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906 their having done so. In southern Bohemia, a short time ago, a countess was chosen member of a provincial assembly (okresnz zastupitestvo) with the approval of the body, on the condition that she should not participate personally in its deliberations, but should be represented by a man having full power to act for her. At Agram in Croatia, a woman was elected, a few years ago, member of the municipal council, and no objection was made. Of course such cases are very rare, but they have their Significance.

Carolina Svetlá, the distinguished poet and author, has done, perhaps, the most to awaken thought on the woman question in Bohemia. She stands at the head of a talented group of literary women, which plays a brilliant part in the fatherland of Huss. The means for woman's instruction, however, are most lamentable in Bohemia. The universities are shut against women, and though two women have been graduated in Switzerland, their degrees are not recognized in their native land. Beyond primary instruction the State does almost nothing for its women, though they outnumber the other sex by two hundred thousand. In several of the large cities of Bohemia something has been accomplished for girls' high-school and normal-school instruction; but, in general, we may say that the intellectual development of Bohemian girls is left to private instruction. Associations of women have done much to fill this void, one of which, founded by Carolina Svetlá, is devoted to the industrial and commercial instruction of girls.—Two thousand women belong to this association, and five hundred girls attend its school annually, while many young women frequent its school for the training of nurses. This vigorous organization has disarmed prejudices by the success of its schools and by the arguments of its monthly organ, the Zenské Listy, ably edited by Elise Krásnohorská, one of the best known Bohemian poets, and a leader in the work of improving the condition of her countrywomen. Vojtá Náprstek, a man who has justly been named "the woman's advocate," has founded at Prague the Women's American Club, whose object is charity and the intellectual elevation of women, and has presented the club a valuable collection of books and objects of art. A lady, writing me from Prague, says:

The club has always been in a most flourishing condition, although it has never had a constitution or by-laws to hold it together,—nothing but the single bond of philanthropy. At first it had not even a name. But outsiders began to call its members 'the Americans,' because they adopted American improvements in their homes. The appellation was accepted