Page:The life of Tolstoy.djvu/94

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62
THE LIFE OF TOLSTOY

him with the energy of a genius in his school at Yasnaya Polyana. This school was described in the following words in his review:

“The school occupies a two-storied brick building. Two rooms are used as classrooms, two for the teachers, and one as a physical cabinet. In the porch hangs a bell with a rope attached to it; in the entrance-hall, downstairs, parallel and horizontal bars are erected; whilst in the vestibule, upstairs, stands a carpenter’s bench. The staircase and entrance-hall are covered with footmarks of snow and dirt. In the hall also hangs the programme. The order of the lessons is as follows: At eight o’clock in the morning the teacher living in the school, who is its administrator and very orderly, sends one of the boys who is sleeping in the school to ring the school-bell.

“Villagers are early risers, and for a long time the lights in the peasants’ cottages have been visible from the school. Half an hour after the ringing of the bell, through the mist or rain, or in the slanting rays of the autumn sun, little dark figures appear separately or in pairs on the slopes of the hollow which divides the school from the village. They are not waiting for each other as formerly. The sentiment to herd together has