The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-22
ToIstoi in His Home.

True to her word retired sne Inen,
. On. B.-Her mother worked till 10)
-Woman's Home Companion
ToIstoi in His Home.
BY all odds the most interesting ma
tional feature that Russia allowed me
to see was Count Tolstoi. And yet l
had never read any of Tolstofs novels
before meeting him, and my notion OF
his altruiSm were vague, indeed
about what the ideas are OF people
who have never been in Russia or seen
Tolstoi, and who, on learning that you
have been there and met him, ask I'M
mediately: "Say, on the level, is he
faker or not?"
once and for all, so far as my simple
intercourse with him is concerned, it
may be most boldly declared that ne
never was a faker-no more or one
when he was sampling all the vices ne
could hear of. than he is now In urg-
ing others not to follow his example
as an explorer of Weldon.
The man at Yasnaya Polyana, in
1885, was fairly we'll preserved old
gentleman, with white beard, sunken
gray eyes, overhanging bushy eye
brows, and a slight stoop in the shout
ders, which were carrying, l think
pretty close to seventy years of age.
The place looked neglected and un-
kempt in many respects, but the Two
remaining wings of the old mansion
were roomy and comfortable. Eight
children of the original sixteen were
living at the time of my visit, ranging
in years from thirty and over TO 1our-
teen. The countess was the boss OF
the establishment in and out OF the
house. What she said Of morning
constituted the law for the day, so far
as work was concerned. She had as
sistants, and 1 think a superintendent,
to help her, but she was the hnal au-
thority in matters of management.
The count did not appear to take
any active part in the direction of af-
fairs. He spent his time writing, rid
ing, walking, and visiting with the
guests, of whom there were goodly
number. At one time he may have
worked in the fields with the peasants,
but in July Of 1896 he did not share
any of their toil-at least 1 personally
What the countess really thought
about the whole business never
found out. We had one short CONVEX
sation about the count and MS work,
during which she delivered herself OF
these remarks: "You will hear many
things here that do not agree with
I believe it is better to be and do than
to preach" judged from these senti-
ments that Tolstoiism as. cult had
not captured her. But that she
thought much of the count as a man
and husband was evident from her
so!icitous care of him.-The late
Josiah Flynt, in Success Magazine.
Future iron (cHuCE.
Will the east regain it's own and
again become the great iron and steel
producing district of this country ?
John Fritz, Bethlehem, Pa, famous
for his perfection of armor plate pro-
cesses and one of the grand old men
in the iron and steel industry, thinks
that it will. Some day." he said re-
Gently, the SITS again to become a
great iron and steel district" Mr..
Fritz bases his prediction upon his
faith in the extensive ore resources! OF
New York, New Jersey and Cuba, and
in the perfection of the concentration
and roasting processes. This unusual
prediction gains weight when constd-
GRAFTON is given to the accuracy with
which he has forecasted other indus
trial movements. Twenty years ago
he expressed that the Bessemer steel
making process in America was grad
ually to decline, and the basic open
hearth process would finally become
supreme. The latter was then an in
significant factor in steel production,
but the tendency of the present is un-
mistakably as he predicted. Mr.. Fritz
PLAYED an intimate part in the up
building of the steel and iron business
in eastern Pennsylvania only to see the
center of steel production shift to the
westward. under the magnetic attrac-
ton of the ore supply, but he is of the
opinion that this tendency is not to be
continued un1nterrupteuIy.--1 t On
Trade Review.
Among the Cobwebs.
A LAWYER was talking about the late
Samuel c. T. Dodd. the Standard Oil
LAWYER. whose salary from the great
corporation was 100000 year.
MIR. Dodd,'' said the lawyer, mad