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.)
But I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell.
—Matthew 5:28–30
I
A brilliant career lay before Eugene Iretnev. He had everything necessary to attain it: an admirable education at home, high honors when he graduated in law at Petersburg... (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.)
This short exposition of the Gospel is a summary of a large work which exists in
manuscript and cannot be published in Russia.
That work consists of four parts:
An account (Confession) of the course of my own life and of the thoughts which led me to the conviction that the Christian teaching contains the truth.
An examination of the Christian teaching: first according to its interpretation by the Orthodox Russo-Greek Church, then according to its interpretation by the Church in general-by the Apostles, the Councils, the so-called Fathers of the Church-and an exposure of what is false in those interpretations.
An examination of Christian teaching not according to those interpretations but solely according to what has come down to us ... (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.)
The wounded Avdeev was taken to the hospital -- a small wooden building roofed with boards at the entrance of the fort -- and was placed on one of the empty beds in the common ward. There were four patients in the ward: one ill with typhus and in high fever; another, pale, with dark shadows under his eyes, who had ague, was just expecting attack and yawned continually; and two more who had been wounded in a raid three weeks before: one in the hand -- he was up -- and the other in the shoulder. The latter was sitting on a bed. All of them except the typhus patient surrounded and questioned the newcomer and those who had brought him.
"Sometimes they fire as if they were spilling peas over you, and nothing happens ... and this time only ... (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.)
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.)
[1] It is customary to place a dying person under the icón. One or
more icóns hang in the hut of each Orthodox peasant.
[2] Peasant weddings are usually in autumn. They are forbidden
in Lent, and soon after Easter the peasants become too busy to
marry till harvest is over.
[3] A formal request for forgiveness is customary among Russians,
but it is often no mere formality. Nikíta's first reply is evasive;
his second reply, “God will forgive you,” is the correct one sanctioned
by custom.
[4] Loud public wailing of this kind is customary, and considered
indispensable, among the peasants.
[5] Where not otherwise mentioned in the stage directions, it is
always the winter half of the hut that i... (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.)
Hardly had Nekhludoff finished dressing the next morning, just as he was about to go down, the footman brought him a card from the Moscow advocate. The advocate had come to St. Petersburg on business of his own, and was going to be present when Maslova’s case was examined in the Senate, if that would be soon. The telegram sent by Nekhludoff crossed him on the way. Having found out from Nekhludoff when the case was going to be heard, and which senators were to be present, he smiled. “Exactly, all the three types of senators,” he said. “Wolf is a Petersburg official; Skovorodnikoff is a theoretical, and Bay a practical lawyer, and therefore the most alive of them all,” said the advocate. “There is most hope... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.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.)
Once upon a time, in a certain province of a certain country, there lived a rich peasant, who had three sons: Simon the Soldier, Tarás the Stout, and Iván the Fool, besides an unmarried daughter, Martha, who was deaf and dumb. Simon the Soldier went to the wars to serve the king; Tarás the Stout went to a merchant's in town to trade, and Iván the Fool stayed at home with the lass, to till the ground till his back bent.
Simon the Soldier obtained high rank and an estate, and married a nobleman's daughter. His pay was large and his estate was large, but yet he could not make ends meet. What the husband earned his lady wife squandered, and they never had money enough.
So Simon the Soldier went to his estate to col... (From: Wikisource.org.)
I have come out early. My soul feels light
and joyful. It is a wonderful morning. The
sun is only just appearing from behind the trees.
The dew glitters on them and on the grass. Everything
is lovely; everyone is lovable. It is so
beautiful that, as the saying has it, "One does not
want to die." And, really, I do not want to die.
I would willingly live a little longer in this world
with such beauty around me and such joy in my
heart. That, however, is not my affair, but the
Master's....
I approach the village. Before the first house
I see a man standing, motionless, sideways to me.
He is evidently waiting for somebody or something,
and waiting as only working people know
how to wait, without impatience or vexation. I
draw ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
'And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.'—Matt. vi. 7, 8.
A Bishop was sailing from Archangel to the Solovétsk Monastery; and on the same vessel were a number of pilgrims on their way to visit the shrines at that place. The voyage was a smooth one. The wind favorable, and the weather fair. The pilgrims lay on deck, eating, or sat in groups talking to one another. The Bishop, too, came on deck, and as he was pacing up and down, he noticed a group of men standing near the prow and listening to a fisherman, who was pointing to the sea and... (From: Wikisource.org.)