s it is, and
that its only possibility for them lies in its being destroyed and
reconstructed.

[Illustration: _A Class of Russian Students with their Teachers._]

In many of our centres of work abroad we have a _foyer_ where the
foreign students can meet, and at Geneva last year with great difficulty
we had opened a hostel for Russian students when the war broke out.
There one heard the most touching stories of their poverty, and yet of
their pride and independence, and also of the special temptations to
which their poverty exposed them. Some landlords, for instance, are not
slow to tell girls that they would live better and more cheaply if they
would temporarily "keep house" with one of the young men students, and
occupy one room! Our hostel was hurried on last year as we heard of many
instances of this kind, and a generous friend in Petrograd helped me
very largely in finding the money. Everything was to be supplied at cost
price, and no profits were to be made, the two English ladies in charge
giving their services. There was a restaurant also which supplied good
food at very moderate rates, and how moderate may be judged from the
charge made for afternoon tea of a halfpenny! It consisted of a cup of
tea and a small roll of bread without butter.

The first time I saw how cheaply the foreign students at Geneva lived
was one festival evening when they invited me to supper, and when we had
chicken salad with bread and butter followed by dessert, tea, and
coffee, for which the charge was about fivepence each. The year after
that I entertained them in return and gave them a Christmas party at
which there were fourteen nationalities present, mainly Slav. Nothing
could have been more interesting than that gathering, nor could any host
have had more grateful guests. Last year the Noel Fest could not be
held as there were no students; but I hope next Christmas may possibly
see the war over, and that we may have a Slav evening party in Geneva
once again.

It may be well to mention here how there comes to be a _foyer_ or club
for Russians and other students at Geneva. It is a part of the
organization connected with the World Student Christian Federation,
which had its beginning in the eighties in the United States of America,
as a movement to promote an interest in missionary work amongst
students. In 1887 a deputation came over to this country to tell the
student world what was going on across the Atlantic, and the studen