New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-25

could have lived long, without finding any
such Christian conformity as Count Tostoi de-
mands
It must be admitted that Tostoi states with
much candor the staple arguments against his
impracticable and visionary scheme but in the
answers to these arguments he cannot avoid eX-
posing the fundamental weakness of his system,
which, while ignoring the vast influence of the
various passions upon human action, proposes to
eliminate crime and vice by putting stop to all
social and national progress His ideal CON-
munity without property would inevitably degen-
crate into savagery, for the dominant agency In
civilization is the spirit of acquisitiveness, and
material though this be, it is through its opera
ton that opportunity has been afforded for the
cultivation and development of higher and more
spiritual tendencies Tolstoi, however, is con-
strained by the very nature OF his hypothesis TO
disparagc and msrepresent civilization He
throws upon this the whole responsibility for
shortcomings really attributable to the innate
defects of human nature; defects which have
hitherto rendered impracticable any nearer APP
pr0ach TO the Christian standard Of living than
has been attained by the most favorable en-
amples of humanity working under normal con-
ditions.
The eccentric Russian refomers other book.
entitled The Fruits of Culture" he is pleased
TO style comedy but comedy with less humor
and more tcdiousness in it was surely never
written. The object of the author seems TO have
been to satirize Russian society il is but the
satire falls harmless, far as anything real
in the nature of culture is concerned, for
it is directed wholly to the worst
informed. most imbccile and purposeess
of social types The dramatis personae" appear
to cover quite an extensive field and they range
from peasants almost destitute Of intelligence to
what Count Tostoi ina snes, perhaps, to be faith
full lilenesses Of educated agnostcs. In fact, his
professors and doctors and mobiles are little if at
all, in advance of the peasants. whose stupidity
and narrowness he emphasizes as much as possible
while his women the most frivolous and nane
creatures that ever served breathing lbels upon
their sex. or course the pastimc of making straw
giants and then demolishing them is one Of the
easiest but the method when employed in dia-
lectcs has never proved effective not to say con-
vincng. In The Fruits of Culture" the whole
everyday life of a wealthy Russian family Is set
forth in strong caricature. We see the servants
hall, the Kitchen the parlor, the drawing-room in
turn. The head of the house is haf-crazed over
Spiritualism, and is the easy victim of two Of
his own servants, one Of whom pretcnds 20 be a
DfulUUl, Wnllc inc OlIcT operates Iue pnc-
nomena OF the scance-room7 in a phenomenally
crude and clumsy manner Yet the scene durinl
the seance is certainly the most amusing and the
most brightly written in the play, and all the
partcipatOrs in it made very ridiculous.
Here for short time. Tosioi's literary instincts
have proved too strong for his solemn ddacticisn.
and in his dclineation Of such people the Pro
fcssor, the Doctor and the Fat Lady he has re.
ali ,,.lo IL 81
acquired and practiscd so happily before he fell
under the dcusion that he had a mission to re-
form the world, and to begin by upsetting civil
lization.
But the humor of the so-callcd comedy begins
and ends in the referred to. All the rest is
heavy. dull cxtravagant, after a particularly
pondcrous fashion. The conclusion 10 be drawn
from the whole is that the household portrayed
has really nothing whatever to do with the
fruits Of culture but that it illustrates the re-
suits Of gross ignorance. sef-indulgcncc. coarse
profusion and weak intelligence in various forms
There is not strong wcl-informcd even
ordinarily sagacious person in the cast and tie
impression conveyed is that of hopeless muddle
and confusion, both in theory and practice. II
may be assumed with safety that even in so
backward a country as Russia the real fruits of
culture are of another kind than these. and the
Inherent vice Of Count rolstoi's view Of life is
indicated in the necessity which impcs him thus
10 tmvcsty facts IN order 70 obtain seeming
justification for his positions. His alleged comedy
In fact, is no more an example of modern society
than a Brass Monkey is an example Of the
modern drama II is not a photograph, bnt
carcaturc. and not n good caricaturc, either. II
is 10 be regretted that the further Tolst0i pro-
cceds upon his path, the more out Of touch
with the realities Of life and the SOLDERING restraints
of reason he becomes: but such and even wilder
divagations must be anticipated from a rc!ormcr
who. never having seriously studied the world he
lives in undertakes to make it over again in
accordance with the irresponsible suggestions of
his inner consciousness