Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/159

Rh 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