The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-03-05
MARIA ToLSTOrS WORK.
AZ EFFORT 70 APPLY HER FATHERS
TEACHINGS TO REAL LEE

Among tho PensRnts-NIedioaI Instruc.
,,on Also Given T~hem-Attitude OF tn.
government Toward Her and Her Father
sr PETERSBURG. Feb. 11.--of the 90, 100000
,msle inhabitants Of tho Russian empire
.Aou, ,hree. nfths have to do work of one kind
- another In order to live. The great major.
a, are the wives. widows and daughters OF
rs,sants. aud their main occupation is help
i,s tho men on their peasant holdings. The
-omsn who DO not belong to the peasant class
.,a vet desire employment. By way OF reorea-
don. or to gain a livelihood. teach. do needle
vork, go out as goyernesses, write and occa.
,opally 20 into business. Their field OF 40
vvny, however. is exceedingly restricted. and
hare Is not yet q stir among them at all com
0,robIe with the sc-called Women's movement
n Germany, England and America. Because
,pumber OF them 20 to the universities. both
,,home and abroad. and two or three. like
aopva KoyalefIska, have made themselves IA
nous on account OF their university work. II ia
n,her customary 10 think OF Russian women
a. being "emancipated" and strong compotl-
Tors 10 Intellectual fields as we'll as in commer-
,al undertakings with Russian men. but 1t Ia
,,lse notion Of their actual position. A great
many OF them smoke. and all havesa certain
quality which seems to. make them compan-
IONS Of men on purely friendly grounds In u
way that moro Western women ara not. but
they are In no sense OF the word emancipated.
and frequently have TO leave the country whom
thsy take part in agitations and movements
weh as In England and America nave long
been recognized as suitable;and con Geuial un-
dertakings for women.
The girl to whom attention Is directed in
this paper has not yet been asked to leave
Russia. aud is so well known and protected at
court that the probability.is she will not be sx-
lied. but her career up TO date has not been
eosy. and II she continues in the future as she
has done in the past there await her. so far as
she.wil be able in,her.own lifetime to see rood
results. but little moro than a few benefits
secured for the people actually about her and
a peace OF mind which. to her. OF course. will
mean a. great deal. l refer to Maria Tolstoi.
the second daughter Of the novelist and re-
lIRiuus enthusiast, Count Leo Tolstoi. She Is
her fathers most devoted ollower. and to q
foreigner seems to have known how to put his
IDEAS TO a moro practical test than he himself.
Count Tolstoi'S influence In. Russia has been
and still remains very great. he Is enc OF the
spiritual forces OF the empire. and the Govern
ment at st, Petersburg is.eontin ually having to
reckon with him. AS 4 practical reiormer,
however. who can point to things actually
done. he does not seem a'huccess oven to his
nearest neighbors. His village. or rather his
WIG o. oDAAhJ 4 VIZ aAus 10 NO a COl-
lection OF huts and human beings al Is to be
found in the district In which It is situated.
Things are run almost exactly as they are In
oil Russian settlements OF a similar character,
and the villagers have to work hard and to pay
for eyerythinR.they get. Their economic sit
uation cannot be said to have changed one
Hhit on account OF the Counts example or
teaching. and they are Just as'raRged and for
lorn looking. according to competent testi-
mony. as they were when the Count was ex-
clusively a literary man. They have great re-
sDect for him as an arbitrator in village quar-
rels, and look UP to him as the most honest
man in the neighborhood. but he has not
taught them how to better their material well
being, and until they have betterod 1t and
learned how 70 keep clean. 1t is a hopeless
task to try to persuade them to live according
10 the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
This teaching is as dear to Maria Tolstoi as
it Is to her father. although she has come to
an appreciation'o of it by a less circuitous route
than did the Count and has. perhaps. a less
philCsophic understanding OF its import. but
she has a woman's instinct for practically
and directness. and in-place OF writing and
suggesting. has deemed It her mission to help
the villagers TO learn how to make their homes
brighter and better. as well as how to take care
of their health. She has also been more sue
cessful than her father in freeing her mind Of
the painful thoughts which possessed him be-
fore he got rid Of his property. which. he said.
really belonged to the peasants. When the
family property was divided some years ago
among all the children Maria simply refused
to accent her share. and has consequently es-
caped the feelings which 80 long troubled her
father. The same charge that has been
brought against him might be brought against
her. for. as far as one can sec. there was moth
In- - ft,lAs -. n Is f,- ~. 81 l.-J
Ing 1t over direct to the peasants. but she had
doubtless understood his difficulty In trying
to do this and resolved not to be disappointed.
&c he had been.
She is to-day a young woman OF about 90.
and. unless her recent marriage with Il Count
has changed her plans. is still doing practical
missionary work. either in her mothers or her |
husbands farm. She Is neither very brilliant
as a student nor uncommonly pretty as q wo-
man. but her birth and social position.mlght
easily have gained for her.in st. Petersburg an |
enviable place In society. She might also
have gone abroad to Paris. Heidelberg or Ber-
lin. and. on account OF her fathers fame and
her own native endowment. been a success in |
university circles. Once taken with her
fathers ideas. however. and she seems to have
come to an appreciation of them while still
quite young, she preferred to take up the work
with which her name has become connected
throughout the nelShborhood in which she
lives, and che Is. at the present moment. one
Of the most indefatiRable workers among the |
PEASANTS that Russia has. Count TolstoI'S |
other children all have q great affection for
and to a certain extent take an interest in |
his ideas. but Maria Is the one who has tried
most to give them a practical significance.
1t was recently my good fortune to see what
THIS significance amounts to. to work with
Maria among the peasants and to have a num-
Der OF talks with her in regard to what she
hopes to accomplish. Every spring the Tol-
'to!s leave their own house In Moscow and
move to their country pa %. Yasnaya Polyana.
about 100 miles due south Of Moscow on the
seoastopol Railroad. and 1t was here that 1
met Maria. She has not the manner Of a girl
who thinks that she is doing anything particu-
'arly special or 10 very different from: other
slrls' She naturally notices that her girl
friends who visit at .Yasnaya Polyana Spend
most OF their time on the tonnis court and in
'he music room. but she seems TO look upon
mo way they live as perfectly natural and
IEnnAE