OCR Text |
Show GREAT WRITERS NEAR DUEL Tolstoy and Turgenev in Fiece Dispute Dis-pute 4That Might Have Led to ' Deadly Encounter. Tolstoy and Turgenev, famous Russian Rus-sian novelists, were contemporaries and friends, but on one-occasion they had a serious falling out. As gathered from a recent biography, this .is the story of their quarrel: The two fa-mouse fa-mouse novelists met at a friend's house. Turgenev spoke enthusiastically of his young daughter's new English governess, gov-erness, mentioning that she required the child to mend old, ragged clothes to give to the poor. "Do you consider that good?" demanded Tolstoy. "I certainly cer-tainly do," replied Turgenev ; "it makes the charity workers realize everyday needs." "And I think that a well- v dressed girl with filthy, malodorous rags in her hands is acting an insincere farce," commented Tolstoy. "I ask you net to say that," exclaimed Turgenev, Tur-genev, hotly. "Why should I not say what I am convinced is true?" retorted Tolstoy. "If you say that again I will box your ears!" Turgenev cried, white-with white-with rage, and rushed from the room. A duel was narrowly averted. Afterward After-ward these famous men became reconciled, rec-onciled, and on his deathbed Turgenev wrote an affecting note to Tolstoy, addressing ad-dressing him as "the great writer of our Russian land." Outlook. |