l point of
view. Only the more seasoned minds of a young nation should be submitted
to the test of foreign study.

But let us get back to the young Bulgarian who is going on the land. At
the age of twelve he leaves school and henceforth devotes himself
wholly, instead of partly, to work on his father's farm. He begins, too,
to be introduced to the work of the village commune, though he may not
take any part in its control for some time yet. With great care the
makers of the Bulgarian Constitution have tried to guarantee the
independence of the communes. The central government must take no part
in the administration of the communes, nor maintain any agents of its
own to interfere with their affairs. The commune, which forms the basis
of the State fabric, enjoys thus a complete autonomy. It is the smallest
unit in the administrative organisation of the country. Every district
is subdivided into communes, which are either urban or rural. Every
Bulgarian subject must belong to a commune and figure in its registers,
or else he is a vagrant and punishable as such. The commune is governed
by a Mayor and Council, and at the age of twenty-five the Bulgarian is
eligible to become a councillor. Not only is the commune the organ of
local government, but it has much to do with the control of the land
affairs of this nation of peasant proprietors.

At nineteen the Bulgarian youth, at seventeen the Bulgarian girl are
marriageable, and their parents set about the work of mating them as
quickly as possible. Marriages are almost always arranged by the
parents, and it is not usual for husband and wife to come from different
communes. After marriage the Bulgarian wife is supposed to devote
herself exclusively to family life and not to wish for any social life.
There is an almost _harem_ system of seclusion, but--except that the
Bulgarian is monogamous in theory and generally in practice, whilst the
Turk is polygamous in theory and usually monogamous by force of
circumstances, since he cannot afford more than one wife--the Bulgarian
idea of home life shows evidence of Turkish influences.

The Bulgarian civil law gives to the Church complete control of the
matters of marriage and divorce. Divorce is allowed on various grounds,
but is not common. Adultery does not of itself entail the dissolution of
marriage. The party which has been found guilty of adultery is not
allowed to marry the partner in guilt. The custody of the children, in
case