ABSTRACT
Before the revolution, my father worked for the same boss for almost forty years. He started as a youth and later became the owner's trusted agent, managing the firm's business independently for more than twenty years. Because of the way he did his job, he enjoyed unlimited confidence and respect, not only from the owner, but from his service personnel and workers. My father had never finished elementary school and was semiliterate. Later, he mastered fractions on his own. He became one of the outstanding experts in the lumber business in our region and was even recognized by the Soviet regime. To the old man's great embarrassment, the new authorities awarded him the honorary title of engineer—not knowing, of course, that he would not particularly welcome it.
