The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-10-01
Choosing a Wife.


all equal choice, sent ENJOYS with letters
TO all the boyars and princes throughout
the empire, commanding them to assist
i'm an examination of the young girls of
their respective districts, rich, noble,
poor, or serf, that selection might be
made and the most beautiful sent to Mos
cow for his inspection; the inhabitants
were warned that any one who disobeyed
or tried to conceal his daughter would be
visited with condign disgrace and pun
ishment. No one burst disobey the
edict; the young girls were passed in re-
view, and fifteen hundred esteemed
worthy of their masters appreciation
were sent to Moscow. To form an idea
of the sacrifice we must try to fancy
what Russia wasin 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
journey from the remotest provinces OF
the capital were appalling. Yet these
hardships had to be faced, the tumults of
hope and fear controlled, all the hatred
and jealousy of rivals encountered, and
the bitterness and modification of
disappointment endured. On arriv-
ing at Moscow further examinations
were made, and various COMPETE
tors dismissed unseen by the Gar, until
the number reserved for the actual ex-
hibition was comparatively small. They
were all lodged in one large house, and
slept in dOrmitories of twelve beds. In
each room was throne on which the
Car seated himself; the young girls
knelt before him in turn. After he had
contemplated each at his leisure, she
dropped pocket-handkerchief embroi-
dered 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 fashion. His
first and favOrite wife was Anastasia Ro-
manOf.
When about to make third choice,
two thousand girls were sent from every
part of the empire; of these, only eighty
four passed the subsequent examination,
and finally but twelve, who were then
turned over to physicians and midwives
for certificates of health. OF this dozen
the Car, after much deliberation, chose
one for himself and one for his son.
! Thus in two reigns the custom became
| fixed in the manners of the nation, and
the people soon came to regard it as q
right of their daughters, which gave the
thunderstorm beauty chance, of be-
coming empress. Thus, girl who but a
| few weeks before had been gathering
mushrooms in the fields for the support
of her family, came to find herself wife Of
the emperor Of all the Russias. How
did she adapt herself to such position
How did the autocrats tolerate her home
ly ways? The French commentator on
M. Zabieline observes that the difference
was but slight then between the daughter
of the proudest boyar and the poorest
peasant; it is the development of edu-
cation and luxury which makes the true
distinction Of classes. In Russia three
centuries ago all were nearly equally il
literate and dirty.
When the monarch had made his
choice the bride-elect was at once treated
as an august parsonage; she was lodged
in the Terem among the sisters OF
daughters of the Car, in charge of his
mother or of ladies of high birth and
standing she was given q cOronet such
as the imperial princesses wore, and sa'
luted as Czareyna; the mobiles and officers
of the court came to kiss tie cross before
her. e., make oath of fidelity; she was
publicly prayed for among the members
of the imperial family, but under a new
name, which she was henceforth to bear,
as though rebaptized for her new life
1t was life beset with danger, and the
period between the sovereign's choice and
all for the object of his favor. The mortal.
ity of these young girls, chosen from
thousands for their health as well as
their beauty, was too terrible to be mys
terious. So many of them died before
they knelt at the altar or the coronation
that the triumph of success did not con
sole them for the terror of the risk they
incurred.
The Cars of Moscow administered the
empire as if it were patrimony which
they had right to share with theil
kinsmen and dependents; the state was
q 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 filled by third anC
fourth cousins; the whole realm was il
the hands of one family; the duration
of the power of each has name in thu
Russian history-Uremid, " the moment >
the moment" The Cars marriage wa
the signal for general change of minis
try. 1t was rare that the family of the
new Czarina did not succeed i'm oustine
the incumbents and selling on theil
offices; new moment" was inaugu
rated; naturally, the brides influence wa.
used for her own relations, and whether
she exerted it or not, their right was rec
ognized. 1t is easy to imagine the rage
Of the one party, the greed of the Other
the furious enmity to which the poor
young girl often fell victim.
Plots of the blacklist description were
woven round her from the moment wher
the crown of the Czarevna was placed or
her brow; every one about the Terem
from those who filled the highest to those
who filled the meanest offices, became
the objects of brides and intrigues. i
she could be made away with before the
wedding day, the competition must be
gin again, with the chance of the sue
cessful candidate being a member of the
family of "the moment" But ever
after the marriage she could not feel safe
Ivan the Terrible's first two wives died
as he believed, of poison no sooner hat
he chosen a third than she sickened, ant
efforts were made to induce him to re
linquish his choice. He persisted {
fortnight after their union, she asdead
Then his fury broke forth and terri
BILE butchery ensued in his defence be
fore the bishops of the church he pro
fessed himself convinced that each o
his wives had been taken from him by
poison.
The English Wheat Crop.
Mr.. James Sanderson, great authorit,