Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-03

tracing PARTIES n Preferred Form of
Amusement-Even Zotof, the Favorite,
Did Not Escape-Little Court testers.
About the time that little Richard Glib.
son was teaching the English princesses to
draw Nikita Moiseievitch Zotof the
"Muscovite court fool and dwarf" was
appointed tutor to his Russian majesty,
the young car, Peter the Great.
Zotof is said to have enjoyed great
reputation for learning and goodness, &C
cording to the Russian standard of that
time. AS late as the year 1859, when Louis
| XIV and Charles II were holding their
brilliant courts and the good William
Penn was making treaties with the Indi-
ans Of American, Russia was SO far behind
the other European nations that even a
royal prince seldom learned anything moro
than little reading, W iting and arith-
metic with perhaps a s.. altering of geog-
raphy and history.
There wero then no gre 1t writer's or art
lists among the Russians, but court testers
and dwarfs were highly esteemed. Learn
ing did not count for much, except among
the clergy, but the great empire, we ara
told, was remarkable for her fools" of
high degree for even princes were proud
to hold the Office.
| AS for dwarfs, tho country was really
| alive with them. One old author says
there was scarcely a nobleman in the land
who did not 5sess one or more Of these
"frisks" of nature. At almost all state
dinners, II these pygmies were fortunate
enough to escape being served in a pie, it
was their duty to stand behind their lords
chair holding his snuffbox or awaiting
his command. They were usually gayly
dressed in uniform or livery of very cost
| ly materials.
In 1910 Zotof and his royal master ar
ranged a wedding between two dwarfs.
This was celebrated at st. Petersburg with
| great show and parade. Zotof as q high
official was head and front of the perform
ance. 1t took long time to prepare for
| this great event. Invitations to the we'd
\ ding were sent out several months before
| the day appointed for the ceremony, and
| all the courtiers and ambassadors were
hidden to the marriage of this tiny man
| and woman. All the dwarfs living within
| 300 miles Of the capital were commanded
to be present. The bride and groom rode
on an elephant under a canopy. Some of
| the midgets followed on camels or rode in
sledges carved in the shape of various ami
mails Many of the vehicles contained
dozen dwarfs at time. Some of these
small people did not like the idea Of being
| hidden or commanded in this way. OF
course the procession Of dwarfs was fol-
| lowed to the city by laughing mob, and
the pygmies objected to being made sport
of, but Peters word was law and he pun
ished the disobedient ones by making them
wait at the banquet on those who were
docile.
Seventy dwarfs sat down to table besides
the tiny bride and bridegroom, who were
! richly adorned in the height of the pre-
| vailing Russian mode. Zotof took care
that everything provided for this marriage
should be of suitable size. A low table
was set with small dishes, glasses, plates
and other articles, all arranged according
to the size of the guests. The dwarfs, we
are told, contended with much pride and
gravity as to which should be the first, but
it was finally settled that the smallest
should take the lead, and then there arose
disputes, as none Of them would admit he
was smaller than the others. The car,
who was present, finally interfered, order
was restored, and the banquet proceeded.
Dancing followed. The bridegroom, who
was 38 inches high, opened the ball with
q minuet. The company soon followed
the example Of the groom and entered into
the dancing with great spirit, and after all
their trouble became very gay and had
good time generally.
Peter was very fond of the pyg1ny tribe,
and at tho funeral Of one who had long
been attached to his court "a male and "a
female dwarfs walked in procession, fol-
lowed by the emperor in person and his
ministers and guards. 1 never heard of
his being cruel to dwarf, although he
frequently made sport Of them, and his
love for practical joking was so great that
even Zotof did not always escape.
About the time of the marriage of the
dwarfs, the car, in fit of after dinner
jollity, had conferred the title of count
upon his former teacher. Besides little
Zotof received salary Of about SO, 600,
considerable sum for those days, and he
had taken possession with much ceremony
of a fine house In the Tatar quarter of St.
Petersburg.
Now 1t happened that Zotof, feeling
himself growing old, proposed one even
ing, when the car was in an especially
good humor, to retire to monastery. In
stead of agreeing, Peter, to the great as
constituent Of the old and inflrm dwarf, |
forbade his thinking of such thing and |
ordered him to marry again.
Zotof was much put out, but Peters |
passion for shows was not one whit less |
He chose as wife for his favorite buffoon |
an old lady, widow Of a man named |
Stremonkof. Preparations were begun in |
the autumn Of 1913, and In the fantastic |
procession the Empress Catherine and the |
czar's daughters, Martha and Prascovia,
and even some Of the ambassadors were
obliged to take part.
-Four stammering old men gave out the |
invitations, Infrm and lettering crea-
lures were appointed to conduct the bride,
and four Of the latest men in Russia
served as runners. The musicians were
seated In O car lod by bears, and as these
novel steeds were always being pricked by
the points of the steel lances their low
gTowlings served as fitting accompaniment
to the weird airs that arose from the char
lot. The service at the cathedral was per-
formed by very old priest, who was half
blind and deaf, and who wore spectacles.