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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE JOURNAL OF
LEO TOLSTOI
(First Volume-1895-1899)

THE NEWEST BORZOI BOOKS
ASPHALT
By Orrick Johns
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CENTRAL EUROPE
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RUSSIA'S MESSAGE
By William English Walling
THE BOOK OF SELF
By James Oppenheim
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By William H. Davies
With a Preface by Bernard Sha<w
THE JOURNAL OF
LEO TOLSTOI
{First Volume— 1895-1899)

TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN
By ROSE STRUNSKY

ALFRED A. KNOPF
NEW YORK • MCMXVII

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY
ALFRED A. KNOPF

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

INTRODUCTION
The ultimate meaning of the Russian Revolu
tion which took place in March, 19 17, can be best
understood through the pages of the Journal of
Leo Tolstoi which is here printed. The spiritual
qualities which make up the mind and personality
of Tolstoi are the spiritual qualities which make
up the new era among men which is being waged
so painfully and so uncompromisingly at the pres
ent moment on the soil of Russia. One holds the
key to the other, for no land but Russia could have
produced a Tolstoi, and in no land but Russia
could Tolstoi have been so embraced and so ab
sorbed. They are both flesh of each other's flesh, and
I place them equally in greatness against each
other. Great and wonderful as is the Russian peo
ple, so Tolstoi was as great and wonderful as the
Russian people. I say this knowing well the pain
and impatience both felt for each other in the long
eighty-two years of Tolstoi's life here, but it was
the pain and the impatience of great love and in
finite understanding, of feeling and knowing each
other's pulse-beats, and not the misunderstanding
of strangers. It was the wise father doubting

Introduction
the impatient methods of his children; it was the
ardent children desiring and struggling to accom
plish the wishes of the father and being lost in
the maelstrom of an insistent reality.
The youth went faster than the father, and yet
so infinite and universal were the words of the
latter that when the last summings-up are made .
both stand together in total harmony and agree
ment. Tolstoi at thirty took no part in the great
educational agrarian movement of the latter Fif
ties, and even had a fine scorn for their expo
nents which did not leave him in his later years —
witness the phrase against Herzen and Cher-
nishevsky, " raised to great men," he said, " and
who ought to be grateful to the government and
the censorship, without which they would have
been the most unnoticed of sketch-writers." And
yet it was Herzen and Chernishevsky and Do-
brolubov, these " sketch-writers," who kept up the
fire of agrarian reform and who practically forced
the issue upon Alexander II. Tolstoi ignored the
whole revolutionary movement of that time ; even
more than ignored it; threw himself seemingly
into the opposite camp, leading the life of a gay
feted hero returned from the Crimean War. But
his Morning of a Landed Proprietor shows that
he was thinking deeply even at that time of the
social problems around him, only he was thinking
more slowly than the rest. He was just waking
vi

Introduction
up to the fact that the peasant conditions needed
improvement, at the time when all around him
the youth had passed to the idea that it was not
an improvement that they needed, but an absolute
change in the fundamental ideas of property. It
took him forty years to say, that you might as
well ask him how to make use of the ownership,
or the labour or the rent of a bonded slave as to
ask him for advice as to the problem of owning
of land. Here was no reformer speaking, but
one who was united with the revolutionary thought
around him.
But when the men of the Sixties were making
that answer for themselves, and had won the first
great step toward the change — the abolition of
serfdom — Tolstoi was away altogether from his
native land writing that great epoch of the War
of 1 8 12 — War and Peace. It was because this
great soul was undogmatic, and reached out into
the world not by mass thinking, but marvellously
enough entirely by himself, laying his roots far
and deep, that he seemed so slow moving. Yet
it was the direction and the end that counted, and
the end finds him, like the race between the tor
toise and the hare — that he is still ahead.
Even Russia will have far and long to travel to
come to that kingdom of God on earth, to that
conception of the manifestation of the will of God
on earth, which is the spiritual ideal of Tolstoi,
vii

Introduction
and toward which, express it in any materialistic
or naturalistic terms it may, the Russian nation
has with one mind been working with such mar
vellous self-consciousness.
Again, after the emancipation of the serfs, Tol
stoi seemed to fail the New Russia, interesting him
self only at this moment with the education of the
youth and the need of reform — ever the need
of reform, when already for over a decade the
cry of Russia was for new forms entirely, new
land arrangements, new relations between man
and man, and man and his property. The time
had come, they said, for the Will of the People
to be made manifest.
But before Tolstoi could decide on that, he had
to decide on a more fundamental problem of what
his relation was to God, as well as what his rela
tion was to man. In other words, what were the
true spiritual relations between man and man, not
only the economic, political and social ones. And
it is this attempt to solve the real fundamental
meaning to all relationship, the very reason for
the youth's outbursts against the economic, politi
cal and social injustices that existed, that kept him
moving forward so slowly. For he moved whole
worlds at a step.
The only reason for life, he said, is the uni
versal desire for well being, which in man, whose
reason has awakened, is expanded into a desire
viii

Introduction
for universal welfare; in other words, for love.
For he knows that he is not a separate being, but
a part of a whole, and therefore it is meaningless
to think that he can obtain anything for himself
alone. It is only in struggling and attaining for
the Whole that he can find his true life.
The Russian youth agreed with him entirely.
To their logic, the struggle for universal welfare
led to terrorism; to Tolstoi, to the absolute non-
resistance to evil by violence. The youth said
the will of God is being thwarted by a band of
oppressors. If we do away with the oppressors
we can get together in mutual love. Tolstoi said
that he who thinks he can violate the will of God
for an immediate good is only short-sighted.
Never at any moment can the will of God be
thwarted and the good attained.
For a while the Russian Government rather ap
proved of the Tolstoyan attitude of non-resistance
to evil. The one who used the greatest amount
of violence and evil of all, was pleased to meet
the philosophy which advised non-resistance to it.
But Tolstoi grew and travelled in his long years
and he had to change his conclusions, so that his
logic led him to that most self-conscious and diffi
cult of all revolutionary movements, passive-
resistance. Take no part in violence, he said;
therefore, pay no taxes that support a govern
ment which violates, and do not serve in the army

Introduction
which is an act of violence in itself. It was then
that Tolstoi was looked upon with askance by
the Russian authorities and formerly anathema
tised from the church. It was to his followers
that the more drastic punishment of imprisonment
and exile was meted out.
Toward the latter years of his life, his great
human heart could not remain quite closed to the
violence around him, and religious thinker that
he was, he had to stop his meditations to cry out
against the Kishineff massacres of the Jews and
against the raising of the scaffolds and the tying of
the " Stolypine's neck-ties," that most telling nick
name of the Russian people for the noose, which
was tied even for school children on the cross
roads of Russia after the bitter failure of the
revolution of 1905.
It was only in What Is Art? that the Russian
people and Tolstoi were unanimously at one.
Art is to serve the people, to be of the people, to
be something understandable by all people.
There were to be no dogmas for art, no German
metaphysics for art. It was merely the means
of expressing to his neighbour the mysteries that
went on in the soul of the artist. There was no
quarrel here between his fellow countrymen and
the great thinker. Everything was to be for the
people ; the spiritual manifestations of life as well
as the material.

Introduction
How to make clear that for all this seeming
lack of harmony, there existed the greatest bond
of all between this teacher and his children.
Thousands in Russia took his life as an example
and left the vainglories of the city with all its
false standards and went to live among the peo
ple. They went not only to serve them but to be
one of them, to live by the sweat of their brow
as the masses did, because it was the only moral
thing to do, and because the greatest happiness
lay in the spiritual values of life, and because, as
Tolstoi himself says, " It is good with them, but
with us it is shameful." /
I remember so well the deep-set eyes and the
long shaggy eyebrows of that all-knowing seer/,' as
he sat on the veranda of his home in Yas/naya
Polyana one May afternoon in 1906, and told us
that he was a religious thinker and not a political
one but that to his mind the revolution in Russia
would take fifty years to develop. And with that
fine scorn for parliamentarism which would have
rejoiced the heart of any syndicalist, he added that
that which we were witnessing now, the assembling
of the first Duma, was only the first scene of the
first act of a five act drama and it was high comedy !
The second scene followed soon and turned out
to be bitter tragedy, and before it was quite over
Tolstoi wandered off on that last pilgrimage
which ended in the little railway station of Osto-

Introduction
pova. He succumbed at last to that " temptation "
he speaks of so freely in his Journal, to leave his
home conditions, negate himself entirely, and find
himself again, merged and at one with the Whole.
And the Great Deliverer came and offered him
even a greater fusion with all, giving him that
" other post," the " new appointment " he so
ardently prayed for in life. When that happened
he became at once clear and lucid even to those
nearest him — who had criticised him the most.
The Russian youth was disconsolate. Our spirit
ual guide is gone, they cried. Who will hold up
the candle for us now? What black night is there
in the world, and how to grope our way in it
alone !
How lonely it was without that spiritual guide !
The first act of the March Revolution was to
redecorate the grave of Tolstoi in the forest of
Zakaz, to make the sacred pilgrimage to his rest
ing place and tell the father of the good news —
the will of God is being established, reason is
awakened in man. Love toward neighbour; nay,
the greatest of all, love toward enemies, is being ac
complished. It is with a feeling of reverence that I bring
this gift of the inner soul of Tolstoi to the Eng
lish-speaking public. The very formlessness of
the phrases of this Journal helps toward a sin
cerity of thought which shows itself pure by its
xii

Introduction
nakedness. Tolstoi himself knew the value of
these documents, for one man was to him as an
other, and the sincere gropings of a man's reason
toward the understanding of the meaning of life
was of value even if they were his own, and espe
cially if they were of one who had lived much and
thought much as he did. " It is especially dis
agreeable to me," he writes, " when people who
have lived little and thought little do not believe
me, and, not understanding me, argue with me
about moral problems. It would be the same for
which a veterinary surgeon would be hurt if people
who were not familiar with his art would argue
with him." And Tolstoi knew that he knew his
art, he knew consciously, since the spiritual awak
ening that came to him in the Eighties, the great
mission to which he dedicated his life — to find a
moral justification of living — and it is therefore
that he laid special stress in the disposal of these
documents for the public after his death. The
volume here printed is only four years of over
sixty years of Journal which he kept since his
early twenties. They are published first, because
it is only with the Journal beginning 1890 that
his editor and friend, V. G. Chertkov, has the
copied manuscripts in their entirety — from that
date up to Tolstoi's death in 19 10.
Over and over again in his life, Tolstoi at
tempted to make special and legal provision for
xiii

Introduction
his journals and notebooks, as he calls them, that
they be given and spread free to the public, and
he designated his friend and follower, who has
edited and published this volume in Russian, as
the practical inheritor and executor of these manu
scripts. He was to publish them in their en
tirety, except for certain revisions so that there
should be preserved, as Tolstoi expressed it, that
which ought to be preserved and there should be
thrown out that which ought to be thrown out.
" I know," he wrote to Chertkov, February 8,
1900, " that no one bears such an esteem, respect
and love for my spiritual life and its expression
as you do. I always said it and now I write it in
my notes which express my wishes after my death,
asking you especially, and only you, to undertake
the revision of my papers."
This Chertkov has done exceedingly well in
the original Russian edition, giving in double
brackets the number of the words he left out,
which seemed to him necessary on account of their
too intimate character. These places I have
merely indicated by three points. Unfortunately
the Russian volume was printed under the old
regime .and deletions had to be made on account
of the censor, which, because of the difficulty of
communication during the war, it was impossible
to fill in. These places are also designated in
this volume by three points, but in the Russian
xiv

Introduction
edition they are given in double parenthesis,
also enclosing the number of the words left
out. So that a record of all omissions have been
kept. The problem of disposing of these documents
after his death according to his principles against
copyrights, occupied Tolstoi for many years.
The Russian law nullified any such disposal of
property, for legally the inheritor had to be a fixed
person " and works to be disposed of free to all "
meant nothing. He therefore wrote many wills,
defining and modifying his position in all possible
ways so that his ideas might be carried out, and
in such a form that they could not be frustrated
by any one.
His plans were threefold:
i. That all his works written after 1881 as
well as all his writings written before that year
(the year that marks his spiritual regeneration)
but not published until later or not published at all
up to his death, should be no one's property, but
be given free to the public for printing and trans
lation. 2. That all his manuscripts and documents
(among that number the journals, first drafts of
books, letters, etc.,) which would remain after
his death should be given over to V. G. Chertkov,
who was to revise them and arrange them in suit
able form for publication. XV

Introduction
3. That the estate of Yasnaya Polyana should
be given over to the peasants.
Tolstoi's first idea was that Chertkov should
be one of the legal inheritors, together with the
Countess Tolstoi, his wife. But Chertkov re
fused for various personal reasons, he says, but
mainly because he thought that the arrangement
for the transfer of property could be best facili
tated and could be more delicately managed if
some one member of the Tolstoi family was desig
nated instead of an outsider. Tolstoi, therefore,
designated as his legal inheritor his youngest
daughter Alexandra, who stood in close sympathy
with him in his spiritual ideas, and, in case of her
death before his own, his eldest daughter Tkiana.
He hoped that his daughters, together with the
Countess Tolstoi, would fulfil his requests con
cerning the disposal of his posthumous documents
and the gift of the estate according to his wishes.
After Tolstoi's death the estate was given to
i the peasants by means of the sale of most of the
posthumous documents which enabled his daugh
ter Alexandra to buy back the estate from the
family and give it to the peasants as directed by
Tolstoi, but in the matter of the journals it was
more difficult to arrange from the fact that the
Countess Tolstoi placed all these journals and
notebooks in the Moscow Historical Museum on
the ground that they were a gift of Tolstoi to
xvi

Introduction
her during his lifetime and that therefore she
had a right to dispose of them as she thought best.
The matter would have taken only a legal proc
ess in the court to disentangle, a thing which the
Countess Alexandra Tolstoi did not wish to un
dertake as being against the spirit of her father
to use legal force to come to an agreement.
Chertkov, therefore, was forced to use only
such copies of the original journals and note
books which he happened to have in his posses
sion. The present volume is made from a copy
done by the hands of the Prince and Princess
Obolensky, the son-in-law and daughter of Tol
stoi, who also stood very near to Tolstoi spirit
ually, were conscientious in their fulfilment of
such tasks for him, and who knew his handwrit
ing very well. The original documents are still
in the Moscow Historical Museum, but Chertkov
has promised to publish the volumes and journals
which he has from the years 1900 to 19 10, and
has already brought out a second volume of this
series, which dates from Tolstoi's early years in
the twenties.
Whatever value this volume has as a historical
and exact transcript of Tolstoi's original jottings-
down as they came to him, it has much more value
as a transcript of the thoughts of a great Rus
sian which have so permeated his people that they
are now being rewritten on the pages of Russian
xvii

Introduction
history. It is because the blood of his brother
calls to him from under the ground, that the Rus
sian has undertaken to advance one step nearer to
the fulfilment of the great law — to live together
in harmony, to serve his brother and to do the
one work — which is the one work for all, to love.
The hundred-years readiness for sacrifice for the
common good, the willingness to go to exile and
death of four generations of men and women, the
red flag now flying over the Winter Palace in Pet-
rograd with the letters of gold, " Proletarians of
all Nation Unite," the insistent call to the peoples
of the world to overthrow all oppressors and live
together in mutual harmony, the trumpet calls of a
democracy whose tones are so strange and new,
that we across the borders seem not hear or under
stand them, all have their spiritual counterpart in
the pages of this book. It is Russia that speaks
here. I must give my thanks to Mr. Alexander Goure-
vich who so carefully compared the original text
and English translation, and to Mr. Joseph
Peroshnikoff who patiently revised the notes and
assisted in the compilation of the index.
Rose Strunsky.
New York, May, 19 17.

•.<:

X^ '

xvm

CONTENTS
Introduction — Rose Strunsky, v
Journal, 3
1895, October, 3
" November, 4
" December, 8
1896, January, 19
" February, 21
" March, 29
" May, 31
" June, 56
" July, 61
" September, 70
" October, 74
" November, 87
" December, 99
1897, January, 113
" February, 117
" March, 134
" April, 137
" May, 139
" July, 140

Contents
" August, 144
" September, 148
" October, 150
1897, November, 163
" December, 177
1898, January, 193
" February, 199
March, 213
" April, 219
" May, 226
" June, 232
" July, 243
" August, 246
" November, 256
1899, January, 269
February, 269
" June, 270
" July, 276
" September, 277
" October, 283
" November, 291
" December, 292
Explanatory Notes to Text, by V. G. Chertkov, 299
A short Sketch of the Life of Tolstoi at the End of the
Nineties, by C. Shokor-Trotsky, 387
Index, 409

THE JOURNAL OF
LEO TOLSTOI
October-December 1895

THE JOURNAL OF
LEO TOLSTOI

/ continue * October 28. Yasnaya Polyana.
Have been thinking:
Have been thinking one thing: that this life
which we see around us is a movement of matter
according to fixed, well-known laws ; but that in us
we feel the presence of an altogether different law,
having nothing in common with the others and re
quiring from us the fulfilment of its demands. It
can be said that we see and recognise all the other
laws only because we have in us this law. If we
did not recognise this law, we would not recognise
the others.
This law is different from all the rest, principally
in this, that those other laws are outside of us and
forces us to obey them ; but this law is in us — and
more than in us; it is our very selves and there
fore it does not force us when we obey it, but on
the contrary frees us, because in following it we
become ourselves. And for this reason we are
1 These superior figures refer to the editor's notes which begin
on page 299. 3

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
drawn to fulfil this law and we sooner or later
will inevitably fulfil it. In this then consists the
freedom of the will. This freedom consists in
this, that we should recognise that which is —
, namely that this inner law is ourselves.
This inner law is what we call reason, conscience,
love, the good, God. These words have different
meanings, but all from different angles mean one
and the same thing. In our understanding of this
inner law, the son of God, consists indeed the es
sence of the Christian doctrine.
The world can be looked upon in this way: a
world exists governed by certain, well-known laws,
and within this world are beings subject to the
same laws, but who at the same time bear in them
selves another law not in accord with the former
laws of the world, a higher law, and this law must
inevitably triumph within these beings and defeat
the lower law. And in this struggle and in
the gradual victory of the higher law over the
lower, in this only is life for man and the whole
world.
Oct. 2Q. Yasnaya Polyana. If I live.2
Nov. 5. Y. P.
I have skipped 6 days. It seems to me, I
thought little during this time: I wrote a little,
chopped wood and was indisposed — but lived
through much. I lived through much, because in
4

November] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
fulfilling a promise to S.3, I read through all my
journals for the past seven years.
It seems to me, I am approaching a simple and
clear expression of that by which I live. How
good that I didn't finish the Catechism ! 4 I think
I shall write it differently and better, if the Father
wishes it. I understand why it is impossible to
say it quickly. If it could be said all at once, by
what then would we live in the realm of thought?
It will never be given me to go farther than this
task. I just took a walk and understood clearly why
I can't make Resurrection go better : it was begun
falsely. I understood this in thinking over again
the story: Who is Right?5 (about children). I
understood that one must begin with the life of
the peasants, that they are the subject, they are
positive, but that the other thing is shadow, the
other thing is negative. And I understood the
same thing about Resurrection. One must begin
with her.8 I want to begin immediately.
During this time there were letters : from Ken
worthy,7 a beautiful one from Shkarvan,8 and from
a Dukhobor in Tiflis.9
Have written to no one for a long time. Gen
eral indisposition and no energy. The stage man
ager and the decorator 10 were here, students from
Kharkov against whom I think I did not sin, Ivan
Ivanovich Bochkarev,11 Kolasha.12 . . .
5

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
Nov. 6. Y. P. If I live.
November 7. Y. P.
I wrote a little these two days on the new Resur
rection. My conscience hurts when I remember
how trivially I began it. So far, I rejoice when I
think of the work as I am beginning it.
I chopped a little. I went to Ovsiannikovo,
had a good talk with Maria Alexandrovna 13 and
Ivan Ivanovich.14 Waltz's assistant was here
and a Frenchman with a poem. . . .
November 8, g. Y. P.
Have written little on Resurrection. I was not
disappointed, but I was weak.
Yesterday Dunaev 15 came. Chopped much
yesterday, overtired myself. To-day I walked. I
went to Constantine Bieli's.16 He is very much
to be pitied. Then I walked in the village. It is
good with them, but with us it is shameful. Wrote
letters. Wrote to Bazhenov 17 and three others.
Thought :
1) The confirmation of the fact, that reason
liberates the latent love in man for justice is the
proverb, " Comprendre c'est tout pardoner." If
you forgive a man, you will love him. To for
give means to cease to condemn and to hate.
2) If a man believes something at the word
of another, he will lose his belief in that which
6

NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
he would have inevitably believed in, had he not
trusted the other one. He who believes in . . .
etc., ceases to believe in reason. They even say
straight out, one ought not to believe in reason.
3) • • •
A very interesting letter from Holland, about
what a youth is to do who is called to military
service, when he is the sole supporter of his
mother.18

November 10. Y. P.
Slept with difficulty. Weakness both physical
and intellectual and — for which I am at fault —
also moral. Rode horseback. Posha 19 arrived.
... A wonderful French pamphlet about war.20
Yes, 20 years are needed for that thought to be
come a general one. My head aches and seems
to crackle and rumble. Father, help me when I
am most weak that I may not fall morally. It
is possible.
Nov. 11. Y.P. If I live.
I write and think : it is possible that I won't be.
Every day I make attempts, and I get more accus
tomed to it.
To-day November 15.
I have been so weak all the time I could write
nothing except a few letters. A letter to Shkar-
7

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
van. There have been here, Dunaiev, Posha,
Maria Vasilievna.21 They left yesterday. Yes
terday also I went to see Maria Alexandrovna;
she is ill. To-day Aunt Tanya 22 and Sonya came.
I didn't sleep at night and therefore didn't
work. But I wrote on the girl Konefsky 23 and
a little in my journal. I am reading Schopen
hauer's24 "Aphorisms." Very good. Only put
" The service of God " instead of " The recogni
tion of the vanity of life," and we agree.
Now 2 o'clock, I shall write out later what I
have noted down.28
December f. Moscow.
Almost a month since I have made any entries.
During this time we moved to Moscow. The
weakness has passed a little, and I am working
earnestly, though with little success, on the Decla
ration of Faith.26 Yesterday I wrote a little ar
ticle on whipping.27 I lay down to sleep in the
day and had just dozed off — I felt as if some one
jerked me; I got up, began to think about whip
ping, and wrote it out.
During this time, I went to the theatre 28 for the
rehearsals of the Power of Darkness. Art, be
ginning as a game, has continued to be the toy of
adults. This is also proved by music, of which
I have heard much. It is ineffectual. On the
contrary, it detracts when there is ascribed to it
8

December] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the unsuitable meaning which is ascribed to it.
Realism, moreover, weakens its significance . . .
N. refused to serve in the military. I called
on him.29 Philosophov 30 died. . . . Wrote sev
eral worthless letters.
I have thought during this time much — in
meaning. Much of it I could not understand
and have forgotten.
i) I have often wanted to suffer, wanted per
secution. That means that I was lazy and didn't
want to work, so that others should work for me,
torturing me, and I should only suffer.
2) It is terrible, the perversions ... of the
mind to which men expose children for their own
purposes during the time of their education. The
rule of conscious materialism is only explained by
this. The child is instilled with such nonsense
that afterwards the materialistic, limited, false
conception, which is not developed to the conclu
sions which would show its falsity, appears like
an enormous conquest of the intellect.
3) I made a note, "Violence frees," and it
was something very clear and important, and now
I don't remember what it was at all.
/ have remembered. December 23. Violence
is a temptation because it frees us from the strain
of attention, from the work of reasoning: one
must labour to undo a knot; to cut it, is
shorter. 9

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
4) A usual perversion of reason, which is
made through a violently enforced faith, is to
make men satisfied either with idolatry or with
materialism, which at bottom is one and the same
thing. Faith in the reality of our conceptions
is faith in an idol, and the consequences are the
same; one must bring sacrifices to it.
5)1 can imagine consciousness transferred to
the life of the spirit to such a degree that the
sufferings of the body would be met gladly.
6) A beautiful woman smiles, and we think
that because she smiles she says something good
and true when she smiles. But often the smile
seasons something entirely foul.
7) Education. It is worth while occupying
oneself with education, in order to find out all
one's shortcomings. Seeing them, you will begin
to correct them. But to correct oneself is indeed
the best method of education for one's children
and for others' and for grown-up people.
Just now I read a letter from Shkarvan 31 that
medical help does not appear to him like a boon,
that the lengthening of many empty lives for many
hundred years is much less important to him than
the weakest blowing, as he writes, (a puff) on the
spark of divine love in the heart of another.
Here then in this blowing, lies the whole art of
education. But to kindle it in others, one must
kindle it in oneself. 10

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
8) To love means to desire that which the
beloved object desires. The objects of love de
sire opposing things, and therefore, we can only
love that which desires one and the same thing.
But that which desires one and the same thing is
God. 9) Man beginning to live, loves only himself,
and separates himself from other beings in that
he constantly loves that which alone constitutes
his being. But as soon as he recognises himself
as a separate being, he recognises also his own
love, and he is no longer content with this love
for himself and he begins to love other beings.
And the more he lives a conscious life, the greater
and greater number of beings he will begin to
love, though not with such a stable and unceasing
love as that with which he loves himself, but nev
ertheless, in such a way that he wishes good to
everything he loves, and he rejoices at this good,
and suffers at the evil which tries the beloved
beings, and he unites into one all that he loves.
As life is love, why not suppose that my "self,"
that which I consider to be myself and love with
a special love, is perhaps the union I made in a
former life of things which I loved, just as I am
making a union of things now. The other has
already taken place and this one is taking place.
Life is the enlargement of love, the widening
of its borders, and this widening is going on in
11

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
various lives. In the present life, this widening
appears to me in the form of love. This widen
ing is necessary for my inner life and it is also
necessary for the life of this world. But my life
can manifest itself not only in this form. It man
ifests itself in an innumerable quantity of forms.
Only this one is apparent to me.
But in the meantime, the movement of life un
derstood by me in this world, through the enlarge
ment of love in myself and through the union of
beings through love, produces at the same time
other effects, one or many, unseen by me. As for
instance, I put together 8 toy cubes to make a pic
ture on one side of them, not seeing the other
sides of the constructed cubes, but on the other
sides are being formed pictures just as regular,
though unseen by me.
(All this was very clear when it came into my
head, and now I have forgotten everything and
the result is nonsense.)
10) I have thought much about God, about
the essence of my life, and it seemed I only
doubted one and the other and believed in my own
conclusions; and then, one time, not long ago, I
simply had the desire to lean upon my faith in
God and in the indestructibility of my soul, and
to my astonishment I felt so firm and calm a con
fidence, as I have never felt before. So that all my
doubts and scrutinisings have evidently, not only
12

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
not weakened my faith, but have strengthened it to
an enormous degree.
1 1 ) Reason is not given that we should rec
ognise what we ought to love; this it won't dis
close; but only for this: to show what we ought
not to love.
12) As in each piece of handiwork, the prin
cipal art lies not in the regular making of certain
things anew, but in the ever bettering of the in
evitable faults of a wrong and ruined work, so
even in the business of life, the principal wisdom
is not how to begin to act and how to lead life
correctly, but how to better faults, how to liberate
oneself from errors and seductions.
13) Happiness is the satisfaction of the re
quirements of a man's being living from birth to
death in this world only; but the good is the satis
faction of the requirements of the eternal essence
living in man.
14) The essence of the teachings of Christ
consists in this, that man ought to know who he is ;
that he should understand, like a bird which does
not use its wings and runs on the land, that he is
not a mortal animal, dependent on the conditions
of the world, but like a bird which has under
stood that it has wings and has faith in them, he
should understand that he himself was never born
and never died and always is, and passes through
this world in one of the innumerable forms of
13

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
life to fulfil the will of Him who sent him into
this life.
Dec. 8. Moscow. If I live.
Mascha 32 is with Ilia,33 a loving letter from
her to-day.
To-day December 23. Moscow.
It is long since I have made an entry. On the
30th, the Chertkovs 34 came. It is two days since
Kenworthy arrived. He is very pleasant. . . .
Have continued to write the Declaration — am
progressing. Off and on, I think out the drama,38
and yesterday I raved about it all night. I am
not well; a bad cold in the head, influenza. Be
cause of the letter to the Englishman, I began also
a letter on the collision between England and
America.36 Have been thinking during this time :
1) I have been thinking especially clearly of
that which I have already said many times; that
all the evil in the world comes only from this,
that people look upon themselves, upon their own
personality, as a worthy object of their conscious
life — upon themselves or upon a group of per
sonalities, it is all the same.
As long as a man lives for himself unconsciously,
he does no harm. If there is a struggle, then the
struggle is an unconscious one which is ended at
14

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
once when the struggle with surroundings is
ended ; man adjusts himself to it or he goes under,
and this struggle is neither cruel nor is it an evil
one. The struggle begins to be cruel only when
man directs his consciousness upon it, prepares it,
strengthens and multiplies its energy tenfold and
hundredfold. As Pascal says : there are three kinds of people ;
one kind know nothing and sit quietly, and just as
quiet are those who know; but there are a middle
kind who don't know but believe they do; from
them comes all the evil in the world. They are
the people in whom consciousness has awakened,
but they don't know how to use it.
2) The whole thing lies in this — that you
should always remember who you are. There is
no situation so difficult, from which the way out
would not immediately offer itself, if you only
would remember that you are not a temporary,
material manifestation, but an eternal omnipres
ent being. " I am the resurrection and the life:
he that believeth in me shall never die, and though
he were dead yet shall he live. Believest thou
this?" I walked on the street. A wretched beggar ap
proached me. I forgot who I was and passed by.
And then suddenly I remembered, and just as
naturally as the hungry begin to eat and the tired
15

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1895
sit down, I turned back and handed him some
thing. It is the same with the temptation to
quarrel, to insult, to be vain.
3) One can not voluntarily cease to remain
awake, i. e. to fall asleep. Just as little can one
voluntarily cease to live. Life is more important
than the will, than desire. (Unclear.)
4) Receive with thankfulness the enjoyments
of the flesh — all that you meet on the way, if
they are not sinful — in short, if they do not go
against your consciousness, if they do not make
it suffer. But use the efforts of your will, your
liberty, only to serve God.
I just wrote a letter to Crosby.37 He is work
ing in America.
Dec. 24. Moscow. If I live.
Yesterday I received the " Open Letter " of
Spielhagen, the Socialist, which appeared in the
newspapers with regard to Drozhin.38

16

1896

January 23. Moscow.
Just a month that I made no entries. During
this time I wrote a letter about patriotism 39 and a
letter to Crosby 40 and here now for two weeks I
have been writing the drama. I wrote three acts
abominably. I thought to make an outline so as
to form the charpente. I have little hope of suc
cess. Chertkov and Kenworthy went away the 7th.
Sonya went to Tver to Andrusha.41 To-day Na-
gornov 42 died. I am again a little indisposed.
I jotted down during this time :
1 ) A true work of art — a contagious one —
is produced only when the artist seeks, strives. In
poetry this passion for representing that which is,
comes from the fact that the artist hopes that hav
ing seen clearly and having fixed that which is,
he will understand the meaning of that which is.
2) In every art there are two departures from
the way, vulgarity and artificiality. Between
them both there is only a narrow path. And this
narrow path is outlined by impulse. If you have
impulse and direction, you pass by both dangers.
Of the two, the more terrible is artificiality.
19

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
3) It is impossible to compel reason to exam
ine and clarify that which the heart does not wish.
4) It is bad when reason wishes to give the
meaning of virtue to selfish efforts.
Kudinenko 43 was here. A remarkable man.
N. took the oath and is serving.44 A letter from
Makovitsky45 with an article on the Naz-
arenes.46
Jan. 24. Moscow. If I Uve.
Jan. 25. Moscow.
During these two days the chief event was the
death of Nagornov. Always new and full of
meaning is death. It occurred to me : they repre
sent death in the theatre. Does it produce
%)Ooo,ooo of that impression which the nearness
of a real death produces?
I continue writing the drama. I have written
four acts. All bad. But it is beginning to re
semble a real thing.
Jan. 26. Mosc. If I Uve.
January 26. Moscow.
I am alive, but I don't live. Strakhov — to
day I heard of his death.47 To-day they buried
Nagornov — and that is news. I lay down to
sleep, but could not sleep, and there appeared
before me so clearly and brightly, an un
derstanding of life whereby we would feel
20

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ourselves to be travellers. Before us lies a
stage of the road with the same well-known
conditions. How can one walk along that road
otherwise than eagerly, gaily, friendly, and ac
tively together, not grieving over the fact that
you yourself are going away or that others are
going ahead of you thither, where we shall again
be still more together.
To-day I wrote a postscript to the letter to
Crosby. A good letter from Kenworthy. Un
pleasantness with N. He is a journalist.
Jan. 26 \_2f?~\. Moscow. If I live.
Almost a month that I have made no entries.
Today, Feb. 13, Moscow.
I wanted to go to the Olsuphievs.48 ....
There is much bustle here and it takes up much
time. I sit down late to my work and there
fore write little. I finished somehow the fifth
act of the drama and took up Resurrection. I
read over eleven chapters and am gradually ad
vancing. I corrected the letter to Crosby.
An event — an important one — Strakhov's
death, and something else — Davydov's conversa
tion with the Emperor.49 
The article by Ertel 50 that the efforts of the lib
erals are useful, and also the letter by Spielhagen
on the same theme,61 provoke me. But I can not,
I must not write. I have no time. The letters
21

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
from Sopotsko52 and Zdziekhovsky 53 on the
Orthodox Church and on the Catholic, provoke me
on the other hand. However, I shall hardly
write. But here yesterday I received a letter from
Grinevich's 54 mother on the religious bringing
up of children. That I must do. At least I must
use all my strength to do this.
Very much music — it is useless. ... As re
gards religion, I am very cool at present.
Thought during this time (much I have forgot
ten and have not written down) :
1 ) Oh, not to forget death for a moment, into
which at any moment you can fall ! If we would
only remember that we are not standing upon an
even plain (if you think we are standing so, then
you are only imagining that those who have gone
away have fallen overboard and you yourself are
afraid that you will fall overboard), but that
we are rolling on, without stopping, running into
each other, getting ahead and being got ahead
of, yonder behind the curtain which hides from us
those who are going away, and will hide us from
those who remain. If we remember that always,
then, how easy and joyous it is to live and roll
together, yonder down the same incline, in the
power of God, with Whom we have been and
in Whose power we are now and will be after
wards and forever. I have been feeling this very
keenly. 22

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
2) There is no more convincing proof of the
existence of God, than the faculty of the soul by
which we can transport ourselves into other be
ings. Out of this faculty flows both love and rea
son, but neither one nor the other is in us, but
they are outside of us and we only coincide with
them. (Unclear.)
3 ) The power to kill oneself is free play given
to people. God did not want slaves in this life, but
free workers. If you remain in this life, then it
means that its conditions are advantageous to you.
If advantageous — then work. If you go away
from the conditions here, if you kill yourself, then
the same thing will be put before you again there.
So there is nowhere to go.
It would be good to write the history of what a
man lives through in this life who committed sui
cide in a past life; how, coming up against the
same requirements which were placed before him
in the other life, he comes to the realisation that
he must fufil them. And in this life he is more
intelligent than in the others, remembering the
lesson given him.
4) How does it happen that a clever, educated
man believes in the nonsensical? Man thinks that
which his heart desires. Only if his heart desires
the truth, and only if it does, will he think the
truth. But if his heart desires earthly pleasures
and peace, he will think of that which will bring
23

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
him earthly pleasures and peace or still something
else. But as it is not an attribute of man to have
earthly pleasures and peace, he will think falsely;
and to be able to think falsely he will hypnotise
himself. (Unclear, not good.)
Feb. 14. M. If I Uve.
To-day February 22. Nicholskoe, at the Olsu-
phievs.55 It is already more than a week that I feel de
pressed in spirit. No life ; I can not work on any
thing. Father of my life and of all life ! If my
work is already finished here, as I am beginning to
think, and the ending of my spiritual life, which
I am beginning to feel, means a transfer into that
other life — that I am already beginning to live
there and that here these remnants are being taken
away little by little — then show it to me more
clearly that I may not seek and weary myself.
Otherwise it seems to me that I have many well-
thought plans, yet I have no means, not only for
carrying them through — this I know, I ought not
to think of — but even to do something good,
something pleasing to Thee as long as I live here.
Or give me strength to work with the consciousness
of serving Thee. Still, Thy will be done. If
only I always felt that life consisted only in the ful-
24

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
filment of Thy will, I would not doubt. But doubt
comes because I bite the bit and don't feel the
reins. It is now 2 o'clock. I am going to dinner. I
took a walk, slept in the morning, read Trilby.
And I want to sleep all the time.
During this time, what has happened? Almost
nothing. I thought on the Declaration of Faith.
// 1 Uve. February 23. Nicholskoe.
To-day February 27. Nicholskoe.
Am writing the drama, it moves very stiffly.
Indeed I don't even know if I am progressing or
not. ... I am very comfortable here ; the impor
tant thing — it is quiet.
Read Trilby — poor. Wrote letters to Chert
kov, Schmidt,56 Kenworthy. Read Corneille —
instructive. Have been thinking:
1) I made a note that there are two arts.
Now thinking it over, I don't find a clear expres
sion of my thought. Then I thought that there
was an art, as they rightly characterise it, which
grew from play, from the need of every creature
to play. The play of the calf is jumping, the
play of man is a symphony, a picture, a poem, a
novel. This is one kind of art, the art of play, of
25

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
thinking out new plays, producing old ones and
inventing new. That is a good thing, useful and
valuable because it increases man's joys. But it
is clear that it is possible to occupy oneself with
play only when sated. Thus society can only oc
cupy itself with art, when all its members are
sated. But as long as all its members are not
sated, there can not be real art, there will be an
art of the overfed, a deformed one, and an
art of the hungry ones — rough and poor, just as
it is now. And therefore, in the first kind of art
— of play — only that part is of value which is at
tainable to all, which increases the joys of all.
If it is like this, then it is not a bad thing, espe
cially if it does not demand an increase of toil on
the part of the oppressed, as happens now.
(This could and should be expressed better.)
But there is yet another art which calls forth
in man better and higher feelings. I wrote this
just now — something I have said many times —
and I think it isn't true. Art is only one and con
sists in this: to increase the sinless general joys
accessible to all — the good of man. A nice build
ing, a gay picture, a song, a story give a little
good; the awakening of religious feelings, of the
love of good brought forth by a drama, a picture,
a song — give great good.
The 2nd thing that I have been thinking about
art, is that nowhere is conservatism so harmful
26

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
as in art. Art is one of the manifestations of
the spiritual life of man, and therefore, as when an
animal is alive, it breathes and discharges the prod
ucts of its breathing, so when humanity is alive, it
manifests activity in art. And therefore, at every
given moment it must be contemporaneous — the
art of our time. One ought only to know where
it is (not in the decadence of music, poetry, or the
novel) ; and one must seek it not in the past, but
in the present. People who wish to show them
selves connoisseurs of art and who therefore
praise the past classic art and insult the present,
only show by this, that they have no feeling for art.
3) Rachinsky57 says: "Notice that contem
poraneous with the spread of the use of narcotics,
since the 17th century, the astounding progress of
science began, and especially of the natural ones."
Is it not because of this, I say to him, that the
false direction of science has come, the studying
of that which is not necessary to man, but is only
an object for idle curiosity, or when useful, is not
the only thing really necessary? Is it not because
of this that from that time on there was neglected
the one thing that was necessary, i.e. the settling
of moral questions and their application to life ?
4) What is the good? I only know a word in
Russian which defines this idea. The good is the
real good, the good for all, le veritable bien, le
bien de tous, what is good for everybody.58
27

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
5 ) Men, in struggling with untruth and super
stition, often console themselves with the quantity
of superstition they have destroyed. This is not
right. It is not right to calm oneself until all that
is contradictory to reason and demands credulence
is destroyed. Superstition is like a cancer.
Everything must be cleaned out if one under
takes an operation. But if a little bit is left, every
thing will grow from it again.
6) The historic knowledge of how different
myths and beliefs arose among peoples in differ
ent places and in different times ought to, it seems,
destroy the faith that these myths and beliefs which
have been inoculated in us from our infancy, con
stitute the absolute truth; but nevertheless, so-
called educated people believe in them. How
superficial then, is the education of so-called edu
cated people !
7) To-day at dinner there was talk about a boy
with vicious inclinations who was expelled from
school, and about how good it would be to give
him over to a reformatory.
It is exactly what a man does who lives a bad
life, harmful to his health, and who, when he be
comes ill, turns to the doctor so that the latter
may cure him, but has no idea that the illness was
given to him as a beneficial indicator that his whole
life is bad and that he ought to change it. The
28

MARCH] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
same thing is true with the illnesses in our society;
every ill member of society does not remind
us that the whole life of our society is irregular
and that we ought to change it. But we think that
for every such ill member, there is or ought to
be, an institution freeing us from this member or
even bettering him.
Nothing hampers the progress of humanity so
much as this false conviction. The more ill the
society, the more institutions there are for the
healing of symptoms and the less anxiety for
changing the entire life.
It is now 10 o'clock in the evening. I am go
ing to supper. I want to work very much, but
am without intellectual energy; a great weakness,
yet I want to work terribly. If God would only
give it to-morrow.
Feb. 28. Nicholskoe. If I live.
To-day March 6. Nicholskoe.
All this time I have felt weakness and intel
lectual apathy. I am working on the drama very
slowly. Much has become clear. But there
isn't one scene with which I am fully satisfied.
To-day I was about to plan something silly: to
write out an outline of the Declaration of Faith.
Of course it didn't go. In the same way I began
and dropped a letter to the Italians.59
29

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
During this time I jotted down:
1) Corneille writes in his Preface to Menteur
on art, that its aim is a diversion, "divertir," but
that it must not be harmful, and if possible, it
ought to be educationally enlightening.
2) At supper there was a discussion on hered
ity: they say vicious people are born from an
alcoholic . . . (I can't clearly express my thought
and will put it by.)
3) Something very important. I lay and was
almost asleep, suddenly something seemed to tear
in my heart. It occurred to me: that is the way
death comes from heart failure; and I remained
calm — I felt neither grief nor joy, but blessedly
calm — whether here or there, I know that it is
well with me, that things are as they ought to be,
just like a child, tossed in the arms of its mother,
does not stop smiling from joy for it knows that
it is in her loving arms.
And the thought came to me : why is it so now
and was not so before? Because before, I did
not live the whole of life, but lived only an earthly
life. In order to believe in immortality, one must
live an immortal life here. One can walk with
one's feet and not see the precipice before one,
over which it is impossible to cross, and one can
rise on one's wings. . . .60
(It isn't going and I don't feel like thinking.)
March 7, i8g6. Nicholskoe. If I live.
30

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day May 2. Yasnaya Polyana.
It is almost two months since I have made an
entry. All this time I lived in Moscow. Of im
portant events there were : a getting closer to the
scribe Novikov 61 who changed his life on account
of my books which his brother, a lackey, received
from his mistress abroad. A hot-blooded youth.
Also his brother, a working man, asked for " What
is my Faith?" and Tania62 sent him to Mme.
Kholevinsky.63 They took Mme. Kholevinsky to
prison. The prosecuting attorney said that they
ought to go after me. All this together made me
write a letter to the ministers of Justice and the
Interior in which I begged them to transfer their
prosecution to me.64
All this time I wrote on the Declaration of
Faith. I made little progress. Chertkov, Posha
Biriukov were here and went away. My rela
tions with people are good. I have stopped rid
ing the bicycle. I wonder how I could have been
so infatuated.
I heard Wagner's Siegfried.65 I have many
thoughts in connection with this and other things.
In all I have jolted down 20 thoughts in my note
book. Still another important event — the work of
African Spier.66 I just read through what I wrote
in the beginning of this notebook. At bottom, it
is nothing else than a short summary of all of
3i

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
Spier's philosophy which I not only had not read at
that time, but about which I had not the slight
est idea. This work clarified my ideas on the
meaning of life remarkably, and in some ways
strengthened them. The essence of his doctrine is
that things do not exist, but only our impressions
which appear to us in our conception as objects.
Conception (Vorstellung) has the quality of be
lieving in the existence of objects. This comes
from the fact that the quality of thinking consists
in attributing an objectivity to impressions, a sub
stance, and a projecting of them into space.
May 3. Y. P.
Let me write down anything. Am indisposed.
Weakness and physical apathy. But think and
feel keenly. Yesterday at least, I wrote a few
letters: to Spier,67 Shkarvan, Myasoyedov,68
Perer, Sverbeev.69
I am reading Spier all the time, and the reading
provokes a mass of thoughts.
Let me write out something at least from my 21
notes. To-day I worked on the Declaration of Faith.
1) " Come and dwell in us and cleanse us of
all evil" . . . On the contrary: Cleanse thy soul
of evil thyself and He will come and dwell in thee.
He only waits for this. Like water he flows into
32

May] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
thee in the measure as room is freed. " Dwell in
us." How agonisingly lonely it is without Thee
— this I experienced these days and how peaceful,
firm and joyous, needing nothing and no one when
with Thee. Do not leave me !
I can not pray. His tongue is different from
that which I speak, but He will understand and
translate it into His own when I say : " Help me,
come to me, do not leave me ! "
And here I have fallen into a contradiction. I
say you have to cleanse yourself, then He will
come. But I, not yet having cleansed myself, call
upon Him.
May 4. If I still live here, Y. P.
May 5. Y. P.
The same general despair. And I am sad.
There is one cause; the higher moral requirement
that I put forward. In its name I have rejected
everything that is beneath it. But it was not fol
lowed. Fifteen years ago I proposed giving away
the greater part of the property and to live in four
rooms. Then they would have an ideal. . . .
To-day I rode past Gill.70 I thought: no un
dertaking is profitable with a small amount of
capital. The more capital, the more profits; the
less expenses. But from this it in no way follows
that, as Marx says, capitalism will lead to social-
33

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
ism. Perhaps it will lead to it, but to one with
force. The workingmen will be compelled to
work together, and they will work less and the
pay will be more, but there will be the same slav
ery. It is necessary that people work freely in
common, that they learn to work for each other,
but capitalism doesn't teach them that ; on the con
trary, it teaches them envy, greed, selfishness.
Therefore, through a forced uniting brought
about by capitalism, the material condition of the
workers can be bettered, but their contentment
can in no way be established. Contentment can
only be established through the free union of the
workers. And for this it is necessary to learn
how to unite, to perfect oneself morally, to will
ingly serve others without being hurt when not re
ceiving a return. And this can't in any way be
learned under the capitalistic, competitive system,
but under an entirely different one.
I sleep alone downstairs.
To-morrow, May 6th, Y. P.
To-day, May o, Y. P.
Up to now, I haven't yet written out all that
I had to. Have been continually indisposed.
Notwithstanding this, I work in the mornings.
To-day, it seemed to me I advanced very much.
Our people have gone away, some to the corona-
34

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
tion, others to Sweden.71 I am alone with
Masha ; she has a sore throat. I am well.
May 10, If I Uve. Y. P.
To-day, May u, Y. P.
Sonya arrived from Moscow. I continue to
write the Declaration of Faith. It seems as if I
were weakening. To-day I received a letter from
N, a tangled up revolutionist. In the evening I
rode horseback to Yasenki 72 and thought :
I have not yet written out everything from my
notebooks. I will jot down at least this, the more
so since, when it came into my head it seemed to
me very important. Namely :
i) Spier says we know only sensations. It is
true, the material of our knowledge is sensations.
But one must ask; why variation of sensations
(even of one and the same sense of sight or
touch). He (Spier) insists too much that cor
poreality is an illusion, and does not answer the
question: why variation of sensations? It is not
bodies that make variation of sensations, I agree
to this, but it is just such beings as we, who must
be the cause of these sensations.
I know that what he recognises as our being he
recognises as a unit. Good. Admitting it is a
unit, then it is a divided off, broken off unit, and
I am a unit being only within certain limits. And
35

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
these limits of my being are the limits of other
beings. Or, one being is outlined by limits and
these limits create sensations, i. e., the material of
knowledge. There are no bodies, bodies are illu
sions, but other beings are not illusions and I
recognise them through sensations. Their activ
ity produces sensations in me and I conclude that
the same effect is produced in them by my activity.
When I receive sensations from a man with whom
I come in contact, it can be understood ; but when
I receive sensations from the earth upon which I
fall, from the sun which warms me, what is it that
produces these sensations in me? Probably the
activities of beings whose life I do not understand;
but I recognise only a part of them like the flea
on my body. Touching the earth, feeling the
warmth of the sun, my limits come in contact with
the limits of the sun. I am in the world (I pro
ject this into space. I can not do it otherwise
though it is not so in reality) like a cell, not an
immovable one, but one wandering and touching
by his limits, not only the limits of other cells of
the same kind, but other enormous bodies.
Better still, not to project this into space; I act
and am acted upon by the greatest variety of be
ings ; or, my division of a unit being associates with
other divisions of the most various kinds.
(What a lot of nonsense !)
36

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
May 12, Y. P. If I Uve.
Pentecost. It is cold, damp, and not a leaf on
the trees.
To-day already, May 1 6, Y. P. Morning.
I can not write my Declaration of Faith. It is
unclear, metaphysical, and whatever good there is
in it, I spoil. I am thinking of beginning it all
from the beginning again or to call a stop and
get to work on a novel or a drama.
N.73 was here; it was a difficult love test. I
passed it only outwardly and even then badly.
If the examiner had gone along thoroughly, skip
ping about, I would have failed shamefully.
A beautiful article by Menshikov, " The Blun
ders of Fear." 74 How joyous ! I can almost die,
even absolutely, and yet it always seems as if
there is something still to be done. Do it and the
end will take care of itself. If you are no longer
fit for the work, you will be changed and a new
one will be sent and you will be sent to another
work. If only one rises in work !
Strakhov Th. A.75 was here. The other one,
N.,76 came to me in my sleep. I had a talk with
him 77 about the Declaration of Faith. In speak
ing to him I felt how hazy was the desire for the
good in itself. And I corrected it this way:
i) A man at a certain period of his develop
ment awakens to a consciousness of his life. He
37

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
sees that everything about him lives (and he him
self lived like that before the awakening of his
reason) without knowing its life. Now that he
has learned that he lives, he understands that
force which gives life to the whole world and in
his consciousness he coincides with it, but being
limited by his separate being (his organism), it
seems to him that the purpose of this force which
gives life to the world, is the life of his sepa
rate being.
(/ thought that I would write it clearly and
again I am confused; — evidently I am not
ready.) Life is the desire for the good. (Everything
that lives, lives only because it desires the good;
that which does not desire the good, does not
live.) Man, when awakened to a reasoning conscious
ness, is conscious of life in himself, i. e. of the
desire for the good. But since this consciousness
is engendered in the separate bodily being of man,
since man learns that life is the desire for the
good when he is already separated from others by
his bodily being, therefore, in the first awakening
of man to a reasoning consciousness, it seems to
him that life, i. e. the desire fpr the good which he
recognises in himself, has for its object his sep
arate bodily being. And man begins to live con
sciously for the good of his separate being, be-
38

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
gins to use that reason of his which revealed to
him the essence of all life ; the desire for the good,
in order to secure the good for his own separate
being. .But the longer-a-man liyxsT4^h^moxe-jabviou,s_.it
becomes to him that his purpose is unattainable.
And therefore, while he has not yet made clear
to himself his error, even before he recognises
by reason the impossibility of the good for a sepa
rate personality, man knows by experience and
feeling the error of activity which is directed to
the good of his own separate personality and he
naturally strives that his life, his desire for the
good, be drawn away from his own personality
and brought over to other things; to comrades,
friends, family, society.
This same reason which he desires to use for
the attainment of the good for his own separate
being, shows man that this good is unattainable,
that it becomes destroyed by the struggle between
the separate beings for the desired good, destroyed
by the unpreventable, innumerable disasters and
sufferings which threaten man, and above all, by
the unavoidable illnesses, sufferings, old age and
death which occur in the individual life of man.
No matter how man might expand his desire for
the good to other beings, he can not but see that
all these separate beings are like him, subject to
unavoidable sufferings and death and therefore,
39

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
they, just as he, can not have real life by them
selves. And it is just this error of men who have awak
ened to the consciousness of life that the Christian
teaching dissipates, in showing to man that as soon
as a consciousness of life has awakened in him,
i. e. the desire for the good, then his being, his
" self " is no longer his separate bodily being, but
that same consciousness of life, the desire for
the good not for himself, which was born in his
separate being. The consciousness, therefore, of
the desire for the good, is the desire for the good
for everything existent. And the desire for the
good for everything existent, is God.
The Christian teaching teaches just this, that
His son, who resembles God, and who was sent
by the Father into the world that the will of the
Father be fulfilled in him, lives in man with an
awakened consciousnessi (the conversation with
Nicodemus.) The Christian teaching reveals to man with an
awakened consciousness, that the meaning and the
aim of his life does not consist, as it seemed to him
before, in the acquiring of the greater good for
his own separate personality or for other such
personalities like him, no matter how many they
are, but only in the fulfilment in this world of
the will of the Father who has sent man into the
40

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
world — it reveals also to man the will of the
Father in regard to the son. The will of the
Father in regard to the son is that there should
be manifested in this world that desire for the
good which forms the essence of his life, so that
man living in this world should wish the good to
a greater and greater number of beings and con
sequently he should serve them as he serves his
own good.
(Confused.)
May 17, Y. P.
Again I am dissatisfied with what I wrote yes
terday and which seemed to me true and full.
Last night and this morning I thought about the
same thing. Here are the new things which have
become clear to me :
1) That the desire for the good is not God,
but only one of His manifestations, one of the
sides from which we see God. God in me is
manifested by the desire for the good ;
2) That this God which is enclosed in man,
begins to strive to free Himself in broadening and
enlarging the being in whom He dwells ; then, see
ing the impassable limits of this being, He tries to
free Himself by going outside of this being and
embracing other beings;
3 ) That a reasoning being cannot find room for
41

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
himself in the life of an individual, and that as
soon as he becomes reasoning he tries to go out
of it;
4) That the Christian teaching reveals to
man that the essence of his life is not his separate
being, but God, which is enclosed in his being.
This God, therefore, becomes known to man
through reason and love . . .
I can not write any farther; weak, sleepy.
5) And above all, that the desire for the good
for oneself, love for oneself, could exist in man
only up to the time when reason had not yet awak
ened in him. But as soon as reason had wakened
in him, then it became clear to man that the de
sire for the good for himself — a separate being
— was futile, because the good is not realisable
for a separate and mortal being. Just as soon as
reason appeared, then there became possible only
one kind of desire for the good; the desire for
the good for all, because with the desire for the
good for all, there is no struggle but union, and
no death but the transmission of life. God is not
love, but in living, unreasoning beings He is mani
fested through a love for oneself, and in living,
reasoning beings, through love for everything
that exists.
I am now going to write out the 2 1 points from
my notebooks.
1) In order to believe in immortality one has
42

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
to live an immortal life here, i. e. to live not to
wards oneself but towards God, not for oneself,
but for God. Man, in this life, seems to be stand
ing with one foot on a board and the other on
the earth; and as soon as his reason has awakened,
he sees that that board upon which he was just
about to step lies over an abyss and it not only
bends and creaks, but is already falling and man
transfers his weight to that foot which stands on
the earth. How not be afraid if one stands on
that which bends and creaks and falls; and how
be afraid, and of what to be afraid, if you stand
on that upon which everything falls and below
which it is impossible to fall?
2) Read about Granovsky.78 In our litera
ture it is customary to say, that during the reign
of Nicholas conditions were such that it was im
possible to express great thoughts. (Granovsky
complains of this and others too.) But the
thoughts there were not real. It is all self-decep
tion. If all those Granovskys, Bielinskys,79 and
others had anything to say, they would have said
it, no matter what the obstacles. The proof is
Herzen.80 He went away abroad and despite his
enormous talent, what did he say that was new,
necessary? All those Granovskys, Bielinskys,
Chernishevskys,81 Dobroliubovs, who were raised
to great men, ought to be grateful to the govern
ment and the censorship without which they would
43

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
have been the most unnoticed of sketch-
writers. Perhaps the Bielinskys, Granovskys, and the
other unimportant ones might have had something
real within them, but they stifled it, imagining they
had to serve society with the forms of social life
and not to serve God by professing the truth and
by preaching it without any care about the forms
of social life. Let there be contents and the forms
will shape themselves.
People acting thus, i. e. adapting their striving
for truth to the existing forms of society, are like
a being to whom wings have been given to fly,
without knowing obstacles, and who used these
wings in order to help itself in walking. Such a
being would not attain its ends — every obstacle
would stop it and it would spoil its wings. And
then this being would complain that it had been
held back and would tell with sorrow (like Gran
ovsky) that it would have gone far if obstacles
had not held it back.
The quality of real spiritual activity is such,
that it is impossible to hold it back. If it is held
back, then it means only one thing: it is not
real. 3) Man dying little by little (growing old)
experiences that which a sprouting seed ought to
experience which has not yet transferred its con
sciousness from the seed to the plant. He feels
44

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
that he grows less, but he is not conscious of him
self there where he increases; in another life.
I am beginning to experience this.
4) I wrote down: " Reason is a tool for the
recognition of truth, verification, criticism." I
can't remember very well. It seems to me, and
I am even certain of it, that it is this :
Under reason is understood many different in
tellectual activities and very complex ones, and
therefore the correctness of the solutions of
reason is often doubted. As an answer to this
doubt, I say, that there is an activity of the reason
which is not to be doubted, namely, the critical
activity, the activity of verifying what is told me.
They tell me that God . . . etc. I submit this
to the verification of reason and decide without
doubt that that which is not reasonable does not
exist for me. It is wrong to say that everything
which exists is reasonable, or that everything
which is reasonable exists, but it is wrong not to
say that that which is unreasonable does not exist
for me.
5) It seems to man that his animal life is his
real essence and that the spiritual life is the prod
uct of his animal one, just as it seems to a man
rowing in a boat that he is standing still and that
the banks, and the whole earth, are running past
him. 6) There is a goodness which wants to make
45

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
use of the advantages of goodness and does not
want to bear the disadvantages of it. That is
animal goodness.
7) Christian truth, they say, can not be
proved; it must be believed. As if it were easier
to become convinced of the truth of the nonsensi
cal than of the reasonable. Why deprive Chris
tianity of the power of convincing? Why?
8) Nature, they say, is economical of its own
forces; by the least effort, it attains the greatest
results. So is God. To establish the Kingdom
of God on earth, of union, of serving one an
other — and to destroy hostility, God does not
have to do it himself. He has placed His reason
in man, which frees love in man and everything
which He desires will be done by man. God does
His work through us. And there is no time for
God — or there is infinite time. When he has
placed reasoning love in man, he has already done
everything. Why has He done this in this way through man,
and not by Himself? The question is stupid and
one which never would have entered one's head
if we were all not spoilt by absurd supersti
tion. . . .
9) One of the most torturing spiritual suffer
ings is the not being understood by people when
you feel yourself hopelessly alone in your
thoughts. / There is consolation in this, that you
46

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
know that that very thing which people do not
understand in you, God understands.
10) To carry over one's "self" from the
bodily to the spiritual, that means to consciously
wish only the spiritual. My body can uncon
sciously strive for the fleshly, but I consciously
desire nothing of the fleshly, as when I do not de
sire to fall, but can not but submit to the law of
gravitation. 1 1 ) If you have transferred your " self " to
your spiritual being, you will feel the same pain
in violating love as you will feel physical pain when
you violate the good of the body. The indicator
is just as direct and true. And I already feel it.
12) Sin is the strengthening of the conscious
ness of life in one's separate being, or the weak
ening of one's reasoning consciousness, which
shows the inconsistency of animal life. For the
first end, the activity of reason is directed to the
strengthening of the delusion of a separate life:
1, food; 2, lust; 3, vanity, strengthened by reason.
For the second end, are used the means of weak
ening reason: tobacco, opium, wine.
13) Temptation is the assertion that it is per
mitted to violate love for the greater good: 1, to
oneself; it is necessary to feed, cure, educate, calm
oneself, in order to be in condition to serve men,
and for this it is permitted to violate love; 2, one
must secure, preserve, and educate the family, and
47

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
for this it is permitted to violate love; 3, one has
to organise, secure, protect the community, the
state, and for this it is permitted to violate love;
4, one has to contribute to the salvation of the
souls of people by violent suggestion, through edu
cation, and for this it is permitted to violate love.
14) The essay on art has to be begun with a
discussion of the fact, that for the picture here,
which it has cost the master 1000 working days,
he is given 40 thousand working days: for an
opera, a novel, still more. And then, some say
of these works, that they are beautiful; others,
that they are absolutely bad. And there is no
incontestable criterion. There is no such argu
ment about water, food, and good works. Why
is that so?
15) What is the result of a man recognising
as his " self " not his own separate being, but
God living in him? In the first place, not con
sciously desiring the good for his own separate
being, that man will not, or will less eagerly, take
the good away from others; in the second place,
having recognised as his " self " God, who desires
the good for all that exists, man also will desire it.
16) Why do people hold on so passionately
to the principle of family, the producing and
bringing up of children? Because to a man who
has not yet transferred his consciousness from his
separate being to that of God, it is the only seem-
48

May] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ingly satisfactory explanation of the meaning of
life. 17) The meaning of life becomes clear to
man when he recognises as himself, his divine
essence which is enclosed in his bodily envelope.
The meaning of this lies in the fact that this being,
striving for its emancipation, for the broadening
of the realm of love, accomplishes through this
broadening the work of God, which consists in
the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
18) Violence can neither weaken nor
strengthen a spiritual movement. To act on
spiritual activity by force is just like catching the
rays of the sun — no matter how you cover them,
they will always be on top.
19) I have noted down: "Do you imagine
your life in the wood which is being burned down
or in the fire which burns ? "
It is this way: you get the wood ready, and
then you are sorry to use it; in the same way you
get yourself ready and then you are sorry. But
the comparison is not good, because fire comes to
an end. A better comparison would be with
food; do you imagine your life in food or in that
which is being fed? Is not that the meaning of
the words of St. John about " my body ", which
ought to be food? Man is food for God if he
gives himself to God.
(Unclear; nonsense.) 49

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
20) The principal aim of art, if there is art,
and if it has an aim, is to manifest and to express
the truth about man's soul, to express those mys
teries which it is impossible to express simply by
speech. From this springs art. Art is a micro
scope which the artist fixes on the mysteries of his
soul and shows to people those mysteries which
are common to all.
21) Love, enclosed in man and freed by
reason, manifests itself in two ways: 1, by its
expansion, and 2, by the establishment of the
Kingdom of God. It is steam which, in spread
ing, works.
22) Lately, I have begun to feel such firm
ness and strength, not my own, but that of that
God's work which I wish to serve, that the irrita
tion, the reproaches, the mocking people hostile to
the work of God, is strange to me; they are piti
able, touching.
23) The world, living unconsciously, and
man, in the period of his childhood, performed
unconsciously the work of God. Having awak
ened to consciousness, he does it consciously. In
the collision between the two methods of serving,
man ought to know that the unconscious passes
and will pass into the conscious and not the oppo
site and that therefore it is necessary to give one
self over to the future and not to the past.
(Stupid.) 50

May] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
24) The delusion of man who has awakened
to consciousness and who continues to consider
his own separate being as himself, is that he con
siders a tool as himself. If you feel pain at the
disturbing of the good of your separate being, it
is as if you felt on your hand the blows on the
tool with which you work. The tool has to be
taken care of, ground, but not to be considered as
oneself. 25) God Himself is economical. He has to
penetrate all with love. He has fired man alone
with love and has placed him in the necessity of
firing all the rest.
26) Nothing affects the religious outlook so
much as the way we look upon the world ; whether
with a beginning and an end, as it was looked upon
in antiquity, or infinite as it is looked upon now.
In a finite world, one can construct a reasonable
role for separate mortal man, but in an infinite
world the life of such a being has no meaning.
27) (For Kortevsky) It happens to Katiu-
sha after her resurrection, that she has certain
periods in which she smiles slyly and lazily as if
she had forgotten all which she considered true
before; she is merely joyous and wants to
live. 28) To him who lives a spiritual life entirely,
life here becomes so uninteresting and burden
some that he can part with it easily.
5i

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
29) Natasha Strakhov 82 asks her father,
when he speaks of something which happened
when she was not yet born : " Where was I then? "
I would have answered: " You were asleep and
had not yet waked up here." Conception, birth,
childhood are only a preparation to an awaken
ing, which we see, but not the sleeping ones.
30) The error in which we find ourselves
when we consider our separate beings as ourselves
is the same as when a traveller counts only one
stage as the whole road, or a man, one day as his
whole life.
31) Read about . . . and was horrified at
the conscious deception of men . . .
32) "An eraser." I have forgotten. I
shall recall it.
Have written up to dinner. It is now 2 o'clock
and I am going to dine.
May 28, Ysn. Pol. 12 o'c. noon.
It is already several days that I am struggling
with my work 83 and am making no progress. I
sleep. I wanted to scribble it somehow to the
very end, but I can't possibly do it. Am in a
wretched mood, aggravated by the emptiness, by
the poor, self-satisfied, cold emptiness of my sur
rounding life.
In the meantime I have been to Pirogovo.84 I
have a most joyous impression; my brother Ser-
52

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
gei 85 has undoubtedly had a spiritual transforma
tion. He himself has formulated the essence of
my faith (and he evidently recognises it as true
for himself) ; to raise in oneself the spiritual es
sence and to subject to it the animal element. He
has a miraculous ikon and he was tortured by his
undefined attitude to it. The little girls 86 are
very good and live seriously. Masha has been
infected by them. Later there were at our house :
Salamon,87 Tanyee.88 . . .
A terrible event in Moscow — the death of
three thousand 89 — I somehow can not express
myself as I ought to. I am indisposed all the
time, getting weaker. In Pirogovo, there was
the harnessmaker, an intelligent man. Yesterday
a working-man came from Tula, intelligent. I
think a revolutionist. To-day a seminary student,
a touching case.
I am advancing very, very badly in my work.
Rather boring letters because they demand polite
answers. I have written to Bondarev,90 Posha,
and to some one else. O yes ; Officer N. was here
too. I think I was useful to him. Splendid notes
by Shkarvan.91
Yesterday there was a letter from poor N.92,
whom they have driven off to the Persian frontier,
hoping to kill him. God help him. And don't
forget me. Give me life, life, i. e. a conscious,
joyful serving of Thee. 53

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
In the meantime, I thought,
1) It is remarkable how many people see
some insoluble problem in evil. I have never seen
any problem in it. For me it is now altogether
clear that that which we call evil is that good, the
action of which we don't yet see.
2) The poetry of Mallarme,93 and others.
We who don't understand it, say boldly that it is
humbug, that it is poetry striking an impasse.
Why is it that when we hear music which we don't
understand and which is just as nonsensical, we
don't say that boldly, but say timidly : yes, perhaps
one ought to understand it or prepare oneself for
it, etc. That is silly. Every work of art is only
a work of art when it is understandable, I do not
say for all, but for people standing on a certain
level of education, on the same level as the man
who reads poetry and who judges it.
This reasoning leads me to an absolutely cer
tain conclusion that music before any other art
(decadence in poetry and symbolism and other
things in painting) has lost its way and struck an
impasse. And he who has turned it from the
road was that musical genius Beethoven. The
principal factors are the authorities and people
deprived of aesthetic feeling who judge art.
Goethe? Shakespeare?94 Everything that
goes under their names is supposed to be good and
on se bat les flancs in order to find something
54

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
beautiful in the stupid and the unsuccessful, and
taste is entirely perverted. And all these great
talents — Goethe, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mich-
ael-Angelo — side by side with exquisite things,
produced not only mediocre ones, but disgusting
ones. The mediocre artists produce a medioc
rity as regards value and never anything very
bad. But recognised geniuses create either
really great works or absolute stuff and nonsense ;
Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, Bach, and
others. 3) To place before myself the most complex
and confused thing which demands my partici
pation. On all sides it seems there exist insolu
ble dilemmas; it is bad one way and worse the
other. And it is only necessary to carry over the
problem from the outer realm into the inner, into
one's own life, to understand that this is only an
arena for my inner perfection, that it is a test, a
measure of my moral development, an experiment
as to how much I can and want to do the work of
God, the enlargement of love, and everything re
solves itself so easily, simply, joyously.
4) A mistake (sin) is the use of reason, given
me to recognise my essence in the love for every
thing which exists, in acquiring the good for my
separate being. As long as man lived without
a reasoning consciousness, he fulfilled the will of
God in acquiring the good for himself and in
55

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
struggling for it and there was no sin ; but as soon
as reason had awakened, then there was sin.
5) The harness-maker, Mikhailo, says to me
that he does not believe in a future life, that he
thinks that when a man dies, his spirit will
leave him and will go away. But I say to him:
" Well, go off then with this spirit ; then you won't
die."
May 2Q, Ysn. Pol. If I Uve.

It seems to me, June 6, Ysn. Pol.
The principal thing is that during this time I
have advanced in my work,98 and am advancing.
I write on sins and the whole work is clear to the
end. Finished Spier — splendid.
The economic movement of humanity by three
means: the destruction of ownership of land ac
cording to Henry George 96 ; the inheritance
which would give over accumulated wealth to
society, if not in the first generation, then in the
second; and a similar tax on wealth on an excess
of over 1000 rubles income for a family or 200
for each man.
To-day the Chertkovs arrived. Galia 97 is very
good. The day before yesterday a gendarme came, a
56 '

JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
spy, who confessed that he was sent after me. It
was both pleasant and nasty.98
During this time have thought principally the
following :
i) When a man lives an animal life, he does
not know that God lives through him. When
reason awakens in him, then he knows it. And
knowing it, he becomes united with God.
2) Man in his animal life has to be guided by
instinct; reason directed to that which is not sub
ject to it, will spoil everything.
3) Is not luxury a preparing for something
better, when there is already a sufficiency?
Yesterday was not the 6th, but the 8th. To
day, June g, Y. P.
I have written little and not very well. It
seems to me that it is getting clearer. In the
morning I had a conversation with the working-
men who came for books. I remembered the
woman who asked to write to John of Kronstad.99
The religion of the people is this : there is a God
and there are gods and saints. (Christ came on
earth, as a peasant told me to-day, to teach people
how and to whom to pray.) The gods and the
saints perform miracles, have power over the
flesh and perform heroic deeds and good works,
and the people have only to pray, to know how
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and to whom to pray. But people can not per
form good works, they can only pray. Here is
their whole faith.
I bathed and don't feel well.
June ig, Y. P.
Have been feeling weak all this time and sleep
badly. Posha came yesterday. He spoke about
the Khodinka accident well, but wrote it badly.
Our very idle, luxurious life oppresses me. N.
came. A stranger. He is young and he does
not understand in the same way as I do, that which
he understands, although he agrees with every
thing. Finished the first draft 10° on the 13th of
June. Now I am revising it, but am working
very little.
. . . Struggled with myself twice and success
fully. Oh, if it were always so 1
Once I passed beyond Zakaz 101 at night and
wept for joy, being grateful for life. The pic
tures of life in Samara stand out very clearly be
fore me; the steppes, the fight of the nomadic,
patriarchic principle with the agricultural civil
ised one.102 It draws me very much. Konef-
sky was not born in me; that is why it moves so
awkwardly. Have been thinking :
1) Something very important about art: what
is beauty? Beauty is that which we love. " He
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JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
is not dear because he is good, but good because
he is dear." Here is the problem; why dear?
Why do we love? And to say that we love, be
cause a thing is beautiful, is just the same as saying
that we breathe because the air is pleasant. We
find the air pleasant, because we have to breathe;
and in the same way we discover beauty, because
we have to love. And he who hasn't the power
to see spiritual beauty, sees at least a bodily one
and loves it.
June 26, Y. P. Morning.
All night I did not sleep. My heart aches
without stopping. I continue to suffer and can
not subject myself to God. ... I have not mas
tered pride and rebellion and the pain in my heart
does not stop. One thing consoles me; I am not
alone but with God, and therefore no matter how
painful it is, yet I feel that something is taking
place within me. Help me, Father.
Yesterday I walked to Baburino 103 and unwil
lingly (I rather would have avoided than sought
it), I met the 80-year-old Akime ploughing, the
woman Yaremichov who hasn't a coat to her
household and only one jacket, then Maria whose
husband was frozen and who has no one to gather
her rye and who is starving her child, and Tro-
phime and Khaliavka, and the husband and wife
were dying as well as the children. And we study
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
Beethoven. And I pray that He release me from
this life. And again I pray and cry from pain.
I am entrapped, sinking, I cannot alone, only I
hate myself and my life.
June 30, Ysn. Pol.
Continued to suffer and struggle much, and have
conquered neither one nor the other. But it is
better. Mme. Annenkov 104 was here and put it
very well . . .10B They have spoiled for me even
my diary which I write with the point of view
of the possibility of its being read by the living 108
Just now upstairs they began to speak about the
New Testament and N. en ricanant proved that
Christ advised castration. I became angry, —
shameful. Two days ago I went to those who had been
burned out; had not dined, was tired and felt well.
. . . Yesterday I visited the lawyer who wanted
to snatch a hundred rubles from a beggar-woman
to decorate his own house with. It is the same
everywhere. During this time I have been in Pirogovo. My
brother Serezha has entirely come over to us.
The journey with Tania and Chertkov was joy
ous. To-day in Demenka 10T I gave the last
words for his journey to a dying peasant.
I am advancing much on the work.108 I will
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JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
try to write out now what I have jotted down in
the book.
To-day, July ig,10*
I am in Pirogovo. I arrived the day before
yesterday with Tania and Chertkov. In Serez
ha 110 there has certainly taken place a spiritual
change; he admits it himself saying that he was
born several months ago. I am very happy with
him. At home, during this time, I lived through much
difficulty. Lord, Father, release me from my
base body. Cleanse me and do not let your spirit
perish in me and become overgrown. I prayed
twice beseechingly; once that He let me be His
tool; and second that He save me from my ani
mal " self."
During this time I progressed on the Declara
tion of Faith. It is far from what has to be said
and from what I want to say. It is entirely in
accessible to the plain man and the child, but,
nevertheless I have said all that I know coherently
and logically.
In this time also I wrote the preface to the
reading of the Gospels in and annotated the Gos
pels. Had visitors. Englishmen, Americans —
no one of importance.
I will write out all that I jotted down:
i ) Yesterday I walked through a twice
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
ploughed, black-earth fallow field. As far as the
eye could see, there was nothing but black earth —
not one green blade of grass, and there on the
edge of the dusty grey road there grew a bush of
burdock. There were three off-shoots. One
was broken and its white soiled flower hung; the
other also broken, was bespattered with black dirt,
its stem bent and soiled; the third shoot stuck out
to the side, also black from dust, but still alive
and red in the centre. It reminded me of Hadji-
Murad.112 It makes me want to write. It as
serts life to the end, and alone in the midst of
the whole field, somehow or other has asserted it.
2) He has a capacity for languages, for math
ematics, is quick to comprehend and to answer,
can sing, draw correctly, beautifully, and can
write in the same way; but he has no moral or
artistic feeling and therefore nothing of his own.
3) Love towards enemies. It is difficult,
seldom does it succeed — as with everything ab
solutely beautiful. But then what happiness
when you attain it ! There is an exquisite sweet
ness in this love, even in the foretaste of it. And
this sweetness is just in the inverse ratio to the
attractiveness of the object of love. Yes, the
spiritual voluptuousness of love towards enemies.
4) Some one makes me suffer. As soon as I
think about myself, about my own suffering, the
suffering continues to grow and grow and terror
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JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
overcomes me at the thought to where it might
lead. It suffices to think of the man on account of
whom you are suffering, to think about his suffer
ing — and instantly you are healed. Sometimes
it is easy when you already love your torturer ; but
even when it is difficult, it is always possible.
5) Yesterday in walking I thought what are
those boundaries which separate us, one being
from another? And it occurred to me. Are not
space and time the conditions of these divisions, or
rather, the consequences of these divisions? If I
were not a separated part, there would be neither
space nor time for me, as there is not for God.
But since I am not the whole, I can understand
myself and other beings through space and time
only. (I feel that there is something in this, but I
can not yet express it clearly.)
6) There was an argument about whether be
ing in love was good. For me the conclusion was
clear; if a man already lives a human, spiritual
life, then being in love — love, marriage —
would be a downfall for him, he would have to
give a part of his strength to his wife, to his fam
ily, or even at least to the object of his love. But
if he is on the animal plane, if he eats, drinks,
labours, holds a post, writes, plays — then to be in
love would be an uplift for him as for animals,
for insects, in the time of . . .113
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7) To pray? They say that prayer is neces
sary, that it is necessary to have the sweet feeling
of prayer which is called forth by service, singing,
reading, exclamations, ikons. But what is prayer ?
A communion with God, a recognition of one's
relation to God, the highest state of the soul. Is
it possible that this state of the soul can be at
tained by an action upon the outer senses. ... Is
it not more probable that the prayerful state might
be reached only in rare exceptional moments and
necessarily in isolation, as even Christ said and as
Elijah saw God, not in a storm but in a tender
breeze? 8) Yesterday I looked through the romances,
novels, and poems of Fet.114 I recalled our in
cessant music on 4 grand-pianos in Yasnaya Poly-
ana and it became clear to me that all this — the
romances, the poems, the music — was not art,
something important and necessary to people in
general, but a self-indulgence of robbers, para
sites, who have nothing in common with life; ro
mances, novels about how one falls in love dis
gustingly, poetry about this or about how one lan
guishes from boredom. And music about the
same theme. But life, all life, seethes with its
own problems of food, distribution, labour, about
faith, about the relations of men ... It is
shameful, nasty. Help me, Father, to serve Thee
by showing up this lie. 64

JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
9) I was going from the Chertkovs on the 5th
of July. It was evening, and beauty, happiness,
blessedness, lay on everything. But in the world
of men? There was greed, malice, envy, cruelty,
lust, debauchery. When will it be among men
as it is in Nature ? Here there is a struggle, but it
is honest, simple, beautiful. But there it is base.
I know it and I hate it, because I myself am a
man. (I have not succeeded.)
10) When I suffered in my soul, I tried to
calm myself with the consciousness of serving.
And that used to calm me, but only then when
there happened to be an obvious instance of serv
ing, i. e. when it was unquestionably required and
I was drawn to it. But what is to be done when
it happens neither one way nor the other? Give
myself to God, negate myself. Do as Thou wilt,
I consent. (Again, not what I want to say.)
I am going to dinner.
11) Kant,115 they tell us, made a revolution
in the thought of men. He was the first to show
that a thing in itself is inaccessible to knowledge,
that the source of knowledge and life is spiritual.
But is not that the same which Christ said two
thousand years ago, only in a way understand
able to men? Bow in spirit and in truth; the
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
spirit is life creating, the letter, the flesh, is bene
ficial in no way.
12) Balls, feasts, spectacles, parades, pleas
ure-gardens, etc., are a dreadful tool in the hands
of the organisers. They can have a terrible in
fluence. And if anything has to be subjected to
control, it is this.
13) I walked along the road and thought,
looking at the forests, the earth, the grass, what a
funny mistake it is to think that the world is such
as it appears to me. To think that the world is
such as it appears to me, means to think that there
can be no other being capable of knowledge ex
cept myself with my six senses.116 I stopped and
was writing that down. Sergei Ivanovich 117 ap
proached me. I told him what I was thinking.
He said:
" Yes, one thing is true, that the world is not
such as we see it and we don't know anything as
it is." I said:
" Yes, we know something exactly as it is."
"What is it?"
" That which knows. It is exactly such as we
know it."
14) One is often surprised that people are un
grateful. One ought to be surprised at how they
could be grateful for good done them. How-
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JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ever little good people do, they know with certainty
that the doing of good is the greatest happi
ness. How then can people be grateful to others
that these others have drunk themselves full,
when that is the greatest enjoyment?
15) Only he is free whom nothing and no
body can hinder from doing what he wants.
There is only one such work to do — to love.
16) Prayer is directed to a personal God, not
because God is personal (I even know as a matter
of fact that He is not personal, because the per
sonal is finite and God is infinite), but because I
am a personal being. I have a little green glass
in my eye and I see everything green. I can not
help but see the world green, although I know
that it is not like that.
17) The aesthetic pleasure is a pleasure of a
lower order. And therefore the highest aes
thetic pleasure leaves one unsatisfied. In fact, the
higher the aesthetic pleasure, the more unsatisfied it
leaves one. It always makes one want something
more and more. And so without end. Only
moral good gives full satisfaction. Here there is
full satisfaction. Nothing further is wished for
or needed.
18) A lie to others is by far neither as im
portant nor as harmful as a lie to oneself. A lie
to others is often an innocent play, a satisfying of
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
vanity. A lie to oneself is always a perversion
of the truth, a turning aside from the demands
of life.
19) Although seldom, yet it has happened to
me that I have done good from pity, a real good.
In that case you never remember what you really
have done and under what circumstances. You
remember only that you were with God (this oc
curred to me in regard to my favourite boots
which I remember I gave away out of pity and for
a long time I could not remember where they had
gone). It is the same way with all those mo
ments when I was with God, whether in prayer
or in the business of life. Memory is a fleshly
affair, but here, the thing is spiritual.
20) Man can not live a fleshly life, if he does
not consider himself in the right and he can not
live a spiritual life if he does not consider him
self sinful.
21) . . .
I am going to sleep. It is 12 130 in the morn
ing, July 30th.
July 3 1, Y. P. If I live.
July 31, Y. P.
I am alive. It is evening now. It is past four.
I am lying down and can not fall asleep. My
heart aches. I am tired out. I hear through the
window — they play tennis and are laughing. S.
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JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
went away to the Shenshins.118 Every one is well,
but I am sad and can not master myself. It is
like the feeling I had when St. Thomas 119 locked
me in and I heard through my prison how every
one was gay and was laughing. But I don't want
to. One must suffer humiliation and be good. I
can do it.
I continue to copy :
i ) The disbelief in reason is the source of all
evil. This disbelief is reached by the teaching of
a distorted faith from childhood. Believe in one
miracle and the trust in reason is destroyed.
2) . . .
3) Christianity does not give happiness but
safety; it lets you down to the bottom from which
there is no place to fall.
4) I rode horseback from Tula and thought
about this ; that I am a part of Him, separated in
a certain way from other such parts, and He is
everything, the Father, and I felt love, just love,
for Him. Now, especially now, I not only can
not reproduce this feeling, but not even recall it.
But I was so joyful that I said to myself: Here
I was thinking that I can not learn anything new
and suddenly I acquired a wonderful blessed new
feeling, a real feeling.
5 ) What humbug 120 — beauty, truth, good
ness! Beauty is one of those attributes of outer
objects, like health, an attribute of the living body.
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Truth is not the ideal of science. The ideal of
science is knowledge, not truth. The good can
not be placed on the plane with either of these,
because it is the goal of life.
(It is unclear, but it was clear and will be.)
6) I do not remember good works, because
they are outside of the material man — of mem
ory. August 1, Ysn Pol. If I Uve. — which is
doubtful. My heart aches very much. . . .
It is dreadful to think how much time has
elapsed; a month and a half. To-day, Sept. 14,
Y.P. During this time I took a trip to the monastery
with Sonya.121. . . I wrote on Hadji-Murad 122
very poorly, a first draft. I have continued my
work on the Declaration of Faith. The Chert-
kovs have gone away. . . . All three sons are
here now with their wives.123
There was a letter from the Hollander who
has refused to serve.124 I wrote a preface to the
letter.125 I wrote a letter also to Mme. Kalmi-
kov 128 with very sharp statements about the Gov
ernment. The whole month and a half has been
condensed in this. Oh, yes; I have also been ill
from my usual sickness and my stomach is still
not strong.
One thing more. During this time there was a
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SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
letter from the Hindu Tod and an exquisite book
of Hindu wisdom, loga's Philosophy.127
In the meantime I thought :
i) There are many people, especially Euro
peans and especially women, who not only talk but
who write things that appear intelligent, in the
same way as dumb people speak; as a matter of
fact, it isn't any more natural for them to think
than for a dumb person to speak, but both one
and the other, both the stupid and the dumb, have
been taught.
2) To love an individual man, one has to be
blinded. Without being blinded one can love
only God, but people can be pitied, which means
to love in a Godly way.
3 ) To get rid of an enemy, one must love him,
as it is also said in the " Teaching of the twelve
apostles." 128 But to love one has to put to one
self the task for all one's life of love towards an
enemy, to do him good through love and to per
fect oneself in love for him.
4) At first, one is surprised that stupid peo
ple should have within them such an assertive
convincing intonation. But it is as it should be.
Otherwise no one would listen to them.
5)1 find this note : " A decoration for peas
ants, our happiness " — I can not remember what
that means, but it is something that pleased me.
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
I think it means that to a poor man looking on
the life of the rich, it appears as happiness. But
this happiness is as much happiness, as card
board made into a tree or a castle — is a tree
or a castle.
6) We are all attracted to the Whole and one
to another, like particles of one body. Only our
roughness, the lack of smoothness, our angles, in
terfere with our uniting. There is already an
attraction, there is no need of making it, but one
must plane oneself, wipe out one's angles.
7) One of the strongest means of hypnotism,
of exterior action on the spiritual state of man, is
his dress. People know that very well; that is
why there is a monastic garb in monasteries and a
uniform in the army.
8 ) I was trying to recall two excellent sub
jects for novels, the suicide of old Persianninov
and the substitution of a child in an orphan asy
lum. 9) When my weakness tortured me, I sought
means of salvation, and I found one in the thought
that there is nothing stationary, that everything
flows, changes, that all this is for a while, and
that it is only necessary to suffer the while while
we live — I and the others. And some one of us
will go away first. (The while does not mean
to live in any way, but means, not to despair, to
suffer it through to the end.)72

SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
10) I wanted to say that I was grateful, so
as to make the other one well disposed, and later
to tell the truth. No, I thought, that is not per
mitted. He will ascribe it to his virtues and the
truth will be accepted even less. Man, not ac
knowledging his sins, is a vessel hermetically
closed with a cover which lets nothing enter. To
humble oneself, to repent, that means to take off
the cover and to make oneself capable of perfec
tion, of the good.
ii) Barbarism interferes with the union of
people, but the same thing is done by a too great
refinement without a religious basis. In the
other, the physical disunites, and in this, the spir
itual. 12) Man is a tool of God. At first I thought
that it was a tool with which man himself was
called to work; now I have understood that it is
not man who works, but God. The business
of man is only to keep himself in order. Like
an axe, which would have to keep itself always
clean and sharp.
13) Why is it that scoundrels stand for des
potism? Because under an ideal order which
pays according to merit, they are badly off. Un
der despotism everything can happen.
14) I often meet people who recognise no God
except one which we ourselves recognise in our
selves. And I am astonished; God in me. But
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
God is an infinite principle; how then, why then,
should He happen to be in me ? It is impossible
not to question oneself about this. And as soon
as you question yourself, you have to acknowledge
an exterior cause. Why do people not feel them
selves in need of answering this question? Be
cause for them, the answer to this question is in
the reality of the existing world, whether accord
ing to Moses or to Darwin — it is all the same.
And therefore, to have a conception of an ex
terior God, one has to understand that that which
is actually real, is only the impression of our
senses, i. e. it is we ourselves, our spiritual
" self." 15) In moments of passion, infatuation, in or
der to conquer, one thing is necessary, to destroy
the illusion that it is the " self " who suffers, who
desires, and to separate one's true " self " from
the troubled waters of passion.
Sept. 15. Y. P. If I live.
To-day October 10. Y. P.
It is almost a month that I have made no en
tries and it seemed to me it was only yesterday.
During this time, though in very poor form, I
finished the Declaration of Faith. During this
time there were some Japanese with a letter from
Konissi.129 They, the Japanese, are undoubt
edly nearer Christianity than our church Chris-
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
tians. I have learned to love them very
much. . . .
I want to write out the whole Declaration of
Faith from the beginning again. Yesterday
there was a good letter from Verigin, Peter.130
All last night I thought about the meaning of
life and though there are other things to note
down, I want to note down this :
The whole world is nothing else than an in
finite space filled with infinitely small, colourless,
silently moving particles of matter. At bottom,
even this is not so ; I know that they are particles
of matter only through their impenetrability, but
the impenetrability I know only through my sense
of touch and my muscle sense. If I did not have
this sense, I would not know about impenetrability
or about matter. As to motion, also, I, strictly
speaking, have no right to speak, because if I did
not have the sense of sight or again muscle sense,
I would not know anything about motion either.
So that all that I have the right to assert about
the outer world is that something exists, some
thing entirely unknown to me, as it was said long
ago both by the Brahmins and by Kant and by
Berkeley. There is some kind of occasion, some
kind of grain of sand which causes irritation in the
shell of the snail and produces a pearl (secretion,
secretion in the snail). This is our whole outside
world. 75

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
What is there then ? There is myself with my
representations of myself, of the sun, trees, ani
mals, stones. But what then is it that I call my
self? Is it something arbitrary depending on my
self? No, it is something independent of myself,
predetermined. I can not not be myself, and not
have that representation which I have, namely,
that I include in myself a small part of these
moving atoms and call them myself. And all the
other remaining atoms I see in the form of be
ings more or less like myself. The world ap
pears to me to consist entirely of beings which
are like me or resemble me.131
(I have become confused, yet have something to
say. I am going to try when I have the strength.)
I am continuing to write out what I had to say
and what I dreamt of all night, namely:
People think that their life is in the body, that
from that which takes place in the body; from
breathing, nutrition, circulation of the blood, etc.,
life flows. And this seems unquestionable; let
nutrition, breathing, circulation of the blood cease
and life will end. But what ends is the life of the
body, life in this body. . . .
And in fact if you consider that life comes from
the process of the body and only in the body then
as soon as the processes of the body are ended,
then life ought to be ended. But certainly this
is an arbitrary assertion. No one has proven and
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
can prove that life is only in the body and can
not be without the body. To assert this, is all the
same as asserting that when the sun has set then
the sun has come to an end. One must first de
cide what is life. Is it that which I see in the
others as it begins and stops, or is it what I know
in myself? If it is what I know in myself, then
it is the only thing that is and therefore it can
not be destroyed. And the fact that in bodies
before me processes end which are connected with
life in me and in other beings, shows me only this,
that life goes away somewhere from my sensual
eyes. To go away entirely, to be destroyed, it
absolutely can not be, because outside of it there
is nothing in the world. The problem, then,
might be this : Will my life be destroyed, can it
be destroyed? And the destruction of the body
of a man, is that a sign of the destruction of his
life? In order to answer this question one must
first decide what is life ?
Life is the consciousness of my separateness
from other beings, of the existence of other beings
and of those limits which separate me from them.
My life is not bound up with my body. There
may be a body, but no consciousness of separate
ness like for a sleeping one, an idiot, an embryo
or for those who have fits.
It is true that there can be no life without the
consciousness of the body; but that is because life
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
is the consciousness of one's own separateness and
of one's own boundaries. But the consciousness
of one's own separateness and of one's own bound
aries happens in our life in time and space, but
it can happen in any other way and therefore the
destruction of the body is not the sign of the de
struction of life.
(Not clear and not what I want to say.)
Oct. 11. Y. P. If I live.
To-day October 20. Y. P Morning.
I feel like writing down three things.
1) In a work of art the principal thing is the
soul of the author. Therefore among medium
productions the feminine ones are the better, the
more interesting. A woman will push her
self through now and then, speak out the most
inner mysteries of her soul; and that is what is
needed. You see what she really loves, although
she pretends that she loves something else. When
an author writes, we the readers place our ears
to his breast and we listen and say, " Breathe. If
you have rumblings, they will appear." And
women haven't the capacity of hiding. Men have
learned literary methods and you can no longer
see him behind his manner, except that you know
he is stupid. But what is in his soul, you don't
see. (Not good; malicious.) 78

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
The 2nd thing I wanted to write was that yes
terday, in blowing out my candle, I began to feel
for matches and did not find them, and an un
easiness came over me. "And you are getting
ready to die ! What, then, are you also going to
die with matches?" I said to myself. And I
at once saw in the dark my real life and became
calm. What is this fear of the dark? Besides the
fear at the incapability of meeting whatever ac
cident might happen, it is the fear at the ab
sence of the delusion of our most important sense,
that of sight. It is fear before the contemplation
of our true life. I now no longer have that fear
— on the contrary, that which had been fear is
now peace; there only has remained the habit
of fear; but to the majority of people the fear
is exactly of that which alone can give them
peace. The 3rd thing I wanted to write was that when
a man is put in the necessity of choosing between
an act which is clearly beneficial to others, but
with the thwarting of the demands of conscience
(the will of God), then the problem is only one
of short-sightedness, because the man sees in the
immediate future the good which will arise from
his act, if he thwarts the will of God, but he does
not see in the more remote future the other good,
which is an infinite number of times greater, which
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
will come from the abstention of this act and the
fulfilment of the will of God. It is the same
kind of thing that children do, destroying the gen
eral order of a house which is necessary for their
own happiness, for the sake of the immediate
pleasure of play.
The fact is that for the work of God and for
man accomplishing the work of God, time does
not exist. Man can not but represent to himself
everything in time, and therefore in order to cor
rectly judge of the importance of the work of God,
he has to represent it to himself in the very re
mote future, even in infinite time. The fact, that
I will not kill the murderer and will forgive him,
that I shall die unseen by any one, fulfilling the
will of God, will bear its own fruit ... if I in
sist upon thinking in terms of time — in infinite
time. But it will bear its fruit surely.
I have to finish the former :
4) Refinement and power in art are almost
always diametrically opposed.
5) Is it true that works of art are obtained by
assiduous work? That which we call a work of
art — yes. But is it real art?
6) The Japanese sang and we could not re
strain ourselves from laughter. If we had sung
before the Japanese they would have laughed.
The more so had Beethoven been played for them.
Indian and Greek temples are understood by all.
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
And Greek statues are understood by all. And
our best painting is also understandable. So that
architecture, sculpture, painting, having reached
their perfection, have reached also cosmopolitan
ism, accessibility to all. To the same point in
some of its manifestations has the art of speech
reached; in the teaching of Buddha, of Christ, in
the poetry of Sakia-Muni, Jacob, Joseph. In
dramatic art; Sophocles, Aristophanes did not
reach it. It is being reached in the new ones.
But in music they have been lagging behind en
tirely. The ideal of all art to which it should
strive is accessibility to all — but it, especially
music to-day, noses its way into refinement.
7) The principal thing which I wanted to say
about art, is that it does not exist in the sense of
some great manifestation of the human spirit as
it is understood now. There is play, consisting
in the beauty of construction, in sculpting figures,
or in representing objects, in dancing, in singing,
in playing on various instruments, in poetry, in
fables, in stories, but all this is only play and not
an important matter to which one could con
sciously devote his strength.
And so it was always understood and is under
stood by the working, unspoiled people and every
man who has not gone away from labour, from
life, can not look upon it in any other way. It
is necessary, one must, say it out loud — how much
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evil has come from this importance attributed by
the parasites of society to their plays !
8 ) The whole outer world is formed by us, by
our senses. We know nothing and can know noth
ing about it. All that we can know, in studying
the outer world is the relation of our senses (sens)
among themselves and the laws of these relations.
There is no question but that this is very interest
ing, and from the study of these relations are
opened many new situations which we can make
use of and which increase the comforts of our life,
but this is not only not everything, not all of
science as people busying themselves with this study
are now asserting, but it is only one minute particle
of science.
Science is the study of the relation of our spirit
ual " self " — that which masters the outer senses
and uses them — to our outer senses or to the
outer world, which is the same thing. This re
lation has to be studied, because in this relation
is accomplished the movement of humanity as a
whole to perfection and the good, and the move
ment of each individual man to the same goal.
This relation is the object of every science; but
to-day the study of this relation is called Ethics
by our present-day scholars, and is considered as
a science by itself, and a very unimportant one
from out the great mass of other sciences. It is
all topsy-turvy; the whole of science is considered
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as a small part and a small part is considered as
the whole. From this comes the brutalisation of
men. This arises out of the astonishing ignorance of
most of the so-called learned. They are naively
convinced that the outer world is an actual real
ity, just in the same way as the peasants are con
vinced that the sun and the stars move around
the earth. Just as the peasants know nothing of
the work of Galileo, Copernicus and Newton, or
if they have heard of it — do not believe — so the
materialist scholars have never heard, do not know
or do not believe what has been done as to criti
cism of knowledge by Descartes, Kant, Berkeley
and even before, by the Hindus and by all re
ligious doctrines.
9) When you suffer, you must enter into your
self — not seek matches, but put out that light
which is there, and which interferes with the see
ing of your true " self." You must turn upside
down the toy which stood on the cork and place
it on the lead and then everything will become
clear and the greatest part of your suffering will
cease — all that part which is not physical.
10) When you suffer from passion, here are
some palliative prescriptions:
(a) Remember how many times you have suf
fered before because in your consciousness you
have connected yourself to your passion; lust,
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
greed, desire, vanity, and remember how every
thing passed away and you have still not found
that " self " which suffered then. And so it is
now. It is not you who are suffering, but that
passion which you wrongly joined to yourself.
(b) Again, when you suffer, remember that
the suffering is not something disagreeable which
you can wish to get rid of, but it is the very work
of life, that very task which you have been desig
nated to do. In wanting to get rid of it, you are
doing that which a man would do who lifts the
plough there where the earth is hard, just where,
in fact, it has to be ploughed up.
(c) Then remember, at the moment when you
suffer, that if there is anger in the feelings you
have, the suffering is in you. Replace the anger
with love, and the suffering will end.
(d) Also this is possible ; love towards enemies,
which is indeed the one real love. You must strug
gle for it, struggle with toil, with the conscious
ness that in it is life. But when you have at
tained it, what relief 1
(e) The principal thing is to turn the toy
upside down, find your true " self " which is only
visible without matches, and then anger will van
ish by itself. That " self " is incapable of, can
not, and has no one to be angry with — loving, it
can only pity. 84

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
During these latter days I didn't feel like writ
ing. I merely wrote letters to every one and
sent to Schmidt an addition to the letter about the
incompatibility . . . with Christianity.182 I have
begun the Declaration of Faith anew. I am going
to continue.
Went to Pirogovo with Masha. Serezha 133 is
very good. . . .
October 21. Y. P. If I live.
To-day probably October 23. Y. P.
All these days I have been out of tune with my
work. Wrote a letter yesterday to the com
mander of the disciplinary battalion in Irkutsk
about Olkhovik.134
It is evening now, I am sitting down to write
because I feel the special importance and serious
ness of the hours of life which are left to me.
And I do not know what I have to do, but I feel
that there has ripened in me an expression of
God's will which asks to be let out.
Have re-read Hadji Murad — it isn't what I
want to say. As to Resurrection I can't even
get hold of it. The drama interests me.
A splendid article by Carpenter on science.135
All of us walk near the truth and uncover it from
various sides.

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October 26. Y. P.
I am still just as indisposed and don't feel like
writing. My head aches. Serezha came yester
day.136 Wrote a letter to Sonya and to Andrusha.
But it seems to me that during this time of
doubt, I arrived at two very important conclu
sions :
1 ) That, which I also thought before and wrote
down ; that art is an invention, is a temptation for
amusement with dolls, with pictures, with songs,
with play, with stories — and nothing more. But
to place art as they do ( and they do the same with
science), on the same level with the good is a
horrible sacrilege. The proof that it is not so,
is that about truth also (the right) I can say
that truth is a good (as God said, great good,
teib, i.e., good) , and about beauty one can say that
it is good; but it is impossible to say about good
that it is beautiful ( at times it is homely) , or that
it is true (it is always true).
There is only one good; good and bad; but
truth and beauty are good qualities of certain ob
jects. The other very important thing, is that reason
is the only means of manifesting, and freeing
love. It seems to me that this is an important
thought, omitted in my Declaration of Faith.

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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day November i. Y. P.
All this time I have felt neither well nor like
working. I have written letters only, among the
number was one to the Caucasian disciplinary
battalion.137 Yesterday, walking at night on the
snow, in the blizzard, I tired my heart and it
aches. I think I am going to die very soon.
That is why I am writing out the notes. I think
I am going to die without fear and without re
sistance. Just now I sat alone and thought how strange
it was that people live alone. People ; I thought
of Stasov; 138 how is he living now, what is he
thinking, feeling. Of Kolichka,139 too. And so
strange and new became the knowledge that they,
all of them, people — are living, and I do not live
in them ; that they are closed to me.
November 2. Y. P. If I live.
November 2nd. Y. P.
Am alive. Am a little better. Have written
on the Declaration of Faith. I think it is true that
it is cold because it endeavours to be infallible.140
A blizzard. Sent off the letters to Schmidt and
Chertkov. Did not send the letter to Mme.
Kalmikov. To-day I thought about art. It is play. And
when it is the play of working, normal people it
is good, but when it is the play of corrupted para-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
sites, then it is bad — and here now it has reached
to decadence.
November 3. Y. P. If I Uve.
To-day November 5. Y. P- Morning.
Yesterday was a terrible day.
... At night I hardly slept and was depressed.
I just now found the prescriptions 141 in my diary,
looked them over and began to feel better; to
separate one's true " self " from that which is of
fended and vexed, to remember that this is no
hindrance, no accidental unpleasantness, but the
very work predestined me, and above all to know
that if I have a dislike for any one, then as long
as there is that dislike in me — then I am the guilty
one. And as soon as you know you are guilty,
you feel better.
To-day, lying on the bed, I thought about love
towards God ... I wish I could say, the love
of God, i.e., divine love — that the first and prin
cipal commandment is divine love, but that the
other resembling it and flowing from it, especially
flowing from it, is the love for neighbour.
Yesterday I wrote 18 pages of introduction to
Art.142 It is wrong to say of a work of art, " You don't
yet understand it." If I don't understand it, that
means that the work of art is poor, because its
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
task is in making understandable that which is not
understandable.
November 6. Y. P. If I live.
November 6. Y. P.
Am alive. It is the third day that I continue
to write on art. It seems to me it is good. At
least I am writing willingly and easily.
. . . Have received a good letter from Vander-
veer. Wrote another letter to the commander of
the battalion in the Caucasus. Chertkov sent me
his copy of a similar letter.
To-day I rode horseback to Tula. A marvel
lous day and night. I am just now going to take
a walk to meet the girls.
Have been thinking.
i) Natural sciences, when they wish to deter
mine the very essence of things, fall into a crude
materialism, i.e., ignorance. Such, besides Des
cartes' whirlwinds, are atoms and ether and the
origin of species. All that I can say, is that it
appears to me so, just as the heavenly vault ap
pears round to me, while I know that it is not
round and that it appears to me so, only because
my sight for all directions extends on only one
radius. 2) The highest perfection of art is its cosmo
politanism. But on the contrary, with us at pres-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
ent it is becoming more and more specialised, if
not according to nations, then according to classes.
3) The refinement of art and its strength are
always in inverse proportion.
4) " Conservatism lies in this "... That is
the way I have it noted, but further I can't remem
ber now.
5) Why is it pleasant to ride? Because it is
the very emblem of life. Life — you ride.
I wanted to take a walk. . . .
November 7. Y. P. If I live.
To-day November 12. Y. P-
I haven't noted down anything during this time.
I was writing the essay on Art. To-day a little
on the Declaration of Faith. A weakness of
thought and I am sad. One must learn to be
satisfied with stupidity. If I do not love, at least
not not to love. That, thank the Lord, I have
attained.
November 16. Y. P. Morning.
I still work just as badly and am therefore de
pressed. The day after to-morrow I am going to
Moscow, if God commands.143
... In the meantime I received a strange let
ter from the Spaniard Zanini, with an offer of
22,000 francs for good works. I answered that
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
I would like to use them for the Dukhobors.
What is going to happen ? 144 I wrote to Kuzmin-
sky on Witte and Dragomirov 145 and the day be
fore yesterday I wrote diligently all morning on
War.146 Something will come of it.
I am thinking' continually about art and about
the temptations or seductions which becloud the
mind, and I see that art belongs to this class, but
I do not know how to make it clear. This occu
pies me very, very much. I fall asleep and wake
up with this thought, but up to now I have come
to no conclusion.
The notes during this time about God and the
future life are:
i) They say that God must be understood as
a personality. In this lies great misunderstand
ing; personality is limitation. Man feels himself
a personality, only because he comes in contact
with other personalities. If man were only one,
he would not be a personality. These two con
ceptions are mutually determined ; the outer world,
other beings, and the personality. If there were
not a world of other beings, man would not feel
himself, would not recognise himself as a person
ality; if man were not a personality he would not
recognise the existence of other beings. And
therefore man within this Universe is inconceiv
able otherwise than as a personality. But how
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
can it be said of God, that He is a personality,
that God is personal? In this lies the root of
anthropomorphism. Of God it only can be said what Moses and
Mohammed said, that he is one, and one, not in
that sense that there is no other or other gods
(in relation to God there can be no notion of num
ber and therefore it is even impossible to say of
God that he is one (1 in the sense of a number),
but in that sense that he is monocentric, that he is
not a conception, but a being, that which the Greek
Orthodox call a living God in opposition to a
pantheistic God, i.e., a superior spiritual being
living in everything. He is one in that sense that
He is, like a being to whom one can address one
self, i.e., not exactly to pray, but that there is a
relationship between me, something which is
limited, a personality, and God — something in
conceivable but existing.
The most inconceivable thing about God for us
consists exactly in this, that we know Him as a
one being, can know him in no other way, and at
the same time it is impossible for us to understand
a one being who fills up everything with himself.
If God is not one, then He is scattered and He
does not exist. If He is one, then we involuntar
ily represent him to ourselves in the shape of a
personality and then He is no longer a higher be-
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ing, no longer everything. But, however, in or
der to know God and to lean on Him one must un
derstand Him as filling everything and at the same
time as one.
2) I have been thinking how obviously mis
taken is our conception of the future life in bodies
either more or less similar to ours. Our bodies
as we know them are nothing but the products of
our outer six senses. How then can there be life
for that spiritual being who is separated from his
body — how can it be in that form which is deter
mined and produced by that body through its
senses?
November 17. Y. P. If I Uve.
November 17. Y. P.
Yesterday I hardly wrote anything.
. . . There is a fight in the papers over
Repine's 147 definition of art as amusement. How
it fits into my work. The full significance of Art
has still not been made clear. It is clear to me,
and I can write and prove it, but not briefly and
simply. I cannot bring it up to that point.
Yesterday there was a letter from Ivan Mi-
chailovich 148 and from the Dukhobors.
Amusement is all right, if the amusement is not
corrupted, is honest, and if people do not suffer
from that amusement. I have been thinking just
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
now; the aesthetic is the expression of the ethical,
i.e., in plain language; art expresses those feelings
which the artist feels. If the feelings are good,
lofty, then art will be good, lofty, and the re
verse. If the artist is a moral man, then his art
will be moral, and the reverse. (Nothing has
come of this.)
I thought last night :
We rejoice over our technical achievements —
steam, . . . phonographs. We are so pleased
with these achievements that if any one were to
tell us that these achievements are being attained
by the loss of human lives we would shrug our
shoulders and say, " We must try not to have
this so; an 8-hour day, labour insurance, and so
forth; but because several people perish, is no
reason to renounce those achievements which we
have attained." I. e., Fiat mirrors, phonographs,
etc., pereat several people.
It is but sufficient to admit this principle — and
there will be no limit to cruelty, and it will be
very easy to attain every kind of technical im
provement. I had an acquaintance in Kazan who
used to ride to his estate in Viatka, 130 versts
away, in this fashion: he would buy a pair of
horses at the market for 20 roubles (horses were
very cheap) and would hitch them up and drive
130 versts to the place. Sometimes they would
reach the place, and he would have the horses
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
plus the cost of the journey. Sometimes they
would not cover a part of the road and he would
hire. But nevertheless it used to cost him cheaper
than hiring stage horses. Even Swift proposed
eating children. And that would have been very
convenient. In New York, the railroad compan
ies in the city crush several passers-by every year
and do not change the crossings to make the dis
asters impossible, because the change would cost
dearer than paying to the families of those
crushed yearly. The same thing happens also in
the technical improvements of our age. They are
accomplished by human lives. But one has to
value every human life — not to value it, but to
place it above any value and to make improve
ments in a way that lives should not be lost and
spoilt, and to stop every improvement if it harms
human life.
November 18. If I Uve, then Moscow.
November 22. Moscow.
The fourth day in Moscow. Dissatisfied with
myself. No work. Got tangled up in the article
on art and have not moved forward.
. . . There were here; the Gorbunovs,149 Boul-
anger,150 Dunaev. I called on Rusanov myself.151
Received a very good impression.
Read Plato; embryos of idealism.
I recalled two subjects which were very good:
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
1 ) A wife's deception of her passionate, jealous
husband; his suffering, his struggle and the en
joyment of forgiveness, and
2) A description of the oppression of the serfs
and later the very same kind of oppression by
land property, or rather by being deprived of it.
Just now Goldenweiser 152 played. One thing
— a fantasy fugue:153 an artificiality; studied,
cold, pretentious; another — " Bigarrure " by
Arensky;154 sensual, artificial; and a third — a
ballad by Chopin; sickly, nervous, not one or the
other or the third can be of any use to the people.
The devil who has been sent to me is still with
me, and tortures me.
November 23. Moscow. If I live.
To-day November 25. Moscow.
Am very weak. My stomach isn't working.
I am trying to write on art — but it doesn't go.
One thing is good; have found myself, my heart.
. . . A letter from Zanini with an offer of 31,500
francs.155 Tischenko, a good novel on pov
erty.156 It is now past two, am going for a walk.
To-day November 27. Moscow.
Very weak, poor in all respects. And feel as
if I had only just now awakened. Have been
thinking :
1) We are all in this life — workers placed at
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the work of saving our souls. It can be com
pared to keeping up the fire given from heaven and
lighted on the hearth of my body. My work lies
in this, to keep up and feed this fire in myself (not
to spend the material of this fire as I have done
lately, except in burning it) and not to think how
and what gets lighted from this fire. It is not
a difficult matter to thresh with several flails, but
to keep in order, not to get confused (and not
only to thresh, but not to interfere with the oth
ers), one has only to remember oneself, one's
own tempo while beating. But as soon as you
have begun to think of others, to look at them,
you get confused.
The same thing happens in life. Remember
only yourself, your own work — and this work
is one : to love, to enlarge love in yourself — not
to think of others, of the consequences of your
labour and the work of life will go on fruitfully,
joyously. Just as soon as you begin to think of
that which you are producing, about the results of
your labour, just as soon as you begin to modify
it in accordance with its results — your work be
comes confused and ceases, and there comes the
consciousness of the vanity of life. The master
of life gave to each one of us separately such a
labour, that the fulfilment of that labour is the
most fruitful work. And He himself will use and
guide this work, give it a place and a meaning.
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But as soon as I try to find and fix a place for it,
and in accordance with this, to modify it then I
become confused, see the vanity of labour and
I despair. My task is to work and He already
knows for what it is needed and will make use of
it. " Man walks, God leads." And the work
is one; to enlarge love in oneself.
I am a self-moving saw or a living spade and
its life consists in this, to keep its edge clean and
sharp. And it will work well enough, and its
work will be useful. To keep it sharp, and to
sharpen and sharpen it all the time, that is to
make oneself always kinder and kinder.
2) Once more I wrote to N that she is wrong
in thinking that it is possible for one to renounce
oneself from the exploit of living. Life is an ex
ploit. And the principal thing is, that that very
thing that pains us and seems to us to hinder us
from fulfilling our work in life — is our very work
in life. There is some circumstance, a condi
tion in life which tortures you; poverty, illness,
faithlessness of a husband, calumny, humiliation,
— it suffices only to pity yourself and you become
the unhappiest among the unhappy. And it suf
fices only to understand that this is the very work
of life which you are called to do; to live in pov
erty, in illness, to forgive faithlessness, calumny,
humiliation — and instead of depression and pain
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
3) Art becoming all the time more and more
exclusive, satisfying continually a smaller and
smaller circle of people, becoming more and more
selfish, has gone crazy, since insanity is only self
ishness reaching to its last degree. Art has
reached the last degree of selfishness — and has
gone out of its mind.
I have felt very badly and depressed these days.
Father, help me to live with Thee, not to wander
from Thy will.
November 28. Moscow. If I live.
To-day December 2. Moscow.
Five days have passed and very torturing ones.
Everything is still the same.
. . . My feeling; I have discovered on myself
a terrible putrefying sore. They had promised
me to heal it and have bound it. The sore was so
disgusting to me, it was so depressing for me to
think that it was there, that I tried to forget it, to
convince myself that it was not there. But some
time has passed — they unbound the sore and
though it was healing, nevertheless it was there.
And it was torturingly painful to me and I began to
reproach the doctor — and unjustly. That is my
condition. The principal thing is the devil that
has been sent me. Oh, this luxury, this richness,
this absence of care about the material life ! Like
an over-fertilised soil. If they do not cultivate
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
good plants on it, weeding it, cleaning everything
around them, — it will become overgrown with
horrible ugliness and will become terrible. But it
is difficult — I am old and am almost unable to
do it. Yesterday I walked, thought, suffered and
prayed and it seems to me not in vain.
Yesterday I went to Princess Helen Ser-
geievna.157 It was very pleasant. I still cannot
work. I shall try to in a minute. I have written
nothing in the note book. Letters from Koni,158
from Mme. Kudriavtsev.189 Yesterday the fac
tory hands came and a new one, Medusov, I
think.
Dec. 12. Moscow.
I have suffered much during these days and it
seems I have advanced towards peace, towards
the good — towards God. Am reading much on
art. It is becoming clear. I am not even sit
ting down to write. Masha went away. The
Chertkovs came.
To-day I wrote the appendix to The Appeal.™
Dec. 15. Moscow.
Now 2 o'clock in the morning. Have done
nothing. My stomach ached. Am calm; have
no desire to write.
... I have made some notes. I don't write
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
out everything. Something struck me forcibly —
it is my clear consciousness of the weight of the
oppressiveness from my personality, from the
fact that I am I. This gives me joy because it
means that I understood, that I recognised as
myself, at least partly, a " self " that was not per
sonal.
December 16, Moscow. If I Uve.
To-day December ig or 20.
Five days have passed and I feel the oppressive
ness, the weight of my body and therefore the
consciousness of the existence of that which is not
the body has strengthened terribly. I want to
throw off this weight, free myself from these chains
and nevertheless I feel them. I am sick of my
body. All this time I have not worked at all and I feel
heavy melancholy. I am fighting against it by
seeking in my life a task which is beyond this life.
There is only one such: an approach to the per
fection of God, to love. Yesterday it became so
clear to me that life here is nothing else than a
manifestation in these forms of the greatest per
fection of God. " To live an age and unto the
night " — that is in terms of time. To live
for a universal life and for this one — that is in
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I have done nothing during this time and am
unable to. I am living badly.
I have noted a few trifles on Art :
1 ) They bring as a proof that art is good, the
fact that it produces a great impression on you.
Yes, but who are you? On the decadents, their
works produce a great impression on them. You
say that they are spoilt. But Beethoven, who does
not produce an impression on the working man,
produces such an impression on you, only because
you are spoilt. Who then is right ? What music
is beyond question as to its value? That kind
which produces as impression on a decadent and
on you and on the working man; simple, under
standable, popular music.
2) What relief all would feel who are locked
up in a concert-room listening to Beethoven's last
works, if a jig or a cherdash or something similar
would be played for them.
3) N. was here and said that he recognised
only sensation, that man himself, the " self " was
only a sensation. Sensation receives sensation.
He reached this nonsense because of the scientific
method; the limiting of the field of research, the
non-recognition of anything else than sensation, is
very good and profitable for the practical ends of
the science of experimental psychology, but it is
good-for-nothing as far as a living universal point
of view is concerned. And this error is often
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made by people ; they transfer to life the method
which is suitable to science.
4) Nothing so confuses the conception of art
as the acceptance of authorities. Instead of de
termining by a clear concise conception of art
whether the works of Sophocles, Homer, Dante,
Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, Bach, Raphael,
Michael-Angelo, come up to the conception of
good art and exactly how they do so, they de
termine by the existing works of the recognised
great artists, art itself and its laws. But, how
ever, there are many works of noted artists which
are below every criticism and there are many false
reputations, accidentally won fame ; Dante, Shake
speare. 5 ) I am reading the history of music : 161 out of
sixteen chapters on artificial music there is one
short chapter on popular music. And they know
almost nothing about it. So that the history of
music is not the history of how real music was
born and spread and developed ; the music of mel
odies — but the history of artificial music, i.e.,
how real melodious music was distorted.
6) Artificial, master-class music, the music of
parasites, feeling its own impotence, its own hol
lowness, takes recourse, in order to replace real in
terest by artificiality, now to counterpoint, to the
fugue, now to opera, to illustration.
7 ) Church music is good, therefore, because it is
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
understood by the masses. The undeniably good
is only that which is understood by all. And there
fore it is true, that the more understandable it
is, the better.
8) The various characters expressed by art
touch us only because in each one of us is the possi
bility of every possible character. (Forgot)
9) The history of music, like all history, is
written on the plan to show how it has gradually
reached that condition in which the thing is found
about which the history is now being written.
The present condition of music, or that about
which the history is written, is supposed to be the
highest. But what if it is not only a lower thing,
but something entirely distorted, an accidental de
viation towards distortion.
10) Belief in authorities causes the errors of
authorities to be accepted as models.
11) They say that music strengthens the im
pression of words — in arias, songs. It isn't true.
Music gets ahead of impressions made by words,
by heaven knows how far. An aria of Bach ; what
words can rival it at the time when it is being
rendered ? It is a different thing — the words by
themselves. To whatever music you would place
the Sermon on the Mount, the music would remain
far behind, once you penetrated the words.
" Crucifix " by Faure,162 the music is pitiable com
pared to the words. They are two entirely dif-
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ferent and incompatible feelings. In song they
go along together only because the words give
tone. (Not exact. About this in another place.)
12) So vividly have I recalled Vasili Per-
fileev 163 and others, whom I saw in Moscow, and
so clear did it become that, although they are
dead, they still are.
13) The Scylla and Charybdis of artists;
either understandable, but shallow, vulgar; or
pseudo-lofty, original and incomprehensible.
14) The poetry of the people always reflected
and not only reflected, predicted, prepared, popu
lar movements; the Crusades, the Reformation.
What could the poetry of our parasitical circle pre
dict and prepare? — Love, debauchery; debauch
ery, love.
15) Popular poetry, music, art in general is ex
hausted, because all the talented have been won
over by bribes to be buffoons to the. rich and the
titled; chamber music, opera, odes and 164 . . .
16) In all art, there exists the struggle between
the Christian and the pagan. The Christian be
gins to conquer and the new wave of the 15th Cen
tury overflows, the Renaissance, and only now at
the end of the 19th, the Christian rises again, and
paganism in the shape of decadence having reached
the highest degree of nonsense, is being destroyed.
17) Besides the fact that the most gifted of the
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
people were won over by bribes into the camp of
the parasites, the cause of the destruction of popu
lar poetry and music were: at first the serfdom
of the people and later the most important one —
printing. 18) Chertkov said that around us there are
four walls of the unknown; in front, the wall of
the future, in back the wall of the past, to the
right the wall of ignorance, of that which is tak
ing place there where we are not, and the fourth
wall, he says, is the ignorance of that which is go
ing on in the soul of another. In my mind this
is not so. The first three walls are as he says.
One should not look through them. The less we
look beyond them the better. But as to the fourth
wall of the ignorance of that which is going on in
the souls of other people, this wall we ought to
break down with all our strength, striving for a
fusion with the souls of other people. And the
less we will look beyond those three other walls,
the closer we will get to others in this respect.
19) After death in importance, and before
death in time, there is nothing more important,
more irrevocable, than marriage. And just as
death is only good then when it is unavoidable,
but every death on purpose is bad, so it is with
marriage. Only then is marriage not evil, when
it is not to be conquered.
20) Apostasy comes from a man professing
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what he professes not for himself, not for God,
but for people. He betrays his professions,
either because he has become convinced that more
people, or better people according to his mind, do
not profess the same thing as he, or because that
which he did before, he did for human fame and
now he wants to live for himself, before God.
21 ) If I believed in a personal God to whom
one could turn to with questions, I would say,
Why, for what has God made it so, that some,
knowing the undoubted truth, burn wholly with its
fire, while others do not want it, cannot under
stand or accept it, and even hate it.
It is now past one. The same weakness, but
keen in spirit, when I remember the significance
of the whole of life, and not only this one which
I have lived through as Leo Nicholaievich (Tol
stoi). Help me, Lord, to do always, everywhere
Thy will, to be with Thee. But not my will, but
Thine, be done.
December 21, Moscow, if I live.
I am still writing December the 20th, Moscow.
Still the same depression. Father, help me.
Relieve me. Strengthen Thyself in me, vanquish,
drive forth, destroy, the foul flesh and all that
I feel through it.
. . . Father, help me. Moreover, I feel better
already. What is especially calming is the task,
the test of humility, of humiliation, an entirely
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1896
unexpected, exceptional humiliation. In chains,
in a prison, one can pride oneself on one's humili
ation, but here it is only painful, unless one accepts
it as a trial sent by God. Yes, learn to bear
calmly, joyfully and to love.
December 21. Moscow.
I am learning badly. I continually suffer, help
lessly, weakly. Only in rare moments do I rise to
the consciousness of the whole of my life (not
only this one) and my duties in it.
I thought (and felt) : There are people lack
ing both in aesthetic feeling and in the ethical (es
pecially the ethical), to whom it is impossible to
instil that which is good — the less so when they
do and love that which is bad, and think that the
bad is good . . .
December 22, Moscow, if I Uve, which is get
ting to be very doubtful; my heart does not stop
aching. Almost nothing gives me rest. To-day
Posha alone refreshed me. It is so disgusting I
want to cry over myself, over the remnant of
my life which is being futilely ruined. But per
haps it must be so, yes, in fact, it must be so . . .
December 25, Moscow.
9 o'c. at night. Spiritually I feel better. But
I have no intellectual, artistic work, and I am mel
ancholy. Just now I felt that particular Christ-
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
mas softening and gentleness, and poetical im
pulse. My hands are cold, I want to cry and to
love . . .
December 26, Moscow.
I am still not writing anything, but I feel my
thoughts revive. The devil still does not leave
me. I thought to-day about The Diary of a Mad
Man.™5 The principal thing is that I have un
derstood my filial relation to God, brotherhood,
— and my attitude to the whole world has
changed.

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1897

Jan. 5, Moscow.
There is still nothing good to write about my
self. I feel no need of working and the devil
does not leave me. Have been ill for about 6
days. Began to reread Resurrection and reached
up to his decision to marry and threw it away with
disgust. It is all untrue, invented, weak. It is
hard to repair a spoiled thing. In order to re
pair it, there is necessary: i) alternately to
describe his feeling and life, and hers,166 and 2)
sympathetically and seriously hers, and critically
and with a smile, his. I shall hardly finish it.
It is all very spoilt.
Yesterday I read Arkhangelsky's 167 article
" Whom to Serve " and was very delighted.
Have finished the notebook. And here I am
writing from it:
1 ) My article on . . . must be written for the
people . . .
2) (For The Notes of a Madman or for
The Drama). Despair because of madness
and wretchedness of life. Salvation from this
despair in the recognition of God and one's filial-
ity to Him. The recognition of filiality is the
"3

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
recognition of brotherhood. The recognition of
the brotherhood of man and the cruel, brutal, un-
brotherly arrangement of life which is justified
by people — leads inevitably to a recognition of
one's own insanity or that of the whole world.
3) I read Nakashidze's 168 letter about the
Congress of the Dukhobors, where they dis
cussed social questions. Here is an instance of
the possibility of administration without violence.
One condition is necessary — no, two conditions:
the respect of the youth and of the spiritually
weak in general, to the resolutions of the elected
elders, the spiritually stronger — the " little old
men " as the Dukhobors call them; and the second
condition that these " little old men " be rational
and loving. At this Congress the question of
uniting property (in common), was discussed and
the " little old men " were in favour of it, but con
stantly repeated : " Only let there be no violence,
let things be done voluntarily."
Among the people and the Dukhobors this re
spect and recognition of the necessity of fulfilling
the resolutions of the old men exist. And all this
without forms; the election of the elders and the
methods of agreement.
4) No matter how you grind a crystal, how
you dissolve it, compress it, it will mould itself
again at the first opportunity into the same form.
And so the structure of society will be always the
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same, no matter to what changes you submit it.
The form of a crystal will only then be changed
when chemical changes occur in it, inner ones;
the same with society.
5) It would be good to write a preface to
Spier 169 containing the following :
The world is such as we see it, only if there do
not exist any other beings differently built from
us and endowed with other senses than ours. If
we see not only the possibility, but the necessity,
of the existence of other beings endowed with
other senses than ours, then the world is in no
case, merely such as we see it. Our imagination
of the world shows only our attitude to the world,
just as the visual picture which we form for our
selves from what we see as far as the horizon and
the sky represents in no way the actual outlines
of the objects seen. The other senses, hearing,
smell, principally — touch, in verifying our visual
impressions give us a more definite conception of
the seen objects; but that which we know as broad,
thick, hard or soft or how the things seen by us
sound or smell, do not prove that we know these
things fully and that if a new sense (above the
five) were given us, it would not disclose to us
that our conception of things formed by our five
senses was not just as deceptive as that conception
of the flatness of objects and their diminishing
in perspective which sight only gives us.
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
I see a man in the mirror, hear his voice and am
fully convinced that he is a real man; but I ap
proach, I want to grasp his hand and I touch the
glass of the mirror and see my delusion. The
same thing must come to pass in a dying man; a
new feeling is born which discloses to him
(through his new feeling and the new knowledge
it gives him) the delusion of recognising his body
as himself, and of all that he recognised as exist
ing through the means of the senses of this body.
So that the world is certainly not such as we
know it to be : let there be other instruments of
knowledge — and there will be another world.
But no matter how that which we consider as
the world, our attitude to the world, should change
— one thing is unalterably such as we know it
and is always unchanging, it is that which knows.
And it knows not only in me, but in everything
which knows. This thing which knows is the
same everywhere and in everything and in itself.
It is God, and it is that for some reason limited
particle of God which composes our actual
" self." But what then, is this God, i. e., something eter
nal, infinite, omnipotent, which has become mor
tal, finite, weak? Why did God divide himself
within himself? I do not know, but I know that
this is so, and that in this is life. All that we
know is nothing else than just such divisions of
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God. All that we know as the world is the knowl
edge of these divisions. Our knowledge of the
world (that which we call matter in space and
time) is the contact of the limits of our divinity
with its other divisions. Birth and death are the
transitions from one division into another.
6) The difference between Christian happiness
and pagan is this, that the pagan seeks happiness,
prepares it for himself, awaits it, demands it —
the Christian seeks, prepares, awaits and demands
the kingdom of God and accepts happiness when
it comes as something unexpected, undeserved,
unprepared. And it is no less.
Jan. 18. Moscow.
Dismal, horrid. Everything repels me in the
life they lead around me. Now I free myself
from sadness and suffering, then again I fall into
it. In nothing is it so apparent, as in this, how
far I am from what I want to be. If my life were
really entirely in the service of God, there would
be nothing which could disturb it.
I am still writing on art. It is bad. A Duk-
hobor was here.
Feb. 4. Nicholskoe with the Olsuphievs.
I am already here the 4th day and am inexpress
ibly sad. I am writing badly on art. I just now
prayed and became horrified at how low I have
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
fallen. I think, I ask myself, what am I to do ; I
doubt, I hesitate, as if I did not know or had for
gotten who I was and therefore what I was to do.
To remember that I am not master, but servant
and to do that to which I have been put. With
what labour have I struggled and attained this
knowledge, how undoubted is this knowledge and
how I can forget it nevertheless — not exactly for
get it, but live without applying it.
. . . Well, enough about this.
I am going to write out what I thought during
this time :
1 ) When all is said and done, it is those people
over whom violence is used who always rule, i.e.,
those who fulfil the law of non-resistance. So
women seek rights, but it is they who rule, just
because they are the ones subjected to force —
they were and they still are. Institutions are in
the power of men, but public opinion is in the
power of women. And public opinion is a million
times stronger than any laws and armies. The
proof that public opinion is in the hands of women
is that not only the construction of homes, food,
are determined by women, and not only do the
women spend the wealth, consequently control the
labour of men, but the success of works of art, of
books, even the appointment of rulers, are deter
mined by public opinion; and public opinion is
determined by women. Some one well said that
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men must seek emancipation from women, and
not the contrary.
2) (For The Appeal) ,170 Unmask the deceiv
ers, spread the truth and do not fear. If it were
a matter of spreading deception and murder, then
of course, it would be terrible, but here you would
be spreading the freedom from deception and
murder. Besides, there is no ground for fear.
Of whom? They . . . are themselves afraid.
I remember there worked for us in our village
a weak and phlegmatic 1 2 year-old boy who once
caught on the road and brought back, an enormous
healthy peasant, a thief, who had taken a coat
from the hall.
3) The poets, the verse-makers torture their
tongues in order to be able to say every possible
kind of thought in every possible variety of word
and to be able to form from all these words some
thing which resembles a thought. Such exercise
can only be indulged in by unserious people. And
so it is.
4) If we never moved, then everything which
we saw would appear to us flat and not in
perspective. Motion gives us a conception of
things in three dimensions of space. The same
thing is true concerning the material side of things:
if we weren't living, were not moving in life, we
would see only the material side of things; but
moving in life, moving our spiritual side across
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
the material side of the world, we recognise the
falseness of the idea that the material is actually
such as it appears to us.
5) Twenty times I have repeated it, and 20
times the thought comes to me as new, that re
lease from all excitement, fear, suffering, from
physical and especially from spiritual, lies in de
stroying in one's self the illusion of the union
of one's spiritual " self " with one's physical.
And this is always possible. When the illusion
is destroyed then the spiritual " self " can suffer
only from the fact that it is joined to the physi
cal, but not from hunger, pain, sorrow, jeal
ousy, shame, etc. In the first case, as long as it
is joined it does that which the physical " self "
wants: it gets angry, condemns, scolds, strikes; in
the second case, when it is separated from the
physical, it does only that which can free it from
the torturing union. And only the manifestations
of love frees it.
6) For the article on Art. When it is beauty
that is recognised as the aim of art, then every
thing will be art which for certain people will ap
pear as beauty, i.e., everything which will please
certain people.
7) I have noted, " the harm of art, especially
music " and I wanted to write that I had forgot
ten, but while I was writing, I remembered. The
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FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
harm of art is principally this, that it takes up
time, hiding from people their idleness. I know
that it is harmful when it encourages idleness both
for the producers and those who enjoy it, but I
cannot see a clear definition of when it is permis
sible, useful, good. I should like to say only then
when it is a rest from labour, like sleep, but I
do not yet know if that is so.
8 ) ( For The Appeal) . You are mistaken, you
poor, if you think that you can shame or touch
or convince the rich man to divide with you. He
cannot do that because he sees that you want the
same thing that he wants and that you are fighting
him with the same means with which he fights you.
You will not only convince him, but you will com
pel him to yield to you only by ceasing to seek
that which he seeks, ceasing to struggle with him,
but if you cease to struggle you will cease also
. . . (very important).
9) If the end of art is not the good, but pleas
ure, then the distribution of art will be different.
If its end is the good, then it will inevitably be
spread among the greatest number of people; if
its end is pleasure, then it will be confined to a
small number (not exact and still unclear).
10) Art is — I was going to write food, but it
is better to say — sleep, necessary for the sus
tenance of the spiritual life. Sleep is useful, nec-
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essary after labour. But artificial sleep is harm
ful, does not refresh, does not stimulate, but
weakens. 11) I heard counterpoint singing and . . . 171
This is the destruction of music, a means of per
verting it. There is no sense to it, no melody,
and any first senseless sequence of sounds are taken
and from the combination of these insignificant
sequences is formed some kind of a tedious resem
blance to music. The best is when the last chord
is finished. 12) The most severe and consequential agnos
tic, whether he wants it or does not want it, recog
nises God. He cannot but recognise that in the
first place, in the existence both of himself and
of the whole world, there is some meaning inac
cessible to him ; and in the second, there is a law of
his life, a law to which he can submit or from
which he can escape. And it is this recognition
of the highest meaning of life, inaccessible to
man but inevitably existing, and of the law of
one's life, which is God and His will. And this
recognition of God is immensely stronger than
the recognition of . . . etc. To believe like this
means to dig to bedrock, to the mainland, and to
build the house on that.
13) Stepa 172 related the physiologic process
which takes place in the infant when it separates
from its mother. Truly it is a miracle.
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This thought occupied me in relation to the doc
trine that everything material is illusion. How
can illusion take place there where I do not see it?
As you see it, so it takes place. You see every
thing through your glasses. That is well enough
as regards all other phenomena, but here the most
fundamental thing is taking place, that from which
the whole of my life and of everything living is
composed : the detachment from the world. And
here right in front of my eyes this detachment
is taking place; there was one and there became
two, like among the first cells, (unclear.)
14) Every living being carries within himself
all the possibilities of its ancestors. Having been
detached, he manifests several of them, but car
ries in himself the remaining ones and acquires
new ones. In this lies the process of life; to unite
and to separate. (Still more unclear.)
I have decided no matter what happens, to write
every day. Nothing strengthens one so much for
the good. It is the best prayer.
Evening, February 4. Nicholskoe.
In the morning I wrote this diary and later tried
to write, but could do nothing; had no desire.
Undoubtedly if there be strength and capacity to
write, then one ought to serve God.
It is just as gloomy. I do not pray enough,
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February 5, Nicholskoe. If I Uve.
February 5, Nicholskoe.
Still the same intellectual, creative, weakness.
But I think it is almost hopeless. There was a
search at Chertkov's. S. arrived.
I thought: I, a worker, am I doing the work
commanded? In this is everything. Lord, help
me. Feb. 6. Nicholskoe.
In the morning Gorbunov arrived; in the even
ing a telegram that the Chertkovs are leaving on
Thursday.173 I prepared to go with Sonya.174
Am just going. Health better.
Feb. 7. Petersburg.
Went to Chertkov. It is joyous there. Then
to Yaroshenko.175
... I pray that I do not abandon here or any
where the consciousness of my mission, to be ful
filled by kindness.
Feb. 8. Petersburg. If I Uve.
I was alive, but made no entries the two days.
To-day, Feb. 10.
It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, silence. I
was at Stasov's and Tolstoi's.176 Did nothing
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bad, but nothing good either. Rather some good.
Lord keep me from a spell, but I am better.
Have thought nothing.
Again at the Olsuphievs in Nicholskoe, Feb. 16.
I returned on the morning of the day before
yesterday, and fell ill. Yesterday I was better,
wrote on art. Good.
. . . Women do not consider the demands of
reason binding upon themselves and cannot pro
gress according to them. They haven't got this
sail spread. They row without a rudder.177
I am again feeling unwell and very sweetly sad.
Wrote a letter to the Chertkovs and to Posha.
Am not working.
Feb. 17. Nicholskoe.
I do not feel well. I tried to write on art. . . .
. . . Received letters; an adaptation of On
Life from the American.178 Wrote two letters
to Sonya yesterday and sent them to-day.179
Having been thinking even before Petersburg:
1 ) ( For The Appeal) : To describe the con
dition of the factory workers, the servants, sol
diers, agricultural labourers in comparison with
the rich, and show that it all comes from. . . .
2) In the Middle Ages, in the XI th Century,
poetry was general — the people and the masters,
les courtois et les vilains; then they separated and
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
les vilains began to mimic the masters' and the
masters the people's. A union ought to take
place again.
3) A hundred times I have said it to myself
and have written it down : the real and only salva
tion from all sorrow is the knowledge of one's
mission, the anxiety whether you have done that
for which you were sent.
4) Nearly every husband and wife reproach
each other for things for which they do not con
sider themselves guilty. But on the one side there
is no ceasing to accuse, nor on the other to vindi
cate. 5) They do not run after a poet or a painter
so much, as after an actor, and especially after
a musician. Music calls forth a direct physical
effect, sometimes acute, sometimes chronic.
6) We absolutely falsely ascribe intelligence
and goodness to talent, and the same to beauty.
In this lies great self-delusion.
7 ) It came into my head with remarkable clear
ness that in order to always feel good, it is neces
sary always to think of others, especially when
you speak with some one.
8) The movement of life, the broadening of a
separate being gives time. If there would be no
movement, no enlarging of love, then there would
be no time; as to space, it is the representation
of other beings. If there were no other beings,
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FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
there would be no space. (All nonsense, un-
thought) .
9) Women are deprived of a moral sense for a
motor. They haven't got this sail spread and
therefore it does not carry.
Feb. 18, Nicholskoe. If I Uve.
Feb. 18. Nicholskoe.
Forty-five years ago I was in battle.180
I feel a great sinking in energy. I am very
weak, cannot work. But is it not possible to live
unceasingly before God, doing His work in pro
portion to His strength. I shall try. Help me,
Lord. I shall take up the letters. Here de
mands are made, and it is possible to fulfil His
work. Evening. Indisposed. Apathy, weakness. Am
not taking up the essay,181 wrote letters. Just
now a letter from Biriukov. I answered it.
February ig. Nicholskoe.
I am just as apathetic, but am not worried.
Wrote letters. Wrote to every one. I am going
to bed, it is past twelve.
To-day, Feb. 20, Nicholskoe. Seven o'clock in
the evening.
I still feel just as badly; constipation and heart
burn. I fell asleep in the morning. Then, not
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trying to work, I took a walk. Extreme weak
ness. My soul is calm, only it is a bore that I
am unable to work. The house is full of peo
ple. . . . Yesterday I wrote many letters.
I walked and thought:
There is no greater cause for error and confu
sion of ideas, the most unexpected ones, and
inexplicable in any other way, than the recognition
of authorities, i.e., the infallible truthfulness or
beauty of certain persons, of books or of works
of art. M. Arnold 182 was a thousand times right
when he said that the business of criticism lies in
detaching the good from the bad, from all that has
been written and done, and mainly the bad from
that which is recognised as splendid, and the good
from that which is recognised as bad, or is not
recognised at all. The most striking instance of
this error and its terrible consequences, holding
back for ages the forward movement of Christian
mankind, is the authority of the Holy Scriptures
and the Gospels. How many of the most unex
pected and remarkable absurdities, sometimes
necessary for its own justification, sometimes not
necessary for anything, are said and written in
the text of the Holy Scriptures. . . . The same
thing happens in the Greek Tragedies, in Vergil,
Shakespeare, Goethe, Bach, Beethoven, Raphael
and in the new authorities. 128

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Perhaps I omitted the 2 ist. To-day, perhaps the
22nd. February, Saturday. Nicholskoe.
Yesterday I did not work. I read through the
first draft on art — pretty good. I went for
Yushkova's 183 dress. It was a nice trip. In the
evening they spoke about Art and then I heard
the brothers Konius 184 who arrived. . . .
To-day I am a little better in my health, I went
on skiis and felt weak at heart and uneasy when
I went far. It is evening now. I feel like writ
ing letters.
I thought for The Appeal when I looked at the
numberless sons of N. in their overcoats : He is
bringing them up, " making " men of the world
of them. What for?
You will say : you live as you do for the sake of
the children. What for ? Why bring up another
generation of the same cheated slaves, not know
ing why they live, and living such a joyless
life?
Feb. 23. Nicholskoe. If I live.
February 23, Nicholskoe.
To-day I wrote willingly and eagerly all morn
ing and it seems to me I advanced on the essay on
art. Then I took a walk before dinner. There
is still a pile of people. No serious talk. Yes
terday there was music. . . . To-day an amateur
theatrical. Tania and Michail Adamovich
129

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
played very well.185 It is now evening. The day
has passed almost without heart-burn.
February 24. Nicholskoe.
To-day I arose apathetic and fell asleep again
right after luncheon. After one, I went to meet
the riders. Came home, dined. Am struggling
successfully with heart-burn. Went for a walk in
the evening.
Read and am reading Aristotle (Benard) on
aesthetics. Very important.
Thought during these days :
1 ) Thought ; why is it impossible to even speak
to some people . . . about truth and good — so
far are they away from it. This is so, because
they are surrounded by such a thick layer of temp
tations that they have become impenetrable. They
are unable to struggle with sin, because they do
not see the sin for the temptations. In this lies
the principal danger and all the horror of tempta
tions. 2) They say to me when I condemn religious
propaganda: You also are preaching. No, I
do not preach — mainly because I have nothing
to preach. Even to atheists I am not going to
preach God (if I preached, I erred) . I only draw
conclusions from what people accept, pointing out
the contradictions which are enclosed in what they
accept, and which they do not notice.
130

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
3) ... a general, respectable, clean, correct,
with thick eye-brows and important mien ( and un
commonly good-natured, but deprived of every
moral motive sense) gave me the striking thought,
as to how and by what means those most indiffer
ent to social life, to the good of society — as to
how just those people rise involuntarily to the po
sition of rulers of people. I see how he will man
age institutions upon which a million lives depend,
and just because he likes cleanliness, elegance, re
fined food, dancing, hunting, billiards and every
possible kind of amusement, and not having the
means to keep himself in those regiments, or in
stitutions, or societies where all this exist, is ad
vanced little by little as a good and harmless man
and made a ruler of people. All are like N. and
their name is legion.
4) I am reading Aristotle. He says in Pol
itics (Book VII, Chapter VIII): "Dans cette
republique parfaite, ou la vertu des citoyens sera
reelje, ils s'abstiendront de toute profession me-
cttanique, de toute speculation mercantile, travaux
degrades (degradants?) 186 et contraires a la vertu.
Ils ne se livreront pas davantage a l'agricul-
ture. II faut du loisir pour acquerir la ver
tu ". . .187
All his aesthetics has for its end ( ) 188
virtue. And we with the Christian understanding
of the brotherhood of man want to be guided by
131

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
the ethical and aesthetical conception of the an
cients ! !
Feb. 25. Nicholskoe. If I live.

February 25. Nicholskoe.
I am alive. I have written a little — not as
easily as yesterday. The guests have departed.
Went for a walk twice. Am reading Aristotle.
To-day I received letters . . .
Yesterday, while walking, I prayed and exper
ienced a remarkable sensation which is perhaps
similar to that which the mystics excite in them
selves by spiritual works; I felt myself to be a
spiritual, free being bound by the illusion of the
body. Feb. 26. Nicholskoe. If I live.

Feb. 26, Nicholskoe.
I am alive. I am writing, so as to keep my
resolution. To-day I wrote letters all morning,
but I had no energy for work.
Went to Mme. Shorin.189 I had a good talk
with her. Perhaps even to some purpose. Just
as Anna Michailovna 190 said to-day, that I helped
her. And thanks be.
I copied the letter to Posha.

132

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Feb. 27. Nicholskoe.
Wrote this morning poorly, but cleared up
something or other. Am well. Took a walk.
Spoke with Tania. And that is all.
Yesterday was Feb. 28. Nicholskoe.
I have written nothing. In the morning I
worked badly. Received a letter from Chertkov
and Ivan Michailovich and wrote to both.
Walked and went to Safonovo.191
This morning I thought of something which
seemed to me important, namely :
1) I wiped away the dust in my room and
walking around, came to the divan and could not
remember whether I had dusted it or not. Just
because these movements are customary and un
conscious I could not remember them and I felt
that it was impossible to. So that if I dusted and
forgot it, i.e., if I did an act unconsciously; then
it is just the same as if it never existed. If some
one conscious saw it, then perhaps it could be re
stored. But if no one saw it, or saw it uncon
sciously; if the whole complex life of many people
pass along unconsciously, then that life is as if it
had never existed. So that life — life only ex
ists then, when it is lit by consciousness.
What, then, is this consciousness? What are
the acts which are lit by consciousness? The acts
which are lit by consciousness are those acts which
i33

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
we fulfil freely, i.e., fulfilling them we know that
we might have acted otherwise. Therefore, con
sciousness is freedom. Without consciousness
there is no freedom and without freedom there
can be no consciousness (if we are subjected to
violence and we have no choice as to how we
should bear that violence, we do not feel the vio
lence). Memory is nothing else than the consciousness
of the past, of the past freedom. If I were un
able to dust or not to dust, I would not be con
scious of dusting, if I were not conscious of dust
ing, I would not have the choice of dusting or not
dusting. If I did not have consciousness and free
dom, I would not remember the past, I would not
unite it into one. Therefore the very basis of life
is freedom and consciousness — a freedom-con
sciousness. (It seemed to me clearer when I was thinking.)
March 1, Nicholskoe.
. . . To-day I could not write anything in the
morning at all — fell asleep. I took a walk both
in the morning and in the evening. It was very
pleasant. I thought two things :
1) That death seems to me now just as a
change: a discharge from a former post and an
i34

MARCH] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
appointment to a new one. It seems that I am
all worn out for the former post and I am no
longer fit.
2) I thought about N as a good character for
a drama ; good-natured, clean, spoilt, loving pleas
ure but good, and incapable of conceiving a radi
cal moral requirement.
I also thought:
3) There is only one means for steadfastness
and peace : love, love towards enemies.
Yes, here this problem was presented to me
from a special, unexpected angle and how badly I
was able to solve it. I must try harder. Help
me, Father.
March 2, Nicholskoe. If I live.
March 2, Nicholskoe.
I am alive. Entirely well. To-day I wrote
pretty well. In the evening after dinner I went to
Shelkovo. It was a very pleasant walk in the
moonlight. Wrote a letter to Posha. Received a letter
from Tregubov. He is irritated because they in
tercept the letters. But I am not vexed. I have
understood that one has to pity them, and I pity
truly. To-morrow we go. We have been here
a whole month.

135

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
Yesterday was March 3rd. Moscow.
In the morning I did almost nothing. I stum
bled up against the historic course of art. I took
a walk. After dinner I left. I arrived at 10.
March 4, Moscow.
Got up late. Handled my papers, wrote let
ters to Posha, Nakashidze. Went to the public
library, took books. In the evening Dunaev and
Boulanger were here. It is now late. I am go
ing to bed. S. is at a concert.
March 5. Moscow. If I live.
Heavens, how many days I have skipped: To
day, March g. Moscow.
Out of the four days, I wrote two days on art
and to-day pretty much. I wanted to write Hadji
Murad very much and thought out something
pretty well — touching. A letter from Posha.
Wrote to Chertkov and Koni about the terrible
thing that happened to Miss Vietrov.192 I am
not going to write out what I have noted.
I am still in the same peaceful, because loving,
mood. As soon as I feel like being hurt or wear
ied I remember God and that my work is only one,
to love, not to think of that which will be — and
I feel better right away.
Tania is going to Yasnaya. 136

APRIL] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day, March i$, Moscow.
Lived not badly. I see the end of the essay on
art. Still the same peace. I thank God. I have
just now written letters. It is evening. I am
going into the tedious drawing-room.
To-day, April 4, Moscow.
Almost a month I have not written (20 days),
. and I have lived the time badly, because I worked
little. Wrote all the time on art, became con
fused these last days. And now for two days I
haven't written.
I have not lost my peace, but my soul is troubled,
still I am master of it. Oh, Lord! If only I
could remember my mission, that through oneself
must be manifested (shine) divinity. But the
difficulty is, that if you remember that alone you
will not live ; and you must live, live energetically,
and yet remember. Help me, Father.
I have prayed much lately that my life be bet
ter. But as it is, the consciousness of the lawless
ness of my life is shameful and depressing.
Yesterday I thought very well about Hadji
Murad — that in it the principal thing was to ex
press a deception of trust. How good it would
have been, were it not for this deception. Also
I am thinking more and more often of The Ap
peal. I am afraid that the theme of art has occupied
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
me lately for personal, selfish and bad reasons.
Je m' entends.
During this time I made few notes and if I
had been thinking about anything I have forgot
ten it.
1) The world which we know and represent
for ourselves, is nothing else than laws of co-
relation between our senses (sens), and there
fore, a miracle is a violation of these laws of co-
relation, it therefore destroys our conception of
the world. In the crudest form, it is thus : I know
that water (not frozen) is always liquid. And
its specific gravity is less than that of my body.
My eyes, hearing, touch, demonstrate to me liquid
water; and suddenly a man walks on this water.
If he walked on the water, then it proves nothing,
but only destroys my conception of water.
2) A very common mistake: To place the
aim of life in the service of people and not in the
service of God. Only in serving God, i.e., in do
ing that which He wants, can you be certain that
you are not doing something vain and it is not
impossible to choose whom you are to serve.
3) Church Christians do not want to serve
God, but want God to serve them.
4) Shakespeare began to be valued when the
moral criterion was lost.
5) (For The Appeal.) We are so entangled
that every one of our steps in life is a participa-
138

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
tion in evil : in violence, in oppression. We must
not despair, but we must slowly disentangle our
selves from those nets in which we are caught;
not to tear ourselves through, — that would en
tangle us worse — but to disentangle ourselves
carefully. 6)198
I am in a very bad physical condition, almost
fever, and the black gloom that comes before, but
up to now the spiritual is the stronger. Escorted
Maude's colony.194 Ivan Michailovich is still
free.195 Everything is all right.
Apr. g. Moscow.
Have been ill. With calmness I thought that
I would die. To-day I wrote well on Art. They
have taken Ivan Michailovich. There was a
search at Dunaev's.198 It is all right with the
exiles.197 Outwardly I am entirely calm, inwardly not en
tirely. It is enough to bear in mind that every
thing is for the good, and when I bear that in
mind as I do now — it is good.
To-day May 3. Yasnaya Polyana.
Almost a month I have made no entries. A
bad and sterile month.
I cut out and burned that which I wrote in
heat.198 139

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
To-day July 16. Y. P.
It is not one month that I have made no entries,
but two and a half. I have lived through much,
both the difficult and the good.199 Have been ill.
Very severe pains — I think in the beginning of
July.200 I worked all this time on the essay on art, and
the farther I get the better. I finished it and am
correcting it from the beginning.
Masha married.201 . . .
We do not quiet, moderate passion, the source
of the greatest calamities, but kindle it with all
our strength and then we complain that we suf
fer. . . .
Good letters from Chertkov. A Kiev peasant
was here, Shidlovsky.202
I feel that I am alone — that my life not only
does not interest any one, but that they are bored
and ashamed that I continue to occupy myself
with such trifles.
I thought during this time :
1) A type of woman — there are men such
also, but mostly it is women who are incapable of
seeing themselves, as if their necks were station
ary and they could not look back at themselves.
It isn't exactly that they don't want to repent : but
they can't see themselves. They live as they do
and not in another way, because this way seems
good to them. And therefore if they do any-
140

JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
thing it is because it seems good to them. Such
people are terrifying. And such people may be
intelligent, stupid, good, wicked. When they are
stupid and wicked it is terrible.
2) With a low moral standard, a firmness of
judgment. The acts of all the best people are
explained by what / would have done. Christ
preached out of vanity, condemned the Pharisees
from envy, etc.
3 ) The second condition of art is novelty. To
a child everything is new and therefore it has
many artistic impressions. The new for us, is a
certain depth of feeling, that depth in which a
man finds his separate individuality from all.
That is for indifferent art. For the highest,
novelty lies only in religion, as religion is the
most advanced world point of view.
4) (For the drama.) They bring to the table
a man in tatters and they laugh at the inconsistency
of it and at his awkwardness. Revolt.
5 ) When it happens that you thought of some
thing and then forgot what you thought, but you
remember and know the character of your
thoughts: sad, dismal, oppressive, joyous, keen —
and even remember their order: first it was sad,
and then it became calm, etc., — when you remem
ber things that way, then it is exactly what music
expresses. 141

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
6) A theme: A passionate young man in love
with a mentally diseased woman.
7) God gave us His spirit — love, reason —
in order to serve Him; but we use His spirit to
serve ourselves — we use the axe to plane the
handle. I feel fully well and strong physically, but
morally, weak. I feel like working and am able.
I am going to make notes.203
July 17. Yasn. Pol. If I live.
July 17. Y. P.
Got up late, worked badly. There is neither
concentration nor capacity to embrace everything.
Nevertheless I have advanced. Masha came with
Kolia . . .
Yesterday I talked about love with N: that
we madly kindle this passion and then we suffer
from its exaggerations and excesses.
Went on my bicycle to Yasenki. I love this
motion very much. But I am ashamed.
A letter from Chertkov; he is very ill. I value
him very much. And how not value him.
It is now 10 o'clock. The Shenshins have left
just now. I feel solemn and gloomy.
July 18, i8g7. Y. P. If I live.

142

JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
I skipped three days. To-day July 21. Y . P.
I am working well enough. I am even satis
fied with my work. Though I change much.
Everything has come to a head and has gained
much. I have been reviewing everything again
from the beginning.
The life around me is very wretched. . . .
I do not know why : whether from the stomach
or the heat or from excessive physical exercise —
but in the evenings I feel very weak.
A good speech by Crookes as to how a micro
scopic man would look upon the world.204
Yesterday Novikov was here and he brought
splendid notes by Michael Novikov.205 Wrote
letters: to Carus,206 Ivan Michailovich. A let
ter from Evgenie Ivanovich.207
July 22. Y. P. If I live.
July 28. Y. P.
Six days that I haven't written. Three or four
days ago at night, I had an attack of cholera
morbus and the day after I was absolutely ill
and for two days I have been very weak and
have written very poorly. To-day I am a little
better. The children were here: Iliushin's family.208
They are sweet grandchildren, especially Andru-
sha. Whatever notes I made, I will not write
H3

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
out to-day. Longinov 209 was here, a friend of
Mme. Annenkov's and to-day Maude and Bou-
langer.
July 2g. Y. P- If I Uve.
To-day Aug. 7. Y. P
During this time a pile of guests 210. . . two
Germans, decadents; a naive and a somewhat
stupid one. . . . There were here: Novikov, the
scribe, a very powerful man, and Bulakhov,211 also
a powerful one morally and intellectually. I live
very badly, weakly. Very little goodness. To
day the Stakhoviches 212 and the Maklakovs 213 ar
rived also.
I continue to work on my essay on art and,
strange to say, it pleases me. Yesterday and to
day I read it to Ginsburg, Sobolev, Kasatkin 214
and Goldenweiser. The impression it produces
on them is exactly the same as it produces on me.
A letter from Crosby with a joyful letter from
a Japanese.215 From Chertkov good letters.
The correspondence has been very neglected.
I am entirely alone and I weaken. I often say
to myself that one must live serving, but when I
enter life, though I do not exactly forget, yet I
scatter myself.
I have written down much, but to-day I have
no time to write it out. 144

AUGUST] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Father, help me. I weaken.
I am going to write absolutely every day.
Aug. 8. Y. P. If I live.
A peasant was here who had his arm torn by
a tree and amputated. He ploughs with a loop
attached.
Aug. g.
Stakhovich arrived. Read the essay. The
tenth chapter is bad. I worked pretty much.
Have written poor letters. I must write to Posha
and to Ivan Michailovich.
There is noted in the book :
i ) A servant makes life false and corrupt. As
soon as you have servants, then you increase your
wants, complicate life and make it a burden. In
stead of joy when you do things yourself, you
have vexation and the principal thing, you re
nounce the main duty of life : the fulfilment of the
brotherhood of man.
2) The aesthetic and the ethical are two arms
of one lever: to the extent that you lengthen and
lighten one side, to that extent you shorten and
make heavier the other side. As soon as a man
loses his moral sense, he becomes particularly re
sponsive to the aesthetic.
3) People know two Gods: one whom they
want to force to serve them, demanding from
H5

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
him by prayers the fulfilment of their desires, and
another God, one whom we ought to serve, to
the fulfilment of whose will, all our desires ought
to be directed.
4) It is a common phenomenon that old people
love to travel, to go far and to change places.
Is it not a foreseeing and a readiness for the last
journey?
Aug. 15. Y. P.
I am continuing to work. Am advancing.
Lombroso was here — a limited, naive little
old man. The Maklakovs. Leo arrived with
his wife.216 Boulanger — a nice man. Wrote
letters to everybody: Posha and Ivan Michailo
vich and Van-der-Veer. The oppressive Leon-
tev 217 was here.
There was something I wanted to write very
much, but have forgotten. . . .
A revolting report concerning the missionary
congress in Kazan.218
There is noted: "Woman's character" —
and I remember that it was something very good.
Now I have forgotten. It seems to me that it
was that the peculiarity of woman's character is
that her feeling alone guides her life, and that
reason only serves her feeling. She cannot even
understand that feeling can be made subservient
to reason. 146

AUGUST] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
2) But there are not so many women — as
there are such men — who do not hear, do not see,
the unpleasant, do not see it just as if it didn't
exist. 3) When people haven't the power to get rid
of superstition and they continue to pay tribute
to it, and at the same time when they see that
others have freed themselves, they grow angry
at those who have freed themselves. " But I
suffer when I commit stupidities and he is
free." 4) Art, i.e., artists, instead of serving people,
exploit them.
5 ) From the time I became old, I began to con
fuse people, . . . belonging or being marked in
my mind as one type. So that I do not know
N, N N, but I know a collective personality to
which N, N N, belong.
6) We are so accustomed to the thought that
everything is for us, that the earth is mine, that
when we have to die, we are surprised that my
earth, something belonging to me, will remain
and I won't. Here the principal mistake is in
thinking the earth as something acquired and com
plementary to me, when it is I who am acquired
by the earth, an appendage to it.
7) How good it would be if we could live with
the same concentration, do the work of life —
principally; communion among people — with
H7

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
that concentration with which we play chess, read
music, etc.
Aug. 16. Y. P. If I Uve.
To-day Sept. ig. Y. P.
More than a month I have made no entries.
Things are the same and the work has been ad
vancing all the time. And it could advance still
more as to form, but there is absolutely no time.
Such an amount of work ! A typist is making the
final copy on a Remington. I have reached the
19th chapter, inclusive.
During this time the important thing was the
expulsion of Boulanger.219
My work has been interrupted occasionally only
by a letter to the Swedish papers about the Duk
hobors 220 on the occasion of the Nobel prize.
Also ill health interrupted: a terrible boil on
the cheek. I thought it was a cancer, and I am
happy that it was not very unpleasant to think
that: I am receiving a new appointment; one
which in any case, isn't slipping past me.
St. John was here.221
My work was interrupted also by the arrival
of the Molokans from Samara — in reference to
their children which were taken away.222 I
wanted to write abroad and even wrote a very
violent, and what seemed to me, strong letter, but
148

SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
changed my mind. It was not to be done before
God. I have to try again.
To-day I wrote letters: to the Emperor,223 to
Olsuphiev,224 to Heath,225 and to E. I. Chert
kov,226 and saw the Molokans off.
I wanted to write from my notebooks, but it is
late. I am going to bed.
Sept. 20. Yasn. P. If I Uve.
Sept. 20. Y. P.
Let me write even a few words. The boil still
bothers me very much. I have no full liberte
d 'esprit. I wrote the Swedish letter to-day, and
in the evening translated it into Swedish 227 with
the Swede.
I am not writing from the notebook, but I will
note that which entered my head with special
vividness. Our life is so arranged that all our care for
ourselves, the use of our reason (our spiritual
forces) for the care of ourselves, brings only un-
happiness. And yet this egotism is necessary in
order to live a separate life. That is His mysteri
ous will. As soon as you live for yourself, you
perish; when you live beyond yourself, there is
peace and joy both for yourself and for others.
Sept. 20. Y. P. If I live.

149

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
To-day Sept. 22. Y. P.
. . . Yesterday I finished the translation with
Langlet. To-day I was busy with Art, but it didn't go at
all, and therefore the preceding did not please me.
S. arrived to-day.
At night I thought of the separation of lust
from love, and that ether is a conception outside
of the senses.
It is now past twelve in the morning. I am
waiting for Ilya and Andrusha. I have just now
written a letter to the editor of the Tagblatt
Stockholm, and to Chertkov.
September 23. Y. P. If I live.
Oct. 2. Y. P.
I am working all the time on Art. The
abscess is going away. I should have liked more
peace. Yes . . .
To-day Oct. 14. Y. P.
... I am still writing on art. To-day I cor
rected the 10th chapter. I cleared up the vague
parts. I must write out the notebooks; I am afraid
I have forgotten much.
1 ) There is no greater prop for a selfish, peace
ful life, than the occupation of art for art's sake.
150

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
The despot, the villain, must inevitably love art.
(I have jotted down something on this order, but
I can't recall it now.)
2) I imagined clearly to myself how joyous,
peaceful, and fully free a life could be, if one
gave oneself entirely to God, i.e., in every instance
in life to seek only one thing: to do that which
He wants — to do that in sickness, in offence, in
humiliation, in suffering, in all temptations and
in death — which would then be only a change
in appointment. Weakness, the non-fulfilment of
that which God wants — what happens then?
Nothing: There is a return to the consciousness
that only in its fulfilment is life. The moments
of weakness — they are the intervals between the
letters of life, not life. Father, help me.
3) I saw in my sleep how I think, I say, that
the whole matter lies in making an effort, that
very effort which is spoken of in the Gospels:
" The Kingdom of God is attained by effort."
Everything that is good, everything that is real,
every true act of life is accomplished through ef
forts; make no effort, swim with the current and
you do not live. But, however, the . . . doc
trine preaches that effort is sin, it is pride, it is
relying on one's own strength: the lay doctrine
says the same thing: effort by oneself is useless;
organisation, surroundings do everything. What
error! Effort is more important than anything.
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Every least little bit of effort: the conquering of
laziness, greed, lust, wrath, depression — is the
most important of important things ; it is the mani
festation of God in life; it is Karma; it is the
broadening of one's " self." Whatever had been
marked off is guess work.228
4) Details for Hadji Murad: 1) The
shadow of an eagle over the slope of a mountain;
2) at the river, on the sands, are tracks of horses,
animals, people; 3) riding into the forest, the
horses snort keenly; 4) from behind a clump of
trees a goat jumped out.
5) When people are enthusiastic about Shake
speare, Beethoven, they are enthusiastic about
their own thoughts, dreams, which are called
forth by Shakespeare, Beethoven, just as people
in love do not love the object of their love, but
what it calls forth in them. In this enthusiasm,
there is no true reality of art, but absolute bound
lessness. 6) Only then can one understand and feel God
when one has understood clearly the unreality of
everything material.
7) Not long ago, in the summer, I felt God
clearly for the first time ; that He existed and that
I existed in Him; and that the only thing that
existed was I in Him : in Him, like a limited thing
in an unlimited thing, in Him also like a limited
being in which He existed. 152

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
(Horribly bad, unclear. But I felt it clearly
and especially keenly for the first time in my
life.) In general, I don't know why, but I haven't the
same religious feeling which I had when I form
erly wrote my Journal for no one. The fact that
it was read and that it can be read, kills this feel
ing. But the feeling was precious and helped me
in life. I am going to begin anew from the pres
ent date, the 14th, to write again as before — so
that no one will read it during my life time. If
there will be thoughts worth it, I can write them
out and send them to Chertkov.229
8) A man incapable of repentance has no sal
vation from his sins. Even if his sins are pointed
out to him, he only gets angry at those who point
them out, and a new sin is added.
9) All attempts to live on the land and feed
oneself by one's own labour have been unsuccess
ful, and could not help being unsuccessful in Rus
sia, because it is necessary for a man of our educa
tion feeding himself by his own labour, to compete
with the peasant — who fixes the prices, beating
them down by his offer. But he was brought up
for generations in stern life and stubborn work,
while we were brought up for generations in lux
urious life and idle laziness. From this it does
not follow that one ought not to try to feed one's
self by one's own labour, but only that it is im-
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possible to expect its realisation in the first gen
eration. 10) All calamities which are born from sex
relations, from being in love, come from this,
that we confuse fleshly lust with spiritual life, with
— terrible to say — love ; we use our reason not
to condemn and limit this passion, but to adorn
it with the peacock feathers of spirituality. Here
is where les extremes se touchent. To attribute
every attraction between the sexes to sex desire
seems very materialistic, but, on the contrary, it is
the most spiritual point of view: to distinguish
from the realm of the spiritual everything which
does not belong to it, in order to be able to value
it highly. 11) Everything that I know is the product of
my senses. My senses demonstrate to me my
limits, coming in contact with the limits of other
beings. This sensation, or the knowledge of
limits, we recognise and cannot recognise other
wise, than as matter. And in this matter we see
either only matter or beings who like us are bound
by limits. The beings near to us in size, from
the elephant to the insect, we know — we know
their limits. The beings that are far from us in
size, like atoms or like the stars, we recognise
as matter only. But besides these two kinds of
beings which we know by our senses, we must
inevitably acknowledge still other beings (not
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
spiritual beings like us, — that is obvious) not
recognisable by our senses, but which are material,
i.e., they also form limits. Such beings are atoms,
ether. The presence of these beings, the admis
sion of which is demanded by our reason, un
doubtedly proves that our senses give us only a
one-sided and a very limited knowledge of other
beings and of the outer world. So that we can
imagine for ourselves such beings endowed with
such senses (sens) for whom ether would give
the very same reality, as matter for us.
(It is still unclear, but understandable.)
12) If we would always remember that our
tongue was given us for the transmission of our
thoughts, and the capacity of thinking for the
understanding of God and His law of love, and
that therefore you must talk only then when you
have something good to say ! But when you can
not say anything good, cannot keep back the bad
— then be silent, even all your life.
13) As soon as you have a disagreeable feel
ing towards a man, it means there is something
you don't know. And you ought to find out : you
ought to find out the motives of that act which
was disagreeable to you. And as soon as you
have understood the motives clearly then it can
anger you as little as a falling stone.
14) You get angry at a woman because she
does not understand — or she understands, but
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
does not do that which her reason tells her. She
is unable to do it. Just as a magnet acts on iron
and does not act on wood, so are the conclusions
of reason not binding on her — have no motor
power. For her feeling is binding, and the con
clusions of reasons are so only when they are
transmitted by authorities, i.e., by the feeling of
the desire not to remain behind others. So that
she will not believe and will not follow an obvious
demand of reason, if it be not confirmed by an
authority; but she will believe and follow the
greatest absurdity if only every one does it. She
cannot do otherwise. But we get angry. There
are also many men like that — womanish.
15) One has to serve others, not oneself, if
only for the reason that in the serving of others
there is a limit and therefore it is possible here to
act rationally, build a house for him who is with
out, buy cattle, clothes ; but in the serving of one
self there is no limit: the more you serve, the
worse it is.
16) Time is only for the body: it is the rela
tionship of beings with the various limits seen
by us, to beings whose limits we do not see; to
the movement of the sun, the moon, the earth, to
the movement of the sands in the hour-glass.
And therefore time is for that which we call the
body, for that which has limits ; but for that which
has no limits : for the spiritual — there is no time.
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Therefore you remember only those times in
which you lived spiritually. (Unclear, but was
clear.) 17) We suffer from ourselves, from the de
mands of our " self," and we all know that the
only means for not suffering from that " self," is
to forget it. And we seek forgetfulness in dis
tractions, in occupations with art, science, in wine,
in smoking — and there is no real forgetfulness.
But God made it so that there should be only one
real forgetfulness, one that is real and always at
hand — in the care for others, in the serving of
others. But I forgot this and I live a terribly selfish life,
and therefore I am unhappy.
18) I went past the out-houses. I remem
bered the nights that I spent there, and the youth
and the beauty of Duniasha (I never had any re
lation with her), her strong, womanly body.
Where is it ? It has been long nothing but bones.
What are those bones? What is their relation
to Duniasha? There was a time when those
bones formed a part of that separate being which
had been Duniasha. Then this being changed its
centre and that which had been Duniasha became
a part of another being, enormous, inconceivable
to me in magnitude, which I call earth. We do
not know the life of the earth, and therefore we
think it dead, just like an insect who lives one hour
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thinks my body dead, because he does not see its
movement. 19) Space is the relation of various limited be
ings among themselves. It exists. But time is
only the relation of the movement of living beings
among themselves, and the movement of matter
which we consider dead.
20) The most horrible of all is intoxication: of
wine, of games, of money greed, of politics, of
art, of being in love. It is impossible to speak
with such people as long as they haven't slept it
off. It is terrible.230
The letter to Stockholm has been printed.
Oct. 15. Y. P. If I live.
To-day Oct. 16. Y. P.
Did not write yesterday. My health is en
tirely improved. . . . From Olga Dieterichs, a
letter from Chertkov. It is evident that as a re
sult, he and she also have lived through difficult
times.231 Last night and to-day, I wanted to write Hadji
Murad. Began it. It has a semblance of some
thing, but I did not continue it, because I was not
in full mastery. I ought not to spoil it by forc
ing. Up to now the Peterburgskia Viedomosti
has not printed it.232
I have noted : 158

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
i ) I have noted many resolutions, rules, which
if I could remember, I would live well. But the
rules are too many, and it is impossible to remem
ber them always. The same thing as to imitations
of art: the rules are too many, and to remember
them always is impossible; it ought to come from
within, be guided by feeling. The same thing in
life. If only you are touched by feeling, if you
live in God, then you would not recede from a
single rule and you would do more than is in the
rules. If one could only always be in this
state. But to-day, just now, I was in the worst mood.
I was angry with everything. What does it
mean? How explain this state to oneself?
2) This explanation came to me: the soul, the
spiritual essence, can live in its own centre or
within its own limits. Living in itself, it is not
conscious of its limits; living in the periphery it
incessantly and painfully feels its limits. A re
lease from this state is the recognition of the illu
sion of the material world, to go away from the
limits, to concentrate in oneself. (Unclear.)
Oct. 17. Y. P. If I live.
Oct. 17. Y. P. 12 midnight.
. . . Help me, Lord, to act not according to my
will, but according to Thine. Received a letter
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from N about Beller and other ministers who
preach the inconsistency of military service and
Christianity,233 and about Chertkov, that he was
fussy, had sinned and had fallen ill.234
Am correcting the 10th chapter, it is about to
be sent off.235. . . My letter was printed in the
Peterburgskia Viedomosti.
I thought : The road of all evil and of all suf
fering is not so much ignorance as false knowl
edge — deception. The Appeal ought to be fin
ished with an appeal for all to help towards the
abolition of deception.
Oct. 18. Yasn. Pol. If I Uve.
Yesterday I made no notes; to-day Oct. ig.
Y. P.
. . . Both yesterday and to-day I felt great
apathy, although I was well. I don't feel like
working. Corrected Chapters 13, 14, 15. I re
ceived the re-copied chapters from Moscow and
the conclusion. Yesterday I went to Yasenki.
To-day I chopped wood and carried it. Novikov
was here. Viacheslav 236 spent the night. To
day a letter from Boulanger. I want to write to
him right away and to my wife. I ought to write
to Salomon.
Solitude nevertheless is very pleasant.
Oct. 20. Y. P. If I live. 160

OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day Oct. 21. Y.P.
Received proof of the Carpenter article from
Sieverni Viestnik and began to write a preface.
Corrected Art, received letters from Chertkov
and Boulanger.
Yesterday my work didn't go. Went to Ya-
senki. Just now, remaining alone after my work, I
asked myself what I should do, and having no
personal desire (except the bodily demands aris
ing only when I want to eat or sleep) I felt so
keenly the joy of the knowledge of the Will of
God, that I need and want nothing but to do what
He wants. This feeling arose as a result of the
question which I myself put to myself when I
remained alone in the silence: Who am I?
Why am I ? And the answer came so clearly by
itself: No matter who and what I am, I have
been sent by some one to do something. Well,
let me do that work. And so joyously and so well
did I feel my fusion with the Will of God.
This is my second live feeling for God. Then
I simply felt love for God. At this moment, I
cannot remember how it was; I only remember
that it was a joyful feeling.
Oh, what happiness is solitude! To-day it is
so good : you feel God.
Oct. 22. Y. P. If I live.
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Oct. 22. Y. P.
I am writing in the evening. All day I did not
feel like working. I slept badly. ... I cor
rected the 1 ith chapter in the morning, in the eve
ning I began the 12th. I was unable to do any
thing — there is a boil on my head and my feet
perspire. Is it from the honey? Aphanasi237
and Maria Alexandrovna were here.
It is evening now. I am alone and horribly
sad. I have neither doubts nor hurts, but am sad
and want to cry. Oh, I must prepare myself
more, more, for the new appointment.
A letter from Grot ; 238 I ought to give him
" Concerning Art."
Thought only this :
In childhood, youth, the senses (sens) are very
definite, the limits are firm. The longer you live,
the more and more do these limits become wiped
out, the senses get dulled — there is established
a different attitude towards the world.
Oct. 23. If I live.
Oct. 26. Y. P.
A very strange thing : It is the third day that
I cannot write. Am displeased with everything
that I have written. There is something new and
very important for Art, but I cannot express it
clearly in any way. 162

NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
A letter from Vanderveer. It is now morn
ing, will go to the post.
To-day Nov. 10. Y. P.
I have lived through much these two weeks.
The work is still the same ; I think I have finished
it. To-day I have written letters and among
them one to Grot to be set up in type. S was here,
she left for Moscow from Pirogovo, where we
went together. It was good there. Since I have
come home, my back has ached and in the evening
I have fever. Alexander Petrovich 239 is writing
in the house. . . .
To-day I wrote 9 letters. One letter to Khil-
kov,240 remained. How terrible, his affair and
condition. Mikhail Novikov was here and also a
peasant-poet from Kazan.
Have been thinking :
1) The condition of people who are befogged
by a false religion is just the same as in blind-
man's-buff : they tie their eyes, then they take them
by their arms, and then they turn them around
and finally let them go. The same with every
body. Without this they do not let them go.
(For The Appeal.)
2) The most usual judgment about Christian
ity, especially among the new Nietzschean reason-
ers, is that Christianity is a renunciation of dignity,
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
a weakness, a submissiveness. It is just the con
trary. True Christianity demands above every
thing else the highest consciousness of dignity, a
terrible strength and steadfastness. It is just the
contrary: The admirers of strength ought to
debase themselves before strength.
3) I walked in the village, and looked into the
windows. Everywhere there was poverty and
ignorance. And I thought of the former slav
ery. Formerly, the cause was to be seen, the
chain which held them was to be seen; but now
it is not a chain — in Europe they are hairs, but
they are just as many as those which held Gul
liver. With us the ropes are still to be seen, well
— let us say the twine ; and there there are hairs,
but they hold so tightly that the giant-people can
not move.
There is one salvation : not to lie down, not to
fall asleep. The deception is so strong and so
adroit that you often see that those very people
which it sucks and ruins, defend the vampires
with passion and attack those who are against
them. . . .
November II, Y. P. If I live.
November 11, Y. P.
Since morning I have been writing Hadji
Murad — and nothing has come of it. But it is
becoming clear in my head and I feel like writing
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
very much. I wrote a letter to Khilkov and to
others, but I shall hardly send the one to Khilkov.
Maria Alexandrovna was here. My health is
entirely good.
November 12, Y. P. If I live.
November 12, Y. P.
To-day Peter Ossipov came : 241 " In our
place they have begun to sell indulgences." The
Vladimir-ikon was there and it was ordered
through the village elder, that the people be driven
to the Church.242
N. found ore and considers it very natural
that people shall live under the ground, in
danger of their lives, and he will receive the
income. . . . The most important thing is that I have
decided to write The Appeal; there is no time to
postpone it. To-day I corrected On Science. It
is evening now, have taken up two versions of
The Appeal, and am going to work on it.
Nov. 14, Y. P.
. . . One thing I want : To do what is better
before God. I don't know how yet. I slept
badly at night; bad thoughts, wicked ones. And
I am apathetic, no desire to work. Corrected the
preface On Science.
I made the following notes :
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
1) I read of the behavior of the English in
Africa. It is all terrible. But the thought came
to my head: Perhaps it was unavoidably neces
sary in order that enlightenment should penetrate
these peoples. At first I was absorbed in the
thought and it occurred to me that thus it had
to be done. What nonsense ! Why should not
people, living a Christian life, go in simply like
Miklukha-Maklai,243 live with them, but is it nec
essary to trade, make drunkards of them, kill?
They say: " If people were to live as Christians,
they would have no work." Here is the work
and it is an enormous work: while the Gospels
are being preached to all creation.
2) Science, losing its religious basis, has begun
to study trifles — in the main, it has ceased to
study important things. From that time on was
formed the theory of experimental science, Bacon.
3) I was thinking, pendant to Hadji Murad,
of writing about another Russian brigand, Greg-
ori Nicholaev. He should see the whole lawless
ness of the life of the rich, he should live as a
watchman of an apple-orchard on a rich estate
with a lawn-tennis. ,244
4) To-day I am in a very bad mood, and it is
very difficult for me to remember, to imagine to
myself what I am when I am in a good mood.
But it is absolutely necessary, so as not to despair
and not do something bad when in a bad mood,
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
to abstain from every activity. Is it not the same
in life? One ought not to believe that I am this
good-for-nothing which I feel myself to be, but to
make an effort, remember what I am there, what
I am in spirit, and live according to that remem
bered " self," or do not live at all — abstain.
5) " Toute reunion d'hommes est toujour s in-
ferieure aux elements qui la composent."2*5 This
is so because they are united by rules. In their
own natural union, as God has united them, they
are not only not lower, but many times higher.
I read Menshikov's article. There is much
that is good in it : about one-God and many Gods,
and much that is very weak ; the examples.246
Nov. 15, Y. P. If I live.
Nov. 13, Y. P.
I worked badly on the preface to Carpenter.
After dinner, in the blizzard, I went to Yasenki.
Took Tania's letter. Returned — and here for
the first time I knew prostration. Then drank
tea — recovered. Read but did nothing. Wrote
a letter only to Maude in answer to his re
marks.247 I thought this trifle : that love is only good then
when you are not conscious of it. It suffices to be
conscious of the love, and moreover to rejoice in
it — and there is an end to it.

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Nov. 16, Y. P. If I live.
To-day, Nov. 17. Y. P.
For the second day, I have been thinking with
special clearness about this:
1) My life, my consciousness of my personal
ity, gets weaker and weaker all the time, will be
come still weaker and will end in coma, and in an
absolute end of the consciousness of my personal
ity. At the same time, absolutely simultaneously
and in the same tempo with the destruction of my
personality, that thing will begin to live, and will
live ever stronger and stronger, that which my
life made, the results of my thought, feelings; it
is living in other people, even in animals, in dead
matter. And so I feel like saying that this is
what will live after me.
But all this lacks consciousness, and therefore
I cannot say that it lives. But who said that it
lacked consciousness? Why can I not suppose
that all this will be united in a new consciousness
which I can justly call my consciousness, because
it is all made from. my consciousness? Why can
not this other new being live among these things
which live now? Why not suppose that all of us
are particles of consciousness of other higher be
ings, such as we are going to be?
" My Father has many dwellings." 248 Not in
the sense that there are various places, but that
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the various consciousnesses, personality, are inter-
enclosed and interwoven one into the other. In
fact, the whole world as I know it, with its space
and time, is a product of my personality, my con
sciousness. As soon as there is another person
ality, another consciousness, then there is an en
tirely different world, the elements of which are
formed by our personalities. Just as when I was
a child, my consciousness awoke little by little
(which made it so that even when a child, an em
bryo, I saw myself as a separate being), so it
will awake and is awakening now — in the conse
quences of my life, in my future " self " after my
death. " The Church is the body of Christ." 249 Yes,
Christ, in his new consciousness, lives now through
the life of all the living and dead and all the fu
ture members of the Church. And in the same
way each one of us will live through his own
church. And even the most valueless man will
have his own valueless and perhaps bad church,
but a church which will create his new body. But
how? This is what we cannot imagine, because
we cannot imagine anything which is beyond our
consciousness. And there are not many dwell
ings, but many consciousnesses.
But here is the last, most terrible, insoluble
problem: What is it for? For what is this
movement, this passing over from some lower,
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
more separate consciousnesses, into a more com
mon, higher one? For what — that is a mys
tery which we cannot know. It is for this that
God is necessary and faith in Him. Only He
knows it and one must have faith that so it ought
to be.
2) And again I thought to-day, entirely unex
pectedly, about the charm — exactly the charm
— of awakening love, when against the back
ground of joyous, pleasant, sweet relationships,
that little star suddenly begins to shine. It is like
the perfume of the linden or the falling shadow
from the moon. There is no full-blown blossom
yet, no clear light and shadow, but there is a
joy and fear of the new, of the charming. This
is good, but only when it is for the first time and
the last.
3) And again I thought about that illusion
which all are subjected to, especially people whose
activity is reflected on others — the illusion that,
having been accustomed to see the effects of your
acts on others, you verify the correctness of your
acts by their effect on others.
4) I thought still further: For hypnotism it
is necessary to have faith in the importance of that
which is being suggested (the hypnotism of all
artistic delusions). And for this faith, it is nec
essary to have ignorance and cultivation of cred-
ulence. 170

NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day I corrected the preface to Carpenter.
Received a telegram from Grot. I want to send
off the ioth chapter. A sad letter from Bou-
langer. Well, Nov. 18, Y. P. If I live.
To-day, Nov. 20. Evening.
Wrote the preface to Carpenter. Thought
much about Hadji Murad and got my materials
ready. I still haven't found the tone.
... I think with horror of the trip to Mos
cow.250 Last night I thought about my old triple rem
edy for sorrow and offence :
1) To think how unimportant it will be in 10,
20 years, just as is unimportant now that which
tortured you 10, 20 years ago.
2) To remember what you did yourself, to re
member those deeds which were no better than
those which are hurting you.
3) To think of that which is a hundred times
worse, and might be.
This could be added ; to think out the condition,
the soul of the man who makes you suffer, to
understand that he cannot act in any other way.
Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner.
The most important and the strongest and the
surest of all is to say to oneself: Let there not
be my will, but Thine, and not as I wish but as
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
Thou wilt; and not that which I wish but that
which Thou wilt. My work, then, is under those
conditions in which Thou hast placed me, to ful
fil Thy Will. To remember that when it is dif
ficult, it is just this very thing which has been as
signed to you, it is the very instance which will
not be repeated, in which you may have the happi
ness of doing that which He wishes.
Father, help me to do only Thy Will.
To-day I corrected the Carpenter translation.
My stomach is not good; bad mood and weak
ness.
Nov. 21, Y. P. If I live.
Nov. 21, Y. P.
I am still thinking and gathering material for
Hadji Murad. To-day I thought much, read,
began to write but stopped at once. Went to
Yasenki, took S's letter.251 Received nothing.
Maria Alexandrovna was here. She is evi
dently tired, a poor girl and nice.252
I thought and noted down:
1 ) I thought about death — how strange it is
that one does not want to die, although nothing
holds one — and I thought of prisoners who have
become so at home in their prisons that they do
not want to leave them for freedom and are even
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
afraid to. And so we have become at home in the
prison of our life and are afraid of freedom.
2) We have been sent here to do the work of
God. In this sense, how good is the parable
about the servants who in the absence of their
master, squander his fortune away instead of do
ing his work.
3) When you are angry, when you do not love
some one, know that it is not you, but a dream, a
nightmare, a most horrible nightmare. As when
they stop mowing in order not to spoil the grass,
so it is here. One ought to pray.
Rozanov discusses Menshikov and makes fun
of him.253 How ... (I have forgotten) made
fun of Nicholai, but he remained silent and smiled
at me gaily. How touching this always is.
Nov. 22, Y. P. If I live.
Nov. 22, Y. P.
I saw very clearly in a dream, how Tania fell
from a horse, has broken her head, is dying, and
I cry over her.
Nov., Y. P.
. . . Yesterday and to-day I prepared some
chapters to send them off to Maude254 and to
Grot. There have been no letters for a long time
either from Maude, or from Chertkov. To-day
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
there was a nice letter from Galia. Exquisite
weather ; I took a walk far on the Tula road.
In the morning I worked seriously revising Art.
Yesterday I worked on Hadji Murad. It seems
clear. During this time I thought:
1) What a strange fate: at adolescence —
anxieties, passions begin, and you think: I will
marry and it will pass. And indeed it did pass
with me, and for a long period, 18 years, there
was peace. Then there comes the striving to
change life and again the set-back. There is
struggle, suffering, and at the end, something like
a haven and a rest. But yet it wasn't so. The
most difficult has begun and continues and probably
will accompany me unto death. . . .
2) It would be easy to treat erring people
mildly, simply, patiently, with compassion, if these
people would not argue and would not argue in
such a truth-like fashion. One has to answer
these arguments somehow or other, and this you
cannot stand.
3) Each of us is in such a condition that
whether he wants to or does not want to, he has
to do something, to work. Every one of us is
on the treadmill. The question lies only in this,
on which step will you stand?
Nov. 25. Y. P. If I live.

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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Nov. 25, Y. P.
. . . Corrected Art, it is pretty good; wrote a
letter to Maude. A good letter from Galia.
Have been thinking:
1 ) It always seems to us that we are loved be
cause we are good, but it does not occur to us that
we are loved because they who love us are good.
This can be seen if you listen to what that mis
erable, disgusting and vain man says whom with
a great effort you have pitied : he says that he is
so good you could not have acted otherwise. The
same thing, when you are loved.
2) " Lobsters like to be boiled alive." That
is no joke. How often do you hear it, or have
said it yourself or are saying it: Man has the
capacity of not seeing the suffering which he does
not want to see. And he does not want to see
the suffering which he himself causes. How often
I have heard it said about coachmen who are
waiting, about cooks, lackeys, peasants at their
work, that they are having a good time — "Lob
sters like to be boiled alive."
Nov. 26. Y. P. If I live.
To-day, Nov. 28, Y. P.
Two days I haven't written. I am still busy
with Art and the preface to Carpenter. . . .
This morning Makovitsky arrived, a nice, mild,
clean man. He told me many joyful things about
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our friends. I went to Yasenki: a letter from
Maude, a good one, and from Grot — not a good
one.255 All these days, have not been in a good mood.
How to be in Moscow in such a state ?
Have been thinking :
1) Often it happens that you are speaking to
a man and suddenly he has a tender, happy ex
pression, and he begins to speak to you in such a
way that you think he is going to tell you some
thing most joyful, but it turns out — he is speak
ing about himself. Zakharnin 256 about his oper
ation, Mashenka 257 about her audience with
Father Ambrose 258 and his words.
When a man speaks about something which is
very near to him, he forgets that the other one
is not he. If people do not speak about abstract
or spiritual things, they all speak necessarily about
themselves, and that is terribly tedious.
2 ) You dash about, struggle — all because you
want to swim in your own current. But along
side of you, unceasing and near to every one, there
flows the divine and infinite current of love, in one
and the same eternal course. When you are
thoroughly exhausted in your attempts to do some
thing for yourself, to save yourself, to secure your
self — then drop all your own courses, throw
yourself into that current — and it will carry you
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
and you will feel that there are no barriers, that
you are at peace forever and free and blessed.
3) Only not to love oneself, one's very self,
one's own Leo Nicholaievich (Tolstoi) — and
you will love both God and people. You are on
fire and you can't help but burn ; and burning you
will set fire to others and you will fuse with that
other fire. To love oneself means to be niggardly
with one's light and to put out the fire.
4) When a man says an obvious untruth or an
offence to you, then certainly he doesn't do it from
joy : and both are very difficult. If he does it then
evidently he can't do otherwise, and doing it, he
suffers. And you, instead of pitying him, get
angry at him. On the contrary, you ought to try
to help him.
5 ) The tragedy of a man kindly disposed, wish
ing only the good, when in this state and for this
state, which he cannot help but count as good, he
meets hissing malice and the hatred of people.
Nov. 28. If I live. Y. P.
To-day, Dec. 2. Y. P.
Agonising, sad, depressed state of body and
spiritual force, but I know that I am alive and in
dependent of this condition, yet I feel this " self "
but little. . . .
I was busied all this time with corrections and
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
additions to Art. The principal thing during this
time, was that Dushan was here whom I love very
much and learned to love still more. Together
with the Slavonian Posrednik, he is forming a
center of a small, but I think divine work.259
From Chertkov there is still no news.
An anguish, a soft, mild, sweet anguish, but yet
an anguish. If I were without the consciousness
of life, then probably I would have had an em
bittered anguish.
Have been thinking:
1) I was very depressed at the fear of vexa
tion and severe conflicts, and I prayed God —
prayed almost without expecting aid, but never
theless I prayed : " Lord, help me to go away
from this. Release me." I prayed like this,
then rose, walked to the end of the room and sud
denly I asked myself: Have I not to yield?
Yes, to yield. And God helped — God who is
ih me, and I felt light-hearted and firm. I en
tered that divine current which flows there along
side of us always and to which we can always
give ourselves when things are bad.260
2) I had a talk with Dushan. He said that
since he has become involuntarily my represen
tative in Hungary, then how was he to act. I was
glad for the opportunity to tell him and to clarify
it to myself that to speak about Tolstoyanism, to
seek my guidance, to ask my decision on problems,
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
is a great and gross mistake. There is no Tol
stoyanism and has never been, nor any teaching
of mine; there is only one eternal, general, uni
versal teaching of the truth, which for me, for
us, is especially clearly expressed in the Gospels.
This teaching calls man to the recognition of his
filiality to God and therefore of his freedom or
his slavery (call it what you want) : of his free
dom from the influence of the world, of his slav
ery to God, His will. And as soon as man un
derstands this teaching, he enters freely into direct
communication with God and he has nothing and
no one to ask.
It is like a man swimming in a river with an
enormous overflow. As long as the man isn't
in the middle current, but in the overflow, he has
to swim himself, to row, and here he can be
guided by the course taken in swimming by other
people. Here also I could direct people while I
myself approach the current. But as soon as we
enter the current, then there is no guide and can
not be. We are all carried along by the strength
of the current, all in one direction, and those who
were behind can be in front. When a man asks
where shall he swim, that only shows that he has
not yet entered the current and that he from whom
he asks, is a poor guide if he were unable to
bring him into the current, i.e., to that state in
which it is impossible — because it is senseless —
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
to ask. How ask where to swim, when the cur
rent with irresistible force is drawing me in a
direction that is joyous to me ?
People who submit themselves to a guide, who
have faith in him and listen to him, undoubtedly
wander in the dark together with their guide.
I think I have finished Art.
Dec. 3. Y. P. If I live.
My work on Art has cleared up much for me.
If God commands me to write artistic things, they
will be altogether different ones. And to write
them it will be both easier and more difficult. We
shall see.
To-day, Dec. 6, Moscow.
On the 4th I went to Dolgoe.261 I had a very
tender impression from the ruined house ; a swarm
of memories.
Almost two days that I haven't written. I only
prepared the chapters on Art and packed my
things ... I have jotted down nothing. I woke
feeling badly.
Dec. 7, Moscow.
... I was at Storozhenko's.282 Kasatkin was
here 263 in the evening. I asked for examples.
In the morning I corrected Art.
I jotted down nothing: there is much bustle.
Health good.
Dec. 8, Moscow. If I Uve.
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day, nth.
I have already spent so many days in Moscow.
I have done almost nothing, only corrected Art.
A pile of people and letters. Thank God the
most important is good, i.e., I have done nothing
that I ought not to have done. To-day I wrote
a letter to Gali.
It seems to me that the divisions of Art have
turned out just as they were before.
A sad impression was produced by what N told
about Chertkov 264 and by the letter of Ivan Mi
chailovich. Moreover, A, B, C, D, — they are
all suffering. Well, it is forgivable in them, but
how can a Christian suffer?
During this time N N's condition became clear.
He is mentally diseased, like all people who are
non-Christians. I have consented to give to Troubetskoi by in
stalments.265 A sad letter from Chertkov. I want to write
to him.
Dec. 12, Moscow. If I live.
To-day, the 13th. Morning.
I wrote a letter to the Chertkovs. It seems
to me I have corrected the 16th chapter very well.
Yesterday I read the correspondence of Z on
the sex-problem and I was very indignant and I
spoke disagreeably to him at Rusanov's.
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
Rusanov has the head of Hadji Murad. This
morning I wanted to write Hadji Murad — I lost
the outline.
I wrote down something. I now want to write
out the themes which are worth while and which
can be treated as they ought to be :
1) Sergius, 2) Alexander I, 3) Persianninov,
4) the tale of Petrovich — the husband, who died
a pilgrim. The following are worse: 5) the
legend of the descent of Christ into hell and the
reconstruction of hell, 6) a forged coupon, 7)
Hadji Murad, 8) the substituted child, 9) the
drama of the Christian resurrection and perhaps
10) Resurrection — the trial of a prostitute, 11)
(excellent) a brigand killing the defenceless, 12) a
mother, 13) an execution in Odessa.266
It is depressing in the house, but I want to be
and will be joyous.
I am going to write out only two things :
1) That the physical union with an accidental
husband is one of the means established by God
for the spread of His truth: for the testing and
the strengthening of the stronger and for the
enlightenment of the weaker.
2) For people professing filiality to God, not
to rejoice in life, to yearn, is a dreadful sin, an
error. If you understood that the end of life is
the activity for God for no personal ends, then
nothing could hinder this activity, could hold it
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DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
back. The main thing is that life willy-nilly goes
forward to the better: one's own life and the life
of the world. How not rejoice at this movement?
One has only to remember that life is movement.
I write and I sleep and therefore express myself
badly. Until evening, if I live.
To-day, December 14, Moscow. Morning.
Yesterday I received an unpleasant letter from
Chertkov and sent him an answer (about the pub
lications).267 The day before yesterday, I read the corres
pondence of Z about sex relations and became
vexed and went to the Rusanovs' and met Z there
and showed my condemnation of him sharply.
That tortured me and I wrote him a note yesterday
apologising and I received a nice answer which
touched me.
I feel very ill. I am in the worst mood and
therefore am dissatisfied with everything and can
not love. And just now am thinking:
We find sickness a burden ; but sickness is a nec
essary good condition of lif e. Only it alone (per
haps not alone, but one of the most important and
generally common conditions) prepares us for
death, i.e., for our crossing over into another life.
Therefore indeed it was sent to every one : to chil
dren, to adults, to old people, because all, at all
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
ages, die. And we find it burdensome. The fact
that we find sickness burdensome shows only that
we do not live as we ought to : both a temporary
and at the same time an eternal life — but we
live only a temporary life.
Sickness is the preparation for the crossing-over
and therefore to grumble against sickness is just
the same as grumbling against cold and rain. One
ought to make use of them and not grumble. In
fact, only those who live playing, get angry at the
rain, but those who live seriously rejoice at it.
The same with sickness. More than this : not only
sickness but a bad mood, disappointment, sorrows,
all these help to detach oneself from the worldly
and facilitate the crossing-over into the new life.
I am now in such a state of crossing-over.
Evening, the 14th.
The whole day I have been ill and I am in the
worst mood. I cannot master myself and every
thing is disagreeable and burdensome. I did noth
ing. I read and talked.
Dec. 15, Moscow. If I live.
To-day, December 17.
To-day, I am still in the very worst spirits.
I am struggling with ill-will. I gave the essay
away.268 Telegraphed to England. No answer
as yet.169 184

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
A pile of people here, all evening. To-day I
wrote twelve letters, but did not work at all.
To-day I thought the very oldest thing : That
one ought to perfect oneself in love, in which no
one can interfere and which is very interesting.
But love is not in exclusive attachments, but in
a good, not in an evil attitude to every living
being. Wrote letters: i) Posha, 2) Masha, 3) Ivan
Michailovich, 4) Prince Viazemsky, 5 ) Bondarev,
6) Strakhov, 7) the school teacher Robinson, 8)
Priest, 9) Crosby, 10) Chizhov,270 11) Nicholaev
in Kazan, and 12)  271
I am finishing the note-book in a bad mood.
To-morrow I begin a new one. To-day I am also
displeased with the essay on art.
The diary of the year i8g7, Dec. 21, 'g7. Mos
cow.I am beginning a new notebook, almost in a new
spiritual mood. Here are already 5 days that I
have done nothing. I am thinking out Hadji Mu
rad, but I have no desire or confidence. On Art
is printed. Chertkov is displeased and those here
also.272 Yesterday I received an anonymous letter with
a threat to kill, if I do not reform by the year
1898 ; time is given only up to 1898. I was both
uneasy and pleased.273 185

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
I am skating. A sign of an inactive mood is
that I have noted down nothing.
Just now I read through Chekhov's, On a Cart.
Excellent in expressiveness, but rhetorical as soon
as he wants to give meaning to his story. There
is a remarkable clearness in my mind, thanks to my
book on art.
Dec. 26, 'g7- Moscow.
The day before yesterday I fell ill and I am still
not well.274 I am reading much. My heart is
heavy. Evening.
Dec. 27, 'g7- Moscow. If I Uve.
To-day, Dec. 2g, '97. Moscow. Morning.
I thought of Hadji Murad. All day yesterday
a comedy-drama, " The Corpse," 275 took shape.
I am still unwell. Yesterday I was at Behrs'.276
I have received letters with threats of killing.
I regret that there are people who hate me, but it
interests me little and it doesn't disturb me at all.
Have jotted down something.
•A conversation with N : what a pitiable youth :
understanding everything and at the same time not
having the capacity to put anything in the right
place and therefore he is living in unimaginable
confusion. Have been thinking:
1 ) They say usually that Christ's teaching, the
186

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
real Christ's teaching . . . destroys all union, that
it is a disuniting " individualism." How false this
is ! Christianity only therefore preaches personal
salvation, " individualism," as they say, because
this personal salvation is indispensable, accessible,
joyous to all, and therefore inevitably unites peo
ple — not mechanically by the pressure of force
from without or by stirring with " culture," but
chemically by an inner, indissoluble union.
2) Sometimes you complain that they do not
love your soul, but love or do not love your body,
and you are angry at them, condemning them, but
you do not see that they cannot do otherwise : for
them your soul, the holy of holies of your soul,
that which — as you know — is the only real
thing, the only thing that acts — is nothing, be
cause it is invisible, like the chemical rays of the
spectrum. 3) There are people, mainly women, for whom
the word is only the means for an attainment of
an end, and it is entirely devoid of its funda
mental significance which is to be an expression of
reality. These people are sometimes terribly
strong. Their advantage is like that which a man
would have who in fencing took off the cork from
the rapier. His adversaries are bound by condi
tions that . . . No, the comparison is not good.
The best of all : they are like a gambler in cards, a
sharper. I will find one. 187

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1897
The examples of this are such: a man wants.
for instance, to steal; he takes other people's
money; he says that he was charged to do it, they
asked him to, and he believes that he was asked to.
And the proof of the untruth of his evidence he
refutes with a new lie. He kills: the murdered
one suffered so, that he begged him to kill him.
He wants to do something nasty or something
foolish. Well, to turn all the furniture upside
down or to debauch — and he explains in detail,
how it was recognised by doctors, that it was neces
sary to do this periodically, etc. And he convinces
himself that it is so. But when this proves to be
not so, he does not hear, he brings forth his own
arguments and then at once forgets both his own
arguments and other people's. These people are
terrible, horrible.
4) The spiritualists say that after death the
soul of people lives on and communicates with
them. Soloviev, the father,277 said truly, I re
member, that this is the Church dogma of saints,
of their intercession and of prayers to them.
Evgenie Ivanovich also said truly that as the Pash-
kov Sect is a taking out of the dogma of the Re
demption alone and the adaptation of everything
to it, so spiritualism is the taking out of the dogma
of saints, and the adaptation of everything to it.
5) But I say the following in regard to this
dogma of the soul : What we call the soul, is the
188

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
divine, spiritual, limited in us in our bodies. Only
the body limits this divine, this spiritual. And it
is this limiting which gives it a form like a vessel
gives form to a liquid or a gas which is enclosed in
it. But we only know this form. Break the ves
sel and that which is enclosed in it will cease to
have that form which it has and will spread out,
be carried off. Whether it combines with other
matter, whether it receives a new form — we
know nothing about this, but we know for a fact
that it loses that form which it had when it was
limited, because that which limited it was de
stroyed. The same with the soul. The soul af
ter death ceases to be the soul and remaining a
spirit, a divine essence, becomes something other,
such that we cannot judge.
I wrote the preface to Chertkov.278
Dec. 30. Moscow. If I live.

189

1898

Two days have passed. Jan. ist.
I meet the new year very sad, depressed, unwell.
I cannot work and my stomach aches all the
time. Received a letter from Verhkolensk from Phe-
doseev about the Dukhobors, a very touching
one.279 Still another letter from the editor The Adult
about free love.280 If I had time, I would like to
write about this subject. Probably I shall write.
The most important is to show that the whole
matter lies in appropriating to oneself possibili
ties of the greatest enjoyment without thinking of
consequences. Besides, they preach something
which already exists and is very bad. Why
would the absence of outer restraint 281 improve
the whole thing? I am, of course, against any
regulation and for full freedom, but the ideal is
chastity and not pleasure.
I have been thinking during this time only
one thing and it seems an important thing,
namely :
i ) We all think that our duty, our vocation, is
to do various things: bring up children, make a
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
fortune, write a book, discover a law in science,
etc. But for all the work is only one thing: to
carry out one's own life — to act so that life
would be a harmonious, good, and rational mat
ter. And the work ought to be not before people,
to leave behind one a memory of a good life, but
the work is before God: to present to Him one
self, one's soul, better than it was, nearer to
Him, more submissive to Him, more in harmony
with Him.
To think so — and principally to feel so — is
very difficult : One always wanders off for human
praise. But it is possible and ought to be done.
Help me, Lord. I sometimes feel this and do
at this moment.
Jan. 2. Moscow. If I live.
To-day, already the 4th.
I am a little better. I want to work. Yester
day Stasov and Repine,282 coffee. . . . When
will I remember that much talk is much bother?
I received a pamphlet uncensored.
Only one thing has to be noted down: that all
life is senseless, except that which has for its end
the service of God, the service of the fulfilment
of the work of God, which is unattainable to us.
I shall write that out later. Now I am in a hurry.
Dear Masha arrived, later Tania with Sasha.283
Jan. 5. Moscow. If I live.
194

JANUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-day, Jan. 13.
It is more than a week that I haven't written
and I have done almost nothing. I have been
ill all the time, and depressed. At times, I am
good and calm, and at times uneasy and not good.
The day before yesterday was difficult. Then the
peasants arrived: Bulakhov, with St., Pet., and
two from Tula. I felt so light-hearted and ener
getic. One need not yield to one's own circle, one
can always enter the circle of God and His people.
It is long since I have been so depressed. A
letter from Posha. Wrote to Posha, Ivan Mic
hailovich, Chertkov, Maude and Boulanger.
I am still endeavouring to find a satisfactory
form for Hadji Murad and I still haven't it, al
though it seems I am nearing it.
. . . To-day a telegram about the work,
" What is Art? "
Have made some notes and I think important
ones. 1) Something of enormous importance and
ought to be expounded well. Organisation, every
kind of organisation, which frees from any kind
of human, personal, moral duties. All the evil
in the world comes from this. They flog people
to death, they debauch, they becloud their minds
and no one is to blame. In the tale of the resur
rection of hell, this is the most important and new
means.284 195

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
2) Each one of us is that light, that divine
essence, love, the Son of God, enclosed in a body,
in limits, in the coloured lantern which we have
painted with our passions and habits — so that
everything we see, we see only through this lan
tern. To raise oneself so as to see above it, is
impossible ; on top there is the same kind of glass
through which we see even God, through the
glass which we ourselves have painted. The only
thing which we can do is not to look through the
glasses, but to concentrate in ourselves, recognise
our light and kindle it. And this is the one sal
vation from the delusions of life, from its suffer
ing, from its temptations. And this is joyful and
always possible.
I do this, and it is good.
3) Dreams — they are nothing else than the
looking on the world not through the glasses, but
only on the glasses, and on the interweaving of
various designs interwoven on the glasses. In
sleep you only see the glasses; when awake, the
world, through the glasses.
4) A woman can, when she loves a man, see
merits in him which he has not, but when she
is indifferent, she is unable to see a man's merits
other than through the opinion of others. (How
ever, I think it is untrue.)
5) The following when I wrote it, seemed to
me very important: 196

January] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Christians strive to a union, and unite among
themselves and with other people by the Chris
tian tool — by unity, humility, love. But there
are people who do not know this means of union,
do not believe in it and who endeavour to unite
(all people endeavour to unite) with other means,
outer ones, with force, threats. It is impossible
to demand of these people who do not know, who
cannot understand the Christian means of union,
that they do not make use of their means ; but it is
absolutely unjust and unreasonable when these un
christian people impose their own lower means
of union upon people knowing and using a higher
means. They say, " You Christians, you profit by
our means; if you have not been robbed and
killed, it is thanks to us." To this the Christians
answer, that they don't need anything which force
gives them (as is really the fact for a Christian) .
And that is why, though it is legitimate for
people not knowing a higher means of union, to
use a lower, it is illegitimate, that they look upon
their own lower means as a general and unique
one, and want to compel those for whom it cannot
be necessary to use it. The principal step before
humanity now consists in this, that people should
not only recognise and admit the means of Chris
tian union, but that they should recognise that it is
the highest, the one to which all humanity is striv
ing and to which it will inevitably reach.
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
6) When you are full of energy, then you live,
and you ought to live for this world; when you
are sick, then you are dying, i.e., you begin to live
for that other after-death world. So that in
either phase, there is work. When you are sick,
dying, then concentrate in yourself and think
about death and about life after death, and stop
longing for this one. Both processes are normal
and in both there exists work proper to each
state. I feel somewhat fresher spiritually.
Jan. 14, Moscow. If I Uve.
To-day, 18.
My health is a little better. It is now evening.
Wrote letters, 1) Chertkov; 2) Dubrovin; 3)
Dubrovsky; Tver; 4) Tula: N. 1. Kh.; 5) Naka
shidze; 6) Ivan Michailovich.
To-day the plot of Hadji Murad became clearer
than ever before.
Jan. ig. Moscow.
Depressing and unproductive. I cannot work.
Several times a week I remember that everything
disagreeable is only an Ermahnung for an advance
onward towards perfection.
Help, Father. Come and dwell within me.
You already dwell within me. You are already
" me." My work is only to recognise Thee. I
198

FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
write this just now and am full of desire. But
nevertheless I know who I am.
To-day, Feb. 2. Moscow.
Very weak and apathetic. All the time I either
read or corrected proofs of Art. There is
much to be noted. But I have neither strength
nor desire. There have been no events, no
letters.
Feb. 3, Moscow. If I live.
February 3, Moscow.
I am still as unproductive intellectually. In the
morning it flashed across my mind that I left out
the places in Art about the trinity, and doing no
work, I went to Grot and from there to the pub
lishing house. I returned past two, read, lay
down, dined. Tarovat 285 arrived, then Menshi-
kov, Popov, Gorbunov, and then — Gulenko,286
Suller.287 Read Liapunov's The Ploughman. I was very
touched.288 Have noted down the following:
1) In moments of depression I want to ask
help from God. And I may ask it. But only
such help which might help me and not interfere
with any one else. And such help is only one
thing: love. Every other kind of help, material
help, not only might, but must come in conflict
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with the material good of others. Only love
alone — the enlargement of love in oneself —
satisfies everything which one can want and does.
not come in conflict with the good of others.
" Come and dwell within us."
2) Women do not use words to express their
thoughts, but to attain their ends, and it is this
purpose they hunt in the words of others. That
is why they so often understand people wrong
side out. And this is very disagreeable.
3) The meaning of life is only one: self-per
fection — the bettering of one's soul. " Be per
fect like our Father in Heaven."
When things are difficult, when something tor
tures you, remember that in life, only you are
the life — and immediately it will become easier.
And joyful. As a rich man rejoices when he
gathers his wealth, so will you rejoice if you place
your life only in this. And for the attainment
of this, there are no barriers. Everything which
appears like sorrow, like a barrier in life — is a
wide step which offers itself to your feet that you
may ascend.
4) If you have the strength of activity then let
it be a loving one ; if you have no strength, if you
are weak, then let your weakness be a loving
one. 5) Inorganic matter is simply the life of that
which we do not understand. For fleas the inor-
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ganic is my finger-nail. In the same way, evil is
the non-understood good.289
6) To serve God and man, but how, with what?
Perhaps the possibility doesn't exist? It is not
true : the possibility has always been given you —
to become better.
7) Man is an ambassador, as Christ said, an
ambassador indeed for whom the important thing
is only to fulfil the errand given to him, and it
doesn't matter what is thought about him. Let
them think badly — sometimes it is necessary.
Only let the errand be fulfilled.
8) One of the most common errors consists in
this, that people are considered good, malicious,
stupid, intelligent. Man flows on and every pos
sibility is in him: he was stupid, and has become
intelligent; he was wicked and has become good,
and the reverse. In this is the greatness of man.
And therefore it is impossible to judge man as he
is. You have judged and he is already another.
It is impossible to say — I do not love him : you
have said it and he is already another.
9) • . .
10) The fact that the end of life is self-perfec
tion, that the perfection of the immortal soul is
the only end of the life of man, is already true
because every other end in the view of death, is
senseless. 11) If man deliberates upon the consequences
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of his act, then the motives of his act are not re
ligious. 12) The paper-knife on my knees fell over on
account of its weight, and it seemed to me that
it was something alive, and I shuddered. Why?
Because there is a duty to everything living
and I grew frightened lest I hadn't fulfilled
it, and lest I had crushed, squeezed a living be
ing. 13) ... In this lies the whole matter — to
destroy this hypnosis.
14) It is impossible not to wish that our acts
be known and approved. For him who has no
God, it is necessary that his acts be known and
approved. But for him who has God, it is suf
ficient that they be known. By this can it be veri
fied if a man has God.
4th Feb. Moscow. If I live.
To-day, the $th. Morning.
I do not feel like writing at all. All these last
days, especially yesterday, I have been feeling and
applying to life, the consciousness that the end of
life is one : to be perfect like the Father, to do
that which He does, that which He wants from
us, i.e., to love; that love should guide us in the
moments of our most energetic activity, and that
we breathe with it alone in the moments of our
greatest weakness. Whenever there is something
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difficult, painful, then it suffices to remember this,
and all this difficulty, this pain, will vanish and
only the joyous will remain.
To a man who seriously, truly uses his reason,
it is obvious that all ends are closed to him. One
alone is reasonable: to live for the satisfaction
of the demands of God, of his conscience, of his
higher nature. (It is all the same thing.) If
this is to be expressed in time, then to live so as
to prepare one's soul to the passing-over into a
better world: if this is to be expressed accurately
in terms outside of time, then it is to fuse one's
life with its timeless principle, with the Good, with
Love, with God. I am afraid only of one thing,
that this strong consciousness acting beneficially
on me, that the only thing reasonable and free and
joyous is the life in God, be not calloused, that it
do not lose its effect of lifting me out of the petty
annoyances of life, and of freeing me. Oh, if that
could be so to every one and if it could be so for
ever! In this light last night I considered the
various manifestations of life and I felt so well and
joyous. I will await the examination. I shall
prepare for it.
When I wrote out the notes, I forgot :
i ) How absurd is the argument of the enemies
of moral perfection, that a man, sacrificing him
self really, will sacrifice his perfection for the good
of others, i.e., that a man is ready to become evil,
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
in order to act well. If one understands by this
that a man is ready to act badly before people,
if only he could thereby fulfil the demands of his
conscience and not serve a certain cause or even
certain people, then this is true. The serving of a
cause and of people can sometimes coincide, and
can sometime not coincide with the demands of
conscience; and not serving a certain cause or peo
ple, can sometimes coincide and can sometimes not
coincide with the demands of conscience. These
are individual cases.
2) To doubt that the source of all evil is false
religious teaching, can only be done by a man who
hasn't thought of the causes of the daily manifesta
tions of social life. The causes of all these mani
festations are thoughts — thoughts of people.
How then could false thoughts not have an enor
mous influence on the social system? People,
some of them, are well off in a false system based
on false thoughts; it is natural that they support
false thoughts, false-religious teaching.
3) I cannot write and I suffer, I force myself.
How stupid ! As if life lay in writing. It does
not even lie in any outer activity. It is not as I
will, but as Thou wilt. It is even fuller and more
significant without writing. And here now I am
learning to live without writing. And I am
able to.
4) I see that I have made a note and have al-
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FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ready said it here, namely, that to perfect oneself
does not mean to prepare oneself for a future
life 290 (that is said for convenience, for simplicity
of speech) ; but to perfect oneself means to get
nearer to that basis of life for which time does not
exist and therefore no death, i.e., to carry one's
" self " more and more away from the bodily life
into the spiritual.
5 ) Evgenie Ivanovich says about N : she is at
peace only when one occupies oneself with her.
Any occupation with anything not concerning her,
does not interest her. Every such occupation with
other people offends her. It seems to her that
she bears the life of every one near her, that with
out her everybody would be lost. For the least
reproach, she insults every one. And in 10 min
utes she forgets it, and she hasn't the least re
morse. This is the highest degree of egotism and mad
ness, but there are many grades approaching this.
At bottom, to think that I live for myself, for my
own enjoyment, for fame, is absolute potential
madness. In living — it is impossible not to live
for oneself, impossible not to defend oneself when
attacked,291 not to fall on the food when hungry;
but to think that in this is life, and to use that very
thought given you to see the impossibility of such
a life, to use it for the strengthening of such a
separate individual life, is absolute madness.
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6) A wife approaches her husband and caress
ingly speaks to him as she did not speak before.
The husband is moved, but this is only because
she has done something nasty.
7) Jean Grave,292 " L'individu et la Societe,"
says that revolution will only then be fertile when
l'individu will be strong-willed, disinterested,
good, ready to help his neighbour, will not be vain,
will not condemn others, will have the conscious
ness of his own dignity, i.e., will have all the
merits of a Christian. But how will he acquire
these virtues if he knows that he is only an acci
dental chain of atoms ? All these virtues are pos
sible, are natural, in fact, their absence is impossi
ble when there is a Christian world-point-of-view
— that is, that we are sons of God sent to do His
Will; but in a materialistic world-point-of-view
these virtues are inconsistent.
It is now past one. I am going downstairs. I
am going to write to-morrow.
Feb. 6. Moscow. If I live.
To-day, Feb. ig. Moscow.
It is long since I have made any entries.293 At
first I was ill. For about 5 days I have been bet
ter. During this time I was correcting, putting in
things and spoiling the last chapters of Art.
I decided to send away Carpenter with the intro
duction to Sieverni Viestnik. Was correcting the
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FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
preface also. The general impression of this arti
cle " On Science " as well as that of the 20th chap
ter — is remorse.294 I feel that it is right, that
it is necessary, but it is painful that I hurt and
grieve many good people who err. It is obvious
that .0999 will not understand why and in the
name of what I condemn science, and will be in
dignant. I should have done that with greater
kindness. And in this I am guilty, but it is now
too late.
The last time I wrote, I expressed fear lest the
carrying over of myself from this worldly life,
the offending, the irritating one, into the life be
fore God, the eternal life (now, here) which I
experienced would become lost, would become cal
loused. But here 13 days have passed and I still
feel this and felt it all the time and rejoiced and
am rejoicing.
Sometimes I begin to lay out patience, or hear
an irritating conversation, contradiction, or am
dissatisfied with my writing, with the condemna
tion of people, or I regret something — and sud
denly I remember that it only seems so to me,
because I am bent over searching on the floor, and
it suffices to straighten up to my full height and
everything that was disagreeable, irritating, not
only vanishes, but helps the joys of triumph over
my human weakness.
I haven't yet experienced this in strong physical
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898-
suffering. Will it endure? It ought to endure.
Help, Lord.
Otherwise I am very joyous.
I am joyous, that in old age there has been dis
closed absolutely a new condition of the great in
destructible good. And this is not imagination,
but a change of soul as clearly perceived as
warmth and cold, it is a going over from confu
sion, suffering, to a clearness and peace and a
going over which depends upon myself. Here, in
truth, is where wings have sprouted. As soon as
it becomes difficult, painful, to walk on foot, you
spread the wings. Why not always then on
wings? Evidently, I am still too weak; still un
trained; and perhaps a rest is necessary.
It is interesting to find out if this state is an
attribute of old age, if young people can experi
ence it also? I think that they can. One
must accustom oneself to this. This indeed is
prayer. " You must hide something, be afraid of some
thing, something tortures you, something is lack
ing," — and suddenly: there is nothing to hide,
nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be tortured
over, nothing to want. The main thing is to go
away from the human court into God's court.
Oh, if this would only hold out unto death!
But even for that which I have experienced, I am
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FEBRUARY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
I jotted down the following:
i ) People can in no way agree to the unreality
of all that is material. " But a table exists and
always, even when I go out of the room it is
there, and for all it is the same as it is for me,"
— they generally say. Well, and when you twist
two fingers and roll a little ball under them do
you not unquestionably feel two? It is certainly
so, every time I take up a little ball in that way
there are two and for every one who takes up a
ball in that way there are two, and nevertheless
there are no two little balls. In the same way, the
table is a table only for the twisted fingers of my
senses, but it is perhaps half a table, a thousandth
of a table — in fact, no part of a table at all, but
something altogether different. So that what is
real is only my ever recurring impression, con
firmed by the impressions of other people.
2) ... I acted badly when I gave my estate
to the children. It would have been better for
them. Only it was necessary to have been able
to do this without violating love, and I was un
able. 3) You are often surprised how intelligent,
good people can defend cruelty, violence, savage
superstitions . . . ? But it is sufficient to re
member the exilings, the oppressions, the offences,
which are beginning to penetrate the working-
classes and you see that this is only a feeling of
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
self-preservation. Only by this is explained the
tenacity of life. . . .
4) Pharesov told me about Malikov's 295 teach
ing. All this was beautiful, all this was Chris
tian: be perfect like your Father; but it was not
good that all this teaching had for its end influ
ence over people and not inner satisfaction, not an
answer to the problem of life. Influence on oth
ers is the main Achilles' heel.
So that my condition, which is false for people,
is perhaps the very thing necessary.
5) ... In order to wipe out one's sin, one
ought to . . . repent before all the people for the
deception, to say : forgive me that I have deceived
you . . . What a strong scene ! And a true one.
6) Our art with its supplying of amusement for
the rich classes, is not only similar to prostitu
tion, but it is nothing else than prostitution.
Feb. 20. Moscow.
To-day, Feb. 25. Moscow.
Have made no entries; corrected something.
Wrote letters to-day, more than 7 letters. But I
can't write anything, although I haven't stopped
thinking about Hadji Murad and The Appeal.
Feb. 26. Moscow. If I live.
Have made no entries for more than three
weeks. To-day March ig. Moscow.
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Finished all my letters. During this time wrote
serious letters :
i) To the American colony,296 2) Peter-
burgskia Viedomosti about the Dukhobors; 297 3)
to the English papers also about the Dukhobors,
and 4) a preface to the English edition What is
Art — about the censor distortions.298
My inner life is the same. As I foresaw, the
new consciousness of life for God, for the perfec
tion of love, has become dulled, weakened, and
when I needed it, these days, it proved itself to be,
if not exactly ineffectual, yet less effectual than I
expected. The principal event during this time was the
permission to the Dukhobors to emigrate.
What is Art? seems to me to be entirely
finished now.
I have worked very little during all this time.
I made rather many notes; I shall try to write
them out:
1) One of the greatest errors in summing up a
man, is that we call, we define a man as intelli
gent, stupid, good, evil, strong, weak. But man
is everything, all possibilities, is a flowing mat
ter.299 This is a good theme for an artistic
work and a very important one and a good one,
because it destroys malicious judging — " the can
cer " — and assumes the possibility of everything
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
good. The workers of the devil, convinced of the
presence of bad in man, achieve great results: su
perstition, capital punishment, war. The work
ers of God would attain greater results, if they
believed more in the possibility of good in people.
2) They want to become the masters of China
— the Russians, Japan, England, the Germans:
there are quarrels, diplomatic struggles, there will
even be military ones. And all this is only for
the mixing of the yellow race into one Christian
batter, the propagating and the assimilating of
ideas like the Crusades and the Napoleonic wars.
3) Lebon writes: "Not only are they going
to make food in laboratories, but there will be no
need for labour." People have so badly distrib
uted their two functions, food and labour, that
instead of joy, these functions are a torture to
them and therefore they want to be freed from
them. It is just the same as if people would so
pervert their functions of perspiration and breath
ing, that they would seek a way of changing them
by an artificial method.
4) The longer you live, the less time there re
mains for life. For an endless duration of life,
there would then be absolutely no life.
5 ) Only when you live without consideration of
time, past or future, do you live a real, free life
for which there are no obstacles. You are only
then dissatisfied, in straits, when you remember
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MARCH] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the past (the offences, the contradictions, even your
own weaknesses) and when you think of the fu
ture: will something be or will it not be? Only
at one point, do you fuse with God and live your
divine essence: in the present (even when you
live your animal life). Whenever you use your
reason to consider what will be, then you are weak,
insignificant; but whenever you use it to do the
will of Him who sent you, then you are omnipo
tent, free. You can even see this in the way you
immediately weaken, become deprived of strength,
when you consider the consequences of your act.
To-day, March 21. Moscow.
I continue copying. I am very indisposed,
weak, but thank God, in peace, I live in the pres
ent. Just now I put in order the papers on
Art. 6) Socialists will never destroy poverty and the
injustice of the inequality of capacities. The
stronger, the more intelligent, will always make
use of the weaker, the more stupid. Justice and
equality of goods will never be attained by any
thing less than Christianity, i.e., by negating one
self and by recognising the meaning of one's life
in the service to others.
7) I have written down the same as in the 5th,
but differently. In order to live with God, by
God and in God, it is necessary not to be guided
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
by anything from without. Neither by that which
was nor by that which can be ; to live only in the
present, only in this, to fuse with God.
8) Intelligent Socialists understand that for the
attainment of their ends the principal thing is to
lift the working men intellectually and physically.
This is possible to be done only by religious edu
cation, but they do not understand this and there
fore all their work is in vain.
9) " Seek the Kingdom of God and His Right,
the rest will follow you " — this is the only means
of attaining the ends of Socialism.
10) For The Appeal:
All are agreed that we live not as we ought to
or as we could. The remedy of some is this: a
religious fatalism and, still worse, a scientific, evo
lutionary one. Others comfort themselves by the
gradual bettering and bettering of things by them
selves : the step by step people. The third assert
that everything will establish itself when things
will reach their very worst (Socialism), when the
Government and the rich classes will control every
body fully, i.e., the working-men, and then the
power will somehow or other make a somersault
not only to working-men, but to unerring disinter
ested self-sacrificing working-men, who will then
direct all affairs without error and without sin.
The fourth say that to improve the whole matter,
it is possible only by the destruction of evil people,
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MARCH] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the bad ones. But there is no indication where
the bad people end and where the harmless ones,
if not the good ones, begin. Either they will de
stroy every one as bad or as in the big revolution
they will catch the good ones with the bad. As
soon as you begin to judge strictly, no one will
remain in the right. What is to be done? But
there is only one instrument : a religious change in
the soul of people. And it is this change which is
interfered with, by all imaginary remedies.
ii) My body is nothing else than that piece
of everything existing which I am able to govern.
12) The whole world is that which I sense.
But what am I? It is that which acts.
13) How good it would be to write a work
of art, in which there would be clearly expressed
the flowing nature of man: that he, one and the
same man, is now a villain, now an angel, now a
wise man, now an idiot, now a strong man, now
the most impotent being.
14) Every man, as all people, being imperfect
in everything, is nevertheless more perfect in some
one thing than in another. And these perfections,
he puts over another human being as a demand,
and condemns him.
15) It is impossible to serve, not "God and
mammon," but " mammon and God." The
service of mammon — every kind of vanity — is
a hindrance to the service of God. Peace, soli-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
tude, even boredom, is a necessary condition to the
service of God. In Moscow religiously they are
the most savage of people. In Paris — they are
still more savage.
16) There is a kind of English toy called
peepshow: behind a little glass, now one thing is
shown, now another. This is the way one ought
to show man — Hadji Murad: a husband, a
fanatic, etc.
17) Not long ago I experienced a feeling, not
exactly a reasoning, but a feeling — that every
thing that is material, and I myself with my own
body, is only my own imagination, is the creation
of my spirit and that only my soul exists. It was
a very joyous feeling.
18) ... does on the other hand the same
thing that a false religious education does; it ac
customs people to deny their reason.
19) There are two points of view ofthe world:
1 ) the world is something definitely existing, that
is, existing in definite forms, and 2) the world
is something continually flowing, being formed, go
ing towards something. In the first point of
view, the life of humanity also appears as some
thing definite, consisting in the peaceful use of
the goods of the world. In this point of view
— there is a continuous dissatisfaction, and dis
content with the construction of the world. It
does not fulfil the demands which are presented.
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MARCH] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
In the second point of view, the life of humanity
is conceived as something which in itself changes
and helps to the change and the attainment of
the ends of the world. And in this point of view
there is no dissatisfaction or discontentment with
the construction of the world. And if there is
discontent, it is only with one's self, for one's in
sufficient harmony to the movement of the world
and in not helping this movement. (Unclear.)
20) Administrative ambition and greed of
misers are therefore alluring, because they are
very simple. For every other end of life one
has to reflect much, to think, and often you do
not see the results clearly. And here it is so
simple : where there was one decoration there
will be two: where there was one million there
will be two, etc.
21) I spoke to Evgenie Ivanovich and said to
him that I envy his freedom; but he said to me
that things are very difficult for him just on ac
count of this freedom and even on account of the
authority and the responsibility which is con
nected with it. So that it only seems to me, that
some one is better off and that another is worse,
as the strong man to the weak, the healthy to the
sick, the rich to the poor. And it became sud
denly clear to me that all the differences in our
conditions in the world are as nothing compared
with our inner conditions. It is just the same, as
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
it would be a matter of indifference if a man
fell from a boat into the Azov Sea, the Black, the
Mediterranean or into the ocean, in comparison
with whether he was able to swim or not.
22) I spoke with P about the woman question.
There is no woman question. There is the ques
tion of freedom of equality for all human beings.
The woman question is only quarrel hunting.
23) The more one is guilty before his own
conscience, though hidden, the more willingly and
involuntarily he seeks the guilt of others and es
pecially those before whom he had been guilty.
24) As soon as you go away into the past or
the future, you go away from God and then you
immediately become lonely, deserted, unfree.
25) I began to think about myself, about my
own hurts and my own future life — and I came
to my senses. And it was so natural to say to
myself: and you, what business is Leo Nicholaie-
vich (Tolstoi) of yours? And I felt better.
Thus there is the one who is hindered by the base,
stupid, vain, sensual, Leo Nicholaievich.
26) As soon as you begin to think of the fu
ture, you begin to guess. If the patience comes
out, then this will happen. But this is madness!
And it is bound to come, because to think of the
future is the beginning of madness.
I have finished everything. It is now past one,
the 2 1 st. 218

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March 22. Moscow. If I live.
April 12. Moscow.
Among the events during this time was the
arrival of the Dukhobors,300 the cares for their
emigration, the death of Brashnin.301 Occupa
tions: Carthago delenda estS02 and Hadji
Murad. Worked rather little. The spiritual
state rather good. Visitors — most of. them
peasants, young, good ones.
Since yesterday have been in a very depressed
mood. I am not surrendering, I do not disclose
myself to any one, but to God. I think that is
very important. It is important to keep silent and
to suffer a thing through. Otherwise the suffer
ing will go over to others and will make them
suffer, but here it will burn itself down in yourself.
That is the most precious of all.
This thought helps very much, that in this lies
my task, in this is my opportunity to elevate my
self, to approach perfection somewhat. Come
and dwell within me so that my baseness will be
stifled. Awake in me.
I want to cry all the time.
Thought and noted :
i ) I found jotted down : " Every victory
over the enemy is an enlargement of one's own
strength." I ought to remember that now espe
cially. There is a struggle going on between my
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
spiritual and animal self, and all that I gain for
the former, by all this will I weaken the latter.
I carry over from one scale of the weights to an
other. If I fall into temptation, it means a roll
ing down the road to evil; if I resist, it is the be
ginning of a rolling on a new road towards the
good. 2) It is astonishing how we get accustomed to
the illusion of one's own individuality, separate
ness from the world. We see, we feel — that life
compels us every minute to feel our union and de
pendence on the world, makes us feel our incom
pleteness ; and we nevertheless believe that we our
selves, our very selves, is something in the name
of which we can live. However, when you under
stand this illusion clearly, then you are surprised,
how you could not have seen that you are not a
piece of a whole, but a manifestation in time and
space, of something timeless and infinite.
Women have always recognised the power of
men over them. And it could not have been
otherwise in an unchristian world. Men are the
stronger and men have ruled. It was the same
in all the worlds (with the exception of the doubt
ful Amazons and the law of maternity), and it
is the same now among .0999 of mankind. But
Christianity has appeared and has recognised per
fection not in strength but in love, and by this all
the subjected, the captive, the slaves and the
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APRIL] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
the women have been freed. But that the free
dom of slaves and women be not a calamity, it is
necessary that the freed be Christians, i.e., that
they affirm their life in the service of God and
people, and not in the service of themselves.
Slaves and women are not.Christians, and never
theless they are freed. And they are terrible.
They act as the main-spring of all the calamities
of the world.
What must be done? Bring slaves and women
back again into slavery? That is impossible to
do, because there is no one who will do it : Chris
tians cannot subject. And non-Christians will no
longer surrender themselves into slavery, but will
fight. They will fight among themselves and one
or the other will subject and hold the Christians
in slavery. What must be done? One thing
must be done : attract people to Christianity, turn
them into Christians. It is possible to do this only
by fulfilling in life the law of Christ.
Help me, Lord. Help me. Come into me,
awake in me.
Apr. 13. Moscow. If I Uve.
To-day April 27. Grinevka.303
The 3rd day here. I am all right. A little in
disposed. . . .
The latter days in Moscow I spent finishing
Carthago delenda est. I am afraid I have not
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finished it, and that it is still before me. Still
I did quite a lot. Here I have not worked at
all. The misery of the famine is by far not as great
as it was in 1891. There are so many lies in all
the affairs among the upper classes, everything is
so tangled up with lies that it is never possible to
answer any question, simply — for instance, is
there a famine? I am going to try to distribute
as well as I can the money which has been con
tributed. Yesterday there was a conversation about the
same thing: Is exclusive love good? The
resume is this : a moral man will look on exclusive
love, — it is all the same whether he be married
or single — as on evil and will fight it; the man,
who is little moral, will consider it good and will
encourage it. An entirely unmoral man does not
even understand it and makes fun of it.
The Russkia Viedomosti was suspended be
cause of the Dukhobors and of me ; that is too bad
and I am grieved.304
1) The proverb: for a good son you do not
have to make a fortune, for a bad one, do not
leave one.
2) I have made the following note: "God
doesn't know when the awakening of people will
take place." This is what it means : I think that
the life of humanity consists in a greater and
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APRIL] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
greater awakening, in an enlightening. And this
awakening, this enlightening, will be done by peo
ple themselves (by God in people). And in this
is life, in this is the good, and therefore this life
and this good cannot be taken away from peo
ple. 3) My awakening consisted in this, that I
doubted the reality of the material world. It lost
all meaning to me.
To-morrow Apr. 28. Grinevka. If I live, I'll
finish. To-day Apr. 2g. Morning. Grinevka.
Felt great weakness. Am better since yester
day. But unable to write anything. Went to
Lopashino,305 took notes.306
Read Boccaccio — it is the beginning of the
master-class, immoral art.
No letters. Serezha was here.307
I continue. Thought:
1) You look deeply into the life of man, es
pecially of women, — and you see from what
world point of view their acts flow, and you
see, principally, how inevitably all argument
against this world point of view recoils and you
cannot imagine how this world point of view will
be changed — in the same way as how a piece
of a date-stone has grown through a date. But
there are conditions when a change is produced
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
and accomplished from within. Live man can al
ways be born, from seeds there are sprouts.
2) I look into the future, and ask: were I to
act as I ought to, would everything then be all
right, would all obstacles then be destroyed?
This question is pleonism. The question is this,
whether, were I to act in a realm where there
were no obstacles, would there then be any ob
stacles? 3) It is remarkable how we are without under
standing and without gratitude. God arranged
our life so, that he forbade us all false paths, that
everything drives us from these false, harmful
paths, impoverishing us to ruination, and making
us suffer, onto the only free, always joyous path
of love — but we nevertheless do not go on this
path and we complain that we suffer from the at
tempts of going on the false, ruinous paths.
4) One of the most urgent needs of man, equal
with and even more urgent than eating, drinking,
sex desire, and the existence of which we often for
get, is the need to manifest oneself, to know that
it is I who have done a thing. Very many acts
which are otherwise inexplicable, are explained by
this need. One ought to remember this both in
their bringing up, and in dealing with men. The
main thing is that one has to try to make this an
activity and not a boast.
5) Why is it that children and simple people
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APRIL] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
are by such an awful height higher than the major
ity of people? Because their reason is not per
verted by the deception of faith or by temptations
or by sins. Nothing stands on their road to per
fection, while adults have sin and temptation and
deception on theirs. The former have only to
walk forward, the latter must struggle.
6) They spoke about love and falling in love,
and I made the following conclusion for myself: a
moral man fights falling in love and exclusive love,
an unmoral man — condones it.
7) Children are selfish without lies. All of
life teaches the aimlessness, the ruination of self
ishness. And therefore old people attain unself
ishness without lies. These are two extreme
limits. 8) I began to consider soup-kitchens and the
purchase of flour, and money, and my soul became
so unclean and sad. The realm of money, i.e.,
every kind of use of money, is a sin. I took
money and undertook to use it only so as to have
a reason for going away from Moscow and I
acted badly.
9) I thought much about The Appeal, yester
day and to-day. It became rather clear how a bad
arrangement of life results in religious decep
tion. If something is unclear in one's mind, if
life is disorderly and you don't want any
thing. . . . (Somehow I haven't succeeded.)
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
10) In my sleep I thought to-day that the
shortest expression of the meaning of life is this:
the world moves, perfects itself; the task of man
is to take part in this movement, to submit himself
to it and to help it.
My weakness still continues. I have written
this out very badly.
May 4. Grinevka. (Evening.)
Yesterday there was a whole house full of
guests: The Tsurikovs, Mme. Ilinsky,308 Stak-
hovich. I have done nothing during the day. In
the morning I wrote a letter to Chertkov309 and
to S 31° and to still some one else. The day be
fore yesterday I was in Sidorovo and at Se-
rezha's.311 In the morning I read Chertkov's
article.312 It is very good.
The ist of May, Lindenberg 313 was here and
a teacher314 and they went to Kamenka. On the
30th, I went to Gubarevka.
What hurts me, is that I seem to have lost en
tirely the capacity for writing. To my shame I
am indifferent. Latterly in my sleep, I thought
keenly about the contrast between the crushed peo
ple and the crushers, but did not write it out.
To-day, yes and in the preceding days, it seemed
to me that Hadji Murad became clear, but I could
not write it. It is true they interfered.
Thought : 226

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
I ) Just as an athlete follows the growth of his
muscles, so you ought to follow the growth of love,
or at least the decrease of evil and lies — and life
will be full and joyous.
2) Yesterday there was a discussion about the
old question : what is better — to take part in evil,
to endeavour to diminish it (...) or to keep
away from it? The eternal objection is: —
" There will be anarchy " — yes, but now it is
worse than anarchy: injustice. — "What, then, if
to begin everything from the beginning; the strong
will again offend the weak." Yes, everything
from the beginning again, but with this difference,
that while now we continue the cruelty and injus
tice which have been established in heathen bar
baric times, we now live in the light of Christian
ity and the cruelty and injustice will not be the
same cruelty and injustice. ... (It isn't quite all
right, but it was.)
3)1 look about me and the lines which I see I
force into that form which lives in my imagina
tion. I see white on the horizon and involuntarily
I give this white the form of a church. Is it not in
this way that everything we see in this world takes
on the form which already lives in our imagina
tion (consciousness), which we carried over from
our former life? (An idea.)
Exquisite weather. Friendly, hot Spring. I
am at peace and am well. 227

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
May 5. Grinevka. If I live.
To-day May g. Grinevka.
During these days we had visitors: Masha,
Varia.315 I go every day somewhere to open a
soup-kitchen. I am not writing at all. I feel
weak. Yesterday there was a rain storm. I
went to Bobrika. To-day I went to Nicholskoe.
I went to Gubarevka and returning through the
wood, thought. ... I don't feel like writing,
later I shall write out two thoughts, very impor
tant ones:
1 ) One, that I cannot put before me, that which
tortured me before : my destruction.
2) That the other life begins to attract me,
only the process of getting there is terrible. If
only I could arrive safely, everything there will
be all right;
3) To-day I thought that the object of faith
is only one — God. This I must write out, ex
plain. To-day I am in a very weak state.
May 10. Grinevka. If I live.
To-day May n. Grinevka.
Yesterday I wrote a little on The Appeal.
Then I went to Mikhail's Ford.
Saw Strakhov in my sleep,316 who said to me
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MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
that I should write out clearly, for the plain man,
what God is. " You ought to write it, Leo Nich-
olaievich," (Tolstoi.)
To-day my stomach ached a little. I didn't dine
and wrote much on The Appeal. It seems to be
taking form. I am feeling fresh in the head, a
thing I haven't felt for a long time. Thanks to
my gymnastic exercises, I have become convinced
for the first time, that I am old and weak and I
must stop physical exercise entirely. This is even
pleasant. I forgot for a moment, my rule, not to expect
anything from others, but to do what one ought
to do oneself before God, — and there arose in
me an evil feeling. . . . But I remembered,
asked in good faith what was necessary and I
felt better.
i) There is one object of faith — God, He
who sent me. He who sent me, He who is every
thing of which I feel myself to be a part. This
faith is indispensable and satisfying. If you have
this faith then there is no room for any other.
Everything else is trust and not faith. You can
only have faith in that which undoubtedly is, but
which we cannot embrace with our reason.
2) Yesterday I thought that the form of think
ing — categories — are not seven but four : cause,
matter, space, time. But only one: movement,
encloses everything in itself. Movement is a
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
change of place, therefore there is space; change
of place can be swifter and slower, therefore there
is time; and a preceding movement is a cause, a
following one, an effect; that which is displaced
is matter. Everything is movement. Man him
self moves incessantly and therefore everything
explains itself to him by movement alone.
3) The most harmful effect of an evil act is that
when a man accomplishes it he frees himself from
the demands of his conscience. " We eat ani
mals, therefore why not hunt?" — . . . and so
you have no need to stand on ceremony . . . etc.
4) A strange thought came to me. Our whole
life is in this, that we consider ourselves a sepa
rate unit, an individual, a man. But besides this
being specialised, individualised, from all others,
chemistry discloses for us entirely different sepa
rate units, acids, nitrogen, etc. They are sepa
rate and therefore they have life. (Nonsense.)
May 12. Grinevka. If I live.
To-day May 15. Morning. Grinevka.
Within these two days I went to Mtsensk,317
Kukuevka, and yesterday to Batyevo.318 Wrote
Hadji Murad unwillingly. I have exercised
again.319 It is stupid, almost an insanity. Wrote
a poor letter to Posha. I am pleased with every
one here. 230

MAY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
Just now I have reread this journal and it did
not leave me very dissatisfied. Oh, if I would
only remember more my transitory, subservient
condition here !
Have made no entries. My health would be
good if my back weren't aching. Began to write
letters. Not succeeding. One must wait peace
fully and live before God.
May 16. Grinevka. If I live.
To-day May ig. Grinevka.
Sonya was here. She arrived the 17th. This
morning she went away. I have been trying to
write these two days. Can't do anything. An ex
ceptional weakness and pain in my spinal column.
To-day May 20. Evening. Grinevka.
This morning I wrote rather much on The Ap
peal. In the evening I wrote 13 letters. Went
nowhere. My back is better. The main thing,
is that my brain is working and I am happy.
Received 500 roubles, and 1000 roubles are
lying in Cherni.320
I am not going to write any more, although I
have many notes.
To-day May 27. Grinevka. In the morning.
During this time I wrote The Appeal and
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
finished the article on the condition of the peo
ple.321 Just now I am writing to write out my notes —
there is much that has to be written out — that
everything which is said in Paul (Corinthians
xiii) about love has to be said, and even more
— about the renunciation of oneself. It is impos
sible to lay up love within oneself — but the re
nunciation of oneself is possible. It suffices to
renounce oneself and love will arise.
I thought this, because just now in the morning,
I began to remember all the difficulties which
might arise from the distribution of the contribu
tions, about everything which had to be done for
the Dukhobors, for my own writing, and of which
I had done nothing, and about all my weaknesses,
errors, about my joyless life with the children, and
such as I had not wanted it to be, and my lack of
consequence — and it sufficed only to negate my
self, my own desires, and immediately all wrong
passed away, both of the past and the future, and
one thing remained, the need of service in the
present. How time vanishes remarkably in the
consciousness of one's mission.
To-day, I think, June 12. Yasnaya Polyana.
I went with Sonya (my daughter-in-law)322 to
the Tsurikovs, Aphremovs, and the Levitskys.323
I have a very pleasant impression and fell in love
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JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
with many; but fell ill and did not do my work and
made a lot of fuss both for Levitsky and the house
hold.324 ...
It is four days since I arrived in Yasnaya and I
am recovering nicely. Wrote many letters.
I received almost 4,000 roubles, which I can
not use this year.325
Masha is here with her husband and Iliusha.
The Westerlunds were here.326 . . .
To-day, entirely unexpectedly, I began to finish
Sergius.321 No news from England.328
I have made many notes.
1) I cannot remember now what and how I
thought it: this is the note: " You are often too
strict with people, and he, poor man, is good for
nothing." 2) Although I noted it before, I can't help but
repeat: . . .
3) • • •
4) The life of the world is one, i.e., in the
sense that it is impossible to apply the conception
of number to it. Plurality comes only from the
partitions of consciousness. For a universal con
sciousness there is no number, no plurality.
5 ) Non-resistance to evil is important not there
fore only, because a man has to act so for him
self, for attaining the perfection of love, but also
because only non-resistance alone stops evil, local
ises it in itself, neutralises it, does not permit it
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
to go farther, as it inevitably does, like the trans
mission of movement to elastic balls, if there be
no force which would absorb it. Active Chris
tianity is not in doing, creating Christianity, but
in absorbing evil.
I feel very much like writing out the story,
The Coupon.329
6) Death is the crossing-over from one con
sciousness to another, from one image of the
world to another. It is as if you go over from
one scene with its scenery to another. At the
moment of crossing over, it is evident that that
what we consider real, is only an image, because
we are going over from one image into another.
At the moment of this crossing-over, there be
comes evident, or at least one feels, the most
actual reality. Because of this, the moment of
death is important and dear.
7) For a universal consciousness, for God,
matter does not exist. Matter is only for beings,
separated one from another. The limits of sepa
rateness is that which we call matter, in all its in
finite forms.
8 ) It is impossible to remember sufficiently that
the life of all beings is continuous movement. Al
most all our misery comes from the fact that we
do not know this or forget this. And imagining
that we do not go forward, but that we stand still,
we grasp the beings moving alongside of us —
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JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
some going faster, some going slower than we —
we grasp them and hold on as long as the force
of the movement does not tear us away. And
we suffer.
9) We are all rolling down a slope, going down
lower and lower to the plain. Every attempt to
hold to one's place, only makes the fall bigger,
the more you hold on.
10) We are sent to cross this sloping path,
carrying across it that light which is entrusted to
us. And all that we can do — is to help each
other on the road to carry this light ; but we hold
back, pushing each other down, extinguishing our
light and that of the others. (It isn't good, not
what I wanted to say.)
11) I know, that when people yawn in front
of me, I can become infected, and therefore I
say to myself : I don't want to yawn and I won't.
I have learned to do this as to yawning, but I am
only beginning to learn this as to anger.
12) The sight depresses me strangely ... of
those owning the land and compelling the people
to work. How my conscience is struck. And
this is not something reasoned, but a very strong
feeling. Was I wrong in not giving my land to
the peasants? I don't know.
13) Lieskov made use of my theme and
badly.330 I had an exquisite thought — three
problems: What was the most important time?
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
what man? and what act? The time is the im
mediate, this minute; the man — he with whom
you have immediate business ; the act, to save your
soul, i.e., to do the act of love.331
14) It is impossible to save humanity from that
deception in which it is caught. . . . Only a re
ligious feeling can give the counterstroke and con
quer.
June 13. Y. P. If I live.
June 14. Y. P. Evening.
Both days I wrote Father Sergius. It is com
ing out well. Wrote letters. To-day there was
a christening.332 I still cannot be fully good. ... It is dif
ficult, but I do not despair.
To-day June 22. Y . P.
On the 1 6th I fell very ill.333 I never had felt
so weak and so near death. I am ashamed to have
made use of the care which they gave me. I could
do nothing. I only read and made some notes.
To-day I am a great deal better. Ukhtomsky 334
was pleased with my article,335 but nevertheless he
refused to print it. I telegraphed to Menshikov
that he should try the Viestnik Evropa and the
Russki Trud.339 I am afraid I am going to be
come tiresome. 236

JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
The youth have been driven away. For they
have forbidden that the flour that was bought be
sold.337 . . . Received a letter from Chertkov, a good
one. The Dieterichs arrived.338 Dear Dunaev
was here. They talked about the great riot of
the factory workers. I shall finish later.
To-day June 28. Y. P. Evening.
I am only now recovered, and am experiencing
the joy of convalescence. I feel nature very
vividly, keenly, and have a great clarity of thought.
I wrote a little on The Appeal. To-day I wrote
Father Sergius and both are good. Wrote many
letters yesterday. All that I received yesterday
were unpleasant: from N, but principally from
Gali, with the news that they have all quarrelled.
Posha is going to Switzerland and Boulanger to
Bulgaria.339 Tania went to Masha's. . . .
There is only one thing; one real thing that has
been given us : to live lovingly with one's brothers,
with every one. One must renounce oneself. I
wrote that to my friends and I am going to be
strict with myself.
Here is what I have written down. . . .
I have just read up to this point, where every
thing that is difficult can be made to vanish when
you throw off the illusion of a personal life, when
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
you recognise your mission in the service to God,
and that it would be good to experience this in
physicial suffering, whether it will stand physical
suffering. And here was a chance to experience
it and I forgot and did not experience it. It is
too bad. But the next time.
Have written down :
1 ) Paul Adam 340 gives the peasants a cruel
characteristic, especially the working men : they are
vulgar, selfish, slaves, fanatics — perhaps all this
is just, but the one thing, that they can live with
out us and we cannot live without them, wipes out
everything. And therefore it is not for us to
judge. (Something is wrong here.)
2) It is especially disagreeable for me when
people who have lived little and thought little, do
not believe me, and not understanding me, argue
with me about moral problems. It would be the
same for which a veterinary surgeon would be
hurt, if people who were not familiar with his art
were to argue with him. The difference is only
in this, that the art of the veterinary, the cook, the
samovar-maker or any kind of art or science, is rec
ognised as an art or a science where only those peo
ple are competent who have studied that realm; in
the matter of morality every one considers himself
competent, because every one has to justify his
life. But life is justified only by theories of moral
ity. And every one makes them for himself.
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JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
3) I have often thought about falling in love,
about the good, ideal falling in love, which is
exclusive of every sensuality, and I cannot find
either place or meaning for it. But its place
and meaning is very clear and definite: it is to
lighten the struggle between sex desire and chas
tity. Falling in love ought to be for a young man
who cannot keep to full chastity before marriage,
and to release the young men in the most critical
years, from 16 to 20 or more, from the torturing
struggle. Here is the place for falling in love.
But when it breaks out in the life of people after
marriage, it is out of place and disgusting.
4) I am often asked for advice as to the prob
lem of owning land. It is my old custom to an
swer: that it is unsuitable for me to answer such
problems, just as it would be unsuitable for me to
answer the problem how to make use of the owner
ship or the labour or the rent of a bonded serf.
5) People who stand on a lower moral plane
or religious world point of view cannot understand
people standing on a higher plane. But that there
should be a possibility of union between them,
there has been given to people standing on a lower
plane the instinct for the good and a respect for
this good. If there is not this instinct and re
spect, then it is very bad. But in our society,
among so-called educated people, this is getting
to be less and less. 239

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
To-day June 30. Y. P.
I am still ill, and very weak. But I think I am
improving, and my spiritual state is good. The
day before yesterday I received a letter about the
quarrel in England.341 I wrote to them. It is
very sad and very instructive. Yesterday I re
ceived a letter from Khilkov with a letter from
Miss Pickard about the Dukhobors.342 I wrote
letters to Crosby, and Willard 343 and Khilkov.
The affair of the Dukhobors is important and big
and evidently something will come out of it which
is entirely different from what we are preparing,
but it is God's affair. To-day Mme. Annenkov
arrived. Menshikov telegraphed that Gaidebu-
rov 344 will print with omissions. During these
days I wrote Sergius — it isn't good.
I am going to continue to write out the former :
6) . . .
7) A man is a being separated from all others,
who feels his limits. Among the number of gen
eral limits by which he separates himself from
other beings, are his limits which are in common
with that being incomprehensible to him — the
earth. Death is the destruction of all the various
common limits with other beings and always of
the common limit of the being of the earth — a
fusion with earth. Every sickness, wound, old
age, is a destruction of these limits.
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JUNE] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
8) The work of life is to love. It is impossi
ble to love expressly those people unworthy of
love ; but it is possible not to love — to behave
well, in a good way, toward such people in every
given moment.
9) I remembered keenly what a matter of enor
mous importance was complete truthfulness in
every detail, in everything, the avoidance of all
outer false forms. And I decided to keep to this.
// is never too late to mend.3*5
10) The minister said to the murderer : "Oh
brother, don't worry. God has pardoned even
greater sinners. But who are you? Don't lose
heart. Pray." The murderer burst into tears.
11) How great and stable seemed the happi
ness of the American people, and how unstable it
proved to be, like all happiness not founded on
life, according to the law of Christ. The Span
ish-American War, Jingoism.
12) I have often prayed (almost without be
lieving, to try out) that God arrange my life as I
wish. To-day I simply prayed my customary
morning prayer and rather attentively. And after
this prayer, I recalled my wish and wanted to add
a prayer about the fulfilment of this wish, and
tried to address God about it. And immediately
I realised my mistake — that it would be very
much better if everything was not according to
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
my will, but according to His. And without the
least effort and with joy I said : " Yes, let there
not be my will, but Thine."
13) A spiritual life means that you should see
the connection between cause and effect in the spir
itual world and that you be guided in life by this
connection. Materialists do not see this connec
tion and therefore do not take it as a guide for
their acts, but they take as a guide for their acts
the physical, causal connection, the one which is so
complicated that we never fully know it, because
every effect is an effect of an effect; but the funda
mental cause of everything — is always spiritual.
(Not clearly expressed, but important).
14) Epictetus says this very thing when he re
proaches people for being very attentive to the
phenomenon of the outer world — to that which
is not in our power and being inattentive to the
phenomenon of the inner, to that which is in our
power. 15) To many it seems that if you exclude per
sonality from life and a love for it, then nothing
will remain. It seems to them that without per
sonality there is no life. But this only appears so
to people who have not experienced self-renuncia
tion. Throw off personality from life, renounce
it, and then there will remain that which makes the
essence of life — love.
16) (For The Appeal) . . .
242

JULY] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
To-morrow, July ist. If I Uve.
July 6. Y. P.
Am entirely well. Yesterday I took leave of
Dunaev and Mme. Annenkov, who were here.
I live very badly. I cannot reconcile myself to
the will of God.
To-day I thought :
The life of Christ is very important as an in
stance of that impossibility of man to see the fruits
of his labours. And the less so, the more import
ant the work. Moses could enter into the prom
ised land with his people, but Christ could in no
way see the fruit of his teaching even if he had
lived up to now. This is what one has to learn.
But we want to do the work of God and to receive
human reward.
July 17. Y. P. 'g8. Morning.
There was nothing very special during these 1 1
days. I have decided to give my novels away,
Resurrection and Father Sergius, to be printed for
the Dukhobors.346
S. went to Kiev.
An inner struggle. I believe little in God. I
do not rejoice at the examination, but am burdened
by it, admitting in advance that I won't pass. All
last night I didn't sleep. I rose early and prayed
much. 243

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
To-day the Dieterichs and the Gorbunovs ar
rived. It was pleasant with them. Took hold of
Resurrection, and in the beginning it went well, but
from the moment when I became alarmed, these
two days, I have been unable to do anything. I
took a very nice walk.
I wrote a letter to Jarnefelt 347 and prepared a
postscript. This is the only important thing.
But I haven't the strength to withstand the cus
tomary temptation.348 Come and dwell within
us. Awake the resurrection in me!
I have made many notes. I will hardly have
time to write them out now.
1) Brooding leads to dreams, dreams to pas
sions, passion to devils. (From Love for the
Good.)349 2) The aesthetic pleasure which you receive
from Nature is attainable to all. Every one is af
fected by it differently, but it affects every one.
Art should have the same effect.
3) How difficult it is to really live for God
alone. You think you are living for God, but as
soon as life jolts you, as soon as that support in
life to which you are holding on, fails you, then
you feel that there is no holding power in God and
you fall.
4) For Father Sergius: Alone he is good,
with people he falls.
5 ) What an obvious error : to live for worldly
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ends. Whenever the purpose is not narrowly ego
tistic then this purpose is not quickly attained in
life. Moses did not enter the promised land and
Christ despaired of His labour: "Why hast
Thou abandoned me ? " . . .
6) There is no peace, either for him who lives
for worldly ends among people, or for him who
lives for spiritual ends alone. There is peace only
then when a man lives for the service of God
among people.
To-day, July 20. Y. P.
A letter from S and from Masha. I still do not
sleep, but things are settling themselves in my soul,
and as always, suffering is of benefit. Yesterday I
went to Ovsiannikovo, spoke with Ivan Ivano-
vich.350 Yesterday I worked well on Resurrec
tion. It is morning now. I am not continuing to
write out from the notebooks, but I am going to
write out what I — not being asleep — have just
now been thinking; it is an old but easily forgotten
thing, and an important one which should be also
told to N with whom they talked last night.
Namely :
1) Life for oneself is a torture, because you
want to live for an illusion, for that which does
not exist, and it not only cannot be happy, but it
cannot be at all. It is the same as dressing and
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feeding a shadow. Life exists only outside of
oneself, in the service of others, and not in the
service of one's near ones, beloved ones — that is
again for oneself — but in the service of those
whom we do not love, and better still, in the ser
vice of enemies. Help, Father. The terrible
error is that one confuses sex-love, love for chil
dren, for friends, with love of people through God,
of people to whom you are indifferent, and still
more of enemies, that is, of erring people.
Aug. 3. Pirogovo.
Again everything is in the old way, again my life
is horrid. I have lived through very much; I
haven't passed the examination. But I do not de
spair and I want a re-examination. I passed
the examination exceptionally badly, because I had
the intention of going over to another institution.
It is just these thoughts one must throw away, then
one will learn better.
During this time Sonya returned and dear Tania
Kuzminsky was here. The work on Resurrection
goes very badly, although it seems to me I have
thought it out much better. The 3rd day in Piro
govo. Uncle Serezha 351 is not as good as he
was before : he is not in the mood. Maria Nicho-
laievna.352 For two days nothing has come into
my head.
During this time there was alarming news about
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the condition of the Dukhobors 353 and that Mme.
M. N. Rostovtzev was put in prison.354 For a
long time there has been no letter from Chertkov.
Perhaps they intercept them.355
Am going to continue to write out that which
I had not written out :
I) . . .
2) There are two methods of human activity
— and according to which one of these two kinds
of activity people mainly follow, are there two
kinds of people : one use their reason to learn what
is good and what is bad and they act according to
this knowledge ; the other act as they want to and
then they use their reason to prove that that which
they did was good and that which they didn't do
was bad.
3) It is absolutely clear that it is much more
profitable to do everything in common, but the
reasoning about this is insufficient. If the reason
ing were sufficient then it would have happened
long ago. The fact that it is seen among Capi
talists is unable to convince people to live in com
mon. Besides the reasoning that this is profit
able, it is necessary that the heart be ready to live
like that (that the world point of view should be
such that it would harmonise with the indications
of the reason) , but this is not so and will not be so
until the desires of the heart are changed, i.e., the
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4) Even if that which Marx predicted should
happen, then the only thing that will happen, is
that despotism will be passed on. Now the capi
talists rule, but then the directors of the working
people will rule.
5) The mistake of the Marxists (and not only
they, but the whole materialistic school) lies in the
fact that they do not see that the life of humanity
is moved by the growth of consciousness, by the
movement of religion, by an understanding of life
becoming more and more clear, general, meeting
all problems and not by an economic cause.
6) The most unthought thing, the error, of the
theory of Marx is in the supposition that capital
will pass from the hands of private people into the
hands of the government, and from the govern
ment, representing the people, into the hands of
the workers. . . .
7) There is nothing that softens the heart so
much as the consciousness of one's guilt, and noth
ing hardens it so much as the consciousness of
one's right.
8) Working people are so . . . that it seems
to them they have no outlet. Salvation lies in
truth, in preaching and professing it.
9) They prove the law of the conservation of
energy; but energy is nothing else than an abstract
notion, just the same as matter. But an abstract
notion is always equal to itself. In fact, this is
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nothing else than as if we were to begin to prove
that the law of gravitation, notwithstanding seem
ing departures, exists unchangingly in everything.
(Unclear and perhaps untrue.)
10) The belief in miracles has for its basis the
consciousness that our world just as it is, is the
product of our senses. But the error lies only in
supposing that the miraculous, that is, that some
thing which is against the laws of reason, when
applied to our senses, can happen for us with our
tool of consciousness, i.e., with our senses. That
which is against our laws of reason, when applied
to our senses, can happen for other beings, for be
ings with other senses, just as our tool of con
sciousness, our sense, is only one particular in
stance from the innumerable quantity of other pos
sibilities. 1 1 ) It is a great error to think that the reason
of man is perfect and can disclose everything to
him. The limitation of reason is best seen and
most obvious from the fact that a man cannot
solve (he clearly sees that he cannot) the problems
of infinity : for each time there is still more time,
for each space there is still more space, for each
number there is still a number, so that all time
and space is unknowable.
12) The reason of man is just as weak and in
significant in comparison (and in an infinite num
ber of times more so) with that which is, as is the
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reason (the means of perception) of a beetle and
an amaeba in comparison with the reason of man.
The reason of man in comparison, not only with
the highest reason, but with the reason which is
higher than his — is just the same as the under
standing of a complicated problem of higher math
ematics or even of algebra for a man not knowing
mathematics, to whom it seems insoluble, as are
the problems of the infinity of space and time
to us. While the problem is simple and clear for
one knowing mathematics. The difference is only
in this, that one can learn mathematics, but no
study will help to solve the problem of space and
time. This is the limit of the possibility of our
knowledge under our reason.
13) I pray God that He release me from my
suffering which tortures me. But this suffering is
sent to me by God in order to release me from
evil. The master whips his cattle with the whip
in order to drive them from the burning yard and
save them, and the cattle pray that he do not
whip them.
14) There are common, sometimes intentional,
sometimes unintentional, misunderstandings of my
opinions which I confess irritate me :
a) I say that God ... is not God and that
God is that which alone is — the unattainable
good, the beginning of everything : against me they
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AUGUST] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
b) I say that one ought not to resist violence by
violence : against me they say, that I say it is not
necessary to fight evil ;
c) I say that one ought to strive towards chas
tity and that on this road the highest grade will
be virginity, and second a clean marriage, the third
not a clean, that is, not a monogamous marriage :
against me they say, that I deny marriage and I
preach the destruction of the human race.
d) I say that art is an infectious activity and
that the more infectious art is, the better it is. But
that this activity be good or bad, does not depend
on how much it satisfies the demands of art, i.e.,
its infectiousness, but on how much it satisfies
the demands of the religious consciousness, i.e.,
morality, conscience; against me they say that I
preach a tendence art, etc.
15) Woman — and the legends say it also — is
the tool of the devil. She is generally stupid, but
the devil lends her his brain when she works for
him. Here you see, she has done miracles of
thinking, far-sightedness, constancy, in order to do
something nasty; but as soon as something not
nasty is needed, she cannot understand the simplest
thing; she cannot see farther than the present
moment and there is no self-control and no pa
tience (except child-birth and the care of children) .
16) All this concerns women, un-Christians, un
chaste women, as are all the women of our Chris-
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tian world. Oh, how I would like to show to
women all the significance of a chaste woman. A
chaste woman (not in vain is the legend of Mary)
will save the world.
17) People are occupied with three things: 1)
to feed themselves, i.e., to continue their existence,
2) to multiply — to continue the existence of the
specie, and 3) to fulfil that for which they had
been sent in the world: to establish the kingdom
of God. For this there is one means — to perfect
onself. Almost all people are occupied with the
first two matters, forgetting the last, which at
bottom is the only real work.
18) The decline of the moral consciousness of
humanity lies in the greatest part of the people be
ing placed in such a situation that all interest in
life for them is only to feed and to multiply. It is
just the same as if the master kept his cattle, car
ing only that they be fed, or better, that they do
not die from hunger and that they multiply, and
never received any income from them : no wool, or
milk, or work from them — from these cattle.
The Master who sent us in this world requires
from us, besides existence and its continuation, also
the labour He needs.
19) For Resurrection. It was impossible to
think and remember one's sin and be self-satisfied.
But he had to be self-satisfied in order to live, and
therefore he did not think and forgot.
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20) It is impossible to demand from woman
that she valuate the feeling of her exclusive love,
on the basis of moral feeling. She cannot do it,
because she hasn't got a real moral feeling, i.e.,
one that stands higher than everything.
To-day I plan to go home.
Aug. 4. Y. P. If I Uve.
Why does the 4th of August come to my mind
as if it were important? Nothing important has
happened.
To-day, August 24. Y. P.
During this time I received no letters from
Chertkov and am very perplexed.356 I think that
during this time the Dukhobors were here. Let
ters from Khilkov, from Ivan Michailovich. I an
swered them all. To-day Sullerzhitsky arrived.357
I am working all the time on Resurrection and am
pleased, even very much so. I am afraid of
shocks. . . . And I feel well. A full house of people :
Mashenka,358 Stakhovich, Vera Kuzminsky,359
Vera Tolstoi.360
I am copying:
1) People were sent into the world to do the
work of God, but they quarrelled, fought and es
tablished things in such a way that for some, there
is no time to do the work, because they have to
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
feed themselves, and for others there is no time,
because they have to guard that which they took
away. What a waste of strength! It is just as
if workers had been sent to work and given food;
some have taken the food away and they have to
guard it and the others have to get food, and the
work stands still.
2) People live in the world not fulfilling their
mission — it is the same way as if factory work
ers were only busied with how to lodge them
selves, feed themselves and amuse themselves.
3) One of the most important tasks of hu
manity consists in the bringing up of a chaste
woman. 4) I often think that the world is such as it is,
only because I am so separated from all the rest.
As soon as my separateness from Everything will
end, then the limits will be torn away and other
limits will be established — and then the world
will become altogether different for me.
5) You wish to serve humanity? Very well.
That which you wish to do, another will do. Are
you satisfied? No, dissatisfied, because the im
portant thing for me is not what will be done, but
what / will do; that I do my work. This is the
best proof that the matter is not in the doing, but
in the advancement towards the good.
Is it possible that I am advancing? Help,
Lord. 254

AUGUST] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
6) How difficult it is to please people: some
need one thing, others another. They need both
my past and my future. God is one, and His Will
in respect to me is one, and He wants only my
present, what I am doing this minute is what He
wants. And what was, has been, and what will
be, isn't my business.
7) Egoism, the whole egoistic life, is legitimate
only as long as reason has not awakened. As soon
as it has awakened, then egoism is lawful, only to
that degree in which one has to sustain oneself as
a tool necessary for the service of people. The
purpose of reason — is the service to people. All
the horror lies in its being used for service to one
self. 8) Man gives himself to the illusion of egoism,
lives for himself — and he suffers. It suffices
that he begin to live for others, and the suffering
becomes lighter and there is obtained the highest
good in the world : love of people.
9) As one disaccustoms oneself from smoking
or other habits, so one can and must disaccustom
oneself from egoism. When you wish to enlarge
your pleasure, when you wish to exhibit yourself,
when you call forth love in others, stop. If you
have nothing to do for others, or you have no de
sire to do anything, then do nothing — only don't
do anything for yourself.
10) The Bavarian told about their life. He
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
boasts about the high degree of freedom, but at
the same time they have compulsory religious
teaching, a crude Catholic one. That is the most
horrible despotism. Worse than ours.
Aug. 25. Y. P. If I live.
Nov. 2. Y. P.
It is horrible to see for what a long time I have
made no entries : more than two months. And not
only has there been nothing bad, but rather every
thing was good. The Jubilee was not as repuls
ive and as depressing as I expected.361 The sale
of the novel and the receipt of the 12,000 roubles
which I gave to the Dukhobors was well ar
ranged.362 I was displeased with Chertkov363
and I saw that I was at fault. A Dukhobor ar
rived from the province of Yakutsk. I liked him
very much 384 . . .
Masha is pitiable in her weakness, but she is
just as near in spirit. . . .
But glory to God and thanks be to Him that he
has awakened it in me and has kept it burning
so that it is natural for me either to love and re
joice, or to love and to pity. And what happi
ness! Archer was here yesterday, arriving from
Chertkov — I liked him.365 There is much to do,
but I am all absorbed in Resurrection, being spar
ing with the water and using it only for Resurrec-
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
tion. It seems to me it won't be bad. People
praise it, but I don't believe.
Everything that I noted — it was all very im
portant — I will write out later, but now I want
to write that which I just now, walking on the
path, in the evening, not only thought but felt
clearly: i) Under my feet there is the frozen, hard
earth; around, enormous trees; overhead a cloudy
sky; I feel my body, I feel pain in the head; I am
occupied with thoughts on Resurrection; and yet
I know, I feel in all my being, that both the firm
and frozen earth and the trees and the sky and
my body and my thoughts — all this is only a
product of my five senses, my image, the world,
made by me because such is my partition from the
world. And that it will be sufficient for me to die
— and all this will not disappear but will become
transformed, as they make transformations in
the theatres: from bushes and stones, they make
castles, towers, etc. Death is nothing else than
such a transformation, dependent from another
partition from the world, another personality:
Here I consider as myself, my body with my senses,
and then something else will detach itself to be
myself. And then the whole world will become
something else. But the world is such and not
something else, only because I consider myself as
this and not as something else. But there can be
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
an innumerable quantity of divisions of the world.
(This is not entirely clear for others, but for me
— very.)366
Nov. 3. If I live.
Nov. 14. Y. P.
Again I have not noticed how 1 1 days have
passed. Have been very intensely occupied with
Resurrection and am making good progress. Am
absolutely near the end. Serezha and Suller were
here and both went away to the Caucasus with my
letter to Golitsin.367 S. arrived yesterday. Very
well. It is a long time since I have felt so well and
keen, intellectually and physically.
I cannot make out what I have written out and
what I haven't.368
1) How difficult it is to please people ! In or
der to please them it is necessary that the past and
the future meet their demands. But in order to
please God, one has only to satisfy His demands
in the present.
2) To live for others seems difficult — just as
to work seems difficult. But just as in work, in the
care for others there may be the best reward: love
of others may and may not be; while in labour
there is an inner reward, you work to the end, get
tired, and you feel good.
3) The poetry of the past occupied itself only
with the strong of the world: with the Czars, etc.,
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
because the strong of the world appeared as the
highest and the most complete representatives of
the people. But if you take the plain people, then
it is necessary that they express general phenomena
. . . (Unclear.)
4) If you do not permit yourself to live for
yourself, then involuntarily, from boredom, you
begin to live for others.
5) Woman, just like man, is endowed with feel
ing and brain, but the difference is in this, that men
mostly consider themselves and their feelings
bound by the commands of reason, while women
consider their feelings binding for themselves and
for their reason. The same thing, but only in
different places.
6) You get angry at the philosopher who rea
sons, who considers that the main basis of the
life of man is his material nature; but this man
does not know the spiritual, but knows only
material effect and therefore he cannot think other
wise. 7) You think that you are alone and you suffer
from loneliness ; yet you are not only in harmony,
but you are one with every one ; only artificial and
removable barriers separate you. Remove them
— and you are one with every one. The remov
ing of these barriers according to your strength
is the business of life.
8) If a man considers his animal being as him-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
self, then he will represent God also as a material
being, a ruler who rules materially over material
things. But God is not such, God is spirit and
does not rule over anything, but lives in everything.
9) . . . If people could have been so deceived,
then there is no deception into which they would
not fall.
10) I have noted down that it is depressing be
cause there is no life, but only an egoistic existence.
I cannot remember what else I could have meant
by this.
11) God manifests himself in our consciousness
When there is no consciousness — there is no God
Only consciousness gives the possibility for the
good, for continence, service, self-sacrifice. Every
thing depends to what consciousness is directed
Consciousness directed to the animal " self " kills
paralyzes life. Consciousness directed to the spir
itual " self " rouses, lifts, frees life. Conscious
ness directed to the animal " self " strengthens,
ignites passion, creates fear, struggle, the horror
of death. Consciousness directed towards the
spiritual " self " frees love. This is very import
ant and if I live, I will write it out.
12) Death is a change of consciousness, a
change of that which I can recognise as myself.
And therefore fear of death is a horrible super
stition. Death is a joyous event standing at the
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
end of each life. Suffering is sent to people to
hold them back from death. Otherwise every one
understanding life and death, would struggle to
wards death. But now it is impossible to go to
wards death unless through suffering.
13) The greatest act in life is the consciousness
of one's self, and its consequences are benevolent
or most terrible, according to whether you direct
your consciousness towards the spirit or towards
the body.
14) In order to get rid of moral suffering (and
even physical) there are two means : to destroy the
cause of suffering or the feeling in one's self which
produces suffering. The first is not in man's
power, the second is. ( I am repeating Epictetus) .
15) The moral progress of humanity advances
only because there are old people. The old peo
ple become kinder, wiser, and give over that which
they have lived through to the following genera
tions. If this were not so, humanity had not ad
vanced ; and what a simple method !
16) If man looks on life materially, then old
people do not become better, but worse, and there
is no progress.
17) Technical progress is greeted by every one,
is pushed on by every one ; the moral, the religious
progress, is held back by the priests. From this
comS the main calamities in life.
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November IS- Y. P. If I Uve.
It seemed to me that I made no entries for about
three days and now it is ten days. To-day, Nov.
25- Y.P.
... I promised to arrive December 6th.369. . .
I feel also like going to Pirogovo. We are alone :
Tania, Masha, Kolia. Only Liza Obolensky.370
I am still diligently occupying myself with Resur
rection. Last night I thought out an article on why the
people are corrupted. They have no faith of any
kind. They christen naive infants and then they
consider every reasoning about faith (perversion)
and every lapse, as a capital crime. Only the sec
tarians have faith. Perhaps I am going to bring
that into the Appeal. What a pity. I thought it
out well at night.
Resurrection is growing. It can hardly be com
pressed into 100 chapters.371
I have noted down the following and I think it is
very important (which might be good for the
Declaration of Faith) :
1 ) We are very much accustomed to the reason
ing as to how the life of other people, people in
general, should be arranged. And such kind of
reasoning does not seem strange to us. And yet
such kind of reasoning could in no ways exist
among religious and therefore free people; such
reasoning is the consequence of despotism, . . .
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
In this way reason . . . They say: " If I had
the power I would do so and so with the others."
That is a dangerous error, not only because it
tortures, deforms people who have to undergo
violence . . . but it weakens in all people the")
consciousness of the necessity of improving them->
selves, which is the only effective means of influ-J
encing other people.
2) To-day I thought about this from another
angle. I recalled the words of the Gospel : " And
the pupil is not higher than the teacher; if he learns
then he will be like the pupil." We, the rich mas
ter-classes, teach the people. What would happen
if we succeeded in teaching them so that they be
come as we are ?
3 ) They talk, they write, they preach about the
knowing of God. What a horrible blasphemy,
and horrible admission of the non-understanding
of what God is and what we are. We, a particle
of the infinite whole, wish to understand not only
this whole, but its causes, the origin of the whole.
What absurdity and what a recognition of godless-
ness, or a recognition of God of that which is not
God. We can only know that He is, To ov, He
exists, and we can only conclude by ourselves, what
He is not.
4) Love is God. Love is only the recognition
that God is not flesh, not passion, not egoism, not
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1898
5) Violence rules our world, i.e., malice, and
therefore there is always found in society a ma
jority of dependent, unstable members: women,
children, stupid ones — brought up on malice,
and who side with malice. But the world
ought to be ruled by reason, by goodness; then all
this majority would be brought up on goodness and
would side with it. In order that this should take
place it is necessary that reason and goodness mani
fest themselves, and undismayed, assert their exist
ence ; that is very important.
6) The complexity of knowledge is a sign of its
falseness. That which is true is simple.
7) How bad it is that people seeking perfec
tion are pained at calumny, at a deserved bad name
(or better still, at an undeserved). Calumny, a
bad name, gives an opportunity, drives toward an
activity, the value of which is only in our con
science. This is so rare, so difficult, and so useful.
Involuntary simpleness is the best school for
goodness.372 8)1 have noted down : " Justice is insufficient.
It is. . . . 373 necessary to oppose." I cannot re
member what this means.
9) Physical labour is important, because it pre
vents the mind from working idly and aimlessly.
10) Perhaps it is more important to know what
one ought not to think about, than to know what
one ought to think about. 264

NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
1 1 ) Women are weak and they not only do not
want to know their own weakness, but want to
boast of their strength. What can be more dis
gusting? 12) A good man if he does not acknowledge his
mistakes and tries to justify himself can become
a monster. 13) • • •
Now Nov. 26. Morning. Y. P.
Did not sleep and thought :
1) Evil is the material for love. Without evil
there is none and can be no manifestation of love.
God is love, i.e., God manifests Himself to us in
victory over evil, i.e., in love. The question of
the origin of evil is just as absurd as the question
of the origin of the world. It is not " whence
comes evil? " that one must know, but " how to
conquer it? How to apply love? "

265

1899

Jan. 2. Yasnaya Polyana.
The last time I wrote it was November 25,
which means a month and a week. I made en
tries in Yasnaya Polyana, then I was in Moscow,
where I did not make one entry. At the end of
November I went to Pirogovo. I returned on the
first and since that time have not been quite well —
the small of my back ached and still aches, and
lately I have had something like bilious fever. It
is the second day that I am better.
All this time I have been occupied exclusively
with Resurrection?7* I have had some communi
cations about the Dukhobors,375 an innumerable
pile of letters. Kolechka Gay is with me, with
whom it is a rest to be. ... I am calm in the
fashion of an old man. And that is all.
There is quite a lot to write out. I am going
to write it out on the pages I skipped. Lately I
feel as if my interest in Resurrection has weakened,
and I joyously feel other, more important, inter
ests, in the understanding of life and death.
Much seems clear.
Made an entry, the 2nd of January. To-day,
Feb. 21. Moscow.
More than six weeks that I have made no en-
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tries. Am all the time in Moscow. At first Res
urrection went well, then I cooled off entirely.376 I
wrote a letter to the non-commissioned officer 377
and to the Swedish papers.378 For about three
days I have again taken up Resurrection. Am ad
vancing. Students' strike. They are trying to drag me
in all the time.379 I am counselling them to hold
themselves passively, but I do not feel like writing
letters to them.
. . . As to me — my back is better. There is
living with us, an interesting and live Frenchman,
Sinet, — the first religious Frenchman.380 There
is very much that I ought to write out. Have
been in a very bad mood; now all right.
Feb 22. Moscow.
June 26. Yasnaya Polyana.
Four months that I have made no entries. I
will not say I have lived badly all this time. I
have worked and am working diligently on Resur
rection. There is much that is good, there is that,
in the name of which I write. During these days
I have been gravely ill ; now well. . . .
Difficult relations because of the printing and
translating of Resurrection361 but most of the
time am calm.
Neglected correspondence. They continue
sending money for the famine-stricken, but I can
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do nothing else but send it to them through the
post.382 Kolichka is with me helping me in the
work. I continue to write out from my note-book :
14) Nearing the place of destination, one
thinks more and more often of that place to which
one is nearing. Thus also while nearing death,
the change of destination.
15) Only always to remember that there is no
other meaning in life, no other way of finding the
joy of life, but through fulfilling His will. And
how peacefully and joyously one could live !
16) In time of illness, to fulfil His will by pre
paring oneself for the going over into another
form. 17) It seems to us that the real labour is the
labour on something external: to make, to collect
something; property, houses, cattle, fruit; but to
labour on one's own soul — that is just phantasy.
And yet every other labour except on one's own
soul, the enlarging of the habits of good, every
other labour is a bagatelle.
18) They do not obey God, but adore Him.
It is better not to adore, but to obey.
19) No matter what the work you are doing, be
always ready to drop it. And plan it, so as to be
able to leave it.
20) The machine ... is a terrible machine.
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If we would have clearly understood its
danger, we would never have permitted it to be
formed. 21) It seems strange and immoral that a writer,
an artist, seeing the suffering of people, sympa
thises less than he observes, in order to reproduce
this suffering. But that is not immoral. The
suffering of one personality is an insignificant thing
in comparison with that spiritual effect, if it is a
good one, which a work of art will produce.
22) Humanity, it is an enormous animal who
seeks and cannot find what it needs. Very slowly,
sensations call forth emotions, and emotions are
transmitted to the brain and the brain calls forth
acts. The activity of the liberals, Socialists, rev
olutionaries, are attempts to galvanise, to compel
the animal to act by arousing its motor nerves and
muscles. But there is one organ which does every
thing when it is not impaired; in the animal it is
the brain, in the people, religion.
23) I am depressed and I ask God to help me.
But my work is to serve God and not that He
should serve me.
24) An individual, personal life is an illusion.
There is no such life; there is only function, a
tool, for something.
25) ... is vestigal, having no application, like
the appendix.
26) We complain at our depressed spirits, but
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they are necessary. Man cannot stay on that
height to which he sometimes rises; but man
rises and then hypnotises himself for the time
of his depression and in the time of his depression
he already acts from the view-point that was dis
closed to him in the moment of rising. If only to
know how to make use of those moments of rising
and to know how to hypnotise oneself !
27 ) The evil of the world, its cause is very sim
ple. Every one seeks midi a quatorze heures —
now in the economic system, now in the political.
I just now read the discussions in the German
parliament, on how to keep the peasants from
running to the cities. But the solution of all prob
lems is one and no one recognises it and it does not
even seem to be of interest to them. But the
solution is one, clear and undoubted: . . . The
salvation is one : the destruction of false teaching.
28) The difference between people: N thinks
about death, and that does not lead him farther
than the question of how and to whom he should
leave his money, where and how be buried. And
Pascal also thinks about death.
29) • • •
30) There is no future. It is made by us.
31) The infinity of time and space is not a
sign of the greatness of the human mind, but on
the contrary, it is a sign of its incompleteness, of
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32) We think of the future, we build it; but
nothing future is important, because the impor
tant thing is to do the creative work of love, which
can be done under every possible condition; and
therefore it is altogether indifferent, what the
future will be.
33) We get angry at circumstances, are pained,
wish to change them, but all possible circumstances
are nothing else than indications as to how to act
in different spheres. If you are in need, you must
work, if in prison — think, and if in wealth, free
yourself . . . etc.
It is just like a horse getting angry with the road
on which he is being led.
34) The press — that is a lie: with a venge
ance.383 35) Everything is divided. Only God unites
us, living in everything. That is why He is
love. 36) The conception of God to a religious man,
is continuously destroyed and being replaced by a
new, higher conception.
37) • • - — is not only the loss of labour, of
lives, but the loss of the good.
38) With many people it is possible to live
only when you treat them as you would a horse:
not to take them into consideration, not reproach
ing them, not suggesting, but only finding a modus
vivendi. It is about them : "Not to cast pearls"
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... It is terrible, but without this rule, it would
be worse.
39) Is it possible to imagine to oneself a So
cialist working-man with faith in the Iversk Ikon?
Then, first of all, there must be a religious eman
cipation. 40) We are all agreed that only he is free who
has overcome passion, and yet knowing this, we
seriously trouble ourselves with the freeing of peo
ple who are full of passions.
41) A rational conviction can never be com
plete. A full conviction can only be irrational, es
pecially with women.
42 ) Answer good for evil and you destroy in an
evil man all pleasure which he receives from evil.
43 ) God is love. We know God only in love,
which unites everything. You know God in your
self through the striving towards this union.
44) One continually thinks that the good will
be good for him. But the good is, or it is not — it
is not something that will be.
45) The important thing lies in thoughts.
Thoughts are the beginning of everything. And
thoughts can be directed. And therefore the
principal task of perfection is — to work on
thoughts.
June 27. If I live. Y. P.

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To-day July 4th. Y. P.
All this time I have been ill with my usual
stomach sickness. The work which absorbed me
very much, has stopped.
Christ as a myth; 384 and Kenworthy's book, a
rational exposition of the life of Christ. The
first is better. There is need of a philosophy of
moral economy, i.e., of religious truth. There
is such a thing.
I have had many good thoughts, being ill and
nearing death. I think often with pain of brother
S. I have noted down the 4th :
1 ) The government destroys faith, but faith is
necessary. Some violating themselves believe in
the miraculous, in the absurd; others in science.
But in which? In the contemporary. But in the
contemporary, there is 99/100 of lie and error.
In every contemporary science there are lies.
Truth revealed by God is of course the right, it is
religion; and truth obtained by the reason of man,
by science, is also of course, the right. But the
matter lies in recognising what is discovered by
God and what has been gained by human reason.
2) Death is the destruction of those organs by
means of which I perceive the world as it appears
in this life; it is the destruction of that glass
through which I looked and a change to another.
3) Educated people using their education not
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SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
for the enlightenment and freeing of the working-
classes, but for befogging them, are like workers
using their strength not for sustaining life but for
destroying it. These are the intellectual Puga-
chevs, Stenka Razins, only a thousand times more
dangerous.
July 5. Y. P. If I Uve.
To-day September 28. Y. P.
Have worked all the time on Resurrection; now
I have stumbled on the third part. It is long since
I have made no progress.
... I have wrought for myself a calm which
is not to be disturbed: not to speak and to know
that this is necessary; that it is under these condi
tions one ought to live.
There are here Ilya, Sonya 385 with the children,
Andrusha with his wife, Masha with her hus
band. I am thinking more and more often about the
philosophic definition of space and time. To-day,
if I have time, I am going to write it out.
I read an interesting book about Christ never
having been, that it was a myth.386 The proba
bilities that it is right — there are as many for it,
as there are against.
Yesterday with the help of Masha I answered
all the letters; many remained unanswered. I am
still ill; rarely a day without pain. I am dissatis-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
fied with myself, also morally. I have let myself
go very much — I do not work physically and I
am occupied with myself, with my health. How
difficult it is to bear sickness resignedly, to go unto
death without resistance — and one must.
I have been thinking during this time :
1 ) Women demanding for themselves the work
of man and the same freedom, mostly demand
for themselves unconsciously the freedom for
licence, and as a result go down much lower than
the family, though aiming to stand higher than it.
2 ) What is this memory which makes from me
one being, from childhood unto death? What is
this faculty connecting separate beings in time,
into one? One ought to ask not what is it that
unites, but what divides, these beings. The
faculty of time divides, beyond which I cannot see
myself. I am one indivisible being from birth un
til death; but to manifest and to know myself,
I must do so in time. I am now such as I was
and will be; but one who had to and even will
manifest myself and know myself in time. I have
to manifest myself and know myself in time — for
communion with other beings and for influencing
them. 3) I plucked a flower and threw it away.
There were so many of them, it was no pity. We
do not value these inimitable beauties of living be
ings and destroy them, having no pity not only for
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SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
plants, but for animals, human people. There are
so many of them. Culture, civilisation, is nothing
else than the ruin of these beauties and the re
placing them . . . with what? The saloon, the
theatre . . .
4) They reproach you with malice, debauchery,
lies, thefts, bring proof, etc. What is to be done?
Answer the question with What time is it? Are
you going to take a swim? Have you seen N N,
etc. That is the best and only means of bearing
these accusations and even clearing them up.
5 ) The dearest thing on earth is the good rela
tion between people ; but the establishment of these
relations is not the result of conversation — on
the contrary, they become spoiled by conversation.
Speak as little as possible, and especially with those
people with whom you want to be in good rela
tion. 6) In eating, I destroy the limits between my
self and other beings; creating children, I do al
most the same thing. The results of the destruc
tion of material limits are visible ; the results of the
destruction of the spiritual limits and the union re
sulting from this are invisible, only because they
are broader.
7) "People are divided (divided from other
beings), and this appears to them as space. The
fact that they are inseparable in essence appears
to them as time." That is the way I have noted
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
it. Space divides, time unites. But this is un
true. Both time and space are dividers and
they form the impossibility of realising unity.
(Unclear, but I understand. I will make it clear
later.) 8) Brotherhood is natural, proper to people.
Non-brotherhood, divisions, are carefully nur
tured. 9) Sometimes one feels like complaining child
ishly to some one (to God), to beg for help. Is
this feeling good ? It is not good : it is a weakness,
a lack of faith. That which more than anything
resembles faith — the beseeching prayer, is in
truth a lack of faith — a lack of faith that there is
no evil, that there is nothing to ask for, that if
things are going badly with you, then it only dem
onstrates that you ought to improve yourself, and
that there is going on, that very thing which ought
to be, and under which you ought to do that which
has to be done.
10) Just now I wrote this coldly, understand
ing with difficulty that state in which you wish to
live for God alone, and I see through this how
there are people who absolutely never understand
this, not knowing any other kind of life besides the
worldly, for people. I know this state, but can
not just now call it up in myself, but only remem
ber it.
1 1 ) Everything which lives without conscious-
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SEPTEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
ness, as I live when I sleep, as I lived in the womb
of my mother, lives not materially, i.e., not know
ing matter, but lives. But life is something
spiritual. Endeavouring to remember my state
before consciousness, on the threshold of con
sciousness, I know only the feeling of depression,
satisfaction, pleasure, suffering, but there is no
conception of my body or of another's. The con
ception of body (matter) manifests itself only
when consciousness is manifested. The conception
of body manifests itself only, because conscious
ness gives understanding of the presence in one's
self of the basis of everything (spiritual). And
at the same time, as I know that I am the basis of
everything, I know also that I am not the whole
basis, but a part of it. And it is this being a part
of a whole, these limits separating me from the
whole, I know through my body : through my own
body and the bodies surrounding me.
12) If you desire something, if you are afraid
of something, that means that you do not believe
in that God of love which is in you. If you had
believed in Him, then you could not have wanted
anything or have been afraid, because all desires
of that God which lives in you are being always
fulfilled, because God is all-powerful; and you
would never have been afraid, because for God
there is nothing terrible.
13) Not to think that you know in what the
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
will of God really lies, but to be humble ; and then
you will be loving. And the will of God in rela
tion to you, lies only in this.
14) People convincing others that reason can
not be the guide of life are those in whom reason
is so perverted, that they clearly see that they have
been led into a swamp.
15) The only instance where a man can and
ought to occupy himself with himself, is when he
feels unhappy. Unhappiness is the best condi
tion for perfection, the ascent to the higher steps.
Unhappiness is a sign of one's own imperfection.
One ought to rejoice at these instances: it is the
preparation of one's self for work, a spiritual
food. 16) Now I am an ordinary man, L. N. (Tol
stoi), and animal, and now I am the messenger
of God. I am all the time the same man, but
now I am the public and now I am the judge
himself with the chain, fulfilling the highest respon
sibilities. One must put on the chain more often.
Latterly I have got out of the habit, have
weakened. I have only just now remembered.
17) Man is a being beyond time and beyond
space who is conscious of himself in the conditions
of space and time.
18) Games, cards, women, races, are alluring
because they have been thought out for the biases.
It is not for nothing that the wise teachers have
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forbidden them. Artificial play is corrupting.
They are needed for the blase, but the simple
working people need the very simplest plays with
out preparation.
19) Only then will you produce true love, when
you will resist offence, overcome offence with love,
will love your enemy.
20) They desire, they are excited, they suffer
only for trifles or for bad things. The good
things are accomplished without excitement. It
is from this that the word heart means malice.
(Serdit, to get angry, to put into a passion, comes
from sertse, the heart. — Translator's note.)
To-day Oct. 2. Y. P.
I am still ill, — I am not suffering, but I feel
threatened constantly. Morally I am better — I
remember God in myself more often, and death.
It seems to me I have come out of the difficult
place in Resurrection. . . . Kolichka went away.
Sonya arrived — she is ill.
I am continuing to write out from the note
books :
1 ) I have made this note : Space comes from
the consciousness of limits, from the conscious
ness of one's own separateness; I am one, and
the world is another. And in the world are simi
lar beings with limits: 2, 3, 4, . . . to infinity.
These beings can find place only in space.
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
From the consciousness of limits comes also time.
I have thought this out again and can express it in
this way: Separateness, the non-all-comprehen
siveness of our selves, is expressed in recognising
a part of moving matter as ourselves. The part
of matter which we recognise as ourselves gives
us an understanding of space ; that part of motion
which we recognise as ourselves gives us a con
ception of time.
Or, in other words : We cannot imagine a part
of matter in any other way than in space. To
imagine a part of motion, we cannot in any other
way than in time. Space comes from the im
possibility of imagining two or many objects be
yond time. Time comes from the impossibility
of imagining two, many objects beyond space.
Space is the possibility of representing to one's
self two, many objects at one and the same time.
Time is the possibility of representing to one's
self two, many objects, in one and the same space
(one goes out, the other enters).
Divisions cannot be in one space, without time.
If there were no time (motion) all objects
in space would be unmoving and they would form
not many objects, but one space, undivided and
filled with matter. If there were no space,
there could be no motion and our " self " would
not be separated by anything from all the rest.
My body understood by me as my " self," and
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
understanding all the rest, is that part of matter
which moves for a definite time and occupies a
definite space.
(Not good, unclear, perhaps even untrue.)
2) Anarchy does not mean the absence of in
stitutions, but only the absence of those institu
tions to which people are compelled to submit by
force, but those institutions to which people sub
mit themselves voluntarily, rationally. It seems
to me that otherwise there cannot be established
and ought not to be, a society of beings endowed
with reason.
3) "Why is it that after sin, suffering does
not follow that person who committed the sin?
Then he would see what ought not to be done "
— because people live not separately but in so
ciety and if every one suffered from the sin of
each one, then every one would have to resist it.
4) Conscience is the memory of society assimi
lated by separate individuals.
5) In old age you experience the same thing as
on a journey. At first your thoughts are on that
place from which you are going, then on the
journey itself, and then on the place to which
you are going.
I experience this more and more often, thinking
of death.
6) It is true that a great sin might be beneficial,
by calling forth repentance before God, independ-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
ently from human judgment. Such a sin leads
one away from the realm of human judgment,
from vanity, which masters man and hides from
him his relation to God.387
7) The physical growth is only a preparation
of material for spiritual work, the service to God
and man which begins with the withering of the
body.
To-day Oct. 13. Y. P.
I am still not fully well. It is as it ought to
be. But that does not hinder from living, think
ing and moving towards a fixed goal. Resurrec
tion advances poorly. Have sent away four chap
ters, I think not passable by the censor, but at
least I think I have settled on one point, and that
I won't make any more great important changes.
I do not cease thinking of brother Sergei, but be
cause of the weather and ill health I cannot make
up my mind to go. . . . Sonya was in Moscow
and is going again to-day. To-day I had a kind
of intellectual idleness, not only to-day, but all
these latter days. For Resurrection I have
thought out good scenes. Concerning separate
ness which appears to us as matter in space and
movement in time, I am thinking more and more
often and more and more clearly.
I have also received Westrup's pamphlets from
America about the money,388 which struck me by
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
explaining everything that was unclear in financial
questions and reducing everything as it ought to
be, to violence. ... If I get time I will write it
out. I have another important, joyous thought,
although an old one, but which came to me as a
new one and which makes me very happy,
namely :
i) The principal cause of family unhappiness
— is because people are brought up to think that
marriage gives happiness. Sex attraction induces
to marriage and it takes the form of a promise, a
hope, for happiness, which is supported by public
opinion and literature ; but marriage is not happi
ness, but always suffering, which man pays for the
satisfaction of his sex desire. Suffering in the
form of lack of freedom, slavery, over-satiety,
disgust of all kinds of spiritual and physical de
fects of the mate which one has to bear ; malicious
ness, stupidity, falsity, vanity, drunkenness, lazi
ness, miserliness, greed and corruption — all de
fects which are especially difficult to bear when not
in oneself but in another person, and from which
one suffers as if they were one's own; and the
same with physical defects : ugliness, uncleanliness,
stench, sores, insanity, etc., which are even more
difficult to bear when not in oneself. All this, or
at least something of this, will always be and to
bear them will be difficult for every one. But
that which ought to compensate: the care, satis-
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
faction, aid, all these things are taken as a matter
of course; while all defects as if they were not a
matter of course, and the more one expected happi
ness from marriage the more one suffers.
The principal cause of this suffering, is that one
expects that which does not happen, and does not
expect that which always happens. And there
fore escape from this suffering is only by not ex
pecting joys, but by expecting the bad, being pre
pared to bear them. If you expect all that which
is described in the beginning of " The Thousand
and One Nights," if you expect drunkenness,
stench, disgusting diseases — then obstinacy, un
truthfulness, even drunkenness, can, if not exactly
be forgiven, at least be a matter of no suffering
and one can rejoice that there is absent that which
might have been, that which is described in " The
Thousand and One Nights": that there is no
insanity, cancer, etc. And then everything that
is good will be appreciated.
But is it not in this, that the principal means of
happiness in general lie? And is it not therefore
that people are so often unhappy, especially the
rich ones? Instead of recognising oneself in the
condition of a slave who has to labour for him
self and for others, and to labour in the way that
the master wishes, people imagine that every kind
of pleasure awaits them, that their whole work
lies in enjoying them. How not be unhappy un-
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OCTOBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
der this circumstance? Then everything: work
and obstacles and illnesses — the necessary con
ditions of life — appear as unexpected, terrible
calamities. The poor, therefore, are less often
unhappy: they know beforehand that before them
lie labour, struggle, obstacles, and therefore they
appreciate everything which gives them joy. But
the rich, expecting only joys, see a calamity in
every obstacle, and do not notice and do not ap
preciate those goods which they are enjoying.
" Blessed be the poor, for they shall be comforted;
the hungry, for they shall be fed; and wocunto
ye, the rich."
Oct. 14. Y. P. If I Uve.
Oct. 27. Y. P.
We are living alone: . . . Olga,389 Andrusha,
Julie 390 and Andrei Dmitrievich.391 Everything
is all right, but I am often indisposed: there are
more ill days than healthy ones and therefore I
write little. Sent off 19 chapters,392 very much
unfinished. I am working on the end.
I have thought much, and perhaps well :
1) About the freedom of the will, simply:
Man is free in everything spiritual, in love : he
can love or not love, more and less. In every
thing remaining he is not free, consequently in
everything material. Man can direct and not di
rect his strength towards the service of God. In
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
this one thing (but it is an enormous thing), he
is free : he can pull or be driven.
2) . . . of the workers, prostitution and many
other things, all this is a necessary, inevitable con
sequence and condition of the pagan order of life
in which we live, and to change either one or many
of these, is impossible. What is to be done?
Change the very order of this life, that on which
it stands. How? By this, in the first place, by
not taking part in this order, in that which sup
ports it . . . etc. And, second, to do that in
which man alone is absolutely free : to change self
ishness in his soul and everything which flows from
it: malice, greed, violence, and everything else by
love and by all that which flows from it: reason
ableness, humility, kindness and the rest. It is
impossible to turn back the wheel of a machine by
force, — they are all bound together with cogs and
other wheels — but to let the steam go which
will move them or not let it go is easy; thus it
is terribly difficult to change the very outer con
ditions of life, but to be good or bad is easy. But
this being good or evil changes all the outer con
ditions of life.
3 ) Our life is the freeing of the enclosed — the
expansion of the limits in which the illimitable
principle acts. This expansion of the limits ap
pears to us as matter in motion. The limit of ex
pansion in space appears to us as matter. That
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NOVEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
part of matter which we recognise as ourselves we
call our body; the other part we call the world.
The limit of expansion in time we call motion.
That part of motion which we recognise as our
selves we call our life; the other part we call the
life of the world. All of life is the expansion of
these limits, the being freed from them.
(All unclear, inexact.)
Nov. 20. Moscow.
Much I have not written out. I am in Mos
cow. . . . For 70 years I have been lowering and
lowering my opinion of women and still it has to
be lowered more and more. The woman ques
tion! How can there not be a woman question?
Only not in this, how women should begin to di
rect life, but in this, how they should stop ruining
it. All morning I have not been writing and have
been thinking two things:
1 ) We speak of the end of life — although it
is true, not the one which we understand, but the
one which would be understood by the highest
reason. The purpose is just the same as the cause.
The cause is looking backward, the purpose is look
ing forward, but the cause, the conception of the
cause (and therefore of an end) appears only
then when there is time, i.e., a being is limited in
his conceptions by time. And therefore for God,
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The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
and for man living a Godly life, there is no pur
pose. There is life in which consciousness grows
(?393) and that is all.
2) A drop fusing with a great drop, a pool,
ceases to be and begins to be.
To-day December 18. Moscow.
Almost a month I have not written. Have
been severely ill.394 Had acute pain for one day,
then a respite, and weakness. And death became
more than natural, almost desirable. And so it
has remained now, when I am getting well — that
is a new, joyous step.
Finished Resurrection. Not good, uncorrected,
hurried; but it has fallen from me and I am no
longer interested. Serezha is here, Masha and
her husband, Maria Alexandrovna.
I am all right. Have not yet begun to write
anything. More than anything I am occupied
with ,395 but I have no desire for any
thing very much, am resting. Wrote letters.
I am attempting to write out my notes :
1) (Trifles) about many- voiced music. It is
necessary that the voice say something, but here
there are many voices and each one says nothing.
2) One of the principal causes of evil in our
life is the faith cultivated in our Christian world,
the faith in the crude Hebrew personal God, when
the principal sign (if one can express it so) of
292

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
God is that he is not limited, by anything, conse
quently not personal.
3 ) One should conquer death — not death, but
the fear of death coming from a lack of under
standing of life. If only you understand life and
its necessarily good purpose — death — then you
cease to fear it, to resist it. And when you cease
to fear it, you cease to serve yourself, a mortal,
and you will serve an immortal : God, from whom
you came and to whom you are going.
4) Matter is everything which is accessible to
our senses. Science forces us to suppose matter
inaccessible to our senses. In this realm, there
can be beings composed of that matter and per
ceiving it, matter inaccessible to our senses. I do
not think that there are such beings; I only think
that our matter and our senses perceiving it, are
only one of innumerable 396 possibilities of life.
5) "I am a slave, I am a worm, I am a Czar, I
am a God." 397 Slave and worm true, but Czar
and God untrue. It is in vain that people attrib
ute a special significance and greatness to his rea
son. The limits of human reason are very narrow
and are seen at once. These limits are the infinity
of space and time. Man sees the final answers to
the questions he asks himself, recede and recede
in time and also in space, and in both these realms.
6) I read about Englehardt's book: Evolution,
the Progress of Cruelty.398 I think that here
293

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [1899
there is a great deal of truth. Cruelty has in
creased mainly because division of labour has been
brought to pass, which assists the increase of
the material wealth of man. Every one speaks
of the benefits of the division of labour, not see
ing that the inevitable condition of the division of
labour, besides the mechanising of man, is also
the removing of those conditions which call forth
a human, moral communion between people. If
we are doing the same work, as agricultural labour
ers, then naturally there would be established be
tween us an exchange of service, a mutual aid, but
between the shepherd and the factory-weaver,
there can be no communion.
(This seems untrue; I shall think it over.)
7) What would God's attitude be towards
prayer, if there were such a God to whom one
could pray? Just the same as would be the atti
tude of the owner of a house where water had been
introduced and to whom the inhabitants would
come to ask for water. The water has been intro
duced. You have only to turn the tap. In the
same way everything has been prepared for men
which is necessary to them, and God is not at
fault that instead of making use of the clean
water which was there, some of the tenants carry
water from a stagnant pond, others fall into de
spair from lack of water and beg for that which
had been given them in such abundance.
294

DECEMBER] The Journal of Leo Tolstoi
8) . . .
9) One can by personal experience verify the
truth, that God, a part of Whom is my own self,
is love, and by the experimental way convince one's
self of this truth. As soon as love is violated,
life ends. There is no desire to do anything,
everything is depressing, and on the contrary, as
soon as love is restored, as soon as you have made
peace with those whom you quarrelled, forgiven,
received forgiveness — then you wish to live, to
act, everything seems easy and possible.
10) It would be good to express even in ap
proximate numbers and then graphically, that
quantity of labour, of working days, which rich
people use up in their lives. Approximately more
or less, this could be expressed by money. If I
spend 10 roubles a day, that means that 20 men
are working constantly for me. (Unclear, not
what I want to say. )
11) They generally say : "That is very deep,
and therefore not to be fully understood." This
is untrue. On the contrary. Everything that is
deep is clear to transparency. Just as water is
murky on top, but the deeper it is, the more trans
parent. 12) One small part of people, about 20 per
cent., is insane by itself, possessed by a mania of
egoism, which reaches to the point of concentra
tion of all spiritual strengths on oneself; another,
295

The Journal of Leo Tolstoi [i
the greater part, almost 80 per cent., is hypnotised
by the scientific, by the artistic . . . and princi
pally . . . hypnotism, and also does not make use
of its reason. Therefore progress in the world is
always attained by the insane possessed by the
same kind of insanity by which the majority is pos
sessed. 13) I experience the feeling of peace, of satis
faction, when I am ill, when there takes place in
me the destruction of the limits of my personality.
As soon as I get well I experience the opposite:
restlessness, dissatisfaction. Are these not obvi
ous signs that the destruction of the limits of per
sonality in this world, is the entrance of life into
new limits?
I have finished.
December ig. Moscow. If I live.
To-day December 20. Moscow.
My health is not good. My spiritual condition
is good, ready for death. In the evenings there
are many people. I tire. In number 51,399
Resurrection did not appear and I was sorry.
This is bad.
I thought out a philosophic definition of life.
To-day I thought well about The Coupon.*00
Perhaps I shall write it out.

296

Notes

NOTES TO THE TEXT
By V. G. Chertkov
1. With the words, " I continue," Tolstoi begins a new
note-book of the Journal; this note-book presupposes an
other which the editors have only in separate fragments.
The previous note-book ended with the following note:
"October 8, 1895, Y. P.
" (I am beginning an entry to-day with just what I
finished two days ago.)
" I have only a short time left to live and I feel terribly
like saying so much: I feel like saying what we can and
must and cannot help believing — about the cruelty of
deception which people impose upon themselves; the eco
nomic, political and religious deception, and about the se
duction of stupefying oneself — wine, and tobacco con
sidered so innocent; and about marriage and about educa
tion and about the horrors. . . . Everything has ripened
and I want to speak about it. So that there is no time
for performing those artistic stupidities which I was pre
pared to do in Resurrection.
" But just now I asked myself : but can I write, know
ing that no one will read ? And I experienced something
of disappointment; but only for a time; that means that
there was some love of fame in it. But there was also
the principal thing in it — the need before God.
299

Notes
" Father, help me to follow the same path of love.
And I thank Thee. From Thee flows everything."
2. In the original, merely the initials of the phrase are
used. Thus Tolstoi would often finish what he had
written during the day with I. I L. (If I live), marking
ahead in this fashion the date of the following day.
3. Countess Sophia Andreevna Tolstoi, born Behrs,
1844, wife of Tolstoi. In the Journal, Tolstoi calls her
S., S. A., or Sonya.
4. " Catechism " Tolstoi called that systematic exposi
tion of his philosophy in the form of questions and answers
which he had begun about this time. In the text, he calls
this work, The Declaration of Faith, or simply, The Dec
laration. (See entries December 23, '95, and further.)
ln the following year, 1896, Tolstoi abandoning the cate
chism form, continued and finished the work, which, in
1898, was published under the title Christian Doctrine
by The Free Press (Swobodnoe Slovo) issued by A. and
V. Chertkov, England, and later in 1905, it appeared
also in Russia.
5. Tolstoi never returned to the continuation and re
vision of the plot of the story Who is Right? which
had been begun by him about this time, and so it has re
mained unfinished. The beginning of the story as it was
written by Tolstoi, is printed in his collected works (see
the full collection of works by Tolstoi, edited by P. Biriu-
kov, published by Sytin, 1913).
6. I.e., with Katiusha Maslov and not with Nekhliu-
dov, as the first form of the novel was begun.
7. John C Kenworthy, an English Methodist minister,
a writer and lecturer, who shared at that time the opinions
300

Notes
of Tolstoi and who founded in England an agricultural
colony composed of his co-thinkers. The author of the
work, Tolstoi, His Life and Works, London, 1902.
There was printed abroad in the Russian Language in the
journal of The Free Press (1899, No. 2, England) his
The Anatomy of Poverty. They were lectures to the
English workingmen on political economy, which struck
Tolstoi favourably and which he included in the manu
script which was then being issued under the title of
Archives of L. N. Tolstoi, No. II, and to which he even
wrote an introduction. In later life, Kenworthy fell
ill of nervous prostration and was taken to a sanatorium.
8. Albert Shkarvan, a Slav, who shared Tolstoi's
opinions. An army surgeon in the hospital in Kashai
(Hungary), he resigned from this service in February,
1895, for religious reasons, for which he was imprisoned
for four months.
9. The Russian sect of Dukhobors, living in the Cau
casus in 1895, to the number of several thousand souls,
upon the suggestion of their leader, Peter Vasilevich
Verigin, who was at that time in exile, gave notice to the
authorities that they would no longer take the oath or
serve in military service, and, in a word, would no longer
take any part in governmental violence, and in the night
from the 28th to the 29th of June of that year, burned all
their weapons. Cossacks were sent against them and after
some executions, two hundred were put in prison, many
were exiled from their native land and forced to live
in Armenian, Georgian and Tartar villages in the
Province of Tiflis; about two or three families in a vil
lage, without land and with the prohibition against inter-
301

Notes
course among themselves. Those Dukhobors who re
mained in active service and refused to serve, were sent
away to disciplinary regiments. (See Dukhobors, by
P. Biriukov, 1908, publishers, Posrednik; besides there is
much material pertaining to the history and the move
ment of the Dukhobors printed in various issues of
The Free Press.)
10. The manager of the Moscow Little Theatre, Walts,
used to call on Tolstoi for the purpose of receiving infor
mation about the staging of his drama, The Power of
Darkness. 11. Ivan Ivanovich Bochkarev (died 1915), former
revolutionary Slavophile who suffered much for his con
victions. He became acquainted with the group of people
around Tolstoi because of his belief in vegetarianism, to
which he arrived independently of any one. In his per
sonal conversations with Tolstoi, Bochkarev disputed his
religious convictions, heatedly denying all his religious
metaphysics. At this time he lived near the village of
Ovsiannikovo, six versts from Yasnaya Polyana, on the
estate of Tolstoi's daughter, T. L. Sukhotin.
12. Prince Nicholai Leonidovich Obolensky, the grand-
nephew of Tolstoi — later married to Tolstoi's daughter,
Maria Lvovna.
13. Maria Alexandrovna Schmidt, an old friend, who
shared Tolstoi's opinions and whose personality and
whole life, Tolstoi esteemed very highly. In the Journal
of February 18, 1909, he wrote, " I never knew and do not
know any woman spiritually higher than Maria Alexan
drovna." In the eighties, when class-teacher in the Nich-
olaievsky Orphan Asylum in Moscow, Mme. Schmidt
302

Notes
made the acquaintance of the forbidden works of Tolstoi,
upon which she left the asylum and went to live on the
land, and up to her death supported herself by the labours
of her own hand. The last ten years of her life she lived
near the village of Ovsiannikovo, on the estate of T. L.
Sukhotin, procuring her livelihood by the sale of the ber
ries and vegetables from her own garden and the dairy
products from her cows. She died October 18, 191 1.
14. With Bochkarev.
15. Alexander Nikiphorovich Dunaev, an old friend of
the Tolstoi family, later one of the directors of the Mos
cow Commercial Bank.
16. Constantin Nicholaievich Zyabrev, nick-named
" Bieli " (White), a peasant from Yasnaya Polyana, who
was also called by the villagers, " the Blessed." Tolstoi
liked to speak with him. He lived in the greatest pov
erty and never bothered about the next day. At the time
of the visit, mentioned in the Journal, he was already near
death and soon passed away. Some years before this, Tol
stoi helped him to rebuild his cabin.
17. Dr. Ivan Romanovich Bazhenov, who lived at this
time in Vladivostok, sent Tolstoi his manuscript essay on
the necessity of calling an ecumenical council and asked his
opinion on this question. In the copy of the Journal at
the disposal of the editors, and perhaps in the original of
the Journal, it was written Bozhanov.
18. A letter from G. F. Van-Duyl from Amsterdam.
In the letter of November 18th, Tolstoi answered his let
ter as follows :
" Once a man has understood and is permeated with the
consciousness that his true happiness, the happiness of his
303

Notes
eternal life, that which is not limited by this world, con
sists in the fulfilment of the will of God and that against
this will . . . then no consideration can force this man
to act against his true happiness. And if there is an inner
struggle and if, as in that case about which you spoke,
family considerations come out on top, it only serves as
a proof that the true teaching of Christ was not under
stood and was accepted by him who could not follow it;
this only proves that he wanted to appear as a Christian,
but he was not so in reality."
19. Paul Ivanovich Biriukov, one of Tolstoi's nearest
friends and followers, who later wrote his biography (two
volumes, published by Posrednik, Moscow). Tolstoi
often calls him Posha in the Journal.
20. The editors were unable to discover the title of
this pamphlet.
21. Maria Vasilievna Siaskov, an amanuensis, who was
employed for many years in the publishing house of Pos
rednik. 22. Tatiana Andreevna Kuzminsky (born Behrs), a
sister-in-law of Tolstoi, wife of Senator A. M. Kuzminsky.
23. Konevski, this is the way Tolstoi called the
novel, Resurrection, which he had begun then, the sub
ject of which he adopted at the end of the eighties from
stories told by the well-known Court-worker, A. Th.
Koni. 24. Arthur Schopenhauer (1 788-1860), the great Ger
man philosopher. Tolstoi evidently read the translation
by Ph. O. Chernigovitz, Aphorisms and Maxims, in two
parts, 1891-1892. Tolstoi, as early as 1869, wrote to A.
A. Fet: " Do you know what the present summer meant
304

Notes
to me? Continual enthusiasm over Schopenhauer and a
pile of spiritual pleasures which I never have experienced
before. . . . Schopenhauer is one of the grestest geniuses
among people."
25. That which was noted down in his pocket note
book — Tolstoi had the habit of putting down thoughts
which came to him and which seemed to him important in
a pocket note-book which never left him. Later he copied
the most valuable thoughts into his Journal, revising,
more or less, as he went along. In rewriting from the
note-book Tolstoi often began the entry with these words,
" I have been thinking " or " I have it noted."
26. See Note 4.
27. This essay, entitled Shameful, pointing out the
cruelty and senselessness of corporal punishment which the
law at that time applied to the peasants, was printed with
omissions and alterations in the Russian newspapers and
later abroad in full in Leaflets of The Free Press, No.
IV, England, 1899; later it was printed in The Full
Collected Works of L. N. Tolstoi, published by Sytin,
subscribed and popular editions, volume XVIII.
28. In the Moscow Little Theatre.
29. N, a young artist living in the home of the Tolstois,
after refusing military service on account of religious con
victions, was placed in the military hosptial in Moscow
in the ward for the diseases of the heart, where he was
visited by Tolstoi. Later, various difficult experiences
and spiritual changes led him to agree to military serv
ice. . . .
30. Nicholai Alexeievitch Philosophov, father of Count
ess S. N. Tolstoi, wife of Count I. L. Tolstoi.
305

Notes
31. A A. Shkarvan sent Tolstoi his letter entitled
" Why It Is Impossible to Serve as a Military Doctor."
Later this letter, in revised form, appeared in his book,
My Resignation from Military Service. Notes of a
Military Doctor. (Published by The Free Press, Eng
land, 1898, Chapter IV.)
32. Maria Lvovna Tolstoi (1872-1906), second
daughter of Tolstoi, afterwards married to Count N. L.
Obolensky. 33. Count Ilya Lvovich Tolstoi (born 1866), second
son of Tolstoi. Has written a book, My Recollections
(Moscow, 1914).
34. Vladimar Grigorevich Chertkov and his wife, Anna
Constantino vna (born Dieterichs). V. G. Chertkov made
the acquaintance of Tolstoi in 1883. For biographical in
formation about him see under " Biography of L. N. Tol
stoy '' by P. Biriukov (Volume II, 1913) and also in the
pamphlet, Tolstoi and Chertkov, by P. A. Boulanger
(Moscow, 191 1) and in the essay of A. M. Khiriakov:
"Who Is Chertkov?" (Kievski Mysl, 1910, No. 333,
December 2nd).
35. Soon Tolstoi began this drama (see entry of Janu
ary 23, 1896), which he called And Light Lights Up
Darkness. This drama, having to a great extent a bio
graphic character, portrays the torturing condition of a
man who has gone through an inner religious crisis, and
who lives with his family which, not understanding him,
interferes with his attempts to change his life according
to the truth revealed to him. This was first printed with
a great many censor deletions in The Posthumous Liter-
306

Notes
ary Works of L. N. Tolstoi (edited by A. L. Tolstoi,
191 1, Volume II).
36. The Englishman, John Manson, came to Tolstoi
with a request for his opinion on the collision between the
United States and England on account of the boundaries
of Venezuela. Tolstoi answered by an extensive letter
which was published under the title, " Patriotism or
Peace?" and printed abroad (by Deibner in Berlin, and
others.) It was not printed in Russia.
37. Ernest Crosby (1856-1907), an American social-
worker, a poet and writer. When he was a representative
of the United States in the International Court in Egypt,
he read Tolstoi's On Life, which caused an upheaval in his
soul. As a result, he left the Government service and
devoted his life to the propaganda of the social-religious
views of Tolstoi and the social-economic views of Henry
George. He founded The Social Reform League, the ob
ject of which was the discussing of the problems of re
organisation of contemporary life on the basis of justice
and equality, and the furthering of the actual realisation of
this reorganisation.
38. E. N. Drozhin, a district school teacher, in 1891,
refused military service at the recruiting in the city of
Sudzha in the Province of Kursk. He was sentenced to
be sent to a disciplinary battalion and stayed fifteen months
in the Voronezh disciplinary battalion. Here he fell ill
of consumption and the doctors pronounced him unfit to
continue military service, upon which he was transferred
to the state's prison to finish his sentence. He died in the
Voronezh prison on January 27, 1894, from inflammation
of the lungs which he contracted at the time of his trans-
307

Notes
fer . . . from the disciplinary regiment to the prison.
The story of his refusal from military service is described
in detail in the book by E. I. Popov: Life and Death of
E. N. Drozhin, 1866-1894, published by The Free
Press, England, 1 899. Tolstoi wrote an appendix to this
book in which he expressed the opinion that such people
like Drozhin " by their activity help. . . ." In reference
to this article the well-known German writer, Frederick
Spielhagen, printed an open letter to Count Leo Tolstoi in
the newspapers, in which he considered Tolstoi guilty of
Drozhin's death, a useless one, according to Spielhagen,
for the abolition of war and the establishment of universal
peace. This letter was translated into Russian in 1896
and appeared as a separate pamphlet.
39. See Note 36.
40. A voluminous letter devoted to the problem of non-
resistance to evil by violence and the relation of con
temporary American writers to it.
41. Count Andrei Lvovich Tolstoi, born 1877, fourth
son of Tolstoi. In this year he served in the Tver mili
tary as a volunteer (before the prescribed age).
42. Nicholai Michailovich Nagornov, husband of Tol
stoi's niece, Vavara Valerianovna. In the letter to A. K.
Chertkov of January 13, 1896, Tolstoi wrote: " We had a
death lately. Nagornov died, the husband of my niece.
She loved him passionately and they lived together re
markably happily ... no one knows anything of him, but
the good. . . . My heart feels solemn and good because of
this death."
43. Fedior Kudinenko, a peasant, a co-thinker of Tol
stoi, a former gendarme. 308

Notes
44. See note 29.
45. Dushan Petrovich Makovitsky (Dusan Makovcky),
a Slovak, who later became one of the closest friends and
followers of Tolstoi, spent six years in Yasnaya Polyana
from the end of 1904 to the day Tolstoi left, in the ca
pacity of family doctor, and was near Tolstoi until the
latter's death. At this time he lived in his native land, in
Hungary, taking part in the publication of translations into
the Slavonian of Tolstoi's books and of writers near to him
in spirit. The article here mentioned is " Instances of Re
fusal from Military Service among the Sect of the Naz-
arenes, in Hungary." Printed in Leaflets of the Free
Press, England, 1898, No. I.
46. The Nazarenes, a sect spread in Hungary, Chorva-
tia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Switzerland and the United States,
whose members refuse military service.
47. Nicholai Nicholaievich Strakhov (1828-1896), a
friend of the Tolstoi family, a noted writer and phil
osopher, highly valued by Tolstoi as a man and a literary
critic. He had an extensive correspondence with Tolstoi,
which was published by the Tolstoi Museum Society in
Petrograd, 1 9 14.
48. The family of the Counts Olsuphiev was very much
liked by Tolstoi. This is what he wrote about them to V.
G. Chertkov on February 9, 1896: " They are such very
simple and good people, that the difference between their
opinion and mine, and not the difference but the non-recog
nition of that by which I live, does not bother me. I know
that they cannot, but that they want to be good and that
they have gone as far as they could in that direction."
49. Nicholai Vasilevich Davydov, an old friend of the
309

Notes
Tolstoi family, being appointed at this time President of
the Tula District Court, was presented to the Emperor
and had a long conversation with him about Tolstoi, an
swering the questions asked him by the Emperor. At pres
ent, N. V. Davydov is President of the Tolstoi Society in
Moscow. 50. Alexander Ivanovich Ertel (185 5-1 908), a well-
known writer, author of the novel The Gardenins and
other stories and novels. The essay by Ertel which Tol
stoi mentions was published in Nedielia in 1896, No.
Ill, under the title, " Is Russian Society Declining? "
He objected to Tolstoi who said in the article " Shameful "
that one ought not to ask about the abolition of corporal
punishment, but " one must and ought only to denounce
such a thing." " The way of denunciation and repentance
is tested and is being tested — " wrote Ertel, " but in
itself it is not sufficient for successful struggle against
evil. For the greatest effectiveness in this struggle of
changes, the judicial path of ' petitions, declarations and ad
dresses, deserves every kind of sympathy from the side of
historical rationalism as well as from the Christian point
of view." Later Tolstoi, highly appreciating the pop
ular style of Ertel, wrote a preface to the posthumous
edition of his works, Moscow, 1909.
51. See Note 38.
52. M. A. Sopotsko, at one time in the beginning of
the Nineties shared some of Tolstoi's views in relation to
the outer life, but never understood the essence of his
religious philosophy. Later Sopotsko became a supporter
of Orthodoxy and frequently attacked Tolstoi and his
friends in print. 310

Notes
53. Marian Zdziechowski, a professor in the Cracow
University, a well-known social worker. In the Sieverni
Viestnik for the year 1895, No. 7, under the pseudonym
M. Ursin, he contributed an article: "The Religious
Political Ideals of Polish Society." In respect to this
article Tolstoi wrote him a long letter which was printed
abroad and later was reprinted in the New Collection of
Letters of L. N. Tolstoi, collected by P. A. Sergienko
(published by Okto, 191 1), from which by order of the
Moscow Court it was deleted. After this letter M. E.
Zdziechowski wrote several times to Tolstoi on the prob
lems of Catholicism, but to those letters, mentioned in the
Journal, Tolstoi evidently answered by a personal conver
sation during the former's visit to Yasnaya Polyana in the
summer of 1896.
54. In her letter addressed to M. L. Tolstoi, Vera Step-
anovna Grinevich touched most seriously and deeply upon
the fundamental problems concerning the religious up
bringing of children. This letter produced a very strong
impression on Tolstoi and he intended to answer it in
detail, but other work drew him away from accomplish
ing this resolution. The letter of V. S. Grinevich and the
letter to her by N. L. Tolstoi and V. G. Chertkov are
printed in her book: The New School-family and the
Causes of its Origin.
55- Nicholskoe, an estate of Count Olsuphiev near Mos
cow, close to the station of Podsolnechnaia on the Nicholai
railroad. 56. Eugene Heinrich Schmidt, a German-Hungarian
writer, resembling in some respects the philosophy of Tol
stoi. In the Nineties he issued a magazine in Budapest:
3"

Notes
Die Religion des Geistes, and a newspaper with a Chris
tian anarchical tendency: Ohne Staat. In 1901 he
printed a book in Leipzig, Tolstoi, His Meaning to Our
Civilization (see also his article on the cultural signifi
cance of the works of Leo Tolstoi, printed in the Interna
tional Tolstoi Almanac by P. A. Sergienko, published by
Kniga, 1909.)
57. Sergei Alexandrovich Rachinsky (1836-1902), a
celebrated worker for popular education, who sacrificed his
lectures in the Moscow University for his favourite occu
pation of teaching the peasant children in the village
schools to write and read. A relative to Tolstoi on ac
count of the first wife of his son, Sergei Lvovich, and per
sonally acquainted with Tolstoi as early as the beginning
of the Sixties.
58. Written originally in English.
59. The letter was called forth by the Italian-Abyssin
ian war, which was then going on. The rather extensive
beginning of this letter has been preserved, but up to now
has not been published anywhere.
60. Here follow words that have been crossed out.
Note made by Prince N. L. Obolensky in the copy in
possession of the editors.
61. Michail Petrovich Novikov, a peasant of the Prov
ince of Tula, who served a year as an army scribe in one
of the regiments stationed in Moscow. After his acquaint
ance with Tolstoi he suffered much because of his en
deavour to realise his beliefs in his life. A gifted writer.
62. Countess Tatiana Lvovna Tolstoi (born 1864),
the eldest daughter of Tolstoi. In the year 1899 she
married M. S. Sukhotin. 312

Notes
63. Maria Michailovna Kholevinsky, a woman doctor,
living in Tula. By Administrative order, after the event
mentioned in the Journal, she was exiled to Orenburg.
64. This letter, sent to both ministers (E. L. Goremy-
kin and N. V. Muraviev) and to the same publishing
house, was printed at first abroad in the paper The Free
Press, No. 2, in 1902 (England), afterwards in Russia.
( See Full Collected Works of Tolstoi, published by Sytin,
1913 — popular edition, Volume XXII. It is known
that the request of Tolstoi in this letter : To direct all the
prosecutions for the spreading of his forbidden books in
Russia to himself and not to his followers and friends, as
well as a whole series of subsequent similar petitions to
Governmental officials — was not granted. )
65. The second act of Wagner's opera, Siegfried. For
the impression produced on Tolstoi, see What Is
Art? chapter XIII — in the letter to his brother, Count
S. N. Tolstoi, on April 20, 1896, Tolstoi under the
fresh impression of this opera wrote the following : " Last
night I was at the theatre and heard the celebrated new
music of Wagner's opera, Siegfried. I could not sit
through a single act and I fled from the place hke mad,
and now I cannot talk calmly about it. It is stupid,
unfit for children above seven years of age, a Punch and
Judy show, pretentious, feigned, entirely false and with
out any music whatever. And several thousand sat and
pretended to be fascinated."
66. Aphrikan Alexandrovich Spier (1837-1890), a
remarkable Russian philosopher, who lived many years
in Germany and who wrote his works in German:
Thinking and Reality, Morality and Religious, etc.
313

Notes
Tolstoi was then reading his principal work, Denken und
Wirchlikeit ( Thinking and Reality ) — in a letter of
1896 to Countess S. A. Tolstoi, Tolstoi wrote: " I am
reading a newly discovered philosopher, Spier, and am
rejoicing. ... A very useful book, destroying many
superstitions, especially the superstition of materialism."
( The Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, Mos
cow, 1913, page 510.)
67. The philosopher's daughter, Elena Aphrikanovna
Spier, who sent her father's works to Tolstoi.
68. Grigori Grigorevich Myasoyedov (1835-1912).
A celebrated artist, the painter of the picture, " The Read
ing of the Ordinance, of February 19th " and others; one
of the principal initiators and founders of the Society of
Travelling Expositions.
69. Dmitri Dmitrievich Sverbeev, the Governor of
Courland, an acquaintance of the Tolstois'.
70. The cement factory, Gill, within 7 versts of Yas
naya Polyana.
71. To the Coronation in Moscow there went:
Countess S. A. Tolstoi and Countess A. L. Tolstoi ; while
Countess T. L. Tolstoi went to Sweden for the coming
marriage in Stockholm of Count L. L. Tolstoi and D. Ph.
Westerlund. 72. The branch post office, 7 versts from Yasnaya Poly
ana. 73. Died in 1913.
74. The well-known publisher of Novoe Vremia, M.
O. Menshikov, a contributor at that time to the liberal
magazine, Knizhki Nedieli, where among other things,
he occupied himself with popularizing Tolstoi's ideas.
3H

Notes
In the article " The Errors of Fear," printed in that mag
azine in 1896 (Nos. IV to VI) Menshikov sharply con
demned certain governmental repressions of the time.
For this article the magazine received a warning.
Towards the later journalistic activities of Menshikov,
Tolstoi took a critical attitude.
75. Fedior Alexeievich Strakhov, a friend, who shared
the views of Tolstoi, author of philosophic articles pub
lished by Posrednik under the titles Beyond Political In
terests, The Search For Truth. Posrednik also published
a collection of articles of various thinkers compiled by him
under the title Spirit and Matter (against materialism).
Several of his other articles were issued abroad. For
Tolstoi's review of the books of F. A. Strakhov see in
Journal, August 15, 19 10.
76. Nicholai Nicholaievich Strakhov (died in January
of this year).
77. With F. A. Strakhov.
78. Timofei Nicholaievich Granovsky (1813-1855), a
Russian historian, a professor at the Moscow Universtiy.
79. Vissarion Grigorevich Bielinsky (1810-1848), the
critic — see in Journal, March 7, 1899, a comparison be
tween Bielinsky and Gogol.
80. Alexander Alexandrovich Herzen (1812-1870),
a great writer. From 1847 to his death he lived abroad
as an exile. His collected works with censor deletions
have been published in Russia only in 1905. Tolstoi as
early as August 4, i860, wrote in his Journal, " Herzen,
a scattered mind, sickly ambition. But his broadness,
skilfulness, kindness and refinement is Russian." Soon
after, in the beginning of 1861, Tolstoi, being abroad,
315

Notes
spent a month in London, where he saw Herzen almost
daily. In addition to the opinion expressed in this note
of Tolstoi's about Herzen, it should be noted that after
wards Tolstoi, appreciating him from another point of
view, acknowledged a broad educational significance to
his works (see, for example, Journal, October 12, 1895).
In the letters to V. G. Chertkov of February 9, 1888,
and to N. N. Gay of February 13 of the same year, Tol
stoi called Herzen " a man remarkable in strength, in
mind and in sincerity " and expressed regret that his
works were forbidden in Russia, as the reading of them,
according to his opinion, would be very instructive to the
youth. 81. Nicholai Gavrilovich Chernishevsky (1828-1889)
and Nicholai Alexandrovich Dobroliubov (1836-1861),
Russian critics. Tolstoi became acquainted with Chern
ishevsky when he published his works in Sovremennik,
which was edited by Chernishevsky.
82. Five-year-old daughter of F. A. Strakhov.
83. Declaration of Faith, later re-named The Christian
Doctrine. 84. The estate of Tolstoi's brother, S. N. Tolstoi, in
the district of Krapivensk, in the Government of Tula,
35 versts from Yasnaya Polyana.
85. Count Sergei Nicholaievich Tolstoi (1826-1904).
See for him in Biography of L. N. Tolstoi by P. Biriukov
and in My Recollections by Count T. L. Tolstoi, Mos
cow, 19 14.
86. The daughters of Count S. N. Tolstoi: Vera,
Varvara and Maria Sergievna.
87. Charles Salomon, the translator of some of Tol-
3i6

Notes
stoi's works into French, and a professor of the Russian
language in the higher institutions in Paris.
88. Sergei Ivanovich Tanyeev (1856-1915), composer,
at one time director at the Moscow Conservatory, an
acquaintance of the Tolstoi family, who lived three sum
mers ( 1 894-1 896) in Yasnaya Polyana.
89. On the Khodinka field at the time of the corona
tion celebration of May 18, 1896. In the beginning of
the year 1910, Tolstoi wrote a little story called Khodinka,
printed for the first time in his Posthumous Literary
Works, Volume III, published by A. L. Tolstoi, Moscow,
1902. 90. Timofei Nicholaievich Bondarev (1820—1898), a
peasant of the district of the Don. In 1867 he was
exiled to Siberia for conversion to the Jewish faith and
lived in the district of Minusinsk, in the Province of
Yeniseisk, to the end of his life. Wrote a work called In-
dustriousness and Parasitism, or The Triumph of the Ag
ricultural Worker (issued with abbreviations in 1906 in
Petrograd by Posrednik,) in which he proved the moral
obligation of each man to do agricultural work. Tolstoi
wrote a long introduction to this work. As to the im
pression which this work produced on Tolstoi, he him
self wrote in his book What Then Shall We Do? ( 1884-
1886) the following: " In all my life, two Russian
thinkers had upon me a great moral influence and enriched
my thought and clarified my philosophy. These people
were not Russian poets, scholars, preachers — they were
two remarkable men who are now living, and who all
their life laboured in the muzhik labour of peasants,
Siutaev and Bondarev." In his letter here mentioned to
317

Notes
Bondarev, Tolstoi touched upon those religious problems
which Bondarev asked him. For more details about
Bondarev see in the article of C. S. Shokhor-Trotsky:
" Siutaev and Bondarev " (in the Tolstoi Annual, 1913),
Petrograd, 191 4, issued by the Tolstoi Museum Society,
following which are printed ten letters by Tolstoi to
Bondarev and some writings of Bondarev himself.
91. My Refusal From Military Service, The Memoirs
of an Army Physician, issued by The Free Press, 1898,
England. Tolstoi read this work even before, in manu
script, and at this time probably was re-reading it. In his
letter to A. A. Shkarvan of December 16, 1895, Tolstoi
wrote: "Your memoirs are interesting and important to
the highest degree. I read them with spiritual joy and
was touched."
92. See Note 29.
93. Stephane Mallarme (1 842-1 898), French poet,
considered one of the most prominent Symbolists. For a
more detailed opinion of him by Tolstoi, see his book,
What Is Art? Chapter X.
94. Goethe (1 749-1 832), the German poet. See for
Tolstoi's opinion of him in his Journal, September 13,
1906. Earlier in 1891, in his letter to Count A. A.
Tolstoi, Tolstoi wrote: " As to Goethe, I do not like
him at all. I don't like his conceited paganism."
Shakespeare (1 564-1 616). See Tolstoi's article about
him " On Shakespeare " and " On The Drama " and
the opinion in his journal March 15, 1897.
95. Declaration of Faith.
96. Henry George (1839-1897), noted American so
cial worker and writer on economic questions. In his
3i8

Notes
numerous works, chiefly on agrarian questions, he was a
warm defender of the destitute and the oppressed.
George considered the existence of private land owner
ship as the principal cause of the existence of poverty ; ap
pearing as its opponent, he suggested the abolition of all
existing taxes, substituting for them a single tax on the
value of land; by means of this reform, land would pass
into the hands of people cultivating it by their own
labour, because for people who did not work it, it would
be unprofitable to own great stretches of land, since they
would have to pay a large amount of taxes on them.
Tolstoi sympathised very much with George's scheme
and wrote much about it ( The Great Sin, The Only Pos
sible Solution of the Land Question, A Letter to a Peas
ant and some chapters in Resurrection and others). Of
the works of George, Tolstoi recognised as the best his
Social Problems, to the Russian translation of which he
wrote a preface. In the last years of George's life, Tol
stoi was in correspondence with him ; in his letter to him
of 1894 Tolstoi among other things wrote: " The reading
of each one of your books clarifies for me much which
formerly was not clear to me and convinces me more and
more of the truth and practicality of your system " [trans
lated from the Russian from a translation from the Eng
lish. — Translator's note\. On the occasion of George's
death, Tolstoi wrote to Count S. A. Tolstoi on October
24, 1897: " Serezha told me yesterday that Henry George
was dead. Strange to say, his death struck me as the
death of a very close friend. The death of Alexandre
Dumas produced the same impression upon me. One
feels as if it were the loss of a real comrade and friend."
319

Notes
Many works of George's are translated into the Russian;
there is a splendid biography of him written by S. D.
Nicholaev, and published by Posrednik : The Great Fighter
for Land Liberation, Henry George, Moscow, 1906.
97. Anna Constantinovna Chertkov.
98. In the letter to Count L. L. Tolstoi of June 7,
1896, Tolstoi related the incident as follows: "Yester
day a remarkable event happened to me. Two or three
times there came to me a young civilian from Tula ask
ing me to give him books. I gave him some of my articles
and spoke with him. He was, according to his convic
tions, a Nihilist and an Atheist. I told him from the
bottom of my heart all that I thought. Yesterday he
came and gave me a note: ' Read it,' he said, ' then tell
me what you think of me.' In the note it was written
that he was a junior officer in the gendarmerie, a spy, sent
to me to find out what is going on here, and that he be
came unbearably conscience-stricken and that is why he
disclosed himself to me. I felt pity and disgust and
pleasure." 99. The priest, John Ilich Sergiev (of Kronstadt)
(1829-1908), who enjoyed great fame as "The suppli-
cator for the sick." In his preaching and his books he
many times made sharp attacks against Tolstoi and his
views. IOO. Declaration of Faith.
101. Zakaz, a piece of Yasnaya Polyana forest, not far
from the house. Tolstoi was afterwards buried there.
102. Tolstoi had the opportunity to closely observe
the nomadic life of the Bashkirs in the province of
Samara, where he went in the Sixties to drink kumyss,
320

Notes
and in the Seventies and Eighties to his own estates (see
The Biography of L. N. Tolstoi written by P. I. Biriukov
(Moscow, 19 13) published by Posrednik, Volume II,
Chapter VIII ; and also the Recollections in the Children's
Magazine, Mayak, 1913, by V. S. Morosov, a former
pupil of the Yasnaya Polyana school in the beginning of
the Sixties).
103. A village within four versts from Yasnaya Poly
ana. 104. Leonilla Fominishna Annenkov (1845-1914), an
old friend of Tolstoi's and an adherent of his philosophy,
the wife of a Kursk landlord, the well-known scholarly
lawyer, K. N. Annenkov (1842-1910). She made the
acquaintance of Tolstoi in 1886 and from that time on
corresponded very much with him. Completely sharing
the opinions of Tolstoi, she applied them with a rare se
quence to life and she was noted for her remarkable
abundance of love which attracted every one who met
her. Tolstoi valued her highly, considering that she had
" a clear mind and a loving heart."
105. Farther on one line is crossed out. A note of
Princess M. L. Obolensky in the copy at the disposal of
the editors.
106. It weighed upon him that certain persons to
whom he did not want to show his Journal had read it
nevertheless. In the last years of his life he was com
pelled to hide the current Journal somewhere in his
rooms, and the finished note-books he gave away in safe
keeping. 107. A village four versts from Yasnaya Polyana,
where the Chertkovs lived in summer.
321

Notes
108. Declaration of Faith.
109. The note of July 19, 1896, he evidently originally
inserted in a note-book from which he later wrote it out
in his Journal.
1 10. Tolstoi's brother, Count S. N. Tolstoi.
in. This article under the title of " How to Read The
Gospels and What Is Its Essence " was printed at first
in the edition of The Free Press, 1898, and after in 1905
in Russia. (See the complete works of Tolstoi published
by Sytin, Popular Edition, Volume XV.) The central
thought of this article is that in order to understand the
true meaning of the Gospels, one has to penetrate those
passages which are completely simple, clear and under
standable. Tolstoi advises all those who wish to under
stand the true meaning of the Gospels to mark everything
which is for them completely clear and understandable
with a blue pencil and marking at the same time with a
red one, around the words marked in blue, the words of
Christ Himself as differing from the words of the
Apostles. It is those places marked by the red pencil
which will give the reader the essence of the teaching of
Christ. Tolstoi in his own copy of the Gospels made
such marks which he mentions later in the Journal with
the words: "Marked the Gospels."
112. Hadji Murad, one of the boldest and most re
markable leaders of the Caucasian mountaineers who
played a big role in the struggle of the mountaineers with
the Russians in the Forties of the Nineteenth Century.
In 1852 he was killed in a skirmish with the Cossacks.
Tolstoi heard much about him as early as the beginning
of the Fifties, when he himself took part in the fight with
322

Notes
the mountaineers. A month after the above-mentioned
note in the Journal, Tolstoi made a rough sketch of his
story, Hadji Murad, on which he worked with inter
ruptions until 1904. This story was printed for the first
time in his Posthumous Literary Works (published by A.
L. Tolstoi, Volume III, 1912.) It is interesting to com
pare the introduction to it with the above note of Tolstoi's
in his Journal.
113. As in the copy at the disposal of the editors.
114. Afanasie Afanasevich Fet (Shenshin) (1820-
1892), a Russian lyric poet and translator and friend of
the Tolstoi family. Concerning the relations of Tolstoi
with him, see My Recollections, by Fet (Volume II,
1890) and The Biography of L. N. Tolstoi by Biriukov.
In the letter of November 7, 1866, Tolstoi wrote to Fet:
" You are a man whose mind, not to speak of anything
else, I value higher than any one of my acquaintances'
and who in personal intercourse is the only one who
gives me that bread by which it is not alone that man
lives." Later Tolstoi and Fet became estranged from each
other. 115. Kant, the German philosopher (1724-1804),
For the opinions of Tolstoi about him see the Journal,
February 19, and September 22, 1904, and September 2,
1906; August 8th, 1907; March 26, 1909. Kant's
Thoughts, selected by Tolstoi, were published by Pos
rednik, Moscow, 1906.
116. As a sixth sense, Tolstoi recognised the muscular
sense. See the note of October 10, 1896.
117. S. I. Tanyeev.
118. The Shenshins — Tula landlords who lived on
323

Notes
their estate, Sudakovo, five versts from Yasnaya Poly
ana. 119. Prosper St. Thomas, tutor of Tolstoi and his
brothers. The incident mentioned in the Journal pro
duced a tremendous impression on Tolstoi. " It may have
been that this incident was the cause of all the horror and
aversion to all kinds of violence which I experienced
throughout life," Tolstoi wrote afterwards in his recol
lections (See P. Biriukov: The Biography of L. N. Tol
stoi, Moscow, issued by Posrednik, Volume I, pages 99-
100.) In Tolstoi's story Boyhood, St. Thomas is pic
tured under the name of Saint Jerome. The incident
mentioned here is described in Chapters XIV, XV and
XVI of that story.
120. Written in English in the original.
121. Tolstoi, together with Countess S. A. Tolstoi,
visited his sister, Countess Maria Nicholaievna, living in
the convent of Shamordino near the Optina Desert. In
his letter to her of September 13, 1896, Tolstoi wrote,
" With great pleasure and emotion I recall my stay with
you." 122. The story, Hadji Murad. See Note 112.
123. Count Sergei Lvovich, with his wife, Countess
Maria Constantinovna (born Rachinsky, who died in
1899) ; Count Ilya Lvovich, with his wife, Countess
Sophia Nicholaievna, and Count Leo Lvovich, with his
wife, the Countess Dora Fedorovna.
124. The Dutchman, Van-der-Veer, refused military
service, as he declared in his letter to the Commander of
the National Guard, on the grounds that he hated every
kind of murder of men as well as of animals, especially
324

Notes
murder at the order of other people. The military au
thorities sentenced him to three months' solitary confine
ment. Later Van-der-Veer for several years published a
magazine with a Christian tendency called Vrede.
125. Van-der-Veer's letter, with the appendix by Tol
stoi under the title " The Beginning of the End " was
printed in the edition of The Free Press, 1898, England,
later in Russia in the Obnovlenia, Petrograd, 1906,
which was soon confiscated.
126. Alexandra Mikhailovna Kalmikov, a noted
worker for popular education, who turned to Tolstoi with
the request that he express himself in regard to the order
then given by the Minister of the Interior to close the
committees on illiteracy. In answer to her letter, Tolstoi
expressed his opinion about the activity of the Russian
Government in general and about the methods of re
sisting it used by the Liberals. His answer, under the
title of " A Letter to the Liberals," in revised form was
printed in full in the publication of The Free Press:
" Concerning the Attitude Towards the State " (England,
1898) and with omissions in the publication of Obnovlenia
(Petrograd, 1906,) which was confiscated.
127. logo's Philosophy. Lectures on Rajah Ioga or
Conquering Internal Nature, by Swdmi Vivekdnanda,
New York, 1896.
128. "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," dis
covered in 1883. A document of the Christian literature
of the First Centuries. Tolstoi translated it from the
Greek and twice wrote a preface to it : in 1 885 and twenty
years later, in 1905. The passage mentioned in the Jour
nal reads this way: " It is not good to love only those
325

Notes
who love you. Heathens do the same. They love their
own and hate their enemies and therefore they have ene
mies, but you should love those who hate you and then you
will have no enemies."
129. Daniel Pavlovich Konissi, a Japanese, converted to
the Greek Church, who studied in the Kiev Theological
Academy, then came to Moscow and here made the ac
quaintance of Tolstoi. Later he became professor in the
University in Kioto. Translated Lao-Tze from the
Chinese into the Russian (this translation was printed at
first in Problems of Philosophy and Psychology and later
in separate pamphlet, Lao-Se, Tao-Te-King, Moscow,
1913.) For D. P. Konissi see article of I. Alexeev,
" The Skies Are Different — the People Are the Same "
(in the paper, Nov, 1914, No. 154.)
About the Japanese who visited him, Tolstoi wrote to
Countess S. A. Tolstoi, September 26th : " This morning
the Japanese arrived. Very interesting, fully educated,
original and intelligent and free-thinking. One an ed
itor of a paper, evidently a very rich man and an aristocrat
there, no longer young; the other one, a little man, young,
his assistant, also a literary man " (Letters of Tolstoi to
his Wife, Moscow, 1913, page 507).
130. Peter Vasilevich Verigin, the leader of the
Dukhobors, when in exile in the town of Obdorsk, in the
province of Tobolsk, wrote to Tolstoi about his life and
expounded his views on the printing of books. Tolstoi's
reply, written on October 14, 1896, in which he answered
the objections of Verigin against the printing of books,
was printed in the book, The Letters of the Dukhobor
Leader, P. V. Verigin, published by The Free Press, 1901,
326

Notes
England. See also the letter of P. V. Verigin on his ac
quaintance with Tolstoi printed in the International
Tolstoi Almanac compiled by P. A. Sergienko (issued by
Kniga, 1909).
131. Further in Tolstoi's manuscript, one page has been
crossed out. A note by M. L. Obolensky in the copy in
possession of the editors.
132. This letter was printed at first in an issue of
The Free Press, No. 8, 1898, England, and later in
Russia in Obnovlenia, Petrograd, 1906, and was con
fiscated. 133. Brother of Tolstoi, Count S. N. Tolstoi.
134. A peasant of the province of Kharkov in the dis
trict of Sumsk, Peter Vasilevich Olkhovik. Refused mili
tary service October 15, 1895, at recruiting, in the city
of Bielopolie, province of Kharkov. Was sentenced by
the Vladivostok military court to three years in a discipli
nary battalion. The letters of Olkhovik to his relatives
and acquaintances about his refusal were published by
The Free Press, 1897, England, and in 1906 in Russia
by Obnoblenia (and were confiscated). Influenced by
Olkhovic, the private, Cyril Sereda, also refused military
service, with whom Olkhovic became friendly on the
steamer on the way to Siberia, where he was appointed
for service. Both of them were turned over to the
Irkutsk disciplinary battalions. Tolstoi's letter to the
commanding officer of the regiment, in which he asks
him " as a Christian and as a kind man to have pity on
these people . . ." was printed at first also in The Free
Press and afterwards in various publications in Russia.
(See the Complete Works of Tolstoi, published by Sytin:
327

Notes
subscribed edition, Volume XX, popular edition, Volume
XXII.) On the effect that Tolstoi's letter produced on
the officer of the regiment, Tolstoi himself wrote the fol
lowing in a letter to P. A. Boulanger, March 29, 1898:
" Recently I was surprised, and very pleasantly, by a let
ter from a man exiled administratively from Verkholensk,
who writes that the commanding officer of the disciplinary
battalion in Irkutsk openly told Olkhovich and Sereda
that my appeal for them saved them from corporal punish
ment and shortened their sentence. Let a thousand let
ters pass in vain: if but one has such a result, then one
ought to write unceasingly." The fate of P. V. Olkhovich
was as follows: From the disciplinary battalion he was
exiled for eighteen years to the district of Yakutsk, where
he lived together with the exiled Dukhobors until 1905,
when together with them he went to America. At the
present moment he is living in California.
135. Edward Carpenter, a noted contemporary English
thinker, some of whose works Tolstoi valued highly.
Carpenter's article, " Contemporary Science," was later
translated into Russian by Countess Tolstoi and printed
with a preface by Tolstoi in the magazine Sieverni Viestnik
(1898, No. 3), later it was issued separately (Posrednik,
Moscow, 1911).
136. Count Sergei Lvovich Tolstoi (born, 1863),
eldest son of Tolstoi.
137. To the Ekaterinograd disciplinary battalion were
sentenced the Dukhobors (41 in number) who had re
fused military service, while being in actual military serv
ice .. . See The Dukhobors in the Disciplinary Regi
ment, published by The Free Press, 1902, England,
328

Notes
where was printed also the letter of Tolstoi to the com
manding officer of the regiment. Stating those religious
convictions of the Dukhobors for which they suffered
persecutions and calling their acts . . . , Tolstoi asked
the commanding officer to do all that he could to lighten
their fate. The letter of Tolstoi produced a softening ef
fect on the commanding officer.
138. Vladimir Vasilevich Stasov (1824- 1906), a critic
of art and music and the librarian of the Imperial Public
Library in Petrograd, a friend of the Tolstoi family.
When, after Stasov's death, his friend, the sculptor, I. Y.
Ginzburg, asked Tolstoi to write his recollections of him,
in the compilation, " To The Memory of V. A. Stasov,"
Tolstoi in his letter of November 7, 1907, replied that
it was difficult for him to write about Stasov on account
of " the misunderstanding " which had taken place be
tween them : " the misunderstanding consisted in that
Vladimir Vasilevich Stasov loved and valued prejudicially
in me that which I did not value and could not value in
myself, and in his goodness forgave me that which I valued
and value in myself above everything else, — that by which
I lived and live. With every other man such a misunder
standing would lead, if not to hostility then to a coolness,
but the gentle, kind, spontaneous, warm nature of Vladi
mir Vasilevich and at the same time, his childlike clarity,
was such, that I could not help succumbing to his in
fluence and loving him without any thought of the dif
ference of our points of view. I shall always remember
our good friendly relationship with emotion."
139. Nicholai Nicholaievich Gay, the son of the old
friend of Tolstoi, N. N. Gay. 329

Notes
140. These thoughts were called forth in Tolstoi by
a letter received on October, 1896, from V. V. Rakh-
manov, who, being acquainted with this work of Tolstoi,
found it written in a cold and didactic tone and advised
Tolstoi to abandon it.
141. See Journal, Oct. 20, 1896. Thoughts 9 and 10.
142. This served as a beginning to Tolstoi's book,
What Is Art? completed by him only in 1898.
143. The initials I. G. C. in the original.
144. The Spaniard, Demetrio Zanini, wrote from
Barcelona to Tolstoi that the members of a certain club,
who were his admirers, decided to offer him a present of
a splendid inkwell, money for the purchase of which was
being collected by subscription. At the request of Tolstoi,
his daughter, Tatiana Lvovna, wrote to Zanini, saying
that he preferred this money to be used for some good
work. In answer to this, Zanini informed Tolstoi that
they had already collected about 22,500 francs. Tolstoi
explained in a letter to him the miserable condition of
the Dukhobors and suggested using the money collected
for their help.
145. A close friend of Tolstoi, Senator Alexander
Mickailovich Kuzminsky, president at this time of the St.
Petersburg District Court. The finance-Minister, S. Y.
Witte, wanted to communicate with Tolstoi through A.
M. Kuzminsky, hoping to call forth his approval in the
matter of his introducing the government sale of vodka
and the founding of temperance societies. Tolstoi's let
ter to A. M. Kuzminsky, in which he answered Witte's
proposal in the negative, with the omission of the harsh
opinions concerning General Dragomirov (the author
330

Notes
of the periodical, The Soldier's Manual, which was being
displayed in the barracks) was printed in the bulletin of
the Tolstoi Museum Society, 191 1, Nos. 3 to 5.
146. This article has remained unfinished and up to the
present has not been printed anywhere.
147. Ilya Efimovich Repine, an old acquaintance of
Tolstoi and one of his most favourite Russian painters.
On the occasion of the celebration of his twenty-fifth year
of artistic work, I. E. Repine wrote a letter in the Novoe
Vremia, 1896, No. 7435, Nov. 7th, expressing gratitude
to all those who honoured him, in which among other
things he said, when comparing the work of artists with
the work of teachers, officials, bookmakers, doctors, agri
cultural workers, " We are the lucky ones, our work is
play." 148. Ivan Michailovich Tregubov, a friend and fol
lower of Tolstoi, later a noted student of religious sects.
149. Ivan Ivanovich Gorbunov (Posadov), an adherent
of Tolstoi's views and a close friend of his ; an active con
tributor and from 1897 the editor-publisher of Posrednik,
and his brother, Nicholai Ivanovich, a performer (pianist
and reader).
150. Paul Alexandrovich Boulanger, a friend and ad
herent of Tolstoi's views, author of several works on
Oriental religions published by Posrednik.
151. Gabriel Andreevich Rusanov (1844 to 1907),
friend and adherent of Tolstoi's views; a small land
owner in the province of Voronezh. Until 1884 he was
a member of the Kharkov district court. In his will,
among other things, he wrote the following: "Already
at the age of fourteen or fifteen (now I am about fifty-
33i

Notes
seven) I ceased to be Orthodox and lived until the age
of thirty-eight as an atheist. At thirty-eight, thanks to
the greatest of men, Leo Tolstoi, I acquired faith in God
and believed in the teaching of Christ. Tolstoi gave me
happiness. I became a Christian." For several decades
G. A. Rusanov was confined to his arm-chair with an in
curable disease — consumption of the spinal cord ; not
withstanding his illness, he preserved his full freshness of
mind up to the end of his life, reading much and being pos
sessed of a rich memory. A splendid student in Russian
and foreign literature, and noted for his extraordinary ar
tistic instinct, Tolstoi valued his opinions, especially in
regard to his own literary writings.
152. Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser, friend and
follower of Tolstoi, professor in the Moscow Conserva
tory. Tolstoi valued his piano playing highly and loved
it very much. Towards the end of Tolstoi's life, A. B.
Goldenweiser visited him often and took a close interest
in his life. In 1910, according to Tolstoi's wish, he acted
in the capacity of witness to his will.
153. Chromatic phantasy and fugue by Bach.
154. Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906), a cele
brated Russian composer, later personally acquainted with
Tolstoi. 155. See Note 144. Receiving a letter from Zanini
that the collection reached to 31,500 francs, Tolstoi in
his letter to him of December 6, 1896, asked that this
money be transferred through the Tiflis bank to his Cau
casian friends, who were in charge of helping the Dukho
bors. At the end of his letter he wrote that he was
332

Notes
touched by " this sign of sympathy " which the Spaniards
expressed for him in this unusual way. This money,
though, was never received by Tolstoi, nor was the ink
well. (See Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife,
Moscow, 19 1 3, page 516.)
156. This story of F. F. Tistchenko under the title,
Daily Bread (A true tale of the sufferings of a village
School teacher), was printed with a letter of Tolstoi in
Knizhki Nedieli, 1897, No. 10, and later in the collection
of Tales by Tistchenko.
157. Princess Gorchakov, a distant relative of Tolstoi,
a lady-in-waiting, and principal of one of the Moscow
gymnasiums. 158. Anatol Fedorovich Koni, a well-known jurist, a
member of the Imperial Council and a writer. Became
acquainted with Tolstoi in the eighties and wrote recollec
tions of him (see his book, On the Path of Life, Volume
II, 1913). He gave Tolstoi the theme for Resurrec
tion (see Note 23).
159. Maria Fedorovna Kudriavtsev, an adherent of
Tolstoi's views.
160. The Appeal, under the title Help, was written and
signed by P. I. Biriukov, I. N. Tregubov and V. G.
Chertkov. This was an appeal to society to render as
sistance to the persecuted Dukhobors " by money sacrifices,
so as to ease the sufferings of the old, the sick and the
young, as well as by lifting one's voice in defence of the
persecuted." The Appeal was spread by the authors
in manuscript and in typewritten copies and among other
things was delivered to many persons of high position.
333

Notes
Tolstoi wrote the appendix to it, in which he explained
the significance of the act of the Dukhobors towards the
realisation of Christianity in our life. Helpl was printed
with Tolstoi's appendix by The Free Press (1897, Eng
land). The appendix is printed also in the Full Collected
Works of Tolstoi, published by Sytin, subscribed edition,
Volume XVI, popular edition, Volume XIX.
161. The editors were unable to ascertain the author
of the history of music which Tolstoi was reading.
162. Jean Batiste Faure, the celebrated French singer
and composer (in the second half of the Nineteenth Cen
tury), author of Tolstoi's favourite duet, " The Crucifix."
163. Vasali Stepanovich Perfileev, a former Moscow
Governor, a friend of Tolstoi in the fifties and sixties, and
a distant relative of the Tolstois.
164. An omission in the copy in possession of the
editors. 165. This theme was not executed by Tolstoi. A work
under a similar title begun by him in 1883 was printed in
Volume III of The Posthumous Literary Works of Tol
stoi, issued by A. L. Tolstoi.
166. Katiusha Maslov and Nekhliudov, the principal
characters of the novel.
167. Alexander Ivanovich Arkhangelsky (1857-1906),
an adherent of Tolstoi's views, about whom after his death
in the letter of October 26, 1906, Tolstoi wrote: "This
was one of the best men I ever happened to know in
my life." A. I. Arkhangelsky was a veterinary surgeon
in the district of Bronnitsk, Province of Moscow. Later,
becoming acquainted with the works of Tolstoi, he left
his position, considering it impossible to apply against the
334

Notes
peasants the compulsory measures required of him as vet
erinary surgeon, and became a watch-maker, by which he
supported himself until his death. His work, Whom
to Serve? is devoted to explaining the question of the
incompatibility . . . with the service to God. When
he read this work in manuscript in 1895, Tolstoi wrote
Arkhangelsky that " it will do the people much good and
will advance the word of God." This work was issued
only in 191 1 in the Russian language by the publishing
house, " Vozrozhdenie" in Bourgas (Bulgardia). The
same publishing house issued a biography of A. I. Ark
hangelsky compiled by Kh. N. Abrikosov. Extracts from
Whom to Serve signed by the pseudonym, " Buka," were
printed by Tolstoi in The Reading Circle. It should be
also mentioned that the publication of the Veterinary Man
ual compiled by Arkhangelsky was suspended at one time
by the censor, who demanded that it include the com
pulsory regulations. Protesting against this, Arkhangel
sky wrote a remarkable letter to I. I. Gorbunov which
Tolstoi included in his Archives of L. N. Tolstoi, No. 5.
This letter formed the basis of the article, " Whom To
Serve." Later the veterinary manual was issued by Pos
rednik. 168. Prince Ilya Petrovich Nakashidze, a Georgian
writer, a close adherent of Tolstoi's ideas.
169. Tolstoi had the intention of writing (but did
not write) an introduction to the Russian translation of
the Philosophical Work of A. A. Spier, which was to have
appeared in Problems of Philosophy and Psychology.
170. Tolstoi was considering at this time an appeal
against the existing social-political order.
335

Notes
171. An omission in the copy in possession of the ed
itors. 172. Stepan Andreevich Behrs, Tolstoi's brother-in-law,
author of Recollections About Count L. N. Tolstoi (Smo
lensk, 1894), now dead.
173. V. G. Chertkov and P. I. Biriukov, and later
also I. M. Tregubov, were exiled after a search of their
homes: V. G. Chertkov abroad — P. I. Biriukov to Bausk
in Courland, and I. N. Tregubov to Goldingen, also in
Courland. The cause of exiling was the writing of an
appeal to help the persecuted Dukhobors (see Note 160)
and their activity in behalf of the Dukhobors and the
persecuted sects in general. See the memoirs of P. I.
Biriukov, "The Story of My Exile," printed in the
publication O Minuvshen (Petrograd, 1909). These
memoirs contain several letters by Tolstoi to Biriu
kov. 174. Tolstoi went to take leave of the Chertkovs who
were then living in Petrograd.
175. Nicholai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko (1846-
1898), a well-known artist, to whose brush belongs also
the portrait of Tolstoi, painted in 1895.
176. Countess Alexandra Andreevna Tolstoi (1817-
1904), a second cousin of Tolstoi, lady-in-waiting to the
Empress. Tolstoi in his youth was on friendly terms with
her. His correspondence with the Countess A. A. Tol
stoi, with the addition of a memoir by her, was published
by the Tolstoi Museum Society, Petrograd, 191 1. In
reference to this meeting with her, mentioned by Tolstoi
in the Journal, see the memoirs (pages 71, 72 of the
above mentioned publication). About this same meeting
336

Notes
and about the visit to Petrograd in general, Tolstoi wrote
to V. G. Chertkov the following (February 15, 1897) :
" St. Petersburg gave me a most joyous impression. Of
course the principal thing was the meeting at your house.
The depressing impression was my conversation with A. A.
Tolstoi. The terrible thing was not only the coldness,
but the cruelty and the forcing oneself into one's soul and
the violence, the very same which had estranged us.
What a bad belief it is, which makes good people so cruel
and therefore so insensible to the spiritual condition of
others. Believe word for word as I do, otherwise if you
are not exactly my enemy, still you are a stranger." It
should be noted that from the autumn of 1895, f°r the
course of several years, Tolstoi did not write at all to the
Countess A. A. Tolstoi.
177. In considering Tolstoi's opinions concerning
women found in the Journal, one should be particularly
careful to avoid misunderstanding. First, Tolstoi, wish
ing from natural delicacy to make his remarks impersonal,
often generalised his private impressions and observations
from intercourse with separate individuals, and therefore
these remarks in reality carried no reflection whatever
against all women in general.
Second, even in those instances where Tolstoi con
sciously expressed himself adversely about women in gen
eral, he had in mind the most commonplace modern woman
with her adverse qualities.
But in his mind he absolutely discriminated in favour
of the intelligent, religious woman whom seldom he hap
pened to meet in life and who always attracted his atten
tion. So, for instance, he valued very highly the distant
337

Notes
relative who brought him up, T. A. Ergolsky, for her
self-sacrificing life; Mmes. M. A. Schmidt and L. F.
Annenkov he respected for their true religious lives, and
among the women writers he especially valued an Ameri
can, Lucy Mallory, for her exceptional writings, from
which he selected many thoughts for The Reading Circle.
For women of this type he always had the greatest re
spect, recognising fully their merits and their great sig
nificance to humanity. In his literary works, Tolstoi, as
is known, frequently reproduced the highest type of
woman (for instance, Pashenka in Father Sergius, or the
old woman, Maria Semenovna in The Forged Coupon).
Also in his other writings, Tolstoi did not always express
himself adversely about women, as can be seen, for in
stance, from the following extracts:
" Oh, how I would like to show to woman the whole
significance of chaste women. The chaste woman (not
in vain is the legend of Mary) will save the world."
(Journal, August 3, 1898.)
" One of the most necessary tasks of humanity consists
in the bringing up of chaste women." (Journal, August
24, 1898.)
" The virtues of men and women are the same ; tem
perance, truthfulness, kindness; but in the woman, these
same virtues attain a special charm." (The Reading
Circle, June 2.)
" Men cannot do that highest, best work, which brings
men more than anything else nearer to God — the work
of love, the work of complete self-surrender to him whom
you love, which good women have done so well and so
naturally, are doing, and will do. What would happen
338

Notes
to the world, what would happen to us men, if women
had not that quality and if they did not exercise it . . .
Without mothers, helpers, friends, comforters, who love in
a man all that is best in him, and who with a suggestion
hardly to be noticed, call forth and support all the best
in him — without such women it would be bad to live
in this world. Christ would not have had Mary and
Magdalene ; Francis of Assisi would not have had Clara ;
the Decembrists would not have had their wives with
them in exile; the Dukhobors would not have had their
wives who did not hold their husbands back, but sup
ported them in their martyrdom for truth, there would
not have been those thousands and thousands of unknown
women, the very best, as everything that is unknown, the
comforters of the drunken, the weak, the debauched, those
for whom the consolations of love are more necessary than
for any one else. In this love, whether it is directed to
Kukin or to Christ, is the principal, great and irreplacable
strength of women." (Appendix to Chekhov's story,
Dushechka.) 178. On Life — a religious-philosophic work by Tolstoi,
written by him in 1887 and printed in all his collected
works. An abbreviation of this work and an exposition
of it written in simple language for plain readers was
made by an American, Bolton Hall, and was approved by
Tolstoi and printed under the title, Life, Love and Death.
Later a translation of this under the title, True Life, ap
peared in an issue of the Ethical Artistic Library, Mos
cow, 1899. See article of Bolton Hall in the Interna
tional Tolstoi Almanac compiled by P. A. Sergienko
(Kniga, 1909). 339

Notes
1 79. See Letters of L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, Moscow,
1913, pages 518 to 519.
180. Tolstoi made a mistake of one year: the battle
against the Caucasian mountaineers in which he took part
in the capacity of an artillerist, took place February 18,
1853. (See P. Biriukov's Biography of Tolstoi, Volume
I, page 226.) Nine years after the above mentioned
note, February 18, 1903, Tolstoi wrote to Rusanov: " To
day it is fifty-three years since hostile enemy shells struck
the wheel of that cannon which I directed. If the muzzle
of the gun from which the shell emerged had deviated
i-io,oooths of an inch to one side or another, I would have
been killed and I would no longer have lived. What non
sense. I would have existed in a form now inconceivable
to me."
181. What Is Art?
182. Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), a well-known
English poet, critic and student of literature. Shortly be
fore his death, Arnold printed an article in The Fort
nightly Review, devoted to the critical analysis of Anna
Karenin and some of the religious philosophic writings of
Tolstoi. (See, Novoe Vremia, December 11, 1887, the
article, "An English Critic on Leo Tolstoi.") The
thought quoted by Tolstoi was expressed by Arnold in
his article, " The Problems of Modern Criticisms " (a
Russian translation was issued by Posrednik). Tolstoi
valued the writings of Arnold highly, especially his book,
Literature and Dogma, of which a Russian translation
was published by Posrednik under the title, Wherein Lies
the Essence of Christianity and Judaism (Moscow,
1907). 340

Notes
183. Tolstoi, for the sake of an airing, rode about ten
versts to a dressmaker, for the dress of Nadezhda Mikhail-
ovna Yushkova.
184. Jules and Leo Edwardovich Konius, the volinist
and the pianist.
185. Countess T. L. Tolstoi and Count Mikhail Adam-
ovich Olsuphiev performed two small plays, Feminine
Nonsense by I. L. Stcheglov and The Lady Agreeable In
All Respects.
186. According to the copy in possession of the ed
itors. 187. Evidently a mistake in the copy in possession of
the editors. This extract refers not to Book VII, but to
Book VI of Politics. The quotation cited by Tolstoi
reads in the Russian translation of Prof. S. A. Zhebelev
in this way: "In a state enjoying the best organisation,
and uniting in itself men absolutely just, and not rela
tively just (in relation to this or that political system),
the citizens should not lead a life such as is led by crafts
men or merchants (such a life is ignoble and is contrary to
virtue) ; the citizens of the state planned by us should like
wise not be agricultural workers, because they will be in
need of leisure for the development of their virtue."
Aristotle's Politics: Works of the Petrograd Philosophic
Society, Petrograd, 1911, pages 318, 319,
188. An omission in the copy in possession of the ed
itors. 189. The editor knows nothing about the acquaintance
ship of Tolstoi with Madame Shorin.
190. Countess A. M. Olsuphiev, who had been on
friendly terms with Tolstoi. In a note to V. G. Chert-
341

Notes
kov, written on a piece of proof of Resurrection, June 8,
1899, Tolstoi communicated: "I have a sorrow. Anna
Mikhailovna Olsuphiev died."
191. A village near Nicholskoe, as well as the village
Shelkovo, mentioned below.
192. A young lively girl, whom Tolstoi met at the
Chertkovs' when they lived in the summer of 1896 near
Yasnaya Polyana. Being arrested on suspicion of revolu
tionary activity and imprisoned in the fortress of Peter
and Paul, she committed suicide by setting herself on
fire. In the letter to V. G. Chertkov, Tolstoi wrote :
" In Petersburg on February 12th the following oc
curred : Vietrova, Maria Fedosievna, whom you know and
whom I knew, a student confined in the House of De
tention before Trial in the strike case, little connected
with it, was transferred to the fortress of Peter and
Paul. There, as they say and surmise, after inquiry and
violation (that is still unestablished) she poured kerosene
on herself, set fire to it and on the third day died.
Her comrades who visited her, kept on bringing her
things, which were accepted, and only after two weeks,
were they told that she had burnt herself. The youth,
all the students, up to three thousand persons (there
were some also from the Theological Seminary) gathered
in the Kazan Cathedral for the service of the dead.
They were not permitted, but they themselves began to
sing " Eternal Memory '' and with wreaths, intended to
march on the Nevsky Prospect, but were not permitted,
and they went along Kazan Street. Their names were
taken and they were let free. Every one is indignant. I
342

Notes
receive letters and people come and tell me about it. I
feel great pity for all who take part in these affairs, and I
have a greater and greater desire to explain to people how
they ruin themselves simply because they neglect that law
(or they do not know it) which was given by Christ and
which frees from such deeds and from the participation in
them." Tolstoi approached A. F. Koni for advice, whether it
were possible to publish what was authentically known
about this terrible case, and secondly about " what to do in
order to resist " this kind of event?
193. Two lines crossed out by Tolstoi. A note by M.
L. Obolensky in the copy in possession of the editors.
194. The Englishman, Aylmer Maude, translator of
many works of Tolstoi into English. The agricultural
colony which Tolstoi mentions was being founded at
that time in England in the town of Purleigh in Essex.
Maude settled in the neighbourhood of the colony and
supported it materially. Maude himself and several rep
resentatives of this colony visited Tolstoi at this time.
He wrote and published in England, a biography of Tol
stoi, The Life of Tolstoi, by Aylmer Maude, two volumes,
London, 1908 to 1910. Unfortunately this most detailed
biography of Tolstoi in English, contains among other
things the most perverted information about Tolstoi and
an absolutely incorrect interpretation of his views, as
well as of some of his acts. Tolstoi himself, learning be
fore his death of the contents of some of these chapters
which were sent to Yasnaya Polyana in manuscript, found
the interpretation of the relation among people near to
him so incorrect that he wrote about it to Maude.
343

Notes
195. I. M. Tregubov, sentenced to exile by adminis
trative order, was living in the Caucasus among the Duk
hobors, far from the centres of administration, and re
mained still free. (See entry of following day.)
196. This search was made in connection with I. M.
Tregubov's things, who was wanted at that time, and
which were left by him in A. N. Dunaev's apart
ment. 197. That is, in England at the V. G. and A. K.
Chertkovs. 198. Further in Tolstoi's manuscript two pages are cut
out. Note of M. L. Obolensky in the copy in possession
of the editors.
In reference to the mood during the month mentioned by
him as " bad and unproductive " Tolstoi wrote to Chert
kov (April 30, 1897) : " I will not say that I have been
depressed, because when I ask myself, ' Who am I ?
For what am I ? ' I answer myself satisfactorily, but I
have no energy, and I feel as if Lilliputian hairs were
laid over me and I have less and less initiative and
activity. 199. In the beginning of June of that year, Tolstoi
decided to leave the conditions of his life which tortured
him and wrote a letter to his wife about this. But later
he changed his mind and on the envelope of this letter
made an inscription: "If I will make no special pro
vision about this letter, then give this after my death
to S. A." This letter he gave afterwards for safe-keep
ing to his son-in-law, Prince N. L. Obolensky, who did
deliver it, as was designated, after Tolstoi's death. At
344

Notes
that time it was printed in different publications. (See
Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, March, 1913,
pages 524 to 526.)
200. In his letter to V. G. Chertkov of July 12,
1896, Tolstoi informed him of his illness: " About a week
ago when I began to answer letters, I fell terribly ill
with a bilious attack, so that I could only answer one
letter. My illness was very painful, but it passed away
quickly. I am now vigorous and healthy."
201. Tolstoi's daughter, Maria Lvovna, married to
Prince N. L. Obolensky.
202. Tolstoi wrote about him to A. C. Chertkov (July
12, 1897): "A young peasant, Shidlovsky, came to me
from the province of Kiev, a man with a very lively
spirit." 203. In his letter to Chertkov of July 23, 1897, Tolstoi
wrote: "Latterly I have begun again to make entries
in the Journal — a sign that I have revived somewhat
spiritually and no longer feel myself alone."
204. William Crookes, a well-known English physicist
and chemist, a follower of spiritualism. A detailed re
port about this speech was printed in the Novoe Vremia
of 1897, under the title, " On the Relativity of Human
Knowledge." 205. M. P. Novikov gave Tolstoi his notes, through his
brother, in which he described all the persecutions which
he had to undergo for his friendship with Tolstoi. The
notes up to this time have not yet been printed.
206. Paul Carus, editor of a Chicago magazine, The
Open Court, devoted to the scientific explanation of re-
345

Notes
ligious questions. (See his article, "A Tribute to Tol
stoi," printed in the International Tolstoi Almanac, com
piled by P. A. Sergienko, Kniga, 1909.)
207. Evgenie Ivanovich Popov, friend and adherent
of Tolstoi's ideas, author of the book, The Life and Death
of E. N. Drozhin (see Note 43), several other works
on vegetarianism, the simple life, mathematics, etc.
208. The family of Count I. L. Tolstoi.
209. Vasili Vasilevich Longinov, later Rector of the
Kharkov Theological Seminary.
210. In a letter to the Chertkovs of August 8, 1897,
Tolstoi wrote : " I feel weak also from the fact, that we
have a pile of visitors here ... all this wastes time and
strength and is useless. I thirst terribly for silence and
peace. How happy I would be if I could end my days
in solitude and principally, in conditions, not repulsive and
torturing to my conscience. But it seems that it is neces
sary. At least, I know no way out."
211. Peter Alexeevich Bulakhov, a peasant from the
province of Smolensk, belonging to the sect of the
Old-Believers, the followers of which avoid military
service. 212. Mikhail Alexandrovich Stakhovich, afterwards a
member of the Council of Empire, an old friend of the
Tolstoi family, and probably his sister, Sophia Alexan-
drovna, or his brother, Alexander Alexandrovich (1858-
I9I5)- 213. Probably — Vasili Alexeevich Maklakov, a well-
known lawyer, afterwards a member of the Duma, and
his brother, Alexei Alexeevich, a well-known Moscow
physician. 346

Notes
214. Ilya Yakovlovich Ginsburg, a well-known Rus
sian sculptor, who made several busts and statues of
Tolstoi Mikhail Nicholaievich Sobolev, instructor in the Mos
cow University, living at this time with the Tolstois as
a teacher to Count M. L. Tolstoi.
N. A. Kasatkin, a well-known Russian painter.
215. In regard to this letter of the Japanese, Tolstoi
in a letter of August 8, 1897, wrote: "Recently I re
ceived a letter from Crosby with an enclosure of a letter
from a Japanese who lived with him in New York. The
Japanese read The Gospel in Brief, and writes that it
explained to him the meaning of life and that he is now
going home to Japan, in order to apply these beliefs to
his life and to the life of others and to establish settle
ments there. A splendid letter which touched me deeply
and gave me joy. The same truth evidently is accessible
and necessary to every one."
216. Count L. L. Tolstoi (born in 1869), Tolstoi's
third son, and his wife, the Princess Dora Fedorovna
(born Westerlund).
217. B. N. Leontev, at one time calling himself a fol
lower of Tolstoi, committed suicide in 1909.
218. In the Russkia Viedomosti (No. 211, 1897), m
the report of the missionary congress which took place in
Kazan in August, 1897, in which many high representa
tives of the hierarchy participated, it was stated among
other things, that for combating the spread of sects and
dissensions, the congress considered it necessary to adopt
the following measures: To forbid the dissenters to open
schools for their children and to close all the schools
347

Notes
existing at the present moment; to declare the adherence
to a particularly obnoxious sect as a compromising circum
stance and to thus give the right to peasant communities
to expel from their midst members discovered as belong
ing to an obnoxious sect and to exile them to Siberia.
For the sake of combating dissensions and sects, still other
measures were suggested and discussed at the congress,
which among others were : The soliciting of the passing of
a law, by which it would be possible to take away by
force the children of the dissenters and sectarians, and
the establishing of asylums in every diocese for bringing
them up in the orthodox faith. . . . The Archbishop of
Riazan, Meletie, called the attention of the congress to
another very important measure, and to his mind, a very
useful one for the success of missionary work: the con
fiscation of the property of the dissenters and sectar
ians. 219. B. A. Boulanger was sent abroad for continuing
the affair of helping the Dukhobors, for which V. G.
Chertkov, P. I. Biriukov and I. N. Tregubov were exiled
before him.
220. In his letter to the Swedish papers (not yet printed
in Russia) Tolstoi wrote that the Nobel prize ought to
be awarded to the Dukhobors, as people who have done
their utmost towards the establishment of universal peace.
This letter, dated August 27, 1898, was printed in P. I.
Biriukov's paper: Svobodnaia Mysl (Geneva), No. 4,
1899. 221. Arthur St. John, an Englishman, a former officer
in the India service, came to Moscow to deliver the money
348

Notes
donated for the benefit of the Dukhobors by English
Quakers. Wishing to come into personal relation with
the Dukhobors, he went to the Caucasus, where he was ar
rested and sent out of Russia. Later, he went with
the Dukhobors to America and lived with them a long
time. 222. The Molokans, from the province of Samara,
district of Buzuluk, came twice (in April and September,
1897) t0 Tolstoi to ask him that he help them get
back the children taken from them by the police and
placed in orthodox monasteries. (See Tolstoi's letter
about this to the editor of the Peterburgskaia Viedomosti,
printed in that paper in October, 1897, and reprinted in
the Collected Works of Tolstoi, edited by Sytin, Popular
Edition, Volume XXII. See also, article of A. S. Pru-
gavin, " Leo Tolstoi and the Malakans of Samara," in his
book, On Leo Tolstoi and the Tolstoians, Moscow,
1911.) 223. About the children taken away from the Mo
lokans. The rough draft of this letter is now in the Pet
rograd Tolstoi Museum.
224. Count A. V. Olsuphiev, Adjutant General. In
letters to him and to the two other persons mentioned
below, Tolstoi asked their collaboration in freeing from
the monasteries, the children taken from the Molokans.
225. Charles Heath. An Englishman now dead, a
former instructor of English language and literature in a
law school, and later one of the tutors of the Emperor,
Nicholas II.
226. Mme. E. I. Chertkov, the widow of an Adjut-
349

Notes
ant General, a well-known follower of the " Evangelist "
teaching or what is known as The Pashkov Evangelist
Doctrine. The mother of V. G. Chertkov.
227. The Swede, Langlet, who previously had given
detailed information to Tolstoi about the Nobel prize.
He was a guest at Yasnaya Polyana at this time.
228. The last sentence was marked off in the
original. 229. To V. G. Chertkov, during the time of his en
forced two-year sojourn abroad, Tolstoi from time to
time actually sent extracts of his Journal. But in gen
eral, Tolstoi, for reasons which will be given at the
proper time and place, found it later necessary to change
his decision not to give his Journal to be copied in its
entirety to any one; the confirmation of this can be found
in the fact that the present issue of the Journal is being
printed from a transcript made according to Tolstoi's
wishes. When V. G. Chertkov returned to Russia, Tol
stoi continually gave him his Journals to copy in their
entirety. 230. In the letter to A. C. Chertkov of October 13,
1897, Tolstoi wrote: " How many people are there with
whom one does not speak unreservedly, because you know
that they are drunk. Some are drunk with greed, some
with vanity, some with love, some simply with drugs.
Lord forfend us from these intoxications. These intoxi
cations place no worse boundaries between people than
religion, patriotism, aristocracy do, and prevent that union
which God desires."
231. V. G. Chertkov lived through hard times in
England; his condition naturally reflected itself upon his
350

Notes
family, among which number was his sister-in-law, O.
K. Dieterichs, who was their guest at this time.
232. Tolstoi sent to the editor of the Peterburgskaia
Viedomosti a letter in regard to the children taken away
from the Samara Molokans, and about those measures
which were suggested as a means of fighting the sectarians
and Old-Believers which were made in the missionary
congress in Kazan. This letter was printed in No. 282,
of October 15 th.
233. Protestant ministers of various localities in Hol
land: L. A. Beller, A. De-Kuh and I-Kh. Klein, at a
meeting in Grevenhagen, definitely expressed themselves
against war and military service.
324. N took an adverse attitude to Chertkov's social
work among Englishmen. Chertkov fell ill with pneu
monia. 235. To Moscow to be copied.
236. V. D. Liapunov (1873-1905), peasant-poet of
Tula. Working in Tula, Liapunov in the autumn of
1897 came to Tolstoi that he judge his poetry. Tolstoi
was very much pleased with the poems, contrary to his
custom, for in general he did not like poetry. Tolstoi
proposed that Liapunov stay in his house to help copy his
manuscripts. 237. Afanasi Aggeev, a free-thinking peasant from the
village of Kaznacheevka, 4 versts from Yasnaya Poly
ana. In 1903 he was sentenced by the Tula District
Court to exile in Siberia for life for the public utter
ance of words insulting to the Orthodox Faith. He died
in 1908.
238. N. Y. Grot (1852-1899), professor at the Mos-
35i

Notes
cow University, author of numerous articles on philosophic
questions and editor of the magazine, Problems of Phil
osophy and Psychology. Tolstoi submitted his work,
What Is Art? to Grot to be printed in his magazine.
Shortly before his death, at the request of Grot's brother,
Tolstoi wrote his recollections about him, which were
printed, together with his letter to Grot, in the compila
tion, N. Y. Grot, in Sketches, Recollections and Letters by
Comrades and Pupils, Friends and Admirers, Petrograd,
191 1, and in the Full Collected Works of L. N. Tol
stoi, issued by Sytin, subscribed edition, Volume XV;
Popular Edition, Volume XXIV.
239. A. P. Ivanov (died 19 12), ex-officer and old
scribe, with whom Tolstoi became acquainted at the
time of the census of 1862, having found him among the
Moscow tramps. He led a vagabond life, coming or
tramping from time to time to Yasnaya Polyana to help
Tolstoi copy his manuscripts.
240. Prince D. A. Khilkov (1858-1915), who at this
time was in accord with Tolstoi in several questions of
a more external nature, formerly an officer of the Hussars
and afterwards of the Cossacks, a landlord in the district
of Sumsk, province of Kharkov. In the eighties, he re
signed from military service and sold for a trifle his 400
dessiatines of land, the only personal property he had at
the time, to the peasants of the village of Pavlovok; in
1889, on account of his propaganda against religion, he
was exiled by administrative order to Zakavkaz. In 1893
Khilkov and his wife suffered a great sorrow: their chil
dren were taken away from them by order of the gov
ernment (following the manipulations of Khilkov's
352

Notes
mother), and they were given over to this lady for bring
ing up, she having absolutely no sympathy with the opinions
of her son. Afterwards, when a strong movement among
the Dukhobors began in the Caucasus, Khilkov was
sent over to the Baltic Provinces, where he lived up to
1899, at which time it was decided that he be sent
abroad. In his sojourn abroad, his convictions underwent
a change to the side of the violent revolutionaries. But
when Khilkov returned to Russia in 1905, he absolutely
abstained from every political activity. In the beginning
of the Russian-German War, Khilkov entered the army
as a volunteer and in October, 1914, was killed at Lvov
(Lemberg). 241. A peasant from Yasnaya Polyana, now dead, who
was well-lettered and loved to read.
242. The clergy who came carried the icon to the
churches, in the parish of which stood Yasnaya Poly
ana. According to the order of the clergy, the elder of
Yasnaya Polyana called a village meeting and ordered
every one to go to church and meet the icon which was
afterwards carried from house to house in all the house
holds of the village. Concerning Tolstoi and the icon,
see his letter to Countess S. A. Tolstoi, which evidently
by mistake is dated 1898 (Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi
to his Wife, Moscow, 19 13, page 558).
243. M. N. Miklukha-Maklai (1 847-1 887), a well-
known Russian traveller, living many years among the
Tuzemts of New Guinea and other islands. In his letter
to Miklukha-Maklai in the middle of the eighties, Tol
stoi wrote that he considered him remarkable, not for
what every one else considered him remarkable, but that
353

Notes
" he could find manifestations of humanity among the
wildest men on the globe."
244. Such a type was afterwards portrayed by Tol
stoi in his story The Forged Coupon, under the name of
the housekeeper, Vasili. (See Posthumous Literary
Works of L. N. Tolstoi, issued by A. L. Tolstoi, Volume
I.) 245. Every group of people is always inferior to the
elements which compose it.
246. The work by M. O. Menshikov, Concerning Holy
Love and Sex Love, was printed in Knighki Nedieli in
1897, No. 11. In Chapters IV and V of this work, Men
shikov wrote about the struggle of the two principles : The
many-gods and the One-God ; Tolstoi was probably pleased
with the following lines: "The great teaching about
One-God wiped out, together with the idols, the very
conception of separate gods; the gods disappeared but
their elements — the passions — remained, until now the
overwhelming majority of Christians who profess by word
in the One-God, in reality bow to a plurality. . . .
(Italics made by the author.) Notwithstanding the thou
sand year rule of the Gospels, we, in an overwhelming
majority are more sincerely idolaters than Christians — of
course without suspecting it. . . . Nihilist, Godless, pa
ganized, the contemporary generation accepts as an un
doubted law, that the development of man consists in
enlarging the number of needs and refining them to the
point of a cult. Is this not a new plurality of gods, an
idolatry ? "
247. In his book, What Is Art?
248. St. John, Chapter XIV, Verse 1.
354

Notes
249. Chapter I, Verse 24, St. Paul to the Colos
sians. 250. See letter of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife,
March, 1913, page 535 (No. 583) and page 537 (No.
585). 251. See letter of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife,
March, 1913, pages 536-537-
252. About this time Tolstoi wrote to an acquaintance
of his: "You know Mme. M. A. Schmidt. She lives
near us, straining every effort, notwithstanding her weak
health and her age (about 50), to work to support her
self. (She constantly helps people) and it is impossible
to see her without a softening of the heart and . . . envy.
She is always joyous, calm and graceful."
253. In the Novoe Vremia (November 19, 1897, No.
7,806) there appeared an article by V. V. Rozanov:
" Graceful Demonism " in which, in an ironical tone, he
criticised Menshikov's article, " On Sex Love," which was
printed in Knighki Nedieli (1897, Nos. 9-1 1). In his
words later on, Tolstoi speaks of his deeply loved brother,
Nickolai Nickolaievich (1 823-1 860). In his Recollec
tions, Tolstoi relates the incident as follows: " I re
member how once, a very stupid and bad man, an Adjutant
General, who was hunting with him, laughed at him and
how my brother, glancing at me, smiled kindly," evidently
finding great satisfaction in this. (Biriukov, Biography of
L. N. Tolstoi, Vol. I, Moscow, 1911, pages 43-44).
254. A. Maude translated What Is Art? into Eng
lish. 255. The letter of N. Y. Grot is printed, I think, in
Tolstoi's book, What Is Art? 355

Notes
256. Grigori Antonovich Zakharlin (1829-1895), a
well-known professor in the Moscow University, in his
day, one of the most popular Moscow physicians.
257. Countess Maria Nicholaievna Tolstoi (1830-
1912), Tolstoi's only sister. As a young girl, she married
her second cousin, Count V. P. Tolstoi; some time later
she separated from him and soon after she became a
widow. When her daughters were married (Mme. V.
V. Nagarnov, Princess E. V. Obolensky and Mme. E.
S. Denisenko) Countess Tolstoi, under the influence of
the well-known Father Ambrose, of the Optina Desert,
entered the convent of Shamordino (in the province of
Kaluga) and later took the veil. In this convent she
spent the rest of her life.
258. Monk Ambrose, the celebrated holy man of the
Optina Desert, died in 1891, at the age of 80. About
Tolstoi's visits to the Optina Desert see fragment of
notes made by S. A. Tolstoi under the title My Life
(Tolstoi Annual, 1913, Petrograd, 1914).
259. Dushan Petrovich Makovitsky, then editor in
Hungary (in Ruzhomberg), of the Slavic publication
which corresponded to the publication Posrednik issued
in Moscow, in which Tolstoi and some of his friends took
a most active interest.
260. In this place, in the original Journal, a page
had been entered in Tolstoi's hand; evidently the be
ginning of a letter. This was its contents :
" You ask me a question which I now for twenty
years have been trying to solve.
"It always seems to us — when the simple truth is
that we ought to lead a Christian life, and when it is dis-
356

Notes
closed to us how terribly far from that life is the life
we lead — it always seems to us that we for the moment
find ourselves in an exceptionally disadvantageous con
dition for beginning that new life, which opens itself to
us: To one, it is a mother, to another a wife, to a third,
children, to a fourth, business; this one bought a bull,
or the other has a wedding which interferes from his going
to the feast. And we usually say to ourselves, ' Oh, if
it were not so,' — looking at it as on an accidental hin
drance and not as on the unavoidable conditions of Chris
tian life, as on the law of gravitation in problems of
activity. " Beauty which discloses to us the kingdom of God
blinds us so, that we immediately want to enter it and
we forget that this is not the programme of life, but the
ideal; and that the programme of life consists in struggle
and in effort to attain the kingdom of God, to approach
it. "And when you understand this, then the attitude
towards activity is changed. . . ."
261. The village of Dolgoe, province of Tula, district
of Krapevensk, nineteen versts from Yasnaya Polyana.
The Yasnaya Polyana house in which Tolstoi was born
stands there. In the fifties this house was sold to a
neighbouring landlord, Gorobov, who took it from Yasnaya
Polyana to Dolgoe, where it remained until 1913, when it
was destroyed.
262. Nichalai Ilich Storozhenko (1836-1906), profes
sor in the Moscow University, author of numerous
books and articles on Russian history and general litera
ture. 357

Notes
263. Tolstoi probably asked N. A. Kasatkin for ex
amples of true art in painting.
264. N's stories seemed to be about some of the Chert
kovs' difficult experiences in England.
265. Prince S. N. Troubetskoi (1862-1905), professor
of philosophy in the Moscow University, took an active
part in the magazine, Problems of Philosophy and Psy
chology, and became after N. Y. Grot's death, the editor
of it. Tolstoi, as was said above, gave his work, What Is
Art? to this magazine.
266. Of these subjects Tolstoi, as much as can be
judged, made use of the following: the first, Father
Sergius, 1898; the second, The Posthumous Memoirs of
the Monk, Fedor Kuzmich, 1905 ; the fourth, Korni
Vasiliev, 1905 ; fifth, The Resurrection of Hell and Its
Destruction, 1902; sixth, The Forged Coupon, 1902-
1904; seventh, Hadji Murad, 1898, 1902-1904; the tenth,
Resurrection, 1 898-1899; and the thirteenth, The Divine
and the Human, 1903-1904; the twelfth subject, Mother,
was begun by Tolstoi in the beginning of the nineties
(Introduction to The Story of a Mother, or A Mother's
Notes). 267. It was disagreeable to Tolstoi that the foreign
publishers, who wished to print the first edition of his
book, What Is Art? made the condition that it should ap
pear everywhere simultaneously and that it should not
be published anywhere first, not even in Russia. Tol
stoi, being little acquainted with the conditions of foreign
publication, did not understand at first how unavoidable
these demands were for a simultaneous publication of
books in various countries, and he was disagreeably em-
358

Nates
barrassed that he had to absolutely forbid the appearance
of the book in Russia before the day arranged for foreign
publication. Later, realising the affair more closely, Tol
stoi saw the necessity of these conditions of the pub
lishers. 268. I.e., he entirely finished the work What Is Art?
and gave it to Problems of Philosophy and Psychology.
269. V. G. Chertkov, being exiled from Russia, settled
in England, where he founded the publication, The
Free Press, in which the works of Tolstoi were printed,
as well as of authors near to him in point of view which
could not be printed in the Russian papers. He also ar
ranged for the translations of the new works of Tolstoi
into the important European tongues. The telegram
which Tolstoi mentions must have been about the English
translation of What Is Art?
270. Sofron Pavlovich Chizhov, a peasant from the dis
trict of Umansk, in the province of Kiev, because of his
spreading of views adverse to the orthodox religion, was
exiled by administrative order, first to Poland and then to
eastern Siberia. His Memoirs were printed in The Free
Press, No. io, 1904. Tolstoi often wrote to Chizhov in
exile, expressing his joy that he bears all oppression " like
a man, with patience and with love." Chizhov has re
mained in Siberia for life and at present is living near
Yakutsk. 271. As in the copy in possession of the editors.
272. See Note 267.
273. In a letter to Chertkov, January 18, 1898, Tolstoi
wrote : " Letters with threats have, of course, no effect,
but they are unpleasant, in this sense, that there should be
359

Notes
people who hate futilely. I am always ready to die and
that is the thing. I thought a little while ago : . . . that
when one is healthy one ought to try to live better on the
outside, but when one is ill then learn to die better. Be
sides, these letters haven't even this merit: they are so
stupidly written that they have been conceived evidently
only to frighten."
274. Concerning this illness, Tolstoi, mentioning it in
his letter to the Chertkovs, December 28, 1897, said:
" The illness was the usual one, biliousness, and has now
passed away."
275. Tolstoi began and finished this drama only in 1900.
276. Tolstoi's brother-in-law, A. A. Behrs.
277. Sergei Mickailovich Soloviev (1820-1879), the
Russian historian, the father of the philosopher, Vladimir
Sergeevich, and the novelist, Vsevolod Sergeevich Soloviev.
278. The preface to the English edition, What Is Art?
In his letter to Chertkov, December 27, 1897, Tolstoi
wrote: " Wouldn't such a preface be suitable ?
" The book which is about to appear cannot be pub
lished in its entirety in Russia on account of the censor,
and therefore it is being published in England in transla
tion, the correctness of which I have not the least doubt
of. The five chapters printed in Russia in the magazine
Problems of Philosophy and Psychology have already suf
fered several deletions and changes; the following chap
ters, especially those which explain the essence of my point
of view on art, will surely not be permitted in Russia and
therefore I ask all those who are interested in this book
to judge it only by this present edition."
360

Notes
279. Nicholas Evgrafovivh Phedoseev, a political exile,
who went by etape with the Dukhobors exiled to Siberia.
In his letter Fedosiev told Tolstoi about the interviews
given to him by the Dukhobors themselves, concerning the
suffering those who were sent to the Ekaterinograd dis
ciplinary battalion had to undergo, and he also gave him
information about the Dukhobors in Siberia. This let
ter was printed in Leaflets of The Free Press, 1898, No. I.
280. " I received a letter through the Chertkovs,"
wrote Tolstoi, January 18, 1898 — from G. Bedborough,
the publisher of The Adult, a letter with questions about
sex-problems and a very light-headed program.
281. Written in English, in the original.
282. Ilya Efimovich Repine. Concerning this visit,
Tolstoi wrote to Chertkov, January 21, 1898: " One of
the recent pleasant impressions was the meeting with Re
pine. I think we made a good impression on each other.
283. Countess Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoi (born, 1884),
Tolstoi's youngest daughter.
284. The literary work conceived and written by Tol
stoi only in 1902: The Legend of the Destruction of
Hell by Christ and Its Resurrection by the Devils, ar
ranging the teaching of Christ so that it improve the evil
life of people.
285. As in the copy at the disposal of the editors.
286. Michail Fedorovich Gulenko, serving in the de
partment of the Moscow-Kursk Railroad, and at this time
one of the most active contributors to Posrednik.
287. Leopold Antonovich Sullerzhitsky, later one of
the managers of the Moscow Artistic Theatre. In the
Tolstoi family he was often called for short, Suller.
36i

Notes
288. A poem by V. D. Liapunov, printed at first with
a letter by Tolstoi in the magazine, Russkaia Mysl (1898,
No. 1 ) : and later in the book, V. D. Liapunov, a Young
Poet, " Library of Leo Tolstoi," edited by P. I. Biriukov,
Moscow, 19 1 2.
289. In Paths of Life Tolstoi expresses this thought
more exactly: " That which we consider for ourselves
as evil, is in most cases a good which is not yet under
stood by us." In another place he says in speaking of
the same problem : " We must distinguish between our
conceptions of evil in general, ' objective ' evil, as philos
ophers say, an outer one, and between evil for each man
individually, a ' subjective ' evil, an inner one. There is
no objective evil. Subjective evil is a departure from
reason, it is indeed death. (A combination, The Four
Gospels Harmonized, Translated and Studied, Chapter
III.) See also Journal of May 28, 1896, thought 1.
290. One word illegible. Note by Prince Obolensky
in the copy in possession of the editors.
291. To avoid misunderstanding as to whom this remark
of Tolstoi's refers, it is proper here to cite an extract from
another one of his writings: " They say that defence is
impossible under non-resistance; but the Christian does
not need any defence. All that an evil-doer can do is to
deprive one of property, to kill, and a Christian is not
afraid of that. The Christian not worrying about what
to eat, what to drink, what to wear, and knowing that
without the will of the Father not a hair will fall from
his head, the Christian has no need to use violence against
the evil-doer. The evil-doer can do nothing to him."
(From the rough draft of The Kingdom of God Within
362

Notes
Us, 1890-1893, with later corrections by Tolstoi made
during a revision of his Complete Collection of Thoughts.)
292. Jean Grave, a contemporary French writer, of
anarchical tendencies.
293. Shortly before that, February 14, 1898, Tolstoi
wrote to V. G. Chertkov: "About myself I can say that
I would be satisfied with my spiritual state, if I were not
dissatisfied with my small external output. The causes
are: 111 health, as well as the bustle of city life (although
now for about three days I have been well)."
294. The twentieth, the concluding chapter of What
Is Art? is devoted to a criticism of contemporaary science
from the standpoint of Christian philosophy.
295. Anatol Ivanovich Pharesov, the democratic fiction
writer and publicist.
Alexander Kapitonovich Malikov, who lived in the sev
enties in Orel, preached the doctrine of " God-humanity,"
consisting in this, that each man ought to be re-born
morally and exalt the divine principle which was in him.
Malikov was absolutely opposed to all violent methods
of fighting evil. In 1875 Malikov with a small circle
of persons who shared his opinions (fifteen in all) emi
grated to America, where in the State of Kansas he
established an agricultural community on the basis of the
doctrine professed by him. When two years later the
community fell apart, Malikov returned to Russia. He
died in 1904 at the age of sixty-two. See about him the
article of A. S. Prugavin, " Leo Tolstoi and the Man-
Gods," and the book on Leo Tolstoi and the Tolstoians,
Moscow, 191 1.
296. The agricultural colony, Georgia, issued a mag-
363

Notes
azine with a Christian tendency, called Social Gospel,
Among the members of this colony was Crosby. There
were about one hundred colonists. In this letter, ad
dressed to George Howard Gibson, Tolstoi expressed his
opinion on agricultural societies in general.
297. At this time, the Dukhobors received permission
from the Russian authorities to emigrate. Tolstoi ad
dressed himself to Russian, European and American so
ciety with an appeal, in which he summoned them to help
the Dukhobors with money as well as with direct assist
ance in the difficulties of emigration. The appeal to
Russian society was printed among other places in the
Full Collected Works of Tolstoi, published by Sytin*
subscribed and popular editions, Volume XVIII; and
the letter to the English newspapers was printed in The
Free Press, No. I (1898, England), in the article of
P. I. Biriukov and afterwards reprinted in his book The
Dukhobors. 298. When What Is Art? was already printed in the
Problems of Philosophy and Psychology and submitted
to the censorship there came an order from Petrograd
to submit it to the theologic censorship. The theologic
censor not only crossed out many passages, but in some
places made changes which perverted the very thought of
the author. In the preface to the English translation of
this work, Tolstoi expressed regret that, contrary to his
custom, he consented at the request of N. Y. Grot to
print this work with the censor deletions and softenings.
And he also speaks about the harm of every kind of com
promise. . . . This preface was printed in Russian in
The Free Press, No. 1. 364

Notes
299. At this place in the Journal there was a diagram
composed of flowing lines, irregularly drawn. As the
editors did not have the original of the Journal, but used
the copy made by Prince Obolensky, it was impossible to
make an exact facsimile of the original diagram.
300. In his letter to V. G. Chertkov, Tolstoi wrote:
". . . This happened : In the morning they told me that
two men came from the Caucasus. They were the Duk
hobors, P. V. Planidin, an acquaintance of yours, and
Chernov. They came, naturally, without passports to
give me information and to find out everything pertain
ing to their affair. After talking with these dear friends
and finding out everything, I decided to send them to
Petersburg. . . . They went, spent the day there, and re
turned. . . . They are touchingly instructive." " The
principal reason for Planidin's and Chernov's coming,"
Tolstoi wrote April 6th, " was to ask some one of our
friends to go to visit Verigin in Obdorsk."
301. Ivan Petrovich Brashnin, a typical old-fashioned
Moscow merchant, a dealer in raw silks; his family con
sisted of his wife and two sons. A. N. Dunaev in
troduced him to Tolstoi in the eighties. He was then
over 60. He had wanted to make his acquaintance, be
cause the views of Tolstoi were near to his soul ; in spite
of his former strict orthodoxy he warmly accepted the
views of Tolstoi. Being sincere and straight-forward,
he rejected the . . . teaching and became a convinced fol
lower of the pure Christian teaching. He spoke with
great pleasure and emotion about his visits and talks with
Tolstoi, which gave him the greatest joy.
A few years prior to his death he became a strict veg-
365

Notes
etarian. Before his death he refused the viaticon of the
priest and the rites of confession and the sacrament.
In his letter to A. C. Chertkov of March 30, 1898,
Tolstoi wrote him about his last visit to Brashnin :
" You know there is an old man, a rich merchant,
Brashnin, who is near to us in spirit. I have already
known him for about fifteen years. He has cancer of
the liver, so the doctors have found out. I visited him
once in the winter. He was very weak, thin, yellow,
but on his feet. One morning about a week ago A. N.
Dunaiev came to me with the news that Brashnin is
dying and that he had sent a boy to ask that I take
leave of him. We went and found him dying. My
first words were : ' Is he calm ? ' Absolutely. He was
in full possession of his memory, had a clear mind,
thanked me, and took leave of me and I of him, as
people do before going on a journey. With sadness we
spoke about the ... I said that we will see each other
again. He calmly answered, ' No more.' He took leave
and thanked us for our visit. Everything was so simple,
peaceful and earnest."
302. The article on war and on military service was
called forth by the request of two foreign papers to
the representatives of political and social workers, and the
representatives of science and art, to express themselves
on whether war was necessary in our time, what were
the consequences of militarism and what were the means
that led the quickest way to a realisation of universal
peace. 303. The former estate of Count I. L. Tolstoi in
Cherni, the province of Tula, to which Tolstoi went to
366

Notes
help the famine-stricken peasants. As in the year 189 1
when Tolstoi helped the famine-stricken peasants of the
province of Riazan, he considered the establishment of
soup-kitchens as the most sensible form of help, for which
he set himself to work upon his arrival in Grinevka.
On May 2, 1898, in his letter to the Countess S. A.
Tolstoi, Tolstoi wrote in reference to his activity that
" the work which was being done was necessary and is
advancing. There is no famine, but the need is killing,
cropless, very difficult, and it helps us to see it." (Let
ters of Tolstoi to his Wife, Moscow, 1913, pages 542
and 543.)
304. April 21, 1898, by order of the Minister of the
Interior, the Russkia Viedomosti was suspended for two
months " for the collection of contributions in aid of
the Dukhobors and for evading the executive orders of
the Moscow Governor-General." The regulation of the
Moscow Governor-General which the newspaper did not
fulfil was to give over for disposal to the authorities
the money contributed through the editorial offices for the
aid of the Dukhobors. The editors could not do that,
because the money had already been sent to Tolstoi.
305. Lopashino, as well as Sidorovo, Kamenka, Gubar-
evka, Bobriki, Michails Ford, Kukuevka, which are
mentioned below, are villages near to Grinevka where
Tolstoi established soup-kitchens for the famine-stricken.
306. For an orderly organisation of aid for the needy,
Tolstoi had collected the necessary detailed information
concerning the number of souls and the economic condi
tion of each household in the suffering villages.
307. See Note 136. 367

Notes
308. The Tsurikovs and Ilinskys — neighbouring land
lords. 309. Tolstoi wrote to V. G. Chertkov on that day : " I
haven't written for a whole week, but I feel pretty well.
It seems to me that after the Moscow bustle my im
pressions are finding their place, the necessary thoughts
are coming forth."
310. See Letters of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife,
March, 19 13, pages 543 and 544.
311. I.e., at his son's, Count S. L. Tolstoi, on his
estate of Nicholskoe, near the station of Bastyevo.
312. V. G. Chertkov then wrote an article, "Where
is Thy Brother? About the attitude of the Russian
Government to the People Who Cannot Become Mur
derers," in the defence of the oppressed Dukhobors. This
article was published in The Free Press (England,
1898). 313. G. R. Lindenberg, one of Tolstoi's co-workers
in aid of the famine-stricken, an artist.
314. The name of this teacher is Gubonin. Together
with Lindenberg he came to Tolstoi from Poltava.
315. The Appeal served as the beginning of two articles
on the labour question : Should it really be so, and Where
is the way out? upon which Tolstoi worked during the
year 1898 and revised it once again for printing in 1900.
316. The deceased, N. N. Stakhov.
317. The county seat of the province of Orel.
318. A railroad station on the Moscow-Kursk Rail
road. 319. Tolstoi speaks here of gymnastic exercises which
he sometimes took (see entry of May 11, 1898).
368

Notes
320. Tolstoi used to receive contributions in aid of
the famine-stricken from various people.
321. In this article under the title, " Is There Famine
or No Famine ? " Tolstoi answers the following ques
tions: 1. Is there in the current year a famine or is
there not a famine? 2. To what is due the oft-repeated
need of the people? 3. What is to be done in order
that this need be not repeated ? These were printed with
omissions in the newspaper, Russ, of July 2 and 3, of
1898 and in full in Leaflets of The Free Press, No. 2
(England, 1898).
322. The Countess S. N. Tolstoi (born Philosophov) ,
wife of Tolstoi's son, Count I. L. Tolstoi.
323. Neighbouring landlords near Grinevka.
324. After a tiring, long ride by horse, Tolstoi
arrived at the Levitskys', and fell ill of severe dysen
tery. 325. Tolstoi was forced to stop his work in aid of
the famine-stricken, as the Tula Governor forbade all
non-residents without his permission to establish and help
in the construction of soup-kitchens. Without these
people it was impossible to continue the work. ( See article
" Is There Famine or No Famine? ")
326. The well-known Swedish physician, Ernest
Westerlund, and his wife — parents of the wife of Count
L. L. Tolstoy, Dora Fedorovna — who arrived from
Sweden to visit her.
327. The novel, Father Sergius, which Tolstoi wrote
from 1 890-1 89 1.
328. I.e., from V. G. and A. K. Chertkov.
329. The story, The Forged Coupon, begun by Tol-
369

Notes
stoi as early as the end of the eighties and only begun
again by him at the end of 1902
330. N. S. Lieskov (1 831-1895), a well-known
writer. Ih the last years of his life he shared in many re
spects the views of Tolstoi. The story of Lieskov men
tioned by Tolstoi is called The Hour of the Will of
God. 331. Five years later, in 1903, Tolstoi worked this
theme out in a story entitled Three Problems.
332. The christening of the first child of Count L. L.
Tolstoi. 333. About this time Tolstoi wrote to V. G. Chert
kov: " My sickness at first began as dysentery, then I
had very great pains and fever and weakness. Now
everything has passed."
334. Prince E. E. Ukhtomsky, the editor and pub
lisher of the Petrograd Viedomosti.
335. "Is There Famine or No Famine?"
336. The weekly newspaper issued in Petrograd by S.
F. Sharapov.
337. This was done in those places where Tolstoi or
ganised aid to the famine-stricken.
338. I. C. Dieterichs, a former Cossack artillery
officer, who held the same views as Tolstoi, a brother of
Madame A. C. Chertkov, and his sisters, Maria and Olga
Constantinova. 339. There occurred in England at this time, some
misunderstandings between several friends of Tolstoi,
who had to be convinced by experience that having the
same point of view is far from being of one mind. The
misunderstandings were later smoothed over.
370

Notes
340. The contemporary French novelist.
341. See Note 339.
342. Elizabeth Picard, a Quaker, wrote an open letter
to the well-known English publisher, Stead, editor of the
magazine War Against War, which preached universal
peace, and which at the same time was against those
persons who refused military service.
343. C. T. Willard of Chicago offered himself as
mediator in the emigration of the Dukhobors to America.
Tolstoi sent his letter to England to V. G. Chertkov,
whose house at this time was the headquarters for all
communications concerning the emigration of the Duk
hobors. 344. V. P. Gaideburov, from 1894 on, editor and pub
lisher of Nediela.
345. In English in the original.
346. This intention was carried out by Tolstoi, at
least in regard to Resurrection, which he gave to the pub
lication Niva, edited by A. F. Marx, who paid twelve
thousand roubles for the first printing. The money was
used by Tolstoi in aid of the emigrating Dukhobors.
Originally, Tolstoi suggested selling the copyright of
three of his novels, The Devil, Resurrection, and Father
Sergius, to English and American papers on advantageous
terms. Then he decided not to publish The Devil. At
first he thought that he would not make a final revision
of Resurrection and of Father Sergius, but would give
them over to be printed straight away, just as they were
written. But later he re-read Resurrection and little
by little began to work on it with such absorption " as
he had not experienced in a long time." Later Tolstoi
371

Notes
decided to give only Resurrection for the benefit of the
Dukhobors and did not begin to work on Father
Sergius. 347. Arvid Jarnefelt. The well-known Finnish
writer who held the same opinions as Tolstoi. After
graduating from Helsingfors University, he prepared
himself for the career of magistrate, but becoming ac
quainted with the writings of Tolstoi, he brusquely
changed his life. He learnt the trade of cobbler and lock
smith and later, at the end of the nineties, he bought a
plot of land and began to till the soil, not ceasing his
literary labours, however. He translated many works
of Tolstoi into Finnish. The novels of Jarnefelt are
My Native Land, Children of the Earth and several
stories which are translated into Russian. The acquaint
ance of Jarnefelt with Tolstoi began with his sending
his book called My Awakening to Tolstoi in 1895. It
was in Finnish, and with it he sent a translation of one
of his chapters : " Why I Did Not Undertake the Post
of Judge." This chapter, together with an accompany
ing letter by Jarnefelt, Tolstoi included in his manu
script No. 4, Archives of L. N. Tolstoi.
Tolstoi's letter to Jarnefelt, mentioned in the Journal,
is as follows:
" Although we have never seen each other, we know
and love each other, and therefore I boldly turn to you
with a request to do me a great service.
" The matter which I bring before you ought to re
main unknown to any one except to us, and therefore
speak to no one about this letter, but answer me (Station
372

Notes
Kozlovka on the Moscow-Kursk Railway), where you
are now, and whether you are ready to help me. I am
writing thus briefly, because I have little hope that with
the insufficient address, my letter will reach you.
"Leo Tolstoi."
In explanation of this letter Jarnefelt communicated
the following to the editors: " I quickly answered Tol
stoi's question. I was convinced that he wanted to leave
Yasnaya and to plan an escape. But when we met later
in Moscow in 1 899, Tolstoi immediately said : ' Yes,
yes, you understood me, but the temptation passed by
me in time.' And then glancing about him with a deep
sigh of pain he said, ' You will excuse me, Jarnefelt,
that I live as I do, but probably it is as it ought to
be.' And we did not speak any more about this mat
ter." And so, in his letter to Jarnefelt of December 16,
1898, i.e., still before this meeting with him, Tolstoi
wrote : " If I should ever meet you, which I want to
very much, I will then tell you what kind of help I ex
pected from you. Now the temptation which forced me
to seek help from you has passed."
In his letter to V. G. Chertkov of July 21st of that
year, i.e., three days after the above mentioned note in
the Journal, Tolstoi wrote: "Read this to no one. I
teach others, but do not know how to live myself. For
how many years have I given myself the question, Is it
fitting that I continue to live as I am living, or shall I
go away ? — and I cannot decide. I know that every
thing is decided by renouncing oneself and when I attain
373

Notes
that then everything is clear. But they are rare mo
ments." 348. See Note 347.
349. A collection in the church Slavonic tongue,
Love of Good, or Words and Chapters of Sacred So
briety, collected from the writings of the Saints and
God-inspired fathers. In his library, Tolstoi had a
volume of Love of Good with a great many notes in
the margin made in his own hand.
350. With I. I. Gorbunov, who came for a short time
to Ovsiannikovo to his brother, who lived there at this
time, the actor N. I. Gorbunov. At this meeting, Tolstoi
said to I. I. Gorbunov that it was the gentlemanly state
of his life that had become more agonising to him, that
he was " ashamed to look in the eyes of his lackeys " and
that he wanted to go away. He said among other things
that he was thinking of going away with I. I. Gorbunov
to Kaluga (where Gorbunov lived at that time) — and
further than that, he still had another plan . . . perhaps
it was the plan about which Tolstoi had written a little
while before to Jarnefelt. (See Note 347.)
351. Tolstoi's brother, Count Serge Nicholaievich.
352. Tolstoi's sister, Countess M. N. Tolstoi.
353. The English authorities of the Island of Cyprus
asked a money guarantee of about two hundred and
fifty roubles for each man from the Dukhobors emigrat
ing there, so that in case of need they would not have
to be supported at the government expense. At that
time it became known, that in Russia several influential
governmental persons had begun to zealously urge the
government to send the Dukhobors to Manchuria for
374

Notes
the Russification of those Chinese borders adjacent to
Russia. It was necessary to hurry with the emigration
of the Dukhobors; the English Quakers pulled them out
of their helpless position, who first of all persuaded the
English Government to decrease the guarantee from two
hundred and fifty roubles to one hundred and fifty for
each man, and afterwards in several days, collected
among themselves a guarantee of one hundred thousand
roubles, which, together with the fifty thousand roubles
which were contributed at that time by various people,
made up the necessary sum for giving the guarantee for
the whole party of Dukhobors. In his letter to the
Dukhobors of August 27, 1898, Tolstoi ended thus:
" May God help you to accomplish His will with Chris
tian manhood, patience and faithfulness, in establishing
this change in your life."
354. M. N. Rostovtzev, the daughter of Madame M.
D. Rostovtzev, a land-lady of Voronezh, and a follower
of Tolstoi, on coming from the Chertkovs, was arrested
on the border because, at the custom examination some
pieces of proof of a forbidden book were found on her.
She was soon freed.
355. The interruption in receiving letters from V. G.
Chertkov was caused by the secret police looking through
them. Therefore Chertkov was forced to carry on a part
of this far-distant correspondence through a circuitous
address. In the letter to him at the end of August,
1898, Tolstoi, informing Chertkov that one of his let
ters was kept back a month, wrote : " Yesterday I re
ceived your letter of August 5th. It is terribly vexing,
this interference with our communications which now
375

Notes
have become so specially important. And what is it
for?" 356. See Note 355.
357. L. A. Sullerzhitsky went to the Caucasus to
help the Dukhobors arrange for their emigration abroad.
The first group of Dukhobors, to the number of 1,126
persons, who had suffered the most from exile, hunger
and illness, left on the 6th of August, 1898, for the
Island of Cyprus while other lands be found and suffi
cient money collected for the transportation of those re
maining to a more suitable place.
At the request of Tolstoi, L. A. Sullerzhitsky later
accompanied a group of Dukhobors to Canada. He
wrote a book about this journey, In America With the
Dukhobors, issued by Posrednik, Moscow, 1905.
358. The sister of Tolstoi, Countess Maria Nichol
aievna. A month later, September 30, 1898, Tolstoi
wrote to V. G. Chertkov: "Yesterday my sister, M.
N., left, with whom I spent a very friendly month, never
having been so loving."
359. V. A. Kuzminsky, a niece of Countess S. A.
Tolstoi. 360. Countess Vera S. Tolstoi, a niece of Tolstoi,
daughter of Count S. N. Tolstoi.
361. Tolstoi's seventieth birthday, celebrated August
28, 1898.
362. According to the contract with the publisher of
Niva, A. F. Marx, Tolstoi at the conclusion of the
contract, received the whole of his royalty for only the
first 200 pages of Resurrection.
363. In regard to the false rumours which were reach-
376

Notes
ing Tolstoi at this time, about the affairs of the emigrat
ing Dukhobors.
364. One of the Dukhobors exiled to Siberia, V. N.
Pozdniakov, was sent by his brethren to the leader of the
Dukhobors, P. V. Verigin, who was then in exile in the
village of Obdorsk in the province of Tobolsk. Receiv
ing a letter of instructions from Verigin for the group
in general, he brought this letter to his brethren in the
Caucasus and on his way reached Yasnaya Polyana. He
showed Tolstoi marks on his body from ill-treatment he
had suffered three years before.
365. Herbert Archer, an English co-worker with V.
G. Chertkov, who went at his request to Tolstoi to
transmit information to him with regard to the Duk
hobors and to dissipate the false rumours about them
which had reached Tolstoi from outsiders. About this
time, in his letter to Countess S. A. Tolstoi, Tolstoi
wrote about Archer: " He looks insignificant, but he is a
very good man and a remarkably clever one." (Letters
of Count L. N. Tolstoi to his Wife, March, 1913, page
555-) 366. This thought Tolstoi changed in the following
form for The Reading Circle: " Now I consider as my
self my body with its senses, but then something entirely
different is being formed in me. And then the whole
world will become different, since the whole world is
not something different, only because I consider myself
such a being separated from the world and not another.
But there may be an innumerable quantity of beings sep
arated from the world." The Reading Circle, issued by
Posrednik, Volume I, Moscow, 191 1, for April 16.
377

Notes
367. Tolstoi's son, S. L. Tolstoi, and L. A. Sul
lerzhitsky went to the Caucasus to accompany the re
maining Dukhobors to Canada. Tolstoi in order to pro
tect them from the oppression of the authorities wrote
a letter to the commander-in-chief of the Caucasus, Prince
G. S. Golitsin.
368. Tolstoi sometimes could not remember which
thought from his pocket note-book he had written out
into the Journal and which one he had not. This ex
plains the fact that several thoughts are entered without
any changes at all in the Journal, in places not far from
one another.
369. In the eighties and nineties the Tolstois went
yearly from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow to spend the
winter. 370. Princess E. V. Obolensky, niece of Tolstoi,
daughter of his sister, Countess Maria Nicholaievna.
371. In the finished form, the novel had 129 chapters.
372. In another place Tolstoi says: " Playing the fool
(like Christ) i.e., the purposeful representing of yourself
as worse than you are, is the highest quality of virtue."
(Journal, May 29, 1893.)
373. An omission in the copy in possession of the
editors. 374. Tolstoi wrote to V. G. Chertkov as early as
December 13, 1898: "I absolutely cannot occupy myself
with anything else than with Resurrection. Just like a
shell, when it gets to the earth, falls more and more
quickly, in the same way I now, when I am nearing the
end, I cannot think — no, not that I cannot: I can and
378

Notes
even do think — but I don't want to think about anything
else but about it."
375. At this time the emigration of the Dukhobors to
Canada had not yet been accomplished. Tolstoi took
an active part in the affair: he addressed various people
with the request for contributions for this purpose, he
carried on a correspondence with friends in England in
regard to a place of settlement for the Dukhobors, he
sent letters to the authorities to try to remove obstacles
which were in their way, he saw agents who suggested
places of settlement, he carried on a correspondence with
the Dukhobors themselves, etc.
376. February 15, 1899, Tolstoi wrote to V. G.
Chertkov: " My back hurts all the time and I am weak
and I am disgusted with Resurrection, which I can't
touch." 377. The retired officer addressed himself to Tol
stoi with the question whether the Gospels were not
against military service. Tolstoi's answer was printed
in the leaflets of The Free Press, No. 5, 1899, and in
1906 in Petrograd in the publication, Obnovlenia, No.
130 (which was confiscated).
378. A group of representative Swedish intellectuals
addressed themselves to Tolstoi with a letter as to the
means of attaining universal peace. In this letter on
the one hand, they expressed the thought that universal
disarmament could be attained by the surest path of
each separate individual refusing to take part in mili
tary service, and on the other hand, they acknowledged
that the Peace Conference fixed for The Hague at the
379

Notes
instigation of the Russian Government was useful to the
attainment of universal peace. . . .
379. In the middle of February, 1898, the students
of the University of Petrograd, in the form of a protest
against the beating of people in the streets, decided on
the day of the student holiday, February 8th, as a peace
ful-minded group of students, to cease work. They
were soon joined by students of other higher schools in
Petrograd and later in Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Jurev,
Odessa, Tomsk, Kazan, Riga and Novaia Alexandria. In
this way the studies of several thousand men and women
students were suspended. The representatives of the
Moscow and Petrograd student bodies came to Tolstoi
with the purpose of obtaining his opinion and sympathy
for the student movement.
380. Sinet, an artist, who refused military service on
religious grounds and was sent to the Algerian discipli
nary battalion and who escaped from there. Tolstoi called
Sinet the first religious Frenchman, therefore, because
he was the first Frenchman he met who believed truly as
he did.
381. In his letter to V. G. Chertkov of July 9, 1899,
Tolstoi wrote, " The matter of the translations worry
me. I can imagine, therefore, how they worry you.
To-day I thought this: To drop all contracts with the
translators and print the following in the news
paper. . . ." Further on Tolstoi expounds the project
of his letter to the newspapers, that he, in the matter
of translation, decided to destroy the contracts with the
publishers of the translations and to refuse the royalty
of the first printing of these translations. And yet the
380

Notes
need of the Dukhobors was so great that "having no
means of employing cattle, they have hitched themselves
and their wives to the plough and are ploughing with
human power to till their land." For this reason, Tol
stoi drops his plan : " I ask all the publishers who will
print this novel and the translators of it, as well as the
readers of the novel, to remember those people for whom
this publication has been begun and as far as their
strength and their desire go, to help the Dukhobors
by giving their mite to the Dukhobor fund in Eng
land." 382. Taking no part in 1899, in the work of organis
ing help for the famine-stricken peasants, Tolstoi directed
the contributions received for this purpose from various
people, to be sent to those who were occupied on the
spot in giving help to the inhabitants.
383. Originally in English.
384. This thought was maintained in the book then
being read by Tolstoi: Vergleichenden Uebersicht der
Vier Evangelien, von S. G. Verus, Leipzig, 1897. In
the letter of Biriukov of August 1, 1899, Tolstoi wrote
thus about the significance of Verus' book: "This suppo
sition or probability is the destruction of the last suburbs
which are susceptible to attacks from the enemy, so that
the fortress of the moral teaching of the good, flowing
not from a source which is only temporary and local, but
from a totality of the whole spiritual life of humanity,
be unshaken."
385. Countess S. N. Tolstoi.
386. See Note 385-
387. This thought is developed more in detail by Toi-
38i

Notes
stoi in the Legend of the Stones (see The Reading
Circle, Volume II).
388. Alfred B. Westrup. Plenty of Money. N. Y,
1899- 389. Countess O. C. Tolstoi, born Dieterichs, first
wife of A. L. Tolstoi.
390. The artist, Julia Ivanovna Igumnov, who lived a
long time in Yasnaya Polyana. At this time she helped
Tolstoi to copy his manuscripts and his letters.
391. A. D. Arkhangelsky, a student in the Moscow
University, who lived as a teacher in Tolstoi's house.
392. These chapters on Resurrection were sent to the
publishing house of Niva to be set up.
393. An interrogation point in the copy at the disposal
of the editors.
394. Living at this time with the Tolstois in Moscow,
Countess O. K. Tolstoi, in a letter to V. G. Chertkov
on November 22nd, 1899, described Tolstoi's illness in
this way : " Yesterday we lived through a terrible even
ing and night. In the evening after dinner, Tolstoi
went to his room to lie down, and after several minutes
we were all attracted by terrible groans from him . . .
he was taken with severe stomach pains which were very
severe from four o'clock in the morning to seven in the
evening. He suffered terribly and at first nothing
helped." Tolstoi suffered especially from vomiting which
lasted twenty-eight hours. His doctors were P. S. Usev
and Prof. M. P. Cherinov. " Both medicine and feed
ing," another person wrote to Chertkov from Moscow,
December 5, 1899, "is given now by entreaty and per
suasion, now by tears and now by deception, which is
382

Notes
even more depressing than tears. To-day everything is
better: pains and appetite and strength." Tolstoi got
out of bed December 6th and little by little began to
walk. But the following days he had pain and felt
weakness. 395. An omission in this place in the copy in possession
of the editors.
396. This word in the original is underlined twice.
397. From Derzhavin's Ode, " God."
398. The exact title of the book by M. A. Engel-
hardt is Progress, As an Evolution of Cruelty, issued by
F. F. Pavlenkov, Petrograd, 1899. To the author of
this book, M. A. Engelhardt (1858-1882), Tolstoi wrote,
in 1882, a very remarkable letter on the problem of non-
resistance to evil by violence.
399. The journal, Niva.
400. The novel, The Forged Coupon.

383

APPENDIX

A SHORT SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
TOLSTOI AT THE END OF THE
NINETIES
By Constantine Shokor-Trotsky
The present volume of Tolstoi's Journal covers
a period from October 28, 1895, to December,
1899. During this time Tolstoi made in all 170
entries 1 in the Journal, the greatest number of
them falling in the year 1897, and the smallest in
1899. During certain months, Tolstoi made no
entries whatever. There were nine such months
in the four years; April and August, 1896; July,
1897; September, October and December, 1898;
March, May and August, 1899. The greatest
number of interruptions in the entries was caused
by ill health, sometimes also by intensive work
and sometimes on account of spiritual depression.
I
IMPORTANT EVENTS
Of important outer events which had more or
less significance for Tolstoi, and to which he re-
1 Of the 170 entries in the present edition, the editors have
omitted 102 places (1,707 words) because of their intimate char
acter, and 55 places (1,102 words) on account of the censor.
Besides this, in the Notes, one place (9 words) has been omitted
on account of its intimate character and 14 places (245 words)
on account of the censor. 387

Appendix
sponded during this time, the following are to be
mentioned: 1
In the first two months of 1896, Tolstoi notes in
his Journal and in private letters the death of sev
eral people more or less near to him : his relative,
N. M. Nagornov; the well-known philosopher, N.
N. Strahkov, to whom he was bound by an old
friendship; an old woman, Agatha Michailovna,
a former maid of his grandmother, who lived all
her life in Yasnaya Polyana ; the Yasnaya Polyana
peasant, Phillip Egorov, who had been a coachman
for many years at the Tolstois', and the steward,
at one time ; the wife of a professor, Olga Storoz-
henko. In March and April of the same year, accord
ing to his own words, the important events of his
life were : making the acquaintance of the peasant,
M. P. Novikov; the arrest of his friend, a woman
doctor, M. M. Kholevinsky, because she gave his
forbidden works to the working people; hearing
Wagner's opera, "Siegfried," which aided him in
clarifying his conception of true art; becoming ac
quainted with the works of the noted philosopher,
A. A. Spier, which were sent to him by the latter's
daughter. In May, in Moscow at the time of the Corona
tion, the unfortunate catastrophe which took place
on the Khodinka field, the reports of which pro
duced a strong impression on Tolstoi.
In October of this same year, two Japanese
1 The compilation of facts concerning the important events in
Tolstoi's life were not only made from his Journal but from
letters to various individuals. 388

Appendix
came to Tolstoi, whose visit was both interesting
and pleasant for him.
In February, 1897, several friends of Tolstoi
were subjected to governmental prosecution for
their intercession in behalf of the persecuted Duk
hobors: P. I. Biriukov was exiled to the city of
Bausk in Courland, V. G. Chertkov was exiled
abroad and 1. M. Tregubov some time later was
exiled to Goldingen in Courland.
In February of that year there was the tragedy
of an acquaintance of Tolstoi; Miss M. F. Vietrov
burning herself, who had been imprisoned in the
Fortress of Peter and Paul.
In July of that year Tolstoi's daughter, Maria
Lvovna, who stood especially near to him, was
married to Prince N. L. Obolensky.
In September, P. A. Boulanger, a friend, was
exiled abroad for his activity in behalf of the Duk
hobors. At the end of October the noted American
writer, Henry George, died, whose works and
whose personality Tolstoi valued very highly.
In November Dr. D. P. Makovitsky, a follower
of Tolstoi, came for a short visit from Hungary ;
later becoming a close friend, he remained with
Tolstoi uninterruptedly until the latter's death.
In December, Tolstoi received several anony
mous letters with threats of assassination.
In February, 1898, the Dukhobors received per
mission to emigrate from Russia, which Tolstoi
for two years had worked hard to accomplish. In
April of that year the Moscow merchant, I. P.
Brashnin, a follower of Tolstoi, died.
389

Appendix
In April and May there was famine in several
districts of Tula, and Tolstoi occupied himself
energetically for some time to aid the famine-
stricken. He established soup-kitchens, collected
money, etc.
In May of that year, the Russkia Viedomosti
was suppressed for collecting funds in behalf of
the Dukhobors.
In July, Tolstoi decided to finish his novel, Res
urrection, " so that it could be published for the
benefit of the Dukhobors."
In October, the Dukhobor, V. N. Pozdniakov,
visited Tolstoi, coming secretly from his exile in
Yakutsk to the Caucasus to see his co-religionists
before their emigration to America.
In this same month the peasant, T. M. Bon
darev, died, who had lived many years in exile in
Siberia, for whose book on The Labor for Bread
Tolstoi wrote a preface, and with whom he cor
responded. Tolstoi only learned of his death in
December. In 1899 there were almost no external events.
In November of that year, Tolstoi's eldest
daughter, Tatiana Lvovna, was married to N. S.
Sukhotin. II
THE PLACES THAT TOLSTOI LIVED IN AND VISITED
Between 1 896-1 899 Tolstoi lived principally in
Yasnaya Polyana. There he generally not only
spent most of the summer, but often all of autumn
and sometimes even up to January. In Moscow,
390

Appendix
he generally spent the winter months — from No
vember or December until April and sometimes
until May. Besides this, for short periods, Tol
stoi would go to other places. Thus, in August,
1896, he visited his sister, the nun, Countess M. N.
Tolstoi, living in the convent of Shamordino. At
times during these years he visited his brother,
Count S. N. Tolstoi, who lived on his estate in
Pirogovo in the province of Tula (in May, July
and October, 1896, in November, 1897, in August
anr November, 1898, and in May, 1899).
Besides this, from February to March, 1896,
and from February to March, 1897, he visited his
friends, the Olsuphievs, on their estate, Nichol
skoe, near Moscow; once he spent two weeks with
them, another time a whole month with an inter
ruption. The interruption was caused by his sud
den trip to Petrograd (in February, 1897) t0 ta^e
leave of his friends, Chertkov and Biriukov, who
were being exiled.
At the end of 1897, Tolstoi visited the village
Dolgoe, and saw the house in which he was born
and in which he spent his childhood and boyhood
and which in the fifties was sold to be transferred
to this village.
The month of May of 1898, Tolstoi spent in
Grinevka, the estate of his son, Count I. L. Tolstoi.
While living there, he took charge of the aid to the
famine-stricken. From Grinevka he went by
horse to visit his friend, the landlord, Levitsky,
where he fell seriously ill and spent ten days.

39i

Appendix III
WHAT TOLSTOI WROTE
From the period of November, 1895, to 1899
Tolstoi worked on the following manuscripts : *
A. Fiction
1. The novel Resurrection (November, 1895-
February, 1896, January-February, 1897, July-
December, 1898, and all of 1899).
2. The drama The Light That Shines in Dark
ness (December, 1895 — planned it; January-
April, 1896; October, 1896, and July-August,
1897 — planned it) .
3. The novel Hadji Murad (September, 1896;
March-April, 1897 — planned it; September,
1897-June, 1898).
4. The story Father Sergius (June, 1898;
August, 1898 — planned it). Besides this, there
are indications that he planned during this period:
5. The story Who is Right? (November,
1897). 6. Notes of a Madman (December, 1896, Jan
uary, 1897).
7. The drama The Living Corpse (December,
1897). 8. The novel The Forged Coupon (June, 1898,
December, 1899).
1 This list has been compiled not only from Tolstoi's Journal,
but from other sources. As far as can be judged from the
Journal, Tolstoi during some months, while busied with the
revision of some one of his manuscripts, would at the same time
not write but only consider some other bit of work ; this kind
of creative work is noted in the list as " planned."
392

Appendix
B. Essays
i. The Christian Doctrine (November-Decem
ber, 1895, May- July, September-December,
1896). 2. Shameful (December, 1895).
3. A Letter to the Italians (About the Abyssin-
ians, unfinished, March-April, 1896).
4. What Is Art? (May- July, 1896 — planned
it; November, 1896-April, 1897, July, 1897-
February, 1898).
5. How To Read the Gospels and in What Is
Their Essence (July, 1896).
6. The Beginning of the End (September-
October, 1896).
7. On War (unfinished — November-Decem
ber, 1896).
8. The Appendix to The Appeal, by P. Biriu
kov, I. Tregubov and V. G. Chertkov — Help!
(December, 1896).
9. The Appeal (unfinished, January- April,
1897, September, 1897-April, 1898 — planned it;
May-July, 1898).
10. Preface to the essay by Edward Carpenter,
Contemporary Science (October, 1897-February,
1898). 11. Preface to the English edition of What Is
Art? (April, 1898).
12. Carthago delenda est (April, 1898).
13. Is There Famine or No Famine? (May-
June, 1898).
14. Two Wars (August, 1898).

393

Appendix
C. Letters
(Those important according to volume and
contents).1
I. To P. V. Verigin (on the harm and benefit
of printing). November 21, 1895.
2. John Mason ("Patriotism and Peace").
December, 1895.
3. Ernest Crosby ("On Non-resistance").
December, 1895-February, 1896.
4. To M. A. Sopotsko (" On the Church De
ception"). March 16, 1896.
5. To the Ministers of Justice and the Interior
(on the subject of the arrest of Mme. M. N.
Kholevinsky). April 20, 1896.
6. To Madame A. M. Kalmikov ("A Letter
to the Liberals "). August-September, 1896.
7. To E. Schmidt (" To the editor of a German
paper"). October 12, 1896.
8. To P. V. Verigin (an answer to the objec
tions to printing). October 14, 1896.
9. To the commander of the Irkutsk Disci
plinary Battalion (on the refusal of P. Olkhovik
and C. Sereda from military service). October
22, 1896.
10. To the Commander of the Ekaterinograd
Disciplinary Battalion (on the refusal of the Duk
hobors from military service). November 1,
1896. 11. To the Countess S. A. Tolstoi (on leaving
Yasnaya Polyana). July 8, 1897.
1 All these letters have been printed, if not in Russia then
abroad; in those instances where a letter has been printed under
a definite title, that title is enclosed in quotation marks.
394

Appendix
12. To the Swedish papers (with the sugges
tion that the Nobel prize be awarded to the Duk
hobors). August-September, 1897.
13. To the Emperor (about the Molokans).
October, 1897.
14. To the Peterburgskaia Viedomosti (about
the Molokans). October, 1897.
16. To the Russkia Viedomosti (about aid for
the famine-stricken). February 21, 1898.
16. To G. H. Gibson — of the American
colony Georgia (on agricultural communities).
March, 1898.
17. To the Russian papers (on the Dukho
bors). March 20, 1898.
i8\ To the English papers (on the Dukho
bors). March 18, 1898.
19. To N (" A letter to an officer ") . Decem
ber, 1898-January, 1899.
20. To the Swedish Group (on the means for
attaining universal peace). January-February,
1899. 21. To Prince G. M. Volkonsky ("On the
Transvaal War"). December 4, 1899.
22. To A.. I. Dvoriansky ("On religious edu
cation"). December 13, 1899.
D. Themes
(Mentioned in the Journal) 1
1. "On Religious Education" (February 13,
1896, in answer to a letter of V. S. Grinevich) .
2. " The story of what a man lives through in
1 In parentheses I have given the dates in which he mentions
the theme and the final title of the theme as it was developed.
395

Appendix
this life who committed suicide in a past life "
(February 13, 1896).
3. " Pictures of Samara life : the steppe, the
struggle between the nomadic patriarchal prin
ciple and the agricultural culture " (June 19,
1896). 4. " Hadji Murad " (July 19, 1896, under the
same title).
5. " Suicide of the old man, Persianinov " (Sep
tember 14, 1896).
6. " The substitution of a child in an orphan
asylum" (September 14, 1896).
7. " A wife's deception of her passionate, jeal
ous husband: his suffering, struggle and the enjoy
ment of forgiveness " (November 22, 1896).
8. " A description of the oppression of the serfs
and later the same oppression through land owner
ship, or rather, the being deprived of it " (Novem
ber 22, 1896).
9. "Notes of a madman" (December 26,
1896). 10. " The theme : A passionate young man in
love with a mentally diseased woman " (July 16,
1897). 11. The theme " In pendant to Hadji Murad " :
" Another Russian outlaw, Grigori Nicholaev "
. . . (November 14, 1897).
12. "Sergius" (December 13, 1897, "Father
Sergius ").
13. "Alexander I" (December 13, 1897,
" Posthumous notes of the monk, Fedor Kuz-
mich"). 14. " Persianninov " (December 13, 1897).
15. "The story of Petrovich — a man who
396

Appendix
died a pilgrim" (December 13, 1897, " Korin
Vasiliev"). 16. " The legend of the descent of Christ into
Hell and the resurrection of Hell " (December 13,
1897, " The resurrection of Hell and its destruc
tion"). 17. "The Forged Coupon" (December 13,
1897, under the same title).
18. "A substituted child" (December 13,
1897). 19. " The drama of the Christian resurrec
tion " (December 13, 1897).
20. " Resurrection — the trial of a prostitute "
(December 13, 1897, Resurrection) .
21. "An outlaw killing the defenceless " (De
cember 13, 1897.
22. "Mother" (December 13, 1897).
23. " An execution in Odessa " (December 13,
1897, Divine and human).
24. " A bit of fiction, in which would be clearly
expressed the flowing quality of man : that he, one
and the same man, is now an evil:doer, now an
angel, now a wise man, now an idiot, now a strong
man, now the most impotent being" (March 21,
1898). 25. " Everything depends, to what one directs.
one's consciousness " (November 14, 1898).
26. " On why the people are corrupted "
(November 25, 1898).

397

Appendix IV
REFLECTIONS ON TOLSTOl's THOUGHTS IN THE
JOURNAL
Besides the above mentioned literary labours of
Tolstoi, his thought life ought to be mentioned
which at first found expression in his note-book and
from which later he would transcribe those
thoughts into his Journal which appeared to him
valuable. These thoughts were sometimes, as we
say, absolutely accidental, sometimes they were
called forth by conversations with various people
and sometimes they were the responses to outer
events. The greater part of them came in connec
tion with some work on hand or one which he was
planning, or were for some inner clarification or
spiritual discussion of problems which, above all,
agitated and interested him.
Of the thoughts which came in connection with
his works on hand from 1896 to 1899, a sufficiently
important number can be pointed out as auxiliary
thoughts for the thinking over and working out
of his "Catechism" (or the "Christian Doc
trine ") ; such were a number of thoughts about
faith, Christian doctrine, sin, etc. A great num
ber of thoughts on art appeared in connection with
his contemplated work, What Is Art? On the
conclusion of this work there are almost no
thoughts on art in the Journal. Many thoughts
were entered for The Appeal, i. e., for the pur
pose of including them in the contemplated manu
script but which was never finished in that form.
Rarely, thoughts are met in the Journal which are
398

Appendix
in connection with his work on some literary
topic. Besides the thoughts which appeared in connec
tion with his writings, one meets in the Journal, as
was said above, such thoughts which appeared dur
ing the period of intense clarification of the various
problems of his personal and family life. In con
nection with the observations which he lived
through and experienced, Tolstoi quite often
wrote down his own spiritual state, his personal
sufferings and the right attitude that he should
take towards them.
At one time, he was occupied especially with the
problem of the philosophic definition of time and
space and he wrote down his thoughts on this
theme quite often. At another time, he was in
terested in the problem of error, of whether the
outer world was such as it appeared. Quite often
he noted his thoughts on the themes : On God, on
the meaning of life, on the difference between the
spiritual and the animal life, on reason, on prayer.
Quite often, at this time, thoughts came to him
about the given work of God, about service to
God, about love in general and about love towards
enemies in particular.
Besides this, there are scattered in the whole
Journal for the four mentioned years, various
thoughts on the sex-problem — on falling in love,
on women, on marriage — and also quite a number
of thoughts on illness, on death, on the unjust life
of the rich, on memory and on many other subjects.
Sometimes one finds thoughts in the Journal which
appear in connection with the books that he was
reading; for instance, there are several thoughts
399

Appendix
called forth by the reading of the philosophic
works of Schopenhauer and Spier. The fact that
there are few notes in the Journal about the books
that had been read or were being read is, of course,
no sign that Tolstoi read little. It is sufficient
to open his book, What Is Art, to convince oneself
as to the enormous amount of books that were
read and studied by Tolstoi on the one theme of
art alone for this work; nevertheless, there are
very few of them mentioned in the Journal.

SOME FEATURES FROM THE SPIRITUAL DOMAIN OF
TOLSTOI'S LIFE *
In due time, when absolutely all Tolstoi's Jour
nals and letters and all his writings which have not
yet appeared will be printed, and also when all the
unused material about him, that literary inherit
ance in all its enormous volume, will be made use
of, then it will be possible to carefully study the
great process of the growth of Tolstoi's soul. At
the present moment, when a great number of Tol
stoi's writings and the reminiscences about him are
not yet published, it is impossible to really pene
trate the whole depth and breadth of Tolstoi's
spirit. At present, it is only possible to throw
light on the general characteristics of several sepa-
1 1 consider it absolutely necessary to mention that this ex
position has been carefully revised by V. G. Chertkov, who, hav
ing been connected with Tolstoi by a friendship of many years,
was closely acquainted with the home conditions of his outer
life, as well as with the most intimate characteristic of his
inner life. 400

Appendix
rate sides of his inner life, in one or several of its
periods. Therefore, this short sketch of Tolstoi's life at
the end of the nineties, which deals not only with
his outer but with his inner life, does in no way in
tend to give an exhaustive exposition of his varied
and complicated spiritual states. In the descrip
tion which is here placed of several features of
Tolstoi's spiritual life, the principal attention is
given to that state, which for over three years al
most constantly dominated Tolstoi, in connection
with one of the most lasting and torturing periods
of intense spiritual suffering in the domain of his
domestic life. Such periods happened to Tolstoi
even before, in the seventies and in the eighties and
in the very last years of his life.
Of course, the description of only one feature of
Tolstoi's inner life, cannot be an indication that
he had not other kinds of spiritual states, not con
nected with his home life. The numerous and ex
tensive entries in the Journal testify that Tolstoi
often experienced states of high religious exalta
tion and of intimate spiritual union and fusion with
God, as well as states of the earnest seeking of the
path towards perfection, flowing from a sharp
discontent with himself and a repentance for his
errors and weaknesses (quite often the states were
called forth by spiritual suffering) . In this sketch
are emphasised and brought forth the logical con
nection of at least one most torturing feature of
his inner life, which is reflected in disconnected
brilliant entries in his Journal — features which
show the cross that he bore for the last thirty years
of his life. The time has not yet come for a full
401

Appendix
description of all the sides and conditions of Tol
stoi's life, and therefore the intimate places have
been omitted in the present edition of the Journal.
In consequence, the reader will not find an ex
haustive description in these chapters of the per
sonal life of Tolstoi which is connected with his
family relations.

From 1895 to 1899 Tolstoi lived through much
spiritual suffering and struggle, and during this
time he was ill quite often. If one carefully fol
lowed all the entries in the Journal, then it would
clearly be seen that almost all his severe illnesses
came after depressing inner experiences.
With the strength of his deep religiousness, Tol
stoi invariably strove to use, in the best spiritual
sense, all the trials which were given to him as his
lot, physical as well as spiritual, and through in
tense inner labour he generally at the end succeeded
in converting all his sufferings, to use his own lan
guage, to the joy of fulfilling the will of God.

At the end of 1895, Tolstoi was earnestly occu
pied with the plot of his drama, The Light that
Shines in Darkness; this plot agitated him so that
he even dreamed of it and he raved about it in
his sleep. This can be easily understood in view
of the fact that there are many autobiographic ele
ments in this drama.
And so he wrote in the Journal that he " lived
through much," in reading over, at the request of
his wife, his journals for the past seven years.1
1 November 5, 1895, page 5. 402

Appendix
At the same time, Tolstoi complains several
times in his Journal of his general indisposition, of
his weakness, and of his lack of energy.
In the course of the three years, from 1896 to
1898, Tolstoi often experienced a fall of spirit,
strong attacks of sorrow and torturing agony.
The greatest part of his suffering was caused by
the lack of understanding of several people near to
him, either for his point of view or for his inner
life,1 and because of the " emptiness of his sur
rounding life." 2
He even felt " hatred " for himself 3 and he was
burdened by his part in the " unjust, idle, luxuri
ous 4 life." But here the thought would come to
him that he had to suffer humiliation,5 and at
times he created supplementary thoughts, which in
fun he called " prescriptions " for his spiritual suf
fering.6 On December 2, 1896, Tolstoi wrote in his Jour
nal : " This is my condition . . . oh, this luxury,
this richness, this absence of care about the mate
rial life! ..."
The thought that this indeed was his task, given
to him, had a calming effect. He tried to look on
the conditions in which he was placed as upon a test
of humbleness, " humiliation." But " in chains,
in a prison, one can pride oneself on one's humilia
tion " — he wrote — " but here it is only painful,
1 May 17, 1896, page 46.
2 May 28, 1896, page 52.
3 June 26, 1896, page 60.
4 June 19, 1896, page 58.
6 July 31, 1896, page 69.
6 October 20, 1896, page 83 ; November 5, page 88, and Novem
ber 20, 1897, page 171. 403

Appendix
unless one accepts it as a trial sent by God." 1
The calm state which was created through the in
fluence of these thoughts was only short-lived.
His heart began soon again to pain and he " wants
to cry over himself, over the remnant of his life
which is being futilely ruined." 2
His surrounding life 3 which tortured him
called forth long periods of agony, dejection and
fall of spirits. But with the thoughts about love
towards enemies,4 there came to him the urge to
look upon his work, as the work of love which was
given to him, and again peace possessed him, " be
cause a loving one." 5 But soon again this peace
became principally an outer one, and within him
self he again wavered.6 Again he is " ashamed
and depressed because of the consciousness of the
lawlessness of his life." 7
After a month, he makes an entry in his Journal,
but tears it out, putting only the words, " A bad
and sterile month " and adds, " Have torn out,
burned, what I have written in heat." 8 Then for
a long time he wrote nothing, and during this time
he " lived through much that was difficult and
good." 9 On the 8th of July he wrote his
very famous letter to his wife, which she received
after his death,10 which began with the words, " It
1 December 20, 1896, page 108.
2 December 21, 1896, page 108.
3 January 18, 1897, page 117.
4 March 1, 1897, page 135.
0 March 9, 1897, page 404.
6 April 4 and 9, 1897, page 137.
T April 4, 1897, page 137.
"May 3, 1897, page 139.
"July 16, 1897, page 140.
10 This letter was published in many editions among others in
404

Appendix
is already a long time that I am tortured by the
lack of harmony between my life and my beliefs "
and in which further on he wrote about his de
cision to do that which " he had wanted to do for
a long time: to go away." But no matter how
difficult the conditions of his family life were at
this time, they were not yet sufficiently ripe to bring
him over to a definite decision to leave his family,
and to fulfil his ancient dream of life in more sim
ple conditions among working people. And in
view of the fact that he decided to change his de
cision, he gave the above-mentioned letter for safe
keeping to his son-in-law, Prince N. L. Obolensky,
with the request to give it to the one designated,
when he was no longer among the living. Al
though Tolstoi remained this time in Yasnaya
Polyana, his life among master-class conditions did
not cease to burden him even for a short time,
and he felt himself alone,1 he often experienced
sorrow as before, and in spirit he felt " solemn,"
" gloomy." 2
At the end of that year (1897), he wrote the
thought in his Journal, of the tragedy of the situa
tion of " a man kindly disposed wishing only the
good " but who in return meets only " hissing mal
ice and the hatred of people." 3 And soon again
he writes in his Journal that he is in an agonised,
sad, crushed state,4 which, however, he is trying to
the Letters of Tolstoi to his Wife, Moscow, 1913, pages 524-526.
!July 16, 1897, page 140.
2 July 17, page 142; October 22, page 162; November 28,
page 176, and further.
3 November 28, 1897, page 177.
4 December 2, 1897, page 177. 405

Appendix
fight off with all his strength. ( " The house is de
pressing but I want to and will be joyous."1)
But this inner struggle in spiritual isolation was of
course not easy, and demanded great spiritual
strength before it could be fully successful. He
was constantly tortured by the injustice of his sur
rounding life and his own almost futile situation
in this life; and he becomes " at times good and
calm, at times uneasy and not good." 2 In this
state he often wants to cry,3 and only in time does
his condition become less agitated and sometimes
even entirely calm.
In the summer of 1898, Tolstoi was twice seri
ously ill. After these illnesses he entered in his
Journal the joy of getting well and a clearness of
thinking. Soon after this he underwent new
spiritual experiences and in July, 1898, he again
considered going away from the conditions of life
in Yasnaya Polyana which were depressing and
which were against his philosophy. He then
wrote a letter to A. A. Jarnefelt and made a note
in the Journal that he has no strength to withstand
the customary temptation,4 i. e., the desire to go
away; it was to Jarnefelt that he turned with the
request to help him in his plan of going away which
he was then considering. But this time also,
" the temptation passed," as he wrote him later.
And again his life flowed on as before.
The thought of " going away " came to Tolstoi
more than once, both early and late, but he con-
1 December 13, 1897, page 182.
2 January 13, 1898, page 195.
3 April 12, 1898, page 219.
4 July 17, 1898, page 244. 406

Appendix
sidered it a temptation because it would have been
spiritually much more easy for him to go away
than to refrain from this step. As he expressed
himself once, he believed that when there is a
doubt in one's soul, as to which one of two possible
steps one should take, then it were better to give
preference to that one in which there is the great
est self-sacrifice.
In 1899, Tolstoi felt himself spiritually im
proved and notwithstanding his severely under
mined health, he occupied himself much and fruit
fully with Resurrection. In the autumn of that
year he made the entry in the Journal, " I have
wrought for myself a calm which is not to be dis
turbed : not to speak and to know that this is nec
essary: that it is under these conditions one ought
to live." 1
Only ten years later, the circumstances arose
which freed Tolstoi from the consciousness of the
moral responsibility to remain in the conditions of
his home life. And having come to the conclu
sion of the absolute inevitability of going away, he
dared, only ten days before his end, to freely give
himself to his cherished wish to change the outer
conditions of his life.
1 September 28, 1899, page 277.

407

INDEX

INDEX

"About Patriotism," Tolstoi's
letter to Manson, pp. 19,
394; note 36.
Abrikosov, Kh. N., note 167.
Adam, Paul, p. 238 ; note 340.
Adult, the, a magazine, p.
193 ; note 280.
Africa, p. 166.
Agatha Michailovna, maid to
Tolstoi's grandmother, p. 388.
Aggeev, Aphanasi, p. 162;
note 237.
Akime, peasant, p. 59.
Alexander I, Emperor, p. 182.
Alexander Petrovich, see Iv-
anov.
Alexeev, I, note 129.
Algerian Disciplinary Battal
ion, note 380.
Ambrose, Holy Man of Op
tina, p. 176; notes 257, 258.
America, pp. 14, 16, 241, 286;
notes 40, 96, 134, 177, 178,
221, 295, 343, 357-
American, the, see Hall.
Americans, the, p. 61.
Amsterdam, note 18.
Andrusha, J*£ Tolstoi, A. L.,
Count.
i4nna Karenin, Tolstoi's novel,
note 182.
Annenkov, K. N., note 104.
Annenkov, pp. 60, 144, 240,
243 ; notes 104, 177.
Aphremovs, landlords, p. 232;
note 323. 411

"Appendix, the" (by L. Tol
stoi) to Chekhov's story,
Dushechka (Darling), note
i77-
"Appendix, the" (by L. Tol
stoi) to E. I. Popov's book,
Life and Death of E. JV.
Drozhin, note 38.
Archer, p. 256; note 365.
Archives, Tolstoi's, manuscript
edition of the Nineties, notes
7, 167, 347-
Arensky, A. S., p. 96; note 154.
Aristophanes, p. 81.
Aristotle, p. 130.
Arkhangelsky, A. I., p. 113;
note 167.
Arkhangelsky, Andre Dimi-
trievich, p. 289; note 391.
" Aphorisms," Schopenhauer,
p. 8 ; note 24.
Arnold, Matthew, note 182.
Azov Sea, p. 218.
Baburino village, p. 59; «o/«
103.
Bach, Johann Sebastian, pp.
55, 103, 104, 128; note 153.
Bacon, Francis, p. 166.
"Ballade," Chopin's, p. 96.
Barcelona, no:? 144-
Bastyevo, station, p. 230; notes
311, 318.
Bausk, Province of Courland,
p. 389; nor* 173.

Index

Bavarian, the, p. 255.
Bazhenov, I. R., p. 6; note 17.
Beethoven, Ludvig, pp. 55, 60,
80, 102, 103, 128, 152.
Bedborough, editor of The
Adult, p. 193 ; note 280.
" Beginning of the End, the,"
article by L. Tolstoi (preface
to the letter of a Hollander),
PP. 7°. 393! no'e 125.
Behrs, A. A., p. 186.
Behrs, S., A. ("Stepa"), p.
122.
Beller, L. A., p. 160.
Benard, p. 130.
Berkeley, George, p. 75.
Black Sea, the, p. 218.
"Blunders of Fear, the," an
article by M. O. Menshikov,
p. 37 ; note 74.
Bieli, Constantine, see Zya-
brev.
Bielinsky, V. G., p. 43 ; note
79-
Bielopolie, Province of Khar
kov, note 134.
" Bigarrure " by Arensky, p.
96.
Biography of L. N. Tolstoi,
compiled by I. P. Biriukov,
notes 2, 34, 85, 102, 114, 119,
180, 253.
Biriukov P. I. (Posha), pp. 7,
8, 53, 5», 108, 125, 127, 136,
145, 146, 185, 195, 230, 237,
389; notes 9, 19, 23, 137, 160,
173, 219, 236, 257, 297, 353,
384.
Bobriki, village, p. 228; note,
305.
Boccaccio, p. 223.
Bochkarev, p. 5; notes n, 14.
Bondarev, T. M., pp. 53, 185,
390; note 90.
Boulanger, P. A., pp. 95, 136,
144, 146, 160, 161, 171, 195,

237, 389; notes 34, 134, 150,
219.
Bourgas, Bulgardia, note 167.
Boyhood, Tolstoi's novel, note
119.
Brahmins, p. 75.
Brashnin, I. P., p. 219, 389;
note 301.
Bronnitsk, district of (Province
of Moscow), note 167.
Budapest, note 56.
Buddha, p. 81.
Bulakhov, P. A., pp. 144, 195;
note 211.
Bulgaria, p. 237 ; notes 46, 167.
"Bulletins of the Tolstoi Mu
seum Society," note 145.
Buzuluk, district of (Province
of Samara), note 222.

California, note 134.
Canada, notes 357, 367, 375.
Carpenter, pp. 85, 206; note
135-
" Carthago Delenda Est," ar
ticle by L. Tolstoi, pp. 219,
222, 393 ; note 302.
Carus, editor, The Open Court,
p. 143 ; note 206.
" Catechism," see " Christian
Doctrine," The.
Caucasus, pp. 258, 390; notes
9, 195, 221, 240, 300, 357, 3«4.
367.
Chekhov, A. P., p. 186; note
177.
Cherinov, M. P., note 394.
Cherni (Province of Tula), p.
231 ; note 303.
Chernigovitz (Vishnecsky), F.
V., note 24.
Chernov, a Dukhobor, note
300.

412

Index

Chernishevsky, N. G., p. 43;
note 81.
Chertkov, A. C. (Galia), pp.
56, 174, 175, i8if 237; notes
34, 42, 97, 202, 230, 301, 338.
Chertkov, E. I., p. 149; note
226.
Chertkov, V. G., pp. 19, 25, 31,
61, 87, 89, 106, 124, 133, 140.
142, 144, 152, 153, 158, 160,
161, 173, 178, 181, 183, 186,
189, 195, 198, 2261 237, 247,
253. 256, 3*9. 393. 4°°; notes
34. 4«. 54. 80, 160, 173, 176,
190, 192, 200, 219, 226, 229,
231, 234, 240, 264, 269, 278,
293. 300, 3°9, 3", 333, 343.
347. 355. 358, 3*5. 374. 376.
381, 394-
Chertkovs (the "Exiles," "to
England," " from Eng
land"), pp. 14, 56, 65, 70,
100, 124, 139, 182, 233; notes
107, 174, 192, 197, 198, 203,
210, 273, 280, 282, 328, 354.
Chicago, notes 206, 343.
China, p. 212; note 353.
Chizhov, S. P., p. 185 ; note
270.
Chopin, p. 96.
Chdrvatia, note 46.
Christ, pp. 13, 60, 64, 65, 81,
141, 169, 201, 221, 240, 243,
245. 276, 277, 397; notes in,
»5i> 177. 192, 284, 372.
Christian, pp. 105, 221.
" Christian Doctrine, the," by
L. Tolstoi (" Catechism,"
"Declaration of Faith"),
PP- 5. 8, 14, 25, 29, 31, 32,
35. 37. 52, 56. 58, 61. 7°. 74.
85. 87, 90, 262, 393, 398;
notes 4, 83, 95, 190, 108, 262.
Christianity, pp. 74, 85, 163,
164., 213, 220, 221, 234.
" Chromatic Fantasy and

Fugue," by Bach, p. 96 ; note
153-
Clara, St., note 177.
Collected Works of L. N. Tol
stoi, edited by P. I. Biriukov,
published by Sytin, sub
scribed edition (20 vol
umes), notes 5, 27, m, 134,
160, 238, 297, 331; popular
edition (24 volumes), notes
5, 27, 64, m, 134, 160, 222,
238, 297.
Commander, the, of the Ekate-
rinograd ("Caucasian")
Disciplinary Battalion, pp.
89. 394! note 137.
Commander, the, of the Irkutsk
Disciplinary Battalion, pp.
85. 394! note 134.
" Concerning the Attitude to
wards the State," by L. N.
Tolstoi, note 126.
" Contemporary Science," ar
ticle by Carpenter, p. 85;
note 135.
Conversation with Nicodemus,
p. 40.
Copernicus, p. 83.
Corinthians, the message of the
Apostle Paul to the, p.
232.
Corneille, pp. 25, 30.
" Corpse, the," see " The Liv
ing Corpse."
" Correspondence of L. N. Tol
stoi with N. N. Strakhov,"
note 47.
" Correspondence of L. N. Tol
stoi with the Countess A. A.
Tolstoi," note 176.
" Coupon," see The Forged
Coupon.
Cracow, note 53.
Crookes, William, p. 143 ; note
204.
Crosby, pp. 16, 19, 21, 144, 185,

413

Index

240. 3941 notes 37, 40, 215,
296.
" Crucifix," duet by Faure, p.
104; note 162.
Cyprus, note 353, 357.
" Daily Bread," story by F. F.
Tischenko, p. 96; note 156.
Dante, Alighieri, p. 103.
Darwin, Charles, p. 74.
Davydov, N. V., p. 21 ; note
49-
Decadents, the, pp. 102, 144.
" Declaration of Faith, the,"
see " Christian Doctrine,
The."
Deibner, A., the publisher, note
36.
De-Kuh, note 233.
Demenka, village, p. 60; note
107.
Denisenko, E. S., Tolstoy's
niece, note 257.
Derzhavin, G. R., note 397.
Descartes Rene, pp. 83, 89.
Desert of Optin, the, notes 121,
257-258.
Devil, the, Tolstoy's story, note
346.
Dieterichs, the, pp. 237, 244.
Dieterichs, J. K., note 338.
Dieterichs, M. K., note 338.
Dieterichs, O. C, see Tolstoi,
O. C, Countess.
Divine and the Human, the,
Tolstoy's story, note 266.
Dobroliubov, N. A., p. 43 ; note
81.
Dolgoe, the town, p. 180; note
261.
Don, district of the, note 90.
Dragomirov, M. I., p. 91 ; note
145.
Drozhin, E. N., p. 16, notes
38, 207.
Dubrovin, M. N., p. 198. 414

Dubrovsky, p. 198.
Dukhobors, pp. 5, 91, 114, 117,
148, 193, 211, 222, 240, 243,
247, 253, 256, 269, 389, 390,
394. 395! notes 9, 130,
'34. 144. '55. i«°, 173. 177.
195, 2iq, 220, 221, 240, 279,
297, 3°o, 304, 312, 343, 346,
352, 357, 363. 3«4. 365. 367.
375. 381.
Dumas, Alexander, note 96.
Dunaev, A. N., pp. 6, 95, 136,
139, 237, 243; notes 15, 196,
301.
Duniasha, the peasant girl, p.
157-
Dushan, see Makovitsky.
Dvoriansky, A. P., the teacher,
P- 395-

Egorov, F. R. p. 388.
Egypt, note 37.
Ekaterinograd ("Caucasian")
Disciplinary Battalion, The,
pp. 87, 89, 394; notes 137,
279.
Elias, the prophet, p. 64.
Engelhardt, M. A., p. 293 ; note
398.
England, pp. 14, 185, 212, 233,
240; notes 27, 31, 36, 38, 80,
91, 125, 130, 132, 160, 195,
197, 231, 240, 264, 269, 278,
297. 312, 321, 339. 342, 343.
353. 375, 379, 381.
Englishmen, The, p. 61, 166.
English papers, p. 211.
Epictetus, p. 242; note 261.
" Epilogue, the (by L. Tol
stoi) to the appeal ' Help! ' "
pp. 100, 393 ; note 160.
Ergolsky, T. A., note 177.
Ertel, A. I., p. 21, note 50.
" L'Esthetique d'Aristotle,"
Benard, p. 130.

Index

Europe, p. 164.
Europeans, the, p. 71.
Evgeni Ivanovich, see Popov,
E. I.
Exiles the, see Chertkovs.

Factory hands, p. 100.
"Famine or No Famine,'' the
article by Tolstoi (" On the
People's Condition"), pp.
232, 236, 393 ; notes 321, 325,
335-
Famine-Stricken, The, pp. 222,
271. 39°. 39i. 395! notes 303,
305, 306, 313, 320, 321, 325,
337. 382. .
Father Sergius, a story by L.
Tolstoi, pp. 182, 233, 236,
243, 392, 39* I notes 177, 266,
327, 346.
Faure, Jean Baptiste, p. 104;
note 162.
Fet (Shenshin), A. A., p. 64;
notes 24, 114.
Fire Refugees, The, p. 60.
Francis of Assisi, note 177.
" Free Press, the," pp. 64, 270 ;
notes 7, 1297, 1298.
Free, Press, The, publishing
house of A. and V. Chertkov,
notes 4, 9, 31, 38, 91, 125,
126, 130, 132, 134, 160, 269,
312.
Frenchman, the, p. 6.
Forged Coupon, the, Tolstoi's
story (Coupon, The), pp.
182, 234, 296, 392, 397; notes
177, 244, 266, 329, 400.
Fortnightly Review, an Eng
lish magazine, note 182.
Fortress of Peter and Paul, p.
389; note 192.
Four Gospels, harmonized,
translated and studied, Tol
stoi's work, note 289.

Gaideburov, V. P., p. 240;
note 344.
Galia, see Chertkov, A. C.
Galileo, p. 83.
Gay, N. N., the artist, notes
80, 139.
Gay, N. N., the artist's son
("Kolechka," "Kolichka"), p.
87; notes 269, 271, 283.
Geneva, notes 18, 220.
Gendarme, p. 56; note 98.
Germans, the, pp. 144, 212,
273.
Germany, note 66.
George, Henry, p. 56; notes
37. 96.
Georgia, the American agri
cultural colony, pp. 211,
395; note 296.
Gibson, p. 395 ; note 296.
Gill's Factory, p. 33 ; note 70.
Ginzburg, I. J., p. 144; notes
138, 214.
" God," Derzhavin's Ode, note
397-
Goethe, Wolfgang, pp. 54, 103,
128 ; note 97.
Gogol, N. V., note 79.
Goldenweiser, A. B., pp. 96,
144; note is2-
Goldingen (government of
Courland), p. 389; note
173.
Golitsin, G. S., prince, p. 258;
note 367.
Gorbunov (Posadov), I. I., pp.
124, 199, 244; notes 37, 149,
167, 350.
Gorbunov, N. I., notes 149,
350.
Gorbunovs, pp. 95, 255.
Gorchakov, E. S., Princess, p.
100; note 157.
Goremykin, I. L., note 64.
Gorokhov, the landlord, note
261.

415

Index

Gospel in Brief, The, by L,
Tolstoy, note 215.
Gospels, the, pp. 60, 61, 128,
151, 166, 179, 263; note 111.
Granovsky, T. N., p. 43 ; note
78.
Grave, p. 206, note 292.
Grevenhagen, the Dutch city,
note 233.
Grinevich, V. S., pp. 22, 395 ;
note 54.
Grinevka, the estate of Count
I. L. Tolstoi, pp. 221, 223,
225, 228, 230, 231 ; notes 303,
305, 323, 39i-
Grot, N. J., pp. 162, 163, 171,
173, 176, 199; notes 238, 255,
265, 298.
Gubarevka, village, pp. 226,
228.
Gubonon ("The Teacher"),
p. 226; note 314.
Gulenko, M. F., p. 199; note
286.
Gulliver, p. 164.
Gusev, N. N., note 237.
Hadji-Murad, pp. 62, 70, 85,
136, 137, 152, 158, 164, 166.
172, 174. 182, 186, 195, 198,
210, 216, 219, 226, 230, 392,
396; notes 112, 122, 266.
Hadji, Murad, a Caucasian
mountaineer, pp. 62, 70, 182,
216; note 112.
Hague Peace Conference, note
378.
Hall ("American, the"), p.
125; note 178.
Heath, p. 149 ; note 225.
" Help ! " the appeal by P. I.
Biriukov, I. M. Tregubov,
and V. G. Chertkov, notes
160, 173.
Helsingfors, note 347.
Herzen, A. I., p. 43, note 80.

Hindus, the, pp. 71, 83.
History of Music, the, p. 103.
Holland, p. 7 ; note 233.
Hollander, the, see Vander-
veer.
Holy Scriptures, p. 128.
Homer, p. 103.
Hour of the Will of God, a
story by N. S. Lieskov, note
330.
" How to read Gospels and in
what is their essence," by L.
Tolstoi, pp. 61, 393; note
m.
Hungary, pp. 178, 389; notes
8, 45. 4«. 259-
Igumnov, J. I. ("Julie"), p.
289; note 390.
Ilinsky, a landowner, p. 226;
note 308.
Ilya, Iliusha, see Tolstoi, I. L.,
Count.
" L'individu et la Societe," by
Jean Grave, p. 206.
Initials, the, substituting names
and surnames, see N, NN.
" International Tolstoi Al
manac, the, on Tolstoi," com
piled by P. A. Sergienko,
notes 56, 130, 178, 206.
Introduction to The Story of a
Mother by L. Tolstoi, note
266.
Ioga's PhUosophy, by Viveka-
nanda, p. 71 ; note 127.
Irkutsk, note 134.
Irkutsk, the disciplinary bat
talion of, p. 394; note 134.
Ivan Mikhailovich, see Tre-
gunov.
Ivanov, Alexander Petrovich,
p. 163 ; note 239.
Iversk, ikon of, p. 275.

416

Jacob, p. 81.

Index

Japan, p. 212.
Japanese, the, note 215.
Japanese, the (plural), pp. 74,
80.
Jarnefelt, A. A., pp. 244, 406;
note 347, 350.
Joseph, biblical, p. 81.
Juriev (Dorpat), a city, note
379-
Jushkova, N. M., p. 129; note
183.
Kalmikov, Mme. A. M., pp. 70,
87. 394; note 126.
Kaluga, note 350.
Kamenka, a village, p. 226;
note 305.
Kansas (in America), note 295.
Kant, Immanuel, /^. 65, 75, 83 ;
nor* 115.
Karma, p. 152.
Kasatkin, N. A., pp. 144, 180;
no/« 214-243.
Kashai, in Hungary, no/? 8.
Katiusha Maslov, heroine of
Resurrection, see Maslov.
Kazan, pp. 46, 94, 163, 185 ;
notes 218, 232, 379.
Kaznacheecka, a village, note
237.
Kenworthy, pp. $, 14, 19, 21,
25, 276 ; note 7.
Kh., NI., p. 198.
Khaliavka, a peasant woman,
P- 59-
Kharkov, p. 5; nor« 151, 209,
379-
Kharkov, Province of, notes
134, 240.
Khilkov, D. A., Prince, pp.
163, 165, 240, 253; note 240.
Khiriakov, A. M., note 34.
Khodinka, a square in Mos
cow, pp. 58, 388; note 89.
Khodinka, a story by L. Tol
stoi, note 89.

Kholevinsky, M. M., pp. 31,
388, 394; note 63.
Kiev, />^. 140, 243 ; notes 129,
202, 270, 379.
Kingdom of God Within Us,
the, L. Tolstoi's book, note
291.
Kioto, a Japanese city, note
129.
Klein, I. Kh., note 233.
Knizhki, Niedeli, a magazine,
note* 74, 156, 246, 253.
Kolasha, Kolia, see Obolensky,
N. L., Prince.
Kolechka, Kolichka, see Gay,
N. M. — son.
Konevsky — see Resurrection.
Koni, A. F., pp. 100, 136; notes
23, 158, 192.
Konissi, D. P., p. 74; note 129.
Konius, Julius, and Leo Edu-
ardovich, p. 129; note 184.
Komi Vasiliev, a story by L.
Tolstoi, p. 397; note 266.
Kozlovka (or Kozlova Za-
sieka), a station, note 347.
Krapivensk, the district of,
notes 84, 261.
Kronstad, John of, see Sergiev.
Kudinenko, F., p. 20, note 43.
Kudriavtsev, M. F., p. 100;
note 159.
Kukevka, a village, p. 230;
nor? 305.
Kukin (from Chekhov's Du-
shechka), note 177.
Kursk, Province of, note 38.
Kuzminsky, A. M., p. 91 ;
note 22, 145.
Kuzminsky, T. A. ("Aunt
Tania"), pp. 8, 246; note
22.
Kuzminsky, V. A., p. 253 ; note
359-

Lao-Tse, note 129.

417

Index

Langlet ("The Swede"), p.
150; note 227.
Lawyer, p. 60.
Leaflets of the Free Press, a
publication by A. and V.
Chertkov, notes 27, 45, 279,
321, 377-
Lebon, p. 212.
Leipzig, note 284.
Letter to M. A. Engelhardt, A.
( " On Non-resistance " ) ,
note 398.
"Letter to the Italians, a"
("On Abyssinians"), by L.
Tolstoi, pp. 29, 393; note
59-
"Letter to the Liberals, a," by
L. Tolstoi ("To Mme.
Kalmikov"), pp. 70, 87,
394; note 126.
"Letter to the Officer, a," by
L. Tolstoi, pp. 270, 395;
note 377.
" Letter to a Peasant, a," by L.
Tolstoi, note 96.
" Letter to the Russian Public,
a," ("On Dukhobors"),
note 297.
" Letter to the Swedish News
papers, a" (" On the Noble
prize and the Dukhobors,"
" The Swedish Letter," " To
Stockholm"), by L. Tolstoi,
pp. 148, 149, 158, 395; note
220.
Letter to the Swedish papers, a,
p. 270, 395; note 278.
Letters to Count Tolstoi to His
Wife, p. 404; notes 66, 129,
155, 179. 199. 242, 250, 251,
265, 303, 310.
Letters (unpublished), frag
ments of these letters are
cited in the editorial notes.
Leo, see Tolstoi, L. L., Count.
Leontev, B. N., p. 146.

418

Levitsky, the landlord, pp. 232,
391 ; note 323.
Liapunov, V. D. ("Viaches-
lav"), pp. 160, 199; notes
236, 288.
Liberals, the, p. 272.
Lieskov, N. S., p. 235 ; note 330.
Light that Shines in Dark
ness, The, Tolstoi's drama
("Drama"), pp. 14, 19, 20,
29. 85, 113, 141, 392, 402;
note 35.
Lindenberg, G. R., p. 226;
notes 313, 314.
" Living Corpse, the," Tolstoi's
play ("The Corpse"), p.
186.
Lombroso, Caesar, p. 146.
London, notes 7, 80, 194.
Longinov, V. V., p. 144; note
204.
Lopashino, a village, p. 223;
note 305.
Love for the Good, p. 244;
note 349.
Lvov (Lemberg), the capital of
Galicia, note 240.

Magdalene, note 177.
Maklakov, A. A., note 213.
Maklakov, V. A., note 213.
Maklakovs, pp. 144, 146.
Makovitzky, D. P. ("Du
shan"), pp. 20, 175, 178;
note 45, 259.
Malikov, A. K., p. 210; note
295.
Mall arme, Stephane, p. 54;
note 93.
Malory, Lucy, note 177.
Manager of the Moscow Little
Theatre, note 10.
Manchuria, note 353.
Manson (" The Englishman "),
PP- 14, 394! note 36-

Index

Maria (a peasant woman), p.
59-
Maria Alexandrovna, see
Schmidt, M. A.
Maria Nicholaevna, see Tol
stoi, M. N.
Marx, A. F., the publisher,
notes 346, 362.
Marx, Karl, pp. 33, 248.
Marxists, the, p. 248.
Mary, p. 252; note 177.
Masha, see Obolensky, M. N.
Princess.
Mashenka, see Tolstoi, M. N.,
Countess.
Maslov, Katiusha, heroine of
The Resurrection (Konev-
sky), pp. 51, 113; notes 6,
166.
Materialists, the, pp. 83, 242.
Maude, A. F., pp. 139, 144,
167, 173, 175, 176, 195; notes
194, 254.
Mayak, the, children's maga
zine, note 102.
Mediterranean, the, p. 218.
Medusov, p. 100.
Meletie, the archbishop of Ria-
zan, note 218.
Menshikov, M. O., pp. 37, 167,
173. 199. 236, 240; notes 74,
246, 253.
" Menteur," by Corneille, p. 30.
Michael-Angelo, pp. 55, 103.
Mikhailo, a harness-maker,
•»*. 53, 56.
Mikhail's Ford, a village, p.
228 ; note 305.
Miklukha-Maklai, N. N., p.
166; note 243.
Minister of the Interior, the
(I. L. Goremykin), pp. 31,
394; notes 64, 126, 304.
Minister of Justice, the (N. V.
Muraviev), pp. 31, 394!
note 64.

Minusinsk, district of (Prov
ince of Yeniseisk), note 90.
Mohammed, p. 92.
Molokans, the, pp. 148, 149,
395 ; notes 222, 223, 224, 232.
Moscow, pp. 8, 14, 19, 20, 21,
24, 31. 35, 53, 9°, 95, 96, 99.
100, iox, 107, 109, 117, 136,
137. 139. 163. 171, 176, 180,
181, 183, 185, 186, 189, 194,
198, 199, 202, 206, 210, 213,
219, 222, 269, 286, 291, 292,
296, 388, 398; notes 13, 28,
29, 49, 57, 61, 7i, 78, 88, 129,
152, 157, 163, 213, 221, 235,
238, 239, 256, 262, 265, 286,
301, 304, 347, 369.
Moscow, Court of, notes 40,
53, 39»-
Moses, pp. 74, 92, 243, 245.
Morosov, V. S., a peasant from
Yasnaya Polyana, note 102.
Mother's Notes, a, by L. Tol
stoi, note 266.
Mtsensk, Province of, p. 230;
note 317.
Muraviev, N. V., note 64.
Myasoyedov, G. G., p. 32 ; note
68.

N, an army officer, p. 53.
N, the artist, who refused to
enter military service, pp.
9, 20, 53 ; note 29.
N, the journalist, p. 21.
N, a revolutionist, p. 35.
N, " a type for a drama," p.
135- , .
N, NN (as written by Tolstoi
in the original), pp. 273, 270.
N, NN, A, B, V, G, Z, (the
initials, substituted for the
names omitted by the edi
tors), pp. 37, 53, 58, 60, 98,
102, 129, 131, 135, 142, 147,

419

Index

160, 181, 183, 187, 205, 237,
245, 3"5 ! notes 234, 264.
Nagornov, N. M., pp. 19, 20,
388 ; note 42.
Nagornov, V. V., Tolstoi's
niece ("Varia") p. 228;
notes 42, 257.
Nakashidze, I. P., Prince, pp.
114, 136, 198.
Napoleonic Wars, p. 212.
Nazarenes, the, p. 20; note
33-
Nekhliudov, Dimitri, hero of
Resurrection, Konevsky, p.
113 ; notes 6, 166.
New Collection of Letters of L.
N. Tolstoi, compiled by P.
S. Sergienko, notes 53, 398.
New Guinea, note 243.
Newton, Isaac, p. 83.
New York, p. 95, notes 127,
215, 388.
Nietzche, Friedrich, p. 163.
Nicholaev, in Kazan, p. 185.
Nicholaev Grigori, an outlaw,
PP- ^5, 396-
Nicholaev, note 96.
Nicholas, see Tolstoi, N. N.,
Count.
Nicholas II, Alexandrovich,
ex-Emperor, pp. 21, 149, 395;
notes 49, 225.
Nicholas I, Pavlovich, Em
peror, p. 43.
Nicholskoe, — estate of the
counts Olsuphiev, pp. 24, 29,
30, 117, 123, 124, 125, 127,
129, 132, 133, 134, 135, 391;
notes 55, 191.
Nicholskoe, estate of Count S.
L. Tolstoi, p. 228 ; note
Niva, a magazine (No. 51) p.
296; notes 346, 352, 392, 399.
Nobel, Alfred, p. 148; note
220.

Nobel prize, pp. 148, 395 ; notes
220, 227.
Notes of a Madman, by L. Tol
stoi, pp. 109, 113, 392, 396;
note 165.
Nov, a newspaper, note 129.
Novaia, Alexandria, note 379.
Novikov, the brother of M. P.
Novikov, pp. 31, 143, 163.
Novikov, M. P., pp. 31, 143,
144, 160; notes 61, 205.
Novoe Vremia, a newspaper,
notes 74, 147, 182, 204, 253.
Obdorsk (government of To
bolsk), notes 130, 300, 364.
" Obnovlenie," a publishing
firm, notes 125, 126, 134, 377.
Obolensky, E. V., princess, Tol
stoi's niece, p. 262 ; notes 257,
370.
Obolensky, N. L., prince, Tol
stoi's son-in-law, " Ko-
lasha," " Kolia,' pp. 5, 142,
233, 262, 277, 292, 389, 405;
notes 12, 32, 60, 199, 201, 290.
Obolensky, M. L., Princess,
Tolstoi's daughter " Mesha,"
PP. H, 23, 53, 85, 100, 140,
142, 185, 194, 262, 228, 233,
237, 245, 256, 277, 292, 389;
notes 12, 32, 54, 105, 131, 193,
198, 201.
Odessa, pp. 182, 397; note 379.
Ohne Staat, a German news
paper, note 56.
Olga, see Tolstoi, O. C,
Countess.
Olkhovik, P. V., pp. 85, 394;
note 134.
Olsuphiev, A. M., Countess, p.
132; note 190.
Olsuphiev, A. V., Count, p.
149; note 224.
Olsuphiev, M. A., Count, pp.
129, 391 ; notes 185, 391.

420

Index

Olsuphievs, the Counts, pp. 21,
24, 125, 391 ; notes 48, 55.
" On Ahyssinians," an article
by Tolstoi, see " Letter to the
Italians."
On a Cart, a story by Chekhov,
p. 186.
" On Art," see What is Art?
" On the Condition of the Peo
ple," see " Famine or no
Famine."
On Life, Tolstoi's book, notes
37. 178-
On Life, transcript by Hall, p.
125; note 178.
" On Science," see " Preface to
Carpenter's article ' Contem
porary Science.' "
" On War," an article by Tol
stoi, p. 393 ; note 146.
" On War," a French pamphlet,
p. 7.
" On Whipping," see " Shame."
" Only Possible Solution of the
Land Problem, the," Tolstoi's
article, note 96.
Open Court, The, a magazine,
note 206.
Orel, note 295.
Orenburg, note 63.
Ossipov, Peter, a peasant from
Yasnaya Polyana, p. 165 ;
note 241.
Ovsiannikovo, T. L., Sukhotin's
estate, pp. 6, 245; notes 11,
130, 350.

P., p. 218.
Paris, p. 216; note 87.
Pascal, Blaise, pp. 15, 273.
Pashkov Sect., p. 189 ; note 226.
Paths of Life, by L. Tolstoi,
p. 2; note 289.
"Patriotism or Peace?" see
" About Patriotism."
421

Paul, the apostle, p. 232; note
249.
Pavlenkov, F. F., note 398.
Peasant-Poet, from Kazan, p.
163.
Perer, p. 32.
Perfiluv, V. S., p. 105 ; note 163.
Persianninov, pp. 72, 182, 396.
Peterhurgskaia Viedomosti, a
newspaper, pp. 158, 160, 211,
395 ; notes 222-232.
Pet., p. 195.
Petrograd (St. Petersburg), pp.
124, 391; notes 47, 90, 138,
H5. 174. 176, 192, 300, 379.
Petrovich, p. 182; note 397.
Pharisov, A. I., p. 210.
Phedoseev, N. I., p. 193 ; note
279.
Philosophov, N.A., p. 9; note 30.
Pickard, Elizabeth, p. 240; note
342.
Pirogovo, Count S. N. Tolstoi's
estate, pp. 52, 60, 85, 163,
246, 262, 269, 391 ; note 84.
Planidin, P. V., Dukhobor, note
300.
Plato, p. 95.
" Ploughman, the," a poem by
V. D. Liapunov, p. 199; note
288.
Podsolnechnaia, note 55.
"Politics," Aristotle's, p. 131;
note 187.
Poltava, note 314.
Popov, E. I. ("Evgeni Ivano
vich"), pp. 143, 199, 205,
217; notes 38, 207.
Posha, see Biriukop, P. I.
" Posrednik," a Moscow pub
lishing firm, notes 1, 9, 19,
21, 75, 9«, 102, 115, 119, 135,
149, 150, 167, 182, 259, 286,
357, 366.
" Posrednik," a Slavonian pub
lishing firm, p. 178 ; note 259.

Index

Posthumous Literary Works of
L. N. Tolstoi, published by
A. L. Tolstoi, notes 89, 112,
165, 244.
" Posthumous Notes of the
Monk, Fedor Kuzmich, the,"
by L. Tolstoi, p. 396 ; note
266.
Power of Darkness, the, Tol
stoi's drama, ^.18; note 10.
Pozdniakov, V. N. ("The
Dukhobor"), p. 256; note
364.
Preface by L. Tolstoi, to the
English edition of What is
Art? p. 211; note 393.
Preface (by L. Tolstoi) to the
work of T. M. Bondarev,
note 90.
Preface (by L. Tolstoi) to
Carpenter's article, " Con
temporary Science" ("On
Science," "Carpenter"), pp.
161, 165, 167, 171, 175, 206,
393; note 135.
Prescriptions, pp. 83, 88, 17X,
403.
Priest, the, p. 185.
Problems of Philosophy and
Psychology, notes 129, 169,
238, 265, 268, 278, 298.
Progress, as an Evolution of
Cruelly, a book by M. A.
Engelhardt p. 293; note
398.
Prusravin, A. S., note 222.
Public Library in Moscow, the,
p. 136.
Public Library in Petersburg,
the, note 138.
Pugachev, p. 277.
Purleigh, a town in England,
note 194.

Rachinsky, S. A., p. 27; note
57-
Rakhmanov, V. V., note 140.
Raphael, pp. 103, 128.
Razin, Stenka., p. 277.
Reading Circle, the, by L. Tol
stoi, notes 167, 177, 366, 387.
Religion des Geistes, die, Ger
man magazine, note 56.
Repine, I. E., pp. 93, 194; notes
147, 282.
Resurrection, Tolstoi's novel
(Konevsky), pp. 5, 6, 21, 51,
58, 85, 113, 182, 243, 245, 246,
252, 256, 258, 262, 269, 270,
277, 283, 286, 289, 292, 296,
39°, 392, 397, 4°7; notes 1,
23, 96, 158, 190, 266, 342, 346,
362, 371, 374, 376, 381.
" Resurrection of Hell and its
Destruction, the," a legend
by L. Tolstoi, pp. 182, 195,
397; notes 266, 284.
Revolutionaries, the, p. 272.
Riazan, the Province of, note
303.
Riga, note 379.
Robinson, a teacher, p. 185.
Rostovtzev, M. N., p. 247 ; note
354-
Rostovtzev, N. D., note 354.
Rozanov, V. V., p. 173 ; note
253.
Rusanov, G. A., pp. 95, 182;
notes 151, 180.
Rusanovs, p. 183.
Russ, a newspaper, note 321.
Russki Trud, a magazine, p.
236; note 336.
Russkia Viedomosti, a news
paper, pp. 222, 390, 395;
notes 218, 304, 390, 395.

Quakers, notes 221, 342, 353.

S., see Tolstoi, S. A., countess.
Safonova, a village, p. 133;
note 191.

422

Index

Sakia-Muni, p. 81.
Salomon, K. A., pp. 53, 160;
note 87.
Samara, the Province of, pp. 58,
396 ; notes 102, 222.
Samara, p. 148.
Sasha, see Tolstoi, A. L.,
Countess.
Schmidt, Eugene, pp. 25, 85,
87, 394! note 56.
Schmidt, M. A. (" Maria Alex-
androvna"), pp. 6, 8, 162,
165, 172, 292; notes 13, 177,
252.
Schopenhauer, Arthur, pp. 8,
400; note 24.
Sectarians, p. 252; note 218.
Seminary student, p. 53.
Sereda, Cyril, p. 394; note
134.
Serezha, see Tolstoi, S. L.,
Count.
Serezha, see Tolstoi, S. N.,
Count.
Sergei, see Tolstoi, S. N.,
Count.
Sergienko, P. A., notes 53, 56,
130, 178, 206.
Sergiev, I. I. (Kronstad), p.
57; note 99.
"Sergius," see "Father Ser
gius."
Servia, note 46.
Shakespeare, William, pp. 55,
103, 128, 138, 152; note 94.
Shameful, an article hy Tolstoi
(on whipping), pp. 8, 393;
notes 27, 50.
Shamordin (Province of Ka
luga, "The Monastery"),
pp. 70, 391 ; notes 121, 257.
Sharapov, S. F., note 336.
Shelkovo, a village, p. 135;
note 191.
Shenshins, the landlords, pp.
69, 142; note 118.

Shidlovsky, a peasant, p. 140;
note 202.
Shkarvan, A. A., pp. 5, 7, 10,
32, 53; notes 8, 31, 91, 233.
Shokhor-Trosky, K. S., note
90.
Shorin, Mme., p. 132; note 189.
Should it really be so? an arti
cle by Tolstoi, note 315.
Siaskov, M. V. (Maria Vasili-
evna), p. 8; note 21.
Siberia, p. 390; notes 90, 134,
218, 237, 270, 279, 364.
Sidorovo, a village, ^. 226 ;
note 305.
Sieverni Viestnik, a magazine,
^#. 161, 207; notes 53, 135.
Siegfried, Wagner's opera, pp.
31, 388; nor? 65.
Sinet, p. 270; nor? 380.
Siutaev, V. K., note 90.
Smolensk, the Province of,
note 211.
Sobolev, M. N., p. 144; note
214.
Social Gospel, an American
magazine, nor? 296.
Socialists, pp. 16, 213, 214, 272,
275-
Soloviev, S. M., p. 188 ; nor?jr
277.
Solovievs, Vladimir and Vse-
volod Sergeevich, note 277.
Sonya, see Tolstoi, S. N.,
Countess.
Sophocles, p. 81 ; note 103.
Sopotsko, M. A., pp. 22, 394;
note 52.
Sovremennik, a magazine
edited by Chernishevsky,
note 81.
Spielhagen, Friedrich, p. 16;
note 38.
Spier, A. A., pp. 31, 32, 35, 56,
115, 388, 400; notes 66, 67,
169.

423

Index

Spiritualists, p. 188.
St., p. 195.
St. John, p. 49.
St. John, A. K., p. 148; note
221.
St. Thomas, L. Tolstoi's tutor,
p. 69; note 119.
Stakhovich, A. A., note 212.
Stakhoviches, p. 144.
Stakhovich, M. A., pp. 145,
226, 253 ; note 212.
Stakhovich, S. A., note 212.
Stasov, V. V., pp. 87, 124, 194;
note 138.
Stcheglov, I. L., note 185.
Stead, William, note 342.
" Step by Step " people, p. 214.
Stockholm, p. 158; notes 71,
220.
Stockholms Dagbladet, a Swed
ish newspaper (Tagblatt
Stokholm), p. 150.
" Stones, the," a legend by
L. Tolstoi, note 387.
Storozhenko, N. I., p. 180; nor?
262.
Storozhenko, O. I., p. 388.
Strakhov, N. F. (" Natasha
Strakhova"), p. 52; note
82.
Strakhov, N. N., pp. 20, 37, 228,
388; notes 47, 76, 316.
Strakhov, Th. A., pp. 37, 185;
notes 75 77, 82.
Students, from Kharkov, p. 5.
Student Movement of 1899, the,
p. 270; note 379.
Sudakova, Shenshins' estate,
note 118.
Sudzha (the Province of
Kursk), note 38.
Sukhotin, M. S., L. Tolstoi's
son-in-law, p. 390; note 62.
Sukhotin, T. L., L. Tolstoi's
daughter ("Tania"), pp.
31, 60, 129, 133, 136, 167, 173,

194, 237, 262; notes 11, 13,
62, 71, 144, 185.
Suller, see Suller Zhitsky.
Sullerzhitsky, L. A. (" Sul
ler"), pp. 199, 253, 258;
notes 287, 357, 367.
Sumsk, the district of (Province
of Kharkov), notes 134, 240.
Sverbeev, D. D., p. 32; note 69.
Svobodnaia Mysl, a magazine
edited by P. I. Biriukov, note
220.
Swede, the, see Langlet.
Swedes, the, note 378.
Sweden, p. 35; notes 71, 326.
" Swedish Letter, the," see
" Letter to the Swedish
Papers.''
Swift, Jonathan, p. 95.
Switzerland, p. 237; note 46.
Sytin, I. D., note 5.

Tagblatt Stokholm, see Stok-
holms Dafrbladet.
Tania, see Sukhotin, T. L.
Tanyeev, Sergei Ivanovich, pp.
53, 66; notes 88, 117.
Tarovat, p. 199.
" Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles, the," p. 71 ; note
128.
" Thousand and One Nights,
the," p. 288.
" Three Problems," a story by
L. Tolstoi, note 331.
Tiflis, p. 5; notes 9, 155.
Tischenko, F. F., p. 96; note
156.
Tod, the Hindu, p. 71.
Tolbolsk, Province of, notes
130, 364.
Tolstoi, A. A., Countess, L.
Tolstoi's aunt, p. 124; notes
94, 176-
Tolstoi, A. L., Countess, L. Tol-

424

Index

stoi's daughter ("Sasha"),
p. 194; notes 71, 283.
''Tolstoi Annual, 1913,'' notes
90, 258.
Tolstoi, A. I., Count, L. Tol
stoi's son ("Andrusha"),^.
143; note 208.
Tolstoi, D. F., Countess, born
Vesterlund, wife of Count
L. I. Tolstoi, pp. 70, 144;
notes 71, 123, 216, 326.
Tolstoi, I. L., Count, L. Tol
stoi's son ("Idya," " Ili-
usha"), pp. 14, 70, 143, 150,
277, 39i; notes 30, 33, 85,
123, 208, 303, 322.
Tolstoi, L. L., Count, L. Tol
stoi's son ("Leo"), pp. 70,
146; notes 71, 98, 123, 216,
326, 332.
Tolstoi, M. K., Countess, born
Rachinsky, first wife of
Count S. L. Tolstoi, p. 70;
notes 57, 123.
Tolstoi, M. L., Count, L.
Tolstoi's son, notes 71,
214.
Tolstoi, M. L., see Obolensky,
M. L.
Tolstoi, M. N., Countess, L.
Tolstoi's sister (" Ma-
shenka," " Maria Nicho-
laevna"), pp. 176, 246, 253,
291 ; notes 121, 257, 352, 358,
370.
Tolstoi, M. S., Countess, L.
Tolstoi's niece (" the
girls"), p. 53; note 86.
Tolstoi Museum in Petrograd,
note 223.
Tolstoi, N. N., Count, L. Tol
stoi's brother ("Nicholai"),
p. 173; note 253.
Tolstoi, O. C, Countess, born
Ditterichs, first wife of Count
A. L. Tolstoi ("Olga"), pp.

158, 277, 289; notes 231, 338,
389, 394-
Tolstoi, S. A., Countess L. Tol
stoi's wife (" S," " Sonya,"
"Wife"), pp. 5, 8, 10, 35,
68, 70, 86, 124, 125, 136, 150,
163, 172, 226, 231, 243, 245,
246, 256, 283, 286, 374, 404;
notes 3, 66, 71, 96, 121, 129,
199, 242, 258, 303, 359, 365,
374, 404-
Tolstoi, S. L., Count, L. Tol
stoi's son ("Serezha"), pp.
70, 86, 223, 226, 258, 292;
notes 57, 96, 123, 135, 136,
257, 3". 3«7-
Tolstoi, S. N., Count, L. Toi-
stoi's brother ("Sergei,"
"Serzha," "Brothers"), pp.
52, 60, 85, 246, 276, 286, 391 ;
notes 65, 84, 85, 86, no, 133,
351, 360.
Tolstoi, S. N., Countess, born
Philosophov, wife of Count
I. L. Tolstoi ("Sonya,"
" Daughter-in-Law " ) , pp.
70, 232, 277; notes 30, 123,
322, 385.
Tolstoi, T. L., Countess, see
Sukhotin, T. L.
Tolstoi, Vera S., Countess, L.
Tolstoi's niece (" The
Girls"), pp. 53, 253: note
86.
Tolstoi, V. P., Count, the hus
band of L. Tolstoi's sister,
note 257.
Tolstoyanism, p. 178.
Tomsk, note 379.
Transvaal, note 395.
Tregubov, I. M. ("Ivan
Mikhailovich"), pp. 93, 133,
135, 139, 183, 145, 146, 181,
185, 195, 198, 253, 389, 393;
notes 148, 160, 173, 195, 196,
219.

425

Index

Trilby, p. 25.
Trophime, a peasant, p. 59.
Trubetzkoi, S. N., Prince, p.
181 ; note 265.
Tsurikovs, the landlords, pp.
226, 232 ; note 308.
Tula, pp. 53, 69, 89, 174, 195,
198; notes 63, 98, 236, 325.
Tula District Court, notes 49,
237.
Tula, the Province of, pp. 390,
391; notes 61, 84, 236, 261,
303.
Tver, pp. 19, 198 ; note 41.
" Two Wars," the article by L.
Tolstoi, p. 393.
Typist, the, p. 148.
Ukhtomsky, E. E., Prince, p.
236; note 334.
Umansk, the district of (Prov
ince of Kiev), note 270.
United States of America, notes
36, 37, 46.
Ursin, M., see Zdiekhovsky,
M. E.
Usev, P. S., note 394.
Vanderveer (" The Hol
lander"), pp. 70, 89, 146,
163 ; notes 124, 125.
Van-Duyl, note 18.
Varia, see Nagornova,
Vegetarian Review, the maga
zine, note 13.
Venezuela, note 36.
Verigin, P. V., a Dukhobor, pp.
75, 394; notes 9, 130, 300,
364.
Verkholensk, p. 193; note 134.
Verus, note 284.
Viatka, the village of, p. 94.
Viazemskv, Prince, p. 185.
Viestnik Evropa, p. 236.
Vietrova, M. F., pp. 136, 389;
note 192. 426

Virgil, p. 128.
Vivekananda, Svami, note 127.
Vladimir, the ikon of, p. 165.
Vladivostok, notes 17, 134.
Voronezh, the disciplinary bat
talion of, note 38.
Voronezh, the prison of, note
38.
Volkonsky, G. M., Prince, p.
395-
Vrede, a Dutch magazine, note
124.
Wagner, Richard, pp. 31, 388;
note 65.
Walz, p. 6 ; nor? 10.
War Against War, Stead's
magazine, note 342.
Westerlund, Ernest, p. 233;
nor? 326.
Westrup, p. 286; nor? 388.
JFnar is Art? L. Tolstoi's book
on art, pp. 88, 90, 96, 117,
120, 125, 127, 129, 136, 137,
139. 14°. 144, 145, 15°, 160.
161, 162, 163, 174, 175, 178,
180, 181, 182, 185, 195, 199,
206, 393, 398, 400; notes 65,
93, 142, 181, 238, 247, 254,
255, 265, 267, 268, 269, 278.
What is my Faith, Tolstoi's
book, p. 31.
What Then Shall W Do? L.
Tolstoi's book, note 90.
" Where is Thy Brother ? " the
article by V. G. Chertkov, p.
226 ; note 312.
" Where is the Way Out? " the
article by Tolstoi, note 315.
"Who is Right?" Tolstoi's
story, pp. 5, 392; note 5.
"Whom to Serve?" the book
by A. I. Arkhangelsky, p.
113; note 167.
Willard, p. 240; note 343.
Witte, S. I., p. 91 ; note 145.

Index

Women, Tolstoi's attitude to
ward them, note 177.
" Works of the St. Petersburgh
Philosophic Society," note
189.
Works of Count L. N. Tolstoi,
published by Countess S. A.
Tolstoi, note 398.
Workingman from Tula, a, p.
53-
Workingman, the, p. 57.

Yakutsk, note 270._
Yakutsk, the region of, pp.
256, 390; note 134.
Yaremichov, p. 59.
Yaroshenko, N. A., p. 124; note
175-
Yasenki, a post-office branch,
PP- 35, 142, 160, 161, 167,
172.
Yasnaya, Polyana, pp. 3, 4, 5,
7. 31. 32, 33. 34. 35, 37, 52,
56, 58, 59, 60, 68, 70, 74, 78,
85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93, 136.

139, 140,
146, 148,
160, 161,
167, 168,
177, 232,
245, 253,
269, 270,
286, 289,
Yeniseisk, note 90.

142, 143, 144, 145,
149. 15°, 158. 159.
162, 163, 164, 165,
171, 173, 174, 175,
236, 237, 240, 243,
256, 258, 262, 265,
275, 276, 277, 283,
388, 390, 394, 406.
the government of,

Zakaz, the forest near Yasnaya
Polyana, p. 58, note 101.
Zakharin, G. A., p. 176; note
256.
Zanini, pp. 90, 96; notes 144,
155-
Zdiekhovski, M. E., p. 22 ; note
53-
Zhebelev, S. A., note 187.
Zyabrev, C. N., a peasant from
Yasnaya Polyana ("Bieli"),
p. 6; note 16.
Zyabrev, A. T., a peasant from
Yasnaya Polyana, note 16.

427

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THE SHIELD: Edited by Gorky, Sologub, and Andreyev.
Issued in Russia by the Society for the Study of Jewish Life
(to which only pure blooded Russians are allowed member
ship), this book is a remarkable plea for the abrogation of
the Jewish disabilities. Russia's best writers, scientists and
publicists have contributed to it Foreword by William Eng
lish Walling. $1.25
GREAT RUSSIA: By Charles Sarolea, author of "The An
glo-German Problem," etc. A brilliant and sympathetic sur
vey of the country and its people. With maps. $1.25
IDEALS AND REALITIES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE:
By P. Kropotkin. Generally considered the best history of
Russian literature available in English. Third edition. $2.00
RUSSIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD: By J. W. Mackail, Pro
fessor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. A concise and
informing survey of just what Russia has contributed to the
art, science and culture of the world. 50c.
IN THE RUSSIAN RANKS: By John Morse (Englishman.)
Ten months fighting in Poland. " The most notable piece of
war literature the war has yet produced." — The London
Times. $1.50
RUSSIA'S MESSAGE: By William English Walling. A new,
revised and cheaper edition of the only book in English that
tells the truth about the Russian peasant and explains the
recent Revolution. With over twenty hitherto unpublished
llust rations. $1.50
All prices are net.
ALFRED A. KNOPF, PUBLISHER, NEW YORK

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