OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



educator who loved the country with a sincere attach- 

 ment. He appreciated the opportunity given to spend 

 long hours over his literary labors, but still more he 

 reveled in the peace and beauty of the place. We 

 learned to know him well, so that in later years many 

 of our talks began with "Do you remember?" Never 

 was a man more devoted to an institution than he to 

 his beloved university, and naturally he wished to 

 bring there great men from all over the world. Once 

 he even had the courage to go to Count Tolstoi, then 

 over seventy, and beg him to come to America and 

 lecture there. 



The picture remains indelibly fixed on my mem- 

 ory: the unusual appearance of the small drawing- 

 room in his Moscow house ; the two sons, men of con- 

 ventional outlook, and the little group of worshiping 

 strangers all dominated by this blue-bloused figure 

 with its noble head and piercing eyes. When the re- 

 quest was gently urged upon him, the bent shoulders 

 stiffened, the rugged face of the aged enthusiast was a 

 study for an instant; then he answered slowly: "It is 



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