Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-03-31
NO. 7s.
CURIOUS RUSSIAN CUSTOMS.

The anomalies Of Russian life and char
acter are literally without end, and it is a
| curious one that, while official rank CON-
mands the very highest respect, hereditary
rank is scarcely at all esteemed. Since
the days of Peter the Great, the highest
places in the public service have been
open to men of all ranks, and the noblesse
have been elbowed continually by gentle
men of the pavement who have won place
and power by energy and intellect. In
this strictly autocratic government, per-
sonal worth and ability carry with them
all the possibilities of promotion which are
theirs In the most democratic of republics.
The man who holds high place is highly
esteemed, not the man whose great-grand-
father held place. He who has the coun-
tenance of the czar is the aristocrat, even
though he may have been a subaltern Off.
Ger last week, a drummer-boy the week
before, and lackey last year.
Men of distinction-men, that is to
say, who hold high rank of any sort
are as much sought after in Russia as
anywhere else, and particularly by the
merchants, who are much given to what
is called "snebbishness. The merchants
are ostentatious to an inordinate ex-
"
doing everything in q contradictory
fashion, they make no false pretensions
of any kind. They delight in fine apart
| ments, fine dinners, and fine horses.
but they never pretend to be other or bet
ter than they are. They even advertise
| their social position in their costume they
do not pretend to the possession of refined
and cultivated tastes and they make no
efforts to gain admission to good society.
At his own dinners, indeed, the rich
Russian merchant likes to have as many
persons of rank as possible among his
guests, and he keenly enjoys the reflected
distinction which their presence confers
upon him; but he does not pretend to any
thing like intimacy or social equality with
them. They do him honor in dining with
| him, but they do not thereby recognize
him as in any way their equal. He does
| not expect them to invite him to partake
| of their hospitality in return for his own.
The bargain between them is we'll UNDER
stood. The merchant gains credit among
his own fellows for the presence of the
great men who in addition to the good din
ner provided, gain sort Of underlined right
to expect the merchants subscription to
public or charitable enterprises in which
they are interested.
Sometimes. indeed. there is an express
bargain made that magnate shall ap-
pear in full uniform at the table of mer-
chant, and that in return the merchant
shall subscribe specified sum to the mag
mates favorite benevolent institution.
There are whispered rumors, too, that
magnates sometimes let themselves out
for table hire as table ornaments, and re-
ceive gifts of money in return, which are
only constructively for charitable uses,
the benevolent institution for whose use
they are given being, in fact, suppositions
existing only by courtesy ia the imagina-
tions of the persons concerned in the
transaction.
Mr.. Wallace tells us, as a matter within
his own knowledge, that rich merchant
once asked the governor of his province to
honor him with his presence upon an impor-
tant occasion, and pressed his request that
the wife of the governor should also come.
Many objections were made, and, finally,
it was limited that the gentlewoman had
| no velvet dress sufficiently rich to make
her toilet fair match for those of the
| merchants wealthy plebian guests. Two
| days later piece of the finest velvet
| which could be bought in Moscow came
| to the governors door, from some giver
who delicately withheld his name, and
| my lady was present at the merchants
feast. There is no reason to suppose.
however, that transactions of this nature
are common, and it is probable that, as a
rule, the price which the merchants pay
for the honor of entertaining grand folk
really goes to benefit some charitable in
stitution.-Appleton's Journal.