The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1910-12-10
The Great
Russian
TOlstoy Said and Did What No Other
Man in Russia Dare.

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 TDlstoy
Born to the estate of a noble, he
lived the life of peasant. The
favorite of the czar, he houted with
all the scorn and force of his great
genius the edicts of royalty. An
exponent of Christianity, NE was
ex-communicated from his own
church. A dreamer of great dreams,
he yet stood unequalled in all Rus
sia as "a doer of great deeds. Trained
to the life of soldier and openly
coveting military glory, he was the
strongest advocate of the century for
universal peace. Through all the
mass OF contradictions, surprises
and complex characteristics there
was dominant i'm his life, writings
and teachings a sincerity of princi-
pie, simplicity of thought, an
honest ruggedness of heart and
mind which neither the laws of
Russia nor the equally stringent
restrictions of birth. caste and con-
vention could swerve.
He was born on his ancestral
estates, Yasnaya Ployana, Septem-
Der 10, 1928, or, according to the
Russian calendar, August % of that
year. His early education and train.
ing were like that of any Other
youth Of the Russian nobility. There
was course at the private schools
and at Kazan university, supple
mented by tour Of western
Europe. He differed from tn,
Others in that the Tolstoy family
had ever been favorites of the reign
ing czar. The record stretched Il
the time of Peter the Great, wher
the then Count Tolstoy was tn,
monarch's boon companion.
| His early life was but reflection
of his surroundings. On the on
hand was the palace of his father
and at its gates the degrading, ab
ject misery of the peasantry. Hi
nobility called him in one direction
and his manhood in another. Whel
in fits OF boyish brooding he had il
mind >the sufferings of the begga
without his gates, and when tn
ancestral upbringing held him i
sway he lolled in bed eating hone
cakes.
At the outbreak of the Crimea
war he joined the Russian forces a
an ensign and was in all the fight
, ing that went ON around the she
raked fourth bastion at Sebastopo
The ardor which he displayed in a
things he made evident in militar
life, proved himself recklessly heroic
and it is now conceded, after muc
bitterness and wrangling, that |
was entitled to the cross of S
r George. He was balked of I'll
y honor through the enmity of S,
# perior officer. According to adver
critics. the incident cured him
the love of soldering; but b
friends maintain that the man w
above pettiness of this charact
u and that war itself drove him fro
thoughts of war in loathing al
horror.
He clothed himself after the fas
ION OF the peasants, gave away |
property, cobbled his shoes, mend
his clothes. Through all he W
lie subjected to the harshest criticisl
ef Under the workman's blouse, sa
W his enemies, were soft silks; if
g. cobbled his own shoes he scent
himself with the perfume of parI
is violets of an expensive bran
III Whatever the criticism, howev
the innate genius of the man lift
w him high in the worlds affairs.
degrees his preachments beca