The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-03-29
.MARPHA.

From 1S48 to 1850 might have been seen
nearly every afternoon on the Boulevard
Nikitskoi, in Moscow, a very beautiful
young girl, clad in rich clothes shaped in
peasant fashion. She was always in at
tendance on two lovely little girls about
four or five years of age, and the party was
followed by Il fOotman i'll full livery.
Many persons used to stop and gaze at
her with admiration. Common men had
to content themselves with only looking at
her beauty, but many Il young man of
fashion ventured to accOst the little girls,
pay them compliments or give them sugar
plums and then ask the beautiful young
woman who waited on them the name of
the family in which she lived and whether
she was serf or free
She always answered: 81 am a serf. |
belong to General Gertzkoff and these
little girls are his daughters. | am their
mania"
Almost every day some stranger stopped
and asked her the same question. Her
beauty was remarkable. Her complexion
was pure pink and white-"milk and
roses" as the Russians say. Her face was
perfect oval of the Greek type; her eyes
were blue as the heavens, with beautifully
pencilcd eyebrows; her teeth shone pearly
white between her coral lips; her long fair
hair was divided into two long braids,
reaching almost to her ankles, and her car
riage was alert and very graceful. She
was a lovely creature to behold-a seri
whose value was inestimable.
1t was one of her masters fancies that
she should wear the costume of her native
village made of the richest silks. Her
petticoat was always of blue or scarlet
damask, her waists had wide sleeves and
were beautifully adorned with red EN-
broidery; her headdress was sort of tur
ban, suited to her gown. Around hel
neck, by the generals express order, she
always wore triple chain of amber beads
of singular transparency and beauty.
About o'clock i'll the afternoon she uset
to take the children back from their prom
enade to their home, n stately mansion
standing back from the street in the mid
die of a garden.
The generals wife lived in this house
and lived alone She was very delicate
and melancholy. The general usually re
sided at St. Petersburg, though he paid
yearly visit to Paris.
To facilitate the domestic management
of his affairs he had established a sort o
office under his own roof (as indeed wa
the fashion in those days. where all none
from his various villages was paid in ant
contributions were received in kind. Sew
eral clerks We're busily employed in con
nection with this office, and their superior
called Prohor, had orders to write minut
dispatch every day to his master, inform
ing him of everything that took place il
his household down to the most trivia
detail
The clerks and all the servants were tn
generals serfs. There were about forty c
them. The general had more than enoug
property of that kind to pick and choos
from. He owned 10000 souls and immens
estates in one of the richest provinces {
Russia.
Once in awhile the general came home t
see his wife and children. He never stat
more than few days and was glad to g
back to St. Petersburg
His wife never complained of her secl,
sion, but resigned herself to his neglec
She was very fair, very frail and yer
feeble She was adOred by all the serfs-
her own and those belonging to her hu
band. She was always kind and gentle I
them herself, and had often saved many
them from severe punishments.
Mania Marpha, her little gills' beautift
nurse, was one of her great favOrtes. ST
was not able to look after her children he
self, and had trusted them to this youn
girl with entire confidence from the da
they were given to her.
One day, when the general CHANGED I
be in Moscow, he was lounging in h
library with Colonel Dmitrieff one of Il
officers of his regiment. They were smo