The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-17
Talaim.

q q previous notice We followed the story
of Russla's great refornef from birth
through HE curtailed career ~ the univer.
city. ~ u Ia set forth In the FRS, volume.
do voted % Childhood and Early Manhood,
Of the work entitled Leo ToIstov. by Part
BfAuHoVp, and revised by the subject of
the biography (s%cribnersD, II will doubt
less be recalled that Leo Tolstoy, born In
1873, left at the age Of % the University Of
KAsAn, where he had applied himself first
IN the study Of Turco-Arab literature, and
subsequently, had transferred himself to
the school Of law. where he was officially
reported 10 have made good progress In
logic and Psychology, In Latin. In the his
tory Of Roman law and In comparative
Jurisprudence. During the three following
years he lived the life OF a young man Of
the world, partly at Moscow and partly at
St. Petersburg. In the midst Of which, how
ever, periods Of remorse and humiliation
would intervene, when he would write a
sermon when preparing for the sacrament.
That he was much better than his comrades
Ia beyond a doubt. The sins which he
subsequently deplores are exaggerated
and should be classed with the youthful
errors hmented by st. Augustine. In 1851,
however, having Joined the Horse Guards
as a volunteer, he went to tho Caucasus,
and remained in military service for some
six years. Some Of his experiences in that
lawless country are described In his eau
oasian tales, THE Invaders The Cos
sacks "A woodcutting Expedition and
An Old Acquaintance" There seems TO be
no doubt that in the wild Cossack and Cau-
casian villages the artistic forms OF Toll
.towt.H 1ornNnaifiapa uara nonoaiuaI and
the first fruits of his creative power were
brought forth. The record Of a love affair
that never eliminated In fruition Is set
down in the tale The Cossaoks.' In a
letter to Moscow friends he relates that he
has imagined this Cossack maiden now as
a mistress and now as a wife, but has re-
PEELED both thoughts in disgust. To make
a mistress Of her, he said, would be murder.
It would be still worse to make a lady OF
her, he add ed, as one Of his fellow officers
had made a lady OF a Cossack girl Of the
same place, whom he had married. II he
him self could turn Cossaok all would be
well, but he could not see his way to doing
In January 1859, Tolstoy became !. nom
commissioned officer, and from the entries
made by him at this time in a diary he
evidently realized that three passions
were hinderng him from attaining the
moral plane to which he aspired. These
passions were card play. ~sensuality and
vanity. OF the three Passions he expressed
the belief that vanity is that by which we
do least injury to others and the most to
ourselves. The love Of gambling, he
thought, could be withstood, but he kne W
Of no means, he said, Of resisting the SEN
sual appetite, except labor and occupation.
It was about this period that he graded
human beings as follows: The man
whose object is his own happiness lie bad;
he whose aim is to get the good opinion Of
others is bad, too, for he is weak: one whose
object is the happiness Of others is viz
tuous; he whose object is God lie great
In January, 1854, rather more than two
months after Russia had declared war
against Turkey. Leo Tolstoy was promoted
to the rank Of q commissioned officer, and
was ordered to join the army Of the Danube.
he continued to keep a diary, and in July
Of the year named he undertakes to de-
scribe his wi personality. Il am ugly
he writes, awkward, unoleanly, and, in
the worldly sense, uneducated; I am ir-
ritable, a bore to others, rude, ~intolerant,
and as bashful as a child. I am almost
completely ignorant. What l do know l
have learned anyhow. independently, by
snatches, incoherently, in a disorderly
way, and all comes to-so little. l am
self -indulgent, irresolute, inconstant. stu
pidly vain and hot headed, as are all
people with a weak character. 1 am not
brave, I am not methodioal in my life, and
am 80 lazy that for me idleness has become
,lponat q paoonaa~v hahtt y Not,yn ;ntnI;
gence the young officer OF 20 would not
deny to himself that he 20 ssessed, but he
recognizes that his mental capacity had not
yet been thoroughly tested on anything.
BE was quite sure, he said, that. he had
neither Q practical. nor a worldly, nor a
business intelligence. He did not make
the picture all shadow, however, for he |
adds: Il am honest, that is. I love what is
right, and have got myself into the habit of
loving IL; when ] deviate from it, I am
dissatisfied with myself, and return to it
with pleasure, There are things, never
theless, that / like more than what is right
for example, fame. l am 90 vain, and 90
little has this feeling been gratifed, that
often I am afraid lest. between fame and
virtue, I might, il the choice was given me
choose the former He reiterates: -Yes, !
l am arrogant, because I am inwsrdlv
proud, though ] am shy in society"
After the Russian retreat from Silistria
Teistoy was sent to the Crimea, and reached
Sebastopol in November, 1854. He could
appreciate the valor and the fortitude OF
his French and English enemies. In a letter
written to his brother soon after his arrival
he says: "You should see the French and
English prisoners ESPECIALLY the latter;
each one is better than the last mean
morally and physically; they are a splendid
people The Cossaoks say that, even they
feel pity in sabring Them II was at Sebas-
topol that he conceived the scheme of
propaganda which was to be outli ned much i
later in my Religion" In'his diary, under
date OF March 5, 1855, this Christian soldier. |
IL ever there was one, writes: "A conversa-
ton about divinity and faith suggested to
me a great, a stupendous idea, TO the ~realiza-
ton OF which ] feel myself capable of devot-
ing my life. This idea is the propagation OF
a new religion corresponding to the present |
state of manldnd-the religion Of Jesus, but
purified from dogma and mysticism, a prac-
tcal religion, not promising future bliss,
but giving bliss upon earth. Ifeel that this
t1Aa n - ~Aal.Al 1T l. |