The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-01
SERVANTS AS WIVES.
One Cxar, an Austrian Premier, and
Many Conspicuous Englishmen
Have Married Their Maids.

One Czar, an Austrian Premier, ana
Many Conspicuous Englishmen
Have Married Their Maids.
From the London Express.
The young man in society who caused
his family great pain and anger the
other day by marrying his servant girl
can plead the example of many cele-
brated men as an extenuation or a JUS
tification of his act.
There was William Cobbett, the great
writer, and the ''liberator of the Eng
lish press" as he is frequently called.
He was only twenty-one years of age
when, walking out in the streets OF
Halifax, Nova Scotia. one morning he
CHANGED to see a buxom servant girl
busily engaged in washing the family
linen. The girl, though only thirteen
years of age, was pretty, so Cobbett
spoke TO her, learned her name, and
the same evening called upon her par
ents and said he would like to marry
their daughter.
This is probably the origin of the ex
preston, This is so sudden!" which
blushing maidens have made use of
ever since.
The parents of the girl informed the
young man that they had no objection
to him as a son-in-law but that he
would have to wait until their daugh-
ter was of a marriageable age.
Accordingly cobbett gave the girl all
the money he had. which amounted to
$40. and she went to England and be-
came a servant in the family of a cler-
gyman. Five years later Cobbett re-
turned to England and married her.
The late Sir Henry Parkes, Premier
of New South Wales. is another exam
pie One night, when dining at a
friends house, he was struck by the
appearance of a servant girl who
waited at the table, and persuaded his
host to allow her to enter his employ.
This she did, and for a short time held
the position of cook in Sir Henry's
household. Then his love for her
overcame all conventionalities. and he
made her Lady Parkes.
Sir Gervaise Clifton, whose history
of Jamaica is one of the finest books
of its kind in existence, married no
fewer than seven times, and each time
selected his lady from among his do
nestle servants. The seventh Lady
Clifton outlived her lord but the other
six he buried in family mausoleum,
which cost 250,000.
Thomas Day, the author of the fa-
nous book, Sanford and Merton" Sc
lected two girls, one from a poor house
ana one from q rounding asylum, ana
took them into his house as servants.
He proposed to both of them in turn.
One rejected his suit. The other prom
| ised to marry him, but withdrew her
promise on account of his eccentricities.
Day, however, admired the girls
courage, and settled a dowry of $500
| upon her, at the same time deciding TO
| remain a bachelor.
| But more ilustrious than all these
examples is that of Peter the Great.
| One day the founder of the Russian
empire, the great and terrible Peter,
was dining at the house of Prince
Menchikoff. He noticed one of the
serving maids particularly, and, though
she was not handsome, she caught the
| fancy of Peter.
Her name, the Prince told the Car,
was Martha She had been a servant
in the house of Lutheran minister of
Marienburg, and when that eity was
captured by the troops of Russia she
was taken prisoner by Gen. Bauer, who
had passed her over to the Prince,
whose serf she was.
| The Count politely made present of
her to the Car, who eventually mar
ried her, renamed her Catherine, and
she reigned after him as Catherine l.
Empress of all the Russias.