In 1876 the family moved to Shuya where Vera Nikolayevna owned a two-story house. At age ten Konstantin joined the local gymnasium, an institution he later described as "the home of decadence and capitalism, good only at air and water contamination." It was there that he became interested in French and German poetry and started writing himself. His first two poems were criticized by his mother in such a way that for the next six years he made no further attempt at writing poetry. At the gymnasium Balmont became involved with a secret circle (formed by students and some teachers) which printed and distributed Narodnaya Volya proclamations. "I was happy and I wanted everybody to be happy. The fact that only a minority, myself included, were entitled to such happiness, seemed outrageous to me," he later wrote. On 30 June 1886 he was expelled from the Shuya gymnasium for his political activities.