The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-12-15
The women Of Russiai

The women Of Russiai
How shall describe thomf
| They are like no other women on the
face Of the globe, and sim among their
millions they have types OF almost every
race Of women known TO man, writes
Frank "a. Carpenter. In St. Petersburg
you SEQ the fair haired, blue-eyed,
frocklo- faced maidens from Finland
walking the streets side by side with the
red -haired girls who have been imported
thither from the Caucasus and Georgia,
and here ut Moscow you see the Tartars,
the Cossacks and the Armenians mixed
together with the other different types
Of the eighty provinces OF this vast em-
pire.
Along the volga you will meet difieron
costumes and different races Of women NJ
every landing place, and the girls Of Lit
tie Russia wear different clothes and
have different manners from those Of
Great Russia and South Russia. Here in
Moscow there are q vast number OF
gypsies, and Russia has tho harem OF the
Mohammedan, the polyandry Of tho Him
aiayas and all the varied combinations OF
civilized love and marriage. The pure
Russians look upon marriage much a. We
do, and Of late years tho relations Of the
sexes among the upper classes have been
almost n free al they are with us. The
Russian lady of today has her friends
among tho young men OF her acquaint-
ance, and though she rarely goes about
/ without chaperone she receives her
callers In her own homo and her ideal
marriage ID ono OF love.
OF late years the laws of marriage have
boon radically changed, and now females
are forbidden to wed between the ages
i of 10 and 90. Men cannot marry until
they are over IS nor after they are so, and
divorces are less common In Russia than
they are with MS. The church Of Russia
/ objects to moro than one marriage. Il
has its penances for second and third
marriages, and q man who marries .
| fourth time 10 excluded from the holy
communion. Few marriages are made in
the upper classes without the consent OF
the parents, and in most cases the woman
10 expected to bring very respectable
dot with her.
The peasant women OF Russia are ali
hard workers. You see them everywhere
In the fields moving and reaping, spad-
Ing up the ground and doing, in fact,
| everything that man can do. They work
In gangs Of twenty or thirty, and each
/ gang OF women Il usually directed by q
man, rho acts as overseer and who keeps
them at their work. They 60 into tho
fields almost as soon as they are old
enough to walk and they work until
4 they are gray haired. Hard labor soon
takes the beauty out OF them and the
Older women have faces like leather, full
OF wrinkles and furrowed with care.
The younger girls are plump, bright
eyed and, In some cases, pretty.
s Nt,s.sv d. -
both on the grounds OF convenience and
love. The sexes associate SO closely to-
j gether in their work and In the villages
that they have chance to get thoroughly
acquainted with one another, and good,
strong woman just doubles the working
force Of the man who marries her with
out very materially increasing his ex-
penses. Neither sex among the peasants
1 spends much upon dress. The women
| wear nothing but handkerchiefs upon
their heads while working In the fields
4 and their feet are generally bare. In the
summer such shoes % they use are made
! OF bark, woven into the form OF slippers
like basket work, and In the winter they
wear great heavy boots OF felt upon their
| feet.
Above the peasants is the merchan
class, and the women OF this class are to
large extent different from those of thu
nobility or the peasants. They do not
/ dothe hard work of the peasants, nor
i have they the intelligence Of their sisters
OF the nobility. The merchants Of
Russia form to large extent the middle
class and the merchants wives and
daughters are kept out Of sight. They
spend their time In dressing, smoking
and eating, and their husbands, when
they chat with their fellows about
women, usually speak OF them as .sthe
children OF the DEVIL" and they are full
OF all sorts Of superstittons concerning
i them.
i The daughters OF these merchants are
II often very religious and very supersti-
4 tious. Their marriages are usually made
by matchmakers, and the merchant ID
+ expected to give good dowry with his
daughter when she enters matrimony.
Long engagements are not common and
they seldom last more than two or three
months. Among the peasants the girls
usually weave and embroider their own
wedding gowns and they begin to get
ready for marriage as soon as they are old
| enough to sew. Among the merchants
after girl is engaged her friends come
In and help her sew upon her wedding
outfit, and she has sewing circles and
quilting bees in preparation for the mar
rage. These sewing circles are held DUR
ing the afternoon and after tea the BRIDE
groom and few OF his bachelor friends
drop in and the girls and the future bride
have a-dancs with them during the eve-
ming.
Russian marriages generally take place
at night and the ceremony is performed
by the priest. The bridegroom meets
the bride at the church and the pair
carry lighted tapers with them to the
altar. The taper that burns out first Is
supposed to indicate the death of it,
holder. After the ceremony the bridal
party walk three times around the part
OF the church where the cross is, and
after the benediction they kiss the holy
pictures Of the church and they kiss
each other three times during the cere-
mony. When the whole service IL oveI
the bridegroom leads the bride to his
house, where his peasants greet him and
where they are blessed with bread and
salt.
How Mon should Treat Women.
A Persian poet gives the following In.