Year: 1873

hesitated for long time, bat finally fixed
his choice upon Maria Sobalaine.


The succeeding Cars followed this Gus
tom until it came to be considered that
no Gar had the right to choose his bride
in any other way. Public opinion held
that it would not be just to take from
even the most humble Of Russian beau
ties her chance Of becoming Empress
When Alexis Roumanof, at that time a
wdower, had gone to visit the boyar Ma
troef, he was greatly struck by the mod
esty and beauty of Nathalia Narychkine,
the daughter Of poor friend Of his host,
who had adopted the girl. Upon his
next visit to tho boyar, he declared his
determination to marry her; but Matroef,
knowing too we'll and fearing the jealous
hatred that such marriage would ne
cessarily arouse among the rival nobility,
entreated the Gar upon his knees to Sc
lect his wife according to custom. Alexis
consented, but at the assemblage Of beau


ties he chose out the girl he best loved
and Nathalia Narychkne became as his
wife the mother Of Peter, the Great.-And
Peter, the Great, it seems, was the first
to break through this time-honored Gus
tom. His FIRST wife, indeed was chosen
after the ancient usage, but the second
time he only consulted his heart.


Immediately upon the decision Of the
Car the chosen one became an august
parsonage, and was conGded either to tho
care of the Imperial family or to her own
relations, who would hencelorth dwell in
the palace with her, or to " Baronesses
who feared God" But their lot was cer-
tainly unenviable in the greater number
of instances. Many Of them had been
peasant girls only, used to dress in coarse
homespun, and to wear sandals of lime
bark. Their presence and position was
necessarily humiliOting to the proud Rus
sian nobility. But the birth and training
OF the poor girls could only occasion the
least Of their trials for there was little or
no distinction in point Of education, grace
in carriage, or knowledge Of etiquette,
between the Russian .boyar and the Rus
sian serf in those barbarous times and
no Empress Of humble origin ever made
u bad figure at court. The chamberlaius
of the wife Of Michel Roumanof declared
that before God had raised her" they
had seen her with tie yellow boots of
peasant upon her feet but they could
not accuse her of ignorance, for they were
no wiser themselves. So, too, in the case
Of Maria Milosavski, wife of Alexis, who
was the daughter Of domestic servant,
and had been wont to make n living by
gathering and selling mushrooms. But
the advent Of II new Czarina to the palace
generally necessitatod just such a change
in the palace as would result in our Min
istry from the election Of new Presi-
dent ; and the relations Of tho Emperor
by a former marriage or by the marriage
Of his father, indignant at being ousted,
retaliated by poisoning the bride. SINH
lar catastrophes frequently occurred thro'
the jealousy Of tho boyars. Chosen from
the flowers of Russian health and beauty,
the wives Of the Cars generally bid fair
to live into a good old age. But many Of
them survived their marriage only few
weeks, and some died almost immediate-
ly after their bridal. Three of the wives
Of Ivan, the Terrible, died in a mysterious
fashion, and the Gar was forced to
butcher tho boyars by scores in the hopa
to secure safety for his spouses, through
fear. In his discourse before the Assem-
bly, Of Bishops he denounced the poison
ing Of his first two wives, and concerning
the fate Of the third he said a: "Thc ha-
tired Of my enemies urged on several of
my relations to attempt the life of the
Czarna Maria while yet virgin and
CzOrina only in name. They gave her
poison. Then the orthodox Gar, placing
his confidence in God who alone can heal,
took Maria unto him, but their union
lasted only two weeks" The King OF
Denmark refused to enter into an alliance
by marriage with Michael Roumanof, be-
cause under the preceding Gar, his
brother, betrothed to the Princess Xenia,
had been poisoned, together with his
sweetheart. Two Of Michael Roumano's
wives were subsequently made away with
and, indeed, TO be chosen the Emperor's
bride was at one time equivalent to a
sentence Of death. Moreover, if Gar
ina failed to bear male children, to her
husband, she was liable to bo immurcd
in convent for the remainder Of her
life. And when we remember that, after
escaping all these dangers successfully,
there remained in prospect for the poor
woman nothing but life of most barbar-
Gus seclusion, in which she was suffered
to amuse herself only by reading the
lives Of saints, we can only declare that
before the day of Peter, the Great, it were
far better for pretty girl to have mill
stone tied round her neck and bo cast
into the depths Of the sea than to become
a Gzarina.- CiRcj3aaH Inquirer.


A YOUNG lady in Fon du Lac, while
out walking with her lover, was attacked
by a savage dog, who seized her by tho
breast and tore il from her body. The