Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-10
STUDENT LIFE IN RUSSIA
A Burst of Color Marks the Resump-
ton of Studies.
RIOT OF HUEs NOW AT HAND
Blue, Black, Green, yellow, Orange
and Red Uniforms Distinguish
schOoIs-University FrOwned
on by Officials.

-
ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. ia copious
outburst OF brand new colors in the attire
OF strollers In the st. Petersburg streets
announces this week the beginning Of a
fresh year for the academic youths OF Rus
STA. The university and the high schools
require all their inmates to wear distinct
i've uniforms and the resumption Of their
studies is a spectacle proclaimed at large.
Students for the ordinary university dE-
ploma, classical, mathematic or philo-
logical, wear a dark blue band round their
flat-topped caps. black short Jackets with
two rows of brass buttons down the front.
and bright indigo blue trousers. The poly
technic youths have green for their pro-
fessional color. with a crossed spade and a
hammer Of brass on their shoulder straps;
the commercial school orange, the marine
school yellow and black and the military
academy red.
The typical Russian student Is the uni
versity youth, for is it his personality that
stamps itself chiefly on the life and liter
ature of the country. The others nave al
ready specialized by preparing themselves
for their careers in after life, and have to
that intent settled down.. The polytech-
nicians furnish frequent exceptions, for ale
though they are ostensibly for railroad
work, forestry and mines the prizes in
those spheres in a state owned system go
mostly by ministerial favor and the rank
and file Of the graduates have ample oc-
casion for radical agitation.
Tho great yellow ochre barrack squares
on Vassilisky Ostroff, which are the uni
versity buildings. are the seat of the social
as well as the academic life Of the students
although they may lodge anywhere in
rooms in the capital, for there is no in
tramural college residence. The new
corners throng the corridors and recreation
halls getting used to their fresh uniforms.
Hundreds of them line up In queues at
the doors OF the chanceries waiting to be
instructed in the complicated process of
matrlculation. Their passports must be in
order, their class fees paid, papers pro-
duced to show that they have performed
their military service. 1t takes many OF
them hours to have their status put
straight. for the committee Of seniors which
used to help through the freshmen with
counsel learned from experience is abol-
ished because Of its alleged subversive
activity in national politics.
In the main corridor the students group
themselves among old school fellows or
%neighbors from the same province. No
tees and advertisements are nailed indis-
crimlnately on the walls. One offers to
buy a sword for his uniform, for attend
ance at the university constitutes the
scholar a gentleman in the historic sense
OF a person entitled to bear side arms. On
festive occasions the minority of well-off
students like to don their academic swords
not much more formidable than toy dirks
to look at.
This year the attendance at the university
has declined somewhat. The slump in can
didates for the military academies which
followed the japanese war has passed off
and now the career of an army officer
is as fashionable as ever. That has drawn
some young men away from the universl-
ties.
During the height OF the political strug-
giles the universities were an attraction
for agitated ambitions which they are not
now. Many Russians see in the dimin-
ished numbers a healthy sign that young
people are more willing than they were
to look for their lfe's work outside of
government employment. Hitherto the
great majority of university diplomas have
served their owners only for entry into the
lower ranks OF the tchinoyniks, where they
were destined to grow old, idle and PEN
stoned among the myriad drones Of the
civil service.
The university is a democratic institu-
ton, and as such is viewed with nervous
apprehension by the old guard at the i'm
perial court, and especially by the ortho-
dox church, whose educational system is
kept scrupulously out OF touch with uni
versity life. Probably less than 5 per cent
of the students regard their university
course simply as the completion of a lib
eral education which they can afford them
selves before starting on a comfortable
journey through life. The general antipa-
thy of the Romanoffs to the university
idea causes much of this aloofness OF
young men of this class. Kaiser Wilhelm
and most Of his sons have been proud to
be students at Bonn, but it is not recorded
that any Of the cars relations have vet
darkened a university door in Russia.
Athletics count for practically nothing in |
student life. There are no uni
versity foot ball or rowing clubs, although
those games are played by the youth of
the business houses here. The minister OF
is urging Swedish gymnastics on
the schools and colleges, but after boyhood
students seem to look on the exercises
rather as imposed tasks.
one Of the most entertaining Of the
younger russian writer's, A. j. Kuprln,
writes ferYently on the value OF boxing in
education. II confers quickness OF the eye,
OF muscle, self-command and good
temper. He tells the astonished Russians
that two young Americans boxed each
other until one had both his eyes com
pletely closed up. At the end Of the fight
he was cropping blindly with his right hand
to shake that Of his opponent as a token
Of perfect friendliness.