The sun., 1903-06-21


and by "smearing them with oil" people
imagined that the "besmeared fellow "
the anointed one. they called him-got
leave from above to surpass himself in
robbery, by setting up a court. a horde OF
assistants, assistants OF assistants and 80
forth, who all live of the people and rob
them right and left. When people got
tired of this game the devil Of robbery
put them up to elect their heads Of State
from among thenlselves-so that. hence
! forth, each man was fred with the hope
OF the possibility Of mounting the ladder
In time and taking hand himself at the
work OF robbing his fellows.
But, boasted that devil, whether @smeared
with oil' or "unsmeared with oil" and
unanointed. tha rulers OF peoples and
countries are the same now the world over:
are all robbing their people more or less
covertly, but most effectively whether
by direct or indirect taxation, or by farming
out the peoples interests to usurers, by
extending the protection Of State to such
men who, for the purpose OF robbery,
organize into trusts and associations and
make their simple minded contemporaries
do work never-ceasng for such associations,
while the organizers Of the latter live on
the fat of the land and boast Of the fact
that they uphold the lawful Government
The devil Of medicine claimed that he
has greatly contributed to the prosperity
Of hell by making people value beyond
anything else the precousness of their
own bodies-of their physical health-to
the utter neglect of the health and clean-
ness OF their immortal souls
| The devil Of lewdness was rubbing his
paws with glee as he told Beelzebub how
| he suggested to men that love Is not sufficient
to constitute marriage; but that they must
need 60 through forms and ceremonies to
make marriage valid. Having thus erected
marriage into sacrament, men and women
found themselves bound with fetters which
they could no more cast of. Men fretted
under the restraint and cast about for
means to avoid it. Thus 1t came about
that men found it necessary to have each
a number Of wives they would take UP for
time in succession: women whom the
world would not call wives, companions
who would not be inconvenently bound
to them for good and all in the name OF some
sacrament To keep up in the race Of life
and pleasure women resorted to the murder
Of unborn babies-the prevention Of chill
hell was getting peopled faster and faster.
The devil OF printing told how he put it
into the mind Of clever fellows that the
faster they should flood the world with a
never-ceasing stream Of foolish. inane or
vile copy-the more would their fellows
hunger for the same: for news and gossip OF
all knds-the appetite growing on what it
feeds on. and the more frivolous. the more
.G.,nf tk~r IL
kind become.
The devil Of art was full Of good humor
with himself at the cunning way he set good
people to worship at the shrine OF art,
telling how. through the medium OF
art, all kinds of unclean and unholy things
were communicating the minds OF men.
The devil of science related, amid
shouts OF laughter, how he set some good
and earnest men to count the stars or do
other equally futile things, while other
learned men set up what they called social
sciences" and instead Of applying them
selves to the task Of perfecting their own
nature and leading a righteous life. set
out to investigate the ways other people
live and the evil ways other people have Of
doing things. deriving by that process OF
investigation a lot Of satisfaction and for
u
The devil of philanthropy suggested to
people that the best way to quench occa-
sional tluaims Of conscience is 70 pass on
small portion Of ones ill-gottea or inherited
plrinder to the Submerged ones" this
made the donors light of heart in enjoying
their plenty and constantly congratulating
themselves with their goodness; it made
them think OF themselves as kind of
i l:..l
themselves
The devil Of uplifting the fallen proved
particularly faoetious as he related how
he induced good and righteous persons
10 look about for failures and sin in other
people. so as 70 reform those. thus
deserving we'll Of Heaven for themselves,
while holding themselves blameess and
pure, inconparably above The rank and
file Of the humanity they had to zeal with,
Besides. work among tho fallen in
tluced some good persons who indulge
in It to simulate mock humility, while the
work they we're doing was catering in
ordinatei:- to their fr dc and their self
esteem.
The devil Of socialism applied himself
to the task Of setting up one class Of people
against another. creating strife, stirring
W, hatred and distrust on every side.
The devil Of reninism (of women's rights
stirred UP one sex to hatred against the
other.
The devil Of fashion achieved much by
prompting people to rush from one thing
to another, to do anything new that offers
in the idea that this would place them
in The rank Of the smart and the e2rln-
sive and in this mad whirI for fashion
these frivolous ones forgot all about striving
after higher objects in life
The devil Of culture prompted peopl-
to Sc, UP affairs to false gods In rhe name
cf progress and Of culture. thus turni ng
away themselves and turning others from
the lofty pursuits pointed out by the founder
of tho Christian faith
Such is the sui stance of the new story
Of Tolstoy-as far as ] am able to recall
it after ore reading. I can give only the
bare skeeton. I certainly could not re-
produce, from memory. anything Of the
forcjt,n s,vle or cf the subtle satire dis
pavon by the author 10 the telling of/this
legend
No dcubt Count Tolstoy's work will
not he allowed to be printed in Russia,
but this will nct prevent il heing circulated