He is indeed one of the wonders of this age,—a man who literally follows the precepts of Jesus about non-resistance and poverty. Says the Journal of Education:
Tolstoi is always an artist, and writes an artist; but it is a sorrowful sign for Russia, that her finest genius has no gospel for her but this of destruction. His message has no meaning for us.
Here the spirit of the Master's words pervades increasingly the forms of a civilization not built upon its letter. Law and justice are found not incompatible with mercy and charity. Other modes of life, besides manual toil, are seen to be a direct and wholesome service to mankind. We may read Count Tolstoi with interest,—and even sympathy, but scarcely with agreement.
