The man's work on the clock is read in full. Online reading of the book The Man on the Clock Nikolay Leskov. The man on the clock. (1839). History of creation and publication

The event, the story of which below is offered to the readers' attention, is touching and terrible in its significance for the main heroic person of the play, and the denouement of the case is so original that such a thing is hardly possible anywhere except Russia.

This is partly a courtier, partly a historical anecdote, not badly characterizing the mores and trends of a very curious, but extremely poorly noted era of the thirties of the nineteenth century.

There is no fiction in the upcoming story at all.

Chapter two

In winter, near Epiphany, in 1839 there was a strong thaw in St. Petersburg. The weather was so soggy that it was quite like spring: the snow was melting, drops fell from the rooftops during the day, and the ice on the rivers turned blue and took on water. On the Neva in front of the Winter Palace there were deep openings. The wind was blowing warm, westerly, but very strong: water was catching up from the seaside, and cannons were firing.

The guard in the palace was occupied by a company of the Izmailovsky regiment, commanded by a brilliantly educated and very well placed young officer, Nikolai Ivanovich Miller (later full general and director of the Lyceum). He was a man with a so-called "humane" tendency, which had long been noticed behind him and slightly harmed him in his service in the attention of the higher authorities.

In fact, Miller was a serviceable and reliable officer, and the palace guard at that time did not represent anything dangerous. It was the most quiet and serene time. Nothing was required of the palace guard, except for the exact standing at the posts, and yet it was here, at the guard line of Captain Miller at the palace, that a very extraordinary and alarming incident occurred, which is now barely remembered by few of the contemporary contemporaries living out their days.

Chapter three

At first, everything went well on guard: posts were distributed, people were placed, and everything was in perfect order. Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich was healthy, went for a drive in the evening, returned home and went to bed. The palace also fell asleep. The calmest night has come. There is silence in the guardhouse. Captain Miller pinned his white handkerchief with pins to the high and always greasy morocco back of the officer's chair and sat down to while away the time with a book.

NI Miller was always a passionate reader, and therefore he did not get bored, but read and did not notice how the night drifted away; but suddenly, at the close of the second hour of the night, he was alarmed by a terrible anxiety: a non-commissioned officer appeared in front of him and, all pale, seized with fear, babbled rapidly:

- Trouble, your honor, trouble!

- What?!

- A terrible misfortune befell!

NI Miller jumped up in indescribable anxiety and could hardly really find out what exactly the "misfortune" and "terrible misfortune" consisted of.

Chapter four

The matter was as follows: a sentry, a soldier of the Izmailovsky regiment, by the name of Postnikov, standing at the clock outside the current Jordan entrance, heard that a man was pouring into the hole that covered the Neva opposite this place and desperately begging for help.

The soldier Postnikov, from the courtyard gentlemen, was a very nervous and very sensitive person. For a long time he listened to the distant cries and groans of the drowning man and came to a numbness from them. In horror, he looked back and forth at all the space of the embankment visible to him and neither here nor on the Neva, as luck would have it, did not see a single living soul.

Nobody can give help to a drowning man, and he will certainly flood ...

Meanwhile, the drowning man struggles terribly long and hard.

Only one thing would seem to him - without wasting strength, to go down to the bottom, but no! His exhausted groans and inviting cries will break off and become silent, then they begin to be heard again, and, moreover, closer and closer to the palace embankment. It can be seen that the person has not yet got lost and is on his way right, right into the light of the lanterns, but only he, of course, still will not be saved, because it is here on this path that he will fall into the Jordanian ice-hole. There he dived under the ice and the end ... Here and again the verse, and a minute later again rinses and groans: "Save, save!" And now it is already so close that you can even hear the splashes of water as it rinsing ...

The soldier Postnikov began to realize that it was extremely easy to save this man. If you now run to the ice, then the sinking will certainly be right there. Throw him a rope, or stretch a pole, or give him a gun, and he is saved. He is so close that he can grab his hand and jump out. But Postnikov remembers both the service and the oath; he knows that he is a sentry, and the sentry dare not leave his booth for anything and under any pretext.

On the other hand, Postnikov's heart is very rebellious: it whines, it knocks, and it freezes ... Even if you pluck it out and throw it under your own feet, it becomes so restless with these groans and screams ... It's scary to hear how another person dies, and no help can be given to this dying man, when, in fact, there is a full opportunity for that, because the booth will not run away from the place and nothing else harmful will happen. "Or run away, eh? .. They won't see? .. Oh, Lord, there would be one end! Moans again ... "

In one half hour, while this lasted, the soldier Postnikov was completely tormented by his heart and began to feel "doubts of reason." And he was a smart and serviceable soldier, with a clear mind, and he perfectly understood that leaving his post was such a fault on the part of the sentry, which would immediately be followed by a military court, and then a race through the formation with gauntlets and hard labor, and maybe even "Shooting"; but from the side of the swollen river, groans again float closer and closer, and one can already hear the gurgling and desperate floundering.

- T-o-o-well! .. Save me, drowning!

Here now there is a Jordanian ice-hole ... The end!

Postnikov looked around once or twice in all directions. There is not a soul anywhere, only the lanterns are shaking from the wind and flickering, but in the wind, interrupting, this cry reaches ... maybe the last cry ...

There was another splash, another shriek, and the water gurgled.

The sentry broke down and left his post.

« Man on watch"- the story of NS Leskov, written in 1887. The story was first published in the journal "Russian Thought" in 1887 (No. 4) under the title "Salvation of the Perished". Subsequently, the name was changed by the author.

The plot is based on a real fact: the author informs about it in the first chapter, the memoirs of those years testify to this. Real historical figures act in the story: N.I. Miller (lieutenant general, director of the Alexandrovsky Lyceum), S.A.Kokoshkin (in the 30s, St. Petersburg chief police chief), N.P. Svinin (colonel).

In the collection "Stories and Stories", published by S. N. Shubinsky in 1887, the story " Man on watch"At the request of the author, was published along with other stories" about the righteous. "

Winter in St. Petersburg in 1839 was with strong thaws. The sentry Postnikov, a soldier of the Izmailovsky regiment, stood at his post. He heard that a man had fallen into the wormwood and called for help. The soldier did not dare to leave his post for a long time, because this was a terrible violation of the Charter and almost a crime. The soldier suffered for a long time, but in the end he made up his mind and pulled out the drowning man. A sleigh in which an officer was sitting passed by. The officer began to sort it out, and in the meantime Postnikov quickly returned to his post. The officer, realizing what had happened, brought the rescued man to the guardhouse. The officer reported that he saved the drowning man. The rescued could not say anything, since he lost his memory from what he had experienced, and he didn’t really understand who was saving him. The case was reported to Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, a zealous campaigner.

Svinin considered himself obliged to report to Chief of Police Kokoshkin. The case gained wide publicity.

The officer posing as a rescuer was awarded the medal “for saving the dead”. Private Postnikov was ordered to whip two hundred rods in front of the formation. The punished Postnikov, wearing the same greatcoat on which he was flogged, was transferred to the regimental hospital. Lieutenant Colonel Svinin ordered to give the punished a pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of tea.

Postnikov replied: "I am much satisfied, thank you for my fatherly mercy." In fact, he was satisfied, sitting for three days in a punishment cell, he expected much worse that a military court could award him.

Listen to Leskov's story " Man on watch»

Analysis of the story by N. Leskov "The Man on the Clock"

The plot of Nikolai Leskov's story “ Man on watch”Lies the moral problem. This is a human duty problem. The hero of the story, the hour of the palace guard Postnikov, faces a difficult choice. Standing on the clock at the booth, he sees a man drowning in the icy water of the Neva. All around the night. The duty of humanity and human conscience call the soldier to save the drowning man. "Disobedient heart" - this is how Postnikov feels it.

But in no case should the sentry leave the post. He will face severe punishment, tribunal, hard labor, up to execution. During the time of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, such rules were adopted in the troops. Duty and fear keep the soldier in place. As a result, the soldier can not stand it, pulls the drowning person out of the water, and, of course, gets caught by the authorities.

Composition of N. Leskov's story " Man on watch»Is built chronologically. First, these are the feelings of Postnikov himself, facing a choice. Then the further actions of his superiors are described. The author ironically writes how the news of human salvation is perceived: “Trouble! A terrible misfortune has befallen! " And the fuss of careerists begins, for whom the main thing is not to reward the savior, but to hide the very case that the soldier left the post.

Leskov's artistic techniques are mainly irony, sometimes sarcasm.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe story by N. Leskov " Man on watch"- the absurdity and inhumanity of the system, which is built on fear and" window dressing ". In such a system, the living, the human recede into the background, and most importantly - the formalities, the "appearance".

In a shameless way, the chief of police and lieutenant colonel, Kokoshkin and Svinin "cover up the traces" of the sentry's feat. The medal of salvation is awarded to another person. This is the officer who “spotted” Postnikov “at the crime scene”. They deceive even the most saved who wants to pray for the savior in the temple.

The theme of N. Leskov's story “man on watch” is the theme of conscience, the theme of humanity, the theme of freedom, the theme of soulless formalism.

The central images of the story " Man on watch": This is the image of Postnikov himself, a man loyal to both duty and humanity. He is Christianly humble and patient, apparently, even his name was not chosen by the author by chance. Postnikov is able to sacrifice himself for the sake of another. This is a simple and downtrodden person, he sincerely believes that "God and the sovereign is to blame", moving away from the unnecessary guardhouse and saving human life.

The image of Svinin is also interesting. This is the type of person mired in formalism. His surname is also from the category of "speaking". Most of all, Svinin is interested in the career and the opinion of his superiors. He first puts Postnikov in a punishment cell, and then orders to punish him with canes: they say, he got off so easily. He contemptuously calls the salvation of man "humanity." The lieutenant colonel covers his absurd order with idle talk: "There is nothing to breed liberal ideas!"

Forced to obey him and Captain Miller. This clever man, one of the military dumbheads around him, respects Postnikov's feat, perhaps more than the soldier himself. But the formal duty again orders him to obey his elders, and he punishes Postnikov. Respect for the formalism of power at the end of the story is also shown by the bishop, the clergyman.

Nikolay Leskov

Man on watch

The event, the story of which below is offered to the readers' attention, is touching and terrible in its significance for the main heroic person of the play, and the denouement of the case is so original that such a thing is hardly possible anywhere except Russia.
This is partly a courtier, partly a historical anecdote, not badly characterizing the mores and trends of a very curious, but extremely poorly noted era of the thirties of the nineteenth century.
There is no fiction in the upcoming story at all.

In winter, near Epiphany, in 1839 there was a strong thaw in St. Petersburg. The weather was so soggy that it was quite like spring: the snow was melting, drops fell from the rooftops during the day, and the ice on the rivers turned blue and took on water. On the Neva in front of the Winter Palace there were deep openings. The wind was blowing warm, westerly, but very strong: water was catching up from the seaside, and cannons were firing.
The guard in the palace was occupied by a company of the Izmailovsky regiment, commanded by a brilliantly educated and very well-placed young officer, Nikolai Ivanovich Miller (* 1) (later full general and director of the lyceum). He was a man with a so-called "humane" tendency, which had long been noticed behind him and slightly harmed him in the service in the attention of the higher authorities.
- In fact, Miller was a serviceable and reliable officer, and the palace guard at that time did not represent anything dangerous. It was the most quiet and serene time. Nothing was required of the palace guard, except for the exact standing at the posts, and yet it was here, at the guard line of Captain Miller at the palace, that a very extraordinary and alarming incident occurred, which is now barely remembered by few of the contemporary contemporaries living out their days.

At first everything went well on guard: posts were distributed, people were placed, and everything was in perfect order. Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich was healthy, went for a drive in the evening, returned home and went to bed. The palace also fell asleep. The calmest night has come. There is silence in the guardhouse (* 2). Captain Miller pinned his white handkerchief with pins to the high and always greasy morocco back of the officer's chair and sat down to while away the time with a book.
NI Miller was always a passionate reader, and therefore he did not get bored, but read and did not notice how the night drifted away; but suddenly, at the end of the second hour of the night, he was alarmed by a terrible anxiety: a non-commissioned officer appeared in front of him and, all pale, seized with fear, babbled rapidly:
- Trouble, your honor, trouble!
- What?!
- A terrible misfortune befell!
NI Miller jumped up in an indescribable alarm and could hardly really find out what exactly the "misfortune" and "terrible misfortune" consisted of.

The matter was as follows: a sentry, a soldier of the Izmailovsky regiment, by the name of Postnikov, standing at the clock outside the current Jordan entrance, heard that a man was pouring into the hole that covered the Neva opposite this place and desperately begging for help.
The soldier Postnikov, from the courtyard gentlemen, was a very nervous and very sensitive person. For a long time he listened to the distant cries and groans of the drowning man and came to a numbness from them. In horror, he looked hither and thither at all the space of the embankment visible to him and neither here nor on the Neva, as luck would have it, did not see a single living soul.
Nobody can give help to a drowning man, and he will certainly flood ...
Meanwhile, the drowning man struggles terribly long and hard.
Only one thing would seem to him - without wasting energy, to go down to the bottom, but no! His exhausted groans and inviting cries will break off and become silent, then they begin to be heard again, and, moreover, closer and closer to the palace embankment. It can be seen that the person has not yet got lost and is on his way right, right into the light of the lanterns, but only he, of course, still will not be saved, because it is here, on this path, that he will fall into the Jordanian ice-hole. There he dived under the ice, and the end ... Here and again the verse, and a minute later again rinses and groans: "Save, save!" And now it is already so close that you can even hear the splashes of water as it rinsing ...
The soldier Postnikov began to realize that it was extremely easy to save this man. If you now run to the ice, then the sinking will certainly be right there. Throw him a rope, or stretch a pole, or give him a gun, and he is saved. He is so close that he can grab his hand and jump out. But Postnikov remembers both the service and the oath; he knows that he is a sentry, and the sentry dare not leave his booth for anything and under any pretext.
On the other hand, Postnikov's heart is very rebellious: it whines, it knocks, it still stops ... Even if you pluck it out and throw it under your own feet, it becomes so restless with these groans and screams ... another person dies, and no help can be given to this dying man, when, in fact, there is a full opportunity for that, because the booth will not run away from the place and nothing else harmful will happen. "Or run away, eh? .. Will not see? .. Oh, Lord, one end! Moans again ... "
In one half hour, while this lasted, the soldier Postnikov was completely tormented by his heart and began to feel "doubts of reason." And he was a smart and serviceable soldier, with a clear mind, and he understood perfectly well that leaving his post was such a fault on the part of the sentry, which would immediately be followed by a military court, and then a race through the ranks with gauges and hard labor, and maybe even and "shooting"; but from the side of the swollen river, groans again float closer and closer, and one can already hear the gurgling and desperate floundering.
- T-o-o-well! .. Save me, drowning!
Here now there is a Jordanian ice-hole ... The end!
Once or twice Postnikov looked round in all directions. There is not a soul anywhere, only the lanterns are shaking from the wind and flickering, but in the wind, interrupting, this cry reaches ... maybe the last cry ...
There was another splash, another shriek, and the water gurgled.
The sentry broke down and left his post.

Postnikov rushed to the gangway, ran with a violently beating heart onto the ice, then into the rushing water of the ice hole, and, soon looking at where the drowned man was beating, handed him the stock of his rifle.
The drowning man grabbed the butt, and Postnikov pulled him by the bayonet and pulled him ashore.
The rescued and the savior were completely wet, and as of them the rescued was in great fatigue and trembled and fell, then his savior, the soldier Postnikov, did not dare to throw him on the ice, but took him out to the embankment and began to look around to whom he could give him. And meanwhile, while all this was being done, a sleigh appeared on the embankment, in which an officer of the then court invalid team (subsequently abolished) sat.
This gentleman who arrived at the wrong time for Postnikov was, presumably, a man of a very frivolous character, and, moreover, a little stupid, and a fair amount of insolent. He jumped off the sleigh and began to ask:
"What kind of man ... what kind of people?"
“I was drowning, I was drowning,” Postnikov began.
- How did you drown? Who, are you drowning? Why in a place like this?
And he just puffs away, but Postnikov is no longer there: he took the gun on his shoulder and again stood in the booth.
Whether or not the officer realized what was the matter, he did not investigate any more, but immediately picked up the rescued man in his sleigh and drove with him to Morskaya, to the congress house of the Admiralty unit.
Then the officer made a statement to the bailiff that the wet man he had brought with him was drowning in a hole opposite the palace and was saved by him, the officer, at the risk of his own life.
The one who was rescued was still wet, cold and exhausted. From fright and from terrible efforts, he fell into unconsciousness, and for him it did not matter who saved him.
A sleepy police paramedic was bustling about him, and in the office they wrote a protocol based on the verbal statement of an invalid officer and, with suspicion typical of police people, they wondered how he himself got out of the water completely? And the officer, who had a desire to get himself the established medal "for saving the dead," explained this by a happy coincidence, but explained it awkwardly and incredibly. We went to wake the bailiff, sent to make inquiries.
Meanwhile, in the palace, other, fast currents had already formed in this case.

In the palace guardhouse, all of the now mentioned turns after the officer took the rescued drowned man in his sleigh were unknown. There, the Izmailovsky officer and the soldiers knew only that their soldier Postnikov, leaving the booth, rushed to save the man, and that this was a big violation of military duties, then Private Postnikov would now certainly go to trial and under sticks, and to all superiors, starting from the company commander the regiment commander will get terrible troubles, against which nothing can be argued or justified.
The wet and trembling soldier Postnikov, of course, was immediately removed from his post and, being brought to the guardhouse, frankly told N.I. Miller everything that we know, and with all the details that reached before the invalid officer put the rescued person in of the drowned man and ordered his coachman to gallop to the Admiralty unit.
The danger became more and more inevitable. Of course, the disabled officer will tell the bailiff everything, and the bailiff will immediately inform Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin about it, and he will report to the Emperor in the morning, and the "fever" will go.
There was no time to argue, it was necessary to call the elders to the cause.
Nikolai Ivanovich Miller immediately sent a disturbing note to his battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, in which he asked him to come to the palace guardhouse as soon as possible and by all means to help the terrible disaster that had happened.
It was already about three o'clock, and Kokoshkin appeared with a report to the sovereign quite early in the morning, so that there was very little time left for all thoughts and actions.

Lieutenant Colonel Svinin did not have that pity and that kindness that always distinguished Nikolai Ivanovich Miller: Svinin was not a heartless man, but above all and most of all a "serviceman" (a type that is now again remembered with regret). Svinin was distinguished by his severity and even loved to flaunt the exactingness of discipline. He had no taste for evil and did not seek to inflict unnecessary suffering on anyone; but if a person violated any duty of service, then Svinin was implacable. He considered it inappropriate to enter into a discussion of the motives that guided the movement of the guilty in this case, but adhered to the rule that in the service all guilt is to blame. Therefore, everyone in the guard company knew that Private Postnikov would have to endure for leaving his post, then he would bear it, and Svinin would not grieve about it.
This is how this staff officer was known to his superiors and comrades, among whom there were people who did not sympathize with Svinin, because then "humanism" and other similar delusions had not yet been completely evolved. Svinin was indifferent to whether the "humanists" condemned or praised him. Begging and begging Svinin, or even trying to pity him, was a completely useless affair. From all this, he was tempered by the strong temper of the career people of that time, but he, like Achilles, had a weak point.
Svinin also had a well-started career, which he, of course, carefully guarded and cherished so that not a speck of dust would land on her, like on a ceremonial uniform: and meanwhile, the unfortunate trick of a man from the battalion entrusted to him was bound to cast a bad shadow. on the discipline of its entire part. Whether the battalion commander is guilty or not guilty of what one of his soldiers did under the influence of passion for the noblest compassion - this will not be disassembled by those on whom Svinin's well-started and carefully supported career depends, and many will even willingly roll a log under his feet. to give way to your neighbor or to move a fellow, favored by people in case. The sovereign, of course, will be angry and will certainly tell the regimental commander that he has "weak officers", that they have "disbanded". Who did it? - Svinin. This is how it will go on repeating that “Svinin is weak”, and so, perhaps, submission to weakness will remain an indelible stain on his, Svinin's, reputation. Then he will not be anything remarkable among his contemporaries and will not leave his portrait in the gallery of historical figures of the Russian state.
Although little was involved in the study of history at that time, they nevertheless believed in it and especially eagerly strove to participate in its composition.

As soon as Svinin received about three o'clock in the morning an alarming note from Captain Miller, he immediately jumped out of bed, dressed in uniform and, under the influence of fear and anger, arrived at the guardhouse of the Winter Palace. Here he immediately interrogated Private Postnikov and made sure that an incredible incident had taken place. Private Postnikov again quite sincerely confirmed to his battalion commander all the same that had happened on his watch and what he, Postnikov, had already shown to his company captain Miller. The soldier said that he was “guilty of God and the sovereign without mercy,” that he stood at the clock and, hearing the groans of a man drowning in a hole, suffered for a long time, for a long time was in the struggle between official duty and compassion, and finally temptation attacked him, he could not stand this struggle: he left the booth, jumped onto the ice and pulled the drowning man ashore, and here, as if it were a sin, he was caught by a passing officer of the palace invalid team.
Lieutenant Colonel Svinin was in despair; he gave himself the only satisfaction he could, having thwarted his anger at Postnikov, whom he immediately sent under arrest to the barracks punishment cell from here, and then said several barbs to Miller, reproaching him with "humanity", which is not suitable for anything in military service; but all this was not enough to fix the matter. It was impossible to find, if not an excuse, then an apology for such an act as leaving the sentry's post, it was impossible, and there was only one outcome - to hide the whole matter from the emperor ...
But is it possible to hide such an incident?
Apparently, this seemed impossible, since not only all the guards knew about the salvation of the deceased, but also that hated disabled officer who, of course, had so far managed to bring General Kokoshkin to the knowledge of all this.
Where to jump now? Whom to rush to? From whom to seek help and protection?
Svinin wanted to gallop to see the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (* 3) and tell him everything sincerely. Such maneuvers were in use then. Let the Grand Duke, by his ardent character, get angry and yell, but his temper and custom were such that the stronger he showed harshness for the first time and even seriously offended him, the sooner he would have mercy and intercede himself. There were many such cases, and sometimes they were deliberately looked for. “The abuse did not hang at the gate,” and Svinin would very much like to reduce the matter to this favorable situation, but is it possible to enter the palace at night and disturb the Grand Duke? And it will be too late to wait for the morning and appear to Mikhail Pavlovich after Kokoshkin has visited the sovereign with a report. And while Svinin was worried amid such difficulties, he became limp, and his mind began to see another way out, hitherto hidden in the fog.

Among the well-known military methods there is one such that at the moment of the highest danger threatening from the walls of the besieged fortress, one does not move away from it, but go directly under its walls. Svinin decided not to do anything that first occurred to him, but to go straight to Kokoshkin immediately.
At that time, many terrifying and absurd things were said about Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin in St. Petersburg, but, by the way, they claimed that he possesses an amazing versatile tact and, with the assistance of this tact, not only “knows how to make an elephant out of a fly, but just as easily knows how to make a fly out of an elephant ".
Kokoshkin was indeed very harsh and very formidable and inspired everyone with great fear to himself, but he sometimes allowed the mischievous and kind merry fellows from the military to peace, and there were many such rascals then, and more than once they happened to find themselves in his person a powerful and zealous defender ... In general, he could and could do a lot, if he only wanted to. Both Svinin and Captain Miller knew him that way. Miller also strengthened his battalion commander to dare to go immediately to Kokoshkin and trust his generosity and his "multilateral tact", who will probably dictate to the general how to get out of this unfortunate incident so as not to infuriate the sovereign, which Kokoshkin, to his credit, he always avoided it with great diligence.
Svinin put on his greatcoat, looked up and exclaimed several times: "Lord, Lord!" - went to Kokoshkin.
It was already at the beginning of the fifth hour in the morning.

Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin was awakened and reported to him about Svinin, who had arrived on an important and urgent business.
The general immediately got up and went out to Svinin in an arkhaluchka, rubbing his forehead, yawning and shivering. Everything that Svinin told, Kokoshkin listened with great attention, but calmly. During all these explanations and requests for leniency, he said only one thing:
- The soldier left the booth and saved the man?
- Exactly so, - answered Svinin.
- And the booth?
- Remained at this time empty.
- Hm ... I knew that it remained empty. I’m very glad it wasn’t stolen.
From this, Svinin became even more convinced that he already knew everything and that, of course, he had already decided for himself in what form he would present this at his morning report to the emperor, and he would not change his decision. Otherwise, such an event as the abandonment of his post in the palace guard by a sentry would undoubtedly have much more alarmed the energetic chief police officer.
But Kokoshkin knew nothing. The bailiff, to whom the disabled officer came with the rescued drowned man, did not see any particular importance in this matter. In his eyes, it was not even such a thing to disturb the tired chief police officer at night, and besides, the event itself seemed to the bailiff rather suspicious, because the invalid officer was completely dry, which could not have happened if he was saving a drowned man with danger to own life. The bailiff saw in this officer only an ambitious and a liar, who wanted to have one new medal on his chest, and therefore, while his duty officer was writing the protocol, the bailiff held the officer and tried to extort the truth from him through asking small details.
The bailiff was also not pleased that such an incident happened in his unit and that the drowning man was pulled out not by a policeman, but by a palace officer.
The calmness of Kokoshkin was explained simply, firstly, by the terrible fatigue that he was experiencing at that time after a whole day of fuss and nightly participation in extinguishing two fires, and secondly, by the fact that the work done by the sentry Postnikov was his, Mr. -policemaster, did not directly concern.
However, Kokoshkin immediately made the appropriate order.
He sent for the bailiff of the Admiralty unit and ordered him to appear immediately with the disabled officer and the rescued drowned man, and asked Svinin to wait in a small waiting room in front of the office. Then Kokoshkin withdrew into the study and, without closing the doors behind him, sat down at the table and began to sign papers; but at once he bowed his head in his hands and fell asleep at the table in an armchair.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the disabled officer was indeed again demanded to see Kokoshkin, who very kindly announced to him that the Tsar was very pleased that there were such vigilant and selfless people among the officers of the wheelchair team of his palace, and he was awarding him a medal "for saving the dead." At this, Kokoshkin personally handed the hero a medal, and he went to flaunt it. The matter, therefore, could be considered completely done, but Lieutenant Colonel Svinin felt some kind of incompleteness in him and considered himself called upon to put point sur les i [dot over i (French)].
He was so alarmed that he fell ill for three days, and on the fourth he got up, went to the Petrovsky house, served a thanksgiving service in front of the icon of the Savior and, returning home with a reassured soul, sent to ask Captain Miller.
“Well, thank God, Nikolai Ivanovich,” he said to Miller, “now the thunderstorm weighing on us has completely passed, and our unfortunate business with the sentry is completely settled. Now, it seems, we can breathe easy. All this we, no doubt, owe first to the mercy of God, and then to General Kokoshkin. Let it be said about him that he is both unkind and heartless, but I am filled with gratitude for his generosity and respect for his resourcefulness and tact. He surprisingly skillfully took advantage of the boasting of this invalid rascal, whom, in truth, it would be worth not to award him with a medal for his insolence, but to tear on both crusts in the stable, but nothing else remained: they had to be used to save many, and Kokoshkin turned the whole thing so clever that no one got the slightest trouble - on the contrary, everyone is very happy and satisfied. Between us, to say, it was conveyed to me through a reliable person that Kokoshkin himself is _very pleased_ with me. He was pleased that I did not go anywhere, but came directly to him and did not argue with this rogue who received the medal. In a word, no one was hurt, and everything was done with such tact that there is nothing to fear even further, but there is a small defect behind us. We, too, must tactfully follow the example of Kokoshkin and finish the matter from our side in such a way as to protect ourselves, just in case, later. There is one more person whose position is not formalized. I'm talking about Private Postnikov. He is still in the punishment cell under arrest, and, no doubt, he is tormented by the expectation of what will happen to him. His agonizing anguish must also be stopped.
- Yes, it's time! - prompted the delighted Miller.
- Well, of course, you all had better fulfill this: please go to the barracks at once, gather your company, get Private Postnikov out of arrest and punish him in front of the formation with two hundred rods.

Miller was amazed and made an attempt to persuade Svinin to completely spare and forgive ordinary Postnikov, who had already suffered a lot, waiting in the punishment cell for a decision on what would happen to him; but Svinin flushed and did not even let Miller continue.
“No,” he interrupted, “leave that alone: \u200b\u200bI just told you about tact, and you are now beginning to be tactless! Leave it!
Svinin changed his tone to a drier and more formal tone and added with firmness:
- And how in this matter you yourself are also not entirely right and even very guilty, because you have a softness that does not go to a military man, and this lack of your character is reflected in the subordination of your subordinates, then I order you to personally be present at the execution and insist so that the section is made seriously ... as severe as possible. For this, if you please, order the young soldiers from the new arrivals from the army to flog with rods, because our old men are all infected with Guards liberalism on this score: they do not whip a comrade as they should, but only frighten fleas behind him. I'll stop by myself and see for myself how the guilty person is made.
Evasion of any official orders of the commanding person, of course, did not take place, and the kind-hearted N.I. Miller had to exactly fulfill the order he received from his battalion commander.
The company was lined up in the courtyard of the Izmailovo barracks, the rods were brought from the supply in a sufficient quantity, and Private Postnikov, who was taken out of the punishment cell, was "made" with the diligent assistance of young comrades who had arrived from the army. These people, unspoiled by guards liberalism, perfectly displayed on it all the point sur les i, fully defined for him by his battalion commander. Then the punished Postnikov was raised and directly from here on the same greatcoat on which he was flogged, transferred to the regimental hospital.

The battalion commander Svinin, upon receiving the report on the execution of the execution, immediately paid a fatherly visit to Postnikov in the infirmary and, to his delight, was most clearly convinced that his order had been executed perfectly. The compassionate and nervous Postnikov was "done well." Svinin was pleased and ordered to give the punished Postnikov a pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of tea from himself, so that he could enjoy himself while he was on the mend. Postnikov, lying on his bed, heard this order about tea and answered:
- I am very pleased, your highness, thank you for your fatherly mercy.
And he was really “satisfied”, because, sitting for three days in a punishment cell, he expected much worse. Two hundred rods, in the then powerful time, meant very little in comparison with the punishments that people endured under the sentences of a military court; And it is precisely this punishment that would have gone to Postnikov, if, to his happiness, all those bold and tactical evolutions that were described above did not occur.
But the number of all those who were satisfied with the incident was not limited to this.

Under the mute, the feat of private Postnikov spread through different circles of the capital, which at that time was living in print without a voice in an atmosphere of endless gossip. In oral transmissions, the name of the real hero - the soldier Postnikov - was lost, but the epic itself swelled and took on a very interesting, romantic character.
It was said that some extraordinary swimmer was sailing to the palace from the side of the Peter and Paul Fortress, at whom one of the sentries standing at the palace fired and wounded the swimmer, and an invalid officer who was passing threw himself into the water and saved him, for which they received: one - a proper award, and the other is a well-deserved punishment. This absurd rumor reached the courtyard, where at that time there lived a careful and not indifferent to "social events" Vladyka, who favorably favored the pious Moscow family of the Pigs.
To the astute ruler, the legend of the shot seemed unclear. Who is this night swimmer? If he was a fugitive prisoner, then why was the sentry punished, who did his duty by shooting him when he sailed across the Neva from the fortress? If this is not a prisoner, but another mysterious person who had to be rescued from the waves of the Neva, then why could the sentry know about him? And then again it cannot be that it was as they talk about that in the world. In the world, much is taken extremely frivolously and quibbling, but those who live in monasteries and farmsteads take everything much more seriously and know the real thing about secular affairs.

Once, when Svinin visited Vladyka to receive a blessing from him, the highly esteemed master spoke to him "by the way about the shot." Svinin told the whole truth, in which, as we know, there was nothing similar to what was told about "by the way about the shot."
Vladyka listened to the real story in silence, slightly moving his little white rosary and not taking his eyes off the narrator. When Svinin had finished, Vladyka said in a quiet, bubbling speech:
- Therefore, it must be concluded that in this case not everything and everywhere was stated in accordance with the full truth?
Svinin hesitated and then replied with a bias that it was not he who reported, but General Kokoshkin.
In silence, Vladyka passed the rosary several times through his wax fingers and then said:
- Must distinguish between what is a lie and what is an incomplete truth.
Again beads, again silence, and finally a quiet speech:
- An incomplete truth is not a lie. But about this the least.
“This is really so,” said the encouraged Svinin. - Of course, I am most embarrassed by the fact that I had to punish this soldier, who, although violated his duty ...
Rosary and quiet-jet interrupting:
- Duty of service should never be violated.
- Yes, but he did it out of generosity, out of compassion, and moreover with such a struggle and danger: he understood that saving the life of another person, he was destroying himself ... This is a high, holy feeling!
- God knows what is holy, but punishment on the body of a commoner is not destructive and does not contradict either the custom of the peoples or the spirit of Scripture. The vine is much easier to bear on a gross body than subtle suffering in the spirit. In this, justice has not suffered in the least from you.
“But he is also deprived of the reward for saving the dead.
- The salvation of the lost is not a merit, but rather a duty. He who could save and did not save is subject to punishment of laws, and who saved, he fulfilled his duty.
Pause, rosary and quiet blast:
- For a warrior to endure humiliation and wounds for his feat can be much more useful than being exalted with a sign. But what is greatest in all this is to keep caution about all this and not to mention anywhere who was told about this on some occasion.
Obviously, Vladyka was pleased too.

If I had the boldness of the happy chosen ones of heaven, who, according to their great faith, are given to penetrate the secrets of God's gaze, then I, perhaps, would dare to allow myself the assumption that, probably, God himself was pleased with the behavior of Postnikov's meek soul that he created. But my faith is small; it does not give my mind the strength to mature so lofty: I hold on to the earthly and earthy. I think of those mortals who love goodness just for the good and do not expect any reward for it anywhere. These direct and reliable people, too, it seems to me, should be completely satisfied with the holy impulse of love and the no less holy patience of the humble hero of my accurate and artless story.

1887
________________________________________________________________
Notes

The original title was “Salvation of the Lost One”.
A number of historical figures act in the story: Captain Miller, Chief of Police Kokoshkin, Lieutenant Colonel Svinin; in the "lord" contemporaries guessed Metropolitan Philaret, Nicholas I and Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich are mentioned, the details of the situation are quite accurately conveyed. The writer's son Andrei Nikolaevich recalls that the story was written from the words of N.I. Miller.
However, this is not a retelling of the fact, but an artistic generalization. In the preface, Leskov says: "This is partly a courtier, partly a historical anecdote, not bad characterizing the mores and direction of a very curious, but extremely poorly noted era of the thirties ...".

1. Miller Nikolai Ivanovich (died in 1889) - lieutenant general, inspector, then director of the Alexander Lyceum. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was a humane person.

2. Guardhouse - guardhouse.

3. Romanov Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1848), younger brother of Nicholas I.

4. Inaccurate quote from "The Inspector General" by NV Gogol. In Gogol (III d., Yavl. VI): "Thirty-five thousand couriers alone!"

1. Text for the reader's diary
2. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe story
3. Summary
4. Summary by chapter

Very briefly

Year: 1887 Genre: story

Main characters: soldier Postnikov, battalion chief Svinin and a drowning man

The soldier Postnikov stood guard when he heard the call for help. He kept thinking and pondering whether he should leave his post and see who is in trouble, or, in any case, should he stay in the service? Postnikov rescues a man drowning in the river and immediately returns. The victim is taken away by a disabled officer. Postnikov was punished for his absence during the service. He is sent to a punishment cell.

A lot of high-ranking officials were involved in the story so that it would not become known to the sovereign. The chief of police, after interrogating the disabled officer and the rescued one, decides to reward the officer. He receives a medal for a good deed. A completely different fate awaits the poor soldier. They pulled him out of the punishment cell, but he was awarded two hundred lashes. For the soldier, this punishment was not very terrible, since he was waiting for the worst decision. The priest learns about the whole truth. He concludes that lashing was a better solution for the soldier than his rapture and praise.

The main idea. Human moral duty is always above all, even if because of the right deed a person may suffer himself.

The action begins with a description of warm weather in the middle of winter. At the time of Epiphany in 1839, the weather was strangely warm. It was so warm that the ice started to melt on the Neva. One soldier, who was a sentry in the Izmailovsky regiment that day, heard strange human cries and screams. Someone called for help. The soldier's name was Postnikov. He did not know what to do, because he could not leave his place of guard, and the man kept calling for help. He nevertheless decided to run to see what was the matter. The voice came from the river. Postnikov saved the drowning man by pulling him out with a gun. The poor man's life was still in danger, because he was very cold and was completely weak. At that moment, the soldier saw an officer in a wheelchair. He immediately returned to watch. The officer picked up the drowning man and, imagining himself a savior, took him to the congress.

Several minutes of Postnikov's absence did not remain secret. His absence was noticed and sent immediately to Officer Miller. Postnikov was put in a punishment cell. For fear that the sovereign might find out about everything, the commander was forced to turn to officer Svinin for help. It got to the point that a lot of people were involved. After contacting Svinin, it was decided to ask for advice from Chief of Police Kokoshkin. The latter decided to take the plunge.

First of all, he considered it necessary to meet with the disabled officer himself and with the man whose salvation caused such a commotion among numerous high-ranking officials. The disabled officer and the drowning man were properly questioned. As a result of this interrogation, the chief of police learned that, apart from the sentry, no one else had any idea of \u200b\u200bwhat had happened and that he was the only witness to the whole story of salvation. The disabled officer again acted as a savior. This time his feat was appreciated. He was awarded a medal designed for similar stories when one saves the life of another.

The real savior was in the punishment cell all this time. In his thoughts, he had already changed his mind and tried to predict any course of events. His reward for saving a poor dying man was the punishment, namely, to receive two hundred blows with a rod. After his punishment, the soldier was nevertheless very pleased with Svinin's decision, since much heavier rewards came to his mind than the blows he received with the rod. This story became known to the priest. He thought about what had happened and concluded that it is better to punish the soldier for such a feat than to exalt him. So there will be more benefits.

Summary Man on the clock by chapters (Leskov)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

This touching story happened in St. Petersburg in winter. A company, commanded by officer Nikolai Miller, was on guard in the palace. He was a very reliable and humane person.

Chapter 3

The night was quiet and calm, Officer Miller whiled away the time reading a book. Suddenly he is informed that trouble has happened.

Chapter 4

It turned out that the sentry Postnikov, who was on guard, heard a cry for help from a drowning man. Being a very sensitive person, he left his post and went to help the drowning man.

Chapter 5

The soldier Postnikov threw himself onto the ice and pulled the man out of the water. At this moment a sleigh drove up to them. A frivolous and impudent officer sat in them. He took the rescued person and took him to the police. At the station, wishing to receive a reward, he said that he saved a drowning man.

Chapter 6

Soldier Postnikov reports to Miller about the incident. Miller understands that all superiors are in trouble, and the soldier cannot avoid serious punishment. He sends a note about the incident to his commander Svinin.

Chapter 7

Lieutenant Colonel Svinin highly valued his place in the service. He did not tolerate disruption of service and was in this regard a strict and unforgiving person.

Chapter 8

As soon as the lieutenant colonel read the note from Miller, he immediately went to interrogate the soldier Postnikov. After interrogation, in a state of anger and despair, he sent the soldier under arrest in a punishment cell. Then Svinin began to think about how to hide the incident from the king.

Chapter 9

Lieutenant Colonel Svinin decides to go to General Kokoshkin. He knows that this person will help to wriggle out of any situation so as not to anger the king.

Chapter 10

Kokoshkin listens to Svinin's story and summons the bailiff, who received the rescued at night, and the officer who allegedly saved the man.

Chapter 11

They come to Kokoshkin together with the rescued person. Kokoshkin has a conversation with the rescued. He understands that he does not remember the face of the person who saved him. Kokoshkin assures the rescued person that the officer who brought him to the station is his savior.

Chapter 12

Kokoshkin promises to present the award to the officer who allegedly saved the man. Thus, he wants to get out of this unpleasant situation. He understands that now no one will know that the soldier left the post and saved the man.

Chapter 13

Kokoshkin presents a medal to a liar. Svinin feels relief, he orders Miller to release the soldier Postnikov and punish him in front of the soldiers with rods.

Chapter 14

Miller asks to spare the soldier, but the lieutenant colonel demands to carry out the order. Postnikov is released, carved with rods and sent for treatment.

Chapter 15

Svinin visits a soldier in the infirmary and orders him to give him sugar and tea. The soldier thanks him for the food. He was pleased with this outcome of events, as he counted on the worst punishment.

Chapter 16

Rumors and invented tales about the feat of the soldier Postnikov begin to spread throughout the capital. The Vladyka of St. Petersburg, who also reached these stories, wants to find out how everything really happened.

Chapter 17

Somehow, Vladyka meets with Pig and finds out the whole truth about the incident that happened. Svinin complains that his conscience torments him for the fact that another person received the award, and the soldier was punished with rods. Vladyka assures him that he did everything correctly.

The play by Filumeno Marturano was written by the famous playwright Eduardo de Filippo. This is a comedy in three acts. One of the best works of the author, which brought him worldwide fame.

Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov

"The man on the clock"

Winter in St. Petersburg in 1839 was with strong thaws. The sentry Postnikov, a soldier of the Izmailovsky regiment, stood at his post. He heard that a man had fallen into the wormwood and called for help. The soldier did not dare to leave his post for a long time, because this was a terrible violation of the Charter and almost a crime. The soldier suffered for a long time, but in the end he made up his mind and pulled out the drowning man. A sleigh in which an officer was sitting passed by. The officer began to sort it out, and in the meantime Postnikov quickly returned to his post. The officer, realizing what had happened, brought the rescued man to the guardhouse. The officer reported that he saved the drowning man. The rescued could not say anything, since he lost his memory from what he had experienced, and he didn’t really understand who was saving him. The case was reported to Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, a zealous campaigner.

Svinin considered himself obliged to report to Chief of Police Kokoshkin. The case gained wide publicity.

The officer posing as a rescuer was awarded the medal “for saving the dead”. Private Postnikov was ordered to whip two hundred rods in front of the formation. The punished Postnikov, wearing the same greatcoat on which he was flogged, was transferred to the regimental hospital. Lieutenant Colonel Svinin ordered to give the punished a pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of tea.

Postnikov replied: "I am much satisfied, thank you for my fatherly mercy." In fact, he was satisfied, sitting for three days in a punishment cell, he expected much worse that a military court could award him.

In the winter of 1839, frequent and long thaws occurred in St. Petersburg. At his post near the location of the military unit was the sentry of His Majesty Izmailovsky regiment, Private Postnikov. Suddenly the sentry heard screams from the river for help from a man who had fallen into the wormwood and was drowning. Leaving the post is considered in the army a gross violation of the military regulations and entails serious punishment, as for a committed crime. Therefore, the sentry Postnikov was subjected to doubts tormenting his soul for a long time, deciding, finally, to save the drowning man. He quickly ran up and helped the drowning man to get out of the hole.

But it so happened that at the same time an officer was passing by on a sleigh, who began to question in detail about what had happened, and the soldier Postnikov quickly returned to his post. Everything became clear to the officer, and he ordered to deliver the rescued person to the guardhouse. An officer there reported that he had saved a man drowning in a hole. And the victim at that time was not able to tell anything, as he was in such a terrible state that he himself did not understand who exactly was saving him. The incident was reported in detail to Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, a diligent campaigner.

The lieutenant colonel, in turn, decided to report in detail to Chief of Police Kokoshkin, after which this event became known in wide circles.

Pretending to be a hero, the "rescue officer" was awarded with honors the medal "For the rescue of the dead", and Private Postnikov was punished - he was whipped in front of the formation with two hundred rods! In the same greatcoat that was under him during the flogging, the regiment was taken to the infirmary. Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, out of compassion, ordered Postnikov to be allocated a whole pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of tea.

The literal answer of the soldier Postnikov was as follows: "I am very pleased, thank you for your fatherly mercy." The soldier, who was expecting a more severe punishment, was indeed incredibly happy that three days of arrest in a punishment cell was nothing compared to what he could get by a military court sentence.

Essays

The event, the story of which below is offered to the attention of readers,
touching and terrible in its meaning for the main character
plays, and the denouement of the case is so original that something like it is hardly even
perhaps somewhere other than Russia.
This is partly a courtier, partly a historical anecdote,
not bad characterizing the morals and direction of a very curious, but extremely
poorly marked epoch of the thirties in the nineteenth
centuries.
There is no fiction in the upcoming story at all.

2

In winter, near Epiphany, in 1839 there was a strong thaw in St. Petersburg.
The weather was so soggy that it was as if spring were coming: the snow was melting, from the roofs
drops fell during the day, and the ice on the rivers turned blue and took water. On the Neva in front of
in the Winter Palace itself, there were deep openings. The wind was blowing warm, west,
but very strong: water was overtaking from the seaside, and cannons were firing.
The guard in the palace was occupied by a company of the Izmailovsky regiment, which was commanded by
brilliantly educated and very well placed in society young
officer, Nikolai Ivanovich Miller (* 1) (later full general and
director of the lyceum). He was a man with a so-called "humane" direction,
which was noticed for him long ago and did a little harm to him in his service in
attention of the highest authorities.
- In fact, Miller was a serviceable and reliable officer, and the palace
guard at that time and did not represent anything dangerous. The time was the most
quiet and serene. Nothing was required of the palace guard except
accurate standing at the posts, and meanwhile just here, on the guard line
captain Miller at the palace, there was a very extraordinary and alarming
an incident that few survivors now barely remember
of the then contemporaries.

3

At first, everything went well on guard: posts were distributed, people were placed,
and everything was in perfect order. Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich was
healthy, went for a drive in the evening, returned home and went to bed. Fell asleep and
palace. The calmest night has come. There is silence in the guardhouse (* 2). Captain
Miller pinned his white handkerchief to a high and always
the traditionally greasy morocco back of an officer's chair and sat down to while
time for a book.
N.I. Miller was always a passionate reader, and therefore he did not get bored, but
read and did not notice how the night floated away; but suddenly, at the end of the second hour
night, he was alarmed by a terrible anxiety: before him is a divorce
a non-commissioned officer and, all pale, seized with fear, babbles in a patter:
- Trouble, your honor, trouble!
- What?!
- A terrible misfortune befell!
N.I. Miller jumped up in unspeakable alarm and could hardly really find out
what exactly was the "trouble" and "terrible misfortune".

4

The matter was as follows: a sentry, a soldier of the Izmailovsky regiment, according to
the names of Postnikov, standing on the clock outside the current Jordan entrance,
heard that in the hole with which the Neva was covered opposite this place,
a man pours in and desperately begs for help.
The soldier Postnikov, from the courtyard gentlemen, was a very
nervous and very sensitive. He listened for a long time to distant cries and groans
drowning man and came into a daze from them. Terrified, he looked back and
here to all the space of the embankment visible to him and neither here nor on the Neva,
as luck would have it, I did not see a single living soul.
Nobody can give help to a drowning man, and he will certainly flood ...
Meanwhile, the drowning man struggles terribly long and hard.
Only one thing would seem to him - without wasting energy, go down to the bottom, right
no! His exhausted groans and invocative cries will break off and become silent,
then again they begin to be heard, and, moreover, closer and closer to the palace
embankment. It can be seen that the person is not yet lost and is on his way right, right
to the light of lanterns, but only he, of course, still will not be saved, because
that it was here, on this path, that he would fall into the Jordanian ice-hole. There he
dive under the ice, and the end ... Here and again the verse, and a minute later rinses again
and groans: "Save, save!" And now it's so close that you can even hear
splashes of water as he rushes ...
The soldier Postnikov began to realize that saving this man was extremely
easy. If you now run to the ice, then the sinking will certainly be right there.
Throw him a rope, or stretch a pole, or give him a gun, and he is saved.
He is so close that he can grab his hand and jump out. But Postnikov remembers
and service and oath; he knows that he is a sentry, and a sentry is not for anything or under
what excuse he dares not leave his booth.
On the other hand, Postnikov's heart is very rebellious: it just aches,
it knocks, it freezes ... even if you tear it out and throw it under your own feet,
- it becomes so restless with him from these groans and screams ...
hear another person dying, and do not give this dying person
help, when, in fact, there is a full opportunity for that, because
that the booth will not run away and nothing else harmful will happen. "Il
run away, eh? .. Won't they see? .. Oh, Lord, one would end! Moans again ... "
For one half hour, while this lasted, the soldier Postnikov was completely tormented
heart and began to feel "doubts of reason". And he was a smart soldier and
serviceable, with a clear mind, and perfectly understood that to leave his post
there is such a guilt on the part of the sentry, which will immediately follow
a military court, and then a race through the ranks with gauntlets and hard labor, and
maybe even "shooting"; but from the side of the swollen river again
moans are drifting closer and closer, and you can already hear the murmur and desperate
floundering.
- T-o-o-well! .. Save me, drowning!
Here now is the Jordanian ice-hole ... The end!
Postnikov looked around once or twice in all directions. There is not a soul anywhere
only the lanterns shake from the wind and flicker, but in the wind,
this cry reaches ... maybe the last cry ...
There was another splash, another shriek, and the water gurgled.
The sentry broke down and left his post.

5

Postnikov rushed to the gangway, ran with a beating heart on the ice,
then into the rushing water of the ice hole and, soon looking at where the
the gushing drowned man handed him the stock of his gun.
The drowning man grabbed the butt, and Postnikov pulled his bayonet and
pulled ashore.
The rescued and the savior were completely wet, and how was the rescued one
in great fatigue and trembled and fell, then his savior, the soldier Postnikov,
did not dare to throw him on the ice, but took him to the embankment and became
look around, to whom to transfer it. Meanwhile, while all this was being done, on
a sled appeared on the embankment, in which an officer of the then existing
a court invalid team (subsequently abolished).
This gentleman who came to the rescue at the wrong time for Postnikov was
to believe that a person of a very frivolous nature, and, moreover, a little
stupid, and a fair amount of insolent. He jumped off the sleigh and began to ask:
"What kind of man ... what kind of people?"
“I was drowning, I was drowning,” Postnikov began.
- How did you drown? Who, are you drowning? Why in a place like this?
And he just puffs away, and Postnikov is no longer there: he took the gun to
shoulder and again stood in the booth.
Whether or not the officer realized what was the matter, he did not investigate any more, but
immediately picked up the rescued man in his sleigh and rode with him on
Marine, to the congress house of the Admiralty unit.
Then the officer made a statement to the bailiff that the wet man he had brought
drowned in a hole opposite the palace and was saved by him, by the officer, with
danger to his own life.
The one who was rescued was still wet, cold and exhausted.
From fright and from terrible efforts, he fell into unconsciousness, and for him it was
it makes no difference who saved him.
A sleepy police paramedic was bustling about him, and in the office
wrote the protocol on the verbal statement of the disabled officer and, with
suspicion peculiar to policemen, they wondered how he
all dry out of the water? And the officer who had the desire to get himself
the established medal "for the salvation of the lost", explained this to the happy
coincidence, but explained awkward and incredible. Let's go wake up
bailiff, sent to make inquiries.
Meanwhile, in the palace on this case, already other, quick
currents.

6

In the palace guard, all the now mentioned turns after the adoption
the officer of the rescued drowned man in his sleigh was unknown. There
The Izmailovsky officer and the soldiers knew only that their soldiers, Postnikov,
leaving the booth, rushed to save the man, and how this is a big violation
military duties, then private Postnikov will now certainly go under
court and under the stick, and all commanding persons, from company commander to
regiment commander, there will be terrible troubles, against which nothing
you can neither object nor justify.
The wet and trembling soldier Postnikov, of course, was immediately replaced from
fasting and, being brought to the guardhouse, frankly told
NI Miller everything that we know, and with all the details that came
before the disabled officer put the rescued drowned man in his bed and
ordered his coachman to gallop to the Admiralty unit.
The danger became more and more inevitable. Of course disabled
the officer will tell the bailiff everything, and the bailiff will immediately inform
information of the chief police officer Kokoshkin, and he will report to the emperor in the morning, and
"fever" will go.
There was no time to argue, it was necessary to call the elders to the cause.
Nikolai Ivanovich Miller immediately sent a disturbing note to his
battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, in which he asked him as
as soon as possible come to the palace guardhouse and by all means help
accomplished terrible disaster.
It was already about three o'clock, and Kokoshkin appeared with a report to the sovereign
quite early in the morning, so that all thoughts and all actions remained
very little time.

7

Lieutenant Colonel Svinin did not have that pity and that kindness,
which always distinguished Nikolai Ivanovich Miller: Svinin was not a man
heartless, but above all and most of all "serviceman" (the type about whom
now they recall it again with regret). Svinin was distinguished by its severity and even
loved to flaunt the exactingness of discipline. He had no taste for evil and
did not seek to inflict unnecessary suffering on anyone; but if a person violated
whatever the duty of service, then Svinin was relentless. He thought
inappropriate to enter into a discussion of the motives that guided this
case by the movement of the guilty, but adhered to the rule that in the service every
the fault is to blame. Therefore, everyone in the guard company knew that they would have to
endure ordinary Postnikov for leaving his post, then he
will bear it, and Svinin will not grieve about it.
So this headquarters officer was known to his superiors and comrades, between
which were people who did not sympathize with Svinin, because then they had not
"humanism" and other similar delusions were completely removed. Svinin was
indifferent to whether the "humanists" condemn or praise him. Beg and plead
Pig or even trying to pity him - it was a matter of absolutely
useless. From all this he was tempered by the strong temper of career people
of that time, but he, like Achilles, had a weak point.
Svinyin also had a well-started career, which he,
of course, he carefully guarded and cherished the fact that on her, as on a ceremonial
uniform, not a single speck of dust sat down: and yet the unfortunate trick of a man
from the battalion entrusted to him must certainly have cast a bad shadow on
discipline of its entire part. Whether the battalion commander is to blame or not
what one of his soldiers did under the influence of passion for the noblest
compassion - this will not be understood by those on whom well depends
started and carefully supported service career of Svinin, and many
even willingly roll a log under his feet to give way to his neighbor
or move a fellow, favored by people in the event. The sovereign, of course,
will get angry and will certainly tell the regimental commander that he has "weak
officers "that they have" people disbanded. "And who did it? - Svinin.
so it will go on repeating that "Pig is weak", and so, maybe submission
weakness and will remain an indelible stain on his, Pig's, reputation. Not
then be nothing remarkable to him among his contemporaries and not
leave your portrait in the gallery of historical persons of the state
Russian.
The study of history then, although little was done, but, nevertheless, believed in it
and they themselves were especially eager to participate in its composition.

8

As soon as Svinin received a disturbing note from
captain Miller, he immediately jumped out of bed, dressed in uniform and, under
influenced by fear and anger, arrived at the guardhouse of the Winter Palace. Here he
immediately interrogated Private Postnikov and made sure that
an incredible event happened. Private Postnikov is again quite
frankly confirmed to his battalion commander all the same,
what happened on his watch and what he, Postnikov, had already shown to his
company Captain Miller. The soldier said that he was "guilty of God and the Tsar
without mercy "that he stood at the clock and, hearing the groans of a man,
drowning in a hole, suffered for a long time, for a long time was in the struggle between the service
duty and compassion, and at last he was tempted, and he did not
endured this struggle: left the booth, jumped onto the ice and pulled out the drowning
to the shore, but here, as if it were a sin, a passing officer of the palace
wheelchair team.
Lieutenant Colonel Svinin was in despair; he gave himself the only possible
satisfaction, having plucked his anger on Postnikov, who immediately
from here he was sent under arrest to the barracks punishment cell, and then said a few
taunts Miller, reproaching him with "humanism", which no matter what
suitable for military service; but all this was not enough to
fix the matter. Find, if not an excuse, then at least an excuse for such
it was impossible for a sentry to leave his post, and
there was only one way out - to hide the whole matter from the sovereign ...
But is it possible to hide such an incident?
Apparently, this seemed impossible, since about salvation
not only all the guards knew the deceased, but that hated
a disabled officer who, of course, has managed to bring everything up to date
this is up to the knowledge of General Kokoshkin.
Where to jump now? Whom to rush to? From whom to seek help and protection?
Svinin wanted to ride to the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (* 3) and
tell him everything sincerely. Such maneuvers were in use then. Let be
the great prince, by his ardent character, will get angry and shout, but his
disposition and custom were such that the stronger it would be for the first time
harshness and even grievously offend, then he will sooner have mercy himself
intercede. There were many such cases, and sometimes they were deliberately looked for.
"There was no swearing at the collar," and Svinin would very much like to reduce the matter to this
favorable position, but is it possible at night to access the palace and
disturb the grand duke? And wait for the morning and report to Mikhail Pavlovich
after Kokoshkin visits the sovereign with a report, it will be
late. And while Svinin was worried amid such difficulties, he went limp, and his mind
another way out, hitherto hiding in the fog, began to see through him.

9

Among the famous military techniques, there is one such that in a minute
the highest danger threatening from the walls of the besieged fortress should not be removed
away from her, but go straight under her walls. Svinin decided not to do anything
what first occurred to him, and immediately go straight to
Kokoshkin.
There was a lot of talk about Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin in St. Petersburg then
terrifying and ridiculous, but, by the way, it was claimed that he possesses
amazing multilateral tact and with the assistance of this tact not only
"knows how to make an elephant out of a fly, but just as easily knows how to make an elephant
fly. "
Kokoshkin was indeed very stern and very formidable and inspired everyone
a great fear of himself, but he sometimes allowed the mischievous and kind merry fellows
from the military, and there were many such rascals then, and it happened more than once
find in his person a powerful and zealous defender. Generally he
he could and could do a lot, if he only wanted to. So they knew him and
Svinin, and Captain Miller. Miller also reinforced his battalion
commander to dare to go immediately to Kokoshkin and
trust his generosity and his "multilateral tact", which,
will probably dictate to the general how to get out of this annoying incident,
so as not to infuriate the sovereign, which Kokoshkin, to his honor, always
avoided with great diligence.
Svinin put on his greatcoat, looked up and exclaimed several times:
"Lord, Lord!" - went to Kokoshkin.
It was already at the beginning of the fifth hour in the morning.

10

Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin was awakened and reported to him about Svinin,
who came on an important and urgent business.
The general immediately got up and went out to Svinin in an arkhaluchka, rubbing his forehead,
yawning and shivering. Everything that Svinin told, Kokoshkin listened with great
attention, but calm. He, during all these explanations and requests for
indulgently said only one thing:
- The soldier left the booth and saved the man?
- Exactly so, - answered Svinin.
- And the booth?
- Remained at this time empty.
- Hm ... I knew that it remained empty. I'm very glad that she was not
stolen.
Svinin from this became even more convinced that he already knew everything and that he,
of course, he has already decided for himself in what form he will present this in the morning
report to the sovereign, and will not change this decision. Otherwise, such an event
as a sentry leaving his post in the palace guard, no doubt
should have alarmed the energetic
chief Police Officer.
But Kokoshkin knew nothing. The bailiff to whom the invalid came
the officer with the rescued drowned man, did not see any special
importance. In his eyes, it was not even such a thing at all that at night
disturb the tired chief police officer, and besides, the event itself
seemed to the bailiff rather suspicious, because the invalid
the officer was completely dry, which could not have happened if he saved
a drowned man in danger of his own life. The bailiff saw in this
an officer of only an ambitious and a liar who wants to have one new medal for
chest, and therefore, while his attendant was writing the protocol, the bailiff held
officer and tried to extort the truth from him through questioning small
details.
The bailiff was also not pleased that such an incident happened in his
parts and that the drowning man was pulled out not by a policeman, but by a palace officer.
Kokoshkin's calmness was explained simply, firstly, by the terrible
the fatigue that he was experiencing at that time after a whole day's bustle and
night participation in extinguishing two fires, and secondly, the fact that the matter,
made by the sentry Postnikov, he, Mr.
concerned.
However, Kokoshkin immediately made the appropriate order.
He sent for the bailiff of the Admiralty unit and ordered him to immediately
appear with a disabled officer and a rescued drowned man, and
Svinin asked to wait in a small reception room in front of the office. Then
Kokoshkin withdrew into the study and, without closing the doors behind him, sat down at the table and
began to sign papers; but now he bowed his head in his hands and
fell asleep at the table in the chair.

11

12

13

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the invalid officer was indeed called back to
Kokoshkin, who very kindly announced to him that the emperor was very pleased,
that among the officers of the wheelchair crew of his palace there are such vigilant and
selfless people, and bestows on him a medal "for the salvation of the lost." When
sem Kokoshkin personally handed the medal to the hero, and he went to flaunt it.
The case, therefore, could be considered completely done, but the lieutenant colonel
Svinin felt in him some kind of incompleteness and considered himself
designed to put point sur les i [dot over i (French)].
He was so alarmed that he was ill for three days, and on the fourth he got up,
went to the Petrovsky house, served a thanksgiving prayer before the icon
Savior and, returning home with a reassured soul, he sent to ask
captain Miller.
- Well, thank God, Nikolai Ivanovich, - he said to Miller, - now
the thunderstorm that gravitated above us has completely passed, and our unfortunate business with
the sentry was completely settled. Now it seems we can breathe
calmly. All this we, no doubt, owe first to the mercy of God, and
then to General Kokoshkin. Let them say about him that he is both unkind and
heartless, but I am filled with gratitude for his generosity and respect for
his resourcefulness and tact. He used surprisingly skillfully
boasting of this invalid rascal who, in truth, would be worth
his impudence not to award a medal, but to rip on both crusts in the stable, but
there was nothing else left: they had to be used to save
many, and Kokoshkin turned the whole thing so cleverly that no one could
the slightest nuisance - on the contrary, everyone is very happy and satisfied. Between us
say, it was conveyed to me through a reliable person that Kokoshkin himself
_very satisfied_. He was pleased that I did not go anywhere, but showed up directly
to him and did not argue with this rogue who received the medal. In a word,
no one was hurt, and everything was done with such tact that you should be afraid of
nothing, but there is a small defect behind us. We must too with tact
follow the example of Kokoshkin and finish the case on their part so that
protect yourself just in case later. There is another person who
the position is not formalized. I'm talking about Private Postnikov. He is still in
punishment cell under arrest, and he, no doubt, tormented by the expectation of what will happen to him.
His agonizing anguish must also be stopped.
- Yes, it's time! - prompted the delighted Miller.
- Well, of course, it is better for you all to do it: go, please,
now to the barracks, gather your company, take out Private Postnikov
from under arrest and punish him in front of the formation with two hundred rods.

14

Miller was amazed and made an attempt to persuade Svinin to
common joy to completely spare and forgive ordinary Postnikov, who
without that he had already suffered a lot, waiting in the punishment cell for a decision that he
will be; but Svinin flushed and did not even let Miller continue.
- No, - he interrupted, - leave that: I just told you about tact,
and you immediately begin to be tactless! Leave it!
Svinin changed his tone to a drier and more formal tone and added with
hardness:
- And how in this matter you yourself are also not entirely right and even very guilty,
because you have a softness that does not go to a military man, and this
lack of your character is reflected in the chain of command in your
subordinates, then I order you to be personally present at the execution and
insist that the cut be made seriously ... as severely as possible. For
this, if you please, order that young soldiers from
new arrivals from the army, because our old people are all infected on this score
guards liberalism: they do not whip a comrade as it should, but only fleas
they scare him behind his back. I'll stop by myself and see for myself how the guilty person will be
made.
Evasion of any official orders of the supervisor
faces, of course, had no place, and the kind-hearted N.I. Miller had to
accurately execute the order he received from his battalion commander.
The company was lined up in the courtyard of the Izmailovo barracks, the rods were brought from
stock in a contented amount, and Private Postnikov, taken out of the punishment cell
"was made" with the diligent assistance of the newly arrived young
comrades. These people, unspoiled by guards liberalism, are perfect
put on it all the point sur les i, fully defined for him by his
battalion commander. Then the punished Postnikov was raised and
directly from here on the same greatcoat on which he was flogged, transferred to
regimental infirmary.

15

Battalion commander Svinin, upon receipt of the execution report
execution, immediately he himself paid a fatherly visit to Postnikov in the infirmary and, to
pleasure, he was most clearly convinced that his order
executed to perfection. The compassionate and nervous Postnikov was "made like
follows. "Svinin was pleased and ordered to give the punished
Postnikov's pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of tea, so that he can enjoy himself while
will be on the mend. Postnikov, lying on his bed, heard this order about tea
and answered:
- I am very pleased, your highness, thank you for your fatherly mercy.
And he was really "satisfied", because, sitting for three days in a punishment cell, he
expected much worse. Two hundred rods, according to the then strong time,
meant very little compared to the punishments people endured
by sentences of a military court; but such a punishment would have gone
Postnikov, if, to his happiness, all those brave and
tactical evolution, which is described above.
But the number of all those who were satisfied with the described incident was not
limited.

16

Under the mute, the feat of private Postnikov spread to different circles
the capital, which at the time of the printed voicelessness lived in the atmosphere
endless gossip. In oral transmission, the name of the real hero - the soldier
Postnikov - was lost, but the epic itself swelled and took a very
interesting, romantic character.
They said that he was sailing to the palace from the side of the Peter and Paul Fortress
some extraordinary swimmer, in which one of those who stood at the palace
the sentry fired and wounded the swimmer, and a disabled officer who was passing
into the water and saved him, for which they received: one - the due reward, and the other -
deserved punishment. This ridiculous rumor reached the courtyard, where in that
at the time, Vladyka lived cautious and not indifferent to "social events"
favorably disposed towards the devout Moscow family of the Pigs.
To the astute ruler, the legend of the shot seemed unclear. What
is this a night swimmer? If he was a fugitive prisoner, then what was he punished for?
the sentry who did his duty by shooting him as he swam
across the Neva from the fortress? If this is not a prisoner, but another mysterious person,
who had to be rescued from the waves of the Neva, then why could he know about him
hourly? And then again it cannot be that it was like that in the world
quibbling. Many things in the world are taken extremely frivolously and swagger, but
those living in monasteries and farmsteads take everything much more seriously and
know the real thing about worldly affairs.

17

Once, when Svinin happened to be with Vladyka, to receive from him
blessing, the highly esteemed owner spoke to him "by the way about the shot."
Svinin told the whole truth, in which, as we know, there was nothing
similar to what was told "by the way about the shot."
Vladyka listened to the real story in silence, slightly moving his
white rosary and not taking his eyes off the narrator. When is Svinin
finished, Vladyka said in a quiet gurgling speech:
- Therefore it must be concluded that in this matter not all and not everywhere
was presented in accordance with the full truth?
Svinin hesitated and then answered with a bias that it was not he who reported, but
general Kokoshkin.
In silence, Vladyka passed his rosary several times through his wax
fingers and then said:
- Must distinguish between what is a lie and what is an incomplete truth.
Again beads, again silence, and finally a quiet speech:
- An incomplete truth is not a lie. But about this the least.
“This is really so,” said the encouraged Svinin. - Me,
of course, the most embarrassing thing is that I should have punished
this soldier who, although he has violated his duty ...
Rosary and quiet-jet interrupting:
- Duty of service should never be violated.
- Yes, but he did it out of generosity, out of compassion, and, moreover, with
such a struggle and with danger: he understood that saving the life of another
man, he destroys himself ... This is a high, holy feeling!
- The holy is known to God, but there is no punishment on the body of a commoner
destructive and does not contradict either the custom of the peoples or the spirit of Scripture. Vines
it is much easier to bear on a gross body than subtle suffering in the spirit. In this
justice did not suffer from you.
“But he is also deprived of the reward for saving the dead.
- The salvation of the lost is not a merit, but rather a duty. Who could save and
did not save - is subject to punishment of laws, and who saved, he fulfilled his duty.
Pause, rosary and quiet blast:
- A warrior can endure humiliation and wounds for his feat.
more useful than being exalted with a sign. But what is greatest in all this is
that to keep caution about the whole matter and not to mention it anywhere
about who was told about this on some occasion.
Obviously, Vladyka was pleased too.

18

If I had the audacity of the happy chosen ones of heaven, who, according to
their great faith, given to penetrate the secrets of God's sight, then I, perhaps,
would dare to allow himself the assumption that, probably, God himself was
satisfied with the behavior of Postnikov's meek soul he created. But my faith is small;
it does not give my mind the strength to mature so high: I hold on to the earthly and
persistent. I think of those mortals who love kindness just for the sake of it
good and do not expect any reward for it anywhere. These are straight and
reliable people, too, it seems to me, should be quite pleased with the saints
an outburst of love and no less holy patience of the humble hero of my accurate and
an artless story.

NOTES

The original title is "Salvation of the Lost One".
A number of historical figures act in the story: Captain Miller,
chief of Police Kokoshkin, Lieutenant Colonel Svinin; in the "lord"
contemporaries guessed Metropolitan Philaret, Nicholas I and
grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the details of the situation are quite accurately conveyed.
The writer's son Andrei Nikolaevich recalls that the story was written from the words
N.I. Miller.
However, this is not a retelling of the fact, but an artistic generalization. In the preface
Leskov says: "This is partly a courtier, partly a historical
anecdote, not bad characterizing the mores and direction of a very curious, but
extremely poorly marked era of the thirties ... ".

1. Miller Nikolai Ivanovich (died in 1889) - Lieutenant General,
inspector, then director of the Alexander Lyceum. From memories
contemporaries, was a humane person.
2. Guardhouse - guardhouse.
3. Romanov Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1848), younger brother of Nicholas I.
4. An inaccurate quote from Nikolai Gogol's "Inspector General". In Gogol (III day, yavl.
VI): "Thirty-five thousand couriers alone!"