Teachers' Troubles In Russia.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 246, 16 November 1903, Page 3

Teachers' Troubles In Russia.

A school-mistress, who has had much experience in the villages, contributes an article to a leading St. 1 etersburg newspaper, which is regarded as a faithful portrayal of the existing state of affairs. She was recently sent as assistant to a school where the master was a married man of 35 years, with live children. His annual salary was 200 roubles, about £2O. He had been thuteen years in the same' school. Ihe poverty in his family was indescribable. Wiith his family he inhabited two rooms, and the poverty .and the tilth combined banished even the beginning of comfort. The teacher invarialblly went hungry to school and the half-wild children fared badly at his hands. Once a week the school overseer visited the establishment, not the 1 inspector. The oveiseer iig a well-to-do peasant, aupointed to the office by the community. He jokes with tho children and is witty at the teacher's expense. He asks him for example if he has had a good breakfast. In a school Of 140 boys and 25 girl* there are altogether 60 books of all sorts religflous and secular. They belong to the school, not to the scholars. Of these, three are on arithmetic and two on geography. Phe school-mistress who contributed the article from which this sketch in taken enjoyed a salary pf 50 rouble! a year, lp is not eveiy village that can support two teachers in' this munificent fashion. '' There is a sort pf guild pf travelling tfuchr-rs in itussij, believed tp bp pvep 2000 in number, who gp about frpra village to village during the winter months and teach the children to read. They have had no training-, and are largely travelling vagabonds, who are glad of shelter and food during the long frost—Leisure Hour. g