Agriculturists 684,168 heads of families
Artisans and labourers 83,061
Traders 30,117
Officials (fonctionnaires) 22,811
Professors and teachers 6,066
Medical and legal professions and druggists 995
Artists (meaning probably persons engaged
in the arts) 2,156
Priests, monks, and religieuses 18,452
Various 125,815
                                          -------
   Of the total heads of families 973,941, seventy per cent.
therefore are agriculturists.
]

CHAPTER VII.

EDUCATIONAL—­ETHNOGRAPHICAL.

Educational laws—­Statistics—­Cost of instruction to the State—­(Note:  Comparison with Great Britain)—–­ Backward condition of education—­Imperfect state of university instruction—­Roumanian youth in Paris and elsewhere—­Impolicy of the system—­Pecuniary loss to the country—­Moral drawbacks—­Edgar Quinet’s views—­Conflicting opinions in Roumania—­Need for the encouragement of home instruction—­The Asyle Helene—­A remarkable institution for girls—­Its foundation and history—­Dr. Davila again—­Princess Elena—­Constitution of the school—­Classes and subjects taught—­High standard for the training of teachers—­Proficiency of the higher pupils—­Marriages from the Asyle—­How negotiated—­Wretched payment of state teachers—­Other schools and institutions—­A few ethnographical considerations—­Descent illustrated philologically—­Latin roots in the Roumanian language—­Examples—­Their significance—­Magyar roots, indicative of foreign domination—­Examples—­Roumanian music, perpetuates the old days of oppression—­Dances—­Gerando’s description of an historical dance—­(Note:  Reference to works on the subject).

I.

Theoretically education in Roumania is everything that can be desired; practically it is still far otherwise.  The Constitution of 1866, article 23, declares that primary instruction shall be compulsory and gratuitous, and that primary schools shall, by degrees, be established in every commune.

In 1877-8 there were two universities (Bucarest and Jassy), 96 private schools, 55 secondary and normal, 26 technical and special; 1,242 boys’, 265 girls’, and 628 mixed primary schools.  The total number of scholars set down as attending all these institutions was 119,015 (95,765 boys and 23,250 girls), and the total number of teachers 4,486.  The whole amount of money expended on education in that year, from State, religious, municipal, district, and commercial sources, was rather over 260,000_l._ In 1881 the total amount set aside by the State for all purposes of education and public worship during 1882 was 450,000_l._ These figures show, in a population exceeding five millions, 2,412 schools with an average attendance of nearly 50 scholars each, who were being educated at a cost of about 2_l._ 3_s._ per head, including those in universities, training, and all schools of every description; but the actual cost of the children taught in primary schools only was about 1_l._ 8_s._ per head.[63]