The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1888-02-19

purely u IHT1ly hub : tuhb lilo bChooi oukub
not to punish or to reward: that 1t has not the
right to do so; that It's best police and admins
tration consists In leaving TO the pupils abso-
lutte liberty to learn and to get along together
Ms they please" Such arc the theories which
the Count Leon ToJsToI professed In 1862, and
applied TO his model school OF Yasnais Poll
ana, founded on his own domain in the prov
ince OF Toula. The Count has written an ac-
count OF this school In a book which has Just
been translated into French under the title
LEcole de fasnaid POLAND Paris, savfnel
Tolstoi's story OF tho school experiment Ia
rs charming as a romance and as suggestive a.
a dialogue OF Plato. 1t is the work Of an anar-
chist entirely possessed by the primitive and
unsophisticated Christian idea Of justice and
mercy; tho work Of n philanthropist who has
sought to rid himself OF all prejudices. and to
discover In tho natural instincts Of man the
laws and methods Of mans intellectual devol-
opment: NJ the Same time 1t is tho work
Of an analyst and OF a prodigious artist. It
puts everything In question. and admits only
the sacredness OF the Individual temperament.
There are as many kinds OF mon rs there are
Individuals, he says, and society lives by this
diversity.
The first condition OF the school was anarchy.
disorder, or free order, as Tolstoi puts 1t. The
pupils. forty In number, could como to school
or not, Us they thought proper; no punish
ments. no lessons out OF school. no prizes, no
violence, no rules to prevent a child leaving the
class at any moment. or making as much noise
as he pleased. Out of disorder. as Tolstoi main
tains. order will spring OF itself. and IN order
much better and moro stable than any artificial
order which we might try to impose. Scholars.
according to Tolstoi. are beings subject,
YOUNG as they may be, to the same necessities
as We are. thinking beings as we are. They all
wish to learn, and that is why they 60 to school.
and that Is why they arrive without effort at the
conclusion that In order to learn they must &C.
cept certain conditions. Not only are they
men. but they constitute a society of beings
bound together by one common thought. In
yielding to simple laws derived from ma
ture. they neither revolt nor murmur where
rs. in yielding to your untimely author
ity. they do not admit the legitimacy Of
Your bells. your class hours. and your rules.
Nor is this merely theory. Tolstoi's school
actually existed in this disorder. without pro-
gramme, and. above all, without punishment:
for children, he thinks, ought to remain pure
from falsehood. md from that criminal belief
in the legitimacy OF retribution whore VEN
geance becomes Just the m We give 1t
the name OF punishment.
The instruction impaired In Tolstoi's school
comprised reading. writing. arithmetic. mathe-
mates, singing and drawing. But tho studies
most popular with the little moujiks were sing
ing. reading. and especially narrations, whore
as mathematics and analysis were generally
unpopular. What is the good Of 80 much
mathematics ?" they asked. ITO toll stories 10
much better. or else history. and then We IN
derstand."
The curious feature In this book Is that the
children are always asking Tolstoi what is the
nnnf If fhfa md IF thof ond tho nnNA TNlofof
repeats the question to himself and Is not al
ways able to answer 1t. During a walk In the
country with his scholars. one Of them asks
Tolstoi what is tho good OF singingp Why
learn singing?' What Is the good Of drawing7
What Is tho good Of art2 What's the good Of a
stick. OF q lime tree? And Tolstoi and
his serious little friends talk the whole
matter over, and conclude that besides
the useful there is the beautiful. md that
art is beauty. Then other people stop in and
ask Tolstoi what is the good Of developing the
minds OF little peasant boys to such a dsgree2
Why does he put into their heads ideas and
sentiments which will render them dissatisfied
with their LOTT Why try to raise them above
their station? To this Tolstoi replies that his
little moujiks learn to work as they learn to
breathe. What they need is the result Of the
preceding favored generations who have not
been crushed by the burden OF toll. But you,"
says Tolstoi, addressing himself to his rich
critics. " ike the priests Of Egypt. you hide
yourselves behind a mysterious veil, you bury
in the earth the treasure OF knowledge which
history bequeathed to you. Do not fear: moth
Ing that is human can do harm to man."
Returning in another chapter to this ques-
ton OF art, Tolstoi poses this dilemma: either
the arts In general are useless and hurtful.
which is less strange than 1t seems at first
sight; or else, each one. without distinction Of
classes and OF occupations, has a right to art.
a right to abandon himself completely to 1t. In
virtue OF this axiom. that art does not suffer
mediocrity. TO ask whether the children of
the people have o right to the arts is like ask
ing If they have a right to eat meat, that Is to
say. to satisfy the necessities OF their human
nature. This Is not the question; the impor-
tant thing Is to know whether tho meat Is good
which We offer or refuse to the people. Like
wise. In distributing to the people certain
knowledge that we possess, and In remarking
the delsterious influence OF this knowledge, I
not that the people is bad because it
does not accept this knowledge, nor that It Is
too little developed to accept and utilize this
but that the knowledge is bad
and abnormal. and that we must, with the aid |
of the people. elaborate new knowledge suit |
able to all OF us, both to cultivated people and
~ -o AAAAS NJ oAc JAok0o hob l
this knowledge and these arts thrive among us |
seeming to be hurtful. while they can
notthrive among the people. and seem hurtful
TO Thorn simply because this knowledge and |
these arts are not such as are wanted In gen
oral: we live amid them only because we are |
Why do we conclude that the
and arts OF the Intelligent classes
are false because tho people will not accept
them2 Because We, the Intelligent. are q
while they, the people. are a million"
This reasoning Of Tolstoi is a little alarming.
Tor will 1t not lead us to the terrible tribunal Of
suffrage In art and literature? viii
It not Justify the system OF chasing artists and
literary men by the votes Of the greatest num-
a plan which may place q genius at the
bottom OF one list and Q donkey at the
head OF tho otherp But such is the fascinating
sincerity OF Tolstoi that even this terrible re-
suit does not brighten him. Perhaps. after
al. II the truth were known. the genius
Is q bad painter and the donkey Is
great writer. II such be really the case.
Tolstoi must not find 1t strange II many