SCHOOL DAYS IN RUSSIA 7 



families living in cellars and sub-cellars needed a 

 vocational as well as an elementary education. So we 

 decided to open an elementary and vocational school 

 for the girls, similar to the one opened a year previously 

 for poor Jewish boys. Two of us were delegates to 

 meet representatives of die Boys' School. One of these 

 men was my husband. 



He often came to our meetings to discuss ways and 

 means, and so energetic was the spirit of these gather- 

 ings that in a few months we opened the school for 

 Jewish girls with seventy-five children. The school is 

 now known all over Russia as the "Anna Siegal 

 School." Officially the school had to be run as a 

 private one, because it was conducted without recogni- 

 tion from the government. Funds for running it had 

 to be collected secretly, and the money was raised by 

 holding balls, bazaars, and similar entertainments. The 

 two schools were a nucleus for the development of sim- 

 ilar schools for boys and girls which sprang up all 

 through the Jewish quarter. To the best of my knowl- 

 edge, the original two schools exist today, greatly en- 

 larged and extended, and now supported openly by the 

 various Jewish organizations and city funds. 



My husband and I met frequently at the organizing 

 conferences. Strong mutual interest ripened our 

 friendship, and a year later, in the spring of 1881, we 

 were formally betrothed. 



