{1}. In _The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow
Government_, Vol. I, page 122, it is said of S. A. T.'s father: "Andrey
Evstafevich, son of a chemist, born 9 April, 1808, a physician on the
staff of the Moscow Palace Control, collegiate assessor 1842, State
Councillor 1864."
{2}. This was the former name of the Commandant's Board.
{3}. Alexander Alexandrovich Bers, first cousin of S. A. T.
{4}. Born 3 December, 1789, died 25 March, {1855}. Buried in Petersburg
in the Volkov Lutheran Cemetery. _Peterburgskii Necropol, Petersburg_,
1912, Vol. I, page 204.
{5}. In _The Book of Genealogies of the Nobility of the Moscow
Government_, Vol. I, page 122, the Bers are included under Section III,
_i. e._ among those families which were promoted to the title of
nobility through the civil service. The year of their promotion was
1843. The right to the coat-of-arms was granted by Supreme Order to the
father of S. A. T. in 1847. See V. Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, _List
of persons to whom has been granted by H. I. M. the right to
coats-of-arms and the title of nobility of the All-Russian Empire and of
the Kingdom of Poland_, Petersburg, 1911, page 14.
{6}. Alexander Evstafevich Bers, born 18 February, 1807, died 6
September, 1871. See _Peterburgskii Necropol_, Vol. I, page 204; also V.
Lukomskii and S. Troinizkii, page 14.
{7}. In the Tula Province, twenty-five versts from Yasnaya Polyana.
{8}. A. M. Islenev, born 16 July, 1794, died 23 April, 1882. Leo
Tolstoy, who knew him well, described him as the father in _Childhood
Boyhood and Youth_. See P. Sergeenko, _From the Life of L. N. Tolstoy_
and _How Count L. N. Tolstoy Lives and Works_, Moscow, 1898, page 40.
{9}. The well-known Vladimir Alexandrovich Islavin, State Councillor,
born 29 November, 1818, died 27 May, 1895, author of the _The Samoyeds,
their Domestic and Social Life_, Petersburg, 1847, which at the time was
much discussed in newspapers and magazines. See V. I. Maezkov's
_Systematic Catalogue of Russian Books_, A. F. Basunov, Petersburg,
1869, page 404.
{10}. There were five sons and three daughters, _The Book of
Genealogies_, Vol. I, pages 122 and {123}. The best known of these,
besides Sophie Andreevna, were: Tatyana Andreevna (by marriage
Kuzminskii) born 24 October 1846, the author of _My Reminiscences of
Countess Marie Nikolaevna Tolstoy_, Petersburg, 1914; Stepan Andreevich
Bers, born 21 July 1855, author of _Reminiscences of L. N. Tolstoy_,
Smolensk, 1894; Peter Andreevich Bers, born 26 August 1849, died 19 May
1910, the editor of _Detskyii Otdikh_ (1881-1882), and co-editor with L.
D. Obolenskii of the collection of _Stories for Children by I. S.
Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoy_, 1883 and 1886; Vacheslav Andreevich Bers,
born 3 May 1861, died 19 May, 1907, an engineer who was killed for no
obvious reason by workmen during the revolutionary days in Petersburg.
Leo N. Tolstoy was very fond of him. See P. Biryukov, _How L. N. T.
Composed the Popular Calendar_, {1911}.
{11}. A. Y. Davidov, 1823-1885, professor of mathematics in the
University of Moscow, author of popular text-books on algebra and
geometry.
{12}. N. A. Sergievskii, 1827-1892, a writer on theology, author of many
scholarly theological books, founder and editor of _The Orthodox
Review_, professor of theology in the University of Moscow.
{13}. In the Natasha of _War and Peace_ there are many characteristics
of S. A. T. and of her sister, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskii. According
to S. A. T., Leo Nikolaevich made the following remark about his
heroine: "I took Tanya, ground her up with Sonya, and there came out
Natasha." See P. Biryukov, _Biography of L._ N. T., Vol. II, page 32.
{14}. In S. A. T.'s story _Natasha_ L. N. T. recognized himself in the
hero, Dublitskii, and he wrote to her in September, 1862: "I am
Dublitskii, but to marry merely because I needed a wife--that I could
not do. I demand something tremendous, impossible from marriage; I
demand that I should be loved as much as I am able to love." L. N. T.
doubted whether a woman could fall in love with him deeply and
completely, as he was not good-looking. On 28 August, 1862, he put down
in his diary: "I got up in the usual despondency. I thought out a
society for apprentices. A sweet, placid night. Ugly face, don't think
of marriage, your vocation is different and much has been given you
instead." _L. N. T.'s Letters to his Wife_, edited by A. E. Gruzinskii,
1913. P. Biryukov, _Biography of L. N. T._, Vol. I, page 471.
{15}. M. N. Tolstoi, 7 March, 1830--6 April, 1912, sister of L. N. T. In
the 'sixties she went abroad with her brother Nikolai and lived with him
at Hyeres in the South of France. After her brother's death, M. N. T.,
overcome with grief, did not wish to return to Russia and settled for a
short time in Algiers. She returned from there in 1862 and visited
Yasnaya Polyana for a short time and met S. A. T. and her mother there.
See T. A. Kuzminskii, _My Reminiscences of Marie N. Tolstoy_,
Petersburg, 1914. P. Biryukov, _Countess Marie N. Tolstoy_, in
"_Russkaya Vedomostii_," 1912, Moscow. A. Khiryakov, _L. N. Tolstoy's
Sister_, in "_Solitse Rossii_," 1912. S. Tolstoy, _To the Portrait of
Countess Marie N. Tolstoy_ in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1912. L. N.
Tolstoy's Letters to Marie N. Tolstoy in _New Collection of Letters of
L. N. Tolstoy_, collected by P. A. Sergeenko, edited by A. E.
Gruzinskii, Moscow, 1912, and Complete works of L. N. Tolstoy, Vols.
XXI-XXIV, edited by P. I. Biryukov, Moscow, 1913.
{16}. S. A. T. here leaves out some curious details. According to her
own account, Leo Nikolaevich followed the Bers family, first to Ivitsa,
Tula Province, fifty versts from Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow.
Leo Nikolaevich's proposal to S. A. T., which was like Levin's to Kitty
in _Anna Karenina_, took place at Ivitsa. See "The Marriage of L. N.
Tolstoy," from the reminiscences of S. A. T. under the title "My Life,"
in _Russkoye Slovo_, 1912. Also P. Biryukov, _Biography of L. N.
Tolstoy_, Vol. I, pages 464-473, and L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his
Wife_, pages 1-3.
{17}. The Bers family were convinced that L. N. T. was in love with
Liza, the elder sister of S. A. T., and expected him to propose to her.
This misunderstanding worried L. N. T. as he said in his letter to S. A.
T. See L. N. Tolstoy's Letters to his Wife, pages 1-3.
{18}. Orekov, a serf of Yasnaya Polyana, L. N. T.'s inseparable
companion during the war in Sevastopol, and later steward at Yasnaya
Polyana. See I. Tolstoy, _My Reminiscences_, Moscow, 1914, pages 18,
22-23.
{19}. T. A. Ergolskii, born 1795, died 20 June 1874, a remote relation
brought up in the Tolstoy family, taught Marie, Leo and his brothers,
who lost their mother at an early age. In Tolstoy's house she was called
aunt. See _Reminiscences of Childhood_ and L. N. T.'s _Letters to T. A.
Ergolskii_; also L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters_, 1848-1910, collected and
edited by P. A. Sergeenko, L. N. Tolstoy's _Diary_, Vol. I, 1847-1852,
edited by V. G. Chertkov, Moscow, 1917.
{20}. The beginning of Chapter II, ending with the words "and in copying
out his writings," is incorporated literally by S. A. T. from the first
MS. There is also written in pencil by her "This is new." The statement
is not quite accurate. In the remainder of Chapter III, which is new, a
small part of the original Chapter III, slightly altered, is
incorporated. We shall quote this part in full:
"The first thing which I copied in my clumsy, but legible handwriting
was _Polikushka_. For many, many years afterwards that work delighted
me. I used to long for the evening when Leo N. would give me something
newly written or corrected for me to copy.
"I was carried away by the newly created scenes and descriptions, and I
tried to understand and watch the artistic development and growth of
ideas and creative activity in my husband's works...."
{21}. The beginning was published in two numbers of _Russkii Vyestnik_,
1865 and 1866, and under the title of _The Year 1805_ was later
published in book form, Moscow, 1866. Tolstoy returned to the
Decembrists when he had finished _Anna Karenina_, but was again
disappointed. "My Decembrists are again God knows where; I don't even
think of them," he wrote to Fet in April, 1879, (Fet, _My
Reminiscences_, Vol. II, page 364). The first three chapters of the
Decembrists were published in a miscellaneous volume called _Twenty-five
Years_, 1859-1884, Petersburg, 1884. But towards the end of his life
Tolstoy again became interested in the Decembrists and began to study
the period, see A. B. Goldenweiser, Diary, _Russkie Propilei_. Vol. II,
pages 271-272, Moscow, 1916.
{22}. A. M. Zhemchuznikov and I. S. Aksakov visited Leo Nikolaevich in
the middle of December, 1864, in Moscow at his father-in-law's house
where he came to have his arm medically treated. It was then that he
read to them some chapters from _War and Peace_. See L. N. Tolstoy's
_Letters to his Wife_, page 41.
{23}. There were a number of musical works which always made a deep
impression upon Tolstoy. See list of musical works loved by L. N.
Tolstoy, given by A. B. Goldenweiser, _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, pages
158-160; also musical works loved by L. N. Tolstoy, in S. L. Tolstoy's
_Reminiscences_.
24. Countess A. A. Tolstoy reproached Leo Nikolaevich for his long
silence in a letter of 1 May 1863. Leo Nikolaevich wrote a four page
letter in reply, but did not send it; later in the autumn of 1863 he
wrote another letter, which he sent. The quotation referred to is,
evidently, from the letter which was not sent, and which, as far as we
know, has not appeared in print.
{25}. This quotation from L. N. T.'s Diary is also given in Biryukov's
Biography, but in somewhat different form. He also gives a detailed
sketch of the work, which Tolstoy wrote in his diary; see Biryukov, Vol.
II, pages 27-28.
{26}. N. A. Lyubimov, 1830-1897, well-known professor of physics at the
University of Moscow, a collaborator with Katkov and K. Leontev in
editing the _Russkii Vyestnik_ and _Moskovskaya Vedomesti_.
{27}. Strakhov's articles on _War and Peace_ were published in _Zarya_,
1869 and 1870, and in book form in 1871. His articles on Tolstoy and
Turgenev appeared in book form under the title, _Critical Articles on I.
S. Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoy_, second edition, 1887.
{28}. Edmond About, 1828-1885, the French writer to whom Turgenev sent a
copy of _War and Peace_, translated by Princess Paskevich, and a letter
from which the above quotation is taken. M. About published the letter
in _Le XIX e Siecle_, 23 January, 1880, under the title "_Une Lettre de
Tourgueneff_."
{29}. Vasilii Yakoblevich Mirovich, 1740-1764, a lieutenant in the
Smolenskii infantry regiment, executed for his attempt to rescue Ivan
Antonovich from prison. His story formed the plot of G. P. Danilevskii's
novel _Mirovich_ (Petersburg, 1886).
{30}. From the sketch of the year 1831-2: "The guests were arriving at
the country-house." See Pushkin, edited by S. A. Vengerov, Petersburg,
1910, Vol. IV, pages 255-258.
{31}. In P. Biryukov's Biography, Vol. II, page 205, the words are given
thus: "That is how one should begin. The reader is at once made to feel
the interest of the plot. Another writer would begin to describe the
guests, the rooms, but Pushkin goes straight to the point."
{32}. This quotation is a combination of two passages from L. N. T.'s
letter to Countess A. A. Tolstoy of December, 1874. In the beginning of
this letter he says that he has written a letter to her, but has torn it
up and is writing another. It is possible that S. A. T. is quoting from
the original letter.
{33}. Peter, eighteen months old, 18 November, 1873; Nikolai, two months
old, February, 1875; and the daughter born prematurely, November,
{1875}.
{34}. T. A. Ergolskii (see note 19), and Pelageya Ilinishna Yushkov, the
sister of L. N. T.'s father, died 22, December, 1875. This death
particularly affected Tolstoy. He wrote to Countess A. A. Tolstoy: "It
is strange, but the death of this old woman of eighty affected me more
than any other death.... Not an hour passes without my thinking of her."
_Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 262-3.
{35}. From Fet's poem: "I repeated: 'When I will....'" Later Fet
evidently re-wrote the poem; his last four lines are:
In my hand--what a marvel--
Is your hand.
And on the grass--two emeralds.
Two glow-worms.
See A. A. Fet, Complete Works, Vol. I, page 427, Petersburg, 1912.
{36}. Five poems are known to have been dedicated by Fet to S. A.
Tolstoy, see Complete Works, Vol. I, pages 413, 414, and 449.
{37}. A few months after his visit to Yasnaya Polyana Turgenev wrote to
Fet: "I was very glad to make it up again with Tolstoy, and I spent
three pleasant days with him; his whole family is very sympathetic and
his wife is a darling." See Fet, _My Reminiscences_, Vol. II, page 355,
Moscow, {1890}.
{38}. Wilkie Collins, 1824-1889; his novel _The Woman in White_, was
translated into Russian under the same title, Petersburg, 1884.
{39}. The house was bought in 1882 in the Khamovnicheskii Pereulok.
{40}. An allusion to V. G. Chertkov who became acquainted with Tolstoy
in 1883. See P. A. Boulanger, _Tolstoy and Chertkov_, Moscow, 1911; A.
M. Khiryakov, "Who is Chertkov?" in _Kievskava Starina_, 1910; P.
Biryukov, Biography, Vol. II, pages 471-3, 479-480; V. Mikulich,
_Shadows of the Past_, Petersburg, 1914; Ilya Tolstoy, _My
Reminiscences_, pages 234-5, 247, 265, 269-275; Countess A. A. Tolstoy,
"Reminiscences" in _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 36-38.
{41}. S. A. T. for a long time did not believe in the seriousness of Leo
Nikolaevich's searchings, considering them a weakness, a disease due to
over-work and the playing of a part. See Biryukov, Biography, pages
474-478; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his Wife_, pages 196-8.
{42}. A. P. Bobrinskii, Minister of Transport 1871-1874, and a disciple
of Radstock; Tolstoy was struck by "the sincerity and warmth of his
belief." See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 245, 265, 268, and 275.
{43}. An English preacher who in the middle of the 'seventies lived in
Petersburg and preached with success in aristocratic houses. A short,
but good, description of Radstock is given by Countess A. A. Tolstoy,
who knew him personally, in her letter to L. N. T. of 28 March, 1876,
_Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, pages 267-8.
{44}. S. S. Urusov, 1827-1897, an intimate friend of Tolstoy ever since
the Crimean War, a land-owner and a deeply religious man. Tolstoy
corresponded with him and often stayed with him in his country-house at
Spassko. Urusov translated into French Tolstoy's _In What do I Believe?_
{45}. But Tolstoy did not recognize the Gospel which serves as the
foundation of the orthodox faith, and he interpreted the Gospel in his
own way. It is strange that S. A. T. did not realize this. In this
respect Countess A. A. Tolstoy, who also differed from Leo Nikolaevich
on religious questions and was deeply pained by the difference, was more
understanding and consistent. She wrote of Tolstoy's _Gospel_: "Your
crude denial and bold perversions of the divine book caused me extreme
indignation. Sometimes I had to stop reading and throw the book on the
floor." See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. I, page 44.
{46}. It is interesting to compare the autobiography of S. A. T. with
Tolstoy's play _And Light Shines in Darkness_. In this Marie Ivanovna, a
character taken from S. A. T., uses the family, children, house, and so
on, as the chief arguments against the attempts of Nikolai Ivanovich to
arrange their life in accordance with his views. She says: "I have to
bring them up, feed them, bear them.... I don't sleep at nights, I
nurse, I keep the whole house...." And the husband "wishes to give
everything away.... He wants me at my time of life to become a cook,
washerwoman." See Act I, scenes xix and xx; Act II, scene ii.
{47}. L. D. Urusov, died 6, October, 1885, a devoted friend and
enthusiastic follower of Tolstoy. When he died in the Crimea, where he
had gone with Tolstoy, Urusov, according to Countess A. A. Tolstoy, left
to his son who was with him Tolstoy's letters, as the greatest treasures
which he was leaving him. See _Tolstovskii Musei_, Vol. II; L. N.
Tolstoy's _Correspondence with N. N. Strakhov_; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters
to his Wife_, pages 255-266.
{48}. Tolstoy lost his suit-case, containing MSS., books, and proofs, in
1883 on his way to Yasnaya Polyana. Among the lost MSS. were several
chapters of _In What do I Believe?_ which Tolstoy had to rewrite.
Biryukov, Biography, Vol. II, pages 457-8.
{49}. Another allusion to Chertkov, who in the middle of the 'eighties
began taking Tolstoy's MSS. to England.
{50}. Tolstoy himself translated this work from the Greek, and twice
wrote a preface to it, in 1885 and 1905. See L. N. Tolstoy's Diary,
1895-1899, edited by V. G. Ghertkov, second edition, Moscow, 1916, page
46.
{51}. As far as we know, this translation has not been published.
{52}. Her letter to the Metropolitan Antonius of 26 February, 1901,
copies of which were sent to the other Metropolitans and to the Attorney
to the Synod. The letter and the answer of the Metropolitan Antonius
were published in many newspapers.
{53}. A short article in the form of a letter to the editor, on Leonid
Andreyev on the appearance of Burenin's critical Sketches in _Novoe
Vremya_, {1903}. At the time it attracted great attention in the press
owing to the exceptional bitterness with which S. A. T. attacked
Andreyev and in general all modern novelists. She wrote: "One would like
to continue M. Burenin's splendid article, adding ever more ideas of the
same kind, raising higher and higher the standard for artistic purity
and moral power in contemporary literature. Works of Messieurs Andreyevs
ought not to be read, nor glorified, nor sold out, but the whole Russian
public ought to rise in indignation against the dirt which in thousands
of copies is being spread over Russia by a cheap journal and by repeated
editions of publishers who encourage them. If Maxim Gorky, undoubtedly a
clever and gifted writer from the people, introduces a good deal of
cynicism and nudeness into the scenes in which he paints the life of a
certain class, one always, nevertheless, feels in them a sincere sorrow
for all the evil and suffering which is endured by the poor, ignorant,
and drunken of fallen humanity. In the works of Maxim Gorky one can
always dwell on some character or pathetic moment in which, one feels,
the author, grieving for the fallen, has a clear knowledge of what is
evil and what good, and he loves the good. But in Andreyev's stories one
feels that he loves and takes delight in the baseness in the phenomena
of vicious human life, and with that love of vice he infects the
undeveloped, the reading public which, as M. Burenin says, is untidy
morally, and the young who cannot yet know life.... The wretched new
writers of contemporary fiction, like Andreyev, are only able to
concentrate upon the dirty spots in the human fall and proclaim to the
uneducated, the half-intelligent reading public, and invite them to
examine deep into the decayed corpse of fallen humanity and to shut its
eyes to the whole of God's spacious and beautiful world with its beauty
of nature, with the greatness of art, with the high aspirations of human
souls, with the religious and moral struggle and the great ideals of
good...." _Novoe Vremya_, 1903.
{54}. Three fragments of this have been published: "L. N. Tolstoy's
Marriage" in _Russkoye Slovo_, 1912; "On the Drama, _The Power of
Darkness_" in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1912, pages 17-23; and "L. N.
Tolstoy's Visits to the Optina Monastery" in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_,
1913, Part III, pages 3-7.
{55}. The history of these MSS. has been discussed at great length in
newspapers and magazines. The gist of the matter is as follows. By
Tolstoy's will everything written by him up to the date of his death,
"wherever it may be found and in whose possession," was to pass to his
daughter Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy. She laid claim to the MSS. deposited
in the Historical Museum. But S. A. T. opposed this, declaring that the
MSS. had been given to her as a gift by Tolstoy, were her own property,
and therefore could not be included in his will. The authorities of the
Historical Museum refused both parties access to the MSS. until the
question had been settled by a court. The history of the case is given
in _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_ for 1913. Part V, pages 3-10, and in the
journal _Dela i Dni_, 1921, pages 271-293, in which A. S. Nikolaev gave
an account of the case, re Count L. N. Tolstoy's MSS.
{56}. The letter of 8 July, 1897. On the envelope Tolstoy wrote: "Unless
I direct otherwise, this letter shall after my death be handed over to
Sophie Andreevna." The letter was entrusted to N. L. Obolenskii,
Tolstoy's son-in-law. See L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to his Wife_, pages
524-526.
{57}. Tolstoy announced this in a letter to the editor of _Russkaya
Vedomostii_ which was published in the paper on 19 September, 1891. The
letter is reprinted in the supplement to L. N. Tolstoy's Diary,
1895-1899, second edition, pages 241-242.
{58}. The death of Vanichka was a terrible blow to Tolstoy who "loved
him, as the youngest child, with all the force of an elderly parent's
attachment." With him the last tie binding Tolstoy to his family was
broken. Ilya Tolstoy was inclined to think that there was "a certain
inner connection" between the child's death and Tolstoy's attempt to
leave Yasnaya Polyana in 1897. See Ilya Tolstoy, _My Reminiscences_,
pages 214-219.
{59}. Sergei Ivanovich Taneev, 1856-1915, who for three years
consecutively, 1894-6, came to stay in the summer with the Tolstoy's at
Yasnaya Polyana.
{60}. The story of Tolstoy's illness and his life at Gaspra is told in
the fine reminiscences of Dr. S. Y. Elpatevskii, the well-known writer
and doctor who treated Tolstoy, entitled "Leo N. Tolstoy, Reminiscences
and Character," _Rosskoe Bogatstov_, Number XI, 1912, pages 199-232;
also S. Elpatevskii, _Literary Reminiscences_, Moscow, 1916, pages
26-49.
{61}. There was a stern struggle between Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy and
Chertkov over Tolstoy's diaries almost from the first moment of his
acquaintance with Tolstoy. Originally the diaries were in Chertkov's
hands. But in October, 1895, S. A. T. insisted upon their return to
Tolstoy. On 5 November, 1895, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "I have gone
through a great deal of unpleasantness with regard to fulfilling my
promise to Sophie Andreevna; I have read through my diaries for seven
years." After he had read them, the diaries were handed over to S. A. T.
who sent them for safe-keeping to the Rumyantsev Museum and later to the
Historical Museum. The later diaries, ending with 19 May, 1900, were
also handed over to S. A. T. The diaries of the last ten years, of which
S. A. T. is speaking here, turned out to be in Chertkov's possession. It
cost S. A. T. not only much effort, but tears and even her health, in
order to get them back. Personally and in writing, and also through V.
F. Bulgakov, she entreated and implored Chertkov to return them, but
everything proved of no avail. An atmosphere, painful for the whole
family, was thus created, and Tolstoy was literally stifled, finding
himself between the stubbornness of a morbid woman and the fear of
offending a no less stubborn man, Chertkov. It ended by Tolstoy, in the
middle of July, 1910, taking the diaries from Chertkov and placing them
for safe-keeping in the Tula bank, in order not to hurt either party.
After Tolstoy's death, according to his will, the diaries passed to
Alexandra L. Tolstoy. See L. N. Tolstoy's Diary, Vol. I, 1895-1899,
pages 11, 12, and 6; L. N. Tolstoy's _Letters to His Wife_, page 493; V.
F. Bulgakov, _Leo Tolstoy During the Last Years of his Life_, Moscow,
1918, pages 255, 261-263, and 265.
{62}. This will in the form of a letter was an extract from Tolstoy's
diary of 27, March, 1895.... His request that his works should become
public property was later made in his diary for 1907, also on 4 and 8
March, 1909.
{63}. Three copies of this extract from the diary were kept by Marie
Nikolaevna Obolenskii, V. G. Chertkov, and Serge Tolstoy. Evidently S,
A. T. did not know this. See _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, page 9.
{64}. According to A. B. Goldenweiser, Tolstoy, perhaps having reason to
think that his will with regard to his works would not be carried out,
decided to make a will which would be binding legally as well as
morally. On 17 September, 1909, the will was drawn at Krekshino, and on
the 18 it was signed by Tolstoy. By this will all his works, written
after 1 January, 1881, both published and unpublished, became public
property. Consequently the will meant that all works written and
published before that date remained the property of the family. On 18
September on their return from Moscow, Alexandra L. Tolstoy went to see
the lawyer N. K. Muravev and showed him the will. Muravev said that from
a legal point of view the will was quite invalid, since according to law
you could not leave property to "nobody," and he promised to draw up and
send to Yasnaya Polyana the rough draft of a will. Two or three
consultations took place at Muravev's house, at which there were present
V. G. Chertkov, A. B. Goldenweiser, and F. A. Strakhov. Several drafts
of the will were made which it was decided to take to Tolstoy in order
that "he might read them and choose one of them, or reject them all, if
he found that they did not meet his wishes." On 26 October Strakhov left
for Yasnaya Polyana with the drafts. When he returned, he said that
"Tolstoy expressed the firm resolution to leave as public property, not
only the works written after 1881, as was originally proposed, but
generally everything written by him," a resolution completely new, and
unexpected by those who had taken part in the consultations. In
accordance with Tolstoy's new decision, Muravev drew up another will by
which everything written by Tolstoy, "wherever found and in whosesoever
possession," was transferred to the full ownership of Alexandra L.
Tolstoy. This will was taken to Yasnaya Polyana, copied in Tolstoy's own
hand, and signed by him on 1 November, 1909. This is Goldenweiser's
account of the two wills in his diary. We see from this story that
Tolstoy himself decided to make a formal will, and he himself, to his
friends' surprise, radically changed the first will regarding his works
written and published before 1881. But the reader is confronted with a
series of puzzling questions: How did Tolstoy make up his mind to have
recourse to the protection of the law, which he denied with his whole
soul? What caused him to alter so quickly and resolutely his intention
with regard to the disposal of works written by him before 1881? Why
were "two or three" consultations with an experienced lawyer necessary,
if the friends had the simple task of drawing up in correct and legal
form Tolstoy's clearly expressed intention with regard to his works?
Goldenweiser provides no answer to these questions.
Let us turn to Chertkov, the principal actor in these consultations. In
the _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_ for 1913, Part I, pages 21-30, he published
photographs of the will of 1 November, 1909, and of the two subsequent
wills, with a short prefatory note in which he says: "The photographs
published here of the three successive wills, written by Tolstoy's own
hand in the space of ten months, are sufficient proof of the repeated
and serious attention which he gave to the fate of his writings, MSS.,
and papers after his death." But there is no answer here to the puzzling
questions.... Approximately three years later Chertkov, indeed, gave us
the full history of Tolstoy's wills in the Supplement to L. N. Tolstoy's
Diary, pages 241-252. There he quoted Tolstoy's letter with regard to
the transfer to public property of his works written before 1881; the
will in the form of a letter from Tolstoy's diary of 27 March 1895; the
will written in Krekshino; the final will and "explanatory memorandum."
Above all Chertkov at great length tried to prove from Tolstoy's
letters and from extracts from his diaries that Tolstoy always had
complete confidence in him as a true friend, and for that reason, in
preference to all the members of his family, made him sole executor for
his writings, by giving him the right to "omit" or "leave in" what he
thought necessary. But Chertkov does not say a single word either of the
Moscow consultations of the friends or of the will of 1 November, 1909,
and thus not only gives no answer to our questions, but excludes the
possibility of our putting them, by skilfully passing direct from the
Krekshino will to the last two wills made in the summer of 1910. Let us
now hear what the third participant in the consultations has to say,
namely Strakhov, who, in his own words, felt a "little doubt begin to
stir within him," when the friends on 1 November, 1909, "carefully
performed the transactions which are bound to have certain historical
consequences." His article on how the will of 1 November, 1909, was
drawn up fills in the gap which Chertkov passed over in silence.
Strakhov says nothing about the Krekshino will, in the making of which
he took no part.... After the failure of the will at Krekshino, the new
draft of a will was worked out at the Moscow consultations, and Strakhov
left with the draft for Yasnaya Polyana on 26 October, when, as the
friends supposed, Sophie Andreevna would be in Moscow. Their calculation
was mistaken: S. A. T. was returning to Yasnaya Polyana in the same
train as Strakhov. But her presence did not prevent Strakhov from
executing his mission brilliantly. When alone with Tolstoy, he explained
that it was necessary to draw up a formal will transferring the rights
in his literary property to a definite person or persons, and "he put
before him the draft document and asked him to read it and sign it, if
he approved of its contents." Tolstoy read the paper and "at once wrote
at the bottom that he agreed with its contents; and then, after thinking
for a little, he said: "The whole affair is very painful to me. And it
is all unnecessary--in order to secure that my ideas are spread by such
measures. Now Christ--although it is strange that I should compare
myself with him--did not trouble that some one might appropriate his
ideas as his personal property, nor did he record his ideas in writing,
but expressed them courageously and went on the cross for them. His
ideas have not been lost. Indeed no word can be completely lost, if it
express the truth and if the person uttering it profoundly believe in
its truth. But all these external measures for security come only from
our non-belief in what we are uttering." Saying this Tolstoy left the
room. Strakhov was undecided what to do, whether to oppose Tolstoy or to
leave Yasnaya Polyana without having achieved anything. He made up his
mind to oppose Tolstoy and attacked him in his most vulnerable spot. He
said to him: "You mentioned Christ. He, indeed, took no thought about
the dissemination of his words. But why? Because he did not write and,
owing to the conditions of the time, received no payment for his ideas.
But you write and have received payment for your writings, and now your
family receives it.... If you will not do something to secure the public
use of your writings, you will be indirectly furthering the
establishment of the rights of private property in them by your
family.... I shall not conceal from you that it has been painful for us
who are your friends to hear you reproached because, in spite of your
denial of private property in land, you transferred your estate to the
ownership of your wife. It will also be painful to hear people saying
that Tolstoy, in spite of his knowledge that his declaration in 1891 had
no legal validity, took no steps to ensure his wish being carried out
and thus consciously assisted the transference of his literary property
to his family. I cannot say how painful it will be for your friends to
hear that, Leo Nikolaevich, after your death, and the complete triumph
of your survivors' monopoly over your writings during the long fifty
years of copyright, and all this with the definite knowledge of your
views on the subject."
Tolstoy acknowledged Strakhov's considerations to be a "weighty
argument" and, promising to think it over, left the room. He had to wait
a long time for the answer. Tolstoy went for a ride, had a sleep,
dined, and only after his dinner called Strakhov and Alexandra Lvovna
into his study and said to them: "I shall surprise you by my ultimate
decision.... I want, Sasha, to leave to you alone everything, do you
see? Everything, not excepting what I reserved in the declaration in the
newspapers.... The details you may think over with Vladimir
Grigorevich."
Strakhov informed Chertkov by telegram of the "successful" result of his
conversations with Tolstoy. On 1 November, 1909, he returned to Yasnaya
Polyana with Goldenweiser, this time to witness the signature of the new
will by which "everything" passed to Alexandra Lvovna. This time
Strakhov entered Yasnaya Polyana with a "certain pricking of
conscience," because he had hid his purpose from Sophie Andreevna. The
signing of the will took place in the setting of a conspiracy. Strakhov
says that, when Tolstoy took the pen, "he locked the two doors of his
study one after the other." And it was so strange and unnatural to see
Tolstoy in the part of a man taking steps against unwanted visitors....
{65}. Indeed, some time before Tolstoy's going away, S. A. T.'s mind was
unhinged. This became very clear in the middle of 1910. By the common
consent of the family, Dr. N. V. Nikitin and the well-known alienist
Rossolino were summoned from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana and they found
her to be suffering from hysteria and paranoia in the early stage (see
_Dela i Dni_, 1921, Number I, page 288). As regards paranoia, the data
existing seem to show that the doctors were mistaken, since paranoia
belongs to the class of incurable diseases and comparatively soon passes
from the first to the second stage, characterized by frenzy and acute
madness, from which, so far as is known, S. A. T. did not suffer. On the
contrary her mental and bodily health improved considerably after
Tolstoy's death. But no doubt the doctors' diagnosis of hysteria was
correct. There is evidence that she had a predisposition to that disease
from her birth. Her parents also suffered from lack of mental balance,
as may be seen from Tolstoy's letters to his wife. We read in them: "L.
A. and A. E. (her mother and father) love each other, and yet both seem
to make it the purpose of their lives to irritate each other over
trifles, they spoil their own lives and those of all who surround them,
and especially their daughters'. This atmosphere of irritation is very
painful, even to outsiders." "A. E.... is difficult because of his
unceasing and overpowering care of his health, which would indeed be
much better, if he thought less about it and himself." "Lyubov
Alexandrovna is wonderfully like you.... Even the faults are the same in
you and in her. I listen sometimes to her beginning to talk confidently
about something which she does not know, and to make positive
assertions and exaggerate--and I recognize you." Signs of this disease,
though in a mild form, were observed in S. A. T. from the first years of
her married life. But the strength of her constitution and the healthy
elements of her mind for a long time had the upper hand, and the
symptoms were not obviously visible. But then the bearing and nursing of
children, the complicated business of the estate, the strain on the mind
for many years resulting from the differences with her husband and her
struggle with Chertkov--all this sapped her mental and physical powers
and made it possible for the morbid characteristics to assume an acute
form. Even in 1910, before Tolstoy's going away, she was definitely a
sick person.
{66}. The will of 1 November, 1909, was drawn in correct legal form, but
Tolstoy made the following addition to it: "In case, however, of my
daughter, Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy dying before me, all the
above-mentioned property I bequeath absolutely to my daughter Tatyana
Lvovna Sukhotin." Consequently a new will was drawn up on 17 July, 1910,
but a formal mistake was made in it though Goldenweiser's fault, who
left out the words: "being of sound mind and memory." Owing to this it
became necessary to draw up a will, the fourth in number, which was
copied and signed by Tolstoy on 22 July, 1910, and not, as S. A. T.
says, on 23 July.
Such is the bare history of the two last wills, as related by Chertkov.
But he does not tell us how and under what circumstances these wills
were signed. This task Sergeenko junior, Chertkov's secretary, has taken
upon himself: he tells us how the fourth will was made. According to
him, on 22 July, Tolstoy fetched the witnesses who were with Chertkov at
Telyatenki and went on horse-back with them to the old forest of Zaseka,
and there in the depths of the forest, sitting on the stump of a great
tree, he copied his will, first from a draft and then at Goldenweiser's
dictation. From the expression on Tolstoy's face Sergeenko saw clearly
that "although the whole business was painful to him, he did it with a
firm conviction of its moral necessity. No hesitation was visible."
{67}. P. I. Biryukov, an old friend of Tolstoy, author of the _Biography
of L. N. Tolstoy_, two volumes, Moscow, 1906-8. On 1 August, 1910,
according to V. F. Bulgakov, Biryukov, during a visit to Yasnaya
Polyana, pointed out to Tolstoy "the undesirable atmosphere of
conspiracy which the business of the will was assuming. To call the
whole family together and explain his will to them would, perhaps,
correspond better with Tolstoy's general spirit and convictions." After
his conversation with Biryukov Tolstoy was extremely disturbed. When V.
F. Bulgakov, who was going to Chertkov's estate, asked him whether there
was anything which he wanted him to say to Chertkov, Tolstoy replied:
"No. I want to write to him, but I will do it to-morrow. Tell him, I am
in such a state that I want nothing and...." Tolstoy stopped for a
little. "And am waiting. I am waiting for what is going to happen and am
prepared for anything." Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy and the Chertkovs were
very annoyed at Biryukov's behaviour, thinking that his interference was
ill-timed and only disconcerted Tolstoy. See V. F. Bulgakov, _Leo
Tolstoy During the Last Years of his Life_, pages 277-8.
{68}. The typewritten MS. has "whose powers were growing feeble." The
words "and memory" were inserted in S. A. T.'s handwriting. This is
clearly no exaggeration. Ilya Tolstoy also says that Tolstoy during his
last year of life had several fainting fits and that after them he used
for a short time to lose his memory to such an extent that he did not
recognize his near relations, and once even asked about his brother who
had been dead fifty years: "And how is Mitenka?" Bulgakov, who lived at
Yasnaya Polyana in 1910, gives not a few similar instances. Tolstoy
confirms it himself. In June 1910, when asked whether he had seen the
Tula asylum, he replied: "I don't remember. I have forgotten. A
phenomenon, like the weakening of memory, must interest you mental
specialists. My memory has become very bad." See Ilya Tolstoy, _My
Reminiscences_, pages 246-7 and 272; Bulgakov, _Leo Tolstoy_, pages
34-5, 267, 289, and 323.
{69}. Was it not the desire to discover this secret which made S. A. T.
steal into Tolstoy's study at nights and search there, as is stated by
Tolstoy in his diary? See _Dela i Dni_, 1921, Number I, pages 290-1.
{70}. This letter is quoted in _My Reminiscences_, by Ilya Tolstoy,
pages 261-3.
{71}. This of course refers to Chertkov's letter on the occasion of
Tolstoy's going away, published in _Russkaya Vedomostii_, 1910, Number
252. An extract is quoted in Chertkov's pamphlet, _On the Last Days of
L. N. Tolstoy_, Moscow, 1911, page {15}.
{72}. This was also the opinion of all the members of the family who
were at Astapovo. See Ilya Tolstoy's, _My Reminiscences_, pages 253-5.
{73}. The sale of Yasnaya Polyana has its history. S. A. T. and her sons
originally approached the Government and asked whether it would acquire
Yasnaya Polyana for the State. The Council of Ministers discussed the
question at the two sittings of 26 May and 14 October, 1911. At the
first sitting it was decided to acquire Yasnaya Polyana at the price of
500,000 roubles suggested by the heirs; but at the second sitting the
Council adopted the view of the Attorney to the Synod, V. K. Sabler, and
the Minister of Education, L. A. Kasso, who held it inadmissible that
the Government should honour its enemies and enrich their children at
the State's expense; and the question of purchasing Yasnaya Polyana
went no further. Later a Bill for its purchase was introduced in the
Duma, but nothing came of it.... On 26 February, 1913, Alexandra Lvovna
Tolstoy bought Yasnaya Polyana for 400,000 roubles, which she had
received from Sitin, the publisher, for the right of publishing a
complete edition of Tolstoy's works. On 26 March, 1913, Tolstoy's
long-cherished desire was fulfilled and the land of Yasnaya Polyana was
transferred to the peasants. See _Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1911, Number
II, page 31, Numbers III, IV, and V, pages 190-4 and 198; 1913, Part V,
pages 10-12.
{74}. On 15 November, 1912, the Moscow municipality acquired Tolstoy's
house in Moscow with all its furniture for 125,000 roubles and decided
to use it for a Tolstoy Museum and Library, and to build in the
court-yard a new building for a Tolstoy School of sixteen classes. See
_Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik_, 1911, Number II, pages 31-2, and Numbers III,
IV, and V, pages 194-6.
{75}. The newspapers announced that S. A. T. died in October, 1919. We
have not succeeded in verifying the date and, therefore, cannot vouch
for its accuracy.