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Rh 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."



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