His study at Yasnaya Polyana is a small room with an uncarpeted floor, a vaulted ceiling, and thick stone walls. Formerly it was a store-room, and on the ceiling are heavy black iron rings, on which hams used to hang and which were used later for gymnastic exercises. The study is very cool and quiet, and contains various implements of labour, such as a scythe, a saw, pincers, tiles, etc.
Tolstoy with his bicycle
After his morning labours, Tolstoy generally goes out, often riding on horseback or on his bicycle, according to the state of the weather. He is strict vegetarian, eating only the simplest food and avoiding all stimulants. He long ago ceased to smoke. Attaching great importance to manual labour, he takes a share in the housework, lighting his own fire and carrying water. At one time he learned bootmaking, and it is wonderful what an amount of physical exertion he was able to undergo at the age of seventy in the way of heavy labour in the field, of riding scores of versts on his bicycle, or of playing for hours at lawn tennis.
A portrait of Tolstoy
Tolstoy in the grounds of Yasnaya Polyana
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.”