L E O T O L ST O Y

PL E AS E NO T E

It h as b e e n n e c e s sa ry t o re p l a c e s o m e o f t h e
Or i g i n a l p a g e s i n t h i s b o o k w i t h p h o t o c o p y
re p ro d uc t i o n s b eca u se of da m ag e or
m i s t re a t m e n t b y a p re vi o u s u s e r .

Re p l a c e m e n t of d a m a g e d m at e ri a l s i s b o t h
e xp e n s i ve a n d t i m e c o n s u m i n g
-
Pl e as e h a n d l e
.

t h i s vo l u m e w i t h c a re s o t h a t i n fo rm at i o n w i l l
n o t b e l o s t t o fu t u re re a d e rs .

Th an k yo u fo r h e l p i n g t o p res e rve th e
’
U n i ve rs i t y s re se a rc h c o l l e ct i o n s
.
 ”
TH E M AU D E V E R S I ON S
O F TOL STOY

RE SU RRE C T I ON
I ll t r t d b y P t
us a e a s er n a k

PL AYS
( Co m p l e t e
dit i e p l y ) i ll t t d
o n , si x a s us r a e

S E VA S TO P O L
A d th n ot h r t l
r ee i ll u t t d
e a e s, s ra e

TW E NT Y T H REE T A L E S -

(F l k t l
o -
d St i
a es an f C h ild
o r es) or r en

E S S AY S AN D L E TT ER S T H E C O SS A C K S

AN N A K A RE N I N A 2 V l ( d y h rt l y )
o s. r ea s o

WH AT I S A R T ?

WO R K S BY AYL M E R M AU D E
TH E L I FE O F TO L S TO Y T w o vo l u m , es

V ol I . E A RL Y Y E A R S I ll u st at ed
. r

V ol I I
. L A T ER Y E A R S I ll u t rat ed
. s

L E O TO L STOY
’
W O R L D S C LA S S I C S S E R I E S
T W E NT Y T H REE T A L E S
-
T H E C O SS A C K S
E SS AY S AN D L E TT E R S RE SU RRE C T I ON
AN N A K A RE N I N A ( 2 V o l s ) .

1 7: P r ep a r a t i on

C ON FE SS I ON an d WH AT I B E L I EV E ( I Vol )
.

WAR AN D PEAC E (3 V l ) o s.
L E O ,
T O L ST O Y

AYL M E R M AU D E

W ITH SEVE N I L L U S T R AT I O N S

IV IE VV EK CHR I K

D O D D , M E AD CO M PAN Y
LOND ON : M E TH U EN CO . LTD .

1 91 8
 P R E FA C E

A
T the age of five Tolstoy s imagination was
,

fir ed b y his brother t elling him o f a green stick ,

buried at the edge o f a ravine o n which was ,

writt en the s ecret whi ch woul d make all men happy

and enable them to live in lo ving harmony with o n e
another free from pain s orrow anger o r di stress
, , , .

’
Tolstoy s life es pecially the l as t thirty years o f i t
—

was devot ed to the discovery o f that magic message ,

and to communicating what he could decipher of it t o

mankind T o dis cover it was not enough ; he would
.

not rest till he had proclaimed it from the hous etops .

Convinced that the existing order was corrupt and

iniquitous he ad dr ess ed hi m s elf to its destruction
, .

Rej ecting the st ereotyped laudation of Tsar F aith ,

4 and Fatherland ’
he attacked first the Church then
, ,

P atriotism and finally the Tsar and the Tsardom

,

its elf till he had shown h o w rott en the established

,

order was b oth in Church and Stat e

, .

The success of his attacks exceeded anyt hing that

a ppeared possi b le t o his contemporaries The ideas .

he popularized in I mm t h e Fcat T h e I m p a n d t h e Cr ust

,

and in T oo D ea r became current everywhere He thus .

q
‘ -

h elped to p rep are the Revolution not b a d vo cati fi t h

“ ,
M W 1 g g
r
'
v
w
‘

5 V
vi LE O T OLS T OY
opinions o r the conduct of thos e who accomplished i t ,

but by diss olvi ng all belief in the j ustice o r e fficacy

o f the exis ting order and thus clea r ing the path for

catastrophic changes Fo r an instance o f a b en eficen t

.

change of mind produced b y o r accompanying his

, ,

propaganda consider how confirmed the Russian

‘

people were in the vodka ha b i t in 1 886 when Tolstoy ,

began to denounce the e vils o f drink first in T h e I m p

,

a n d t h e Cr u st ( dramatized in T h e Fi r st D i st i l l er and
)
then in a s eries o f E ssay s and in another play Then .

consider how readily that s ame people accepted the

a b olition of t he vodka trade in 1 91 4 it is an illustra
’
tion o f Tolstoy s thesis (in Wh a t i s Ar t ?) that art — i n
his c as e literary art is of supreme social import ance
—

‘
b ecaus e it lays in the souls o f men the rails along
’
which in real lif e their actions will naturally pass .

W hen T olstoy denounced privat e propert y in land ,

few people im agined that an institution s o root ed in

history and apparently s o dura ble would b e o v er
thrown in Russia within a generation .

From the dawn of history nation had ris en up agains t

nation until men had come to b eli eve that the human
race cannot do without periodic paroxysms o f int er
national slaught er But Tolstoy voicing the feeling
.
,

o f many pe as ant s ects and res p onding t o somethi ng

very deeply s eat ed in the human heart declared that ,

war is murder that the way t o end it is for each man

,

t o stop fighting and that a perception o f that fact by

,

the mass of men would compel rulers to arrange the

’
World s a ffairs without wa rf are If s ome consideration
.

for that view is n o w forcing its way into practical

 P RE FA C E V ii

politics and people are s erious ly aiming at a super

national authority o r a League o f Nations t o s ecure
,
’
peace no one ( even though he di sapprove o f Tolstoy s
,

utt erance) can reasonably deny that the great Russian

ideal ist was a potent factor in producing this r esult ,

and by so doing may ha v e profoun dl y influenced future

history .

A Lif e of such a man and a s k etch o f hi s views and

,

works if written either as a panegy ric o r as an attack

, ,

could only co n f us e that s earch fo r t r uth o f which

Tols t oy him s elf s et so noble an example Therefore .

I have tried faithf ully to di s cri minate b etween t he gold

an d the dross i n hi s teachin g .

Readers who have disagreed with hi m have generall y

been inclined to underrat e his influence and t o ass ume
t hat it co ul d b e s af ely ignored while thos e who have
,

apprecia t ed hi s potency importance and sincerity ha v e

,

nearly al ways been t o o rea dy to as sume that a l l his

conclus ions are sound and wholes ome To do j ustice
.

to the interest and vi tali ty o f hi s views to appreci at e

,

the effi ciency o f his pres entation o f them and the a d

mirable us e he mak es of literary art in rendering
them attractive is not enough on e has als o to b e
,

careful t o veri f y his conclusions b efore accepting them .

This is no eas y task but it has been my c hi ef aim as

,

an author .

Wh ether I have succeeded o r failed I am s ure at , ,

’
any rate that the tas k is an important o n e for Tolstoy s
, ,

condemnation o f the very foundations o f civilized li f e

and o f all established government must b e e ffectively
met o r a growing s pirit of anarchy chal lenging in di ct
, , ,
v iii LE O T OLS T OY
ing and disparaging every effort t o s ecure any d efin i t e
n ess in human relations o r to establish any fixed law ,

will undermine the b as es o f all our social efforts and ,

sooner o r later the whole structure wi l l crash down

as it has done in Russia M erely to deny or deride.

’
Tolstoy s opinions will n o t do His themes are too .

important his stat ement o f them is too mast erly and

, ,

his sincerity is too apparent .

His s earch fo r truth concerning the great problems

o f Life D eath n d R eligion will always remain a t t r a c
,
a
tive b ut to day there is a special int erest in tra cing
,
-

the immediat e effect o f his words on current history .

ar
e a: are >l< a:

My best thanks are due to M iss Nancy Thomas for

the valuable assistance she has rendered me in con
d en si n g and arranging the contents of this work My .

s on Arnold M aud e has als o contribut ed a number o f

very us ef ul su gg estions .

A YL MER MAU DE
37 N O R FOL K S T REE T
S T R A N D, L O N D ON , W . C . 2

1 st h M ay 1 91 8
 C ON TEN TS

P RE FA C E
C O N T E N TS

L IST OF I LL U ST R A T I O N S
CH AP.

I E A R L Y YE A R S
.

11 . W AR : THE C A U C A S U S A N D T HE CR I M EA

III . B A C HE LO RH OO D
I V P E A S A N T S C H OOL A N D
. M A RR I A G E

V . TH E G RE AT N O V E LS

VI .
‘
C O N FE SS I O N ’

VI I . TH E CH U R C H A N D T HE G OS P E L S

V I I I T R A N SITIO N A N D T HE P R O B L E M
. OF P O V ER T Y
I X R E N U N CI A T I O N S
.

X . T H E NE W L I FE A N D W H A T T HE N MU ST WE D o

X I P L A Y S A N D C OLO N I E S
.

X I I N O N R E SIST A N C E
.
-
x L E O T OLS T OY
C H AP . P AG E

XI I I . A CR IT I CIS M

XI V . TH E SE x Q U E STIO N

XV . TH E F A M I N E A N D PA T R IOT I S M

XV I . T H E D OU K H OBOR S

X V I I I LL N E SS A N D E X CO MM U N I C A T I O N
.

X V I I I L A ST
. D AY S

I NDEX
 L E O T O L ST O Y

C HAPTE R I

E A R LY YE A RS

T
Tolstoys are related to sever al of the
HE
princip al R ussian families The first Count
.

T olstoy served P eter the Great as ambassador

at the Sublime P orte and earned his title as a reward
,

for the questionable service of luring back the Tsarevich

Alexis from Italy t o Russia where he was put to death
, .

The grandson of that Count P eter Tolstoy was great

grandfather to Coun t Leo Tolsto y .

’
Leo s maternal grandfather was a Prince V o l k o n sk y
who having attained the high p ost of Commander i n
,
-

Chief sudde nl y lo st it b y refusing to marry the niece

,

and mistress o f P otemkin the most p owerful o f

,
’
Catherine the Great s favour ites .

’
Nicholas Tolstoy Leo s father was not yet seventeen
, ,

when Nap oleon invaded Russia in 1 81 2 but he entered ,

the army was taken prisoner in Germany and Wa s sent

,

to Paris W hen the w ar was o v er he left the army and

.
,

a few years later in h erited from h i s father an e state

so encumbered that he declined to accept it and found ,

himself faced by t h e task of providing for his mother ,

a woman accustomed to great luxur y Under these .

circumstances a marriag e was arranged for h i m with

2 LEO T OLS T OY
the wealth y but plain Princess Mar y V o l k on sk y who
, , ,

w as some years 11 1 8 senior .

She was well educated musical sp oke five lang uages , ,

and had a gift for improvising delightful tales It is .

said that at b alls her young lady friends would readil y

leave the dance and gather in a dark room to hear her
tell stories which from S hyness she would onl y d o
,

W here she could not be seen .

Five children were b orn to Nicholas and Marie

T olstoy First four sons o f whom L e o born o n 2 8t h
.
, , ,

August 1 82 was the youngest His name in Russian .

is L yo f Nik olayevich (Leo son o f Nicholas) T olsto y - -

.

Leo Tolsto y (with a y ) is the wa y he signed himself

when he used the Latin alphabet When pronouncing .

the name it should be remembered that the accent

falls o n the second syllable which rhymes with ,
’
bo y .

A year and a half after his birth a daughter M ar y , , ,

was b orn and in giving birth t o her the moth er died .

Though he could not remember his mother T ol sto y ,

tells us she appeared t o me as a creature so ele v ated

, ,

pure and sp iritual that often in the middle period o f my

life during my struggles with overwhelmin g t em p t a
,

tions I pra y ed t o her soul begging her t o aid me and

, , ,
’
such prayer always help ed me much .

Yasnaya P olyana (Bright Glade ) the estate o n which ,

T olstoy was born and where he lived most o f his life ,

is situated in pleasantl y undulating country I O miles

south o f Tula and abou t 1 3 0 miles south of M osco w .

It is well wooded and has many avenues o f lime and

b irch trees Some of the great confidence in himself
.

which characterized Tolsto y may have been due t o the

1
U n l ss o t h e r w i e s t a t e d t h e d a t e s g i v e n a e in t h e o l d R u ssi a n
e s , r

s t y l e U p t o M a rch 1 900 t h is w a s t w e l v e d s in c t h en t h irt ee n

.
, an e ,

d a y b h in d o u c l e n d r
s e r a a .
 E A RLY YE ARS 3

fact that he grew up o n an estate where for generations

his ancestors had been the o n l y people o f imp ort ance .

A great influence was exercised on the growing boy

by Aunty Tatiana of whom he tells us that sh e
must have been very attractive w ith her enormous
plait of crisp c urly hair her j et black eyes and vivacious
,
-

energetic expression Wh en I remember her she was

.

more than forty and I never thought about her as

pretty o r n o t pretty I simply loved her eyes her
.
,

smile and her dusky broad little hand with its ener
, ,

getic little cross veins .

W e had two aunts and a grandmother ; they all

had more right to us than Tatiana Alexandrovna ,

whom we called Aunt only by habit (for our kinship

was so distant that I could never remember what it
was) but she took the fir st place in our upbrin ging
,

by right of love of us (lik e Buddha in the story of the

wounded swan ) and we felt her right From early .

ch i ldhood she taught me the sp iritual delight o f love .

She did not teach this by words but by her whole ,

being she fil led me with love I saw I felt how she

.
, ,
’
enj oyed loving and I understood the j o y o f love
, ,
.

She had been left an orphan without means and ,

’
had been brought up by Tolstoy s patern al grand
parents with their o w n children She loved and was .
,
’
loved by Count Nicholas Leo s father but stood aside
, , ,

that he might marr y the rich Princess M arie V o l k o n sk y

and rep air the fam i ly fortunes Six years after his .

’
wife s death Count Nicholas asked Tatiana to marry
him and be a mother to his children Not wishing to .

spoil her pur e ideal relations with the family she ,

refused the first but fulfil led the second of these

requests .

Not less p owerful fo r good was the in fluence o f his

eldest brother Nicholas of whom Leo T olsto y say s
, ,
4 LEO T OLS T OY
I t was he who when I was fiv e and my brothers
,

D mitry si x and Serge y se v en announced t o us that he

,

p ossessed a secret by means of which when disclosed , ,

all men would become happy there would be no more

disease n o trouble no one would be angry with any
, ,

b ody all would love one another and all would become
, ,

Ant Brothers
-
. W e e v en organized a game o f
Ant Brothers which consisted in sitting under cha i r s
-
, ,

shelter i ng ourselves with boxes screening oursel v es ,

with shawls and cuddling against one another whil e

thus crouching in the dark The Ant Brotherhood
.
-

was revealed to us but not the chief secret the wa y

,

for all men to cease suffering any misfortune to leav e ,

o ff quarrellin g and being angry and to become , con

t i n o u sl y happy this secre t Nicholas said he had
written on a green stick buried by the road at the edge
o f a certain ravine at which S p ot (since my body must
,

be b uried somewhere ) I have asked to be buried in

memory of Ni k o l en k a Nicholas had probably
.

read or heard of the Freemasons— o f their aspirations

towards the happiness of mankind and of the m yst er i ,

ous initiatory rites on entering their order he had also

’
probably heard ab out the M oravian Brothers ( In .

Russian a n t is m ur a vey ) .

W riting when he was over se v enty Tolstoy added ,

T he ideal of Ant Brothers lovingly Clinging t o o n e

-

another though not under two arm chairs curt ained

,
-

by shawls but of all mankind under the wide dome of

,

heaven has remained the sa m e for me As I then

, .

believed that there existed a little green stick whereon

was written the message which could destroy all e v il
in men and give them universal welfare so I no w ,

believe that such truth exists and will be reve al ed to

’
men and will give them all it promises .

’
W e have here the key note of Tolstoy s li felong
-
 E ARLY YE ARS 5

aspirations O bstacles in his o w n charac t er and in

.

his external circumstances often obscured its mani

fest at i on but in S pite of all fail ings and errors the
,

m otive was always there and its in fluence strength en ed

with the passing years .

W e must think o f Tols t oy in his early boyhood at

’
Yasnaya P olyan a as interested in his father s dogs and
horses and hunting as well as in games of all kinds
, .

In spite o f his sensitive introspective nature his

childhood was a V ery happy one He S peaks o f that .

sp lendid inn ocent j oyful poeti period of chil dhood

, , ,
c

’
up to fourteen and tells us that the impressions
,
’
Of early Childhood preserved i n one s memory grow
, ,

in some u nfathomable depth of t h e soul like seeds

thrown o n good ground till after man y years the y ,
’ ’
thrust their bright g r een shoots into God s world .

W hen he was eight the famil y moved to M oscow

—

,
’
for his elder brothers education ; and the following
summer his father d i ed .

M any stories told of the young Leo illustrate his

impulsive imag inative strenuous and rath er erratic
, , , ,

n ature .

W hen he was about seven or eight he had an ardent

desire t o fly and persuade d himself that it was p ossible
,

to do so It was only necessary to sit down tight

.

on your heels clasping your arms firmly around your

,

knees and the tighter yo u held them the higher you

,

would fly Being always ardent t o put his beliefs

.

into practice he one day climbed o u t on to the window

sill (about e i ghteen feet from the ground ) and threw
himself, o u t H e was picked up unconscious The
. .

results of his fall were however fortunately confined

, ,

t o a slight c oncussion o f the brain and af t er sleeping ,

for eighteen hours o n end he awok e none the worse

fo r his venture .
6 LEO T OLS T OY
H is stor y Ch i l dh ood is n o t at al l strictl y auto
, ,
“
biographical but it contains many p assages known to
,

be true of himself and o n e such is that in which he

,

says I k new very well that I was plain and there ,

for e every reference to my appearance was painfully

o ffensive t o me M oments of desp air frequently
.

came over me : I imagined that there could be no

happiness o n earth fo r a man with so broad a nose ,

such thick lips and such sm al l grey eyes as mine I

,
.

asked God to perform a miracle and change me into a

handsome b oy and all I then had and all I could ever
,

p ossess in the future I would have giv en for a hand

’
some face .

Wh en quite small he conceived a n attachment fo r

’
the nine year old daughter o f a friend o f his father s
- -
,

and being j ealous when she dared t o talk to others

, ,

he angrily pushed her o ff a balcony with the result ,

that she limped fo r a long time afterwards M ore .

than a quarter of a century later he m arried her

daughter ! W hile still quite small he learnt t o ride ,

and he became an expert horseman R iding was till .

,

the very end of his life a favourite exercise of his

, .

When he was thirteen his elder brothers entered

the University of Kazan and with them he went t o ,

liv e in that C ity with an aunt whose house was the

,

centre of much hospitality and gaiety .

’
Before he was sixteen following in his brothers ,

footstep s he entered the University which was a

, ,

place not likely to inspire its students with much

enthusiasm for knowledge Tolstoy was extremel y .

good at French and German but did not work regu ,

l ar l y .

The winter season when after j oining the University

,

he entered Kazan society was a p articularly gay one , .

He attended man y balls given by the Governor of the

8 L E O T OLS T OY
b oth lat e for a lecture on H istory and were i n car ,

cerated together by order of the Inspector .

’
In their place o f confinement Tolstoy s indictment
,

f ell up on the Universit y and on University teaching

’
in general The phrase
. The Temple of Science
, ,

w a s frequently rep eated R emainin g perfectly serious

.

himself he p ortrayed the professors in such a comical

,

light that his comp anion records In spite of all my ,

e fforts t o appear indifferent I laughed like one

,
’
p ossessed .

’
Yet said T olstoy we both had a right t o expec t
, ,

that we should leave this T emple useful men equipped ,

with knowledge But what sh al l we really carry

.

away from the University W hat Sh al l we be

good for and t o whom sh al l we be necessary
,
?

In M ay 1 84 7 w hen his brother Sergey had finished

,

his studies Leo T olstoy (not yet nineteen ) left Kazan

without completing the c ourse or t aking his deg ree .

His failure at the University was a source o f great

annoyance and disappointment to him and on return ,

ing to Yasnaya P olyana he drew u p a tremendous

list o f Subj ects he intended to study He was always .

q
forming good resolutions and wr iting them down but ,

they were ne v er carried out f ully and often n o t at all

, .

His intention was to live with his dear Aunty

Tatiana ; to perfect himself to st u dy to manage
, ,

his estate and to improve the condition of the serfs

,
.

The last p art of his programme was not at that time

destined to have much success and some years later
, ,
’
in A S u i r e s M or n i n g he depicted the di fficulties
,

that ba ffl ed him .

From the time he was at the University b e inter

m i t t en t l y kept a D iary in which he recorded all his
misdeeds especially any o ffence against the Seventh
,

Commandment in order that h e mig ht repent and if

,
TO L S TOY 1 84 8
 E ARLY YE A RS 9

possible refrain for the future and this record shows

how full he was at this time of strenuous resolutions .

D ur i ng the last year of his life in Kazan he had made

clo se friends w ith a student named D yak ov u nder ,

whose influence he developed an ecstatic w orship

o f t h e ideal of virt u e and the conviction that it is
,
‘ -

’
man s destiny cont i nuall y to perfect h imself T o .

put all mankind right and to destroy all human vices

and misfortunes appeared a matter that could well be
accomplished It seemed quite easy an d simple t o
.

put oneself right to acquire all the virtues and to be

, ,

h ap p y f
As to his religious op inions he tel ls us
I was baptized and brought up in the Christian
Orthodox faith I was taught it in my childho o d
.

and al l through my boyhood and youth But before .

I left the Universit y in my second year at the ag e of

, ,

eighteen I no long er believed anyth i ng I had been

,
’
taught (Confessi on )
.

His D iary nevertheless shows that he prayed

earnestly and frequently the explanation bein g that
his op inions were wavering and immature and that ,

though intellect ually he disc arded the Orthodox

‘

R usso Greek Church yet in tim es of trouble or distress

-

he instinctively appe al ed to God for help .

Among the things he read which greatl y in fluenced

him at this period were
’
The Sermon on the M ount from St M atthew s , .

G ospel .

’
Rousse au s Co nfessi o n s and E m i l e ; and
’
D ickens D a vi d Copper fiel d (He . always attached
'
great importance to the ki n dl i n ess of D ickens outl ook
on l i fe as well as to his humour )
, .

M ost important o f all was the i n fluence of Rouss eau ,

of whom Tolstoy says I read the whole of R ousseau .

10 LE O T OLS T OY
I was more than enthusiastic about him I wor shipped ,

him At the age of fifteen I wore a medallion por tr a i t

.

of him next my body i nstead o f the Orthodo x cro ss

, .

M any o f his p ages are so akin to me that it seems t o

’
me I must have written them my self .

After some months at Yasnaya we find him i n

P etrograd (P etersburg as it then was ) entering fo r
examinations at the University and writing t o his ,
’ ‘
brother that he intended to remain there for ever .

He successfully p assed two examinations in Law but ,

al tered his mind and wished to enter the H orse Gu ar ds

as a Cadet and to see active service with the army

,

Russia was then (1 84 9) disp atching to assist Austria

in suppressing the H ungarian rebellion But he tells .

us that Spring came and the ch arm of country life

’
again drew me back to my estate .

’
In later years when Tolstoy s reputation was world
,

wide critics amused themselves by detecting i n co n

,

si st e n ci e s in his conduct and by question i ng his

sincerity But t h e proof o f his sincerity is writ large
.

in the story of his life Time after time we find him

.

vehemently resolving never more to do certain things

but always t o do other things and again and again
,

confessing in great tribulation that he had failed to

carr y out his intentions ; yet i n sp ite of everyt hing
he returned again and again to his earliest ideals
and gradually shaped his life into accord with them ,

eventuall y forming habits which when he fir st extolled

them appeared utterly beyond his reach Not i n .

sincerity but impetuosity retrieved by extraordinary

,

tenacity of purp ose al ways characterized him It

,
.

was the same with his thirst for knowledge as with

i
h sx u l sp s t L L ft e i a
s s r b i S s h t s 9 1E es
n _
s Often as he
_

was swayed by the lures of life each o f those two great

,

desir es found sa t isf action at las t .

 E A RLY YE A RS 1

From Petersburg he brought back with him to

Yasnaya a gifted but drunken German musician
named Rudolph whose acquaintance he had chanced
,

t o make and whose talent he discerned Fo r some .

time T olstoy devoted himself passionately to m usic ;

and he su c ceeded in acquiring su fficient skill to become
an e x cellent and sympathetic accompanist o n the piano .

Fo r the next three years he lived p artly at Yasna y a

and partly in M oscow leading a life alternating between
,

asceticism and self indulgence These were among

-
.

the w i ldest and most wasted years o f his life ; but

even here we find him in the summer o f 1 850 resuming
, ,

his D iar y with penitence and self reproach and -

drawing up a time table o f how his days are in future

-

to be spent estate management bathing diary , ,

writing music dinner rest reading bathing and

, , , , ,

ag ain estate business t o close the day This curri

.
.

cu l u m was however neglected Gusts o f p assion .

ag ain and again swept away his good resolutions .

At this time he made his first attempt t o start a

school fo r the peasant children o f Yasnaya but it was ,

closed again two y ears later when having lost money ,

a t cards he was in pecuniary di fficulties

, .

’
In relation t o wo men Tolstoy s ideal was then a
,

regular and affectionate family life W omen were .

for him divided into two group s : those sacred ones

who could be looked o n as p ossible wives o r sist ers ,

and those who like the gip sy singers could be p aid

, ,

and p ossessed for short periods His animal p assions .

were very strong and late in life he told me that

,

neither drinking gaming smoking nor any other

, , ,

bad habit had been nearl y so hard for him to o v er

,

come as his d esi r e f o r women But he never doubted.

that that desire was a b ad o n e and to j udge him fairl y

,

it mus t b e remembered tha t the general t one of t h e

12 LE O T OLS T OY
so c iety in which he liv ed was ver y loos e H e tells .

us that e v en the kind aunt with whom I lived h erself ,

the purest o f beings al ways told me there was nothing

,

she so desired fo r me as that I should have r elations

with a married woman R i en n o for m e n n j en n e
h orn r ne co rn m e n n e l i a i son a vec n n e fei n i n e co m m e i l
,
—

”
fa n t
.
(Nothing so forms a young man as an inti
macy with a woman of good breeding ) Another good .

fortune she desired for me was that I should become

an aide de camp and if p ossible aide de camp to the
- -
,
- -

Emperor But the greatest happiness o f all would

.

be that I should marry a v ery rich g irl and become

’
p ossessed of as m any serfs as p ossible .

In M arch 1 84 9 writing from M oscow to Aunty

,

T at iana he says he believes it to be true that spring

,

brings a moral renovation It always does him good

.
,

and he is able to maintain his good intentions for some

months W inter is t h e season that causes him to go
.

wrong .

This period of his life was brought to a close b y the

return from the Caucasus on leave o f absence of his
, ,

eldest brother Nicholas who was now an artillery

,

o fficer Anxious t o economize and to p ay o ff the debts

.

he had contracted at cards Leo resolved to a cco m,

pany his brother when the latter returned south He .

entrusted his estate to the care of his brother i n law - -

,

who was t o pay his debts and allow him only 50 0

roubles (then equal to abo u t £80) a year to live on ;
and he gav e his word not to play cards any more .
 4 LEO T OLS T OY
both petition and gra t itude Fear quite v anished . .

I could not have sep arated any o n e emotion f aith -

,

hope or lo v e from the general feeling N o this was

,
— .
,

what I experienced : it was love o f G o d lofty love , ,

uniting in itself al l that is good excluding all that is ,

bad How dreadful it was to me to see the trivial and

.

vicious side of life I could not understand its having

any attraction for me W ith a pure heart I asked God
.

to receive me into His b osom I did not feel the fl esh .

But no the carnal trivial side again asserted

, ,

itself and before an hour had p assed I almost co n

,

sci o u sl y heard the c all of vice vanity and the empty

, ,

side of life I knew whence that voice came knew

.
,

it had ruined my bliss ! I struggled against it and

yielded t o it I fell asleep thinking o f fame and of
.

’
women but it was not my fault I c ould not help it , .

Again a few days later after writing do w n re fl ec t ions

,

on su ffering and death he concludes ,

H ow strong I seem to myself to be against al l that

can happen ; how firm in the conviction that o n e
must here expect nothing but death yet a moment
later I am thi n king with pleasure of a saddle I hav e
ordered on which I shall ride dressed in a Cossack cloak ,

and of how I shall carry on with the Cossack girls ;

and I fall into desp air because my left mousta che is
thinner than my right and for two hours I straighten
,
’
it out before the looking glass —
.

W hen he left Yasnaya P olyana he had had no i n

tention o f entering the army ; but he distinguished
himself as a volunteer in an expedition against the
T atars and was noticed by the Commander i n Chief
,
- -
,

who advised him to enter the service This he did ; .

but as it was imp ossible at once to obtain a com

,

mission he had to en t er as a c ade t Cadets lived as

, .
 W AR 15

j uniors among the officers dur ing a probationary p eri o d

before obtaining a commission .

He had to go to T i fli s to p ass an examination but ,

found he had left cert ain necess ar y documents at home

at Yasnaya P olyana and this occasioned considerable
,

delay which much annoyed him The same sor t of

, .

thing happened over and over again during his

life for he was constitutionally incap able o f being
,

methodic al in such matters .

D uring the waiting period he se ttled in a suburb o f

T i fli s and work ed at his fir st story Ch i l dh ood Th is , .

he sent t o Ne krasov editor o f the leading Petersburg

,

monthl y The Cont em t or a r y and Nekraso v at once

, ,

rec ogniz ed its merits and accepted it .

It was not till Tolstoy had been in the Caucasus

nearly a year that h e actually enter ed the army ,

and another two years p assed before he obtained a

commission M uch of this time was devoted t o hunt
.

i n g reading and writing and only a m od erate amount

, ,

t o army service .

In Febru ar y 1 852 he took p ar t in an expedition

’
an d would have received a St George s Cross fo r
.

brav ery but his documents were still n o t in order

, ,

so that he had to forgo the coveted honour On a .

se c ond occasion he had the refusa l of the sa me

decoration but let it g o to a private soldier that the
, ,

latter might thereby become entitled to a pension .

He had a third chance of se cur i ng this Cross later on ,

but this time ab sorbed in playing chess t il l late at

,

n i ght b e omitted to go o n duty and the Commander

, ,

o f the D ivision noticing his ab sence placed him

, ,

under ar rest and cancel led the award which had

al r eady b een made i n his favour .

By the end o f 1 852 Tolstoy had completed T he

,
’
Ra i d A V ol u n t eer s S t or y and in this his first war
, ,
16 L E O T OLS T OY
t ale occurs a passag e which foreshado ws the at tit ud e
,

he ultimately made definitely his o wn D es cribing .

a march through Caucasian s c ener y to a night attack

o n a T atar village he says ,

Nature beautiful and strong br eathed conciliation

, , .

Can it be that people hav e not room to liv e in this

beautiful world under this measureless starry heaven
, ,

Can feelings of enmit y vengeance or lust to destroy , ,

’ ’
one s fellow beings retain their hold o n man s soul
-
,

amid th is enchanting Nature All that is evil in

’
man s heart should o n e would think vanish in contact
, ,

with Nature this immediate expression of beaut y

—

’
and goodness .

In T h e R a i d and in another story c al led T h e Wo od

,

Fel l i n g he describes the kind of warfare in which he

,

was then engaged (Both these stories are included

.

in the volume T h e Cossa cks : Oxford University Press ,

’
W orld s Classics Series ) .

From the start Tolstoy was hampered in his literary

work by that incubus of al l Russian writers under t h e
Tsars the Censor In a letter to his brother Sergey
, .

he writes Ch i l dh ood was spoil t and T h e R a i d simpl y ,

ruined by the Censor All t hat was good in it has .

’
been struck out or mutilated Indeed when com .
,
’
paring Tolsto y s literary achie vement with that of
W estern writers one should make a large al lowance
,

for the continu al annoyance delay mutilation and , ,

suppression inflicted on him by that terrible satellite

of despotism .

When not on campaign T olstoy was generally

stationed in a Cossack vil lage where he lived very ,

much the life he describes so vividly in T h e Cossa cks .

There he fell in love with a beautiful girl M ariana —

— who remained ind i fferent to his attentions His .

courtship failed (as he says of his hero in T h e Cossa cks)

 W AR 17

because he could not like a dashing young Cossack

, ,
‘
steal herds get drunk o n Chikir wine troll songs
, , ,

kill people and when tipsy climb in at her window

,

fo r a night without thinking who he was o r why he

’
existed .

In his D iary at this time Tolstoy entered the follow

,

ing reflections concerning the chief faults he was

conscious of in himself
. 1 The p assion o f gaming is a covetous passion ,

gradu al l y develop ing into a passion for strong excite

ment Aga i nst this p assion o n e can struggle
. .

. 2 Sensuality is a physic al need a demand o f the ,

body excited by imaginat i on It increases w ith ah .

st i n en ce and therefore the struggle ag ainst it is very

di fficult The best way is by labour and occup ation

. .

.
3 Vanity is the p assion least harmful t o other s
’
and most h ar mful to oneself .

In ano ther p assage indicating a different phase of

,

consciousness he writes : Fo r some time past re

,

p e n t an ce for the loss of the best years o f life has begun

to torment m e and this since I b egan to feel that I
,

could d o something good There is something

.

in me which compels me t o believe that I was not born

’
t o be like everybody else .

Meanwhile his military career was not givin g him

’
satisfaction . It is not very pleasant he says , ,

speak i ng o f a month in which his routine life had been

disturbed by some man oeu vres to have to march ,

about and fire o ff Ca nnon and he adds that he

was looking forward to the time when he would again
be able to devote himself to hu n ting w riting reading , , ,
’
and to conversation with Nicholas .

O n the outbreak o f war with Turkey in D ecember

1 853, Tolstoy write s : Wh en shall I come home ?
‘

G o d onl y knows For nearly a year I have been

.

2
18 LEO T OLS T OY
th i nk ing o nl y of how to sheathe my sword but still ,

cannot manage it An d as I must fight somewhere

.
,

I thin k it will be pleasanter to do so in Turkey than

’
here .

Not till January 1 854 however did the long expected -

order arrive al lowing him to pass the examination (a

pur e formality) which entitled him to become an
o fficer .

H e then immediatel y left for home where he enj oyed ,

’
a three weeks stay with his Aunt Tatiana his ,

brother and a friend .

The Russo Turk ish W ar had b y that time begun in

-

earnest and as a result of an application made through

, ,

his relative Prince M D Gorchakov who had been

, . .
,
’
a friend of his father s in the Nap oleonic wars T olsto y ,

received orders to j oin the Ar my of the D anube .

It thus fell to his lot at twenty five years of age

,
-
,

to tak e p art in a g reat European war .

Hostilities between Russia and Turkey had b egun

in 1 853 and France and England broke off negotiations
,

with the former P ower in M arch 1 854 the very month ,

in which Tolsto y reached Bucharest on his wa y to

j oin the army .

H e was present at the siege of S i l i st r i a where the ,

Russian forces were commanded by Prince M D . .

Gorchakov who was before long t o be entrusted

,

with the defence of Sevastop ol .

’ ‘
In a letter to his aunt Tolstoy describes some ,

op erations he took p art in

After dinner the mine was S prung and nearly
.
,

6 00 guns opened fire on the fort we wished to tak e ;

this continued the whole night It was such a sight .

and such an emotion as one ne v er forgets .

W e were all there and as usual o n the eve of a bat tle

,

we all made believe not to think of the morro w more

 WAR 19

t han of any other day but we all I am sure at bottom

, , , ,

felt our hearts contract a little (and not a little but a

gr eat deal ) at the thought of the assault As you know .
,

the time before a fight is the most disagreeable it is

o nl y then that o n e has time to be afraid and fear ,

is a most disagreeable feeling Towards morning the .

nearer the moment came the more the feeling dimin

’
i sh ed and towards three o clock when we were all
,
'

expect in g t o see a shower of rockets let o ff which w as ,

the sig nal for the attack I was so well in clined for it
,

that I should have been much disapp ointed if an y o n e

had come t o tell me that the attack was not t o tak e
place And there ! Just an hour before the time
.

for the attack an aide de camp comes from the F ield

,
- -

M arshal with orders to raise the siege of S i l i st r i a !

I can say without fear of error that this news was
’
received by all as a real misfortune .

The reason for the retiremen t was t h e fear that

Austria might intervene in the war and that the
R ussian f orces which were operati ng so far south
might be cu t o ff .

The army retired to Bucharest and there a t an , ,

’
o fficer s b al l Tolstoy seized an opportunit y t o beg
,

Gorchakov to have him transferred to where service

"

would be most active A few months later he was

.

ordered to Sevastopol where he found the defence

,

already full y organized and th at the garrison con

, ,

fi d en t of their p owers of resistance had settled d own ,

to a dogged contest .

A fortnight after his arrival he wrote to his brother

Sergey
So much have I learnt experienced and felt this , ,

year that I positively do not know what t o begin to

describe . S i l i st r i a is n o w ancient history and we
have Se vastopol of which I suppose y ou all read
,
20 LE O T OLS T OY
with beating hearts and where I was four days ago
, .

W ell how can I tell you all I saw there and where I
, ,

went and what I did and what the prisoners and

, ,

wounded French and English say and what heroes o ur ,

enemies are esp ecially the English

,
? I wil l tell all
that later at Yasnaya But now let me give you an
.

idea o f the p osition of a ffairs in Se v astop ol The town .

is besieged from one side the south where we had no

, ,

fortifications when t h e enemy approached it Now .

we have o n that S ide more than 50 0 heavy guns

and several lines of earthworks positively impreg ,

nable I S pent a week in the fortress and to the last

.
,

day used to lose my way among that labyr i nth of

batteries as in a wood M ore than three weeks ago
, .

the enemy advanced his trenches in o n e p lace to

w ithin 2 0 0 yards b u t gets no farther
, W hen he mak es .

the smallest advance he is overwhelmed with a hail

storm o f shot and shell .

The spirit of the army is beyond all description .

In the times of ancient Greece there was n ot such

heroism K o r n i l o v making the round of the troop s
.
,

instead of greeting them with Good health t o you

, ,

lads ! says : If you have to die lads w il l you , ,

’
die ? And the troops shout V e l l die Your
,
V
,

Excellency ! Hurrah ! And the y do not say it

for e ffect One saw on every face that it was not j est
.

but earnest and men have already fulfilled

the promise .

Amid the turmoil Tolstoy was attracted by a proj ect

to publish a cheap newspaper for the soldiers but ,
’
this was vetoed by the Emperor Tolstoy s instinct .

for authorship found vent however in his sketches of

S eva st opol two out of the three of which were actually
,

written during the S iege .

T o his brother he wrote I thank God am well and

, ,
22 LEO T OLS T OY
b e c ame warmer and a good fello w an e x cellent man
, , ,

Br en e vsk y j oined the battery

, I beg a n t o reco v er .

my self and on I st April at the very time o f the bom

, ,

b ar d m en t the b attery was moved to Sevastopol and

,

I quite reco v ered myself There till 1 5t h M ay I .

, ,

was in serious danger i e fo r four days at a time a t

, . .
, ,

intervals o f eight days I was in charge of a b attery in

,

the Fourth Bastion but it was spring and the weather

was excellent there was an abundance of impressions
,

and of people all the comforts of life and we formed

, ,

a c apital circle o f well bred fellows so that those six

-

weeks will remain a mong my pleasantest recollections .

On 1 st h M ay Gorchakov or the Commander of the ,

Artiller y took it into his head t o entrust me with t h e

,

f ormation and command of a mountain platoon at

Belbek 1 4 miles from Sevastopol with which arrange
, ,

ment I am t ill now extremel y w ell sa t isfied in many

’
respects .

The transfer of T olstoy from S ev astop ol t o Belbe k

was not as he supp osed when he wrote this letter
, ,
’
a whim of his Comm ander s bu t a result of his having
written S eva st opol i n D ecem ber The article had been .

read by the Emperor and had caused him to giv e ,

instructions to take care o f the life of that young

‘

’
man .

The Fourth Bastion referred to abo v e was the one

, ,
’
English wr iters call the Flagsta ff Bastion It f ormed .

the southernmost p oint of t h e fortifica t ions and was ,

e xp osed to the fiercest fire .

’
It was due to Tolstoy s o w n choice that he had
been exposed to t h e rough and dangerous life of the
bastion for Prince G orchakov at whose house he was
, ,

a frequent visitor o ffered him an appointment o n his

,

sta ff This o ffer though it was one which he would

.
—

eagerly have acc epted a fe w m onths earlier when he

 WAR 23

was serv in g before S i l i st r i a—

Tolsto y decl ined having ,

come to the conclusion subsequently expressed in his

,

w ritings t hat the in fluence exercised by the staff o n the

,

conduct of a war is al w ays p er n i ci o us This op i nion

'

not only in fluenced his conduct and expressed itself

in his novels but fitted into a general view o f life he
,

ultimately ar rived at a view the consequences of

—

which we must deal with later .

For the moment l et it suffi ce to mention th at whereas

’
he shows a keen appreciation of Admir al K o r n i l o v s
achievement in rousing the spirit of the garrison he ,

no where praises t h e achievement of the great engineer ,

T od l eb en in organizing the defence of the town and

,

improvising th at labyr inth of batteries in which

T olstoy u sed constantl y t o lose his way H e says .
,

f or inst ance
Now y ou hav e seen the defenders of Se v ast op ol .

The principal j oyous thought you have brought

,

away is a con v iction of the s t rength o f the Russian

people and this conviction y ou gained not by look ing ,

at all these traverses breastworks cunningly inter

, ,

laced trenches mines and cannon one o n top o f a n

, ,

other o f which you could make nothing but from

, ,

ey es words and actions— i n short from seeing what is

, ,
’
called the spirit o f the defenders of Sevastop ol
-
.

To everyt hing a man can do by his o w n e ffort Tolstoy

was keenly alive and sy mpathetic but when it came
t o a complex co ordinated plan involving the subor
-
,

d i n a t i o n of man y t o one Commander he felt suspicious ,

or e v en hostile .

It was in Mar ch j ust when he was recover i ng from

,

the fit of d epression that induced him to gamble that ,

he noted in his D iary A conv ersation about D ivinity

and Faith has suggested to me a great and stupe n dous
id ea to the realization of which I feel myself capable
,
24 LEO T OLS T OY
of devot ing my life This idea is the founding of a
.

new religion corresp onding t o the present state of

m ankind : the religion of Christianity but purg ed ,

of dogma and mysticism : a practical religion not ,

promising future bliss but giving bliss on e ar t h I .

und e rstand that t o accomplish this the consci ous

labour of generations wil l be need ed One generation .

will bequeath the idea t o the next and some da y ,

s

fanaticism or r e a s on w i ll accomplish it D eliberately .

to promote the union of mank ind by religion that is —

’
the basic thought which I hop e will dominate me
, , .

In August he took p art in the battle of the Chernay a

(Black River ) a last
, unsuccessful attempt t o relie v e
Sevastop ol .

The end of the sieg e was approaching and Tolsto y , ,

having asked t o b e al l owed t o return t o Sevastopol ,

reached the Star Fort on the north S ide of the Road

stead j ust in time t o witness the capture of the M al a
,

khov by the French a scene he describes in S eva st op ol

—

i n Au gu st (
.The three Sevastop ol stories with some ,

others are included in th e volume S eva stopol iss u ed

, ,

by Constable Co London ) .
, .

The loss of the M al akhov rendered the f u rther

defence of the town impossible and the follo wing ,

night the R ussians blew up and destroyed such muni

tions of war as they coul d not remove from the bastions ,

while the garrison w a s with drawn acro ss th e bridge to

the nort hern side of the Roadst ead To Tolst oy was .

deputed the task of clear ing the Fifth and S i xth

Bastions before they were abandoned t o the Allies an d ,

t o him also was entru sted the tas k of collat ing the
report s of the action received from the various Artil
lery Commanders This e xp erience p roduced in him
.

the supreme contempt for detailed military histori es

w hich he often expressed i n later y ears H e says .
 W AR 25

I regret I did not k eep a copy o f those reports .

The y were an excellent example of that na i v e i n ev i t ,

able k ind o f mil itary falsehood o u t o f which d escr i p

,

tions are comp iled I think many of my co m rades

.

who drew up those reports wil l laugh o n reading these

lines remembering h o w by order o f their Commander
, , ,
’
they wrote what they could not k now .

Carryi ng among other disp atches the report he had

him self comp i led Tolstoy was sent as Courier t o
,

Petersburg ; and this terminated his personal e xp er i

ence o f war .

H e was still only a Sub Lieutenant his hopes of-

,

promotion had co m e to nothing owin g to a suspicion

(p artly j ustified)’ that he was the author o f some
satirical soldiers songs which were being sung through
o u t the arm y .

The impress ion T olsto y created i n his regiment h as

been described b y on e o f his fellow o fficer s in the follow
-

ing words
H ow T olstoy woke us all up in those hard times of
war with his stories and his rapidly composed coup
,

lets H e was re al l y the soul o f the battery When he .

was with us we did n o t notice how time flew and there ,

was no end t o the general gaiety W hen the .

Count was away when he trotted o ff to Simferop ol

, ,

we all hung o ur heads He would vanish for one two

.
, ,

or three days . At last he would return the very —

picture o f a pr o digal son ! Sombre worn o u t and , ,

dissatisfied with himself Then he would t ak e

.

me aside quite apart and wo uld begin his confessions

, ,
.

He would tell me all how he had caroused gambled , ,

and where he had spent his days and nights and al l

the time if you will believe me he would condemn
, ,

himself an d su ffer as though he were a real criminal .

He w as so distresse d that it was pitiful to see him .

26 LE O T OLS T OY
’
That s the sor t o f man he was In a w ord a queer .
,

fellow and t o tell the truth on e I could not quite

,

understand He was however a rare comrade a most

.
,

honourable fellow and a man one can never forget

,

H is private D iary bears witness to the constantl y

renewed struggle that went o n within him as well as ,

to his profound dissatisfaction with himself H ere fo r .

instance is an estimate of himself entered in his D iar y

at the commencement o f the war while he was still at ,

S il i st r i a
incontinent undecided inconstant and
, , ,

stupidly v ain and vehement like all characterless ,

people I am not brave I am not methodical in life

. .
,

and am so lazy that idleness has become an almost

u nconquerable habit o f mine .

I am cle v er but my cleverness has not yet been

,

thoroughly test ed o n anything I have neither p r act i

cal nor social nor business ability .

I am honest that is to say I love goodness and hav e

,

formed a habit of loving it and when I swerve from it ,

I am dissatisfied with myself and return to it gladl y ;

but there is a thing I lo v e more than goodness and that
is fame I am so ambitious and so little has this
.
,

feeling been g r at i fied t h a t should I ha v e t o choose

,
.

between fame and g oodness I fear I may oft en choose ,

the form er
“ 755? am not modest and therefore I am proud at
.

,
’
h e art though shamefaced and sh y I n society .

That i s a grossl y u nfair estimate of himself but ,

shows j ust the sort o f eager inj ustice to any one w h o

fails to reach the high standard T ols t o y sets up tha t
always characterized him .

T olsto y (if I may anticip ate ) came ultimatel y to

regard war and preparation for war as immoral and ,

wished that conviction to become so st rong and general

 W AR 27

as to render it impossible for any government to make

war The actual workings of p olitical systems and
.

international relations were things he almost ignored .

He cared immensel y about what should be but forgot ,

that it can o n l y be approached by slow and di fficult

steps to take which sure fo o t e d l y needs an ap p r eci a
,
-

tion of things as the y are.

For an ambitious y oung o fli cer actually engaged in

a war related to the Commander i n Chief and fav our
,
- -

ably noticed by t h e Emperor even p artially to express

,

disappro v al of war was di fficul t ; and Tolstoy himself ,

many years later told me that contend i ng with his

, ,

desire to tell the truth as he saw it he was aware at

,

the time of his Sevastop ol sketches of another feelin g

prompting him to say what was expected o f him .
 C H AP TE R I I I

B ACHE LO R HOOD

E FO R E the war was over T olstoy appeared

in P etersburg and enter ed the circle o f dis
t i n g u i sh ed writers who supp orted T h e Co n
t em p or a r y . From memoirs some of these men have
left one sees what he was then like at twent y se v en
, ,
-

years of age .

’
The p oet Fet himself a young o fficer made T olsto y s
, ,

acquaintance at this time A couple of years later he

.

purchased an estate at no great distance from Yasna y a

’
P olyana and became a friend of Tolstoy s one o f the —

few outside his own family with whom the latter ever
, ,

was intimate Their fir st acquaintance was howe v er

.

hardly auspicious Calling o n Turgenev in Peters

.
,
’ ’
burg a t ten o clock one morning Fet saw an o fficer s
, ,

sword hanging in the h al l and asked the man servant -

’ ’ ’
whose it was .It s Count Tolstoy s sword replied ,

the man . He is sleep ing in the drawing room -

.

I van Sergeyevich (Turgenev ) is having break fast in

’ ’
the study . D uring Fet s visit of an hour he and his ,

host con versed in low tones for fear of waking Tolstoy .

’
He is like this all the time said Tu rgenev , H e came .

back from his Sevastop ol battery put up here and is , ,

goin g the pace Sprees gip sy girls and c ar ds al l night

.
,
-

long a n d then he sleeps like a corpse till two in the

-

afternoon At first I tried to p u t the brake on but now

.
,
’ ’
I ve given it up and let him do as he likes .

9 0
 B A CHELOR H OOD 29

Pet tells us that as soon as he met Tolstoy he noticed

his instinctive defiance o f all accep ted op inions and the ,

fir st time he saw Tolstoy and Turgenev together h

witnessed the desperation to which the former reduced
the latter by his biting retorts .

The scene occurred at the lodgings of Nekr asov the ,

editor o f T h e Con t em por a r y .

’ ’
I can t admit said Tolstoy that what yo u say
, ,

e xpresse s your conv i ctions If I st a nd at the door

.

w ith a dagger or a sword and say W hile I am al ive ,

no one shall enter here that shows conviction But

,
.

you here try t o concea l the true inwardness o f your

thoughts from one another and call t h a t conviction
,

W h y d o you come here ? squeaked T urgenev

panting his voice rising to a falsetto (as always hap
,

pened when he was disputin g ) Your banner is not.

here ! Go ! Go to the salon of Princess B el ob el sk y

B el o zer sk y
W h y should I ask you where I am to go Besides ,
’
empty talk won t become conviction merely because
’
I am or am not here replied Tolstoy

q
.
, , ,

The rest of the evidence is of much the same nature .

Of readiness to agree there was hardly a trace in

,

Tolstoy who never doubted his own sincerity but

,

seldom credited his opp onents w ith that qualit y .

Another scene in the same house is rep orted b y the

novelist Grigorovich as foll ows
,
’
You can t imagine w hat it was lik e Great
heavens ! Turgenev s u ea k ed/an d squeaked holding ,

his hand to his throat and with the eyes of a dying

, .

’
g az elle whispered
, I can t stand any more ! I have
,

bronchitis ! and began walkin g to and fro thr o ugh

the three rooms . Bronchitis is an imaginary il l ness ,

growls Tolstoy after him Bronchitis is a metal

.

’
Of course Nekrasov s heart sank he feared t o lo se
30 LE O T OLS T OY
either of these v aluable contributors t o T h e Con t em
’
p o r a.r y W e were all agitated and at o ur wits end
to k now what to sa y Tolstoy in the middle room
.

lay sulking on the morocco sofa ; while Turgenev ,

spread i ng out the tail s of his short coat and with his ,

hands in his p ockets strode to and fro through the

,

three rooms To avert a catastrophe I went t o the

.

’
sofa and said , Tolstoy o l d chap don t get excited
, ,
’
Yo u don t know how he respects and loves you
’
I won t allow him to do anything to spite me
exclaimed Tolstoy with dilated nostrils There ! .

No w he keep s march ing past me on p urpose waggin g ,

his democratic haunches

’
In another place Grigorovich S peaks of T olstoy s
’
‘
readiness to contradict It did not matter what
.

op inion was being expressed and the more a u t h or i

,

t a t i ve the S peak er the more eager was Tolsto y to

O pp ose him and to begin a verbal duel .

W atching ho w he listened to the speaker and

pierced him with his eyes and noticing how ironicall y
,

he pressed his lip s together o n e conj ectured that he

,

was preparing not a direct reply but such an expres ,

sion of opinion as would perplex his opp onent b y its

’
unexpectedness .

’
Tur gene v confirms this impression of Tolstoy s
eagerness to o p p ose an d adds :
,

In Tolstoy the character which af t erwards lay at

the base of his whole outlook on life early made itself
’
manifest H e never believed in people s sincerity
. .

Ever y spiritual movement seemed to h i m false and he ,

used to pierce those o n whom his suspicion fell with his

’
extraordinarily penetrating eyes Turgenev goes on
.

to sa y that personally he had never encountered any

thing more disconcerting than that inquisitorial look
which accompanied by two or three biting words
, ,
 B ACHELOR H OO D 31

was enough to drive to fury any man who lack ed st rong

self control
-
.

At this t i me the i ll success o f the Crim ean W ar

-

had de al t a blow to the prestige of the T sardom and ,

wide reaching reforms had become inevitable among

- —

the most important being the abolition o f serfdom ,

the reform of civ i l and crimin al law and the estab ,

l i sh m en t of a system o f Local Government But .

T olstoy did not express much symp athy with these

reforms o r Show an y perception of the benefit that
,

ac crues to a nation who se in habitants inte est them r

selves i n public affairs .

Early in 1 856 his th i rd brother D mitry died in

, , ,

Orel Tolstoy says : I was p art icularl y horrid at

.

that time I went to Orel from Petersburg where

.
,

I frequented societ y a n d was fil led with conceit .

I felt sorry for my brother but not ver y sorry I

, .

paid h i m a hurried visit but did not stay at Orel and

, ,
’
he died a few days after I left Tolstoy adds : I
.

really believe that what hur t me most was that it

prevented my tak ing pa rt in some priva t e theatricals
then bein g got up at Court to which I had been ,

But all this t ime the desire to reach tru e happ iness
continued stron g within him and we find him noting
,

in his D iary The p owerful means t o true happiness

i n life is lik e a sp ider t o let fl ow from oneself on al l
, ,

sid es a cobweb of lo v e and to catch in it all that

,

c omes to hand : women o l d or young children or

, , ,
’
p olicemen .

I n M arch 1 856 the Crimean W ar ended and in ,

No vember Tolstoy left the army In M ay he had . .

gone t o Yasnaya P olyana On his way he stopped in

.

M os c ow and visite d the family of D r Behr s a Russia n .

,

of Germ an origin a nd a Cour t ph y sic ian O n e g et s a .

82 LE O T OLS T OY
’
glimpse of T olst oy s future wife in a note in his D iary
’
relating to this visit t o the B eh r s s country house near
M oscow .He says The children served us Wh at .

dear merry lit t le girls ! Little more than si x y ears

later the second o f these merry lit t le girls b ecame
,

Countess T olstoy
From Yasnaya he made a round o f visit s t o see his
married sister and other neighbours among them ,

Turg enev at whose house a gathering of the T olsto y s

,

took place Special honour was p aid to Leo w h o

.
,

c omic al l y p osed as the hero o f a Triumph He was .

being crowned and al most covered with fl owers ,

leaves g rass and anything that came handy when the

, ,

approach of an un welcome guest a lad y a neighbour —

,
’
o f T u r g en e v s was announced Thereupon the hos t
—
.

seized his head in despair and the triumpher with a

, ,

howl began t o turn rapid catherine wheel somersaul t s

,
-

’
through the rooms His sister s husband was quickly
.

bandaged up as an invalid t o be used as an excuse and

,

a protection from the unwelcome intruder .

T owards the end o f 1 856 T urgene v wro t e from

Fran c e t o the eminent criti c D ruzhinin
I hear that you hav e bec ome very intimat e with

q
T olst o y and he has be c ome v ery pleasant and serene
—
.

I am very glad When that new wine has finished

.

fermenting it will yield a drink fit for the Gods

,

Stories T olst oy wrote at this time were T wo

H n ssar s (included in the volume S eva st opol issued ,

b y Constable Co London) a rollick ing tale with

.
, ,

flashes of humour M em oi r s of a B i l l i a r d M a r ker

, ,
’
T h e S n ow S t or i n g a n d A S u i r e s M or n i n g ; the last
named being as already mentioned closely dra wn
, ,

from his own experience when o n first leaving the ,

Univ ersit y he unsuccessfull y attempted to better the

,

condit ion o f his s erfs .

 B A CHELO R H OOD 33

These were followed in January 1 857 by You th a ,

continuation of his previously published stories Ch i l d

h ood and B oyh ood .

D espite some headstrong outb u rsts and many

eccentricities he was a welcome guest in almost any
,

society h e c ared to frequent and none o f his critics ,

has S p oken as harshly of him as he speaks of himself

when describing these terrible twenty years o f
coarse dissipation the service of ambition vanity
, , ,
’
and above all of lust .

In his Confessi on written more than twenty years

,

later when speaking of his religious beliefs at this

,

time Tolstoy tel ls us

,

W ith all my soul I wished t o be good but I was

young p assionate and alone completely alone when
, , , ,

I sought goodness .

I cannot thi nk of those years without horror

.
,

loathing and heartache I killed men in war and

, .

ch allenged men to duels in order to kill them I lost

at cards consumed the labour o f the peasants sentenced
, ,

them to punishments l i ved loosely and deceived ,

people . Lying robbery adultery of all kinds

, , ,

drunkenness violence murder there was no crime

, ,
—

I did not commit and p eople approved of my con

,

duct and my contemp oraries considered and consider

,

me to be a comp aratively moral man .

So I lived for ten years At twenty six years .

-

of age [this should be twenty se v en] I returned t o -

Petersburg after the war and met the wr iters They , .

received me as one of themselves and flat tered me .

The view of l ife of these p eople my co m r ades in ,

authorship consisted in this : that life in gener al

,

goes on de v elop ing and in this de v elopment w e

,

artists and p oets have the chief influence Our

—
.

vocation is t o teach m a n k ind And lest the simple .

 34 LEO T OLS T OY
question should suggest itself Wh at d o I know and
what can I teach it is explained that this need not
be known and that the artist and poet teach u n co n
,

sci o u sl ! I was considered an admir able artist

y ,

and therefore it was very natur al fo r me to adopt

this theory I an artist wr ote and taught without
.
, , ,

myself knowing what For this I was paid money

.

I had excellent food lodging women and society ;

, , ,

and I had fame which showed that what I taught was

,

v ery good And I lived a considerable time in this

.

faith without doubting its validity But in the .

second and especially in the third year o f this life I

began to doubt the infallibility o f this religion and ,
’
to examine it .

W hen he was twenty nine Tolstoy went abroad -

, .

Except for his short campaign in Turkey he had never

been o u t o f R ussia before .

Wh ile in France he wrote a story Al ber t founded on , ,

his experience with the drunken musician Rudolph ,

mentioned in a previous chapter .

In P aris Tolstoy was present at an execution The .

sight impressed him profoundly He w rote in his .

’
D iary I rose at seven o clock and drove to see an
execution A stout white he al thy neck and breast ;
.

he kissed the Gospels and then D eath H ow sense

,
— .

less I have not received this strong impression

for noth i ng I am not a man of p olitics M or al s
. .

and art I know love and can [deal with]

, , The .

guillotine long prevented my sleeping and forced me

’
to r e fle ct
.

Tolstoy had the gift o f stating a case brie fl y and

clearly and never did he sum himself up better than
,

in the sentences : I am not a man of p olitics .

’
M orals and art I know love and can , , .

His sketch a er n e published that year and ba se d

,
36 LEO T OLS T OY
M oscow . A warm friendship grew up between the
nephew and the aunt She was only about ten years
.

’
his senior but he generally called her grandma and
, ,

they chaffed and teased o n e another abundantly .

Through this aunt (who died only a few years before

her nephew) Tolstoy often received information o f what
went on at Court and was sometimes able indirectly
’
to exert influence in the highest circles The follow .

ing is a letter he wrote at this time after her retur n to ,

P etersburg
Grandma l Spring
—

Fo r good people it is excellent to live i n the world

and even for men such as me it is sometimes good In
, .

Nature in the air in everyt hing is hope a future

, , , ,

an attractive future Sometimes o n e deceives

.

oneself and thinks that happiness and a future await

not only Nature but oneself also and then o n e feels ,

happy I am now in such a state and with charac

.
,

t er i st i c egotism hasten to w rite to you o f things that

interest only me W hen I review things sanely I
.
,

know very well that I am an old frozen little p otato , ,

and one al ready boiled with sauce but spring so acts

o n me that I sometimes catch myself in the full blaze

o f imagini n g myself a plant which with others has

only now blossomed and which will peacefully simply

, , ,
’
and j oyfully grow in God s world The result is that .

at this time o f year such an internal clearing out goes -

on in me such a cleansing and ordering as only those

, ,

who have experienced this feel i ng can imagine Away .

with all the o l d ! All worldly conventions all idle ,

ness all egotism all vices all confused indefinite

, .
,

attachments all regrets even repentances away

, ,
—

with you all ! M ake room for the wonderful

little flowers whose buds are swelling and growing with
the spring
 B A C HELO R H OOD 37

Apr i l found him again at Yasnaya where he S pent ,

most o f the summer with Aunty Tatiana .

’ ’
Fet s account of that lady accords with Tolstoy s
o w n affectionate recollection o f her Fet says that he .

’
and his wife made the acquaintance of Tolstoy s
charming o l d aunt Tatiana Al exandrovna E r g o l sk y
, ,

who received us with that old world affabil ity which-

’ ’
puts o n e at one s ease on entering a new house .

M any years later Tolstoy j otted down his memories

,

of the long autumn and winter evenings spent with

her t o which he says he owed his best thoughts and
—
, ,

impulses
The chief charm of that life lay in the absence of
any material care in good relations with those
nearest relations no o n e could sp oil ; and in the
—
,

leisureliness and the unconsciousness of flying time .

’
W hen after living badly at a neighbour s in Tula
, ,

with cards gipsies hunting and stupid vanity I

, , , ,

used to return home and come t o her by old habit we ,

’
wo uld kiss each other s hand I her dear energetic ,

hand and she my dirty vicious hand and also by old

,
-

habit we greeted o n e another in French and I

, ,

would sit down in the comfortable arm chair She -

.

knew well all I had been doing and regretted it but ,

never reproached me retaining always the same gentle

,

ness and love The chief characteristic o f her life

.
,

which involuntarily infected me was her wonderful ,

gener al kindliness to every one without exception .

I try to recall a single instance of her being angry o r

speaking a sharp word or condemn i ng any one and I
, ,

cannot recall one such instance in the course o f thirty

years She spoke well o f our real aunt w h o had bitterly
.
,
-

hur t her by takin g us away from her As to her .

kindly treatment of the servants— that goes without

saying She had gro wn up in the idea that there
.
38 LEO T OLS T OY
ar e masters and servants but she utilized her authority
,

only to serve them She never blamed me directly

.

for my evil life though Sh e su ffered o n my account

, .

My brother Sergey t o o whom she also loved warmly

, , ,

S h e did not reproach even when he took a gipsy gir l

,

to live with him She never told us in words

.

h o w to live never preached to us

, All her moral work .

was done intern ally ; extern al ly o n e only saw her

deeds and n o t even deeds : there were no deeds ;
—

but all her life peaceful sweet submissive and loving

, , , ,

n o t troubled o r self sa t i sfie d but a life o f quiet u n

-
,

obtrusive love . She often called me by my

’
father s name (Nicholas) and this pleased me very
much because it Showed that her conceptions o f me
,

and of my father mingled in her love fo r us both .

It was not her love fo r me alone that was j oyous .

What was j oyous was the atmosphere o f love to all

who were present or absent alive or dead and even , ,

t o animals
After telling of her goodness and her a ffection Tolstoy
says in his Memoirs that though he appreciated his ,

happiness with her he did not at the time nearly realize

,

its full value ; an d he adds :

She was fond o f keeping sweets figs ginger ,

breads and dates in various j ars in her room I cannot

, , .

forget nor remember without a cruel p ang of remorse

, ,

that I repeatedly refused her money she wanted fo r

such things and how she sighing sadly remained
, , ,

silent It is true I was in need of money but I cannot

.
,

now remember without horror that it was to her ,

t o her that I refused the small p l e asure o f having

,

figs and chocolate (and not so much for herself as to

treat me ) and of being able to give a trifle to those who
begged of her . D ear dead Aunty forgive me ! , ,

S i j eu n esse sa va i t si vi ei l l esse p ou va i t (if youth but

,
 B A C HELOR H OOD 39

knew if age but could ) I mean not in the sense of the

, ,

good lost fo r oneself in youth but in the sense o f the

,

good not given and the evil done t o those who are no
’
more .

’
Of Leo s life at Yasnaya at this time his brother ,

Nicholas gave Fet the following accoun t

L yo v o ch k a (p e t name fo r Leo ) is ze al ously trying
to become acquainted with p easant life and with
f ar ming of both of which like the rest of us he has till
, , ,

now had but a superfici al knowledge But I am not .

sure what sort o f acquaintance will result from his

efforts : L yo v o ch k a wants t o get hold of everyt hing
at once without omitting anything even his gym
,
—

n as t i cs So he has rigged up a bar under his study

.

window And of co u rse prej udice ap art with which

.
, ,

he wages such fierce war he is right gym n astics do

,

not interfere with farming but the steward sees things

d i fferently and says : One comes to the master
-

for orders and he hangs head downward i n a red

,

j acket holding on by one knee t o a perch and swings

,

himse lf His hair hangs down and blows about the

.
,

blood comes t o his face and one does not know whether
,

to listen to his orders or t o wonder at him

L yo v o ch k a is del i ghted with the way the serf
Ufan stick s o u t his arms when ploughin g ; and so
Ufan has become fo r him an emblem o f Villag e strength ,

li k e the legendary M ichael ; and he hi mself stick ,

ing hi s elbows out wide takes to the plough and,

”
u fa n i z es .

In October 1 858 Tolstoy in a characteris tic letter

, ,

writes to Fe t
The height o f wi sdom and fortitude for me is to
enj o y the poetry o f others and not to let my o w n
,

(fiction ) loose among men in ugly garb but to consume ,

it myself with my daily b read But at times one .

40 L E O T OL S T O Y

suddenly wishes to be a great man and it is so ,

anno yi ng that this h a s not yet come about One even

hurries t o get up quick er o r to finish dinner in order to
begi n . Hunting has bored me to death The .

’
weather is excellent but I do not hunt alone
, .

In company Tolstoy was however a k een sportsman ,

and in D ecember 1 858 nearly lost his life at a hunting

party t o which he had been invited He has told the .

story with some modifications in one of his tales for

Children contained in T w en ty th r ee T a l es (p II b l i sh e d
-

’
by the Oxford P ress W orld s Classics series )
, .

A famous professional huntsman supervi sed the

proceedings and the guests were advised t o stamp
,

down the snow around them so as to give themselves

,

room t o move freely but Tolstoy (with his usual

,

obj ection to routine methods ) argued that as they were

o u t to shoot the bear and n o t to box with her it was

useless t o tread down the snow He therefore stood.

with his two barre l l ed gun in his hand surrounded by

-

snow almost up to his waist .

P resently a large she bear came at him unexpectedly

—
,

and T olstoy taken by surprise did not fire until the

, ,

beast was within six yards His first shot missed

.
,

and the bear was wi thin three yards o f him when h i s

second shot hit her in the mouth It failed to stop her
.

rush and she knocked him over on to his back in the

,

snow Carried past by her o w n impetus she soon

.
,

returned and the next thing Tolstoy knew was that

he was being weighed down by something heavy and
warm and that his face was being drawn into the
,
’
beast s mouth The bear after o n e o r t w o misses
.
, ,

got her teeth into the flesh above and below his left
eye At this moment the huntsman armed only
. ,

with a small switch came running up shouting at the

, ,

bear which thereupon too k fright and rushed o ff

,
.
 B A C HELOR H OOD 41

Next day she was followed up and ki l led b ut Tolstoy ,

long retained a noticeable scar as a memento o f the

encounter .

Fa m i l y H app i n ess a short novel was pub li shed early

, ,

in 1 859 and in di cates the thoughts o f ma r riage whi ch

,

were then working in his mind .

All this time he was n o t at peace with himself At .

the commencement o f the new year he notes in his

D ia r y The burden o f the estate the burden o f ,

bachelor life and all sorts o f doubts and pessimistic

,
’
feelings agitate my mind The state o f health o f his
.

b rother Nicholas was also causing the family great

anxiety In a letter t o F et Leo Tolstoy says
.
,

I am greatly at sixes and sevens with myself .

F arm ing o n the scale o n which it is carried o u t o n my

estate crushes me T o
, . u fa n i ze (to wor k l i k e a
peasant) is a thing I onl y see afar o ff Family affairs .
,
’
N i ch o l a s s il l ness (o f which we have as yet no news from
’
ab road) and my sister s departure (S h e leaves me i n
,
’
three days time ) also crush and occupy me Bachelor .

life that is n o t ha vin g a wife and the thought that it

, ,

is gettin g t o o late torments me from a third side In

, .

’
general everythi ng is n o w o u t o f tune with me .

Under these cir cumstances he went abroad again

in July 1 860 going with his sister and her children t o
,

Berlin where he had toothache for four days and

,

suffered from headache and h aemorrhoidal attack s fo r ,

which he was ordered to take a cure at Kissingen .

He went o n to Leipzig D resden and Kissingen

, ,

made the acquaintance of the nove l ist Auerbach and

o f Juli us Froebel nephew o f the founder o f the
,

Kindergarten system At Eisenach he visited the

.

W artburg where L uther was confined after the D iet

,

o f W orms . The personali ty o f the great P rotestant

reformer interested him and after seeing the room in
,
42 LEO T OLS T OY
which he commenced his translation o f the Bible ,
’
Tolstoy noted in his D iary : Luther was great !
’
M eanwhile Nicholas Tolstoy s health had been
growing worse and the doctors decided that he must
,

winter at Hy eres o n the M edi terranean whither Leo ,

and his sister accompanied him At Hy eres Nicholas .

grew rapidly worse and he died o n the 2 0 t h September

,
.

On 1 3th October 1 860 Leo Tolstoy noted in his

D iary :
It is nearly a month since Nicholas died That .

event has torn me terribly from life Again the .

question Wh y Already the departure draws near .

Whither ? Nowhere I try t o write I force myself

.
, ,

b ut d o n o t get o n b ecause I cannot attach enough

,

importance t o the work to supply the necessary

strength and patience At the very time o f the
.

funeral the th ought occurred to me t o write a

’
M aterial ist Gospel a Life o f Christ as a M aterialist
, .

One sees how bit by bit some seeds of the work

, ,

T olstoy was to do in later years planted themselves

in his mind In early childhood came the enthusiasm
.

fo r the Ant Brotherhood and the influence o f his

-
,

brother and o f Aunt Tatiana then an acquaintance

with the writings o f Voltaire and other sceptics ,

undermining belief in the miraculous ; then at ,

Sev a stopol the idea o f founding a new reli gion :

,
‘

Christianity purged o f dogma and mysticism then

’
a study o f Luther s R eformation ; and n o w the idea
o f a rationalist Life o f Christ .

’
T o Fet he wrote o f his b rother s death
On 2 0 t h September he died litera ll y in my arms
, .

Nothing in my life has so impressed me It is true .

,

as he said that nothing is worse than death And

, .

when o n e realizes that t h a t is the end o f all then —

there is nothing worse than life W h y strive o r try .

,
44 LEO T OLS T OY
The children he met were all devoted to him One .

of those whom he used t o take o u t for excursions

has told o f how Tolstoy played with them taught them , ,

did gymnastics and settled their disputes Of their .

outings he says
, On the way Tolstoy used to tell
us t al es I remember one about a golden horse and a
giant tree from the top of which all the seas and all
towns were visible Knowing that my lungs were
.

delicate he often took me o n his shoulder and continued

,

his tale as we w al ked al ong N eed I say that we would

.

have laid down o u r lives for him ?

On leaving H y eres Tolstoy his sister and her children

, ,

visited Italy but little record remains of this j ourney

, ,

and it is only slightly reflected in any o f his writings .

He returned to P aris vi a M arseil les and in Par is

—
,

spent a large part o f his time in omnib u ses amusing ,

himself by observing the people .

From France he went on to London where he r e ,

mained six weeks not enj oying his visit much as he

,

suffered severely from toothache nearly all the time .

It was characteristic of Tolstoy that though he was

often a victim o f toothache and was also much tried
by digestive troubles he never had his teeth attended
,
’
to by a dentist A dentist s es t ablishment seemed
.

to him so unnatural and artificial that it must be

wrong M oreover dentists do not always do their
.
,

work well ; and toothache i i one endures it long

—

enough subsides and the maj ority of mankind have

—

got along without dentists in the past So he put .

up with it as one of the il ls it is best to bear p atiently .

D uring his stay in London he saw much of Alexander

Herzen who was then editing K ol okol the most
, ,

in fluential periodical ever issued by a R ussian exile .

In England as everywhere else he examin ed the

, ,

educational methods in vogue He also visited the

.
 B A CHELOR H OO D
H ouse of Commons and heard P almerston S peak fo r
three hours but he told me he could form no opinion
, ,

o f him as an orator for at that time I knew English

,
’
with my eyes but n o t with my ears .

On g r d M arch (new style ) the day o f Alexander ,

’
I I S famous M anifesto emancip ating the serfs Tolstoy ,

left London for Russia vi a Brussels In that city .

he made t h e acquaintance of Proudhon (the author

’ ’
o f Q n est ce l P o r i ét e P whom Herzen
o n-
e a r p ) t o ,

had giv en him a letter of introduction Proudhon .

impressed Tolstoy as a strong man who had the co urage

o f his O pinions and the social p olitical and economic,

q
views Tolstoy expounded a quarter o f a century later
ar e
. deeply dyed with Pr o u dh on i sm Both writers .

consider that property is robbery interest immoral

peaceful anarchy the desirable culmination o f social
progress and that every man should be a law unto
,

himself restrained solely by reason and conscience

, .

W hile in Brussels Tolstoy wrote P ol i kn sh ka

’
almost the only story o f his (except A S u i r e s M or n i n g)
that implies a condemnation o f serfdom It tells o f a .

serf w h o havi n g lost some money belonging t o his

,

mistress hangs himself It was published a couple o f

, .

’
years later and ranks among the best of T olsto y s
,

stories .

In April 1 86 1 after b eing abroad nearly t en months

, ,

he r e entered Russia where he remained for the rest

-
,

o f his life .

D uring his absence he had been app ointed Ar bi t er

of t h e P ea ce fo r his o wn district near Tula The duties .

o f the offi ce were t o settle disputes between the s erfs

and their former proprietors .

The books which Tolstoy tells us most influenced

him after he left the University and before his marriage
’ ’
were Goethe s H er m a n n a n d D or oth ea Hug o s
46 LEO T OLS T OY
’
N otr e D am e de P a r i s Plato s P h d do
and S ym po si u m
in French translations ; and the I l i a d and O dyssey
in Russian versions ; al so the p oems o f T yu ch ev ,

Koltsov and of his friend Fet .

On his return to R ussia from W estern Europe he

brought with him complete editions of the works o f
several of the greatest European writers They were .

detained at the Custom House to be submitted to the

-

Censor and as Tolstoy plaintively remarked nearly

,

half a century later he is still reading th em

,
 CH AP T E R I V

P E A S AN T S CHOOL AN D MA R R IA G E

N the sprin g of 1 86 1 Tolstoy wrote to con ,

gratulate Fet on having become a landed

proprietor
I do not know h o w to rej oice suffi ciently when I
hear or think o f your activity as a f ar mer and I am ,

rather proud to have had at least some hand in the

matter It is good to have a friend but he may
die o r go away or o n e may not be able to keep p ace
,

with him ; but Nature to which one is wedded by

,

a notarial deed o r to which o n e has been born by i n

’
heritance is still better It is one s own bit of Nature !
, .

She is cold obdurate disdainful and exacting but then

, , , ,

she is a friend one does not lose till death and even then ,

one will be absorbed into her I am however at present

.

less devoted to this friend I have other affa i rs that

attract me yet but for the consciousness that she is
there and that if I s t umble she is at hand to hold o n
,
’
t o life would be but a sad business
— .

A few days later Tolstoy visited Turgenev The .

two went together to see Fet and during that visit a ,

quarrel occurred which kept the two great novelists

apart fo r twenty years .

’
A disp ute arose about the education of T ur g en ev s
'

natural d a ugh t er a n d in a moment of irritation he

,

threatened to strike Tolstoy for a remark the latter

47
48 LEO T OLS T OY
made After they had left the house Tolstoy sent a
.
,

letter t o Turgenev demandin g an apology and followed ,

this up with another containing a peremptory challenge

to fight a duel Turgenev replied to the fi st letter
.
r

admitting that he had been in the wrong and asking ,

p ardon .

No duel was fought but the irrita t ion aroused was

,

q
n o t quick ly allayed and even good natured Fet g o t
,
-

into temporary trouble b y t r ying t o reconcile the

irascib le no v eli sts In reply t o a letter from him
.
,

T olstoy wrote
I request yo u not to write t o me again as I shall ,
’ ’
ret urn your letters as we l l as T u r g en ev s unopened
, , .

Before four months had passed Tolstoy however

repented o f the u arrel and wro t e to Turgenev ex
,

pressing regret a t their hostili ty and ad di ng ,If I

hav e insulted yo u f orgive me I find it unendurably
,

hard t o think I have an enemy .

He noted i n hi s D iary i n Octob er 1 86 1

Yesterday I received a letter from Turgenev in
which he accuses me o f sayi n g he is a coward and o f
circulating copies o f my letter I have written to hi m
.

that it is nonsense and I have added

, Yo u call my
action dishonourab le and yo u formerly w ished t o
punch my head ; but I consider myself guilt y ask ,
”
pardon and refuse the chall enge
,
.

Even then the matter was n o t at an end for in 1 862 ,

T olstoy took umbrage at a friendly message Turgenev

sent through Fet and visited his wrath o n the latter
, .

T o be profoundly humble and forgi ving o n his o w n

initiative was easier for him than t o let an opponent
have an opinion o f his o w n He liked things quite
.

clear cut and definite and it always compli c ates

-
,
’
matters t o have t o reckon with some o n e else s views .

We find Turgenev again writing to Fet from Paris

T O L S TO Y IN 1 86 2
 0 L EO T OLS T OY
’
The v ery first charter re gul a ting t h e rela t ions
,

b etween a lan dl ord and hi s newly libera t ed peasan t s -

,

tha t he sent up fo r co n fl r rn at i o n to the Go v er nment ,

Board fo r P easan t Affairs was signed as foll ows ,

A t the requ est o f such and such peasants b ecause

- -
,

o f their ill i teracy the house serf s o and so has signed

- - -

,
’
thi s charter fo r them No t a single name did the
.

documen t contai n As T ols t oy had di ctated the words ,

so his ser v an t had wri tt en them do wn and t he c har t er ,

had b een sealed and sent o ff wi thout b ei n g r ea d o v er

'

and withou t the names o f t h e people i t re f erred t o b ein g

insert ed.

H e often showed wonderf ul patience in deali ng

with the peasants though the y were ex asperatin gly
,

pertinacious in demandin g more than it was possib le

t o grant W ith the landowners he had ev en more
.

troub le than with the pe a san t s He recei v ed from .

them many th reaten i ng letters pl ans were f ormed to ,

have him b ea t en he was t o have been challenged

,

t o a duel denunciations ag ains t h i m were sen t t o

,
.

those in au thority and we find the Marshal o f the

,

No b ility o f Tula writing t o the Minis t er o f H ome

’
Affairs t o c omplain o f T olstoy s appoin tment o n the ,

ground that he was d islik ed b y t h e neighbou ri ng

landowners and unsuitab le for the post .

In July 1 861 after some t hree m on ths o f the w or k

, ,

h e j ott ed down in h i s D iary Arbitra t ion h as gi v en

me b u t li t tle material [for li terary work] has b rought ,

me into con fli ct w ith all the landed propri etors and ,

’
has upset my health Ab out a year a ft er he first
'

assumed the o ffice the Senate informed the Gove rnor

,

o f T ula t ha t it had decided t o discharge the Lieu

tenan t o i Artillery Count Leo T olstoy o n t h e g r o rm d
, ,
’
o f ill heal th
-
f rom the post o f Arbiter o f the Peace
, .

Tiresome p etty adminis t ra t i v e work c onsist ing a t ,

 P E A S AN T S CH OOL AND MARR I A GE 51 .

be st o f compromises and o f decisions forced by circum

stance rather than o n principles of abstract j usti ce
’
such as were cl ear to Tolstoy s soul could not have ,

been an occupation satisfactory to him .

Concur rently with hi s duties as Arbiter Tolstoy ,

carried o n an enterprise in whi ch he had to deal with

people younger and more easy to mould than the
peasants an d proprietors whose quarrels he found so
hard to adj ust ; and during the winter o f 1 86 1 6 2 —

he devoted hi mself with fervour to pro vi di ng education

for the pe asant children o f Yasnaya and the surround
ing district It was a k ind o f work greatly needed and
.

much n eglected i n R ussia .

One chi ef aim o f his travels abroad had been to

study the theory and practice o f educa tion and n o t
only di d he persona l ly devote hi m self to the school
at Yasnaya but in the surroundi ng neighbourhood
,

eleve n other schools were started all more o r less

inspired by his ideal s and encouraged by hi s co ope ra -

tion He al so duri ng 1 86 2 produced and e di ted a

.
, ,

monthly magazin e Ya sn ay a P ol y an a to propagate

, ,

hi s views on education an d mak e know n the res ul ts

attained in hi s school .

In thi s work T olstoy showed the qualities and

,

li m i tations which in later years mark ed his other

propagan di st acti vities There was the sa me char
.

a ct er i st i c selection o f a task o f gr eat im po rtance the ,

same rea diness to sweep aside and condemn nea rly

all that Civiliz ed humanity had accomplished up to
then the same ass uran ce that he could untie the
,

Gordian knot and the same power of devoted ge n i us

,

enabling hi m really to achi eve more than o n e would

have supposed possi b le though not a tithe o f what he
,

set o u t to do .

Th e position he t oo k up is one n o t li k ely t o commend

52 LEO T OLS T OY
itse l f to schoolmasters w h o have t o deal with large
classes and who lack the influence T olstoy had over
,

his scholars the enthusiasm he was able to throw into

,

his educational experiments o r the touch o f genius ,

that enabled him to achieve the apparently impossible

o r t h e ch ildren enj oyed complet e liberty
—
f !

No fees were charged and the relat ions between the

,

children and T olstoy are illustrated by the account

a visitor has given o f seeing him rush through a gate
followed b y a crowd of merry youngsters who were
snowball i ng him T olstoy was intent o n making his
.

escape b ut o n seeing the visitor he changed his mind

, ,

acknowledged his de feat and surrendered t o hi s ,

triumphant pursuers .

’
The f ollowing is T olstoy s description o f the school
No o n e brings anything with h i m neither books nor ,

copy b ooks No homework is set them Not only

-
. .

do they carry nothing in their hands they have ,

nothing to carry even in their heads They are not .

’
obliged t o remember any lesson n o r any of yesterday s ,

work They are not tormented by the thought of the

.

impending lesson They bring only themselves their

.
,

receptive nature and an assurance that it will be as

,

j olly in school to day as it was yesterday T h ev do

-
.

n o t think o f their classes till they have begun No o n e .

is ev er scolded for b eing late and they never are ,

late except perhaps some o f the older b oys who se

,

fathers occasional ly keep them at home t o do some

work In such cases the b oy comes t o school running
.

fast and panting .

They sit where they like o n the benches tables , ,

window sills floor o r in the arm chair The girls

-
, ,
-
.

always sit together Friends from the same

.

v illage especially the little ones (among whom there is

,

most c omradeship ) always sit together

, D uring .
 P E AS AN T S CH OOL AN D M ARR I A G E 53

lessons I have never seen them whisper i ng p inchin g , ,

giggling laugh i ng behi nd their hands or complaining

, ,

of o n e another to the teacher .

Sometimes teacher and pup ils are so carried away

that a lesson lasts three hours instead o f o n e Some
times the pupils themselves cry : G o o n go on ! ,

and S hout contemptuously to any who are tir ed

’
If y ou re tired go to the little ones !
,

The school was closed o r nearly so during the

, ,

summer as most of the pupils then helped their

,

parents with field work— o btain i ng Tolstoy considers , ,

more mental development that w ay than they could

have done in any school To mak e u p for this the
.

hours o f study in winter were long .

There is hardly anything in the whole range o f

’
Tolstoy s writings more charming than his description
’
o f a winter evening s walk with some of these p easant

boys to whom he told tales of Caucasian robbers

, ,

Cossacks and Hadj i Murad and with whom he dis ,

cussed the meanin g and the p urpose of art That .

description is too long to quote here but can be found ,

o n p ages 2 54 2 6 0 of vol
—
i of T h e L i fe of T ol stoy
. .

(publish e d by Constable C o London and D odd .

, , ,

M ead Co New York )

.
, .

In his school Tolstoy found that the absence of books

suitable fo r ch ildren to read was o n e o f the greatest
diffi culties he had to encounter Connected with this .

d i fli cu l t y o f fin ding books suited to the understanding

o f peasants and o f peasant children was the p arallel ,

diffi culty o f finding literary subj ects that interested

them This was first overcome by reading the Old
.

Testament to them and what he says o n this Subj ect

,

is also interesting and important (See L i fe of T ol st oy . ,

v ol i p p 2 6 3
. . . He asks : What means have
we of liftin g a corner of the veil that shuts the
54 LEO T OLS T OY
chi ldren o ff from the wonder land o f knowledge -

I thought as many think that being myself in

, ,

the world to which I had to introduce my pup ils ,

it would be easy for me to do this ; and I taught

the rudiments exp lained natural phenomena and told
, ,

them as the primers do that the fruits of learning are

, ,

sweet but the scholars did not believe me and kept

aloof Then I tried reading the Bible to them and
.
,

quite took p ossession of them A corner of the veil .

was lifted and they yielded themselves to me com

,

p l e t el y . They fell in love w i fh the b ook and with

learning and with me It only remained for me to
.

g uide them on .

The only other books the people understand and

like says Tolstoy are those written not for them bu t
, ,

by them such as folk tales and collections of songs

-

legends proverbs verses and riddles

, , .

In a remarkable article Tolstoy tells how he dis

,

covered that Fe d k a and S yo m k a (boys o f ten and

twelve ) possessed literary ability of the highest order .

Some stories written by these ch i ldren were published

in the magazine ; and Tolstoy declares them t o be ,

in their way equal to anything in Russian literature

, .

One of the profoundest convictions imp ressed o n him

by his educational experiments was that the peasants ,

and their ch i l d r en h av e a large share of artistic capacity

, ,

and that art is of such immense importance to the

human race because of its humanizing e ffect and b e ,

cause i t arouses and shapes our feelings and faculties .

The principle he aimed at carrying o u t was that o f

liberty in education He declared that A child o r
.

a man is receptive only when he is roused and there

fore to regard a merry sp irit in school as an enemy o r a
hindrance is the crudest of blunders .

‘ ’
The pupil s state of mind is the most i m p ortant
 P E A S A N T S C H OOL AN D MA R R IA G E 55

factor in successful education ; and t o secure good

results fr eed o m is indispensable No ch i ld should be
.

forced t o learn what it does n o t want t o or when it does

not wish to .

One need o n l y glance at one and the same Child at

home or in the street and at sch ool Here you see a .

vivacious inquisitive being w ith a sm i le in his eye and

, ,

o n his mouth seeking information everywhere as a

,

pleasure and clearly and often forc i bly expressing

,

his thoughts i n his own way ; while there you see a

weary shrinking creatur e repeating merely with his ,
’ ’
lips some o n e else s thoughts in some one else s words
, ,

with an air of fatigue fear and listlessn ess a creature

, ,
’
whose soul has retreated like a snail into its shell .

He defines education as a hum a n activity having

for its basis a d esi r e fo r equality and a constant ten
’
d en cy to advance in knowledge Schools based on .

compul sion supply he declares not a shepherd for the

, ,
’
flock but a flock for the S hepherd .

’
It is disconcert ing t o one who admires Tolstoy s
education al work to see how scornfully he sp oke of it
sixteen years later in his Confessi o n But that was .

always his wa y the old is useless and worthless and

h a d ; onl y the new the unachieved the fresh ide al
, , ,

is admirable For this new ide al he decries al l that the

.
,

past has produced including himself and his previous

—

e fforts
.

In his Co nfess i on he writes After sp endin g a

year at school work I went abroad a second time to ,

discover how to teach others while myself knowing

nothing And it seemed to me that I had learnt this
.

’
abroad and in the year of the P easants Emancip ation
,

I r et u rned t o Russia armed with all this wi sdom ;

and having beco me an Ar biter I beg an to teach both the
uneducated peasants in school s and the educated
 56 LEO T OLS T OY
classes through a magazine I published Things .

appeared to be going well but I felt I was not quite ,

sound mentally and that matters could not long

,

continue in that way And I should p erhaps then

.

have come to the state o f despair which I reached

fifteen years later had there not been one side of life
,

still unexplored by me which promised me happiness

,

that was marriage .

For a year I busied myself with Ar bitration work ,

the schools and the magazine and I became so worn

,

out —
as a result especially of my ment al confusion
and so hard was my struggle as Arbiter so obscure the ,

results of my activity in the schools so repulsive my ,

shu ffling in the magazine (which always amounted to

o n e and the same thing a desire to teach everybody
and to hide the fact that I did not know what to teach )
that I fell ill mentally rather than p hysically threw
, ,

u p everything and went away to the Bashkirs in the

step p es to breathe fresh air drink kumys (fermented

, ,
’ ’
mare s milk ) and live an animal life
, .

He went first to M oscow where a friend in the Club ,

found him vexed and indignant that his brother had

lost Rs 70 0 0 at cards in a few hours
. How can men .

do such things ? said Tolstoy Half an hour later .

the same friend saw Tolstoy himself playing Chinese

b illiards (a game someth i ng like bagatelle played on a ,

board with wire impediments) and learnt that he had ,

lost Rs 1 0 0 0 to a stranger
. .

Being short of ready money to pay this debt he

-
,

sold T h e Co ssa cks a novel based on his own Caucasian

,

experiences which he had had on hand for several

,

years Turgenev said of it The more often I read the

.

’
story the more convinced I am that it is the ch ef d oeu vr e
,
’
of Tolstoy and of all R ussian narrative literature .

From M oscow Tolstoy went to the Province o f

 8 LEO T OLS T OY
but it is easy to imagine the effect p olice S earch th i s -

had on T olstoy and how it intensified his dislike of

,

Government .

H is attention however was soon diverted to quite

other matters On his thirty four th birthday 2 8t h
.
-
,

August 1 86 2 he j otted down in his D iary the word s :

,

Ugly mug D o not think o f marriage your calling

is of another kind but consciously o r unconsciously
he was by this time in love with Sophia An d r eyevn a
Behrs to whom in September he made overtures in
,

the manner described in An n a K ar en i n a where Levin ,

prop oses to Kitty by writing down the initial letters

of what he has to say letting her guess thei r meanin g ,

which she does successfully He followed this up .

by a formal prop osal o f marriage by letter and was ,

accepted There had b efore this been some mis

.
, ,

understandin g i n the family as to which o f the three

daughters he was courting ; for it was usual when a ,

man appeared in a family as a suitor for him to take ,

the eldest daughter and Sophia was the second of the ,

t hr ee .

’
Tolstoy s sense of honour led him to hand his future
wife the D iary in which mingl ed with hopes prayers
1
, , ,

self castigations and self denunciations the sins and

- -
,

excesses o f his bachelorhood were recorded T o the .

girl this revel ation came as a great shock but after

,

a night passed in weeping bitterly she returned the ,

book and forgave the past .

The marriage took place o n 2 3r d September 1 86 2 ,

within a week o f the prop osal ; the bridegroom being

th i rty four and t h e bride eighteen years o f age The
-
.

1
Pa r t of thi s D i
y h as
ar c n t l y b n p b l i sh d b t i t
re e ee u e , u s ed it o r
h as m it t d
o e p a ss a g e s d e e m d t o o in t im t fo p b li c t i o
e a e r u a n . The
p i t ed b k
r n oo d o es n ot t h f g i v m c h i d ic t i n f t h
er e o r e e u n a o o e. c o n

f i s mad
e ss o n e by To l t y t o h i fia c e
s o s n e.
 P E A S A N T S C H OOL AN D MA R R IA G E 59

Countess not only loved Tolstoy dearly as a husband ,

but had the deepest admiration for him as a writer .

He o n his side during the next fifteen years o f his

,

life often said that he found in family life the co m

,

p l e t e st happiness and in Sophia

, An d r e y e vn a not only a
loving wife and an excellent mother fo r their chil dren ,

b ut an admirable assistant in his literary work in ,

which owing to his unmethodical habits her serv ice as

, ,

an intelligent and devoted amanuensis was invaluable .

The Countess acquired remarkable skill in deciphering

his often extremely illegible handwriting and was ,

sometimes able to guess in an extraordinary way the

meaning o f his hasty j ottings and incomplete sentences .

Soon after his marriage he wrote to Fet

I am writing from the country and while I wr ite
, ,

from upstairs where she is talking to my brother I ,

hear the voice of my wife whom I love more than the

,

whole world I have lived to the age o f thirty four

.
-

withou t knowing that it was p ossible t o love and t o

be so happ y W hen I am more tranquil I will w r ite
.

you a long letter I should not say more tranquil

.
,

for I am now more tranquil and clear than I have e v er

been but I should say W hen I am accustomed to it
, , .

At present I have a constant feeling of having stolen

an undeserved illicit an d not for me intended happi
, ,
- - -

ness . There she is coming ! I hear her and ,

it is so good ! And why do such good people

as you and most wonderful of all such a being as my
, ,

wife love me
,

One drawback to the i r almost complete happiness

lay in the fact that Tolstoy seldom enj oyed any long
periods o f uninterrupted good health In his corre .

S p o n d en ce we find frequent references to indisposition ,

as imp rudence in early manhood and the hardships

o f army life had permanently inj ured his digestion .
60 LE O T OLS T OY
Before he had been married a fortnight an event ,

occur red which might have led t o very dis ag reeable

consequences The M inister o f the Interior drew
.

the attention o f the M inister o f Education t o the

harmful nature o f the Ya sn a ya P ol ya n a magazine ;
but the decision in the matter fortunately lay with
the latter M inister whose Opinion was favourable t o
,

Tolsto y and no action was taken The discourage

, .

ments he had met with and the new interests resulting

from his marriage induced Tolstoy however to close
his school and also to discontinue his education al
magazine The schoo l was howe v er restarted in a
.

modified form later o n .

Shortly before the birth of his eldest son Sergey , ,

’
he wrote t o Fet o f his wife s condition and activities
Invisible e fforts and even visible ones are n o w
— —

going o n ; and moreover I am again up to my ears

, ,

in farming S o is Sonya W e have no steward we

. .

have assistants fo r fiel d work and building but Sh e

-
,

single handed attends to the o ffice and the cash I

-
, .

have the bees the sheep a new orchard and the

, , ,

distillery It all progresses little by little though o f

.
,
’
course badly compared with our ideal .

He was now fairly launched o n the life he was

destined t o lead for fifteen years : a quiet country ,

life occupied with family j oys and cares These

, .

years followed o n e another with so little change that

the story o f a decade and a half can almost be co m
pressed into a s entence Children came in quick .

succession two great novels and a school Rea der were

,

p roduced a large
, orchard p lanted with apple trees ;
-

the Yasnaya P olyana p rop erty improved and new ,

estates purchased east of the V olga .

In his Co n fessi o n Tolstoy says of the years now

,

under review
 P E A S AN T S CH OOL AN D MA RR I A GE 61

R eturning from abroad I married The new co n .

d i t i o n s of happy famil y life completely diverted me

from al l search for the gener al meaning o f life My .

whole life centred in my family wife and ch i ldren , ,

and in care to increase o u r means of livelihood M y .

striving after self perfection and progress was now

-

replaced by the effort to secure the best p ossible

’
conditions for myself and my famil y Again writing .
,

o f this middle period o f his life he says ,

Then came a third period (from my marriage t o my

spiritual rebirth ) which from a worldly p oint o f view
may be called moral that is t o say I lived a correct ,

honest family life n Ot indulging in any vices co n

,

d e m n e d b y public opinion but with interests wholly,

limited to selfish cares for my famil y for the increase ,

o f o u r property t h e acquisition o f literary success

, ,
’
and al l kinds of pleasure .

In twenty six years the Countess bore her husband

-

thirteen ch i ldren o f whom five died in childhood and

,

eight grew up to be adults .

The most reliable account o f Tolstoy at the time

he was writing his great novels is that given by his
brother i n law S A Behrs who writes : Tolstoy
- -
, . .
,

was always fond of children and liked to have them ,

around him H e easily won the i r confidence and

. ,

seemed t o have the key t o their hearts He could .

’
divine a child s thought with the skill o f a trained
educationist Gifted by nature with rare tact and
.

delicacy he was extremely gentle in his bearing a n d

,

conduct t o others I never heard him scold a servan t

. .

Yet they all had the greatest respect fo r him were ,

fond o f him and seemed e v en to fear him N or with

, .
,

al l his zeal fo r sp ort have I ever seen him whip a d og

,
’
o r beat his horse .

No v iolen c e o r sev ere punishmen t was in fl ic t ed

62 LEO T OLS T OY
on the Children and none but their p arents might
,

award the punishments that were administered .

Toys were not al lowed in the nursery but much ,

liberty was given to the children They were always .

eager to go for walks with their father t o answer his ,

call to practise Swedish gymnastics and to be on his ,

side in any g ame he taught them In winter they .

skated a good deal but clearing the snow o ff the p ond

under his leadership was an even greater pleasure
than skating itself .

In the evening he was fond of playing duets with his

sister who spent much time at Yasnaya He used t o
, .

find it hard t o keep up with her in playing long pieces

with which he was not quite familiar but when in ,

d i fli cu l t i e s he would say something t o make her laugh

and so cause her to play S lower If he did not succeed
.

by this ruse he would sometimes stop and solemn l y

,

tak e o ff o n e of his boots as though that must i n fallibly

,

help him out of the di fficulty ; and he would then

recommence with the remark
, N ow it will g o al l
,

right ! W e hear too of his playin g the guitar and

, ,

S inging passionate love songs ; and he was i always

-

strongly mo v ed by vocal or instrumental music well

performed .

Among the favourite amusements at Yasnaya one , ,

’
that he called the Numidian Cavalry evoked the ,

noisiest applause He would unexpectedly sprin g up

.

from his place and raising one arm in the air with its
,

hand hanging quite loose from the wrist would run ,

lightly through the rooms All the chil dren and

.
,

sometimes the grown up s also would follow his

-

example with the same suddenness .

T olstoy de v eloped a strong dislike of leaving home

e v en for a few days W hen it was absolutely necessary
.

for him to go to M oscow he would grumble at his hard

 P E A S A N T S CH OOL AN D MA RR I A G E 63

fate and those who accomp anied him noticed that

,

town l i fez d ep r esse d him and made him fi d g et y and ,

irritable .

He furnished an example of the fact that men o f

artistic temperament are often untidy H e simply .

could not and therefore did not try to keep his things
in order .

A marked characteristic of his was the ardent and

whole hearted way i n which he threw himself into
-

whatever occup ation he took up On this p oint .

P rince D D Obolensky says :

. . I have seen Count
Tolstoy in al l phases of his creative activity
Wh atever his occup ation he fir m l y believed in the ,

value of what he was doing and was always fully ,

absorbed by it I remember him as a man of the world

.
,

and have met him at balls and I remember a remark ,

’
he once made See what p oetry there is in women s
,

ball dresses what elegance how much thought how

-
, , ,

much Charm even in the flowers pinned t o the dresses

I remember him as an ardent sportsman as a beekeeper , ,

as a g ar dener I remember his enthusiasm for farming ,

for tree planting fruit culture horse breeding

-
,
-
and ,
-
,
’
much else .

His management o f property was characteristicall y

person al . He nev er took shares in any j oint stock -

company but bought land bred cattle and horses o f

, ,

good quality planted a quantity of trees and in general

, ,

ac quired property he could manage himself or o v er ,

which he had full control .

“
p
H i s literary work did not prevent him from paying
k een attention to farming He had at one time 3 0 0 .

pigs p aired o ff in sep ar ate sties which were kept

,

extremely clean 80 cows 500 good sheep and very

,
‘

m any fowls and used to send excellent b utter to

,

M os c ow wh ere it sold at a good price

, .
64 LEO T OLS T OY
Sportsman and a griculturist himself he maintained
,

that sp ortsmen and agriculturists alone know Nature .

T o quote Behrs again

N o bad weather was allowed to interfere with his
dail y w al k H e could put up with loss o f appetite
.
,

but he could never go a day without a sharp wal k

in the open air If his literary work chanced to g o
.

badly or if he wished to throw o ff the e ffects o f any

,

unpleasantness a long walk was his sovereign remedy

, .

He could walk a whole day without fatigue and we ,

have frequently ridden together for ten or twelve

’
hours.

All luxury was distasteful to him and much that

ordinary people regard as common conveniences
seemed to him harmful indulgence bad for the souls
,

and bodies o f men .

In contrast t o his former habit he dressed very

simply and when at home never wore st ar ched
,

shirts o r tailor made clothes but adapted to his

-

own requirements the ordin ary R ussian blouse as ,

was at that time a not uncommon practice among

R ussian country gentleme n His
. outdoor
’
winter
dress was also an adaptation o f the peasant s coat
and sheepskin overcoat .
66 LEO T OLS T OY
to Fet Sh al l I tell o u something sur prising ab out
v

myself ? W hen the horse threw me and broke my

arm and I came to after f ainting I said t o myself
, ,

I am an author In a few days the fir st p art o f

.

Wa r a n d P ea ce will appear Please write to me your .

op inion of it in detail I value your opi n ion and that

.

o f a m a n whom I dislik e the more the more I gro w ,

up —
Turgenev He will understand All I hav e
. .

print e d hitherto I consider but a trial o f my pen ;

what I am now printing though it pleases me better ,

than my former work still seems weak as an intro ,

—

duction must be But what follows will b e

.

tremendous
This masterpiece was begun when he was th i rty six -

years of age and kept him busy for fiv e ye ar s It con

, .

tains some words and was origin al ly published

in six volumes For the serial rights he received
.

what was considered the very high rate o f Rs 500 .

(then about £ 75) per printed sheet of 1 6 p ages con ,

taining letters ; that being the usu al Russian

’
way o f reckoning an author s remuneration .

D uring the first fifteen years o f his married life his

financial p osition improved rapidl y as a result o f his
earnings from literar y work and successful farming .

He had al so b efore his marria g e inherited a small

, ,

estate from his eldest brother .

No v el writing is an art in which the Russians have

-

excelled The predominant op inion among them is

.

that T olstoy is their g reatest writer and Wa r a n d ,

P ea ce his greatest work It is maturer than his earlier

.

t al es and was comp osed when he felt more contented

,

with himself and with life than he had formerly done

and was more tolerant towards the world than he
b ecame in later years .

Though highl y origin al T olsto y s t ands none t h e l ess , ,

 T HE GRE A T NO VELS 67

in the line o f succession o f gr eat Ru ssian writers which

beg an w ith Pushkin was continued by Gog ol and
, ,
’
w a s carried o n by T olstoy s great contemp oraries ,

T urgenev and D ostoyevsky .

In no other country or age has the in fluence o f

liter ar y ar t an d especiall y o f novelists and their
,

critics been as great as it was in Russia durin g the

,

nineteenth century P olitical activit y was prohibited

.
,

and the intelligence o f the nation was not greatly

absorbed in co m merce M ost people lived in the
.

country and had ample leisure dur ing the long w inter
months The Church gave little guidance and the
.

people were as sheep lack ing a shepherd but the y ,

were highly sensitive to ar t and the great literary ,

a rtist s became the real leaders o f the spiritu al life

o f the nation .

Wa r a n d P ea ce tells of two fami l ies the Ros t ovs ,

and the B ol k on sk ys M any characters in the boo k

.

’ ’
are drawn from Tolstoy s father s famil y represent ed ,
’
by the Rostovs and from his mother s represented
, ,

by the B ol k o n sk ys The mi ghty dram a o f the

.

Nap oleoni c advance from 1 80 5 to 1 81 2 comes into the

novel in so far as it affects the members o f those
families But T olstoy is not content merel y t o tell
.

their story he also introduces a whole philosoph y of

,

history .

H is theory is that the gr eat men o f hist ory count

for v ery little The y ar e the fig ur e heads of vesse ls
.
-

driv en b y mighty forces .

T olstoy told me he c onsidered the chief defect of the

book besides its too great length to be the intrusio n
, ,

o f this long phil osophic argument H e al so told me .

’
that in writing W a r a n d P ea ce and An n a K a r en i n a
his aim was simply to amuse his readers W e are .

bound t o accept his stat emen t b u t on e has onl y t o

68 LEO T OLS T OY
’
r ead those b ooks t o see that through th em T olsto y s
ardent nature fo und v ent with all his likes and dis
,

likes st rivings and yearnings hopes and fears

, , .

’
T olstoy s works have from the first interested Russia ,

and n o w interest the world because in greater measure

,

mak es n o pretence o f standing aloof and se v ering his

art from his life H is works are so truthful that the
.

LQ C
Q LLLSQ _

In this b ook he describes Russia as it existed under

Alexander I and stil l existed when he himself w as
-

young with extraordinary vividness an d makes us feel

, ,

at home in a country and an age not o u r o wn .

It is not p ossible to do j ustic e to the book in a

brief summary It has many characters so distinctl y
.

drawn that we come to know them better than we

’
know o u r personal acquaintances It treats of life s .
:

deepest experiences and t o read it with the care it

,

deserves helps o n e to know life better and t o se e it

more sanely and seriously Some people consider .

no v el reading a waste of time : but there are hardly

-

any books (at any rate hardly any big books ) better
’
worth reading than Tolstoy s no v els .

It has been said that great literature is the b y

’
product o i a strenuous life In Tolst oy s cas e it
.
 TH E GRE AT NO VELS 69

certainl y was so Had he not struggled and failed

.

and striv en and su ffered had he not e xp ose d his o w n

,

life t o danger in war and had he no t lo v ed feared

, ,

and achie v ed he could never hav e produc ed that

,

1
book .

T olst o y was b y no means indifferent to literary

success His b rother i n law Sp eaking o f h i m at this
.
- -
,

stag e tells u s that in my presence he has co n f essed

,

t o being both proud and vain He was a ramp ant .

ar i stocrat and though he al ways loved the country

,

folk he loved the aristocracy st i ll more T o the

, .

middle class he was antipathetic When after h i s .

failures in early life he became widely famous as a —

writer he used t o admit that it gave him great pleasure

,

an d intense happ iness In his p w n words he was

.
,

pleased t o feel that he was both a writer and a noble .

Sometimes he would ironic al ly rem ar k that though ,

he had n o t e ar n ed a Gener al ship in the artil lery he had ,

’
at any rate won his Gener al ship in literature .

Befor e War a n d P ea ce was finished the Count ess

had borne four ch il dren nursing them herself as —
, ,

with two unavoidable exceptions she did all her ,

subsequent children Her wil lingness t o d o her dut y

.

in this resp ect was exceptional among women of her

class fo r the employment of wet n ur ses w a s co mmon
,
-

in Russia Up t o the age of ten the chil dren were

.

taught Russian and music by the Countess an d she ,

e v en found time to make their cloth es herself till they

reached that ag e Besides al l this she copied out the ,

whole o f Wa r a n d P ea ce by hand some seven times over .

as her husband revised it again and again during its

comp osit ion .

1
A good t r a ns l a ti o n ( M s C o s t a n c
r . n
’
) o f Wa r a n d P ea c
e G a r n et t s e

is iss
u ed b y H e in em a nn in a li b ra ry ed i t i o n A p oc k t d i t i o n b y
. . e e
’
an t r
o h e b an d i s in c ou rs e o f p r p a r t i o n fo r t h e W o r l d s C lassi cs
e a .
70 LE O T OLS T OY
W ith T olsto y the chil dren had arithmetic lessons
and read French from illus t rated v olumes o f Jules
Verne .

T hough he had so completel y conquered the laziness

o f which he accused himself in early manhood as t o

ha v e become a regular indefatigable and extremely ,

hard worker yet after the completion o f his gigantic

,

novel he felt the need o f recuperation and in the ,

su mmer o f 1 869 he wrote to Pet : It is n o w my

deadest time : I neither write nor think but feel ,
’
happily stupid and he adds that he goes o u t shooting
,

snipe and has k il led eight at an outing .

D uring the winter of 1 870 71 T olsto y devoted

—

himself to the stud y of Greek a language he had ,

ne v er learned Fet was so sure the attempt would

.

fail that he announced his readiness to sacrifice his

,
’
o w n skin fo r p ar chment for Tolstoy s diplo m a of p r o

fici en cy S hould the latter qualify himself to receiv e it .

In D ecember T olsto y wrote him I received y our

let t er a week ago but have n o t answered because
,

from morning to night I am lear ning Greek I .

a m writing nothing onl y learning ; and , y our

S kin (t o be used as p archment for my diplo m a) is in

some danger Improb able and astonishing as it ma y

.

seem I have read Xenophon and can n o w read him

, ,

at sight For H omer a diction ar y and some e ffort is

.
,

still necessary I eagerl y await an opportunity t o sho w

.

this new trick to some o n e I have become con .

v i n ced that of all that human language has produ c ed

truly and simply beautiful I k new nothing and ,

I have ceased to write and never more will write , ,

wordy rubbish Yo u may triumph : without a

.

’
knowledge of Greek there is no culture , .

W e are assured that he l earnt the languag e and

read H erodotus within three mon ths .
 TH E GRE A T NO VELS 71
'

T olsto y f elt the charm o f the literary ar t o f the

a ncient w orld ; and so keenly did he enter into the
minds o f those o f whom he read and so different to ,

his o w n was the Greek outlook on life that the co n ,

t r a d i ct i o n produced in him a feeling o f melancholy

and apathy which even affected his health .

T o beguile him from this absorption his wife a t ,

fir st urged him t o tak e up some fresh literar y work

and finally becomi ng seriousl y alarmed fo r his health
, ,

induced him t o g o eastward for a k umys cure D uring .

his stay beyond the V olga in the Province o f Samara

, ,

he purchased an estate there .

On returning from Samara improved in health he ,

turned once more t o matters educational especi al ly ,

t o the need o f good primers for beginners The task .

t o which he devoted his p owers n o w at their zenith, ,

was the production of a R ea d er as si mple and perfect

in form and subj ect matter as p ossible
-
.

Immediately after New Year 1 872 he also rest arted

, ,

the Yasnay a P ol y ana school in which he the Countess

, , ,

and their seven year old daughter Tatiana used t o

- -

teach the peasant children .

Among the stories he wrote fo r the R ea d er were

A P r i son er i n t h e Ca u ca su s G od sees t h e T r ut h and
,

T h e B ea r H u n t (all included in T w en ty t h r ee T a l es) —

.

H e was p ar t icularly pleased by the great p opul ar ity

these stories obtained .

Though he su ffered much from ill health he sp ared -

no p ains to make his R ea der as perfect as p ossible ,

and in M arch 1 872 he wrote to Fet H o w I wish to

see you ! but I cannot come I am still ill , My .

ABC Book gives me no peace for any other occup a

tion The prin ting advances o n the feet o i a tortoise
.
-

the deuce knows when it will be finished and I am ,

stil l adding omitt ing and altering What will come

, , .
72 LE O T OLS T OY
of i t I k no w n ot but I hav e pu t m y whol e soul into
’
it .

T olsto y explain ed that he wished to mak e a profit

on the work and he certainl y did so yet in lat er years
,

he S p oke as though any admixture of mercenary

motive is fatal to lit er ar y wor k a tenet at variance
w ith his own experience for no one could have
,

laboured more conscientiously or successfully than h e

did on the task he now had in hand .

As soon as the b ook w as so far advanced that he

thought he could entrust t h e re m aining proof reading -

t o a friend he went for another much needed change

,
-

to his Samara estate where h e had to arrange for

,

buil ding and for breaking up the virgin so i l S o .

concerned was he however about the fate of the Rea der

that he cut short his stay and soon returned t o ,

Yasnaya to look after it .

The R ea der was published in No v ember 1 872 At .

fir st it sold slowly and was attacked in some of the

papers Tolstoy however was not discouraged and
.

held t o the belief that he had e rected a monument

a conviction amply j ustified by the ultimate success
of the work He had indeed produced a reading book
.
-

far sup erior to anythin g previously existing in Russia ,

and probably unmatched in any language An enor .

mous number of copies have been sold and with , ,

certain modifications it continues to circulate through

,

out R ussia to the present day .

W hen Tolstoy had at last got the Rea der o ff his

hands he prep ared to write a large novel deal ing
,

with the p eriod of P eter the Great but after ,

some months of strenuous prep aration he felt so strong

a dislike of that Tsar that he definitely abandoned
the proj ect A little later when he was in his
.
,

forty fift h year without any special prep aration

-
,
 4 LE O T OLS T OY
Arnold mak es a grave error however by saying
that Tolstoy earns his bread by the labour o f his o w n
’
hands . Tolstoy never did that and never claimed
t o have done it though the statement has been often
very confidently repeated .

Of An n a K a r en i n a Arnold says that : Though

our R ussian novelist deals abundantly with crim i nal
passion and with adultery he does not seem to feel
,

himself owing any service to the goddess Lubricit y ,

’
o r bound to put in touches at this goddess s dicta

tion nothing i s of a nature to trouble the senses ,

o r to please those who wish their senses troubled .

’
This taint is wholly absent .

Arnold it is true is rather shocked that Anna should

, ,

yield so eas i l y to the persuasions of her lo v er H e is .

sure that she ought t o have resisted But here we .

come to a matter o n which many Russians disappro v e

o f T olstoy o n quite the opposite ground Krop otkin
.
,

in his interesting work R u ssi a n L i t er a t u r e has stated

,

their case very clearly and this is the substance o f

,

what he says
An n a K a r en i n a produced in R ussia an impression
which brought Tolstoy congratulations from the r e
actionary camp and a very cool reception from the
advanced p ortion of society The fact is that the .

question of marriage and of the sep aration of husband

,

and wife has been most earnestly debated in R ussia

,

by the best men and women both in literature and in

,

life Levity towards marriage such as is continu al l y

.

unveiled in the D ivorce Courts was decidedly co n

d em n e d a s also was any form of deceit such as supplies
,

the subj ect for countless French novels and plays .

But after levity and deceit had been condemned the ,

right o f a new love appearing perhaps after years

—

of happy married life was seriously considered

— .
 TH E GRE A T NO VELS 75
’
Ch er n ysh e v sk y snovel W h a t i s t o be D o n e 9 may be
,

taken as the best expression o f the op inions o n

marriage which beca me current among the bet t er
p ortion o f the youn g generation Once married it .

’
was said don t tak e lightl y to love a ff airs o r fli r t at ro n
, .

Not every fit o f p assion deserves the na me o f a new

l O v e ; and what 1 5 called love 1 5 often merely temp orary
d esire . Even if it be real before it has grown deep
,

there is gener al ly time to re flect o n the consequences

that would result were it allowed to grow But when .

al l is said and done there are cases when a new love

,

does come and comes al most inevitably

, In such .

cases sep aration n o t onl y becomes inevitable bu t is ,

often to the int erest o f both It would be better for .

both to liv e through the su ffering a sep aration i n

v olves (honest nat ures ar e improved b y such suffering )
than t o sp oil the entire subsequent life of o n e or b oth —

in m ost cases and to face the evil consequences which

—

living t ogether under such circumstances would be

sure to produce o n the children That at any rate .

was the conclusion t o which both in literature and in ,

’
life the best p ortion o f Russian society came
, .

And int o the socie ty Krop otkin describes in the

above st atement came T olsto y with An n a K a r en i n a
, .

The epigraph o f the book is Vengeance is mine I ,

’
will repay and death b y suicide is the fate of p oor
,

Anna w h o was married young to an o l d and u n

,

at tra c tiv e man and w h o had never known love until

,

she met Vronsky D eceit was n o t in her nature

. .

T o maintain a conventional m arriage would n o t have

made her husband or child happier Sep aration and .

a new life with Vronsky w h o seriously lo v ed her was

,
’
the onl y p ossible outcome At any rate co n t m u e s
.
,

Krop otkin if the story of An n a K a r en i n a had t o

,
‘

end in trag edy it was no t in consequence o f an a ct

,
76 LE O T OLS T OY
of supr eme j ustice The artistic genius o f T ols t oy
.
,

honest here as everywhere itself indicated the re al ,

cause in the inconsistency o f V ronsk y and Anna

, .

After leaving her husband and defyin g public op inion

that is as Tolstoy shows the O pinion of women n o t
, ,

honest enough to have a right to a voice in the mat ter

neither she nor Vronsky had the cour age to break awa y
from that society the futility of which Tolsto y de
,
—

scribes so exquisitely Instead o i th at when Anna

.
,

returns with Vronsky to P etersburg their chief pre ,

o ccup ation is how Betsy and other such women will

,

receive her if she reappears among them ? And it

was the op inion of the B et si es surely not Superhu m an —

’
Justice which brought Anna to suicide
—
.

’ ’
W hether M atthew Arnold s view or K r o p o t k i n s
’
be accepted Tolstoy at any rate shows us Anna s
,

charm : her large fresh rich generous delightful

‘
, , , ,
’
nature which keeps our symp athy And after all .
,
’
T olstoy s view o f marriage sanctity is a very o l d and
a very widely held one and it is well to have that side
,

o f the case put strongly and persuasively If ulti .

mately the idea that two uncongeni al p eople ought t o

live o u t their lives together because they have married
has to be abandoned let the best advocates at least b e
,

heard in its defence .

An n a K a r en i n a contains p assag e s t h e ball the m

,
’ ’
o fficer s steeplechase the mowing the death of Levin s
, ,

brother and others which for artistic beauty are

,
—

unsurpassed and perhap s unsurp assable It also .

towards the end contains in admirably concise form , ,

much o f what Tolstoy said later in his Confessi on o f

his quest fo r the meani n g of life his thoughts o f ,

suicide and how he learnt from a talk w ith a peasant

,
’
that man should live for his soul and for God .

W D Howells who stood sponsor for Tolstoy in

. .
,
 ’

7s LE O T OLS T OY
once contributed t o the F amine Fund H er e x ample .

was largely followed and about Rs , ( then .

equal to was subscribed during 1 873— 74 .

Before 1 873 closed the angel o f death had crossed

,
’
T olstoy s threshold fo r the fir st time in his m ar ried
life In November he wrote to Fet : W e are in
.
‘

trouble P eter o u r youngest fell ill o f croup and

.
, ,

died in two days It is the first death in o ur famil y

.

’
in eleven years and my wife feels it very deepl y
,
.

D uring the whole of 1 874 T olstoy made strenuou s

e fforts to g et his system of education more g enerall y
adopted D espite his dislike o f public speak ing he
.

addressed a meeting o f the M oscow Societ y o f

Literacy on the best way to te a ch childr en t o read
and he published a long article On the Educ at ion o f
the P eople in the Fa t h er l a n d j our n a l which arous ed ,

heated controversy in the press .

’
He al so proj ected a University in bark sh oes ,

that is to say a very cheap training colleg e fo r peasant

teachers and t o try to secure a grant for this purp ose ,

he stood for and was elected to the T ula Z emst v o

, ,

( Count y Council ) and was appointed to ser v e o n

its Education Committee Greatly to his disgus t .

however that body preferred t o spend its a v ailabl e

mone y on a monument to Catherine the Great instead ,

o f on his proj ect thereby intensifying the distrust

,

o f representativ e institutions he already f el t and soon

afterwards expressed in p ar t vi o f An n a K a r en i n a . .

Meanwhile l ife and death pursued their course .

In April 1 874 his seventh child was born and in June ,

death took his dearly lo v ed Aunty Tatiana t o whose

-
,

good in fluence through life he owed so much .

Tolsto y says : When already beginning to gro w

feeble hav ing wait ed her opp ortunit y one da y when I
, ,

was in h er room she said t o us t urning awa y (I sa w ,

 T O L S T OY IN 1 8 73

Fr om th e fi a m t zMg by 1 07 1 71 1 1 7. by
80 L E O T OLS T OY
brother D mitr y ; an d it may here b e mentioned tha t
many characters in An n a K a r en i n a are drawn more or
less closel y from life .

In May he again wrote to Pet As y ou and I

resemble o n e another yo u mus t k now the condition
,

in which o n e feels oneself to b e now a God from whom ,

nothing is hid and now stupider than a horse In that

, .

state I am at present So do not be exacting . .

Though he had often expressed d isa ppro v al o f

readin g newsp apers and had lived detached from
,

p olitics he now began to feel keen l y interested in a

,
’
question connected with Russia s foreign p olicy .

The insurrection in Bulgaria in M a y 1 876 had been

q uickly sup pressed by the T urk s the Bashi B a z o u k s
“

,
-

committing unspeakable atrocities o n the defenceless

inhabitants In Jul y Serbia and M ontenegro declared
.
,

war against Turkey but in Spite of help rendered the m

, ,

by numerous Russian volunteers they were soon ,

crushed and would have been completel y at the merc y

,

of the Turks h a d n o t R ussia demanded an armistice

which Turk ey conceded Al exander 1 1 then pressed .

for reforms in Turk ey which were not granted and , ,

war ensued in April 1 877 .

The R usso Turkish imbroglio led early that year

-
, ,

to a quarrel between T olstoy and his publisher K a t k o v ,

who was ardent for the liberation o f the Slav s from

Turkish tyranny laudatory o f those who had v o l u n
,

teered for the war and eager for the aggrandizement

,

of Russia Tolsto y had his doubts about the h eroic

.

and self sa cr i fici n g character of the volunteers and

-

about the purit y of the p atriotism of the press and ,

expressed these doubts very plainl y in the last p art o f

An n a K a r en i n a K at k o v returned some o f the M S
. .

with numerous corrections and a letter saying that he

could not print it unless his corrections were accepted .
 T HE GR E AT NO VE LS 81

T o l stoy was furious at this interf erence and sent a ,

sharp reply which resulted in a rupture Tolstoy .

therefore issued the last p art of A n n a K a r en i n a (which

co ntain s a remarkable forecast of hi s lat er t ea ching )
sep arately besides issuing the whole work in book
,

form as usu al K at k o v had to wind up t h e serial

.

publication as best he could by giving a brief summary

o f the concluding chapters .

A letter to Fet in Ap ril gives an in kl in g of what was

, ,
’
g oin g on in Tolstoy s m ind at this time : I v al ue
every letter of y ours especially such as this last !
,

Yo u woul d hardly believe how ple ased I am at what

”
y ou writ e ,On the existence of the D eity I agree .

with it al l and should like to say much about it but

, ,

cannot in a letter and am too busy It is the first t i me

,
.

y o u have sp oken to me about the D eity God And I —

.

have long been thinking unceasingly about that chief

problem D o not say that one c annot think about it
.

One n o t o nl y can b u t m u st ! In al l ag es the best

, ,

the real people have thought about it And if we

, .

c annot think of it as they did we must find out how to , .

'
H ave you read L es P en sees d e P a sca l L e have you —
.

re ad it recently with a mature headpiece W hen

( which G o d grant ) you come to see me we wi l l t al k of ,
’
many things and I will give y o u that book
, .

H e w as greatly interested in a visit paid him about

this time b y an itinerant story teller who was expert in -

folk lore and w ielded beautifully the si rn p l e language

-

o f the people which Tolsto y loved He took down

,
.

’
some of this traveller s t ales and from them sub se ,

quentl y worked up into liter ary form W h a t M en L i ve

B y T h e T h r ee H er m i t s (b oth included in T w en ty
,

t h r ee T a l es) and so me others The r o ot idea of Wh at

.
-

M en L i ve B y (tha t of an angel sent b y God to do penance

o n e arth for a well intentioned a ct of disob edience ) is
-

6
82 L EO T OLS T OY
’
on e the most wid ely disseminated o f the world s
of

legends and appears in the literature of many ages and

,

many lands .

Another letter t o Fet in April 1 878 als o Shows the

, ,
’
direction in which Tolstoy s mind was working He .

says W ere yo u and I to be p ounded together in a

mortar and moulded into two people we should make ,

a capital pair But at p r esent you are so attached

.

t o the things of this life that should they some day ,

fail y ou it will go hard with you while I am so i n

,

different to them that life becomes uninteresting and

I depress others by an etern al p ouring from void
into v acuum D o not suppose that I have gone
mad ; I am merely out of sorts but hope you will ,
”
love me though I be black .

The prolonged mental struggle through which

T olsto y p assed during the years 1 874— 78 was evident
t o those about him at least from 1 876 onward N o t
, .

merely did he g o regularly to church and shut himself

up in his study morning and evening t o pray but his ,

former high S pirits subsided and his desire to become

,

meek and humble was plainly noticeable One result .

o f his altered attitude was th at he felt kee n l y that it was

wrong t o have an enemy Accordingl y he wrote t o

.

Turgene v t o that e ffect and held out to him the right

,

hand of friendship .

T o this T urgene v replied v ery promptly and cordially ,

’
and o n Tol stoy s return in August from a stay at
, ,

his Samara estate Turgene v visited him at Yasnaya

, ,

and came there again in September One sees h o w .

,

ever by a letter t o Fet in September 1 878 that T ol st oy

, ,

still found himself unable to be quite intimate with

his fellow no v elist
— .

Turgene v o n his return j ourney came t o see us

and was g lad t o receive y our let t er He is st ill the .
84 LEO T OLS T OY
j udgment on all the main phases o f human thought
and activity H is work was sometimes hasty and
.

often harsh ; he painted in black and white subj ects

reall y composed of all shades of colours but what —

other man has even attempted so to examine elucidate , ,

p ortray and tell the frank truth about all the greatest
problems o f life and death
N0 such combination o f intellec t u al and artistic
fo r Ce has in our times provoked the attention o f man
kind No o n e has so stimulated thought o r so suc
.
,

ce ssfu l l y challenged established O pinions T olsto y.

has altered the outlook o n life of many men in many

lands an d caused not a few to al ter not their ideas
,

merely but the settled habits and customs of their

‘

lives Only those w h o n either k now nor understand

.

him question his sincerity To analyse his op inions

, .

and dis entangle what in them is true from what is

false is a difficult task but one which in as far as
, , ,

the limits o f space will allow will be attempted in

,

the following chapters .

’
T olstoy s marvellous artistic p ower his sin c erity
,

and the love that is so strong a feature of his work ,

hav e often been dwelt up on ; but what real ly gives

him supreme importance as a literary force is the
u n i on o f these things artistic capacity sincerity and
, ,

love with an extraordinary p ower of i n t el l ect It

, .

is n o t given to any man to solve all the problems

o f life but no o n e in modern times has made so bold
,

and intere sting an attempt t o do so as Tolstoy or has ,

striven so hard to make his solutions plain to e v ery

child of man .
 C HA PT E R V I

CON FE S S I O N

E FO R E de al ing with his Confessi on which

,
’
marks a new dep ar ture in Tolstoy s life ,

it will be well to note two tendencies which

influen ced him One was the religious life o f the
.

people with its medi aeval traditions H e had onl y

, .

to go a short w al k fr o m his house t o reach the high

road where p i lgrims going a foot to the shrines of the
sa i nts could always be met and he had many co n
ver sa t i o n s with them at t h e rest house they frequent ed
-
.

Amo n g them were men t o whom nothing in this world

was as precious as ob edience to the will of God and
T olstoy obse rved these people closel y and felt that
they were near to his soul .

On the other hand he w as in fluenced b y the rem ar k

able mo v ement then beg inn ing t o make itself felt in
Russia which t ook as its watchword the motto
, ,

Towards the
In 1 875 public attention was aroused b y the tri al of a
group of So ciali st prop agandists and t h e t r i al of The
M osc ow M arch 1 877 reve al ed the fact that a
,

numbe r of girls of we al thy fami l i es were volunt ar ily

leading the life of factory hands work i n g four teen
,

hours a day in over crowded factories that they might

,

come into touch with working people t o teach them ,

and t o c ar ry on social and p olitical p ropaganda among

them .
86 LEO T OLS T OY
T hese and other indications sho wed that an i n
creasing number o f R ussians felt that the exist ing
order o f society resulted in the mass o f the people
having to live in c onditions of blighting ignorance
and grinding poverty while a p arasit ic minority livin g
in plenty and sometimes in extravagant sup er flu i t y
, ,

rendered no se rvice at al l equiv alent t o the cost o f

their keep The mere statement that those who had
.
,

received an education thanks to the work o f the masse s

owe service to the masses in return su fficed to rouse ,

to action many of the y oung men and wo m en o f that

day The y left their wealthy homes lived the simplest
.
,

lives ran fearful risks and according to their lights

, ,

(sometimes n o t very clear ones ) devoted themsel v es

to the service of the people .

While this was going o n around him such a man as ,

T olsto y could not be at rest .

It was through V C Al exeyev who was math e

. .
,

m a t i cal tutor t o his eldest son Sergey that Tolstoy , ,

came in contact with the Social ist movement T olstoy .

respected Al exeyev as a man who tried t o shape his

life in accord with his beliefs .

Al exeye v s ays Sometimes we started a conversa

tion o n economic and soci al themes I had a copy o f .

the Gospels left from the days o f my Socialist p r o p a

,

ganda among the people P assages relating t o social

.

questions were underlined in it and I often p ointed these ,

o u t t o Tolstoy The work constantly going on within

.

him gav e him no peace and at last brought o n a

,
’
crisis .

The state o f Russian life was indeed such that men

o f sensitive consciences coul d n o t be at rest as indeed
(
when and where in the wide world can the y P) and ,

Tolstoy was o n e in whose soul the struggle was sure

t o be fought out most strenuously .
 8 LE O T OLS T OY
and did no t know what t o think Or beginning to .
,

consider my plans for educating my children I would ,

”
say to myself W hat fo r ?
°

O r when thin k in g
o f the fame my work s would bring me I said to myself , ,

Very well you wil l be more famous than Gog ol o r

P ushkin o r Shakespe ar e o r M oli ere o r than al l t h e ,
”
writers in the world and what does it lead to ?
,
—

And I could find no reply at al l My life came to a .

standstill H a d a fairy come and o ffered to fulfil

.

my desires I should not have kno wn what t o ask

, .

The truth seem e d t o be that life w as meaningless I

- .

had as it were lived lived and walked wal ked till I

, , , , , ,

had come t o a precipice and saw clearl y that there w as

nothing ah ead of me but destruction It was i m .

p ossible to st o p i m p o ssi b l e to go back and imp o ssible

p ,

t o close my e ye Sc r avoid seeing that there was nothing

ahead but su ffering and real death complet e anni —

h i l at i o n .

It had come to this that I a health y f ortunate , , ,

man felt I could no longer live : s ome irresist ible

’

p ower impelled me t o rid myself of life o n e wa y o r

other I cannot say I w i sh ed to ki l l m y self The
. .

p ower which drew me away from life was stronger ,

fuller and more widespread than an y mere wish .

And it w as then that I a man fa v oured b y fortune , ,

hid a cord from myself lest I should hang myself

from the crosspiece of the p artition in my room where I
undressed al one every evening .

And al l this befell me at a time when all around me

I had what is considered complete good fortune I .

was not yet fifty ; I had a good wife who loved me

and whom I loved good children and a large estate
, , ,

which without much effort on my p art impro v ed and

increased I was respected by my relations and
.

acquaintances more than at any previous t ime I was .

 0 LEO T OLS T OY
’
e xis t there fore re ason is li fe s son Life is all . .

Reason is its fruit ye t reason denies li f e itself

, I
felt that there was something wron g here .

There is something wrong said I to m yself ; ,

b u t what was wrong I could in no way mak e o u t .

It was lon g b e f ore the fo g b egan to clear and I began

t o b e able t o restate my position .

My position was terri b le I could find no thin g

.

a long the path o f reasona b le knowledge except a ,

denial o f life ; and in faith I could find nothing b ut

a denial o f reason still more impossible t o me than
,

a denial o f l i f e
i .

Finall y I saw that my mistak e lay in e v er

e x pecting an examination o f finite things to suppl y
a meaning t o li fe The finite has n o ultima t e
.

meanin g apart from the infinite The two must b e .

’
l i nk ed t ogether b e f ore an answer t o li f e s problems can
b e reached .

It had only seemed t o me that knowledge gav e a

’
definite answer Schopenhauer s answer
— that life
has n o meaning an d is an e vil On examini n g the .

ma t ter further I understood that philosophi c know

,

ledge merely asserts that i t cannot solv e the ques t ion ,

and the solution remains as far as i t is concerned

, ,

indefinite And I understood further that howe v er

. , ,

unreasonab le and monstrous migh t be the replies given

by f aith they had this advantage that they introduce
, ,

a relation b etween the finite and the infinit e wi thout ,

“ which n o reply is possible .

F aith still remained t o me as irrational as it was

b e fore yet I could not b ut admit that it alone gives
,

mankind a reply to the questions o f life : and con se

quently mak es life possible F aith 1 5 the strength
. .

o f life
. If a man lives he b el i e
,veS in some thing If .

he does not see and rec o gnize the illusory nature o f the
 C ON FESS I ON
fini t e then he b elie v es in the finite if he understands
,

the illusory nat ure o f the finite he must b elieve in the

,

infinite W ithout faith he cannot live

. .

Wh at am I A part o f the infinite

— In those f ew .

w ords lies the whole problem .

I began dimly t o understand that in the replies

gi v en b y f aith is stored up the deepest human wisdom .

I understood this b ut it made matters n o better

fo r me .I was n o w ready to accept any f aith if only
i t did n o t demand o f me a direct denial o f reason
which would b e a f alsehood And I studied Buddhism
.

and M ohammedanism from b ooks and most o f all , ,

I s t udied Christianity b o th from boo k s and from

li ving people .

D uri ng that whole year wh en I was ask in g m y

,
‘

self alm os t e v er y momen t whether I should not end

matters with a noose o r a b ullet all that time b eside
—
,

t he course o f thought and ob serv ation about which I

hav e spo k en my heart was oppressed with a pain ful
,
’
feeling which I can only descri b e as a S earch fo r G o d .

T olstoy g oes o n t o explain h o w impossib le he found

it t o b eliev e in such a G o d as is presented in the Church
cre eds ye t how impossib le it was fo r him t o li v e
,

without G o d He says : Not twice o r th ree times

.
,

but tens and hundreds of times I reached a condition ,

first o f j o y and animation and then o f despai r and

,

consciousness o f the impossibility o f li ving .

I remember that it was in early sprin g : I was

alone in the wood listening to its sounds I lis t ened .

and thought ever o f the same thing as I had constantly ,

done during those last three years I was again seek .

ing G o d .

“
Very well there is no G o d said I t o myself ;
, ,

there i s no o n e who is not my imagi na t ion b ut a

92 LE O T OLS T OY
reali ty lik e m y who l e li fe H e does n o t e xis t an d n o
.
,

m i r a cl es can prove his ex is t ence b ecause t he miracl es

,

would be my per c ep t ions b esides b eing irra t ional

,

But then I turned my g aze upon mysel f o n what ,

wen t o n w i t h i n m e and I rememb ered that I only

‘

lived at those t imes when I belie ved in God As i t .

was b e f ore so i t was now ; I n e e d onl y b e aw are o f

,

G o d t o li v e I need only f org et him o r di sb el i eve i n ,

-

him and I die

, What more do yo u s ee k ?
exclaim ed a v oice wi thin me This is h e H e is
. .

that without which o n e canno t li v e T o k no w G od .

and to li ve is o n e and t h e same thi n g G o d is li f e . .

Live see king God and then y ou will not liv e withou t
,
'

God . And more than ever before all within me and ,

around me lit up and the ligh t did no t a g ain ab andon

,
’
me .

H e t ells h o w the b elief s o f the simple peasan t s

attracted him in spite o f an admixture o f s up er st i
,

tion in their b eliefs ; and h o w o n the other hand , ,

intercourse with learned Churchmen o r Evan geli c als

repelled him ; yet he fulfi l led the rites o f the Church
and tried t o adapt himself t o its teachin g .

So I lived fo r about three y ears At firs t when I .

,

did n o t understand something I said It is my fault

, , ,

I am sinful b ut the more I fathomed the t ruth the ,

clearer became t h e line between what I do not under

stand b ecause I a m not able to understand it and wha t ,

cannot be understood but involves lying to ones elf

, .

In S pite of my doubts and su fferings I still clung ,

to the Orthodox Church But questions of life aros e

.

which had to be decided ; and the decision o f these

questions by the Church contrary t o the very bases o f
the belief by which I liv ed obliged me at last to o wn
-

that communion with Orthodoxy i s i m p p ssi h l e These .

.

q uestions were : first the relation of t h e O rthodo x

94 LEO T OLS T OY
t hat not al l was t ue in the religion I had j oined
r
.

Formerly I should have said that it was all false b ut

I could not say so now for I had felt its truth and had
,

liv ed by it But I no longer doubted that there is in

.

it much that is false And though among the peasan t s

.

there was less admixture of what repelled me s t ill I ,

saw that in their belief also falsehood is mixed with

truth .

But where did the truth and where did the f al se

hood come from ? Both the falsehood and the truth
were contained in the so c al led holy tradition and
-

Scriptures Both the falsehood and the truth had

.

been handed down by what is called the Church .

And whether I liked t o o r not I was brought t o the

,

study and investigation o f those writings and traditions

— which till now I had been so afraid to in vestigate .

And I turned t o the examination o f that theolog y

which I had once rej ected with such contempt I .

sh al l not seek the explanation of everything I kn o .

that the explanation o f e v erythin g like the comme n ce

,

ment o f ev ryth ing must be conce al ed in infinity

e
, .

Bu t I wish to understan d in a w ay which will bring me

to what is inevitably inexplicable I wish to recog .

nize anything that is inexplicable as being so n o t ,

because the demands of my reason are wrong (they are

right and ap art from them I can understand nothing )
, ,

but because I recognize the limits o f my intellect I .

wish t o understand in such a way that ever yt hing that

is inexpl i ca ble sh al l present itself to me as being
necessarily inexplicable and n o t as being something
,

I am under an arbitrar y oblig ation to believe I must .

find what is true and what is false and must disent angle
,
’
the o n e from the other .

H av ing reached a fresh underst anding of life ,

 CON FE SS I O N

Tolsto y felt he tells us as though while wal king from

, ,

home he had sudde n l y understood that the errand he

had started up on was unnecessar y and had t urn ed ,

back All that had formerly been on his right hand

.

now appeared on his left and all that had been o n his
,

left was n o w o n his right W hat he had desired

.

hono u r riches and self aggrandizement f now seemed

,
- - -

evil ; while p overty humil ity self sacr i fice and the
, ,
-

service of others se emed good .

:
Q
1
Those who have followed his earlier c ar eer will
however find it h ar d to detect the extern al signs o f so
great and sudden a change No sudden break was . .

app arent in his external life what followed evolved ,

from what had gone before so that it seems less ,

natur al to speak of his crossing the Rubicon than

of his gradu al a scent o f a mountain .

In Ma y 1 879 we fin d Tolstoy writing t o Fet o f the

’
beautiful spring . It is long since I so enj oyed God s
world as I have done this year One stands open .

mouthed del i ghtin g in it and fearing t o move lest o n e

,
’
S hould miss anything .

In June he set o u t for Kie v which with its great ,

cat acomb M onastery is o n e o f the ch i ef places o f

-

pilg rim ag e in R ussia Thousands fl ock there e v ery

.

ye ar seek i ng spiritu al nour ishment .

His j ourne y t o Kiev was not however a success ,

for he found nothing t o satisfy him either in the

M onastery or in the mo n k s .

On his road home he visited Fet and after reaching ,

Y a snaya wrote t o him o n 1 3th July 1 879

,

D o n o t be vexed with me de ar Afanasy Afana ,

s ev i ch fo r not writ ing to thank you fo r the pleasant

y ,

day I spent at your place and fo r not answer i ng your

,

l ast letter . It is probabl y true that I was o u t o f spirits

while with y ou (forgiv e me for it ) and I am still n ot
96 LE O T OLS T OY
in good spirits I a m alwa y s capricious s elf torment
.
,
-

ing trouble d correc t ing mys elf and learning

, , and
I cannot refrain from turning mysel f inside o u t .

W e still ha v e measles in the house It has pi cked .

o u t half the children already and we are e x pec t in g t he

,
’
res t t o tak e it .

In July he wrote ag ain in repl y t o some remon st ran c e

Fet had sent him
I rej ect neither real l ife n o r the lab our necessar y
,

fo r its maintenance b ut it seems to me tha t the

greater p art o f my life and yours is tak en up wi th
satisfying n o t o u r natural wants but wants invented ,

b y us o r artificially inocu lated by o ur educat ion

an d hab i t ual t o us and that nine tenths o f the work -

we devote t o satisfyin g those demands is i d le work ,

.

T
I should very much lik e to be firmly convinced that I
gi v e people more than I tak e from them but as I f eel ,

myself much di s posed to v alue my o w n work hi gh .

’ '

and other people s work low I d o not hope b y si rn p l y ,

'

in t ensif ying my lab our and choosing what is most

di fficult to assure mysel f that their a c count wi t h me
, ,

does n o t land them in a loss (I am sure to . tell mysel f

that the work I lik e is the mos t necessary and di fficult) :
There f ore I wish t o tak e as little from others as possible ,
and t o work as much as possib le for the satisfaction o f
m y o w n needs and I think that is the easiest w ay to
’
a v oid mak in g a mistak e .

’
A month la t er he writes Since S t r ah o v s visit we ,

hav e had g uests o n e a f ter the o ther pri v a t e t h ea t r i

cals and all the de vils let loose Thirty four S heets
, .
-

in use for the guests and thirty people at dinner and

, ,

all wen t o ff well and all— including mysel f — were

,
’
g ay .

The c riti c N N Straho v whom he here m en t ions

, . .
, ,

I f ound T ols t o y in e x c ell en t spiri t s

‘
wro t e t o a friend .
98 LEO T OLS T OY
L yo vo ch k ais alw ays at work as he expresses it
,

b ut alas ! he is writing some sort o f reli gious dis

cu ssi o n He reads and thinks til l his head aches and
.
,

all t o show how incompatible the Church is with the

teaching o f the Gospel Hardly ten people in R ussia
.

wi ll be interested in it but there is nothing to be done

, .

I only wish he would get it done quicker and that ,

it woul d pass lik e an il l ness ! N o o n e o n earth can

control him o r impose thi s o r that mental work upon
’
hi m it is n o t even in his o w n power to do so
, .

Her letters give us a glimpse o f the troub le sure t o

occur from the close uni on of two people o f strong
indi viduality o n e of whom changed hi s outlook o n
,

life and wished to change hi s way o f life accordin ly

g
.

It was once said that no man shoul d change his opini ons
after he was married ! The Countess Tolstoy must
often have felt inclined to say something o f the sort
when she saw her husband consumed by a f erv ent
devotion t o conclusions n o t her o w n and t o which , ,

since they went o n continually e v ol vin g and develop

ing it was all the more di ffi cu lt fo r her to adj ust herself
, .

She gave birth to a tenth child in D ecember 1 879 ,

a b o y christened M ichael
, .

D uring the first years after their marriage t h e

T olstoys had not had many visitors except relations ,

b ut with the growth o f the younger generation thi s

altered and Yasnaya P olyana began to swarm with
,
’
y oung people Tolstoy s change o f outloo k o n lif e also
.

made h i m more accessible to all sorts and con di tions o f

men though it caused hi m to rej ect some acquain t ances
,

whom almost any o n e else would have been glad t o

know : among others General Skobele v and the,

painter V er esch agi n

, .

Turgenev who was an ardent admirer o f Pushkin

, ,

returned from France in 1 880 to take part in the cele

 C ON FESS I ON 99
’
bration o f the eightieth anni v ersary o f that poet s
’
birth Aware o f Tolstoy s disli ke o f j ubilees and public
.

celebrations the Committee requested Turgenev t o

,

use his personal influence t o persuade Tolstoy t o b e

present at the unveiling o f the P ushkin M onument
in Moscow ; and w ith this purpose Turgenev visited
’
Yasnaya the week a f ter Easter Tolstoy s admiration
.

fo r P ushkin whom he regarded as the foremost o f

,

R ussian writers and the fact that this was the first
,

time it had been permitted t o pay public honour t o

the memory o f a R ussian man o f letters led T urgene v ,

t o assume that hi s host would surely agree t o take part

in the Jubilee But to Tolstoy the feasting the
.
,

expense the a r t i fici al i t y and the fictitious enthusiasm

,

accompanying such a ffairs were profoundly r e,

u
p g n a nt and
, he met the request with a defi n i te

re fusal .

’ ’
S o great was T ur g en ev s di smay at Tolstoy s u n
compromising reply that when shortly afterwards
, , ,

D ostoye v sky the thi rd o f the trio o f great R ussian

—

novelists then li ving wished to visit Yasnaya and

—
,

consul ted Turgenev o n the matter the latter spoke ,

’
o f Tolstoy s mood in such a way that D ostoyevsky

abandoned his intention and di ed a year later without

,

having ever met Tolstoy to whose An n a K a r en i n a

,

he had publicly referred as the most palpable proof

R ussia could offer t o the W estern world o f her capacity
t o contribute somethin g great t o the solution o f the
problems that oppress humanity .

Fro m this time onward Turgenev without ceasing t o ,

be interested in Tolstoy personally and while co n

tin n ing to praise him enthusiastically as a no v elist ,

ne v er missed an opportunity t o express his distrust o f ,

and regret concern i ng those new interests which were

,
’
so profoun dl y stirring t h e d ep th s o f To lst o y s na t ure ,
 LEO T OLS T OY
‘

1 00

and were des t ined t o mo ve the minds o f men in many

lands f ar more profoundly than his novels had ever
do n e but the power and importance o f which the
,

elder writer realized as little as a man suffering from

colour blindness realizes the values in a picture
-
.

In a letter t o a friend T urgenev wrote It is an

unp ardonable sin that Leo Tolstoy has stopped writing
—
h e is a man who could be extraordinarily useful b ut ,

what can o n e do with him ? He h a s plun g ed into

mysticism . Such an artist such fi r st class talent
,
-
,

w e ha v e nev er had n o r now ha v e among us I fo r

, , .

instance am considered an artist but what am I worth

,

compared t o him In contemporary European l itera

t ure he has n o equal W hatever he tak es up it all
.
,

b ecomes ali ve under h i s pen And how wide the sphere

.

o f his creative power i t is simply amazing

—
But what
is o n e t o do with him ? He has plunged headlon g
into another sphere : has surrounded himsel f with
Bib les and Gospels in nearly all languages and has ,

written a whole heap o f papers He has a trun k f ull

.

o f these mystical ethics and o f various pseudo inter -

r e t t i n s He read me some o f it which I simpl y d o

p a o .

n o t understand . I told him T h at was no t t h e

real thing but he replied : It is j ust the real
thi ng . Very probably he will gi v e nothing more
t o litera t ure o r if he reappears it will be w i th that
,

t run k. And he has f ollowers : G ar sh i n fl f or .£

’
instance is undoubtedl y his follower
, .

’
Tolstoy s artistic nature about this time caused him ,

as it happened to hit o n the idea o f writing S hort

,

prose p oems Having comp osed one he sent it

-
.
, ,

signed in the name o f an o l d ser v ant to a newspaper , .

’
The M S came back declined with thanks o n the
.
,

ground that its author was not yet su fficiently ex p ert

in expression Resigning himself to his failure ,
1 02 LEO T OLS T OY
who received it it is nowhere recorded and now escapes
,

notice It was al ways his practice to listen to and

.
,

advise those who came to consult him ; and al most

,

every day there were some w h o came He wrote for .

them innumerable petitions statements and letters o f ,

introduction and no doubt his inveterate dislike o f law

and j urisprudence l ar gely grew as a result of his e Xp er i
ence of the extreme difficulty o f obtaining elementary
j ustice for p oor ignorant and O ppressed peasants
, .

Confessi
’
[A n ew t r a n sl a t i on of T ol st oy s
‘
on i s
’
a n n o u n ced to a pp ea r sh o r t l
y i n t h e Wor l d s Cl a ssi cs
ser i es ]
 C HAPT E R V I I

THE CH U R CH AN D THE G O S P E LS

I h a ve j u s t r ea d y ou r p r es en t at i on o f my r el i gi o u s vi e w s . It i s

ver y g o o d . I t h a n k y o u fo r i t fr o m m y s ou l , an d p r es s your h a n d i n
’
fr i en d s h i p .
— T o st o l y o Ay l
t m er M a ud e, r 6t h Ma rch 1 91 0 .

HE problem before Tolstoy was that o f

sep arating what is true from what is false
in the teach ing s of the Church and in the
Gospels .

He knew that man needs guidance but he was t o o ,

sincere to adopt a creed merely because he wanted one ,

o r to accept anyt hing he saw no suffi cient reason to

believe Others have felt the need for religion as

.

keenly and not a few have shared his courage and

,

truthfulness but he alone in o ur time combined this , ,

religious spirit and fearless truthful n ess with a genius

fo r literary expression which secured the attention of
the world O w ing moreover to the person al risk he
.

ran of persecution his words became heroic deeds ,

causing the blood of those who he ar d them to flow

faster in their veins .

He first carefully examined the dogmas of the

Ort hodox R ussian Chur ch as stated in the Creeds and
in D ogmatic Theology (They do not differ esse ntiall y.

from those of t h e Catholic or Protestant Churches ) .

The conclusion he reluctantly reached was that

they and the whole theology in which they are em
,
~

1 03
1 04 L E O T OLS T OY
bedded are utterl y false The more he look ed i n to the
, .

matter the more shock ed was he at the levity with

,

which the Churches have accepted conclusions ba sed

o n evidence which he says will not stand the simplest
, ,

tests o f logic He found it d i ffi cul t t o understand wh y

.

the theolog ians say such strange things and support ,

their assertions by arguments that are an insult t o

human intelligence He tells us that he found him
.

self driven to the conclusion that dogmatic theology

endur es onl y because it is screened from exposure by
the authority of the Church ; and that the Church
’
itself is simply P ower in the hands of certain men .

Tolsto y charges the Church with lack o f intellectual

’
integrit y and regards it as an obstacle to man s
,

moral progress and to the S pread o f any right under

standing either o i life o r o f religion .

He maintains that though many people credulousl y

accept and repeat the Church dogmas nobody re al ly ,

believes them for they mean nothing at all and

, ,

statements must have a meaning b efore they can be

reall y believed For instance the st atement that
. ,

some o n e went up a hill and then rose to heaven and

sat down there may have had a meaning when people
,

lived o n a flat earth wi th a burning hell below and a

solid fir m a m en t ab ove ; but in accord with o u r con
,

cep t i on o f astronomy if a man began to rise from the

,

t o p o f a hill there is nowhere for him to stop And if

he tried to sit down he would have nothing to sit o n
,

and would tumble back again Fo r people who .

,

believe in the solar system to say they believe in the

,

Ascension is he said merely to talk nonsense

, , .

Faith is a virtue ; but t o be faithful to a belief ,

you must have one and a real belief is n o t attained

by credulity (which is a vice ) but by vigorous mental
e ffort.
1 06 LEO T OLSTOY
the y may be o n e even as we are o n e ; I in them
, ,
’
and they in me He also taught hi s disciples to pray
.

to O ur F ather and making a clear distinction

,

between himself and G o d said My God my G o d why

, , ,

hast Thou forsaken me P

The Gospels often attribute t o Jesus language e vi
d en t l y not used literally as when he says he is the
,
’ ’
door o r the V ine and it lies with the reader t o take
, ,

his words reasonably o r unreasonably This applies .

’
equally t o the statement that he was the Son of God .

T o make thi s mean that God was hi s father in the same

way that M ary was his mother would be absurd yet
, ,

as soon as we admit that G o d was his Father in a mystic

sense the scheme of Redemption ceas es to have any
,

concret e meanin g .

It must strike any o n e who reads the Gospels with

an open mind and compares them with the Church
Creeds that if Jesus knew that G o d would punish
,
’
mankind until atonement was made for Adam s sin ,

and if Jesus approved o f this and made it the chi ef

aim o f his life and death to appease such a God and
’
if moreover he knew that men s eternal salvation
, ,

depends o n these things and o n o u r believing rightly

about them it is singularly unfortunate that he
,

omitted to mention the matter and left us to pick ,

it up from obscure remarks made years later by , ,

S t P aul who m he never met during his life on earth

.
— .

’
The following is a summary o f Tolstoy s views as ,

expressed in 1 880 84—

Each o n e of us has a reason and a conscience that

come to us from somewhere we did not make them
oursel v es They obli ge us to di fferentiate between
.

good and evil ; we m u st approve o f some things and

disapprove o f others In this respect we are all
.

memb ers o f o n e family and sons o f one Father D o r .

 TH E C H URC H AN D TH E GOS P E LS 1 07

mant o r active in each o f us there is a hi gher and better

nature : a spiritual divine nature If we ope n o ur
, .

hearts and minds we can to some extent di stin guish

,

good from e vil in relation t o o ur o w n conduct : the

law is v ery n i gh unto yo u in your mouth and in your
,

’
heart . The purpo se o f o u r li f e o n ea rth sho ul d b e t o
serve n o t o ur lower animal nature but that P ower
—
, ,

t o which o ur higher nature recognizes i t s kinshi p .

Jesus identifies hi mself with his higher nature spea ks ,

o f hi mself and o f us as Sons o f the Father and bids us ,

b e perfect as o ur Father in heaven is perfect .

This then is the answer t o the question : What is

the meani n g and purpose o f life ? There is a P ower
enab ling us t o discern what is good we are in touch
with it o ur reason and conscience flo w from it and the
, ,

purpose o f o ur conscious li f e is t o d o its wi ll that is ,

t o d o good .

The Gospels apply thi s teaching t o p ra c tical li fe

in the Five Commandments o f Ch rist an acceptance o f ,

whi ch o r even a com p r eh en si on of an d a n att em p t to

,
’
fol l o w whi ch wo ul d alter the whole course o f men s
,

l ives in o ur society .

.I Y e ha v e heard that it was said to them o f o l d

time Thou sh al t n o t ki ll ; and whosoever shall k ill
,

shall b e in danger o f the j udgm ent ; but I say unto

that every h is an g ry i th h i bro ther
“

y o u
, o n e w o w s
’
shall be in danger o f the j udg ment .

Let it b e mentioned in passing that in the R ussian

version as in o ur Authorized Version the words
, , ,
’ ’
w i t ho ut a ca u se occur after the word
, angry Th is .

makes nonsense o f the passage fo r n o o n e ever is angry ,

without supposing that he has some cause ! Co m

paring various Greek texts Tolstoy found that those ,

words are an interpolation (the correction is also made

in o ur Re vi se d Version ) and he found other passages
,
1 08 LEO T OLS T OY
’
in which the current translations o b scure Christ s
teaching as fo r instance the popular lib el which
, ,

represents him as ha ving fl o gged people in the Temple

with a scourge No t o n e Gospel in the R e vised Ver
.
,

sion says that he struc k any o n e

,

The first g reat guiding rule fo r a Chris t ian then is

D o n ot be a n g ry .

’
Some people will say W e d o n o t accept Chris t s
,

author ity so why should we not be angry

,

But test it any way you lik e by experie nce b y the ,

ad vice o f other great teachers o r by the example o f the ,

b es t men and women in their b est moods and yo u will ,

find that the ad vice is good .

But o n e may say finally I cannot help b eing an gr y

, ,
’
it is m y nature I am made so Very well there is .

n o danger o f your n o t doing what yo u must d o b ut

reli gion and philosophy exist to help us t o think and
f eel rightly and t o g uide us in as far as o ur na ture
,
’
allows us t o be guided I f yo u can t abstain from
.

an g er alto g ether a bst a i n fr om i t a s m uch a s y ou

,

ca n .

2 Ye ha v e heard that it was said Thou shalt

. ,

n o t commit adultery b ut I say unto you that ev ery ,

o n e that looketh o n a woman t o lust a f ter her hath

’
committed adultery with her already in his heart .

This second great rule o f conduct is D o n ot l a st .

Being animals most o f us probably cannot help

lusting b ut the f act that w e are imperfect does n o t
,

prevent the advice from b eing good so if yo u cannot

b e perfectly pure lust as little as yo u can
, .

3 A
. g ain ye ha v e heard
, that it was sa i d t o them o f
o l d time Thou shalt n o t f o r swear thyself but shalt
, ,

perform un t o the Lord thine oaths : b ut I say unto

110 LEO T OLS T O Y
R esi st n ot hi m t h a t i s evi l
but whosoever smiteth thee
’
o n thy right cheek turn to him the other al so
, .

That means said Tolstoy d o not use physic al

, ,

violence against men who act in a way you disapprove

of. Ultimately taken in conj unction with other
,

commandments it means much more than that

, .

There are two opp osite ways o f trying to promote

the triumph o f good over evil One way is that .

followed by Buddha and Jesus and other o f the best

men the world has known It is to seek t o see the .
,

truth of things clearly to speak it out fearlessly and

, ,

to endeavour to act up to it leavin g it to influence ,

others as the rain and sunshine act up on the plants .

The influence of men who behave in that way S preads

from land to land and from age to age But there is .

another plan much more often tried which consists

, ,
’
in making up one s mind what ot h er peopl e should d o
and then using physic al violence to make them do it .

P eople who act like that influence others as long as

they can reach them and even longer but the e ffect
,

that lives after them and S preads fur thest is a bad ,

’
one i n fla m i n g men s he ar ts with anger and m al ice
, .

These two lines o f conduct are contrary the one to the

other fo r you cannot persuade a man while he thinks
,

you wish t o hit o r coerce him .

This Fourth Commandment as Tolstoy understood ,

it is precise and definite and leads to extremely far

,

reaching conclusions The words which follow : If

.

any man would go to law with thee and take away th y ,

coat let him have thy cloke al so

, Give to him .

that asketh thee and from him that would borrow o f

,
’
thee turn not thou away involve he says a complete , , ,

condemnation o f all legal proceedings in which force

is actually or implicitly employed to oblige any o f
those concerned (whether as princip al s o r witnesses)
 TH E C H URCH AN D T HE G OS P ELS 111

to be present and take p art This teaching involves

.

nothing less than the entire abolition o f al l compulsory

leg islation Law Courts p olice and prisons as well as
, , ,

o f al l forcible restraint o f man by man (The right .

o r wrong of using p hysical force to restrain human

beings is the crux of the matter and it is a p oint I shall

,

deal with later ) .

The last of these Five Commandments is the most

sweep ing o f all
5. Ye have heard that it was said Thou sh al t love
,

thy neighbour and hate thine enemy but I say unto

you Love your enemies
, that ye may be sons
o f your Father which is in heaven : for He maketh

His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth ,

rain on the j ust and the unj ust For if ye love them
.

that lo v e you what do ye more than others ?

D o not even the Gentil es [foreigners Germans etc ] , , .

the same Ye therefore shall be perfect as your ,

’
heavenly Father is perfect .

The meaning of these Five Commandment s backed —

as they are b y the example o f Jesus and the drift

and substance of his most emp hatic teaching is too —

plain Tolstoy says to be misunderstood : and it i s

, ,

becoming more and more di fficult fo r the co m m en

t a t o r s and exp ositors t o obscur e it Wh at Jesus .

meant us to do the direction in which he p ointed us

,

and the example he set us ar e unmistakable

, .

’
One great superiority o f Tolstoy s interpretation
over the Orthodox lies in the fact that his statement
(W hether it be a right o r wrong presentation o f the

mind of Jesus) means something cle ar and definite ,

and l i nks religion closely to daily life .

He discriminated between what we know and what

we do not know and made no asse rtions about the
,
112 LE O T OL S T OY
person al ity o f God o r the creation o f the world Like
, .

Socrates faced by the necessity of supp osing either

,

that we live in a mor al chaos where nothing is righ t or

wrong o r in a mor al order to which we can i n so m e
,

measure conform he chose the latter alternative and

,

became assured by experience that he had chosen

right By arriving at the conclusion that we are p arts
.

of a moral universe and that only i n so far as we

,

discern that order and adj ust ourselves to it has life

any meaning and pur p ose not defeated by death ,

Tolstoy reached the ultimate root of religion Through .

strife and su ffering to have found it by his own e ffort ,

and to have proclaimed it in the teeth of those who de

n o u n ce d him as heretic and atheist as well as o f those
,

who sneered at him as a superstitious dotard is an ,

achievement entitling him to rank among the prophets .

He saw clearly that we cannot make the precise

statements of the old theology without landing o u r
selves in inextricable confusion fo r as J S Mil l said
, . .
,

it is incredible that an all p owerful and all good God

- -

can have created a world in which evil exists Yet w e .

believe that evil does exist and that it is our duty t o

help to get rid of it .

Only by confining ourselves a s mathematicians do

, ,
’
to what is ne cessary and su ffi ci en t and by refraining
,

from precise and definite statements concerning things

we do not re al ly know can we get an intellectu al ly
,
“
honest religion That there is a mor al law with which
.
,

o u r natures can be brought at least partly into accord ,

is not j ust a thing to be credulously accepted but is a ,

mat t er of experience and no fact in history is more

obvious than that those who have most widely p r o ,

f o u n d l y and en d ur i n g l yi n flu en ce d the minds and hearts

of men have fir m ly believed that they were co operating -

with forces beyond the k en of our five senses .

114 LEO TOLSTOY
portant Scriptures and above all he valued the word s
,

o f Jesus The parables (e x cept o n e o r two o b scure

.

ones) he held t o be e x quisite works o f reli gious art ,

and the Sermon on the M ount an expression o f sacred

and eternal truth ; but he unhesitatingly rej ected
anything that he could not understand o r that ,

w as repugnant to his reason o r conscience .

’
R egar di ng a future life T olstoy s views changed
,
’
later In the early eighties he saw no reason f or
.

beli eving in a life after death but subsequently as a ,

result o f having transferred his interest from personal

’
matters to the ser vice o f God that is to say to matters
,

o f universal interest the consciousness that his most

,

real self was part and parcel of the Infinite grew so

strong that it appeared to him inconceivable that it
should cease at the death o f his body But care ful ly .
,

observing the distinction between what we know and

what merely seems plausible o r possible he re frained ,

f rom definite assertions as t o the kind o f existe n ce

that may succeed the death o f o u r bodies Whether .

there be a personal immortality whether reincarnation ,

awaits us o r what other experience the future may

,

have for various types o f men h e held t o be beyond —

o u r ken n o r did he think it important that we should

,

know these things at present W e can best prepare .

fo r whatever the future may have i n store by helping ,

to establi sh the Kingdom o f God o n earth here and ,

now .

He was not interested in Spiritual i sm n o r even in ,

Psychical R esearch Of the former he spo k e scorn

.

fully holding that mankind having made a useful

, ,

discrimination between matter and spirit should n o t ,

obliterate it He maintained that the attempt to

.
“

investigate the spirit world o n the physical plane

-

shows a con fusion of thought .

 TH E C HU RCH AN D TH E GOS P ELS 115

In treatin g o f the G o spe l miracles Tolstoy was ,

interested only in what moral they convey fo r he ,

f elt that if o n e sees a man walking o n the water o n e

may be perplexed but n o t therefore assured that he
,

is going to speak the truth Ability t o walk o n the

.

water is a physical matter whereas truth telli ng is

,
-

spiritual .

He told the sto r y o f the F eeding of the Five Thou

sand somewhat as follows
A popul ar preacher went o u t into the country and ,

many people flocked t o hear hi m Baskets are men

.

t i o n e d in the s tory and it does n o t seem reasonab le

,

to suppose that the people took em p ty baskets with

them When meal tim e came the preacher (whose
.
-

,
’
teachi ng was o f love and service t o one s neighbour)
arranged the pe ople in groups o f fifty and set a practical,

example by distributing not t o his o w n group but

,

t o others the few loaves and fishes hi s sma l l party

,

had brought Foll owing as this did upon his teaching

.
,

it was imitated by the rest with the result that none

o f the fi ve thousand went hungry and twelve baskets ,

ful o f scraps were gathered up after all had eaten .

The moral o f the story read in this way is ob vious

, ,

whereas if we suppose that Jesus miraculously multi

,

pli ed loaves and fishes his example is o n e we cannot

,

imitate .

Fo r the most part Tolstoy regarded the miracles

,

as mentally in di gestible and omitted them from the

translation he made o f the Fou r G osp el s .

’
As to Christ s Five Commandments and the ta king
o f oaths Tolstoy did n o t mention o n e very plaus ible
,

explanation o f what was in the mind o f Jesus when

he s aid Neither shalt thou swear by thy head for
, ,
’
thou canst n o t make o n e hai r white o r black Oaths .

w ere originally b ase d o n t h e idea that man c ould call

116 LEO T O L S T O Y
on the Higher P owers t o destroy him fo r speaking
f alsely AS soon as he n o longer believed in such
.

divine intervention and did n o t think that if he

, ,

staked his head o n the truth o f what he said the gods ,

would en f orce the penalty the oath lost its meaning

,

and b ecame o b j ectionable .

The desirability o f remaining free to do from day

to day what seems to us right at the time u nbound ,

by any agreement with o u r fellow men is again a -

,
’
p oint in T olstoy s teaching that raises problems o f
great complexity It is true as he said that much
.
, ,

evil is done in the world not because men wish to d o

,

it but because they are bound by conditions o f service

they have accepted But where Tolstoy erred it
.
,

seems to me was in assuming that things would g o

,

better than they do at present if every o n e refused

to be b ound by oath o r agreement (fo r he sometimes
spread the doctrine o u t so that it condemned a n y
d efin i t e a r r a n gem en t among men as to their future
work o r future actions) .

The T olstoyan concep tion of duty is individualistic ,

and the clash o f moral conviction between Tolstoy

and let us say Gladstone who represented in this
, ,
—

mat t er a social frame o f m ind arises over the question —

whether it is not sometimes right to act not as one ,

would if matters lay solely between oneself and God ,

but in the way likel y best to promote unity and co

’
operation with one s fellows and there f ore ultimately,

to forward the establishment of the kingdom o f

heaven .

’
The following words o f Gladstone s show my
meaning Fo r years and years well into advanced ,

middle life I seem t o hav e considered actions simply

,

a s they were in themselves and did not take into

,

account the way in which the y would be t aken and

118 LEO TOLS T OY
more of the spirit of some fierce Old T estament
prophet than of him who would not break a bru ised
reed nor quench the smoking flax The tests o f .

conduct are not really clear o r obvious .

Nevertheless the governments laws and customs

, ,

mankind has as yet evolved are so defectiv e that

the onslaught of one who regarded them as fit only
fo r destruction may and does contain much that is
worthy of careful attention .

His U n i o n a n d T r a n sl a t i on of t h e F our G ospel s was

written immediately after the completion o f his
Cr i t i ci sm of D ogm a t i c T h eol ogy and like that
,

work was not printed till se v eral years later at ,

Geneva .

The order o f the chapters and verses o f the v arious

Gospels he arranged in his own way omitting any ,

thing he did not understand or d i sapproved o f The .

result is a striking and consistent narrative r ep r e ,

senting the personality and teaching o f Jesus as

Tolstoy believed them to have been .

I once mentioned to Tolstoy a charge that has

been brought against him t o the effect that in his
,

translation of the Gospels he takes unj ustifiable

liberties He replied that he had studied Greek very
.

seriously and while doing the work had consulted

,

fir st rate scholars ; but he added that he had long

-

ceased to attach the imp ortance he formerly did t o

v erbal niceties and he admitted that in his anxiety
,

to counteract the bias b e detected in the Orthodox

Slavonic and R ussian translations he had sometimes,

strained the meaning in a contrary direction He .

compared his task to that o f a man who has to de

magnetize a steel bar by exposing it t o an opposite
influence .

’
At the period we have reached earl y in the eighties
, ,
 T HE C H URCH AND THE G OS P ELS 119

Tolstoy reg ar ded the teaching of Jesus as unique and

far above all other human wisdom The force of .

’
many p assag es in Tolstoy s writings rests o n citations
of the very words o f Christ himself and he drew
vast deductions from the precise phraseology of
certain texts and the exact etymology and context
,

o f certain Greek words . H e told me that his op inion

o n this matter changed very gradually Ch i efly by
.

becomin g better acquainted with the Eastern scrip

tures (especially those of India and China) he ultimately
reached the conclusion that what is vit al lies at the
root of all the great religions which are only sep arated
,

and divided by superstitious accretions He still .

believed that the Gospels contain essenti al truth ,

and insisted o n his o w n interpretation of the teachings

of Jesus as being in the main correct but he came to
,
’
attach less and less i mp ortance to Christ s historic
existence and t o the exact phrase ology and actual
words of the Gospels .

How far he ultim atel y went in this direction is

shown in a letter to a friend written about the ye a r
,
’
1 90 0
, after reading Professor V er u s s V er gl ei ch en d e
U eber si ch t d er vi er E va n gel i en
. In this letter Tolstoy
says In this boo k it is very well argued (the prob
abilit y is as strong a ga i n st as for ) that Chr ist never
existed The acceptance of this supposition or prob
.

ability is like the destruction o f the last outwork

’
exposed to the enemy s attack in order that the fort ress
,

(the moral teaching of goodness which flows not from

,

any o n e sour ce in time o r sp ace but from the whole

,

sp iritu al life of humanity in its entirety ) may remain

’
impregnable .

’
T o any o n e fresh from reading Tolstoy s work s o f
1 880 — 8 5 this ma y come with rather a shock ; but
,

it doe s not impl y the least weakening o f his faith in

1 20 LEO T OLS T O Y
the realit y o f things unseen o r in the importance o f
things S piritual .

A matter that al l his readers must notice is the

stress he lays o n the importance o f manual labour ;
and o n the moral duty o f d oi n g as contrasted with
merely t al king or writing Yet we have his unstinted
.

and enthusiastic laudation o f the Sermon o n the

M ount which after all was t a l k and talk preceded by
, ,

forty days in the w ilderness without any labour t o

produce those necessaries which Tolstoy is so greatly
’
concerned about Christ s sermon was no doubt
.
, ,

worth inc al culably more than the tables and benches

he might have made ; b ut b y that admission we
’
reduce T olstoy s contention from the realm o f the
absolute to that o f the comparativ e which after all ,

is perhap s its proper place .

From the two large works of which I have spok en ,

some sm al ler ones sprang including T h e G ospel i n ,

B r i ef .Another work written in 1 884 which has had ,

a large circulation in many languages and giv es the

gist o f the faith Tolstoy then held is Wh at I B e ,

l i eve. It is ver y readable and contains interestin g

,

autobiographical touches [It is announced in the .

’
W orld s Classics s eries ] In substance it is largely a
.
,

recapitulation of what he had said in his Four G ospel s .

’
T o sum up my o w n appreciation o f T olstoy s work
o n religion I would say that he clears the ground
,

admirabl y o f o l d superstitions and keeps al ways in ,

V iew the essential root of religion : t h e consciousness

o f h o w purposeless human life is ap art from depend

ence o n and co operation with a Somethin g greater

,
-
,

than o u rselves that makes for righteousness But .

,

like other ardent men bent o n furthering the spiritu al

welfare of mankind he sets up superstitions o f his
,

o wn in place o f those he has o v erthro wn His super .

1 22 LEO T OLS T O Y
of things Owing to the limitations of human thought
.

and language however he found that in p ractice he

, ,

used a more p ersonal note in his prayers than philo

sophic al ly he was inclined to defend ; and that such
prayers helped him greatly .

Tolstoy did not at this time fores ee o n e very i m

portant cons equence of the task he had s et hims elf .

The R ussians were then still generally devot ed t o

’
the Tsar the Faith and the Fatherland
, That .

trinity was interdependent The Tsar appointed the

.

Head of the Holy Synod whos e duty it w as t o s ee

,

that the Church upheld the Throne The Tsars had .

always been the centre to which the nation rallied for

defence against foreign foes It was impossible for
.

’
Russia to be defeat ed without the Tsar s prestige
su ffering or for the Tsar t o be discredited without the
,

fabric of the Emp i re being endangered I t followed .

(though it was s everal years before Tolstoy d enounced

patriotism and still longer before he denounced the
,

Tsar ) that from the moment he attacked the Church

he laid his axe to the root of a tree that was of enormous
importance to the whole social edifice and prepared ,

the ground for a Revolution which when it came

, , ,

took forms he w ould have found abhorrent .

 CHA P T E R VIII

TRANSITION AN D THE P R O BLE M OF

P O V E R TY

’
O L ST O Y S new ideas diverted his attention
completely from his former occupations His .

affairs fell into disorder his stewards took a d

,

vantage o f his p reoccupation and the total revenue

,

from Yasnaya P olyana and his other estates (the

capital v al ue of which amounted al together to not
less than or shrank to some £ 50 0 a
year : a sum quite insu fficient to meet t h e expenses
’
of his large and growing family the children s educa
,

tion and hospitality to visitors The resp onsibility

, .

of managing the estates devolved on the Countess ,

who besides these cares was now troubled about her

’
husband s health .

In February 1 881 she wrote to her sister : Lyo

v o ch k a has quite overworked himself H is head is
.

’
always aching but he cannot tear himself away
, .

On 1 st M arch 1 881 Alexander I I was assassinated

in P etersburg by agents of the R evolutionary Executive
Committee The action was abhorrent to Tolstoy :
.

but he was so troubled by the thought of the imp end

ing execution of five of the consp irators that he wrote
to the Emperor Al exander I II appealing to him t o
, ,

p ardon them . The letter ended as follows One °

word of forgiveness and Christian love S p oken and ,

1 23
1 24 LEO T OLS T O Y
carried o u t from the height o f the throne and the path
,

of Christian rule which is before you waiting to be

trod can destroy the evil which is corroding Russia .

As wax before the fire all R evolutionary struggles

,

will melt away before the human Tsar who fulfils the
’
law o f Christ .

The Tsar received the letter and his remark up on it

,

( which was inform al ly conveyed t o Tolstoy ) was that

he would have p ardoned the conspirators had the
attack been directed against himself but did n o t
,
’
c onsider that he had a right t o pardon his father s
murderers .

’
Tolstoy s ardent faith in his new views brought him
into many conflicts By natural temperament he was
.

strenuous he always expressed himself emphatically ,

and his new V iews o b l i g e d h i m to disapprove o f the

ordinary conduct and occupations o f his fellows yet
it was p art o f his religion t o live in amity with all men ,

t o give no o ffence and to be humble and forgiving

, .

The conflict between his desire to prop ag ate his faith

and his wish n o t t o o ffend others was fierce and even in
,

p rivate life he was torn by diverging influences .

In his D iary in the staccato style there adopted he

, ,
’ ’
notes in M a y 1 881 One s family is one s fl esh To .

’
abandon one s famil y is the second temptation : t o
,

kill oneself But do not yield to the third temptation

. .

[To fall down and worship the devi l ] Serve n o t the

’
family but the o n e God One s family is the indicator
, .

o f the place one must occupy o n the ec onomic ladder .

’
It is one s flesh as a weak stomach needs light food ,

so a pampered family needs more than a family accus

’
t o m ed to privations .

Another entry indicates the kind of controversy

he often had with his friends :
2 9 M ay — Talk with Fet and m y wife . The
1 26 LEO T OLSTOY
I went to them —
but had not the strength to speak

6 Jul y Talk with X An economic R evolution

—
.

not only may but m u st come It is wonderful it has

, , .

’
n o t come already .

At this time he wrote W h a t M en L i ve B y (in T w en ty

t h r ee T a l es) the precursor of a long s eries o f admir ably
,

simp le and beautiful stories intended p rimarily fo r

peasants and children but which have become p opular
,

among all classes and in al l languages Of these .

Carmen Sylva the late Queen o f R umania wrote :

, ,

Of all the works this great man and artist has

written his short stories have made the strongest
,

impression up on me I regard them as the most

.

perfect tales ever written In these p opular stories .

,

thought o f the highest purity reaches us which t o ,

my mind is far more eloquent than the subtlest style .

It surprises me that p e 0 p 1e speak more o f the

s o called greater works of Tolstoy than o f these little
-

gems which are quite unique If he had written

, .

nothing but these S hort stories he would stil l rank ,

’
among the greatest men of the world .

In July from his Samara estate he wrote t o his wife

, ,

Harvest prosp ects are excellent What would be .

sad if we could not give at least some help is that there

, ,

are so many p oor in the villages ; and it is a timid

’
p overty unaware of itself
, .

The Countess replied Let the man ag ement o f the

estate go on as has been arranged I do not want .

anything altered There may be losses w e have

.
—

learnt to be accustomed to them but even if there are

large p rofits the money will reach neither me nor the
,

children if it is giv e n away At any rate you know my .

O pinion about help ing the p oor W e cannot feed thou .

sands o f Samara and other p oor inhabitants but if o n e ,

 TH E P ROBLE M OF P OVER T Y

sees and knows that so and so is p oor and has no corn

- -

o r horse o r cow or hut etc , o n e must give all that at

.
,

once and o n e cannot refrain from giving because o n e

, ,
’
feels sorry fo r them and because it ought t o be done
, .

The problem of p overty is a he ar t breaking a ffair -

,
’
and obviously t o o large t o be cured by any individual s
’
strength or means ; but to S hut one s eyes t o it is to
blind oneself t o the most urgent of social problems and ,

Tolstoy w a s feeling more and more concerned ab out it .

Before his return to Yasnaya feeling h o w heavy a ,

burden he had al lowed t o fall upon his wife who was ,

expect i ng her eleventh child that autumn he wrote ,

Yo u will be going to M oscow to day You would -

.

not believe how troubled I am at the thought that yo u

may be overtaxing your strength and how I repent of ,

having given you little or no help .

In this respect the kumys has done good it has

brought me down from the p oint o f view from which ,

c ar ried away by my work I involuntarily reg arded ,

everyt hing I now see things differentl y I still have

. .

the same thoughts and feelings but am cur ed o f the ,

delusion that others can and should see everyt hing

as I do I am much t o blame t owards you darling ;
.
,

unconsciously involuntarily as yo u know : but still

, ,

none the less to blame .

My excuse is that in order t o work wi t h t h e i n

tensity wi th whi ch I work ed and t o get something ,

done o n e has t o f org et all else And I forgo t yo u t oo

, .

’
much and n o w repent Fo r heaven s sak e and o ur
, .

’
love s sake tak e care o f yoursel f
, P ut o ff as much
as yo u can ti l l my return I wi l l gladly d o everyt hi ng ,
’
and will n o t do it badly fo r I will take pains
, .

The Countess was delighted by the news that he was

think ing o f writing a story and she wrote ,

What a j o yf ul f eelin g seized me when I rea d that

1 28 LEO TOLSTOY
you again wished to write somethin g poetic Yo u have .

felt what I have long waited and longed for In that .

lies salvation and j oy ; that will again unite us and ,

will console you and will light up your li fe That is

, .

real work for which yo u were created and outside tha t

, ,

sphere there is no peace fo r your soul I k now yo u .

cannot force yourself but God g rant you may cherish

,

that gleam and that that divine spark in yo u may

,

a gain kindle and spread The thought enchants .

’
me .

He reached home j ust when there were many visitors

and great preparations for amateur theatricals Th is .

j arred o n him and he noted in his D iary

, 1 8 August .

—
A Play . Empty people The days 1 9 2 0 and 2 1 .
, , ,
’
must be struck o u t o f my life .

H is eldest son Sergey was n o w eighteen and ab out

, , ,

t o enter the University Educational opportunities

.

were also needed fo r the other children M oreover .

,

the eldest daughter Tanya was seventeen

, In the , .

ordinary course o f events it was time fo r her to be

b rought o ut into Society ; and it had b een decided
long b efore that the f am ily S ho ul d move t o M oscow
that winter In Septemb er 1 881 they di d so and
.
,

settled in a hired house .

Greatly as T olstoy n o w disliked the idea he had to ,

consent t o it nor till he was in M oscow did he fully

, ,

realize h o w painful town life would be to him after so

many years spent in the country .

Early in October he noted in his D iary A month

has passed The most tormenting in my life The
. .

move to M oscow All are busy arranging when w ill

.

they begin t o live ? All o f it not for the sake o f ,

living but to b e like other people Unfortunates !

, .

’
Life is lacking .

About the same time the Countess wrote to her

1 30 LEO TOLSTO Y
notice what the horse was doing and their cart upset ,

into a ravine Fortunately neither o f them was

seriously hurt .

The influence S u t a ev had o n Tolstoy depended

largely o n the fact that the peasant had altered his
life in accordance with his religious perception which ,

was j ust what Tolstoy himself was fin di ng it extremely

di fficult t o do .

The great problem that n o w occupied T olstoy was

the economic question Wh y are the many poor
’
He was sure that it is man s business to establish the
Kingdom o f G o d o n earth He was convinced that b y
.

conforming to the laws o f G o d miserable l ives can be

,

made happy In M oscow he was horrified to see h o w

.

wretchedly a large part o f the population lived and how ,

callous the reli gious learned wealthy and governing

, ,

classes were t o the fate o f the unfortunates .

W ith characteristic impetuosity self reliance and ,

-

energy he seized the occasion presented by the a p

,

p r o ac h i n g decennial Census , in January 1 8 8 2 to ,

issue an ardent appeal The 2 0 0 0 students and others

.

about t o engage in conducting the Cens us S ho ul d he ,

said take that opportunity t o become acquainted with

,

the destitute in M oscow to whom organized relief

,

should be extended Wh a t T h en M u st We D o 2
.

which is autobiographically o f great value and is also

in some respects the most moving book Tolstoy ever

q
wrote grew o u t o f this appeal and o u t o f the e xp er i
—

ence that followed it .

In his article O n t h e Cen su s i n M o scow after speaking

,

o f the duty of helping the hungry the ill clad and the ,
—
,

homeless Tolstoy added

, W hat is wonderful is not ,

that this has not yet been done but t h a t t h ese t hi n g s

,

exi st s i d e by si d e w i t h o u r s up erfi u i t l i d
y f o e s u r e a n

w ea l t h a n d t h a t w e ca n l i ve u i et l y kn ow i n g of t h em
, ,
 TH E PR OBLE M OF P OVER T Y 31

His practical proposals were quite inadequate t o meet

the evil but those words strike a profoundly true note
, .

Wh a t T h en M u st We D o is a work from which it

9

is hard to refrain from quoting many pages but I can ,

here only give a few sentences and must refer those

,

w h o want more details t o the book itsel f o r t o my

L i fe of T ol st oy whe re it is fully dealt with
, .

After describing his V isit t o a free night lod ging —

house Tolstoy says that

,
At the sight o f the hunger ,

cold and degradation o f thousands o f people I under

, , ,

stood that the existence o f tens o f thousands o f

such people in M oscow while I and thousands o f
—

others over eat ourselves with beef steaks and sturgeon

- -

and cover o u r horses and floors w i th cloth o r car pets

n o matter what a l l the learned men in the world may

say about its necessity is a crime and o n e n o t com

, ,

m i t t ed once but constantly and that I with my luxury

n o t me rely tolerate it but share in it
, and I there
fore felt and feel and shall n o t cease to feel that as long
, ,

as I have any superfluous food and some o n e else has

none and I have two coats and some o n e else has none
, ,

I share in a constantly repeated crime .

The evening that I returned from L ya p i n sk y House ,

I told my impressions t o a friend He a town dweller.

, ,

began t o explain with some satisfaction that it was

the most natural thing in a city ; and that it was
merely my provincialism that caused me t o see any
thing particular i n it Things had always been s o ,

and would and must always be so ; it is an i n evi t

able condition o f civi lization In London it is stil l
.

worse so there is nothing bad in it and o n e ,

must n o t be dissatisfied about it .

I began to answer my friend but did it so war mly

and irritably that my wife h u r r l ed in from an adj oin
ing room t o see what had happened It seems that .
,
1 32 LEO T OLS T OY
W ithou t kno wing what I was doing I had cried o u t ,

with tears in my voice and had waved my arms at my

friend exclaiming
, One cannot li v e so o n e cannot
o n e cannot

They put me t o shame fo r my unseemly ardour ,

and told me that I cannot talk quietly about anything

but always get unpleasantly excited In particular .

they proved to me that the existence o f such n u

f ortunate people does n o t j ustify my spoiling the li v es
o f those about me .

I felt that this was q ui te j ust and I was silenced ;

,

but at the bottom of my heart I felt that I t o o was

’
right and I could not feel at ease
, .

Of his article O n t h e Cen su s he says : Having

given my article t o be printed I read it in proof at
,

the Town D uma W hile reading it I felt so u n

.
,

comfortab le that I hesitated and blushed t o tears I .

noticed that everyb ody present was also uncomfortab le .

On my asking at the end o f the reading whether

, ,

the Census t akers accepted my proposal that they

—

should remain at their posts to act as intermediaries

b etween society and the necessitous poor an awkward ,

silence ensued Then two members made speeches

. .

These as it were corrected the awkwardness o f my

, ,

p roposal Sy
.m pathy was expressed with my idea but ,

t h e impracticability o f m y thought (of which every

o n e approved ) was pointed o u t After that al l felt
.
,

more at ease .

W ith great frankness Tolstoy descri b es the comple t e

failure o f his efforts to organize relief The power .

and value o f Wh a t T h en M u st W e D o 9 lie n o t in

any practical proposals but in its vivid depiction o f
,

p overty and in the intensity of its demand for a so c ial

r eformation .
 CH A PT E R IX

R ENUNCIA T IONS

I T H the accession o f Alexander II I R ussia ,

entered o n a period o f political social and ,

moral stagnation in whi ch it seemed as though

all that breathed o f li fe sincerity freedom o r progress
, ,

must die o f suffocation The spy and ag en t p r ovoca t eu r

.
-

fl ourished and R ussians who rej ected Orthodoxy o r

,

desired a Constitution were regarded and frequently ,

treated as malefactors
, .

’
At this time Tolstoy s outspoken un flinching appeal ,
’
to men s reason and conscience came like a breath o f
fresh air in a p lague stricken country Though it
-
.

was forbidden Tolstoy frankly discussed all v itally

,

important subj ects . Blind obedi ence to external

authority was demanded by the powers that b e ; .

T olstoy bowed to no authority but reason and co n

science The Government relied o u brute force ;
.

T olstoy denounced all such us e of physical force as

iniquitous and the Government as m orally indefensib le
, .

His in fl uence in preparing the mind of the people for a

revolution was immense though as we shall see later
, , ,

he ceased to be popular among R ussian constitutional

’

reformers as soon as their movement became a de

finitely political struggle The task o f rousing an
.

apathetic community by a moral appeal is di fferent

from that o f shaping the political form in which the
1 34
 RE NUNCIAT IONS 1 35

new feeli ng shall express itself ; and it can seldom

happen that the same man is equally fitted for both
tas k s .

Leaving wif e and fami ly in M oscow Tolstoy in , ,

January 1 882 betook hi mself to the solitude o f

,

Yasnaya to recover mental tranquill i ty after hi s

slumming exper iences .

In the cal m o f lonely country life he recovered ; ,

and we fin d him after receivin g an affectionate letter

,

from his wife wr i ting to her

, D o not trouble about
me and above a l l do n o t accuse yourself
, F orgive .

us o u r debts as we forgive As soon as o n e has

forgiven others o n e is oneself in the right And your
, .

letter shows that you have forgiven and are not angry
with any o n e And I have long ceased to blame yo u
. .

I onl y di d that at first I do not myself know why I

.

have been so run down P erhaps it was age perhaps .

,

ill health
-
. Yo u say : I love yo u but yo u d o ,

n o t want that now It is the o n e thing I do want

.

No o n e else can so cheer me and your letter has cheered

,
’ ’
me One s liver counts for somethi ng
. but one s
spiritual life goes its o w n way M y solitude was very .

necessary to me and has freshened me up and your ,

’
love gladdens me more than anything in life .

A subsequent l etter written in April describing

, '
,

the awakening of sprin g and the kind of life he was

living S hows his love of the country : I went out
,

to day at eleven and was in toxicated by the beauty

-

of the morning It was warm and dry Here and

. .

there in the frost g l aze of the foot p aths little sp ikes

-

and tufts of grass S how u p from under the dead leaves

and straw ; the buds are swelling o n the lilacs the ,

birds no longer sing at random but have al ready ,

begun to converse about something and round the ,

1 36 LE O T O L S T O Y
t

S heltered corners of the house and by the manure

heap s bees are hu m ming I saddled my horse and .

rode o ut .

In the afternoon I read and then went to the ,

apiary and the bathing house Everywhere grass -

.
,

birds honey bees ; no p olicemen no pavement n o

,
-
, ,

cabmen no stinks and it is very pleasant so pleasant

, ,
—

that I grow sorry fo r you [in M oscow] .

He was at this time planning t o get his Co nfessi o n

published but his attempts were baffled by the
,

Spir itu al Censor who had the sheets destroyed after

,

t hey had already been printed Co nfessi on was the .

fir st of a long series o f his works which were for many

’ ‘
years known in R ussia only from illeg al copies
smuggled into the country or copied by hand o r , ,

hectographed o r m i m i o g r a p h e d in secret The book .

was however printed in R ussian at Geneva and imme

d i a t el y translated into other languages .

W hen it had been decided that the family must

regularly winter in M oscow Tolstoy as a matter o f , ,

convenience and economy decided to purchase a ,

town house and succeeded in finding one fo r Rs

-

,
.

(then about which suited very well It was .

a large wooden house with a considerable g ar den ,

S ituated in the S W outskirt of the town and was

.
,

well chosen and cheaply purchased .

The following letter to her sister tells o f the

’
Countess s first impression of it W e came to M oscow .

’
o n 8t h October After the j ourney and a week s pack
.

ing I was so tired and had become so irritable that

,

nothing pleased me but quite the contrary , .

L yo v o ch k a was at first very merry and animated now ,

’
he is learning Hebrew and has become more gloomy .

’
Tolstoy s desire to learn Hebrew arose from his
Scripture studies His teacher the M oscow Rabbi
.
, ,
 LEO TOLS T OY
eg otistic predatory and insensate things with which
, ,

well fed gentlefolk sweeten their idle existence And

-
.

that the fir st subj ects for exp osure should be his o w n

’
ladies was quite in the order of things .

Among other repudiations we find Tolstoy drop ping

his title not demonstratively but quite simply W hen
, .

a peasant called on him and addressed him as Your

’
Excellency Tolstoy rep lied I am c al led simply Leo
, ,
’
Nikolayevich and p assed on at once to speak of the
,
.

matter in hand .

About this time M A Engelhardt a stranger . .

, ,

wrote to him from the standp oint of a Christian

R evolutionary and Tolstoy replied in a n epistle 50 0 0
,

words long the first of the series of letter essays

,
-

dealing with imp ortant questions which as t h e years ,

went by came more and more frequently from his p en

, .

This letter contains a most touching and character

i st i c p assage In it Tolstoy says
.

Another question directly and involunt arily

follows W ell but you Leo Nikolayevich you
, , ,

preach but what about p ractice ?

—

That is the most natural of questions ; p eople

al ways put it to me and always triumphantly shut
my mouth with it You p rea ch but how do you
.
,

live And I reply that I do not preach and cannot

p reach though I passionately desire to do so
, I could .

o n l y preach by deeds a nd my deeds are bad .

But people say to me

—
if you consider
that ap art from the fulfilment o f the Ch ristian teaching
there is no reasonable life and if you love that reason ,

able life why do you not fulfil its commands ?

, I ,

rep ly that I am to blame and am horrid and deserve

t o be desp ised for not fulfilling them But yet not .
,

so much in j ustification as in exp lanation of my

inconsistency I say : Look at my former and my
,
 RENUN CIA T IONS 1 39

present life and you will se e that I try to fulfil them

, .

I do not ful fil a ten thousandth p art it is true and I

-
, ,

am to blame for that but I do not ful fil them not ,

because I do not wish to but because I do not know,

how to Teach me how to escape from the nets of

.

temptation that have ensnared me ; help m e, and I

wil l fulfil them ; but even without help I desire and ,

hope to do so Bla me me I do that myself but

.
— —

blame m e and not the p ath I tread and show to those

,

who ask me where in my Op inion the road lies

, If ,

I know t h e road home and go al ong it drunk staggering

, ,

from side to S ide does that make the road a wrong

—

one ? If it be wr ong S how me another ; if I have

,

lost my way and st ag ger help me supp ort me in the

, ,

right p ath as I am ready to sup p ort you and do not

ba ffle me and do not rej oice that I have gone astray
, ,

and do n o t delightedly exclaim : Look at him !

He says he is goin g home yet he goes into the bog ,

D o not rej oice at that but help me and supp ort ,

me
‘
For indeed you are not devils out of the b og
, ,

but are al so men going home See I am alone and

, .
, ,

I cannot want to f al l into the bog Help me ! M y .

heart breaks with desp air that we have al l gone

astray ; and when I struggle with al l my strength ,

you a t every failure instead of pity i ng yo urselves

—
,

and me flur r y me and cry in ecstasy : See he is

—
,

following us into the bog

Tolstoy was rap idly becoming a s aint There are .

many traits in him that strongly remind o n e of St .

Francis of Assisi but I do not know how to convey

,

this except by translat i ng reflections and disserta

,

tions which would so on fill this book and would crowd

,

o u t the external facts of his life which I want t o record , .

M ore and more he dwelt on the thought of doing

1 40 LEO T OLSTOY
’
God s work and feared rather than sought the
, , ,

praise o f his fellow men -

.

It was about this t i rn e that Tolstoy made o n e o f

the few close friendship s o f his life and one that ,

a fforded him great pleasur e and spiritu al refreshment ,

as well as much encouragement in his work .

Gay a celebrated R ussian p ainter o f French ex

,

traction had S ome time before this ceased to p aint

, ,

and had come to feel life h ar dly worth living In his .

M em oi r s he tells us what it was that aroused him from

his apathy
In 1 882 a word o f the great writer L N T olstoy . .
,

O n t h e M o sco w Cen su s happened to f al l into my hand

,
.

Tolstoy visiting cell ar s and finding wretched people

,

in them writes , Our l ack o f love for the lowest is

the cause of their wretched condition .

As a sp ark kind l e s inflam m able material so that ,

word set me a fla m e I went t o M oscow to embrace

.

that g reat man and work fo r him I arrived bought .

canvas and paints and drove t o his house

, I .

saw him embraced him and kissed him

, , Leo .

Nikolayevich I have come to do anything you like

,
.

Shall I p aint your daughter ? No in that case , ,

better p aint my wife I did so I loved that man .

unboundedly ; he had reve al ed everything to me I .

could now name what I had loved all my life and —

above al l we loved t h e Same thing For a month I

, .

’
saw him every day .

The friendship so suddenly struck up lasted u n

’
impaired til l Gay s death twelve ye ar s later .

At this p oint o f the story a new witness must be ,

introduced the widow o f a Frenchman named S eu r o n

—
.

She was governess with the Tolstoys for six years .

Convention al narrow minded observant lively and

,
-
,

indiscreet as she was M m e Anna S eur o n s testimony

,
1 42 LEO T OLSTO Y
the Count h ar nessed himself to the hand sledge t o -

which a tub was attached and dragging it from the ,

yard filled the tub with water from the well and
, ,

then S lowly step by step dr ag ged it t o the kitchen

, , .

And the next day and the next he did the same By
, , .

that work he was serving others And on ce when .

there was no water M o sco v i t e s might have seen h o w

,

he p oorly dressed descended like all the other water

, ,

carriers to the river M oskva The j ourney t ook him .

a whole ho u r and he returned home dead tired

,
-
.

N ot the work itself was imp ortant but its purp ose ; ,

and so it was with heating his stove lighting the ,

samovar doing his own room and cleaning his o w n

, ,
’
boots .

Of the way in which Tolstoy dressed Anna S eur o n ,

t ells us
D uring the winter he found a peculiar p leasure in
walkin g about in the p oorest attire He would go o u t .

in a sheepskin coat and greased high boots and sheep -

skin c ap exactly like a p easant ; and sticking his

,

hands in his p ockets or tucking them into the O p p osite

sleeves would set o ff to visit his s ociety acquaint
,

a u ces or would wander about the town seeking n e w

,

imp ressions .

One day when I was unwell he went t o fetch my

, ,

son from the Institute o f Oriental Languages T o .

avoid any misunderstanding I telegraphed to m y so n ,

’
that the Count would call fo r him at two o c loc k .

The telegram reached the P rincipal and all the ,

masters waited at the entrance But when the Count .

came he was n o t recognized b ut was told t o sit ,

dow n o l d fellow
, and allowed to wait o n the lock er ,

in the hall .

When my son came ready dressed into the hall

, ,

and greeted the Count in French those present ope ne d ,

 RENUNCIA T IONS 1 43

their mouths with astonishment tha t a peasant in

sheepskin should understand French and it was only
after the two had gone down the steps and o u t into
the street that it occurred t o the masters w h o were
’
waiting to see t h e Count that this was he
, .

The intensity o f conflict aroused by his change o f

'

outlook had at this time begun to subside Tolstoy .

was training himself to mildness and ceasing to expect

,

others readily to accept his Views o r suddenly t o change

their hearts and lives Experience was showing him
.

that he could n o t himself escape from his position

without coercing the will o f those t o whom he was
closely bound and whos e a ffection he prized This .

’
made him realize that a man s external position is n o
safe indication of the state of his soul .

A letter from the Countess to her sister in January

1 883 says

L yo vo ch k a is very tranquil and at work writing

,

some article o r other R emarks against town life and

.
! -
,

the life o f the well t o do in general burst from him

- -
,
‘

occasionally That pains me but I know he cannot

.

help it He is a leader ; o n e w h o goes ah ead o f the

.

crowd pointing the way men should go But I am the

, .

crowd I live i n its current Together with the crowd

.

I see the light o f the lamp which every leader (and

L yo vo ch k a } o f course also ) carries and I ack nowledge
, ,

it t o be the light But I c a n ot go faster I am held

.
n
,
”
b y the crowd a n d b y my s u rroundings and habits
, .

Anna S eu r o n succeeds in giving a n impression

’
o f the spiritual ferment which accompanied Tolstoy s

attempt to escape from the ordinary ri ffs o f life and t o

shape li fe anew
Tolstoy has been much blamed fo r leading the youn g
astray many come to gri ef Others succeed in
o b taining a kind o f ethical satisfaction for themselves .
1 44 LEO T OLS T OY

I could gi v e nam es t o S how tha t those w h o had mean s

were those w h o came o ff best I f I have Rs . .

it only aids di gestion t o d o my o w n room o r plough

my field but if I torment my soul o u t o f my b ody
merely t o be T olstoyan the thing may well prove
,

indigestible .

Sons o f some o f the highest aristocrac y di scarded

gold and lands and went into the desert t o eat locusts .

M ost o f them came t o grief w i th their mad

’
ness and good intentions and many o f Tolstoy s
f ollowers are now boiling in brimstone o r are like mice
’
in a trap .

There is some truth in these remark s M any .

who trusting t o their o w n j udgment tried t o discard

, ,

the supportin g irons o f convention and law went

completely to pieces and furnished co n firmation o f
,
’
T H Green s wisdom in di scountenancing any other
. .

enthusiasm o f humanity than the o n e which h a s tra

v el l e d the common highway o f reason the life o f the ,
’
good neighbour and the honest citizen .

Anna S eur o n continues In the village the Count

was loved it is true b ut less than o n e might have
, ,

expected He made no demands o n hi s peasants b ut

.
,

he also did nothing o r but little fo r them He was

, , .

’
absorbed in his system which demanded self help
,
-
.

In M a y 1 883 Tolstoy visited his Samara estate and

underwent a kumys treatment From there he wrote .

to his wife
I d o n o t know how it will be i n future but at ,

present my position as proprietor is unpleasant to me ,

as are the applications o f the poor whom I cannot

’
satisfy .

It was while Tolstoy was still in Samara that T ur

g e n e v managed with painful e ffort to indite his last
letter written in pencil and unsigned
,
 1 46 LE O T OLS T OY
Even a f ter he had retu rned t o Yasnaya T olstoy ,
’
delayed replying t o T u r g en ev s letter and o n 2 2 n d ,

August the latter died It was not that Tolstoy

.

mean t to leave the letter unanswered but hurt b y ,

—

’
T u r g en ev s disregard fo r what was n o w most important
t o hi m h e postponed writing till he could do so in a
—

more cordi al frame o f mind Like other incidents in.

the relations b etween these t w o it leaves a sense o f i n

,

delib le regret and makes one feel h ow co m plex and di hi

,

cult a matter is intercourse between susceptible people .

In September 1 883 Tolstoy was called o n to serve .

as éj u r ym an at the D istrict Court in the town near

g

Yasnaya He declined to serve and was fined R s 1 0 0

.
, .

His refusal was part o f his repu di ation o f

the whole system o f public j ustice civil o r criminal .

The act followed logicall y from the principle o f No n

Resistan ce he had adopted .

A very di fferent cal l reached him ab out the same

time from the Society o f Lovers o f R ussian Literature
, ,

t o read a paper at a meeting in memory o f Turgenev .

H e agreed to do so .
5

In October he wrote from Yasnaya to his W ife in

M oscow I am always thinking about Turgenev I .

love him terribly p ity him and am al ways reading

, ,

him I am living with him all the time I certainly

'

will either myself read something about him or will

’
give something t o be read .

The lectur e was however prohibited by the Govern

ment ; and that Tolstoy who belonged to no p art y
,

and disliked p olitics and whose p ronouncement o n

,

T urgenev as a writer would have been of permanent

interest should not have been al lowed to S peak on
,

the subj ect is characteristic of the r egi m e which by its

,

over anxiety to maintain itself incurred such uni versal

-

dislike that it ensured its own des t ruction .

 R ENUNCIATIONS 1 47

But a m id the public matters with which Tolstoy

was concerned one must not omit to tell of his lighter
,

and more homely traits R eferring to a d ay in 1 883

.
,

Anna S eur on says

This evening in the big room upstair s I saw that
, ,

wise man dance a v al se with as much lightness and

agility as though he were the Count o f former days .

And really quite unconsciously he sometimes shakes

, ,

twenty years o ff his shoulders ; and yet he has the ,

peculiar talent of never appearing ridiculous no ,

matter how he is dressed even when his sock shows

—

’
through a hole i n his bo ot .

His light heartedness o n that p ar t icul ar e v ening

-

she attributes to the fact that he had j ust taken his

fir st lesson in bootmak i ng This occup ation was .

p art o f his e ffort t o produce more and consume less ,

and had for him an ethic al imp ortance quite o u t o f

prop ortion to the v al ue o f the footwear he produced .

Before long he appeared in high hunting boots o f his

,
-

own make .

He was pleased when people praised his work a n d ,

he t al ked with enthusiasm ab out the difficulties o f

bootmaking and especially the difficul ty o f threading
the waxen ends Sitting o n a low bench and in all
.
,

respects imitatin g his teacher the Count ardently and ,

conscientiously tormented himself threading the waxen ,

’
end .

I knew a man to whom T olstoy from charity gave

a p air of the boots he made and w h o had worn them , ,

and I asked him what he thought o f the boots Could .

’
not b e worse was his emphatic reply
,

Tolstoy was at this time engaged o n the completion

o f Wh a t I B el i eve which like most of his works
, , ,

was written and rewritten corrected and altered again

,

and ag ain It soon began to circul ate in hectograp hed

.
1 48 L EO T OLS T O Y

c opies Before long it was printed in Geneva and

.
,

translated into nearly every European language but

t wenty years p assed before it was allowed in R ussia .

Among the friends and discip les who mustered

around Tolstoy at this time was V G T ch er t k o f an . .
,

ex Captain o f the Guards (He was the only son o f a

-
.

General influential at Court the o w ner o f very large ,

estates and his mother was in clos e touch w ith the

,
’
Empress ) This friendship lasted to the end o f Tolstoy s
.

life and eventually T ch er t k o f who was singularly

, ,

masterful and domineering acquired a curious sort o f

,
’
control over Tolstoy s decisions and practically directed
his public affairs .

Tolstoy was now settling down t o a quarter o f a

century of steady unremitting literary work carried
, ,

on with almost monotonous regularity The external .

conditions o f his life had shaped themselves ver y much

into the form they kept almost to the end except ,

that his p erformance of hard manual labour did not

continue long .

His youngest daughter Alexandra was born in , ,

June 1 884 j ust when Tolstoy was p assing through a

,

period of acute distress on account of what he deemed

the wrongfulness of the external conditions of his
life His state o f mind caused great su ffering t o the
.

Countess .

I will omit the story (mentioned in my L i fe of T ol st oy)

which the Countess told me of what p assed between
them before this birth for I am informed that there
,
’
is evidence (in a p art of Tolstoy s D iary which I have
not seen ) which conflicts with her recollection of the
matter and I therefore at present regard it as being
,

in doubt .

’
In October 1 884 he wrote to his wife : D on t be
angr y darling that I cannot attribute an y importance
, ,
1 50 LEO T OLS T O Y

not bear malice and wrote another letter the same

,

day saying
, All at once I p ictured yo u vividly t o
myself and a sudden flood o f tenderness rose in me
, .

There is something in you so wise kind na i ve and , , ,

obstinate and it is all lit up by that tender interest

,

fo r every o n e natural to yo u alone and by your look

, ,
’ ’
that reaches straight to people s souls .

’
T olstoy s sincere desire to act in accord with the
principles expressed in Wh at T h en M u st W e D o P
is abundantly evident to all w h o know the facts O n .

more than o n e occasion he left home intending ne v er ,

to return but like St Francis t o b ecome a beggar in

, .

the service o f mankind Before he had gone f ar .

,

however another feelin g drew him b ack to those

,

whom he could not desert wi thout arousing angry

and bitter feelings I hav e often heard the Countess
.

blamed fo r her attitude and n o dou b t she dreaded ,

b ein g left with her larg e family dependent o n charit y .

But another feeling existed in her practical mind the —

feeling that to waste and spoil is easy while t o preserv e ,

and repair is di fficult when established and customary

rule is abandoned and that i f as T olstoy felt— the —

acquisition holding and spending o f property is a

, ,

responsib il ity so als o is its distribution o r abandon

,

ment If I a t all regret that Tolstoy did not have

.
'

his way in t h e m a t t er it is only because so sincere ,

a man would certainly have gained by e xperience ,

and I think he would have learnt to doubt the vali di ty

’
o f some o f his principles and t o see that the property ,

arrangements o f the world have come t o be what

they are not merely b ecause men are selfish and
,

w icked b ut largely fo r reasons he never sufficiently

,

considered ; and that though those arrangements

may and should be greatly changed this cannot b e ,

accomplished by rej ecting o r despising the s yst ems

 RENUN CIA T IONS 1 51

e v olved by those who went before us o r among

whom we li ve b ut rather by di scriminatin g between
,

what is fundamental and what can be impro v ed in

their arran gements .

Soon after this Tolstoy o ffered t o trans f er his

,

fortune inclu di n g his copyrights t o hi s wi fe sayin g

, , ,

that he coul d n o t bear the burden S o yo u wan t t o

’ ’
place it o n my S houlders your wife s replied the
, ,

Countess and tearfully refused his o ffer

, .

Telling me o f this many years later she said she ,

regretted having then refused fo r it resulted in a

p rolonged period o f h esi t a t r o n and uncertainty ,

leading eventually in 1 891 t o a di vision o f the p r o

perty between herself and the chi ldren Some o f the .

latter have let their portions slip through their fingers ,

so she think s she would hav e done better had she

accep t ed the whole burden and administered it to the

best o f her ab ility .

Of their lif e in M oscow Anna S eur on has gi ven the

,

following S k etch
Life in the T olstoy family in 1 884 arranged i t sel f
v er y pleasantly The eldest son was at the University
.
,

the ne x t t w o were also studying and the younger ,

children were b eing taught at home The eldest .

daughter went o u t less ; but on the other hand the

’
Count s house b ecame a centre o f a t traction Under .

the guidance o f P ryanishni k ov (an excellent M oscow

artist) D rawing Evenings were arranged ; and we
,

also had Literary Evenings t o whi ch Fet Garshin

, , ,

and other well k nown wri ters came Musical E ven

-
.

ings were also arranged a t which an eminent musician

’
used t o perform .

’
T olstoy s neglec t o f his propert y did n o t resul t in
the family b eing compelled to simplify their li ves ,

though his e x ample and precepts led t o their doin g

1 52 LEO T OLSTO Y

things in a much simpler and less conventional manner

than would otherwise have b een the case What it .

did lead t o from 1 882 3 was t o the Countess b ecoming

,
—
,

the chief publisher of his works Here again Anna .

S eu r o n s ays It was at this time that the Countess

’
began t o make money o u t o f her husband s works .

The b usiness grew with amazing rapidity and o n e ,

edition after another b y sub scription and without

—

sub scription appeared She attended t o the proofs

—
.

herself and worked at them till late at night .

The Count behaved v ery strangely in this matter .

It was his conviction tha t money was an evil and

the cause o f moral deterioration And suddenly he .

b ecame aware that a vein o f gold had been disco v ered ,

which had its ori gin in him At first when mention

.
,

began t o b e made o f selling the books he stopped his ,

ears and his face assumed a frightened and pitiful

expression but the Countess held firmly t o her purpose
o f obtaining a secure competence fo r herself and
her children : for with an increasing family and a
d ecr ea srn g 1 ncome things could n o t g o o n much
,
’
longer .

’
T o co m mence the publication o f her husb and s
works the Countess borrowed R s
, .

from her mother and R s

, . from a friend .

D uring the first year she made a gross turnover o f

“

RS. which was considered an extra

ordinarily large sale and the profit o m it sufficed t o
,

remove the financial difficulties she had been faced b y .

These years o f transition and repudiation are among

the hardest t o describ e Tolstoy was not at rest
. .

He perplexed his family and friends and consequently ,

presents difficulties to his b iographer but we are n o w

reaching smoother water and though the period o f
,

storm and stress was not over it will b e possib le t o

,
 CHA PTE R X

W L I F E AN D W HAT T HEN MUST

‘
TH E NE
’
WE D O ?

’
0 gradually did the successive phases of Tolstoy s
life merge like dissolving v iews into o n e
, ,

another that no attempts to date them can

,

be more than approximately satisfactory One is .

tempted to say that by 1 885 he had definitely adopted

his new p ath of life a life of simp le str enuous work , ,

the mental p art of which was specially directed towards

removing obstacles to mor al progress and clearing up
the perplexities that v ex the souls o f men Yet the .

facts refuse to fit neatly into such a gener al ization

-

and we fin d t h e strands o f his old life weaving them

-

'

selves into the web o f his new endeavour S o fo r .

,

instance when Prince L D Urusov (the fir st translator

, . .

into French of Wh a t I B el i eve) fell ill and was

advised to go t o the Crimea for a change we find ,

Tolstoy offering to be his companion though this ,

must have seriously interrupted his work and did n o t

accord with the laborious frug al it y he a r med at .

Wh en they reached Sevastop ol Tolsto y chanced ,

to pick up a cannon ball which was one he had him

self fired during the siege thirty years before ! The
evidence which showed this to be the case cannot be
giv en here but is mentioned in my L i fe of T ol st oy
, .

H e had ver y seldom been sep arated from his wif e

~ 1 54
 THE NE W LIFE 1 55

and now travelling in the South in conditions o f

,

luxury and leisure he felt himself exp osed to t e m p t a

,

tions he feared might prove t o o strong for h i m and ,

hurried home to her .

In that same year a publishing business called T h e

M edi a t or (P o sr edn i k) was established This was the .

most useful and successful of the prop agandist under

takin gs promoted by Tolstoy .

Up to that time the literatur e supplied to the

peasants had been of a wretched description : con
sisting on the one hand of leg ends and Lives of the
Saints— i n which anyt hing of mor al worth was often
smothered in crude superstition and o n the other o f —

penny dreadfuls and catchpenny booklets of a qu al ity

-

beneath contempt To sup p ly literature embodyin g

.

the best that has been thought an d fel t and t o supply h ,

this in the S implest br iefest and cheapest p ossible

,

form was the purpose o f the M edi a t or Tolstoy felt

, .

that if it is at all p ermissible for authors t o sit co m

fo r t ab l y and write books wh il e consuming food
, ,

wearing clothes and occupying lodg i ngs other men have

produced they should at least see to it that they
,

provide wholesome ment al sustenance for those whose

material products they employ For if the bookmen .

devote themselves to pleasin g the privileged classes ,

and only give the labourers what is for them mentally

ind i gestible then they ar e a bur den and a curse to the
,

mass o f their fellow men -

.

Spe ak ing to D an i l ev sk y a wel l known writer

,
-
,

Tolstoy said
These millions o f R ussians able to read stand , ,

before us like hungry j ackdaws with Open mouths and

say to u S °

Gentlemen writers of our native land ,

throw into these mouths literar y food worthy o f your

selves and of us write for us who hunger for living ,
 56 LEO T OLS T O Y
words and free us from those penny dreadfuls and the
,
-

The simple h dn est R ussian

”
rubbish of the market .
,

folk deserve that we should resp ond t o their c al l I .

have thought much about this and to the best o f my

,
’
ability have decided to make an e ffort in that direction .

The M edi a t or which still exists has done admirable

, ,

work despite many difficulties It had not long been

, .

started before the Censors perceived that its simple

booklets and stories meant something and in so far ,

as they roused peo p le to think and feel were a danger ,

t o the existing order After they had detect ed

.

’
Tolstoy s influence in the new Publishing Company ,

every kind of obstacle was p laced in its p ath H o w .

exacting the Censors became is shown by the fact

that when the M edi a t or p ublished the Sermon o n the
M ount as a readin g lesson in a primer the book was ,

refused a licence until the inj unction to take no

thought for the morrow had been suppressed
Even in England we are somewhat indebted t o
Tolstoy for the various series of cheap classics that
n o w circulate so largely W hen in 1 888 W T Stead
.
, , . .

visite d Yasnaya Tolstoy and he discussed the lack o f

,
’
cheap and good literature for the people and Stead s ,

subsequent ventures in this direction were influenced

by that conversation One of his assi stants Grant
.
,

R ichards after starting in business on his own account

, ,
’
brought out the W orld s Classics series (Which su b se
quently p assed to the Oxford University P ress ) and ,

the p opularity of that series encour aged the produc

tion of various other cheap collections which do much
to bring good literature within the reach o f men o f
small means .

In this connection I may mention that when the

’
first volumes of his works appeared in the W orld s
Classics series Tolstoy commended both the t r an sl a
,
1 58 L EO T OLS T O Y
’
labo ur to be the fundamental religious law of life .

And he decl ar ed the book to b e the most imp ortant

wor k that had been w ritten by a R ussian .

D u ring 1 885 Tolstoy wrote an essay let t er to Romain -

R olland on M a n u a l L a bou r and continued to work

,

o n W h a t T h en M u st W e D o P He also devoted himself

vigorously to field labour and much to the perturba ,

tion o f the Countess disciples began to gather round

,

him .

Anna S eur o n tells us W hen making tea T olstoy

would al most count each leaf yet he was losing ,

thousands by bad management o f his estates Fo r a .

time he quite ceased to take any care of his personal

appearance and was absur dl y dirty and untidy He .
,

who had always wo rn very fine socks suddenl y ,

demanded strips of linen and beg an to wrap his legs

in them as peasants do .

It was a most amazing time and it is quite co m ,

prehensible that people who heard reports o f his

eccentricities should have considered him simply mad .

But he was never saner than at that period He was .

testing internally an d externally j ust h o w much he

, ,

could endure and how hard it is to do without thi s

,

or that thing Of course only those nearest t o him

.
,
’
could k now this .

This again is o n e o f her thumb nail s k etches Hay

makin g What a picture Counts P rinces teachers , , ,

an d all sorts o f blue blooded -

people tried t o work
in competition with the peasants Scythes hack ed .

awkwardly mowing the sappy grass Every o n e strove

, .

t o outdo the others As far as eye could reach

.
,

work ers were seen everywhere All the peasants .

were there and so was the Countess in a R ussian

,

dress ; children and go v ernesses w e all helped t o —

t urn t h e ha y .
 TH E NE W LIFE 1 59

And there he stands that peasant Co unt i n a

, ,

Ru ssian shi rt and trousers his legs wide apart mowing

, ,

and look in g at him I see that he is quite en grossed in

,

it He is listenin g to the sound o f the scyt hes and

.

enj oying hi mself .

At that time a very original man arrived from

America t o see the Count He called himsel f Frey ;
.

but in spite o f his fo reign name he was a R ussian He .

was about fifty b ut his appearance was bloomin g

,

and youth ful ; he was a ve g etarian and for t en ,

years had n o t e v en used any salt .

The Countess was b eside hersel f with v ex ation ,

fo r e v en her daughters came under hi s in fl uen c e and

’
ceased to eat meat .

When I made their acquaintance a few years later ,

the Countess M ary was a veg etari an and her elder ,

sister the Countess Tatiana was very nearly so

, , .

’
Tolstoy in spite o f di gestive troub les and his wi f e s
,

opposition remained a v eg etarian t o the end o f hi s

,
’
lif e Anna S eur o n s view is that The Count too k
.

u p these manias o n l y in the spiri t o f pen i tence to

‘

sub due hi s fl esh and elevate and enlighten his spirit .

There was e v en a time w hen he re al l y seemed to wither

up and become thin H e tormented himself and wrote
.
j
,
’
with hi s h eart s b lood Yet at the same t ime he
.

was good natured and o f t en m efr y He would pla y

-
‘

croquet run races with hi s sons play the piano and

, , ,

o f an e v ening drew devi ls o n scraps o f paper He .

l aughed at thi ngs that seemed serious t o other people

’
, ,

s ew ed n ew bo ots and mended o l d ones rej oiced in hi s

.
,

fru g al econo mies and played with the li ttle children

,

in a word h e was a simple kindly good family man

, , , ,

w h o di d not know h o w t o count beyond three and ,

wo uld n e ver stir up the mud in any stream .

I t happ en ed a t t im es tha t he threw o ff fr o m h im self

1 60 LEO T OLSTOY

Leo Tolstoy the writer the Count the shoemaker the

, , ,

aristocrat and the father o f a family and became simply

, ,

himself for like an onion he possessed the capacity

—
, ,
’
t o throw o ff one sk in after another .

Fei n e r m an n (w h o was then acting as schoolmaster

at Yasnaya ) tells us It was from Frey that Tolstoy
first heard Vegetarianism preached and in him he first ,

saw a man who had consciously abj ured all slaughter .

H o w good that is ! How good ! said

T olstoy enraptured
, But can vegetable foo d
.

suffi ce
Even wheat grains alone suffice answered Frey , .

”
One only need dry them and use them as food .

What ? Not even ground ? said Tolstoy aghast , .

Has man an y b etter mill than his o w n mouth

answered F rey and evoked a storm o f enthusiasm by
,

his reply .

’
T olstoy s delight was unbounded He embraced .

Frey kissed him and in all ways expressed his good

,

will towards him .

Anna S eu r o n tells us : It was a t this time that he

renounced hunting and shooting .

The Coun t seemed possessed by a fe v er o f renuncia

tion Now had come the turn o f to b acco Oh
. .
,

unfortunate man ! H o w hard it was to part from

tobacco and from the cigarettes he used to smoke so
,

awkwardly yet with such enj oyment Smoking is

”
harm ful announced the Count one morning ;
, it ,

is a luxury ! Instead o f tobacco barley might be ,

grown to feed the famished And his horn cigar .

holder was set aside on the shelf The Count gained .

a new extremely difficult victory over himself He

, .

suffered unendurable torment positively not knowing

-
,

what t o do with himself But after a while despite

.
,

his convictions he again yielded to his inclination :

,
 1 62 LE O T OLSTOY
themsel v es into two camp s : those wh o adhered t o
Tolstoy and favoured manu al labour and a peasant
.

life and those on the side of the Countess who wished

, ,

t hings to g o on as heretofore The two sets were .

’
sometimes called the blacks and the whites .

One of the blacks has recorded his observations

o f people he met at Yasnaya He mentions M asha .

(M ary ) the second

, daughter devoted to her father and ,
’
an ardent adh erent o f his teaching M asha Tolstoy s ,

favourite daughter ran in a light and S li m m aiden

,

with a kerchief o n her head ar ranged lik e a young

’
peasant woman s wearing a peasant costume of hand
,
-

’
spun material and an apron H e also mentions M ar ya .

Alexandrovna Schmidt who had been a governess at ,

an Institute for girls in P etersburg but having come ,

’
under Tolsto y s in fluence abandoned teaching and tried
to live by manu al labour on the land He tells o f a .

’
day s work with Tolstoy M asha and M A Schmidt , . .
,
’
m anuring a peasant wom a n s land .

In the e v ening we al l met again in Leo N i k ol aye

’
v i ch s large dining room and though we had changed
-

o ur clothes the ladies (as the y c al led the Countess

, ,

her sister and the governess) made grimaces at the

,

smell and brought in plates from which thin stream s

,

of perfumed smoke rose from burning p astilles and

scented herbs .

Smoking o u t the unclean spirits with incense

laughed Leo Nikolayevich Yo u would do better to .

come and work with us then there would be no need

o f this smoking out -

Overhearing a conversation among his adherents

concerning his domestic circumstances Tolstoy came ,

up and said
In my heart I have m any a time decided to g o away
and settle o v er there at the corner of the forest There
, .
 TH E NE W LIFE \1 63
’
used to be an apiar y there and the beekeeper s hut is
,

still standing I could live and work and write there

. .

I have felt drawn and even now feel irresistibly drawn

,

thither but I have said to myself That woul d be ,

”
anchoritism : it woul d be like standin g o n a pill ar .

And I want to live and serve God and work in His

fields with the equip ment and the encumbrances it
has pleased Him to bestow on me I have weighed .

and sounded my soul in all sincerity and al ways when ,

I imagine myself in my present circumstances o f o p

pression Opp osition and ridicule subduing my pride
, , ,

and my ambitious desire to show men an example ,

I feel nearer to Him Wh o is guiding my life and am ,

conscious of H is hand But as soon as I imagine m y

.

self there i h a state o f freedom livin g a model life in

, ,

peace I lose the sense o f closeness to Him His hand

, ,

no longer seems near me and a horror of coldness ,

and des olation seizes me and I say to my self No I ,

wil l remain where I am .

Another witness tells us that W hen Gay stayed at

Yasnay a he and Tolstoy worked for three months
,

at bricklaying and together built a hut and o u t

,

buil dings fo r the W idow An i sya The Count and Gay .

laid the bricks while the Countesses Tatiana and

,

M ar ya plaited straw for the roof But there was a .

diffi culty ab out making the brick oven I cannot tell -

.

o u how they laughed over it Tolstoy sat inside

y .
,

and Gay from outside handed him the material s .

Fo r a long time nothing came of it but at last they

’
managed to get the oven built .

M uch has been written about that hut but it was not ,

a success The clay was not prop erly wetted and

.
,

before long the buil ding became crooked and began t o

f al l to pieces The surprising th i ng however is not that
.

Tolstoy should have Shown himself inexpert at house

1 64 LEO TOLS T OY
building but that he coul d do so many d iffer ent
,

things and several of the m so well

, .

Having convinced himself that there is a direct

connection between the lives o f the rich and of the
p oor Tolstoy proceeded to attack the problem o f
,

poverty His great book on that subj ect W h a t T h en

.
,

M u st W e D o P was finished in February 1 886 .

He tells how the produce of the country is attracted

t o town and how the countryfolk follow this wealth
,

h O p i n g by serving the rich as waiters footmen cab

, , ,

men o r prostitutes or by making carri ag es fashionable

, , ,

clothes etc to recover some o f that we al th He says

, .
, .

that we who share in the unceasing orgie that goes o n

among the rich in towns may supp ose that the difference
between the lives of the rich and of the p oor seems
’’

natural t o the latter There are pe 0 p 1e so n a rve as

.

e v en to say that the p oor are grateful t o us fo r feeding

them by o u r luxury But being p oor does not deprive
.

men o f reason and the p oor reason as we do When .

w e hear o f a man losing or wasting a thousand o r two

thousand p ounds we immediately think
, Wh at a ,

stupid and worthless fellow he is and how well I could ,

have used that money for a building I have long

wanted or to improve my farm etc
, and the p oor
, .

reason in j ust the same way when they see we al th,

senselessly wasted and they do it the more insistently

because they want the money not to satisfy some
caprice but to supply things they urge n tly need
, .

The p oor never have admitted and never will admit

that it is right for some to hav e a continual holiday
while others must always fast and work At first it .

astonishes and angers them to see it Then they grow .

accustomed to it ; and seeing that such arrangements

are considered lawful they themselves try t o avoid
,

work and t o Share in the perpetual holiday .

 66 LEO T OLS T OY

imm oral and that money i t self and the fact tha t I ,

possess it is o n e o f the chie f causes o f the evils I saw

,

around me and I ask ed mysel f What is money

—
,

He goes o n to say that wherever we find people ,

consuming luxuriously without producing and other ,

people overwork ed and wretchedly poor there S lavery —

exists M oney makes the poor the common slaves

.

o f all the rich It represents p o vver to mak e o thers

'

work It is the modern form o f S lavery

. .

I wished t o help the unfortunate and I had money , ,

and S hared the common superstition that money

represents work o r at any rate is a lawf ul and g ood
,

thing But having begun to give away money I saw

.
,

that I was g iving bills drawn o n the poor and so

the ab surdity o f what I had wished t o d o— help the
poor b y mak ing demands o n them— b ecame e viden t t o
me .

These considerations supplied me with an answ er t o

my question W hat to do ,

As soon as I had understood what riches are and

what money is I understood the truth handed do wn
,

from the earliest times by Buddha Isaiah L ao T sze , ,

-
,

Socrates and to us most clearly and indubitabl y b y

,

Jesus Christ and his forerunner John the Baptist ,

.

In reply t o my question : What must we d o ?

John said simply brie fl y and clearly ,
He that hath
,

t w o coa t s let him impart t o him that hath none ;

,
”
and he that hath food let him do li kewise ,The .

same was said many times b y Christ with even g reater

clearness He said . Blessed are the poor and w o e ,

unto the rich He said it is impossible t o serve G o d

.

and M ammon He forbade the di sciples to take either

.

money o r t w o coats He told the rich youth tha t .

because he was rich he could not enter the Kin g dom

o f G o d and that it is easier f or a camel t o go t hrough
,
 T HE NE W LIFE 1 67

the eye o f a needle than for a rich man to enter the

Kingdom o f God He said that he w h o does not leave
.

all house and children and fields t o follow hi m is n o t

, , ,

his di sciple He told the parable o f the rich man who

. ,

li k e o ur rich men di d nothing wr ong but merely

, ,

dressed well and ate and dran k n i ce thi ngs and thereby ,

lost hi s s oul ; and o f the beggar Lazarus who di d ,

nothi ng g ood but was saved merely because he was

,

poor .

I understood that man b esides li vi n g fo r h i s personal

,

welfare must serve the welfare o f others as bees

, ,
’
do and that man s unhappiness comes fr om the
slavery in which some men hold others I understood .

that the slavery o f o ur times is caused by violence ;

by the army system the monopol iz ation o f land and
-
, ,

the e x action o f money And having understood the .

mean i ng o f these three instruments o f the new slavery ,

I co ul d not but wi sh to free mysel f from usin g them .

The rej ection o f the customary methods o f exploiting

the labour o f others brings on e inevitably to t h e
’
necessity o f moderatin g one s requi rements and o f ,

doin g fo r onesel f what others used to do for us .

Finally I came to the following simple conclusion

that in order n o t to produce suffering and vice I ,

ought t o consume as l ittle as possible o f the work o f

‘

others and do as much work as possible myself I

, .

came by a lon g road t o the unavoidable deduction

, ,

formul ated a thousand years ago by the Chi n ese in ,

their saying : If there is o n e man idle there is ,

another dying o f hun ger .

When a man can li ve o n the backs o f others from

chi ldhood till he is thirty promising when he has , ,

fi n i shed hi s education to do something useful whi ch

,

no o n e has asked him to do and when from the age o f ,

thirty till death he can go o n li ving in the same way ,

1 68 LEO T OLS T O Y
still promising to d o some thing n o o n e has as k ed him
t o do —
this cannot b e and in o u r society is n o t a
, ,

di vision o f labour b ut simply a seizure by the strong

,

o f the frui ts o f the labour o f others it is thi s ver y

robbery theolo gians used to speak o f as a divine
dispensation and philosophers afterwards as
, a
necessary form o f life and that scientific science
,

now calls the organic division o f labour .

D ivision o f lab our always has existed in human

society and probably al ways will But the question
, .

f or us is n o t whether it exists and will exist but to find ,

a standard by which to see that the division shal l be a

j ust o n e .

It is time t o come to oneself and look around , .

For we are indeed nothing but Scrib es and

, ,
’
Pharisees who have seated ourselves in M oses sea t
and taken the keys o f the kingdom o f heaven neither ,

entering in ourselves n o r allowing others to enter .

Only when I began to loo k o n myself as a man l ike

all others did my path b ecome plain to me Following
, .

that path o n e must try first of all to feed oneself

,

honestly that is to say learn not to live o n the necks,

o f others but tak e every opportunity to serve others

with hands feet b rain heart and all the powers o n e

, , , ,

possesses and o n which others mak e demands No o n e .

possesses any rights o r privileges o r can possess them , ,

but only en dl ess and unlimited duties and obligations

and the first and most undoubted o f these duties is ,

t o share in the struggle with nature to obtain support

’
fo r one s o w n life and that o f others Other .

activities become legitimate only when thi s prime

demand is satisfied .

T o the question W ould manual labour n o t absorb

,

all my time and prevent my doing the mental work I

love t o which I am accustomed and which I some
, ,
1 70 LE O T OLS T O Y

it will be shameful t o we ar o n a workday clothes boots , , ,

or gloves in which o n e cannot work or to play on a

piano costing £ 1 2 0 o r even £ 5 wh il e others have to
,

work fo r us or to feed a dog o n mil k and white bread ,

while there are people w h o have no bread and milk

o r to b u rn lights except to work by or to bur n a fire ,

o n which no food is being cooked while there are people,

who have no light o r no fire T o such a V iew o f life

.

’
we are inevitably and rapidly approaching .

In the last chapter of the b ook Tolstoy states the

’
V iew he then held (1 886) o n woman s duty and the ,

fact that he changed his mind a year o r two later does

not deprive his statement o f interest for here as all ,
—

through the book one i s awar e of the throb o f his

—

pulse and feels he is speaking of things that touched

his o w n life and were in question between his wife
,

and himself .

He delivers a scornful denunciation o f that aston

’ ’ ’
i sh i n g nonsense called W oman s R igh ts
, W oman s .

real work is to bear children not to imitate those men

o f the privil eged classes who S hirk real work and sub

st i t u t e S ham work in banks ministries universities

, , ,

academies and studios .

’ ’
W ithin my memory says Tolstoy woman s f al l
, ,

her evasion o f her duty has begun and within my

—
,

memory this evasion has been and is be i ng more and, ,

more practised .

W oman having forgotten her law has believed

, ,

that her strength lies in the fascinat i on of her allure

ments o r in her dexterity in imitating t h e sham work
,

done by man .

Children are a hindrance to both these things And .

so with the help of science (science is always ready t o do

,

anything nasty) within my recollection it has come

,

about that among the wealthy classes a dozen ways of

 TH E NE W LIFE 1 71

preventin g concep tion have ap p eared and custom ar y ,

appliances of the to i l et have become tools for producing

steril ity .

Every woman however she may dr ess herself and

,

whatever sh e may call herself and however re fined she

may be who refrains from childbirth without refrain
,

ing from sexu al relations is a whore And however

, .

fallen a woman may be if she intentionall y devotes

,

herself to bearing children she performs the best and

,

highest service in life ful fil s the will of God and

— —

no o n e ranks ab ove her .

If you are such a woman you will not either after , ,

two or after twenty chil dren say that you have borne ,

enough any more than a fift y ye ar old workman

,
- -

wil l say he has worked enough while he still eats and ,

’
sleep s and has muscles demandin g work .

The book closes with a p an eg yric o f the fruitful

mother who knows that re al life is a matter o f danger
,

and effort and self s a cr i fice and who will guide

-

humanity in the path of duty service and u n sel fish ,

ness.

Tolstoy s views o n the dut y o f women and o n the

’

relations of the sexes wi ll be de al t with when we come

to his K r eu t zer S on a t a but this chapter is the fitting
,

place for some co m ment on his economic views .

Wh a t T h en M u st W e D o 9 is a work of fir st rate -

imp ortance because of the frankness and freshness

with which it treats the most pressing practical
problem o f our time that of p overty about which
— —

the Churches and p olitic al p arties are so strangely

imp otent and dumb .

’
Tolstoy s indictment that masked S laver y exists
,

among us is unanswerably true His feeling that this

, .

is unendur able is one which grows stronger and reaches

more people every year and no modern book has done
1 72 LEO T OLSTOY
more than Wh a t T h en M u st We D o to m ak e it
prevail This feeling lies at the root o f the industrial
.

unrest now pervading the world and threatening the

whole fabric of society Tolstoy declared that the
.

inj ustice o f existing social conditions must be ended ,

and that the most insp iring work any o n e can do is to

help t o end them .

But h o w Tolstoy felt the facts of p overty acutely ,

described them vividly and conveyed his mor al c o n

,

d em n a t i o n strongl y ; but did he find a key t o the

enigma
His prescription is that all should live barely working ,
’
hard at bread labour and repudiate any Government
-
,

that uses physic al force to restrain any man H is .

ide al of life is that lived by some of the best Russian

p easants when least interfered with by Government .

In his condemnation of we al th and especially o f ,

money his teaching reminds one of the New Testament

, ,

of Francis o f Assisi and o f the views held by many o f

,

the medi aeval saints but he took little account of the

,

modern thought of the W estern world and I doubt ,

whether he was wise to ignore or tot al l conde mn

y , ,

what that world has accomplished during the last

century and a half .

In particular he underrat es the value of leadership

and S killed direction T his was b ecaus e he held that
.

the captains of industry the profes sional men and

, ,

the o fficials take too much for their s ervices The

, .

enormous advantage of good leadership should

however b e recognized even if we hold that the
,

poss ession of exceptional abilities ought not to

entitle a leader to live in luxury while h i s fellow men -

lack necessaries .
1 74 LEO TOLS T OY
frequency with which foreigners as well as Russians
b egan to apply for permission to visit Yasnaya and
sought to secure his advocacy for this o r that scheme
they were interested in .

Among them was D ér o u l é d e the French soldier ,

p oet p atriot w h o had come t o promote a Franco

—
,

Russian al liance against Germany with reve n ge fo r ,

1 871 and the restitution o f Alsace Lorraine as its chief -

aims He recei v ed but scant encouragement from the

.

author o f T h e G osp el i n B r i ef .

Anna S eu r on says W a r and re v enge were Chi nese

literature t o the Count and a single t witch o f his lips
, ,

and a single fl ash from his steel eyes were enough fo r ,

D é r o u l ed e t o understand that he must give some other

explanation o f hi s visit than his desire t o ally R ussia
with France for a war o f re v eng e and he fell b ack o n
’
his ardent desire to mak e the acquaintan c e o f Russia s
literary luminary .

O nce only di d the Count c ondescend to e x pat ia t e

o n the horrors o f war He hi mself under a ni ght sky
.
, ,

had seen o n a b attle fiel d thousands o f motionless

-

glassy eyed corpses whi ch looked as though th ey were

-

demandin g an account from those who had sent them

t o premature death . When D ér o ul é d e remark ed
that war is implanted in the very nature o f man the ,

Count replied that W a r should and could b e a vo i d ed

f

, ,

and the chief thin g is that there should n o t b e men

willing t o evoke and provo k e it and thereupon he
’
rose and left the room with rapid steps .

Sub sequently he proposed to his visi t or tha t t hey

should lay b efore an ordinary typical peasant the plan,

that the French and the R ussians b eing o n each side o f ,

the Germans should unite to squeeze the j uic e o u t o f

,

them O n the matter being explained to h i m the

.
,

peasant a fter s c ra tching his head replied that he

, ,
 P LAYS A ND COLO N I E S 1 75

thought the Frenchmen and the R ussian s had be t ter

first d o some us eful work and then g o o ff together t o
,

the inn fo r a drin k and take the Germans with them

, .

About the same time the author D an i l evsk y visited

’
Tolstoy He h as recorded the latter s remarks ab out
.

manual labour Fo r me daily exerci se and physical

,

labour are as in di s p ensable as the ai r Seden t ary .

intellectu al work without physic al exercise and labo ur

is a real calam i ty If for a single day I d o n o t walk
.
,

o r wor k with my legs and hands I am goo d fo r ,

’
nothi ng b y e v en i n g .

It was at thi s time (1 886) that T olstoy wrote several

o f hi s best t al es for the people H ow M u ch L a n d D oes
a M an N eed P I l y a s, T h e T h r ee H er m i t s and the
, ,

e x cellent t em p er an cefiz st o r y T h e I m p a n d t h e Cr u st
, ,

as well as I van th e Fool into wh ich last he has com

1
,

pressed a l arge part o f hi s phi loso phy o f li f e Thi s .

story he read to some o f the peasants and having asked ,

o n e o f them to retell the t al e in hi s o w n words took ,

many hi nts from him and incorporated them in the

story .

’
I always do that said he , I learn h o w t o write
.

from them and test my work o n them That is the

, .

o n l y way t o produce stories fo r the people M y story .

G od S ees t h e T r u th was made that way

1
It was retold .

’
me by o n e o f my pupils .

B esides the help he g o t from peasants and school

b oys T olstoy also received assistance from peasant
,

women There was o n e o l d wom an An i sya from a

.
, ,

neighbouring village who used to come to see Tol stoy

,

and tell hi m tales and he used to delight bo th in her

stories and in her way o f telling them and would say ,

Yo u are a re al master An i sya , Than k yo u for

t eachin g me t o spe ak R ussian and to thi n k Russian —

Al l t h es e ar e i n c l d d i n T w ty t h
1 u e T al een -
r ee s.
1 76 LEO TOLSTOY
It is di ffi cult t o decide to what extent T olsto y i n flu
e n ce d the mind o f R ussia o n certain point s and to what

extent he simply voiced tha t mind ; but it is note

worthy that when he wrote T h e I m p a n d t h e Cr u st
( o n intemperance ) the Government was drawing a hug e
revenue from drink R ussia was universally regarded
,

as a drunken nation and hardly any writer denounced

,

the e vil . Tolstoy had a way o f seeing what was

important and o f using his art t o influence the feelings
o f men . He now called attention to this e vil in a
series o f short works and though they provoked
,

opposition at the time it is an indication of his

influence that when less than thirty years later the
, ,

sale o f v odka was prohibited in R ussia so wel l had

,

the public mind been prepared f or the measure that

it was heartily welcomed and proved most beneficial .

His propagandist stories had s old t o the peasants by

millions .

His other writings o n the same sub j ect were the

two short plays T h e Fi r st D i sti l l er and T h e Ca u se of
’
i t Al l (the latter published posthumously ) i Cu l t u r e s
H ol i d ay a philippic against the way in whi ch
the M oscow University Anniversary was celebrated ;
and Why D o M en S t up i fy T h em sel ves " r
. an
ess ay o n the subj ect o f stimulants and intoxicants .

Field work visitors correspondence family matters

, , , ,

philippics and stories fo r the people did n o t suffice t o

’
exhaust T olstoy s energies His new faith seemed to
.

quadruple his mental vigour without impairing his

physical powers .

In M arch 1 886 he finished T h e D ea t h o f I va n I l yi ch ,

a rem arkable story o f the li fe and death of a | u d g e ,

'

the ver end o f z the

futilit y o f his p ast life and the j oy o f self su -
er
f o r the sake o f others .
1 78 LEO TOLSTOY
bac k o n the leather cushion he often dropped his ,

pencil and his face expressed a double kind of suffering

,
.

’
He was creating the drama T h e P ow er of D a r kn ess ,
.

That terrible play was founded o n a case that had

come before the Tula Law Courts It exhibits the .

worst side o f peasant life crime leading o n to crime

in a crescendo o f horrors until towards the end in a ,
'
,

very powerful scene a drunken fellow an ex soldier

, ,
-

inspires Nikita with courage and in t h e last act at ,

a wedding and in the presence o f a police o fficer the ,

latter publi cly confesses his misdeeds .

These scenes when well rendered entirely o b literate

, ,

the impression o f what has gone before W e forget

‘

that the story deals with adultery poison and ,

infanticide only the impression o f t h e repentance and

confession remains .

Of this work Tolstoy remark ed When I am writing

a novel I paint and so to say work with a brush
, , ,
.

There I feel freer When it comes o u t awkwardly

.

I can change it add colour and amplify But a

, , .

’
drama is different it is sculptor s work It has .

no shadows and half tones All must be clear cut -

.
-

and in strong relief The incidents must b e ready

.
,

fully ripened and the whole work lies in representing

,

these fully matured moments these ripe moods o f the

-
,

characters This is exceedingly difficult ,especially

.

when dealing with the life o f peasants which is a

f orei gn land to u s another hemisphere
—

T h e P o w er of D a r kn ess possesses in a remarkable

degree the essential qualities o f a fi r st rate acting
,
.
-

play It has movement life and the clear clash o f

. , ,

wills from which the actions follow inevitably Its .

public performance was long prohibited in R ussia ,

but it eventually became a stock piece at the principal

theatres and is recognized as o n e o f the most po wer ful
,
 P LAYS AN D COLONIES 79

R u ssian plays It achieved gr eat success in P aris

.

and Berlin but it has never yet been publicly per formed
,

in England o r America .

’
Having mentioned the t w o first o f Tolstoy s pub
l i sh e d plays (both written when he was fi ft y eight ) I -

will for convenience sake here speak also o f his other

dramatic work s though they were n o t written till
,

later .

On 3o t h D ecember 1 889 h i s next play Fr u i t s of ,

Cu l t u r e Wa s performed with g reat success by his

,

children and their friends at Yasnaya P olyana (hi s

five eldest children were then from 1 8 to 2 6 years o l d ) .

The play was afterwards very well received in the

theatres o f R ussia and abroad It is the most
.

’
humorous o f al l Tolstoy s works a bright brisk ,

comedy and a capital acting play Its chief draw .

back is that i t has a cast of some thirty speaking

characters which makes it somewhat expensive to
,

produce .

’
The only other published plays o f Tolstoy s are
three posthumous dramas The best o f them drama
.
,

tically is T h e L i ve C or p se Unfortunately it is n o t
, .

ea sy t o produce owing to the numerous changes o f

scene The second o f them T h e Ca u se of i t Al l h a s
.
, ,

already been mentioned among his temperance w o rks .

T h last play T h L i h t S h i i D k was le f t

‘
e e g
, n es n a r n es s ,

incomple t e ,but is o f considerable autobiographical

interest It presents the difficulties and sufferings
.

Tolstoy endured owing to the difference between his

’
o w n and his wife s outlook o n life M any o f the details
.

and characters are drawn very closely from life but he ,

has simplified his own complex personality and i n t en si é

fle d the conflict fo r the purpose o f the drama

, .

These last three plays were written long after the

period we have been dealing with His collected .
1 80 LEO T OLS T O Y
P l ay s are pub l ished by Constable Co London and .
, ,

Funk W a g n a l l s New York , .

R eturning t o the year 1 886 I would mention that ,

at this time Tolstoy Colonies were springing up in

various parts o f R uss ia To follow the fortunes o f
.

these would take me t o o far but speaking generally , ,

they failed and besides inflicting privations o n those

who j oined them occasioned much quarrelling Later
, .

on,
similar Colonies were started in England Ho l l and , ,

and the United States wi th a li k e result The exp er i

, .

ence o f these communities has been instructive and ,

’
throws much light o n certain phases o f T olstoy s
teaching .

I once asked him what value he set o n his tale o f

early Ch ristian life Wa l k i n t h e L i g ht w h i l e t h er e i s
,

L i g h t which was written about this time though n o t

, ,

published till 1 893 and he replied I never hear it

, ,
’
mentioned without feeling ashamed The characters .

in it are divided into two groups the bad heathen ,

and the good Christians In real life these would .

inevitab ly Tolstoy said have merged and overlapped

, , .

The ideas which found expression in that story had

much t o do with the founding of the Tolstoy Colonies .

’
Behind all Tolstoy s denunciation o f property
holding Governments specialization of labour etc
, , ,
.
,

there always lies the implication that if these things ,

did not exist people would live harmoniously and

,

morally Those who believed this naturally ask ed :

.
,

H o w then are we to arrange o u r lives One answer

T olstoy gave was Go and live as peasants with the
, ,

peasants But when educated men tried to d o this ,

they usually came to the conclusion that those were

n o t the surroundings in which they could do their best

work Another suggestion T olstoy made is that con

.

t ai n ed in Wa l k i n th e L i g ht w hi l e th er e i s L i g ht
1 82 LEO TOLSTOY
adopted it as a rigid rule and thereby deprived him ,

self o r itself o f the power t o check obvious wrongs in

what was sometimes the only way they could b e
check ed.

W ithout attempting a history o f the T olstoy

Colonies I may mention o n e typical instance o f the
,

way in which they broke down .

It occurred in the S ch a v e ev sk y Colony in the

Province o f Smolensk The Colonists adopted a
.

neglected youngster and took him to live with them .

He listened to their discussions readings and con ,

v er sa t i o n s
, and learnt that no physical force should
be used with any one that it is wrong t o p ossess
,

property and that no Colonist should have anything

,

t o do with the p olice o r the Law Courts One morning .

the Colonist who had S peci al charge of the lad awoke

and began to dress but could not find his waistcoat
, ,

until at last he discovered that the boy was wearing

it The Colonist asked for the waistcoat but the boy
.
,

refused t o give it u p The man explained how wr ong

.

it is to steal but the b oy could not see the p oint of

,

the argument If property is wrong why was it any

.
,

more wrong for a b oy to have it than for a man ?

The other Colonists were gradually drawn into the
dispute and as it developed it became app arent that
,
’
the whole battery of Tolstoy s arguments concerning
property and j udging as well as his insistence o n
,

condoning all o ffences claiming no rights and acknow

, ,
’
ledging only duties were on the boy s side in the
,

controversy He was accusing no one ; and was

.

therefore able to assume a tone of mor al superiority .

He wanted the waistcoat as much as the man did He .

was quite willing to discuss the subj ect but it was

impossible to alter his determination to keep the
waistcoat o r his o p inion that it was wrong of an y one
,
 P LAYS AN D COLON I ES 83

to want to take it from him That p ar t icular waist

.

coat might not have mattered ; but the question at

stake was W hether any o n e might rely o n retaining
,

anything a pen a tool o r even a book he had beg un

. , ,

to write It was a question o f principle going t o ,

the root o f the p ossibility of working e fficiently o r o f ,

co operating
-
.The incident showed up the fact that
the Colonists did not know what they re al ly approved
or disappro v ed o f and it accounts for the subsequent
,

fa i lure o f their undertaking It further showed that

.

by undermining the bases of Church and State Tolstoy ,

had unwittingly tunnelled much further and endang ered

the v ery bases o f any p ossible code or o f an y fix ed
agreement between man and man If we accept al l .

he has said as valid any lunatic drunk ar d wayward

’

, , ,

child or angry man may block the traffic in Cheap

side indefinitely ; and it would not need many such
people to plunge a whole community into chaos .

For other instances of the failure of Colonies I must

refer the reader to my L i fe of T ol st oy .

It seems strange that Tolstoy did not le ar n more

from the experience o f the Colonies ; but it must be
remembered that neither he n o r his nearest friends
ever j oined a Col ony ; and T olstoy was so absorbed
in his work so busily engaged in trying to do good
,

t o those with whom he came in immediate contact ,

and so wrapped up in his o w n thoughts and feelings ,

that he was as impervious to the experiences o f the

Communist Colonists as to those o f the Constitutional
reformers of the W estern W orld .
 C HA P T E R XII

NON -
R ESIS T ANCE

’
Y 1 887 the evolution o f Tolstoy s views which
had begun more than ten y ears before was
well nigh completed His O pinions had solidified
-
.

and except on the question of sex did not alter much

, ,

subsequently though his mental p owers remained at

,

their prime for at least another dozen ye ars .

It was m 1 887 that he wrote his important ph i lo

sophic b ook O n L i fe W e have no satisfactory trans
.

lation of it but Mr Bolton Hall o f New York in a

, .
,

volume entitled L ove L i fe a n d P ea ce has produced

, ,

a free p araphrase which gives its essence excellently ,

and was commended by Tolstoy .

’
In August 1 887 Tolstoy s brother i n law Behrs - -
, ,

revisited Yasnaya after some years spent in the

Caucasus Tolstoy he says had grown older and
.
, ,

greyer . His face showed evident signs o f the serious

mental su ffering he had endured He had become .

’
the personification o f the idea of lo v e of one s neigh
bour and if I may be allowed a paradox I should say
, ,

that for the sake of those views he sinned against

them as for instance when he was severe with people
, ,

who misbehaved He had ceased to concern

.

’
himself about his sons education and was displeased ,

that his wife still attended to it When his eldest son .

had taken his degree at the University and asked

1 84
 86 LEO T OLSTOY
its publication disregarding his connections and
,

rank the young Prince gave his lands to the peasants

,
’
and retained only about 2 5 acres for himself This .

same Prince H i l k o v subsequently took p art in organ

izing the D oukhobor M igration .

Behrs tells us fur ther of Tolstoy He is still regarded

with deep loyalty and sincere love by his whole family ,
”
which as the proverb has it
, looks him in the eye
, .

They also all feel great respect for his genius .

There is however in his relation to his wife a

, , ,

shade of exactingness and reproach o r even di ssa t i s ,

faction He accuses her o i preventing him from giving

.

away his property and o f continuing to educate the

,

children in the old way .

His wife fo r her part considers that she has acted

, ,

rightly and is vexed at this attitude of h i s She has

, .

b een the closest witness o f all his spiritual su fferings ,

and in general o f the gradual development o f his

thoughts and in consequence has again and again
,
’
had t o suffer o n her husb and s account She has .

involunta ri ly de v eloped a dread and abhorrence o f

his teaching and its c onsequences T h e sayi ng
.

Between two fires fails to describe her position

’
between her husband s spiritual su fferings and demands
o n the o n e side and the impossibility with her views
, ,

and fo r the sake o f the children o f submitting t o those

,

demands o n the other On her alone during a whole

.
,

decade was his theory tested and amended during

,

its slow growth and the result has been that a tone
o f contradiction has arisen between them in which ,

mutual reproach makes itself heard That is the .

only ground o n which disagreement has occurred

in all other respects they are n o w as formerly a model
, ,

couple .

O n o n e occasion she said to me with tears in her ,

 NON RES IS T ANCE
-
1 87

eyes : I t is hard fo r me now ; I have t o d o e very

thing whereas formerly I was only hi s assistant
,
.

The property and the education o f the chi ldren are

all o n my hands And I am b lamed fo r attending t o
.

them and not going ab out as a beggar ! He has

forgotten everything fo r the sake o f his teaching !
Some years later (1 893) Behrs added at the end o f ,
’
hi s book the following : To protect her children s
,

interest when Tolstoy wanted to give away his estates

,

t o outsiders his wife was prepared t o appeal to the

,

authorities to put his property under guardianship .

And when her husband o ffered her his possessions ,

Sh e accepted a power o f attorney giving her the

- —

’
management o f a l l his property except his later work s , .

The eldest daughter Tatiana (n o w M adame S uh o t i n )

, ,

helped her father b efore her marriage a great deal

w i t h h i s writing and correspondence and there was
'

always a strong a ffection between them It is .

,
’
however the second daughter says Behrs
, more , ,

than all the rest who is devoted to her father and

, , ,

as far as she is allowed rigorously observes his e v ery

,
’
r ule and maxim .

This daughter M ary L vo vn a (M asha) w h o b y mar

, ,

r i a g e b ecame P ri ncess Obolensky studied medicine at ,

o n e time and in 1 886 we hear o f her

, in print blouse , ,

passing examinations to qualify as a P rimary School

’
teacher . Helping her father with hi s correspondence ,

copying his M S S teaching vi llage chi ldren and attend

.
,

ing t o the sick in the village S h e led a life crowded ,

with interests and with work .

After her sisters had married the youngest d aughter , ,

’
the Countess Alexandra succeeded them as her father s
,

assistant and typist and was devoted t o him and his

,

ideas .

S p eaking to me o n e day o f trouble he had had with

,
1 88 LEO T OLSTOY
on e of his sons T olstoy added : I hav e reason t o
,
’
thank G o d fo r my daughters .

It was in 1 887 that he wrote T h e E m p ty D r u m

( T w en ty t h r e
-
e T a l es) a fol k tale long
, current in the -

’
region o f the Volga and o n e after T olstoy s o w n
,
’
heart expressing the peasant s hatred o f mili tary
,

service His rendering of it is an example o f the

.

way in which he voiced feelings current among the

people .

T owards the end o f 1 887 my brother i n law D r - -

, .

P S Al ex eye v returned to M oscow from a visit t o

. .
,

America where he had studied the Temperance

,

movement which till then had attracted but little

,

attention in R ussia He approached Tolstoy and the

.
,

latter was so much interested in the matter that he

promptly started a Temperance Society in his o w n
house .

It was D r Al ex eyev w h o in Moscow o n e winter day

.
, ,

in 1 888 first took me to see Tolstoy with whose

, ,

works I was at that time but superficially acquainted .

W e found many people assembled in a large upstairs

room simply furn i shed with a big table many chairs
, , ,

and a grand piano After a time being left alone

.
,

with Tolstoy at the table I said ,

I understand Leo Nikolayevich that you dis

, ,

approve o f all money getting ? That interests m e —

,
’
for I am in R ussia to try to earn some money He .

imme di ately began to explain his views to me Trying .

t o demonstrate the advantages o f the factory system -

,

I said You will at least admit that it is necessary

,

t o have knives Not so necessary as to ha v e

’
bread replied he and proceeded to insist o n the
, ,

primary duty o f each man producing as much and

consuming as little as possible I was not con vi nced .

bu t was struck b y his earnes t n ess a n d willin gn ess t o

1 90 LE O T OLS T O Y

prized most highly his religi o philosophi c ideas His -

.

popularist political opinions fl owed from hi s reli gious

-

view o f life but did not occupy the forefront Fo r

, .

us at that time however it was j u st those populist ,

and anarchist ideas that were most important and ,

we di d not attach particular weight to hi s rel igious

views On this di fference all o u r di sputes hi nged
. .

W e with o u r views could n o t endure that men w’h o

, ,

pro fessed to be followers o f Tolstoy should co n t i rfu e

their former easy way o f life Leo N i k o l a ye vi ch .

maintained that the chief thing was to preserve good

relations with those about o n e and if this involved ,
’
rem ai ning in the c o nditions o f one s former well t o do - -

’
life it was better to s acrifice o ne s spiri tual peace than
,

t o provoke anger and bitterness in those near to o n e .

A B used to reply t o Tolstoy with particular

'

. .

’
harshness quoting the Gospel text :
, A man s foes
shall be they o f his o w n household And if fo r .
,

the tranq uill ity o f those near me it is necessary that ,

I S hould become a burglar must I do that al so ? —

asked he in di gnantly In vain Tolstoy replied that

.

it all depends o n the plane o f reli gious consciousness

o n e has reached W e held to o ur Vi ew and each
.
,

time we met the di spute flared up afresh .

Thus two currents o f Tolstoyism became more and

more distinct The o n e with which our Group sided
.
, ,

might be c a lled the Back t O the people t en d en y - - -

.

The other had more the nature o f a religious movement .

The adherents o f that latter mo v ement were

spiritually nearer to T olstoy He considered that .

they understood him better ; and they o n their part , ,

treated him with great respect amountin g sometimes ,

t o veneration For them al most every thought he

.
,
’
expressed was an unquestioned verity [This relates .

t o V G T ch er t k o f and his set ]

. . .
 q
NON RES IS TANCE
-
1 91

Whil e the Back t o the pe ople Tolstoyans s trove

- - -

wi th all their mi ght and in despite o f all hardshi ps

, ,
’
to re a lize Tolstoy s teachi n g in their lives the r ep r e ,

s en t a t i v es o f the other tendency fo r the most part

did not abandon their f ormer external way o f life ,

except that those w h o were in the army left the ser vice .

The Tolstoyans who were near him in religio

philosophic opinions have remained till now faithful to
their views but it has not been so with the others ;
,

very few of them follow the p ath they started

’
on . M any of them felt that that path led them
n a t r a l l y t o j o in o n e of the Rev olutionary partie s .

o the scheme for organiz ing ag ricult ur al Colonies

for the i ntelligentsia Tolstoy was favo u rable ,

enough ; though distrusting as he does everyt hing

,

that is artificially arranged he war ned us of the ,

’
p ossibility o f fail ure .

Early in 1 890 S e m yo n o v the peasant writer met ,

-
,

T ch er t k o f returning with Gay from Yasnaya where

they had b een st a yi n g S em yon o v says .

I asked about Tolst oy and was told that he was ,

well vigorous and working T ch er t k o f gave no

, , .

details He was evidently upset about something

.
,

and only from Gay did I learn that things were n o t

going smoothly Is that the kind of life he needs
.

said Gay He is thinking for the whole human race

.
,

but no consideration is p aid t o his spiritu al nee ds

at all Continual bustle sm al l d e mands al l those
.
, ,

guests ugh !
T ch er t k o f was taking T h e K r eu t zer S o n a t a to
Petersburg It was alr eady circulat i ng in M oscow
.

in lithographed cop ies but this was its fin al revision

, .

Fr u i t s of Cu l t u r e was then j ust being printed .

T ch er t k o f did n o t ap p r o v e of such writings [as the

‘

comedy Fr ui t s of Cul t ur e] He did not c ar e for work s

, .
 92 LEO T O LS T O Y
which lacked a religious tendency In authorship he .

demanded religious sermonizing and lest this should ,

become a trade he decided that a writer should tak e

,

n o money for his work To do so is a sin

. said he .

By writing we serve mankind and lead their souls

,

o u t of darkness ; but if we take money it becomes ,

n o t a service but something very different ! It is ,

in his op i nion immoral j ust as it would be for a man

, ,

when saving another from drowning to dem and mone y

for so doing
These rem ar ks addressed by a we al thy man to a
,

peasant who supp orted his family with di fficulty and ,

whom the few p ounds he got for his stories lifted j ust
above actu al want are characteristic Ye ar s later
, .
,

when o n e of his colleagues had occasion to remonstrate

with T ch er t k o f o n the harshness of his demands ,

his reply was : In o ur movement we consider prin

ci p l es not people
, and it was j ust that lack o f con
sideration for others which dried up the fountains
’
Tolstoy s magic caused to gush forth T olstoy i n .

sp ired enthusiasm and many pe 0 p 1e o ffered him their

,

help in work and money Not wishing to be diverted

.

from his literary labours Tolstoy passed o n these sym

,

a t h i z er s to T ch r t k o f to be made use of for the move

p e

ment But T ch er t k o f was domineering unpractical

.
, ,

capricious and unscrupulous so that the fate of these ,

adherents was gener al ly not a happy one .

On the other hand there was about T ch er t k o f at

,
’’

times a rather touching na i vet e Shown for instance in ,

his reply to a colleague who (after su ffering much

annoyance ) had detected him in telling untruths and
’
had taxed him therewith Yes replied T ch er t k o f
, ,

when I want to get my o w n way very much I do ,

’
sometimes sa y the thing that is not .

’
The las t of T olstoy s children a son christened , ,
1 94 LEO TOLSTO Y
’
the doctrine Yet even Ballou did not g o far
.

enough for Tol stoy who adds The comments that

,
’
I wish to m a ke on Mr B al lou s explanation of the
.

doctrine are First that I cannot agree with the con

,

cession he makes for employing violence against

drunkards and insane people The M aster made no .

concession and we can make none

, A true .

Christian will always prefer to be killed by a madman ,

rath er th an t o d e p rive him of his liberty Secondly .

,

[ I am dissatisfied ] that M r Ballou does not decide

.

more categoric al ly the question of pr oper ty fo r a true ,

Christian not only cannot cl a i m a n y rights o f property ,

but the term propert y cannot h ave any significance

for him All that he uses a Christian only uses till
. ,

somebody takes it from him He cannot defend his .

property so he cannot have any Thirdly I think

, .
,

that for a true Christian the term government

cannot have any significance and re al ity Government .

is for a Christian only regulated violence Govern

, , .

ments St ates nations property Chur ches all these

, , , , ,

for a true Christian are only words without meaning

he can understand the meaning other p eople attach
to those words but for him th e y have none
, No .

compromise ! The Christian principle must be

pursued t o its full extent to enable it to supp ort ,
’
practical life .

Ballou replied : You say I cannot agree with ,

the concession for employing violence against

“
drunkards and insane people You say The .
,
”
M aster made no concession and we must make none , .

But did he ever p rohibit the resistance of evil by

uninj urious and b en e fi cen t forces of any kind physical ,

or moral ? Never ! And to construe his precept

R esist not evil as meaning absolute p assivity to
,

all manner of e v il because he m ade no specific quali

 NON RES IS T ANCE -
1 95

fica t i o n s
is to ignore the context and make him the
,

author o f self evident absurdity The context cle ar ly

-
.

S hows what kind of resistance o f evil had been

sanctioned by law and custom and what he meant t o ,

abrogate
You say True Christians will al ways prefer t o
,

be killed by a madman rather than t o deprive him of

his liberty And by p a rity o f reason
. I supp ose
you must say a true Christian if watching wi th a
, ,

delirious sick man would prefer to see him kill his ,

wife children an d best friends rather than restrain

, , ,

or help restrain him by uninj urious physical force , ,

of his insane liberty Wh at p recept of Christ makes .

insa ne liberty thus sacred ? Or what dictate of

enlightened reason humanity or fraternal love , ,

demands such conduct towards the insane ?

You say A true Christian n o t only cannot claim
,

any rights of property but the term property cannot ,

have any significance for him ; al l that he uses a ,

Christian on l y uses until somebody takes it from him .

But food raiment and shelter are necessaries o f

, ,

mort al existence to Christians as human beings .

Jesus said S eek ye first the kingdom of G o d a n d

,

His righteousness and all these things shall be added

,

unto you Wh en they have been added t o true

.

Christians according to the will of the Father whose ,

ar e they Ar e they not the rightful property o f those

who p ossess them to whom God has added them—

as truly theirs as their bodil y faculties for the j ust ,

use o f which they are mor al ly resp onsible and which ,

no human beings have any right to deprive them o f by

fraud or force
Yet you say A true Christian cannot claim any
,

rights o f property All that he uses a Christian

.
,

only uses till somebody takes it from him But h a s .

1 96 LE O T OLS T OY
anybod y a right t o take it from him at w i ll Is there
n o such thing as theft robbery extortion or crime
, , ,

against property against which a true Chr istian may

,

protest ? On the other hand is there no such thing

as a true Christian having any property to give away in
’
al ms o r charity according to Christ s inj unctions ? I
,

do not so understand Christ or the dictates o f reason

o r the law of love .

You say Government is for a Christian only

, , ,

regulated violence Government States nations , , ,

property Churches al l these fo r a true Christian are

,
—
, ,

only wor ds without meaning etc But these are , .

re al ities we cannot ignore th em as nonentities .

They are outgrowths from nature however crude and ,

defective M an is a social being by natur al co n st i t u

.

tion He is not and never can be a solitary inde

.
,

pendent individual being He must and will be

, .
,

inevitably more o r less a Socialist Families Govern .

,

ments States nations Churches and communities

, , , ,
'

always have existed and always will N o Gover n .

-

m en t i sm non o r g an i zat i o n i sm Sheer individu al ism

,
-
, ,

is no part o f true Christianity It is imp ossible .

,

unnatur al a chaos W e should aim with o u r M aster

—
.
, ,

to transform by the moral force of divine fundamental ,

principles uncompromisingly lived out all barbaric , ,

semi barb aric and unchristian social organiz ations

-

into his ideal o n e the true Church wherein the greatest

,

are least and al l in unity of spir i t with him as he is ,

with the Univers al Father These are my highest

. .

convictions o f truth and righteousness .

On 2 6t h M arch 1 890 Tolstoy replied to Ballou ,

D E AR F R I E N D A N D B RO T H E R I will n o t argue with —

your obj ections It would lead to nothing O n ly

. .

one point that I did not put clearly enough in my last

,

letter I might e xplain to avoid misunderstandings

, .
1 98 LEO T OLS T OY
the law t o hold him shows at once that the man who
,

holds is a wrong doer and that the man who is held is

-
,

a victim o f anti Christian violence It has only t w o

-
.

disadvantages first that it throws all human a ffairs

,

into confusion and secondly that it is wrong

, , .

The sound doctrine o f N o n Resistance I tak e t o be -

this and I as k my readers t o weigh i t as a matter o f

—

fir st rate importance
-

’
The o l d law o f an eye fo r an eye and the desire t o ,
’
give a man two b lack eyes fo r b ein g blind is n o t merely ,

wrong but also stupid By desiring t o inj ure o thers

, .

we ine vitably inj ure ourselves W e S hould obl i terate .

from o u r minds a l l feelin g o f rev enge and should not ,

Wish t o inj u re any o n e n o t even a homicidal maniac

, .

I f we can cure hi m and mak e a good citizen o f hi m

, ,

so much the better but there ma y b e cases in which

it is b est re gretfull y t o kill him no t b ecause he ,
’
deserves it nor because we wish to hurt him b ut fo r
, ,

ins t anc e t o prevent his steerin g a ship o n t o the ro ck s

,

and causing all the passengers and crew t o perish as

well as hi mself Our b usiness is as much as we can
.
, ,

t o promote harmony g oodwill and good order among

,

all men In doing that we need all o ur f acul t ies

.
, ,

moral mental and physical and there is no ex t ernal

,

rule o f conduct that can safely be appl ied t o rel ie v e

us o f the responsibility o f using o u r j udgment e v en —

in complex and di ffi cult cases about wh ich we cannot

be sure that o u r j udgment is right .

This principle is clear and a l w ay s applicable and the

’
,

more fully and immediately it is applied the better .

The true contrast is not between inj uring o u r f ellows

o r renouncing the use o f physical force it is between
wishing to inj ure and wishing to aid .

’
Tolstoy s test applies to the action this o ther t est
a pplies to the motive .
 NON -
R ESISTANCE 1 99

I deal f urther with thi s sub j ect in the next chapter ,

and devote so much space to it because the pub

l i sh ed replies t o T olstoy on t hi s point have for the ,

most part been very inadequate and inefficient and

, ,

the matter is t o o important t o be left in con f usion .

’
I believe that Tolstoy s theory o f N o n R esistance -

obscured the reco gn i tion of his greatness as a thi nker .

It was excusable and perhaps inevitable that a st r en u

, ,

o u s man opposing great evi ls should sometimes lose

, ,

his balance and wr i te thi ngs T o m D ick and Harry

,

can see to be wr ong but though Tolstoy made such

b lunders we sho ul d not o n that account let o ur atten
tion be t o o long diverted from the many profound
things he said at other times with a dm irable force
and lucidity .

W e sho ul d use o ur prophets as we use o ur mines ,

seeking and valuing the veins o f rich o r e and wasting ,

as l i ttle time as possible o n t h e sand and earth we

encounter in o ur search But to do thi s we must learn
.

to di scr i m i n a te and to separate the gold from the sand

,

a tas k whi ch cannot always b e quickly or e asily

accomplished .
 C HA P T E R X II I

A CRI T ICIS M
’
N reading To ls t oy s didactic work s o n e is
impressed b y the impor t ance o f the topics he
[

t reats o f the frank ness o f his statements the

, ,

b oldness o f hi s conclusions and his marvel lous power

,

o f clear and popular exposition Practical ex p er i

.

ence howe v er ult imately o b liges us t o admit that there

are some aspects o f his teaching which it is a duty t o
challen g e
.

It is j us t these par t s o n which T olstoyans o ft en

insist most strenuously : fo r instance on the state ,
’
ment that the use o f physical force t o restrain one s
fell ow man is always wrong and that the possession
-

o f private property is immoral .

Experience inclines o n e t o suspect tha t there is a

fl aw somewhere in thes e opinions and in real li f e I
,

have known people who abandoned their proper t y

without ab andoning their selfishness and others who ,

retained control o f property chiefly t o administ er it as

a trust for the good o f others .

Tolstoy challenges the right o f Go v ernments to kill

men o r t o depri v e them o f li b erty and asks : H o w
,

can people by call ing themselves a Government

, ,

mak e actions moral which would admittedl y b e i m

moral i f done n o t by a Government but b y other
people He says the Gospels condemn priva t e p r o
2 00
202 LEO T OLSTO Y
we are told said so a nd so and b y these words meant
,
- -

s o and so ; the qu stion is therefore s ettled l n advance

e
- -

and settled b eyon d appeal .

I am however n o t wi lling t o ab andon the i nvestiga

tion o f the subj ect at the very outset But instead o f .

plunging into di s p utes as to the authority o f the Gospels ,

o r the meaning o f certain words o r even as to the real ,

’
drift and tendency o f Christ s whole teaching and the
emphasis t o be laid o n this o r that part o f it (di sputes
nee d ing many volumes and not likely to terminate in
o u r lifetime ) I prefer t o deal directly with the su b j ect
,

in hand .

’
I admit that Tolstoy s views o n Government and
property are more o r less distinctly discernible in the
Gospels (though n o t there pushed to the front o r ,

weighted with such corollaries as he deduces ) But I .

plead that we must Still be al lowed to believe what

seems to us reasonable and to disbelieve what seems
,

to us unreasonable .

If a cabbage from a certain seed under certain ,

’
conditions after a certain number of days growth
, ,

ought to be ten but is actu al ly only eight inches high ,

still it is better to let it continue to grow from its o w n

roots than to cut it o ff perch it on a stick and make it
, ,

at once ten inches high Fo r when you have severed

.

it from its o w n roots it never can grow any more .

Simil arly it is better that each man should use his own
reason and conscience o n such problems as we are
consider i ng rather than accept a conclusion on grounds
,

o f authority not because his mind is better than any

’
one else s but because it is his own There is nothing
,
.

’
presump tuous m b r eathing with one S own lungs even ,
’
though they b e not as p owerful as other p eople 5 ; nor
’
is it presumptuo u s to think with one s o w n head fo r ,

it is the only head one can think with .

 A CRI T ICIS M 203

Venturing then undeterred by authority to face this

, ,

problem I will try to put my case so cle ar ly that if I

,

err some one may correct me and bring us nearer t o

the true solution .

In a letter Tolstoy wrote to the D oukhobors he

gave an admirably concise and p recise summary o f his
anti property and an ti force op inions and urged their
- -
,
’
adoption The D ou k h o b o r s s story must be deferred to
.

a later chapter but I wil l use their case to illustrate my

,

argument .

In that letter Tolstoy gave an excellent m ax im o f

,

economic mor al ity namely that each man should

, ,

work as much as p ossible and content himself with

,
’
as little as p ossible In a world in which want exists
.
,

the more this saying is considered the better But why .

should he assume that the institution of private pro

p erty is i mmor al and that, co m munal property (which
he was c ommending ) is moral ? Wh ence could the
D oukhobors obtain a moral right t o withhold their
land from other settlers who would like to tak e it ?
If private property represents the selfishness o f an
individual sur ely commun al property must represent
,
’
the selfishness of a community And (to use Tolstoy s .

own words ) the on ly p ossibility o f defend i ng what they

consider theirs is by violence that is (in case o f need )
, ,
'

’
by a strug gle a fight o r even by m urder
, , The Chris .

tian teach i ng cannot be taken p ieceme al it is all o r

’
nothing .

’
It foll ows from Tolstoy s axioms that if a Leader , ,
’
entrusted with the D o u k h o b or s s earnin gs were to go to ,

town to pay o ff their debts and buy goods for the

coming season and if he were there met by some one
,

who asked for the money in order to gamble with it ,

it would be his duty to hand it over for Christ said

‘
give to him that asketh o f thee and according ,
204 LEO T OLS T O Y
t o T olsto y the Christian teaching cannot b e taken
,
’
piece meal ! M oreover
‘
if o ur property is n o t taken
,

from us this occurs o n l y because pe 0 p 1e think that w e

, ,

like others shall defend it Therefore to acknowledge

, .

’
property is to acknowledge violenc e and murder .

It follows even more definitely from the Tolsto yan

law that if in such a case as I have imagined some o n e
snatched the D oukhobor money from the Leader the ,

latter Should neither snatch it back again nor set the

p olice to catch the thief .

Tolsto y who shrank from no logical consequence o f

,

his axioms would no doubt have granted that co m

,

m u n al property (if a step better than private property )

had n o rights and that the D oukhobors ought t o be
,

per f ectly ready t o abandon their land to any se t tlers

who like to claim it .

But here at last o n e has to challenge the very

, ,

axioms from which Tolstoy st ar ts What evidence is .

’
there that the use o f physical force to restrain one s
fellow man is wrong when n o t used mal iciously or
-

wantonly H ow does Tolstoy know that the motive

for the p ossession of property is always selfish I am
ready t o grant that the use o f physic al force is so oft en
prompted by mal ice and the use of property is so oft en
,

selfish that a strong presumption has arisen in many

,

minds to the e ffect that m al ice and selfishness ar e the

,

sole ground for these thin gs But axioms must n o t .

be accepted without strict examination for the root

o f much perplexity lies in such acceptanc e

Tolstoy was s o bent o n checking the malevolent and

harmful use of force and the selfish use o f p roperty ,

that he condemned the whole institution o f human

laws and Governments forgetting the debt o f gratitude
,

humanity owes to the high minded and public sp irited - -

men : the Pyms H a m p d e n s Lincolns and W ilsons

, , ,
206 LEO T O LS T O Y
the few hundred pounds he p ossessed in buying land
fo r no property people t o live o n Quarrels .
,

bitterness and waste o f time and energy were the

immediate result simply because o f the i n d efin i t en es s
,

o f the arrangement Little by little the colonists

.

( who had hoped to set an example to mankind ) had t o

learn what mankind has to relearn as often as the
—

truth is forgotten the need of d e fin i t en e ss in human

—

arrangements if our e fforts are to result in benefits

either fo r ourselves or for others A ultimately settled .

down in the practical p ossession o f a p iece o f land he

cultivated ; but he still held to his no property
ideas He happened to be fond of fl owers and took
.

pride in a flo w er bed b e planted and tended Arguing

-
.

with B (a fellow colonist ) A maintained that the

-
,

flo w er bed was not his own property

-
Then any o ne .

’
may claim it w h o likes ? said B Yes replied A .
, .

’
W ell then I claim it and will walk on it remarked
, , , ,

B and proceeded to trample down the flowers

, B of .
,

course acted badly but A it seems t o me was also

, , , ,

to blame for lack of d e fin i t e n ess It comes ultimately .

to this that two m en cannot both eat the same piece o f

,

bread and there is no moral gain in pretending yo u

,

do not claim the bread you eat .

Tolstoy in his eagerness to cure the terrible evils

,

that result from selfishness became reckless about ,

conserving what is good in the present order o f societ y .

He did not value those results o f past e fforts expended

in the right direction which have become sacred to us
,

because they are so human and p athetic In this .

r e s e ct h e was like the nurse who p oured out the baby

'

p
when emptying its bath .

To defend itself against the disintegrating forces o f

which Tolstoyism is a striking example human society ,

must learn t o recognize and respect what is noble ,

 A CRI T ICIS M 207

he al thy and heroic in itself and must cea se t o reg ard

,

its baser elements as the cement that holds it together .

If it is a mor al duty to p romote concord among men ,

it is certainly a mor al duty to make definite arrange

ments about p roperty It is true that no external
.

arrangements the ingenuity o f man can devise wil l

secure peace and h ar mony among obstinate wilful ,

and inconsiderate pe 0 p 1e But definite arrangements

.

t en d to make it easier for any set o f men to avoid

friction and easier for them to co op erate harmoniously
,
-

together That human ar rangements are imperfect

.

is not a reason for rej ecting them but rather for ,

continually improving them .

The advantage whether of individualism or of

,

communism can never be a question o f all or

,
’
nothing but must always be a question of more
,

or less R easonable men must devise and insist o n

.

definite arrangements and anarchism o n l y looks

,

plausible when it comes as a reaction against desp otism .

Tolstoy always meant t o be entirely honest but so ,

strong was hi s bias that as George Moore once said

, ,
’
he sacrifices truth to theory He values morality
.
,

but sacrifices morality for the sake o f his theory .

Stead once asked Tolstoy whether he would use force

t o pre v ent a d r un k en m an k icking a child t o death .

T olstoy after re fl ection wrote a reply saying that n o t

, ,

e ven in such a case S hould e vi l be resisted b y f orce .

’
But thi s decision outrages one s conscience George .

M oore puts the case excellently as follows : If yo u

were to say t o Tolstoy , I am willing t o live in obedi
ence to a moral standard but whi ch moral standard ,

fo r there are so many he would answer There is

,

but o n e and that o n e you will find in the Gospels

, .

But h o w d o I know that the Gospe ls are true ?

’
Yo u y o u rsel f are forced to mak e a selection o f Christ s
 08 LEO T O LS T OY
’
teachin gs . My int erpreta t ion o f Chris t s t eachi n g
is a true o n e fo r it is in ag reement with the v oice
,
”
o f conscien c e which o u hear spea k ing w ithin
y yo u
.

’
But n o man s conscience t ells hi m that he sho u ld
n o t use force t o pre v ent a drun k ard from ki c kin g a

child t o death
T ols t oy condemns al l ci vil and criminal courts o f
j ustice ; and their defects in En gland as wel l as in
,

Russia are ob vious enough t o ma k e the c ondemnation

,

plausib le But again experience S hows wherein the

.

g reat v alue o f law lies It may

. often fail t o render
j ustice b ut at least it obliges men t o face the ligh t
,

o f publicity and by the decision o f an impar t ial third

,

party it settles many a dispute which would other

wi se continue indefinitely Neither S ide can refuse
.

t o have its case examined ; and even i f t he decision

arri ved a t b e sometimes unj ust i t is still a decision
, .

In real i ty an enormous numb er o f cases are settled

e v ery day (without going to law at all) b y simply
ascertaining what the law is M any agreements are .

concluded voluntarily b ecause the more cantankerous

,

o f the di sputants is aware that b y refusing a f air

arrang ement he canno t pre v ent some impartial se t tle

ment from b eing arrived at In a word the healthy
.
,

root which enables j uridical institutions t o sur vi v e in

spite o f their many defects is the fact that without
,

them quarrels would b e more frequent and harmony

more di fficult t o attain than is n o w the case .

Some o n e has said o f Sir Henry M aine that he ne ver

sacrificed the com p l exi ty o f organic evolution t o unity
o f conception and clearness o f exposition .Whate v er
his failings he undoubte dl y possesses the merits o f
,

an Englishman in his search fo r t h e m ean i n g of l i fe a s

’ ’
i t r ea l l y i s
. M uch o f Tolstoy s work is o n the contrary
marked by an apparent obliviousness o f the complexity
21 0 LEO T O LS T OY
’
Bu t h ow could it happen that a man o f T olstoy s
mental power ever made so o b vious an error as t o
suppose fo r example that all use o f physical force t o
, ,
’
check one s fellow man is immoral
-

The ques t ion is easily answered if o n ly we rememb er

h o w stron g is the force o f reaction The various .

dissenting b odies in R ussia (Stundists Baptists , ,

M olo k ans and o thers ) were continually being per

s ecu t ed ,as their predecessors had b een persecuted
durin g centuries The Orthodo x Russian Church had
.

the strong arm o f the secular power b ehind it and ,

me t all attac k s b y using physi c al f orce S o the .

persecuted D issenters naturally i den t ifi ed physical

force with moral iniquity : H ere is proo f tha t we
are in the right and yo u are in the wrong : we wish
only t o use the arm o f the spirit yo u will n o t le t us
speak b ut oppose us with the arm o f fl esh
, A false
’
classification was set up in men s minds which i d en t i fies
force w i th evi l T o T olstoy w h o sympathized warmly
.
,

with the oppressed D issenters and w h o was horrified

by the wars (alternating with armed pea ce ) from which
the world suffers it was natural enough t o adop t this
,

classifica t ion .

And although T olstoy was o f course perfectly sincere

in holdin g his n o n resistant principles it is also true
-
,

that no line he could have adopted would ha v e more

em b arrassed the Go v ernment he was opposin g o r ,

have enab led him to stri k e at it more e ffectively and

more safely One cannot e x pect a man t o k eep his
.

j udgment exactly b alanced while he is fiercely figh t

ing a great e v il n o r should o n e b e hard o n him if
,

he predi cates uni v ersal applicability t o a plausi b le

generali zation which in his o w n experience he has found
extremely useful It is we w h o live in other circum
. ,

stances and ha v e o ther e x perien c es o n whom the du ty

,
 A CRI T I CIS M 21 1

f all s o f detecting and correcting an error whi ch it

woul d b e inexcusab le fo r us t o make though fo r him ,

it was almost inevitable .

The persecuting Church and autocratic Govern

ment leaning o n o n e another for support could n o t
, ,

meet Tolstoy in argum ent They would have been

.

stabbed to the heart again and ag ai n like unwieldy

and naked giants before they found the o n e weak
,

spo t in the armour o f the kn i ght who attacked them .

And hi s indictment o f them was so framed that had

they used brute force against hi m they would to all ,

appearance by so doing j ust have proved the truth

,

o f hi s contention . His arrest or banishm ent woul d

have seemed to confirm the very point o n which his
teaching really stood most in need o f support .

On the p ro perty question again what could be

, ,

more natural fo r a strenuous man revolting against —

the exploitation o f the poor by the ri ch than to —

identify property with selfish ness and to dec lare ,

that the remedy lies in abandonin g it altogether

Francis o f Assisi flung away hi s last garment and
went o ut nak ed into the world T olstoy shared that
.

spiri t and in all grades o f society and in all nations

many men have been attracted by the idea That .

it is not adopted t o day by numbers w h o are in revolt

-

against existing evils is due to the fact that whenever

,

it is tried evil results fo l low and eventually produce a

,

reaction .

In the M iddle Ages one hundred and fifty ye ar s

p assed before the natur al e ffects of the Franciscan
movement (which adopted the no property
princip le ) were fully V isible and before W yclif was
,

moved to rebuke the crowd o f sturdy beggars

preying o n men more industrious than themselves ,

and t o declare with pardonable ex ag geration that

, ,
21 2 LEO T OLS T O Y
the man who gives al ms to a b egging friar is i pso ,
‘

’
fa ct o excommunicate Things move more rapidly
.

in our day of printing presses and railways and the

-

same cycle of actions fir st the rej ection of p roperty

—
,

prompted by religious enthusiasm ; then the sancti

m o n i o u s exploitation of others who do use property
than a reaction against the hyp ocrisy the movement
engendered and u ltimately a moral resolve to
, , ,

oppose the S pread of what was becoming a public

nuisance was witnessed on a s mall scale in t h e Tolstoy
—

movement in England and elsewhere in the decade

, ,

1 897-
1 0
9 7 .

On the question of Government it is al most too much

to expect a R ussian t o S peak with moderation One .

is not surprised that so good a man as Krop otkin

S hould in theory be an a narchist regarding assassina ,

tion with sombre acquiescence ; nor that Tolstoy

should be a non resistant anarchist denying the
-

need of any Government at all Here again it is

.
, ,

remarkable how strong a case he manages t o make

out what inj ustice Governments tolerate how much
they care for themselves and how little they care for
the common p e 0 p 1e ; how greatly their p atriotism
consists in j ealousy of other nations and h o w astonish
i n g l y large a prop ortion o f their revenue is devoted
to the destruction of life and property in war .

But once again the real answer to his thes i s lies in

, ,

experience Granting that Government is at best but

.

an expedient it is still true that we should be worse o ff

,

without any Government W e are so accustomed t o.

the advantages of having a stable Government that

we only half realize how great those advantages are .

It is true that when nations come into conflict the y

p our out their tre asure like water and let it run t o ,

waste But it is a f al lac y to supp ose that in the

.
 14 LEO TOLS T O Y
we have no possibility of t est i n g i t s va l i di ty by
exper i en ce .

W e could not do without our prophets for they ,

,

S how us many things that without them we s hould

not see ; but we must remember that they t o o ar e , ,

f al lible There is as Jane Addams says

.
, A comm o n
sense in the mass of men which cannot be neg lected ,

with impunity j ust as there is sure to be an e ccen

,

t r i ci t y in the di ffering and reforming individual ,

’
which it is p erhap s well t o challenge .

By mentioning Lincoln and the Civil W ar I have , ,

however come t o the stronghold o i the Tolstoyan

,
-

p osition Are we to j ustify war ? If the wholes al e

.

and p remeditated slaughter of men is right can any ,

thing be wrong ? Have we not an increasing testi

mony from Isaiah down to W yclif the Quakers and
, , ,

Tolstoy against it ? Is not militarism (with its

,

accompaniments of despotism and conscription) the

grea t evil of our times which all good men S hould
,

unite to resist to the uttermost and Should exp ose as ,

a crime against humanity

The war Lincoln directed was as excusable as any
recorded in modern history But looked at in the .

most material manner one finds that it cost about

,

to release slaves whose market value

was some and it must not be forgotten
that the lives o f half a million men were thrown into
the b arg ain that the reform effected was incomplete
, ,

and that a multitude of other ills resulted from the

struggle While however I see that the best of wars
.
, ,
’
are terrible evils I cannot find any p oint in Lincoln s
,

career at which I feel that he should have refused t o

continue the work he had in hand There is a cu rious .

so p histry t o the use o f which men with a gift for

,

S implific a t i on are o ften unco n scio u sly prone The y .

 A CRI T ICIS M 21 5

is olate a problem ; and the sophistry lies in the r e

sul t an t over si m p l i fi ca t i o n
-
The question . Is war ,

r ight or w rong ? evades the fact that the problems

of re al life are not simple but complex The choice is
, .

seldom between what is right and what is wrong it

is usually between a number of possible roads a —

choice of evils or of courses made up of good and evil

,

i n tertwi ned W ould it for instance have been better

.
, ,

for America to acquiesce in the disruption of the

Union W ould it have been better to leave
slaves i n captivity whom Lincoln was afterw ar ds
,

able to release ? W ould it have been better fo r him

to refuse the diffi cul t and dangerous duty of steering
the ship of State when he al one commanded the con
,

fi d en ce of his fellows su fli ci en t l y to save the countr y

from still greater disasters
M y contention is that one has to weigh t h e speci a l
ci r cu m st a n ces of ea ch ca se and cannot s afely guide
,
’
one s conduct by h ard an d fast rules which know- -

nothing of the ci r cu m st an ces or ch a r a ct er of t h e peopl e

co n cer n ed .
’
Surely the duty of man is not to do what he can t ,

but to do the bes t he can ; and I believe that by ,

adopting abstract rules never to do this o r that ne v er ,

to u se force or money o r supp ort a Gov ernment or

, , ,

go to war and by encumber i ng our consciences with

,

line up on line and precept up on precept we become ,

less likely to behave reasonably and rightly than if ]

we attended more to those n ext st ep s the wisdom of ,

which can be teste d in daily life To speak as Tolstoy .

,

sometimes does of ceas i ng to do evil before we beg in

,

to do good is as though you asked a lecturer before

,

delivering his discourse to cease to vitiate the air by

breathing ; o r as if we insisted that a ch i ld Should
cease t o make mistakes before it continued to learn
21 6 LEO T OLS T O Y
arithmetic ; so p rofoundly true is it that Social
persp ective and sanity o f j udgment come only from
contact with social exp erience and that such contact
,

is the surest corrective of opinions concerning the

’
social order and concerning efforts for its improvement .

’
The j ustification fo r using force to one s neighbour
l ies in the fact that there are circumstances under
’
which (j udging the matter with one s faculties at
their best ) o n e would oneself wish to be restrained by
force All that Tolstoy says holds good as against
. .

malevolent and vindictive force but it breaks down

’
as soon as we come t o consider cases in whi ch a man s
motive fo r using force (or fo r using the law o r going ,

t o war ) is a well considered belief that it is o n the

-

whole the best course to pursue in the ultimate interest

,

o f the various people concerned .

The j ustification fo r the poss es sion and use o f

’
property li es in the fact that o n e can ser v e one s
fellows bet t er under settled than under unsettled
conditions P roperty gives no moral right to a selfish
.

or wasteful expenditure o f the fruits o f toil ; b ut

property is t o o responsible a trust to be flung aside .

W hether it be kept or lent o r gi ven away it involves ,

responsibilities which reach far beyond the personal

relation o f its owner towards the first man who begs
for it o r snatches at it though that is the only side
,

o f the case Tolstoy usually considers .

A firm o f forgers o f bank notes o r o f bills o f exchange

-

should o n the Tolstoyan theory neither be prosecuted

, , ,

nor arrested nor have their implements seized He

, .

regards t h e p r o b l em as limited to the forger and the

'

’
prosecutor and as being decided by the prosecutor s
,

willingness to forgive the man who asks to be let o ff .

In reality such matters re l ate to the whole co m

’
munity ; and if men followed T o l stoy s advice and
21 8 LEO T OLS T O Y

(4) Fo r R ussia
in particular where t he existing ,
1
form o f autocracy seems t o be o n its last legs i t is ,

nothi ng less than a national calamity that her great

literary prophet should exhort people to neglect and
despise the aid that law government and definite ,

property relations afford t o public well being Tha t -

.

Russia may pass through the crisis that is sooner o r

later coming upon her without having t o encounter ,

a reign o f terror and a subsequent military di c t ator

ship it is a l l important that reverence fo r law and
, ,

the habit o f respecting social as well as individual

morality should be carefully cultivated R espect
, .

fo r social morality is far t oo weak everywhere and ,

is weaker in Russia than elsewhere That participa .

tion in local o r other Governmental affairs in the ,

administration o f j ustice o r in the management o f ,

private property should be subj ected t o moral indict

,

ment is greatly to be regretted however sincere the ,

motives prompting the indictment may be As .

Jane Addams says : An exagg erated p er son a l

moral ity is o ften mistaken for a soci a l morality and ,

until it attempts to minister to a social situation its

’
total inadequacy is not disco vered T o attempt to .

attain a social morality without being willing t o learn

the lessons o f democratic experience (which furnish
the only possible corrective and guide) ends in an ,

exaggerated indi vidual morality but not in a social

morality at all A man who t akes the better
.

ment o f humanity for his aim and end must also ,

tak e the daily experiences o f humanity for the constant

correction o f his process
It would be difficult to understand how it was that
1
I pro d c t h f ll w i g p g p h x c t l y I w t i t ( in
re u e e o o n ara ra e a as ro e

A P ul i
ec P pl ) i
ar eo
9 4 eS b q t v t h v
n 1 0 m wh t
. u se u en e en s a e so e a

t i ki g ly
s r n fi m d it
co n r e .
 A C R IT I CIS M 21 9

to the end o f hi s days in spite o f all experi ence and

,

all argum ents Tolstoy could never be prevailed upo n

,

t o reconsider hi s statement o f the N o n R esistant -

principle had he not himself supplied a k ey to the

,

puzzle in the followin g words

,

I know that most men n o t o n l y those considered

—

clever but even those who are very clever and capable
,

of understandi ng most di ffi cul t scientific mathe ,

m a t i ca l ,or philosophic problems can very seldom —

discern even the simplest and most ob vious truth if

i t be such as to oblige them to a dm it the falsity o f
conclusions they have formed perhaps with much
di fli cul t y : conclusions o f whi ch they are proud ,

which they have taught t o others and on whi ch they ,

have built their li v es [ Wh a t i s Ar t 9]

’
God needs our lim itations Tolstoy was fond o f,

sayin g ; and e ven the greatest o f men have their

limitations T olstoy was gifted with an unrivalled
.

faculty for stating a case impressively ; it enabled

him to render ser vice t o manki nd the value o f whi ch
is not yet ful ly recognized and I should greatly regret
,

if by any w ords o f mi ne I appeared to underrate hi s

worth but he has sometimes treated as S imple what
is really very complex and has included in o n e whole
,

sale condemnation customs institutions and occupa

, ,

tions the abolition of whi ch wo u ld leave us worse

,

o ff than we now are The appreciation o f the fact

.

that prope rty carries with it duties rather than rights ,

and that its possession furnishes no e xcuse for luxury ,

o r fo r n o t serving our fellows ; preserves what is vital

’
in Tolstoy s social and economic tractates and paves ,

the way for those voluntary o r legi slatc readj ust

ments in so ciety whi ch are becomi n g every day more
and more urgently necessary .

T olstoy was no faultless an d infallible prophet ,

220 LEO T OLS T O Y
whose works should be swallowed as bibliolaters
swallow the Bible but he was a man o f extraordinary
cap acity sincerity and s elf sa cr i fice w h o for more than
,
-
,

thirty years strove to make absolutely plain to all ,

the solutions o f the most vit al problems o f existence .

To admit that he did not al ways succeed i n reaching

the fin al solution of the problems he dealt with is merely ,

to admit that he was human .

W hen his achievements are finally summed up in ,

the foreground will stand the fact that he first among ,

R ussians framed a mor al indictment of Church and

,

State of Synod and Autocracy which compelling

, ,
’
men s attention r e echoed throughout the world and
,
-

so undermined the mor al bases o f the Tsardom that it

fell with a crash within a single generation .

W ith great orig inality p ower and lucidit y he

,

succeeded in giving in p opular form sound answers

, ,

t o a number of great questions concerning art and

religion . But not least among his many claims t o
the gratitude of humanity will stand the service he
rendered by boldly grappling with p roblems others
feared to tackle and even he failed to overcome '

p roblems so complex that only one side of them can

be dealt with at a time He called in question the
.

very foundations on which our social edifice is built ,

and he did this so clearly and forcibly that the matter

cannot be left where it is W e cannot go o n patching
.

the superstructure if the whole building is on the point

o f crashing to the ground ! I have tried to suggest
reasons for b elieving that however urgentl y the
,

building may need repair the foundations are as firm

,

to day as when they were fir st laid and will be found

-
,

t o rest not on the subsoil of selfishness but on t h e

, ,

firm ground of sound princip le .

W hen the clamour of p artisans and of detr actors

 C HA P TE R X I V

TH E SE x QUESTION
’
A R LY in 1 889 there were signs that Tolstoy s
literary fast was over and that he was ab out
to return to the forms of Art he had so long
abj ured W riting to Gay he said
.
, I have been
staying fo r three weeks with Urusov There i n .
,

solitude I g o t a little writing done Here I have again

, .

dried up I have among other things begun an article

.

o n Art but cannot finish it

, But it is not that which
.
,

I must write And I m u st write There is something I

. .

see that no one else sees So at least it appears t o

.

me And one must before one dies manage to make

.

’
others see it .

The work in question was T h e K r eu t zer S on a t a a ,

story destined to bring up on his head much ridicul e

and abuse but a work provin g that his h an d h a d n o t
,
‘

lost its cunning and causing those who recogn i zed

,

a masterly work when they saw it to say his tra in

’
has at last come o u t of its tunnel .

The views expressed in T h e K r eut zer S o n a t a did not

meet with much approval but the interest it aroused
,

was extreme .

It is a story told in a railway carriage P o z d n i sh e v .

,

who had k i lled his wife but whom a j ury had found
,

irresp onsible for his actions tells h o w he came to do it

,

and maintains that the words of Christ Every o n e ,

 TH E SEX Q UES T ION 2 23

that looketh o n a woman to lust after her hath co m

’
m i t t e d adultery with her already in his he ar t apply t o ,
’
all women especi al ly to one s own wife and that
— —

absolute purit y in thought and act is the o n l y right

’
Tolstoy s crafts m anship is unfail ing By selecting .

P o z d n i sh ev who had gone through so much and w as

—

on the verge of insanity t o express his feeling he is

—
,

able t o utter an extreme view with absolute fidelity t o

life There is something al most uncanny in the way
.

the thinker in Tolstoy with a bias fo r exaggeration

, ,

exploits his a l ter ego the artist with a perfect sense o f

,

prop ortion and balance .

P o zd n i sh ev says W oman has so acquir ed the

art of evok i ng sensu al ity that a man cannot address
,

her quietly Even in former days I al ways felt u m

.

comfortable and frightened when I saw a woman

arrayed in a b al l dress ; but now it simply t er r i fie s
-

me and I want to c al l a p olic eman and demand p r o

,
’
t e ct i o n against the dange r and have it removed !
,

H e is surprised that we tolerate those adornments

of her person plain l y evoking sensu al ity which ar e
, ,

permitted to woman in o ur society It is like setting .

all sorts of traps in the roads and public p aths it is

even worse Wh y are games o f chance forbidden while ,

women in attire e v oking sensuality are not forbidden

They ar e a thousand times more dangerous
M an he continues is to blame for regarding woman as
, ,

an obj ect with which to gratify his lust To serve that .

purp ose she is educated and taught to despise old

,

maids and to look down on those who have chosen the

p ath o f purit y To that end her accomplishments ar e
.

directed and for that she is dressed up and exhibited

,

It is the same in the street of brothels and at the

Co urt b al ls !
2 24 LEO T O LS T O Y
P o z d n i sh e v
is also horrified by the increasing use o f
preventatives She (his wife ) was unwell and the ,

doctors forbade her to have children and taught her ,

how t o prevent them To me that was detestable . .

I struggled against it but she with frivolous obstinacy

, , ,

insisted on having her way and I submitted The , .

last j ustification of o u r swinish life children was — —

removed and life became still nastier

,

Tolstoy explains that in the natural course o f things

’
the sex appetite exhausts itself
—
on the mother s
side owing to the strain of child bearing and nursing -

’
and family cares and on the father s S ide owing to the
,

burden of supporting the family Where p r ev en t a .

f ives are used the normal burdens of matrimony are

,

evaded the appetites are kept alive and sooner o r

, ,

later either the husband or wife is attracted by some

o n e else and evil results follow .

He does n o t make us feel that he has fairly weighed

the evils that result from causing a woman to bear
unwanted children o r from overtaxing h er strength
, .

In actual life the choice generally is not between using

preventatives o r p ractising continence but between ,

preventatives and an excessive birth rate Even -

.

where as in a monastery men set themselves to

, ,

practise continence it often happens that their minds

,

are more obsessed by sex desire than they woul d be -

were they married and their usefulness in the world

,

su ffers accordingly .

The story taken as an exceptionally telling instance

,

of the evil o f allowing oneself to be dominated by

lustful desires is true to life and despite its outsp oken
, ,

ness is unobj ectionable But it naturally raised dis.

cu ss i o n as t o what Tolstoy meant .

Some p assages in the story (referring to the evils of

j ealousy) caused people to ask whether he did not
2 26 LEO TOLS T O Y
d uci n g fresh children it would be much S impler to
,

save and rear thos e mill i ons o f children who are now
perishing around us fo r lack o f food fo r their bodies ,

not to mention food for their souls .

Only if he were sure that all e xisting children

were pro vided for could a Christian enter upon
,

marriage without b eing conscious o f a moral fall .

In the Gospels it is said clearly and so that there

,

is no possib ility o f misinterpretation : First that a ,

married man should not divorce his wi fe to take

another but should live with her whom he has once
,

taken Secondly that it is wrong (and it is said o f

.
,

men g eneral l y married o r unmarried) t o look o n a

,

woman as an obj ect of desire And thirdly that fo r

.
, ,

the unmarried it i s better n o t to marry that is t o —

say it is better to be quite chaste

, .

In marriage harmony o f physical and mental con

,

di tion is desirable but Tolstoy sets these in opposition ,

as in Po z d n i sh ev s reply to the lady w h o exclaimed

indignantly :
’
But yo u are speaking o f physical lo v e ! D on t
‘

o u admit the existence o f love founded o n identit y

y
o f ideals and o n spiritual a ffinity
’
Spiritual affinity ! Identity o f ideals ! repeated
he . But in that case (excuse my rudeness) why d o
they g o to bed together
A few years previously in Wh a t I B el i eve
T olstoy had written : I n o w understand that
monogamy is the natural law o f humanity whi ch ,

must not be infringed I cannot approve o f a

"

celibate li fe for those who are ripe fo r marriage .

I cannot make a distinction between unions called

marriages and unions not so named nor can I fail ,

to consider a union a m a n has once entered into as

’
b eing holy and o b ligatory .
 TH E SEX Q UESTION 227

It seems strange that what in 1 883 was holy and

obligatory sho ul d in 1 890 have become a fal l a ,

sin Even as late as 1 886 Tolstoy had ended Wha t

T h en M u st We D o 9 with an ardent appeal t o women
to do their duty as prolific mothers and now to the
, ,

perplexi ty o f some w h o had prided themselves o n the

size o f their famil i es the ideal was di fferent One
, .

should not reproach a writer for being frank enough

t o admit that he has changed hi s views but doubts ,
’
ine vitably arise as to whether a writer s views which
were erroneous yesterday are in f allible to day
,
-
.

Tolstoy hi mself writes : I never anticipated that

the development of my thoughts would b r ing me to
such conclusions I was s tartled at them and did
.

n o t wish to be lieve them but it was impossible not

,
’
to do so.

P erhaps the ad vice T olstoy once g ave to hi s friend

Pro fessor Yan z h ul thr ows light o n the fact that he
did not hesitate to publish the amazing conclusions
he arri v ed at He said
. If your starting point and -

deductions are sound never be afraid o f practical

,

obj ections to your logical conclusions Otherwi se yo u

.

will never say o r produce anythi ng or i g i n a l !

’
One should however remember Tolstoy s po sition
at this time and hi s inclination t o generalize from
,

his o w n experience He was still a vigorous man and

.
,

the sexual attraction he felt for his wife made their

di sag reements all the more painful and alternated with
,

periods o f great irritation He felt the sex bond to

.
'

be a hindrance t o his freedom to preach and to li ve

as he thought right and generali zing fr om thi s feeling
,

he denounced sexual relations altogether .

He had ere this de fin i tely repudi ated Chu rch and

, ,

State so that no religious ceremony o r offi cial regis

,

t r a t i o n o f marriage could find place in his doctrine .

2 28 LEO TOLSTOY
The f ree lo v e solution (v ery g enerally accepted b y
-

the Russian intell i gentsia) was contrary to his feelin g

and t o the religious tradition and Gospel precept t o
whi ch he adhered .

E He wanted t o form a clear simple rule o f conduct

:

, ,

intel ligi b le t o every o n e and the only rule t o fit hi s

case and accord with his principles was the r eco m
m en d a t i o n o f absolute chastity The e vils arising
.

from sex were to be cured by eliminating se x ual

desire .

It should also be b orne in mind that T olstoy did

n ot avoid formulating u n a tt a i n a bl e ideals b ut o n , ,

the contrary commended them His feeling was

, .

that i f men saw an ideal ahead o f them and stro v e

tow a rds it even though it was entirely b eyond their
,

reach the d i r ect i on i n wh i ch th ey w ou l d m ove wo ul d

,

be a right o n e It is howe v er diffi cult t o b elie v e that

.

it is desirab le fo r the conception o f the children yet

t o b e born into o u r world always t o b e a cco m

p a n i e d b y a sense o f sin and shame The eli.mination

o f the love o f men for women and o f the desire t o
,
’
ha v e o ffspring o f one s o w n har dl y seems to b ring
,
’
nearer T olstoy s early ideal o f the green stick which
was to enable all men to cease suffering an y mis
’
f o r tune and to mak e them continually happy .

The o b j ection that if his ad vice were followed the

, ,

human race would end in a single generation di d n o t

move T olstoy T o such obj ections he in e ffe c t
.
, ,

repl i ed : It is true that people d o n o t and will not

act so but they ought t o stri v e towards it and not
,

consent to lower the ideal

This reply evidently begs the question whether the
thing he has selected i s a t r u e i d eal : whether the
propagation o f the race b y fit parents is not often o n e
o f the b est s er vices the y can perform ; and wh ether
23 0 LEO T O LS T O Y
a t remendous storm The Church na t ural l y resented
.

’
T olstoy s scornful di smissal o f the idea o f marriage as
a sacrament whi le the advan c ed people w h o fo r a ,

whole generation had b een asserting the liber t y o f

individual choice without lifelong engag ements were ,

equally furious From b oth camps the thunders

.

pealed forth An Archbishop denounced Tolstoy as a

.

’ ’
wolf in S heep s clothing and advised his destruction
, ,

as hi s teach ing was undermining the whole e di fice o f

society .

The general v erdi ct o f Russian society was T olsto y ,

is g etting o l d He has lost his vi gour and the grapes

.
,

are sour But this suggestion that h i s doctrine ,

was the outcome o f physical deb ility was entirel y ,

wide o f the mark Six years later wh en he was nearly

.
,
.

seventy I w as speak in g t o him o n these matters

,
.

After saying that o n e should never b e discouraged o r

cease to strive to attain t o what is good he added , ,

I was myself a husband last night b ut that is n o ,

reason for abandoning the struggle ; G o d may grant

me not to be so again ! He was physically stron g
and active for years after that and some o f h i s grea t ,

intellectual achieve ments still lay be f ore hi m .

i All the same T olstoy felt the sting o f such co m

,

ments as o n e sees b y what he wr ote o f his l i f e as a

,

young man .

It is grievous t o me in my egotism t o ha v e li v ed
, ,

my li f e bestially and to know that n o w it cannot

,

be retrieved Grievous chiefly b ecause people will

.
, ,

say : It is all very well for you a dying o l d man , ,

t o say this but you di d n o t live so W e t o o when we ,

are o l d wi l l say the same

, That is where the chief
.

punishment o f sin lies in feeling that o n e is an un

worthy v essel for the transmission o f the will o f G o d
’
b efo ul ed fa n d fi p o i l t z
 THE SE X Q UESTION 23 1

In real l ife he was usually leni ent in his j udgment o f

o thers unless the matter came near o n e o f h i s o w n
,
’
family I remember soon after Gorky s visit t o New
.
,

York hearing Tolstoy express in di gnation as well as

,

amazement at the way the Am erican people had

treated that writer and M adame Andr eyev and when
Tolstoy was over seventy I remember wal king with
hi m and with a friend o f his a well known literary
— -

man who was stil l older The latter was saying that
.

’ ’
Tolstoy s assertions did n o t accord with the speaker s
o w n experience o f li fe . He had a mistress and did not ,

consider that it spoilt his li fe .

’
So much the better ! rej oined T olstoy qui etly .

But what I say is that a man in such cas es has t o

,

seduce a maid o r to deceive a husb and o r to g o wi th

, ,
’
a woman who sells herself .

Undoubtedly the discussion o f the b oo k in society

sometimes led t o results quite contrary t o those aimed
at by Tolstoy There were cases also in whi ch wives
.

with no natural inclination for mat ri mony were fil l ed

by thi s book with a real loathi ng for the sex rela tion
and since among decent people such a senti ment
, , .

renders marital relations impossible their husbands ,

found themselves exposed to the difficulties and dang ers

o f marri ed celibacy.

T h e K r eu tzer S on a t a presents a point o f view that

cannot be left o u t o f account and sets be fore us the
,

honest and strongly felt opinions o f a great writer ;

but j ust as To l stoy t ried to eliminat e the evil s of the
property syst em by discar di ng proper ty so he t ried t o ,

eliminat e the evil s o f s ex by dis countenancing physical

love Unfortunat ely the attempt to rej ect property
.

and s ex entails the loss of what is good more cer

t a i n l y than it offers an es cape from what is evil ;
and there is j ustice in the reproach some o n e has made ,
23 2 LEO T OLS T O Y
that Tols t oy is in con fl ict not merely with the
defects of human nature b ut with the fundamentals ,

of that nature the very things that ma k e man m a n

—
.

The M osaic s ex law aimed at s ecuring the maximum

-

numb er o f children Its provisions do not suit the

.

needs o f to day b ut any new morality shoul d be

—
,

bas ed o n some equally clear practical and verifia ble , ,

conception of human needs and not on arb itrary , ,

conventional or ecclesiastical maxims inherit ed from

,

remot e ages .

W T Stead visited Yasnaya when T olstoy was

. .

be ginning the book and the two discussed that subj ect
,

as well as many other questions On the last e v enin g .

’
o f Stead s stay there was a romp in the large ups t airs

room which served the Tolstoys both as dining room -

and chief living room and after a while Stead w h o

-

, ,

happened to b e chasing the eldest daughter T atiana , ,

managed to catch her and feeling tired thought t o , ,

finish the romp by going o n his knee and kissing her

hand ; which he believed to b e an accepted R ussian
practice It was soon evident that something was
.

amiss The family departed bedward without biddi n g

.

him good night and after St ead himself was in bed

-

, ,

Tolstoy havin g fo l lowed him to hi s room entered with

, ,

a Bible in his hand looking very grave and S howed him

, ,

the passage If thy brother sin against thee g o shew

, ,

him his fault between the e and him alone i f he hear

’
thee thou hast gained thy brother
, He intimated .

that Stead had committed a serious o ffence The .

latter assured Tolstoy that he had meant n o harm ,

had not dr eamed of making love t o the girl and had ,

merely intended the salute playfull y After a while .

Tolstoy accepted this explanation g av e Stead a ,

brotherly kiss and went away , .

S t ead ; w h o was leaving by the mornin g train went ,

 CHA FT E R XV

THE FA M INE AND P AT R IO T IS M

N 1 891 Tolstoy wrote to the p apers announcing

that he gave free permission to any one t o
publish in R ussia or abroad any works he had
, ,

wr itten since 1 881 and any he might thereafter

,

publish .

This announcement settled for the time a question

which had been long in dispute between his wife and
himself She continued to avail herself o f the copy
.

right i n the works antecedent to and including An n a

K a r en i n a Publishers might scramble fo r anything
.

written subsequently the Countess only having the

,

same right as any o n e else A p oint Tolstoy somewhat

.

overlooked was that the advantage would lie with

whoever could secu re his M S and publish it fir st
.
,

and that repudiation of copyr ight did n o t free him

from having to decide who S hould have that a d v a n
tage.

I do not think that the above named arrangement

-

was a good one to ensure the best f orm o f publication

or to safeguard the interests of the public Anything .

that tends to convert trade into a gambling transaction

is undesirable and the right to scramble fo r the new
,

works of a p opular writer o ffers a temptation to rush

books out in rival editions without due care in their
production and incidentally involves much waste of
,
2 34
 TH E FA M INE AND P ATRIO T IS M 23 5

labour and much p erplexity to those who buy or sell

,

books The harm was minimized in R ussia by the

.

’
Countess s action in promptly publishing reliable
editions at moderate prices o f such works as the
, ,

Censor li cens ed Other publishers re al ized that the

.

o ffer was not much use to them and therefore did not ,

scramble or gamble over it as wildly as might have been

expected .

The i n d efin i t en ess that arises from the abandon

ment of cop yright is a reason for not commendin g
’
Tolstoy s example for gener al imitation ; but from his
o w n standpoint as one who wished to be free from the
,

tain t o f property owning it evidently had its a d v an

-
,

t ag es It accorded with his gener al attitude and

.

p r i nciples and seemed, likely (though in fact it failed )

to free him from business worries He had decided to .

ignore the Censor and write freely and had he con

cer ned himse lf with the question of publication he
would have been involved in endless and often futil e , ,

attemp ts to publish i n R ussia such scrap s as might

p ossibly be al l owed as well as in all sorts o f complica
,

tions about the publication o f the Russian text abroad ,

and of the translation of his works into various lan

guages while his corresp ondence was all the time
,

exp osed to police supervision Fo r such work he had .

no inclination ; and he was exceedingly grateful

when later on V G T ch er t k o f relieved him o f the
, , . .

whole business .

’
M oreover the repudiation by the world s foremost
,

writer of all personal profit from the works he p r o

d u ce d during thirty years stands as a strikin g p roof ,

of his i nt egrity He might have drawn a huge income

.
,

and by distributing it have made a pipe o f himself

but we should not have been as sure as we are now ,

that he was quite unbia sed by mercenary motives .

23 6 LEO T OLS T O Y
At this time the v exed question of the disp osal of
his estates was al so settled The y were divided among
.

his wife and ch il dren in p ortions as nearly equal as

p ossible T he S h ar e received by his wife did n o t
.

amount to more than what she had brought as a

dowry at the time of her marri ag e Like the other .

sh ar es it was little over Rs

, ( ab out .

’
T olstoy s views were not fixed once fo r all when he
published them and in the following letter written t o
, ,

a friend in M ar ch 1 891 we have an instance o f h o w

,

the y went on evol v ing .

The thoughts and feelings that agitate yo u those ,

new horizons which yo u see before you are j ust what ,

ag ita t e me and in which I live

, and in which
H i l k o v lives with whom I hav e been corresp onding
,

ze al ously . D o n o t imagine that I defend the

p oint o f view I formerly expressed in Wh a t I
B el i eve
. I not o n l y do not defend it but am glad ,
’
we have outlived it .

Meanwhile the T olstoy Colonies continued to get

into trouble and in April he wrote t o F e i n er m an n
,

I was ver y much struck by what yo u sa y at the

end o f your letter about the constant tergiversations
that go o n among our friends I wrote t o P op ov
.

that it seems t o me that in our life (by our I

mean those who are travelling the same road with o u r
selves) a p ainful o r rather a seemingly p ain f ul time
, ,

has arrived demanding e ffort and firmness and lack ing

,

the former j oyousness and enthusias m a time

o f disillusionment in e fforts to realize o u r plans rapidly

and fully ; a time of ap ostasy and indifference a ,

time not e v en of persecution (which on the contrary

’
animates ) but o f contempt .

AS t ha t le tt er indica t es t he first enthusiasm o f the

,
23 8 LEO T O LS T O Y

began by describing scenes in the famine district and ,

he persuaded Tolstoy t o go and see for himself Such .

outings al ways attracted Tolstoy .

He went to the famine district fo r a couple o f

days in order to write about it with better knowledge
, ,

—
and he remained there al most continuously for t w o
years
The p osition was a remarkable on e The Russian .

Government stoutly denied the famine and looked ask ,

ance at all private initiative M oreover Tolsto y himself

.
,

disapproved o f what he was doing ; I remember after ,

’
the famine was over his explaining t o me that a man s
,

re al useful activity consists only in what he does with

,

his o w n brain and hand and telling me that his famine

,

relief work did not a fford him satisfaction H e used .

’
his favourite simile about making a pipe o f oneself ,

but it seemed to me that he hardly realized h o w ver y

useful a good water pipe often is —
.

M akin g an e xception t o hi s rule o f taki n g n o mone y

fo r his literary work he sold the articles he wrote
,

o n the famine and with that money as well as with

, ,

wha t other people gave him helped by his daughters —

T atiana and M ary and a niece and coached b y R a evsk y ,

in practical details h e set t o work openin g eating

—

houses and organizing relief fo r those upon whom the

terrible c alamity o f an almos t comple t e f ailure o f t h e
rye harv est had fallen
-
.

The work was suppor t ed by a great stream o f con

t r i b u t i o n s which fl owed in as a result o f letters t hat ,

in No v ember 1 891 the Countess published in t h e

,

papers announcing that her husband and family had

,

settled in the famine district t o render help t o the

starving .

R a e vsk y o v er work ed and o v er exposed himself

- -
,

cau ght in fl uenza and died a sacrifice t o his de v otion

,
 T HE FA M I NE AN D P A T R IO T IS M 23 9

b ut Tolstoy continued through that winter and the

next to organize relief in four districts till the good ,

harvest o f 1 893 came and the work drew t o its natural

close .

A history o f the famine o f 1 891 and 1 892 o r even ,

o f the part played in it by the Tolstoy family would ,

fill a v olume The three eldest sons work ed in

.

other distr icts while the daughters Tatiana and

, ,

M ary worked with their father

,
The Countess his .
,

wife remained with the four little children in M oscow

,

and acted as a centre to which contributions fl owed .

They came from all parts o f the world inclu di ng shi p

loads o f grain from America and generous donations
from the Society o f Friends (the Quak ers) in England .

The fo l l owi ng letter from Tolstoy to o n e w h o was

setting o ut t o render aid tells o f the wa y in which the
,

work was done

I f yo u wish t o open a Soup Kitchen in the Luk o
y a n s k y D istrict where thin g s
, seem t o b e v ery bad ,

do as follows
When yo u ha v e chosen a place amid the hungries t
vil lages collect there a store o f fl our bran potatoes
, , , ,

cabbages beetroot peas lentils oatmeal and salt o r

, , , , ,

what yo u can get o f these things and then g o t o o n e ,

o f the villages and choose near the mid d le o f it (i f it has

n o t more than thirty o r forty houses

) o n e o f the v ery
poorest families (o r t w o if the village is twice as big)
,

and o ffer to supply the householder with his f ood if

he will bake bread and cook fo r the destitute the o l d ,

fol k the weak and the children o r the n o t o l d but

, ,

hungry u p to the number o f thirty o r f orty persons

—
.

’
Then make a list with the Elder s aid o f those w h o
, ,

ought to be fe d Give o u t the provisions and vi sit

.
,

the Soup Kitchen tasting the food counteracting , ,

ab uses and admit t ing those who are o n the list a n d

,
24 0 LE O T OLSTOY

wh o apply The thing is as simple and as easily

.

’
arranged as though it were a process o f nature .

T o give the people t w o meals a day cost only from

thi rt y t o thirty six pence per person per month
-
.

T olstoy would n o t have b een himself had he b een

satisfied with what he was doing Self indictment as .
-

well as the indictment of society came natural t o him , .

In D ecember he wrote to Fei n er m a n n : Thank

you fo r letting me have news o f how yo u are li ving .

’
I am li ving ab ominab ly I don t myself k now h o w I
.

was trapped into this work o f feeding the starving .

It is unsuitable fo r me t o feed those by whom I

am mysel f fed b ut I have been dragged into it and ,

I find mysel f distrib uting the vomit thrown up b y the

rich I f eel that this is ab ominable and di sgustin g
. ,

b ut I cannot stand aside n o t that I do not think I

ought t o for I do think so but that I have not the
, ,
’
strength t o d o i t .

In F eb ruary 1 892 he wrote to another friend : I f

I had had any doubt left as to whether money can do
an y g ood using it t o b uy grain and feeding some
, ,

thousands o f people has quite con vinced me that

,

o n e can do nothing but harm with it .

Yo u will say Wh y then do y ou g o o n

Because I cannot escape and because beyond a ,
—

f eeli ng o f great depression I experience nothing and

—
,

therefore think I am n o t doing this work fo r my

’
personal satisfaction .

’
T olstoy s powers o f endurance were indeed taxed
to the utmost both b y the work and by the misery
that surrounded it and he was sometimes so exhausted
that he could with diffi culty express the simplest
’
thought o r even name an article he required Tanya .
,

he would say t o his daughter to morrow we must

'
,
-

b e su r e to send but his usually retenti v e memory

24 2 LEO T OLS T OY
In the then sta t e o f Russia i t was an anomaly that
such a man as T olstoy should b e le f t at lib ert y and in ,

f ac t he b arely escaped the fate that b e fel l so m a ny

’
o f Russia s reformers .

It was his aunt who saved him The Emperor .

,

Ale x an der I II knowin g that she had as k ed t o see him

, ,

called o n her o n e day and this is her ac c oun t o f their

,

conv ersat ion .

In a da y o r t w o a report will b e made t o yo u in

’
f av our o f in c arcerat in g Russia s grea t es t gen ius in a
”
M on astery said I
, .

’
The Emperor s f ace ins t ant ly changed and he ,

b ecame stem and pro f oundly sad .

T ols t oy as ke d he b rie fly .

Yo u ha v e guessed rightly M onarch , repl ied I .

“
Then he has designs o n m y l i f e ? ask ed t h e
E mperor .

I was amazed b ut secretl y en c ourag ed I thought

,

that on l y t h a t would indu c e the Emperor to confi rm

’
the Minister s decision
"

I recounted t o the Emperor all tha t I had learned

’
from the Minister ab ou t L eo s o ffence and I saw t o , ,

my great del i ght that his face gradually assumed its

,

usual mild and e xt remely a ffable expression .

T w o days later I learnt that having listened t o the

’
M inister s report of what had occurred the Emperor ,

putting aside the Report replied lit erally as follows

,

I request y ou not to touch Tolstoy I have no .

intention o f making a martyr of him and bringing ,

universal indignation up on myself If he is guil t y .

,

so much t h e worse for him

T olsto y born a son o f the Orthodox Church and

, ,

having by his writing s turned men from that Faith was ,

technicall y guilt y of a criminal o ffence The a d m i n i s .

t r at i ve p o wer s en t rusted t o t h e Governor G eneral o f -

 TH E FA M I N E AND P A T R IO T I S M 24 3

M oscow were more than su fficient to allow of his being

disposed of without the form al ity o f a tri al and it ,

seems probable that the greatest of Russian writers

lived in freedom for the last twenty years of his life ,

instead of dyin g in a damp and stinking dungeon ,

thanks to the fact that he had an aunt at Court .

A glimpse of Tolstoy at the beginning of the winter

of 1 892 93 is given by S em yo n o v who mentions that
-
,

Tolstoy had altered considerably during the preceding

couple of years H is beard had become quite gre y
.

and his hair was thinner He seemed smaller but his

.
,
’
deep set eyes stil l seemed to pierce one s soul He was
-
.

then feeling hopeful o f the spread of a good spirit among

people and mentioned with great approval a priest
, ,

Ap o l l o v who having become convinced that the

, ,

dogmas o f the Church have no sound basis had resigned ,

his living though he lacked any other means of subsist

ence Tolstoy also sp oke very warmly of the school
.

’
teacher D r o zh zh i n who fo r conscience sake had
,

refused army service It was the fir st instance of the

.

kind to come under his personal notice Subsequently .

he frequently came in touch with men who suffered

imprisonment and even death for their resistance t o
con scription D r o zh zh i n himself died lat er on o f the
.

tre atment he received .

H o w numerous such refus al s became is not gener al ly

k nown for the military authorities keep them secret
, .

T he position o f a Christian Government met by a

’
refus al to learn t o kill based on obedience to Ch rist s
,

commands is a diffi cult one and the contrast Tolstoy

, ,

draws between Christianity and p atriotism is more

vividly il lustrated by such incidents than by anything
else
.

Among his lit erar y work s in 1 892 was an essay ,

2 44 LEO T O LS T O Y
T h e Fi r st S t ep (E d L et t er s) , in
which he forcibly
ssays a n

pleads the cause o f vegetarianism on moral and humani

tarian grounds Another article written about the
.

same time was A Co n ver sa t i on a m on g L ei su r ed P eopl e .

The characters in it discuss the desirability o f living

rightly but owing to the obligations o f the young to
,

the old and of the old to the young and of each o n e t o ,

somebod y else they all obj ect to any one changing

,

his o r her conventional wa y o f life bad as they admit ,

that way t o be T olstoy makes us feel that he is here

.

holding up to ridicule the arguments used by his famil y

and friends to check his own desire for radical change .

In 1 893 he wrote a very interesting essay entitled

N on Act i n g (E ssa ys a n d L ett er s) of which he wrote t o
-
,

Gay I have not finished my article o n Art but have ,

’ ’
written one o n Z ola s and D umas letters o n the mental
’
conditions o f to day Z ola s stupidity and the pro
-
.
,

p h e t i c ar,t istic p oetic,voice o f D umas interested me ,

’
v ery much .

A ver y imp ortant work begun during the fa m ine ,

but only completed in 1 893 is T h e K i n gdom of G od ,

i s Wi t h i n You which deals with N o n Resistance as

,
-

applied to Governments and contains a scathing ,

indictment o f war .

’
Tolstoy s contention is that Governments which
make war have prisons maintain penal laws and
, , ,

rob p eople (by obliging them t o p ay rates and taxes)

are fundament al ly immoral and exist for the advantage ,

o f the rich and p owerful to the detriment o f the p oor

and need y He asserts that it is our duty to refuse

.

to co operate with Go v ernments whether as voters

-
, ,

o ffici al s M inisters p olicemen or soldiers

, , .

To most men o f the W estern w orld such a thesis , ,

stated in bare outline app ears quite unreasonable

, .

But as Tolsto y presented it it assu m ed plausib ility , ,

24 6 LEO TOLS T O Y
as an unmixed ev il but it conceals a sophistry A .

village Community o f that kind carries with it its o wn

Government : namel y its Elder and his assistants
, ,

who do not scruple to use physical force if necessary

to maintain order and the existence of a strong centr al
Government at any rate prevents civil war between
different districts .

In wri t in g for W estern readers it is howe v er hardly

’
necessary to dwell o n the weak side o f T olstoy s
anarchist doctrine It is more to the point to S h ow
.

that it deserves some consideration Let us therefore

.

note that though we are often told that Go v ernments

,

exist primarily t o protect l i f e and propert y ye t all

,

the b urglars in Europe do n o t steal as much property

”

in a generation as a civilized Go v ernment seizes and

destroys in a single month of warf are nor do all the
,

murderers in the world kill as many peopl e in a century

as the Go v ernment of an enlightened and Chris t ian
’
country sometimes kills in a S ingle day s hostilities .

’
W e m ay disagree with Tolstoy s conclusion that
Governments do nothing b ut harm ; but t o retain
the sup port of their subj ects Governments will ha v e
to learn to do b etter in future than they ha v e done i n
’
the past It is true that Tolstoy s appeal to men not
.

t o submit to conscription has produced e ffects which

endanger the c ause o f f reedom (and not in Russia only) ,

but it should b e remembered that had his appeal to

the conscience of mankind received the attention it
deserves from any o f the Governments serious efforts
,

might have been made b efore the present war b egan

to b r ing about such international relations as would
ensure Civilization against such calamities as have
now befallen it And if some of our statesmen are
.

now seriously concerned t o found a Leag ue of Nations

fo r the prevention of war the impuls e b ehind that
,
 TH E F AM I NE AN D P A T RI O T IS M 24 7

e ffor t draws i t s stren gth larg el y from the fe el in g

Tolstoy voiced and fostered .

His denunciat ion o f war is so s c athi ng tha t he e ven

carries many readers with hi m when he g oe s o n t o
denounce patriotism as the cause o f wars and as ,

b ein g in itself a de gr a di ng superstition and a vice .

He arg ues tha t Christianity with i t s doctr ine o f

,

the F atherho od o f G o d is fatal to patriotism ;

,

and that n o j ustification can be framed o f the

sacrifices that are o ffered up o n the altar o f inter

national j ealousy sacr i fices sometimes as blind as

—
‘

and far more numerous than those o ffered in earlier

,

ages t o M oloch .

He i gnores the sound b asis fo r nat ional feelin g of a

non malevolent ki nd If the world is t o be organize d
-
.
,

i t must b e arranged in divisions o f manageab le p r o

p ort ions and once such di visions e x ist since, charit y
’
beg i n s at home , it is o ur b usiness fir st o f all to get
matters rightly arrang ed in o ur o w n country .

T olstoy pushed N o n Resistance f urth er than an y

-

other prominent writer o f modern times has done ,

’
and he b a ffl es one s attempts t o bring his conclusion s
t o a pra ct ical test by asserting that human e xisten c e
itself is o f n o v alue in comparison with the sanctit y
o f the law he formul ated . But b y t his assump t ion
he e vidently transfers the trial of the case to a future
state o f e xistence and begs the essential question
, ,

which is wheth er his statement o f the moral law is

adequate .

N o ap p e al t o e x perien c e mo v ed him in the leas t .

I wrote an article o n The Right and W ron g o f N o u

Resistance (H u m a n e Revi ew April , and sent it
t o him . I thought he would either o b j ect t o it ,

explain that I had presented his position incorrec t ly ,

or be com p e lled t o a dm i t tha t his case n ee ded

24 8 LEO T OLS T OY
res t ating Bu t all I got was a mild in t imation that he
.

was hurt at my not standing firm to the principle

and when next I visited him he said , I have only
o n e thing t o o b j ect to in your article namely that it ,
’
destroys my position at its roots I fancy he mean t
.

t o imply : If your arg uments were sound my prin ,

ci p l e would be unsound which is a r ed u ct i o a d a b

,
’
su r d a m
. He said it gently quietly and with ob vious
,

premeditation but I could not pursue the sub j ect fo r

, ,

his daughter M ary had specially ask ed me not to excite

him with discussion as his health was causing anxiet y
, .

W hen I next saw him he was o v er eighty and o n e ,

hardly e xpects a man of that age to ab andon a prin

ci p l e he has formulated with grea t e ffort and t o
Which he has been wedded for many years .

Horri b le as war is to attempt to stop it b y t h e

,

method Tolstoy commends (of each conscientious

man refusing to serve the State as soldier o r t o pay
taxes ) has the di sad v antage that if success ful it , ,

would disintegra t e the State and if adopted b y all

, ,

humane people it would throw the control of affairs

,

into the hands o f those who were not humane .

If I do not see eye t o eye wi th Tolstoy o n this

subj ect the di fference is still greater in regard to
,

civil Go v ernment He maintained that Go v ernment

.
,

even in England France o r the United States is a

, ,

complete failure since it does not secure a fair chance

,

for each citizen to de v elop his powers choose h i s ,

way o f l i f e and enj oy the fruits o f his labour That

, .

indictment is unanswerable if o n e compares what is

with what should be But if we regard the mat t er
.

'

comparati v ely a n d i a sk what k nown method o f

,
f

regulating human a ffairs involves least e vil then the ,

existence of Constitutional Go v ernmen t s may well be

defended .
250 LE O T O LS T OY
in h i s No Go v ernmen t a tt i t ude and c orrespondingl y
-
,

indifferent t o an y lab our laws L eg isl a t ive enact .

ments to preserve the work ers from e x cessi ve exploita

tion t o insis t that their wages should b e paid regularly
,

and in money and t o organize f ac t or y cr ech es and

,

lying i n hospitals no longer interested him H a vin g

-
, .

found a panacea he rej ects palliati v es Un fortunately .

when i t c omes t o g etting the work o f the world done ,

the panacea does not act

T h e K i n g dom of G od i s Wi thi n You contained a
description o f the fl ogging of peasants by a Governor
and curiously enough though the b ook was proh ib ited
, ,

it resulted in that Governor b eing dismissed from his

post
’
T olstoy s acti v e part icipation in the f amine togeth er ,

with his popularity as a writer and the abundan t

e vidence o f his disinterestedness a n d courag e had ,

made him b y this time the most conspicuous and

in fl uential uno fficial person in R ussia His relat ion s .

with the political reformers howe v er were strangely

, ,

dual He cordially sym pathized with their prot ests

.

against oppression and was o n their side wh ene v er

,

they were ill treated ; b u t when they approached

-

power o r b e gan t o prepare fo r a Consti t ution he

, ,

turned his bac k upon them The result was that .

their feelings towards him swung lik e a pendul um .

Sometimes they were keenly sympathetic while at ,

other times they regarded him as a b roken reed and

poured fierce scorn o n all his w ork s .

His condemnation o f patriotism was perhaps i m

p l i ci t in his religious writings of the early eight een
eighties b ut its clear and emphatic formulation in
,
’
the nineties marks a further step o n the cours e which
made him the chief lit erary precursor of the Revolution .
 C HA P T E R XVI

THE D OUKHO BO R S

N 1 894 Tolstoy wrot e an interesting Preface t o

’
Guy de M aup a ssan t s works and al so a small
,

book entitled Ch ri st i a n i ty a n d P a tr i ot i sm which

,

expressed a thoroughly cosmop olitan (or Tolstoy

’
would have said , Christian ) attitude repudiating
,

p atriotism as entirel y evil and p our in g ridicule o n the

,

enthusiasm then displayed at the French and Russian

festivities held in connection with the visits o f the
respective fleets to Kronstadt and Toulon D r . .

Johnson h ad said that Patriotism is the last refuge

’
of a scoundrel . Tolstoy went further and denied
that there can be such a thing as good patriotism ,

since men are al l sons o f one Father and should not

restrict their symp athies by p olitical boundaries .

Two other essays written that year deser ve atten

tion for they were the first of a series of articles on
,

religion expressing a broader and maturer view than

,

he had held ten years previously when his earlier works

on this subj ect were composed These are Rea son
.

a n d R el i gi o n and R el i gi o n a n d M or a l i t y
. The others
of the series are H o w t o R ea d t h e G o spel s A R epl y
’
t o t h e S yn od s E di ct of E xcom m u n i ca t i on and
Wh a t i s R el i gi on P They are quite brief
( occupying in al l less than a hundred pages o f E s sa ys

a n d L ett er s) but are the fin al outcome and ripe fruit o f

2 51
2 52 LEO T OLS T OY
the int ense struggles of a wonderful mind with the
greatest of all proble m s .

R el i gi on a n d M or a l i t y cont ains a notable criticism

’
o f Huxley s Romanes Lecture delivered in 1 894, It .

’
also gives Tolstoy s definition of religion and morality
R eligion is a certain relation established by man
between his separate personality and the infinite
universe or its Source ; and morality is the e v er
’
present guide to life resulting from that relation .

The year 1 895 began sadl y both in public and

private affairs Nicholas I I stamping his foot at
.
,

the representatives of the Z emstvos had denounced ,

their insensate fancies concerning the p ar ticip ation o f

representatives of the Z emstvos in the a ffairs of the
’
Go v ernment o f the country . Tolstoy was highl y i n
’
d i g n a n t at this insult to R ussia s representatives and ,

for a moment seemed t o be almost at o n e with P N

‘

. .

M i l uk o v and the Liber al s except that he disappro v ed

,

o f any plans for organized resistance .

Following this public event came a great personal

grief His youngest son little seven year o l d Van y a
.
,
- -
,

died in February It was the first time Tolsto y and

.

his wife had lost a child that had outgro wn earl y

infancy The blow was the more severe because
.

Vanya was highly gifted and seemed to have inherited

the best qualities o f both his parents To the Countess.

it was crushing She dreaded going back t o Yasna y a

.
,

where she would miss the child even more than in

M oscow ; and plans were formed for going abroad .

T olstoy Showed his wife great consideration Much as .

it would have run counter to his inclination he was ,

ready t o leave Russia fo r her sake ; but a private

intimation reached them that though no obstacle ,

would be placed in the way o f his leav i ng the

c ountr y it was improbable that he would be allowed
,
25 4 LE O T OLSTO Y
k eenly and I have never been more struck by the
,
’
charm o f simple music than o n e winter s e v ening when ,
’
callin g t o ask Tolst oy s explanation o n some p oint ,

I chanced up on a gathering o f the family and their

friends Tolstoy was engaged The company were
. .

in the large roo m in which they had tea a n d gathered

fo r games and music The eldest daughter came up
.

t o speak to me and Mary accompanying herself on a

, ,

guit ar struck up a gips y song which she sang e dmi r

,

ably Others j oined i n the chorus Song f ollowed

. .

song and o n e felt that th eir love o f music was innat e

, .

As I came t o know them better I realized how much ,

amiability t al ent frankness and charm there was

, ,
’
among them ap art from T olstoy s o w n overp owering
,

g enius .

’
It was t he custom o f T olstoy s followers to speak
o f the Countess as the great obstacle to his carr y ing

o u t his principles and to assume that were he but

, ,

free to act excellen t results would follow Certainly

, .

’
the Countess s p osition was one o f extreme di fficult y .

She never concealed her disagreement with many o f

his v iews and O ften based her case frankly o n grounds
,

o f family in t erest Tried by ordinary standards she

.

was an admirable wife and to adopt extraordinar y —

standards in her case because her husband was an ,

extraordinary man would be unfair , .

D uring the winters of 1 895 97 I visited T olstoy —

al m ost e v ery week and in summer sometimes st ayed

,

with him for a few days at Yasnaya .

The password to intimacy with him was intellectual

in t egrity Any o n e whom he recognized as honest
.

and in earnest was his friend H e once rem ar ked t o .

me : I divide men into two sets They are free .

th i nk ers o r they are not freethinkers I am n o t

, .

speaking o f the agnostic English Freethink ers b u t ,

 TH E D O UK H O B ORS 2 55

use the word in its simplest meaning Freethink ers .

are tho se who are willing to use their minds without

prej udice and without fearing to understand thing s
that clash with their o w n customs privileges or beliefs , , .

Th i s state o f mind is not common but is essential to ,

right thinking W here it is ab sent discussion becomes

.
,

worse than useless A man may be a Catholic a

’

.
,

Frenchman or a capit al ist and yet be a freethink er

, ,

but if he puts Catholicism p atriotism or his interest , , ,

abo v e his reason and will not give the latter free
,

pla y where those subj ects are touched his mind is in ,

’
bondag e .

D evotion to Non Resist an t and ant i Go v ernmen t

- -

v ie ws somet imes biased his j udgment but I had not ,

cleared up my own views on those matters at the

time I saw most of him and was so far under his swa y
,

that we did not come into con fl ict abou t them .

’
T hough Tolstoy s suspicions and love of co n t r ad i c
tion were easily aroused there was a wonderful ch ar m ,

about him and I never met any o n e with such a

,

capacit y for encouraging interesting and st imulating ,

people Wh en he call ed at my house o f an evening

.
,

o ur children were always delighted and the y still ,

reme mber the p aper birds with fl apping wing s he

taught them to make .

An amusement we were both fond o f was ch ess .

H e made it a social game by playing in a room full o f

people and not obj ecting t o interruptions H e had .

no book —k nowledge o f it but had play ed much and ,

w as al er t and ing enious I do no t think a fir st class

.
-

professional player could have giv en more than the

odds o f a knight .

H e read English quite easily and did not spe ak it ,

b adl y ; but when I tried to get him to t al k English ,

’
he said N o no ! W ith y ou I ll tal k Ru ssian ;
,
2 56 LE O T OLSTOY
when I tal k English I have to say not what I want to
, ,
’
but what I can .

D urin g my first v isi t t o Yasnaya T ols t oy t old me a

,

st ory o f his o w n e ffor t s to do righ t in money ma t ters .

At the time he was studying and writin g o n economics ,

and trying to b e particularly strict with himself in di s

carding all lu x urious hab its he had occasion t o visit
,

hi s friend Prince Urusov the Vice Go v ernor o f T ula

,
-
.

The P rince was not at home but the head police o ffi cer
,

o f t he district was there and was e x ceedi ngly a t tentive

and polite o ffering his services and insisting o n a cco m

,

panyin g T olstoy b ack to the station It was Y our .

E x cellency this and Your Excel lency that and

, ,

there was no getting rid o f the man At the s t ation .

he would n o t al l o w T ols t oy t o take his o w n tic k et ,

b ut needs must g et it fo r him and in quired , What

c lass is Y our E x cellency pleased t o t ra v el with an
air that seemed to say : Surely Your E x cellency
’
requires a t least a special car T ols t oy s g ood i n t en
tions were n o t proof ag ainst such a strain H e felt .

’
tha t the shoc k to the police o ffic er s f eelings w o uld b e
t o o great if he said Th i rd class and h e had t o co m
p romise b y saying Second c lass
Spea kin g o f the simplification o f l i fe he once t old ,

m e : There is o n e thin g I cannot do without I must —

’
hav e a quiet room t o work in Even so reasonable
.

and modest a demand as that was in c on fli ct with his

,

t eaching that w e should yield up all w e possess t o any

b ody w h o li kes to t ak e it .

One day a t a station a lady mistaking T ols t oy f or a

,

peasan t sent him with a note to her husband w h o had

,

g one into the refreshment room -

T olstoy deli v ered
.

the note and the lady ga v e him 1 5 k opeks To

her dismay she learnt that the man she had tipped
was Coun t T olst oy ! She apologiz ed and b egged
258 LEO TOLSTOY
I ceased t o see T olsto y except when I paid him occa
sio u al visits but we corresponded actively In o n e
,
.

letter that year he says

Yo u ask my pardon but I d o n o t know h o w t o
,

excuse myself t o yo u for the heavy labour yo u hav e

’
taken o n yourself and are executing so well And .

again Yo u have quite correctly restored the words

omitted o n page 3 1 I will make my version agree
.

with yours Altogether I see you are doing this trans

.

lation with great attention fo r which I am g rateful , .

I am almost sure I shall agree with all your comments ,

b ut still send them to me : I t o o will consider each

’
point carefully .

And in D ecember It is long since I wrote t o yo u ,

dear friend fo r I have been and still am going through

,

much that is hard I will not say bad fo r me fo r it is

, ,

in o ur power to turn evil into good but o n e is often

n o t up to it Also yesterday we moved to M oscow
.
,

which depresses me so by its bustle and immoralit y .

That is wh y I have been slow in sen di ng yo u the last

’
chapters .

In January 1 898 he wrote Forgi v e me fo r being

so long in repl yi ng and fo r not sending yo u the corrected

proofs I ha v e felt so weak lately that I could n o t

.

force myself to work When I di d I only spoilt things

.
, .

’
I n o w send yo u the corre cted chapters .

One day in 1 895 when visiting a M oscow prison

, , ,

T olstoy met representati v es o f the D oukhobor sect ,

who had come from the Caucasus to see their Leader ,

P V er i g i n then on his way from exile in Archangel

. ,

t o exile in Siberia .

Questioned by Tolstoy these men told him that ,

their sect practised non resistance abstained from meat

-
,

and into xicants refused army service rej ected priests

, ,
 THE D OUK HOB ORS 259

or officials and lived peacefull y as equals without

,

submitting t o any go v ernment .

T olstoy was delighted ! Here at last was a large

body o f people professing and practising his principles
and apparently f urnishing an example o f anarchism
in successful operation He wrote that what was
.

ta king place among them was the germinating o f

the seed sown by Christ 1 900 years a g o the r e sur r ec —

tion o f Christ himself . Here we have people who

have realized this ideal in a way we di d not
dream o f doing with o u r complex State institutions
people w h o even now realize that towards which we are
all stri ving
His estimate o f them was mistaken owing t o the fact
,

that they had omitted to tell him that they yielded

implicit obedience t o their Leader V er i g i n whom
“

, ,

they believed to be divine P ersecution had taught

.

them to screen their Leader and not involve him in any

responsibility .

’
Tolstoy s authority was such that his statements o n
this matter were accepted by his followers without due
verification and resulted in a curious seri es o f mis
,

understan di ngs .

I hav e given a history o f the D oukhobor sect in my

b ook A P ecu l i a r P eop l e : T h e D ou kh obor s and must
, ,

here confine myself t o mentioning that when the

members o f the s cattered sect were allowed by
Alexander I (early in the nineteenth century) t o
assemble and form a Community in the s outh o f
R ussia they encount ered the practical difficulty o f
,

organizing the life o f their Community while main ‘

taining their repudiation o f human law The dilemma .

was met by the opportune discovery that o n e o f their

members (an e x n o n commissioned o ffi cer named
- -

Kapustin) was a reincarnation o f the D eity ! This

26 0 LEO T OLSTOY

enab led them t o obey his commands without co m

mitting the sin o f submitting t o man made law -
.

’
K a p u st i n s divine attributes and powers were trans
m i t t ed
, generation after generation to successors ,

in his family till in 1 886 they reached the present

,

Leader P eter V er i g i n
, For some reason his authority
.

was n o t recognized by the whole sect (then number

ing about persons) b ut only by a part o f it .

Quarrels broke o u t the R ussian authorities were

,

appealed to and V er i g n was banished to the far nor t h

,
r .

His a dh erents used frequently to send representa

t i ves from the Caucasus to visit him k eep h i m supplied ,

with money and take his instructions fo r the go v ern

,

ment o f the sect It was such a deputation tha t

.

T olstoy had met in M oscow .

In exile V er i gi n met certain Tolstoyans and from ,

’
them he learnt Tolstoy s views which in many respec t s
resembled the D oukhobor tenets o f earlier days .

’ ’
V er i g i n s o w n attitude towards Tolstoy s teachin g
was dual He had no wish to play second fid dl e t o
.

any man and (being o n e o f the few D ouk hobors w h o

,

could write ) he sent letters to his T olstoyan acquaint

a u ces in which he set himself t o outdo T olstoy He .

’
said : If hi s (Tolstoy s ) ideal has stopped S hort at
mak ing boots then o f course it is very very ,

inconsequent for to make boots o n e requi res needles

, ,

and needles are made in factories and consequently ,

it will not be possible to close the mines where people ,

’
are tortured t o obtain o r e .

He recommended the ab andonment o f physical

work and the adoption o f a diet o f fruit and also ,

questioned the j u st i fia b i l i t y o f keeping cattle culti ,

v a t i n g land or wearing clothes

, He added : T o follow
.

Christ we must live as he did and we see that Christ

, ,

did no physical work n o r did the Apostles

, That .
26 2 LE O T OLS T O Y

priests and e xiled t o the Caucasus where he lodg ed ,

with some D ou khob ors They refused military ser vice

.

’
in 1 895 (on V er i g i n s instructions ) and the authorities
,

( rongly suspecting him o f ha vin g in fl uenced them)

w
r e banished him t o the Baltic P ro v inces
-
, .

H i l k o v was the only o n e o f us w h o had lived with

the D oukhobors and when per mission was obtained
,

for them t o migrate from R ussia his great ability and

org anizing capacity mark ed him o u t as the b est man
t o handl e the matter .

Unfortunately Tolstoy had b y that time en t rusted

the whole management o f his propaganda t o T ch er t k o f ,

who was therefore in control o f the funds collected

by the Tolstoyans in R ussia and England t o aid the
D oukhobors and who had set up a printin g estab lish
,

ment and pub li shing business controlled b y himsel f .

It was necessary for some o n e t o g o t o Canada

t o mak e inquiries and arrange fo r a migration o f
,

D oukhobors thither but T ch er t k o f having quarrelled

, ,

with H i l k o v declined t o provide for the travellin g

,

expenses o f the latter who having given his property

,

t o his p easants could n o t go at his o w n expense In .

place o f H i l k o v T ch er t k o f selected me fo r the task

, ,

and furnished me with an open letter statin g that

’
Aylmer M aude a personal friend o f Leo Tolsto y s
, ,

and of myself has very kin dl y undertaken t o g o t o

,

America with the special obj ect o f trying to pave the

way for such an emigration W e have placed the
.

negotiations in America entirely in his hands and ,

request all who may co operate in this undertaking

-

to regard him as possessing o u r full and unlimited

’
confidence .

I was glad to undertake the mission and at first ,

assumed that T ch er t k o f must have some su fli ci en t

’
reason for rej ecting H i l k o v s assistance It hap p ened .
26 4 L EO T OL S T O Y
The fact that the D oukhobors owed allegian c e t o
V er i g i n w h o w as then in Siberia and were unable t o
, ,

take decisions without him (but kept their alle gian c e t o

h i m a pro f ound secret ) was bound t o cause trouble and
’
con fu sion ; but it was T ch er t k o f s action that pre
ci p i t a t e d the trouble W ithout consulting those w h o .

were in touch w ith the D oukhobors he issued in ,

R ussian from his o w n press and circulated gratuitously ,

amon g those D oukhobors who could read the absurd ,

le tt ers V er i gi n had written t o the T olstoyans .

T hese were read o u t to the D oukhobor congrega

tions accepted by them as revelations and led t o
, ,

1 500 pe 0 p 1 e abandoning their homes refusing t o use ,

metals releasin g their sheep cattle and horses and

, , ,

— when they expected

V er i g i n (at last released from
Siberia) to be arriving in Canada setting o ff o n a —

’
p ilgrimage eastward to find Christ Some of them .

’
even adopted V er i g i n s suggestion that clothes ar e
unnecessary and went about naked to the consterna
, ,

tion of their Canadian neighbour s .

M ore serious st i l l was the fact (which I acciden t all y

discovered ) that under guise o f sup plying the D o u kh o
,

bors with Anglo R ussian H a n d boo ks (printed at the-

T ch er t k o f Press ) to enable them to learn English a ,

prop ag anda of an ar chist doctrin es among them was

begun in a way directly c al culated to bring ab out
strife with the Canadian Government who had been ,

emphatically assured that the D ouk hobors would not

cause trouble .

ge n l in d u t ry
er a s P t r V . i gi is t h ir e a n d o n l y a rb i t r
e e er n e on e .

Th l p b l m b f t h G ov r m t i
e r ea ro e e or e t t h D o kh o b o r
e e n en s n o e u s,

b t t h ir l d ’
u e P t
ea V i gi
er — e er er n .

Th R po t t h
e e
g h
r
g ,n a llou
y cc u t
e r s in
er t a t in gat h a t x ra e, e r s e

e m pt i f o m m ili t y rv i c w s o l y g r t e d ft t h D o kh o b o r
on r ar se e a n an a er e u s

h d a ch d Ca n a d T h fa ct i t h a t t h ey o l y s t r t d fo C n d a
r ea e a. e s n a e r a a

a ft e r b e in g a ss u r e d o n t h a t p o in t .
 TH E D O UK H OB ORS 26 5

T he fol lowi n g ar e a few sentences from the se extr a

ordin ary H a n d books
Al l govern ents are b ased on violence
m
upheld by arm i es law cour ts prisons and p olice
-
The y ar e .

The p opulation o f Canada consists o f the origin al

, ,

inhabitant s the red Indians and o f emigrants from

—
,

Eur ope . And now 7500 D oukh obors from the

Caucasus . The Indians ar e very badl y
treated and deprived o f al l t h e i r rights The .

greedy Europeans came and began to destroy them

and take away their land they shed blood every
where and O ppress those weaker than themselves
, .

Concerning the registration o f marri ag es births , ,

and deaths D o you pro m i se always to fulfil this

.

W e cannot promise an yt hing A promise is the same .

as an oath Our religion forbids us to take an oath

. .

Chr ist sa id D o not swear A man must be free

. .

A promise ties the conscience and the actions o f a

man Even in little things we want to be free
.

Our faith is j ust the same as that of Jesus Christ .

W e think there ought not to exist any private

property in land land l i ke air and water should
, ,

be for the use o f all He owns the land w h o for the

. , ,
’
time bein g is working it
, .

To the D oukhobors who had j ust escaped from

,

persecution the suggestion that the p opulation o f

,

Canada consists of greedy Oppressors who i l l treat -

the weaker sections of the p opulation was naturally

very disquieting .

The p oint about the r egistration of bir ths deaths ,

and marri ag es was that the Canadian Government

required this and the D oukhobors were hesitatin g
,

about comp lying with the demand The p aragraph .

ab out land again dealt with a matter of great i m

p ortance as the grant o f 1 6 0 acres of land to each
,
26 6 LE O T OLS T O Y
adult male depended on formal entry being made by a
,

certain date and ab out this matter too the D on kho

, , ,

bors were hesitating fearing by accept i n g the laws of

,

Canada t o compromise their al legiance to V er i g i n .

I was loth to come into conflict with T ch er t k o f ,

’
who was Tolstoy s delegate but the p osition i n which
,

this discovery placed Prince H i l k o v and myself was

very unsatisfactory W e had honestly assured the
.

Canadian Government and the contributors to the

Emigration Fund that the D oukhob ors were desirable
settlers and had thereby secur ed for them admission
,

to Canada and a large grant o f land and money

, ,

besides S pecial exemptions W e now found that .

,

behind o u r backs the T ch er t k o f organization with its

, ,

funds and its press were be i ng used to stir up u n

,

necessary strife between these p oor ignorant peasant s

and the Government to which the y had been r eco m
mended .

T ch er t k o f would listen t o no remonstrance His .

methods were as autocratic as his max ims were

fraternal All I could d o was to publish an article
.

(which ultimately grew into my book A P ecu l i a r

P eopl e) frankly telling the story of the D oukh obors

as far as I had then come to know it I felt sure that .

Tolstoy on being informed of the facts would modify

, ,

his published opinion o f the sect and use his influence

,

to put matters right It so happened however that

.
, ,

it was long before we could unr avel all the facts o f the
’
case and make sure of the nature of V er i g i n s in fluence .

’
Meanwhile Tolstoy s health and memory were failing .

By 1 90 3 he was seventy fiv e years old had b ecome

-
,

very dependent on T ch er t k o f fo r the business man ag e

ment o f his prop aganda and was reluctant to take
,
’
any action which would undermine that gentleman s
’
authority He preferred to hope that T ch er t k o f s
.
 C HA P T E R XVII

ILLNESS AN D EXCO MMUNICAT ION

OR the last thirty years o f his li f e Tolstoy was

torn b etween a desire t o prove the sincerit y
o f his pre f erence for a l ife o f poverty and con ,

siderations o f a ffection and duty that kept him at home .

The first o f these feelings is shown in a lett er he

wrote o n 8t h June 1 897 found among his papers a f ter
hi s deat h with the inscri ption
, Unless I leave di r ec -r

tions t o the con t rary this letter is to b e handed t o Sophia

’
An d r eye vn a a f ter my death This is the let t er
.

D EAR S O N YA I ha v e lon g b een gt o r m en t ed b y the

,
—

discord b etween my life and my beliefs I could n o t .

compel yo u all t o change y our life and hab i t s t o which,

I myself had accustomed yo u and I also could n o t ,

till n o w leave yo u fo r fear o f depri ving the ch ildren

, ,

while still small o f what little in fl uence I may ha v e o v er

them and grie ving you On the other hand I cannot
.
,

continue to li v e as I have lived these sixteen years ,

struggling and irritating you o r myself fal ling under

, ,

in fluences and temptations to which I hav e become

accustomed and by which I am surrounded ; and I
have now decided to do what I have long desired t o —

g o away first because fo r me in my advancin

, g years ,

this li f e b ecomes more and more burdensome and I long

more and more fo r solitude and secondly b ecause the
2 68
 I LLNESS AND EXCO MM UN ICA T ION 26 9

ch ildren are n o w grown up my infl uence is n o longer ,

nee ded and yo u all have livelier interests which wi ll

,

render my absence little noticeable .

The chief thi ng is that j ust as Hindoos nearin g

sixty retire into the woods and as o l d religious men ,

seek to devote their last years to G o d and not t o j okes ,

puns gossip o r tennis so fo r me entering my seven

, , , ,

t i et h ye ar the desire whi ch absorbs my whole soul

,

is for tranqui lli ty for so l itude and if n o t for entire

, ,

harmon y at least t o a v oid cryi n g discord between my

,

li f e and my b eliefs and conscience .

If I did this openly there would be entreaties ,

pleadings criticism quarrels and I might perhaps

, , ,

weak en and not car ry out my decision yet it mus t be —

carried o ut And so please forgive me if my act

.
,

causes yo u p ai n and above a l l in your soul Sonya , , ,

leave me free t o go and do n o t repine o r condemn me .

That I have gone away from yo u does not mean

that I am di spleased wi th yo u I know yo u could n o t .

— literally co ul d not and cannot see and feel as I d o —

,

and therefore could n o t an d cann ot chan ge your li f e

and sacri fice yoursel f for somethi ng you do n o t recog
nize And therefore I d o n o t blame yo u but o n the
.
,

contrary recal l with lo v e and gratitude the long th i rt y

fiv e years o f o ur l i f e together especial l y the first hal f
—

o f that period when you with the maternal devotion

, ,

o f your nature s o firmly and energetically ful fi lled

,

what yo u considered to be your duty Yo u have .

given me and the world what yo u could give Yo u .

have given gr eat motherly love and devotion and yo u ,

cannot but be prized fo r that But dur i ng the last .

period o f o ur l if e the last fif teen years w e hav e

- —

dr ifted asunder I cannot think I am t o b lame fo r I

.
,
’
know I changed not for myself n o r fo r other pe ople s ,

sak e b ut because I co u ld d o no other Neither ca n I

, .
270 LEO TOLSTOY
blame yo u fo r not foll owing me but I thank yo u and ,

lovingly remember and S hall continue t o rememb er yo u

fo r what you gave me Good b ye dear Sonya Your
.
-
,
—

loving L E O TO L S T O Y

That he did not lea v e home and that the letter was
,

not then delivered may be explained by a conversation

,

I had with him some months pre viously in whi ch he ,

said that often as he had desired t o change his wa y o f

,

life he had o n re fl ection always come to the conclusion

,

that it would be wrong to do so knowing as he di d that,

it would not merely grieve but anger his wife .

I was convinced that he had j udged rightly and ,

f elt sure he would never o f his o w n accord abandon hi s

wife Five years later he wrote me apropos o f an
.

attack on his wife : My relations with my wife my ,

respect and love for her and o u r forty years cordial

,
-

f amily l ife are too well known to o ur friends and my ,

wife is known to t o o many people fo r an article b y ,

’
some j ournal i st o r other to do her reputation any harm .

In D ecember 1 898 he wrote As fo r myself I have ,

been quite absorbed f or a couple o f months past in my

novel (R esu r r ecti on ) which is progressing and o f which
, ,
’
I b egin to see the end .

O n 2 4t h D ecember he wrote me : T ch er t k o f writes

that he do es not wish to and cannot attend fu r ther
,

to the a ffairs of the D oukhobors pa r t of which consists,

of the publication and sale of the translations of my

novel s o we are obliged to place all our hopes
on you Ashamed as I am to ask you to take on
.

yours elf a new task aft er you have j ust finished your
,

labour for the common cause I cannot do otherwis e , .

So then dear friend pleas e do not refus e t o

, ,
’
help us and reply soon to s et our minds at rest
, , .

Circumstances prevented my undertaking that work ,

272 LE O T OLS T O Y
diminish their armaments ; b ut that armies will first
diminish and then disappear when public opinion ,

brands with contempt those who whether from fear ,

o r fo r advant ag e sell their liberty and enter the ranks

,
’
o f those murderers c al led soldiers N o t the reforma
.

tion o f Government but the utter rej ection of Govern

ment was his line and it was never expressed more
,

harshl y nor I am tempted to add more m al aprop os

, , ,

than o n this occasion .

In a letter to me in Janu ar y 1 90 0 he wrote

My he al th has not been good al l this time ; but
as in order t o die there is but o n e way namely by
, ,

b e m g ill j ust as in order to move from o n e place to

—

a nother there is no way except to get into a c ar ri ag e

or a railway car I do n o t obj ect t o my ill ness e sp eci

—
,

al ly as i t is not p ainful and allows me t o think and

,

e v en t o work I am now chiefly occupied with an ar ticle

.

o n the Labour Question I have al ready written o n

.

that subj ect , but it seems to me that I have something

’
new to say and I hope to say it simply and cle ar ly .

The book referred to was T h e S l a ver y of O ur T i m es ,

a sequel (to my mind a disapp ointing o n e ) to Wh a t

T h en M u st W e D o 9 The former work left us in doubt

.

as to the solution of the problem of p overty but it ,

de al t with re al ities and was vivid and moving T h e .

S l a ver y of O ur T i m es is more abstract and though it , ,

gives a definite reply that reply is N o n R esistance

,
-

— abstention from al l share in Government al activity .

’
This was indeed Tolstoy s main theme to a monoton
o u s extent during the last ten years o f his life

On 3 oth August he sent me a letter saying

D E AR M AU
am not writing to you with my
D E ,— I
o w n hand because I have been for some time ill with
,

my customary very weakening illness I receiv ed

, .
your p amp s y
approve of it very much It is admirably constructed.

and what is most e ssential is given .

Your article on W h a t i s Ar t ?pleased me exceedingly ,

so cle ar ly and p owerf t is the fundament al thought

’
expressed .
[This referred to an article in the Co n

t em por a r y R evi ew Au gust

,

’
Tolstoy s health continued to be very unsatisfactory ,

and his work was frequently interrupted M ention o f .

this occur s in a letter to me on 2 3r d November 1 900

Before moving to M oscow I visited my daughter ,

Tanya in the country and there had influenza o r

,

something o f that kind ; at any rate since then for

more than a month I have felt very weak and dis
inclined to work At fir st this distressed me but
.

no w I beg in t o get accustomed to it One can learn .

’
to live without mental activit y if only one s mor al
activity does not cease and that is what I aim at
,
’
with more or less success .

As the months wore o n his state o f health became,

more and more critical and on 1 8th January 1 90 1,

he w rote
I was quite unwell kind friend M aude when I
, ,

asked to write to you for me Now I am better .

and add these lines to say a few more words My .

il l ness consisted o f suppressed feverishness causing ,

great weakness and at times intensifying my usu al

liver disease .

W hen I am in a good S p iritu al state I am glad o f ,

my approaching liberation from the body But when .

I am c ar ried away by my w ish to do things I have

’
planned I regret my lack of strength
, .

On 2 5t h M ar ch 1 90 1 he wrote
D E AR F RI E N D ,
—
I hav e receiv ed y our g ood letter .

1 8
2 74 LEO T O LSTO Y
As to the money your wife wishes to give for useful
work [money received from her translation o f R esu r
r ect i o n ] I have no advice to give The D ouk hobors
.
,

thank God are well o ff in Canada and I think there is

, ,

no particular need in Yakutsk So de al with the

.

mone y as God puts in your hear t Your loving —

L TO L ST O Y .

On 2 zu d February that ye ar the H oly Synod had

startled the world by launching against Tolstoy a decree
of Excommunication It concluded with the words
.

M any of those near to him retaining their faith

, ,

re fl ect with sorrow that he at the end of his days

, ,

remains without faith in God and in our Lord and

Saviour having rej ected the blessings and prayers o f
,
’
the Chur ch and al l communion with her .

The Countess at once wrote to the Procurator o f

the Holy Synod and the M etrop olitan Bishop Antoniu s
a letter in which she said W hen I see this E x co m
m u n i ca t i o n pronounced by the Church t o which I
belong and to which I sh al l always belong
, whose ,

mission is to proclaim the law of charity the remission ,

of sins love o f o u r enemies and of those that hate

,

us whose duty towards all is to pray for all then I am

,

at a loss to understand This Excommun i cation will

c al l forth not the approval but the indignation of
,

men and w i ll bring Leo Nikolayevich fresh demonstra

,

tion of love and sympathy They are alread y coming

.

to us from al l parts o f the world

The decree produced a t r e m en d ou s sen sat i o n and ,

in some people it aroused anger and hatred ag ainst

Tolstoy cul minating in threats to murder him His
, .

b ooks were excluded from some o f the public libraries .

The newspapers were forbidden to mention demonstra

tions made in his honour The C ensor stopped the
.
2 76 LEO T OLS T OY
( )
2 abolition of S pecial enactments overriding the
Common Law ; (3) liberty o f education and (4) ,

Religious liberty .

’
Such he concluded ar e the modest and easily
, ,

re al izable desires we believe o f the immen se maj ority

, ,

of the R ussian p e 0 p 1e The adoption o f these measures

.

would undoubtedly p acify the pe 0 p 1e and free them

from those terrible sufferings and (what is worse than
su fferings) crimes which will inevitably be committed
,

o n b oth sides if the Government busies itself onl y

with the suppression of disturbances leaving their ,
’
cause untouched Only if this is done said Tolstoy
.
,

t o the Tsar can your p osition be safe and really

,
’
strong .

R ead in the light o f subsequent events the letter

appe ar s truly prophetic .

Andrew D W hite who was American M inister at

.
,

Petersburg giving an account of a visit he p aid t o

,

Tolstoy remarks that in a land which had till then

, ,

known no public body in which the discussion o f lar ge

public questions was al lo wed a R ussian thinker from , ,

lack o f meeting other men of similar c al ibre to his

‘
own , having given birth to striking ideas coddles ,

and pets them until they become the ful l grown sp oilt -

children of his brain He can see neither spot nor

.

blemish in them and at last virtu al ly believes himself

’
infallible He applies these remarks t o Tolstoy and
.
,

adds that his love o f humanity real though it certain l y ,

is is accompanied by a depreciation o f the ideas

, ,

statements and proposals of al most every other

human being and by virtual intolerance of al l thought
,
’
which differs in the slightest degree from his own .

W hite says all this whil e fully admitting the influence

’
o f Tolstoy s striking and sincere personality and I ,

c annot deny that if instead o f hav ing his work s sup

 ILLNESS AN D EXCO MMU NI CATION 277

pressed Tolstoy had had them fairly criticized it would

have been good b oth for him and for them .

Whi te records several characteristic remark s Tolstoy

made t o hi m Spea king o f the M ormons he said that
.
,

n o doub t t w o thi rds o f their reli gi on is deception but

-
,

o n the whole he preferred a religion which professed

t o have dug its sacred boo k o u t o f the earth to o n e ,
’
which pretended that it was let down from heaven .

’
White noticed T olstoy s habit o f gi vin g copper money
to the beggars who swarmed in M oscow even when he ,

knew they wanted it for vodk a In reply t o a remon

.

strance Tolstoy s ai d that in such cases the resul ts o f

,

o u r actions are n o t the main thing but the c ul tivation ,

o f better feel in gs in the giver .

N o doubt we har sher people o f the W est hav e much

t o learn from R ussian warm hearte dness but I always
-

felt that in thi s respect and i n some others T olstoy

, ,

held to the ways comm ended by reli gious R ussians i n

the past without sufficiently testing their soundness
, .

Af ter the excitement o f hi s Excommun i cation ,

’
Tolstoy s health whi ch had se emed t o rally again
, ,

failed hi m and in June he was seriously unwell

, .

’
Af ter a stay at his eldest daughter s he lost his way
when walki ng t o the station over fatigued himself and
,
-
,

retur ned to Yasnaya quite i ll On 2 9t h June hi s

.

strength failed and the ac tion o f his heart be came

very irre gul ar Af ter recovering from a serious crisis
.

whi ch brought hi m near t o death he remark ed t o hi s ,

daughter : The sledge was at the door and I had ,

only t o get in and go but suddenly the horses turned

’
round and the vehi cle was sent away It s a pity .
,
’
fo r it was a good sledge road and when I m ready to
.
-

’
start again it may be rough .

The impro v ement in his health did n o t last On .

278 LEO TOLSTOY
3r d July he could scarcely speak and the doct or ,

pronounced hi s con di tion very serious His complai nt .

was angina pectoris and a stay in a warmer climate

,

was recommended .

The Countess P anin gladly lent her palace at Gaspra ,

in the Cri mea to the Tolstoys when S h e heard that

,

the doctors recommended a warmer climate and the

M inister o f R ailways P rince H i l k o v (an uncle o f P rince
,

D . A H i l k o v pre viously mentioned) promptly gave

.
,

orders that a special through car should be co upled -

t o any train selected t o enable T olstoy to travel t o

,

Sevastopol without chan g ing .

At Gaspra the weather was warm and fine and ,

’
T olstoy s health improved rapi dl y Having settled .

in his new surroundings he again b egan t o write

, .

His Caucasian story H a dj i M ur a d (published after

,

his death by Nelson 85 Sons London and D odd , , ,

M ead 8c Co New York) was more o r less o f a r e

.
, ,

creation fo r him ; b ut he worked v ery seriously at

Wh a t i s R el i g i on 9
On 2 3r d September 1 90 1 he wrote t o me saying
,

M y work o n religi on progresses very slowly an d

with difficul ty in spite o f the fact that the more I
,

think o n this subj ect the more I see its importance ,

and I very much desire to express what I think

about it .

I am living amid pleasant nature and climate and

all possible comforts o f life but I feel that mental ,

energy is absent though I do not know whether this

,
’
comes from illness o r from material satisfaction .

Ch eh o f and Gorky the well k nown authors both

— - —

visited him and G o l d en w ei ser the pianist used t o

, , ,

come and play for him but in general he lived a v ery

quiet life which allowed him to concentrate o n h i s
,

work whenever he was well enough t o do so .

 280 LEO T OLSTOY
class o r section b u t o f the maj orit y the mass o f the —

’
working people -
.

Then follows an enumeration o f those demands '

the aboli tion o f special laws making pariahs o f the

peasants ; freedom to migrate ; freedom o f educa
tion freedom o f conscience and above all the whole ,

I O O million people wil l say with o n e voice that they

desire freedom to use the land that is to say the —
,
’
aboli tion of private property in land .

Apart from the wisdom o r otherwise o f his specific

proposals what attracts o n e always in T olstoy is h i s
,

courage sincerity and ardent desire that the co n

,

di t i o n s of life of the people should b e impro v ed .

His illness was at this time complicated by i n fla m m a

tion of the lungs In February he was bett er but in
.
,
’
M ay he was again at death s door this time with ,

enteric fever Once more his marvellous recuperative

.

p ower manifested itself and at last in June his

, , ,

homeward j ourney began T o o weak to be driv en

.

by road he was taken to Sevastop ol by steamer

, .

The chief work he wrote during his stay at Gaspra

was Wh a t i s R el i gi on P (E ssays a n d L ett er s ) .

Whenever he took a great subj ect and chewed the

cud o f reflection about it if only he was not drawn
,

astray by his pet prej udices he produced a master ,

piece ; and that this admirable essay is n o t b etter

known can only be explained by supp osing that it
,

has been swamped in the stream of N on Resistant -

articles which preceded and succeeded it .

After Wh a t i s R el i gi o n P T olstoy wrote nothing of

equ al scope and imp ortance though one o r t w o notable
,

utterances were still to come .

In August 1 902 I once more visited him The .

plain substantial country house at Yasnaya room y

,
- —

and well adapted to its purp ose though with old ,

 ILLNE SS AN D EXCO MM UNICA T I O N 28 1

f ashioned rather b ar e furniture worn b ar e bo ar d

, ,
-

fl oors in many of the rooms and window frames that -

needed repairs and renewal made a different i m —

pression o n me each time I went there On this .

occasion the l ar ge grounds seemed even more neg lected

,

and overgro w n than o f yore as though announcing

,

that their former master was absorbed in matters

more serious than the trimness o f his gardens .

Tolstoy himself had su fficiently recovered his health

’
t o be able to go for a two hour s wal k though o n
-

returning home he was glad t o be helped upstairs .

Once or twice he dropped asleep in his chair .

He had as we know al ways been sceptical o f medicine

, ,

and doctors and it was amusing to hear the Countess

,

tell of his surprise at finding at the time o f his greatest

,

weakness that it really had a stim ulating e ffect when

,

they administered to him inj ections o f camphor .

Spe aking to his doctors when already conv al escent

, ,

he said : W ell gentlemen I have al ways sp oken

, ,

badly o f doctors but n o w that I have g o t to know

,

y o u better I see that I did

, y o u great inj ustice Y o u .

are really very good men and know al l that your

science teaches : the o n l y pity is that i t knows —

nothing
From the time o f his return from the Crimea there
was always a doctor resident at Yasnaya o n his
account ; b ut before he wo uld consent t o this he
stipulated that the doct or must also be at the dis
posal o f the neighbouring peasants .

D uring my visit I was p articularly impressed by

the atmosphere of love and respect that s urrounded
Tolstoy from al l about him and from the visitors o f
all sorts and conditions who came to see him His .

two younger daughters were doin g most o f the work

o f copyin g his M S S and assisting him with his corre
.
2 82 LEO T OLS T O Y

S p o n d en ce The elder o f the two the Princess M ary

.
,
’
Obolensky besides sharing her father s feelings and
,

outlook on life shared also his frank and friendl y

,

manner o f speech and had a remarkably good influence

,

in the fami ly .

The Countess Sophia An d r eyev n a w h o though , ,

scornful o f some of his beliefs was most solicitous ,

’
about her husband s he al th and comfort sp oke with ,

great frankness ab out both his qu al ities and limita

’
tions She said that he had an artist s e y e for clear
.

and striking characteristics but over si m p l i fied his ,

-

j udg ments o f people When he had seized o n a trait

.

’
in some one s character he often let it blind him to,

other features and on this account he did not alwa y s

read e v en his o w n children aright .

’
T olstoy s sister the Countess M ary N Tolstoy who
, .
,

had become a nun and lived at the Shamardino Convent

, ,

and t o whom desp ite the difference in their religious

,

outlook he was greatly attached was staying at the

, ,

house having obtained leave o f absence from her

,
’
Nunner y o n account of her brother s ill he al th -
.

Among the other guests were V V Stasov the well . .

,

known critic and author Head o f the Imperial Academy

,

Library at St Petersburg and M A S t ah o v i ch

.
, . .
,
'
M a r ech a l d e l a N o bl esse o f Orel both o l d friends of ,

the famil y ; also the sculptor Ginzburg who was ,

modelling a bust o f Tolstoy and T an eyev the , ,

composer who play ed a new p i ece he had written

, .

On the Sunday afternoon a Jewish clerk living in the

neighbourhood came to consult Tolstoy on religion ;
next day a telegram arrived from a friendl y Grand
D uke ; and every da y p ilgrims tramps and destitute ,

peasants called t o beg and did not go empty away

, .

The Countess mentioned that a foreign publisher

had recently o ffered a million roubles for the permanent
284 LEO T O LS T O Y

criticisms insisting earnestly o n the supreme imp ort

,

ance o f love was rather strange

, One felt as in .
,

the simil ar case o f St P aul that the tribute t o love

.
,

is the greater because uttered by one who impresses

us prim ar ily no t by his p ower o f sympathy but by his
intellectual force .

I cannot adequately describe the peaceful ye t

animated atmosphere o f the home at that time crowded ,

with vital interests throbbing with life overrun with

, ,

visitors but so influenced by the high and earnest

,

tone of the great man we al l looked up to that it felt

more bracing and peaceful than any circle I was
ever in . I see that o n leaving I j otted do wn in
, ,

m y notebook : A remarkable and kindl y famil y ,

’
ap art from Tolstoy s genius His in fluence is fel t in .

the simplicity frankness kindliness and considera

, ,
’
t ion shown t o all in the place .

In N ovember he completed his scathing Appea l t o

t h e Cl er gy (E ssa ys a n d L et t er s) which certainly hits ,

them fifty times harder than the Exco m munication

hit him . S ince Luther denounced the Catholic Church
for the s al e of Indulgences no indictment so full o f ,

moral indignation against a shameful tra fficking in

falsehood has I supp ose e v er been hurled at any b ody
, ,

o f men .

In April 1 903 he published letters protesting against

the J ew b aiting and p ogroms in Kishine v and Go m el
-
.

In these letters he expresses abhorrence o f the real ,

culprit in the whole matter namely o u r [ Russian] ,

Government with its priesthood which st u p efie s the

,

pe 0 p 1e and makes fanatics o f them and its robber ,

band of o fficials The Kishinev crime is a direct

.

consequence o f the p ropaganda of lies and violence

carried o n with such intensity and insistence by the
’
Russian Government .
 ILLNESS AN D E X CO M M U N CI AT I O N 28 5

He contributed E sa r ha dd on and two other short

stories (T w en ty th r ee T a l es) fo r the relief o f the sufferers
-

in those riots .

An article he had written in 1 8 90 o n the assassi

nation o f King Hum bert entitled T h ou S h a l t N ot K i l l
,

had been prohibited in R ussia the German edi tion o f

it was seized fo r l ese m aj est é in Jul y 1 90 3 and was ,

destroyed .

The fo l lowing is the passage the prosecution relied

on

Wh at indeed must be going o n i n the head o f some

, ,

Wil helm o f Germany a narrow mi nded ill educated

— -
,
-
,

vain man wi th the ideals o f a German Junk er when

,
—

there is nothin g he can say so stupid o r horrid that it

wi l l n o t b e met by an enthusiastic Hoch and be
commented o n by the press o f the whole world as
though it were somethi n g hi ghly important When
he says that at hi s word sol di ers should b e ready t o
, ,

kill their ow n fathers people shout Hoch

, W hen
he says that the Gospel must be introduced with an
iron fist Hoch ! When he says the army is t o
take n o prisoners in Chi na but t o S laughter everyb ody ,

he is n o t put in a lunatic asylum but pe 0 p1e shout

,

Hoch and set sail fo r China to execute hi s co m

man d s (E s say s a n d L et t
, er s p. T he next
paragraph in the article is an almost equally scathin g
description o f Nicholas II .

The events then o ccurring in Russia were such as t o

grieve T olstoy profoundly The useless and disastrous
.

war with Japan outraged not only his religious prin

ci p l es but also a latent patriotism the existence o f
,

which he had hardly suspected in him self until he

nearly wept at the news o f the fall o f P ort Arthur .

B et h i n k You r sel ves a vigorous denunciation o f that

,

war and o f war in general was written in M ay 1 904

, , .
28 6 L EO T OLS T O Y
Then came the rapid growth o f the R evolutionary
movement in R ussia T o some o f us the outs t anding
.

need o f the situation appeared to b e the establi shment

o f a Constitutional Government which would ma k e law

supreme over the caprice o f o fficials and even over the

Tsar himsel f Feeling in this way o ur s ym pathies
.
,

went o u t particularly t o the Leaders o f the Co n st i t u

t i o n al movement The dangerous pe 0 p1e were o n the
.
,
’
o n e hand the Tsar s entourage fightin g t o hold their
, ,

places power and perquisites and o n the other

, , ,

hand the zealots who wished by a coup de m a i n t o

,
- -

in fl ict a millen n i um o n the people .

At that moment o f doubt and confusion there was ,

n o man in Russia whose word would have b een more

useful to the Constitutionali sts had he cared t o support

,

them than T olstoy He had of lat e repeate dly and

, .

scathingly condemned the T sardom and its methods

n o t less uncompromisingly had he denounced the R evo

l u t i o n a r y movement and the Socialists T o many it .

seemed that the logic o f the situation would oblige him

t o throw his weight o n the side o f the Constitutional
re f ormers : the Z emstvo leaders the moderate p r ac , ,

tical experienced and e fficient workers w h o were

,
.

clai m i n g fo r themselves a larger sphere of national

u se ful ness .

But Tolstoy would n o t budge and the P rincess Mary ,

O bolensky wrote me from Pirogovo o n 2 2 u d January ,

1 90 5 I have lately returned from Yasnaya where I ,

spent two months My father was well b ut he is

.
,

tormented b y demands made o n him to take part in

current events The Liberals want t o draw him into
.

their camp the Conservatives into theirs and the

, ,

Re v olutionaries into theirs and he does n o t belong to

,

any o n e o f them and only asks to be left in peace

, .

P eople do not understand and d o n o t admi t his point

288 LEO T OLSTO Y

An dr eyevn a hersel f must of

course also be as k ed I f .

’
she has n o obj ection then yo u can d o your business
, .

The Countess whose sufferings were extreme was

, ,

strongly in favour o f the operation which was per ,

fo rmed ; and af ter three critical days the patient ,

b eg an t o re g ain streng th and w ithin a month was

,

q uite well.

I visited them late in Octo b er later in the year than —

ever before and the autumnal aspect o f the scene

—

as I dro v e through woodland and o v er pleasant un

d ul a t i n g country fo r the t w o miles from the railwa y
station may ha v e had something t o do with the
’
impression that came over me when I reached T ols t oy s
house W hen I had visited it in 1 90 2 it had been f ul l
.

o f visitors coming and g oin g day b y da y No w I .

f ound only memb ers o f the family the atmosphere ,

was quie t er and the pulses o f life throb b ed less s t rongly

, .

T olstoy himself had been better in health that summer ,

b ut at the time o f my visit was suffering as he fr e ,

quently did from digestive troub les His daughter

, .

M ary P rincess O b olensky was n o t wel l and her

, , ,

weakness seemed t o b e re fl ected in the whole atmos

p h e r e o f the place .

D uring the afternoon o f the day I arri ved T olstoy

rode over t o Tula o n horseb ack Another S ign o f .

impro v ement in his health was that he again played

chess and did so I was t old e v ery evening he could
, , ,

find an O pponent .

W ith the Revolution he expressed n o sympathy .

’
No impro v ement in a people s condition can b e
’
e ffected that does n o t rest on a m or a l basis said he , ,

and for him it was a settled axiom that n o political

action could rest o n such a basis That is where he .

di ffers from P rin c e D A H i l k o v w h o once wrote

. .
,

t o him I admi t tha t we all o f us ha v e t o di e and ,

 IL L NESS AND EXCO M MUNICATION 2 89

tha t work o n earth should be t o fulfil the wi l l o f

o ur

G o d as each o f us understands it But why not admit

.

that it is possible fo r men S incerely t o b elieve that it is

’
God s will that they should devote themselv es to
replacing the present Government o f R ussia by a
be tter o n e
Soon after my visit a great affl iction befell T olstoy .

His daughter Mary who was very near and dear

,

t o him died o f pneumonia after a very short illness

, .

I did n o t go t o Yasnaya again till 1 90 9 when the ,

’
whole place seemed di ff erent Instead o f M ary s .

benign spiri t o n e f elt the very di fferent infl uence

of V G T ch er t k o f w h o had r et ur n ed fr o m England
. .
,

and was relentlessly fomen t ing discord between

T olstoy and his wife .

’
In M a y 1 90 7 T olstoy s eldest daughter T atiana
, , ,

M adame S uh o t i n wrote t o me M y father read your

‘

, .

letter with great interest and pleasure and told me ,

t o write to yo u and thank y o u fo r it He hi mself .

latterly gets v ery easil y tired and therefore tries t o

,

d o less mental wor k D uring the last t w o months

.

he has had t w o f ainting fits with complete loss o f

memory which in g eneral has been gettin g much
,

wea k er with him .

He says that he is glad o f it and that he only ,

forgets al l that is unnecessary but remembers wha t

is necessary And that is perfectly true ; in the
.

moments after hi s fai nt when he had quite f orgotten

,

all external affai rs he remembered that he had t o

,

b e amiable to us all and n o t gri e v e us b y refusing to

’
d o what we wanted him t o d o fo r h i s health s
’
sak e .

During his last years Tolstoy again held classes fo r

village children He read and told them stories and
.

leg ends and spo k e o f lif e and its duti es From thes e .

I
9
290 LEO TOLSTO Y
c las ses in 1 90 8 grew his b ook T h e T ea ch i n g of Jesu s
, , ,

(Harper Bros London

.
, and New Yor k ) .

His most striking utterance that year and his —

last great utterance was the article I Ca n n ot B e

—

S i l en t protestin g aga inst the hangings inflicted by

,

the Government not merely for the suppression but ,

even after the suppression o f the R evolution The , .

article which was w ritten with intense feeling p r o

, ,

d u ce d a great sensation .

It contains an account o f how men were b eing hanged

by the dozen with cords well soaped to tighten
— -

b etter round their throats and o n e is made acutely

—

’
conscious o f the suffering T olstoy s conscience in flicted
o n him fo r his o w n connection with the ruling classes ,

whose S afety was protected by such means T owards .

the end he says

I f rankly confess it I hope my exposure o f those
men will o n e way o r other evoke the expulsion I
, ,

desire from the set in which I am n o w li ving and in

which I cannot b ut feel myself to be a part icipator in
the crimes committed around me It is impossible .

t o li v e so I at any rate cannot and will not live so

, , .

That is why I write this and w ill circulate it by all

,

means in my power both in R ussia and abroad that

, ,

o n e o f two things may happen either that these

inhuman deeds may b e stopped o r that my connection ,

w ith them may be snapped and I put in prison where ,

I may be clearly conscious that these horrors are n o t

committed o n my behalf ; o r still better (so g ood ,

that I dare not even dream o f such happiness) that ,

they may put o n me as o n those twenty o r twelve

,
’
peasants [whose fate he had mentioned] a shroud ,
‘

and a cap and may push me also o ff a bench so that

, ,

by my o w n weight I may tighten the well soaped noose -

’
round my o l d throat .
29 2 LEO TOLSTO Y
him and when I inquired ab out his health he repl ied :
,

Always nearer to death and that is good At my

, .

’
age o n e cannot j ump and run and one s memory fails
,

b ut what o f that ? Physical and mental strength

decrease b ut something else (moral strength ) greatly
,

in c reases I would o n no accoun t exchange wha t I

.

am now fo r what I was sixty years ago

,

H e complained that his facult y for remembering

names was failing an d that in writing he found it
,

difficult to a v oid repeating himself as he could not r e,

member what he had alread y said but his conversa

tion was still p ointed animated and vigorous and he
, ,

played chess in the evening almost as well as he had

done when I first play ed with him fifteen years before, .

’
H e had been reading Bern ard Shaw s plays and ,

said : Shaw is original and many O f his sayings are

‘
,

quite admirable and deserve t o become quotations ;

but he has the defect of w i shi n g t o be original and
t o take his readers b y surprise That is a p it y
. .

One desires to merge into the mind of an author one

likes and to do so is imp ossible if he is b ent on saying
,
’
unexpected things Tolstoy was much interested t o
.

hear o f the plot of B l a n co P o sn et (then not yet pub

l i sh ed ) which he thought very promising and he
,
—

wished t o read the play because as he said t o man y

, , ,
’
pe 0 p 1e the working of man s conscience is the onl y
proof o f the existence o f a God .

On my return to England I told Shaw o f this and he ,

sent Tolsto y the play with a letter in which h el sa i d

,

MY C
D E AR T
O U NT I send y o u herewith
O L S T O Y, -
,

through our friend Aylmer M aude a copy of a little ,

play called T h e S h ow i n g U p of B l a n co P o sn et Show .

ing up is American slang for unmasking a hyp ocrite .

In form it is a ver y crude melodrama which migh t

 I LL NE S S A ND EXCO MM UN ICA T ION 29 3

be play ed in a min i ng cam p t o the roughest

audience .

It is if I may say so the sort o f play that you do

, ,

extraordin ar ily well I remember nothin g in the

.

whole range o f drama that fascinated me more than

the o l d soldier in your P ow er of D a r kn ess One o f .

the things that struck me in that play was the feeling

that the preaching of the o l d man right as he was , ,

co uld never be o f any use that it coul d onl y anger

—

his son and rub the last grains of self respect out o f -

him But what the pious and good father c oul d not
‘

do the o l d rascal o f a soldier did as if he was the

vo rce o f God To me that scene where the two
.

dru n k ards are wallowing in the straw and the older ,

rasc al lifts the younger o n e ab ove his cowardice and

his selfishness has an intensity o f e ffect that no merel y
,

romantic scene could p ossibly attain ; and in B l a n co

P osn et I hav e exploited in my o w n fashion this mine
of dramatic material which you were the fir st t o open
’
up t o modern pla ywrights .

D ur ing our conversations after making (as he ,

’
oft e n did ) a p assing reference t o God s gu idance ,

Tolstoy remarked in p arenthesis I speak o f a

p e r so n a l God whom, I do not acknowledge for the ,
’
s ak e of convenience of expression This recalled to
.

my mind what he had sa id to me twelve years before ,

’
when he remarked that There are two Gods and ,

went o n t o explai n
There is the God pe 0 p 1e gener al ly believe i n a —

God w h o has to ser ve t h em (sometimes in very refined

ways perhaps by merel y giving them peace o f mind )
, .

This God does not exist But the G o d whom people

.

forget the G d w h om w e a l l h a ve t o ser ve does

—
o —

exist and is the prime cause o f o ur existence and o f

’
al l tha t we perceiv e .
294 LEO T OLS T OY

I was impressed by the eager interest this man o f

eighty two who was wheeled about the room i n a
-

bath chair took in life and by his keen enj oyment

-
, ,

o f everything that made fo r the triumph o f the causes

he had at heart T o the utmost limit of his strength

.
,

he still worked as persever i n gly as ambitious men in

their prime work to mak e a fortune or win a p osition ,

and as ardently as young men strive to win the

a ffection of their beloved .

On the whole however my last visit to T olsto y left

on my mind a sad impression for there were many ,

signs that the feud T ch er t k o f was carryin g o n against

the Countess (which is referred to in the next chapter )
was creating a p a i n ful situation under the strain of
which her nerves were giving way .

’
T he loss of M ary s calming in fluence was distinctly
felt Her younger sister Alexandra was under
.
, ,
’
T ch er t k o f s sway at that time and was evidentl y his
,

active partisan against her mother .

One incident may serve as an illustration While .

I was there cinematograph operators from P ath e

,

Fr eres arrived asking permission to take Tolsto y and

his famil y in his o w n grounds It transp ired that .

’
Tolstoy had been cinematographed at T ch er t k o f s by ,

another fir m who wanted it to be exclusive The .

Countess wished T olstoy to be taken also at Yasnay a ,

but Alexandra was against it Tolstoy wavered . .

At fir st he refused and then when he heard

, ,
’
that P ath e s men were going to give a free perform
ance that evening in the open a i r to the vil l agers ,

he relented and promised to be taken next morning .

Unfortunately when the performance should have

,

ended the vil lagers asked for more and the Operators
, ,

showed the only remaining reel they had with them

a R ussian l egend in which a merchan t seduces a
 CH A PT E R XVIII

LAS T D AYS
’
0 tell the s ad story of T olstoy s last days is
n o t an easy task for only a few people ha v e
,

fir st hand knowledge o f the facts— and the

-

statements they have made are n o t at fir st sight

easily reconcilable All I can do is to piece together
.

the narrative as it presents itself to me after co n

s i d er i n g the published evidence as well as information

given me priv ately by some o f those w h o were at

’
T olsto y s death bed -
.

Count Ilya Tolstoy in his R em i n i scen ces of T ol st oy

1
,

( Chapman Hall , gives the best account o f

’
T olstoy s end He is convinced that if his sister M ar y
.

had then been alive with her good in fluence her , ,

’
understanding o f her father s views her insight into ,

character and the confidence every one felt in her

, ,

events would have fallen o u t very differently That .

conviction I fully S hare .

’
M ary s place had been taken by her y oung er
and less experienced sister the Countess Alexandr a , ,

who was quite under the in fluence o f V G . .

T ch er t k o f and w h o played a large p art in the e v ents

,
’
which led to T olstoy s death She was at that time .

passing through the hard dogmatic phase often ex

’
1
C o u n t Il ya i T o l t o y s s e c o n d s o
s s a d th o n e m o s t in fl u n c e d
n , n e e
’
b y h i s f t h e r s v ie w
a s.
 LA S T D A YS 29 7
’
p er i en ce d b y peo ple influenced by Tolstoy s views ,

before the y have ful ly digested them .

From about the year 1 90 0 Tolstoy had definitel y

a rr a nged with T ch er t k o f that the latter should have

the fir st publication in Russian and in English of an y

further work s Tolstoy might w rite and he wrote t o ,

me o n 1 9t h Febru ar y 1 90 1 explainin g why he felt

, ,
’
bound t o supp ort T ch er t k o f s undertaking He .

‘
said : The chief thin g for me is that after all the ,

labour he has S pent I cannot disapp oint his expecta

,

tions and instead of aiding him hinder his work My

, , .

help in his work is limited to the fact that all my new

w ritings (if there are an y more ) I issue fir st o f all
through h im letting everybody if they c are to make
, , ,
’
use o f them afterwards as they plea se .

’
T olstoy s perplexities as to the disp os al of his
literary property resul ted in his very reluctantly
mak i n g a wil l and this app ar entl y led to his leaving
,

home and t o his death

, .

The reader knows that Tolstoy taught that there

should be no such th i ng as property and that rather ,

than excite any i l l w il l we S hould allow any o n e t o

-

take a nything we p ossess He was however kee nl y

.

anxious that the views expressed in his writings should

be published in the way most likely to secure a wide
distribution He had received much help in his
.

prop aganda from T ch er t k o f and felt himself bound

,
’
in gratitude strenuously t o assist that gentleman s
undertakings Tolstoy was indeed indefatigable in
.

writin g testimonials for him and in tryin g to r e ,

concil e t o him the many pe 0 p 1e with whom T ch er t k o f

was in sharp conflict .

T ch er t k o f had set his heart on obtaining full control

’
o f Tolstoy s works on having the first publication o f
,

them besides p ossessing the original manuscripts and ,

29 8 LEO TOLS T OY
editing them as he pleased This brought him into .

conflict with the Countess Tolstoy w h o for ne arly fift y ,

’
years had been closely connected with her husband s
literary works had devoted immense labour to copying
,

them o u t sorting them and publishing them and had

, ,

( as long ag o as 1 8 94) dep osited a large quantity o f his

M S S for safe keep ing in a public museum
. She has .

since produced evidence (in cluding that o f the custodian

in the museum ) to prove that these M S S were given .

her by Tolstoy .

In the struggle between these t w o which did n o t end

—
’ ’
even after Tolstoy s death — T ch er t k o f s success 1 s regis
’
t er ed by the successive st ag es of Tolstoy s will making -

’
for strange to say in his e fforts to sup port T ch er t k o f s
, ,

plans for the propaganda of the teaching that we

should discard property and sacrifice everything fo r
the sake o f concord Tolstoy ul t imately consented to ,

make a formal will bequeathing a legal copyright in ,

all his works .

The stages o f this development may seem dry

to the reader but are necessary for an understanding
,

o f what followed They were these As already . .

narrated T olstoy had in 1 891 published a statement

,

that he gave every o n e a free right to publish any

th ing he had written since 1 881 o r that he might ,

thereafter write .

Next in his D iary 2 7t h M arch 1 895 he dra f ted a

, , ,

will o r memorandum for the guidance o f those w h o

,

should survive him saying : I req u est that all my ,

papers may fo r revision and assortment be handed

to my wife to T ch er t k o f and to [N N ] Strahov
, . .

W ith reference t o the ri ght o f publishing former works

o f mine those written before 88 in respect f
[ 1 1 o ,

which he had al lowed his wife t o exercise the copy

right] I hereby request yo u my heirs to transfer , ,
3 00 LEO T OLS T O Y
f reely acc essib le t o al l w h o may desire t o mak e use o f
them fo r pub lication .

A w ill o f tha t kind had n o le g al v alidity and though ,

that woul d n o t mat t er from the T olstoyan point o f

view which repudi ates property it mattered from
, ,

t he point o f view o f T ch er t k o f w h o wished t o have

,

possession o f the documents and t o pub lish t h e ,

p osthumous wor k s while every o n e else was helpless .

The next stage is recorded in an article b y F , A .

Straho v (a relation o f N N Strahov) published in

. .

the S t P et er s bur g G azett e 6 t h Novemb er 1 91 1

.
, An .

editorial note prefacing this article comments o n the

profound mystery en v eloping the preparation o f
the will its composition and finally the sign ing o f the
, ,

document T olsto y considered it necessary t o hide the

.

truth even f rom his wife In this way he was in v olved

.

in S harp contradiction with himself fo r the conceal ,

ment o f the t ruth c o ul d not possib ly harmoniz e wi th

his fundamental views Wh o knows whether the
.

hea v y b urden o f k eeping this secret from hi s wife

di d n o t b ecome t o o unendurab le fo r him and whe ther ,

this is not the e x planation o f his sudden departure

f rom Y asnaya ?

F A Straho v it appears from this article was sent

. . , ,
’
b y T ch er t k o f to Yasnaya t o try to secure T olstoy s
approval t o a new will drafted by T ch er t k o f Strahov .

says the business was explained t o me at a pre

,

liminary con sultation with T ch er t k o f and the j uris

’
consult N K Mu r a vev
. . T ch er t k o f had decided that
.

the ab ove mentioned will o f 1 8th September 1 90 9 was

-

unsatis f actory and that it would be better for T olstoy

t o lea v e his copyrigh t s and the originals o f his work s
t o some definite person .

The t w o people w h o had had most to d o with the

’
pub lica tion o f T ols t oy s work s had b een the Countess
 LAST D AYS 3 01

and T ch er t k o f and to set the former aside and gi ve

,

full authority t o the latter needed n o t an informal

wi ll (such as that o f 1 8t h September but o n e
establi shing absolute copyright by form al legal
guarantees .

But T ch er t k o f had so defin i tely and publicly co m

m i t t e d him self to the n o copyright principle and it
-

would have been so invidious for him to oust the

’
whole of Tolstoy s family that to quote his o w n ,

words (Appendix II pp 2 2 8 9 T h e D i a r i es of L eo
, .
—
,

T ol stoy. You t h D ent

. Sons Lo ndon 1 91 7) There , ,

was made at my request an alteration in that

, , I ,

had n o desire to assume the position o f the j uridical

heir Hence I begged him [Tolstoy] to choo se for the
.

purpo se such members o f hi s family as he coul d b es t

trust in the matter Th erefore T olstoy named as his
.

offi cial heir his youngest daughter the Counte ss ,

Alexandra L v o vn a Tolstoy All three o f u s

.

lo oked upon t h e arrangement as destined t o c o n f i n e

’
the Count ess Alexandra s t ask t o that o f
’
s e c u r i n g t o m e unh i n d e r e d d i s p o s a l o f T ol s t oy s
’
li t erary lega cy .

’
In S t r ah o v s account o f hi s visit to Yasnaya he sa ys
that the presence o f the Countess Tolstoy at Yasnaya
was extremely undesirable for the business o n whi ch
’
I was go i ng and he supposed her still t o be in M oscow
,
’
where I had met her However t o hi s di smay he
.
,

encountered her at the station at Yasnaya she ha ving ,

come from M oscow by the same trai n as himself He .

nevertheless walk ed to the house and managed t o

’
find hi s way to T olstoy s room without again meeting
her . In a few words I explained to T olstoy the
necessity o f compo sing a formal wil l leavin g the c opy
r ight to a specific person and I placed be fore him the
,

draft will [the draft drawn up by T ch er t ko f and his

3 02 LE O TOLSTOY
legal ad viser] asking him t o read it and S ign it if he
,

agreed t o its contents Tolstoy at once began t o

.

read the dra f t and having read it all i m m e di

, ,

ately wrote at the end that he a g reed t o its provisions ,

but then having considered a little he added

, , Th i s ,

wh o l e a f f a i r o p p r e s s e s m e ! A n d t h e r e i s n o
’
need t o s afeguard the dissemination o f one s
t h o u gh t s b y m e a n s o f v a r i o u s l e g al i t i e s .

Ha ving said this Tolstoy left the room and I '

remained alone doubtful whether t o reply t o his

,

declaration o r t o leav e Yasnaya without havi ng

’
ac c omplished anything .

When T olstoy returned Strahov feel ing bound t o

, ,

t ry t o fulfil the mission o n which he had b een sent ,

s ai d t o him : I understand and appreciate the moral

height from which yo u j udge this affair but the con ,

di t i o n s o f t o day are such that if you do nothi ng t o

-

ensure the public utilization o f your writings yo u there ,

b y in di rectly aid the establish ment o f propert y rights

therein b y your family But if yo u arrange t o leave
.

them t o an heir (be it even as pri v ate property only t o ,

some o n e t o whom your publicly expressed w i shes w ill

’
b e sacred) yo u wi ll secure their public utilization He .

then continued [and though the voice was the voice

o f Strahov t h e arguments were the arguments o f
T ch er t k o f who k new t o a nicety how t o touch the
,
’
t ender spots o f T olstoy s conscience] I do n o t conceal
from yo u how painful it is for us your friends when we
, ,

hear reproaches aimed at yo u t o the e ffect that despite ,

your condemnation o f landed property you n ever t h e ,

less transferred your estates t o your wife and your

children . Equally painful will it be to hear it said
that although yo u certainly knew that your declara
,

tion o f 1 891 had no legal validi ty yo u did nothing t o,

s ecure the carr yi n g o u t o f your wishes and there by ,

304 LE O T OLS T O Y

Bu t L eo Nik olaye vich wha t is your wish with

, ,

re ference t o all those writings the income fo r whi ch

has hitherto b een enj o y ed by Sophia An d r eyevn a and
whi ch she is accustomed t o consider as your gi f t t o her ,

and there fore as her o w n prop erty ? I int erpo sed ,

’
am az ed a t T olstoy s decision .

About all that I can g i v e private ins t ru ctions t o

Sasha and she will see that my wishes are carried o u t
, ,
’
but in the will let it stand all t o her alone said ,

T olstoy . As to my unpublished work s : H a dj i

M u r a d etc
, I should like the first receipts from
.

them to b e used to redeem the land f or the Yasnaya

P olyana peasants That is a thin g I have lon g desi r ed
. .

But all those details and minor poin t s I will con

sider with T ch er t k o f .

At evening tea [while T olstoy was o u t o f the room]

Sophia An d r eye vn a asked me why I had come ? As
b esides the chie f a ffair I had another errand namely , ,

t o sub mit a draft o f alterations T ch er t k o f had made

’
in T olstoy s last article I t i s T i m e t o U n der sta n d I was
, ,

ab le with a light heart t o i nform her o f that naturally ,

remaining silent about my principal mission .

An hour later I started f or the t rain to Mos c ow ,

first informing T ch er t k o f by telegraph o f the resul t o f

’
m y c on v ersation with T ols t oy .

The o b j ect o f my second j ourney t o Yasnaya P oly

ana was t o take t o Tolstoy for signature o r be t ter still ,

fo r him t o copy o u t in h i s o w n hand the wor di ng o f the

,
’
will which had been prepared by the lawyer M u r a vev .

Strahov goes o n to explain his anxiety lest Tols t o y

should decline t o copy o u t t h e will and as t o h o w the
,

necessary witnesses could b e smuggled into the house .

He was accompanied by A B G o l d en w ei ser the

. .
,

pianist The latter who had pre viousl y been initiat ed

. ,
 LAS T D AYS 3 05

into the a ffair and had expressed his readi ness to co

operate took the document I had prepared listened to
, ,

all necessary instructions from T ch er t k o f and entered ,

the train w i th me .

’
At T el ya t i n a [T ch er t k o f s estate near Yasnaya]
’
I di d not find T ch er t k o f s steward P S An ur i n , . .
,

who had been selected by T ch er t k o f to serve as a

witness he had s t arted early that morning t o fetch
’1
another witness M V B u l i g i n , . . .

’
Strahov mentions that when dr i ving t o the Tolstoys
he felt some gnawings o f conscience at ha ving to hide
hi mself from Countess Sophia An d r eye vn a He achieved .

his p u rpose however and while he was witnessing the

, ,

w ill (which Tolstoy copied out ) the latter shut both ,

doors o f his study o n e after the other I confess it felt

, .

strange and unusual to see him in the mi le of o n e ta king

precautions against unwelcome visitors I cannot ex .

press what a relief I felt when the precious document ,

quite complete was rolled up by G o l d en w ei ser and we

, ,
’
b oth lef t the study .

’
T ch er t k o f s sister i n law w h o was also initiated
- -
,
’
into the affair happened to be at Yasnaya and was
, ,

the fir st person to hear an account of the successful

’
accomplishment o f my mission .

Strahov then tells how having left the house for a ,

few hours he returned now S imply in the character o f

,

an ordinary guest and as if nothing had happened , ,

di ned there watched Tolstoy playing chess with

,
’
G o l d en w ei ser and B u l i gi n and about ele v en o clock , ,

after evening tea left the house } , ,

Biddi ng farewell to Sophia An dr eyevn a I looked ,

attentively at her face Complete tranqui llity and .

cordiality towards the departing guests was so clearly

expressed o n it that I had no doubt o f her enti re
1 B l i gi
u n h, in g w h t w s o h a n d d ecli n d t o a ct
on ea r a a n , e .

20
3 06 LE O T OL S T OY
la c k of suspicion I dr o v e o ff with the pleasant con
.

sci o usn ess o f a care f ull y a c compl ished tas k des t ined ,

t o ha v e histo r ic consequences Onl y a small worm

.

b u rrowed within me I t was the gnawing o f co n

.

science c ausing me some disqu ietude as t o the con

,
’
sp i r a t o r i al charac t er o f o u r cond uct .

This will a f ter all did n o t gi v e full satis fa c tion and

, , ,

yet another w as prepared t o meet the e v entualit y o f

Ale x andra dyin g b e f ore her f ather Thi s last wi l l .

’
T olsto y copied o ut in the f ore st near T ch er t k o f s
house sittin g o n the s t ump o f a t ree
, .

It w as dated 2 2 n d July 1 91 0 and said that an yt hing

,

wi thou t e x ception that I may ha v e written t o the da y

o f m y death t ogether with the right o f li t erar y
propert y in all my productions and the manuscri p ts
themselv es I do b equeath into the full
possession o f m y daughter Ale xandra L vo vn a T ols t o y ,

or , i f the said daughter Ale x andra should predecease

me into the ful l p o ssession o f my daugh t er T a tiana
,
’
L vo vn a S uh o t i n .

Even this had t o b e supplemen t ed and T ch er t ko f ,

’
drew up an Explanatory Note whi ch T ols t o y S i gned ,

o n 3 1 st July 1 91 0 s t atin g that

,

In as much as Leo Nikolayevich T olst oy has

i ndited a tes t ament whereby he bequeaths the whole
o f his wri t ings t o his daughter Alexandra L v o v n a

T olstoy it i s necessary to state

, his wishes
as follows : (I ) That his writings S hall remain
publishable and republishable by all who may desire -

t o use them ; (2 ) That all p apers extant at the time o f

his death sh al l be handed t o V G T ch er t k o f
. that
.

he may examine such documents and publish what

he may consider suitable In regard t o the material
.

aspect L eo N i k olayevich requests the said V G

, . .

T ch er t k o f t o t ransact all business in conn ect ion w it h

3 08 LEO T OLS T O Y
Both h i s wife and T ch er t k o f expected to control his
work s after his death If he did nothing the rights
.
,

would go to his wife and t o his children but he was ,

(rightly o r wrongly
) persuaded that T ch e r t k o f could
and would publish them in some manner more co n
sonant with the principles of his teaching .

Ilya Tolstoy in his R em i n i scen ces without mention ,

’
ing T ch er t k o f by name tells a story o f the latter s
,

relations with Leo Tolstoy In his last years Tolstoy

.

de v oted much time and care to preparing a comp ilation

of p assages in harmony with his own outlook o n life ,

selected from the works o f various writers Of this .

,

Ilya says : W hen my Father made up his mind t o

compile the collection of the sayings o f the wise to ,

which he gave the name A Ci r cl e of R ea di n g he told ,

o n e of his friends about i t A few days afterwards this

.

friend came t o see him again and at once told him ,

that he and his wife had been thinking over his scheme
for the new b ook and had come t o the conclusion that
he ought to call it For E ver y D a y instead o f A Ci r cl e ,

of R ea di n g . To this my Father replied that he pre

ferred the title A Ci r cl e cf R ea di n g because the word ,

Circle suggested the idea of continuous reading ,

which was what he meant to express by the title .

H al f an hour later the friend came across the room

t o him and re p eated exactly the same remark again .

This time my F ather made no reply In the evenin g .

,
“
when the friend was p reparing to g o home as he ,

was saying goo d bye to my Father he held his hand

—
,

in his and began once more St i ll I must tell yo u ,

Leo Nikolayevich that I and my wife have been think

,

ing it over and we have come to the conclusion and

, ,

so on word for word the same

, , .

N o no I want to die to die as soon as p ossible

, . , ,

g roaned my F ather when he had seen his friend o ff

, .
 LAS T D AYS 3 09
’ ’
Isn t it althe same whether it s A Ci r cl e of R ea di n g
l ,
’
o r For E ver y D a y ? No it s time for me t o die ;
,

I cannot live like this any longer .

But after all in the end o n e of the editions o f the

, ,

sayings o f the wise was called For E ver y D a y instead

of A Ci r cl e of R ea di n g .

Ah my dear ever since this

, , turned up ,
’ ’
I really don t know which o f L e o N i k o l ayev i ch s
writings are b y L eo N i kolayevich and which are ,

by murmured o u r o l d friend the s i ncere and ,

far from malicious M aria Alexandrovna Sch m idt .

’
This sort o f intrusion into my Father s work as an
“ ’
author b o r e i n his friend s language the modest
'

, ,

title o f anticip atory corrections and there is no ,

doubt that M A Schmidt was right fo r no o n e w il l

. .

ever know where what my Father wrote ends and where

“ ’
his concessions to his friend s persistent antici
’
patory corrections begin .

Ilya T olstoy al so tells us : D uring the last years

’
of his life my F ather s health perceptibl y grew worse .

Se v eral times he had the most sudden and inexplicable

sort o f fainting fits he used to recover from them the
next day but al ways lost his m emory for the time
, .

’
Seeing my brother s children who were staying at ,

Yasnaya in the living room one da y he asked with

,
-
,

some sur p r rse

Whose children are these ? M eeting my wife
D on t be o ffended my dear
’
he said I k now , .

that I am very fond o f you but I have quite forg otten ,

w h o you are And when he went up t o the living

.

room after o n e of these fainting fits he looked round ,

’
with an astonished air and said W here s my ,

brother M i t en k a
'

a brother w h o had died fifty ye ars

before The day following all traces o f the attack
.
,
’
would hav e disappeared .
 LE O T OLS T O Y
Of the reasons that induced Tolstoy at the ver y
end of his life to leave home after having always
,

decided that it would be wrong to do so Ilya says ,

’
From the moment of my F ather s death I have been
racking my brain t o discover what could have giv en
him the impulse to tak e that last step What power
.

could compel him t o yield in the struggle in which he had

held o u t so firmly and tenaciously for so many years

W hat was the last d rop the last grain o f sand th at
,

turned the scales and sent him forth t o search fo r a

new life on the very edge o f the grave
Could my Father really ha v e fl ed from ho me
b ecause the wife with whom he had li v ed fo r f ort y
eight years had de v eloped neurasthenia and at o n e
time showed certain abnormali t ies characteristic o f
that malady ? W a s that like the man who lo v ed
his fellow men and knew the human heart so well ?
-

Or did he suddenly desire when he was eighty three

,
-

’
and weak and helpless to realize the ideal o f a pilgrim s
,

life If so why did he take my sister Sasha and D r

, .

M a k o vi t sk y with him He could n o t but k now

that in their company he would be j ust as well p r o
vi d e d wi th a l l the necessaries o f life as he would ha v e

been at Yasnaya P olyana .

Knowing my Father as I did I felt that the question

,

o f his fl ight was not so simple as it seemed to others ,

and the pro b lem lay long unsolved b efore me until ,

it was suddenly made clear by the will that he le f t

behind him .

All this business is very di sagreeab le t o me and ,

it is quite unnecessary ,my Father said when he

signed the paper that was thrust before him That .

was his real opinion about his will and it ne ver altered
,

t o the end of his days . Is there any need fo r proof

o f that I think o n e need know very lit t le o f h i s
31 2 LEO T OLSTO Y

thought o u t plan merely t o hide himse l f somewhere

-
, ,

w herever it might be and get some rest from the

,

moral tortures which had become insupportable to

’
him .

’
The above quotation from Ilya Tolstoy s R em i
n i scen ces gi v es the clue t o what I ha v e now t o narrate .

D uring the summer o f 1 91 0 the Countess T olstoy

suffered from a nervous breakdown The long drawn .
-

struggle with T ch er t k o f told terribly upon her The .

spirit o f strife which has followed him through life

like a shadow mani fested itself at Yasnaya when he
,

settled in the neighbourhood and the Countess was ,

his chie f victim .

’
Soon after he had secured T olstoy s signature t o
the final wi l l and to the Explanatory Note which
secured hi s triumph rumours o f the matter began t o
,

reach the Countess and the fact that she di d n o t know

,

what was real ly happening so told upon her in her

nervous condition that she was almost dri v en t o
suicide .

’
T olstoy s o w n health became more and more feeb le .

W hen Ilya T olstoy visited Yasnaya that last autumn

’
he tells us I was particularly struck by hi s [Tolstoy s]
feebleness this time And n o t so much by hi s physical
.

feebleness as by a certain air o f sel f concentration -

and abstraction from the outer world .

I retain a very sad remembrance o f this interview .

I was very much struck by the decay in hi s

memory Although I had been working fo r five years
.

’
in the P e asants Bank and he knew that perfectly
well he completely forgot a l l about it o n this visit
, ,

and asked me where I was working and what I was

doing He was very absent minded in every respe ct
.
-

and as it were cut o ff from the rest o f the world

, , .
 LAS T D AYS 31 3
’
It is curious that the sudden decay o f m y Father s
memory displayed itself only in the matter o f real
facts and people He was entirely unaffected in his
.

literary work and everything that he wrote down t o

, ,

the last days o f his life is characteristically logical

,

and forcible
On 2 8t h October 1 91 0 T olstoy finally left home .

He is reported t o have said that the incident

prompting him t o do so w a s that after going t o ,

bed the previous evening he heard his wife search

,

ing among the papers in his study The Countess .

denies having done so and explains that after her

,

husband had made his will he often fancied that she

was loo king fo r it Tolstoy had long trained himself
.

t o be extraor di narily patient with her in their per

sonal intercourse when she was irritable o r sarcastic ;
but nevertheless the clash o f wills between them
, ,

produced a tension which had n o w reached breakin g

point and her presence in his study whi ch in other
, ,

circumstances would har dl y have di sturbed him was ,

su ffi cient t o bring about the catastrophe .

W hen she had retired he rose collected some manu

, ,

scripts took two changes o f underclothing and told

, ,

his friend and foll ower D r Ma k o vi t sk y that he had

.

decided to leave home at once .

About five in the morning he left the house went ,

t o the stables roused the coachmen and told them t o

,

harness His daughter Alexandra and Mak o vi t sk y

. , ,

brought his portmanteau and other things into the

stable yard ; and withou t returning t o the house h e
-

set o u t with M ak o vi t sk y .

He decided first of all t o Visit his sister M ary at t h e

, ,

Shamardino Convent .

About noon the travellers had to chan ge into a trai n

with only o n e passenger carriage a crowded smoky —
,
31 4 LE O T OLS T O Y

and over heated -

thi rd
class Though it rained an d
-
.

the wind was sharp Tolstoy long stood o n the open

,

platform at the end o f the carriage and there probab ly ,

caught cold .

It was alm ost ni ght before they reached the sta tion ,

twelv e miles from the Convent As it was late he .

,

passed that night at the Monastery Hotel which was ,

nearer .

He s p ent the next day S aturday with his sister , , ,

who has gi v en the following account o f the vi sit in a

letter t o the Countess T olstoy

D S O N YA
E ARE S T When L yo vo ch k a arri ved
,

here he was terribly downcast at first and when ,

he told me that yo u had thrown yoursel f into the

pond he wept outright and I could not loo k at ,

him without tears i n my eyes H e onl y said . .

that he had come for a long tim e and meant t o ,

’ ’

tak e a peasant s cottage and l ive here It se ems .

t o me that he merely wished to settle down in

accordance with his o w n tastes and to li v e in solitude
where nobody would interf ere w ith him ; that is
’
what I gathered from his words Until Sasha s [the .

’
Countess Alexandra s] arrival he had n o intention o f
‘

going away but was preparing to visit t h e Opta

,

Hermita ge But Sasha turned everyt hing upside

.

down by her arrival next day When he went o ff .

that evening t o sleep at the hotel he had not the

slightest intention o f going away but said to me : ,
”
Au r evoi r I shall see yo u t o morrow
, Ima gine -
.

my astonishment and despair when I was awakened

’
at five o clock the next morning i t was still dark —

and told that he was leavin g I g o t up at once . ,

ordered the carriage and drove to the hotel ; but he

’
h ad already g one and I saw no more o f him
, .
31 6 LE O T OLS T OY
H e supp osed that no o n e but T ch er t k o f knew o f
his whereabouts but a newsp aper corresp ondent
had track ed him t o the Convent and detectives had ,

followed him thence T ch er t k o f would not let the

.

Countess know where her dying husband was but ,

she received the news by telegram from a newspaper

o ffice and at once set o ff by special train t o Astap o v o
,

with her children H er eldest son Sergey had arriv ed

.

there before her but so also had T ch er t k o f H e a

, .
,

young man in his employ Alexandra a girl friend o f , ,

-

hers and D r M a k o v i t sk y were in p ossession of the

, .

house and of the p atient and they kept the Countess ,

Sophia An dr eyev n a o u t and Tolstoy in ignorance o f

her arriv al .

D r Nikitin who had been tel egraphed fo r after

.
, ,

examining the p atient diagnosed in fl ammation o f the

,

left lung That attack did not appe ar t o be a ver y

.

serious o n e and what Tolstoy re al ly died o f see m s to

,

have been nervous exhaustion The long struggle t o .

apply his principles to his life and the resulting con fl ic t ,

with those around him had worn him out and left him,

unable t o withstand an attack from which he might

hav e recovered had he been in good condition .

D ur ing the night following Tuesday 2 n d N ovember , ,

he slept badly groaning and su ffering from heartburn

, .

At this stage of his i l lness he began intermittently to

S how S igns o f ch i ldishness For instance having seen .
,

some one wiping the floor near him he began t o be ,

fi d g e t y to have it wiped whenever he noticed the

slightest thing o n it .

The next day W ednesday he was p articularly

, ,

animated seemed pleased that his fever had abated

, ,

and though o n good terms personally with his doctors

, ,

emphatic al ly expressed his custom ar y disapproval o f

their p rofession .
 LAS T D AYS 31 7

He beg an dictating a letter to me in English

(though he nearly always wrote to me in R ussian ) ‘
but g o t no further than the words : On my way t o
the place where I wished t o be alone I was ,

Interrupted at that point the letter was never co m,

p l e t.e d It was the last but o n e he ever attempted

to dictate .

At about five p m he called in T ch er t k o f and D r

. . .

Nikitin and (according t o a statement made by the

,

former ) S p oke o f his uneasin ess lest his wife should

hear o f his illness and come to Astapovo .

He added : You understand that if she comes

here I sh al l n o t be able to refuse her and he
beg an to cry .

He was by this time so enfeebled that he had t o be

c ar e f ull y supp orted when he had occasion to get o ut
o f bed . Once after being helped i n this way by
,

three people he remarked in a weak sorr owful voice

, , ,

as he lay o n his back breathing rapidly after his

exertion The peasants the peasants h o w they ,

die ! And again his eyes filled with tears T o the .

very end he never lost his sense of the inj ustice o f

social arrangements which enable some pe 0 p 1e t o have
a sup er flu i t y whil e others l ack necessaries .

Later he remarked Evidently I sh al l have to die

in my sins to which T ch er t k o f replied This is n o t
sin but love that now surrounds yo u Yo u have
, .

done al l you could to escape from S i n

Tolstoy then asked to have some letters read him
that had been forwarded The fir st was from a
.

peasant M P N o v ikov with whom Tolstoy when

, . .
, ,

planning t o leave Yasnaya had thought o f staying , .

’
Novikov wrote that Tolstoy s life was dear t o him
’
and that he wished it to last as long as p ossible But .
,
‘
he continued t hat can only be among the accust omed
,
31 8 LEO T OLS T OY
conditions in which you ha v e lived eight y two fo r -

’
y e ars H e went on t o sa y that for a visit o f a day
.
,

a week o r a month my cott ag e is ver y convenient

, , .

It has a light room which al l m y famil y would gladl y

q
,

give up to yo u and they would also loving ly serv e

,
’
ou
y .

T olstoy said that N ovikov Should be thank ed and

told that he had n o w gone in quite ano t her d i r ec .

tion .

Tha t W ednesday Tolstoy wrote in his D iar y fo r the

last time His last words in it are
.

‘
I see o u r plans hav e failed Fa i s cc u e doi s
.
,

a dv [The commencement of a French motto

’
D o what s right come what may , I t is al l fo r
’
t he g ood o f others and chie fl y o f my self
, .

That night he slept badly moaned and was de ,

l irious The action o f his heart was weak and irreg ul ar

.
,

an d his pulse reached 1 2 0 1 3 0 a minute —

.

On t h e Th ursday he look ed very ill At times he .

’
said : It is very hard very oppressive and see m ed
,

to be trying to discern the will o f his M aster and

conscientiously to fulfil it On the morning o f that .

day he said t o T ch er t k o f It seems I am dying

’
but perhaps not I must st r i ve a little long er ,

and his eyes grew moist He who had so long and .

so arduously endeavoured t o do his duty did n o t ,

relax his e fforts but maintained the struggle to the

,

end ; n o t however without a certain perplexity at

, , ,

times as t o what his duty was

, .

He stil l wished t o be read to and to dictate his ,

thoug hts ; but frequently lap sed int o delirium and ,

occasionally showed the unreasonable irritabilit y o f a

sic k man .

D uring the Thursda y night he hardl y S lept at all ,

w as e x cit ed and cons t an t l y delirious H e tossed .

 LEO T OLSTOY
’
Tolstoy s thoughts dwelt much o n his wife especially ,

o n the Friday and he expressed regret and anxiety

,

lest pe 0 p1e mi ght think badly o f her I think we .

’
have n o t acted considerately said he and then grew , ,

drowsy and ag ain became incoherent 1

.

Just then a telegram arrived from the M etropolitan

Antonius o f P etersburg urging Tolstoy t o return t o ,

the bosom o f the Church He was so weak that it .

was decided not to S how him the message especially

as during his previous serious i l lness in the Crimea in
,

1 90 2 the same bishop had sent him a similar message

, ,

in reply t o which Tolstoy had said to his son

Sergey tell these gentlemen that they S hould leave
,

me in peace H o w is it they do n o t understand

.

that even when o n e is face t o face with death two

, ,

and t w o still mak e f our

The first hal f o f Friday night Tolstoy slept fairly
well ; but later o n he became very restless moaning ,

and b eing much trou b led with hiccoughs and heart

burn .

On Saturday about t w o p m he sat up in bed and , . .

exclaimed in a loud voice This is the end I .

give yo u only this ad vice besides L eo Tolstoy ,

there are many other people in the world and yOu ,

1
T o l s t o y w o u ld h v e b e n m u ch m o a d i t re e d h a d h fo r es n re s ss e e ee
wh t w a t o h pp
as ; b t h a c o ld o t s u p c t h i f i d f
en u e u n s e s r en o so
u t t rl y d i sr g
e d in g h i s w i sh e
e ar s t o ma k th p b li c t i n o f h i s
s a e e u a o
w o rk a v h ic l
s fo c i c u l a t in g b i t t r t t c k s o n t h
e e r r w if T ol toy e a a e e s
l o v d d pi t l l d i ff e c T h is h o w v r V G T ch t k f h

q
e es e a er n es . e e . . er o as

n o t s c ru p l d t o d b t’h i R u ssi
e o, d ab o d
o In n A pp n d i x a an r a . an e
t o a vo l m f T ol t y
u e o D i i i s od in L n d o n
s d N w Y rk
ar es , s su e o an e o
in 1 9 1 7 V G T ch t k o f ccu s t h C u n t s o f h v in g b t ct d
, . . er a es e o e s a a s ra e
c r t i d cu m n t
e a n o d i si e t s, th tan to c v r h n ct i o
n ua es a , o e er a n ,
‘
a
m nd i
e ti
a c o u s a ss e r h b t on f o o t t h t c’ r t in i g in a l s
as een se on a e a or
h a d pr m b ly b
esu g iv n b y T l t y t h i w i f
a ee n e o s o o s e.
T h ca e f th T o l t y f m il y g i
se o e t V G T ch
s o tk f wa t a a n s . . er o a s se
’
o t in t h
u R i e R vi w f u ss a n M y 1 91 3 e Ae pl y T ch t k o f
or a . re on er s
b h a lf u b s e u n t l y p p r d in t h am R v i w W i t h m u ch
e s e a ea e e s e e e .

S h o w o f m o ra l i n d i g n a t i o n i t r e fu t e d o e c h a g b u t l ft t h r e e
, n r e, e
s er i o u s c h a r g s u nn o t i c e de .
 LAST D AYS 3 21

attend o n l y to this Leo l A failure o f the hea rt

followed Art ificial breathi n g was resorted t o Cam
. .

phor and ca ffeine were in j ected Towar ds even i ng he .

agai n seemed better and took a little milk an d gruel

, .

His consciousness that death was drawing near

showed itself in di sj ointed exclam ations such as
’
It s time to knock o ff all is over ! Here is
’
the end and it doesn t matter
,
For the most part
hi s mind was now clear and hi s manner towards those
,

abo ut hi m kin dl y .

Towards midnight o n Saturday he was worse and ,

in hi s delirium he repeatedly exclaimed : T O esca p e ‘ ’

’
to es cape ! A large inj ection o f morphi a was
administered and his pulse grew weaker and weak er
,
.

At four a m when he was already unconscious hi s ,

wife who had long been wai ti ng anxiously close at

—

hand was at last admitted to hi s death bed Co n

— -
.

troll i ng her a g itation Sh e entered quietly but fell o n

, ,

her knees to ki ss his hand He however never regained

.

consciousness .

Artificial respiration was then again resorted t o ,

and for some tim e he continued to breathe qui etly ,

but presently a whi stling sound made itself heard .

His family and friends assembled roun d the death bed -

.

The last breaths ! said the doctor who stood near ,

the head o f the bed ; and at seven minutes past six

o n the mo r ning o f Sunday 7t h November 1 91 0 (2 oth
,

November new style) thi s great man di ed ca l m ly and

, ,

D uring the week o f h i s ill ness at Astapo v o that ,

l ittle country station had been thronged by r ep r e

sen t a t i v es of the Government i ncludin g the Governor
,

o f the P ro vince and a special offi cial sent b y the P rime

M inister gendarme officers im portant railwa y offi ci al s

, , ,

21
3 22 LEO T O LS T O Y
swarms o f press men photo graphers cinema t o graphers
, ,

and many others .

W hen he had bro k en away fro m the dearl y lo v ed

place o f his birth t o live a li fe o f seclusion a t ra gi c ,

fate decreed that Tolstoy was t o gi ve more troub le ,

and be the occasion o f more lab our t o his f ellow men -

,

than a t any pre vious moment o f his life Besides .

hi s f amily and f riends fi v e doctors were in a t tendance

,

o n him ; the stationmaster had b een turned o u t o f

h i s house many people were living in railway carria ges
side trac k ed fo r their accommodation at that small
-

wayside station ; the local teleg raphic arrangements

had bro ken down ah n o st completely under the enormous
pressure o f work put upon them while the tele gr aph
wires and cab les o f the world were b us y wi th messages
concerning the man w h o lay dying amid such circum
stances and many thousands o f columns abou t him
,

were being written set in type printed and circulated

, ,
.

S u rely never before did t h e death bed o f a recluse

,
-

receive such publicity

The cordiality o f the sympathy mani f ested when
the news o f his illness and death b ecame public pro ved
that despite all mistakes his endea v our t o find a
, ,

way o f ma king human relations truly humane had

endeared him t o the mass o f his fellow countrymen and -

t o multitudes o f others the world over .

The Tsar the D uma and the Council o f State were

,
’
at o n e in expressing sorrow at the loss o f R ussia s
great writer All the leadin g newspapers appeared
.

with b lack b orders Theatres were closed P eters

. .

burg University suspended lectures o n the day its

Honorary M ember L eo Tolstoy was buried ; and
, ,

educational establishments throughout the land did

all they were allowed to do to honour his memor y .

The day aft er his dea th the train b earin g his corpse
,
3 24 LEO T OLS T OY
T olstoy never read the whole o f that magic messag e ,

— no
o n e has yet read more than part o f it But the .

fact that he fervently sought it supplies the key t o

a l l his writings from B oy h ood t o I Ca n n ot B e S i l en t ;

and we ma y be sure that the author o f Wh a t M en ~

L i ve By k new at least much o f the great s ecret .

The love and gratitude that followed him were

abundantly earned fo r if he was dogm atic and the —

letter killeth h e was also inspired an d the spir it

—
,

giveth l ife
His art kindled in the souls o f o thers the fl ame
that b urnt in his o w n and— to quote from his own
,

W h a t i s A r t P— enabled countless numbers to f eel

the mysterious gladness o f a communion which ,

reachin g beyond the grave unites us with a l l men

,

o f the past who have b een moved by the same

feelings and with all men o f the future who will yet
,
’
be touched by them .

His achievement as he was very ready to admit

, ,

fell far short of his aim ; b u t apart from hi s ,

strenuous e fforts t o conform h i s o w n life and conduc t

to the principles he believed in how great was his
,

performance ! Of modern men who have stimulated

the minds and conscience o f their fellows and
whose words in fluence us t o feel that we must
trust to no sel f acting evolution but must b e up and
-
,

doin g to b ring in the mill ennium ourselves— Tolstoy is

so much the first , that o n e forgets to ask w h o is
second .
—

The g reat yet simple message nearest i t o his heart

was that The most important thing in l ife is for man
t o u nite with man and the worst thing I n life is t o
’
go apart from o n e another .
 I N D E X

R uss i an n a m es i I x
i n t h s n d e a r e m ar e d w i t h a st r ess k -
a ccen t on th e
sy ll b l
a e t h at sh o u l p i
d b e em h a s ze d T st an d s fo r T o st oy
. . l .

Add a m s, J a n e, 2 1 4, 2 1 8 C a r d s, 2 83
Af t er w ar d K r eu t zer S on C a ucasu s , 1 2 , 1 6

q
to ata, 22 5
A l ber t , 34 Ca u se of i t A l l , T h ; , 1 79
lx
A e an d er I , 2 59 p
C en so r shi , 1 6 5 4 6, 1 56, 2 35, 2 57,
lx
A e an d er II , 57, 1 23 2 74
lx
A e a n d er III , 2 42 C en sus o f 1 882 , 1 30
T . 5 l et t er t o , 1 2 3— 4 Cen su s i n M oscow , O n t h e, 1 30— 2 ,
Al exeyev, P S . .
, 188 1 40
V C . .
, 86 Ch é k o v, A , 2 78 .

A n a r ch sm , i 2 65 C h é r n aya ( B a ck R l ive ) b t t l
r , a e o f,
A n n a K a r en i n a , 58, 6 7, 73 et se , . 24
’
78. 8 1 . 99. 2 32 Ch er n ysh é vsk y s Wh a t i s t o he
An t Br o t h er h o o d , 4 , 4 2
-
D on e ?75
Ap Ol l o v, 2 4 3 C h ess, 1 5, 2 55, 2 92 . 30 5

q
Ap p ea l t o t h e Tsa r a n d h i s M i n i s l b
C hi d ea r n g , 1 70
-
i
t er s , 2 75 C h i l d h ood , 6 , 1 5
’
bi
Ar t er o f t h e Peace , 4 5, 4 9, 50 , 55, l fl
C h i d r en , T s i n u en ce w i t h , 4 4 , 6 1
.

56 i
C h r st i a n An ar ch sm , 1 2 1 , 2 4 6 , 2 6 5i
l
Ar n o d , M a t t h e w , 73, 74 Ch r i st i a n M a r ty r d om i n R u ss i a ,
p v
Ast a o o , 3 1 5 2 63
b
Auer a ch , B , n o e st , 4 1 v li i i
C h r st a n t e a chi n g , 1 2 5

qq
.

Ch r i s t i a n i ty a n d P a t r i ot i sm , 2 51
ll
B a o u , R e v Adi n , 1 93 e t se .
. C h ur ch , t h e O r t h o d o R u sso r ee , x -
G k
B ea r H u n t , T h e, 71 9’2 , 9 3, 9 7, 98, 1 0 3, 32 0
B e h r s, D r T . s a t h er i n l aw , 58
.

’
f - -
. fi i
T s d e n i t o n o f t h e , 1 04
S
A , T s
. r o t h er I n l a w ,
. . b i
C n em a t o g r a h , 2 94 5, 32 1 p -

6 1 , 6 3, 6 9, 1 84 , 1 85 R ead i n g , A , 308 , 30 9
B er n h a r d t , S ar ah , 1 33 l
C o t h e s , 6 4 , 1 40 , 1 4 2
B et h i n k You r sel ves , 2 85 l i l
C o o n es, T o s t oy, 1 80 , 1 82 , 1 83,
bl
B i e , t h e , 54 , 1 0 5 e t se . 2 36
B o b o r yki n , n o e i st , 1 37 vl Conf essi o n , 9, 33, 55, 60 , 83, 87 e t
B on d a r e , 1 57 v se , 1 0 1 , 1 36
.

Bo o t m a n g , 1 47 ki i
C o n sci e n t o us O j ect o r s, 1 2 9, 2 4 5,b
B oy h ood , 33
B r ea d a o u r ,
-
lb C o n s t i t ut i o n a l
R e o r m , 1 34 , 2 75, f
l
B u g a r i a n a t r o ci t i es, 80 2 85
B ul i g i n , M V , 30 5 . . Con t emp or a ry , The ( Pe t e r s ur g b
k
Bu r e , E d m un d , 2 4 9 l
m o n t h y) , 1 5, 2 8
3 26

Con t em por a ry R evi ew , 2 73

Con ver sa t i on a m on g L ei su r ed P eop l e,
LEO T O L ST O Y
Fa m i ly H app i n ess, 4 1
i
Fa m n e, 78, 2 37 e t se q
q
.

A , 2 44 Fa r m n g , 6 3i

q
p i
C o yr g h t , 1 51 , 2 34 5, 2 83, 2 95. -
Fei n e r m an n , 1 60 , 2 36 , 2 40
30 7 Fe t , A A . 2 8, 37, 39,
.

Cossa cks, T h e, 1 6 , 56 , 4 6 9, 6 0 , 6 5, 70 1 , 78,

1 —2
4
- -

C o un t ess, S
A T o st o y ( h i s w e )
. . l if . 82
S ee T o st o y l Fi r st D i st i l l er , T h e ( P ay) , 1 76 l
C o ur t , t h e R uss a , 3 1 , 37, 2 4 3, in Fi r st S t ep , T h e, 2 44
261 Fou r G osp el s , U n i on a n d T r a n sl a
i
C r m e a , 1 9 et se 1 54 , 2 78 . t i on of , 1 0 1 , 1 1 5, 1 1 8
i n
C r m ea W a r , 1 9 et se 31 . i
Fr a n c s o f Ass s , 2 1 1 ii
Fr ee L o e , 2 2 5, 2 2 8 v
c
D an es, 1 4 7 Fr ey, 1 59, 1 60
D a vi l evsky, P , 1 75 G . . b l J li
Fr o e e , u us, 4 1
D ea t h of [ w i n [ lyeh , 1 76 Fr u i t s of C u l t u r e ( C o e y), 1 79, md
D ea t h , t h o ug h t s o n , 4 2 — 3, 79 1 91
b
D e t s, 1 2 Fut u r e L fe, i 1 1 4
D é r o ul é d e , P , 1 74 .

G m b li

q
D i a r i es of L eo T ol st oy You t h ), 30 1 , a g , I 7, 2 1 , 56
n

30 7 Ga h i rs n , V M , 1 51 . .

D i 8, 1 3, 1 7, 2 3, 2 6 , 3 1 , 32 , 35,
a r y, Gap s r a, 2 78
4 1 , 42 , 4 8, 50 , 57, 58, 9 7, 1 2 4 , G ay, N N , 1 40 , 1 6 3, 1 9 1 , 2 2 2
. .

’
1 2 5, 1 2 8, 1 4 8, 31 8 Gnv
e e a, T s or ks u . sh e at , w p b li d
i
D ck en s, 9 1 1 8, 1 36 , 1 4 8
D i sse n t e r s, i
R uss
’
an , 2 1 0 G eo r g e , H en r y, 2 49
’
D i vo r ce , T s n on s o n , 2 26
. opi i G et o ff t h e r a c s , 1 6 5, 1 6 7 i b k
D o st o yevsk y, F M , 99 . . Gi b
n z ur g , scu t o r , 2 82 lp
D o ukh o b é r s, 1 86 , 2 0 3, 2 58 e t se .
, Gl ad st o n e , W B , 1 1 6 , 2 49 . .

2 74 G od S ees t h e T r u t h , 71 , 1 75
an d l
c o t h e s, 2 51 G o d , t h o ug h t s o n , 8 1 , 9 1 , 2 93
D r o zh zh i n , a co n sc en i ti ous o bj cte or , G o et h e , W , 45 J . .

2 43 G o l d en w e i ser , A B 2 78, 30 4 , .

D r uz hi n in , A V . .
, cr it i c, 32 30 5
D um a , T . a dd r e sses th e M o sco w , G h k ov
or c a , Pr M Din ce . .
, 1 8, 2 2
1 32 G o ky Mr , .
, 2 3 1 , 2 78
D um a s, A e l x nd a r e, F il s , 2 44 Gosp el i n B r i ef , T h e, 1 20, 1 74
D ya o v, 9 k p l
G o s e s, t h e , 8 6 , 1 1 3
Go v m er n en t , co nd em n e d , 2 00 , 2 1 2 ,
i
E co n o m c m o r a t y, 2 0 3 li
E d uca t o n i
S ee ch o o . S l G r ee n Sik
t c , the id lea of t h e, 4,
a d e n t o n o f, 55 fi ii 2 2 8, 32 3

q
E mp ty D r u m , T h e, 1 88 G r e en , T H , 1 44 . .

E l
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2 51 , 2 80 , 2 84 , 2 85 l
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P et e r t h e G r ea t , 72 v l i
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P e t er s u r g , 1 0 , 33, 3 5 ll
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34
1 . Th e Fi r st D i st i l l er , 1 76 k
R us i n , J , 1 57 .

2. T h e P ow er of D a r h n ess, i
R uss a , a ut o cr a cy i n , 2 79
n u e n ce i flof t e r a t ur e li in ,

3 . Fr u i t s of Cu l t u r e, 1 79 66 7, 75a 1 55— 6 -

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m sg o er n m en t o f, 2 84
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6 . T h e L i g h t S h i n es i n D a r h re v l ti
o u on ar y m o v e m en t in,
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P ol i h u shh a , 4 5 R u sso a a n ese

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T h eo o gy e a m n ed , 94
S er m o n o n t h e M o u t , 1 0 7, 1 1 4 , 1 2 0 , n Th ou S h a l t N ot K i l l 2 85
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S t ea d , W T , 1 56 , 2 3 1 . .
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S t o e s, D r M C 2 2 9
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S t r a h o v, F A , 300 et se . . . se .
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