Photo by Hester Donaldson Jenkins 



A BULGARIAN WATljRWlTCH 



One of the Bulgarian students dressed in her national costume, pretending to be on her 

 way to the village courting grounds— the wells. Sometimes these waterwitches of Bulgaria 

 are taken by storm. "Some brawny fellow who has been courting his Darka assiduously 

 will suddenly seize her in his arms and carry her to his home.. The next day this 'marriage 

 by capture' is given legal and religious sanction by the blessing of the Orthodox priest._ I 

 once asked Zarafinka what would happen if two men wanted the same girl. She replied 

 simply: 'The stronger would get her'" (see text, page 390). 



ment. Her peasant costume and knitted 

 footwear she exchanges for a European 

 dress in excellent taste. The heavy, fall- 

 ing- braids of her hair she now arranges 

 in the fashion of the day. Her manner 

 l)ecomes assured yet modest, and she 

 takes her place as leader of a woman's 

 reading club or member of a hospital 

 board with proper dignity. Constantino- 



ple College has a large body of alumnje 

 in A'arna, Philipopolis, Sofia, and other 

 parts of Bulgaria, whose leavening influ- 

 ence in the country is very great. 



I was told in Sofia that the women 

 from the college were the greatest influ- 

 ence for higher ideals that the city pos- 

 sessed, being helpmates and inspiration 

 to their husbands in the work of bring- 



399 



