Year: 1877

In all respects the Russian peasantry
are, as class, extremely practical and
matter-of-fact in their conceptions and
habits, and are not at all prone to indulge
in sublime, ethereal sentiments Of any
kind. They have little or nothing of
what may be roughly termed the Her.
mann-and- Dorothea element in their
composition, and consequently they
know very little about those sentimental,
romantic ideas which we habitually as-
sociate with the preliminary steps to
matrimony. This fact is 30 patent to
all who have studied the Russian
peasantry, that even those who have
endeavored TO idealize peasant life have
rarely vcntured to make their story turn
on q sentimental love affair. In the
primitive system Of agriculture usually
practiccd in Russia, the natural labor
unfit it be allowed to use such a term


comprises man, II woman and horse.
As soon, therefore, rs boy becomes IN
able-bodied laborer ho ought to be pro.
NluSi Wltu tIlc tWO uNccbborloo ueCSsbuIS
for the completion OF the labor-unit. To
procure horse, either by purchase or
by rearing foal, is tho duty of tho head
Of the house; to procure wife for the
youth is the duty Of "the female Big
One" (bolshukha.) And the chief CON-
sideration in determining the choice is in
both cases the same. Prudent domestic
administrators are not to be tempted by
snowy horses or beautiful brides; what
they seek is not beauty, but physical
strength and capacity for work. When
the youth reaches the age Of eighteen he
is informed that he ought to marry at
once, and as soon as he gives his consent
negotiations are opened with the parents
OF some eligible young person. In the
larger villages the negotiations are some
times facilitated by certain old women
called srakht, who occupy themselves
specially with this kind of mediation
but very often the affair is arranged
directly by, or through the agency of,
some common friend of the two houses.
Care must of course be taken that there
is no legal obstacle to the marriage, and
these obstacles are not always easily
avoided in small village, the inhabi-
tants of which have been long in the
habit of intermarrying. According to
Russian ecclesiastical law, not only is
marriage between first cousins illegal,
but affinity is considered as equivalent
consanguinity-that is to say, a mother
in-law and sister-in-law are regarded
as mother and sister-and even the
fictitious relationship created by stand
ing together at the baptismal font as
godfather and godmother is legally re-
cognized. If all the preliminary ne
gotiations are successful, the marriage
takes place, and the bridegroom takes
his bride home to the house Of which he
is a member. She brings nothing with
her as dowry except her trousseau, but
she brings pair of good string arms,
and thereby enriches her adopted family.
OF course, it happens occasionally-for
human nature is everywhere essentially
the same-that young peasant falls in
love with one of his former playmates,
and brings his little romance to happy
conclusion at the altar; but such cases
are very rare, and, as rule, it may be
said that the marriages of the Russian
peasantry are arranged under the in
auence of econ omic rather than senti-
mental considerations. Mackenzie
Wallace.