The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-12
uPBurLpER AND DESTROYER.

Count I.yeff y. Tolstoi. Russian re-
former and citizen OF the world. has
recently had a clash with George Ber-
nard Shaw. would-be transformer of
the English and the mentor OF the
morals OF the Universe. According to
the story quoted in the Brooklyn
Eagle. Tolstoi mildly remarked some
time ago that he thought Shaw went
about a serious work with too much
testing. 10 which Shaw is said to have
retorted that the universe as 1t is,
might, for all ne knew, be a Joke of
the gods, and it was worth while TO
make 1t good joke instead of bad
one" The hit at Tolstois own doubt
ful humor was SO obvious that the
great Russian lost his temper and
read Shaw lecture
The chances are that the story was
invented by some more or less clever
journalist. who wanted to fill his Lit
erary Corner" but it illustrated so
exactly the difference between the two
men that 1t may be accepted as true
TO life If not to fact. The men are
different in their view of the problem
of life. different in their methods of
attack, different in their personal
morality and altogether different in
their literary ability. In fact, If shaw's.
self-advertlsing and sLs irrepress ible
nature have given him some shadowy
right to be compared with Tolstoi, his
literary work is SO inferior to that of
the Russian that comparison Is flu
tile
Tolstoi has reached his present emf
nence by unfaltering allegiance to an
Ideal Born of the old nobility and
raised to life of ease, inward fire
and not untoward force transformed
him from courtier and soldier IN y
teacher and moralist. After his ca
reer.tn the Crmea, so wonderfully de.
scribed in his "Sevastopol." he left the
| army because he had heard the cry of
the Russian serfs and because his
heart bade him tighten the darkness
about him. His sacrifice cost him
| mnch-more perhaps, than HIS readers
| Will judge either from his earlier
| works or from his Observation-Disclosures
he made the surrender, to his own con-
science glaaly. freely and devoted him
self to hiWnlsslan despite the oppo-
i sition of his own class. To Tolstol,s
mind, he could only drive home
his lesson to the hearts of the peo-
pie by a personal example and per-
sonal intercourse with the people. II
was for this reason that he opened
peasant schools on his estates; IT was
for this reason that he adopted the
dress and the speech of the common
| people, II was for this reason that he
has spent thirty years, living and la
boring, toiling and teaching, to show
the Russian people that the redemp-
tion Of society is through the morality
OF the Individual
4 In fulhlling his mission, Tolstol was
convinced that he could only arouse
society TO the necessity Of change BY
depicting the evils OF society az thes
existed. This led him to abandon hi,
feaIist OF the most pronounced type
as he became more Impressed with tn,
meaning OF the message he bore, hi,
realism became more pronounced un
W. IN his last great novel, "Resurrec
lion he took the scalpel and dIssectcc
society 70 the bone, without word o
comment without an apologize ges
ture' showing rottenness where rot
: tenness existed and leaving the goo,
! ITO speak for itself In the iudsmen
: Of many rosstol has carried this TO,
far for he might have accomplishe,
the same ends, as did Turgenler. b.
: more subtle means, but the slncer!t.
of the man is SO evident. his desire /,
/ build UP where he destroyed is SO OBJ
81 vious and his own honest zeal is 81