visiting the university of st. petersburg.—education in russia.—primary and other schools.—the system of instruction.—recent progress in educational matters.—universities in the empire; their number and location.—religious liberty.—treatment of the jews.—the islands of the neva, and what was seen there.—in a traktir.—bribery among russian officials.
next morning the party was out in good season. it had an appointment with a professor attached to the university of st. petersburg for a visit to that institution. he was to take breakfast with them, and afterwards would escort them through the library and other rooms of the establishment. while they were at breakfast the professor entertained the youths with an account of the educational condition of russia, which we will endeavor to repeat as nearly as it was remembered by frank and fred.
"on behalf of my country," said the professor, "i am sorry to say that we are behind england, germany, austria, and most other nations of europe in the matter of general education, but not nearly as backward as we were in past years. we have no system of common-schools such as you have in the united states, and the mass of the population is practically without instruction beyond what they receive from the village priests. down to the time of alexander ii. the village schools were controlled by the priests, and no one else could be a teacher in them. that progressive monarch issued an order requiring the schools to be given to the most capable applicants, whether priests or not. this was a great step in advance, as the priests were not unfrequently nearly as illiterate as the people they were set to instruct.
"to show how we are progressing, let me say that in 1860 only two out of every hundred recruits levied for the army were able to read and write; in 1870 the proportion had increased to eleven in a hundred, and in 1882 to nineteen in a hundred. in 1880 there were 22,770 primary-schools in the villages, with 1,140,915 pupils: 904,918 boys and 235,997 girls. the teachers were 19,511 men and 4878 women. some of the[pg 151] primary-schools are entirely supported by the government, and others partly by the government and partly by a small tax upon the parents of each pupil. the latter plan is not satisfactory, as it discourages poor people with many children from sending them to school, and it is probable that in a few years all the schools will be free."
little folks at school.
one of the youths asked what was taught in the village schools of russia.
"reading and writing," the professor answered, "are the first things, as a matter of course; and then come arithmetic, grammar, and geography, in the order i have named them. church and state are so closely connected in russia that the primary education includes the form of prayer; it is a part of the daily exercise of the schools, except for those who profess other than the orthodox faith, and in former times children of dissenters were not allowed to attend the schools. catholics, lutherans, and others were instructed by their own teachers, and, failing this, they had no instruction whatever. at present children of any faith can attend the village schools, and where there is a mixed population the schools are divided.
"in 1850," the professor continued, "there were less than three thousand[pg 152] village schools in the empire; the increase to more than twenty-two thousand in thirty years shows how rapid has been our progress. we have great hopes for the future, and at the end of another thirty years i trust you will find us not much behind the other countries of europe."
learning to weave.
doctor bronson asked about the higher instruction in russia, and how it compared with that of other lands.
"one of the drawbacks to higher education in its broad sense," said the professor, "was the custom that prevailed, and still prevails to a great extent, for rich people to educate their children at home. every nobleman who could afford it had a tutor for his boys and a governess for his girls. there is no country where tutors and governesses were more certain[pg 153] of employment than in russia, and i have the assurances from them, a hundred times repeated, that they were better treated here than anywhere else. a tutor or governess is almost invariably made a member of the family, sits with them at table, is presented to visitors, forms a part of their social circle, and is made to feel thoroughly at home. governesses are usually english or french, while tutors are generally french or germans. the education of these home taught children begins at a very early age, and they naturally speak with fluency the language of their instructors; hence it follows that the russians of the higher classes have, justly, the reputation of being the best linguists of europe."
as the professor paused, frank remarked that he had observed how almost every russian officer spoke french or german, and many of them spoke french, german, and english. "french seems to be almost universal among them," he added, "at least as far as i have been able to learn."
"that is true," said the professor, "and there are many russians who speak french better than they do their own language. with french nurses in their infancy, french governesses or tutors as their years advance, and with their parents speaking french, it is not to be wondered at.
"the system of home education discouraged the education of the schools among the nobility, and it was only during the reign of nicholas[pg 154] that a change was made. count ouvaroff, minister of public instruction under the iron czar, set the example by sending his own son to the university of st. petersburg. the example was followed, and the attendance at the universities and normal schools increased rapidly. nicholas gave the system a military character by decreeing that the students should wear cocked hats and swords, but this was abandoned by alexander ii. the policy of nicholas was shown in the words of his instruction to count ouvaroff, 'orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.'"
fred asked how many universities and high-schools there were in the empire.
mineral cabinet in the university.
"there are nine universities," the professor answered, "situated at st. petersburg, moscow, kief, kazan, wilna, dorpat, kharkov, odessa, and warsaw.[2] the professors are paid by the government, and the poor students have an allowance for their support. to be admitted to the universities, they must pass an examination in the course of instruction in the gymnasia or high-schools, which are in the provincial towns, about four hundred in all, or must have received equivalent instruction at home. the high-schools or gymnasia correspond to your academies or high-schools in america, and hold the same relation to the universities.
"besides the universities, which confer degrees in law, medicine, mathematics, natural history, philology, and the oriental languages, there are distinct schools of medicine and law, like the medical and law schools of other countries. there are four free high-schools for the education of women, and the applicants for admission are constantly in excess of the facilities for their instruction. there was a medical school for women, but it was closed in 1884 on account of its use as a means of disseminating revolutionary ideas."
frank and fred wished to obtain further information about the reason for closing this medical school, but they remembered that the professor would probably dislike to discuss the subject, as it had a political bearing, and so no question about it was asked.
breakfast was over, and the party entered the carriage, which was waiting at the door, and were driven to the university.
"one thing i forgot to say," said the professor, as soon as they were seated in the vehicle, "and that was about education in finland. the[pg 155] grand-duchy has a system of public instruction distinct from that of the rest of the empire. it has a university at helsingfors, high-schools in all principal towns, and elementary schools in the villages. almost the entire population can read, and nearly every youth can write during his school-days, though he often forgets this accomplishment in later years.
parlor in a high-school for women.
"to return to russia, all through the empire there are agricultural, mining, engineering, and other industrial schools, and there are also numerous military schools, which have a separate system of instruction. the cadets are transferred from the military gymnasia to the 'military schools,' in which they are educated to qualify them for commissions as officers. there are three academies—for the staff, engineers, and artillery—and in these academies the higher branches of military science are taught. the religious schools are attached to the church, and the instruction is managed by the clergy. here we are at the university just as my impromptu lecture upon education in russia has reached its end."
our friends were introduced by their companion to several others of the faculty, and passed an hour at the university very pleasantly. they learned that the usual attendance was about four hundred, and the professors and lecturers numbered nearly thirty. in addition to what is usually[pg 156] taught in universities there were lecturers upon the oriental languages. a goodly number of students give their attention to the asiatic tongues, with a view to qualifying themselves for future usefulness in that direction. the professor of chinese was among those to whom our friends were introduced.
"he is an accomplished gentleman," said frank in his note-book; "he speaks french and russian as fluently as he does his native language, and his questions about america showed that he was well acquainted with the history of our country. the rest of the oriental professors were in european dress, but the chinese one was not. he was in the same garments he would wear at shanghai or peking, and his hair was plaited into an irreproachable pigtail.
private room of a wealthy student.
"the halls were pleasant and spacious," continued frank, "and the students that we saw had intelligent faces; they appeared much like the students at an english university, but we thought there was an expression of more earnestness in their faces. the professor told us that the young men who attended the university gave very little trouble in the matter of discipline, and the disgraceful pranks of students at oxford and cambridge[pg 157] were practically unknown in russia. it is so recently that education has been in the reach of everybody in this country that its value is more appreciated than elsewhere.
lower recitation-room.
"the library contains more than sixty thousand volumes, and there is a good scientific collection in the museum. the students have the privilege of visiting the academy of sciences, under certain restrictions, where they have access to a library of one hundred and fifty thousand volumes and an extensive museum. the latter has an asiatic department, which contains many objects of great interest to students of matters pertaining to asia. we went to the museum after seeing the university and looked at the remains of the siberian mammoths, which were found embedded in the ice where they had lain for thousands of years.
one of the professors.
"another educational institution of st. petersburg is the school of mines, which is supported by the government and has about three hundred students. its collection of minerals is said to be the finest in the world. there are single nuggets of gold worth thousands of dollars, great masses of solid silver, platinum, copper, and other metals, together with topaz, beryl, aquamarine, quartz, and other crystals in great variety and of unusual size and beauty. one crystal of beryl weighs five pounds and is valued at twenty-five thousand dollars.
[pg 158]
descending a shaft.
"in the halls devoted to instruction there are models of mines, with the veins of ore, and the machinery for working them; the workmen are represented by little figures like dolls, and the whole is admirably executed. after looking at these models we were taken to the garden, where there is a section of a mine, through which we were guided by means of candles and torches. it required very little imagination for us to believe we were actually in a mine far below the surface of the earth, and that the veins of ore were real rather than fictitious. it must be of great advantage for the education of the students, and certainly we found it very instructive in the little time we were in it.
galleries in a mine.
"what would you say if i told you that the richest public library of europe is in st. petersburg? well, the imperial library may not be superior to all others, but those who ought to know say it is not inferior in any respect. it occupies a very large building on the nevsky prospect, and is open to the public like the great libraries of london, paris, vienna, and other cities. the custodian who accompanied us through the building said it contained nearly a million printed volumes, in all the languages of the world, and about thirty thousand manuscripts, some of them very old.
in the library.
the foundation of this immense library was one of the spoils of war between russia and poland. it belonged to count zalewski, a polish bishop, and contained three hundred thousand volumes. after the capture of warsaw, in 1796, the library was removed to st. petersburg, and since that time yearly additions have been made, until it has reached its present condition. among other things there is a collection of books relating to russia in other languages than russian. they number forty thousand, and cover all dates from the invention of the art of printing[pg 159] down to the present time. then there are nearly one hundred thousand books in the russian language, beginning with a volume of the 'acts of the apostles,' printed at moscow in 1538.
"there is a prayer-book which belonged to mary queen of scots, and which contains many notes in her handwriting. there are autographs of kings, queens, emperors, princes, and other persons of blue blood—so many that i can't begin to enumerate them. in fact there are so many things here that one might spend weeks in the library, and find something new and interesting every few minutes. the reading-room is well arranged, and has all the leading papers of europe. to show its growth in popularity, let me say that it was visited by twenty thousand persons in 1854, and by seventy-three thousand in 1864. in more recent times as many as one hundred and fifty thousand persons have visited the reading-room in a single year.
a college dormitory.
"well, we have had enough for one day of schools, libraries, museums, and the like—so many of them that our heads are fairly swimming. let us go home and think over what we have seen; if we remember a tenth part of it we shall be fortunate."
naturally the conversation, after their return, related to what they had seen; and in this connection the doctor gave the youths some interesting information.
"the university we have seen to-day," said he, "is not by any means the oldest in russia, nor is it the largest. the honor of age and extent belongs to the university of moscow, which was founded in 1755, while that of st. petersburg was founded in 1818. the moscow university has one thousand eight hundred students, and seventy-two professors and lecturers, and there are one hundred and fifty thousand volumes in its library. the government gives about three hundred thousand dollars annually in aid of the moscow university, and many of russia's most celebrated men have been educated there.
"the oldest university in the empire was at abo, in finland, but the buildings were destroyed in a great fire in 1827, and afterwards the university was established at helsingfors. it was originally founded in 1630,[pg 160] eleven years before printing was introduced into finland. anciently there were some curious customs connected with the reception of a student at the university of abo. he was required to prostrate himself on the floor in front of one of the professors, who gave him a certain number of blows with a stick. the blows were more imaginary than real, and after they were given the student was ordered to rise, and to so conduct himself in future that he would never need a repetition of the indignity.
"the other universities of russia are about like that of st. petersburg, and do not need a special description. in all of them there is a department of study for those who wish to enter the service of the church. at dorpat there is a course of study for those of the lutheran faith, and at kazan, which has a considerable population of tartars, moslem students[pg 161] are admitted, and no interference is made with their religious belief. some of the professors of the oriental languages are tartars, and i have been told that one of the rooms of the university is fitted up as a mosque.
"this is a good place to say," continued the doctor, "that while the russian government makes an earnest effort to convert all its subjects to the faith of the orthodox greek church, it rarely allows that effort to take the form of oppression. sometimes it happens that an over-zealous priest goes beyond the limit; but as soon as his conduct is known to the proper authorities he is reprimanded, and replaced by one who is more cautious. the polish exiles in siberia are nearly all catholics; the government builds churches for them, and allows their priests (generally exiles like their co-religionists) to travel from place to place in the performance of their religious duties; and as long as they do not join in any political plots, or make other trouble for the authorities, they are allowed the greatest freedom. among the peasant inhabitants of siberia a catholic church is called 'polish,' while a lutheran one is known as 'german.'
"the moslem and pagan inhabitants of asiatic russia have the most[pg 162] complete religious freedom; but sometimes, in their zeal to be on good terms with their rulers, they adopt the new religion without laying aside the old. i have heard of the chief of a tribe of yakouts, a savage and idolatrous people in northern siberia, who joined the russian church and was baptized. he attended faithfully to all its observances, and at the same time did not neglect anything pertaining to his old belief. when about to make a journey, or to undertake any other enterprise, he offered prayers in the church, and then summoned the shaman, or pagan priest of his tribe, to perform incantations and bribe the evil spirits not to molest him. on being questioned as to his action, he said he was not certain which belief was the right one, and he wanted to make sure by professing both."
one of the youths asked the doctor about the treatment of the jews in russia. he had read that they were greatly oppressed in some parts of the empire, and that many of them had been killed for no other reason than that they were jews.
"that is quite true," the doctor answered; "but the outrages were the work of excited mobs, rather than acts authorized by the government. there is much fanaticism among the lower orders of russians, and they were roused to what they did by stories which the priests had[pg 163] circulated. in some of the riots the police and soldiers are accused of making no effort to restrain the mob; and as they and the rioters are of the same religion, there is doubtless good ground for the accusation.
jewish burial-ground.
"the jews were first admitted to russia by peter the great, but they were expelled by his daughter, the empress elizabeth. they were readmitted by catherine ii., and the privileges she had given them were increased by alexander i., who, in 1808 and 1809, issued decrees giving them full liberty of trade and commerce. the grant was revoked by nicholas i., and during his time the jews were subjected to much oppression. alexander ii. came to their relief, and restored some of their privileges. during and since his reign they have been fairly treated in matters of trade, but have been kept down in other ways. only a certain number are allowed to practise medicine or keep drug-stores, and only a specified proportion of jewish students is allowed at the schools and colleges.
clothes-dealer of moscow.
"a great deal of the trade of the country is in their hands, and they are noted, as everywhere else in the world, for their industry and frugality. they do not meddle with the politics of russia, and the instances are[pg 164] exceedingly rare of a jew being convicted of offences of a political character. in the army they make the best of soldiers, both for discipline and on the battle-field, where they are noted for their bravery. they are more numerous in poland than in any other part of the empire, but there is not a province of the whole country ruled by the czar where they cannot be found. in their financial transactions they are not behind their brethren in other parts of the world; and wherever they are permitted to engage in mechanical pursuits they distance all their competitors."
a russian troika.
just as the sun was setting, our friends took a carriage and drove to the islands of the neva, a favorite resort of the people in the warm months of the year. great numbers of fashionable carriages were on the road, troikas being more numerous than any other variety. a troika is so called from the number of its horses, rather than from the form of the vehicle. three horses are harnessed abreast, the central one having above his head the inevitable duga, or yoke. in a well-trained troika the central horse trots, while the two others gallop, with their heads turned outward. it is a dashing and attractive team, and has already made its way into other countries than russia.
the first part of the drive carried doctor bronson and his young companions through streets occupied by the poorer classes, but farther on they passed great numbers of pretty villas, which are the summer homes of the well-to-do inhabitants of the city.
a villa on the island.
there is an imperial villa on one of the islands, and occasionally the emperor gives a fête in honor of some event, or for the entertainment of a foreign guest. at such times the trees are filled with chinese lanterns, and the entire building is a blaze of light. the people on the line of the road follow the imperial example, and illuminate their houses, and the traveller who drives there might easily imagine that he had dropped into[pg 165] a section of fairy-land. doctor bronson told the youths that he was in st. petersburg at the time of the marriage of the emperor's son, the grand-duke vladimir, and one of the sights of the occasion was the illumination of the islands.
"we rode through three or four miles of illuminations," said the doctor, "and it seemed as though they would never come to an end. at the very entrance of the islands we passed the summer residence of count gromoff, one of the millionaires of st. petersburg, and found it transformed into a palace of fire. not a tree or bush in the large garden in front of the house was without its cluster of lanterns, and one of our party remarked that it seemed as though half the stars in the sky had fallen and found a lodgement there. in the centre of the scene were the monograms of the emperor and empress, and of the newly-wedded pair, outlined in gas-jets; above and behind them was an imperial mantle surmounted with a crown, and all made with the burning gas. then the whole cottage was delineated with thousands of lights, and we agreed that never in our lives had we seen such a[pg 166] beautiful picture. nothing ever produced on the stage of a theatre could equal it.
"occasionally we came near the water, and wherever we did so it was covered with boats which were as freely illuminated as the trees and houses on shore. boat-houses and bath-houses were similarly lighted up, and as they are numerous in this part of the neva, they formed an almost continuous line along the river's bank. we were compelled to go at a walk, as the streets and roads were crowded with vehicles, and consequently our drive through this city of lanterns occupied more than an hour."
doctor bronson gave other details of the celebration which we have not time to repeat, or, rather, they did not find a place in the note-books of the youths. the time was passed pleasantly in a contemplation of the scenes by the way-side—the pretty villas among the trees, the carriages and their occupants, the people on foot, or gathered in front of the houses or on the verandas, the crowds in the cafés and restaurants, which are scattered here and there over the islands, together with other sights that met[pg 167] their eyes. there was enough to make the fortune of an artist if he could have placed all the pretty pictures of the evening upon canvas, and preserved the glow of the northern sky and the twinkle of the lights. a few houses were illuminated, probably in honor of a patron saint, or to commemorate an event in the history of the owner of the establishment. while looking at these illuminations frank and fred tried to imagine the whole place lighted up as doctor bronson had described it on the occasion of the imperial fête.
a russian family.
after a ride of two hours or more, the party returned to the hotel, stopping a few minutes on their way to drink some tea at a traktir. frank ventured to air the few russian words he had acquired, and acquitted himself in fine style.
[pg 168]
"dai te chai, poshowltz" ("give us tea, please"), he said, as they took their seats at the table.
"si chass," replied the waiter, and in a few moments three glasses of steaming tea were before them.
the traveller in russia will hear "si chass" pronounced a good many times daily while he is in the empire. it is like the french waiter's "tout de suite" or the english one's "coming, sir." practically they mean the same thing. the literal translation of "si chass" is "this hour;" and perhaps this will account for the fact that it is often an hour before a simple demand can be met. the waiter in russia is no more reliable than in other countries, and not generally as intelligent as the man of the same occupation in a french café. many of the servants in the hotels of st. petersburg are french or german, instead of russian; in the best hotels the russian waiters almost invariably speak french or german, in addition to their own language.
when the tea-drinking was ended, frank beckoned the waiter, and addressed him with the inquiry, "skolka stoit" ("how much does it cost?"). the waiter comprehended at once, and, somewhat to frank's disappointment, placed on the table a written check on which was noted in figures the indebtedness of the party. the disappointment was not caused by the price of the tea (only five copecks the glass), but by the removal of the opportunity for the young man to make further airing of his russian by displaying his knowledge of the spoken numerals. the printed or written figures of the russian language are the same as those of other european nations, and a stranger can get along with them without the least trouble, even though he does not know a word of russian.
near the hotel they met a party consisting of two policemen and as many prisoners. the latter appeared to be under the influence of strong drink, and the policemen did not find it easy to make them move along. they were not quarrelsome or obstinate; in fact, their limbs were too weak to allow them to make any resistance.
"they'll have a job of street-sweeping to-morrow," said the doctor, "unless the customs have changed since the first time i was here."
"do they make prisoners sweep the streets?" one of the youths asked.
culprit street-sweepers.
"they did at that time, and quite likely they do so now," the doctor answered. "every person arrested for intoxication was required to sweep the streets the next day for a given number of hours, and it is a strange sight when, as sometimes happens, the sweepers are in the garments in which they have been wending their devious ways homeward from a ball, or perhaps from a party where fancy costumes have been worn. generally[pg 169] speaking, you see few besides the mujiks, or lower classes, as the well-dressed people, with money enough in their pockets, can secure immunity by means of a bribe. a small donation to the proper officer will set them free; but if they have no money they must do their share of work with the rest."
"i have read that russia is the land of bribes," said fred—"bribes both great and small."
"it certainly has that reputation," was the reply, "and doubtless not without justice. the pay of the officials is very small, quite out of proportion to the expense of living, and the temptation is certainly great. a[pg 170] russian once said to me that an official must steal in order to make an honest living; he did not mean it as a joke, but in sober earnest, though his language did not exactly express his meaning. he wanted to say that a man must accept pay for showing zeal in the interest of any one whose affairs passed through his hands, and unless he did so he could not properly support himself and family.
a business transaction.
"there is a story, of a german savant who was intimate with the emperor nicholas. the latter once asked him to point out any defects in the system of government, and the savant immediately suggested the universal system of bribery, which ought to be stopped. the emperor shook his head, and said it was impossible to put an end to an evil which was so widely spread.
"'but your majesty could issue an imperial decree against bribery,' the savant replied, 'and that would prevent it.'
"'but i would have to begin,' said the emperor, 'by bribing my prime-minister to publish the decree, and then i would have to bribe everybody else to stop taking bribes.'
"i will tell you," the doctor continued, "what i have been told by russians; i do not vouch for the correctness of what they say, but have no doubt of their veracity. while i have had no business transactions that involved the payment of money to officials, i have some friends whose negotiations were altogether stopped, as they believe, by the fact that they would not give money to persons of influence.
"'if you have dealings with the government,' so the russians have told me, 'you must pay something to each and every man who has power to expedite or hinder your business. if you do not pay you will not prosper, and may be certain that your proposals will be rejected. but you should not offer the money directly to the official, as that would give great offence.'
"the question arises, 'what is the polite and proper way of doing such nefarious work?'
"the usual way is to make up your mind what you can afford to pay, and then put the money in a cigar-case along with two or three cigars.[pg 171] having stated the business, you invite the man to smoke (everybody smokes in russia), and then you hand him the cigar-case and turn your back to the window, or look intently at something on the table. he helps himself to a cigar, and also to the money, and then the affair goes on easily.'"
"what a rascally business!" exclaimed both the youths in a breath. doctor bronson fully echoed their sentiment, and said he earnestly hoped the condition of things was not as bad as it is portrayed. "alexander ii. made a considerable improvement in many things during his reign," the doctor continued, "and it is to be hoped that he reformed the official system of the empire in this particular feature."
[pg 172]
peter the great dressed for battle.
