The San Francisco call., 1910-11-20

AS complex as the government Of
Russia and as rigorous as the law
of the knOut in the assertion of his
principles was Count Leo Tolstoy.
Born to the estate Of a noble, he
lived the life of a peasant. The fav-
orite of the czar. he fIouted with all
the scorn and force of his great
genius the edicts of royalty. An eX-
ponent of Christianity, he was eX-
communicated from his own church.
A dreamer OF great dreams, he vet
stood unequalled in all Russia as a
doer of great deeds. Trained to the
life of a soldier and openly coveting
military glory, he was the strongest
advocate Of the century for univer-
sal peace. Through all the mass of
contradictions, surprises and COM
pick characteristics there was DOM
inaRt in his life, writing and teach
ings sincerity of principle, a SIM
plicity of thought, an honest rug
gedness of heart and mind which
neither the laws of Russia nor the
equally stringent restrictions of
birth, caste and convention could
swerve.
He was born on his ancestral
estates, Yasnaya Ployana, Septem
Der 10, 1928, or, according to the
"A
year. His early education and train
ing were like that of any other youth
of the Russian nobility. There was
a course at the private schools and
at KaZan university, supplemented
by a tour of western Europe. He
differed from the others in that the
TOlstoy family had ever been fav-
orites of the reigning czar. The
record stretched to the time of
Peter the Great. when the then
Count Tolstoy was the monarch's
boon companion.
AS a boy he was imaginative. He
roamed through his fathers library,
reading-ever reading. Days there
were when he would shut himself
up in his room, others when he
would ffagellate himself with knot
ted cords, and still others, accord
ing TO the statements of his serv-
ants and nurse, when he would lie
abed. stuffing himself with honey
cakes and French novels. abandon
ing himself in a morbid, boyiSh
way from one extreme to another.
His early life was but a reflection
of his surroundings On the one
hand was the palace of his fathers
and at it's gates the degrading, sb
ject misery Of the peasantry. His
nobility called him in one direction
and his manhood in another. When
in fits of boyish brooding he
had in mind the sufferings of the
beggar without his gates. and when
the ancestral upbringing held him
in sway he lolled in bed eating
honey cakes.
At the outbreak of the Crimean
war he Joined the Russian forces as
L In, q
ing that went on around the shell
raked fourth bastfon at Sebastopol.
The ardor which he displayed in all
things he made evident in military
life, proved himself recklessly
heroic. and it is now conceded, after
much bitterness and wrangling, that
he was entitled to the cross Of st.
George. He was baked of the
honor through the enmity of
superior officer. According TO ad-
verse critics, the incident cured him
of the love of soldering; but his
friends maintain that the man was
above pettiness of this character
and that war itself drove him from
thoughts of war in loathing and
horror.
Thenceforth he applied himself to
literature and to the work of social
reform. In all, his life had three
distinct sta ges, the first as student
and soldier; secondly as q writer of
fiction and lastly as a social re-
former. AS fictional writer he ceased
TO all practical purposes in 1875
and his only creative work of note
later than that being Resurrection
After that period he was rather the
preacher than the writer. and, with
the old time impetuosity which
drove him to scourges or honey
cakes, lived mis- sermons.
He clothed himself after the fash
ion of the peasants, gave away his
property. cobbled his shoes, mended
his clothes. Through all he was
subjected to the harshest criticism.
Under the workman's blouse, said
his enemies, were soft silks; if he