Laudator Temporis Acti

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), War and Peace, Book I, Part I, Chapter 22 (tr. Louise and Aylmer Maude):

‘Now, madam, these triangles are equal; please note that the angle ABC . . .’

The princess looked in a scared way at her father’s eyes glittering close to her; the red patches on her face came and went, and it was plain that she understood nothing and was so frightened that her fear would prevent her understanding any of her father’s further explanations, however clear they might be. Whether it was the teacher’s fault or the pupil’s, this same thing happened every day: the princess’s eyes drew dim, she could not see and could not hear anything, but was only conscious of her stern father’s withered face close to her, of his breath and the smell of him, and could think only of how to get away quickly to her own room to make out the problem in peace. The old man was beside himself: moved the chair on which he was sitting noisily backwards and forwards, made efforts to control himself and not become vehement, but almost always did become vehement, scolded, and sometimes flung the exercise-book away.

The princess gave a wrong answer.

‘Well now, isn’t she a fool!’ shouted the prince, pushing the book aside and turning sharply away; but rising immediately, he paced up and down, lightly touched his daughter’s hair and sat down again. He drew up his chair and continued to explain.

‘This won’t do, Princess; it won’t do,’ said he, when Princess Marya, having taken and closed the exercise-book with the next day’s lesson, was about to leave: ‘Mathematics are most important, madam! I don’t want to have you like our silly ladies. Get used to it and you’ll like it,’ and he patted her cheek. ‘It will drive all the nonsense out of your head.’