The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-16
LOVE AND MARRIAGE.
Ingersoll Reviews Tolstoi's
Poisonous Philosophy.
IS THERE NO GOOD in WOMAN 2
xhs Russian Pessfmist Would Cure Our
MS by Return to savagsry-
what True Happiusss II.

ocqu8lute0 WIN huSSion lie from the
highest to the lowest--that is to say, from
the worst to the best. He knows the vices
Of the rich and the virtues Of the poor. He
is Christian. real believer in the Old and
New Testaments, an honest follower of tho
Peasant Of Palestine. He denounces luxury
and ease, art and music; he regards .
fewer with suspicion. believing that beneath
every blossom lies q coiled serpent He
agrees with Lazarus and denounces Dives
and the tax gatherers. He is opposed, not
only to doctors of divinity. but of medicine.
From the Mount OF Olives he surveys the
world.
To him this life is but . breathing-spell
between the verdict and the execution; the
sciences are simply sewers of the seeds of
pride. OF arrogance and vice. Shocked by
the cruelties and unspeakable horrors of
war, he became nonresident and averred
that he would not defend his own body or
that of his daughter from insult and out
rage. In this he followed the command of
his Master: resist not evil" He passed,
not simply from war to peace. tfrom one
extreme to the other, and advocated a doc
trine that would leave the basest of man.
kind the rulers of the world. This was and
Is the error of great and tender soul.
Count Tolstoi. following parts of the New
Testament. regards love as essentially inn
pure. He seems really to think that there
is . love superior to human love; that the
love of man for woman. of woman tor man,
is, after all, kind of glittering degrade
ton: that it is better to love God than
woman: better to love the invisible phan-
toms of the skies than the children upon our
knees-in other words. that it is far better
to love q heaven somewhere else than
to make one here. He seems to think that
women adorn themselves simply for the
purpose of getting in their power the inno-
cent and unsuspecting men. He forgets
that the best and purest of human beings
are controlled. for the most part uncon-
sci0usly, by the hidden, subtle tendencies
of nature. He seems to forget the great
fact of natural selection and that the
the result of forces beyond the control
of the individual. To him there
seems to be no purity in love, because men
are influenced by forms. by the beauty Of
women; and women, knowing this fact,
according to him, act, and consequently
both are equally guilty. He endeavors to
show that love is . delusion: that at best it
necessity be succeeded by indifference.
then BY disgust, lastly by hatred; that in
every Garden Of Eden is serpent of jeai-
0usy. and that the brightest days end with
the yawn of eRnui.
Count Tolstoi, in 1.-THE Kreutxer So
nata, has drawn with free hand one of
the vilest and basest of men for his hero.
He Is suspicious, Jealous. cruel, infamous
The wife ID infinitely too good for such .
wild. unreasoning beast, and yet the writer
of this insane story seems to justify the
assassin. II this is q true picture of welded
life in Russia no wonder that Count TOlstoi
looks forward with pleasure to the extinc-
stion of the human race.
or all passions that can take possession
OF the heart or brain, jealousy is the worst.
For many generations the chemist sought
for the secret by which all metals could be
changed to gold. and through which the
basest could become the best Jealousy
seeks exactly the opposite. 1t endeavors
to transmute the very gold of love into the
dross of shame and crime.
The story of THE Kreutzer Sonata"
seems to have been written for the purpose
of showing that woman is at fault, that
she has no right to be attractive, no right
to be beautiful. and that she is morally
responsible for the contour of her throat,
for the pose of her body, for the symmetry
of her limbs. for the red of her lips, and
for the dimples in her cheeks.
The opposite of this doctrine is nearer
L
pie responsible for their ugliness than for
their beauty. 1t may be true that the soul,
the mind, in some wondrous way fashions
the body. and that to that extent every
individual is responsible for his looks. 1t
may be that the man or woman thinking
high thoughts viii give, necessarily, mo-
bility to expression and beauty TO out
line.
1t is not true that the sins of man can be
laid Justly at the feet of woman. Women are
better than men: they have greater respon-
sibilities; they bear even the burdens of
Joy. This is the real reason why their
faults are considered greater.
Men and women desire each other and
this desire is condition OF civilization,
progress and happiness, and OF everything
of real value. But there is this profound
difference in the sexes: in man this desire
is the foundation of love. while in woman
love is the foundation of this desire.
Tolstoi seems to be q stranger to the
heart of woman.
Is it not wonderful that one who holds
self-denial in such high esteem should say:
s.That life is embittered by the fear of ones
children, and not only on account of their
real or imaginary illnesses, but even by
their very presence Z"
Has the father no real love for the chill
dren? Is he not paid thousand times
through their caresses, their sympathy.
their lover Is there no JOY In seeing their
minds unfold. their affections develop7 OF
course, love and anxiety 60 together. That
which we love we wish to protect The
perpetual fear of death gives love intensity
and sacredness. Yet Count Tolstoi gives
us the feelings of father incapable of ma
tural affection; of one who hates to have
his children sick because the orderly course
of his wretched life is disturbed.
But the worst thing in Tho Kreutzer
Sonata" is the declaration that . husband
can by force compel the wife TO love and
obey him. Love is not the child of fear;
Il is not the result of force. No one can
love on compulsion. Even Jehovah found
that il was impossible to compel the Jews
to love him. He issued his command to
that effect, coupled with threats of pain
and death, but his chosen people failed to
respond.
Love is the perfume of the heart; it is
not subject to the will of husbands, or
kings, or God.
Count Tolstoi would establish slavery in
every house: he would make every hus-
band a tyrant and every wife . trembling
serf No wonder that he regards such
marriages Is failure. He is in exact har-
mony with the course of Jehovah when he
said unto the woman: 81 viii greatly null
tipiy thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. and
thy desire shall be unto thy husband, and
he shall rule over thee."
This is the destruction of the family, the
pollution of home. the crucifxion of love.
Those who are truly married are neither
masters nor servants. The idea of obedi-
ence Is lost in the desire for the happiness
OF each Love is not convict. to be de-
tanned with bolts and chains. Love Is the
highest expression of liberty. Love neither
commands nor obeys.
The curions thing is that the orthodox
world insists that ali men and women
should obey the injunctions Of Christ; that
they should take MIN IS the supreme ex-
ample, and in all things follow his teach