The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-02-11
Women In Russia I'm the Seventeenth Gen.
fury.

Eugene Schuyler's Life of Peter the
Great" in Scribner gives the following inter-
esting sketch:
on the teachings and traditions of Byzantine
theology, was purely monastic one. The
virtues Of the cloister, faith. prayer, charity,
obedience and industry were the highest vir-
tues of woman. The life of the cloister was
best suited TO preserve her purity. Socially,
woman was not an independent being; che
was an inferior creation, dependent on hsr
husband, for except rs wife her existence
was scarcely recognized. OF this theoretical
position Of woman, abundant proof il given
in all the early didactic literature of Russia,
and especially in the Demostroi, that curious
manual of household economy written in the
time of Ivan the Terrible The
wife should be blindly obedient in all
things, and for her faults should be
be be severely whipped, though not in anger.
Her duty is TO keep the house, to look after
the food and clothing, and to see to the COM
fort of her husband; bear children but not 10
educate them. Severity was inculcated, and to
play with ones children was esteemeda sin-a
snare of the devil. The wife was bound to stay
chiefly at home, and TO be acquainted with
nothing but her household work To all
questions on outside matters she was to an
swer that she did not know. 1t was believed
that an element of evil lurked in the female
sex, and even the most innocent sport be
tween little boys and girls, or social inter
course between young men and women, was
severely reprehended. The Domostroi, and
even Pososhkof, as late as the eighteenth even
tury, recommended father TO take his cudgel
and break the ribs of his son, whom he found
testing with girl. Traces of this feeling
with regard to women are still found in cur
rent proverbs. ga woman's hair is long.
her understanding is short" runs one pro-
verb; The wits OF woman are like the wild
ness of beasts" says another; while a third
says: "As horse BY the bit, 80 must a wo-
man be governed by threats" The collec-
tions of popular stories and anecdotes are
full of instances of the innate wickedness
and deoilishness of the female sex, with ref
erences to all the weak or wicked women of
sacred and profane history. In the 'Great
Mirror" compiled in the seventeenth century,
we even find the obstinacy of women exem-
plifed by the well-known anecdote of the
drowning woman still making with her An
gers the sign of scissors"
Although this WAS the theoretical posi-
ton of woman in Russian society, prac-
tlcally In. small HOUSEHOLDER, Wnere Wo-
men were important factors, there
were great divergences from the
strict rules of the Domostroi. In the higher
ranks Of life the women were more carefully
guarded and restrained, and in the family of
the tsar the seclusion in the terem, or wo-
| mems apartments, was almost complete.
This was part due 10 a superstitious belief in
witchcraft, the evil eye, and charms that might
affect the life, health or fertility of the royal
race. Neither the tssritsa nor the princess
| ever appeared openly in public; they never
went out except in closed litter or carriage;
in church they stood behind veil-made
| it is true, sometimes Of gauze-and they
| usually timed their visits TO the churshes and
monssteries for the evening or the early
morning, ard on these occasions no one was
admitted except the immediate attendants OF
the court. Won Meyerberg, Austrian am.
Dassador at Moscow in 1863, writes, that out
| of thousand coutiers there will hardly b
found one who can boast that be has seen the
tsaritsa, or any of the sisters or daughters o.
the tsar. Ever their physicians are not allow
ed to see them. When it is necessary 10 cal
a doctor for the tssritsa, the windows are al
darkened, and he is obliged TO fell her pulls.
through piece of gauze, so as not TO touct
Ter bare hand. Even chance encounter