Probably
there are 90,000 of them in Pennsylvania. They are said to be accessible
to missionary influences, but their ignorance and crowded conditions of
living make work difficult.
[Sidenote: Mostly Laborers]
About eight tenths of the Ruthenians here are laborers, chiefly in the
mines; and about one tenth are farmers. The young women work in shops
and factories, but prefer domestic service, and are efficient. The
people are very saving, and scarcely one but has from $50 to $200 at
least saved and put away in some hidden corner or in a bank. They buy
lots and build houses, or take up farming. They have beneficial
societies for sickness, injury, and death, including wife and mother as
well as husband and father. Mr. Ardan says Ruthenian men and women
drink, "_farmers and Protestants being exceptions_." What a notable
exception and testimony that is.
[Sidenote: Greek Catholics]
Superstitious, devout, attached to their churches, the majority are
Greek Catholics, with a few Protestants from Russian Ukraine, where
Protestants are bitterly persecuted. There are 108 Ruthenian churches,
composed of eighty Greek Catholic, twenty-six Greek Orthodox (Russian
State Church), and two Protestant, besides several Protestant missions.
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