The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30
THE WOMEN OF RUSSIA.
Rare Types That Are Not to BE
Found Elsewhere.

extremes, and, perhaps good and bad
women are farther apart than in other
countries: but in none are there more
noble women, giving their lives and
| talents often under terrible dithcultles,
to solve the problems of their time.
There is the idle luxurious, fascinating
woman, full of seduction, charm and
caprice-a brilliant creature. rich in So
cial qualities, often highly educated
and born diplomatist. Her opinion
is sought after by men, and she exer-
cises considerable influence in politics.
| Such women live in a very luxurious
way. Nowhere is society more cosmo-
politan than in st. Petersburg. SPLEEN
did houses, beautifully furnished, warm
/ and fiower-scented in the freezing VIM
| ters; rich furs, Partisan toilets and eX-
| quisite cooking all help to make lie
| pleasant. The tone of socity has the
| character of being lax, even as COM
| pared with the same set in other capt.
| tails, and great ladies have a passion
| for cards and for all sorts of gam
bling. The country set is visited for
! few weeks or months at the pleasantest
| time of the year. The castle is htted
| up in the English style, with all the
comforts that money can buy and
| good supply of French ana Englsh
books. The great lady looks after the
| hospital or school she has founded,
reads a good deal pays formal visits to
| the small proprietors and drives over
| to see her friends at another castle,
twenty miles off, where they exchange
gossip about their friends in st. Pc
| tersburg and Paris and discuss Euro
| pean topics
Women with a Mission.
The other type, says the New York
| Sun, is honest, straightforward and
sensible, brave and energetic, as strong
in soul as in body. These are the
| women with mission-workers-pe
pie with views and ideas. If of the
| upper classes they work hard on their
own estates, supporting schools. try
| ing to train the peasantry in better
methods making undaunted the uphill
task of influencing stolid and ignorant
beings Numbers of the women of
! the nobility manage the estates ana
keep up the great houses to which they
| belong, when the men of the family
are supine and given over to pleas
| ure.
SeIf-DevOtiOn.
In no country do women show great
| er self-devotion. In the famine two
years ago ladies' Travelled immense dis
| tances at their own expense, and liv-
| ing amid terrible conditions, organic
ing and saving life in a large-hearted
| and capable way-raising subscrlp-
tions, nursing the dying, persuading
! starving children to swallow, and APP
pearing themselves to live, without
| sleep upon black bread and tea.
The daughters of the rich nobility
are educated at home often by two
| or three accomplished and highly paid
| governeSSes. There are three classes
of elementary schools. In the gov
eminent Institutes, which were first
founded by Catharine IL, class dis
tinctions are strictly observed. Some
| only receive the daughters of the he
reditary nobility and of men of high
civil and military rank; others edu-
| cate girls from the lesser nobility,
| the daughters of merchants and the
clergy The girls remain from their
sixth to their sixteenth or seventeenth
year, during which time they see lit
tie of their own family. The instruc,
ton given is very superficial, and
they leave these enormous institutions
with very little practical preparation
for daily life The Zemsto, or local
n ssembly, has established better
class school for the poor, and there
remain the village schools, which are
under the priests, and in which the
standard is very low.
Struggle for Education.
Secondary education is best served
by girls intermediate schools, which
teach languages, arithmetic and the
| rudiments of science. These have now
over sc, 900 pupils and have done great
work among the middle-class girls. The
| next step is university education, and
we find women sustaining a heroic
| struggle in their efforts to attain this.
For years past distinguished persons
of both sexes have interested them
selves in the intellectual life of the
country, and it is striking to learn the
number of young girls who have broken
loose from the mean and aimless life
which custom had prescribed for them.
! When parents are unable or unwilling
to make an allowance girls go off to
| university towns and contrive to exc
out a living, taking pupils and acting
as servants in order to find means to
pursue their studies. Men students
| help them often, coaching them for
nothing and showing the utmost sym
pathy. Numbers study in foreign uni
versities to escape the harassing reg
ulations of the government, which,
| however at one time interfered with
| their residence abroad. and ordered all
to return to Russia under pain of ex-
lie. After some years permission to
study ABROAD was again granted, and
by every sort of shift, by sending cor
respondence to American papers and by
living as working girls. three or four
in a room, they contrive to support
| themselves.
Won Out Despite Set-Backs.
Colleges for women in Russia have
with great effort been started from
time to time, and, whenever the gov
eminent allows it, are attended in large
numbers. and excellent courses are CIV
en- by men of science. Female medical
schools were opened many years ago,
and the splendid work done by those
who had studied in them during the
war with Turkey in 1880 secured for
them the full medical degree The
Medical Academy was closed when most
| hourishing because a few of the stu
! dents were discovered to be implicat-
ed in a political agitation, but the num-
! Der of students was so great and such
an exodus followed to Paris, to Switzer-
! land and to Finland that the state was
| obliged to reconsider its decision A
! fresh scheme was hampered with all
sorts of restrictions and the mum bers
| limited but the lady doctors have
! grown so strong, their work is so well
! known and highly valued. and they
are supported by such large subscrip-
tons, that the academy has been re-
! opened.
The government still contrives to him
| der the best efforts. but women's edu-
! cation has gained ground every year
! Almost all the universities OF Russia
| now admit women. and the curriculum
| is extensive and supplemented by lee
D