Apropos of Eltzbacher’s book on anarchy, which Tolstoi was re-reading, he said: “Christian anarchy is a narrow definition of the Christian conception of the world, but anarchy follows certainly from Christianity in its application to social life.” _September 3rd._ Tolstoi again spoke about the old German mystic, Angelus Silesius. Tolstoi asked some one to fetch his book (a large old volume) and read aloud several aphorisms, translating them as he read. When he came to the passage: “If God did not love Himself in us, we could neither love ourselves, nor God,” Tolstoi exclaimed: “Ah, how well that’s said!” Referring to some account in the papers of a conversation with him, Tolstoi said: “If I were to live for another eighty years, and were never to cease talking, I could not manage to say all the sayings that are attributed to me.” _September 6th._ Tolstoi said, with reference to the addresses and congratulations on his eightieth birthday (August 28th, 1908) which keep on coming: “I believe I am right in saying that I have no vanity, but I can’t help being touched involuntarily. And yet, at my age, I live so far away from all this, it is all so unnecessary and so humiliating. Only one thing is necessary, the inner life of the spirit.” On August 29th, when more than two thousand telegrams of congratulation arrived, Tolstoi said: “I feel with joy that I have utterly lost the power of being interested in all this. In the past, I remember, I experienced a feeling of pride; I was glad at my success. But now--and I think it is not false modesty--it is a matter of absolute indifference to me. Perhaps it is because I have had too much success. It is like sweets: if you have too many, you feel surfeited. But one thing is pleasant: in nearly all the letters, congratulations, addresses, the same thing is repeated--it has simply become a truism--that I have destroyed religious delusions and opened the way for the search after truth. If it is true, it is just what I have wanted and tried to do all my life, and this is very dear to me.” FOOTNOTE: [14] Gregory Ivanovich Chertkov (1828-1884), Adjutant-General. 1909 _February 10th._ Once in the winter Sophie Andreevna in Tolstoi’s presence criticized V. G. Chertkov bitterly, which, as usual, pained him very much. This was in the morning. In the middle of the conversation Tolstoi got up and went into his room. Some time later he came into the dining-room, stood at the door, and said in an agitated voice: “There is an old nurse in our house. I scarcely know her, but I love her because she loves Sasha, and when there is nothing like that in a house, there is no real love.” ... After saying this, Tolstoi turned and quietly went to his room. To-night Tolstoi said: “When one listens to music, it agitates, excites, elates, but one does not think. But when I play patience in my room, the finest thoughts come to me.”