3 MAY 1890, Page 24

The Long Exile, and other Stories for Children. By Count

Tolstoi. Translated from the Russian by Nathan Haskell Dole. (Walter Scott.)—This collection of stories and fables shows Count Tolstoi in a more pleasing light than we are sometimes tempted to regard him. The first tale is one of those which the great Russian alone knows how to tell, simple, pathetic, with a note of deep tragedy in it. The accounts of his dogs, his hunting, and his school are most delightful reading. Children will be fascinated with the dogs and the fables. And to older people the experiments which the students make in composition will reveal some striking truths, besides acquainting them with the author's theory of teaching. There are others besides Russian peasants who care more for folk- tales than literary creations or works written for them by those above them. Nothing that Count Tolstoi has written proclaims more clearly his real genius, his love of men, his tenderness, and his power of pathos than this collection of writings.