1 1 o THR UGH R US SI A ON A M US TA NG. 



The tender passion that has from all time been the 

 theme of the poet and the novelist, Tolstoi deems a 

 species of moral depravity, on a par with gluttony, the 

 smoking of opium, or indulgence in strong drink. A 

 person finding himself, or herself, in love, particularly 

 before marriage, should fight against it as against the 

 opium habit or any other pernicious thing. 



Theater-going, dancing, romantic literature of all 

 kinds, anything, in short, that excites the imagination 

 to thoughts of love, is intemperance. Cupid is the 

 devil in his most artful guise. 



In speaking of the relations of the sexes, Tolstoi' 

 talked with the same freedom from restraint as if he 

 talked of digging potatoes or mowing hay. 



The Countess and her sister from St. Petersburg sat 

 at the other end of the table on one occasion, when 

 the Count was particularly inquisitive about the natives 

 of East Africa. To an ordinary mortal the situation 

 would have been embarrassing in the extreme. The 

 ladies, however, were busy chatting together, and their 

 ears, of course, were closed to anything the Count or I 

 might have said. 



Tolstoi* was deeply interested in the social life of the 

 Masai and requested that a copy of " Scouting for 

 Stanley in East Africa " might be sent him. 



His interest in the relations of the sexes seemed to 

 me to be abnormal, almost morbid. Men and women, 

 he insists, should love one another only as friends or as 

 brothers and sisters. Matrimony brought about by 

 romantic love is an unholy and unnatural alliance, 

 that in nine cases out of ten resulted in unhappiness for 

 both parties to the contract. 



