Show THE I WOMEN Of TOlSTOI By Marjorie Paine Paie An excellent an and 11 scholarly paper on omi Tho The Women ramen of Tolstoi was rca read by Miss IS Marjorie Paine before the J Ladles Ladles' les' les Literary club on Presidents President's Pres- Pres dents dent's 4 da day 1 n r Friday 11 A January t O 29 A 9 T It I fr follows r 11 Seldom om has hao haD there been In history a a. period when lived no nn at groat masters master of cit f Yet this seems ReemS true trl oC of our nUl generation and of ot ing ing- people Practical statesmanship cle i cleve f facile literary productions anti and conscientious cO leaching characterize our modern life with much mental ca easo o and bodily comfort resulting there there- from But lut ono one lives a mis master tel of foreign for for- or- or eign olga race and temperament for whom this age mEt may yet be bo cale called and wo we envied an as 1 his contemporaries What Is the tho significance to us of oC Tolstoi's Ufe and amid work lie IIo 10 Is a teacher Inspired devoted e anti and the matchless product of lila his pen Is 15 half hal only of or lii his work and ind n influence Before t tiki up up imp the tho th study of or time Iho women of Tolstoi ll which la Js the the subject of e this paper it i Is necessary to consider In general hl his hll philosophy an and In particular J bl his bid views about women With ith Tolstoi originated those Ideas of ot the lifo which in this countr country coun coun- tr try hc obtained eat gi-eat eat Jl-eat vogue ogue anti ami have formulated themselves Into a moro more 1010 or ur less aea distinct doctrine i lit Hat 3 t while to us It I means a loss complicated compU- compU daily dily life I by ii which we benefit benen Individually t t Tolstoi and his hs fol- fol lowers It I l Ik i. i a complete renunciation of ot Wealth wr-alth position honors pleasure to take tako up imp the Iho humble life of ot tho the to live close to nature supplying mans man's simple needs s by bl tho the work of ot the tho tie hands and all al for the ultimate good of ot man man- kind And nd as to what constitutes this good Tolstoi In lu his old age after a lifetime of earnest questioning is satI sat sat- I But hut to us it I Is la not clear Com Corn self renunciation as a n living principle prin prin- ciple would appeal to few even en were they convinced that it I Is 18 Christs Christ's teach teach- log ing But Ho lie who said Raid Thou shall 1 love thy neighbor as th thyself sel did not command us to love lovo him beter better If It 1 I am to devote dovolo m my life lie to lo ten len persons of whom I am one doos not ol tenth one tenth of or that devotion revert to myself And again granting that fh the peasant n needs helm holo oven even to fn If the extent of or the time rich and powerful lo eti I re flouncing life for tor hi his ant sake sako am I who am ani a n stop above the peasant to be deprived de tie- of or assistance Are m my problems and sorrows of ot no moment and amid Is there none nono to offer s sympathy in my need It I is a question queston If it greater Influence nc for good good Is not exerted by the tho fully developed elope joyous egotistical creature of or warm human sympathy than tUt by that person devoted to good works whoso whose Interest in them thor is ia not selfish an and therefore not of oC the heart heart Those of Tolstoi's women characters for whom he ie has most sympathy are arc former form form- er lype type ardent ardent ent ca eager er Intense Intensely femInine fem fern mine with wih the te human selfish instinct to realize their own possibilities Son Sonya a whom ho he plainly 1 least 1st admires loads a hor her fruitless life Her leI cousin says of ot There Is 19 a verse of Scripture that refers directly to Sonya Sona For or unto everyone that hath shall be bo given but from him that thai hath not shall bo be taken away even that which he hath She hath I Is the one ono that hath not riot and everything everything every every- thing has has- has boon boen taken away from her hor Why I do not know It I seems to me meshe meshe meshe she has no selfishness about her Sometimes Some Some- times Umes I am sorry for tor hor but then again I think sho she doesn't feel it as wo we should os oswe Another passage passage ui In one of ot Tolstoi's earlier erler works works bearing bearing on this subject Is nono none the time less true truo because his later writings contradict It I lIe Ho Io sometimes asked himself In tho the secret chambers chambors o of his heart If J this devotion to tho the general Interests ts was ws really a 0 good quality or rather a lack Jack of something not not a lack Jac of natured good upright benevolent wishes and tastes but tho the lack Jack of or the tho motive power of or life which Is 8 called heart of ot that Impulse Ifo which constrains a n man to choose one out of ot otal all al multitudes of at paths path which Ufo lifo or or- or ors ders ers to mon men and to desire this alone alone alone- that workers tOT for tho time common good were wore not dra drawn n h by their affections to wor work but that they u used od their reason realon to Justify themselves In tho the In Interest In- In terest th they y took tool In It it It Of or tho tIme many women portrayed by Tol tol but two of or note nota are of ot the tho peasant class In the Cossacks Cossacks Cos Cos- sacks an and Katusha In the Resurrection tion lon a figurehead whoso whose personality falls falla to Interest even those who like lIKo Iko tho the book Elsewhere we wo become enamored enal- enal enam ored of or his princesses and countesses B the Iho highest types type of t femininity What hatot hat it of ot the generations of or culture of or as ascendancy ascendancy ascendancy as- as that thai po go RO to produce such women women women wo wo- men Wore Were they to adopt tho the doctrine doctrine doctrine doc doc- trine of ot self renunciation sel would they j L not In time lacking opportunities for or development revert to the tho peasant nt I typo type When wo we compare tho blind id animal mother of tho nt ottO i women to ed of ot Natasha to heV her children we we ve wesee wesee I see that In this quality alone which ch ft Tolstoi considers the Iho supreme test lost of or womans woman's fitness finess the tho world worl would woul suf- suf if- if for tel a loss of ot feeling of sympathy of ot he heart which it I could ill I afford and It we would seem boiler bettor to lo pay the price of ot luxury an and indulgence which these iso pr princesses demand To account for the tho vagaries and contradictions con con- m- m tra in the character of ot those these so women it I is enough to remember that lat th they thoy are arc Slavs Slave of that alien alon and melancholy melancholy mel mel- elthe el- el ar people who are aro a curious mix mix- Ix- Ix tu ture of idealism and realism of recklessness reck- reck reck- reck k- k lei and and practical good sense of In insensibility Ij and aim kindness i In bin hil passive courage his endurance co hj his clam and gentle fatalism tho timo Russian Rus- Rus js- js B sian embodies the principle of oC nonresistance non- non nond n- n re resistance which Is Tolstoi's final nal pi philosophy But Dut Impressionable on- on anIIo prone to sudden Infatuation on strong against obstacles and of at wl wide Ide e open mind ho is a being who will wi go so far when shea aroused but his time Is not y yet vol Of nil all European peoples tho the most moat ost r recent recently emerged from Crom barbarism the tho ll Russians havo have made In tho matter mater of ot h hi gher education experiments which tho the older nations might well voll wol emulate Tho The women of tho the cultivated tod class havo great power in the tho home borne home inc In intelligence and knowledge thoy they are aro the equals of the men and they thoy aro are s supreme in tho the domestic circle At t c eighteen thoy they have havo havo full fun control of their Heir property and are aro entitled to vote ote i In local elections with property 1 c catons To us tho most familiar typo of Russian Rus- Rus Rust fl sian woman woman is the Nihilist but none nono are portrayed 1 In Tolstoi's works except cent as os Incidental to tho prison life In tho the thop Resurrection His Ils women are aro universal types one ono or two In each great groat great novel ove I standing out prominently and those tholo o it itis Is 18 my privilege to dismiss Tolstoi's first military service was In the tho Caucasus where ho gathered eu material for or ono of ot tho the finest of or his j books The Tho Cossacks He himself Is i the hero heio of the thc story a u St. St c Petersburg youth who quickly finds i lna i. himself enamored enamored of tho the now new existence once which he Is ready to exchange for r all al that life bad hitherto hold of at value Hero ho lie says Men live as Nature lives they dlo die thoy they are aro born th they y marr marry irry thoy they aro are born again they fl fight ht the tho they drink they thoy mat cat Cat thoy hold good cheer cheor an and again they die and there are arc c no conditions except the immutable ones Imposed by Nature herself on the sun the grass the animal the tile tree They are aro subject to no other laws And Antl consequently those people ile In comparison with wih himself seemed beautiful beau beau- eau eau- i strong and free and aDI as a he hc looked hooked at thorn them them he lie grow ashamed and sorry for or himself In speaking of tho the Cossack Cosack women I Tolstoi contends that a life of hard har manual labor develops women physically physic physic- physically ally aly and unc Intellectually intellectually-a a a position lUon i notel not noti i well el n laken according to Western Vestern i bo bolts be- be lief lef The llie Cossack he says yo lEYO looks on onIt H It woman as the Instrument of ot his well well- wwii wwii- being Only while sho she la Is it unmarried I does doeK no ho allow alow her to be 1110 and mal make c merry but when she aha is once a u wi wife fo to he ht i compels her to lo work for him from youth to ih the lh vor very on one onu of old a ago ace o. o HeIs lieis He lie is thoroughly Oriental In his demand on un hor her obedience and toll toil tol As s the result of ot this state of things lings I woman though to La all al appearances es In jn subjection becomes powerfully f developed dc- dc I both ally h and morall morally p rally and amid nul as al In is lI commonly the case caso In iii u tho East Easl sho alio possesses Incomparably more Influence and consequence In domestic nestle affairs naira than in the West Her seclusion sion from society an and her hor to tomoro hard hard manual labor give her still sUl moro more authority nn and comman command In domestic ic a afi affairs af- af i fairs faire fairs rho Cossack COSt who In tho presence j enco o of strangers stranger regards R It I as Ug unbecoming to talk or gossip with ul wire can nut h reeling feeling hor au- au au u when he is left leU alone alono with her His whole house hlo hla whole estate estale his Ills whole establishment have havo been loen ac- ac by her and are maintained sole sole- ly h. by her labors labor and exertions An And though ho Is obstinately convinced con- con vinced that toll toil tol Is de degrading for tor a aCo Co Cossack ack and Is the time proper occupation only of a laborer or a woman yet Ot et ho h has a dim dim consciousness that everything that thai redounds 9 to lo his com com- fort and that h ho lic calls his hla own own is 18 tho tue r result rosult of this toil loll tol and that it is In fn tho power of oC his hl mother or his hll wife oven een though ho lie looks look on her as us his serf to lo deprive him of all al that makes life agreeable Moreover the constant hard field neM labor and amid the duties dutes to lo thorn them give Ivo a peculiarly Independent ent lino character to tho time Cossack women and have served to lo develop in them ta to toa t a r remarkable degree physical powers h healthy minds decision and stability of character The Tho women are tiro for the most stronger tron lr and more moro intelli- intelli pent gent boiler better beler developed and handsomer than timan Iho tho men o We who seo see only the tho degrading effects effects ef- ef of or physical toll toil the tol-tho tol tho bent and worn old women women and and others old before their time re time are aro at nt a loss 1081 to account for tor these results result But nut l the tho with wih whom is In love Is itt a superb creature large regally formed of oC magnificent poise polso and anc calm caIrn kind manner maimer she sho hc seems a free freo and being that which tho devino I plan ordained women to be bo In revolt against scathingly arraigns tho the hot life Ie and women of ot St. St Petersburg If It I you ou only knew how hen mean and detestable you oU are in your our self delusions Tho The moment that Instead of ot my cottage cot- cot cotin tn tape tage e. e m my ray forest and my lovD thoro there come como up before my m Imagination your our parlors your ladles with powdered locks mixed in with false also hair hall all those unnaturally moving moving lips those weak limbs hid hidden en and anti useless and that fashionable lisp which pretends to bo be conversation mind and has no rl right ht to the time name then It becomes insufferably painful to meI meI me I 1 am pained at tho the thought of t those vacuous faces those rich marriageable girls that sitting down and changing of p places aces that insolent faced brazen-faced pairing off of ot men and women and und that eternal title-tattle title tte h hypocrisy those these rules and regulations with whom jou ou must shako shake e hands to whom hom you must bow wIth whom chat and finally that everlasting ennui In tho the bone that descends from from generation to generation and amid consciously too with the conviction that It Is 18 Inevitable who knows of lovo bovo goes calmly about her tasks She Is undisturbed at his lila al' al ardor or or at the knowledge of ot the disaffection of or her mountain lover lo Supreme In herself knowing hor her own value due her hor sleep Is unbroken and her swe sweet t. t deep deop eyes e are aro untroubled She Sho could coul only despise the attitude of ot fashionable women who wh court men sh she could not so misjudge herself herol In her presence feels e himself weak puerile unworthy and though wretched is not surprised when she discards him abruptly for tor her Cossack Cos Cos- sack Inck w wb wo Is woun wounded ed lIe He le though a wild wid drunken soldier Is her hor mann man and anti she sho flies files flos unerringly to his sl side c. c This ono one Is the only attractive peasant peasant peas peas- ant woman in Tolstoi's books and tho the picture of ot tho the strong froe froc young creaturo crea cren- ture turo is Js one on which tho the young Imagination loves levee to linger Of or wholly n different birth and rearing g Is Katla Katia Kata In My lIy Husband and I I. I which Is a story of t tho time birth of romantic loveit's lovo love its it's Its It's short existence and sudden but inevitable death Katla In is a charming young oung girl of at tho the upper class whoso whose expected Introduction Into St St. Petersburg society Is delayed by nor her mothers mother's death Burled Buried In a remote country In winter her old olt nurse num mind little Hut Winter miNter as no polo nolo 1010 companions Katla Kata 1 becomes become a a. a proy prey to that ennui which Tolstoi elsewhere deplores Tho The coming or of her hor guardians an nod man twice her age ag kindles kindle Imor hor feminine and amid In tn response to his 11 ni ap appeal al she lio rou rouses herself to a n genuine Interest Iu iii In life Ill Ills Hip second visit in early June at the auspicious moment mt of ot springs spring's awakening i la I. tho the bo beginning ner of ot their romance rime Tho affectionate to gentle gente passionate young girl |