Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1880-02-12
Russian Women Two Centuries
Ago.

founded on the teachings and ira
ditions OF byzantine theology, was
purely a monastic one. The va
tues of the cloisrer, faith, prayer
charity, obedience and indus try
we've the highest virtues of a wo-
man. The lie of a c.oister was
pest suited to preserve her purity
Socially, woman was not an indie
pendent being; she was an inferior
creation, dependent upon her hus-
band, for except as a vile, her ex-
lstence was scarcely recognized. Oi
the theoretical position Of IA woman,
abuu dant proof is given in all the
ear y dldactic literature of Russia,
and especially in the Domostroi,
that curious manual Of household
economy written in the time OF
Ivan the Terrible. The wife should
be biiEdly obedient in all things,
aud for her faults should be severe
~ whipped, though not In anger.
Her duty is to keep the house, to
look after the food and clothing,
and to see to the comfort of her
husband, to beai children, but not
to educate them. Severity was in
cnlcated, and to play with ones
chlldl en- was esteemed a sin-a
snare Of the devil. The wife was
bound to stay chiefly at home, ard
to be acquainted with nothing but
ner household work. To all ques
lions on outside matters she was to
answer that she did not know. 1t
was believed that an element OF
evil sur ked In the female sex, aud
even the most innocent sports be-
tween little boys and girls, or social
intercourse between young men
and women, was severely repre-
hended. The Domostroi, and even
Pososhkof, as late as the 18th cen
tury, recommended father to take
IA cudgel and break the ,ihs OF his
son, whom he found jestipg with d
girl. Traces of this feeling with re-
gard to women are still found in
current proverbs. "a women's hair
is long,he understanding is Short .
runs one proverb; "The wits Of
woman are like the wildness OF
beasts" says another; while a third
says: "As horse by the bit, SO
must woman be governed by
threats" The collections of popu-
lar stories and anecdotes are full
of instapcies of the innate wicked>
ness aud devi'ishness of the female
sex with reference to all the weak
or wicked woman of sacred or p'o-
fame history. In the "Great Mir
ror," compiled in the 17th century
we even find the obs'inacy of wo-
man exempllfied by the we'll. known
anecdOte OF the drown ng woman
still making with her fingers the
sien of scissors.
Although this was the theoreti-
cal position of woman in Russian
society, practically in small house
holds, where women were impor-
tant factors, there were great diver
gencies from the strict rules of Do
mostroi. In the higher ranks OF
life, the woman we're more carefully
guarded and restrained, and in the
family of the Tsar, the seelusion in
the terem, or woman's apartments,
was almost complete This was in
part due to superstitious belief in
witcbcraft, the evil eye,and charms
that might affect the life, health OF
fertility of the royal race. Nett her
the tsaritsa nor the princesses
ever appeared openly in public;
they never went out except 10 a
closed li:tar or crrriage; in church
they stood behind a veil-made, il
is true, sometimes of gauza, aud
they usually timed their visits to
the churches and monasteries for
the evening or the early morning,
and on these occasions no one was
admitted except the immediate at
tendants OF the court. Won Never
berg, Austrian ambassador at Mos.
COW, in 1868, writes. that out Of a
thousand courtiers, there will hardly
be found one who can boast tha,
he has seen the tsaritsa, or any oil
the sisters or daughters of the tzar