over and began to spin before my eyes, and I no longer remember what happened to me after this. I think I fell on the floor unconscious...

I woke up when my mother was already lying in a large white box, in a white dress, with a white wreath on her head. An old, gray-haired priest read prayers, the singers sang, and Maryushka prayed at the threshold of the bedroom. Some old women came and also prayed, then looked at me with regret, shook their heads and mumbled something with their toothless mouths...

Orphan! Orphan! - Also shaking her head and looking at me pitifully, Maryushka said and cried. The old women also cried...

On the third day, Maryushka took me to the white box in which Mommy was lying, and told me to kiss Mommy’s hand. Then the priest blessed mommy, the singers sang something very sad; some men came up, closed the white box and carried it out of our house...

I cried loudly. But then old women I already knew arrived, saying that they were going to bury my mother and that there was no need to cry, but to pray.

The white box was brought to the church, we held mass, and then some people came up again, picked up the box and carried it to the cemetery. A deep black hole had already been dug there, into which mother’s coffin was lowered. Then they covered the hole with earth, placed a white cross over it, and Maryushka led me home.

On the way, she told me that in the evening she would take me to the station, put me on a train and send me to St. Petersburg to see my uncle.

“I don’t want to go to my uncle,” I said gloomily, “I don’t know any uncle and I’m afraid to go to him!”

But Maryushka said that it was a shame to tell the big girl like that, that mommy heard it and that my words hurt her.

Then I became quiet and began to remember my uncle’s face.

I never saw my St. Petersburg uncle, but there was a portrait of him in my mother’s album. He was depicted on it in a gold embroidered uniform, with many orders and with a star on his chest. He looked very important, and I was involuntarily afraid of him.

After dinner, which I barely touched, Maryushka packed all my dresses and underwear into an old suitcase, gave me tea and took me to the station.