Evening star., 1898-12-03
A New Ideal as G1empli6ed by a Wis
itor From the North of Europe.
TO LIVE, TO SUFFER AND 10 ENDURE
Anna Evreinoffs Remarkable Learn
ing and Wonderful Personality.
A MISSION TO THIS COUNTRY


inquire whether she rides diamond frame
and what are her designs on Congress, but
any other idea OF her than this would
doubtless never stir your mind. / want you
to know, however, she is what Susan 3.
Anthony never dreamed, nor does it enter
into the bifurcated emancipation of tie
American woman to produce her. She
comes In time with the prophecy of opti-
mistic ones who turn from the menacinS
corruption of twentieth century civilization,
and look to the north Of Europe for that
which is to redeem u.s. She is a Slav. She
comes from Russia, and her name Is Anna
Eyreinoff.
The Learned Woman.
Anna Evreinoff Is one of the most learned
women of all Europe. She studied in Ger
many at the universities of Heidelberg and
Leipzig from 1859 to 1873, when she passed
the eXamen rlgOrsum, and was the first
woman to be so distinguished; was gradu-
ated doctor of jurisprudence of the juridical
faculty of Leipzig. She then studied
the Slavonic language and the f1agolitic
scripture in Warsaw, Prague and Agram,
and travelled through Crotia and Dalmatia.
collecting customary law. On her return
to Russia, in 1873 she was elected a mem
ber of the Juridical Society of Moscow, also
of the chronological Society OF Moscow, and
was made president of scientific commits
sion for the study of Russian customary
law. The same year the Imperial Society
for Preservation of Ancient National Scrip
odal, A. u. 1850 written in fiagoiitic char
acters, and another similar work, The
Laws of the Island of Neglia of XIV Cen
tury.' In 1882 she was elected a member
of the Juridical Society of st. Petersburg
and kieff, and from 1885 to 1890 she edited
and controlled a review at st. Petersburg
called the Northern Messenger In addi
tion to the foregoing, she is author of many
other legal and scientific works sum-
mary of which, with her biography, is pub
lished in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus
and Ephrusis.
Appalling, is it not, to fancy woman's
brain guilty of so much learning. The first
thought of it made my blood run cold and
If Anna Evretnof had been anything but
Russian l would rather have run the risk
of going to see her.
There is that about the Russian per-
sonality which powerfully attracts me-a
mystery deep and fascinating as the mys-
terry of iniquity; something, too, which con-
Veys to me a antaliZing sense of being un-
named and potential in my own soul, as If
the Russian were the sealed epitome of a
profound wisdom l have possessed and for
gotten. dare say this notion arises from
the fact that 1t is chiefly through it's expe-
rience in sorrows the Russian character
mas become known to us. and one finds it
familiar, therefore, in the more or less
conscious brotherhood Of human woe
Anna Evreinoff is distinctly Russian in
all that the word implies of struggle and
success through suffering.
Her Personality.
have mentioned some of her intellectual
attainments and distinctions Socially she
was born no less distinguished-a daughter
of the late governor of the imperial resi-
dence Peterhoff, and bred amid luxury in
the court circle of gay ST. Petersburg l
wish 1 had the colors with which Dostoev-
nli INT thn lntrS yDfl
represent to you Anna Evreinoff as L found
her-the grim gray of the fatality Of life,
the sn1ien red OF protracted suffering the
Underlying elusive tone of enduring hope
She is an old woman, White-haired her
neSh and blood embalmed in parched skin
that wrinkles on her frame-the mere ex-
cuse for souls continued working in the
wofid. She wore coat and skirt as little
OF womans dress the form It covered
was of a Womans body. The immortal life
within her that was radiant in her glance
and vital in her handclasD seems TO have
demanded a soughing off of the mortal
tnat her spirit may have nothing in its
way. She received me in a cold sparely
furnished room behind a shop where she
Is stopping with compatriot of hers who
looks IKE lolstol gone into trade.
Her Mission.
Anna Evreinoffs mission to this country
Is the self-appointed one of seeking to ex-
plain to Americans the Importance and true
sense Oh car Nicolas IFS disarmament pro-
posal.
ohe uiVlnes in this overture to interna-
tona peace the ear has made q mnve-
ment to realize among the political powers
OF the world an application of the prjncipIe
OF mutually, which she declares to be the
determining factor of civilizat ton to Russia
and that We may have sympathy with the
cars proposal. she wishes us to know it's
inception by knowing better than we do
the national life of Russia. For the sake
OF teaching us this-that is 'for the truth 8
sake, as 1t appears to her-she has acrf-
feed the small remnant of worldly goods
left her at home and come a stranger to a
strange land, the physically feeble-and
spiritually grand-old woman 1 have de-
scribed her.
Her Visible Words.
As she talked to me her words had not
so much the effect of sound as of light.
seemed not to hear, but to see In strange,
bright pictures, the principle Of truth and
justice she set forth, and, more than any
thing she said, always greater than her
noblest thought, the woman herself was
revealed to me, a luminous character that
In moments caused me to lose sight of the
bitter contradiction of human experience
and to glory in the divine possibilities of
the untrammeled human soul
To complete my feast Of the good things
of human nature which Anna EVreinoff az
forded me while 1 sat with her her friend
Her Two Friends.
The one friend is Russian noblewoman,
who abandoned everything else Of value in
her life to enter upon the service of Anna
Evreinoff's genius. in which service she
has worked as mother, sister brother, hus-
band, friend for twenty eight years. She is
a superb specimen of physical strength
and endowed with q mind that otherwise
contrasted would appear remarkable l
wish you might have seen the exquisite
emotion expressed in her fine face as she
spoke Of her eminent friends fast-failing
health and of the pain 1t causes her that
she cannot give her own vigorous life that
Anna Evreinoff may be strong and live
oh" laughed the great poor woman,
with a merry toss of her head. "I do not
need to be well; health does not matter I
have so much energy for all l need to do
SO much energy, indeed, l often wish 1
might give some to those who lack it.''
"Ah, yes, sadly replied her friend. $50
much energy, 1t Is true, but 1t Is the fire Of
the spirit and 1T consumes the body
Here Is history repeated with a change
of sex proper to the "womans era"-a
Miss David and Miss Jonathan; and, in an
other aspect, a Miss Boswell and Miss DIR.
Johnson, for every word that falls from
Anna Evreinoff's lips her friend treasures;
she has accompanied her In all her travels,