The times., 1901-04-09

1 is unofficially aware of it's existence
Theoretically he would consider it a sin
to take money for the use of land; yet
it is entirely presumable that the ten
ants upon his considerable estates dc
not live rent free. Perhaps they also
settle with the countess while the re-
! former back is turned.
! Were it not apparently evident that
! the old gentleman is sadly wrong in his
head, it would be difficult to speak OF
| his many abnormalities with serious
ness or patience. As anyone who reads
| Mr. Whites paper attentively must
| come to the conclusion that Tolstoy is
mentally unbalanced, it is possible to
regard him with sympathy. and to real
! ize that instead of prosecuting, the au-
! thorities at St. Petersburg have been
! extremely lenient toward him.
The mental alienation of Count Toll
stoy is not difficult to believe in when
his career surroundings, and, TO large
extent, self-imposed limitations are
! considered. He lives in country where
! such a thing as free public opinion is
/ unknown. People in Russia are noto-
riously unable to exchange thought up
on the social or political problems of the
| day. Only a favored few, and that in
their official capacity, are allowed to
read what books, papers, or magazines
they choose. As Mr.. White hints, even
the intimate conversation of the family
fireside must be guarded against spies
in the household, and the danger of de-
nunciatiOn to the dreaded Third Sec
ton" of the imperial chancellery. In
such an atmosphere men brood more
than they think inteligently. They de-
velop ideas which rapidly become fixed
principles and dogmas in their minds.
There is nothing of the healthfuI, cor
rective attrition with the best expo
nents of thought in the same or op-
posite directions which, in countries of
intellectual freedom. so often prevents
the growth of illogical or impracticable
personal theories. Tolstoy, who has
separated himself from his peers. who
speaks siightingly of the advantages of
foreign travel who would rather asso-
ciate with the most ignorant of his
countrymen and evolve measures OF
his most ardent admirer must admit
has been always narrow and twisted.
while sitting on mis- cobbler's bench or
driving his horses before a plow of
archaic constructiOn-he has nursed
grievances, has worked out what 10 him
appear to be remedies, and has simply
dreamed and brooded himself into a
state which strongly suggests the ad-
visibility Of placing him under expert
care in some first-class santarium.
During his stay in Moscow. Nh. White
had opportunities TO discuss all sorts
of subjects with the count. Naturally
he asked the latter what he thought of
American literature, and he frankly
admitted that he considered it in effect
rubbish. He knew a small number of
American authors by reputation, and
had read some of the books of a few
of them. Literature in the United
States" he said, at present seems to
be in the lowest trough of the sea be-
tween high waves" Mr.. White says:
4 then asked who IN the whole range Of
american literature he thought the foremost.
To this he made answer which amazed me,
II would have astonisited my comtrymen.
Indeed. did the eternal salvation Of all our sew
euty millions depend upon some one of them
guessing the person be named. should all
~ 10 perditi0n together. That greatest of Amer
ican writer's was-Adu Balou, Evidently some
Of the pliilanthropic writings OF that excellent
Massachusetts, clergyman and religious COM
H.unist had jumped with his huinor."
And as if that alarming opinion were
not enough to secure his commitment
to an asylum, the count startled his Wis
itor with the contemptuous declaration
that Shakespeare was "a mere scrib-
blerr
When in Moscow Tolstoy starts out
for walk with his pockets full of cop
per money, which he doles out to every
beggar who asks aims. and in that city
they are thicker than f1eas on a wolf
As his habit is well known, the profess
sion lay in wait for him, and his dona-
tions form a steady source of income
to them. To the suggestion of Mr..
White that in following this practice
he was encouraging and regularly sup
porting vagabondage, he replied that
it was his duty to give to all who asked
as long as the money lasted, and that
il was not so much a question of the
lfdCtlCal results NnIch might HOW from
the custom Of indiscriminate giving as
Of the cultivation of a generous and
fraternal spirit in the heart of the
donor. He was not apparently awake
TO the fact that, in scattering aims to
beggars, he was throwing around cash
derived from publishers whose money
he thinks it wrong TO accept, and from
tenants nearly as poor and a hundred
times as worthy as the objects of his
emotional charity. We might go on
enumerating the erratic utterances and
actions Of this singular product of mind
slavery in Russia; but what has been
above presented ought TO be sufficient
to show that in this country Count Toll
stoy would be classeG as a hopeless and
probably a harmless crank. In Europe.
and particularly in Russia. it would be
not astonishing were he to be consid-
cred a lunatlc whom ii would be dan
gerous to society to leave at large
The Real Napoleon.
For two generations at least the char |
acter of Napoleon has been one of the !