vol. xxx, no. 4 april 1926 universal brotherhood - a fact in nature

THE YOUTH OF COUNT TOLSTOY
of moral, mental, and spiritual development had taken place in the
soul and the entire being of Tolstoy; it had transformed all the concep-
tions, the ideas, the fundamental notions of his heart and mind; it had
changed the character of his artistic productions and was the keynote
of his future greatness as a teacher and reformer.
In the first half of his life we see before our eyes a great, famous
writer, the literary activity of whom was already then well known to the
world. We can appreciate in him the traits that outline a grand per-
sonality, a man of genius on such and such lines, but still a man of the
world, so to speak; he is in the midst of his fellow-creatures, like them
full of passions, of sufferings, of vague beliefs, of weaknesses, of human
failures, and of all the sad mistakes so dear to the Russian people in
particular.
In the second period of his life Tolstoy is an entity beyond the laws
which govern the historical and evolutionary growth of what is called
'society.' He is a Force, a Power, a kind of Karmic tool destined to ac-
complish some well-determined and definite work for the benefit of a
race, nay, of humanity itself.
No matter for the present what were the numerous and contra-
dictory opinions about the Tolstoy of that second period; he might have
been everything that the wounded vanity and selfishness of his con-
temporary generation wished to make out of him; he might have been a
fanatic, an atheist, a Christian, a sage illumined by the light of some
unknown world, the founder of a new religion. Suffice it to say that
he was an unusual appearance on the scene of history and civilization,
and a man who changed the direction of thought and the trend of mind
for several generations of his own country, and who also influenced the
world at large by the set of new ideals and conceptions he has infused
into the mental and moral atmosphere of it.
Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on the 28th of August,
1828, in the estate of Yusnayu Polyana, in the government of Tula. His
mother was Princess Mary Nikolaevna JITolkonsky, sole heiress to the
tremendous wealth of that old and famous Russian family. She died in
1831, and her death was soon followed by that of her husband, the father
of the great writer, which occurred in 1837. At nine years of age, Tolstoy
became thus an orphan. He was taken care of by his aunt on his father's
side, Countess Osten-Sacken, and Madame Ergolskaya, a somewhat dis- .
tant relative.
While the oldest brother of the family, Nikolas, remained in Mos-
cow, in order to .study in the University, the three youngest children,
Lev, the future author, Dmitri, and their sister Mary, went to Yasnaya