WALKS AND TALKS WITH TOLSTOI-MARCH, 1894 73 



his flowing blouse kept together by a leathern girdle, 

 his high jack-boots completing the costume. This was 

 Tolstoi. 



Nothing could be more kindly than his greeting. While 

 his dress was that of a peasant, his bearing was the very 

 opposite ; for, instead of the depressed, demure, hangdog 

 expression of the average muzhik, his manner, though 

 cordial, was dignified and impressive. Having given us 

 a hearty welcome, he made us acquainted with various 

 other guests. It was a singular assemblage. There were 

 foreigners in evening dress, Moscow professors in any 

 dress they liked, and a certain number of youth, evidently 

 disciples, who, though clearly not of the peasant class, 

 wore the peasant costume. I observed these with interest, 

 but certainly as long as they were under the spell of the 

 master they communicated nothing worth preserving; 

 they seemed to show * the contortions of the sibyl without 

 the inspiration.&quot; 



The professors were much more engaging. The Uni 

 versity of Moscow has in its teaching body several strong 

 men, and some of these were present. One of them, whose 

 department was philosophy, especially interested and en 

 couraged me by assurances that the movement of Russian 

 philosophy is &quot;back to Kant.&quot; In the strange welter of 

 whims and dreams which one finds in Russia, this was to 

 me an unexpected evidence of healthful thought. 



Naturally, I soon asked to be presented to the lady of 

 the house, and the count escorted us through a series of 

 rooms to a salon furnished much like any handsome apart 

 ment in Paris or St. Petersburg, where the countess, with 

 other ladies, all in full evening dress, received us cor 

 dially. This sudden transition from the peasant cabin 

 of the master to these sumptuous rooms of the mistress 

 was startling ; it seemed like scene-shifting at a theater. 



After some friendly talk, all returned to the rooms of 

 the master of the house, where tea was served at a long 

 table from the bubbling brazen urn the samovar; and 

 though there were some twenty or thirty guests, nothing 



