New-York tribune., 1912-02-25

ton. II is a strange world to which he
introduces us I'm this Caucasus of the
middle Of the last century, the period or
it's conquest by Russia world NJ Ori-
entail treachery and savagery aud suspi-
rions and doubts. Of warfare that Is
chiefly n reign Of terror, of destruction
OF villages and crops. Of defilement OF
wells and mosques. and Of lying reports
10 ST. Petersburg for the greater glory
Of the commanders. Hadji Murad -
sketched full length In the simplest OF
strokes until the reader. like the Rus
SLAMS. feels the mystery of the man be-
hind the courteous. manly, dignited
mask This economy Of means is still
more striking in the gallery Of Russian
pictures, most Of all in the portraits of
the women-of Mary VasiIevna. the wife
Of young Prince Vorontsov. the finished
woman of the world. and Of Mary Omit
rcvna. the wholesome, frank, attractive
companion Of Major Petrov on cam
paign. Her genuine friendship with
Hadji, though neither speaks the others
language. is finely suggested. The young
Guardsman. Butler. who has joined a
line regiment after having gambed away
his fortune is Mr.. Maude suggests, an
other bit Of TolstOyan fiCtional autobiOg-
raphy The car Nichols ! is etched
full length, intellectually. morally and
physically. with a biting pen: so are his
c0urtiers. so is the official corruption o.
the period; so arc the shams of social
life and military glory. And where the
surrender OF Hadii Murad leads us int
the Winter Palace and the cabinet of the
ruler Of all the Russias. so. on the other
| hand. does the death Of a private soldic,
in a skirmish take us into a remote
, mouiik home. Tolstoy had his formulas
and employed them constantly. Thr
skirmish was provoked Unnecessary. It
led 10 nothing but u false, boastful claim
Of victor. the despair Of an old peasant
mother. and the loss Of a strong, willing.
cheerful worker to a village community.
and typical Tolstoyan touch-thc lib
grafton Of An unfathCu wife.
The six stories and sketches contained
In The Forged Coupon" arc of later
date and have unmstaFablc didac.ic
purpose. Tho title story itself, its pur-
pose apart is a modo of bold Construc-
tion, Of forging link after link Of incrcas-
ing y light I'm the chain Of q boys moral
responsibility for theft and murder. Judi
cial execution and ban,shment. And bc-
yond this boy who raises the face value
Of coupon i'm order To pay debt If
honor stands his father who refused to
give him the triiling sum required merely
7 because he happened To be i'm a bad hu-
NOR and would not listen attentivcly 40
his plea. The boy reaches the other cnl
Of the chain when, as an engineer -
Siberia, he meets an exile. one of the n
/ direct victims OF the increasing course uf
evil which he had set IN motion. This
exile, IL is perhaps needless to say, has
seen the light in the Bible or. rather. in
the teachings of the New Testament as
Tolstoy himself eXpounded them. After
the Dance is an account of the death of
young mans love after he has seen It's
objects father, an officer. preside at The
beating through the ranks of a desertur.
Among the other tales is, further. one Of
moujik boy, defective" as we would.
say nowadays who lives but to suffer
and slave and has one brief glimpse Jf
happiness before he dies IN the love os a
scullery maid, inart!culatc and sub
merged like himself. The puzzle OF per-
sonal responsibility for collective social
inequalities and sufferings is dealt vita
elsewhere, the book closing with a dream
Of The Young Tsar." With the exccp-
ton of the title story, the contents OF
this volume are of far less literary in
terest than is "Hadji Murad," even as
their translation is far inferior To Mr..
Maudes finished work.
"Hadji Murad" and The Forged Con-
pon" serve 20 emphasize anew the great
ness of the loss TO literature when Tol-
stoy turned from art 10 teaching. The
certainty of purpose, the clarity and
beauty Of proportions of his method are
once more thrown into startling contrast
with the cropping. the obscurity. the con
tuslcns and contradictions and repeti-
tions of his dldactic writings.