The state has its capital, and a province or region also has its own center. Oh, well, it became a tradition, and it does not go away. In northern Russia, after the province and the county was the parish. Despite all the reforms, restructuring and redrawing, the parish has always been the central unit of the state and the basic "unit" throughout the vast national life.
The family (i.e., the farm, the house, the homestead) was the center that created a whole parish. But what is a family without a home? A house (or mansion) gave shelter and comfort to people, cows, horses, and other living creatures. And if in a spiritual sense, the principal place in the mansion was the red corner of the main house, then a center of material and moral center, of course, was the Russian stove, a never cold family hearth. The stove nursed, fed, healed and comforted. On it sometimes gave birth, it, when people became decrepit, helped to endure brief suffering of dying and get the eternal peace.
The stove was needed at any age, in any condition and situation. It got cold only with the destruction of the family or home. Is it any wonder that the people revered the mason no less than a priest or a teacher? Nobody knows when and how an ordinary hearth became a closed hearth, or the heater, even now you can see in bathhouses, made in "black" style. The stone hearth was built without the bricks, out of stones only. Therefore, it was important skillfully make the vault; pick up the rocks of such size and form to fit them to each other so that they hold themselves. The upper part of the vault was laid without mortar; the smoke came out in slits between the stones. Heated rocks long kept a house warm.
Over time, the stone heater remained only in the baths, for the homes began to "beat" (build) the stoves. The stoves were constructed usually with the help of neighbours and relatives, arranging small help. On a wooden elevation ("opechek") was established "pig," made in the form of the stove's vault of tight-fitting, curved from exterior sides beams. It, like the mould, was set, not fastened with nails, so you can remove it from the stove a part by part. Outside of the mould were installed boards; it was an ample stove space packed a thick, well-mixed clay. Smoke came out in the hole near the ceiling, so the hut was built reasonably high. However, real masters appeared only after people stopped building houses "in the black way" and when the chimney went through the roof and ceiling. Pipe and casing cannot be made of clay; you need bricks and, altogether, a special master.
Zosima Neustupov, the brother of the already mentioned Ivan Afanasievich, was like a boy, hot-tempered and naive. The men often tricked him, and the kids teased him under the windows of his house. Finally, he jumped out of the house in anger and chased the offenders. But how do you catch them up? But in an hour and a half, the same gang would tumble into Zosima's house, and the conflict was forgotten.
Zosima put down the stove in an inimitable way. As you can see, the brothers did not want to resemble each other: one liked wood, the other - clay and bricks. Until now, in many surviving houses, there are Zosima's stoves. What should be a real stove, as per Zosima?
First, there is not a sniff of carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide stove is a disaster for all life, sometimes for several generations. There have been cases when whole families died from intoxication by CO. And how much suffering, even if you do not die! The head is splitting with pain, ringing in the ears, and all the insides invert. In the ears, people somehow cram frozen cranberries and put in the bosom, too, frozen horse manure.
Secondly, the stove should be large enough for the children and the elderly to lie down.
Thirdly, it should be hot, but not greedy for firewood, to spare the firewood. The same logs provide heat in the excellent stove, much more heat than a bad one.
Fourth that a cloud of smoke is not thrown by the wind back into the house.
Fifth - that it should be beautiful. Pretty. So it would stand out in the house like a bridesmaid, with cornices on the stove for drying all kinds of mittens.
Zosima Afanasievich Neustupov achieved all of those features quickly and with fun. Other bricklayers were present, too, of course. But one is tetchy; the other put stoves with fumes. The third requires a bottle of vodka every day and takes a long time. And if you don't please or you feed not good enough, he will make something out of spite. He would build an ugly relinquishing stove or a very cold one. A howling stove is very bad. A slight breeze, and the chimney wails like a devil. This means that for the bad owners, a dissatisfied bricklayer inserted into the chimney the neck of a bottle. You don't want to live in a house like this ...
Not such a master was Zosima! He made not only big stoves but also shields and couches. During the war times, there were stoves with an iron pipes. The masonry does not even show interest in this kind of stove, but Zosima wasn't not taken by it. He knew how much and how to put rotations, how best to do the vault, the mouth and the surface. He knew how to knock a brick that it breaks just where necessary. The trowel in the hands of Zosima acquired some tremendous force, as if magical. The art of making stoves was taught in the fifties in technical schools. Today for some reason, it is stopped. Too bad! In Russia, the last stove will not soon disappear.
No comments:
Post a Comment