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The Late Mrs Vaugban.

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I " Tolstoy."

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I Tolstoy." I Ideals of a Varied Life. I ARE THEY YET PRACTICABLE? I PRGFElSSOR JOSEPH JONES AT BUILTH. m Professor Joseph Jones, M.A., B.D. (Brecon) delighted a Builth audience at Foresters' Hall on Friday night with his popular lecture on "Tol- stoy." Mr H. Vaughan Vaughan, who presided, said they were all much indebted to Professor Jones for coming there that evening. The lectures they had had up to the present had been purely local, and they had been most enjoyable, but that evening they were to have the advantage of hear- ing Professor Jones (Brecon) on the most in- teresting subject, "Tolstoy." At the present moment anything, connected with Russia, was most interesting and vital, for, if it had net been for Russia, he did not know what would have be- come of them. (Applause.) Professor Joseph Jones said he agreed with the chairman that the subject was a timely one. Tolstoy was a child of his age. Dealing with the characteristics of that age and the country to which Tolstoy belonged, Professor Jones said that, as an artist, he ranked with Ibsen, Victor Hugo and many others, as a prophet, with Emer- son, Carlisle, etc., and as a philanthropist with King sky. Lincoln,v Shaftesbury, etc. He was a true child of Russia, the country which, in hie opinion, would, after the war, come to her own in more ways than one This country partook of the characteristic of Asia and Europe, and, in every sense, Tolstoy was the child of his native land. He imbibed all the traditions of the land which gave him birth, he became the victim of his native land, and died outside the pale of the Church he loved so well. In calling him a pro- pliet, the speaker did not mean simply a man who foretold-lie thought this was not the most important function of a, prophet, for, a prophet not only foretold but preached and lead men to a sense of their duties—one who pointed human society towards greater heights. Tolstoy was lborn in the month of September, 1828, of a fam- ily of German extraction, and, to his mind, there was something dogmatic in Tolstoy's character which might be attributed to his German ances- tors. When quite a small child, on his first emancipation from the nursery, he informed his nurse that "life was no joke." He went, even- tually, to the University at Kayan. where he was not a success—he was one of those men who do not fit themselves into the educational system of the world. After eighteen months of a student's life, ending in disaster, he went home, and, on his way, told a friend that the most important question to ask themselves was what they took with them from that sanctuary? What did it fit them for? For a time he interested himself in social reform on his estate. This did not satisfy him, and he made frequent journeys to Moscow and St. Petersburg. During one of these, he met a caravan of gipsies and his as- s?T.iat' n with tlie)ii nearl y r4esul  les and his as- sociation with them nearly resulted in a marriage with a gipsy woman. Soon afterwards a tribal war broke out in the Caucasus, and he went at once to the front and here it was that he first took up his pen and wrote "Life of my child- hood." Later, in the Crimean war, in which his uncle was Commander-in-chief, he rejoined the army, and kept up the spirits of his comrades at every point with jokes, puzis and vivacity. Here he wrote "In the Sortie" and Sebastopol sketches. After the war all high places were open to him, for, lie had made his mark as a soldier and author. But he could not stay an society, and again took to wandering, paying visits, at this time, to Germany and Switzerland. He was 32 years of age when his brother died of consumption, and this sad event caused him to review his past, and to say "life is terrible, and there is nothing worse than death." Here the speaker compared Tolstoy with Byron who, at 33 years of age, admitted that he had gained noth- ing but 33, showing that though both were wan- derers, Byron never found his way home, but that Tolstoy always did. Tolstoy's marriage marked the 2nd period of his life. He now lived the life of a quiet gentleman farmer, with literary pursuits, and, as a kind husband and father, there now issued from his pen his popular work, "War and Peace." The great note in his idea of edu- cation was freedom, and, in defence of this, it will be seen he recognised that education Wi! s not something to be tacked on to the life of a child, but the development of the life within him. Professor Jones admitted that Tolstoy's VíÎews overlooked the side of education, which valued discipline, authority, and social pressure. Tolstoy 'believed in training children in religion, and allowing them to read and study the Bible as it was. The lecturer also touched on the per- ion in Tolstoy s me, wnen wat- wab a siorm in lÚs bosom"when this great man thought that the only way out of his misery was suicide.. A second way open to him was to go deeper into the mire—a third, to ignore it—a fourth, to make the best of matters, hoping something better would come, and, under the inspiration of some of his own peasantry, something better came, and ,be went back to the New Testament, to the "Ser- mon on the Mount," and placed it on record that he saw a light that he never saw before. For the next 25 years Tolstoy's personality was one of great prominence, for, be consecrated the great genius that was his to writing and promulgating, the great ideas discovered in the "^Sermon on the Mount," and, at his death, the world awoke to the fact that one of the greatest of prophets had passed beyond the veil. Tolstoy believed the in- terpretation of the words, "resist not evil" should be "resist not him that is evil." His great ideals were personal purity, family chastity, peace between man and man, and international peace, and non-resistance to evil. The chief difficulties in the way of attaining these ideals were their relationship to the past-illustrated by the pres- ent war—which England entered through a treaty made in 1834,1 and though made by their fathers. ratified 30 or 40 years later, and theiir relationship to one another and to the State. These, he was a/ware, made it very difficult for them, as social beings, to carry out Tolstoy's ideal, but he thought it was one, to which they ought to be striving from day to day. Tolstoy's teachings, interpreted from the "Sermon on the Mount," forbade the taking up of arms and for- bade entrance into litigation. The speaker said he could not find any fault with that interpre- tation, but whether it squared with other teach-

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Newtown Solicitor's Appeal.I

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I " Tolstoy."

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