The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-17
HIS Life Work Nor undone.

HIS Life Work Not undone.
The recantation OF his Views, so sin
cerely held, 20 nobly acted upon, that
marks the waning OF Tolstors powers
win not undo the work OF great and
memorable life. The world was startled
few years ago by his declared purpose
to adopt the discipline Of remuneration.
Accepting the doctrine Of service. push
ing altruism to its farthest extreme. he
separated himself from his family. sup
ported existence by physical toll. pre-
pared his own food, made his own
clothes. preached the gospel that man
owes everything 10 others. and buried
his glorious intelligence and his sensi-
tive spirit In the seclusion OF the hum
biest surroundings. Now his last mes.
sage ID that he was in error II sounds
like the confession of mistake. It ID
only the tired voice OF Z spirit simple
AZ . child's, crying for the rest that It
has earned ana almost won.
Few men have exercised upon mod
ern life and literature the influence OF
Tolstoi. He has impressed himself
upon his age. He IL great In 80 many
directions. He spoke not to Russia.
but to the world. He had the quality
OF universality: and the instrument upon
which he played with q skill 90 rare
and touch SO exquisite was the heart
of humanity. There Il no greater study
Of sin and suffering than "Anna
Karenina." There is no prose epic more
powerful or impressive than WAR and
Peace" Ir what to Do the aspira-
ton for practical holiness appeals to
the religious sentiment Of millions.
Even, the alterations Of a mighty
genius. more or less grotesque or re-
pulsive. the "Kreutzer Sonata and the
fugitive essays Of Tolstofs period Of
storm ana stress. all bear the imprint
Of the mind Of a master It is one Of the
immortals who dwelt with us. Now.
ms the pen falls and the heart prepares
for rest after struggle. Tolstoi goes back
to the old ways. and his almost dying
words are a recantation.
1t is no life work that Is destroyed, for
that is imperishable. The old mistakes
snd the new Of Tolstoi were due to ten,-
permanent. The truth Ia not less true
and life no farther from nobility, the
ideal does not lose its splendor because
he saw things one at q time. and fol-
lowed blindly giimpses Of the part
rather than the whole. He could not
'1ook before and after" To him, was
wanting the eternal patience that be-
fits the man. be he what he may.
prophet. reformer. political leader. who
would build on a foundation more en-
during than today. He could renounce.
but he asked immediate fruition OF the
idea. He had learned to. labor. but not
to wait.
Humanity is greater and wiser than
any Of its atoms. The world, which
was far in the rear of Tolstofs great
ideals. comprehends him in his entirety
better than in any one of his many
phases. To thousands of people he has
been an inspiration. Millions to whom
he Is no more than a name have views OF
life and conduct that they owe to him.
Perhaps 1t Is not too much to say that
his venerable figure Is the Atlas sus-
tanning the weight Of world grooming
under the burden of wars and led by
Russia to deliberate upon a universal
peace. All of this, indirect and vague
to those on whom the influence falls,
is a part of the life work that will not
be undone; the education of humanity
in high thoughts. in noble simplicity Of
living, In devotion to the truth for its
own sake. in that remuneration where
this strange nature Of ours finds its ulti-
mate recompense and satisfaction.
The worth of moral standards. SUI
preme faith in ideals and the altru-
istic life are the teachings of Toll
stoi that no vagrant fancies or
wild theories of his in prac-
tical life could obscure: that did not
derive their force from the individual
and cannot change or perish with him.
His weakness is to expect too much of
the age and of the immediate. They
who would live for the highest must de-
mand but little of their own time and
of the slow-moving world. His heart
will faint or break who cannot reach
hand through time to catch the far
off interest Of tears"