The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-06
RUSSIAN MARR1AGE CUSTOMS.
A Social Barbarism of the Country of the
Northern Bear.

Northern Bear.
New York Home Journal.
A token of the social barbarism of Russia in
the olden times was found in the position as
signed the female sex. Even a Cars daughter
had much to complain of, for they were very sell
dom allowed to marry, and they were generally
immured for life in a convent. In all ranks the
women were treated as inferior beings, and gov
erned by the lash; and, except in the case of
peasants and serfs, an almost oriental secluslon
was their lot. A husband might fog his wife at
his pleasure, and even if she died under his
hand the criminal law failed to touch him. The
wife, on the other hand, who might be goaded
by his cruelty to the murder of her husband, was
ruthlessly buried alive.
What our travellers report of the method en-
ployed to select wives for the Gar affords fur
Their illustration of the backwardness of Mus
covite civilization in that century. Instead of
seeking suitable alliances with foreign courts. or
among the noble families at home, the custom
was. when a Gar was to be married, to issue q
proclamation inviting all manageable girls of
good position and tolerable pretensions to beauty
to present themselves at Moscow on a given
day for his czarish Majesty's inspection, and,
after a careful scrutiny Of the hundreds of fair
candidates for the great matrimonial prize, the
| royal choice was announced to the nation.
But there was still room for the proverbial
slip between the cup and the lip. Disappointed
families were apt to seek revenge for the failure
of their candidate by endeavoringto get att and
0LodOlC ZIG SuCOOoGLU bC0uOls AZ AOAt OHO Va
these brides-elect was drugged by the ruling
clique at court, and thrown into such a state Of
apparent disease that she was pronounced in
durable, and banished with all her relatives to
Siberia. Soon afterward another actually died
Of foul play on the very day fixed for her wed
ding.
When Peters father, the Gar Alexis, was
contracting his first marriage, in 1647, and the
elect maiden was being arrayed in the royal
robes, the ladies-in-waiting were bribed to twist
her hair so tightly that she swooned in his pres
ence, and the complaisant physicians were in
duced to declare her hopelessly e~pileptic. with
the usual result of exile to Siberia. Peters own
mother, the pretty dark haired Natalie Narysh-
kin, who became the second wife Of Alexis,
narrowly escaped a similar fate. She was the
niece by marriage, and also the ward, of the
Cars principal minister, Matveof, at whose
house the royal widower noticed her when she
BROUGHT in the refreshments, fell in love with her,
and offered her marriage. 1t happened that a
proclamation had been already issued, summon
ing candidates for the Cars hand to present
themselves in Moscow for his inspection and
choice; and at Matveofs eutreaty, to give less
handle for jealous intrigue and opposition, the
girl was instructed to present herself with the
rest, and appear to take her chance among them.
The expedient, however, failed of success. AS
soon as the royal selection was known, every
engine was set in motion to render it abortive
Her guardian was accused of bewitching the
Gar with magic and sorcery. A long i~nvestiga
ton followed. carried on, as usual, by the free
i~nfliction of torture on all concerned, and nine
months passed before the intriguers were baffled
and the marriage was solemnized.