Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-12-16
Choosing q Wife.
FOR RUSSIAN EMPEROR THREE CENTU-
RIES AGO.

precedent among the Byzantine Empe
rors for choosing a wife as Ahasueru
chose Esther. Sophia's son, cut O.
from ali equal choice, sent ENJOYS wit
letters to all the boyars and prince
throughout the empire, commandin
them to assist IN an examination of tn
young girls of their respective districts
rIeh, noble, poor or serf, that selection
might be made and the most beautiful
be sent to Moscow for his inspection
the inhabitants We're warned that an,
ole who disobeyed or tried to concea
his daughter would be visited with con
dign disgrace and punishment. n,
one durst disobey the edict the youn,
girls were passed in review, and fifteei
hundred esteemed worthy of their mas
ter's appreciation We're sent to Moscow
To form an idea of the sacrifice We mus
try to fancy what Russia was in tn.
fifteenth century. Those immense dis
tances, those sparsely settled districts
those rude habits which dismay the
traveller OF day, when stages and
railroads and hotels and all the forms
of modern progress are at hand tC
smooth the path, then presented all
their formidable pristine difficulties.
TIE risk, the cost, the fatigue of d
journey from the renotest provinces to
tie capital were appalling. Yet these
hardships had TO be faced, the tGmults
of hope and fear controlled, all the
hatred and jealousy of rivals encouu-
tered, and the bitterness and mortifica,
ton of disappointment endured. On
arriving ut Moscow further examina
tions were made, and various competi-
/ tors dismissed unseen by the Gar,
until the number reserved for the actual
! exhibition was comparatively small.
They were all lodged in one large house,
and slept in dormitories of twelve beds.
/ In each room was a throne on which
the Car seated himself; the young
girls knelt before HIM in turn. After
lie had contemplated each at his leisure,
she dropped pocket handkerchief EN-
broidered with pearls at his feet, and
withdrew. Ivan the Terrible, the
second who adopted this custom, mar
ried three times, and always IL the same
fashion. His first and favorite wife
was Auastasia RDmanotf. When about
to make a third choice two thousand
girls were sent from every part OF the
empire of these only eighty-four
passed the subsequent examinations,
and finally but twelve, who were turned
over to physicians and midwiyes for
certificates ol health. OF these dozen
the Gar, after much deiiberation,
chose one for himself and one for his
son. Thus in two reigns the custom
became fixed in the manners of the na-
ton. and the people soon came to re-
gard 1t Us rlght OF their daughters,
which gave the humblest-born beauty
a chance of becoming empress. Thus,
a girl, who but few weeks before hai
been gathering mushrooms IN tine fields
for the support Of the family, came to
find herself wife of the Emperor of all
the Russias. How did she adapt her
self to such a position? How did the
antocrats tolerate her homely ways
The French commentator on NJ Zabie-
line observes that the difference was
bat slight then between the daughter of
the proudest boyar and the poorest peas
ant it is the development of education
and luxury which MAKES the true distlne-
tion Of classes. In Russia. three centuries
ego, all were equally illiterate 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 Tetem among the
sisters or daughters of the Gar, in
charge of his mother or ladies of high
birth and standing; she was given a
coTonet such as the imperial princesses
wore, and saluted as czarevna; the
Ill Afff Of In
to kiss the cross before her-i. 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 benceforth to bear, as though
re0aptised for her new life. 1t was
life beset with danger. and the period
between the sovereign's choice and the
marriage was the most hazardous of all
for the object of his favor. The NOR
aity 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
coronation 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 we're a patrimony which they had
right TO share with their kinsmen and |
dependents, the State was a mere I
family property. When the sovereign |
was young he was generally surrounded !
aud controlled by his maternal relatives;
the chief posts were occupied by the
next of kin, secondary ones by those 1
more remotely related, while inferior /
grades were filed by third and fourth
cousins; the whole realm was in the |
hands of the family the duration of 4
tn power of each has a name in Rus
sian histery-vrmia, ''the moment ;"
the leaders were known as "the men of
the moment" The Cars marriage
was the signal for general change of
1t was rare that the family
Of the new czarini did not succeed in
ousting the incumbents and seizing on
their Cfiiees new "moment" was
naturally, TIE brides
influence was used for her own rela-
tions, and, whether she exerted it or
not, their right was recognized. 1t is
EASY to imagin the rage of the one I
party, the greed of the other-the
furious emnity to which the poor young
girl often fell victim. Plots of the /.
description were woven round
her from the moment when the crown
Of the czarevna was placed on her Lrow;
every one employed about the Terem,
from those who filed the meanest
offices, became the objects of bribes
and intrigues. If she could be made
away with before the wedding day, the
must begin again, with the
chance of the successful candidate
being a member of the family of 'the
But even after the marriage
she could not feel safe; Ivan the Ter
rible's first two wives died, as he be-
ieved, of poison. No sooner had he
chosen third than she sickened, and
sfforts were made to induce him to
,elinquish his choice. He persisted
! fortnight after their union she was
lead. Then his fury broke forth, and a
,errible butchery ensued. In his defense
before the bishop of the church he pro-
essed himself convinced that each of
lis wives had been taken from him