“On one bright May day in 1842, my father turned to my elder brother Andrei and me at dinner with the words: “This afternoon, don’t go play in the yard; your mother will dress you and you will go with me.” Father did not explain where he wanted to take us; We, due to domestic subordination, did not dare to ask questions, and therefore our childish curiosity was very excited. My older brother was 10 years old at the time, and I was 8; We lived in Irkutsk in our family, which consisted, in addition to our father, mother and us, of two younger brothers; We studied at home, and every day some modest and acne-prone clerk came to study with us, and since we were both diligent and capable boys, the program of elementary education that our teacher could give was exhausted, and the elder brother began to walk to the gymnasium, and my father said that it was time to send me there too..."