226 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR

In the course of my visit I was particularly struck by the conditions
under which refugee children were living with their parents. Enormous
hutments hastily hammered together, only partially lit, very cold, with
large chinks and cracks through which the wind was blowing freely,
with beds arranged sometimes in two or three tiers—such were the
dwellings which were intended to accommodate several hundred refugees.
 In the towns, as well as in the villages, five and even ten families
of refugees are sometimes housed in one apartment or cottage.”
The children of refugees lived in exceedingly unsanitary conditions,
 in idleness, surrounded by people of coarse manners, who
spent their time gambling. Countess Tolstoi recommended that
a number of premises combining schools and dining halls should
be open, where the children of the refugees would be able to spend
their time in more favorable surroundings and under the direct supervision
 of teachers. This recommendation was promptly adopted,
and between February, 1916, and August of the same year, Countess
 Tolstoi was given an opportunity of opening at various points
along the front, sixteen such institutions accommodating about
3,000 children. At other points of the front, dining halls were
opened, though not quite so rapidly as Countess Tolstoi wished, for
the absence of suitable buildings presented considerable difficulty.
These schools, where children were also provided with meals, admitted
 children between four and fourteen years of age. The children
 were subdivided into four groups. The attendance varied
between one hundred and five hundred. The staffs of the schools consisted
 of the principal and four women teachers, usually drawn from
the students of the teachers’ colleges. They attended also to the requirements
 of hygiene and the feeding of the children. In order to
avoid the problem of a curriculum—always a serious matter in Russian
 schools—it was decided that the children should pass through
the same course of studies as in the village schools, which was approved
 by the Government. Dinner consisted of meat and soup, and
of grits and porridge; for supper there was porridge with milk or
bacon. The older children received professional training. The
monthly expenditure per child did not exceed 18.25 rubles. This
included the cost of education, food, salaries, and school books.?

28 J avestia (Bulletin), Nos. 837-38, pp. 215-218.
29 Thid., Nos. 87-88, pp. 215-218; Nos. 41-42, pp. 163-168; and Nos. 52-53,
 pp. 193-203.