The Washington herald., 1910-11-21
CHURCH TO ALLOW
MASS FOR TOLSTOI
Visit TO Monastery Taken to
Indicate Reconciliation.

st. Petersburg. Nov. 20.-Count Tolstoi.
who died this morning at Astapovo,
passed away ten days after he had left
his home at Yasnaya Poliana I'm search
OF solitude and peace OF soul. The physi-
clans allowed his wife and family TO en-
ter the death chamber. but the count
was unconscious.
There We're six doctors In attendance.
two OF them being heart specialists. who
had been summoned from Moscow on
Friday. Their presence drew a charae-
teristic remark from the patient yester-
day. when he was recovering from the
second Of the three violent cardiac at
tacks which preceded his last hours.
There are millions of people In the
world" said the dying count, ''and many
OF them are suffering Why. then. are
you all around the bed OF one sick man?''
HIS Last Coherent Words.
Those are said 10 have been his last
coherent words. although he lived sew
eral hours after uttering them. When
he recovered from a previous attack he
took the hand OF his eldest daughter,
Latiana, who was beside his bed, and
said:
Now comes death; that's ALL"
His third seizure, early this morning.
left him 80 weak that the physicians
saw that recovery was hopeless and
then they admitted the countess. Shortly
after death the body was clothed in the
black shirt and other Moujik garments
which Tolstoi habitually wore Tho ex-
preston OF the face was peaceful and
natural. The villagers decked the death
room with pine boughs and afterward
the residents Of the neighbOrhOod OF all
classes and ages and many from a dis
tance walked past the bier. A majority
OF these mourners were peasants and
school children.
II the present arrangements are car
ried .out the body viii be removed TO
Yasnaya POliana tomorrow and will be
buried on the Tolstoi estate without GER
emonies. wreaths. or other display. It is
stated that Tolstoi wished his grave TO
be on a certain hill at Yasnaya Pollana.
where he was fond Of playing in his boy
hood
Not RecahciIed 10 Church.
The count didn't make any reconclIla-
tlon with the church. There are contra
dictory reports OF attempts OF ecelesI-
astics 10 visit his deathbed. II Is stated
that the Bishop of Kaluga was admitted
during his sickness and conversed with
him.
Another story is that the abbot and a
monk from the Oplin Monastery, which
Toistoi visited en- route TO Schamardlnsky,
spent some time at his bedside Friday,
and this is denied elsewhere, and the alb
bot and monk are said TO have vainly
waited In a railway car for two days and
nights hoping 10 see the count. There is
also an improbable story or a priest try
ing TO force an entrance into the sick
room.
Whether the church will allow masses
10 be said for the soul Of the count IS
as yet unknown. 1t is stated. however.
that with the view 10 averting possible
popular resentment, the holy synod viii
adopt the fiction that Tolstors personal
visits TO the monasteries at Oplin and
SchamaTdinslIy indicated his wish to re-
turn to orthodox, and will concede ec-
clesiastieal rights accordingly.
An privately owned theaters In the cap
ital were closed tonight out Of respect
10 TOlstoi Grand Duke Nicholas Mich
aelovich has teiegraphed to Countess
Tolstoi, saying: My whole soul is with
you and your family in this sad time
No Requiem Masses.
The holy synod held three meetings
to-day NJ Lukianofr, prOcuratOr Of the
synod. also conferred with Prime Minis
ter Stolypin. The synod Subsequently an
be allowed to be performed over the body
OF Count Tolstoi.
Some OF the members of the Donna
and other friends Of Tolstoi compromised
the matter this afternoon by attending
a church where the priests consented 10
prayers being offered FOR a nobleman
named Leo" emitting the name of Toll
stOi
The prefect of St. Petersburg has for
hidden the newspapers TO report anv re-
ligious rites that may be performed in
connection with TOlstOrs death. THE
leading newspapers voice the widespread
Indignation against Count Tchertxoff
who IS accused Of preventing Countess
TolstOi from visiting her husband. They
say that the count constantly asked for
her and dictated numerous messages 10
her, believing she was still at Yasnaya
Poliana.
1t is insinuated that Count Tchertkof
obtained harmful influence over Toll
stoi in his later years, causing friction
between him and the countess and his
family. Count Tchertkoff has possession
OF Tolstoi's manuscripts, including those
OF thirty volumes of memoirs and a
novel entitled "Hadjl Mourat"