Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-10-26
. Directors:
CHOOSING A WIFE.
In Ancient Royal Russian custom.

An Ancient Royal Russian Custom.
There was said to be a very ancient
precedent among the Byzantine emper-
ors 1--WE quote from Lippincotts Maya
zine) for choosing a wife as Ahasuerus
chose Esther. Sophia's son, cut off from
all equal choice, sent envoys with letters
to ali the boyars and princes throughout
the empire, commanding them to assist
in an examination of the young girls
of their respective districts, rich, noble
poor or serf that a selection might be
made and the most beautiful sent to
Moscow for his inspection the inhabit'
ants were warned that any one who
disobeyed or tried to conceal bis daugh-
ter would be visited with condign dis
grace and punishment. No one burst
disobey the edict; the young girls were
passed in review, and fifteen hundred
esteemed worthy Of their masters ap'
probation were sent to Moscow. To
form an idea of the sacrifices we must
try to fancy what Russia was in the
fifteenth century. Those immense
distances, those sparsely settled
districts, those rude habits which
dismay the traveller of to day, when
stages and railroads and hotels and all
the forms of modern progress are at
hand to smooth the path, then presented
all their formidable pristine difficulties.
The risk, the cost, the fatigue of jour
ney from the remotest province to the
capital we're appalling Yet these hard.
ships had to be faced, the tumults OF
hone and fear controlled, all the hatred
and Jealousy of rivals encountered, and
the bitterness and modification OF disap-
pointment endured. On arrivlng at
Moscow further examinations were made,
aud various competitors dismissed un-
seen by the Czar, until the number
reserved for the actual exhibition was
comparatively small. They were all
lodged in one large house, aud slept in
dorm;tories of twelve beds. In each
room was a throne on which the Gar
seated himself; the young girls knelt
before him in turn. After he had con-
templated each at his leisure, she
dropped pockethandkerchief embroid-
cred with pearls at his feet, and with,
drew. Ivan, the Terrible, the second
who adopted this custom, married three
times, and always in the same fash
ion. His first and iavorite wife
was Anostasis Romonoff. When
about to make thira choice two thou
sand girls we're sent from every part of
the empire; of these only eighty eve
passed the subsequent examinations,
aud finally but twelve, who were then
turned over to physicians and midwives
for certificates OF health OF this dozen
the Car, after much dehberation, chose
one for himself and one for his son.
Thus IN two reigns the custom became
fixed in the manners of the nation end
the people soon came to regard 1t as o
right of their daughters, which gave the
thunderstorm beauty a chance OF be
coming Empress Thus, girl who but
a few weeks ago had been gathering
mushrooms in the fields for the support
of her family, came to find herself the
wife OF the Emperor of all the Russians.
How did she adapt herself to such po-
sition2 How did the aHtocrats tolerate
her homely Ways2 The French com
mendator on n. Zabieline observes that
the difference was bnt slight then be-
tween the daughter Of the proudest
boyar and the poorest peasant; it is the
development Of education and luxury
which makes the true distinction of
classes. In Russia three centuries ago
all were nearly equally illiterate and
dirty.
When the monarch had made his
choice the bride elect was Gt once lodged
as an august parsonage; she was treated
in the Terem among the sisters or
daughters Of the Gar, in charge of his
mother or of ladies Of high birth and
standing; she was given a e0ronet, such
as the Imperial prihcesses wore, aud So.
lnted as Czareyna; the nebles and otil-
cers of the court came to kiss the cross
Sefora herr. e., make oath of fidelity;
sbe was publicly prayed foC among the
,oen,hers of the Imperial family, but un-
Jer a new name, which she was hence
forth 10 hear. as though rebsptized for
her new life. it was a lite oeset with
danger, and the period between the SOW
ereign's choice and the marriage was
the most hazardous Of ell for the object
of his favor. The mortality OF these
vonng girls. chosen from thousands for
their health as well as their beauty, was
too terrible to be mysterious. SO many
Of them died before they knelt at the
altar or the coronation that the triumph
of success did not console them for the
terror Of the risk Incurred. The czars
nj Moscow administered the empire as
IL II were a pairimony which they had
the right to share with their kinsmen
and dependents; the State was 3 mere
family property. When the sovereign
,.ss Young he was generally surrounded
and controlled by bis maternal relatives
tbs chief posts we're occupied by the
Dext of kin. secondary ones by those
n,ora remotely related, while inferior