“The passage was read where Christ says: ‘It is said: thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you, do not be angry without cause.’ The priest began to explain that one must not be angry without cause, but, if the authorities become angry, that is right and as it should be. ‘Do not kill’ also does not mean that one should never kill. In war or at an execution, killing is necessary and is not a sin. This is the only chance that an illiterate person has to understand the meaning of the Gospels, for in church all the chapters are either indistinctly read by the sexton, or shouted so loud that they are perfectly unintelligible--and this is the way in which the Gospels are explained to the people!” A long talk about the Boers and the English took place. Tolstoi said: “I always consider that moral motives are effective and decisive historically. And now, when the universal dislike of the English is so clearly pronounced--I shall not live to see it, but it seems to me that the power of England will be much shaken. And I say this not out of an unconscious Russian patriotism. If Poland or Finland rose against Russia and success were on their side, my sympathy would be on their side as the oppressed. “The Russian people, speaking impartially, is perhaps the most Christian of all in its moral character. It is partly to be explained by the fact that the Gospels have been read by the Russian people for nine hundred years; Catholics don’t know the Gospels even now, and other races came to know the Gospel only after the Reformation. “I was struck when I saw in the streets of London a criminal escorted by the police, and the police had to protect him energetically from the crowd, which threatened to tear him to pieces. With us it is just the opposite: police have to drive away by force the people who try to give the criminal money and bread. With us, criminals and prisoners are ‘little unhappy ones.’ But now, unfortunately, there is a change for the worse, and our abominable Government tries with all its might and main to rouse hatred against the condemned. In Siberia, even prizes are given to any one who kills an escaped prisoner.” _April 29th._ The conversation was on Shakespeare. Tolstoi is not very fond of him. Tolstoi said: “Three times in my life I have read through Shakespeare and Goethe from end to end, and I could never make out in what their charm consisted.” According to Tolstoi, Goethe is cold. Among his (Goethe’s) works he likes many of the lyrics and _Hermann and Dorothea_. He does not like Goethe’s dramatic works, and his novels he considers quite weak. Tolstoi did not speak about _Faust_. Tolstoi is very fond of Schiller, and said: “He is a genuine man!” He loves almost all his works, particularly _The Robbers_ and _Don Carlos_, also _Mary Stuart_, _William Tell_, and _Wallenstein_.