6 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 



cational clubs," each taking the lead in a club where 

 young men and women could come together and dis- 

 cuss affairs of general interest. That was in 1879, a 

 time of great activity in all Russian revolutionary 

 circles. Among these young idealists there was no 

 question at the time of Jew and Christian, all worked 

 together in the cause hand in hand, organizing clubs 

 for the masses. Of course these meetings were kept 

 secret. 



In May Grisha and his two chums graduated from 

 the Gymnasium, and Puritz and Albert left for Odessa 

 to enter law school. Grisha followed them in August. 

 To enable him to pursue his studies his two Odessa 

 friends, well known there, secured pupils for him in 

 advance. So, when he arrived in the city, he found that 

 he would have about seventy-five rubles a month, 

 which would enable him to support, not only him- 

 self, but his younger sister. He therefore brought her 

 from Berdiansk, secured lodgings and began to pre- 

 pare her for college entrance. 



This was the year that I graduated from Filler's 

 Gymnasium. As soon as we were out of school four 

 of the other graduates and I felt the need of doing 

 something in an educational way for the Jewish poor. 

 We decided to open a free school for Jewish girls who 

 were not able to pay the fee to attend the private 

 schools. Jewish girls were not admitted to the few 

 elementary free schools of Russia. And yet we felt 

 that these children, being of the poorest class their 



