El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-06-03

T OLSTOY was a man of genius In
the very first flight of that rare
= species. He had the penetrating
common sense characteristic of that
first flight And yet no English old
maid of county family, living in a ca
thedral town on 300 pounds year,
could have made more absurd attempts
to start an ideal social system by pri-
vate misconduct than he. He put on
his dress of moujik exactly as Don
Quixote put on a suit of armor. He
tried to ignore money as Don QuiXote
did. He left his own skilled work To
build houses that could hardly be in
duced to stand, and to make boots
that an army contractor would have
been ashamed Of He let his property
drift TO the verge of insolvency and
ruin like the LATEST Irish squire. be-
cause he disapproved OF property as an
institution And he was neither honest
nor respectable in his follies.
He connived at all sorts of invasions.
He would not take money on journey;
but he would take a companion who
would buy railroad tickets and pay no.
tel bills behind his back. He would
not own property or copyrights; but
he would make them over to his wife
and children, and live in their country
house in Yasnaya and their town house
in Moscow very comfortably, only oc-
casionally easing his conscience, by
making things as difficult and UNI
pleasant for them as possible. He in
sisted on celibacy as the first condi-
ton OF a worthy life. and his wife be-
came Is times mother, and found him
an uxorious husband at 40.
Not a Good Husband.
In the ordinary affairs of life, he
shirked every uncongenial responsI-
bility whilst awaiting himself of every
luxury he really cared for. And he
rallied at his wife and family for en-
abIing him-to do it, treating his wife as
officially inferior because she insisted
on saving the family from ruin. Until
at last she gave him up as impossible
and managed for him without saying
anything harsher than her Russian
formula Nothing matters so long as
the baby is not crying"
Probably many Of Tolstoy's admirers
dismissed these facts during his life
time as silly legends invented by peo-
pie who did not understand him. But
it seems clear now that they were quite
true. Not, of course, that Tolstoy was
fact proof. He soon found out by ex-
perienee that his follies were tiresome,
and he never did anything when he
was once tired of 1T, though he did not
always cease to recommend others to
do it But one is none the less asking
why he did not foresee the inevitable
breakdown OF his attempts to behave
like disciple in Jerusalem 1900 years
ago. 1 am tempted to answer that he
never foresaw anything. and learnt
what he did learn through the simple
process of knocking his head against it
A Preoccupied Man.
The reader may here lose patience and
say that if have nothing more SEN
sible to say than that Tolstoy was
fool, had better drop the subject and
leave this essay to more competent
hands. Others may say that we all learn
things by knocking our heads against
them Others, again may say that Toll
stoy had been through all ordinary rea-
soning and come out on the other side
of it with the knowledge that we can
only extend the range of possibility In
human conduct, as in other things, by
continually attempting the impossible.
I have said all these things to myself.
But take single incident from MS
life Tolstoy writes the KreutZer So
nata. It is suggested that it should be
read to the family and their guests at
Yasnaya Tolstoy asserting hands the
manuscript to a gentleman TO read. The
gentleman begins confidently; pres
emily grows doubtful; finally tells the
countess that he really cannot go on
reading in the presence of the younger
girls Toystoy on being asked whether
the book is fit for their ears, replies
calmly that they had better go to bed,
which they do before reading is re-
sumed-
Now. to say that Tolstoy could not
have foreseen this, is to say that he
had not intelligence enough to know
that if he went out into the rain with
out an umbrella, he would get wet Yet
it is clear from the narrative that he