I had a long talk with Prince Felix Yussupoff in Moscow, and we talked, most of the time, about the American public school system. He wanted to know what the Gary system was, and fortunately I was able to tell him. As I described the schools, where children spent their days, working, studying, playing, being wholly educated and trained to think as well as to work, the prince’s eyes glowed and his face shone with interest and amazement. “It’s the finest thing I ever heard of,” he exclaimed. “It is exactly what we ought to have in Russia.” And then he went on to say thoughtfully: “Mrs. Dorr, my wife and I want to do something for Russia, something really worth while. I don’t want to be forever remembered for--for just one thing. I want to do something constructive. Of course, as things are now, there is nothing constructive to be done. Besides, my wife is a Romanoff, and, naturally----” He paused with a graceful little gesture of the hand. Naturally a Romanoff couldn’t be conspicuous in any way just then. “But when the time comes, if it ever does, when Russia is normal again, why shouldn’t the contribution I make be to the education of children?” “The salvation of your country lies in the education of its children, all of them, not just the children of the rich,” I replied. “I believe it,” was the earnest response. “And I want to help establish the best public school system in the world in Russia. How can I do it?” I told him, to the best of my ability. And he promised me that he would carry out my suggestions. Prince Felix Yussupoff means to spend the next year or two studying the American public school, and especially the Gary system. He doesn’t want to be remembered for just one thing. CHAPTER XII ANNA VIRUBOVA SPEAKS “Let any American mother imagine that her only son, who came into the world a weakling, and whose life had always hung on a thread, had been miraculously restored to health. Suppose also that the person who did this wonderful thing was not a doctor, but a monk of that mother’s church. Wouldn’t it be natural for that mother to regard the man with almost superstitious gratitude for the rest of her life? Wouldn’t it also be natural that she would want to keep the monk near her, at least until the child grew up, in order to have the benefit of his advice and help in case of a return of the illness?”