Travelogues; . A DRAM-SHOP MOSCOW 185 But to find Count Tolstoi is, even for an American, athing easier said than done ; for before we could accept theinvitation, or challenge, to seek him out, he had left Moscowand retired to his country-seat, Yasnaya Poliana, near thetown of Toula. But, not discouraged, we gladly undertooka six-hour railway journey to Toula and a carriage-drive offifteen versts to the estate of the grand old man of Russia. THE VILLAGK STRKET We arrived at half-past eight in the morning ; for believ-ing that Count Tolstoi, despite his great age, seventy-twoyears, was still le
Travelogues; . A DRAM-SHOP MOSCOW 185 But to find Count Tolstoi is, even for an American, athing easier said than done ; for before we could accept theinvitation, or challenge, to seek him out, he had left Moscowand retired to his country-seat, Yasnaya Poliana, near thetown of Toula. But, not discouraged, we gladly undertooka six-hour railway journey to Toula and a carriage-drive offifteen versts to the estate of the grand old man of Russia. THE VILLAGK STRKET We arrived at half-past eight in the morning ; for believ-ing that Count Tolstoi, despite his great age, seventy-twoyears, was still leading the life of a peasant farmer, wethought the hour none too early. But no one was astirexcept a servant. We wait for an hour and a half, drivingthrough the adjacent village, peopled by the folk whosefathers were the serfs of the Tolstoi estate. Rank miserypervades the filthy and disgusting village-settlement, no 186 MOSCOW better and no worse than villages in other parts of deformed woman and a big strapping mujik are insistentin their demands for money, and servile in their thanks uponreceiving it. As we gaze about us, we strive in vain toreconcile the altruistic theories of the master and the existentconditions in this village at his gates. At ten oclock we again present ourselves at the countsdoor. His eldest son, who bears the fathers name,
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