,note3 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see https3_/_/archive4org_/details_/rstalksw ithtolst#jj;golduoft ,,talks ,,with ,,tolstoi by ,a4 ,b4 ,,goldenveizer ,translated by ,s4 ,s4 ,koteliansky and ,virginia ,woolf ,published by ,leonard ,virginia ,woolf at ,the ,hogarth ,press1 ,paradise ,road1 ,richmond #aibc ,,translators' ,,note ,in the following pages we have made a selection from vol4 i4 of the diary of the well-known ,russian musician1 ,a4 ,b4 ,goldenveizer1 which was published at the end of #aibb in ,moscow under the title ,vblizi ,tolstovo 7literally ,near ,tolstoi74 ,,introductory ,,note ,in publishing the diary devoted to my friendship of nearly fifteen years with ,leo ,nikolaevich ,tolstoi1 ,i think it best to state first what my aim was in making notes1 and the method ,i pursued in doing so4 ,i put down chiefly ,tolstoi's words1 and to some extent the events of his private life1 making no attempt to select what would be interesting from some special point of view1 but adopting no method and attempting to supply no connection between one entry and another4 ,my diary1 therefore1 is in no sense 8literature40 ,its aim is to be a document4 ,unfortunately1 ,i did not always make notes and was far from writing down everything4 ,after #aijh my records were fuller2 in #aiji-aiaj1 the last year of ,tolstoi's life1 my reports were voluminous2 but it was only in #aiaj that my records were as complete as they could possibly be4 ,this is the cause of a great disproportion between the parts4 ,the first volume of my diary contains the long period from ,january #ahif to ,january #ast1 #aiaj1 the second volume records and materials for the year #aiaj only1 yet vol4 ii4 is considerably larger than vol4 i4 ,my notes from #ahif to #aijd are now published for the first time4 ,the notes from #aijd to #aijh were published in ,russ4 ,prop4 vol4 ii41 and the notes from the end of #aijh to ,january #ast1 #aiaj1 appeared in ,tolstoi3 ,pamyatniki ,zhizni i ,tvorchestva4 ,the parts of the diary which have been previously published are here published in a considerably enlarged form4 ,a4 ,,goldenveizer4 #ahif ,my first visit to the house of ,leo ,nikolaevich was on ,january #bjth1 #ahif4 ,i was not then twenty-one years old4 ,i was almost a boy4 ,i was taken to the ,tolstois' by a well-known ,moscow lady singer who used to visit the ,tolstois4 ,she took me there in my capacity as pianist1 of course4 ,if one is so unlucky as to play some instrument1 or to sing or recite1 one has a constant impediment in one's relations with people4 ,people do not take to one1 are not interested in one as in a person3 one is asked to play something1 to sing1 to recite4444 ,hence one feels so embarrassed1 so awkward1 in other people's society4 ,i felt awkward then1 and painfully shy4 ,i was introduced4 ,i went into the drawing-room1 where1 fortunately1 two or three people ,i knew were sitting4 ,i did not yet see ,tolstoi4 ,shortly afterwards he came in1 dressed in a blouse1 with his hands in his belt4 ,he greeted us all4 ,i do not remember whether he spoke to me then4 ,then ,i played1 and played badly4 ,of course1 out of politeness ,i was thanked and complimented1 which made me inexpressibly ashamed4 ,and then1 when ,i stood in the middle of the large room1 at a loss1 not knowing what to do with myself1 not daring to raise my eyes1 ,leo ,nikolaevich came up to me1 and1 speaking with a simplicity which was his alone1 began to talk to me4 ,among other things1 talking of the piece ,i had played1 he asked me3 8,which composer do you like best80 8,beethoven10 ,i replied4 ,tolstoi looked straight into my eyes and said quietly as if doubting me3 8,is that so80 ,it seemed as if ,i were repeating what every one says2 but ,i spoke the truth4 ,leo ,nikolaevich observed that he loved ,chopin beyond almost all other composers4 ,he said to me3 8,in every art--this ,i know from my own experience too--there are two extremes which it is difficult to avoid3 emptiness and virtuosity4 ,for instance1 ,mozart1 whom ,i love so much1 is at times empty1 but after that he soars to an extraordinary height4 ,schumann's defect is virtuosity4 ,of these two faults virtuosity is the worse1 if only for this reason1 that it is harder to get rid of it4 ,chopin's greatness consists in the fact that1 however simple he may be1 he is never empty1 and in his most complicated works he is never a mere virtuoso40 ,i left the ,tolstois' house with a vague feeling of happiness that ,i had seen ,tolstoi and spoken to him1 and also with a bitter sense of my own unworthiness4 ,one evening as ,i approached the ,tolstois' house in ,khamovniki ,i met ,leo ,nikolaevich1 who was going for a walk4 ,he asked me to come with him4 ,we walked in the ,prechistenka4 ,the street was deserted and quiet4 ,the few passers-by whom we met at intervals nearly all bowed to ,leo ,nikolaevich4 ,by degrees ,leo ,nikolaevich brought me to talk about myself4 ,at that time ,i was carried away by the philosophy of pessimism2 ,i raved about ,schopenhauer4 ,probably everything ,i said to ,leo ,nikolaevich was nave and silly1 but ,leo ,nikolaevich listened to me attentively and spoke to me seriously without making me feel my navet4 ,in passing1 ,leo ,nikolaevich said to me3 8,the most complete and profound philosophy is to be found in the ,gospels40 ,i remember that at that time it seemed to me strange4 ,i was used to thinking the ,gospels a book of moral teaching2 and ,i did not understand that all the wisdom of the most profound philosophy was contained in its simplicity and lucidity4 ,once ,i met ,leo ,nikolaevich in the street4 ,he again asked me to walk with him4 ,we were somewhere near the ,novinsky ,boulevard1 and ,leo ,nikolaevich suggested we should take the tram4 ,we sat down and took our tickets4 ,leo ,nikolaevich asked me3 8,can you make a ,japanese cockerel80 8,no40 8,look40 ,tolstoi took his ticket and very skilfully made it into a rather elaborate cockerel1 which1 when you pulled its tail1 fluttered its wings4 ,an inspector entered the car and began checking the tickets4 ,l4 ,n41 with a smile1 held out the cockerel to him and pulled its tail4 ,the cockerel fluttered its wings4 ,but the inspector1 with the stern expression of a business man who has no time for trifling1 took the cockerel1 unfolded it1 looked at the number1 and tore it up4 ,l4 ,n4 looked at me and said3 8,now our little cockerel is gone40 444 ,i arrived at ,yasnaya on ,july #fth after eleven o'clock at night4 ,i got up early in the morning and went to the river with ,l4 ,n4 to bathe4 ,l4 ,n4 works every day from breakfast till lunch4 ,he seemed to me to be in good spirits4 ,in the morning at coffee he said3 8,i feel as though ,i were nineteen or twenty40 ,yasnaya then used to be crowded and gay4 ,nearly all the children were at home4 ,all the young people played tennis and enjoyed themselves4 ,occasionally ,l4 ,n4 would also play tennis4 ,in the evening all used to go out for long walks in the woods4 ,l4 ,n4 always loved to find short cuts1 and would take us all into wonderful places in the forests4 ,it must be admitted that the #8short-cuts' nearly always made the walks longer4 ,once ,l4 ,n4 and myself were left far behind the others4 ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,let us catch them up60 ,and for half a mile or three-quarters ,i1 twenty-one years old1 and he1 sixty-eight1 ran neck and neck4 ,on another occasion his physical vigour struck me even more4 ,mikhail ,lvovich was doing a very difficult gymnastic exercise which he could not bring off4 ,l4 ,n4 looked and looked1 could not stand it any longer1 and said3 8,let me try10 and to the surprise of all present he at once did the exercise better than his son4 ,when ,i was leaving ,yasnaya and my carriage was waiting for me1 ,l4 ,n4 took my arm1 led me aside1 and said3 8,i have been meaning all this time to tell you1 and now as you are going ,i shall tell you3 however great a gift for music you may have1 and however much time and power you may spend on it1 do remember that1 above all1 the most important of all is to be a man4 ,it is always necessary to remember that art is not everything4444 ,in your relations with people it is necessary to try to give them as much as possible and to take from them as little as possible4 ,forgive me for saying this1 but ,i did not want to say good-bye to you without having told you what ,i think40 ,another of ,l4 ,n4's sayings at this time was3 8,the ego is the temporary thing that limits our immortal essence4 ,belief in personal immortality always seems to me a misunderstanding40 8,materialism is the most mystical of all doctrines3 it makes a belief in some mythical matter1 which creates everything out of itself1 the foundation of everything4 ,it is sillier than a belief in the ,trinity60 #ahig ,moscow1 ,january #fth4 ,to-day ,i spent the evening at the ,tolstois'4 ,l4 ,n4 was talkative4 ,the conversation was on various topics1 beginning with the peasants and ending with the latest 8decadent0 movement in art4 ,l4 ,n4 read aloud certain passages of ,maeterlinck's new play ,aglavaine et ,slysette4 ,his attitude to it is one of complete indifference4 ,l4 ,n4 reads aloud most wonderfully2 very simply and at the same time with remarkable expression4 ,wonderful also is his capacity of telling in a few words the contents of a story4 ,there is nothing superfluous1 and a clear1 definite picture is given4 ,april #bbnd4 ,at the ,tolstois'4 ,speaking of modern art1 ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,if an impressionist was asked to draw a hoop1 he would draw a straight line ----2 a child would draw a circle like this ,o0 7,l4 ,n4 made the circle with his finger on the table74 8,and the child is more in the right1 because he navely represents what he sees1 and the impressionist represents what may be a hoop or a stick or anything you like2 in a word1 he does not represent the characteristic properties of the thing1 but only a symbol of it1 a part1 and that not always the most characteristic one4 8,a really remarkable and powerful mind can look for a method of expressing his idea1 and if the idea is strong he will find new methods of expressing it4 ,but modern artists invent a technical method and then are on the look-out for an idea1 which they arbitrarily squeeze into their method4 8,the great mistake is that people have introduced into art the vague conception of #8beauty1' which obscures and confuses everything4444 ,art consists in this--when some one sees or feels something1 and expresses it in such a form that he who listens1 reads1 or sees his work feels1 sees1 and hears the same thing in the same way as the artist4 ,therefore art can be of the highest quality1 or indifferent1 or1 finally1 simply hateful1 but still it is art4 ,the most immoral picture if it achieves its end is art1 although it serves low ends4 8,if ,i yawn1 cry1 or laugh1 and infect another person by the same thing1 that is not art1 for ,i produce the impression by the fact itself2 but1 if a beggar1 for instance1 seeing that his tears affected you and you gave him money1 should on the following day pretend to cry and should arouse pity in you1 then that is art40 ,august #bnd1 #d ,p4,m4 ,i have just had a long talk with ,l4 ,n4 on art4 ,he was repeating the contents of his article on art which he is writing1 and which he goes on working over and rewriting4 ,in the course of it ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,when art became the inheritance of a small circle of rich people1 and left its main course1 it entered the cul-de-sac in which we see it now4 8,art is the expression of feeling1 and the higher it is the greater the public which it can draw to itself4 ,therefore the highest art must reflect those states of mind which are religious in the best sense of the word1 as they are the most universal and typical of all human beings4 8,the majority of so-called works of art consist in a more or less skilful combination of four elements3 7#a7 borrowing--for instance1 the working out of some legend in a poem1 of a song in music1 etc4 ,or unconscious borrowing--that is1 an imitation now of one thing1 now of another1 not intended by the author4 7#b7 ,embellishments3 pretty metaphors which cover up insignificant ideas1 flourishes in music1 ornament in architecture1 etc4 7#c7 ,effects3 violent colours in painting1 accumulated dissonances1 sharp crescendos in music1 and so on4 ,finally1 7#d7 the interest--that is1 the desire to surprise by the novelty of the method1 by the new combination of colours1 etc4 ,modern works of art are usually distinguished by these four qualities4 8,the following are the chief obstacles which hinder even very remarkable men from creating true works of art3 first1 professionalism--that is1 a man ceases to be a man1 but becomes a poet1 a painter1 and does nothing but write books1 compose music1 or paint pictures2 wastes his gift on trifles and loses the power of judging his work critically4 ,the second1 also a very serious obstacle1 is the school4 ,you can't teach art1 as you cannot teach a man to be a saint4 ,true art is always original and new1 and has no need of preconceived models4 ,the third obstacle1 finally1 is criticism1 which1 as some one has justly said1 is made up of fools' ideas about wise men4 8,i know that my article will be received by most people as a series of paradoxes1 but ,i am convinced that ,i am right40 ,l4 ,n4 is evidently much carried away by his work4 ,august #ith4 ,this evening ,i am going to leave ,yasnaya ,polyana1 where ,i have spent nearly a fortnight4 ,the whole time passed wonderfully well4 ,the days were spent more or less in this way3 ,after breakfast every one goes to his work4 ,l4 ,n4 takes his barley-coffee in a little kettle1 and with the kettle in one hand and a few little pieces of bread in the other he goes to his room to work there1 and does not come out till lunch4 ,a ,note without a ,date4 ,in the summer of #ahig the famous ,lombroso came to ,yasnaya4 ,i was not at ,yasnaya at the time1 but from what ,l4 ,n4 and others told me ,i can say that ,lombroso1 whose writings ,l4 ,n4 regarded without enthusiasm1 had made no particular impression personally4 ,i will give one example to show how superficially and inaccurately ,lombroso related what he saw in ,yasnaya4 ,there was a round patch on one of ,l4 ,n4's boots1 which came off1 and ,l4 ,n41 while waiting to send the boot to be repaired1 wore it with the hole in it4 ,at that time ,sophie ,andreevna1 ,i believe1 took a snapshot of ,l4 ,n41 and the little hole on the boot was clearly seen in the photograph4 ,i have that snapshot4 ,lombroso1 in describing his visit to ,yasnaya in the ,press and in numerous interviews1 said that ,l4 ,n4 pretended the #8simple life1' and1 wanting to show that he wore torn boots1 had made a round hole in one of them1 evidently cut on purpose4 #ahii ,may #aath4 ,the conversation turned upon ,katkov4 ,l4 ,n4 expressed the opinion that ,katkov was not clever4 ,sophie ,andreevna became annoyed and said3 8,any one who disagrees with us must be a fool40 ,to which ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,the mark of foolish people is3 when you say anything to them they never answer your words1 but keep on repeating their own4 ,that was always ,katkov's way4 ,that is why ,i say that ,katkov was a stupid man4 ,now1 there is something of the same sort in ,chicherin1 yet can they be put even approximately on the same level8 8,though10 ,l4 ,n4 added1 8one has to respect every one4 ,among the virtues the ,chinese place respect first4 ,simply1 without any relation to anything definite4 ,respect for the individual and for the opinion of every man40 ,the conversation turned upon ancient languages and classical education4 ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,when ,i studied and read a great deal of ,greek1 ,i could easily understand almost any ,greek book4 ,i used to be at the examinations in the ,lyceum1 and saw that nearly always the pupil only understood what he had learnt beforehand4 ,he did not understand new passages4 ,and1 indeed1 at school for every fifty words that were learnt at least sixty-five rules were taught4 ,in such a way one can't learn anything4 8,i am always surprised how firmly all sorts of superstitions possess people4 ,superstitions1 such as the ,church1 the ,tsar1 the army1 etc41 live for centuries1 and people have got so accustomed to them that they are not now thought to be strange4 ,but the superstition of classical education arose with us in ,russia before my very eyes4 ,above all1 not one of the most zealous partisans of classical education can give a single sensible argument in favour of the system40 ,then ,l4 ,n4 added3 8,there is also the superstition of the possibility of a #8school' in art4 ,hence all institutes and academies4 ,the abnormal form which art takes now1 however1 is not the root of the evil1 but one of its symptoms4 ,when the religious conception of life changes1 then art1 too1 will find its true methods40 ,l4 ,n4 returned to the ,chinese virtue of #8respect1' and said3 8,often remarkable men suffer from the lack of that ,chinese #8respect4' ,for instance1 in ,henry ,george's ,progress and ,poverty ,marx's name is not mentioned at all2 and in his recently published posthumous work hardly eight lines refer to ,marx1 and those speak of the obscurity1 complexity1 and emptiness of ,marx's works4 8,apropos of obscurity and complexity1 they are nearly always a proof of the absence of true meaning4 ,but there is one great exception--,kant1 who wrote horribly1 and yet he makes an epoch in the development of mankind4 ,in many respects he discovered perfectly new horizons40 ,to-day after lunch ,l4 ,n4 went on horseback to ,sokolniki and came back late in the evening4 ,nevertheless1 when ,mme4 ,m4 ,a4 ,maklakov and myself began to say good-bye1 he said he would come with us4 ,on the way ,mme4 ,maklakov kept saying all the time how much she would like to live in the country4 ,l4 ,n4 interrupted her3 8,how it annoys me when people abuse the town with such exaggeration and say3 ,to the country1 to the country6 ,all depends on the person1--in town1 too1 one can be with ,nature4 ,don't you remember10 ,l4 ,n4 asked her1 8we had an old gatekeeper1 ,vasili8 ,he lived all his life in town2 in the summer he used to get up at #c o'clock in the morning1 and enjoyed his intercourse with ,nature in our garden much more than country gentlemen do1 who spend their evenings in the country playing cards4 ,besides1 compared with the enormously important question of how to live one's life in the best and most moral way1 the question of town or country has no value at all40 ,before this ,l4 ,n4 said with a smile3 8,i once said1 but you must not talk about it1 and ,i tell it you in secret3 woman is generally so bad that the difference between a good and a bad woman scarcely exists40 ,yasnaya ,polyana1 ,july #cast4 ,i am working with ,n4 ,n4 ,ge on the proofs of ,resurrection4 ,the corrections are to be inserted in the proof-sheets from ,l4 ,n4's draft copy1 and two copies of the same are made4 ,the draft copy remains here1 and the fair copies are sent1 one to ,marx for the weekly ,niva1 and the other to ,chertkov in ,england for the ,english edition4 ,it is an interesting1 but worrying and difficult work4 ,throughout1 instead of the one printed proof-sheet1 one has to copy out afresh three or four long pages4 ,often ,l4 ,n4's corrections are written so closely that a magnifying glass has to be used to read them4 ,unless one has seen ,l4 ,n4's incredible work1 the numerous passages that are rewritten1 the additions and alterations1 the same incident being sometimes written dozens of times over1 one can have not the remotest idea of this labour4 ,august #bnd4 ,i have been here from ,july #bgth 7in ,yasnaya ,polyana74 ,a queer young man1 ,k41 came to ,l4 ,n41 and1 on my asking him what he was doing1 he said that 8he was the free son of air40 ,k4 told ,l4 ,n4 that he wanted to settle down in the country among the people4 ,l4 ,n4 in recounting it said3 8,of course1 ,i did not advise him to do it4 ,usually nothing comes from such attempts4 ,for instance1 some very nice people1 the ,n4 ,n4's1 bought a small plot of land and settled like that in the country4 ,a peasant cut down one of their trees2 they did not want to take action in the court against him1 and soon1 when the peasants learnt about it1 they cut down the whole woods4 ,the peasant boys stole their peas2 they were not beaten nor driven away1 and then nearly the whole village came and stole all the peas1 etc41 etc4 8,one should not1 above all1 look for new ways of life1 for usually1 in doing so1 one's whole energy is spent on the external arrangement of life4 ,and when all the external arrangement is over1 one begins to feel bored and does nothing4 ,let every one first do his own work1 if only it does not clash sharply with his convictions1 and let him try to become better and better in his own situation1 and then he will find new ways of life into the bargain4 ,for the most part1 all the external side of life must be neglected2 one should not bother about it4 ,do your own work40 ,to-day ,l4 ,n4 said of some one3 8,he is a ,tolstoian--that is1 a man with convictions utterly opposed to mine40 ,yesterday ,l4 ,n4 spoke of the process of creative work3 8,i can't understand how any one can write without rewriting everything over and over again4 ,i scarcely ever re-read my published writings1 but if by chance ,i come across a page1 it always strikes me3 ,all this must be rewritten2 this is how ,i should have written it4444 8,i am always interested to trace the moment1 which comes quite early1 when the public is satisfied2 and the artist thinks3 ,they say it is good2 but it is just at this point that the real work begins60 ,to-day ,l4 ,n4 was not well4 ,i went to him2 he was lying on the little sofa in the drawing-room4 ,he told me of ,s4 ,g4 ,verus's book on the ,gospels4 8,his final conclusion is the denial of ,christ as a historical person4 ,in the earliest written parts of the ,new ,testament--in ,paul's messages--there is not a single biographical fact about ,christ4 ,all the ,gospels that have come down to us were composed between the second and fourth century ,a4,d4 ,of the writers who were ,christ's contemporaries 7,tacitus1 ,suetonius1 ,philo1 ,j4 ,flavius7 not a single one of them mentions ,christ2 so that his personality is not historical1 but legendary4 8,all this is very interesting and even valuable1 for it makes it unnecessary to quarrel any more over refuting the authenticity of the ,gospel stories about the miracles2 and it proves the teaching of the ,gospels to be not the words of one superman1 but the sum of the wisdom of all the best moral teaching expressed by many people and at different times40 ,l4 ,n4 also said this to me3 8,perhaps it is because ,i am unwell1 but at moments to-day ,i am simply driven to despair by everything that is going on in the world3 the new form of oath1 the revolting proclamation about enlisting university students in the army1 the ,dreyfus affair1 the situation in ,serbia1 the horrors of the diseases and deaths in the ,auerbach quicksilver works4444 ,i can't make out how mankind can go on living like this1 with the sight of all this horror round them6 8,it always strikes me how little man is valued1 even in the simplest way as a valuable and useful animal4 ,we value a horse which can carry1 but man can also make boots1 work in a factory1 play the piano6 ,and #ej per cent are dying6 ,when ,i used to breed merino sheep and their death-rate reached #e per cent1 ,i was indignant and thought the shepherd very bad4 ,and #ej per cent of the people are dying60 ,i read ,l4 ,n4's most wonderful ,father ,sergius4 ,moscow1 ,august #ith4 ,i returned from ,yasnaya in the evening of the #fth4 ,this is what ,i find ,i have written down4 ,the talk turned upon the woman question4 ,the conversation was carried on in a half-jocular tone4 ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,woman1 as a ,christian1 has a right to equality4 ,woman1 as member of the modern and perfectly pagan family1 must not struggle for an impossible equality4 ,the modern family is like a tiny little boat sailing in a storm on the vast ocean4 ,it can keep afloat if it is ruled by one will4 ,but when those in the boat begin struggling1 the boat is upset1 and the result is what we see now in most families4 ,the man1 however bad1 is in the majority of cases the more sensible of the two4 ,woman is nearly always in opposition to any progress4 ,when man wants to break with the old life and to go ahead1 he nearly always meets with energetic resistance from the woman4 ,the wife catches hold of his coat-tails and will not allow him4 ,in woman a great evil is terribly highly developed--family egotism4 ,it is a dreadful egotism1 for it commits the greatest cruelties in the name of love2 as if to say1 let the whole world perish so that my ,serge may be happy64440 ,then ,l4 ,n4 recalled scenes which he had observed in ,moscow3 8,there issues from ,minangua's a gentleman in a beaver coat1 with a sad face1 and after him his lady1 and the porter carries boxes and helps the lady into the sledge4 8,i love at times to stand near the colonnade by the great theatre and watch the ladies driving up to stop at ,meriliz's4 ,i only know of two similar sights3 7#a7 when peasant women go to ,zaseka to pick up nuts the watchmen catch them1 so that sometimes they give birth out of fright1 and yet they go on doing it2 and 7#b7 so it is with ladies shopping at sales4 8,and their coachmen wait in the bitter cold and talk among themselves3 #8,my lady must have spent five thousand to-day6' 8,i shall one day write about women4 ,when ,i am quite old1 and my digestion is completely out of order1 and ,i am still looking out into the world through one eye1 then ,i shall pop my head out and tell them3 ,that's what you are6 and disappear completely1 or they would peck me to death40 444 ,doctor ,e4 ,n4 ,maliutin was in ,yasnaya4 ,l4 ,n4 said to him3 8,i can't understand the usual attitude that a doctor always serves a good cause4 ,there is no profession that is good in itself4 ,one may be a cobbler and be better and nicer than a doctor4 ,why is restoring some one to health good8 ,at times it is quite the opposite4 ,man's deeds are good1 not in themselves1 but because of the feelings which inspire him4 ,that's why ,i do not understand the desire of women to be doctors1 trained nurses1 midwives1 as though by becoming a midwife everything is settled for the best40 ,on some occasion ,l4 ,n4 said3 8,when you are told about a complicated and difficult affair1 for the most part about some one's disgusting behaviour1 reply to it3 ,did you make the jam8 or3 ,won't you like to have tea8--and that's all4 ,much harm comes from the so-called attempt to understand circumstances and relations40 ,october #ast4 ,i came to ,yasnaya ,polyana yesterday4 ,it is very nice here now the weather is mild1 almost bright1 but rather cold4 ,there are no strangers4 ,i am copying ,resurrection again1 on which ,l4 ,n4 is hard at work4 ,now ,i am doing the first chapters of ,part ,,iii4 ,there is little joy in the ,tolstois' family life1 and to an intimate friend this is extremely marked4 ,moscow1 ,november #bfth4 ,i am much distressed by ,l4 ,n4's serious illness1 which at the bottom of my mind ,i consider hopeless4 ,i called on ,wednesday to inquire after his health1 and the news was very unfavourable4 ,december #gth4 ,when ,tolstoi was ill 7he is much better now7 and ,i was for the first time in his room1 he seemed glad to see me1 which was a great delight to me4 ,on his table was the volume of ,tyutchev's poems4 ,in his hand he had an ,english book1 ,empire and ,freedom 7,i don't remember by whom74 ,as is always his way1 ,tolstoi at once spoke of what he was reading4 8,here is a remarkable book60 said ,tolstoi4 8,he 7the author7 is ,american1 therefore an ,anglo-,saxon2 nevertheless1 he denies the so-called civilizing influence of the ,anglo-,saxon race4 ,i can't understand how people can stick to such superstitions6 ,i understand a ,muhammad preaching his doctrine1--medival ,christianity1 the ,crusades4 ,whatever the convictions of those people may have been1 they did it in the belief that they knew the truth and were giving that knowledge to others4 ,but now there is nothing6 ,everything is done for the sake of profit60 ,then ,tolstoi began to talk about a ,french pamphlet on the workers' co-operative societies which he had read4 8,why not introduce in the villages here such co-operative societies8 ,that is a vital thing6 ,you1 instead of doing nothing10 he turned to ,ilya ,lvovich1 who sat there1 8ought to do it here in the village4 8,socialist ideas have become a truism4 ,who can now seriously dispute the idea that every one should have the right to enjoy the result of his labour80 ,then the conversation turned upon the obschina4 ,tolstoi said3 8,everything is taken away from the peasants2 they are overtaxed1 oppressed in all ways4 ,the only good thing left is the obschina4 ,and then every one criticizes it and makes it responsible for all the miseries of the peasants1 in their wish to take away from the peasants their last good thing4 ,they make out that the mutual responsibility of the members is one of the evils of the obschina4 ,but mutual responsibility is only one of the principles of the obschina with regard to fiscal purposes4 ,if ,i use a good thing for an evil end1 that does not prove that the thing is in itself bad40 ,then the conversation turned upon ,tyutchev4 ,the other day ,tolstoi saw in the ,novoe ,vremya his poem 8,twilight40 ,he therefore took down all ,tyutchev's poems and read them during his illness4 ,tolstoi said to me3 8,i am always saying that a work of art is either so good that there is no standard by which to define its qualities--that is real art1--or it is quite bad4 ,now1 ,i am happy to have found a real work of art4 ,i cannot read it without tears4 ,i know it by heart4 ,listen1 ,i'll read it to you40 ,tolstoi began in a voice broken with tears3 8,the dove-coloured shadows melted together44440 ,when ,i am on my death-bed ,i shall not forget the impression then produced on me by ,tolstoi4 ,he lay on his back1 convulsively twisting the edge of his blanket with his fingers and trying in vain to restrain the tears that choked him4 ,he broke down several times and began again4 ,but at last1 when he read the end of the stanza1 8,everything is in me1 and ,i in everything10 his voice gave way4 ,the entrance of ,a4 ,n4 ,dunaev stopped him4 ,he grew calmer4 8,what a pity that ,i spoilt the poem for you60 he said to me later4 ,then ,i played the piano4 ,tolstoi asked me not to play ,chopin1 saying3 8,i am afraid ,i might burst into tears40 ,tolstoi asked for something by ,mozart or ,haydn4 ,he asked3 8,why do pianists never play ,haydn8 ,you ought to4 ,how good it is--beside a modern complicated1 artificial work--to play something of ,mozart or ,haydn60 #aijj ,moscow1 ,january #bith4 ,tolstoi had a conversation with ,v4 ,e4 ,den when ,chalyapin was here4 ,tolstoi is working now on the article on the labour question1 8,new ,slavery10 and the conversation turned upon labour4 ,tolstoi said3 8,we are going through a new stage in the evolution of slavery3 the slavery of the working men suffering under the yoke of the well-to-do classes4 8,slavery will never cease at the bottom first1 exclusively from the movement of the slaves themselves4 ,we saw it in ,america1 and here during the serfdom of the peasants4 ,so must it happen now again4 ,it is only when we realize that it is a shame to have slaves1 that we shall cease to be slave-drivers1 and shall voluntarily give up exploiting the working classes4 8,freedom cannot come from the slaves4 ,individual slaves who have rid themselves of the yoke of slavery become in the majority of cases particularly harsh oppressors and tyrants over their late brothers4 ,nor can it be otherwise4 ,how can you expect from them--harassed and tortured--anything else8 ,it is only when we voluntarily give up the shameful use of the labour of the slaves1 our brothers1 that slavery will come to an end4 8,science1 in so far as it describes and clarifies the real state of things1 does a useful and necessary work4 ,but as soon as it starts laying down programmes for the future1 it becomes useless4 ,all these ideas about an eight-hour working day1 etc41 only increase and legalize the evil4 ,labour must be free1 not slavish1 and that is all4 8,when a peasant gets up before sunrise and works all day long in the field1 he is not a slave4 ,he has intercourse with nature1 he does a useful work4 ,but when he stands by a piece of machinery in a ,morosov's factory all his life long1 manufacturing textiles which he will never see1 and neither himself nor any one of his people will ever use1 then he is a slave and perishes in slavery4 8,railways1 telephones1 and the other accessories of the civilized world--all that is useful and good4 ,but if one had to choose either the whole of this civilization1 for which not hundreds of thousands of ruined lives are required1 but only the certain destruction of one single existence1 or1 on the other hand1 no civilization at all1 then no thank you for this civilization with its railways and telephones1 if a necessary condition of them is the destruction of human life40 ,february #bdth4 ,on the #ahth and #bjth ,i was at the ,tolstois'4 ,on the #ahth ,tolstoi went to the 8,pod ,deviche0 playhouse and afterwards to a dirty public-house1 where there is an extraordinary amount of drunkenness and debauchery1 to make observations4 ,tolstoi said3 8,twenty years ago ,i saw at the #8,pod ,deviche1' ,churkin1 a play composed by a drunken tramp1 and this time ,i saw ,stenka ,rasin--and it is all the same thing4 ,murder and violence are represented as heroic and are acclaimed by the crowd4 ,and it is remarkable that whilst every word in a book which may enlighten the minds of the people is carefully struck out by the censorship1 such performances are readily allowed1 under the police inspector's censorship4 ,during the last twenty years probably over a million people have seen these ,churkins and ,rasins40 ,in telling this1 ,tolstoi recollected how he was once in a workhouse where the priest explained the ,gospels3 8,the passage was read where ,christ says3 #8,it is said3 thou shalt not kill2 but ,i say unto you1 do not be angry without cause4' ,the priest began to explain that one must not be angry without cause1 but1 if the authorities become angry1 that is right and as it should be4 #8,do not kill' also does not mean that one should never kill4 ,in war or at an execution1 killing is necessary and is not a sin4 ,this is the only chance that an illiterate person has to understand the meaning of the ,gospels1 for in church all the chapters are either indistinctly read by the sexton1 or shouted so loud that they are perfectly unintelligible--and this is the way in which the ,gospels are explained to the people60 ,a long talk about the ,boers and the ,english took place4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i always consider that moral motives are effective and decisive historically4 ,and now1 when the universal dislike of the ,english is so clearly pronounced--,i shall not live to see it1 but it seems to me that the power of ,england will be much shaken4 ,and ,i say this not out of an unconscious ,russian patriotism4 ,if ,poland or ,finland rose against ,russia and success were on their side1 my sympathy would be on their side as the oppressed4 8,the ,russian people1 speaking impartially1 is perhaps the most ,christian of all in its moral character4 ,it is partly to be explained by the fact that the ,gospels have been read by the ,russian people for nine hundred years2 ,catholics don't know the ,gospels even now1 and other races came to know the ,gospel only after the ,reformation4 8,i was struck when ,i saw in the streets of ,london a criminal escorted by the police1 and the police had to protect him energetically from the crowd1 which threatened to tear him to pieces4 ,with us it is just the opposite3 police have to drive away by force the people who try to give the criminal money and bread4 ,with us1 criminals and prisoners are #8little unhappy ones4' ,but now1 unfortunately1 there is a change for the worse1 and our abominable ,government tries with all its might and main to rouse hatred against the condemned4 ,in ,siberia1 even prizes are given to any one who kills an escaped prisoner40 ,april #bith4 ,the conversation was on ,shakespeare4 ,tolstoi is not very fond of him4 ,tolstoi said3 8,three times in my life ,i have read through ,shakespeare and ,goethe from end to end1 and ,i could never make out in what their charm consisted40 ,according to ,tolstoi1 ,goethe is cold4 ,among his 7,goethe's7 works he likes many of the lyrics and ,hermann and ,dorothea4 ,he does not like ,goethe's dramatic works1 and his novels he considers quite weak4 ,tolstoi did not speak about ,faust4 ,tolstoi is very fond of ,schiller1 and said3 8,he is a genuine man60 ,he loves almost all his works1 particularly ,the ,robbers and ,don ,carlos1 also ,mary ,stuart1 ,william ,tell1 and ,wallenstein4 ,then ,a4 ,m4 ,sukhotin1 a man over seventy1 read aloud ,turgenev's ,old ,portraits superbly4 ,tolstoi did not remember the story1 and was in great delight over it4 ,he said3 8,it is only after reading all these moderns that one really appreciates ,turgenev40 ,tolstoi remembered ,turgenev with great love4 ,he said1 in passing3 8,when ,turgenev died ,i wanted to read a paper about him4 ,i wanted especially1 in view of the misunderstandings that there had been between us1 to remember and relate all the good that was so abundant in him1 and to tell what ,i loved in him4 ,the lecture was not given4 ,dolgorukov did not allow it40 ,the conversation turned on ,chekhov and ,gorky4 ,tolstoi as usual praised ,chekhov's artistic gift very highly4 ,the lack of a definite world conception grieves him in ,chekhov2 and in this respect ,tolstoi prefers ,gorky4 ,of ,gorky ,tolstoi said3 8,you know what he is from his works4 ,gorky's great and very serious essential defect is a poorly developed sense of proportion1 and this is extremely important4 ,i pointed out this defect to ,gorky himself1 and as an instance ,i drew his attention to his misuse of the method of animating inanimate things4 ,then ,gorky said that in his opinion it was a good method1 and gave an instance of it in his story ,malva1 where it says3 #8the sea laughed4' ,i replied to him that1 if on certain occasions the method might be very successful1 nevertheless one ought not to abuse it40 ,yesterday ,ushakov asked ,tolstoi about ,gromeka4 ,tolstoi and ,tatyana ,lvovna spoke a great deal about him4 ,tolstoi said3 8,he was a sympathetic1 passionate1 and gifted man4 ,he shot himself when still a young man1 it was said because he was mentally deranged40 ,tatyana ,lvovna says1 by the way1 that ,gromeka was her first admirer and proposed to her when she was sixteen4 ,tolstoi values ,gromeka's criticism very much4 ,he said3 8,it was a pleasure to me that a man who sympathized with me could see even in ,war and ,peace and in ,anna ,karenin a great deal of what ,i was afterwards to say and write40 ,tolstoi also said3 8,when ,i wrote the story ,what ,men ,live by1 ,fet said1 #8,well1 what do people live by8 ,by money1 of course4'0 ,i observed that ,fet had probably said it in joke4 ,tolstoi replied3 8,no1 it was his conviction4 ,and1 as often happens1 what people try very stubbornly to get1 they do get4 ,fet all his life long wanted to become rich1 and he became rich4 ,his brothers and sisters1 it seems1 went out of their minds1 and all their fortunes came to him40 ,fet wrote in ,tatyana ,lvovna's album that the unhappiest day of his life was the one when he saw that he was going to be ruined4 ,i talked a good deal with ,tolstoi to-day4 ,tolstoi said about current events3 8,i am not so much horrified at these murders in the ,transvaal1 and now in ,china1 as by the open declaration of immoral motives4 ,they used at least to cloak themselves hypocritically in good motives1 but now that this is no longer possible they express all their immoral and cruel intentions and claims openly40 ,we spoke about the abolition of deportation4 ,tolstoi considers it worse than the other method4 ,he said3 8,instead of making it possible for a man to order his life in a new place1 he is put into prison4 ,the ,government has already voted six and a half millions for the enlargement of prisons4 ,and this money will again be flayed off the peasants1 for there is nowhere else to take it from40 ,of our courts of justice ,tolstoi said3 8,how absurd our courts are can be seen at each stage4 ,for example1 take the case of the ,tula priest4 ,how was it that the ,tula court acquitted him1 and then after the acquittal the ,oriol court sentenced him to hard labour for twenty years8 ,if such uncertainty is possible1 what are those verdicts worth8 ,indeed1 it depends on a thousand accidents3 the temper of the jurymen1 the behaviour of the prisoner at the bar--the prisoner bursts into tears1 and the impression produced secures his acquittal4 ,it is merely a game of heads and tails6 ,it would be simpler and easier to say3 ,heads or tails1 and to give sentence accordingly4 ,it simply baffles me how decent people can be judges60 ,of the case of ,s4 ,i4 ,mamontov1 ,tolstoi said3 8,one is certainly very sorry for him3 he is an old1 unhappy man2 but1 on the other hand1 you have to remember that the man has squandered twelve millions1 or whatever it may be2 he certainly spent between one and two hundred thousand roubles per annum1 and is then acquitted1 while another wretched man steals a trifle and is condemned for it4 ,and in his case1 too1 money was spent on expensive lawyers4 ,this reminds me of the anecdote ,i read in the papers4 ,a cashier who embezzled twenty-five thousand roubles came to a lawyer to ask him to undertake his defence4 ,the lawyer asked him3 #8,is there any more money left8' ,the cashier said that there was another twenty-five thousand4 ,then the lawyer said3 #8,take the rest and give it to me1 and then ,i will undertake your case4' 8,and why should the jury be able to pardon8 ,only the plaintiff can pardon2 but the jury whom he has not hurt have nothing to pardon him for4 8,i once talked to ,n4 ,v4 ,davidov1 and said to him that all punishment may be dispensed with1 yet an enquiry ought to be made2 and when the crime is proved1 they should go to the criminal and accuse him in the presence of all of his crime1 and should bring forward the proof of his guilt4 ,it is quite likely that the man will say3 #8,be damned to you1 it is none of your business6' ,but still ,i think that this method would more often give positive results than the existing system of punishment40 ,speaking of the ,government1 ,tolstoi said3 8,i wonder why they have not put me into prison yet8 ,particularly now1 after my article on #8,patriotism4' ,perhaps they have not read it yet8 ,it ought to be sent to them40 ,tolstoi spoke again of his indifference to modern complicated music3 8,i tried to accustom myself to modern dissonances1 but these are all a perversion of taste4 ,a modern composer takes a musical idea1 now and then even a lovely one1 and twists it round and round without end or measure1 combines it with other themes1 and1 when at last he manages to express something simple1 one is ready to heave a sigh of relief and say3 ,thank ,god60 ,july #dth4 ,yesterday ,tolstoi said to me3 8,buddha says that happiness consists in doing as much good as possible to others4 ,however strange this may seem on the face of it1 yet it is true without a doubt3 happiness is only possible when the struggle for personal happiness is renounced40 ,then ,tolstoi smiled and said3 8,and yet you play the piano6 ,but certainly that is better than many other things4 ,at any rate you need not pass sentence on any one1 or commit murder40 ,tolstoi said of newspapers3 8,at present the newspaper infection has reached its ultimate limits4 ,all the questions of the day are artificially puffed up by the newspapers4 ,the worst danger is that the newspapers present everything ready made1 without making people stop to think about anything4 ,a liberal ,kuzminsky1 or even a ,koni1 takes his fresh newspaper with his morning coffee1 reads it1 goes to his court1 where he meets others who have just read the very same newspaper1 and the contagion is spread60 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,it has suddenly become perfectly clear to me that the evil lies in regulations1 i4e4 the chief thing is not that people do wrong1 but that some force others to do a wrong which is considered to be right4 ,hitherto not a single one even of the most extreme socialist doctrines has dispensed with compulsion4 ,but slavery will only cease when every one is free to choose his work and the time needed for it4 8,people always put an end to things by asking3 #8,well2 let us suppose that we have liberated the slave1 what will follow next8 ,how is it going to be done8' ,i do not know how it is going to be done1 but ,i do know that the existing order is the greatest evil1 and therefore ,i must try to take as little part as possible in keeping it going4 ,but what will come in place of that evil--,i do not and must not know4 ,for what reason did we1 the well-to-do classes1 take upon ourselves the rle of the controllers of life8 ,let the freed slaves arrange things for themselves4 ,i know only this1 that it is bad to be a slave and worse still to own slaves1 and therefore ,i must rid myself of the evil4 ,that's all40 ,tolstoi wanted to take for the motto of his new book1 ,the ,slavery of our ,times1 ,marx's saying that since the capitalists made themselves masters of the working classes the ,european governments lost all shame4 ,tolstoi praised ,elzbacher's book on anarchy1 in which the doctrines of seven anarchists are expounded3 of ,godwin1 ,proudhon1 ,max ,stirner1 ,bakunin1 ,kropotkin1 ,b4 ,p4 ,tucker1 and ,tolstoi himself4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i myself can remember at the beginning of the socialist movement in ,russia that the word #8socialist' was only spoken in a whisper2 but when ,professor ,ivanyukov in the first years of the eighties openly wrote his book on socialism1 it was already a widely spread doctrine in ,western ,europe4 ,it is in the same way that the public now regard anarchism1 often crudely identifying this doctrine with the throwing of bombs40 ,of ,elzbacher's book ,tolstoi said3 8,at the end of the book is an alphabetical index of the words used by the seven anarchists4 ,it appears that the word ,zwang1 compulsion1 violence1 is absent only in the exposition of my views40 ,sergeenko was telling ,tolstoi about ,volinsky's book on ,leonardo da ,vinci1 and said it was a fine book4 ,tolstoi remarked3 8,yes1 it seems to be one of those books which are good in that it is not necessary to read them40 ,tolstoi said yesterday about doctors and science generally3 8,how trivial and unnecessary are all our sciences6 ,it is true that exact sciences--mathematics and chemistry1 although quite unimportant for the improvement of moral life1 are at any rate exact and positive4 ,but1 although medical science has a great deal of knowledge1 that amount is nothing in proportion to what is needed in order actually to know anything4 ,and what is the good of it80 ,i replied to ,tolstoi that1 although in theory it may be so1 yet in practice1 when some one is ill1 one always wants to help them4 ,to this ,tolstoi replied3 8,it often happens that if some one is seriously ill1 those around him1 at the bottom of their hearts1 want him to die1 in order to be rid of him--he is in their way40 ,tolstoi said to ,sophie ,andreevna3 8,it's time for us to die10 and he quoted ,pushkin's lines3 8,and then our heir in a lucky moment will crush us down with a heavy monument40 ,july #eth4 ,tolstoi went for a walk to-day with myself and ,p4 ,a4 ,sergeenko4 ,we passed through the splendid young fir-tree forest on the left of the road to ,kozlovka4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i am trying to like and appreciate the modern writers1 but it is so difficult4 ,dostoevsky often wrote so badly1 so weakly and incompetently1 from the point of view of technique2 but what a lot he always has to say6 ,taine said that for one page of ,dostoevsky's he would give all ,french novels4 8,and technique has now reached a wonderful perfection4 ,a ,mme4 ,lukhmanov or ,mme4 ,d4 writes quite wonderfully4 ,what are ,turgenev or myself compared with her6 ,she could give us forty points' start of her60 ,tolstoi has recently re-read all ,chekhov's short stories4 ,to-day he said of ,chekhov3 8,his mastery is of the highest order4 ,i have been re-reading his stories with the greatest pleasure4 ,some1 as1 for instance1 #8,children1' #8,sleepy1' #8,in ,court1' are real masterpieces4 ,i really read one story after another with great pleasure4 ,and yet it is all a mosaic2 there is no connecting inner link4 8,the most important thing in a work of art is that it should have a kind of focus1 i4e4 there should be some place where all the rays meet or from which they issue4 ,and this focus must not be able to be completely explained in words4 ,this indeed is one of the significant facts about a true work of art--that its content in its entirety can be expressed only by itself40 ,tolstoi finds a great likeness between the talents of ,chekhov and ,maupassant4 ,he prefers ,maupassant for his greater joy in life4 ,but1 on the other hand1 ,chekhov's gift is a purer gift then ,maupassant's4 ,sergeenko1 ,i don't remember in what connection1 recalled a poem by ,lermontov4 ,tolstoi said3 8,he had indeed a permanent and powerful seeking after truth6 ,pushkin has not that moral significance1 but the sense of beauty is developed in him more highly than in any one else4 ,in ,chekhov1 and in modern writers generally1 there is an extraordinary development of the technique of realism4 ,in ,chekhov everything is real to the verge of illusion4 ,his stories give the impression of a stereoscope4 ,he throws words about in apparent disorder1 and1 like an impressionist painter1 he achieves wonderful results by his touches40 ,tolstoi likes ,m4 ,gorky very much as a man4 ,he begins1 however1 to be disappointed with his work4 ,tolstoi said of him3 8,gorky lacks a sense of proportion4 ,he has a familiar style which is unpleasant40 ,tolstoi wrote a short preface to ,von ,polenz's novel ,der ,bttnerbauer4 ,on that occasion he said3 8,as ,i read the novel1 ,i kept saying to myself3 #8,why did not you1 you fool1 write this novel8'--indeed1 ,i know this world2 and how very important it is to point out the poetry of peasant life6 ,men with their civilization will cut down this lime tree here1 this forest2 they will lay pavements and make houses with tall chimneys1 and they will destroy the boundless beauty of natural life40 ,on my asking him whether he had ever tried to write such a novel1 ,tolstoi said that he had done so several times long ago4 ,tolstoi said of ,grigorovich3 8,he is now old-fashioned and seems feeble1 but he is an important and remarkable writer1 and ,god grant that ,chekhov may be a tenth part as important as ,grigorovich was4 ,he belonged to the number of the best men who found an important movement4 ,he has also many artistic merits4 ,for instance1 in the beginning of his ,anton ,goremika1 when the old peasant comes home and gives his son or grandson a twig1 it is a moving incident which depicts the old peasant as well as the simplicity and artlessness of his life40 ,of ,turgenev1 ,tolstoi said3 8,he was a typical representative of the men of the 'fifties--a radical in the best sense of the word4 ,his struggle against serfdom is remarkable1 and also his love for what he describes2 for instance1 the way he describes the old man in ,old ,portraits4 ,and then there is his sensitiveness to the beauties of nature40 ,speaking of the province of criticism1 ,tolstoi said3 8,the value of criticism consists in pointing out all the good that there is in this or that work of art1 and in thus directing the opinion of the public1 whose tastes are mostly crude and the majority of whom have no feeling for beauty4 ,just as it is difficult to be a really good critic1 so it is easy for the most stupid and limited man to become a critic2 and as good critics are needed1 so bad critics are merely harmful4 ,it is a particularly absurd and cheap habit of critics to express1 in talking of other people's work1 all sorts of personal ideas which have nothing to do with the book they are criticizing4 ,this is the most useless gossip40 ,july #gth4 ,tolstoi said that all human vices can be reduced to three classes3 7#a7 anger1 malevolence2 7#b7 vanity2 and 7#c7 lust--in the widest sense of the word4 ,the last is the most powerful4 ,in the morning1 at coffee1 ,tolstoi sighed and said3 8,yes1 it is hard1 it is hard4444 ,it is hard because falsehood and arrogance prevail in the higher ranks of society1 and because there is much darkness among the people4 ,the other day two sectarians of the priestless sect came to me from ,tula3 one a young one1 evidently of little understanding1 and the other an old man1 who1 while we talked1 kept putting on his spectacles4 ,the old man turned out to be understanding1 wise1 and said many things to the point1 as though he agreed with my religious views2 and yet when ,i offered them tea they refused because they had not brought their tea things with them40 ,on the occasion of the ,boxer rising ,tolstoi said3 8,it is terrible that it should happen in such an awful way4 ,but1 although it is difficult to foresee1 yet it is to be expected that after the war a greater understanding will take place between ,europeans and the ,chinese2 and ,i think that the ,chinese are bound to have a most beneficial influence on us1 if only because of their extraordinary capacity for work and of their ability to grow more on a small plot of land and obtain better results than we do on a space a dozen times larger40 ,tolstoi compares the present state of ,europe with the end of the ,roman ,empire4 ,the ,chinese1 in his opinion1 play the part of the 8barbarians40 ,tolstoi said to-day3 8,all our actions are divided into those which have a value1 and those which have no value at all1 in the face of death4 ,if ,i were told that ,i had to die to-morrow1 ,i should not go out for a ride on horseback2 but if ,i were about to die this moment1 and ,levochka here0 7,leo ,lvovich's son1 who passed across the terrace at that moment with his nurse7 8fell and burst into tears1 ,i should run to him and pick him up4 ,we are all in the position of passengers from a ship which has reached an island4 ,we have gone on shore1 we walk about and gather shells1 but we must always remember that1 when the whistle sounds1 all the little shells will have to be thrown away and we must run to the boat40 ,sophie ,andreevna1 who was present during some of the talks1 argued all the time1 and answered ,tolstoi in a very feminine way4 ,when ,sophie ,andreevna on a walk said that a woman1 while her husband writes novels and philosophical articles1 has to bear1 to give birth to1 and to rear her children1 and how difficult all this is1 ,tolstoi became indignant and exclaimed with a bitterness that was rare in him3 8,what terrible things you are saying1 ,sonechka6 ,a woman who is annoyed at having children and does not desire them is not a woman1 but a whore60 ,in the evening we sat on the balcony3 ,tolstoi1 ,sergeenko1 and myself4 ,tolstoi wondered at the illogicality of women1 and turning to me said3 8,peter ,alexeevich and myself have a right to speak about women1 but you have none4 ,one must have a wife and daughters to do this4 ,daughters are perhaps the more important of the two4 ,daughters are the only women who are not #8women' at all to a man1 and who can be known fully from the beginning4 ,with sisters such a relation is impossible1 for one grows up side by side with them2 a certain rivalry enters into the relation1 and one cannot know one's sister1 entirely1 as a whole40 ,sergeenko asked ,tolstoi's advice as to how to educate his son sexually4 ,tolstoi said to him3 8,these questions are so dangerous that it is better that parents should not speak of them at all to their children4 ,it is only necessary to watch the influence of surroundings4 ,at times a vicious boy1 or one who is not vicious at all1 but spoilt in this sense1 can corrupt a whole circle of boys4 ,it is best of all that a growing boy should be as much as possible among young girls4 ,but there are among modern girls some that are worse than young men4 ,if a feeling of romance is felt for any girl1 this is the best protection against immorality44440 ,july #abth4 ,yesterday ,i returned home4 ,on the day of my departure during our walk ,sophie ,andreevna was talking about the sale of the ,samara estate1 which she has completed for four hundred and fifty thousand roubles 7,tolstoi originally bought the estate cheap71 and by the sale of which ,andrey1 ,michael1 and ,alexandra will get #aej1jjj roubles each4 ,this money was the topic of conversation during the last few days1 and how the sons meant to buy this or some other estate4 ,at the end of the walk ,tolstoi and myself found ourselves ahead of the others4 ,suddenly he gave a heavy sigh4 ,i asked him3 8,why do you sigh1 ,leo ,nikolaevich80 8,if you knew how painful it is to me to hear it all6 ,i have it always on my conscience that ,i1 with my wish to renounce property1 once bought estates4 ,it is funny to think that it seems now as if ,i had wished to make provision for my children1 and in doing so ,i did them the greatest injury4 ,look at my ,andryusha4 ,he is completely incapable of doing anything1 and lives on the people whom ,i once robbed and whom my children keep on robbing4 ,how terrible it is to listen to all this talk now1 to watch it all going on6 ,it is so opposed to my ideas and desires and to everything ,i live by4444 ,oh6 that they would spare me64440 ,tolstoi was silent for a time1 and then said3 8,why did ,i suddenly begin complaining80 ,at that moment ,tatyana ,lvovna came up1 and our conversation turned on other subjects4 ,tolstoi talked about poetry4 8,when a poem deals with love1 flowers1 etc41 it is a comparatively innocent occupation until the age of sixteen4 ,but to express in verse an important and serious idea without distorting the idea is almost impossible4 ,how very difficult it is to express one's thoughts by words only1 so that every one understands just what you want to express6 ,how much more difficult1 then1 it is when the writer is bound by metre and rhyme6 ,only the very great poets have succeeded in doing it1 and rarely too4 ,perfectly false ideas are often hidden behind verses40 ,an undergraduate who had written an article upon ,tolstoi in reply to ,nordau's criticism came1 and turned out to be a foolish young man4 ,tolstoi had been unwell for the last few days and in a bad temper1 so that he came to us quite upset and said3 8,no1 it is time1 it is time for me to die6 ,they stick to some single idea1 which they arbitrarily choose from the rest1 and go on and on repeating3 ,non-resistance6 non-resistance6 ,how am ,i to blame for it80 ,sophie ,andreevna said to me3 8,the private life of famous men is always distorted in their biographies4 ,they are sure to make me out a ,xantippe4 ,you must take my side1 ,alexander ,borisovich60 444 ,during our walk ,sophie ,andreevna showed me the spot which is called 8the apiary10 and said3 8,there actually was an apiary here once4 ,leo ,n4 was at one time mad about bees1 and used to spend whole days in the apiary4 ,we often drove here1 taking a samovar and having tea here4 ,once ,fet came here1 and we went to join ,leo ,n4 at the apiary4 ,it was a wonderful evening2 we sat here for a long time2 and there were many glow-worms in the grass4 ,leo ,n4 said to me3 #8,now1 ,sonia1 you always wanted emerald earrings2 take two glow-worms for earrings4' ,thereupon ,fet wrote a poem in which were these lines3 ,in my hand is thy hand--what a marvel6 ,on the ground are two glow-worms1 two emeralds40 ,at another point ,sophie ,andreevna showed me the field where ,tolstoi and ,turgenev once stood when shooting1 and she was with them4 ,sophie ,andreevna said3 8,it was the last time ,turgenev stayed at ,yasnaya1 not long before his death4 ,i asked him3 #8,ivan ,sergeevich1 why don't you write now8' ,he answered3 #8,in order to write ,i had always to be a little in love4 ,now ,i am old1 ,i can't fall in love any more1 and that is why ,i have stopped writing4'0 ,december #bgth4 ,last night ,i was at the ,tolstois'4 ,there were ,tolstoi1 ,ilya1 and ,andrey 7,tolstoi's sons74 ,a message arrived that ,tatyana ,lvovna had given birth prematurely to a stillborn child2 a day before1 news reached ,yasnaya ,polyana that the son of ,leo ,lvovich1 a boy of about two1 was dead4 ,sophie ,andreevna left for ,yasnaya4 ,there was an atmosphere of depression4 ,tolstoi played chess with me4 ,later ,p4 ,s4 ,usov came1 who also played a game of chess with ,tolstoi4 ,we began to talk4 ,tolstoi became animated4 ,the post arrived4 ,there were three letters from ,chertkov4 ,in one of them there were many pages of closely written manuscript4 ,tolstoi glanced at it and said3 8,it is probably a woman's writing4 ,how nice it would be if one need not read it60 ,the manuscript1 however1 turned out not to be from a woman1 so that ,tolstoi put it aside to read it4 ,referring to his daughter's misfortune1 ,tolstoi said3 8,i am not sorry that my daughters have no children2 ,i cannot be glad that ,i have grandchildren4 ,i know that they will inevitably grow up to be idlers4 ,my daughters are certainly anxious that this should not be so1 but considering the surroundings in which they will have to be brought up1 it is very difficult to avoid it4 ,all my life long ,i have had these surroundings1 and1 however much ,i struggle1 ,i can do nothing4 ,now1 during the ,christmas season ,i can't bear to look at this mad extravagance2 these visits4 ,what a terrible absurdity it is60 ,usov was saying in what circumstances a doctor has the right to bring on birth artificially1 thereby killing the baby4 ,tolstoi replied3 8,it is always immoral4 ,for the most part1 when there are various ways of relieving the patient1 oxygen1 etc41 it is difficult to abstain from using them2 but it would be better if they did not exist4 ,we shall all die without fail1 and the doctors' activity is directed towards fighting death4 ,but to die--in ten days or in ten years--is all the same4 ,how terrible it is that it is always concealed from the patient that he is dying6 ,we are none of us accustomed to look death in the face60 ,usov defended the activity of doctors1 considering it a useful one4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is for this reason that ,i consider the activity of doctors harmful3 people are crowded in towns2 they are infected with syphilis and consumption2 they are kept in terrible conditions1 and then millions are spent on the establishment of hospitals and clinics4 ,but why not spend that energy1 not in curing people1 but in improving the conditions of their lives8 ,while numbers of healthy1 useful peasants are infected with all sorts of diseases1 and are worn out by work beyond their strength1 so that they die at thirty instead of seventy1 some useless old woman who is quite incurable has spent upon her all the treatment that medicine can supply4 8,all modern sciences do the very opposite of what they set out to do4 ,theology hides moral truths1 jurisprudence obscures in every possible way the conception of justice1 the natural sciences teach materialism1 and history distorts the true life of the people4 ,darwin's theory is in agreement with the crude fable of ,moses4 ,all discussions on ,darwinism are polemics against ,moses4 8,every young man growing up in ,russia passes through a terrible contagion1 a sort of moral syphilis2 in the first place1 the ,orthodox ,church1 and then1 when he frees himself from that1 the doctrines of materialism4 ,the best physiologists1 like ,krafft-,ebing or ,claude ,bernard1 openly admit that1 however carefully we investigate even a simple cell1 there is always some x in its composition which we do not understand4 ,consequently the complex of organisms and the social conditions of life are an x raised to the x degree4 ,and if we cannot investigate a cell completely1 then how can we realize the laws which govern the life of human societies8 ,yet some blockhead like ,b4 assures us that it is all very simple1 and the science of history can deduce immutable laws by which human life is shaped4 8,look at all our historians3 what dull1 stupid men they are6 ,for instance1 ,solovev4 ,he was an incredibly dull man4 ,and when some one gifted appears among them--a ,granovsky1 ,kostomarov1 ,kudryavzev--and you ask1 #8,what after all have they done8' it turns out that they have done nothing of any importance or value4 ,take ,kluchevsky1 for instance3 what has he done8 ,he talks brilliantly1 toys with the liberal point of view about ,catherine the ,great1 and says that she was a whore--well1 we knew that without him4 ,or take the man who dances the mazurka in the ,moscovskya ,vedomsti1 ,ilovaisky--he is an historian too6 8,what should be taught at school8 ,long ago1 when ,i was interested in education1 ,i came to the conclusion that school teaching ought to consist of two branches only1 of languages and mathematics4 ,this is the only positive knowledge that one can give a pupil4 ,there is no humbug about this4 ,either you know it or you don't know it4 ,besides1 from this fundamental knowledge all science can develop4 ,from mathematics come astronomy1 physics1 natural sciences4 ,from languages1 history1 geography1 and so on4 ,but with us1 who is taught and what are they taught8 ,to-day ,i walked in the street4 ,drunken men were going about1 swearing obscenely1 dragging women after them4 ,who has ever said a single word to these men about their moral needs8 ,what did we teach them8 8,the other evening ,i was coming home from the ,turkish bath and walked near the theatres4 ,policemen on horseback were lounging about2 coachmen with buttocks like this0 7,tolstoi illustrated it with his hands7 8and rows of buttons on their backs sit on the boxes4 ,and in the illuminated theatres1 crowded with people1 a divine service is performed3 a silly and distorted story ,sadko 7an opera7 is acted1 or #8,when we dead awaken' is played4 ,it's sheer madness60 #aija ,moscow1 ,february #ast4 ,tolstoi began about a couple of months ago to learn ,dutch1 and now he reads quite easily1 at the age of seventy-three6 ,he has an original way of learning languages3 he gets the ,new ,testament in the language he wants to know1 and whilst reading it through he learns the language4 ,tolstoi said to me recently about modern art3 8,the sense of shame is lost4 ,i cannot call it anything else--the sense of sthetic shame4 ,i wonder if you know the feeling8 ,i feel it most strongly when ,i read something that is artistically false1 and ,i can call it nothing else but shame40 ,with regard to his play1 ,the ,corpse1 ,tolstoi said to me3 8,the son of the wife of the man ,i described came to me1 and then the man himself4 ,the son on behalf of his mother asked me not to publish the play1#a because it would be very painful to her1 and also because she was afraid of the consequences4 ,i of course promised4 8,their visit was very interesting and useful to me4 ,once more1 as so many times before1 ,i was convinced how much feebler and more unreal are the psychological motives which one invents oneself in order to explain actions4 ,the actions of one's imaginary characters are then the motives which guided those people in real life4 ,after talking to these people ,i cooled to my work40 ,on another occasion1 in the dining-room downstairs1 animated conversation was going on among the younger people4 ,tolstoi1 who was resting in the next room in the dark1 afterwards came into the dining-room and said to me3 8,i lay there and listened to your talk4 ,it interested me from two points of view3 it was interesting simply to hear young people talking1 and then it was also interesting from the dramatic point of view4 ,i listened and said to myself3 ,this is how one ought to write for the stage4 ,it is not one speaking and the others listening4 ,it is never like that4 ,it is necessary that all should speak1 and the art of the writer consists in making what he wants run through it like a beautiful thread40 ,march #hth4 ,yesterday ,tolstoi was in good form4 ,at tea he laughed and joked4 ,the conversation was about luxury4 ,tolstoi said3 8,how much more money people spend nowadays than they used6 ,when ,sophie ,andreevna and ,i lived in ,yasnaya1 our income from the ,nikolsky estate was about five thousand roubles and we lived superbly4 ,i remember when ,sophie ,andreevna bought little mats to lay by the beds1 it seemed to me a useless and incredible luxury4 ,and now my sons--,i seem to have about twenty of them--squander money right and left1 buy dogs1 horses1 gramophones4 ,i asked myself then1 why buy carpets when we have slippers8 ,certainly we did not go barefoot1 but1 behold1 ,riepin painted me dcollet1 barefooted1 in a shirt6 ,i have to thank him for not having taken off my nether garments6 ,and he never asked me1 if ,i liked it6 ,but ,i have long since got used to being treated as if ,i were dead4 ,there1 in the ,peredvizhni exhibition1 you will see the ,devil 7,riepin's #8,temptation of ,christ'71 and you'll also see the man possessed by the ,devil60 ,on ,february #beth ,tolstoi's excommunication was announced4 ,that day ,tolstoi and ,a4 ,n4 ,dunaev went on some business to a doctor and came into the ,lubiansky ,square4 ,in the square1 by the fountain1 the crowd recognized ,tolstoi4 ,at first1 as ,dunaev relates1 an ironical voice was heard3 8,here's the ,devil in the likeness of a man60 ,this served for a signal4 ,the crowd threw themselves like one man on ,tolstoi4 ,all shouted and threw up their hats4 ,tolstoi was confused2 he didn't know what to do and walked away almost at a run4 ,the crowd followed him4 ,with great difficulty ,tolstoi and ,dunaev managed to get a sledge at the corner of ,neglinny4 ,the crowd wanted to stop the cabman and many held on to the sledge4 ,at that moment a troop of mounted police appeared1 let the cab through1 and immediately made a ring and cut off the crowd4 ,on the occasion of his excommunication ,tolstoi received1 and is still receiving1 a number of addresses1 letters of sympathy1 etc4 ,one lady sent him a piece of holy bread and a letter in which she said that she had just received the ,sacrament and took the ,host for his benefit4 ,she ends her letter3 8,eat it in health and pay no heed to these stupid priests40 ,august #ith4 ,i was the other day in ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,tolstoi is hale and hearty4 ,i have not seen him like that for a long time4 ,the conversation was about ,russian writers4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i was fond of ,turgenev as a man4 ,as a writer1 ,i do not attribute particular importance to him or to ,goncharov4 ,their subjects1 the number of ordinary characters and love scenes1 have too ephemeral an importance4 ,if ,i were asked which of the ,russian writers ,i consider the most important1 ,i would say3 ,pushkin1 ,lermontov1 ,gogol1 ,hertzen1 whom our ,liberals have forgotten1 and ,dostoevsky1 whom they do not read at all4 ,well1 and then3 ,griboedov1 ,ostrovsky1 ,tyutchev40 ,of ,gogol's works ,tolstoi does not like ,taras ,bulba at all4 ,he far prefers ,the ,revisor 7,inspector ,general71 ,dead ,souls1 ,shinel1 ,koliaska 78it's a masterpiece in miniature071 ,nevsky ,prospect4 ,of ,pushkin's works1 he considers ,boris ,godunov a failure4 ,it is characteristic that in making his selection ,tolstoi said3 8,i do not speak of myself2 it's not for me1 but for others1 to judge of my importance40 ,that evening in his study ,tolstoi said to me3 8,alexander ,borisovich1 an image comes before me4 ,rays spread out from a centre4 ,the centre is the spiritual essence2 the rays are the perpetually growing needs of the body4 ,a time comes when a spiritual life begins to exist inside these rays4 ,they spread out at an ever diminishing angle1 become parallel1 and at last draw together and finally unite in the one infinitely small and entirely spiritual centre--death40 ,gaspra1 ,crimea1 ,september #abth4 ,chekhov was here yesterday4 ,he does not look well2 he looks old and coughs perpetually4 ,he speaks little1 in short sentences1 but they are always to the point4 ,he gave a touching account of his life with his mother in the winter at ,yalta4 ,tolstoi was very glad to see him4 ,gaspra1 ,crimea1 ,september #afth4 ,life here goes on very quietly4 ,after dinner ,i or ,n4 ,l4 ,obolensky1 or both in turn1 read ,chekhov's stories aloud1 which ,tolstoi greatly enjoys4 ,the other day ,i read ,the ,tedious ,story4 ,tolstoi was in constant raptures over ,chekhov's understanding4 ,he also liked1 for the originality of the idea and the mastery of the writing1 ,the ,bet1 and particularly ,the ,steppe4 ,of ,chekhov ,tolstoi said3 8,he is a strange writer3 he throws words about as if at random1 and yet everything is alive4 ,and what understanding6 ,he never has any superfluous details2 every one of them is either necessary or beautiful40 ,september #bjth4 ,i told ,tolstoi about the article in the ,moscow ,courier where ,maeterlinck's is quoted as saying that ,power of ,darkness is in his opinion almost the greatest play4 ,tolstoi laughed and said3 8,why doesn't he imitate it1 then80 ,,footnote3 #a ,the theme of ,the ,corpse became known to the newspapers through ,tolstoi's copyist1 ,alexander ,petrovich1 who1 in a drunken bout in the ,khitrovka1 told a fellow drunkard1 a reporter of the ,novosti ,dnya1 that ,tolstoi was writing a play1 and also told him the subject of the play4 ,the reporter made an article of it and published it in the paper4 ,this was the cause of the dramatis personae coming to ,tolstoi1 and it was also one of the reasons why ,tolstoi left the play unfinished4 7,years afterwards the play1 finished1 was published and entitled ,the ,living ,corpse47 #aijb ,moscow1 ,january #acth4 ,tolstoi once told me3 8,when ,i went to see ,power of ,darkness acted ,i sat in the gallery on purpose so as not to be recognized4 ,yet ,i was recognized2 they began to tell me to go on the stage1 and ,i hurried home at once4 ,but there was a moment when ,i could hardly restrain myself from stepping on to the stage and beginning to speak1 to say everything--whatever that may be40 ,january #aeth4 ,gorky read aloud to ,tolstoi the end of ,mazzini's book ,on the ,duties of ,man1 which ,tolstoi likes very much4 ,while ,gorky was reading1 ,tolstoi1 who had read the book more than once1 was almost moved to tears4 ,madame ,n4 ,n4 ,den told me the following story1 which she had from her sister4 ,when ,tolstoi was very ill he thought he was dying1 and took leave and said good-bye to all who were present4 ,leo ,lvovich was the only one of ,tolstoi's children who was absent1 and ,tolstoi dictated a letter to him4 ,those who read it say that this farewell letter at the point of death was deeply moving4 ,the letter1 however1 was not sent1 for ,leo ,lvovich arrived at ,gaspra in person4 ,when he came into ,tolstoi's room1 ,tolstoi said that it was difficult for him to speak1 but that he had expressed all his thoughts and feelings in the letter1 which he handed to his son4 ,leo ,lvovich read the letter at once in ,tolstoi's room1 then came into the next room1 and1 in the presence of all those who were there 7,countess ,sophie ,nicolaevna included71 tore his dying father's letter into little bits and threw it in the wastepaper basket4444 ,yasnaya ,polyana1 ,july #beth4 ,i have been here a few days4 ,tolstoi is well physically4 ,to-day ,tolstoi said to ,doctor ,butkevich3 8,the only true way for a man to improve human life is by the way of moral perfection in his personal life4 ,spiritual life is a constant progress1 a constant effort towards the realization of truth40 ,the conversation turned upon literature4 ,it began with my saying that ,sienkewicz's novel1 ,the ,sword ,bearers1 was a boring book4 ,tolstoi said3 8,yes1 for some reason ,i began it1 but ,i could not read it4 ,do you remember how1 when one is a child1 one sometimes gets a piece of meat which one chews and chews and chews1 and one can't deal with it1 and at last one quietly spits it out and throws it under the table40 ,then ,tolstoi remembered ,b4's story which he read recently3 8,it begins with a superb description of nature--a little shower1 which is done as ,turgenev even could not do it1 let alone myself4 ,and then there is a girl4 ,she dreams of him0 7,tolstoi shortly told the plot of the story71 8and all this--the girl's silly emotion1 the little shower--all this is needed1 in order that ,b4 may write a story4 ,just as in ordinary life1 when people have nothing to say they talk about the weather1 so writers1 when they have nothing to write about1 write about the weather1 and it is time to put an end to it4 ,yes1 there was a little shower2 there might just as well have been no shower at all4 ,i think that all this must come to an end in literature4 ,it is simply impossible to read any longer4 8,i once belonged to the guild of authors1 and from habit ,i watch and am interested in everything that goes on there40 ,tolstoi quoted a few instances of misstatements and inaccuracies in writers like ,uspensky and ,korolenko1 but said that these were only slips4 ,but when psychological mistakes are made1 when the characters in novels and stories do what1 from their spiritual nature1 they cannot do1 it is a terrible failing1 and the works of the ,andreevs1 etc41 are full of such mistakes4 ,even in ,gorky it is always happening4 ,for instance1 it is the case in his story about the silver clasps1 or in the opinions of the women in ,three4 ,his ,burghers is utterly uninteresting4 ,the surroundings are indefinite1 untypical2 nobody can make anything of it at all4 8,i am always afraid of falling into the old man's habit of being unable to appreciate or to understand the present4 ,but ,i try my best and genuinely can find no beauty in the modern tendencies of art4 ,there has recently appeared a very just article by ,e4 ,markov on ,gorky4 ,the writer1 rather timidly--for ,gorky has become such an idol that people dare not speak of him--has pointed out correctly that modern ,russian literature has completely turned away from those high moral problems which it formerly pursued4 ,and indeed what a complete denial of moral principles there is6 ,you may be vicious1 you may rob or kill2 there is nothing to restrain the individual2 all is allowed4444 8,but still ,i am impressed by the fact that ,gorky is translated in ,europe and greatly read there4 ,undoubtedly there is something new in him4 ,his chief merit is that he was the first to draw the world of outcasts and tramps from the life1 which until then no one had attempted4 ,in this respect he did what ,turgenev and ,grigorovich did in their day for the world of peasants4 8,i love ,chekhov very much and value his writings1 but ,i could not make myself read his play1 ,the ,three ,sisters4 ,what is it all for8 ,generally speaking1 modern writers have lost the conception of drama4 ,drama1 instead of telling us the whole of a man's life1 must place him in such a situation1 tie such a knot1 that1 when it is untied1 the whole man is made visible4 ,now1 ,i allowed myself to criticize ,shakespeare4 ,but with him every character is alive2 and it is always clear why he acts as he does4 ,in ,shakespeare's theatre there were boards with inscriptions #8moonlight1' #8a house1' because 7,heaven be praised67 the whole attention was concentrated on the substance of the drama4 ,now it is just the opposite40 ,tolstoi spoke with disgust of ,andreev's ,abyss1 and said3 8,with regard to ,leonid ,andreev1 ,i always remember a story by ,ginzburg about a boy who cannot pronounce the letter #8r' and says to his friend3 #8,i went for a walk and suddenly ,i see a wolf4444 ,are you fwightened8 ,are you fwightened8' 8,so ,andreev also keeps on asking me3 #8,are you fwightened8' and ,i am not in the least frightened40 ,yesterday the conversation was about the ,hertzen1 ,bakunin1 and ,belinsky circle4 ,tolstoi said3 8,the most characteristic thing about that circle was a kind of epicureanism1 or at least the denial of1 the complete failure to understand1 a religious conception of the world4 ,doctor ,nikitin1 for instance1 was surprised that ,i did not think ,gogol mad4 ,they thought him mad1 because he believed in ,god4 ,and they could not even understand what was going on in his soul40 ,tolstoi spoke very disapprovingly of ,belinsky's famous letter to ,gogol4 ,doctor ,butkevich asked ,tolstoi if he had read ,maeterlinck's new play1 ,monna ,vanna4 ,tolstoi replied3 8,why should ,i8 ,have ,i committed a crime80 ,some one observed that common people are very seldom interested by ,power of ,darkness4 ,tolstoi said3 8,to interest the people one must write more simply and much more shortly1 as ,sophie ,andreevna paints2 everything in profile and everything on the plane1 and yet no other pictures are enjoyed so much by children4 ,in the same way1 form must be simple and primitive if it is to be enjoyed by the people40 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,i have been thinking a great deal about it lately4 ,there are two kinds of art1 and both are equally needed--one simply gives pleasure and comfort to people1 the other teaches them40 ,yesterday ,tolstoi criticized the scientists 7he mentioned ,mechnikov7 for their denial and misunderstanding of a religious conception of the world4 ,some one mentioned the new ,russian ,university in ,paris4 ,tolstoi is sceptical about it and said3 8,some seventy young women come and listen to the professors who teach them40 ,mme4 ,stakhovich said something about the harm that is done to the girl students1 but ,tolstoi said3 8,well1 they are bad enough already without that40 ,july #bhth4 ,the other day we walked in the woods4 ,tolstoi sat down on his camp stool1 which was given him by ,n4 ,he sighed and said3 8,yes1 poor fellow60 ,then he turned to ,marie ,lvovna and asked3 8,masha1 who's the poor fellow80 8,i do not know1 papa40 8,buddha4 ,n4 bespattered ,socrates1 and now he is going to do the same to ,buddha40 ,yesterday ,tolstoi was showing us a portrait group of the ,tolstoi brothers1 and1 pointing to his brother ,nicolay1 said3 8,he was my beloved brother4 ,he was the man of whom ,turgenev justly said that he had not a single one of the faults which one must have in order to be a writer4 ,and ,i1 although it is wrong of me1 must say of my son ,leo1 that he1 on the contrary1 has all these faults1 but none of the gifts1 which are needed for a writer40 ,ilya ,lvovich said to ,mme4 ,stakhovich that a writer must himself experience everything in order to tell it to others4 ,tolstoi replied3 8,mere technique is sometimes enough to describe what he has experienced4 ,a real writer1 as ,goethe justly observed1 must be able to describe everything4 ,and ,i must say that1 although ,i am not very fond of ,goethe1 he could do it40 ,to-day ,tolstoi was enthusiastic about ,mozart's operas1 particularly about ,don ,juan4 ,together with the extraordinary richness of its melody1 he rates very high its power to give in music the reflection of characters and situations4 ,tolstoi recalled the statue of the commander1 the village scene1 and especially the duel4 ,he said3 8,i hear there a presentiment1 as it were1 of the tragic dnouement1 together with the excitement and even the romance of the duel40 444 ,then ,tolstoi turned the conversation to the importance and province of form in art3 8,i think that every great artist necessarily creates his own form also4 ,if the content of works of art can be infinitely varied1 so also can their form4 ,once ,turgenev and ,i came back from the theatre in ,paris and discussed this4 ,he completely agreed with me4 ,we recalled all that is best in ,russian literature and it seemed that in these works the form was perfectly original4 ,omitting ,pushkin1 let us take ,gogol's ,dead ,souls4 ,what is it8 ,neither a novel nor a story4 ,it is a something perfectly original4 ,then there is the ,memoirs of a ,sportsman1 the best book ,turgenev ever wrote2 then ,dostoevsky's ,house of the ,dead1 and then1 sinner that ,i am1 my ,childhood2 ,hertzen's ,past and ,thoughts2 ,lermontov's ,hero of our ,time44440 ,august #ast4 ,tolstoi talked with ,marie ,alexandrovna ,schmidt in my presence about a certain ,khokhlov who went mad4 ,tolstoi told me his story briefly1 and then said3 8,what a riddle insanity is6 ,what is he--alive or dead80 ,i said that insanity is not a greater riddle than sanity4 ,the mystery is how the personality which lives in me manifests itself through the brain4 ,but if ,i admit that the first cause is not in my brain1 but outside it1 and the brain is only a means by which my personality is shown1 then it is for me no fresh mystery that that personality of mine cannot be manifested when the machine of the brain is disordered4 ,tolstoi said3 8,yes1 it is all a mystery6 ,let us take a child4 ,when it is born1 has it conscious life8 ,when does consciousness begin in a child8 ,and what is it when it moves in its mother's womb8 ,to me life is a ceaseless liberation of the #8,i' of the spirit4 ,recently ,n4 ,n4 came to me and asked me whether ,i believe in a future life8 ,but to me there is a contradiction contained in the question4 ,what does #8future life' mean8 ,one may believe in life1 but for eternal life our conception #8future' is quite inapplicable4 8,but if we speak of life as we can realize it1 as life after our present life1 then it seems to me that it can be conceived only in two possible forms3 either as a fusion with the eternal spiritual principle1 with ,god1 or as a continuation1 in a different form1 of the same process of liberation of the spiritual #8,i' from what is called matter4 8,it may be accidental1 but it is remarkable that ,christ said to the ,pharisees3 #8,before ,abraham was1 ,i am4'0 ,i came into the dining-room while ,tolstoi was talking with ,k4 ,a4 ,mikhailov about art3 8,among the sensations experienced by our senses of touch1 sight1 hearing1 etc41 there are some which are unpleasant and painful--for instance1 a violent knock1 a deafening noise1 a bitter taste1 etc4 ,now modern art often works upon us not so much by means of its content1 as by irritating our organs of sensation1 painfully4 ,as regards taste1 an unhealthy taste needs mustard1 whilst it produces an unpleasant impression upon a pure taste4 ,so it is in the arts4 ,it is necessary to draw a dividing line and to find where that artistic mustard begins1 and ,i think it is a problem of enormous importance4 ,in painting1 it seems to me1 it is particularly difficult to draw that line40 ,tolstoi said to ,count ,yashvil3 8,i have been learning all my life and do not cease to learn1 and this is what ,i have noticed3 learning is only fruitful when it corresponds to one's needs4 ,otherwise it is useless4 ,i remember ,i was a ,justice of the ,peace2 ,i used to take the laws and tried to study them1 but ,i could not fix anything in my mind4 ,but whenever for some particular case1 ,i needed certain legal knowledge1 ,i always kept it in my mind and could use it in practice40 ,the conversation turned on our government4 ,count ,yashvil began giving instances to prove how bad it is in ,europe4 ,to this ,tolstoi replied even with some irritation3 8,what right have we to condemn anything in the ,west1 when we are still so far behind them8 ,our government is so abominable that we have no right at all to condemn any one4 ,we are without the possibility of satisfying the most elementary needs of every man3 to read1 write1 think what and how one wishes40 ,tolstoi was now writing ,hadji-,murat1 and he said3 8,i remember how a long time ago some one gave me a travelling candlestick for a present4 ,when ,i showed the candlestick to our ,yasnaya ,polyana carpenter1 he looked at it1 looked again1 and then sighed and said3 #8,it is crude stuff6' ,the same applies to my present work3 it is crude stuff60 ,yasnaya ,polyana1 ,august #cjth4 ,i have been here now for three days4 ,tolstoi talked with ,ilya ,lvovich and some one else about farming and about the new machine called 8,the ,planet40 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is surprising how few technical inventions and improvements have been made in agriculture1 compared with what has been done in industry40 ,afterwards ,tolstoi said3 8,ruskin says how much more valuable human lives are than any improvements and mechanical progress40 ,then ,tolstoi added3 8,it is difficult to argue with ,ruskin3 he by himself has more understanding than the whole ,house of ,commons40 ,tolstoi went for a walk1 and ,i fetched him his overcoat4 ,i met him on the road4 ,we walked home together and walked through the fields4 ,tolstoi looked at the bad harvest and said3 8,my farmer's eye is exasperated3 ,god alone knows how they sowed60 ,when we reached the boundary of the ,yasnaya ,polyana forest1 we heard the loud voices of children1 and soon we saw a motley crowd of village boys discussing something4 ,they noticed ,tolstoi and began urging one another to go up to him--then they felt shy and hid themselves4 ,tolstoi became interested in them and beckoned to them4 ,they began to approach1 at first timidly and one by one1 but gradually all came together4 ,i particularly remember one of them dressed in grey calico striped trousers1 in a ragged cap and shirt1 with huge heavy boots1 probably belonging to his father4 ,tolstoi showed them his camp stool1 which was a great success4 ,he asked them what they were doing there4 ,it appeared they had been picking pears and the watchman ran after them4 ,tolstoi walked with them4 ,on the way he enquired about their parents4 ,one boy turned out to be the son of ,taras ,fokanich4 ,tolstoi said to me3 8,he was one of my very best pupils4 ,what a happy time that was6 ,how ,i loved that work6 ,and1 above all1 there was nobody in my way4 ,now my fame is always in my way3 whatever ,i do1 it is all talked about4 ,but at that time nobody knew or interfered1 neither strangers nor my family--though1 there was no family then40 ,when we reached the spot ,tolstoi told the children to gather the pears4 ,they climbed the trees1 some knocking down the pears1 others shaking them down1 others again picking them up4 ,there was a hubbub1 a happy noise of children2 and the figure of the good old ,tolstoi lovingly protecting the children from the attack of the watchman moved one to tears4 ,then two or three peasants came to ask his advice on some legal point4 ,tolstoi1 ,nikitin1 and ,i talked of ,dostoevsky4 ,tolstoi said3 8,certain characters of his are1 if you like1 decadent1 but how significant it all is60 ,tolstoi mentioned ,kirilov in ,the ,possessed1 and said3 8,dostoevsky was seeking for a belief1 and1 when he described profoundly sceptical characters1 he described his own unbelief40 ,of ,dostoevsky's attitude to 8,liberalism0 ,tolstoi observed3 8,dostoevsky1 who suffered in person from the ,government1 was revolted by the banality of ,liberalism40 ,tolstoi said3 8,during the sixty years of my conscious life a great change has come over us in ,russia--,i am speaking of the so-called educated society--with regard to religious questions3 religious convictions were differentiated2 it is a bad word1 but ,i don't know how to express it differently4 ,in my youth there were three1 or rather four1 categories into which society in this respect could be divided4 ,the first was a very small group of very religious people1 who had been freemasons previously1 or sometimes monks4 ,the second1 about #gj per cent of the whole1 consisted of people who from habit observed church rituals1 but in their souls were perfectly indifferent to religious problems4 ,the third group consisted of unbelievers who observed the conventions in cases of necessity2 and1 finally1 there were the ,voltairians1 unbelievers who openly and courageously expressed their unbelief4 ,the latter were few in number--about #b or #c per cent4 ,now one has no idea whom one is going to meet4 ,one finds the most contrary convictions existing side by side4 ,recently there have appeared the latest decadents of orthodoxy1 the orthodox churchmen like ,merezhkovsky and ,rosanov4 8,many people were attracted to orthodoxy through ,khomyakov's definition of the ,orthodox ,church1 as a congregation of people united by love4 ,what could be better than that8 ,but the point is that it is merely the arbitrary substitution of one conception for another4 ,why is the ,orthodox ,church such a congregation of love-united people8 ,it is the contrary rather40 #aijc ,march #bast4 ,last week ,i went for a day to ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,i found ,tolstoi well and cheerful4 ,tolstoi is always much interested in the question of man's spiritual state during sleep4 ,he told me this time3 8,in a dream one cries1 or is happy or excited1 and1 when one wakes up and remembers the dream1 one does not understand what made one cry or be happy or excited4 ,i explain it to myself in this way3 ,apart from the happiness1 excitement1 or bitterness which are caused by definite events1 there are also states of happiness1 excitement1 ecstasy1 and grief4 ,in such states an insignificant event is often sufficient to throw us into ecstasy1 excitement1 etc4 ,in a dream1 when one's consciousness does not act so consistently and logically1 this state is expressed by the corresponding sensation which has often no external cause4 ,for instance1 in a dream one often feels utterly ashamed1 and when one wakes up and sees that one's trousers are quietly hanging over a chair1 one feels an extraordinary joy4 ,that is why ,i so much love #8,popov's ,dream4'#b ,it gives a wonderful account of that sensation of shame in a dream1 and1 besides1 all the characters are magnificently described4 ,in spite of its comic nature1 it is a real work of art40 ,june #ast4 ,i returned from ,yasnaya ,polyana1 where ,i spent a day4 ,tolstoi is planning a work of a philosophical nature1 which he is greatly excited about at present4 ,speaking of it1 ,tolstoi said to me3 8,everything in the world is alive4 ,everything that seems to us dead seems so only because it is either too large or1 on the contrary1 too small4 ,we do not see microbes1 and heavenly bodies seem dead to us1 for the same reason that we seem dead to an ant4 ,the earth is undoubtedly alive1 and a stone on the earth is the same as a nail on a finger4 ,the materialists make matter the basis of life4 ,all these theories of the origin of species1 of protoplasm1 of atoms1 are all of value in so far as they help us to know the laws governing the visible world4 ,but it must not be forgotten that all these1 including ether1 are working hypotheses1 and nothing else4 ,astronomers in their calculations assume that the earth is a motionless body1 and only afterwards correct the mistake4 ,materialists too make false premises1 but they do not observe the fact that this is so1 but let them pass as basic truths4 8,true life exists where the living being is conscious of itself as an indivisible #8,i1' in whom all impressions1 feelings1 etc41 become one4 ,so long as the #8,i' struggles1 as nearly the whole animal world does1 merely to crush the other creatures known to him1 in order to attain his own temporary advantage1 true spiritual life which is without time and space remains unexpressed and imprisoned4 ,true spiritual life is liberated when a man neither rejoices in his own happiness1 nor suffers from his own suffering1 but suffers and rejoices with the worries and pleasures of others and is fused with them into a common life4 8,of the life to come1 although of course the words #8to come' are inappropriate here1 of life beyond our physical being1 it is impossible to have knowledge4 ,we can imagine two forms only3 either a new form of the individual life1 or a fusion of personal life in the life of the whole4 ,the former seems to us more comprehensible and more likely1 since we only know our individual life and we can more easily accept the idea of the same life in a different form40 ,july #adth4 ,in the beginning of ,july my wife and ,i spent two days in ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,on the occasion of ,mme4 ,kolokoltsev's#c suicide ,tolstoi said to me3 8,i can't understand why people look upon suicide as a crime4 ,it seems to me to be man's right4 ,it gives a man the chance of dying when he no longer wishes to live4 ,the ,stoics thought like that40 ,as ,mme4 ,kolokoltsev was insane1 the conversation turned on insanity4 ,i said1 as ,i had done previously1 that the spiritual life of the so-called insane remains unchanged4 ,all that happens is that a mad person cannot make his personality felt4 ,tolstoi agreed with me4 ,next day he said to me3 8,yesterday's conversation on insanity was of great interest to me4 ,i have been thinking a great deal about it4 ,there are two consciousnesses in us3 one--the animal2 the other--the spiritual4 ,the spiritual is not always shown in us1 but it is this that makes our true spiritual life1 which is not subject to time4 ,i do not know how it is with you who are comparatively young1 but with me there are times in my long life which are clearly preserved in my memory1 and other times which have completely disappeared1 they no longer exist4 ,the moments which remain are most frequently the moments when the spirit in me awoke4 ,it often happens at a time when one has done something wrong1 and suddenly one wakes up1 realizes that it is bad1 and feels the spirit in one with special force4 ,spiritual life is a recollection4 ,a recollection is not the past1 it is always the present4 ,it is our spirit1 which shows itself more or less clearly1 that contains the progress of man's temporary existence4 ,there can be no progress for the spirit1 for it is not in time4 ,what the life in time is for1 we do not know2 it is only a transitory phenomenon4 ,speaking metaphorically1 ,i see this manifestation of the spirit in us as the breathing of ,god4 8,there is a beautiful story about the unreality of time in ,the ,arabian ,nights4 ,some one was put into a bath2 he dipped his head in the water and saw a long history with most complicated adventures2 and then when he raised his head from the water1 it turned out that he had only dipped his head in once60 ,tolstoi was talking about ,fedorov and ,peterson1 particularly about ,fedorov3 8,they belonged to the sect which believes in the resurrection of the dead here on earth4 ,their idea is that people must try to resurrect all those who have died in the past4 ,they believe that by hard work for centuries mankind will achieve it4 ,for this purpose one must study all things of antiquity and restore them4 ,fedorov was librarian to the ,rumyantsev ,museum and was a passionate collector of all old things3 portraits1 objects1 etc4 ,mankind must cease to multiply and everything will be resurrected4 ,that is their ideal4 ,it turns out that ,vladimir ,solovev and ,dostoevsky to some extent--there is a letter to this effect--believed in this idea4 8,fedorov1 ,i think1 is still alive4 ,he must be over eighty4 ,all his life he has lived as an ascetic4 ,when ,i once visited him in the spring and saw his thin overcoat1 ,i asked him3 #8,do you wear a thin overcoat already8' and he replied3 #8,christ said1 if you have two cloaks1 give them to him who has none1 and ,i have two overcoats4' ,and after that he always wore only a thin coat4 ,he received a very small salary1 ate very1 very little1 slept almost on the bare boards1 helped the poor1 and denied himself everything4 ,he wrote a great deal1 but his works remain in manuscript3 his disciples have no money to publish them1 and no publisher can be found to publish them40 ,there was a plague of poisonous flies at ,yasnaya ,polyana this summer which made one's face swell when they bit one4 ,tolstoi said3 8,once1 when ,i was younger1 ,i wanted to write a story about a young man who stayed in the summer at a friend's house where there was a young girl4 ,the very first day they fell in love and raved about each other4 ,at night1 when he was asleep1 a fly bit his lip1 and half his face swelled up4 ,his lip and cheek were swollen1 and his face looked idiotic4 ,when the girl saw him in the morning their love at once came to an end4 ,there were no more illusions3 she noticed a number of faults in him which she had not noticed at all the day before40 ,the conversation was about ,father ,gregory ,petrov4#d ,tolstoi said of him3 8,as was the case with ,ambrosii of the ,optino ,monastery1 he is becoming the slave of his popularity4 ,generally speaking1 fame1 popularity1 is a dangerous thing4 ,it is also harmful because it prevents one from looking upon people simply1 in a ,christian way4 ,now1 for instance1 ,i find ,gorky very pleasant as a man1 and yet ,i can't behave to him with perfect sincerity4 ,his popularity prevents me from doing so4 ,it is as if he were not in his right place4 ,to him1 too1 his popularity is dangerous4 ,his long novels are worse than his short stories1 his plays are worse than his novels1 and his addresses to the public are simply revolting4 8,yet as some one said3 if my work is abused by every one1 it means that there is something in it4 ,if all praise it1 it means that it is bad2 but if some praise it very much1 and others dislike it very much1 then it is first-rate4 ,according to this theory ,gorky's works are first-rate4 ,well1 it may be so40 444 ,a blind man came to ,tolstoi1 and ,tolstoi was very much interested in him4 ,the blind man was trying to get into a school for the blind1 so as to complete his education1 and ,tolstoi wanted to help him4 ,the blind man intended to give an account of his life4 ,after lunch we were going for a walk4 ,tolstoi was talking to the blind man4 ,then he took him to the kitchen to give him some food1 and said good-bye to him4 ,the blind man said to him3 8,i should like to go on talking to you40 ,tolstoi replied3 8,later1 perhaps1 ,i will talk to you again40 ,we went for a walk4 ,but before reaching the gate ,tolstoi said that he had changed his mind and would return home4 ,sophie ,andreevna observed3 8,he probably regrets having left the blind man40 ,and it was true4 ,we walked for a long time1 and when we got back ,tolstoi was still sitting with the blind man4 ,tolstoi said to me later3 8,the blind man told me many legends4 ,one of them ,i never heard before3 8#8,once upon a time ,christ and ,peter the ,apostle walked in the country and saw an old peasant making a fence out of reeds4 ,christ asked him3 8,why1 father1 are you making such a weak fence of reeds80 and the peasant replied3 8,i am old1 it will last my lifetime40 ,after that ,god saw to it that people should not know their age4' ,he also told me another legend1 which ,i had heard before but in a different version3 8#8,a just old man once lived in the woods4 ,and people came to him and said3 8,why do you never go to church80 ,the old man listened to them and went with them4 ,but while they took a boat to cross the river1 the old man walked upon the water4 ,they arrived and went into the church1 but inside the church the devils stretched a skin on the floor and wrote down the names of the sinners on it4 ,the old man looked and looked at this1 then called the devils bad names1 and they wrote his name down4 ,on returning home he was unable to walk upon the water1 but had to take the boat4'0 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is time for me to die1 and ,i have a whole mass of subjects1 and even a new one to-day4 ,i have a whole long list of them40 444 ,tolstoi is going to expound in an artistic form ,buddha's teaching1 8,ta ,twam ,asi10 the meaning of which is that in every man and his actions one can always recognize oneself4 ,tolstoi recalled the following3 8,when ,i was taken for the first time to a box in the ,grand ,theatre as a young child ,i saw nothing3 ,i did not know that it was necessary to look at the stage sideways1 and ,i looked straight in front of me at the opposite boxes40 ,august #abth4 ,i spent the #gth and #hth in ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,m4 ,s4 ,sukhotin was talking about ,count ,bludov4 ,tolstoi said3 8,his was a very interesting house where authors and the most interesting men of their time used to meet4 ,i remember that ,i read there for the first time my ,two ,hussars4 ,bludov was once intimate with the ,decembrists and sympathized in his soul with every progressive movement4 ,and he kept on serving under ,nicolas ,i40 ,mikhail ,sergeevich ,sukhotin asked whether ,bludov was a ,russian1 and why was he a ,count8 ,tolstoi said3 8,the ,bludovs were a purely ,russian family1 to whom the title of ,count was granted4 ,i remember1 when ,i gathered the peasants to read to them the ,ukase of their liberation1 at the bottom were the names of the signatories and it finished with the words3 ,countersigned by ,count ,bludov4 ,an elderly peasant1 ,eremey1 shook his head all the while and said3 #8,that ,blud1 he must be a brainy fellow6' ,evidently he took it to mean that ,bludov was at the head of the whole affair40 ,the conversation was about medicine4 ,tolstoi said3 8,medicine cannot possibly be called an #8experimental' science1 for in medicine experiment in the strict sense is impossible4 ,with experiments in chemistry a repetition of the more or less same conditions is possible1 and so there can be approximately an exact conclusion as to the results4 ,but in medicine there is no exact experiment nor can there be1 for it is never possible to repeat the conditions that existed previously2 if only because the individuality of the patient changes1 and nearly1 if not quite1 everything changes in sympathy with that40 ,tolstoi related this episode from his childhood3 8,we had a distant relation--an old woman ,yakovlev4 ,she lived in her own house in the ,staro-,konyushenna ,street in ,moscow4 ,she was a great miser1 and1 when she went to the country in the summer1 she sent her children ahead in the luggage van4 ,once1 when ,i was quite a small child1 old ,yakovlev came to pay us a visit4 ,she sat with the grown-up people1 and my brother ,nikolenka got a box1 put dolls into it1 and began dragging it across the rooms4 ,when he dragged it into the room where old ,yakovlev sat1 she asked him3 #8,nicolas1 what have you got there8' and he replied1 #8,it is old ,yakovlev going into the country1 and her children are being sent ahead in the luggage van4'0 444 ,during the two days 7the #fth and #gth ,august7 of my stay in ,yasnaya1 ,tolstoi wrote a perfectly new and very powerful story called ,father and ,daughter1#e which1 he said1 8will stay as it is for the time being40 ,tolstoi himself seems to be very well pleased with the story1 and he thinks he may not have to alter it4 ,tolstoi recalled the folk-story of 8,vanka ,kliushnik10 who asked before his execution to be allowed to sing a song2 and ,tolstoi was in raptures over the beauty of it4 ,tolstoi is much amused because he is riding a young horse and training it4 ,he is a great connoisseur of horses2 he loves them and is a perfect horseman4 ,he trains his horse to various paces4 ,he showed me and ,ilya ,vasilevich how the horse started to gallop with the right leg4 ,at the beginning of the ride ,i asked ,tolstoi how to train a horse to start with this or that leg4 ,tolstoi explained to me how it was done1 and then observed3 8,once a horse leads off with a certain leg1 it wants to start with the same leg next time4 ,in a man's life1 too1 custom plays an enormous part4 ,once a certain habit is formed1 a man unconsciously tries to act in accordance with it4 ,it is very seldom that people act in accordance with reason1 and only very remarkable people do so2 usually people live and act by habit4 ,how otherwise could it be possible that moral truths1 announced so long ago by the great thinkers and admitted by most people1 so rarely guide their actions8 ,very few people overcome the habits of animal life and oppose them by the convictions of reason40 ,when later we drove past a beautiful wood ,tolstoi said3 8,once upon a time this forest belonged to ,dolin-,ivansky4 ,he was about to sell it and ,i wanted to buy it1 but for some reason ,i bargained1 although the price was reasonable4 ,we did not settle the business4 ,when ,i came home and thought it over1 ,i saw that the price was reasonable and the forest good1 and ,i sent the steward to say that ,i was ready to buy it4 ,but when the steward arrived1 the forest was already sold4 ,for a long time afterwards ,i could not remember without annoyance that ,i had let that forest slip through my hands40 ,then we drove by the forest called 8,limonov ,woods40 ,it is a young forest planted by ,tolstoi4 ,he had not been there for a long time and was surprised to see how everything had flourished and grown up4 ,tolstoi said3 8,yes1 it is a queer sense1 that of ownership3 here1 too1 one finds the same habit4 ,when one analyses it in one's own mind1 the feeling disappears2 but instinctively one always sees in oneself a particular interest in what was or is one's property1 although one considers ownership harmful and unnecessary40 ,speaking later of the present political events ,tolstoi said3 8,the same is true also with regard to patriotism3 unconsciously one's sympathies are on the side of ,russia and her fortunes1 and one catches oneself at it4 ,but it is clear that with these internal and foreign troubles one fine day all of a sudden ,russia may fall to pieces4 ,as the saying goes3 sic transit gloria mundi4 ,now it is an enormous and powerful state1 and suddenly everything may go to pieces60 ,tolstoi drew my attention to the fact that the road was beautifully lit up by the rays of the sun coming through the branches of the trees4 ,he recalled that ,turgenev in ,virgin ,soil has described how ,sipyagin met ,mariana and ,nezhdanov lit up by such rays4 ,he asked me if ,i remembered the passage4 ,i did not remember it and said3 8,how do you remember it1 ,tolstoi80 ,tolstoi laughed and said3 8,but you remember in your music1 and so we writers remember things in our art40 ,tolstoi said about ,virgin ,soil that he did not share the general indifference towards that novel and considered it very successful4 ,among other things1 he thought the new type of ,sipyagin successful and observed at the right time4 ,on this occasion ,tolstoi said3 8,but for the most part ,i object to the trick of guessing at modern types and phenomena4 ,the other day the painter ,k4 was here4 ,i told him a great deal about his work which must be unpleasant to him4 ,he is always occupied with these modern themes4 ,i said to him that one ought never to paint what is talked about in the newspapers4 ,besides1 he simply can't make a picture intelligible1 clear4 ,in his works you can't make out what he wants to represent4 ,how inferior he is to ,orlov#f in this respect60 ,i4 ,v4 ,denisenko read aloud the chapters about ,nicolas from ,hadji-,murat4 ,tolstoi sat in his room1 but he wanted to come where we were all sitting4 ,he came in several times and said3 8,it is not interesting2 let it be60 ,at last he even said with irritation3 8,it is rubbish60 ,then ,m4 ,s4 ,sukhotin asked him3 8,why did you write it1 then1 ,leo ,nickolaevich80 ,tolstoi replied3 8,but it is not finished yet4 ,you came into my kitchen1 and no wonder it stinks with the smell of cooking40 ,tolstoi explained why he had made up his mind never to write to the papers to deny what was said about him4 8,when ,i stayed with ,turgenev in ,petersburg1 ,mefodii ,katkov#g arrived from ,moscow1 and1 on behalf of his brother1 asked ,turgenev and myself to let him have something for his ,russkii ,vestnik4 ,i promised nothing1 but ,turgenev with his characteristic kindness said1 rather vaguely1 that he might perhaps let him have something4 8,soon after this a group of writers in ,petersburg1 ,nekrasov1 ,turgenev1 myself1 ,panaev1 ,druzhinin1 ,grigorovich1 formed ourselves into a group and decided to publish only in the ,sovremennik4 ,when ,katkov heard this1 he accused ,turgenev in print of breaking his promise4 ,then ,i wrote a letter to ,katkov1 and asked him to publish it1 in which ,i1 as a witness1 refuted ,katkov's statement and proved that ,turgenev had not promised ,katkov anything4 8,at first ,katkov did not publish the letter2 afterwards he published it1 but in such a mutilated form that it quite changed its character4 ,after that ,i made a vow to myself that ,i would never make any reply to attacks in the ,press40 ,the talk turned on our ,government4 ,tolstoi said3 8,do you know1 ,peter ,alexeevich1 ,i want to found a society whose members would bind themselves not to abuse the ,government40 ,sergeenko and others replied that1 although it was true that people made too much of that subject1 still1 when the ,government prevented people from living freely or breathing freely1 it was difficult not to criticize it4 ,to this ,tolstoi said3 8,it is only necessary to remember that the ,government1 however strong and cruel it may be1 can never prevent the real1 spiritual life of man1 which alone is of importance4 ,and why wonder that the ,government is cruel and wicked8 ,so it must be4 ,mosquitoes bite1 worms devour leaves1 pigs grout in manure--all this suits them and it is not worth while to be indignant about it4 ,i remember many years ago--my sons are now tall1 bearded men1 but they were then children--,i once came into the dining-room downstairs in the ,khamovniki house and saw that a ray of the sun fell across the whole room through the windows and made a bright spot on the sideboard which stood by the wall opposite the window4 ,the ventilator was not tight shut and was moved by the wind1 and as it moved the bright spot slid over the sideboard4 ,i went in1 showed the children the bright spot1 and cried out3 #8,catch it6' ,they all threw themselves on to the bright spot to catch it1 but it raced1 and it was difficult to catch it4 ,but if one of the children succeeded in putting his hand on it1 the bright spot showed on the top of his hand4 ,that is like the spiritual nature of man3 however you hide it1 however much you try to suppress it or extinguish it1 it will always remain the same and unchanged40 ,about writing ,tolstoi said3 8,if you ask some one3 #8,can you play the violin8' and he says3 #8,i don't know1 ,i have not tried1 perhaps ,i can1' you laugh at him4 ,whereas about writing1 people always say3 #8,i don't know1 ,i have not tried1' as though one had only to try and one would become a writer40 ,tolstoi said about ,jews3 8,there are three kinds of ,jews4 ,some are believers1 religious1 respecting their religion and strictly following its teaching4 ,others are cosmopolitan1 standing on the highest step of consciousness2 and finally a third kind1 the middle kind1 almost the biggest class1 at any rate of educated ,jews1 are even ashamed of being ,jews or hide the fact1 and at the same time they are hostile to other races2 but it is as if they hid their hostility behind the skirts of their overcoats4 ,as my sympathies are with the first two classes1 so the third is unsympathetic to me40 ,the conversation was about religion4 ,tolstoi said3 8,rousseau expressed a perfectly true idea that the ,jewish religion admitted one revelation--the past2 the ,christian religion two--the past and present2 and the ,muhammadan three--the past1 the present1 and the future4 ,historically it is undoubtedly a progressive movement4 ,christianity is higher than ,judaism1 which is no longer alive4 ,it is all in the past2 and ,muhammadanism is higher than ,christianity3 it has not the superstitions1 the idolatry4 ,to me personally ,christianity1 to be sure1 is above all religions1 but ,i speak about ,christianity1 not as the highest religious moral teaching1 but as a historical fact4 ,and as there is ever much in common between the opposite poles1 so there is here2 both ,judaism and ,muhammadanism keep strictly to monotheism1 and there is no intoxication in either2 but in the historical ,christianity of the churches there is polytheism1 as well as all kinds of ignorance and cruelty4 ,everything is justified and even encouraged40 ,,footnotes3 #b ,a comic poem by ,count ,alexey ,k4 ,tolstoi4 #c ,mme4 ,kolokoltsev was the wife of the landowner ,n4 ,a4 ,kolokoltsev4 ,she suffered from nervous disorder and made several attempts at suicide4 ,in spite of constant observation1 she managed one night to make the blanket on the bed into a figure1 and thus deceived her husband4 ,she went into his study1 opened the drawer of his table with a skeleton key1 took out his revolver and shot herself4 ,she was an elderly woman1 the mother of two grown-up daughters4 #d ,g4 ,s4 ,petrov1 a publicist and politician who started his career as a preacher of the ,church and then resigned his priesthood4 #e ,called in its final version1 ,after the ,ball4 #f ,n4 ,v4 ,orlov1 a painter from the people1 of whose pictures ,tolstoi was very fond4 ,reproductions of most of his paintings hang in ,tolstoi's room4 #g ,the brother of the well-known editor ,m4 ,n4 ,katkov4 #aijd ,at ,christmas ,alexandra ,lvovna made a ,christmas tree in the lodge to entertain the village children4 ,i do not know who made the choice1 but1 as there was not enough room1 all the children were not admitted4 ,tolstoi1 myself1 and some one else1 ,i don't remember who1 came in rather later when the entertainment was at its height4 ,at the door of the lodge stood the children who could not be admitted4 ,when they saw us1 the mothers of the children began asking ,tolstoi to take their children with him4 ,tolstoi took two or three inside with him4 ,it was bright and hot4 ,inside the burning candles flamed4 ,it smelt of burnt branches4 ,we soon came out4 ,tolstoi said with a sigh3 8,how wrong it is6 ,some are inside and the others are not allowed in4 ,when our children were small1 ,sophie ,andreevna always had a ,christmas tree1 and the village children came to it4 ,once they gave us the scarlet fever1 and after that they were no longer admitted1 except a few who were carefully chosen4 ,i remember once there was a ,christmas tree upstairs4 ,i was lying downstairs on the sofa 7where the library now is71 and ,i was terribly ashamed to think of the children crowding outside and not being let in4 ,i remember ,i could not endure it1 came out1 and gave them three roubles1 and of course made things still worse--they began to dispute and quarrel over the division of it1 and it was revolting1 shameful1 and painful60 ,june #eth4 ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,on the day of our arrival1 ,may #bgth1 ,tolstoi talked at dinner about the ,decembrists whom he knew after their return from banishment 7he is again studying that period74 ,he spoke of ,prince ,volkonsky3#h 8,his appearance with his long grey hair was altogether like that of an ,old ,testament prophet4 ,what a pity ,i spoke so little to him then1 when ,i need him so much now6 ,he was a wonderful old man1 the flower of the ,petersburg aristocracy both by birth and by his position at ,court4 ,and then in ,siberia1 after he had already served hard labour1 and his wife had something like a salon1 he worked with the peasants2 all sorts of tools for peasants' work were in his room40 ,tolstoi does not believe the story about the affair between ,poggio and ,princess ,volkonsky4 ,he said3 8,i do not want to believe it3 such scandals are so often invented and people's memory spoilt4 ,moreover1 ,poggio loved ,volkonsky so much that when later 7,volkonsky's wife being already dead7 he felt the approach of death himself1 he came to ,volkonsky to die there40 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,i made ,volkonsky's acquaintance in ,florence at ,dolgorukov's1 ,koko ,dolgorukov1 the doctor4 ,at that time it was rare for an aristocrat to become a doctor4 ,it was when ,nicolas ,i4 limited the number of university students to three hundred1 and ,dolgorukov could not be admitted to any other faculty4 ,he was a wonderfully capable man3 he wrote poems1 was a superb musician1 painted pictures4 ,he was married to 7874 ,when ,i visited them for the first time in ,florence1 this was the scene ,i found3 his wife and the well-known ,marquis de ,rogan were playing an extraordinary game3 they made a mark on the wall and tried1 by lifting their feet1 to touch the mark2 each tried to lift his or her leg higher and higher4 8,there was also present the very gifted painter ,nikitin4 ,he drew wonderfully in pencil4 ,i remember he had an album and drew ,volkonsky's portrait in it4 ,he also drew mine4 ,i wonder where the album is4 ,if some collector were to get hold of it now60 ,then at dinner ,tolstoi told us two anecdotes from his life4 ,the first was how he ate some earth-worms 7,tolstoi told it because ,alexandra ,lvovna and ,ilya ,lvovich's children were going fishing74 ,tolstoi said he was carrying the worms in one hand1 and a loaf of black bread in the other4 ,he had finished eating the bread1 and1 thinking of something else1 put the worms in his mouth and began chewing them1 and for some time could not think what mess he had put in his mouth4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i remember the taste of them as if ,i were eating them now40 ,my wife asked him if it was very unpleasant4 8,the taste of earth2 but ,i don't advise you to taste it40 ,some one sneezed and ,tolstoi told another story4 8,i used to sneeze very loudly2 once at night ,i woke and felt ,i was going to sneeze immediately1 and as ,sophie ,andreevna was going to have a baby1 ,i was afraid to frighten her by sneezing4 ,half asleep ,i cried out3 #8,sonia1 ,i am going to sneeze6' ,sophie ,andreevna of course woke up and was frightened1 and ,i instantly fell asleep without having sneezed40 ,tolstoi also talked about ,belogolovy's ,reminiscences4#i ,he seemed to ,tolstoi a narrow-minded man4 ,speaking of the terrible impression made by his description of the diseases and deaths of ,nekrasov1 ,turgenev1 and ,saltikov1 ,tolstoi said3 8,how they dreaded death6 ,and then there were those horrible disgusting details of their illnesses1 particularly ,nekrasov's40 ,last winter my wife and ,i stayed at ,yasnaya ,polyana1 and1 when we had to leave1 ,tolstoi was sitting in his room with ,p4 ,a4 ,boulanger4 ,we came into the room to say good-bye1 and probably they were talking of ,boulanger's family affairs4 ,we entered just as ,tolstoi was saying3 8 444 if people only said more often3 #8,do you remember8' ,people should make it a rule that if one person says or does something wrong in the heat of a quarrel1 or when one is angry1 the other should say3 #8,do you remember8'0 ,tolstoi noticed my wife and me and said3 8,now1 you young people1 you ought to make that your rule6 ,no one can be such a friend as one's wife1 a real friend4 ,in marriage it is either paradise1 or simple hell2 there is no #8purgatory4'0 ,boulanger said that generally it was a case of purgatory4 ,tolstoi thought for a time and then said with a sigh3 8,yes1 perhaps1 unfortunately40 444 ,that same evening1 looking at ,andrey ,lvovich's little girl1 ,sonechka1 playing on the floor1 ,tolstoi said3 8,faust speaks of the rare moment of which one can say3 #8,verweile doch1 du bist so schn6' ,now there it is1 that moment60 7,tolstoi pointed to the little girl47 8,there is a perfectly happy1 pure1 and innocent moment40 ,june #bjth4 ,some time ago1 in ,may1 ,tolstoi said3 8,religions are usually based on one of these three principles3 on sentiment1 reason1 or illusion4 ,stoicism is an example of the religion of reason2 ,mormonism of illusion2 ,muhammadanism of sentiment4 ,i have lately received many letters from ,muhammadans4 ,i had a letter from ,cairo from a representative of the ,baptist sect1 it is an example of the religion of sentiment4 ,i also had a letter from ,india1 written by a wonderful and very religious man4 ,he writes that true ,muhammadanism is a perfectly different thing from what people usually think it to be4 ,indeed1 ,i know some very religious ,moslems4 ,and how movingly simple and lofty is their worship60 ,to-day at sunset we walked in the garden4 ,we talked of ,gorky and his feeble 8,man40 ,tolstoi was saying that to-day on his walk he met on the road 7he likes to go out on to the road1 and sit down on a little stone1 a milestone1 and to observe or to speak to the passers-by7 a man who turned out to be a rather well-educated working-man4 ,tolstoi said3 8,his outlook on the world agrees perfectly with ,gorky's so-called ,nietzscheism and the cult of the personality4 ,it is evidently the spirit of the time4 ,nietzsche did not say anything new--his is now a very popular world-conception40 ,then ,tolstoi said3 8,when ,i was a ,justice of the ,peace1 there lived in ,krapivna a merchant called ,gurev1 who used to say about young people of education3 #8,well1 ,i look at your students--they are all scholars1 they know everything1 only they have no invention4' ,turgenev1 ,i remember1 liked this expression very much40 ,recently a party of gypsies camped on the road near ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,gypsies often roam about ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,the party usually stay for two or three days1 and in the evenings the ,yasnaya ,polyana household comes out to hear the gypsy songs and enjoy their dances4 ,tolstoi1 looking at the gypsies1 became a changed man1 and involuntarily began to dance to their tunes1 and to cry out again and again approvingly4 8,what a wonderful people60 ,the old gypsies all know ,tolstoi and always enter into conversation with him4 ,tolstoi from his youngest days loved and knew the gypsies and their peculiar life4 ,when we left the house1 it was drizzling4 ,soon the rain got worse1 and we returned4 ,andrey ,lvovich said3 8,now we have come to the house1 the rain will stop40 ,and1 indeed1 on our way home the rain stopped1 and we went back to the gypsies4 ,tolstoi said3 8,yes1 it is always like that3 as soon as you turn to go home the rain stops4 ,something like this happens in ,moscow too4 ,when you have to find some one in a large building and ring for the porter1 he is never there4 ,but no sooner do you go into the yard to make water than the porter is sure to catch you4 ,so ,i advise you that if you have to find some one1 don't ring for the porter1 but do the second thing first40 ,when ,andrey ,lvovich was made an aide-de-camp1 ,tolstoi said to him3 8,my only comfort is that you are sure not to kill a single ,japanese4 ,an aide-de-camp is always exposed to great danger1 but seldom takes part in the fighting4 ,i spent a great deal of time on the fourth bastion at ,sevastopol when ,i was in the army on the ,danube4 ,i was aide-de-camp1 and ,i believe ,i had not to fire even once4 ,i remember once on the ,danube1 near ,silistria1 we were on our side of the river1 but there was also a battery on the other side1 and ,i was sent across with some order4 ,the commander of the battery1 ,schube1 on seeing me1 thought3 #8,well1 there's that little ,count1 ,i'll give him a lesson6' ,and he took me across the whole line under fire1 and with deadly slowness on purpose4 ,i passed that test well outwardly1 but my feelings were not pleasant4 ,i also remember how one of the highest officers--,kotsebu--visited the bastion in ,sevastopol1 and some one1 ,i think it was ,novosilzev1 wanted to put him to the test1 and began saying perpetually3 #8,look1 ,your ,excellency1 just there at their line1' forcing him to put his head out from behind the fortifications4 ,he put his head out once or twice1 and then1 realizing what was up1 he1 as the superior officer1 began in his turn to order the other man to look at the firing1 and1 after teasing him for some time1 he said3 #8,next time ,i advise you not to doubt the courage of your superiors4'0 ,tolstoi recalled ,lichtenberg's#aj aphorism to the effect that mankind will finally perish when not a single savage is left4 ,tolstoi added3 8,i first turned to the ,japanese1 but they have already successfully adopted all the bad sides of our culture4 ,the ,kaffirs are the only hope remaining40 ,tolstoi said3 8,i do not remember during any previous war such depression and anxiety as are now in ,russia4 ,i think it is a good sign1 a proof that a realization of the evil and uselessness and absurdity of war is permeating deeper and deeper the social consciousness2 so that perhaps the time is coming when wars will be impossible--nobody will want to go to war4 ,now ,lisanka1 who always sees the good in things1 was telling me about a peasant--a porter1 ,i think--who was called up and1 before going to the front1 took off his cross4 ,that is a truly ,christian spirit6 ,although he is not able to resist the general will and has to yield to it1 yet he clearly realizes that it is not ,god's doing40 ,tolstoi described with horror how a priest marched with his cross in his hand in front of the soldiers4 ,june #bfth4 ,last week ,i reached ,yasnaya in the evening4 ,the ,sukhotins were there4 ,during tea ,misha ,sukhotin began to tell ,tolstoi that on completing his studies at the ,school of ,jurisprudence he would like to go to ,paris to continue his studies2 and he began to argue with ,tolstoi4 ,i did not hear the beginning of the argument4 ,i came in when ,tolstoi was saying3 8 444 ,every man is a perfectly individual being1 who has never existed before and will never happen again4 ,it is just the individuality1 the singularity of him1 which is valuable2 but school tries to efface all this and to make man after its own pattern4 ,the pupils of the ,tula secondary school came to me lately and asked what they should do4 ,i said to them3 above all1 try to forget everything you have been taught40 ,tolstoi thinks the ,russian ,university in ,paris perfectly useless and good-for-nothing4 ,he said3 8,the best educational institution that ,i know is the ,kensington ,museum in ,london4 ,there is a large public library where many people work1 and they have professors of various special subjects4 ,every one who works1 if he has a question to ask1 gives notice of it1 and1 when several such questions have accumulated1 the professor issues a notice to say that he will lecture on such and such subjects1 and those who wish may come and hear him4 ,such an arrangement is most in keeping with the true object of teaching--to answer the questions which arise in the minds of the students4 ,but in every other institution1 lectures which are of no use to the student are read by professors who are for the most part entirely without gift4 ,none of these lecturers would dare to publish their lectures4 ,goethe said3 8#8,when ,i speak it turns out better than when ,i think2 ,i write better than ,i speak2 and what ,i publish is better than what ,i write4' ,he meant by this that what a man publishes is usually the cream of his thought1 the thing he most believes in4 ,instead of going to ,paris to attend lectures1 go to the public library1 and you won't come out for twenty years1 if you really wish to learn4 ,one ought not to talk about oneself1 but ,i must say this3 when ,i was at the ,university in ,kazan ,i did practically nothing the first year4 ,the second year ,i began to work4 ,there was a ,professor ,mayer who took an interest in me and gave me1 as a subject1 to compare the code of ,catherine the ,great with ,montesquieu's ,esprit des lois4 ,and1 ,i remember1 ,i became infatuated with the work4 ,i went into the country and began to read ,montesquieu2 this reading opened up endless horizons2 ,i began reading ,rousseau1 and left the ,university for the simple reason that ,i wanted to work2 for at the ,university ,i should have to occupy myself with subjects that did not interest me and were of no use to me40 ,sergey ,lvovich asked ,tolstoi why he did not go in for his examinations at ,petersburg ,university4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i began to work hard1 passed two examinations1 was awarded two marks of distinction1 but then it was spring2 it drew me to the country2 well1 ,i gave it up and went away40 444 ,speaking of the good effects upon men of having received no education1 ,tolstoi said3 8,i know two musicians who never went to school1 and yet they are very well-educated men1 who1 whatever subject you talk about1 know it thoroughly1--,g4 and ,sergey ,ivanovich ,taneev40 ,i played4 ,then ,tolstoi said3 8,anton ,rubinstein told me that1 if he is moved himself by what he is playing1 he ceases to move his audience4 ,this shows that the creation of a work of art is only possible when the emotion has settled in the artist's mind40 ,i do not remember how the conversation now got upon writing1 but ,tolstoi said3 8,usually when ,i begin a new book ,i am very pleased with it myself and work with great interest4 ,but as the book work goes on1 ,i become more and more bored1 and often in rewriting it ,i omit things1 substitute others1 not because the new idea is better1 but because ,i get tired of the old4 ,often ,i strike out what is vivid and replace it by something dull40 ,the conversation turned upon ,hertzen4 ,tolstoi read aloud extracts from his book 7a collection of articles published in the ,kolokol74 ,tolstoi is extremely fond of ,hertzen and values him very highly4 ,he spoke of ,hertzen's unhappy private life and of the suffering he went through when the representatives 7particularly the younger representatives7 of the party with whom he had worked throughout his life deserted him and ceased to understand him4 ,tolstoi saw ,hertzen in ,london1 when ,hertzen lived with ,mme4 ,tuchkov-,ogarev4 ,biryukov asked ,tolstoi 7for the biography of ,tolstoi which he is writing7 about his conversation with ,hertzen which ,mme4 ,ogarev refers to in her ,reminiscences4 ,tolstoi said that he remembered a great many of their talks1 but not that particular one4 ,and he added3 8,perhaps she merely invented the conversation1 as the authors of memoirs and reminiscences so often do40 ,on the whole1 ,tolstoi has not a high opinion of ,mme4 ,ogarev1 although he says he knows her but little4 ,he said3 8,i received a letter from her in which she1 as though to justify herself1 gives an account of the affair with the peasants which had lately taken place on her estate4 ,there were some fields there which the peasants had had the use of from time immemorial4 ,the fields belonged legally to the landowner4 ,a bailiff was engaged1 a ,pole called ,stanislavski1 and he drove the peasants' cattle from the fields on to the estate4 ,the peasants collected with thick sticks in their hands to free their cattle1 determined not to give up the use of the fields4 ,they arrived at the ,manor and began by demanding their cattle4 ,finally1 ,stanislavski fired1 and killed or wounded1 ,i do not remember which1 some one in the crowd4 ,the crowd became furious and threw themselves on ,stanislavski1 who tried to save himself by flight1 but he was overtaken on a moor and was murdered in a most brutal way4 ,as a result of the affair1 a military court was held and two or three peasants were hanged40 ,tolstoi had known of this before he got her letter1 and was horrified at the incredible verdict4 ,afterwards ,tolstoi said3 8,lately ,i got a letter from a lady asking me why1 strictly speaking1 it is a crime to kill4 ,anyhow man must die sooner or later--is it not all the same8 ,i replied that since every man represents a unique type1 which never occurs again1 we have and can have no absolute knowledge of why he is needed for the life of all4 ,in life everything is very carefully arranged1 and we do not know the reason why just this individual should be alive1 and it is for this reason that the destruction of this unique creature appears so terrible40 ,of being afraid in battle1 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is impossible not to be afraid4 ,everyone is afraid1 but tries to conceal it4 ,when wounded have to be carried off the battlefield1 so many men volunteer for the work that the officers have to use great force to keep the soldiers back1 since every one wants1 even for a time1 to get out of fire40 ,of himself ,tolstoi said that he was never so much afraid as upon the night before the attack on ,silistria1 which after all did not take place4 ,then ,tolstoi said3 8,the ,japanese are less afraid1 for they evidently value life much less than ,europeans do4 ,the absence of the fear of death goes to extreme lengths with some people4 ,for instance1 if a ,chukcha wants to spite his enemy1 he comes to his hut and kills himself near it1 knowing that his enemy will then have much trouble with legal proceedings40 ,july #hth4 ,tolstoi said with regard to his article about war1 8,bethink ,yourselves03 8,it is painful to feel that my words go unheeded4 ,if one is dealing with the so-called men of science who regard war1 apart from its moral significance1 as one of the stages in the evolution of human relations1 then1 at any rate1 one knows where one is4 ,but what is one to do and how is one to speak to people who evidently cannot understand my point of view8 ,whatever ,i say glides off them4 ,they are1 as it were1 greased with a sort of oil1 so that everything runs off them1 like water1 without wetting them40 ,after this ,tolstoi said that1 when he wrote to ,nicolas ,,ii4 7from the ,crimea1 in the winter of #aija-aijb71 he was told that ,nicolas ,,ii4 8read his letter with pleasure40 ,he also recollected ,hertzen's letters to ,alexander ,,ii4 ,tolstoi wrote to ,nicolas ,,ii4 about the land question4 ,with reference to the attitude in ,government circles to that question ,tolstoi said3 8,i can't possibly put myself at their point of view4 ,i remember when ,i was young and an officer ,i was never bothered by these questions2 somehow they did not arise in me4 ,but ,i cannot imagine that ,i should pass by such a problem1 if ,i happened to come across it4 ,i remember two such cases in my life4 ,one1 when ,vasili ,ivanovich ,alexeev1#aa when ,i was at the height of my career as a landlord1 expressed to me for the first time the idea that the ownership of land is evil4 ,i remember how much ,i was struck by the idea1 and how at once perfectly new horizons opened before me4 ,so it also happened when some one1 ,i don't remember who it was1 ,i think a ,frenchman1 told me that prostitution was an abnormal thing1 and not only useless1 but really harmful to mankind4 ,schopenhauer1 for instance1 says that it is only owing to prostitution that family relations are still preserved in the community4 ,i had not previously thought about it1 but1 on hearing the ,frenchman speak1 ,i at once felt the truth of what he said and could no longer go back4 ,i can imagine that one's thoughts may not tend in a certain direction2 one may be ignorant of some point of view4 ,but ,i cannot understand that incapacity and unwillingness to learn40 ,july #ith4 ,speaking of ,lichtenberg's aphorisms ,tolstoi said3 8,aphorisms are perhaps the best way of expounding philosophical judgments4 ,for instance1 ,schopenhauer's aphorisms 7,parerga and ,paralipomena7 express his conception of the world much more clearly than ,the ,world as ,will and ,imagination4 ,a philosopher1 in explaining a whole complicated system1 sometimes involuntarily ceases to be honest4 ,he becomes the slave of his system1 for the symmetry of which he is often prepared to sacrifice the truth40 ,speaking of ,lichtenberg's beautiful ,german style1 ,tolstoi said3 8,every literary language reaches its highest point and then begins to decline4 ,in the ,german language that time was at the end of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century2 it was the same with the ,french language4 ,now both in ,germany and ,france the language has become utterly spoilt4 ,in ,russia we are now finding ourselves on the border-line4 ,the ,russian language has quite lately reached its apex and now it begins to decay40 ,tolstoi praised ,chekhov's language very highly for its simplicity1 compactness1 and expressiveness4 ,gorky's language he disapproves of1 thinking it artificial and rhetorical4 ,when ,nicolas ,,ii4 appeared in many places to bless the troops going to the ,japanese war with icons1 ,tolstoi said3 8,if ,a1 the ruler of a huge country1 takes a board1 ,b1 in his hand and kisses it in the presence of crowds of many thousands of kneeling troops and then waves the board over the heads of those who stand in front of him1 and does this all over the country1 what except trash can come from such a country8 ,this has never happened before4 ,in your own room you may do whatever you like4 ,one man likes to wash himself with wine or eau-de-,cologne1 another kisses icons if he likes1 but such idolatry on a large scale in the face of all and such deception of the crowd are simply incredible60 444 ,during the war ,tolstoi always said that in spite of his attitude to war and to patriotism generally1 he felt in the depth of his soul an instinctive sorrow at ,russian defeats4 ,i heard him say this in the presence of ,g41 ,b41 and some others4 ,all of them energetically denied in themselves any such instinctive 8patriotic bias40 ,it seems to me that they were simply afraid of admitting it even to themselves4 ,october #bbnd4 ,mechnikov sent ,tolstoi his book 7,studies on the ,nature of ,man7 in ,french4 ,tolstoi read it through4 ,to-day he said to me3 8,i got much interesting information out of the book1 for ,mechnikov is undoubtedly a great scientist4 ,but the self-satisfied narrowness with which he is convinced that he has solved almost all problems that agitate man is surprising in him4 ,he is so sure that man's happiness consists in a state of animal contentment that he calls old age an evil 7because of its limited capacity of physical enjoyment71 and does not even understand that there are men who think and feel precisely the opposite4 ,but ,i value my old age and would not exchange it for any earthly blessings40 ,the conversation turned on the tendency of women to crowd to universities4 ,tolstoi said smilingly3 8,if ,i were a ,minister of ,education1 ,i should issue a ,ukase by which all women were obliged to enter universities and would be deprived of the right to marry and have children4 ,for the infringement of this law the guilty would be liable to a heavy fine4 ,then all of them would be sure to marry60 ,tolstoi spoke on ,august #bhth with exasperation about writing as a profession4 ,i have rarely seen him so agitated3 ,he said3 8,one ought only to write when one leaves a piece of one's flesh in the ink-pot each time one dips one's pen40 ,,footnotes3 #h ,prince ,s4 ,g4 ,volkonsky 7#aghh-ahfe71 one of the most famous ,decembrists1 and his wife1 ne ,raevsky 7#ahje-ahfc74 ,both left remarkable memoirs4 #i ,n4 ,a4 ,belogolovy 7#ahcd-ahie71 doctor1 author of the well-known ,reminiscences1 in which there is a chapter devoted to ,tolstoi called 8,a ,meeting with ,l4 ,n4 ,tolstoi40 #aj ,g4 ,c4 ,lichtenberg 7#agdb-agii71 ,german physicist1 critic1 and publicist4 #aa ,v4 ,i4 ,alexeev1 at that time tutor of ,tolstoi's son ,ilya4 #aije ,january #eth4 ,during the ,christmas holidays ,misha ,sukhotin read ,professor ,korkunov's book on ,russian ,state ,law4 ,tolstoi took it and began to read it4 ,he sat nearly the whole evening in his room1 and came out in a state of agitation and disturbance saying3 8,it gave me palpitation of the heart to read that6 ,in this1 as in almost all legal books which deal with #8rights' of different kinds1 it talks of anything and everything except the truth of the matter4 ,it deals with the #8subject' and #8object' of right--,i never could make out what precisely those words and others of the same sort mean1 nor could ,i ever get any one to explain them to me4 ,but whenever the argument approaches the real question1 the author immediately swerves aside and hides himself behind his objects and subjects40 ,further ,tolstoi said3 8,this is what surprises me2 all my life ,i have striven for knowledge4 ,i sought and still seek for it1 and the so-called men of science say that ,i denounce science4 ,all my life ,i have been occupied with religious questions1 and outside of them ,i see no sense in human life2 yet the so-called religious men consider me an atheist40 444 ,about that time1 in ,january1 ,tolstoi said that he should like to write a whole series of stories for his 8,reading ,circle0 which he is now planning1 and that he had already many subjects in mind4 8,only one minute of life remains1 and there's work for a hundred years10 he said4 ,when later in the evening ,i played ,chopin's prelude1 ,tolstoi said3 8,those are the kind of short stories one ought to write60 ,there was then an interesting talk about ,chekhov's story1 ,the ,darling1 with reference to ,gorbunov's letter dissuading him from publishing the story in the 8,reading ,circle40 ,tolstoi on the contrary decided to include the story without fail1 and expressed his very high opinion of it2 and in a few days he wrote a preface to ,the ,darling in which he expressed his feeling for it4 ,of ,gorbunov's letter ,tolstoi said3 8,i feel a woman's influence on him in this4 ,the confused modern idea is that a woman's capacity to give herself up with all her being to love is obsolete and done with2 and yet this is the most precious and the best thing in her and her true vocation2 and not political meetings1 scientific courses1 revolutions1 etc40 ,of ,beethoven's music ,tolstoi said that at times he felt a little bored by it1 as he thought often happens with what has once struck one greatly4 ,he felt the same1 for instance1 about ,ge's paintings4 ,june #afth4 ,in ,february ,i made a note of ,tolstoi's words3 8,immortality1 incomplete1 of course1 is certainly realized in our children4 ,how strongly man desires immortality1 is most clearly shown by his endeavour to leave some trace after his death4 ,it might seem of no importance to a man what is said of him and whether he is remembered after he has gone2 and yet what efforts he makes for it60 ,tolstoi said of the ,molokans that he had no sympathy with their religious formalism4 ,in this respect he draws a parallel between the ,molokans and the ,english4 ,the son of ,vicomte de ,vog visited ,tolstoi in the spring2 ,tolstoi said of him3 8,he is a typical ,frenchman in everything--from his trousers to his way of thought4 ,his father translated ,three ,deaths and wrote to me about it long ago4 ,it was on my conscience that ,i did not answer him1 and was glad to have the opportunity of apologizing to his son40 ,tolstoi was surprised by young de ,vog's saying that his father worked at night and smoked a great deal during his work4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i imagine that a ,frenchman must in the morning rub himself red with eau-de-,cologne1 drink his coffee1 and sit down quietly to work4 8,i always write in the morning4 ,i was pleased to hear lately that ,rousseau too1 after he got up in the morning1 went for a short walk and sat down to work4 ,in the morning one's head is particularly fresh4 ,the best thoughts most often come in the morning after waking1 while still in bed or during the walk4 ,many writers work at night4 ,dostoevsky always wrote at night4 ,in a writer there must always be two people--the writer and the critic4 ,and1 if one works at night1 with a cigarette in one's mouth1 although the work of creation goes on briskly1 the critic is for the most part in abeyance1 and this is very dangerous40 ,tolstoi often says that he cannot find a suitable definition of music4 ,once in the spring he said3 8,music is the shorthand of emotion4 ,emotions which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty1 are directly conveyed to man in music1 and in that is its power and significance40 ,once1 a long time ago1 ,tolstoi said3 8,life is the present4 ,all that a man has felt remains with him as a memory4 ,we always live by memories4 ,i often feel more strongly not what ,i have actually felt1 but what ,i have written and felt in describing my characters4 ,they too have become my memories1 as if they had been actual experiences40 ,the other day the talk was on the same lines4 ,tolstoi said3 8,a so-called misfortune happens2 one does not usually feel it1 just as one does not feel a wound at the moment it is inflicted2 and it is only by degrees that the sorrow grows in strength1 having become a memory1 placed1 that is1 not outside me1 but already within4 ,yet1 after a long life1 ,i notice that the bad and painful things have not become me2 they have somehow passed by2 but on the contrary1 all the pleasant feelings1 all the loving relations towards people--my childhood1 all that has been good--rise with particular clearness in my memory40 ,tatyana ,lvovna said3 8,but how do you explain ,pushkin's poem2 #8,memory unfolding its long scroll1' and further3 #8,and reading my life with disgust1 ,i tremble and curse'80 ,tolstoi replied3 8,that is quite different4 ,to be able to experience and feel all that is bad in one with such power--that is a precious and necessary quality4 ,happy and of great importance is the man who can go through it with the vigour of ,pushkin40 ,july #fth4 ,we went for a walk to the sandpits4 ,during the walk ,gorbunov asked ,tolstoi about ,alexander ,dobrolyubov's#ab religious and philosophic book4 ,tolstoi said of the book3 8,it is vague1 false1 and artificial40 ,on that occasion the talk was about the literary profession4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is surprising how in even a little piece of work one must think it over from all points of view before starting it4 ,it does not matter whether you are making a shirt or a move in chess4 ,and if you do not think it out1 you at once spoil it all--you won't make the shirt1 you'll lose the game4 ,it is only in writing that one can do what one likes1 and people never notice--indeed one can become a famous writer40 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,the whole business of the writer is to perfect himself4 ,i have always tried and try now to make a question which interests me clear to the highest degree that ,i am capable of making it4 ,the writer's work consists in that4 ,the most dangerous thing is to be a teacher4 ,i do not think ,i have tried to be that4 ,yes1 ,i have4444 ,but always badly40 ,i4 ,gorbunov was saying that the 8,posrednik0 had the ,censor's permission to publish an excellent little book1 in which a visit to ,sarov is described impartially4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i have no sympathy when such things are described in a joking or jeering way4 ,there is a great deal of sincere1 simple belief there which should be treated carefully4 ,in some old credulous woman you feel1 in spite of the absurd superstition1 that the foundation of her faith is a real striving for the highest and for the truth4 ,her outlook on the world is much higher than that of a professor who has solved all questions long ago40 ,v4 ,g4 ,kristi who walked with us asked ,tolstoi3 8,if such an old woman talked about religion1 must one destroy her illusions and tell her honestly what one thinks80 ,tolstoi replied to him3 8,the question does not exist to me4 ,if ,i talk about religious questions1 ,i always express my thoughts1 if ,i believe the truth of what ,i say2 and if my words are not understood1 it is none of my business1 but ,i can say only what ,i think40 ,last year two young men came to ,tolstoi1 and now they have been again4 ,they are very nice and in search of a better life4 ,they turned out to be ballet dancers from the ,moscow ,grand ,theatre4 ,the necessity of maintaining their family prevents them from changing their profession4 ,tolstoi praised them highly4 ,then with a smile he said3 8,if ,i had children now1 ,i should send them to the ballet4 ,at any rate it is better than the university4 ,their feet alone might be spoilt in the ballet1 but at the university it is their heads40 ,tolstoi compared marriage to a little boat in which two people sail over a stormy ocean4 8,each must sit tight and not make sharp movements or the boat will upset40 ,speaking of the present schemes for a constitution in ,russia ,tolstoi said3 8,the misfortune is in that the ,radicals and their set will only try to say something very clever1 to play the part of ,russian ,bebels1 and the party game will constitute the whole of the activity of the representatives of the people40 ,of the war ,tolstoi said3 8,the comforting side of the ,russian failure in the war consists in this1 that1 however much people distort the genuine ,christian teaching1 yet its meaning has already permeated the consciousness of the people so deeply that war cannot become to them1 as to the ,japanese1 a sacred cause by sacrificing his life to which a man becomes a hero and does a great deed4 ,the view of war1 as an evil1 permeates the consciousness of the people1 deeper and deeper40 ,tolstoi said about the ,japanese3 8,the ,japanese are perfectly incomprehensible and unknown to me4 ,i see their wonderful capacity for adapting and even for carrying further the superficial side of ,european culture1 chiefly in its worse aspects1 but the soul of the ,japanese is absolutely dark to me4 ,japan1 by the way1 proved that the whole of the boasted ,european civilization of a thousand years could be taken over and even surpassed in a few decades40 ,the conversation was about crowd psychology4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is an interesting and still little explored problem4 ,it is a hypnotism which has a terrible power over men4 ,there is one moment when it is still possible to resist it4 ,i am now no longer infected by others' yawning1 because ,i always remember it4 ,when you see a crowd running1 you have to remember that you do not know why they run1 and to look back2 and immediately you have dissociated yourself from the crowd1 you are at once saved from the danger of succumbing to the hypnotism40 ,we played chess on the terrace1 and in the hall ,sophie ,nicolaevna sang ,schubert's 8,wanderer40 ,tolstoi said3 8,ah that ,schubert6 he did a lot of harm60 ,i asked how8 8,because he had in a high degree the power of making music correspond to the poetry of the text4 ,this rare power of his has brought to birth a great deal of music which pretends to correspond to poetry1 and that is a revolting kind of art40 ,they sang ,glinka4 ,tolstoi said3 8,now1 sinful man44440 ,the interesting state of the game prevented him from finishing his sentence4 ,later he said3 8,i feel that ,glinka was coarse1 a sensual man4 ,one always feels the man himself in his music4 ,the young ,mozart--bright and direct2 the simple ,haydn2 the stern1 conceited ,beethoven--are all heard in their music40 ,tolstoi is writing an article which is called 8,the ,beginning of the ,end40 ,there was a newspaper correspondent to whom ,tolstoi expressed a few of the ideas which made the basis of his article4 8,the present movement in ,russia is a world movement1 the importance of which is still little understood4 ,this movement1 like the ,french ,revolution formerly1 will perhaps give1 by means of its ideas1 an impetus for hundreds of years to come4 ,the ,russian people has in the highest degree the capacity for organization and self-government4 ,they gave up their power to the ,government and waited1 as they formerly did for the liberation of the serfs1 for the liberation of the land4 ,they have not been given the land1 and they themselves will carry out that great reform4 ,our revolutionaries are perfectly ignorant of the people and do not understand this movement4 ,they might help it1 but they only hamper it4 ,in the ,russian people1 it seems to me1 and ,i think ,i am not biased1 there is more of the ,christian spirit than in other peoples4 ,probably the reason is that the ,russian people got to know the ,new ,testament about five centuries before the people of ,europe1 who until the ,reformation hardly knew it40 ,tolstoi criticized the complexity and artificiality of modern art in general1 and of music in particular4 ,he said3 8,certainly1 if ,i love art1 ,i can't love no art1 but ,i must love that which exists4 ,still ,i have always before me the ideal of the highest art3 to be clear1 simple1 and accessible to all40 ,i was saying how long and systematically one must teach piano-playing in order to be able to play well4 ,tolstoi found that 8system0 dangerous4 ,he said3 8,in doing this one may lose the direct fresh feeling with which you regard a new work of art4 ,i know it from my own experience--when one begins to write something1 one works with excitement and interest1 and the work goes well2 but then the same old thing begins to tire one and it becomes boring4 ,of course1 there is the love of one's work1 and the love is stronger than the boredom1 and by love the boredom is overcome1 but still boredom there is40 ,i spoke about the complexity of certain of ,chopin's works1 whom ,tolstoi loves very much4 8,well1 he too makes mistakes10 ,tolstoi replied smilingly4 8,once ,i stayed with the ,olsufevs in the country1 and1 referring to the weather and the gathering in of the harvest1 ,i said to the old butler there--he was a sceptic and pessimist--that ,god knows what ,he does1 to which he replied3 #8,he too makes mistakes6'0 ,of creative activity ,tolstoi said3 8,the worst thing of all is to begin a work with the details2 then one gets muddled and loses the power of seeing the whole4 ,one has to behave like ,pokhitonov who has spectacles with double glasses divided in two 7looking at the distance and at his work71 to look now through these and now through those and to put on now the bright and now the dark glasses40 ,july #bhth4 ,biryukov showed ,marie ,nikolaevna 7,tolstoi's sister7 some old letters written by her brother ,nikolay in ,french4 ,tolstoi recalled then that from childhood he was so much used to writing ,french that he kept the habit until he was quite grown up4 ,when he lived in ,paris with ,turgenev1 he once sat down to write a letter to his brother4 ,turgenev came up and1 seeing that he was writing in ,french1 was surprised and asked ,tolstoi why he did it4 ,tolstoi said that until that moment it seemed to him that it was impossible to do otherwise1 so used was he to writing letters in ,french4 ,on account of ,biryukov's visit 7he is writing ,tolstoi's biography7 and the arrival of his sister ,marie ,nikolaevna1 ,tolstoi again turned to memories of the past4 ,he said3 8,it is surprising how all the past becomes me4 ,it is in me1 like something folded4 ,but it is difficult to be perfectly sincere4 ,sometimes ,i remember the bad only1 another time the opposite4 ,lately ,i have remembered only the bad acts and events4 ,it is difficult in this to keep the balance1 so as not to exaggerate one way or another40 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is impossible to know anything about ,god2 ,he is a necessary hypothesis or1 more truly speaking1 the only possible condition of a right moral life4 ,as an astronomer must base his observations upon the earth as a motionless centre1 so also man cannot live rightly and morally without the idea of ,god4 ,christ always speaks of ,god as of a father1 that is1 as if ,he were the condition of our existence40 ,august #bnd4 ,tolstoi and ,marie ,nikolaevna were recalling a certain ,voeikov4 ,he was once a hussar1 and then became a monk4 ,when ,tolstoi was young1 ,voeikov was continually at ,yasnaya1 permanently drunk1 ragged1 in monk's clothing1 and telling lies unmercifully4 ,tolstoi remembered a story that ,voeikov told3 8#8,we were once in a box3 ,mikhail ,illarionovich 7,kutuzov71 ,alexander ,pavlovich 7,alexander ,i471 myself1 and some one else4 ,sontag sang4 ,she came out to the front of the stage4 ,her bosom--oh6 7he makes a gesture with his hand showing the size of her bust74 ,alexander ,pavlovich said to me3 8,voeikov1 what is it80 ,and ,i said to him3 8,an organism1 ,your ,majesty60' 8,and once1 after all his mad ways and lies1 he suddenly came up to me in the garden and said3 #8,i am tired of life1 ,levochka6'0 ,marie ,nikolaevna asked ,tolstoi why he had never described ,voeikov4 ,tolstoi said3 8,there are some events and people in life1 as there are scenes in nature1 which cannot be described3 they are too exceptional and seem to be impossible4 ,voeikov was like that4 ,dickens described such types40 ,august #crd4 ,the conversation turned on ,lobachevsky#ac and on his theory that space is of many dimensions4 ,tolstoi remembers ,lobachevsky1 who was ,professor and ,principal of the ,kazan ,university when ,tolstoi was an undergraduate there4 ,then the company began to recall various mathematicians1 amongst whom there are often queer fellows to be met4 ,tolstoi mentioned ,prince ,s4 ,u4 ,urusov1 the ,sevastopol hero1 who was a mathematician and a splendid chess player4 ,tolstoi said of him3 8,he used to get up at three o'clock in the morning1 light his samovar1 which was prepared for him the night before by his orderly1 and begin his calculations4 ,urusov was trying to find a way of solving the different forms of equations4 ,later he went quite mad4 ,nothing came of his calculations4 ,when1 in the belief that he had arrived at a positive result1 he decided to read a paper to the ,mathematical ,society1 there was so awkward a silence after his paper was read that all felt ashamed40 444 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,i was always surprised that mathematicians who are so exact in their own science are so vague and inexact when they try to philosophize40 ,tolstoi also mentioned ,professors ,nekrasov and ,b41 whom he knew personally4 ,tolstoi recollected how one evening he visited ,b43 8,his wife was an unpleasant woman4 ,that evening she was decollete1 and1 as is always the case on such occasions1 one feels something superfluous1 unnecessary--one doesn't know where to look4 ,looking at her ,i remembered ,turgenev's story1--how in ,paris he always bought himself a loaf in the morning1 and the baker's girl would hand it over to him with her bare arm1 which was more like a leg than an arm40 ,august #bjth4 ,a certain gentleman from ,petersburg 7,i don't remember his name7 now and then sends books to ,tolstoi4 ,recently he sent him the ,sovremennik for #aheb in which ,tolstoi's ,childhood was published4 ,tolstoi read the books with great interest and said that the ,sovremennik was at that time a very interesting review4 ,marie ,nikolaevna1 who was on a visit to ,yasnaya1 described how she read ,childhood for the first time4 ,she lived then with her husband in the country1 in the ,chernsky district of the ,tula province1 and ,turgenev used to come to visit them fairly often4 ,her brother ,sergey ,nikolaevich also lived there4 ,during one visit ,turgenev read them the ,,ms4 of his ,rudin4 ,next time he brought a number of the ,sovremennik and said to them3 8,there is a wonderful new writer2 a remarkable work by him is published here1 ,childhood02 and he began to read it aloud4 ,from the very first words ,marie ,nikolaevna and ,sergey ,nikolaevna were amazed3 8,but he is describing us6 ,who is he80 8,at first we did not think of ,levochka10 ,marie ,nikolaevna went on4 8,he was in debt and had been sent to the ,caucasus4 ,we were rather inclined to think that our brother ,nikolay had written ,childhood40 ,it is said that ,turgenev in his ,faust described ,marie ,nikolaevna4 ,the conversation turned on ,dostoevsky's hatred of ,turgenev4 ,tolstoi greatly blamed the libel on ,turgenev in ,the ,possessed4 ,this hatred always surprised ,tolstoi1 and so did that between ,goncharov and ,turgenev4 ,tolstoi went on to say3 8,now books are written by people who have nothing to say4 ,you read1 but you do not see the writer4 ,they always try to give #8the last word4' ,they reject the real writers and say that they have become obsolete4 ,it is an absurd notion--to become obsolete4 ,modern books are read just because one can get to know #8the last word' from them2 and this is easier than to read and know the real writers4 ,these purveyors of #8the last word' do enormous harm1 they make people unused to thinking independently40 ,some one mentioned ,kant1 and ,tolstoi said3 8,what is particularly valuable in ,kant is that he always thought for himself4 ,in reading him you deal all the time with his thoughts1 and this is extraordinarily valuable40 ,about reading modern literature ,tolstoi said3 8,i am much more ready to read the memoirs of some old ,general in the ,russkaia ,starina2 he romances a little1 like ,zavalishin1 about his merits and successes1 but this can be excused1 and there is always something of interest in it40 ,tolstoi said further3 8,brain work often tires the head1 and when tired1 you can't work as fruitfully as with a fresh head4 ,generally speaking1 in brain work the moment is very important4 ,there are moments when your thoughts come out as if moulded in bronze2 at other moments nothing happens40 ,december #cast4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i am always interested to see what can become obsolete in literature4 ,i am curious to know what in modern literature will seem old-fashioned1 as1 for instance1 ,karamzin's #8,oh soever6' etc41 seems to us now4 ,within my memory it has become impossible to write a long poem in verse4 ,it seems to me that in time works of art will cease to be invented4 ,it will be a shame to invent a story about a fictitious ,ivan ,ivanovich or ,marie ,petrovna4 ,writers1 if such there be1 will not invent1 but will only describe the significant or interesting things which they have happened to observe in life40 ,,footnotes3 #ab ,a4 ,m4 ,dobrolyubov 7#ahgf71 religious seeker4 ,his adherents formed a 8,dobrolyubovian sect0 on the basis of ,christian anarchy4 ,d4 began his literary activity as a poet of the decadent school4 #ac ,nikolay ,ivanovich ,lobachevsky 7#agic-ahef71 the great ,russian mathematician and geometrist 7founder of the non-,euclidean geometry74 #aijf ,august #bast4 ,speaking about art ,tolstoi said3 8,great works of art are for all time4 ,they exist4 ,they must only be revealed1 as ,michael ,angelo said40 ,tolstoi was reminded by this saying of ,michael ,angelo's of a peasant who without any training cut wonderful figures in wood and said1 when ,tolstoi expressed surprise at the art with which he did it3 8,it is inside there4 ,i am only taking off what is not needed40 ,tolstoi said that ,turgenev1 in his ecstasy over ,pushkin's description of ,lensky's death in ,onegin1 said that the wonderful rhyme--ranen1 stranen--seemed to be inevitable4 ,then ,tolstoi recollected certain of ,tyutchev's poems1 whom he rates very highly4 ,i asked him if he knew ,tyutchev4 ,tolstoi said3 8,when after the ,sevastopol campaign ,i lived in ,petersburg1 ,tyutchev1 then a famous author1 did me1 a young writer1 the honour to call on me4 ,and then1 ,i remember1 how surprised ,i was that he1 who had all his life mixed in court circles--he was a friend1 in the purest sense1 of the ,empress ,marie ,alexandrovna--who spoke and wrote ,french more easily than ,russian1 picked out for special praise1 when he expressed his admiration for my ,sevastopol stories1 a certain soldiers' expression2 and this sensitiveness to the ,russian language surprised me in him extraordinarily40 ,the conversation arose about writers' fees4 ,tolstoi turned to ,p4 ,biryukov and said3 8,i understand fees in the case of a work like your biography 7of ,tolstoi71 but fees to writers for their artistic work always seemed strange and wrong to me4 ,the man wrote and enjoyed writing1 and suddenly for that enjoyment he asks five hundred roubles per printed sheet60 444 ,tolstoi said3 8,i became more and more convinced that a sensible man is to be known by his humility4 ,conceit is incompatible with understanding40 ,of conceit ,tolstoi said a long time ago in my presence3 8,every man can be seen as a fraction1 whose numerator is his actual qualities1 and its denominator his opinion of himself4 ,the greater the denominator the less is the absolute quantity of the fraction40 #aijg ,september #gth4 ,tolstoi went to-day to ,mme4 ,zveginzev to ask the police inspector1 who lives on her estate1 to release from prison the house-painter1 ,ivan ,grigorevich2 and also to thank her for the peaches she had sent him4 ,tolstoi said3 8,there was her daughter1 ,princess ,volkonsky1 there4 ,they all wanted to direct me on the path of truth4 ,i tried to speak with all seriousness2 but hardly anything could penetrate through their diamonds and luxury4 ,they now employ the stove-maker who used to come to me to borrow books4 ,and he has been telling them that ,i said that one should not believe in ,god1 and various other bits of nonsense4 ,i told them that there was nothing strange in my words being distorted4 ,if even from ,christ's teaching people can deduce the rites of the ,church1 the blessing of war1 etc41 then it is no wonder that our words are always misrepresented and distorted4 8,then they asked me how ,i explained the fact that in my family no one followed my teaching4 ,i told them that it probably happened because ,i lived like a ,pharisee1 and did not fulfil my own teaching4 ,to this they made no reply40 ,tolstoi said that he saw to-day a review of a new book on ,turgenev4 ,the book is partly of a polemical kind4 ,the author gives an account of ,turgenev's quarrels with all writers 7,dostoevsky1 ,tolstoi1 ,hertzen1 ,fet1 etc471 as if it were his object to vindicate ,turgenev and to prove that on all occasions he was right4 ,tolstoi said3 8,really1 it is strange that he quarrelled with every one4 ,he was a very nice1 good man4 ,only he was very weak1 and was conscious of his weakness4 ,once1 ,i remember1 ,count ,urusov was here1 my good friend4 ,there were two brothers1 and for some reason people considered them stupid4 ,now knowing this1 ,turgenev began arguing with them arrogantly as though feeling his superiority1 but ,urusov quietly1 easily1 and confidently refuted his argument4 ,and no wonder3 ,urusov had his own definite religious convictions1 whatever they might be1 and ,turgenev had none40 8,i was fond of him10 ,tolstoi said of ,turgenev4 ,sophie ,andreevna said that ,turgenev had loved ,tolstoi very much4 8,no1 on the contrary10 ,tolstoi replied4 8,he rather liked me as a writer1 but1 as man1 ,i did not find in him real warmth and cordiality4 ,well1 he liked no one in that way1 except women with whom he happened to be in love4 ,he had no friends40 ,tolstoi asked me about my work1 whether ,i was composing music1 and said how bad it was when people force work out of themselves1 and how great artists lose by immediately starting a new work when they have finished the old one4 ,tolstoi mentioned ,pushkin and said3 8,the best writers are always strict with themselves4 ,i re-write until ,i feel that ,i am beginning to spoil4 ,and then1 of course1 ,i leave it alone4 ,and one begins to spoil because at first1 when you enjoy your work1 whilst it is yours1 you apply all your spiritual force to it4 ,later when the fundamental original idea ceases more and more to be new1 and becomes1 as it were1 someone else's1 it bores you4 ,you begin to try to say something new and you spoil and distort the first idea40 ,a telegram arrived from ,leonid ,andreev asking to be allowed to come4 ,tolstoi said3 8,how terribly undeserved fame1 like that of ,andreev1 spoils a man60 ,then ,tolstoi could not compose a telegram in reply4 8,how shall ,i answer8 #8,come4' 444 ,but that is too short4 #8,shall be very glad to see you'--that is not altogether true4 ,well1 ,dushan ,petrovich1 write simply3 #8,you are welcome4'0 ,tolstoi said3 8,i had a letter to-day from a man who congratulates me on my fifty-fifth anniversary1 and writes that he so much loves my works that he is always reading and re-reading ,war and ,peace1 for instance1 but he says3 #8,however much ,i tried1 ,i could not read a single one of your philosophical writings to the end4' ,he tries to persuade me to give up that kind of writing40 8,why should he have written all that80 ,tolstoi said1 laughing4 8,there was a man living and nobody knew he was a fool1 and suddenly he got up and told me so60 444 #aijh ,january #fth4 ,yesterday1 when many letters came1 ,tolstoi said3 8,in old age one becomes indifferent to the fact that one will never see the results of one's activity4 ,but the results will be there4 ,it is not modesty on my part1 but ,i know there will be results40 ,to-day1 speaking of the revolutionaries1 ,tolstoi said3 8,their chief mistake is the superstition that one can arrange human life40 ,april #abth4 ,tatyana ,lvovna was saying that ,a4 ,n4 ,volkov is writing a book on art4 ,tolstoi became interested4 ,volkov says in his book that art must follow ,nature blindly in everything4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is absolutely untrue4 ,it is always like that4 ,when people are discussing art1 they either say1 like the modern decadents1 that everything is allowed1 everything is possible1 that there is complete freedom in art4 ,or they talk about the slavish imitation of ,nature4 ,both views are false4 ,just as every man is perfectly individual and never occurs twice over1 so also his thoughts1 his feelings are always new2 they are his thoughts and feelings alone4 ,at the basis of a true work of art there must lie some perfectly original idea or feeling1 but it must be expressed with slavish adherence to the smallest details of life40 ,july #bgth4 ,a fortnight ago ,mme4 ,e--v1 the wife of a privy councillor1 came here on a visit4 ,tolstoi played chess with me on the balcony and the lady talked at first to ,sophie ,andreevna1 and then1 ,i think1 to ,marie ,nikolaevna1 about the great service which landowners performed1 and how the peasants are beasts1 and how1 but for the landed aristocracy and their culture1 they would become absolute brutes4 ,tolstoi kept silent1 but at last could stand it no longer4 ,he got up from his chair and said to her3 8,you must forgive me1 but what you are saying is terrible1 one can't listen to it with indifference4 ,if one is speaking of beasts1 then certainly it is not the peasants who are beasts1 but all of us who rob them and live on them4 ,and all the #8work' of the landowners is nothing but playing about for want of anything else to do60 ,tolstoi was in a state of agitation and could not get calm for a long time afterwards4 ,the same evening at tea1 when ,mme4 ,e--v had gone1 the talk was about executions4 ,sophie ,andreevna tried to prove that any murder is as bad as an execution1 and yet people don't talk about them4 ,elisabetha ,valerianovna replied that an execution is a murder which is considered to be just1 and the horror of it lies in that4 ,tolstoi said3 8,if one were to ask who is worse1 the wretched executioner1 hired1 intoxicated1 spiritually destroyed1 or those who hire him and those who pass sentence of death1 the prosecutors1 the judges1 then it seems to me there can be no doubt40 ,at tea ,elisabetha ,valerianovna asked her mother1 ,marie ,nikolaevna1 to have some milk1 and she began to drink it4 ,tolstoi said3 8,how is it1 ,mashenka1 that you drink it8 ,for myself1 if ,i am told to drink milk1 ,i want sherry1 and1 when ,i'm told to drink sherry1 ,i want milk40 444 ,marie ,nikolaevna began recalling the past4 ,when they lived in ,moscow1 soon after the death of their father in #ahcg-ch1 ,tolstoi1 who was then about eight or nine1 jumped out of the first-floor window and was badly hurt4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i remember that quite well4 ,i wanted to see what would happen1 and ,i even remember that1 as ,i jumped1 ,i tried to jump upwards40 ,july #bhth4 ,yesterday my wife and ,i were at ,yasnaya4 ,tolstoi's leg is still painful4 ,he lies in a chair with it stretched out4 ,he suffers from inflammation and from embolism of the vein4 ,they say he must lie like that for six weeks4 ,we arrived at ,yasnaya about eight o'clock4 ,tolstoi sat in a chair in the dining-room4 ,he played chess with ,s4 ,then he began to play chess with me4 ,s4 looked on at our game for a time1 and then sitting near the round table he began to talk to ,sophie ,andreevna about the children's anthology to be chosen from ,tolstoi's works1 which he wishes to publish for his ,jubilee 7,tolstoi's eighty years74 ,the conversation was terrible4 ,sophie ,andreevna said in the sharpest way that she was not going to be cheated out of her rights1 that she would go to a lawyer and would write to the papers about it4 ,s4 behaved rather well1 and asked her to point out what she would allow to be published2 but she would not listen to reason4 ,at last she said that it was the same as if he stole her silver spoons4 ,it was intolerably humiliating and painful4 ,sophie ,andreevna made attempts to draw ,tolstoi into the dispute4 ,poor ,tolstoi6 ,he suffered1 frowned1 shook his head in horror1 but kept silent4 ,the greatest deed in his life is his humility and patience with ,sophie ,andreevna4 ,his behaviour is all the more difficult1 because people criticize him for being humble and long-suffering in this way4 ,how much easier it would be for him to leave this kind of life1 which he not only does not want1 but which is intolerable to him4 ,then it became even worse4 ,s4 left the room for a time1 and when he returned and sat down near us watching the chess1 ,sophie ,andreevna did not see him and began talking about something and1 as usual1 complaining of the worries of managing the household1 and said3 8,when ,i get rid of the steward1 of the thieving1 of ,s41 and 4440 of something else1 ,i don't remember what4 ,every one was overcome with shame4 ,tolstoi even uttered a groan4 ,s4 turned deadly white4 ,some one managed to whisper to ,sophie ,andreevna that he1 ,s41 was in the room4 ,she was not in the least put out1 and only began saying how much she regretted that she had not died under her operation4 ,tolstoi glanced at ,s42 ,s4 said3 8,did you want to say something1 ,leo ,nikolaevich80 ,tolstoi was silent for a time and then said3 8,you understood me40 ,then he added3 8,whom ,god loves1 him ,he tries40 ,it was intolerable4 ,s4 left the room quickly and went away without saying good-bye to any one4 ,there the matter rested4 ,mme4 ,zveginzev then arrived4 ,tolstoi talked about ,chertkov's father3#ad 8,when he was about forty-five1 gangrene attacked his toe4 ,then it went further1 and his leg had to be amputated at the knee4 ,he went to ,england4 ,there they made him an artificial leg on which he walked fairly easily4 ,then the gangrene attacked the other leg4 ,this1 too1 had to be amputated1 but this time much above the knee4 ,he sat in a chair and was carried about4 ,he was very patient and did not groan1 although he shuddered with pain all day long4 ,in the evenings he would be given an injection of morphia2 he would then revive1 read the papers1 and talk4 ,he was a brilliant man1 a wit1 and a great success in society4 ,he used to be taken in his chair to parties4 ,there was even a cult for him2 he used to visit the ,empress4 ,in society invitations were issued3 #8,venez2 ,m4 ,chertkoff sera ce soir chez nous4' ,he died early4 ,he never drank and never could drink1 for the wine went to his head4 ,but once at dinner some one drank1 and he took a little glass of vodka1 and suddenly died then and there at the dinner party40 ,some one began to talk about bugs4 ,tolstoi said3 8,when he has bugs1 ,perna does not scratch1 but lies quietly--he allows them to have their fill1 like ,buddha1 who gave himself to be devoured by the tigress2 and when the bugs have eaten enough1 he sleeps peacefully4 ,in olden days1 under the serfdom1 when the landed gentry lived very dirtily and bugs were everywhere1 if a guest remained for the night1 the butler used to be put into the bed first1 so as to feed the bugs1 and only after that was the bed made for the guest40 ,then ,i came up to ,tolstoi and he talked to me4 ,at first1 with a smile1 he winked at ,mme4 ,zveginzev's colossal hat4 ,i asked him if he was still working on the new 8,circle of ,reading40 ,tolstoi said that he is already working at the twenty-first day4 ,he makes the same number of days in all the twelve months4 ,i told him that ,i had read the first day and that it seemed to me very good4 ,tolstoi said3 8,yes1 but it must all be gone over again4 ,at the beginning of each day ,i put the ideas which can be understood by children and simple people4 ,this is very difficult4 ,i am doing it now1 when ,i am an old man1 but ,i ought to have begun my career as a writer by doing it4 ,i ought to have written so that it could be understood by every one4 ,this is true1 too1 of your art4 ,and1 generally speaking1 of all the arts40 ,i said to him that in music the most musical language happens to be beyond one's reach1 whether or not one belongs to intellectual circles1 either because one is not trained or because one is unmusical by nature4 ,tolstoi agreed with me partly1 but said that this was the case in other arts as well3 8,there are some ideas which can be understood by all and are necessary to all1 but are expressed in the language of a small group of people4 ,for instance1 the poem #8,i remember the wonderful moment1' or #8,when to the mortal the noisy day passes into silence'--do you remember them8 ,a peasant couldn't understand them40 ,tolstoi said3 8,i was thinking a great deal about art to-day and ,i re-read my article1 and ,i must confess ,i agreed with my ideas40 ,tolstoi is reading the ,english biography of ,chopin 7by ,huneker74 ,he does not like it4 ,he said to me3 8,i have not read books of that kind for a long time4 ,the author does not reveal ,chopin's inner life1 but displays his own erudition1 his ability to write well and wittily4 ,he is controversial and proves the faults of other biographers4 ,but there is no ,chopin here4444 ,yet there are many interesting facts in it4 ,it is the life of a small circle of poets1 writers1 and musicians--what a perverted and terrible life6 ,and ,george ,sand1 that disgusting woman6444 ,i can't understand her success40 ,marie ,nikolaevna1 who was listening1 said3 8,no6 she has done good things4 ,take1 for instance1 her ,consuelo40 8,no1 that is not good4 ,it is all false and bad and tedious2 ,i could never read it40 ,july #cjth4 ,there were staying at ,yasnaya ,marie ,alexandrovna1 ,i4 ,gorbunov1 and ,e4 ,i4 ,popov4 ,tolstoi was not well4 ,his leg was still painful4 ,we played chess4 ,then there was tea4 ,before the game of chess1 when ,i had come into the drawing-room by myself1 ,tolstoi was telling ,obolensky and the others1 whom ,i mentioned1 the plot of ,anatole ,france's novel1 a very complicated novel4 ,i believe it is called ,jocaste4 ,tolstoi was telling the plot in detail and was surprised at its absurdity1 but said it was written with ,a4 ,france's usual mastery4 ,as ,i came in1 ,i had met two men downstairs who wished to see ,tolstoi4 ,as ,tolstoi is ill1 ,gusev 7the secretary7 went downstairs4 ,one of the men turned out to be a sectarian1 8an immortalist10 and the other sent up by ,gusev a strange note in which1 referring to ,boulanger's promise to try to find a job for him1 he said something foolish about his desire to be useful to ,tolstoi4 ,altogether there was no sense1 no purpose in it4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is amazing1 why can't they understand8 ,it seems to him that only he and myself exist1 and yet there are hundreds of him1 and only one of me4 ,and what can ,i do for him80 ,at tea ,tolstoi talked about the #8immortalist4' ,marie ,nikolaevna asked what sect it was4 ,tolstoi said to her3 8,the #8immortalists' believe that if they go on believing they will never die4 ,and when one of them dies they say3 he did not really believe4444 ,i quite understand it4 ,with them immortality is identified with the body4 ,at a low level of religious development that is understandable4 ,the ,church doctrine also thinks of resurrection as a resurrection in the flesh40 ,marie ,nikolaevna began to say that she believed that there would be something after death4 ,tolstoi said3 8,in the first place1 as to our state after death1 it is impossible to say that it will be4 ,immortality neither will be1 nor was1 but is4 ,it is outside the forms of time and space4 ,people who keep on asking what is going to happen after death should be told3 the very same thing that was before birth4 ,we do not know1 neither can we or must we know what existence outside of the body1 fusion with ,god1 is like1 and1 when people begin telling me about it--even if some one from the other world were to come to tell me about it--,i would not believe and ,i should say that ,i do not need it4 ,that which we need1 we always are aware of and know without doubting4 ,one ought to live so that one's life should help on the happiness of other people40 ,marie ,nikolaevna said that although she neither believes in nor admits the existence of paradise and hell with real suffering1 nevertheless there is hell for the soul in the constant suffering which comes from realization of evil done or of good undone4 8,i can't admit10 she added1 8that one who lives badly and has done no good will achieve the same fusion with ,god as the man who has lived justly40 ,tolstoi was about to say something1 but ,marie ,nikolaevna interrupted him4 ,tolstoi said quietly and gently3 8,i listened to you1 ,mashenka2 now do you listen to me4 ,compared with the perfection of ,god1 the difference which exists in life between the most righteous man and the most wicked is so insignificant that it is simply equal to nothing4 ,and how am ,i to admit that ,god1 the ,god whom ,i realize through love1 can be revengeful and punish80 8,but suppose one lived wickedly all one's life and died without repenting80 ,marie ,nikolaevna said4 8,ah1 ,mashenka10 ,tolstoi said1 8but what man wishes to be bad8 ,the man whom we think bad we must love and pity for his sufferings4 ,nobody wants to live a bad life and to suffer4 ,he must not be punished1 he must be pitied1 because he does not know the truth40 ,marie ,nikolaevna still could not give up her point of view4 ,tolstoi said to her3 8,very well1 if what you believe in satisfies you2 and this must never be condemned1 only you must not prevent people from believing what their conscience prompts them to1 and you must not try to make them believe differently1 as all the ,churches do1 the ,catholic1 the ,protestant1 the ,orthodox1 the ,buddhist1 the ,muhammadan40 444 ,towards the end of ,july1 ,klechkovsky came to ,yasnaya and played4 ,tolstoi lay on the sofa1 and1 after ,klechkovsky had finished playing1 we sat by ,tolstoi4 ,klechkovsky began talking about himself1 how dissatisfied he was with his life1 how he would like to live on the land1 to give up his music teaching and the ,institute4 ,but he can't do it because his father would be much upset by such a sudden change in his life4 ,he also said that he would like to go and live in a community4 ,tolstoi replied to him3 8,why in a community8 ,one ought not to separate oneself from other people4 ,if there is anything good in a man1 let that light be spread about him wherever he lives4 ,what numbers of people settled in communities1 yet nothing came of it6 ,all their energies went at first into external arrangement of life1 and when at length they settled down1 there began to be quarrels and gossip1 and it all fell to pieces4444 ,you are grumbling at the ,institute1 yet there is the porter there whom you could treat kindly1 like a human being1 and then you would have done a good act4 ,and the girls1 your pupils8 ,can't you make a great deal that is good out of those relations8 ,one can always shut oneself off from people1 but nothing good will come of it4 ,i say this not because ,i want to justify my own life4 ,i live in the wrong way and know it is the wrong way1 but ,i have always wanted and tried to live better1 only ,i could not4444 ,i shall go to ,god in the consciousness that ,i did what ,i could to make my life better4 8,one should never attempt to arrange life beforehand4 ,at times ,i ask myself what ,i should do if ,i remained here alone8 ,for instance1 ,i should say to ,ilya ,vasilevich3 #8,it would be nice if you did the rooms and tidied them to-day1 and ,i will do them to-morrow4' ,then we should eat together4 ,and so on with one thing after another1 as things would arrange themselves4 ,only it has to be remembered that the ideal of the material life cannot be fully realized1 any more than the ideal of the spiritual life4 ,the whole point is in the constant effort to approach the ideal4 ,if ,i gave up everything now and went away1 ,sophie ,andreevna would hate me1 and the evil of that would perhaps be worse4 ,you have your father 444 and so it is with every one40 ,tolstoi said before this3 8,i said to ,sophie ,andreevna to-day1 and ,i believe she was hurt by it3 the first concern in life must be for the things of the soul1 and1 if household duties interfere with that1 then damn household duties40 ,last night we sat on the balcony4 ,tolstoi said that he had had a nice letter from a simple man who had read several of his books1 and who asked1 at the end of his letter1 where there were people who live a ,christian life1 for he would leave everything and go and live with them4 ,tolstoi said that he replied to him much in the same way as he had done to ,klechkovsky4 ,tolstoi added3 8,i think that even if one was a woman in a brothel1 or a gaoler1 one ought not suddenly to give up one's work4 ,certainly any one who realizes the evil of such a life will not go on with it1 but the important thing is not the external change40 ,tolstoi said he had received three letters3 one from ,mr4 ,grekov1 who sent him three copies of his book1 ,the ,message of ,peace1 and wrote that his book was so remarkable that1 if it were widely read1 it would revolutionize human life2 the second letter was from an intellectual who asked for a loan of #hjj roubles2 and the third from a simple illiterate peasant1 a good serious letter4 ,tolstoi said that1 besides letters asking for money1 he also receives letters from authors sending him their books1 and begging that ,tolstoi will use his authority to make their books known4 8,an odd idea10 ,tolstoi said1 8that ,i should try to spread opinions which ,i neither sympathize with nor share40 ,august #eth4 ,marie ,nikolaevna told how the steward ,fokanich had once stolen #djj roubles from ,tolstoi1 and ,tolstoi took it rather indifferently4 ,soon afterwards ,sergey ,nikolaevich1 ,tolstoi's brother1 was very much worried about his affairs1 and when he was told that it was not worth while to be so worried1 he said3 8,it doesn't matter to ,levochka that ,fokanich stole #djj roubles from him2 he will write a story and get the money back2 and he will describe ,fokanich into the bargain2 but where shall ,i get my money80 ,tolstoi replied to this3 8,mashenka1 how can you remember all this8 ,but ,i heard an expression to-day that keeps on coming back into my mind40 ,and ,tolstoi told how during lunch to-day an unusually importunate beggar arrived4 ,he stood by the balcony and began saying how happy he was to see and salute ,tolstoi1 etc4444 ,he was given something1 but he was not satisfied1 went to the kitchen1 and began begging with extraordinary importunity4 ,after lunch when ,tolstoi was coming down from the balcony1 ,ilya ,vasilevich1 pointing to the beggar1 said to ,tolstoi3 8,yes1 that fellow could beg the parson's mare off him40 ,august #aith4 ,at tea the conversation turned upon modern literature4 ,tolstoi asked ,buturlin to send him anything new he could find by ,anatole ,france1 whom ,tolstoi values very highly4 ,he spoke again4 ,tolstoi said3 8,i cannot remember getting a strong impression from a book for a long time4 ,i do not think it is because ,i am old2 it seems to me that modern literature1 like the ,roman literature in the past1 is coming to an end4 ,there is no one1 neither in the ,west nor here40 ,buturlin asked ,tolstoi if he remembered ,oscar ,wilde's ,de ,profundis4 ,tolstoi had not read it1 but said3 8,i forget everything now1 but ,i remember having tried to read ,wilde1 and it has left me with an impression that he was not worth reading40 ,speaking of modern ,russian writers ,tolstoi mentioned ,kuprin4 8,his scope is small2 he knows the life of the soldiers1 but still he has real artistic power4 ,the others simply have nothing to say1 and are on the look-out for new forms4 ,but why look for new forms8 ,if you have something to say1 you should only ask for time in which to say what you want1 but you won't need to seek new forms40 ,apropos of ,eltzbacher's book on anarchy1 which ,tolstoi was re-reading1 he said3 8,christian anarchy is a narrow definition of the ,christian conception of the world1 but anarchy follows certainly from ,christianity in its application to social life40 ,september #crd4 ,tolstoi again spoke about the old ,german mystic1 ,angelus ,silesius4 ,tolstoi asked some one to fetch his book 7a large old volume7 and read aloud several aphorisms1 translating them as he read4 ,when he came to the passage3 8,if ,god did not love ,himself in us1 we could neither love ourselves1 nor ,god10 ,tolstoi exclaimed3 8,ah1 how well that's said60 ,referring to some account in the papers of a conversation with him1 ,tolstoi said3 8,if ,i were to live for another eighty years1 and were never to cease talking1 ,i could not manage to say all the sayings that are attributed to me40 ,september #fth4 ,tolstoi said1 with reference to the addresses and congratulations on his eightieth birthday 7,august #bhth1 #aijh7 which keep on coming3 8,i believe ,i am right in saying that ,i have no vanity1 but ,i can't help being touched involuntarily4 ,and yet1 at my age1 ,i live so far away from all this1 it is all so unnecessary and so humiliating4 ,only one thing is necessary1 the inner life of the spirit40 ,on ,august #bith1 when more than two thousand telegrams of congratulation arrived1 ,tolstoi said3 8,i feel with joy that ,i have utterly lost the power of being interested in all this4 ,in the past1 ,i remember1 ,i experienced a feeling of pride2 ,i was glad at my success4 ,but now--and ,i think it is not false modesty--it is a matter of absolute indifference to me4 ,perhaps it is because ,i have had too much success4 ,it is like sweets3 if you have too many1 you feel surfeited4 ,but one thing is pleasant3 in nearly all the letters1 congratulations1 addresses1 the same thing is repeated--it has simply become a truism--that ,i have destroyed religious delusions and opened the way for the search after truth4 ,if it is true1 it is just what ,i have wanted and tried to do all my life1 and this is very dear to me40 ,,footnote3 #ad ,gregory ,ivanovich ,chertkov 7#ahbh-ahhd71 ,adjutant-,general4 #aiji ,february #ajth4 ,once in the winter ,sophie ,andreevna in ,tolstoi's presence criticized ,v4 ,g4 ,chertkov bitterly1 which1 as usual1 pained him very much4 ,this was in the morning4 ,in the middle of the conversation ,tolstoi got up and went into his room4 ,some time later he came into the dining-room1 stood at the door1 and said in an agitated voice3 8,there is an old nurse in our house4 ,i scarcely know her1 but ,i love her because she loves ,sasha1 and when there is nothing like that in a house1 there is no real love40 444 ,after saying this1 ,tolstoi turned and quietly went to his room4 ,to-night ,tolstoi said3 8,when one listens to music1 it agitates1 excites1 elates1 but one does not think4 ,but when ,i play patience in my room1 the finest thoughts come to me40 ,during work1 especially if he found some difficulty1 ,tolstoi used to play patience4 ,this was his habit throughout his life4 ,when he was writing ,part ,,iii4 of ,resurrection1 ,tolstoi was undecided for a long time about the fate of ,katyusha ,maslov4 ,now he decided that ,nekhlyudov should marry her1 now that he should not4 ,at last he decided to play a game of patience3 if the patience came out1 ,nekhlyudov should marry her2 if not1 then he should not marry her4 ,the patience did not come out4 ,once ,tolstoi told me that he had found a passage in a book1 which he was writing1 very difficult4 ,he hesitated for a long time what to do1 but made up his mind and wrote it4 ,then he decided to test it by means of a game of patience2 if the patience came out1 that meant that what he had written was good2 if it did not come out1 then it was bad4 ,the patience did not come out1 and ,tolstoi said to himself3 8,never mind1 it is good as it is60 and he left it as he had written it4 ,may #bdth4 ,tolstoi was speaking about ,dietrich's ,german book on ,goethe4 ,the author sent him the book and asked him his opinion4 ,tolstoi said3 8,it is amazing6 ,so far back as #ahbd ,goethe wrote that sincerity was become almost impossible in art1 because of the multitude of newspapers1 journals1 and reviews4 ,the artist reads them1 involuntarily pays attention to them1 and cannot be perfectly sincere4 ,what would he say if he lived now60 ,,the ,,end ,printed in ,great ,britain by ,r4 ,r4 ,,clark1 ,,limited1 ,edinburgh4 ,,the ,,hogarth ,,press ,,hogarth ,,house1 ,,paradise ,,road1 ,,richmond ,,forthcoming ,,publications ,e4 ,m4 ,,forster4 ,pharos and ,pharillon4 #es4 ,a book of essays on ,alexandria ancient and modern by ,e4 ,m4 ,,forster1 the author of ,howards ,end4 ,,the ,,letters ,,of ,,stephen ,,reynolds4 #afs4 ,this volume of letters by the author of ,a ,poor ,man's ,house and ,seems ,so6 has been edited by ,mr4 ,,harold ,,wright4 ,,tolstoi',s ,,love ,,letters4 #es4 ,this book contains the extremely interesting letters written by ,tolstoi to a young girl to whom he was engaged for a short time1 and which have not previously been translated into ,english4 ,it also contains a study of the autobiographical elements in the writings of ,tolstoi by ,tolstoi's friend and biographer1 ,m4 ,paul ,biryukov4 ,,recent ,,publications ,,new ,,dostoevsky4 ,,stavrogin',s ,,confession1 etc4 7,the unpublished chapter from 8,the ,possessed10 and the plan of 8,the ,life of a ,great ,sinner407 #fs4 8,this so-called chapter of #8,the ,possessed' is a precious survival4 ,it has value in itself1 by reason of the beauty and terror it contains2 it has value as throwing light on some of ,dostoevsky's most secret and intimate thoughts 444 but its greatest value is as an evidence of the creative process in ,dostoevsky40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 ,,jacob',s ,,room4 ,a ,new ,novel by ,,virginia ,,woolf4 ,second ,impression4 #gs4 #f;d4 8,whose curious and original genius10 says the ,spectator1 8has already provoked conflicting opinions40 8,a supremely important writer40--,,rebecca ,,west in ,the ,new ,statesman4 8,how much more amusing is #8,jacob's ,room' than the competent1 true-to-type novel40--,the ,observer4 8,read the book for yourself4444 ,i find myself repeating the words of ,m4 ,bergeret3 #8,si pourtant c'tait un chef-d'uvre8'0--,,forrest ,,reid in ,the ,nation4 8#8,jacob's ,room' is the best thing she has done4 ,it reads like an absolute transcript of life40--,john o' ,london's ,weekly4 ,,leonid ,,andreev4 ,the ,dark4 ,translated by ,k4 ,,walter and ,l4 ,a4 ,,magnus4 #bs4 8,it is a notable story40--,j4 ,,middleton ,,murry in ,the ,nation4 ,,the ,,gentleman ,,from ,,san ,,francisco1 ,,and ,,other ,,stories4 ,by ,i4 ,a4 ,,bunin4 ,translated from the ,russian by ,d4 ,h4 ,,lawrence1 ,s4 ,s4 ,,koteliansky1 and ,,leonard ,,woolf4 #ds4 net4 ,i4 ,a4 ,bunin is a well-known ,russian writer1 but his short stories have not hitherto been published in an ,english translation4 ,four stories are included in this volume4 ,the ,times ,literary ,supplement in reviewing a ,french translation of the first story in this volume says3 8,whatever its faults this is certainly one of the most impressive stories of modern times40 ,,daybreak4 ,a ,book of ,poems4 ,by ,,fredegond ,,shove4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,mrs4 ,shove has the distinction of being the only woman poet whose work has been included in ,georgian ,poetry1 although she has previously published only one volume1 ,dreams and ,journeys4 ,,karn4 ,a ,poem4 ,by ,,ruth ,,manning-,,sanders4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,this is an ambitious narrative poem by a young writer who has previously published one book of short poems4 ,unlike most narrative poems1 it is vivid and readable4 ,,the ,,autobiography ,,of ,,countess ,,sophie ,,tolstoi4 ,with ,introduction and ,notes by ,,vasilii ,,spiridonov4 ,translated from the ,russian by ,s4 ,s4 ,,koteliansky and ,,leonard ,,woolf4 #ds4 net4 ,this autobiography was written by ,tolstoi's wife in #aiac1 and is extraordinarily interesting1 not only 8as a human document10 but in the light which it throws upon ,tolstoi's life and teaching and on those relations with his wife and family which led up to his 8going away40 ,countess ,tolstoi wrote it at the request of the late ,s4 ,a4 ,vengerov1 a well-known ,russian critic4 ,he intended to publish it1 but this intention was not carried out owing to the war and his death4 ,the ,,ms4 was discovered recently among his papers1 and has just been published in ,russia4 ,it deals with the whole of ,tolstoi's married life1 but in particular with the differences which arose between him and his wife over his doctrines and his desire to put them into practice in their way of living4 ,it also gives an account of ,tolstoi's 8going away0 and death4 ,the book is published with an introduction by ,vasilii ,spiridonov and notes and appendices which contain information regarding ,tolstoi's life and teachings not before available to ,english readers4 ,,previous ,,publications ,,clive ,,bell ,poems4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,t4 ,s4 ,,eliot ,poems4 ,out of print4 ,e4 ,m4 ,,forster ,the ,story of the ,siren4 ,out of print4 ,,roger ,,fry ,twelve ,original ,woodcuts4 ,third impression4 #es4 net4 ,,maxim ,,gorky ,reminiscences of ,tolstoi4 ,second edition4 #es4 net4 ,,katherine ,,mansfield ,prelude4 ,out of print4 ,,hope ,,mirrlees ,paris4 ,a ,poem4 ,out of print4 ,j4 ,,middleton ,,murry ,the ,critic in ,judgment4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,logan ,,pearsall ,,smith ,stories from the ,old ,testament retold4 ,out of print4 ,the ,note-books of ,,anton ,,tchekhov1 together with ,reminiscences of ,,tchekhov by ,,maxim ,,gorky4 #es4 net4 ,,leonard ,,woolf ,stories of the ,east4 #cs4 net4 ,,virginia ,,woolf ,monday or ,tuesday4 ,with ,woodcuts by ,vanessa ,bell4 #ds4 #f;d4 net4 ,the ,mark on the ,wall4 ,second edition4 #as4 #f;d4 net4 ,kew ,gardens4 ,out of print4 ,,leonard ,,virginia ,,woolf ,two ,stories4 ,out of print4