The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-11-18

his attention that he was able to silence
the demands of his soul for q truly
religious conception of life.
At fifty he was rich man with large
landed estates, an aristocrat, member
of noble family. He was one of the
most distinguished writers of the world,
and his books are translated into all
the principal languages. He had de.
voted wife and fine family Of chill.
dren growing up around him. Would
it be possible to find man more hap.
PLY situated7 And vet he related in
his own writing that at fifty he could
scarcely keep himself from committing
suicide. He felt he had no religion, did
not know what he was living for, saw
nothing in the future but death.
But Tolstoi was no coward, and sui
eide is cowardice. He made up his mind
to find the truth if truth was to be
found. He began to read and study; he
applied to his friends, to the professors
in the college, and the priests in the
churches. For several years he strug-
gled with the great questions of life
and death, of good and evil, but he OBJ
tanned little satisfaction. He was a
practical man, and he wanted n prac-
teal religion that would change the life
of those that professed it, but as he
looked around him he saw religious peo-
pie living much like the irreligious.
He was sure that they were deceiving
themselves with their forms and cere
monies He set to wok then upon the
study of the Gospels for himself and
tried to permeate his mind with the
spirit of the teachings of Jesus. He
became particularly attracted by the
Sermon on the Mount, and read it again
and again, and. gradually its, meaning
grew clearer and clearer to him.
He then determined to dedicate the
remainder of his days to such works
upon his past life in the light of his
new love, and he felt profoundly dis.
gusted with it. Was it possible to love
his neighbor as himself and 90 on liv-
ing in luxury while his neighbors were
overwhelmed by poverty3 Was it CON
sistent with Christ Is teaching for him
TO live as one of a small society of
rich and aristocratic people, scorning
nine-tenths of mankind as their infe.
riors, refusing to sit at table with them,
or to,regard them as brothers, and these
too, the very people who provided them
with the necessities and Injuries of
life3 No. 1t was not He would have
done with it all. He would cease to
separate himself from the mass of his
fellows by his dress, his manners and
his occupation, and he would admit him
self to be what God made him, simple
human being like all the rest. Accord.
ingly he began to simplify his ways of
living to wear peasant Is dress, to
work with his hands TO do without the
Injuries to which he had been aecus.
toned. His love extended beyond men
to the animal world. He did not tax a
up shooting again, for he would not
find pleasure in causing pain, and there
are so many pleasures which hurt no
onel lie stopped taking meat, for he
did not like the idea of slaughtering
animals, and he soon found, as many
Others have done, that he was Just as
well and strong on a vegetarian diet as
he had been before on meat diet. He
went on writing as literary man, but
no longer for fame or for money, but
rather to make his new discovery known
to the world
In 1901 Tolstoi was communicated |
by the Holy Synod of the Russian
church, something which disturbed 9th.
ers much more than it did him, five
hundred students marching to the Ka.
Fan cathedral and demanding that they
be also accommodated.
Latterly however, the lightness Of the
has lessened, while the
Russian government, even, had not
dared to deal with this world 3 man
as it did to lesser men who spoke or
wrote as he did.