The Journal of Leo Tolstoi First. Volume—1895-1899

137

Count Sergei Lvovich Tolstoi (born, 1863), eldest son of Tolstoi.

138

To the Ekaterinograd disciplinary battalion were sentenced the Dukhobors (41 in number) who had refused military service, while being in actual military service … See The Dukhobors in the Disciplinary Regiment, published by The Free Press, 1902, England, where was printed also the letter of Tolstoi to the commanding officer of the regiment. Stating those religious convictions of the Dukhobors for which they suffered persecutions and calling their acts … Tolstoi asked the commanding officer to do all that he could to lighten their fate. The letter of Tolstoi produced a softening effect on the commanding officer.

139

Vladimir Vasilevich Stasov (1824–1906), a critic of art and music and the librarian of the Imperial Public Library in Petrograd, a friend of the Tolstoi family. When, after Stasov’s death, his friend, the sculptor, I. Y. Ginzburg, asked Tolstoi to write his recollections of him, in the compilation, “To The Memory of V. V. Stasov,” Tolstoi in his letter of November 7, 1907, replied that it was difficult for him to write about Stasov on account of “the misunderstanding” which had taken place between them: “the misunderstanding consisted in that Vladimir Vasilevich Stasov loved and valued prejudicially in me that which I did not value and could not value in myself, and in his goodness forgave me that which I valued and value in myself above everything else, – that by which I lived and live. With every other man such a misunderstanding would lead, if not to hostility then to a coolness, but the gentle, kind, spontaneous, warm nature of Vladimir Vasilevich and at the same time, his childlike clarity, was such, that I could not help succumbing to his influence and loving him without any thought of the difference of our points of view. I shall always remember our good friendly relationship with emotion.”

140

Nicholai Nicholaievich Gay, the son of the old friend of Tolstoi, N. N. Gay.

141

These thoughts were called forth in Tolstoi by a letter received on October, 1896, from V. V. Rakhmanov, who, being acquainted with this work of Tolstoi, found it written in a cold and didactic tone and advised Tolstoi to abandon it.

142

See Journal, Oct. 20, 1896. Thoughts 9 and 10.

143

This served as a beginning to Tolstoi’s book, What Is Art? completed by him only in 1898.

144

The initials I. G. C. in the original.

145

The Spaniard, Demetrio Zanini, wrote from Barcelona to Tolstoi that the members of a certain club, who were his admirers, decided to offer him a present of a splendid inkwell, money for the purchase of which was being collected by subscription. At the request of Tolstoi, his daughter, Tatiana Lvovna, wrote to Zanini, saying that he preferred this money to be used for some good work. In answer to this, Zanini informed Tolstoi that they had already collected about 22,500 francs. Tolstoi explained in a letter to him the miserable condition of the Dukhobors and suggested using the money collected for their help.

146

A close friend of Tolstoi, Senator Alexander Mickailovich Kuzminsky, president at this time of the St. Petersburg District Court. The finance-Minister, S. Y. Witte, wanted to communicate with Tolstoi through A. M. Kuzminsky, hoping to call forth his approval in the matter of his introducing the government sale of vodka and the founding of temperance societies. Tolstoi’s letter to A. M. Kuzminsky, in which he answered Witte’s proposal in the negative, with the omission of the harsh opinions concerning General Dragomirov (the author of the periodical, The Soldier’s Manual, which was being displayed in the barracks) was printed in the bulletin of the Tolstoi Museum Society, 1911, Nos. 3 to 5.

147

This article has remained unfinished and up to the present has not been printed anywhere.

148

Ilya Efimovich Repine, an old acquaintance of Tolstoi and one of his most favourite Russian painters. On the occasion of the celebration of his twenty-fifth year of artistic work, I. E. Repine wrote a letter in the Novoe Vremia, 1896, No. 7435, Nov. 7th, expressing gratitude to all those who honoured him, in which among other things he said, when comparing the work of artists with the work of teachers, officials, bookmakers, doctors, agricultural workers, “We are the lucky ones, our work is play.”

149

Ivan Michailovich Tregubov, a friend and follower of Tolstoi, later a noted student of religious sects.

150

Ivan Ivanovich Gorbunov (Posadov), an adherent of Tolstoi’s views and a close friend of his; an active contributor and from 1897 the editor-publisher of Posrednik, and his brother, Nicholai Ivanovich, a performer (pianist and reader).

151

Paul Alexandrovich Boulanger, a friend and adherent of Tolstoi’s views, author of several works on Oriental religions published by Posrednik.

152

Gabriel Andreevich Rusanov (1844 to 1907), friend and adherent of Tolstoi’s views; a small landowner in the province of Voronezh. Until 1884 he was a member of the Kharkov district court. In his will, among other things, he wrote the following: “Already at the age of fourteen or fifteen (now I am about fifty-seven) I ceased to be Orthodox and lived until the age of thirty-eight as an atheist. At thirty-eight, thanks to the greatest of men, Leo Tolstoi, I acquired faith in God and believed in the teaching of Christ. Tolstoi gave me happiness. I became a Christian.” For several decades G. A. Rusanov was confined to his arm-chair with an incurable disease – consumption of the spinal cord; notwithstanding his illness, he preserved his full freshness of mind up to the end of his life, reading much and being possessed of a rich memory. A splendid student in Russian and foreign literature, and noted for his extraordinary artistic instinct, Tolstoi valued his opinions, especially in regard to his own literary writings.

153

Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser, friend and follower of Tolstoi, professor in the Moscow Conservatory. Tolstoi valued his piano playing highly and loved it very much. Towards the end of Tolstoi’s life, A. B. Goldenweiser visited him often and took a close interest in his life. In 1910, according to Tolstoi’s wish, he acted in the capacity of witness to his will.

154

Chromatic phantasy and fugue by Bach.

155

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861–1906), a celebrated Russian composer, later personally acquainted with Tolstoi.

156

See Note 144. Receiving a letter from Zanini that the collection reached to 31,500 francs, Tolstoi in his letter to him of December 6, 1896, asked that this money be transferred through the Tiflis bank to his Caucasian friends, who were in charge of helping the Dukhobors. At the end of his letter he wrote that he was touched by “this sign of sympathy” which the Spaniards expressed for him in this unusual way. This money, though, was never received by Tolstoi, nor was the inkwell. (See Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, Moscow, 1913, page 516.)

157

This story of F. F. Tistchenko under the title, Daily Bread (A true tale of the sufferings of a village School teacher), was printed with a letter of Tolstoi in Knizhki Nedieli, 1897, No. 10, and later in the collection of Tales by Tistchenko.

158

Princess Gorchakov, a distant relative of Tolstoi, a lady-in-waiting, and principal of one of the Moscow gymnasiums.

159

Anatol Fedorovich Koni, a well-known jurist, a member of the Imperial Council and a writer. Became acquainted with Tolstoi in the eighties and wrote recollections of him (see his book, On the Path of Life, Volume II, 1913). He gave Tolstoi the theme for Resurrection (see Note 23).

160

Maria Fedorovna Kudriavtsev, an adherent of Tolstoi’s views.

161

The Appeal, under the title Help, was written and signed by P. I. Biriukov, I. M. Tregubov and V. G. Chertkov. This was an appeal to society to render assistance to the persecuted Dukhobors “by money sacrifices, so as to ease the sufferings of the old, the sick and the young, as well as by lifting one’s voice in defence of the persecuted.” The Appeal was spread by the authors in manuscript and in typewritten copies and among other things was delivered to many persons of high position. Tolstoi wrote the appendix to it, in which he explained the significance of the act of the Dukhobors towards the realisation of Christianity in our life. Help! was printed with Tolstoi’s appendix by The Free Press (1897, England). The appendix is printed also in the Full Collected Works of Tolstoi, published by Sytin, subscribed edition, Volume XVI, popular edition, Volume XIX.

162

The editors were unable to ascertain the author of the history of music which Tolstoi was reading.

163

Jean Batiste Faure, the celebrated French singer and composer (in the second half of the Nineteenth Century), author of Tolstoi’s favourite duet, “The Crucifix.”

164

Vasili Stepanovich Perfileev, a former Moscow Governor, a friend of Tolstoi in the fifties and sixties, and a distant relative of the Tolstois.

165

An omission in the copy in possession of the editors.

166

This theme was not executed by Tolstoi. A work under a similar title begun by him in 1883 was printed in Volume III of The Posthumous Literary Works of Tolstoi, issued by A. L. Tolstoi.

167

Katiusha Maslov and Nekhliudov, the principal characters of the novel.

168

Alexander Ivanovich Arkhangelsky (1857–1906), an adherent of Tolstoi’s views, about whom after his death in the letter of October 26, 1906, Tolstoi wrote: “This was one of the best men I ever happened to know in my life.” A. I. Arkhangelsky was a veterinary surgeon in the district of Bronnitsk, Province of Moscow. Later, becoming acquainted with the works of Tolstoi, he left his position, considering it impossible to apply against the peasants the compulsory measures required of him as veterinary surgeon, and became a watch-maker, by which he supported himself until his death. His work, Whom to Serve? is devoted to explaining the question of the incompatibility … with the service to God. When he read this work in manuscript in 1895, Tolstoi wrote Arkhangelsky that “it will do the people much good and will advance the word of God.” This work was issued only in 1911 in the Russian language by the publishing house, “Vozrozhdenie,” in Bourgas (Bulgaria). The same publishing house issued a biography of A. I. Arkhangelsky compiled by Kh. N. Abrikosov. Extracts from Whom to Serve signed by the pseudonym, “Buka,” were printed by Tolstoi in The Reading Circle. It should be also mentioned that the publication of the Veterinary Manual compiled by Arkhangelsky was suspended at one time by the censor, who demanded that it include the compulsory regulations. Protesting against this, Arkhangelsky wrote a remarkable letter to I. I. Gorbunov which Tolstoi included in his Archives of L. N. Tolstoi, No. 5. This letter formed the basis of the article, “Whom To Serve.” Later the veterinary manual was issued by Posrednik.

169

Prince Ilya Petrovich Nakashidze, a Georgian writer, a close adherent of Tolstoi’s ideas.

170

Tolstoi had the intention of writing (but did not write) an introduction to the Russian translation of the Philosophical Work of A. A. Spier, which was to have appeared in Problems of Philosophy and Psychology.

171

Tolstoi was considering at this time an appeal against the existing social-political order.

172

An omission in the copy in possession of the editors.

173

Stepan Andreevich Behrs, Tolstoi’s brother-in-law, author of Recollections About Count L. N. Tolstoi (Smolensk, 1894), now dead.

174

V. G. Chertkov and P. I. Biriukov, and later also I. M. Tregubov, were exiled after a search of their homes: V. G. Chertkov abroad – P. I. Biriukov to Bausk in Courland, and I. M. Tregubov to Goldingen, also in Courland. The cause of exiling was the writing of an appeal to help the persecuted Dukhobors (see Note 160) and their activity in behalf of the Dukhobors and the persecuted sects in general. See the memoirs of P. I. Biriukov, “The Story of My Exile,” printed in the publication O Minuvshen (Petrograd, 1909). These memoirs contain several letters by Tolstoi to Biriukov.

175

Tolstoi went to take leave of the Chertkovs who were then living in Petrograd.

176

Nicholai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko (1846–1898), a well-known artist, to whose brush belongs also the portrait of Tolstoi, painted in 1895.

177

Countess Alexandra Andreevna Tolstoi (1817–1904), a second cousin of Tolstoi, lady-in-waiting to the Empress. Tolstoi in his youth was on friendly terms with her. His correspondence with the Countess A. A. Tolstoi, with the addition of a memoir by her, was published by the Tolstoi Museum Society, Petrograd, 1911. In reference to this meeting with her, mentioned by Tolstoi in the Journal, see the memoirs (pages 71, 72 of the above mentioned publication). About this same meeting and about the visit to Petrograd in general, Tolstoi wrote to V. G. Chertkov the following (February 15, 1897): “St. Petersburg gave me a most joyous impression. Of course the principal thing was the meeting at your house. The depressing impression was my conversation with A. A. Tolstoi. The terrible thing was not only the coldness, but the cruelty and the forcing oneself into one’s soul and the violence, the very same which had estranged us. What a bad belief it is, which makes good people so cruel and therefore so insensible to the spiritual condition of others. Believe word for word as I do, otherwise if you are not exactly my enemy, still you are a stranger.” It should be noted that from the autumn of 1895, for the course of several years, Tolstoi did not write at all to the Countess A. A. Tolstoi.

178

In considering Tolstoi’s opinions concerning women found in the Journal, one should be particularly careful to avoid misunderstanding. First, Tolstoi, wishing from natural delicacy to make his remarks impersonal, often generalised his private impressions and observations from intercourse with separate individuals, and therefore these remarks in reality carried no reflection whatever against all women in general.

Second, even in those instances where Tolstoi consciously expressed himself adversely about women in general, he had in mind the most commonplace modern woman with her adverse qualities.

But in his mind he absolutely discriminated in favour of the intelligent, religious woman whom seldom he happened to meet in life and who always attracted his attention. So, for instance, he valued very highly the distant relative who brought him up, T. A. Ergolsky, for her self-sacrificing life; Mmes. M. A. Schmidt and L. F. Annenkov he respected for their true religious lives, and among the women writers he especially valued an American, Lucy Mallory, for her exceptional writings, from which he selected many thoughts for The Reading Circle. For women of this type he always had the greatest respect, recognising fully their merits and their great significance to humanity. In his literary works, Tolstoi, as is known, frequently reproduced the highest type of woman (for instance, Pashenka in Father Sergius, or the old woman, Maria Semenovna in The Forged Coupon). Also in his other writings, Tolstoi did not always express himself adversely about women, as can be seen, for instance, from the following extracts:

“Oh, how I would like to show to woman the whole significance of chaste women. The chaste woman (not in vain is the legend of Mary) will save the world.” (Journal, August 3, 1898.)

“One of the most necessary tasks of humanity consists in the bringing up of chaste women.” (Journal, August 24, 1898.)

“The virtues of men and women are the same; temperance, truthfulness, kindness; but in the woman, these same virtues attain a special charm.” (The Reading Circle, June 2.)

“Men cannot do that highest, best work, which brings men more than anything else nearer to God – the work of love, the work of complete self-surrender to him whom you love, which good women have done so well and so naturally, are doing, and will do. What would happen to the world, what would happen to us men, if women had not that quality and if they did not exercise it … Without mothers, helpers, friends, comforters, who love in a man all that is best in him, and who with a suggestion hardly to be noticed, call forth and support all the best in him – without such women it would be bad to live in this world. Christ would not have had Mary and Magdalene; Francis of Assisi would not have had Clara; the Decembrists would not have had their wives with them in exile; the Dukhobors would not have had their wives who did not hold their husbands back, but supported them in their martyrdom for truth, there would not have been those thousands and thousands of unknown women, the very best, as everything that is unknown, the comforters of the drunken, the weak, the debauched, those for whom the consolations of love are more necessary than for any one else. In this love, whether it is directed to Kukin or to Christ, is the principal, great and irreplaceable strength of women.” (Appendix to Chekhov’s story, Dushechka.)

179

On Life– a religious-philosophic work by Tolstoi, written by him in 1887 and printed in all his collected works. An abbreviation of this work and an exposition of it written in simple language for plain readers was made by an American, Bolton Hall, and was approved by Tolstoi and printed under the title, Life, Love and Death. Later a translation of this under the title, True Life, appeared in an issue of the Ethical Artistic Library, Moscow, 1899. See article of Bolton Hall in the International Tolstoi Almanac compiled by P. A. Sergienko (Kniga, 1909).

180

See Letters of L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, Moscow, 1913, pages 518 to 519.

181

Tolstoi made a mistake of one year: the battle against the Caucasian mountaineers in which he took part in the capacity of an artillerist, took place February 18, 1853. (See P. Biriukov’s Biography of Tolstoi, Volume I, page 226.) Nine years after the above mentioned note, February 18, 1903, Tolstoi wrote to Rusanov: “To-day it is fifty-three years since hostile enemy shells struck the wheel of that cannon which I directed. If the muzzle of the gun from which the shell emerged had deviated 1-10,000ths of an inch to one side or another, I would have been killed and I would no longer have lived. What nonsense. I would have existed in a form now inconceivable to me.”

182

What Is Art?

183

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), a well-known English poet, critic and student of literature. Shortly before his death, Arnold printed an article in The Fortnightly Review, devoted to the critical analysis of Anna Karenin and some of the religious philosophic writings of Tolstoi. (See Novoe Vremia, December 11, 1887, the article, “An English Critic on Leo Tolstoi.”) The thought quoted by Tolstoi was expressed by Arnold in his article, “The Problems of Modern Criticisms” (a Russian translation was issued by Posrednik). Tolstoi valued the writings of Arnold highly, especially his book, Literature and Dogma, of which a Russian translation was published by Posrednik under the title, Wherein Lies the Essence of Christianity and Judaism (Moscow, 1907).

184

Tolstoi, for the sake of an airing, rode about ten versts to a dressmaker, for the dress of Nadezhda Mikhailovna Yushkova.

185

Jules and Leo Edwardovich Konius, the violinist and the pianist.

186

Countess T. L. Tolstoi and Count Mikhail Adamovich Olsuphiev performed two small plays, Feminine Nonsense by I. L. Stcheglov and The Lady Agreeable In All Respects.

187

According to the copy in possession of the editors.

188

Evidently a mistake in the copy in possession of the editors. This extract refers not to Book VII, but to Book VI of Politics. The quotation cited by Tolstoi reads in the Russian translation of Prof. S. A. Zhebelev in this way: “In a state enjoying the best organisation, and uniting in itself men absolutely just, and not relatively just (in relation to this or that political system), the citizens should not lead a life such as is led by craftsmen or merchants (such a life is ignoble and is contrary to virtue); the citizens of the state planned by us should likewise not be agricultural workers, because they will be in need of leisure for the development of their virtue.” Aristotle’s Politics: Works of the Petrograd Philosophic Society, Petrograd, 1911, pages 318, 319.

189

An omission in the copy in possession of the editors.

190

The editor knows nothing about the acquaintanceship of Tolstoi with Madame Shorin.

191

Countess A. M. Olsuphiev, who had been on friendly terms with Tolstoi. In a note to V. G. Chertkov, written on a piece of proof of Resurrection, June 8, 1899, Tolstoi communicated: “I have a sorrow. Anna Mikhailovna Olsuphiev died.”

192

A village near Nicholskoe, as well as the village Shelkovo, mentioned below.

193

A young lively girl, whom Tolstoi met at the Chertkovs’ when they lived in the summer of 1896 near Yasnaya Polyana. Being arrested on suspicion of revolutionary activity and imprisoned in the fortress of Peter and Paul, she committed suicide by setting herself on fire.

In the letter to V. G. Chertkov, Tolstoi wrote:

“In Petersburg on February 12th the following occurred: Vietrova, Maria Fedosievna, whom you know and whom I knew, a student confined in the House of Detention before Trial in the strike case, little connected with it, was transferred to the fortress of Peter and Paul. There, as they say and surmise, after inquiry and violation (that is still unestablished) she poured kerosene on herself, set fire to it and on the third day died. Her comrades who visited her, kept on bringing her things, which were accepted, and only after two weeks, were they told that she had burnt herself. The youth, all the students, up to three thousand persons (there were some also from the Theological Seminary) gathered in the Kazan Cathedral for the service of the dead. They were not permitted, but they themselves began to sing “Eternal Memory” and with wreaths, intended to march on the Nevsky Prospect, but were not permitted, and they went along Kazan Street. Their names were taken and they were let free. Every one is indignant. I receive letters and people come and tell me about it. I feel great pity for all who take part in these affairs, and I have a greater and greater desire to explain to people how they ruin themselves simply because they neglect that law (or they do not know it) which was given by Christ and which frees from such deeds and from the participation in them.”

Tolstoi approached A. F. Koni for advice, whether it were possible to publish what was authentically known about this terrible case, and secondly about “what to do in order to resist” this kind of event?