Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-09
BY LEO TOLSTOY.


world acclaims that date. o.
that acclaim, some is deserv'
edly due to his loyal helpmate, my
mother
Tolstoy's wife bore hin Ia children.
reared them herself and conducted her
own household. Surely that is a ca
reer" enough for any woman as wife
and as a mother. She also was his
ar1anuensis, helpmate and inspiration
To be all that successfully-to be an
ideal wife and devoted mother and a
perfect literary collaboration as wells.
perhaps, more than one may expect OF
anv mortal woman But she filed that
difficult task with a self-sacriflce and a
sympathetic understanding that entitle
her to some niche Of honored peace
that Heaven must reserve for the wives
Of restless genius.
Married at II she lived and worked
with him for 4S years. At the end. by
q trick of fate. she lost for herself and
for her children. to whom she had de-
voted so much of her life, the worldly
possessions she had helped to accumu-
late.
AS a girl in Moscow she was reared in
an atmosphere of culture and wealth In
the home Of her father. DR.. Andrew
Beers. court physician. who lived in an
apartment Of the palace in the Krem-
lin. DR.. Bers was OF German descent.
the son of German army officer who
had been invited by the Russian gov
eminent as military instructor and
had stayed, marrying into the Russian
nobility.
Home Artistic Center.
The family of DR.. Bers, entertaining
frequently among the highest ranks OF
society, attracted also the literary cir
nf home
would congregate the writers and artists
of Moscow. Ivan Turgenev was fire.
Quently guest. 1t was natural that
into this circle was drawn one of the
younger coming writer's. Leo Tolstoy,
who soon became an intimate member
of the family. 1t was thus that Tolstoy
met Sophia Andreyvna. the second of
three daughters of DR.. Bers.
Tolstoy had already passed through
o stormy youth living the life that was
typical of young and wealthy noble
man of his time. At "a, as he himself
told. he had given up hope of ever
realizing his dream of great family
happiness for himself. For time
romance seemed to flower between Toll
stoy and Sophia Andreyvna's Older sis
ter Lisa, but that romance turned to
Sophia Andreyvna. whom her parents
had thought too young to think of mar
riage. There came the day when Toll
stoy proposed marriage to her and she
accepted-an event which Tolstoy later
described autobiographically in Anna
Karenina," in the betrothal of Levin
and Kitty
Immediately after the wedding, Toll
etoy took his young bride to his country
estate, Yasnaya Polyana, about 200 miles
south of Moscow. There was no railroad
at YaSnava Polyana at that time 1882
and the trip was made by horse
drawn diligence. There they lived for
% years.
From Yasnava Polyana. Tolstoy wrote
70 his friend. Fet, the poet:
II have been married about three
weeks. I am so happy that 1 feel that
this happiness cannot end with my life"
Undoubtedly Tolstoy meant by this
that he believed that from this new
found happiness would flower some
spiritual or literary work that would live
after him: in other words, that his own
great happiness would overflow into
eternity.
Needed a HeIpmate.
He understood that his genius, already
manifest In his early writings, would not
develop without a real helpmate
We can imagine what the young wife
felt, torn from her family and placed
In this lonely country seclusion. Her
love for her husband was her own great
recompense and she showed it by a
lifetime of devotion, self-sacrif1ce and
continuous help. She bore him IA chill
dren. Every two years and sometimes
every year came another baby to which
she gave her fullest mothers love and
care She conducted the entire house.
hold, directing the servants. teaching
her children I'd herself, sewing clothes
for all of them. Still she had time to be
her husbands amanuensis, copying his
manuscripts sometimes all night.
Only her extraordinary vitality and
physical strength enabled her to en-
dure such strenuous life. Sometimes
abe fell i'll. hut always quickly recovered.
More frequent were the illnesses of her
husband and at such times she was his
constant nurse.
When Tolstoy's health required a
change of scene and air, she moved the
entire family away from Yasnaya Poly
ana to the steppes of Samara beyond
the Volga. Life in these distant steppes
was extremely difficult and even dan
gerous for the children But to care for
her husbands health and to help him,
no sacrifice was too great for her To
crafty all his lit whims, to adjust
herself to the changing moods OF his
tumultous soul and, with sympathetic
understanding, to be true helpmate-
that was the task assigned to her In
their long life together.
Devotion Not Enough.
But there came time when this de-
votion was not enough After Is years
Tolstoy had reached the pinnacle of his
literary fame with his great work War
and Peace" and "Arna Karenina." Then
came his religious crisis He had
fame, wealth and a family-but he
turned his back on them. His soul
struggled for moral perfection" and for
the truth in the meaning Of life led him
to forsake litera,ule to become moral
teacher. Naturally. his wife, burdened
with the care of her numerous children
and the material affairs of domestic
life, could not follow him in his spirit
ual development. Both Sensed the rift
between them and both were unhappy
Tolstoy did not tell her directly: Give
away all your propert.' to the poor. Go
and live with your children in a simple
cottage and take part in the work of the
peasants" He diS not advise her how to
reconcile her life with his new preach
1ngs. She felt lost, almost abandoned
TolStoy himself, to make his own
manner Of living conform with his de-
nunciation of material forms and con-
ditions would sometimes go out with
the peasants TO pillow the fields, NOV
the hay or try to sew shoes. But, as
William Jennings Bryan once told my
father in Russia Il like TO read your
books but wouldn't care 10 wear your
shoes"
That Tolstoy was sincere in trying to
adjust his life to his teachings cannot
be doubted. These attempts. however
wholehearted, never really got beyond
the experimental stage Certainly Sophia
Andreyvna did not approve of them
Neither did their old friend, Turgenev
Wife Continued TO Help.
Sophia Andreyvna did not. however
lack either interest or appreciation OF
some Of the writings of his religious