Chapter I
Five wealthy young men had come, after two in the morning, to amuse themselves at a small Petersburg party.
Much champagne had been drunk, most of the men were very young, the girls were pretty, the piano and violin indefatigably played one polka after another, and dancing and noise went on unceasingly: yet for some reason it was dull and awkward, and, as often happens, everybody felt that it was all unnecessary and was not the thing.
Several times they tried to get things going, but forced merriment was worse even than boredom.
One of the five young men, more dissatisfied than the others with himself, with the others, and with the whole evening, rose with a feeling of disgust, found his had, and went o... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
I. TO THE GOVERNMENT.
[By Government I mean those who, availing themselves of
established authority can change the existing laws and put them in
operation. In Russia, these people were and still are: the Czar, his
Ministers, and his nearest advisers.]
The acknowledged basis of all Governmental power is solely
the promotion of the welfare of the people over whom the power
IS exerted.
But what are you who now govern Russia doing? You are
fighting the Revolutionists with shifts and cunning such as they
employ against you; and, worst of all, with cruelty even greater
than theirs. But of two contending parties, the conqueror is not always the more shifty, cunning, cruel, or harsh of the two, but the
one that is nearest to th... (From: Wikisource.org.)
[The adventure here narrated is one that happened to Tolstoy himself in 1858. More than twenty years later he gave up hunting, on humanitarian grounds.]
We were out on a bear-hunting expedition. My comrade had shot at a bear, but only gave him a flesh-wound. There were traces of blood on the snow, but the bear had got away.
We all collected in a group in the forest, to decide whether we ought to go after the bear at once, or wait two or three days till he should settle down again. We asked the peasant bear-drivers whether it would be possible to get round the bear that day.
'No. It's impossible,' said an old bear-driver. 'You must let the bear quiet down. In five days' time it will be possible to surround him; but if you followed him now... (From: Wikisource.org.)
CHARACTERS
AKULÍNA. An old woman of seventy, brisk, dignified, old-fashioned.
MICHAEL. Her son, thirty-five years old, passionate, self-satisfied,
vain and strong.
MARTHA. Her daughter-in-law, a grumbler, speaks much and
rapidly.
PARÁSHKA. Ten years old, daughter of Martha and Michael.
TARÁS. The village elder's assistant, speaks slowly and gives
himself airs.
A TRAMP. Forty years old, restless, thin, speaks impressively;
when drunk is particularly free and easy.
IGNÁT. Forty years old, a buffoon, merry and stupid.
305
THE CAUSE OF IT ALL
ACT I
Autumn. A peasant's hut, with a small room partitioned off.
Akulína sits spinning; Martha the housewife is knead... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
In the town of Surat, in India, was a coffee-house where many travelers and foreigners from all parts of the world met and conversed.
One day a learned Persian theologian visited this coffee-house. He was a man who had spent his life studying the nature of the Deity, and reading and writing books upon the subject. He had thought, read, and written so much about God, that eventually he lost his wits, became quite confused, and ceased even to believe in the existence of a God. The Shah, hearing of this, had banished him from Persia.
After having argued all his life about the First Cause, this unfortunate theologian had ended by quite perplexing himself, and instead of understanding that he had lost his own reason, he began to think that the... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The fact that Eugene had confided his secret to his uncle, and still more the sufferings of his conscience and the feeling of shame he experienced after that rainy day, sobered him. It was settled that they would start for Yalta in a week’s time. During that week Eugene drove to town to get money for the journey, gave instructions from the house and from the office concerning the management of the estate, again became gay and friendly with his wife, and began to awaken morally.
So without having once seen Stepanida after that rainy day he left with his wife for the Crimea. There he spent an excellent two months. He received so many new impressions that it seemed to him that the past was obliterated from his memory. In the Crime... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
There once lived, in the Government of Oufá, a Bashkír named Ilyás. His father, who died a year after he had found his son a wife, did not leave him much property. Ilyás then had only seven mares, two cows, and about a score of sheep. He was a good manager, however, and soon began to acquire more. He and his wife worked from morn till night; rising earlier than others and going later to bed; and his possessions increased year by year. Living in this way, Ilyás little by little acquired great wealth. At the end of thirty-five years he had 200 horses, 150 head of cattle, and 1,200 sheep. Hired laborers tended his flocks and herds, and hired women milked his mares and cows, and made kumiss [1], butter and che... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The Assyrian King, Esarhaddon, had conquered the kingdom of King Lailie, had destroyed and burnt the towns, taken all the inhabitants captive to his own country, slaughtered the warriors, beheaded some chieftains and impaled or flayed others, and had confined King Lailie himself in a cage.
As he lay on his bed one night, King Esarhaddon was thinking how he should execute Lailie, when suddenly he heard a rustling near his bed, and opening his eyes saw an old man with a long gray beard and mild eyes.
'You wish to execute Lailie?' asked the old man.
'Yes,' answered the King. 'But I cannot make up my mind how to do it.'
'But you are Lailie,' said the old man.
'That's not true,' replied the King. 'Lailie is Lailie, and I am I.'
'You... (From: Wikisource.org.)
There lived in olden times a good and kindly man. He had this world's goods in abundance, and many slaves to serve him. And the slaves prided themselves on their master, saying:
'There is no better lord than ours under the sun. He feeds and clothes us well, and gives us work suited to our strength. He bears no malice, and never speaks a harsh word to any one. He is not like other masters, who treat their slaves worse than cattle: punishing them whether they deserve it or not, and never giving them a friendly word. He wishes us well, does good, and speaks kindly to us. We do not wish for a better life.'
Thus the slaves praised their lord, and the Devil, seeing it, was vexed that slaves should live in such love and harmony with their master... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Excommunication
February 22, 1901
[missing introduction about the Gates of Hell not prevailing against the holy Church]
In our days, God has permitted a new false teacher to appear - Count Leo Tolstoy. A writer well known to the world, Russian by birth, Orthodox by baptism and education, Count Tolstoy, under the seduction of his intellectual pride, has insolently risen against the Lord and His Christ and against His holy heritage, and has publicly, in the sight of all men, repudiated the Orthodox Mother Church, which reared and educated him, and has devoted his literary activity, and the talent given to him by God, to disseminating among the people teachings repugnant to Christ and the Church, and to destroying in the minds... (From: Wikisource.org.)
ACT I
PEASANT [plowing. Looks up] It's noon. Time to unharness.
Gee up, get along! Fagged out? Poor old
beast! One more turn and back again, that will be the
last furrow, and then dinner. It was a good idea to bring
that chunk of bread with me. I'll not go home, but sit
down by the well and have a bite and a rest, and Peggy
can graze awhile. Then, with God's help, to work again,
and the plowing will be done in good time.
Enter Imp; hides behind a bush.
IMP. See what a good fellow he is! Keeps calling on
God. Wait a bit, friend,—you'll be calling on the Devil
before long! I'll just take away his chunk. He'll miss
it before long, and will begin to hunt for it. He'll be
hungry, and then he'll swear and call on the D... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Jesus Christ's announcement replaced the belief in an
external God by an understanding of life.
THE announcement of welfare by Jesus Christ, the son of God.
The announcement of welfare consists in this, that all men who believe that they
are the sons of God obtain true life. The understanding of life is at the basis
and the beginning of all. The understanding of life is God. And by the
announcement of Jesus it has become the basis and beginning of all things.
All things have come to life by understanding, and without it nothing can live.
Understanding gives true life. Understanding is the light of truth, and the
light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
The true light has always existed in the world ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
One day some children found, in a ravine, a thing shaped like a grain of corn, with a groove down the middle, but as large as a hen's egg. A traveler passing by saw the thing, bought it from the children for a penny, and taking it to town sold it to the King as a curiosity.
The King called together his wise men, and told them to find out what the thing was. The wise men pondered and pondered and could not make head or tail of it, till one day, when the thing was lying on a window-sill, a hen flew in and pecked at it till she made a hole in it, and then every one saw that it was a grain of corn. The wise men went to the King, and said:
'It is a grain of corn.'
At this the King was much surprised; and he ordered the learned men to find out... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Butler's only consolation all this time was the poetry of warfare, to which he gave himself up not only during his hours of service but also in private life. Dressed in his Circassian costume, he rode and swaggered about, and twice went into ambush with Bogdanovich, though neither time did they discover or kill anyone. This closeness to and friendship with Bogdanovich, famed for his courage, seemed pleasant and warlike to Butler. He had paid his debt, having borrowed the money of a Jew at an enormous rate of interest -- that is to say, he had postponed his difficulties but had not solved them. He tried not to think of his position, and to find oblivion not only in the poetry of warfare but also in wine. He drank more and more every day,... (From: Wikisource.org.)
An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how well they dressed, what fine clothes her children wore, what good things they ate and drank, and how she went to the theater, promenades, and entertainments.
The younger sister was piqued, and in turn disparaged the life of a tradesman, and stood up for that of a peasant.
'I would not change my way of life for yours,' said she. 'We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often ea... (From: Wikisource.org.)
A poor peasant set out early one morning to plow, taking with him for his breakfast a crust of bread. He got his plow ready, wrapped the bread in his coat, put it under a bush, and set to work. After a while, when his horse was tired and he was hungry, the peasant fixed the plow, let the horse loose to graze, and went to get his coat and his breakfast.
He lifted the coat, but the bread was gone! He looked and looked, turned the coat over, shook it out—but the bread was gone. The peasant could not make this out at all.
'That's strange,' thought he; 'I saw no one, but all the same some one has been here and has taken the bread!'
It was an imp who had stolen the bread while the peasant was plowing, and at that moment he was sitting be... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Higher and higher receded the sky, wider and wider spread the streak of dawn,
whiter grew the pallid silver of the dew, more lifeless the sickle of the moon,
and more vocal the forest. People began to get up, and in the owner's
stable-yard the sounds of snorting, the rustling of litter, and even the shrill
angry neighing of horses crowded together and at variance about something, grew
more and more frequent.
"Hold on! Plenty of time! Hungry?" said the old huntsman, quickly opening the
creaking gate. "Where are you going?" he shouted, threateningly raising his arm
at a mare that was pushing through the gate.
The keeper, Nester, wore a short Cossack coat with an ornamental leather
girdle, had a whip slung over his shoulder, ... (From: UPenn.edu.)
Address to the Swedish Peace Congress in 1909, published in The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays (translated by Aylmer Maude)
Dear Brothers,
We have met here to fight against war. War, the thing for the sake of which all the nations of the earth - millions and millions of people - place at the uncontrolled disposal of a few men or sometimes only one man, not merely milliards of rubles, talers, francs or yen (representing a very large share of their labor), but also their very lives.
And now we, a score of private people gathered from the various ends of the earth, possessed of no special privileges and above all having no power over anyone, intend to fight - and as we wish to fight we also wish to conquer - this immense power not only o... (From: Wikisource.org.)
It was an early Easter. Sledging was only just over; snow still lay in the yards; and water ran in streams down the village street.
Two little girls from different houses happened to meet in a lane between two homesteads, where the dirty water after running through the farm-yards had formed a large puddle. One girl was very small, the other a little bigger. Their mothers had dressed them both in new frocks. The little one wore a blue frock, the other a yellow print, and both had red kerchiefs on their heads. They had just come from church when they met, and first they showed each other their finery, and then they began to play. Soon the fancy took them to splash about in the water, and the smaller one was going to step into the puddle, sho... (From: Wikisource.org.)
" We live in glorious times. . . Was there ever so much to do ? Our
age is a revolutionary one in the best sense of the word— not of physical but
moral revolution. Higher ideas of the social state, and of human perfection,
are at work. I shall not live to see the harvest, but to sow in faith is no
mean privilege or happiness." — W. E. Channing.
" For the worshipers of utility there is no morality except the morality of
profit, and no religion but the religion of material welfare. They found the
body of man crippled and exhausted by want, and in their ill-considered zeal
they said : ' Let us cure this body ; and when it is strong, plump, and well
nourished, its soul will return to it.' But I say that that body... (From: Wikisource.org.)
We were out with a detachment. The work in hand was almost done, the cutting through the forest was nearly finished, and we were expecting every day to receive orders from headquarters to retire to the fort.
Our division of the battery guns was placed on the slope of a steep mountain range which stretched down to the rapid little mountain river Mechik, and we had to command the plain in front. Occasionally, especially towards evening, on this picturesque plain, beyond the range of our guns, groups of peaceable mountaineers on horseback appeared here and there, curious to see the Russian camp. The evening was clear, quiet, and fresh, as December evenings usually are in the Caucasus. The sun was setting behind the steep spur of the mountain ... (From: Archive.org.)
(Posthumous notes of the hermit, Fëdor Kuzmích, who died in Siberia in a hut belonging to Khrómov, the merchant, near the town of Tomsk, on the 20th January 1864)
During the lifetime of the hermit Fëdor Kuzmích, who appeared in Siberia in 1836 and lived there in different parts for twenty-seven years, strange rumors were rife that he – concealing his real name and rank – was none other than Alexander the First. After his death these rumors became more definite and widespread. That he really was Alexander the First was believed during the reign of Alexander III not only by the common people, but also in Court circles and even by members of the Imperial family. Among others, the historian Schilder, ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The Act takes place in autumn in a large village. The
Scene represents Peter's roomy hut. Peter is sitting on a wooden
bench, mending a horse-collar. Anísya and Akoulína are
spinning, and singing a part-song.
PETER [looking out of the window] The horses have
got loose again. If we don't look out they'll be killing
the colt. Nikíta! Hey, Nikíta! Is the fellow deaf?
[Listens. To the women] Shut up, one can't hear anything.
NIKÍTA [from outside] What?
PETER. Drive the horses in.
NIKÍTA. We'll drive 'em in. All in good time.
PETER [shaking his head] Ah, these laborers! If I
were well, I'd not keep one on no account. There's
nothing but bother with 'em. [Rises and sits down again... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
'And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.'-Luke xxiii. 42, 43.
There was once a man who lived for seventy years in the world, and lived in sin all that time. He fell ill, but even then did not repent. Only at the last moment, as he was dying, he wept and said:
'Lord! forgive me, as Thou forgavest the thief upon the cross.'
And as he said these words, his soul left his body. And the soul of the sinner, feeling love towards God and faith in His mercy, went to the gates of heaven, and knocked, praying to be let into the heavenly kingdom.
Then a voice spoke from within the gate:
'What man is it that knocks at th... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Voices and an accordion sounded as if close
by, though through the mist nobody could
be seen. It was a work-day morning, and I
was surprised to hear music.
"Oh, it's the recruits' leave-taking," thought I,
remembering that I had heard something a few
days before about five men being drawn from
our village. Involuntarily attracted by the merry
song, I went in the direction whence it proceeded.
As I approached the singers, the sound of song
and accordion suddenly stopped. The singers,
that is the lads who were leave-taking, entered
the double-fronted brick cottage belonging to the
father of one of them. Before the door stood a
small group of women, girls, and children.
While I was finding out whose sons were going,
and w... (From: Archive.org.)