New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-22
HOW TOLSTOI WORKS
SOME NOTES BY AN DID FRIEvo

often visitor at the estate u Yassnaya pa,
ana. This friend repeats Tolstors own a..
ment. that II all the great thinkers" Ia,
Jacques Rousseau was On, one that inaus,,s
him most powerfully y iIotzei Rogsss,, !.
such an extent" the novelist said IN one o..
SION that there was A time when 7 serlc,.
thought Of putting his por'ra.' 10 a iocket 4, :.
to wear it next my heart"
II was not j. J Rousseau. however. bu, ST..
who gave % the Russian he first lmps,
toward authorship. \ scfJ0ib0y from A gyn,A
sum once asked him AZ what age he Lad BEN.
writing. To this ToistOl smlnsy replied L.
YOU afraid 20 De too late? Do not y0g w'--
about that My first production was wrr-
when I was sixteen years DID and 4 vas
philosophical dissertat 10 imitation II Ster,,.
The first downright attack ID, the lever Z
authorship was. however experienced 5y Tls.
when he was in his twenty-irst year a. A,
time Of his stay in the Caucasus The Idle Z,
he was leading there among his fellow Olcs1
as well az various attacks u l0mesckness .
duced HIM to give free rein - his lmaginala
whenever it would transport him % his nale
place: and those imaginative ,rlps afforded h.
such intense delight that after a while he =
soIved 70 commit to paper some u his raus
niscences og former times. lie began f)rthEA
20 ,ot down incidents Of MS home life, AMI Ai
was the way in which 'Chi.dnood came 70
written. Visions II literary fame did not ONH
10 him until long afterward. Waen In Nosoos
IN later life Tolstoi once took drive % ,
"drojky' in the company u an acguantar:
The driver recognized him and. turning to Il
fare said. II have read many u your wa
Count | have read The Prisoners of the Car
casus' and The Master and he Man aln
ais, recd about the merchant Aksenok Az
much vas pleased with those books Of yogn
Now. there is another book, Childhood 81
Youth that could not lay my hands ,qpa
They tell me that 1t is an awfuily good book
IF you are so fond Of reading. said rasa
come to me 1 will give you books"
VIII you give me Childhood and YOUTH
promptly inquired the driver.
NO." said the author. not that. that
silly book. When 1 was young wrote sr>s
many foolish things. l will give you box
called Tread in the Light as Long as There
Light This is ever 50 much better than Child
hood and Youth" Here Tostois comoani''
interfered. and said 70 the driver:
AS to Childhood and Youth you would ost
ter get II anyhow Don't believe IT Is Sil1
book: il is a good book a very good book. III
deed" Tolstol did not protest Neverthelesa
when on the morrow the driver came to him e
get some books ne did not give him 'Chldh'N
and Youth"-prObably not wishing to take up''
himself the responsibility Of leading him as%aI'
The majority Of the characters figuring
CHILDHOOD and Youth" have been taken ''0n
life bodily. Some Of the b.ographers Ok Tosa
are mistaken, however. in supposins that IN
father depicted in "Childhooi and YOUTH IS IN
Counts own father The original Of that eaas
acter IS Islenief a neish0orns landed Ns
prietor the grandfather Of Ioistois we. Ia
spendthrift Of the book was the srandia'hi
the noyelist-this was C)un; I.ya Ahite"@
Tolstoi. at one time Governor ~ the Gove'nine~
Of Kazan. He squandered not only MS own vOT
siderable fortune. but also The mucn larger ''''
une Of his wife. Princess GortchaHot. Oh ""''
q scale Of luxury he used % live may De jugs
by the fact that the garments OF the an'
were not washed in Russia but we're sent
horse and carts to Holland. b De .auniete' 'He''
and returned In the same way 10 Russia
far as Spendthrft habits are conCeF"V'' = -,
the grandfather Of the noyelists wiz
above mentioned Alexander lslenief-cou'a H'"'
his own even against the Count s'aN''.
Many and wonderful are the stories nA"1.'
down about Alexander IslenIefs pertorn'AN
How rapid a pace he vas going may DC sA-
cred from the following instance once uPV.
time, while absent from his main estate ~
noye, Isenef sent word to his wife ana ua''
ter then living at Krassnoye. % nave al 'D-'
packed and ready TO be sent away SIM =,
had run against vein OF ill-lucA at ca'us -
had lost the estate OF Krassnoye 20 -.
and neighbor- another landed proprietor
ever. the packing and the preparations u.
ing the place were not quite comp'e'eu
family when another courier came 80 -
breakneck speed. bringing new inln"o'.'- -,
Paterfamilias Take things easy ana -
where you are luck has changed HS'. =,
ry.o1-,Ntya and narrower. nave W..