The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-10

Sitting up all night with a couple of Rus
sian ladies might or might not suggest the
idea of telling you something of the marriage
customs of this strange country. A French
writer, whose name forget, has truly said,
1.-The Russians are nation of polite savages"
"a remark that is not very apt, but it helps us
toward proper understanding of the social
condition of the people. The rich are very
rich: the poor are very poor. The mobiles are
courtly, polite, and as refined in manners as
those of the same class in Germany; but the
serfs, or those who belonged to the nobles
with the soil, before the emancipation, are
rude and not half civilized.
Almost as soon as a girl is born, in the
better ranks of society, her parents begin to
prepare the dowry she must have when she
goes to her husband; for this is indispen-
sable in the eyes of any Russian young gentle
man who proposes to be married She must
furnish everything for an outfit in life, even
to a dozen new shirts for her coming husband.
l have heard Of lady of rank and wealth who
had prepared a costly dowry of silks, linen,
Jewels plate etc, for her beloved daughter,
who died as she came to twenty-siX years old.
The mother resolved to endow six girls with
these riches, and actually advertised for them.
A host Of applicants came, and she selected
six. None of them had lovers; but now they
had respectable dowry secured, each girl
was speedily engaged and with the husband,
| took the dowry, and paid the rich lady by
promising to pray for the repOse of her
| daughter soul
In no country is this arrangement of terms
| carried on with more caution and complete
ness than in Russia. The young man goes to
the house of his proposed bride and counts
over the dresses and examines the furniture,
| and sees to the whole with his own eyes, be-
fore he commits himself to the irreyOcable
| baroain In bioh life Such thinuS are con-
Quoted with more apparent delicacy, but the
facts are ascertained with accuracy, the bust
ness being in the hands of a broker or a no.
tary The h0USSCdU is exposed in public be-
fore the wedding day.
| Al Whitsunday there is a curious custom,
which is gradually giving way with the ad-
vance of civilization. The young people of a
neighbOThood come together, and the girls
stand in a row, like so many statues, draped
indeed, and not only draped, but dressed in
their best and painted too; for the young
ladies, and the older ones also, of this country
use cosmetics freely, and a box Of adys paint
is a very common present for young man to
make to the girl he likes. Behind the row of
girls are their mothers The young men
having made known their choice, the terms
are settled between the parents of the parties
The ladies in Russia are very anxious tc
marry, because they have no liberty before
marriage. They are kept constantly under
the maternal eye until they are given up tC
the husband, and then they take their owl
course, which is a round of gayety and dssi
, patton, only regulated by their means of in
diligence, The Greek Church, like the
Roman, permits no divorces but the Emperor
like the Pope, can grant special dispensations
The Greek priest can marry once, and if hi
wife dies he cannot marry again. No one il
. Russia can be married more than three times