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Of an evening, the people of Dryomov would gather on the bank of the Vataraksha, nibbling at pumpkin and sunflower seeds and listening to the snorting and whining of the saws, the shuffling of the planes, the resounding blows of the sharp axes. They would speak in mocking tones of the fruitless building of the tower Babel...
Maxim Gorky, The Artamonovs, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, p.22.
PLACE: Southern Russia, town of Dryomov
TIME: ca. 1875
CIRCUMSTANCE: A few years after the emancipation of the serfs Artomonov moves into the town of Dryomov and starts his own business, a linen mill. The townspeople react very negatively towards these first signs of industrialization.
Pyotr Artamonov paced the building site, pulling absently at his ear, observing the work. A saw ate lusciously into wood; planes shuffled, wheezing, to and fro; axes tapped loud and clear; mortar splashed wetly onto masonry, and a whetstone sobbed against a dull axe edge. Carpenters, lifting a beam, struck up Dubinushka, somewhere a young voice sang out lustily:
"Friend Zachary visited Mary, Punched her mug to make her merry."
Maxim Gorky, The Artamonovs, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, p.87.
PLACE: Southern Russia, town of Dryomov
TIME: ca. 1875
CIRCUMSTANCE: Construction of Artamonov's linen mill.
At long intervals, the monastery watchman banged his iron rattle. Then, suddenly hastily, as though overdue, the bells began to ring for morning prayer. While they were ringing, Pyotr fell asleep.
Maxim Gorky, The Artamonovs, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, p.356.
PLACE: Southern Russia, a marshy area
TIME: ca. 1890
CIRCUMSTANCE: Artamonov senior stays overnight in the monastery guest house, but is unable to go to sleep.
Awakening in the pearly gloom of an autumn dawn, Artamonov senior would hear the summoning blast of the mill whistle. Half an hour later would commence the indefatigable murmur and rustle, the accustomed, dull, but powerful din of labour. From dawn until late evening, peasant men and women shouted at the doors of the warehouses, turning in their flax. Drunken singing, to the strains of a screeching accordion, would sound from the tavern on the bank of the Vataraksha...
Maxim Gorky, The Artamonovs, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, p.404.
PLACE: Southern Russia, town of Dyomov
TIME: ca. 1900
CIRCUMSTANCE: Artomonov's linen mill in operation during a regular working day.
"Machinery makes life dearer, and noisier."
Maxim Gorky, The Artamonovs, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, p.514.
PLACE: Southern Russia, town of Dyomov
TIME: ca. 1910
CIRCUMSTANCE: Industrialization is starting to ruin peasant life.
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