Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-19

cover the secret of right living from the
learned men whom he met in France
and Germapy and England, but he re-
ceived little help from them. When
the serfs were freed in 1851 he went
back TO the country to live. and for a
year or two occupied himself in endeav-
oring to fit them for their new freedom,
establishing a school fer them in his
own village of Yasnaia Poliana and
acting as principal Of it himself II
was shortly after this that he married.
and for ten or fifteen years his domes-
tic relations, the needs of large family.
the management of his estate. the COM
position of his great books, Anns
Karenina and War and Peace. so en-
crossed his attention that he was able
to silence the demands of his soul for a
truly religious conception of life.
Let us for a moment look at the
man Tolstoi as he was at fifty. He is
rich man with large landed estates.
He is an aristocrat, a member of a
noble family He is one of the most
distinguished writer's of the world. and
his books are translated into all the
principal languages. He has devoted
wife and a fine family of children
;
possible to find a man more happily
situated? And yet he tells us that at
fifty he could scarcely keep himself
from committing suicide. He felt he
had no religion, did not know what he
was living for. saw nothing in the
future but death.
But Tolstoi was no coward. and sui
eide is cowardice. He made up his
mind to find the truth if truth was to
be found. He began to read and study;
he applied to his friends, to the pro-
fessors in the colleges, and the priests
in the churches. For several years he
struggled with the great questions of
life and death, of good and evil, but he
obtained little satisfaction. He was a
practical man. and he wanted a praC-
tical religion that would change the
life of those that professed it, but as
he looked around him he saw religious
people living much like the irreligious.
He was sure that they were deceiving
themselves with their forms and cere-
monies. He set to work then upon the
study of the Gospels for himself and
tried to permeate his mind with the
spirit of the teachings of Jesus. He
became particularly attracted by the
Sermon on the Mount, and read it
again and again, and gradually its
meaning grew clearer and clearer to
him. He became convinced that the
kernel of the Gospel was love, love for
God and love for men, love extending
to our enemies and to those that hate
and prosecute us, love so strong that
it would prevent us under all circum
stances from using violence against
them, a love shining like the sun of
heaven on the evil and on the good,
on the just and on the unjust. This
conviction grew stronger and stronger
in Tolstois consciousness until it filled
his whole life. All idea of suicide
passed away. He was filled with a
great Joy, and he determined to dedi-
cate the remainder of his days to such
works of love as he could perform.
He looked upon his past life in the
light of his new love, and he felt pro-
foundry disguised with it. Was it pos
sible to love his neighbor as himself
and go on living in luxury while his
neighbOrs were overwhelmed by pow
erty? Was it consistent with Christ's
teaching for him to live as one of
small society of rich and aristocratic
people, scorning nine-tenths of man
kind as their interiors, refusing to sit
at table with them or to regard them
as brothers. and these too the very peo-
pie who provided Unem with the neces-
stiles and luxuries of life? No 1t
was not. He would have done with ii
all. He would cease to separate him
self from the mass of his fellows by
his dress. his manners and his oCCupa
tions. and he would admit himself TO
be what God made him, a simple hui
man being like all the rest Accord
ingly he began to simplify his way OF
living, to wear a peasants clothes, to
work with his hands, to do without the
Injuries to which he had been accus-
toned His love extended beyond men
to the animal world He did not take
I'D shooting again. for he would not
find pleasure in causing pain, and there
are so many pleasures which hurt no
one. He stopped eating meat, for he
did not like the idea of slaughtering
animals, and he soon found, as many
others have done. that he was just as
we'll and strong in vegetarian diet as
he had been before on flesh diet. He
went on writing as a literary man, out
no longer for fame or for money, hut
rather to make his new discovery
known to the world. namely, that PEG
pie would be happy If they obeyed the
commandment of Jesus, to love each
other.
/ had the great pleasure of visiting
him at his country home in 1894 when
he had already been leading this life
for a dom years In his peasants
blouse. with his patriarchal beard, his
kindly. searching eyes. his frank and
sincere manner, his geniality, and his
seriousness withal, he looked as the early
Christians must have looked and the
love which had become the essence of
his life was evident in very word and
gesture. A little story Of an event
which occurred a day or two before
my arrival will show how he asserts
his influence in his own family. II was
told me by the governess who was liy-
ing with the Tolstoi family and who
saw it with her own eyes. His little
daughter Sacha, ten vars old, had been
out in front Of the house playing with
one OF the peasant boys from the viii
lage They had quarreled, and the boy
had struck her with stick on the arm,
making it quite black and blue She
came running in TO her father 10 com
Dlaiu of him the tears cOureinR down