Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-01-30
THE CRIMEA 200 YEARS AGO.

ie cannot help.-Bufalo Courier.
THE CRIMEA 200 YEARS AGO.
a curious book published at Rouen, in the
French language, in the year 1862, entitled ga
Description of the Ukraine, including several
provinces of the Kingdom of Poland,' has ac-
cidentally fallen under our eye. The name of
the author, as it appears on the title page, is
Sieur de Bcauplan. The book contains also
an interesting account of the Crimea, and of
the race of Tartars who inhabited it two hun
dred years ago. We translate the following in
reference to their manners and customs:
'sThc Tartars remain several days, after they
| are born, without opening their eyes, like dogs
and other animals. They are not of high stat
ure. The tallsst is only of moderate size.
Their form is rather slender, but their limbs
are large. They have broad shoulders, a short
| neck, large head, a face almost round, and a
broad forehead. Their eyes are always half
closed; they are very black. They have a
short nose. and rather a small mouth. Their
teeth are as White as ivory. They have a
swarthy complexion, and hair very black, and
as coarse as horses hair. In fine, they have
| altogether different physiognomy from the
| Christians. This You would observe at the
| first glance. In their physlognomy and form
| they resemble the Indians of America, and es-
pecialIy those who are called Caribees. They
are all brave soldiers. They are not easily IA
| tigGed, and they bear without much suffering
the changes of the climate. The mothers
bathe their children every day in water in
which salt has been dissolved, in order to har-
den their skin and render them less sensible
to the cold"
The author thus describes, in another part
| of the work, the manner in which the CossachS
Of those days made love:
ssHerc, then, contrary to the custom Of al
other countries, may be seen young girls ma
| king love to young ION. and superstition
very prevalent among them, and carefully OBJ
| served, causes them scarcely ever to miss thel
! object and, indeed, renders them more sure O
success than the man would be, should Tho
latter attempt the wooing. They proceed
somewhat after the following manner The
maiden goes to the house of the father of tn,
! young man whom she loves, when she think
the family all together, and says on entering
PomesGbog, which means, God bless you.
| She pays her compliments to him who ha
made SO great an impression upon her heart
and tells him she thinks he viii know how t.
govern and love his wife. THY noble quail
ties,' she continues, shave led me to pray the
very hUmbly to accept me for thy wife, Sh'
then asks the father and mother to consent t.
tht marriage. If she received refusal o
/ some excuse, as that he is too young, and no
yet ready TO marry, she answers that she vii
not depart until he has espoused her. Thu
she perseveres and persists in remaining unit
she has obtained a favorable answer to her de
mands. After several weeks, the father ant
mother are not only constrained to give thei
consent, but also to persuade their son to lool
upon her more favorably. At the same time
the young man seeing the maiden so deter
mined in her affection for him, begins to re
gard her as the one who is destined to be tn
companion of his hfe's journey. Finally h
prays his father and mother to permit him t
espousc her. Thus she accomplishes her pur
pose, and the entire family, through fear o
incurring the wrath of God by expelling he
from their house, are constrained to give tbei
| consent to the union. .'-Boston Times.
->~~ ----
II A SLIGHT MIsUNDERsTANDING.-A piou
minister, after lecturing Sunday school clas
in most edifying manner, proposed to clos
4 the exercises by singing ssJordan," mea.a.
the hymn, con Jordan's stormy banksfNa W
The worthy man was horrifiedde eIwas ASA
!. whole school immediately that rosN''
am a hard road to tsssc.cideps ,uiddle
I H..n ..or ,oat .,.oaa fos pss,..v.'
\ aed nls.s x-ac -DIfII
- --oosE, at consisting of Wood-She
-sniNGTcH, House, &
fitted by the undersign- There is no more de
$ n share of public pat County. Any pcrson w;