The Detroit times., 1908-05-28
TOLsT0Y WIFE
IS GREAT, TOO, IN
HER OWN SPHERE
SHE is MOTHER OF SEVENTEEN
CHILDREN, WHOM SHE HAS ED.
UcATED HERSELF IN SCIENCE
AND LETTERS.

MOSCOW. Russia May 2O.-Coun-
,ess Tolstoi has come TO Moscow to
open the family home In this city.
and If the count has no relapse in his
present semiinyalid state he VIII
spend some weeks here ana then re.
turn to his country estate Gaenaia
Poliana.
Ever since the countess took for
chile charge OF her husbands hnW.
cial affairs 10 or 10 years ago, and
bought the Moscow home. it has becn
the family custom 10 pass the winter
here. But the counts health has
made this impossible for several years,
and it is probable that the weeks he
spends here now will be his last IN
Moscow
He will be so in August. Years
ago he ruined his constitution by fan
atical eXcesses i'm labOring in the
fields under the hot summer sun ana
.ramping over the country in the
depths of the terrible Russian winters.
To-day he is docrepit, pcevish. brok-
en-down old man, looking forward
with childish delight TO the rev
weeks in the midst OF old friends in
Moscow
Hare Business Manager.
The management of all the family
business and the supervision OF the
large farming interests at Yasnaia
Poliaua have fallen upon the Shout
ders Of the countess, and at the same
time she has acted as her husbands
secretary. writing and rewriting his
manuscript sometimes half dozen
times All Of this, added 20 the care
Of her husband-and he is not a pa
lent invalid-is telling upon her own
strength.
She is many years younger than
her husband, the daughter OF "a we'll
known Moscow physician and was a
handsome, plump, black-eyed scnool
girl when the count married her in
1861, ne being then 80 years old and
in the prime OF manhood,
He took her to Yasnaia
Poliania. which had come to his fam
lily through Catherine the Greats in
fatuation for the Gen Tolstoi of that
day, and set. up his household in d
little peasants hut on the bankrupt
estate. There she lived nearly 20
years without going back 10 Moscow;
there she became the mother OF II
children and educated them herself
while her husband spent his time In
Moscow or St Petersburg or wander
ed off on his long tramps to study
peasant life.
After years Of extraordinary eXccu-
tive ability and stupendous sacrifice
and labor Countess Tolstoi was able
10 move the family into the ances-
trail house on the estate which had
been dsmantled and deserted during
the counts young manhood. every
thing of value being taken out OF il
and sold. The estate is now the most
prosperous in the district. The enor
nous mortgage was lifted long ago
through the efforts OF the mistress OF
the establishment.
Most of the children have grown 10
majority. They are versed in science
and literature. speak three or four
languages and play the piano--the
education which the mother gave
them unaided They are thoroughly
devoted TO her, and so far she has
kept all OF them from embracing
their fathers doctrines or mode of
life One OF the elder daughters did
so for awhile. but was soon pcrsuad
ed to give II up, Countess TOlstOi
takes no pains TO hide from the world
the fact that she does not in the least
agree with her husbands ideas on
living. but she respects his intellect
ual and literary ability. Without her
assistance and Judgment his present
literary career would have been I'M
possible.
The counts doctrines ruined the