The sun., 1910-11-20

PRAYER which ItRGENltFf directed
from his d.athb'd twenty-seven wears
ago to- -she great writer ot the Russian
land and continued IN tn" grand style
TO which his genius was adapted. a. in
Anna karenina and War and Peace "
il is safe to say that he and his family
would have been the happier and the
world better for il. tp his devoted and
long suffering wife would hav. been
spared the memory Of his desrrtion
toward the end, and people who cared
to heed sermons or draw moral teach
ings from books could have done so
with much more surety from the artIs-
tic and Indirect preaching of his novels
than from the homllIes 10 which he has
limited himself for many years past
Assuredly no more powerful lndlct-
ment of irregular relations between IN"
sexes has ever been pcnned than Anna
karenina There are plenty of other
moral lessons taught in War and
Peace" and in those of the shorter sto-
ries which did not original" solely III a
desire to lay down "A ril- OF life and level
all people downward instead of upward
FEotI Ntll~ W.
The kreutZ.r Sonata" and ~R.surrrC-
lion, because both lack his best artis-
tie quality, though in different degrees
and belong to the horratorv class
Moreover. IN both of these a. IN many
OF his short tales written for tn" peas
ants primarily. but greatly admired by
the injrIdiciou-. he either starts from
tnlss, pr.,rnI-..S ar -yN,rN-,.- from his "A aruiI-
ment and line OF thought in Two or more
directions, with tn" result that the log
ical conclusion lies bet tween the points
OF his \ shaped trains of thought or
10 in some other way totally at variance
with the moral he evolves
hut all this Was characteristic He
could see nothing except what was
straight IN front OF him. Individually
he had that single eve which the
Scriptures mcllCate. but the result un-
happily. does not seem TO hav" been
that his body was iIll OF light He was
neither crazy nor a self-advertiser nor
a dehberat. perpctrator OF poses Ii
was his absolute simplicity and direct
ness, his unworthy earnestncss, and his
absence OF egotisn which so frequently
placed him in false positions and made
him repeatedly contradict himself in
his public teachings. Most prophets
and preachers who are possessed OF the
merest rldiments OF worldly wisdom
hedge" a bit, deliberately leave their
statements somewhat vague, 30 that
in case OF IA future change of views
they may not be reproached with in
consistency. ToLsToY never gave a
thought TO the future-or to the past
when it came TO announcing the faith
that was In him on any point of doc
trine or conduct; he fastened TO con-
vert the world 10 his latest convictions
and probably thought hIs readers had
40 completely forgotten his previous
p4onouncements as he obviously had
himself. This habit of mind and utter
sincerity landed him in strange predca-
nenis-or what would have been such
for any less downright character. We
may illustrate this by "A couple OF the
most curious right-about-faccs which
even his versatility managed TO com
pass. During the great famine Of
l1ol-e2 he went to tho Government of
Ryazan, (adjoining the Government Of
lula, where hs lived and where there
was no great distress, and with his two
elder daughters. his third son and -ev-
eral kindred spirits attained tn. sum-
init Of his ambition for TN" time being.
by living VI an actual peasants hui
and tOIling necessarily for the relief
If the sufferers. for which IEirpo-.
funds w"r" sent Ia hum from England
and America, chiefly IN. latter He
was not robust, 80 thar his "X"rtInu-
-peedIIy ended IN - serious illness. which
compelled his wife Ia rrIInqul>h her
share nf tie. work IN Moscow and 20 e.
the wiiis tn nurse INN. He returned
To his task. but befDr" his splendid and
sternly pra'ticHl labor, in teachIng th,
IeasaiIt- To help thrms-lv'.. ~ well ~
helping them wcr" over he publicly AN
nounc-d ~ prlnt that he had rnrrel y
been making a pap" Of himself" thrpugi b
which tn" money contributions had
flowed. and that personal assistance moi
that sort II rnc' hnnIcal thing. constituted
the -pl" g"nuIn" way IT aiding on"
fellow men.
Morbid OS"r"on-"I"nt IOusn"s- WAS r.-
sponh.J." for thi- a. we'll "a for inrIl.
tltIld"- al similar contradictions Ir T.
pertinent illustration Of III" man.
sncerIt,. un"al'ilatIug IngcriIori-ur-.
and ls"k Of -''lf-rOu-"IGu>n"-a for had
i not been Tor those thousands vi dol
lars sent TO him becau-. Vi ms fin,
character, had u no' b"'n for the pr.c.
4 tical common S"ri~c "ii.h tltt u,Dr..
Z enabled him 10 brrug rD us..t- r.. rDrrl,
have eHeci"d ab,Dluf"l, murf.up rhouyl
he had toiled h'rns''ii 40 hr- yrny,.
Again, while the NOrll -r|l though