In the morning some "stundists" came to Tolstoi from Feodosia, and
to-day all day long he spoke about peasants with rapture.
At lunch: "They came both so strong and fleshy; says one: 'Well, we've
come uninvited,' and the other says: 'With God's help we shall leave
unbeaten,'" and he broke out into child-like laughter, shaking all over.
After lunch, on the terrace:
"We shall soon cease completely to understand the language of the
people. Now we say: 'The theory of progress,' 'the role of the
individual in history,' 'the evolution of science and a peasant says:
'You can't hide an awl in a sack,' and all theories, histories,
evolutions become pitiable and ridiculous, because they are
incomprehensible and unnecessary to the people.' But the peasant is
stronger than we; he is more tenacious of life, and there may happen to
us what happened to the tribe of Atzurs, of whom it was reported to a
scholar:
'All the Atzurs have died out, but there is a parrot here who knows a
few words of their language.'"