Corps he began his service. From the history of the Corps of Pages

The Corps of Pages of His Imperial Majesty is the most prestigious educational institution of the Russian Empire. As a military educational institution, it existed since 1802, although it was created back in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1750 with the aim, according to a nominal decree, “ So that those who, through this, to a constant and decent mind and noble deeds, most succeed and from that they could show themselves courteous, pleasant and perfect in everything, as the Christian law and their honest nature commands»…

The immediate predecessor of the corps was the Court School of Pages, established by decree of April 5, 1742. Catherine II, by decree of 1762, forbade the admission of youths of non-noble origin into the corps.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the corps consisted of three page classes (for 50 pages) and one chamber page (for 16 chamber pages) and was not merged with other military educational institutions in order to manage.

At the very beginning of his reign, Alexander I decided to reform the Corps of Pages in order to turn it into an elite educational institution, giving its students a first-class military education worthy of court and (in the future) guard service.

An experienced teacher-practitioner, Major General F. I. Klinger, was instructed to develop a new charter for the corps together with his boss, Count N. P. Sheremetev. At the beginning of September 1802, the charter was presented to the sovereign, and on October 10 (October 22) it was put into effect by an imperial rescript and read to the pages on October 13 (October 25) in the building of the Corps on the Fontanka embankment:

The Corps of Pages is a school for the education of morals and character, and in which the knowledge necessary for an officer can be taught; ... This corps is collectively such a military establishment, where noble youth, through education, is prepared for military service by strict obedience, perfect subordination and unconstrained, but voluntary performance of their posts. The future happiness and glory of these young nobles depends on the circumstances mentioned.- Charter of the Corps of Pages.

Photos of pupils of the Corps of Pages (1904-1907)

Pupils on a walk in the garden of the building

The teacher and pupils draw from nature in the garden of the building

A group of pupils during a singing lesson in the hall

A group of pupils during a rest in the prefabricated hall

Group of pupils during evening tea

Teachers and pupils during the exercises

Pupil in the garden of the building while drawing from life

Meeting of the Grand Committee of the Corps of Pages

Corner of the Page Garden

A group of pupils with a teacher in St. George's Hall

Pupils with teachers at a fencing lesson

Pupils of the senior age of the Corps of Pages during a mathematics lesson

Orchestra of the Corps of Pages during a rehearsal

Teachers and pupils in the drawing class during the lesson

Teacher and pupils in the garden of the Corps of Pages while drawing from life

Pupils of the Page Corps in the classroom during a modeling lesson

Pupils of the Corps of Pages with a teacher during evening classes preparing for lessons

A group of pupils in the ranks in the White Hall

Pupils during classes in the painting class

A group of older pupils before being sent to the training camp

Pupils during a gymnastics lesson with a teacher in the gym

"Enemy" in the ranks before the start of the exercise

A group of older pupils in front of the shooting gallery

Pupils of the Corps of Pages in the infirmary of the corps

A group of officers in the duty room receives the page's report.

Pupils of the Corps of Pages during a shooting exercise

Pupils in the classroom studying the charters

Pupils with a teacher during a lesson in tactics

A group of pupils during lunch

Pupil at the post during the summer exercises.

A group of pupils who returned from vacation in the wardrobe

General view of the barracks where the pupils who arrived for the exercises were accommodated

Pupils during shooting exercises

A group of pupils returns after the exercises

View of the facade of the Page Corps

For the purpose, according to the personal decree, “So that those pages, through that, to a constant and decent mind and noble deeds, most succeed and from that they could show themselves courteous, pleasant and perfect in everything, as the Christian law and their honest nature commands”.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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The immediate predecessor of the corps was the Court School of Pages, established by decree of April 5, 1742. Catherine II, by decree of 1762, forbade the admission to the corps of youths of non-noble origin.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the corps consisted of three page classes (for 50 pages) and one chamber page (for 16 chamber pages) and was not merged with other military educational institutions in order to manage.
At the very beginning of his reign, Alexander I decided to reform the Corps of Pages in order to turn it into an elite educational institution, giving its students a first-class military education worthy of court and (in the future) guard service. An experienced teacher-practitioner, Major General F. I. Klinger, was instructed to develop a new corps charter together with his boss, Count N. P. Sheremetev. At the beginning of September 1802, the charter was presented to the sovereign, and on October 10, by an imperial rescript, it was put into effect and on October 13 it was read to the pages in the Corps building on the Fontanka embankment:

The Corps of Pages is a school for the education of morals and character, and in which the knowledge necessary for an officer can be taught; ... This corps is collectively such a military establishment, where noble youth, through education, is prepared for military service by strict obedience, perfect subordination and unconstrained, but voluntary performance of their posts. The future happiness and glory of these young nobles depends on the circumstances mentioned.

Neither the director of the corps, Major General A. G. Gogel, nor the chamberlain colonel P. P. Svinin, both honored military officers, had any definite ideas about pedagogy. Therefore, from October 22, 1802, Major K. O. Ode-de-Sion was appointed to help them as an inspector of classes of the corps, who uniquely combined both the experience of military service and participation in hostilities, and the degree of doctor of theology, and many years of experience as a teacher -practice.
Since 1810, the Corps of Pages was located in St. Petersburg in a complex of buildings along Sadovaya Street, 26 - this is the former palace of Count M. I. Vorontsov (architect Rastrelli, rebuilt by Quarenghi), which until then occupied the chapter of the Order of Malta (see Maltese Chapel). Until that time, the Corps of Pages was located first in the palace of Admiral Bruce, and then in its own building at the confluence of the Winter Canal and the Moika.
In 1811, by the highest order, officers of the Corps of Pages, up to and including lieutenant colonel, were granted seniority "against the army one rank higher." In 1819, the corps was subordinated to the chief director of the cadet corps. Since 1827, the set of students has been increased to 150.
In 1820, the so-called "Arseniev rebellion" took place in the corps - an act of open disobedience of students to the leadership of the corps. By that time, among the pages, under the leadership of the freethinker A. N. Krenitsyn, a secret society had formed, the members of which were called among themselves for some reason “kvilks”. One day, the page Pavel Arseniev, who was distinguished by an independent character and was not a member of this society, but who enjoyed great respect from his comrades, read an extraneous book in class, ignoring the teacher's remarks. When he tried to take it away, Arseniev hid the book and entered into a daring argument with the teacher. Inspector K. O. Ode-de-Sion looked into the classroom at the noise and, having learned what was the matter, tried to put Arseniev in a corner, and when he disobeyed, he ordered him to kneel. Arseniev continued to be stubborn and insolent, then the inspector ordered his arrest. The leadership of the corps decided to punish the rebel with rods in front of the formation of all officers and pages. However, corporal punishment was so rare in the corps that a belief took root among the pupils that they were allowed to flog only by the highest command. Therefore, when the soldiers brought Arseniev to execution in front of the ranks and tried to lay him on a bench, he, outraged by the injustice of punishment, put up energetic resistance to them. Kvilki under the leadership of Krenitsyn immediately rushed to his aid. Behind them, breaking the line, followed by the rest of the pages. As a result of the brawl, several officers and teachers were injured - "old man Zion fell heavily on the drum". The execution failed. This case was reported to Alexander I, which was followed by a resolution - Arsenyev, as already punished, to be released from flogging, and Krenitsyn to be given 30 blows with rods in front of the ranks, to which he submitted this time. After that, both were demoted to privates and sent to the 18th Chasseur Regiment, and Arseniev, without bearing the shame, later shot himself. Some researchers were inclined to see in this event an omen of the December Uprising of 1825.
In 1829, rules were issued on the procedure for enrolling in pages and definitions in the Corps of Pages, and the right to ask for enrollment of young sons in pages was granted first to persons of the first four classes, and then to the first three or representatives of surnames listed in the fifth and sixth parts genealogical books (titled and ancient nobility). In 1863, the Corps of Pages came under the jurisdiction of the Main Directorate of Military Educational Institutions.
In 1865, the Corps of Pages was completely transformed. Two senior classes (special) are equalized, both in terms of teaching and organization, with infantry cadet schools, and four junior (general) classes with four senior classes of military gymnasiums. As part of the corps, special classes formed a drill company, and general classes formed two ages. The kit was kept in 150 people.

In 1870 a second class was formed. In 1873, simultaneously with the renaming of the preparatory class in the military gymnasiums into the first, the first into the second, etc., the general classes in the Corps of Pages were renamed accordingly - the second into the third, etc.
In 1878, two junior general classes of the corps - the 3rd and 4th - were separated and, together with the newly established ones - the 1st and 2nd - formed a special educational institution for 150 external students. Preparatory classes of the Corps of Pages, from where the pages were transferred to the lower class of the Corps only by competitive examination. In 1885, the preparatory classes were attached to the building.
According to the regulations of 1889, the Corps of Pages consists of 7 general classes, with a training course for cadet corps, and two special, with a training course for military schools; but, on the basis of the Provisional Rules of 1891, admission to the two junior classes is not permitted at all.
All pupils of the corps bear the rank of pages, and upon transition to the senior special class, those best of them who meet certain requirements (for success in the sciences and in behavior) are made into chamber pages.
The page corps is under the Ministry of War and is subordinate to the chief head of military educational institutions; direct management is entrusted to the director, and the immediate management of the educational department is entrusted to the class inspector. Company commanders are in charge of companies, and educator officers are in charge of classroom departments. The corps consists of committees: pedagogical, disciplinary and economic.
The total set of students: 170 interns, who are brought up on full state dependents, and 160 external students, for which 200 rubles are paid. in year.
In the 3rd (lowest) class, only externals are allowed. In addition to the total number of interns, there are 6 full-time vacancies for natives of Finland. To be admitted to the corps, only those who have previously been enlisted, by the Highest command, as pages to the Highest court are allowed; it is allowed to apply for such enrollment only for the sons and grandchildren of persons who are or were in the service in the ranks of the first three classes, or for the offspring of clans listed in the fifth and sixth parts of the genealogical books (titled and ancient nobility).
Admission is by competitive examination; in the 7th general and in both special classes, neither the admission nor the transfer of pages - candidates from other corps is allowed (provisional rules, 1891).
The pupils are divided into three companies. For camp time, the 1st company is withdrawn to the camp, to Krasnoye Selo, where it is seconded to the Officer's Rifle School; The 2nd company spends 5 to 6 weeks in the summer at a cadet camp in Peterhof. Pages of the 1st company are considered to be in active military service. According to the results of the final exam, all pupils of the senior special class are divided into four categories:
1. those assigned to the 1st category are released as second lieutenants or cornets to the guards, or the same ranks to the army or special forces, with one year of seniority, and receive 500 rubles for uniforms, three of the most excellent of them can be seconded to the guards artillery;
2. assigned to the 2nd category - second lieutenants and cornets in the army or in special troops, with one year of seniority, and receive 225 rubles for uniforms;
3. assigned to the 3rd category - the same ranks in the army, without seniority; they get the same amount for uniforms;
4. those assigned to the 4th category are transferred to the army infantry or cavalry as non-commissioned officers for 6 months, after which they can be promoted to officers, but only for vacancies.
All those assigned to the first three categories are released into the units of the troops of their own choice, even if there were no vacancies in them, but in the guards units only in those where the supernumerary of officers does not exceed 10%.
Those incapable of military service are awarded civil ranks: the first 2 ranks - X class, 3 ranks - XII class and 4 ranks - XIV class.
For the education received, those who completed the course of the corps are required to stay in active service for 1.5 years per year in special classes.
Capitals have been established at the corps for the issuance of benefits to those who complete the course: named after the former director of the adjutant general gr. Ignatiev, the name of "page Nikolai Weimarn" (victims by his father) and the name of the former director of the general from infantry Dietrichs.

Directors
- 1759-1760: Tschudi Louis Théodore Henri (Baron Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore de Tschudi)
- ? - 1762: Lichten Johann
- 1762-1779: Franz Rothstein
- 1779-1797: Second Major Chevalier de Vilna, Franz Nikolaevich
- 1797-1802: Major General Shaposhnikov, Fedor Sergeevich
- 1802-1805: Gogel, Andrei Grigorievich
- 10/20/1806 - 03/20/1830: Gogel, Ivan Grigoryevich 1st
- 03/20/1830 - 05/05/1834: Major General of the Retinue (from 04/19/1831 - Adjutant General, from 12/6/1833 - Lieutenant General) Kavelin, Alexander Alexandrovich
- 1834-1846: Ignatiev, Pavel Nikolaevich
- 1846-1849: Zinoviev, Nikolai Vasilyevich
- 1849-1854: Major General Svita (since 1852 - Lieutenant General) Filosofov, Nikolay Illarionovich
- 1854-1861: Zheltukhin, Vladimir Petrovich
- 08/30/1861 - 02/1865: Lieutenant General Ozerov, Sergey Petrovich
- 1865-1867: Korsakov, Nikita Vasilyevich
- 1867-1871: Bushen, Dmitry Khristianovich
- 1871-1878: Mezentsov, Pyotr Ivanovich
- 1878-1894: Dietrichs, Fyodor Karlovich
- 1894-1900: Count Keller, Fedor Eduardovich
- 09/11/1900 - 07/06/1907: colonel (from 12/6/1900 - major general, from 04/22/1907 - lieutenant general) Epanchin, Nikolai Alekseevich
- 07/13/1907 - 09/14/1910: Major General Schilder, Vladimir Alexandrovich
- 09/14/1910 - 11/09/1916: Major General Usov, Nikolai Nikolaevich
- 1917: Colonel Fenu, Alexander Nikolaevich.
court service

Pupils of the Corps of Pages during the period of study were considered assigned to the imperial court and systematically performed the duties of guard duty. It was considered a great honor and privilege to raise a page to the court rank of chamber page. However, only the best of the best, those who distinguished themselves in their studies, behavior and upbringing, as well as those who were fluent in foreign languages, could count on this.
Chamber pages were attached and served under the Empress and the Grand Duchesses during balls, gala dinners, official ceremonies and other events where their presence was required by protocol. The number of chamber-pages varied depending on the number of august persons and members of the imperial family.
The general order was as follows: under the emperor - one chamber page, appointed sergeant major, with each empress (dowager and current) - two chamber pages, and with each of the grand duchesses - one chamber page. Another page was appointed as a spare chamber page in case of illness of one of the chamber pages. Thus, in 1896, when there were nine Grand Duchesses and two Empresses, 14 pages served as an honorary court page, and one was a spare. Until 1802, in addition to pages and chamber pages, in the corps and, accordingly, the court service, there was the rank of life page, which was restored in 1907 in the form of a senior chamber page.
In terms of legal status, pages were equated with non-commissioned officers of the guard, chamber pages - with sergeant majors of the guard, senior chamber pages - with ensigns of the guard. The release of the first category from the corps "to the army with the same rank" was not actually practiced. According to the fourth category, pages were issued from the corps - non-commissioned officers in the guard or ensigns in the army, camera pages (which was extremely rare) - ensigns in the guard or ensigns in the army.

The private life of the pages

As in many closed schools for boys, same-sex relationships were common in the Corps of Pages. In addition to memoirs, this is indicated by the obscene poem "The Adventures of the Page", published abroad in 1879, but written several decades earlier. Its author is considered officer Shenin, who graduated from the corps in 1822:

I've been stripped of my innocence
How did I just enter the corps<…>
Here it will be appropriate to explain
That all pages are corps
In the capital of the north are known
how bumps or bardashes.

Some well-known persons were subsequently expelled from the Corps of Pages for unworthy behavior: E. A. Baratynsky, P. V. Dolgorukov. P. A. Kropotkin painted a vivid picture of moral decay and hazing in the building in his memoirs:

The cameramen did whatever they wanted. Only a year before I joined the corps, their favorite game was to gather newcomers into one room at night and run them around in nightgowns like horses in a circus. The circus usually ended with a disgusting

P The Age Corps was founded in St. Petersburg in 1759.
This institution was intended for the education of pages and chambers, it was one of the most privileged educational institutions in Russia at that time. Pupils were taught military affairs and brought up cultured educated people. For some reason it worked at the time.
Remember Mitrich from The Golden Calf, squinting like a proletarian who doubted the existence of parallels on the globe? “What kind of parallel is this,” Mitrich answered vaguely. “Maybe there is no such parallel at all. We don’t know that.
Mitrich spoke the absolute truth. He did not study at the gymnasium. He graduated from the Corps of Pages. "))) and was clearly disingenuous about his incompetence in parallels and meridians. But then it was fashionable to be from the plow ...
Now this is a cadet (in the common people). Or if officially - "Suvorov Military School". I graduated from Suvorov in 1983. True, it was far from Leningrad - he studied at the Ussuri Suvorov School.
This is me in 1982))) We were called tiger cubs. But I digress.
The Corps of Pages is located in the palace on Sadovaya Street. Once it was owned by Count Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov (1714-1767).
The palace was erected on a large scale, in exquisite baroque forms. Vorontsov was an active participant in the palace coup of 1741, inclining the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Life Guards to the side of Elizabeth Petrovna. From 1758 he became state chancellor. He was a friend and patron of M. V. Lomonosov.
The Vorontsov Palace (Sadovaya st., 26) was created in 1749-1757 according to the project of the largest architect of the Russian Baroque F. B. Rastrelli.
Although the site chosen for development overlooked the bank of the Fontanka, the composition of the estate differed significantly from previous similar buildings: by the middle of the 18th century, land traffic in St. Petersburg became predominant, and Rastrelli oriented the main facade of the palace not to the river, but to the recently laid Sadovaya street. By that time, this highway had already become one of the busiest, as it connected the new districts of the city with the shopping center on the Neva prospect.
Under Catherine II, Mikhail Illarionovich was out of work, and in 1763 the palace was bought out to the treasury. At the end of the 1790s. the building was granted by Emperor Paul I to the Order of Malta, and the Chapter of Russian Orders was also located here.
In 1798-1800, the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (architect G. Quarenghi) was built in the palace, and the Maltese Chapel was attached to the main building from the side of the garden (according to his own project).
Below is the interior of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, 1858.
Graduates of the Corps of Pages began to be called the Knights of Malta. After all, Paul was the Grand Master of the Order of Malta...
Getting into the Corps of Pages was not an easy task even for the offspring of noble families, since the reception took place under the control of the imperial family. Education here was put on a grand scale. The young men received not only solid military training, but left the corps as highly educated and well-mannered people.
The offspring of royal blood from other countries also studied here. For example, the Siamese prince Chakrabon (now it is Thailand) ...)))
By the way, he accidentally met a girl Ekaterina Desnitskaya in St. Petersburg. Married her. And she became the Thai princess of Siam. So, Russian blood flows in the veins of the monarchs of distant Thailand, and it is her descendants that Thailand loves and adores so much today. Why not a fairy tale about Russian Cinderella? And you can't really call her a beauty. Fate, however...
They say that once Nicholas I received a petition from a retired major general to enroll his son in the Corps of Pages. It was in September, and the petition began like this: "September Sovereign ..."
The most august was angry, but then he thought and put the following resolution on the letter: "Accept, so that he does not grow up to be the same fool as his father" ...
At the end of 1917 - the first half of 1918, the palace housed the party club and other bodies of the Party of Left Socialist Revolutionaries, then - the courses of the Red Army command staff, and in the 1920-1930s - the Leningrad Infantry School. S. M. Kirov.

Corps of Pages
Corps of Pages of His Imperial Majesty- the most elite educational institution of Imperial Russia, as a military educational institution, existed for a year, although it was created back in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1759 with the aim, according to a nominal decree, “So that those who, through this, to a constant and decent mind and noble deeds, naively succeed and from that they can show themselves courteous, pleasant and perfect in everything, as the Christian law and their honest nature commands”.

Corps history

The immediate predecessor of the corps was the Court School of Pages, established by decree of April 5, 1742. Catherine II, by decree of 1762, forbade the admission of youths of non-noble origin into the corps.

The page corps is under the Ministry of War and is subordinate to the chief head of military educational institutions; direct management is entrusted to the director, and the immediate management of the educational department is entrusted to the class inspector. Company commanders are in charge of companies, and educator officers are in charge of classroom departments. The corps consists of committees: pedagogical, disciplinary and economic.

The total set of students: 170 interns, who are brought up on full state dependents, and 160 external students, for which 200 rubles are paid. in year.

In the 3rd (lowest) class, only externals are allowed. In addition to the total number of interns, there are 6 full-time vacancies for natives of Finland. To be admitted to the corps, only those who have previously been enlisted, by the Highest command, as pages to the Highest court are allowed; it is allowed to apply for such enrollment only for the sons and grandchildren of persons who are or were in the service in the ranks of the first three classes, or for the offspring of clans listed in the fifth and sixth parts of the genealogical books (titled and ancient nobility).

Admission is by competitive examination; in the 7th general and in both special classes, neither the admission nor the transfer of pages - candidates from other corps, is not allowed (temporary rights. 1891).

The pupils are divided into three companies. For camp time, the 1st company is withdrawn to the camp, to Krasnoye Selo, where it is seconded to the Officers' Rifle School; The 2nd company spends 5 to 6 weeks in the summer at a cadet camp in Peterhof. Pages of the 1st company are considered to be in active military service. According to the results of the final exam, all pupils of the senior special class are divided into four categories:

During the First World War, the infirmary of the Corps of Pages was used to treat wounded officers. 1915, March.
1. those classified as 1st category are issued as second lieutenants or cornets to the guard, or the same ranks to the army or special forces, with one year of seniority, and receive 500 rubles for uniforms. , three of the most excellent of them can be seconded to the guards artillery;
2. assigned to the 2nd category - second lieutenants and cornets in the army or in special troops, with one year of seniority, and receive 225 rubles for uniforms;
3. assigned to the 3rd category - the same ranks in the army, without seniority; they get the same amount for uniforms;
4. those assigned to the 4th category are transferred to the army infantry or cavalry units as non-commissioned officers for 6 months, after which they can be promoted to officers, but only for vacancies.
All those assigned to the first three categories are released into the units of the troops of their own choice, even if there were no vacancies in them, but in the guards units only in those where the supernumerary of officers does not exceed 10%.

Those incapable of military service are awarded civil ranks: the first 2 ranks - class X, 3 ranks - class XII and 4 ranks - class XIV.

For the education received, those who completed the course of the corps are required to stay in active service for 1.5 years per year in special classes.

Capitals have been established at the corps for the issuance of benefits to those who complete the course: named after the former director of the adjutant general gr. Ignatiev, the name of "page Nikolai Veymarn" (victims by his father) and the name of the former director of the infantry general Dieterikhs.

Directors
- 1759 - 1760 - Tschudi Louis Theodore Henri (Baron Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore de Tschudi)
- ? - 1762 - Lichten Johann
- 1762-1779 - Franz Rothstein
- 1779-1797 - Second Major Chevalier de Vilna, Franz Nikolaevich
- 1797-1802 - Major General Shaposhnikov, Fedor Sergeevich
- 1802-1805 - Gogel, Andrey Grigorievich
- 10/20/1806 - 03/20/1830 - Gogel, Ivan Grigorievich 1st
- 03/20/1830 - 05/05/1834 - Major General of the Retinue (since 04/19/1831 - adjutant general, from 12/6/1833 - lieutenant general) Kavelin, Alexander Alexandrovich
- 1834-1846 - Ignatiev, Pavel Nikolaevich (general)
- 1846-1849 - Zinoviev, Nikolai Vasilievich
- 1849-1854 - Major General of the Retinue (since 1852 - Lieutenant General) Filosofov, Nikolai Illarionovich
- 1854-1861 - Zheltukhin, Vladimir Petrovich
- 08/30/1861 - 02/1865 - Lieutenant General Ozerov, Sergey Petrovich
- 1865-1867 - Korsakov, Nikita Vasilievich
- 1867-1871 - Bushen, Dmitry Khristianovich
- 1871-1878 - Mezentsov, Petr Ivanovich
- 1878-1894 - Diterichs, Fedor Karlovich
- 1894-1900 - Count Keller, Fedor Eduardovich
- 09/11/1900 - 07/06/1907 - Colonel (from December 6, 1900 - Major General, from April 22, 1907 - Lieutenant General) Epanchin, Nikolai Alekseevich
- 07/13/1907-09/14/1910 - Major General Schilder, Vladimir Alexandrovich
- 09/14/1910 - 11/09/1916 - Major General Usov, Nikolai Nikolaevich
court service

Pupils of the Corps of Pages during the period of study were considered assigned to the imperial court and systematically performed the duties of guard duty. It was considered a great honor and privilege to raise a page to the court rank of chamber-page. However, only the best of the best, those who distinguished themselves in their studies, behavior and upbringing, as well as those who were fluent in foreign languages, could count on this.

The second company of the Corps of Pages 1902-1903

Chamber pages were attached and served under the Empress and the Grand Duchesses during balls, gala dinners, official ceremonies and other events where their presence was required by protocol. The number of chamber-pages varied depending on the number of august persons and members of the imperial family.

The general order was as follows: under the emperor - one chamber page appointed by a sergeant major, with each empress (dowager and current) - two chamber pages, and with each of the Grand Duchesses - one chamber page. Another page was appointed as a spare chamber page in case of illness of one of the chamber pages. Thus, in 1896, when there were nine Grand Duchesses and two Empresses, 14 pages served as an honorary court page, and one was a spare. Until 1802, in addition to pages and chamber pages, in the corps and, accordingly, the court service, there was the rank of life page, which was restored in 1907 in the form of a senior chamber page.

In terms of legal status, pages were equated with non-commissioned officers of the guard, chamber pages - with sergeant majors of the guard, senior chamber pages - with ensigns of the guard. The release of the first category from the corps "to the army with the same rank" was not actually practiced. According to the fourth category, pages were issued from the corps - non-commissioned officers in the guard or ensigns in the army, camera pages (which was extremely rare) - ensigns in the guard or ensigns in the army.

The private life of the pages

Like many boarding schools for boys, same-sex liaisons were common in the Corps of Pages. In addition to memoirs, this is indicated by the obscene poem "The Adventures of the Page", published abroad in 1879, but written several decades earlier. Its author is considered officer Shenin, who graduated from the corps in 1822:

Some well-known persons were subsequently expelled from the Corps of Pages for unworthy behavior: the poet Baratynsky - for theft, and the publicist P.V. Dolgorukov - for homosexual promiscuity. P. A. Kropotkin painted a vivid picture of moral decay and hazing in the building in his memoirs:

The cameramen did whatever they wanted. Only a year before I joined the corps, their favorite game was to gather newcomers into one room at night and run them around in nightgowns like horses in a circus. The "circus" usually ended in a disgusting orgy in an oriental way. The moral concepts that prevailed at that time, and the conversations that were conducted in the building about the "circus", are such that the less said about them, the better.

Notes

Literature
- Corps of Pages for a hundred years / Comp. D. M. Levshin. St. Petersburg: Jubilee Committee of Pages. 1902
- Freiman O. R. Pages in 185 Years: Biographies and Portraits of Former Pages (1711-1896). G. Friedrichshamn, Printing House of the Joint Stock Company. 1894-1897
- St. military. post., book. XV (ed. 2).
- Lalaev, "Historical sketch of military schools from 1700 to 1880";
- Lurie F.M. Corps of Pages of His Imperial Majesty // PRO Books. Bibliophile's Journal. 2012. No. 1. P.125 - 129.
- Miloradovich, “Materials for the history of His Imperial Pazheskiy. Majesties Corps. See Page.
- Journal "Cadet Roll Call" No. 16 1976, No. 53 1993
- Magazine "Midshipman", January 13, 1993
Links

Materials of the book "Pages for 185 years ..." at Wikimedia Commons
- (English)
- Pages for 185 years: Biogr. and portrait. former pages from 1711 to 1896 / Collected. and ed. O. von Freiman. - Friedrichshamn: type. Acc. islands, 1894-1897.
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See what the "Page Corps" is in other dictionaries:
Corps of Pages
Entry into the Corps. - Exams. - Colonel Girardot. - The order and manners of the corps
My father's cherished wish finally came true. A vacancy opened up in the Corps of Pages, which I could take before I reached the age limit, over which they are no longer accepted. My stepmother took me to St. Petersburg, I entered the corps. In this privileged educational institution, which combined the character of a military school with special rights and a court school administered by the imperial court, only one hundred and fifty boys were brought up, mostly children of the court nobility. After four or five years in the corps, those who completed the course were issued officers in any - of choice - guards or army regiment - no matter whether there was a vacancy or not. In addition, the first sixteen students of the senior class were appointed every year as chamber pages to various members of the imperial family: to the king, queen, grand duchesses and grand dukes, which, of course, was considered a great honor. In addition, young people who received such an honor became known at court and had the opportunity to later become adjutants to the emperor or to one of the grand dukes. Thus, they could make a brilliant career. Therefore, fathers and mothers, who had connections at court, tried their best to get their children into the Corps of Pages, even if only to the detriment of other candidates, who then could not wait for a vacancy. Now that I had finally entered a privileged school, my father could give free rein to his ambitious dreams.
The corps was divided into five classes, of which the oldest was called the first, and the youngest - the fifth, and I took the exam for the fourth class. But since my insufficient acquaintance with decimal fractions was revealed at the verification test, instead of the fourth I ended up in the fifth grade, especially since there were already more than forty pupils in the fourth, while for the youngest they barely got twenty.
This decision made me extremely sad. And without this, I was very reluctant to enter a military school, and here I still had to stay in it for five years instead of four. What am I going to do in fifth grade when I already know everything they teach? With tears in my eyes, I said this to the inspector, but he answered me jokingly: "Do you know the words of Caesar: it is better to be the first in the village than the second in Rome?" To which I vehemently replied that I would prefer to be the last, if only I could finish the military school as soon as possible.

Perhaps, over time, you will fall in love with the corps, ”said the inspector, Colonel Pavel Petrovich Winkler, a remarkable person for that time. Since then, he has been very kind to me.
To the teacher of arithmetic, artillery officer Chigarev, who also tried to console me, I swore that I would never open the textbook of his subject. "And in spite of this, you will give me twelve," I added. I kept my word. The student, as you can see, was already smelly even then.
In the meantime, now I can thank for the fact that I was enrolled in the junior class. Since the first year I only had to repeat what was already known, I got used to learning lessons in the classroom from the teacher's explanations. Thus, after classes, I could read and write to my heart's content. Moreover, I spent most of the first winter in the hospital. Like all children not born in St. Petersburg, I paid tribute to the capital of the "cold Finnish shores": I suffered several attacks of local cholera and finally fell ill from typhus for a long time. During the first years I did not even prepare for exams, and during the time appointed for preparation, I usually read aloud to several comrades Ostrovsky or Shakespeare. And then, when I moved into the senior, special classes, I was well prepared to listen to the various subjects that were read there.
When I entered the Corps of Pages, a complete change took place in its inner life. All of Russia then woke up from a deep sleep and was freed from the heavy nightmare of Nikolaev. This awakening was reflected in our body. Frankly, I don't know what would have happened to me if I had entered a year or two earlier. Either my will would be finally broken, or I would be expelled - who knows with what consequences. Fortunately for me, in 1857 the transitional period was already in full swing.
The director of the corps was an excellent old man, General Zheltukhin, but he was only nominally the head of the corps. The real head of the school was a "colonel" - a Frenchman in the Russian service, Colonel Girardot. They said that he belonged to the Jesuit order, and I think that he was so. His tactics were in any case based on the teachings of Loyola, and the method of education was borrowed from the French Jesuit colleges.
One must imagine a small, very thin man with a sunken chest, with black, piercing, shifting eyes, with a short-cropped mustache that made him look like a cat, a man very restrained and firm, not endowed with special mental abilities, but remarkably cunning; a despot by nature, capable of hating - and hating strongly - a boy who is not completely influenced by him, and showing this hatred not with senseless nit-picking, but incessantly, with all his behavior, gesture, smile, exclamation. He did not walk, but rather glided, and the inquisitive glances that he cast around without turning his head, completed the resemblance to a cat even more. The seal of coldness and dryness lay on his lips, even when he tried to be complacent. The expression became even sharper when Girardot's mouth twisted into a smile of displeasure or contempt. And at the same time, there was nothing bossy about him. At first glance, one might think that a condescending father speaks to children as to adults. Meanwhile, it was immediately felt that he wanted everyone and everything to subordinate to his will. Woe to that boy who did not feel happy or unhappy in accordance with the greater or less favor that the colonel showed him!
The word "colonel" was constantly on everyone's lips. All other officers had nicknames; but no one dared to name Girardot. A kind of mystery surrounded him, as if he were omniscient and omnipresent. Indeed, he spent the whole day and most of the evening in the corps. When we were sitting in the classrooms, the colonel wandered around, inspecting our drawers, which he unlocked with his own keys. At night, until late at night, he noted in books (he had a whole library of them) with special signs, multi-colored ink and in different columns the misdeeds and differences of each of us.
The game, jokes and conversations ceased as soon as we saw how, slowly swaying back and forth, he moves through our huge halls, arm in arm with one of his favorites. He will smile at one, look sharply into the eyes of another, glimpse an indifferent glance at the third and slightly twist his lips, passing by the fourth. And from these glances everyone knew that Girardot loved the first, was indifferent to the second, deliberately ignored the third, and hated the fourth. This hatred was enough to terrify most of his victims, especially since no one knew its cause. Impressionable boys were driven to despair both by this silent, rigorously displayed disgust, and by these suspicious looks. In others, the hostile attitude of Girardot caused the complete destruction of the will, as Fyodor Tolstoy, also a pupil of Girardot, showed in his autobiographical novel "Diseases of the Will".
The internal life of the corps under the control of Girardot was miserable. In all closed educational institutions, newcomers are persecuted. They go through a kind of trial. "Old people" want to know what the price of a newcomer. Will he become a fiscal? Does it have an extract? Then the "old men" want to show the newcomers in all their splendor the power of the existing partnership. This is how it is in schools and prisons. But under the leadership of Girardot, the persecution took on a more acute character, and they were carried out not by fellow classmates, but by pupils of the senior class - chamber pages, that is, non-commissioned officers whom Girardot placed in a completely exceptional, privileged position. The colonel's system was that he gave the older pupils complete freedom, he pretended that he did not even know about the horrors that they were doing; but through the chamber-pages he maintained strict discipline. During the time of Nicholas, to answer the blow of the camera-page, if the fact came to the attention of the authorities, would mean to end up in the cantonists. If the boy somehow did not obey the whim of the chamber-page, then this led to the fact that 20 pupils of the senior class, armed with heavy oak rulers, severely beat - with the tacit permission of Girardot - a disobedient who showed a spirit of disobedience.
Because of this, the chamber pages did whatever they wanted. Only a year before I joined the corps, their favorite game was to gather newcomers into one room at night and run them around in nightgowns like horses in a circus. Some of the chamber-pages stood in the circle, others outside it and mercilessly whipped the boys with gutta-percha whips. "Circus" usually ended with a disgusting orgy in an oriental way. The moral concepts that prevailed at that time, and the conversations that were conducted in the building about the "circus", are such that the less said about them, the better.
The Colonel knew about all this. He organized a wonderful network of espionage, and nothing could escape him. But Girardot's system was to turn a blind eye to all the tricks of the senior class.
In the corps, however, there was a breath of new life, and just a few months before my admission, a revolution took place. In that year, the third class crept up special. Many seriously studied and read, so that some of them later became famous people. My acquaintance with one of them - I will call him von Schauf - happened, I remember, when he was busy reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Moreover, in the third class were also the biggest strongmen of the corps, such as, for example, the wonderful strongman Koshtov, a great friend of von Schauff. The third class, not as obedient as its predecessors, submitted to the yoke of chamber pages. The consequence of one incident was a big fight between the first and third classes. The chamber pages were severely beaten. Girardot hushed up the incident, but the authority of the first class was undermined. The whips remained, but they were never used again. As for the "circus" and other games, they have passed into the realm of legends.
In this way much was gained, but the lowest class, consisting of very young boys who had just entered the corps, still had to submit to the petty whims of the chamber-pages. We had a lovely old garden, but the fifth graders didn't use it much. As soon as they descended into the garden, they had to turn the merry-go-round, into which the chamber-pages sat, or they were ordered to serve the elder bowls when playing skittles. Two days after my admission, seeing how things were in the garden, I did not go there, but remained upstairs. I was reading when the red-haired, freckled chamber-page Vasilchikov entered and ordered me to go immediately into the garden to turn the merry-go-round.
I will not go. Don't you see: I read, - I answered.
Anger twisted the chamber page's already ugly face. He was ready to pounce on me. I got into a defensive position. He tried to hit me in the face with his cap. I parried blows as best I could. Then he threw his cap on the floor.
Raise!
Raise yourself!
Such a fact of disobedience was unheard of insolence in the corps. I don't know why he didn't beat me on the spot. He was older and stronger than me.
The next day and the next I received similar orders, but did not carry them out. Then a series of systematic petty persecutions began, which can drive the boy to despair. Fortunately, I was always in a cheerful mood and responded with jokes or did not pay attention at all.
Besides, it was all over soon. It began to rain, and we spent most of our time within four walls. But then a new story happened. In the garden, the first class smoked rather freely, but inside the building the "tower" was the smoking room. It was kept very clean, and the fireplace was heated all day.
The chamber-pagers severely punished every boy if they caught him with a cigarette, but they themselves constantly sat by the fire, smoked and chatted. Their favorite time for smoking was after ten o'clock in the evening, when everyone else had already gone to bed. The meeting in the "tower" lasted until half past eleven, and in order to protect themselves from an unexpected visit from Girardot, they made us on duty. Fifth graders were roused one by one, in pairs, from their beds and made to wander up the stairs until half past eleven, in order to sound the alarm if the colonel approached.
We've decided to do away with these night shifts. The meetings went on for a long time; turned to the senior classes for advice on what to do. Their decision was finally received: “Refuse to stand on watch; if the chamber pages start beating you, which in all probability will be, gather in the largest possible crowd and call on Girardot. He, of course, knows everything, but then he will be forced to stop watching ". The question of whether this would not be "fiscal" was decided in the negative by experts in matters of honor: after all, the chamber pages did not behave with us as with comrades.
The turn to stand guard that night fell on a certain "old man", Shakhovsky, and on the extremely timid newcomer Sevastyanov, who even spoke in a thin voice, like that of a girl. First they called Shakhovsky; he refused and was left alone. Then two chamber-pages came to Sevastyanov, who was lying in bed; since he also refused, they began to whip him cruelly with belt braces. Shakhovskoy, meanwhile, woke up several comrades who were sleeping closer, and all together ran to Girardot.
I, too, was lying in bed when two chamber-pages came up to me and ordered me to stand at the clock. I refused. Then they grabbed two pairs of suspenders (we always folded our dress in a big order on a stool, next to the bed, suspenders on top, and a tie crosswise) and began to whip me with them. I sat up in bed and waved my hands; I had already received several hot blows when a shout was heard: "First class to the colonel!" The ferocious fighters calmed down at once and hastily put my things in order.
Look, don't say anything to the colonel! they whispered.
Put the tie right, in order, - I joked, although my back and arms were burning from the blows.
What Girardot was talking about with the first class, we did not learn, but the next day, when we lined up to go down to the dining room, the colonel addressed us in a minor tone. He said how unfortunate it was that the chamber-pagers attacked the boy, who was right when he refused to go. And who was attacked? For a beginner, for such a timid boy as Sevastyanov! The whole corps was disgusted by this Jesuit speech!
It seems there is nothing to add that the night watch was put to an end. At the same time, the system of "molesting newcomers" was dealt a final blow.
This event also dealt a blow to the authority of Girardot, who took all this to heart. To our class, and to me in particular, he began to be very hostile (the story of the carousel was, of course, passed on to him) and showed it at every opportunity.
During the first winter, I often lay in the hospital and in December fell ill with typhus, and during the illness the director and the doctor treated me with truly paternal care. Then, after typhus, I had a series of acute and painful gastric inflammations. Girardot, during his daily rounds, often finding me in the hospital, began to say to me half-jokingly in French: "Here lies a young man lying in the hospital, strong as New Bridge." Once or twice I answered with jokes, but at last I was indignant at this incessant repetition of the same thing.
How dare you say that! I shouted. - I will ask the doctor to forbid you to go to this ward! - And so on in the same tone.
Girardot took two steps back. His black eyes flashed; his thin lips tightened even more. At the end he said: "I insulted you? Didn't I? Well, we have two guns in the recreation room. Do you want to duel?"
I am not joking, I continued, and I tell you that I do not want to endure your hints any longer.
The Colonel has not repeated his joke since then, only giving me an even more hostile look than before.
Everyone spoke of Girardot's enmity towards me, but I paid no attention to it; in all likelihood, my indifference further increased the colonel's dislike.
For a whole year and a half, he did not give me shoulder straps, which are usually given to beginners a month or two after admission, after the beginner gets some idea about front-line service. But I felt very happy without this decoration. Finally, one officer, the best front-line soldier in the corps, volunteered to train me. Convinced that I was doing all the tricks properly, he decided to introduce me to Girardot, but the colonel refused once or twice, so that the officer took this as a personal insult. And when the director once asked him why I didn’t have shoulder straps, the officer answered bluntly: “The boy knows everything, only the colonel doesn’t want to.” Immediately after this, in all likelihood as a result of the director's remark, Girardot examined me again, and I received epaulettes on the same day.
In general, the influence of the colonel was already greatly at a loss. The whole character of the body has changed. For twenty whole years, Girardot pursued his ideal in the school: that the pazhiks should be carefully combed and curled, as it happened, the courtiers of Louis XIV. Whether the pages learned anything or not did not concern him. His favorites were those who had more nail brushes and perfume bottles in their toilet boxes, whose "own" uniforms (they were worn on Sunday holidays) were better tailored, and who knew how to make the most elegant salut oblique. Girardot often arranged rehearsals for court ceremonies. For this purpose, one of the pages was wrapped in a red paper bed cover, and he portrayed the empress during the baisemain. The boys once, almost like a sacred rite, performed the ritual of applying to the hand of an imaginary empress and retired with an elegant bow to the side. But now even those who were very elegant at court bowed at rehearsals with such bearish grace that the general laughter did not stop, and Girardot became furious. Previously, the pazhiks, who were curled in order to be taken to the exit to the palace, took care to keep their curls as long as possible after the ceremony; now, returning from the palace, they ran under the tap to straighten their hair. They laughed at the feminine appearance. Getting to the exit to stand there as a decoration was no longer considered a favor, but a kind of corvée. Pazhiks, who were sometimes taken to the palace to play with the little grand dukes, somehow noticed that one of the latter, when playing plaits, twisted his scarf tighter in order to quilt it more painfully. One of the pages then did the same and whipped the prince so that he burst into tears. Girardot was horrified, although the tutor of the Grand Duke, the old admiral of Sevastopol, even praised the pazhik.
For one thing, nevertheless, Girardot should be remembered kindly. He was very concerned about our physical education. He greatly encouraged gymnastics and fencing. I am indebted to him for teaching us to stand straight, chest forward. Like all readers, I certainly had a tendency to stoop. Girardot calmly, passing by the table, came up from behind and straightened my shoulders and did not get tired of doing this many times in a row.
In the building, as in other schools, a new serious desire to learn was manifested. In former years, the pages were sure that one way or another they would receive the necessary marks for graduation into the guards. Therefore, for the first years they did nothing; learning something began only in the last two classes. Now the junior classes are doing very well. The moral atmosphere is also completely different from what it was a few years ago. One or two attempts to resurrect the past ended in scandals. Girardot had to resign. He was allowed, however, to stay in the old single apartment in the building of the corps, and we often saw him later, when he, wrapped in an overcoat, passed by, immersed in thoughts - in all likelihood, sad; the colonel could not but condemn the new trends, which were quickly determined in the corps.
Reflection in the Corps of Pages for the Awakening of Russia. - Teachers
All of Russia was talking about education then. After they made peace in Paris and the censorship strictness somewhat weakened, the question of education began to be discussed with fervor. The favorite topics for discussion in the press, in circles of enlightened people and even in high-society drawing rooms were the ignorance of the people, the obstacles that were put up until now for those who wanted to learn, the lack of schools in the villages, outdated teaching methods and how to help all this. The first women's gymnasiums opened in 1857. The program and staff of teachers did not leave much to be desired. As if by magic, a number of teachers and teachers came forward who not only devoted themselves entirely to the cause, but also showed outstanding pedagogical abilities. Their works would take pride of place in Western literature if they were known abroad.
And the Corps of Pages was also affected by the influence of the revival. With few exceptions, all three junior classes were eager to learn. To encourage this desire, Inspector P. P. Winkler (an educated artillery colonel, a good mathematician and an advanced person) came up with a very successful plan. He invited the best teachers for the junior classes instead of the former mediocrities. Winkler was of the opinion that the best teachers would do the best to give beginning boys the first concepts. Thus, to teach elementary algebra in the fourth grade, Winkler invited an excellent mathematician and natural teacher, Captain Sukhonin. The whole class immediately became addicted to mathematics. By the way, I will say that the captain also taught the heir, Nikolai Alexandrovich, and that the heir therefore came to the Corps of Pages once a week to attend Captain Sukhonin's algebra lessons. Empress Maria Alexandrovna was an educated woman and thought that, perhaps, communication with diligent boys would also make her son more interested in learning. The heir sat on the bench with the others and, like everyone else, answered questions. But for the most part during the lesson, Nikolai Alexandrovich drew (very well) or told funny stories in a whisper to his neighbors. He was a good-natured and gentle young man, but frivolous both in teaching and even more so in friendship.
For the fifth grade, the inspector invited two wonderful people. Once he, beaming, entered our class and announced that we had an enviable fortune. A great connoisseur of classical and Russian literature, Professor Klassovsky, Winkler told us, has agreed to teach you Russian grammar and will walk with you from class to class all five years until graduation. The same for the German language will be done by another university professor, Herr Becker, librarian of the imperial public library. Winkler expressed his confidence that we would sit quietly in the classroom, as Professor Klassovsky was feeling ill this winter. The opportunity to have such a good teacher is too enviable to pass up.
Winkler was wrong. We were very proud of the knowledge that professors from the university would read to us. True, in "Kamchatka" they were of the opinion that the "sausage" should be made of silk, but the public opinion of the class was in favor of the professors.
"Kurbasnik", however, immediately won our respect. A tall man entered the class, with a huge forehead and kind, intelligent eyes, with a spark of humor in them, and in perfectly correct Russian he announced to us that he intended to divide the class into three groups. The first will include Germans who know the language, to whom he will be especially demanding. To the second group, he will read grammar, and subsequently German literature according to the established program. The third group, the professor added with a sweet smile, will include Kamchatka. “I will only demand from her that each during the lesson rewrite four lines from the book, which I will indicate. When he rewrites his four lines, Kamchatka is free to do what he wants, on one condition - do not interfere with others. I promise you that at the age of five you will learn a little German language and literature. Well, who goes to the group of Germans? You, Stackelberg? You, Lamsdorf? Perhaps one of the Russians also wants to? And who goes to "Kamchatka"?" Five or six of us, who did not know a sound of German, settled on a remote peninsula. They conscientiously rewrote their four lines (twelve to twenty lines in the senior classes), and Becker chose these lines so well and treated his students so attentively that after five years the "Kamchadals" really had some idea of the German language and literature.
I joined the Germans. Brother Sasha in his letters so urged me to learn the German language, in which there is not only rich literature, but there are also translations of any book of scientific importance, that I myself have already sat down with this language. At that time I was translating and learning a difficult - in terms of language - poetic description of a thunderstorm. On the advice of the professor, I learned all the conjugations, adverbs and prepositions and began to translate. This is a great method for learning languages. Becker advised me, in addition, to subscribe to the cheap weekly illustrated magazine "Gartenlaube". Pictures and short stories made me want to read.
By the end of the winter, I asked Becker to give me Faust. I have already read it in Russian translation; I also read Turgenev's marvelous story "Faust" and now yearned to know the great work in the original.
You will not understand anything in it, Becker told me with a kind smile, too philosophical a work. - Nevertheless, he brought me a small square book with yellowed pages from time to time. The philosophy of Faust and the music of verse captured me completely. I began with a beautiful, sublime dedication and soon knew entire pages by heart. Faust's monologue in the forest drove me into ecstasy, especially those verses in which he spoke about understanding nature:
Erhabner Geist, du gabst mir, gabst mir alles,

Warum ich bat Du hast mir nicht umsonst.

Dein Angesicht im Feuer zugewendet...etc.

(Mighty spirit, you delivered everything to me, everything,

What I asked for. Not in vain to me

You revealed your face in a fiery radiance.

You gave me wonderful nature into the kingdom,

To know her, to taste her strength gave me ...

You showed me a series of life creations

You taught me to see my brothers

In the waves, and in the air, and in a quiet grove.)
And now this place still makes a strong impression on me. Each verse gradually became a dear friend to me. Is there a higher aesthetic pleasure than reading poetry in a language that is not entirely familiar? Everything is then covered with a kind of light haze, which is so befitting of poetry. Those words that, when we know the spoken language, cut our ears with a discrepancy with the transmitted image, retain their subtle, sublime meaning. The musicality of the verse is especially captured.
The first lecture by V. I. Klassovsky was a revelation for us. He was under fifty; He was small in stature, impetuous in his movements, had eyes sparkling with intelligence and sarcasm and the high forehead of a poet. When he arrived at the first lesson, he quietly told us that he could not speak loudly, as he suffered from an old illness, and therefore asked us to sit closer to him. Klassovsky put his chair near the first row of tables, and we clung to it like a swarm of bees.
He was supposed to teach us grammar, but instead of a boring subject, we heard something completely different. He read, of course, the grammar: but either he compared a passage from an epic with a verse from Homer or from the Magabgarata, the charm of which he made us understand in translation, then he introduced a stanza from Schiller, then he inserted a sarcastic remark about some modern prejudice. Then grammar followed again, and then some broad poetic or philosophical generalizations.
Of course, we did not all understand and missed the deep meaning of many things; but does not the enchanting power of the doctrine lie precisely in the fact that it gradually opens up unexpected horizons before us? We still do not fully comprehend everything, but we are beckoned to go further and further towards what at first seems to be only vague outlines ... Some of us fell on the shoulders of our comrades, others stood near Klassovsky. Everyone's eyes sparkled. We eagerly hung on his words. By the end of the lesson, the professor's voice dropped, but we listened all the more attentively, holding our breath. The inspector was about to open the door to see how things were going with our new teacher, but, seeing swarms of frozen listeners, he left on tiptoe. Even Donaurov, who is generally rebellious in nature, and he fixed his eyes on Klassovsky, as if he wanted to say: "So that's what you are!" Even the hopeless Klugenau, a Caucasian with a German surname, sat motionless. Something good and sublime was seething in the hearts of the majority, as if a new world was opening before us, the existence of which we had not yet suspected. Klassovsky had an enormous influence on me, which only intensified over the years. Winkler's prediction that I would eventually love the school came true.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the winter, Klassovsky fell ill and had to leave Petersburg. Instead, another teacher was invited - Timofeev, also a very good person, but of a different kind. Klassovsky was essentially a political radical. Timofeev was an esthetician. Timofeev was a great admirer of Shakespeare and told us a lot about him. Thanks to him, I fell deeply in love with Shakespeare and several times re-read all his dramas in Russian translation, often I read Shakespeare aloud to one of my comrades.
When we moved into the third grade, Klassovsky returned to us, and I became even more attached to him.
Western Europe and, in all likelihood, America do not know this type of teacher, well known in Russia. We do not have any outstanding figures and activists in the field of literature or public life, who did not owe the first impetus to development to a teacher of literature. In every school, everywhere there should have been such a teacher. Each teacher has his own subject, and there is no connection between different subjects. Only one teacher of literature, guided only in general terms by the program and who is given the freedom to carry out it at his own discretion, has the opportunity to connect all the humanities into one, generalize them with a broad philosophical outlook and thus awaken in the hearts of young students the desire for a lofty ideal. In Russia, this task, of course, falls to the lot of the teacher of Russian literature. Since he talks about the development of language, about the early epic, about folk songs and music, and later about modern fiction and poetry, about the scientific, political and philosophical currents reflected in it, he is obliged to lead generalizing concepts about the development of the human mind, set forth apart in each individual subject.
The same should be done in the teaching of the natural sciences. It is not enough to teach physics and chemistry, astronomy and meteorology, zoology and botany. No matter how the teaching of natural sciences at school is set, students should be told about the philosophy of natural science, inspire them with general ideas about nature, following the model, for example, of the generalizations made by Humboldt in the first half of Cosmos.
The philosophy and poetry of nature, the exposition of the method of the exact sciences, and a broad understanding of the life of nature - this is what must be taught to students in school in order to develop in them a real natural-scientific worldview. It seems to me that a teacher of geography could best fulfill this task; but then, of course, completely different teachers of this subject are needed in secondary schools and completely different professors in the departments of geography at universities.
In our building, geography was taught by the "famous" Belokha. Belokha demanded that each student called to the blackboard draw a degree network on it with chalk and then draw a map. A wonderful thing if everyone could do it. But only five or six students could draw a map from memory that looked like anything. To everyone who could not draw a map on a blackboard, Belokha ruthlessly put "zeros".
To avoid "zeros", we got small, five centimeters long, cards, which for some reason we called cheat sheets. We used them in this way: for example, he calls Belokha Donaurov.
Donaurov goes to the blackboard, then returns to his place and says:
Kropotkin, give me your handkerchief, I forgot mine.
I have already prepared a small map of Europe and am handing it over to Donaurov along with a handkerchief. Donaurov blows his nose and puts the card in the palm of his left hand. As long as Belokha asks another student or looks in a magazine, Donaurov draws a map from a cheat sheet, names cities, mountains, rivers approximately correctly and receives a "point of peace of mind", that is, "six". Otherwise, Donaurov would certainly have received a "deuce" or "three", and even "zero", and "zero" - it means to be two Sundays without a vacation.
I eagerly set about making cheat sheets, and I compiled a whole geographical miniature atlas in two or three copies. When I was drawing maps of Finland with a pretense of artistry in the semi-dark casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress, I repeated more than once, admiring my work:
Thanks to Belokha, without cheat sheets I would never have learned to draw like that.
Of course, if Belokha gave us a ready-made lithographed grid and forced us to draw each map two or three times by eye, and not from memory from another map, we would also or even better retain in memory the geographical outlines of this or that country.
Belokha did not instill in any of us a love for geography, but meanwhile the teaching of geography could be made interesting and exciting. A geography teacher could unfold before his students the whole picture of the world in all its diversity and harmonic complexity. Unfortunately, school geography is still one of the most boring sciences.
Another teacher conquered our noisy classroom in a very different way. It was a calligraphy teacher, the last spoke in the pedagogical chariot. If the “pagans”, that is, the teachers of French and German, were generally treated with little respect, then the attitude towards the calligraphy teacher Ebert, a German Jew, was all the worse. He became a real martyr. The pages considered it a special chic to be rude to Ebert. Probably, only his poverty explained why he did not refuse lessons in the building. The "old men" who hopelessly sat down in the fifth grade in the second and third years treated the teacher especially badly. But one way or another, Ebert concluded an agreement with them: "One prank per lesson, no more." Unfortunately, I must admit that we did not always honestly fulfill the agreement.
Once one of the inhabitants of the distant "Kamchatka" soaked a sponge in ink, sprinkled it with chalk and threw it at the calligraphy teacher "Ebert, catch it!" he shouted, grinning stupidly. The sponge hit Ebert in the shoulder. A whitish goo splashed into his face and flooded his shirt.
We were sure that this time Ebert would leave the classroom and complain to the inspector, but he took out a paper handkerchief, wiped himself off and said, "Gentlemen, one prank, no more! The shirt is ruined," he added in a subdued voice and continued to correct someone's notebook .
We sat, ashamed and stunned. Why, instead of complaining, did he mention the treaty in the first place? The location of the class immediately went over to the side of the teacher.
You made a scum! We began to reproach our comrade. - He is a poor man, and you ruined his shirt!
The guilty person immediately got up and went to apologize
You have to study, gentlemen, study! Ebert replied sadly. And nothing more.
After that, the class immediately fell silent. For the next lesson, as if by agreement, most of us diligently wrote out the letters and wore to show notebooks to Ebert. He beamed and felt happy that day.
This incident made a deep impression on me and has not been erased from my memory. Until now, I am grateful to this wonderful man for his lesson.
With the drawing teacher Ganz, we could never establish peaceful relations. He constantly "recorded" the playful ones during his lesson, and meanwhile, according to our concepts, he had no right to do so, firstly, because he was only a drawing teacher, and secondly, and most importantly, because was not a conscientious person. During the lesson, he did not pay any attention to most of us, since he corrected the drawings only for those who took private lessons from him or ordered him drawings for the exam. We had nothing against the comrades who ordered drawings. On the contrary, we considered it quite natural that students who did not show the ability in mathematics or did not have the memory to memorize geography, and who received poor marks in these subjects, ordered the clerk to get a good drawing or topographic map in order to get "full twelve" and thus improve general conclusion. Only the first two disciples should not have done this. “But the teacher himself is not befitting,” we reasoned, “to make drawings to order. And since he does this, then let him humbly endure our noise and pranks.” But Gantz, instead of resigning himself, complained after each lesson, and with each lesson he "wrote down" more and more.
When we moved into the fourth grade and felt like full-fledged citizens of the corps, we decided to rein in Gantz.
It's your own fault that he was so proud of you, - our senior comrades told us. - We kept him in tight rein.
Then we also decided to school him.
One day, two of our class, excellent comrades, approached Ganz with cigarettes in their hands and asked for a light. Of course, it was only a joke; no one thought to smoke in class. According to our concepts, Gantz should have simply told the pranksters: “Get out!”, but instead he wrote them down in a journal, and both were severely punished. It was a drop that overflowed the cup. We decided to arrange a "farce" for Gantz. This meant that the whole class, armed with rulers borrowed from the older pages, would drum on the tables with them until the teacher got out.
The execution of the plot presented, however, some difficulties. There were quite a few sissies in our class who would have promised to join the demonstration, but at the decisive moment would have chickened out and backed down. Then the teacher could complain about the others. Meanwhile, in our opinion, in such enterprises, unanimity means everything, since punishment, whatever it may be, is always lighter when it falls on the whole class, and not on a few.
The difficulty was overcome with purely Machiavellian dexterity. It was agreed that at this signal everyone would turn their backs on Gantz, and then they would start drumming with rulers, which would be ready for this purpose on the tables of the second row. Thus, sissies will not be frightened by the sight of Gantz. But signal! A robber whistle, as in a fairy tale, a cry or even a sneeze was not good. Gantz would now inform on the one who whistled or sneezed. I had to come up with a silent signal. We decided that one of us, who was good at drawing, would carry the drawing to Gantz. The signal will be when he returns and sits down.
Everything was going great. Nesterov carried the drawing, and Ganz corrected it for several minutes, which seemed endless to us. But then Nesterov returned at last, stopped for a moment, looked at us, then sat down ... At once the whole class turned its back on the teacher; the rulers crackled frantically on the tables. Some, covering the chatter, shouted: "Gantz, get out!" The noise was deafening. All classes knew that Gantz received a full benefit performance. He got up, muttered something, and finally left. An officer ran in. The noise continued. Then the sub-inspector flew in, followed by the inspector. The noise stopped. Breakdown has begun.
Senior under arrest! commanded the inspector. Since I was the first student in the class, and therefore the eldest, I was taken to the punishment cell. Because of this, I did not see everything further. The director showed up. Gantz was asked to point out the instigators; he couldn't name anyone.
They all turned their backs on me and started making noise,” he replied. Then the whole class was led downstairs. Although corporal punishment was no longer practiced in our corps, this time they flogged two pages who asked Gantz for a cigarette. The rods were motivated by the fact that the benefit performance was arranged in revenge for the punishment of pranksters.
I found out about all this ten days later, when I was allowed to return to class. I was erased from the red board, which did not upset me at all. On the other hand, I must confess that ten days without books in the punishment cell seemed a bit long to me. To pass the time, I composed an ode in oak verse that sang of the glorious deeds of the fourth grade.
Needless to say, we became the heroes of the corps. For a whole month afterwards, we all told the other classes about our exploits and received praise for doing everything so unanimously and not catching anyone separately. Then Sundays stretched without vacation until Christmas itself ... The whole class was so punished. However, since we were all sitting together, we spent these days very cheerfully. Mother's sons received whole baskets of goodies. Those who had money, they bought mountains of pies. Essential before dinner, and sweet after. In the evenings, comrades from other classes smuggled loads of fruit to the glorious fourth class.
Ganz didn't record anyone else; but we are done with drawing. No one wanted to learn how to draw from this corrupt man.
Correspondence with Sasha. - His passion for philosophy and political economy. - Religion. - Great disappointment. - Secret dates with brother
As soon as I entered the Corps, I began a lively correspondence with Sasha. Brother Sasha was in Moscow at that time, in the cadet corps. Correspondence had to be abandoned while I stayed at home, since my father considered it his right to open all the letters that arrived at our house, and would soon put an end to all non-banal correspondence. Now we had full opportunity to discuss anything in letters. There was only one difficulty: how to get money for postage? We, however, soon learned to write so small that we managed to convey an incredible mass of things in one letter. Alexander wrote amazingly. He managed to put four printed pages on one side of a sheet of plain stationery. For all that, his microscopic letters were as easy to read as a clear nonpareil. It is extremely unfortunate that some of these letters, which I kept as a shrine, have disappeared. The gendarmes took them from my brother during a search.
In the first letters we talked mainly about the little things in corps life, but soon the correspondence took on a more serious character. My brother did not know how to write about trifles. Even in society, he only perked up when a serious conversation began, and complained that he was experiencing "a physical pain in the head," as he said, when he was among people chatting about trifles. Sasha was far ahead of me in development and encouraged me to develop. To this end, he raised philosophical and scientific questions one after another, sent me whole scientific dissertations in his letters, woke me up, advised me to read and study. How happy I am that I have such a brother who, at the same time, still loved me passionately. To him, most and most of all, I owe my development.
Sometimes, for example, he advised me to read poetry and sent long excerpts in letters, or even entire poems by Lermontov, A. K. Tolstoy, etc., which he wrote from memory. "Read poetry: it makes a person better," he wrote. How often I later recalled this remark and became convinced of its truth! Read poetry: it makes a person better! Sasha himself was a poet and could write amazingly sonorous poetry. But the reaction against art that took place among the youth in the early sixties and depicted by Turgenev in "Fathers and Sons" made the brother look with disdain at his poetic experiments. He was completely captured by the natural sciences. I must say, however, that my favorite poet was not the one most valued by my brother. Alexander's favorite poet was Venevitinov, while Nekrasov was mine. True, Nekrasov's poems are often not musical, but they spoke to my heart by standing up for the "humiliated and offended."
"A person must have a definite goal in life," my brother wrote, "without a goal, life is not life." And he advised me to set a goal for which it would be worth living. I was then too young to find it, but by virtue of the call something indefinite, vague, "good" was already boiling in me, although I myself could not determine what this "good" would be.
My father gave us very little pocket money. I have never had enough of them to buy at least one book. But if Alexander received a few rubles from some aunt, he never spent a single penny on himself personally, but bought a book and sent it to me. Sasha was against indiscriminate reading. "Beginning to read the book, everyone should have a question that they would like to resolve," he wrote to me. However, I did not fully appreciate this remark at the time. Now I cannot recall without amazement the huge number of books, sometimes of a completely special nature, which I then read in all branches of knowledge, but mainly in history. I haven't wasted time on French novels since Alexander emphatically defined them as: "They are stupid, and there they swear with nasty words."

The Diplomatic Corps I have talked so far about my meetings and acquaintances with the British. However, in parallel with this, I established contacts and contacts with the diplomatic corps, which in London has always been unusually diverse and numerous. possessions

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