Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-05-17

oruer 10 possess any preemlnent de-
gree of loveliness, a woman must
weigh at least two hundred wei sht."
The Empress Elizabeth. and Gather
Inc H., both accounted very fine wo.
men, were of this massive kind.
In Italy, matches are made with
proverbial levity, and marriage VOWS,
If report speaks truly, are easily bro
ken. Young virgins are systemati-
calIy bartered and sold by their pa
rents, and young people are married
every day who never saw one another
before. Concubinage is a constant
remedy for these ill advised and de-
ceitful marriages. and the peculiarly
Italian term cicisbeo, indicates the in-
demnity which custom prescribes for
the fair sex fettered to husbands un-
loved.
In France, as has often been re-
marked, women monopolize all the
society and large share of the busi.
ness life. The coffee houses, the
theatres, the shops, the cabarets, or
drinking shops, are filed with wo-
men Women lord it at all assem-
blies, and are better informed and
more capable managers than men
Marriage is looked upon not so much
as matter of affection as of interest,
and the sacredness Of the tie is pro-
portioDately slender.
Marriage IN Sweden is commonly
governed wholly by the will of the
parents, and is founded upon interest.
A stolen match is almost unheard of,
aud persons Of either sex seldom mar
ry before the age of twenty-five or
thirty. Divorces are very rare.
Russia appears to be the most pre-
posterous country in Europe in its
treatment IF women. The nuptiaI
ceremonies, all and singular. are based
uDon the idea Of the degradation of
the female. When the parents have
agreed upon the match, the bride is
examined by a nnmher of women to
see if she has any bodily defect. On
her wedding day she is crowned with
a garland of wOrmwood, 10 denote the
bitterness of the marriage state
She is exhOrted TO he ohedicnt 10 her
husband. and it is a custom in some
districts for the new married wife
to present the brid groom with a
whip, in token ofsubnission, and with
this he seldom fails to show his au-
thoritv. In this cold and cruel coun-
try, husbands are sometimes known
TO torture their wives to death with
out any punishment for the murder.
If woman proves barren, the hus-
hand generally prevails on her to re-
tire into a convent aud leave him at
liberty. If he fails in persuasion, he
is permitted to whip her into conde-
! scension.
Such is the slavery in which the
Muscovites are kept by their parents
and guardians, that they are not al
lowed to dispute any union agreed up-
on by their elders, however odious
and Incompatible it may he. This ex.
tends so far. that officers in the army
are not permitted TO marry without
the consent of the sovereign, and
wives whom they do not want are
sometimes even forced upon thtm.
Whether it be the result Of this sys-
TEN of oppression, or of their savage
climate, or of the unnatural hot air of
the stove heated apartments, it is cer-
tain that a more unlovely race OF wo-
men than the Russian would be diff
cult to find. They want" saws an
English traveller, "the genuine favor
which only nature can give. That
charming frmncss and elasticity of
flesh, so iDdispensabIy requisite TO
constitute beauty. and so delicious to
the touch, exists not among the Rus
sian females, or in very few Of them"
We are told OF the Alcutian Island
ers who form a part of our New Rus
sian American acquisition, that they
marry one, two or three wives, as
they have the means of supporting
them. The bridegroom takes the
bride upon trial, and nay return her
to her parents, should he not lie sat
isfed, but cannot demand his presents
back again. NJ man is allowed to
sell his wife without her consent; hut
he may (and often does assign her
over 10 another. This custom, it is
said, is arailed of by the Russian hunt
ers. who take Aleutiau women or
girls to wife for a time, for trifiug
compensation.