The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-05-27
'TOLST0|' 5 WIFI {
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 2C.-Coun.
tess Tolstoi has come TO Moscow TO
open the family home In this city,
aud if the count has no relapse In his
s., present semi-invalid state he Will
spend some weeks here and then re-
turn 10 his country estate, Yaenaia
POliana.
Ever since the countess took for
chile charge OF her husbands finan.
cial affairs 10 or 10 years ago. and
bought the Moscow home. II has been
the family custom 10 pass the winter
here. But the counts health has
made this impossible for several years.
sand II is probable that the weeks he
spends here now will be his last In
Moscow
He Will be 80 In August. Years
ago he ruined his constitution by fan
atical excuses in laboring In tho
fields under the hot summer sun and
tramping over the country In the
depths OF the terrible Russian winters.
Today he Is a decrepit, peevish. brok.
en-down old man. looking forward
with childish delight TO the rev
weeks In the midst Of old friends In
Moscow
Rare Business Manager.
The management OF all the family
business and the supervision OF the
p" large farming interests al Yasnaia
Poliana 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 a dozen
times. All OF this. added TO the care
OF her husband-and he Is not a pa
tent invalid-is telling upon her own
strength.
: She Is many years younger than
her husband, the daughter OF we'll.
known Moscow physician. and was
handsome, plump, black-eyed school
girl when the count married her In
1851. he being then S3 years old and
in the prime OF manhood.
He took her to Ynsnaia
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
little peasants hut on the bankrupt
estate. There she lived nearly 20
years without going back to Moscow;
there she became the mother OF II
children and educated them herself
Moscow or ST, Petersburg or wander
ed off on bis long tramps to study
peasant life.
After years OF extraordinary execu-
tive ability and stupendous sacrifice
and labor Countess Tolstoi was able
to move the family into the ances-
trail house on the estate which had
been dismantled 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 TO
majority. They are versed in science
and literature, speak three or four
languages and play the piano--the
education which the mother gave
i 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 persuad-
ed TO give IL up. Countess Tolstoi
takes no pains TO hide from the world
the fact that she does not in the least
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
brilliant career OF young man who
was a special friend OF the Tolstois.
Following the counts teachings. he
married a disreputable woman. with
whom he had had a long association,
and who was far from being worthy
OF the sacrifice Ever since that
Countess Tolstoi has preached against
her husbands code of ethics.
AT Yasnaia Poliana the family lives
simply but with a dignity BETTING
name and position. In Moscow it en-
tertains friends great deal in quiet
way
The countess dresses with simple
elegance. in rich black velvet or
heavy silk and has a few good jew
els and much beautiful. rare lace. OF
which she is fond.
Wants to See Worlds Great Men.
She has never been out OF Russia,
but her children have travelled extern
sively through Europe. One OF the
daughters makes her home in Rome.
The countess has always desired ar
IDENTIFY to travel aud meet the men
and women In other countries who
are molding thought and making his
tory, and as she is still comparatively
young, it is possible that the world
a; large may yet come in contact
" with this remarkable woman.
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