Before Christmas at the hospital in Pskov, arrived a new patient, Archimandrite Michael who was paralyzed from the waist down. He had come from the monastery. Marie’s Aunt Ella had recommended him to go to the hospital in Pskov. Aunt Ella had been friends with both Archimandrite Michael and his teacher, Father Gabriel. A. Michael had become dean of the seminary at an early age. In 1905, a student had shot A. Michael and thus, A. Michael spent much time in bed or in a wheelchair. That experience happened 7 years prior to Marie meeting him. Due to A. Michael having erysipelas, he was to be separated from other patients. Marie noted that he seemed more fluid in his conversation, versus her prior experiences of religious leaders/teachers being more regimen in speech, both in the tempo and the words used and references made.
Dr. V.I. Tishin was in charge of this new patient. Marie found Dr. Tishin to have much personality and character, like nurse Zandina. He was from Moscow and from a family “Old Believers,” of “modest means but strong principles.” (Page 202) Dr. Tishin was of “unusual intellect” as Marie stated, and he “always gave clear and detailed explanations.” (Page 202) Marie worked under his guidance both in the lab and in the x-ray cabinet. She learned much from him. Dr. Tishin was from a poor family and his brilliance helped him with access to the education to become a doctor.
Marie noted that those she had come in contact with through work, had helped Marie to grow, develop, and prepare her for what would happen in her future. Marie had seen Orthodoxy as a part of the Russian soul. It was “connected with the psychology of the people, that it was broad in its viewpoint and full of poetry both simple and profound.” (Page 203) Father Michael “brought religion alive to” Marie. “They read the works of the fathers of the church and studied the regulations of the church services and. the Bible.” (Page 203) Father Michael would share stories of life in the monastery and about the old customs of the Russian clergy. (Page 203)
Dr. Tishin did not have a religious upbringing and did not have an attachment to any party. He had once been a student rioter and he did not believe in religious dogma. Dr. Tishin believed there was “laxness of discipline” in the hospital and was trying to get Marie to stand-up and take control of the hospital spending. (Page 204) Marie noted that while she could not express to him that she could not assert herself in her social circles. It was expressed to Marie that her “moral helplessness” would endanger her and she would not be able to hold her own unless “driven to extremity.” (Page 205). As Marie had to address conflicts between nurses and others in the hospital, Marie would often fall into tears due to the stress of dealing with these situations. The nurses would come to a workable solutions as they were feeling bad Marie broke into tears over their conflict. As Marie began to grow stronger, she began to “assume more power.” (Page 205) She was discovering the Red Cross had sent money though there seemed to be no accounting of it. Father Michael helped Marie straightening out and creating clarity with the hospital accounting. In the past, she did not manage the finances, as she had only managed to work with the confines of a budget.
Marie wrote to her former governess and who now was acting in a leadership role with the Red Cross at the Headquarters. As Marie discovered, no one in leadership wanted Marie to dig into the finance and spending details. The reform ideas were placed to the side and Marie began to focus on “tasks less significant.” (Page 208)
Pupils of the Ecclesiastical School were located in the building where the hospital was placed. The adults were not particularly happy about the hospital taking up some of the school space. Marie would sometimes play in the playground area with the girls. “The daughters of the Clergy were educated in ecclesiastical schools for girls.” (Page 209) The sons went into seminaries and some continued their education in ecclesiastical academies.” (Page 209) “Graduating from the academies, they sometimes became monks and found a career among the black clergy; or they devoted themselves to pedagogy. Most often, however, the pupils of seminaries and academies were ordained as priests and, before ordination, had to be married.”(Page 209) In parishes, the leadership transferred from father to son. If there was a daughter and not a son, the daughter would be married to the man who would take on the leadership role from her father.
Years before, there were progressive ideas that entered into Russian society. The clergymen’s children had begun to enter into other professions. For many of the girls attending the boarding school was from poor families and they were not able to go home during school breaks. So they stayed at school for 9 months. The students were under strict discipline. They spent hours in church, observed fasts, and their primary subjects were religious ones. The girls would embroider, play the piano, and sing in choirs. Their dresses were made of heavy material and fitted tightly around their waistlines. When these girls left for home, they often were “pale, undernourished, sickly-looking.” (Page 210) They did not seem to have developed skills that would enhance their living out in the country setting. In 1915, Marie was asked by the pupils to attend their commencement and the gala dinner following. When outside, some of the girls were singing factory songs and sitting astride on the wall, which contrasted to the commencement atmosphere. Marie and the girls laughed-to-tears there. Marie would receive letters from these girls long after.
When Marie was able, she would make trips to visit her father at Tsarskoie-Selo for short time periods. During 1915 and 1916, the Russian troops experienced “due, it was said, to a shortage of ammunition.” “Our work multiplied; I was pretty well tired out, and needed a rest.” (Page 211) Her father’s and his wife’s home seem to be completed by appearances. The house decorations of “valuable porcelains, Chinese stone knick-knacks, antique silver, beautiful cut glass” had been selected carefully and represented “some pleasant memory.” (Page 211) Her father of 55 years old, looked young and continued to bring good cheer and laughs with Marie. Her father had maintained his dressing room as he did in the earlier years which included the perfume scent of his and the laying out of his clothing. Just like in her youth, she and her father would take a walk at 11am, he napped after lunch until teatime. After dinner, they gathered in his study while he would read outloud. Marie said she found “pleasure and peacefulness only in my father’s society and in his house.” (Page 211)