The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-11-21


are mingled in this strange and extreme
body OF doctrine
The religious side OF his teachings
may be put first, because the rest fol
lows upon it. His gospel rested upon
a literal and naive Interpretation of the
words Of Jesus Christ, and from these
he deduced to his own satisfaction, the
doctrines of nonresistance, of voluntary
poverty, and Of universal brotherhood
which he has so conspieuously exem.
plifed in his own life. He taught that
war is wrong, and that patriotism is
wrong because it begets war To pay
taxes to support war is wrong, but to
resist the tax collector is also wrong.
| For nationality he would substitute the
wider bond of humanity. While he held
some points in common with socialists
of the Karl Marx school 1.-THE organized
socialists of Germany and elsewhere,
| including the United Statesl, he criti-
cised them on the ground that their
program would necessitate coercion, as
all government does. This he did not
| believe in. He carried his socialism to
the extreme point of holding it sinful
to enjoy any luxury of which another
WIGS deprived. In his practice he did not
! 20 SO far as to give away his property,
but for many years he became as one
Of bis beloved mujiks toiling beside
/ them in the field, and sharing their
discomforts and their rude dress and
coarse food. He has been accused of
/ charlatanism in all this, but with in
justice There can be no question but
| that Tolstoi was as sincere man as
ever breathed II is probable that at
| times his eccentrieity OF mind passed over
the border line of perfect sanity. 1--WE
have two great things in Moscow" once
| said a citizen to traveller "Tolstoi
and the great bell-and they are both
cracked"
Tolstoi's teaching on art was quite in
line with his religious and social doe
trine. He came to hold that the only
true art is that which is so simple and
elemental that it appeals to every hui
man being, even Of lowest stage Of i'm
diligence From this adopted mujik's
standpoint he condemned Shakespeare
Beethoven, Chopin, almost all the worlds
great art, excepting frSm his condemna
ton only few very simple stories,
sueh as the history Of Joseph and his
brethren. and others in the Old Tesla
ment, and Christs parallels, In his later
years he utterly repudiated all his own
splendid novels, and tried to write some
thing to match his theories, the most
notable result being the touching little
story, Master and Man" in which
nobleman sacrifices bis life for his serv-
ant. who Is freezing in the snow. While
Tolstoi's views on art, as on other sub
iects, were excessive and unbalanced, he
said some wonderfully true and needed
things in regard to the evil effects Of
professionalism upon art in our day,
especially in Paris Amateur art, for
the joy Of leisure moments, he APP
proved; he had nothing but contempt
aid pity for the professionals who spend
their lives in gaining dexterity with
their toes or their fingers for the idle
qualification Of the rich.
Every reader must feel poignant re-
greet at the enormous loss Of literature
caused by the fanaticism Of Tolstoi's
later years. The number of his efforts
at fiction pure and simple is small, but
among them are some Of the supreme
works Of their kind in existence. In
hneness Of art, in sense Of proportion,
in the construction Of a perfect whole
his contemporary and friend, Tourgle-
neH, was vastly bis superior. as he was
the superior Of any novelist OF his time
But the broad human sympathy. the
mordant analytic power, the tremen-
dous strength Of Tolstoi are so great
that beside Anna Karcninao aud "War
and Peace" even Tourgueneff's Virgin
Soil" Smoke" and Spring Floods"
seem a tritle cold and thin. While BY
conviction Tolstoi came to be hostile
TO art, by temperament he was pre-
eminently an artist. Seldom has there
been an eye so observing, comprehen-
sion so swift 10 touch upon the hidden
springs Of human action His instinct
OF observation was almost painfully
morbid-witness the Incompatible acute
ness with which he has chronieed the
small habits of people which children
commonly note better than adults. His
characters are richer, fuller, truer than
those Of almost any other novelist. He
creates men and women as complex
wholes, and when he lays bare the Sc
crets of their minde and hearts. IL Is
not with the cold scrutiny OF the psyche
logical anatomist, but with the direct
intuition Of the great artist To a
wonderful power Of realistic portrayal
he added a prodigious dramatic strength, 1
and rises to some Of the most tragic
crises in modern literature.
Count Leo Tolstoi was born at the
family estate Yasnaya Polyana. on Au- /
gust rs, 1928, the youngest of four
sons. His brother Nicholas was an in. ]
timate friend Of Tourguenen and the 1
original of Nicholas Levin In anna I
Karenina" Count Leo entered the uni /
versity of Kapan at the age of Is, and !
studied three years Then he lived for 1
a time on his estate to study the life /
OF the peasantry. In 1851 he visited /
Nicholas in the Caucasus, where he gath 4
cred the material for "The Cossacks' /
and other fine books. During the Grim I
can war he was assigned to the staff of /
Prince Gortschakof During this cam
paign he began the volume called 1
Youth" After the war he settled in 4
ST. Petersburg. where be was flatter
iugiy received in social and literary cir. I
eles. But within o year he tired Of 4
the gayety of the capital and again
retired to his estate. In 1887 he tray
eied in western Europe In 1869, at
the age Of "a, be married the ls-year-
old daughter of Moscow professor,
and it is said that he has reproduced
his quaint proposal verbatim, or rather
liteTatim in the WOoinp of Teyin and