Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/161

Rh 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.

"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