The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-09-10
!, large house, and slept in dormitories Of


on which the Car seated himself; the
Young tkaelt ateSste Mn in tsrh.
Afserhe Mad contemplated each 1t his
leisure, she dropped pocket-handker.
chief embroidered with pearls at his
feet, and withdrew. Ivan the Terrible,
tie ss;rind VIC. adopted this custom,
rhdAtied three times, and always in the
same fashion. His first and favorite wife
Mas Anestasia Romanotf.
When about to make third choice,
2000 girls were sent from every part of
the Empire; Of these. only eighty four
passed the subsequent examinations, and
finally but twelve, who were then turned
over to physicians for certificates of
health. OF this dozen the Car, after
much deliberation, chose one Tor himself
and one For Ms SON. Thus in two reigns
the custom became fixed in the manners
Of the nation, and the people soon came
to regard it as right of their daughters,
which gave the humblest- born beauty a
chance of becoming Empress Thus q
girl who but a few weeks before 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 Russias. How did she adapt her.
self to such position? How did the
autocrats tolerate her homely ways? The
French commentator on M. Zabieline OBJ
serves that the difference was but slight
then between the daughter Of the proud
est 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-elcct was at once treated
as an august parsonage; she was lodged
in the Terem among the sisters or daugh-
tiers of the Gar, in charge Of his mother,
or of ladies of high birth and standing;
she was given coronct such as the inn
perial princesses wore, and saluted as
Czarevna; the mobiles and officers of the
court came to kass the cross before her
i. e., make oath of fidelity; she was pub
licly prayed for among the members of
the imperial family, but under a new
name, which she was henccfcrth to bear,
as though rebaptized for her new life.
1t was life beset with danger, and the
period between the sovereign's choice
and the marriage was the most hazard
GUS of all for the object of his favor
The mortality of these young 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 cor
onation that the triumph of success did
not console them for the terror of the
risk they incurred.
The Cars of Moscow administered the
Empire as if it were patrimony which
they had the right to share with their
kinsmen and dependents; the state was
a mere family property. When the SOW
ereign was young he was generally sur
rounded and controlled by his maternal
relatives; the chief posts were occupied
by the next of kin, secondary ones by
those more remotely related, while in
ferior grades were filed by third and
fourth cousins; the whole realm was in
the hands of one family the duration of
the power of each has name in Russian
'history-vremid, the moment" the
leaders were known as "the men Of the
moment" The Cars marriage was the
signal for a general change Of. ministry
1t was rare that the family of the new
Czarina did not succeed in sousting the
incumbents and Selling on their offices;
a new moment" was inaugurated; nat
urally the brides influence was used for
her own relations, and whether she cx-
erted it or not their right was recognized.
1t is easy to imagine the rage of the one
party, the greed of the other--thc furious
enmity to which the poor young girl
often fell victim.
Plots of the blacklist description were
woven round her from the moment when
the crown of the Czarevna was placed on
her brow; every one employed about the
Teren, from those who filled the highest
to those who filled the mcanest Offices,
became the object of brides and in
trigues. If she could be made away
with before the wedding day the com
petition must begin again, with the
chance of the successful candidate being
member of the family of the moment"
But even after the marriage she could
not feel safe; Ivan the Terrible's first
two wives died, as he believed, of poi
son; no sooner had he chosen third
than she sickencd, and efforts were made
to induce him to relinquish his choice. He
persisted a fortnight after the union
she was dead. Then his fury broke
forth and terrible butchery ensued; in
his defense before the Bishops of the
church he professed himself convinced
that each of his wives had been taken
from him by poison.-Lippincotts Mdga
zine for September.