The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-08-21
RUSSIAN couRTuFE.
Brilliant Festivities Arranged for the
Pleasure-Loving Czarina.


Pleasure-Loving Czarina.
The court festivities at st. Petersburg
have been more brilliant during the
reign of the present Emperor than they
have been for some years past under
Alexander III. This is chiefly due to
the Empress. Gar Alexander III. was
fond of pomp and show, but his
wife was broken down by ill-health
and trouble, and had been brought up
in strict orthodoxy. The present En-
press, on the other hand, is, both in her
appearance and in all her ideas, the
highest type of bright, lovely woman,
adored by all who know her, and even
exempt from the gossip of calumnia-
tors. In Nihilistic papers she has
sometimes been called the Russian
Marie Antoinette, and she has indeed
many characteristics which invite a
comparison between her and that I'M
happy Princess, but she is without the
great female weaknesses of the martyr
of the French revolution. The Empress
is the inspiriting center of the court
festivities, than which nothing can be
conceived more gay and brilliant. The
first court ball of the season, to which
some three thousand invitations were
issued, surprised everybody at
tending it by its great splendor.
There are few princely residences
in Europe which could be
compared to the winter palace for
spaciousness and beauty, and the i'm
preston is still more deepened by the
strange uniforms and costumes, half
Asiatic. and the rich jewels with which
the ladies' toilets are deliberately
adorned. A name, however great it
may be, counts for nothing for admis-
sion to the court, and it is only the
rank of the husband which. determines
the admission of his wife and daugh-
ters. No Prince may claim admittance
unless he occupies some post in the
army or in the State, and his wife can
only be presented at court after he has
become Colonel in the Guards or has
obtained high place in the civil SER
vice. The only exception is made
when man has been Imperial AGiu-
liant or Chamberlain, or when a lady
has been lady-in-writing to the En-
press. when the privilege or presenta-
ton is given to her, irrespective of her
husbands position. But whether she
is ever invited to court festivities, that
is different question. To be presented
at court, however, is not worth much
The shining lights of society are those
who are invited to the small private
court balls. Many of the highest State
officials do not belong to the real court
circle. There is, for instance. the For
eign Minister, M. de Giers, who, even
apart from other considerations, is ex-
cluded as too German in his ideas; the
Minister of the Interior, Count Tolstoi,
who stands high above the court soci-
ETY. by reason of his exalted moral
ideas; the Minister of War, NJ. Van
noffski. who is QUITE homo n0rus in
society. and many other men in equally
high positions. The Emperor values
them as faithful servants and excellent
councillors, but that is all.
The Empress is passionately fond of
all the pleasures of the winter season,
whether they are dancing. skating or
sleighing on the ice-hills, and is as
graceful on her skates as she is in the
ballroom and on horseback.-S. Pc
fereburn Cor rolo11p Gazpffp