102 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



staying with Tolstoi awhile, and tasting the sweets of 

 a comfortable life, he one morning suddenly disap- 

 peared, without a kopeck in his pocket, and again be- 

 came a pilgrim. 



In a sense, the Count thinks all travelers are pil- 

 grims ; and while the person who travels for pleasure or 

 on business is not to be compared for righteousness to 

 the pilgrim who sets out without purse or scrip, yet all 

 travelers are worthier than stay-at-home people. Their 

 virtues consist in their contempt for a life of ease. 

 With delicate flattery he complimented the writer on 

 being " almost a real pilgrim." 



It was hot, sultry weather at Yasnia Polyana, and 

 rain and thunder and mud among the untrimmed veg- 

 etation about the house made a somewhat gloomy 

 framework for the setting of Tolstoi* at home. There 

 were snatches of sunshine, however, in the morning 

 prior to our departure, when the avenues and neglected 

 grounds seemed a trifle more cheerful. From the 

 Russian point of view, the Count's estate, probably, 

 was in very good trim. 



We sat on the portico talking until eleven o'clock on 

 the day of our arrival, and we wandered about the 

 estate and chatted next morning. Many subjects were 

 touched upon. The Count likes to talk and to draw 

 out the ideas of his visitors and compare them with 

 his own. 



I found him predisposed in favor of America, and 

 the fact that I had just come from New York, and rep- 

 resented an American newspaper, was an open sesame 

 to his sympathies and good will. 



It requires but a few minutes' social intercourse 



