Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-08-17
The Wife Market in Russia.

Sitting up all-night with couple
ot-Russian ladies might, or.might not
suggest the idea of telling you SONGS
thing of the marriage customs of this
strange country. A French writer
whose name | forget, has truly said
inc Russians are o nation of polite
saVages, remark that is not very
apt, out 1t helps US toward a proper
UNDERSTANDING of the people. The
rich are very rich, the poor very
poor. Inc noble are courtlv. polite
and as refined in,manners as those ~
the same class in Germany but the
serfs, or those who belonged to the
mobiles with the soil, before the eman~
cipation, are rude and not half civil
| lied.
Almost as soon as a girl is born, in
the better ranks Of society, her pa
rents begin to prepare the dowry she
must have when she goes to her hus~
band. For this is indispensable in
the eyes of any Russian young gem
tleman who proposes to marry
She must furnish everything for an
outfit in life, even to dozen new
shirts for her coming husband.
have heard Of lady of rank and
wealth who had prepared costly
dowry of silks, linen, Jewels, plate,
etc., her beloved daughter, who
died as she came to be twenty years
old. The mother resolved to endow
six girls with these riches, and actu.
ally advertised for them. A host OF
applicants came, and she selected
six. None Of them had lovers. But
now they had a respectable dowry
secured each girl was speedily en-
gagged, and with the husband, took
the dowry, and paid the rich lady by
promising to pray for the repose OF
her daughters soul.
In no country is this arrangement
OF terms carried on with more eau>
ton and completeness than in Russia.
The young man goes to the house of
his proposed bride, counts over the
dresses, and examines and sees to
the whole with his own eyes, before
he commits himself TO the irrevoca~
bic bargain. In high life such things
are conducted with more apparent
delicacy, but the facts are obtained
with accuracy, the business being in
the hands Of broker or a notary.
The rousseau is exposed in public
before the wedding day.
At Whitsunday there is curious
custom, which is gradually giving
way with the advance of civilization.
The young Of neighborhood come
together, and the girls stand in arow,
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 lady's paint is a very
common present for a young man to
make the girl he likes. Behind the
girls are their mothers the young
men having made their choice, the
terms are settled betweenItho parents
of the parties.
The ladies in Russia are very anxS
lous TO marry, because they have no
liberty before their marriage. They
arc kept constantly under the matters
nal eye until they are given up to the
husband, and then they take their
own course, which is a round Of
gayety and dissipation, only regula-
ted by their means of Indulgence.
The Greek church, like tho emperor,
like the pope, can grant special dis
pensations. The Greek priest must
marry once, and if his wife dies he
cannot marry again. No one in Rus
STA can bo msrried moro than three
times.