I can tell you, esteemed Lev Nikolaevich, that the Doukhobors in their experience of seeking the truth are a unique example meriting serious attention. Suffice it to say that over the past ten years of living in Canada—under rather dreadful conditions, to start with - there haven‘t been any serious quarrels leading to violence, as happens all the time in Russian villages. Or another remarkable phenomenon: in our forty villages there has not been a single fire. Many houses and barns are roofed with bog-rushes. I put this down to a more sober life-style and abstinence from tobacco; it often happens that someone will light a cigarette and toss the burning match away just anywhere. And how many kids hide from their elders to have a smoke and set the thatch on fire. In Russia whole villages have burnt down that way. And we are but simple Russian peasants. But the Lord has led us into the light of understanding. Praise be to you too, dear Lev Nikolaevich, for showing people the harm that comes from smoking and vodka.

P. V. Verigin to L. N. Tolstoy
(Otradnoe, September 26, 1909)

 

Leo Tolstoy‘s sons (from left to right): Sergej, Ilya, Leo, Andrej and Michael