With an expression of reverent awe on his face Alexandr Ivanitch enumerated some two dozen abstruse sciences in which instruction was given at the school of mines; he described the school itself, the construction of the shafts, and the condition of the miners.⁠ ⁠… Then he told me a terrible story which sounded like an invention, though I could not help believing it, for his tone in telling it was too genuine and the expression of horror on his Semitic face was too evidently sincere.

; and in Greek I read through almost all Curtius. But, you know, one thing and another,⁠ ⁠… the students leaving and the uncertainty of my position, and then I heard that my mamma had come and was looking for me all over Harkov. Then I went away. What was I to do? But luckily I learned that there was a school of mines here on the Donets line. Why should I not enter that? You know the school of mines qualifies one as a mining foreman⁠—a splendid berth. I know of mines where the foremen get a salary of fifteen hundred a year. Capital.⁠ ⁠… I entered it.⁠ ⁠…”