22 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



All through the winter of 1914-15 anybody who could 

 give lessons in English was at a premium. Humble 

 teachers, who had formerly struggled with adversity, 

 found they were earning 20 a month. The stock of 

 English primers gave out, and I fancy that for my 

 little Russo-English dictionary I could have got its 

 weight in well, in one-rouble paper notes. Russian- 

 English clerks and typists are in the heyday of pros- 

 perity. They have not to seek jobs; they are woo'd to 

 work. A year ago all the boys who intended to go 

 into business learnt German at school. That is now 

 the forbidden tongue, but parents have presented a 

 petition to the education authorities praying that 

 English be substituted. English is on the boom. 



In the afternoon, by written invitation, I was the 

 guest of "The Ladies' Circle of Riga, " a company 

 of honourable ladies actively engaged in the relief 

 work. As we sat at tea I was asked to tell the 

 story of how we came to think of them and to do 

 so grandly for them in America, and especially to 

 give an account of the methods of the Philadel- 

 phia Committee. Among the very appreciative 

 responses that were made was the reading of two 

 original poems, one by Madame Marionella 

 Philadelfena Maximovitch, the handsome wife of 

 Innovkentie Klavdievich Maximovitch, President 

 Judge of the Supreme Court of the Province of 



