 When one teacher mocked the Lithuanian language, he translated the poem "" by Jan Kochanowski and the fable "The Old Man and Death" by Ivan Krylov into Lithuanian and read them during a graduation ceremony.After graduating from the gymnasium, Kriaučiūnas became a cleric at the Sejny Priest Seminary in 1871.He was a good student and worked as an assistant librarian keeping up with the newest books and periodicals.