Those who profess faith in the fulfilment of the dreamy ideas of Mr Bellamy might find a study of Count Tolstoi’s latest work, appearing tn the Fortnightly Review, to be of special interest. The story is entitled “ Work while ye have; the Light,” and is mainly concerned in demonstrating the possibility of human society existing without law, without force, and without punishment, or the reconstitution of society- on an extreme Quaker basis. The following quotation will give an idea bow he proposes to extirpate crime Wie /take' away all motive for crime, for robbery and murden solely by refusing to take for ourselves more than what is strictly indispensable for the support of life, and by giving up to others all our free labor ; thus it is that we never tempt others by the sight of accumulated wealth, for we rarely possess more than is absolutely necessary for our dayls .support. Hence, if a man who is driven to despair by ths—pains of hunger, and is ready to commit a crime in order to procure a crust of.bread, comes to us, he will find what he is- in search of, without having recourse to crime or violence, inasmuch as we live-for the purpose of sharing our last morsel of fbdd, our last shred of clothes, with those who are suffering from hunger and cold, And the result is that one class of criminals avoid us altogether, while the others come over to us, find salvation, abandon their criminal life, and little by little become useful workers, toiling like the others for the common good of all mankind.”
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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 566, 5 February 1891, Page 2
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267Untitled Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 566, 5 February 1891, Page 2
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