Roumania Past and Present, James Samuelson [best novels to read to improve english .txt] 📗

but certain striking contrasts force themselves upon our attention. In Roumania a portion of the soil was taken from the boyard at a fixed price and sold to the peasant, without delay or litigation: the results being, first, an immediate improvement in the condition of the peasant, and his ultimate independence and prosperity; secondly, an exposure of the uselessness and helplessness of the indolent boyard landlord so soon as he was forced to attend to his duties and pay for his labour; in many cases his rapid decadence and extinction. For Ireland, under similar conditions, an Act is passed by which, to some extent in the direct interest of the Irish landlords, and indirectly for the protection of those in Great Britain, the old conditions of landlord and tenant are sought to be retained and amended, or the land to be transferred by sale, involving what are practically lawsuits with their appeals and all their delays, or an interminable period (about thirty-five years as against fifteen) for repayment. In Roumania the people , through their parliament, fixed the conditions of transfer, and the boyards were forced to submit after centuries of exaction and tyranny; in Britain the Parliament, consisting largely of landowners and persons opposed to all reforms, and from which the representatives of the aggrieved parties were almost entirely excluded, has groped about for a remedy, thwarted and threatened at every step by an irresponsible body of legislators, who have for the time being resolved themselves into a trades union of landowners; and masses of the peasantry have been driven into the roads. What the future result of the Irish land reform will be it is impossible to predict. We can only hope for the best.

We have already said that the Roumanian peasant is old-fashioned and slow to move, but he has also excellent qualities. He possesses great hardihood and endurance, and will work, not very constantly it is true, during the hottest weather from five a.m. to eight p.m. with a couple of hours for meals and rest during the heat of the day. On the other hand he will face the keenest cold with a bared breast, and is satisfied with mamaliga as his daily food. As we have already said, the women work harder even than the men, besides doing a great deal of work at home, which only Roumanian women are able to perform.[61] The children work also, beginning often at five years of age, but they attend school during the winter from October to April. As we shall see presently, the progress of education is slow; for although there is supposed to be a school in every village, many of them are closed, and there is a great want of teachers. Education is, however, progressing steadily, but it will be a generation or two before every peasant is able to read and write. As in the town, so in the country, there are a great many fast days, which the peasants do not, however, always observe. During the week days they are abstemious, but, although they do not get drunk, they spend their Sunday in drinking, and one of the greatest curses of the country has been the substitution of alcohol prepared from grain for the old plum-spirit which was formerly drunk and which was much less injurious in its after-effects. All things considered, however, the future of the peasant is not dark. If he is at all industrious, he owns his farm, and by sobriety and diligence his possessions are increasing annually; the gradual spread of elementary and technical instruction, of which the foundations are firmly laid in the country, will open his eyes to the advantages which he enjoys; and soon he will appreciate the fact, already known to all enlightened persons in Roumania, that upon the labours and exertions of the peasantry depend not only their own fortunes, but the future progress and prosperity of the fatherland.[62]

[Footnote 61: Besides making clothes for their families, and costumes for the ladies of the cities, &c., the Roumanian women make beautiful rugs, mats, and even Carpets of variegated wool.]

[Footnote 62: Nothing shows the importance of the agricultural interest in Roumania so effectively as an analysis of the occupations of the people. This is thoroughly trustworthy, as it is computed from the number of taxpayers, and the following is a table condensed from the data supplied to us by the authorities at Bucarest:--

Agriculturists 684,168 heads of families Artisans and labourers 83,061 Traders 30,117 Officials ( fonctionnaires ) 22,811 Professors and teachers 6,066 Medical and legal professions and druggists 995 Artists (meaning probably persons engaged in the arts) 2,156 Priests, monks, and religieuses 18,452 Various 125,815
-------
Of the total heads of families 973,941, seventy per cent. therefore are agriculturists. ]


CHAPTER VII.

EDUCATIONAL--ETHNOGRAPHICAL.

Educational laws--Statistics--Cost of instruction to the
State--(Note: Comparison with Great Britain)--- Backward condition
of education--Imperfect state of university instruction--Roumanian
youth in Paris and elsewhere--Impolicy of the system--Pecuniary
loss to the country--Moral drawbacks--Edgar Quinet's
views--Conflicting opinions in Roumania--Need for the encouragement
of home instruction--The Asyle Hélène--A remarkable institution for
girls--Its foundation and history--Dr. Davila again--Princess
Elena--Constitution of the school--Classes and subjects
taught--High standard for the training of teachers--Proficiency of
the higher pupils--Marriages from the Asyle--How
negotiated--Wretched payment of state teachers--Other schools and
institutions--A few ethnographical considerations--Descent
illustrated philologically--Latin roots in the Roumanian
language--Examples--Their significance--Magyar roots, indicative of
foreign domination--Examples--Roumanian music, perpetuates the old
days of oppression--Dances--Gerando's description of an historical
dance--(Note: Reference to works on the subject).


I.

Theoretically education in Roumania is everything that can be desired; practically it is still far otherwise. The Constitution of 1866, article 23, declares that primary instruction shall be compulsory and gratuitous, and that primary schools shall, by degrees, be established in every commune.

In 1877-8 there were two universities (Bucarest and Jassy), 96 private schools, 55 secondary and normal, 26 technical and special; 1,242 boys', 265 girls', and 628 mixed primary schools. The total number of scholars set down as attending all these institutions was 119,015 (95,765 boys and 23,250 girls), and the total number of teachers 4,486. The whole amount of money expended on education in that year, from State, religious, municipal, district, and commercial sources, was rather over 260,000 l. In 1881 the total amount set aside by the State for all purposes of education and public worship during 1882 was 450,000 l. These figures show, in a population exceeding five millions, 2,412 schools with an average attendance of nearly 50 scholars each, who were being educated at a cost of about 2 l. 3 s. per head, including those in universities, training, and all schools of every description; but the actual cost of the children taught in primary schools only was about 1 l. 8 s. per head.[63]

We refrain from criticising these figures, for they do not represent the present state of education. Many of the village schools, we were told on undoubted authority, are closed, and the attendance at others is largely increased. Besides collecting the most authentic information, we visited schools of every kind, some more than once, sometimes alone and unexpectedly, at others accompanied by persons in authority, normal, primary, secondary, commercial, and district schools, and the conclusion arrived at was by no means favourable to the present general state of education, although there is no doubt that there are many schools, well conducted by able and zealous teachers, and that the system will become developed and improved in the course of time. A few facts will suffice to confirm this statement. In regard to higher education, there are said to have been in 1878 in the two universities 61 teachers and 508 students. The Roumanian youth do not, however, as a rule receive their higher education in their own country, and it is computed that from seven hundred to a thousand of them are always being educated abroad, and chiefly in Paris. This is not to be wondered at, for there are no suitable facilities at home, and amongst thoughtful men it is a source of great anxiety for the future welfare of the country. Looking at the matter first in a pecuniary light, and taking the lowest estimate, the cost of educating seven hundred young men such as those who are sent abroad must be at the least 80,000 l. or 90,000 l. annually--we are sure this is considerably below the mark--whilst the total expenditure of the two universities in Roumania was, in 1878, about 22,000 l. ! If, instead of sending this large sum of money to Paris and other educational centres, it were expended at home, it would be the means of attracting to Roumania a class of teachers very different from many of those who are at present dignified with the title of professors. This was the opinion expressed to us by men of sound judgment and discrimination in the country, and we are not prepared to differ from them. But there is another and a still graver danger to the country arising out of the system. To send a youth from home, withdrawing him from the watchful care of his parents at the most dangerous period of his life, namely, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, is of itself a doubtful proceeding; to send him to Paris is in many cases certain ruin. This is not a mere hastily formed opinion, and probably the expression of it may not find a welcome in every quarter. But it is historically true. No one has written a more flattering account of the Roumanians than Edgar Quinet.[64] Writing in 1857, he touches with as much delicacy as possible upon their defects and shortcomings, and hints that their vices are copied from the French; and he goes on to say:[65] 'The sons of the boyards come to