What did Tolstoy take?

We have a pretty good idea of what Tolstoy took on his first walk, based on accounts left by Anna Seuron, the children's governess and German instructor. Seuron is an invaluable source of details about the Tolstoy household during this time: Tolstoy wasn't making many diary entries, and he had yet to attract the troupe of Boswells that would record his every move from the 1890s until his death. Seuron, however, is pretty unreliable: Her memory for detail is weak, and she had an ax to grind with Sophia Andreevna, as Seuron was also fired as governess for striking one of the children.

The book was published in Berlin, in German--I recently found a translation into Russian. Here's her description, my translation:

In his homemade boots, he decided to set off for his native estate. He prepared for the trip, taking only what was necessary. He put on a linen bag for bread, packed a shirt, two pairs of socks, several handkerchiefs, and some stomach drops (his stomach often bothered him). To that add a little notebook with a pencil tied to it for notes along the way. In such a way, he set off accompanied by three young men, two from aristocratic families and the third, the son of the Russian painter Ge (Gay). The two aristocrats didn't make it. Only the Count and Ge continued on with some privations, begging in the villages and arriving at the estate without a cent. No one recognized the Count there, which made him very happy.

Let me remark on some inaccuracies: According to all other accounts, Tolstoy left with two companions, N.N. Ge and M.A. Stakhovich, not three.

About the boots: In the 1880s Tolstoy began to make his own boots, training with a shoemaker. This hobby became an essential part of his public image--сапожники, shoemakers, are a well-loved bit of Russian lore... (You say "As drunk as a shoemaker" in Russian instead of "As drunk as a lord/skunk/sailor."). This hobby was partly a product of his drive for self-sufficiency and simplicity, but largely, I suspect, simply because Tolstoy loved working with his hands.

Now, according to the account in Sophia Andreevna's My Life, Tolstoy didn't wear boots, but лапти, birch sandals. In this particular regard, I lend credence to Seuron: Lapti were worn during the summer, and Tolstoy left in April. It snowed and rained the whole way to Tula. No way did he have on lapti through the mud and snow.

I'll have to write an blog entry on Tolstoy and shoes... (I actually wrote an article a few years ago on the public fascination with Tolstoy's feet!)

Finally, in the copy of Seuron's book in the library at Yasnaya Polyana, Sophia Andreevna has written "WRONG" under the claim that Tolstoy begged in the villages and arrived home without a cent... I haven't checked the German, but I assume Seuron just means that Tolstoy couch-surfed and Sophia is overreacting.