"OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES"
Baker, Bertha Kunz
"Out of the Mouths of Babes" By BERTHA KUNZ BAKER IT WAS Count Tolstoi's passion to bring enlightenment to the simple people, to clear away all kinds of artificial forms, ceremonies and...
...Karlchen: You will when you grow up...
...Bailiff: What a devil of a girl she will be when she grows up...
...Grushka: To whom...
...it is very serious matter...
...Are you a thief...
...Gavila: Why...
...Misha: A war with whom...
...ON STATE AND FATHERLAND Gavrila, a soldier in the reserve, a servant...
...They will be ordered to take me, and they will have to do it...
...Misha: Are you really leaving...
...To leave my wife and children—Do you suppose I would leave this happy life of my own free will...
...Who knows whether God will permit me to see you again...
...Bailiff (Entering a poor cottage...
...But this is no game...
...Karlchen: Because we Prussians will not allow Russia to rob us of our land...
...Petia: What a silly question...
...Gavrila: Goodbye, Mishenka, my dear little master...
...How pitifully foolish crowns and thrones and state boundaries and political enmities are made to appear in the light of a few simple questions on the lips of a child in these short dramatic dialogues which he groups together under the general title, The Wisdom of Children...
...Nobody is in except Grushka, a little girl of seven.L He looks around: Nobody at home...
...We will not let you take our cow...
...I have read about it in the papers, but I can't make it out...
...we conquered it first...
...Petia Oblov, ten years...
...But now I had better go...
...Petia: It doesn't matter whether you want to or not...
...Misha...
...Grushka: He's not poor, is he...
...Misha: What law...
...It's a pleasure to chat with you...
...Because everybody loves his own country...
...Bailiff: The Tsar will look after that when the money comes in...
...What is your name...
...It's very difficult to understand all that...
...Grushka: How does it benefit us if our cow is taken away...
...Gavrila: They have to obeyMisha: But why...
...Grushka: What's that—taxes...
...Masha: To whom...
...and I am in the reserve...
...Gavrila: You are a funny boy...
...Masha: Then I don't want to grow up...
...Because each state is a separate one...
...Bailiff: Well, tell your mother the bailiff called...
...Gavrila: Men who have to obey, and who are exactly in my position...
...I shall take the cow for the taxes that are not paid...
...Bailiff: He does not take it for himself...
...Gbushka: Take the cow...
...What are taxes...
...Wouldn't it be better if they all kept together...
...They will take me by force...
...Misha: But you don't wish to go to the war, do you...
...They say that some one in Austria has a grudge against us because of some favor he did to what's-their names— Misha: But what are you fighting for...
...We are the poor people...
...Masha: And if I don't want to...
...each state raises taxes...
...Petia: Each state has its army...
...Karlchen : It is this way: some belong to one state and some to another...
...Now listen...
...Tell her I am giving her notice for the third time, and that she must pay her taxes before Sunday without fail, or else I will take her cow...
...There is war again...
...Gavrila: Because of the authorities...
...Bailiff: What a nuisance of a girl...
...Bailiff: You will understand that when you are grown up...
...Masha: But why must it be separate...
...Grushka: I will not repeat all your nonsense to her...
...Gavrila (Laughing): What can they do...
...and Masha Orlov, eight years...
...Misha: Who can take you by force...
...It all goes to supply our needs—to pay the authorities, the army the schools...
...Gavrila: I am fighting for the Tsar, of course...
...Why will they take you by force if they are in the same position...
...Petia: But we say this land belongs to us...
...Petia: You are a child, and you don't understand...
...ON TAXES The Bailiff and Grushka...
...Gavrila: I have to...
...Now, mind you, give your mother my message...
...Tell them you don't want to, and stop here...
...Verily, "out of the mouths of babes"— ON WAR, Karlchen Schmidt, nine years...
...Bailiff: You are a good girl, Grushka...
...Masha: But why must each state stand by itself...
...It is for our own good that we pay taxes...
...Masha: What do I belong to...
...You can do whatever you want, what the Tsar gays, but we shall mind our own business...
...Is it ours...
...Petia: To keep together is all right when you play games...
...Gavrila: Certainly not...
...Gavrila: God knows...
...You are Russian, all the same...
...Because of the law...
...All his life he labored with splendid courage, with unfailing devotion to lead the people out of religious serfdom and idolatry—into a realization that each man may drink for himself out of the well-spring of divine revelation...
...Petia: You belong to Russia, like the rest of us...
...Bailiffs Because what is due must be paid...
...Out of the Mouths of Babes" By BERTHA KUNZ BAKER IT WAS Count Tolstoi's passion to bring enlightenment to the simple people, to clear away all kinds of artificial forms, ceremonies and institutions which keep the working masses enslaved in ignorance and superstition and fear for the profit and glory of their masters...
...Masha: I don't understand why that makes them separate from the rest...
...Grushka: Why will you take our cow if you are not a thief...
...for my country and the Orthodox Faith...
...he spends it on us, fools that we are...
...Misha: But suppose they don't want to...
...They are money paid by the people by order of the Tsar...
...Petia: Can't you understand...
...So, too, we find among his later writings passages in which he sifts political ideas and ideals to their very kernel fearlessly reducing "state," "patriotism," etc., to their simplest terms—their essential human value...
...To us" means to our state...
...What can they do to you...
...Who's fighting, and whom are they fighting against...
...Masha: I don't understand...
...Bailiff (Smiling): What a clever girl, I say...
...Petia: Such a tiny girl, -and obstinate already, just like all of them...
...Misha: Then why do you go...
...Grushka: Grushka...
...The Tsar is rich...
...To this end he retranslated the gospels in such simple conversational language and form that the most uneducated peasant could read or listen and feel the Son of Man speaking directly to him—into his very mind and heart as a fellow workman might...
...Grushka: Mother has gone to bring home the cow, and Freka is at work in the master's yard...
...Tell your mother that, although I am not a thief, I will take her cow...
...Misha, his masters young son...
...Every nation has its Tsar, its King...
...Karlchen (Interrupting): And a parliament...
...Why does he want us to give him money...
Vol. 7 • December 1915 • No. 12
