During last year, in Holland, a young man named Van der Veer was called on to enter the National Guard. To the summons of the commander, Van der Veer answered in the following letter:—
"Thou Shalt do no Murder."
To M. Herman Sneiders, Commandant of the National Guard of the Midelburg district.
Dear Sir,—Last week I received a document ordering me to appear at the municipal office, to be, according to law, enlisted in the National Guard. As you probably noticed, I did not appear, and this letter is to inform you, plainly and without equivocation, that I do not intend to appear before the commission. I know well that I am taking a heavy responsibility, that you have the right to punish me, and that you will not fail t... (From: Wikisource.org.)
La Vita Internationale and L'Humanité nouvelle
have sent me the following letter:—
"Sir,—With the object of furthering the development of humanitarian ideas and civilization, La Vita internationale (of Milan), with the support of L'Humanité nouvelle (of Paris and Brussels), has deemed it necessary to concern itself with the difficult problem which has of late arisen in all its gravity and importance, owing to the delicate question about which France and the whole world has become so ardently impassioned,—we mean the problem of war and militarism. With this aim in view, we beg all those in Europe that take part in politics, science, art, and the labor movement, and even those that occupy the foremost positi... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The three chapters of the romance here printed under the name of the “Dekabristui” were written even before the author had begun “War and Peace.” At this time he was planning a story, the principal characters of which were to be the conspirators who planned the December Insurrection; but he did nit go on with it because, in his efforts at bringing to life the time of the Dekabrists, he involuntarily went back in thought to the preceding time period, to the past of his heroes. Gradually before the author opened ever deeper and deeper the sources of those phenomena which he was designing to describe: the families, the education, the social conditions, etc., of his chosen characters. At last he paused at the time of the... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Once some guests were gathered in a rich man's
home, and it happened that a serious conversation
about life arose.
They talked about persons absent and persons present, and they could not hit upon a single one contented
with his life.
Not only did each one find something to complain of
in his fortune, but there was not one who would consider
that he was living as a Christian ought to live. All
confessed that they were living worldly lives, concerned
only about themselves and their families, thinking little
about their neighbors, and still less about God.
Thus talked the guests, and all agreed in blaming
themselves for their godless, unchristian lives.
" Then why do we live so ? " cried one youth. " Why
do we do w... (From: Wikisource.org.)
CHAPTER I. The Old Horse
We had an old, old man, Pimen Timofeitch. He was ninety years of age. He lived at his grand- son’s house, but did no work. His back was bent ; he walked with a stick, and found it hard to drag one leg after the other. All of his teeth were gone ; his face was wrinkled ; his lower lip trembled. When he walked and when he talked, he had no control over his lips, so that it was impossible to make out what he was saying.
There were four brothers of us, and we all liked to ride horseback ; but we had no gentle horses fit for us to ride. We were permitted to ride only on one old horse whose name was Voronok. [1]
One time mother gave us permission to have a ride, and we all ran with our tutor to ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
A population of twelve thousand people - Christians of the Universal Brotherhood," as the Dukhobors, who live in the Caucasus, call themselves
are at the present moment in the most distressing circumstances.
Without entering into argument as to who is right: whether it be the governments who consider that Christianity is compatible with prisons, executions, and above all, with wars and preparations for war ; or whether it be the Dukhobors, who acknowledge as binding only the Christian law (which renounces the use of any force whatever, and condemns murder), and who therefore refuse to serve in the army, one cannot fail to see that this controversy is very difficult to settle. No government could allow some people to shun duties which a... (From: Wikisource.org.)
THE HEAD AND TAIL OF THE SERPENT
THE serpent's Tail was disputing with the serpent's
Head as to which should go first.
The Head said :
"You cannot go first ; you have no eyes or ears."
The Tail replied :
" But at all events I have the strength to make you
go. If I wanted, I could twine around a tree, and you
could not stir."
The Head said :
" Let us part company."
And the Tail tore itself away from the Head, and
crawled away in its own direction.
But as soon as it had left the Head, it came upon a
cranny and fell into it.
II
FINE THREADS
A MAN bade a spinner spin fine threads. The spinner
spun fine threads ; but the man declared that the threads
were not good, and that he wished the very finest of fine... (From: Wikisource.org.)
This winter I received a letter from Mrs. Sokolof with an account of the needs of the peasants in the Voronezh Government, and I transmitted this letter, together with a memorandum of my own, to the Russkiya Vyedomosti[1] and since then several persons have sent me their contributions to aid the starving peasants. These small contributions I have forwarded partly to a good acquaintance of mine in the Zemlyansky District, two hundred rubles ; the monthly contribution of Smolensk physicians and certain other small offerings I dispatched to the Chernsky District in the government of Tula, to my son and his wife, for the distribution of help in their locality. But in April I received new and quite important contributions : Mrs. Mevi... (From: Archive.org.)
The facts related in this Appeal,[2] composed by three
of my friends, have been repeatedly verified, revised,
and sifted; the Appeal itself has been several times recast and corrected; everything has been rejected from
it which, although true, might seem an exaggeration; so
that all that is now stated in this Appeal is the real,
indubitable truth, as far as the truth is accessible to men
guided only by the religious desire, in this revelation of
the truth, to serve God and their neighbor, both the
oppressors and the oppressed. But, however striking
the facts here related, their importance is determined,
not by the facts themselves, but by the way in which
they will be regarded by those who learn about them.
And I fea... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Our activity since the time of the last report has been as follows:
First, and foremost, our work has consisted in the establishment and carrying on of free eating-rooms.
The eating-rooms, which at the time of our last report numbered seventy-two, continued to multiply, and now, in four districts,[1] amount to one hundred and eighty-seven. This increase has proceeded, and still proceeds, in the following manner : from villages, contiguous to those in which we have established eating-rooms, either individual peasants or men selected with the starosta, come to us and petition us to open free dining-rooms for them.
One of us goes to that particular village from which the petitioners have come, and after making a tour ... (From: Archive.org.)
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There has lately appeared in the papers information that in connection with Nobel's will the question has been discussed as to who should be chosen to receive the ₤10,000 bequeathed to the person who has best served the cause of peace. This has called forth certain considerations in me, and you will greatly oblige me by publishing them in your paper.
I think this point in Nobel's will concerning those who have best served the cause of peace is very difficult. Those who do indeed serve this cause do so because they serve God, and are therefore not in need of pecuniary recompense, and will not accept it. But I think the condition expressed in the will would be quite correctly fulfilled if the money were transmitted to the destitu... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Letter 1
In reply to your letter I send you the enclosed with special pleasure. (1)
I have been acquainted with Henry George since the appearance of his Social Problems. I read that book, and was struck by the correctness of his main idea, and by the unique clearness and power of his argument, which is unlike anything in scientific literature, and especially by the Christian spirit which pervades the book, making it also stand alone in the literature of science. After reading it I turned to his previous work, Progress and Poverty, and with a heightened appreciation of its author's activity.
You ask my opinion of Henry George's work, and of his single tax system. My opinion is the following :
Humanity advances continually towar... (From: Wikisource.org.)
My Dear N. N.
I address you as " dear," not because this is a customary form, but because since I received your first letter,
and especially since your second one came, I feel that we
are very closely united, and I love you dearly. In the
feeling which I experience, there is much that is egotistical. You certainly do not think so, but you cannot
imagine to what degree I am alone, to what a degree
the actual "I" is scorned by all surrounding me. I
know that he that endures to the end will be saved:
I know that only in trifles is the right given to a man to
take advantage of the fruit of his labor, or even to look
on this fruit, but that in the matter of divine truth which
is eternal it cannot be given to a man to see t... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The opinion expressed in your estimable letter,
that the easiest and surest way to universal disarmament is by individuals refusing to take part in
military service, is most just. I am even of opinion
that this is the only way to escape from the terrible
and ever increasing miseries of wardom (militarism).
But your opinion that at the Conference which is
about to assemble at the Czar's invitation, the question should be debated whether men who refuse military service may not be employed on public works
instead, appears to me quite mistaken in the first
place, because the Conference itself can be nothing but
one of those hypocritical arrangements which aim not
at peace, but, on the contrary, at hiding from men the
one m... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Yesterday evening I arrived at Lucerne, and put up at the best inn there, the Schweitzerhof. "Lucerne, the chief city of the canton, situated on the shore of the Vierwaldstatter See," says Murray, "is one of the most romantic places of Switzerland: here cross three important highways, and it is only an hour's distance by steamboat to Mount Righi, from which is obtained one of the most magnificent views in the world."
Whether that be true or no, other guides say the same thing, and consequently at Lucerne there are throngs of travelers of all nationalities, especially the English.
The magnificent five-storied building of the Hotel Schweitzerhof is situated on the quay, at the very edge of the lake, where in olden times there used to be the... (From: Wikisource.org.)
You ask me why manual labor presents itself to us
as one of the unavoidable conditions of true happiness. Is it necessary voluntarily to deprive ourselves
of intellectual activity in the domain of science and art,
which seems to us incompatible with manual labor?[1]
I have never regarded manual labor as a special principle, but as a very simple and natural application of
moral bases an application which before all is presented to every sincere man.
In our perverted society in the society called civilized we need, above all things, to speak of manual
labor, because the chief fault of our society has been,
and up to the present time still is, the striving to rid
ourselves of manual labor, and without mutual concessions to ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Help for the population suffering from bad harvests may have two objects : support of the peasant proprietors and prevention of people running the
risk of illness, and even death, from want and from the
bad quality of food.
Are these objects attained by the aid now extended in
the form of twenty or thirty pounds of flour a month to
each consumer, reckoning or not reckoning laborers? I
think not. And I think not from the following considerations :
All the peasant families of all agricultural Russia
may be distributed under three types. First, the
wealthy farm with eight or ten souls, on the average
twelve souls to a family, with from three to five hired
men, on the average four, from three to five horses, on
.the aver... (From: Wikisource.org.)
We were spending the night at the house of a soldier ninety-five years old, who had served under
Alexander I. and Nicholas I.
"Tell me, are you ready to die?"
"Ready to die? How should I be yet? I used to
be afraid of dying, but now I pray God for only one
thing; that God would be pleased to let me make my
confession and partake of the communion; I have so
many sins on my conscience."
"What sins?"
"How can you ask? Let us see, when was it I
served? Under Nicholas. Was the service then such
as it is now? How was it then? Uh ! it fills me with
horror even to remember it. Then Alexander came.
The soldiers used to praise this Alexander. They
said he was gracious."
I remembered the last days of Alexander, when twent... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Our division had been out in the field. The work in hand was accomplished: we had cut a way through the forest, and each day we were expecting from headquarters orders for our return to the fort. Our division of fieldpieces was stationed at the top of a steep mountain-crest which was terminated by the swift mountain-river Mechík, and had to command the plain that stretched before us. Here and there on this picturesque plain, out of the reach of gunshot, now and then, especially at evening, groups of mounted mountaineers showed themselves, attracted by curiosity to ride up and view the Russian camp.
The evening was clear, mild, and fresh, as it is apt to be in December in the Caucasus; the sun was setting behind the steep chain of th... (From: Wikisource.org.)
"The world, ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
The Dukhobors[1] settled in the Caucasus have been subjected to cruel persecutions by the Russian authorities, and these persecutions, described in the report of one who made inquiries on the spot,[2] are now, at this moment, being carried on.
These Dukhobors were beaten, whipped, and ridden down; quartered upon them in "executions" were Cossacks who, it is proved, allowed themselves every license with
these people; and everything they did was with the consent of their officers. Those men who had refused military service were tortured, in body and in mind; and it is entirely true that a prosperous population, who by tens of years of ha... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Well, it happened about three o'clock. The gentlemen were playing. There was the tall visitor, as our men called him. The prince was there,--the two are always together. The mustached barin was there; also the little hussar, Oliver, who was an actor; there was the Polish pan.[1] It was a pretty good crowd.
The tall visitor and the prince were playing together. Now, here I was walking up and down around the billiard-table with my stick, keeping tally,--ten and forty-seven, twelve and forty-seven.
Everybody knows it's our business to score. You don't get a chance to get a bite of anything, and you don't get to bed till two o'clock o' nights, but you're always being screamed at to bring the balls.
I was keeping tally ; and I look, and se... (From: Wikisource.org.)
To Critics
A LETTER ADDRESSED TO "THE DAILY CHRONICLE'
SINCE the appearance of my book, "The Kingdom of God is within Us," and my article on "Patriotism and Christianity," I often hear and read in articles and
letters addressed to me, arguments against, I will not
say the ideas expressed in those books, but against such
misconstructions as are put upon them. This is done
sometimes consciously, but very often unwittingly, and
is wholly due to a want of understanding of the spirit of
the Christian religion.
" It is all very well," they say ; " despotism, capital
punishments, wars, the arming of all Europe, the precarious state of the working-classes, are indeed great evils,
and you are right in condemning all this ; ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
One Easter a peasant went to see whether the frost
was out of the ground.
He went to his vegetable garden and poked into the
ground with a stake. The soil was soft.
The peasant went into the forest. In the woods the
catkins on a young willow were already beginning to
swell. And the peasant said to himself :
" Let me plant young willows around my garden ; they
will grow and make a hedge."
He took his ax, cut down a dozen young sprouts,
trimmed down the butts into points, and planted them
in the ground.
All the willow sticks put forth sprouts and green
foliage above ; and below, underground, they sent out
similar sprouts in place of roots, and some of them took
hold of the earth and strengthened themselves ; but ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
There was a time between 1820 and 1830 when the officers of the Semenof regiment the flower of the youth at that time; men who were for the most part Freemasons, and subsequently Decembrists[1]—decided not to use corporal punishment in their regiment, and, notwithstanding the stringent discipline then required, theirs continued to be a model regiment without corporal punishment.
The officer in charge of one of the companies of this same Semenof regiment, meeting Serge Ivanovitch Muravief—one of the best men of his, or indeed of any, time,—spoke of a certain soldier, a thief and a drunkard, saying that such a man can only be tamed with rods. Serge Muravief did not agree with him, and proposed to transfer the man into his o... (From: Wikisource.org.)
I. THE WOLF AND THE KIDS
A GOAT was going to the field after provender, and she shut up her Kids in the barn, with injunctions not to let any one in. Said she : "But when you hear my voice then open the door."
A Wolf overheard, crept up to the barn, and sang after the manner of the Goat : "Little children, open the door ; your mother has come with some food for you."
The Kids peered out of the window, and said : "The voice is our mama's, but the legs are those of a wolf. We cannot let you in."
II. THE FARMER'S WIFE AND THE CAT
A FARMER'S wife was annoyed by mice eating up the tallow in her cellar. She shut the cat into the cellar, so that the cat might catch the mice. But the cat ate up, not only the tallow, but the milk and the ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
At the time when I was about to leave the Caucasus,
war was still in progress, and it was hazardous traveling
by night without an escort.
I was anxious to start as early as possible in the
morning, and therefore I did not go to bed at all.
A friend of mine came to keep me company, and we
spent the whole evening and night sitting in front of
my khata, or hut, on the street of the stanitsa, or Cossack
outpost.
It was a misty, moonlight night, and so light that one
could see to read, though the moon itself was invisible.
At midnight we suddenly heard a little pig squealing
in a yard on the other side of the street. One of us
cried :
"There 's a wolf throttling a young pig."
I ran into my khata, seized my loaded mu... (From: Wikisource.org.)
It was growing dark. The owls began to fly in the
forest, over the ravine, in search of their prey.
A big gray hare was bounding over the field, and
began to smooth his fur.
An old owl, as she sat on the bough, was watching
the gray hare ; and a young owl said, " Why don't you
pounce down on the hare ? "
The old one replied :
" I am not strong enough. The hare is large. If
you should clutch him, he would carry you off into the
thicket."
But the young owl said :
" Why, I could hold him with one claw, and with the
other I could cling to the tree."
And the young owl swooped down on the hare,
clutched his back with his claw in such a way that all
the nails sank into the fur, and he was going to cling
to the tre... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Is there in Russia sufficient grain to feed the people
until the new crop is gathered ?
Some say there is, others say there is not ; but no one
knows this absolutely. But this must be known, and
known definitely now before the beginning of the winter
just as it is necessary for men who are going off on a
long voyage to know whether the ship has a sufficient
supply of fresh water and food or not.
It is terrible to think what would happen to the officers
and passengers of the ship when in the middle of the
ocean it should transpire that all the provisions had gone.
It is still more terrible to think what will happen to us
if we believe in those that assure us that we have grain
enough for all the starving, and it sho... (From: Wikisource.org.)