The Irish standard., 1917-11-10


high, and it is held by some that their
facility in acquiring foreign languages
is in ratio to the great difficulty of
mastering their own language. This,
however, scarcely explains, in my
opinion, their linguistic attainments.
The true explanation is found in the
fact that in most households of the
upper class in Russia will be found a
German nurse, French tutor and an
English governess. In Russia, as in
Switzerland and Holland, the study of
languages is. pursued practically, not
theoretically as in England and Amer.
lea.
Russia has in all ten universities,
with total attendance, as taken from
the Statesman's Year Book for 1917,
of 39,027. In 1916 womens univer-
sity was created at Petrograd. In
higher education this is not at all a
bad showing, though far below such
countries as England, Germany, France
and Belgium. Before the war Belgium
had the highest percentage of univer-
sity students in proportion to it's popu.
lation in Europe.
When l turn to literature and art
the promise is very great in Russia.
Some of the great names in Russian
literature are Pushkin, Gogol, Tur-
geniev, Dosloyevsky and Tolstoy. Co
gol was the founder of the Russian
naturalistic school. He was humor-
list of the class of Dickens and Al
phonse Daudet. Pushkin was the first
great romantic poet in Russia It was
Pushkin who wrote the lines:
'Not for the tumult of the world,
Not for booty nor for fighting;
We are born for inspiration,
For sweet melody and prayer"
1t was the year of the Russo-Turkish
war, 1877, that Tolstoy's Anna Kar-
enisa appeared. A Russian critic sums
up Tolstoy's teachings as follows:
Their basis is non-resistance to evil,
their dogma the RIGHTEOUSNESS of CIV
ilization as the result of COLLECTIVELY;
their practical prescription the disso-
luton of society to the benefit of the
Individual"
Life for the great Russian writer's
Is a spiritual adventure on q limitless
plane. A note of sadness permeates
all their work by deep moral instinct,
by feeling Of wonder and reverence
for life. OF the Russian writer's of to.
day perhaps the most notable are
Anton Chevov, Alexander Biloxi and
Maxim Gorky. The latter resides on
the island of Capri near Naples. In
music and painting, too, Russia is
coming to her own. But discussion
of these together with that of Russian
architecture would extend this paper
beyond it's desired limits.
Russia today is face to face with a
great crisis. To use the words of her
strong and patriotic premier, Keren.
sky at the conference in Moscow,
Russia is passing through a period
of mortal danger" Surely her people
possess the wisdom, patriotism and
courage to do all things rightly in
these trying days of her national life.
It is true, as writer tells us, that
the weakness of Russian character is
in attempting to do too much without
duly estimating the available resources
added to an intense Impotence to OBJ
tain gigantic results in an incredibly
short space of time.
But in the gigantic task set before
them the Russians will assuredly not
retreat or abandon their purpose be-
cause of momentary failure. Rather
will they take to heart the words of
Walt Whitman, the poet of democracy
and freedom:
Courage yet, my brother or my sis
ter!
Keep on! Liberty is to be subserved
whatever occurs;
That is nothing that is quelled by
one or two failures or any mum.
Der of failures,
Or by the Indifference or ingratitude
of the people or by any unfaith-
fulness,
Or the show of tushes of power, SOL
diers, cannon, penal statutes -