The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-12
Work Among the Peopie.

A contributor 10 the New York Sun
writes from 81. Petersburg concerning
the work OF Maria TOlstoi. who IS trying
10 apply her famous fathers teachings
TO real life
Maria is her fathers most devoted FOL
lower. and 10 q foreigner seems 10 have
known how 10 put his ideas 70 more
practical test than he himself Count Toi-
stoTs influence in Russia stu remains
very great but as a practical refcrmer.
however, who can point 10 things actu-
ally done. ne does not seem a success.
even 70 his nearest neighbors- His VII
lage, or rather his wife's. 6aSnaya Poly
ana. is as miserable a collection Of huts
and human beings as Is 10 DC found in
the district in which IL is situated Things
are run almost exactly as they are in Al
Russian settlements OF n similar charac-
Ter. and the villagers have 10 work hard
and 10 pay for everything they get
Maria TolStoi is today a young woman
OF about %. and. unless her recent mar
rage with a count has changed her plans.
Is still doing practical missionary work.
either in her mothers or her husband
farm. She is neither very brilliant
student nor uncommonly pTttty a w0-
man. but her birth and social position
might easily have gained Tor her in S.
Petersburg an enviable place In society.
Once taken with her fathers ideas. how
ever. and she seems 10 have come 10 an
appreciation Of them while stiu quite
young. she preferred 10 take up the work
with which her name has become con-
nected throughout the neighborhoOd in
which she lives. and she is at the present
moment one Of the most interchangeable
workers among the pea-cuts that Rus
sia has
Her efforts are about equally divided
between the workers N the fields and the
ailins ones in their nuts. When she works
in the field she is just as much an en-
plOye OF her mother and quite as definitely
under the direction of her mothers haih1
as any peasant on the property. She Is
paid for her work either in kind or CO.
pecks-a copeck is half q cept in our
money-according 10 the season. Women
as we'll as men have 20 take part in this
,eork. and Maria's main interest az the
season Of the year when the peasants
work for the Countess alone IS in tax
ing the place OF those women who are IN
able, on account of sickness or lameuess.
TO do their share. On such occasions she
does the work which would have been eX-
pected Of the absent peasant woman. and
the latter or her family profit by 81
The same is true when Maria works for
a money wage. She only undertakes this
work, however. when some woman ali
solutely needs the money and would work
for II If she were able. From 20 20 30
copecks a day is about what a peasant
womans labor is worth on a Russian
farm. and this is all that Maria receives
but she believes that il has sufficient
value 70 the woman for whom she tolls -
justify her in turning hay in the fields
for y long hours. day in and day out.
Besides working with the peasants in
the fields she is also their medical ad-
wiser. With a view 70 becoming the doc
tor at Yasnaya Poyana. she studied two
years in the hospitals at Moscow. and her
fame as a healer among the peastnts is
now so great that they come n her hos
pital in the village from miles around.
She has also tried TO secure for the
school children more rational teaching
than they now receive IN the stereotyped
clerical schools. but the local priest. with
the help OF governmental pressure, stop
ped her work in the Russian Church; in
deed, she has but little faith in any church
as now conducted and was fearless enough
to incorporate in her school work among
she children her ideas about religion. a
procedure which naturally brought down
upon her the wrath Of the priest. He
threatened 10 call In the police II she did
not give up her school. and although
she seems to have very little fear of the
police. il was deemed excellent 10 discOn-
tinue the school for the time being