New Ulm review., 1908-09-02

ssBoyhood," !" youth" saThe Cossacks,'
| "Sevastopol Sketches Family Hap,
piness, WAR and Peace" Anna Ka-
| renina'' and many other short stories.
His tales published during the Crimean
| war caused Emperor Alexander II. to
order the general under whom Tolstoy
served to take care of the author and
not to expose his life to any danger.
| The stories named above belong to Toll
stoy's first literary period. To the sec
| ond belong my Confession" What I
1 Believe" s.The Kreutzer Sonata" and
other religious, philosophical and socio-
/ logical productions.
4 The Tolstoy cult, developed since
that day when the Tartar was trans
formed into the philosopher, astonish-
ed the world That part Of it which
deals with the relations of state and
] individual is not very different from
widely held Socialist views in many
parts Of the world, that which deals
with the church is repugnant to the
! orthodox-it led to his excommunica-
/ ton by the Greek church several years
1 Rgo-and that which deals with the
tender passion is at variance with the
conventional view. 1t was the treat
4 ment Of this last phase Of the cult in
ssThe Kreutzer Sonata that made the
/ novel the sensation Of two continents.
In his efforts to follow the example of
Christ !Tolstoy refused to accept pay
for his literary work and on his copy
rights and endeavored to give away
his personal property and his estate,
covering $500 acres, but in these moves
he was frustrated by his wife, who
/ declared that she and the thirteen
children she had borne him should not
be impoverished. This and other
phases Of the Tolstoy cult are so un.
conventional and impractical that fol
years past many Russians have be-
lieved he was crazy. In an article en-
titled "The Tragedy of Tolstoy" So
phie Witte, sister of Count Witte,
made this significant statement: "The
number Of tragic, unnatural deaths and
suicides, and especially the number of
people who have become insane, in this
aristocratic family, has been astonish-
ingly great"
1 Though prevented from giving away
his property, Tolstoy adopted very
simply and frugal method of living
and wore the rough clothing of the
Russian peasant. Once he appealed to
a peasant audience by reading ''The
Power Of Darkness" before his ten.
ants To his intense chagrin the peas.
ants roared with laughter at the most
pathetic points in his story. But this
incident did not dim his interest in
the lowly moujiks Early and late he
championed their rights and denounced
their wrongs under the czar's despotic
rule
Cupid as the Devil.
A writer who visited Tolstoy not long
ago thus described him: ''Tolstoy
reads, writes and receives his friends
In his bedroom. His couch is quite de-
void Of mattress, sheets or pillows
Near the couch there always is an as
sortment of shoemaker's materials
: with which he works when not toiling
in the field or devoting himself to writ
ing. He arises at 5 O'Clock in the
morning and goes to bed early at night
His meals are Of the simplest food an6
no meat. He defends the opinion thai
man has no right to kill and consume
living organism.
Temperance finds in the great nov
elist an enthusiastic supporter. He nei
ther drinks nor smokes, and he in
cludes in the term many other indul
gences that the ordinary advocates O.
temperance consider apart from thei
creed. To him romantic love also i
intemperance. The tender passion tina
from all time has been the theme o
the poet and novelist Tolstoy deems
: species of moral depravity. Cupid il
the devil in his most awful guise. Mat
rimony brought about by romantic low
he holds to be an unholy alliance. Me-
and women should love each other a
friends or brothers and sisters.
''In the matter of land ownership
Tolstoy admires the theories of the lat
Henry George He considered Georg
Y the greatest American citizen of hi
S time Tolstoy, however, believes in
f system of communal rather than na
e tional ownership. The ideal state Q
S society, according % his theory, is tn
!. simple rural communes, in which ever
i family would have the right to till sol
|, enough for its own support. Govern
r ments he regards as the root of all eyi
+ Tax collectors he considers highway
= men. He looks forward to a da
q when men will no longer consent
5 be robbed Of money nor be instructe
i in the art of numbering one another
s war.
"Tha accumulation of vast posses