New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-09-23


was ont and be came himself to answer the
visitors bell! He was a KING snow %
been dedicated 10 the Saint of the slapion ara
Mount st. Gothard and he should nave , nao 81.
Bernard dogs r0mping about him. Inc f,s'no.
children nicknamed him Father Christmas. put
albeit massive. there was when seen at llIlie US
tance. too much refinement in the contour OF Ine
face for the epithet quite to SUIT nun. ne n' was
quietly cheerful and benignant but not Jonyo VI
exuberant. The nose was long. almost straight,
but not at the bridge line with the forenead
and at the eud it slightly curved in toward tne
flowing Write moustache The lines of the nostriis
of uiptural beauty. Attention, saeacity, re-
Election and kindness were expressed In the piuo
eyes when he listened.
TURGUENEFF's RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.
saw him just before the terrible disease of which
he died declared Itself He was easily erect and
quite himself But the eyes were 'eDcircled with
brown rings which, as the rest of the complexion
was pale and fair startled me. had recently su T.
fered from bereavements caused by death Iur-
gueneff listened with avidity TO what had to tell
HIM about the impressions, emotions and tram OF
thought these losses had caused. We both were
quite emancipated from theological dogma nad
heard him spoken of Atheist by different hus'
slams of the Hetzel set; but his conversation on
this occasion was profoundly religious. He MADE
use of curious expression. Our reason ne
said, " tends to draw toward materiaiism. our
heart pulls us in another direction. f or my part
with long experience of life | now dome rasoa oa
o9w. The human heart is a voice, and great
voice. of nature and the cravings are indications
which no reasoner, though he were a posltiVist'
should disregard. We ought to take them as
revelation of things which are yet obscure. There
is religious cult which does not respond to these
heart-cravings in poetic and sympathetic manner
There is i therefore believe, truth in every form
OF religious worship.
Unfortunately the priest will not admtths truth
to be relative. and thereby forces people VINO nave
thought and observed to quarrel with HIM ana seek
In themselves and in nature for the laws OF a re-
ligous faith. They get to the truth If they look LOT
il IN philosophical spirit and without any leenng
of resentment. But being s0cable. we are oIieh
oppressed by the isolation OF our high Standpoint;
We often wish to come down into the valley anu
kneel down in the church there; NV mind mas
long ceased to be orthodox. NV heart recoils
toward the Greek Church. sometimes go to hear
the offices church IN the Rue Daru for the
sake of The vibrations they give rise to in They
make me feel rs If many broken Inks IN the cham
of nv existence were soldered together.
:" should not have thus spoken TO you II you
had not been forced to look INTO the problems
which the deaths of close friends and relations i'm
pose upon our attention. Legally L am no longer
an exile. As Russia has grown ND which Is
strange to me- / am morally one, unless when am
in a Russian church. 1t brings childhood youth
aud all my old associations back to me with clear
dsinctness, and enables me to ali lntents and pur
poses to 1--we in the past. see truths In IL which
am afraid are not visible TO many OF our popes DO
not he surprised if YOU hear that have made what
il do that shall the less deserve TO Ia nix among
the free-i thinkers of our time. Orthodox cburches
are now very accommodating. They give what Is
demanded of them and ask no questions"
When returned home | made an entry IN note
book of this conversation. 1t illustrates the candor
Of Turguenef's mind and tho breadth OF MS
affections.
LAST DA VS. OF THE EXILE.
Turgueneff loved Russia. | believe that, apart
from his attachment 10 he Yiardot family he con-
tinued 10 live in France to avoid keenly feeling
which he must have done If he returned to his
native countryside number Of deaths which had
taken place IN his absence. The steppe, the pine
wood forest, the effects of white snow and the
Qreenish sky of Russia, the untidlly kept garden
in the country of the great landed proprietor. the
birch woods of the three-months summer. were full
of beauty to his eye He was in healthy
sympathy with the landscape, the fauna
| the fora and the poor people; and as he saw the
silver lining that is in every cloud, he was IN hating
the Injustice of serfdOm able to keep patience III
trying to overthrow it, His early novels were as
destroying worm IN the rootsof that secular nstitu-
| ton. Les Recits DUN Chasseur ct les Reliques
yivantes" upset tho ladies Of the Imperial family.
and brought them round to the side of serfemanci-
nation If Alexander H. had the will and the ability
10 berate the seTfs it was because he came 10
the throne Turguenef had made known to the world
| their trne condition in his novels.
| The late novelist was fond of pictures He bad
| MANY of great value in his study. He bought them
] when their authors were unknown to fame He was
one of the first to encourage bIllet. Kraus, Num-
kacsy and Detaille were among his favorites. He
| did not think so much of Christ Before Pontius
| PLATE" rs of Munkacsys less ambitious aud truer
| naintinps I'm all things he sought after tIuth aud
/ he generally Succe eded IN nndlng IT,
| The maady of which he died was a cruel one
cancer on the spinal marrow. IL aztec ted his nerves
| and TO some extent his mind This good man looked
forward with horror to the tomb His physical sat
| fer.ngs were intense for more than SIX months.
| When asked how he felt he said " As II my VINO 10
| body were foot in a tight boot, III whlcn had
| been walking q whole day."
| / need not dwell on the circumstances in Iurg-
uenefs life which are given IN Dictionaries OF Oou-
temporarcs" lie began his career as elyll-serVLce
| funetionary Being of influential family his
career as an official might have been lucrative ana
| brilliant He lost his position by an act OF vrie
| courage His beloved aud venera ed MASTER the
poet Gogul, died in 1852. The third department,
be silent about his life, works and death. All Tue
| editors submitted. Turguenef had the courage
| of his heart and mind. lie wrote o
| euIogIstic monograph, which he sent 10 tne
| editor of The MoscoW Gazette, who published
| H. | never heard him regret this article. ana
believe that he was neither proud OF nor sorry ior
| this manly act lie deliberately dlsoDeyeu Ine
| Car, knowing what the consequences Wouiu pIop-
| ali v be and he accepted them with calm dignity
The browning affection of Turguenrts lie was the
death OF NJ. Louis Vlardot, when TOOK place IN tno
| course of last summer He was carried up TO the
| novost's room TO say goodbye forever Turgueneil
| said " An reyoirD The leave-taking was almost
s,lont But when il was the novelist expressed
| his anguish In paroxysm of grlef-the only one.
he said, into which he ever allowed himself " VI
| drawn.