The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-07
INGERSOLL ON TOLSTOI.
WHAT BE THINKS OF THE 'KREUT-
Ter SONATA"


We quote the folio wing passages from
Mr.. Ingersoll's article on 1.-The Kreutzer
Sonata in this months North american
Reriele:
Count ToIstoi is man Of genius. He is
acquainted With Russian life 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 pour. lie
is christian. a real believer in the old and
new tasuaments, an honest follower of the
Peasant and Palestine He denounces
luxury and ease. art and music; he regards
flower with suspicion. believing that be-
meath every blossom lies concealed ser
pent He agrees with Lazarus and de-
nounces Dives and tax gstherers. He is op-
posed not only to doctors of divinity, but
of medicine.
From the Mount Of Olives he surveys the
world
To him this life is but a 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 non-FeSistant aud aveired
that he would not defend his own body or
that of his daughter from insult and out
rage In this be followed the command OF
his Master: resist not evil" de passed,
not simply from war to peace, but from one
extreme to the other, and advocated doc-
trine that would leave the basest OF man
kind the rulers of the world. This was and
is the error of a great and tender soul
Count Tolstoi, following parts OF the New
Testament, regards love as essentially i'm
pure He seems really to think that there
is a love superior to human love; that the
love of man for woman, Of woman for man,
is. after all, kind of glittering degrada-
ton; that 1t 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 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 lnno-
cent and unsuspecting men. He forgets
that the best and purest Of human beings
are controlled, for the most part uncon-
sciously by the hidden, subtle tendencies
of nature He seems TO forget the great
fact of ma ural selection" and that the
choice of one in preference to all others is
toe result of forces beyond the control of
the individual To him there seems to be
no purity in love, berause men are iafiu-
enced 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 a delusion; that at best it can last
but for few days; that 1t must of necessity
be succeeded by indifference, then by dis
gust. lastly by hatred; that in every garden
of Eden is serpent Of jealousy, and that
the brightest days end with the yawn of
ennui.
Count Tostoi, in 1.-THE Kreutzer
Sonata" has drawn with a free hand one
Of the vilest and basest of men for his
hero. He is suspicious, jealous, cruel, infa-
nous. The wife is infinitely tco good for
such wild unreasonIng beast, and vet the
writer of this insane story seems to justify
the assassin. If this is true picture of
welded life in Russia no wonder that Count
Tostoi looks forward with pleasureI to the
extinction of the human race.
OF 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 I'D OF love into the
dross of shame aud crime.
The story of "Tbe 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 RESPONSE
BILE 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
true. 1t would be far better to hold people
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 10 that extent every indi-
,piI &c I
be that the man or woman thinking high
thoughts will give, necessarily, a nobility
to expression and a beauty TO outline.
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 re-
sponsibilities; 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 a 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 i,
the foundation Of love, while In woman
love is the foundation Of this desire.
Tolstoi seems to be stranger to the
heart Of woman.
Is 1t not wonderful that one who holds
self denial in such high esteem should say
THAT life is emhittered by the fear of ONE
children, and not only on account of thei
real or imaginary illness, but even by thei
very presenter
Bias the father no real love for the chill
drenl Is he not paid a thousand time
through their caresses, their sympathy thei
loves Is their no joy in seeing their MIND
unfold, their affections develops or course
love and anxiety go together. That whicl
we love we wish to protect The perpetual
fear Of death gives love intensity and sacred
ness. Yet Count Tolstoi gives us the feel
ings of father incapable of natural affec
ton; of one who hates to have his childre
sick because the orderly course of hi
wretched life is disturbed.
But the worst thing in "The Kreutzs
Sonata" is the declaration that a husband
can by force compel the wife to love AM
obey him. Love is not the child Of fear; i
is not the result of force. No one can low
on compulsion. Even Jehovah found tina
it was impossible to compel the Jews to low
him. He issued his command to that effect
coupled with threats of pain and death. bu
his chosen people failed to respond.
Love Is the perfume of the heart; il is no
subject to the will of husbands, or kings. O
God.
Count Tolstoi would establish slavery /
every house; he would make every husban
tyrant and every wife trembling SER
No wonder that be regards such marriae
as failure. de is in exact harmony wit
Jehovah when he said unto the woman: .
Ia.