COUNT TOLSTOI DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 188, 18 November 1910, Page 5

COUNT TOLSTOI DEAD

ins dying HOURS. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright. St. Fetersbui'f.', November hi. Tolstoi's attack was due to exposure. Couiuess Tolstoi and a son and daughter have arrived at Astapovo. THE END AT LAST. St. Petersburg, November 17. Count Tolstoi is dead. THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF DEATH. Received 17, !).35 p.m. London, November 17. The Times' St. Petersburg correspondentreports that during a journey on a crowded train, Count Tolstoi, through lack of room, was compelled to stand on the platform in the bitter cold and rain. Moscow, November 17. Count Tolstoi succumbed to cattarhal inflammation of the lungs and heart weakness. He was full}' conscious yesterday, and dictated two letters.

Count Leo Tolstoi was the greatest of Russian novelists, the prophet of renunciation and absolete obedience to Christian precepts. "Anna Karenina" placed him with the masters of fiction. His later writings showed him to be the most uncompromising opponent of coercive government. He divided his time between writing and working on his estate. In 1901 he was ex-communicated by the Russian Church for unorthodox}'. His eightieth birthday on September 12,1908, was the occasion of an international celebration. He served in the Crimean War, 1853-56; organised peasant schools on a new and original educational basis, 1875; co-operated in the improvement of cheap popular publications, 1885-95; organised relief for the starving population of starving Russia, 1891-2; renounced property in copyright, land and money, 1895-C. His writings consist of novels, stories, works, essavs and articles of an advanced, radical and Christian character, on religious, ethical, philsophical, economical, political and social problems. They represent two periods of literary work: before and after his religious crisis in 1878-79.