Lecture at Y.M.C.A. on Great Russian and His Religion The brilliant Russian novelist philosopher and social reformer Tolstoy and his religion was the theme of -the third address by Chaplain F. R. Hamilton before the Foreign Y-M. audience on evening of February 8. Climaxing the three lectures on Rousseau, Goethe and now Tolstoy, this series tures has been of peculiar a: creasing interest. These three men whose lives the Chaplain dealt with were three of the most unusual of all history.
Tolstoy particularly lived in extremes. Of a deeply sensitive nature in his youth he suffered for want of notice and affection. He spent hours in lonely brooding. In the vernacu of to-day the psychologist! probably term it an in priority complex.
When he entered University, however, he lived a life of luxury; filled with social excitement. He sought to be original and majored in eastern languages, history, religion and law. His achievement in lite: sudden and comparatively unexpected, but placed him suddenly n th best of social and literary circles At a later stage in his life, when he was just past 50 years of age, he met with a religious cri that turned him to mysticism and renunciafion. From then on he became moralist and social reformer. On one hand one sees him renouncing property, force and everything having to do with personal pleasure and satisfaction, and at the same time feeling a tremendous burden of responsibility for other people. Matthew Arnold is quoted as having said that "Tolstoy has done more to unriddle life than any writer wha ever lived."
"Tolstoy's life." said the Chaplain, "was marked by three characteristics—first: impulsiveness; second: hi deep religious nature; and third: hi deep love for men; and at the same time his life seemingly falls into three periods—first: a student and soldier; second: his career as 2 writer; and third: a teacher.
Questioned at the close of the lecture as to what practical lesson we of the present generation may find from a study of the life of this great man, Chaplain Hamilton replied "In Tolstoy we have a brilliant thinker who found his own goal in life and rigorously gave up everything and pushed aside anything that stood in the wa: s progress toward that goal. life is a challenge to every one of us," said the speaker, "and we cannot keep our self-respect and Christian character unless we live as earnestly as did he in our quest for a worth while goal of achievement and understanding of life's ultimate er The next lecture of the season will be given by Dr. Robert Fitch on the subject "Pacifism, the Cradle of Militarism."
Hankow, Feb. 8. A steady exodus-of foreigners from Hankow and Central China is in progress, partly because of the uncertain outlook and partly because of the recent Japanese warning to third party nationals to evacuate a zone embracing, among other areas, the Yangtse Valley.
An international party of 27 persons left here by rail for Canton yesterday, while another group of the same number departed this morning, also by train It is expected that further arrangements will be made for those desirous of leaving for the south in the same manner, which is by attaching one first-class coach to the ordinary day train, The two parties now en route to the south include three British naval ratings, equal numbers of residents and missionaries from Central China, land five passengers who will board the train at Changsha—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.