TOLSTOY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 978, 19 November 1910, Page 11

TOLSTOY.

LIFE WITH HIS FAMILY. Probably foiv men have had so much interest centred upon them from all conditions of people, and from all countries, as Count Leo Tolstoy. Not only has his genius as a writer marked him out as ono of the Immortals in tho ranks of literature, but as an educationist and as a reformer, who has sacrificed everything for tho truth as ho conceived it, he has won the admiration of an astonished world. No cost was too much for him to make, and tho moral standard lie has set beforo humanity at large, impossible though it may be to follow in its present stage of development, has at least been tho cause o£ much investigation and discussion, and gained for itself many followers. When ha began to teach his nowfamous creed, an oven greater interest was aroused in the writer of "War anil Peace" and of his "Anna Karenina" than has previously existed, concerning his personal and family life, what kind of life he had lived before, what after, and how his wife and family regarded his teaching. Needless to say, many distorted fragments and versions have been set before the world. Up till the second half of the seventies. Tolstoy lived the life of a Russian noble, taking all the pleasures that were to be obtained, with the" unusual difference that ho had a genius for writing. It was then that ho began to look around him and to investigate for himself the numerous ills that existed all around him, and to devote himself to their solution and remedy. _Ho taught the law of love to our neighbours, that wo should not oppose evil with force, no .matter what it be, that we should not consume more than wo produce (one can imggine the revolution such-a'thing would cause), and that men and women should equally, practisu and aspire towards purity of life. Tho position and the aims of women particularly interested him, .-and much of his. thought. and timo were devoted to the solution of the woman's goal in life, and . her position as wifo and mother. In Russia women are still some- . what regarded from the standard of tho Eastern viewpoint, and. Tolstoy proclaimed women's independence and right over her own life with all the "vigour he possessed. Without the slightest hesitancy he attacks tho problems that are' confronting all thoughtful people of tho world,, and placed before them the solution which ho thought could only .provo ,tho right , one—a readjustment of the standards of conduct which men and women require from each other. Tho ordinary opinion that genius and talent aro unfitted, for the narrow circle of family life is entirely disproved, and in tho "Kreutzcr Sonata" more than in any other of his . works, Tolhas shown the independence and originality of . his mind, for it is in this ho boldly discards and pulls to picccs all the preconceived ideas and beliefs of tho views with which men and women had hitherto regarded one another. Tho composition of this book was duo to tho happiness which ho found in his family life. Mr. Aylmer Maude, the chief interpreter of Tolstoy to tho English-speak-ing world, out of his intimate ftnowledgo and lovo for Tolstoy, paints, in his • book, "Tho Lifo of Tolstoy," the- development and life of his friend with eyes open, to his faults and his perfections, and places before'his readers the strange problems' and trials that beset , tho Countess Tolstoy after tho "conversion" of her husband.

"Truly .paMiotic is tho struggle during tho transition sta<*c for both tho husband and wifo," ho writes. ' From being a, loyal soil of tho Orthodox Church Tolstoy 'gradually'-'turns into 0110 of 'its severest critics. Ho abandons, the use, of its rites, and attacks its teaching iii thb.iiame of'what to him'is tho truo Christ. Even tho very Gospels ho rewrites' in accordanco with his own views of Christian .'doctrine. The Countess, on the ' other hand, though still devoted to her husband, and proud of his genius, remains a daughter of tho Church, and frets at his noglect- of his artistic powers. At first she hopes that his now obsession is only a temporary phase. Tho way in which tho practical Countess took chargo of tho publishing of her husband's books, owin<* to his'vdows,' is given by Madamo Anna Seuron, widow of a Frenchman, and grand-niece of "Weber, the composer, who lived with the family as governess for six years. Speaking of tho books, she says, "Tho Countess took the business in hand, and began to make money out of tho Count's books. The business grow with amazing rapidity, and one edition after another —by subscription and without subscription—appeared.' She attended to'tho proofs herself, and worked at them till late at night.' Of 'course, the thing was not accomplished 'without friction, and there was trouble witli the booksellers, becauso the chief stock of tho books was kept at" tho Count's houso, from whence they were sold and dispatched direct to customers. . . . The Count behaved very strangely in this matter. It was his conviction that money was. an evil, and the cause of moral deterioration. And suddenly he became awaro that a vein of gold had been discovered, which had it.4 origin in him. At first, when mention began to bo made of selling .the books, ho stopped his cars, and his faco assumed a frightened and pitiful expression; but tho Countess held firmly to her purpose of obtaining a secure competence for herself and her children; for, with an increasing family and a decreasing income, things could not go on much longer." The Countess borrowed. £1000 from her mother and £1500 from a frieud to start tho publishing, and in the first year made a gross. turnover of £6000.

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