Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 11 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/572

548 the actuating motive of the majority of the men of our society; ask yourself what is the chief interest of this majority? And, however strange it may appear to us who are accustomed to hide our real interests and profess false, artificial ones, you will see that the chief interest of their life is the satisfaction of the palate,—the pleasure of eating, gluttony. From the poorest to the richest, eating is, I think, the chief aim,—the chief pleasure of our life.

Poor working-people form an exception only inasmuch as want prevents their addicting themselves to this passion. No sooner have they the time and means than, in imitation of the higher classes, they procure what is sweetest and most delectable, and eat and drink as much as they can. The more they eat the more do they deem themselves, not only happy, but also strong and healthy. And in this conviction they are encouraged by the upper classes, who regard food in precisely the same way. The educated classes imagine that happiness and health (as medical men assure them, stating that the most expensive food, meat, is the most wholesome) consist in devouring savory, nourishing, easily digested food, though they try to conceal this.

Look at rich people's lives, listen to their conversation. What lofty subjects seem to occupy them: philosophy, science, art, poetry, the distribution of wealth, the welfare of the people, and the education of the young; but all this is, for the immense majority, a sham; all this occupies them in the intervals of business, real business, between luncheon and dinner, while the stomach is full, and it is impossible to eat more. The only real, living interest of the majority of both men and women is eating, especially after early youth. How to eat, what to eat, where, when?

No solemnity, no rejoicing, no consecration, no opening of anything can dispense with eating. Look at people traveling. In their case it is especially evident. "Museums, libraries, parliament—how very interesting! But where shall we dine? Who provides the best food? "Look at people when they come together