Evening star., 1933-04-02

regard although a silent man. was not at all
restrained. The difference between them
is the difference between Steady, my lads, stand
firm, and 'Soldats Avant! Pou- gloire ct VIC
toire!'" Mr.. Basso is thoroughly in sympathy
with the subject Of his biography, 50 thoroughly
In sympathy and so on the defensive that he
may be charged by some with unfairness to
Jefferson Davis He has made use Of many
sources, some of them letters and papers Of
Beauregard never printed, and has received IN
formation from the recollections of individuals.
THE TRAGEDY OF ToIsToY. BY Countess
- Alexandra Tolstoy. New Haven: Yale Uni
versity Press.
AOVED by the publication of the diaries Of
lVt the Countess Sophia Tolstoy, wife Of Toll
stoy, their daughter, the Countess Alexandra
Tolstoy, published number of articles in Paris
and in Russia about the relations OF her parents
and their home life These articles, trans
lated by Elena varneck constitute the greater
part Of this somewhat sensational book The
Countess explains her reluctance to write so
frankly, and says that it would not have been
necessary had not her mothers diaries, which
should never have been published, made many
unjust accusations against her father. Father
himself did not say much about his family life
and my mother carefully scratched out Of his
diaries everything he wrote about her." Her
mother, she says became a mild, gentle old
woman after Tolstoy's death, expressed grief
Tor the suffering she had caused him. and de-
clared on her death-bed that she had always
loved him. 1t seems to have been q case Of
tragedy for both-Tolstoy, philosopher chat
ing against the demands Of family and the
conventions Of q society with which he was not
in accord; the Countess Tolstoy, q practical
woman, much mere concerned with the material
needs Of her large family Of children than with
the eccentric doctrines of her husband, with
which she had little sympathy.
Entirely apart from its argumentative pur-
pose, this description of the home life Of the
Tolstoys, by the daughter who was closest to
her father and followed him after his fnal
night from home, Is human story far more
interesting than most realistic fiction. It be-
gins with the earliest memories Of Countess
Alexandra, called Sasha by the family, Of
Yasnaia Poliana, the Summer home of the
family. The closeness Of the older daughter,
Masha. to her father and her sympathy with
his views caused jealousy and antagonism on
the part Of the mother. The daughter Tania
managed to hold a middle -the-road position
between father and mother and was q favorite
with every one. Tolstoy himself was chronic
dyspeptic and the question Of his food was
almost cult. How much Of the domestic
trouble, as in the case Of Carlyle, may have
been due to this disability? The sorrows and
deaths In the family, the marriages Of some
Of the children, visits from friends and rcla-
uves, the affairs Of the peasants on the estate
the small matters of everyday life. and always
the futile efforts Of Tolstoy and his disciples
among his children to follow his doctrine Of
human equality, simplicity of hfe with every
one working, make up the changing scene Of
life at Yasnaia Poliana. Once Masha and
Tania, In their attempt to be good disciples.
arranged for themselves laundry, believing
that 1t was q sin to make others wash our
sofled Clothes" but Masha deserted the creed
OF poverty when she wished to marry a man
without money or work and came shamefacedly
to her father and asked for her share of prop-
erty which she had previously rencunced This
long, intimately written story ends with the
irony of Tolstoy's death in the station mas
ter's apartment at Astapovo, where he was
overtaken by his last illness on his flight from
home. As he worried lest his whereabouts
should become known to any one especially his
wife and children, newspapers all over the
world were printing accounts of his flight and
illness, the station was full of reporters and
camera men, and his wife and children were
In the ante-foom
UNFINISHED SYMPHONY By Sylvia Thomp
son. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
[ JOWEVER complicated and insincere the
conditions of modern society, 1t Is perhaps
better for one who must live In that society
to grow up in 1t, to become Sophisticated, to
struggle Tor personal honesty and individuality
to win or lose in the midst of the crowd With
drawal and isolation must be continued II they
are to bring peace and harmony. So, Lawrence
MARVEL, English dramatist, sated and cynical
with his own meretricious success disgusted
with his London life and his selfish shallow
family, does great injustice to his four-year-
old daughter Helena when he takes her away
from the artificial life into which she has been
born to an island in the Mediterranean, to
bring her up according to classical tradition
of beauty, truth and simplicity. 1t couldn't be
done. 1t wouldn't ] ]. su--s1cd even II Sir