Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-23
THE RUSSIAN WoMANI
LACKS PRACTICAL WISDOM AND
SPIRIT OF ORGANIZATION.
Freer Than Any Of Her Sisters ID
Europa Waiter Says She is
Strong-Minded as Americans.
From the Literary pire.t.

From the Literary Digest.
The Russian woman is as free as stron-
minded and as accomplished creature az
the American woman. declares Victor du
bied In the Revue Hebdomaire (Paris).
she is. only inferior to her transatlantic
sister In her lack of practical wisdom and
the spirit of organization. Her prototype,
ne says. Is that strange and interesting
hsure. Sofia kovalevski. who was at the
same time an eminent mathematician and
thing of fashion and caprice. and who at
the age of thirteen fell desperately in love
with Dostoievski. the novelist a man three
tunes her age. At seventeen she contracted
fictitious marriage for the sake of e.-
Gaping from the paternal roof In order
10 take a university course. This woman
Oh whiins ana fancies. devoted to learning,
mated her reputation for science because
she fancied IL kept her from being loved
snc was in her reckless independence A
representative of all those stronf qualities
when are comprised in the idiosyncrasy OF
d true RUSSIAN. Mr.. Du Bled continues:
The Feminist Movement.
The Russian woman is freer than any
o'nei woman OF Europe. In many ways
she Is like an American. yet in Russia. al
III america the feminist movement does
nor imply any revolt against the other sex.
80 td'ner encourage the unbridled pas
sion for culture which possesses the new
woman While the people of western Eu-
rope heirs OF classical civilization. found
their legislation on the ancient code of
Rome. the Russians draw from another
source, the Russkaia Pravda Russian larv.
the pandect of Yaroslav the Great. enacted
ABOUT the middle OF the eleventh century
a ID. This pandect was merely n resume
OF Inmemoriai common law and oral ira
oltion' and In II was established the prin-
ciple of equality between the sexes"
Inc Russian woman of the tenth century.
s3ys TINS writer was stalwart. brave and
adventurous. Women soldiers true Anna
IONS. were numerous. A man must sub
que woman In wrestling match before
ne was accepted as lover. and marriage
was always accomplished by force A wo-
man could marry without consent of mar
ents, and her dover was ALWAYS at her
own exclusive disposal II was not uncon1-
mon Tor women to sit on the judicial bench
Queens and princesses Commanded regi-
ments. Byzantine Christianity for a short
Tune inundated, even degraded women
put the modern Russian woman has risen
10 her pristine dignity. To quote further:
Woman's Equality.
The code Of Yaroslav proclaimed wo-
mans equality with man both from a natu-
raj and social standpoint. The Byzantine
monastics, the Tartar jurIsconsults. slIc-
ending with the eighteenth. Even today two
elements are discernible in the spirit of
the Russian woman. There are indepen-
oence, reckless heroism. combined with the
poetic dreaminess which belongs by nature
to the naturally democratic and coIlecti-
visit Slav. On the other hand the Russian
woman exhibits the reverence for authority
ana paralyzing submissiveness which are
based upon Byzantine asceucism."
Peter the Great finally emancipated his
feminine subjects, and nowadays women
in Russia, while they follow Partisan FASH
| ions, are masculine in the assertion OF
their rights. Even when married they man
age their fortunes If they have any lust
as they choose. They I'LL the teaching pro-
LESSONS They are found In business as
wen as in medicine. but they do not In
cline TO the law. This author adds:
Many young widows and many girls live
alone. They go to the theater and travel
alone, and manage their own affairs. Far
from mourning ridicule by this spirit OF
emancipation, only the woman who is
afraid to travel unattended is considered
ridiculous The last barriers to her liber-
ty have one by one fallen, and the Rus
happiest of women in the civilized world"
Education of Women.
The education OF women In Russia is
of the highest order There are nine wo-
mems colleges in st. Petersburg and Mos
COW severally. and sixteen In other cities.
OF the women students of Moscow we are
told:
THE dignity and purity of their lives.
their tenacity of purpose their stoical pa
thence, under suffering are worthy of adj
miratfon. =" . AS happiness as well as I'M
happiness makes a lasting impression of
pleasure pain upon her heart the Rus
sian may be called In this respect the most
womanly of women"