New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-21
AT HOME IN THE DATCHAS
YOUNG RUSSIANS STUDYING AND FLIRTING
ALL THE SUMMER THROUGH.

While social why's and manners In Russia differ
widely from those in America, there is one feature,
| narticulary noticeable at this season. possessed
| nv the two countries in common. / refer to the
| summer exodus from the cities TO rural resorts.
| With the earliest advent of summer the tide of
| travel from Russian cities 10 the country assumes
o;.,,ptio nroportions WorlSmen speeding to
thoir village homes to assist their families at the
hor,.osting time. while wel-to-do landed propri-
etors who are in the habit OF passing hall OF the
vpor or more in the cities, all return to their
estates bringing along servants, teachers ana
oovernesses for their children. Likewise the ma
ioritv of students and scholars move 10 the c"uh-
try to recuperate bodily and financially IN one
homes of friends and relatives, or else they SIMPLY
repair TO peasant houses. securing such cn'"p "''
commodations as the place offers thcin' po"r'ihs
houses arc Unknown in Russia, and country inns
are of such low order as to preclude all 'ue'
of prolonged stay in any OF them.
BY no means an unimportant portion oil the urban
population scatters itself over the nearest summer
resorts sucb ne the historical SocolnS the Park OF
Boporodsk Kolpno and other places near MOSCOW
tho Jesnove Tsarskoye.SeO, PargOlovo, SchuVa'
lovo. Pavovsk. or Peterhof, near ST. PetersDurg'
perliorvi Terioli. or other resorts in the very
heart of Finland, among picturesque hills ahes,
waterfalls and forests Even in frequented
places IT, would be futile TO look for any lund OF
boarding house People begin hiring iurhlsneu
and unfinished houses-called " datchas IN
such summer resorts early as February anu
March. and as soon as May sets in you see great
corloads of furniture and kitchen utensils Slowly
winding their way along the streets of Moscow anu
ST Petersburg TO their destinations in the nearest
country places Most of the families bring every
thing they need along with them 10
the "datchar and the great Incon-
venience Of 10 can hardly be imagined
The custom of clubbing for taking meals together
is all but unknown. Each family brings lts own
cook and separate retinue of servants, oiten
its horses and its carriages brings along, III laco,
all the cares and annOyances of housekeeping
One very important feature OF city life is lnvar'
ably left behind however; and that is the cannish-
ness which prevails among the urban population
while at home. The " datchas" stand in such close
proximity that neighbors not long in striking
up acquaintance; young people in particular ma
means for much delightful intercourse.
Social life in Russia-even in large centres OF
population-is cast on such lines as constantly
TO throw the men and women together; fam-
y men are in the habit of bringing up their
unmarried friends TO their homes. Here social
and business questions as well as politics, all
such topics as are considered of interest to men
alone. are freely discussed in the family circle
mostly over the teatable. The girls as well as the
women get to be thoroughly yersed and interested
in the most serious of LIES problems, and, as oc-
casion offers turn out splendid helpmeets to men
in all their undertakings. No matter what social
or political question is brought upperm0st by the
times it is thoroughly discussed in the presence
of women, and the mems course frequently gets
modified according to the womens suggestions
1t is welestablished fact that Russian women
are never deferred from taking part-and often
the leading one-in most dangerously risky en-
terprses.
This spirit of companionship between the young
men and women combined with the Unborn ten
dency of Russian women toward radicalism is
we'll recognized by the Government itself, which
is therefore strongly resolved to keep
the women in mental shackles as long
as it possibly can. This is why the
Government is SO strenuously opposed to all the
efforts of women to get up thorough university
course of education for themselves. This sys-
tematic keeping down Of the education level for
women went so far MS to make the Government
close up even the medical courses for women in
St. Petersburg-and that Notwithstanding the fact
that the Russian women surgeons dis
tnguished themselves 80 greatly by
their skill and bravery in the am
bulance service and on the field of battle during
the Turco Russian war of 1s77'7S as to excite
the admiration of the Emperor Alexander III him
self who decorated them and warmly thanked them
for their long work of selfabnegation and their
untiring patience under all the hardships of a
severe winter campaign. Since then, in
times of peace, women surgeons have been always
found the front in all cases of emergency
whether it took the form of Asiatic pest in Netli
anka or was only well.known occurrence like
an epidemic of diphtheria or of typhus fever
in the remotest poorest corner of the big Empire
But, in denying women the privilege of higher
studies, the Russian Government commits the
dangerous mistake of stopping halfway in its
measures of precaution against the spreading Of
liberal thought among the young generation.
To be entirely consistent in its methods it should
not stop with the separation of sexes in their
mental equipment, but ought t. go to the length
of putting some restraint as well on the harmless
looking summer intercourse of young people.
For it is in the resorts that the most
thorough understanding gets to be established
between the young men and women; it is there
that these latter make their influence felt most
strongly, stir up the men TO renewed activity,
and cOntamnate them with their own restless
radicalism AS in other large centres of popua-
ton, so also in st. Petersburg, families live in
large apartment houses, not caring to know even
who their next-door elxhbors are. In Moscow
again families occupy separate houses, shutting
themselves up from their negEbors visiting only
among the set to which they belong by family
connection or business utilization. But the advent
of summer brings thorough revolution in social
intercourse Though the elder people may show
little inclination to form acquaintances among
strangers, young PEE pie OF most different standing
are frequently thrown together, and in the course
of the season many such wahiverwandschafts
get firmly cemented as would never have come
into existence under the sepaFative tendencies
of city life.
On the summer datcha" there is no limit TO