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with the present policy of the government of that country.
"A Lost Opportunity" is a singularly true picture of peasant life, which
evinces a deep study of the subject on the part of the writer. Tolstoi
has drawn many of the peculiar customs of the Russian peasant in a
masterly manner, and I doubt if he has given a more comprehensive
description of this feature of Russian life in any of his other works.
In this story also he has presented many traits which are common to
human nature throughout the world, and this gives an added interest to
the book. The language is simple and picturesque, and the characters are
drawn with remarkable fidelity to nature. The moral of this tale points
out how the hero Ivan might have avoided the terrible consequences of a
quarrel with his neighbor (which grew out of nothing) if he had lived in
accordance with the scriptural injunction to forgive his brother's sins
and seek not for revenge.
The story of "Polikushka" is a very graphic description of the life led
by a servant of the court household of a certain nobleman, in which the
author portrays the different conditions and surroundings enjoyed by
these servants from those of the ordinary or common peasants. It is a
true and powerful reproduction of an element in Russian life but little
written about heretofore. Like the other stories of this great writer,
"Polikushka" has a moral to which we all might profitably give heed. He
illustrates the awful consequences of intemperance, and concludes that
only kind treatment can reform the victims of alcohol.
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