The methods employed in the girls' gymnasia and progymnasia are similar to those of the boys' gymnasia. The functions of the two committees are about the same. The lady principal is expected to be presentat the meetings of the committees, even as is the director in the other case. One of the lady patronesses (chosen by the town authorities, but sanctioned by the Empress), and other persons who may be supporters of the gymnasia, must also be present when the committee of management holds its meetings to discuss teachers' salaries, school fees, free tuition, morals, and manners, etc. The presiding officer of the pedagogical committee is generally a director of a boy's gymnasium, and his authority extends in some cases even to the dismissal of teachers. Yet if there is any dispute between him and the lady principal as to examinations, awards, transferring and marking pupils, appeal can be made to the curator of the circuit.

In the institutes for girls the arrangements are very similar. The lady principal has full charge; the inspectress superintends the class ladies (dames de classe) and attends to the carrying out of all regulations and to the observance of good manners in the school. The dames de classe are responsible to her for the general demeanor of each member of the class to which they are assigned. The instruction is given, however, by visiting teachers, who are under the supervision of an inspector. This inspector sometimes gives lessons, and has duties imposed on him in connection with the results of the examinations. The field of study is a broader one than in the gymnasia, and the graduates receive a diploma which enables them to teach in gymnasia.

The methods employed in the universities and special schools have been stated substantially under the heading "Course of study," so that further statements seem unnecessary.

DISCIPLINE.

The numerous persons in authority in the different grades of schools are naturally on the alert for any infringement of discipline, and various are the punishments meted out to the unfortunates. The pupil may be reprimanded, may be kept in; he may be even shut up in a small room under guard. In the class journal there is a record kept of the general bearing of the pupils in the school. Corporal punishment is not allowed in any civil school, but expulsion for dereliction of duty is permitted when the authorities-namely, the committees, inspector, or curator-together sanction such expelling of the pupil, and in the secondary schools the expulsion is sometimes accompanied with the statement that the pupil can not enter another gymnasium in the Empire, or if he is permitted to attend another secondary school he may be required to pass another entrance examination. The discipline is not limited to the school, but may be said to come under three heads, viz, when in school, at home, and on

the street. If a pupil is found on the street, it is supposed that he ought to be either at school or at home; if he does not properly salute the school functionaries he is subject to reprimand; if he is a Realschool or gymnasium pupil he is prohibited from wearing civilian's dress, and that prohibition extends to his not being allowed to visit secret societies, public balls, clubs, and similar places. The same code applies in a measure to the university student, and in military schools there are even more rigid rules for the training of Russian youth.

STUDY AND RECITATIONS.

In the rural schools the general aim of instruction is to train pupils, from their eighth year on, in the four rules of arithmetic, in singing

1 A translation of a Russian ticket in the hands of a Russian gentleman, giving the rules of the third kind of discipline prescribed for the students of the gymnasia and Real schools of the city of Kief. The ticket reads as follows:

"Rules for pupils of middle education at schools of the city of Kief, not in the walls of the schools and not at home.

"1. It is prohibited to the pupils to visit institutions of pleasure, as Chateau de Fleur, Tivoli, Mineral Waters, or pleasures in Bokovaya Roscha (grove), on the other side of the Dnieper, or in any other pleasure gardens. It is allowed to visit the Botanical Garden.

"2. It is allowed to visit the theater only when permission is granted by the authorities in each special case, and not otherwise than by tickets issued by the said authorities, and by no means in the gallery.

"3. It is prohibited to visit public balls, masquerades, clubs, dancing evenings, tea-gardens, café houses, confectionaries, billiard halls, and other like public institutions. It is strictly prohibited to visit secret societies or circles.

"4. It is prohibited to go boating on the Dnieper, and on pleasure walks out of the city, unless together with the parent or guardian.

"5. It is prohibited to walk in the streets or be out of doors later than 9 o'clock p. m., unless there be some extra event, or the pupil is accompanied by parent or guardian.

"6. Every pupil is compelled to have this ticket with him, and to present it at the first demand of the police, or persons employed by the Government, known for that duty by their appearance. In case the pupil refuses to fulfill this demand, or if there be plain disobedience, the person to whom this matter is intrusted has the right to apply for assistance to the police in order to bring the offender to the school where he belongs.

"7. The pupils, when not at home, must fulfill punctually the ordered form of dress, not excluding the knapsack for books, with all the school supplies, and all his buttons must be buttoned. To wear civil dress is strictly prohibited.

"8. On meeting with officials, and also with the teachers or assistants, the pupils must greet them with a polite bow, taking off the cap or hat.

"9. It is prohibited to take out books for reading from public libraries. There is a library in every school purposely for the scholars, from which the pupils only may draw books for reading. Should it happen that the pupil take out a prohibited book, he must present it to the officials.

"10. No one of the pupils has the right to be engaged in tutoring without the special permission of the officials."

It is stated that in large cities it is difficult to enforce these rules, but in smaller places they are carried out.

and writing, in reading in the Russian and Slavonic tongues (the latter being necessary in order to read the required prayers), and in the catechism and Bible. There are generally two classes in these schools, and the inspector of the district has general charge of instruction. The two sexes may be educated together from their eighth to their fourteenth year. If there are not enough pupils to have one school to each parish, then ambulatory schools, as in other northern and sparselysettled countries, move from place to place as they are needed. In the urban schools (one school to 1,000 inhabitants is the intention, but not the rule) the hours are from 9 to about 3 o'clock, with intermissions between the 45 to 55-minute recitations. The sessions are opened and closed with prayers. In many of the schools, both village and town, instruction leading to trades has been introduced of late years. In secondary schools there is an entrance examination unless the pupil has passed through the course of study in the preparatory class, which he may enter at 10 years of age if he shows himself to be of average intelligence, if he can count up to 1,000, add and substract, and recite two prayers. Attention to the rules of the school and preparation from class to class through the eight classes to matriculation entitle him, if he be a gymnasial pupil, to the passing in his eighteenth year to the university without further examination. Should the pupil seem backward in certain studies, then he remains another year in the classes where those studies are taught. In the majority of schools of all grades the recitations are carried on in the Russian tongue, the plan of a few years ago of teaching in the German, Polish, or other common language of the province having been relegated to the past by Imperial decrees which require the use of the Russian language in all schools.

PROMOTION OF PUPILS.

This occurs in all schools after the annual examinations in April or May. The examinations, which take place in some public building, before the school officials and others interested, are both oral and written and last many hours, so that the naturally timid pupil is oftentimes under great strain. If the school preparation has been thoroughly conducted there is, however, but little chance of failure, as many of the questions are familiar to the pupil. In the private schools the annual examinations are also held in the presence of the inspectors and teachers.

FORMATION OF PROGRAMMES.

As has been mentioned heretofore, the programmes of study emanate from the committee in charge in the ministry of public instruction, even the text books being chosen by them. The programme of private schools must be regularly vouched for by the authorities of the educational circuit, according to the rules promulgated by the ministry. By law of July 13, 1884, the Holy Synod forms its own programmes of study, but it is generally conceded that the central authorities are thoroughly informed in regard to all such matters.

SCHOOL ORGANIZATION.

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

In villages where the people are well-to-do the schoolhouses are suited to the requirements of the school population, but in many of the rural districts there is great lack of accommodation, the pupils sit on the floor, and both light and heat are lacking. But whenever the provincial assemblies, or zemstvos, can so arrange it there are suitable school rooms and desks, the requisite books, diagrams, geographical and historical pictures, etc. In the city schools the buildings are more likely to be according to sanitary requirements. Many school buildings, however, are not well arranged in a hygienic sense, though generally speaking, the buildings are roomy and well ventilated and the construction of school buildings is said to be improving from year to year. The gymnasia are located in the larger centers, and as a rule have large, wellventilated class rooms, and have grounds suited to athletic sports, yet in many localities the gymnasia, progymnasia and Realschools are not properly housed and much complaint is made. In military and naval schools the same effort is made to have well-aired rooms, with the proper hygienic arrangements. In the gymnasia and institutes for girls the buildings are large, roomy, and lofty. The height of the class rooms in the institutes is 16 feet, length and width 32 by 24 feet. The halls are large and airy, but there is a lack of spaciousness in the dormitories.

The schools are intended to be so organized as not to have over fifty pupils to a class, and thirty is the average. School fees are charged in all grades of schools, from the elementary through the higher grades. There are free pupils, however, and parents are aided if too poor to buy text books and other material. The authorities also create scholarships and bursaries for poor students, and in all schools there is a fund for needy pupils, which fund is created and kept up by a small annual subscription from teachers and friends.

HOURS OF SCHOOL AND RECESSES.

The hours of school range from 9 to half past 2 o'clock, although in some cases extending to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. If, in the lower elementary grades there are too many pupils, the boys sometimes receive instruction from 9 to 12 o'clock, and the girls from 1 to 3 or 4 o'clock. There are recesses and intermissions, the number of which is not designated. The school week is six days, the length of recitation varies, it may be forty-five, fifty, or fifty-five minutes, but between recitations there is an effort to air the room and give the children opportunity for change of position; after about five minutes the pupils are again in their places for work.

Information furnished by Miss F. Toulmin-Smith, of England.

HOLIDAYS AND VACATIONS

Are not distinctly specified, but include the summer months, church and legal holidays, Easter and Christmas. For the pupils of military schools there are also certain imperial holidays.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE.

Attendance is obligatory upon children between 7 and 12 years of age (8 to 12 in rural districts), but it has not seemed possible to carry out this provision in all provinces. In many of the provinces latitude is left to the zemstvos to act in this matter as they deem it best, and still it may be stated that province after province has endeavored to carry out such regulation, the Baltic provinces taking the lead. The communal

authorities can dispense with the regular attendance of children if they live too remote from a permanent school, and in case of bad weather or famine (as during 1890-91) they may be excused from school attend

ance.

SCHOOL SUPPLY.

The intention of the ministry of public instruction is to have the schools supplied with apparatus and school material, and through the local authorities it furnishes not only text-books, but apparatus to the elementary grades. Each gymnasium is supposed to possess a cabinet of physical apparatus, natural history specimens, geographical atlases, globes, gymnastic' apparatus, music books, etc. The progymnasia are also supposed to be similarly equipped, except in the matter of natural history collections and physical apparatus. In the secondary schools for girls, progymnasia, gymnasia, and institutes, every facility for study is to be given, and the same intention is manifested in special schools. Yet the many changes in authorities, local and educational, the change of policy at St. Petersburg under the various ministries, the undercurrent of socialism permeating all classes, the necessity of keeping the country on a military footing, the famine arising from poor harvests, all these things combine to make even the best efforts to improve the schools comparatively futile, except possibly in some of the higher grade

The attempt to bring about compulsory attendance throughout Russia is thus stated: Towards the close of October, 1871, the Zemstvo of the district of Skopine (government of Riazan) resolved, after mature deliberation, to demand that the attendance at elementary schools be made obligatory. In the government of Penza the communal assembly of the village Lvovskaia-Varejka requested that education be made compulsory for all children from 7 years on, the parents being subject to a fine of from 25 copeks to a ruble in case of failure in attendance. Ossa (province of Perm) demanded obligatory instruction for children from 9 to 14 years of age. The provincial assembly of the district of Constantinograd (government of Poltova) voted, in 1866, for the principle of gratuitous obligatory instruction in elementary schools for children between 8 and 14 years of age, with a fine of from 25 copeks to a ruble in case of nonobservance. Thus it is seen that the local authorities were in sympathy with the state authorities as to the need of compulsory education.