Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-11-20
ToLsToI oNDEATH.
A Letter Suggested by the Decease of n
Kinsman.

Russian Review.
From Lyof Tolstoi to A. A. Phet
"October 18th, 1860. think
you already know what happened. On
September Goth he died, literally in my
arms. = y Nothing in my life
made such an impression on me. He
used to say truly that there is nothing
worse than death. But, when you CON
slider seriously that death is the end of
everything, then life becomes an unmiti-
gated evil. What profits it to strive and
cry when of what was once Nikolai
Tolstoi y nothing is left. He
never said he'felt the approach of death;
but it seems to me he watched its every
step, and knew for certain how much
time was still left A few minutes be-
fore his death he dosed, and, suddenly
awakening, whispered with horror:
What is it?' 1t was that he saw death,
this consumption of his being in moth
ingness, and if he found nothing to
grasp, what shall find? i Less
than nothing And, Of course,
neither nor anyone else will struggle
with death as lie did. To the last
moment he did not give himself up to
DEATH did everything for himself; tried to
be occupied, wrote, asked about my
writings, and advised me; but all this, it
seemed to me, he was doing, not by an
inner tendency, but on principle. Only
one thing, nature, was left to the end
On the eve Of his death he went into his
room, and, through weakness, fell on his
bed, near the window When | came
in he said, with tears in his eyes: How
happy l was for whole hour From
earth he came. y To earth he
will return.
Zone thing only is left; dim hope
that, somewhere in nature, part of
which you will become in the earth,
there will be something left and found.
said how wonderfully quietlyand calmly
he died. But know with what fright
full tortures, because not single feeling
escaped me; "A thousand times, | repeat
to myself, Let the dead bury their
dead but must spend the strength
still have on something. 1t is impossi-
BILE to persuade the stone to tumble up,
any not down, whittier it is attracted.
You cannot laugh at jest you are
weary of; you cannot eat when you are
not hungry; Y \ what is the use
of everything? Tomorrow will begin
all the fortunes of death, with the un-
cleanness Of lies and self-deceiying, and
will end in nothingness; nullity for
yourself y Strange! = y
BE useful; be virtious; be happy as long
as you live y say people to
each other, and you-'thc happiness, the
virtue and the usefulness consist in
truth And the truth | have gathered
in thirty-two years is that the situation
we are placed in is terrible. Take life
as itis;you put YOURSELF in that situation
Yes, of course; do take it as it is. As
soon as the man reaches certain qoint
of development he will see clearly that
everything is folly, deceit; and the truth,
which he still loves more than anything,
is frightful. When you eeit distinctly,
you awake in terror and say, with my
brother, what is it," But, of course,
so long as you possess the desire Of
of knowing and telling truth, you will
know, and tell it. This is all that is
left to me out of my moral world above
which cannot put myself. This only
will l do, but not in the form Of art.
Art is a lie, and | can no longer love
even beautiful lie.