Tolstoy has always dressed extremely simply, and when at home his costume consisted of a grey flannel blouse, which in summer he exchanged for a canvas one of a very original cut, as may be judged from the fact that there was in the whole district only one old woman who could make it according to his orders. In this blouse Tolstoy sat for his portrait to Kramsky and Répin, the painters. His over-dress was composed of a caftan and half-shouba, made of the simplest materials, and, like the blouse, eccentric in their cut, being made evidently not for show but to stand bad weather. The Hon. Ernest Howard Crosby has given an interesting description of Count Tolstoy’s appearance. “He is dressed like a peasant in a grey-white blouse of thin, coarse, canvas-like material, with a leather belt; but his toilet differs from a peasant’s in being scrupulously clean. His features are irregular and plain, and yet his figure is so strong and massive that the _tout ensemble_ is striking and fine-looking. His little blue eyes peer out from under his bushy eyebrows with the kindliest of expressions.” [Sidenote: =Count Tolstoy and his family= _see page_ 31] Count and Countess Tolstoy have had fifteen children of whom only seven survived. The system of their upbringing has been fully dealt with by M. C. A. Behrs in his “Recollections of Count Leo Tolstoy.” Toys and playthings were rigorously banished from the nursery. With the first child the trial was made to dispense altogether with a nurse. But later it was thought well to yield to the requirements of their social position and to the habits of contemporary life, and the children were put under the care of nurses, bonnes, and governesses. The parents, however, exercised a strict and unremittent surveillance over both the children and those who had the care of them. The greatest possible liberty was allowed to the children, and all put in authority over them were strictly forbidden to have resort under any pretext to violent or severe punishments. Tolstoy believed that these principles were nowhere so generally accepted as in England, and, accordingly, from their third to their ninth year, the children were placed under the charge of young English governesses engaged directly from London. [Sidenote: =Count Tolstoy, his wife, and daughters= _see page_ 12] Countess Tolstoy is an excellent housewife, attentive and hospitable. All the complicated and troublesome management of the housekeeping and direction of household affairs is under her charge. She is indefatigable, and brings her brisk energy, thriftiness, and activity to bear in every direction, and this she does without help. Her three eldest sons live apart, each occupied with his own business matters. Her daughters have their own interests and duties, which take up the greater part of their time. [Sidenote: =Tolstoy and his eldest daughter Tatyana= _see page_ 30]