Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-22
ToLsToI, PROPHET

TT HE tragic end of the great Tolstoi,
following the desertion of his
- family, which some may be in
clined to criticise as a weakness in the
man and his philosophy, cannot blind
the thoughtful to the wonderful depth
of the mans soul and the profound
influence he has exerted on the world,
the fruits of which will come in even
greater measure in the years to come.
Tolstops passing is the translation
of q prophet-one who had worked out
in his mind and spirit, after tasting of
all the world, the flesh and the devil
have to offer, a scheme of rational life
while the millions of his generation
were accepting without question things
as they were and are, trampling down
the weaker and rushing on in the mad
race tor pleasure and wealth and the
happiness they are presumed to bring.
Tolstoi saw that in spite of the
worlds material progress, that ought to
have made 1t immeasurably a better
place to live in than in other ages,
there is more crime, misery and social
unrest than ever. In his philosophy
of the simple life, the literal earning of
the bread In the sweat of the brow, the
cultimation of humility, and the de-
velopment equally Of the mind, body
and spirit, he believed he had found the
solution of the worlds troubles; and
who shall say he was far amiss?
When mIlitarism was universally be-
syoyro6 To I,o ho ,P rl,i M
ment between nations, Tolstoi thun-
dered almost alone against it; yet he
lived to see a great school grow up that
seems to be on the eve of abolishing
war. When even the church had be-
come the apologist and champion of
individual!sm and the law of the sur
vival of the fittest, with its logical
cruelties, he preached collectivism and
brotherhood, and he lived to see in the
sccialistic movement in Europe and
America the involuntary rebellion of
the masses against being trampled un-
der the heels of classes.
It was Tolstoi who shocked the world
ly declaring patriotism base thing,
yet there are comparatively few now
who cannot see that by playing on this
sentiment the rulers and favored
classes have cruelty sent countless men
to death in war and committed num-
berless crimes against humanity and
civilization to build up their own self
ish privileges. There is something big
ger and grander than patriotism. 1t is
the recognition that all men are broth
ers, and that to kill and pillage in the
name of any country is the act of bar
barism, not of civilization.
Evil conditions found their extreme
manifestation in Russia, so it was nat
ural that Tolstoi became an extremist.
Yet 1t may have been well that he
was, else his gospel would have attract
ed SO much less attention and been less
potent. He has been called an ascetic,
which is not so. He was accessible to
all travellers, a charming companion,
and as an author emphatically a work.
er in the world. Those who have been
Inclined to criticise his last acts should
reflect that nothing is more human
than that tottering men in the shadow
of death, as he felt himself to be, seek
seclusion for communion with the great
Spirit OF the universe and a searching
Of the heart. All else is trivial at such
a time.
The greatness of Tolstoi as a writer
and critic could not we'll be better un-
derstood than now. His greatness as
a prophet will loom larger in the per-
spective which will be supplied by the
unfolding Of events In the coming gem
Grafton, when great social, economic
and religious changes already begun
will have come to full fruition.