384 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The peasants are entitled to medical 

 attention, and the State provides a phy- 

 sician for each plasa, or subdivision of a 

 district. Unfortunately, home remedies, 

 usually of mythical virtue, have such a 

 hold on the people that they will not call 

 in the established doctor until the illness 

 gets so desperate that a cure becomes 

 difficult or even impossible. For this 

 reason the medical science in rural com- 

 munities is not held in high esteem. But 

 in the cities considerable attention is paid 

 to sanitation, and the hospitals of the 

 capital are unsurpassed in all of Europe. 



The spiritual welfare of the people is 

 also looked after by the State, at least to 

 the extent of paying the salaries of the 

 priests. But the Roumanian, being 

 deeply religious, calls upon the clergy for 

 many extra services, such as weddings, 

 christenings, and funerals, and for these 

 he makes payment according to his in- 

 clinations, which are usually out of pro- 

 portion to his means. 



THE POSITION OF THE JEW 



Nearly five and a half million of the 

 King's subjects belong to the Orthodox 

 Greek Church. This is such a prepon- 

 derating majority that religious questions 

 do not arise to complicate the political 

 situation, beyond the ever-present posi- 

 tion of the Jew in the economic life. 



He has been declared "an alien not sub- 

 ject to an alien power," and in this man- 

 ner has been cut off from the protesting 

 voice of any friendly nation. Unwelcome 

 in the villages and rural districts, they 

 have been compelled to live in artificial 

 Ghetti, thus created in the small rural 

 townships, and in the larger towns, and 

 legislative decrees have restricted their 

 vocations and professions. 



The Roumanians regard their relations 

 to the Jews as a question of internal 

 polity, and look with disfavor upon any 

 discussion of the topic that is not purely 

 academic. 



The enjoyment of their many church 

 festivals prompts the addition of fetes of 

 a purely worldly sort. It is doubtful if 

 there is anywhere another people so fond 

 of innocent amusements as the Rouma- 

 nians. There is hardly a village of any 

 size that does not have a dance on Sun- 

 day as well as every holiday, and all the 



country taverns have a piece of well- 

 beaten ground or floor on which the peo- 

 ple, young and old, may dance the hora. 



This name, from chorus, has been 

 handed down from the Romans, and, 

 with varying qualifying words, applies to 

 most of the popular dances. True to the 

 etymology of the word, there is no limit 

 to the number of the participants. To 

 the music of the band, or by their own 

 singing, they move with rhythmical steps, 

 now to the right, now to the left, the 

 arms swinging in cadence. Started by a 

 few, others join in when and where they 

 choose, until the circle grows so large 

 that it may become necessary to break it 

 into two or more concentric circles. 



Besides the dances there are many 

 sports and games that are popular 

 throughout the kingdom, and in all of 

 them general participation is possible. 

 This community enjoyment has contrib- 

 uted no little to the neighborly impulses 

 that show themselves on every hand, 

 though it may be that it is due to general 

 friendliness that games of this sort are 

 popular. 



AN ILLITERATE PEASANTRY 



Although an act passed in 1864 en- 

 dowed Roumania with free and compul- 

 sory elementary education, the services 

 of the children were deemed so necessary 

 for doing the work around the house 

 that the schools were slimly attended, and 

 the only impulse to patronize them was 

 to make the growing generation immune 

 from the cheating and deception that 

 were practiced on the uneducated. 



Then, too, the absence of any disre- 

 spect for illiterate parents prompted 

 many to feel that education has but little 

 efficacy in the social uplift, and so, if the 

 boy does not wish to become a priest, the 

 need of the school is not apparent. 



Still, the frequent visits of the richer 

 classes to the centers of learning and 

 culture have stimulated a thirst for 

 greater knowledge, and the universities 

 and technical schools are extending their 

 influence downward to meet the elemen- 

 tary schools in a general educational 

 awakening. 



These stimulating agencies have dimin- 

 ished the illiteracy by half in the last 

 decade, increased the efficiency of the 



