diff options
Diffstat (limited to '38027.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 38027.txt | 3299 |
1 files changed, 3299 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/38027.txt b/38027.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5eb8199 --- /dev/null +++ b/38027.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3299 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Autobiography of Countess Tolstoy, by +Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Autobiography of Countess Tolstoy + +Author: Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy + +Translator: S.S. Koteliansky + Leonard Woolf + +Release Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #38027] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COUNTESS TOLSTOY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COUNTESS TOLSTOY + + + + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY +OF +COUNTESS TOLSTOY +[SOPHIE ANDREEVNA TOLSTOY] + +TRANSLATED BY +S. S. KOTELIANSKY +AND +LEONARD WOOLF + +[Illustration: colophon] + +NEW YORK B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. MCMXXII + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY +B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Translators' Note, 7 + + Preface by Vassili Spiridonov, 9 + + Autobiography, 27 + + Notes, 109 + + Appendix I. + Semen Afanasevich Vengerov, 143 + + Appendix II. + Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov, 146 + + Appendix III. + Tolstoy's First Will, 149 + + Appendix IV. + Tolstoy's Will of 22 July, 1910, 153 + + Appendix V. + Tolstoy's Going Away, 155 + + + + +TRANSLATORS' NOTE + + +The circumstances under which this autobiography of Tolstoy's wife has +just been discovered and published in Russia are explained in the +preface of Vassili Spiridonov which follows. Spiridonov edited and +published it in the first number of a new Russian review, _Nachala_. We +have translated his preface in full and also the greater number of his +notes, which contain much material with regard to Tolstoy which has not +previously been available for English readers. Such readers may perhaps +consider that some of these notes and the documentation generally are +over-elaborate. But they must remember that the question of Tolstoy's +"going away" and of his relations with his wife, Countess Sophie +Tolstoy, and other members of his family, has roused the most passionate +interest and controversy in Russia. This is partly due, no doubt, to +the dramatic and psychological interest of the whole story, but is also +due very largely to the fact that Tolstoy's actions were bound up with +his teachings, and his numerous disciples and opponents were watching +the struggle of the preacher to put his principles in practice in his +own life. The whole question of the will and the going away of Tolstoy, +of the difference with his wife, and of the subsequent dealings with his +property, has given rise to an immense literature in Russia. As +Spiridonov's preface shows, it is treated as a kind of _cause celebre_ +in which the whole of humanity is to judge between Tolstoy and his wife. +The importance of this book lies in the fact that in it for the first +time Countess Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy herself states her own case in +full. The reader should, however, remember that it is only one side of +the case. + +We have added ourselves a few short appendices giving some additional +information with regard to some of the more important points and +persons. + +S. S. K. +L. S. W. + + + + +PREFACE BY VASSILI SPIRIDONOV + + +The manuscript of the autobiography of Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy exists +among the documents of the late director of the Russian Library, +Professor Semen Afanasevich Vengerov, which, in accordance with the will +of the deceased, have been handed over to the Library. The Library is +now in the Petrograd Institute of Learning, and the documents form a +special section in the Institute under the title: "The Archives of S. A. +Vengerov." + +The history of the manuscript is as follows. At the end of July, 1913, +S. A. Vengerov sent a letter to S. A. Tolstoy asking her to write and +send him her autobiography which he proposed to publish. We do not know +the details of S. A. Vengerov's letter, but from the replies of S. A. +Tolstoy which are printed below we may conclude that Professor Vengerov +enclosed in his letter to S. A. Tolstoy a questionnaire, and that, +besides the usual questions which he was accustomed to send out +broadcast to authors and men of letters, he put a number of additional +questions, especially for S. A. T., asking for light upon certain +moments in the history of the life and creative activity of Leo +Nikolaevich Tolstoy, and upon the time and causes of the differences +between the husband and wife, the beginning of that formidable drama +which took place in the Tolstoy family. + +S. A. T. answered immediately; she wrote to Vengerov as follows:[A] + + YASNAYA POLYANA, + 30 JULY, 1913. + + MUCH-RESPECTED SEMEN AFANASEVICH: I received your letter to-day, + and hasten to tell you that I will try to answer all your questions + soon; but in order to do it fully, I need a little time. I shall + hardly be able to write an autobiography, even a brief one. At any + rate, _whatever_ I may communicate to you, you have my permission + to cut out anything that you think superfluous. As to your + questions about my family, my sister, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskii, + could answer you better than I; she and my first cousin, Alexander + Alexandrovich Bers, have devoted a good deal of time to this matter + and have, in particular, tried to trace the origin of my father's + family, which came from Saxony. We have the seal with its + coat-of-arms: a bear (hence _Bers_, i. e. _Baer_ in German) warding + off a swarm of bees.[B] I will write to my sister to send me this + information, and I will let you have it.[C] Please also let me know + roughly when you expect me to send you the information you desire. + + The most difficult thing for me will be to fix the moment and the + cause of our _differences_[D]. It was not a _difference_, but a + gradual _going-away_ of Leo Nikolaevich from everything in his + former life, and thus the harmony of all our happy previous life + was broken. + + Of all this I will try to write briefly, after having thought it + over as well and as accurately as I can. + + Accept the assurance of my respect and devotion for you, + + SOPHIE TOLSTOY. + + YASNAYA POLYANA, + STATION ZASSYEKA, + 21 AUGUST, 1913. + + MUCH-RESPECTED SEMEN AFANASEVICH: This is a difficult task which + you have set me, writing my autobiography, and, although I have + already begun it, I am continually wondering whether I am doing it + properly. The chief thing which I have decided to ask you is to + tell me what length my article should be. If, for instance, you + take a page of the magazine _Vyestnik Europa_ as a measure, how + many full pages, approximately, ought I to write? To-morrow I shall + be sixty-nine years old, a long life; well, _what_ out of that life + would be of interest to people? I have been trying to find some + woman's autobiography for a model, but have not found one anywhere. + + Pardon me for troubling you; I want to do the work you have charged + me with as well as possible, but I have so little capacity and no + experience at all. + + I shall hope for an answer. + + With sincere respect and devotion, + + S. TOLSTOY. + +It may be supposed that Vengerov again came to the assistance of S. A. +T. and solved her doubts, after which she went on with her work and +finished it at the end of October, 1913. Being in Petersburg, she +personally handed it over to Vengerov.[E] The work did not satisfy +Vengerov, as he did not find in it what, evidently, particularly +interested him, namely, information as to the life in Yasnaya Polyana +during the time when _War and Peace_ and _Anna Karenina_ were written. +Vengerov wrote to S. A. T. about this, urging her to fill up the gap, to +write a new additional chapter. S. A. T. did this. She sent the new +material to Vengerov accompanied by the following letter: + + YASNAYA POLYANA, + STATION ZASSYEKA, + 24 MARCH, 1914. + + MUCH-RESPECTED SEMEN AFANASEVICH: You are perfectly right in your + observation that I left a great gap in my autobiography, and I + thank you very much for advising me to write one more chapter; I + have now done so. But the question is, have I done it well, and is + the new material suitable? Hard as I tried, and carefully as I + searched for materials for that chapter, I found very little, but I + have made the best use of it which I could. + + In the former manuscript which I gave you in Petersburg, Chapter 3 + should be cut out and the new one which I enclose in this letter + substituted. The chapter had to be corrected considerably, things + altered, struck out, and added.[F] + + The chapter about the children in the new material has been + slightly altered at the beginning, and all the rest remains without + alteration, as in the former manuscript. + + Be so good as to note the Roman figures marking chapters, but + divide it up into chapters anew at your discretion. + + As I have not the whole manuscript in its final form before me, I + cannot do it myself and am obliged to trouble you. Please also + write me a word to say you have received the new chapter and give + me your opinion, which I value greatly.[G] + + Accept the assurance of my sincere respect and devotion. + + SOPHIE TOLSTOY. + +The additional matter did not satisfy S. A. Vengerov. He had long ago +formed an idea of Yasnaya Polyana, during the period in which _War and +Peace_ and _Anna Karenina_ were created, as of a "home" in which the +interests of the family were such that literary interests were removed +to the second floor. He hoped that S. A. T. in her additional matter +would turn her attention to that particular side in the life and +activity of L. N. Tolstoy, making use for that purpose of the very rich +material possessed by her. But S. A. T. did not fulfil his hopes, as he +told her in a letter to her and as may be seen from her reply. + +S. A. T. held a different view, and she wrote to Vengerov: + + YASNAYA POLYANA, + STATION ZASSYEKA, + 5 MAY, 1914. + + MUCH-RESPECTED SEMEN AFANASEVICH: I have received your letter; you + are not quite satisfied with the new chapter, to which I reply: you + want more facts, but where am I to get them? Our life was quiet, + placid, a retired family life. + + You write about the 'home' interests which must have been + subordinated to Leo Nikolaevich's writing of _War and Peace_ and + _Anna Karenina_. But what was that _home_? It consisted only of Leo + Nikolaevich and myself. The two old women had become childish and + took no interest at all in Leo N.'s writings, but used to lose + their tempers over patience; a nd their only interests were the + children and the dinner.[H] + + In so far as I could tear myself from domestic matters, I lived in + my husband's creative activity and loved it. But one can not put + into the background a baby who has to be fed day and night, and I + nursed ten children myself, which Leo N. desired and approved. + + You mention among _professional_ writers Gogol, Turgenev, + Goncharov, and I would add Lermontov and others; all of them were + _bachelors without families_, and that is a very different matter. + This was reflected in their work, just as Leo N.'s _family_ life + was completely reflected in his works. + + It is perfectly true that Leo N. was generally a _man_, and not + merely a writer. But it is _not_ true, if you will pardon me, that + he wrote _easily_. Indeed, he experienced the 'tortures of creative + activity' in a high degree; he wrote with difficulty and slowly, + made endless corrections; he doubted his powers, denied his talent, + and he often said: 'Writing is just like childbirth; until the + fruit is ripe, it does not come out, and, when it does, it comes + with pain and labour.' + + Those are his own words. + + And now, Semen Afanasevich, with regard to your last remark, that + Yasnaya Polyana of the years 1862 to 1870 gives the impression of a + 'home' in which literary interests had been removed to the second + floor--I repeat once more that there was no such 'home'; it is + true that I was quite a young girl, in my eighteenth year, when I + married, and I only vaguely realized the great importance of the + husband whom I adored. Now I have come to the end of the page. + + With respect and devotion, + + S. TOLSTOY. + +Nearly three years separate the going away and death of Leo N. Tolstoy +from the writing of her autobiography by S. A. T. It might have been +expected that that interval of time would have stilled the pain in her +heart and that her soul would have found peace from her sufferings. But +S. A. T. is far from peace and reconciliation. Pain, a void in her +heart, a protest against some one or something are felt in every word of +her autobiography. In her work she has given new and interesting +information about her family; she has dwelt upon her children, the +guests who visited Yasnaya Polyana, the literary works of her husband, +without giving us anything new; and then she concentrated all her +attention upon the domestic drama. The domestic drama is the centre +round which all the thoughts and all the feelings of S. A. T. turn. + +In her story about this domestic drama she has not sinned against the +truth; she has gone back again into the past deeply and with +sincerity--every one who reads her work without prejudice will admit +this. And yet one feels that it is not for nothing that she tells of +family difficulties and pours out before us the pain of her soul. +Continual references to the difficulties of her position as a mother, +insistent emphasis upon the mutual love of herself and her husband, and +the allusions to "friends" who entered the house, got possession of the +mind, heart, and will of Leo N., and disturbed the harmony of their +married life--all this creates an impression in the reader's mind that +S. A. T., in writing her autobiography, was guided by a definite +purpose, that of contradicting the unfavourable rumours about her which +circulated everywhere and were getting into newspapers and magazines. + +This desire, which is masked in the autobiography, is definitely +expressed by S. A. T. in another place, in her preface to Leo N. +Tolstoy's _Letters to His Wife_, published in 1913. There she says +frankly: "This, too, has induced me to publish these letters, that after +my death, which in all likelihood is near, people will, as usual, +wrongly judge and describe my relations to my husband and his to me. +Then let them study and form their judgment upon living and genuine +data, and not upon guesses, gossip and inventions." + +We shall understand S. A. T.'s desire, if we consider her position. It +is true that the great honour of being the wife of a genius fell to the +lot of S. A. T., but there also fell to her lot the difficult task of +creating favourable conditions for the life and development of that +genius. She knew the joy of living with a genius, but she also knew the +horror of living in public, so that her every movement, smile, frown, +incautious word was in everyone's eyes and ears and was caught up by the +newspapers and spread over the whole world, recorded in diaries and +reminiscences as material for future judgments upon her. Forty-eight +years is a long period. Many unnecessary words were spoken in that time, +many incautious movements were made; and for every one she will be made +to answer before the court of mankind. S. A. T. knew this, and with an +anxious heart she prepared herself for the judgment. The _Autobiography_ +and L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his Wife_ are the last words of the +accused. We should listen to them carefully and with attention, weighing +every word. If S. A. T. bears a responsibility before all mankind, each +of us before our conscience has a responsibility for whatever verdict he +may pass upon her. We must judge sternly, but justly. + +S. A. T.'s wish has been carried out. In the autobiography printed below +two new chapters are substituted for the first half of Chapter III in +the original draft, and an independent Chapter V has been made out of +the last half of the original third chapter. Passages cut out of this +third chapter are given in full in notes 20, 38, and 43. + +Our notes are given at the end of the autobiography. + +VASSILI SPIRIDONOV. + + + + +A SHORT AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COUNTESS SOPHIE ANDREEVNA TOLSTOY + + + + +I + + +I was born on 22 August, 1844, in the country, at the village of +Pokrovskoye in the Manor of Glyebov-Stryeshnev, and up to the time of my +marriage I spent every summer there. In the winter our family lived in +Moscow, in the Kremlin at the house near the Troizki Gate, which +belonged to the Crown, for my father was court physician{1} and also +principal physician to the Senate and Ordnance Office.{2} + +My father was a Lutheran, but my mother belonged to the Orthodox Church. +The investigations of my sister, T. A. Kuzminskii, and of my brother, A. +A. Bers,{3} show, with regard to my father's origin, that it was his +grandfather who emigrated from Germany to Russia. During the reign of +the Empress Elisabeth Petrovna, regiments were raised in Russia for +which new instructors were required. At the request of the Empress, the +King of Prussia sent four officers of the Horse Guards to Petersburg; +among them was Captain Ivan Bers, who, after serving for several years +in Russia, was killed at the battle of Zorndorf. He left a widow and one +son, Evstafii. All that is known about her is that she was called Marie, +that she was a baroness, and that she died young, leaving a moderate +fortune to her son, Evstafii. + +Evstafii Ivanovich lived in Moscow and married Elisabeth Ivanovna +Wulfert, belonging to an old, aristocratic, Westphalian family.{4} She +had two sons, Alexander and Andrey, my father. Both were medical men and +studied at the Moscow University. + +In 1812 all the property of Evstafii Ivanovich was destroyed by fire, +including all his houses, documents, and his seal with his coat-of-arms, +a bee-hive with a swarm of bees attacking a bear, from which we derive +our family name, Bers (Baer in German means bear). The right to the +coat-of-arms was not restored to my father, though applications were +made by his descendants; permission was given only to use a bee-hive +and bees on the coat-of-arms.{5} + +After the war of 1812 the government made a small grant of money to +Evstafii Ivanovich, and my grandmother, Elizabeth Ivanovna, when she +became a widow, managed with difficulty to educate her sons. After +finishing their studies at the medical schools of the university, the +brothers Bers began to earn their own living. The elder, Alexander +settled in Petersburg,{6} the younger lived with his mother in Moscow. + +At the age of thirty-four Andrey married Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavin, +who was sixteen years old and the daughter of Alexander Mikhailovich +Islenev and of Princess Sophie Petrovna Kozlovskii, nee Countess +Zavadovskii. + +My mother's descent was as follows: Count Peter Vasilevich Zavadovskii, +my mother's grandfather, was the well-known statesman and favourite of +the Empress Catherine II. Under Alexander I he became the first Minister +of Education in Russia. He was married to Countess Vera Nikolaevna +Apraxin, who was a maid-of-honour, a peeress in her own right, and a +remarkable beauty. The elder daughter, Countess Sophie Petrovna +Zavadovskii, at the age of sixteen was married against her will to +Prince Kozlovskii; she had one son by him, but, after a short and +unhappy married life, left him and had a liaison with Alexander +Mikhailovich Islenev, with whom she lived for the remainder of her life. +She died in childbirth, but had previously borne him three sons and +three daughters, of whom the youngest, Lyubov Alexandrovna, was my +mother. + +Sophie Petrovna lived permanently on my grandfather's estate in the +village Krasnoye,{7} and there she was buried near the church. It was +said that she induced a priest to marry her to my grandfather. She used +to say: "I want to be the wife of Alexander Mikhailovich at any rate in +the sight of God, if not in the view of man." + +My grandfather, Alexander Mikhailovich Islenev,{8} of an old +aristocratic family, took part in the battle of Borodino, after which he +was given a commission in the Preobrazhenskii Guards. Subsequently he +was aide-de-camp to Count Chernishov. The family name "Islenev" was not +given to his children by Sophie Petrovna; the marriage was not +considered legal, and the descendants now bear the name "Islavin." Many +of them rose to high rank.{9} + + + + +II + + +My father and mother had a large family, and I was their second +daughter.{10} My father had, besides his government posts, a very large +medical practice and often overworked. He tried to give us the best +education and surrounded us with all the comforts of life. My mother did +the same, but she also instilled into us the idea that, as we had no +fortune at all, and the family was large, we must prepare ourselves in +order to earn our own livings. Besides learning our own lessons we had +to teach our younger brothers, do sewing, embroidering, and +housekeeping, and later on prepare for the examination of a private +teacher. + +Our first governesses were German; we were taught French first by +mother, then by governesses, and later by the French lecturer of the +university. We were taught the Russian language and science by +university students. One of them tried in his own way to develop my +mind and to make me a believer in extreme materialism; he used to lend +me Bluechner and Feuerbach, suggested that there was no God and that +religion was an obsolete superstition. At first I was fascinated by the +simplicity of the atomic explanation and the reduction of everything in +the world to the correlations of atoms, but I soon felt the want of the +ordinary orthodox faith and church, and I gave up materialism for ever. + +Up to the time of the examinations we daughters were educated at home. +At the age of sixteen I went in for the private teacher's examination at +the Moscow university, taking Russian and French as my principal +subjects. The examiners were the well-known professors, Tikhonravov, +Ilovaiskii, Davidov,{11} Father Sergievskii,{12} and M. Paquaut. It was +an interesting time. I was working with a friend, the daughter of the +Inspector of the University, and therefore moved in university circles, +among intelligent professors and students. It was the beginning of the +'sixties, a time of intellectual ferment. The abolition of serfdom had +just been announced; every one was discussing it, and we young people +were enthusiastic for the great event. We used to meet, discuss, and +enjoy ourselves. + +At that time a new type had just appeared in life and in literature; +there was the new breath of nihilism among the young. I remember how at +a large party, when professors and students were present, Turgenev's +_Fathers and Sons_ was read aloud, and Bazarov seemed to us to represent +a strange type, something new, something which contained a promise for +the future. + +I was not a good student, always concentrating exclusively upon the +subject which I liked. For instance, I liked literature very much. I was +carried away by Russian literature and read a great many books, getting +the oldest books and manuscripts from the university library, beginning +with the chronicles and ending with the latest Russian writers. I was +fascinated and surprised that the Russian tongue should have developed +out of the feeble beginnings in monastic writings into the language of +Pushkin. It was like the growth of a living creature. + +In my youth Tolstoy's _Childhood_ and Dickens's _David Copperfield_ made +the greatest impression on me. I copied out and learnt by heart passages +in _Childhood_ which I particularly liked, for instance: "Will one ever +get back the freshness, the freedom from care, the desire for love, and +the power of belief which one possessed in childhood?--" When I finished +_David Copperfield_, I cried as though I were being separated from a +close friend. I did not like studying history from the text-books; in +mathematics I only liked algebra, and that, owing to a complete lack of +mathematical gifts, I soon forgot. + +I was successful in the university examinations; in both Russian and +French I received the mark "excellent," and I was given a diploma of +which I was very proud. Later, I remember, I was pleased at hearing +Professor Tikhonravov praise my essay on "Music" to my husband; he +added: "That is just the wife you need. She has a great _flair_ for +literature; in the examination her essay was the best of the year." + +Soon after the examination I began writing a story, taking as the +heroines myself and my sister Tanya, and calling her Natasha. Leo +Tolstoy also called the heroine in his _War and Peace_ Natasha.{13} He +read my story{14} some time before our marriage and wrote of it in his +diary: "What force of truth and simplicity." Before my marriage I burnt +the story and also my diaries, written since my eleventh year, and other +youthful writings, which I much regret. + +Of music and drawing I learnt little; I did not have enough time, though +throughout my life I have loved all the arts and have more than once +returned to them, using the little leisure left to me from a life which, +in my girlhood and particularly during my marriage, was always busy and +hardworking. + + + + +III + + +Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy had known my mother from his childhood and +was a friend of hers, though he was two and a half years younger. Now +and then on his way to Moscow he used to pay a visit to our family. His +father, Count Nikolai Ilitch Tolstoy was very friendly with my +grandfather, Alexander Mikhailovich Islenev, and they used to visit each +other at the village Krasnoye and the hamlet Yasnaya Polyana. In August, +1862, my mother took us girls to see our grandfather at the village of +Ivitsi in Odoevski, and on our way we stopped at Yasnaya Polyana which +my mother had not seen since she was a child; at the time my mother's +greatest friend, Marie Nikolaevna Tolstoy, was staying there, having +just returned from Algiers.{15} + +On our way back Leo Nikolaevich accompanied us as far as Moscow, and he +used to come and see us almost daily at our country-house in +Pokrovskoye, and afterwards in Moscow. On the evening of 16 September he +handed me a written proposal of marriage.{16} Up to that time no one +knew the object of his visits.{17} There was a painful struggle going on +in his soul. In his diary at the time he wrote, for instance: + + 12 Sept. 1862. + + I am in love, as I did not think it was possible to be in love. + + I am a madman; I'll shoot myself, if it goes on like this. They had + an evening party; she is charming in everything.... + + 13 Sept. 1862. + + To-morrow as soon as I get up, I shall go and tell everything or + shoot myself.... + +I accepted Leo Nikolaevich and our engagement lasted only one week. On +23 September we were married in the royal church of the Nativity of Our +Lady, and immediately afterwards left for Yasnaya Polyana in a new +carriage with a team of six horses and a postillion. We were accompanied +by Alexei Stepanovich,{18} Leo Nikolaevich's devoted servant, and the +old maid-servant, Varvara. + +After coming to Yasnaya Polyana, we decided to settle down there with +Aunt Tatyana Alexandrovna Ergolskii.{19} From the very first I assisted +my husband in the management of the house and estate, and in copying out +his writings.{20} + +After the first days of our married life had passed, Leo Nikolaevich +realized that besides his happiness he needed activity and work. In his +diary of December, 1862, he wrote: "I feel the force of the need to +write." That force was a great one, creating a great work which made the +first years of our married life bright with joy and happiness. + +Soon after our marriage Leo Nikolaevich finished _Polikushka_, finally +completed _The Cossacks_ and gave it to Katkov's _Russkii Vyestnik_. He +then began to work on the Decembrists whose fate and activity interested +him a great deal. When he began to write about that period, he +considered it necessary to relate who they were, to describe their +origin and previous history, and so to go back from 1825 to 1805. He +became dissatisfied with the Decembrists, but _The Year 1805_ served as +a beginning for _War and Peace_ and was published in _Russkii +Vyestnik_.{21} This work, which Leo Nikolaevich did not like to be +called a novel, he wrote with pleasure, assiduously, and it filled our +life with a living interest. + +In 1864 a good deal of it was already written, and Leo Nikolaevich often +read aloud to me and to our two cousins, Varya and Lise, the daughters +of Marie Nikolaevna Tolstoy, the charming passages as soon as he had +written them. In the same year he read a few chapters to friends and to +two literary men, Zhemchuzhnikov and Aksakov, in Moscow, and they were +in raptures over it.{22} Generally Leo Nikolaevich read extraordinarily +well, unless he was very excited, and I remember how pleasant it was in +Yasnaya Polyana to listen to him reading Moliere's comedies, when he had +not anything new from _War and Peace_. + +During the first years at Yasnaya Polyana we lived a very retired life. +I could not recall anything of importance during that time in the life +of the people, society, or State, because everything passed us by; we +lived the whole time in the country, we followed nothing, saw nothing, +knew nothing--it did not interest us. I desired nothing else but to live +with the characters of _War and Peace_; I loved them and watched the +life of each of them develop as though they were living beings. It was a +full life and an unusually happy one, with our mutual love, our +children, and, above all, that great work, beloved by me and later by +the whole world, the work of my husband. I had no other desires. + +Only at times in the evenings, when we had put the children to bed and +sent off the MSS. or corrected proofs to Moscow, as a recreation we +would sit down at the piano and till late at night play duets. Leo +Nikolaevich was particularly fond of Haydn's and Mozart's +symphonies.{23} At that time I played rather badly, but I tried very +hard to improve. Leo Nikolaevich too, it was clear, was satisfied with +his fate. In 1864 he wrote in a letter to my brother: "It is as though +our honeymoon had only just begun." And again: "I think that only one +in a million is as lucky as I am." When his relation, Countess Alexandra +Andreevna Tolstoy, complained that he wrote little and rarely to her, he +replied: "_Les peuples heureux n'out pas d'histoire_; that is the case +with us."{24} Every new idea or the successful carrying out of some +creation of his genius made him happy. Thus, for instance, he writes in +his diary on 19 March, 1865: "A cloud of joy has just come upon me at +the idea of writing the psychological history of Alexander and +Napoleon."{25} + +It was because he felt the beauty of his own creations that Leo +Nikolaevich wrote: "The poet takes the best out of his life and puts it +into his writings. Hence his writing is beautiful and his life bad." But +his life at that time was not bad; it was as good and as pure as his +work. + +How I loved copying _War and Peace_! I wrote in my diary: "The +consciousness of serving a genius and a great man has given me strength +for anything." I also wrote in a letter to Leo Nikolaevich: "The copying +of _War and Peace_ uplifts me very much morally, _i. e._ spiritually. +When I sit down to copy it, I am carried away into a world of poetry, +and sometimes it even seems to me that it is not your novel that is so +good, but I that am so clever." In my diary I also wrote: "Levochka all +the winter has been writing with irritation, often with tears and pain. +In my opinion, his novel, _War and Peace_, must be superb. Whatever he +has read to me moves me to tears." In 1865, when my husband was in +Moscow looking up historical material, I wrote to him: "Today I copied +and read on a little ahead, what I had not yet seen nor read, namely, +how the miserable, muffled-up old Mack himself arrives to admit his +defeat, and round him stand the inquisitive aides-de-camp, and he is +almost crying, and his meeting with Kutuzov. I liked it immensely, and +that is what I am writing to tell you." + +In November, 1866, Leo Nikolaevich used to go to the Rumyantsev Museum +and read up everything about the freemasons. Before leaving Yasnaya +Polyana he always left me work to copy. When I had finished it, I sent +it off to Moscow, and I wrote to my husband: "How have you decided +about the novel? I have got to love your novel very much. When I sent +the fair-copy off to Moscow, I felt as if I had sent off a child and I +am afraid that some harm may come to it." + +In copying I was often astonished and could not understand why Leo +Nikolaevich corrected or destroyed what seemed so beautiful, and I used +to be delighted if he put back what he had struck out. Sometimes proofs +which had been finally corrected and sent off, were returned again to +Leo Nikolaevich at his request in order to be recorrected and recopied. +Or a telegram would be sent to substitute _one_ word for another. My +whole soul became so immersed in copying that I began myself to feel +when it was not altogether right, for instance, when there were frequent +repetitions of the same word, long periods, wrong punctuation, +obscurity, etc. I used to point all these things out to Leo Nikolaevich. +Sometimes he was glad for my remarks; sometimes he would explain why it +ought to remain as it was: he would say that details do not matter, +only the general scheme matters. + +The first thing which I copied out in my clumsy, but legible writing was +_Polikushka_, and for years afterwards that work delighted me. I used to +long for the evening when Leo Nikolaevich would bring me something newly +written or recorrected. Some passages in _War and Peace_, and also in +his other works, had to be copied over and over again. Others, for +instance the description of the uncle's hunting party in _War and +Peace_, were written once and for all and were not corrected. I remember +how Leo Nikolaevich called me down to his study and read aloud to me +that chapter just after he had written it, and we smiled and were happy +together. + +In copying I sometimes allowed myself to make remarks and to ask him to +strike out anything which I thought not sufficiently pure to be read by +young people, for instance in the scene of the beautiful Ellen's +cynicism, and Leo Nikolaevich granted my request. But often in my life, +when copying the poetical and charming passages in my husband's works, I +have wept, not only because they moved me, but simply from the artist's +pleasure which I felt together with the author. + +It used to grieve me much when Leo Nikolaevich suddenly became depressed +and disappointed with his work, and wrote to me that he did not like the +novel and was miserable. This was particularly the case in 1864, when he +broke his arm, and I wrote to him in Moscow: "Why have you lost heart in +everything? Everything depresses you; nothing goes right. Why have you +lost heart and courage? Haven't you the strength to rouse yourself? +Remember how pleased you were with the novel, how well you thought it +all out, and suddenly you don't like it. No, no, you must not. Now, come +to us, and instead of the Kremlin's walls you will see our _Chepyzh_,[J] +lighted up by the sun, and the fields ... and with a happy face you will +begin telling me the ideas for your work, you will dictate to me, and +ideas will again come to you, and the melancholy will pass away." And so +it was after he had come home. + +If Leo Nikolaevich stopped working, I used to feel dull and wrote to +him: "Prepare, prepare work for me." In Moscow he sold the first part of +_War and Peace_ to Katkov for the _Russkii Vyestnik_, and he handed the +MS. over to the secretary, Lyubimov.{26} Somehow or other it made me +sad, and I wrote to my husband: "I felt so sorry that you had sold it. +Terrible! Your thoughts, feelings, your talent, even your soul--sold!" + +When Leo Nikolaevich had finished _War and Peace_, I asked him to +publish that beautiful epic in book form, and not to publish it in +magazines, and he agreed. Soon afterwards N. N. Strakhov's brilliant +review of it came out, and Leo Nikolaevich said that the place which +Strakhov gave to _War and Peace_ by his appreciation would remain +permanent.{27} But apart from this Tolstoy's fame grew with great +rapidity, and his reputation as a writer rose higher and higher and soon +extended to all countries and all classes. + +Princess Paskevich was the first to translate _War and Peace_ into +French for some charitable purpose, and the French, although surprised, +appreciated the work of the Russian writer. Among my papers I have a +copy of I. S. Turgenev's letter to Edmond About, in which Turgenev gives +the highest praise to _War and Peace_. Among other things, he says on 20 +January, 1880: "_Un des livres les plus remarquables de notre temps_." +And again: "_Ceci est une grande oeuvre d'un grand ecrivain et c'est +la vraie Russie_."{28} + +In 1869 the printing of the first edition of _War and Peace_ was +completed; it was quickly sold out and a second printed. The writer +Shedrin's opinion of _War and Peace_ was strange; he said with contempt +that it reminded him of the chatter of nursemaids and old ladies. + +After finishing his great work, Leo Nikolaevich's need for creative +activity did not come to an end. New ideas sprang up in his mind. In +working at the period of Peter the Great, despite all his efforts, he +was unable to describe the period, particularly its every-day life. I +wrote to my sister about it: + +"All the characters of the time of Peter the Great he now has ready; +they are dressed, arranged, sitting in their places, but they don't +breathe yet. Perhaps they will begin to live." + +But these characters did not come to life. The beginning of this work on +the time of Peter the Great still remains unpublished. + +At one time Leo Nikolaevich intended to write the history of Mirovich, +but he did not accomplish that either.{29} He always shared with me his +plans about work, and in 1870 he told me that he wanted to write a novel +about the fall of a society woman in the highest Petersburg circles, and +the task which he set himself was to tell the story of the woman and of +her fall without condemning her. The idea was later carried out in his +new novel, _Anna Karenina_. I well remember the circumstances in which +he began to write that novel. + +In order to amuse old Aunt Tatyana Alexandrovna Ergolskii, I sent my son +Serge, who was her godson, to read aloud to her Pushkin's _Tales of +Byelkin_. She fell asleep while he was reading, and Serge went up to +the nursery, leaving the book on a table in the drawing-room. Leo +Nikolaevich took up the book and started to read a passage beginning +with the words: "The guests were arriving at the country-house of Count +L----"{30} "How good, how simple," said Leo Nikolaevich. "Straight to +business. That's the way to write. Pushkin is my master."{31} That same +evening Leo Nikolaevich began to write _Anna Karenina_ and read the +opening chapter to me; after a short introduction about the families he +had written: "Everything was in a muddle in the house of the +Oblonskiis." That was on 19 March, 1872. + +When he had written the first part of _Anna Karenina_ and had given me +the second part to be copied, Leo Nikolaevich suddenly stopped working +at it and became interested in education. In 1874 he wrote to Countess +Alexandra Andreevna Tolstoy: "I am again deep in education, as I was +fourteen years ago. I am writing a novel, but I cannot tear myself away +from the living in order to describe imaginary people."{32} + +However difficult I might find it to combine the copying with my +maternal and other duties, when I had not got it, I missed it and waited +impatiently for my husband's artistic work to begin again. + +The conditions under which _Anna Karenina_ was written were much more +difficult than those under which _War and Peace_ was written. Then we +had undisturbed happiness, now there died in succession three of our +children{33} and two aunts.{34} I became ill, grew thin, coughed blood, +and suffered from pains in the back. Leo Nikolaevich became alarmed, and +in Moscow, on the way to get kumiss, he consulted Professor Zakharin, +who said: "It is not yet consumption, but her nerves may be shattered"; +and he added reproachfully: "You have neglected her, though." He forbade +me to teach the children or do the copying, and he prescribed a regime +of silence. For a long time I got no better, especially as we had to +spend the summer on the Samara steppes in very inconvenient surroundings +and living on kumiss, which I could not drink. Miserable and ill, I +wrote to my sister: "Levochka's novel is published and is said to be a +great success. In me it arouses strange feelings; there is so much +sorrow in our house, and we are everywhere made so much of." + +After _Anna Karenina_, Leo Nikolaevich, wishing to purify the literature +read by simple folk and to introduce more morality and art into it, +wrote a series of stories and legends which I admired very much; I +sympathized keenly with their idea and object. I remember being present +at the university when these legends were read aloud, and I wrote to Leo +Nikolaevich at Yasnaya Polyana: + +"The legends were a tremendous success. They were beautifully read by +Professor Storozhenko. The majority of the audience were students. The +impression which the stories makes on one is that the _style_ is +remarkably severe, concise, not a single unnecessary word, everything +true and pointed--a harmonious whole. Much meaning, few words; it gives +one satisfaction right up to the end." + +I mention these works, as I have done those which were created during +the happiest years of our life. + + + + +IV + + +During the first years of our married life we had few people to stay +with us. I remember that Count Sollogub, the author of _Tarantas_, with +his two sons, used to come and visit us. He was a clever and amiable +man, and we all liked him very much; he won my heart by saying to Leo +Nikolaevich: "Lucky man to have such a wife." To me he once said: "You +are, in fact, the nurse of your husband's talent, and go on being that +all your life long." I always remembered this wise and friendly advice +of Count Sollogub, and I tried to follow it as well as I could. + +Very often Fet used to come to us; Leo Nikolaevich was fond of him and +Fet was fond of us both. On his journeys between Moscow and his estate +he used to stay with us, and his good wife, Marie Petrovna, often came +with him; he used to make the house ring with his loud, brilliant, often +witty, and sometimes flattering, talk. + +In the early summer of 1863, he was at Yasnaya Polyana when Leo +Nikolaevich was tremendously interested in bees and used to spend whole +days among the hives; sometimes I used even to bring the lunch out +there. One evening we all decided to have tea in the apiary. Everywhere +in the grass glow-worms began to shine. Leo Nikolaevich took two of them +and laughingly held them to my ears, saying: "Look, I always promised +you emerald ear-rings; could anything be better than these?" When Fet +left, he wrote me a letter in verse, ending as follows: + + In my hand is yours, + What a marvel! + And on the earth are two glow-worms, + Two emeralds.{85} + +Almost always after a visit Afanasii Afanasevich Fet sent me a poem, and +many of them were dedicated to me.{86} In one of them I was pleased by +the, perhaps, undeserved description of the qualities of my soul in the +following stanza: + + And, behold, enchanted + By thee, here, remote, + I understand, bright creature, + All the _purity_ of thy soul. + +When we settled down in Moscow, Fet bought a house near us and often +visited us, saying that in Moscow all he wanted was a _samovar_. We +laughed at this unexpected desire of Fet's, and he explained: "I must be +certain that in such and such a house, in the evening, the samovar is +boiling and that there is sitting there a sweet hostess with whom I can +spend a pleasant evening." + +Among the interesting visitors at Yasnaya Polyana was Turgenev, who came +twice. The first time was in 1878, and the second when he came to ask +Leo Nikolaevich to be present at the opening of the Pushkin memorial. He +was amiable and lively and liked our happy family life, and he said to +Leo Nikolaevich: "How well you did for yourself, my dear, in marrying +your wife."{37} + +I thank those dear, dead, _real_ friends of ours for their invariable +goodness and kindness to me. Many of them were more than twenty years +older than I and treated me, as a young woman, with kindliness. + +Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov often came to us on long visits; he was for +all of us a loved and respected friend and he was always deeply touched +by our life and was fond of the children. He used to say: "I must write +about Yasnaya Polyana and the life here." But his intention remained +unfulfilled. + +Many other guests came to us at Yasnaya Polyana and in Moscow. Among +them were foreigners, Riepin, the famous artist, Gue, Syerov, Ginsburg, +Truberskoi, Aronson who painted and sculptured Leo Nikolaevich and +myself. My portraits for some reason were never like me. + +A great deal could be written about this happy period of my life, when +everything was so full of joy, interest, and occupation. I regret that +at the time I kept few records of events and the interesting +conversation of visitors and of Leo Nikolaevich himself; now I remember +little, for I have passed through different experiences in which I had +to pay with sorrow and tears for former happiness, experiences caused by +painful circumstances and by wicked people. + + + + +V + + +When children began to appear upon the scene, I could no longer devote +myself entirely to my husband's service and to the constant sympathy +with his work. We had many children: I bore thirteen. Ten of them I +nursed myself, on principle and because I wanted to do so. I did not +want to have wet-nurses. Owing to difficulties, I had to give up the +principle on three occasions. + +The children were growing up, and at that time we were of one mind with +regard to their education. Leo Nikolaevich always himself engaged or +found teachers and governesses for them. We parents taught them a great +deal ourselves. Their father wanted to give them a most refined +education, and to the boys an exclusively classical one. He learnt Greek +himself with great labour in order to teach our eldest son, Serge, whom +Leo Nikolaevich wanted to go to the university. "By that time Tanya will +be grown up," he would say, "and we shall have to bring her out." I had +to teach the children those subjects for which at the time there were no +teachers, French, German, music, drawing, Russian literature, and even +dancing. I knew very little English. Leo Nikolaevich, who also at that +time had a poor knowledge of the language, began teaching it to me, and +the first book which we read together in English was Wilkie Collins's +_The Woman in White_.{38} Later on I easily acquired the language from +the English governess whom we had for the children. + +What we were chiefly concerned for in the education of the elder +children, we obtained in 1881 when we moved to Moscow for the winter. +Our eldest son, Serge, entered the university; our two other sons, Ilya +and Leo, were sent by Leo Nikolaevich to L. I. Polivanov's classical +school. He sent our daughter, Tanya, to the School of Painting and +Sculpture, and he took her out to her first fancy-dress ball at the +Olsufevs, as I was expecting my eighth child, Alesha, born on 31 +October, and did not go out anywhere. + +The move to Moscow and our life in the town turned out for both of us to +be much more difficult than we could have anticipated. It is true that +Leo Nikolaevich wrote to me from the Samara steppes, where he had gone +for a kumiss cure: "If God will, I shall come and help you in your +Moscow affairs willingly--you have only to give me the order"; but he +was unable to carry out his word and he suddenly fell into despondency. +Now that he was away from the country and nature, the impressions of +town life, which he had forgotten, but which now came fresh to him, with +its poverty on the one side and its luxury on the other, threw him into +despondency, so that it often made me cry to see his moods which became +much worse after he took part in the Moscow census. City life was for +the first time presented, as it were, to his impressionable mind. But a +return to our previous life was impossible, as the children's education +had just been begun and had become the principal problem in our life. +With sadness I had to look back and recognize that the nineteen years +which we had spent continuously at Yasnaya Polyana were the happiest +time of our lives. Besides the family and the copying for Leo +Nikolaevich, what a number of good occupations I had in the country! +Sick peasants used to come to me and, as far as I could, I used to treat +them, and I was fond of the work. We planted apple trees and other trees +and took pleasure in watching them grow. Once we had a school in the +house and the village children were taught with ours as they grew up. +But this did not last long, because we had to have our own children +educated and we wanted to make their life as varied as possible. In the +winter the whole family, including us parents, the tutors, and +governesses, skated on the ice or tobogganed on the hills, and we +cleared the snow from the pond ourselves. Every summer, for twenty +years, the family of my sister, T. A. Kuzminskii, came to Yasnaya +Polyana, and our life was so merry that the summer with us was a +continuous holiday. There were various games like croquet and tennis, +amateur theatricals, and other amusements like bathing, gathering +mushrooms, boating, and driving, and besides these, the summer was +devoted to music, and concerts arranged by the children and grown-ups, +with piano, violin, and singing. + +One summer all the young people worked on the land, and with Leo +Nikolaevich gathered in the crops for the poor peasant women. Already at +the same time, _i. e._ at the end of the 'seventies and beginning of the +'eighties, he felt in him that inner crisis, that desire for a +different, more simple and spiritual, life which never left him until +the end of his life. But there also came an end to the undisturbed +happiness with which we had lived so many years. At the beginning of his +spiritual crisis Leo Nikolaevich, as is well known, gave himself +ardently to the orthodox faith and church. He saw himself united in it +with the people. But gradually he left it, as his later writings show. +It is difficult to trace the steps of this crisis in Leo Nikolaevich, +and when it was exactly that I, with my intensely hardworking life and +maternity, could no longer live so completely in my husband's +intellectual interests, and he began to go further and further away from +family life. We had already nine children, and the older they grew, the +more complicated became the problem of their education and our relations +to them. But their father was withdrawing himself more and more from +them, and at last he refused altogether to have anything to do with the +education of his children, on the plea that they were being taught +according to principles and a religion which he considered harmful for +them. + +I was too weak to be able to solve the dilemma, and I was often driven +to despair; I became ill, but saw no way out. What could be done? Go +back to the country and give up everything? But Leo Nikolaevich did not +seem to want that either. Against my will he bought a house in Moscow, +and thus seemed to fix our life in the town.{39} + +The difference between my husband and myself came about, not because _I_ +in my heart went away from him. I and my life remained the same as +before. It was _he_ who went away, not in his everyday life, but in his +writings and his teachings as to how people should live. I felt myself +unable to follow his teachings myself. But our personal relations were +unaltered: we loved each other just as much, we found it just as +difficult to be parted even temporarily, and, as an old and respected +friend of our family expressed it in a letter to me: "Not a jot could be +added to or taken from either of you without disturbing the wonderful +harmony of your private spiritual life in the midst of the multitude of +people surrounding you...." + +Only rarely was our happiness clouded and the harmony broken by flashes +of mutual jealousy, which had no ground at all. We were both +hot-tempered and passionate; we could not bear the thought that anyone +should alienate us. It was just this jealousy which woke up in me with +terrible force when, towards the end of our life, I realized that my +husband's soul, which had been open to me for so many years, had +suddenly been closed to me irrevocably and without cause, while it was +opened to an outsider, a stranger.{40} + + + + +VI + + +In four years we had suffered five losses in the family. The two aunts +died, in 1874 Tatyana Alexandrovna Ergolskii, and in 1875 Pelageya +Ilinishna Yushkov. Also three of our young children died; I caught +whooping-cough from them, and at the same time became ill with +peritonitis which brought on child-birth prematurely and I was on the +point of death. + +Whether these events influenced Leo Nikolaevich or whether there were +other causes, his discontent with life and his seeking for truth became +acute. Everyone knows from his _Confession_ and other works that he even +contemplated hanging himself, when he did not find satisfaction in his +seeking. I could not feel as happy as before, when my husband, though +without saying it frankly, threatened to take his life, as later he +threatened to go away from his family. It was difficult for me to +discover the causes of his despair or to induce myself to believe in +them.{41} Our family lived its normal, good life, but it no longer +satisfied him; he was looking for the meaning of life in something +different; he was seeking for belief in God, he always shuddered at the +thought of death, and he could not find that which might comfort him and +reconcile him with it. At one time he would speak to Count Bobrinsky{42} +of the teaching of Radstock,{43} at another to Prince S. S. Urusov{44} +of the orthodox faith and church, at another with pilgrims and +sectaries, and later with bishops, monks, and priests. But nobody and +nothing satisfied Leo Nikolaevich or put his mind at rest. A spirit +which rejected the existing religions, the progress, science, art, +family, everything which mankind had evolved in centuries, had been +growing stronger and stronger in Leo Nikolaevich, and he was becoming +gloomier and gloomier. It was as though his inner eye was turned only to +evil and suffering, as though all that was joyful, beautiful, and good +had disappeared. I did not know how to live with such views; I was +alarmed, frightened, grieved. But with nine children I could not, like a +weather-cock, turn in the ever changing direction of my husband's +spiritual going away. With him it was a passionate, sincere seeking; +with me it would have been a silly imitation, positively harmful to the +family. Besides, in my innermost heart and beliefs I did not wish to +leave the church to which from my childhood I had always turned in +prayer. Leo Nikolaevich was himself for nearly two years at the +beginning of his seeking extremely orthodox and observed all rituals and +feasts. At the time the family also followed his example. _When_ exactly +we parted from him and over what, I do not know, I cannot remember. + +Leo Nikolaevich's denial of the church and orthodoxy had a sharp +contrast in his recognition of the efficacy and wisdom of Christ's +teaching, which he considered incompatible with the doctrine of the +church. Personally I could have no difference with him regarding the +Gospel, since I considered the Gospel to be the foundation of the +orthodox faith.{45} When he accepted Christ's teaching and tried to live +in accordance with the Gospel, Leo Nikolaevich began to suffer through +our apparently luxurious mode of life, which I could not alter. I simply +did not understand why I should alter it, nor could I alter conditions +which had not been created by ourselves. If I had given away all my +fortune at my husband's desire (I don't know to whom), if I had been +left in poverty with nine children, I should have had to work for the +family--to feed, do the sewing for, wash, bring up my children without +education. Leo Nikolaevich, by vocation and inclination, could have done +nothing else but write.{46} He was always rushing off from Moscow to +Yasnaya Polyana; he lived alone there, read, wrote, and thought out his +work. I bore these partings from him with difficulty, but I considered +them necessary for my husband's intellectual work and peace of mind. + +In my turn, as I grew older, the external and internal complexity of +life made me look seriously into its demands, and again, as in my early +youth, I turned to philosophy, to the wisdom of the thinkers who had +preceded us. At that time, about 1881 or 1882, Prince Leonid Dmitrievich +Urusov,{47} an intimate friend who often visited us and who was Deputy +Governor of the Tula Province, translated into Russian _The Meditations +of Marcus Aurelius_ and brought us the book to read. The thoughts of +that royal sage produced a great impression on me. Later Prince Urusov +gave me the works of Seneca in a French translation. The brilliant style +and richness of thought in that philosopher so attracted me that I read +his works through twice. I then read in succession various philosophers, +buying their books and copying out the ideas and sayings which struck +me. I remember how impressed I was by Epictetus's thoughts on death. I +found Spinoza very difficult to understand, but I became interested in +his Ethics and especially in his explanation of the conception of God. +Socrates, Plato, and other philosophers, but particularly the Greeks, +enchanted me, and I can say that these sages helped me greatly to live +and to think. Later on I also tried to read modern philosophers; I read +Schopenhauer and others, but I much preferred the ancients. Of Leo +Nikolaevich's philosophical works I liked and understood best his book +_On Life_, and I translated it into French with the assistance of M. +Tastevin. I worked hard at that translation, being particularly ill at +the time and expecting the birth of our last child, Vanichka. While +working conscientiously at the translation, I often went for advice to +my husband and to the philosophers, N. Y. Grot and V. S. Solovev. + +I always very much liked writing of whatever kind. When Leo Nikolaevich +was writing his _A. B. C._ and _Four Reading-Books_, he used to intrust +to me the work of making up sentences and of re-telling and translating +them so as to adapt them to the Russian language and customs. I also +wrote the small story _Sparrows_ and others. + +On the appearance of _Kreutzer Sonata_, which I never liked, I wrote a +story from the woman's point of view, but I did not publish it. Later on +I wrote a tale, _A Song without Words_. I got the idea for it by seeing +girls at a concert behave strangely to a famous pianist. They kissed +his goloshes, tore his handkerchief to pieces and altogether acted as if +they were mad. What has music to do with all that? I wanted to convey +the idea that our attitude towards art, as towards nature, must be +chaste, _i. e._ pure, without any mixture of base human passions. + +When I taught the children, I wrote a Russian grammar from which they +quickly learnt to write correctly. Unfortunately the Russian teacher, +who much approved of my work, lost it. + +I used to invent stories to tell to my children, and I wrote some of +them down and later published them with illustrations. In the first +story, _Skeleton Aurelias_, I used an idea of Leo Nikolaevich's. He +began to write the story, but the beginning was lost. Whether it was +lost with his suit-case,{48} or whether it was carried off with the +other MSS., I do not know.{49} + +I always regarded my literary work with a certain contempt and irony, +considering it in the nature of a joke. For instance, after reading +various writings of the decadents, I tried to imitate them, and, for a +joke, wrote prose poems under the title _Groans_. They were published, +without my name, and without the author being known, in the _Journal +Dlva Vsvekh_ for March, 1904. + +I remember two others of my writings, translations which Leo Nikolaevich +commissioned me to do. One was from the German, _The Teaching of the +Twelve Apostles_,{50} which he afterwards corrected himself, and the +other from English, _On the Sect of the Bahaists_.{51} + +I also published various articles in newspapers. The most important +were: my appeal for funds for the famine-stricken on 3 November, 1891; +my letter to the _Metropolitans_ and _Synod_ on Leo Nikolaevich's +excommunication, which had deeply revolted and pained me.{52} I also +published an article, _A Recollection of Turgenev_, in the _Orlovskii +Vyestnik_, a critical article on Andreyev, and others.{53} + +If I ever wrote anything of value, it was the seven thick note-books, +under the title _My Life_.{54} In them I described all my long life up +to 1897. When after the death of Leo Nikolaevich I was, quite +illegally, forbidden access to the Historical Museum, where I had placed +for safe keeping all my husband's papers, diaries, letters, note-books, +as well as my own, I could not continue my work without materials, and +three years of my life, which was drawing to a close, were lost to the +work. And who knows better than I the life of Leo Nikolaevich? It was I +myself who in 1894 placed those documents first in the Rumyantsev +Museum, and later during its repair transferred them to the Historical +Museum, where they now lie awaiting the verdict as to their fate from +the courts of law.{55} + + + + +VII + + +In the summer of 1884 Leo Nikolaevich worked a great deal on the land; +for whole days he mowed with the peasants, and when tired out he came +home in the evenings, he used to sit gloomy and discontented with the +life lived by the family. That life was in discordance with his +teaching, and this tormented and pained him. At one time he thought of +taking a Russian peasant woman, a worker on the land, and of secretly +going away with the peasants to start a new life; he confessed this to +me himself. At last, on 17 June, after a little quarrel with me about +the horses, he took a sack with a few things on his shoulder and left +the house, saying that he was going away for ever, perhaps to America, +and that he would never come back. At the time I was beginning to feel +the pains of childbirth. My husband's behaviour drove me to despair, +and the two pains, of the body and of the heart, were unendurable. I +prayed to God for death. At four o'clock in the morning Leo Nikolaevich +came back, and, without coming to me, lay down on the couch downstairs +in his study. In spite of my cruel pains I ran down to him; he was +gloomy and said nothing to me. At seven o'clock that morning our +daughter Alexandra was born. I could never forget that terrible, bright +June night. + +Once more in 1897 Leo Nikolaevich had the desire to go away; but no one +knew of it. He wrote me a letter which, at his desire, was handed over +to me only after his death.{56} But that time also he did not go away. + +In the autumn of that year Leo Nikolaevich gave me a power-of-attorney +to manage all his affairs, including the publication of his works. +Inexperienced and without a farthing, I energetically began to learn the +business of publishing books, and then of selling and subscribing L. N. +Tolstoy's works. I had to manage the estates and in general all his +affairs. How difficult it was, with a large family and with no +experience! I had more than once to appeal to the censor, and for that +purpose I had to go to Petersburg. + +Once Leo Nikolaevich called me into his study and asked me to take over +in full ownership all his property, including his copyrights. I asked +him what need there was for that, since we were so intimate and had +children in common. He replied that he considered property an evil and +that he did not wish to own it. "So you wish to hand over that evil to +me, the creature nearest to you," I said, in tears; "I do not want it +and I shall take nothing." So I did not take my husband's property, but +I managed his affairs under the power-of-attorney, and it was only some +years afterwards that I agreed to a general division of the property, +and the father himself apportioned the shares to each of the children +and to myself. He renounced altogether the copyright of his books +written after 1881.{57} But he retained until the end of his life the +copyright of the previous books. The division was completed in 1891, +and Yasnaya Polyana was given to our youngest son, Vanichka, and to +myself. + +In the same year 1891 an important event happened to me. I went to +Petersburg to petition the authorities to remove the ban on the +thirteenth volume of L. N. Tolstoy's works, which contained _Kreutzer +Sonata_. I made an application to the Emperor Alexander III. He +graciously received me, and, after I had left, he ordered the ban on the +forbidden book to be removed, although he expressed a desire that +_Kreutzer Sonata_ should not be sold as a separate volume. But some one +secretly published the story, and envious persons calumniated me by +telling the Tsar that I had disobeyed his will. The Sovereign was, +naturally, highly displeased, and, as Countess A. A. Tolstoy told me he +said: "If I was mistaken in that woman, then there are no truthful +people in the world." I got to know about this too late to clear up the +matter, and I was deeply grieved, the more so because the Tsar died that +autumn without ever knowing the truth. + + + + +VIII + + +The year 1891 and the two following years were memorable for us because +of the assistance given by the family to the famine-stricken Russian +people. Distressed by the news which we received about the calamity, I +decided to publish in the newspapers an appeal for subscriptions. What a +joy to me was the ardent sympathy of the good people who sent generous +donations, often accompanied by moving letters! The four younger +children remained with me in Moscow. It was extraordinarily difficult +for me to part from my husband and the elder children who were exposing +themselves to many dangers. My only comfort was that I, too, was taking +part in the good work. I bought trucks of corn, beans, onions, cabbage, +everything needed for the feeding centres where the famine-stricken poor +from the villages were fed. To pay for this I received money which was +sent to me in considerable sums. From the material sent to me by textile +manufacturers I had under-clothing made by poor women for small wages, +and I sent it to the places where it was needed most, chiefly for those +suffering from typhoid. + +It might have been thought that this work would have satisfied Leo +Nikolaevich. And at first it did, but he became disappointed with this +too, and he began again to dream of a great act of renunciation, as he +expressed it in his diary. He was annoyed with the family, though he did +love us. He was often angry with me. We were what stood in the way of +his carrying out his dream of a free, new life, of an act of +renunciation. At times he would soften, and he wrote, for instance in +his diary: "It is good to be with Sonya. Yesterday I thought, as I saw +her with Andryusha and Misha, what a wonderful wife and mother she is in +one sense." Remarks like that, when they were made directly to me, +comforted me; but, on the other hand, his obstinate rejection of all +our method of life pained and tormented me. + +The famine relief work nearly cost my son Leo his life; he was at the +time a young undergraduate and worked on his own account on famine +relief in the Samara Province. His health, especially after an attack of +typhus, broke down completely, and for a long time afterwards I suffered +to see him sinking. But he recovered after being ill for two years. In +1895 our youngest son, Vanichka, died; he was seven years old, a general +favourite, extraordinarily like his father, a clever, sensitive child, +not long for this earth, as people say of such children. This was the +greatest sorrow of my life, and for long I could find neither peace nor +comfort.{58} At first I spent whole days in churches and cathedrals; I +also prayed at home and walked in my garden, where I remembered the dear +little slim figure of my boy. "Where are you, where are you, Vanichka?" +I used often to cry, not believing in my loss. At last, after having +spent nine hours one day in the Archangel Cathedral--it was a +fast-day--I was walking home and got soaked in a violent storm of rain. +I became very ill and my life was despaired of, but on Easter night at +the ringing of the bells I came to myself and reentered upon my +sorrowful existence. Everybody about me, and particularly my husband and +two eldest daughters, looked after me with extraordinary goodness and +tenderness. This gladdened and comforted me. + +In the spring my sister, T. A. Kuzminskii, arrived and took me off with +her to Kiev, and that disposed me still more to religion and made a +strong impression on me.[K] My depression and loss of interest in +everything continued during the summer, and it was only by chance and +quite unexpectedly that my state of mind was changed--by music. That +summer there was staying with us a well-known composer and superb +pianist.{59} In the evenings he used to play chess with Leo Nikolaevich, +and afterwards, at the request of all of us, he often played the piano. +Listening to the wonderful music of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and +others, superbly executed, I forgot for a time my sharp sorrow, and I +used morbidly to look forward to the evening, when I should again hear +that wonderful music. + +Thus the summer passed, and in the autumn I engaged a music mistress +and, at the age of fifty-two, began again to practise and learn to play. +As time went on, I made little progress. But I went to concerts, and +music saved me from despair. Leo Nikolaevich wrote somewhere about +music: "Music is a sensual pleasure of hearing, just as taste is a +sensual pleasure. I agree that it is less sensual than taste, but there +is no moral sense in it." I could never share this view. He himself +often cried, when his favourite pieces were played. Does the pleasure of +taste make one cry? Music always acted upon me like something soothing +and elevating. All the petty, everyday troubles lost their meaning. When +I heard the Chopin sonata with the funeral march or certain Beethoven +sonatas, I often had the desire to pray, to forgive, to love, and to +think of the infinite, spiritual, mysterious, and beautiful, just as +the sounds themselves do not say anything definite, but make one think, +dream, and rejoice vaguely and beautifully. + + + + +IX + + +In August, 1896, Leo Nikolaevich suggested that I should go with him and +his sister, Marie Nikolaevna, to the monastery near Shamardin. From +there we went to the Optina Monastery, where I fasted. While I +confessed, Leo Nikolaevich walked round the cell of the venerable monk, +Father Gerasim, but he did not come in. + +After Vanichka's death our family life was no longer happy. Gradually +the other children married and the house became empty. The parting with +our daughter was especially hard. Leo Nikolaevich's health began to be +bad, and in September, 1901, the doctors after a consultation ordered +him off to the south, to the Crimea. Countess Panin kindly lent us her +magnificent house in Gaspra, where our whole family spent nearly ten +months. Leo Nikolaevich's health not only did not improve, it grew +worse. He was ill in Gaspra from one infectious disease after another, +and it is with pain in my heart that I remember how I used to sit at +night by my husband's bed during nearly the whole of those ten months. +We took it in turns to sit by him, I, my daughters, the doctors, +friends, and above all my son, Serge. How much I used to go through and +think over during those nights!{60} + +We did not go back again to our life in Moscow, and the doctors and I +decided that it was best for Leo Nikolaevich to live in Yasnaya Polyana, +where he was born and bred. + +After making up our minds on our return from the Crimea to remain in the +country, during the following years we lived quietly and peacefully, all +occupied with our own work. I worked hard at writing my memoirs, under +the title _My Life_; I often went to Moscow on business in connection +with Leo Nikolaevich's publications, and then every day in the morning I +used to sit in the Historical Museum, copying from the diaries, +letters, and note-books the material which I wanted for my work. It gave +me great pleasure, that work upstairs in the tower of the museum, in +complete solitude, surrounded by such interesting papers. I did not +arrange the MSS., thinking that I might leave that for others, and +considering it more useful to write my reminiscences, as I did not +anticipate a long life or that my memory would remain fresh. + +Moreover by mere accident I took to painting passionately, for it always +attracted me. In Petersburg in the Tauric Palace a very good and +interesting exhibition of old and modern portraits was opened, and we +were asked to lend all our family portraits from Yasnaya Polyana. It +seemed to me most unpleasant to have the walls of the drawing-room bare, +and with my usual boldness I began copying the portraits before they +were removed. I had never studied painting, but I loved it, like all the +arts, and I was terribly excited and worked for whole days, and often +the nights as well. As formerly with music, I was completely carried +away by painting. Leo Nikolaevich laughingly said that I had caught a +disease called "portraititis," and that he was afraid for my sanity. The +most successful of my attempts was a copy of Leo Nikolaevich's portrait +by Kramskoi. Later I tried to paint landscapes and flowers from nature, +but extreme short-sightedness put me at a great disadvantage, and I was +dissatisfied with my want of skill. But I do not regret that I took up +music and painting, however unskilfully, towards the end of my life. One +only thoroughly understands any art when one practises it, however +badly. + +My last attempts were water-colour paintings of all the Yasnaya Polyana +flora and of all the fungi of the Yasnaya Polyana woods. + + + + +X + + +In 1904 I had to endure the pain of my son, Andrey, leaving to fight in +the war against Japan. In my heart I was opposed to war as to any other +kind of murder, and it was with a peculiar pain in my heart that I saw +my son off at Tambov and with other mothers looked at the carriages full +of soldiers--our sons doomed to death. + +A happy event for our family in 1905 was the birth of an only child to +our daughter, Tatyana Lvovna Sukhotin. This granddaughter, as she grew +up, was a favourite of Leo Nikolaevich and of the whole family. + +In 1906 I underwent a serious operation, performed by Professor V. F. +Snegirev in Yasnaya Polyana. How quietly I prepared myself for death, +how happy I felt, when the servants, saying good-bye to me, cried +bitterly! I felt a strange sensation, when I fell asleep under the +anaesthetic which was given to me: it was new and significant. All +external life in its complicated setting, especially of towns, flashed +before my inner vision like a quickly changing panorama. And how +insignificant human vanity appeared to me! I seemed to be asking myself: +what, then, is important? One thing: if God has sent us on to the earth +and we are to live, then the most important thing is to help one another +in whatever way possible. To help one another to live. I think the same +now. + +The operation was quite successful, but it seemed as though the will of +fate, having aimed at taking my life, wavered and then removed its hand +to our daughter Masha. I recovered, and that lovely, unselfish, +spiritual creature, Masha, died of pneumonia in our house two and a half +months after my operation. This sorrow was a heavy weight on our life +and aging hearts. The previous rift, the reproaches and unpleasantness +ceased for a while and we humbled ourselves before fate. The time passed +in our usual occupations, and Leo Nikolaevich, as a distraction, played +cards with his children and friends; he was very fond of whist. In the +mornings he wrote, and every afternoon he rode; he lived the most quiet +and regular life. He was, however, often worried by visitors who tired +him, by applicants, and by letters in which people disagreed with his +teaching and reproached him with his way of life, or asked him for money +or to get them jobs. + +These reproaches and the interference of outsiders in our peaceful +family life ruined it. Even before this the influence of outside people +was creeping in and towards the end of Leo Nikolaevich's life it assumed +terrifying dimensions. For instance, these outsiders frightened Leo +Nikolaevich with the prediction that the Russian Government would send +the police and seize all his papers. On that pretext they were removed +from Yasnaya Polyana, and, therefore, Leo Nikolaevich could no longer +work at them, as he had not the _whole_ material. Eventually with +difficulty I succeeded in getting back seven thick note-books containing +my husband's diaries which are now in the possession of our daughter +Alexandra; but the affair led to strained relations with the man who had +them in his keeping and he ceased his daily visits.{61} + + + + +XI + + +In 1895 Leo Nikolaevich wrote a letter in which, as a request to his +heirs, he expressed the desire that the copyright in his works should be +made public property, and in which he entrusted the examination of his +MSS. after his death to Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov, to Chertkov, and +to me.{62} The letter was in the keeping of my daughter Masha and was +destroyed,{63} and in its place in September, 1909, a will was made at +Chertkov's house in Krekshino not far from Moscow, where Leo Nikolaevich +and several other persons were staying at the time. The will turned out +to have been drawn incorrectly and to be invalid, a fact which the +"friends" soon found out.{64} + +Our journey home from Krekshino through Moscow was terrible. One of the +intimates had informed the press that on such and such a day at a +certain hour Tolstoy would be at the Kursk Station. Several thousands of +people came there to see us off. At moments it seemed to me, as I walked +arm in arm with my husband and limped on my bad leg, that I should be +choked, fall down, and die. In spite of the fresh, autumnal air, we were +enveloped in a hot, thick atmosphere. + +This had a very serious effect upon Leo Nikolaevich's health. Just after +the train had passed Schekino station, he began to talk deliriously and +lost all consciousness of his surroundings. A few minutes after our +arrival at home he had a prolonged fainting fit and this was followed by +a second. Luckily there was a doctor in the house. After this I suffered +more and more from a painful, nervous excitement: day and night I +watched my husband to see when he would go for a ride or a walk by +himself, and I awaited his return anxiously, for I was afraid that he +might have another fainting fit or simply fall down somewhere where it +would be difficult to find him. + +Owing to these agitations and to the difficult and responsible work +connected with L. N. Tolstoy's publications, I continually grew more +nervous and worried, and my health broke down completely.{65} I lost my +mental balance, and, owing to this, I had a bad effect upon my husband. +At the same time Leo Nikolaevich began continually to threaten to leave +the house and his "intimate" friend[M] carefully prepared, together, +with the lawyer M., a new and correct will[N] which was copied by Leo +Nikolaevich himself on the stump of a tree in the forest on 23 July, +1910.{66} + + * * * * * + +This was the will which was proved after his death. + +In his diary he wrote at the time, among other things: "I very clearly +see my mistake; I ought to have called together all my heirs and told +them my intention; I ought not to have kept it secret. I wrote this +to----, but he was very annoyed--" + +On 5 August he writes of me: + +"It is painful the constant secrecy and fear for her...." + +On 10 August he writes: + +"It is good to feel oneself guilty, as I do...." And again: "My +relations with all of them are difficult; I cannot help desiring +death...." + +Clearly the pressure brought to bear upon him tormented him. One of his +friends, P. I. B..V,{67} was of opinion that no secret should be made of +the will, and he told Leo Nikolaevich so. At first he agreed with the +opinion of this true friend, but he went away and Leo Nikolaevich +submitted to another influence though at times he was obviously +oppressed by it. I was powerless to save him from that influence, and +for Leo Nikolaevich and myself there began a terrible period of painful +struggle which made me still more ill. The sufferings of my hot and +harassed heart clouded my reasoning powers, while Leo Nikolaevich's +friends worked continually, deliberately, subtly upon the mind of an old +man whose memory and powers were growing feeble.{68} They created around +him who was dear to me an atmosphere of conspiracy, of letters received +secretly, letters and articles sent back after they had been read, +mysterious meetings in forests for the performance of acts essentially +disgusting to Leo Nikolaevich; after their performance he could no +longer look me or my sons straight in the face, for he had never before +concealed anything from us; it was the first secret in our life and it +was intolerable to him. When I guessed it and asked whether a will was +not being made, and why it was concealed from me, I was answered by a +"no" or by silence. I believed that it was not a will. It meant, +therefore, that there was some other secret of which I knew nothing, and +I was in despair with the perpetual feeling that my husband was being +carefully set against me and that a terrible and fatal ending was in +front of us.{69} Leo Nikolaevich's threats to leave the house became +more and more frequent, and this threat added to my torment and +increased my nervousness and ill-health. + +I shall not describe in detail Leo Nikolaevich's going away. So much has +been and will be written about it, but no one will know the real cause. +Let _his_ biographers try to find out. + +When I read in the letter which Leo Nikolaevich sent me through our +daughter Alexandra that he had gone away finally and for ever, I felt +and clearly understood that without him--and especially after all that +had happened--life would be utterly impossible, and instantly I made up +my mind to put an end to all my sufferings by throwing myself into the +pond in which some time before a girl and her little brother had been +drowned. But I was rescued, and, when Leo Nikolaevich was told of it, he +wept bitterly, as his sister, Marie Nikolaevna, wrote to me, but he +could not get himself to return.{70} + +After Leo Nikolaevich's going away an article appeared in the newspapers +expressing the joy of one of his most "intimate" friends at the +event.{71} + + + + +XII + + +All my children came to Yasnaya Polyana and called in a specialist on +nervous diseases and had a nurse to be with me. For five days I ate +nothing and did not take a drop of water. + +I felt no hunger, but my thirst was acute. In the evening of the fifth +day my daughter Tanya persuaded me to drink a cup of coffee, by saying +that, if father summoned me, I would be so weak that I should be unable +to go. + +Next morning we received a telegram from the newspaper _Russkoye Slovo_ +that Leo Nikolaevich had fallen ill at Astapovo and that his temperature +was 104. The "intimate" friend had received a telegram before this and +had already left, carefully concealing from his family the place where +the patient was lying. We took a special train at Tula and went to +Astapovo. Our son Serge on his way to his estate had been overtaken by a +telegram from his wife who had sent it at our daughter Alexandra's +request, and he was already with his father. + +This was the beginning of new and cruel sufferings for me. Round my +husband was a crowd of strangers and outsiders, and I, his wife who had +lived with him for forty-eight years, was not admitted to see him. The +door of the room was locked, and, when I wanted to get a glimpse of my +husband through the window, a curtain was drawn across it. Two nurses +who were told off to look after me held me firmly by the arms and did +not allow me to move. Meanwhile Leo Nikolaevich called our daughter +Tanya to him and began asking all about me, believing me to be in +Yasnaya Polyana. At every question he cried, and our daughter said to +him: "Don't let us talk about mama, it agitates you too much." "Ah, no," +he said, "that is more important to me than anything." He also said to +her, but already indistinctly: "A great deal of trouble is falling upon +Sonya; we have managed it badly." + +No one ever told him that I had come, though I implored every one to do +so. It is difficult to say who was responsible for this cruelty. Every +one was afraid of accelerating his death by agitating him; that was also +the doctors' opinion.{72} Who can tell? Perhaps our meeting and my ways +of looking after him to which he was accustomed, might have revived him. +In one of his letters to me, which I have recently published, Leo +Nikolaevich writes that he dreads falling ill without me. + +The doctors allowed me to see my husband when he was now hardly +breathing, lying motionless on his back, with his eyes already closed. I +whispered softly some tender words in his ear, hoping that he might +still hear how I had been all the time there in Astapovo and how I loved +him to the end. I don't remember what more I said to him, but two deep +sighs, as though the result of a terrible effort, came as an answer to +my words, and then all was still.... + +All the days and nights that followed, until his body was removed, I +spent by the dead, and in me too life became cold. The body was taken to +Yasnaya Polyana; a multitude of people came there, but I saw and +recognized no one, and the day after the funeral I collapsed with the +same illness, pneumonia, though in a less dangerous form, and I was in +bed for eighteen days. + +A great comfort to me at the time was the presence of my sister Tatyana +Andreevna Kuzminskii, and of Leo Nikolaevich's cousin, Varvara +Valeryanovna Nagornaya. My children, tired out, returned to their +families. + + + + +XIII + + +And then there began my lonely life in Yasnaya Polyana, and the energy +which I used to spend on life was and is directed only to this, that I +may endure my sorrowful existence worthily and with submission to the +will of God. I try to occupy myself only with what in some way or +another concerns the memory of Leo Nikolaevich. + +I live in Yasnaya Polyana keeping the house and its surroundings as they +were when Leo Nikolaevich was alive, and looking after his grave. I have +kept for myself two hundred desyatins of land with the apple orchard and +the plantations, the making of which had given us such pleasure. The +greater part of the land (475 desyatins), with the fine, carefully +preserved woods, I sold to my daughter Alexandra to be transferred to +the peasants.{73} + +I also sold my Moscow house to the municipality,{74} and I sold the last +edition of the works of Leo Tolstoy, and gave all the proceeds to my +children. But they, and particularly the grandchildren, are so numerous! +Including the daughters-in-law and myself, we are now a family of +thirty-eight, and my help was, therefore, far from satisfactory. + +I always feel in my heart profound gratitude to the Sovereign Emperor +for granting me a pension, which allows me to live in security and to +keep the manor of Yasnaya Polyana. + +Three years have now passed. I look sadly on the havoc in Yasnaya +Polyana, how the trees which we planted are being cut down, how the +beauty of the place is gradually being spoiled, now that everything has +been handed over to the timber-merchants and peasants who frequently +have painful quarrels, now about the land and now about the woods. And +what is going to happen to the manor and the house after my death? + +Almost daily I visit the grave; I thank God for the happiness granted to +me in early life, and as to the last troubles between us, I look upon +them as a trial and a redemption of sin before death. Thy will be +done.{75} + +COUNTESS SOPHIE TOLSTOY. + +OCTOBER 28, 1913. +YASNAVA POLYANA. + + + + +NOTES + + +{1}. In _The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow +Government_, Vol. I, page 122, it is said of S. A. T.'s father: "Andrey +Evstafevich, son of a chemist, born 9 April, 1808, a physician on the +staff of the Moscow Palace Control, collegiate assessor 1842, State +Councillor 1864." + +{2}. This was the former name of the Commandant's Board. + +{3}. Alexander Alexandrovich Bers, first cousin of S. A. T. + +{4}. Born 3 December, 1789, died 25 March, {1855}. Buried in Petersburg +in the Volkov Lutheran Cemetery. _Peterburgskii Necropol, Petersburg_, +1912, Vol. I, page 204. + +{5}. In _The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow +Government_, Vol. I, page 122, the Bers are included under Section III, +_i. e._ among those families which were promoted to the title of +nobility through the civil service. The year of their promotion was +1843. The right to the coat-of-arms was granted by Supreme Order to the +father of S. A. T. in 1847. See V. Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, _List +of persons to whom has been granted by H. I. M. the right to +coats-of-arms and the title of nobility of the All-Russian Empire and of +the Kingdom of Poland_, Petersburg, 1911, page 14. + +{6}. Alexander Evstafevich Bers, born 18 February, 1807, died 6 +September, 1871. See _Peterburgskii Necropol_, Vol. I, page 204; also V. +Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, page 14. + +{7}. In the Tula Province, twenty-five versts from Yasnaya Polyana. + +{8}. A. M. Islenev, born 16 July, 1794, died 23 April, 1882. Leo +Tolstoy, who knew him well, described him as the father in _Childhood +Boyhood and Youth_. See P. Sergeenko, _From the Life of L. N. Tolstoy_ +and _How Count L. N. Tolstoy Lives and Works_, Moscow, 1898, page 40. + +{9}. The well-known Vladimir Alexandrovich Islavin, State Councillor, +born 29 November, 1818, died 27 May, 1895, author of the _The Samoyeds, +their Domestic and Social Life_, Petersburg, 1847, which at the time was +much discussed in newspapers and magazines. See V. I. Maezkov's +_Systematic Catalogue of Russian Books_, A. F. Basunov, Petersburg, +1869, page 404. + +{10}. There were five sons and three daughters, _The Book of +Genealogies_, Vol. I, pages 122 and {123}. The best known of these, +besides Sophie Andreevna, were: Tatyana Andreevna (by marriage +Kuzminskii) born 24 October 1846, the author of _My Reminiscences of +Countess Marie Nikolaevna Tolstoy_, Petersburg, 1914; Stepan Andreevich +Bers, born 21 July 1855, author of _Reminiscences of L. N. Tolstoy_, +Smolensk, 1894; Peter Andreevich Bers, born 26 August 1849, died 19 May +1910, the editor of _Detskyii Otdikh_ (1881-1882), and co-editor with L. +D. Obolenskii of the collection of _Stories for Children by I. S. +Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoy_, 1883 and 1886; Vacheslav Andreevich Bers, +born 3 May 1861, died 19 May, 1907, an engineer who was killed for no +obvious reason by workmen during the revolutionary days in Petersburg. +Leo N. Tolstoy was very fond of him. See P. Biryukov, _How L. N. T. +Composed the Popular Calendar_, {1911}. + +{11}. A. Y. Davidov, 1823-1885, professor of mathematics in the +University of Moscow, author of popular text-books on algebra and +geometry. + +{12}. N. A. Sergievskii, 1827-1892, a writer on theology, author of many +scholarly theological books, founder and editor of _The Orthodox +Review_, professor of theology in the University of Moscow. + +{13}. In the Natasha of _War and Peace_ there are many characteristics +of S. A. T. and of her sister, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskii. According +to S. A. T., Leo Nikolaevich made the following remark about his +heroine: "I took Tanya, ground her up with Sonya, and there came out +Natasha." See P. Biryukov, _Biography of L._ N. T., Vol. II, page 32. + +{14}. In S. A. T.'s story _Natasha_ L. N. T. recognized himself in the +hero, Dublitskii, and he wrote to her in September, 1862: "I am +Dublitskii, but to marry merely because I needed a wife--that I could +not do. I demand something tremendous, impossible from marriage; I +demand that I should be loved as much as I am able to love." L. N. T. +doubted whether a woman could fall in love with him deeply and +completely, as he was not good-looking. On 28 August, 1862, he put down +in his diary: "I got up in the usual despondency. I thought out a +society for apprentices. A sweet, placid night. Ugly face, don't think +of marriage, your vocation is different and much has been given you +instead." _L. N. T.'s Letters to his Wife_, edited by A. E. Gruzinskii, +1913. P. Biryukov, _Biography of L. N. T._, Vol. I, page 471. + +{15}. M. N. Tolstoi, 7 March, 1830--6 April, 1912, sister of L. N. T. In +the 'sixties she went abroad with her brother Nikolai and lived with him +at Hyeres in the South of France. After her brother's death, M. N. T., +overcome with grief, did not wish to return to Russia and settled for a +short time in Algiers. She returned from there in 1862 and visited +Yasnaya Polyana for a short time and met S. A. T. and her mother there. +See T. A. Kuzminskii, _My Reminiscences of Marie N. Tolstoy_, +Petersburg, 1914. P. Biryukov, _Countess Marie N. Tolstoy_, in +"_Russkaya Vedomostii_," 1912, Moscow. A. Khiryakov, _L. N. Tolstoy's +Sister_, in "_Solitse Rossii_," 1912. S. Tolstoy, _To the Portrait of +Countess Marie N. Tolstoy_ in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1912. L. N. +Tolstoy's Letters to Marie N. Tolstoy in _New Collection of Letters of +L. N. Tolstoy_, collected by P. A. Sergeenko, edited by A. E. +Gruzinskii, Moscow, 1912, and Complete works of L. N. Tolstoy, Vols. +XXI-XXIV, edited by P. I. Biryukov, Moscow, 1913. + +{16}. S. A. T. here leaves out some curious details. According to her +own account, Leo Nikolaevich followed the Bers family, first to Ivitsa, +Tula Province, fifty versts from Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow. +Leo Nikolaevich's proposal to S. A. T., which was like Levin's to Kitty +in _Anna Karenina_, took place at Ivitsa. See "The Marriage of L. N. +Tolstoy," from the reminiscences of S. A. T. under the title "My Life," +in _Russkoye Slovo_, 1912. Also P. Biryukov, _Biography of L. N. +Tolstoy_, Vol. I, pages 464-473, and L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his +Wife_, pages 1-3. + +{17}. The Bers family were convinced that L. N. T. was in love with +Liza, the elder sister of S. A. T., and expected him to propose to her. +This misunderstanding worried L. N. T. as he said in his letter to S. A. +T. See L. N. Tolstoy's Letters to his Wife, pages 1-3. + +{18}. Orekov, a serf of Yasnaya Polyana, L. N. T.'s inseparable +companion during the war in Sevastopol, and later steward at Yasnaya +Polyana. See I. Tolstoy, _My Reminiscences_, Moscow, 1914, pages 18, +22-23. + +{19}. T. A. Ergolskii, born 1795, died 20 June 1874, a remote relation +brought up in the Tolstoy family, taught Marie, Leo and his brothers, +who lost their mother at an early age. In Tolstoy's house she was called +aunt. See _Reminiscences of Childhood_ and L. N. T.'s _Letters to T. A. +Ergolskii_; also L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters_, 1848-1910, collected and +edited by P. A. Sergeenko, L. N. Tolstoy's _Diary_, Vol. I, 1847-1852, +edited by V. G. Chertkov, Moscow, 1917. + +{20}. The beginning of Chapter II, ending with the words "and in copying +out his writings," is incorporated literally by S. A. T. from the first +MS. There is also written in pencil by her "This is new." The statement +is not quite accurate. In the remainder of Chapter III, which is new, a +small part of the original Chapter III, slightly altered, is +incorporated. We shall quote this part in full: + +"The first thing which I copied in my clumsy, but legible handwriting +was _Polikushka_. For many, many years afterwards that work delighted +me. I used to long for the evening when Leo N. would give me something +newly written or corrected for me to copy. + +"I was carried away by the newly created scenes and descriptions, and I +tried to understand and watch the artistic development and growth of +ideas and creative activity in my husband's works...." + +{21}. The beginning was published in two numbers of _Russkii Vyestnik_, +1865 and 1866, and under the title of _The Year 1805_ was later +published in book form, Moscow, 1866. Tolstoy returned to the +Decembrists when he had finished _Anna Karenina_, but was again +disappointed. "My Decembrists are again God knows where; I don't even +think of them," he wrote to Fet in April, 1879, (Fet, _My +Reminiscences_, Vol. II, page 364). The first three chapters of the +Decembrists were published in a miscellaneous volume called _Twenty-five +Years_, 1859-1884, Petersburg, 1884. But towards the end of his life +Tolstoy again became interested in the Decembrists and began to study +the period, see A. B. Goldenweiser, Diary, _Russkie Propilei_. Vol. II, +pages 271-272, Moscow, 1916. + +{22}. A. M. Zhemchuznikov and I. S. Aksakov visited Leo Nikolaevich in +the middle of December, 1864, in Moscow at his father-in-law's house +where he came to have his arm medically treated. It was then that he +read to them some chapters from _War and Peace_. See L. N. Tolstoy's +_Letters to his Wife_, page 41. + +{23}. There were a number of musical works which always made a deep +impression upon Tolstoy. See list of musical works loved by L. N. +Tolstoy, given by A. B. Goldenweiser, _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, pages +158-160; also musical works loved by L. N. Tolstoy, in S. L. Tolstoy's +_Reminiscences_. + +24. Countess A. A. Tolstoy reproached Leo Nikolaevich for his long +silence in a letter of 1 May 1863. Leo Nikolaevich wrote a four page +letter in reply, but did not send it; later in the autumn of 1863 he +wrote another letter, which he sent. The quotation referred to is, +evidently, from the letter which was not sent, and which, as far as we +know, has not appeared in print. + +{25}. This quotation from L. N. T.'s Diary is also given in Biryukov's +Biography, but in somewhat different form. He also gives a detailed +sketch of the work, which Tolstoy wrote in his diary; see Biryukov, Vol. +II, pages 27-28. + +{26}. N. A. Lyubimov, 1830-1897, well-known professor of physics at the +University of Moscow, a collaborator with Katkov and K. Leontev in +editing the _Russkii Vyestnik_ and _Moskovskaya Vedomesti_. + +{27}. Strakhov's articles on _War and Peace_ were published in _Zarya_, +1869 and 1870, and in book form in 1871. His articles on Tolstoy and +Turgenev appeared in book form under the title, _Critical Articles on I. +S. Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoy_, second edition, 1887. + +{28}. Edmond About, 1828-1885, the French writer to whom Turgenev sent a +copy of _War and Peace_, translated by Princess Paskevich, and a letter +from which the above quotation is taken. M. About published the letter +in _Le XIX e Siecle_, 23 January, 1880, under the title "_Une Lettre de +Tourgueneff_." + +{29}. Vasilii Yakoblevich Mirovich, 1740-1764, a lieutenant in the +Smolenskii infantry regiment, executed for his attempt to rescue Ivan +Antonovich from prison. His story formed the plot of G. P. Danilevskii's +novel _Mirovich_ (Petersburg, 1886). + +{30}. From the sketch of the year 1831-2: "The guests were arriving at +the country-house." See Pushkin, edited by S. A. Vengerov, Petersburg, +1910, Vol. IV, pages 255-258. + +{31}. In P. Biryukov's Biography, Vol. II, page 205, the words are given +thus: "That is how one should begin. The reader is at once made to feel +the interest of the plot. Another writer would begin to describe the +guests, the rooms, but Pushkin goes straight to the point." + +{32}. This quotation is a combination of two passages from L. N. T.'s +letter to Countess A. A. Tolstoy of December, 1874. In the beginning of +this letter he says that he has written a letter to her, but has torn it +up and is writing another. It is possible that S. A. T. is quoting from +the original letter. + +{33}. Peter, eighteen months old, 18 November, 1873; Nikolai, two months +old, February, 1875; and the daughter born prematurely, November, +{1875}. + +{34}. T. A. Ergolskii (see note 19), and Pelageya Ilinishna Yushkov, the +sister of L. N. T.'s father, died 22, December, 1875. This death +particularly affected Tolstoy. He wrote to Countess A. A. Tolstoy: "It +is strange, but the death of this old woman of eighty affected me more +than any other death.... Not an hour passes without my thinking of her." +_Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 262-3. + +{35}. From Fet's poem: "I repeated: 'When I will....'" Later Fet +evidently re-wrote the poem; his last four lines are: + + In my hand--what a marvel-- + Is your hand. + And on the grass--two emeralds. + Two glow-worms. + +See A. A. Fet, Complete Works, Vol. I, page 427, Petersburg, 1912. + +{36}. Five poems are known to have been dedicated by Fet to S. A. +Tolstoy, see Complete Works, Vol. I, pages 413, 414, and 449. + +{37}. A few months after his visit to Yasnaya Polyana Turgenev wrote to +Fet: "I was very glad to make it up again with Tolstoy, and I spent +three pleasant days with him; his whole family is very sympathetic and +his wife is a darling." See Fet, _My Reminiscences_, Vol. II, page 355, +Moscow, {1890}. + +{38}. Wilkie Collins, 1824-1889; his novel _The Woman in White_, was +translated into Russian under the same title, Petersburg, 1884. + +{39}. The house was bought in 1882 in the Khamovnicheskii Pereulok. + +{40}. An allusion to V. G. Chertkov who became acquainted with Tolstoy +in 1883. See P. A. Boulanger, _Tolstoy and Chertkov_, Moscow, 1911; A. +M. Khiryakov, "Who is Chertkov?" in _Kievskava Starina_, 1910; P. +Biryukov, Biography, Vol. II, pages 471-3, 479-480; V. Mikulich, +_Shadows of the Past_, Petersburg, 1914; Ilya Tolstoy, _My +Reminiscences_, pages 234-5, 247, 265, 269-275; Countess A. A. Tolstoy, +"Reminiscences" in _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 36-38. + +{41}. S. A. T. for a long time did not believe in the seriousness of Leo +Nikolaevich's searchings, considering them a weakness, a disease due to +over-work and the playing of a part. See Biryukov, Biography, pages +474-478; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his Wife_, pages 196-8. + +{42}. A. P. Bobrinskii, Minister of Transport 1871-1874, and a disciple +of Radstock; Tolstoy was struck by "the sincerity and warmth of his +belief." See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 245, 265, 268, and 275. + +{43}. An English preacher who in the middle of the 'seventies lived in +Petersburg and preached with success in aristocratic houses. A short, +but good, description of Radstock is given by Countess A. A. Tolstoy, +who knew him personally, in her letter to L. N. T. of 28 March, 1876, +_Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 267-8. + +{44}. S. S. Urusov, 1827-1897, an intimate friend of Tolstoy ever since +the Crimean War, a land-owner and a deeply religious man. Tolstoy +corresponded with him and often stayed with him in his country-house at +Spassko. Urusov translated into French Tolstoy's _In What do I Believe?_ + +{45}. But Tolstoy did not recognize the Gospel which serves as the +foundation of the orthodox faith, and he interpreted the Gospel in his +own way. It is strange that S. A. T. did not realize this. In this +respect Countess A. A. Tolstoy, who also differed from Leo Nikolaevich +on religious questions and was deeply pained by the difference, was more +understanding and consistent. She wrote of Tolstoy's _Gospel_: "Your +crude denial and bold perversions of the divine book caused me extreme +indignation. Sometimes I had to stop reading and throw the book on the +floor." See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, page 44. + +{46}. It is interesting to compare the autobiography of S. A. T. with +Tolstoy's play _And Light Shines in Darkness_. In this Marie Ivanovna, a +character taken from S. A. T., uses the family, children, house, and so +on, as the chief arguments against the attempts of Nikolai Ivanovich to +arrange their life in accordance with his views. She says: "I have to +bring them up, feed them, bear them.... I don't sleep at nights, I +nurse, I keep the whole house...." And the husband "wishes to give +everything away.... He wants me at my time of life to become a cook, +washerwoman." See Act I, scenes xix and xx; Act II, scene ii. + +{47}. L. D. Urusov, died 6, October, 1885, a devoted friend and +enthusiastic follower of Tolstoy. When he died in the Crimea, where he +had gone with Tolstoy, Urusov, according to Countess A. A. Tolstoy, left +to his son who was with him Tolstoy's letters, as the greatest treasures +which he was leaving him. See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. II; L. N. +Tolstoy's _Correspondence with N. N. Strakhov_; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters +to his Wife_, pages 255-266. + +{48}. Tolstoy lost his suit-case, containing MSS., books, and proofs, in +1883 on his way to Yasnaya Polyana. Among the lost MSS. were several +chapters of _In What do I Believe?_ which Tolstoy had to rewrite. +Biryukov, Biography, Vol. II, pages 457-8. + +{49}. Another allusion to Chertkov, who in the middle of the 'eighties +began taking Tolstoy's MSS. to England. + +{50}. Tolstoy himself translated this work from the Greek, and twice +wrote a preface to it, in 1885 and 1905. See L. N. Tolstoy's Diary, +1895-1899, edited by V. G. Ghertkov, second edition, Moscow, 1916, page +46. + +{51}. As far as we know, this translation has not been published. + +{52}. Her letter to the Metropolitan Antonius of 26 February, 1901, +copies of which were sent to the other Metropolitans and to the Attorney +to the Synod. The letter and the answer of the Metropolitan Antonius +were published in many newspapers. + +{53}. A short article in the form of a letter to the editor, on Leonid +Andreyev on the appearance of Burenin's critical Sketches in _Novoe +Vremya_, {1903}. At the time it attracted great attention in the press +owing to the exceptional bitterness with which S. A. T. attacked +Andreyev and in general all modern novelists. She wrote: "One would like +to continue M. Burenin's splendid article, adding ever more ideas of the +same kind, raising higher and higher the standard for artistic purity +and moral power in contemporary literature. Works of Messieurs Andreyevs +ought not to be read, nor glorified, nor sold out, but the whole Russian +public ought to rise in indignation against the dirt which in thousands +of copies is being spread over Russia by a cheap journal and by repeated +editions of publishers who encourage them. If Maxim Gorky, undoubtedly a +clever and gifted writer from the people, introduces a good deal of +cynicism and nudeness into the scenes in which he paints the life of a +certain class, one always, nevertheless, feels in them a sincere sorrow +for all the evil and suffering which is endured by the poor, ignorant, +and drunken of fallen humanity. In the works of Maxim Gorky one can +always dwell on some character or pathetic moment in which, one feels, +the author, grieving for the fallen, has a clear knowledge of what is +evil and what good, and he loves the good. But in Andreyev's stories one +feels that he loves and takes delight in the baseness in the phenomena +of vicious human life, and with that love of vice he infects the +undeveloped, the reading public which, as M. Burenin says, is untidy +morally, and the young who cannot yet know life.... The wretched new +writers of contemporary fiction, like Andreyev, are only able to +concentrate upon the dirty spots in the human fall and proclaim to the +uneducated, the half-intelligent reading public, and invite them to +examine deep into the decayed corpse of fallen humanity and to shut its +eyes to the whole of God's spacious and beautiful world with its beauty +of nature, with the greatness of art, with the high aspirations of human +souls, with the religious and moral struggle and the great ideals of +good...." _Novoe Vremya_, 1903. + +{54}. Three fragments of this have been published: "L. N. Tolstoy's +Marriage" in _Russkoye Slovo_, 1912; "On the Drama, _The Power of +Darkness_" in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1912, pages 17-23; and "L. N. +Tolstoy's Visits to the Optina Monastery" in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, +1913, Part III, pages 3-7. + +{55}. The history of these MSS. has been discussed at great length in +newspapers and magazines. The gist of the matter is as follows. By +Tolstoy's will everything written by him up to the date of his death, +"wherever it may be found and in whose possession," was to pass to his +daughter Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy. She laid claim to the MSS. deposited +in the Historical Museum. But S. A. T. opposed this, declaring that the +MSS. had been given to her as a gift by Tolstoy, were her own property, +and therefore could not be included in his will. The authorities of the +Historical Museum refused both parties access to the MSS. until the +question had been settled by a court. The history of the case is given +in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_ for 1913. Part V, pages 3-10, and in the +journal _Dela i Dni_, 1921, pages 271-293, in which A. S. Nikolaev gave +an account of the case, re Count L. N. Tolstoy's MSS. + +{56}. The letter of 8 July, 1897. On the envelope Tolstoy wrote: "Unless +I direct otherwise, this letter shall after my death be handed over to +Sophie Andreevna." The letter was entrusted to N. L. Obolenskii, +Tolstoy's son-in-law. See L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his Wife_, pages +524-526. + +{57}. Tolstoy announced this in a letter to the editor of _Russkaya +Vedomostii_ which was published in the paper on 19 September, 1891. The +letter is reprinted in the supplement to L. N. Tolstoy's Diary, +1895-1899, second edition, pages 241-242. + +{58}. The death of Vanichka was a terrible blow to Tolstoy who "loved +him, as the youngest child, with all the force of an elderly parent's +attachment." With him the last tie binding Tolstoy to his family was +broken. Ilya Tolstoy was inclined to think that there was "a certain +inner connection" between the child's death and Tolstoy's attempt to +leave Yasnaya Polyana in 1897. See Ilya Tolstoy, _My Reminiscences_, +pages 214-219. + +{59}. Sergei Ivanovich Taneev, 1856-1915, who for three years +consecutively, 1894-6, came to stay in the summer with the Tolstoy's at +Yasnaya Polyana. + +{60}. The story of Tolstoy's illness and his life at Gaspra is told in +the fine reminiscences of Dr. S. Y. Elpatevskii, the well-known writer +and doctor who treated Tolstoy, entitled "Leo N. Tolstoy, Reminiscences +and Character," _Rosskoe Bogatstov_, Number XI, 1912, pages 199-232; +also S. Elpatevskii, _Literary Reminiscences_, Moscow, 1916, pages +26-49. + +{61}. There was a stern struggle between Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy and +Chertkov over Tolstoy's diaries almost from the first moment of his +acquaintance with Tolstoy. Originally the diaries were in Chertkov's +hands. But in October, 1895, S. A. T. insisted upon their return to +Tolstoy. On 5 November, 1895, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "I have gone +through a great deal of unpleasantness with regard to fulfilling my +promise to Sophie Andreevna; I have read through my diaries for seven +years." After he had read them, the diaries were handed over to S. A. T. +who sent them for safe-keeping to the Rumyantsev Museum and later to the +Historical Museum. The later diaries, ending with 19 May, 1900, were +also handed over to S. A. T. The diaries of the last ten years, of which +S. A. T. is speaking here, turned out to be in Chertkov's possession. It +cost S. A. T. not only much effort, but tears and even her health, in +order to get them back. Personally and in writing, and also through V. +F. Bulgakov, she entreated and implored Chertkov to return them, but +everything proved of no avail. An atmosphere, painful for the whole +family, was thus created, and Tolstoy was literally stifled, finding +himself between the stubbornness of a morbid woman and the fear of +offending a no less stubborn man, Chertkov. It ended by Tolstoy, in the +middle of July, 1910, taking the diaries from Chertkov and placing them +for safe-keeping in the Tula bank, in order not to hurt either party. +After Tolstoy's death, according to his will, the diaries passed to +Alexandra L. Tolstoy. See L. N. Tolstoy's Diary, Vol. I, 1895-1899, +pages 11, 12, and 6; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to His Wife_, page 493; V. +F. Bulgakov, _Leo Tolstoy During the Last Years of his Life_, Moscow, +1918, pages 255, 261-263, and 265. + +{62}. This will in the form of a letter was an extract from Tolstoy's +diary of 27, March, 1895.... His request that his works should become +public property was later made in his diary for 1907, also on 4 and 8 +March, 1909. + +{63}. Three copies of this extract from the diary were kept by Marie +Nikolaevna Obolenskii, V. G. Chertkov, and Serge Tolstoy. Evidently S, +A. T. did not know this. See _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, page 9. + +{64}. According to A. B. Goldenweiser, Tolstoy, perhaps having reason to +think that his will with regard to his works would not be carried out, +decided to make a will which would be binding legally as well as +morally. On 17 September, 1909, the will was drawn at Krekshino, and on +the 18 it was signed by Tolstoy. By this will all his works, written +after 1 January, 1881, both published and unpublished, became public +property. Consequently the will meant that all works written and +published before that date remained the property of the family. On 18 +September on their return from Moscow, Alexandra L. Tolstoy went to see +the lawyer N. K. Muravev and showed him the will. Muravev said that from +a legal point of view the will was quite invalid, since according to law +you could not leave property to "nobody," and he promised to draw up and +send to Yasnaya Polyana the rough draft of a will. Two or three +consultations took place at Muravev's house, at which there were present +V. G. Chertkov, A. B. Goldenweiser, and F. A. Strakhov. Several drafts +of the will were made which it was decided to take to Tolstoy in order +that "he might read them and choose one of them, or reject them all, if +he found that they did not meet his wishes." On 26 October Strakhov left +for Yasnaya Polyana with the drafts. When he returned, he said that +"Tolstoy expressed the firm resolution to leave as public property, not +only the works written after 1881, as was originally proposed, but +generally everything written by him," a resolution completely new, and +unexpected by those who had taken part in the consultations. In +accordance with Tolstoy's new decision, Muravev drew up another will by +which everything written by Tolstoy, "wherever found and in whosesoever +possession," was transferred to the full ownership of Alexandra L. +Tolstoy. This will was taken to Yasnaya Polyana, copied in Tolstoy's own +hand, and signed by him on 1 November, 1909. This is Goldenweiser's +account of the two wills in his diary. We see from this story that +Tolstoy himself decided to make a formal will, and he himself, to his +friends' surprise, radically changed the first will regarding his works +written and published before 1881. But the reader is confronted with a +series of puzzling questions: How did Tolstoy make up his mind to have +recourse to the protection of the law, which he denied with his whole +soul? What caused him to alter so quickly and resolutely his intention +with regard to the disposal of works written by him before 1881? Why +were "two or three" consultations with an experienced lawyer necessary, +if the friends had the simple task of drawing up in correct and legal +form Tolstoy's clearly expressed intention with regard to his works? +Goldenweiser provides no answer to these questions. + +Let us turn to Chertkov, the principal actor in these consultations. In +the _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_ for 1913, Part I, pages 21-30, he published +photographs of the will of 1 November, 1909, and of the two subsequent +wills, with a short prefatory note in which he says: "The photographs +published here of the three successive wills, written by Tolstoy's own +hand in the space of ten months, are sufficient proof of the repeated +and serious attention which he gave to the fate of his writings, MSS., +and papers after his death." But there is no answer here to the puzzling +questions.... Approximately three years later Chertkov, indeed, gave us +the full history of Tolstoy's wills in the Supplement to L. N. Tolstoy's +Diary, pages 241-252. There he quoted Tolstoy's letter with regard to +the transfer to public property of his works written before 1881; the +will in the form of a letter from Tolstoy's diary of 27 March 1895; the +will written in Krekshino; the final will and "explanatory memorandum." +Above all Chertkov at great length tried to prove from Tolstoy's +letters and from extracts from his diaries that Tolstoy always had +complete confidence in him as a true friend, and for that reason, in +preference to all the members of his family, made him sole executor for +his writings, by giving him the right to "omit" or "leave in" what he +thought necessary. But Chertkov does not say a single word either of the +Moscow consultations of the friends or of the will of 1 November, 1909, +and thus not only gives no answer to our questions, but excludes the +possibility of our putting them, by skilfully passing direct from the +Krekshino will to the last two wills made in the summer of 1910. Let us +now hear what the third participant in the consultations has to say, +namely Strakhov, who, in his own words, felt a "little doubt begin to +stir within him," when the friends on 1 November, 1909, "carefully +performed the transactions which are bound to have certain historical +consequences." His article on how the will of 1 November, 1909, was +drawn up fills in the gap which Chertkov passed over in silence. + +Strakhov says nothing about the Krekshino will, in the making of which +he took no part.... After the failure of the will at Krekshino, the new +draft of a will was worked out at the Moscow consultations, and Strakhov +left with the draft for Yasnaya Polyana on 26 October, when, as the +friends supposed, Sophie Andreevna would be in Moscow. Their calculation +was mistaken: S. A. T. was returning to Yasnaya Polyana in the same +train as Strakhov. But her presence did not prevent Strakhov from +executing his mission brilliantly. When alone with Tolstoy, he explained +that it was necessary to draw up a formal will transferring the rights +in his literary property to a definite person or persons, and "he put +before him the draft document and asked him to read it and sign it, if +he approved of its contents." Tolstoy read the paper and "at once wrote +at the bottom that he agreed with its contents; and then, after thinking +for a little, he said: "The whole affair is very painful to me. And it +is all unnecessary--in order to secure that my ideas are spread by such +measures. Now Christ--although it is strange that I should compare +myself with him--did not trouble that some one might appropriate his +ideas as his personal property, nor did he record his ideas in writing, +but expressed them courageously and went on the cross for them. His +ideas have not been lost. Indeed no word can be completely lost, if it +express the truth and if the person uttering it profoundly believe in +its truth. But all these external measures for security come only from +our non-belief in what we are uttering." Saying this Tolstoy left the +room. Strakhov was undecided what to do, whether to oppose Tolstoy or to +leave Yasnaya Polyana without having achieved anything. He made up his +mind to oppose Tolstoy and attacked him in his most vulnerable spot. He +said to him: "You mentioned Christ. He, indeed, took no thought about +the dissemination of his words. But why? Because he did not write and, +owing to the conditions of the time, received no payment for his ideas. +But you write and have received payment for your writings, and now your +family receives it.... If you will not do something to secure the public +use of your writings, you will be indirectly furthering the +establishment of the rights of private property in them by your +family.... I shall not conceal from you that it has been painful for us +who are your friends to hear you reproached because, in spite of your +denial of private property in land, you transferred your estate to the +ownership of your wife. It will also be painful to hear people saying +that Tolstoy, in spite of his knowledge that his declaration in 1891 had +no legal validity, took no steps to ensure his wish being carried out +and thus consciously assisted the transference of his literary property +to his family. I cannot say how painful it will be for your friends to +hear that, Leo Nikolaevich, after your death, and the complete triumph +of your survivors' monopoly over your writings during the long fifty +years of copyright, and all this with the definite knowledge of your +views on the subject." + +Tolstoy acknowledged Strakhov's considerations to be a "weighty +argument" and, promising to think it over, left the room. He had to wait +a long time for the answer. Tolstoy went for a ride, had a sleep, +dined, and only after his dinner called Strakhov and Alexandra Lvovna +into his study and said to them: "I shall surprise you by my ultimate +decision.... I want, Sasha, to leave to you alone everything, do you +see? Everything, not excepting what I reserved in the declaration in the +newspapers.... The details you may think over with Vladimir +Grigorevich." + +Strakhov informed Chertkov by telegram of the "successful" result of his +conversations with Tolstoy. On 1 November, 1909, he returned to Yasnaya +Polyana with Goldenweiser, this time to witness the signature of the new +will by which "everything" passed to Alexandra Lvovna. This time +Strakhov entered Yasnaya Polyana with a "certain pricking of +conscience," because he had hid his purpose from Sophie Andreevna. The +signing of the will took place in the setting of a conspiracy. Strakhov +says that, when Tolstoy took the pen, "he locked the two doors of his +study one after the other." And it was so strange and unnatural to see +Tolstoy in the part of a man taking steps against unwanted visitors.... + +{65}. Indeed, some time before Tolstoy's going away, S. A. T.'s mind was +unhinged. This became very clear in the middle of 1910. By the common +consent of the family, Dr. N. V. Nikitin and the well-known alienist +Rossolino were summoned from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana and they found +her to be suffering from hysteria and paranoia in the early stage (see +_Dela i Dni_, 1921, Number I, page 288). As regards paranoia, the data +existing seem to show that the doctors were mistaken, since paranoia +belongs to the class of incurable diseases and comparatively soon passes +from the first to the second stage, characterized by frenzy and acute +madness, from which, so far as is known, S. A. T. did not suffer. On the +contrary her mental and bodily health improved considerably after +Tolstoy's death. But no doubt the doctors' diagnosis of hysteria was +correct. There is evidence that she had a predisposition to that disease +from her birth. Her parents also suffered from lack of mental balance, +as may be seen from Tolstoy's letters to his wife. We read in them: "L. +A. and A. E. (her mother and father) love each other, and yet both seem +to make it the purpose of their lives to irritate each other over +trifles, they spoil their own lives and those of all who surround them, +and especially their daughters'. This atmosphere of irritation is very +painful, even to outsiders." "A. E.... is difficult because of his +unceasing and overpowering care of his health, which would indeed be +much better, if he thought less about it and himself." "Lyubov +Alexandrovna is wonderfully like you.... Even the faults are the same in +you and in her. I listen sometimes to her beginning to talk confidently +about something which she does not know, and to make positive +assertions and exaggerate--and I recognize you." Signs of this disease, +though in a mild form, were observed in S. A. T. from the first years of +her married life. But the strength of her constitution and the healthy +elements of her mind for a long time had the upper hand, and the +symptoms were not obviously visible. But then the bearing and nursing of +children, the complicated business of the estate, the strain on the mind +for many years resulting from the differences with her husband and her +struggle with Chertkov--all this sapped her mental and physical powers +and made it possible for the morbid characteristics to assume an acute +form. Even in 1910, before Tolstoy's going away, she was definitely a +sick person. + +{66}. The will of 1 November, 1909, was drawn in correct legal form, but +Tolstoy made the following addition to it: "In case, however, of my +daughter, Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy dying before me, all the +above-mentioned property I bequeath absolutely to my daughter Tatyana +Lvovna Sukhotin." Consequently a new will was drawn up on 17 July, 1910, +but a formal mistake was made in it though Goldenweiser's fault, who +left out the words: "being of sound mind and memory." Owing to this it +became necessary to draw up a will, the fourth in number, which was +copied and signed by Tolstoy on 22 July, 1910, and not, as S. A. T. +says, on 23 July. + +Such is the bare history of the two last wills, as related by Chertkov. +But he does not tell us how and under what circumstances these wills +were signed. This task Sergeenko junior, Chertkov's secretary, has taken +upon himself: he tells us how the fourth will was made. According to +him, on 22 July, Tolstoy fetched the witnesses who were with Chertkov at +Telyatenki and went on horse-back with them to the old forest of Zaseka, +and there in the depths of the forest, sitting on the stump of a great +tree, he copied his will, first from a draft and then at Goldenweiser's +dictation. From the expression on Tolstoy's face Sergeenko saw clearly +that "although the whole business was painful to him, he did it with a +firm conviction of its moral necessity. No hesitation was visible." + +{67}. P. I. Biryukov, an old friend of Tolstoy, author of the _Biography +of L. N. Tolstoy_, two volumes, Moscow, 1906-8. On 1 August, 1910, +according to V. F. Bulgakov, Biryukov, during a visit to Yasnaya +Polyana, pointed out to Tolstoy "the undesirable atmosphere of +conspiracy which the business of the will was assuming. To call the +whole family together and explain his will to them would, perhaps, +correspond better with Tolstoy's general spirit and convictions." After +his conversation with Biryukov Tolstoy was extremely disturbed. When V. +F. Bulgakov, who was going to Chertkov's estate, asked him whether there +was anything which he wanted him to say to Chertkov, Tolstoy replied: +"No. I want to write to him, but I will do it to-morrow. Tell him, I am +in such a state that I want nothing and...." Tolstoy stopped for a +little. "And am waiting. I am waiting for what is going to happen and am +prepared for anything." Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy and the Chertkovs were +very annoyed at Biryukov's behaviour, thinking that his interference was +ill-timed and only disconcerted Tolstoy. See V. F. Bulgakov, _Leo +Tolstoy During the Last Years of his Life_, pages 277-8. + +{68}. The typewritten MS. has "whose powers were growing feeble." The +words "and memory" were inserted in S. A. T.'s handwriting. This is +clearly no exaggeration. Ilya Tolstoy also says that Tolstoy during his +last year of life had several fainting fits and that after them he used +for a short time to lose his memory to such an extent that he did not +recognize his near relations, and once even asked about his brother who +had been dead fifty years: "And how is Mitenka?" Bulgakov, who lived at +Yasnaya Polyana in 1910, gives not a few similar instances. Tolstoy +confirms it himself. In June 1910, when asked whether he had seen the +Tula asylum, he replied: "I don't remember. I have forgotten. A +phenomenon, like the weakening of memory, must interest you mental +specialists. My memory has become very bad." See Ilya Tolstoy, _My +Reminiscences_, pages 246-7 and 272; Bulgakov, _Leo Tolstoy_, pages +34-5, 267, 289, and 323. + +{69}. Was it not the desire to discover this secret which made S. A. T. +steal into Tolstoy's study at nights and search there, as is stated by +Tolstoy in his diary? See _Dela i Dni_, 1921, Number I, pages 290-1. + +{70}. This letter is quoted in _My Reminiscences_, by Ilya Tolstoy, +pages 261-3. + +{71}. This of course refers to Chertkov's letter on the occasion of +Tolstoy's going away, published in _Russkaya Vedomostii_, 1910, Number +252. An extract is quoted in Chertkov's pamphlet, _On the Last Days of +L. N. Tolstoy_, Moscow, 1911, page {15}. + +{72}. This was also the opinion of all the members of the family who +were at Astapovo. See Ilya Tolstoy's, _My Reminiscences_, pages 253-5. + +{73}. The sale of Yasnaya Polyana has its history. S. A. T. and her sons +originally approached the Government and asked whether it would acquire +Yasnaya Polyana for the State. The Council of Ministers discussed the +question at the two sittings of 26 May and 14 October, 1911. At the +first sitting it was decided to acquire Yasnaya Polyana at the price of +500,000 roubles suggested by the heirs; but at the second sitting the +Council adopted the view of the Attorney to the Synod, V. K. Sabler, and +the Minister of Education, L. A. Kasso, who held it inadmissible that +the Government should honour its enemies and enrich their children at +the State's expense; and the question of purchasing Yasnaya Polyana +went no further. Later a Bill for its purchase was introduced in the +Duma, but nothing came of it.... On 26 February, 1913, Alexandra Lvovna +Tolstoy bought Yasnaya Polyana for 400,000 roubles, which she had +received from Sitin, the publisher, for the right of publishing a +complete edition of Tolstoy's works. On 26 March, 1913, Tolstoy's +long-cherished desire was fulfilled and the land of Yasnaya Polyana was +transferred to the peasants. See _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1911, Number +II, page 31, Numbers III, IV, and V, pages 190-4 and 198; 1913, Part V, +pages 10-12. + +{74}. On 15 November, 1912, the Moscow municipality acquired Tolstoy's +house in Moscow with all its furniture for 125,000 roubles and decided +to use it for a Tolstoy Museum and Library, and to build in the +court-yard a new building for a Tolstoy School of sixteen classes. See +_Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1911, Number II, pages 31-2, and Numbers III, +IV, and V, pages 194-6. + +{75}. The newspapers announced that S. A. T. died in October, 1919. We +have not succeeded in verifying the date and, therefore, cannot vouch +for its accuracy. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +APPENDIX I + +SEMEN AFANASEVICH VENGEROV + + +S. A. Vengerov was born 5 April, 1855 and died 14 September, 1920. On +leaving his public school in 1872, he entered the Academy of Medicine +and Surgery in Petersburg and took the general course in natural +science. He then changed to the Faculty of Law in the Petersburg +University and graduated in 1879. A year later he graduated in the +Historical and Philological Faculty in the Derpl University, after which +he remained at the Petersburg University in order to prepare for the +professorship of Russian Literature. In 1897 he began a course of +lectures on the history of Russian literature at the Petersburg +University, but was soon dismissed by the Minister of Education because +of his liberal views. It was only in 1906 that Vengerov was again +allowed to lecture in the University, and in 1910 he was made professor +of the University for Women and of the Institute of Psychoneurology. At +last in 1919 he was appointed Professor of Russian Literature in the +Petrograd University. In addition to his lectures, after 1908 he +conducted in the University a special Pushkin school, and the work of +this school was published in three volumes, _The Pushkinist_, 1914, +1916, and 1918. After the revolution, when The Library was established, +Vengerov was appointed Director and managed the institution, under very +unfavourable conditions, until his death. + +"I can only remember three days in my whole life when I felt at +leisure," Vengerov used to say. The intense industriousness of his life +may be seen from the following incomplete list of his works: "Russian +Literature in her Contemporary Representatives: I. S. Turgenev, 1875; I. +I. Lazhechnikov, 1883; A. F. Pisemskii, 1884. + +"Critico-Biographical Dictionary of Russian Authors and Men of Letters," +Six volumes, 1889-1904. These six volumes only complete the first letter +of the alphabet, most of the articles being written by Vengerov. + +Russian Poetry. Seven volumes, 1893-1901. + +Thirty volumes of Russian authors edited with notes about the writers. + +"The Sources of the Dictionary of Russian Authors," four volumes, +1900-1917. + +"Library of Great Writers," edited by Vengerov and containing the +complete works of Shakespeare, Byron, Moliere, and Pushkin. + +"Outlines of the History of Russian Literature," 1907. + +"Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century," 1890-1910. + +"The Heroic Character of Russian Literature." It will be seen from the +above list that Vengerov devoted the whole of his life to Russian +literature. As a writer and man of letters, he achieved considerable +popularity. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +NIKOLAI NIKOLAEVICH STRAKHOV. + + +N. N. Strakhov was born 16 October, 1828, and died 24 January, 1896. He +studied at the ecclesiastical seminary of Kostroma and completed his +course in 1845. He then passed to the Faculty of Mathematics in the +Petersburg University and took his degree in 1848. He then entered the +Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics in the Teachers' Training +Institute and completed his course in 1851, after which he became a +teacher of physics and mathematics. In 1857 he received the degree of +Master of Zoology. In 1861 he gave up teaching and became the principal +collaborator with the brothers Dostoevskii on the monthly magazine, +_Vremya_. His chief writings were polemical. Under the nom-de-plume of +"N. Kossize," he wrote a series or articles which had a great success +and were chiefly directed against the "westerners," radicals, and +socialists, e. g. Chernishersikii, Pisarev. _Vremya_, which had a large +circulation, was suppressed by the authorities because of an article by +Strakhov, called "The Fatal Problem," which dealt with Russian-Polish +relations in a spirit of opposition to the Government. Being without +work, Strakhov began translating books into Russian, chiefly on +Philosophical, scientific, and literary subjects. + +Tolstoy's friendship with Strakhov began in 1871. When someone asked him +about the friendship, Strakhov sent him the following autobiographical +note: "The origin of my acquaintance with L. N. Tolstoy in 1871 was as +follows. After my articles on _War and Peace_, I decided to write him a +letter asking him to let the _Sarya_ have some of his work. He replied +that he had nothing at present, but added a pressing invitation to come +and see him at Yasnaya Polyana whenever an opportunity should present +itself. In 1871 I received four hundred roubles from the _Sarya_, and in +June I went to stay with my people in Poltava. On my way back to +Petersburg I stopped at Tula for the night, and in the morning took a +cab and drove out to Yasnaya Polyana. After that we used to see each +other every year, that is, I used to stay a month or six weeks with him +every summer. At times we quarrelled and grew cool to each other, but +good feeling always won the day; his family got to like me, and now they +see in me an old, faithful friend, which indeed I am." + +With Strakhov Tolstoy was on very friendly terms, which allowed complete +frankness between them. Tolstoy himself wrote of his correspondence +with Strakhov (in a letter of 6 February, 1906, to P. A. Sergeenko): "In +addition to Alexandra Andreevna Tolstoy, I had two persons to whom I +have written many letters which, as far as I can remember, might +interest people interested in my personality. They are Strakhov and +Prince Serge S. Urusov." (_Letters_, Vol. II, page 227.) + +The friendship of Tolstoy and Strakhov lasted for twenty-five years, and +on Strakhov's part there was thirty years adoration of Tolstoy's genius +and of his great spiritual and intellectual qualities. V. V. Rosanov +wrote the following after Strakhov's death: "Strakhov's attachment to +Tolstoy was most deep and mystical: he loved him as the incarnation of +the best and most profound aspirations of the human soul, as a special +nerve in the huge body of mankind in which we others form parts less +understanding and significant; he loved him for what was indefinite and +incomplete in him. He loved in him the dark abyss, the bottom of which +no one could see, from the depths of which still rise numbers of +treasures; and there is no doubt that Tolstoy never lost a better +friend." + +Strakhov's works included: _From the History of Russian Nihilism_, 1890; +_Essays on Pushkin and Other Poets_, 1888; _Biography of Dostoevskii; +The Struggle of the West with our Literature_, three volumes, 1882-1886; +and some scientific works. + + + + +APPENDIX III + +TOLSTOY'S FIRST WILL + + +Tolstoy's first will was contained in the form of a letter in his diary +of 27 March, 1895 and repeated in his diary of 1907, see Notes 62 and 63 +above. The following is the text of the entry in the diary:-- + + My will is approximately as follows. + + (Until I have written another this holds good.) + + (1). To bury me where I die, in the cheapest cemetery, if I die in + a town, and in the cheapest coffin, as paupers are buried. Flowers + and wreaths are not to be sent, speeches are not to be made. If + possible, bury me without priests or burial service. But if those + who bury me dislike this, let them bury me in the ordinary way with + a funeral service, but as cheaply and simply as possible. + + (2.) My death is not to be announced in the newspapers, nor are + obituary notices to be written. + + (3.) All my papers are to be given to my wife, V. G. Chertkov, + Strakhov, and to my daughters Tanya and Masha,[P] for them, or for + such of them as survive, to sort and examine. (I have myself struck + out my daughter's names. They ought not to be bothered with this.) + + I exclude my sons from this bequest not because I did not love them + (I have come of late to love them better and better, thank God) and + I know that they love me; but they do not altogether understand my + ideas; they did not follow their development; and they may have + views of their own which may lead them to keep what ought not to be + kept and to reject what ought to be kept. I have taken out of the + diaries of my bachelor life what is worth keeping. I wish them to + be destroyed. Also in the diaries of my married life I wish to be + destroyed everything which might hurt anyone if published. Chertkov + has promised me to do this even during my lifetime, and knowing the + great and undeserved love that he has for me and his moral + sensibility I am sure that he will do it splendidly. I wish the + diaries of my bachelor life to be destroyed not because I wish to + conceal the wickedness of my life--my life was the usual unclean + life of an unprincipled young man--but because the diaries in + which I recorded only the torments which arise from the + consciousness of sin produce a false and one-sided impression and + represent.... Well, let my diaries remain as they are. In them at + least is seen how in spite of all the frivolity and immorality of + my youth I yet was not deserted by God and though it was only in + old age, I began, though only a little, to understand and love Him. + + I write this not that I attribute great or even any importance to + my papers, but because I know beforehand that after my death my + books will be published, and will be talked about, and will be + thought to be important. If that is so, it is better that my + writings should not harm people. + + As for the remainder of my papers I ask those who will have the + arrangement of them not to publish everything, but only that which + may be of use to people. + + (4). With regard to the publishing rights of my former works--the + ten volumes and the _A. B. C._--I ask my heirs to give these to the + public, _i. e._ to renounce the copyrights. But I only ask this, in + no sense order it. It would be a good thing to do it. It would be + good for you also. But if you do not wish to do it, that is your + business. It means that you are not ready to do it. That my books + for the last ten years have been sold was to me the most painful + thing in my life. + + (5). There is one more request, and it is the most important. I + ask all, relations and strangers alike, not to praise me (I know + that this must happen, because it has happened during my life time + and in the worst way possible). Also if people are going to occupy + themselves with my writings, let them dwell upon those passages in + which I knew that the Divine power spoke through me; and let them + make use of them in their lives. There were times when I felt that + I had become the agent of the Divine will. Often I was so impure, + so filled with personal passions, that the light of this truth was + obscured by my darkness; but at times the truth passed through me, + and these were the happiest moments of my life. God grant that + their passage through me did not profane those truths, and that + people, notwithstanding the petty and impure character which they + received from me, may feed on them. The value of my writings lies + in this alone. And therefore I am to be blamed for them, but not + praised. + + That is all. + +L. N. T. + + + + +APPENDIX IV + +TOLSTOY'S WILL OF 22 JULY, 1910 + + +The following is the text of Tolstoy's will, written by him on 22 July, +1910, and proved for execution by the Tula High Court on 16 November, +1910:-- + + 22 July, 1910, I, the undersigned, being of sound mind and memory, + make the following disposition in the event of my death: all my + literary works, both those already written and those which may be + written between now and my death, both those which have already + been published and those which are unpublished, my works of fiction + as well as any other works finished or unfinished, dramatic works + or those in any other form, translations, revisions, diaries, + private letters, rough drafts, jottings, and notes,--in a word + everything without any exception, written by me up to the day of my + death, wherever such may be found or in whosever possession, + whether in manuscript or in print, and also the rights of literary + property in all my works, as well as the MSS. themselves and all my + papers left after my death--I bequeth in full ownership to my + daughter, Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy. In the event of my daughter, + Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy, dying before me, I bequeath the + above-mentioned absolutely to my daughter, Tatyana Lvovna Sukhotin. + (Signed) LEO NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY. + + I hereby bear witness that the above will was actually made, + written by his own hand, and signed by Count Leo Nikolaevich + Tolstoy, who is of sound mind and memory, ALEXANDER BORESOVICH + GOLDENWEISER, artist. + + Witness to the same: ALEXEI PETROVICH SERGEENKO, citizen. + + Witness to the same: ANATOLII DIONSEVICH RADINSKII, son of a + lieutenant-colonel. + + + + +APPENDIX V + +TOLSTOY'S GOING AWAY + + +The following letter from Tolstoy to his daughter Alexandra and extracts +from his diary give his own account of his going away, and will enable +the reader to see something of his side of the question: + + +TOLSTOY'S LETTER TO HIS DAUGHTER ALEXANDRA LVOVONA + +29 October, 1910, OPTINA MONASTERY. + +" ...will tell you all about me, my dear friend Sasha. It is hard. I +can't help feeling it a great load on me. The chief thing is--not to do +wrong. That is the difficulty. Certainly, I have sinned and shall sin, +but I should wish to sin less. + +This is the chief thing above all others, that I wish for you, the more +so that I know that the task is terrible and beyond your powers at your +age. I have not decided anything, and I do not want to decide. I am +trying to do only what I can't help doing; and not to do what I need not +do. From my letter to Chertkov you will see, not how I look at this +question, but how I feel about it. I hope very much that good will come +from the influence of Tanya and Serge.[Q] + +The chief thing is that they should realize and try to suggest to her +(Countess S. A. T.) that this perpetual spying, eavesdropping, incessant +complaining, ordering me about, as her fancy takes her, constant +managing, pretended hatred of the man who is nearest and most necessary +to me, with her open hatred of me and pretence of love,--that a life +like this is not only unpleasant, but impossible; and if one of us is to +drown himself, let it not be her on any account, but myself; that there +is but one thing I want--freedom from her, from that falsehood, +pretence, and spite with which her whole being is permeated. + +Of course they cannot suggest this to her, but they can suggest to her +that all her acts towards me not only do not express love but are +inspired by the obvious wish to kill me, which she will achieve since I +hope that the third fit which attacks me will save her as well as myself +from the terrible state in which we have lived, to which I do not wish +to return. + +You see, my dear, how wicked I am. I do not conceal myself from you. I +do not send for you yet, but I will as soon as I can, very shortly. +Write and tell me how you are. I kiss you. + +L. TOLSTOY. + +The following extracts from Tolstoy's diary which describe his actual +flight and the circumstances that led up to it also throw light upon +Countess Tolstoy's attitude to her husband, and completely refute the +false accounts which she persisted in publishing everywhere from the day +of Tolstoy's death until the present time. + + +FROM TOLSTOY'S DIARY + +25 Oct. 1910.... Sophie Andreevna is as anxious as ever. + +27 Oct. 1910. I got up very early. All night I had bad dreams. The +difficulty of our relation is constantly increasing. + +28 Oct. 1910. I went to bed at half past eleven. Slept till two. I woke, +and again as on other nights heard steps and the opening of doors. On +previous nights I did not look out of my door; now I looked and saw +through a chink a bright light in my study and heard rustling. It is +Sophie A. searching for something and probably reading my papers. + +Yesterday she asked, indeed demanded, that I should not shut the door. +Both her doors are open, so that my least movement is audible to her. +Both during the day and during the night all my movements and words must +be known to her and be under her control. + +Again steps, a cautious opening of the door, and she passes by. + +I do not know why this has roused in me such overpowering repulsion and +indignation. I wanted to fall asleep, but could not, tossed about for an +hour, lit the candle, and sat down. + +The door opens and in comes S. A. asking about "my health," and +surprised at seeing a light in my room. + +The repulsion and indignation are growing. I am choking. I count my +pulse: 97. I cannot lie down; and I suddenly come to a final decision to +go. + +I write a letter to her, and begin to pack only what things are needed +for the journey. I wake Dushan[R] then Sasha[S] they help me with the +packing. It is night, pitch dark, I lose my way to the ledge; get into +the wood; I am pricked by the branches; knocked against the trees; fall; +lose my hat; cannot find it; get out with difficulty; walk home; take my +cap; and with a lantern go to the stable, give an order to harness the +horses. Sasha, Dushan, Varya[T] come there. I tremble, expecting that S. +A. T. will pursue me. + +But we leave. In Schekino we wait an hour for the train, and every +minute I expect her to appear. But now we are in the train; we start. + +The fear passes. And pity for her rises in me, but no doubt at all but +that I have done what I ought to do. Perhaps I am wrong to justify +myself, but I believe that I am saving myself--not Leo N. T., but that +which at times exists, though ever so feebly, in me.... + +29. Oct. 1910. Shamardino.... On the journey I have been thinking all +the time about a way of escape from her and from my situation, but could +think of none. But surely there will be some way, whether one likes it +or not; it will come, but not in any way that one can foresee. What has +to happen will happen. It is not my business. I got at Mashenka's 'the +_Krug Chtenia_' and reading the quotation for the 28th, I was at once +struck by the reply which seemed to be given purposely to refer to my +situation. I need a trial; it is good for me.... + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] In the letters here quoted in full, as well as in S. A. T.'s +autobiography, the spelling and punctuation of the original have been +preserved, except in the case of obvious mistakes. + +[B] There is a contradiction here. In the autobiography printed below, +S. A. T. says that the seal with the coat-of-arms of the Bers family was +burnt in the Moscow fire of 1812, and that the Bers were not again +granted the right to that seal in spite of their applications, but were +only allowed to have on their coat-of-arms a hive of bees. + +[C] It is unknown whether S. A. T. fulfilled her promise, since the +documents of S. A. Vengerov, among which the information should be, if +sent, are at present being removed from the late Vengerov's house to the +Institute of Learning, and the examination and cataloguing have not yet +begun. + +[D] These and all other italics in the letters and autobiography are in +the original. + +[E] The manuscript of the work, as was said above, is among Vengerov's +documents. It is catalogued in the first "collection" of autobiographies +under N 2740, and in a special catalogue its card has a short abstract +of the most important biographical data. (Professor S. A. Vengerov, +_Critical Biographical Dictionary of Russian Authors and Men of +Letters_, second edition, Vol. I; _Preliminary List of Russian Authors +and Men of Letters and Preliminary Information about Them_, Petrograd, +1915, pages xix and xxv.) The manuscript is in a cover of ordinary +writing-paper on which is written in S. A. T.'s handwriting: _A Short +Autobiography of Countess Sophie Tolstoy_. The manuscript itself is +typewritten and occupies twelve half-sheets of ordinary writing-paper +written on both sides, or twenty-four pages, of which the last page +contains only four lines. At the end of the manuscript is the date: "28 +October, 1913"; place: "Yasnaya Polyana," and signature: "Countess +Sophie Tolstoy." All this is in typewriting. + +[F] This is a mistake of S. A. T. She did not strike out anything in the +former manuscript. She only made a few alterations, adding considerably, +however, to the first half of Chapter 3, making that half a separate +chapter. She re-wrote Chapter 4. In her new manuscript, after the +beginning of Chapter 5, about the children, there is a note in pencil. +"Go on without change as in the former manuscript." In the first +manuscript the story about the children formed the second and greater +part of Chapter 3. Thus in the new manuscript, Chapter 3 was greatly +enlarged and became three separate chapters. Therefore S. A. T. would +have been more correct if she had said that she would strike out of the +first manuscript the first half of Chapter 3 and substitute the two new +chapters for it, making a separate chapter of the second half. The Roman +figures IV and V, marking the chapters, are in pencil in the new +manuscript and are followed by question-marks. As her letter shows, S. +A. T. roughly indicated the division into three new chapters, but left +the final decision to Vengerov. + +[G] The manuscript of the additional material is not included in either +the first or the second "collection" of autobiographies, nor is it +catalogued; it is kept separately among the documents of S. A. Vengerov. +We must suppose that Vengerov intended to include it in the first +manuscript, but was prevented from doing so. It is, like the first, +typewritten on five half-sheets of ordinary writing-paper. At the +beginning and end of the manuscript are pencil notes by S. A. T.--at the +beginning: "Substitute for former Chapter 3," and at the end: "Go on as +in former manuscript." The manuscript has no date or signature. Both +manuscripts have been corrected by S. A. T. herself and in her own +handwriting. + +[H] Tatyana Alexandrovna Ergolskii and her friend, Natalya Petrovna, who +was homeless and lived with her. Leo N. writes about them in his +_Reminiscences of Childhood_. They are also mentioned in Ilya Tolstoy's +_My Reminiscences_. (Moscow, 1914.) Of Tatyana Alexandrovna Ergolskii, +who died on 20 June 1874, Leo N. T. wrote to Countess A. A. Tolstoy: +"She died practically of old age, i.e. she slowly faded away, and as far +back as three years ago she had ceased to exist for us." See note 19 +below. + +[J] The old oak forest near the house. S. A. T. + +[K] Kiev is famous for its churches and monasteries.] + +[M] Chertkov. + +[N] The story of the making of the will is related by F. A. Strakhov, +Petersburgkaya Gazetta, November, 1911. S. A. T. + +[P] This extract from L. N. T.'s diary under date of March 27, 1895, is +from his first will. The wishes expressed in this diary are again +expressed by him in his diary for 1907. It was only in September 1909 in +Krekshino that he drew up for the first time a legal will, attested by +witnesses. Three copies of the diary of March 27, 1895 were kept; one by +Marie Lvovna Obolensky; one by V. G. Chertkov; and one by Serge L. +Tolstoy. + +[Q] Tatyana L. Sukhotin and Count Serge L. Tolstoy are L. N. T.'s eldest +children. + +[R] Doctor D. P. Makovitsii, one of the most intimate friends of the +Tolstoy family, a doctor who lived with the Tolstoy's and who remained +with L. N. T. until his death. + +[S] L. N. T.'s daughter, Alexandra. + +[T] Varvara Feskritov, S. A. T.'s late secretary. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Autobiography of Countess Tolstoy, by +Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COUNTESS TOLSTOY *** + +***** This file should be named 38027.txt or 38027.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/2/38027/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |