The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-12-14
.TOLSTOPS VIEW
OF THE WORLD

time when the joy of life was strong
within his breast; when, hetman, he
rode wildly over the plains OF the eau
casus at the head of his semi barbarian
Cossacls: when he commanded one of the
batteries which so long held the French
land English before Sebastopol. when, a
youth, he was a lion of society, head
strong and full Of the lust of life.
The world knows Tolstoi best as the
patient writer, living unnoticed in the
country years upon years. at work for
fifteen long and lonely years upon the
two novels which are held to be the mas
| terpieces Of all imaginative works; as the
unsparing critic and physician of our
time; the man whose spiritual insight
acted as solvent on all the clotted
grandeur and dignity and position and
authority OF the established social sys-
TEN; the worshiped saint Of the 'nujiks"
tpeasants); the teacher of Eastern Eu-
rope; the most destructive of anarchists.
the one Russian revolutionary whom the
Car, with all his whips and jails and
third degree methods, did not dare 10
touch.
This was the man who told OF war as
no one else. who had sounded the right
tone OF the art Of life and peace; the
man who had created Anna Karenina
the largest natured and most generous OF
women, and Kitty. the sweetest; who had
| created Levin, almost the only endurabIe
hero Of fiction. and II llyitch, who died
as most men die and Maslova. the pres
utute who rose from the dead.
The creation of living souls like these
] r. If
as certain devils are not cast out by
/ prayer and fasting. so these personalities
are produced only by a peculiar intensity
and devotion of spirit. They are the re-
suits of a life habitually moving upon a
4 PROFOUND level OF thought. Compare them
with the characters OF ordinary fiction,
/ and you will soon see the difference be-
tween greatness and a good average.
! In recent literature the creation of this
/ poignant and almost overwhelming reality
has been mainly seen in Russia really
DO not know where TO look for il else
Where in modern times unless it may be
| found in Thomas Hardy or in the very
best OF Victor Hugo, when he forgets
himself and France and glory. There is
something in Russian life which compels
the mind to dwell among the profounder
regions that underlie the scenes of every
day Perhaps it is the Russians com
pensation for life OF almost perpetual
danger amid the melancholy of a fiat
and poYerty-stricken land tormented by
Its government. From boyhood Tolstoi
had moved habitually upon this deeper
plane OF existence. As far as the secret
I a
was the vision Of spiritual realities under
/ lying common life. With intense insight
he penetrated into the hidden places OF
the soul.
To Wordsworth the meanest flower that
| blows could give thoughts that often lay
| too deep for tears; TO Tolstoi the mean
est soul that lived could do the same.
Ills one occupation was with the human
| SOUL his one care 10 explore the true
| causes Of its happiness and misery The
| possibilities OF its grandeur, the blindness
/ OF It's ordinary existence, the pitifuI lone
/ llness OF its failures and extinction II
/ Is this prineiple-the insistenee upon the
/ Importance and capacity of the separate
/ human soui-which gives unity and con-
slstency 10 all his works so various in
form; brief pictures OF life. prolonged
works of Imagination. dramas, sketches
and autObiOgraphies, ESSAYS. and sermons
The value of the human soul, whetlfsr
| 1t be mortal or immortal. its capacity for
obscure sufferings, but for JOY and
righteousness as well; its utter loneliness
upon the way. and yet its dreams Of
/ TRANSPORTING delight in love" or its
/ sense of union and fellowship with other
| lonely and isolated souls; the supreme
Importance OF everything that promotes
this union; the supreme wickedness of
all that prevents il, and the indifference
Of everything else in the world-these are
the truths which guided Tolstoi in all his
works. or rather. which he OWNED and
finally discovered in the course of life it
self. He found them simply but desc
lately stated in the sayings OF the Christ.
stripped of the interpretations and ex
cuses Of compromising churchmen, VINO
wished to stand wen with comfort and
authority.
Taking the simplest words of Christ as
literal truths, not because Christ said
them, but because he had himself found
them true in life, taking these as a
test of lodestone for the way Tolstoi
set out upon his voyage of criticism of
modern civilization in its every phase
With remorseless logic which habit
and custom naturally shivered at he
brought his test 10 bear upon law.
church, state. property. and art. Bit bv
bit these accepted things are seen TO
fall to pieces. and the result is very dis
composing TO those who believe in them
and live by them. For a second time a
great teacher of peace brought not peace
but sword. and ii is in the soul OF
each man that the sword is planted.
arousing bitter and harassing strife
between the smooth composers of ac-
ccepted conduct and the uneasy, turbu-
lent and savage rebels of truth.
\ few sentences viii show how inn
placable his warfare was As an exam
pie OF his method of personal judgment,
take this example from My Confess
SION"
During my stay in Paris the sight of A public
execution revealed TO the weakness Of my super
siIuols belief in progress When / saw the head
divided from the body and heard the sound with
which they fell separately into the box understood
not with NY reason. BAT with ms whole being thar
no theory Of the wisdom Of all established things
nor OF progress could Justify such act and that
II all the men in the world from the very day OF
creation. BY whatever theory had found this thing
necessary, it was not sO-it was a bad thiBg-snd
iciNAbtt must Jaokc htiat AdS ftsnL ne7t<SGfS
not By what said and did not BY progress but
BY what felt TO be true in my heart
No one. not even Carlyle, has more
diligently proclaimed the gospel of
work. of bread labor. as he called il.
Yet, refusing TO be ensIaved, even to his
own doctrine. Tolstoi wrote: Work is
not virtue. but necessity; often only
a moral anesthetic"
In art, as. in life. he looked only for
the personal soul and the welfare of the
common People. Hear what he says:
art Is nnIr- Tho n.-r,roccinr. -.