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- XII. Prince Dmitri Khilkov
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CHAPTER XII.
PRINCE DMITRI KHILKOV.
His Questionings—Abandonment of Property—Life as a Mushik—Influence on
the Peasants—Conflict with Landowners—with the Church—“The Damned
Stundist”—Banishment by “Administrative Process”—Journey into
Exile—A Well-meant Offer—Settlement at Baschkitchet—Activity during
a Cholera Epidemic—An Official Medical Commission—Imperial
Persecution—His Confession.
We shall give in this chapter an account in detail of the
life of one of Tolstoi’s followers, which will serve as an
example of the difficulties under which he and his disciples
live, and the manner in which they put in practice what they
believe.
It is now some years since Prince Dmitri Khilkov, who is
still in the prime of manhood, gave his earnest attention to the
deep realities of life. He had inherited large estates in the
province of Kharkov, and enjoyed all the advantages, usually
so considered, that such a position entails. But when he came
to examine the grounds on which that position rested, and put
questions to himself with the intention of getting a satisfactory
answer, he came to the conclusion, as Tolstoi had done, that
the life of a privileged and wealthy person, surrounded
by a peasant population plunged in degradation and misery,
was opposed to reason, conscience, and the teaching of
Christ.
Once arrived at this conclusion, he proceeded to carry out
its logical results. He was not one to rest content with
holding a high ideal, while making “the prevailing system”
the excuse for a lower standard of actual life. The word
“doctrinaire” was not in his vocabulary. He at once
distributed his estate among the peasants, with the exception of
even hectares (about seventeen or eighteen acres), which he
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