Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-02-09
COUNT LEO n. TOLSTOI.

Harperis Weekly, accompanying portrait.
There is something that appeals i'm.
mensely to the Imagination in the career
of man like Count Tolstoi. His brusque
departure from the University of Kazan
when boy of nineteen; his exciting life
in the Caucasus, where his last struggle
with his old enemy the gambling passion
as well as his campaigns against the
Abreks, filed the early pages of his note
book; his bravery at SevaStOpol, where
he drew from life those unequalled pic
lures of the horrors of war; his eager
passionate years of literary glory at St
Petersburg and Moscow; his awakening
to his responsibility as a master of men
when the emancipation came; his efforts
as a teacher: his discovery that he was
the prophet of a new religiOn-a new old
religion; his strange life of labor in idle
ness, of penury in luxury, of self-abne-
cation amid selfishneSS- express ones
self in cOntradictories:- this has
drawn upon him the attention of the
world
He is noble, vet he associates with
the peasants, and finds their faith in
things unseen the true stay against Scep-
ticism; he is millionaire, yet he finds
no use for money, and diScardS the lux
uries that money brings. He is the
greatest living novelist of his country,
perhaps of the world, yet he devotes his
genius to composing stories written
avowedly on the model of peasant child
ren's school compositions, and intended
to be read by peasants, ,and considers shoe
making and ploughing no less worthy his
hands than the creation of such works as
Anlla KdreninG and War and Peace. 1t
is impossible not to feel the magnetism
of such strength, not to fall under the in
fluence of such honesty of purpose, truth,
beneyolence, depth. One need not fol-
low Count Tolstoi in all his interpreta-
tiOns of Scripture, but it would be hard
to diSprove the assertion that he had got
closer to Christ's idea of life than any
man since ChriSt's time. And it is not
strange to hear that men are found try
ing to model their lives on the line laid
down by the prophet.
The portrait painted by R6pin is ex-
traOrdinarily simple both in pose and col
Oring, but so admirable in its artistic
treatment and faithfulness that it infal-
libby attracts every one who has any feel
ing for art and vivid life-l likeness. Count
TOlstoi is represented sitting in an arm
chair of very original pattern, holding in
one hand a small book which he has Just
been reading, and with his finger mark
ing the spot where he had left off; the
other hand rests on the arm of the chair
He looks straight at the beholder, though
his massive head, with its long gray beard,
is turned slightly to one side. He is dress
ed in a black blouse, which is belted to
his waist, though it somewhat resembles
a cassock. The whole portrait gives the
impression of man who "sows
thoughts" The eyes, deeply sunken in
their sockets, have far-away, unfath-
omable expression, but seem to read your
heart and soul. You see before you an
extraordinary man, who leaves upon you
a marvellous impression. Uprightness,
a golden heart, immense intellectual en-
ergy, an indomitable will, are all express
ed in this countenance, in these eyes.
While R6pin was at Yasnaya Polyana
he made hasty sketch of Count Tolstoi
in the field plOughing. This sketch has
been elaborated on canvas, and is also
considered masterpiece. Itrepresents
the Count holding the sOkha or peasants
plough by the two handles, turning up
wide furrow, and driving two white hor-
ses. He is dressed in PEASANTS smock,
with the collar loosely unbuttOned; he
wears pair of high boots, and white
hat on his head; his full white beard is
swept to one side by the wind. The
whole figure is said to be instinct with
energy and heroic.