Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-10-03
ANALYSIS OF TOLsTOI.
The Kreutzer Sonata Reviewed from
an Agnostic Standpoint.

Robert u. lngersoll has long ar
ticle in the current number of the
North american Reriew on the
Kreutzer Sonata," and its author,
from which the following extracts are
taken:
Count Tolstoi 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 views of the rich and the
virtues of the poor. He is Christian,
real believer in the Old and New
TestaInents, and an honest follower
of the Peasants of Palestine.
Shocked by the cruelties and un-
speakable horrors of war, he became a
NONRESIDENT, and avowed that he
would not defend his own body from
insult and outrage. In this he fol-
lowed the command of his master,
: Resist not of evil He passed not
simply from war to peace, but from
one extreme to the other, and advo-
Gated Il doctrine that would leave the
base element of mankind the rulers OF
the world. This was and is an error
OF that great and tender soul, Count
TOlstoi.
Following the part of the New
Testament, he regards love as essen
TALLY impure. He seems really to
think that there is love superior to
human love and that love OF a man
for a woman or a woman for man is
after all, a kind Of gluttony-a degre-
dation-and that it is better to love
God than woman. To him there
seems to be no purity in love, because
men are influenced by forms.
"Count Tolstoi in THE Krutzer
Sonata has drawn with free hand
one of the vilest and basest of men for
his hero. If it is true picture of
welded life in Russia no wonder
Count Tolstoi looks forward with
pleasure to the annihilation of the
human race. The story OF THE
Krutzer Sonata seems to have been
written for the purpose of showing
that woman is ut 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
her red lips and the dimples in her
cheeks. The opposite OF this doctrine
is nearer true.
1t would be far better to hold peo-
pie responsible for their ugliness than
for their beauty. 1t may be true, the
soul or the mind in some wonderOus
way fashions the body, and that to
that extent every individual is respon-
sible for his looks. 1t may be that
man or woman thinking high
thoughts will give necessarily nobil-
ity to the expression and beauty to
the outline, but it is not true that the
sins OF man can be laid Justly at the
feet Of women.
"Women are better than men.
They have greater responsibilities.
"But the worst thing in The
Kreutzer Sonata is the declaration
that a husband can by force compel the
wife to love and obey him. Love is not
a child OF fear; it is not the result OF
force. No one can love ON compul-
sion. Even Jehovah found it was i'm
possible to compel tho Jews TO love
him. He issued command to that
effect, coupled with threats of pain
and death, but his chosen people
failed to respond.
"Count Tolstoi would establish
slavery in every house, he would make
every husband tyrant and every wife
a trembling serf. No wonder he re-
CARDS such a marriage a failure. This
is the destruction OF home life, the
crucifixiOn OF love. Those who are
truly married are neither master nor
servants. Obedience is lost in the
desire for happiness of each. Love
neither commands nor obeys.
at is curious thing that the Or
thodox world insists that all men and
women should obey the injunction OF
Christ, that they should take him as
superior in all things and follow his
teachings. This is preached from
countless pulpits and has been for
many centuries. and yet n man who
does not follow the Savior, who in
sists that he will not resist evil, who
sells what he has and gives to the
poor, who deserts his wife and child
rem for the love OF God, is regarded as
insane.
" Tolstoi, on some subjects, appears
to be in accord with the foundation of
Christianity, with the apostles, and
with the writers OF the New Testament
and with the fathers of the church,
and yet Christian teacher of the
Sabbath school decides, in the capa-
city OF Postmaster General, that the
Kreutzer Sonata is unfit to be
carried in the mails.
Although l disagree with nearly
every sentence in the book, and regard
the story as brutal and absurd and the
views of life presented rs cruel, vile
and false, yet l recognize the right
OF Count Tolstoi to express his opin-
ions on all subjects and the right OF
the men and women of America to
read for themselves.
LONG DISTANCE Power -One of the