The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1907-03-14

The German universities whose
doors were first opened to women
were filed with eager Russian stu.
dents. and the professors continually
pointed as examples to the young men
the astounding progress and working
capacity of these new women.
Girls threw off the yoke of home
life, women who felt that ",,arriag &c
de convenience was not noble. just
state, left their husbands. 1t is to
be regretted that the reckless en-.
thusiasm knew no bounds. but let it
be said in their favor that the ma.
jority of this great lawless class w.sss
vigorously moral.
To Russia belongs the distinction
of having the first woman physicians.
One of the first and best. Nadezhda
Susloff, was born serf and was freed
with her parents at the emancipation
in 1861.
Medical courses for women were
opened in connection with the mill.
tary medical academy in 1872, and
during the Russo-Turkish war the
women were found so competent that
after proper examination they re.
ceived imperial permission to bear
the title women physicians"
1t was throsgh the energy and in.
auence of the few that the education
of women in the broad sense was be.
gun. The strides in educational ia.
cilities in Russia may be understood
bysa few statistics given in an inter.
teresting paper recently read by Nine.
Bartevna. on the education of wom-
en- in Russia. She gets her data
principally from work entitled
Material About Women's Education
in Russia" by Nine. r. o. Lerhachef,
which work received honorable men,
ton from the imperial academy.
The paper begins with the popular
movement toward the education of
women in 1850 to 1860, stimulated by
Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna
and Baroness Raden. In 1857 the
first woman's gymnase was founded
at Kostroma. BEFORE this there were
schools called institutes-schools still
existing of higher order. where the
daughters of families of a certain por-
ton are educated for very small
sum, the highest price being 400
rubles, or 200 American dollars. a
year. including board. -,
The oldest and most aristOcratic of
these institutions in St. Petersburg
was founded by Catherine the Great.
Thus an extremely thorough educa.
ton has been given vast numbers Of
Russian women of the upper classes
for more than century.
In 1859 followed the opening of
the first free school for women by
an engineer, Koscinsky, and in 1859
what were called Sunday schools for
girls of the poorer classes who had
no other leisure, were founded by
Nine. Schpiegelsky.
Very soon followed the opening Of
public schools in certain villages for
the coeducation of peasant boys and
girls after the liberation of the serfs.
The percentage Of girls sent to these
schools was to 800. At present there
are more than 1867, 430 girls in these
public schools. In st. Petersburg
alone there are eight high schools for
girls.
Here are some statistics of the
Women's university in st. Petersburg,
one of the many in Russia-for there
are similar universities in nearly all
the larger cities, Moscow. Kiev. Odes.
sa, Kharkov and others:
In 1900 there were 8S3 women
graduates from the St. Petersburg
Women's university. Recently there
were more than 1913 students; 67S
were in the history or philology class
es, 315 were taking the physics
mathematics course. The classes
represented in this number Of about
1000 women were 600 daughters OF
mobiles and government employees, AZ
priests daughters, 1872 of the bour
geoisie. % peasant girls and Is wives
Of students. OF this number 2 were
French, 1 German. 10 Bulgarians. :
Americans, Austrians, English. :
Prussians.
According to religious denomina
lions it is interesting to note thai
1898 were orthodox Greek, 80 Luther
ans, 10 Catholics. 4 Reform Churcl
of England. Z Armenian Greeks.
Karaim Jew and 30 Jews.