Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-11-03
RUSSIAN sANKEg.s RusE.

He Purchased His Freedom With a Barrel
of Delicious Crimean Oysters.
Marquise de Fontenoy, in her reminis-
eences of the courts of Europe, relates
a story that recalls in romantic fashion
the old days of Russian serfdom. Re
Gently the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicol-
arcwitch led to the altar bride who
! was formerly serf
In order to do so the grand duke had
TO relinquish his royal title and honors,
but he gains wife who brings him
both beauty and wealth. Apropos of
this marriage it is of interest to learn
! that the great St Petersburg bankers,
Shalouchine, to whom many OF the
American tourists in Russia carry let
tiers of credit were formerly serfs. They
belonged to the enormously wealthy
Count Sheremetieff, and obtained their
freedom some fifteen years prior to the
general emancipation by means of
barrel of oysters. The father of the
present members of the firm and the
founder of the bank repeatedly entreat-
ed Count Sheremetieff to grant him his
freedom, offering him as much as $780,
600 for the boon.
| But the Sheremetieffsa are the wealth
| lest mobiles in Russia; money was no OBJ
| ject to the count, and it gratiied his
| pride to feel that one of the leading
| bankers of the empire was one of his
/ serfs, unable to marry either his sons
or his daughters without the masters
consent Moreover, as serf, the bank
er was liable to have his money seized
and confiscated at any moment by the
! count, since everything that belonged
! to a serf, including his wife,
Oh
facto, to his master. One day
i Shalouchine, who had that very morn
ing returned to the capital from Odessa,
called at the Sheremetief palace for
the purpose of reporting his arrival. as
in duty bound, to his owner. He had
brought with him a barrel of delicious
Crimean oysters for presentation to the
| count, but left them in the carriage at
| the palace door until he should have
obtained his intimation that the gift
was acceptable.
! On entering the presence of the count
the banker found him surrounded by a
party of guests and engaged in beating
| his chief butler for neglecting to pro-
vide oysters for the dejeuner to which
they were about to sit down. The but
| Ter was explaining to the count that
| there were no oysters to be got in the
capital at that moment for love or
money. Catching sight of the serf
banker, the count exclaimed: ''Oh, it is
| thou again. Thou art come to poster
me once more for thy liberation. Thou
knowest that it is useless. I should
| not know what to do with thy money.
| But stay; L will tell thee something.
Get me some oysters for my dejeuner
| and thou shalt have thy freedom Sha-
| louchine bowed low, left the room,
fetched the barrel of oysters which he
had left in his carriage at the door and
placed it at the feet of his master. As
| soon as it had been opened the count
called for a pen and paper, wrote out a
| declaration emancipating both the
banker and his family from serfdom.
and then bowling courteously to the
man who but moment before had
been his slave, exclaimed: and now
my dear Mr.. Shalouchine, will you give
us the pleasure OF your company al
dejeuner. "-Chicago Journal.