As I mentioned earlier, our city had many ties to Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin, one of the finest writers of the late 19th century. In Kharkiv, he lived, wrote, socialized with friends, wandered the streets, and was a patient at the “Saburova Dacha,” a place known to many. And according to the recollections of his close friend Viktor Andreevich Fausek, in the fall of 1879, while reciting his favorite poem by Mikhail Lermontov “Do not laugh at my prophetic anguish…,” he foretold his own death. So in our city, Vsevolod Garshin was truly known, loved, and, of course, remembered.
Just one year after the writer’s tragic death (April 5, 1888), members of the club dedicated to his work approached the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People” with a proposal to transfer to the organization the funds raised to establish a school named after Garshin. By that time, the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People,” founded back in 1869 by a group of professors from the Kharkiv Imperial University led by the renowned Nikolai Nikolayevich Beketov, had extensive experience in organizing schools for the poor.
They opened the first such school back in 1869 in Moskalevka. In 1898, it was renamed after its first trustee, Fyodor Sergeyevich Karpov. The second school was established in 1872 thanks to financial support from a group of Jewish merchants in Kharkiv. Its main donor and first trustee was Isaac Osipovich Rubinstein, and its full name was “The Society for Literacy’s Elementary Jewish School.” Therefore, the money collected by Garshin’s admirers was accepted, but with one condition: the society would open the school only when the amount proved sufficient to cover the school’s ongoing operating costs. So the writer’s admirers continued to raise funds. They also published a collection in memory of Vsevolod Mikhailovich, the net proceeds from the sale of which went to the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People.” In 1890, the renowned artist Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko donated 5,000 rubles for Garshin’s future school.
As of January 1, 1898, the amount raised totaled 7,623 rubles and 16 kopecks, which was clearly insufficient for either constructing the building or maintaining the school. But that same year, the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People,” in accordance with the spiritual will of Fyodor Sergeyevich Karpov—whom we have already met—received a capital endowment of over 187,000 rubles, the interest from which was to be used for the development of elementary education. Thanks to this, beginning in the spring of 1898, the society finally began work on establishing the Vsevolod Garshin School. However, money and good intentions alone were not enough, since land was needed for the construction. Help, as is often the case, came when it was least expected. On November 1, the board of the “Kharkiv Literacy Society” received a statement from landowner Nikolai Stepanovich Migrin:
In the hamlet of Migrinovka, on land that was either leased or purchased from me, a settlement of up to 200 households has formed, comprising people from various social classes, primarily peasants from neighboring villages and counties; Since there is not a single school in this settlement or in the neighboring village of Pavlovka, the need for a school here is very great. Wishing to come to the aid of these poor people, I ask the Board of the Literacy Society to establish a public school in this hamlet at its own expense, for which I am donating a plot of land measuring between 300 and 350 square sazhens, provided that this school can be built and equipped with the necessary teaching staff no later than 1900, in time for the start of the first academic semester. The site will be designated on the hill, along with all necessary documentation, upon my receipt of notification from the Board of their approval of this request.
Naturally, such a generous offer was accepted, and on December 20, at a general meeting of the Society’s members, a resolution was passed to finally begin construction of the building the following year. It was not until the end of 1898 that the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People” finally rid itself of an obligation that had weighed on it for 10 years. In early 1899, the organization’s board drew up plans and a cost estimate for the proposed building and elected a construction committee headed by engineer P. M. Konstantinov. Architect Velichko designed the large two-story building, which was intended to accommodate 120 students.
Although the Kharkiv Zemstvo allocated a subsidy of 1,680 rubles for the construction of the school, there still wasn’t enough money. Therefore, on March 13, 1899, a literary and musical evening was held at the drama theater, and the funds raised there went toward the construction of the school. The media of that time described it as follows:
Amateurs took part in it, as well as Mrs. Stroeva-Sokolskaya and Mr. Bensh. At the same time, V. M. Kovalevskaya made her debut as an artist-extras and staged several living pictures. “The Last Farewell of Orpheus and Eurydice,” based on a painting by V. P. Vereshchagin, and “The Prophet Elijah Before King Ahab,” based on a painting by Moller, were the best tableaux. The evening was full of artistic interest, and if it hadn’t been for the lengthy and frequent readings about serious illness and “insanity,” it could have been considered one of the best evenings. Although the theater was not full, there was a sufficient audience.
Thus, they raised a total of 15,436 rubles. Construction began in May of that year. By October 22, 1900, the work was practically complete. Although the construction commission’s report estimated the cost of construction at 11,814 rubles, only 10,022 rubles were actually spent. The remaining funds were spent by members of the society on the construction of outbuildings and on fencing the school grounds. Since the interest earned on the Vsevolod Garshin Fund was insufficient to cover the school’s ongoing operating costs, the board of the “Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy Among the People” appealed to the district Zemstvo Administration with a request to petition the district Zemstvo Assembly to cover half of the expenses. This request was approved, and thereafter, the Kharkiv Zemstvo Administration allocated 650 rubles annually for the school’s upkeep. In the fall of 1900, the Zemstvo Assembly also granted another request from the board: to allocate a one-time sum of 500 rubles for the purchase of furniture and teaching materials for the school. In December of that same year, the Vsevolod Garshin School, offering free education, finally opened in the village of Novopavlovka in the Kharkiv District.
The first students were 33 boys and 31 girls. By 1904, the school already had 165 students. And I think that Vsevolod Garshin—whom his friend, the poet Nikolai Maksimovich Minsky, called “the troubled conscience of the century” in his poems—would have liked this. Thirteen years later, the city of Kharkiv commemorated the 25th anniversary of the writer’s death and even decided to name a street after him. But more on that next time. So, a sequel is definitely coming.
