lso, beginning often at five years of age, but they attend school
during the winter from October to April. As we shall see presently, the
progress of education is slow; for although there is supposed to be a
school in every village, many of them are closed, and there is a great
want of teachers. Education is, however, progressing steadily, but it
will be a generation or two before every peasant is able to read and
write. As in the town, so in the country, there are a great many fast
days, which the peasants do not, however, always observe. During the
week days they are abstemious, but, although they do not get drunk, they
spend their Sunday in drinking, and one of the greatest curses of the
country has been the substitution of alcohol prepared from grain for the
old plum-spirit which was formerly drunk and which was much less
injurious in its after-effects. All things considered, however, the
future of the peasant is not dark. If he is at all industrious, he owns
his farm, and by sobriety and diligence his possessions are increasing
annually; the gradual spread of elementary and technical instruction, of
which the foundations are firmly laid in the country, will open his eyes
to the advantages which he enjoys; and soon he will appreciate the fact,
already known to all enlightened persons in Roumania, that upon the
labours and exertions of the peasantry depend not only their own
fortunes, but the future progress and prosperity of the fatherland.[62]

[Footnote 61: Besides making clothes for their families, and costumes
for the ladies of the cities, &c., the Roumanian women make beautiful
rugs, mats, and even Carpets of variegated wool.]

[Footnote 62: Nothing shows the importance of the agricultural interest
in Roumania so effectively as an analysis of the occupations of the
people. This is thoroughly trustworthy, as it is computed from the
number of taxpayers, and the following is a table condensed from the
data supplied to us by the authorities at Bucarest:--

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
Var