The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-07
ny STEPHEN noNsAL
Moscow, Jun

1 s..,s. NlOScOW, une
wv TE had talked about my pros
NV pcctivc interview with
W Count Tolstoy for 80 many
days and 80 many nights
that had begun to feel
that that wastall there was to be of 1t.
I comforted myself with the thought
that, after'a all, the great mans friends
were Interesting, though perhaps with
q merely reflected glory. Last week
Di.nitri Ivanovitch visited the Count
and found him distressed. He told
me with tears in. his eyes that he
could not work all day az he had done
for forty years. Why is this? he asked
me. said could not imagine. Who
would venture TO tell the great man
the truth? Then he said. You know.
for the hrst time I feel as though I
were seventy years old And there
was nothing to say. nothing except
Leo Nicholaevitch. you are lucky. for
you are within six months of eighty,
unless the parish registry lies and OF
course no one would say that"
What happened when the Count first
felt the grip OF old age upon him /
must tell shortly. therefore 1t VIII be
impossible to use the words Of Dimitri
1vanovitch. The morning after he felt
It he rose early while the lazy peasants
I still lay in their beds, and saddling
/ his own horse, Travelled to Tula to talk
politics with the Governor. Arrived
before the palace. he was placed under
arrest for a few minutes by the guard,
who liked not the looks OF this man
with tho strangely refined face and
manner, clothed In the peasants garb.
hi a n
mounted again and rode a wild.
roundabout way to his home. He
f.sust have covered forty miles or more.
AS result his old hunter had n collie
and was very leg weary. Then the
Count lost his appetite, and went two
days without even the vegetarian diet
z that has sustained his iron frame and
tireless industry for the last ten years
Interest In His Illness.
The news that Tolstoy was Ill at
tracted attenttRn even throughout a
land in the throes OF revolution. and
the papers were filled with bulletins.
real and imaginary. as to the great
mans condition. Then suddenly. as
man recovered. and, adjusted himself
to his eightieth year as easily al lio
had to all the conditions by which III
an arduous life he has been confronted.
He consented to work only five hours
day and to read only four. The
farm he would let take care OF itself.
On the following day he wrote firis
>ato the first volumel OF his memoirs
and then embarked upon volume OF
fairy tales. a sequel to the one he
wrote two years ago. Dimitri 1vano'
Witch brought the brave news, and al
the same time hustled mo to the sta
ton. Hurry" he said, "the way I.
paved for YOU" And certainly hur-
ried, at least until caught the train
Our engine was built in America
but the engine driver was not. Thai
Tartar took nine hours to drive us q
hundred and twenty miles. Ours wa.
indeed plebeian train unlike thu
Siberian express. that pulled and snort.
ed on an adjoining track. The expires.
was carrying governors and generals
to the Far East, but our train WA
filled with droyers and cmigrants an,
wandering bands Of unemployed peas
ants, who were Fastening to Tula t
get job at the spring seeding.
was composed of third and fourth
class carriages. and I sat in loneG
grandeur in the only second-clas
coach. At the first station out from
Moscow the drovers broke into m,
compartment. TT is not good for ma
to be alone" they said. You are
lawless crowd" said the conducto,
and smilingly looked the other way
The drovers We're jolly fellows. an
had sold their cattle we'll. Their peck
cts were full of money. and the
brought with them a glass jar file
with orange-scented kvass to Will
away the long hours Of the nigh,
The lar held forty litres. and they bal
anced 1t in the net rack over my h eae
vNwnxnv. orJ aynIu<ln,,
We had some minutes of good tai
about the revolution. The point {
view OF the drovers was peculia
They thought the government was to
n'ealy -mouthed. Any man who bl,rne
barn or ham-strung cattle ought
be impaled alive on pike us was tn
custom In the good old Tartar, day
ITS thirsty work talking politics in
noisy accommodation train. A siieI
vote was taken, and all the drovel
said with their eyes, 1T is high tin
joit, sharper tian usual, and VIZ
suddenly enveloped, not In water, {
at first thought. but In kvass. "A
God is dear to me-" said the fir
drover. .the Jar has parted!" The
hshed mo out OF the orange smellin
flood and wrung out my coat and h'
and shirts In their glasses; but 1t WI
i dry, dull night after that.
We came into Tula about 8, and
went directly from the railway static
to q little tractir, oil, inn, famous +,
X its horses, for I was still fifteen mil
81 away from the home of Tolstoy. II
public room was filed with hard drinl
ers, more than half seas over for u
most part. The white aproned waite
rushed about booming business as be
theyNcould, & S.
"May>1 ssegale you with honey beer