Occasionally the
girls were called upon to react, which they did with sentences
apparently only partially memorized. The spirit of the institution is
behind that of our better institutions in America, and the spirit of
the classroom is quite mediaeval.
The greatest objection which the teachers seem to have to soviet
activities is the question of sacred pictures and religious
observances. The chapel of the school has been closed, but in each
room from the corner still hangs the Ikon and at the heads of many of
the girls' beds there are still small pictures of the Virgin, much to
the disgust of the representatives of the Soviet Government, who in
many cases are Jewish, and in practically all cases have renounced any
religious connection. Recently the Soviet Party has announced the fact
that they as a party are not hostile to any religion, but intend to
remain neutral on the subject. The attitude of the commissars
apparently is that required religious observances should not be
permitted in public institutions, and doubtless some of the inspectors
have gone further than was necessary in prohibiting any symbol of the
religion which probably most of the children still nominally adhere
to.
The second institution I visited, which had been taken over from the
old government, was an orphan asylum with some 600 children mostly
under 10. It was frightfully crowded, in many places rather dirty,
with frequently bad odors from unclean toilets.
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