WALKS AND TALKS WITH TOLSTOI-MARCH, 1894 89 



of yesterday or of last year ; that women and womanish 

 men take naturally to old absurdities, among which he 

 mentioned the doctrines of the Trinity, &quot; spiritism, and 

 homeopathy. At this I expressed a belief that if, instead 

 of educating women, as Bishop Dupanloup expressed it, 

 &quot;in the lap of the church (sur Us genoux de I eglise),&quot; 

 we educate them in the highest sense, in universities, they 

 will develop more and more intellectually, and so become 

 a controlling element in the formation of a better race; 

 that, as strong men generally have strong mothers, the 

 better education of woman physically, intellectually, and 

 morally is the true way of bettering the race in general. 

 In this idea he expressed his disbelief, and said that edu 

 cation would not change women ; that women are illogical 

 by nature. At this I cited an example showing that wo 

 men can be exceedingly logical and close in argument, but 

 he still adhered to his opinion. On my mentioning the 

 name of George Eliot, he expressed a liking for her. 



On our next walk, he took me to the funeral of one of 

 his friends. He said that to look upon the dead should 

 rather give pleasure than pain; that memento mori is a 

 wise maxim, and looking upon the faces of the dead a good 

 way of putting it in practice. I asked him if he had 

 formed a theory as to a future life, and he said in sub 

 stance that he had not; but that, as we came at birth from 

 beyond the forms of space and time, so at death we re 

 turned whence we came. I said, &quot;You use the word 

 forms in the Kantian sense? &quot; &quot;Yes,&quot; he said, &quot;space 

 and time have no reality. 



We arrived just too late at the house of mourning. 

 The dead man had been taken away ; but many of those 

 who had come to do him honor still lingered, and were 

 evidently enjoying the &quot;funeral baked meats.&quot; There 

 were clear signs of a carousal. The friends who came 

 out to meet us had, most of them, flushed faces, and one 

 young man in military uniform, coming down the stairs, 

 staggered and seemed likely to break his neck. 



Tolstoi refused to go in, and, as we turned away, ex- 



