Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-11-20

dream in which he was struggling TO
keep a door shut against Death; Death
forced an entrance, Audrey died and
awakened from life. After that. all
earthly thoughts and wishes fell away
from him. The two girls watched by his
side in unspoken, understanding know
ing that he was lapSing farther and
farther away from them, and that It
was well. When he died they wept. not
for their personal sorrow, but from
the awe that filled their souls before
the simple and solemn mystery OF death
that had been accomplished before
their eyes.
We left Pierre in the French guard
house in Moscow, about TO be tried on
a charge of incendiarism. From the
course Of the trial, 1t seemed certain
that he would be found guilty; and
when it ended he was led. the sixth
IN a gang of men condemned to death.
to the side of a gravel pit. The first
five were shot and thrown into the pit
BY soldiers who plainly hated their
part in the work; but when PieTres
turn came he was. for some unknown
reason, spared, and sent back to the
prison. The sight Of the helpless VIC /
TINS. the unwilling butchers, had utterly
destroyed the last remains Of his faith /
in lust or benevolent ordering Of the
universe, in the soul of man. and in his
own soul. From this despair he Is
rescued by a new friendship with
fellow prisoner, one Of those creatures /
that suddenly spring complete and alive |
from Tolstoi's inexhaustible magma /
ton, the pleasant Platon, simple [
creature in whom q soul OF goodness !
is manifest. Under his influence Pierre /
slowly rebuilds his shattered world. He I
learns, not through his intellect, but
through his whole being, that man is
created for happiness: that happiness
lies in the satisfaction Of his natural .
human cravings, and that unhappiness
comes not from lack but from super
fluffy
The doings and sufferings Of the (
French between the entry into Moscow
md the final destruction Of the army
we're like the death struggles and con-
1ulsions of a MORALLY wounded beast.
Napoleon, according to Tolstoi, was
III the time no more than the figure
head carried along by the ship. The
'etreat began on Oct. g, after a clumsy
)ut significant success won by the
russians at Tarutino Tolstoi takes
ant tool Of history with scathing
idicule Of his tactics throughout the
etreat, and reprobation Of his cowardly
lesertion at the Beresina. Napoleon
reat man? There Is no greatness
where there Is not simplicity, goodness
nd truth"
It is not clear why the French ham
,ered themselves by carrying along the
prisoners they had taken in Moscow;
nut they did, and Pierre was Of the
lumber. BY now he is changed man.
lis massive frame is compact Of
trength, and in moral stature also he
las grown to full height, for he has
ONE to know that there is nothing
4 the world to be dreaded. His perfect
elfishneSs and his serene courage make
tage of the torturing march he Is res
ued in an attack on the convoy by
UT old acquaintance, Denisev and
,olohov, and the youngest Rostov,
etya, who is killed. Pierre goes to re-
operate at Orel, where he learns the
end Of Elena, who has died
! an attempt to avert the conSe-
uences of q last. too dangerous in
-igue; so now his heart Is free to
Urn wholly to Natasha. She Is now
wing in Moscow with Marya. On
ierre's arrival they soon come to an
and are blissfully happy.
or Pierre, the whole meaning of life,
ot only for himself but for all the
orld, seems conferred in his life, and
2 sees the good In everyone. Natasha
transformed by JOY, and the awak-
led force of life in her is so irresis-
bile that Marya cannot, even in her
eart, blame her for forgetting Audrey
Pierre and Natasha marry toward
lie end of 1913. Count Rostov dies,